Athletics, administration, academic programs -- everything’s on the table. That’s what the University of California at Berkeley told professors and staff Wednesday in announcing it’s seeking a "new normal" in light of projected long-term budget deficits. While details of the structural overhaul are scant thus far, the news left many wondering if Berkeley can maintain its standing as one of the world's leading research universities throughout the process. In essence, can Berkeley stay Berkeley?
Faculty members said that remains to be seen.
"Our university has been so drastically cut back and our students' financial well-being so drastically hurt over the course of the past years that it doesn't seem to most of us that cuts of the size that are said to be coming could be assimilated," said Mitchell Breitwieser, the Daniel E. Koshland Jr. Distinguished Chair in Writing. "There’s no fat left on the bone. But the members of the campus administration speak as if they are on the verge of coming up with a way forward. So we wait to see."
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/11/berkeley-announces-major-strategic-planning-process-address-long-term-budget-issues