A massive student movement has
erupted in California in the last six months. It has grown exponentially as
California State University and University of California officials hike fees
more than 30 percent, furlough faculty, and lay off workers. Added to the
laundry list of complaints is the apparent corruption of senior officials,
illustrated by the case of David J. Ernst.
Ernst was the chief of
information technology services for Chancellor Reed in the CSU system when he
accepted $152,441 in improper reimbursements, according to a state audit. This
was on top of his $204,420 per year salary.
The money, which he accepted
between July 2005 and July 2008, included $39,135 in travel expenses, $26,455
in so-called business meals, $43,288 in commuting expenses from his Northern
California home to his office in Long Beach and $24,676 in monthly living
allowances. It also included $17,053 dollars in “personal expenses,” such as
home phone, Internet, computer supplies, and an annual membership in an
executive airline club. Of the entire amount Ernst took from students, faculty,
and campus workers—he has returned a mere $1,834. This meager amount does not
even cover one semester’s tuition in the CSU system.
While Ernst lives it up, working
class students are faced with choosing between tuition and flying home to their
families for the holidays, having a cell phone or Internet service, fixing
their modest vehicles or taking the bus. Thousands of students cannot afford
tuition and have been turned away from the same institution that has given
hundreds of thousands of dollars to just one corrupt senior official.
Ernst left the CSU system in
July 2008 for a $34,000 raise in his new position as associate vice president
for information resources and communications under Chancellor Yudof at the
University of California. The UC system recently passed a fee increase for
students, bringing tuition above $10,000 per year, while Ernst may have already
taken several vacations with their money.
Need for budget transparency
The scandal points to the
conclusion that has been true all along: the money is there, it just isn’t being spent on education. This
is also why one of the central demands of the student movement in California is
budget transparency. It is becoming clear that the UC and CSU systems are
corrupt and are keeping their books sealed to prevent similar scandals. This
type of secrecy empowers top officials with the ability to scapegoat faculty
and workers—falsely blaming them for their supposedly high salaries and
pensions in the hopes that public sentiment will shift in a direction that
would allow union busting.
But students are uniting with faculty and workers and have not
succumbed to these divide-and-conquer tactics. The UC and CSU systems must open
the books. Every official from the Chancellors to the UC Regents and CSU
Trustees should be fired. Affordable education is a right for all!
