Chancellor Robert Birgeneau believes UC Berkeley is effectively morphing from a state university into a federal one as it receives more of its money from the federal government and less from Sacramento.
In an interview with California Watch, Birgeneau talked about the need to rethink Cal’s role in light of its changing dynamic.
Birgeneau first voiced this idea publicly at a conference on campus earlier this month when he said: “We have gone from a state-supported university to a state-located university in a remarkably short period of time, and we are trying madly to adjust.”
This year federal research funds accounted for $500 million of the university’s income with student fees bringing in $315 million and about the same again from private philanthropy. State funds are down to $300 million and will be slashed again next year after the cuts proposed by Governor Jerry Brown are implemented. This compares sharply with the situation Birgeneau inherited when he became Chancellor six years ago when the major funding – about $450 million – came from the state.
Read the full story on California Watch.
