A thought-provoking article by David Sweet in today’s *Sentinel* on the UC’s drifting away from its public nature. Quote:

Since 1990, further drastic cuts in taxpayer contributions have accelerated the flat-out privatization. Students and their families now pay, through increasing fees and interest-bearing loans, the entire real cost of an undergraduate education—a backbreaking burden for future teachers and social workers. Financial aid is scarce. The grandchildren of Californians educated for free when the university was seen as a basic good comparable to roads, parks and libraries, now graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

[….]

Until we renew the historic contract with our grandchildren, and pay the taxes required to maintain a great public university, UC will continue to lay off lecturers, cut teaching assistantships, raise tuition and fees, underpay clerical and maintenance workers, turn students away from understaffed classes, and eliminate valuable programs.

It is not only a matter of taxes, but of how and on what public money is spent at the university.