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Facing a $150 million budget deficit this year due to cuts in state funding and higher operating costs, UC Berkeley has hired Bain & Co., a Massachusetts-based consultant with offices in San Francisco, for a hefty $3 million fee, plus expenses, to help the university find long-term ways to save money. As Fark.com aptly puts, "Somehow, cutting consultant fees from the budget isn't likely to make the list."
After the recent protest over the 32-percent fee hike in tuition, which drew an estimated 5,000 students and faculty a couple of weeks ago, this move has served to boil tempers further. An angry employee told The Chronicle, "It absolutely sickens me that the majority of my 8 percent pay cut is going -- not to protect the core teaching and research mission of the university -- but rather to compensate overpaid business consultants and their multimonth hotel stays and weekly flights home."
As Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and a frequent critic of UC leaders, explained to the Contra Costa Times, "UC has hired managers at hundreds of thousands of dollars each. They should have the expertise on campus already." The university argues that hiring outside help will provide an impartial view of the situation, as opposed to utilizing their own staff, who don't have time for such an endeavor.
Charles Schwartz, a professor emeritus of physics who carefully watches the UC budget, told the Chronicle that the same consulting firm was hired by UC in 1997 and concluded that UCSF and Stanford University hospitals should merge. The merger proved a financial disaster and lasted just two years.
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It must be awesome to be a consultant. All you need is a degree in any field (Vietnamese art history or some shit) and then you get paid millions for your "management insights." It's a brilliant scam.
UC administrators are remarkably tone deaf are they not?
Excessive budget-cutting consultant fees not on chopping block says handsomely paid consultant- http://wp.me/pBfFK-eO
$3 Million Extravagant, Arrogant Spending by UC President Yudof for UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau to Hire Consultants - When Work Can Be Done Internally & Impartially
These days, every dollar in higher education counts. Contact Chairwoman Budget Sub-committee on Education Finance Assemblywoman Carter 916.319.2062 and tell her to stop the $3,000,000 spending by Chancellor Birgeneau for consultants.
Do the work internally at no additional costs with UCB Academic Senate Leadership (C. Kutz/F. Doyle), the world – class professional UCB faculty/ staff, & the UCB Chancellor’s bloated staff (G. Breslauer, N. Brostrom, F. Yeary, P. Hoffman, C. Holmes etc) & President Yudof.
President Yudof’s UCB Chancellor should do the high paid work he is paid for instead of hiring expensive East Coast consults to do the work of his job. ‘World class’ smart executives like Chancellor Birgeneau need to do the hard work analysis, and make the tough-minded difficult, decisions to identify inefficiencies.
Where do the $3,000,000 consultants get their recommendations?
From interviewing the UCB senior management that hired them and approves their monthly consultant fees and expense reports. Remember the nationally known auditing firm who said the right things and submitted recommendations that senior management wanted to hear and fooled the public, state, federal agencies?
$3 million impartial consultants never bite the hands (Chancellor Birgeneau/ Chancellor Yeary) that feed them!
Mr. Birgeneau's accountabilities include "inspiring innovation, leading change." This involves "defining outcomes, energizing others at all levels and ensuring continuing commitment." Instead of deploying his leadership and setting a good example by doing the work of his Chancellor’s job, Mr. Birgeneau outsourced his work to the $3,000,000 consultants. Doesn't he engage UC and UC Berkeley people at all levels to examine inefficiencies and recommend $150 million of trims? Hasn't he talked to Cornell and the University of North Carolina - which also hired the consultants -- about best practices and recommendations that will eliminate inefficiencies?
No wonder the faculty, staff, students, Senate & Assembly are angry and suspicious.
In today’s recession economy three million dollars is a irresponsible price to pay when a knowledgeable ‘world-class’ UCB Chancellor and his bloated staff do not do the work of their jobs.
Take action: use the phone. Together, we will make a difference: save $3 million for students!