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Budget update

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christopher Edley <edley@law.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:05:29 -0700
Subject: Budget update
To: Students - 1L <students-1ls@law.berkeley.edu>, Students - 2L
<students-2ls@law.berkeley.edu>

Dear Berkeley Law Student:

I write to update you on the financial situation at the Law School in
light of the on-going budget crisis in California and the consequent
challenges for UC Berkeley. My central message is one of reassurance:
We will continue to offer the best education of any law school on this
or any nearby planet. At this point I foresee few if any budget cuts
that will have material near-term effects on students.

The most significant program consequences to you will likely be some
modest reduction in the number of small-enrollment offerings by adjunct
lecturers, some slowing of the rapid expansion of the faculty we have
pursued in recent years, perhaps some limitations on the scope of
technical support on computer issues, and perhaps a slight reduction in
the caloric content of the free lunches at speaking events.

On the positive side, it now appears likely that we will be able to
follow through with the announcements I made earlier this spring
concerning expansions in the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, more
summer public interest fellowship grants, expansion of career services
counseling, and several other measures. We will continue and expand the
Boalt in D.C. program for a semester of study in Washington, D.C. We
will continue our program of classroom renovations and construction.
The West Terrace will be completed before classes begin. Excavation for
the South Addition will be complete in a few days. Eight new core
faculty members join us this summer, which gets us three-quarters of the
way toward the goal set when I arrived five years ago of a 40% net
increase in the faculty.

Please be clear, however, that the budget situation remains fluid. The
Chancellor and Provost have not yet finalized the campus plans, in part
because the Legislature remains tied in knots. Gordian, it seems. The
Law School is in remarkably sound shape compared with most other campus
units, and compared with most of our peer institutions. There are
several reasons: our strategy of steadily raising tuition closer towards
a benchmark of about 10% below the average of top-10 schools; the $125
million capital campaign has produced successive years of record alumni
contributions; our low dependence on state appropriations, relative to
other campus units, because the state support for the Law School was
disproportionately cut during the recession earlier in the decade; the
relatively small contribution of endowment income in our revenue stream,
relative to other top-10 schools. The last two points mean we are more
insulated than we would otherwise be from sharp state budget cuts and
the Wall Street meltdown. Make no mistake, times will be tight.
However, I simply do not expect that we will face the extraordinary
budget reductions hitting many of our peer schools.

I hope the balance of your summer is both productive and restful.

Sincerely,

Christopher Edley
Dean and Orrick Professor of Law
Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley

--
Christopher Edley, Jr.
The Honorable William H. Orrick, Jr. Distinguished Chair and Dean
Berkeley Law
University of California

--
(Via BlackBerry)

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on June 18, 2009 (boomark / email).