Californians Aware is a nonprofit agency that audits state agencies to determine how well they respond to requests for public records. It recently audited universities throughout the state and gave a failing grade to the UC system, noting the particularly poor response from UC-Santa Cruz. UCSC received a 40 out of a possible 100 points, which is a fail by any standard. In contrast, San Jose State University received an A+. CSU schools averaged an 86, while UC schools averaged a 46, with UC Berkeley coming in on top with a 70.
The documents requested by Californians Aware all related to employment, compensation and benefits for each school’s chancellor. The request was made on Nov. 29, and the group was forwarded to the UC Office of the President, which informed them that, due to a backlog, the documents would only be available on Feb. 28.
Emily Francke of CalAware denied charges that this was an attack on the UC system. “We are not trying to bully them or catch them in the act,” she said. “Maybe CSU can work with UC to show them how they have their system set up.” Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
