Dear Senator Harman,

My name is Angela Hawk and I am writing to urge you to reinvest in the University of California and higher education.

A native of Stockton, I began my University of California education at UC Davis in the year 2000. I was the first person in both my immediate and extended family to attend college and I was extremely proud to embark on my career in higher education in the public university system of my home state.

Today, I am one year away from receiving my Ph.D. in History from UC Irvine. Although I am as proud today as I was nearly 10 years ago of my association with the University of California, I am also deeply troubled. The legislature’s approval of severe budget cuts for the University of California system signals a divestment in higher public education that is not only in direct contravention to the state’s Master Plan, but will also lead to long-term, irreparable damage to the social and economic health of California.

During my nearly decade-long association with the University of California, I have experienced the full spectrum of opportunities our top-tier educational system has to offer. As an undergraduate, I worked as a student assistant in a lab performing cutting-edge research in evolutionary biology, studied Arthurian literature at the University of Cambridge through the Education Abroad Program, and sang with the UC Davis Chorus at the opening ceremonies of state-of-the-art Mondavi Performing Arts Center. As a full-time staff member at Davis in my interim year between undergraduate and graduate school, I received superior retirement benefits, a generous employment package, and numerous opportunities for professional enrichment, notably skill-enhancement classes and seminars. Finally, as a graduate student, I have had the privilege of honing my teaching skills as both a teaching assistant and instructor while simultaneously receiving strong university support for my own research. Most recently, I was the recipient of a year-long UC Pacific Rim Research Program grant that supported my travel to Australia and Canada to complete archival research on my dissertation.

Because I have benefited so profoundly from my University of California experience, my desire has always been to remain in California after I have completed my Ph.D. and to reinvest my education into the same system that made it possible. Unfortunately, if current trends continue, it will be economically unviable for me to pursue my teaching and research goals at a California community college, state school, or UC campus. In all likelihood, another state will receive the fruits of California’s decade-long investment in my education.

Although the particulars of my story are unique, hundreds of thousands of individuals will experience the repercussions of the state’s eroding support for higher public education. These individuals will not only face a decline in the quality of public education, but will also, in many cases, have to forfeit their opportunity for a UC education altogether. This situation is untenable.

While I appreciate the challenges we face as a state and the difficult budgetary decisions before the legislature, I firmly believe that slashing UC funding and moving toward a privatized system would be a disastrous move in both the short and long term. Please consider all possible alternatives to cutting funding to public education, including addressing and surmounting the flaws in the state’s tax structure. Now is not the time for half-measures. Please reinvest in the University of California system.

Sincerely,
Angela Hawk

University of California, Irvine