Will Parrish and Darwin Bond-Graham have written an excellent article, originally written for the Anderson Valley Advertiser and reposted on counterpunch, entitled Who Runs the University of California ?. It details the ways in which the regents of the UC system are directly implicated in various finance and construction deals with the system for their own material benefit. One of the many downright heinous findings in the article:

An even more damning revelation was made public this past October when UC Santa Cruz Professor Bob Meister published his scathing analysis of the UC administration’s use of student tuition dollars as collateral for construction bond debts. In addition to his PhD in economics, Meister serves as Chairman of the Council of University Faculties—essentially, a faculty union with representatives on all 10 of the university’s campuses. He knows what he’s talking about. According to the Regents’ own data and policy documents, the primary use of student fee revenue since 2004 has been as collateral for bonds to fund campus construction projects. In this “modified credit swap,” students are forced to take out “subprime” student loans, often charging six percent interest, so the university can borrow money at a reduced rate to construct new facilities like—to take one example — the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley, which UC Regent Richard C. Blum’s own construction company, URS Corporation, was contracted by the university to build.

Copyleft, with restrictions, 2009–2010

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