Caldwell: Guest Opinion: Henry the First

I am Henry the first, I am! The first chancellor, that is, in the UC system to call for divestment in fossil fuels. After a three-day sit-in, Henry the First (aka UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang) caved to student demands to lobby the UC system to no longer invest their pension funds in fossil fuels.

No surprise here, that the leader of a public university that is losing money, hand over fist, would miss the opportunity for a teachable moment to the same students who have been protesting tuition and fee increases. This is, of course, the same university system that took what is called a pension holiday for 20 years. What does that mean? Well, several years ago, the bevy of Ph.D. scholars who run the UC system figured that the stock market was going so strong that nobody, I mean nobody, neither the faculty members themselves nor the state, needed to invest any more money into the portfolio. The result? The UC system suffered a $20 billion pension shortfall.

Oh, and did I mention that UC professors can retire at age 50, just like people engaged in deadly, arduous professions, like soldiers, cops and firefighters? These are the reasons the UC system has been hiking up tuition fees. Well, that, plus the $175 million the state auditor’s office discovered UC President Janet Napolitano was hiding off the books. But, hey Henry the First, don’t be the first to tell students that.

Another reason the UC system is broke has to do with the historic means by which capital projects were financed. You guessed it. Back in the day, when leaders of academic institutions respected financial realities, they were grateful for the oil industry’s presence in our coastal waters. For, the fact of the matter is, the oil in our coastal waters belongs to the taxpayers and the state Legislature devoted 100 percent of these revenues to the UC system in order to build our campuses.

This reminds me of the time Mobil Oil offered UCSB an extra cut of the royalties, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, to use some campus property for the Clearview Project. The university turned them down in a not-so-gracious manner. And why not? They can always ask the students, the parents and the taxpayers for the money to make up the difference.

Perhaps Henry the First didn’t use this as a teachable moment because he didn’t want to contradict his faculty member who teaches that we must end capitalism to save the planet from global warming. As this professor figures, capitalism is based on consumerism, and consumerism is driving the industrial production that emits greenhouse gases. In some ways the professor is right; however, what alternative to consumerism and capitalism works in the real world?

Ultimately, these eggheads won’t have to pay for any bone-headed decision they make. You will. That is, unless and until alumni and foundations divest from UC Santa Barbara.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and host of The Andy Caldwell Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m., on News-Press Radio AM 1290.