UC Davis looks at 'alternative' ways of saving money to ease budget crisis

You'd have to be living with your head under a rock to not know about the perilous state of the Californian economy at the moment. Somehow our beloved Golden state finds itself with that not-inconsiderable shortfall of $24 billion. That's going to take more than a bake sale to raise that kind of moolah.

And from our own - some could say selfish - perspective, we know that what is bad for the Californian economy could be very bad for the Davis economy. That's because the easiest areas to target for additional budget cuts are schools and the wider education system. UC Davis recently hinted that this is going to be a very tough year for everyone associated with the university, with some very tough decisions needing to be made.

At the moment, no firm resolutions have been made as to how UC Davis is going to save money (beyond the raft of measures already in place to deal with the last round of budget cuts). Pay cuts and furloughs are the two most likely means. But let us not forget, that UC Davis has some very clever people, some of whom have been tasked with coming up with - how shall we put this - alternative means of cutting expenditure.

A source, who will remain unnamed, has revealed details to me of a range of possible measures that have at least been discussed by the powers that be. Once again I have to stress that none of these measures are yet confirmed, and they may all just be examples of 'blue sky thinking', but I think the suggestions for saving money are great examples of why I love Davis so much. The following are five of the more surreal suggestions from the the full list (my comments are in italics)

1. In the winter months, UC Davis could switch to an earlier work schedule to maximize the available daylight hours and therefore save money on lighting and heating (would this mean that we get to be in our own time zone?)
2. To combat the rising cost of water, the campus could reduce the frequency of sprinklers and additionally disconnect supplies to all drinking fountains (wait a minute, you mean drinking water would no longer be free? What would we drink?)
3. Additional revenue streams to be developed from existing infrastructure. Venues such as the Gunrock pub could move to being a full-service bar throughout the evening rather than closing at 2:00 pm (oh I see, we drink beer to save the university...sounds good to me)
4.  The organizers of the UC Davis Picnic Day could be asked whether it would be possible to charge a small entrance fee for all visitors, perhaps $10? (are you out of your freakin' mind? Still that would make a cool million bucks) 
5.  Staff and students could be encouraged to bring their own toilet tissue to campus in order to eliminate this large expense from the annual budget (whoa, steady boy! Is this really a large expense? If this idea goes ahead then UC Davis - like the toilet tissue - will really be going down the pan). 

What do you think about these ideas? I know that desperate times call for desperate measures, but surely we are not that desperate, well not yet anyway.

Comments

[Kristi]

We were advised on Monday that furloughs are a real possibility. But nothing definite yet.