We can change it. We control our own future . The environment restricts or enhances our efforts. Education is becoming increasingly critical to society, economically and politically.
Education is too important to be left to academics.
We are already seeing unprecedented interference by Regents and legislators into areas previously the realm of academics, for example admissions policies. The State is using its budget power to direct UC programs into areas it judges to be of interest to the State s commerce, such as biotechnology, informatics. We are not going to be left alone to pursue our academic interests. We have an environment for education that includes active growing participation by other providers and increasing political control. Refusal to listen to their market has led to ceding that control to administrators in insurance companies and HMOs.