HIGHER ED

Cuts Threaten Calif. Universities

Without new taxes, schools could be eliminated.

Widely respected as one of the country’s premier public-university systems, California’s schools are under siege. “I’d be lying if I said what we offer students hasn’t been changed and that there hasn’t been a degradation of the learning environment,” said Timothy White, chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. At the root of the trouble is California’s continuing budget woes, which may force the state to shutter programs or even entire schools if new tax increases aren’t improved to compensate. Despite rising matriculation numbers, schools are strapped when it comes to the resources they can offer those students. “We’re not cutting into muscle or tissue,” Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters, “We’re cutting into artery.”