UC Faculty cook their own goose

From UCLA Today:

UC faculty and staff rank post-employment benefits as the top reason they stay at UC, according to surveys taken in February by a task force that will recommend ways to sustain the fiscal health of the pension plan and retiree health benefits program in the future. Their recommendations will go to UC President Mark Yudof in June, and the UC regents will begin discussing Yudof's recommendations in July.

Although 80 percent of surveyed employees expressed high satisfaction with UC retirement benefits and 69 percent placed them at a high value in relation to cash, keeping the status quo will not address financial realities, the Post-Employment Benefits Task Force told close to 200 employees and retirees attending one of 30 forums being held systemwide. The UCLA event was held Tuesday, April 6, at the Faculty Center. The survey also showed that 73 percent of those polled said they plan on staying 20-plus years with UC.

Had UC and its employees not taken a 20-year holiday from making contributions to the plan, said Gary Schlimgen, director of UC pension and retirement programs, "we would not be underfunded today."

Looking back it is clear that California taxpayers had no intention of paying these innumerate fools. But fuzzy headed thinking among our UC faculty is a good reason to think they are a waste of money.