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  PRIYA SHARMA/Daily Bruin Chancellor Albert Carnesale speaks with the faculty at the James West Alumni Center in an annual town hall meeting held Wednesday.

By Robert Salonga

Daily Bruin Staff

Chancellor Albert Carnesale talked budget, campus security and academics with university staff during an annual town hall meeting Wednesday.

The meeting was sponsored by the UCLA Staff Assembly to update university staff workers on important campus developments that took place in the past year.

“For many, this was the first opportunity to hear the chancellor speak,” said David Miller, president-elect for the USA.

Speaking before more than 100 staff members at the James West Alumni Center, Carnesale first tackled the status of the UC’s state budget, which did not allow for cost of living adjustments to increase staff salaries proportionally to inflation. Instead, the staff received 1.5 percent merit increases based on the quality of job performance.

The UC had requested a $353 million increase in state funding from Gov. Gray Davis, but only received $182 million, Carnesale said. He rationalized the partially-fulfilled increases by pointing out that most state agencies either received no increases or received cuts instead.

Along budgetary lines, Carnesale addressed staff concerns about what he called a “soft” hiring freeze on Nov. 1 for all nonessential personnel to protect UCLA from the state’s economic downturn and gradual recovery.

“This is not a matter of crisis,” he said.

Carnesale said he instituted the hiring freeze “so that we won’t have to fire or lay off staff” the university may not be able to keep in the future. The freeze will not affect vital positions in academic departments and those under contractual obligations.

The chancellor then proceeded to talk about campus safety issues post-Sept. 11.

“We were far better prepared than other universities because we’re prepared for earthquakes,” he said.

Carnesale said he was impressed by UCLA’s emergency preparedness, joking that the biggest emergency he faced when he was a Harvard provost was “whether to cancel classes for snow.”

But he also explained the task of balancing people’s concerns with precautionary measures.

“We don’t want to turn into an armed campus,” Carnesale said. “We don’t want to sacrifice everything we stand for just to feel a little more secure.”

The chancellor also gave an update on the search for successors to the post of executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor for student affairs – previously held by Wyatt Rory Hume and Winston Doby, respectively.

Hume will leave UCLA this July to head the University of New South Wales, Australia, and Doby took over the helm of UC Vice President of Educational Outreach earlier this month.

Carnesale said he has formed an advisory group to help him select the next EVC. He said that it would be someone already working in the UC.

“It’s valuable for the person to have UC experience,” he said.

The search for Doby’s replacement will be difficult because he held the position for 19 years, Carnesale said.

A search committee for the successor to outgoing Athletic Director Peter Dalis has also been formed, the chancellor said.

Many staff members expressed appreciation toward the chancellor for speaking to them, but some still had questions left unanswered.

“I would have liked to ask him about what kind of staff involvement should be in the search process (for vice chancellors),” said Susan Townsley, office manger in the graduate division.

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