What Should UCLA Invest Its Scarce Funds In?

Some say we need a new hotel on campus but I say that we should focus on our core educational mission.  Invest in people not buildings.  If the hippies could levitate the Pentagon in 1967, then the mighty minds of UCLA will figure out how to keep our existing buildings from crumbling.   Have you read my paper with David Levinson called "Fix it First"?  In the case of U.S highways, we argue that money should be directed away from constructing new roads and be redirected to upkeep and maintenance of existing highly used infrastructure.  I am a consistent man. I feel that the same logic applies to UCLA.  The title of our paper is;  Fix it First! Expand it Second, Reward it Third!

Now, which people should UCLA invest in?  In this self review, the UCLA Math Department makes the case that they merit the funding.  There are some very smart dudes in that department who are sad that their FTE count has shrunk from 62 to 51.5 over the last few years.  They should be thankful.  The Economics Department's FTE Count may be under 40.  51.5 sounds like a big number to me!  I wonder who determines these numbers.  I would like to be "the decider".  

During a time of budget cuts, Departments compete for funds.  Through the Academic Senate Reports , each unit on campus gets to make its case for why they are great and merit more $. It makes interesting reading.