Members of a state Senate budget subcommittee Monday questioned the wisdom of opening UC Merced when the state is facing a $35 billion budget deficit.
Why hire faculty when no classes are being held? What are the 139 employees, including five vice chancellors, doing?

"The painful discussions that are going on in this building are just terrible," said Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasa- dena, subcommittee chairman. "We're doing triage around here ."

Scott said he does not question the importance of the University of California at Merced, and no one is talking about abolishing it.

While no recommendations came out of Monday's meeting, subcommittee members asked UC officials about potential savings if the opening is delayed a year.

The campus originally was slated to open in fall 2005 with about 1,000 students. As part of Gov. Davis' 2000-01 budget, the administration requested that the opening date be moved up to fall 2004.

The university has been rushing to meet that date, and officials say they are on track to open with the first 1,000 students in August 2004.

Construction of the campus's first buildings has begun, and its first eight faculty members were hired last month. Officials anticipate that a total of 25 faculty member will be on board by July 1 and that number will grow to 60 by opening day.

"I think the haste in opening it up was due to the election frankly," said Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose.

Sona Nagar of the legislative analyst's office said it is important to note, that assuming no new hires as of July 1, the net savings from delaying the opening would be just $1.85 million.

The savings would be closer to $4 million in fiscal year 2003-04, said Larry Salinas, director of government relations. The next year, the delay would cost the UC $2 million because the students would not be there to offset the cost of on-campus housing, he said.

Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey outlined the importance of the campus to the Central Valley.

She pointed out that the region is expected to grow at double the pace of the rest of state over the next 20 years.

Compared with the rest of the state, she said, the valley has about double the unemployment and about half the college graduates. And, she said, incomes are lower and poverty is higher.

"From the very beginning we have thought of UC Merced as an economic engine for the area," Tomlinson-Keasey said.

Employees are working "tirelessly" to get student services, from technology and health care to career counseling and student employment, ready for opening day, Tomlinson-Keasey said. Also, it takes time for new fac- ulty members to put their curriculum in place, she said.

"It's not just as easy as grabbing something off the shelf," she said. The university plans to open with six majors.

With students possibly being shut out of community colleges, Scott said, "it seems like the priorities are a little strange here."

Tomlinson-Keasey said delaying the opening date would only prolong the start-up period, which is the most expensive.

"The sooner we get students, the sooner your investment starts to pay off," she said.

She added that the campus will change thousands of lives and change the lives of generations of people in the valley.

The governor's budget pro- poses to augment expenditures for UC Merced by $11.3 million, bringing total funding in 2003-04 to about $38 million. Of this $21 million is related to start-up costs and about $16 million is related to planning and constructing new buildings.