Earlier this month, UC Regents Chairman Gerald L. Parsky took a highly unusual, if not unprecedented, step: He wrote an open letter directly to all University employees to explain, in the spirit of “full disclosure,” how UC compensates its senior management.

In his Nov. 8 letter he also said he wanted to inform all employees that, as part of working for a public institution, their salaries, too, were open for anyone to see.

“While we are aware that some employees may regard this as an intrusion of (sic) their privacy,” Parsky wrote, “please remember that you are public employees working for a public institution--and as such, your compensation, under the California Public Records Act, is considered a public record.”

Citing additional staff and academic personnel policies that outline the “non-personal” information that can be released, upon request, about employees, Parsky said this disclosure was important to the Regents’ commitment “to openness and transparency.” As of Nov. 14, he wrote, employee compensation would be available in hard copy in each of the campus libraries, as well as at the Office of the President and in a Sacramento repository.

Parsky’s letter, which invites replies (send them to communications@ua.ucop.edu), can be seen in full at <http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compensation/payroll2005- 06/welcome.html>. It is part of the screen titled “Preliminary analysis of 2005-06 compensation ‘above base pay’.”