Month: May 2012

  • Economic Disclosure

    Byuclafaculty

    The American Economic Association has published a new disclosure policy for authors of papers submitted to its various journals.  Although the policy was developed out of concerns that there may be at least the perception of potential hidden bias among economists absent such disclosures, the rules may be of interest to other academic disciplines. Highlights: American Economic Association Disclosure Policy (1) Every submitted article should state the sources of financial support for the particular research it describes. If none, that fact should be stated. (2) Each author of a submitted article should identify each interested party from whom he or…

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    More Ready, Fire, Aim from the Legislature (although UC was amended out)

    Byuclafaculty

    The pay cap bill described below passed the state senate yesterday. UC was amended out of the original version and – because of its constitutional autonomy – had been subject only to a suggestion. As in the recent tuition-cap bill cited in an earlier post, there is no recognition that rising student fees (said to be the motivation for the bill) are the result of actions by the legislature. Were this pay cap to be enacted, there would be blowback to UC, despite the exemption. An act to add and repeal Section 89517.5 of the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education,…

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    Former Chancellor Young Calls for Consideration of Birgeneau Campus Autonomy Proposal

    Byuclafaculty

    In an email to an organization of former UC chancellors and other officials, former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young calls for serious consideration of the Birgeneau proposals for greater campus autonomy within the UC system by UCOP and the Regents.  In a blog post yesterday, the paper by UC-Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau et al calling for such autonomy was reproduced along with a (negative) response to the paper by President Yudof. Among other changes, the paper proposed campus-level Boards of Trustees.  See:http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/05/we-know-view-from-berkeley-from-ucla.html The Young email also refers to long-term funding problems from the state he foresees and suggests that greater reliance on…

  • eReserves Controversy

    Byuclafaculty

    Inside Higher Ed today continues its coverage of the litigation on what is allowed in eReserves, i.e., readings placed online for students in courses.  A recent court decision allowed up to 10 percent of a book’s contents to be put online as “fair use.” University librarians generally supported the decision. Book publishers, notably university book publishers, were not happy.  It might be noted that the University of California press is one of the academic publishers that has membership in an organization of publishers that is among the unhappy and has issued a press release to that effect. Inside Higher Ed‘s…

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    We know the view from Berkeley. From UCLA?

    Byuclafaculty

    About a month ago, UC-Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and co-authors issued a report calling for more autonomy for the UC campuses.  Here is the abstract: The University of California (UC) needs to respond to the fundamental and ongoing changes that are occurring around it if it is to remain financially sustainable, accessible, and academically excellent. As the campuses that make up UC have matured in the past 50 years they have, rightly, developed unique strengths and challenges. The uniqueness of individual campuses has been a natural response to the increasing complexity of our world and the highly competitive nature of higher education. These differences have…

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    More Pay Less/Say More from the Legislature

    Byuclafaculty

    Say less or pay more A reporter from the Daily Bruin called my attention to the proposed state constitutional amendment that would cap the proportion of out-of-state admissions to UC.  The proposed amendment caps such admissions at 10% of total, on a campus-by-campus basis.  It would require a 2/3 vote to get to the ballot and that is very unlikely to happen and even less likely to happen in time for November 2012.  There is no quid pro quo in this amendment, i.e., so much money in exchange for the cap. The issue of out-of-state admissions has been raised in…

  • The Golden Mean

    Byuclafaculty

    Below is a cross-post from another site – the Employment Policy Research Network – for which yours truly also blogs.  You may have an interest in this item: ===================================== Mitchell’s Musings 5-21-12: The Golden Mean Daniel J.B. Mitchell California, the Golden State, has had well-publicized budget problems for years.  Its formal budget process consists of the governor proposing a budget in January for the upcoming fiscal year which begins July 1.  The legislature is supposed to enact a budget by June 15 and the governor is supposed to sign it, possibly with line-item vetoes, by June 30.  In fact, although…

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    LAO Report on the May Revise: UC Barely Exists

    Byuclafaculty

    The Legislative Analyst has issued its evaluation of the governor’s May Revise budget proposal. There is little of direct UC interest in the text. On the other hand, one would be hard put to find anything that would encourage the legislataure to “buy out” a tuition increase as the Regents wanted at their recent meeting.  There is nothing about UC pension obligations.  There might be a bit of relief for Cal Grant students at UC but even if so, the relief would come in future years. The LAO has suggestions for reframing parts of the budget which might free up…