Month: June 2012

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    Maybe the New Guy Will Take a New Look at the UCLA Hotel Project

    Byuclafaculty

    From the LA Daily News: Kelly Schmader, an engineer who’s headed LAUSD’s Facilities Division for two years, is leaving his $218,000-a-year post to take the top facilities job at UCLA.  In a phone interview Friday, Schmader described his move to the University of California Los Angeles as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” “I’ve always wanted to work in higher education, and a prestigious place like UCLA – as an engineer, I couldn’t pass it up,” Schmader said… Full story at http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_20866656/lausd-facilities-chief-resigning-take-job-at-ucla It’s time to scale the grand hotel back. Kelly Schmader! You can just hear this project cry out for a…

  • More Than Budget: UC Opposes Bill Related to Collective Bargaining of RAs on Its Promotional Website

    Byuclafaculty

    To the left is a partial screenshot of a page from the “UC for California” website http://www.ucforcalifornia.org.  The site has a page urging readers to oppose a bill related to collective bargaining for graduate research assistants.  It is being promoted by a mass emailing coming from advocacy@support.ucla.edu.  This step appears to be a departure from the earlier use of the website aimed primarily at budget issues for UC and support of efforts to increase state budget allocations for the university. The webpage on the left, by the way, doesn’t seem to work properly in Chrome.  I had to use Firefox to get…

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    More Catching Up: Academic Freedom Cases

    Byuclafaculty

    In the prior post on this blog, we caught up with the Anderson self-support model. There is also some catching up to do on academic freedom cases. As a prior post noted, a med school faculty member at UC-Davis (who was once at UCLA) was threatened for an op ed he wrote suggesting that PSA screening was being over-promoted.  The PSA to which he referred was not any of the items to the upper left but the test used for detecting prostate cancer.  The LA Times reports that the Davis “Representative Assembly” (Legislative Assembly) voted unanimously to condemn that action….

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    Catching Up: Radio Interview on Anderson MBA Self Support

    Byuclafaculty

    This past Monday, Dean Judy Olian of the UCLA Anderson School of Management was interviewed on KCRW’s Warren Olney on the program “Which Way LA?” concerning the vote of the Legislative Assembly to endorse the plan of moving the regular MBA to a “self support” model.  Also interviewed was Prof. Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University.  Prof. Carnevale opposed the move, mainly on the grounds that privatization represents a shift in philosophy from public support for higher ed.  At one point Prof. Carnevale suggested that if Anderson was privatized, it should pay taxes like other private enterprises.  I do have to…

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    We’re Number One!

    Byuclafaculty

    We have noted the impending situation on Wilshire at the 405 in which various ramps to the freeway will be closed for construction for extended periods starting this summer. (See earlier posts.)  A group called INRIX rates congested areas and the 405 adjacent to UCLA has moved from #2 to #1 in the nation, outdoing the Long Island Expressway. That’s the afternoon.  The 405 coming south towards UCLA is #7 in the morning.See http://scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard/uscorridors.asp (Thanks to Bette Billet for passing along this item of good cheer.) What happened to the good old days?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip_pjb5_fgA&w=320&h=195] UPDATE: Sepulveda closed tonight and tomorrow night starting…

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    Reports that the Dems and the Governor are Closing in on a Budget Deal

    Byuclafaculty

    There are news reports that the legislative Democrats think they are closing on a budget deal with the governor – presumably by the Friday deadline.  The governor has been more guarded in his statements. As a prior blog post noted, there is little cash impact on UC’s budget one way or the other.  But the legislature has refused to go along with anything that limits its discretion with regard to UC and explicitly rejects the long-term funding notion that UCOP and the governor have been discussing.  The legislature is less harsh than the governor when it comes to Cal Grants…

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    Follow the Leader? Will UC Follow CalPERS on Health Costs?

    Byuclafaculty

    From the Sacramento Bee: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System plans to raise health care premiums to its members by an average of nearly 10 percent next year, one of the biggest increases in recent years. The increase of 9.6 percent would be more than twice as big as the rate hike that took effect for this year. It would have significant implications for health care affordability in California and beyond. CalPERS is a major purchaser of health insurance; it covers nearly 1.3 million public employees, retirees and their family members… “Wow – that’s pretty high,” said Joanne Spetz, an…

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    Who Goes There? Wilshire and the I-405

    Byuclafaculty

    Just a reminder that bad things are soon to happen at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and the I-405 with various ramp closures, the first of which start June 22nd and continue for three months. From Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky:  …Similar ramp closures between two weeks and three months are also planned for the remaining six ramps.  The schedule for those ramp closures will be announced at a later date, but the contractor has to finish all of this work by next year. As many of you know, the Wilshire/405 interchange is where the nation’s busiest boulevard meets the nation’s busiest freeway….

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    Ménage à Trois Budget Negotiations Reveal Pluses and Minuses for UC

    Byuclafaculty

    Legislative Democrats have released a version on the 2012-13 budget that differs from the governor’s May Revise, mainly in featuring lesser cuts to social welfare programs and a smaller reserve projected for the general fund a year from now (June 30, 2013).  This release is part of a negotiation process between legislative Dems and the governor, partly in the media and partly behind closed doors.  Because a simple majority can pass a budget under rules approved by voters in 2010, the GOP is effectively not part of the negotiations. Back in the day when a two-thirds vote was required, budget…

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    Sacramento surprise!

    Byuclafaculty

    Last year, the legislature, after some dramatic moments described in an earlier post, passed a budget with phantom revenue of an extra $4 billion. This added revenue, above and beyond what was forecast for any particular tax, was assumed to materialize somewhere – although no one could specify where. Today, the state controller has issued his cash statement for the first eleven months of this fiscal year and it appears that revenues so far are short by – you’ll never guess! – $4 billion compared to the budget passed last June. Must be a coincidence. In any case, you can…