Year: 2012

  • Gubernatorial Indecision

    Byuclafaculty

    A news report dated June 20 suggests that the governor is having trouble deciding whether or not to sign the budget the legislature sent him June 15 without his agreement. He could sign it but exercise his line-item veto power to reduce spending.  Were he to veto it as occurred last year, the consequence would be uncertain.  Last year, the state controller ruled that the legislature had not complied – on technical grounds – with the requirement to pass a budget on June 15 and thus would not be paid for each day without doing so. That step created an…

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    Just in Time: Governor’s Tax Measure Qualifies for November

    Byuclafaculty

    There was always a bit of doubt that the governor’s tax initiative would qualify – or qualify in time – for the November ballot. His original initiative – which had somewhat less income tax and somewhat more sales tax than the current version – began to be circulated (by paid circulators). But the California Teachers Assn. was pushing a different initiative and eventually a deal was cut that CTA would drop its campaign in exchange for a revision of Brown’s initiative with more income tax and less sales tax. However, that deal was made late in the game and signature…

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    Forecast Lessons from the Past and for the Present

    Byuclafaculty

    Earlier today, the UCLA Anderson Forecast conference presented its quarterly projections of the U.S. and California economies.  No surprises.  There was a continued forecast (from earlier conferences) of sluggish growth with years to go before what can be truly seen as a return to “normal” occurs.  You can find a media write up at: http://business-news.thestreet.com/daily-news/story/ucla-forecast-economy-lag-3-more-years-high-unemployment-slow-growth-impede-progress/1 An official media release from the Forecast is at:http://uclaforecast.com/contents/archive/2012/media_62012_1.asp The Forecast reminded me of two lessons that can be drawn from recent developments.  The first – from the past – is that there is an underlying problem in California which can be seen in two charts…

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    E-Mail Detectives at U-VA

    Byuclafaculty

    Inside Higher Ed and other sources have gotten hold of emails involving the University of Virginia growing brouhaha that developed when U-VA’s equivalent of the Regents fired the university’s president.  The vice chair (vice rector) of that board has now resigned.  See earlier posts on this blog. From Inside Higher Ed today:E-mail messages were flying among leaders of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia in the weeks leading up to the ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan as president of the university. The e-mail messages show that one reason board leaders wanted to move quickly was the belief…

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    How Long Does the Governor Have for His Budget Decision?

    Byuclafaculty

    The legislature passed (more or less) a budget on June 15.  As noted on this blog yesterday, we have not heard a peep from the governor whether he will sign it (probably with line-item vetoes) or veto it entirely.  Question: So when is the outer limit for the governor to make his decision?Answer: June 27.Meanwhile, if you turn on your television for news of the budget and don’t see anything, there is nothing wrong with your set:

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    Radio Interview with Mark Yudof on UC Funding

    Byuclafaculty

    You can listen to a radio interview on “Marketplace” aired earlier today with UC President Mark Yudof.  He spoke about a need for a new financial model for funding UC, although exactly what that model might be was not specified.——-You can hear the interview at the link below.  [The embed link on the Marketplace page seems not to work successfully on this blogsite.]

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    UC PR

    Byuclafaculty

    UCOP seems to have mounted a PR campaign through a website at:http://www.onwardcalifornia.com/ I noticed it as a banner ad on the LA Times website.  It loads rather slowly – or at least it did when I clicked on it – so maybe some better web design might be in order.  The actual message is rather vague.  Included is a YouTube video featuring presumably high school seniors signing on to UC websites and finding out that they were admitted.  The video was uploaded last Wednesday so I assume this campaign is relatively new.  The uploader left the “comment” option open and…

  • Etwas ist nicht ganz koscher

    Byuclafaculty

    An earlier post on this blog noted the surprise ouster of the president of the University of Virginia.  A report in Inside Higher Ed today indicates that the Board of Visitors (U-VA equivalent of the UC Regents) fired her because she allowed too much German to be taught.  “…One of the most specific disagreements between board members and Sullivan was their view that she ‘lacked the mettle to trim or shut down programs that couldn’t sustain themselves financially, such as obscure academic departments in classics and German.’  To faculty members and others at the university who have been puzzled and…

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    UCLA History: Update on Rodney King

    Byuclafaculty

    We posted the picture above on the blog during the recent 20th anniversary of the LA riots.  It shows students at UCLA gathering in the central plaza area after the Rodney King verdict.  With the death of Rodney King being reported today on the news, you might be interested in the two videos below.  The first is the “get along” interview – which is substantially more than the widely-quoted soundbite.  The second is an interview with King 18 years after the event. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgiR04ey7-M&w=320&h=195] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKWlBuENl6Y&w=320&h=195]