Year: 2012

new hotel-conference center | UCLA

Second Coming of the Hotel/Conference Center Business Plan
Byuclafaculty February 10, 2012

Readers of this blog will know that the hotel/conference center business plan originally released when the structure was planned to replace the Faculty Center did not make sense. Since then, although UCLA has released conceptual hints about the hotel design and plan, no actual plan has been produced. Below is what appears to be the schedule for the second coming of the business plan and other elements of the proposal: March 27: Plan goes to the Regents for Budget Review. So far, the business plan is apparently still in preparation (!) and so it has not been released to…

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miscellaneous | UCLA

UCLA History: Level Parking
Byuclafaculty February 9, 2012

Parking in the pre-parking structure age on the UCLA campus (1961).

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Japanese Garden | UCLA

Letters Arriving on Proposed UCLA Japanese Garden Sale
Byuclafaculty February 9, 2012

Click on the letter to enlarge it. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltbDNbmCnGc&w=320&h=195]

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pension | pensions | politics | ucrp

Anti-Pension Group Admits it Has No Money for its Ballot Initiatives
Byuclafaculty February 9, 2012

A group pushing ballot initiatives that would have swept UC into a statewide pension formula turns out to have no money for signature gathering. Excerpt: A conservative group announced Wednesday that it was suspending its campaign to put public employee pension reform on the November ballot. Dan Pellissier, president of California Pension Reform, said his group could not raise enough money to mount a petition-signature drive. A successful drive typically requires at least $2 million… “California Pension Reform is suspending its effort to qualify an initiative for the 2012 ballot after determining that the attorney general’s false and misleading title and…

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community colleges | CSU | governor | LAO | pension | pensions | politics | State Contribution | UC | ucrp

LAO Report on Higher Ed Contains Significant Pension Recommendations
Byuclafaculty February 9, 2012

The state’s Legislative Analyst has released a lengthy report on funding higher education which covers UC, CSU, and the community colleges (as well as CalGrants). The report is essentially a response to the governor’s January budget proposal with regard to higher ed. Generally, the report tends to disagree with the governor’s approach which the Legislative Analyst views as giving too much autonomy to UC and the other segments with regard to enrollment and other matters. On the other hand, it documents the trend towards reduced state funding and thus seems to continue the pay-less/say-more approach which is odd on its…

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governor | pension | pensions | politics | State Contribution | ucrp

More History Lessons (from Faculty Association Chair Dwight Read)
Byuclafaculty February 8, 2012

As Chair of the Faculty Association at UCLA, I would like to emphasize again the point that was made in the Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 Blog on this site, “Plenty of Nothing.” The Governor wrote in his proposed budget: “The University of California (UC) will receive an increase of $90 million from the General Fund for base operating costs, which can be used to address costs related to retirement program contributions.” The main purpose of the public employee retirement law (PERL), passed in 1931, was to separate pension funding from all other kinds of funding. Early on, the state recognized that…

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CSU | politics | tuition | UC

UC Tuition: His Way or the Conway?
Byuclafaculty February 8, 2012

The photo shows Assembly Speaker John Pérez talking to GOP minority leader Connie Conway. Given the excerpt below from today’s online San Francisco Chronicle, let’s hope he is being super-persuasive. ==============Excerpt: California students from middle-income families would receive massive breaks on tuition and fees at the state’s colleges and universities under legislation Assembly Speaker John Pérez plans to introduce today at the Capitol. Under the plan, undergraduate students from families with household income of less than $150,000 would have their tuition and fees cut by two-thirds, bringing the cost below what it was nearly a decade ago. It would amount…

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Japanese Garden | UC Regents | UCLA

Regents’ Court Petition to Allow Sale of UCLA Japanese Garden
Byuclafaculty February 7, 2012

As readers of this blog know, we have been posting documents related to UCLA’s proposed sale of the Japanese Garden. The university’s ownership of the garden followed from a donation by Regent Edward Carter in the 1960s. Carter’s wealth arose from his department stores. You can see his signature on the stock certificate from Broadway-Hale and later one from Carter-Hawley-Hale. The donation by Carter was modified by an agreement in the early 1980s. However, because the sequence of agreements required that the university maintain the garden in perpetuity, once UCLA determined to sell the garden, it had to go to…

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faculty pay | fund raising | Japanese Garden | tuition | UCLA

The 2009 “Toolbox” Report and the Japanese Garden (& Other Issues)
Byuclafaculty February 7, 2012

Given the ongoing budget crisis, UCLA formed a task force to look at various revenue-generating options. The report of the task force is dated April 24, 2009. Among the possibilities considered was the sale of various properties including the Japanese Garden. The report indicates that consultations with the state Attorney General were underway well before the 2010 court decision that permitted the sale, even though it was inconsistent with the existing terms of the donation.The report explores other areas such as faculty pay, fund raising, “branding,” and tuition. You can read the full report at the link below (scroll towards…

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new hotel-conference center | UCLA

We’re still waiting for the hotel business plan
Byuclafaculty February 6, 2012

The UCLA Faculty Association requested the hotel/conference center business plan documentation a long time ago under the state’s Public Records Act. Time seems to go by so slowly in Murphy Hall:

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