Month: August 2013

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    Waiting for Sept. 10 and the Grand Hotel

    Byuclafaculty

    We have been posting pictures of working not being done at the (former) Ackerman bus turnaround and parking structure #6 since the area was closed off on July 8.  Yesterday was no exception as the photos below show.  No workers could be seen.  But the riddle of no-work can now be partly explained.  We are waiting for a grand groundbreaking for the Grand Hotel on Sept. 10, as indicated on the invitation towards the bottom. (Scroll down): A clearer version of the invitation can be viewed at the link below: Exactly why the bus turnaround and parking structure had to…

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    Where Time Doesn’t Stand Still

    Byuclafaculty

    Below are photos of four separate clocks in hallways on the same floor of a building on the north end of campus.  The photos were all taken within two minutes of each other.  None of the clocks show anywhere near the same time.  I won’t identify the building but perhaps someone with a knowledge of theoretical physics can explain the time discrepancy.  Didn’t Einstein say something about this phenomenon?  Well, maybe Einstein can’t help – according to the lyrics, anyway: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBwsKyMPyhw?feature=player_detailpage]Could we average the four clocks on the theory that no clock can be off by more than 12…

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    Tilt!

    Byuclafaculty

    Inside Higher Ed today runs a lengthy piece on a journal article concerning responses of whites to UC admissions criteria.  Specifically, whites in California are less likely to favor objective measures such as test scores for admission – criteria seemingly free of bias and identified as meritocratic – when it is pointed out that Asians do particularly well on such criteria.  Whites “primed” with the Asian performance results then tilt toward using fuzzier concepts such as “leadership” as criteria for admissions. You can find the piece at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/13/white-definitions-merit-and-admissions-change-when-they-think-about-asian-americans. The underlying journal article is at http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/670664. Which only goes to show:

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    State Came Up Short This Month

    Byuclafaculty

    The state controller’s statement for July, the first month of the 2013-14 fiscal year, reports that revenues were roughly $300 million below estimates in the state budget.  Most of that gap was due to personal income tax net receipts.  As blog readers will know, there is a lot of volatility and uncertainty involved in income tax receipts.  A windfall came in around New Years which may have had to do with people taking capital gains or otherwise advancing income into the prior tax year trying to anticipate “fiscal cliff” developments.  So it may be that there will be less income…

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    Listen to the Special Regents Meeting of Aug. 8, 2013

    Byuclafaculty

    A special meeting of the UC-Regents was held by teleconference to approve the appointment and compensation of incoming Riverside chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, formerly provost at Michigan State U.  There were no public comments made by non-regents at this session, although time was available for such comments.  Governor Brown voted “no” on the compensation package which included an 8.9% raise in salary relative to the previous chancellor.  He cited concerns about growing income inequality in society, the fact that there were chancellors on other campuses who were paid less, and the labor dispute with AFSCME.  Lt. Gov. Newsom also voted…

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    UCLA History: Early Need for Bridge

    Byuclafaculty

    We have featured photo/scans from the 1937 book “California of the Southland” published back then by the UCLA alumni assn. The book notes that the bridge in central campus over the ravine had to be built early as the initial campus construction got underway to facilitate transport of needed materials.  The ravine was later filled in but the bridge remains, although it appears to be an ordinary surface road. 

  • No So Free

    Byuclafaculty

    Apparently, not in this case From Inside Higher Ed comes the story of the intern who worked for free at UC-SF, and then didn’t. A former doctoral student who worked as a psychology intern at the University of California, San Francisco was awarded more than $14,000 in back wages after filing a complaint with the California labor commissioner over uncompensated work… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/08/09/former-intern-wins-back-wages-university The article links to a longer story at http://www.ibtimes.com/internship-debate-spills-public-sector-university-california-san-francisco-ordered-pay-back-wages On the other hand, the new chancellor at UC-Riverside won’t work for free over the objections of Governor Brown:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-riverside-20130809,0,942774.story  Background at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/past-meetings/approved-actions.html#aa-aug13

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    Who’s Behind the Temporarily Dead MOOC Bill?

    Byuclafaculty

    Readers of this blog already know that the bill sponsored by state senate president Darrell Steinberg that would have required MOOCs at UC, CSU, and the community colleges is dead (for now). What is interesting is how that bill is being seen in Sacramento: A bill backed by Coursera, a high-flying online education company, that would extend academic credit opportunities for California public university students is likely to be put on hold, the bill author’s office says.The Senate sent SB 520 by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, to the Assembly in May over the opposition of teachers’ unions and higher…

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    Sacramento Bee Slams UC Pay & Perks

    Byuclafaculty

    The Sacramento Bee has complaints about UC administrator pay and travel expenses.  (Of course, we never read in the Bee about pay and travel expenses of the Bee‘s employees or executives – or those of its parent company – which are not available online or through public records requests.)  You can read the Bee‘s editorial at http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/07/5629077/uc-cant-gripe-about-cuts-while.html