Year: 2014

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    They’ve Got Plenty of Something

    Byuclafaculty

    We continue our indirect coverage of the Regents.  Eventually – as promised – we will post the audio for posterity.  [The latest explanation I got for why the Regents post for only one year is that CSU does it that way.  Hard to see putting a QED after that.  As I have noted in past posts, my home city of Santa Monica posts indefinitely, so why not can’t the Regents do it that way?  Oh well!] Anyway, from today’s LA Times: The UC regents on Thursday hired an executive of a Canadian investment fund to be the chief manager of…

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    Issue Heating Up

    Byuclafaculty

    We noted in yesterday’s posting (in the update portion) on the Regents public comment session that there were spokespeople complaining about anti-Israel activities on UC campuses including course credit on one campus, pushes for divestment, etc.  Earlier postings noted statements by the UC prez and several chancellors (including Block) opposing an academic boycott of Israel by several academic societies.  Today, the LA Times reports: A group of lawmakers has formed the California Legislative Jewish Caucus to weigh in on issues of priority to members, including immigration, civil rights and Israel, according to its chairman, state Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego)… …

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    Whatever happened to the era of limits?

    Byuclafaculty

    In his first iteration as governor, back in the 1970s and early 1980s, Gov. Brown emphasized the “era of limits.”  Yesterday at the Regents, however, he apparently wanted to push those limits when it came to online education:  Jerry Brown pushes UC to find “outer limits” of online education …Sitting in on part of Wednesday’s meeting, Brown challenged regents to develop classes that require no “human intervention” and might expand the system’s reach beyond its student body.  “If this university can probe into” black holes, he said, “can’t somebody create a course — Spanish, calculus, whatever — totally online? That…

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    Something to Think About While Waiting for the Governor and Regents

    Byuclafaculty

    Snow at UCLA in 1932 The governor is due to give his State of the State address today.  What, if anything, he will say that might have a connection to UC and higher ed is unknown.  The Regents are also meeting today (and tomorrow). Inside Higher Ed today is running a list of average annual snowfalls (in inches) at selected universities.  So whatever happens at the State of the State or the Regents meeting (or if you have followed weather reports for other parts of the country today), remember that things could be worse: 1. Michigan Technological University: 2002. Syracuse…

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    UC Is Drying Up

    Byuclafaculty

    You’ve probably heard that Gov. Brown has declared a drought emergency.  So UC is there – Johnny on the spot – with a pledge to save water for the guv: University of California President Janet Napolitano today (Jan. 16) announced a goal of reducing per capita water use by 20 percent throughout the UC system by the year 2020.  As California experiences some of its driest weather on record, Napolitano said the university must step up and contribute to the preservation of the state’s most precious resource.  “The University of California has long been a leader in conservation efforts,” she…

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    What a DC Fly on the Wall Probably Didn’t Hear

    Byuclafaculty

    UC prez Napolitano attended her former boss’s conference on higher ed in DC last week.  From the LA Times: Obama encourages economic diversity in higher education:  The president and first lady are joined at a White House summit by others who have made commitments to help increase college accessibility for low-income students. California schools are well represented. More than 100 colleges and universities, including several in California, promised Thursday to try to attract more low-income students by strengthening relationships with high schools and community colleges, increasing access to advisors and offering more remedial programs… Each of the nine University of…

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    Let Me In, Please

    Byuclafaculty

    Apparently, freshman applications to UC are up significantly, especially to UCLA: …Once again, UCLA was the most popular choice in the system, garnering 86,472 freshman applications, up 7.5% from last year; next was UC Berkeley, 73,711; up 8.9%. San Diego was third with 73,437; Santa Barbara received 66,756; Irvine; 66,426; Davis, 60,496; Santa Cruz, 40,687; Riverside, 34,899; and Merced, 15,264… Latinos made up the largest share of UC frosh applicants who are California residents:  32.7%.  Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders made up 31.7% of that group; whites, 26.2%; African Americans, 5.9%. Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-applicants-20140117,0,3710326.story

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    Quake Response

    Byuclafaculty

    We noted in a prior post there would be increased attention to earthquake risks in LA around the 20th anniversary of the Jan. 27, 1994 Northridge quake.  One item that began to develop was an LA Times article indicating that various buildings were at risk in the LA area, even though they were thought safe when constructed.  One of the buildings in Westwood is owned by UCLA, which asserted that it had been upgraded.  It was also reported that a team of researchers at Berkeley had compiled a list of such buildings, but was not making the list available due…

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    Demographic Shift

    Byuclafaculty

    News accounts have focused on this chart in Gov. Brown’s recent budget proposal which shows the Latino/Hispanic state population exceeding the white-Anglo population by July.  That the shift would occur sometime this decade was obvious from the 2010 Census.  A news account indicates that the shift will occur in March.  Clearly, putting an exact date on the shift is not really possible.  But the change will definitely have occurred by the next Census.  (Official state estimates for the California population at the time of the 2010 Census were way off.  So interim estimates between Census years always have a significant…