The 20th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake will be arriving this coming Friday. These photos appear in the volume “UCLA: The First Century” and show damage to a dorm room (top) and post-quake repairs to Royce Hall (bottom). Royce was closed for an extended period after the quake while repairs were made.
Visited the Grand Hotel site after an intersession hiatus. So far, the Grand Hotel seems to be mainly a Grand Hole where some remnants of parking structure #6 remain. It is a big Hole, however, and you could pour a lot of money into it. Not to worry, though. Even though the Grand Hotel will cost over three times the donation that is paying for it, the business plan, we are assured by the powers-that-be, will eventually make us – well – wHole.
Faculty should have received the email from Chancellor Block below regarding public documents requests for such things as emails. The statement is good. The two links provided are also useful. But when you get through reading them, you should still regard virtually anything you email or write as potentially a public document. Yes, various exemptions exist. But there are gray areas. In addition, an email you sent to someone else at another public institution – maybe in another state – might be made public there. Even if you deleted it, the recipient may have it. That is the reality.============ Dear…
The rule is clear But as for enforcement… …that might be difficult. (Location on Westwood Plaza near the parking kiosk.)
The state controller has issued a cash report that more revenue to the tune of about $2.5 billion arrived in the first six months of 2013-14 than was projected in the budget last June. Blog readers will recall that the governor insisted on conservative projections of revenue. Note that the really big revenues will arrive around (income) tax time in April. If you looked at the reserve in the general fund at the moment, as seen by the controller, it is negative $18.3 billion, covered by internal and external borrowing. As many have noted, California is heavily dependent on the…
We noted in prior posts that there were some leaks of the governor’s proposed budget for 2014-15, which was supposed to be unveiled on Friday. The leaks turned into a flood of Biblical proportions when first the Sacramento Bee published some summary information about the budget yesterday, said to come from the actual budget that the Bee had obtained somehow. Then what appeared to be the budget “summary” – actually a document of 271 pages – appeared online. And then it was announced that the official unveiling would be today at 9 AM instead of tomorrow, confirming that what was…
The governor is to propose his budget for 2014-15 this coming Friday. And although the budget is baked by now, this headline from the LA Now blog of the LA Times can’t hurt as the budget process proceeds between now and June. The guv loves online ed and he can’t give the money to USC. But UCLA would be happy to receive it. Full article at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-college-online-20140107,0,7388397.story Nothing like being the top:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc7152gQK-U?feature=player_detailpage]
Hey! Let’s rebuild the old stadium! Sorry to mix metaphors. But Inside Higher Ed today has a long story on Berkeley athletics which have recently been in the news for low graduation rates and problems in funding a stadium upgrade. A white paper from the Berkeley Center for the Study of Higher Education suggests that the program is running as an autonomous and relatively uncontrolled business operation. It is written by a former vice chancellor – who can now tell all -and a Berkeley grad student. See http://cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS.CSHE_.12.13.Cummins%26Hextrum.CalAthletics.1.6.2014.pdf and http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/08/highlighting-berkeley-paper-explores-academic-damage-expanding-independent-athletics The issue is whether control can be retaken or whether…
Proponents of the proposed pension/retiree health care initiative (that would cover UC) were afraid the attorney general would come up with a nasty title and summary. It doesn’t seem to have happened, however. Other than the references to teachers, nurses, and peace officers (the public’s favorite public employees), it is pretty neutral. To the extent there is mention of costs, the references come from the earlier Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report. Below is the title and summary: January 6, 2014 Initiative 13-0043 The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points…
The Contra Costa Times ran an interview with UC president Napolitano that was published yesterday. But apparently the interview occurred in late 2013. Here are the questions:Q: One of your first proposals was to make tuition rates more predictable. What might that look like? Q: At the last UC regents meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said UC had slim chances of securing additional state funding, with all of the competing needs in Sacramento. What did you make of that? Q: Were you surprised by the low graduation rates for some student-athletes at Cal? (UC Berkeley’s football team had the lowest graduation…
