Author: admin

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    That Feels Sooo Good

    Byadmin

    The governor has signed legislation that does everything about tuition other than allocate money to stop it from rising.  It is (sort of) voluntary for the Regents and UC. And it feels so good. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST AB 970, Fong. University of California and California State University: systemwide student fees. Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth the missions and functions of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. The California State University, which is governed by the Trustees of the California State University (trustees), and the University of California, which is governed by…

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    How Jerry Brown Views Higher Ed

    Byadmin

    If you are wondering what Governor Brown thinks about higher ed, you might be interested in the excerpt below from the transcript of an interview with the LA Times which appeared on the web on 9-24-12: …So here’s an interesting point. This is Page Smith. He was in the history department in Santa Cruz. You went to Santa Cruz. Do you remember Page Smith? Well, he was one of the original guys. He kind of left in disgust when they started going more conventional. His wife I made the first head of the arts council and I got to know…

  • Say Again How This Is Going to Work

    Byadmin

    Gov. Brown has signed the law on universities and social media.  As a prior blog post pointed out, it is unclear how subsections (a) and (c) in section (2) of the law fit together.  See the text below:=====<!–[if !mso]>st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–> SB 1349, Yee. Social media privacy: postsecondary education. Existing law establishes and sets forth the missions and functions of the public and independent institutions of postsecondary education in the state. This bill would prohibit public and private postsecondary educational institutions, and their employees and representatives, from requiring or requesting a student, prospective student, or student group to disclose, access,…

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    Will Prop 30 Pass the Voters’ Test?

    Byadmin

    As prior posts on this blog have noted, Proposition 30, the governor’s tax initiative endorsed by the Regents, is polling marginally ahead. But it does not have a comfortable lead and the campaign is really just starting.  So will it lose its marginal lead, thus causing trigger cuts to UC? Ethan Rarick, California Fellow at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC-Berkeley, does some analysis of past initiatives and concludes that the answer is – TA TA! – maybe yes/ maybe no.  Non-tax initiatives at this point in the campaign with poll numbers in the range of Prop 30’s do…

  • A Cool Million for Pepper

    Byadmin

    NPR is reporting that the settlement in the UC-Davis pepper spray case was a cool $1 million. See http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/26/161839245/uc-oks-1-million-settlement-in-pepper-spray-suit Update: Detail from the Sacramento Bee at:http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/09/pepper-spray-settlement-about-1-million.html

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    Listen to Regents Investment Committee: 9-25-12

    Byadmin

    The Regents Committee on Investments met on Sept. 25, 2012 to review investment strategies regarding the general UC endowment and the pension fund.  There was also a review of campus foundation investment policies and results.  Generally, the staff presentations involved requests to lift various constraints on investments.  Much of the explanation was that if we had more flexibility, we could have higher returns.  At one point, the presentation seemed to say that if we are constrained to emulate the benchmarks, we can’t out-perform the benchmarks.  That proposition is true, of course.  But you can’t underperform either.  If you listen to…

  • A Real Downer

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today has a feature story on falling SAT scores.  There has been a long-term decline over the past 20 years since the test was change, the report indicates:…College Board officials have long cautioned against reading too much into a one-point gain or one-point drop in a given year, but over the years since the new SAT was introduced, the average total score has fallen by 20 points, and scores have fallen in all three categories…A chart from the article is below.  The full article – which also has data by race.ethnicity – is at:http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/25/sat-scores-are-down-and-racial-gaps-remain Watch where you…

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    Rival Initiative Campaign

    Byadmin

    As readers of this blog will know, although there are three tax propositions on the ballot, two are essentially rivals.  The governor put Prop 30 on the ballot, a combination of income and sales taxes, which has been endorsed by the Regents.  Prop 38, which is an income tax increase earmarked more directly for local schools, is supported by a wealthy backer, Molly Munger.  Prop 38 hasn’t polled well but Munger is putting money into its campaign. Prop 30 has been showing a marginal majority in recent polls.  The concern among Prop 30 supporters is that the campaign for 38…

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    From Metro on “Closure II” This Coming Weekend

    Byadmin

    Excerpt from the Metro website: The demolition of the north side of Mulholland Dr Bridge has been scheduled for Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, 2012. As with the demolition of the south side of the 608-foot-long bridge, the I-405 through the Sepulveda Pass will be closed in both directions that weekend to allow for demolition.  As with the south side demolition, Metro and Caltrans are concerned that closing the freeway will result in severe congestion on the I-405 and adjoining freeways, perhaps effecting [sic] freeways throughout the region. Motorists throughout the State of California are asked to “Plan…

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    UCOP’s Equalization Plan Will Likely Have the Opposite Effect in the Long Run

    Byadmin

    …and the folks at UCOP probably know it. The Daily Bruin is running a story about UCOP’s “rebenching” plan designed to equalize the payment per undergraduate each campus receives.  Rebenching is to be phased in over time. Ostensibly, nothing is being taken away.  UCLA currently gets more than the average.  So in the future it will get lower increments.  Of course, that is a take-away. So what will be the likely outcome?  Despite the fact that the Regents and UCOP are officially against campus-set tuition differentials, differential tuition is what is more likely to happen under the plan.  UCLA is…