Author: admin

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    Disappointing State Revenues

    Byadmin

    The state controller’s cash report for the fiscal year through April is now out.  Despite the blip in tax receipts in April due to the seasonal impact of the  income tax, revenues are down by over $3 billion compared to what the governor had forecast in January.  Compared to what the budget enacted last June for 2011-12 had projected, we are down over $5 billion. How all of this will play out with regard to the governor’s tax initiative in November is unclear.  The kind of cash problems that led to IOUs in 2009 are unlikely to repeat.  Thanks to…

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    Yudof notes UC support for corporate tax bill

    Byadmin

    Excerpt from the Fresno Bee: …(UC President Yudof indicated that) UC has supported, with amendments, a bill proposed by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) that would provide students with a family income less than $150,000 a scholarship to cover about two-thirds of college fees. About 42,000 UC students would receive the Middle Class Scholarship, saving up to $8,169 per year, according to an analysis by the Assembly Democratic Caucus. Approximately 150,000 California State University students would save $4,000 each year, and the California Community Colleges would get $150 million for financial aid.  The money to fund the scholarship…

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    Lawsuit Filed to Block Sale of Japanese Garden

    Byadmin

    Below is the text of a press release announcing a lawsuit to block the sale of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden by UCLA. Below that you will find the actual lawsuit. The suit focuses on the pledge by the university/Regents to maintain the garden “in perpetuity” and, if necessary, use proceeds from selling the associated residence for such maintenance. ==================== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: John R. Walton Law Offices of John R. Walton, P.C. Phone: 626.578.6000 Fax: 626.578.6012 LAWSUIT FILED TO SAVE HANNAH CARTER JAPANESE GARDEN IN BEL AIR Los Angeles, California, May 7, 2012 – A lawsuit was filed…

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    Tear Down This Stone Wall

    Byadmin

    Various web sources are available concerning interpretation of the California Public Records Act.  It’s worth noting what that Act requires in view of the history of the hotel/conference center and UCLA’s non-disclosure, i.e., stonewalling, of the business plan for the revised version of the hotel. The revised hotel “concept” was unveiled in early November 2011.  At that point, there were repeated requests for the underlying business plan and related documents by the Faculty Association and other groups.  Under the Act, a state agency has 10 days to respond and possibly another 14 days to produce the requested documents.  Certain exemptions…

  • Pepper Report Seems to Temper Response to Berkeley Broccoli Occupation

    Byadmin

    An earlier post reported on this occupation.  Here is an update.  === Farm occupiers fail to respond to UC proposal Peter Fimrite, May 7, 2012,  San Francisco Chronicle (excerpts) Protesters occupying land in Albany used by UC Berkeley for agricultural research missed a weekend deadline to agree to a negotiated departure, but representatives said they would respond Monday.  University officials said they would consider more forceful measures after the group Occupy the Farm failed to respond to their proposal to end the encampment in exchange for discussions about using part of the 10-acre plot for urban farming. …On April 22,…

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    Leaving California

    Byadmin

    The Sacramento Bee today carries the graphic on the left accompanying a story about an increase in California high school grads who are leaving the state for college elsewhere due to rising tuition here in public higher ed and restricted admissions slots. Even though out-of-state privates have higher sticker prices for tuition than California public universities, aid of various types brings down the gap.Click on the graphic for a sharper view or go the article at the link below. The article is at http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/06/4469074/more-college-bound-californians.html Whatever happened to: Things seem to have reversed:

  • Mild Penalty for Berkeley Administrator Trumped by Faculty Protests

    Byadmin

    Secret sex partner’s pay gets former UC Berkeley vice chancellor fired (excerpt)Matt Krupnick, 5-4-12, Pasadena Star-NewsUC Berkeley on Friday fired administrator Diane Leite, who over a period of five years helped triple her secret sex partner’s pay.  Leite had been demoted from her $188,000-a-year assistant vice chancellor position after the affair with a subordinate was discovered but still made $175,000 a year as an adviser to Vice Chancellor Graham Fleming… “Ms. Leite’s employment with the university has been terminated,” UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said Friday. The firing is effective Tuesday. …Professors and other employees had urged the university to…

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    Systemwide Pepper-Spray Report Released

    Byadmin

    After the pepper-spray incident at UC-Davis, various reports were prepared.  Among them is one recently released for comment by UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC-Berkeley Law School dean Christopher Edley.  Below are some excerpts from the Robinson-Edley Report followed by a link to the full report.  Note that unlike other reports, this one is meant to be advisory to the entire UC system rather than just UC-Davis.  News accounts have noted the report’s idea of musing “mediation” to defuse conflicts.  See, for example, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/05/05/MN3P1ODI4S.DTL Excerpts from “Robinson-Edley Report” …We have divided our recommendations into the following nine thematic categories:…

  • Cinco de Mayo Background: UCLA-Related Insights

    Byadmin

    Sometimes this blog posts items relevant to holidays of the day and today is Cinco de Mayo.  On May 3, 2012, UCLA Professor David Hayes-Bautista was interviewed by Warren Olney on KCRW radio’s Which Way LA? about the history of Cinco de Mayo.  He was also interviewed on the UCLA Newsroom blog on the same topic and recorded a YouTube video for that blog on the subject of Cinco de Mayo (link to that video and text at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/uncovering-the-origins-of-the-232941.aspx). Prof. Hayes-Bautista notes that the celebration of the holiday has much to do with the American Civil War.  On the radio…

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    Time Out for More Seat Time?

    Byadmin

    As readers of this blog will know, at the March Regents meeting, UCLA attempted – and failed – to get Regental endorsement of its proposed hotel/conference center project.  After an embarrassing session of a Regental committee at which the proposal was presented, UCLA pulled the item from the agenda due to the strong doubts expressed by members of the committee.  It was said that the item would be brought back to the Regents in May. The May 16 agenda for that meeting has just been posted and no such item is to be found. At a recent meeting for staff…