Author: admin

UC-Santa Cruz

Unlimited Access?
Byadmin February 29, 2012

Apparently not at UC-Santa Cruz tomorrow. Organizers of the group that aims to shut down UC Santa Cruz will hold rallies at 4:30 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. Thursday at UCSC, according to a release from Occupy Education. The release said a group of UCSC students, workers and community members have decided on a strike to shut down the campus starting at 4:30 a.m. Other that emergency vehicles, residents on campus and necessary exceptions, all traffic onto campus will be blocked, the release continued… Full story at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_20066765 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qslQJLnk0qw&w=320&h=195]Update: Car plows through Occupy Education demonstrators blocking entrance to UCSC campushttp://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_20078788

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miscellaneous | UC

UC History: Clark Kerr Excerpts
Byadmin February 28, 2012

Clark Kerr was president of UC from 1958 until 1967. Below are some video clips from that era and then from an interview in the late 1990s on his views on problems facing UC. (The first clip has been previously seen on this blog.)[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8DTR4Qys1c&w=320&h=195]

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governor | LAO | State Budget

Legislative Analyst Forecasts Less Revenue than Governor
Byadmin February 27, 2012

The Legislative Analyst has issued a new report on the outlook for state revenue. It is less optimistic than the forecast contained in the governor’s budget proposal of January. Both the LAO and the governor assume that the governor’s tax measure slated for the November ballot will pass. Forecasting involves much uncertainty and in the case of budgeting, the economic forecast must be linked to specific taxes, another possible source of error. Nonetheless, ultimately the legislature has to go with some forecast and, as we saw last June, it can assume phantom revenue and pass a budget on that basis…

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politics

Beware! The devil’s not just in the details
Byadmin February 27, 2012

From Inside Higher Ed: …The Tampa Bay Times’ PolitiFact news service is reporting that (Rick) Santorum — since 2008 — has linked higher education to the work of Satan. In a 2008 talk at Ave Maria University, Santorum discussed the way Satan has attacked “great institutions of America.” Where did Satan start? According to Santorum, “The place where he was, in my mind, the most successful and first — first successful was in academia. He understood pride of smart people. He attacked them at their weakest. They were in fact smarter than everybody else and could come up with something…

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UC-San Francisco

Questionable Advice from Our Medical Campus at UC-San Francisco
Byadmin February 26, 2012

I’m not clear on the concept but I suspect there is better advice available from the UCLA med school. There must be a better way: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRQBpHMIbjM&w=320&h=195]

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miscellaneous | UCLA

UCLA: That Was Then and This is Now
Byadmin February 25, 2012

Westwood Boulevard near UCLA in the 1940s Same scene today.

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pension | pensions | State Budget | ucrp

Ah Ha! State Beginning to Acknowledge UC Pension Liability Claim
Byadmin February 25, 2012

The State of California is about to sell $2 billion in general obligation bonds. To do so, it must issue a prospectus detailing the terms of the bond but also the fiscal condition of the state. The prospectus that has been issued on a preliminary basis includes information on other state liabilities including pensions. Much of the information is about CalPERS and CalSTRS. However, the disclosure contains the following statement on page A-82 (which is pdf page 122 at the link towards the bottom of this blog entry): “The University of California maintains a separate retirement system. The state’s General…

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governor | pension | pensions | politics

New Twists in the Pension Debate
Byadmin February 24, 2012

As readers of this blog will know, the governor came up with a 12-point plan for all public pensions in California that would include UC. To get certain elements of the plan on the ballot, he needs a 2/3 vote of the legislature. That would require Republican support. In this case, however, the Republicans have pledged support and it is the Democrats who are reluctant. If all Republicans go along, Governor Brown would need about half of the Dems to go along. But so far that doesn’t seem to be happening. The Dems are pushing a plan whereby – as…

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governor | politics | State Budget

Trigger May Limit Appeal of Governor’s Tax Initiative
Byadmin February 24, 2012

There could be as many as three tax initiatives on the November ballot. The Field Poll just released posed all three to registered voters and reported the results. One of the three is sponsored by Governor Brown. Another is sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers – CFT. (CFT is the smaller of the two teacher unions in California.) A third is sponsored by Molly Munger, a wealthy individual. The sponsors of all three have the financial resources to get pay signature-gathering firms to get their initiatives on the ballot. Brown is convinced from focus groups and polling that his…

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Japanese Garden | UCLA

Seeds of a New Solution for the Japanese Garden?
Byadmin February 24, 2012

In case you missed it, on Feb. 21, the Daily Bruin ran an offer to UCLA from a coalition of groups to maintain the Japanese Garden that UCLA controversially proposes to sell. Excerpts: On Feb. 9, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block wrote a piece in the Daily Bruin stating that the sale of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is in the university’s best interests. The organizations and the family of Hannah Carter who have formed the Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden respectfully submit that other options are possible, and, indeed, preferable. …On Jan. 31, the coalition convened a public informational…

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