Author: admin

governor | pension | pensions | politics | State Contribution | ucrp

More History Lessons (from Faculty Association Chair Dwight Read)
Byadmin February 8, 2012

As Chair of the Faculty Association at UCLA, I would like to emphasize again the point that was made in the Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 Blog on this site, “Plenty of Nothing.” The Governor wrote in his proposed budget: “The University of California (UC) will receive an increase of $90 million from the General Fund for base operating costs, which can be used to address costs related to retirement program contributions.” The main purpose of the public employee retirement law (PERL), passed in 1931, was to separate pension funding from all other kinds of funding. Early on, the state recognized that…

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CSU | politics | tuition | UC

UC Tuition: His Way or the Conway?
Byadmin February 8, 2012

The photo shows Assembly Speaker John Pérez talking to GOP minority leader Connie Conway. Given the excerpt below from today’s online San Francisco Chronicle, let’s hope he is being super-persuasive. ==============Excerpt: California students from middle-income families would receive massive breaks on tuition and fees at the state’s colleges and universities under legislation Assembly Speaker John Pérez plans to introduce today at the Capitol. Under the plan, undergraduate students from families with household income of less than $150,000 would have their tuition and fees cut by two-thirds, bringing the cost below what it was nearly a decade ago. It would amount…

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Japanese Garden | UC Regents | UCLA

Regents’ Court Petition to Allow Sale of UCLA Japanese Garden
Byadmin February 7, 2012

As readers of this blog know, we have been posting documents related to UCLA’s proposed sale of the Japanese Garden. The university’s ownership of the garden followed from a donation by Regent Edward Carter in the 1960s. Carter’s wealth arose from his department stores. You can see his signature on the stock certificate from Broadway-Hale and later one from Carter-Hawley-Hale. The donation by Carter was modified by an agreement in the early 1980s. However, because the sequence of agreements required that the university maintain the garden in perpetuity, once UCLA determined to sell the garden, it had to go to…

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faculty pay | fund raising | Japanese Garden | tuition | UCLA

The 2009 “Toolbox” Report and the Japanese Garden (& Other Issues)
Byadmin February 7, 2012

Given the ongoing budget crisis, UCLA formed a task force to look at various revenue-generating options. The report of the task force is dated April 24, 2009. Among the possibilities considered was the sale of various properties including the Japanese Garden. The report indicates that consultations with the state Attorney General were underway well before the 2010 court decision that permitted the sale, even though it was inconsistent with the existing terms of the donation.The report explores other areas such as faculty pay, fund raising, “branding,” and tuition. You can read the full report at the link below (scroll towards…

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new hotel-conference center | UCLA

We’re still waiting for the hotel business plan
Byadmin February 6, 2012

The UCLA Faculty Association requested the hotel/conference center business plan documentation a long time ago under the state’s Public Records Act. Time seems to go by so slowly in Murphy Hall:

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Faculty Association at UCLA

A Word from Our Sponsor
Byadmin February 5, 2012

You can join the UCLA Faculty Association! http://www.uclafaculty.org/FASite/Join.html or http://www.uclafaculty.org/FASite/Join_files/FAApplication.pdf

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miscellaneous | UCLA

UCLA History: Bunche Instructor
Byadmin February 5, 2012

Photo of an unidentified professor at UCLA’s Vermont Avenue campus in 1925 said to be one of the instructors of Ralph Bunche.

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Japanese Garden | UCLA

Official UCLA E-mail Response to Complaints About the Japanese Garden Sale
Byadmin February 4, 2012

I have so far been forwarded two responses to communications sent to Chancellor Block about the proposed sale of the Japanese Garden. Apparently, when such complaints are received, a response is sent under the name of EVC Waugh. The text was the same in both cases so I assume others have received the official response. The recipient of one of the official responses gave permission for the text to be reproduced. If you scroll towards the bottom of this posting, you will find it in italics. The response indicates that consultation was conducted with the local neighboring groups. At the…

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copyright | UC

Duly Noted
Byadmin February 3, 2012

Dostoyevsky’s notes did get published. But did you know that UC has rules against students publishing notes taken in class? There are websites which make a business of publishing student classnotes. Scroll to the bottom of this entry for an example. UC threatens legal action when notes from its classes are distributed.According to CaliforniaWatch:…The policies raise questions about whether instructors or students have copyrights to the notes students take in class. While the California Education Code prohibits students and others from selling class notes – and many campuses have policies that also ban unauthorized note-selling – critics say students, not instructors, own…

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politics | tuition

“That Which Cannot Go on Forever Must Come to an End”
Byadmin February 3, 2012

So said Herbert Stein, who was President Nixon’s chief economist for a time. He wasn’t speaking about rising tuition back then. However, President Obama’s remarks on rising university tuition at the State of the Union address – which were roughly along those lines – continue to generate controversy.Inside Higher Ed today has a long piece on responses in the U.S. Senate. The article concludes with: Perhaps sensing a popular cause to champion with an election looming, senators in both parties seemed eager to continue discussions on how to hold down college prices. Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, promised…

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