Author: admin

  • Upcoming Regents Meeting Jan. 18-19

    Byadmin

    The Regents will be meeting in Riverside on January 18-19.  Their agenda is posted and looks rather tame.  No tuition discussion.  Some discussion of the state budget.  Seismic upgrades.  Proposal to move some MOP loan loss reserves – said to be in excess of needs – to the general budget. Wednesday, January 18 8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment) 9:30 am* Committee on Educational Policy (open session) 10:00 am* Committee on Finance (open session) 10:45 am* Committee on Health Services (open session) 11:15am* Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories (open session) 11:30 am* Committee on Governance (open…

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    Chancellor Block on KPCC Airtalk

    Byadmin

    No shockers emerged from the KPCC Airtalk panel on higher ed yesterday that included Chancellor Block.  There was a fair amount of discussion of online courses and related items.  Chancellor Block spoke about the need to change the “funding model” given the state cutbacks.  However, he used philanthropy, not tuition, as the example of the change.  Description and link below: What is the future of higher education in America? Is the four-year degree model with students living on or near a campus, is the idea of creating a well-read, well-rounded cohort of critical thinkers perhaps outdated? Can the nation’s colleges…

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    Impending Sale of UCLA’s Japanese Garden

    Byadmin

    Bette Billet passed along the item below: A place of natural beauty and quiet retreat in the Los Angeles community of Bel Air for more than fifty years, the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden was designed by noted Japanese landscape architect Nagao Sakurai* in 1959. The beautiful hillside garden, one of the finest examples of Japanese gardens in America, evokes the gardens of Kyoto and was donated to the University of California in 1982. Its survival is now under imminent threat. Although the University accepted this gift of this garden, including an endowment to help support its maintenance, the garden is…

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    No smoking at UC by 2014

    Byadmin

    The University of California will ban smoking and chewing tobacco on all 10 campuses within two years, President Mark Yudof told campus chancellors this week.  Nearly 600 other campuses nationwide have banned smoking, and many California universities either limit smokers to isolated parts of campus or keep them from lighting up at all. …The university likely would have banned smoking earlier, but smokers vehemently argued against it, said Trish Ratto, a health educator and manager of UC Berkeley’s Health Matters Wellness Program.  The university will implement the ban in stages to help smokers quit gradually rather go cold turkey.  By…

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    UC Like a Flea on an Elephant in Latest LAO Budget Report

    Byadmin

    Maybe the biggest lesson to take away from the Legislative Analyst’s Office latest report on the state budget – responding to the governor’s budget proposal – is that UC is a flea on the back of an elephant.  We are hardly mentioned, other than a reference to possible trigger cuts next year if Governor Brown’s tax initiative isn’t passed by voters. Much of the report focuses on the world of Prop 98, i.e., K-14 schools, not surprisingly since that is such a large chunk of the budget. The LAO is concerned about possible over-optimism in Brown’s budget projections.  Just a…

  • Don’t Panic About News Stories on State Cash Flows

    Byadmin

    You may see some headlines about revenues falling short of expectations for the first six months of the fiscal year, based on the state controller’s latest statement.  The legislature assumed phantom money in June so it could pass a budget more or less on time.  Now, however, all of the major taxes are performing within a margin of error relative to estimates made in connection with the latest budget proposal.  Forecasting is not an exact science, even when done without phantoms. Spending is also running about as now forecast. The real problem the state faces is that revenues are short…

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    Yours Truly and Others Comment on Student-Regents Communications

    Byadmin

    The Regents are a less-staid group than they were in the 1950s when the photo on the left was taken.  (They are discussing the loyalty oath controversy of that era in the picture.) Thanks to the UC-Davis pepper spray incident, Regent Chair Lansing has been seeking alternative avenues of communication with students.In any event, the Daily Bruin asked yours truly and two others to write little op eds on such communications. You can read about it at http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/01/_on_the_record_

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    New Plan Could Affect Transfers to UCLA

    Byadmin

    You may have seen an article in the LA Times about a possible change in direction at California community colleges.  UCLA says about 40% of its graduates (undergrads) are transfer students.  Not all of these transfers come from California community colleges, however.  But poking around on the web suggests that around 90% of them are from the state’s community college system. The original Master Plan viewed community colleges as colleges of last resort.  Anyone with a high school degree could enroll.  (Indeed, some enrollees may not have high school degrees.)  If an enrollee got on an academic track (some courses…

  • New Conflict of Interest Rules Adopted by the American Economic Assn.

    Byadmin

    The American Economic Association – at its annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend – adopted conflict of interest disclosure guidelines for the various journals it publishes. Debate on this issue developed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and complaints that views expressed by economists might be influenced, or perceived to be influenced, by sources of support. The guidelines require authors to disclose financial support, not only for the research presented in the article, but also more generally over the prior three years. Inside Higher Ed has a brief story with links at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/01/09/economists-adopt-conflict-interest-guidelines