Author: admin

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    Backdoor?

    Byadmin

    Gov. Brown has until Sunday to decide to sign or veto the remaining bills on his desk. Among them is SB 185 – the bill that sparked the anti-affirmative action “bake sale” at UC-Berkeley. It is unclear what the governor will do, although the speculation yours truly has seen so far suggests he will sign it. On the other hand, recent vetoes suggest he is reluctant to fiddle with California’s direct democracy. (He vetoed legislation that would have indirectly impeded use of paid signature gatherers, for example.) And the delay in announcing what he will do suggests the governor is…

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    A Political Factoid for Today

    Byadmin

    Question: Can a UC campus foundation give money to ballot campaigns? If so, has it happened? Answer: The UCLA Foundation has twice given money to campaigns for ballot propositions in the past decade. Both propositions involved money for higher ed, including UC. In 2004, the Foundation gave $57,087 to support Prop 55 – a bond measure for education which narrowly passed. In 2006, it gave $87,550 in support of Prop 1D – also an education bond measure but which passed by a respectable 56.9%. Other UC and CSU foundations have made similar contributions. You can find the contribution information by…

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    Back in the Stream

    Byadmin

    You may recall a brief episode in which classes which used streaming video at UCLA suddenly had the service cut off – and then restored after a brief interval. The practice of making such video course assignments available over a password-protected network to students was challenged in court as a copyright violation. The university restored the service when it concluded there was not a copyright violation. (You can find earlier posts about this matter on this blog.) A court victory was announced by the university yesterday. However, questions remain about how general the victory is. See below: Court dismisses lawsuit…

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    Our Daily Bread

    Byadmin

    Readers of this blog who look at the blog’s heading will know that this blog is sponsored by the UCLA Faculty Association. If you are a current faculty or a retired faculty, you can help the Faculty Association earn its daily bread by joining. An application form is at http://www.uclafaculty.org/FASite/Join_files/FAApplication.pdf And as we have been doing quarterly, the blog is available as a pdf-book at: Open publication – Free publishing – More ucla Note that the videos embedded in the blog are not available in the pdf version. For video, you have to use the blogsite itself.

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    Changing Admissions Standards?

    Byadmin

    An earlier post on the UC-Berkeley affirmative action “bake sale” controversy noted that the issue that sparked that controversy was a bill – now on Gov. Brown’s desk – that would possibly relax the ban on affirmative action in UC student admissions enacted by voters in Prop 209. However, there are other changes in admissions standards underway that have received less attention in the news media. And another bill on the governor’s desk is involved. See below: UC turns career tech ed-friendly (excerpt) 9/30/11, John Fensterwald – Educated Guess A decade ago, 258 career technical education courses counted toward satisfying…

  • Got something to say?

    Byadmin

    You may not have noticed but there is a “comment” option on each blog post. So if you have something to say about issues posted on this blog, feel free to take advantage. Please keep it civil and relevant and note that we delete commercial spam comments, i.e., “buy my widgets.” You, too, can be a talking head!

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    UCLA History: Rose

    Byadmin

    After World War II, a UCLA graduate was arrested as being “Tokyo Rose.” She was convicted but later pardoned by President Gerald Ford. The story below: The Painful Ordeal of Tokyo Rose “L.A. Then And Now” section of the Los Angeles Times 5/24/98by Cecilia Rasmussen She was a soldier’s seductress whose sexy taunts earned her imprisonment, loss of her U.S. citizenship, and, ultimately, the derisive nickname “Rose With Thorns.” American GIs serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II knew her as “Tokyo Rose”, Imperial Japan’s radio propagandist whose infamous nickname became her curse. Wronged by her country and…

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    Could There Be More I-405 Problems? Indeed, there could be, and will be

    Byadmin

    More I-405 problems for commuters to and from UCLA: Gridlock-causing closures to ramps connecting the 405 freeway to Sunset and Wilshire boulevards — crucial pipelines for UCLA commuters and visitors — will take place in waves that start as early as this Friday. A multi-week Sunset area closure scheduled from Oct. 15-29 and months-long Wilshire ramp closures beginning in November will likely cause the most traffic problems for Bruins. The Sunset work will particularly throttle traffic for UCLA commuters from the San Fernando Valley. The construction will allow utility work and bridge-widening at Sunset and ramp realignments at Wilshire as…