Author: admin

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    UC-Berkeley Bake Sale Controversy

    Racially heated posting sparks UC Berkeley outrage Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 24, 2011 A Facebook post announcing plans by a UC Berkeley Republican group to sell baked goods priced according to race, gender and ethnicity – “White/Caucasian” pastries for $2 and “Black/African American” pastries for 75 cents, for example – has drawn outrage on campus…The campus Republicans, who expect to go forward with their “Increase Diversity Bake Sale” on Tuesday, say the event is meant to mock an effort by the student government to drum up support for SB185, a bill to let the University of California and…

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    Police Arrests at UC-Berkeley Anti-Tuition Demonstration

    When Tolman Hall at UC-Berkeley was dedicated in 1963 (see picture at right), things were quite peaceful. Not so yesterday when a student anti-tuition demonstration got out of hand: From the Daily Californian (UC-Berkeley student newspaper) today: Tensions between police officers and demonstrators fluctuated throughout the course of a campus protest Thursday, culminating in a violent scuffle when one man was carried from Tolman Hall by his arms and legs. At about 9 p.m., after over seven hours of protest inside the building, protesters were chanting in the lobby of Tolman and police officers began to move towards the doors…

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    Looks Like Crane Won’t Fly

    From the LA Times’ LA Now blog: San Francisco businessman David Crane’s brief term as a UC regent seems likely to be over in December because Democrats in the state Senate have not moved to confirm his appointment nine months ago by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under state rules, an appointee to the university board can serve up to a year without legislative confirmation. The state Senate is now in recess and no special session is scheduled for the rest of the year. Crane, a Democrat who was an economic advisor to Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is opposed by labor unions…

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    Too Far, Too Fast?

    You may have noticed in yesterday’s LA Times or other papers that CSU Chancellor Reed said he will NOT ask for a multi-year plan involving scheduled tuition increases: California State University will not seek a second tuition increase this academic year even if it suffers a further $100-million cut in state funding, the system’s chief executive said Wednesday. Chancellor Charles B. Reed, addressing trustees who were meeting in Long Beach, also rejected adopting a multi-year budget that would incorporate annual tuition increases. Some higher education leaders argue that such a move, though controversial, would provide stability and help campus leaders,…

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    Advance Audio of Regents Meeting: 2nd Part of 9-15-11

    Courtesy of Jim Chalfant – who recorded the session from the live-stream – here is the second part of the Regents meeting of 9-15-11. You can find part 1 of the advance audio by scrolling down on this blog. There is discussion on this recording of the economic impact of UC on California – a report that was prepared on the subject and described to the Regents. (See an earlier post on this blog concerning that report.) Then there is discussion of the UC budget situation. Below is the agenda for that session:8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment)8:50…

  • Where the Money Is?

    From the Merced Sun-Star comes a reminder of Willie Sutton who said he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.” University of California at Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland came to learn, not lecture, this week on Capitol Hill. It’s crucial terrain, after all, that could prove critical to her success with the 6-year-old university. “This is not a visit in which I’ve come with a specific request,” Leland said Wednesday, amid the hubbub of the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria. “It’s important for me to form relationships.” …The first UC Merced chancellor, the late Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, regularly traveled to…

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    NCES: Shrinkage Coming in California High School Grad Pool

    Yours truly made the chart above from data contained in a report by the National Center for Educational Statistics. (I was pointed to the report by Inside Higher Ed.) The chart comes from Table 15 of the report. For California, it suggests that the pool of [public school] high school grads in California will shrink in the coming years. I found some anomalies in the data projections elsewhere in the report for California and am not an expert in this area. Of course, for UC, the pool of potential undergrad admits is not limited to California or to public schools….

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    Not to Worry: Follow Up on Hotel Plan

    Yesterday, we posted a reminder that we are all waiting for the revised UCLA hotel plan. From a Fox TV News press release comes word that if UCLA goes ahead with a grand hotel/conference center plan that then flops, there will still be hope. Help will be on the way: After over a decade of running restaurants in some of the top hotels around the world, traveling the globe and running an award-winning boutique hotel in London, (Gerald) Ramsay knows firsthand the crucial importance of surpassing guests’ highest expectations. In the series, Ramsay and a team of hospitality experts will…

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    Budget Down: Cram ‘Em in at UC-Davis

    UC Davis unveils major initiative to increase size of student body Sep. 21, 2011, Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee Calling it a response to the dramatic drop in state funding, UC Davis’ chancellor today announced a plan to increase the campus’ undergraduate population by one fifth, one of the biggest leaps in years. The vision outlined by Chancellor Linda Katehi would swell the school’s undergraduate population to around 29,000 within five years. The total student population would rise to 37,000, surpassing Berkeley and making Davis the second most populous University of California campus, behind UCLA. Speaking at the annual convocation to…

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    Hotel Plan: We’re Waiting

    The fall quarter is getting under way and (soon???) there should be a re-studied plan from the UCLA administration on the Grand Hotel project that was proposed – but halted after protests from the Academic Senate – to replace the Faculty Center. We are waiting patiently for the (revised???) plan. But in the meantime – a modest??? musical contribution – to salute the UCLA construction empire: