Author: admin

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    Outlawing Holidays

    Byadmin

    There is a bill pending in the legislature (passed the Assembly; now in the Senate) – applying to CalPERS, not UC – that would effectively ban pension “contribution holidays.” As is well known, UC had the mother of all contribution holidays to its pension fund, one lasting two decades. Had that holiday not occurred, we would not have the underfunding problem we have today. Of course, given the circumstances under which the UC pension holiday developed – overfunding in the face of a state budget crisis at the time – it could be argued that the holiday was unavoidable. But…

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    No More Books for Them at UC-San Diego?

    Byadmin

    More Cheery Budget News: August 26, 2011 | Erica Perez | California Watch Driven by dramatic budget cuts that will shutter four campus libraries, staffers at UC San Diego are removing roughly 150,000 books and journals from their collections by summer’s end – selling volumes to the highest bidder or donating them. If UCSD students or researchers want to check out the selected writings of Benjamin Rush, they might have to request it through an interlibrary loan… Full story at: http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/ucsd-library-cuts-mean-150000-books-must-go-12293 No more books for them?

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    Bad PR for UC

    Byadmin

    Velma Montoya passed the story below to me. Not the best PR for UC at this point in the budget cycle. Are Professors Picking the Public’s Pockets? Rex Dalton, 8/25/11, Miller-McCune From his arrival in the U.S. some 25 years ago, Tatsuya Suda deftly cut a path to the upper echelons of academic computer research. Fresh from prestigious Kyoto University, he steadily rose to become a tenured professor at the University of California, Irvine, earning a reputation for dynamic theories in computer networking at the dawn of the cell-phone age. He even wed Grammy-winning singer Rita Coolidge. But along this…

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    LAO Report on Infrastructure Includes Higher Ed and UC

    Byadmin

    UCLA’s Westwood Campus under construction in 1927 —————————————————— The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has issued a report on state spending on infrastructure. Most infrastructure spending goes for programs other than higher ed such as K-12 and transportation. However, the higher ed segment of the report is reproduced below. Some portions of the text are in bold indicating they are of special interest. Note: There are some charts in the original that are not reproduced below. Go to the link at the bottom of this item to see the whole report including the charts. Higher Education California’s public higher education system…

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    UC Compensation Data Report for 2010

    Byadmin

    UC has released its annual compensation report for 2010. Below are some highlights: *Approximately 40% of compensation in 2010 went to academic employees, primarily to faculty and researchers. The remaining 60% went to non-academic employees, including those who support academic departments, student services, patient care and other university functions. As in previous years, the “top 10 earning” employees at UC in 2010, based on total pay, were health sciences faculty members – typically world-renowned specialists in their fields – and athletic coaches. • Market positions have eroded and are expected to worsen due to lack of salary increases, rising employee…

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    Below the Radar: Regents’ Role in Reopening MLK Hospital

    Byadmin

    It has been a below-the-radar issue – given the pressing developments related to the state budget, tuition, and the pension plan – but the UC Regents agreed with LA County while all those other dramas were occurring to take responsibility of the Martin Luther King hospital. The hospital in South LA was closed due to major operating failures and failures in patient care. Below are excerpts from an interview the current CEO of the hospital which is due to reopen in 2013: …Currently under construction on the campus of its former home near the intersection of 120th Street and Wilmington…

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    LAO Writes Up Yet Another Ebenstein Pension Initiative

    Byadmin

    Readers of this blog will know that Lanny Ebenstein – who has some affiliation with UC-Santa Barbara’s Econ Dept. – seems to like to file public pension initiatives. It only costs $200 and for that you get the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to give a summary and analysis as well as a title from the Attorney General. What a bargain! Ebenstein has been leaving UC’s pension system out of his initiatives. His efforts refer to CalPERS and CalSTRS. But the LAO’s write ups do serve a useful purpose in pointing to the legal issues that tinkering with pensions pose. They…