Author: admin

traffic | transportation | UCLA

Live West of the 405? Don’t bother to come to UCLA
Byadmin August 4, 2011

From LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky: Sometime this fall, two Wilshire on- and off-ramps to the 405 Freeway will be closed for 90 days. That work will be followed by a series of closures of the other Wilshire ramps, each expected to last from 14 to 90 days. (There are eight ramps in all, and they will be worked on two at a time.) The end result should be sweet: modern, swooping flyover ramps that will make it easier to navigate the notoriously jammed intersection. But getting to that point may be considerably less so, in the view of residents…

Read More Live West of the 405? Don’t bother to come to UCLA
faculty center | governor | UCLA

How to Have a Major Conference Without a Campus Hotel
Byadmin August 4, 2011

As a follow up, readers of this blog will recall an earlier entry about the 2-day Governor’s Conference on Local Renewable Energy Resources which was held at UCLA recently without the need for a new hotel/conference center. If you don’t recall it, check out http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/07/rooms-at-inns.html The first day of the governor’s conference was held at Covel and the second at the Faculty Center, the very Faculty Center that was slated to be demolished for the hotel/conference center. For a more complete photo montage, below is a full collection of pictures of the event. Click on the arrow to start the…

Read More How to Have a Major Conference Without a Campus Hotel
miscellaneous

Oops! Are We Missing from the Open Access Group?
Byadmin August 4, 2011

Inside Higher Ed today notes that various universities, public and private, have formed the Coalition of Open Access Policies. Among the members are such institutions as MIT, Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford. But no UCs are listed, although – as noted above – public universities in other states are members. Apparently, the Coalition was started at the U of Kansas. If you click on the link at the end of this entry, it will in turn send you to a link to a press release at that university which says: In 2009, KU was the first public university in the United…

Read More Oops! Are We Missing from the Open Access Group?
miscellaneous | UCLA

UCLA History: Moving Experience
Byadmin August 3, 2011

Moving day to new Westwood campus of UCLA in 1929

Read More UCLA History: Moving Experience
governor | pension | pensions | politics | uc retirement

Confusing Signs on Prospects for a Pension Initiative (& Everything Else)
Byadmin August 2, 2011

Earlier posts on this blog have outlined the possibility that some pension initiative could end up on the 2012 ballot that would override the Regents’ December 2010 decision on the UC pension. There are two “legacy” organizations that descend from the Prop 13 property tax initiative of 1978. In a previous post, we noted that one of them – Peoples Advocate – has filed a pension initiative and seems to be fishing for someone or some group to provide financial backing for a signature and election campaign. But now the other group, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, has said it…

Read More Confusing Signs on Prospects for a Pension Initiative (& Everything Else)
miscellaneous | politics

Debt Deal (if there really is one) and Higher Ed
Byadmin August 1, 2011

Excerpt from Inside Higher Ed: Short-Term Stability, But … August 1, 2011 Congressional leaders appeared late Sunday to have reached a deal on increasing the nation’s debt limit that would avoid many of higher education’s worst-case scenarios: cuts to Pell Grants, the end of subsidized student loans, or a government default that would leave student financial aid and other funding for colleges in limbo going into the fall semester. But as details about the deal began to emerge Sunday evening, it became clear that the plan leaves colleges and universities with plenty of long-term uncertainty. The plan, which will be…

Read More Debt Deal (if there really is one) and Higher Ed
miscellaneous | UCLA

UCLA’s Contribution to the Art of the Cinema
Byadmin August 1, 2011

UCLA’s campus is often used for scenes in movies, TV shows, and commercials. Only one movie centers on UCLA and it has to be one of the worst movies ever made. But for your summer enjoyment, this blog makes it available. Much of it was filmed at UCLA with some scenes at LA City Hall, Westside Pavilion, the Natural History Museum and vicinity, and other parts of LA. Big Man on Campus (1989) In this version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a hunchback is found living in the bell tower of UCLA. He is put on trial and made…

Read More UCLA’s Contribution to the Art of the Cinema
pension | pensions | politics | UC Regents

More on Pension Initiatives: All Kinds of Clever Ideas Out There
Byadmin July 31, 2011

Yesterday, this blog featured some developments that might impede public pension ballot initiatives getting on the ballot that could potentially override the Regents’ action last December revamping the UC pension system. It only costs $200 to file initiatives. For that modest sum, the filer gets an analysis from the Attorney General (including summary description and title) and a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Analyst. Even initiatives that have a snowball’s chance in Hell get the same treatment – which clearly costs the state a lot more than $200. Here is a summary of snowball-type pension initiative that someone thought was…

Read More More on Pension Initiatives: All Kinds of Clever Ideas Out There
governor | pension | pensions | politics | UC Regents | uc retirement

Pension Initiative Drive Might Become More Difficult
Byadmin July 30, 2011

Earlier posts on this blog have pointed out that a pension initiative could appear on the California ballot that would override the changes made by the Regents last December in the UC pension plan. It was noted that initiatives – once qualified – go on the next statewide ballot. For 2012, that might have been February when the state presidential primary was originally scheduled. The mix of voters in a February primary might have tilted toward passage of such an initiative. Now, however, the governor has signed a bill moving the presidential primary back to June when the regular primary…

Read More Pension Initiative Drive Might Become More Difficult
pension | pensions | politics | UC Regents | uc retirement

Our Primary Concern
Byadmin July 29, 2011

The Sacramento Bee today carries a story about the resetting of the date for the California presidential primary. It focuses on the arguments made when – last time there was a presidential election (2008) – California moved its presidential primary from June (when the primary for state offices is held) to February. The idea was to be early in the presidential primary campaign season and thus have more influence on the outcome. You can read all about that idea – and whether it worked in practice – at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3802418/california-set-to-move-its-presidential.html Where this matters for UC is in the initiative process. As…

Read More Our Primary Concern