Author: admin

CalPERS | pension | pensions | politics

Observations and Worries Over at CalPERS
Byadmin December 16, 2010

The excerpt below from calpensions.com deals mainly with a state contribution cut to CalPERS, ostensibly due to increased employee contributions. Some things to note: 1) the state contribution rate to the plan is already roughly at our “normal cost.” 2) CalPERS may come down to UC’s assumed 7.5% rate of expected earnings – or possibly lower. Lower would put pressure on UC to do the same. 3) CalPERS is concerned about federal legislative proposals in the new Congress regarding public pension plan discount rates used for estimating unfunded liabilities. CalPERS state rate hike cut by $200 million (except) Ed Mendel,…

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politics | State Budget | tuition | UC

Chair of UCLA Faculty Assn. Comments on LA Times Article Concerning Legislative Challenges to UC Autonomy
Byadmin December 16, 2010

Below is a note from Chair Dwight Read followed by excerpts from the LA Times article to which he is responding. A link to the full article is also provided. A Note from the Chair of the UCLA Faculty Association Professor Dwight Read Today, Dec. 16, the LA Times ran an article, “State Wants Say in UC, CSU Budgets,” about a constitutional amendment that would strip the University of California of its autonomy. To provide historical context, the excerpt below explains how UC gained its autonomy, why the citizens of California voted for it in 1879, and why it is…

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pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement | UCOF

CUCFA statement about the Dec. 13th special Regent’s meeting
Byadmin December 16, 2010

Council of UC Faculty Associations statement about the Dec. 13th special Regent’s meeting At their Special Meeting on Monday, December 13, the Regents of the University of California will be making decisions on two significant issues– endorsing the principles of the UC Commission on the Future (UCOF) and drastically changing the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP). “One thing we can agree on, said Robert Meister, President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations “is the first sentence of the UCOF Report: ‘UC is at a crossroads.’” Meister continued, “Unfortunately the University leadership has ignored the outcome of this year’s…

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State Budget

Internet Rumor: Zero for Higher Ed?
Byadmin December 15, 2010

Here is a re-posting from the liberal calitics blog which suggests that Governor-elect Brown will present a shock budget that would provide zero for higher ed. No other reports on the meeting Brown held at UCLA reported a literal zero for higher ed. It was not mentioned in the segment I previously posted from Which Way LA? on the Brown meeting. That there will be a shock budget seems a sure thing. Cuts for higher ed could certainly be part of it. I would be surprised by a total zero. But here is the entry:============ Jerry Brown as Jacob Marley…

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pension | pensions | UC Regents

Agitation Around Public Pensions in California Continues
Byadmin December 15, 2010

As prior posts have noted, there has been an active campaign – with varying intensity – behind a ballot initiative that would affect all public pensions (including UC’s) in California. Although the Regents have now enacted a plan for UC, their decisions could be overridden by such an initiative. The image accompanying this entry indicates that the issue continues to simmer. Whether the proponents of such an initiative have the $1-$2 million needed in practice to gather signatures to get it on the ballot, or the considerable amount that would be needed for a campaign thereafter, remains unknown. When Meg…

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miscellaneous

Yahoo’s Decline Will Affect the Blog
Byadmin December 15, 2010

In the past, various meetings of the Regents and hearings related to UCOF, Post-Employment Benefits, and the general budget situation have been posted on this site by way of Yahoo-video. Yahoo is generally in commercial decline, thanks to competition from Google and others such as YouTube. As a result, Yahoo has discontinued its video service. Any video content embedded from Yahoo-video will be unavailable on this blog after March 14, 2011. I will decide whether to try to move the video/audio content – which is a royal pain to do – to some other site. If you have an interest…

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State Budget

Brown Summit at UCLA: Where Is the Video?
Byadmin December 15, 2010

The CalChannel was supposed to carry the Jerry Brown budget summit at UCLA earlier today live. Usually, that means there would be an archived video. But there was no sign of it – live or otherwise – on the CalChannel’s schedule for today and I was not available to see if anything aired live. (It was also supposed to be live on jerrybrown.org and a UCLA feed.) The meeting was focused on education but apparently mainly K-12. UCLA did provide the following media release: Governor-elect Brown at UCLA budget summit: There will be cuts By Alison Hewitt December 14, 2010…

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miscellaneous

They Love Me; They Love Me Not
Byadmin December 14, 2010

Inside Higher Ed today steered me to the article below: Students stretch truth on teacher evaluations, UNI professor’s study finds STACI HUPP • Des Moines Register • December 13, 2010 Dennis Clayson’s college students have picked apart everything from his “impossible” tests to his choice of neckties. The University of Northern Iowa marketing professor says he doesn’t take criticism personally when students grade him on teacher evaluations, but he has wondered: Do they always tell the truth? The answer is no, Clayson and a Southeastern Oklahoma State University marketing professor found, in what they say is the first study of…

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health care | pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement | UCOF | Yudof

Audio of Regents Meeting of 12-13-10: UCOF Approval & Post-Employment Benefits Plan Approval
Byadmin December 14, 2010

Below are links to the audio of the Regents meeting of 12-13-10. There are 13 segments. (A couple of minutes of noise at the beginning of Part 1 have been omitted during which there were problems in linking two locations. The meeting officially began once the link was established.) At this meeting, the Regents approved the UCOF (University Committee on the Future) report as well as the Yudof plan for post-employment benefits (pension & retiree health care). The Regents meeting took place with a video link to UCLA where some Regents attended. As the previous post on this blog noted,…

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pension | pensions | politics | UC Regents | Yudof

UC Pension Solutions and the External Threats to Them
Byadmin December 13, 2010

In prior posts, I have noted that while the Regents can modify the UC pension plan in response to its underfunding problem, their actions could be overridden by external forces such as a ballot initiative covering all public pensions in California. Now comes word of another external threat, Congressional legislation that would effectively force public pensions to use a risk-free interest rate assumption in calculating their unfunded liabilities. The proposed legislation apparently would not technically force public pension authorities to do so but it would deny tax-favored status to their municipal bonds if they did not. I was alerted to…

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Author: admin

Observations and Worries Over at CalPERS

Chair of UCLA Faculty Assn. Comments on LA Times Article Concerning Legislative Challenges to UC Autonomy

CUCFA statement about the Dec. 13th special Regent’s meeting

Internet Rumor: Zero for Higher Ed?

Agitation Around Public Pensions in California Continues

Yahoo’s Decline Will Affect the Blog

Brown Summit at UCLA: Where Is the Video?

They Love Me; They Love Me Not

Audio of Regents Meeting of 12-13-10: UCOF Approval & Post-Employment Benefits Plan Approval

UC Pension Solutions and the External Threats to Them

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

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