Author: admin

  • Climate Delayed

    Byadmin

    Remember the campus climate survey taken last winter.  There were concerns expressed at UCLA about the length of the survey and what biases might be introduced.  The survey seemed to be the result of Regents’ concerns stemming from racial/ethnic incidents at various campuses.  In any event, the Daily Bruin is reporting that the results, which were supposed to be released by now have been delayed until next year. …UC officials will present the survey findings to the UC Board of Regents before making them public, Montiel said. The results are expected to be reported to the regents in early 2014……

  • Info Available for Parents on K-12 Neighborhood Schools

    Byadmin

    UCLA faculty interested in finding out about the quality and other characteristics of neighborhood K-12 public schools may be interested in the search engine provided by the California Department of Education. Simply type in the name of the school and the search engine will generate a report.  The engine is a bit clumsy.  For example, when I typed Benjamin Franklin for the name of a Santa Monica school, it showed me options under that name in other areas, but not Santa Monica.  When I typed in just Franklin, it found the school.  So some experimenting may be needed before you…

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    UCLA: Take Me Out of the (Legal) Ballgame

    Byadmin

    Note: Readers of this blog will have been alerted to the situation below in an earlier posting. UCLA has gone to court to overturn a decision that could force it to give up its baseball stadium on land leased from the U.S. veterans agency. The university described itself as a “surprising casualty” of an August ruling that the Department of Veterans Affairs violated federal law by leasing part of its sprawling West Los Angeles campus for commercial use. In court papers, UCLA asked to be heard by the court before the order is enforced in February. The motion was joined…

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    UCLA History: Student Who First Enrolled in 1948 Remembers

    Byadmin

    Westwood in 1948 From Zócalo: John Burke and I, Class of 1948 graduates of Mt. Carmel High School, and new UCLA students, sat quietly, bewildered, on the lawn of the quad eating our brown bag lunches. Around us swirled groups of stylishly dressed, exuberant students greeting one another and sharing stories of just-ended summer vacations. John was distraught. He had received the results of the Subject A Examination, administered to determine whether he would be required to take English 28, a remedial class. John, a very good student, had failed the test; I had passed. He did not recover from…

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    Mystery Email Seems Legit

    Byadmin

    We have cautioned on this blog about responding to emails that purport to come from university sources but may actually be email spam or worse.  Yours truly – and probably many other UCLA faculty – received the email in italics below.  I was cautious because it did not come from a UCLA or UC source.  It came frommember@surveymonkey.com and had a reply address of survey@acrd.us. After a little snooping and Googling, however, it appears to be legit.   ============================ Dear University of California Colleague,The UC Office of the President funded researchers at UC Merced to conduct a system-wide survey of community…

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    Comparison Hotels

    Byadmin

    Above is a picture of a proposed Marriott Hotel in Santa Monica currently being reviewed by that city’s Planning Commission for the corner of Colorado and 5th Street.  It would have 136 rooms.  The UCLA Grand Hotel, in contrast, will have 250 rooms.  My calculator tells me that 136/250 = 54%.  So the UCLA Grand Hotel will be almost double what you see above.  Just something you might want to know.

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    More recall reflections

    Byadmin

    Same result Yesterday, we posted some video reflections on the California 2003 gubernatorial recall election.  In the end, the condition of the state budget seemed to determine voter opinion.  But, of course, the UC budget went for a ride on the state budget.  Below is a link to more video clips from this episode in state politics.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE11Egb_7Q?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Recalling the Recall

    Byadmin

    It’s all yours, Arnold. We are getting to the 10th anniversary of the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and his replacement by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  One of the events that followed was a UC “compact” with the new governor that was worthless; as soon as the state had budgetary problems, the compact disappeared.  A key problem was that the governor doesn’t appropriate funds; the legislature does.  Nonetheless, there were photo ops: Compact buddies For nostalgia buffs, here is a video history of the recall in three parts:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7O-yyzFJs?feature=player_detailpage] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcUZZQ11u6w?feature=player_detailpage] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6eSlO46FnA?feature=player_detailpage] Finally, the comic side from Harry Shearer:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WR6T3JG6R8?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Fossils

    Byadmin

    If you have listened to the public comment sessions at Regents meetings posted on this blog, you will have heard statements from a student group pushing the Regents to divest its pension and other portfolios from “fossil fuels.”  By this demand, the group – which is part of a national movement – appears to mean not just oil-coal-gas producers but also at least some major utilities.  We have noted that there are problems with using other peoples’ money to favor or disfavor particular political/social causes, partly involving the esoteric elements of finance and returns to the portfolio, but also the…

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    What do you know? Another view of the UCLA Grand Hotel court decision is out there!

    Byadmin

    Yesterday, we provided a link to UCLA’s “shame media release” on the recent court decision regarding the Grand Hotel project.  You might not be totally surprised to know that there is an alternative view of what occurred.  You might not be totally surprised to know that the alternative view projects a more favorable view regarding the plaintiff’s position. But in case you ARE surprised, we provide a link below for reading the alternative: