Photos show actress Marilyn Monroe as she visits UCLA in 1952. Note and update: That date is what the source of the photos – which yours truly can no longer recall – said. The year 1952 seems awfully early in her career for someone to have taken the photos. Her first major movie came out in 1953.
Apparently, the closure of Coldwater Canyon has ended. That closure had diverted traffic to roads that feed into UCLA. A notice of the reopening is at http://www.ladwpnews.com/go/doc/1475/1757691/
Up to now, the no-smoking zone has just encompassed the medical center area. It now extends to north campus as well. …The Westwood campus is the first UC to implement the (smoking) ban, following a call from President Mark Yudof to go smoke-free across the 10-campus system by 2014. “We’re very proud we’re the first,” UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block said. The campus and its students “are setting an example.”… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ucla-stops-smoking-on-earth-day-20130422,0,7326172.story Not everyone agrees:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-20zdelhi3I?feature=player_detailpage]
The drawing board According to the LA Times, UC is not likely to like important elements of the forthcoming May revise budget to be issued by the governor: …”We’d like to go back to the drawing board,” said Patrick Lenz, a top UC budget official. The university was not consulted in advance about the details of Brown’s proposal, he said… And what are those elements? Gov. Jerry Brown wants to tie some state funding for California’s public universities to a host of new requirements, including 10% increases in the number of transfer students from community colleges and the percentage of…
As we have noted in prior blog posts, California received what seemed to be a windfall in income tax revenue around the end of the calendar year. It may have been related to high-income folks taking capital gains in anticipation of some kind of fiscal cliff related tax hike at the federal level. No one really knows. There was some concern that the windfall would be erased in later receipts but April is a big month for income taxes and, while there was some erosion, the state still appears to be ahead. Under Prop 98, a good bit of the…
Strike at UCLA hospital in 2008 With contract negotiations stalled, union workers at University of California hospitals… say they will vote next week on whether to strike. The strike talk started Friday with a statement from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 13,000 employees at university medical facilities across the state… The university attributes the current strike talk to a refusal by the union “to agree to UC’s pension reforms,” which require employees to pay a larger percentage of their incomes toward pensions starting July 1… But the union says just the…
The NY Times today carries (yet another) review by a journalist user of MOOC courses: …When it comes to Massive Open Online Courses… you can forget about the Socratic method. The professor is, in most cases, out of students’ reach, only slightly more accessible than the pope or Thomas Pynchon. Several of my Coursera courses begin by warning students not to e-mail the professor. We are told not to “friend” the professor on Facebook. If you happen to see the professor on the street, avoid all eye contact (well, that last one is more implied than stated). There are, after all, often tens…
A giant odorous cloud billowed over UC Santa Cruz’s Porter Meadow on Saturday as a few thousand people took a bong hit or two or three during an event that’s evolved into an international holiday for marijuana smokers. Hoards of mostly college-aged men and women streamed into the grass field in a valley near College Eight throughout the day to celebrate and consume copious amounts of marijuana on April 20 — a date some call “Weed Day” that has come to symbolize a free-for-all smokefest… Full story at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_23072047/thousands-light-up-at-uc-santa-cruz-celebrate There definitely seems to be something in the air:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5oVzbwYWpg?feature=player_detailpage] Or maybe…
From today’s LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing forward with plans to shake up California’s higher education system, including strict rules on tuition and fees, according to an administration spokesman. Under the governor’s proposal, university officials would forfeit increases in state funding if they raise student costs during the next four years. The governor originally outlined his plans in his January budget proposal. Now, as he prepares to release a revised spending plan next month, administration personnel have been briefing legislative staff and university officials on the details… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-colleges-20130419,0,6532913.story And we thought it was someone else…
As readers of this blog will know, UC is looking for a new president to replace Mark Yudof who is resigning in August. What you may not know is that there is talk in university circles that the next president should be someone atypical with political skills rather than an academic. Such thinking characterizes not only the UC search but similar searches at other public universities. An example is columnist suggestion that UC should choose Gray Davis: …(D)oesn’t this sound like a job for Gray Davis? Say what you want about California’s only recalled governor, but he knows politics and…
