Author: uclafaculty

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A Word from Our Sponsor….

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Faculty AssociationSPEAKERS’ FORUM ON ALTERNATIVE FUNDING MODELS FOR UC DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012TIME: Noon-1:30 pm,LOCATION: Faculty Center, California Room,LUNCH: Complimentary Sandwiches and Beverages will be served.RSVP: ucfa@earthlink.net  so we can get an accurate food count. (Cut and paste this address into your email.  You can’t do it from here.)ACTION: Join the UCLA Faculty Assn.: go to www.uclafaculty.org APRIL 1982: ANCIENT CALIFORNIA HISTORY“The interconnected complications surrounding the upcoming state budget for 1982-83 defy comprehension by most state legislators let alone the public at large… Governor Jerry Brown is projecting a $3 to $4 Billion shortfall in revenues for 1982-83. This is against the Governor’s $2.1…

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Just a Little Trip-Up in the Rush to Approve the UCLA Hotel

Byuclafaculty

Readers of this blog will know that the proposed UCLA hotel-conference center has many pitfalls, legal, tax-wise, and financial. And now the Regents and the donors are the target of a lawsuit.  This problem, as we have noted oh so many times, might have been avoided by a) scaling down the project to something reasonable, and b) talking and negotiating with those folks and interests in the community that had concerns about the project. UCLA bulled ahead, however, getting the donors to sign a letter stating that no alternative was OK.  Ironically, that step opened the door to a legal…

The Way You Look (at Harvard Law)

Byuclafaculty

According to Inside Higher Ed, Harvard Law School has decided to switch from phone interviews to video interviews so the interviewer can see the candidate. Article athttp://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/10/12/harvard-law-switches-video-interviews According to the official memo from Harvard Law School, “…we evaluate applicants from all angles…”http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2012/10/11_hls_expands_jd_admissions_interviews.html Puts a big emphasis on appearance, no?  [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Gg7RULwrI?feature=player_detailpage]

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Legal victory for university consortium that includes UC

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed is reporting a legal victory concerning a Google/university partnership that involves indexing a vast number of books.  Excerpt:Much of the work of the HathiTrust (a consortium of universities) to make books in university collections more easily searchable and accessible to people with disabilities is protected by “fair use” and is not subject to a copyright suit brought by authors’ groups, a federal judge has ruled…I can’t give you the ins and outs of this case but UC is a member of the HathiTrust.  The full Inside Higher Ed article is at:http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/10/11/fair-use-applies-book-digitizing-work-judge-rules That article links to a legal blog which…

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How High?

Byuclafaculty

A prior post on this blog noted that CalPERS was considering raising its rates for long-term care insurance by 75%.  We noted that although UC was not under CalPERS, as state employees, UC employees have been allowed in the past to participate in the program. We also noted that such insurance is a very iffy proposition since it is hard to forecast costs many years ahead for long-term care and thus rates could go up (a lot). Turns out, that CalPERS is indeed planning to raise the rates.  But now the increase may be as high as 85%.  From the…

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Garden News

Byuclafaculty

Blog readers will recall the Japanese Garden  controversy and the litigation about the proposed sale of the Garden by UCLA.  Here is an update: JAPANESE GARDEN LISTED AMONG 12 SIGNIFICANT THREATENED AND AT-RISK LANDSCAPES NATIONWIDE Rafu Shimpo 10-8-12 WASHINGTON — The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) on Oct. 4 formally announced “Landslide,” its annual compendium of threatened and at-risk landscapes, which includes the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Los Angeles. This year’s theme, “Landscape and Patronage,” focuses on visionary patrons and/or organizations and the sites they helped create and support. The late Edward W. Carter is recognized as the garden’s patron. …

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Johnny Dollar Reports

Byuclafaculty

There used to be an old radio show, “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.”   The closest we now have in California is state controller John Chiang who provides monthly cash reports on the state’s budget. For the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2012-13), we are behind on revenue by about $200 million (which is really noise given the size of the budget).  We spent, however, over a billion dollars more than budgeted for the first quarter.  The extra spending seems to be occurring in the social welfare area.  It’s not K-12 or higher ed. Anyway, if the budget estimate…