Author: uclafaculty

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Listen to Audio of the Morning Session of the Regents: July 18, 2012

Byuclafaculty

The Regents sessions on the morning of July 18thwere heavily budget oriented.  This audio is incomplete and starts in the midst of President Yudof’s statement on budget matters and his advocacy of support by the Regents for the governor’s tax initiative on the November ballot.   Public comments by students and others ended in a demonstration of the type that has become standard at Regents meetings.  In essence, demonstrators wanted tuition freezes, even if the governor’s initiative did not pass.  Other items were raised including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Eventually, police cleared the room of demonstrators.  The recording continued during roughly…

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Making Elephants Fly

Byuclafaculty

Approval by the Regents of the UCLA hotel/conference center in its present iteration may have been inevitable but it does not change the underlying economic reality of the project.  It either is a white elephant or it isn’t.  And the underlying economic reality goes beyond this specific proposal.  Whether the governor’s tax initiative passes or not, the long-term outlook for the state’s support for UC is not bright.  In an earlier post, this blog reproduced a chart from the UCLA Anderson Forecast showing the growing California  job gap between the pre-1990 trend line and the actual results.  Moreover the chart…

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Where Was UCLA?

Byuclafaculty

As this item is being posted, the Regents are considering endorsement of the governor’s tax initiative.  Part of the process was a memorial from the faculty on that issue.  Above is a tabulation on the Regents’ agenda reporting the faculty vote.  Of those voting, 93% favored the endorsement.  But note that for whatever reason, few faculty members at UCLA voted.  In fact, fewer voted at UCLA than at any other campus including much smaller Merced.  Eric Hays of CUCFA brought this fact to my attention. The item including the table above is athttp://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul12/f2.pdf

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A Tuition Cut That Really Isn’t Is on the Regents Agenda Today

Byuclafaculty

Various professional schools have what amount to tuition surcharges above the base tuition for revenue generation.  An item on today’s Regents agenda for the Committee on Educational Policy would allow fast cuts in the surcharges.  Why?  If the governor’s tax initiative doesn’t pass, the Regents would likely quickly raise base tuition to offset the planned $250 million trigger cut.  The base+surcharge might then exceed market rates for some schools, cutting into applications and admissions.   Under the proposal, a quick cut in the surcharge could offset or partially offset the base increase. You can find the item at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul12/e1.pdf And,…

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New Law Aimed at Cheaper Higher Ed Textbooks

Byuclafaculty

Description of SB 1539, Signed by Gov. Brown: The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the 4 segments of the higher education system in the state. These segments include the 3 public segments: the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent institutions of higher education constitute the other segment. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education…

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Listen to Regents Meeting July 17, 2012: Hotel Approval

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA hotel/conference center was approved by the Regents Committee on Grounds and Buildings.  That outcome was not unexpected, despite the many concerns that have been raised in the past.  Among other items, and probably most important, was a letter UCLA solicited from the Luskins saying essentially that the proposal was what they wanted and anything else would be a breach.  President Yudof was careful not to say that their original intent was so specific.  He said it is now specific.  It would be unusual, to say the least, for the Regents to walk away from $50 million. The recording…

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Preview of Coming Campaign for Prop 30: Governor’s Tax Initiative

Byuclafaculty

Here is a preview of what the coming campaign for Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative – will look like.  The YouTube video (scene at right; link below) runs over one and a half minutes so it probably won’t air in full on TV (where 30 second and 60 second ads are the norm).  But similar themes are likely to be struck in the pro-Prop 30 campaign. We have not yet seen what the anti campaign will look like. The Regents are likely to endorse Prop 30 at their upcoming meeting. You can see the video below:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtO1xsnWsw4&w=320&h=195]

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UCLA Med Center Rated #1 in California; 5 in U.S.

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center nabbed top honors among California hospitals in the latest U.S. News & World Report annual rankings.  The Los Angeles medical center ranked No. 5 nationally in the publisher’s annual honor roll of best hospitals. Only one other hospital in the state, UC San Francisco Medical Center, made the national honor roll of 17 hospitals. It ranked No. 13.   The online magazine said it analyzed patient survival rates, infection rates, safety measures, staffing ratios and other data… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-hospital-rankings-20120717,0,4972814.story The listing is at http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2012/07/16/best-hospitals-2012-13-the-honor-roll

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Regents to Discuss UCLA Hotel Legal Issues Behind Closed Doors

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, we posted a listing of discussion behind-closed-doors of litigation that the full Board of Regents will be discussing.  There will also be such a closed-door session of the Committee on Grounds and Building to discuss legal matters related to the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center – which, indeed, as this blog has noted – has “issues.”  The closed-door agenda – listed as a “session added” on the Regents’ website – is below: =================  NOTICE OF MEETING The Regents of the University of California COMMITTEE ON GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS Date:   July 17, 2012 Time:   2:25 p.m. Location:  UCSF–Mission Bay Community Center…

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Regents’ Litigation Agenda: Behind Closed Doors

Byuclafaculty

Behind closed doors on July 18th, the Regents will be discussing various items of litigation.  The doors are locked but we do know the items: AUTHORS GUILD, et al. v. HATHITRUST, et al. – The case has to do with digitalization of “orphan” works at university libraries, not just UC, a project generally supported by university libraries around the U.S.  “Orphan” works are older books that are out of print and either out of copyright or whose copyright holders cannot be determined.  BAKER, et al. v. KATEHI, et. al. – Mediation Scheduled – Constitutional and State Law Claims Arising from…