This photo of a UCLA scene looks as if it could have been taken recently. Actually, it was taken in 1929 when the Westwood campus had just opened. Most of what is now UCLA had not been built but the view from Royce across to Powell back then is about the same as it is today.
But although it has been apparently sent to the Regents for approval, requests for it remain unanswered and unfulfilled. Today, the UCLA Faculty Association renewed its request from last November: Text of email sent to Aimee M. Felker Director Records Management & Information Practices, Corporate Financial Services3-18-12 Dear Ms Felker, Lots of time has passed, and you have not responded to the request of the FA for a public document, the business plan for the proposed UCLA Conference and Guest Center. I have offered several times since your communication to pick up the document in your office, but you have…
The upcoming Regents agenda contains a mix of open sessions and closed sessions. One closed session involves a sensitive pension issue to be discussed in private by the Committee on Compensation. Readers of this blog with long memories will recall a controversy that erupted when certain highly-paid UC administrators complained that a cap – based on IRS rules – on their pensions should be removed. The cap limits the amount of the basic pension to the first $245,000 of pay. Essentially, back in the day when folks didn’t worry much about pension funding, the Regents applied for an exemption from…
The Regents agenda is now posted and includes the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center. But no plan is attached to the agenda item. No plan has yet been received by the UCLA Faculty Association although a public documents request was filed by the Association and others some time back. Below is the agenda of the Regents’ Committee on Grounds and Buildings which contains the so-far-secret plan. The full Regents’ agenda is also reproduced below. ==== NOTICE OF MEETING The Regents of the University of California COMMITTEE ON GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS Date: March 28, 2012 Time: 2:15 p.m. Location: UCSF–Mission Bay Community…
Yesterday, there was a news report that the UC-Davis pepper spray report was likely to be released unredacted, based on remarks made by the judge in the case. Today, however, it is being reported that the judge OK’ d only a redacted report and it is unclear exactly when even that will be released. Was there a judicial change of mind? Or did the news report get it wrong? Yours truly has no special insight. But you can read the latest report at:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/16/4343670/much-of-uc-davis-pepper-spray.html Sometimes it’s hard to know what was said:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UE-OK7aY2I&w=320&h=195]
The Santa Monica Mirror carried a video about the new Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital that evidently was produced by UCLA, although I could not find the original source. It’s a PR piece but provides internal views of the new facility. The Mirror article is athttp://www.smmirror.com/#mode=single&view=34267 That link could disappear so here is the video:
An earlier post on this blog noted that a UC-Berkeley administrator who granted large pay increases to a boyfriend/subordinate seemed to have received slap-on-the-wrist discipline for the action when it came to light. The drama is apparently continuing:A growing chorus of voices is calling for the firing of a UC Berkeley administrator who helped triple her secret sex partner’s pay over five years. Calling Diane Leite’s punishment “an affront” to the university, several UC Berkeley professors have asked the school’s provost to investigate how the matter was handled. They are aghast that, instead of firing her, the university reassigned Leite from…
The commercial news media picked up a story that appeared online in yesterday’s UCLA Today:UCLA professor Judea Pearl has been awarded one of the highest honors in the field of computer science. Pearl was named winner of the 2011 A.M. (sic – should be ACM) Turing Award, which carries a $250,000 prize, for his work in artificial intelligence. Pearl, 75, contributed to the field by developing mathematical formulas that factor in uncertainty. That allows computers to find connections between millions of pieces of data, even when the information is incomplete or vague. His work has made it possible for computers to think more…
We still don’t have a business plan for the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center. But it is important to note that as the economy recovers, private hotel developers may add competitive capacity to the Westside market. For example, a 285-room hotel is planned in Santa Monica at 7th Street and Wilshire, essentially a conversion of an existing office building. Details of the project are at:http://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2012/20120320/s2012%200320%207-A.pdf http://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2012/20120320/s2012%200320%207-A-1.pdf http://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2012/20120320/s2012%200320%207-A-2.pdf Some guests at UCLA events might even prefer to stay in Santa Monica:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6CtZ4VkvgQ&w=320&h=195]
The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the judge hearing arguments why the official UC-Davis report on the pepper-spray incident should be redacted has signaled that the report can likely be released April 2 without redaction: The judge in Friday’s UC Davis pepper-spray hearing issued a tentative ruling late this afternoon indicating that he plans to deny efforts to stop release of a report into the Nov. 18 incident and will not agree to seal portions of the report. The ruling by Alameda Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo is not final and will be the subject of a hearing in court…
