Author: uclafaculty

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Business Plan for Hotel/Conference Center Cries Out to Be Released

Byuclafaculty

The revised business plan for the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center – now to replace parking structure #6 – is reportedly due to be unveiled to the Regents at their meeting in late March.  The deadline for getting the report on the agenda for that meeting is fast approaching.  Campus Academic Senate review is also needed. And requests have been filed by the Faculty Association and others for a copy of the plan.So far, no plan has been released.  But you can hear it calling out from Murphy Hall:

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President Yudof Responds to Three Pension Questions

Byuclafaculty

On March 2, President Yudof answered questions in a live-streaming format from UC employees.  You may have received an email referring to an edited version of some questions – including three on pensions – that appeared in UCLA Today.  Because the UCLA Today versions were edited, some nuances on pension issues were lost. Below is the UCLA Today version in regular type and then a comment from yours truly and the actual transcript in italics.  Also, the audio (a video with a fixed picture) is at the bottom of this posting along with various links. Question: What is the impact…

In Limbo Waiting for CalPERS Decision on Projected Earnings: How Low Can You Go?

Byuclafaculty

Defined-benefit pension plans such as CalPERS and UCRP have to forecast what their earnings on their assets will be over extended periods of time.  A lower forecast will produce a higher estimate of their unfunded liability.  In turn, a higher estimate of the unfunded liability will likely trigger higher employer and/or employee contributions to the plan. It is important to note, however, that changing the forecast does not change the future in the sense that the earnings rate will be what it turns out to be.  If the forecast of the earnings rate over time seems to be too low…

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Golden Rule Not So Golden, Judge?

Byuclafaculty

From time to time, yours truly has protested in this blog and elsewhere about the willy-nilly online publication of pay and pensions of public workers by various newspapers by name, including those at UC. It is quite possible to provide public information by job title and through charts and graphics summarizing averages and other descriptors without naming names. The state controller, for example, has a database that just gives pay by job title at the local level. Publication by name is an invasion of privacy and invites ID theft. So far, no newspaper has been willing to put their own…

Political Side of State Budget is Uncertain

Byuclafaculty

Governor Brown has an initiative in circulation that would impose temporary taxes on the upper brackets of the income tax but also involves the more generally-paid sales tax.  As readers of this blog will know, his January budget plan assumes that voters will approve the initiative in November.  If it is not approved, his budget would impose large trigger cuts in spending that are focused on K-12 schools.  So the budget (which must be enacted by the legislature) and the initiative (which must be enacted by voters) are intertwined. The governor’s tax plan was designed in accordance with public opinion…

Hold the Pepper

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee’s AM Alert today:PEPPER SPRAY – Cruz Reynoso’s probe of the Nov. 18 incident at UC Davis in which campus police used pepper spray on protesting students was scheduled for release today – but now has been postponed. A task force headed by the former state Supreme Court justice was asked to make recommendations on handling protests to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. But the report has been delayed pending legal action by the union for campus officers, who want to prevent it from being made public.Available at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/am-alert-261.html Update: A later news item today indicates the judge in the…

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Being on Both Sides

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert story about yesterday’s rally at the state capitol: College students and activists are rallying today in Sacramento to protest state budget cuts in higher education. They will be joined at one Capitol rally by Democratic legislative leaders who negotiated budgets that included those cuts in recent years.  It’s one example of the murky budget politics surrounding higher education… Full story at: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/college-students-and-activists-are.html It’s nice to be able to be on both sides: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrEqIpi6sg&w=320&h=195]Update: Dan Walters, a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, makes the same point today in an op ed that concludes with the…