Author: uclafaculty

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State Out of Cash?

Byuclafaculty

You may see some headlines about the state running out of cash.  The state controller today sent a letter to the legislature supporting passage of a bill allowing for more internal borrowing.  What does this development mean? As we have noted in past blog posts, in the current fiscal year and the past two years, in common English parlance the general fund of the state has been in rough balance, i.e., inflow = outflow.  But prior to that there were big deficits that ultimately left the state with a negative reserve in its general fund. When the general fund has…

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Listen to Radio Program on Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

At the link below, you can listen to Which Way LA? on KCRW which featured a program this evening on the UCLA Japanese Garden.  Guests are Martha Groves of the LA Times, R. Michael Rich – research astronomer, and EVC Scott Waugh.  The program does not have anyone from the Carter family or background on the source of the original gift. It runs about 10 minutes at the beginning of the link below. UCLA’s position is that it would like to see the garden preserved but wants to sell it.  No guarantee is made, however, that the sale would be to…

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Imitation is Not Always Flattery

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today carries a story about the UCLA Anderson’s School’s use of the Turnitin.com system for catching plagiarism in essays of applicants for the MBA program.  The system is more commonly used for checking reports written for class assignments by already-enrolled students.  Excerpt: …”The more we can nip unethical behavior in the bud, the better,” said Andrew Ainslie, a senior associate dean at UCLA Anderson. “It seems to us nobody ought to be able to buy their way into a business school.”  In the school’s first review of essays from potential MBA candidates this year, Turnitin found significant…

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UCLA History: Fundraising

Byuclafaculty

The issues of the sale of the Japanese Garden and the construction of the hotel/conference center both point to fundraising and gifts to UCLA.  The recent history of UCLA – UCLA: The First Century – has a section on the early days of fundraising.  (See an earlier blog post on the book.) In the book is the undated photo on the left of Dean Neil Jacoby of the business school promoting his idea of a building for the school.  The book, incidentally, incorrectly gives his dates as dean as 1948-73.  In fact, when yours truly arrived on campus in the…

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Audio Recording Indicates that UC Needs to Talk With Legislative Leaders on Pensions

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday’s State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee carried a story about remarks by California State Senate President Darrell Steinberg on public pensions.  It includes a link to a recording of Steinberg’s remarks on pensions at a press conference of 1-26-2012.  Good luck with that link; the IT guy at the Bee must have gone home for the weekend.  Nevertheless, yours truly has come to the rescue and you can hear it without hassle by clicking on the link below. There is a back story which state politicos will understand regarding Steinberg’s remarks.  Last year, the legislature kept waiting for…

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LA Councilman Koretz Opposes Sale of Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

LA City Councilman Paul Koretz, whose district includes UCLA and the surrounding area, has written a letter to Chancellor Block opposing the sale of the Japanese Garden. The letter is reproduced below. By way of further historical background, the photo at the right appears in the new history book on UCLA, “UCLA: The First Century,” in a section entitled “Artful Transformation” dealing with Chancellor Franklin Murphy’s interest in campus beautification during his regime.  The caption to the photo reads in part: Murphy had long wanted to acquire a Japanese garden in neighboring Bel-Air, and in 1965, it was donated to…

UC-Davis in the Post-Pepper Era

Byuclafaculty

After the pepper spray incident at UC-Davis, the administration is apparently taking a hands-off attitude toward Occupy demonstrators.  From the student paper at Davis: Blockades by Occupy UC Davis protesters have led to speculation that U.S. Bank may leave the Memorial Union (MU) if protests persist.  In the past week, protesters have blockaded the door to the bank eight times, according to a protester. These blockades have resulted in the early closure of the bank and involvement of campus police.  The closure of the bank could also mean the departure of funds for student activities. “The occupiers claim they are…

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More on the Obama/Tuition Issue

Byuclafaculty

As a prior blog post noted, President Obama’s State of the Nation address earlier this week contained a threat to cut federal support to universities whose tuitions were rising. But it was not clear what exactly was involved. Insider Higher Ed has a brief story – with a link to a NY Times iece and a link to a White House fact sheet about the proposal.  In fact, to the extent that the proposal is implemented – always a question given Congressional gridlock – UC and UCLA are likely to benefit.  Our tuition is rising but it is still low…

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Shooting Arrows

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin carries a story today about possible construction of an archery range on campus as a component of a large donation which is raising some ecology concerns.  Apparently, the area currently contains California native plants and is used in some coursework and has raised some faculty objections.  As pressures for fundraising ramp up – reflective of the larger university/state budget situation – these kinds of conflicts over university property and land use seem to keep cropping up.  Earlier – and still-current – examples involve the hotel/conference center project and the proposed sale of the Japanese Garden. Excerpt: Just…