Author: uclafaculty

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LA Times Wants a Pre-Commitment from UC

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today runs an editorial lamenting UC tuition increases and increased admission of out-of-state students. See below for an excerpt in italics. But the editorial goes on to tell UC to pre-commit to reversals of these actions if the budget approves, apparently according to a formula. What in fact needs to happen is not unilateral action by UC but rather a negotiation between the governor, legislative leaders, Dept. of Finance, Legislative Analyst, interest groups, and UC in which future understandings are worked out. One-way pre-commitments are not the way to go. Yours truly has not noticed that the…

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Action Needed Before We Get Boxed In on Pensions in 2012

Byuclafaculty

One impact of the recently-enacted state budget is that – because it was done without Republican support – there will be no special election this calendar year and, therefore, no propositions dealing with public pensions. In 2012, however, there could be pension-related items on the ballot. California senate leader Darrell Steinberg had this to say about what the legislative Democrats might put on the ballot: Steinberg pointed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals to eliminate purchase of air time, prohibit so-called pension holidays and retroactive pension increases and ban payment of pension benefits to employees who are convicted of a felony…

Bill Challenging Prop 209 Which Bans Affirmative Action in UC Admissions

Byuclafaculty

Undoubtedly, the bill – if enacted – would end up at the California Supreme Court. Bill allowing UC, CSU to consider race, gender, economic background in admissions passes key committee (excerpt) Beige Luciano-Adams, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 07/05/2011 A bill authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, that would allow public universities to factor race, ethnicity, gender and economic status in student admissions passed the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee on Tuesday by a 5-3 vote. According to Hernandez, the purpose of Senate Bill 185 is to address a significant drop in minority enrollment at both UC and CSU campuses –…

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Regents to Be Asked to Leave Pay Increases to the President

Byuclafaculty

There will be other items on the agenda of the upcoming Regents meeting (July 12-14) apart from the budget-related tuition increase discussed in early blog posts. For example, the Regents are asked to delegate certain authority over pay increases to the UC president: Regents Policy 7203, adopted in November 2005 and subsequently amended in July 2010, established the goal of obtaining, prioritizing, and directing funds, to the extent such funds were available, to increase salaries to achieve market comparability for all groups of employees over a ten year period. Upon adoption, the policy included language requiring annual approval by the…

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Longevity is a Mixed Blessing (for the Pension)

Byuclafaculty

From time to time, the actuarial assumptions underlying the UC pension plan are re-examined by an outside consultant. For the July Regents meeting, the agenda includes officially changing various assumptions in the light of experience, the net of which raise the normal cost of the plan (by 1%) and the unfunded liability (by 3.7%). The main factor raising costs is a finding that participants are living longer. Full report at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul11/f4.pdf

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UCLA Says No Thanks to Running MLK Hospital Despite Regents Involvement

Byuclafaculty

Although the Regents took on the revival of the Martin Luther King Hospital that was shut down by LA County after numerous problems, UCLA has declined to operate the revamped facility when it reopens. From a report to the Regents July session: Martin Luther King Hospital Update: … A contract for design/build was executed with Hensel Phelps on April 14, 2011. The construction is on schedule with the 120-bed hospital to be “substantially completed” by March 15, 2013, with occupancy by September 15, 2013. Operation of the facility: A “request for solutions” was issued to 12 pre-qualified organizations. The Board…

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In-State Applicants Knock on UC Admissions Door But Out-of-State Proportion Rising

Byuclafaculty

At their upcoming July meeting, the Regents will receive projected undergrad admissions and enrollment data. California residents – while still the heavy majority of projected incoming students – are declining as a percent of total new enrollment. Applications were up but in-state admits, both as freshmen and as community college transfers, were flat. The report is available at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul11/e1.pdf As the budget squeeze continues, UC increasingly will likely turn away in-state residents knocking on the admissions door:

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Regents to Approve UCLA Apartment Project at July Meeting

Byuclafaculty

The next Regents meeting is scheduled for July 12-14. Slated for approval are replacement and enlargement of two UCLA apartment houses in Westwood: 625/641 Landfair Avenue and 558/564 Glenrock Avenue in a $57.5 million project. Although on the July agenda, the project description indicates that construction will begin in July. Photos of those addresses from Google streetview can be seen here. The agenda item can be seen at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul11/gb2.pdf

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More on the Poizner-UCLA Extension Online Partnership

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post on this blog noted the partnership between Encore Career Institute, headed by former gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, and UCLA Extension. Below is more info taken from the website of Encore: http://encoreci.com/ ========================= About Encore Career Institute A unique combination of passionate leaders and experts have come to together to merge Silicon Valley’s best-in-class technology, Hollywood’s marketing assets and the world renowned academic curriculum of UCLA. The result is a brand new concept and company called the Encore Career Institute. Backed by $15 million in Series A venture capital funds, Encore is poised to revolutionize the higher-education world,…