Author: uclafaculty

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UCLA Faculty Center Election: Deadline for Voting Near

Byuclafaculty

Normally, elections for office at the UCLA Faculty Center are quiet affairs. However, because of the controversy surrounding the plan to demolish the Center and replace it with a large hotel/conference center, this year is different. If you are a member of the Center, you should have received your ballot by postal mail – if your address is off-campus – or by campus mail. I have an off-campus address and my ballot came at least a week ago. I am told some members have not yet received ballots. The deadline for voting is mid-June. Sorry, I don’t have the exact…

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Coming Soon to a Polling Station Near You?

Byuclafaculty

As noted in a prior post, one proposed pension initiative that could have overridden the Regents’ December changes in the UC plan has been abandoned and no signature-gathering campaign will be conducted. But there are others possibly on the way, as calpensions.com reports (excerpt): …Dan Pellissier, president of California Pension Reform, is working on an initiative that would cap normal employer contributions at 6 percent of pay and give new hires a 401(k) plan. The employer would be responsible for any previous “unfunded liability,” allowing employer contributions to exceed 6 percent until the debt is paid off. Employees could negotiate…

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Bus Service from Westwood to LAX May Fly Away

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has recommended discontinuation of the $5-per-trip Westwood FlyAway bus service to Los Angeles International Airport because it is operating at a loss, but UCLA and its students are trying to negotiate a way to save it. “The FlyAway bus provides an absolutely critical service to UCLA students,” student body President Emily Resnick said in a statement. “Without this service, thousands of students will no longer be able to go home for holidays or other important events.” … Renée Fortier, director of UCLA transportation, said Friday that the campus had…

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Pay Freeze Bill Melts

Byuclafaculty

A bill in the state Assembly that would have frozen pay of most state workers above $150,000 until 2014 has died. The bill would not have covered UC would contained language urging UC to follow its guideline. Specifically: (9) (A) At a time when the University of California Board of Regents is raising student fees, it is imperative that they show leadership and fiscal responsibility for two years by not granting raises or bonuses for employees that make in excess of $150,000 per year. (B) The Legislature urges the Regents of the University of California and the Board of Directors…

Another Reminder, Courtesy of the U of Virginia, That Nothing Is Private at Public Universities

Byuclafaculty

U. of Virginia Agrees to Release Climate Researcher’s E-Mails May 25, 2011. Chronicle of Higher Ed The University of Virginia has agreed to turn over a potentially enormous trove of climate-research e-mails and other documents to a conservative group that filed a demand for them under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The demand centers on more than a decade’s worth of e-mail messages from, to, and about Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist who left the university in 2005 to become director of a research center at Pennsylvania State University. The organization, called the American Tradition Institute, joined with…