Author: uclafaculty

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Good Idea: Take a Risk

Byuclafaculty

The website of the San Francisco Chronicle today is running a story today about a Silicon Valley forum in which California first lady Anne Gust Brown and new UC president Janet Napolitano argued that women should take more risks in public life. In earlier posts, we noted that a recent speech – billed in advance as a major address – by the new prez was largely a dud with no sense of priorities for UC or even key questions that she thinks need further investigation.  So we agree about risk taking.  Our new prez should take a risk at the…

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No silver bullet?

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: Californians will get the first chance to comment on President Obama’s proposals to make college more affordable during a public forum this week at Cal State Dominguez Hills, officials said. The Wednesday event is the first in a series of four public sessions held around the country — and the only one in California — to gather input on the president’s recently announced agenda to develop a college ratings system to help students select schools with the best bang for their buck… The ratings score card would be developed for the 2015 school year using such…

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Possible UC strike

Byuclafaculty

Demonstration in Westwood after previous strike From the LA Times: Members of the union that represents 22,000 service workers and patient care employees at UC campuses and hospitals have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a possible strike in the future if a contract agreement is not reached, officials said Friday. Ninety-six percent of the members of AFSCME 3299 voted to allow union leaders to call a strike if they decide it is necessary. If a strike happens, it would be the second this year and a potentially wider one, possibly affecting the 10 campuses and the five medical centers. In late…

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Trial Date for UCLA Grand Hotel Coming

Byuclafaculty

In earlier posts on the UCLA Grand Hotel, we have noted that construction started off at a very leisurely pace but seemed to be picking up.  When yours truly went by earlier today (see photos), trucks were rolling in and out.  Other construction machines were wrecking the remains of parking structure #6.  Could it be that the more rapid pace has anything to do with the fact that a trial date for the lawsuit challenging the project will be set next week?  Is someone trying to get facts on the ground?  Note that the lawsuit, even if there are facts…

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We’re not the only ones to think the Napolitano speech was a dud

Byuclafaculty

The thing it lacked The Sacramento Bee runs an editorial lamenting the lack of vision in the speech: University of California’s newest president, Janet Napolitano, in her first major speech to Californians had the opportunity to show, in the words of the search committee that selected her, that she could bring “fresh eyes and a new sensibility – not only to UC, but to all of California.”  She fell far short. With no record as a scholar or in campus administration, she had to show that she would bring more than her background as a politician and political appointee to…

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Scary Thoughts for Halloween

Byuclafaculty

Over the past year or so, there have been various scary developments about which we have blogged.  Most recently there is the recently-filed anti-pension initiative that sweeps in UC.  There is the volatility of state budget because of its heavy dependence on the income tax and the incomes of those in the upper brackets that are reflective of the ups and downs of financial markets.  There is the illusion that online ed will resolve the long-term budget squeeze on the university. The hotel shown below is pretty scary but so, too, is the UCLA Grand Hotel, in part because of…

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We got a boost. Now we need some answers.

Byuclafaculty

I’ve got the booster.  But what’s for dinner? We noted in past postings that new UC president Janet Napolitano was to give an important address yesterday about her vision of UC.  The address happened.  But her remarks were mainly boosterism.  (So far, UCOP hasn’t put the transcript of the remarks on the web, but yours truly has seen them.)  Greatest public university,  The California dream.  Nobel prize.  Diversity.  The Master Plan.  Etc.  And, yes, there was reference in the speech to DREAM students – that’s what seems to have been the focus of morning news stories.  She said she would…

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UC Brand: Language Lessons to Come?

Byuclafaculty

Here is an oddity.  On the UCOP website, there is a webpage on the “UC Brand.”  You can find it athttp://brand.universityofcalifornia.edu/index.html.  The text is below: The University of Transformation Pioneering. Curious. Vibrant. Thoughtful. Even beautiful. The University of California is located wherever a UC mind is at work. At any given moment, people in the UC community are exploring, creating and advancing our shared experience of life in California and beyond. These guidelines ensure we express these shared values with every communication. In short, this site helps us all “Speak UC.” But as of 6 pm today on that webpage, there…

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Privatized Strawberries at Davis

Byuclafaculty

Please pay as you enter Strawberry growers are literally being cheated out of the fruits of their labors by the University of California, according to a lawsuit filed against the Board of Regents by the California Strawberry Commission. UC Davis is ending its strawberry breeding program and replacing it with a private company created by its two long-time strawberry researchers. The two plan to sell strawberry varieties, including those they developed over the past 30 years at UC Davis backed by annual payments of $350,000 by the strawberry commission. Filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the commission’s eight-page lawsuit wants to…