Author: uclafaculty

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UC Manhattan Project Legacy Potentially Blows Up Over Issue of Retiree Health Care

Byuclafaculty

For many years, going back to the Manhattan project, UC Regents were in charge of the “nuclear labs.” Various scandals revolving around lab security arose and the management system was eventually shifted to a consortium involving UC and others. At the time, there was concern about the UC pension implications. Lab employees had been part of the basic pension plan. The question was essentially how the assets of the plan (and the liabilities) would be split off to cover them. There was less attention paid to the issue of retiree health care, an unfunded liability for which, unlike the pension,…

There May Always Be an England But It May Also Cost More to Go to University There

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed is running two articles today on a new official report which calls for rising tuition, reduced public subsidies, and more efficiencies in the British higher ed system. Britain Goes to Market (excerpt) October 14, 2010 Dozens of British universities could face a struggle for survival after a landmark report paved the way for a massive cut in teaching funding and an open market in fees and student numbers. The independent review on higher education funding and student finance, unveiled this week, concedes that fees of £6,000 (or $9,500) are unlikely to bridge the loss of public investment…

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Evolving Jurisprudence on UC Admissions

Byuclafaculty

Christian schools lose appeal bid in UC case (excerpt) October 13, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Elko The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from Christian schools that want the University of California to grant college-prep credit for courses with religious viewpoints – using textbooks, UC says, that replace science with the Bible. The justices, without comment, denied a hearing to the Association of Christian Schools International, which accused the university of violating freedom of speech and religion with its policy on the classes applicants take in high school. UC requires certain high school courses for admission and says…

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The Final Brown-Whitman Debate: 10-12-10

Byuclafaculty

Audios of the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman debate are available below. (They are videos with a still picture). The audio is divided into 5 parts due to time limits at video-Yahoo. Click where indicated on the image for Part 1. Click on the urls for the other 4 parts. Of special interest was Meg Whitman’s comment that pensions for faculty and staff at UC were driving out students. The statement occurs in Part 2. In Part 2, the pension discussion starts around the 9 minute mark. The comment on UC is around 11:45 minutes. Brown-Whitman debate 10-12-10 Part 1: Public sacrifices,…

Copyright Issues

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA library recently emailed faculty about trying to retain certain rights to copyrighted works when they are published in professional journals or books. If you didn’t click into some of the sources on this issue, below are the topics from an important page. Note that the topics include use of copyrighted materials from others as well as your own materials. To get to the topic links, go to http://www.library.ucla.edu/service/12796.cfm Publishing Resources The following links lead to external resources that provide information about and assistance with various aspects of publishing. UCLA librarians and library staff also provide services in this…

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Spillovers to UC from the SEIU Deal with the Governor?

Byuclafaculty

Are there any spillover effects for UC from the deal between SEIU Local 1000 and the governor as part of the budget enactment? There had been prior deals with some other state unions but Local 1000 was the biggie. The contract has yet to be ratified by union members. Directly, the contract has no effect on UC employees since none are covered by the agreement. Other unions represent UC employees. But indirectly there might be some effects, either positive or negative. Let’s look at the terms as described by the union on its website – actual contract language is not…

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Cash Management

Byuclafaculty

With a budget now enacted, the state controller is authorized to make payments that have been held up. The problem is that the budget enactment did not create more cash. Indeed, not having a budget conserved cash precisely because payments were not being made. Excerpts from the website of controller John Chiang: How bad is the State’s cash flow? Unfortunately, the more than three-month long stalemate over a spending plan resulted in the State being unable to make more than $8.3 billion in payments to small businesses, community clinics, and local governments since July 1. After accounting for September’s cash…

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Duelling PEB Reports

Byuclafaculty

When the Post-Employment Benefits (PEB) Task Force finished its deliberations, it published a majority and minority report. See earlier postings. UCOP responded to the dissenting report with a rebuttal. The dissenters replied to that response. In turn, UCOP responded to that response. Depending on when you looked at the UCOP webpage on PEB, you may not have seen the full back and forth. So here is the menu as of today: The full report of August 30 is at http://universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/ucrpfuture/files/2010/08/peb_finalreport_082710.pdfThe minority dissenting report of August 30 is http://universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/ucrpfuture/uncategorized/files/2010/08/peb_dissenting_082510.pdf The UCOP response to the dissent of Sept. 14 is at http://universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/ucrpfuture/files/2010/09/peb_dissenting_response_0910.pdf…

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Upcoming Events of Interest

Byuclafaculty

The final gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 6:30 PM. Channel 4 – KNBC – will carry it. UPDATE: Local public radio stations as of the morning of the debate are not listing on their websites whether or not they will carry the debate. KQED radio in San Francisco will carry the audio and its programs are streamed on line at http://www.kqed.org/radio/listen/ FURTHER UPDATE: Apparently KCRW 89.9 will carry it. There will be a campus-level forum on the Post-Employment Benefits (PEB) Task Force report on Thursday, Oct. 14, Royce Hall. See…

6-Year Graduation Rates at UC

Byuclafaculty

A group called the American Institutes for Research has been receiving publicity for a database on higher ed and, in particular, dropouts from 4-year institutions. The group describes itself as follows: AIR’s purpose is to conduct and apply behavioral and social science research to improve people’s lives and well-being, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged. Website at http://www.air.org/ Its database includes data on 6-year graduation rates from federal data sources during 2003-2008, i.e., what percentage of incoming freshmen graduate within 6 years. You can find the database at http://collegemeasures.org/ The report goes beyond graduation rates and puts dollar figures…