Author: uclafaculty

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Journal Publishers Not Yearning to Be Free

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today reports slow going in a project to change professional journal publishing. The project was announced about a year ago by a consortium of universities including UC-Berkeley. In essence the idea was that journals would be free and open to anyone online. Universities would provide the revenue for reviewing, editing, etc. This approach was thought to be less expensive than library subscriptions to journals. From an article from Sept. 2009 at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/15/open “What the model does long term is change the way universities support journal publishing from having them pay fees to publishers for access to the…

Strong funding for UC Merced

Byuclafaculty

From the Merced Sun-Star, Saturday, Oct. 09, 2010 Strong funding for UC Merced included in state budget UC Merced has praised the state for allotting more than $100 million to support the school. The funding entails $81 million for construction of the Science and Engineering II building, $10 million in base funding for operations, $6.5 million for continued site development and infrastructure at UC Merced and $5 million in supplemental operating funds, according to UC Merced officials. “We are very pleased that the approved state budget reflects the critical importance of higher education to the people of California,” said UC…

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Chop, Chop: The Budget With the Governor’s Line-Item Vetoes (Including a UC Pension-Related Veto)

Byuclafaculty

The previous post on this blog gave the LAO’s description of the newly-passed state budget. It provided reserve at the end of the current fiscal year that I described as within the range of white noise. The governor has now exercised his line-item vetoes, raising the reserve projected for June 30, 2011 to $1.3 with roughly a billion dollars in vetoes. So for the current year, revenue and transfers remain as in the previous post at $94.2 billion. But expenditures drop by a billion to $86.5 billion, leading to an operating surplus of $7.7 billion. The governor’s budget document is…

LAO’s Initial Explanation of Budget Deal

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has provided a description (not really an evaluation – that will come later) of the budget deal that passed the legislature earlier today. In summary, LAO estimates the General Fund to have been left with a negative reserve of -$6.3 billion at the end of the last fiscal year, i.e., on June 30, 2010. It also estimates that the negative reserve was the result of prior sins because the budget (with all the accounting tricks, etc.) for 2009-10 was roughly balanced (revenue = expenditure). The new budget assumes “revenues and transfers” of $94.2 billion and expenditures…

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UC Lobbyist Protests Regents Action on Tuition

Byuclafaculty

An article appears today in the Merced Sun-Star about a student protest over rising tuition. It is not unusual for faculty members to join such protests over Regents actions. (The Regents raised tuition substantially last year.) But under the photograph above that accompanied the article, the caption reads: SUN-STAR PHOTO BY MARCI STENBERG Bryant Ziemba, head lobbyist for UC Merced signs a banner against fee hikes Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 afternoon, during a protest against fee hikes in the quad area in front of the Koolligan Library at UC Merced. The head lobbyist for a campus protesting a Regents action…

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Despite Apparent Budget Deal, State Continues Indirect Use of UC’s Credit Card

Byuclafaculty

The state has so far managed to avoid handing out registered warrants (IOUs) instead of making payments in cash. As you will recall, a year ago there were such IOUs issued. Part of the way the state has conserved cash is by not having a budget, so that certain payments could not be legally made. And part has been by deferring payments to various entities at other levels of government that it normally would make. Those entities then have to borrow as best they can or use up reserves to operate. Among the programs to which the state has deferred…

Reminder of Memory Improvement Course from Emeriti Center: Does Anyone Else See the Humor in It?

Byuclafaculty

I keep getting email reminders of a memory improvement course from the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center. Maybe no one else sees the humor in it. But in any event, if you are interested and think you can remember to go, here is the announcement:Sessions will be held at the Belmont Village Westwood (10475 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024) from 10am-12pm on each consecutive Tuesday from October 26, 2010 through November 16, 2010. Please plan to arrive 15 minutes early for a brief orientation on the first session October 26, 2010. The cost of the course is $25. Send checks…

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PEB Options vs. CalPERS New Hire Plan? UC vs. CSU? What’s in It for Me?

Byuclafaculty

The governor made pension reform part of the proposed budget deal. Some state unions negotiated two-tier plans with bigger contributions by employees. Under two-tier, new hires get a lower pension; incumbent workers stay in the old plan. However, the big missing piece was the contract with SEIU Local 1000 which has now been negotiated. (The deal has to be ratified by members and approved by the legislature.) The workers involved are under CalPERS and as the deal spreads across other state workers under CalPERS, it might cover CSU. But in the state budget proposal, CSU gets an even more generous…