Author: uclafaculty

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History of Royce Hall: August 11

Byuclafaculty

Announcement reproduced below: THE UCLA EMERITI/RETIREES RELATIONS CENTER PROUDLY PRESENTS JIM KLAIN ON THE HISTORY OF ROYCE HALL Completed in 1929, Royce Hall has become to be known as the defining symbol for the UCLA campus. As one of the four original buildings, its unique Romanesque architecture prompted the State Historic Preservation Office to select it for restoration to its original design. The inaugural season for the performing arts subscription series in 1937 included the Los Angeles Philharmonic and famed contralto Marian Anderson. Today, Royce Hall, revered by many for its beauty and acoustics, is the main performance venue for…

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Posting Salaries

Byuclafaculty

As is well known, state salaries are posted on websites available from such sources as the Sacramento Bee. You can go to the Bee website and find salary by name of a particular employee, including UC employees. Last October, I wrote an op ed for UCLA Today asking why the Bee thought it was a good idea to publish state salaries by name which could encourage identity theft or other abuse. The Bee could have alternatively provided the basic information using just job titles, pay distribution charts, etc., that would not identify individuals. See http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/areas/fac/hrob/bee-post.pdf I asked the Bee why…

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Furloughs in the Bank?

Byuclafaculty

Here is an interesting question: What happens to furloughs at UCLA that weren’t taken? For state employees (those under control of the governor – not UC), a decision has been reached that such untaken furlough days do not expire. They last indefinitely “in the bank.” See: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/07/2943128/state-workers-furlough-time-now.html#mi_rss=State%20Politics Since employees who did not in fact take time off had their paychecks reduced nonetheless, it would seem that in the future they could take off days with pay for each untaken furlough day. (The pay reduction was previously taken from their paychecks so taking a day off would not reduce future pay.)…

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Ronald Brownstein Comments on UC and CSU

Byuclafaculty

The Coming Campus Collision: Public universities face expanding needs and contracting resources. Aug. 7, 2010by Ronald Brownstein IRVINE, Calif. — The orientation tours that I attended last week at two University of California campuses looked like a postcard from the next America. Demographers project that minorities will comprise a majority of all Americans under 18 as soon as 2023. But that future is already here in the sprawling University of California system, where African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and all other nonwhites represent 70 percent of students, up from about half two decades ago. These campuses are not only cultivating the state’s…

Westwood’s Crest Theater is Closing

Byuclafaculty

The art deco Majestic Crest Theater – just south of UCLA – has been staggering from financial crisis to financial crisis for years. It is apparently about to close. If you have never been inside and seen the wall murals of Westwood past and Hollywood past, this is your last chance. From the Theater’s website: The Majestic Crest has a long and fascinating history as one of the true landmark single screen theatres in the country. By 2002, sagging box office returns and an overzealous landowner almost brought an end to the magic. The cinema was in danger of being…

Electronic Real-Time Signage for Santa Monica Bus to UCLA

Byuclafaculty

The Santa Monica City Council is likely to approve real-time electronic signage that would indicate when buses will arrive. Improved bus stop shelters are included. Several Big Blue Bus lines serve UCLA. The proposal is described as follows: “The Big Blue Bus (BBB) plans to implement electronic real-time signs and a mobile transit application, as part of its bus stop improvement project. These two systems will provide the public with several methods of accessing real-time bus service information. In addition, the systems will work seamlessly with BBB’s existing fleet management electronic infrastructure, as they will utilize the information from the…

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This Lecture Brought to You By…

Byuclafaculty

Californiawatch reports UC-Davis deal with US Bank at: http://www.californiawatch.org/watchblog/01-uc-davis-offers-marketing-76-access-perks-us-bank-exchange-royalties Excerpt This fall, University of California Davis students, faculty and staff will get new photo ID cards emblazoned with the US Bank logo. They can use the cards to check out books from the library and, if they choose, withdraw money at an ATM from a new US Bank checking account… The university stands to gain millions of dollars in cash for student services from US Bank by giving the bank exclusive access to marketing opportunities, free advertising and signage and other perks. Under the 10-year agreement, the more people at…

New Report on Public Higher Ed Across the U.S.

Byuclafaculty

An elaborate statistical report on state funding of higher ed across the US (with individual state data) is available at:http://www.sheeo.org/finance/shef/SHEF_FY_2009.pdf The report is put out by the nonprofit State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO). A cautionary note is that higher ed in California in many respects is dominated by the community colleges which have a much larger enrollment than UC or CSU. Data in the report go through fiscal 2009-10 which for California ended June 30, 2010. Apart from its historical data, the report looks ahead with data for fiscal 2010-11 (starting on page 49 of the report – not…

California High School Grads Entering UC

Byuclafaculty

CPEC has released figures on the demographics of entering UC freshmen as percent of Calif. high school grads by various cuts. Highlights: White 5.7%; Black 4.4%; Latino 4.0%; Asian 23.1%; Male 6.4%; Female 7.7%; Total 7.1%. Note that these data do not take account of community college transfers and do not include those who entered private colleges. Details at:http://www.cpec.ca.gov/StudentData/CACGREthnicity.aspMusic at:

State Budget Update: Stalemate Continues

Byuclafaculty

Legislative Democrats produced their own budget proposals yesterday, although Republicans and the governor have said they are not acceptable. There is an oil severance tax, done in a complicated way in an attempt to avoid the 2/3 vote requirement for taxes (from Prop 13 of 1978). It appears to be legally dubious. There is an increase in the state income tax and the vehicle license fee with a cut in the sales tax. The net at the state level is a tax increase which would require a 2/3 vote. It has a carrot for Republicans because the state income tax…