News

|

UC and Affirmative Action

Byuclafaculty

The U.S. Supreme Court will be making decisions on affirmative action in higher ed admissions soon.  UC – despite Prop 209 which bans such affirmative action – seems to be caught up in the case indirectly due to research papers and court submissions dealing with the impact of Prop 209.  Inside Higher Ed today points to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper on the impact of 209 on graduation rates of minorities from UC.  It has been contended that affirmative action programs create a kind of mismatch between students and institutions.  The working paper finds that 209, by…

| |

Something to Do on Your “Day Off” – The California Economy

Byuclafaculty

ROTC installed on UCLA’s old Vermont Avenue campus in 1920 Yesterday, we noted that UCLA is closed for Veterans’ Day today (Monday) even though Veterans’ Day was on Sunday.  We also noted some not-so-positive history as to why there is no instruction today on UC campuses even though it reduces class time and generally is harmful to the academic endeavor.  And we noted that private universities such as USC and CalTech find it worthwhile to continue instruction today, unlike UC. But since you do have a “day off,” albeit thanks to some prior unwise decisions by UCOP, we offer some…

| | | |

Prop 30 Election Post Mortem

Byuclafaculty

We know that Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative – passed with about 54% of the vote.  But the polls always showed it in a marginal position and losing support towards the end.  One possible explanation is that Prop 30 always had a plurality of “yes” votes and that undecided voters ended up voting yes in sufficient numbers to enact it. However, the political number crunchers are now raising questions about whether the pollsters’ estimates of “likely voters” were biased towards older folks who were less positive than younger voters about Prop 30. From Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee columnist:…

|

When Southern Californians are the Out-of-State Students

Byuclafaculty

…as much as we enjoy your tuition. Inside Higher Ed today has an article about Southern California students attending the U of Oregon.  The idea of attracting out-of-state students who pay full freight (and thus subsidize in-state students) is hardly unique to UC.  UO is doing the same thing.  And some folks are saying that the Southern Californians recruited by UO are not serious academics.  You can find the posting at:http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/11/12/scrutiny-californians-u-oregon If you go to that post, you will find a link to a longer article about those Southern Californians: SoCal students and other out-of-staters come from families who can…

| | | | | |

Veterans’ Day and some UC/UCLA History UCOP might not want raised

Byuclafaculty

ROTC at UCLA’s old Vermont Avenue campus: 1928 Note that UCLA is closed tomorrow although Veterans’ Day is today.  There is a bit of history here.  UC did not always close on Veterans’ Day.  When Gray Davis was governor, however, someone complained about UC being open.  The governor couldn’t order UC to close but the powers-that-be went along with his request to do so.    As yours truly recalls it, the Faculty Welfare committee at UCLA – and possibly others in the Academic Senate – noted that with a ten-week fall quarter, cutting a day out of the term would…

| |

If X = amount of algebra you learned in high school and 2X = 0, how much algebra did you learn?

Byuclafaculty

A complaint about UC’s view on remedial math as taught in community colleges appeared today in the Sacramento Bee: (excerpt) Community colleges are struggling to address a huge problem: remedial mathematics. In fall 2009, 143,587 California community college students enrolled in remedial math to become eligible for college math, but only 18 percent went on to complete a college math course within three years. Given these results, policymakers are questioning the use of scarce public dollars to “pay for the same education twice.” If students didn’t learn algebra in high school, why are we paying for it again in college?…

| | |

Some of the best gubernatorial metaphors are mixed

Byuclafaculty

Governor Brown has been emphasizing that just because the legislative Democrats now seem to have a supermajority needed to pass taxes and override vetoes on spending, it would be wrong to expect that he will let them.  We have cautioned, therefore, that expectations of big enhancements of the UC budget are misplaced. Our past posts on the governor’s analogies and metaphors have featured aircraft and Biblical references.  But some of the best metaphors are mixed. For example, in explaining how he got Prop 30 passed by voters, the governor said: “Some people began to read tea leaves incorrectly,” Brown told…

| | |

Governor Glide

Byuclafaculty

As noted in a prior post, Governor Brown says that despite the apparent gain by legislative Democrats of a supermajority, he doesn’t intend to let them run away with the budget or taxes.  [See Governor Joseph.] So although Prop 30 saved UC from trigger cuts, some big budget breakthrough should not be expected.  The governor is quoted in today’s Sacramento Bee: “I don’t underestimate the struggle over the next couple years to keep on a very calm, clear and sustainable glide path.”  See:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/09/4972576/jerry-brown-plans-to-restrain.htmlThe governor wants to be a man of conviction on his glide path rather than – as above…

| | | |

Mitchell Presentation with Slides from Nov. 7 Forum on the Future of UC Funding

Byuclafaculty

Mitchell A post of Nov. 7 on this blog carried the audio (only) of the forum sponsored by the Faculty Association at UCLA on the Future of University of California Funding held that day at the UCLA Faculty Center.Each of the three presenters used slides as part of their talks.  Below you will find two (alternative) links to the slides used by Prof. Daniel J.B. Mitchell along with the coordinated audio for his presentation.  Use whichever works best for your connection.Note: The Anderson presentation is at:http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/11/robert-andersons-presentation-on-future.htmlThe audio of the entire event is at:http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/11/audio-available-for-todays-ucla-faculty.html

| | |

The Regents meet next week (Nov. 13-15)

Byuclafaculty

The Regents in 1923 Various budgetary items are on the agenda but, of course, the Regents will not have to discuss how to deal with budgetary trigger cuts since Prop 30 passed.  The proposed budget for next year includes $2.4 million from the state to support “core” educational programs.  The total core budget, however, is $6.2 million with most of the gap coming from tuition and fees.  See: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/f1attach1.pdf Other highlights: Various professional school tuition increases are also planned: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/f3.pdf There will be discussion of the plan to raise out-of-state enrollment to 10%: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/e2.pdf When the news media get a…