News

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Listen to Audio of Regents Morning Session of 9-13-12

Byuclafaculty

Below is the morning agenda of the Regents.  The audio link at the bottom of this entry is provided only for the open sessions. Agenda, Thursday, September 13, 2012, Morning 8:30 am Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) Concerns were expressed by speakers over the discussion at the retreat the day before about taking more out-of-state and international students for budgetary reasons.  Also, a group of law students expressed concern about rising law school tuition. The Academic Council representatives made in clear they would recommend a tuition increase if Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative –…

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Listen to Regents Afternoon Session of 9-12-12 Retreat

Byuclafaculty

In the afternoon, the Regents retreat got into the topic of differential tuition between campuses mainly, but some mention of majors as well. There didn’t seem to be much sentiment in favor of that approach.  Note that at the professional school level, there is some differentiation already but that matter was not brought up. Oddly, after all the talk of uniformity of tuition, there seemed to be a more favorable attitude toward differential offerings by campus, i.e., every program didn’t have to be offered on every campus.  This theme was really a follow-on to what was said about med schools…

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Listen to Regents Retreat on Health & Pension Benefits

Byuclafaculty

In the discussion on health and pension costs at the Sept. 12 Regents retreat, there were a number of disturbing elements.  Some regents seemed to have forgotten their own 2010 decision to go to a two tier pension but retain the basic defined benefits format.  The whole defined benefit vs. defined contribution debate seemed to start up again as if it had not occurred earlier. Erroneous statements were made by one Regent that Stanford and Harvard had no pension plan, when – as was pointed out – what they have is a generous defined contribution plan (although not a defined…

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Listen to the Full Morning Session of the Regents’ Retreat of 9-12-12

Byuclafaculty

The Regents had a retreat on September 12, 2012 following a public comment period.  Below is an audio link to the morning sessions.  Public comments dealt with various issues including concerns about the search for a new chancellor at UC-Berkeley. The retreat discussion after the public comments was budget-centered as was most of the morning and afternoon segments.  The first items dealt with various financial options for improving UC cash flow and cutting certain costs related to finance.  Some of the proposals involved shifting repayment of principal on debt further into the future.  There was also some shifting of very…

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Listen to Parking to Pension at the Regents Retreat

Byuclafaculty

At the Regents retreat today, everything connected to the budget was “on the table.”  One unusual option presented by UCOP’s financial staff was a proposal to raise campus parking fees (thus making the parking services more valuable) and then give the UC parking system to the pension fund as a portfolio asset.  Doing so would reduce the need for pension employer and employee pension contributions. The idea is a variant of a plan some cities have implemented or considered to sell their parking meters and parking lots to a private firm for an upfront payment.  It was pointed out that…

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Listen to Regents Meeting of Sept. 11, 2012 in Two Parts

Byuclafaculty

We have previously posted audio excerpts from the Sept. 11, 2012 session of the Regents dealing with the UCLA hotel and the UCLA teaching center.  The web source on which we park audio from the Regents is again operational so here is the full meeting, divided into two parts as per the agenda below. Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Meeting Agenda, University of California Regents Part 1 1:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session) 1:10 pm Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) – includes public testimony on UCLA hotel project 1:30 pm Committee on Compliance…