News

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    The Sun Shall Rise Soon on the Sunset Bridge

    Byadmin

    From Zev Yaroslavsky:  A wider, modernized Sunset Bridge is set to reopen for business on Monday, September 24, marking a major milestone in the progress of the 405 Project to bring a northbound carpool lane and other improvements to one of the nation’s most heavily-traveled freeways.  The rebuilt bridge will be 120 feet across—30 feet wider than its 1950s-era predecessor. In addition to two travel lanes in each direction, it also has new, dedicated turn lanes for motorists to access the freeway without affecting the flow of east-west traffic. Sidewalks and shoulders are wider, too, and the bridge has been…

  • Another ongoing saga

    Byadmin

    Our prior post today discussed the ongoing saga of the not-quite med school at UC-Riverside.  Another ongoing saga at UC is the UC-Davis pepper spray story.  Today comes word in the Sacramento Bee that there will be no prosecution by the local DA of the police officers involved: …In viewing the incident “through the totality of the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges,” officials said in a statement announcing the report’s…

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    The UC-Riverside Med Saga Continues

    Byadmin

    Readers of this blog will know that UC-Riverside has been trying to get a med school  going for some time but can’t get the needed dollars from the state. Inside Higher Ed today has a feature article on various universities either trying to merge med schools with others or trying to set up new ones. Riverside is mentioned in the article which notes it already has a joint med program with UCLA:   Securing funding has also been a problem for UC-Riverside’s medical school. The university currently has a “two-and-two” program where students spend two years at Riverside taking the…

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    Sully

    Byadmin

    I came across a headline on the Sacramento Bee website this morning:Educators sullying state law to support Proposition 30 It’s from a column by Dan Walters in which he complains that folks in higher ed – community colleges, CSU, and UC – are underhandedly letting it be known in various ways that if Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative – doesn’t pass, things won’t go well for their institutions.  Sample quote: “Just Tuesday, the University of California at Berkeley announced a Proposition 30 Awareness Project to test the use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media to distribute information…

  • More Dangerous Bad Grammar Spam: Don’t Click; Just Delete

    Byadmin

    Your email account has been reported for numerous spams Activities from a foreign ip recently. As a result of this the University Of California ITS has received advice to suspend your account. However, you might not be the one promoting this Spam, as your email account might have been compromised.To protect your account from sending spam mails, You are to confirm your true ownership of this account by Clicking on this link below to Login and confirm in one simple step.On receipt of the requested information,the ucla Web-Mail email support shall block your account from Spam. [click here] Failure to do this…

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    Some Handy Comparison Slides of Props 30 & 38

    Byadmin

    The Legislative Analyst’s Office has some handy comparisons of the governor’s tax initiative (Prop 30) and the rival Munger tax initiative (Prop 38).  “PIT” = personal income tax.  Three slides are below: Prop 30 Prop 38 ($7,316 is not a typo.  Prop 38 starts at a relatively low income hurdle.  A more detailed description that you will be finding in the official ballot pamphlet is: “Increases personal income tax rates on annual earnings over $7,316 using sliding scale from .4% for lowest individual earners to 2.2% for individuals earning over $2.5 million, for twelve years.” Prop 30’s income tax hurdle is much…

  • On the Internet, No One Knows Who You Are

    Byadmin

    In 1993, the cartoon below appeared with the caption, “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog,”and was widely circulated. Now that we have college courses online 29 years later, life imitates art – online – at http://www.wetakeyourclass.com/: As the song says: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm7u25wRiV8?feature=player_detailpage] Update: Inside Higher Ed reported that the website above has been taken off line by its owner: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/09/26/we-take-your-class-goes-offline  As a later post on this blog notes, however, there are other such services still in operation.

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    Higher Ed Metrics Bill is Dead on Arrival

    Byadmin

    On Friday, the governor vetoed SB 721 which would have instructed the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to come up with “metrics” to determine if the UC, CSU, and the community colleges were meeting three goals.  These goals were described in a section of the bill: In order to promote the state’s competitive economic position and quality of civic life, it is necessary to increase the level of educational attainment of California’s adult population to meet the state’s civic and workforce needs. To achieve that objective, it is the intent of the Legislature that budget and policy decisions regarding postsecondary education…

  • UCOP Report on Handling UC Protests Now Available

    Byadmin

    Executive Summary (Scroll down for link to full report) After physical conflict erupted between police and protesters during demonstrations at UC Berkeley and UC Davis in November 2011, University President Mark G. Yudof asked Vice President and General Counsel Charles F. Robinson and Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher F. Edley, Jr. to review existing policies and practices regarding the University’s response to demonstrations and civil disobedience.  This review was not intended as a fact-finding investigation into the November 2011 protests, or into any other particular incident.  Other reviews have been tasked with that objective.  Rather, this review was aimed at…