News

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    13 Not a Lucky Number for Lawsuit

    Byuclafaculty

    Proposition 13 of 1978 is noted mainly for its major reduction and capping of property taxes.  As has been reported previously on this blog, former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young filed a lawsuit challenging another feature of Prop 13, the requirement for a two-thirds vote in the legislature for tax increases. News reports indicate that the premise of the suit has been twice rejected.  It is unclear if there will now be a further appeal to the California Supreme Court. Details:  …The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles on Tuesday denied, without comment, an appeal of a lower court…

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    Official Description of Governor’s Tax Initiative from the LAO

    Byuclafaculty

    As readers of this blog will know, the Regents have endorsed Prop 30, the governor’s tax initiative to be on the ballot Nov. 6, 2012.  Below is the official description from the Legislative Analyst’s Office that will be seen by voters. ========= Proposition 30 Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact Fiscal Impact: Increased state tax revenues through 2018-19, averaging about $6 billion annually over the next few years. Revenues available for funding state budget. In 2012-13, planned spending reductions, primarily to…

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    UC-Berkeley Joins Harvard-MIT Online Course Program

    Byuclafaculty

    Inside Higher Ed pointed me to a story about UC-Berkeley’s online endeavors.  A press release related to the story is below.  Below that is a link to the Inside Higher Ed article: UC BERKELEY JOINS HARVARD AND MIT NOT-FOR-PROFIT ONLINE LEARNING COLLABORATIVE; EDX BROADENS FREE COURSE OFFERINGS INTO PUBLIC HEALTH, COMPUTER SCIENCE AND SOLID-STATE CHEMISTRY; OPENS REGISTRATION (excerpts) EdX, the online learning initiative founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and launched in May, announced today the addition of the University of California, Berkeley to its platform. UC Berkeley, ranked No. 1 among public universities in…

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    How the Hotel Sausage Got Made

    Byuclafaculty

    CaliforniaWatchhas a story on the UCLA hotel project that recently passed the Regents.  It notes problems that this blog has pointed out: “(Chancellor) Block noted in his presentation that the hotel and conference center would serve not only academic conference attendees, but also donors, parents and alumni coming to UCLA for activities ‘in furtherance of UCLA’s educational mission.’ But critics have noted that the Internal Revenue Service has treated alumni, for example, as members of the general public, suggesting that the university could be exposed to the unrelated business income tax. According to ‘The Tax Law of Colleges and Universities’…

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    Empowered to the People: Poizner-UCLA Extension Online Venture Launching

    Byuclafaculty

    This blog has written in the past about online education and, in particular, a venture called “Empowered” involving UCLA Extension and Steve Poizner which seems about the launch.  Poizner, some will recall, was a GOP candidate for governor in 2010, losing the nomination to Meg Whitman in the primary (who then lost to Jerry Brown).  The program offers certificates in various management and other fields with a sticker price of $12,800, although students in the first class get a reduced price of $9,800.   An iPad is thrown in “free,” however.   The launch comes with a slick video which –…

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    Beyond the Headlines

    Byuclafaculty

    The headline on a story in today’s Sacramento Beereads: “2 UC Davis neurosurgeons accused of experimental surgery are banned from human research” But, as is often the case, the story that follows is more complicated than the headline suggests.  It raises issues of bioethics related to the specific procedures described and also questions about management control in medical facilities.  I mention the latter because some readers will recall the body parts scandal at UCLA and the scrambled eggs/fertility clinic scandal at UC-Irvine. We have a comment option on this blog which is rarely used but if medical professionals in particula…

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    One Suspects We Will Be Hearing More About This Issue

    Byuclafaculty

    Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/20/12 UCLA Faculty Leader Found to Have Wronged Professor to Appease Jewish Group By Peter Schmidt A faculty panel at the University of California at Los Angeles has admonished the chairman of the university’s Academic Senate for violating the rights of an associate professor who had been accused by an outside advocacy group of misusing his position to call for a boycott of Israel.  In a letter issued this month, the UCLA Academic Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom held that the Senate’s chairman, Andrew F. Leuchter, was wrong to have told the advocacy group and the…

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    Listen to Audio of Special Regents Meeting of June 19, 2012

    Byuclafaculty

    Although we have posted audio from the July Regents meeting, there was a special meeting earlier called for June 19.  Below is the agenda and audio for that meeting. Tuesday, June 19: Special Meeting of Regents 12:30 pm Committee on Compensation (Regents Only Session) 12:45 pm Committee on Compensation (Open Session – includes public comment session) 1:05 pm Board (open session) The three sessions above were to approve appointment of Amy Dorr – Dean of UCLA’s GSEIS – as UC Provost and EVC-Academic Affairs, $350,000 plus moving and related expenses. 1:30 pm Committee on Investments: Review of investment returns and…

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    Too Much?

    Byuclafaculty

    The LA Times today features a UCLA study finding that folks in LA suffer from having too much stuff.  They just can’t help themselves and overdo it, adding more than they need.  Excerpt: About 10 years ago, Rhonda Voo’s house was a mess. Shelves packed with Beanie Babies, Barbies and various other toys covered the walls in her cramped three-bedroom, one bathroom house. With three children between the ages of 5 and 11, Voo discovered that even finding a pair of shoes became a daily challenge.  “It’s like all the stuff you own kind of weighs you down,” said Voo,…

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    Lt. Gov. Newsom Sends Letter to Chancellor Block on Japanese Garden Sale

    Byuclafaculty

    Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Chancellor Block dated July 3 concerning the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.  Newsom is an ex officio Regent.  The letter asks that public access to the Garden be preserved and that UCLA explore alternatives to the planned sale. As a prior post noted, at their recent meeting, the Regents reviews litigation on this matter.  The Newsom letter is dated before the meeting took place although it is possible that some advance material was circulated to Regents. You can read the letter below: Open publication – Free publishing – More gavin newsom You never…