News

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No smoking at UC by 2014

Byuclafaculty

The University of California will ban smoking and chewing tobacco on all 10 campuses within two years, President Mark Yudof told campus chancellors this week.  Nearly 600 other campuses nationwide have banned smoking, and many California universities either limit smokers to isolated parts of campus or keep them from lighting up at all. …The university likely would have banned smoking earlier, but smokers vehemently argued against it, said Trish Ratto, a health educator and manager of UC Berkeley’s Health Matters Wellness Program.  The university will implement the ban in stages to help smokers quit gradually rather go cold turkey.  By…

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UC Like a Flea on an Elephant in Latest LAO Budget Report

Byuclafaculty

Maybe the biggest lesson to take away from the Legislative Analyst’s Office latest report on the state budget – responding to the governor’s budget proposal – is that UC is a flea on the back of an elephant.  We are hardly mentioned, other than a reference to possible trigger cuts next year if Governor Brown’s tax initiative isn’t passed by voters. Much of the report focuses on the world of Prop 98, i.e., K-14 schools, not surprisingly since that is such a large chunk of the budget. The LAO is concerned about possible over-optimism in Brown’s budget projections.  Just a…

Don’t Panic About News Stories on State Cash Flows

Byuclafaculty

You may see some headlines about revenues falling short of expectations for the first six months of the fiscal year, based on the state controller’s latest statement.  The legislature assumed phantom money in June so it could pass a budget more or less on time.  Now, however, all of the major taxes are performing within a margin of error relative to estimates made in connection with the latest budget proposal.  Forecasting is not an exact science, even when done without phantoms. Spending is also running about as now forecast. The real problem the state faces is that revenues are short…

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Yours Truly and Others Comment on Student-Regents Communications

Byuclafaculty

The Regents are a less-staid group than they were in the 1950s when the photo on the left was taken.  (They are discussing the loyalty oath controversy of that era in the picture.) Thanks to the UC-Davis pepper spray incident, Regent Chair Lansing has been seeking alternative avenues of communication with students.In any event, the Daily Bruin asked yours truly and two others to write little op eds on such communications. You can read about it at http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/01/_on_the_record_

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New Plan Could Affect Transfers to UCLA

Byuclafaculty

You may have seen an article in the LA Times about a possible change in direction at California community colleges.  UCLA says about 40% of its graduates (undergrads) are transfer students.  Not all of these transfers come from California community colleges, however.  But poking around on the web suggests that around 90% of them are from the state’s community college system. The original Master Plan viewed community colleges as colleges of last resort.  Anyone with a high school degree could enroll.  (Indeed, some enrollees may not have high school degrees.)  If an enrollee got on an academic track (some courses…

New Conflict of Interest Rules Adopted by the American Economic Assn.

Byuclafaculty

The American Economic Association – at its annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend – adopted conflict of interest disclosure guidelines for the various journals it publishes. Debate on this issue developed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and complaints that views expressed by economists might be influenced, or perceived to be influenced, by sources of support. The guidelines require authors to disclose financial support, not only for the research presented in the article, but also more generally over the prior three years. Inside Higher Ed has a brief story with links at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/01/09/economists-adopt-conflict-interest-guidelines

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Crane Dropped the Ball and Now Sees Himself as Galileo

Byuclafaculty

Our favorite ex-Regent, David Crane, is now comparing himself to Galileo for his unhelpful stand on the Regents regarding pensions. Readers of this blog will know that Crane was appointed in the fleeting minutes of former Governor Schwarzenegger’s term to the Regents. But he was never confirmed by the state senate and his term thus ended in late 2011. While on the Board, Crane – who evidently wanted to make government pensions generally his issue – was not helpful in differentiating the steps the Regents had taken in modifying UCRP from other state pensions such as CalPERS.  UC is in…

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LAO seems to really miss CPEC now that it’s gone

Byuclafaculty

As readers of earlier blog posts will know, Governor Brown line-item vetoed CPEC (California Postsecondary Education Commission) out of existence by eliminating its funding in the current year state budget.  CPEC was created to coordinate and evaluate the provision of higher ed in California under the Master Plan – public and private. Now the LAO (Legislative Analyst’s Office) thinks that some kind of replacement for CPEC is needed to monitor higher ed.  LAO seems to want performance standards, much of which deals with flows into and out of higher ed institutions. It is interesting that the state generally, not just…