News

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    UC-Berkeley Releases Its Earthquake Survey to the LA Times

    Byadmin

    We have followed the LA Times‘ story of the concern about certain concrete buildings in the southern California area which might be at risk in a major earthquake.  The Times identified some buildings in an earlier story but noted that UC-Berkeley had a survey list of buildings.  Berkeley was reluctant to provide the list because its intent was to get an estimate of the number of such buildings based on public records rather than evaluate each building directly.  It has now provided the Times with the list, along with a legal disclaimer.  The Times now has an interactive map on…

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    Listen to the Regents Morning Meeting of Jan. 22, 2014

    Byadmin

    As promised in previous posts, yours truly is slowly working through the Regents meetings audio.  Below is a link to the audio for the morning session of Wednesday, Jan. 22.  The Regents, for unacceptable reasons in an age where public meetings are archived indefinitely, archives them only for one year.  Moreover, it appears to be policy not to make the audio files available directly.  Hence, they can only be preserved by recording them from the temporary archive in real time.  That is, to preserve one hour of Regents time requires recording from the archive for one hour. To hear the…

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    The Resurrection?

    Byadmin

    [More in our Regents coverage.  See earlier posts.]  The Regents spent some time on the old Master Plan for Higher Ed.  There was discussion, according to news reports, among representatives of UC, CSU, and the community colleges on better coordination. …“This report shines an important light on the need to have a central body whose sole focus is guiding the Legislature, governor and our three higher education segments as we plan and build for the future,” (Assembly speaker John Pérez) said. Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-college-reports-20140123,0,5215408.story Um, does no one remember  CPEC, which still exists in ghostly form as a website…

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    They’ve Got Plenty of Something

    Byadmin

    We continue our indirect coverage of the Regents.  Eventually – as promised – we will post the audio for posterity.  [The latest explanation I got for why the Regents post for only one year is that CSU does it that way.  Hard to see putting a QED after that.  As I have noted in past posts, my home city of Santa Monica posts indefinitely, so why not can’t the Regents do it that way?  Oh well!] Anyway, from today’s LA Times: The UC regents on Thursday hired an executive of a Canadian investment fund to be the chief manager of…

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    Issue Heating Up

    Byadmin

    We noted in yesterday’s posting (in the update portion) on the Regents public comment session that there were spokespeople complaining about anti-Israel activities on UC campuses including course credit on one campus, pushes for divestment, etc.  Earlier postings noted statements by the UC prez and several chancellors (including Block) opposing an academic boycott of Israel by several academic societies.  Today, the LA Times reports: A group of lawmakers has formed the California Legislative Jewish Caucus to weigh in on issues of priority to members, including immigration, civil rights and Israel, according to its chairman, state Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego)… …

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    Whatever happened to the era of limits?

    Byadmin

    In his first iteration as governor, back in the 1970s and early 1980s, Gov. Brown emphasized the “era of limits.”  Yesterday at the Regents, however, he apparently wanted to push those limits when it came to online education:  Jerry Brown pushes UC to find “outer limits” of online education …Sitting in on part of Wednesday’s meeting, Brown challenged regents to develop classes that require no “human intervention” and might expand the system’s reach beyond its student body.  “If this university can probe into” black holes, he said, “can’t somebody create a course — Spanish, calculus, whatever — totally online? That…

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    Something to Think About While Waiting for the Governor and Regents

    Byadmin

    Snow at UCLA in 1932 The governor is due to give his State of the State address today.  What, if anything, he will say that might have a connection to UC and higher ed is unknown.  The Regents are also meeting today (and tomorrow). Inside Higher Ed today is running a list of average annual snowfalls (in inches) at selected universities.  So whatever happens at the State of the State or the Regents meeting (or if you have followed weather reports for other parts of the country today), remember that things could be worse: 1. Michigan Technological University: 2002. Syracuse…

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    UC Is Drying Up

    Byadmin

    You’ve probably heard that Gov. Brown has declared a drought emergency.  So UC is there – Johnny on the spot – with a pledge to save water for the guv: University of California President Janet Napolitano today (Jan. 16) announced a goal of reducing per capita water use by 20 percent throughout the UC system by the year 2020.  As California experiences some of its driest weather on record, Napolitano said the university must step up and contribute to the preservation of the state’s most precious resource.  “The University of California has long been a leader in conservation efforts,” she…