News

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    Audio of Scoping Hearing on UCLA/Hotel/Conference Center: 11-14-11

    Byadmin

    This evening (11-14-11), a public hearing was held on the scoping report on the proposed hotel/conference center – primarily an environmental review. See earlier posts on this blog. Most speakers were representatives of neighborhood groups and representatives of local hotels. One retired and recalled faculty member spoke. Major themes were the lack of a business plan, incompleteness of architecture and design features, parking, and traffic issues. The UCLA architect repeatedly stressed that the various designs shown on PowerPoint slides were conceptual, not final. Some of those who made comments noted that it was difficult to evaluate a project without final…

  • Regents Cancel Meeting: Potential Violence Cited

    Byadmin

    SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California board on Monday canceled its next meeting after law enforcement officials warned about possible violence and vandalism at a planned anti-Wall Street demonstration. The UC Board of Regents had been set to hold its bi-monthly meeting on Wednesday and Thursday at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus but will reschedule and possibly hold it at another venue, officials said in a statement. The move came after law enforcement officials received information that “rogue elements intent on violence and confrontation with UC public safety officers” were planning to join a demonstration by students…

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    UCLA Sixth in US in Number of Foreign Students

    Byadmin

    A report in the LA Times today indicates that UCLA has the sixth largest contingent of foreign students (at all levels) in the US. USC has the largest. No other UC is on the list of the top 20 universities ranked by number of foreign students. The listing is below: Total Int’l Students 1 University of Southern California Los Angeles CA 8,615 2 University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign Champaign IL 7,991 3 New York University New York NY 7,988 4 Purdue University – Main Campus West Lafayette IN 7,562 5 Columbia University New York NY 7,297 6 University of California…

  • Oops! U of Texas Faculty Productivity Not So Bad After All

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed reports that the U of Texas-Austin – in response to a critical report sponsored by Gov. Perry on faculty productivity – produced its own report. Excerpt from the Inside Higher Ed article: Measuring all instructors by the tuition revenue they bring in (on a per-credit analysis) and the outside research support they win, the faculty generated about about $658 million in revenue in 2009-10 (with about $400 million of that coming from external research). These faculty members were paid about $318 million in salary and benefits from state funds — meaning that the state is gaining twice…

  • Merced Developers Learn to Be Careful What You Wish For

    Byadmin

    For years, UC promised – but didn’t actually – to build a Central Valley campus. In many respects, the promise without the delivery was the best of worlds for UC when it came to the legislature. Real estate developers throughout the Central Valley, and their legislative representatives, had dreams of a new campus sparking a development boom. After all, it worked when UCLA moved to Westwood. Decades later, it worked for Irvine. Why not in my area (or legislative district)?, they thought. UC could study various locations but be noncommittal about the final decision. That way, multiple hopeful legislative members…

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    A modest request for a little more (information on the hotel/conference center)

    Byadmin

    As a prior post on this blog noted, apparently the powers-that-be have a business plan for the new version of the hotel/conference center but – according to a letter in the Daily Bruin from the chancellor – they are reluctant to release it until some future Regents meeting. See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/11/chancellor-says-we-need-patience.html Perhaps the request below will encourage adjusting the timing: As a prior post on this blog noted, apparently the powers-that-be have a business plan for the hotel/conference center but – according to a letter in the Daily Bruin from the chancellor – they are reluctant to release it. Perhaps the…

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    UCLA History: Royce

    Byadmin

    As the excerpt below notes, yesterday was Josiah Royce’s 156th birthday – the Royce after whom Royce Hall is named. November 10 is the 156th anniversary of the birth of Josiah Royce, world famous philosopher and Grass Valley native. He was the “leading American proponent of absolute idealism, the metaphysical view that all aspects of reality, including those we experience as disconnected or contradictory, are ultimately unified in the thought of a single all-encompassing consciousness,” according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Royce’s parents crossed the Sierras in a covered wagon in 1849. His father established a general store. His…

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    UCLA (Recent) History: Nov. 9 Demonstration

    Byadmin

    Prof. Tobias Higbie took a sequence of 65 photos – one of which is above – of the “ReFund California” demonstration on Nov. 9 that began in the center of the UCLA campus and ended at Westwood and Wilshire Boulevards. The full sequence is available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/higbie/6330346965/in/set-72157627969793047 (Some photos may load slowly depending on your connection speed.)

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    Controller Warns of Budget Trigger

    Byadmin

    State Controller John Chiang today released his cash statement for the first 4 months of fiscal year 2011-12. Tax revenue is falling short of projections by about $1.5 billion. He warned that weak revenue inflows are raising the likelihood that the budget trigger will fire, further cutting UC’s budget. See http://sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1112_oct.pdf and http://sco.ca.gov/Files-EO/11-11summary.pdf

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    Back to the Future at UC-Berkeley and UCLA?

    Byadmin

    From the Daily Californian: On Monday, the UC Berkeley administration sent an email to students stating that setting up any encampments on campus property would not be tolerated. But when Occupy Cal protesters voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to pitch tents on the lawns outside of Sproul Hall despite the warning, clashes with police ensued — the exact result campus officials had said they hoped to avoid… Full article at http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/10/occupy-cal-moves-ahead-despite-uc-berkeley-administrations-warnings/ From the Daily Bruin: Eleven people were arrested and protesters shut down Wilshire Boulevard for two and a half hours Wednesday afternoon in the loudest pushback against tuition hikes and state…