News

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Failed Fishing

Byuclafaculty

Faithful readers of this blog will know that in late July it contained a report of a pension initiative that might have had traction. The reason was that the initiative’s author had a track record in getting support for past propositions, including especially the recall of Governor Gray Davis. That said, the initiative itself was a confusing amalgam of various ideas including creating a pension for private sector employers and workers that would mirror CalPERS. The author appeared to be fishing for some financial angel to provide support, after which some new version of the initiative would have been submitted….

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Construction and Demolition

Byuclafaculty

The narration on the video below says that UCLA has a plan to convert from a “commuter campus” to a “residential campus.” Hence, there must be a lot of new construction and demolition of old buildings. In addition, there is a large building going up near the old hospital. The Daily Bruin recently carried an article discussing and illustrating the demolition and replacement of an engineering building: http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/08/engineering_1a_building_demolished_to_be_replaced_by_modernized_facility Other construction is going on in mid-campus. Might the empire have enough to do with these various projects without demolishing the Faculty Center and replacing it with a 280-room hotel? Just asking.

A Zenger Zinger from Yours Truly

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee has published an updated listing of state salaries including UC. You can find it at http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/ In the past, yours truly has corresponded with officials of newspapers who publish such lists asking them to publish their own payroll – by name/salary – down to the lowest paid worker. I won’t bother with such correspondence this time, although the danger of ID theft remains. However, if you feel motivated, here are the contacts of the two senior executives of the Bee: Cheryl Dell, Publisher & President: 916-321-1885 cdell@sacbee.com Joyce Terhaar, Editor and Senior Vice President: 916-321-1004 jterhaar@sacbee.com You…

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UCLA History: 1950s Westwood

Byuclafaculty

The third in our sequence of aerial photos of Westwood. This one probably taken in the 1950s. The Occidental building on Wilshire appears to be under construction. There is now much development at UCLA beyond Westwood. Earlier photos from the 1930s and 1920s are at http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/08/ucla-history-1930s-westwood.html and http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/08/ucla-history-1920s-westwood.html

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Doing Good

Byuclafaculty

The Washington Monthly has a ranking of national universities by “their contribution to the public good.” It looks at such things as students on Pell Grants. UC-San Diego comes in as #1, UCLA as #2, UC-Berkeley #3, UC-Riverside #5, UC-Davis #8, UC-Santa Barbara #13, UC-Irvine #60. The full listing is at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2011/national_university_rank.php

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More on Looking at the Law School’s Gift Horse

Byuclafaculty

An earlier blog post noted the controversy over the Milken gift to the UCLA Law School to set up an institute on business law and policy. The controversy seems to have triggered a message from the Law School Dean now posted on the School’s website and a job description that is being circulated for the executive director of the new Institute. Below is 1) the message from the dean on the controversy, 2) the job description in italics, and 3) the original announcement of the gift. Our earlier post is at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/08/ucla-law-schools-gift-horse.html ——– An Important Message from Dean Rachel F….

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Outlawing Holidays

Byuclafaculty

There is a bill pending in the legislature (passed the Assembly; now in the Senate) – applying to CalPERS, not UC – that would effectively ban pension “contribution holidays.” As is well known, UC had the mother of all contribution holidays to its pension fund, one lasting two decades. Had that holiday not occurred, we would not have the underfunding problem we have today. Of course, given the circumstances under which the UC pension holiday developed – overfunding in the face of a state budget crisis at the time – it could be argued that the holiday was unavoidable. But…

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No More Books for Them at UC-San Diego?

Byuclafaculty

More Cheery Budget News: August 26, 2011 | Erica Perez | California Watch Driven by dramatic budget cuts that will shutter four campus libraries, staffers at UC San Diego are removing roughly 150,000 books and journals from their collections by summer’s end – selling volumes to the highest bidder or donating them. If UCSD students or researchers want to check out the selected writings of Benjamin Rush, they might have to request it through an interlibrary loan… Full story at: http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/ucsd-library-cuts-mean-150000-books-must-go-12293 No more books for them?