UCLA History: Looking North
The view from Wilshire and Westwood Boulevards looking north toward the campus in 1932.
News
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What I Did on My Summer Vacation: UCLA Abroad Department
A UCLA student who went to fight with rebel soldiers in Libya was apparently sent back to the U.S. … An Al Jazeera producer said his correspondents in Libya learned that rebels told Chris Jeon to leave the area… Jeon’s parents did not know their son had gone to Libya until journalists told them. Full story at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8341013 And from http://www.gadailynews.com/world/72656-ucla-math-major-chris-jeon-thought-it-would-be-cool-to-join-the-rebels-and-fight-khadafy-in-libya.html we learn: “I thought it would be cool to join the rebels,” he said. “I just thought I’d come check it out.” Jeon, 21, doesn’t speak any Arabic. He couldn’t work the AK-47 he was handed. ====== Video at:
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UCLA History: Observation
The Westwood Observation Tower stood at Beverly Glen and Wilshire at a time – before the current UCLA campus opened – when there was little to observe.
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On the way to trigger
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released the following statement on its most recent projection of California state revenue. Translation: So far, it looks like the budget trigger will be pulled (which means more cuts for UC). Below is the text: Despite today’s weak national employment report for the month of August, preliminary reports from California’s tax agencies on personal and corporate income tax receipts for the month tell a “good news/bad news” story. On the one hand, the tax data indicates that the California economy is continuing to recover from the recession, albeit very sluggishly. This slow recovery is essentially…
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Credit Where It’s Due?
CaliforniaWatch has an article today about deals between credit card companies and universities which give the card offerers exclusive rights to mailing lists. The article is based on data released annually by the Federal Reserve. It appears that in the case of UCLA, the deal is with the UCLA Alumni Association and not UCLA itself. In 2010, the Association received $733,318 based on 26,505. The contract indicates that the card issuer has access to “members” defined as follows: “Member” means alumni, fans, ticket holders or supporters of the University of California, Los Angeles Athletic Department (“UCLA Athletic Department”) and/or other…
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Dollars and Scents
For those readers upset about the state budget and its treatment of UC, we provide the screen-shot above from today’s Sacramento Bee without offering any comment. But we do offer some music to go with it:
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governor | pension | pensions | politics | State Budget | UC Regents
Yesterday was better
Yesterday, I posted a note that a public pension initiative that might have gone somewhere wasn’t going anywhere. (See the “Failed Fishing” entry.) But today comes news of another that could go somewhere – because, whatever it is, will emanate from the governor. Some readers will recall that the governor – in failed budget negotiations with legislative Republicans – at one point seemed to be offering such things as $100,000 caps. Some will also recall that there was no sign, at the time, that the powers-that-be at UC were informing the governor that they wanted UC to be excluded. From…
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Failed Fishing
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
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.
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A Zenger Zinger from Yours Truly
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…