News

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Gone

Byuclafaculty

Some California university degrees disappear amid budget cuts (excerpts): Laurel Rosenhall, July 9, 2011, Sacramento Bee …UC Davis students can no longer get bachelor’s degrees in applied science, avian science or nature and culture. UC Santa Cruz has eliminated minors in computer technology, journalism and communication and rhetoric. As California’s public universities look for efficiencies in the face of ongoing budget cuts, some long-standing fields of study are falling by the wayside… “Clearly some of it is cyclical, but the budget cuts are accelerating the process and forcing the campuses to make some tough decisions,” said Todd Greenspan, director of…

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Money to Burn?

Byuclafaculty

UCLA hospitals to pay $865,500 for breaches of celebrities’ privacy By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times July 8, 2011 UCLA Health System has agreed to pay $865,500 as part of a settlement with federal regulators announced Thursday after two celebrity patients alleged that hospital employees broke the law and reviewed their medical records without authorization. Federal and hospital officials declined to identify the celebrities involved. The complaints cover 2005 to 2009, a time during which hospital employees were repeatedly caught and fired for peeping at the medical records of dozens of celebrities, including Britney Spears, Farrah Fawcett and then-California First…

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Bill Says Pay Tuition Later (and Don’t Call It Tuition)

Byuclafaculty

State bill seeks more warning on tuition hikes July 7, 2011, Heather Somerville, Fresno Bee Student advocacy groups have stepped up their lobbying this week for a bill to make California State University and University of California officials give students at least six months notice before raising tuition… The bill, proposed by the UC and CSU student associations, would compel university officials to find other ways to manage budget cuts than their “knee-jerk” reaction of increasing fees, said Olgalilia Ramirez, director of government relations for (California State Student Association). AB 970 would require officials to consult with students before raising…

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All A-Twitter at the U of Iowa

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today points to a U of Iowa $37,000 scholarship for a student with the best Twitter tweet. Despite President Obama’s recent Twitter town hall, yours truly hopes UCLA can resist the impulse to follow the Iowa example. Excerpt: One question. One hundred and forty characters. $37,000. It’s no game show — the University of Iowa’s Tippie MBA full-time program is awarding one full financial award package to an applicant who most creatively answers the question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!”, in 140 characters or less on Twitter. The…

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LA Times Wants a Pre-Commitment from UC

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today runs an editorial lamenting UC tuition increases and increased admission of out-of-state students. See below for an excerpt in italics. But the editorial goes on to tell UC to pre-commit to reversals of these actions if the budget approves, apparently according to a formula. What in fact needs to happen is not unilateral action by UC but rather a negotiation between the governor, legislative leaders, Dept. of Finance, Legislative Analyst, interest groups, and UC in which future understandings are worked out. One-way pre-commitments are not the way to go. Yours truly has not noticed that the…

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Action Needed Before We Get Boxed In on Pensions in 2012

Byuclafaculty

One impact of the recently-enacted state budget is that – because it was done without Republican support – there will be no special election this calendar year and, therefore, no propositions dealing with public pensions. In 2012, however, there could be pension-related items on the ballot. California senate leader Darrell Steinberg had this to say about what the legislative Democrats might put on the ballot: Steinberg pointed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals to eliminate purchase of air time, prohibit so-called pension holidays and retroactive pension increases and ban payment of pension benefits to employees who are convicted of a felony…

Bill Challenging Prop 209 Which Bans Affirmative Action in UC Admissions

Byuclafaculty

Undoubtedly, the bill – if enacted – would end up at the California Supreme Court. Bill allowing UC, CSU to consider race, gender, economic background in admissions passes key committee (excerpt) Beige Luciano-Adams, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 07/05/2011 A bill authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, that would allow public universities to factor race, ethnicity, gender and economic status in student admissions passed the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee on Tuesday by a 5-3 vote. According to Hernandez, the purpose of Senate Bill 185 is to address a significant drop in minority enrollment at both UC and CSU campuses –…

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Regents to Be Asked to Leave Pay Increases to the President

Byuclafaculty

There will be other items on the agenda of the upcoming Regents meeting (July 12-14) apart from the budget-related tuition increase discussed in early blog posts. For example, the Regents are asked to delegate certain authority over pay increases to the UC president: Regents Policy 7203, adopted in November 2005 and subsequently amended in July 2010, established the goal of obtaining, prioritizing, and directing funds, to the extent such funds were available, to increase salaries to achieve market comparability for all groups of employees over a ten year period. Upon adoption, the policy included language requiring annual approval by the…

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Longevity is a Mixed Blessing (for the Pension)

Byuclafaculty

From time to time, the actuarial assumptions underlying the UC pension plan are re-examined by an outside consultant. For the July Regents meeting, the agenda includes officially changing various assumptions in the light of experience, the net of which raise the normal cost of the plan (by 1%) and the unfunded liability (by 3.7%). The main factor raising costs is a finding that participants are living longer. Full report at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul11/f4.pdf

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UCLA Says No Thanks to Running MLK Hospital Despite Regents Involvement

Byuclafaculty

Although the Regents took on the revival of the Martin Luther King Hospital that was shut down by LA County after numerous problems, UCLA has declined to operate the revamped facility when it reopens. From a report to the Regents July session: Martin Luther King Hospital Update: … A contract for design/build was executed with Hensel Phelps on April 14, 2011. The construction is on schedule with the 120-bed hospital to be “substantially completed” by March 15, 2013, with occupancy by September 15, 2013. Operation of the facility: A “request for solutions” was issued to 12 pre-qualified organizations. The Board…