News

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A Berkeley Admissions Dossier Reader Tells All

Byuclafaculty

Yours truly confesses he missed an August 1 article in the NY Times concerning the UC-Berkeley admissions process (which undoubtedly applies to UCLA as well).  The article gets into the sensitive area of admissions in the post-Prop 209 era.  [Prop 209 bans affirmative action in admissions.]  Since you may also have missed it, here is an excerpt below with a link to the full article: A HIGHLY qualified student, with a 3.95 unweighted grade point average and 2300 on the SAT, was not among the top-ranked engineering applicants to the University of California, Berkeley. He had perfect 800s on his…

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Cash News (Or Really Non-News)

Byuclafaculty

The state controller has issued his cash statement for the first 5 months of the fiscal year (July-November).  Revenues for the general fund are about what was projected in the state budget passed last June.  Personal income tax receipts are running ahead of forecast (which probably means the rich are getting richer).  Sales tax receipts are a bit behind (not so good retail performance).  But really there is no news. Receipts are highly seasonal due to dates when estimated taxes are due.  At the moment, the reserve in the general fund is negative to the tune of almost $20 billion…

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Wait a Minute!

Byuclafaculty

In case you were wondering what your students are doing during exam week, the Daily Bruin provides a clue on its website in the form of a “radio” interview at the link below:  http://dailybruin.com/2013/12/09/ucla-students-find-many-ways-to-procrastinate-during-finals-week/ The audio didn’t play on Firefox but it did work on Chrome.  [Maybe someone just didn’t have the time to make it compatible with Firebox.]

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Lab Retirees Want Back In on UC Health Plan

Byuclafaculty

There has always been a question about exactly what is the legal obligation of UC to pay for retiree health care.  The position of the university has been that unlike the pension, there is no obligation.  Nothing was really promised for sure.  It’s just a nice thing UC does. Employees of one of the former nuclear labs, once operated exclusively by UC but now administered under a consortium including UC, have been litigating over being cut off from UC retiree health as a result of the administrative transition.  See below: T Two years ago… the California Supreme Court confirmed that…

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The GSEIS “Problem” Continues

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed continues its coverage of the controversy in a course at GSEIS involving… well, it’s not quite clear what is involved, despite the lengthy article.  It does seem like the kind of development that needs some Academic Senate review.  [Excerpt] For the first time since graduate students staged a sit-in during a class they said exemplified what’s wrong with race relations at the University of California at [sic] Los Angeles, the course met again late last week. But in an apparent attempt at compromise between the aggrieved students and the instructor, its configuration was changed – raising concerns…

Bullying Experiment Featured in Daily Bruin

Byuclafaculty

Excerpt: As she watched a man getting shoved to the ground, Caitlin Estudillo sprang from a bench near Powell Library and tried to stop what she perceived as a bullying incident unfolding in front of her. For the third-year sociology and world arts and cultures/dance student, the act was instinctual. “I didn’t give it a thought; it was just something I had to do,” Estudillo said. “I didn’t think of the consequences.” At the time, Estudillo did not know that the conflict was a staged fight designed to gauge how people would react to seeing someone else be bullied. Various…

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If You Don’t Want to Talk to the Piper, Why Not Talk to the Piper’s Paymaster?

Byuclafaculty

As blog readers will know, there is currently a potential ballot initiative on public pensions and other retiree benefits (health care) that as written sweeps in UC.  We won’t rehash why it would be best if UC was excluded – as it ultimately was from the governor’s pension bill.  But let’s just say for purposes of this posting that excluding UC would be a Good Thing. At present, there is no rush needed to get signatures for 2014, or possibly 2016.  And we have suggested in the past that the folks in UCOP might want to talk to San Jose…

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Location, Location, Location

Byuclafaculty

We earlier blogged about the content of the UCLA Anderson Forecast that took place last week.  But we also like to remind readers from time to time of the location.  Sometimes the Forecast is in Ackerman.  Sometimes it is in Korn Hall at Anderson.  This time, it was at Covell.  Note that these are all venues that can accommodate large conferences and can do so without the creation of the UCLA Grand Hotel.  You can even have food service at any one of them, as the picture at the top shows.  If, when the Grand Hotel becomes available, the Forecast…

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UCLA and the Covered California Exchange (the State Component of “Obamacare”)

Byuclafaculty

Just FYI.  For persons in the individual health care market that has been set up as part of the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), UCLA is advertising for business.  This option is not for UC employees or retirees covered by a university health plan.  However, the info might be useful if you know folks shopping in the individual market. The image above is from http://www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?id=2895

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Advice to Whoever is Appointed Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Buckle Up!

Byuclafaculty

You may have gotten today’s email from Chancellor Block:  [excerpts] Today I am announcing a significant step in our efforts to respond to incidents of bias and discrimination on our campus and to build an environment of inclusion and tolerance: the creation of the new position of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The new Vice Chancellor, who will report directly to me, will provide leadership across the campus in these important areas. Although we have many dedicated individuals deeply committed to this work, I have come to see that we need a clear and powerful voice at the…