News

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Judge dismisses Livermore lab retirees’ lawsuit against UC: Transfer of retiree health plan deemed legal

Byuclafaculty

Background: A group of retired nuclear lab employees sued UC with regard to their transfer to a less desirable retiree medical plan than currently covers other UC employees. Readers may remember that for decades UC ran the labs as a legacy of the World War II Manhattan Project. When administration of the labs – after various security-related scandals – was transferred to a consortium of private contractors and UC, benefits such as pensions and health care became an issue. Judge dismisses Livermore lab retirees’ lawsuit: Transfer of retiree health plan deemed legal By Suzanne Bohan, Contra Costa Times, Updated: 06/08/2011…

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Crane Might Fly With Budget/Pension Deal (Or Not): We Will Likely Be in Suspense Until Next Wednesday

Byuclafaculty

Regent-designate David Crane was appointed in the waning moments of the Schwarzenegger regime. Crane is noted for favoring the Schwarzenegger-Whitman approach to public pensions. That might make it unlikely under normal circumstances that the Democrats in the legislature would bless his last-minute appointment. Note that if they don’t approve Crane, that denial of a seat would give Governor Brown the opportunity to name someone else. However, Crane has lately been writing that unions should not be blamed for the pension problem, which might make his case more palatable to legislative Democrats – particularly in the context of budget negotiations and…

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San Diego (and maybe California) gets a lesson on the letter C

Byuclafaculty

The City of San Diego just discovered that the C in a DC pension stands for Contribution. Actually, it stands for immediate Cash Contribution. San Diego was the poster child for bad defined benefit pension management even before the current pension crisis in California. However, a potential ballot measure in that city that would switch over to a defined contribution plan is raising questions. The discovery of what C means is good for UC even though we have nothing directly to do with San Diego. Among the various pension changes that have been floating around at the state level as…

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What Happens at Duke When Faculty Think the Numbers Don’t Add Up

Byuclafaculty

Story about a questionable China venture at Duke from Inside Higher Ed appeared today. The numbers didn’t add up. It reminds me of something at UCLA that rhymes with “motel.” Excerpt below: Faculty members at Duke University’s business school expressed deep reservations at a meeting last week regarding the viability of what were supposed to be the first programs at the university’s new campus in Kunshan, China. Following the recommendations of two committees convened to design the programs — a master’s of management science and an executive M.B.A. — the faculty sent the M.M.S. program back to the drawing board,…

Audio of Regents Meeting of May 18, 2011

Byuclafaculty

The prior post on this blog provided the audio for the Regents meeting of May 17. Below is the audio in two parts for the second day of the Regents meeting, May 18. Also below is the agenda for that date. Wednesday, May 18 8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment) 8:50 am Committee on Compensation (open session) Special Meeting: Committee on Compensation (open session) 9:15 am Special Meeting: Board (open session) 9:30 am Committee on Finance (open session) 12:30 pm Lunch 1:15 pm Committee on Finance (open session continued) 1:25 pm Joint Meeting: Committees on Finance and Oversight…

Audio of Regents Meeting of May 17, 2011

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA Faculty Association is now routinely requesting the audios of Regents meetings and posting them. Audios are available only for open sessions of the Regents. Below are links to Parts 1 and 2 of the May 17, 2011 meeting and the agenda. Tuesday, May 17 11:00 am Committee on Grounds and Buildings (open session – includes public comment) 12:45 pm Committee on of the Whole (open session – includes public comment) 1:45 pm Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories (open session) 2:15 pm Board (open session) 2:30 pm Committee on Educational Policy (open session) 3:00 pm Committee on…

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Leg Assembly Summary

Byuclafaculty

These really high-quality cellphone photos come from yesterday’s Legislative Assembly meeting. There were no shockers. Presentations were made by Academic Senate Chair Ann Karagozian, Chancellor Gene Block, and Vice Chancellor Steve Olsen regarding budget and other matters facing the campus this year and next. With regard to the hotel/conference center pause-and-review, Chair Karagozian said that the Olsen review of the proposal would likely take until the fall. Since VC Olsen was present and did not indicate otherwise, I assume that timing is indeed the likely prospect. The Block and Olsen reviews of the budget and related matters indicated that unlike…