News

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The Regents Are Coming; The Regents Are Coming

Byuclafaculty

The Regents will be meeting next week, May 17-18. By way of a preview, here are some excerpts from background documents for the Regents Committee on Finance, slated for May 18. Excerpt 1: Full document at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may11/f6.pdf Compensation. The baseline model assumes annual compensation cost increases of three percent for both represented and non-represented staff and faculty, in addition to the regular academic merit salary increase program, totaling $533 million by 2015-16. While compensation likely will continue to lag substantially behind the market, three percent increases are critical to retain and recruit the faculty and staff needed to maintain UC’s…

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Differential Tuition Pricing at UC: The Sky Would Fall Says the Contra Costa Times. But Would It?

Byuclafaculty

The Contra Costa Times on 5/12/11 had an editorial indicating that differential tuition among the UC campuses would be a bad idea. Below is an excerpt: FINANCIAL ADVERSITY can spawn positive innovation; it also can lead to huge mistakes. Establishing variable tuition at the University of California campuses would be the latter. Advocates of different tuition rates for each campus argue that it would allow individual campuses to raise more revenue during a time of tight state budgets and that consumer demand should play a bigger role in the cost of education. However, the likely result of variable tuition is…

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Bemoaning the CAP

Byuclafaculty

Below is an excerpt from the New York Times Bay Area online edition. It points to the various times when the UC pension was overfunded but pay was frozen (or cut), the Regents diverted some pension funds to the CAP programs in lieu of cash. The CAP programs were basically like mini cash balance plans, i.e., tax deferred savings accounts with a fixed interest rate on the balance. A little-noticed cash benefit for some University of California employees is adding strain to the system’s battered pension plan just as the university prepares for a $500 million reduction in state aid,…

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Steamroller Could Be Approaching on Pension

Byuclafaculty

The California business community is pushing for a grand deal on the state budget which would include pension reform of some type. And, as yours truly endlessly points out on this blog, UC’s pension modifications approved by the Regents last December could be steamrollered through some ballot proposition that would be part of the deal. No sign yet, however, that UCOP or the Regents are taking active steps to avoid that outcome. From the San Francisco Chronicle online: Using bizspeak, the (business) leaders say they think that California should have a “financial workout plan.” In the business world, a financial…

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Viewpoint from Irvine: Differential Tuition at UC Would Devalue Cheaper Campuses

Byuclafaculty

UC Irvine film studies professor Peter Krapp, the immediate past chairman of the UC system Academic Senate’s University Committee on Planning and Budget, responded to the LA Times’ May 9 article, “University of California weighs varying tuitions at its 10 campuses.” He argues differential tuition at UC would create or reinforce a hierarchy of academic prestige so that the more expensive campuses would be deemed better. Excerpts from his LA Times “blowback” online op ed: Proposing different tuition for each University of California campus is shortsighted and ill-considered… Stratification would fundamentally change the UC system. Each campus would need separate…

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Hired Gun Who Will Travel (from Downtown LA to Westwood)

Byuclafaculty

PKF consulting produced a questionable (mild statement) analysis of the proposed hotel/conference center to replace the Faculty Center. Turns out, PKF also is involved in producing a report to justify tax breaks for hotels in downtown LA. Warren Olney did a segment on that issue on “Which Way LA?” on May 9. You can hear the entire broadcast at http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=ww110509do_downtown_la_hotel The description from Which Way LA? is as follows: “David Zahniser… wrote a Times’ story about tax breaks for massive hotels in booming downtown Los Angeles. J.W. Marriot, which opened last year, is reportedly doing well enough to produce some…

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Two-Faced Policy on Sidewalk Parking Around UCLA

Byuclafaculty

Earlier posts have noted the problem of parking on the sidewalk in the areas surrounding the campus and the fact that legal action has been brought against LA City for not enforcing its parking rules. But the City seems to be two-faced, sometimes taking action and sometimes not. The legal action against the City has been based on disability rights, i.e., that disabled persons in wheelchairs can’t use the sidewalks easily if they are blocked by parked cars. Excerpt from the Daily Bruin today: The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has suspended ticketing for apron parking after protests from students…

Copyright on Your Publications

Byuclafaculty

“Don’t I Own My Own Work?”: Negotiating to Keep Your Copyright Thursday, June 2; 10 a.m.-noon11348 Charles E. Young Research Library As a UCLA faculty member, you must be productive in a “publish or perish” environment. But in your rush to publish, are you signing an agreement with your publisher without reading it fully or understanding its implications? You might unknowingly surrender your copyright and, along with it, the rights to use and reuse your work as you wish. Find out how to read author agreements and learn strategies for negotiating agreements that protect your rights to your intellectual property….