News

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Chancellor Block Radio Interview on the UCLA Budget

Byuclafaculty

On May 4, Chancellor Gene Block was interviewed on “Which Way LA?” concerning the UCLA and higher ed budget. He had written an op ed in the LA Times with the charge that folks in the legislature who had benefited personally from subsidized California educations were not adequately providing funding now. In his radio interview, he took a softer line. You can hear the program at the link below. The Block portion runs from minute 7 to minute 14:17:

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UC Pension Swept In (and away?)

Byuclafaculty

As noted in a prior post, an organization known as the “California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility” issued a study yesterday on public pensions. UCRP is included in the study but is not discussed. As often noted on this blog, that has been a general problem of discussions of the pension issue in California. UC is swept in but, at the same time, its special features are neglected and the focus is instead on CalPERS and other plans. In the frenzy over public pensions – with possible ballot initiatives (or possibly some deal on the state budget that would involve pensions…

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Texas A&M Alumni Complain About Political Interference

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed pointed to the development reported below in the Houston Chronicle on the attempt by Texas Gov. Perry (right) and a management consultant to impose a faculty evaluation system at the U of Texas and Texas A&M. Prior posts on this blog have pointed to the issue: Signaling the spread of a roiling controversy, 22 “distinguished alumni” at Texas A&M University on Tuesday criticized higher education reforms advocated by Gov. Rick Perry and an influential campaign contributor as “naïve … proposals from inexperienced individuals.” The “Open Letter to the Texas A&M University Community” criticized the proposals of Jeff…

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UC Pension Plan May Be Targeted Today

Byuclafaculty

A group whose funding sources are cloudy – the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility – plans a grand unveiling today of a study on pension funding in California. The report below indicates it covers California’s 5 biggest pension funds. After CalPERS and CalSTRS, UCRP is the 3rd largest at the state level. As numerous posts on this blog have indicated, ballot initiatives aimed at capping pensions could affect UC and override the Regents’ action on the UC pension taken last December. UC could be swept into some statewide initiative even if it is not a central target of the study….

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Reality (TV) at UC-Riverside

Byuclafaculty

Some time back, before “reality” TV became popular, BBC had a program in which the CEO of a firm or organization would visit worksites and perform regular jobs to see what was really happening. For an example, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdW6mgBEG0. (In that excerpt, the CEO of a fast food chain in the UK visits a local restaurant.) Canadian broadcasting later made a similar series. Now that reality TV is much in vogue, CBS has “Undercover Boss” which is based on the same premise. However, in the CBS version, the CEO fixes the various problems discovered, hands out money and benefits to…

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Half Right

Byuclafaculty

UCLA researchers surmised about bin Laden’s hideout (excerpt): 5/3/11 Two years before al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was discovered in a fortified compound not far from Pakistan’s capital, a team of U.S. researchers and undergraduate students took up the search as part of an academic exercise. Their concept turned out to be generally accurate, although their target was off the mark. Using satellite imagery and fundamental principles of geography, the group at the University of California, Los Angeles predicted that the mastermind of the 2001 terrorist attacks was probably hiding not in the rugged mountains, but inside a walled compound…

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Severance Pay from Oil?

Byuclafaculty

A new ballot initiative is going into circulation which imposes an oil severance tax for education, including higher ed. It apparently has some level of endorsement from community colleges. However, there is no money at this point for signature gathering. Hiring signature-gathering firms for an initiative costs $1-$2 million. The backers say they will use students, Facebook, etc. So far, no one has gotten anything on the ballot in recent memory without hiring signature-gathering firms. Of course, getting something on the ballot is only a first step. You then need lots more money for TV ads, particularly if you take…

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Be a Good Sport (at Berkeley)

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today points to the story below: Men’s gymnastics program to continue at UC Berkeley Herb Benenson, Intercollegiate Athletics, May 2, 2011 As a result of fundraising efforts that have raised in excess of $2.5 million, the men’s gymnastics program at the University of California, Berkeley, will be preserved as an Intercollegiate Athletics sport, campus officials announced today (Monday, May 2). The total, though short of the $4 million necessary to fund the team’s current direct and indirect costs, will support the program for at least 7-10 years in combination with steps to reduce annual operating expenses. Specifically,…

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Time to Kick the Can Down the Road?

Byuclafaculty

When he was governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger use to speak pejoratively about “kicking the can down the road” when considering state budget remedies. In fact, when he came into office in 2003-04, he basically borrowed his way out of the budget crisis of that time that he inherited. Such borrowing effectively kicks the can down the road. Right now, no one in Sacramento seems to have a Plan B after Governor Brown’s plan to put tax extensions on the ballot seems to have failed for lack of a 2/3 vote. The governor is being pushed, as an earlier post noted, to…

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Hot Potato?

Byuclafaculty

The Assn. of American Universities (AAU) is a organization with major research universities as its members including UCLA. Its current president, Robert Berdahl, is a past chancellor of UC-Berkeley. UC-Berkeley is a member. Davis, Irvine, San Diego, and Santa Barbara are also members. On March 31, the AAU issued the press release below with other organizations concerning the federal deficit. (This is not a timely piece of information; yours truly just stumbled on it, a month late.) Also a signatory to the document is the Assn. of Public and Land-Grant Universities which includes the UC campuses above plus Santa Cruz…