Google-Blogger had a heart attack and was down for awhile on Friday the 13th. In principle, the missing posts will be restored. On verra… UPDATE: All videos restored as of 5-13-11, 3 PM. There is a lesson here on the dangers of relying solely on “the cloud” for data storage.
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…
Yours truly produced the chart above from recently-released 2010 Census data for California. The changing demographics of the state will have long-term political and budgetary effects on UC. More Census info is available (not entirely user-friendly) at http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
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…
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…
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…
“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….
Inside Higher Ed continues its coverage of ongoing political issues facing the U of Texas. Could similar developments be coming in UC’s future? Wrong Kind of Accountability?(excerpts) May 10, 2011, Inside Higher Ed, Dan Berrett Faculty and administrators at public universities in Texas said Monday they don’t want to shrink from efforts to make public higher education more accountable — they just don’t want to do it this way. In this case, “this way” refers to efforts by the University of Texas System Board of Regents to measure the productivity of faculty members in strictly numerical terms. The efforts are…
Michael Meranze alerted me to the item below which he posted on another blog. Apart from the specific merits of the project involved – online education in this case – it illustrates the momentum that projects at UC can take on. Even if the original plan is not working out, the projects tends to continue. In the case below, a project that was supposed to develop a funding source on its own now seems to be poised to borrow money from the university. The big wheels keep turning… Academic Council Responds to Debt-Financing of Online ProjectMay 6, 2011 PRESIDENT MARK…
University of California weighs varying tuitions at its 10 campuses (excerpts)Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2011 Should an education at UC Berkeley cost more than one at UC Santa Cruz? Should a student pay $11,000 in tuition at UC Riverside while his friend is billed $16,000 at UCLA? …Nationally, UC is late to the debate, with many other state university systems long ago having established differential tuitions for their campuses… …Perhaps not surprisingly, officials at UC Berkeley and UCLA have been among the most vocal advocates for some freedom in setting undergraduate tuition rates, which now are established…
