News

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Clash of the Titans II: Jerry Brown says high-paid execs at UC demanding high pensions are “out of touch”

Byuclafaculty

UC execs’ demand for more benefits angers many (excerpts) Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 30, 2010 Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, state lawmakers and others minced few words Wednesday in condemning high-paid executives at the University of California who are threatening to sue UC unless it spends millions of dollars to increase their pensions. “These executives seem very out of touch at a time when the state is contemplating billions of dollars in reductions that will affect people who are far less advantaged,” Brown said. Their demand comes as UC faces $21.6 billion in unfunded pension obligations and is reducing benefits…

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Clash of the Titans: Coming to a Regents Meeting Soon

Byuclafaculty

Background: Readers of this blog will know that at the Dec. 13 Regents meeting, where changes in the retirement plan were adopted, one item was dropped from the agenda a few days before the meeting. You can hear the Regents meeting on this blog. But there is only one vague reference to the dropping. The item involved a 1999 Regents decision to seek IRS approval to exceed a ceiling on pension benefits. The approval was received but the pension plan was never modified to implement the approval. The PEB task force recommended such implementation as part of its other retirement…

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The Coming Budget Brownout

Byuclafaculty

Wikipedia defines a “brownout” as follows A brownout… is a drop in voltage in an electrical power supply. The term brownout comes from the dimming experienced by lighting when the voltage sags. Wikipedia then goes on to describe the impact of a brownout on various devices. Here are some of those impacts: * The heat output of any resistance device, such as an electric space heater will vary with the true power consumption, which is proportional to the square of the applied voltage. Therefore a significant loss of heat output will occur with a relatively small reduction in voltage. Similarly,…

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Op Ed by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC-Irvine Law School on UC Funding

Byuclafaculty

Invest in higher education: Over the years, the state’s contribution to the University of California has not kept pace with its needs. The risk is letting a great system become a mediocre one. (Excerpts) Erwin Chemerinsky, Dec. 27, 2010, Los Angeles Times The proposals for the University of California now being considered in Sacramento — limiting tuition and fees, freezing executive and faculty salaries and increasing legislative control over the UCs — are well intentioned. But they are a recipe for ruining a great public university system. A public university has only three choices: It can be subsidized by the…

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Captain Video saves the Faculty Assn. blog videos and audios from cloud destruction

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post noted that past audios/videos of Regents meetings, UCOF, PEB, and certain radio or TV interviews or debates were in danger of disappearing from this blog due to the discontinuation of video-Yahoo. I have now transitioned these files to Facebook and embedded them on the blog in place of the video-Yahoo versions. In particular, the early materials that were part of the discontinued savingUCLA website are available on this blog at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2010/06/selected-non-youtube-audios-and-videos.html It is useful to preserve these materials, particularly where policy commitments are made by Regents, administrators, or others, in the event that policy changes are subsequently…

UCLA History: Eric Monkkonen of the History and Public Policy Depts. was an expert on murder

Byuclafaculty

You may have seen the LA Times article last Sunday on the murder rate in Los Angeles and its surprising decline. Had he survived, there would have undoubtedly been long quotes and observations in the article from former History and Public Policy Professor Eric Monkkonen, UCLA’s expert on murder – and the history thereof. Of course, as you go back in time, data on murder rates were not routinely collected. Prof. Monkkonen, among other techniques, hired undergrads to go through old newspapers, pulling out references to murders in various cities. The LA Times article looks at various explanations by experts…

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Regent Blum Says Consequences of More State/UC Budget Cuts Will Lead More to Internal Cuts Than Tuition

Byuclafaculty

UC regents brace for more bad news on budget (excerpt) Dec. 27, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle, Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross The University of California regents are bracing for more bad financial news from Sacramento, but board veteran Richard Blum doubts he and his colleagues could stomach another round of tuition hikes. “I think the emphasis is much more on making cuts,” said Blum, who chaired the board until recently. “I think the last thing we want to do is touch student fees, but that depends on what they do to us.” Blum said most of the newly approved 8…

Online Western Governors University Profiled

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today contains an article about Western Governors University, an entirely online institution said to be founded by 19 western governors. Exactly what role California plays in this institution is not clear although I found some reference on line to Governor Schwarzenegger as one of the governors involved. As readers will know, the report of the University Commission on the Future contained support for expansion of this type of education by UC. Below is an excerpt from the article and below that a related TV video news report. The full article is at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin-20101226,0,1315053.column This college lets students…

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Sacramento Bee Article Predicts a Not-So-Cheery Budget Outlook for Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

A Christmas present from the UCLA Faculty Association blog. Scroll down to the large print. What budget cuts, taxes and gimmicks might Jerry Brown propose? (excerpts) Dec. 25, 2010, Sacramento Bee, Kevin Yamamura Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued grim budgets the last two years, but in many ways he had it easier than the challenge facing Gov.-elect Jerry Brown in 2011. In proposing ways to close the budget gap, Schwarzenegger relied on ideas few expected to come to pass, like eliminating CalWORKs and getting $7 billion from the federal government. But Brown has already assailed budget gimmicks, such as counting on…