News

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Update on the Bad Deal for the State Involving a Regent

Byuclafaculty

In a previous post, I noted that the state – as part of its efforts to raise cash – wants to sell various state office buildings and then lease them back. A Regent, Hadi Makarechian – as part of a consortium of various investment groups – is one of the buyers. The prior post is at Bad Deal for State Involves a UC Regent [Note: If you have trouble using the link above directly, simply go back to the December 3, 2010 entries for this blog.] Since the prior post went into the reasons why the deal – which is…

UCLA Told to Get Out of the Stream

Byuclafaculty

Background: Some instructors use videos in classes for various purposes. Of course, this practice has gone on since video tapes were around. Indeed, yours truly – who was at UCLA when mammoth elephants were still walking around campus – used 16 mm films back in the day. (Anyone remember film strips?) However, in some classes, streamed videos are used. Basically, enrolled students go to the course website, click on the video required, and see the video (motion, sound, etc.). In effect, it is the same as going to YouTube or similar websites. You don’t download the file from YouTube typically;…

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Jerry Brown’s Second Budget Forum to be at UCLA This ComingTuesday

Byuclafaculty

Jerry Brown budget forum in Los Angeles set for Tuesday Capitol Alert, 12/9/10, David Siders Gov.-elect Jerry Brown released details this afternoon of his budget forum in Los Angeles next Tuesday. The meeting with education leaders follows a summit with lawmakers and local officials in Sacramento yesterday. Brown’s office described the event in an advisory as a meeting to “discuss the state’s fiscal challenges in K-12 and higher education.” It will be at UCLA. Like yesterday’s forum in Sacramento, the event is invitation-only. Brown’s transition office plans to stream the meeting online. “It’s really a continuation of the discussion that…

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Zev Says No Pain/No Gain on I-405 Wilshire Construction

Byuclafaculty

For those who bemoan the traffic problem created by the reconstruction of the Sunset Blvd. bridge over the 405, here is some news from LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky about what is going to happen to Wilshire: Given the dismal state of Westside traffic, it’s been a long time since anybody was able to fly through the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and the 405. But someday people will be able to fly over it. Two new flyover ramps are part of an ambitious new phase of the 405 Sepulveda Pass improvements project that’s currently projected to begin as early as…

UCLA History: UCLA Professor Kleinrock and the Internet

Byuclafaculty

The caption that accompanied this photo in UCLA Today, Oct. 22, 2009 read “Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, stands beside the Interface Message Processor that made the first Internet message possible.” For those of us who are more computer-challenged, there is some comfort in the apparent ability of Microsoft to change the word of God. See:http://jan.ocregister.com/2010/12/09/microsoft-to-fix-pdf-anomaly-for-bible/50696/

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Court Upholds Prop 209 Ban on Affirmative Action in University Admissions

Byuclafaculty

Federal judge upholds Calif affirmative action ban Dec. 8, 2010, Fresno Bee, Terence Chea – Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging California’s voter-approved ban on affirmative action in public university admissions. U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti on Wednesday ruled against the challenge to Proposition 209, which banned the consideration of race and ethnicity in public education, employment and contracting… Full article at http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/08/2190629/federal-judge-upholds-calif-affirmative.html

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The Incredible Shrinking University

Byuclafaculty

Andy Sabl pointed me to a lengthy article on the fate of UC entitled “Mission Shrinking.” An excerpt with a link to the full article is below. You can get the tone from the brief excerpt. Mission Shrinking, Diana Jean Schemo, Dec. 7, 2010 In the galaxy of public higher education, the University of California system once shined as a kind of North Star. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Golden State’s premier institutions, the University of California at Los Angeles and at Berkeley, boasted some of the strongest research and teaching faculties in the world. A UC education was…

Chancellor’s Committee Issues Report on UCPD Use of Force at Campus Protests

Byuclafaculty

In the wake of the November 2009 Regents meeting protests, over 100 senate faculty at UCLA signed a letter to Chancellor Block expressing grave concern over UC Police use of force against students and calling for a thorough review.  In response, the Chancellor convened a special task force, which has now released its report: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/document/Regents_Nov_2009_Meeting_Post_Event_Report.pdf I have not had time to review the text, and I urge those of you who signed on to read it over and add your response in the comment section for this post.   –Tobias Higbie 

Comparing Public vs. Private Pay

Byuclafaculty

The two charts you see on this post come from a press release issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The charts break out the pay (wages and benefits) of state and local employees vs. private employees as of Sept. 2010. (The bars labeled “civilian” refer to the two groups combined. Federal workers are not included.) The data do not allow California to be broken out. The figures underlying the charts are for the total U.S. In a sense, the charts explain the seeming public anger at public employees who earn in total compensation about $40 per hour…

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UCLA Forecasts Snail-Pace Growth Which Sets Context for Brown’s State Budget Conference

Byuclafaculty

From the press release for yesterday’s UCLA Anderson Forecast: California’s forecast, authored by Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg and titled “Laying the Groundwork for California’s Economic Recovery,” continues themes that began in September – almost imperceptibly slow growth until the end of next year. “with only the first indication of changes in consumer and business expectations revealing themselves in the contemporaneous data, and in the absence of an external driver to induce faster growth, this is the most likely scenario for this phase of the recovery,” Nickelsburg writes. Stated bluntly, California must re-employ 1.3 million workers just to get back to…