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politics | State Budget | UC budget crisis

More State BudgiLeaks Suggest UC Will Be Cut
Byadmin January 3, 2011

As a prior post noted, it is traditional for governors to leak bits and pieces of their budget plans to the news media before the formal presentation. Jerry Brown will be sworn in today and undoubtedly make some budget-related remarks in his inaugural address. The formal budget comes next week. But the reality is that because the budget is a complicated document to prepare, it is already 99% done, if not 100%, and lacks only an unveiling. The latest leak explicitly mentions UC: Brown to propose broad list of budget cuts (excerpt) Jan. 03, 2011, Sacramento Bee, Kevin Yamamura The…

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miscellaneous

Tales of a Confusing Academic Job Market: Up or Down? Actually, Both.
Byadmin January 3, 2011

Inside Higher Ed today posts a review of the confusing and mixed picture in academic job openings in various fields. Among the findings as you can see below – this will anger some folks! – the job market for economists is much improved but for historians it remains dismal. Job Freefall, Job Recovery (excerpt)Jan. 3, 2011, Scott Jaschik There has never been a single academic job market: variation among disciplines, institutions and regions has always mattered. The reality of radically differing job markets may be especially clear as 2011 begins with disciplinary associations gathering for job interviews at annual meetings…

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faculty pay | faculty recruitment | UC

A Message from Faculty Association Chair Dwight Read on Faculty Pay
Byadmin January 3, 2011

Annual Faculty Equity Adjustment The Faculty Association proposes a new annual Faculty Equity Adjustment to Salary that could incorporate a number of widely-used indicators, such as the mid-point salary point between UC’s Comparison-8 Universities, the level of the regional California Consumer Price Index (CPI), or the increased employee cost of the combined annual benefit increases (such as retirement and health). The point is that there should be an Annual Faculty Equity Adjustment. We realize that until the California economy recovers and the unending budget crisis is resolved, state funds will not be the source for funding the proposed Annual Faculty…

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pension | pensions | UC Regents

Sacramento Bee Editorial Says UC High Paid Execs Threatening to Sue “Live in Bubble”
Byadmin January 2, 2011

UC executives offer further evidence they live in bubble (excerpt) Jan. 02, 2011, Sacramento Bee We’re in a time in California when everyone has to share the pain, and leaders have to set the right example. It is dumbfounding that some top officials at the University of California are doing the exact opposite. Thirty-six executives sent a letter to UC regents on Dec. 9 with an ultimatum: Give us higher pensions or we’ll sue. They had the gall to call it a “legal, moral and ethical obligation.” What’s appalling is that people – who already earn far more than the…

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health care | uc retirement

Livermore Retirees Sue University Over Health Care Benefits
Byadmin January 2, 2011

Livermore Retirees Sue University Over Health Care Benefits (excerpt) Elizabeth Lesly Stevens, NY Times, 1/1/11 As one of the country’s leading nuclear physicists at one of the country’s most prestigious scientific institutions, Jay Davis has worked in the golden hills of Livermore and weapons depots of Iraq. In 1988, Mr. Davis founded the renowned Livermore Lab’s Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, which reveals the chemical makeup of substances and has helped advance research across many disciplines. …Now, to Mr. Davis’s surprise, his long association with Livermore Lab has brought him to a courthouse in Oakland. There, a State Superior Court…

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UCLA

UCLA History: Ice Skating Rink in 1938
Byadmin January 2, 2011

The ice skating rink in Westwood being readied for operation in 1938. An earlier UCLA history post shows the rink in operation. Photo from LA Public Library.

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UCLA

UCLA History: Campus Transition
Byadmin January 1, 2011

New Years Day is a time to think about transitions. In the photo above, we see UCLA’s move under way from the Vermont Avenue campus to Westwood. The photo was taken in 1929.

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pension | pensions | UC Regents

Lame Duck Nominates Crane: Crane Nomination May Not Fly
Byadmin December 31, 2010

In a very lame-duck action, Governor Schwarzenegger has nominated David Crane, generally billed as his economic advisor, to the UC Board of Regents. As you can see above, he is an odd mix of Democrat and Republican. Below is an excerpt from one news account: Capitol Alert, Dec. 30, 2010 Schwarzenegger appoints key economic aide as UC regent (excerpt) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named one of his top economic advisers Thursday to the governing board of the University of California, which has been rocked in recent years by California’s budget crisis. David Crane, 57, was named to fill the UC regents…

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pension | pensions | politics | tuition | UC Regents

Clash of the Titans II: Jerry Brown says high-paid execs at UC demanding high pensions are “out of touch”
Byadmin December 30, 2010

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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faculty pay | pension | pensions | UC pay | UC Regents | Yudof

Clash of the Titans: Coming to a Regents Meeting Soon
Byadmin December 29, 2010

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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News

More State BudgiLeaks Suggest UC Will Be Cut

Tales of a Confusing Academic Job Market: Up or Down? Actually, Both.

A Message from Faculty Association Chair Dwight Read on Faculty Pay

Sacramento Bee Editorial Says UC High Paid Execs Threatening to Sue “Live in Bubble”

Livermore Retirees Sue University Over Health Care Benefits

UCLA History: Ice Skating Rink in 1938

UCLA History: Campus Transition

Lame Duck Nominates Crane: Crane Nomination May Not Fly

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

Clash of the Titans: Coming to a Regents Meeting Soon

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

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