News

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    UCLA and UC Well Represented on New Redistricting Commission

    Byadmin

    In 2008, voters approved taking redistricting legislative seats after the 2010 Census away from the legislature and gave the job to a citizens redistricting commission. In the recent election, they rejected abolishing the commission and gave it the additional task of redistricting congressional seats. Eight commissioners have so far been selected through a complicated process. UCLA and UC are well represented, as the report below from the Rose Institute at Claremont indicates. First 8 CA Commissioners are a Well-Educated Group The first 8 people chosen for California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission are a well-educated group. All 8 hold both a bachelor…

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    Day 3: The Regents Session of 11-18-10

    Byadmin

    Below are links to audios (videos with a still picture) of the Regents meeting of 11-18-10. (The audio is divided into 13 parts due to duration limits of video-Yahoo.) The meeting began with public comments. In that session, a message was read from Assembly leader Perez protesting the tuition increase. President Yudof cited the lack of state pension contributions to UC in rebuttal. As in the previous day, the comments were those of students objecting to the tuition increase and unions generally objecting to the benefit changes and lack of input into them. Students also objected to the switch in…

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    LA Times/USC Poll on State Budget

    Byadmin

    The LA Times/USC poll reproduces, once again, the general public inconsistency about what to do about the state budget. Here (below) is a simplified version of the poll. The first figure is percentage support by program for not cutting spending or for increasing spending. The second figure represents percentage support for cutting spending a little or a lot. (Figures don’t add to 100% due to those answering “don’t know” or refusing.) K-12: 71% vs. 26% Health care for kids & low/moderate income families: 56% vs. 36% UC & CSU: 59% vs. 36% Transport, road, rail: 47% vs. 48% Prisons: 20%…

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    New PPIC Poll on Public Higher Ed

    Byadmin

    A new poll on public higher ed is out from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). In broad terms, Californians are evenly split on whether taxes should be raised to support higher ed. But they oppose tuition increases. They are more likely to say that not enough is being spent on higher ed than to support raising taxes. PPIC summarizes the findings as follows: About three-fourths of Californians say state funding for public higher education is inadequate. Most Californians favor more money for higher education even at the expense of other state programs. Almost 60 percent of all parents…

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    Day 2: Regents Sessions 11-17-10

    Byadmin

    Below are audios (videos with a still picture) of the Regents session of 11-17-10. The morning sessions – which actually ran until about 12:30 PM – are divided into 16 parts. Most of the afternoon sessions were closed but the one open session is included. To hear the sessions, start by clicking the large circle below. Then click on the various urls below that. The afternoon open session is the last entry. Here is the agenda for 11-17-10: 8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment) 9:30 am Committee on Educational Policy (open session) 10:15 am Committee on Finance (open…

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    Yawning Gap Between Student and Instructor

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today features a YouTube video (below) from a Cornell instructor who becomes upset when someone yawns. Apparently, the lectures are routinely videoed by the Hotel School and the YouTube extract comes from the official recording. Although in this case the recording was official, it is well to note that cellphones can produce videos and that there are very small audio and video recorders that students may have in class. (The yawn is not heard on the video. There is a clicking sound which may be some artifact of the recording.) Can we say this episode is a…

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    Day 1 at the Regents: Capital Projects

    Byadmin

    Today (Nov. 16) was the quiet day at the Regents. No issues of tuition, pensions, etc. A bunch of capital projects were approved. There was a bit of questioning about whether the state would pay for such projects, or even float general obligations bonds to pay for them. Of course, the answer was “no.” An argument was made that UC needed to have shovel-ready projects in case someone did step up to pay for them. But that seems unlikely with the new and likely paralyzed Congress and the condition of the state budget. Nonetheless, there was little dissent. You can…

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    Regents to Approve Next Year’s Budget on Nov. 18

    Byadmin

    The Regents will be approving a budget for 2011-12 at their meeting of Nov. 18, 8:50 AM session. The total UC proposed budget for the coming year will be $22.6 billion. Of that total, $3.5 billion is requested from the state, up from $2.9 billion in the current year. Of the $600 million increase being requested from the state, $172 million is for pension funding. I will leave it to the reader to estimate the probability that the state will cough up what is being requested. You can find the budget document at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f9attach2.pdf The figures to which I refer…

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    Regents Session on Tuition, Nov. 18

    Byadmin

    The Regents take up increasing tuition (still termed “fees” until they change the name) on Nov. 18 at the 8:50 AM session. You can find the background material at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f10.pdf As you might expect, the proposal is more complicated than the single 8% figure reported in the news media. However, the chart above (from page 9) is clear enough so that you can see we are no longer among the cheapest public institutions. The proposal for increases in professional school fees is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f11.pdf It is more complex than the undergrad/grad proposal, with considerable variation among the different schools.

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    Regents Session on Retiree Health, Nov. 17

    Byadmin

    The Regents will take up retiree health on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in a session beginning 10:15 AM. You can find the background materials at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f4.pdf The chart above, which does not appear very clearly as reproduced in this blog, is on page 5. It shows the retiree health program’s unfunded liability. In fact, the program is not prefunded so virtually all funding is pay-as-you-go. But the background report treats it in the same way that the pension plan is treated. The chart shows the unfunded liability – with no change in the participant contribution policy – rising from around $15…