Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus is a major transit line into UCLA. For some reason, it was not included in Google’s public transit information until now. UCLA’s official “Be a Green Commuter” blog reports this problem has been resolved. See: http://www.beagreencommuter.com/blog/?p=2716
The LA Times reports that a student at Cal State who sells notes taken in classes as a business was warned by CSU to cease doing so on the grounds that the materials are the property of the instructors under California law. Excerpt: Entrepreneur gets a stern lecture from Cal State October 15, 2010, Carla Rivera, Los Angeles TimesRecent graduate Ryan Stevens sought to put his business degree from Cal State Sacramento to use by creating a website where students can buy and sell lecture notes, old homework, study guides and other class materials. The site, NoteUtopia.com, which was launched…
Academic Senate to vote on renaming ‘fees’ to ‘tuition’ (except) Kelly Zhou, Daily Bruin, 10/13/10 The UCLA Academic Senate will vote this week on a UC-wide proposal to officially change the term “educational fees” to “tuition,” which would clarify a confusing term for many students in the UC system. All UC campuses are currently evaluating the proposal, said Ann Karagozian, chair of the Academic Senate. After the schools provide input on the proposal, the Systemwide Academic Senate will make a recommendation by Oct. 22 to the UC Office of the President, according to Undergraduate Council Vice Chair Richard Weiss. “My…
Audio is now available of the UCLA Academic Senate forum on Post-Employment Benefits and the various options for the pension system and retiree health care. Cellphone photo from the forum is at the left. The audio (video with a still picture) is divided into seven parts due to time limits of Yahoo-video. Participants were Chancellor Block (welcoming remarks), Senate Chair Ann Karagozian, Chair of the campus Council on Planning and Budget David Lopez, Chair of the campus Committee on Faculty Welfare Shane White, and VC for Finance, Budget, and Capital Programs Steve Olsen. Click on the various parts below. PEB…
For many years, going back to the Manhattan project, UC Regents were in charge of the “nuclear labs.” Various scandals revolving around lab security arose and the management system was eventually shifted to a consortium involving UC and others. At the time, there was concern about the UC pension implications. Lab employees had been part of the basic pension plan. The question was essentially how the assets of the plan (and the liabilities) would be split off to cover them. There was less attention paid to the issue of retiree health care, an unfunded liability for which, unlike the pension,…
Inside Higher Ed is running two articles today on a new official report which calls for rising tuition, reduced public subsidies, and more efficiencies in the British higher ed system. Britain Goes to Market (excerpt) October 14, 2010 Dozens of British universities could face a struggle for survival after a landmark report paved the way for a massive cut in teaching funding and an open market in fees and student numbers. The independent review on higher education funding and student finance, unveiled this week, concedes that fees of £6,000 (or $9,500) are unlikely to bridge the loss of public investment…
Christian schools lose appeal bid in UC case (excerpt) October 13, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Elko The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from Christian schools that want the University of California to grant college-prep credit for courses with religious viewpoints – using textbooks, UC says, that replace science with the Bible. The justices, without comment, denied a hearing to the Association of Christian Schools International, which accused the university of violating freedom of speech and religion with its policy on the classes applicants take in high school. UC requires certain high school courses for admission and says…
Audios of the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman debate are available below. (They are videos with a still picture). The audio is divided into 5 parts due to time limits at video-Yahoo. Click where indicated on the image for Part 1. Click on the urls for the other 4 parts. Of special interest was Meg Whitman’s comment that pensions for faculty and staff at UC were driving out students. The statement occurs in Part 2. In Part 2, the pension discussion starts around the 9 minute mark. The comment on UC is around 11:45 minutes. Brown-Whitman debate 10-12-10 Part 1: Public sacrifices,…
The UCLA library recently emailed faculty about trying to retain certain rights to copyrighted works when they are published in professional journals or books. If you didn’t click into some of the sources on this issue, below are the topics from an important page. Note that the topics include use of copyrighted materials from others as well as your own materials. To get to the topic links, go to http://www.library.ucla.edu/service/12796.cfm Publishing Resources The following links lead to external resources that provide information about and assistance with various aspects of publishing. UCLA librarians and library staff also provide services in this…
Are there any spillover effects for UC from the deal between SEIU Local 1000 and the governor as part of the budget enactment? There had been prior deals with some other state unions but Local 1000 was the biggie. The contract has yet to be ratified by union members. Directly, the contract has no effect on UC employees since none are covered by the agreement. Other unions represent UC employees. But indirectly there might be some effects, either positive or negative. Let’s look at the terms as described by the union on its website – actual contract language is not…
