News

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State Budget Negotiations Reportedly Hung Up on Pensions Issue

Byuclafaculty

Supposedly, a “framework” for a state budget deal was worked out last week by the “Big-5” (governor + 4 legislative leaders). News reports suggest that public pensions remain a key issue (although the immediate effect of creating a two-tier pension system, etc., on the state budget for this fiscal year is small.) Democrats want the governor to use collective bargaining with state unions to cut a pension deal. The governor wants the legislature to impose a deal. Note that a budget could be passed that on paper assumes the governor bargains a deal with the unions. Whether the governor would…

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Yes, Virginia: There Is No Santa Claus

Byuclafaculty

Virginia is often cited as a state which followed the “Michigan Model” in which the public system becomes semi-privatized. According to Inside Higher Ed, all is not well in Virginia as the state there seems to be grabbing money from the universities. False Ideal? (excerpts) September 28, 2010 Virginia’s “restructuring” agreements, which provided select universities greater autonomy over finances in exchange for less state support, have emerged as a model that some public institutions in cash-strapped areas of the country would like to emulate. But to hear it from finance chiefs at Virginia universities now covered by restructuring, the agreements…

Brown-Whitman Debate: Tuesday, Sept. 28, 6 PM

Byuclafaculty

The Jerry Brown vs. Meg Whitman gubernatorial debate will be available for live-stream viewing on the Internet on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 6 PM at http://debate.ucdavis.edu/ and listening at http://www.capradio.org I am assuming that local public radio stations will carry it, too. The KPCC (89.3) website says the debate will be broadcast at 7 PM, so I assume it will be a recording one hour after the actual event. UPDATE: KCRW (89.9) will carry the debate live at 6 PM.

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Three-Year Undergrad Degrees

Byuclafaculty

One of the ideas that has been surfaced as part of the UC Commission on the Future was a three-year undergraduate degree option. The article below notes that a campus of the U of Massachusetts is moving in that direction. UMass will offer 3-year degree plan: Amherst school, following national trend, cites costs (excerpts) By Tracy Jan, Boston Globe | September 27, 2010 Seeking to trim the cost of a college degree at a time when many families are struggling with tuition, the University of Massachusetts Amherst this fall plans to introduce a program to make it easier for students…

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UCOP’s Webinar on Retirement Benefits Available

Byuclafaculty

UCOP ran a Town Hall webinar on the Post-Employment Benefits Task Force report last Friday. It is now available as a streaming video. You can access it below or by going to http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9789931 Because there is no guarantee of how long it may remain available, I have additionally recorded it. If at some point the streaming video becomes unavailable, I can repost it. The entire session runs about 90 minutes. Pay special attention to the comments by UC-Berkeley Prof. Robert Anderson, vice chair of the systemwide Academic Council and the chair of TFIR, the subcommittee on retirement issues that reports…

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Interview with Jerry Brown Touches on Pensions, Two-Tier, & Faculty Pay During His Previous Governorship

Byuclafaculty

Jerry Brown was interviewed by the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee on Sept. 24. Various issues were covered. Among them were pensions, two-tier, and faculty pay during his previous term as governor (1977-83). Video below:

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Prof. Shoup’s Campaign Against Sidewalk Parking Around UCLA

Byuclafaculty

Prof. Donald Shoup in the Dept. of Urban Planning has been campaigning to end illegal parking on the sidewalks around the UCLA campus. Prof. Shoup, the author of The High Cost of Free Parking, began trying to get Jack Weiss – when he was the LA City councilman for the area – to have the police enforce the law against such parking. Parking on sidewalks blocks access for ordinary pedestrians and, particularly, for handicapped persons. A lawsuit against the City has been filed on that basis. Let’s just say that when Weiss was in office, he was not known for…

Shrinkage at UC-Berkeley

Byuclafaculty

UC Berkeley plans to cut another 200 jobs (excerpt) Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 23, 2010 UC Berkeley, pegged by efficiency experts as bloated with too many managers, will eliminate about 200 jobs early next year to save $20 million, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has announced. “We cannot continue with our current administrative structures and operations and be the best run public university in the country,” Birgeneau said in a letter to employees Tuesday. The job elimination will be achieved through “a combination of attrition, retirements, voluntary separations and layoffs” after January, the chancellor said. That’s on top of 600…