News

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Listen to the Regents Morning Session: Nov. 13, 2013 (including the Napolitano speech)

Byuclafaculty

As noted in prior posts, yours truly is out of town and behind on listening to, and recording, the Regents meeting.  I am now current through the morning of Nov. 13.  That was the morning in which UC president Napolitano gave her speech on her goals for UC.  Blog readers will recall that there was supposed to be a similar unveiling of goals in a speech awhile ago, but that turned out to be a booster/dud.  This one was more significant, but more on that below. Again, we provide audio archives of Regents meetings because regental policy is to preserve…

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The Power of Positive Thinking on the I-405

Byuclafaculty

From the Westwood-Century City Patch: Good news about traffic on Sunset Boulevard near the 405 Freeway! (Yes, you read that right — there’s good news about traffic on the Westside.) Starting tomorrow, LADOT will begin changing the signaling and striping at one of the more congested intersections in the area, allowing drivers exiting the 405 Freeway more time to make a right on red from southbound Church Lane to westbound Sunset. Currently, there is a “No Right Turn on Red” sign at the intersection, significantly contributing to the maddening traffic bottleneck we all endure. This small change is expected to…

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TA Union Strike May Accompany Other Strike on Nov. 20

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin is reporting that the union representing TAs may strike along with the larger AFSCME one-day strike on Wednesday, November 20. Excerpt below: University of California teaching assistants, tutors and other unionized academic student workers will go on strike on Wednesday in solidarity with another UC workers union. Many discussion sections for undergraduate coursework scheduled for Wednesday could be cancelled, said Cody Trojan, a recording secretary for UC Student-Workers Union Local 2865 and vice president of academic affairs for the Graduate Students Association. Unionized teaching assistants will not show up to class to teach their sections, Trojan added….

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Listen to the UC Regents: Nov. 12, 2013

Byuclafaculty

As blog readers will know, we post audio of Regents meetings because the current regental policy is only to post their meetings for a year.  But the meetings live on here!  Yours truly has various commitments this week that will slow the posting.  But a link to yesterday’s meeting is below. The public comment session included speakers complaining about lack of affirmative action at UC (blocked by Prop 209), inadequate services for disabled students (including those with mental problems), and complaints about the appointment of Janet Napolitano.  The last took up a good deal of time with demands that the…

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Clock is ticking away on chance to get UC out of anti-pension initiative

Byuclafaculty

Previous posts on t his blog have noted the filing of an anti-pension initiative, fronted by some mayors, that would include UC along with other state and local plans.  We have noted that it would be best if UC were omitted from the initiative on the rationale that the Regents have implemented their own plan for modifying their retiree programs (back in 2010). We have also noted that once an initiative gets on the ballot, it cannot be amended.  However, groups filing pension initiatives sometimes file amended versions.  The group behind the initiative has now filed a second version, illustrating…

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UCLA’s Lawsuit to Retain Baseball Stadium at VA Property Criticized by LA Times

Byuclafaculty

Westwood’s Veterans Home, back in the day Blog readers will know that various tenants of the VA property in Westwood are facing litigation and potential eviction on the grounds that the property is not being used for its intended purpose.  UCLA’s baseball team uses the internal stadium: From yesterday’s LA Times‘ editorial page: [excerpt]: …Instead of appealing the decision, UCLA could play a helpful role by urging the VA to sit down with the plaintiffs to work out an agreement that meets the needs of the interested parties but also ensures that the federal government fulfills its responsibility. If baseball…

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Obituary: Supporter of Holocaust studies chair at UCLA

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: Samuel Goetz was 14 when the Nazis rounded up Jews in his hometown of Tarnow, Poland, and killed thousands of them — his parents included — in the gas chambers at Belzec in southeast Poland… An early advocate of Holocaust education in the United States, Goetz became a prime force behind the creation of a Holocaust studies chair at UCLA, the first at a public university in the United States. An optometrist for 50 years, Goetz, 85, died of pancreatic cancer Oct. 24 at his Los Angeles home, said his wife, Gertrude… During the ’70s, the…