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tuition | UC budget crisis

Health Care Costs & Public Higher Ed
Byadmin September 19, 2010

In an op ed in the NY Times, Peter Orzag – former Obama OMB director – makes a point that others have also made. Public higher education nationally is squeezed indirectly by rising health care costs. When state legislatures are faced with rising costs of health care for their share of Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California), they tend to reduce public higher ed budgets to pay for those costs. Most likely, this effect is a reflection of the fact that unlike many other public programs, higher ed has a potential non-tax source of funding: tuition. In any event, some excerpts:A Health…

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miscellaneous

UCLA History: Hershey Hall
Byadmin September 18, 2010

Unlike the previous post, this photo shows a view unlike anything you can see at the location at which it was taken. It shows the interior of a room in Hershey Hall in 1948. Hershey Hall was a women’s dorm, later converted to offices. An addition to it was recently torn down. (Photo from the UCLA digital collection.)

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miscellaneous

UCLA History: Kerckhoff Hall
Byadmin September 18, 2010

This photo of Kerckhoff Hall as seen from Royce Hall provides a view that may seem familiar. But look closely. It was taken in 1937. Much of what you would see now is not there. (From LA Public Library photo collection.)

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pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement

U.C. Proxy Voting on Investment Portfolio Said to Skirt Social Issue Review Guidelines
Byadmin September 17, 2010

U.C. Proxy Voting Skirts Review Guidelines, Documents Show (excerpts) Tess Townsend, NY Times/Bay Area Citizen, 9/16/10 The University of California, which prides itself as a leader on social and environmental issues, voted against hundreds of shareholder resolutions designed to promote human rights, environmental sustainability and efforts to fight discrimination, a review of U.C.’s voting record shows. The resolutions involved corporations like Exxon Mobil, PepsiCo and Occidental Petroleum and pertained to about one-third of the university’s $65 billion investment portfolio, a portfolio that includes some 5,000 companies. Like many other universities, U.C. employs a private firm to manage its investments and…

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pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement | UCRS retirement

Listen to Audio of Regents Meeting of 9-16-10 (Approval of Increased Pension Contributions)
Byadmin September 17, 2010

The Regents provide a live audio stream of their meetings but they don’t place the recordings online afterward. However, yours truly recorded the Regents meeting of earlier today. It involved preliminary discussion of the retirement system – pension and retiree healthcare – and the raising of the employer and employee contributions to the pension. Also approved was an augmentation of the members of the Investment Advisory Board to the pension fund. See the earlier post on this blog on that subject. I had to convert the audio into videos (just a still picture on the screen) so that it could…

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UC Merced

If You Build It, the Money Will Come Seems to Be Theory Behind UC-Merced Med School
Byadmin September 16, 2010

UC Merced, Davis to train students in valley’s clinics (excerpts) Modesto Bee By Ken Carlson and Jamie OppenheimSeptember 15, 2010, posted 9/16/10 UC Merced has entered a partnership with the University of California at Davis School of Medicine, which brings the university closer to establishing a medical school at the Merced campus. In fall of 2011, the school will enroll six medical students in the partnership program. For the first two years of the program, students will take classes in science and medicine at the University of California at Davis medical school campus. Their second two years will be spent…

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miscellaneous

Rank Order (Odor?)
Byadmin September 16, 2010

If you like rankings of universities, here is what the Times of London produced for the entire world: UC-Berkeley 8; UCLA 11; UC-Santa Barbara 29; UC-San Diego 32; UC-Irvine 49, UC-Davis 54; UC-Santa Cruz 68; UC-Riverside 117 Methodology at http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/analysis-methodology.html Complete rankings at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html

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pension | pensions | UC Regents

Regents to Consider Employee Representation on Investment Advisory Board
Byadmin September 16, 2010

At today’s Regents meeting, a proposal is being considered (and likely approved) for an Investment Advisory Board with employee representation in relation to the pension plan. The item is below. This move is apparently in response to pressure for greater representation after the UCRS Advisory Board was defanged by a legal decision at UCOP. For many years, the UCRS Advisory Board – which had faculty and staff representation – acted as a significant body in decisions regarding the UC retirement system. Although advisory, it initiated recommendations and had an influence on actual policy. Collective bargaining at UC is regulated under…

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pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement

The Total Comp Issue for UC and the PEB Recommendations
Byadmin September 16, 2010

In broad terms, the UC labor officials quoted in the LA Times piece excerpted below are taking the same position as the Academic Senate in the dissenters’ report on the Post-Employment Benefits Task Force recommendations. The dissenters’ report notes that all of the options under consideration: Option A (which the dissenters reject), Option B (which they might accept), and Option C (which the majority report took off the table and the dissenters want put back into consideration) represent a cut in total compensation. (Previous posts provide links and discussion of the 3 options.) On a total comp basis, UC is…

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pension | pensions | uc retirement

DB for Campus Police (Only)?
Byadmin September 16, 2010

It’s unclear what the election of either gubernatorial candidate would mean for upcoming changes in the UC pension system. As previous posts have noted, UC would be well advised to have its plan in place before the new governor takes office in early January. We could end up with the defined-benefit (DB) plan only for campus police if we wait and are swept into some statewide public pension reform, according to the item below from an LA Times blog: PolitiCal blog, LA Times, Anthony York Whitman says pension-reform plans don’t apply to police, firefighters (excerpt) September 15, 2010 | 1:01…

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News

Health Care Costs & Public Higher Ed

UCLA History: Hershey Hall

UCLA History: Kerckhoff Hall

U.C. Proxy Voting on Investment Portfolio Said to Skirt Social Issue Review Guidelines

Listen to Audio of Regents Meeting of 9-16-10 (Approval of Increased Pension Contributions)

If You Build It, the Money Will Come Seems to Be Theory Behind UC-Merced Med School

Rank Order (Odor?)

Regents to Consider Employee Representation on Investment Advisory Board

The Total Comp Issue for UC and the PEB Recommendations

DB for Campus Police (Only)?

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

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