News

One Day UC Strike Slated for Nov. 20

Byuclafaculty

From the Daily Bruin: University of California union workers announced Friday that they will hold a one-day strike on Nov. 20 at UC campuses and medical centers against what they call unfair labor practices. Members from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 union, which represents more than 22,000 service and patient care workers at the UC, voted earlier this month to authorize the strike. A representative from the UC could not be reached for comment… Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2013/11/08/uc-union-workers-to-hold-strike-on-nov-20/

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TA Union Pushes for Lower TA-to-Student Ratio

Byuclafaculty

The labor union representing TAs at UC has gotten some attention in the San Francisco Chronicle to its demands for lowering the TA-to-student ratio.  Excerpt: …The students are asking UC to create a Committee on Class Size at each campus so that problems can be addressed on a continual basis, said Josh Brahinsky, a graduate student in history at UC Santa Cruz who serves on the bargaining team… But UC says class size is not an appropriate topic to discuss with the union.”Issues related to class sizes and quality are academic issues, not bargaining issues,” said Shelly Meron, a spokeswoman for UC… Full…

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State Cash

Byuclafaculty

The latest cash statement from the state controller is out and covers the fiscal year through October.  It shows revenues to the state running about $600 million ahead of the forecast incorporated into the state budget last June.  Blog readers will recall that Gov. Brown insisted on what might be described as “conservative” estimates of revenue – over the objection of legislative Democrats – as a kind of hedge against possible bad news on the economy.  If the estimates prove to be below the actual receipts, there will simply be that much more cash in the general fund than otherwise….

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Response Would Be a Slender Reed (Pun Intended), But Why Not?

Byuclafaculty

Prior posts on this blog have noted that there is an anti-pension initiative that has been filed by a group whose front man is San Jose mayor Chuck Reed.  The proposition, if it got on the ballot, would cover UC.  It would require plans do be drawn up, presumably by the Regents, to deal with retirement underfunding.  The plans would be different than what the Regents developed on their own in 2010.  In theory, the Regents could draw up the plans and ignore them.  That would create political problems for the Regents and UC, however. Bottom line: We would be…

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Grand Design

Byuclafaculty

Two proposed Santa Monica hotels From time to time, we try to give you a sense of the scale of the UCLA Grand Hotel project.  A developer is proposing two hotels in downtown Santa Monica.  Combined, they are roughly the size of the Grand Hotel.  So imagining them squeezed together will give you a sense of the size of the project.   You can also get a sense by looking at the current construction site in terms of area covered.  But don’t worry about the cost:

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Arts ReSTORE LA in Westwood

Byuclafaculty

As we noted some time back, the UCLA Hammer museum got a grant to put arts projects in various empty Westwood stores in a temporary exhibit, which is now running until Nov. 24.  See http://artsrestore.la/.  LA Magazine has an article and some photos about the exhibit at http://www.lamag.com/laculture/culturefilesblog/2013/11/05/repopulating-the-empty-storefronts-of-westwood-village-with-art-and-artisans.  [Yours truly went by on Nov. 1 when the exhibit officially opened and not everything seemed to be ready, but maybe that has changed.]

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No magic; no free lunch

Byuclafaculty

  As you can see above, Gov. Brown promised to raise $10,100 for UC by holding a brown bag lunch.  Various other fund raising promises were made in connection with a campaign – Promises for Education – announced at the September Regents meeting.  The campaign, which appears to be over although the website persists [http://www.promiseforeducation.org/], raised $1.3 million. From the LA Times: An unusual effort by the UC system to raise scholarship money through online crowd-funding tactics — including promises by faculty and students to lead hikes, wash cars and wear kooky costumes — has garnered $1.3 million, officials said…

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Things to Come?

Byuclafaculty

Events at this week’s CSU Trustees meeting suggest what may occur at next week’s Regents meeting, especially if the governor shows up, as he has been doing. From the LA Times: (excerpt) A committee of the Cal State Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved a $4.6-billion budget plan that includes money to hire faculty and increase student enrollment. The 2014-2015 proposal seeks an increase of $237.6 million in state funding. Included in that total is about $80 million to increase student enrollment by about 20,000; $13 million to hire more than 500 new, full-time faculty members; $15 million to finance…

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Listen to the Regents Committee on Investments: Nov. 5, 2013

Byuclafaculty

The Committee on Investment of the Regents met yesterday.  Only part of the meeting was open.  As we have been doing in the past, the audio from the meeting is posted at the link below since the Regents follow a policy (why?) of archiving meetings for only one year. Investment Committee meetings are meant to show that the Regents are exercising oversight of the various funds that the Treasurer manages.  They also are supposed to exercise oversight of the various campus foundations.  The foundations can invest with the Regents and/or invest on their own, using their own fund managers. There…

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Really No Smoking (or Chewing)

Byuclafaculty

From the Oakland Tribune: [excerpt] A systemwide smoking ban at University of California campuses includes the controversial electronic cigarette, a tobacco smoking device whose backers claim is safer than traditional smokes. The ban takes effect Jan. 2 and includes smokeless tobacco, or chew. About 10 percent of UC employees smoke cigarettes, and 8 percent of students smoke, according to a fact sheet compiled by the university. The information kit does not say how many use the new electronic cigarettes on UC campuses or in the state, but a lobbying group for the retailers who sell the devices says about 4…