News

New Exemption for Educational Use of Copy-Protected Material

Byuclafaculty

A web article from NPR on “jailbreaking” cellphones includes the following info of interest to those using videos in class presentations: From: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128773367&ft=1&f=1001 “…According to new government rules announced Monday, (there will be)… new exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized uses. The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing use of copyright-protected material. (Among the exemptions is one to)… allow college professors, film students and documentary…

Two Editorials Skeptical About UC Online Degree Proposal

Byuclafaculty

Online degrees in a real world 7/24/2010 San Gabriel Valley Tribune TWO words best describe the downside of a recent decision by the University of California Board of Regents to develop an Internet-based undergraduate degree program: slippery slope.No matter how you feel about the undoubtedly rapidly expanding role of technology in higher education, the regents’ eventual decision after some fairly in-depth discussion was an odd one at best. That’s because everyone backing the exploration of what would be a tremendous increase in the scale of online learning at the nation’s greatest public university acknowledges how fraught with educational dangers such…

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Political Deadline on UC Pension & Its Dangers

Byuclafaculty

I have been posting material related to the two gubernatorial candidates’ positions on public pensions. As noted, Brown mentions UC explicitly in his pension program – although he does not say anything in particular about it. Whitman does not explicitly reference UC. The key points to keep in mind are: 1) Unlike other public pensions, UC has the $2-for-$1 problem. In essence, 2 out of 3 dollars of employee contributions to UC’s pension fund come from non-state sources such as research grants and hospital patient revenues. If the inflow of pension money is too low, the $2 cannot be recouped…

The Meg Whitman Public Pension Proposal

Byuclafaculty

Earlier today, I posted the Jerry Brown proposal for state pensions, noting that it explicitly mentioned UC. Below are the Meg Whitman proposals from her campaign website. UC is not explicitly mentioned. However, whoever becomes governor also becomes an ex officio Regent. From the Meg Whitman campaign website Page 26 of http://www.megwhitman.com/userfiles/pdfs/policy_agenda.pdf Solve California’s Pension CrisisCalifornia currently has between $60 billion and $100 billion of unfunded state employee retirement liabilities that are owed by the taxpayers. This crisis has to be addressed to protect the retirement security of state workers and to make it possible to fix the budget mess…

Update: Brown’s Pension Program Explicitly Includes UC

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, I posted a news item on gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown’s proposals for state pensions. More details have now appeared on his campaign website. It is clear that UC is included, based on what appears on the website. From http://www.jerrybrown.org/pension Or pdf version:http://www.jerrybrown.org/sites/default/files/Jerry%20Brown%20for%20Governor%20Pension%20Reform.pdf Pension Reform Money needed to fund government employee pensions comes from three sources: contributions by the employees themselves, contributions by the government, and investment returns. Historically 60-75% of the funds have come from investment earnings. As Wall Street profits soared to unrealistic levels, state pension earnings grew abnormally and many California jurisdictions took advantage of what turned…

Brown details plan for California state worker pension reforms

Byuclafaculty

Note: It is unclear from this report whether Brown is confining his comments to CalPERS or whether he includes UC. Other editorial interjections in bold below. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-pensions-20100723,0,7462149,print.story Brown details plan for California state worker pension reforms The Democrat would adopt some Schwarzenegger ideas, such as asking current employees to contribute more to their plans and raising the retirement age for new hires. By Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times July 23, 2010 Unveiling one of his few major policy proposals Thursday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown called for public-pension reform, embracing some of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ideas for curbing…

Getting to UCLA on Sunset Blvd from the Westside Will Be Difficult Next Week

Byuclafaculty

LA County Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s blog warns that the Sunset Blvd. bridge over the 405 will be undergoing demolition next week. You are best advised to use a different route to UCLA from the Westside. The blog contains a history of the bridge, built in 1955, together with early photos such as the one on the left that shows hardly any traffic. The full story is at:http://zev.lacounty.gov/spotlight-story/sunset-bridge-the-early-years As for the photo on the right, it is also a bridge, albeit one that is hidden by landfill. At one time a ravine ran through the UCLA campus and a bridge led over…

UC’s Pension at Least Gets a Mention

Byuclafaculty

UC’s pension system (and its funding problem) is often lost in articles about public pensions in California. Usually the focus at the state level is on the big CalPERS and CalSTRS funds. Or it is on particular municipal pensions such as the pension of the bankrupt city Vallejo. The calpensions.com website, in an article today, did mention UC as part of a general discussion. The full article is at:http://calpensions.com/2010/07/22/pensions-the-good-the-bad-and-california/ The UC excerpt: “The UC Retirement System ended a two-decade contribution “holiday” this year. Neither employer nor employee paid into the system, while costs were covered by investment earnings. A required…

Things-Could-Be-Worse Dept.: Rolling Back the Budget at Texas A&M

Byuclafaculty

A&M may flush free TP in dorms By MAGGIE KIELY The Eagle Published Wednesday, July 21, 2010 12:10 AM Elaine Benes sits in a bathroom stall, pleading with a stingy toilet-paper hoarder to “spare a square.” “Excuse me. I’m sorry. This is, a, kind-of embarrassing but there’s no toilet paper over here.” “Are you talking to me?” the stranger asks. “Yeah, I just forgot to check. So, if you could spare some.” Nope. More awkward banter. “Three squares? You can’t spare three squares?” Benes shouts. The woman leaves after saying: “No I don’t have a square to spare. I can’t…

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After the Faculty Assn. Letter to the Regents of June 2009, Where Are We?

Byuclafaculty

In a previous post, I noted a proposition that the governor promised – but that never appeared – to insure that California spent more on higher ed than on prisons. In mid-June 2009, the Faculty Association sent a letter to the Regents and President Yudof asking that the Regents treat the UC budget crisis as an emergency. It gave examples of the impact of budget cuts on campus operations and the difficulties facing UC in funding the retirement plan. The letter is reproduced below. It produced a front-page headline in the San Francisco Chronicle. The response from President Yudof and…