News

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    Letter from the Chair of the UCLA Faculty Assn.

    Byadmin

    Dear Colleagues,The UCLA Faculty Association has a new Executive Board this year, and a full slate of complex issues to address. We appreciate your continued support, and encourage you to get involved in your FA.As I’m sure you are aware, there have been significant changes to the health insurance offerings for University of California employees.  The Faculty Associations at UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside have issued strongly-worded letters of protest about the lack of choices in the new plan offerings, and the lack of transparency in the process of choosing the options.The UCLA Faculty Association also has been hearing…

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    LAO Puts Higher Ed in the Freezer

    Byadmin

    The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released its budget outlook for the coming year and the next few years.  Good cheer generally, except for higher ed.  Revenue is up more than projected.  (Recall the governor insisted on “conservative” forecasts last June.)  Spending is up, too, but the net points to a rising state reserve.  Indeed, the LAO simulated a mild recession and thinks we could pull through without another calamity. However, when in comes to spending on higher ed, UC is frozen at $2.8 billion indefinitely.  No adjustments for inflation and enrollment growth (which LAO doesn’t think will happen based on…

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    Broken Links to UCLA Grand Hotel project

    Byadmin

    It has been brought to the attention of yours truly that some of the links and embedding to earlier blog posts about the UCLA Grand Hotel (and other topics) no longer operate.  Facebook has been used for such broken links, particularly as we go back in time, and Facebook seems to be not-so-good at maintaining embedding on blog posts.  Rather than go back and try to repair each broken link, we provide a listing below of all Facebook links that relate to the Grand Hotel project.  [In the future, as time permits, we may do the same for other topics.] …

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    Limited Order Bars Only About 50 Workers from UC One-Day Strike Today

    Byadmin

    Westwood demonstration during prior 2-day strike We noted yesterday that UC sought an order through PERB barring certain critical workers from the one-day strike today. According to the State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee: …A judge has banned a relative handful of employees who provide patient care at University of California medical facilities from participating in a statewide strike set for Wednesday.  Sacramento County Superior Court Judge David I. Brown said that a strike by about 50 AFSCME-covered employees, mostly respiratory theratpists, would “create a substantial and imminent threat to the health and safety of the public and patients…

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    Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 14, 2013

    Byadmin

    The November 14 meeting of the Regents opened with public comments.  These included concerns over staffing and safety at UC hospitals, a Berkeley city councilman who called for pension caps on high-paid UC executives, students advocating fossil fuel divestment, concerns about student costs and debt, and spending on “amenities” for students at UC. The Committee on Finance approved budgets for operations and capital after extensive discussion and back-and-forth with Governor Brown who said that UC was asking for $120 million more than it was going to get.  There was a bit more push back from Regents and administrators with regard…

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    Possible Order Limiting Hospital Strike Participation Tomorrow

    Byadmin

    Westwood demonstration as part of prior 2-day strike The State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee is reporting that the Public Employment Relations Board is seeking to limit the number of AFSCME employees at UC who can participate in tomorrow’s hospital strike for safety reasons.  [An earlier posting on this blog noted that a tentative settlement with nurses indicated nurses would not participate.]  TAs who might participate would presumably be unaffected by the PERB action. The Bee article is at:http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/19/5924205/uc-medical-centers-bracing-for.html

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    UCLA History: Extension – May 1931

    Byadmin

    This contemporary photo shows the location of the UC Extension office in downtown LA in 1931.  As is evident, the original office building is no longer there.  But if you click on the link below, you can read the extension catalog for May 1931 which featured a variety of courses on business, languages, history, and “Radio Telephony and Talking Moving Pictures.”  At the time, the extension service was run out of Berkeley with representation for the LA programs from UCLA. We had earlier posted similar catalogs:http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/05/ucla-history-extension-in-1930.html http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/12/in-earlier-posts-scroll-to-bottom-we.html http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/06/ucla-history-uc-extension-in-september.html Link below to the May 1931 edition:

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    Noted UCLA Sociologist Suzanne Bianchi Dies

    Byadmin

    Suzanne M. Bianchi, a UCLA sociologist who helped alter perceptions of working mothers during three decades investigating changes in American family life, died Nov. 4 at her home in Santa Monica. She was 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said her daughter Jennifer Browning. An expert on gender, work and families, Bianchi was best known for her research examining the amount of time mothers spent with their children. Most surprising was the finding she reported in 2000 that despite a dramatic influx of women into the workforce, the amount of time spent with children was relatively unchanged… She began her…

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    Listen to Regents Discuss Retiree Health on Nov. 14, 2013

    Byadmin

    We’ll post the audio for the entire Nov. 14 Regents meeting subsequently.  However, below is a link just to a discussion of the issue of retiree health.  As blog readers will likely know, as part of the open enrollment, UC retirees who are out of state are being dropped from UC programs and given a flat dollar contribution to buy their own policies from local exchanges.  An external contractor – Extend Health – has been engaged to provide counseling for out-of-state retirees. According to the back and forth between regents and UC administrators, this change will drop the liability to…