News

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Don’t worry about us here at UCLA! Take all the time you need!

Byuclafaculty

Back in December 2011, commuters on the 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass drove by an unusual sight. A retaining wall built for the new car-pool lane was collapsing, the gray concrete panels visibly buckling and falling.  Alarmed by the discovery, construction crews tore down the wall. At least 14 other walls also came down and were rebuilt. State officials moved quickly, banning the construction of similar retaining walls throughout California. Today, the 405 Freeway project is more than 15 months behind schedule, a timeline that has Angelenos bemoaning the traffic congestion caused by construction of the 10-mile car-pool lane. …

Another don’t click reminder

Byuclafaculty

Don’t click! Another reminder that when you get emails – such as the one above – that seem to have some official connection to UCLA and invite you to click here, download here, etc., be very cautious.  The one above may just be harmless commercial spam but the best thing to do is to delete it.  It clearly is not from a UCLA source.  Clicking and downloading may infect your computer and cause damage to it.

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One report airs some dirty laundry. Another doesn’t air.

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times picks up story on UCLA report circulated by email to faculty: UCLA’s policies and procedures are inadequate to deal with increasing complaints of racial bias among faculty — nearly all of whom surveyed said they had experienced some level of discrimination, according to an internal report obtained by The Times.  The report also found that allegations of overt racism were not investigated and, if they were, they rarely resulted in sanctions or punishments… The review, which was launched by Chancellor Gene D. Block in 2012 after he was approached by a group of concerned faculty, found that…

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Going Up?

Byuclafaculty

UC president Napolitano, on her campus tour, says she hopes not to press her luck and see tuition go up. Not a guarantee, of course. See: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_24341488/new-uc-president-keep-eye-costs Tuition will either go up, stay the same (likely for now), or go down (has happened in the past but very unlikely under current conditions).  In fact, past UC presidents have gone with the (budget) flow:

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Unbranded

Byuclafaculty

Odd that the undergraduate advertising and marketing group would get the Anderson School “brand” wrong, since branding is a big part of advertising and marketing.  The word “business” has not been part of the School’s title (or “brand”) since the 1970s.  The name used now is Anderson School of Management or just Anderson or Anderson School, although the name carved in stone on the Anderson complex is Anderson Graduate School of Management. 

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Let’s Start With This Idea on the Pension Initiative: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Byuclafaculty

Don’t buy it. Editorial: The pension (and retiree health) initiative on which we have been reporting on this blog sweeps in UC for no particular reason.  Yet all the propaganda concerning it so far deals with mayors and cities.  UC has no mayor and isn’t a city. Were the Regents consulted by initiative proponents?  Was anyone at UCOP consulted?  Anyone at UC at all?  Yours truly sincerely doubts it.  Did anyone in the group pushing the initiative look at such issues as faculty recruitment, compensation, or any other UC issue?  Did they look at the issue of the constitutional autonomy…

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Pension Initiative Backstop

Byuclafaculty

We have been covering the pension initiative that has now been filed with the state and, in an earlier post, discussed some key elements of the initiative (including the coverage of UC).  An interesting element in the initiative is a provision that provides for defense in court of the initiative by private parties.  It is quite likely that if the initiative passed, it would be challenged in court.  And the attorney general might well refuse to defend it, given the politics of the initiative. In the case of Prop 8 – the anti-gay marriage initiative – the attorney general did…

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Planning for a Shake

Byuclafaculty

You probably saw this notice but here is a reminder.   On October 17th, at 10:17 a.m., the UCLA campus community, along with millions of other Californians, will participate in “The Great California Shakeout”–a statewide earthquake drill. As part of our participation, the UCLA Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will test the BruinAlert system while airing a simulcast Shakeout drill on the campus AM radio station (AM 1630). To fully participate and maximize the effectiveness of the drill, we ask that you take these simple and potentially life-saving steps: DROP to the ground (before the earthquake knocks you down) Take COVER…

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It appears that publish or perish doesn’t characterize the 2nd Appellate District California Court of Appeal

Byuclafaculty

Appellate Court Verdict For Hannah Carter Garden Unique  Beverly Hills Courier, Laura Coleman, 10/14/13* The 2nd Appellate District California Court of Appeal yesterday denied a request to publish the Court’s decision to uphold a preliminary injunction against the University of California, Los Angeles from selling the 1.5-acre Hannah Carter Garden. The traditional Japanese garden, which was bequeathed to the university in 1964 by former UC Regent Edward Carter sparked the ire of garden preservationists and the heirs of Hannah Carter, who subsequently filed suit against UCLA to maintain its promise, when the university undertook efforts to begin the process of selling the…