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UCLA History: Student Who First Enrolled in 1948 Remembers

Byuclafaculty

Westwood in 1948 From Zócalo: John Burke and I, Class of 1948 graduates of Mt. Carmel High School, and new UCLA students, sat quietly, bewildered, on the lawn of the quad eating our brown bag lunches. Around us swirled groups of stylishly dressed, exuberant students greeting one another and sharing stories of just-ended summer vacations. John was distraught. He had received the results of the Subject A Examination, administered to determine whether he would be required to take English 28, a remedial class. John, a very good student, had failed the test; I had passed. He did not recover from…

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Mystery Email Seems Legit

Byuclafaculty

We have cautioned on this blog about responding to emails that purport to come from university sources but may actually be email spam or worse.  Yours truly – and probably many other UCLA faculty – received the email in italics below.  I was cautious because it did not come from a UCLA or UC source.  It came frommember@surveymonkey.com and had a reply address of survey@acrd.us. After a little snooping and Googling, however, it appears to be legit.   ============================ Dear University of California Colleague,The UC Office of the President funded researchers at UC Merced to conduct a system-wide survey of community…

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Comparison Hotels

Byuclafaculty

Above is a picture of a proposed Marriott Hotel in Santa Monica currently being reviewed by that city’s Planning Commission for the corner of Colorado and 5th Street.  It would have 136 rooms.  The UCLA Grand Hotel, in contrast, will have 250 rooms.  My calculator tells me that 136/250 = 54%.  So the UCLA Grand Hotel will be almost double what you see above.  Just something you might want to know.

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More recall reflections

Byuclafaculty

Same result Yesterday, we posted some video reflections on the California 2003 gubernatorial recall election.  In the end, the condition of the state budget seemed to determine voter opinion.  But, of course, the UC budget went for a ride on the state budget.  Below is a link to more video clips from this episode in state politics.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE11Egb_7Q?feature=player_detailpage]

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Recalling the Recall

Byuclafaculty

It’s all yours, Arnold. We are getting to the 10th anniversary of the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and his replacement by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  One of the events that followed was a UC “compact” with the new governor that was worthless; as soon as the state had budgetary problems, the compact disappeared.  A key problem was that the governor doesn’t appropriate funds; the legislature does.  Nonetheless, there were photo ops: Compact buddies For nostalgia buffs, here is a video history of the recall in three parts:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7O-yyzFJs?feature=player_detailpage] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcUZZQ11u6w?feature=player_detailpage] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6eSlO46FnA?feature=player_detailpage] Finally, the comic side from Harry Shearer:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WR6T3JG6R8?feature=player_detailpage]

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Fossils

Byuclafaculty

If you have listened to the public comment sessions at Regents meetings posted on this blog, you will have heard statements from a student group pushing the Regents to divest its pension and other portfolios from “fossil fuels.”  By this demand, the group – which is part of a national movement – appears to mean not just oil-coal-gas producers but also at least some major utilities.  We have noted that there are problems with using other peoples’ money to favor or disfavor particular political/social causes, partly involving the esoteric elements of finance and returns to the portfolio, but also the…

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What do you know? Another view of the UCLA Grand Hotel court decision is out there!

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, we provided a link to UCLA’s “shame media release” on the recent court decision regarding the Grand Hotel project.  You might not be totally surprised to know that there is an alternative view of what occurred.  You might not be totally surprised to know that the alternative view projects a more favorable view regarding the plaintiff’s position. But in case you ARE surprised, we provide a link below for reading the alternative:

Cooperation?

Byuclafaculty

As previous posts noted, for now the Congressional impasse and government shutdown is having only limited effects on higher ed so far.  The effects will increase as time passes without a resolution. Right now, the prospects of such a resolution are difficult to see.  From the website of the San Francisco Chronicle: Indiana GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman said he wanted respect in the budget standoff. Instead, he got ridicule from President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats. Stutzman is being mocked for saying Republicans should get something from the budget standoff — but he doesn’t know what that is. The tea…

Cartoon wisdom that continues to dog us online

Byuclafaculty

The cartoon above appeared twenty years ago.  According to Inside Higher Ed today, it still has much merit: …Ocorrafoo Cobange, a biologist at the Wassee Institute of Medicine in Asmara, recently had an article about the medical properties of a chemical extracted from a lichen accepted for publication — by more than half of the 304 open-access journals he submitted it to. Of course, Cobange is not real, and neither is the Wassee Institute. They are both inventions of John Bohannon, the Harvard University biologist and writer who documented the study in this week’s edition of Science. “Acceptance was the…

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Will common sense prevail?

Byuclafaculty

The LA County DA continues to pursue a case against a UCLA faculty member that sure seems like a matter for civil, not criminal, litigation.  Will common sense prevail in the DA’s office?  So far, no sign of it happening. From the Daily Bruin: At a pretrial hearing Thursday, a Los Angeles County judge ordered UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran to return to court next month regarding a lawsuit that involves the death of a UCLA lab assistant in a 2008 laboratory fire.Harran is expected back in court on Nov. 20, said Daniel Prince, a lawyer representing Harran. His trial…