News

| |

Tension Over Pension

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times: The already tense labor relations between the UC system and the union that represents about 8,300 custodians, gardeners and food service workers has taken a turn for the worse. After deadlocked negotiations, UC this week imposed terms that will require those workers to contribute 6.5% of their pay to retirement plans, up from the current 5%, while the university’s contribution jumps to 12% from 10%. UC says such changes are necessary to keep the pension system healthy and that most other UC employees already have agreed to the changes. In addition, newly hired workers will receive…

|

Free Money

Byuclafaculty

From a UCLA media release yesterday: UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero and Head Football Coach Jim Mora announced today a campaign to raise private funds for a comprehensive football training facility to be located on the west side of Spaulding Field, the practice field for the Bruin football team. The planned state-of-the-art facility is intended to house a locker room, athletic training area, strength and conditioning facility, coaches’ offices, team meeting rooms, equipment rooms and video rooms, in addition to several elements that will feature the storied history of UCLA Football. The project, estimated to cost $50 million, will be…

|

A Sound Choice

Byuclafaculty

Carl Haber One of the MacArthur Fellows announced yesterday is Carl Haber of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, one of the labs managed by UC.  His prize was for his techniques of rescuing and restoring old sound recordings.  You can read more about him at http://www.macfound.org/fellows/892/. And you can hear his explanation of what he does at:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkyC5qo94b0?feature=player_detailpage]

| |

Your Flyover is Open

Byuclafaculty

From those doing all the I-405 construction in the UCLA area comes this word: Reaching another milestone for the for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, Metro, Caltrans and contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West have opened a brand new, longer and safer “flyover” ramp at the Wilshire/I-405 interchange in Westwood.The southbound I-405 offramp to eastbound Wilshire Boulevard officially was open for its very first work-day rush-hour commute this morning (Monday, Sept. 23), and is a whopping 300 percent greater capacity than the previous off-ramp. The original ramp, built as part of the Wilshire Interchange in the mid-1950s, was only 1,330 feet….

|

The Regents & Napolitano: How Was the Match Made?

Byuclafaculty

The ongoing debate about the Regents’ selection of Janet Napolitano is still going on, according to the LA Times: The high-profile and surprising choice of former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to head the UC system has fueled criticism over the secret selection process, echoing debates around the country about how higher-education leaders are chosen. Supporters of a more open method say that better decisions are made when three or four finalists for a university presidency or chancellorship are formally identified to the public. At that point, faculty and students could have a chance to meet them before a…

Evolving Views at the U of Iowa

Byuclafaculty

According to Inside Higher Ed today, there is one of those evolutionary brouhahas that seem to arise periodically – this time at the University of Iowa.  It seems that a faculty member wrote a blog piece trying to reconcile religion and science and said in passing that there were flaws in the theory of evolution. You can read the blog piece at http://now.uiowa.edu/2013/08/common-ground. And you can read the Inside Higher Ed piece at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/09/23/should-university-website-publish-anti-evolution-views. To yours truly, it reads as if the author was trying to build a bridge, although maybe a bridge too far. Nonetheless, it’s an excuse –…

| |

Retiree Health Changes

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, this blog noted the upcoming UC open enrollment period and changes in the various health care options. Among them were what appeared to be rather drastic changes for retirees living outside California. One wonders whether the court ruling noted below might have some relevance for the ability of UC to make such changes.  Any legal scholars want to chime in?  Comments welcome. A superior court judge overturned a freeze on retiree health care for Los Angeles city attorneys this month, citing some of the same case law that made public pensions a vested right that can only be cut…

|

UCLA History: Library

Byuclafaculty

Above is Powell Library in the late 1940s.  If you were on campus late last week, you saw the latest crop of undergraduates arriving or returning.  At around the time that this photo was taken, Maurice Chevalier – someone none of today’s undergraduates could identify – had thoughts about being age 20, as it was seen from that era: [Link courtesy of the unofficial Facebook page of the UCLA Emeriti Assn.and its custodian Yousee Elayemeriti who is looking for friends, but only of members of the Emeriti Assn.]

|

Health Insurance Open Enrollment

Byuclafaculty

You have undoubtedly been getting emails and other material pointing to open enrollment during October 28-November 26, 2013. There are important changes in various health insurance options. If you are a retiree who lives outside of California, it is really important because there are major changes coming. Essentially, you will be getting a UC contribution towards an exchange. Info at atyourservice.ucop.edu/oe/medical Just a reminder:

|

UCLA Water: Then and Now

Byuclafaculty

As the photo below suggests, there used to be a lot of water around UCLA. Nowadays, there is some remnant of that earlier state to be found between Anderson and UES.  You can find a creek, sometimes dry (as it is right now), in a kind of nature preserve at that location.  The creek is channeled underground as it runs south of the preserve.  See the photos below.