News

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Department of Bad Timing

Byuclafaculty

On Thursday, the Regents meeting seems to consist of a PR tour of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab as part of a more general review of the different Dept. of Energy labs that continues from the last meeting [http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/o1.pdf]. As the screenshot above suggests, however, the timing is not so good for discussing the labs, at least for cousin lab, Lawrence Berkeley. [Three labs are managed by UC as descendants of the World War II Manhattan Project.]  From the website yesterday of the San Francisco Chronicle: After years of planning, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has just lost out on a…

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Let he who is without Zinn…

Byuclafaculty

Daniels cast the first stone and now he is being castigated. From Inside Higher Ed today comes this story of activities at Purdue:This summer, the Associated Press revealed that Mitch Daniels, while governor of Indiana, tried to discourage the use of the books of the late Howard Zinn, a leftist historian, in the state. In a new effort to defend Zinn’s legacy, scholars have announced plans for a “read in” of Zinn’s work, to take place at Purdue University, where Daniels is now the president…Full story at:http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/09/17/plan-honor-howard-zinn-purdue-university

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Please sir, can I have some more?

Byuclafaculty

From the Daily Bruin: Wolfgang Puck, a casual dining restaurant in Ackerman Union, is scheduled to open to the public on Wednesday. The restaurant is offering a sample service for select people or groups in the days leading up to the opening so that the staff can gain some experience… The restaurant’s patio furniture will not arrive until a few days after the opening and restaurant officials are still finalizing the liquor license, but Wolfgang Puck will open without them so that the restaurant staff can train before school starts… Wolfgang Puck will have full service, including patio seating and beer and wine…

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Japanese Garden: Time for Salvage?

Byuclafaculty

UCLA has now lost two rounds in litigation over its attempt to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.  A judge has suggested that the attempt just doesn’t pass the legal sniff test.   I’m not sure why, exactly, but the headline on salvaging and righting the ship on today’s LA Times website suggested to yours truly that there might be some alternatives for UCLA beyond just leaving the legal situation as it stands.  Someone in Murphy Hall might think of salvaging the garden sale’s tenuous legal position by talking to the plaintiffs and others involved. No? Anyway, it’s something for…

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UCLA History: Wartime Westwood

Byuclafaculty

Soldier poses with wife or girlfriend in Westwood in 1943.  It’s not clear where exactly they were posing. My guess is that it is at the corner of Westwood and Kinross, with the camera probably facing southeast. With the exception of the building now housing Yamato Restaurant – which isn’t the one in the background of the photo – the other buildings at that corner now seem to be of later construction. But there is a plaza there which could have contained a fountain. If that guess is correct, the view today would be something like what you see below….

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Mansion Awaits

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times:Blake House, the Northern California mansion that is intended to be the official residence of the UC system president, may be coming back to life. Because of its rundown condition, UC executives in 2008 stopped living in the Mediterranean-style mansion in the unincorporated Contra Costa County neighborhood of Kensington. With a financial crisis for the university at the time, nothing much was done to fix up the 13,200-square-foot house, which is surrounded by 10 acres of gardens. Next week, however, the UC regents are expected to consider a plan that could start the ball rolling for a major…

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Court Rejects UCLA Appeal on Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

As readers of this blog will know, UCLA has been trying to sell its Hannah Carter Japanese Garden since shortly after the death of Hannah Carter, despite its earlier promise to maintain the Garden “in perpetuity.” The sale was not conditioned on the buyer maintaining the Garden. Her family obtained an injunction blocking the sale. Now UCLA’s appeal of that injunction has been rejected and the court case will go to trial unless UCLA reaches some kind of accommodation with the plaintiffs that would protect the Garden. Various garden conservation groups have taken up the cause. It appears that if…