News

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Listen to the Special Regents Meeting of Aug. 8, 2013

Byuclafaculty

A special meeting of the UC-Regents was held by teleconference to approve the appointment and compensation of incoming Riverside chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, formerly provost at Michigan State U.  There were no public comments made by non-regents at this session, although time was available for such comments.  Governor Brown voted “no” on the compensation package which included an 8.9% raise in salary relative to the previous chancellor.  He cited concerns about growing income inequality in society, the fact that there were chancellors on other campuses who were paid less, and the labor dispute with AFSCME.  Lt. Gov. Newsom also voted…

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UCLA History: Early Need for Bridge

Byuclafaculty

We have featured photo/scans from the 1937 book “California of the Southland” published back then by the UCLA alumni assn. The book notes that the bridge in central campus over the ravine had to be built early as the initial campus construction got underway to facilitate transport of needed materials.  The ravine was later filled in but the bridge remains, although it appears to be an ordinary surface road. 

No So Free

Byuclafaculty

Apparently, not in this case From Inside Higher Ed comes the story of the intern who worked for free at UC-SF, and then didn’t. A former doctoral student who worked as a psychology intern at the University of California, San Francisco was awarded more than $14,000 in back wages after filing a complaint with the California labor commissioner over uncompensated work… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/08/09/former-intern-wins-back-wages-university The article links to a longer story at http://www.ibtimes.com/internship-debate-spills-public-sector-university-california-san-francisco-ordered-pay-back-wages On the other hand, the new chancellor at UC-Riverside won’t work for free over the objections of Governor Brown:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-riverside-20130809,0,942774.story  Background at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/past-meetings/approved-actions.html#aa-aug13

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Who’s Behind the Temporarily Dead MOOC Bill?

Byuclafaculty

Readers of this blog already know that the bill sponsored by state senate president Darrell Steinberg that would have required MOOCs at UC, CSU, and the community colleges is dead (for now). What is interesting is how that bill is being seen in Sacramento: A bill backed by Coursera, a high-flying online education company, that would extend academic credit opportunities for California public university students is likely to be put on hold, the bill author’s office says.The Senate sent SB 520 by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, to the Assembly in May over the opposition of teachers’ unions and higher…

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Sacramento Bee Slams UC Pay & Perks

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee has complaints about UC administrator pay and travel expenses.  (Of course, we never read in the Bee about pay and travel expenses of the Bee‘s employees or executives – or those of its parent company – which are not available online or through public records requests.)  You can read the Bee‘s editorial at http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/07/5629077/uc-cant-gripe-about-cuts-while.html

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UCLA History: Moore

Byuclafaculty

Portrait of Ernest Carroll Moore who became the first “director” of the Southern Branch of the University of California, now UCLA.  Moore had been head of the State Normal School on Vermont Avenue which UCLA took over as its first campus. He oversaw the later move to Westwood.  (From a book published by the UCLA Alumni Assn. in 1937 entitled California of the Southland, a history of UCLA to that point.)

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The CalPERS Long-Term Care Affair

Byuclafaculty

We have noted in earlier posts that although UC employees are not covered by CalPERS, at one point in the past, they were offered the “opportunity” to buy long-term care insurance through CalPERS.  But then CalPERS began jacking up the cost and, for those who protested, offering inferior alternative policies. CalPERS position is that it didn’t deliberately lowball the initial premiums but instead just underestimated what the costs would be.  But some subscribers disagree and now there is a lawsuit. From the Sacramento Bee: CalPERS was sued Tuesday over the big rate hikes it imposed on its long-term care insurance…

Rank Congratulations to Our Colleagues at UC-SB

Byuclafaculty

From time to time on this blog, we have said skeptical things about the various rankings that occur in the world of higher education. But we do want to take the opportunity of congratulating our colleagues at Santa Barbara for their number 2 ranking among the top 10 party schools by the Princeton Review. From Inside Higher Ed today comes the story and here are the rankings: Princeton Review’s Top 10 “Party Schools”1. University of Iowa2. University of California, Santa Barbara3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign4. West Virginia University5. Syracuse University6. University of Florida7. Ohio University at Athens8. University of…