News

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The UCLA Grand Hotel: No Apparent Rush

Byuclafaculty

Yours truly ambled by the site of the UCLA Grand Hotel yesterday afternoon.  The only difference I saw from last week is that the construction cones blocking off the entrance to the Ackerman bus turnaround are now supplemented by a makeshift fence.(!)  There was a pile of dug up landscape but that was there last week. And there was the usual dearth of any sign of work activity.  However, it was 3 pm so maybe everyone was on an extended lunch.Anyway, no need to rush:

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We’re 34! We’re 34!

Byuclafaculty

UCLA ranks 34th in the nation.So says Forbes in its college and university rankings:http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/.  According to Forbes, “the FORBES list of 650 schools distinguishes itself from competitors by our belief in “output” over “input.” We’re not all that interested in what gets a student into college, like our peers who focus heavily on selectivity metrics such as high school class rank, SAT scores and the like. Our sights are set directly on ROI: What are students getting out of college?”  Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2013/07/24/ranking-americas-top-colleges-2013/ Now where is Forbes ranked?  Maybe I missed it. Maybe it’s here:   Or maybe here?   We’ll…

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405 North Offramp to Sunset Blvd. to be Closed for 120 Days

Byuclafaculty

Not to worry.  It’s just that there is a bit of bad news for commuters to UCLA: Beginning August 3, the northbound I-405 off-ramp to Sunset Blvd. will close, beginning a 120-day closure that will add a longer off-ramp. The new off-ramp, which will be 60 percent longer, will feature 60 percent more capacity to store vehicles and segregate traffic from Sunset Blvd. and the I-405…   Existing Conditions During 120-Day Closure *Sepulveda Way acceleration lane will remain open as is.*Sepulveda Blvd. and Church Lane intersection will see lane reduction and height restriction.*Temporary false work bent at median will be…

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The Obama Shake Coming

Byuclafaculty

Shakey’s Model for a Grand Bargain? Higher ed excerpt from today’s presidential speech: …(T)his week we’re working with both parties — (applause) — this week we’re working with both parties to reverse the doubling of student loan rates that happened a few weeks ago because of congressional inaction. (Cheers, applause.) So this is all a good start, but it isn’t enough. Families and taxpayers can’t just keep paying more and more and more into an undisciplined system where costs just keep on going up and up and up. We’ll never have enough loan money, we’ll never have enough grant money…

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Why Jerry Should Love Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

Gov. Brown often seems a bit exasperated with UC at Regents meetings. But the latest Field Poll indicates higher ed is doing a great job for him:Percent of Voters Supporting Brown’s Re-Election in 2014: High school graduate or less…..37%Some college/trade school……..37%College graduate……………..45%Post-graduate work……………57% Poll results at http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2446.pdf So, the more we teach, the more they love him:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KiO42i7uVM?feature=player_detailpage]

More Pepper?

Byuclafaculty

Remember the pepper spray affair at UC-Davis?  The LA Times has a report on a lawsuit brought by the Times and the Sacramento Bee demanding that the names of all police officers listed in an official study of the affair be made public. That study was released with most names redacted.  A lower court ruled that the names had to be made public but that decision was appealed.  Now an appeals court indicates that the names cannot be withheld.  However, this may not be the end of the pepper story since a further appeal to the state supreme court by…

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Would it get under your skin if university administrators poked around in your emails?

Byuclafaculty

Located in Boston, not far from Harvard Some blog readers may recall the brouhaha that erupted at Harvard when some administrators poked around in university emails trying to discover who was leaking info about a student cheating affair.  A dean apparently ended up resigning when the email searching became known.  The Boston Globe is reporting that a Harvard-commissioned report has determined that the administrators were acting in “good faith.”  See http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/07/22/outside-counsel-harvard-acted-good-faith-covert-mail-searches/jvB5oSwd8MZL2m0wlTuLSP/story.html.  A shorter version of the story from Inside Higher Ed is at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#label/subscription/1400ab32f5244acf. Moral: Don’t put anything in email you wouldn’t want made public. Unless, of course, you believe…

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The Story of UC and the “Troll”

Byuclafaculty

Bloomberg and other sources are reporting that UC and a firm described in the news media – particularly news media sympathetic to the high-tech sector – as a patent troll have lost an appeal concerning an internet patent.  On the other side of the appeal were Amazon and Google.  In an earlier trial in a lower court, the patent was invalidated.  Yahoo and J.C. Penney were also involved in the lower court case. [“Patent trolls” are companies that acquire patents – particularly patents that seem to involve a broad range of activities – and then sue firms that use the…

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Straw into Gold? More Positive Spinning on the New UC Prez

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post noted that there seemed to be some effort at positive spinning on the Regents selection of the new UC president.  The latest example appears in the LA Times as the headline below suggests: As Arizona governor, Napolitano put higher education on agenda http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-napolitano-gov-20130722,0,5155679,full.story Of course, there are some dangers in such spinning efforts:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZuO1nwSvQ?feature=player_detailpage]

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The Appeal of the Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

The Facebook page of the group trying to save the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden from sale and possible destruction is carrying this notice:EXCELLENT NEWS! The Court of Appeals has scheduled Oral Arguments for the Appeal on August 28th. This means that they recognize the urgency and importance of the Garden and do not wish to keep us in limbo any longer! We may get their decision (and opinion) later in the fall. Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Hannah-Carter-Japanese-Garden/189816991118293