UCLA History: The Power of Higher Education
Temporary power lines supplied electricity during construction of the central campus in Westwood in 1929. Once construction was complete, the lines were removed as can be seen below.
News
No Mandate for Online Ed at UC: Let’s Pretend!
Our post last night that the governor line-item vetoed his own $10 million mandate in the new state budget for online courses at UC is correct in a literal sense. But what appears to have happened is that UC – which doesn’t like overt mandates which challenge its constitutional autonomy – agreed that it would spend $10 million on online ed anyway if the governor would just remove the mandate language. From Inside Higher Ed today: …“We’ve made a commitment to provide the $10 million, so it’s not going to affect our plans,” said Steve Montiel, a spokesman for the UC…
More Night Closures in the Sepulveda Pass
Tough to get in. It will be hard to get into segments of Sepulveda Blvd. at night during the first half of July. From the Brentwood Patch: Kiewit is scheduled to resume work involving the night time full closure of Sepulveda Blvd. between the Skirball Bridge and Mountaingate starting Monday, July 1 for approximately two weeks between the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The anticipated dates of the full closure of Sepulveda are July 1-2 and July 8-13 between the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Full story at http://brentwood.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/sepulveda-blvd-to-get-widened-at-skirball-bridge So it will be tough to get…
governor | politics | State Budget | UC | UC budget crisis
Online Ed Earmarked Money Line-Item Vetoed
Michael Meranze, in commenting on the previous post, noted that among the items vetoed by the governor was language that earmarked $10 million at UC for online ed courses. As readers will know, that earmark was in the budget bill at the request of the governor. Other quasi-earmarks were also vetoed. The actual language doesn’t delete dollars from the UC budget – which is why I missed it in the prior post. It just deletes specifications for how dollars are to be used. The veto language reads: Item 6440-001-0001 — For support of University of California. I revise this item…
Budget Signed: Smile But Then Scroll Down
It was generally all smiles and laughter at the state budget signing this morning as the photo above shows. Contrast that photo with the one below at the 2011 budget signing when the governor had to sign a budget – after getting no GOP support for putting a tax measure on the ballot – that assumed a phantom $4 billion in revenue to make things seem in “balance.” No smiles there. In any case, there appear to be no surprises for UC in the budget. [But see the updated post above on the governor’s veto of his own online education…
Getting More Moody(‘s)
Yesterday, we noted how a lawsuit by a former UCLA basketball player had led Moody’s to lower the credit outlook for the NCAA. More generally, Moody’s seems to be all over higher ed and now getting into the MOOC business. According to Moody’s, big-name universities should be happy with MOOCs and lesser ones should be sad. From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The spread of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, is “credit positive” for universities that offer them but “credit negative” for a majority of lesser-known institutions that lack a prominent brand name, according to a report published on…
The State Budget Will Be Signed Tomorrow
From the governor’s office: Governor Brown to Sign State Budget Tomorrow 6-26-2013 SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will be joined tomorrow by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Pérez as he signs the Budget Act of 2013 (AB 110) in Sacramento.The Governor will also sign ABX1 1 (Pérez) and SBX1 1 (Hernandez-Steinberg), which, in accordance with the federal Affordable Care Act, will help ensure health care coverage for Californians.When: Tomorrow, Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.Where: California State Capitol, Governor’s Council Room, Sacramento, CA 95814NOTE: Immediately after the signing event, Department of Finance…
UCLA MBA Goes Self-Sufficient
From UCOP:* UC president approves UCLA Anderson’s proposal for self-supporting M.B.A. program By Ricardo Vazquez, June 26, 2013 University of California President Mark G. Yudof has approved a proposal by the UCLA Anderson School of Management to convert its full-time, state-supported M.B.A. program to self-supporting status. Yudof’s decision — outlined in a June 24 letter** — applies to the financing of the school’s flagship M.B.A. program, where the full costs will now be covered solely by student tuition rather than a combination of state funds and student tuition and fees. In other respects, including issues related to academic content…
UC | UC Regents
UC Sues the Banks
From Bloomberg: Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc (BARC) are among more than a dozen banks sued by the Regents of the University of California over claims they manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate. The university system filed an antitrust complaint in federal court in San Francisco. It accuses the banks of fraud, deceit and unjust enrichment, among other claims, and it seeks unspecified damages for either paying inflated interest rates or receiving deflated interest rates on its Libor-linked investments. “The defendant Libor banks in this case engaged in illegal and improper conduct and engaged in a criminal conspiracy that caused harm to…
health care | pension | pensions | UC | ucrp
The Gay Marriage Decisions: What Do They Mean for UC?
As the preliminary reports and analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings on gay marriage appear, you may be wondering what effect it might have on U.C., particularly with regard to benefits. Or maybe you are not wondering since you know that U.C. has provided dependent benefits for domestic partners. There is actually an effect through the federal tax system. The now-defunct Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) meant that the IRS did not recognize gay marriages, even in states where such marriages were permitted. Thus a spouse/dependent in such a relationship, even if eligible for, say, coverage under his or…