News

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Columnist asks about needs vs. wants

Byuclafaculty

Note: In the future, there are likely to be more such questions – of the type excerpted below – about campus plans for new programs, schools, and even grand hotels. Dan Walters today in the Sacramento Bee: Was UC-Irvine’s Law School Strictly Necessary? Six years ago, yours truly wrote a column about a proposed law school at the University of California’s Irvine campus, suggesting that it was more about academic ego and Orange County boosterism than a shortage of lawyers. The column pointed out that the state already had 25 accredited law schools and the number of graduates taking the…

Regents Committee Met But Not Really

Byuclafaculty

According to the Regents’ website, the Committee on Compensation met on April 5 but really didn’t.  The following notice excerpt explains it all:  Because the membership of the Committee to Advise the President on the Selection of a Chancellor of the Riverside campus includes five members of the Regents’ Committee on Compensation, there exists the potential for having present a quorum of this committee when the advisory committee meets. Although no business of the committee will be considered by the advisory committee, this notice of meeting is served in order to comply fully with pertinent open meeting laws… Full notice…

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Westwood Tree Restoration Reported

Byuclafaculty

According to the Westwood-Century City Patch, replacements for the trees removed from Westwood for sidewalk improvements are now being replanted. Apparently, the new trees will be in box-like containers to prevent the roots from upending sidewalk elements. The story is at http://centurycity.patch.com/articles/sidewalk-replacement-in-westwood-village-nearly-complete The box-like containers are described in a newsletter of the Westwood Village Improvement Assn. (of which UCLA is a member).  See:http://westwoodvillagedistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Feb-Newsletter-email.pdf While we’re waiting for the new trees:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XR7UuwKOTk?feature=player_detailpage]

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Train to UCLA Will Take Time

Byuclafaculty

If you are waiting to beat the traffic on the subway to reach UCLA, be prepared for a long wait.  The 9.4-mile transit project known as the Westside Subway Extension, the Measure R-approved connector from downtown Los Angeles to the Veterans Medical Center in West L.A., was rebranded by Metro as the Purple Line Extension… Construction on the second phase is scheduled to begin in 2019 and will bring a subway station to Wilshire Boulevard at Rodeo Drive by 2026. The third phase is set to begin in 2025 and will see stations built at UCLA in Westwood and the…

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AAUP Reacts to Congressional Ban on Funds for Poli Sci

Byuclafaculty

AAUP statement of April 4: The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) condemns recent congressional action to defund the political science program of the National Science Foundation. We believe that efforts by politicians to restrict research support for certain disciplines is misguided, and threatens the integrity of the rigorous scientific review process used by federal agencies to fund research that advances knowledge. The provision to defund the political science program was offered as an amendment by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to HR 933, the Continuing Appropriations Act to fund certain government agencies for the rest of the 2013 fiscal…

Lofchie Case Dismissed

Byuclafaculty

Note: It always appeared to this non-legal observer that the Lofchie case was brought by the D.A. to pressure UCLA into some kind of settlement in another case involving a faculty member and a lab fire. At least, that explanation provides a rationale, albeit unjust.  Otherwise, it is hard to understand what rationale there was for the case. From the Daily Bruin: The (LA) district attorney case against UCLA political science professor Michael Lofchie, regarding a conflict of interest in the hiring of an employee, was dismissed last month after a judge ruled that University of California educators were exempt…

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Lawsuit on UCLA Hotel – That UCLA Could Have Avoided

Byuclafaculty

As was inevitable, once UCLA locked itself into a grand hotel-conference center plan, a lawsuit has now been filed that questions not only the grand hotel but also all the other hotel-type operations run by UCLA. Essentially, UCLA operates all of these entities – there are more of them than you might think – on a quasi-commercial basis but isn’t paying the taxes that commercial hotels do.  The local hotels were willing to tolerate this competition by a public enterprise to a limit – since activity from UCLA spills over to them.  But there are limits. The lawsuit demands that…

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NASBO

Byuclafaculty

Are you against efficiency?  Of course not!  Do you think goals should be achieved? Of course you do! Do you think higher ed could be improved if it became more efficient and achieved its goals? So far, you totally agree. The National Assn. of State Budget Officers (NASBO) has issued a report on public higher ed, a system which nationally, as well as in California, is under budgetary strain. I don’t know for sure how much circulation the report got pre-publication. I suspect, however, it reflects the general scuttlebutt among budgetary types that evolved in the aftermath of the Great…

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Meanwhile, from across town…

Byuclafaculty

From Inside Higher Ed today: The philosophy department at… the University of Southern California has hired almost a dozen new professors in the last decade. USC’s hiring has caused the program to rocket up 35 spots on the Philosophical Gourmet Report, which ranks graduate programs in philosophy based on the reputation of their faculty members. “[N]o department has improved more over the last decade than USC,” Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who edits the report, said in an e-mail. He said USC, tied at No. 11, is likely to crack the top 10 if…

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New Ideas from the State Legislature Seem to Correspond (pun intended) to Old Ones

Byuclafaculty

1916 Correspondence School Ad AB 1306, as introduced, Wilk. Public postsecondary education: Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would establish The New University of California as a 4th segment of public postsecondary education in this state. The bill would establish an 11-member…