News

| | |

Windfall Revenue Remains

Byuclafaculty

In January, the state controller reported a surprise windfall of about $4 billion arrived in personal income tax revenue.  It was unclear why but possibly it had to do with speculation by wealthy taxpayers about the fiscal cliff or prospective income tax changes at the federal level.  No one knows.  An interesting question was whether the windfall would unwind in February, i.e., come in below estimates.  It did unwind a bit.  But basically, there still is an unforeseen extra $4 billion in revenue so far this year. What the impact might be on the state budget for the coming year…

| |

I guess the chemistry was good

Byuclafaculty

UC-Irvine has put a chemistry course on the web.  But it doesn’t give credit for it and isn’t using the Coursera website (although UC-Irvine is affiliated with Coursera) because it wants to give the course away free.  As for labs, it says that if some other institution wants to offer the course, it will have to provide the labs, etc.  We are likely to see a bunch of such offerings from the campus. They show the campus is up-to-date, complying with the Regents/governor desires, and yet – in the end – they commit to nothing.  Actually, yours truly has put…

More in our coverage of teaching innovations

Byuclafaculty

Given the hunger at the Regents and with the governor for teaching innovations – notably online education – we have in past postings noted college courses on TV in the 1950s and on radio in the 1920s. Online ed is supposed to allow students to work at their own pace.  So may we present to you now, the Skinner teaching machine: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTH3ob1IRFo?feature=player_detailpage]

| | |

UC-Riverside Pushes Ahead With Med School

Byuclafaculty

UC-Riverside pushes on with its med school despite lack of state support.  From the Desert Sun: PALM DESERT — University of California, Riverside officials should know within two weeks whether the state will OK a land transfer critical to its new medical school’s presence in the Coachella Valley.  At issue is 11.5 acres along Frank Sinatra Drive, just east of UCR’s existing Palm Desert campus… The medical school plans to build an outpatient medical clinic there that can be used as a teaching facility for students and medical residents, Dean G. Richard Olds said… Olds said there is no plan…

| |

Mark Yudof’s Not-So-Private Thoughts

Byuclafaculty

“Yudof… said he opposes the privatization of parts of the UC, specifically mentioning the UCLA Anderson School of Management, which had been considering becoming financially independent from UC funds. He said he is concerned that privatization would shift priorities away from those of a public university.” Full story from yesterday’s Daily Bruin at:http://dailybruin.com/2013/03/08/mark-yudof-featured-speaker-at-institute-for-molecular-medicine-seminar/ Now he tells us!

| |

A Modest Proposal from Joe Mathews

Byuclafaculty

…The University of California badly needs a president who knows how to fight. For 25 years, the UC has been playing nice and doing the right thing. And that’s gotten the system nowhere. The UC opted to be responsible and not buy the kind of Prop 98-style protection that the K-14 system bought. The result: UC made itself easy to cut. The UC made a series of compacts with governors on cuts and spending – only to see those cuts exceed what was agreed to. And more recently, the UC has stood back, meekly, as the governor and legislators have…

| |

Rampaging 405 Construction

Byuclafaculty

Despite the picture, the ramp will be down, not up. Which ramp?On Friday, March 8, the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project will begin demolishing the third of eight ramps joining Wilshire Bl and the I-405 freeway. This time the southbound I-405 ramp to westbound Wilshire will be rebuilt. The ramp will be closed beginning March 8 at 8pm. The contractor anticipates reopening the new ramp by 6am, Friday March 22. Reconstruction of all eight Wilshire ramps is expected to be complete by the end of 2013… Source:http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/wilshire-ramps-reconstruction/

| |

Bad Law?

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed  today carries a brief report that faculty from many law schools (including some from UCs and Hastings) have signed a letter saying the current tuition, debt, and job market for law students are incompatible.  Excerpt from the letter:  …Over the last three decades, the price of a legal education has increased approximately three times faster than the average household income. With the help of the federal student loan fund, some ninety percent of law students borrow to finance their legal education and the average law school debt now exceeds $100,000. Overall, law students in 2011-2012 borrowed more…

| | | |

Tobacco Tax Initiative for UC/CSU Student Aid Advances

Byuclafaculty

As prior posts have noted, an initiative was filed featuring a tobacco tax to be used mainly for student aid at UC and CSU.  Unlike many initiatives that are filed, there seems to be serious money behind it since it is being handled by a professional law firm that deals with electoral matters. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has now come up with an analysis of the initiative, a step towards petition circulation. According to the LAO, about $730 million, net, would be raised by this initiative annually. Once the initiative is approved for circulation, we will see whether someone…