News

A Reminder: Don’t Do It

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA email spammers are back with messages telling you to “re-validate” your email: UCLA.edu Mail Service HelpDeskUCLA.edu Mail Service messaging center wish to inform all UCLA.edu Email Users. We are upgrading our Webmail clients. Your email account will be upgrade to a new enhanced webmail interface provided by UCLA.edu Mail Service.UCLA.edu Mail Service will discontinue the use of our current UCLA.edu Email System. You are therefore required to re-validate your mailbox.To re-validate your mailbox please click the link below: [link you absolutely should not click] Note that the message doesn’t come from UCLA but from “marceloc[at]def.ufla.br.”  It contains British…

Executive Pay in Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today has a summary of a 2013 survey of median executive and administrative pay in higher education.  It includes central and campus administrators by title as well as deans and certain support occupations. The survey was conducted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).  A more detailed description of the survey is available from the organization at: http://www.cupahr.org/surveys/files/salary2013/AHE13-Executive-Summary.pdf Many – not all – UC campuses were included, as was UCOP, and a complete listing of the institutions can be found at the link above.  Inside Higher Ed, however, has a handier summary table:…

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You never know what the legislature might do

Byuclafaculty

Since the Republicans like any tax cut and the Democrats might go for the one described below, it could conceivably happen.  What Gov. Brown might do if such a bill reached his desk is another matter. An Inland Empire assemblyman wants to shave up to 9 percent off the cost of every college textbook sold in the state. On Wednesday, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 479, which would exempt college textbooks sold in California from the state’s sales tax. Only three in 10 college students in the Golden State purchase their college textbooks, according to his…

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Pressure Mounts to Lift Cap on UC Student Health Insurance

Byuclafaculty

Rep. Nancy Pelosi and nine other members of Congress are urging the University of California to lift its caps on student health insurance – limits that for the rest of the country are illegal under the Affordable Care Act and that jeopardize students with catastrophic medical problems. “It is troubling that the health plan of one of the world’s most prestigious university systems would not adopt this industry standard,” the representatives wrote UC President Mark Yudof last week. “UC students and student workers should have access to the same health-care protections that millions of other students, student workers and Americans already enjoy,” said the letter from California’s Democratic…

Online Ed: Sorry About That

Byuclafaculty

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: Low-cost online courses could allow a more-diverse group of students to try college, but a new study suggests that such courses could also widen achievement gaps among students in different demographic groups.  The study, which is described in a working paper titled “Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas,” was conducted by Columbia University’s Community College Research Center. The researchers examined 500,000 courses taken by more than 40,000 community- and technical-college students in Washington State. They found that students in demographic groups whose members typically struggle in traditional…

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UCLA Med School Linked to Wrong Crowd?

Byuclafaculty

LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik’s column today highlights a connection between Herbalight – a food supplements firm – and the UCLA med school. Herbalight is in the midst of a tug-of-war between some Wall Street interests.  One side claims that the firm is a Ponzi-type scheme whose stock will eventually come crashing down.  Yes, the word “Ponzi” appears in such claims.  Check out page 177 at this link:http://factsaboutherbalife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Who-wants-to-be-a-Millionaire.pdf The other side argues the company is legit and a good investment. Excerpt: Herbalife International says it’s all about helping people “pursue healthy, active lives.” UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine likes to think…

Supermajority Gone for Now

Byuclafaculty

There were many speculative stories around about what the legislative Democrats would do in the current session with their new two-thirds supermajority.  In theory, they could enact taxes, override vetoes, and put constitutional amendments on the ballot.  Of course, all of these speculations hinged on total Democratic unity. But there is the old Will Rogers quote: “I don’t belong to an organized political party; I’m a Democrat.”  So some of these possibilities were fanciful.  In any event, now one state senate Democrat has quit to go to work for Chevron.  [In this instance, oil seems to be troubling the political waters…

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More on the Tobacco Tax for UC & CSU Student Aid

Byuclafaculty

Prior posts have noted that an initiative written by a law firm with experience in electoral matters has been filed that would impose a tobacco tax to fund student aid at UC and CSU.  As previously reported, the use of the law firm suggests some serious money is involved – which would be needed to fund a petition drive and then a subsequent election campaign which tobacco interests would surely oppose. We now have the official summary text that will be seen by voters who are asked to sign the petition. The text is below, courtesy of the California Secretary…

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Allegations of Monkey Business

Byuclafaculty

From the Winston-Salem Journal 2/23/13:  Wake Forest University Health Sciences is suing to end a joint venture with the University of California at Los Angeles involving the primate colony in southern Forsyth County, and UCLA is accusing Wake Forest of financially mismanaging the research center. The colony contains 475 vervet monkeys, many of which came from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. They contain family trees that have been tracked for eight generations by researchers.The Wake Forest group said it is willing to shut down the primate center in the Friedberg community if UCLA doesn’t agree to continue to pay…

UC Consequences of the DC Chicken Race

Byuclafaculty

Like so many political debates, the standoff in the nation’s capital over federal spending has been somewhat of an abstraction for months on end. That could change, though, starting next week. With just about everyone now agreeing that the March 1 deadline for avoiding automatic spending cuts — sequestration — will be missed, the real question seems to be how long before those cuts are felt and where will they hit hardest. In the Sacramento region, the impacts could be numerous: less money for community policing programs that rely on federal cash, $42 million less in research funding at UC…