Jerry Brown Looks for an Online Course that Requires No Human Interaction

At the Regents meeting of January 22, 2014, Gov. Brown seems to be searching for an online course that requires no human interaction. Such a course, he reasons, could have unlimited enrollment because it is completely self-contained. He gets some pushback from UC Provost Dorr, who thinks courses should have such interaction.

You can hear this excerpt at the link below. The entire meeting of the Committee on Educational Policy of the Regents was posted yesterday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYFLJvrE3g?feature=player_detailpage]

Listen to Part of the Regents Afternoon Session of 1-22-2014

As we have noted in numerous prior posts, the Regents refuse to archive their meetings beyond one year. So we dutifully record the sessions in real time. Below is a link to part of the afternoon session of Jan. 22. This segment is mainly the Committee on Educational Policy. Gov. Brown was in attendance. We will separately (later) provide links just to certain Brown segments. But for now, we provide a continuous recording.

There was discussion of designating certain areas of UC-Merced as nature reserves, followed by discussion of a new telescope. The discussion then turned to online ed and the governor seemed to push for courses that involved no human interaction so that there could be unlimited enrollment. At a later point, Chancellor Block made a comment about the virtue of “residential” education which seemed aimed at the governor’s online push. He talked about a digital divide in which better off students would have traditional in-person classes and poor students would have mainly online offerings. There was discussion of the old Master Plan. Heads of the three segments in the Plan – UC, CSU, and the community colleges – were part of the discussion. Brown indicated that the Master Plan was a political compromise of an earlier era and that it needed to be questioned as to today’s needs.

The president of the UC Students Assn. spoke in support of a larger state budget allocation than the governor was proposing, an oil tax to fund education, divestment from fossil fuels, and other items.

You can hear this portion of the afternoon session at the link below:

Listen to the Regents Meeting of Jan. 23, 2014

We continue indefinitely archiving the Regents meetings since – as numerous prior posts have complained – the Regents view an “archive” as lasting only one year. Below is a link to the meeting (open sessions only) of Jan. 23, 2014. We have previously posted the morning session of Jan. 22. The afternoon session of that date – which runs well over 4 hours – will eventually also be done. But it takes over 4 hours to do it so yours truly will get to it when he can.

At the Jan. 23 meeting, there were public comments involving (among other topics), outreach funding, a complaint by UC-San Diego students that the fall quarter calendar for 2014 (next fall) had been tailored to accommodate Jewish holidays, fossil fuel divestment, transfers from community colleges, complaints about complaints concerning the Israel boycott issue, and union issues regarding TAs. There was then discussion of the internal audits including issues related to sexual assaults and the UCLA Moreno report. (See our earlier post on Moreno.) There was discussion of various compensation issues related to coaches, a Berkeley provost, the acting chancellor for UC-San Francisco, and the new chief investment officer. One regent requested that coach compensation take account of academic achievement of athletes. The Lt. Governor and one regent dissented on the Berkeley provost’s pay. Finally, UC President Napolitano reported on various student and faculty honors. When the meeting was officially over, she can be heard thanking the session chair for “marshaling this herd through its paces.” Or maybe we should say she can be over-herd.

Click on the link below to hear the meeting:

Listen to the Regents Morning Meeting of Jan. 22, 2014

As promised in previous posts, yours truly is slowly working through the Regents meetings audio. Below is a link to the audio for the morning session of Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The Regents, for unacceptable reasons in an age where public meetings are archived indefinitely, archives them only for one year. Moreover, it appears to be policy not to make the audio files available directly. Hence, they can only be preserved by recording them from the temporary archive in real time. That is, to preserve one hour of Regents time requires recording from the archive for one hour.

To hear the meeting, click on the link:

Scroll down for a post that describes this meeting (in the update section):
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2014/01/something-to-think-about-while-waiting.html

Broken Links to UCLA Grand Hotel project

It has been brought to the attention of yours truly that some of the links and embedding to earlier blog posts about the UCLA Grand Hotel (and other topics) no longer operate. Facebook has been used for such broken links, particularly as we go back in time, and Facebook seems to be not-so-good at maintaining embedding on blog posts. Rather than go back and try to repair each broken link, we provide a listing below of all Facebook links that relate to the Grand Hotel project. [In the future, as time permits, we may do the same for other topics.] Note that some of the broken links are simply music that accompanied a blog post of that date on the hotel. Nonetheless, below are all hotel-related Facebook links I could find to date. They don’t disappear even if the links to the blog are broken. The listing is in reverse chronological order of Facebook postings.

UCLA Hotel-Conference Center Groundbreaking 9-10-2013 [posted Sept. 11, 2013]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151934916831522&l=2374221136962797309

Video clip on scheduled Sept. 10 groundbreaking for UCLA Grand Hotel [posted Aug. 14, 2013 – music related to blog]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151874671671522&l=8527090903912782882

Why Rush the UCLA Grand Hotel? [posted July 26, 2013 – music related to blog]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151833931201522&l=414081409713632425

Regents Building & Grounds Committee Approval of UCLA Hotel Proposal 9-11-12 – Part 2 [posted Sept. 11, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151234104676522&l=4454238166400722117

Regents Building & Grounds Committee Approval of UCLA Hotel Proposal 9-11-12 – Part 1 [posted Sept. 11, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151234084146522&l=8985273820031540467

Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 1 – Lawyer statement [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120489086522&l=7975963167603842094

Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 2 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120479961522&l=5354456585279327490

Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 3 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120469561522&l=5689962321603778182Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 4 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120457086522&l=943740499235199060

Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 5 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120449321522&l=6084014943947463888Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 6 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120443016522&l=5896104740648474890

Regents on UCLA Hotel: Part 7 [posted July 18, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151120437481522&l=1402403819857665315

University of California President Mark Yudof on capital projects during a period of UC budget crisis. He says that if donors absolutely insist on a particular building, UC will go along. But that is not what happened on the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center. Audio excerpt for UCLA Faculty Association blogsite: 7-16-2012. Interview dated 7/13/2012 on KNBC-TV, Conan Nolan interviewer. [posted July 16, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151114744756522&l=6208244037156614590

Presentation of May 2, 2012 to UCLA Emeriti Board on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center: Part 3 (end) — at UCLA

[posted May 2, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150876150571522&l=5962521177299063210

Presentation of May 2, 2012 to UCLA Emeriti Board on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center: Part 2 — at UCLA.
[posted May 2, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150875668116522&l=4035754916323045655

Presentation of May 2, 2012 to UCLA Emeriti Board on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center: Part 1 — at UCLA
[posted May 2, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150875523741522&l=7687669506506310484

UC Regents Committee on Building and Grounds on UCLA Hotel/Conference Center Project: Part 5 [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150806014366522&l=2223767044872007885

UC Regents Committee on Building and Grounds on UCLA Hotel/Conference Center Project: Part 4 [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150805997536522&l=4233067798468680401

UC Regents Committee on Building and Grounds on UCLA Hotel/Conference Center Project: Part 3 [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150805975601522&l=4955275971600221930

UC Regents Committee on Building and Grounds on UCLA Hotel/Conference Center Project: Part 2 [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150805917366522&l=8282673758787356791

UC Regents Committee on Building and Grounds on UCLA Hotel/Conference Center Project: Part 1 [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150805902516522&l=236752817885683369

Testimony on Proposed UCLA Hotel/Conference Center During Public Comment Period at UC Regents Meeting of March 28, 2012. [posted April 10, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150805874096522&l=130834643568763222

The UCLA Faculty Association submitted a request to the university for the business plan for the proposed hotel/conference center. So far, nothing has been revealed. This might help set the mood. [posted Dec. 16, 2011 – music related to blog]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150538892821522&l=2872120724613062457

Scoping hearing on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center, Nov. 14, 2011, Part 3 of 3 [posted Nov. 14, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150468907131522&l=4326349743891754311

Scoping hearing on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center, Nov. 14, 2011, Part 2 of 3 [posted Nov. 14, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150468903431522&l=8876928442930641376

Scoping hearing on proposed UCLA hotel/conference center, Nov. 14, 2011, Part 1 of 3 [posted Nov. 14, 2012]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150468898416522&l=7242133516696801154

UCLA’s construction empire’s plan to build a Grand Hotel/Conference Center and demolish the Faculty Center inspires this modest musical contribution. [posted Sept. 21, 2011 – music related to blog]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150390794701522&l=5962273749601013847

A polling agency, ostensibly on behalf of UCLA, has been polling residents near campus about their attitude toward the controversial university proposal to demolish the Faculty Center and replace it with a large hotel/conference center. This is a recording made by a resident of the poll with permission of the pollster. Final questions of a personal nature have been omitted at the request of the person called. None of the omitted questions dealt with the hotel/conference center.
[posted July 18, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150324731831522&l=7624382189941277342

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 6 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217892451522&l=4057545145937947175

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 5 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217886596522&l=4804853688483329125

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 4 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217879191522&l=6001535003385119300

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 3 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217873951522&l=8373806850060509514

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 2 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217867776522&l=6431795129207803232

Forum on Faculty Center replacement by hotel/conference center 4-6-11 Part 1 of 6 [posted April 7, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217862031522&l=8186444691034416355

Short excerpt related to Faculty Center. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the Luskin gift to UCLA, ceremony of 3-18-11. Note that he itemizes the gift as going to the School of Public Affairs and the Faculty Center, not the hotel/conference center project that has caused much controversy. [posted April 6, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217291151522&l=5376879969622957988

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the Luskin gift to UCLA, ceremony of 3-18-11. Note that he itemizes the gift as going to the School of Public Affairs and the Faculty Center, not the hotel/conference center project that has caused much controversy. [posted April 6, 2011]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150217286346522&l=5273310220893848946

Plan for Faculty Club 10-20-10 Part 4 (download date 11-29-10) [posted Dec. 19, 2010]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150111996151522&l=6983797056903406994

Plan for Faculty Club 10-20-10 Part 3 (download date 11-29-10) [posted Dec. 19, 2010]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150111991071522&l=1387240232864713370

Plan for Faculty Club 10-20-10 Part 2 (download date 11-29-10) [posted Dec. 19, 2010]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150111986991522&l=5232100941425668135

Plan for Faculty Club 10-20-10 Part 1 (download date 11-29-10) [posted Dec. 19, 2010]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150111981596522&l=8218331861986929082

Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 14, 2013

The November 14 meeting of the Regents opened with public comments. These included concerns over staffing and safety at UC hospitals, a Berkeley city councilman who called for pension caps on high-paid UC executives, students advocating fossil fuel divestment, concerns about student costs and debt, and spending on “amenities” for students at UC.

The Committee on Finance approved budgets for operations and capital after extensive discussion and back-and-forth with Governor Brown who said that UC was asking for $120 million more than it was going to get. There was a bit more push back from Regents and administrators with regard to Brown’s remarks than had characterized prior meetings. In particular, the fact that the state paid for CSU and community college retirement (to CalPERS) but resisted payments to the UC pension was referenced. There was concern about rising debts of UC as a result of state budgetary pressures. The Committee also endorsed changes in the UC mortgage program to comply with new federal rules.

UC’s pension was reported to have a market funding ratio of 79%. The issue of the sequester-related nonpayment by the federal government (Dept. of Energy) of $80 million for UC retirement expenses related to the labs was raised (as it had been at earlier meetings last week). There was discussion of what was said to be a $700 million liability reduction over 30 years for the 4,000 out-of-state retirees who are being moved off UC health plans, given a flat dollar contribution, and referred to an external contractor for counseling about what they could buy from local exchanges. [Yesterday, we posted the audio just for that segment.]

The Committee on Compensation approved pay levels for some administrators prompting an observation by Gov. Brown that the rest of the state paid less for similar employees. President Napolitano reported on faculty honors.

You can hear the entire session at the link below:

You can hear just the governor’s remarks at:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdiqL2ntJzU?feature=player_detailpage]

Listen to Regents Discuss Retiree Health on Nov. 14, 2013

We’ll post the audio for the entire Nov. 14 Regents meeting subsequently. However, below is a link just to a discussion of the issue of retiree health. As blog readers will likely know, as part of the open enrollment, UC retirees who are out of state are being dropped from UC programs and given a flat dollar contribution to buy their own policies from local exchanges. An external contractor – Extend Health – has been engaged to provide counseling for out-of-state retirees.

According to the back and forth between regents and UC administrators, this change will drop the liability to the retiree health program by $700 million. It was also pointed out that because the UC liability is limited to the flat dollar amount, the risk of health care costs has been transferred to the out-of-state retirees. In the course of the discussion, it appears that consideration is being given to apply the out-of-state approach at some point in the future to in-state retirees as well.

You can find a link to the discussion below: [Audio only with still picture.]

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Post by CalPolicy.

Listen to the Regents Morning Session: Nov. 13, 2013 (including the Napolitano speech)

As noted in prior posts, yours truly is out of town and behind on listening to, and recording, the Regents meeting. I am now current through the morning of Nov. 13. That was the morning in which UC president Napolitano gave her speech on her goals for UC. Blog readers will recall that there was supposed to be a similar unveiling of goals in a speech awhile ago, but that turned out to be a booster/dud. This one was more significant, but more on that below.

Again, we provide audio archives of Regents meetings because regental policy is to preserve recordings only for one year. Why? No one will say.

The meeting started with public comments. Editorial: There is an extremely offensive group that comes and yells at the Regents about demands to fire Napolitano immediately. What they imagine they are accomplishing, other than offending everyone but themselves, is an interesting question. Obviously, the Regents are not going to fire Napolitano. She may turn out to be a good choice or a bad choice, but it’s time to get real folks and move on. They were there the day before, as blog readers will know. Apparently, they will come back. Apart from that group, there were representatives of AFSCME, which has a one-day strike scheduled for Nov. 20, and the union (UAW) that represents grad TAs. There were complaints about non-resident tuition and grad student fees. [It might be noted that towards the end of the open session, Assembly speaker Perez, an ex officio Regent, made somewhat cryptic remarks that suggested that some accommodation between the union(s) and Napolitano was under way.]

After the public comment session, there was a talk by UC-Berkeley Nobel prize winner Randy Schekman who lamented the squeeze on funding for public research universities.

The main event that got the bulk of media attention was the Napolitano speech noted above. In it she talked about concerns about affordability of UC, student aid, the one-time money she allocated from a “reserve” to undocumented DREAM students and grad students, freezing tuition for another year (2014-15), a search to avoid volatility in tuition, concern that the news media focuses on the “sticker price” of tuition rather than the actual price(s), the need for the state to do its part to pay for UC retirement plans and increased enrollment, a search for greater efficiency at UCOP, doing more to get additional funds from grants, donations, public-private partnerships, and tech transfers to industry, encouraging more community college transfers, and green energy goals for the campuses.

Editorial: Obviously, this speech was more substantive than the previous one. But it tended to avoid trade-offs. If you freeze tuition in good times, history has taught us that you get big jumps in tuition in bad times when the state pulls back. You need only to look at what happened under Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger for examples. If the governor won’t pay for increased enrollment and you encourage more community college transfers, that increase has to involve either a decrease in admissions of four year students (which she said she wants to avoid) or fewer dollars/student. Later in this session in a discussion of PhD education, Governor Brown kept saying that UC was not going to be “ten Harvards,” so comparing it with Harvard was not a selling point with him. That raises the nasty issue of whether UC is a tightly-knit system or a bunch of individual campuses in a loose federation, again a trade-off since it can’t be both. Also later in the program in a session on fund raising, it was observed that donors like their names carved on buildings, i.e., physical capital rather than human capital. In short, the speech was a shopping list of worthy goals. But it avoided priorities and nasty trade-offs. We provide a separate link to the speech below.

After the Napolitano speech, Academic Senate rep Bill Jacob reminded the Regents of the blending of research, teaching, and service. It is not possible to isolate these three elements at research universities. There was discussion of doctoral education with Brown’s “ten Harvards” comments and a review of fundraising with the lament (by Regent Lansing) of donors’ desires to see their names carved on buildings. (Suggestion by yours truly: As long as the campuses have bond-and-build bureaucracies, donors might be reminded that buildings are temporary. The bond-and-builders after a couple of decades will knock them down. You get more longevity out of programs that endow research and/or scholarships since those go on as long as there is money left in the till.)

Finally, there was a review of the Dept. of Energy labs with concerns expressed about changes in leadership on the UC side. President Napolitano mentioned the $80 million that UC is owed for retirement by the Dept. of Energy due to the federal sequester. (See our earlier post on this issue.)

UPDATE: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/14/uc-board-of-regents-approves-operations-budget/ and

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/jerry-brown-offers-jesuitical-harshness-to-university-of-california.html

You can find a link to the entire open morning Regents session of Nov. 13, 2013 at:

or go to https://archive.org/details/UniversityOfCaliforniaRegentsMorningNov.132013

For just the Napolitano speech, click on the link below:

Post by CalPolicy.

Listen to the UC Regents: Nov. 12, 2013

As blog readers will know, we post audio of Regents meetings because the current regental policy is only to post their meetings for a year. But the meetings live on here! Yours truly has various commitments this week that will slow the posting. But a link to yesterday’s meeting is below.

The public comment session included speakers complaining about lack of affirmative action at UC (blocked by Prop 209), inadequate services for disabled students (including those with mental problems), and complaints about the appointment of Janet Napolitano. The last took up a good deal of time with demands that the Regents should fire her, made in part by a group of local high school students.

In a section on an audit report, it was noted that the U.S. Dept. of Energy owes UC $80 million for retiree health costs of nuclear lab retirees, thanks to the sequester. The outside auditor didn’t treat this money as a receivable because some Congressional action is needed for the payment to be made. Regents were concerned that not treating the money as a receivable would seem to imply that UC had written off the cost. However, the auditor insisted that proper accounting standards were being followed.

When capital projects were discussed, Regents remain concerned that when projects are approved (which as blog readers will know is “always”), the campuses are given a certain leeway for cost overruns. It is not clear how this concern will be resolved. A concern was also expressed that when projects are proposed with a price tag for construction attached, the price tag may become a floor on bids that might otherwise come in lower.

A new building for a rape treatment center near Santa Monica-UCLA hospital was approved. The costs are being paid for by an outside operator of the center.

You can listen to the audio at the link below:

Note: Although it will be awhile before we can post the audio for today’s session of the Regents, President Napolitano announced there would be no tuition increase for 2014-15, according to news reports. See http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/university-of-california-president-proposes-tuition-freeze.html

Listen to the University of California Regents, Afternoon, 9-18-2013, 2nd Part

The audio for the Regents session of the afternoon of 9-18-13 through the meeting of the Committee on Finance has previously been posted. The primary remaining business was discussion of selection of an outside auditor that turned out to be KPMG. Beyond that, recommendations of the various committees were ratified by the full board.

Since the Thursday Regents schedule was in fact a tour of the Lawrence Livermore Lab, there is no audio for that date.

A link to the audio described above can be found below: