politics

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Gov. Jerry Brown on Executive Pay at the University of California & Many Other Topics

Byuclafaculty

At the University of California (UC) Regents meeting of Jan. 17, 2013, Regent Leslie Tang Schilling asked Gov. Brown not to protest about UC executive pay.  The state portion of executive pay can be capped, she seemed to agree, but the Regents should then be free to raise private donations for increments of pay above the state portion.  She argues that UC will need high-quality leadership and must be free to compete for talent.  She expresses skepticism about psychic income. Brown responds at length with a learned discourse ranging from his one-time vow of Jesuit poverty to the history of…

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Let’s Hope Someone Read the Correction

Byuclafaculty

I stumbled upon the correction article below in the LA Times that appeared last fall.  Let’s hope someone reads correction articles.  It also contains some interesting info. Readers’ Rep: University of California a big political donor — but that’s misleading Deirdre Edgar, Oct. 26, 2012 An article in Thursday’s Business section about campaign contributions in the Massachusetts Senate race between Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren included a surprising name among the list of top donors. According to the chart, the No. 5 donor to Warren was the University of California, with a total of $38,400 in contributions….

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Why the Resignation?

Byuclafaculty

They don’t seem to be looking in the same direction. President Yudof resigned shortly after last week’s Regents meeting.  Undoubtedly, the resignation was planned earlier so nothing that specifically happened at the meeting could have been the triggering event.  The official press release mentioned health, family, etc., obliquely. While the Regents meeting was not the trigger, I would guess that what happened at the meeting was no surprise and could have been anticipated by anyone who heard or attended prior meetings.  The governor wants to take a bigger role than have prior governors.  That’s fine by itself, but the question…

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It’s Your Legacy Choice Governor Brown: Chinese Emperor or Dad?

Byuclafaculty

Kowtowing to the Chinese emperor This past week, Governor Jerry Brown – as he promised – came to yet another Regents meeting with a message of online education and various not-well-defined demands for more efficiency in higher education.  With a few exceptions, what the governor got was kowtowing.  The Regents sung his praise as they did at prior meetings.  Shortly after the meeting, UC President Mark Yudof quit – although he, too, did what is perceived as the requisite degree of kowtowing in announcing he was leaving office. As is well known, Chinese emperors expected those who approached them to…

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Regent Theater

Byuclafaculty

There is the Regent Theater in Westwood and there is theater at the Regents.  Yesterday, Gov. Brown continued his push for more online education from UC.  As far as I can tell from news accounts, the Regents, other than the student regent, are not resisting. We will eventually have the audio of the meeting and post it.  In the meantime, here is a TV news account. UPDATE: The Regents now are providing video and audio live and – perhaps – archived.  Is this the result of our putting the audios online and asking why the Regents don’t do it?  We’ll…

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Push to Freeze Tuition in Legislature (That Isn’t Likely to be Enacted)

Byuclafaculty

From the Ventura County Star: Republicans in the state Legislature have proposed freezing tuition at California’s public universities and community colleges for the next seven years. The legislation, which was introduced this week before the governor announced his budget, also would increase funding to California State University, the University of California and community colleges so they don’t have to charge more to make ends meet. But it doesn’t give any specifics on how to do that… The bill originally would have penalized the UC system if it raised tuition by decreasing state funding… But (the bill’s author) said he removed…

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UC-Riverside Apparently Still Dogged by No Meds

Byuclafaculty

We have produced prior posts from time to time on UC-Riverside’s quest to get some state money to set up a new medical school.  Apparently, the governor’s budget proposal that was released yesterday did not provide that money: …State Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, said he was “very disappointed not to see specific funding identified” for the medical school, where classes for the first group of 50 students are set to begin this fall.…Local officials have sought state money for the medical school since 2008. In 2011, officials delayed the first freshman class because of the lack of state funding, and…

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Quick Summary & Reaction to the Governor’s Budget

Byuclafaculty

Here is some preliminary analysis of the governor’s budget proposal.  Note that it is a proposal and not an enacted budget.  Typically, the proposal is revised in May and not passed until close to the June 30 deadline. At the state level, the general fund is said to have had a negative balance of $1.615 billion as of last June 30.  The governor is proposing and forecasting that at the end of this fiscal year (2012-13), there will instead be a positive reserve of $0.785 billion.  That swing tells you that he is projecting a surplus this current year (inflow…

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A Shake for Higher Ed in the Forthcoming State Budget?

Byuclafaculty

According to the LA Times (and consistent with prior posts on this blog regarding the governor’s attitude toward higher ed costs and online education), Brown plans a less pleasant shake for public higher ed than depicted in the photo: …Brown is expected to use his spending plan to shake up California’s public university systems, according to administration officials. The governor has long complained that they are bloated and inefficient, and he wants to attach strings to some of their funding… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-state-budget-20130110,0,746142.story We will know more later today when the budget is presented. Until then, a little music:[youtube…

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UCLA to Host LA Mayoral Debate Jan. 28

Byuclafaculty

Parade for Opening of LA City Hall in 1928 LA’s City Hall and UCLA’s Westwood campus were under construction at about the same time.  This coming January 28, UCLA will host a mayoral debate at Royce Hall:UCLA and the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs have joined together to co-host a jobs-focused mayoral debate on Monday, Jan. 28, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The debate will be broadcast live, commercial free, on NBC4 from 7 to 8 p.m. and will continue as a live webcast from 8 to 8:30 p.m. at www.nbcla.com. The debate, moderated by NBC4 chief political reporter…