UC-Davis

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The Story So Far: Tuition, Ballot Propositions, Hotel, Japanese Garden, Pepper Spray, and More

Byuclafaculty

Yours truly tried to get a decent recording of the Regents public comment session this morning. Unfortunately, an aging office computer produced such a low quality recording that I will summarize below in writing: Prior to the public comment period, President Yudof said he intended to endorse the governor’s tax initiative and would ask the Regents to do so.  After the comment period, Academic Council chair Bob Anderson noted that faculty members are voting on a memorial to the Regents asking them to endorse ballot propositions that provide funding to the university.  (The memorial does not designate a particular initiative.)…

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The UC-Davis Pepper Spray Incident and the UCLA Hotel Seem to Raise the Same Question

Byuclafaculty

The pepper spray incident at UC-Davis and the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center matter seem to raise a common question: Do we have a problem – systemwide and on campus – about responding to Public Records Act requests?   An earlier post noted the long delay in providing the UCLA Faculty Association with the business plan for the proposed hotel/conference center.  The Faculty Association still has not received the consulting report that was supposed to be the back-up support for the plan.  Presumably, that report was available well before the Feb. 9, 2012 date the plan itself was approved. And we did…

Hold (Some of) the Pepper

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, there was a news report that the UC-Davis pepper spray report was likely to be released unredacted, based on remarks made by the judge in the case. Today, however, it is being reported that the judge OK’ d only a redacted report and it is unclear exactly when even that will be released. Was there a judicial change of mind?  Or did the news report get it wrong? Yours truly has no special insight. But you can read the latest report at:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/16/4343670/much-of-uc-davis-pepper-spray.html Sometimes it’s hard to know what was said:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UE-OK7aY2I&w=320&h=195]

UC-Davis Pepper Report Likely to Be Released by April 2

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the judge hearing arguments why the official UC-Davis report on the pepper-spray incident should be redacted has signaled that the report can likely be released April 2 without redaction: The judge in Friday’s UC Davis pepper-spray hearing issued a tentative ruling late this afternoon indicating that he plans to deny efforts to stop release of a report into the Nov. 18 incident and will not agree to seal portions of the report. The ruling by Alameda Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo is not final and will be the subject of a hearing in court…

Arguments on Pepper Spray Incident at UC-Davis to Be Heard in Court on Friday

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee carries a report on the upcoming (Friday) court hearing on whether the report on the UC-Davis pepper spray incident can be made public as written or whether redaction of elements regarding the individual police officers must be made.  UC takes the position that the full report is a public document. The story is athttp://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/14/4335491/pepper-spray-report-puts-spotlight.html

Hold the Pepper

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee’s AM Alert today:PEPPER SPRAY – Cruz Reynoso’s probe of the Nov. 18 incident at UC Davis in which campus police used pepper spray on protesting students was scheduled for release today – but now has been postponed. A task force headed by the former state Supreme Court justice was asked to make recommendations on handling protests to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. But the report has been delayed pending legal action by the union for campus officers, who want to prevent it from being made public.Available at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/am-alert-261.html Update: A later news item today indicates the judge in the…

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More and More Getting Off Scale

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin today has a piece on proposals for dealing with faculty salary scales which have grown increasingly outmoded.  As the table, based on a graphic in the Bruin, illustrates, most faculty at UCLA are paid off-scale.  The University, for recruitment and retention purposes, tries to meet the external academic labor market.  In effect, since there are only so many dollars to go around, paying more than the official scale has to mean a higher student/teacher ratio than would otherwise prevail. Percent of faculty off scale as of 10/2010:Merced 88%UCLA 80%Santa Cruz 73%Berkeley 72%Irvine 66%Santa Barbara 66%San Diego 64%Riverside…

Pepper Suit at UC-Davis

Byuclafaculty

The San Francisco Chronicle today is carrying a story indicating that students are suing UC-Davis over the pepper spray incident.  Oddly, I could find nothing in the student newspaper at Davis on the lawsuit or in the Sacramento Bee. In any event, from the Chronicle: UC Davis students who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during a sit-down Occupy protest sued the officers and university administrators in federal court Wednesday, claiming excessive force and suppression of free speech…  The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento by 17 students and two graduates who took part in the demonstration, which was organized…

Follow-up to Prior UC-Davis Pepper Story: No no-confidence

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee:   A motion asking for a vote of no confidence in UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi failed to gain a majority of votes needed to pass, school officials said tonight.  The motion received 312 yes votes and 697 no votes, out of 2,693 eligible voters – current and retired faculty.  Katehi’s leadership came under widespread scrutiny following last year’s pepper-spraying of Occupy UC Davis protesters… Full story at http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/17/4272750/katehi-survives-no-confidence.html Is not having no confidence the same as confidence?  Let’s hear what the Chancellor says: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1snhxCBaDc&w=320&h=195]

Yet More Pepper from Davis

Byuclafaculty

Somehow, the pepper spray story at UC-Davis seems unending.  From the Sacramento Bee: By the time voting closes today, more than 2,600 faculty members at UC Davis will have had an opportunity to weigh in on whether they have confidence in Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi or whether that confidence is gone after November’s pepper-spraying of Occupy UC Davis protesters.  Though nonbinding, the vote on competing motions before the Academic Senate is a rare judgment by faculty on a chancellor’s ability to lead and could influence decisions on Katehi’s future by University of California leaders… There are four competing motions, each…