UC Regents

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Listen to Afternoon Session of the Regents: Nov. 14, 2012

Byuclafaculty

The open part of the Regents meeting today after lunch was the Committee on Educational Policy segment.  (Most of the meeting was closed.)  The meeting began with some discussion of fund raising. However, most of the discussion revolved around increased enrollment of out-of-state students.  It is evident the increased number of out-of-staters is taking place for budget reasons – since such students pay full freight.  But UC reps emphasized educational benefits such as a more diverse (geographically) student body with different perspectives, especially with regard to foreign students. The top foreign nationalities among the out-of-staters were reported to be Chinese,…

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Listen to Morning Session of UC Regents: 11-14-12

Byuclafaculty

Yours truly was not able to record yesterday’s Regents’ session (Building and Grounds committee).  However, I did listen and record this morning.  [The live stream seemed to start a few minutes after the meeting began.  The recording begins in the midst of Regents chair Lansing celebrating the passage of Prop 30.]  A recording by yours truly won’t be possible of the session tomorrow due to other commitments.  But as usual, we will request the audios as public documents and post them when received. At today’s meeting, Governor Brown attended and raised questions at various points.  Some of the questions were…

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When the Governor Says Freeze (Professional School Tuition), the Regents Dance to His Tune

Byuclafaculty

In the wake of Prop 30’s passage, the governor has requested that the professional school tuition increases that were supposed to be on the Regents’ agenda today be frozen.  From the LA Times:…UC officials dropped consideration of a possible 20%, or $2,400, mid-year tuition hike for all students after Proposition 30 prevailed. But remaining on the agenda was the separate proposal to raise tuition next year for more than 50 graduate and professional degree programs in such areas as business, dentistry, law and social work. Under the plan, the so-called professional degree supplemental tuition would have increased from 1.2% to…

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UCLA and the Regents Denied a Stay of the Injunction on Selling the Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

Loyal readers of this blog will recall the ongoing attempt by UCLA to sell the Japanese Garden that was supposed to be maintained in perpetuity.  They will recall that garden supporters got an injunction against the sale.  UCLA and the Regents asked for a stay of the injunction. That request was denied back on October 26.  The decision says a stay would not “promote the interests of justice.” You can read the decision at: Open publication – Free publishing – More ucla Our loyal readers will also recall that we have urged UCLA to sit down with those who have…

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The Regents meet next week (Nov. 13-15)

Byuclafaculty

The Regents in 1923 Various budgetary items are on the agenda but, of course, the Regents will not have to discuss how to deal with budgetary trigger cuts since Prop 30 passed.  The proposed budget for next year includes $2.4 million from the state to support “core” educational programs.  The total core budget, however, is $6.2 million with most of the gap coming from tuition and fees.  See: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/f1attach1.pdf Other highlights: Various professional school tuition increases are also planned: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/f3.pdf There will be discussion of the plan to raise out-of-state enrollment to 10%: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov12/e2.pdf When the news media get a…

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Another poll shows the slide of Prop 30

Byuclafaculty

The California Field Poll shows the slide below 50%. Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative that has been endorsed by the Regents – had been marginally above 50% until recently.  It could still pass since the undecided voters have to vote yes or no and if most vote yes, it will have a majority.  Nonetheless, the position of Prop 30 is precarious. As readers of this blog will know, the revenue estimated to be produced by Prop 30 is built into the current fiscal year state budget.  Trigger cuts are also built into the budget if it fails, including…

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Some qualifications needed

Byuclafaculty

In an opinion piece today in the Sacramento Bee, columnist Dan Walters slams CSU for its political activities.  An earlier posting on this blog noted that CSU had an official political scorecard that rated members of the state legislature available online indicating how well or poorly they supported CSU goals.  You can find it at:http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/10/lawsuit-filed-against-csu-campus-over.html UC gets dragged into his column at various points so some comments are in order. Below are some excerpts in italics:==The California State University system has traditionally been the steady workhorse of California higher education, generating the engineers, teachers, accountants and middle-managers that any society…

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Poll Close to Home

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin has an article on student knowledge about Prop 30 indicating that a majority were not familiar with the initiative.  Prop 30 – the governor’s tax initiative – has been endorsed by the UC Regents.  If it doesn’t pass, there will be trigger cuts to the state budget including $250 million to UC.  Note that the poll was done in late September and early October.  Presumably, the level of awareness has risen, particularly after the visit of Governor Brown to the campus on behalf of Prop 30. However, as yours truly notes in a quote in the article,…

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Stating the Obvious (on the UCLA Hotel)

Byuclafaculty

But since it was apparently not obvious to the Regents, here is something for them to consider from the Daily Bruin editorial board:===== Daily Bruin Editorial: UC Regents should meet more often, spend more time reviewing projects: Before issuing approval, housing council should take measures to improve diligence (excerpt) By EDITORIAL BOARD The University of California Board of Regents needs to improve its process of approving capital projects on its campuses, especially expensive and controversial ones such as theUCLA Luskin Conference and Guest Center.  Despite the regents’ approval, members of the community still have concerns about the $162 million project. Moreover, the…

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Lawsuit filed against a CSU campus over promotion of Prop 30

Byuclafaculty

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. has filed a lawsuit claiming that an email by a campus administrator improperly used public resources (the email system) to promote Prop 30, the governor’s tax initiative which has been endorsed by the UC Regents.  The Regents live streamed their endorsement during a regular meeting using UC facilities.  So why a particular CSU campus is the target of the lawsuit is unclear. The offending email is not reproduced in its entirety in the lawsuit but is summarized as follows: The communication expresses and solicits support for Proposition 30.  The email is addressed “Dear Students,” and solicits…