UC

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Tobacco Tax for UC/CSU Student Aid Initiative Filed

Byuclafaculty

Note: We posted this story yesterday although blogger now shows it as today for reasons unknown. An initiative has been filed that would raise tobacco taxes to fund student aid at UC and CSU.  The usual caveats apply.  It takes $1-$2 million to pay signature gathering firms to get such a petition on the ballot (as opposed to $200 to file it).  A tobacco tax initiative brings out big money opposition from tobacco companies.  Recall the tobacco tax that failed last June.  So a sponsor – if serious – would have to have deep pockets to carry out an effective…

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Proponents of Tobacco Tax for UC/CSU Scholarships May Not Just Be Blowing Smoke

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday (although blogger now shows it as today and later than this posting for reasons unknown), we noted an initiative had been filed that would tax tobacco to provide scholarship aid for UC and CSU students.  We noted in particular that the initiative was professionally drafted, unlike many that are filed and, so, might have serious backers that could really fund a campaign. The San Francisco Chronicle picks up the story today and notes the Lt. Governor Newsom seems linked to the initiative.  The initiative’s spokesperson is someone named in an earlier item in the Chronicle as a key aide…

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Lessons from NYU for Murphy Hall, UCOP, and the Regents to Ponder

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today has an interesting and lengthy article on a pending NYU faculty vote of no-confidence in that university’s president which relates to a construction project of the university.  We have reported in this blog about the large capital project agenda that is routinely approved by the Board of Regents for UC campuses without real independent oversight capability on the part of the Board.  Perhaps there are lessons from NYU to be learned.  The recent extended brouhaha about the UC logo – clearly a minor issue compared to the NYU matter – suggests that folks in Murphy Hall,…

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The Logo Was Part of an Elaborate and Now-Disappeared “Branding” Program at UC

Byuclafaculty

Above is the screenshot – taken today – of the video used to introduce the new and now-“suspended” UC logo.  It’s an official video on the UC YouTube channel “UCofficeofpresident” http://www.youtube.com/UCofficeofpresident. The video there is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt-hO-y4PhA.  In case it disappears – see below on things that seem to be disappearing – we have preserved it as part of our earlier posting at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/who-needs-light-anyway-or-gravitas.html Since the text below the video is not clear from the screenshot, here is the text that appears underneath it:Published on Nov 14, 2012 This video explains the genesis of the University of California systemwide logo….

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The New UC Logo Is Gone; We’ll Miss It

Byuclafaculty

From the Capitol Alert blog of the Sacramento Bee this morning:  The University of California system announced this morning it has suspended its controversial new logo in the wake of complaints from students and alumni, some of whom derisively compared it to a “toilet bowl.” Daniel M. Dooley, senior vice president for external relations at the UC Office of the President, said in a statement that a replacement monogram “could require a measure of time to complete.” Dooley seemed a bit defensive, however, suggesting people misunderstood the logo’s purpose and that it was only intended for use on “systemwide communications…

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Legislative Analyst Says Everything’s OK With UC Faculty Pay

Byuclafaculty

Legislative Analyst’s summary: In this report, we assess UC’s ability to recruit and retain tenured and tenure-track faculty. We find that (1) UC has been hiring candidates who have received their highest degree from some of the most selective universities in the nation, (2) UC has a long history of hiring its top choice faculty candidates, (3) most new entry-level faculty stay at UC long enough to earn tenure, (4) less than 2 percent of faculty resign from UC each year, and (5) UC’s faculty compensation is competitive with other top universities. These findings indicate that UC generally has been…

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Missing the Point on the UC Logo

Byuclafaculty

I thought we could put the UC redesigned logo story to bed – at least for awhile.  (See the previous and earlier posts.)  But, alas, KPCC this morning aired an interview with a “brand developer” who totally missed the point.  She rattled on and on in a British accent (so who could doubt what she said?) about how the whole problem was the “process” by which the new design was introduced.  If only there had been more participation in the logo design.  Etc. Etc.Here are the problems and they have zero to do with process.1) UC has bigger issues to…

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The New UC Logo is Just Part of a Fad

Byuclafaculty

OK. Enough fun with the new UC logo.  But let’s forget the rationale about how it was done to look nice on the Internet.  What we have is a general fad about simplifying old logos to make them look “cool” and “modern.”  UC got swept up in the fad. Take a look at the old and new city logo for Santa Monica above.  The old one was, well, old fashioned with its Latin phrase (even though it does have little helicopters).  So someone did to the Santa Monica logo what UC has done to its logo.  The difference was that…

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Trivial Pursuit?

Byuclafaculty

The California State Auditor examines the accounts of state agencies including UC.  Chapter 8 of its latest report focuses on an unnamed administrator who came from CSU and apparently misspent travel funds there to the tune of over $150,000 before arriving at UC.  When this problem at CSU became known, UC tightened up the oversight of the administrator’s UC travel.  Nevertheless, the auditor found a few thousand dollars in improperly charged UC travel expenses. From Chapter 8: …In October 2012 the university reported that it intends to seek reimbursement from the official for the wasteful expenses identified in this report….

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Given the Sacramento Bee’s editorial on the UC logo, could there be a movie deal in the works?

Byuclafaculty

Sacramento Bee Editorial: Was UC’s new logo fully flushed out? …The trouble is, the image reminds many people of what happens when they hit the commode lever… … (C)ouldn’t UC have come up with a better name for this symbol than “the lock-up”? As the university says on its website, under a category called Brand Guidelines, “the UC lock-up reinterprets the classic elements of the seal into a vibrant, visually energetic, engaging and relevant identifier.” The website goes onto to remind readers, “It’s more than a logo … It’s a system.” Perhaps so, but at this point, we are not…