UC

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Continuing Hot Potato Issue for UC

Byuclafaculty

We noted this issue in an earlier posting on an internal university debate – which apparently has now reached the legislature: The University of California says it won’t support a resolution condemning anti-Semitism on campus – approved unanimously by the state Assembly on Tuesday – because the resolution says “no public resources will be allowed to be used for any anti-Semitic or any intolerant agitation.” “We think it’s problematic because of First Amendment concerns,” said Steve Montiel, a UC spokesman. The nonbinding resolution, says, in effect, that UC and other public universities should ban activity that could be interpreted as intolerant or anti-Semitic, including certain…

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Could the legislature pass a last-minute tax with revenue for cutting tuition? A look at the legislative sausage factory

Byuclafaculty

It seemed improbable a bill of that kind could pass until recently, although we have included some reporting about one such bill in two prior posta on this blog.  (Scroll back to August 14 and 15 for those posts.)  And the story of how the legislative sausage is (or might be) made is complicated and involves a bunch of seemingly-unrelated elements.  But there appears to be at least a chance now for the bill to pass.  So let’s start with a cast of characters: John Pérez is speaker of the state assembly.  He is the sponsor of a bill that…

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And Yet Another Bill for the Governor to Sign (or Not)

Byuclafaculty

We have been reporting on bills related to UC that have been sent to Governor Brown for his signature or veto.  Here is another:=== A bill approved by the state Senate would give University of California and California State University research assistants the right to collective bargaining…  It would affect 14,000 research assistants in the UC system and about 2,000 at CSU schools. …Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of September to act on the bill. Full story at http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/23/4752473/uc-csu-research-assistants-would.html Will Brown sign?  Here is what proponents say: Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/23/4752473/uc-csu-research-assistants-would.html#storylink=cpy

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UC Submits Legal Brief on Affirmative Action to US Supreme Court

Byuclafaculty

There is currently a challenge to the University of Texas’ affirmative action plan before the U.S. Supreme Court. Various interested parties have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the U of Texas program. Inside Higher Ed today carries a lengthy article on the case. California voters enacted Prop 209 in 1996 which barred affirmative action in student admissions, so it might seem that UC has no interest in the Texas case.  (In 1995, before voters enacted Prop 209, the Regents had enacted a similar ban.  That ban was removed after Prop 209 made it redundant.)  However, UC has submitted a…

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UC History: Teller Tells You About the Universe

Byuclafaculty

A legacy of the World War II Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb was UC’s inheritance of the nuclear labs.  The photo from the early 1950s shows key personalities related to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: Left to right are Glenn Seaborg, Edward McMillan, E.O. Lawrence, Donald Cooksey, Edward Teller, Herb York, and Luis Alvarez. Edward Teller, often dubbed the father of the H-bomb, was undoubtedly the most controversial of these individuals. Google him for the history. However, in the 1950s, he recorded a program for lay persons on the state of cosmology in that era.  You can hear…

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Blue Deal

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times yesterday:===Nonprofit insurer Blue Shield of California said it resolved a lengthy contract dispute with UCLA and other UC system hospitals over reimbursements for patient care. Effective Sept. 1, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital will be back in the Blue Shield network. The San Francisco health insurer said this new contract with all UC providers statewide runs through June 30, 2015… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-ucla-blue-shield-20120810,0,3160712.story Fact of the matter is that although we have these disputes from time to time, big insurers don’t want to cut UC medical centers out of their…

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Millionaires

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee today has a table of UC millionaires (gross earnings in 2011).  You won’t be surprised that the list, with one exception, consists of athletic coaches and medical center faculty. The one exception is the UC Treasurer. The listing is at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/08/the-university-of-california-spent.html But you don’t want to be on the list, right?[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6UllZwj9c?feature=player_detailpage]

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New Law Aimed at Cheaper Higher Ed Textbooks

Byuclafaculty

Description of SB 1539, Signed by Gov. Brown: The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the 4 segments of the higher education system in the state. These segments include the 3 public segments: the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent institutions of higher education constitute the other segment. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education…

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Camera Shy But Responsible and Effective

Byuclafaculty

The University of California has settled a lawsuit filed by a photojournalist who was arrested as he covered a 2009 UC Berkeley protest. UC paid independent journalist David Morse and his attorneys $162,500 last week, Morse’s lawyers said Monday, and agreed to train police its officers better on how to deal with journalists. Morse was arrested and his camera was confiscated as he covered a Dec. 11, 2009, march to the campus home of UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. Police detained Morse after some demonstrators vandalized the house…  Although UC agreed to train its officers, the university admitted no wrongdoing, UC…

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UC Tuition Freeze?

Byuclafaculty

There is a report – so far unconfirmed – that the state budget that is yet to be fully enacted will contain some extra money for UC and CSU in exchange for a tuition freeze for this year.  All of this – if confirmed – is conditioned on voters passing the governor’s tax initiative in November which is not a sure thing.  The report comes from a student group, not UCOP.  (Yours truly found nothing on the UCOP website as of 8 AM this morning about this matter.) See http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/06/uc-student-groups-budget-will-contain-uc-csu-tuition-freeze.html A freeze in June? Of course, it will be colder…