UCLA

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Don’t twist their arms

Byuclafaculty

Our previous post noted that donors do not inherently insist on capital projects.  In fact, UCLA just got $20 million, it was announced yesterday, for environmental teaching and research: http://centurycity.patch.com/groups/schools/p/hyatt-hotel-heirs-donate-20m-to-ucla   Some dutiful blog readers will recall that over a year ago we posted an interview with Mark Yudof in which he insisted that UC puts donor money into buildings only when the donors absolutely insist on it – which is not at all the history of the UCLA Grand Hotel.  You can find the audio of the interview at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/07/ucla-hotel-did-not-happen-that-way.html The fact is that donors have interests beyond bricks…

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Aint that a shame?

Byuclafaculty

It was another slow day at the worksite of the UCLA Grand Hotel yesterday.  The photo above was taken around 10:30 am.  Apparently, there was more action in the courtroom.  According to a media release put out by UCLA, a court decision removed the donors from one of the two lawsuits against the Grand Hotel.  (One lawsuit says the environmental review wasn’t done properly; the other says the hotel will have to pay taxes.)  You can find the media release at: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/donors-ucla-foundation-removed-248713.aspx The Daily Bruin version, based on the release, is at:http://dailybruin.com/2013/10/02/luskins-ucla-foundation-dismissed-as-defendants-in-case/ According to the media release, it was “shameful”…

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On Demand

Byuclafaculty

We noted yesterday in a posting on former UC president Mark Yudof’s ruminations upon leaving office that his successor, Janet Napolitano, was possibly going to experience a vote of no-confidence from a student group at UCLA on her second day in office.  As it turned out, that didn’t quite happen.  Instead, various “demands” were enacted.  From the Daily Bruin: The undergraduate student government unanimously passed a resolution calling for University of California President Janet Napolitano to comply with a list of demands compiled by students from multiple UC campuses. The resolution passed after members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council…

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Garden Therapy

Byuclafaculty

Blog readers will know that UCLA tried to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and has been blocked so far by litigation since the original agreement specified the university would maintain the garden “in perpetuity.” This blog has urged UCLA to sit down with the family and others who have an interest and work out a deal that would conserve the garden even if it is sold.  Basically, the reason the sale has been blocked to this point is that the university’s attempt to sell it failed the sniff test.  If you haven’t followed the issue, type in “Japanese garden”…

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Underappreciated?

Byuclafaculty

In an interview with the Daily Californian, former UC president Mark Yudof seems to feel underappreciated: For the first time in five years, Mark Yudof will wake up Monday a free man. No longer will the outgoing UC president have to deal with angry accusations of screwing over students or unfairly bargaining with unions or ignoring the cries of protesters… The son of an electrician, Yudof completed his undergraduate education in just three years at the University of Pennsylvania and worked part time to pay for school, something he said has helped him better relate to the average worker.  Many…

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Rolling Out the Welcome Wagon for Janet

Byuclafaculty

From the Daily Bruin: The [UCLA] undergraduate student government plans to vote at its Tuesday meeting on whether it should express no confidence in Janet Napolitano’s current ability to serve University of California students as UC president. A resolution about Napolitano, which was drafted by multiple members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, calls for the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Arizona governor to comply with a list of demands compiled by undocumented students across the UC campuses. According to the resolution, students demand that Napolitano hold town halls and meet with undocumented students when she…

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Reminder: Donors to UCLA Can Do Lasting Good Without Involving a Bulldozer

Byuclafaculty

Today seems to be the day for reminders, as in our previous post.  However, the note below – combined with the tendency to divert campus donor money (and donors) into bricks and mortar – reminds us there are alternatives: Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker, who are among the heirs to the Hyatt hotel fortune, donated $3 million to UCLA to establish an endowment for students who are or were in foster care, the university announced today. The endowment will provide funding for tutoring, mental health services, summer housing and other expenses, according to the university… Full story at http://centurycity.patch.com/groups/schools/p/couple-donates-3m-support-ucla-foster-care-students Yours truly…

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Reminder that Your Emails Aren’t Private

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin carries a story today about a demand for a UCLA professors emails. Excerpt: Two state senators have accused UCLA of withholding the records of a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences from the public, the most recent development in a conflict that has lasted about three years.  The two California senators – Minority Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) – started corresponding with UCLA about Professor John Froines’s public records earlier this year, when they noticed UCLA had not disclosed all of Froines’s emails in a past records request.Controversy over the records…

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Everett: Where are you?

Byuclafaculty

Everett Dirksen was the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate back in the day who is often quoted as saying (about the federal budget), “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.”  [I know; nobody can actually point to a source for where he supposedly said it.] We noted in a post yesterday about a plan for a $50 million football facility.  Today’s Daily Bruin has a story about the groundbreaking for a new $120 million medical center teaching building about which the Regents raised some questions but eventually rubber stamped, as they…

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Free Money

Byuclafaculty

From a UCLA media release yesterday: UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero and Head Football Coach Jim Mora announced today a campaign to raise private funds for a comprehensive football training facility to be located on the west side of Spaulding Field, the practice field for the Bruin football team. The planned state-of-the-art facility is intended to house a locker room, athletic training area, strength and conditioning facility, coaches’ offices, team meeting rooms, equipment rooms and video rooms, in addition to several elements that will feature the storied history of UCLA Football. The project, estimated to cost $50 million, will be…