UCLA

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Now You See It…

Byuclafaculty

We previously posted about the recent lawsuit filed against the UCLA hotel project based on the university’s failure to pay taxes on its various existing hotel facilities, although non-UCLA usage is allowed.  Above, for example, is a screenshot of what yours truly found on the website of the UCLA Lake Arrowhead facility this morning [click on the image to enlarge]:http://www.lakearrowheadmeetings.com/contact/index.cfm The text reads:WHO CAN MEET AT THE UCLA LAKE ARROWHEAD CONFERENCE CENTER? Groups that meet at the Conference Center include Universities, Schools, Government Agencies, Hospitals, Private Companies, and Boards from all types of organizations and institutions.  A Learning Purpose is required…

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California and U.S. Economic Forecast: Thursday, April 11

Byuclafaculty

UCLA EMERITI ASSOCIATION: After lunch presentation UPDATE OF THE CALIFORNIA AND U.S. ECONOMIC FORECAST DANIEL J B MITCHELLProfessor-Emeritus, Anderson School of Management and Luskin School of Public Affairs      Thursday, April 11, 2013, 1:30 pm UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room Audience questions will be taken after the presentation.Refreshments will be provided at 1:00 pm

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Westwood Tree Restoration Reported

Byuclafaculty

According to the Westwood-Century City Patch, replacements for the trees removed from Westwood for sidewalk improvements are now being replanted. Apparently, the new trees will be in box-like containers to prevent the roots from upending sidewalk elements. The story is at http://centurycity.patch.com/articles/sidewalk-replacement-in-westwood-village-nearly-complete The box-like containers are described in a newsletter of the Westwood Village Improvement Assn. (of which UCLA is a member).  See:http://westwoodvillagedistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Feb-Newsletter-email.pdf While we’re waiting for the new trees:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XR7UuwKOTk?feature=player_detailpage]

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Train to UCLA Will Take Time

Byuclafaculty

If you are waiting to beat the traffic on the subway to reach UCLA, be prepared for a long wait.  The 9.4-mile transit project known as the Westside Subway Extension, the Measure R-approved connector from downtown Los Angeles to the Veterans Medical Center in West L.A., was rebranded by Metro as the Purple Line Extension… Construction on the second phase is scheduled to begin in 2019 and will bring a subway station to Wilshire Boulevard at Rodeo Drive by 2026. The third phase is set to begin in 2025 and will see stations built at UCLA in Westwood and the…

Lofchie Case Dismissed

Byuclafaculty

Note: It always appeared to this non-legal observer that the Lofchie case was brought by the D.A. to pressure UCLA into some kind of settlement in another case involving a faculty member and a lab fire. At least, that explanation provides a rationale, albeit unjust.  Otherwise, it is hard to understand what rationale there was for the case. From the Daily Bruin: The (LA) district attorney case against UCLA political science professor Michael Lofchie, regarding a conflict of interest in the hiring of an employee, was dismissed last month after a judge ruled that University of California educators were exempt…

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Lawsuit on UCLA Hotel – That UCLA Could Have Avoided

Byuclafaculty

As was inevitable, once UCLA locked itself into a grand hotel-conference center plan, a lawsuit has now been filed that questions not only the grand hotel but also all the other hotel-type operations run by UCLA. Essentially, UCLA operates all of these entities – there are more of them than you might think – on a quasi-commercial basis but isn’t paying the taxes that commercial hotels do.  The local hotels were willing to tolerate this competition by a public enterprise to a limit – since activity from UCLA spills over to them.  But there are limits. The lawsuit demands that…

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Meanwhile, from across town…

Byuclafaculty

From Inside Higher Ed today: The philosophy department at… the University of Southern California has hired almost a dozen new professors in the last decade. USC’s hiring has caused the program to rocket up 35 spots on the Philosophical Gourmet Report, which ranks graduate programs in philosophy based on the reputation of their faculty members. “[N]o department has improved more over the last decade than USC,” Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who edits the report, said in an e-mail. He said USC, tied at No. 11, is likely to crack the top 10 if…

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What Happened to LA Law?

Byuclafaculty

Some readers of this blog may recall the popular TV series from the late 1980s and early 1990s: LA Law.  Folk wisdom at the time was that applications to the UCLA law school went up during the show’s run and dropped when it was cancelled.  In any case, things are not what they were according to some data – shown below – that appear today in the LA Times in connection with a story on the jobs problems of recent law school grads. Here are percentages of California law school graduates in 2011 who had found full-time, long-term jobs as…

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Dog Days at the UCLA Medical Center

Byuclafaculty

Several four-legged volunteers with the People-Animal Connection (PAC) program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and their human counterparts will star in an upcoming episode of the PBS television show, “Shelter Me: Let’s Go Home,” premiering in April… The show followed a handful of human/dog teams with UCLA’s animal-assisted therapy PAC program as they volunteered at the hospital. All of the dogs featured were adopted from shelters and now help people by bringing comfort to patients and their families, as well as joy to the doctors and nurses. “Our animal-assisted therapy dogs truly provide a sense of healing and comfort…

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Closed Again

Byuclafaculty

A major nighttime freeway closure is scheduled on the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass Monday night, Caltrans officials said. Southbound 405 traffic from the San Fernando Valley into the Westside will be diverted late tonight and Tuesday morning as major work is under way to build the second half of the Mulholland Drive bridge. Metro officials said. Onramps and transition roads to the southbound 405 in the south end of the Valley will start closing at 7 p.m. Monday. Freeway lanes will begin to shut down at 10 p.m., and all 405 southbound traffic will be blocked…