UCLA

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Regents Again Approve a UCLA Building Despite Cost Concerns

Byuclafaculty

Blog readers will recall that at a prior Regents meeting, UCLA produced a very sketchy and high cost plan for a new medical building, a “teaching and learning center.”  The presentation was so sketchy and the costs were so worrisome for the Regents to ask for a revised plan.  At the Jan. 16 meeting of the Grounds and Building Committee, UCLA came back with a revised plan for a $104.7 million project – said to be significantly scaled back – with more details.As with the earlier hotel project, UCLA apparently had offline meetings with Regents after the prior meeting (such…

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Choose Me!

Byuclafaculty

Lots of potential undergraduates want to get into UC and UCLA has the highest count.  About 1 out of 5 applicants are transfers for UC and UCLA.  Has tuition slowed down applications?  All we can say is that overall, applications are up but the annual percentage increase for all-UC and UCLA is lower than it was last year: 13% vs. 9% (for UCLA also 13% vs. 9%). The Latino proportion of applicants is showing a steady rise for UC and UCLA.  The official data are at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/28952 http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table1.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table2.1.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table2.1.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table2.3.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table3.1.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table3.2.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table3.3.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table4.pdf http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2013/fall_2013_applications_table5.pdf http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-sets-new-undergraduate-applications-242778.aspx

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UCLA Request to Delay Japanese Garden Trial Denied

Byuclafaculty

UCLA asked the court to delay the upcoming trial on the Japanese Garden issue.  But the court denied the application and set the next hearing date at April 23.From time to time, we suggest negotiating with the concerned parties on this matter.  But our advice remains unheeded. Here is the court decision: Open publication – Free publishing – More uclaUpdate: Beverly Hills Courier article on the court decision below: Open publication – Free publishing – More ucla

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Blogging Pause

Byuclafaculty

The 1955 UCLA medical school graduating class Yours truly normally posts on this blog daily.  However, on Monday, Jan. 14, he is having some surgery at UCLA for a non-life-threatening condition.  So blogging will halt for a period to be determined.  But there will be interesting things to watch out for this week including the Regents meetings at which Gov. Brown seems likely to participate.  We will eventually receive and post the audio of those meetings.

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He said/she said official rebuttal misses the big issue on the Grand Hotel

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post noted an op ed in the Daily Bruin by Laura Lake on the grand hotel project slated to occupy a location roughly across from Ackerman where a parking structure now sits.  A rebuttal op ed ran yesterday by Steve Olsen, UCLA’s chief financial officer (and a very capable individual).  Here is an excerpt: The Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center will become a reality at UCLA in 2016 thanks to a generous gift from two alumni who share UCLA’s vision of creating a place where academics from all across the world can gather to share…

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UCLA to Host LA Mayoral Debate Jan. 28

Byuclafaculty

Parade for Opening of LA City Hall in 1928 LA’s City Hall and UCLA’s Westwood campus were under construction at about the same time.  This coming January 28, UCLA will host a mayoral debate at Royce Hall:UCLA and the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs have joined together to co-host a jobs-focused mayoral debate on Monday, Jan. 28, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The debate will be broadcast live, commercial free, on NBC4 from 7 to 8 p.m. and will continue as a live webcast from 8 to 8:30 p.m. at www.nbcla.com. The debate, moderated by NBC4 chief political reporter…

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Things are heating up – particularly with regard to state politicos – concerning online ed at UC

Byuclafaculty

From the L.A. NOW blog of LA Times:Conference about online education attracts major players to UCLA January 8, 2013, Larry Gordon A national conference at UCLA on the future of online college education attracted some of the biggest names in the industry Tuesday, as well as politicians and faculty leaders from state universities. …Speakers at the event included Daphne Koller, the Stanford professor who is one of the founders of Coursera, a MOOC that offers courses from prestigious universities for free but usually without college credit, and Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford faculty member who co-founded Udacity, another MOOC that has…

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Crime Issues at UCLA

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Police Dept. building Winter quarter seems to have opened with some crime issues according to the Westwood-Century City Patch:  UCLA students were being warned Tuesday to be on alert after reports of two students being the victims of separate crimes about 90 minutes apart early Monday on or near the campus. About 12:05 a.m. Monday, a male student was walking north on Veteran Avenue from Gayley Avenue—adjacent to the west side of the campus—when a man approached him from behind, “placed a handgun in his back, and demanded his property,” according to UCLA police…The second crime occurred between 1:15…

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A Forget-Me-Not About the Grand Hotel Project

Byuclafaculty

Over many past postings, we have noted problems with the Grand Hotel plan UCLA is determined to pursue.  Now a lawsuit is pending and an op ed has appeared in the Daily Bruin concerning the deficiencies of the project: [excerpts] Proposed UCLA conference center too costly, ignores tax code and zoning  Laura Lake, co-president of Save Westwood Village, 1-7-13 The University of California is a public trust, a public treasure, an institution of world renown, not because it operates campus hotels, but because of its faculty and student body. Broken down by square footage, the 250-room, $162 million Luskin Conference…

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UCLA History: Davies

Byuclafaculty

Actress Marion Davies writes a check to establish the UCLA Children’s Health Center in 1952 – still there and named after her.  Davies was famously portrayed in the highly fictionalized film classic “Citizen Kane” as a no-talent, alcoholic floozy/mistress of the William Randolph Hearst character.  That was but one of the elements of the film that infuriated the real Hearst and led to his attempts to suppress the film. Apart from the mistress element, however, there was no similarity between the film character and the actual person.  As it happens, the City of Santa Monica now operates the Marion Davies…