UCLA

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The Westwood Tree Issue Continues

Byuclafaculty

We have previously noted the issue surrounding the proposed removal of certain trees from Westwood near UCLA.  From the Westwood-Century City Patch today: Days after the city OK’d the Westwood Village Improvement Association’s request to remove 18 trees in the area, the Westwood Community Council urged the preservation of as many trees as possible.  The council last week passed a resolution to support the preservation of mature Westwood Village trees and called on the Westwood Business Improvement District, managed by the WVIA, to save as many trees as possible as it embarks on a sidewalk repair and replacement project… Full…

Silliness Insider

Byuclafaculty

Publish first; ask questions later. UCLA a Dangerous Campus?  Don’t Believe It UCLA Newsroom, November 21, 2012   UCLA is a very safe campus located in a famously low-crime area of Los Angeles. You wouldn’t know this from a story on the website Business Insider that runs under the misleading headline, The 25 Most Dangerous Colleges In America. The story puts UCLA at the top of the list. That erroneous claim came as a shock at UCLA, especially to the officials who report crime statistics to the FBI every year, as do most campuses. They knew immediately that the story…

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If you have to drive on Sepulveda near UCLA, all we can say is…

Byuclafaculty

Motorists navigating through Sepulveda Pass will have even less room to maneuver this week, as Sepulveda Boulevard is severely crimped next to the San Diego (405) Freeway.  Contractors working on the more than $1 billion freeway reconstruction and widening effort need to regrade Sepulveda Boulevard between Montana Avenue and Church Lane, the stretch of road generally north of the Veterans’ Cemetery and below the Sunset Boulevard overpass…  Beginning at 9 a.m. Monday and lasting for seven days, Sepulveda Boulevard will lose half its capacity as workers limit it to just one lane in each direction.  And even those remaining two…

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More coverage of UCLA hospitality service’s marriage with commercial activities: How about a wedding?

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, we noted that UCLA seems to be using its conference facilities in ways that are explicitly not linked to educational functions.  How about a wedding?  No mention of research, education, or even a UCLA connection in the video below taken from the Facebook page (above). http://www.facebook.com/uclameetings  As we have noted (over and over), the planned UCLA hotel is not allowed to take commercial business.  Lots of tax issues have been raised about the hotel but the Regents were told not to worry.  At wedding ceremonies, the tradition is to ask whether anyone has any objection to the marriage.  If…

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UCLA Advertises Its Conference Facilities and Notes that the Events It Hosts Don’t Have to be Education-Based

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Hospitality and Catering has a Facebook page with videos advertising its facilities for conferences.  http://www.facebook.com/uclameetingsThere is no mention of such conferences being required to have a UCLA connection.  For example, one video touts the attraction by UCLA Hospitality and Catering of a meeting of the Southern California Chapter of Meeting Planners International (MPI), a trade group of event planners.  The group’s website describes its mission: MPISCC is a member centric organization focusing on professional development for the meetings and events industries. Established in 1979, MPISCC is recognized as an award-winning chapter with approximately 700 members serving the Santa Barbara,…

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The Cultural Landscape Foundation Lists UCLA Japanese Garden as Among Major Threatened Sites

Byuclafaculty

The Cultural Landscape Foundation included the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden on its “Landslide 2012” listing of endangered landscapes which appeared on Nov. 14.  As readers of this blog will know, UCLA’s attempt to sell the garden with no guarantee that it will be preserved has been enjoined. There is a long history which goes back to a gift to UCLA of the garden by former Regents chair Edward Carter with the university promising to maintain the garden in perpetuity.  You can find background on this blog by searching under “Japanese Garden.”  We have urged the university to sit down with…

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More on the Harran Case Hearing

Byuclafaculty

The LA Daily News carries a story about the hearing concerning the fatal lab fire in 2008 for which the local DA is holding Professor Patrick Harran criminally responsible.  A possible four-year prison sentence is involved.  As we have noted in past blog postings, the Regents were at one time charged along with Prof. Harran but have been dropped from the case.  UCLA legal counsel believes that this matter is being overcharged by the DA for whatever reasons and is providing his defense.  We have also noted that the DA has charged another UCLA professor in a totally-unrelated case, possibly…

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Traffic Problems in Going There

Byuclafaculty

The Westwood-Century City Patch lists road closings and obstructions in the UCLA area today related to the 405 project: ===  Sepulveda Bl reduced to one lane each direction near Constitution. Sepulveda Bl reduced near Constitution. Sepulveda Bl reduced near Cashmere St (east of Sepulveda Bl). Sepulveda Bl reduced from Bronwood to Church, 6 am to 2:30 pm. Sepulveda Bl reduced from Moraga to Church and near Ovada. Sepulveda Bl reduced to one lane each direction from Montana to Church. Homedale fully closed from Sepulveda Bl to Thurston, 6 am to 2:30 pm. Ovada fully closed from Sepulveda Bl to Acanto. Sepulveda…