UCLA

| |

The Other Shoe to Drop (on Wilshire and the 405)

Byuclafaculty

If you thought your commuter problems to UCLA would be over once the President left town this morning, consider the following from LA County Supervisor Yaroslavsky: …Long-running closures of the 405 Freeway’s Wilshire Boulevard ramps are set to begin on Friday, June 22, bringing fresh challenges to an intersection that’s already among the nation’s worst.  Anxious residents and employees in the area have been girding for the start of the ramp work for months. Some online wags have dubbed it The Rampture, while others who live nearby refer to it ominously as “the next shoe to drop.” Whatever you call it, the work…

| |

Obama Traffic Late Thursday and Friday Morning

Byuclafaculty

Westside traffic around UCLA could be snarled late Thursday and Friday morning due to a visit by President Obama.  He is arriving at LAX Thursday evening at 6:20 PM and going to the house of George Clooney in Studio City.  Friday morning he goes the other way, leaving Studio City and departing LAX around 10 AM. Source: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/05/obamajam_moves_to_unchart.php These periodic traffic jams leave a bad taste in LA, but apparently not for everyone:

|

Distribution of $1 Billion in UCLA Research Funding

Byuclafaculty

UCLA’s Annual Report on Research funding for the past academic year reports a total of $1.079 billion.  The pie charts below show the distribution: Note: HSSEAS = Engineering; SOAA = Architecture; SPA = Public Affairs; GSE&IS = Education and Information Services; TFT = Theater, Film, TV. The full report is at: https://vcr.ucla.edu/annual-reports/2012-annual-report/pdf-files/ovcr-2012-annual-report-complete Possibly because of the ongoing litigation regarding a fatal lab accident, there is a significant report on safety issues: https://vcr.ucla.edu/annual-reports/2012-annual-report/pdf-files/appendix-materials/appendix-4

| |

Lawsuit Filed to Block Sale of Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

Below is the text of a press release announcing a lawsuit to block the sale of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden by UCLA. Below that you will find the actual lawsuit. The suit focuses on the pledge by the university/Regents to maintain the garden “in perpetuity” and, if necessary, use proceeds from selling the associated residence for such maintenance. ==================== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: John R. Walton Law Offices of John R. Walton, P.C. Phone: 626.578.6000 Fax: 626.578.6012 LAWSUIT FILED TO SAVE HANNAH CARTER JAPANESE GARDEN IN BEL AIR Los Angeles, California, May 7, 2012 – A lawsuit was filed…

|

Tear Down This Stone Wall

Byuclafaculty

Various web sources are available concerning interpretation of the California Public Records Act.  It’s worth noting what that Act requires in view of the history of the hotel/conference center and UCLA’s non-disclosure, i.e., stonewalling, of the business plan for the revised version of the hotel. The revised hotel “concept” was unveiled in early November 2011.  At that point, there were repeated requests for the underlying business plan and related documents by the Faculty Association and other groups.  Under the Act, a state agency has 10 days to respond and possibly another 14 days to produce the requested documents.  Certain exemptions…

| |

Time Out for More Seat Time?

Byuclafaculty

As readers of this blog will know, at the March Regents meeting, UCLA attempted – and failed – to get Regental endorsement of its proposed hotel/conference center project.  After an embarrassing session of a Regental committee at which the proposal was presented, UCLA pulled the item from the agenda due to the strong doubts expressed by members of the committee.  It was said that the item would be brought back to the Regents in May. The May 16 agenda for that meeting has just been posted and no such item is to be found. At a recent meeting for staff…

| |

The Crack in Forever and the Japanese Garden Sale

Byuclafaculty

A column in the Huffington Post LA discusses the Japanese Garden issue, emphasizing the “in perpetuity” promise that was part of the history of the garden donation.  It cautions future donors that since perpetuity seems to have ended with the ongoing sale of the garden, they may want to be cautious about future gifts.   It may well be that UCLA and the Regents should not have pledged to do something forever.  But that is what happened and this matter might have been better handled as a result.  As prior posts have noted, it appears that the sale is not…

| | | | |

Moving Toward Michigan

Byuclafaculty

This blog previously noted the rise in non-California students at UC and UCLA (who pay full tuition) that has occurred as a response to the ongoing budget crisis.  See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/04/it-doesnt-seem-to-add-up.html.  Today, the Sacramento Bee features the story and notes the “Michigan Model” as analogous to UC’s approach.  Although UCLA has said it just adds non-state students (as opposed to displacing in-state students), it appears from the numbers as reported in the previous post that there is some displacement. Excerpts from the Bee: …UC officials are aggressively courting non-resident students through college fairs and high school counselors… System officials say the push beyond…

|

PowerPoint Presentation for Emeriti Board on Hotel/Conference Center

Byuclafaculty

Yours truly made a PowerPoint presentation earlier today (May 2, 2012) to the UCLA Emeriti Board concerning the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center project.  It runs about 43 minutes.  You can see the slides and hear the audio of the complete presentation at: Because the above link may be slow to load and play, here are alternatives with the presentation divided into three parts that may work faster: Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: The full 43-minute presentation can be downloaded in various formats at http://archive.org/details/PresentationOfDanielJ.b.MitchellOnUclaHotelconferenceCenterProjectTo

| |

Building Blocks: No Lessons Learned?

Byuclafaculty

As part of his upcoming 5-year review, Chancellor Block has written a self-statement. In a 9-page document (not counting the cover letter) about his vision for the campus and accomplishments, the hotel/conference center is mentioned on four of them.  (First full paragraph of pages 4 and 5; last paragraph of pages 7 and 9.)  As readers of this blog will know, the Regents had major doubts about the feasibility of this project and the priority it represents. The self-statement is dated April 12, i.e., two weeks after the embarrassment for UCLA at the March Regents meeting concerning the hotel.  You…