UCLA

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Japanese Garden Meeting Follow Up

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday’s blog featured the audio from a local meeting concerning the proposed sale of the UCLA Japanese Garden. As a follow up, you can read some documents that were distributed at the meeting below.  Also, reference was made at the meeting to the legal action that was taken by UCLA (technically by the Regents) to allow the sale.  Some legal documents from that action can also be found below.  Note that there is reference in the documents to there being no opposition from the state Attorney General.  Obviously, there has been opposition from other quarters including the Carter family.  Whether…

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Audio of Meeting on Sale of UCLA Japanese Garden: 1-31-12

Byuclafaculty

A hearing or meeting was held today at the Community Magnet School in Bel Air on the proposed sale of the Japanese Garden.  Representatives of the Carter family (the original donor) were there.  Hannah Carter’s son Jim was the spokesperson and strongly condemned the sale.  Also presented were histories and photographs of the garden. UCLA was represented by Bradley Erickson, Executive Director, Campus Service Enterprises. Almost all of the individuals in the audience were from the neighborhood and almost all were opposed to the sale. UPDATE: The Daily Bruin has a summary of the meeting at:http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/02/local_residents_faculty_alumni_oppose_sale_of_the_hannah_carter_japanese_ga Audio of the meeting…

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Listen to Radio Program on Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

At the link below, you can listen to Which Way LA? on KCRW which featured a program this evening on the UCLA Japanese Garden.  Guests are Martha Groves of the LA Times, R. Michael Rich – research astronomer, and EVC Scott Waugh.  The program does not have anyone from the Carter family or background on the source of the original gift. It runs about 10 minutes at the beginning of the link below. UCLA’s position is that it would like to see the garden preserved but wants to sell it.  No guarantee is made, however, that the sale would be to…

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Imitation is Not Always Flattery

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today carries a story about the UCLA Anderson’s School’s use of the Turnitin.com system for catching plagiarism in essays of applicants for the MBA program.  The system is more commonly used for checking reports written for class assignments by already-enrolled students.  Excerpt: …”The more we can nip unethical behavior in the bud, the better,” said Andrew Ainslie, a senior associate dean at UCLA Anderson. “It seems to us nobody ought to be able to buy their way into a business school.”  In the school’s first review of essays from potential MBA candidates this year, Turnitin found significant…

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UCLA History: Fundraising

Byuclafaculty

The issues of the sale of the Japanese Garden and the construction of the hotel/conference center both point to fundraising and gifts to UCLA.  The recent history of UCLA – UCLA: The First Century – has a section on the early days of fundraising.  (See an earlier blog post on the book.) In the book is the undated photo on the left of Dean Neil Jacoby of the business school promoting his idea of a building for the school.  The book, incidentally, incorrectly gives his dates as dean as 1948-73.  In fact, when yours truly arrived on campus in the…

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LA Councilman Koretz Opposes Sale of Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

LA City Councilman Paul Koretz, whose district includes UCLA and the surrounding area, has written a letter to Chancellor Block opposing the sale of the Japanese Garden. The letter is reproduced below. By way of further historical background, the photo at the right appears in the new history book on UCLA, “UCLA: The First Century,” in a section entitled “Artful Transformation” dealing with Chancellor Franklin Murphy’s interest in campus beautification during his regime.  The caption to the photo reads in part: Murphy had long wanted to acquire a Japanese garden in neighboring Bel-Air, and in 1965, it was donated to…

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Shooting Arrows

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin carries a story today about possible construction of an archery range on campus as a component of a large donation which is raising some ecology concerns.  Apparently, the area currently contains California native plants and is used in some coursework and has raised some faculty objections.  As pressures for fundraising ramp up – reflective of the larger university/state budget situation – these kinds of conflicts over university property and land use seem to keep cropping up.  Earlier – and still-current – examples involve the hotel/conference center project and the proposed sale of the Japanese Garden. Excerpt: Just…

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New Payroll System Coming: Maybe You Should Save Some Cash Just in Case

Byuclafaculty

The Daily Bruin today carries an article about a new systemwide payroll system that is supposed to be installed in stages through 2013.  However, an initial phase is starting soon at UCLA: Although details for the program are still being sorted out, the UCPath Project will essentially create a more simplified process for paying university employees than in the past.Proposed changes to the current system include standardized pay cycles among all 10 campuses. For example, all academic employees and postdoctoral scholars within the UC will be paid bimonthly. Temporary employees and health systems staff will be paid biweekly. Right now,…

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Meeting on UCLA Japanese Garden Announced

Byuclafaculty

The photo on the left shows UCLA students in the Japanese Garden in 1965. It has been reported to yours truly that there will be a meeting about the proposed sale of the garden next week, possibly including UCLA officials.  Below in italics is the announcement I received: Tuesday, January 31 5-7 p.m. Auditorium Community Magnet School  11301 Bellagio Road Los Angeles, CA 90049 Garden lovers, neighbors, and the interested public are invited to a meeting in Bel-Air on Tuesday evening, January 31, to discuss the future of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden. UCLA has announced plans to sell the…