Category: Yudof

Is there Twitter after retirement?

Of course, the Big Question is usually is there life after death?  But we can’t answer that one here.  The lesser question – Is there Twitter after retirement? – can be answered, at least in the case of former UC prez Mark Yudof.  YES!  Not surprisingly, Yudof stopped tweeting around the time he left the UC presidency.  But then, in late December, came another tweet.  It’s actually a link to a Harvard Business Review piece, and says:

“Once you know your greater purpose, there are lots of roads that will take you there.”

[See https://twitter.com/mark_yudof]

I always thought the quote was “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there,” a paraphrase from Alice in Wonderland.  In short, I couldn’t make much sense of what the link was all about.  But what do I know?

Anyway, we await future rockin’ links and tweets:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmvwFcfWmY?feature=player_detailpage]

Davis and Merced Get Drones, But We Have Snodgrass

The website California’s Capitol reports that UC-Davis and UC-Merced have applied to the FAA to have drones. http://www.californiascapitol.com/2013/10/californias-drone-applicants/ and https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/faa_coa_list-2012.pdf. Obviously, the rest of us will be falling behind in this technology.  But at least we have Prof. Snodgrass who drones on and on, as former UC president Yudof once reminded us in his soliloquy on online higher ed:

Online Drones

Inside Higher Ed today is reporting on resistance to online courses at Rutgers.  Blog readers who have followed the online ed/MOOC debates won’t see surprises except for one element:

The effort to offer more graduate degree programs online at Rutgers University at New Brunswick hit a snag on Wednesday, as faculty members in the Graduate School voted to block new programs from being approved…

Faculty members have to sign a separate contract with the university to create an online course, which Hughes said strips them of their intellectual property rights. A draft of the agreement states that “Due to the particular requirements of an online program, this license specifically includes the right to have the course taught by others.” 
“A lot of faculty see red when they read that,” said [Anthropology Professor David] Hughes, who pointed out the clause would allow the university to “unbundle” the role of an instructor. In a worst-case scenario, he said faculty members could in the future be replaced by an underpaid “drone army of course facilitators” hired to teach course material created by their predecessors…

Perhaps you will recall former UC president Yudof’s statement at the Regents that we wouldn’t have droning:
Note: Another article in Inside Higher Ed reports:

…AAUP says that colleges and universities have ramped up ownership claims to property subject to copyright, as well – including online course content…

Full article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/11/new-aaup-report-urges-faculty-protect-intellectual-property-rights

Underappreciated?

In an interview with the Daily Californian, former UC president Mark Yudof seems to feel underappreciated:

For the first time in five years, Mark Yudof will wake up Monday a free man. No longer will the outgoing UC president have to deal with angry accusations of screwing over students or unfairly bargaining with unions or ignoring the cries of protesters…

The son of an electrician, Yudof completed his undergraduate education in just three years at the University of Pennsylvania and worked part time to pay for school, something he said has helped him better relate to the average worker.  Many of his detractors, however, may not be aware of his humble past. During an hourlong interview with the Daily Californian, Yudof recalled meeting with a group of union representatives who accused him of not understanding the struggles of working a physically demanding job. “I looked at them and I said, ‘You know, I think I do understand, because when I went to undergraduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, I pushed gurneys for three years,’” Yudof said. “Otherwise, I would not have been able to afford to be there.”…

Full story at http://www.dailycal.org/2013/09/29/wading-grand-narrative-yudof-legacy/

In summary:

Of course, his successor may be underappreciated this evening after a day on the job if the UCLA Undergraduate Students Assn. votes in favor of the non-confidence resolution at:
http://usac.ucla.edu/documents/resolutions/Napolitano%20Resolution.pdf

The Arrival

Today, the news media seem to be focused on the first day of school.  No, not the students’ first day.  Janet Napolitano’s.

From the LA Times:

Janet Napolitano begins her new job as University of California president Monday, promising to “listen and learn” about the many issues facing the sprawling 10-campus university system…

During her first couple of weeks, she will review budgets and operations and meet with students, faculty, staff, campus chancellors, state elected officials and others, according to UC spokesman Steve Montiel. She will greet the headquarters staff at a reception Monday afternoon. Napolitano has stressed that “her first priority is to listen and learn so that she can get a firm grounding in issues, opportunities and challenges affecting the University of California’s campuses, medical enterprise, affiliated national laboratories and agricultural and natural resources services,” Montiel said…

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-napolitano-uc-20130929,0,6767529.story

And there is good bye and good luck from Mark Yudof, according to the Daily Bruin:

…Some of Napolitano’s biggest challenges will include managing tuition levels as costs increase along with rising pension contributions, expanding online education offerings and constructing more facilities to accommodate for growing enrollment, said former University President Mark Yudof…

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2013/09/30/janet-napolitano-replaces-mark-yudof-as-uc-president/

It’s hard to know what might be going through her mind on the first day.  But if you click on the link below and wait about a minute, you might find out.

Mansion Awaits

From the LA Times:

Blake House, the Northern California mansion that is intended to be the official residence of the UC system president, may be coming back to life.

Because of its rundown condition, UC executives in 2008 stopped living in the Mediterranean-style mansion in the unincorporated Contra Costa County neighborhood of Kensington. With a financial crisis for the university at the time, nothing much was done to fix up the 13,200-square-foot house, which is surrounded by 10 acres of gardens.
Next week, however, the UC regents are expected to consider a plan that could start the ball rolling for a major renovation and a return to the tradition of presidents living there. According to an agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting in San Francisco, the regents will decide whether to spend $620,000 from a privately funded endowment on seismic improvements, roof repairs, other maintenance and architectural and engineering reports.
If a full renovation of the 1920s structure is approved later on, the cost could range from $3.5 million to $6 million. Officials say that could turn out to be a wise investment since the price of rental housing for UC presidents and holding functions at other locations would exceed the renovation costs in 15 years. Incoming UC President Janet Napolitano is expected to follow the example of current President Mark G. Yudof in residing elsewhere in leased houses paid for by the university, at least for now…
Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-mansion-20130913,0,2609932.story

Alternative Choices

Yesterday, we ran this photo from a recent Regents meeting with a kind of multiple-choice test for incoming UC President Napolitano on what song was (now former) President Yudof likely NOT thinking of in the scene shown above.  But it has been suggested that he might not have been thinking about songs at all.  It might have been movie scenes.  So we will repeat the basic question modified to be “What movie scene below was President Yudof most likely NOT thinking about?”

Selection A
Selection B
Or maybe he could have been thinking about some more recent films by an earlier governor:
Selection C
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMGh82QHVcQ?feature=player_detailpage]
Selection D

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QWfrxYt9DQ?feature=player_detailpage]

At recent Regents meetings, Jerry left his Mark…

And now, Mark has left Jerry.  (The Yudof term concluded at the end of August.)  Today is September 1, so we are now in the era of Janet Napolitano.  And since she is coming from the Obama administration with its emphasis on objective performance standards for higher ed, it might be useful if she took a short multiple-choice quiz.  So below is a modest offering.
Question: When the photo above was taken, which song was most likely NOT running through President Yudof’s mind?
a. You’re Mean to Me
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k429BOuUGo?feature=player_detailpage]
b. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGrkNu6mDg?feature=player_detailpage]
c. Take This Job and Shove It
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrSVkTRb24?feature=player_detailpage]
d. Teach Me Tonight
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KiO42i7uVM?feature=player_detailpage]

Listen to the Special Regents Meeting of Aug. 8, 2013

A special meeting of the UC-Regents was held by teleconference to approve the appointment and compensation of incoming Riverside chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, formerly provost at Michigan State U.  There were no public comments made by non-regents at this session, although time was available for such comments.  Governor Brown voted “no” on the compensation package which included an 8.9% raise in salary relative to the previous chancellor.  He cited concerns about growing income inequality in society, the fact that there were chancellors on other campuses who were paid less, and the labor dispute with AFSCME.  Lt. Gov. Newsom also voted no on the compensation package but made no comments.  Outgoing president Yudof made general remarks endorsing the appointment.  At the conclusion, the new chancellor – who officially starts Aug. 19 – made some remarks. 

We continue to provide audio recordings of the Regents meeting because of a regental policy to retain the file on the meetings for only one year.

You can hear the recording at the link below.  The governor’s comments start at about minute 8:20: