Yudof

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Why the Resignation?

They don’t seem to be looking in the same direction. President Yudof resigned shortly after last week’s Regents meeting.  Undoubtedly, the resignation was planned earlier so nothing that specifically happened at the meeting could have been the triggering event.  The official press release mentioned health, family, etc., obliquely. While the Regents meeting was not the trigger, I would guess that what happened at the meeting was no surprise and could have been anticipated by anyone who heard or attended prior meetings.  The governor wants to take a bigger role than have prior governors.  That’s fine by itself, but the question…

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Hot Potato for Yudof

UC report on anti-Semitism draws ire Nanette Asimov, August 9, 2012, San Francisco Chronicle(excerpts) Katherine Orr had just started her freshman year at UC Berkeley last August when she was stunned to see five students in military fatigues carrying what looked like rifles and stopping students at Sather Gate. “They were asking people, ‘Are you Jewish?’ They were trying to be like soldiers interrogating Palestinians along the border,” Orr said. “They were re-enacting what was happening on the West Bank.” To students who regard Israel as an essential Jewish homeland, this event and others like it that are staged each…

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Regents Endorse Governor’s Tax Initiative

Although we posted an audio and some description of the July 18 morning session of the Regents in which they endorsed Prop 30, the governor’s tax initiative, you might want to read about it rather than listen.  The Regents acted after the strong urging of President Yudof.  Here is an excerpt from Larry Gordon’s story in the LA Times with a link: …the governing board of the 10-campus system formally endorsed the governor’s tax measure. “It’s a simple question: Will UC be better off if it passes than if it doesn’t? That’s not just an answer of ‘yes,’ that’s an…

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The UCLA Hotel Did Not Happen That Way

In a TV interview dated 7/13/12, UC President Mark Yudof talked about donations to UC.  He agrees with the interviewer, Conan Nolan of KNBC, that it is hard to explain to the public why in budgetary hard times, buildings are going up on campuses.  But he offers various explanations, none of which justify the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center. One explanation is that the projects have been in the pipeline 5-10 years and the bonds have already been floated.  That is not true for the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center.  Bonds have not been floated.  And although the planning timeline is fuzzy…

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Playing Catch-Up on the State Budget

As prior posts on this blog have noted, there are all kinds of last-minute developments going on regarding the state budget that affect UC including a tuition freeze in exchange for more funding – conditioned on voter approval in November of the governor’s tax initiative. While these developments were occurring, nothing seemed to be emanating from UCOP concerning what these changes in the budget might mean, what view UCOP had of them, etc.  As of this writing, there is still nothing on the UCOP website about the budget changes. However, a letter from President Yudof to the Regents began circulating…

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Radio Interview with Mark Yudof on UC Funding

You can listen to a radio interview on “Marketplace” aired earlier today with UC President Mark Yudof.  He spoke about a need for a new financial model for funding UC, although exactly what that model might be was not specified.——-You can hear the interview at the link below.  [The embed link on the Marketplace page seems not to work successfully on this blogsite.]

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We know the view from Berkeley. From UCLA?

About a month ago, UC-Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and co-authors issued a report calling for more autonomy for the UC campuses.  Here is the abstract: The University of California (UC) needs to respond to the fundamental and ongoing changes that are occurring around it if it is to remain financially sustainable, accessible, and academically excellent. As the campuses that make up UC have matured in the past 50 years they have, rightly, developed unique strengths and challenges. The uniqueness of individual campuses has been a natural response to the increasing complexity of our world and the highly competitive nature of higher education. These differences have…

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Yudof notes UC support for corporate tax bill

Excerpt from the Fresno Bee: …(UC President Yudof indicated that) UC has supported, with amendments, a bill proposed by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) that would provide students with a family income less than $150,000 a scholarship to cover about two-thirds of college fees. About 42,000 UC students would receive the Middle Class Scholarship, saving up to $8,169 per year, according to an analysis by the Assembly Democratic Caucus. Approximately 150,000 California State University students would save $4,000 each year, and the California Community Colleges would get $150 million for financial aid.  The money to fund the scholarship…

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UC History: April 30, July 2, whatever, whenever

“Today” in the tweet on the right was actually yesterday. The Morrill Act of 1862 was also known as the Land Grant College Act. It was a major boost to higher education in America. The grant was originally set up to establish institutions in each state that would educate people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other professions that were practical at the time. The land-grant act was introduced by a congressman from Vermont named Justin Smith Morrill. He envisioned the financing of agricultural and mechanical education. He wanted to assure that education would be available to those in…

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No Japanese Garden at May Regents Meeting

Death Knell Rings For Hannah Carter Garden Beverly Hills Courier 4/26/12 By Laura Coleman On Wednesday, UCLA denied the Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden an opportunity to address the UC Board of Regents during its meeting on May 15-17 in a letter from University of California President Mark Yudof.  The May 22 deadline to bid on the UCLA-owned garden and former Carter residence, listed by Coldwell Banker for a total of $14.7 million, had prompted community activists opposed to the impending sale to redouble their efforts to place the issue on the agenda for the upcoming Regents…