The (Seemingly) Endless Story

Up until now, the Gino/Harvard Business School story has involved allegations of data manipulation (by someone). If you haven't been following this tale, use the search engine on this blog and type in "Gino." But now there are new allegations - plagiarism. From Science:

Harvard University honesty researcher Francesca Gino, whose work has come under fire for suspected data falsification, may also have plagiarized passages in some of her high-profile publications. A book chapter co-authored by Gino, who was found by a 2023 Harvard Business School (HBS) investigation to have committed research misconduct, contains numerous passages of text with striking similarities to 10 earlier sources. The sources include published papers and student theses, according to an analysis shared with Science by University of Montreal psychologist Erinn Acland.

Science has confirmed Acland’s findings and identified at least 15 additional passages of borrowed text in Gino’s two books, Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life and Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan. Some passages duplicate text from news reports or blogs. Others contain phrasing identical to passages from academic literature. The extent of duplication varies between passages, but all contain multiple identical phrases, as well as clear paraphrases and significant structural similarity.

Gino is “steadfast in her commitment to uncovering the truth in each instance, responding decisively and correcting the record if necessary,” her lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said in a statement. “It is wildly unfair and prejudicial to litigate these accusations in the volatile domain of public opinion. History has shown the peril of premature judgment, particularly within the scientific community, where reputations can be irreparably tarnished.” The HBS investigation recommended the university begin the process of terminating Gino’s employment, and her institutional profile has stated since June 2023 that she is on administrative leave...

Full story at https://www.science.org/content/article/embattled-harvard-honesty-professor-accused-plagiarism.

Just saying...

Two chancellor searches were initiated at about the same time: One for UC-Berkeley and the other for UCLA. As blog readers will know, the Berkeley process ended with the unveiling of the incoming chancellor at the Regents meeting of April 10th.

So, one could also note that there was no similar announcement of an incoming UCLA chancellor, nor has there been one since. As of this morning, there is no listing of a special Regents meeting on the Regents' website to consider such a candidate.

Just saying...

Circumventing the Regents - Part 2

Here's an update on the bill that would circumvent the Regent's decision not to pursue a legal test of whether UC, as a state entity, could hire undocumented students. (Yours truly admits to being slow in catching up on developments.) From the Bruin:

The Assembly Higher Education Committee approved Assembly Bill 2586 – also known as the Opportunity for All Act – introduced by Assemblymember David Alvarez, who represents the state’s 80th Assembly District. If passed by the state legislature and signed into law, the bill would provide equal opportunity, nondiscriminatory employment opportunities for students without documentation in the UC, California State University and community college systems...

After the board’s subsequent decision in January to reject its implementation plan and defer the consideration of other efforts for a year, the Opportunity for All campaign – a student-led, UC-wide advocate coalition for undocumented students – had to break new legal ground, said Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director of the Center for Immigration and Law and legal counsel for Opportunity for All. Arulanantham said he was well aware of the bill before the regents’ January decision [to drop the effort], though he initially thought it would be an unnecessary measure...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/04/14/opportunity-for-all-advances-in-state-legislature-with-new-bill.

Watch the Regents Meeting of April 10, 2024

We're catching up with the Regents' April 10th meeting which - as we already noted - included the announcement of the new Berkeley chancellor.*  At public comments, topics discussed included collective bargaining of interns, sexual assault services funding, antisemitism in a course at the UCLA med school and other related incidents, anti-Israel divestment, and Blackrock. 

After the session on naming the new Berkeley chancellor, the Health Services Committee heard a discussion of the changing economics of medical education, research, and hospitals. UC were reported to receive less state support than the average of public university med programs but more in research gants. Clinical revenue was said to be subsidizing the other functions, but it is being squeezed by lower reimbursements from Medi-Cal, Medicare, and private insurance. Insurers don't like university hospitals because of higher charges and there are only 5 major insurance companies now who are in a position to exert monopsonistic power over charges. That has led public university health systems such as at UC to grow to attain offsetting bargaining power. There is danger in the future that the enlarging clinical side will tend to overwhelm the academic side. UC was said to be the second largest provider to Medi-Cal but the general public and the legislature is unaware of this contribution.

The meeting then turned to services for sexual assault victims with a particular focus on UC-Merced which doesn't have a med school.

Finally, Academic and Student Affairs heard discussion of various med programs and approved tuition increases for them.

As always, we preserve the recordings of Regents meetings indefinitely because the Regents have no policy on duration of preservation.

The general website for the April 10th meeting is at:

https://archive.org/details/regents-board-public-comment-4-10-2024.

The public comments segment is at: 

https://ia800300.us.archive.org/6/items/regents-board-public-comment-4-10-2024/Regents-Board%20public%20comment%204-10-2024.mp4.

The Berkeley chancellor announcement is at:

https://ia600300.us.archive.org/6/items/regents-board-public-comment-4-10-2024/Regents-Board%20UC-Berkeley%20chancellor%204-10-2024.mp4.

Health Services is at:

https://ia800300.us.archive.org/6/items/regents-board-public-comment-4-10-2024/Regents-Health%20Services%204-10-2024.mp4.

Academic and Student Affairs is at:

https://ia800300.us.archive.org/6/items/regents-board-public-comment-4-10-2024/Regents-Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%204-10-2024.mp4.

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/04/new-berkeley-chancellor.html and https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/04/new-berkeley-chancellor-part-2-things.html.

Has the worm turned...

...on Medicare Advantage?

Medicare Advantage (MA) plans - a privatized version of Medicare for those who are Medicare-eligible - now account for more than half of all Medicare recipients. These plans are advertised on TV and elsewhere, mainly to retirees, and seemingly provide a cheaper option than traditional Medicare with an insurance supplement. To entice enrollment, they generally tout add-ons such as gym memberships. In principle, the plans are to provide whatever traditional Medicare would. But once retirees enroll, actual eligibility for procedures is determined by the insurance company.

For many years, there have been allegations that the federal government is overpaying insurers on a risk-adjusted basis, thus accounting for the promotion and grown of MA plans. UC in particular offers an MA option which is cheap compared with the traditional Medicare+supplement package. At one time, UCOP - or some within UCOP - seemed to have a grand plan to offer only MA to retirees and emeriti, although that effort was halted after protests. So the question at UC and nationally now is what happens if the feds decide they are overpaying and begin to cut back. Many UC retirees and emeriti have gone the MA route because it is cheap. Now it appears that anticipated development at the federal level is beginning to occur. From Yahoo Finance:

Health insurers usually breathe a sigh of relief after the federal government posts final Medicare Advantage payment rates. Normally, after a public comment period (and aggressive industry lobbying), regulators finalize a friendlier notice than what they originally put out. That was not the case ...when the Biden administration finalized MA rates for 2025 essentially unchanged from a proposal that had industry up in arms earlier this year. It’s a modest base rate cut, though regulators stressed that insurers will still get billions of dollars more in 2025 than they will this year after coding for members’ medical conditions.

Still, shares in major MA players including UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance, CVS and Centene fell Monday after the rates, which Leerink Partners senior research analyst Whit Mayo deemed “well below expectations,” were finalized. Insurer lobbies slammed the rule, with groups like the Better Medicare Alliance and AHIP arguing it doesn’t account for rising care utilization among Medicare seniors and will force payers to reduce benefits and raise premiums...

Full story at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-administration-finalizes-modest-cut-164714253.html.

Circumventing the Regents

There is a bill kicking around in the State Assembly's Higher Ed committee that would do what the Regents didn't do: Require UC (and CSU and the community colleges) to hire undocumented students. A proponent argues that if the state mandates UC to do it, even if the federal government sued, individuals at UC would be protected because they would just be following state law. 

Bill AB 2586

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Article 3.8 (commencing with Section 66029) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read: 3.8 Campus Employment 66029.

(a) A campus of the The University of California, California State University, or California Community Colleges shall not disqualify a student from being eligible to apply hired for an employment position at the campus due to their failure to provide proof of federal work authorization, except in either of the following cases:

(1) Where that proof is required by federal law.

(2) Where that proof is required as a condition of a grant that funds the particular employment position for which the student has applied.

(b) For purposes of this section, each campus of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges shall treat the prohibition on hiring unauthorized aliens undocumented noncitizens in subdivision (a) of Section 1324a of Title 8 of the United States Code as inapplicable because that provision of federal law does not state that it applies to apply to any branch of state government.

(c) To the extent student employment is considered a benefit for purposes of federal law, this statute shall constitute authorization to provide that benefit for purposes of subdivision (d) of Section 1621 of Title 8 of the United States Code.

(d) The University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges shall adopt regulations to implement and administer this article within 90 days of the effective date of the act adding this article. by January 6, 2025.

(e) Consistent This article shall apply to the University of California, unless it is found to be inapplicable to the University of California, then, consistent with Section 67400, this article shall apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable.

SEC. 2.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

Source: https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2586.

Note that ultimately the Assembly and the Senate would have to enact the bill and the governor would have to sign it before it became law.

Second VP Jam Likely This Afternoon

From the Santa Monica Patch this morning: The southbound San Diego (405) Freeway has been closed in the Brentwood area as Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to travel to Los Angeles International Airport for a flight to Las Vegas.

She is expected to return to LAX at 5 p.m., likely leading to a northbound freeway closure during the afternoon rush hour.

The Secret Service does not publicize motorcade routes, but freeways do shut down for the vice presidential motorcade. It is not clear how long Harris will remain in the area.

Source: https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/ivxaw/vice-presidential-motorcade-shuts-down-405-freeway.