Really?

As blog readers will know, former Chancellor Block left under a cloud thanks to the events of 2023-24. And now he is under an additional cloud of budgetary mismanagement, according to the CFO that he hired towards the end of his chancellorship. But it's not only Block. There remain members of his entourage still in charge.

There has been some walking back of the accusation as well.

From the Bruin: University administrators’ financial mismanagement contributed to UCLA’s $425 million annual deficit,* UCLA’s chief financial officer alleged. Stephen Agostini, who has been UCLA’s CFO since May 2024, alleged that the unaudited annual financial reports the university has posted on its website since 2002 are erroneous. UCLA has not posted the annual reports since the 2022-2023 fiscal year, coinciding with when Agostini became CFO. Agostini said the UC Office of the President asked him to stop posting the misleading reports... “I would prefer not to advertise how badly the place has been managed financially,” he said. 

Agostini did not respond to a request for comment on when he learned that the posted reports had incorrect information or which data points were incorrect. He also did not respond to a request for comment about which administrators were involved in the data’s posting.

“I want to clarify that my predecessors have been a welcome resource and providing background and suggestions and I have benefited substantially from their perspectives,” Agostini said in the emailed statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/13/financial-mismanagement-contributed-to-425-million-annual-deficit-ucla-cfo-says.

*Exactly what this figure of $425 million means is unclear. CFO Agostini has just released some new financial information on which we will comment later.

It's tiresome to repeat...

From LA Times, 2-10-2026

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It's tiresome to have to repeat that California needs a new Master Plan for Higher Education, or headlines such as the one above will keep repeating.

According to the LA Times article:

UC President Clark Kerr
hands Master Plan to Gov. Pat Brown in 1960

...In the latest stress point, CSU has objected to 16 community college degree proposals, contending that they run counter to state law provisions designed to protect its own university degree offerings. Community college officials disagree and say their programs are uniquely designed to serve the needs of their district, as intended by the law. The tensions have brought into focus the changing role of community colleges since the adoption of California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education. The vaunted plan laid out three distinct public systems, with local community colleges primarily offering two-year associate’s degrees and serving as transfer launching pads to CSU and the University of California...

In an effort to bring accessible and lower-cost bachelor’s degree programs to more students, a 2021 Assembly bill allowed all 116 community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees to address “unmet workforce needs” in the districts they serve. The law expanded a 2014-approved pilot program, that allowed the California Community College Chancellor’s Office to develop bachelor’s degrees on 15 campuses. But... UC and CSU officials can object to any proposed degree that is “duplicative” of their offerings. Once an objection is raised, the program must be modified or dropped by the California Community Colleges chancellor’s office until the sides reach an agreement...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-10/community-colleges-cost-bachelors-degrees-csu-says-no-to-some.

Straws in the Wind - Part 254

From the Daily Princetonian: Princeton’s music department announced a series of program reductions following the annual State of the University letter, which anticipated across-the-board fiscal tightening. Starting in August, the department will eliminate the position of Trenton Arts at Princeton Program Coordinator, international touring of ensembles, and Richardson Chamber Players under Princeton University Concerts. 

These cuts are part of a “multi-year process of ongoing and evolving reductions to our programmatic and operational expenses,” according to an email sent to department members on behalf of Daniel Trueman, chair of the music department. The University plans to tighten its belt due to changing expectations for its endowment returns, which fund about two-thirds of the total operating budget...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/02/princeton-news-stlife-music-programs-cut-new-university-budget-reductions.

Told you so

 

When it's all over, maybe there is some budding Arthur Miller out there who can write a play. Blog readers know what yours truly thinks:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/epstein-in-academialand.html.

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Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzQImywFX0.

Appeal Dropped

From the Daily Bruin: The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a decision Friday that blocked it from demanding a $1.2 billion settlement from UCLA. The federal government froze $584 million in research funding to UCLA in late July, alleging that the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.” The Trump administration sent a letter to UCLA on Aug. 8 demanding that, in exchange for the restoration of the funds, the university pay a $1 billion fine and $172 million in a claims fund for people impacted by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal district judge Rita F. Lin temporarily restored the vast majority of UCLA’s frozen grants in two decisions in August and September...

Lin blocked the proposed fine – and prevented the federal government from freezing or threatening to freeze more of the UC’s research funding – in an Nov. 14 decision on a lawsuit brought by UC employees... U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed the appeal Jan. 13 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals but later filed a motion that said it would dismiss the appeal if Lin made certain changes to her November temporary injunction, which she agreed to in a Friday order.

The DOJ attorneys requested that Lin change the text of her injunction to clarify that civil rights investigations and litigations may result in voluntary resolutions between the UC and federal government, so long as the Trump administration follows proper procedures...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/13/trump-administration-drops-appeal-of-order-blocking-1-2-billion-ucla-settlement.

Our Annual Valentine

Our annual posting for Valentines Day. Sadly, the happy couple divorced a few years later. But why dwell on that fact? Let's instead say that all's well even if it doesn't end well.

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dGRDvmO54.

Straws in the Wind - Part 253

From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice released their final recommendations on how and when Cornell should issue official statements on social and political issues*... 

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*https://provost.cornell.edu/_assets/document/presidential-task-force-institutional-voice-final-report.pdf.

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The statement specifically called for “institutional restraint” when making decisions about when to comment on issues. The recommendations propose that Cornell limit official statements to situations that are directly connected to the University’s mission and values. “By limiting institutional voice to matters germane to the University’s mission and to higher education, Cornell respects and protects the individual voices of faculty, staff, and students as they exercise their freedom to speak,” the statement reads.

After what top administrators described as “extensive review and discussion” with faculty members,staff, students and shared governance bodies across Cornell’s campuses, the task force released a 19 -page document on its final recommendations, which will “guide administrative responses to external events,” according to the statement. The task force was convened to examine when and how the University should speak “institutionally on issues of social and political significance,” according to the statement. This approach, the administration stated, is intended to prevent the University from taking positions on issues that fall outside of its academic and educational scope, according to the recommendations report.

...Defining when the University should speak on an issue was one of President Michael Kotlikoff’s first presidential actions, announced in August...

Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/02/cornell-presidential-task-force-on-institutional-voice-releases-final-report-on-institutional-speech-guidelines.