Chinese Gifts

From the Daily Californian: UC Berkeley is disputing a claim from the U.S. Department of Education that it had received $224.5 million in gifts and contracts from Chinese sources over the past 25 years. The Education Department published a dashboard earlier this year tracking Section 117 reports of foreign funding from “countries of concern,” including China.

UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said in an email that campus believes the data in the Education Department’s dashboard “(does) not provide an accurate reflection of our current international academic partnerships.” Mogulof added that campus is currently evaluating the department’s data against its internal records. UC Berkeley submitted its biannual Section 117-compliant report of foreign funding last week, reporting no contracts and $4.5 million in gifts from Chinese sources, according to Mogulof...

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon released a letter Monday asking every postsecondary institution in the country to address a series of questions, including how universities will protect their academic programs from foreign influence...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-disputes-224m-chinese-funding-claim-by-department-of-education/article_6fede9b5-68e0-417f-9da1-3485b31049da.html.

If it's from the Big Ten, UCLA went along - Part 2

On August 3, we noted that the Big Ten, the athletic conference to which UCLA belongs, had signed off on a bill in the US Senate that would regulate NIL payments and other compensation elements for college athletes. Since the Big Ten made the endorsement, presumably UCLA went along.

The "NIL Bill" is now apparently hung up in the Senate. From The Hill:

Senate Republicans say getting consent to move forward on the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan bill to set rules for compensating and recruiting college athletes, is holding up a broader deal on funding the government, confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general and starting the five-week Senate recess. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) told GOP colleagues at a lunch meeting [last] Friday that he views the college sports bill — which has been dubbed the “NIL bill” because it would set standards for using athletes’ name, image and likeness — as the “chokepoint” for getting a deal done to fund the government and start the August recess, according to a source familiar with the internal meeting.

A senior Senate GOP aide confirmed there’s agreement on voting on everything on Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) to-do list, but there are about 10 holds on the college sports bill. Senate GOP leaders circulated a “hotline” alert on Friday afternoon proposing votes to amend the continuing resolution funding government to strip out a controversial hemp-related provision, to pass the continuing resolution itself and to confirm Blanche as attorney general, as well as votes on a motion to proceed to the college sports bill. Under the proposed hotline, the Senate would then vote on the college sports bill itself if the motion to proceed to it is successful...

Full story at https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6017663-senate-nil-bill-funding-blanche-recess/.

UC & Other Universities Support Harvard

From The Dartmouth: [Dartmouth] signed onto an amicus brief filed July 22 with the First Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Harvard University’s April lawsuit against the Trump Administration. Thirty-five other colleges and universities also signed the brief, including all Ivy League universities except Harvard. In the ongoing case, the Trump administration is appealing a September 2025 ruling in favor of Harvard after the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants because the university refused to comply with federal demands to make institutional changes such as reforming admissions and hiring practices, shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion practices and addressing antisemitism “or other bias” in campus programs. 

The brief argues that “even temporary cuts” to federal research funding could have “permanent effects” which “endangers” the “life-changing and history-altering innovations” that arise from “basic research” conducted at colleges and universities... Amici institutions listed advancements in “scientific progress” made possible by federal funding — such as the computer, DNA sequencing, the pacemaker and the “decades-long collaboration among academia, government and industry” which produced the internet — as “enormous long-term benefits” of university research...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/08/flavin-dartmouth-signs-brief-in-support-of-harvard-in-research-funding-lawsuit-against-trump-administration. 

List in image above and brief at:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca1.53667/gov.uscourts.ca1.53667.00108480602.0.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 429

From the Washington Post: After Johns Hopkins University public health researcher Fatima Ameaka was detained by immigration authorities as she boarded a domestic flight [last] Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said she had overstayed her visa “in violation of our nation’s laws.” Ameaka’s lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, said that claim is “not true,” citing immigration documents he says buttress his client’s case. Ameaka — a native of Cameroon whose Hopkins colleagues have praised for her work advancing public health — was transported from Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport to ICE facilities in Virginia, Louisiana and Texas before being released late [last] Friday.

Her case shows how the Trump administration has begun using domestic air travel and alleged visa violations by foreign nationals as a way to step up deportations around the country... Ameaka, 31, entered the U.S. legally in June 2023 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a master’s in public health. Her Fulbright ended in June 2024 and she was hired as a research associate at the university in September of that year, according to her LinkedIn profile and interviews with her colleagues. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, where Ameaka was employed, said she came to the U.S. for a “Fulbright degree, and then stayed on with a visa to work in our center.” A copy of an employment authorization document, provided by her lawyer, shows it expiring in December 2029...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/08/01/johns-hopkins-health-researcher-released-after-airport-ice-detention/.

Increased bus service

Service Changes Begin August 9, 2026

Beginning Sunday, August 9, service improvements designed to make riding easier, faster, and more convenient go into effect! Riders will benefit from expanded service hours and enhanced access and connectivity on multiple routes serving the UCLA campus, UCLA Medical Center, and Westwood/Rancho Park Metro Rail E Line Station.

These enhancements are part of our ongoing Brighter Blue service improvement plan, which focuses on making public transit a more appealing alternative to driving and supports Santa Monica's commitment to a cleaner, greener future.

Use our trip planner or download the Transit app  to plan your trip and view the most up-to-date travel information. Our Customer Service team is available Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., to help you get where you're going. Give us a call at (310) 451-5444.

NOTE: Details by route at:

https://www.bigbluebus.com/Routes-And-Schedules/ServiceChanges.aspx.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 187

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard withheld annual raises and performance bonuses from unionized academic workers across the University this summer, prompting Harvard Law School clinical instructors to file an unfair labor practice charge late last month alleging the move violated federal labor law. Union representatives said they knew of no Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers members in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School, or Harvard Divinity School who received the raises awarded to non-union employees.

At the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, employees represented by HAW-UAW were informed by the institute’s human resources department that they would not receive the annual performance bonus or the July 1 salary increase, according to an email obtained by The Crimson... To prevent unilateral decisions that could undermine the bargaining process, employers are required under the NLRA to maintain status quo terms of employment while a contract is under negotiation. But the central dispute between the union and Harvard is whether Harvard’s history of awarding annual raises established a status quo the University was required to continue.

“You have to look at all the facts,” said Risa L. Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University. “Is there a pattern that was established, and if it was interrupted, did that change the nature of the status quo?” Harvard has argued that maintaining the status quo means keeping wages constant until compensation is settled in bargaining...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/6/haw-withheld-raises-bonuses/.

Left Unsaid - Part 2 (told you so)

Diligent blog readers may recall our comments on a systemwide Academic Senate request for campus senates to respond to UC changes in supply chain management.* We noted at the time that the topic was not an attention grabber because there was no clear summary of what was being proposed that was new and why those changes might matter. We noted that grant holders in fields where purchasing was important would potentially be interested, IF they had such a summary.

As expected, the reactions from the campuses were predictably limited and muted, absent a clear summary. The cover letter from the Senate chair notes:

The review materials also made it difficult for reviewers to identify the complete set of revisions.**

A stronger letter might have said that if meaningful comments were wanted, a meaningful highlighting of key changes would be necessary, and that absent such a summary, the review cannot proceed.

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/06/left-unsaid.html.

**https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-systemwide-procurement-bus-43-7-24-26.pdf.