Seen on the bulletin board of an ice cream shop.
Friday, May 22, 2026
Straws in the Wind - Part 350
From the Yale Daily News: This year’s graduating seniors were first years when OpenAI released ChatGPT. As the first class with the opportunity to use large language models like ChatGPT during every year of their college career, most seniors have now incorporated artificial intelligence into their lives to assist them for various purposes, from aiding with problem sets to researching theses. According to an anonymous survey conducted by the News and filled out by 172 seniors, 91 percent of the class of 2026 have used AI for schoolwork. Only 9.1 percent of students surveyed said they had never used AI for schoolwork. A majority of students — 67.5 percent — reported using AI sometimes, often or very often.
More than 75 percent of respondents said they have used AI in a problem set. About 64 percent of respondents said they have used AI to write a paper, while 48.5 percent of the surveyed seniors said they used AI to write their senior theses — slightly less than the 51.5 percent that said they did not... Male respondents were more likely to report that they used AI for schoolwork than female respondents. While 16.7 percent of male respondents said they used AI “very often” for schoolwork, only 1.6 percent of female respondents said they did. According to the survey results, students majoring in the sciences were most likely to report AI use for schoolwork, followed by those in the social sciences, those in interdisciplinary majors and those in the humanities...
Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/91-percent-of-senior-class-has-used-ai-for-schoolwork-news-survey-finds.
Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 163
From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard reported $126.6 million in legal fees in its Form 990 filing released Friday, up from roughly $80 million in fiscal year 2024 — a 58 percent increase. The spike marks a dramatic rise from recent years, when Harvard’s legal expenses hovered around $20 million. The University spent $19.5 million on legal fees in fiscal year 2023 and $20 million in fiscal year 2022. The total is reflected in Harvard’s Form 990 filing for fiscal year 2025, which ran from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, and includes program service, management and general, and fundraising expenses...
The heightened legal expenses came as Harvard faced broad financial pressures, with University officials warning that costs across Harvard are rising faster than revenues. Harvard reported an operating loss of $113 million in fiscal year 2025 — its first budget deficit since the pandemic — on $6.7 billion in total revenue. Harvard has been at legal odds with the White House since the spring, when the Trump administration conditioned billions of dollars in federal funding on a list of demands to the University. When Harvard rejected the conditions, the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding, prompting Harvard to sue nearly a dozen federal agencies and their leaders...
The legal fees reported in the filing capture only the early months of Harvard’s escalating fight with the Trump administration. Later lawsuits — including two filed by the Department of Justice this year — will not be reflected until future filings...
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/16/harvard-legal-fees-surge/.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 18
And yet more on former CFO Agostini's involvement in the planning to move UCLA from the Rose Bowl to SoFi stadium:
From NBC Sports: ...In August 2025, Rams and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment president Kevin Demoff texted this to UCLA vice chancellor Steve Agostini: “good luck tonight, next year at SoFi!” The court filings also show text messages from February 2025 between Demoff and Agostini regarding a tour of SoFi by UCLA officials “to see how we would make next season work.” Said Demoff, “Yes will make whatever work.”
Demoff’s employer, and SoFi Stadium, eventually were added to the ongoing lawsuit under the theory that these outside parties intentionally interfered with the contractual relationship between UCLA and the Rose Bowl. The argument is simple; it’s impermissible to induce someone to break a valid and binding agreement. UCLA has a lease that runs through 2043. That lease must be respected by anyone who would be tempted to persuade one of the parties to violate its terms. The concept applies throughout American business. Any contract between two parties must be respected by the rest of the world. That means not saying “see you next year” but “see you when your contract ends.” ...
Straws in the Wind - Part 349
From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Board of Trustees’ Ad Hoc Special Committee completed its investigation of the incident between President Michael Kotlikoff and a group of students and alumni on April 30, clearing Kotlikoff of wrongdoing and finding the actions taken by the students to be "inconsistent with University policy,” according to a statement sent to the Cornell community by the committee... Students and alumni followed Kotlikoff to his car and surrounded it, asking about free expression on campus following a debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict, hosted by the Cornell Political Union. Video footage obtained by The Sun shows that Kotlikoff reversed into one student and ran over the foot of a recent alumnus after they blocked his car.
“The Committee has found that the actions taken by these individuals on April 30th, which included following President Kotlikoff from an evening event into a parking lot and impeding his ability to leave, are inconsistent with university policies governing expressive activity and our standards for respectful conduct, safety, and the prohibition of intimidation,” the committee wrote...
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From the Cornell Daily Sun: Milton Taam ’73 received a persona non grata from the Cornell University Police Department on May 4, banning him from campus for three years. Taam received the persona non grata on the basis of trespassing after being present for the April 30 incident where President Michael Kotlikoff was questioned on free expression and drove into a student on campus. The persona non grata was issued to Taam on the basis of trespassing on Cornell property, specifically in the Day Hall Parking Lot, according to the persona non grata obtained by The Sun. Taam is prohibited from entering any grounds owned by Cornell for three years unless approved by the chief of CUPD.
In an interview with The Sun, Taam said the trespassing charge “makes no sense.” Taam also said that the officers who delivered the persona non grata “didn’t at all” explain the charge to him. CUPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “The persona non grata order is basically a formalized notice that Cornell gives to individuals saying, ‘you do not have our permission to be here, and therefore entering onto Cornell property in the future will be treated as a trespass,’” said Prof. James Grimmelmann, Tessler family professor of digital and information law, to The Sun...
Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/05/alumnus-present-at-kotlikoff-car-incident-issued-persona-non-grata-3-year-ban-from-campus.
The latest scam
If you get a message like the one above, ignore it and do not call the number shown.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The May Revise
The governor spent about an hour going over his proposal of which about 13 minutes was more devoted to his non-campaign for president in 2028. He then took about an hour for Q&A.
Usually, in our past reviews of such proposals, we start with the macro and then go to the micro, i.e., UC. But let's do it in reverse this time. What about UC?
SIGNIFICANT BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS
• Base Funding Augmentation—The May Revision maintains the proposed increase of $254.3 million ongoing General Fund, representing a 5-percent base increase for the fifth and final year payment of the Compact. The May Revision also maintains the proposed increase of $96.3 million ongoing General Fund to provide partial funding of the fourth year Compact payment as scheduled in the 2025 Budget Act.
• Compact Funding Deferral—The May Revision maintains the planned one-time deferral of the 2025-26 Compact investment of $240.8 million, representing a 5-percent base increase in the fourth year of the Compact, to 2027-28. The May Revision also maintains the planned one-time 2025-26 deferral of $31 million to offset revenue reductions associated with the replacement of 902 nonresident undergraduate students enrolled at three campuses with an equivalent number of California resident undergraduate students, from 2025-26 to 2027-28.
• One-Time Base Deferral—The May Revision maintains the proposed delay of a one-time repayment of $129.7 million, representing a deferral of a one-time 3-percent base increase from 2025-26, from 2026-27 to 2027-28.
• Foster Youth Support Services—An increase of $1.5 million one-time General Fund to support First Star Academy Youth Cohorts at UC campuses.
Source: https://ebudget.ca.gov/2026-27/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf.
Translation: We have a multi-year "compact" with UC but we won't actually pay what is due. Instead, we will keep deferring part of what is due to the future when there will be some new governor and a new legislature and they might or might not honor it. Compact is not the same as contract. The latter is enforceable. The former isn't.
Of course, everyone understands this point. But the game is played by UC thanking the governor and then seeking more from the legislature. From UC President Milliken:
I’m deeply grateful to Gov. Newsom for his thoughtful leadership and sustained support of the University of California over the years. The UC funding included in the May revision will help ensure that the university remains affordable and accessible to California students. As the University of California faces ongoing federal funding uncertainty and increasing operational and labor costs, state funding for UC is more important than ever.
We will continue to advocate for the resources necessary to help our hundreds of thousands of students succeed, and to support the faculty and staff who deliver the teaching, research, and patient care that Californians expect and deserve. I look forward to working with Gov. Newsom and the Legislature in the coming weeks to achieve a state budget that fully funds UC and improves the lives of every Californian.
How effective will the UC advocacy be? The governor's May Revise for UC is about what the proposal was in January, with some tidbits added.* So the governor wasn't much affected. We will have to see what the legislature does in the next few weeks.
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*See https://ebudget.ca.gov/budget/m/2026-27/Department/6440.
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What about the macro?
Enough extra revenue (revenue above projections) came in thanks to AI and stock market gains to lead to a modest surplus for the current fiscal year.** Next year, however, total reserves fall rather than rise, i.e., a deficit. That isn't what the governor said during his presentation. But that is what his numbers say.
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**There are various reserve accounts associated with the General Fund (GF). Yours truly had to estimate the changes in the Public School and Safety Net accounts using figures for 2024-25 as enacted to calculate the change in those accounts to 2025-26. LAO, which has more access to data, reports a slight deficit for the current year rather than a small surplus:
https://ebudget.ca.gov/reference/MultiYearProjection.pdf.
LAO also reports projected deficits out to 2029-30:
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5187.
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NOTE: The governor's May Revise news conference can be seen at:
https://ia601802.us.archive.org/14/items/newsom-may-june-2026/newsom%205-14-2026%20May%20revise.mp4.
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