Bad News, Good News

A company named Conduent has been sending out letters warning of a data breach that apparently affected some participants in UC health plans. Conduent appears to do clerical work for health plans. The letter does not say which health plan is involved. It does say information such as Social Security number was stolen.

The letter is dated Dec. 31, 2025 and refers to a data breach a year before that. But the letter arrived last week. The first page of a 3-page letter is shown here. The other pages contain boilerplate language about credit rating agencies, freezing your credit, etc.

The good news, such as it is, is that UC folks already had their data stolen some time back and UC provides free data monitoring. So if you got the letter, it is unlikely that anything new was stolen.

Californians can freeze their credit at the three credit agencies for free. It's a good idea to do it. But it does involve some hassle if you want to do something involving finances such as apply for a new credit card. You have to unfreeze access for a temporary period in such cases.

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A letter dated Jan. 26, 2026 was circulated within UCOP indicating which plans were affected. As far as yours truly knows, no information was sent by UC directly to plan participants. Below is the list of plans as of a month ago:

• Anthem – Elevance Health: Over 83,000 UC PPO members were affected. Notifications were or will be sent in three separate waves based on the business functions performed by Conduent. Some members may receive multiple notifications.
• Accolade: No member impact, as this vendor is not used.
• Navitus: No member impact, as this vendor is not used.
• Kaiser Permanente: 18 members affected.
• Optum Behavioral Health: Confirmation pending.
• Health Net: 633 UC Blue & Gold HMO members and 50 Postdoctoral members affected.
• UnitedHealthcare: No member impact, as this vendor is not used.

Straws in the Wind - Part 268

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: ...New York University will begin a new initiative aimed at getting students to spend less time on their phones. It’s called NYU IRL (short for “in real life”), and it spans the university’s Manhattan, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai campuses, where students will be enticed to enter “device-free zones" ...NYU IRL, which Linda G. Mills, NYU’s president, announced earlier this year, includes new resources for faculty to try “device optimization” in their classrooms, such as making it a featured topic in the university’s faculty learning exchange week, which is happening now. NYU will also host in-person events like a “supper club” in its dining halls.

To mark the beginning of the effort, NYU professor and author Jonathan Haidt is hosting a “fireside chat” early next month to talk through his bestselling book, The Anxious Generation. The 2024 book argues that the rise in smartphone usage in childhood over the last decade has contributed directly to the rise in mental illness in younger generations. Mills cites Haidt’s findings as a major inspiration for the new program...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/nyu-wants-students-to-put-down-their-phones-will-they.

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From the NY Times: The Defense Department has decided to cut academic ties with nearly two dozen top universities and think tanks as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign against what he calls anti-American values and “wokeness.” ...In a video published to social media* ...Mr. Hegseth denounced the institutions in blistering language, calling them politically liberal institutions with “wicked ideologies” that were indoctrinating U.S. service members. He said that, beginning in the new school year in September, the Defense Department would ban service members from attending those universities.

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*https://x.com/secwar/status/2027474502876070386.

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In addition to Harvard, which was banned earlier this month, the Defense Department said the banned institutions would include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, George Washington, Tufts, St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon, as well as the College of William & Mary, Middlebury College and Queen’s University in Ontario.

When Mr. Hegseth cut ties with Harvard, it was seen as part of a wider pressure campaign by the Trump administration to force the university to cut a deal with the government. But some of the universities that were banned on Friday have already agreed to a laundry list of demands from the Trump administration as part of an effort to remake the culture of higher education. The Defense Department said it would also cut ties with seven high-profile think tanks in Washington known for their defense and national security analysis: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, New America, the Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council, the Center for a New American Security, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Henry L. Stimson Center...

Mr. Hegseth, who served as an infantry officer with the National Guard, graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School in 2013 with a master’s degree in public policy... The Defense Department said it was considering replacing the programs with those at institutions including state universities and conservative Christian schools like Liberty University and Hillsdale College...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/us/politics/pentagon-universities-think-tanks.html.

Maybe we worry too much about AI ???

 

Yes, AI has become a problem for higher ed. It lacks ACS (artificial common sense):

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaN0iAuan8.

I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 15

Meanwhile, back at the Bowl... From the California Post:

Having committed to playing at the Rose Bowl next season, UCLA’s long-term football fate remains in the hands of a court. Attorneys representing the school are appealing an LA Superior Court judge’s decision to deny arbitration in the Rose Bowl’s breach-of-contract case against UCLA. Those same attorneys have also filed a motion to pause the case, pending the appeal decision. But discovery has started in the case after a judge denied UCLA’s previous attempt to cease depositions, and it’s possible the appeal may not significantly delay the start of jury selection in the trial...

UCLA’s plans are increasingly uncertain after the school committed to remaining at its longtime home stadium for next season. The move came not long after the dismissal of UCLA vice chancellor and chief financial officer Stephen Agostini, one of the primary proponents of a move to SoFi Stadium...

Full story at https://nypost.com/2026/02/28/sports/ucla-appeals-arbitration-decision-in-rose-bowl-suit/.

Everybody Breathe In

From the Bruin: UCLA Housing is discontinuing 10-person university apartments for the 2026-27 academic year. UCLA released its housing application Jan. 27, which included options with a maximum of eight people in one university apartment, instead of 10 as was offered in the 2025-26 year. Housing did not announce that it would not offer 10-person apartments prior to the application release. A UCLA Housing spokesperson confirmed the change in an emailed statement, adding that it evaluates housing demand each year and adjusts units to maximize available space...

Darryl Cortez, a third-year business economics student, said he opted to live in a four-bedroom, 10-person apartment in Gayley Heights because it was cost-effective for him. Ten-person apartments cost about $10,000 per person for the full academic year, according to UCLA Housing’s website. “It’s good (UCLA Housing’s decision) because it’s just a lot of bodies in one apartment,” Cortez said. “There’s no privacy.” ...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/20/ucla-housing-discontinues-10-person-apartments-for-2026-27-academic-year.

There is a precedent:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCyR113uZ_o.

Straws in the Wind - Part 267

From Inside Higher Ed: Starting this summer, most college programs will have to show that their students earn more than someone with only a high school diploma to avoid being cut off from federal funding, as part of a new accountability measure... But one state is close to passing legislation that would directly import the federal test into state law—and take it further. While the federal law will cut off students attending failing programs from receiving federal student loans, Indiana’s Senate Bill 199 would end such programs entirely at public universities and Ivy Tech Community College.

In Indiana, the average salary for a high school graduate is just over $35,000, and about a dozen public institution programs would fail based on recent federal data—though the state Commission for Higher Education, a group of gubernatorial appointees, could grant exemptions. So far, the state’s flagship university and Ivy Tech haven’t publicly taken a position against it, but the state commission supports the bill.

In an email, a commission spokesperson said the bill “supports a stronger guarantee that the important higher education investment being made by Hoosier students and their families leads to meaningful career opportunities and financial stability,” adding that there will be “thorough evaluation” of all programs up for elimination, rather than automatic discontinuance...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/state-policy/2026/02/23/indiana-bill-would-use-federal-earnings-test-end-programs.

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Apart from their regular bimonthly meetings when the Regents undoubtedly discuss the current conflict with the feds behind closed doors, the Regents have had off-schedule meetings - also closed - specifically to discuss the conflict. There were special meetings called on January 6 and 13 and February 10 and 17.

Yet, when the US Department of Justice rolls out a full-scale lawsuit against UC/UCLA, no meetings have been set up, at least as of this posting. So, nothing new to discuss concerning that lawsuit? The UC General Counsel has no response to convey? No strategy with regard to a response? 

Don't know about you, but it sure seems strange to yours truly.