Weekly Record

We continue with our weekly summary by Claude of the prior week's blog postings:

October 25, 2026

Another Problem to Solve - Part 2 – From the Daily Californian: UC Berkeley mathematician and Fields Medalist Richard Borcherds reacts to OpenAI's claimed solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, saying AI already outdoes beginning grad students at math and arrived about a decade sooner than he expected. The blogger ties it to his October 21 post on UCLA's Terence Tao.

Straws in the Wind - Part 505 – From the Brown Daily Herald: Brown doesn't use third-party AI-detection tools on admissions essays because of accuracy concerns, instead watching for "dramatic inconsistencies" and following the Common App's AI policy. No added comment.

More are eligible – From the Daily Bruin: half-time-or-more students at UC, CSU and community colleges now automatically meet some CalFresh eligibility requirements, with benefits up to $306 a month; students on larger meal plans stay ineligible, and UC CalFresh participation has more than quadrupled in 15 years. No added comment.

Weekly Record – The blog's weekly recap of the October 18–24 postings, prepared by Claude at the blogger's request; he notes the weekly summaries will continue.

October 26, 2026

Side by Side (Active Employees) – Using UCnet data, compares 2026 and 2027 UC health premiums for active employees across salary tiers, with increases ranging from 9.5% to 29.3% depending on plan and tier. The blogger contrasts this with 3–4% general inflation: "Enough said."

Side by Side (Non-Medicare Emeriti/Retirees) – UCnet comparison of 2026 vs. 2027 premiums for retirees not yet on Medicare. The blogger finds a more mixed picture than for actives, with some decreases or freezes, and notes most in this group likely retired before 65.

Side by Side (Emeriti/Retirees - All in Medicare) – UCnet comparison of 2026 vs. 2027 premiums for all-Medicare retiree households. The blogger notes the increases vary (some are zero) and that federal Medicare premiums may also be rising.

Side by Wide (Medicare-Eligible – One or More Family Members Not Medicare-Eligible) – UCnet premium tables for mixed Medicare/non-Medicare retiree families. The blogger observes larger increases when some family members aren't on Medicare, with no explanation offered and no data on how many people fall in each category.

Recommended – The blogger recommends visiting the state privacy site privacy.ca.gov, saying he's unsure how effective it will be but it's worth a try.

Straws in the Wind - Part 506 – From the Yale Daily News: Yale College is drawing on reserves for the first time in four years to cover $26 million in endowment-tax costs after the tax rose more than fivefold in July. No added comment.

Where the money is - Part 3 – From the Daily Bruin: the UCLA-affiliated Terasaki Institute and partners won up to $19.8 million from ARPA-H for "Prometheus," a project to bioengineer functional livers. No added comment.

October 27, 2026

Cash in the Bank – Drawing on a Legislative Analyst's Office report, explains that California's cash balance is about $90 billion, down from a 2024 peak over $100 billion, with much of it in special funds; the LAO advises treating cash borrowing as a last resort. The blogger stresses that much of the cash is earmarked.

Straws in the Wind - Part 507 – From the Daily Pennsylvanian: emeritus Penn professor Carolyn Marvin was arrested after repeatedly blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot, calling it a First Amendment protest. No added comment.

No Hastings - Part 3 – From the San Francisco Chronicle: the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Hastings descendants' challenge to removing Serranus Hastings's name from UC's San Francisco law school. The blogger says this "appears to be the end of the line."

October 28, 2026

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 208 – From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard Law School raised a record $135 million in FY2026, boosted by a $31.4 million gift from Morgan Chu, up from about $73 million the prior year. No added comment.

Wayback – Citing an essay in The Atlantic, the blogger laments that some news publishers are blocking the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to thwart AI training, noting he relies on it to preserve Regents meetings and UCLA budget documents and that the public record is what suffers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 508 – From the Chronicle of Higher Education: the 2025 Survey of Earned Doctorates shows humanities PhDs down about 20% since 2015, social sciences down about 3%, and total doctorates up 8%. No added comment.

Slipping – Charts and a link to an EdSource story reporting that the math failure rate among UC freshmen has doubled. No added comment.

Trellix Departing - CrowdStrike Arriving – Reprints a UCLA memo announcing that Trellix endpoint security will be retired by May 2027 in favor of CrowdStrike, with a recap of earlier faculty and Senate privacy and governance objections. The blogger highlights the memo's assurance that CrowdStrike is not meant to monitor work and points to older posts on the dispute.

October 29, 2026

Expansion – From the Los Angeles Times: UCLA Health is expanding amid ER crowding, may need up to 400 more beds, and could acquire another hospital. The blogger argues the growth also strengthens UCLA's bargaining position with the region's few big insurers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 509 – From Inside Higher Ed: the DOJ found Ohio State's medical school discriminated in admissions, treating a socioeconomic scale developed at UC Davis's medical school as a proxy for race. No added comment.

Market Opportunity – Shows a Facebook ad pitching affluent parents with the claim that SAT scores no longer matter for UCLA and Berkeley admissions. The blogger mocks the come-on of a free intro followed by a fee.

Out – From Inside Higher Ed: Dartmouth Provost Santiago Schnell resigned after a faculty committee found he used AI to meaningfully alter his writing. No added comment.

October 30, 2026

The $90 Zero – Shows a mailing the blogger received from Navitus, the UC retiree pharmacy benefit manager, apparently involving a $90 vs. $0 cost figure. His only comment: "What a difference a zero can make!" NOTE: Claude seems to have missed the point - possibly because it couldn't read the image of the mailing. The mailing from Navitus showed a correction changing the co-pay from $10 to $100; the added zero imposed a $90 cost.

Straws in the Wind - Part 510 (Les Jeux Sont Fait) – From Inside Higher Ed: prediction market Kalshi plans to let users bet on admission rates at 22 selective schools, including UCLA and UC Berkeley, with admissions staff barred from trading. No added comment.

The Plan – Citing LA Metro, describes the proposed Sepulveda Transit Corridor rail line and lists scoping meetings, with public comments due November 18. The blogger wryly frames it as something that will happen "someday."

October 31, 2026

No Sharing – From the Daily Bruin: UCLA has a new review process restricting research-data sharing with "countries of concern" under DOJ and NIH rules. No added comment.

Straws in the Wind - Part 511 – From the Cornell Daily Sun: FIRE urged President Kotlikoff to lift Cornell's ban on Interfraternity Council social events, calling it guilt by association that violates freedom of association. No added comment.

Our Annual Halloween Offering – The blogger's yearly Halloween pick: a roughly half-hour, slowly building horror video, with a joking request that medically minded readers not point out the brain has no internal pain receptors.

AI Purchase Train Bypasses Academic Senate – Reposts an October 30 letter from Academic Council Chair Susannah Scott to President Milliken and COO Nava objecting to minimal Senate consultation on a proposed systemwide OpenAI purchase and asking that it not be finalized yet. No added comment beyond the letter and source link.

Total posts for the week: 30

Actives Percent

Percent Increase in Health Insurance Premiums

Active Employees: 2026-2027

 

Back on Oct. 26, we showed you side-by-side dollar comparisons for various groups of employees and retirees on what out-of-pocket health insurance premiums would be paid for various insurance plans, 2026 versus 2027. Above is another cut on the comparison, this time showing the percent change in the premiums. For active employees, they are big changes, notably higher than the general rate of price inflation which has been running in the 3-4%/annum range.

Straws in the Wind - Part 512

From the Daily Pennsylvanian: ...Mass antigovernment protests in France [have] escalated into some of the most destructive riots the country has witnessed in decades. As the unrest spread, a safety alert system issued a public warning to [U of] Penn students studying in France. The University currently operates three active semester-long study abroad programs in Paris: Columbia in Paris at Reid Hall, HEC Paris, and the Institute of Political Studies. International SOS — an alert system all University students studying abroad are subscribed to — notified students to “expect disruption nationwide over the coming days” during the “widespread unrest.” 

“Major incidents of looting, arson and clashes with the police occurred in urban centres, including the capital Paris,” the... message read. “The gatherings carry a heightened risk of unrest, with protesters likely to erect roadblocks, set objects alight, throw projectiles and engage in looting.” ...The safety alert warned that police officers may use “forceful measures” — such as tear gas and water cannons or baton charges — to “disperse unruly crowds.”

“Leave an area at the first sign of unrest,” the message instructed. “Expect heightened security around gatherings and comply with all official directives.”

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/10/penn-paris-protests-study-abroad-students.

If our scary Halloween offering yesterday was too much for you, here's a shorter one

Or direct to https://ia600406.us.archive.org/14/items/newsom-briefings-oct.-1-2026/Halloween%20Larry%20David.mp4.

Did you fall back?

Yes, you were supposed to fall back (set your clock back one hour) early this morning to go back to standard time. And it's also time for grumbling about why we have to change the clock. Here is a bit of AI on the current status of the debate:

Trump's Push for Permanent Daylight Saving Time

• The Legislative Status: The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act (H.R. 139) by a wide bipartisan margin in July 2026, sending it to the Senate.

• Senate Resistance: The bill has stalled in the Senate as of late October 2026, with several senators—led by opponents like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and lawmakers from northern states—blocking or expressing skepticism over the measure due to concerns about very late winter sunrises (such as children commuting or going to school in the dark).

• Trump's Arguments: Trump has urged the Senate to pass the bill via social media (including Truth Social), arguing that Americans are tired of changing clocks twice a year, that evening sunlight is preferable, and that more afternoon light benefits safety and recreation.

• Current Law: Permanent daylight saving time is not yet law. The country continues to follow standard federally mandated clock changes, with daylight saving time ending and clocks "falling back" an hour.

Some readers may also recall voting several years ago on a California proposition that seemed to suggest ending clock changing. So we present our semi-annual video (from 2022 when masks were still required at UCLA) on the mysteries of time (standard, daylight, and zones):

https://archive.org/details/mitchell-time-edited

AI Purchase Train Bypasses Academic Senate

October 30, 2026

James B. Milliken

President, University of California

Rachael Nava, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Re: Proposed Systemwide OpenAI Purchase Agreement and Senate Consultation

Dear President Milliken and COO Nava:

On behalf of the Academic Council, I write to express our serious concern about shared governance and the very limited Academic Senate consultation regarding the proposed systemwide purchase agreement between the University of California and OpenAI.

In the written item submitted to the Board of Regents for its September 16, 2026 meeting, the administration reported that UC was exploring systemwide agreements with multiple AI providers, and explicitly stated that any resulting arrangements would undergo Academic Senate consultation before the University made a commitment.

Nevertheless, the Academic Council was not aware of the proposed OpenAI purchase agreement until our October 21, 2026 meeting with Vice President and Chief Information Officer Van Williams. On October 22, at our request, CIO Williams invited formal written Council input. The proposed agreement was made available to Council on October 24, with written feedback requested by October 30 before final execution of the purchase agreement anticipated by November 1. We understand this agreement will operate under UC’s 2024 Master Services Agreement (MSA) with OpenAI, signed June 13, 2024.

To be clear, Academic Council does not object to the use of AI, nor to the idea of UC providing frontier model access to its researchers. We recognize the potential benefits of a coordinated purchasing approach, including reduced costs, improved security, and more equitable access to AI platforms. Council members with a range of views about the merits and implications of the proposed agreement have questions that cannot be adequately assessed within the present timeline. Notably, these include the direct impact of widespread AI access on teaching and learning, student assessment, and research practice.

Although procurement actions are an administrative responsibility, decisions about procurement of any goods or services that may impact instruction and research policies call for Academic Senate consultation before they are made. We do not view making ChatGPT Edu licenses available to every UC student, instructor, and staff member as a routine software procurement decision, but rather a significant academic policy matter that falls within the Senate’s delegated authority and expertise to advise on as part of our shared governance process.

Council also observes that making available a chat application capable of producing much of the work that UC courses are designed to teach and assess could be perceived as the University signalling endorsement for its use in all courses. For courses in which instructors have sound educational reasons to restrict these AI tools, that signal will sit in tension with the syllabus.

Neither late consultation nor notification after purchasing decisions have been made can substitute for faculty involvement in shaping the discussion about the issues at hand, given such far-reaching academic consequences. Consultation should mean participation in the decision, through the Senate’s processes, and is not achieved by the simple presence of one or more faculty representatives on administrative bodies.

Accordingly, the Council requests that: 1) finalization of the purchase agreement with OpenAI be deferred to permit meaningful Senate consultation; and 2) no deployment of ChatGPT licenses for academic uses by students and faculty take place until appropriate consultation with the systemwide and divisional Senates has occurred regarding the educational implications of such deployment and the establishment of appropriate protections for faculty authority over instruction.

We further request a consultative role for the Senate through the Academic Council and UCACC in renewal of the OpenAI Master Services Agreement, specifically where its terms bear on instruction and faculty research, as well as an ongoing role in future decisions about purchasing, allocation, deployment, evaluation, and renewal of AI tools for academic uses, whether from OpenAI or any other AI providers. Such consultation should include opportunities to assess educational benefits and risks, safeguard faculty authority over instructional decisions, ensure transparency and appropriate data protection for faculty and students, and develop guidance for uses that evolve along with the AI technologies themselves.

Sincerely,

Susannah Scott

Chair, Academic Council

Encl. Invitation from VP Williams to Academic Council to provide input

cc: Academic Council

   Vice President and Chief of Staff Kao

   VP and CIO Williams

   AVP and Chief Procurement Officer Williams

   Chair Brookwell, University Committee on Academic Computing &  Communications (UCACC)

   Senate Division Executive Directors

   Senate Executive Director Lin

==

Source: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-president-openai-purchase-agreement-10-30-26.pdf.

Our Annual Halloween Offering

You'll need about half an hour for this slowly building scare:

https://dn800202.us.archive.org/0/items/ucla-rehab-strength-training/Earwig.mp4 

We again remind the medically adept not to let me know that the brain doesn't have internal pain receptors.