Vetoed

From Politico: Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a measure... that would have required the California State University to compile annual reports on students who violate campus protest rules... [It requested UC to do he same.]

Key context: Originally, AB 2551 would have repealed a 2024 law that was signed in the wake of student-led protests against Israel’s war against Hamas to establish restrictions on campus protests. The law, SB 1287, required universities to update their codes of conduct to address behavior that “creates a hostile environment for students” and instruct students on how to engage in civil exchanges.

...A number of Jewish organizations opposed the final version of Elhawary’s bill, citing concerns that it was a first step in an effort to repeal the protest rules. The measure was backed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the California Faculty Association and the University of California Student Association, who argue that the current protest rules have chilled speech...

Full story at https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/09/newsom-vetoes-measure-that-would-collect-campus-protest-data-01093919.

Text of vetoed bill at:

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/AB%202551%20TEXT%20forum%20to%20discuss%20TPM%20rules%20vetoed%209-27-2026.pdf.

Veto message from governor at:

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/AB-2551%20VETO%20forum%20to%20discuss%20TPM%20rules%209-27-2026.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 484

From Axios: The Obama Scholars Program at Arizona State University is now called ASU Promise Plus, according to the university's webpage on special financial assistance programs for state residents... The change comes as ASU and other universities are navigating the contentious political climate of the Trump administration, which has sought to exert pressure on the higher education system... The university changed the name of the ASU Advantage Program to the Obama Scholars Program in 2009 shortly after it faced backlash for not awarding Obama an honorary degree ahead of his commencement address.

...The university wouldn't provide details on what prompted the name change. "ASU periodically reviews and updates program names to reflect the university's priorities and the students served," spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez tells Axios...

Full story at https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2026/09/23/arizona-state-university-rename-obama-financial-aid-program.

The alternative

As blog readers will know, there is an alternative way - provided quarterly - to read this blog. For the third quarter of 2026, you can find it at:

https://archive.org/details/blog-3rd-qtr-2026

At that link, you will find the blog broken into a series of pdfs.

New DOJ Lawsuit

From the Daily Bruin: The United States Department of Justice alleged Thursday that the UCLA School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its admissions processes. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division claimed in a Thursday letter that UCLA Law violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination in programs receiving federal funding. The Justice Department alleged that the school rejected white and Asian applicants whose LSAT scores matched those of admitted Black and Hispanic applicants from 2023 to 2025, illegally considering race in its admissions... The School of Law said in an emailed statement that it is committed to following state and federal law, and the school evaluates applicants’ achievements and experiences through a merit-based review...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/01/doj-accuses-ucla-school-of-law-of-racially-discriminating-in-admissions-processes.

DOJ findings at https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1463656/dl.

DOJ news release at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-ucla-law-school-discriminates-based-race-admissions. 

405 issues this weekend

From Santa Monica Patch: Traffic will once again be impacted on the 405 Freeway and nearby roads beginning Friday when construction will shut down several lanes and ramps of the interstate in the Sepulveda Pass and San Fernando Valley for the entire weekend...

Here's a look at the weekend-long closures, planned for 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2 through 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5:

• The southbound 405 will be reduced to three lanes between Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive
• The Ventura Boulevard on-ramp to the southbound 405 will be closed
• The southbound 405 off-ramp to Valley Vista Boulevard/Sepulveda Boulevard will be closed
• The Valley Vista Boulevard/Sepulveda Boulevard on-ramp to the southbound 405 will be closed
• The northbound 405 off-ramp to Getty Center Drive will be closed 

 Source: https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/ks4z3/major-405-freeway-closures-return-this-week-last-through-monday.

Something Missing?

The Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive allows views of internet pages as they were at selected dates in the past. At some point after July 10, 2026, the January 2027 Regents meeting that would have been at UCLA disappeared. It went missing. See the July image of the schedule on the left below and the current image on the right. The result is a four-month gap between regularly scheduled meetings rather than the normal two. And no meeting at UCLA until May 2027. Seems like a lot of things are likely to be happening in that interval. At the state level, a new governor will be taking office in January. At the federal level, there may be changes in which party has the majority in the House and/or in the Senate.

Just saying...

Left: https://web.archive.org/web/20260710082420/https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/

Right: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/

Straws in the Wind - Part 483

From Inside Higher Ed: The power struggle over the civics center at the University of Iowa appears to have reached an inflection point. Nearly half the center’s 26-member Advisory Council resigned this week, all of them faculty from institutions out of state. Prominent current or former Iowans remain. The 11 resignations come after Robert Cramer, who chairs the Board of Regents that oversees Iowa’s public universities and selected the Advisory Council, called for a “reset” of the center—and after Republican state Rep. Taylor Collins, who chairs the House higher education committee, sided with Cramer in an email dispute focusing on the process for hiring the center’s permanent director.

“The board covets and appreciates the input from the advisory council,” Cramer wrote last week to Richard Lowery, a University of Texas at Austin associate professor and now former Advisory Council member who chaired the search...  Lowery wrote to Cramer... “Sadly, it seems that there will also not be the external support needed to see this endeavor actually succeed. Your message demonstrates clearly that you have complete contempt for those academics who do not adhere to the dominant, leftist ideology on [the] university campus.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/state-policy/2026/09/24/faculty-advisers-resign-after-call-iowa-civics-center-reset.