Celebrating Bond - Part 2

In a prior post, we noted that UC is pushing for a state research bond that would make up for federal cutbacks.*

The campaign is underway. From a UCOP press release:

UC, State Senator Wiener, UAW host rally for California science to urge lawmakers to pass SB 895

May 4, 2026

SACRAMENTO – UC President James B. Milliken today joined California State Senator Scott Wiener and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain to rally in support of California science and urge state lawmakers to pass SB 895, bipartisan legislation that would place a $23 billion bond to fund scientific research across California on the November 2026 ballot.  

“California’s prosperity is inextricably connected to its investment in university research and discovery,” said President Milliken, who was joined at the rally by hundreds of UC researchers, faculty and staff. “SB 895 comes at a pivotal moment, providing a lifeline that delivers economic opportunity and life-saving medical care for our residents.” 

If passed, SB 895 would help ensure that critical scientific research continues in California, strengthening the state’s resilience through investments in biomedical and health research, climate and environmental science, behavioral health, wildfire resilience and emerging technologies.  

With 10 campuses, six academic health centers and administrative oversight of three national labs, UC employs more than 265,000 across the state and treats 2.5 million patients a year. For every $1 the State of California invests in UC, $21.04 in economic output is generated across the state. Last year, UC received the most U.S. utility patents of any university, helping keep the nation at the forefront of scientific discovery and global competitiveness. 

But today, UC faces one of the most severe threats to its research enterprise in its 158-year history. Significant reductions and disruptions in federal scientific funding could hinder the state’s ability to remain a global leader in technology, innovation and multidisciplinary research, impacting jobs, health care and the economy in California.  

If passed by voters, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act would help fund modernization of research facilities, expansion of laboratory and clinical capacity, and improvements to public health infrastructure. These investments are projected to support a wide variety of jobs, from construction and skilled trades, to scientists, technicians and healthcare researchers, while strengthening the pipeline of future talent. 

Research funding generates jobs, fuels California’s economy 

California’s leadership in biotechnology, life sciences and medical innovation has been a cornerstone of its economic success. The state’s universities, hospitals and research institutions provide the infrastructure needed for clinical trials, product development and advanced manufacturing. The investments made by SB 895 will support thousands of students and researchers at California universities with jobs in growing industries.  

“The science bond is one of the best investments we can make in California’s future,” said Senator Wiener. “Scientific research is a pillar of California’s economy and prosperity and one of California’s greatest contributions to the world. It fuels our world-class universities. Our life sciences sector supports over a million jobs and billions in economic output. To millions of families and loved ones struggling with untreatable illnesses, scientific research represents hope. SB 895 will power those dreams and that success for another generation — putting power back in the hands of Californians to steer the next generation of scientific advances while the federal government pulls back.” 

SB 895 tackles complex and interconnected challenges  

SB 895 would also provide dedicated funding for research into the health impacts of wildfires, including air quality, respiratory illness and community resilience, while strengthening California’s capacity to detect and respond to future pandemics through improved laboratory networks and rapid response capabilities. 

“This measure could help you or someone you love by continuing research in groundbreaking therapies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and more,” said UAW Region 6 Director Mike Miller. UAW represents approximately 60,000 workers across the University of California system in a wide range of academic and non-academic roles, including academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants, graduate student researchers, postdoctoral scholars, and professionals in student services, advising, research and public service.  “As the federal government slashes research funding across the country, we are proud to come together with Senator Wiener, Assemblymember Solache and the University of California to ensure that California meets the moment.” 

Return on investment and pharmaceutical discounts 

Historically, public investment in research has delivered strong returns by driving economic growth, boosting tax revenues and improving residents’ health. SB 895 builds on that track record by allowing the state to recapture a share of licensing and royalty revenues from inventions and technologies developed with public funding. SB 895 also helps to make health care more accessible by ensuring California residents receive discounts for pharmaceuticals developed through this research.  

Support for SB 895 is bipartisan and broad-based, from researchers and physicians to legislators throughout the state. The bill is sponsored by UAW Region 6 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). It is jointly authored by Senators Sasha Renée Pérez and Aisha Wahab, and principal co-authored by Assemblymembers José Luis Solache, Jr., Mike Gipson, Jacqui Irwin, Al Muratsuchi and Darshana Patel, Ph.D. Thirty-seven members of the State Legislature are co-authoring the bill to date. 

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-state-senator-wiener-uaw-host-rally-california-science-urge-lawmakers-pass-sb-895.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/04/celebrating-bond.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 339

From Washington Monthly: It’s increasingly apparent that public support for the nation’s colleges and universities has eroded over the past few years. While some of the disillusionment reflects the impact of conservative attacks on higher education, including Donald Trump’s campaign against prominent institutions, much of it stems from growing concerns about affordability, tuition sticker shock, student loan debt, and nagging doubts about whether a college degree is still a reliable ticket to a successful career. One recent survey found that the share of parents who said a postsecondary degree program was their top choice for their child’s post-high school plans fell from 74 percent in 2019 to 58 percent in 2025. That result is not an outlier. Survey after survey confirms that Americans have become increasingly skeptical about the value of a college degree. (“Skepticism” may even be an understatement; resentment, especially toward elite colleges, may be the more accurate characterization.)

But here’s the odd thing: despite overwhelming public anger at the perceived unaffordability of higher education, the average net cost of college has barely budged over at least the past decade. It’s actually fallen a bit. What might explain this disconnect? One theory is that the opaque and occasionally deceptive ways colleges advertise their prices leads to public misperception about college costs. A 2022 Government Accountability Office study found that 91 percent of colleges understate or don’t include the net price families pay in the offer letters sent to students. Such incomplete or misleading information often leads to “uninformed and costly decisions, such as enrolling in an unaffordable college,” according to the GAO. The confusion has been aggravated by a policy, common across the vast majority of four-year schools, of discounting high “sticker costs” by strategically offering generous institutional financial aid through “merit scholarships.” 

This “high tuition-high aid” model results in a situation where published tuition prices bear little relation to what many students end up paying for college. Congress has recognized the problem, and, as this magazine has reported, several bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would require greater clarity and simplicity in college offer letters...

Full story at https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/05/05/higher-ed-affordability-college-costs-financial-aid-confusion/.

The Hacking - Part 2

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA restored access to Bruin Learn on Saturday evening, two days after a cyberattack took down the learning platform. ShinyHunters, a criminal extortion group, breached Canvas, which hosts BruinLearn, Thursday afternoon. It threatened in a message posted to the website that it would release universities’ data if Canvas’ parent company, Instructure, did not negotiate a settlement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/09/ucla-restores-access-to-bruin-learn-2-days-after-cyberattack.

There doesn't seem to have been a public assessment of issues that arise from being dependent on an outside vendor whose size alone invites cyberattacks.

Mystery Car

Yours truly often parks in structure 9 for UCLA med center appointments. On the ground floor, as shown above, there is a closed-off area with no clue as to what's inside. But recently, the locked gate was open revealing what appears to be some kind of self-driving car, at least from the look of the gadgetry on top. See below:

Anyone know more? If it isn't a self-driving car, what is it and why is it there?

Straws in the Wind - Part 338

From the Stanford Review: Marriage Pact, Stanford’s online matching platform, has released its aggregated data from the 2025–26 cycle, covering 4,177 submissions. Its annual questionnaire asks students about academic interests, professional ambitions, faith, preferences, and politics. Libertarian, Conservative, Republican, Apolitical, Independent, Democrat, Liberal, and Socialist are independent self-selected groupings. Throughout, groups are sorted from highest to lowest mean agreement.

The 2025–26 results show a clear political shift to the right at Stanford. Students are notably more right-wing than they were five years ago, and right-wing students are both more ambitious and more optimistic about their ability to change the world than their left-wing or centrist peers.

From Fall 2020 to Fall 2025:

• The Right (Libertarians, Conservatives, and Republicans) nearly doubled, from 6.9% to 12.1% of the student body.

• Socialists and Communists were roughly cut in half, from 10.7% to 5.0%.

• The broader Left coalition (Communist, Socialist, Liberal, Democrat) declined only slightly, from 70.6% to 67.3%.

• The middle (Independent, Apolitical, Other) edged down from 22.4% to 20.7%...

Full story at https://stanfordreview.org/number-of-right-wing-students-at-stanford-nearly-doubles/.

Priorities

California State Assembly Democrats put out a document of priorities ahead of the governor's May Revise budget proposal that is scheduled to be unveiled May 14th.* 

Just about everything is a priority, so what the priorities are is unclear, and there are no numbers attached. (Republicans in the Assembly don't have enough seats in that chamber - or the state Senate - to matter.) 

The document does take note of the above-forecast revenues that have been coming in - and that we have previously posted about. Below is what they have to say about higher ed:

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*The full document is at https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2026-05/assembly-democrats-budget-road-map.pdf and the accompanying news release is at https://speaker.asmdc.org/press-releases/20260507-assembly-democrats-release-road-map-responsible-and-compassionate-budget.

Note: Yours truly will be on an airplane May 14th so reporting on the May Revise may be delayed.

Changing times at the management school

From an interview in the Daily Bruin with Gareth James, the incoming dean of the Anderson School of Management: ...It’s a very challenging time for business schools in particular. Not only are there the challenges associated with topics that you raised in your question but while there’s increasing demand for business education at the undergraduate..., there’s some decline in interest in, for example, the MBA programs – which have been a mainstay for many business schools, including Anderson. 

We need to figure out in the long run – how do we provide a high-quality product to our students at a price point that the average individual can afford? Because obviously there’s massive not just tuition costs associated with doing a full-time MBA, but the opportunity cost of giving up two years of employment to come back to school to do that program. So we have to ensure that when students do that, they get the best possible experience and end up with great jobs at the end and a great experience during that time period.

Then in higher education, there’s somewhat related questions. Technological advances and changes in cultural norms over the last five years since COVID-19, that over the last 10 to 15 years overall – the student experience is very different than it used to be. When I first started teaching, you would have a lecture, and the vast majority of students would turn up for that lecture as long as it was a good instructor. These days, more and more of my colleagues are frustrated by the challenges of getting students to actually come into the classroom and experience the classes. As a father with two sons in college, I know they have some of the same challenges themselves. And the reality is that there are many more opportunities for students to learn now. There’s a lot of high-quality video and related materials online. If faculty post their lectures online, often students would rather watch it at one and a half or two times speed than sit in the classroom.

As instructors, we have to ask ourselves: What is the value proposition that we’re providing?

We have to be very careful to ensure that there’s an added benefit beyond just sitting in front of a screen and watching that video. … That physical campus experience and the interactivity of the students on that campus is a real value proposition and differentiator that no online video can provide...

Full interview at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/04/qa-incoming-dean-of-ucla-anderson-school-of-management-reflects-on-plans-future.