Aint that a shame?

It was another slow day at the worksite of the UCLA Grand Hotel yesterday.  The photo above was taken around 10:30 am.  Apparently, there was more action in the courtroom.  According to a media release put out by UCLA, a court decision removed the donors from one of the two lawsuits against the Grand Hotel.  (One lawsuit says the environmental review wasn't done properly; the other says the hotel will have to pay taxes.)  You can find the media release at:

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/donors-ucla-foundation-removed-248713.aspx

The Daily Bruin version, based on the release, is at:
http://dailybruin.com/2013/10/02/luskins-ucla-foundation-dismissed-as-defendants-in-case/

According to the media release, it was "shameful" that the plaintiffs had included the donors.  Actually, there are other aspects - not mentioned in the media release - that are a shame, as this blog has pointed out many times.  It is a shame that UCLA (and other UC campuses) are focusing donations on physical plant rather than human capital.  It is a shame that the Regents have no independent review capacity for reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars of capital projects that are quickly passed before them and ultimately rubber-stamp the plans.  It is a shame that at Regents meetings, the governor focuses on the petty cash drawer - MOOCs and online education - while ignoring the trainloads of money in capital projects whizzing by.  It is a shame that donor money is somehow regarded as not subject to trade-offs.  (Channeling more of it into X means less available for Y.) 

Ain't that a shame?