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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Help Wanted

The University of California Office of the President has named Isaacson, Miller to head a global search for a new UC Davis chancellor to replace Linda P.B. Katehi.
A committee made up of UC faculty, staff, students, alumni, regents and UC Davis Foundation representatives will help review candidates for the position, according to UCOP officials. The names of committee members will be released next month.
Isaacson, Miller contracts with numerous universities and has offices in San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. University officials didn’t respond to a request for the cost of the search firm.
The search committee is expect to recommend a new chancellor to the UC Board of Regents early next year.
Ralph J. Hexter will continue as acting chancellor during the search. He was the provost at UC Davis before he replaced Katehi after she resigned Aug. 9.
Katehi’s resignation came after UC officials released investigative findings that largely cleared her of the most serious allegations but found she violated some university policies for filing travel expenses and serving on corporate boards. The investigation also found that Katehi had personally and repeatedly sought ways to enhance her online reputation by hiring outside consultants, despite claims to the contrary to UC President Janet Napolitano and the media.
The chancellor had been on paid administrative leave since April 27...
Full story at:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article98840892.html
Given all that has transpired, this might require some tough searching:

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Listen to the Regents Health Committee Meeting of August 11, 2016

As we always do - although sometimes with a lag - we have archived the audio of the Regents health committee. The Regents "archive" their meetings for only one year for reasons unknown. We archive them indefinitely.

At this meeting, the highlight was discussion of whether the various UC medical centers should be operated independently or as a "system." Exactly, what operating as a system was not clear, but it seems to involve having particular centers specialize in particular procedures. It was not clear what such a system would mean in practice: Would patients be shipped from one center to another? Is that practical? Even the distance between say, UCLA and Irvine, is not negligible. There was also concern that faculty in the centers were not being consulted. Before this idea goes further, the Academic Senates at the various campuses involved may want to inject themselves into the discussion - invited or not.

You can hear the audio at the link below:

Monday, August 29, 2016

Maybe candy would have been dandy

Some blog readers may recall the criminal case brought against a UCLA faculty member in connection with a tragic lab accident that caused the death of a student. It was the kind of case that is normally settled via a civil suit. But the LA District Attorney's office brought criminal charges, initially against the Regents as well as the faculty member. Along the way, another faculty member in a totally unrelated situation was dragged in, seemingly as a kind of hostage, in the hopes of pressuring the university. Ultimately, the hostage case was dropped. And later the lab accident case was essentially dropped after UCLA refused to cave and hired an outside law firm to defend the faculty member. There never was any criminal conviction or anything close to it.*

Afterwards, the LA Times published a story grumbling about the dollar cost to the university of defending the faculty member.** As we noted at the time, the LA Times did not bother to present an accounting of what it cost the DA's office to prosecute the case.*** But now it appears from the Times that perhaps some of the dollars UCLA spent might have been better expended on "gifts" to the DA. We reproduce the opening paragraphs below in our continuing interest in being fair and balanced:

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey has accepted more than $10,000 worth of gifts over the last four years from criminal defense attorneys, police unions, business owners, prosecutors in her office and others who could have an interest in influencing her decisions as one of the most powerful law enforcement officials in the county, according to state records. The gifts include necklaces and a pearl box, sporting event tickets, bottles of wine, clothing and a glass rose dipped in 24-carat gold, the records show. 

A Los Angeles Times review of state disclosure records found that Lacey’s gift taking exceeded the amount disclosed over the same time period by the district attorneys of other large California jurisdictions, including Orange County, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino. San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascón disclosed more than $18,000 worth of gifts, but about $17,000 was for travel payments from mostly nonprofit organizations for speaking and panel events.  The state’s political ethics law allows public officials to accept gifts totaling $460 from any single source in a calendar year, but requires officials to disclose the gifts on public forms known as statements of economic interest...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-lacey-gifts-20160824-snap-story.html
---
*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2014/06/chem-lab-case-dismissed-sort-of.html
**http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ucla-legal-20141016-story.html
***http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2014/10/alternative-headline-might-be-la.html

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Bought OVER?


Some creative writing is hard to get over:

Saturday, August 27, 2016

UCLA Really Wants You to Drink Tap Water


Well, it's better than not having any water at all:

Friday, August 26, 2016

The World is Flat (broke?) at least at Berkeley

RICHMOND -- The proposed Berkeley Global Campus has been suspended indefinitely due to UC Berkeley's budget deficit, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks announced Thursday night.

The announcement was made during a closed door meeting between the chancellor and a group of Richmond city officials, residents and community activists.

Dirks, who last week announced that he was stepping down from his role as chancellor of the University of California's flagship campus, blamed the school's significant budgetary challenges, but pledged to continue to explore other options for the site that "reflect new priorities for the campus around enrollment growth and housing in the near future."

"The campus is also committed to continue working closely with the city of Richmond ... and existing partnerships in workforce training, procurement, and education," the school said in a statement released Thursday night.

The news was revealed during a meeting between Dirks and the Berkeley Global Campus Working Group, formed several years ago to press UC Berkeley to hire local workers and build housing for Richmond residents as part of its community benefits agreement...

Full story at http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breaking-news/ci_30292625/richmond-berkeley-global-campus-suspended-due-lack-funds

Ain't got no options?

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Some Information

Inside Higher Ed is running a piece today on how university boards - such as the regents - deal with, or should deal with, issues of "campus climate." The statement comes from the Association of Governing Boards. You can find the statement itself at http://agb.org/sites/default/files/agb-statements/statement_2016_campus_climate.pdf
and the write-up about the statement at:
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/08/25/trustee-group-issues-statement-campus-climate. The statement is pretty general; you probably won't find it to be controversial. However, since the UC system is a member of that Association, it's likely that its publications and views come to the attention of the regents and administrators. (Various UC campus foundations, including UCLA's, are also members.)

You can find out about the organization and read its reports at:
http://agb.org/

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Don't Take the Risk and Click

Did you receive an email today with the text below?

Good afternoon!
We wanted you to know that you received Honorable Mention as part of yesterday’s “Who’s Who in Academia” series, published by News Digest International and written by Connor Schaeffer...

It may be harmless. But the best thing to do is delete it and not click on your "honorable mention."

The Inside Story

Yours truly took a look inside the new UCLA Grand Hotel. No expense has been spared on the luxurious $150+ million UCLA Grand Hotel. Fancy artwork on the walls. Tours being held for event planners. But the word "hotel" is the one absent feature. Despite the numerous guest rooms, the check-in desk where guests register, etc., it's just a "conference center" according to the signage. Wonder why. There is that lawsuit about paying the same hotel taxes as other commercial hotels. Could that be the reason? Just asking.










Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Heaven at UCLA

...Dr Rajiv Parti was rushed into the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center on Christmas Eve in 2010 after complications removing his pancreatic cancer. Medics had given him a catheter to wear since he lost control of his bodily functions. But within hours, he had developed sepsis. His groin became red, swollen, sore, and he had a 105-degree fever. The next day, after being sedated overnight with morphine, he was wheeled into the operating room. It was in that moment that he witnessed what he believes was 'the afterlife'. And he has described the supposed 'details of heaven' in his new book, Dying To Wake Up...

Full story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3753766/Rare-details-heaven-revealed-Doctor-writes-book-chronicles-journey-afterlife-body-experience-surgery.html


Lesson: The next time you check into the UCLA hospital, be sure to take your shoes:

Monday, August 22, 2016

No Games at Berkeley

What is not going to be done
...Dirks called Napolitano on Monday, agreeing he would stay on through the academic year while she conducts a search for his replacement.

“In the end, it was Nick’s decision” to step down, she said.

Some faculty members who had been pushing for a “no confidence” vote on Dirks are still debating whether to call publicly for him to leave sooner, something Napolitano said is both “unnecessary and unwise.”

I don’t see any value in playing musical chairs,” the former Arizona governor and federal Homeland Security chief said.

Full story at http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/UC-chief-moving-on-finding-replacement-for-Cal-9174454.php?t=9afd55c4943aa214ae&cmpid=twitter-premium

No. We're not quite sure of the metaphor either. 

Replacement

Ron Johnson
Ken Burns
From Inside Higher Ed:

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, Republican in a tight re-election battle, says quality documentaries could replace many instructors, and blames tenured professors for preserving the "higher education cartel."...

Story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/22/gop-senator-save-money-replacing-instructors-ken-burns-videos

But maybe Burns could replace Johnson as a senator. We can see it now: (Sorry; won't work in iPhone)

Berkeley Bugs

Given Berkeley's budget problem - which is still in the hands of its semi-resigned chancellor - perhaps there are movie rights to be sold based on the story below from the Daily Cal:

The Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union building, a popular student study area and home to dozens of student organizations, was partially closed after bed bugs were discovered Tuesday on the second floor.
According to campus spokesperson Adam Ratliff, the pests were found in a seating cushion on the second floor and likely originated from a visitor.* With thousands of students set to arrive next week ahead of fall classes that start Wednesday, some areas in the building will remain closed until Sunday, he said...
---
*From a "visitor"? There's always the temptation to blame the outsider!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

No Office Crochet at Berkeley

A group of faculty at UC Berkeley is trying to build momentum for an effort to immediately oust Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, who is expected to step down from the top post next spring, at the end of the school year.

Dirks announced his resignation Tuesday, after three years as chancellor, in the face of rising criticism over his handling of this year’s $150 million budget crisis, his kid-glove treatment of star employees who sexually harassed students and colleagues, and other embarrassing headlines.

The resignation took faculty by surprise. Many, off on summer break, were taken by surprise again when they learned of UC President Janet Napolitano’s decision that Dirks will remain at the helm until a new leader arrives, which generally occurs at the end of an academic year.

Several professors are now expressing dismay at that arrangement. They fear that a pending investigation of Dirks by the UC president’s office could unleash yet more embarrassing headlines if allegations of improper accounting at his campus residence are upheld. Some faculty also don’t like the idea that Dirks could have an influence on the university for years to come if he uses his time to fill several top jobs that are vacant or occupied by an interim official.

Others see problems because they consider Dirks a figurehead chancellor at this point and say his $532,000 salary is a poor use of public funds — especially as the campus tries to close the $150 million deficit.

Dianne Klein, spokeswoman for Napolitano, said Dirks will be no figurehead in his final year.
“He’s the chancellor. He’s not going to be doing crochet in his office,” she said...

Full story at http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Faculty-say-time-for-outgoing-UC-Berkeley-chief-9175315.php?t=59de51586a7d4f3860&cmpid=twitter-premium

Departure is always difficult:

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Evolution!

As per below, it's such a romantic thought!

Friday, August 19, 2016

In case you were wondering, it costs more to live here

Click to enlarge
The Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency with the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, produces "regional price parities" which show the cost of living by state and metro areas relative to the U.S. average. As you can see above, California as a whole has living costs that are about 12% above the national average. Of course, California is a big state and within it there are considerable variations. If you look at metro areas such as LA or San Francisco, you get premiums more like 20% with rents being a particularly aggravating factor. (And there are significant variations within metro areas that escape the data.) The high cost of living complicates the offering of competitive faculty pay levels for the UC campuses premium areas.

The chart above comes from http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/rpp/rpp_newsrelease.htm.

BART?

From Inside Higher Ed:

For months, officials at the University of Iowa have been saying that they would launch a Bias Assessment and Response Team this fall. Such teams exist at many other colleges and universities and typically use the acronym BART.
Many advocates for minority students have pushed for the creation of BARTs, and the Black Student Union at Iowa reviewed and approved the idea of starting one.
But on Thursday, the university's chief diversity officer, Georgina Dodge, announced a change of course. The university will not be unveiling a BART at the start of the academic year, she said. Rather, it will respond to criticism of the BARTs elsewhere by creating a model that would not in any way intrude on faculty members' academic freedom.
"We have seen that the ways BARTs are functioning at some other institutions are not effective, and we want to build a better BART," she said.
BARTs differ somewhat from campus to campus, but the one at Ohio State University, which Dodge has said in the past was a model for efforts at Iowa, describes itself this way: "BART receives, monitors, refers and, as necessary, coordinates university responses to hate- and bias-related incidents that impact all or a significant portion of the university community. Incidents may involve bias or hate as a result of age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status."
Asked where she saw problems with a BART, Dodge cited the example of the University of Northern Colorado.
The BART at Northern Colorado became controversial this year after faculty members reported being told how they might change their classroom instruction to avoid offending some students. Many faculty members and others said the BART was effectively policing academic speech...

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Refreshments

Campus need a fresh start? It's easy! Sack the chancellor:

From the LA Times:
UC President Napolitano says chancellor resignations offer fresh start

...On Wednesday, (UC prez) Napolitano called the sudden vacancies (at Davis and Berkeley) an opportunity for a new start. “One of the things I’m here to do is identify issues and address them,” Napolitano said in an interview. “We don’t sit around saying ‘woe is me.’ This is an exciting opportunity to bring in fresh leadership to help two of the nation’s best research universities reach even greater heights.”...
Ahh!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Lesson for Chancellors: Don't hire consultants

They look so nice but...
UC Berkeley invested in consultants to boost chancellor’s image

San Francisco Chronicle, Nanette Asimov, 8-17-16

As UC Berkeley prepared to eliminate hundreds of jobs and take millions of dollars in loans to help balance its flagging budget, the campus also paid more than $200,000 to “improve the chancellor’s strategic profile nationally and internationally,” The Chronicle has learned.

The decision to pay outside consultants over the last year to burnish Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ global image is seen by some faculty as the latest in a series of missteps — including his kid-glove treatment of star employees who sexually harassed students and colleagues and his uneven handling of the campus’ $150 million budget deficit — that led to Dirks’ decision to step down.

The Chronicle broke the news Tuesday that Dirks, 66, will return to teaching next year. He is an India scholar.

It was in July 2015 that the campus hired Williamsworks, a Seattle consulting firm, to identify “fruitful domestic and international opportunities” for Dirks, such as TED talks, the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, and “elite media opportunities,” according to documents obtained by The Chronicle. The company would also provide “high-level staffing” at the events.

The yearlong contract called for UC Berkeley to spend $15,000 a month with Williamsworks and $8,250 a month with a subcontractor, Rosshirt. The companies agreed to “increase exposure and awareness” of Dirks’ vision for higher education, elevate the chancellor “as a key thought leader,” and “form key partnerships” so that potential donors would understand his philosophy. The efforts were part of a “branding strategy” for the campus.

According to the contract, “no in-house personnel could provide this high-level, networking, advisory, and strategic counseling service to the chancellor.”

A statement released by the campus in response to questions about the contract said no tuition or state funds paid for it. Campus officials could not say precisely where the money came from.

“Chancellor Dirks decided that the firm’s services were needed based on his assessment that the university would benefit if he were to have expanded access to and engagement with philanthropists around the world in order to increase philanthropic support for Berkeley,” the statement said.

It’s unclear what donations and speaking opportunities resulted from the arrangement. An Internet search shows that he spoke in May at the Milken Global Conference in Southern California.

Asked to comment on the contract, some faculty members declined, while others reacted with skepticism about the wisdom of the expenditure.

“I doubt he’ll last the year,” said Michael Burawoy, a sociology professor who co-chairs the Berkeley Faculty Association, a group of about 250 dues-paying faculty members.

Burawoy explained his prescient remark, made just days before Dirks submitted his resignation.

“Rather than engaging with the campus — talking to students, having town meetings, recruiting people into his cabinet who are trusted members of the campus — he sees himself flying around the world. He calls on people from the outside and barricades himself in his home,” Burawoy said, referring to the infamous $700,000 fence constructed around Dirks’ campus residence this year.

In May, Dirks narrowly avoided a vote of no confidence in his leadership at a meeting of the Faculty Senate, where several members expressed skepticism over his handling of campus crises.

Dirks’ decision to resign comes as a one-line petition to resurrect that vote has circulated in some faculty circles: “The Academic Senate of the Berkeley Division of the University of California has no confidence in the leadership of Chancellor Nicholas Dirks.”

Dirks became chancellor in June 2013, arriving from Columbia University, where he had served as executive vice president of arts and sciences. In July, the regents gave Dirks a $15,000 raise, increasing his pay 3 percent to $531,939.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/UC-Berkeley-Chancellor-Nicholas-Dirks-planning-to-9146561.php

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Like we said, heads will roll

As we noted in a previous post* concerning the Katehi resignation, there will be more heads rolling:

The University of California, Berkeley chancellor has resigned his post after critics alleged he was too lenient when handling sexual harassment cases involving high-profile faculty members.
University of California President Janet Napolitano said she accepted UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirk's resignation Tuesday.
Napolitano said Dirks plans to stay on until a new successor is named and in place. She says a committee will be immediately formed to begin a global search for a new chancellor.
In a message to the campus community, Dirks says he plans to become a full-time professor at the university...
----

The Seemingly Endless Repercussions of the Katehi Affair

Endless
We have received the following communication from the UC-Davis Academic Senate dated August 15, 2016:

Academic Senate Members

University of California, Davis

RE: Non-Consensual Access to Electronic Communications

Dear Colleagues:

During the course of the investigation of Chancellor Katehi, the UCOP Office of Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services asserted that under the University audit policy they had the right to non-consensual access to the entire Senate Chair email account to conduct their own search of Senate communications regarding the Chancellor. I had earlier complied with a request for communications and {sic of?} three members of the UC Davis administration, but I refused to consent to full access to Divisional Senate records and UCOP declined to authorize an additional request from the President’s outside investigator for full access.

At my request, Academic Council Chair Dan Hare asked Chief Legal Counsel Charlie Robinson to give an opinion as to whether investigations of policy violations are considered “audits” within the meaning of the Internal Audit Management Charter and describe the circumstances under which non-consensual access to Senate records may be obtained. To date Mr. Robinson has not fully answered the inquiry and is analyzing Regents policy.

In my opinion the potential for nonconsensual access to confidential Senate communications undermines the functioning of the Senate and therefore the practice of shared governance. For that reason I proposed the following resolution to the Academic Council which was adopted at the July 27, 2016, council meeting and communicated to the President on August 10, 2016:[1]

WHEREAS:

Shared governance with the Academic Senate is a cornerstone of the University of California; and The expectation of privacy in internal communications among members of the Senate is fundamental to the effective functioning of the Academic Senate,

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

A search of the electronic records of the Academic Senate, a Divisional Senate, or of any committee thereof without consent is an extreme and excessively intrusive measure. It is warranted only in the most extraordinary circumstances and is to be avoided whenever possible, even if permitted by the Electronic Communications Policy or other University policy. No non-consensual search of such electronic records should be undertaken without notice and consultation with the Chair of the Academic Council, or, in the case of a search involving a Division of the Academic Senate, the Chair of the affected Division.

To date there has been no response from the President’s office. I bring this matter to your attention to make the faculty aware that under the auspices of the University audit policy, a question is pending as to the standards and procedures for non-consensual access to Senate e-mail records.

Sincerely,

André Knoesen
Chair, Academic Senate
Professor: Electrical and Computer Engineering
---
[1] Note this resolution relates to access of records of the Academic Senate and its committees. Under UC Davis policies, access without consent to electronic records of a UC Davis faculty member, as defined in APM 110-4(14), requires that the Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor must consult, in writing, with the Chair of the Academic Senate prior to approving access or inspection of electronic records without consent (http://manuals.ucdavis.edu/PPM/310/310-24b.pdf). Other UC campuses do not have such a requirement. It is not clear what impact the Davis policy would have if non-consensual access to a Davis faculty member’s electronic records were sought by OP auditors or others in OP.
===
Note: This is probably a good place to remind our blog readers that you should not think of your emails as "private," particularly if you are at a public university. Even if you use some outside service such as gmail, you likely will communicate with folks at public universities. And, in any case, any email you send to anyone can be forwarded - deliberately or inadvertently - to someone else with a press of a key.

UCLA History: Sproul

UC President Robert Sproul attends dedication ceremony for Westwood campus of UCLA in 1930.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Hello! Is anyone there? Anyone?

The Bruin provides a photo selection of the UCLA Grand Hotel. Hard to find a person in the photos. Hmmm:
http://dailybruin.com/2016/08/14/a-look-into-the-new-luskin-center/

No Problem: They're a Dime a Dozen

The Sacramento Bee editorial board has a few qualifications for the next UC-Davis chancellor:

Like Katehi, the next chancellor should raise lots of money ("millions of dollars"), be "strategic," work "exceptionally well" with the local business community, and think "big." Also, the new chancellor should have "diplomatic skills, emotional intelligence and good judgment." And "impeccable academic credentials" are needed. The new chancellor should work to create the right "balance" between STEM fields and the humanities. He or she will have to have a "willingness to work with the region" and develop the campus culture "entrepreneurially."

See http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article95413417.html

Undoubtedly, qualified applicants with these qualifications will be lining up as soon as the job is posted.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Weird Tale

The Sacramento Bee is carrying a column in which the theme is that the one person who came out smelling like a rose from the Katehi affair was Katehi's lawyer. Yet - unless Katehi was refusing the advice of her lawyer - dragging the process out was a terrible strategy. We have no reason to think that Katehi wasn't in fact following the advice of her lawyer. So it sure seems as though she was getting bad advice. Does anyone really think that Napolitano & Co. would not have preferred a quiet resignation? Does anyone really think that all the bad PR that came out of a 100+ page investigatory report was a good thing for Katehi? Maybe the lawyer told the columnist a self serving tale. Who knows? Just an example: The columnist seems to think that the fact that Katehi retained her (tenured) faculty appointment was a great victory. But it was a tenured position so of course she retained it. The columnist seems to think that dragging out the process preserved Katehi's reputation as an academic and that therefore she will be able to raise money (by which presumably he means research grants). What a weird idea!

Read it for yourself, and wonder:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/marcos-breton/article95538262.html

How (not) to win friends and influence people

University of California regents have boosted the annual pay of UCSF Medical Center’s chief executive past the $1 million mark, a move criticized by advocates for janitors who became embroiled in a labor dispute with the hospital after their pay was cut nearly in half. At their health committee meeting Thursday, the regents awarded Mark Laret a 5 percent pay hike, a $50,000 increase that raised his base salary to $1,041,543. Through other allowances and awards, Laret earned $1.2 million in 2015 and $1.6 million in 2014.

That did not include the $556,000 a year that Laret earns on average by serving on the boards of two vendors that sell products to UCSF.

“You’d think that an institution like UCSF would have a sensitivity to those issues,” said San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee, who in February supported the supervisors’ resolution calling on UCSF to “rectify serious breaches of workers’ rights” in the janitors dispute.

In March, the state Public Employment Relations Board filed a complaint against the university, accusing it of retaliating against 24 janitors who picketed UCSF in 2014. The hospital had moved their jobs to a third-party contractor that cut their pay by about $8 an hour to the minimum wage of $10.74.

On Friday, the hospital agreed to offer jobs back to 22 of the janitors, but only on probationary status, Yee said.

Yee noted that some of the janitors had been UCSF employees for decades. “I don’t think UCSF has any inkling of what social justice means, and you can’t separate the regents from UCSF,” said Yee, who visited UCSF last week with Board of Supervisors President London Breed to urge Chancellor Sam Hawgood to drop the probation requirement...

Full story at http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/UCSF-med-center-s-CEO-gets-pay-boost-to-1-9139909.php

Japanese Garden Sale Closes

Blog readers will recall the long saga of the attempt by UCLA to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air, the resulting litigation, and finally a sale for $12+ million with a deal with the buyer to preserve the garden. Our most recent post for those who don't recall is at:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2016/06/regents-accept-offer-from-buyer-of.html
In any case, a note in the LA Times confirms that the sale has now been completed:

$12.51 million — Bel-Air
The Regents of the University of California sold an estate on about 2 acres in the 600 block of Siena Way to a California-based limited liability company.
The longtime home of late businessman Edward W. Carter, who for decades served as president of the suburban department store chain Broadway Stores, the property had been listed for sale at $14 million, records show.
Built in the late 1930s, the estate centers on a traditional-style home with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 7,300 square feet of living space. A two-bedroom guesthouse, a swimming pool, an outdoor pavilion, gardens and mature landscaping fill the hedged grounds.
Carter passed away in 1996 at 84; the property was deeded over to the Regents of the University of California, for which Carter was a former chair, in 2011.
Joyce Essex Harvey and Danny Harvey of Coldwell Banker held the listing. Jonathan Seltzer of Teles Properties repped the buyer.
Note that the LA Times' story misses the fact that UCLA is to provide $500,000 as an endowment to maintain the garden. Still unknown is whether there will be any public access to the garden. For a long time, UCLA maintained limited public access, although it ended when the attempt to sell began. (Regent Emerita Velma Montoya spotted the article.)

Saturday, August 13, 2016

UCLA History: ROTC

ROTC has a long history at UCLA. The photo above is from the Vermont Avenue campus in 1928. During the Vietnam War, ROTC was the target of protests. As the photo below shows, an ROTC office was damaged by fire in 1970, apparently set in protest of the Vietnam War.
Before that event, however, a unique method of disrupting ROTC on campus was recorded in the late 1960s:

Friday, August 12, 2016

The Scarlet (15-page) Letter

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi decided to step down Tuesday rather than attend an upcoming Board of Regents meeting on her fate after learning that her boss, UC President Janet Napolitano, had already weighed in with a 15-page letter spelling out the reasons she had to go.

Katehi had been expected to appear at a closed-door regents meeting Thursday in San Diego to respond to a 102-page report into whether she had engaged in nepotism, misled Napolitano and misused her office by contracting with firms to plant positive stories about her and UC Davis after the infamous 2011 incident in which campus police pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters.

Napolitano, however, had already delivered her verdict, stating in her letter to the regents that Katehi had repeatedly “exercised poor judgment” and “engaged in a pattern of misrepresentation” to both the president and the public.

Although she acknowledged Katehi’s “numerous achievements” at Davis, Napolitano said she had “lost confidence” in the chancellor and recommended her removal.

“The letter was brutal — there was so much more there than has been seen by the public,” said one regent, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Another regent said that although the investigation “didn’t find overwhelming evidence of a terminable offense, the reality is that the relationship was so destroyed that it would be untenable at this point for Katehi to stay on.”

Once she saw the letter, Katehi pulled the plug and killed the meeting.

“She wanted to see the report before she made any decision,” said Larry Kamer, the public relations expert whom Katehi brought in as her spokesman after she was suspended in April.

“She read it over, talked with those close to her, and decided that while she had been cleared of the more serious allegations, it was time to step out of the spotlight and return to teaching, which is what she truly loves,” Kamer said...

Full Matier and Ross column at http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/UC-Davis-chancellor-knew-she-was-out-of-time-9132635.php?t=4f664734f8e5bced66&cmpid=email-premium

Note: The actual letter has not been released to the public, unlike a redacted version of the investigatory report.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Traffic Alert for Friday

Be advised that vehicles will not be able to enter or exit campus at the Hilgard/CEY East intersection on August 12 between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. due to road work. The nearest alternative entrances/exits for those who normally take that route will be at either Wyton or Royce Drives, both of which will remain open.