Census Study Says Citizen Question Harms Accurate Count

California and other states are challenging the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census of Population. The fear is that it would lead to an undercount in states such as California which have large immigrant populations, thus causing loss of congressional representation, electoral college votes, and various federal funds sources.

A U.S. Bureau of the Census study now says the citizen question is likely to harm an accurate count:

Understanding the Quality of Alternative Citizenship Data Sources for the 2020 Census

J. David Brown, Misty L. Heggeness, Suzanne M. Dorinski, Lawrence Warren, Moises Yi

Abstract:

This paper examines the quality of citizenship data in self-reported survey responses compared to administrative records and evaluates options for constructing an accurate count of resident U.S. citizens. Person-level discrepancies between survey-collected citizenship data and administrative records are more pervasive than previously reported in studies comparing survey and administrative data aggregates. Our results imply that survey-sourced citizenship data produce significantly lower estimates of the noncitizen share of the population than would be produced from currently available administrative records; both the survey-sourced and administrative data have shortcomings that could contribute to this difference. Our evidence is consistent with noncitizen respondents misreporting their own citizenship status and failing to report that of other household members. At the same time, currently available administrative records may miss some naturalizations and capture others with a delay. The evidence in this paper also suggests that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census would lead to lower self-response rates in households potentially containing noncitizens, resulting in higher fieldwork costs and a lower-quality population count.

Suggested Citation:

J. David Brown & Misty L. Heggeness & Suzanne M. Dorinski & Lawrence Warren & Moises Yi, 2018. "Understanding the Quality of Alternative Citizenship Data Sources for the 2020 Census," Working Papers 18-38, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2018/CES-WP-18-38.pdf

https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/18-38.html

Food for Thought

From People magazine: The time has come to put your avocado obsession to work.

Several universities, including Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Pennsylvania State University, Tufts University, the University of California Los Angeles and Wake Forest University, are partnering to research the weight loss effects of avocados, according to the Daily Mail. The study is funded by the Hass Avocado Board.

Together they are looking for 1,000 participants to take part in the six-month trial, which will focus on whether or not eating one avocado per day reduces visceral adipose fat in the abdomen.

To qualify as a participant, you must be at least 25 years old, willing to eat one avocado per day for six months as part of the test group or two avocados per month for six months as part of the control group. Men must measure at least 40 inches around their waist, while women must measure at least 35 inches.

Source: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article217522790.html

That's all yours truly knows. But you can get in touch with the study's sponsor at:
http://www.hassavocadoboard.com/

Listen to the Regents Compensation Working Group: Aug. 14, 2018

Did you know that the Regents Compensation Working Group met on August 14th in an off-calendar meeting? Yours truly didn't know. Neither did two public comment speakers who complained of finding out about the meeting by accident at the last minute. Anyway, the Group did meet to discuss a plan to narrow the salary ranges at UCOP as per the recommendations of the state auditor. There was no vote, but there was a general agreement to go along with a consultant's recommendation.

You can hear the audio of the meeting at the link below. Note: For some reason, there are problems with using Chrome in hearing the recording. I have notified archive.org (where the files are stored) of the problem, which seems to have developed recently. Use some other browser if you have a problem. Try Firefox or Internet Explorer:

or:
https://archive.org/details/CompWorkingGroup

Grade Inflation - Part 2

Apparently, the (humorous) grade inflation threat* is now a thing of the past, according to the Daily Cal:

The UC Office of the President, or UCOP, announced Monday that it reached a four-year contract with UC Student-Workers Union, or United Auto Workers Local 2865.

Agreements reached include a 3 percent annual wage increase, a one-time payment of $100 for every eligible employee, an increased childcare subsidy, a partial campus fee waiver and the establishment of a joint labor-management committee on sexual harassment issues and training.

UAW Local 2865 represents the UC’s academic student employees, or ASEs, including readers, tutors, graduate student instructors, teaching assistants and research assistants at the nine teaching campuses of the UC, according to its website...

Full story at http://www.dailycal.org/2018/08/29/uc-student-workers-union-reaches-contract-agreement-with-uc-office-of-the-president/

===

Prior post at http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2018/08/grade-inflation.html

Library Speech

Do College Librarians Have Academic Freedom? Amid Push, California’s ‘Will Not Be Silent’

By Lindsay Ellis, Aug. 27, 2018,
Chronicle of Higher Ed

Librarians from across the U. of California system gathered at UCLA last month during contract talks. Their union is seeking explicit recognition of their academic freedom in a new contract. Administrators disagree.

Elaine Franco didn’t think the title of her presentation at the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting six years ago was all that controversial: "Copy cataloging gets some respect from administrators."

But an administrative colleague of Franco’s at the University of California at Davis raised concerns about the title, an allusion to Rodney Dangerfield’s "I don’t get no respect" catchphrase. When she saw the 2012 slide deck, which Franco had emailed her, she wondered if the title inappropriately implied that copy catalogers had been disrespected by administrators previously, Franco recalled.

The disagreement caught the attention of a union negotiator. And now the episode has helped set off a crusade for academic freedom for employees of the 100-library UC System, amid negotiations to replace a contract that is set to expire at the end of September.

Inspired in part by Franco’s cautionary tale, the union sought to include a provision in the new contract clarifying that librarians have academic freedom. The union says negotiators for the system rejected the proposal, and librarians and academics nationwide have rallied to support the UC librarians...


The UC System did not make negotiators available for an interview, citing the continuing contract talks.

Claire Doan, a spokeswoman, said UC policies on academic freedom "do not extend to nonfaculty academic personnel, including librarians," adding that the university’s goal in the negotiations is to reach agreement on issues including competitive pay and health-care and retirement benefits for librarians. She said librarians play a "crucial" role at the university.

"The provision of academic freedom (or a derivative thereof) is a complex issue that has been rooted in faculty rights, professional standards, and obligations — and requires extensive examination and discussion," Doan wrote in a statement. "Historically, this is also the case at research universities where librarians are not faculty. We will continue negotiating with the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, endeavoring to better understand the union’s stance on academic freedom and other pertinent issues.

Martin J. Brennan, a copyright librarian on the Los Angeles campus who is part of the University Council-AFT negotiating team, said he was surprised by what he characterized as the system negotiators’ plain rejection of the union’s request.

UC librarians never have had reason to doubt that they possessed academic freedom, and adding the statement, Brennan said, should have been just a formality.

A university policy on academic freedom includes guidance specifically for faculty members and students. But it says that the guidance "does nothing to diminish the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by other academic appointees," which Brennan said librarians had interpreted to mean that other university employees hold the right.

"We thought it would be a no-brainer," Brennan said. He declined to speculate on whether UC was pushing back on this issue so that librarians would back away from other disputes in the negotiations. "This is not just a bargaining chip of an issue for us. This is a fundamental ethic of our profession."

Union representatives proposed in late April a guarantee of academic freedom to all librarians so that they could fulfill responsibilities for teaching, scholarship, and research. The union represents about 350 people, more than 90 percent of whom are members of the union, Brennan said.

UC negotiators said in July that academic freedom was "not a good fit" for the librarians’ unit, according to the union. They argued, the union said, that academic freedom is for instructors of record and students when they are in the classroom or conducting related research.

Administrators told the union that they would consider a different intellectual-freedom policy for librarians with a name other than "academic freedom," according to the union.

The librarians’ crusade has drawn support in the form of a petition signed by about 650 people, including librarians and faculty members from Skidmore College, in New York, to the University of Oregon to the University of West Georgia. The next negotiating session is on Tuesday, and the union is handing out buttons that say, "Librarians will not be silent" and "Make some noise."

The chair of the American Association of University Professors’ committee on academic freedom and tenure has also backed the UC librarians explicitly. Hank Reichman wrote for the AAUP’s Academe blog that the UC negotiators "are wrong" to say their position aligns with the AAUP’s.

The AAUP has previously said librarians and faculty members have the same professional concerns, calling academic freedom "indispensable" to librarians because they ensure the availability of information to teachers and students.

"The language proposed by UC-AFT is, therefore, totally consistent with long-accepted principles in the academic and library communities, including with the principles of academic freedom as defined for over a century by the AAUP," he wrote. "The University of California is well advised to accept this sensible proposal."

Academic freedom exists so a university can speak the truth and encourage free expression, Brennan said. He fears recruitment repercussions if potential hires know "they will not be able to speak freely."

The colleague who criticized the title of Franco’s presentation, and whom Franco declined to name, ultimately apologized to Franco, she said.

Still, each time Franco presented the data after that initial ALA talk, she used a different introduction. "I didn’t use that title again."

Source: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Do-College-Librarians-Have/244377

Joint Custody?

Koretz

From the Bruin: The Westwood Neighborhood Council wants a Los Angeles City council member to veto the decision on the official borders of a new neighborhood council. 

The WWNC created a motion Aug. 8 requesting Councilmember Paul Koretz of District 5 to veto a motion on the decision of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners hearing Monday. The BONC, which oversees neighborhood councils in Los Angeles, will hear prospective bylaws from the North Westwood Neighborhood Council and decide the final borders of the subdivision of Westwood. 

The NWWNC was approved following a May 22 vote to subdivide the area currently overseen by the WWNC. The borders of the new council would include UCLA, Westwood Village and the North Village. 

Code 245 in the LA City Charter allows council members to veto decisions made by any board of commissioners if the decision receives a two-thirds majority approval from the city council. If passed, the motion could nullify the result of the hearing. 

The WWNC submitted a proposal on the boundaries of the two neighborhood councils, in which the two councils would share jurisdiction of Westwood Village. The WWNC argues that without Westwood Village, the jurisdiction of the WWNC is almost exclusively residential...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2018/08/26/wwnc-requests-for-council-members-veto-of-new-neighborhood-councils-borders/

UCLA History: Homecoming

UCLA Homecoming, some time in 1950s

Here we go again

Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, whose campus visits often draw protests, plans a return visit to UC Irvine in October.

UCI’s College Republicans announced on Friday they will be hosting the controversial speaker after he was dropped a day earlier from an upcoming political convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Yiannopoulos was booted from Politicon, which bills itself as “the unconventional political convention,” following a firestorm of protests on social media against his appearance, according to news reports...

Full story at https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/24/ucis-college-republicans-plan-to-bring-back-milo-yiannopoulos-newly-dropped-from-politicon-lineup/

Meaning unclear

I can't tell you exactly what the memo of July 31, 2018 above means. (You can enlarge the top and bottom of the memo by clicking on them.) But it appears to suggest discontinuation of campus pension retirement counseling on those campuses that have it (which include UCLA), and disruption of retiree health counseling. If more info becomes available, it will be passed along. Note that retirement counseling primarily affects active employees who are considering retirement and need to know what benefits they would receive.

UCLA: Mardi Gras '43

UCLA Mardi Gras: 1943

UCLA History: Bear

Presentation of the UCLA bear statue in 1984.

UCLA History: Dance

Photo from 1932 said to be a dance class at UCLA. From the Facebook page of "You know you grew up in West Los Angeles if you remember..."

One way or another

From Inside Higher Ed: As the University of California marks its 150th anniversary this year, it faces constraints on key revenue sources even as the state’s population is expected to keep growing. So leaders of the 10-campus, 273,000-student system may be approaching a crossroads.

System leaders might choose to grow enrollment without enough funding, a decision that could lead to slipping quality. Or they might decide to limit enrollment growth in order to keep up quality and productivity measures.

Those two extremes are outlined in a new report out Monday from authors at the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, a higher education think tank approaching issues from a scholarly perspective. They aren’t the only paths leaders will be able to choose -- the report also outlines a number of different ideas, many of which public universities have tried in other states.

Those ideas include politically dicey prospects like expanding online degree programs and revamping UC governance to include campus governing boards to handle some local decision making. Yet without some major changes in trajectory, it is hard to envision a future where the UC system is able to grow its enrollment capacity in lockstep with expected growth in California’s population and increased need for educated workers in the state, authors write.

“Individual campuses, such as Berkeley and UCLA, may be able to generate other income sources to maintain their quality and reputation,” the report says. “But there is no clear funding model or pathway for the system to grow with the needs of the people of California.”...

Full article at:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/21/report-asks-whether-university-california-funding-nearing-tipping-point

Underlying report at:
https://cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/publications/douglassbleemer.tipping_point_report.august_20_2018_0.pdf

Senate Role or Senate Rolled?

Of late, there have been a number of high-profile cases in which faculty are accused of sexual harassment/assault and some penalty is announced. News accounts seem never to mention any Academic Senate role in the investigation or in the outcome of such "Title 9" cases. The latest example is a case at Berkeley:

http://www.dailycal.org/2018/08/20/uc-berkeley-suspends-campus-architecture-professor-sexually-harassing-graduate-student/

Isn't the Senate supposed to have some role in faculty misconduct investigations? Granted, it's a sensitive topic and maybe no one wants to touch it. But we'll touch it here and ask the question. Where is the Senate?

UPDATE: Inside Higher Ed today mentions a Senate recommendation for a lesser penalty in the Berkeley case than was actually imposed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/08/21/uc-berkeley-suspends-professor-harassment
Yours truly remains concerned about the Senate being on the periphery of these cases. The same issues concerning due process that have surfaced in student-on-student cases arise in faculty-on-student cases.

UCLA History: Easy Medical Parking

Easy and - I believe - free parking at the UCLA Med School in the late 1950s.

UCLA History: Warren

Governor Earl Warren signs bill authorizing creation of a medical school at UCLA (1945)

UCLA History: '32 Snow

Another 1932 snow scene

More Slow

As we do on slow news days, here is a photo of the construction of the new Anderson building. Although yours truly did spot more workers on site than in the past, it would be hard to describe what he saw as feverish activity.

UCLA History: Gershwins

George and Ira Gershwin at UCLA in 1936. They gave the song, "Strike Up the Band (for UCLA)" to the university. Photo from the Facebook page of "You know you grew up in West Los Angeles if you remember..."

We included a link to an old recording of the song in a post yesterday.

Back-to-Back Losses

If you didn't see it, the LA Times yesterday included a lengthy article on the suicides of two former UCLA athletes: http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/la-sp-ucla-honeycutt-knight-20180814-story.html

Shanghaied

[Click on table to enlarge]

UCLA ranked No. 2 public university in U.S., No. 11 overall globally: ShanghaiRanking Consultancy measures six key criteria in its Academic Ranking of World Universities
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-ranked-no-2-public-university-in-u-s-no-11-overall-globally
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2018.html

Grade Inflation

Interesting sign

The Bruin carries photo (apparently from Tuesday a week ago) of union protesters at the chancellor's office:

University of California student workers held a rally Tuesday to put pressure on the University to accept their demands for their new contract. Roughly 100 people from United Auto Workers Local 2865 and its allies set up tents and banners outside of Murphy Hall to demand proper compensation, sexual harassment policy changes and immigrant protections...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2018/08/12/student-worker-union-holds-protest-for-provisions-in-new-contract-with-uc/

Nine Close to Home

Judge Holds UC Regents in Contempt in UCSB Stalking Case

A state court judge in Santa Barbara found that the school's revised decision in a case she sent back to the school for further review was "merely a poorly rewritten decision that appears to be a justification for the earlier result."

By Ross Todd | August 13, 2018 at 05:02 PM | The Recorder

A state trial court judge in Santa Barbara has held the Regents of the University of California in contempt in a case where she ordered the UC Santa Barbara to review the findings of a stalking case which resulted in a student expulsion.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna Geck last year gave UCSB the option of either reconsidering the appeal brought by the John Doe student in full or for the same appellate panel to review the case based on evidence beyond what was in the school’s Title IX investigative report, including evidence and statements presented by the parties at the hearing before the school’s Interpersonal Violence Appeal Review Committee.

Geck wrote in her contempt order handed down Friday that the school’s revised decision, which only changed the introductory sentence of one section, was “merely a poorly rewritten decision that appears to be a justification for the earlier result.” She ordered Doe reinstated to UCSB for the fall semester and scheduled for classes.

A spokeswoman for the UC Regents directed a request for comment to UCSB representatives. A spokeswoman for the school emailed the following statement: “The safety of our students and our campus community is our highest priority. We are currently reviewing the court’s order and considering our options, which include the possibility of appealing.”

UC is represented by Hailyn Chen and John Major of Munger Tolles & Olson.

The underlying case began in May 2016 when a fellow student who had briefly dated Doe in September 2015 reported to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office that for about a year he had followed her to and from her classes, staying about 100 feet behind her. She also accused Doe of having an unidentified third party send a series of disturbing phone calls and text messages to her.

After the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department took no action against Doe, the woman initiated a Title IX complaint against him at UC Santa Barbara. Doe denied the allegations, but the Title IX investigator assigned to the case found that it was “more likely than not” that he had stalked the woman.

In November 2016, Sandra Vasquez the school’s associate dean of students and director of the Office of judicial Affairs, agreed with the investigator’s finding and decided that dismissing Doe from UCSB was the appropriate sanction. Doe appealed that decision to the school’s internal Interpersonal Violence Appeal Review Committee, which upheld Vasquez’s decision in early 2017.

Doe’s lawyers, Mark Hathaway and Jenna Eyrich of Werksman Jackson Hathaway & Quinn in Los Angeles. asked the superior court for a writ of mandate setting aside the ruling in the school’s appeal arguing, in part, that the decision was unreasonable, given the evidence. They contended that the committee had improperly limited its review to the evidence presented in the investigator’s report. Geck granted the writ in December 2017 on that basis, writing that it was “not an academic conclusion” and that “standard of review is very important in a reviewing whether a decision is unreasonable based on the evidence.”

Back at the school, the committee reached the same decision on second look earlier this year. The committee’s written decision added a single additional sentence to its original, stating that it had taken into account evidence from the statements by Doe and his accuser at its earlier hearing, and testimony from others on top of the previously considered investigator’s findings.

But Geck was unpersuaded by the university’s contention that it had acted in accordance with her earlier ruling.

“The language of the Revised Appeal Decision is identical in every respect to the original Appeal Decision, except for the introductory sentence regarding Ground 2,” Geck wrote in Friday’s opinion. 

“The contradictory statements in the discussion of Ground 2 indicate that the panel did not genuinely reconsider the case, but simply added language that would make the original decision look like a truly reconsidered decision.”

Source: https://www.law.com/therecorder/2018/08/13/judge-holds-uc-regents-in-contempt-in-ucsb-stalking-case/  [Contains link to court decision]

#7 Ain't Bad

For what it's worth, UCLA Med Center came in #7 in U.S. News rankings. Details at:
https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals

What Will Be the Fate of UCLA Bike Sharing?

Yours truly sees folks on electric rent-a-scooters on campus. He hasn't seen much rent-a-bike activity. In Dallas, as the story below describes, the rent-a-bike folks gave up and scrapped their bikes, as per the photo above.

You can read the NPR story at:
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/07/636347531/hundreds-of-bikes-dumped-at-dallas-recycling-center-as-ofo-leaves-market
The question is: Can UCLA make a go of rent-a-bikes given the e-scooter competition.

UCLA History: Presidential Visit

The photo on the left appeared on the Facebook page, "You know you grew up in West Los Angeles if you remember..."

It purports to show a brief visit in 1936 by President Roosevelt to UCLA. The upper panel is said to show Roosevelt's hand waiving his hat.

The lower panel is said to show students returning to class after the visit.

A quick search of LA Public Library photos shows Roosevelt visiting LA in 1938, so the 1936 date may be wrong. See below. The car looks similar except the top is down in the 1938 photo. And Roosevelt is waiving his hat:

If anyone wants to do further research and clear up the date, please do so.

Good News, Bad News, Probably No News

The state controller's cash report for July is out. July is the first month of the 2018-19 fiscal year. The good news is that total revenues are up 8.9% from the same month last year. The bad news is that total revenues a 4.3% of what was forecast when the 2018-19 state budget was being enacted. Also not good is that the sales tax component - which is a proxy for consumption activity - is down from both the forecast levels and from last year. Is this an indication of some kind of slowdown? Does it instead relate to some one-off event such as wild fires?

Finally, with only one month's observation, what we have is most likely noise, unless the pattern persists.

You can find the controller's cash report for July at:
https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/July%202018%20Statement%20of%20General%20Fund%20Cash%20Receipts%20and%20Disbursements.pdf.

Another Slow Day

 As we do on slow news days, hear are photos of the new Anderson building going up as of this past week.

Maybe a lot of progress has been made since the last photos.* My untrained eye didn't see much, nor did I spot a lot of folks working on the structure during the business day. Anyone monitoring the progress?
===
*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-slow-day.html

Halloween Comes Early

In today's email:

Dear Faculty:

In anticipation of UCLA’s transition to UCPath, At Your Service Online (AYSO) will become ‘read-only’ starting August 30, 2018.

AYSO will be unavailable for self-service transactions due to the conversion to the UCPath Portal that will take place in early September. When logging into AYSO after August 30, you will only have access to view and download pay statements and W2’s, download employment verification, and view retirement information. You will also have the ability to update your beneficiary information, however all other functions, such as making changes or updates to your personal or payroll information, will be disabled.

Beginning September 23, 2018, all UCLA employees will have access to the UCPath Portal. Once you have access, you will use the UCPath Portal to change or update your personal information, access your pay statements, and view your benefits. Instructions for accessing the UCPath Portal will be provided in the coming weeks.

Please note that you will continue to access AYSO for historical and retirement information after UCPath goes live. Pay statements (previous 18 months) and W2’s for earnings before the UCPath Portal launch will remain available in AYSO.

If you need to make changes to your personal or payroll information between August 30 – September 23, 2018 you must contact the UCPath Center by calling (855) 982-7284 (Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) to speak with an associate. Additionally, employment verification will also remain available on AYSO, however, if the information you see is not up-to-date, you should contact the UCPath Center.

Retirees are not impacted by the transition to UCPath. Retirees will continue to have access to AYSO as they do today and will be able to update their address, withholdings, direct deposit, etc. without interruption.

There are a couple of things active employees can do to prepare for these changes:

	1.	If you haven’t already done so, log into AYSO and verify that your personal information is correct. The information in AYSO will be converted directly to UCPath.
	2.	Ensure that you have a Single Sign-On (SSO). You will use your SSO to log into the UCPath Portal. The UCLA Logon ID is the SSO for all UCLA employees. If you are a Health Systems employee, you can also log in with your Mednet ID after you have created your UCLA Logon ID. To create a UCLA Logon ID, visit the UCLA Identity and Accounts Manager.
		•	SSO requires Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). If you haven’t done so already, be sure to enroll in MFA. Visit the IT Security Office MFA at UCLA website for more information.

For more information about UCPath and what you can do to prepare, please visit the UCLA UCPath website.

We regret any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding of the changes that are necessary to support a smooth transition to UCPath.

Thank you,

UCLA UCPath Team

Another Cautionary Tale: This One from a Private University

A few days ago, we posted a cautionary tale from the University of Michigan - a public university - about providing due process in sexual harassment/assault complaint cases.* Here is one closer to home from a private university:

Court Revives Claremont McKenna Student's Appeal Over Sexual Misconduct Suspension

The Second District Court of Appeal held that in a case that turned on believing the accuser's version of conflicting accounts, the process should have included opportunities to hear from the accuser in person or by video conference and to ask her appropriate questions.

By Ross Todd | August 9, 2018 | Law.com

A California appellate court has revived the appeal of a Claremont McKenna College student who was suspended for a year for violating the school’s sexual misconduct policy.

The Second District Court of Appeal on Wednesday found that in cases “where the accused student faces a severe penalty and the school’s determination turns on the complaining witness’s credibility,” the fact-finding body should hear directly from the accuser. The court also determined that the accused should have the opportunity to question the accuser, even if only indirectly—an opportunity, wrote Justice Helen Bendix in Wednesday’s 29-page opinion, that “not exist here.”

The decision is the latest California appellate decision to shed light on the difficult task universities face in balancing accused students’ due process rights with concerns about protecting victims and campuses safety. The Second District previously held in 2016 that a University of Southern California football player hadn’t been given sufficient notice of the allegations against him or a fair hearing by the school before being suspended.

Alexander Cote of Scheper Kim & Harris in Los Angeles, who represents the John Doe Claremont McKenna student in the case, said that he was “grateful” that the court accepted his client’s arguments about how finders of fact should handle cases “where credibility is the key issue.”

“I think this opinion gives a lot of guidance to schools going forward so they’re fair to everybody, both for the accused and the accuser,” Cote said.

The events that led to Wednesday’s decision involving a male student who was a freshman at Claremont McKenna in the fall of 2014, referred to in the case as John Doe, and female student who was a freshman at neighboring Scripps College, referred to as Jane Roe. According to the final report from the school’s investigator, the two went back to John’s room one night in October of that year when both were drunk, began kissing and undressed each other. John left at some point to get condoms from outside his resident advisor’s room, but struggled to keep one on. From there, John and Jane’s accounts of the encounter diverge.

After Jane reported John to her school’s Title IX office four months after the encounter, the committee reviewing the case at Claremont accepted her contention that she didn’t consent to have unprotected sex. Committee members also found the fact that Jane sustained injuries during the encounter and sought medical treatment afterward corroborated her testimony that John became rough during sex, and that she had struggled to break free. The committee also found that John’s own words—that Jane didn’t seem “super into it” and that he couldn’t remember her verbally giving consent—weighed against him.

At the court of appeals, John’s lawyers argued that he was denied a fair hearing since neither he nor the Committee asked any Jane questions, and there was no basis for the committee to evaluate her credibility.

“We agree that Jane’s not appearing at the hearing either in person or via videoconference or other means deprived John of a fair hearing where John faced potentially serious consequences and the case against him turned on the Committee’s finding Jane credible,” wrote Bendix, who was joined in her decision by Second District colleagues Victoria Gerrard Chaney and Laurie Zelon.

Apalla Chopra of O’Melveny & Myers, who represents the school in the case, directed a request for comment to a Claremont McKenna spokesman. Peter Hong, associate VP for public affairs and communications at the school, said in an email that the college is currently reviewing the opinion to determine next steps, including a potential appeal to the California Supreme Court.

“Claremont McKenna College is committed to protecting the civil rights of all members of our community, which includes responding appropriately to all complaints of sexual misconduct, and providing all parties involved in such complaints with access to a grievance process that is fair, prompt, and equitable,” Hong said. “The College firmly believes that the grievance process followed in this case met or exceeded relevant legal requirements for expectations under federal and state law.”

Source: https://www.law.com/therecorder/2018/08/09/court-revives-claremont-mckenna-students-appeal-over-sexual-misconduct-suspension/
===
*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2018/08/cautionary-tale-from-another-public.html

Higher Ed Goal in California?

From Inside Higher Ed: A coalition of colleges, nonprofit organizations and education foundations are calling for the next governor of California to set a degree-attainment goal for the state.

The groups, led by the Campaign for College Opportunity, are encouraging the next governor to set a 60 percent college attainment goal and to close racial equity gaps in college opportunity by 2030.

Californians will select their next governor in November. The state's lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is running against Republican John Cox.

"California's candidates for governor are rightfully concerned about the economic future of the state," Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, said in a news release...

Full story at:
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/08/08/california-groups-call-2030-attainment-goal

Note: The organization behind the campaign says it was founded by MALDEF, a Latino group, the California Business Roundtable, and the Community College League of California, in part out of concern for the fate of the 1960 Master Plan. It is funded by various foundations. Website: http://collegecampaign.org/

Union Regents

Henning

We noted yesterday that Governor Brown has appointed four new Regents. One is a union leader: Laphonza Butler, president of the SEIU United Long Term Care Workers Union. While there have been many Regents with business backgrounds, union officials have been scarce. In fact, Jerry Brown in his first iteration as governor appointed another union Regent: John ("Jack") Henning, head of the California Labor Federation. Henning served as a Regent from 1977 to 1989.*

More recently, Governor Brown appointed Henning's grandson, Patrick W. Henning Jr,  as head of the Employment Development Department (EDD) in 2014.**

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*Henning's obituary is at: http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-henning6-2009jun06-story.html.
**http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/21/business/la-fi-edd-new-director-20140322. Patrick Henning's father headed EDD under Gov. Schwarzenegger. Another grandson, namesake John F. Henning III, has had a more checkered career:
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Long-strange-journey-of-hate-crime-case-3326067.php, http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Licensee/Detail/188416.

Four New Regents

Butler

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the following appointments:

Laphonza Butler, 39, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the University of California Board of Regents. Butler has been president of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers Union since 2010. She was a national division director and campaign director for SEIU in Washington, D.C. from 2006 to 2009. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Butler is a Democrat.

Cohen

Michael Cohen, 45, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the University of California Board of Regents. Cohen has served as director at the California Department of Finance since 2013, where he was chief deputy director for budget from 2011 to 2013. He served in several positions at the California Legislative Analyst’s Office from 1997 to 2010, including deputy legislative analyst, director of state administration and local government finance analyst. Cohen earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cohen is registered without party preference.*

Estolano

Cecilia V. Estolano, 52, of Pasadena, has been appointed to the University of California Board of Regents. Estolano has been co-founder and chief executive officer at Estolano LeSar Advisors since 2011. She was chief strategist for state and local initiatives at Green for All from 2009 to 2011, chief executive officer at the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency from 2006 to 2009 and an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and in 2017. Estolano was of counsel at Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP from 2005 to 2006 and served as special assistant city attorney in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office from 2001 to 2005. She served as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 1995. Estolano earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Master of Arts degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Estolano is a Democrat.

Leib

Richard H. Leib, 61, of Solana Beach, has been appointed to the University of California Board of Regents. Leib has been president and chief executive officer at Dunleer Strategies since 2018. He was executive vice president and general counsel at Liquid Environmental Solutions from 2002 to 2017. Leib was vice president at Lockheed Martin IMS from 1999 to 2001 and executive vice president and general counsel at U.S. Public Technologies from 1994 to 1999. Leib was co-founder of the Investment Management Group at Stone and Youngberg LLC from 1992 to 1994. He was a legislative assistant in the Office of California State Senator Gary Hart** from 1982 to 1988 and executive director at Agenda for the ‘90s from 1988 to 1990. Leib was a Coro fellow from 1979 to 1980. He is a member of the Solana Beach School District Board of Education. Leib earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School and a Master of Public Policy degree from Claremont Graduate University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Leib is a Democrat.

Source: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/08/06/governor-brown-announces-appointments-61/
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*Brown referred to him as "the other Michael Cohen" at a recent news conference.
**This is California's Gary Hart, not to be confused with the Colorado Gary Hart of "Monkey Business" fame. If you don't know what that was, Google it.

Cautionary Tale from Another Public University

From Inside Higher Ed: In July, a federal judge instructed the University of Michigan to break from its policies for investigating sexual assault and instead to hold a live hearing so that a student accused of rape could question his accuser. The decision could have national implications as it is part of an emerging pattern of case law: establishing that those accused of campus sexual violence have the right to question the evidence against them. 

With the U.S. Department of Education on the cusp of releasing new draft regulations on the federal gender discrimination law, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, campus leaders are waiting to see how prescriptive Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will be with a few of these processes. 

The anonymous male student sued Michigan in June, alleging that its sexual assault policies deprived him of due process rights. The student was accused of rape in April stemming from a sexual encounter last November that he said was consensual. Officials hadn't determined yet whether he committed the assault. 

Last month, U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow ordered the institution to arrange the live hearing, writing in his ruling: "[The university] essentially asks the court to sit back and wait for the investigator to issue findings against plaintiff before intervening in this action. But at this very moment, the university may be denying plaintiff due process protections to which he is entitled. The court cannot, and will not, simply stand by as the fruit continues to rot on the tree. This case is ripe for adjudication."

This ruling doesn't mean that the accused student would be directly asking his accuser questions, merely that he be given the opportunity to challenge her narrative...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/06/court-ruling-suggests-cross-examination-will-be-hot-topic-colleges

Think Twice

Did you get an email like the one above? Think twice before responding to it, or any other similar invitation. Note the fine print; this is not an official UCLA operation. When you put personal info on a website, it may not be used in ways that benefit you. In the case above, if you sign up, you will be asked to give the website access to your gmail account. Caution advised!

Just money

From Patch: A former UCLA hematologist who won $13 million after claiming she was forced out of her job as director of the medical school's lymphoma program because a male-dominated administration ignored her complaints of age and gender discrimination was awarded another $1.8 million in attorneys' fees Friday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Linfield said the amount was reasonable, despite protests to the contrary by attorneys for the Regents of the University of California...

In her argument opposing the Shegerian firm's fees request, defense attorney Kathryn McGuigan argued that the hourly rate charged by Shegerian is normally only seen by those who practice patent or antitrust law. She said Shegerian's fees on previous cases he won were for about $700 an hour.

Lawyer Barbara Fitzgerald, also on behalf of the UCLA regents, told the judge that (the) lawsuit was a "run-of-the-mill case" that also happened to be tried in the midst of the #MeToo movement, likely benefiting the plaintiff.

But Anthony Nguyen, who works for the plaintiff's firm, said Shegerian received $1,000 an hour in fees in a previous case. He also said the Pinter- Brown case was not an easy one to try because the plaintiff resigned due to the conditions at UCLA and was able to get new employment at UC Irvine...

Full story at https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/ghfsl/ucla-to-pay-nearly-15-million-in-gender-discrimination-case