Consent of the Regents

When we blogged recently about the agenda for the upcoming Regents meetings, we noted that there was an item on the agenda regarding an astronomy fund.* At the time, the preliminary agenda did not include detailed information and we wondered if the fund had something to do with the Hawaiian telescope issue and TMT (Thirty-Meter Telescope). There is now more detailed information available and it appears that it does link to the Hawaiian telesecope issue. What is interesting is that the item is a "consent" topic, which means that it is viewed as a routine matter about which there is no controversy. Yet, the TMT issue is often raised in public comments at Regents meetings. And, in response to such public comments, Regents Chair John Pérez at one point in 2020 held an entire session on just that one issue.** In any case, below is an excerpt from that upcoming item:

Item F2C - Consent Item - Finance and Capital Strategies

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The University of California (UC) seeks approval to establish a lending arrangement with California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), an affiliated entity and 501(c)(3) corporation. Under this authority, UC will lend funds to CARA on a fully secured basis, providing liquidity for periods where expected funding from external sources is unavailable or temporarily discontinued. Due to the quality and amount of collateral available to CARA, a lending arrangement between UC and CARA will have a low risk of loss. This arrangement requires Regents’ approval pursuant to Bylaw 22.2(c), which reserves to the Regents the authority to approve loans to “other parties,” including entities that are affiliated with the University that have the status of a separate legal entity.  

...

CARA is a nonprofit California public benefit corporation, formed by the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) and UC in January 1985 to build and operate the W. M. Keck Observatory (“the Observatory”) near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The principal purpose of CARA is to foster astronomical research and to provide technical direction for the development and operation of astronomical facilities on the island of Hawaii, principally on land owned by the State of Hawaii, leased to the University of Hawaii, and subleased to Caltech...

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may22/f2c.pdf.

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-regents-are-coming-may-17-19-2022.html.

**http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2020/07/listen-to-morning-session-of-regents_31.html.