UCLA Faculty Association: Watch the Regents Afternoon Meeting of Nov. 16, 2022

We are finally catching up with the one segment of the Regents' meetings of November 16 and 17 we haven't previously discussed: the afternoon of November 16.

At the Investments Committee, there was discussion of the degree to which pension and endowment funds could be used for such things as student housing or university office space. When this item was first put on the agenda, yours truly suggested that if someone was looking for subsidies for such purposes, they were going to be disappointed. And, indeed, the legal analysis was that while pension and investment funds could contain real estate holdings that might be used by a campus, commercial market rates would have to be charged and such facilities would have to be open to all renters, not just those associated with the campus.

At Academic and Student Affairs, there were some changes in residency policy designed to follow revised federal and state legal requirements. Pandemic effects on the faculty were discussed. Not surprisingly, the emphasis was on the added work caused by the switch to remote instruction. Faculty generally feel that in-person learning is better. It was noted that there were direct and indirect negative effects on research.

The committee then turned to what was supposed to be an evaluation of required DEI statements for promotions and new hires. But - again as yours truly predicted - the discussion was all on inputs, not results. That is, there was discussion of the history of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) statements at UC, how they evolved, etc. Regent Park picked up the point that there was no discussion of results. How do we know the statements are not "performative"? There was a following segment on diversity of students and faculty, but the presentation was not related to the statements.

The Governance Committee endorsed the appointment of a new secretary to the Regents. There were some changes to the appointment process for new campus chancellors. It was unclear, however, how concerns about faculty participation in the process were dealt with in the new process.

At Finance and Capital Strategies, UCLA received approval for renovations of the mid-Wilshire hospital and office building it had acquired to treat mental health patients. During the discussion of the UC budget, President Drake made a reference to the ongoing student worker strike and indicated that the pay demands were very costly. Apart from this brief remark, there was no discussion of the strike (except for what was heard in public comments).

There was a review of what was happening under the pension tier that began to be offered to new hires as of July 2016. Of new hires since then, 36% directly elected the pension choice option. Another 27% made no election and were thus defaulted into pension choice. For the remaining 37% who elected a defined contribution-only option, there is an option after five years to opt into pension choice. Of those within the 37% who actually became eligible at five years, 15% made the switch to pension choice. In short, the current system ends up with something around two thirds in pension choice. There was no discussion of whether this outcome was a Good Thing or a Bad Thing.

As blog readers will know, we preserve recording of Regents meetings since the Regents delete them after one year. You can find the links below.

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