Some UC Retirement Programs for October

Preparing for Retirement

Description: The Preparing for Retirement webinar provides a broad overview of UC’s retirement benefits and lays the foundation for the Retiree Health Benefits and UC Retirement Process presentations. 

Preparing for Retirement registration: https://ucop.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m9bWSZ3IRdWLsvJ0Je6_iw#/registration

Date & Time

Tues., Oct. 1, 10 AM

Wed., Oct. 9, 5:30 PM

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Retiree Health Benefits

Learn about the health plans available for UC retirees and their eligible family members. 

Register for a live webinar: https://ucop.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KpETRz4EQVS-DoKDp9OA_w#/registration

Thurs., Oct. 24, 10 AM–noon

Watch the Regents meetings of Sept. 19, 2024

We are catching up with the Regents meeting of Sept. 19th. We have noted a few bits from that meeting in earlier posts. But here is our general summary. 

Public comments discussed use of military-style equipment by UC police, Blackstone investment, nurse labor relations, Apollo Fund investment, greenhouse gas emissions, nonunion staff pay, antisemitism, complaints about excessive security, pro-Palestine divestment, AFSCME issues, problems with UC core insurance, sexual harassment, and antiunion meetings. The Board then turned to statements from student leaders which included complaints about the new time-place-manner rules, limits on department political statements, and police on campus. Other issues raised included food access for undocumented students and maintenance problems in student housing.

In the Governance committee, a new VP for the national labs was introduced. Various executive pay increases were approved. Regent Pérez asked to separate those executives who were direct reports to the Regents for approval from the other executives. He said he was uncomfortable with the current pay-setting methodology which granted raises to recent hires. Regent Cohen agreed. It was noted that there was no similar methodology for lower-paid employees. Chair Reilly said a process would be set up to look at the methodology for executives.

At Compliance and Audit, there was discussion of approval of certain military-style equipment. It was noted that UC does not receive equipment from the US military. A disruption occurred when questions began and the room was cleared by police. The witnesses who were to be questioned did not re-appear when the meeting resumed and the requests were approved.

All committee reports were approved by the Board.

At the Investments Committee, the CIO reviewed investment returns for the year ending June 30, 2024. It was a period of strong stock market returns so returns were relatively high. Regent Cohen asked why there are no benchmarks for real assets and was told they are a relatively small percent of the portfolio and a diverse mix so there is no handy benchmark.

The Athletics Commitee heard reports about athletics at Merced (water polo and basketball).

The full Board convened for a session about staff employment featuring numbers, demographics related to diversity, and other information. A survey indicated staff had concerns about pay, opportunity for promotion, remote work, and workplace culture. There was separate discussion about the 200+ senior management group employees. Then thre was then a presentation about students who participated in the Paris Olympics and Para-Olympics.

As always, we preserve meetings of the Regents indefinitely, since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention.

Below are the various links to the September 19th sessions:

The initial meeting of the full Board is at:

https://ia800102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/9-19-2024%20Board-1.mp4.

The second meeting of the full board is at:

https://ia800102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/9-19-2024%20Board-2.mp4.

Compliance and Audit, Governance, Board, Investments, and Athletics:

https://ia600102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/9-19-2024%20Compliance%20and%20Audit%20Committee%2C%20Governance%2C%20Board%2C%20Investments%2C%20Special%20Committee%20on%20Athletics.mp4.

The webpage for both Sept. 18th and 19th is at:

https://archive.org/details/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee.

Community College DEI Case Dismissed

We noted that community college requirements for DEI statements had been suspended as the result of a lawsuit by a Bakersfield college faculty member.* That case has now been dismissed. From Inside Higher Ed:

...The [DEI] rules, which were proposed by the chancellor’s office and went into effect last fall, set “a DEIA competency and criteria framework that can serve as a minimum standard for evaluating all California Community College employees,” according to a May 2023 memorandum from system leaders offering guidance on the rule.

The court decision, issued [last] Monday, rejects an earlier recommendation by a magistrate judge to suspend the rules.

“Ultimately, [plaintiff] Johnson has not adequately alleged that he faces an injury that is ‘actual or imminent,’ and he has therefore failed to invoke this court’s federal jurisdiction,” the court order reads. “As Johnson has failed to establish standing, his complaint must be dismissed without prejudice.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/09/25/lawsuit-over-calif-community-colleges-dei-rules-dismissed.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/11/community-college-dei-requirements.html.

Doing the math matters

Getting into UC requires basic math. But there seems to be continual pressure by some in the K-12 establishment not to push math. That approach hasn't worked well for students. Just as was the case of a fad of teaching reading without getting into phonetics - which is now being reversed - the same is happening with regard to basic math.

The legislature recently passed, and the governor has signed, part of that reversal:

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST OF SB 1410

SB 1410, as introduced, Ochoa Bogh. Pupil instruction: curriculum frameworks: mathematics: algebra.

Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to include courses in mathematics. Existing law requires algebra to be included as part of the mathematics area of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as provided. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend, and the State Board of Education to adopt, curriculum frameworks, defined as outlines of the components of a given course of study designed to provide state direction to school districts in the provision of instructional programs, as provided.

This bill would require the state board, in adopting any revised mathematics curriculum framework on or after January 1, 2025, to include a requirement that grade 8 pupils be offered the opportunity to take an algebra course.

--

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 33547.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:

33547.5. Any revised mathematics curriculum framework adopted by the state board on or after January 1, 2025, shall include a requirement that grade 8 pupils be offered the opportunity to take an algebra course.

Source: https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB1410/id/2932690.

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Signing statement by the governor:

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

SEP 22, 2024

To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am signing Senate Bill 14 l 0, which requires the Instructional Quality Commission, when the mathematics curriculum framework is next revised, to consider including that students in eighth grade be offered the opportunity to take an Algebra I or Mathematics I course that is aligned to the content standards adopted by the State Board of Education.

The mathematics framework adopted by the State Board of Education in July of 2023 encourages California students to launch into high school mathematics (Algebra I or Mathematics I) before they reach ninth grade when they are ready to do so. This facilitates their access to more advanced courses in high school. This bill ensures that when the mathematics framework is next updated, the Instructional Quality Commission will again consider how students in eighth grade have the opportunity to take these important courses. 

Sincerely

Gavin Newsom

Source: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SB-1410-SIGNING-Message.pdf.

Transfers

The state auditor recently produced a report on transfers to UC and CSU. It noted that a large majority of community college students who intend to transfer in fact don't in the end accomplish that goal. The auditor noted complex requirements for acquiring eligibility to transfer as one of the issues. However, UC as a system was meeting its one-third target for incoming admissions pre-pandemic, with UCLA in the lead.

You can find the report at https://www.auditor.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2023-123-Report-WP.pdf.

Possible VP Jam

From the Press Enterprise: Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to fly to Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept. 28 ahead of a Sunday afternoon fundraiser in support of her presidential campaign. The event will be the first fundraising event Harris has attended in Los Angeles since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.

Harris, who traveled to Arizona on Friday and visited the U.S.-Mexico border, will begin the day Saturday in San Francisco for another campaign event, then travel to Los Angeles. Although her exact travel plans are never released publicly, she will likely spend the night at her home in Brentwood. On Sunday, she is scheduled to attend an afternoon fundraising reception. The location has not been released...

Full story at https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/09/28/kamala-harris-to-arrive-in-la-ahead-of-sunday-fundraiser/. 

Revert!

I'm so flattered. Maybe an article about reversion to the mean would be good.

 

One

From SFGATE: A competitive California university has surpassed an in-state rival by securing the top spot in the new national university rankings from U.S. News & World Report. The rankings, which were published this month, gave UCLA the title of the country's top public university. UC Berkeley, which in previous years tied UCLA for the title, took the No. 2 spot. 

UCLA also ranked highly on the nationwide list of both private and public schools, tying with Dartmouth College for No. 15 position...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/college-beats-berkeley-best-public-school-19789660.php.

Davis Berries

Now here's something you didn't know:

The University of California, Davis, has reached new agreements to license more than a dozen of its world-renowned strawberry varieties to growers in countries across the world.

According to those involved, the agreements ensure that nurseries and fruit growers in Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East have access to all available varieties developed by the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program.

UC Davis remains a hugely influential player in the development and improvement of commercially traded fresh strawberries, with around 60 per cent of all strawberries consumed around the world reckoned to be varieties that were developed by the research institute. One of the deals sees UK-based Global Plant Genetics (GPG) add 15 legacy varieties of UC Davis strawberry plants to its existing portfolio in China, South America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

GPG, which has been a UC Davis master licensee since 2018, already manages a dozen of the group’s more recently developed varieties in those markets. Meanwhile Fresa Fortaleza, also known as F2, is the new master licensee for UC Davis legacy varieties in Mexico. The San Diego-based company has been master licensee in Mexico for the more recently developed UC Davis varieties since 2020...

Full story at https://www.fruitnet.com/fruitnet/gpg-and-f2-secure-new-uc-davis-strawberry-licences/262584.article.

Schedule Changes

The Regents' schedule of meetings was rearranged between mid-May (shown above on the left) and mid-September (shown above on the right - both images courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback machine.

Apart from the addition of the retreat at Lake Arrowhead - which is closed except for a required public comment opportunity - you'll note two other changes. The three-day UCLA meeting in September was condensed into two days. And the October 9 meeting of Health Services at UCLA was eliminated.

These changes suggest security concerns, although nobody has said as much. Two days of security in September was undoubtedly easier and cheaper than the scheduled three days. And October 9's elimination gets rid of a meeting very close to the significant date of October 7.

Just an observation...

Does UCLA have a plan? - Part 3 (follow up)

In June and July, we noted that a new state law, SB 533, went into effect on July 1 requiring employers, including UC, to have a workplace violence plan that complied with the new state law.*

As a follow up, we now do have a revised plan, "revised" since UCLA already had policies prior to SB 533. Below are some links provided by Campus Human Resources:

• UCLA Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
• Bruins Safe Online - Report a Concerning Behavior
• Reporting a Workplace Violence Incident 
  • PDF Guide
  • YouTube Guide
• Training Resources
  • Workplace Violence Prevention LMS Training
  • UCPD Active Shooter Training
  • FBI Training: Run. Hide. Fight.

Source: https://chr.ucla.edu/behavioral-intervention-team/workplace-violence-prevention. We have omitted one dead link to the old policy.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/07/does-ucla-have-plan-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/06/does-ucla-have-plan.html. 
 

♫Take Us Out of the Ball Game♫ - Part 2

From CBS News: The UCLA baseball stadium is slated to be locked up at noon Thursday following a federal judge's ruling earlier this month, citing a violation of land use at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles campus.

The order came during a Wednesday hearing as U.S. District Judge David O. Carter voiced frustration as the illegally leased grounds on the VA's campus do not benefit military veterans, for whom the land was originally deeded. Carter said the Jackie Robinson Stadium would be locked until the university devised a plan for how the stadium grounds could benefit military veterans.

The lengthy hearing followed a month-long non-jury trial, in which the judge resolved a class action lawsuit on behalf of disabled homeless veterans in the Los Angeles area...

Full story at https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/judge-orders-ucla-baseball-stadium-to-be-locked-up-over-va-land-use-dispute/.

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Our previous post on this matter is at https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/09/take-us-out-of-ball-game.html.

Two Months of Cash

As blog readers will know, we like to take a look at the state controller's monthly cash reports to see how we are doing relative to past forecasts. And for the first two months of this fiscal year, the controller reports revenues to the general fund running ahead of forecast values by $1.7 billion. All the major taxes - personal income, sales, and corporate - are above the projections made when the state budget was adopted. Of course, two months does not a year make. But better more than less.

Moreover, the state is continuing to sit on a mountain of cash in the form of unused borrowable resources of almost $105 billion, about $9 billion ahead of projections.

You can find the controller's report at:

https://sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/August2024StatementofGeneralFundCashReceiptsandDisbursements.pdf.

The Recent Town Hall With the Interim Chancellor

 

Interim Chancellor Hunt held an online "town hall" for academic senate members dealing with the new campus safety rules put in place for the fall. Below are the slides he used for his opening presentation.

Having looked at the slides, you probably didn't learn anything you didn't know. When asked about policies related to what happened last spring, the chancellor mainly referred to a forthcoming UCOP report and said until we have that report, we don't know all the facts. When you cut through all the appeasing rhetoric, it is clear that the interim chancellor and other campus administrators have concluded that it was a mistake in the spring to allow the encampment, particularly when it blocked walkways, doorways, and committed other violations of university rules. The incoming chancellor has been on campus at least once for sure on Sept. 4, so it is quite likely he agrees. But this is not new news.

The Regents also seem in accord. At the meeting last Thursday when a disruption occurred during a discussion of acquisition of campus police equipment, the room was quickly cleared by police, and the meeting resumed. One consequence was that while the Regents had questions of police officials at the meeting, the acquisition was swiftly approved without questions being asked or responded to:

https://ia800102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/Protest%209-19-2024.mp4.

The legislature is withholding $25 million from the UC budget until a plan for dealing with the kinds of issues that arose in the spring is developed.

It might have been best had the interim chancellor simply expressed these facts more directly than he did.

If there was anything new, there was a off-hand reference to the lawsuit against UCLA which resulted in a temporary injunction that the university decided not to appeal. However, the appeal of the underlying case is going forward. Hunt said something about settlement talks. So maybe something is happening on that front.

Watch the Sept. 18, 2024 Meetings of the Regents

We begin our catching up with the Regents by looking at the sessions of Sept. 18th. The meeting began with public comments. Some addressed antisemitism including a department statement that seemed out of compliance with recent Regental rules. There were calls for divestment of military equipment makers, concerns about nonunion UC salaries, students with disabilities, grading of incompletes, and a pending bill that involved UC hiring of undocumented students. CALPIRG's campaign to encourage student voting was also referenced.

While Regents Chair Reilly provided relatively sunny remarks about the new academic year, President Drake referred to the planning for campus safety over the summer in light of the protests of the spring. Reilly did note that the Regents had abandoned the use of concurrent sessions for this meeting. It was unclear whether this was a permanent change. (At one time, the Regents did not have concurrent sessions, but went to that model because of time constraints.) Faculty representative Steven Cheung noted the long-term trend to a rising student/faculty ratio as a source of quality erosion. As we noted in a previous posting, he made a comment in passing disclosing planning for a systemwide conversion to the semester system.*

Three grad student winners of the "Grad Slam" competition presented brief summaries of their research projects.

At Academic and Student Affairs, there was discussion of online education, especially for full undergraduate degree programs as opposed to just individual courses. The Regents have been pushing in that direction. A task force was set up to study the issue. It promoted a vision of a single degree as opposed to one degree for in-person and another for online. The idea was that the single degree would have the same admissions standards and quality standards regardless of whether a students was in-person or online. The same faculty would teach in both. Somehow, online students would have the benefits of campus amenities, e.g., access to the library. And students who were admitted online could shift into the in-person program. A new task force is to be set up to continue planning.

There are lots of loose ends in this vision. Regent Makarechian asked about costs and was told that was something the new task force would consider; the old one had not looked into costs.

There was a report concerning UC moves regarding entrepreneurship and innovation, essentially commercializing UC research. As blog readers will know, part of this effort involves some kind of new system systemwide for tracking patent rights, something that campuses had been doing. All campuses except UCLA have agreed to the new system. UCLA has been holding out. UCLA interim chancellor Hunt was at the meeting and said he thought UCLA would eventually go along with the systemwide approach. Yours truly, however, shudders when thinking about some past episodes such as UCPath when new centralized computer systems are imposed.

Finally, there was discussion of a "Proof of Concept" fund to assist in commercialization of research.

Finance and Capital Strategies approved various capital projects except for a Berkeley softball field which was deferred. Apparently, objections had been raised in closed session. What those objections were was not revealed but there was some mumbling about it having to do with women's sports. The topic then turned to the state budget. Nathan Brostrom gave a rather upbeat view of what ultimately emerged in the state budget where some budget increases for UC under the compact were deferred in 2025-26 and 2026-27, but not the current year. (Note that plans for future years don't mean much; the legislature makes decisions annually.) While it is true that the current year's compact adjustment was ultimately not deferred, when you look at the total budget from the state (including "one time" funds and various amounts from sources other than the general fund, UC has gotten a relatively flat $5 billion in nominal terms (which means a real decline once inflation is considered).

There was a rumor discussed that UC might be ending its student internship program at the state legislature. Several Regents thought it was a bad idea. When pushed, the provost said the rumor wasn't true but then said there was planning for the program only through winter quarter. The Regents pushed for the current program to run through spring while any changes were considered. The provost agreed (sort of). Regent Makarechian noted the news reports over the summer that Santa Cruz was in financial difficulties and asked why that campus should be having special problems. He didn't really get an answer. Brostrom said Santa Cruz would implement a hiring freeze and solve its problems through attrition over several years.

As always, we preserve Regents meetings since the Regents have no fixed policy on preserving their recordings. You can see the September 18th meeting at the links below:

Board and Academic and Student Affairs:

https://ia600102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/9-18-2024%20Board%2C%20Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee.mp4.

Finance and Capital Strategies:

https://ia800102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/9-18-2024%20Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%20Committee.mp4.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/09/whoa-did-he-just-say-what-i-thought-he.html.

Yet More Not OK from UCSF

Back in January, we noted some not-OK goings on at UC-San Francisco.* While one person seems to be in the middle of the maelstrom there, enablers are inevitably involved, as a NY Times article in June suggested.**

The chancellor at UCSF, when the problem began, assured various people who contacted him initially that something was being done. Whatever that something was, the problem seems to have continued, producing a new response from the chancellor that something is being done.

In reverse chronological order, here is the sequence to date:

https://x.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1837570677492404558

https://x.com/ucsf/status/1838236238392054151

---

From last January:

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/01/this-is-not-ok.html.

**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/06/this-is-not-ok.html.

The FAFSA Drama Continues - Part 16

From Inside Higher Ed: A government investigation into last year’s rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid found that Education Department officials failed to properly test and prepare the form and launched it despite signs that it was not ready for wide release—an oversight that proved disastrous.

The department’s missteps are detailed in two documents from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, released this morning.* 

GAO officials will give testimony about the findings at a House higher education subcommittee hearing today.

The department has already delayed the form’s launch for the 2025–26 application cycle to December in order to make time for testing, which is set to begin next week. GAO officials warned that the next FAFSA is at risk for similar delays and technical issues because of systemic problems in the department and the Office of Federal Student Aid, the agency that oversees the FAFSA...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2024/09/24/gao-releases-initial-findings-fafsa-investigation.

Comment: This episode is reminiscent of the episode during the Obama administration in which the federal website for enrolling in health insurance failed. No heads rolled back then for that snafu. None seemed to have rolled for the FAFSA snafu now. Just saying...

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*https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/files/2024-09/GAO-24-107407.pdf.

DACA Decline/Bill Veto

 
Inside Higher Ed carries a story about declining UC enrollment of undocumented students:

The number of undocumented, low-income students newly enrolling at University of California and California State University campuses has fallen by half since the 2016–17 academic year, according to a new study from the ​​University of California Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the UC Davis School of Law. 

The study’s authors connect this downward trend to a national issue—what they call the “slow strangulation” of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects people from deportation and authorizes them to work in the country legally if they were brought to the U.S. as children without authorization. But due to legal setbacks, political challenges and the requirement that recipients of the Obama-era program must have arrived in the U.S. before 2007, it’s inaccessible to most high school students today...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/diversity/2024/09/23/losses-undocumented-students-uc-csu-systems. The underlying study is at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4955086.

The study deals with the legal issues surrounding the push to have UC make undocumented students eligible for university employment. As blog readers will know, the Regents initially looked into the issue but then abandoned it citing legal liability and a threat to federal funding. A bill related to this matter was passed by the legislature but was vetoed by the governor. From the LA Times:

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Sunday that would have directed the University of California, California State University and state community colleges to hire undocumented students for campus jobs — his second veto of legislation aimed at expanding aid to those who are not living in California legally.

The action crushed the hopes of tens of thousands of students who were brought illegally to the United States as children and have not been able to obtain work permits to help finance their educations or qualify for research and teaching jobs critical to their academic programs. An estimated 55,000 undocumented students in those straits attend California public colleges and universities; the state is home to a fifth of the nation’s undocumented college students.

Despite California’s “proud history” of expanding educational opportunities for undocumented students, Newsom said he was vetoing Assembly Bill 2586 because of legal risks to state employees who could be deemed in violation of federal laws against hiring undocumented people.

“Given the gravity of the potential consequences of this bill, which include potential criminal and civil liability for state employees, it is critical that the courts address the legality of such a policy and the novel legal theory behind this legislation before proceeding,” he said in his veto message...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-22/newsom-vetoes-bill-directing-uc-csu-to-hire-undocumented-students-for-campus-jobs.

Below is the veto message. When the governor vetoes, he never says the word. He just says he is returning the bill without his signature.

To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I om returning Assembly Bill 2586 without my signature.

This bill prohibits California public universities from disqualifying a student from employment due to their failure to provide proof of federal employment authorization.

California has a proud history of being at the forefront of expanding opportunities for undocumented students who seek to realize their higher education dreams. Including immigrant students in opportunities to succeed through higher education is also important for local communities and California's economy. Since 2001, when the California DREAM Act (AB 540) was signed into law, the state has continually broadened access to financial aid opportunities and other supports for students who call California home, regardless of their immigration status.

While I am proud of these efforts, I am unfortunately unable to sign this legislation at this time. Given the gravity of the potential consequences of this bill, which include potential criminal and civil liability for state employees, it is critical that the courts address the legality of such a policy and the novel legal theory behind this legislation before proceeding. Seeking declaratory relief in court - an option available to the University of California - would provide such clarity.

For this reason, I cannot sign this bill.

Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

Source: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AB-2586-Veto-Message.pdf.

Note that the governor - an ex officio Regent - has put the onus on UC to seek "declaratory relief." Whether that triggers some action by UC remains to be seen.

We continue to wonder...

 

We've wondered about this before.* But since nobody seems to know what we can do with the new property, maybe it's not something to worry about (except for the $80 million we paid for it).

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/09/didnt-want-to-let-this-issue-slide.html.

Reminder to Academic Senate members: Sept. 24th Town Hall

Senate members must have pre-registered to attend. 

Does anyone have any idea what this means?

From the Bruin: UCLA will become the first university in California to implement OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise. With a limited number of accounts, UCLA will offer students, faculty and staff access to ChatGPT Enterprise – an artificial intelligence tool designed to streamline the teaching and research processes – according to a press release. The initiative will make UCLA one of the first universities to incorporate artificial intelligence in higher education, said Lucy Avetisyan, UCLA’s associate vice chancellor and chief information officer.

Avetisyan said after recognizing how AI could be used around many disciplines across campus, UCLA realized Enterprise licenses could transform tasks ranging from research to teaching. She added that UCLA is working with other AI vendors in addition to OpenAI, such as Google Gemini and Microsoft 365 Copilot... Avetisyan said success would be measured through a return on investment model. “We want to measure the ROI (return on investment) and then decide whether these are things we want to continue to invest in or scale campuswide,” Avetisyan said...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/09/20/ucla-to-become-first-california-university-to-offer-chatgpt-enterprise-accounts.

Does anyone have any idea how ROI on "tasks ranging from research to teaching" will be measured?

Whoa! Did he just say what I thought he said?

As usual, we have preserved the recordings of the Regents meetings of Sept. 18-19, since the Regents have no fixed policy on duration of retention. But it takes yours truly some time to go through the recordings and summarize them.

But at the very first session of the full board, yours truly noted a verbal buried lede in the statement of Faculty Representative Steven Cheung which needs some airing.

Towards the end of his remarks, Cheung referenced a joint effort between the UC administration and the Academic Senate to convert the entire UC system back to semesters. That is a Big Deal!

Back in the 1960s, the campuses thought by converting from semesters to quarters, the incoming baby boomers could be accommodated through year-round operations with four equal quarters. Going from semesters to quarters, however, entailed revamping every course and every degree program. It was a massive effort. It was also an effort that failed, since it turned out that students really didn't want to go to school in the summer. So the campuses ended up with three quarters and a summer session. In some sense, efficiency degraded since instead of one intersession, there now two. 

Despite the Great Mistake, nobody was anxious to undergo the pain and suffering to reconvert back to semesters which - again - involves revamping every course and every degree program. Only Berkeley did it. And Merced, since it was started well after the Great Mistake, began on semesters.

So, are all the other campuses now going to be directed to make the conversion back to semesters?

That sure seems to be what the man said:

Or direct to https://ia600102.us.archive.org/27/items/9-18-2024-board-academic-and-student-affairs-committee/Reference%20to%20UC-wide%20semester%20system%209-18-2024.mp4.

It's so great to be recognized!

Not only recognized, but also respected! 

On the other hand, maybe I should work on my speech:

Registration

First registration day on the new Westwood campus, Sept. 20, 1929. Yes, it would have been better to post this photo yesterday, Sept. 20th. But better late than never.

Source: https://alumni.ucla.edu/ucla-history-49/.

Spring Repercussions

From the Mercury News: Ten protesters will face misdemeanor charges in connection with a May 15 pro-Palestinian protest at UCI that police declared an unlawful assembly, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. They were charged with failure to disperse at the scene of a riot, while two also were charged with resisting arrest, prosecutors said.

The defendants include an associate professor, a lecturer and four UCI students, according to information released by prosecutors. The ties of the remaining four defendants to UCI, if any, were not immediately clear. All 10 were ordered to appear in court on Oct. 16, DA officials said.

Prosecutors are still reviewing potential evidence related to another several dozen who were arrested during the May 15 protest.

In a statement Wednesday, UCI officials wrote that the university “has a long history of supporting free speech and peaceful protest,” but added that “all members of the UC Irvine community remain subject to all applicable laws, policies, and relevant codes of conduct while engaging in protest activities …

“As part of ongoing efforts across the University of California system, UC Irvine is clearly communicating with all members of the university community regarding campus policies, their enforcement, and the balance between free expression and campus safety,” the statement read.

Those charged with the single failure to disperse charge will likely be eligible for a court diversion program rather than face time behind bars, prosecutors confirmed. But it wasn’t immediately clear what impact, if any, the charges will have on the status of those who are current UC Irvine faculty or students. UC Irvine officials did not respond to direct questions about whether criminal charges or a conviction could jeopardize any of their academic careers...

Full story at https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/09/19/10-protesters-tied-to-pro-palestinian-demonstration-at-uci-in-may-now-face-misdemeanor-charges/.

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You may have noted that the various Faculty Associations have filed a complaint with PERB concerning matters related to recent protests. None of the associations have contracts with UC.* Only Santa Cruz ever achieved representation rights and it appears that there have been no contracts there for over two decades. So it may seem surprising that a complaint could be filed with PERB. However, state labor law is largely taken from federal private-sector law which protects "concerted activity" of workers, whether unionized or not. Concerted activity mainly means some collection of employees pursuing some goal related to wages, hours, or working conditions.

However, labor law has evolved to recognize management rights, things like deciding what products or services to produce. There is also a tendency of agencies such as PERB to defer to internal processes such as contractual grievance procedures. The associations don't have contracts so there are no contractual grievance procedures. But there are various mechanisms in the Academic Senate. PERB might well prefer that Senate mechanisms be used. This is in part a practical issue. Does PERB really want to entangle itself into the nitty gritty of deciding whether the concept of academic freedom, for example, prevents the UC administration from saying faculty can't use classes for "indoctrination"? And then the nitty gritty of definiing what that means? PERB might well look at teaching as a service UC delivers and view regulation of such teaching as a management right. To the extent UC and the Regents have delegated interpreting that right in the context of academic freedom to the Senate, the Senate might be viewed as the place to adjudicate what that means.

The case of the UAW, which does have a contractual relationship with UC, is somewhat different. But what PERB will be looking at is whether the grievance process included in the various contracts is the proper forum for determining issues that arise during the life of the contracts. Whether engaging in protests about foreign policy can be viewed as a working condition is another issue, but again, it's something that could potentially involve PERB in inserting itself into the basic operation of UC, i.e., something PERB - as a practical matter - might want to avoid.

Finally, marching through the mechanisms and levels of PERB and then potentially through the courts will take time.

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*The PERB filings are at:

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/UCLA-FA-ULP%206-3-24.pdf; and

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/FA%20PERB%20ULP%20charge%209-19-2024.pdf.

Things to Come?

As pay-to-play to student-athletes advances, there is the question of who will pay. From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Tennessee at Knoxville plans to add a 10 percent surcharge to football and other sports tickets beginning next year to help generate some of the expected $20 million that universities like it would be able to pay athletes under a proposed legal settlement governing use of players’ names, images and likenesses.

The Athletic and other news outlets reported that Tennessee plans to add the “talent fee” to the price of tickets to build a pool of revenues the university could share with athletes if the settlement, currently under review by a federal judge, is approved. Under the agreement, major colleges’ sports programs would agree to share about a fifth of their revenues directly with players...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/09/18/tennessee-plans-10-percent-fee-sports-tickets-athlete-pay.

Everybody's Doing It

Either going neutral or settiing up a committee to tell you to go neutral. Columbia is the latest:

The Appointment of the Co-Chairs of the President’s Advisory Committee on Institutional Voice

September 17, 2024

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

Throughout the events of the past year, our Columbia community has been engaged in an ongoing discussion about how the University can best fulfill its academic mission of teaching, learning, and research while creating and sustaining an environment that enables free expression, rigorous debate, and open dialogue. Similar discussions have taken place at other universities, and some have adopted principles of institutional neutrality or restraint as a way of protecting and enabling free expression by faculty and students on their campuses.

Given our storied history; the extraordinary scope and depth of our scholarship, disciplines, curricula, and programs; and the unique position of our community, Columbia also has a distinctive role to play in advancing this critical discussion. Determining whether and to what degree Columbia should take an institutional position on public matters is a vitally important question, and it is central to our commitment to enabling open discourse and the exchange of ideas in our community.

I am pleased to share with you that Daniel Abebe, Dean of Columbia Law School and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, and Mark Mazower, Ira D. Wallach Professor of History and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Director, Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, have accepted my appointment to serve as Co-Chairs of the President’s Advisory Committee on Institutional Voice. Under their leadership, the Advisory Committee will be tasked with providing me with a set of recommendations on the proper role of institutional voice in advancing Columbia’s academic mission and its commitment to open inquiry and free expression. The additional members of the Advisory Committee will be appointed and announced in the near future.

We are fortunate to have scholars of Dean Abebe’s and Professor Mazower’s stature and expertise leading this critical work for Columbia. Once the Advisory Committee is formed, the Co-Chairs plan to commence a consultative process through which they will engage our faculty, students, and staff, as well as the University Senate and other relevant groups within our community. I am confident that Dean Abebe and Professor Mazower and the Advisory Committee will lead a rigorous and deliberative process and provide me with sound and thoughtful recommendations that are reflective of Columbia’s history, mission, and academic values, and will contribute to its continuing intellectual vitality.

I want to thank Dean Abebe and Professor Mazower for their leadership and their commitment to Columbia’s future. The work of the President’s Advisory Committee on Institutional Voice is important to all Columbians as it will help to guide the ways in which we protect and enable free expression and vigorous debate in our community. I hope that you will take the opportunity to engage in the Advisory Committee’s consultative process and support its service on behalf of Columbia.

All my best,

Katrina Armstrong

Interim President, Columbia University in the City of New York

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Source: https://president.columbia.edu/news/appointment-co-chairs-presidents-advisory-committee-institutional-voice.

It's getting to be an old idea:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVmmNmYPRzU.

Antitrust Suit Against Journal Publishers

Uddin

From Inside Higher Ed: A group of scientists and scholars are accusing six academic journal publishers of working together to exploit their labor, in violation of federal antitrust laws. 

The scientists filed a class action lawsuit against Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, John Wiley & Sons, Sage Publications, Taylor and Francis, and Springer Nature last week. The complaint outlines “a scheme” that they say resulted in “perverse market failures that impair the ability of scientists to do their jobs and slow dramatically the pace of scientific progress.” The lawsuit accuses the publishers of diverting billions of dollars from “scientific research into their pockets.”

The complaint argues that the publishers fixed the price of peer-review services at zero and  agreed not to compete with each other by requiring scholars to submit their manuscripts to only one journal at a time. The lawsuit also accuses the publishers of prohibiting scholars from freely sharing their findings while those manuscripts are under peer review.

Justice Catalyst Law, a nonprofit, and lawyers from the law firm Lieff Cabraser filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of scientists and scholars, but the lead plaintiff is Lucina Uddin, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. She’s published more than 175 academic articles, according to the lawsuit. The complaint doesn’t say how many people are part of the class action suit, though lawyers said the number of those who are potentially eligible is “at least in the hundreds of thousands.” ...

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/09/16/scientists-file-antitrust-lawsuit-against-journal-publishers.

Something for the Regents

The Regents' Special Committee on Athletics will be meeting tomorrow. Here's a note from the Sacramento Bee committee members might want to ponder:

...Former UCLA Football Coach Chip Kelly earned more in 2023 than the combined pay of all 10 chancellors in the University of California system...

Kelly left UCLA last year and is now the offensive coordinator at the Ohio State University. His record at UCLA last year was 8-5. His record from 2018 through 2024 was 35-34. He was replaced by DeShaun Foster, who reportedly makes less than half of Kelly’s annual salary — $3 million. Funding for athletics often comes from boosters, sponsors, TV revenue and ticket sales — not taxpayers or students. However, UCLA’s athletic program reported a $36.6 million deficit in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Athletics received about $2 million from students fees and direct institutional support in a recent budget, and the university forgave about $10 million in debt on athletic facilities, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Chip Kelly’s $7.1 million pay package last year would put him among the 20 highest-paid coaches in the nation, based on lists compiled by Front Office Sports and 247 Sports. He made $5.8 million in 2022. In total, he earned about $30.5 million during his tenure from 2018 through 2023 — equivalent to roughly $870,000 per win.

Other UC coaches also raked in huge salaries. UC Berkeley Football Coach Justin Wilcox earned about $4.4 million last year. His team was 6-7 in 2023. UCLA Basketball Coach Mike Cronin earned $4.3 million. His team won 16 games and lost 17 last year. Rounding out the top five highest paid coaches were UC Berkeley Basketball Coach Mark Madsen, who earned $2 million, and former UC Berkeley Basketball Coach Mark Fox, who earned $1.7 million. Madsen’s team won 13 games and lost 19 in 2023. Fox’s team was 3-29 in his last season...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article292259030.html.

Repercussions of Not OK

Blog readers may recall events at UC-Santa Barbara last spring that - in an understatement - we deemed "Not OK."* Memories of those Not OK events seem to be having repercussions this fall on that campus. From the Santa Barbara Independent:

UC Santa Barbara’s New Student Convocation, which was scheduled for Monday, September 23, has been quietly canceled by the university. Two weeks after the cancellation, the university has finally responded to the Independent’s request for comment, stating a desire to focus on “interactive events” in lieu of a “more formal session with speeches.”

New Student Convocation is the annual induction ceremony for incoming first-years and transfer students. Last year’s convocation took place on Commencement Green and included remarks from Chancellor Henry Yang and a keynote speaker. This year’s convocation was initially planned for late September, but some observant internet sleuths noticed that webpages for the event, which were live back in May, have been down since then. The Instagram page UCIntelNetwork and users on the UC Santa Barbara subreddit have been posting updates about the situation and revealing defunct links. For example, the link to the main New Student Convocation webpage, ucsb.edu/convocation, now automatically redirects to the UCSB Orientation Programs and Parent Services webpage, which makes no mention of the convocation. And the New Student Convocation webpage on the UCSB Housing website is unavailable. 

While a brief email was sent out at the end of August to notify staff that the convocation would not be held this year, no official public announcement was provided by the university at the time. The Office of Public Affairs & Communications at UCSB declined to answer specific questions about the cancellation, namely the reason and why no notice has been sent out to students...

Full story at https://www.independent.com/2024/09/13/uc-santa-barbara-quietly-cancels-new-student-convocation/.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/03/this-is-not-ok-part-2.html.

Rising Toward Parity

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/sept24/f8.pdf. 

The chart above, available now to the Regents, indicates that faculty salaries are rising toward parity with the "Comparison-8" benchmark that is said to be recognized by the California Dept. of Finance. The Comparison-8 universities are shown below. 

Public universities:

University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and SUNY Buffalo

Private universities:

Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Yale University

In case you were wondering, or even if you weren't...

One of the topics at the upcoming Regents meeting this week is a requirement that police departments, including at UC, disclose any military equipment they use persuant to AB 481. The various campus departments all seem to use "Def-Tec eXact Impact 40mm munitions," shown in the illustration and generally described as less-than-lethal weapons:

The 40mm eXact iMpact™ Sponge Round is a “point-of-aim, point-of-impact” direct fire round that is most commonly used by tactical teams in situations where maximum deliverable energy is desired for the incapacitation of an aggressive, non-compliant subject. In many municipalities, these are being selected for both tactical call outs and as an available option for patrol.

The 40mm eXact iMpact™ Sponge Round is intended for direct fire deployment. The operator should be adequately trained in the use of Less Lethal Impact Munitions and have a thorough understanding of the round and considerations for selecting shot placement such as level of threat, target distance, size and clothing.

The 40mm eXact iMpact™ Sponge Round will prove most successful for incapacitation when used within its optimal energy range of approximately 5 – 40 meters, although it may used in situations from 2 – 50 meters. The optimal zone offers the necessary energy and accuracy to target the large muscle groups of the buttocks, thigh, and even the knees of the subject.

These areas provide sufficient pain stimulus, while greatly reducing serious or life-threatening injuries.

The 40mm eXact iMpact™ Sponge Round can also be deployed in crowd control situations to protect the riot line, cover or enhance chemical munitions, or targeting specific agitators and organizers of the crowd. When used in this fashion, it is primarily both a psychological deterrent and physiological distraction serving as a pain compliance device to either get the crowd or subject moving or keeping them at a designated distance...

Source: https://www.defense-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/40mm-eXact-iMpact-Sponge-Round-6325.pdf.

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The official report also indicates an interest in robots for potential bomb situations and drones:

Request For Category 1 - Unmanned, Remotely Piloted, Powered Aerial or Ground Vehicles—The Use of Drones by University of California Police Departments

(a) UCB is requesting to purchase a second hazardous devices robot to update their current technology and prepare for any potential failures of the existing robot that is 20 years old.

(b) UCB, UCLA, UCSC and UCSF, collectively UCPD are requesting to purchase drones. In 2023, UCD and UCSC were approved to purchase this equipment to research its use under existing UC guidelines. UCD purchased two and UCSC did not make any purchases. UCD did not operate the equipment during the year. 

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/sept24/c1attach2.pdf and https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/sept24/c1.pdf.