Our New Year's Eve Offering

New Year's Eve can be exciting - or not. Back in the 1960s, radio commentator Jean Shepherd described his New Year's Eve in Kansas City at a burlesque show while in the Army during World War II.

Part 1: (10 minutes)

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

Part 2: The denouement (2 minutes)

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bNOzK7O4n8.

Maybe not what the PR folks wanted.

 

Maybe Barnum said it. Maybe he didn't. But the idea is sure around. And getting a picture in the New York Times roundup of major photos of the year - especially as the centerfold - would normally be a Big Deal. My gut feeling, however, is that the UCLA PR folks - while they would normally be happy if a UCLA photo were included, weren't so pleased about the encampment shot below.

But then again, what do I know?

The California Electoral College

 

If you've ever wondered what the California Electoral College is like, below are excerpts from its last meeting of Dec. 17, 2024:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKaBarR84c.

Electoral College meetings from earlier elections are available at:

2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAa1M7GyiiM

2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM65hfa-fXk

2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRwW4cl1Dpc

===

The full 2024 session can be seen starting at around minute 47 at:

https://ia600601.us.archive.org/31/items/newsom-10-14-24-big-oil-long/Meeting_California_College_Presidential_Electors%2012-17-24.mp4

Wait a Minute!

From the Daily Bruin:

UC faculty have delayed sending the UC President and Board of Regents a first-year ethnic studies admissions proposal until they get more clarity from the state legislature’s upcoming budget.

Dozens of UC faculty members make up the UC Academic Senate Assembly, which on Dec. 12 pushed a critical vote back to April to have more time to decide whether to forward the measure to outgoing UC President Michael Drake and UC Provost Katherine Newman. That would be the last stop before the UC Regents and a final public vote, marking the furthest the measure has gone in two years.

The ethnic studies requirement will impact close to 200,000 California students applying to the UC and California State University systems annually by adding an area “H” to the long-standing A-G requirements that detail the various subjects students must complete during high school.

Uncertainty over how Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature will allocate additional funding for hundreds of school districts next year drove the choice to push the vote, said Steven Cheung, a professor at UC San Francisco and chair of the UC’s Academic Senate. In particular, funding for ethnic studies course development could affect a high school’s ability to meet the requirement, he added...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/12/26/uc-faculty-delays-proposal-for-ethnic-studies-requirement-for-incoming-students.

Although the excerpt says the delay is officially due to funding concerns, yours truly suspects that the fact that the requirement for high schools has been controversial due to content has something - maybe lots - to do with it. Here's a hint in a quote from the article: 

'She alleged that one author, an ethnic studies scholar, made a “bizarre” claim that someone on the admissions committee “was surreptitiously working in league with a Jewish organization.”'

See also, for example:

https://edsource.org/2024/legislators-struggle-with-how-to-rein-in-but-not-repress-ethnic-studies/715321; https://edsource.org/2024/judge-rejects-lawsuit-over-liberated-ethnic-studies-classes-in-lausd/723380. Or just Google the topic.

The agenda item at the Academic Council can be found at:

https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/assembly/assembly-agenda-12-12-24.pdf beginning at page 14. You would never know there was anything controversial from this write-up.

A Modest Proposal

Just a thought...

Remember COVID?

From the Bruin: UCLA Housing removed all isolation rooms for on-campus students who test positive for COVID-19. This academic year, UCLA adjusted its COVID-19 policies to align with current public health guidelines while also balancing housing availability and other campus priorities, a UCLA Housing spokesperson said in an emailed statement. UCLA decreased the number of COVID-19 isolation rooms in September 2023 to several rooms in De Neve Birch, although, in previous years, entire dorm buildings had been used for isolation.

While the decision to entirely remove isolation housing was expected for cost reasons, the removal will leave various students and their families at risk, said Shira Shafir, an associate professor of epidemiology and community health sciences at UCLA. COVID-19 is generally less serious in college-aged individuals, Shafir said, but added that UCLA has some students who are at increased risk of severe disease or who have family members who are at increased risk...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/12/21/ucla-housing-removes-covid-19-isolation-rooms-for-students-who-test-positive.

Subway Lane Closure

Wilshire Bl near Gayley Av: Lane Closure for Site Access  Summary  Metro contractors are continuing excavation for the future Westwood/UCLA Station. A temporary lane closures on Wilshire Bl will be needed to access the site between Westwood Bl and Gayley Av. Date: Ongoing through December 31, 2025 Work hours: Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3:30 pm and 9 pm to 6 am  Traffic Control:  Westbound Wilshire Bl lanes will be reduced between Glendon Av and Gayley Av.  Right turn pocket restrictions at Westwood Bl and Gayley Av at Wilshire Bl.  The west leg crosswalk at Wilshire Bl and Gayley Av will be restricted. Three other crosswalks will remain available.  Noteworthy  Access to driveways, residences & businesses will always be maintained unless there is prior notification of blocked access.  Access for pedestrians will be maintained outside of construction zones.  Access for the Fire Department and emergency responders will be maintained.  Parking restrictions will be implemented in the immediate area of the work zone.  Construction is dynamic and schedules are subject to change.  24/7 Hotline: 213-922-6934  Source: https://cloud.sfmc.metro.net/Wilshire_Gayley_Daytime_Lane_Closure.

The UC Deal With OCR - Part 2 (to do list)

We earlier provided the basic documents that were involved in OCR's agreement with UC and UCLA to resolve civil rights complaints that stemmed from the protests and encampments.

Below is a summary of what UC is obligated to do from the Bruin:

...UC agreed to several terms with the OCR to rectify its Title VI compliance issues, according to the resolution agreement. The two parties first agreed that the OCR would review and approve any revisions to the University’s antidiscrimination policies and “guidelines that it uses to address its compliance with Title VI.”

The agreement also requires the UC to train its employees who investigate discrimination complaints for impartiality and effectiveness in response. Public safety officers who respond to or investigate discrimination incidents must also receive training on nondiscrimination requirements under Title VI, according to the agreement.

The University must provide documentation of this training to the OCR by Dec. 31, 2025, according to the agreement.

By Sept. 30, 2025, the OCR must also receive a file of the University’s – or each individual campus’ – response to discrimination complaints at UCSB, UCSC, UCSD, UC Davis and UCLA during the 2024-2025 academic year, according to the agreement.

These reports will include 23 data points at a minimum, including the supportive measures offered to the complainant, names of the individuals who engaged in discrimination, outcomes of the investigations, corrective actions taken and steps the University or individual campus took to eliminate a potential recurrence of the event.

The University must also develop voluntary “climate surveys” that include questions regarding a student’s knowledge of discriminatory acts against students or employees on the basis of shared ancestry or national origin, according to the agreement. The UC has also agreed to provide a report to the OCR regarding proposed actions based on the survey and, within 60 days of the OCR’s approval, must provide documentation of implementation of these actions.

“The University will analyze the results of the climate survey(s) within 90 calendar days of its completion to identify appropriate action(s) that the University and/or the individual University campuses will take to improve the climate at the campus and the University more broadly with respect to nondiscrimination based on national origin, including shared Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and/or Arab ancestry,” the agreement said.

By Jan. 17, UC President Michael Drake must issue a statement to students and employees stating the University’s intolerance for discrimination, commitment to addressing such issues and ways to report harassment, according to the agreement. The UCLA chancellor must also send a campuswide message by the same deadline with a telephone number and email address to report discriminatory incidents, the agreement said.

UCLA must “promptly investigate” if students were blocked from accessing campus based on their Jewish or Israeli heritage, according to the agreement, as well as if faculty held classes or office hours within the encampment...

The OCR said in the agreement that it would provide the UC with a notice and 60 days to fix any potential violations of the contract that may occur. If the UC does not comply within 60 days, the Department of Education could initiate enforcement proceedings or refer the case to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/12/23/uc-reaches-agreement-with-education-department-over-title-vi-investigations.

A Plan to Undo the Plan

UC President Clark Kerr hands
Master Plan to Gov. Pat Brown

Back in the 1950s, California had a growing public higher education system consisting of junior (now community) colleges, state colleges (now CSU), and UC. All three segments jockeyed for support. Eventually, what merged was the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education. Folks keep referring to the Master Plan although the original expired in 1975.

From time to time, we have noted the need for a new Master Plan on this blog as the legislature makes ad hoc changes in the system.

Now comes a plan that would essentially scrap the idea of three segments and turn the whole thing into one.*

The idea seems to be to have some kind of coordinating body that would run what has evolved since the old Master Plan was put forward. Much of the proposal seems focused on students and access. But UC in particular has evolved into a huge enterprise in which no matter how you measure it, the student function is a relatively small proportion of the budget as the chart below indicates.

There in fact was a coordinating body which had a role, although not an administrative role, until Governor Jerry Brown essentially killed it through defunding. 

Still, there is a need for somebody to revisit the Master Plan idea. So perhaps the new proposal will start someone thinking about the Big Picture rather than just putting patches on the old model.

Source: https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/_files/rbudget/2024-25-budget-summary.pdf.

====

*From Institutions to Individuals: A Paradigm Shift for California's Master Plan for Higher Education, Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, UCLA, and California Competes: Higher Education for a Strong Economy, December 2024:  

https://californiacompetes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024_09_24-Master-Plan-final-for-post-11-26-24-v3.pdf.

Continuing With Our Holiday Offerings...

Many folks know the 1983 movie, "A Christmas Story," which is actually a compilation of radio stories told by commentator Jean Shepherd. Below is the original radio version of the frozen tongue story featured in that movie.

Also, since Hanukkah begins at sundown this evening, we present a musical offering from Tom Lehrer.

Frozen tongue - Part 1:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flPekoGPGd0.

Frozen tongue - Part 2:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-anf8u-aE.

===

Hanukkah in Santa Monica:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU.

Holiday Greetings and a Good Deed for Today

Click on link below:

Or direct to https://x.com/UCLA/status/1865109439528751359. 

==============

Below is an item that is NOT holiday cheer. But if you want to do your good deed for today, pass the article along. And maybe even send it to your senators.

Polio Ravaged My Family. Forget Its Horror at Your Peril.
Thanks to the miracle of the vaccine, there has not been a single indigenously acquired case of the disease in the U.S. since 1979. Could that progress now be undone?
By Jana Kozlowski
12.15.24 — The Free Press
https://www.thefp.com/p/polio-ravaged-my-family-rfk-jr-vaccines
==

The author’s grandparents pose with her two uncles, Ronald and Howard Winard (center L, center R), who died of polio in October 1945 at ages three and seven, respectively. (All photos courtesy of the Winard family)
-----
One day when my mom was eleven years old, she found a photo in the attic of two small children who bore a resemblance to her and her brother. She brought the photo downstairs to her mother and asked who they were.

“Those are your two brothers,” she said. “They died of polio.”

On October 21, 1945, two and a half years before my mom was born, her brother—my uncle, Ronald Winard—died of polio at the age of three. Four days later, his older brother, Howard, died at the age of seven.

“Are they in heaven?” my mother remembers asking. She never forgot the answer that came back: “No, they are in the ground.”

==

Ronald Winard in 1942.

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nominated to be Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services, his long history of anti-vaccine activism is a significant worry of his critics. Kennedy is perhaps best known for promoting the debunked theory that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism. But he has also criticized the polio vaccine, which all 50 states require, even though it essentially eradicated the disease in the U.S.

The polio vaccine, Kennedy said in an interview last year, has “killed many, many, many more people than polio ever did.” His view is that the vaccine was effective against polio, but the side effects caused by the vaccine—specifically, a virus that contaminated some batches from 1955 to 1963, known as SV40—caused an explosion in soft-tissue cancer, a theory that has not been proven by science. National and global health agencies have found the polio vaccine to be safe and effective.

But that hasn’t stopped the spread of vaccine skepticism. Last week, The New York Times published an article about how a close Kennedy associate, Aaron Siri—who Kennedy is interested in bringing into HHS as general counsel—has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine.

For my family, the prospect of halting polio immunization—or even convincing the public that the lifesaving vaccine is unsafe—is horrifying.

==

The author’s grandmother poses with Ronald and Howard Winard in 1942.

Unlike the Covid-19 virus, polio attacks children—especially small children. Until Jonas Salk invented the first polio vaccine in 1953, for much of the first half of the twentieth century, there were periodic polio epidemics, with an especially alarming period in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The year my uncles died, there were over 13,000 cases of polio in the U.S. and over 1,000 deaths.

Marcia Rosenthal, my mom’s cousin, was eleven in 1945. She lived in Newark, New Jersey, a few blocks away from my grandparents and their sons. Summer seemed to be the peak period for the virus, so every summer in her childhood, she told me, her parents forbade her from mingling in big crowds, going to the movies, or going to the public pool in her neighborhood. She had a friend who wasn’t even allowed to leave the house at all in the summer. Parents spent their days in fear of their children getting polio.

That nightmare became reality for my grandparents one Sunday in October of that year. Ronald and Howard went to their cousin Marcia’s house in Newark, and then went to play in the park. Marcia, who is now 90 years old, told me it felt like there was relief in the air because the “summer scare” had passed. But two days later, the boys took sick with symptoms of polio: muscle weakness, nausea and vomiting, and stiffness in their spines and necks.

==

The author’s grandfather and Howard Winard in 1942.

Marcia’s mother ripped apart the house, throwing out drapes and chairs and anything the boys may have touched. In all likelihood, they had been exposed to polio not at the park, but at Ronald’s nursery school. We know this because another cousin enrolled there also contracted polio and had to be put in an iron lung to breathe. The cousin survived, though he has had ongoing physical effects, including facial nerve paralysis and muscle weakness.

My uncles died within a week, but not before suffering. Details of exactly what the boys endured at Newark Beth Israel Hospital died with my grandparents. Polio kills children when their nerves are destroyed, when their muscles shut down, when they can no longer swallow, and then can no longer breathe.

My grandparents never spoke about their sons, even after my mom learned what had happened. But for my mom, the revelation was illuminating. She had spent her childhood aware of a darkness in her home that she couldn’t understand—with a mother who, when she wasn’t anxious, was dipping into deep depressions. Now my own mother understood why.

My grandmother had been pregnant with her third child when her sons died. When she delivered my uncle just a month later, she was so traumatized that she was unable to hold or care for her new baby.

==

Howard Winard in 1942.

Meanwhile, the polio epidemics continued. In 1952, when my mom was four, there were some 58,000 cases of the disease and over 3,000 deaths. That was the peak year for polio in the U.S.

Marcia told me that the autumn my uncles died, she decided, at age 11, that she wasn’t going to have any children. She didn’t think she could live through every single summer racked with the worry she saw in her parents—and the despair that came for her cousins’ family.

When she got married in 1954, she told me she was too frightened to consider getting pregnant. But by the following year, Salk’s vaccine was widely available to the public. Mothers across the country raced to have their children get the jab. Marcia said the vaccine felt like a miracle.

While it was too late for my uncles and for thousands of other children, Marcia’s three daughters grew up in an America where they didn’t have to fear polio. So did I. Thanks to the vaccine, there has not been a single indigenously acquired case of polio in the United States since 1979. Polio is now endemic in only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where vaccine penetration is difficult.

When my grandfather died in 1998, my mom found among his belongings paperwork for the upkeep of Ronald and Howard’s graves at a Newark cemetery. She discovered that for fifty years, my grandfather had visited their graves every single week. He had never told anyone. In my family there were some things that were just too painful to discuss.

A tale of woe and cheer for tonight

 

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mF2TCyS-o.

Vape NIL?

Government-funded NIL? Vape-funded NIL? You can find it in the other LA. 

From the Louisiana Illuminator: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is launching a youth anti-vaping campaign that will engage athletes at LSU and other colleges in name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. 

The campaign, which is the first state-funded NIL deal in Louisiana, will be funded by a settlement from Juul Labs, a company that makes electronic cigarettes. The money is required to be used to reduce vaping among teens and adults under age 21. The funds can be used for research, education and vaping cessation programs, among other things. 

According to public records, the state so far has agreed to spend $281,000 on NIL deals with athletes, with $225,000 going to LSU athletes over three years. The rest will be paid to athletes at the University of Louisiana Monroe, Grambling, Northwestern, Southeastern and McNeese. 

Louisiana law does not have any restrictions on public funds going toward NIL deals..

Over the past several years, Louisiana legislators have looked to loosen NIL restrictions in state law to make the state more competitive as NCAA restrictions allow. A relatively poor state, Louisiana’s NIL activity has lagged behind that of other states like Texas and Florida, where wealthy donors pour in money to secure top recruits.

Full story at https://lailluminator.com/2024/12/18/louisiana-attorney-general-liz-murrill-jumps-in-the-name-image-and-likeness-game/.

Return Soon

From the San Francisco Chronicle: California’s major public university systems are among colleges nationwide advising international students who traveled abroad for winter break to return to campus before Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, out of concern he may immediately issue an executive order limiting entrance to the U.S...

The University of California and California State University systems are advising international students, as well as faculty and staff, to consider returning to the U.S. before Jan. 20.

“The University of California has received questions from community members about potential changes to U.S. immigration and visa processes following the results of the recent election,” the UC Office of the President said in a statement. “While the University does not anticipate any formal changes to immigration and visa rules before January 20, 2025, we encourage international students to consider completing their travel and returning before January 20.” ...

USC advised international students in an email to return to campus before classes begin Jan. 13...

Other colleges and universities in the East Coast are sending students similar warnings. Cornell University’s Office of Global Learning warned students that “a travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” and advised students to be back in the country before the start of the spring semester...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/uc-csu-international-students-trump-travel-ban-19989253.php.

What you don't see in the state budget

There's a lot in the state budget that you don't see, so-called tax expenditures. These are exemptions from taxation or other tax-favored treatment. A crude way of measuring them is to assume that if the exemption vanished, behavior would be unchanged and revenue would increase based on that assumption. Of course, tax expenditures are created typically to encourage behavior, i.e., if the tax-favored treatment lapsed, the behavior would be reduced. Still, even estimated in the crude way gives some idea of the importance of the various tax expenditures.

Jason Sisney of the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) on his blog has provided the table below of state tax expenditures.

As can be seen, the biggest ones relate mainly to employment: retirement plan contributions, health plan contributions, Social Security Benefits, benefits under cafeteria plans,* and IRA contributions.

Sisney adds up the various tax expenditures and comes up with a total equal to 45% of existing (non-exempt) general fund revenue. So these de facto expenditures "matter" a lot in state budgeting, even if they tend to be hidden from view (and even considering the fact that the methodology likely overstates the revenue "loss").

UC, of course, benefits from the tax-favored treatment of charitable contributions. Whether the governor will propose any changes on the tax side of the budget for 2025-26 will be known in January.

===

*Cafeteria plans don't deal with food service. They are employment plans in which the employee can allocate employer contributions to a choice of benefit options.

One thing leads to another

When UCLA changed athletic conferences, much of the focus was on the impact on UC-Berkeley. But, in fact, the dominoes kept falling beyond Berkeley.

From the Sacramento Bee: 

The UC Davis athletics department is making a move to a new conference. The Aggies announced [on Dec. 10] the university accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West in all sports except for football, leaving the Big West Conference behind starting July 1, 2026.

UC Davis football already plays in a different conference from the school’s other programs, competing in the Big Sky Conference. “We are thrilled to join the Mountain West Conference, and we look forward to an incredible experience for our student-athletes and for our fans,” UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said in a news release. “Our transition to the highly regarded conference will introduce our Aggie community to a broader audience, in major metropolitan areas and through increased media coverage. It also provides us with an opportunity to align with universities that share similar academic strengths while also expanding our competitive presence in the Western United States.”

UC Davis said the move, first reported... by Yahoo! Sports, strategically elevates its athletic programs to a higher level of Division I and is reflective of the school’s “level of investment and ambition unique to UC Davis.” The school said additional costs to support the transition such as travel and staffing will be primarily offset by increased revenues from ticket sales, donations, multimedia rights and revenue distributions from the Mountain West. It will take three to four years before revenues are expected to reach projected levels, and the school does not plan to use existing institutional funds to support the move. 

The jump comes months after the Mountain West learned it would be losing five teams to the new-look Pac-12 Conference. The Pac-12 had been looking to add schools to remain alive after it nearly dissolved over the past year when 10 schools left, including USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, Cal and Stanford...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article296889284.html.

Don't

The second casualty

https://x.com/UCLAchancellor/status/1870173778128388261

 -----

Or direct to https://ia600408.us.archive.org/27/items/newsom-4-3-24-snow-survey/UCLA%20EVC%20Darnell%20Hunt%20tries%20to%20negotiate%20in%20encampment.mp4

Not clear who made what decision when. But the first casualty was the police chief.* And, in the end, the result was that someone else was chosen to head UCLA. Hunt was thus the second casualty.

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/12/blame-gameshame-game.html.

Where there's smoke, there's... the chief

From the Sacramento Bee: A Yolo County criminal grand jury indicted a former fire chief at the University of California, Davis who is accused of misappropriating public funds before he resigned from his campus job two months ago. Nathan Jon Trauernicht, 45, pleaded not guilty to the felony charge during his arraignment hearing Monday, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a news release. Prosecutors also announced they filed a felony charge of misappropriating public money against 34-year-old Meagan Emily McFadden, who worked for Trauernicht as an executive assistant for more than four years before she left her job at UC Davis several months ago.

...UC Davis officials on Friday said Trauernicht began working for the UC Davis Fire Department in April 2008 and resigned Oct. 1 after nearly 13 years as fire chief. McFadden worked as an executive assistant at the fire department from November 18, 2019, through Jan. 30...

Full story at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article297057184.html.

It's Today

 

Or direct to https://ia601809.us.archive.org/33/items/youtube-Xt-5GWexHIA/Xt-5GWexHIA.mp4.

The UC Deal With OCR

The Office of Civil Rights (within the US Dept. of Education) has reached an agreement with UC to resolve the various complaints arising from last academic year's protests:

Press Release  US Dept. of Education

Office for Civil Rights Announces Resolution of Complaints Alleging Shared Ancestry Discrimination by Five Campuses in University of California System

Agreement resolves nine complaints filed with OCR against five University of California campuses in Los Angeles (UCLA), Santa Barbara (UCSB), San Diego (UCSD), Davis (UCD) and Santa Cruz (UCSC)

December 20, 2024

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced that the University of California has entered into a resolution agreement to ensure its compliance with Title VI of the of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of harassment or other discrimination based on national origin, including shared Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab ancestry. 

The agreement resolves nine complaints filed with OCR against five University of California (UC) campuses in Los Angeles (UCLA), Santa Barbara (UCSB), San Diego (UCSD), Davis (UCD), and Santa Cruz (UCSC). The complaints alleged that these universities failed to respond promptly or effectively to harassment of their students based on their actual or perceived national origin (including shared Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab ancestry) and that some of these universities subjected these students to different treatment with respect to their access to campus or university programs. 

OCR’s investigations included interviewing students and university employees and reviewing university policies and procedures, information related to reports and complaints made to university campuses, and publicly available information such as videos of alleged harassing events on campus in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, OCR reviewed 2024 university taskforce reports and court filings about the alleged harassment at UCLA. Before OCR completed its investigations, the University of California expressed an interest in resolving them through an agreement under Section 302 of OCR’s case processing manual, and OCR determined that resolving its compliance concerns to date through an agreement was appropriate. 

These concerns include that university campuses appear to have failed to respond promptly or effectively to a possible hostile environment based on national origin/shared ancestry when: (1) the alleged harassing conduct or protests involved First Amendment-protected speech and the universities appear not to have evaluated if the conduct never the less created a hostile environment based on shared ancestry for affected students; or (2) some of the universities’ responses to alleged shared ancestry harassment may have failed to remedy the effects of a potential or apparent hostile environment and prevent a recurrence of the alleged harassment. 

With regard to UCLA and its law school, OCR’s compliance concerns stemmed in part from the university’s receipt of more than 150 reports about protests and rallies in October and November 2023, as well as complaints related to an encampment on campus in spring 2024. These and other reports included: 

Reports of rally chants such as, “death to Israel,” “[t]here is no peace until they’re dead,” “intifada now,” and “there is only one solution.” A separate video reviewed by OCR depicted a group that included students beating an effigy of Israel’s Prime Minister and shouting “beat that f*cking Jew” on the campus. 

Muslim, Palestinian, and/or pro-Palestinian students experienced unwanted filming, doxing, and being followed both on and near UCLA’s campus by other students and members of the public. 

Reports of checkpoints at the spring 2024 encampment that allegedly denied entry to Jewish students who refused to “denounce their Zionism.” 

UCLA, through its campus police, allegedly failed to protect Palestinian, Arab, and/or pro-Palestinian student protestors while they were violently attacked, injured, and intimidated by counter-protestors, including third parties. 

Of particular concern were reports of violence against students of Jewish and Israeli ancestry by protesters at the encampment and of a violent assault by counter-protestors on pro-Palestinian protesters at the encampment on April 30, 2024, and the subsequent law enforcement response, which the UCLA Chancellor described as one in which students “feared for their safety.” In addition, OCR has a concern that the encampment at UCLA in spring 2024 may have subjected students to different treatment based on their national origin/shared Jewish ancestry, when their access to parts of the campus or UCLA programs was limited. OCR identified a similar concern about possible disparate treatment with respect to Jewish students’ access to a multicultural center at UC Santa Barbara. 

Similarly, the evidence to date showed that UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz all had widely reported incidents of alleged harassment against students based on their national origin, including shared ancestry, indicating that these universities also had notice of a potential hostile environment for their students of Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, and/or Arab ancestry. For example, UC Santa Barbara received notice of antisemitic vandalism at a dorm room and signs posted at a student center that targeted some named Jewish students and stated that Zionists were not welcome. UC San Diego and UC Davis also received reports and complaints about students witnessing or experiencing antisemitic comments or actions by students and professors at protests, online, or in campus departments. Chancellors at various UC campuses made statements to their communities acknowledging hate speech, antisemitic and anti-Muslim discrimination, and/or other harms that students on their respective campuses had experienced. 

To resolve the Title VI compliance concerns that OCR identified to date, the University of California has committed to implement actions, including: 

Reviewing complaints and reports of harassment and other discrimination based on shared ancestry in academic years (AY) 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 to determine if the alleged conduct created a hostile environment and if further action is needed to provide an equitable resolution of each reported incident. 

Reporting to OCR the universities’ responses to reports of harassment and other discrimination based on shared ancestry in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. 

Obtaining OCR approval for any revisions to university policies and procedures to ensure that they address Title VI’s prohibition on discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. 

Training university employees and public safety and campus police officers responsible for investigating reports and complaints of discrimination about the university’s policies, procedures, and obligations under Title VI to respond to shared ancestry discrimination. 

Administering a climate assessment for university students and employees to evaluate the extent to which they are subjected to or witness harassment and other discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, and know how to report such discrimination. And,

Using the results of the climate assessments and university reviews of reports of shared ancestry discrimination to identify responsive steps for OCR’s review and approval. 

===

The news release above, the resolution letter (addressed to President Drake), and the resolution agreement are at:

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/OCR%20UC%20Press%20Release%2012-20-2024.pdf;

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/OCR%20UC%20resolution%20letter%2012-20-2024.pdf;

https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/OCR%20UC%20resolution%20agreement%2012-18-2024.pdf.

Three Times: One Westwood Scene

1934

 

1957

1963 is said to be the date. The cars, however, look to be
from an earlier period, possibly 1953.

Timely Topic (from the past)

Yours truly came across this item in The Hill recently:

"President-elect Trump on Friday said Republicans would push to eliminate daylight saving time, calling it “inconvenient” and “costly.” “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” Trump posted on Truth Social..."

Full story at: 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5039673-trump-gop-daylight-saving-time/.

Normally, this topic comes up whenever there is a clock change, i.e., in fall and spring. But now it seems to be on the agenda as winter rapidly approaches.

Our former chancellor retired at the end of July with shall we charitably say less than the normal fanfare for such events. (I don't think I have to explain why.) But it is worth noting that Gene Block and Donald Trump apparently see eye-to-eye on this particular matter. In particular, Block opposed permanent daylight time, a position that often arises in the normal twice-a-year debates. Instead, in an op ed in the Sacramento Bee, he wrote:

...Permanent Standard Time is the only fair and viable option, not only for California, but the entire nation. California lawmakers, regardless of district, have a responsibility to residents in the northern part of the state. They also have an opportunity to make this important point to Congress, which might someday impose a permanent time change for the nation.

Full op ed at https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article226884269.html.

PS: From winter quarter 2022, when masks were required, we present more than you want to know about this topic:

https://archive.org/details/mitchell-time-edited.

LAO report on UC-Merced

The Legislative Analyst's Office has produced a 20th anniversary report on UC-Merced. The report tilts toward doubt. Below is the Executive Summary, a link to the full report, and some commentary:

Executive Summary

UC Merced Was Created to Accomplish Several Key Objectives. In the late 1980s, the University of California (UC) projected that enrollment demand would exceed systemwide enrollment capacity by the late 1990s. In response, the UC Board of Regents began exploring sites for a new campus. After considering several locations in the San Joaquin Valley, the board selected Merced as the location for the tenth UC campus. After years of constructing the campus and hiring personnel, UC Merced opened in fall 2004 for graduate students and fall 2005 for undergraduate students. In addition to expanding enrollment capacity for the UC system, UC Merced was intended to help raise educational and economic outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley. Prior to the opening of UC Merced, regional college-going rates were low while regional poverty and unemployment rates were high.

--

Campus Has Grown Over Time. Total enrollment (undergraduates and graduate students combined) at UC Merced crossed the 5,000 student-marker in fall 2011. By fall 2023, the campus had grown to approximately 9,100 students. Academic offerings have increased in tandem—growing from 9 undergraduate majors and 3 doctoral programs in 2005 to 27 undergraduate majors and 17 doctoral programs in fall 2023. The number of faculty and staff also has grown, with the campus having a total of approximately 2,500 employees in fall 2023. The campus has completed two major physical build-outs. The initial build-out resulted in about 1.5 million gross square feet (gsf) of academic and auxiliary space, whereas the second build-out (occurring from 2016 through 2020) added about 1.3 million gsf of space (intended to support a campus of 10,000 students).

--

UC Merced Student Body Is Different From Other UC Campuses. UC Merced enrolls a higher share of undergraduates and lower share of graduate students than other UC campuses. Among its undergraduates, UC Merced enrolls the highest share of resident students and lowest share of students from other states and countries. The campus has the highest percentage of first-generation students (students with at least one parent who does not have a bachelor’s degree) as well as the highest percentage of Pell Grant recipients. UC Merced is the only UC campus with a student body that is majority Hispanic/Latino. The campus also draws more heavily from the San Joaquin Valley than any other UC campus.

--

UC Merced Staff Differ From UC System. Compared to other UC campuses, UC Merced relies more on nontenure-track lecturers for academic instruction. Among its tenured/tenure-track faculty, it relies more on assistant professors (and less on associate and full professors). Relative to other UC general campuses, UC Merced hires substantially fewer academic support staff, whereas it hires substantially more student employees. UC Merced administrators indicate making these hiring decisions because they yield lower associated staffing costs and are thus more fiscally viable for a young campus. As a relatively small campus without the same economies of scale of the larger UC campuses, UC Merced continues to spend a larger share of its budget on institutional support and a smaller share on instruction and research.

--

UC Merced Receives More State Funding Per Student Than Other UC Campuses. UC uses a formula known as the “rebenching formula” to allocate General Fund (excluding General Fund set-asides for specific programs and one-time allocations) to its campuses. The formula is meant to equalize state per-student funding across campuses. UC Merced is excluded from this formula, as the campus has not yet reached the point where state support under the rebenching formula, its tuition revenue, and local resources are enough to cover its annual operating expenses. Compared to the other UC general campuses, UC provides UC Merced with approximately $10,000 more in state funding per student. In 2022-23, UC Merced received $85 million more in state funding than it would have received under the rebenching formula.

--

Some UC Capacity Has Been Added Due to UC Merced but Growth Has Been Slow and Higher Cost. Since 2005, the UC system has added approximately 44,000 resident undergraduate slots. The 7,500 undergraduate slots created at UC Merced accounts for 17 percent of that growth. While contributing to the increase in UC enrollment capacity, UC Merced has repeatedly failed to meet its campus enrollment targets. Moreover, enrolling additional students at UC Merced comes with a higher state cost than enrolling additional students at the more established UC campuses. The $85 million in UC Merced funding above the rebenching formula equates to roughly an additional 10,000 students that could have been supported at the other UC general campuses, many of which had available capacity.

--

Certain Educational Outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley Continue to Lag Behind Statewide Averages. While more San Joaquin Valley high school students are now enrolling at a UC campus, with UC Merced accounting for the majority of that growth, certain regional educational outcomes continue to be relatively low. For instance, though college going rates have increased in the San Joaquin Valley, they have not increased as much as the statewide average. Similarly, the percentage of individuals with at least a bachelor’s degree in Merced County has increased, but also by less than the statewide average.

--

Regional Economic Indicators Show Mixed Results. It is unclear how much the campus has contributed to overall macroeconomic outcomes in the region. Both unemployment and poverty remain higher in the San Joaquin Valley when compared to statewide averages. Average wages for state-government workers in Merced County, however, have seen a substantial increase since the opening of the campus (growing by nearly 70 percent, notably exceeding statewide wage growth). Employment growth in nonfarm occupations has also increased in Merced County, exceeding the statewide average, but falling behind other regions in the state.

--

Key State-Level Takeaways May Be Learned From the UC Merced Experience. In many ways, UC Merced is like new campuses more generally. For at least their first several decades, new public university campuses are likely to experience slower enrollment growth than planned, rely more heavily on state funding, and devote more of their budgets to institutional support and facilities (and less to instruction and research). New campuses, in turn, are unlikely to be able to offer the same overall quality of academic program for decades. Moreover, new campuses are unlikely to generate significant economic impacts in the short term, beyond what might have been accomplished by other major state initiatives. Furthermore, studies have not determined whether the results produced by new campuses could be accomplished in more cost-effective ways.

--

These takeaways could help inform and guide the Legislature as it undertakes higher education planning moving forward.

--

Full report at https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2024/4937/UC-Merced-at-20-Campus-Developments-Key-State-Level-Takeaways-110724.pdf.

===

The LAO report is the kind of analysis that will get some attention in the legislature and perhaps at the Regents. Note that at least one media interpretation will raise some red flags:

...In polite language, [the report] fundamentally says the campus has fallen well short of its enrollment targets, requires much more state aid than other UC branches to operate, has not had the big economic impact that its advocates promised, and really wasn’t needed to relieve student applications...

At the time, UC system executives were almost universally opposed to placing a new campus in Merced because it would siphon away construction and operational funds that, they thought, would be better spent elsewhere. However, they never voiced that opposition publicly because the Board of Regents, composed of governors’ appointees, and [Governor] Davis were insisting that it be done... In short, the motives of Merced campus advocates, both public and private, had only tangential connections to educational needs, and two decades later that’s still true. UC Merced is the system’s poor stepchild.

Full story at https://calmatters.org/commentary/2024/12/uc-merced-campus-awkward-stepchild/.

The recollection of yours truly is a bit different. UC executives at the time seemed quite happy to continue to discuss creating a new campus in the region. As long as the precise location was uncertain, there was a whole collection of hopeful Central Valley legislators who would support the idea (and UC) in the hope that - if they played nice - eventually their preferred site would be chosen. However, there was only so long that UC could play the game of considering and discussing, but not chosing, a site. And once a specific site was chosen, UC inevitably disappointed several legislators from the region and pleased only one assembly member and only one state senator.*

That said, there is no point now in revisiting what might have been. The only choice is to make UC-Merced a success where it is and what it is.

===

*This is not a new opinion on this blog. From 2011: 

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/11/merced-developers-learn-to-be-careful.html.

Fraudulent Activity

You may have received the email below from Fidelity concerning fraudulent activity - unspecified* - regarding the tax-favored savings accounts UC offers. If not, the text is below:

Dear UC Retirement Savings Program Participant, 

We want to make you aware that a limited number of UC Retirement Savings Program (RSP) accounts administered by Fidelity were affected by fraudulent activity in October 2024. Fidelity identified the issues involved, addressed any vulnerabilities, took immediate steps to protect affected accounts and restored unauthorized transactions. 

Your UC RSP account(s) were not affected. However, we want to take this opportunity to remind you of our Fidelity Customer Protection Guarantee and steps you can take to help protect your account(s).

The Fidelity Customer Protection Guarantee

Under Fidelity’s Customer Protection Guarantee, Fidelity reimburses any losses from unauthorized account activity, provided the activity was not due to a plan participant’s own actions. We understand that these kinds of situations can be concerning, and we want to reassure you that our team is here to support you.

Steps to help protect your account(s)

As part of our ongoing commitment to your account security, below are tips and resources to help you protect your UC RSP and Fidelity account information. If you haven’t done so already, please consider taking the following steps as soon as possible: 

1. Review your UC workplace account(s) (www.netbenefits.com) and personal Fidelity retail account(s) (www.fidelity.com), if applicable, regularly. Ensure your contact information and financial statements are accurate, including transaction history, bank, and tax information. Pay close attention to your profile information, especially mobile numbers and emails associated with multi-factor authentication (MFA) and account alerts.

Scan or Click the QR code to view Fidelity’s security checklist and safety resources, including top five account security recommendations, and more.

2. Pay close attention to account change alerts. Fidelity will notify you of any accounts opened on your behalf, as well as profile changes.

3. Report any concerning issues to Fidelity. If you notice any recent unusual activity or unauthorized changes, contact Fidelity immediately at 1-866-682-7787.

4. Take advantage of UC’s information security resources. UC offers services to assist you in managing cybersecurity risk, including multi-factor authentication applications and resources for reporting potential phishing attacks. For more information about cybersecurity at UC, including best practices for keeping your digital information safe, visit security.ucop.edu.

5. Attend the “CyberWellness®: Personal Security Checklist” webinar on Thursday, December 19, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. PT, where you’ll learn actionable tips to secure your accounts, identity and devices. Register here.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Your vigilance in detecting and alerting authorities to security issues is important. We will continue to work with UC officials to monitor threats to your accounts and strengthen measures to help discourage additional attacks.

Sincerely,

Fidelity Investments 

===

*Yours truly is told the fraud was effected by creation of phony Fidelity accounts for minors with the same Social Security numbers as those of UC employees (presumably obtained from the dark web). A flaw in the Fidelity security system allowed transfers of money from the legitimate accounts to the phony accounts. Apparently, the flaw has been corrected and those whose accounts were hacked were reimbursed.