The Notable Absence of Dialogue Across Differences

When the Israel-Gaza War began roiling certain college campuses, Dartmouth was an early pioneer in creating dialogues led by faculty members with different perspectives on the conflict.* UCLA produced a brief episode early on just for the medical school, but its program was very limited in terms of who had access and quickly disappeared. Yours truly preserved an audio version, however.**

Subsequently, UC President Drake provided $7 million to the various UC campuses for such programming. UCLA ostensibly has created a "Dialogue Across Differences." I say "ostensibly" because there is little actual programming to show for the effort, although the existence of the Dialogue is periodically touted.*** No one seems to ask what became of Drake's funding including the Regents' Compliance and Audit Committee which is supposed to look at how money is spent. 

What brings all of this to mind is that Harvard recently released a dialogue of the type UCLA is supposed to be having. You can see it at the link below:

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

https://ia801406.us.archive.org/35/items/a-laugh-a-tear-a-mitzvah/Harvard%20Einat%20Wilf%20in%20conversation%20with%20Prof%20Tarek%20Masoud%201-24-2025.mp4.

The obvious question is why UCLA can't do what Harvard does? Is it really that hard, particularly in the modern era where interviews and discussions can be imported from anywhere via Zoom or other platforms? Who got the Drake money? Why don't we have (and why haven't we seen) tangible results? Which individual is supposed to be in charge and accountable? Is new leadership of the Dialogue required.

Perhaps our new chancellor would like to explore this matter. ???

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/12/dartmouths-example-in-dealing-with_02027536794.html.

**https://archive.org/details/ucla-med-school-dialogue-12-20-2023.

***The Dialogue website lists a lot of non-Middle East possible efforts, although it is not clear what results these efforts have produced:

https://evcp.ucla.edu/priorities/dialogue-across-difference/.

The only program listed dealing with the Middle East situation occurred in February 2024, eleven months ago: 

https://vimeo.com/918557576/e75dd48558.

The Dialogue website currently lists no upcoming events:

Something Is Rescheduled to Happen

As blog readers will know, the Academic Senate had a special online meeting scheduled for Jan. 20 which failed due to a technical snafu. (As we have noted in past posts, this meeting - called by petition - could have gone ahead with a little creativity to work around the glitch.) In any case, the meeting has now been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 13. 

The topics:

1. The lack of consultation for implementing the Information Security Investment Plan and the potential negative effects of the plan on faculty’s research, teaching, and merits and promotions.
2. UCOP’s differential treatment of faculty and administrators regarding compensation and cost-of-living adjustments.
3. The University of California’s continued decrease in percent contribution to medical plans.

At the moment, there does not seem to be a link posted for signing up. But here is the announcement:

Source: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/assembly/index.html.

Omission

One committee of the Regents didn't meet last week: The special Committee on Athletics which was created in the wake of UCLA change of athletic conference and its impact on Berkeley. Pity it didn't meet, because there were things to talk about. From the LA Times: 

Even a major infusion of cash from UCLA could not prevent its athletic budget crisis from deepening. In a departure from previous years, when it provided negligible direct institutional support, the school gave its athletic department $30.06 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. But the Bruins’ yearly deficit of $51.85 million reflected their ongoing challenges in balancing their budget amid a rapidly changing college sports landscape.

It’s the sixth consecutive year that UCLA’s athletic department has run in the red, its deficit over that span totaling $219.55 million. The university will cover the latest deficit, as it has in the past and does with other campus departments...

Significant relief could finally be on the way a year from now. UCLA’s move to the Big Ten is expected to come with a media rights payment estimated at between $65 million and $75 million, not to mention another massive infusion of cash from the conference’s College Football Playoff and NCAA tournament appearances. Of course, UCLA has already committed to sharing as much as $23 million a year in revenue with athletes as part of the House settlement with the NCAA — should it be finalized — and will also have to pay sister school California a $10-million subsidy over each of the next three years because of discrepancies in revenue between their athletic departments...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2025-01-24/ucla-athletics-budget-numbers.

Freezing-Unfreezing

From the LA Times: President Trump’s budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country. The Monday evening memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sparked uncertainty over a crucial financial lifeline for states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington and left the White House scrambling to explain what would and wouldn’t be subject to a pause in funding.

The White House confirmed that OMB pulled the memo Wednesday in a two sentence notice sent to agencies and departments, but said that Trump’s underlying executive orders targeting federal spending in areas like diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change, remained in place...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-01-29/trump-white-house-rescinds-order-freezing-federal-grants-after-widespread-confusion.

From The Hill: The White House is claiming the Wednesday move by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinding a controversial order that froze a wide swath of federal financial assistance is not actually an end to curbing government spending.

“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court’s injunction. The President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media platform X...

Full story at https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5113776-white-house-press-secretary-spending-freeze/.

A Tale of Past Times

First, an item from Inside Higher Ed:

The acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday rescinded guidance that prevented immigration arrests at schools, churches and colleges.

Since 1993, federal policy has barred immigration enforcement actions near or at these so-called sensitive areas. The decision to end the policy comes as the Trump administration is moving to crack down on illegal immigration and stoking fears of mass deportations...

Advocates for undocumented people have warned that such a policy change was possible, and some college leaders have said they won’t voluntarily assist in any effort to deport students or faculty solely because of their citizenship status, although they said they would comply with the law...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/01/23/trump-administration-allows-immigration-arrests-colleges.

Now here's a tale from the past as remembered by yours truly. Back in the mid-to-late 1990s (so after 1993 - the date mentioned in the article above), federal immigration agents, accompanied by a police officer from the UCLA police department, arrested a visiting faculty member from the Economics Department in Bunche Hall. The visitor normally taught at a Swedish university but had an arrangement to teach at UCLA for one quarter each year. Over the protests of econ faculty who asserted that the individual was in the US legally - and despite the individual producing documents verifying his legal status - he was taken from his Bunche office to some federal office in downtown LA.

After a few hours, he was released when it was determined that he was indeed in the US legally. What had occurred was a computer glitch. When he left the US the year before, the computer somehow didn't pick up his exit. So the immigration authorities thought that he had overstayed the previous year's visa. 

Given these circumstances, the campus Faculty Welfare committee - of which yours truly was a member and probably chair at the time - called in a representative from the UCLA police for an explanation. Specifically, we wanted to know why 1) a UCLA was involved in the arrest, and 2) why - given that participation - the UCLA officer did not object to the arrest when the visiting faculty member showed documentation demonstrating legal status.

Essentially, the answer we got was that the police officer wasn't actually "participating" in the arrest but was just "observing" the activities of the immigration agents and thus was not authorized to object.

The lessons from this story are 1) that official policies such as the 1993 dated policy are not always followed in practice, and 2) that the definition of participating or cooperating with immigration authorities is murky.

Perhaps another lesson is that the political climate can influence actual outcomes. If you know the history of California, then you know something about the climate at the time of the events described above. If not:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3x5cFl9Umo.

Pause - Part 2

For those concerned with frozen federal grants, the item below may be relevant.

Email from Jason Sisney of the Legislative Analyst's Office: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) appears to be ordering a broad temporary pause on federal grant and other funding programs, except Social Security and Medicare. While an OMB memo states the pauses will occur only to the extent permissible by law, reports indicate that a broad funding pause is contemplated, affecting many programs important to poor households, educational institutions, state and local governments, businesses, and others. Federal law and past court cases make it clear that Presidents cannot unilaterally delay or cancel funding appropriated by Congress. Therefore, broad court challenges to OMB’s actions are certain, unless the pause is rescinded...

—

What Is OMB Doing?

In a memo released on January 27, 2025, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed federal agencies to “identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with” President Trump’s “policies and requirements.”* The memo excludes Medicare and Social Security benefits from this review. The OMB memo directs federal agencies to “complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.”

Federal agencies are directed, “to the extent permissible under applicable law,” to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agencies activities that may be implicated by the executive orders.” These are said to include, but not be limited to, undefined funding of “nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” The temporary pause is effective “on January 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM.” Agencies must submit to OMB information on programs subject to the pause no later than February 10, 2025. Each agency is directed to pause issuance of new funding awards, disbursement of federal funds under all open awards, and other relevant agency actions “to the extent permissible by law” until OMB has reviewed and provided guidance with respect to the information submitted.

On January 28, 2025, OMB circulated a 52-page document ordering agencies to review thousands of programs, “including,” as reported by POLITICO, “many that send assistance each month to U.S. households, like food aid to ‘very low-income’ people age 60 and over, the home energy program that helps cover winter heating costs for the poorest households and the WIC program that aids low-income pregnant mothers and babies.”**

What Are the Constitutional Issues With All This?

“Impoundment,” an action by a government executive to delay or not spend funds appropriated in legislation, has been thoroughly examined by federal courts and the Congress in prior decades. “Attempted impoundments were rare until President Nixon took office,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) explains. Intended recipients of funding then, often state or local governments, “regularly sued for release of the withheld funds…and they regularly won.” “In general, the Nixon Administration released the impounded funds after losing, but it appealed one case to the Supreme Court,” which ruled 9-0 against the Nixon Administration.

Congress enacted the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) of 1974, which, following court cases that upheld the congressional power of the purse, provided a specified, fast-track legislative process to allow the President to request and Congress to consider a funding change. The ICA also granted the U.S. Government Accountability Office the authority to trigger the process if the President fails to report an impoundment and to sue for release of funds after the 45 days elapse, as CBPP notes. Presidents, however, have rarely used this ICA mechanism since the mid 1970s.*** 

As U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle (D-Pennsylvania) recently explained, recent legal theories that a president may use impoundments by fiat to bypass Congress “are as idiotic as they are dangerous.”

What Happens Next?

Unless funds are released consistent with prior practice and congressional intent, broad legal action by many plaintiffs challenging the OMB pause seems likely. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last night, “Make no mistake—any pause to critical funding would hurt families and threaten public health and safety.” “We’re prepared to protect CA’s people and programs from POTUS’ reckless and dangerous actions,” Bonta continued.

The California State Assembly is expected to vote on SBX2 1, a bill to allow potential augmentations to the state executive branch’s legal defense budget, if needed to defend the state’s interests against unlawful federal government activity.

---

*https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25506191-omb-memo-1-27/.

**https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000194-ad9c-de9c-a5b6-efbd29400000. There is a spreadsheet in this document listing NSF, National Endowment for the Humanities, and various NIH programs (under Dept. of Health and Human Services). It appears to be a listing of most federal programs including the various cabinet agencies.

***Impoundment is discussed on pages 30-31 of this 2023 Congressional Research Service document:

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46240.

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

Related email:

Dear University of California Community:

On Jan. 27, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo to federal departments and agencies putting a temporary pause on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs effective 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET Jan. 28. On Jan. 28, OMB issued additional guidance clarifying that the only programs subject to the pause are those related to the listed presidential executive orders. The White House also clarified that programs including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), federal student loans and Pell Grants, among others, would not be affected.

The memo is broad and it is not yet possible to know the full extent of its implications. We do know that it directs each agency to ensure their grants and loan programs are consistent with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

I want to assure you that University of California leaders, along with UC Legal and our federal governmental relations teams, are working diligently to clarify the potential impacts of the memo and the new administration’s executive actions on the University and our communities. We are in contact with key policymakers in Congress and at federal agencies, as well as association partners and other higher education institutions. We are evaluating what actions we are able to take and will keep you informed. In the meantime, more specific information related to federal financial aid and the research enterprise will be shared with your campus leaders as it becomes available.

During such challenging times, we remain committed to our students, staff, faculty, patients, and one another. This is an uncertain time for many and while we don’t yet know what lies ahead, we remain steadfast in our values, our mission, and our commitment to caring for and supporting our entire community. I encourage you and affected members of our community to make use of available support resources on our campuses.

Thank you for all that you do on behalf of the University of California.

Sincerely,

Michael V. Drake, M.D. UC President

============== 

Related (possibly):

From Politico: A federal judge has halted President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal aid programs, ruling that the courts need more time to consider the potentially far-reaching ramifications of his order. Minutes before the directive from Trump’s budget office was to take effect Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked the Trump administration from implementing it for now.

AliKhan’s order will expire Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. The Trump administration cannot suspend disbursement of any congressionally appropriated funds until then. The judge described the move as a “brief administrative stay” intended to maintain the status quo while further litigation can play out...

Full story at https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/28/donald-trump-freeze-blocked-00201082.

============== 

Related (possibly):

From the Sacramento Bee: Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon signed an executive order barring any federal funds to go toward gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. Accordingly, the order reads, “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” The order states that any agency that provides grant funding to medical schools or hospitals must revoke funding unless those institutions “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” ...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article299328124.html.

Election Results

Message from the UCLA Faculty Assn. Election Committee:

The following four candidates were elected to terms that run through June 30, 2026:

Liz Koslov, Urban Planning

Mia McIver, Writing Programs

Raphael Rouquier, Math

Noah Zatz, Law

--

The following five candidates were elected to terms that run through June 30, 2027:

Michael Chwe, Poli Sci

Miloš Jovanović, History

Robin D. G. Kelley, History

Anna Markowitz, SEIS

Susan Slyomovics, Anthropology

--

This concludes our work as a committee.

The UCLA-FA Elections Committee,

Choon Hwee Koh, George Dutton and Toby Higbie.

Just so you know...

You have probably read about recent executive orders by President Trump that seek to end DEI programs. However, the anti-DEI executive orders apply to more than the federal workforce.

From the Washington Post: 

...The [anti-DEI] executive orders stand to reach deep into the private and government-contracting sectors... The attorney general and agency heads have been tasked with identifying as many as “nine potential civil compliance investigations” of publicly traded corporations; large nonprofits or associations; foundations with assets of $500 million or more; state bar associations; medical associations; or universities with endowments over $1 billion...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/23/trump-dei-affirmative-action/.

Note that UC as a system has an endowment with well over $1 billion.* UCLA, in fact, has an endowment well over $1 billion.**

====

*The latest statement for UC shows an endowment of $29.5 billion:

https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/annual-report-240923_ucar24_final.pdf.

**The latest statement for UCLA shows an endowment of $5.5 billion: 

https://ucla.app.box.com/s/pe2ukr5i7vapih9gq1wker9ubnseawov.

Potential Federal Budget Cuts

From Inside Higher Ed: As Republicans on Capitol Hill look to potentially spend billions on mass deportations, tax cuts and other Trump administration priorities, the House GOP is hunting for ways to save money elsewhere. But some of the slashes they’re suggesting could harm colleges, universities and the students they serve, higher ed advocates say...

As Republicans on Capitol Hill look to potentially spend billions on mass deportations, tax cuts and other Trump administration priorities, the House GOP is hunting for ways to save money elsewhere. But some of the slashes they’re suggesting could harm colleges, universities and the students they serve, higher ed advocates say...

Over all, the list includes nearly $13 trillion in potential savings over the next 10 years, though some of the items on the list still lack cost or savings estimates and some of the estimates are considered informal. Of that, $2.1 trillion comes from provisions that in some way impact higher education...

The potential cuts are part of a special legislative process called reconciliation, which can be used once a year to quickly advance high-priority—and often controversial—pieces of legislation. Unlike traditional bills, a reconciliation act isn’t subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold and only requires 51 votes to pass the Senate, giving a party with a narrow majority a higher likelihood to pass its priority issues... But there’s a catch: All policies included in reconciliation must involve the budget or taxes, and for every new dollar spent under the omnibus bill, the same amount must be cut somewhere else. A nonpartisan congressional staff member, known as the Senate parliamentarian, decides whether each provision meets the rules and can be included in the bill...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/01/27/house-republicans-target-student-loan-programs-budget.

Out of the House

The Ivy League is trying to hang on to the idea of amateur student-athletes, unlike other higher ed institutions.* From the Daily Pennsylvanian:

Ivy League set to opt out of House v. NCAA antitrust settlement

The Ivy League will opt out of a pending NCAA settlement set to provide direct compensation to former and current college athletes, according to an email sent to Ivy League student-athletes on Jan. 21. 

The email, sent by Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris, states that the conference will not participate in the $2.8 billion settlement and that its athletic programs “will continue to not provide student-athletes with revenue sharing allocations, athletics scholarships, or direct [name, image, and likeness] payments.” The decision was made by the Ivy League Council of Presidents under recommendation from the Ivy League Athletics Directors and Policy Committee...

This decision will not impact student-athletes’ ability to secure “legitimate NIL-related payments,” described as NIL deals earned without influence from their university, per the announcement...

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/01/ivy-league-opts-out-ncaa-settlement-prevents-direct-financial-compensation-athletes. 

--

*The eight members of the Ivy League are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Pause

From the LA Times: Leaders of the University of California, the nation’s top higher education recipient of federal research funding, are raising questions and voicing concerns about the ramifications of a temporary Trump administration pause on research grant reviews announced this week.

The administration abruptly canceled some National Institutes of Health study sessions and advisory council meetings, where scientific experts gather to assess grant proposals before funding recommendations are finalized. The NIH is the largest funder of UC federal research, providing $2.6 billion in 2023-24 — 62% of the university’s federal awards that year. The federal funds power UC’s vast research enterprise involving more than 10,000 grants addressing infectious disease, brain injury, vaccinations, Alzheimer’s and other scientific and medical fields...

It is standard practice for new presidential administrations to temporarily pause some agency operations while they review them; a Jan. 21 directive from the Department of Health and Human Services noted it was “consistent with precedent” and would last through Feb. 1. Harold R. Collard, UC San Francisco vice chancellor for research, told his faculty he expected “a return to normal operations soon.”

“This is not unprecedented, and we believe it is intended to allow time for the new administration to position its leadership,” Collard wrote.

But should the pause by the world’s biggest funder of biomedical research continue weeks or months beyond Feb. 1, researchers fear it could bring potentially life-changing work to a halt...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-25/uc-nations-top-federal-research-grant-recipient-questions-trump-pause-on-grant-reviews.

Real Money

From Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance:

The University of California system is joining the borrowing boom in higher education this week with plans to sell $2 billion of tax-exempt revenue debt.

As student enrollment across its 10 campuses hits an all-time high, the UC system is looking to raise debt to pay for capital projects and refinance older obligations. Retail investors will get a chance to place orders for the investment-grade issue on Wednesday, with pricing to follow on Thursday...

While smaller and less prestigious colleges around the country face demographic challenges, the university network has managed to expand its student body. Enrollments hit 299,407 this past fall, a 5% increase from 2019’s pre-pandemic tally, university data show...

Full story at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/university-california-taps-munis-2-181547270.html.

Unsaid in the story above is that once upon a time, the state financed UC capital projects.

Fire Bills - Part 2 (Uncertainty)

As blog readers will know, the legislature passed two bills to fund relief to the tune of $2.5 billion from the LA fires. (The governor has now signed them.) 

So expenses from this year's budget have gone up. And there is uncertainty as to the degree the federal government under the Trump administration.

But there is another source of uncertainty related to the fires as an email from Jason Sisney of the Legislative Analyst's Office. There is now a delayed deadline for filing tax returns in LA County for individuals and businesses affected by the fires. The deadline is now October 15. The delay in filings and receipts adds to the uncertainty of making budget projections for next year. Thus, the May Revise version of the governor's budget will be based on less reliable data than might otherwise be the case.

Note that the governor's January budget proposal (including the allocation for UC to which UC is objecting) was put together before the fires.

DACA Status

From Inside Higher Ed:

Just a few days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was dealt another blow in its long legal saga—though it was a more convoluted and less hard-hitting blow than some undocumented students and their advocates were expecting. Still, the decision, handed down [last] Friday, sparked a mix of tentative hope, disappointment and quite a bit of confusion among DACA supporters, uncertain about its implications. The decision could put DACA on a path back to the U.S. Supreme Court and raises questions about the program’s future.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously affirmed a district court order that DACA is unlawful, a setback to the Obama-era program that protects from deportation undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and authorizes them to work in the country. But the court also limited the lower court’s nationwide injunction blocking parts of the program to just Texas after concluding that, among the states that challenged the program, only Texas proved it had legal standing to do so...

The court also issued a stay, so for now, nothing practically changes for DACA recipients, in or outside of Texas, “pending a further order of this court or the Supreme Court,” according to the decision. No new applications for the DACA program can be processed, which has been the case since U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen ruled against the program in 2021. And those with DACA prior to 2021 can continue to benefit from the program and apply to renew their DACA status...

Nonetheless, the DACA program has been repeatedly under fire since its inception in 2012, and the long-lasting legal battle over the program has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court twice. The latest decision could pave the way for its third visit to the nation’s highest court if states choose to appeal it...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/01/22/murky-setback-daca-no-immediate-changes.

New Dean

Chon Noriega has been named the interim dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Currently a distinguished professor in the school’s department of film, television and digital media, Noriega will begin his tenure Feb. 1 and serve until June 30 — or until a permanent dean is appointed. He succeeds the school’s former dean, Brian Kite, who starts his new role as dean and vice provost of graduate education next month.

Noriega, a faculty member at the school since 1992 and the former director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center, is an expert on Chicano and Latino arts, artists and media whose research explores these topics through their aesthetic, social and institutional histories. In conjunction with his scholarship, he has archived and preserved the works and papers of filmmakers, artists and community-based arts institutions and curated numerous projects focused on Chicano painting, graphics and other visual arts. Widely recognized as an expert in his field, Noriega has been praised by ARTnews magazine as one of the curators “shaping the way art is presented around the globe.”

In his 19 years as director of the Chicano Studies Research Center (2002–21), Noriega helped amass the one of country’s largest repositories of archival and library holdings related to Chicano and Latino communities, and organized public programs that reached more than 800,000 people — including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Autry Museum of the American West and for the Getty’s PST...

Full news release at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/chon-noriega-appointed-interim-dean-of-ucla-school-of-theater-film-and-television.

Trump Jam Today

From Patch: President Donald Trump is expected to fly into Los Angeles Friday afternoon, impacting evening rush hour as he meets with officials and tours the Palisades Fire burn area. The president is slated to fly into Los Angeles International Airport at around 2:30 p.m. before heading north to Pacific Palisades by motorcade. Commuters should prepare for possible closures on side streets around LAX and the 405 and 10 freeways.

At 3:25 p.m., Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will take a tour of a Palisades neighborhood, accompanied by officials from the Los Angeles Fire Department and three homeowners affected by the fire. He'll take part in a fire briefing at 4:05 p.m. in Pacific Palisades, which will include Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, California members of Congress, water policy officials and other local leaders.

Trump is scheduled to depart from LAX shortly before 6 p.m. en route to Las Vegas...

Full story at https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/j4dfx/angelenos-brace-for-trumps-motorcade-traffic.

No Numbers - Part 2

Our normal practice on this blog is first to preserve Regents meetings, since the Regents don't have a fixed policy on recording retention. We then go through the recordings and report on highlights.

However, we noted in a previous post that the Regents were taking up the procedures for faculty discipline.* Concerns have been expressed by Regents - largely stemming from the encampments and protests that the procedures take too long. Back in November, the interim UCLA chancellor admitted that no faculty, student, or staff had been disciplined despite hundreds of complaints.

At its January 22 meeting, the Regents took up this issue as Item A5. After a lengthy presentation on existing procedures by Provost Newman and others, various Regents expressed concerns and dissatisfaction about the presentation and limits on regental participation. As we predicted, despite the lengthy presentation, there was no information on number of cases, actual (as opposed to official) processing times, etc. Below is an excerpt from the meeting. You will hear concerns about a perception that the review process was "setting parameters" on what could be discussed, that the current procedures were "not working," and of a need to "upend the system" rather than tweak it.

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGHMyjhpm0.

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/01/no-numbers.html.

===

Note: The entire Jan. 22nd meeting has been preserved at:

https://archive.org/details/regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-joint-meeting-academic-an. It will be reviewed in a later post as time permits.

Something didn't happen - Part 2

As blog readers will know, a special systemwide Senate meeting was called for January 17th to discuss various issues related to faculty welfare. It didn't happen thanks to a technical snafu that could have been worked around with a bit of ingenuity.*

In any case, it was promised that a second meeting - presumably snafu-free - would be set up. So far, however, that has not happened. See below.

Yours truly has been checking the Senate website and there is no sign of such a meeting. Is it really that complicated to set up a Zoom session?

 Source: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/assembly/index.html.

Sepulveda Fire

Various sources are reporting a fire in the Sepulveda pass near UCLA. There is no alert on the UCLA website, however. Possibly, traffic from the San Fernando Valley to UCLA will be disrupted.

Source: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents (as of 8 AM).

UPDATE: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-22/fire-breaks-out-along-405-freeway-in-brentwood.

Who Owns Faculty Intellectual Property?

Back on January 14th, we had a blog post about coming issues related to faculty welfare. Included in that posting was this observation:

"With technology [in instruction] comes questions about who owns the 'intellectual property' of recorded lectures, for example. Is it the faculty member who produced them? Or the university as employer? Note that Regents often come from the private sector where if you make something for your employer, the employer owns it."*

Who owns what is a large question but typically it hasn't arisen in practice - particularly outside the sciences where valuable patents are an issue. Things such as lecture notes have been left to faculty. And things such as journal articles, books, and other creative work has been left to copyright holders. 

On January 16th, however, yours truly spotted an article describing settlement of a lawsuit at the U of Colorado-Boulder. Excerpt from the Colorado Sun:

The University of Colorado and longtime professor Patty Limerick have settled a lawsuit filed by the celebrated historian last year. Limerick, who the university fired from the Center for the American West in September 2022, sued the university in Boulder County District Court in May, arguing school officials were denying her access to her writings and scholarly works. Limerick said she filed the lawsuit after  months of attempting to access her writings. She eventually hired an attorney and filed open-records requests to help identify her work in CU’s libraries and databases. 

The school offered some electronic records but declined to give Limerick full access to all the Center of the American West records. The school last year sent Limerick a letter saying CU “is the owner of any educational materials, scholarly and artistic works” created by Limerick since she joined the faculty at the Boulder campus in 1984. 

The lawsuit marked an intellectual property fight, with Limerick hoping she could prod CU Boulder into valuing the work of its arts and humanities professors as much as it does the scholarly work of its science and engineering professors. The university argued it was not preventing Limerick from accessing her works. 

At a mediation between Limerick and the university this week, the sides reached an agreement “that Professor Limerick does in fact own her life’s work,” according to the statement from her attorneys.

“It is Limerick’s hope that this outcome will protect professors in the future from a similar ordeal,” reads a statement from her attorney announcing that she has “prevailed in a settlement of the case.” ...

Full article at https://coloradosun.com/2025/01/16/patty-limerick-cu-boulder-lawsuit-settled/.

In short, as we noted in the earlier posting, the issue of who owns what in higher ed remains open, particularly with the rise in use of online education and use of technology to deliver instruction.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/01/things-to-consider.html.

Fire Bills

The legislature has allocated $2.5 billion in emergency aid to the current budget to deal with damages due to the wildfires:

Two special session budget bills related to the Los Angeles wildfires were introduced on the morning of Monday, January 20. As such, they will be eligible for passage in both houses of the California Legislature as soon as the morning of Thursday, January 23 (that is, 72 hours after publication online). Special session budget committee hearings on the bills are expected on Wednesday, January 22...

Federal reimbursements for eligible state spending are to be sought, as specified in the bill package.

Source: Jason Sisney of the Legislative Analyst's Office, email. 

Note that federal reimbursement is not guaranteed. To the extent that the fires draw down current state reserves, the expense of the fires may limit the ability of UC to obtain additional state funding next fiscal year.

Looks Dangerous

 
The above message looks dangerous. I would not answer or click on any links in it. I have notified UCLA IT. If I find out more, I will post about it.

UPDATE: I have confirmed with the IT folks that this is a scam.

New Head of Campus & Community Safety

Lurie

From an email circulated yesterday afternoon:

Dear Bruin Community:

Now more than ever, it is important that we stay connected and look for ways to build community and a culture in which everyone feels safe, respected and welcome on campus.

Last May, UCLA established the Office of Campus and Community Safety — reporting directly to the chancellor — to serve as a dedicated unit that coordinates the university’s safety initiatives. Rick Braziel served in a temporary capacity to help lead this unit and today, we are announcing the permanent leader of this office: UCLA alum Steve Lurie (‘94).

Lurie will take up the role of associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety effective Feb. 1, 2025, and comes to this position with nearly three decades of law enforcement experience. His track record — combined with his leadership experience, firsthand knowledge of our campus and academic insights as an adjunct professor of law — make him uniquely qualified to lead UCLA’s efforts to strengthen and connect our campus safety initiatives. He will take a community-informed, collaborative approach to campus safety that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of those who call UCLA home. Our goal is to ensure that our policies and practices are not only effective but also equitable, respecting the safety, rights and well-being of all Bruins.

Prior to this role, Lurie worked for the LAPD for 27 years, most recently serving as a commander, assigned as the assistant commanding officer of West Bureau. At the LAPD, he managed five police divisions on the westside of Los Angeles and led more than 1,500 police professionals who served a population of 940,000 Angelenos. Before this, he served as a commander in the Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy.

Lurie was selected to lead a citywide incident management team that responds to and secures major events in the region. He has planned for and served as the incident commander for numerous presidential visits, public demonstrations, the Academy Awards and other entertainment industry ceremonies, Super Bowl LVI, and the recent Dodgers World Series victory parade and celebration. As a community-focused police executive, Lurie consistently established and improved relationships between the LAPD and the diverse communities it serves. He has received awards and accolades for leadership and service from senior government officials, neighborhood councils and community non-profit organizations.

Lurie is a Bruin alum who graduated in 1994 with a B.A. in cultural anthropology. His very first job in public safety was serving as an undergraduate community service officer with the UCLA Police Department.

Lurie previously served as an adjunct professor of law at Loyola and Pepperdine law schools and currently teaches in the criminal justice master’s program at the University of Southern California. He has been a member of the California State Bar for 22 years. In 2016, he graduated from the FBI National Academy, widely regarded as the world’s top law enforcement executive training program.

This is an important appointment as we continue to build a campus culture centered on well-being and trust, and I am confident Lurie will find new ways to strengthen connections throughout our Bruin community and foster a safe, secure environment for our students, faculty and staff. Please join me in thanking Rick for his service and welcoming Steve back to campus.

We are One UCLA.

Julio Frenk, Chancellor

The Harvard Settlement

Harvard Media Relations Press Release:

The Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education Agree with Harvard to Settle Title VI Litigation

Today, Plaintiffs The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (“JAFE”) announced that they have reached an agreement to resolve their claims against Harvard University. As part of the settlement, Harvard has agreed to implement a series of steps, building on measures that Harvard has undertaken over the past year as a part of its commitment to combating anti-Semitism. Harvard and the Brandeis Center look forward to working together in these efforts.

The agreement resolves claims raised by the Brandeis Center and JAFE on behalf of Harvard students in a federal lawsuit. Under the agreement, and consistent with Harvard’s existing Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies (“NDAB”), which prohibit discrimination on the basis of ancestry, religion, national origin, or political beliefs, Harvard will incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (“IHRA”) definition of anti-Semitism including accompanying examples applied in the manner described in guidance issued by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) in 2021 and 2024. Harvard will accordingly consider in the same manner the IHRA definition and examples when evaluating NDAB complaints raising allegations of anti-Semitic discrimination or harassment.

In addition, Harvard shall post online a Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQ”) relating to the NDAB, which shall be available online in the same location as the NDAB, clarifying that both Jewish and Israeli identity are covered by the NDAB; that the NDAB include among their protected categories shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics as well as political beliefs; and that the IHRA definition will be used as described above. The FAQ will include the following statement: “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Conduct that would violate the Non- Discrimination Policy if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the policy if directed toward Zionists. Examples of such conduct include excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a ‘no Zionist’ litmus test for participation in any Harvard activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists (e.g., ‘Zionists control the media’), or demanding a person who is or is perceived to be Jewish or Israeli to state a position on Israel or Zionism to harass or discriminate.” The FAQ will include a list of examples of conduct that, provided that the required elements under the policy are met, may constitute prohibited discriminatory treatment or discriminatory harassment in violation of the NDAB.

Under the agreement, Harvard will also reaffirm at least annually that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated and that, consistent with the OCR Guidance, as described in further detail above, Harvard will consider the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and examples in applying the NDAB. Harvard will also prepare a public annual report for the next five years that covers Harvard’s response to discrimination or harassment based on Title VI-protected traits (with a lookback at disciplinary responses to NDAB complaints based on allegations of anti-Semitism since October 1, 2023). These reports will catalog Harvard’s response to complaints based on allegations of anti-Semitism, consistent with FERPA, and assess Harvard’s treatment of such complaints against its treatment of complaints based on allegations of other forms of bias.

To carry out these undertakings, Harvard will hire a designated individual for Harvard’s Office for Community Conduct (“OCC”) who will have responsibility for consulting on all complaints of anti-Semitism and for supervising the preparation of the annual reports required under the settlement. Harvard has also agreed to provide expert training on combating anti-Semitism and the IHRA definition for OCC staff involved in reviewing complaints of discrimination, and Harvard will broadly promote annual training for the University community focused on recognizing and combating anti-Semitism. The OCC director will also ensure that Title VI and Harvard’s NDAB policies will be enforced equally, applying a single standard for all students, including Jewish and Israeli students.

Harvard will also invest additional academic resources to study anti-Semitism and will establish an official partnership with a university in Israel, in addition to programs the University currently has in place with Israeli universities. Harvard will provide an opportunity for the Brandeis Center to host a variety of events on campus. In addition, Harvard Kennedy School will provide an opportunity for three alumni of that school to organize and host an on-campus event, consistent with the relevant guidelines that apply to active student groups, on the substantive issues of Israeli Jewish democracy.

As part of this settlement with Brandeis Center and JAFE, which includes monetary terms, Harvard has not admitted to any wrongdoing or liability.

A Harvard University spokesperson said, “Today’s settlement reflects Harvard’s enduring commitment to ensuring our Jewish students, faculty, and staff are embraced, respected, and supported. We will continue to strengthen our policies, systems, and operations to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of hate and ensure all members of the Harvard community have the support they need to pursue their academic, research and professional work and feel they belong on our campus and in our classrooms.”

Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education stated, “We are heartened that Harvard has agreed to take numerous important steps necessary to creating a welcoming environment for Jewish students. When fully and faithfully implemented, this agreement will help ensure that Jewish students are able to learn and thrive in an environment free from anti-Semitic hate, discrimination, and harassment. We thank those within Harvard, including administrators, faculty, students, and alumni, who have worked tirelessly to achieve this result. In turn, we look forward to working with Harvard on the important work in this agreement to ensure that the rights of all students are protected.”

Source: https://www.harvard.edu/media-relations/2025/01/21/press-release-settlement-harvard-brandeis-ctr-jafe/.

A model for other associations

The American Economic Association has tried to be proactive with regard to bad behavior in the field. Below, for example, are some programs the AEA is offering including one tomorrow. (AEA members will have received information by email on how to register.) Other academic and professional associations might consider offering similar programs.

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Upcoming Workshops Hosted by the Ombuds Team

The new Ombuds Team will provide regular educational sessions throughout the year on topics of interest to our members. 

From Bystander to Upstander

January 22, 2025 – 4:00 PM ET to 5:00 PM ET

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This workshop will help participants identify and discuss strategies to use when witnessing destructive behavior, determine when each strategy might be most effective, and apply the strategies to scenarios.

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Resolving Workplace Conflicts: Strategies from an Ombuds Perspective

February 18, 2025 – 2:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM ET

This workshop provides practical strategies for handling workplace conflicts through real-life scenarios attendees submit anonymously in advance. To submit a confidential scenario, email josh-ombuds@mwi.org.

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Interactive Listening Skills

March 26, 2025 – 12:00 PM ET to 1:00 PM ET

This workshop will help participants identify and discuss strategies to use when witnessing destructive behavior, determine when each strategy might be most effective, and apply the strategies to scenarios.

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How to Have a Productive Difficult Conversation at Work

April 24, 2025 – 3:00 PM ET to 4:00 PM ET

Learn practical approaches to address conflicts constructively, mitigate negative impacts, and create pathways for resolution, allowing you to refocus on your meaningful work.

No Numbers

Item A5 on the Regents' agenda tomorrow is titled, "Faculty Discipline and Dismissal Policies and Process." It appears to be in response to regental concerns about consequences for misbehavior or the absence thereof.*

What the Regents have been provided is a very lengthy description of various disciplinary processes and procedures, but without numbers.** There are no data on the actual number of cases processed, how long the actual processing took (averages, distribution), trends in the data, etc. In effect, there is an information overload with some crucial information omitted. That seems like a risky strategy, if it was a strategy. If the true answer is that there are no data, the missing information itself raises questions.

Will the Regents be happy with this report? Or will it raise more concern than already exists and ultimately be of harm to faculty interests?. We will see what is said in public. We will not know what might be said in private. If yours truly were a Regents, he would not be happy.***

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*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg84osKAXB8.

**https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jan25/a5.pdf.

***The meeting comes just after an article appeared in the LA Times: "Serious misconduct alleged in report former UCLA professors sought to block. They moved on with no discipline," https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-19/ucla-professors-orthodontics. The article reports UCLA tried to keep a report on this matter secret, but was forced by litigation to disclose it. You can be sure this item will be known to the Regents.

Something Didn't Happen

As blog readers will know, a special Senate meeting was called for last Friday systemwide by petition to discuss three topics:

1. The lack of consultation for implementing the Information Security Investment Plan and the potential negative effects of the plan on faculty’s research, teaching, and merits and promotions.
2. UCOP’s differential treatment of faculty and administrators regarding compensation and cost-of-living adjustments.
3. The University of California’s continued decrease in percent contribution to medical plans.

The meeting essentially didn't happen thanks to a tech snafu that could have been worked around. For each of the topics, there were spokespersons from UCOP who were due to speak. But the Zoom meeting quickly filled up to 300 participants. It turned out that the meeting had been set up with a 300 cap. When Provost Newman - due to speak on topic #1 - tried to get on, she couldn't. Even though participation dropped below 300, apparently once the cap was reached, no new participants could get on.

Academic Senate Chair Cheung supported a motion to adjourn and reschedule. There were protests in the chat. Yours truly suggested in the chat that Newman could a) phone someone who was on the Zoom with a speaker phone and simply speak without a picture that way, or b) Newman could go to an office of someone who had gotten on and speak from there. Neither suggestion was recognized or considered.

There were some protests from the viewers about the cancellation of the meeting. Was the response to shut down the meeting (due to a technical glitch that could have been dealt with using a little ingenuity) the result of Senate officers forced to hold a meeting by petition that they didn't want to? I tend to side  with Ruth Galanter on that question:

Bottom line. The meeting ended without any discussion of the three topics and a promise to reschedule at some time in the future to be announced. Not a Good Look for the Senate.

Lagging Indicator

From the agenda of the Regents' Compliance and Audit Committee: 

IACLEA Accreditation: Six campuses have now achieved accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), up from three in 2023. The remaining four campuses are progressing toward accreditation. Accreditation by this highly respected third party demonstrates performance to a consistent high standard and provides greater accountability and professional competency in daily operations. Accreditation can take several years. 

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jan25/c4.pdf.

Note that UCLA seems to be lagging behind.

A clue to an ongoing mystery

For several years, a mysterious topic appeared from time to time on Regents' agenda, always in closed-door sessions, entitled "Pension Administration Project." It was never clear what that Project was and since the meetings were closed, there was no way to find out. But a hint appeared in a recent Forbes article which was really about another issue. The relevant excerpts are below:

Sagitec, a software development company... is being sued by the University of California (Regents of the University of California v. Sagitec Solutions), and the UC lawsuit against the company is rooted in a dispute over Sagitec’s revamp of the UC’s pension administrative system which is used, among other things, to calculate and distribute retirement pay to former UC employees...

The UC System contends that Sagitec not only did a sub-standard job with the revamp, but it also committed fraud against the government. Sagitec disputes both allegations, and asserts that it delivered a working product requested by the UC System, and that it did so amidst an endless series of requests from UC that continuously altered the scope of the project... UC [is] invoking of the California False Claims Act in its lawsuit, which enables governmental entities to pursue triple damages in claims made against private contractors... 

[T]he UC System’s public filings indicate that it wants to bring the project contracted out to Sagitec in-house. About the plan, color this writer skeptical, both for the UC System and the taxpayers on the hook. Governments aren’t exactly known to be efficient and/or effective when it comes to executing large-scale and highly complicated projects, not to mention that the UC System has brought projects of this size in-house before. Think UCPath, the System’s internal payroll function that only came into existence after years of delays, cost overruns, and payroll mistakes that generated all manner of lawsuits...

Full article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2025/01/16/government-spending-saps-growth-while-warping-those-who-drive-it/.

Now, of course, this is all speculation, since the Pension Administration Project was always discussed in closed session. But if anyone at UCOP would like to offer a correction, I would welcome an email or phone call.

Subway Access Issues for Nightbirds

Wilshire Bl and Gayley Av: Manhole Access Work Summary  Metro contractors will access a pressure-rated manhole on Wilshire Blvd and Gayley to continue work at the UCLA Station. The work will require temporary closures restricting traffic along Wilshire Bl, Gayley Av, and Midvale Av. Please follow the traffic restriction signage.  Date: Ongoing to April of 2025 Work hours:  Monday to Friday, 9pm to 6am  Traffic Control:   Phase 1:   Three eastbound Wilshire Blvd eastbound lanes between Veteran Ave to Gayley Av will be closed.  The south leg crosswalk closure at Wilshire Bl and Gayley Av will be closed. Three other crosswalks will remain accessible at all times.  Northbound through traffic on Midvale Av and the left turn pocket between Ashton and Av and Wilshire Bl will be restricted.  The southbound Gayley Av through traffic and left turn pocket between  Lindbrook Dr and Wilshire Bl will be closed.   Phase 2:   Three eastbound Wilshire Blvd eastbound lanes between Veteran Ave to Gayley Ave will be closed.   The east leg crosswalk at Wilshire Blvd/Gayley Ave will be closed. Three other crosswalks will remain open at all times.   Northbound Midvale Av through lane traffic and the left turn pocket between Ashton and Av and Wilshire Bl will be closed.  The southbound Gayley Av through traffic and left turn pocket between  Lindbrook Dr and Wilshire Bl will be closed.   The westbound Wilshire Bl left turn pocket at Gayley Av/Midvale Av to proceed southbound will be closed.  Noteworthy:  All work will receive the necessary permits and approvals.  Access to driveways, residences & businesses will always be maintained unless notified in advance.  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