The Bond - Part 2

Gov. Newsom has come out in favor of Proposition 38 on the November ballot: a measure to authorize $8.4 billion in state general obligation bonds for immunology and immunotherapy research, split between a University of California-affiliated nonprofit institute and a grant program for public or nonprofit research institutions. The Institute will be housed at the former Westside Pavilion site now owned by UCLA.

Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/gavin-newsom-ballot-propositions-22470170.php.

Straws in the Wind - Part 495

From Inside Higher Ed: A group of current and former Lincoln University students filed a federal lawsuit... against the state of Missouri, seeking $548.7 million owed to the Black land-grant institution for funds the state neglected to allocate to the university between 1987 and 2020, plus interest.

The filing marks the beginning of a campaign by a group called the 1890 Project to seek repayment of the $12.6 billion of documented underfunding of historically Black land-grant colleges in 16 states. Donald Calloway Jr., the group’s lead attorney, said they will pursue repayment through litigation, negotiation and legislation...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/courts/2026/10/07/lincoln-u-students-alumni-sue-missouri-549m. 

Translation

A recent look at the UC webpage https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-uc had the upper left title as Universidad de California (image on right). Using the Internet Archive's Wayback machine, I found that the conversion from University of California (image on left) occurred some time between August and September. Oddly, given the change, there is no Spanish option for anything else on the page in the later version.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 205

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard is privately weighing a rapid-fire fundraising push to secure $500 million for University-wide scientific research priorities, according to two people familiar with the matter. The $500 million target has been floated internally in recent conversations, the two people said, but is not a finalized goal. The two said the University was hoping to raise the money by the end of the academic year. The short-term fundraising campaign would arrive in tandem with a sweeping University effort to rethink how Harvard will support its science and medical research in the wake of massive federal grant cuts.

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 initiated a faculty Science Advisory Committee this summer to map out a long-term vision for scientific research, and the University set aside $150 million last week to fund cutting-edge projects. The tentative fundraising initiative mimics a successful Faculty of Arts and Sciences campaign this spring to raise $100 million for endowed Ph.D. fellowships. That campaign, launched in February, met its goal within four months, and the FAS promptly announced another $100 million challenge. The newest push appears to apply that template — short-term fundraising for targeted needs — more widely. As it stands, the University will seek fundraising support for defined scientific research occurring across Harvard, the two people said...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/10/9/science-fundraising/.

Drill Today

BruinADVISORY: 

Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill — Thursday, Oct. 15 at 10:15 a.m.

Bruin Community,

UCLA will participate in the annual Great ShakeOut earthquake drill at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15. The Great ShakeOut is the world’s largest earthquake preparedness drill and provides the UCLA community an opportunity to practice how to respond safely during an earthquake. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate by practicing Drop, Cover and Hold On for approximately one minute.

As part of the exercise, UCLA will test multiple emergency communication systems. A BruinALERT test message will be sent, and those near Bruin Walk may also hear the drill notification broadcast over UCLA’s outdoor warning speakers. The speaker message may repeat for several minutes as part of the test.

This is a planned emergency preparedness exercise. There is no current emergency on the UCLA campus.

During the drill:

• DROP to your hands and knees.
  
• COVER your head and neck and, if possible, take shelter under a sturdy desk or table.
  
• HOLD ON until the simulated shaking has stopped.
  

In an actual emergency, UCLA may provide instructions through BruinALERT, the outdoor warning speakers and other emergency communication systems. Updates and additional information may also be posted on Bruins Safe Online, UCLA’s emergency information website.

Prepare now
UCLA community members are automatically enrolled to receive BruinALERT emergency notifications. Please make sure your contact information is current by visiting the BruinALERT website.

Bruins are also encouraged to:

• Download the Bruins Safe App from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
  
• Bookmark Bruins Safe Online for emergency information and campus status updates.
  
• Download MyShake, California’s earthquake early-warning app.
  
• Review UCLA’s earthquake preparedness resources and Great ShakeOut drill videos in English and Spanish.
  

Taking a few moments to practice now can help you respond quickly and safely during an actual earthquake.

Sincerely,

Lisa A. Martin

Director, Office of Emergency Management
Office of Campus & Community Safety

More is not merrier

From the Sacramento Bee: The University of California serves 67,000 more students today than it did 15 years ago. That’s equal to the size of about two UC Berkeleys and amounts to an increase of 28%. This is, at least in part, a result of a concerted effort by the university to increase its population of Californian students per an agreement with the state. While the university is ahead of schedule in meeting those goals, it has not hired permanent faculty to teach those students at the same pace — a trend that is leaving professors increasingly concerned...

Since 2011, the UC’s permanent faculty has grown from more than 9,000 to a little less than 11,000, marking a spike of less than 19%. The university had one permanent faculty member for every 26 students in 2011; in 2025, that number has increased to 28 students. Tenured and tenure-track faculty, according to the UC, are core to the university’s mission of teaching, research and public service. If they are not hired in adequate numbers, the university’s reputation for academic excellence could be at stake...

Full story at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article317418449.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 494

I asked Gemini to summarize a much-too lengthy article in the NY Times: 

Prompt: Please summarize this article in 2 paragraphs: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7640599/2026/09/29/yale-golf-course-restoration-hanse/

The article examines how the Yale Golf Course, a century-old architectural masterpiece originally designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor, rapidly deteriorated just five months after a multi-year, $30 million restoration led by renowned architect Gil Hanse. Following its high-profile spring reopening, the historic course was expected to regain its place among America's top-tier layouts. Instead, golfers, alumni, and community members encountered severe conditioning issues, including widespread patchy grass, parched and dying turf, dried-out greens, and unmaintained bunker complexes.   

The piece explores the operational, logistical, and management missteps that caused the project to spiral into a public relations and agronomic crisis. Beyond the physical turf failure, the reporting highlights frustration within the Yale community over higher playing fees, questionable maintenance practices, and poor oversight following the massive capital investment. Ultimately, the article underscores the disconnect between Yale's ambitious financial commitment to revive a historic classic and the university's failure to maintain basic agronomic standards and operational care post-reopening.

Extra Money/Interesting Times

The state controller is out with the monthly cash report for for the fiscal year through September. It shows about $5 billion in extra revenue compared with the budget forecast for the first quarter of the fiscal year (July-Sept.), with about $2.6 of that amount coming from the personal income tax (AI boom; capital gains) and $2 billion from the corporate tax. The state has about $102 billion in unused borrowable resources. 

There are a lot of what ifs out there, however. What if the AI boom turns out to be a bubble that bursts, similar to the dot-com boom/bust of the early 2000s? Much of that unused cash is not in the general fund or funds associated with the general fund. The dot-com episode and the later mortgage bust of 2008 both led to ongoing budget crises of the state - which filtered into UC. And there is the uncertainty of wars abroad, the upcoming election, etc.

Interesting times, as they say:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9ysqz4tGIMg.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 204

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard faculty members were divided on whether freedom of speech in classrooms remains a problem at the University in an “Open Inquiry” panel discussion at the 15th annual Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching... Government professor Ryan D. Enos... sparked debate after he said that he believed open inquiry was not “much of a problem” at Harvard, despite having previously raised concerns about conservatives’ ability to share their views on campus... But Enos faced pushback from multiple faculty members in the audience, including Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 — who argued that “we need to be harder on ourselves internally while defending ourselves externally” — and raised concerns about persistent ideological slant in Harvard’s classrooms.

Claybaugh opened the discussion by asking panelists about effective strategies for designing balanced courses and avoiding projecting their individual political opinions onto students. But the most contentious topic was whether “open inquiry” remains an area of concern at Harvard... In open discussion in the second half of the event, Furman argued it did — pointing to examples of what he characterized as liberal biases in course catalogs and syllabi as evidence that there remained room for the University to improve...

Enos acknowledged that there was room to improve at Harvard, though he emphasized the importance of setting realistic expectations — especially in comparison to other institutions of higher education... “If we have a faculty that’s 90 percent liberal, and that’s the world we live in — and maybe that’s the problem we want to solve, but that’s a different problem — if that’s the world we live in, then do we do better than another institution with 90 percent liberals out there?” Enos added...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/10/1/harvard-open-inquiry-conference/.

Canary in the coal mine for TMT

Here is AI summarizing what has happened to the plan to build a Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii, then the Canary Islands, and now... ???

In September 2026, the TMT International Observatory (TIO) formally rejected a massive €1 billion ($1.13 billion) financing package offered by the Spanish government to construct the mega-observatory at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma.

The breakdown of the Canary Islands "Plan B" comes down to a few key factors:

• No Internal Consensus: The TMT board and its international partners (which include Caltech, the University of California, and the national science departments of Japan, India, and Canada) were ultimately unable to reach an agreement on the required financing structure.

• U.S. Budget Reductions: The project has been heavily strained by funding uncertainties and proposed budget cuts from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), complicating long-term operational planning.

• Scientific Limitations: Some astronomers remained hesitant about the move because La Palma's lower elevation and warmer climate compared to Hawaii limit its capability for mid-infrared observations.

What happens next?

With the Canary Islands officially ruled out, the TMT project is running out of options. The board is doubling down on its original, preferred site: Mauna Kea in Hawaii. However, construction there has been completely stalled since 2019 due to heavy protests from Native Hawaiians who consider the mountain sacred. 

===

As blog readers will know, UC is part of the consortium that intended to build TMT on Hawaii or the Canary Islands. Without a feasible plan and money for it, the plan is effectively dead.

Straws in the Wind - Part 493

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Arizona put an interim pause on activities for all 21 of its fraternities... amid a series of ongoing misconduct investigations... In [a] letter, Dean of Students Chrissy Lieberman wrote that seven weeks into the semester, the university is “already” investigating nearly half of its fraternities for incidents including physical assault, hazing and inappropriate use of drugs and alcohol.  “The number of cases under investigation and the severity of the concerns is egregious,” Lieberman wrote to the “Arizona Fraternity and Sorority Community.” 

...Arizona’s decision to crack down on its Greek life system comes in the midst of a nationwide conversation over sexual misconduct at fraternities following a lawsuit against Cornell University for allegedly mishandling a 2024 allegation of gang rape at Chi Phi. UA's fraternity chapters are temporarily barred from hosting, sponsoring or participating in any organizational activities until the chapter advisers meet with Lieberman, her letter said. If they attend at least one of the three scheduled mandatory meetings and are in good standing, they will be allowed to resume activity. Quarterly follow-up meetings will also be required... 

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/10/07/u-arizona-temporarily-suspends-all-fraternity-activities.

H-1B at UC-D

From the NY Times: Vice President JD Vance announced [last] Thursday that Microsoft would be suspended from using a visa program that allowed foreign workers to permanently reside in the United States after an investigation found that the tech giant had “abused” the system... Mr. Vance took aim at the embattled H-1B visa program, which allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers in hard-to-fill jobs...

Schools [also] under investigation are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Arizona State, Brown, M.I.T., the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California, Davis, and the California Institute of Technology... UC Davis... said [it has] complied with visa program rules...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/us/politics/microsoft-visas-green-cards.html.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 203

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 said... that she has not met with members of the Trump administration recently but would be open to meeting with top White House officials in the future. Pritzker’s brief remarks came as she left a weekend convening of the University’s two highest governing boards and as Harvard continues to stare down several legal battles with the Trump administration.

Approached by a Crimson reporter as she departed a dinner at the Faculty Club following a day of meetings, Pritzker said she was “always open to meeting with people.” Asked specifically about a meeting with Secretary of Education Linda E. McMahon, she again said she was open to any meeting... Top Harvard leaders have not met publicly with members of the Trump administration since the White House began their pressure campaign against the University last year, though [Harvard President] Garber spoke by phone with McMahon that spring...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/9/28/pritzker-open-to-white-house-meetings/.

The Bond

From the Sacramento Bee: The Yes on Proposition 38 campaign has raised more than $38 million and spent nearly $20 million of it on television advertisements in support of the $8.4 billion immunology research bond on the November ballot. The No on Proposition 38 group had raised less than $640 by Sept. 19. Instead of funding ads, the group is focused on letter-writing campaigns to highlight possible issues with the ballot initiative. On Oct. 6, they wrote a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleging that the measure may violate the state constitution...

Only one research institute in California appear[s] to meet the criteria for half of the immunology bond’s funds: the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, an independent medical research organization affiliated with UCLA. Gary Michelson, a billionaire philanthropist and medical inventor, is both the co-founder of that institute and the chief backer of Prop. 38...

A section of the California Constitution that says an initiative that identifies a private corporation to perform any function or have any power may not be submitted to voters. While Prop. 38 does not name any private corporation, [opponents] asked if it “makes any legal difference when the requirements effectively identify it.” ...

The campaign had raised more than $38 million, as of Sept. 19, of which more than $33 million has come from billionaire philanthropist Gary Michelson and his nonprofit Michelson Center for Public Policy. Another $5 million was donated by Meyer Luskin, co-founder of the institute...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article317528464.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 492

From Inside Higher Ed: Cornell University will re-examine its sexual assault prevention and response efforts and take a “serious look at the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life,” President Michael Kotlikoff said in a video statement... Kotlikoff called what happened to the student, known as Jane Doe, “deeply disturbing.” ...

In the weeks since Doe made her experience public in a lawsuit against Cornell and the seven men she alleges raped her, the Ivy League university’s response to sexual assault on campus—as well as its efforts to prevent sexual violence in the first place—have come under intense scrutiny from students, employees, alumni and the general public.

...Campus tensions ran high [last] Monday. Anonymous activists smashed a glass door and spray-painted “SMASH THE PATRIARCHY” and “AT CORNELL RAPISTS ARE PROTECTED PROTESTORS ARE EXPELLED” on the walls of an administrative building... “We wanted to ensure that Day Hall, the center of Cornell’s administrative function, was not able to continue business as usual,” the activists wrote in a statement...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced... that Cornell had agreed to an independent investigation of how it handled the rape allegation; Kotlikoff said... that the Board of Trustees plans to share details about that investigation this week...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2026/10/06/cornell-will-take-serious-look-role-greek-life.

College Scorecard

FYI: The US Dept. of Education has a database of colleges and universities. UCLA's scorecard is pictured above and can be found at:

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?110662-University-of-California-Los-Angeles

If you poke around on the scorecard, you can find data on cost to attend (for students receiving federal aid), median salary 4 years after graduation, race/ethnicity of students and faculty, and other information.

Halloween Scare

From the Daily Bruin: Aahs! The Ultimate Gift Store will celebrate its last Halloween in Westwood before shuttering Nov. 3. Aahs! – which opened in 1981 on the corner of Kinross Avenue and Westwood Boulevard – sells costumes, props, toys and novelty items. The business sold its Westwood location – the chain’s last remaining store – to UC Investments in September, said Jack Bhasin, the store’s owner of 43 years and current president.

UC Investments purchased the Westwood Village Collection in July, which includes 14 Westwood properties. UC Investments acquired Aahs! in a separate purchase, said Michael Russell, the executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association... UC Office of the President declined to comment on UC Investments’ plan for the newly acquired properties. Declining foot traffic, recent business closures and a lack of accessible parking contributed to the store’s closure... Several Westwood stores and restaurants – including Broxton Brewery, Urban Outfitters, Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers and Espresso Profeta – have shut down in the past year...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/06/aahs-to-shutter-after-halloween-joining-recent-westwood-business-closures.

Straws in the Wind - Part 491

From the Yale Daily News: Yale has already made 78 percent of the budget cuts it planned to implement over three years in response to last year’s endowment tax hike, according to Yale’s fiscal year 2027 budget that was released last month. The endowment tax hike, which was part of President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is costing Yale $247 million this fiscal year, after the tax jumped from $52 million to $299 million, according to the budget. The increased figure represents 3.6 percent of the University’s total spending this fiscal year. The cuts leave 22 percent left to achieve for the remaining two years of the three-year target...

Yale spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in a statement to the News, on behalf of University Chief Financial Officer Katrina Spencer and deans of several schools the News contacted for comment, that “some areas of the university will feel more financial strain than others.”

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-already-made-majority-of-cuts-to-offset-trump-s-tax-budget-shows.

MacArthur

From the UCLA Newsroom: More than two decades ago, artist Rodney McMillian spotted a battered armchair by a trash heap, brought it to his art studio and began thinking about what happens when everyday objects are removed from one setting and placed in another. His resulting found-object sculpture, “Chair,” was an early example of the type of artistic inquiry that has defined his career, evoking questions about class, poverty and history, both broad and personal. Now McMillian, a professor in the UCLA Department of Art and head of the department’s sculpture area, has been recognized as a 2026 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, joining 19 other “exceptional, creative and inspiring people” who make up this year’s class.

The prestigious fellowships, commonly known as “genius grants,” are awarded annually to individuals across the sciences, arts and humanities who demonstrate exceptional creativity, dedication and potential for future innovation. The award comes with an $800,000 no-strings-attached stipend paid over five years. “Rodney McMillian’s work speaks to the power of art to challenge how we see the past, illuminate the present and deepen our understanding of the world around us,” said UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk. “His recognition by the MacArthur Foundation is a testament to the extraordinary creative talent that makes UCLA such a vibrant intellectual community.” ...

Full news release at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/faculty-artist-rodney-mcmillian-named-2026-macarthur-fellow.

Video at:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIuEk-DUtxk.

Leg Assembly on Childcare Closing

Resolution Against Closing Early Care and Education (ECE) & University Parents Nursery School (UPNS)

Legislative Assembly members voted via the Academic Senate Data Management System on the Resolution Against Closing ECE & UPNS. The Legislative Assembly received a total of 93 votes cast: 89 Approve, 4 Oppose. This Resolution required a majority of votes cast by present members to be approved. [AIPSC (2nd ed.) 5.1]. A majority of votes cast (96%) were to Approve this Resolution.

(from Academic Senate email announcing vote) 

Where the money is

From the Daily Californian of 10-6-2026: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills at a quantum lab at UC Berkeley on Sept. 30 to accelerate the development of fusion energy in California... “UC is poised to lead in quantum and fusion energy research,” said UC Office of the President spokesperson Omar Rodriguez in an email. “This statewide investment will keep California at the forefront of this field by growing California’s future workforce, accelerating scientific discovery and advancing clean energy.” 

According to an email from the CEC [California Energy Commission], UC Berkeley was chosen as the place of signing due to its status as the lead university for the National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, a multi-institutional research center spanning universities across the state. The NSF just renewed its support for the NSF CIQC with $37.5 million in funding over the next five years to further quantum research...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/newsom-signs-legislation-at-uc-berkeley-to-accelerate-fusion-energy-grants-30m-for-quantum-research/article_9c0a8e0c-1793-4d8e-bb72-8a6f1a0351a1.html.

===

President Trump Executive Order 14413

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  America stands at the cusp of a quantum revolution.  Quantum information science and technology (QIST) will provide transformational capabilities that will drive American innovation, power economic growth, generate high-paying jobs, and bolster national security.  In 2018, I laid the foundation for United States leadership in QIST by signing into law the National Quantum Initiative Act and doubling Federal investment in QIST research and development.  Today, as other nations move quickly to challenge American leadership, the United States must take a cohesive, whole-of-government approach to accelerate deployment and commercialization of quantum computing, sensing, and networking.

In addition to continuing trailblazing quantum research, we must act to solidify the Nation’s position as the world’s QIST superpower and deliver the commercial and research benefits of quantum innovation to the American people.  Equally important, we must protect sensitive technologies and work with allies to ensure adversaries cannot use QIST to undermine national security.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of my Administration to ensure that the United States maintains a strategic technical advantage in QIST and leads the development of a robust and trusted quantum ecosystem across QIST research, manufacturing, commercialization, and application...

Full text at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/ushering-in-the-next-frontier-of-quantum-innovation/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 490

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Homeland Security is appealing a federal court’s ruling in a lawsuit contesting a regulation that would limit how long international students can stay in the U.S... DHS filed its appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to reverse a preliminary injunction that blocked the regulation from going into effect. The regulation, which was finalized over the summer and slated to take effect in September, would cap the amount of time international students can remain in the U.S. at four years, unless they get permission for an extension. It also placed other new limitations on international students, such as preventing graduate students from changing their course of study. A preliminary injunction granted by a federal judge last month prevented the rule from taking effect...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/10/05/dhs-appeals-block-international-student-time-limits.

As Prophesied

From the Daily Californian: The UC Office of the President is launching a pilot AI Student Corps in which selected UC students will provide AI coaching and support to UCOP employees.  “The goal is to help employees apply AI effectively to their everyday work,” said UCOP spokesperson Stett Holbrook in an email. “This can include prompting, drafting, document analysis, research and summarization, and simplifying repetitive workflows.” ...

While the positions are remote, the “embedded AI Coaches” will hold both one-on-one and small group coaching sessions as well as office hours. The six selected students will be compensated between $25 and $26.39 per hour...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/uc/need-a-job-uc-will-pay-students-25-an-hour-to-teach-employees-how-to/article_dc15e54a-f5f4-44dc-bc4d-38bc6812d4a7.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 489

From the NY Times: The National Science Foundation, one of the biggest sources of federal research funding, withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year... The extraordinary move — holding back about one-fifth of the N.S.F.’s primary research budget — is the latest sign of how the Trump administration is finding creative ways to work around Congress. Lawmakers from both parties have consistently opposed White House-led proposals to cut funding to major science agencies, including the N.S.F. and the National Institutes of Health.

...The White House wants to redirect the money to a limited set of administration priorities, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, according to two people with knowledge of the administration’s plans. Congress appropriates money to the N.S.F. on two-year cycles, so the agency could still spend the held-over money in the new fiscal year... The White House and the N.S.F. said that diverting the money was allowed under Congress’s two-year appropriation...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/us/politics/national-science-foundation-research-funds.html.

For the record

As we posted on Tuesday, the Regents had a two-day retreat at Lake Arrowhead. Technically, you could have attended the open sessions, but only in person. Technically, you could have made a public comment by phone if you didn't attend in person. But there was no live streaming, so whether anyone other than the Regents and their staff participated is unknown.

Below is the agenda for the retreat:

Regents Retreat Agenda: October 6-7, 2026, Lake Arrowhead  (not live streamed)

==

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 

8:30 am Board - (open session - includes public comment session) 

Public Comment Period (30 minutes)

Remarks of the Chair of the Board

Remarks of the President of the University

Reimagine Where and How UC Happens

Break

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of UC

Lunch

2026 Federal and State Matters

Long-Term Sustainability

Chancellor’s Panel

--

Upon end of open session:

Board - (closed session) 

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of UC

Long-Term Sustainability

Closed Session Statute Citation: Collective bargaining matters [Government Code §3596(d)]

==

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

8:30 am Board - (open session - includes public comment session) 

Public Comment Period (30 minutes)

Risks in the Health Enterprise

Health Governance 

Upon end of open session:

Board - (closed session) 

Public Comment Period (30 minutes) [This additional public comment period is likely a mistake on the published agenda since a meeting can't be both closed and public.]

Risks in the Health Enterprise

Closed Session Statute Citation: Collective bargaining matters [Government Code §3596(d)]

Leadership Priorities

Closed Session Statute Citation: Litigation [Education Code §92032(b)(5)]

==

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/agendas/oct2026.html.

==

What can we learn from the agenda?

1) AI is a Big Deal. 

2) A major risk in the eyes of the Regents (or at least in the eyes of whoever created the agenda) to UC and UC Health is collective bargaining - since it is listed as the reason for closing the sessions on both days.

3) Litigation is a Big Deal. One surmises that the reference is to the current litigation with the feds.

Cooler

From an email this afternoon:

BruinADVISORY: UPDATE – Normal Operations to Resume Tomorrow at 6 a.m.; Building Cooling Restrictions Lifted

Temperatures in impacted buildings will begin returning to normal tomorrow at 6 a.m.

This BruinADVISORY is being issued on behalf of UCLA Facilities Management.

--

Dear Bruin Community:

With a return to lower temperatures and humidity levels in the L.A. region, the stage one cooling curtailment period in non-critical areas of our building facilities — as well as classrooms and recreational facilities — will end tomorrow, October 9, at 6:00 a.m., when normal operations will resume. Temperatures within affected buildings will return to their usual levels.

Cooling curtailment during high heat and humidity is crucial for allowing the campus to maintain adequate cooling in its most critical facility areas, including hospital and patient care settings, research space, vivariums, general assignment classrooms and data centers.

We apologize for any inconvenience this caused and appreciate your patience and cooperation. If you have any questions about the cooling demand response plan, please contact Sean Wilder at swilder@fm.ucla.edu.

Sincerely,

Kelly Schmader

Assistant Vice Chancellor

Facilities Management

==

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abB9wLz0VOM.

Watch the Regents Meeting of Sept. 16, 2026 - Part 1

Blog readers may have noted we are slow in summarizing the final day (Sept. 16) of last month's Regents meetings. Indeed we are, although we have covered the first two days. But it takes time to go through the recordings (which we always preserve). So we are going to break Sept. 16's meeting into two parts and deal with part 1 here. We will get to part 2 when we can.

The meeting began with public comments. Many comments opposed the closing of a childcare program at UCLA. There were also several anti-SAT comments. There was also a pro-SAT comment. Other comments included opposition to Prop 38, housing for student-parents, renewable electricity, financial rewards at UCLA Health, support for the Berkeley litigation settlement on antisemitism, anti-Israel, and limits on the entity that will occupy part of the former Westside Pavilion.

After public comments, there was a grad student presentation expressing concerns about federal funding, basic needs, and childcare among other issues. An undergrad presentation expressed concerns about a privatized model of UC, ICE, disabled students, childcare, diversity, TPM, AI, and the SAT. A brief demonstration occurred but not enough to lead to a clearing of the room or a significant interruption. 

There followed a presentation on AI and UC. Topics included cybersecurity, cost, data centers, access, a faculty and student usage. There was a theme about a need for a systemwide approach, partnerships with outside firms and DOE, the need for a legal framework including liability, the impact on student assessment and teaching and the inconsistent policies currently in effect. Centralization seemed to be favored, in part due to the costs of infrastructure. It was noted that unlike the various early dot-coms, AI is being monetized upfront. It was suggested this difference could lead to inequity. The idea of a "kill switch" was discussed and it was said there isn't such a thing now. 

There was discussion of the history of testing at UC. It was stressed that this was a discussion item only; no decisions would be taken. Testing, it was said, arose out of the Master Plan of 1960 and concern that UC was admitting more than the top one eighth of California students. However, when the SAT was required in 1968, there was never an official cutoff score. Reviews of the SAT were undertaken in 2002 and 2009. A 2019 task force recommended continued use. But a combination of the pandemic and litigation led to the current test-free policy.

Two admissions officers - one from UC-Riverside, one from UCLA - made presentations. And a member of the committee that proposed continuing the SAT also testified, although he seemed to be a dissenter. Editorial comment: Would you really expect admissions officers to say that they are doing a deficient job now due to the absence of testing? They didn't, of course. All is well, they said. And if you wanted to hear a diversity of views, they clearly could have been on offer, given the campaign by many faculty for resuming use of the SAT. Regent Sures wanted to know what other universities are doing. Regent Park wanted to hear about the impact on STEM (as opposed to general data on graduation rates). Regent Arias was concerned about high schools that don't offer advanced courses and other problems in K-12.

We will get to the rest of the meeting (Part 2 of Sept. 16) when we can. 

Meanwhile, the full meeting of Sept. 16 is at https://archive.org/details/regents-9-16-2026. The specific recording of what is summarized above is at:

https://ia801003.us.archive.org/31/items/regents-9-16-2026/Board%2C%20Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%209-16-2026.mp4. (Beginning through 2:55:15)

Straws in the Wind - Part 488

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Justice... filed its 26th lawsuit targeting policies that allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates. The lawsuit, against the University of Delaware, is the first of these DOJ cases to target an individual institution rather than a state or municipal government.  The lawsuits have already ended in-state tuition for undocumented students in Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, impacting an estimated 180,000 undocumented students. Florida pre-emptively eliminated its policy in February 2025 and recently barred undocumented students from enrolling in any selective public university. At least 220,000 other undocumented students live in states where litigation is ongoing, according to data from the Higher Education Immigration Portal.

The complaint against the University of Delaware specifically seeks to prevent the institution from offering in-state tuition to undocumented students, even if they are lawfully present in the United States, and stop them from enacting any new policy that would “favor illegal aliens over U.S. citizens,” according to a news release...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/10/02/u-delaware-sued-offering-noncitizens-state-tuition.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 202

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 quietly convened a University-wide committee of faculty members to develop a new vision for scientific research over the next several years, according to six people familiar with the matter. The group, known as the Science Advisory Committee, formed over the summer, one person said, and includes roughly 15 to 20 faculty members. It is chaired by former Provost Steven E. Hyman and Immunology Department Chair Arlene H. Sharpe ’75, that person and one other said...

The push to develop a coherent, University-wide strategy for the next era of scientific research — and one explicitly tied to fundraising — is the most concrete step the University has taken to rethink its approach to research since the government froze nearly $2.7 billion in Harvard’s funding in spring 2025. University officials have said for the past year that Harvard will need to diversify its funding sources in response to unreliable government support for scientific research... There are now early signs of that work around the University. The Alumni Affairs and Development office launched a new team focused on “transformational giving” after a spring reorganization...

Earlier this week, one of the University’s biggest donors, Kenneth C. Griffin ’89, who paused his giving to Harvard to 2024, announced a $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest single gift in the history of U.S. higher education...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/10/2/garber-science-advisory-committee/.

Who is in? Who is out?

The systemwide Academic Senate is circulating a letter from UC President Milliken to the chancellors regarding shared governance for clinical faculty who are not members of the Senate. Only ladder faculty, in residence faculty, and clinical X faculty are members. There is concern about lack of shared governance for clinical faculty who aren't. Apparently, a proposal to add them to the Senate was earlier rejected.

...As the University of California’s health enterprise has grown, the growth in some faculty series, notably the Health Sciences Clinical Professor series has raised questions about how to best integrate clinical faculty into University governance. Faculty in the Clinical X, In-Residence, and Ladder-rank series are members of the Academic Senate. However, the majority of clinical faculty are in the Health Sciences Clinical Professor series, which is not a faculty series in the Academic Senate.

Non-Academic Senate clinical faculty requests for a role in shared governance were noted in a 2020 task force report. To begin to address these concerns, a Special Committee on Health Sciences and Clinical Affairs was then formed. From 2024 through 2025, under then-President Michael Drake’s tenure, non-Academic Senate clinical faculty, Academic Senate leadership, and UC’s health science schools proposed various approaches to expand access to University governance for clinical faculty. However, the issue remains largely unresolved to this day...

Full letter and other documents at:

https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/systemwide-senate-review-tf-on-clinical-faculty-representation-9-30-26.pdf.

Comments concerning establishing some alternative method of representation are due in mid-November. There has also been a suggestion of raising the limit on the number of clinical X faculty, presumably to allow some conversion of clinical faculty to the clinical X series - which would put them in the Senate.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 201

From the NY Times: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a federal judge to compel Harvard to hand over records in the agency’s investigation into what it described as “systemic discrimination” in the university’s employment practices, particularly against white men. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the E.E.O.C. accused the university of noncompliance, escalating a legal battle that has been brewing for more than a year, court filings show.

Lawyers for Harvard have called the E.E.O.C.’s investigation part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to bring the university to heel. “The government has not concealed that its all-out campaign targets Harvard for the assertion of its constitutional rights,” the lawyers wrote in a June motion, which the agency included in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday. Harvard’s lawyers noted that Andrea Lucas, the Republican chair of the E.E.O.C., filed her civil rights charge against Harvard in April 2025, four days after the university sued the federal government for freezing $2.2 billion in funding.

...Ms. Lucas has been keen to use what are known as commissioner’s charges — allegations based not in a complaint from an employee, but on an E.E.O.C. commissioner’s belief that a violation of the law may have occurred...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/business/economy/harvard-eeoc-diversity-hiring.html. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 487

News release from Yale Faculty Senate: The Yale FAS-SEAS Faculty Senate’s Instructional Faculty Committee completed a report calling for stronger job security, greater compensation and a stronger voice in university governance for instructional faculty. Submitted to the Senate on September 10, 2026, in closed session and published over the weekend, the report brings together recommendations from four prior Yale reports on instructional faculty issued between 2017 and 2026 and urges university leaders to establish an implementation schedule and track progress annually.

The report comes in response to cuts to lecturer ranks last year and the negative climate for instructional faculty present in the 2025 University-wide Faculty Climate Report. Instructional faculty comprise roughly 40% of FAS-SEAS faculty and are widely held to teach a greater percentage of undergraduate students annually than ladder faculty. The report also comes in response to the Report on Trust in Higher Education, which called for a renewed centering of teaching, and the university’s new mission statement, which elevates the place and practice of teaching at Yale...

Full release at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fzwRyc4bYfZP0qJKuRvfhqh9CoxnClxD/view.

Newsom in the 3rd Quarter

As blog readers may know, we keep track of Gov. Newsom's activities, particularly his not-a-campaign for president, on a regular basis, combined with other related political events. He doesn't pay much attention  to UC, except mentioning it in extolling the California economy. Unless there is some highly unlikely event, Xavier Becerra will be the next governor. However, he will be coming in to office in January facing a constitutional requirement to present a budget. Much of the legwork will, of necessity, have been done in the next few months by Newsom's Dept. of Finance group. In any case, our Newsom & related files on the Internet Archive for July-September can be seen at:

https://archive.org/details/newsom-7-1-2026-savings-accounts-for-kids.

We're still looking for numbers and definitions

As we have pointed out, UCLA administration keeps citing numbers - with regard to childcare closings and anything else in the budget while not providing the basic accounts. Where is an income statement for 2025-26? Revenue? Spending? By unit? Where is a balance sheet? When "deficits" are cited, what definition is being used? Yours truly looked at the UCLA website and the latest year available is 2024-25:

===

https://www.finance.ucla.edu/corporate-accounting/ucla-annual-financial-reports

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Yet, when it comes to justifying the childcare closure, the powers-that-be cite bits and pieces of data from fiscal year 2025-26. And apparently, the UCLA student newspaper has access to some kind of documentation for 2025-26. And there is reference to projections for the current 2026-27 fiscal year. From the Daily Bruin:

UCLA’s childcare centers are projected to incur a year-end budget deficit of $9.1 million ahead of their June 2027 closure, according to financial statements reviewed by the Daily Bruin. UCLA’s Early Care and Education centers, which primarily serve the children of UCLA faculty and students, will close in June 2027 because of budget issues, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt announced in an August email to parents. The university initially projected that ECE’s accumulated deficit would be $8.6 million by June 2027, but the figure was adjusted to include food service costs, a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

...ECE’s projected operating expenses for the 2026-27 academic year are about $10.2 million, according to the documents. Parent tuition accounts for more than $6.2 million in revenue, and remaining costs are paid by the university, state funding and student fees, the documents said.

The childcare centers’ financial difficulties come as UCLA experiences broader budgetary woes. UCLA had a year-end budget deficit of $58 million for the 2025-26 academic year, down from its initial projections of $220 million, Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a September campuswide email...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/04/ucla-childcare-centers-face-projected-9-1-million-deficit-ahead-of-closure.

State and local governments (cities, counties) all produce budget estimates and projections. This is a university. We are not idiots. Not even imbeciles. Not even morons.

So let's get the latest numbers out there. Not bits and pieces in "statements." Not in unnamed documents available to some, but not others. After all, "We are ONE UCLA." Just get them out there. How about it?

Something added

We have previously blogged about the missing January Regents meeting. But today and tomorrow, the Regents have added a meeting: a retreat. No, you're not invited. No, you're not invited unless you want to travel to Lake Arrowhead.

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/. 

Request for Dismissal

From the LA Times: In the University of California’s strongest rebuke yet of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against it, the university is asking a federal judge to throw out a Justice Department lawsuit accusing UCLA of enabling antisemitism, describing the case in court filings as “political coercion.” ...UC’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder in Los Angeles to dismiss the case filed four months ago, alleging the government is “weaponizing” civil rights laws and has no legal basis for the suit...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-01/uc-asks-judge-dismiss-doj-ucla-antisemitism-lawsuit.

Request for dismissal at https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28713336/ucla.pdf. Alternative: https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/UCLA%20asks%20for%20dismissal%20of%20DOJ%20case%209-30-2026.pdf.

Statement by UC President Milliken supporting the request: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-president-millikens-statement-universitys-motion-dismiss-department-justices-title-vi.

Straws in the Wind - Part 486

From the Yale Daily News: Around 81 percent of grades awarded at Yale College in the 2024-25 school year were either an A or an A-minus, according to a resolution by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Senate. The 80.75 percent figure represents an uptick from 78.97 percent in the 2022-23 school year, the last year for which data is publicly available. The share had been trending downward since its peak of 81.97 percent in the 2020-21 school year, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new figure was included in a resolution that the FAS-SEAS Senate passed unanimously on Thursday to urge the College’s Committee on Teaching, Learning and Advising to develop policies that make grades more meaningful while preserving faculty authority and minimizing harm to students. Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News earlier this month that the committee is set to release recommendations on grading in November...

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Senate Faculty Senate... unanimously passed a resolution on grade inflation, urging a Yale College committee to develop grading policies that keep grades meaningful while minimizing harm to students and faculty...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/a-a-share-was-higher-in-2024-25-than-in-2022-23-faculty-report-shows and https://yaledailynews.com/articles/faculty-senate-says-new-grading-guidance-should-minimize-student-harm.

Parallel Blogs / Subscribing / Song

We have been putting out this blog since 2009 under the heading "UCLA Faculty Association" using the link:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

The blog site was originally created by the then-executive director of the Faculty Association. As such, yours truly does not have control of the site; he is simply a blogger on it. So when technical issues arise, that can be a problem. Given that issue, we have been adding a parallel site with the same blog entries since July 23rd:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/

We will be running the two in parallel for the indefinite future. Possibly, at some point we will switch to the new link.

If you read the blog using the Facebook page of Yousee Elayemeriti, you can continue to do so:

https://www.facebook.com/yousee.elayemeriti

===

Want to subscribe?

You can't subscribe directly. But you can subscribe indirectly to this blog via a service called Blogtrottr. Go to blogtrottr.com and fill in the URL for the blog:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/ 

or

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

and put in your email address. 

You will then receive an email at the email address you provided asking you to confirm. After you confirm, you will receive an email notification of new postings whenever they appear. If there are, say, three postings on a particular day, you will receive three notifications (one for each one). 

Note and full disclosure: There are ads on these notifications. 

==

And here's a little song, based on the information above, composed by Gemini:

"Sharp and Clever Pen":

Or https://archive.org/details/sharp-and-clever-pen

Verse 1

I scroll the screen looking for some light

A voice that cuts right through the noise

They talk about the taxes and the spin

But Dan Mitchell has a different kind of truth

He talks about the spending and the waste

The parallel blogs that keep us truly free

Independent channels are the only way to go

To find the analysis the mainstream never shows

--

Chorus

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

--

Verse 2

He analyzes policy with a sharp and clever pen

Decentralized and honest, standing on his own ground

You don't need their filters and you don't need their spin

Just some liberty and facts to help you really win

Bookmark the connection and let the truth begin to flow

A parallel alternative to the status quo we know

Fiscal sense and freedom are waiting on the page

The perfect antidote for a confusing modern age

--

Chorus

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

--

Outro

Yeah, find the facts for yourself

Dan Mitchell's blog is out there waiting

Just click and subscribe and see the difference

Get free and stay informed always.