Numbers

We seem to get budgetary numbers on the fiscal condition of the UCLA Athletics program from external sources, but not from UCLA. CBS News carries a story concerning the recent firing and replacement of the UCLA AD.* It notes that there was donor dissatisfaction building with the old regime, expressed as declining donations:

UCLA's donation rank was towards the bottom of the Big Ten:

It appears the Athletics program was a chronic money loser through June 30, 2025. UCLA provided some offsetting subsidy money, mainly in the last two years available. No data were provided for 2025-26.

It would be nice if these numbers were readily available from UCLA - as opposed to CBS News. And it would be nice to have data for last year. It would be nice to know exactly what the definitions are of revenue and expenses. It would be nice to know exactly where the money to finance the reported deficits came from since the cumulative deficits substantially exceed the "subsidy." Is all this going to be revealed during the upcoming budgetary "retreat"?

===

*https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ucla-money-problems-donors-martin-jarmond-firing-athletic-director/.

Digital Humanities

From CalMatters: UCLA is launching the nation’s first digital humanities department and bachelor’s degree this fall. The new discipline combines classical humanities with technical know-how to examine a digitized and increasingly AI-enhanced world. The major fuses technological tools for statistical analysis, coding, 3D mapping and data visualization with traditional humanities subjects like history, literature and global cultures. It’s a multidisciplinary approach to education that capitalizes on employers’ growing desire for recent graduates to think critically while also being able to harness new technology. And the major requires a great deal of teamwork among students, another skill hiring managers seek. 

Students will learn how new technologies shape culture and the human biases that enter into the use of these new tools. Top of mind is the rise of generative artificial intelligence and training students to use it ethically while also understanding how easily it can produce misleading content...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/08/ucla-digital-humanities/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 453

From Inside Higher Ed: Twenty-three percent fewer student visas were issued in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to newly released Department of State figures. Some countries, like Iran, Myanmar and Venezuela, saw declines over 70 percent from year to year. India, the second-largest supplier of international students to the U.S. in 2024, also experienced a precipitous 56.6 percent drop. An Inside Higher Ed analysis of the data shows that visa issuances were essentially in line with the previous year for the first several months of 2025 but dropped in May—the same month President Donald Trump paused all student visa interviews to implement new social media screenings for those applicants. The number of student visas issued remained below 2024 levels for the remainder of the year.

The largest decrease was among F-1 visa holders, who are in the U.S. seeking a degree and who are at the center of concerns about how the Trump administration's international student policies will impact enrollments; those visas declined by 33.4 percent, versus 9.9 percent for J-1 and 6.7 percent for M-1 visas. (J-1 visas are for students and scholars in certain exchange programs, including the Fulbright program, while M-1 visas are for students in nondegree or vocational training.) ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2026/08/26/new-student-visas-dropped-23-2025.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 195

From the Harvard Crimson: Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh told Peer Advising Fellows... that Harvard plans to enforce its new cap on A grades by automatically converting all of a course’s A’s to A-’s if professors refuse to bring their grades under the limit — but backtracked in [a later] interview..., saying the mechanism remains only a proposal. Claybaugh told PAFs that professors who entered too many A grades would first receive an alert instructing them to bring their course into compliance. If they nevertheless submitted grades above the limit, she said, all of the course’s A grades would automatically become A-’s, according to four students in attendance and a recording of the event obtained by The Crimson.

...The comments, made during a fireside chat that attendees had been told was off the record, offer the clearest indication yet of how Harvard could enforce the controversial cap once it becomes mandatory, answering a question that has loomed over the policy since faculty approved it in May. Claybaugh [later] backed away from the certainty of her...  remarks, saying the automatic conversion mechanism was only one option under consideration. She said a committee is still considering how to enforce the cap. While she said the mechanism “seems like the easiest enforcement option,” she added that she was unsure whether it was “physically possible in our system.”

“It sounds mean to hold a gun to the student’s head, but the thing about our faculty is they really care about our students,” Claybaugh said... The enforcement question has taken on added urgency as some professors have publicly said they may refuse to follow the cap...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/28/harvard-grade-cap-enforcement/.

Only NFL?

From the NY Times: Since the degenerative brain disease known as C.T.E. was first scientifically linked to football about 20 years ago, and as hundreds of former professional football players have been diagnosed with the disease after their deaths, a haunting question has lingered: Just how many N.F.L. players will end up with C.T.E.? New data provides a sobering indication: At least one in four of all the people who have played in the N.F.L. might expect to end up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study of hundreds of cases over a recent six-year period.

Researchers considered every former N.F.L. player who died from 2016 to 2021. There were 878. Some died in their 20s, some in their 80s, most in between. The study’s main finding was simple math: At least 215 of those 878 former players — 24.5 percent — had C.T.E. ... C.T.E. is a progressive neurological disease caused by repeated impacts to the head. It can be definitively diagnosed only by examining the brain after death. Studies have shown that the rate of C.T.E. in people who have not sustained repeated impacts to the head is nearly zero...

Experts say that the rate of brain disease represents an occupational safety hazard with little comparison in the American workplace...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/nfl-cte-brain-disease.html.

As the distinction between professional football and college football becomes murkier, with NIL, etc., is there anyone who seriously believes CTE is somehow a risk only to players in the former?

Straws in the Wind - Part 452

Ronald Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins in an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education: We developed the partnership with the American Enterprise Institute. We recognized it was going to take time to see a shift in the recruitment of faculty, but we wanted to move with some dispatch to make sure that our students and faculty were exposed to these ideas. 

The fact that conservative scholarship is underrepresented in our institutions ultimately means that the left gets flabbier because it’s not being tested and challenged in the way it ought to be. At the same time, the right, to the extent that it moves outside the university and finds itself in think tanks and is not subject to challenges or critiques from the center and the left, becomes more radicalized. This is not just a problem for our institutions. It’s a problem for America. So I do feel urgency in trying to remedy this issue. It was my colleague Steve Teles, who wrote in The Chronicle about this, who said he was hard pressed to identify a single tenured conservative scholar in the social sciences and humanities at Hopkins. I took that as a very serious critique.

Interviewer: A recent article about various political-diversity initiatives at Hopkins describes the university under your leadership as being on “an ambitious and uncharted journey to transform itself into a citadel of ideological pluralism.”

Daniels: I take it as a compliment. That’s something that I proudly embrace...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/conservative-scholars-are-rare-johns-hopkins-wants-more-of-them.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 194

From the Harvard Crimson: The Department of Justice appealed the dismissal of its antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard... seeking to revive a sweeping case accusing the University of violating federal civil rights law in its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students. The government filed a notice Thursday afternoon asking the First Circuit to review U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns’ August 13 decision granting Harvard’s motion to dismiss the case. The appeal comes two weeks after Stearns dealt a major blow to one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive legal efforts against Harvard, finding that the incidents cited by the government were “too isolated and episodic” to prove an ongoing violation of Title VI...

Stearns left open the possibility that should the government be able to present compelling instances of ongoing noncompliance, their case might be seen in a different light. And he did not quarrel with the government’s assumption that it could recuperate previously awarded funds under the Title VI or breach of contract arguments outlined in the original complaint...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/28/doj-harvard-antisemitism-appeal/.

The SAT Goes Political

We live in a world in which there is no issue that can't be politicized. If Trump says the sky is blue, Republicans see it that way and Democrats don't. If he says the sky is green, the same occurs. And no one bothers to look up. There was even a movie five years ago titled "Don't Look Up" about this tendency. The thing is, the color of the sky is a matter of observation.

Apparently, the SAT issue at UC is becoming politicized. From the LA Times:

Three Republican state senators are pressing the University of California to reinstate SAT and ACT scores in undergraduate admissions, urging the Board of Regents to act “as soon as possible” and warning that six years without the tests has left students underprepared. “Please re-instate the SAT or ACT ASAP,” wrote the three legislators — Sens. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks), Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) and Steven S. Choi (R-Irvine). Ochoa Bogh is vice chair of the Senate Education Committee and Choi is a member. Injecting legislative politics into what has so far been a largely academic debate about UC admissions policies, Ochoa Bogh also said in a statement that she plans to introduce a bill next session on testing...

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-26/gop-senators-uc-sat-testing-legislation.

A related letter was sent to UC President Milliken and others to the same effect by Ochoa Bogh and Niello:

https://sr19.senate.ca.gov/sites/sr19.senate.ca.gov/files/OCHOA%20BOGH%20AND%20NIELLO%20Letter%20to%20the%20UC%208.20.26.pdf.

So he's not Co-CFO? He's the AD.

Blog readers may remember the image above from our Aug. 21st post concerning Tim Harris and whether he was being brought to UCLA as a kind of co-CFO, as suggested by an item in the California Post. Turns out he was brought in as the new (replacement) Athletics Director. From the Daily Bruin:

Martin Jarmond is out of Westwood. Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a campuswide email and written statement that Jarmond, who has served as UCLA’s athletic director since 2020, was dismissed from his position Monday. Jarmond will be replaced by former Los Angeles Lakers executive Tim Harris, who will serve as both director and CEO of UCLA Athletics on a pro bono basis, Frenk added. Jarmond has $6.5 million remaining on his contract...

In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the program ran a $21.6 million deficit – down from $51.8 million in the previous cycle. Most of that reduction came from media rights revenue upon joining the Big Ten, which provided more than three times what UCLA procured in the Pac-12. The university itself also provided $30 million in direct institutional support to pay for the remaining deficit and balance it out to zero...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/31/ucla-athletics-director-martin-jarmond-dismissed-from-position-after-6-years.

By the way, if the last paragraph makes no sense to you, you are not alone. As yours truly reads it, we had a deficit of $21.6, added $30, and got zero. (Maybe this is yet another argument for at least the math part of the SAT to be restored!) The problem, however, isn't arithmetic. It is the absence of budgetary numbers (once again) beyond June 30, 2025 - more than a year ago. We need a 2025-26 income statement, a balance sheet, and a breakdown by unit - including athletics as a unit. And we need projections for 2026-27. If Tim Harris is being brought in to deal with the financial side of athletics, he, too, will need up-to-date numbers.

So far, all we have is a promise that all will be disclosed in an upcoming "retreat" this month.

===

Note: Chancellor's message at https://chancellor.ucla.edu/messages/building-the-next-chapter-of-ucla-athletics or https://archive.org/details/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026/UCLA%20Building%20the%20Next%20Chapter%20of%20UCLA%20Athletics%20-%20Office%20of%20the%20Chancellor%208-31-2026.pdf.

Picking Dates

The Regents pick tentative dates for their regular meetings a year or so in advance. But the dates tend to shift for unknown reasons as the original selections grow nearer. For example, the upcoming September meetings at UCLA were originally set for Sept. 15-17. Then the last day was lopped off and the schedule became Sept. 15-16. Why? Not enough business to do? Your guess is as good as mine. But recently, a day was added back, but this time it is earlier. So now the schedule reads Sept. 14-16. Why the addition after the subtraction and the time shift? Who knows?

The schedule is at https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/. The Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive was used to track the changes: https://web.archive.org/.

Union News: Police Contract

From UC News: The University of California and the Federated University Police Officers’ Association (FUPOA) have reached a tentative agreement on a new systemwide contract covering approximately 273 sworn, non-supervisory police officers across the University.

The four-year tentative agreement, which will run July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2030, provides significant wage increases and includes enhancements to longevity pay, additional compensation and allowances. The agreement follows six months of bargaining and reflects the parties’ shared effort to address priorities on both sides...

Full news release at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/university-california-and-federated-university-police-officers-association-fupoa-reach.

Straws in the Wind - Part 451

From Inside Higher Ed: A number of faculty members at Texas A&M University–Victoria have quit after the university announced in late June that full-time faculty are required to be on campus for eight hours a day, five days per week this fall. As a result, multiple classes have been canceled and some departments are nearly empty...

According to a June 26 email from the provost... “faculty are expected to have day-to-day physical presence on campus for in-person interaction with students, administration, other employees and the community,” and “to be on campus 5 days a week and maintain a 40-hour workweek.” Failure to comply “may subject an individual to discipline, up to and including termination.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/2026/08/25/faculty-quit-texas-university-orders-them-back-campus.

Supreme Court Appeal

From E&E News/Politico: The Trump administration this week asked the nation’s highest bench to overturn a lower court ruling that said agencies’ termination of grants because they are “DEI” violated the First Amendment. The Constitution’s protections against free speech generally prohibit the government from showing “viewpoint discrimination.” This case the administration has presented to the Supreme Court could determine whether that includes terminating grants a new administration does not like, which President Donald Trump directed en masse after returning to power last year.

The petition was filed by several University of California researchers whose grants from EPA, the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities were terminated, some allegedly because of a nexus to diversity, equity or inclusion, known as DEI.

Source: https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-let-him-terminate-dei-research-grants/.

They asked but got NIL

From CalMatters: CalMatters filed a lawsuit against UCLA [last] Monday after nearly a year of attempts to obtain information about how the university pays its student athletes. Last fall, CalMatters submitted records requests to 16 University of California and California State University campuses, seeking information about payments to their Division I athletes, but many schools provided little or no information in response. The lawsuit states that taxpayers are entitled to know the names of players who have received money and the teams they play on...

The universities pay student athletes for the right to use their name, image and likeness — NIL — in promotional materials. The payments also help recruit top athletes or dissuade them from seeking better pay elsewhere. UCLA and UC Berkeley, which have the most competitive and most lucrative athletics programs among the state’s public universities, initially rejected CalMatters’ records requests. They argued that sharing information about their payments to students would put their players at a competitive disadvantage or violate students’ right to privacy in education. 

After meeting with attorneys at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, which represented CalMatters, both universities provided some records, which give a first-of-its-kind glimpse into the new dynamics of college sports. They each said they spent about $20.5 million paying athletes in the 2025-26 academic year, which is the maximum amount allowed. UCLA said it paid 229 athletes. UC Berkeley said it paid 147...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/08/student-athlete-payments-california/. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 450

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Chicago’s undergraduate social-sciences division will go “analog” this fall, implementing a blanket policy banning technology in class and AI assistance on coursework across the division’s core courses. New restrictions apply to students and faculty members in required social-sciences core sequences, which students typically complete in three phases during their sophomore year. The university’s law school announced earlier this summer a similar ban in required first-year core courses.

While many professors across the country have taken to banning tech in their classrooms and adding AI policies to their syllabi amid students’ increasing use of large language models, or LLMs, on coursework, the new policy at Chicago is among the first to articulate a coordinated prohibition. The university provides free Claude subscriptions to all students and faculty members through a contract with Anthropic, which has spurred debate over the role of AI and tech in learning.

The undergraduate social-sciences division will also ban in-class audio or video recording and prohibit faculty members from using generative AI to assist in grading. The policy memo outlining the changes, obtained and published on Sunday by the university’s undergraduate student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, specifies that “wearable AI,” such as Meta’s AI glasses, are also prohibited in class...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-chicagos-social-sciences-division-bans-tech-ai-in-core-courses.

Alternative Advice

If you go to Yale, you should embrace uncertainty. But if you go to Penn, you can explore bravely.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 193

From the NY Times: One of Harvard University’s biggest federal funding streams is down sharply, according to a New York Times analysis of government data. The declines have persisted even after a federal judge forced the Trump administration to reverse drastic cuts to the university last year. The funding, from the National Institutes of Health, currently lags about 18 percent behind the average pace of grants during the Biden administration, the analysis shows. Last year, Harvard successfully sued the Trump administration, after the government announced it had frozen more than $2.2 billion in 2025, from multiple federal agencies. But unlike then, when Trump officials made a public spectacle out of announcing the cuts, the N.I.H. is mainly delaying, reducing or rejecting grant requests, often leaving researchers and university leaders in the dark about what is happening...

The reduction appears to be the latest front in the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again war with Harvard and other elite universities. It is a new, more subtle tactic that is harder to fight in court, but that could be just as damaging if cuts and uncertainty build... As the Trump administration has pulled multiple levers to try to bring Harvard and other schools to heel, Harvard has often pushed back. It was the first institution to sue the Trump administration, has won in court on a number of occasions and has not reached a settlement with the federal government, as other prominent schools have done. Now, however, the university faces cuts that may be harder to counter. Last September, a judge ruled that the administration had improperly cut off funding to Harvard when it ended all of its grants in 2025, finding that the government had violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights.

But in the ruling, the judge suggested that there were lawful means the government could pursue if it wanted to restrict Harvard’s money, should it choose to. That is what is happening. Through June 30 of this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the N.I.H. provided Harvard 309 awards worth a total of $200 million. The amount is down from an average of roughly 440 awards worth $246 million for the same nine-month period in 2021-2024, according to the latest data available...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/harvard-trump-costs.html.

SMC

Santa Monica College is one of the major feeders of transfer students to UCLA and is having fiscal problems that threaten its status. As blog readers will know, there is pressure on UC and UCLA to meet transfer student enrollment targets.

From the Santa Monica Daily Press: The years-long failure to arrest Santa Monica College’s enrollment decline and fiscal crisis has endangered the school’s accreditation according to a new warning sent by the institution responsible for evaluating community colleges. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) notified SMC Superintendent/President Kathryn Jeffery in July that the college had scored in the "at-risk" category on the commission's Composite Financial Index, based on data submitted in the college's 2026 annual fiscal report. Institutions that score at-risk are automatically placed on enhanced monitoring, a designation ACCJC uses to track member colleges' fiscal stability throughout the accreditation cycle.

...[ACCJC Vice President Melynie] Schiel's letter cited four factors behind the at-risk designation: an unresolved structural deficit, marked by expenses exceeding revenue in each of the last three reporting years, from 2022-23 through 2024-25; a significantly unfunded Other Post-Employment Benefits liability with no district contributions over that same three-year span; a 34% decline in the district's ending cash balance over three years; and multiple expired collective bargaining agreements that remained unresolved. The commission required SMC to submit an update describing the actions it is taking to address those factors, and cautioned that colleges that remain on enhanced monitoring for three consecutive years without resolving their fiscal issues could face adverse action from the commission.

The ACCJC serves as the primary accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for two-year institutions across California and the Pacific, overseeing 136 colleges as of 2024. This institutional seal of approval is the critical mechanism that grants member colleges access to federal Title IV financial aid, ensures the transferability of credits, and maintains the essential academic legitimacy required to serve their student populations...

Full story at https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-college-faces-accreditation-threat-over-financial-crisis/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 449

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: A report from the Education Department is recommending that the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, lose its federal recognition. If approved, the accrediting agency would no longer be eligible to serve as a gatekeeper of federal financial aid for the law schools it oversees.

The loss of recognition would mean that 13 free-standing law schools would have to find a new federally recognized accreditor to be eligible for federal student aid. The other 184 law schools that are accredited under the ABA could still get federal financial aid under the accreditation of the university that they are affiliated with.

That outcome could be months or even years away. The staff report will be reviewed next month by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an 18-member panel that makes recommendations to the education secretary on whether to grant federal recognition. After that, Nicholas Kent, the under secretary of education, will make a determination on whether to continue the accreditor’s status as a gatekeeper. The accreditor can then appeal the decision and could sue the department if it loses that appeal...

Florida and Texas have already removed a requirement that aspiring lawyers graduate from an ABA-accredited law school in order to sit for the bar exam, and several other states are considering a similar action...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/education-department-takes-first-step-to-revoke-recognition-of-law-schools-accreditor.

The Halt

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA paused some international students’ work authorizations after it received an Aug. 12 memo from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Dashew Center spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Universities suspected of using curricular practical training programs to create employment for international students instead of reasons required for academic studies could lose their certification to enroll exchange and international students, the memo stated. CPT authorizations allow eligible students on F-1 visas to receive temporary authorization to work in a field related to their degree while attending school. 

ICE sent the memo to all universities certified to have international and exchange students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, an agency under ICE that tracks international students’ records. SEVP saw a rise in CPT authorizations that “do not meet regulatory requirements,” according to the memo. UCLA plans to review the federal changes and is awaiting guidance from the UC, the Dashew Center spokesperson said in an emailed statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/25/ucla-pauses-some-international-students-work-authorizations-after-ice-memo.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 192

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences selected 40 more employees for layoffs across two major academic divisions and several smaller offices last week, bringing a months-long staff restructuring to a close with 165 positions eliminated. In the final round, 40 employees across the Division of Science, Division of Arts and Humanities, FAS Dean’s Office, and FAS Office of Research Administration were selected for layoffs outright, while another 73 were offered the option between a layoff and a new role.

In total, FAS eliminated 165 positions, or roughly 10 percent of the roles in the units included in the restructuring, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra and FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky announced last week... FAS issued layoff and job-change notifications in five large waves this summer, after a smaller series of decisions affecting three sets of high-level administrators. The first wave, affecting department administrators and center executive directors, took place in June. A larger wave of College layoffs followed the next week, and several changes — including the dismissal of the Writing Center’s director and the end of the Dudley Community — drew fierce opposition from students and alumni. After more limited layoffs in the FAS’ central offices, two rounds of divisional layoffs this month accounted for the majority of the job changes...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/21/fas-layoffs-conclude-165-positions/.

Bond - Part 3

UCOP News Release: UC Nobel Prize winners back $7.5 billion proposed investment in California research

UC Office of the President, August 28, 2026

University of California Nobel laureates Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Randy Schekman released the statements below following a deal announced today on UC-sponsored SB 895, authored by state Senator Scott Wiener. The bill would place a measure on the March 2028 state ballot to provide $7.5 billion for cutting-edge research addressing some of California’s most pressing health, environmental and technological challenges.

“California built the world’s most successful system of research universities,” said Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., a UC Berkeley biochemist, Nobel laureate, and founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute. “SB 895 represents an important investment in the research infrastructure that will allow California to continue advancing scientific breakthroughs, improving lives, and driving innovation and growth for generations. We are grateful to Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the legislature for their support of this important issue.”

“California’s strength and ingenuity depends on its ability to turn bold ideas into solutions to our most pressing problems,” said Randy Schekman, Ph.D., UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and Nobel laureate. “That’s why we need to invest in research and continue building on our nation-leading enterprise at UC. SB 895 will help protect the people and discoveries that drive billions of dollars in economic activity and improve lives across our state, and I thank Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the entire legislature for leading the way on these efforts.”

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-nobel-prize-winners-back-proposed-investment-california-research.

For the record, Wiener is running to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress as she retires from her San Francisco district. She, however, has endorsed another candidate. Newsom is running for you-know-what.

Something is missing

UC-Berkeley's Academic Senate released a report: "UC Berkeley Academic Senate Task Force Report on Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Campus Climate in Higher Education."* Inside Higher Ed summarizes it as follows:

A faculty task force at the University of California, Berkeley, determined that—in addition to policies protecting free speech and academic freedom—a campus climate “characterized by trust and good faith” is essential to achieving the university’s core mission, according to a report released Thursday.**

But, at least to yours truly, something is missing from the document. Apart from rights, privileges, and means of expression, it is a value of a university to know what you are talking about. If there was more attention to that simple value, the "climate" would be (much) improved. Herd behavior and TikTok depictions are not a route to knowing what you are talking about. 

===

*https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/af.fs.cc_tf_report_final.pdf.

**https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/21/berkeley-report-says-trusting-campus-climate-vital-mission.

Straws in the Wind - Part 448

From Inside Higher Ed: International student applications to American colleges dropped by 10 percent in the most recent application cycle—a decrease of roughly 16,000 students—according to... Common App... The figures show a major break from the upward trajectory of international applications over the past 10 years and reflect the impact of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies. The landscape for international students in the United States has changed dramatically since the administration began revoking student visas, approving fewer new applications and limited the time international students can stay in the country. Department of Homeland Security data from the 2025–26 academic year showed an average 13 percent decrease in international student enrollment, and new projections say 112,000 fewer international students could be on U.S. campuses this fall.

The data represents applications to Common App’s 1,146 member institutions, which includes fewer than half of all public and private four-year colleges in the country...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2026/08/20/applications-international-students-down-10.

==

Common App report at:

https://www.commonapp.org/files/DAR/deadline-updates/2025-26/Common-App-End-of-Season-Report_25-26.pdf. 

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 191

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard International Office is now recommending that J-1 scholars and F-1 and J-1 international students enrolled in on-campus programs this fall try to be in the U.S. when a new Department of Homeland Security rule imposing four-year limits and other restrictions on student visa status takes effect on Sept. 15. 

The recommendation comes because the rule will apply differently to students and scholars already in the country when it takes effect. Those in the U.S. on the day the rule goes into effect will be authorized to remain without filing for an extension until the later of their program end date or the expiration of their post-completion work authorization, up to a maximum of four years. But current students and scholars who leave the country and return after Sept. 15 will become subject to the new rule upon reentry...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/21/hio-students-visa-rule/.

Not happy with delays (in part by AI)

I'm sure the Regents thought that they had put the SAT issue behind them, at least temporarily. The current Academic Senate leadership may have the same thoughts. But the Regents and the incoming Senate reps are likely to hear more about it, at least in public comments, at the upcoming mid-September meetings:

From the San Francisco Standard (8-15-2026), by Zvezdelina Stankova:* ...I teach mathematics at UC Berkeley. Three days a week, I stand in front of lecture halls with 500 to 1,400 students. By the second week of the semester, I already know who is in trouble. Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics. Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school. That is why this spring and summer, thousands of faculty members across all 10 UC campuses — including more than two-thirds of UC’s mathematics faculty — signed open letters urging the system to restore the SAT and ACT in admissions.

Five Nobel laureates joined us, along with professors from across the university, including Beatriz Manz, Berkeley’s first Latina full professor. We did so because what an admission letter is supposed to mean — that a student is ready to attend the school — no longer matches what we see in our classrooms. We did so because what an admission letter is supposed to mean — that a student is ready to attend the school — no longer matches what we see in our classrooms. 

In January 2020, a UC task force studied standardized testing and recommended keeping it. Then-President Janet Napolitano nevertheless urged the Board of Regents to phase out the SAT and ACT, citing pandemic disruptions and long-standing equity concerns. The regents voted that May to make testing optional, and a court ruling later that year, focused on access for students with disabilities, required UC to become completely test-blind through 2025. Since then, admissions officers have been forbidden from considering the one standardized measure that provided a common academic benchmark across California’s thousands of high schools.

Many peer universities have since reconsidered. MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale all suspended testing requirements during the pandemic. All have reinstated them. Across the Ivy League, similar reversals are underway. UC has moved in the opposite direction. Faculty asked the university to revisit the policy quickly, but the timeline has repeatedly slipped. The Academic Senate now plans a review that will conclude in June 2027, meaning no new admissions policy could take effect before fall 2028. Students don’t have that kind of time: They attend college once! ...

Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Prize-winning Berkeley scientist known for pioneering gene editing, summarized the concern in a letter to the regents this summer. “The test-blind policy was a well-intentioned experiment,” she wrote, “but the reality in our classrooms shows that it has failed.” Admitting students who are unprepared, she warned, “sets them up for discouraging struggle. … We cannot afford another cycle of administrative delay.” ...

Full op ed at https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2026/08/15/uc-berkeley-sat-test-blind-admissions-math-scores/.

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*Zvezdelina Stankova is a teaching professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley and recipient of the Mathematical Association of America’s Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award — the nation’s top honor for college math teaching. She is also one of the five original authors of the UC STEM faculty open letter urging the University of California to restore the SAT and ACT.

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NOTE: The Daily Cal found that the op ed was partly written by AI:

https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-professor-admits-to-using-ai-in-op-ed-calling-out-students-lack-of/article_be1360f7-6e2a-42f6-ae76-f05d8cee74c4.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 447

From the Columbia Daily Spectator: The [Columbia] Law School introduced a largely permissive policy on generative artificial intelligence this month that allows students to use AI as a “learning aid” but continues to bar its use to generate submitted content. The policy went into effect Aug. 1, replacing the school’s interim AI policy, which was put in place last year and prohibited any use of AI in drafting coursework, even when disclosed. The new policy broadly permits AI usage for a variety of reasons including studying legal concepts, generating hypotheticals, summarizing cases, and identifying potentially relevant authorities. The Law School’s faculty-led generative AI task force, established by Dean Daniel Abebe in fall 2025 to advise the school on adapting to the technology, recommended the policy.

...To support the shift, the school will also implement AI-related introduction courses, courses and seminars specializing in AI, and AI training during new student orientation... Despite expanded usage, the policy still ultimately bars students from submitting AI-generated content as their own, noting that they must “bear full intellectual responsibility” for their arguments and academic submissions. Students must also disclose any AI usage in their work and may not use AI in exams.

...Whereas the Law School frames itself as having an “affirmative obligation” to teach students how to productively use AI tools, other law schools have stepped away from AI usage altogether. The University of California, Berkeley School of Law introduced a policy in May banning students from using AI for class assignments and exams, and the University of Chicago Law School took it a step further by announcing in July a total ban on laptops, tablets, and phones in the classroom for first-year law students...

Full story at https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/08/15/law-school-introduces-largely-permissive-ai-policy/.

Bond - Part 2 (deadline for '28)

We noted back on August 17th that a $5 billion research bond backed by UC was passed by a state senate committee. While it is too late for that bond to appear on the upcoming November 2026 ballot, if enacted by the full senate by August 31st and then signed by the governor, it could appear in 2028. If not passed by August 31, the complete legislative process would have to be repeated.

One Fourth+

From SFGATE: ...Geffen Academy at UCLA had the highest acceptance rate for UCLA with 26%, or 16 out of 61 applicants, gaining admission. Not far behind was the LA County High School for the Arts, with a 25% acceptance rate...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/acceptances-uc-high-schools-22187590.php.

Straws in the Wind - 446

From the Alabama Reflector: The Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees voted... to dissolve its faculty senate and staff council, the latest school to do so after passage of a state law this spring. In a statement Tuesday, Randall Jones, the chair of the board, said it had “a responsibility to ensure Jacksonville State University complies with Alabama law while providing sound governance, accountability, and responsible stewardship of the public resources entrusted to the university.”  

...HB 580, sponsored by Rep. Troy Stubbs, R-Wetumpka and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in April, limits faculty senate bodies to advisory roles; requires periodic reviews for tenured professors and give boards of trustees at colleges and universities the final say in developing curriculum. It was passed in April and is set to go into effect Oct. 1.

Auburn University’s Board of Trustees voted in June to abolish its faculty senate and take direct control of curricula, even though the law had provisions for Auburn and the University of Alabama, both established under the state Constitution, that the law would not be construed to impede the authority “to manage its respective campuses.” ...

Full story at https://alabamareflector.com/2026/08/17/jacksonville-state-university-board-of-trustees-dissolves-faculty-senate-staff-council/.

Fixing (Buying) Westwood

From LinkedIn: UCLA has become one of the largest commercial landlords in the Westwood area of Los Angeles after paying $49.8 million for a 16-property portfolio, Realty Today reports. The properties include 181,855 square feet of retail, office and open space just south of UCLA’s campus. The seller was Anderson Real Estate, the family company tied to the late John E. Anderson. UCLA’s business school is named after Anderson, whose family donated more than $140 million to the university. UC Investments, which manages the system’s roughly $190 billion portfolio, has not announced any redevelopment plans. The acquisition gives the university direct control over leasing and tenant mix in a district that has struggled with retail vacancy near 40% in recent years amid the closures of chains like Sur La Table and Victoria’s Secret. The purchase follows a broader pattern of UCLA real estate acquisitions, including the $700 million Westside Pavilion mall conversion into a research park and the $55 million South Bay property now being redeveloped into a sports medicine institute.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thomastitle_uclas-landlord-era-what-the-university-activity-7493068074108162048-G4lV.

Note that there is confusion in the item above between "UCLA" and UC (systemwide) Investments. It is the latter that apparently made the purchase. This transaction may be (yet) another attempt to fix Westwood's chronic vacancy problems which date back decades. The Daily Bruin reports that the Urban Outfitters store shown above - part of the purchase - is closing:

https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/21/westwoods-urban-outfitters-closes-after-22-years-following-uc-investments-acquisition.

It would seem logical, or at least in keeping with Economics 1, that if you want to fill vacancies, you need to cut the rents (maybe a lot) until commercial tenants are attracted.

Yale Deal - Part 11

From the Yale Daily News: ...Two digital billboards appeared alongside stretches of Interstate 91 and Interstate 95 in New Haven decrying Yale’s settlement talks with the Trump administration. The digital billboards, which are 14 feet tall and 48 feet wide and went live on Aug. 10, display the message “Yale is failing intro to ethics by cutting a deal with Trump” alongside a circled red “F.” They were purchased by Indivisible, a national advocacy group whose aims include defending against the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, according to its website.

The group is hoping to raise awareness about Yale’s negotiations with the Department of Justice as students return to campus this fall, according to Indivisible’s National Advocacy Director Andrew O’Neill. Yale College, Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School are under federal investigation for allegedly discriminating against white and Asian applicants. The University has proposed at least two offers to the Justice Department amid settlement negotiations...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/billboards-along-i-95-join-chorus-urging-yale-not-to-settle-with-trump.

Straws in the Wind - Part 445

From The Dartmouth: ...Coalition for Open Democracy — a nonpartisan activist group focused on political equality based in Concord, N.H. — filed a lawsuit challenging N.H. H.B. 323. The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on April 3 and went into effect on June 2, eliminated the option to use student ID cards as proof of identity when obtaining a ballot on election day. The lawsuit claims that H.B. 323 “unconstitutionally burden[s] the fundamental right to vote” and therefore violates the First, 14th and 26th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution... Before H.B. 323, school-issued student identification cards served as a valid form of ID to obtain a ballot at polling locations. Now, only government-issued ID — a driver’s license, nondriver identification card, military ID or passport — will be sufficient... 

The lawsuit cites Dartmouth’s vehicle policy, which restricts first- and second-year students from having a vehicle on campus. This, they wrote, leaves students with “no incentive to obtain costly driver’s licenses” and “limited ability to access DMV locations in order to obtain a state-issued identification card.” The nearest DMV to the College is in Newport, N.H., which is 37 miles away...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/08/flavin-activist-group-sues-new-hampshire-to-block-ban-on-use-of-student-ids-to-obtain-ballot.

Ad Hoc Plan or Master Plan?

Assemblymember Dorothy M. Donahoe
who pushed the 1960 Master Plan through the 
Legislature (Donahoe Act)
 but died before it was signed.

From time to time, yours truly notes the need for a new Master Plan for Higher Education defining the roles of the three segments, and the tendency of the legislature to make ad hoc policy. A true master plan would involve a process of review involving the three segments - UC, CSU, community colleges - and various interest groups. Instead, we have piecemeal legislative efforts and interventions. From the Sacramento Bee: 

From the Sacramento Bee: Over the last decade, community colleges in California have slowly entered into what has historically been the purview of the University of California and the California State University: providing bachelor’s degrees. With the goal of increasing access and affordability, this new baccalaureate program adds to the California Community College system’s main offerings of certificate programs and two-year associate degrees. At present, more than 30 of the state’s 116 community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in subjects including respiratory care, dental hygiene and mortuary science. But to be approved, these degrees must ensure not only that they meet regional workforce needs but also that they do not duplicate programs offered by the UC and CSU systems. This condition aimed to preserve the original mission of each higher education segment and ensure efficient use of state resources. 

Now, a pair of bills moving through the California Legislature may ease that restriction. Senate Bill 960 and Assembly Bill 2694, though somewhat different, would both allow community colleges to duplicate programs offered by traditional four-year public universities if they are not within the same geographic region. SB 960, in addition, would authorize duplication of bachelor’s degrees offered at CSUs in the same region if those programs have been oversubscribed for three consecutive years...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316937137.html.

Note: The original Master Plan is at:

https://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/MasterPlan1960.pdf.

What Me Worry? - Part 2

BruinADVISORY: UCLA Participating in Regional Active Assailant Training Exercise Aug. 26

Bruin Community,

UCLA will serve as one of several locations participating in a coordinated regional active assailant training exercise taking place across Southern California on Wednesday, August 26. As part of the regional exercise, the UCLA Police Department (UCPD) and partner public safety agencies will conduct training at Hedrick Court and Parking Lot 10 from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

This is a controlled training exercise only. There is no active threat to the UCLA campus or surrounding community, and no protective action is required.

During the exercise, community members may see a significant law enforcement presence, including personnel in uniform and tactical gear carrying firearms and training equipment, role players, emergency response vehicles and helicopter activity in and around the exercise area. Simulated gunfire and other loud sounds may also be heard.

UCLA’s participation is one component of a broader regional exercise designed to strengthen coordination, emergency preparedness and the ability of public safety agencies across Southern California to respond together during a critical incident.

UCPD will continue providing regular public safety services throughout the exercise. Community members should avoid the immediate training area and follow all posted signage and directions from public safety personnel.

We recognize that the sights and sounds associated with this type of training may be alarming. Signage and public safety personnel will be positioned around the exercise area to help identify the activity as training and answer questions.

We appreciate the patience and cooperation of the UCLA community and surrounding neighborhoods while UCLA and participating agencies take part in this important regional exercise.

Sincerely,

Office of Campus & Community Safety

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Note:

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

Online UC Retirement Program - Part 2

Your UC Retirement System

Description: The Your UC Retirement System class offers an overview of retirement benefits offered by UC.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN? This class covers UC’s primary retirement benefits that provide a foundation for retirement income, and voluntary retirement benefits that offer additional saving opportunities in UC’s 403(b), 457(b) and DC plans.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Employees who want to learn about the benefits offered through the primary and voluntary retirement programs and how they work together to help prepare for a financially secure retirement.

DATE AND TIME: August 27, Noon

Sign up for Online Program at:

https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ijclrx04Q7mPZlMcKN-2Yw#/registration.

Straws in the Wind - Part 444

From Reuters: The U.S. Department of Justice said... it was probing the College of William & Mary, ​alleging the Virginia-based public research institution favored ethnic minorities ‌in certain scholarships and student benefits, and marking the Trump administration's latest targeting of an educational institution... The university said it was reviewing the ​information it received from the DOJ and did not ​comment on pending litigation matters. It said it was committed ⁠to nondiscriminatory learning environments and complying with federal and ​state laws.

While William & Mary's scholarships are not limited to any race, ​the DOJ said in a letter that one scholarship gave "top consideration" to applicants with "interest in diverse people and perspectives." The DOJ said Hispanic women were given ​preference in a fellowship at W&M's School of Education and ​that certain scholarships at W&M Law School "appear exclusively earmarked" for graduates of ‌Historically ⁠Black Colleges and Universities.

Some programs were established to deal with the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination at William & Mary...

Full story at https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/doj-probes-college-william-mary-alleging-discrimination-favor-minorities-2026-08-17/.

They keep coming

EdSource notes that despite the recent federal restrictions on international student visas, enrollment of international students at UC has not fallen off:

...According to preliminary fall admission data, UC admitted its largest class of first-year students this year, including 23,569 international students. That figure reflects an 8% increase in admitted foreign students compared to last year, though fewer are expected to enroll at UC campuses. The system will release its Fall 2026 enrollment figures in December or January, a UC spokesperson said.

Other California universities have seen drops in enrollment. At the University of Southern California, enrollment of international students dropped by 3% last year. And at the California State University system, where international students make up a smaller portion of the student body compared to UC, foreign enrollment had been declining years before Trump took office. 

About 14% of UC’s enrollees are international students, according to PPIC. These students pay more in supplemental tuition than California residents, which helps subsidize the cost of college for in-state residents. For California residents, UC’s tuition for the 2027-28 school year costs $16,278 per year. For nonresident and international students, the annual cost of tuition is $57,300...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2026/trump-student-visa-policy-impact/764348.

It is possible, of course, that the impact of restrictions is delayed. We won't have data on UC enrollment for the current academic year for several months.

Remote

From the Daily Californian: SSAP-UAW, the union that represents undergraduate advisers, is bargaining to stop a return-to-office mandate that would require UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science undergraduate advisers to work on campus three days a week, up from once a week, arguing the change would cost workers thousands of dollars a year. Letters and Science announced that its undergraduate advisers must return to their on-campus offices three days a week, extending their one-day-a-week schedule which has been in place since 2021. A union survey found that the extra commuting expenses would cost advisers an average of $6,738 a year.

Ziva Armstrong, a senior college adviser in the college’s undergraduate adviser office and member of the union’s bargaining team, said the change will have a heavy impact on the unit’s long-haul commuters, who commute from as far as Stockton and Sacramento. Undergraduate advisers in Letters and Science earned an average gross pay of $6,637 per month in 2024, according to Armstrong.

...SSAP-UAW is bargaining with the university for a stipend to cover transportation costs and equitably exempt advisers who commute over 50 miles per day...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/administration/letters-and-science-advisers-bargain-over-return-to-office-requirement/article_755c0c27-e54f-4002-968e-6f62e0a328c1.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 443

From the Daily Princetonian: Two Princeton University professors and a former professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary were awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in July. The new $41.4 million wave of humanities funding follows a legal battle regarding the future of federal support for the humanities. In 2025, more than 1,400 NEH grants were terminated, including funding for Princeton researchers. In May 2026, a federal judge ruled that the NEH’s termination of these grants was unconstitutional, mandating that the agency rescind the terminations. It remains unclear when the grants will be distributed. 

The awards given out this July are among the first NEH grants issued since that ruling... The NEH did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the awarding of grants now and in the future.

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/08/princeton-news-adpol-professors-awarded-neh-grants-months-lawsuit.

Answering the Call

From Inside Higher Ed: Just over two weeks after Education Secretary Linda McMahon called on colleges to outline their plans for reform,* the University of North Carolina System responded on behalf of its 17 institutions. In an 11-page letter..., UNC System President Peter Hans and Board Chair Kellie Hunt Blue outlined the minimum admissions standards for the system’s universities and touted efforts to keep tuition affordable for in-state students, among other points.** McMahon had asked colleges to answer a series of questions about seven topics, including admissions, free speech, prioritizing American interests and academic rigor in the age of AI.

Florida public colleges and universities also responded... McMahon asked institutions to publicly post their answers by the end of the year. Like the Florida institutions, Hans and Blue noted that they’ve been working on the issues addressed in McMahon’s letter for many years. “Your seven questions are both timely and a reflection of longstanding challenges to the integrity of higher education,” they wrote. “Access, student success, affordability, and efficiency, economic impact, and institutional excellence have been our consistent goals through a turbulent chapter of American higher education.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/20/how-unc-system-responded-mcmahons-call-action.

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*https://ia600601.us.archive.org/32/items/blog-3rd-qtr-2026/McMahon%20Call%20to%20Action%20by%20Universities%208-3-2026.pdf.

**https://www.northcarolina.edu/wp-content/uploads/reports-and-documents/president-docs/8.18.26-doe-letter.pdf.