Transfers

Given restrictions on anything resembling affirmative action stemming from the state's Prop 209 and pressure from the feds, other admissions devices that provide diversity are being explored. One is through transfers from community colleges. The various community colleges have a diverse enrollment that can vary by location.

From the Bruin: A program that will give some transfer students priority consideration for admission to UCLA is set to be implemented this fall. UCLA created the Associate Degree for Transfer Pilot Program in compliance with Assembly Bill 1291, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October 2023. The pilot program will be available to students who achieve an associate degree in certain majors at one of 10 California Community Colleges, including Cypress College and Oxnard College.

...The pilot program could increase diversity and the population of first-generation students at UCLA... Students must receive an associate degree in one of eight selected majors – anthropology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, mathematics, history, political science and philosophy – to participate in the program... UCLA selected the 10 campuses to partner with – all located within Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties – based on location and student enrollment...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/06/07/ucla-pilot-program-to-expand-opportunities-for-community-college-transfers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 371

From Inside Higher Ed: Kentucky State University projects its enrollment will drop by about 20 percent by next spring, partly due to a new state law that forces the institution to disenroll students who owe the university money, a spokesperson says. “The projected enrollment drop includes a number of factors, of which the financial components of SB [Senate Bill] 185 are significant,” said Michael Strysick, the university’s chief strategic communications officer.

He said total in-person and online student enrollment in the spring, including dual enrollment high school students, was 2,873, but the university estimates that will decline to 2,300 by next spring... SB 185—which the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed and Democratic governor Andy Beshear signed into law in April—gives the state significant financial control of the historically Black university. Among many other things, it says students who owe the university $1,000 or more for over 60 days will be disenrolled...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/11/kentucky-state-projects-enrollment-plunge-after-new-law.

Still Ahead

The latest cash report from the state controller for May 2026 (11/12ths of the current fiscal year), shows receipts modestly ahead of projections made at the time the governor's May Revision was presented. They are way ahead of the projections made almost a year ago when the current state budget was adopted, well over $25 billion ahead. The income tax is mainly the source of the overage, presumably due to capital gains on AI-related stocks.

All of this news is background to the ongoing legislative efforts to pass a budget. Because of various rules regarding legislation enactment, the legislature needs to adopt something called a budget today to meet the constitutional requirement of enacting a budget by June 15.

You can find the last cash report at:

https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/May2026StatementofGeneralFundCashReceiptsandDisbursements.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 370

From Inside Higher Ed: Louisiana higher ed systems say their institutions are posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, following orders from Republican lawmakers. A Louisiana State University System spokesperson said in an email to Inside Higher Ed that all LSU campuses have either put up the displays or are in the process of doing so. A University of Louisiana System spokesperson said in an email that all of its campuses “are actively working through installation logistics” and “intend to have them displayed no later than the start of the fall semester.” Southern University System and Louisiana Community and Technical College System officials didn’t return requests for comment.

The Louisiana Family Forum, a conservative “family policy council,” donated the posters, The Louisiana Illuminator reported earlier. Republican state attorney general Liz Murrill released four posters that can be used—all with the Ten Commandments in the middle, flanked by other information. One, for instance, is titled “The House of Representatives & the Lawgivers,” in which the religious text has, on its left, an image of the “Moses the Lawgiver” marble relief from the walls of the U.S. House chamber and, on its right, a photo of current U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/09/following-law-la-colleges-post-ten-commandments-classes.

===

We don't know what happened to the other five:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ihcq4hzR4.

Assembly Meeting Today

There is a meeting of the Academic Senate's systemwide Assembly today via Zoom. Any Senate member can attend, although only Assembly members can vote. Information on how to attend is at:

https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/assembly/assembly-agenda-06-11-26.pdf.

The meeting does not seem to have especially controversial items on the agenda. There is, however, a report from BOARS. As blog readers will know, STEM faculty have signed a letter asking for a reinstitution of the SAT requirement for undergrad admissions of STEM majors. The last yours truly saw from news accounts, there were over 1,400 signatures. We have noted in past posts that instituting a requirement by major field when incoming freshmen either don't know what major they will follow or may change their minds, raises issues. Nonetheless, we urged some kind of response by the Senate; perhaps a special committee that would look at the matter of the summer and report to the Senate and the Regents in September, could be a response.

The BOARS report on the Agenda was developed before the SAT matter developed. However, nothing would prevent some ad hoc discussion of the new item, either in the BOARS segment or as New Business. There is an opportunity to discuss New Business at the end of the agenda. Just saying...

Revived

From the LA Times: ...There is still hope for the Village Theatre, which recently received a breath of new life thanks to some of Hollywood’s biggest names. For the first time since 2024, the theater opened its doors early last month for the Los Angeles debut of Billie Eilish and James Cameron’s co-directed concert film, “Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour. ” Hundreds of fans filled the college town’s sidewalks, and streets were closed for the black SUVs that dropped off A-listers and executives on the bright blue carpet.

The event was the first of a limited number of premieres and screenings planned for this summer to support a 12-month renovation set to begin this fall. In July, the theater will host a special three-week run of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in 70 mm format. The revival is being led by Village Directors Circle, a group of 35 filmmakers who purchased the theater in 2024. They include prominent directors Jason Reitman, who is leading the effort, and Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, Judd Apatow, Steven Spielberg and Chloé Zhao...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-06-03/westwood-village-theater-plans-its-2027-reopening.

Straws in the Wind - Part 369

From Forbes: ...Dartmouth College [has] announced a landmark $25 million gift from Karen and Jim Frank and their son Daniel Frank to support Dartmouth Dialogues, the college’s initiative focused on civil discourse, bridge-building, and the free exchange of ideas. The gift, one of the largest ever made at an American university specifically dedicated to civil discourse programming, will help endow the initiative and expand its reach across campus.

...The announcement reinforces a trend emerging across highly selective universities. While students often assume colleges are looking for entrepreneurs, researchers, or changemakers, they are also increasingly drawn to applicants who demonstrate something rarer: a genuine love of learning paired with the humility to question assumptions, revise beliefs, and continue growing. Increasingly, supplemental essays reward students who can wrestle with this complexity.

Last year, Harvard University asked applicants to describe a time they strongly disagreed with someone and explain what they learned from the interaction. Amherst College similarly invited students to reflect on engaging with viewpoints different from their own. George Washington University went even further, explicitly framing civil discourse as a defining characteristic of its community and asking students to reflect on meaningful dialogue that created new perspectives or deeper relationships.

...Admissions officers are often less interested in whether a student changed someone's mind than in whether the student demonstrated the maturity to engage a challenging idea without dismissing it. Can they seek understanding before judgment? ...

Full story at https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizdoestone/2026/06/02/what-dartmouths-25-million-gift-signals-to-applicants/.

Delays

Some blog readers may have noticed that the blog has been delayed in posting some news and has been delayed in being sent to a related Facebook account. It's all due to medical issues in the yours truly household. 
We may be delayed in picking up items or may miss usual timelines for several more days or more.

Let's not forget about Canvas

Remember when the various Canvas plans were hacked and many higher ed institutions, including UCLA, came to a halt?

EdSource has information on what it costs. A bigger issue is that the hacking of Canvas creates questions about dependence on that company, data security, etc.

...Last month, a data breach by hacker group ShinyHunters upended access to Canvas and led to service disruptions around the world at thousands of schools. California’s public colleges and universities were preparing for exams at the moment when Instructure was held ransom: pay up, or terabytes of private data, including student and staff records, would be leaked, the group threatened...

[State] Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Bakersfield Democrat, has called for a legislative audit into Canvas. “The Canvas breach exposes the growing risks of concentrating massive amounts of student records, academic systems and institutional operations into a single platform,” she said.

Full story at https://edsource.org/2026/how-much-do-california-colleges-and-universities-spend-on-canvas/759415.

Straws in the Wind - Part 368

From Inside Higher Ed: A federal judge ruled Wednesday that undocumented students in Nebraska can no longer pay in-state tuition rates, a win for the U.S. Department of Justice, which sued the state over the issue in April, The Nebraska Examiner reported. At the time, state leaders sided with the DOJ in a joint consent decree.  The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Buescher quashes a two-decade-old state law that allowed noncitizens to pay in-state tuition if they lived in the state for at least three years and graduated from a Nebraska high school, among other criteria.

Buescher wrote in his 54-page opinion that permitting undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates while out-of-state citizens pay more “blatantly” violated federal law... Nebraska is the latest state to topple in a series of lawsuits filed by the DOJ targeting in-state tuition benefits for undocumented students...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/05/federal-judge-ends-state-tuition-nebraska-noncitizens.

Interview

UC President Milliken interviewed UCLA Chancellor Frenk on May 22nd. The interview did not get a lot of publicity. You can see it at the link below. Frenk discusses antisemitism, the wildfires, the Olympics, the conflict with the feds, and other topics.

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq-PYYp1WUc or https://ia601802.us.archive.org/14/items/newsom-may-june-2026/UC%20President%20Milliken%20in%20conversation%20with%20UCLA%20Chancellor%20Frenk%205-22-2026.mp4.

Straws in the Wind - Part 367

From Inside Higher Ed: When Hampshire College announced its closure in April, officials said that it would shut down at the end of the fall 2026 semester. But financial challenges could accelerate that plan. Hampshire president Jennifer Chrisler wrote to the campus community over the weekend to warn them that the college might not have the funds to make it through the fall semester... Chrisler stated that Hampshire is trying to determine what assets it may have to fund operations in its last few months, pay necessary vendors for their services and cover teach-out expenses.

While Chrisler indicated that senior officials and the board “remain focused on moving forward planning for the teach-out,” Hampshire’s “financial modeling shows that presently the college does not have enough available funds to cover the expected expenses for the teach-out.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/02/hampshire-college-might-close-early.

Yet Another Scam

Delete it. Don't respond.  

Definitely legit

As blog readers will know, some UC employees and retirees received information about a settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield that might entitle them to some money.

We posted that it might be legit, based on information at the time.*

Now we can report that at least one UC person received $60+ dollars.

---

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/might-be-legit.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 366

From the NY Times: The Education Department is finalizing guidelines for an earnings test that would punish nearly half of all graduate programs in visual arts, music and performance based on the low income of recent alumni, according to the government’s calculations. The proposed guidelines apply to all university programs, and institutions whose alumni fail to meet them twice in three years could lose their ability to enroll students using federal loans. Those students would most likely need to transfer to other programs or quit their education. According to experts, that would lead to a sharp decrease in enrollment and the likelihood of school closures.

For master’s degree programs, the agency would calculate the earnings of alumni four years after graduation to see whether they earn more than the median salary for working adults aged 25 to 34 who have a bachelor’s degree. Previous tests measured all programs against the salary of working adults with high school diplomas — a lower threshold for universities to pass...

Most students pursuing an arts degree know that becoming the next Picasso or Lady Gaga is a long shot, and that an arts degree is unlikely to have an immediate payoff. A preliminary analysis of the economic data released by the Education Department shows that many of the country’s top arts programs would not pass the revised earnings test.

Yale University’s master’s programs in visual arts and music would fail.

Harvard University’s master’s degree in museum studies would fail.

The Juilliard School’s undergraduate and graduate programs in music would fail...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/arts/design/education-department-earnings-salary.html.

Another closed-door meeting coming up

TO THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA:

Because the membership of the Advisory Group on Research and Programs Funding Legal Issues (“Advisory Group”) includes five members of the Regents’ Governance Committee, there exists the potential for having present a quorum of a Regents’ Committee when the advisory committee meets.

This notice of meeting is served in order to comply fully with pertinent open meeting laws.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, there will be a Closed Session, Special Meeting of the Regents’ Governance Committee concurrent with the Advisory Group to discuss Research and Programs Funding Legal Issues (Closed Session Statute Citation: Litigation [Education Code section 92032(b)(5)].)

The meeting will convene at 4:00 p.m. at 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland and adjourn at approximately 4:30 p.m.

(Advisory Group members: Regents Anguiano, Cohen, Hernandez, Matosantos, Milliken, Reilly, Robinson, Sarris, and Sures)

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/june26/meeting-notice_federal-june-9-2026.pdf.

 

State Senate/Assembly Resolution on AI

The resolution below has been sent by the State Senate to the State Assembly for consideration on June 9:

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 82

Introduced by Senator Niello

May 15, 2025

Relative to artificial intelligence in public higher education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 82, as introduced, Niello. Public higher education: artificial intelligence usage.

This measure would encourage the President of the University of California, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to create a workgroup of faculty, staff, and administrators to review the use of artificial intelligence in higher education, and create a report and make public the strategies and best practices for artificial intelligence usage agreed upon by the workgroup.

WHEREAS, The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges for both students and faculty in higher education; and

WHEREAS, The University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges are leading higher education institutions in California, the nation, and the world that play a pivotal role in shaping the academic landscape and must play an active role in fostering responsible artificial intelligence integration; and

WHEREAS, These three institutions work closely together to ensure academic success for students; and

WHEREAS, The collaboration between these segments is vital to the coordination of student education, services, and outcomes; and

WHEREAS, Understanding how to use artificial intelligence in academic assignments is crucial to creating an environment that values innovation and knowledge while upholding academic honesty and integrity; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature encourages the President of the University of California, theChancellor of the California State University, and the Chancellor for the California Community Colleges to create a workgroup of faculty, staff, and administrators to review the use of artificial intelligence in higher education; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss strategies and best practices that lead to the acceptable use of artificial intelligence in higher education while emphasizing academic honesty and ethical academic standards; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss strategies and best practices for acceptable use of artificial intelligence across the three segments of California public higher education; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss strategies and best practices for the use of artificial intelligence in academic studies, including, but not limited to, mitigating plagiarism and ethically using artificial intelligence in academic assignments; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss strategies and best practices for using artificial intelligence as it relates to providing student academic support; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss and strategize on ways to provide professional support to professors on using artificial intelligence in student and faculty work; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss and strategize on ways to provide professional support to professors on recognizing the use of artificial intelligence in student work, including reliable technologies for checking student work, and how to work with students to appropriately inform students when professors believe artificial intelligence was improperly used; and be it further

Resolved, That the workgroup should discuss best practices for responding to violations of artificial intelligence usage standards, with student participation in these discussions for relevant feedback; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature encourages the workgroup to collaborate with faculty, administrators, and students at the higher education segments, as well as individuals who work in higher education outside of California and experts in artificial intelligence; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature encourages the workgroup to collaborate with liaisons from the statewide associated student bodies of the three segments of California public higher education; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature encourages the workgroup to create a report and make public the strategies and best practices for artificial intelligence usage agreed upon by the workgroup; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to chairs of the academic senates at the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, and to the author for appropriate distribution.

---

Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SCR82.

Straws in the Wind - Part 365

From Inside Higher Ed: Virginia Tech Board of Visitors rector John Rocovich is pushing back on Governor Abigail Spanberger’s efforts to remove him from the board for alleged violations of its code of ethics. Spanberger fired Rocovich from the board... But... Rocovich dug in, responding to the governor with a letter in which he denied violating the Board of Visitors’ code of ethics. He also called the effort to remove him “deeply offensive” and “legally unsupported,” essentially rejecting the premise that university boards serve at the pleasure of the governor.

He wrote that the board—which is appointed by the governor—is “an independent governing authority, insulated from the day-to-day political pressures of any particular administration.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/01/virginia-tech-rector-defies-governors-removal-effort.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 169

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard asked a federal judge... to dismiss the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking applicant-level admissions records, arguing that both the Department of Education and Department of Justice rushed to court without following Title VI enforcement procedures. In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston, Harvard’s lawyers claimed that the records demand is procedurally defective and politically motivated, casting the lawsuit as the latest front in its monthslong legal fight with the White House.

The filing marks Harvard’s latest attempt to beat back a federal lawsuit that seeks years of granular admissions data to determine whether Harvard is complying with the 2023 Supreme Court decision that banned race-conscious admissions. The Justice Department probe has been ongoing since April 2025 and seeks five years of individual-level admissions data, including applicants’ race, grades, standardized test scores, admissions outcomes, and internal evaluations...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/6/4/harvard-admissions-records-dismiss-motion/.

Coming soon to a campus near you?

San Jose State University has rolled out an AI initiative as part of a larger CSU experiment. Pay attention! If you think it can't happen at UC, think again. (Yours truly, who on recall taught his last class in 2022, is amazed at how prescient his timing was!)

It can.

From the NY Times: Last spring, newly admitted students to San Jose State University received an unusual video message from the institution’s president, Cynthia Teniente-Matson. Her caramel curls were tucked behind her shoulders, her hands clasped neatly at her torso. Dressed down in a royal blue hoodie, she appeared composed and approachable. “Congratulations on your admission,” she said. “At S.J.S.U., you’ll have opportunities to dive into the technologies shaping the world today, and redefine what’s possible for tomorrow.” This was not, in fact, Teniente-Matson addressing the new class, but her brand-new custom A.I. avatar. “I’m thrilled to share this special moment with you,” the avatar said. “It’s only fitting, isn’t it? After all, technology is a cornerstone of what makes San Jose State University such an incredible place to learn, innovate and grow.”

...Because the world’s largest tech firms are headquartered in California, the state has generally become a petri dish for A.I. experiments in education. In early August, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed education agreements with Nvidia, Adobe, Google, IBM and Microsoft; each company agreed to provide free A.I. resources to California schools. The goal is to create the “A.I. work force of the future” by training high school, community college and C.S.U. students to use the technology. In this spirit, C.S.U.’s A.I. Initiative has been marketed as simple progress — a way to ensure that the state’s working-class students are buoyed by the A.I. economy rather than left behind. After all, many students in the C.S.U. system are first-generation immigrants or the first in their families to go to college; roughly half identify as Hispanic, and many commute to campus and work alongside their studies. With A.I.’s looming reorganization of the job market, many of these students might graduate into jobs that will no longer exist in five years. Already, recent reports estimate that roughly 40 percent of recent college graduates nationwide are underemployed.

C.S.U. is promising that the A.I. Initiative will prepare its students to be workers of the future. The only issue is that, at this moment of technological acceleration and flux, we don’t yet know what the workplace of the future will look like. A year into this experiment, no one can tell how it will end. Will these graduates be ahead of the curve in the new A.I. economy, or robbed of a chance to hone their critical thinking skills? If adopting A.I. eases their entry into the work force, might it also hinder their intellectual development in unforeseen ways?

...Students...  are caught in the middle as everyone around them struggles to figure out what becoming “the first A.I.-powered university” actually means. “Faculty are feeling anxious,” Nik Janos, a sociology professor at Chico State, told me. “Students don’t know how to behave. What are we doing here?”

...Today, economic pressures have prompted C.S.U. to redefine what it means to train useful workers. In December 2024, [Governor] Newsom’s office encouraged the C.S.U. system to create the A.I. Workforce Acceleration Board, which would “guide the equitable development of a highly skilled, diverse work force that can drive California’s A.I.-powered economy.” In January, C.S.U. signed the contract with OpenAI, and C.S.U.’s chancellor, Mildred García, announced both developments as flagship elements of the A.I. Initiative at a news conference shortly afterward. In April, Newsom released a new Master Plan for Career Education, a revision of [former UC President Clark] Kerr’s [Master Plan] model that responds to “rapidly changing work force needs, particularly with the advent of artificial intelligence.” The statewide push to incorporate A.I. into every level of education is an integral part of this plan...

...Faculty members I spoke with opted for different metaphors to describe the effect of A.I. on higher education, and their varied analogies captured the range of sentiments on campus. John Sullins, a computer ethics professor, likened it to handing every student a machine gun, while Niel Shahrasbi, an information systems professor, compared it to giving them a magic wand. Robert Ovetz, a lecturer in political science at S.J.S.U., told me he views A.I. as “an ‘intelligent’ steam shovel” that students are being trained to use. Jeremy Murray, a historian at Cal State San Bernardino, described the integration of A.I. as a “smash and grab situation” akin to a bank robbery.

...The A.I. Initiative is a potentially lucrative ticket to a job in the tech industry and the class mobility it brings. But many of their peers instead perceived it as a threat not only to their education, but also to the kinds of jobs they had arrived at S.F.S.U. hoping to pursue. Vi Lee, a political science and Asian American studies double major, helped organize a student union protest demanding that the contract with OpenAI not be renewed “until students and faculty have control over A.I. policies and funding on campus.” 

...CSU’s A.I. Initiative has set off an institutional identity crisis: The debate about A.I. on campus is also a debate about exactly what public education in California is for. What does it mean to train the next generation of Californian workers and citizens when neither students nor faculty nor administrators have a solid grasp on what that requires, or what the “A.I. economy” will be in even four years...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/ai-university-college-california.html.

And then again, there is this:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaN0iAuan8.

Straws in the Wind - Part 364

From Inside Higher Ed: The National Science Foundation has reversed its recent freeze on new grant funding for Duke, Harvard and Yale Universities, Nature reported. Limitations on new grants for Princeton University, however, remain in effect. The reversal took place on May 28, one day after Nature published a story detailing a funding pause for all four institutions. 

An NSF database showed that on April 9 the accounts of the four universities had been marked with a note that said, “Future Awards to Organization on Hold,” Nature reported. As of Thursday, the note had been removed from every account except Princeton’s. So far this year, the number of new grants received by each institution is down significantly from previous years, but that seems poised to change; “a few grants” have already been released to researchers at both Harvard and Duke since the freeze was lifted, an NSF staff member told Nature...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/01/nsf-reverses-funding-freeze-duke-harvard-and-yale.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 168

From Inside Higher Ed: The Harvard Graduate Students Union announced Monday that its 40-day strike has ended “with the close of the academic year,” though the union has still not reached a bargaining agreement with the university. The strike—the longest in the union’s history—spanned the end-of-semester grading period and university commencement, which wrapped on Friday. Over the last several weeks, the university offered to expand benefits to all graduate student workers, provide dental coverage for Ph.D. students and increase its four-year raise proposal by 1 percent, the union said in a news release. These moves were the “first indication of engagement” from the university on the union’s priorities, the release said...

In an email to faculty obtained by Inside Higher Ed, deputy provost Jessica Soban and managing director of labor of employee relations Paul Curran said that student workers with ongoing appointments returned to work [this past] Monday...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/labor-unionization/2026/06/02/labor-watch-harvard-grad-students-end-40-day-strike.

UCPD Policy Review - Public Comment

Currently reported as under review by the systemwide Academic Senate (and others) is policy related to the UCPD. Comments are due in mid-July.*

The proposed policy comes in two segments in Box: a clean copy of the proposal** and a tracked change version.*** Although there are cover letters regarding the review, there really is no overall summary of highlights as to what was changed, what is new, etc. And there is a lot of material.

I am guessing that those concerned will be mainly interested in the following items:

• Arrests
• Use of Force
• Personnel, Duties and Responsibilities
• Crowd and Demonstration Management
• Military Equipment
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• Mutual Aid
• Systemwide Response Teams

Note: In some cases, you may get a message that the item is not available and can't be downloaded. But in fact it can be downloaded and then read. Not all items appear in both Box collections. Be persistent.

Additional note: Given the complexity and length of the documentation, it would have been nice if the systemwide Senate had distributed a guide to the significant changes, rather than just make the entire set of files available.

====

*https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/systemwide-senate-review-ucpd-policies-gold-book.pdf.

**https://ucop.app.box.com/s/qldatg08j5ifk9zar6yvq0vfbymxmakn.

***https://ucop.app.box.com/s/ouweu9b5xn9ciepangdeunk2ljvgxrxq.

Straws in the Wind - Part 363

From Centre Daily Times: As Penn State prepares for seven of its commonwealth campuses to close, the university’s technical service union is demanding protections for employees. After the university announced it would close seven campuses by the end of the spring 2027 semester, the Teamsters Local 8 union that represents more than 2,000 technical workers across the commonwealth began negotiating with the university in July 2025 over job placement protections. A proposal was presented to the union in November, according to local union President Jon Light, but the 59 members at the affected campuses overwhelmingly voted to reject it. The proposal, Light said, would allow the university to lay off union members at any time, replace them with part-time or contract labor and keep the affected campuses open without union workers.

After months of negotiations, Light said the university is backtracking on promises they made at the beginning of their discussions with the union. “I sat in on one of the meetings and heard executives say they wanted to find placements for workers — whether they wanted to continue working or retire,” he said. “They said they planned to keep these campuses open through May 2027, and even longer if they couldn’t sell them. Now, they essentially want the ability to lay workers off at any time, remove job placement protections and offer severance packages that require employees to immediately separate from Penn State with little to no opportunity for rehiring.” ...

Full story at https://amp.centredaily.com/news/local/education/penn-state/article315845132.html.

Shifting Gears

As blog readers will know, the higher ed model that developed after World War II is breaking down as the federal government pulls away from supporting research. There are two primary sources of funding for basic and applied research: the feds and the private sector. The likely scenario for research universities is to shift from the former to the latter with maybe some public funding from the state.

From the Daily Bruin: The Henry Samueli School of Engineering’s new $125 million Semiconductor Hub will push technological boundaries, faculty and administrators said at a conference May 21. The hub will accelerate research on semiconductors, which are materials used in computer chips to regulate electrical current, faculty speakers said. The project will advance autonomous vehicles, robotics, environmental engineering and space systems, the School of Engineering said in a statement.

Alissa Park, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of the School of Engineering, announced the hub and its corporate partners – Applied Materials, GlobalFoundries, Meta, Synopsys and Broadcom – at the Mong Auditorium. Engineering faculty, students and more than 250 industry executives attended the half-day event...

The Trump administration withheld $584 million in scientific research funding from UCLA in late July, alleging that the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.” While a series of court orders restored the vast majority of the frozen grants, the UC has pushed for alternative funding, including state funding and a bill that would allow California voters to decide on a $12 billion bond for scientific research...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/06/02/ucla-announces-125-million-semiconductor-hub-with-industry-partners.

The Forecast

The UCLA Anderson Forecast met yesterday and, not expectedly, took note of an uncertain environment. From the news release:

The June 2026 UCLA Anderson Forecast for the U.S. and California finds the economy confronting another inflationary shock, this time driven by the war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. After tariff-driven inflation appeared to peak and the labor market began to stabilize, rising energy prices have created a new source of pressure on households, businesses and the Federal Reserve.

The national economy remains relatively resilient, but the Iran-related oil shock has replaced tariffs as the major inflation threat. GDP growth is now expected to hold at roughly 2.1% in 2026 rather than accelerate; inflation is forecast to peak at 4.5%; and unemployment is expected to rise only modestly to 4.5%. The key forces offsetting the oil shock and tariffs are investment in artificial intelligence, tax cuts and earlier fiscal support.

In California, the same energy shock creates additional pressures because of the state’s specific low-emissions gasoline requirements and the importance of ports and logistics to the state economy. California continues to outpace the U.S. in output and income growth, but its labor market remains weak, and the employment recession described in prior Forecast reports is expected to continue through the third quarter of 2026...

California Forecast Numbers

Unemployment Rates (Annual Averages)

2026: 5.5%

2027: 5.1%

2028: 4.2%

Total Employment Growth

2026: 0.2%

2027: 0.7%

2028: 2.5% ...

Full release at https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/news-and-events/ucla-anderson-forecast-says-oil-shock-has-replaced-tariffs-leading-risk-us-economy.

The forecasters looked at alternative scenarios concerning when the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened and the impact on oil prices and general inflation. At present, the world is drawing down reserves of oil, i.e., more oil is being consumed than is being newly supplied. If the war situation is not settled in a couple of months, prices will rise from current levels since pricing expectations are based on a relatively quick settlement.

Although no one said so, it struck yours truly that paradoxically we may end up with an inadvertent Trump Green New Deal, even though the idea would be anathema to the current administration. The economists' solution has always been to raise the price of oil substantially through taxes, cap-and-trade programs, and the like. Even if some kind of settlement allows oil to flow again through the Strait and prices come down, the world has learned that reliance on oil from that part of the world is unwise. We live in interesting times.

Apart from the general forecast, the remainder of the Forecast dealt with real estate: residential, commercial, and industrial. A video will eventually be available.

Union News

From the Daily Bruin: About 12,000 employees joined a union representing UC academic student employees, postdoctoral students and academic researchers May 19, making it the largest union in the UC. The expansion brings United Auto Workers Local 4811 to 60,000 workers across the UC. UAW Local 4811’s new union members include Student Services and Advising Professionals and Research and Public Service Professionals. SSAPs provide a variety of services to students and faculty, including curriculum planning, financial aid assistance and career service specialization. RPSPs engage in data collection, research and grant management...

Heather Hansen, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the President, said in an emailed statement that the Public Employment Relations Board is still reviewing the expansion. The board is addressing questions concerning which bargaining unit these workers will be placed in and potential overlap between multiple unions, Hansen added in the statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/28/12000-employees-to-bring-ucs-largest-union-to-60000-workers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 362

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: In his first interview since being named the sole finalist for the University of Florida’s presidency, Stuart Bell on Friday defended his past diversity initiatives at the University of Alabama as an effort to boost in-state enrollment and described colleges’ explicit goals of recruiting more minority students as a form of “segregation.”

“When we talk about DEI and the criticisms we all hear and agree with, we think of segregation, in terms of keeping students away from certain areas,” Bell said in an interview with Salem News Channel, a conservative news network. “Those are certainly what DEI became at some places in the country. That certainly was not our focus at the University of Alabama.” Conservative activists, prominent Republican lawmakers, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have called for Bell’s candidacy to be rejected because of his diversity efforts as president of the University of Alabama, which they say led to pervasive discrimination against white students and faculty...

Bell plans to visit the University of Florida’s campus next week to speak with students, faculty, and administrators ahead of his interview with the Board of Trustees on June 10. If Bell is confirmed by the trustees, he will go before the Florida Board of Governors for final confirmation later this summer.

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/vying-for-the-u-of-florida-presidency-stuart-bell-compares-colleges-diversity-efforts-to-segregation.

Sliding into a problem

From the Daily Cal: The percentage of failing grades in multiple UC Berkeley computer science classes in spring 2026 is significantly higher than past semesters and marks a departure from the department’s grading guidelines. Instructors point to students’ increased reliance on AI, lack of mathematical preparedness and understaffing as potential contributing factors.

According to Berkeleytime, 35.3% of CS 10 students and 10.6% of CS 61A students received F’s in spring 2026. In spring 2025 and spring 2024, the percentage of F’s did not exceed 10% for either class. The electrical engineering and computer sciences department’s grading guidelines state that 7% of students in lower division courses, including CS 10 and CS 61A, should receive D’s and F’s...

UC Berkeley teaching professor Dan Garcia taught both CS 10, “The Beauty and Joy of Computing,” and CS 61A, “The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,” in spring 2026. Garcia believes the “primary driver” of these abnormally high failing rates is due to a “vast increase in academic dishonesty” due to students’ usage of large language models, such as Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

“Some of the numbers that you saw from the number of students who receive failing grades were because we caught them (cheating) and prosecuted them and are sending their cases to the center for student conduct,” Garcia said. “But in other cases, it’s students who are leaning a little too hard on LLMs to do their work for them, and then at exam time just really aren’t ready.” ...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/academics/failing-grades-soar-as-professors-see-greater-ai-usage-dwindling-math-skills-in-uc-berkeley/article_16fad0bf-02cb-4b8c-8d88-888ffd9f8608.html.

AI Ban at Berkeley Law

From Law.com: University of California Berkeley School of Law has implemented a strict new AI policy, joining a growing number of law schools that have adopted similar policies to ban the use of AI on assignments, as universities work to balance teaching the use of AI tools while also mitigating AI-assisted cheating. The policy, which goes into effect this summer, is sweeping and bans the use of AI for anything from brainstorming, organizing and grammar checking, to translating a paper written in a different language. Further, the policy states that AI can be used for research on papers “for the limited purpose of identifying sources, such as cases, statutes or secondary sources,” which is the only allowable use...

“We want to prevent its use in writing exams and papers ... (because) we want to be grading the students’ work,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law, told Law.com. “The policy adopted by the faculty seeks to make clear to students what is not allowed.” ...

Full story at https://www.law.com/therecorder/2026/05/26/berkeley-law-implements-ai-ban-/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 361

From Inside Higher Ed: Faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin say new systemwide personnel policy changes could pave the way for politically motivated program closures and further disenfranchise faculty from decision-making related to their own departments. And, according to the Board of Regents’ recent meeting agenda, more policy changes are on the way. The revised rule 31003, approved unanimously last week by voice vote, establishes new grounds to close academic departments. In addition to academic reasons—such as low enrollment or poor program quality—and financial exigency, presidents can now shutter programs due to “extraordinary circumstances” that necessitate “accelerated program closure due to regulatory requirements” and bypass typical review procedures.

The revisions are an effort by the board to “improve efficiency and usability” of the rules, which the board revisits periodically. They were developed “in collaboration with stakeholders throughout the U.T. System,” the agenda states. But faculty members were not made aware of the changes, said Brian Evans, an engineering professor at UT Austin and president of the Texas American Association of University Professors–American Federation of Teachers. Most faculty learned about the proposed revisions when the board posted the agenda 72 hours before the board meeting, which is the minimum notice period required by Texas law, Evans explained...

The revision to rule 31003 also allows the president to eliminate individual faculty positions for “bona fide academic reasons,” which include, but are not limited to, “poor program quality or effectiveness, misalignment with the institution’s mission, failure to meet student or societal needs, low enrollment and demand, and redundancy with other existing more effective programs,” according to the rule. Previously, faculty eliminated for academic reasons had 30 days to appeal the decision. Now, they have 15 days...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/shared-governance/2026/05/27/u-texas-makes-it-easier-fire-faculty-close-programs.

You didn't miss it because you weren't invited

 

Yesterday, the Regents had yet another closed-door meeting on the conflict with the feds.* Was there some new development to be discussed? We won't ever know.

--

*https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jun26/meeting-notice_federal-june-2-2026.pdf.

What needs to happen on the SAT: Pay attention Academic Council chair!

As blog readers will know, a large group of STEM faculty released a statement in effect saying that undergraduate admissions to UC should reinstate the SAT as one of the criteria.* When we initially reported, the number of signatories to that statement was 600. That's a lot. But now, the number is 1100. That's more than a lot. From the Daily Cal:

More than 1,100 STEM faculty across the UC system have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of standardized testing scores by 2027 in the admission process for STEM majors, citing student underpreparedness and a lack of faculty oversight. UC Berkeley faculty were among the first to sign the petition.

The petition includes signatures from Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and Fields medalist Richard Borcherds, both UC Berkeley faculty, and is accompanied by an open letter that describes “severe” gaps in preparation, more time spent on prerequisite material, needing to reteach middle school mathematics concepts and risk of degree incompletion...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/uc/uc-berkeley-faculty-first-to-sign-1-000-strong-systemwide-petition-for-reinstatement-of-standardized/article_d8fd756e-b14d-4cdd-8280-3ff0e530af6e.html.

In response, as blog readers will know, the chair of the Academic Council - the systemwide Academic Senate - issued a non-statement saying that BOARS considers admissions. Duh! The chair needs to get off his tuchus (Google it!), set up some kind of working group to consider the issue over the summer, with at least a preliminary discussion to be held at the UC Regents meeting in September.

Note that there are complicated issues raised. The signatories seem to want the SAT just for STEM majors. But how a two-tier admissions system would work or even could work is unclear. Many students change their minds about their majors, or don't know what they want to major in, when they start college. Most likely, a two-tier system would not be workable. All the more reason for a study and discussion to occur.

===

*Our past posts on this issue:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/surprise-you-have-to-know-math-to-do_01518665009.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/surprise-you-have-to-know-math-to-do.html.

Squeeze 'em harder, says LAO

Summary section from a recent LAO report:

[This] Brief Analyzes Nonresident Supplemental Tuition Rates at the University of California (UC). 

In addition to the tuition charges other undergraduates pay at UC, nonresident students pay nonresident supplemental tuition (NRST). UC charges the same NRST rate across all nine of its general campuses. In response to legislative interest, we analyzed whether opportunities exist to raise additional NRST revenue. In particular, we focused on opportunities for raising NRST revenue at UC’s three highest‑demand campuses—UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles (UCLA), and UC San Diego (UCSD).

Several Findings Indicate Higher NRST Rates Could Be Warranted. 

As a university system, UC is unusual in charging the same NRST rate across all its campuses. Other major public university systems charge more at their flagship campus. For example, in 2025‑26, nonresident rates at the flagship University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus are more than 4.5 times higher than at the Flint campus. Demand from nonresident students also is notably stronger at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD than at the other UC campuses. These three campuses receive more nonresident applications than the remaining six UC campuses combined, have the lowest admission rates, and enroll the highest shares of nonresident undergraduates. In addition, our UC‑specific research, together with national research on selective universities, indicates that aggregate nonresident enrollment does not decline as NRST rates increase. One reason this might be the case is that families could view a higher sticker price as an indicator of higher quality. Another reason could be that demand for selective universities is so strong and admission rates so low that many families are willing to pay higher NRST rates to secure a coveted enrollment spot.

Recommend Piloting Higher NRST Rates at Highest‑Demand Campuses.

If the Legislature wanted to pursue higher NRST rates, we recommend a four‑year pilot involving UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. We recommend beginning the pilot in 2027‑28, as UC already has published its NRST rates for 2026‑27. If UC were to raise the NRST rate for 2027‑28 by $6,000 at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD, compared to an increase of $2,000 at the other UC campuses, we estimate an additional $20 million in NRST revenue would be generated (ramping up to $80 million in year four). This additional revenue could be used to supplement core funds at UC or offset state General Fund in response to a state budget deficit or competing state budget priorities. While the pilot is in place, we recommend UC collect and report data on the impacts of the higher NRST rates at the three selected campuses, including impacts on the composition of the undergraduate nonresident student body.

Full brief at https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2026/5183/2026-27_Budget_Nonresident_Tuition_Rates_at_UC_051226.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 360

From Yale Daily News: First-year and transfer applicants to Yale College will be required to submit either their SAT or ACT scores beginning this fall. The change, which Yale announced in a Wednesday evening press release after updating its webpage on standardized testing, reinstates a pre-pandemic mandate after six admissions cycles in which SAT and ACT score submissions were not required. Yale axed the requirement for undergraduate applicants to submit standardized test scores in 2020, then required the submission of either SAT, ACT, International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement scores under a test-flexible policy beginning in 2024.

“Academic excellence is the foundation of the Yale College experience, and, likewise, is the core component of our admissions process,” Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in the press release. “SAT and ACT scores are strong predictors of a student’s future Yale academic performance, and, when considered thoughtfully as part of a whole person review, they can help identify well-prepared candidates, especially those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”

The return to a test-mandatory policy follows a recommendation from the Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions, a nine-member group formed by University President Maurie McInnis in fall 2025 whose membership includes Lewis, other Yale administrators and former New York governor George Pataki ’67. The council’s work follows previous efforts by Yale College to review its admissions processes, including after the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that affirmative action is unlawful. The group also “considered recent executive orders and guidelines from federal agencies” in its work, according to a Yale webpage...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-reinstates-sat-act-requirement-after-six-years-of-flexible-policy.

New Dean Today

From the Daily Bruin: A distinguished professor in urban planning will become the permanent dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs on June 1. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, who has worked at UCLA for 35 years and served as the interim dean since January 2023, said her appointment represents a continuation of initiatives she began as interim dean – including new academic programs and expanded student support... 

During her time as interim dean, the school launched a Master of Real Estate Development program and approved a Master of Global Public Affairs degree, which Loukaitou-Sideris said is expected to begin in two years. The school also introduced a certificate program in artificial intelligence for public affairs with UCLA Extension, which is the university’s continuing education institution...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/24/interim-dean-of-luskin-school-of-public-affairs-soon-to-be-permanently-instated.

Straws in the Wind - Part 359

From the Yale Daily News: Conversations around grade inflation in the Ivy League turned into action... when Harvard announced that 70 percent of its faculty voted in favor of a policy to cap A grades at 20 percent for each course, allowing for up to four additional A’s per class, beginning in fall 2027. [The] vote marked a major shift by Harvard to confront grade inflation that coincides with similar efforts at Yale, which are in earlier stages. Yale professors, while decrying that grade inflation contributes to student stress, perfectionism and difficulty distinguishing academic performance, have described the issue as a collective action problem, in which stricter grading by individual faculty  — and universities — comparatively disadvantages their own students.

...In interviews with the News, Yale professors expressed support for Harvard’s new grade cap as a meaningful step by a leading university to combat grade inflation. Many still pointed out what they described as imperfections in the system, including a lack of nuance between seminars and lectures, the possibility of a proliferation of A-minuses and a focus away from intellectual growth. 

...According to a 2023 report..., 79 percent of grades in Yale College in the 2022–23 school year were A’s or A-minuses.

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/after-harvard-passes-grade-cap-yale-faculty-say-bravo-for-first-step.

The Budget Process

After having received the governor's May Revise budget proposal for 2026-27, the two houses of the legislature have been formulating their own versions. Under the state constitution, the legislature must pass a budget by June 15 or be penalized. But it is left to the legislature to define what a "budget" is, thanks to court decisions. So it is possible for discussions with the governor to continue after that date, if the legislature passes something labeled a budget. 

Because Democrats dominate the legislature, it is essentially Democrats that matter in the process. Senate Democrats have produced a budget document that is mainly a shopping list of proposals without a complete tabular presentation. It appears from the document that reserves will be falling under their plan (i.e., the budget is in deficit). 

The higher ed portion doesn't mention UC and mainly concerns adjustments for community colleges. It does contain an increase in the Middle Class Scholarship program which has some benefit for UC indirectly. You can find the Senate Democrats' document at:

https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2026-05/may-28-2026-foundation-for-the-future-senate-version-of-the-budget_0.pdf.

In theory, the legislature could pass a budget and the governor could veto it. That is not going to happen. The governor could use his line-item veto to trim some elements. However, what is more likely to occur is that the two houses and the governor will get together, reconcile differences, and then enact a budget, even if the actual process extends beyond June 15.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 167

From the Harvard Crimson: The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers plans to picket through Commencement after its 27th bargaining session with Harvard ended Thursday without a contract, pushing the walkout into its 31st day — the longest strike in the union’s history. In an email sent two days before Thursday’s session, HGSU-UAW told the University it would consider a membership vote to end the strike if Harvard moved on five core issues: paid immigration leave, an agency shop, a grievance process for harassment and discrimination, paid medical leave, and pay parity between teaching fellows and research assistants.

University representatives held firm on two of those demands Thursday, declining to advance proposals on an agency shop or a union-supervised grievance process for Title IX cases, according to HGSU-UAW president Denish K. Jaswal. Harvard’s lawyers told the union the prior week that they were “considering” the grievance proposal but were not prepared to make a counteroffer...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/26/hgsu-strike-longest-history/.

Speaks for Itself

The chart above from the Daily Cal doesn't need an explanation. It speaks for itself. But if you need more explanation:

https://www.dailycal.org/news/uc/uc-legal-budget-increases-by-30m-after-tumultuous-year-in-courtroom/article_057aa51b-d1f7-467e-b0be-e09c001efda3.html.