Just the (Corrected) Facts

As blog readers will know, the campus Academic Senate has been pushing for budget information from Murphy Hall, and recently passed a resolution to that effect. There seems to be a factual dispute between the Senate and the powers-that-be what providing budgetary information actually means. See the letter below:

January 20, 2026

Julio Frenk

Chancellor, UCLA

Darnell Hunt

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP), UCLA

Re: Corrections of Fact on Your 12/18/2025 Letter on the Legislative Assembly Budget Planning Resolution

Dear Chancellor Frenk and EVCP Hunt,

On behalf of the Legislative Assembly, thank you for your timely response to its Resolution on Financial Transparency and the Restoration of Shared Governance in Budget Planning. To both keep Senate Faculty informed about this important issue that is of major concern to them given the potential impacts of the current campus budget deficit on the academic mission, and in the interest of transparency and “no surprises” that are essential principles for shared governance, we are providing these corrections of fact to your letter. Below we provide screenshots in boxes of sections of your letter followed by corrections of fact.

It is our intention that these corrections of fact will provide a common and shared understanding of the budget consultation process to date. It is our goal that a shared base of facts will foster a more transparent and substantive budget planning process that instills trust and protects the academic mission of our campus.

Item 1. Corrections of Fact:

The Council on Planning and Budget (CPB) has received mainly verbal presentations of limited data that have been insufficient for meaningful consultation on the campus budget:

2024-25

Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Agostini did not provide any written materials to CPB for review during AY 2024-25. Instead, he provided 20-35 minutes of verbal updates at the following meetings: October 7, 2024, October 21, 2024, December 2, 2024, February 10, 2025, February 24, 2025, March 10, 2025, and May 5, 2025. CFO Agostini attended CPB meetings, but did not provide information on November 18, 2024, and May 19, 2025. He presented one slide on May 5, 2025, titled: "Chancellor's central resources to reach ending balance deficit of -$650 by FY26 if deficit resolution plan is not enacted.”

2025-26

October 13, 2025: CFO Agostini presented three slides at the CPB meeting, which were neither shared in advance nor after the meeting: i) UCLA’s Budget Sources for 2023-24, ii) Chancellorial Revenue for FY24, iii) “Constrained ability to rely on future revenue increases to balance the budget.” [30 minutes]

October 27, 2025: CFO Agostini presented five slides at the CPB meeting, which were neither shared in advance nor after the meeting: i) 2023-24 Budget sources, ii) Chancellor Commitment Allocations FY21-27, iii) “Limited ability to rely on future revenue increases to balance budget” (with graph showing decline in per-student general fund support), iv) “Chancellor’s resources to reach ending balance deficit in FY 2026,” v) “FY25 action that closed central Chancellorial deficit.” [30 minutes]

November 10, 2025: EVCP Hunt visited the CPB meeting where CFO Agostini provided a verbal update. [40 minutes]

December 1, 2025: CFO Agostini joined the meeting after declining the invitation to attend; he did not provide data or updates, only verbal comments on a proposed consultation timeline developed by CPB and shared with CFO Agostini in October 2025. [30 minutes]

December 5, 2025: Academic Planning and Budget office (APB) provided i) a list of budget conference meetings for FY 2026-27 scheduled for February-March 2026, ii) 42 proposed unit budgets for FY 2025-26 in PowerPoint format, and iii) 39 updated unit budget slides for FY 2025-26 in PowerPoint format.

January 12, 2026: CFO Agostini presented one slide at the CPB meeting, which was neither shared in advance nor after the meeting: Chancellor’s resources to reach ending balance deficit in FY 2026 with sources, uses, and 2024-25 actual, 2025-26 forecast, and 2026-27 estimate.

Item 2. Corrections of Fact:

Academic Planning and Budget office (APB) provided i) a list of budget conference meetings for FY 2026-27 scheduled for February-March 2026, ii) 42 proposed unit budgets for FY 2025-26 in PowerPoint format and iii) 39 updated unit budget slides for FY 2025-26 in PowerPoint format. 

Item 3. Corrections of Fact:

CPB and Senate leadership have not received budget documents beyond those described in the previous sections, so nothing has been provided that can be distributed. On multiple occasions Senate leadership has been told that Executive Budget Action Group (EBAG) budget discussions and materials are confidential and could not be shared broadly. 

Item 4. Corrections of Fact:

Although CFO Agostini attends the majority of the two-hour CPB meetings for approximately 30 minutes, the time spent has not been productive because CPB does not receive documents for consideration. CFO Agostini has attended 15 of 19 CPB meetings between October 2024 through January 2026.

Item 5. Corrections of Fact:

The Academic Senate has not received any information (analysis, projections, data, etc.) for the FY 2026-27 budget cycle on December 5, 2025, or any point to date. The only information received was the PowerPoint slides provided by 42 units for FY 2025-26 as explained above. Again, the intention of this corrections of fact letter is to promote meaningful shared governance and transparent communication because there is significant evidence over 100 years that when Senate faculty provide substantive advice the campus makes better decisions that promote the excellence of research and teaching central to our academic mission. At a critical time in the university’s history, leaning into our collective strengths will protect what we most value.

Sincerely,

Megan McEvoy, Chair, UCLA Academic Senate

Cc: Kathy Bawn, Immediate Past Chair, UCLA Academic Senate

Richard Desjardins, CPB Chair, UCLA Academic Senate

April de Stefano, Executive Director, UCLA Academic Senate

Elizabeth Feller, Associate Director, UCLA Academic Senate

Tim Groeling, Vice Chair/Chair Elect, UCLA Academic Senate

Emily Rose, Assistant Provost and Chief of Staff to the EVCP, UCLA

Julie Sina, Chief of Staff to the Chancellor, UCLA

Source: https://dms.senate.ucla.edu/issues/issue/?10449.Resolution.on.Financial.Transparency.and.the.Restoration.of.Shared.Governance.in.Budget.Planning.

Terminated

GoFundMe.com picture
Johnathan Perkins

From the Bruin: An official in UCLA’s office of equity, diversity and inclusion said UCLA fired him Monday over social media posts in which he expressed satisfaction about the murder of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. UCLA put Johnathan Perkins, the EDI office’s former director of race and equity, on investigatory leave in September after he posted comments in which he appeared to celebrate Kirk’s death on the social media platform Bluesky. Kirk was shot dead Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University on the first stop of his The American Comeback Tour, in which he debated college students across the country...

“It is OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people’s death dies—even if they are murdered,” Perkins appeared to say in a social media post...

Ralina Joseph, the vice provost of inclusive excellence, appeared to say in a Monday notice of intent to terminate employment sent to Perkins that he engaged in “serious misconduct” and violated several University policies related to workplace violence and ethical standards...

Perkins also appeared to wish death on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – a member of the court’s conservative wing – in a March 2022 tweet, according to ABC News 4. Perkins appeared to refer to Thomas as “Uncle Thomas” in another tweet, which is meant to describe a Black person who is accepting of white supremacy...

Perkins created a GoFundMe to support himself amid a loss of income and to cover the costs of the lawsuit, according to the fundraiser website. He added that his termination of employment has forced him to relocate to Philadelphia, where his family lives. “UCLA terminating my employment is upending my entire life – personal and professional,” he said. “Without this role, I am being forced to upend my living situation, and of course, search for new employment.”

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/01/13/former-ucla-edi-official-says-he-was-terminated-over-charlie-kirk-posts.

We noted back in 2022 at the time of the Clarence Thomas incident that it isn't necessary - or even advisable - to tweet or otherwise post every thought that pops into one's head:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/03/ucla-saved-by-slap.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 229

From the Yale Daily News: In recent years, Yale admitted two graduate students to its medieval studies program, but this admission cycle, the program will only be allowed to accept only one, according to Director of Graduate Studies Emily Thornbury. The reduction is a part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ three-year plan to decrease enrollment, which includes reducing the total students in humanities and social sciences programs by around 13 percent and those in STEM programs by 5 percent, University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote to the News.  

The cuts come as a part of recent budget tightening as the University anticipates a hike in the tax to its endowment investment income set to begin in July. While three directors of graduate student programs told the News that this reduction did not come as a surprise to them in consideration of the University’s financial constraints, they said it could have several negative effects it could have on graduate and undergraduate student experiences...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2026/01/14/yale-to-admit-fewer-graduate-students-amid-budget-tightening/.

Wikipedia Scams

Source and additional information at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Scam_warning.

Why Folks Are Nervous - Part 3

As blog readers will know, the campus Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution of concern about the plan to consolidate the various local IT system into one unified system: One IT.

Yours truly suspects that the concern is based on the proposition that there could be screw ups and that things could be worse rather than a love for what they have now. The thing about now, is that it works. The thing about the future is that it might not.

As we have pointed out in past postings, UC has not had a great track record in replacing computer systems with large new ones.

Tucked away in the chancellor's letter of response to the resolution is the statement that "the decision about if we will proceed with One IT has already been made" and that now we are in the implementation phase. So there you are.

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Maybe we were better off with UCLA's mechanical brain, back in the day:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIinz4fKGpo.

Just a thought...

Straws in the Wind - Part 228 (if you can't lick 'em, join 'em)

From The Dartmouth: Last December, the College announced a partnership with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services, making Dartmouth the first Ivy League university to launch artificial intelligence at an institutional scale. The Dec. 3 announcement has drawn criticism from some faculty members, including claimants in a class action lawsuit against Anthropic for allegedly infringing their copyrights and unethically downloading their publications to train its large-language model Claude. More than 130 College of Arts and Sciences faculty members have publications named in the lawsuit, including College President Sian Leah Beilock. On Sep. 5, Anthropic agreed to a settlement of $3,000 per work per author, for a landmark total of $1.5 billion, the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history. The final approval hearing is scheduled for April. The College declined to comment on Beilock’s eligibility for the settlement class.

Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies professor Matthew Garcia, a claimant in the suit, said administrators “have not been forthright” about the terms of the new AI partnership with affected faculty members...  History professor Bethany Moreton, a claimant in the class action suit, said she thought the College’s decision to partner with Anthropic, a company that “ripped off the published scholarly work of [the College’s] own faculty,” was “ironic.”

“We are faced with an agreement that has been struck beyond our ability to even know about it, let alone have any impact on it, and we’re scrambling to deal with the fallout at the level of classrooms,” Moreton said. AI “interrupts the slow, effortful and inefficient process of learning how to think,” Moreton added...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/01/college-announces-ai-partnership-with-anthropic-company-accused-of-plagiarizing-dartmouth-professors-publications.

No Way Out (1950) - Updated Link

We repeat this item from last year around this time because the YouTube link has changed.

If you're looking for a movie related to Martin Luther King Day, here's one you probably never heard of. "No Way Out" was released in 1950 and is the first film starring Sidney Poitier. He plays a new doctor at a hospital assigned to the emergency room. Two White criminal brothers are brought into the ER after a shootout. One dies and the surviving brother blames the Poitier character, although he had correctly diagnosed that the dead brother was dying from a brain tumor. It's rather amazing that the film was released by a major studio in 1950 when the film could not be played in the Jim Crow south of that era and probably would have been rejected by theater owners in many areas outside the south. You can see the film - free on YouTube - at the link below. (Caution: Racist language) 

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlpK2tOHLGA.

TMT?

Every once in awhile, we go looking for news about the Thirty-Meter Telescope project on Hawaii in which UC is involved. The last yours truly could find out about it indicated that the governor of Hawaii, hoping to overcome opposition that stalled the project, indicated last November that he would support building it on the sites where past telescopes which have been decommissioned and removed once were. But that approach, too, provoked opposition.

There is an alternative plan to move the project from Hawaii, where nothing happens, to the Canary Islands (Spain). Spain has offered to put some funding into it. Local environment groups there, however, have complained.

Given federal government cuts for such research, it isn't clear that even if an unopposed location were found, there would be sufficient money to build the TMT. The UC Regents have not paid much attention to TMT for a long time, although it sometimes comes up in public comments. It is not on their agenda for their meetings this week.

See: https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/11/thirty-meter-telescope-planners-consider-other-sites-on-mauna-kea/; https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/bobs-blog-thirty-meter-telescope-9.6996441; https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/12/16/spotlight-now-gov-green-hawaiis-economy-immigration-enforcement/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 227

From Inside Higher Ed: Clemson University has agreed to rescind the termination of Joshua Bregy, an assistant professor in the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences, nearly four months after dismissing him for resharing a post on his personal Facebook page that criticized the late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Bregy sued after he was terminated on Sept. 26, claiming that his firing violated his First Amendment rights. 

As part of the settlement, Bregy will receive pay and benefits “throughout the original term of his employment,” the ACLU of South Carolina, which represented Bregy, said in a news release. In addition, Clemson provost Robert Jones agreed to “provide positive letters of recommendation to potential employers based on Dr. Bregy’s classroom teaching.” For Bregy’s part, he agreed to drop his lawsuit and resign from his position at Clemson effective May 15, 2026. He will not have any teaching, research or other faculty obligations through the spring semester, according to the release...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/13/clemson-settles-professor-fired-kirk-comments.

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From the Brown Daily Herald: All [Brown] University owned and occupied buildings equipped with card readers will require Brown ID swipe access as the spring semester begins, Interim Vice President of Public Safety Hugh Clements and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Sarah Latham announced in a Friday email to the Brown community. Beginning Jan. 20, buildings with classrooms will require card swipe access between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., but “building-specific accessibility will vary beyond these hours to accommodate student organization activities, events, meetings and other programming,” the email reads. Buildings offering “shared campus services” will remain accessible to all community members with a Brown ID during standard business hours.

The University has already implemented security enhancements in Barus and Holley, the Engineering Research Center and the Lassonde Innovation and Design Hub, such as placing cameras at all entrances and exits and installing door alarms to signal propped doors. Brown public safety officers will continue to provide security in these spaces as classes begin, according to the email...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2026/01/brown-enforces-id-swipe-access-for-equipped-buildings-enhances-security-as-spring-semester-begins.

And things roll along without a Master Plan

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

As blog readers will know, yours truly periodically points to the need for a new Master Plan for Higher Education to allocate scarce resources and responsibilities among the three segments: UC, CSU, and the community colleges. Absent a Master Plan, however, things roll along on an ad hoc basis. Blog readers will also know that last week, proposals for various community colleges to offer (yet more) 4-year degrees were discussed. From EdSource:

California community college officials [last] Tuesday urged approval of proposed bachelor’s degree programs that have been blocked, in some cases for years, by California State University. The degrees were discussed at length during a meeting of the California Community Colleges system’s 17-member Board of Governors in Sacramento. State law allows community colleges to create bachelor’s degrees as long as the programs don’t duplicate what’s offered by the state’s four-year universities.

Fifty-four bachelor’s degrees are currently offered or will be soon at community colleges across the state. Most were approved in 2022 or later. Sixteen other proposed degrees that have been approved locally are still awaiting final sign-off from the state because of objections from CSU campuses. Many local community college leaders and students have grown frustrated by the delays. Seven of those degrees were initially proposed in 2023. No action was taken on Tuesday, but several board members said they support approving the degrees. That sentiment was echoed by many students, faculty and local college officials during a long public comment period...

Final decisions on the degrees are up to the president of the board of governors, who can approve them at the recommendation of the chancellor... Some campuses expect approvals as soon as this month... 

The blocked degrees include cybersecurity technology at Cerro Coso Community College, field ironworker supervision at Cerritos College, cybersecurity and network operations at Moorpark College, cloud computing at Santa Monica College, and building trades management at Foothill College, among others...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2026/community-college-officials-urge-approval-of-blocked-bachelors-degrees/748883.

UC Should Cash the Check Quickly

The Legislative Analyst's Office - LAO - has provided a (critical) review of the governor's recent budget proposal for 2026-27 [excerpt]:

...In the budget summary and presentation, the Governor and administration officials have acknowledged the downside risk to the state’s revenue picture. For example, in the budget summary, the administration points out that:

(1) much of the revenue surge is attributable to investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence,

(2) history suggests these gains are not sustainable, and 

(3) the dominant risk to the budget is the stock market and asset price declines. 

…But Governor Proposes No Material Actions to Address Downside Risk... 

Full review at https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2026/5101/2026-27_Budget_Overview_011226.pdf.

As we noted in our posting on the budget proposal, it is basically focused on avoiding problems for now and getting the governor to the end of his term without having to take drastic measures. His successor, whoever that turns out to be, will have to clean up, if that proves to be necessary, and the governor will be able to pursue his presidential ambitions and say it didn't happen on his watch.

Note that the governor deviated from his past practice and left it to his finance director to handle the news conference at which the budget proposal was unveiled. He thus avoided the kind of nasty questions that the LAO has asked. Reporters did ask the finance director questions about budget sustainability, but the answer was we plan to look at such unpleasant matters in the May Revise.

Yours truly would advise UC to cash the check as quickly as possible.

Straws in the Wind - Part 226

From Inside Higher Ed: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board officially launched its Office of the Ombudsman website... providing a portal where students and members of the public can file complaints against the state’s public colleges and universities. The new office was mandated by Senate Bill 37, legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, which increases state control over public higher education by giving governing boards authority over curriculum, faculty governance and hiring and requiring academic program reviews. It also established the ombudsman’s office to manage complaints and investigations into alleged violations of the state’s DEI ban or of the other provisions of SB 37.

In October, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Brandon Simmons as ombudsman. Simmons is a former tech company executive, corporate attorney and venture capitalist who previously served on the Texas Southern Board of Regents and as an entrepreneurial resident and distinguished professor of business at Wiley University in Marshall.

“Through a user-friendly website and engagement on campuses across Texas, I look forward to a collaborative, productive partnership with our institutional leaders and students,” Simmons said in a statement. “Texas leads the nation with top-ranked, rapidly ascending universities, and our office is here to support these great institutions in serving the next generation of Texas students.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/12/texas-launches-portal-public-complaints-against-colleges.

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From the NY Times: The head of the board overseeing the University of Virginia and two other top board members, including a major donor to the school, resigned on Friday under pressure from the state’s incoming Democratic governor, according to two people briefed on the matter and letters obtained by The New York Times. The resignations came after the new governor, Abigail Spanberger, asked at least five members of the board to step aside as she takes office on Saturday.

...There are 17 seats on the Board of Visitors, which oversees the school, but before the resignations on Friday, there were only 12 members, all appointed by the outgoing governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. At least two other members of the board were asked to resign but so far have resisted. It is unclear if Ms. Spanberger has asked the rest of the board members to resign.

The turmoil at the university over its board is the latest fallout to rock the school since the Trump administration began a pressure campaign against it earlier this year. Last summer, the school’s president, Jim Ryan, resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration, which was threatening to cut the school’s funding and investigate it if Mr. Ryan remained in office.

Conservative alumni and members of the Justice Department under President Trump had wanted Mr. Ryan out because they believed he was too liberal. It’s unclear what impact the resignations will have on the recently appointed president of the school, Scott C. Beardsley. Some Virginia Democrats and school faculty members have been calling on Ms. Spanberger to have Mr. Beardsley removed, saying that he was too hastily appointed by a board that refused to stand up to Mr. Trump...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/us/uva-resignations-abigail-spanberger.html.

Union Negotiation News

From the LA Times: Graduate student workers are making an unusual request in their contract negotiations with the University of California: a legal fund to help them navigate visa issues. The ask from United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 teaching assistants, postdocs and researchers at UC, comes amid increased scrutiny of international students by the Trump administration, which has ramped up restrictions on immigrants and foreign visitors... They’ve been negotiating with the university for months over a new contract; the current one expires Jan. 31.*

...In addition to [a] $750,000 legal fund, they’re asking the university to continue paying researchers who are temporarily stranded outside the U.S. due to visa issues, and reimburse them for visa-related fees. The University of California also spends about $3 million per year on legal services for immigrant students through its Immigrant Legal Services Center...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-13/union-asks-uc-for-legal-aid-fund-for-international-graduate-students.

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*Note that if the expiration date passes before a new contract is reached, there won't necessarily be a strike. A strike decision would be the union's call at that point or later. According to the Daily Bruin, a strike vote will be taken Feb. 5-13 - which means no strike until at least the vote is tabulated. (Such votes typically result in strike authorization.) Even if a strike is authorized, however, one may or may not occur. See https://dailybruin.com/2026/01/12/unions-representing-40k-academic-research-uc-employees-announce-strike-vote.

I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 8

From Pasadena Now: The Rose Bowl Operating Co. and the city of Pasadena state in new court papers that the UC Regents have no basis for seeking to compel arbitration of their lawsuit alleging that UCLA is wrongfully exploring options for a new home football venue, specifically SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. In court papers filed... with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner, the RBOC and the city contend that the regents are focusing on an alternative dispute resolution provision of the agreement that is “deliberately and particularly narrow” and does not take into consideration the contract as a whole.

Taken together, these provisions reflect an ADR [alternative dispute resolution] mechanism that clearly and expressly is not applicable to an attempted termination that threatens hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment and long-term municipal revenue,” the RBOC/city attorneys state in their court papers. The provision instead is limited to expeditiously resolving routine, curable performance disputes, according to the RBOC/city lawyers’ court papers...

Full story at https://pasadenanow.com/main/rose-bowl-operating-committee-pasadena-respond-to-uc-arbitration-bid.

Note that even if this matter does wind up in arbitration, it is likely that an arbitrator would still award big bucks in damages to get out of a contract that lasts until 2044.

Straws in the Wind - Part 225

From Inside Higher Ed: Faculty in South Dakota could lose their tenure status if they don’t meet expectations, per a new policy the South Dakota Board of Regents approved in December. It requires tenured faculty at the state’s six public higher learning institutions to undergo a performance review every five years, beginning during the 2026–27 academic year. While all faculty members already receive an annual performance evaluation by their immediate supervisor, the new policy adds another layer of review and considers five years’ worth of those evaluations to rank a professor’s performance.

Approval of the policy makes South Dakota the latest state to enact a post-tenure review policy. Since 2020, numerous other states—including Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio—have done the same, whereas many others have weakened tenure through various other means. Indiana, for example, passed a law in 2024 that requires colleges to conduct post-tenure reviews every five years and deny tenure to faculty unlikely to foster “intellectual diversity.”

...Under the policy, if a faculty member received an annual performance rating of “does not meet expectations” or was placed on a faculty improvement plan in the previous five years, “tenure will be non-renewed, and the faculty member will be issued a one-year term contract for the following academic year.” The policy notes that the employee would still be eligible to apply for nontenurable positions within the system...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2026/01/09/south-dakota-adopts-post-tenure-review.

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From Inside Higher Ed: An assistant U.S. attorney apologized Tuesday on behalf of the Trump administration for wrongfully deporting a Babson College freshman... But it still remains unclear if or when the student will be brought back to the U.S. The student, Lopez Belloza, was first detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Thanksgiving as she attempted to fly home to Texas and surprise her family. 

A lawyer filed for her release in Massachusetts the next day, and a judge promptly ordered the administration not to transfer or deport her. But by that point, Belloza had already been moved between several facilities in Massachusetts and transferred to Texas. The day after that, she was deported to Honduras...

[The judge in this case] has yet to rule on whether the government had to bring Belloza back to the U.S. This is a “tragic case of bureaucracy going wrong,” he said. “It might not be anybody’s fault, but she was the victim of it.”

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/15/ausa-apologizes-deporting-babson-college-student.

Data Breach at Credit Union

Apparently, there was a data breach at the University Credit Union (that has a branch at UCLA) which exposed sensitive information.* Affected members of the credit union have been notified and offered free credit monitoring. Note that UC employees affected by the Accellion breach several years ago (2021) already have free credit monitoring.

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*The credit union services many universities and other organizations. See https://www.ucu.org/memberships/eligibility.

Subway Issues Today

Wilshire Bl/San Vicente Bl: Westbound Wilshire Directional Closure Summary  On Saturday, January 17, from 5 am to 5 pm, westbound Wilshire Bl will be closed for street restoration. When  Saturday,  January 17 5 am to 5 pm Where    Wilshire Bl and San Vicente Bl  Eastbound Wilshire Bl will be reduced to two lanes from Le Doux Rd to San Vicente Bl  Detour route: Westbound Wilshire Bl > Northbound San Vicente Bl > Westbound Burton Way > Southbound Robertson Bl Traffic Control  Westbound Wilshire Bl will be closed between San Vicente Bl and La Cienega Bl  Access  Access for Emergency Vehicles & First Responders will be maintained.  Metro Access  Metro bus stops may be relocated or lines could be impacted. For information changes to Metro service, please call 323.GoMetro.  Noteworthy   All work has received necessary permits and approvals.  Local access maintained for westbound Wilshire Bl between San Vicente Bl and La Cienega Bl.  Access for pedestrians will be maintained outside of the construction zone.  Access for emergency responders will be maintained.  Construction is a dynamic process and information is subject to change without notice.   24/7 Hotline: 213-922-6934  Source: https://cloud.sfmc.metro.net/WilshireSanVicente_WestboundDirectionalClosure. Basically, avoiding Wilshire - whether you are coming to UCLA from the east or the west - remains a good bet until the subway is completed.

 

Extra Cash Continues

The state controller's cash report for the first half of fiscal year 2025-26 continues to show revenues running ahead of estimates made when the budget was enacted to the tune of over $10 billion. As we noted when we examined the governor's January budget proposal, this extra revenue is essentially what permitted him to submitted a no-hassles proposal for FY 2026-27.

The state's unused borrowable cash reserves have fallen since last year at this time, but are still at a hefty $86 billion. So, the governor will not exit his office when his second term ends with the kind of crisis that Arnold Schwarzenegger had when he left and the state was having trouble just paying its bills.

The latest controller's report is at:

https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/December2025StatementofGeneralFundCashReceiptsandDisbursements.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 224

From the Washington Post: As Republican leaders moved to root out what they have criticized as liberal ideology at the University of Virginia, some conservative appointees to its board texted privately about ending “chemical and surgical mutilation” for transgender youth at its hospitals and undoing “regimes of racial classification” in its classrooms, according to nearly 1,000 pages of text messages reviewed by The Washington Post. The board members coordinated frequently with Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) or his top aides in nearly every major debate at the flagship university in Charlottesville in the past year — which some observers have described as an unusual level of involvement by the state leader. The conservative appointees also spoke in candid, sometimes inflammatory terms about the university’s then-president, James E. Ryan, his supporters and diversity policies.

“This is war!” Stephen Long wrote on April 17 to a fellow board member about a professor who sought to preserve diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Board members have often been reluctant to speak publicly on university matters outside of meetings. But the texts, exchanged between June 2023 and mid-December by board members and top university officials, offer an unfiltered account of the body’s inner workings as it rolled back some gender affirming care, dissolved the university’s DEI office and responded to several investigations by the Trump administration, among other changes at U-Va. Ryan resigned in June amid the intensifying scrutiny. At times, the texts show tension between conservative, moderate and more liberal board members, including one who referred to his fellow board members as “crazies.”

Youngkin spokesperson Rob Damschen said the involvement of the governor and his aides were “essential to responsible oversight.” ...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/01/09/university-virginia-board-texts-messages-youngkin-dei/.

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From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Michigan’s incoming president, Kent Syverud, could make up to $3 million a year, per his contract. At $2 million, his base pay would have set a new record last year, according to Chronicle data... In addition to the $2 million, Syverud, who has been president of Syracuse University since 2014, can earn an annual performance award that is worth up to 30 percent of his base pay, or $600,000. The university will also contribute up to $360,000 a year to his retirement plan after one year of service. At the end of his time as Michigan’s president, unless he is fired for cause or leaves for another institution, Syverud will be able to take a one-year leave while earning his base pay. He can then join the faculty as a tenured professor and continue to earn his base pay for three years...

Colleges’ presidential contracts are starting to feel more like those afforded to their football coaches, who get enormous pay packages but can be fired at a moment’s notice. The people filling both positions are under pressure from board members, donors, alumni, and sometimes state lawmakers to meet certain metrics or step aside... But $3 million a year is still a lot for the leader of a public institution...

Other college presidents’ compensation will likely match or exceed Syverud’s in the near future, if they haven’t already. Their contracts are a bit of an arms race, James H. Finkelstein, an emeritus professor of public policy at George Mason University, told The Chronicle in November. Presidents, he said, tend to want what they see their peers getting.

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-u-of-michigan-presidents-pay-may-set-a-record.

New Bus Lane to UCLA

Big Blue Bus Route 1

From Santa Monica Next: Streetsblog [has] spotted work underway on Santa Monica Boulevard in the Sawtelle neighborhood in West L.A...

The scope includes plenty of sidewalk work (repairs and upgrades) and street resurfacing, plus some bus stop improvements, bike racks, and new bus lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard from Centinela Avenue to the 405 Freeway.
 
Source: https://santamonicanext.org/2026/01/eyes-on-the-street-caltrans-santa-monica-blvd-construction-in-west-l-a/.

Note that this work, particularly the bus lanes, will likely affect the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Route 1 buses to UCLA from Santa Monica and Venice. It may also affect driving to UCLA along Santa Monica Boulevard from the Westside. The work is part of a larger project. See the map below:

Pension Payments at Risk

CUCEA, the systemwide group of campus emeriti associations, became aware of a particular theft of a pension payment earlier this month. It appears that the theft may have been accomplished by someone indicating that he/she had forgotten the password and being given authority to change the password, bank to which the pension was deposited, etc. That is, the theft seems to have occurred without any high-tech breach. (Exactly what occurred is not clear at this time, however.) 

What appeared to be a single case of theft now seems to have occurred more widely. Excerpt from a message by the chair of CUCEA:

...There have been further reports of pension checks not arriving because of a security failure at UCRAYS. As a precaution, we strongly encourage retirees who receive pension checks to verify that their monthly payments have been distributed as expected. If your pension check does not arrive as anticipated, please contact UCRAYS and your campus retirement center as soon as possible and let CUCEA Chair Joel Dimsdale know as well (jdimsdale@ucsd.edu).

This situation is also a timely reminder to review and update your passwords. That updating process may be slower for UCRAYS in the near future as it tightens security.

The CUCEA board wrote UCOP January 13, 2026 advising them to:

1. Institute corrective training for RASC (retirement administration service center) personnel.

2. Disable telephone-based requests for password resets. We do understand that this will adversely affect RASC response times until security is enhanced, but it is necessary.

3. Perform a “lookback” on all password change requests since December 1 and communicate with those individuals.

4. Notify all retirees about the possible threats and advise them to take necessary actions.

We will be meeting with UCOP to review progress next week...

Exactly what is being done to reimburse the victims of these thefts is also unclear at this time.

Why folks are nervous - Part 2

As blog readers will know, there is nervousness on campus about a move by Murphy Hall to consolidate the various computer systems at UCLA into a single "One IT" system. The Senate has passed a resolution about this matter.

Apart from concerns about individual privacy, etc., there is the record of failures to seamlessly install new computer systems. Blog readers will know about the Regents ongoing lawsuit against contractors involved in a system that was supposed to handle pension payments.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently had a piece about why universities push for centralized, unified computer systems:

Colleges now exist in a world where one human slip-up or system vulnerability can lead to a disastrous data breach that impacts thousands of people’s personal data. In the past two months, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Princeton University have fallen victim to hacks. Earlier in 2025, so did Columbia University, Dartmouth College, and New York University. Those recent headlines have made higher ed’s cybersecurity infrastructure seem particularly inadequate... The reality, tech experts say, is that colleges are constantly being bombarded with cyberattacks. Powered by artificial intelligence, these strikes have become more sophisticated. And there’s only so much that campus IT departments can do...

A fundamental problem for higher ed is that the best IT strategies involve pushing for more centralized control of technology use, which often doesn’t go over well on a college campus. Especially at large private institutions, different schools or departments, such as the business school and the medical school, are more likely to have their own IT teams, said [Anita] Nikolich, [director of research and technology innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] who used to be executive director of IT infrastructure at the University of Chicago. “When you have so many independent IT departments … that itself is a huge risk factor,” she said.

Universities typically resist centralization, Nikolich said, in the name of academic freedom. “It’s a mentality of, if I become centralized and shared, my faculty are not going to be allowed to do what they need to do for their research,” she said...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-cyberattacks-in-higher-ed-keep-proliferating.

What yours truly gathers from the above is that when university computer folks get together in whatever forums they do, central control is now a thing.

Straws in the Wind - Part 223

From Bloomberg Law: The Texas Supreme Court has ended the state’s reliance on the American Bar Association to accredit its law schools, finalizing a rule that places the state high court in charge of that certification. The court issued preliminary approval of the rule in September but continued to solicit public comments on its move through the fall. The US Federal Trade Commission weighed in with support of the change in December, calling the ABA a monopoly.

In the Jan. 6 order, the Texas Supreme Court noted that it intends to ensure that law degrees from schools in Texas are portable to other states, and vice-versa. It also doesn’t plan to impose any additional burdens on law school accreditation, it said.

...The ABA’s diversity requirements for law schools have made it a target of the Trump administration, which in February threatened to pull its accrediting power nationwide unless it ends the policies. The ABA said it would temporarily suspend enforcement of its diversity and inclusion mandate.

Full story at https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/texas-supreme-court-takes-over-law-school-accreditation-from-aba.

--

From the NY Times: Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University, was thunderstruck when he was told on Tuesday that he needed to excise some teachings of Plato from his syllabus. It was one way, his department head wrote in an email, that Dr. Peterson’s philosophy class could comply with new policies limiting discussion of race and gender. Days before the start of the spring semester, one of the nation’s largest public universities is racing to interpret and enforce the A&M system’s rules. Some professors are reconsidering syllabuses at the direction of administrators, or are unsure whether they will be able to lead certain classes. Course sections are being canceled or potentially reclassified, threatening students’ schedules.

...Dr. Peterson’s original syllabus called for modules focused on debates around abortion, capital punishment, economic justice, and race and gender ideology, among other topics. When Dr. Peterson, who has been at Texas A&M since 2014, submitted his syllabus for review last month, he told his department head that his “course does not ‘advocate’ any ideology.” Instead, he wrote in an email he shared with The New York Times, “I teach students how to structure and evaluate arguments commonly raised in discussions of contemporary moral issues.”

...Dr. Peterson got a response from Kristi Sweet, the philosophy program’s head. University officials had discussed his syllabus, she wrote, and the new A&M policies. Dr. Sweet gave the professor two choices. Either Dr. Peterson could “mitigate” his course’s “content to remove the modules on race ideology and gender ideology, and the Plato readings that may include these,” Dr. Sweet wrote, or Dr. Peterson could be reassigned to an ethics and engineering course.

...According to the syllabus, Dr. Peterson’s planned Plato readings included passages about Diotima’s Ladder of Love and Aristophanes’ myth involving split humans... The university asserted that Dr. Peterson added the contested coursework after the regents acted last year, but the professor insisted that he wasn’t “trying deliberately to be provocative” when he included the Plato texts...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/us/tamu-plato-race-gender.html.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 110

From the Harvard Crimson: Ranya Brooks will serve as the inaugural director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Office of Belonging, Community, and Connection, Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein announced Friday afternoon in an email to students, faculty, and staff. Brooks, who most recently served as director of workforce engagement for Harvard University Campus Services, will begin her new role on Jan. 26. The appointment follows a six-month search launched after the departure of Robbin Chapman, who previously led the school’s diversity office. Chapman left during the broader rebranding of the Kennedy School’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into what is now the OBCC...

The shift came amid political pressure from the Trump administration, which has argued that programs focused on DEI are illegal or unconstitutional...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/12/brooks-named-hks-obcc-director/.

New Anderson Dean

From a UCLA notice: 

Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Gareth James as the next dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, effective July 1, 2026.

James currently serves as the John H. Harland Dean of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. During his first three years at Goizueta, the school has flourished, launching three successful new degree programs, establishing two new centers, creating three new endowed faculty chairs, recruiting 22 new full-time faculty — representing almost a quarter of current business faculty — and experiencing a 35 percent increase in student enrollment. Thanks in part to students’ successful career outcomes, Goizueta has seen its full-time MBA ranking by U.S. News & World Report rise from #26 in 2022 to an all-time high of #17; its Poets & Quants BBA ranking is also at a school high of #8. Prior to joining Emory in 2022, he was a member of the data sciences and operations faculty at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business (1998–2022), where he held the E. Morgan Stanley Chair in Business Administration and served in senior administrative roles, including deputy dean (2020–22), interim dean (2019–20) and vice dean for faculty and academic affairs (2013–17). He is widely respected for his visionary leadership, data-informed decision making, strategy, powerful optimism, and commitment to the future of business education and its critical role in preparing the thinkers and innovators of tomorrow.

A statistician by training, James is a noted scholar and researcher whose work has been cited more than 40,000 times. His extensive published works include numerous articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters focused on statistical and machine learning methodologies and he is co-author of the widely cited textbook, An Introduction to Statistical Learning. He has led multiple National Science Foundation research grants and has served as an associate editor for five top research journals. The recipient of two Dean’s Awards for Research Excellence from the USC Marshall School of Business, he is an elected fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

His many accolades also include honors for his superb teaching and mentoring. James is a recipient of the Evan C. Thompson Faculty Teaching and Learning Innovation Award and three-time winner of the Marshall School’s Golden Apple Award for best instructor in the full-time MBA program. He has also been awarded Marshall’s and USC’s highest honors for mentoring junior colleagues and graduate students, including the Dean’s Award for Ph.D. Advising, the USC Mellon Faculty Mentoring Faculty Award, the Evan C. Thompson Mentoring and Leadership Award and the USC Provost’s Mentoring Award. He received his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Auckland and his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

I want to thank the search/advisory committee members for assembling an outstanding pool of candidates for this position and for their roles in recruiting Dean James:

• Michael Waterstone (chair) – dean of the UCLA School of Law
• Heather M. Caruso – associate dean for inclusive excellence; faculty co-director, Inclusive Ethics Initiative; adjunct associate professor of management & organizations and behavioral decision making
• Charles Corbett – professor of operations management and sustainability; IBM Chair in Management
• Henry Friedman – faculty vice chair of curriculum and teaching; professor of accounting
• Jana Gallus – associate professor of strategy and behavioral decision making
• Cassie Mogilner Holmes – professor of marketing and behavioral decision making; Bud Knapp Marketing Professor
• Francis Longstaff – distinguished professor of finance, Allstate Chair in Insurance and Finance
• Kathleen McGarry – professor and chair of the Department of Economics
• Miguel Unzueta – professor and area chair, management and organizations
• Nico Voigtländer – professor and area chair, global economics and management

Steve Yu – chief operating and financial officer, UCLA South Bay; interim chief administrative officer, UCLA Chancellor’s Organization; president, UCLA Anderson Alumni Network Board of Directors

I also wish to recognize and express my sincere gratitude to Margaret Shih for her dedicated service as interim dean since July 2025, and as faculty chair during the years prior.

Dean James’ distinguished academic and administrative leadership, coupled with his Los Angeles roots, position him well to lead the UCLA Anderson School of Management at this pivotal moment. Chancellor Frenk and I are confident that the school will continue to fulfill its vital role on campus and will reach new heights under Gareth’s capable leadership. Please join us in congratulating him and warmly welcoming him to UCLA.

Sincerely,

Darnell Hunt, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost 

No Retroactive Pension Payments for Delayed Filings

The Regents have won a court case (and won again on appeal of that case) in which two individuals eligible for a UC pension, but separated from UC, delayed applying after reaching age 60. When they finally did apply, they discovered that the UC pension plan takes the position that there is no retroactivity. You simply lose potential monthly benefits until you apply.

The court decision in favor of the Regents indicated that the Plan has no obligation to make retroactive payments in such cases. In one case, the individual received a letter indicating that after age 60, there was no obvious benefit in not applying. Apparently, it did not explicitly state that therefore the individual should apply to avoid forfeiting benefits. In the other case, it isn't clear that a letter was received. But either way, the court decision says there is no obligation of the plan to provide retroactive payments.

The details can be found at https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/crt-app-fir-dis-cal-div-fou/117878698.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 222

From the NY Times: A tenured professor who was briefly fired by Austin Peay State University in Tennessee in September for what the school’s president said was an insensitive social media post about the killing of Charlie Kirk will get a $500,000 settlement and his job back. The abrupt firing, which the university acknowledged soon afterward had violated the professor’s due-process rights, was made after the professor’s post drew a backlash from conservatives, including Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee. The institution, which is a public school based in Clarksville, Tenn., about 45 miles northwest of Nashville, backtracked less than two weeks later, placing the professor on a paid suspension for the rest of the fall semester while it pursued his termination.

The professor, Darren Michael, 56, who teaches acting and directing, was reinstated on Dec. 30 as part of the settlement with the university, which ended a more than three-month dispute over his employment... Weighing in on Mr. Kirk’s assassination in a Facebook post on Sept. 12, Professor Michael shared a Newsweek article from 2023 that included a quote from Mr. Kirk about the importance of upholding the right to bear arms. The article was published about a week after a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville left six people dead, including three children. The headline read: “Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth It to Keep 2nd Amendment.” ...

Full story at: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/us/austin-peay-professor-charlie-kirk-settlement-reinstated.html.

I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 7 (earlier than we knew)

From the LA Times: New documents filed Friday in the Rose Bowl’s breach-of-contract case against UCLA that also accuses Kroenke Sports and Entertainment of meddling on behalf of SoFi Stadium revealed communication between UCLA and a top Kroenke executive dating to August 2024. An email sent that month from UCLA chief financial officer Stephen Agostini’s assistant to executives from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and SoFi Stadium sought coordination of a Zoom meeting between the parties in September 2024 under the subject heading “UCLA Football Discussion.” The importance level was listed as “high.”

A list of proposed meeting attendees included Agostini; UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond; UCLA athletics chief financial officer Chris Iacoi; Kroenke Sports and Rams president Kevin Demoff; SoFi Stadium executives Greg Kish and Mike Forrester; and Mitchell Ziets, chief executive officer of Tipping Point Sports, a boutique sports advisory firm based in New Jersey...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2026-01-10/emails-reveal-that-ucla-sofi-stadium-talks-date-back-to-2024.

The Underside of UCLA Receives National Attention

From the UCLA Daily Bruin: President Donald Trump mischaracterized a video of UCLA students participating in the quarterly Undie Run as Venezuelans celebrating the ousting of deposed President Nicolas Maduro in a post to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. The video showed people waiting at the intersection of Strathmore Drive and Gayley Avenue before the start of the Undie Run, a quarterly tradition in which students strip down to their undergarments and run across campus Thursday at midnight of finals week. A text overlay on the video read “Venezuela celebrates Democrats cry,” with a crying emoji next to it.

The White House did not respond in time to a request for comment...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/01/09/trump-mischaracterizes-undie-run-video-as-reaction-to-nicolas-maduro-capture.

Straws in the Wind - Part 221

From the Brown Daily Herald: Brown is launching an initiative to support healing and recovery after the Dec. 13 mass shooting in Barus and Holley, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 announced in a Monday email to the Brown community. The initiative, called “Brown Ever True,” will bring “together resources, programming and services focused on mental health, psychological wellness and ensuring a sense of physical security for our full community,” Paxson wrote. Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl will lead the team coordinating the initiative, and the Brown University Community Council will constitute the advisory body. 

Paxson added that a “campus-wide service” honoring Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and supporting the nine injured students is in the works for late January. Interim Vice President for Public Safety and Police Chief Hugh Clements announced a slew of new safety actions Dec. 30, including the transition of key-access buildings to card-access and the installation of additional security cameras...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2026/01/paxson-announces-campus-wide-healing-and-recovery-effort.

===

Note: We again provide a link below to the UCLA mass shooting training video:

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

---

From the Yale Daily News: A Buckley Institute report last month on the predominance of Democrats on the Yale faculty sparked criticism from conservatives about political imbalances in higher education — and prompted an apparent response from Yale. On Dec. 1, the organization released its Yale Faculty Political Diversity Report, which reported that 82.3 percent of the 1,666 faculty members examined are registered Democrats or primarily support Democratic candidates. Of the remaining faculty, 2.3 percent were found to be Republicans with the remaining 15.4 percent not affiliated with either major party. Of 43 departments that grant undergraduate degrees, 27 had no Republican faculty members at all, according to the report.

...On Dec. 23, after the Buckley Institute report had been covered by several news outlets and received widespread attention online, Yale News released an unsigned “Statement regarding faculty political affiliations.” While it did not specifically mention the Buckley Institute or its report, the statement addressed many of the concerns that arose from the release of the report earlier that month. “Yale hires and retains faculty based on academic excellence, scholarly distinction, and teaching achievement, independent of political views,” the statement reads... 

The Buckley Institute report took account of faculty members across the Law School, the School of Management and what it described as 43 “undergraduate degree-granting departments” at Yale. The institute used L2 Voter Data, a database of all registered voters in the United States, to determine each faculty member’s political affiliation, according to the report. For individuals whose affiliation was unavailable or unaffiliated, the institute used the Federal Election Commission’s campaign donation database. Faculty members whose affiliations were not accessible — 331 of the 1666 faculty members — were not accounted for in the final percentages...

Several conservative-leaning outlets, including Fox News, The New York Post and Campus Reform, which is described on its website as “a conservative watchdog in the nation’s higher education system,” covered the report’s findings...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2026/01/12/buckley-report-on-liberal-faculty-gains-traction-and-yale-responds/.

The Visit

1-9-2026: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth joined the UCLA ROTC program for early morning PT.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0f3jyk4PCJJKpUrbx7zXQnx3L2vb6Q1XSsQbQyUqaTgjiumWkDHbLPrr6HXLjfujRl&id=100064688230749.