A year ago, the Office for Civil Rights told universities that identity-based graduations were illegal. “In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies,” the office wrote in a Dear Colleague letter. Some universities canceled similar ceremonies. But, last April, a federal judge blocked the department from enforcing that guidance and, on Jan. 21—five days before Virginia Tech’s statement—the department gave up defending it...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/12/virginia-tech-bans-university-funded-affinity-graduations.
Statement from UC President James B. Milliken on UCLA event with Bari Weiss
UC Office of the President, February 20, 2026
UC President Milliken released the following statement Feb. 20:
“I was disappointed to learn that representatives for journalist Bari Weiss canceled her planned lecture at UCLA due to security concerns. UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk informed me that Ms. Weiss remains interested in speaking at UCLA, and that they are already working to make sure the event on campus will proceed at a mutually convenient time.
“Chancellor Frenk and I are in complete agreement on this matter; the University of California will be resolute in protecting free expression on our campuses, and we will take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of speakers, those attending events, and the members of our community. We will do everything we can to make sure speakers are not prevented from speaking on our campuses because some disagree with the content of constitutionally protected speech. That is the essence of the First Amendment and the obligation of universities.”
--
Part 1 is at https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/security-concerns.html.
From the Harvard Crimson: Jeff W. Lichtman walked into a Monday morning meeting as Dean of Science expecting to talk through faculty hiring. He left without his job. At the Jan. 12 meeting, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra surprised the biology professor by handing him a letter informing him that he would no longer serve as Dean of Science, according to two people familiar with the matter. Four people familiar with the situation said Lichtman was fired.
The removal came after months of friction between Lichtman and Hoekstra over how sharply to cut graduate student admissions in the Sciences division — reductions Hoekstra said were necessary after the Trump administration cut off nearly $3 billion in federal funding. As federal grants were frozen and the FAS prepared for a looming budget deficit, Hoekstra pushed for deep cuts to science Ph.D. admissions. Lichtman advocated for smaller reductions and broader faculty consultation in decisions, two of the people said.
...Before Lichtman entered the meeting, his interim replacement had already been selected. Earth and Planetary Sciences professor David T. Johnston — one of three faculty who worked in Lichtman’s executive office — had agreed to serve as interim dean before Lichtman was informed of his removal. Two days later, in a Jan. 14 email to Division of Science faculty, Hoekstra announced that Lichtman had “stepped down.” She offered no explanation for his departure and has continued to characterize it that way without elaboration...
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/17/jeff-lichtman-pushed-out/.
Every now and then, yours truly checks the web to see if anything is happening regarding the long-stalled Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project which may - someday - be built in Hawaii, or maybe in the Canary Islands as a second-best location, or maybe not at all. As blog readers will know, it was planned for Mauna Kea where other telescopes exist, eventually given legal OK, and then was blocked by native Hawaiian objections and protests.
The issue sometimes comes up at the Regents, usually in public comments, since UC would have a connection to the project, should it ever be built. I found the item below from mid-January which suggests there will be a lot of discussion and probably no actual construction:
From HawaiiNewsNow: The Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority began a series of statewide workshops... as it prepares to take over management of the mountain... The 12-member state board, looking for feedback, was established in 2022, in part because of the protests that blocked construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) at Mauna Kea’s summit. The authority will assume full responsibility for the summit in two and a half years...
Some Native Hawaiians came to the workshop with a mix of skepticism and optimism, including Sparky Rodrigues, who stayed on Mauna Kea for six months... Even those who may not accept the state’s authority appear willing to be part of the process... Everything the board hears in this series of meetings will be used to create policies that reflect the will of the people, a collective effort to solve some of Hawaii’s most divisive issues...
Full story at https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2026/01/16/mauna-kea-oversight-board-begins-series-workshops-mountains-future/.
As you can see, TMT is not explicitly mentioned. There is just an oblique reference to "divisive issues."
From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Texas at Austin will fold its gender studies and ethnic studies programs into a new department this September, The Austin American-Statesman reported. The newly established Department for Social and Cultural Analysis Studies will comprise African and African diaspora studies; Mexican American and Latina/o studies; women’s, gender and sexuality studies; and American studies.
In a meeting with the affected department chairs Thursday, Interim Dean David Sosa did not announce any immediate firings, faculty told the Statesman, nor did he discuss potential future layoffs... Earlier this month, Texas A&M University abruptly shuttered its women’s and gender studies program to comply with board policies that limit discussion of race and gender. The efforts are part of a broader trend in red states to curb what conservative politicians see as “woke” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/13/ut-austin-folds-gender-ethnic-studies-single-department.
From Inside Higher Ed: In statehouses, bill titles rarely tell the full story of what’s in them, and the legislation itself can contain seemingly unrelated provisions. This trend is playing out right now in Kansas, where Republicans are using a budget bill to move forward a host of nonfinancial public higher ed measures that have worried faculty and could mean millions in cuts for public universities. But Republicans, who control both chambers, appear undeterred. The state’s Democratic governor signed a budget bill into law last year that directed colleges to eliminate positions and activities related to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Among other provisions, this year’s legislation, called House Bill 2434, contains a mechanism—with garbled wording—that’s apparently intended to withhold $2 million from each of the state’s six public universities until they prove to the State Finance Council that they don’t “require or constrain students to enroll in a DEI-CRT-related course” to earn a degree...
The nearly 400-page budget legislation also says that, at each of the public universities, “any tenured faculty member who is placed on a one-year improvement plan during fiscal year 2027 and does not satisfactorily complete” it “is subject to dismissal, reassignment or other personnel actions as determined by the provost.” Explicitly, professors won’t be allowed to receive a second year to improve...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/2026/02/18/kansas-may-cut-millions-colleges-dei-gen-ed.
...The VA said it... found last year that it has been underpaid by more than $40 million per year based on the fair market value of the properties.
The backstory: Last May, President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing the VA secretary to designate a national hub for veterans experiencing homelessness, the National Center for Warrior Independence, on the West L.A. VA campus.
What officials say: Doug Collins, the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, said Monday that the groups that had their leases and license terminated have been “fleecing” taxpayers and veterans for far too long. He said, under Trump, the VA is taking action to ensure the West L.A. campus is used only to benefit veterans, as intended. “By establishing the National Center for Warrior Independence, we will turn the West Los Angeles VAMC campus into a destination where homeless veterans from across the nation can find housing and support on their journey back to self-sufficiency,” Collins said in a statement.
What's next: By 2028, the National Center for Warrior Independence is expected to offer housing and support for up to 6,000 veterans experiencing homelessness, according to the VA...
Source: https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/va-ends-illegal-and-wasteful-leases-on-west-la-campus.
===
It remains unclear whether UCLA's baseball lease will eventually be voided by further litigation or how this matter fits into the larger conflict between UC/UCLA and the feds. The Daily Bruin's account of this story includes a no-comment response from the VA and UCLA regarding the future of the baseball lease: https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/11/va-keeps-jackie-robinson-stadium-lease-terminates-3-other-west-la-agreements.
===
*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-lease-part-2.html.
From Inside Higher Ed: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently rolled out a new policy that permits university officials to record classes without notifying the instructor. It’s a practice administrators have used in the past to investigate professors but have now formalized in writing. According to the policy, administrators may, with the provost and general counsel’s written permission, record classes or access existing recordings without telling faculty in order to “gather evidence in connection with an investigation into alleged violations of university policy” and “for any other lawful purpose, when authorized in writing by the provost and the office of university counsel, who will consult with the chair of the faculty.”
...Students are prohibited from recording in class without explicit permission from the instructor—a practice that has landed professors at other universities in political hot water in recent months... The formal recording rules have been in the works for a while...
University leaders—from the systemwide Board of Governors to the provost—have made several decisions in recent months that curb professors’ freedoms in the classroom. UNC system president Peter Hans announced in December that syllabi will be considered public records and that faculty must share them online beginning next fall. A week later, the university decided—with no formal announcement to faculty—to shutter its six area studies centers. At the end of this month, the system Board of Governors will vote on a formal—but contested—definition of academic freedom that states it is “not absolute” and prohibits teaching material “clearly unrelated to the course description.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2026/02/11/unc-admin-can-now-officially-secretly-record.
If you have an iPhone and a message such as the one above pops up, it isn't a real iPhone warning. Do not click on it. Close whatever application you are using. The pop-up is at best an ad for something and at worst malicious. You don't want to find out, either way.
You can always independently check on whether your storage is low by going to "Settings," then "General," and then "iPhone Storage."
More seriously, when you start talking about financial mismanagement and inaccurate past financial reports, bond rating agencies are likely to be listening. Indeed, you are raising potential legal issues with regard to bonds that have already been floated.
Of course, you are also displeasing those in Murphy Hall who could be said to be responsible for the financial mismanagement that you are alleging. The ultimate rule in any organizational hierarchy is "please your boss."
I asked Gemini: "According to a Stanford study at
one couple working from home will produce 0.32 child. How many couples working from home would it take to produce one whole child?"
Answer from Gemini: Based on the study Work from Home and Fertility, it would take approximately 3.125 couples (or 4 couples to ensure at least one "whole" child) to produce one additional child compared to couples where neither partner works from home. Here is the breakdown of that calculation: The study estimates that lifetime fertility is greater by 0.32 children per woman (couple) when both partners work from home (WFH) one or more days per week compared to when neither does. To find the number of couples needed to reach an increase of 1.0 child: 1 \div 0.32 = 3.125. The study notes that this effect is even more pronounced in the United States specifically, where the estimated increase is 0.45 children per woman when both partners WFH. In the U.S. context, it would only take about 2.22 couples working from home to produce one additional child.
From Inside Higher Ed: Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically Black institution, said it mistakenly objected to its Black Law Students Association using the word “Black” in Black History Month fliers. Law student Aaliyah Steward told Orlando’s News 6 she heard “we couldn’t use the word ‘Black’ in Black History Month; we needed to abbreviate it.” The news broadcast then showed a flier that conformed to this, abbreviating it as “BHM.”
After News 6 broke the story Friday, it reported that the artist SZA and others denounced the censorship on social media. This week, FAMU College of Law interim dean Cecil Howard emailed the college’s community that “the word ‘Black’ is not prohibited” and no such restriction “has been directed by university leadership,” according to a copy of the message that FAMU sent Inside Higher Ed. Howard wrote that the university “quickly engaged a Florida higher education law expert,” who confirmed the word doesn’t violate Florida’s Senate Bill 266...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/10/famu-says-censoring-word-black-was-mistake.
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| UC President Clark Kerr hand the Master Plan to Gov. Pat Brown |
As might be expected, most of the opposition to that push has come from CSU. But now UC has gotten into the act. From the Daily Cal:
The University of California released a letter opposing Assembly Bill 664, which would allow a California community college to offer additional bachelor’s degrees, arguing it may disrupt the organization of public higher education in the state. AB 664, authored by Assembly Member David Alvarez, would allow the Southwestern Community College District in San Diego County to offer up to four bachelor’s degree programs. Supporters say the bill will help students in a region without a nearby public university access higher education. Under current state law, community college districts may submit proposals to establish up to 30 bachelor’s degree programs each academic year. These proposals can be rejected by the UC and California State University for “program duplication.”
“AB 664 circumvents this process by authorizing Southwestern Community College District to establish additional baccalaureate degree programs without regard to existing law requirements related to degree duplication and whether the districts have the expertise, resources, and student interest in the program,” said Jessica Duong, legislative director for the UC Office of the President, in the opposition letter to Mike Fong, chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee. The letter also cited the California Master Plan for Higher Education...
UCLA Chief Financial Officer Stephen Agostini, one of the principal drivers of the school’s proposed move from the Rose Bowl to SoFi Stadium, is out in what amounts to a huge blow for the Bruins athletic department. Agostini’s immediate departure was announced Tuesday in a memo from UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk to faculty and staff...
Full story at https://nypost.com/2026/02/17/sports/stephen-agostini-fired-as-ucla-cfo/.
So, what happens to the ongoing litigation about the move to SoFi stadium?
Now, what can we say about the new budget book that was recently released?
The first thing to note is that you do find some macro information for the year 2023-24. For example, in terms of revenue, almost 6 out of 10 dollars coming into the campus are derived from the hospitals and other medical practices. That fact may be a surprise for those on north campus. Over 6 out of 10 dollars of expenditure go for labor costs (wages and benefits). That fact shouldn't be a surprise, given that higher ed is essentially a service industry.
What is missing from the macro view is a balance sheet which would show reserves. Typical corporate financial accounts include both an income statement (revenues, expenditures) and a balance sheet - assets (including cash reserves) and liabilities. Both the income statement and the balance sheet are needed for a complete review. You need to see both flows during the fiscal year and stocks (snapshot at the end of the year).
When the budget book moves beyond the macro view and gets down to the "unit" level, it includes 2023-24, 2024-25, and an estimate for the current 2025-26 fiscal year. (No projections are to be found for the coming year in a workload sense, i.e., what would happen if current policy continued into next year.)
The units shown are in some cases administrative units and in other cases educational units and research unit. For example, there is the "Administrative Vice Chancellor" unit and a "Campus and Community Safety" unit. And there is a "Broad Stem Cell Research" unit and an "L&S Humanities" unit. Apart from administration, education, and research, there is an "Intercollegiate Athletics" unit.
Accompanying the various units is a diagram showing revenues vs. expenditures. And there is where things get complicated. There are some units which are supposed to be self supporting, i.e., collecting funding for providing services and spending money to provide them. So, it is clear what a surplus or deficit means in those cases. If they are spending more than they are taking in, they are running a deficit, presumably something to be avoided as a chronic condition. If they are spending less than they are taking in, they are running a surplus.
But note that much of the campus is not run that way. The "Administrative Vice Chancellor" is not selling a service, but it is shown to have revenue. The revenue, however, is an allocation, not a fee for service. Much of the campus is like that, at least in part. "L&S Humanities" is not mainly in the business of selling services. But it is shown as running a deficit. That deficit, however, could be eliminated by giving it a bigger allocation. Or it could be made greater by shrinking its allocation. Put another way, for many of the units, particularly those whose function is educational, attributing deficits or surpluses to them is a matter of discretion.
In the Daily Bruin article noted above, CFO "Agostini... said he is currently looking at how long UCLA can continue to function and meet payroll without developing a cash reserves problem, as the school is currently spending money it does not have." The quote refers to reserves. The only way to spend money you don't have (in an income sense) is to run down existing reserves (and maybe even borrow). There are references to $450 million deficits and other deficit figures. It isn't clear where these came from. And without a balance sheet, we lack information on reserves. Some units are said to have their own reserves. It's not clear what those reserves are or where they came from. There is no overall balance sheet in the budget book.
So, what's the bottom line here? We are making progress in obtaining budget information, perhaps in part as a result of the fuss the Academic Senate has been making. But there is still missing information. Moreover, the Senate and its appropriate committees need to go line by line, getting definitions. What formula is determining the "revenue" of the Humanities? Where and what are the reserves we apparently have been drawing down?
If there has been financial mismanagement, as the CFO says, is anyone being held accountable? Again from the Daily Bruin article:
“We spent $150 million on the Ascend [IT] project, and we have nothing to show for it,” Agostini said. “That was a terrific waste of resources. So I stopped it and said, ‘We’re not spending any more money.’”
Apart from stopping the project, did any heads roll? That's the kind of question that needs answering.
We await.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/really.html.
**Accounts from 2002-03 to 2022-03 (the complete pre-Agostini series) are now preserved at:
https://archive.org/details/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026. You'll also find preserved there documents from the Legislative Assembly, the Daily Bruin article with the CFO's observations, and the recently-released budget book. The email from the chancellor firing the CFO is also included.
From the Daily Cal: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an inquiry [last week] into a complaint against UC Berkeley over allegations that five campus programs constitute racial discrimination and thereby violate federal law. The Equal Protection Project, part of conservative advocacy group Legal Insurrection Foundation, filed the complaint Feb. 10. The programs being targeted are the African American Student Development Office, Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center, Latinx Student Resource Center, African American Initiative Scholarship and Lloyd A. Edwards Scholarship.
The EPP alleges these programs are only open to certain students based on race, either explicitly or through “strong racial signaling,” and thereby violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment...
From the Lansing State Journal: Michigan State University Trustee Rema Vassar is at odds with key university leaders after she called for the college to reverse changes to diversity, equity and inclusion made since President Donald Trump took office. Vassar authored an opinion column on Feb. 2 that was published by Bridge Michigan, and called for MSU to reinstate numerous DEI-focused initiatives and support programs across campus. "MSU must act immediately to reverse every decision made under the false pretense of legal compliance," Vassar, a Detroit Democrat, wrote in the column. "MSU now stands exposed: Every decision to dismantle equity infrastructure was a choice, not a legal requirement. And that choice was made not just without legal justification, but in defiance of constitutional protections."
Some university officials took issue with the editorial, including Michigan State President Kevin Guskiewicz and board chair Brianna Scott, D-Muskegon. Guskiewicz said the column was inaccurate and misleading, and Scott said it had several mischaracterizations. Both said said they had not seen the column prior to its publication. "Like many on our leadership team, we were disappointed by the op-ed, believe that it was misleading and mischaracterized many of the efforts that we've made as an institution to support our communities, during a challenging time with changes coming out of the federal government," Guskiewicz said. He said after the board's Feb. 6 meeting that the university is working to correct "several inaccuracies" in the op-ed and that officials will be taking the time throughout the week to "meet with members of those communities to reinforce our commitment to them." ...
From the Daily Pennsylvanian: Penn Psychology professor and Director of the Undergraduate Honors Program Coren Apicella approached Jeffrey Epstein’s foundation for research funding in 2012, four years after his first conviction, according to a newly released email exchange. The email — which looked to garner funding for Apicella’s Human Behavioral Origins laboratory — was originally sent to Epstein’s foundation and forwarded to his personal email alongside a note describing the offer as “interesting.” Apicella personally thanked Epstein for “indirectly” supporting some of her previous research endeavors in the Nov. 15, 2012 message.
“I never knew Jeffrey Epstein,” Apicella wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I sent a single email to the Epstein Foundation in 2012 to ask whether it was accepting grant proposals. I received no follow-up correspondence or funding and I was certainly not aware of any of his horrific crimes when I sent the email.”
The email exchange is one of thousands of files released by the Department of Justice earlier this month. Apicella has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or his crimes...
Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/02/penn-professor-coren-apicella-solicited-donations-epstein.
...Vinay Harpalani, a professor of law at the University of New Mexico, said he would “be surprised” if the administration were to succeed, citing the confidentiality issues inherent in providing applicant-level data. “That risks particular privacy concerns there,” Harpalani said. “If the individual data from a single applicant can all be linked — all the data, the grade, the test score, their race, ethnicity, other features about them — then that applicant might be able to be identified as an individual. And that could be problematic, that could run in violation of the FERPA,” he added...
The complaint asks a federal court to compel Harvard to turn over “documents relating to applicant-level admissions decisions” that the Department of Justice said it requested as part of the review. Jonathan D. Glater, a professor of law at University of California, Berkeley, said the DOJ’s demand may run afoul of FERPA because the department is not an entity authorized to access student admissions records. “Student personally identifiable information is protected by FERPA,” Glater wrote in a statement. “DOJ is not a listed entity and this is not part of a criminal investigation, so I’m not sure how this works.” ...
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/16/DOJ-lawsuit-expert-analysis/.
Now, we all know that much of this overage seems to be fueled by AI spending, which filters into tax revenues by way of the stock market and capital gains. And we all know that it could be a bubble and that - if it is - revenues will slump when it bursts, i.e., we could have a repeat of the dot-com boom/dot-com bust. If that happens, revenues will drop and a crisis will occur.
We know, in addition, that the Legislative Analyst's Office keeps warning of a "structural" budget problem in the years to come. And blog readers will know that even with the governor's optimistic forecast for the economy, we are currently running a deficit (total reserves of the general fund are being drawn down).* We know from the dot-com boom/bust episode that if the state is not socking away a lot of cash at the peak of the cycle, a downturn will be especially painful.
With all of that knowledge, however, it is unlikely that the legislature is going to accept austerity now when it sees extra revenue coming in. And the governor, who is running for president and is termed out, seems unlikely to want to play Dr. No. If he can just make it to next January without a fiscal mess developing, he can say it didn't happen on his watch, and leave whatever problems that follow to his successor.
So, the best advice yours truly can give to UC lobbyists is "Get It While You Can" - because every other interest group will be seeing what I see.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-no-hassles-while-im-in-office-state.html.
From the Daily Pennsylvanian: Last October, the notorious cybercrime group ShinyHunters infiltrated Penn’s internal data system and demanded a $1 million ransom from the University to prevent the release of the files on the dark web. After the ransom went unpaid, the hackers surfaced online to take credit for the attack and set the record straight. Since 2019, ShinyHunters has gained notoriety in the hacking community for orchestrating large-scale attacks on major corporations such as Google, AT&T Wireless, Ticketmaster, and SoundCloud. This fall, the group set its sights on Penn. “We decided to hit Penn same-day,” a spokesperson for the group said via Signal, an encrypted messaging app. “Some planning and preparation goes into attacking a new organisation, but we can move pretty quickly.”
Requests for comment were left with a University spokesperson... ShinyHunters released the cache of confidential University files — including dated records and donor contact information — on its website on Feb. 4...
Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/02/penn-hack-donor-data-ransom-one-million-shinyhunters-gse-emai.
From the Harvard Crimson: More than half of Harvard’s varsity teams saw their average grade point averages drop in fall 2025, marking a sharp semester-to-semester downturn across sports programs amid the College’s push to rein in grade inflation. Among the 26 men’s and women’s teams reviewed by The Crimson — representing over half of Harvard’s 42 varsity programs — nearly all recorded GPA declines from spring 2025.
The downturn comes as Harvard tightens grading standards. In an October report, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh described grade inflation as a threat to the College’s academic mission. Faculty reduced the share of As awarded from 60.2 percent in the spring to 53.4 percent in the fall — a shift that came alongside declines in team GPAs across the athletics department.
...The ongoing debate at the College and FAS over how to curb grade inflation could further shape team GPAs in the semesters ahead. A faculty committee proposal released last week would limit A-range grades to 20 percent in each course, with room for four additional As per class, starting next academic year. The proposal will be reviewed by the Faculty Council and is expected to come before the full faculty later this semester. Students have signalled widespread resistance to the proposal. In a Harvard Undergraduate Association survey this week that drew responses from almost 800 students, nearly 85 percent said they opposed the proposed cap on A grades.
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/12/team-gpa-trends/.
From the Daily Cal: Graduate student organizers in the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare began a tuition strike Jan. 19 in response to “grave concerns” about recent layoffs of two union-protected lecturers in the program. The lecturers... were named in a letter that students sent to leadership at Berkeley Social Welfare. Campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said campus could not comment on confidential personnel matters.
In the letter, students said their tuition strike is also in protest of further grievances regarding department budget cuts and tuition increases. Students expressed that they felt there were “troubling patterns that have severely degraded the quality and integrity of our program”and announced that a collective tuition strike would “begin immediately.” The letter also details a list of demands, including the reversal of [the two] layoffs, restoration of practicum support, financial transparency and tuition freezes, reduction of required practicum hours and student representation in administrative decision-making...
Gilmore said campus would not speculate about the impacts of a tuition strike, but that campus policies around nonpayment would apply. According to the campus Student Billing website, if a student has unpaid fees of $100 or more over 60 days past due, Billing and Payment Services is authorized “to place a hold on a student’s registration and diploma until the financial obligation is satisfied.” ...
As blog readers will know, former Chancellor Block left under a cloud thanks to the events of 2023-24. And now he is under an additional cloud of budgetary mismanagement, according to the CFO that he hired towards the end of his chancellorship. But it's not only Block. There remain members of his entourage still in charge.
There has been some walking back of the accusation as well.
From the Bruin: University administrators’ financial mismanagement contributed to UCLA’s $425 million annual deficit,* UCLA’s chief financial officer alleged. Stephen Agostini, who has been UCLA’s CFO since May 2024, alleged that the unaudited annual financial reports the university has posted on its website since 2002 are erroneous. UCLA has not posted the annual reports since the 2022-2023 fiscal year, coinciding with when Agostini became CFO. Agostini said the UC Office of the President asked him to stop posting the misleading reports... “I would prefer not to advertise how badly the place has been managed financially,” he said.
Agostini did not respond to a request for comment on when he learned that the posted reports had incorrect information or which data points were incorrect. He also did not respond to a request for comment about which administrators were involved in the data’s posting.
“I want to clarify that my predecessors have been a welcome resource and providing background and suggestions and I have benefited substantially from their perspectives,” Agostini said in the emailed statement...
Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/13/financial-mismanagement-contributed-to-425-million-annual-deficit-ucla-cfo-says or https://dn720904.ca.archive.org/0/items/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026/UCLA%20Daily%20Bruin%20interview%20with%20CFO%20on%20budget%202-13-2026.pdf.
*Exactly what this figure of $425 million means is unclear. CFO Agostini has just released some new financial information on which we will comment later.
 |
| From LA Times, 2-10-2026 |
It's tiresome to have to repeat that California needs a new Master Plan for Higher Education, or headlines such as the one above will keep repeating.
According to the LA Times article:
 |
| UC President Clark Kerr hands Master Plan to Gov. Pat Brown in 1960 |
...In the latest stress point, CSU has objected to 16 community college degree proposals, contending that they run counter to state law provisions designed to protect its own university degree offerings. Community college officials disagree and say their programs are uniquely designed to serve the needs of their district, as intended by the law. The tensions have brought into focus the changing role of community colleges since the adoption of California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education. The vaunted plan laid out three distinct public systems, with local community colleges primarily offering two-year associate’s degrees and serving as transfer launching pads to CSU and the University of California...
In an effort to bring accessible and lower-cost bachelor’s degree programs to more students, a 2021 Assembly bill allowed all 116 community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees to address “unmet workforce needs” in the districts they serve. The law expanded a 2014-approved pilot program, that allowed the California Community College Chancellor’s Office to develop bachelor’s degrees on 15 campuses. But... UC and CSU officials can object to any proposed degree that is “duplicative” of their offerings. Once an objection is raised, the program must be modified or dropped by the California Community Colleges chancellor’s office until the sides reach an agreement...
Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-10/community-colleges-cost-bachelors-degrees-csu-says-no-to-some.
From the Daily Princetonian: Princeton’s music department announced a series of program reductions following the annual State of the University letter, which anticipated across-the-board fiscal tightening. Starting in August, the department will eliminate the position of Trenton Arts at Princeton Program Coordinator, international touring of ensembles, and Richardson Chamber Players under Princeton University Concerts.
These cuts are part of a “multi-year process of ongoing and evolving reductions to our programmatic and operational expenses,” according to an email sent to department members on behalf of Daniel Trueman, chair of the music department. The University plans to tighten its belt due to changing expectations for its endowment returns, which fund about two-thirds of the total operating budget...
Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/02/princeton-news-stlife-music-programs-cut-new-university-budget-reductions.
When it's all over, maybe there is some budding Arthur Miller out there who can write a play. Blog readers know what yours truly thinks:
https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/epstein-in-academialand.html.
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From the Daily Bruin: The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a decision Friday that blocked it from demanding a $1.2 billion settlement from UCLA. The federal government froze $584 million in research funding to UCLA in late July, alleging that the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.” The Trump administration sent a letter to UCLA on Aug. 8 demanding that, in exchange for the restoration of the funds, the university pay a $1 billion fine and $172 million in a claims fund for people impacted by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal district judge Rita F. Lin temporarily restored the vast majority of UCLA’s frozen grants in two decisions in August and September...
Lin blocked the proposed fine – and prevented the federal government from freezing or threatening to freeze more of the UC’s research funding – in an Nov. 14 decision on a lawsuit brought by UC employees... U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed the appeal Jan. 13 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals but later filed a motion that said it would dismiss the appeal if Lin made certain changes to her November temporary injunction, which she agreed to in a Friday order.
The DOJ attorneys requested that Lin change the text of her injunction to clarify that civil rights investigations and litigations may result in voluntary resolutions between the UC and federal government, so long as the Trump administration follows proper procedures...
Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/02/13/trump-administration-drops-appeal-of-order-blocking-1-2-billion-ucla-settlement.
Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dGRDvmO54.
From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice released their final recommendations on how and when Cornell should issue official statements on social and political issues*...
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The statement specifically called for “institutional restraint” when making decisions about when to comment on issues. The recommendations propose that Cornell limit official statements to situations that are directly connected to the University’s mission and values. “By limiting institutional voice to matters germane to the University’s mission and to higher education, Cornell respects and protects the individual voices of faculty, staff, and students as they exercise their freedom to speak,” the statement reads.
After what top administrators described as “extensive review and discussion” with faculty members,staff, students and shared governance bodies across Cornell’s campuses, the task force released a 19 -page document on its final recommendations, which will “guide administrative responses to external events,” according to the statement. The task force was convened to examine when and how the University should speak “institutionally on issues of social and political significance,” according to the statement. This approach, the administration stated, is intended to prevent the University from taking positions on issues that fall outside of its academic and educational scope, according to the recommendations report.
...Defining when the University should speak on an issue was one of President Michael Kotlikoff’s first presidential actions, announced in August...
From the NY Times: The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing the Ivy League school of failing to produce documents sought as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether its admissions process discriminates against white applicants. The lawsuit is the second government action against Harvard in the two weeks since President Trump abruptly reversed his position on a potential deal to end the administration’s pressure campaign on the university.
After a report in The New York Times on Feb. 2 that Mr. Trump had agreed to give up his demand for Harvard to pay a $200 million fine in order to help finalize a deal, the president responded on social media with a series of late-night and early morning posts that called for a criminal investigation of Harvard and announced that he had increased the fine to $1 billion. Four days later, the Defense Department severed its academic ties with Harvard...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/us/politics/harvard-lawsuit-admissions-doj-trump.html.
All of these items might seem likely to provoke controversy. But the first two were passed overwhelmingly with no real discussion. The third was the product of a series of Assembly meetings that modified the proposed resolution. But at this meeting, there was a motion to table the resolution, i.e., have no discussion and no vote on the substance. There was also a strong vote to table. And the meeting ended early.
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| Facebook ad |
Apparently, there is an organization - which may be an offshoot of America First Legal - formed with the intent of suing UC for reverse discrimination. Yours truly spotted the Facebook ad shown on this posting on Feb. 10. If you click on the ad, the following information appears:
SARD is a new organization, founded in the fall of 2024, by a coalition of people who have observed the University of California's brazen reversion to the use of large racial preferences in its admissions practices. We include students (and parents of students) who have been rejected by the UC schools even as classmates with substantially lower academic credentials -- but a more favorable skin pigmentation -- have been accepted. We include academics who have served on UC admissions committees, or studied UC admissions practices, and have been shocked by the university's use of quota-like policies to radically distort its admissions standards. And we include public interest lawyers who believe that a suit against UC for these practices can and will be successful...
The group filed a lawsuit against the Regents dated Feb. 3, 2025, on behalf of unnamed White and Asian applicants, which can be found at:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.956209/gov.uscourts.cacd.956209.51.0.pdf.
The case is now in the discovery phase.
From Inside Higher Ed: North Carolina State University fired the assistant director of its LGBTQ Pride Center on Friday after an anti-DEI activist group secretly recorded him appearing to violate system policies... Employees who were secretly recorded by Accuracy in Media at the University of North Carolina campuses in Charlotte and Asheville and Western Carolina University no longer work at those institutions.
“We’re still able to do the things that we want to do, have these events and programs. We have to be a little more careful,” Jae Edwards, the N.C. State employee, was recorded saying. “It’s been very interesting navigating now that there’s certain words we can’t use anymore … ’cause things like ‘equity’ implies inequities,” he said. “As a marginalized group, we’re used to these things, and we’re used to going around them and finding ways around.”
A spokesperson for the university told the News & Observer the institution was made aware of the video on Thursday, Feb. 5. “The individual seen in the video had no role in policy or compliance decisions and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the university,” the spokesperson said. “The staff member no longer works at the university..."
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/09/nc-state-fires-secretly-recorded-lgbtq-pride-employee.
UCLA ranks as number 23 with over $750 million.
Source: Section 117 Foreign Gift and Contract Public Transparency Dashboard:
A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by researchers alleging that major corporate publishers colluded to control the publishing market... Lucina Uddin, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles,* filed the lawsuit in 2024 against the six largest for-profit publishers of peer-reviewed academic journals—Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, John Wiley & Sons, Sage Publications, Taylor & Francis and Springer Nature—and their trade association, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM). The lawsuit argued that the publishers violated the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law, by having researchers peer review articles for free, forbidding the submission of manuscripts to more than one journal at a time, and preventing authors from freely discussing submitted manuscripts.
To support that argument, plaintiffs pointed to STM’s International Ethical Principles for Scholarly Publication, which references those practices. But Hector Gonzalez, a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, said that was insufficient evidence of anti-trust violation... Gonzalez also declined to allow the plaintiffs to update the suit, writing that “further amendment would not change the result.”
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/06/antitrust-lawsuit-against-academic-publishers-dismissed.
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From the Chronicle of Higher Education: Last summer, Bonnie Shucha, a librarian at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, sat in her office listening to an AI voice attempt to distill her 41-page research article on scholarship visibility into a five-minute podcast. So far, the new feature on the popular site Academia.edu https://www.academia.edu/ was struggling mightily. “Bonnie suggests things like engaging with broader audiences via social media, or just sharing drafts of papers on platforms like, oh, you know, Academia.edu. A little plug there,” the podcast voice said. “I was like, Well hey, wait a minute, you’re putting words into my mouth,” said Shucha, who serves as an associate dean for library and information services and director of the law library at Wisconsin’s law school.
Shucha is not the only scholar who says Academia.edu’s new podcast feature is misrepresenting their research. They’ve taken to Academia.edu’s own feedback forums to raise their objections, calling it “offensive,” “borderline impersonation/plagiarism,” and accusing the platform of using “human work … as a free content farm for AI training.” Several academics have left the platform altogether in protest.
...Academia.edu was created in 2008 for academics to upload their work and provide the research community with an open knowledge database, among other things. Today, the site hosts 55 million papers... Academia.edu started using artificial intelligence a few years ago to summarize research and recommend papers visitors might be interested in.
...The site recently began offering users the ability to generate AI comic strips out of their work. Shucha tried the feature on an article she wrote about the first anti-sex trafficking movement in U.S. history. The resulting four-panel comic includes a joke about a “steamy expose [sic],” misspelled words, and bold type apparently meant to suggest the sounds of an assault taking place. “Gwa lump gya ra grow.”
Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/an-ai-bot-is-making-podcasts-with-users-research-these-scholars-arent-impressed.
Remember the Good Old Days when you could spot AI-written papers by made-up, "hallucinated" citations? Ah... them were the days!
Or direct to https://www.facebook.com/getliner/videos/1439802454250356/.
