I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 18

And yet more on former CFO Agostini's involvement in the planning to move UCLA from the Rose Bowl to SoFi stadium:

From NBC Sports: ...In August 2025, Rams and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment president Kevin Demoff texted this to UCLA vice chancellor Steve Agostini: “good luck tonight, next year at SoFi!” The court filings also show text messages from February 2025 between Demoff and Agostini regarding a tour of SoFi by UCLA officials “to see how we would make next season work.” Said Demoff, “Yes will make whatever work.”

Demoff’s employer, and SoFi Stadium, eventually were added to the ongoing lawsuit under the theory that these outside parties intentionally interfered with the contractual relationship between UCLA and the Rose Bowl. The argument is simple; it’s impermissible to induce someone to break a valid and binding agreement. UCLA has a lease that runs through 2043. That lease must be respected by anyone who would be tempted to persuade one of the parties to violate its terms. The concept applies throughout American business. Any contract between two parties must be respected by the rest of the world. That means not saying “see you next year” but “see you when your contract ends.” ...

Full story at https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/rose-bowl-litigation-shows-kevin-demoff-was-trying-to-lure-ucla-to-sofi-stadium.

Straws in the Wind - Part 349

From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Board of Trustees’ Ad Hoc Special Committee completed its investigation of the incident between President Michael Kotlikoff and a group of students and alumni on April 30, clearing Kotlikoff of wrongdoing and finding the actions taken by the students to be "inconsistent with University policy,” according to a statement sent to the Cornell community by the committee... Students and alumni followed Kotlikoff to his car and surrounded it, asking about free expression on campus following a debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict, hosted by the Cornell Political Union. Video footage obtained by The Sun shows that Kotlikoff reversed into one student and ran over the foot of a recent alumnus after they blocked his car.

“The Committee has found that the actions taken by these individuals on April 30th, which included following President Kotlikoff from an evening event into a parking lot and impeding his ability to leave, are inconsistent with university policies governing expressive activity and our standards for respectful conduct, safety, and the prohibition of intimidation,” the committee wrote...

Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/05/board-of-trustees-concludes-investigation-into-kotlikoff-car-incident-finds-students-violated-university-policy.

--

From the Cornell Daily Sun: Milton Taam ’73 received a persona non grata from the Cornell University Police Department on May 4, banning him from campus for three years. Taam received the persona non grata on the basis of trespassing after being present for the April 30 incident where President Michael Kotlikoff was questioned on free expression and drove into a student on campus. The persona non grata was issued to Taam on the basis of trespassing on Cornell property, specifically in the Day Hall Parking Lot, according to the persona non grata obtained by The Sun. Taam is prohibited from entering any grounds owned by Cornell for three years unless approved by the chief of CUPD. 

In an interview with The Sun, Taam said the trespassing charge “makes no sense.” Taam also said that the officers who delivered the persona non grata “didn’t at all” explain the charge to him. CUPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “The persona non grata order is basically a formalized notice that Cornell gives to individuals saying, ‘you do not have our permission to be here, and therefore entering onto Cornell property in the future will be treated as a trespass,’” said Prof. James Grimmelmann, Tessler family professor of digital and information law, to The Sun...

Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/05/alumnus-present-at-kotlikoff-car-incident-issued-persona-non-grata-3-year-ban-from-campus.

The latest scam

If you get a message like the one above, ignore it and do not call the number shown.

The May Revise

As noted in prior postings, yours truly is traveling so our analysis of the governor's May Revise budget was delayed. However, last Thursday, May 14th, the governor presented his revised budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, 2026-27. He will be termed out in January 2027 when the budget year is a little over 50% over, and his successor will have to deal with the rest of the year and come up with a budget plan for 2027-28.

The governor spent about an hour going over his proposal of which about 13 minutes was more devoted to his non-campaign for president in 2028. He then took about an hour for Q&A. 

Usually, in our past reviews of such proposals, we start with the macro and then go to the micro, i.e., UC. But let's do it in reverse this time. What about UC?

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS

• Base Funding Augmentation—The May Revision maintains the proposed increase of $254.3 million ongoing General Fund, representing a 5-percent base increase for the fifth and final year payment of the Compact. The May Revision also maintains the proposed increase of $96.3 million ongoing General Fund to provide partial funding of the fourth year Compact payment as scheduled in the 2025 Budget Act.

• Compact Funding Deferral—The May Revision maintains the planned one-time deferral of the 2025-26 Compact investment of $240.8 million, representing a 5-percent base increase in the fourth year of the Compact, to 2027-28. The May Revision also maintains the planned one-time 2025-26 deferral of $31 million to offset revenue reductions associated with the replacement of 902 nonresident undergraduate students enrolled at three campuses with an equivalent number of California resident undergraduate students, from 2025-26 to 2027-28.

• One-Time Base Deferral—The May Revision maintains the proposed delay of a one-time repayment of $129.7 million, representing a deferral of a one-time 3-percent base increase from 2025-26, from 2026-27 to 2027-28.

• Foster Youth Support Services—An increase of $1.5 million one-time General Fund to support First Star Academy Youth Cohorts at UC campuses.

Source: https://ebudget.ca.gov/2026-27/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf.

Translation: We have a multi-year "compact" with UC but we won't actually pay what is due. Instead, we will keep deferring part of what is due to the future when there will be some new governor and a new legislature and they might or might not honor it. Compact is not the same as contract. The latter is enforceable. The former isn't.

Of course, everyone understands this point. But the game is played by UC thanking the governor and then seeking more from the legislature. From UC President Milliken:

I’m deeply grateful to Gov. Newsom for his thoughtful leadership and sustained support of the University of California over the years. The UC funding included in the May revision will help ensure that the university remains affordable and accessible to California students. As the University of California faces ongoing federal funding uncertainty and increasing operational and labor costs, state funding for UC is more important than ever.  

We will continue to advocate for the resources necessary to help our hundreds of thousands of students succeed, and to support the faculty and staff who deliver the teaching, research, and patient care that Californians expect and deserve. I look forward to working with Gov. Newsom and the Legislature in the coming weeks to achieve a state budget that fully funds UC and improves the lives of every Californian.

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-statement-gov-newsoms-2026-27-revised-budget-proposal.

How effective will the UC advocacy be? The governor's May Revise for UC is about what the proposal was in January, with some tidbits added.* So the governor wasn't much affected. We will have to see what the legislature does in the next few weeks.

===

*See https://ebudget.ca.gov/budget/m/2026-27/Department/6440.

===

What about the macro?

Enough extra revenue (revenue above projections) came in thanks to AI and stock market gains to lead to a modest surplus for the current fiscal year.** Next year, however, total reserves fall rather than rise, i.e., a deficit. That isn't what the governor said during his presentation. But that is what his numbers say.

===

**There are various reserve accounts associated with the General Fund (GF). Yours truly had to estimate the changes in the Public School and Safety Net accounts using figures for 2024-25 as enacted to calculate the change in those accounts to 2025-26. LAO, which has more access to data, reports a slight deficit for the current year rather than a small surplus:

https://ebudget.ca.gov/reference/MultiYearProjection.pdf. 

LAO also reports projected deficits out to 2029-30:

https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5187.

===

NOTE: The governor's May Revise news conference can be seen at:

https://ia601802.us.archive.org/14/items/newsom-may-june-2026/newsom%205-14-2026%20May%20revise.mp4.

Straws in the Wind - Part 348

From the Daily Princetonian: All in-person examinations at Princeton will be proctored starting July 1, representing the most significant change to the honor system since it was established in 1893. The faculty passed a proposal requiring instructor supervision... with one opposing vote. The historic vote was the culmination of months of deliberation within the administration and student governing bodies about how to address increasing concerns over academic integrity violations, including the proliferation of AI usage. The proposal cleared a full faculty vote as the final of three required rounds of approval, having already been passed unanimously by the Committee on Examinations and Standing and the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy.

According to the policy proposal, previously sent by Dean of the College Michael Gordin to the Faculty Advisory Committee and included in Monday’s meeting notes, instructors will remain present in exam rooms “as a witness to what happens,” but are instructed not to interfere with students. If a suspected Honor Code violation occurs, proctors will document their observations and submit a report to the student-run Honor Committee, where they may later testify under the same standards used for other witnesses... 

The proposa... points to a growing reluctance among students to report peers directly. The proposal claims that anonymous reporting of allegations has increased in recent years, fueled by fears of “doxxing or shaming among their peer groups” online... 

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/05/princeton-news-adpol-proctoring-in-person-examinations-passed-faculty-133-years-precedent.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 162

From The Free Press: In June 2019, the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates appeared before a congressional committee to make the case for reparations. Advancing an argument he’d laid out in The Atlantic years earlier, Coates contended that America owed a debt to its black citizens not just for slavery but for generations of plundered wealth. Over the next few years, the issue had grown in visibility, and slogans like “Black Lives Matter” had entered mainstream political discourse. “It is impossible to imagine America without the inheritance of slavery,” Coates told the committee. Six months later, Harvard University took up the cause when Harvard president Lawrence Bacow convened a faculty committee to excavate the university’s historical involvement in the Atlantic slave trade.

...The university then established what it called the “Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative,” which aimed to “remedy harms to descendants, to our community and the nation, and to campus life and learning.” It committed an extraordinary $100 million to the initiative and promoted Sara Bleich, a professor of public health policy, to vice provost for special projects to shepherd the effort.

...One of the Legacy of Slavery Initiative’s first hires was a man named Richard J. Cellini. His job was to find those descendants. At that point, Harvard had identified 79 individuals who had been enslaved by university affiliates, but it had yet to locate a single living relative. “I don’t think Harvard really understood what they were getting themselves into,” Cellini told me. Cellini, 62, is not the sort of person you might expect to do this kind of work. He describes himself as an “Eisenhower Republican” rather than a “social justice warrior.” Genealogy, which is now his avocation, came to him late in life. He began his career as a lawyer on Wall Street, and then spent three decades “growing and selling” technology companies.

...Harvard soon discovered that Cellini was a forceful advocate for his work, determined to find as many descendants as he could, no matter the consequences. Meanwhile, Harvard was clearly getting nervous about the potential scope of his efforts. ...[Harvard's] anxiety was not entirely irrational. Every name Cellini added to the ledger represented a potential claim on Harvard’s commitment. Cellini pushed to enlarge the list of potential beneficiaries by including the names of slaves owned by members of the university’s governing boards—a category administrators had debated. He won that debate—and the pool grew accordingly. A research trip to Antigua, following the discovery of several hundred individuals enslaved there by Harvard affiliates between the 17th and 19th centuries, yielded an additional hundred names from public archives. Cellini and his team also met with Antigua’s prime minister and discussed opportunities for collaboration between the university and the island nation, a conversation that likely did little to reassure Harvard administrators about the project’s scope.

...Shortly after Cellini and his team returned from Antigua in January 2025, they were all fired by Harvard. The university subsequently outsourced the work to American Ancestors, a New England genealogical nonprofit now on a three-year contract. Harvard has declined to provide a specific rationale for the change. American Ancestors has denied that the university has imposed any constraints on their research...

...Harvard, like any institution invested in its own survival, is not about to bankrupt itself. Its effort will likely follow the well-worn path of local reparations programs across the country: introduced with a bang and then quietly abandoned as the logistics and finances prove untenable...

Full story at https://www.thefp.com/p/harvard-reparations-plan-failure.

The One That Didn't Get Away (but is behind closed doors, too)

Unlike our previous post about last week's Regents meeting about the conflict with the feds, we caught this one just in time, since the meeting is later today. But like all the other ones, it is behind closed doors, so we don't know if there are really any new developments.

TO THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: 

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

This notice of meeting is served in order to comply fully with pertinent open meeting laws. On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, there will be a Closed Session, Special Meeting of the Regents’ Governance Committee concurrent with the Advisory Group to discuss Research and Programs Funding Legal Issues 

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

The meeting will convene at 4:00 p.m. at 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland and adjourn at approximately 5:00 p.m. 

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

Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may26/meeting-notice_federal-may-19-2026.pdf.

The one that got away

The announcement of the (closed-door) Regents meeting above somehow got away from us. So, for the record, here it is. As blog readers will know, at the regular May 5-6 meetings at the Regents, there was also discussion (behind closed doors) of the conflict with the feds. Did some new development occur between those meetings and the May 9th announcement above?

== 

The link (for the record) to the announcement is:

https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may26/meeting-notice_federal-may-12-2026.pdf.

I Never Promised You a Rose Bowl? - Part 17

As blog readers will know, after former UCLA CFO Agostini was fired for saying Very Bad Words, it was said that the idea of moving UCLA from the Rose Bowl to the newer SOFI stadium was his baby. Blog readers will also know that that threat of such a move has sparked litigation against UCLA. A reported $30 million is being spent to snazz up the Bowl based in part on UCLA's long-term lease.

In case you missed it, the LA Times recently carried a report that suggested maybe UCLA is reconsidering its proposed departure from the Rose Bowl:

Last October, in the wake of UCLA’s threats to terminate its contract with the stadium, the Rose Bowl Operating Co. and the City of Pasadena filed a lawsuit to force the Bruins to honor the remaining two decades of their deal and keep their home football games at the historic venue through 2044. UCLA is staying put for next season and there are indications the sides could be quietly heading toward a settlement that would keep the Bruins in place for the foreseeable future, ending their flirtation with SoFi Stadium.

Speaking to the media at UCLA’s recent spring game, coach Bob Chesney heaped praise on the Rose Bowl, saying, “To get a chance to walk in here and just feel this ... is pretty special, we addressed that last night as a team and made sure we understand the respect that this place deserves and understand the attitude of gratitude we should have.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2026-05-11/inside-rose-bowl-30-million-renovation-ucla-football.

Straws in the Wind - Part 347

From the Boston Globe: When Gaurav Jashnani was offered a position as an assistant professor at Hampshire College, he saw it as a good move: Even though the iconoclastic liberal arts school doesn’t have a tenure system, the job would put him on a forward-moving track at a forward-looking institution. So in 2024, he relocated his family from Belmont to Northampton, where he became a first-time homeowner. Now, less than a month after Hampshire announced it would close, he’s staring down unemployment. Like most of the school’s roughly 250 employees, he will have no paycheck, no severance, and few job prospects after June, since the hiring cycle for the coming academic year has already closed.

“It’s been kind of a train wreck,” said Jashnani, who teaches psychology, Black studies, and disability studies. For some faculty members, “we just don’t know how we’re going to pay our bills.” Like students, many Hampshire faculty and staff thought the college was on the upswing after nearly closing in 2019. The school, however, was not able to recruit enough students to stabilize its finances, and it failed to secure much-needed debt refinancing and a crucial land sale in recent months. Administrators nevertheless remained optimistic, inviting alumni to brainstorm on Zoom about Hampshire’s “next three to five years” as recently as March 25. Less than three weeks later, on April 14, Hampshire announced it would close.

Now some faculty wonder how Hampshire went from projecting confidence to pulling the plug so quickly — with nothing left to offer its employees...

Full story at http://bostonglobe.com/2026/05/07/metro/hampshire-college-employees-closure/.

Balanced Approach

From the San Francisco Chronicle: “Sense and Sensibility and Science” was started 13 years ago by a team of UC Berkeley professors, including a Nobel laureate, who wanted to give students the tools to combat misinformation and improve their communication skills in an increasingly confusing world. They did not expect the class to become so popular — it’s now taught at a handful of other schools including Harvard and the University of Chicago — or for their lessons to become even more urgent.

The class is part philosophy and part behavioral science. It’s meant to help students make more thoughtful decisions, look and listen past their biases, and embrace humility and the idea that they may not always be right. Assignments include attempting challenging conversations with friends or family. It’s a course, say the professors who run it, with the ultimate goal of bettering the world.

Saul Perlmutter, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2011 for his work studying distant supernovas to determine how the universe is expanding, helped start the class in 2013. He said he did so because he recognized that the tools that scientists use to communicate and share ideas could help people have more productive conversations on all kinds of practical, everyday topics.

“There are very few things we can fix in everybody’s life by getting to the bottom of the Big Bang,” he joked. “In my grandiose optimistic picture,” he said, “eventually everybody is learning this stuff and can go into conversations feeling like their job isn’t to convince everyone that they’re right, but to figure out where they’re making mistakes and hearing everyone out.” ...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/uc-berkeley-class-saul-perlmutter-22237250.php.

Straws in the Wind - Part 346

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: An Indiana University biology professor who has condemned the U.S. government’s prosecution of Chinese scientists now finds himself locked out of his lab amid a federal investigation. The closure of the lab and other research space at the Bloomington campus marks the latest step in months of scrutiny of Chinese researchers and, by extension, American colleagues who have come to their defense.

Neither federal authorities nor the university, whose police department closed the labs on Thursday night, have offered a reason for the lockout, the chair of Indiana’s biology department said. But it came weeks after one of the professor’s postdoctoral students was ordered deported to China for allegedly smuggling biological materials into the United States, a move criticized by the professor, Roger W. Innes.

“It seems pretty obvious that this is an attempt by the current administration to silence people that question their activities,” Innes told The Chronicle.

Meanwhile, the indefinite closure of multiple labs, offices, and storage facilities — many of which have no affiliation with Innes or his lab — has hampered the work of approximately 50 other individuals at Indiana, said the department chair, Armin P. Moczek. And although the university has said it shut down the facilities at the order of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the department told The Chronicle it had issued no such order...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-professor-defended-a-postdoc-who-was-deported-now-his-lab-has-been-suddenly-locked-down.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 161

From the Harvard Crimson: Former Harvard President Claudine Gay earned more than $1.5 million in 2024, according to Harvard’s annual tax filings, receiving a higher compensation package in the year after she resigned from the presidency than she did during her six months in Massachusetts Hall. Gay’s compensation rose from the more than $1.3 million she earned in 2023 — which spanned the end of her term as Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean and all six months of her presidency. Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 earned more than $1.6 million in 2024, his first compensation reported while serving at Harvard’s helm. Garber served as interim president from January to August 2024, when he was appointed to the position permanently.

And Harvard Management Company Chief Executive Officer N.P. “Narv” Narvekar — the highest-paid employee across HMC and Harvard — earned more than $6.2 million in 2024, a slight increase from his $6 million payout in 2023. The compensation, released as part of the University’s Form 990 tax filings for fiscal year 2025, is required annually by the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt entities. Salaries are reported for the 2024 calendar year...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/15/harvard-form-990-gay-garber-2024/.

Wait!

The Wall St. Journal ran an article about college waitlists for admission. Selective schools offer many rejected applicants the option of being on their waitlists.* Why not? Those rejected applicants who receive such offers will often accept waitlisted status unless they are completely happy with a school they did get into. But very few on the waitlist are accepted. At UC-Berkeley, as the chart above shows, the number who got in via the waitlist last fall was Zero.

UC President Milliken has talked about public discontent with higher ed with opaque admissions being one of the causes. A waitlist with a Zero probability - or even a close-to-zero probability - isn't likely to improve the situation.

==

*https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-waitlists-national-decision-day-4cb7b5d8.

Straws in the Wind - Part 345

From George Washington University media relations: The university is aware of reports that at Israel Fest..., individuals dropped vials containing an unknown substance, in an apparent attempt to disrupt the festival.

At least one student was injured by this incident, which is now under an investigation that will examine among other things whether individuals were targeted based on their Jewish faith. The university condemns this reprehensible and criminal action. Acts like this have no place in our community, which is a safe and inclusive place for individuals of all backgrounds, perspectives and experiences.

The university, in cooperation with law enforcement as appropriate, will utilize all available avenues to investigate these concerning reports thoroughly and hold any perpetrators who are identified accountable to the fullest extent under university policies and applicable law.

Full release at https://mediarelations.gwu.edu/university-statement-israel-fest.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 160

From the Harvard Crimson: At least 259 Harvard officials enslaved more than 1,600 people over a 229-year period. Researchers expect both numbers to grow as they continue working to identify enslaved individuals. Harvard officials enslaved more than 1,600 people from 1636 to 1865, new research released Tuesday shows. Harvard University shared details in a new database about the people who were enslaved as well as those who owned them. Researchers with the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative say they’ve found at least 259 Harvard university leaders, faculty, staff and board members who enslaved individuals. 

The initiative, which began in 2022 as a way to identify the descendants of enslaved individuals, partnered with American Ancestors, a national genealogical nonprofit, on the project. Harvard officials said the database is expected to grow beyond the initial 1,613 people. In a 2022 report, the university identified 70 people who were enslaved... Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor who directs the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and serves on the initiative’s advisory council, said in the university’s news article that he hopes Harvard will be a leader “in demonstrating institutional honesty and humility in confronting the complexities of our institutional past...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/05/13/harvard-tallies-how-many-people-officials-enslaved.

Watch the Regents Meeting of May 6, 2026

We are again catching up with the Regents, this time for their second-day meeting of May 6. The meeting began with public comments covering disabled students, complaints about ERs being well-above capacity, support for the AFSCME negotiations,* lack of budget information for student government, revisiting the issue of hiring undocumented students by UC, student affordability and basic needs including housing costs and childcare, revisiting the issue of departmental political statements, two thank-yous to Regent Sures for statements on antisemitism, and divestment. There was a brief AFSCME protest at the end of the public comment session.

Grad student Valadez spoke about federal cutbacks, advocacy for a second student regent, and made a veiled criticism of an unnamed Regent. (This may have been Sures for the same reason he received praise in public comments.) Undergrad student rep Hariharan spoke about federal cutbacks, disabled student funding, Native American students, a need for ICE warnings on campus, and support for union workers. 

There was then a presentation about the research "landscape" which included reference to federal cutbacks and support for the proposed state bond for research. There was an emphasis on medical research, scientific patents, and commercialization of such research and patents. Following that presentation was one on campus energy systems referencing emissions reductions, decarbonization over twenty years, and UC-Santa Barbara's purchases of renewable electricity and a new heating and cooling system. Regent Makarechian wondered whether new developments in small nuclear power plants should be considered.

In the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee, some items were pulled off the consent calendar for more detailed discussion. These items included expenditure rates from the General Endowment Pool for UC usage and administrative purposes. Modified version of these items were approved although Milliken voted "no." Exactly what his concerns were was unclear. This episode seemed unusual. First, apparently controversial items were initially put on the consent calendar. Second, approval over opposition by the UC president - one newly appointed - would seem to be significant.

New student housing for UC-Santa Cruz sparked some controversy. Regent Makarechian, who has more knowledge of real estate development than many other regents, noted that with land costs for campus housing being zero, the proposed housing seemed expensive compared with the private sector (which has to deal with land costs). He also noted that the housing proposed was bare bones, with 3 in a room sharing a bathroom, unlike the private sector. Ultimately, he abstained from voting. UC-Santa Cruz spokespersons said the "geology" of the campus was more difficult than in the City of Santa Cruz. In contrast, a building for UC-San Francisco for hearing disorders was quickly approved.

Item F4 - suspension of STIP loans to the pension for a year - was approved without much discussion. Regent Cohen said that UC needed to have liquidity given the current budgetary pressures. The consultant/actuary noted that this suspension was not the first to occur and that going forward estimates of the calendar of pension funding would be made without assuming further STIP usage. This was another issue that seemed to merit more discussion than it got.

The final item was the UCOP budget. Makarechian asked about legal costs, given the current conflict with the feds. Were lawsuits aimed at particular campuses being handled at the systemwide or campus level? The answer he got was fuzzy. It was said that campus lawsuits that had systemwide implications would be handled at the systemwide level. But it was never clear which those were.

Regent Hernandez asked whether there was still funding for the Hawaiian Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT). It was said by Nathan Brostrom that there was no cost at this time (although some funding had been set aside in the past), and that planning had shifted to the Canary Islands location. It was unclear if this shift was now a definite decision or just an option - but it sounded more like the former than the latter. If that is so, it is a Big Deal for the project. But this was again a matter than seemed to float by with little attention.

Academic and Student Affairs featured a review of UC's student programs in Washington, DC and Sacramento.

Public Engagement and Development had a report on state government relations. Note that this session occurred before the governor's May Revise budget proposal. There was discussion of the proposed research bond and repeated notes that the campaign in the legislature to put the bond on the ballot was being undertaken in cooperation with UAW. There is also support for a housing bond that might provide some student housing support. It was noted that UC can advocate for bills to put things on the ballot. But if they actually make it to the ballot, UC as an institution cannot provide support.

The May 6 meeting ended with full board approval of the various committee reports and tributes to various outgoing regents and representatives.

==

As always, we preserve recording of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on retention and their YouTube recordings are unlisted. You can find the May 6 meeting at:

https://archive.org/details/regents-finance-and-capital-strategies-academic-and-student-affairs-5-6-2026.

==

*In a prior post last Tuesday, we noted that an AFSCME spokesperson indicated that UC wanted to push AFSCME-covered staff out of Kaiser and into UC providers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 344

From the Daily Princetonian: Princeton will not have to pay any net investment income tax on returns from its $36.4 billion endowment, a University investment official said at a private event in January, after a recent expansion of its undergraduate financial aid program left the University below a 3,000 tuition-paying student threshold to qualify for taxation. Experts had projected that the new tax on wealthy university endowments — enacted under H.R. 1, the omnibus tax and spending bill passed by congressional Republicans in July 2025 — would have cost Princeton roughly $180 million annually. The 8 percent endowment tax was predicted to impose one of the country’s highest university tax burdens on Princeton, which currently enrolls 9,100 undergraduate and graduate students. According to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, recent widespread budget cuts have been driven by decreased long-term endowment projections — growth estimates that likely would have been further eroded if the University were required to pay the tax.

...In July, amid several Trump administration attacks on higher education, Congress set the 8 percent tax rate for universities with over $2 million in endowment funds per student and over 3,000 tuition-paying students. At around $3.9 million in endowment funds per student, Princeton was expected to be subject to the tax, and many of its peer institutions are still likely to pay hundreds of millions annually. 

...Emeritus Professor of Economics Burton Malkiel GS ’64, who has publicly written about how universities benefit from the illiquid assets of endowments, called the University’s endowment tax strategy a “brilliant response to a punitive and discriminatory tax.” The expansion of financial aid “increases our income and produces much-needed student support,” he wrote to the ‘Prince.’ ...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/05/princeton-news-adpol-university-spared-endowment-tax-financial-aid-millions-princo.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 159

From the Harvard Crimson: A group of former Harvard athletes who are now physicians and scientists pitched the University’s sports medicine team last summer on disclosing the risk of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy to contact-sport athletes. Nearly a year later, the group says they have heard nothing back. At least seven former Harvard football players have been diagnosed with CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head impacts that can only be confirmed via autopsy, according to Christopher J. Nowinski ’00, the co-founder and CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation. The most recent diagnosis, Jim Higgins ’70, came earlier this year.

The other publicly identified cases are James M. Peccerillo ’78, Toby Brundage III ’95, Mike T. Brooks ’01, Dick Clasby ’54, Hank Keohane ’60, and Christopher J. Eitzmann ’99, a former Harvard football captain who went on to play for the New England Patriots. The youngest of the seven died in his 30s. Nowinski, a former Harvard defensive lineman, said he first raised the issue with Harvard Athletics Director Erin McDermott at an Ivy League Football Association dinner in January 2025...

Nowinski said communication from Harvard Athletics stopped after the presentation. “We could not get emails returned,” he said, “so we suspect they did not go forward with our proposal to provide education on CTE to Harvard athletes.” ...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/6/cte-training-unanswered/.

Watch the Regents Meeting of May 5, 2026

We're catching up with the Regents' May 5 meeting, the first of two days. The meeting began with public comments. Topics included complaints about an ICE official who spoke at a UCLA law school program, a UC-Davis family center (??? speaker was unclear), anti-Israel, resident doctor negotiations, termination of the UC-Davis equestrian team, ICE notifications, divestment, divestment from Apollo, disabled student programs, names of protesters shared with federal government, revisiting UC hiring of undocumented students, AFSCME negotiations, and a proposal for a second student regent.

The Health Services Committee heard a report on the strategic plan for UC Health. It was noted that ERs are getting more patients due to federal cutbacks. 

At the full Board, Chair Riley noted that this would be her last meeting as chair and reflected on UC's contributions. She welcomed newly-appointed Regents. UC President Milliken took note of the significant legal expenses incurred as a result of the conflict with the federal government. He referenced public concerns about higher ed as described in the recent Yale report. Problems mentioned were complicated pricing, campus climate, and opaque admissions standards. He suggested a need for more transparency with regard to pricing and admissions. With regard to the latter, it's not clear what that would mean as long as subjective judgments are made. Faculty representative Palazoglu discussed the need for a new Master Plan and wanted the Academic Senate to be involved in developing such a Plan. There was then a tribute to selected UC and UCLA alumni. Finally, there was a celebration of UCLA women's basketball and a presentation by coach Cori Close followed by brief remarks by Chancellor Frenk.

The Governance Committee proposed the appointment of a new director for the Berkeley National Lab and the full Board reconvened to ratify the appointment.

The Investments Committee hear a brief report by CFO Bachhar covering the first 9 months of the fiscal year in which returns looked good thanks to the stock market. A disturbance at the meeting halted the session and the room was cleared. Bachhar cited the usual uncertainties: war, inflation, AI. It was noted during the discussion that the Blue and Gold Pool, which is a simple indexed fund, i.e., no stock picking, nothing but equities and fixed income, performed very well at very low administrative cost. It was suggested that maybe other funds managed by the CFO's office might be run that way.

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As always, we preserve recordings of the Regents sessions since the Regents have no policy on retention and their YouTube recordings are unlisted. The sessions described above are at:

https://archive.org/details/regents-may-5-2026.

Straws in the Wind - Part 343

From the Yale Daily News: Yale postdoctoral researchers opted to unionize in a landslide vote... The University’s postdoctoral associates and research fellows cast votes... to decide whether they would join UNITE HERE Local 33. The union, which represents Yale’s graduate and professional student workers, ratified its first contract with the University in 2023. In [the] vote, 859 postdoctoral researchers voted in favor of joining the union and 31 voted against, according to union spokesperson Ian Dunn. Yale has around 1,200 postdoctoral researchers in total, according to Yale’s Office for Postdoctoral Affairs.

The vote means that Local 33 will represent postdoctoral researchers in negotiations to seek a contract with Yale. A page on the union’s website under the heading “Yale Postdoctoral Scholars United” lists concerns regarding pay, job security and the handling of grievances.

...The vote aligns Yale with some peer universities. In April 2024, the National Labor Relations Board recognized a union including postdoctoral researchers at Harvard, according to the union’s website. Princeton postdoctoral researchers voted to be represented by a union the following month...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-postdoctoral-researchers-vote-overwhelmingly-to-unionize.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 158

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Science plans to increase Ph.D. admissions next year, partially reversing steep reductions imposed across its divisions this academic cycle, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra announced... Hoekstra said... that the FAS is “on track” to admit more graduate students next year after cutting Ph.D. admissions by roughly half across its divisions last fall — one of the school’s most dramatic cost-saving measures as it worked to close a looming $365 million structural deficit.

The planned increase marks the latest retreat from a policy that drew swift backlash from faculty, especially in the Sciences Division, and generated months of tension within the FAS’s senior leadership...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/6/fas-increases-phd-slots/.

News while traveling

Yours truly is currently in transit. However, two items are in the news today:

1) The AFSCME strike is now off. A settlement was reached at the last minute. (It is not unusual for negotiations to conclude at deadlines.)

From the LA Times:

A strike that would have disrupted operations affecting thousands of University of California hospital patients and students was averted at the 11th hour Thursday morning after UC and leaders of 40,000 union members reached a tentative agreement, winning raises and capped healthcare costs for workers...

2) From the NY Times:

The University of California, Los Angeles, should toughen its approach to combating antisemitism, an internal committee recommended Thursday, after the Trump administration and many students and faculty members said it had not done enough to curb harassment of Jews on campus...

Some of the recommendations in Thursday’s report fall beyond U.C.L.A.’s authority. For example, the group suggested that the University of California as a whole consider using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism....

Dozens of American universities have adopted the definition, including Columbia and Harvard last year. In March, the University of California, Berkeley, agreed as a part of a legal settlement that it would continue to consider the definition and its examples “whenever investigating or assessing claims of discrimination or harassment against Jews or Israeli individuals.” The president of the University of California system, James B. Milliken, did not immediately commit to embracing the definition across its 10 campuses. But Mr. Milliken hailed U.C.L.A.’s efforts as “important and impressive” and said, “Antisemitism is antithetical to the core values of the University of California, and it is essential that we continue to demonstrate this principle through our policies and actions.” ...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/us/ucla-considers-new-tactics-to-combat-antisemitism.html.

Degree+

From a May 1 news release by the governor's office: Governor Gavin Newsom... highlighted the efforts of the University of California (UC) system to better prepare undergraduate students for a rapidly changing workforce influenced by tech-driven economic change. The UC Degree Plus Program, launched in 2025, is a two-year pilot program currently available at no additional cost to UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and UC San Diego (UCSD) students, combining a UC bachelor’s degree with skills-based certificates and paid internships to strengthen workforce readiness, connect students with employers, and improve career outcomes in an increasingly competitive labor market. The UC Degree Plus program will serve 480 students across both campuses from 2025-2027 and is already in high demand...

Full release at https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/05/01/new-uc-degree-plus-pilot-program-shows-demand-for-career-readiness-training/.

More detail on the program at:

https://www.ucop.edu/academic-affairs/initiatives/degree-plus.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 342

From the Brown Daily Herald: In a United States Senate Appropriations Committee hearing..., Alabama Sen. Katie Britt attacked Brown’s security preparedness for the Dec. 13 shooting. Britt stated that Brown violated the Clery Act — which the University is currently under investigation for — which stipulates requirements for security and safety on university campuses. Britt is a Republican senator from Alabama, the home state of Ella Cook ’28, who was killed in the shooting. 

...“Public reporting from local stations and student news outlets has made it clear to me that the murder of Ella Cook, her fellow classmate and the wounding of nine others were entirely preventable,” Britt said in the hearing. “They were the predictable result of more than a decade of ideological degradation and the vilification of police and law enforcement at Brown.”

“Brown did nothing,” Britt repeated throughout her statements. University spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in a statement to The Herald that “there should be no ambiguity about Brown University’s enduring commitment to maintaining a safe and secure campus.” ...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2026/04/alabama-sen-katie-britt-attacks-brown-s-preparedness-response-to-dec-13-shooting.

Last Cash Before Revise

The governor will present his May Revise budget proposal later today. As noted in a prior blog posting, yours truly will be on an airplane at the time so any analysis of the proposal will be delayed. However, we do have the state controller's cash report through April, the big month for income tax receipts. And the story of above-forecast revenues continued.

Revenues for the current fiscal year through April, i.e., through the first ten months, were $12.1 billion above what the governor projected in January, and $23.7 billion above what was projected at the start of the fiscal year.

The major contributor to both excesses over projections was the personal income tax, so stock market gains. Both projections got the sales tax about right, so the underlying economy was performing about at levels estimated.

Finally, the state is sitting on $87 billion in unused borrowable resources, so there is lots of internal liquidity.

We'll see how the governor and legislature react to these developments shortly.

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The state controller's report through April is at:

https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/April2026StatementofGeneralFundCashReceiptsandDisbursements.pdf.

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Note: There is one dark spot with regard to revenue and that is from the cap-and-trade program that provides revenue for various programs, notably the high-speed rail. Revenues from cap-and-trade are falling below projections. The rail project is proving embarrassing for the governor's non-campaign for president and threats to revenues for it don't help. See:

https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2026/Amendments-to-Cap-and-Invest-050626.pdf.

Close

We noted in a prior posting that an item proposing a salary increase for women's basketball coach Cori Close had been removed from the May 5-6 agenda of the Regents.* That seemed odd, given the team's recent record.

However, the Daily Bruin now reports that Close has just signed a contract extension:

Cori Close spent the past two seasons picking up national coaching honors and championship rings – accolades that will now secure her spot in Westwood for the next four seasons. UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close signed a new contract through the 2029-30 season, the team announced in a press release Tuesday afternoon. The news comes just over a month after the 2025 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year led the Bruins to their first national championship in the NCAA era...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/12/coach-cori-close-signs-new-contract-continuing-fours-up-for-next-four-years.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/how-related.html.

Is there a prize for academic creativity?

Full story at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8pwjdp6do.

Straws in the Wind - Part 341 (Let's just play Pomp & Circumstance and go home)

From Inside Higher Ed: The Rutgers University at New Brunswick School of Engineering canceled a pro-Palestinian alumnus as its convocation speaker after, the university says, some graduating students complained about his social media posts. In March, the school’s website published an “Alumni Spotlight” interview with Rami Elghandour, chairman and chief executive officer of biotechnology company Arcellx. The piece touted his social justice and humanitarian advocacy and noted he was an executive producer of The Voice of Hind Rajab, an Oscar-nominated film about a Gazan girl killed by Israeli forces in the recent war.

Elghandour was set to speak at the school’s May 15 convocation, but the school canceled. In a statement to Inside Higher Ed, the university said the “School of Engineering was recently informed that some graduating students would not attend their graduation ceremony due to concerns about the invited speaker’s social media posts, including one that shared an inflammatory claim.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/05/07/rutgers-disinvites-grad-speaker-after-he-criticizes-israel.

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From the Jewish Journal: When Georgetown Law School announced recently that Dr. Morton Schapiro, Professor and President Emeritus of Northwestern University, would be its commencement speaker, Interim Dean Joshua C. Teitelbaum noted that Schapiro is “highly informed about the challenges facing colleges and universities today,” and that “there are few who can speak to it with as much clarity and insight as he can.”

...[But] in his Jewish Journal column, Schapiro has written about a range of subjects, including the need for hope and optimism and improving the public discourse. ...He has also expressed supportive views of Israel. That was a bridge too far for a group of law students... The outcry became loud enough that Schapiro could only imagine what was reserved for him on the day of the address. ...He felt he had little choice but to withdraw...

Full story at https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/editors-note/388524/georgetown-commencementspeaker-mort-schapiro-backs-out-after-firestorm-caused-by-his-jewish-journal-columns/.

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Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrzApHZUUF0.

Stopped

From the LA Times: The National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 research grants to UC Berkeley last month despite a court injunction restricting such suspensions, according to an attorney representing university scientists in a class-action lawsuit. The NSF declined to comment on the suspensions.

The grants include at least one that the NSF had previously canceled and was compelled by a federal court order to restore, for a series of mixed-reality exhibits at the Lawrence Hall of Science showcasing Indigenous Ohlone knowledge about the natural world, said one of the project’s leaders, Jedda Foreman...

The University of California is ramping up efforts to find alternative funding for its multibillion-dollar research enterprise as federal support becomes less reliable. On Monday [of last week], UC President James Milliken spoke alongside state Sen. Scott Wiener and United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain at a Sacramento rally in support of state legislation to create a $23-billion fund for scientific research...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-05-10/trump-administration-again-suspends-uc-berkeley-research-grants.

Paid Off

Remember last week's hacking into Canvas that caused an interruption in availability of Bruin Learn?

It turns out that Instructure, the supplier of Canvas, paid a ransom to get its data back, presumably thereby protecting all the students and faculty in the various universities that use Canvas. From Inside Higher Ed:

Instructure has paid a ransom to a gang of cybercriminals that have twice hacked the company’s learning management system, Canvas, over the past week and a half. nstructure has paid a ransom to a gang of cybercriminals that have twice hacked the company’s learning management system, Canvas, over the past week and a half. According to an update published by the education-technology company Monday night, the deal means that the hackers have returned the compromised data of some 275 million users across more than 8,800 institutions...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/administrative-tech/2026/05/11/instructure-pays-ransom-canvas-hackers.

Is AFSCME being pushed out of Kaiser?

We will cover the Regents meetings of May 5-6 in a separate posting. But an AFSCME strike is now impending and there were spokespersons from the union at the May 6 public comments session of the Regents.

Of course, we don't know what is happening behind closed doors at negotiations between UC and AFSCME. But one of the AFSCME commenters suggested that UC is trying to push the 70% of AFSCME workers that now choose Kaiser as their health provider into plans that utilize UC providers.

See an excerpt from his comment below:

Or direct to https://ia903202.us.archive.org/32/items/regents-finance-and-capital-strategies-academic-and-student-affairs-5-6-2026/Kaiser%20to%20UC%20providers%20AFSCME%205-6-2026.mp4.

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Note that if there is a UC push away from Kaiser regarding AFSCME-represented staff, the same might occur for other groups, actives and retired.

Straws in the Wind - Part 340

From the LA Times: ...Today’s college students say that picking a major that’s “AI-proof” feels like shooting at a moving target as they prepare for a job market that could be fundamentally different by the time they graduate. As a result, many are reconsidering their career paths. About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, while recent Gallup polling found that U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being replaced by new technologies. The uncertainty appears most concentrated among those pursuing degrees in technology and vocational areas of study, where students feel a need to develop expertise in AI but also fear being replaced by it.

A recent Quinnipiac poll found that the vast majority of Americans believe it’s “very” or “somewhat” important for college and university students to be taught how to use AI, as Gallup Workforce polling has found that AI is getting adopted in technology-related fields at higher rates. Meanwhile, students studying healthcare and natural sciences may be less affected by AI overhauls, Gallup found.

...A recent Gallup poll of Generation Z youths and adults ages 14 to 29 found increasing skepticism and concerns about AI. Although half of Gen Z adults use AI at least “weekly,” and teenagers report higher use, many in this generation see drawbacks to the technology and worry about AI’s effect on their cognitive abilities and job prospects. About half, 48%, of Gen Z workers say the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh the possible benefits.

Part of the challenge for college students is that the experts they would typically turn to for advice, such as advisors, professors and parents, don’t have any answers...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-05-05/college-students-are-in-search-of-ai-proof-majors.

Former Westside Pavilion

Urbanize LA is running an article on the research facility UCLA is developing at the former Westside Pavilion with these images. 

Source: https://la.urbanize.city/post/heres-closer-look-plans-ucla-research-park.

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The article also notes UCLA's purchase of the campus of a defunct Catholic College in Palos Verdes which - as far as yours truly knows - nobody has figured out yet what to do with. So no dramatic future images of that facility are available.

Celebrating Bond - Part 2

In a prior post, we noted that UC is pushing for a state research bond that would make up for federal cutbacks.*

The campaign is underway. From a UCOP press release:

UC, State Senator Wiener, UAW host rally for California science to urge lawmakers to pass SB 895

May 4, 2026

SACRAMENTO – UC President James B. Milliken today joined California State Senator Scott Wiener and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain to rally in support of California science and urge state lawmakers to pass SB 895, bipartisan legislation that would place a $23 billion bond to fund scientific research across California on the November 2026 ballot.  

“California’s prosperity is inextricably connected to its investment in university research and discovery,” said President Milliken, who was joined at the rally by hundreds of UC researchers, faculty and staff. “SB 895 comes at a pivotal moment, providing a lifeline that delivers economic opportunity and life-saving medical care for our residents.” 

If passed, SB 895 would help ensure that critical scientific research continues in California, strengthening the state’s resilience through investments in biomedical and health research, climate and environmental science, behavioral health, wildfire resilience and emerging technologies.  

With 10 campuses, six academic health centers and administrative oversight of three national labs, UC employs more than 265,000 across the state and treats 2.5 million patients a year. For every $1 the State of California invests in UC, $21.04 in economic output is generated across the state. Last year, UC received the most U.S. utility patents of any university, helping keep the nation at the forefront of scientific discovery and global competitiveness. 

But today, UC faces one of the most severe threats to its research enterprise in its 158-year history. Significant reductions and disruptions in federal scientific funding could hinder the state’s ability to remain a global leader in technology, innovation and multidisciplinary research, impacting jobs, health care and the economy in California.  

If passed by voters, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act would help fund modernization of research facilities, expansion of laboratory and clinical capacity, and improvements to public health infrastructure. These investments are projected to support a wide variety of jobs, from construction and skilled trades, to scientists, technicians and healthcare researchers, while strengthening the pipeline of future talent. 

Research funding generates jobs, fuels California’s economy 

California’s leadership in biotechnology, life sciences and medical innovation has been a cornerstone of its economic success. The state’s universities, hospitals and research institutions provide the infrastructure needed for clinical trials, product development and advanced manufacturing. The investments made by SB 895 will support thousands of students and researchers at California universities with jobs in growing industries.  

“The science bond is one of the best investments we can make in California’s future,” said Senator Wiener. “Scientific research is a pillar of California’s economy and prosperity and one of California’s greatest contributions to the world. It fuels our world-class universities. Our life sciences sector supports over a million jobs and billions in economic output. To millions of families and loved ones struggling with untreatable illnesses, scientific research represents hope. SB 895 will power those dreams and that success for another generation — putting power back in the hands of Californians to steer the next generation of scientific advances while the federal government pulls back.” 

SB 895 tackles complex and interconnected challenges  

SB 895 would also provide dedicated funding for research into the health impacts of wildfires, including air quality, respiratory illness and community resilience, while strengthening California’s capacity to detect and respond to future pandemics through improved laboratory networks and rapid response capabilities. 

“This measure could help you or someone you love by continuing research in groundbreaking therapies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and more,” said UAW Region 6 Director Mike Miller. UAW represents approximately 60,000 workers across the University of California system in a wide range of academic and non-academic roles, including academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants, graduate student researchers, postdoctoral scholars, and professionals in student services, advising, research and public service.  “As the federal government slashes research funding across the country, we are proud to come together with Senator Wiener, Assemblymember Solache and the University of California to ensure that California meets the moment.” 

Return on investment and pharmaceutical discounts 

Historically, public investment in research has delivered strong returns by driving economic growth, boosting tax revenues and improving residents’ health. SB 895 builds on that track record by allowing the state to recapture a share of licensing and royalty revenues from inventions and technologies developed with public funding. SB 895 also helps to make health care more accessible by ensuring California residents receive discounts for pharmaceuticals developed through this research.  

Support for SB 895 is bipartisan and broad-based, from researchers and physicians to legislators throughout the state. The bill is sponsored by UAW Region 6 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). It is jointly authored by Senators Sasha Renée Pérez and Aisha Wahab, and principal co-authored by Assemblymembers José Luis Solache, Jr., Mike Gipson, Jacqui Irwin, Al Muratsuchi and Darshana Patel, Ph.D. Thirty-seven members of the State Legislature are co-authoring the bill to date. 

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-state-senator-wiener-uaw-host-rally-california-science-urge-lawmakers-pass-sb-895.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/04/celebrating-bond.html.