A recent article in the Daily Bruin reports on layoffs in campus IT services, purportedly linked to budgetary pressures.* The individuals involved are represented by UPTE-CWA and the union has raised some issues regarding contractual layoff procedures - which presumably can be adjudicated through the grievance process. The layoffs reportedly are also linked to the "One IT" initiative which aims to centralize IT functions, in part for cybersecurity reasons.
That centralization project is a topic in itself, but to the extent that budget concerns are part of the motivation, the layoffs should serve as a reminder that we finished fiscal year 2025-26 as of June 30th. That fact, in turn, should jog memories of past budget-related events, notably the sacking of UCLA's CFO after he released a forecast for the now-finished fiscal year and said that prior budgetary releases by UCLA were garbage, a Very Bad Thing to say.
Since the 2025-26 fiscal year is now behind us, it is reasonable to ask when we will see an accounting for that year. We have raised questions in the past about the ability of Murphy Hall to produce such numbers on a speedy basis. We have noted that a very big chunk of the UCLA budget is found in the the health enterprise, which seems to be relatively autonomous and whose numbers may not in fact be readily available to the folks in Murphy Hall.
But all this is outside speculation, albeit based on past performance. Murphy Hall could prove us wrong by simply producing a basic income statement and balance sheet for fiscal 2025-26. Presumably, in this age of computers and AI, that should now be a routine task. Unless, of course, it isn't.
So, where are the numbers?
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