Picking Dates

The Regents pick tentative dates for their regular meetings a year or so in advance. But the dates tend to shift for unknown reasons as the original selections grow nearer. For example, the upcoming September meetings at UCLA were originally set for Sept. 15-17. Then the last day was lopped off and the schedule became Sept. 15-16. Why? Not enough business to do? Your guess is as good as mine. But recently, a day was added back, but this time it is earlier. So now the schedule reads Sept. 14-16. Why the addition after the subtraction and the time shift? Who knows?

The schedule is at https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/. The Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive was used to track the changes: https://web.archive.org/.

Union News: Police Contract

From UC News: The University of California and the Federated University Police Officers’ Association (FUPOA) have reached a tentative agreement on a new systemwide contract covering approximately 273 sworn, non-supervisory police officers across the University.

The four-year tentative agreement, which will run July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2030, provides significant wage increases and includes enhancements to longevity pay, additional compensation and allowances. The agreement follows six months of bargaining and reflects the parties’ shared effort to address priorities on both sides...

Full news release at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/university-california-and-federated-university-police-officers-association-fupoa-reach.

Straws in the Wind - Part 451

From Inside Higher Ed: A number of faculty members at Texas A&M University–Victoria have quit after the university announced in late June that full-time faculty are required to be on campus for eight hours a day, five days per week this fall. As a result, multiple classes have been canceled and some departments are nearly empty...

According to a June 26 email from the provost... “faculty are expected to have day-to-day physical presence on campus for in-person interaction with students, administration, other employees and the community,” and “to be on campus 5 days a week and maintain a 40-hour workweek.” Failure to comply “may subject an individual to discipline, up to and including termination.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/2026/08/25/faculty-quit-texas-university-orders-them-back-campus.

Supreme Court Appeal

From E&E News/Politico: The Trump administration this week asked the nation’s highest bench to overturn a lower court ruling that said agencies’ termination of grants because they are “DEI” violated the First Amendment. The Constitution’s protections against free speech generally prohibit the government from showing “viewpoint discrimination.” This case the administration has presented to the Supreme Court could determine whether that includes terminating grants a new administration does not like, which President Donald Trump directed en masse after returning to power last year.

The petition was filed by several University of California researchers whose grants from EPA, the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities were terminated, some allegedly because of a nexus to diversity, equity or inclusion, known as DEI.

Source: https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-let-him-terminate-dei-research-grants/.