Here is the summary of your blog postings for the week of October 18–24, 2026, in the order they were posted each day:
October 18, 2026
Tempest in a Teapot - It Continues – Follows up on earlier posts with a Daily Bruin editorial about whistleblower and retaliation complaints filed by seven current and former employees against UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako, and the editorial’s call for UCLA to explain why she remains in her post. You note that “we continue to wait.”
Straws in the Wind - Part 498 – From the Daily Princetonian: Princeton is weighing a reorganization of its Center on Science and Technology as part of wider budget cuts that followed the 2025 suspension of federal research grants.
Opening Soon on a Computer Near You! – Alerts readers that UC Open Enrollment opens Friday. Per the Academic Senate newsletter, overall health insurance costs will rise 9.5% in 2027, and Health Net, administrator of the Blue & Gold HMO, is leaving California, though that won’t affect 2027 enrollment.
October 19, 2026
Nine Minute Limit: Article and Song – A Daily Californian story on a study (coauthored by UC Berkeley’s Brian Christian, with UCLA’s Rachit Dubey as principal investigator) finding that about 10 minutes of AI help reduces people’s accuracy and persistence on problems once the AI is taken away. Includes a Gemini-composed folk song about the findings.
Straws in the Wind - Part 499 – From ABC News: a judge in the Cornell rape case sealed some filings after a Marine who shares a defendant’s name received threats, condemning the online “vigilantism.”
Buy Now, Tell Later – Daily Bruin report that UC bought at least 15 Westwood commercial properties (about $50 million) with few details on plans beyond classrooms and grad housing. You add that we’re still wondering about UCLA’s purchase of the former Catholic college campus in Palos Verdes.
Night Owls Beware – Santa Monica Mirror notice of overnight Caltrans lane, ramp and connector closures on the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass, Oct. 19–23, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
October 20, 2026
Stanford as the next Cornell – A California Post story about a Stanford Jane Doe who says she was raped in her dorm and criticizes the university for letting her attacker finish his degree. Stanford says outside arbitrators set sanctions; you note a Stanford Daily follow-up suggesting the university’s role is less passive than that.
Strikes and Protests – Points readers to Cornell ILR’s “Labor Action Tracker,” which lists 12 UC strikes over about six years, with a caution that its maps may be inaccurate.
Straws in the Wind - Part 500 – From Inside Higher Ed: philosophy departments (including Purdue, UIC and Georgia Tech) are hiring AI-focused philosophers despite an otherwise bleak humanities job market.
Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 207 – Three Harvard Crimson items: Harvard’s endowment grew to nearly $68 billion on a ~27% return; current-use gifts hit a record $684 million; and federal research revenue fell nearly 20%.
Swap – Daily Bruin story on ClassSwap, a platform built by a UCLA student to help students trade class sections, with his mother handling its social media. Your note: “Mom is onboard.”
Campaign – Notes that UCLA appears to have launched a “True Bruin” social media campaign featuring faculty, with a link to one clip; the Facebook clips seem to vanish after a day or so.
October 21, 2026
A new problem to solve – New York Times piece on UCLA mathematician Terence Tao and the upheaval in mathematics after OpenAI announced a solution to the Navier-Stokes problem and released 350+ findings across the field.
Straws in the Wind - Part 501 – Inside Higher Ed on an AAMC analysis showing NIH awarded nearly 12% fewer grants in FY2026 than the year before Trump took office, partly due to up-front funding of multiyear grants.
Where the money is - Part 2 – Daily Californian: four Lawrence Berkeley Lab researchers received $875,000 DOE Early Career awards for AI research in physics, biology and chemistry.
October 22, 2026
Olympics – Chancellor Frenk’s announcement of 2028.ucla.edu, UCLA’s hub for its role as the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Village.
Parallel Blogs / Subscribing / Song – Explains that the blog runs in parallel at the original UCLA Faculty Association site and this new site, how to subscribe via Blogtrottr, and includes a Gemini-written song about the blog.
Straws in the Wind - Part 502 – Chronicle of Higher Education on the AI cheating-and-detection “arms race,” with Ole Miss’s Marc Watkins arguing surveillance mainly catches students without the resources to evade it.
Remote – Chronicle interview with economists Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington, authors of In Person, on the hidden costs of remote work and why in-person collaboration matters in academia.
October 23, 2026
Cautionary Note for UC Emeriti/Retirees – Warns LA County Medicare-eligible retirees that the UCLA Medicare Advantage Plan being mailed out is NOT one of UC’s retiree health options, and enrolling in it would cause problems.
Straws in the Wind - Part 503 – Cornell Daily Sun: Cornell canceled its homecoming drone and laser show because of Ithaca’s moratorium on student event permits, imposed amid the fallout from the Chi Phi rape lawsuit.
Crossing Jonathan – LA Times story on UCLA law student Jonathan Hale and about 150 volunteers painting unauthorized crosswalks at dangerous LA intersections.
October 24, 2026
Mission Critical – Daily Californian: UC Berkeley found $28 million in potential savings by cutting work that isn’t “mission-critical,” a term the campus hasn’t clearly defined.
Straws in the Wind - Part 504 – The Dartmouth on an Oct. 8 AI listening session, closed to the press, that drew about 380 people, held as the college reviews the provost’s alleged AI use in his writing.
Limited Access – The systemwide Academic Senate Assembly adopted bylaw changes letting non-Senate academics bring academic freedom grievances (only) to Privilege and Tenure committees.
No Point in Grading Math – Daily Californian: Berkeley Fields medalist Richard Borcherds has stopped grading homework for correctness because of widespread AI use. Includes a Gemini-written sad folk song, “The Department of Numbers,” and your back-and-forth getting Gemini to print the full lyrics.
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