Tempest in a Teapot - On Hold

We last looked at the Osako matter on Sept. 26 and before that Sept. 4. But the matter doesn't go away and apparently will return in December. From the Daily Bruin:

A judge extended a block on the release of an investigative report detailing the workplace conduct of UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications Tuesday. Mary Osako, who has served in the role since 2019, filed a lawsuit Aug. 26 against the UC Board of Regents and requested a preliminary injunction to block the report’s release, arguing that its publication would degrade her reputation and violate her privacy. The judge’s decision prolongs the block until Dec. 8, after the Los Angeles Superior Court granted Osako a temporary restraining order Aug. 26... The judge also ordered Osako and the regents to submit unredacted and redacted versions of the 264-page report within one week for review... 

“The burden is on Ms. Osako to indicate and demonstrate that she’s entitled to this relief and that she is likely to have a reasonable probability of prevailing,” [Judge Curtis] Kin said at the hearing. 

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/29/judge-extends-block-on-release-of-report-into-ucla-head-of-strategic-communications. 

Somebody at Berkeley Dropped the Ball

From SFGATE: There’s a reason Joe Roth has the only retired number in Cal football’s history. Following a prolific junior season that saw him lead the Golden Bears to the best offense in all of college football and a Pac-8 co-championship, Roth entered his senior campaign a Heisman favorite and the likely first pick in the 1977 NFL Draft. Just two games into his final season, Roth was diagnosed with a recurrence of melanoma — a cancer he’d hoped he’d beaten a couple of years earlier. He kept the terminal diagnosis to himself as it ravaged his body during a final year that saw him improbably finish ninth in the Heisman voting while he was fighting the disease.

News of his condition finally leaked two months after the season ended while he was preparing for a college football all-star bowl game in Japan. After the bowl, he spent time at UC San Francisco getting chemotherapy before doctors suggested amputating both of his legs to keep the cancer at bay. Roth declined, checked himself out of the hospital on Feb. 18, 1977, and, upon returning to Berkeley, was carried up three flights of stairs by his teammates to his apartment. Roth died the next day.

Roth’s courageous story united the college and led to a yearly Joe Roth Memorial Game in Berkeley (played between Cal and UCLA or USC annually until the Bears moved to the ACC), a fund that has supported countless Cal football scholarships through the years (and currently supports two full-ride football scholarships each season), as well as a Joe Roth team award for the player who best demonstrates courage, attitude and sportsmanship.

This season, nearly 50 years later, it also led to the first-ever Joe Roth Collection, a capsule of three shirts celebrating Roth, including one with his face on it — the first time his likeness has ever appeared on Cal merchandise, Associate Athletics Director Jonathan Okanes confirmed to SFGATE. The collection was heavily marketed by the athletic department ahead of the return of the Joe Roth Memorial Game on Sept. 5 — Cal’s season-opening 45-24 loss to UCLA — and sold both at the stadium and at the Student Store on campus.

To the surprise of Tom Roth, Joe’s now 82-year-old brother, none of the proceeds from the Joe Roth Collection go back to melanoma cancer research or even to the Joe Roth scholarship fund. Cal instead is pocketing all of the revenue, and Roth hasn’t heard from Cal for months since the school first contacted him about the Roth Collection... A Cal football staffer [said] that they thought Tom Roth was dead.

After receiving SFGATE’s request for comment, ...the university is now again trying to reach Tom Roth, who, as of this publication, remains alive and well.

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/cal-profiting-revenue-joe-roth-22442272.php. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 480

From the Yale Daily News: A Yale committee is set to release recommendations on grade inflation in November but could face an unclear implementation timeline, according to administrators. The announcement arrives as grade inflation remains a top issue for universities across the nation, some of which have taken action... It is “hard to say” when new grading guidance would go into effect, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News after a closed-door faculty meeting about grade inflation in Luce Hall... 

The standing Committee on Teaching, Learning and Advising anticipates to release specific recommendations for grade reform in November, Paul McKinley, a Yale College senior associate dean, wrote in [an] email to the News. That committee is chaired by economics professor and former University provost Benjamin Polak and includes Yale College Council President Alex William Chen ’28 and YCC Vice President Michelle Jimenez ’28, in addition to faculty members. In April, the Committee on Trust in Higher Education released a sweeping report that acknowledged declining national trust in universities and proposed measures to address this problem. One of its suggestions was to impose a “3.0 mean, or some other college-wide standard, so that letter grades can once again be used in a reliable and comparable way.” 

...Ultimately, it’s the Yale College Committee on Teaching, Learning and Advising that’s gonna make recommendations that the faculty will consider,” Lewis said in an interview with the News...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-committee-set-to-release-grade-inflation-guidance-in-november.

Union News

The Daily Bruin has this follow-up to our posting of Sept. 17: UC communication workers voted [Sept. 24th] to join a union representing more than 60,000 student employees, researchers and educators across the University. UC Communication, Marketing and Sales Specialists ratified a union contract [on that date] to join United Auto Workers Local 4811. The contract will cover about 1,600 workers across the UC. The Public Employment Relations Board – a state agency responsible for ensuring fair labor practices – certified ComMaS in March, and the union began contract negotiations with the University in May, according to UC-UAW’s website...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/25/1600-communication-workers-ratify-contract-to-join-ucs-largest-union. 

Belated 90th Birthday

An all-day symposium was held on campus for Professor-Emeritus Judea Pearl who has turned 90. The symposium was held on Sept. 6.* Yours truly hoped that a complete recording would become available. So far, however, there are only excerpts. However, one is of the remarks of Chancellor Frenk:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnCaFEslWt0.

Other excerpts can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/@CausalAI.

===

*The symposium agenda is at https://causalai.net/jp90/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 479

From Forbes: Add Vanderbilt University to the ever-lengthening list of premier institutions that are expanding their offers of free tuition to undergraduate students. The university announced last week that it was revising its Opportunity Vanderbilt financial aid program and will provide tuition-free scholarships to students from families with incomes up to $200,000 and typical financial assets. The previous threshold for free tuition was $150,000, which Vanderbilt established just two years ago, in 2024. The new eligibility criteria will take effect in fall 2027, and it will apply to both current undergraduate students as well as those who enter Vanderbilt next fall.

...Between 2024 and 2025, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas, Brandeis University, the University of Utah, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, the Stevens Institute of Technology, Wake Forest University, Emory University and The Ohio State University all rolled out their versions of free college tuition. The current year has seen a quickened pace of new offers. First, Yale University announced it was expanding its financial aid program and would offer free tuition to entering undergraduates from families with annual incomes below $200,000 and cover all the costs of attendance for those from families with incomes below $100,000. Two months later, the University of Notre Dame enhanced its undergraduate financial aid program so that students from families with annual income below $150,000 would have all their tuition costs covered starting in the 2026-27 academic year.

In May, the University of Chicago unveiled one of the most generous aid packages, guaranteeing free tuition starting in the fall of 2027 for undergraduate students from families with annual income less than $250,000. As part of its plan, Chicago promised it would cover tuition plus the costs of housing, meals and other fees for students from families with income less than $125,000. Rice University followed suit in August, announcing that it was expanding its major financial aid program and would, starting with students who enter in fall 2027, offer free tuition to those from families earning up to $200,000 annually...

Full story at https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/09/21/vanderbilt-to-pay-tuition-for-families-with-income--of-200000-or-less/.

Yale Deal - Part 15

From the Yale Daily News: Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis stayed silent on the federal investigation into Yale College admissions during his first interview with the News this academic year. Though he declined to comment on the Department of Justice’s inquiry into whether Yale discriminates against white and Asian applicants, Lewis said he has always valued diversity “of all kinds.” ...

When asked... if Yale College admissions discriminated against white and Asian applicants, Lewis declined to comment on the investigations. “I think, on that, I just should refer you to President McInnis’ comments because of the ongoing nature of that,” Lewis said. McInnis also said... that she believes Yale’s admissions practices follow the law but that she does not know how courts will interpret the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling. She added that she does not comment on ongoing legal matters...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/lewis-mum-on-federal-inquiry-but-stresses-diversity-by-legal-means.

Budget Questions

Last Wednesday, Chancellor Frenk circulated a statement on a variety of campus issues including the budget. We reproduce the budget section below:

Budget Model

We are undertaking a comprehensive assessment of our financial model to ensure UCLA remains strong for decades to come. This work includes developing a new budget model while reviewing capital planning and major administrative functions.

Financial Update: Building a Stronger Financial Future for UCLA

In March 2026, we shared a projection that the central account would close FY26 with a deficit of approximately $220 million. I am gratified to report that the actual year-end deficit was significantly lower, at $58 million.

This improvement reflects a series of concerted measures taken throughout the year. While we implemented permanent reductions in many areas, a significant portion of the FY26 improvement resulted from one-time measures. At the same time, we assumed new recurring costs, including mandated wage increases and additional funding necessary to support critical operations. As a result, the $58 million year-end deficit is positive news for FY26, but it does not represent a comparable reduction in our ongoing structural imbalance. The underlying central structural deficit therefore remains in the range we previously reported (https://mcw4-bg0jt18s-ppxrgd5mn-5zq8.pub.sfmc-content.com/l5iciwkzaq5), giving us reason to persevere in our efforts.

It is also important to note that these figures refer specifically to the central account. Several campus units continue to operate with expenditures that exceed revenues, including UCLA Athletics, where a significant financial gap persists. I recently asked Tim Harris to serve as our new CEO and director of UCLA Athletics.

He is taking a disciplined approach to addressing the department’s structural deficit, with a clear commitment to greater financial accountability, aligning expenses with available resources and building a sustainable operating model.

We will continue to identify annual solutions that mitigate the immediate impact of these structural gaps. At the same time, we are developing the financial and operational changes necessary to achieve sustained budget balance. Ultimately, our solutions must both close the central structural gap and ensure that units across the campus operate within their available resources.

Source: https://chancellor.ucla.edu/messages/framework-for-uclas-future.

===

Here's the problem. There is no definition of "deficit." We know that whatever it means, it doesn't include UCLA Health, a very big chunk of the campus budget that seems to be run autonomously from Murphy Hall's budgetary process. If deficit means revenue < spending, the difference has to be coming from somewhere. There are only two sources for that kind of deficit: running down reserves and/or borrowing. What are the revenues? What is the spending? What reserves do we have? If the "structural" deficit is $220 million and that remains valid, but the actual deficit was $58 million, there must have been a lot of one-time cuts that presumably can't be maintained on an ongoing basis. (If they could be maintained, presumably the structural deficit would be reduced to $58 million.) So that raises the question of what is meant by "structural deficit."

There is reference to a new "financial model." It is unclear what that term means. Is it some kind of budget forecasting program? Or is it just basic accounting software that allows quick data retrieval? Does it mean that we will eventually have timely publication of the budget? Right now, the latest budget available is 2024-25, not the budget for last year to which the $58 million deficit applies. Yet there must be budget numbers for last year since we know what the deficit for that year was.

Climate Change?

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk (front row, center left) and Tamir Sheafer, president of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (front row, center right), sign a memorandum of understanding between UCLA’s Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and Hebrew University, surrounded by representatives of the two institutions and friends and supporters. The two leaders also signed an MOU creating a framework to jointly pursue biomedical research.

UCLA Newsroom, September 23, 2026

UCLA has signed two memorandums of understanding with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, opening new avenues for collaboration in biomedical research, teaching, scholarly exchange and other academic activities.

The agreements were signed Sept. 22 at UCLA by Chancellor Julio Frenk and Hebrew University President Tamir Sheafer.

One calls for the joint development of a UCLA–Hebrew University Biomedical Research Collaboration, which would identify research priorities, encourage interdisciplinary projects and create opportunities for learning, discovery and scientific exchange. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will manage this effort on UCLA’s behalf.

“By bringing together complementary expertise and resources, we can help accelerate discoveries that benefit patients far beyond our own institutions,” said Dr. Steven Dubinett, dean of the Geffen School of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for research. “Establishing this framework is an important first step.”

A separate five-year agreement between the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, a constituent part of the UCLA International Institute, and The Hebrew University lays the groundwork for a broad range of academic activities, including faculty and scholar visits, graduate and professional student exchanges, joint conferences and research programs, and cooperation in postgraduate education and training. Specific activities will be developed as funding, space and other resources become available.

“I am delighted that with this MOU, the Nazarian Center and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem signal their formal intent to work together on a broad variety of mutually beneficial academic activities,” said the center’s director, Steven E. Zipperstein. “We are thrilled to launch this collaboration with our colleagues in Jerusalem.”

Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-hebrew-university-expand-academic-and-research-ties. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 478

From the California Post: The tech elite of Silicon Valley are spending millions on a new college alternative that they hope will be an incubator for top talent, encouraging students to build AI models instead of taking science classes or doing homework. Venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is spending $35 million on an unaccredited two-year alternative to traditional college based in San Francisco. It’s aimed at students ages 16 to 22 with the goal of cultivating the “world’s most ambitious young builders.” The undertaking has raised another $7 million from founding partners including Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe, according to Andreessen Horowitz, which is also known as a16z.

The Horowitz Andreessen Academy will technically operate as an independent business, not a school, run by Gagan Biyani – the co-founder of online-learning platform Udemy – while a16z partners Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg will join him on the board. Investors are hoping young eggheads will enroll in the academy instead of dropping out of college to launch their own start-ups, so they can get first dibs on the next generation of AI talent. Some of the most valuable AI start-ups are run by teens and 20-somethings who have raised millions of dollars. Each student will have access to more than $50,000 worth of access to coveted AI computing power from the founding partner companies, which will open their networks to enrollees and advise on the school’s curriculum. Students will also receive a $5,000 travel and exploration budget, access to a16z’s investors and instruction from guest lecturers including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Steven Sinofsky, the former head of Windows, according to a press release...

Full story at https://nypost.com/2026/09/22/business/tech-elites-launch-college-alternative-for-next-generation-of-ai-geniuses-raises-42m/. 

Quantum Funding

UCLA computer scientists take key roles in $75 million quantum computing efforts

The NSF initiatives aim to overcome critical barriers between today’s quantum systems and practical computing

UCLA Samueli / UCLA Newsroom

Two UCLA computer scientists will help lead major national efforts to address some of quantum computing’s biggest challenges, serving as co-principal investigators for separate research institutes backed by five-year, $37.5 million grants from the National Science Foundation.

The two institutes are among eight NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes receiving more than $290 million in new funding to advance U.S. quantum science and accelerate the development of technologies with practical applications. UCLA Samueli School of Engineering professors Jason Cong and Jens Palsberg will each help lead one of the initiatives.

Cong is a co-principal investigator for the newly established Institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications, led by Harvard University with UCLA Samueli and MIT as co-leads. Researchers will work to make quantum computers capable of performing useful calculations reliably despite the errors and noise that plague current systems. Cong will head UCLA efforts to develop software, algorithms and AI-based tools to improve their reliability and efficiency.

Palsberg, meanwhile, is co-principal investigator for the NSF Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, a UC Berkeley–led research network that includes UCLA Samueli, UC Santa Barbara, Caltech and Stanford. Renewed with a five-year, $37.5 million grant, the institute will investigate the capabilities of quantum computation and develop new quantum technologies and applications. Palsberg, co-director of the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering at UCLA, and the UCLA team will focus on overcoming bottlenecks in current trapped-ion quantum computing systems and developing software that can compare different quantum technologies.

“Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems that are out of reach for today’s computers, but we still have a lot of work to do to get there,” Palsberg said.

The UCLA researchers hope their work will help identify where quantum computers can ultimately make the greatest difference.

Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-computer-scientists-take-key-roles-quantum-computing.

--

Background from the Daily Bruin:

...The federal government suspended $584 million in UCLA’s federal research grants in July 2025, alleging that the university allowed illegal affirmative action, “men to participate in women’s sports” and antisemitism. Chancellor Julio Frenk denied the federal government’s allegations... Hiring freezes across labs also reduced research opportunities for postdoctoral researchers and graduate students. Some researchers who were already working in research labs lost their salaries until their grants were restored later in 2025. A federal judge restored most of the grants in August and September 2025...

“This grant really cements UCLA as a leading player in the whole quantum computing field,” Palsberg said. “Out of the eight institutes that are going in the second round of QLCI (Quantum Leap Challenge Institute), two of them have participation from UCLA. There are not so many universities that can say that.”

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/26/ucla-receives-75-million-in-nsf-grants-for-quantum-technology.

Parallel Blogs / Subscribing / Blog Song

We have been putting out this blog since 2009 under the heading "UCLA Faculty Association" using the link:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

The blog site was originally created by the then-executive director of the Faculty Association. As such, yours truly does not have control of the site; he is simply a blogger on it. So when technical issues arise, that can be a problem. Given that issue, we have been adding a parallel site with the same blog entries since July 23rd:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/

We will be running the two in parallel for the indefinite future. Possibly, at some point we will switch to the new link.

If you read the blog using the Facebook page of Yousee Elayemeriti, you can continue to do so:

https://www.facebook.com/yousee.elayemeriti

===

Want to subscribe?

You can't subscribe directly. But you can subscribe indirectly to this blog via a service called Blogtrottr. Go to blogtrottr.com and fill in the URL for the blog:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/ 

or

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

and put in your email address. 

You will then receive an email at the email address you provided asking you to confirm. After you confirm, you will receive an email notification of new postings whenever they appear. If there are, say, three postings on a particular day, you will receive three notifications (one for each one). 

Note and full disclosure: There are ads on these notifications. 

==

And here's a little song, based on the information above, composed by Gemini:

"Sharp and Clever Pen":

Or https://archive.org/details/sharp-and-clever-pen

Verse 1

I scroll the screen looking for some light

A voice that cuts right through the noise

They talk about the taxes and the spin

But Dan Mitchell has a different kind of truth

He talks about the spending and the waste

The parallel blogs that keep us truly free

Independent channels are the only way to go

To find the analysis the mainstream never shows

--

Chorus

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

--

Verse 2

He analyzes policy with a sharp and clever pen

Decentralized and honest, standing on his own ground

You don't need their filters and you don't need their spin

Just some liberty and facts to help you really win

Bookmark the connection and let the truth begin to flow

A parallel alternative to the status quo we know

Fiscal sense and freedom are waiting on the page

The perfect antidote for a confusing modern age

--

Chorus

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

Get real economic facts!

Escape the corporate tracks!

Subscribe and find the key!

To keep your mind free!

--

Outro

Yeah, find the facts for yourself

Dan Mitchell's blog is out there waiting

Just click and subscribe and see the difference

Get free and stay informed always. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 477

From the Harvard Crimson: Former Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana criticized the December 2023 congressional testimony of three university presidents on campus antisemitism — including then-Harvard President Claudine Gay — saying none of them could explain what a university is for. The remarks, delivered in a lecture at Cornell University last week, are Khurana’s most direct public comments on the backlash that ended Gay’s presidency and set off two years of federal scrutiny of Harvard.

Khurana delivered the Milton R. Konvitz Memorial Lectureship in American Ideals on Thursday, an annual Cornell lecture named for the civil liberties scholar who taught there for four decades. His talk — “From Institutional Mission to Administrative Means: The Bureaucratization of Universities” — argued that universities have grown too heavy with administrators and lost institutional legitimacy. Khurana earned his bachelor’s degree at Cornell...

He named one only as a school in Connecticut — an apparent nod to Yale University that drew laughs. Between 2003 and 2021, its human resources department jumped from 11 staff to 192, and its development staff spiked from 71 to 333, while the faculty went from 610 to 675...

Khurana said rising inequality had also reshaped how universities raise money, pushing them toward a small number of very large gifts... That arrangement held, Khurana said, only as long as donors asked for nothing in return — and it has not survived the collapse in public trust. Donors now style themselves as “impact philanthropists” who want a say in how their money is spent...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/9/21/khurana-criticizes-gay-testimony/.

Tempest in a Teapot? Still Boiling.

Blog readers may recall our earlier post on this matter of Sept. 4. From the Daily Bruin:

Seven current and former UCLA employees alleged in at least 22 separate whistleblower and retaliatory reports that the university’s head of strategic communications fostered a toxic work environment and mismanaged department funds, according to court documents. Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications since 2019, filed a lawsuit against the UC Board of Regents on Aug. 26 to block the release of an investigative report that she claimed would damage her reputation. The investigation – which was conducted by Grutman Law, P.C. and commissioned by the UC Board of Regents – includes details about Osako’s conduct and workplace relationships, according to court filings. 

UCLA posted in its whistleblower portal Feb. 20 that Grutman’s investigation substantiated multiple allegations brought forth in the whistleblower reports and that they forwarded the findings to Chancellor Julio Frenk’s office, according to court documents. Osako has remained in her position since... Paul Rigali, Osako’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement on behalf of Osako that the accusations are false and that Osako has not faced any disciplinary action. He added that Frenk’s support of Osako “speaks volumes.” ...

During the spring 2024 pro-Palestine encampment, Osako removed a team of strategic communications staff from UCLA’s emergency response center due to personal disagreements with other leaders, Wileen Wong Kromhout, associate director of operations in the strategic communications department, alleged in an April 2025 whistleblower report... “This directly impeded information flow and essential team coordination during a high-risk campus event that turned out to be one of the worst crisis in the university’s history,” Kromhout said...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/19/a-narcissist-ucla-employees-alleged-top-administrator-misused-funds-bullied-staff.

Although the reports leaking out are unclear, one wonders whether what occurred is connected to the campus events of 2023-24.

Straws in the Wind - Part 476

From the Brown Daily Herald: ...Brown students, faculty, staff and community members, gathered in Pembroke Hall for the inaugural Slavery and Justice Lecture. The event comes two decades after the release of Brown’s “Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice”, which examines Brown’s ties to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. 

Last year, the University ended the First Readings program, which included the Slavery and Justice Report as required reading for incoming first-years. Matthew Guterl, vice president for diversity and inclusion, said at the event that he was inspired to propose an annual lecture focused on the report after reading a column in The Herald, written by Herald Opinions Editor Clara Murray ’29, arguing that Brown should recommit to teaching the University’s role in slavery...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/inaugural-slavery-and-justice-lecture-emphasizes-pursuit-of-truth-accountability-openness-20260917.

Entertainment

From the California Post: ...By last month, as it became increasingly obvious that major changes to UCLA athletics were necessary, [Chancellor] Frenk asked [Tim] Harris to take over the operation. Harris agreed to do so — on a pro-bono basis until a more permanent arrangement could be worked out. As he sat behind the desk in his corner office inside the Morgan Center this week, having taken over as CEO and athletics director, Harris unveiled his vision.

The idea is to reimagine his department as an entertainment company whose product is college athletics. If such a move sounds transformative, that’s exactly the point... Just as Frenk was drawn to Harris, the man who replaced Martin Jarmond realized his new boss would be a major asset in this reinvention. Harris compared Frenk to the new owner of a professional sports franchise that just got sold.

“This new owner is very engaged,” Harris said, “and this new owner values the student-athletes and this new owner values the coaches and this new owner values the entity and this new owner understands the value of what UCLA athletics is to the overall university in terms of a global marketing piece.” ...

Full story https://nypost.com/2026/09/20/sports/ucla-ad-tim-harris-intends-to-wake-up-the-giant-in-new-role/.

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRcLwHSmU80.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Email notice recently circulated at a campus building complex:

We are pleased to announce that our new campus security camera system is now operational following a great deal of effort and time in planning and implementation.

This significant investment enhances campus safety and security by providing coverage at many primary building entrances.

Please note:

• Cameras are intended to support campus safety and security efforts.
• Cameras are not actively monitored. No one is routinely watching live camera feeds.
• In accordance with California law and university policy 133, footage is reviewed only in response to safety, security, or other authorized investigative matters.
• Recorded footage is retained for 30 days, after which it is automatically overwritten unless needed for an active investigation.
• Requests for footage must be processed through UCPD. Individuals seeking review of footage should first file a police report. Building Services cannot provide or review footage upon request.
• Camera locations were determined based on security priorities, infrastructure, and available project funding. While we understand there may be interest in additional camera coverage, the current system reflects the locations identified as providing the greatest overall security benefit to the campus.
• As a reminder, personal security cameras (including Ring cameras and similar devices) are not permitted on campus unless reviewed and approved through the established campus and UCPD process. Approved security cameras must be installed through the university and be accessible to UCPD in accordance with policy. This does not apply to cameras used for routine video conferencing, virtual meetings, or instructional purposes.

Thank you for your support as we continue our efforts to maintain a safe and secure campus environment.

Straws in the Wind - Part 475

From an email received by yours truly: ...I am writing to share an important update regarding the Jenessa Shapiro Fellowship Fund, which you generously supported to honor Jenessa’s legacy.

 

Due to recent changes in federal guidance, we had to make revisions to the fund criteria to ensure the fund can continue to be awarded in compliance with current regulations. The new fund description is: “To support UCLA Anderson students with demonstrated interest and/or experience in inclusion, access and impact. UCLA administers scholarships, fellowships, and any other student financial award in compliance with federal, state, and university regulations.”

 

All other award criteria has been removed.

 

Please know that our intent is to steward your gift responsibly and to ensure that it continues to benefit students in a manner consistent with both your philanthropic intent and applicable requirements.

 

If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact me within 30 days of this letter's date. If we have not heard from you by then, we will move forward with the understanding that you are in agreement...

Free Bus - Part 2 (history)

Back on Sept. 17, we posted about a free bus program at UCLA for employees below a specified pay level. Now a bit of history:

In the early 2000s, UCLA had a more comprehensive BruinGo free bus program financed out of parking fees. The late Prof. Don Shoup evaluated the program and found it to be a success by any measure. See:

https://dn760109.eu.archive.org/0/items/CompetitionForNaturalResourcesInCaliforniasSierraNevada/Unlimited%20Access%20-%20An%20Evaluation%20of%20the%20UCLA%20BruinGo%20Program%20and%20its%20Lessons%20for%20California.pdf 

But the program was nonetheless terminated.

So now we have a lesser version of what we once had. Just saying...

Source of image above: 

https://www.facebook.com/UCLA/posts/pfbid02MqA3rJwTYTbG32qLDdea5KHQieiKyvXcCN15dmBbxXepS94JQ6JPyoHaGT9f4Zval.

Food for Thought - Interpretation

From the California Post concerning Chancellor Frenk's statement on the law school 9/11 conference:

“I chose the words of my statement carefully and deliberately,” [Frenk] said. “Some subsequent accounts have characterized it as a condemnation, rebuke or repudiation of the symposium. A careful read of my statement will fail to find any of those words..."

A rep for Frenk told The California Post that the chancellor’s statement was “absolutely a condemnation” of the 9/11 event when asked if the academic leader’s statement was in fact a condemnation...

Full story at https://nypost.com/2026/09/18/us-news/ucla-chancellor-pressured-to-retract-rebuke-over-event-with-9-11-mastermind-lawyer/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 474

From the Yale Daily News: Yale spent $26.2 million on outside legal fees — a 46 percent increase from the previous period — in the fiscal year ending June 2025, which includes the first five months of the second Trump administration. The approximate $8.3 million jump from the $17.9 million spent in fiscal year 2024 is the largest increase on record for Yale, according to publicly available tax filings dating back to 2001 — though the University’s spending on legal fees has trended upward over the last five years. The $26.2 million figure corresponds to the period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, the most recent one with public disclosures available, and comes from Form 990 disclosures filed in May 2026...

Yale’s lobbying spending has also skyrocketed during the second Trump administration. After Trump’s 2024 election victory, [Yale President] McInnis began a lobbying push to address declining trust in universities and oppose policies that could cut Yale’s funding...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-increased-legal-spending-amid-trump-administration-inquiries.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 200

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard’s School of Public Health has privately weighed asking UnitedHealthcare, Tenet, and CVS Aetna to fund its research as it works to replace money lost to federal funding cuts, according to a person familiar with the matter. The three companies emerged from a November meeting of the HSPH Health Policy and Management Executive Council, where attendees suggested them as the most attractive candidates for a partnership given their size and budget, the person in the room said. CVS Aetna was a particularly promising prospect, an HSPH affiliate told the council, because Troyen A. Brennan — an adjunct faculty member who joined HSPH in April 2022 after 14 years as chief medical officer and executive vice president at CVS Health — could help broker a relationship with the company. Two other people confirmed the council has brainstormed corporate partnerships in recent meetings but did not specify which companies it landed on...

The school’s funding picture shifted sharply last year after the Trump administration cut off nearly $2.7 billion in Harvard’s research grants. HSPH — which relied on private and federal sponsors for 59 percent of its operating budget in fiscal year 2025 — was hit particularly hard. Last spring, the school cut budgets across its departments, laid off staff and researchers whose projects lost funding, and slashed Ph.D. admissions in several programs. The Biostatistics department, which lost out on a large NIH grant midway through the review process, halved its number of admitted students for the cycle. At the time, then-HSPH spokesperson Stephanie Simon wrote in a statement that the school faced a “significant budget crisis” and that its research operations were “seriously jeopardized.” ...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/9/18/hsph-corporate-research-funding/.

DOJ vs. UCSF

From the LA Times: UC San Francisco’s medical school illegally used race in admissions, discriminating against white and Asian applicants in favor of Black and Latino ones, the Department of Justice [DOJ] alleged Tuesday... In a nine-page letter to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, the Justice Department alleged the medical school used racially discriminatory practices when selecting its incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. It said the practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination by institutions receiving federal money, and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-based affirmative action in college admissions. “Unfortunately, at UCSF Medical School, MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a back seat to race,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Aspiring doctors should be admitted based on their qualifications.”

In a statement, a UCSF spokesperson said the university disagrees with the finding. “We will continue to engage constructively with the department and look forward to resolving this matter,” the statement said...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-22/doj-ucsf-medical-school-admissions-discrimination.

---

DOJ News Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-ucsf-medical-school-discriminates-based-race-admissions.

DOJ "Findings": https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1462136/dl.

Watch the Regents Meeting of Sept. 15, 2026

We continue catching up with the Regents meetings of September 14-16. Below is a summary of the meeting of the 15th. 

The meeting began with public comments. Topics included a nurse payroll system problem, opposition to testing for admission, concern about the closing of a UCLA childcare program, a nurse AI scheduling problem, opposition to project labor agreements, support for SB 98 (emergency alerts to ICE on campus), aid to undocumented students, internships for international students, anti-Israel, dropping of Medi-Cal patients at UCLA, Philippine military investments, support for reinstating the SAT for admission, a nurse issue related to floating holidays, and disabled student funding.

After public comments, Chair Anguiano reviewed the upcoming agenda including A-G requirements. President Milliken discussed goals for students including the ability to evaluate evidence. He also referred to UC infrastructure needs. Faculty rep Susannah Scott spoke about admissions issues, shared governance, and political issues facing UC. She also referred to overcrowded classes as enrollments rose faster than faculty. And she took note of awards won by junior faculty.

There was then a presentation by two UC Pulitzer winners and discussion of the UC accountability report. Concerns were expressed about cutbacks by the federal government in research. Regent Makarechian asked why student debt load varied across the UC campuses. There was no clear answer. He also noted that student debt load at the various UCs compared favorably to other public universities.

At a joint meeting of Health Services and Finance and Capital Strategies, a major health facility development at UC-San Diego was approved. There was discussion - but general support - for planning of this development including adverse developments in federal health research funding. UCLA provided an update on the West Valley Medical Center that was acquired for $290 million in 2024 to reduce overcrowding at Reagan Hospital and UCLA Santa Monica Hospital. The plan is for it to service various UCLA clinics in the San Fernando Valley. The acquired facility needs seismic and other upgrading. UCLA has also acquired neighboring office buildings near the acquisition for doctors' offices.

The Health Services Committee reviewed the public payor situation (Medi-Cal, Medicare) in view of coming federal cutbacks. Spokesperson from the various health campuses made individual observations regarding the impacts. There was mention of a possible $1 billion/year cost. Some Medi-Cal participants will lose coverage due to work requirements and the paperwork needed to document work. UC is a major provider of Medi-Cal services in the state.

Finally, the Governance Committee, in a brief open session, approved an executive pay matter and changes in documentation of various UC rules. It was said that the Academic Senate approved the cleanup of the rules since no substantive changes were involved.

As always, we preserve Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. You can find the September 15 meeting at:

https://archive.org/services/img/uc-regents-9-15-2026.

Food for Thought - University Investments

From an online/emailed book review in the Journal of Economic Literature of Mission and Margin: A Practical Guide to University Finances:

In the last 40 years many universities have followed the lead of Yale University under its legendary chief investment officer David Swensen and have tried to increase expected returns through judicious risk taking in multiple asset classes. A riskier asset allocation delivers a higher expected return and hence a higher sustainable spending rate, but it worsens the university’s risk management problem. The trade-off should be transparent but can be obscured when universities invest in illiquid assets, such as real estate and private equity, whose valuations are only gradually adjusted to reflect market conditions.

--

Note: Our recent coverage of the Regents' Investments Committee which met on Sept. 14 pointed to the large chunk of illiquid assets in the portfolio.

Straws in the Wind - Part 473

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: New faculty hires at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma — the state’s only public liberal-arts college — can no longer be offered tenure, following a contentious vote by the university’s Board of Regents last week. Instead, USAO instructors are to be hired on “continuing, renewable appointments.” The institution is also removing references to tenure from its faculty handbook, though professors hired on the tenure track before July 1 can continue on that path...

The policy changes codify an executive order directing most of Oklahoma’s public institutions to “phase out” tenure. Since Gov. J. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed the executive order in February, many faculty members across the Sooner State have hoped it would be short-lived: It’s set to expire 90 days after Stitt, who is term-limited, leaves office in January, unless his successor opts to continue it. (Representatives of Mike Mazzei, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, did not respond to several requests for comment about whether he would renew the order.) ...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/pushed-by-the-governor-a-small-liberal-arts-college-is-erasing-tenure-from-its-faculty-handbook.

Lonely App

From the Daily Bruin: ...Resonance, an app created by psychology professor Matthew Lieberman, is partnering with UCLA Student Affairs and Enrollment Management to help users form friendships based on their compatibility. The app, which will be free for all UCLA students for the 2026-27 academic year, matches users with potential friends based on their answers to a series of questions about their personalities, Lieberman said. Lieberman said he created the app in 2022 after asking his students about their experiences with loneliness. About 65% of the students in his UCLA class reported experiencing loneliness, having difficulty making friends and not having as many close friends as they wanted, he said...

Following a pilot test of Resonance in 2023 – which involved about 2,000 UCLA transfer student users – students reported a 41% reduction in loneliness, Lieberman said. In addition to one-on-one connections, users can join specific online communities based on shared characteristics or interests, he said. At UCLA, for example, students can join groups with people of the same year or major...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/09/17/ucla-partners-with-professor-designed-friendship-app-to-combat-student-loneliness.

Also - From the Daily Targum (Rutgers): ...The platform does not fully reward total similarity. Due to how the algorithm works, identical survey responses will only score two people at 78/100 compatibility. To reach the 95/100 score required for a match between two people, they will need to differ in the right ways. That way, this app will not simply section off people with identical personalities but will instead serve as a means to bring people together who complement one another...

Full story at https://www.dailytargum.com/article/u-alum-launches-new-app-to-increase-social-connection-on-campuses-worldwide-20260916.

Free

From the LA Times: In a bid to pack the Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion, tickets to all UCLA home football and men’s and women’s basketball games will be free for undergraduate, graduate and extension students going forward... Previously, the Bruins had to purchase a Den Pass for $199 to gain access to home football and men’s basketball games. Students who have already purchased the Den Pass for the 2026-2027 academic year will be reimbursed...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2026-09-16/ucla-to-give-all-students-free-tickets-to-football-basketball-games.

Straws in the Wind - Part 472

From Inside Higher Ed: For more than a year, the U.S. Justice Department has steadily worked its way through the list of states that allow eligible noncitizens to pay in-state college tuition. The agency sued first Texas and then Kentucky, arguing that the policies violated federal statute. Now, DOJ has sued 24 states and Washington, D.C., in what advocates call a coordinated assault on the rights of undocumented students. The last batch of lawsuits was filed Thursday against Arkansas, D.C., Hawaii and Utah.

...Of the roughly 525,000 undocumented college students in the United States, more than 180,000 go to school in the seven states that already ended the discounted rates, and 220,000 others live in states where litigation is ongoing, according to data from the Higher Education Immigration Portal...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/courts/2026/09/14/doj-sues-all-states-state-tuition-noncitizens. 

Moneyball

From Inside Higher Ed: The Senate voted 74 to 24 Tuesday [of last week] to move forward with voting on the Protect College Sports Act, a bill to establish federal guidelines on player eligibility, compensation, conference realignment, in-season coaching moves, student transfers and other changes. The bill would also grant the NCAA some antitrust protections that the association has said are critical to governing college athletics. If the legislation does advance out of the Senate... the House likely won’t vote until after the November midterm elections, and it’s unclear whether lawmakers in the lower chamber will rally around the bill. But this issue is a top priority for President Trump, who has warned that college athletics threatens to bankrupt higher education institutions without significant changes.

...The proposed changes come at a financially precarious moment for college sports, with most athletic departments operating in the red as they respond to new pressures such as revenue-sharing... Opponents of the bill, like Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, believe that the bill favors monied interests in college sports, such as coaches and executives, at the expense of the players...

As the bill moves forward, hundreds of colleges, coaches, conferences and the NCAA have thrown their support behind the bill in closed-door conversations and national ad campaigns... The NCAA, which lobbied for the bill, launched an ad campaign in support of the legislation. Like the bill’s sponsors, the NCAA says it is necessary to provide stability to college sports... Joining the NAACP in opposing the bill [are the] AFL-CIO and the National College Players Association. Opponents have argued that the legislation extends too much legal protection to the NCAA while diminishing the leverage players have. All three organizations joined Murphy and athletes... urged senators to vote against the legislation...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/09/17/money-ads-and-star-power-push-remake-college-sports.

Bye Bye Master Plan

Whatever the details, the Master Plan for Higher Education is fast disappearing:

From the LA Times: California community colleges will be able to offer bachelor’s degrees that duplicate programs at California State University and University of California schools... under legislation approved [last] Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The pair of bills scraps the state’s ban on community colleges offering any bachelor’s degree already available at CSU or UC, and replaces it with a system built around regional workforce needs and a district college’s performance. They cleared the legislature earlier this month after CSU and UC withdrew objections... The laws will take effect Jan. 1, 2028.

Chancellor Sonya Christian, who leads the community college system, had come out against the two related bills in the final days of the session. She said the versions lawmakers passed — and Newsom has approved — could create “more barriers” than currently exist for community colleges moving to provide new degree programs...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-18/california-community-college-bachelors-degrees-newsom-law.

Veto

From CalMatters: California college students without legal immigration status still cannot work at public colleges and universities after Gov. Gavin Newsom again vetoed a bill Sunday that would have given them that right. Assembly Bill 713 would have adopted an untested legal theory that argues that a 1986 federal law barring employers from hiring workers in the country without authorization doesn’t apply to state governments. The logic? That 40-year-old law doesn’t mention state governments as a type of employer that cannot hire workers without proper status.

But for the second time in three years, Newsom decided that adopting that theory for California would expose the state’s higher-education system to the wrath of the federal government...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/newsom-veto-students-wtihout-legal-status/.

As we have pointed out previously, the bill did not in fact impose a mandate on UC, unlike CSU and the community colleges. It left the ultimate decision to the Regents:

This article shall apply to the University of California, unless it is found to be inapplicable to the university, then, consistent with Section 67400, this article shall apply to the university only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable.

See https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB713/id/3191073.

News accounts tend to omit this fact. Presumably, it was included in the bill because of the constitutional autonomy of the Regents.

All I know about Bloat... - Part 2

Yesterday, we posted a Boston Globe op ed of Sept. 9 from Prof. Barry Lam of Riverside concerning administrative bloat. As if on cue to illustrate his point, only a few days later, a 185-page document appeared on the systemwide Academic Senate website. We reproduce below just the 3-page cover letter that was part of that document. Should you want to read the full 185 pages, the link is at the bottom of this post. (But you shouldn't.)

===

September 11, 2026

CHANCELLORS

ACADEMIC COUNCIL CHAIR SCOTT

LABORATORY DIRECTOR YELICK

ANR VICE PRESIDENT HUMISTON

Re: Systemwide Review of Proposed Presidential Policy: Relocation Assistance Act Policy for Real Estate Acquisitions and Leases

Dear Colleagues:

Enclosed for systemwide review are proposed revisions to Presidential Policy: Relocation Assistance Act Policy for Real Estate Acquisitions and Leases (Relocation Policy or Policy). The University is required to comply with the California Relocation Assistance Law (California Government Code Section 7260 et seq.), which requires that all public entities adopt rules and regulations to administer relocation assistance and to implement the payments under this law. The University approved its Relocation Policy in 1974 and last updated it in 2013.

The Relocation Policy is very technical and is required to conform to the Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Guidelines (“Guidelines”) adopted by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Where possible, the Policy has been revised to address common University situations including the standard process for acquiring property, the expiration of long-term ground leases, and dealing with UC affiliated tenants in housing.

The University hired outside counsel to support the Policy revision process. The selected outside counsel worked on the 2013 update to the Policy and has had several minor engagements with campuses concerning the Policy interpretation. The revisions have been closely coordinated with UC Legal and the campus real estate offices and have been discussed at two systemwide conferences for UC real estate staff. No concerns have been expressed to date.

Systemwide Review

Systemwide review is a public review distributed to the Chancellors, the Chair of the Academic Council, the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources requesting that they inform the general University community, especially affected employees, about policy proposals. Systemwide review also includes a mandatory, 90-day full Senate review.

Employees should be afforded the opportunity to review and comment on the draft policy. Attached is a Model Communication which may be used to inform non-exclusively represented employees about these proposals. Systemwide Labor Relations at the Office of the President is responsible for informing the bargaining units representing union membership about policy proposals.

We would appreciate receiving your comments no later than December 10, 2026. Please submit your comments to julie.wong@ucop.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Wong at julie.wong@ucop.edu or (510) 987-0374.

Sincerely,

David Phillips,

Associate Vice President, Capital Programs, Energy and Sustainability

Enclosures:

1) Draft Presidential Policy: Relocation Assistance Act Policy for Real Estate Acquisitions and Leases (clean copy)

2) Draft Presidential Policy: Relocation Assistance Act Policy for Real Estate Acquisitions and Leases (tracked-changes copy)

3) Model Communication

cc: President Milliken

Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Hexter

Executive Vice Chancellors/Provosts

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Nava

Executive Vice President Rubin

Senior Vice President Bustamante

Vice President Brown

Vice President and Vice Provost Gullatt

Vice President Henderson

Vice President and Chief of Staff Kao

Vice President Maldonado

Academic Council Vice Chair Nuru-Jeter

Vice Provost Varsanyi

Vice Provosts/Vice Chancellors of Academic Affairs/Personnel

Deputy Provost Lee

Associate Vice President Matella

Associate Vice President McRae

Deputy General Counsel Woodall

Assistant Vice Provosts/Assistant Vice Chancellors for Academic Personnel

Executive Director Anders 

Executive Director Lin

Executive Director Menezes

Chief of Staff Beechem

Chief of Staff Levintov

Chief Policy Advisor McAuliffe

LBL Chief Human Resources Officer Crosson

Interim Chief Human Resources Officer Hairston

Director Chin

Director Garcia

Director Lavin

Director Weston-Dawkes

Associate Director Dicaprio

Associate Director Soria

Associate Director Woolston

Assistant Director LaBriola

Policy Analyst Durrin

Program Policy Analyst D’Agostino

Policy Advisory Committee

===

Source: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/systemwide-senate-review-relocation-assistance-act-policy.pdf.

Don't call. Don't click. Delete.

Don't call. Don't click. Delete.  

Straws in the Wind - Part 471

From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Accepting Responsibility program, a restorative alternative to Academic Integrity hearings for first-time offenders, was entered into the revised Code of Academic Integrity in August. It was previously a pilot program used in individual courses, but not adopted as official University policy. The program was incorporated into the Code of Academic Integrity on Aug. 24 after the Faculty Senate voted to expand the program from its pilot stage at its May 4 meeting...

The AR program is voluntary for both the faculty and students involved, and it allows faculty members aware of an academic integrity violation to opt between a formal hearing and investigation or the AR program... If a faculty member decides to offer the AR program to a student, the student receives a violation notification outlining the issue, evidence of the violation and a proposed grade penalty, according to the revised Code of Academic Integrity. The student then has three business days to decide whether to accept responsibility or request an Academic Integrity hearing. If the student accepts responsibility, they admit the violation, accept the penalty and agree to complete an AR workshop within two weeks...

Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/09/m4e6oo4sdu5k.

They asked but got NIL - Part 2

From CalMatters: CalMatters is suing the second UC campus — UC Berkeley — in as many months to force the institution to release financial data on how much its student athletes earn from name, image and likeness deals. The suit, filed last week in the Alameda County Superior Court, is nearly identical to the one the nonprofit news outlet filed against UCLA in August. In both cases, the campuses refused to divulge how much they pay athletes after a national legal settlement last year that permits U.S. colleges to compensate their athletes directly. “We are reviewing the complaint and are going to decline comment at this time,” wrote Janet Gilmore, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley...

...Campuses can direct up to $20.5 million to student-athletes. At UC Berkeley, that pool of money is made up of athletics revenues, philanthropic funds, and “some campus funds,” the school’s chancellor, Richard Lyons, wrote last year... 

CalMatters spent almost a year seeking the data from UC Berkeley. It filed numerous California Public Records Acts requests to public universities across the state. Several campuses offered paltry data in response. Others, however, produced at least partial records, indicating that the payment records and contracts the newsroom seeks are public records, the lawsuit said. For example, UC Riverside reported that it provided its male athletes about $200,000, including multiple payments to the men’s basketball team, plus $70,000 for its female athletes. 

A Congressional Research Service paper noted that the new name, image and likeness payment era raises questions about federally mandated sex-based fairness in university sports... UCLA and UC Berkeley’s athletics programs were in the red in 2024-25, despite using their endowment or general fund dollars to subsidize their budgets...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/nil-california/.