We're still looking for numbers and definitions - Part 3

Yesterday, we posted the table below from the Oct. 29th Zoom meeting in which the UCLA budget was discussed:

We raised some macro-level questions about the numbers shown and about basic definitions such as "deficit." But there are also some micro issues that could be raised. Maybe someone did raise them in the Zoom but at least so far no recording of that Zoom is available. (Why not?)

Here are some line-item questions from the table on the left.

Line 5 shows "indirect cost recovery." Presumably, this refers to the tax on grants that helps pay for general expenses. The amount is projected to fall this year compared to last year. Is that a reflection of the current conflict with the feds?

Line 6 shows "other sources" that are also falling. The amount of other sources is around 16% of total revenues so they are not negligible.

Line 9: What are "all orgs"?

Line 10: Can we have a list of "core teaching and research units"? (See also the question about line 14 below.)

Line 11 and Line 12: What is the difference between "Central Administration" and "Operational Central Administration"?

Line 13: How does "operational student administration" differ from "operational central administration"?

Line 14 refers to "other research and mission-related units." Presumably, these are somehow not the "core" units of line 10. What are non-core units?

Line 15: Athletics is projected to lose more money this year relative to last year. A new AD has been brought in to fix things. Is the target for this year now zero? What is the new target?

Line 16: We noted that the business side of UCLA Health appears to be carved out of this version of the budget. So what are the expenses for UCLA Health on this line? 

Lines 21 and 22: Why are expenses for DTS for this year, but not last year, shown outside the usual lines for such expenses?

As noted yesterday, there seems to be confusion about deficit vs. debt in the table on the right.

On line 23: It appears that someone is moving debts around to the center. But it is unclear why this would raise net debt unless the units involved are somehow off the books. What units are we talking about?

Line 24 contains mysterious language we noted yesterday that seems to imply that UCLA has overdrawn accounts held by UC. Or maybe it doesn't mean that. So an explanation is needed since this line accounts for over half the debt shown on the right-hand table.

Line 25 on athletics is past debt which is bigger than the athletics deficit of line 15. Presumably, when debt was forgiven, not all of it was - which accounts for the difference. ??? In any event, there needs to be more said about athletics than can be discerned from the two lines.

As noted yesterday, there was apparently discussion of a $250 million bond for athletics in which much was made of the fact that the entire principal was due when the bond matured. If that is correct, why is that depicted as unusual? A standard US Treasury bond, for example, is issued in just that way: The bond pays the lender just interest on a regular basis and when it matures the entire principal is returned. Of course, loans can be structured in various ways, e.g., mortgages typically involve repayment of interest and principal during the life of the loan. And the issuers of mortgages have claims on real property if the borrower defaults. So what exactly is the story of the athletics bond?

Two afterthoughts:

The chancellor has repeatedly talked about a $58 million deficit. But you won't find the number 58 on the tables. There is a $59 million number on line 20. As we have noted, that number is really not a deficit (flow concept). But putting aside the sloppy word usage, is that what the chancellor has been referencing?  

We again urge that the recording of the Zoom event be made available. And we continue to wonder why the 2025-26 budget of last year is not on the UCLA website at:

https://www.finance.ucla.edu/corporate-accounting/ucla-annual-financial-reports.

All in Medicare - Percent

Note: Click on table to clarify.

We have been reformatting our earlier postings of Oct. 26 on UC health insurance premium changes, 2026-2027. It appears that having everyone in Medicare was a kind of insulation against premium increases. The only retirees disadvantaged were those in UC's Medicare Advantage Plan (Medicare Choice).

Straws in the Wind - Part 514

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Defense last week said the 30 institutions it ordered to audit their partnerships with foreign entities of concern have “fully mitigated” those partnerships... The Pentagon said the audits resulted in more than 80 “termination-related” actions across the 30 universities with institutions on the Section 1286 list of foreign entities of concern, “as well as precautionary terminations involving entities not specifically identified on the list.” 

The department also called out seven institutions—Oklahoma State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech—for going “above and beyond by quickly terminating problematic relationships” with blacklisted institutions...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/us-colleges-world/2026/10/26/dod-declares-foreign-partnerships-audit-success.

Davis discovers volunteers aren't free

From the Sacramento Bee: UC Davis is phasing out a supplemental subsidy that capped out-of-pocket maximums on its Blue and Gold plan at $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families, according to university records and the University Professional and Technical Employees union. UPTE represents technical, healthcare and research workers. Under the change, those ceilings will jump to $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for families. For Nella, the hike turns an ad celebrating her daughter’s care into a painful irony — calling the shift offensive in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. Nella said absorbing the new out-of-pocket costs will force her to divert money from family savings toward medical bills just to keep her daughter healthy.

“I was really appalled and offended that they would use me and my family in this way only to increase our costs by thousands of dollars after we’ve tried to give back in the ways that we could,” she said. The university said Nella “volunteered to appear with her family in UC Davis Health advertising.” ...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article317686770.html.

We're still looking for numbers and definitions - Part 2

As blog readers will know, we have agitated for up-to-date budgets from Murphy Hall. It is still the case that if you go to UCLA's official webpage for budgets as of today:

https://www.finance.ucla.edu/corporate-accounting/ucla-annual-financial-reports

you won't find anything beyond fiscal year 2024-2025.

However, Murphy Hall did provide a Zoom session on October 29th for the Senate. Unfortunately, yours truly could not attend. Another faculty member did provide notes and screenshots. It would be very helpful if the Senate provided a recording of the event. (Many faculty cannot attend live Zoom sessions during business hours due to classes or other activities and obligations.)

Below is a screenshot of two tables:

Here are some abbreviations used on the tables:

DTS = Digital & Technology Solutions

GL = General Ledger (a financial record at UC that contains every transaction and account used by an organization, in this case UCLA)

TRIP = Total Return Investment Pool (short-term investments held at UC - in this case by UCLA - that provide liquidity)

BGP = Blue and Gold Pool/Blue and Gold Endowment Pool (longer-term investments funds held at UC - in this case by UCLA - that earn higher returns than TRIP, but whose value at any point in time fluctuates more, i.e., more risk taken for higher returns)

And below are two charts related to the "General Fund," a term typically applied to an account for day-to-day receipts and expenditures:

== 

Note: "TE14 allocations" appear to refer to transfers of fund into or out of accounts such as research grants. Source:

https://www.ucop.edu/ucop-budget/_files/AM101%20Training%20Nov.pdf (p. 29)

==

The first thing to note is that if you go back to 2024-25 in the link provided at the top, you will find that UCLA's overall expenditures (and revenues) were about $12.5 Billion. So even if we assume no growth to 2025-26, the total is around 10 times as large as what is shown on the charts. The revenues and expenditures on the tables above are around $2 billion, still a lot less than $12.5 billion. Thus, it appears that the business operations of UCLA Health (and possibly/probably other UCLA business units) are carved out of the tables and charts above.

You might also note that standard bookkeeping typically involves two kinds of basic information (flows, i.e., revenues coming in and spending going out) during a standard period (usually 12 months) and a statement of stocks (assets and liabilities) at a moment of time (usually the beginning and end of the 12-month period). Possibly, a statement of assets and liabilities was provided during the Zoom event, but - if so - yours truly doesn't have it.

Note first that the language used on the tables appears to mix up stocks and flows. The table on the right talks about "deficits" (a flow concept referring to spending flows exceeding revenue flows) when what is being referred to is a debt, a stock concept. The table on the left talks about an "operating balance" which seems to be the difference between revenue flowing in and spending flowing out. But balance is really a stock term. The difference between revenue and spending in everyday English is either a deficit (spending > revenue) or a surplus (revenue > surplus). 

Note second that when flow deficits occur (spending > revenue), the money to cover the difference has to come from somewhere. And that "somewhere" is either drawing down past reserves (assets) or running up debt (borrowing, liabilities). So an important element in understanding how significant a (flow) deficit to the financial condition of an organization is the organization's capacity to deal with that deficit. If, for example, the organization has very large reserves on hand and the deficit is small relative to those reserves, there is no emergency. If there is a reverse situation, there is an emergency.

When in the classic film Citizen Kane, newspaper owner Kane is told by his accountant Thatcher that he is losing money and should do something about it, the following dialog occurs:

"You're right, Mr. Thatcher, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... sixty years." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs

Apparently, the powers-that-be at UCLA do not think of their financial situation as anything like Kane's. But absent some clear accounting of what reserves UCLA has, how much leeway the university has to deal with its deficits is hard to assess.

So what do we learn from the table on the left? Apart from the business side of UCLA health and perhaps other business units, last year (2025-2026) UCLA ran a deficit of $95 million. An oddity of the table when it comes for the projection for this year (2026-2027) is that after calculating a deficit of $203 million, two added lines tell us that the table left out another $100 million ($36 million + $66 million, lines 21 and 22) of projected DTS spending. So the total deficit is thus $303 million. 

That amount seems like a lot, but we don't have - or at least yours truly doesn't have - information on assets or reserves that can be drawn upon. The table on the right seems to be some kind of total of liabilities. It gives a total of about $1.3 billion of debt. I can't make head or tail of the TRIP/BGP number of $740 million on line 24. But note that more than half of UCLA's debt on that table is on that line! Is that line saying that UCLA overdrew its bank account with UC to the tune of $740 million? 

Then there is the matter of athletics. It seems - mainly from ongoing news accounts - that UCLA has forgiven significant past debts of athletics (accumulated annual deficits). But that just shuffles the liabilities that arose to somewhere else. Apparently, there was something at the Zoom event about a $250 million long-term bond to deal with past athletic debt.

Finally, former CFO Agostini - before he said Very Bad Words and was fired - created a budget book that broke down the macro totals into sub-units of the university. There apparently was no analog to that format at the Zoom event.

Non-Medicare Percent

 Non-Medicare Emeriti/Retirees: Percent Change in Premiums

Continuing our reformatting of UC health insurance premiums: Non-Medicare retirees - mainly people who retire before age 65 - have a more mixed set of premium changes than actives. The actives, which we presented yesterday, all have big percentage increases. But this group has a mixed picture with a range of changes from big percentage drops to big percentage increases. Generally, if you are a retiree of Medicare age but not eligible for Medicare, your premiums are going up a lot unless you are in the most expensive UC Care plan. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 513

From Inside Higher Ed: Education Secretary Linda McMahon had a firm message for America’s higher education institutions last week—be more like Arizona State University. “Our message to the sector is simple: Follow ASU’s example,” McMahon said. She praised ASU’s business partnerships, accessibility, innovation and its “high-quality degrees at a reasonable cost.”

“The Trump administration is reorienting higher education to ensure that there is no ‘lesser than’ degree or credential. Any pathway that offers an affordable route to a good career and a good life deserves to be celebrated,” she said. Thanks to ASU President Michael Crow, “ASU has emerged as a model for the new American university. You remind us that college belongs to students from every background, and that excellence is measured not by whom you shut out, but by how the students you welcome in go on to advance [their] careers,” she added.

But the secretary’s decree—given from a podium at the university’s College for Teaching and Learning Innovation—was about more than just touting ASU’s achievements. It was a platform to condemn colleges she said have morphed into “sprawling business enterprises that put their own corporate interests first” and to boast about how the Trump administration is fighting back with a focus on affordability, alternative pathways and value...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/10/26/mcmahon-touts-arizona-state-example-nation.

No More

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA Library dissolved its data consultation center and stopped offering data analysis services in August. The university consolidated the Data Science Center into UCLA Library’s research services unit as part of a broader effort to restructure the department, a UCLA Library spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The move came after UCLA consolidated other campus units – including information technology services – in response to budget shortfalls. UCLA Library said on its website that the consolidation efforts are part of the university’s 2023-28 strategic plan, which outlines five goals, including strengthening research and increasing institutional efficiency...

Tim Dennis, the former director of the Data Science Center, said it is unclear how the center’s work – particularly its data repositories and computing initiative – will continue under the research services department, which he said is focused more on helping with new research than on storing and archiving data...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/26/ucla-librarys-data-science-center-closed-amid-consolidation-effort.

Weekly Record

We continue with our weekly summary by Claude of the prior week's blog postings:

October 25, 2026

Another Problem to Solve - Part 2 – From the Daily Californian: UC Berkeley mathematician and Fields Medalist Richard Borcherds reacts to OpenAI's claimed solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, saying AI already outdoes beginning grad students at math and arrived about a decade sooner than he expected. The blogger ties it to his October 21 post on UCLA's Terence Tao.

Straws in the Wind - Part 505 – From the Brown Daily Herald: Brown doesn't use third-party AI-detection tools on admissions essays because of accuracy concerns, instead watching for "dramatic inconsistencies" and following the Common App's AI policy. No added comment.

More are eligible – From the Daily Bruin: half-time-or-more students at UC, CSU and community colleges now automatically meet some CalFresh eligibility requirements, with benefits up to $306 a month; students on larger meal plans stay ineligible, and UC CalFresh participation has more than quadrupled in 15 years. No added comment.

Weekly Record – The blog's weekly recap of the October 18–24 postings, prepared by Claude at the blogger's request; he notes the weekly summaries will continue.

October 26, 2026

Side by Side (Active Employees) – Using UCnet data, compares 2026 and 2027 UC health premiums for active employees across salary tiers, with increases ranging from 9.5% to 29.3% depending on plan and tier. The blogger contrasts this with 3–4% general inflation: "Enough said."

Side by Side (Non-Medicare Emeriti/Retirees) – UCnet comparison of 2026 vs. 2027 premiums for retirees not yet on Medicare. The blogger finds a more mixed picture than for actives, with some decreases or freezes, and notes most in this group likely retired before 65.

Side by Side (Emeriti/Retirees - All in Medicare) – UCnet comparison of 2026 vs. 2027 premiums for all-Medicare retiree households. The blogger notes the increases vary (some are zero) and that federal Medicare premiums may also be rising.

Side by Wide (Medicare-Eligible – One or More Family Members Not Medicare-Eligible) – UCnet premium tables for mixed Medicare/non-Medicare retiree families. The blogger observes larger increases when some family members aren't on Medicare, with no explanation offered and no data on how many people fall in each category.

Recommended – The blogger recommends visiting the state privacy site privacy.ca.gov, saying he's unsure how effective it will be but it's worth a try.

Straws in the Wind - Part 506 – From the Yale Daily News: Yale College is drawing on reserves for the first time in four years to cover $26 million in endowment-tax costs after the tax rose more than fivefold in July. No added comment.

Where the money is - Part 3 – From the Daily Bruin: the UCLA-affiliated Terasaki Institute and partners won up to $19.8 million from ARPA-H for "Prometheus," a project to bioengineer functional livers. No added comment.

October 27, 2026

Cash in the Bank – Drawing on a Legislative Analyst's Office report, explains that California's cash balance is about $90 billion, down from a 2024 peak over $100 billion, with much of it in special funds; the LAO advises treating cash borrowing as a last resort. The blogger stresses that much of the cash is earmarked.

Straws in the Wind - Part 507 – From the Daily Pennsylvanian: emeritus Penn professor Carolyn Marvin was arrested after repeatedly blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot, calling it a First Amendment protest. No added comment.

No Hastings - Part 3 – From the San Francisco Chronicle: the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Hastings descendants' challenge to removing Serranus Hastings's name from UC's San Francisco law school. The blogger says this "appears to be the end of the line."

October 28, 2026

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 208 – From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard Law School raised a record $135 million in FY2026, boosted by a $31.4 million gift from Morgan Chu, up from about $73 million the prior year. No added comment.

Wayback – Citing an essay in The Atlantic, the blogger laments that some news publishers are blocking the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to thwart AI training, noting he relies on it to preserve Regents meetings and UCLA budget documents and that the public record is what suffers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 508 – From the Chronicle of Higher Education: the 2025 Survey of Earned Doctorates shows humanities PhDs down about 20% since 2015, social sciences down about 3%, and total doctorates up 8%. No added comment.

Slipping – Charts and a link to an EdSource story reporting that the math failure rate among UC freshmen has doubled. No added comment.

Trellix Departing - CrowdStrike Arriving – Reprints a UCLA memo announcing that Trellix endpoint security will be retired by May 2027 in favor of CrowdStrike, with a recap of earlier faculty and Senate privacy and governance objections. The blogger highlights the memo's assurance that CrowdStrike is not meant to monitor work and points to older posts on the dispute.

October 29, 2026

Expansion – From the Los Angeles Times: UCLA Health is expanding amid ER crowding, may need up to 400 more beds, and could acquire another hospital. The blogger argues the growth also strengthens UCLA's bargaining position with the region's few big insurers.

Straws in the Wind - Part 509 – From Inside Higher Ed: the DOJ found Ohio State's medical school discriminated in admissions, treating a socioeconomic scale developed at UC Davis's medical school as a proxy for race. No added comment.

Market Opportunity – Shows a Facebook ad pitching affluent parents with the claim that SAT scores no longer matter for UCLA and Berkeley admissions. The blogger mocks the come-on of a free intro followed by a fee.

Out – From Inside Higher Ed: Dartmouth Provost Santiago Schnell resigned after a faculty committee found he used AI to meaningfully alter his writing. No added comment.

October 30, 2026

The $90 Zero – Shows a mailing the blogger received from Navitus, the UC retiree pharmacy benefit manager, apparently involving a $90 vs. $0 cost figure. His only comment: "What a difference a zero can make!" NOTE: Claude seems to have missed the point - possibly because it couldn't read the image of the mailing. The mailing from Navitus showed a correction changing the co-pay from $10 to $100; the added zero imposed a $90 cost.

Straws in the Wind - Part 510 (Les Jeux Sont Fait) – From Inside Higher Ed: prediction market Kalshi plans to let users bet on admission rates at 22 selective schools, including UCLA and UC Berkeley, with admissions staff barred from trading. No added comment.

The Plan – Citing LA Metro, describes the proposed Sepulveda Transit Corridor rail line and lists scoping meetings, with public comments due November 18. The blogger wryly frames it as something that will happen "someday."

October 31, 2026

No Sharing – From the Daily Bruin: UCLA has a new review process restricting research-data sharing with "countries of concern" under DOJ and NIH rules. No added comment.

Straws in the Wind - Part 511 – From the Cornell Daily Sun: FIRE urged President Kotlikoff to lift Cornell's ban on Interfraternity Council social events, calling it guilt by association that violates freedom of association. No added comment.

Our Annual Halloween Offering – The blogger's yearly Halloween pick: a roughly half-hour, slowly building horror video, with a joking request that medically minded readers not point out the brain has no internal pain receptors.

AI Purchase Train Bypasses Academic Senate – Reposts an October 30 letter from Academic Council Chair Susannah Scott to President Milliken and COO Nava objecting to minimal Senate consultation on a proposed systemwide OpenAI purchase and asking that it not be finalized yet. No added comment beyond the letter and source link.

Total posts for the week: 30

Actives Percent

Percent Increase in Health Insurance Premiums

Active Employees: 2026-2027

 

Back on Oct. 26, we showed you side-by-side dollar comparisons for various groups of employees and retirees on what out-of-pocket health insurance premiums would be paid for various insurance plans, 2026 versus 2027. Above is another cut on the comparison, this time showing the percent change in the premiums. For active employees, they are big changes, notably higher than the general rate of price inflation which has been running in the 3-4%/annum range.

Straws in the Wind - Part 512

From the Daily Pennsylvanian: ...Mass antigovernment protests in France [have] escalated into some of the most destructive riots the country has witnessed in decades. As the unrest spread, a safety alert system issued a public warning to [U of] Penn students studying in France. The University currently operates three active semester-long study abroad programs in Paris: Columbia in Paris at Reid Hall, HEC Paris, and the Institute of Political Studies. International SOS — an alert system all University students studying abroad are subscribed to — notified students to “expect disruption nationwide over the coming days” during the “widespread unrest.” 

“Major incidents of looting, arson and clashes with the police occurred in urban centres, including the capital Paris,” the... message read. “The gatherings carry a heightened risk of unrest, with protesters likely to erect roadblocks, set objects alight, throw projectiles and engage in looting.” ...The safety alert warned that police officers may use “forceful measures” — such as tear gas and water cannons or baton charges — to “disperse unruly crowds.”

“Leave an area at the first sign of unrest,” the message instructed. “Expect heightened security around gatherings and comply with all official directives.”

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/10/penn-paris-protests-study-abroad-students.

If our scary Halloween offering yesterday was too much for you, here's a shorter one

Or direct to https://ia600406.us.archive.org/14/items/newsom-briefings-oct.-1-2026/Halloween%20Larry%20David.mp4.

Did you fall back?

Yes, you were supposed to fall back (set your clock back one hour) early this morning to go back to standard time. And it's also time for grumbling about why we have to change the clock. Here is a bit of AI on the current status of the debate:

Trump's Push for Permanent Daylight Saving Time

• The Legislative Status: The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act (H.R. 139) by a wide bipartisan margin in July 2026, sending it to the Senate.

• Senate Resistance: The bill has stalled in the Senate as of late October 2026, with several senators—led by opponents like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and lawmakers from northern states—blocking or expressing skepticism over the measure due to concerns about very late winter sunrises (such as children commuting or going to school in the dark).

• Trump's Arguments: Trump has urged the Senate to pass the bill via social media (including Truth Social), arguing that Americans are tired of changing clocks twice a year, that evening sunlight is preferable, and that more afternoon light benefits safety and recreation.

• Current Law: Permanent daylight saving time is not yet law. The country continues to follow standard federally mandated clock changes, with daylight saving time ending and clocks "falling back" an hour.

Some readers may also recall voting several years ago on a California proposition that seemed to suggest ending clock changing. So we present our semi-annual video (from 2022 when masks were still required at UCLA) on the mysteries of time (standard, daylight, and zones):

https://archive.org/details/mitchell-time-edited

AI Purchase Train Bypasses Academic Senate

October 30, 2026

James B. Milliken

President, University of California

Rachael Nava, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Re: Proposed Systemwide OpenAI Purchase Agreement and Senate Consultation

Dear President Milliken and COO Nava:

On behalf of the Academic Council, I write to express our serious concern about shared governance and the very limited Academic Senate consultation regarding the proposed systemwide purchase agreement between the University of California and OpenAI.

In the written item submitted to the Board of Regents for its September 16, 2026 meeting, the administration reported that UC was exploring systemwide agreements with multiple AI providers, and explicitly stated that any resulting arrangements would undergo Academic Senate consultation before the University made a commitment.

Nevertheless, the Academic Council was not aware of the proposed OpenAI purchase agreement until our October 21, 2026 meeting with Vice President and Chief Information Officer Van Williams. On October 22, at our request, CIO Williams invited formal written Council input. The proposed agreement was made available to Council on October 24, with written feedback requested by October 30 before final execution of the purchase agreement anticipated by November 1. We understand this agreement will operate under UC’s 2024 Master Services Agreement (MSA) with OpenAI, signed June 13, 2024.

To be clear, Academic Council does not object to the use of AI, nor to the idea of UC providing frontier model access to its researchers. We recognize the potential benefits of a coordinated purchasing approach, including reduced costs, improved security, and more equitable access to AI platforms. Council members with a range of views about the merits and implications of the proposed agreement have questions that cannot be adequately assessed within the present timeline. Notably, these include the direct impact of widespread AI access on teaching and learning, student assessment, and research practice.

Although procurement actions are an administrative responsibility, decisions about procurement of any goods or services that may impact instruction and research policies call for Academic Senate consultation before they are made. We do not view making ChatGPT Edu licenses available to every UC student, instructor, and staff member as a routine software procurement decision, but rather a significant academic policy matter that falls within the Senate’s delegated authority and expertise to advise on as part of our shared governance process.

Council also observes that making available a chat application capable of producing much of the work that UC courses are designed to teach and assess could be perceived as the University signalling endorsement for its use in all courses. For courses in which instructors have sound educational reasons to restrict these AI tools, that signal will sit in tension with the syllabus.

Neither late consultation nor notification after purchasing decisions have been made can substitute for faculty involvement in shaping the discussion about the issues at hand, given such far-reaching academic consequences. Consultation should mean participation in the decision, through the Senate’s processes, and is not achieved by the simple presence of one or more faculty representatives on administrative bodies.

Accordingly, the Council requests that: 1) finalization of the purchase agreement with OpenAI be deferred to permit meaningful Senate consultation; and 2) no deployment of ChatGPT licenses for academic uses by students and faculty take place until appropriate consultation with the systemwide and divisional Senates has occurred regarding the educational implications of such deployment and the establishment of appropriate protections for faculty authority over instruction.

We further request a consultative role for the Senate through the Academic Council and UCACC in renewal of the OpenAI Master Services Agreement, specifically where its terms bear on instruction and faculty research, as well as an ongoing role in future decisions about purchasing, allocation, deployment, evaluation, and renewal of AI tools for academic uses, whether from OpenAI or any other AI providers. Such consultation should include opportunities to assess educational benefits and risks, safeguard faculty authority over instructional decisions, ensure transparency and appropriate data protection for faculty and students, and develop guidance for uses that evolve along with the AI technologies themselves.

Sincerely,

Susannah Scott

Chair, Academic Council

Encl. Invitation from VP Williams to Academic Council to provide input

cc: Academic Council

   Vice President and Chief of Staff Kao

   VP and CIO Williams

   AVP and Chief Procurement Officer Williams

   Chair Brookwell, University Committee on Academic Computing &  Communications (UCACC)

   Senate Division Executive Directors

   Senate Executive Director Lin

==

Source: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-president-openai-purchase-agreement-10-30-26.pdf.

Our Annual Halloween Offering

You'll need about half an hour for this slowly building scare:

https://dn800202.us.archive.org/0/items/ucla-rehab-strength-training/Earwig.mp4 

We again remind the medically adept not to let me know that the brain doesn't have internal pain receptors.

Straws in the Wind - Part 511

From the Cornell Daily Sun: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression wrote an “urgent” letter to President Michael Kotlikoff on Oct. 16, criticizing his Oct. 13 decision to ban all Cornell Interfraternity Council social events for the rest of the academic year. “FIRE urges Cornell to rescind the October 13 directive as applied to any IFC organization that is not the subject of a pending Report or Formal Complaint,” the letter reads, requesting a “substantive response” confirming that the University has removed the ban by Oct. 26.

The letter claims that the ban violates students’ right to freedom of association, stating that this right prohibits universities from banning social functions unless such restrictions are “narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest.”

“Courts have invalidated far less onerous restrictions as impermissible burdens on associational freedom,” the letter reads. FIRE is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to investigate and protect against violations of free speech, focused on issues related to college campuses. In its 2027 College Free Speech Rankings, FIRE recently granted Cornell an F grade for its speech climate, ranking the University 219 out of the 261 schools studied.

“Guilt by association serves no one and guarantees that injustice will be done to innocent individuals -- in this case, including students who were not even on campus in October 2024,” [Robert Shibley, FIRE’s special counsel for campus advocacy,]  wrote...

Full story at https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/10/fire-calls-kotlikoff-s-fraternity-party-ban-a-guilt-by-association-punishment-that-violates-free-speech.

No Sharing

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA will enforce a review process to limit the data that research faculty and staff share with certain foreign countries in line with guidance from the federal government... The requirements – issued by the Department of Justice and National Institutes of Health – prohibit researchers from sharing sensitive personal information, government-related data and biological samples with people or organizations associated with China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, said Roger Wakimoto – vice chancellor for research, innovation and creative activities – and Mark Krause, associate vice chancellor for ethics, compliance and audit...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/23/ucla-to-limit-data-sharing-with-countries-of-concern-in-line-with-doj-nih-policies.

The Plan

There is a plan that - someday - there will be a train from Panorama City to Westwood/UCLA and points south. From LA Metro:

The Sepulveda Transit Corridor is a proposed high-capacity rail line that will provide a crucial north-south transit connection between the San Fernando Valley, the Westside and eventually Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to address one of the most heavily traveled and congested corridors in Los Angeles County.

In January 2026, the Metro Board of Directors selected a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the project consisting of underground heavy-rail transit between the Van Nuys Metrolink Station and the Metro E Line Expo/Sepulveda Station with a connection to the Metro G Line and the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Line at Van Nuys Boulevard. The Metro Board also identified an Initial Operating Segment (IOS) alternative, extending approximately 8.4 miles between the Wilshire/Westwood Station and the G Line/Van Nuys Station. The project would require construction of a maintenance and storage facility for rail vehicles, with several potential location options to be evaluated. 

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Metro are now holding a scoping period before the formal preparation of an environmental document under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and a Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (RDEIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  

Stakeholders are invited to comment on the project's purpose and need; project elements, including station and maintenance/storage facility locations; and potential environmental impacts. Learn more at the Project Hub.

Comments may be provided at the scoping meetings, online, via email, via phone at 213.922.7375, or by mail to Peter Carter, Project Manager, Metro, One Gateway Plaza, Mail Stop 99-22-6, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Comments are due November 18, 2026

Scoping Meeting Details 

Wednesday, November 4, 12-1pm.
Zoom Link: https://bit.ly/STC-Nov4
Call-in Number: 213.338.8477
Webinar ID: 822 7276 3299

Saturday, November 7, 3-5pm
Culver City Veterans Memorial
Building Multipurpose Room
4117 Overland Av
Culver City, CA 90230

Tuesday, November 10, 5:30pm- 7:30pm
Westwood United Methodist Church
10497 Wilshire Bl
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Saturday, November 14, 10am- 12pm
Marvin Braude Constituent Center
6262 Van Nuys Bl
Los Angeles, CA 91401

Monday, November 16, 5:30pm- 7:30pm
Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center
5056 Van Nuys Bl, Building B
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Source: https://www.metro.net/projects/sepulvedacorridor/. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 510 (Les Jeux Sont Fait)

From Inside Higher Ed: One of the country’s leading prediction markets is planning to get into the business of college admissions. Kalshi could soon add what it calls “event contracts” regarding admission rates at 22 selective institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago, according to notices filed this week with its federal regulator. Users will be able to wager whether a college’s admission rate will be less than, equal to or greater than a certain value, such as 10 percent. Kalshi plans to verify admission rates for first-time, first-year undergraduates using the Common Data Set.

...Kalshi plans to allow bets for admissions rates at the following universities: Brown University; the California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Columbia University; Cornell University; Dartmouth College; Duke University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Northwestern University; Princeton University; Rice University; Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Chicago; the University of Notre Dame; the University of Pennsylvania; Vanderbilt University; Washington University in St. Louis; and Yale University.

Employees and others in the admission and financial aid offices of the universities won’t be able to wager on their university’s rates. Others barred from trading include employees in the university’s communications office and other departments who might have advance knowledge of the rate. “Employees and contractors of any application platform or vendor that hosts, operates, or processes data for UCLA’s first-year applications or admissions records” also can’t trade, according to the notice for the UCLA contract... 

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/10/23/kalshi-could-let-you-wager-admission-rates-22-colleges.

The $90 Zero

Received in the mail this past Monday from Navitus, the formulary that provides drug benefits for retirees. What a difference a zero can make!