From SFGATE: ...UC Santa Barbara, known for its wild ragers, lost its title as the top party school in America to Florida State University, according to Niche. The beachside university plummeted to No. 26, even falling behind USC (No. 5) and San Diego State University (No. 18)...
Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/college-rankings-ucla-niche-22432023.php.
Just not like the old times:
From a May 1 news release by the governor's office: Governor Gavin Newsom... highlighted the efforts of the University of California (UC) system to better prepare undergraduate students for a rapidly changing workforce influenced by tech-driven economic change. The UC Degree Plus Program, launched in 2025, is a two-year pilot program currently available at no additional cost to UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and UC San Diego (UCSD) students, combining a UC bachelor’s degree with skills-based certificates and paid internships to strengthen workforce readiness, connect students with employers, and improve career outcomes in an increasingly competitive labor market. The UC Degree Plus program will serve 480 students across both campuses from 2025-2027 and is already in high demand...
Full release at https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/05/01/new-uc-degree-plus-pilot-program-shows-demand-for-career-readiness-training/.
More detail on the program at:
https://www.ucop.edu/academic-affairs/initiatives/degree-plus.html.
From the San Francisco Chronicle: For the first time since the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, undergraduate computer science enrollment across the UC system declined in 2025, data show. Only one UC has defied the downward trend: UC San Diego, the sole campus to have launched an AI major. David Reynaldo,the founder of admissions consultancy College Zoom, said he’s seen this play out in his work with students applying to college. But the biggest shift, he said, is coming from parents.
In past years, parents saw a computer science degree as a clear path to a high-paying job: They might push their children to apply and enroll in those programs. But now those parents are turning toward hard, physical sciences, like mechanical or electrical engineering, as the better option. “Parental pressure plays a lot — a lot, a lot, a lot — on the kids,” he said.
UC admissions officers first flagged the shift in September at a college counselors conference in San Jose. “The biggest surprise is us trying to fill computer science,” UC Santa Barbara’s admissions director, Cuka Acosta, told a roomful of student advisers from high schools and community colleges. “Changing times! Students are looking at more AI programs.”
It’s not just the UCs. A recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that enrollment in computer science programs declined across different types of institutions in the fall...
Full story https://www.sfchronicle.com/college-admissions/article/uc-major-computer-science-ai-21284464.php.
"Of the 31,550 students who began studying at a UC campus in 2005, fewer than 1,000 of them, 3%, went on to earn a diploma in three years. By 2021, more than 3,300 students — 6.4% of the 51,934 students who entered UC that year — had their a degree by 2024, just three years after landing on campus."
Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/college-admissions/article/uc-three-year-graduation-21251145.php.
It's not clear whether that's a Good Thing, a Bad Thing, or just a Thing. Below is a chart from the article which can be found at https://data.dailycal.org/2025-12-24-wikiedits.
From the Santa Monica Lookout: The vast majority of Santa Monica College (SMC) students weren't born the last time the school failed to rank as the number one transfer college to the California University system. ...College officials announced SMC topped the transfer list for the 35th year in a row, keeping alive a streak that started when George H.W. Bush was president and the first episode of The Simpsons aired on Fox. According to transfer data released by the UC Information Center, 995 SMC students transferred to UC campuses in 2024-2025, with 214 of the transfer students Latino and 59 Black.
UCLA remained the most popular campus for SMC transfers, with 437 students headed to the Westwood campus, while UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara ranked second and third, with 162 and 112 SMC transfer students respectively...
The main event of the November Regents meetings was renewal and approval of the "tuition stability plan" by the full board. The essence of the plan was that tuition goes up automatically by cohort. But once a student enters, the tuition is constant in nominal dollars thereafter. Each cohort pays more, but then the rate is fixed. As several speakers noted, the plan does not deal with non-tuition costs (living expenses, textbooks, etc.), which can be a significant element in the total cost.
Given current fiscal stringencies and federal uncertainties, the proposed plan was less generous than the previous with a 5% cap on inflation but with "banking" of inflation above 5% that would be applied in lower-inflation years, a drop in the diversion of revenue to student aid dropping from 45% of incremental revenue down to 40%, and a 1% surcharge above inflation for capital needs (said to be student-oriented buildings, whatever that exactly means). There were several disruptions at the beginning of the presentation that led to the room being cleared.
Two changes in the proposal were eventually adopted. One set a 7-year deadline for revisiting the plan instead of no specific deadline. Another allowed campuses to use the 1% surcharge for whatever needs they had, rather than just capital.
The plan passed with a handful of negative votes.
At a meeting of the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee, a long-range plan for the UC-Santa Barbara campus was approved, but with a call for the campus to lower the proposed costs. Reports on capital spending and finances were passed. An operating budget for UC was passed. But Regents raised the question of whether there is really a "compact" with the state, given the propensity of the governor and legislature to "defer" compact obligation to the future when the budget outlook is constrained. It was noted that the outyear of the compact extends to the period when a new governor will be in place. Finally, it was noted that given the recent boom in the stock market, the pension is now funded at 90% on a market basis.
At Academic and Student Affairs, there was a report on the UCAD-Plus committee that is dealing with "disruptions" in state and federal payments to UC and their impact on research, the academic advancement on junior faculty (who must demonstrate research capability), and related issues. The new committee is composed of both administration and Academic Senate members. It is to deliver a report in January 2027. (Meanwhile, the Regents are negotiating behind closed doors with the feds so it is unclear how what UCAD-Plus will be doing relates to these negotiations.)
One hint of what's to come came in the form of references to cross-campus programs for low enrollment programs such as languages. Presumably, cross-campus means online education.
Finally, there was a presentation on UCLA's program dealing with the aftermath of the Palisades and Altadena fires.
At the Investments Committee, everyone was cheerful because of recent gains in the stock market. The above-mentioned 90% funding ratio for the UC pension came up. There was vague discussion about the proposed investment in the Big Ten athletic conference - which has yet to happen. CIO Bachhar was upbeat about the prospect and no one seemed in a mood to challenge him. Basically, UC is 64% invested in public equity, 19% in private assets (which are harder to value - the word "opaque" came up -and create liquidity risks), 15% in fixed income, and 2% in cash.
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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no fixed policy on retention and the recording are on YouTube with unlisted addresses which cannot be searched.
The general address for the afternoon sessions of Nov. 19 are at:
https://archive.org/details/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025
The board and Finance and Capital Strategies sessions are at:
Academic and Student Affairs is at:
Investments is at:
The San Francisco Chronicle provides a listing of the percent of undergrads who go on to get graduate degrees from the various UC campuses. (UC-San Francisco is excluded because it has no undergraduate program.) The chart below highlights Berkeley, but all the other undergraduate campuses are shown:
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/uc-graduate-degrees/.
We continue our coverage of the most recent Regents meetings with the afternoon of Sept. 17th. As blog readers will know, the Sept. 16-17 meetings were unusually truncated since there was no third day. This shortening meant that there were periodic references to things that would be more fully dealt with at the November meetings.
At Finance and Capital Strategies, the consent items approved included an upgrade to a power system for UCLA health. There was discussion of the state budget outlook. It was noted that the so-called "compact" expires at the end of the coming year. Of course, it is unclear that one can say the compact was actually honored, particularly by the governor. As for the feds and the conflict there, UC gets about $17 billion in federal revenue from all sources (and UCLA gets $2.8 billion). Enrollment is running ahead of what the compact required although the extra students are not funded. Capital spending is not getting supported by the state.
The tuition cohort plan is up for renewal in some form, although that was put off for decision in November. The proposal for its replacement on the table retains the 5% per annum cap, reduces the proportion of tuition that is recycled into student aid, contains an alternative to the Consumer Price Index as an escalator with a price index for higher ed plus 1%, with the 1% to go to capital spending and other purposes. One might have expected some pushback to be expressed to the plan but there was little discussion.
At Academic and Student Affairs, Regent Leib started with an explanation of what happened to the $7 million that former President Drake had allocated after the disturbances began post-Oct. 7, 2023. Drake seemed to want the money to support some kinds of educational programming related to the history of the Middle East conflict, more or less similar to what occurred at some other universities, notably Dartmouth. According to Leib, however, $5.3 million was spent on training in cooperation with Hillel, mental health, and a "climate" survey. The rest apparently has not been spent. More detail will be made public in November.
There was then discussion of programs of career paths for students in coordination with employers. They involve occupational certificates and internships. San Diego and Santa Barbara have pilot programs looking specifically at the implications of AI. There was also discussion of teacher preparation in K-12 at Riverside and Merced.
The full Board heard discussion of AI and UC partnerships with major corporations in the field. President Milliken said there would be more information in November. But there was talk about infrastructure needs, cybersecurity, training for UC employees at all levels.
The Compliance and Audit Committee approved police purchase equipment defined as military. Finally, the Governance Committee took some executive pay actions and the full Board approved the various committee reports.
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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. The links are below:
Finance and Capital Strategy: https://archive.org/download/2-board-8-30-am-9-17-2025/3-Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%20Committee%209-17-2025.mp4
Academic and Student Affairs: https://archive.org/download/2-board-8-30-am-9-17-2025/4-Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee%209-17-2025.mp4
Board and Compliance and Audit: https://archive.org/download/2-board-8-30-am-9-17-2025/5-Board%201_30%20PM%2C%20Compliance%20and%20Audit%209-17-2025.mp4
Governance and Board: https://archive.org/download/2-board-8-30-am-9-17-2025/6-Governance%20Committee%2C%20Board%209-17-2025.mp4
General webpage for Sept. 17: https://archive.org/details/2-board-8-30-am-9-17-2025
We are again playing catch-up with the Regents, although we have previously covered July 15 and 16. On the third day of the meetings - July 17 - the agenda began with public comments. Topics covered were tuition, substandard construction on a project at UC-Santa Cruz, layoffs in a student retention program, layoffs at Santa Barbara, layoffs of instructors, loss of federal funding for climate change research and another topics, loss of funding from NSF, opposition to the ban on non-transparent masks at Regents meetings, problems of disabled students, anti-Israel, financial aid, unfair work standards in a Teamsters unit, understaffing in health care, federal science cuts, layoffs at San Diego, leaves of absence for undergraduate students with medical issues, and problems of student-parents.
After public comments, the undergraduate student rep complained about the ban on boycotts by student governments. The graduate student rep complained about rent and dorm conditions at Santa Cruz and a police action. There was then a program about the UC Grand Slam for graduate students. In that program, grad students make a 3-minute presentation on their research projects suitable for a lay audience. Four students from different research areas made presentations in the bio/medical/health care area.
The Regents went into closed session and when the open session resumed, the new chancellor of UC-Santa Barbara - Dennis Assanis - was appointed. The various committees that had met during the prior two days reported and their reports and recommendations were adopted. It was noted that 2025 was the 50th anniversary of CUCSA (for non-union staff) and also the 50th anniversary of the appointment of a student Regents.
There was then a discussion item on replacing the Regents' existing "cohort" tuition plan when it expires with a new program that would begin in 2027-28. Note that although the Regents could just extend the existing plan, a modification was presented which would raise the annual cap on increases, reduce the formula percentage of recycled tuition revenue going to financial aid, and bump up the inflation adjustment by a fixed amount. These changes would raise revenue from tuition and divert some of the increase to things like seismic upgrades.
As might be expected, there was push-back against the proposal, but since at this point the matter was just a discussion item, the push-back was general and alternatives were not presented. Yours truly found the discussion to be disjointed. What was needed, but not presented, was a range of concrete examples of what a student with a particular income, etc., would pay under the old plan and under the new plan under varying assumptions about inflation and various adjustments of the basic formula.
Regent chair Reilly said the tuition issue would be taken up as an action item at a later meeting, probably in November. Several Regents noted that the political and funding situation in Washington, DC was volatile. Whether there will be more clarity on that front in November is uncertain.
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As blog readers will know, we retain recordings of Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention for their (unlisted) YouTube recordings.
The opening session of the July 17 meeting is at: https://ia601901.us.archive.org/8/items/7-board-8-30-am/7-Board%208_30%20AM.mp4.
The second session of the meeting is at: https://ia801901.us.archive.org/8/items/7-board-8-30-am/8-Board%2011_30%20AM.mp4.
The general website for the recordings is: https://archive.org/details/7-board-8-30-am.
The local newspaper's welcome for Santa Barbara's new chancellor is a bit ambiguous. From the Santa Barbara Independent: Following a year-long, nationwide search, UC Santa Barbara has a new chancellor. On Thursday, Dr. Dennis Assanis, former president of the University of Delaware (UD), was named as Chancellor Henry Yang’s replacement, marking the official end of Yang’s 31-year tenure. To take on the role, however, Assanis is taking a pay cut. He also ended his tenure at the University of Delaware early — a year before his contract was set to expire. UD tax returns from 2023 reported his salary to be a little more than $1.5 million (making him the third-highest-paid president of a public university), so his $880,000 salary at UCSB will be a considerable drop in compensation. However, it is still a $60,000 increase from Yang’s pay.
The former UD president also reportedly resigned from his position in May amid scrutiny from faculty about how he handled the university’s finances coming out of COVID, during which the university faced a $250 million budget shortfall. According to multiple sources — such as Spotlight Delaware and The Review, UD’s campus newspaper — Assanis faced criticism around the university’s spending, which seemed to prioritize administration and construction over academics...
Full story at https://www.independent.com/2025/07/21/uc-santa-barbaras-new-chancellor-taking-620k-pay-cut/.
Source - EdSource: https://edsource.org/2025/california-research-grants-federal-funding-trump-administration/733468.
UCLA’s Heather Maynard, Sorin Popa, Marilyn Raphael and the late Edward Leamer have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for their achievements in original research. The four professors are part of a new class of 120 members and 30 international members, the academy announced today. Membership in the academy is among the most prestigious honors in the United States scientific community, requiring election by a scholar’s peers. The nongovernmental organization now has 2,662 active members, who can be called on by the federal government to provide their expertise on issues regarding science and technology.
UCLA’s new National Academy of Sciences members for 2025 are:
Edward Leamer (posthumous)
Distinguished professor emeritus of global economics and management, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Over the course of an academic career spanning five decades at UCLA, Leamer, who died Feb. 25, made profound contributions to the field of economics in areas as varied as research methodologies, global economics and economic forecasting. He was the author of five books and more than 100 papers in leading academic journals, including his seminal 1983 article “Let’s Take the Con Out of Econometrics,” in which he argued that his colleagues needed to take a more critical approach and adopt greater transparency in their economic modeling to avoid limitations and potential biases. As director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast from 2000 to 2016, his quarterly economic predictions were closely watched across media, business, government and other fields, both in California and across the country.
At UCLA Anderson, where he taught courses in business and global economics, Leamer chaired more than 30 doctoral committees, and his students went on to hold important roles across academia, government and the private sector, both in the U.S. and internationally.
“It can be difficult to summarize Ed’s myriad essential contributions to the field of economics because his specific interests broadened, shifted and evolved throughout his career,” UCLA Anderson Dean Antonio Bernardo said at the time of Leamer’s death. “But it is impossible to overstate his impact.”
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Heather Maynard
Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, UCLA College
Maynard, UCLA’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Professor of Polymer Science and associate director for technology and development at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, is a worldwide leader in the development of protein-polymer conjugates, which are important therapeutics for a variety of diseases. In her lab, she develops new synthetic methods to make the materials, invents new polymers to improve properties such as stability, and demonstrates the preclinical efficacy of her conjugates with an eye toward translation for human health. She also works in the area of precision medicine, designing “smart materials” that respond to disease states in the body.
Maynard, who is an associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, also co-directs the National Science Foundation–funded BioPACIFIC Materials Innovation Platform, an initiative at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Her research work has been recognized with numerous honors, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.K.’s Royal Society of Chemistry. Maynard has been UCLA faculty member since 2002.
“I am thrilled to be elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, which has an enormous impact on promoting, supporting and distilling innovative science in the United States and around the world,” Maynard said. “ I feel incredibly honored to be part of this illustrious community.”
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Sorin Popa
Professor of mathematics, UCLA College
Popa is internationally recognized for his work in operator algebras related to quantum physics and is regarded as one of the leading figures in modern mathematical analysis. In addition to quantum physics, his work has influenced areas as diverse as group theory and ergodic theory. A UCLA professor since 1987, Popa earned wide acclaim in the mathematics community for elaborating a revolutionary new method for classifying von Neumann algebras, operator algebras associated with actions of groups on measure spaces. His work led to the solution of many mathematical problems that were believed to be unsolvable for several decades and to new concepts in deformation/rigidity theory.
A former chair of the UCLA math department, Popa has been a mentor to and collaborator with generations of students. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his groundbreaking work and is an elected fellow of both the American Mathematical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Marilyn Raphael
Professor of geography, UCLA College and UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Raphael is a climate scientist who studies global climate change, atmospheric circulation, and the complex dynamics behind how and why Antarctica’s sea ice levels vary from season to season. Her recent research indicates that melting Antarctic sea ice is becoming far less likely to recover, suggesting the continent’s ice system is undergoing a major transformation. Raphael is the author of more than 60 academic papers, many of them highly cited, and is the co-author of “The Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate Change: A Complete Visual Guide,” which received the Most Popular Book award from Atmospheric Science Librarians International. Her work and writing continues to shape both academic inquiry and public understanding of polar climate dynamics.
A UCLA faculty member since 1998, Raphael is the former director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the former chair of UCLA’s geography department. A past president of the American Association of Geographers and former co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s expert group on sea ice processes, Raphael serves on the National Academies Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate and is co-lead of the World Climate Research Programme’s Polar Climate Predictability Initiative. In addition to her research, she has been active in mentoring students and advocating for the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in climate science.
“It is a tremendous honor to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences,” Raphael said. “I feel grateful to have my research and service be valued so highly by the community. I look forward to working with the academy to advance its mission of ‘fostering a broad understanding of science,’ especially in the Antarctic.”
Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/4-faculty-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences.
UC Emeriti Professors Gifford-Gonzalez and Giles are the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth recipients of the Constantine Panunzio Award. Both awardees have especially long and notable records of research, teaching, and service to the University of California, their disciplines, and their communities. The late Dr. Panunzio, a Professor of Sociology at UCLA for many years, has been described as the architect of the UC Retirement System and was particularly active in improving pensions and stipends for his fellow Emeriti. The award bearing his name was established in 1983 and includes a $5,000 prize. The Panunzio Award exemplifies the tremendous contributions of Emeriti to the continued excellence of the UC System.
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, UC Santa Cruz, Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology retired in 2015. Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez is internationally recognized as one the foremost authorities in zooarchaeology and continues to provide intellectual and committed leadership to her discipline. Her expertise intersects archaeology, zooarchaeology, gender, the history of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indigenous communities in California’s Monterey Bay area. Her research has led to real-world impacts including the successful disposition of ancestral remains for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Coastanoan/Ohlone Indians, and an ongoing eco-archaeological project to examine diverse lines of evidence for Indigenous landscape and seascape stewardship practices over 7000 years on the Central California Coast. Having been a founding cohort of zooarchaeology, the study of human-animal interactions, in 2018 she published the leading textbook – An Introduction to Zooarchaeology. Her scholarship continues with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals; she has served as the keynote speaker at three major international conferences, and has given Distinguished Lectures, including at the Institute for Human History at the Max Planck Institute in Jena (2017). Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez has received significant recognition for her research with honors, and among them are election to the National Academy of Sciences (2024), appointed as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropology Section (2023), is the recipient of the Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty Award from UCSC (2020), as well as being a Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study, Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Oslo (2015-2016). Service to her campus continues with supervision of doctoral students, service on UCSC senate committees, the Nature Reserves Advisory Committee, and the Emeriti Association (2023-2024).
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Howard Giles, UC Santa Barbara, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Communication retired in 2017. Since becoming an Emeritus Professor, Howard Giles has retained his influence in the multi-disciplinary fields of social psychology of language and communication; intergenerational communication and aging; and intergroup communication more broadly. He is widely considered the leading scholar in these disciplines and is viewed as the “Architect of Communication Scholarship.” His research productivity since retirement focuses on three domains: aging, Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which he founded, and police-community relations. Works include a co-authored book, eight special journal issues, 47 coauthored peer-reviewed articles, and numerous other publications and significant editorial work, in addition to national and international paper presentations. Recognition has been bestowed upon him with two professional associations naming awards in his honor, the “Inaugural Giles Mentorship Award” from the International Association of Language & Social Psychology and the “Howard Giles Top Student Paper Award” from the International Communication Association. His contributions include continued service to his campus, teaching, and mentorship. Since 2021 he has been an affiliate of UCSB’s Center for Aging & Longevity Studies. Post retirement he became a fellow in a number of societies, and in 2023 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition to his dedication to students and UCSB, his commitment to campus-community relationships is reflected in his service as the Director of the Volunteer in Policing Corp for the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD), earning him a nomination as the SBPD Civilian Supervisor of the Year Award. His involvement in this area of police-community relations has also resulted in collaborations with the police department, including a handbook on policing and communication as well as an intervention program called VOICES that promotes dialog between the police and marginalized members of the community.
The San Francisco Chronicle provided the table above. It shows:
1) UCLA received the most applications of all the undergraduate campuses.
2) The low application campuses (Merced and Riverside) experienced the largest increases in applications, whether gauged from last year or pre-pandemic 2019. (Merced provided free applications to drive up applications this year.)
3) All campuses have significantly increased applications since 2019. But growth over last year at the high-application campuses stalled relative to last year.
Reminder: Applications are not the same as final enrollments. Enrollments are determined by the acceptance rate of the campus and within it, the acceptance rate of applicants.
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/college-admissions/article/uc-applications-20238586.php.
We're catching up with last week's Regents meetings, specifically the meeting of March 19. We have already covered March 18.*
At the opening public comments session, there was a series of remarks that were pro-Israel and/or against antisemitism and some opposing comments. Other issues included staff pay, sexual violence, funding for undocumented students, basic needs, alternatives to CalFresh for undocumented students experimental fellowships, DEI issues, staff job loss, staff flexible work schedules, AFSCME pay issues, disabled masking needs, childcare and parental needs, nurse bargaining issues, and anti-abortion. After a disturbance involving bargaining issues, the room was cleared.
Among the remarks made when the meeting resumed were those of UC president Drake who noted that UC-Merced had achieved R1 status. However, most of his remarks were focused on problems in Sacramento with UC's budget and problems in DC with regard to research funding and Medicare-Medicaid funding. He talked about a legal response (not clear what that is) and the installation of Time-Place-Manner rules on UC campuses.
The Regents spent a lot of time in closed session, presumably dealing with the issues Drake outlined. In fact, they spent so much time that the rest of the March 19 program was sufficiently delayed so that one scheduled session had to be delayed until the next day. One guesses that the decision to drop required required DEI statements for hiring and advancement of faculty was made in the closed session, although there was no announcement in the meeting.
At Finance and Capital Strategies, the committee approved a hospital replacement building at UC-San Diego, student housing at Berkeley, a faculty and staff housing project at Santa Barbara, and a classroom and office building at Merced. The committee reviewed a proposal for a Berkeley Venture Capital Fund, initially to be financed by gifts. A student regent proposal to have a student on the board of the Fund was more or less squelched without a vote. There were some concerns about whether time that UC employees put into the Fund would be paid for by the Fund. Again, assurances were made - but without a specific vote. It was noted that the Fund could invest in projects related to any UC, not just Berkeley.
The Academic and Student Affairs Committee discussed support for transfer students and disabled students. The latter topic evolved from a situation at Berkeley in which a disabled student was unable to evacuate from a building in an emergency situation. The Committee then turned to a segment on entrepreneurship and commercialization. Examples were provided of a system for supporting coral reefs and a treatment for bladder cancer.
The Governance Committee swiftly approved compensation for a football coach at Berkeley and an executive pay matter (although the dollar amounts entailed were somehow not mentioned), some procedural changes regarding the Nominations Committee, stipends for expert advisors to the Health Services Committee, and the allowing of across-the-board "cost of living" adjustments for managerial employees without specific regental approval. There was a change in future meeting dates due to what one suspects was a scheduling screw up regarding venue availability. Finally, in a joint session with Health Services, four positions in the health sector were combined into two and the resulting two were elevated into the senior management group. This combination and elevation was said to save money on net.
A planned session of Public Engagement and Development was postponed to the next day.
As always, we preserve Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no policy on video retention. You can see the sessions described above at the links below:
The general webpage link is: https://archive.org/details/1-board-3-18-2025 (Ignore the 18 - The link is for Mar. 19)
The Board meeting is at https://ia600202.us.archive.org/0/items/1-board-3-18-2025/1-Board%203-19-2025.mp4.
Academic and Student Affairs is at https://ia600202.us.archive.org/0/items/1-board-3-18-2025/2-Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee%203-19-2025.mp4.
Finance & Capital Strategies is at https://ia600202.us.archive.org/0/items/1-board-3-18-2025/1-Board%203-19-2025.mp4.
Governance (& Joint with Health Services) is at https://ia600202.us.archive.org/0/items/1-board-3-18-2025/4-Governance%20Committee%2C%20Joint%20Meeting%20Health%20Services%20and%20Governance%20Committees%203-19-2025.mp4.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/03/watch-regents-meeting-of-march-18-2025.html.
...The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities...
Included on the list:
University of California Davis, University of California San Diego, University of California Santa Barbara, and University of California, Berkeley
Other California institutions included CSU-Sacramento, Pomona, Santa Monica College, Stanford, and USC.
The full release with all named institutions is at:
UCLA is not listed, presumably because of the settlement last December with OCR:
https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-uc-deal-with-ocr-part-2-to-do-list.html.
When you look at the petition (attached to the meeting agenda), you find the names and campuses of those who called for the special session.** Represented among the petitioners are Davis, Irvine, Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Riverside. Merced, Santa Cruz, and UCLA are not represented. So, that does mean that at UCLA in particular, nobody was particularly concerned with at least one of the three issues? Is UCLA somehow out of the loop? Just asking...
It might be noted that yours truly became aware of this matter after being forwarded an announcement from UC-Irvine's Senate, not from the UCLA Senate.
NOTE: I notified the UCLA Senate about the upcoming systemwide meeting on Jan. 13.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/01/somethings-happening.html.
