UCLA History: Pauley Pavilion (and a report of a bomb threat yesterday)

The photo shows the original Pauley Pavilion under construction in 1964.  It opened in 1965. The Daily Bruin yesterday evening posted a short article at about a bomb threat that closed Pauley Pavilion and other buildings in the area for a time.  Nothing was found.  See http://dailybruin.com/2013/08/03/pauley-pavilion-wooden-center-evacuated-reopened-following-bomb-threat-investigation/

Pauley Pavilion was substantially reconstructed and reopened in November 2012.  A promotional video released for the reopening is below:

Pauley Pavilion Through the Years 1965-2012 from Ariana Berlin on Vimeo.

The video has some historical photos of the origins and original construction.  It omits reference to the fact that H.R. Haldeman of later Watergate fame led the fundraising effort.  He is shown below holding a check as part of that effort.

Change is Coming

Articles published in professional journals are often not readily available online, particularly as journal publication has been taken over by commercial publishers.  Many blog readers will undoubtedly have looked for an article and found only an abstract online, as per the accompanying picture.

But change is (hopefully) coming:

MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, August 2, 2013
UC Office of the Academic Senate

The Academic Senate of the University of California has passed an Open Access Policy, ensuring that future research articles authored by faculty at all 10 campuses of UC will be made available to the public at no charge. “The Academic Council’s adoption of this policy on July 24, 2013, came after a six-year process culminating in two years of formal review and revision” said Robert Powell, chair of the Academic Council. “Council’s intent is to make these articles widely — and freely — available in order to advance research everywhere.” Articles will be available to the public without charge via eScholarship (UC’s open access repository) in tandem with their publication in scholarly journals.

Open access benefits researchers, educational institutions, businesses, research funders and the public by accelerating the pace of research, discovery and innovation and contributing to the mission of advancing knowledge and encouraging new ideas and services.

Chris Kelty, Associate Professor of Information Studies, UCLA, and chair of the UC University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication (UCOLASC), explains, “This policy will cover more faculty and more research than ever before, and it sends a powerful message that faculty want open access and they want it on terms that benefit the public and the future of research.” ...

Full release at http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/open_access_press_release_2013.pdf 

Other information at http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/openaccesspolicy/OA_FAQ.pdf 

Some folks are very appreciative:

 

Defensive Moves on the Grand Hotel

Yours truly went by the "work" site of the UCLA Grand Hotel at the former Ackerman bus turnaround.  Seems like the main accomplishment since it was closed off July 8 was putting a fence around it (gradually) and digging up some landscaping dirt.

I didn't see anyone actually doing anything at the site when I went by yesterday.  Last week I hypothesized that maybe everyone was taking an extended lunch.  I was a little later yesterday so maybe it was an early dinner.

But come to think of it, I did hear some voices from inside the site:

No Comment

Readers of this blog will recall that at the last Regents meeting in July, there was a controversy over the appointment of a new student regent-delegate due to her support of a campaign to divest UC funds from Israel.  Several regents spoke on the issue.  One abstained from voting for her.

During the debate, outgoing President Yudof didn't have much to say about the issue.  That might not be surprising except for his remarks at a conference about a month before the meeting:

Well traveled

The San Diego Union-Tribune is running a story researched by the Center for Investigative Reporting on UCLA travel expenses for administrators:

Excerpt: Thirteen years ago, the University of California changed its ban on flying business or first class on the university’s dime, adding a special exception for employees with a medical need. What followed at UCLA was an acute outbreak of medical need. Over the past several years, six of 17 academic deans at the Westwood campus routinely have submitted doctors’ notes stating they have a medical need to fly in a class other than economy, costing the university $234,000 more than it would have for coach-class flights, expense records show...

None of the deans would comment about their expenses or medical waivers. UCLA Anderson spokeswoman Allison Holmes declined to identify (Dean) Olian’s medical condition but said it allows her to bike. "There are many medical conditions that enable individuals to do certain activities, but not others, (such as) fly in confined spaces for longer flights,” she said...

Full story at http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/aug/01/ucla-travel-medical-need-luxury-first-class

Also: http://cironline.org/node/5072

and: http://cironline.org/reports/infographic-uclas-big-spenders-5077 

UCLA has issued a response at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-response-to-story-247723.aspx

Excerpt: Although the article criticizes UCLA for spending $2 million in travel over a four-year period from 2008 to 2012, it neglects to point out that UCLA generated more than $2 billion in gifts during that same period and received nearly $1 billion annually in research funding. This is due in large part to travel by our campus leaders, which allows them to cultivate relationships and engage colleagues, donors and alumni around the globe to enhance research opportunities, recruit faculty and raise money. At a top-flight university with 17 deans and executive leadership managing partnerships and interests all across the world, $2 million in travel spending over a four-year period equates to less than $28,000 each year for each of those campus leaders. Travel by UCLA leadership was consistent with that of deans at most of our peer institutions, though UCLA has seen a more significant return on its investment than many of those other universities...

Anderson issued a response:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzVLYPK7QI_4X19fb2tZSGdfNnM/edit?usp=sharing

Excerpt: Dean Olian’s travel expenses are – without exception – approved according to university policy.  Due to her certified medical condition, Dean Olian is approved by university policy for business class travel, and chooses to travel a combination of coach and business class, depending on the travel duration. We are vigilant stewards of our budget, with an expectation of high return on every dollar spent.

California MOOC Bill Dead for Now

So reports today's edition of Inside Higher Ed about state senate leader Darrell Steinberg's bill to mandate MOOCs at UC, CSU, and the community colleges.  You can find the article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/01/controversial-california-bill-outsource-student-learning-dead-until-2014-or-later

UC Payroll Data Online

You can find the data for calendar year 2012, including the chart above, at http://compensation.universityofcalifornia.edu/payroll2012/.  [Click on the chart to enlarge it.]  Among the interesting figures is that about one eighth of payroll goes to ladder faculty, another eighth to other instructors, and about 6% to TAs.  By the way, if you don't want to be in the database, apparently you need to become a student for part of the year:

Pursuant to federal student privacy laws, the names of all employees who were UC students (including medical residents) at any point during a given calendar year have been redacted and appear as ******. Source: https://ucannualwage.ucop.edu/wage/.