UCLA History: Wheelchair Vets

Photo of "wheelchair veterans" of World War II from the book UCLA: The First Century.  The text on page 105 reads:

"In 1948, UCLA reportedly enrolled the largest number of  'wheelchair scholars' of any university in the country."

Obituary: Supporter of Holocaust studies chair at UCLA

From the LA Times: Samuel Goetz was 14 when the Nazis rounded up Jews in his hometown of Tarnow, Poland, and killed thousands of them — his parents included — in the gas chambers at Belzec in southeast Poland...

An early advocate of Holocaust education in the United States, Goetz became a prime force behind the creation of a Holocaust studies chair at UCLA, the first at a public university in the United States. An optometrist for 50 years, Goetz, 85, died of pancreatic cancer Oct. 24 at his Los Angeles home, said his wife, Gertrude...

During the '70s, the Holocaust denial movement gained momentum, with books and other materials contesting the Nazis' murder of 6 million Jews during the war. Some of the material was written by academics at respected universities. "When these Holocaust deniers began to surface, with all their talk about the 'lies of the 6 million' … I couldn't keep quiet," Goetz recalled in a 2005 interview with The Times. "I said education is the only way we can leave our legacy." Goetz was active in the 1939 Club, which takes its name from the year Hitler's army invaded Poland and is one of the largest Holocaust survivors groups in the world. Goetz, who had served as the club's president in the mid-1960s, proposed that it raise funds to help UCLA establish a chair on Holocaust studies. The chair was created in 1979 and helped turn the university into a center for Jewish studies. "Sam was the central person in the 1939 Club who [recognized] that teaching that history could be a kind of response to the widening revisionism that was spreading in Southern California," said Saul Friedlander, an Israeli Holocaust scholar who was named to the chair in 1987...

Full obituary at www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-sam-goetz-20131110,0,7006498.story

One Day UC Strike Slated for Nov. 20

From the Daily Bruin:

University of California union workers announced Friday that they will hold a one-day strike on Nov. 20 at UC campuses and medical centers against what they call unfair labor practices. Members from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 union, which represents more than 22,000 service and patient care workers at the UC, voted earlier this month to authorize the strike. A representative from the UC could not be reached for comment...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2013/11/08/uc-union-workers-to-hold-strike-on-nov-20/

TA Union Pushes for Lower TA-to-Student Ratio

The labor union representing TAs at UC has gotten some attention in the San Francisco Chronicle to its demands for lowering the TA-to-student ratio.  Excerpt: ...The students are asking UC to create a Committee on Class Size at each campus so that problems can be addressed on a continual basis, said Josh Brahinsky, a graduate student in history at UC Santa Cruz who serves on the bargaining team... But UC says class size is not an appropriate topic to discuss with the union."Issues related to class sizes and quality are academic issues, not bargaining issues," said Shelly Meron, a spokeswoman for UC...

Full article with link to a union report at http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/UC-classes-too-big-teacher-aides-few-report-says-4958381.php

State Cash

The latest cash statement from the state controller is out and covers the fiscal year through October.  It shows revenues to the state running about $600 million ahead of the forecast incorporated into the state budget last June.  Blog readers will recall that Gov. Brown insisted on what might be described as “conservative” estimates of revenue – over the objection of legislative Democrats – as a kind of hedge against possible bad news on the economy.  If the estimates prove to be below the actual receipts, there will simply be that much more cash in the general fund than otherwise.

On a cash basis, in the fiscal year that ended June 2012 (2011-12), the state was running a cash deficit (receipts < spending) and finished the year with a negative reserve in the general fund of -$9.6 billion.  However, last fiscal year (2012-13) with the Prop 30 temporary taxes in place and the (slow) economic recovery, the state ran a surplus (receipts > spending), leaving the reserve still negative – but a less negative -$2.4 billion.  (There is no reconciliation provided by the state between the official budget that the legislature passes and which uses a fuzzy accrual methodology and the cash statements of the controller.  That's a Bad Thing.)  However, the state might well finish this fiscal year with a positive balance in its general fund on a cash basis if some unforeseen bad economic news doesn’t materialize.  

You can find the state controller’s latest cash statement at:

http://sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1314_november.pdf

 

The cash statement for 2012-13 (which also shows 2011-12) is at:

http://sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1213_june.pdf  

So things are OK for now, as George Clooney's aunt might put it:

Response Would Be a Slender Reed (Pun Intended), But Why Not?

Prior posts on this blog have noted that there is an anti-pension initiative that has been filed by a group whose front man is San Jose mayor Chuck Reed.  The proposition, if it got on the ballot, would cover UC.  It would require plans do be drawn up, presumably by the Regents, to deal with retirement underfunding.  The plans would be different than what the Regents developed on their own in 2010.  In theory, the Regents could draw up the plans and ignore them.  That would create political problems for the Regents and UC, however.

Bottom line: We would be better off being removed from the ballot proposition.  There is plenty of time for the group to file a revised version that drops UC from coverage.  However, once a proposed ballot prop goes into circulation, it cannot be amended.

Note that there is plenty of rationale for dropping UC.  1) The Regents have acted.  2) The Regents have constitutional autonomy.  3) The group's campaign seems to be based on problems municipalities are having (which is why mayors including Reed are the fronts) and UC is not a municipality.

As we have also noted, after the proposition was filed, Reed sent a letter to public sector unions asking them to discuss the issue with him.  Not surprisingly, they have rejected the invitation.  You can read about it the letter and the response at:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/07/5891098/california-unions-to-san-jose.html

Although the original letter from Reed wasn't addressed to UC, someone from UC might nonetheless respond and ask to discuss the three points above.  The worst that could happen is that there would be no response or a negative response.  Silence or a negative response, however, would provide an enhanced rationale for UC and the Regents to oppose the prop, assuming it gets on the ballot.  Is anyone at UCOP picking up the phone and responding to Reed?

Reed says he wants an answer:

Grand Design

Two proposed Santa Monica hotels

From time to time, we try to give you a sense of the scale of the UCLA Grand Hotel project.  A developer is proposing two hotels in downtown Santa Monica.  Combined, they are roughly the size of the Grand Hotel.  So imagining them squeezed together will give you a sense of the size of the project.  

You can also get a sense by looking at the current construction site in terms of area covered. 

But don't worry about the cost: