Caption: Architectural rendering of Lounge for men and women in the Faculty Club
Sunday, September 6, 2020
UCLA History: Faculty Club Design
Architectural design for patio of the Faculty Club
Source: https://dl.library.ucla.edu/islandora/object/universityarchives%3A28042
UCLA History: Robin Hood
Another old photo. Caption on this one:
UCLA student group the Robin Hood Club, promoting academic freedom and anti-McCarthyism, Calif., circa 1954.
Source: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz0002pz8s/
Saturday, September 5, 2020
UCLA History: Anti-War Activities in 1930s
Members UCLA's "post" of the "Veterans of Future Wars," dressed in World War I-era military uniforms, mug for the camera. The "Veterans of Future Wars" was a satirical organization begun by students at Princeton University. The group formed after the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans, many of whom had become unemployed since the beginning of the Great Depression, successfully lobbied Congress to pay them the full value of their military bonuses, the sum total of which was $3.6 billion dollars, to be paid out in 1945. The Veterans of Future Wars claimed that they were likely to fight and perhaps die in the wars the United States would fight over the next 30 years, and as such should be paid their military bonuses while they were still alive to spend them. The organization became quite popular on college campuses in 1936, attracting conservative students who opposed the fiscal policies of FDR's administration, and leftist and pacifist students who saw the organization as a statement against war itself. By June of 1936, the group boasted 50,000 students on 584 campuses. The organization disbanded in April of 1937. Ironically, many of the students who belonged to the Veterans of Future Wars would serve in World War II, including all but one of its founding members at Princeton.
Source: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz0025ft34/
Friday, September 4, 2020
UCRS is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern to CalPERS
In the real world, the larger drama is CalPERS - the scene of endless machinations, scandal, and poor governance - and UCRS (which is not badly run) is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern. The problem is that as scandals and machinations occur at CalPERS, public pensions in general are tarred. While UCRS is in absolute terms a big system, it is small when compared with CalPERS.
Here is the latest from The State Worker of Sacramento Bee:
California retirees group calls for pension fund president to resign
Andrew Seeler, 9-4-20
The head of a group of a California retired public employees organization says that it’s time for CalPERS Board of Administration President Henry Jones to go, after the abrupt departure of the agency’s chief investment officer last month.
The Retired Public Employees’ Association is calling for Jones resignation, saying its demand is “precipitated by your poor judgment and inappropriately secretive manner” in managing the events that led up to the resignation of former CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Yu Ben Meng.
Meng’s departure from CalPERS followed the revelation that he had investments in a private equity fund controlled by Blackstone Group Inc., the same firm which Meng had approved a $1 billion investment back in March.
Meng told The Financial Times last month he disclosed his holdings appropriately. California’s Fair Political Practices Commission has opened an investigation into his disclosures.
Knox’s group is one of the organizations that closely follows CalPERS, a $419 billion fund that administers pensions for 2 million retired and current California government employees.
Her organization endorsed Jones’ opponent, former CalPERS board member J.J. Jelincic, in a 2019 election for a seat on the pension board.
Immediately after Meng’s resignation, Jones released a statement that showed support for the former chief investment officer and suggested Jones knew about questions regarding Meng’s financial disclosures for some time.
“These are private personnel matters and already have been addressed according to our internal compliance protocols,” Jones said in early August.
Knox in her letter said Jones should have shared that information earlier with the rest of the 13-member CalPERS Board of Administration.
“Further, as board president, one of the few legitimate powers you possess is the power to share with the board as a whole any information that you are aware is being kept from it. You cannot claim that you lacked the authority to ensure that the full board was kept informed,” Knox wrote.
Jones responded in a letter to Knox that he will not resign.
“Your letter is reflective of an organization that has been co-opted by those who care more about a political agenda than the best interests of the members it is chartered to represent. I will neither affiliate with nor support such conduct,” Jones wrote.
“I am disappointed but resolute in my belief that RPEA leadership does not currently represent the best interests of retired public employees. Integrity matters, diversity matters and most of all, CalPERS’ members matter,” he wrote.
Source: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article245473975.html
You may not be able to figure out from the above article who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. It really doesn't matter. This kind of thing, which happens regularly at CalPERS, is indirectly Bad News for UCRS. And if you are really interested, you can check out the "Naked Capitalism" blog and look for CalPERS postings: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/
More Labor Market Data
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The official news release is at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Climate Change Program
From the UCLA Newsroom:
In response to the escalating health emergency that is already inflicting substantial damage on people in Southern California and around the world, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has created the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions.
“Los Angeles is a city that tackles our toughest challenges by tapping into the innovation and creativity in our own backyard, and this UCLA center will help us build a safer, cleaner and more equitable city and world,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti is chair of the C40 Cities, a global organization of almost 100 cities committed to action against climate change.
UCLA C-Solutions, as the center will be known, will collaborate with public officials and community partners, including the mayor’s office, to advance research-based strategies for strengthening communities’ ability to adapt to climate change’s harmful health effects and slowing its impact.
“Climate change is the most significant public health disaster we face, with effects that are already being felt and will only become more severe if we don’t take bold and immediate actions,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the co-director of C-Solutions and a UCLA distinguished professor-in-residence of public health and medicine. “If we don’t solve the climate issue, we won’t have a habitable planet. End of story.”
Fielding, a national leader in public health, was Los Angeles County’s public health director and health officer for 16 years and recently co-chaired Healthy People 2030, which set national health objectives for the next decade. He said climate change should no longer be viewed solely as a future problem, but as a current crisis.
In major cities in the U.S. and around the world, more frequent heat waves are causing increased numbers of illnesses and deaths. Hotter and drier conditions are resulting in longer, more intense wildfire seasons. Warmer ocean temperatures have increased the intensity of hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical storms, and the wide-ranging effects range from flooding to a higher incidence of anxiety and depression...
Full news release at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/center-healthy-climate-solutions
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