Interesting Podcast

If watching Regents meetings - see our previous post - is not your thing, you might be interested in a podcast from the New York Times ("The Daily" series: When the Culture Wars Came for NASA. If you play the podcast audio towards its conclusion, the NASA issue spills over into higher education institutions (George Mason University, Florida Institute of Technology, U of New Hampshire). 

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful ever made, has revolutionized the way we see the universe. The name was chosen for James E. Webb, a NASA administrator during the 1960s. But when doubts about his background emerged, the telescope’s name turned into a fight over homophobia.

The audio can be found at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/podcasts/the-daily/james-webb-telescope-nasa.html.

If you prefer to read it rather than listen, the transcript is at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/podcasts/the-daily/james-webb-telescope-nasa.html?showTranscript=1.

There is a somewhat truncated version in the NY Times at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/james-webb-telescope-gay-rights.html.

Watch the Regents Afternoon Meetings of May 17, 2023

We continue our review of last week's Regents meetings, this time with the afternoon of May 17. The open Governance Committee meeting for this afternoon segment was postponed until the next day.

At Finance and Capital Strategies, preliminary plan funding was approved for a lab/research facility at UC-Santa Cruz. The facility it will replace was said to fall short in its seismic rating but will continue to be used in the transition. Faculty housing was approved for UC-Irvine.

The UCOP budget for 2023-24, a total of $1.2 billion, was discussed along with the overall UC budget in the governor's May Revise. As some blog readers will recall, there was a period in which the legislature separately appropriated for UCOP. But currently, the UCOP budget is part of the overall appropriation and then worked out with the campuses regarding systemwide services. UCOP's budget is proposed to increase by 3.9% including (nonunion) staff pay increases of 4.6%. A $10 million increase is designated for "pension administration," said to be for a combination of computer-related costs and staffing. There were concerns expressed by Regent Chu about cybersecurity. On the more general UC budget, Regent Leib and others indicated a wish to be able to have involvement in budget priorities before this late date. It was noted that there may be some marginal additions to the budget from the legislature. The fact that some projects are to be debt-funded with debt service financed by the state was said to benefit UC because the debt service will be rolled into the core funding to which the governor's 5%/year is applied. Finally, Regent Cohen indicated that the issue of increased funding for disabled students - the subject of earlier public comments - will be taken up in July.

At Academic and Students Affairs, tuition, etc., reviews of various graduate programs were taken up with representatives of various programs. Berkeley Engineering was grilled about low female and underrepresented enrollments. Various outreach plans were put forward. On the other hand, Berkeley got approval of its new College of Data Science without controversy.

The process of transfers from community colleges to UC was discussed. As noted in a prior post, the governor's specific targeting of UCLA remains as part of the May Revise. Also discussed was a UC Extension program whereby college dropouts - now termed "stop-outs" - were enabled to complete the credits needed for their BA degrees. Finally, information was presented on the UC abroad programs which essentially died during the peak of the pandemic but have now recovered.

The overall link to the afternoon of May 17 can be found at:

https://archive.org/details/academic-and-student-affairs-committee-5-17-23-pm.

Finance and Capital Strategies is at:

https://ia802601.us.archive.org/8/items/academic-and-student-affairs-committee-5-17-23-pm/Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%20Committee%205-17-23PM.mp4.

Academic and Student Affairs is at:

https://ia902601.us.archive.org/8/items/academic-and-student-affairs-committee-5-17-23-pm/Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee%205-17-23PM.mp4.

No Bruin

 

Since at least Sunday, the error message above is what you get on the Daily Bruin's website. Different devices and browsers produce the same error.

Watch the Regents Meetings of the Morning of May 17, 2023

The full board met on the morning of May 17, first to hear public comments. Comments included the topics of undocumented student hiring, staff shortages, textbook costs, staff minimum pay, Blackstone, student rape tests, pathway for transfer students, gun investments, lecturer layoffs, management bullying behavior against staff, resources for disabled students, debt collection against students, Hawaiian telescope, and student safety at UC-Berkeley. A demonstration followed focused on minimum pay for staff leading to the room being cleared.

Regent chair Leib made mainly ceremonial remarks and took note of the later agenda item endorsing a bond, and of the establishment of a Special Committee on Athletics. He also mentioned the recent stabbing attacks at UC-Davis.

President Drake, as predicted, gave thanks to the governor for his proposed May Revise budget allocation for UC. And faculty representative Cochran spoke about the lingering effects of the pandemic on students and faculty.

Various committee meetings followed. 

The Health Services Committee, in a 3-minute open session, approved various executive pay recommendations. 

Public Engagement and Development heard a lengthy presentation on citris research at UC-Riverside. The committee endorsed SB 28 which would put a bond measure on the ballot that would benefit UC along with other elements of education. The May Revise budget proposal of the governor was reviewed. It was noted that if revenues fell short of expectations, there could be reductions through budget triggers or other revisions. It was said that the January proposal's transfer requirements for UCLA remain in the May Revise (although our preliminary review on this blog could not find reference to them.) Various bills in the legislature were reviewed including SB 295 that would allow UC to regulate e-scooters and the like on campus and AB 1307 which removes noise from CEQA reviews, thereby addressing the People's Park delay at UC-Berkeley.

At Compliance and Audit, it was noted that several campuses were falling short of their mandatory training requirements, namely UC-Berkeley, UCLA, and UC-Santa Barbara. Some explanations were that people who were about to leave employment didn't get trained, UCPath issues, and the presence of short-time temporary employees. However, the committee apparently plans to call the chancellors from the three campuses on the carpet at future meetings to explain their training issues. President Drake said he would like to see research on whether the various trainings in fact change behavior. There was also discussion of UC contracting out policies, pay standards for contractors, and whether employees of contractors accept UC employment when it is offered. The issue was raise of whether small minority contractors were not bidding on UC contracts due to complex compliance rules. It was said that most contracting out - especially in health services - was because of labor shortages, i.e., difficulties in hiring employees by UC directly. Regent Pérez suggested that if contractor employees were turning down offers of direct hiring by UC, it could be because of inadequate pay.

The full morning program is at:

https://archive.org/details/board-compliance-and-audit-committee-5-17-23-am.

The full board and Compliance and Audit are at:

https://ia601600.us.archive.org/19/items/board-compliance-and-audit-committee-5-17-23-am/Board%2C%20Compliance%20and%20Audit%20Committee%205-17-23AM.mp4.

Health Services is at:

https://ia801600.us.archive.org/19/items/board-compliance-and-audit-committee-5-17-23-am/Health%20Services%20Committee%205-17-23AM.mp4.

Public Engagement and Development is at:

https://ia601600.us.archive.org/19/items/board-compliance-and-audit-committee-5-17-23-am/Public%20Engagement%20and%20Development%20Committee%205-17-23AM.mp4.

(Re)Dividing the Athletic Revenue Pie - Part 3

Yesterday, we posted about a California bill that would change student-athletes into professionals with revenue sharing. Today, we note a case before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that would make student-athletes into employees of private colleges and universities. UC, as a public-sector entity - would not be directly affected. However, California labor law for the public sector in many respects follows federal law. The state's PERB would likely follow the NLRB precedent, assuming the NLRB ultimately rules student-athletes to be employees.

From Politico: The University of Southern California, a major sports conference and the governing body of big-time collegiate athletics are violating federal labor law by restricting athletes’ social media activity, the National Labor Relations Board alleged on Thursday. An NLRB official in Los Angeles issued a complaint against USC, the Pac-12 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletics Association in a case that could clear the way to unionization — at least at private universities that are subject to National Labor Relations Act. The board wants an administrative law judge to order the NCAA, USC and Pac-12 to “cease and desist from misclassifying” players as student-athletes and instead label them as employees.

The NLRB’s complaint alleges the three entities maintained illegal “handbook rules” that violate federal statute, and misclassify both scholarship and walk-on athletes in football and basketball as non-employees, thereby denying them their right to unionize. The labor board specifically targeted USC social media and interview policies that require athletes to “be positive,” use private posts, and “don’t do anything to embarrass yourself, the team, your family or the University.” ...

An NLRB victory would further upend a college sports landscape that is already undergoing significant changes, though the ramifications for public universities are somewhat uncertain. Public schools would remain subject to the laws of their respective states, as opposed to federal law, though if the NLRB judge upholds the joint employer designation then schools affiliated with the NCAA or conferences like the Pac-12 could also face similar action...

Further complicating matters, USC is planning to leave the conference in 2024 along with rival UCLA. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Nov. 7 in Los Angeles, according to the NLRB complaint.

Full story at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/nlrb-usc-ncaa-athletes-rights-00097794.

Sorry, nothing happened

Our weekly search for signs of recession in the latest data on California weekly claims for  unemployment insurance continues to reveal nothing. No sign has appeared. Claims continue at pre-pandemic (boom) levels:

But we will persevere in our quest.

As always, the latest claims data are at https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.

Pedestrian Area

From the Bruin: The Westwood Village Improvement Association received permits from the city of Los Angeles to implement the Broxton Plaza Project, a plan to transform part of Broxton Avenue into a pedestrian-only walkway by summer.

Broxton Plaza is a collaborative project between the WVIA and the LA Department of Transportation as part of LADOT’s People St Program, which aims to improve the safety and security of neighborhoods while also creating aesthetic and vibrant public spaces. According to the program’s website, communities seeking to enhance their outdoor atmosphere and add liveliness to their public spaces can apply to have the city implement parklets, plazas, colorful intersections and extended bike parking.

The pedestrian-only area will be between Weyburn and Kinross avenues in Westwood...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2023/05/19/westwood-village-improvement-association-obtains-permit-for-broxton-plaza-project.