What the Governor was doing in the first quarter

As blog readers will know, we maintain an archive of gubernatorial videos on a quarterly basis. Included are statements by the governor, news clips, and other related items.

You can find this collection for the period January-March 2024 at:

https://archive.org/details/newsom-1-1-24-new-year.

The People's Park Saga Continues - Part 2

From KQED: The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments [today] in a case brought by two groups opposed to UC Berkeley’s plan to build student housing at People’s Park. The case hinges on whether the court considers noise from future residents a form of pollution and whether housing developers should be held to stricter standards when it comes to studying alternative sites for proposed projects. Depending on how the court rules, it could empower community members to demand that developers do extra studies before building new housing, potentially lengthening an already tedious process.

“If a person is vehemently opposed to a project, they can go to court and say ‘tell them to do more studies,’” said Chris Elmendorf, a professor at UC Davis specializing in land-use law. “Maybe the court agrees, or maybe the court disagrees, but while the project is in court, it’s effectively on hold.” ...

Full story at https://www.kqed.org/news/11981358/uc-berkeleys-plan-to-build-housing-on-peoples-park-heads-to-california-supreme-court.

Our Alternative Route to the Blog

Each quarter, we provide an alternative route for reading the blog. You can read it in a book-type format for the first quarter of 2024, or download it as a pdf at https://archive.org/details/ucla-faculty-association-blog-first-quarter-2024. In that format, of course, all audio, video, and animated gif components are omitted. Your choice.

Hopefully, you didn't ignore the email from Experian yesterday...

...or think it was an April Fool's Day prank. 

You should have received an email on April 1 from Experian, the credit rating company, inviting you to sign up for credit monitoring, courtesy of UC. As we previously noted, prior UC coverage after a major data breach was expiring. The new coverage continues the monitoring.

See our prior posts for more information.*

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/03/reminder-wait-for-your-april-fools-day.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/03/maybe-starting-with-email-on-april-1.html.

The FAFSA Drama Continues - Part 8 (legislative request)

From Politico: California lawmakers [have] urged the state’s public universities to further delay college decision day as federal aid glitches continue to loom over the college admissions cycle. The University of California and California State University systems have already pushed back the deadline by which students must commit to enrolling from May 1 to May 15, and some CSU campuses have delayed the deadline even further. In a letter, 35 state legislators asked the systems to push back decision day until June 1 as dozens of universities in other states have done.

...It’s the latest effort by California lawmakers to blunt the impact of the U.S. Department of Education’s issue-ridden rollout of a simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday that extended the deadline to apply for state scholarships in response to the issues, which have included processing delays at the Education Department, problems with the online form and recent errors in calculating student aid.

UC spokesperson Ryan King said the ten campus system does not have plans to push back its deadline. “A May 15 commitment deadline for first-year students ensures that students have ample time to secure housing, visit campuses, and prepare for a successful college transition in the fall,” King said in a statement. “It further supports core campus operations including managing orientation schedules, processing of visa, and contacting and enrolling waitlisted students. Should our deadline change, we will immediately inform prospective students and their families.” The CSU did not immediately respond to a request for comment...

Full story at https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/03/california-lawmakers-press-universities-to-delay-decision-day-again-00149467 and UCOP Daily News Clips.

 

Two Regents Committees Are Meeting at UCLA: April 10, 2024

An off-cycle meeting of two committees of the Regents is scheduled at UCLA Carnesale Commons for April 10: Health Services and Academic and Students Affairs. A preliminary agenda for both is now available:

Agenda: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 UCLA, Carnesale Commons

9:30 am Health Services Committee - (open session- includes public comment) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meetings of January 24 and February 14, 2024

Public Comment Period (30 minutes)

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Upon end of open session: Health Services Committee - (closed session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meetings of January 24 and February 14, 2024 and the Joint Meeting of the Health Services Committee and the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee of January 24, 2024

H1(X) Action: Endorsement of the UCSF Clinical and Life Sciences Building, San Francisco Campus

H2(X) Discussion: Challenges in Medi-Cal Contracting

H3(X) Discussion: UC Health Litigation Update

H4(X) Discussion: Market-Based Salary Adjustment for President – UCSF Health Care Network/Chief Market Development Officer and Senior Vice President, UCSF Health, San Francisco Campus

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Upon end of closed session:

Health Services Committee - (open session) 

H4 Action: Approval of Market-Based Salary Adjustment for President – UCSF Health Care Network/Chief Market Development Officer and Senior Vice President, UCSF Health, San Francisco Campus as Discussed in Closed Session

H5 Discussion: Update from the Executive Vice President of UC Health: Academic Medicine at the Crossroads of Mission and Market Forces

H6 Discussion: UC Health’s Role as an Essential Medi-Cal Provider

H7 Discussion: Access to Sexual Assault Forensic Exams, Other Medical Options, and Holistic Support at the University of California for Victims of Sexual Assault

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2:15 pm Academic and Student Affairs Committee - (open session) 

A1 Action: Approval of Multi-Year Plans for Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition for Five Graduate Professional Degree Programs

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Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/agendas/april102024.html.

I'm Outta Here

From the Yale Daily News: University President Peter Salovey told the News that although he welcomes a conversation on free expression and institutional neutrality at Yale, he will leave it up to his successor to administratively steer the conversation on campus...

“Neutrality or the ability to speak out is going to affect the next president, so you would want the next president to be involved in that discussion … because it’s going to be binding, but not on me,” Salovey told the News. “I think we should have some kind of conversation about it on campus, probably through a committee, but it would be something I encourage my successor to do.” ...

Full story at:

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/03/29/not-on-me-salovey-to-let-successor-tackle-free-expression-at-yale/.

Well, that's Yale. I can't think of any UC chancellors who might be hoping to leave such matters to their soon-to-be-appointed successors. Or can I?