March Regents Meetings at UC-San Francisco

The preliminary agenda for the March meetings of the Regents is now available. The earlier schedule included March 19 as a third day, but the agenda indicates only the 17th and 18th.

Agenda: March 17-18, 2026, UC-San Francisco

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Tuesday, March 17, 2026

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10:30 am Investments Committee (open session- includes public comment session) 

Public Comment Period (30 minutes)

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of November 19, 2025

I1 Discussion: Investment Performance as of December 31, 2025 (Fiscal Year 2025–26) 

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1:00 pm Health Services Committee (open session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 20, 2026

Information: Pivotal State Policy Challenges for 2026 and Beyond 

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Upon end of open session:

Health Services Committee (closed session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 20, 2026

H3(X)2 Discussion: UC Health Litigation Update

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2:40 pm Board (open session) 

Remarks of the Chair of the Board

Remarks of the President of the University

Remarks of the Chair of the Academic Senate

Resolutions

B1 Discussion: UC Inspires: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Proof of Concept Funding Showcase 

B2 Action: East Campus Medical Center Seismic Improvements and Renewal, San Diego Campus: Budget, Scope, External Financing and Design Following an Exemption Determination Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act 

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4:05 pm Board (closed session) 

B3(X) Action: Acquisition of Health Care Assets, Los Angeles Campus

B4(X) Action: Proposed Medical Separation of a Faculty Member, Los Angeles Campus 

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Wednesday, March 18, 2026

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8:30 am Board (open session - includes public comment session) 

Public Comment Period (30 minutes)

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meetings of November 19, 2025 and January 20 and 21, 2026

Remarks from Student Associations

B5 Discussion: University of California Basic Needs Annual Report, 2024–25

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9:45 am Board (closed session) 

B6(X) Discussion: External Funding Litigation and Legal Issues

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10:45 am Governance Committee (closed session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 20, 2026

G1(X) Discussion: Collective Bargaining Matters

G2(X) Discussion: Market-Based Salary Adjustment for Deputy Laboratory Director for Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Upon end of closed session:

Governance Committee (open session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 20, 2026

G2 Action: Approval of Market-Based Salary Adjustment for Deputy Laboratory Director for Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as Discussed in Closed Session

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11:45 am Finance and Capital Strategies Committee (closed session)

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of September 17, 2025 and the Joint Meeting of the Health Services Committee and the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee of November 20, 2025

F1(X) Action: Canyon Springs Health Campus Site, Riverside Campus: Business Terms of Option to Ground Lease and Purchase

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Upon end of closed session:

Finance and Capital Strategies Committee (open session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 21, 2026

F2 Action: Consent Item: Big Shift Project #2, Davis Campus: Amendment of Budget, Scope, External Financing, Long Range Development Plan Amendment #3, and Design Following Consideration of an Addendum to the UC Davis Campus 2018 Long Range Development Plan Environmental Impact Report Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act 

F3 Action: 5210 Pacific Concourse Drive Tenant Improvements, UCLA Health, Los Angeles Campus: Budget, Scope, External Financing, and Design Following Adoption of a Mitigated Negative Declaration Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act

NOTE: This building is a property bought by UC Health for $55 million to become a sports medicine facility. Source: https://labusinessjournal.com/real-estate/ucla-makes-55-million-buy-in-the-south-bay/.

F4 Action: 901 Levering Student Housing, Los Angeles Campus: Budget, Scope, External Financing, and Design Following Adoption of a Mitigated Negative Declaration Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act 

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1:30 pm Academic and Student Affairs Committee (open session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 21, 2026

A1 Action: Approval of Multi-Year Plans for Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition (PDST) Increases for Four Graduate Professional Degree Programs

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2:05 pm Compliance and Audit Committee (open session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of November 20, 2025

C1 Action: Amendment of Internal Audit Charter

C2 Action: External Audit Plan for the Year Ending June 30, 2026

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Upon end of open session:

Compliance and Audit Committee (closed session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 20, 2026

C3(X) Action: Recommended Settlements for Board Action 

Various medical cases proposed for settlement

C4(X) Discussion Appellate, Trial Court Developments and Updates

Various cases including CITY OF PASADENA, et al. v. REGENTS, et al. (Rose Bowl cases involving UCLA), DO NO HARM, et al. v. REGENTS, et al.; STUDENTS AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION v. REGENTS, et al.; ZHONG, et al. v. REGENTS, et al. (Reverse discrimination in admissions), DOES v. REGENTS, et al. (Heaps sexual abuse cases from UCLA), FEDERAL FUNDING LITIGATION (conflict with the federal govt.), PROTEST-RELATED CASES, and others.

C5(X) Discussion: Data and Trends in Professional Liability Settlements 

C6(X) Information: Settlements and Separation Agreements under Delegated Authority Reported from December 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026

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3:40 pm Board (closed session) 

Action: Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of January 21, 2026

Committee Reports Including Approval of Recommendations from Committees:

- Compliance and Audit Committee

- Finance and Capital Strategies Committee

- Governance Committee

- Health Services Committee

Officers’ and President’s Reports:

- Personnel Matters

- Report of Materials Mailed Between Meetings

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Source: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/agendas/march26.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 276

From the LA Times: The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents has unanimously approved a rule requiring its universities to ensure students can graduate without studying “unnecessary controversial subjects,” despite warnings it could leave them less prepared for the real world. The rule also requires faculty to disclose in their syllabi the topics they plan to cover and adhere to the plan, and says that when courses include controversial issues, instructors must ensure a “broad and balanced approach” to the discussion.

The policy... does not define what qualifies as “controversial” or what constitutes a “broad and balanced approach.” Opponents warned that leaving those terms undefined would force administrators to interpret them case by case, pressuring professors to avoid difficult material rather than risk complaints.

...Board Chair Kevin Eltife said the lack of specificity came as the system tried to craft a policy that could work in today’s politically charged environment. “We are in difficult times,” he said. “Vagueness can be our friend.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-03-03/university-of-texas-regents-approve-limits-on-teaching-unnecessarily-controversial-subjects.

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From the Yale Daily News: A newly established Committee on the Principles of Academic Freedom — comprising nine faculty members — will review the “historical, legal, and ethical foundations of academic freedom” over the coming months, a... statement on Yale provost’s office website said. The office of University Provost Scott Strobel announced the new committee on its website without an email to the broader Yale community, saying that the committee will release a statement on “the principles that guide the academic freedom of Yale faculty” by the end of the 2026 calendar year, alongside a summary report.

“Despite the phrase ‘academic freedom’ being invoked frequently, we have not as a community of faculty had a chance to dive deeply into how this phrase is understood and to what end,” incoming committee chair Gregory Huber, a political science professor, wrote in [an] email to the News...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/provost-forms-faculty-committee-to-write-academic-freedom-statement.

Now Two Months at a Time

As blog readers will know, we like to keep track of Gov. Newsom and have been collecting videos on his doings, and related matters, on a quarterly basis. But lately, his seeming campaign for president has become so intense - with soundbites from interviews, podcasts, etc. - that we have gone to a bimonthly basis.

You can find the January-February 2026 collection at:

https://archive.org/details/newsom-1-1-2026-new-year

And we are collecting March-April 2026 at:

https://archive.org/details/newsom-03-04-2026

Lots of statements, some controversial, some promotional, but not much about UC. He will occasionally say things such as California has the best public higher ed system. But it is what it is. We can expect the governor's gaze to continue to wander from California and UC to the national scene where he has to overcome the problem that he brings no electoral votes to the table. California will vote for the Democrat regardless of who the nominee is, barring some very unlikely circumstance.

The Budget: First, let's preserve. Then let's question - Part 2

As blog readers will know, UCLA's former CFO Steve Agostini was under pressure from the Academic Senate to produce usable data on the campus budget so that proposed budget cuts could be examined. He eventually produced a budget document, but shortly afterwards made comments about the budget as it had been previously managed and documented that led to his rapid termination.

The problem here is that removing the CFO does not remove underlying issues of budget management or accounting. As blog readers will also know, yours truly quickly downloaded available UCLA financial accounts that Agostini had criticized and preserved them so that they wouldn't vanish as quickly as he did.*

There are overlapping reports on UCLA expenses available from 1) UCLA for the period 2002-03 to 2022-23 (unaudited reports), 2) UC as part of its systemwide (audited) financial reports from 2015-16 to 2024-25,** and 3) the Agostini report for 2023-24 (only).***

The chart above shows UCLA expenditures as reported from the three sources. The key takeaway is that the numbers do not agree. There could be all kinds of reasons for the discrepancies including alternative definitions of revenues and accounting methodology. Still, why there are differences is something for the Academic Senate and its relevant committees to be analyzing. If you don't have numbers that you understand, you can't address underlying budget issues.

When a new permanent CFO is selected, that person should be committed to presenting reports that make clear what UCLA's financial situation actually is.

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*You can find the downloaded documents, related items, and other budget documents at:

https://archive.org/details/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026.

**The UC documents do not break out revenues.

***The Agostini budget document had unit-level budget data for 2024-25, but did not provide a total for expenses. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 275

From Inside Higher Ed: Two weeks after introducing a policy that allowed administrators to secretly record faculty members during class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chancellor Lee Roberts told faculty he would nix the rule. “The whole idea was to create clarity and reassurance,” Roberts said during a Faculty Senate meeting Friday. “That policy clearly has not achieved that aim.” 

Faculty members applauded at the news. During a Q&A, Roberts confirmed that no faculty members will be surreptitiously recorded until—and if—a new policy is put in place. Administrators will continue to evaluate whether the university needs such a policy, he said. In 2024, university officials opted not to renew economics instructor Larry Chavis’s contract after secretly recording several of his classes. Since then, “I have not heard of a single [other] instance—not [even] just a case where we debated surreptitious recording. It just hasn’t come up. So why go through this exercise that’s creating so much disquiet when this seems to be an extraordinarily rare type of occurrence?” Roberts said at Friday’s meeting... 

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/03/02/unc-chancellor-scraps-secret-recording-policy.

Did You Spring Forward?

This is the time of year when folks in California complain that they thought they had voted on, and passed, a ballot proposition that would stop the clock-changing.

And there are debates about whether to stop the clock changing and, if so, whether to leave the clocks on daylight or standard time.

It's also the time of year when we provide everything (and more) about time and clock changing from a lecture presentation given in winter 2022 (when instructors still were wearing masks due to COVID).

Link at https://archive.org/details/mitchell-time-edited.

By the book at Davis

From Inside Higher Ed: Bill Garrity [university librarian and vice provost of digital scholarship] still remembers the moment last fall when the University of California, Davis, library transformed into a performance hall. A quartet played beneath its high ceilings, the strains of a medieval-style guitar echoing among the stacks... Increasingly, UC Davis students are turning to Shields Library not just to study but to attend musical performances, meet with mental health ambassadors, cuddle with therapy dogs and engage in other activities. Campus leaders say it has become a “third place”—a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe a space beyond home and work where people gather, connect and belong.

Amid broader discussions about the disappearance of third places—particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic—the role of community as a public health necessity has gained renewed attention. College libraries nationwide have increasingly stepped into that void... At UC Davis, “the library is intellectually, organizationally and physically at the heart of campus,” Garrity said. “It’s a place where people spend a lot of time and absolutely serves the whole campus—all students, all faculty, all researchers, all disciplines.” ...In addition to hosting programs, the library also deploys mental health ambassadors to engage students in conversation, promote stress-relieving activities and connect them with resources, Garrity said... The library also partnered with the campus tutoring center to repurpose the lower-level reading room into a centralized tutoring hub...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/college-experience/2026/03/03/uc-davis-library-emerges-campus-third-place.