No "admission" that anything went wrong during his watch

No "admission" below that anything went wrong during his watch, not even through the "side door."*

UCLA hopes to select an athletic director by May

By Ben Bolch, LA Times, 11-19-19

The search committee that will select longtime UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero’s replacement is made up entirely of university officials, according to a letter that Chancellor Gene Block recently sent to high-ranking school officials.

Monroe Gorden, UCLA’s vice chancellor for student affairs, will chair the eight-person committee that is expected to initiate its search in January and announce Guerrero’s successor in May, according to the letter.

“In preparation,” Block wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, “search consultants will conduct meetings with campus constituents whose feedback will inform and guide the search effort. To that end, the committee welcomes input on current opportunities, challenges and priorities that could help set the agenda for UCLA Athletics; ideal qualities and qualifications for our next athletic director; and any other information or insights that will help guide the committee’s efforts.”

Candidates to succeed Guerrero could include Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, a former senior associate athletic director for external affairs at UCLA; Nevada Las Vegas athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois, a UCLA alumna; Fresno State athletic director Terry Tumey, a member of two Rose Bowl teams at UCLA, and Josh Rebholz, UCLA’s senior associate athletic director for external affairs.

The other members of the search committee are Gregg Goldman, UCLA vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer; Anna Lau, a UCLA professor of clinical psychology; John Mapes, chair of UCLA’s Foundation Board of Directors and father of former Bruins defensive back Michael Mapes; Muriel McClendon, UCLA associate professor of history and associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion; Louise Nelson, UCLA vice chancellor for legal affairs; Christina Rivera, UCLA senior associate athletic director and Mike Teitell, a UCLA professor of pathology and director of the school’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Guerrero is scheduled to retire July 1 after 18 years at the school.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2019-11-19/ucla-athletic-director-search-dan-guerrero-may-ncaa

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*https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-ucla-admissions-scandal-20190416-story.html
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Like the man says:

Going Down? - Part 2

Yesterday's post noted issues of potential decreased attractiveness for international applicants to study in the U.S. The B-School at Berkeley has come up with a partial solution:

From Poets&Quants: The STEM wave continues. The latest school to join the movement to craft or recognize MBA curricula as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math programs — thereby allowing international students to work in the United States for up to 36 months post-MBA — is a big one: UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, which announced the change last week (November 14) for all three of its MBA programs. The move is retroactive to December 2018.

The change means international students studying on F-1 visas will be eligible to apply for an extension of up to 24 months during the year they are currently allowed to work in the U.S. after earning their degree. However, as Haas makes clear, approval to extend Optional Practical Training (OPT) will still depend on the training plans that employers and individual MBA grads submit.

“I think it’s a great step for us,” Peter Johnson, assistant dean of the full-time MBA program and admissions, tells Poets&Quants. “It more accurately identifies what is happening in the program and the curriculum. An additional side benefit is that it makes our students eligible to apply for the OPT extension. I think will be a great thing for many of our students.”...

Full story at https://poetsandquants.com/2019/11/18/uc-berkeley-haas-mba-programs-are-all-stem-designated-now/ 

Yours truly has info that a similar process is underway at UCLA. It probably will also occur at other campuses and for whatever programs may qualify.

Going Down?

From the LA Times: California remains the top U.S. destination for foreign students, who primarily come from China and India, with enrollment dipping slightly in the 2018-19 school year for the first time in at least a decade, according to a survey released Monday. Nationally, new enrollments of international students declined for the third year in a row although overall numbers are at a record high of nearly 1.1 million, according to a survey of 2,800 U.S. colleges and universities released by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. State Department.

The number of students from China, who account for one-third of all international students in the United States, increased by 1.7% while those from India grew by 2.9%.

Some university officials have questioned whether the Trump administration’s harder line on immigration and China is driving international students toward more welcoming environments in other countries.

But U.S. college costs are the single largest concern expressed by prospective foreign students and their families, Allan E. Goodman, the Institute of International Education’s president, said in a recent teleconference to preview the report. 

A 2017 survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that the average U.S. public college tuition was the highest among some 35 member nations surveyed — about $8,200 annually, more than twice as high as the average. 

UCLA and UC Berkeley, the leading U.S. public universities, charge about $44,000 annually for foreign students compared with less than $10,000 at their top public counterpart in Japan, Tokyo University...

California continues to attract the most international students — 161,693 — with six of the nation’s top 20 host universities located in the state. USC remained the most popular campus, enrolling 16,340 foreign students in 2018-19, followed by 11,942 at UCLA, 10,652 at UC San Diego, 10,063 at UC Berkeley, 8,064 at UC Irvine and 8,048 at UC Davis.

About 42% of the California foreign students are from China and 12.6% from India. Overall, international students helped boost the state economy by spending an estimated $6.8 billion on tuition, housing, food and other items, the report said...

USC and most UC campuses reported continued growth in fall 2019, but are moving to diversify their international students beyond China. India, with its growing economy, enormous population and national network of technical colleges, is a leading target for U.S. universities seeking high-quality graduate students...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-18/california-remains-top-u-s-destination-for-foreign-students-although-numbers-dipped-slightly-last-year

Listen to the afternoon session of the Regents of Nov. 13, 2019

This posting of the three sessions of the afternoon of November 13th concludes our coverage of last week's Regents meetings. Some highlights:

Compliance and Audit: It was reported that the state auditor is complaining that the Regents should have a draft of the UC budget proposal earlier than in current practice. At the Herbicide Task Force, one member was asked to step down due to potential conflict of interest.

Public Engagement and Development: There was extended discussion of UC's DACA case now before the U.S. Supreme Court and what might happen if DACA is rejected.

Governance: The new policy that discourages outsourcing is estimated to cost $108 million. There was some controversy about a particular salary for a health executive position, although in the end the salary was approved.

Here is the Daily Bruin summary of the three afternoon sessions:

Compliance and Audit Committee

Alexander Bustamante, senior vice president and chief compliance and audit officer, said this year, the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services changed their annual report to better explain the function of the committee and its relationship with the campuses. They also aimed to make it more mainstream and readable in general, he said.

Bustamante added that some campuses have databases that track compliance and auditing, but a centralized system does not yet exist. He said ECAS is currently working with Human Resources on formalizing the mechanics of its reporting relationship with the campuses.

Irene Levintov, chief of staff at ECAS, said the California State Auditor provided an opportunity for recipients of its audits, which includes the UC, to give an update on their recommendations in October. ECAS submitted nine additional recommendations as complete this year, Levintov said.

Kurt Sjoberg, vice president and board chairman at Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, and Marianne Evashenk, president at Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting said UCOP believes that they have 10 of the 12 recommendations that are due April 2020. However, Sjoberg Evashenk’s report concluded that only eight recommendations have been completed, primarily because the report was completed prior to the completion of the other two recommendations.

Ken Smith, executive director for the Environment, Health and Safety team at the UC, said the Herbicide Task Force has met six times since its previous update in September. Smith said the task force completed its report and submitted it to the president by Nov. 1 for review. He added the president will consult with the chancellors and the Herbicide Task Force in order to fully understand the potential impact of these recommended changes.

Smith said the task force recommends the temporary suspension of the use of glyphosate-based herbicides remain in place until the UC President Janet Napolitano reviews the recommendations. The task force will present its report to the entirety to the board at the meeting in January, along with the decisions of the president.

Public Engagement and Development Committee

Kieran Flaherty, associate vice president of state governmental relations, addressed the committee’s concerns about the Fair Pay to Play Act, a recently passed bill which permits college student-athletes to benefit financially from the promotion of their name or image. Flaherty said his team would keep in constant communication with the legislature and the National Collegiate Athletic Association until the act comes into effect in January 2023.

Aidan Arasasingham, government relations committee chair for the UC Student Association, and Varsha Sarveshwar, UCSA president, spoke about the UCSA’s involvement in the state and national legislatures, pushing for reforms such as further state support for mental health, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and increased recruitment and retention of students of color in the UC system.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ introduced Rebecca Bourges, a third-year environmental economics and policy student at UC Berkeley, to raise awareness about the student population on the UC campuses that grew up in foster care. Bourges, who spent her first years of college sleeping on couches and living in boxes on breaks from school, asked the regents to implement better programs to ensure proper food and housing for foster youth.

Christ also introduced McArthur Hoang, a formerly incarcerated fourth-year sociology student at UC Berkeley. Hoang said his experiences at Berkeley have shown him there is a need for postgraduate programs and specialized mental health support for formerly incarcerated students in the UC system.

Governance Committee

The committee approved a motion to reschedule the next regent’s meeting from July 14-16 to July 28-30.The meeting will also change locations and will now be held at UC San Francisco instead of UCLA to accommodate scheduling conflicts of many of the regents.

The committee also approved a motion to greatly restrict outsourcing of employees. The new policy ensures that UC employees will receive the same pay and benefits as contractors doing the same work. The UC system will prioritize its own workers before turning to contractors, said Regents Chair John Pérez.

The committee voted to approve the creation of a new systems management position to oversee operations at the UCLA Health center. This motion had been previously approved by the Health Sciences Committee, and the position will be offered to an incumbent manager.

Full article at https://dailybruin.com/2019/11/15/uc-regents-recap-nov-13/
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Audio links below:


or direct to:
Compliance and Audit: https://archive.org/details/4publicengagementdevelopmentpm111319/3-Compliance+%26+Audit+PM+11-13-19.wma

Public Engagement and Development: https://archive.org/details/4publicengagementdevelopmentpm111319/4-Public+Engagement+%26+Development+PM+11-13-19.wma

Governance: https://archive.org/details/4publicengagementdevelopmentpm111319/5-Governance+PM+11-13-19.wma

UC Study Abroad Program Suspended in Hong Kong

From the Daily Cal:

In the wake of protests in Hong Kong, UC Education Abroad Program, or UCEAP, suspended its study abroad program in Hong Kong on Tuesday out of safety concerns for students, as previously reported by the Daily Nexus.

The spring program was suspended at this time to give students more flexibility to change their plans for the upcoming semester, according to a Daily Nexus interview with UCEAP associate vice provost and executive director Vivian-Lee Nyitray. UCEAP is monitoring the situation in Hong Kong closely to ensure the safety of students currently studying abroad there.

“We felt that rather than have them go, potentially be in an unsafe situation and have to worry about evacuating them … it would be preferable to not have them go,” Nyitray said to the Daily Nexus. “This wasn’t a decision that was made either lightly or out of any kind of haste or panic.” ...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/2019/11/15/uc-study-abroad-institute-suspends-hong-kong-programs-because-of-safety-concerns/

Listen to the Morning Session of the Regents: Nov. 13, 2019

We are partially catching up with the Regents meeting of last week. Past posts have dealt with the meeting of November 12 and 14. Below we take up the morning of November 13. Links to the audio of the morning sessions can be found below.

There was extensive discussion at the public comments session of the full board. Topics included MECFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome), an allegation of sexual misconduct against former board chair Kieffer,* various union/labor issues, residency requirements, programs to help disadvantaged students, employee pension contributions, tuition, parking fees for disabled persons, herbicides on campuses, and outsourcing. After public comments, there were statements by the chair of the board, the UC president, and the faculty representative. Topics included introduction of the new EVC of UC health, Dr. Carrie L. Byington, the presidential search process, discussion of the UC DACA case before the U.S. Supreme Court,** a committee to examine sexual misconduct policies at UCLA, and the use of tests such as the SAT for admission.

Below is a summary of the morning sessions from the Daily Bruin:

Board of Regents

A number of representatives and supporters for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 and Teamsters Local 2010 urged the UC not to raise pensions for workers by 1.5%, adding it will cause pay cuts that will hurt the workers who are already struggling to support themselves and their families. The union went on strike across the state Wednesday to protest outsourcing.

Aidan Arasasingham, the government relations committee chair of the UC Student Association, and Samantha Warren, a UC Berkeley student, requested the regents dedicate $23 million toward programs that are aimed at recruiting and retaining students of color. Arasasingham said fewer students of color have enrolled in the UC system because of Proposition 209, which prohibits the use of race, sex, and ethnicity in college admissions, effectively banning affirmative action in public institutions.

Representatives from the California Nurses Association, including registered nurses and the chief nurse at UC Davis Medical Center, said the 1.5% increase in the pension would have a negative impact on the retention of nurses and the quality of patient care in medical centers across all the UC campuses.

Representatives of the UC’s Integrative Pest Management program said the UC must adopt an herbicide ban on its campuses, along with a clear mandate and extensive staff training about environmental care.

Recent UC Berkeley alumnus Kevin Baum urged the regents to implement all-organic groundskeeping to prevent exposing the UC campuses to toxic materials. He also presented the board a petition with the signatures of 12,000 individuals in agreement.

Academic and Student Affairs Committee

Shawn Brick, director of student financial support at the UC, proposed improvements to the UC’s Education Financing Model, including reforms to the Cal Grant program and better allocation of tuition to financial aid funding.

Brick said the self-help financial model, under which students are enrolled in work-study to help cut tuition costs, is becoming unmanageable. Students who are working 15 or more hours a week exhibit dramatic drops in GPA, he said. He added he believes a $30 million increase in funding is needed to bring the student working hours to a manageable level.

Michael Brown, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the UC, said better preparation for teachers could help the UC reach its 2030 goal to produce 200,000 more degrees. The UC system has implemented many successful programs for teacher education by recruiting teachers of color and offering mentored residencies for STEM instructors, Brown added.

Pamela Brown, vice president for institutional research and academic planning at the UC, showed the committee new data from yearly student surveys on the UC website’s new longitudinal dashboard. The program, which can display a breakdown by campus, ethnic group or major, displayed a decline in overall student satisfaction from 83% to 79% in the past few years.

The committee also found that satisfaction of UCLA students has declined from the student surveys. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block attributed the decline in satisfaction to UCLA’s recent population growth. Block said large classes have resulted in a slipping student-to-faculty ratio, and students in impacted majors struggle to enroll in the classes they need.

Finance and Capital Strategies Committee

Peggy Arrivas, associate vice president and systemwide controller of financial accounting at the UC, said financial statements were continuously on the incline and that the University was financially strong.

Arrivas added unfunded need increased because of the incorporation of seismic projects and maintenance projects. This caused the University’s capital need to increase from $37 billion to $52 billion in the past year.

Zoanne Nelson, associate vice president of strategy and program management at the UC, said the budget for the UC Office of the President was $876.4 million for fiscal year 2018-2019, but added the budget was underspent by $25 million.

Mark Cianca, associate vice president of operational services, said there are 138,000 employees served by UCPath at nine UC locations, as well as the Associated Students of UCLA. Cianca added they expect to complete the deployment of UCPath by May 2020.

Full article at https://dailybruin.com/2019/11/15/uc-regents-recap-nov-13/

Audio links:


or direct to:

Board: https://archive.org/details/1academicstudentaffairsam111319/0-Board+AM+11-13-19.wma
Academic & Student Affairs: https://archive.org/details/1academicstudentaffairsam111319/1-Academic+%26+Student+Affairs+AM+11-13-19.wma
Finance & Capital Strategies: https://archive.org/details/1academicstudentaffairsam111319/2-Finance+%26+Capital+Strategies.wma

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*https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Grad-student-publicly-accuses-UC-regent-of-14833155.php
**https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/11/12/trump-threatens-daca-youth-why-we-sued-janet-napolitano-column/2562708001/

The length of a day - further adventures

Original message of Oct. 26. Click on image to enhance.

Earlier we posted about the adventures of Yours Truly trying to deal with the new UCRAYS online system. When he filed an inquiry on October 26th, an email came back promising a response within five business days. See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-length-of-day.html. Apparently, business days are longer than ordinary days because it was not until November 15th that Yours Truly got an email directing him to look for a response in the older AYSO system:

Response of November 15. Click on image to enhance.

Why go back to the older system for the message? Not clear. But Yours Truly soldiered on obediently and found that even with the correct ID and password, the older system could no longer "authenticate" him.

Unable to authenticate. Click on image to enhance.

Verification of the ID, getting a temporary password through a smartphone, putting in the last four digits of Social Security number and date of birth just produced the same message as above. Moreover, attempts to get into the newer UCRAYS account - which had worked originally to start this sequence of events back on October 26th, now also produced the unable-to-authenticate message.

Stay tuned for further adventures.