New Coach

UCLA has hired former associated head coach and running backs coach DeShaun Foster to become the Bruins’ next head coach. Foster will return to his alma mater after briefly being hired away from Westwood to become the running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders...

The former All-American started his coaching career in 2012 as a student assistant before he was promoted to graduate assistant in 2014 and the director of player development and high school relations in 2015. Foster spent the 2016 season on Kliff Kingsbury’s staff at Texas Tech, where he had his first opportunity as a running backs coach. He would return to Westwood in 2017 as the running backs coach. Chip Kelly promoted Foster to associate head football coach after helping churn out NFL quality running backs...

Full story at https://www.dailynews.com/2024/02/12/deshaun-foster-named-as-uclas-new-football-coach/.

As we noted on Friday, this turnover is occurring just as UCLA switches athletic conferences with all the attendant logistical and other problems:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/02/kelly-to-depart.html.

Student-Worker Strike Repercussions - Part 27

Repercussions of the student-worker strike at UC continue. Blog readers may recall that during the strike, campus payroll systems continued paying strikers; apparently, UC in many cases had no way of determining who was on strike. UC-Irvine it seems subsequently required student-workers to report whether they participated in the strike. Grievances were filed regarding these requirements, resulting in the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) decision below:

Decision 2889H – Regents of the University of California (Irvine)

LA-CE-1395-H

Decision Date: February 9, 2024

Decision Type: PERB Decision (Non-Precedential)

Description:  Charging Parties, five UC Irvine (UCI) employees in two UAW-represented bargaining units, filed grievances alleging that UCI violated the applicable MOU for each bargaining unit by requiring Charging Parties to report their participation (if any) in a strike. UCI refused to process Charging Parties’ grievances because UAW had filed a systemwide grievance regarding the same violations. Charging Parties allege that UCI violated HEERA by refusing to allow them to present grievances through a representative of their own choosing. PERB’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) dismissed the charge for failure to state a prima facie case.

Disposition:  In a non-precedential decision, the Board reversed and remanded to OGC to issue a complaint. The applicable MOUs permitted Charging Parties to file their own grievances and pursue them via a representative of their own choosing, at all stages prior to arbitration. Therefore, the charge stated a prima facie case that UCI failed or refused to process Charging Parties’ grievances in violation of HEERA’s qualified right to self-representation.

Source: https://perb.ca.gov/decision/2889H/.

Note that issuing a complaint does not resolve the case, one way or another. It is just the start of a PERB review. Apparently, the OGC initially thought there was no obvious violation of the applicable state labor law, but the Board reversed, setting in motion a more thorough review.

Slowly Grinding Wheels - Part 2

As blog readers will know from a prior post, the Klein vs. Bernardo trial is due to start on March 4 in a Santa Monica court.* The case goes back to 2020 and involves a lecturer at the Anderson School and events immediately following the George Floyd demonstrations. Yours truly has now seen estimates of the damages claimed ranging from $10 million to $19 million, based on a claim by Klein of reputational damage that led to lost outside income.  

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/01/slowly-grinding-wheels.html.

Does UC Health expansion have any limits?

Chicken heart

As blog readers will know, UCLA is buying hospitals, West Hills most recently, a mid-city hospital so not long ago. And, of course, Santa Monica Hospital in the more distant past.

UC-San Francisco is absorbing St. Mary's and St. Francis. Now UC-SF is trying to acquire Madera Community Hospital. See:

https://calmatters.org/health/2024/02/madera-community-hospital-ucsf/

Is there any limit to the expansion? Maybe:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ6HPGr6Lsg.

No Hastings

Hastings

From the San Francisco Chronicle: A judge found that an 1878 California law saying the state’s law school in San Francisco “shall forever be known” as Hastings College of the Law was not a binding contract, but simply an ordinary statute that future lawmakers were free to amend or repeal. That means the state did not violate a binding promise to Serranus Hastings by changing the school’s name last year to the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer said Tuesday [Feb. 6]. The change was based on evidence that Hastings had ordered troops to slaughter thousands of Native Americans in the 1860s. The suit by Hastings’ descendants sought $1.7 billion in damages and interest.

The law “ ‘authorized’ S.C. Hastings to found the law college” in his name but did not bind the state to keep his name attached permanently and was “not cast in covenanting language,” Ulmer said in a ruling dismissing the lawsuit.

While the 1878 law committed Serranus Hastings to pay the state $100,000 to establish the school, Ulmer said, there was no evidence that the payment was intended to keep his name on the school. He also rejected a claim that the change violated the California Constitution, which requires UC to remain “free of all political or sectarian influence.” The 2022 state law that changed the name was passed in response to a request by the law school’s own policymaking board, Ulmer said, and the case “therefore does not present the situation where the Legislature is attempting to dictate University policy.” ...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/uc-hastings-lawsuit-tossed-18653802.php.

Shooting Reported on Berkeley Campus Last Night

https://twitter.com/dailycal/status/1756195984361894312

News reports indicate someone is arrested with no further details:

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/02/10/1-arrested-shooting-cal.

 

Caution: Double-Edged Sword

Click on image to clarify

Anyone can file a request at UC under the California Public Records Act to see emails, etc., on any subject. There are some exceptions about what will be disclosed.

The problem - particularly if the filer is also a UC employee - is that there could be a similar request, tit for tat, for the filer's emails. Potentially a double-edged sword. 

In the past, this tactic has been used to harass faculty such as climate scientists in the hopes of discrediting their work or finding something - perhaps out of context - that seems embarrassing. But typically, the filers are from outside groups.

A UCLA faculty member sent me a copy of such a request recently filed by a faculty member at Merced. So this is one faculty member harassing another - not a good look.

Advice from yours truly: Email in particular should not be viewed as "private." Don't put anything in an email that you might regret disclosing. Even apart from formal Public Records requests, emails can be forwarded hither and yon, intentionally or accidentally.

Further advice: If a UC faculty member wants information from another UC faculty member, maybe - you know - just pick up the phone and have, like, a conversation. Just a thought...