Straws in the Wind - Part 427 (Is Penn Mightier?)

From the Daily Pennsylvanian: As Penn President Larry Jameson prepares to step down next year, he leaves behind a reputation as a stabilizing force during a turbulent era for higher education. Jameson announced his intention to leave his position as president by June 2027 in a campus-wide message last month. Since being named interim president in December 2023, he has steered the University toward institutional neutrality and launched campus-wide initiatives while confronting the lasting effects of student protests and federal turmoil. His term as permanent Penn president, which began in March 2025, will be the second shortest — longer only than that of his predecessor, Liz Magill. The University Board of Trustees has begun the search for Penn’s next leader and is currently inviting community feedback through a survey.

...Jameson was appointed interim president in December 2023 after Magill resigned amid backlash for her remarks regarding Penn’s response to antisemitism. The following months were marked by pro-Palestinian protests, culminating in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on College Green which was dismantled by police in May 2024. Weeks later, Penn instituted temporary standards for campus demonstrations — which tightened requirements for event planning and banned encampments — and initiated a review of the Guidelines on Open Expression. Nearly a year into his interim term, Jameson announced new guidelines surrounding Penn’s “response to external events.” At the time, Jameson wrote that Penn would “refrain from institutional statements made in response to local and world events except for those which have direct and significant bearing on University functions” in an email to the University community.

...In April 2025, as Penn and other universities were impacted by sweeping federal changes to higher education, Jameson cited institutional neutrality as the reason for Penn’s quieter stance... Jameson is expected to review the final draft recommendations and publish the new open expression guidelines. The deadline for a finalized version was extended further into the fall following campus pushback...

In March 2025, the Trump administration froze $175 million in federal funding to Penn, criticizing the University’s failure to remove transgender athletes from women’s sports. Penn entered a resolution agreement with the administration in July — becoming the first Ivy League to settle with the White House and restoring the University’s funding...

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/08/penn-president-larry-jameson-institutional-neutrality-civil-rights-federal-government-trump.

Parallel Blogs

We have been putting out this blog since 2009 under the heading "UCLA Faculty Association" using the link:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

The blog site was originally created by the then-executive director of the Faculty Association. As such, yours truly does not have control of the site; he is simply a blogger on it. So when technical issues arise, that can be a problem. Given that issue, we have been experimenting with a parallel site with the same blog entries since July 23rd:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/

We will be running the two in parallel for the indefinite future. Possibly, at some point we will switch to the new link.

If you read the blog using the Facebook page of Yousee Elayemeriti, you can continue to do so.

Yours truly will tell you how students get in for less

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One way students get into Berkeley: They walk in through Sather Gate.

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One way students get into UCLA: They walk in through the Westwood and Le Conte entrance.

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So there you have the answers, courtesy of yours truly. And they didn't cost you a (now-discontinued) penny.

7.25 > 6.75

July 30, 2026

Nathan Brostrom

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, UC Finance

Re: Recommendation to Increase the Actuarial Rate of Return for UCRP

Dear CFO Brostrom:

At the July 22, 2026 meeting, the Academic Council unanimously endorsed the recommendation of the University Committee on Faculty Welfare (UCFW) and its Task Force on Investments and Retirement (TFIR) to increase the assumed actuarial rate of return for the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) from 6.75% to 7.25%.

Council first reviewed the proposal at our June 2026 meeting, when TFIR presented its analysis of UCRP’s long-term investment performance, funding position, and cash flows. TFIR concluded that the current assumption is unnecessarily conservative and increasing it to 7.25% would better reflect expected long-term returns, reduce unnecessary contribution requirements, and preserve resources for the University’s core mission without reducing pension benefits.

Before taking action, Council asked the University Committee on Planning and Budget (UCPB) to review the proposal. UCPB subsequently endorsed the proposed increase, while emphasizing the importance of adhering to Regents Policy 5601. Council agreed that UC should follow the policy’s established mechanisms for adjusting contributions when investment performance differs from actuarial assumptions and that future funding shortfalls should not be addressed by shifting additional costs to University employees.

Council recognizes that the actuarial rate is a long-term planning assumption rather than a guarantee of future investment performance.

Nevertheless, Council concluded that the evidence presented by TFIR supports the proposed 7.25% rate and that maintaining an unnecessarily conservative assumption carries substantial opportunity costs for UC.

I am forwarding the attached UCFW-TFIR proposal and UCPB endorsement for your consideration as the University reviews the actuarial assumptions governing UCRP Sincerely,

Ahmet Palazoglu

Chair, Academic Council

cc: Academic Council, Chief Investment Officer Bachher, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Nava, Vice President Henderson, UCFW Chair Bales, TFIR Chair Hollenbach, UCPB Chair Brosnan, Senate Division Executive Directors, Senate Executive Director Lin

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Comment:

The important thing to note is that changing assumptions about the future does not change the future. The actual rate of return that will occur in the future depends on the investment strategy (the mix of assets held by the plan) and future financial market conditions. From the TFIR report:

"Changing the assumed rate of return does not change the actual return on investments; actual returns to the UCRP investment portfolio follow from the asset allocation policy set by The Regents and the returns those assets produce."

Note that the same can be said about liabilities of the plan which depend on policies regarding eligibility that may be enacted by future Regents, changes in life expectancy, changes in hiring and retirement behavior at UC, etc. Making assumptions about such matters in the future does not, by itself, change the actual future course of events.

Basically, being more conservative about assumptions requires more funding to achieve a planned 100% pension funding ratio. Being less conservative requires less funding, but increases the risk of underfunding. Although it is not explicitly stated in the report, in a period in which the funding model for UC is under strain, the attraction of being less conservative - even if it entails more risk - increases.

Straws in the Wind - Part 426 (How Now Brown President?)

August 3, 2026

Leadership transition: Preparing for Brown’s next chapter

Dear Members of the Brown Community,

My first year as Brown University’s 19th president began on July 1, 2012. I was excited to be joining a university with such a distinguished and distinctive history. I remember, at the time, feeling a profound sense of optimism and gratitude, coupled with the humility that comes with the enormous responsibility of leading a great university.

More than 14 years later, the experience has been all that I could have hoped for, and more. I fell in love with Brown and all that Brown stands for: its embrace of excellence in education and research in the service of society; the priority it places on intellectual curiosity and independence; and its strong sense of community that binds students, faculty, staff and alumni together.

And so, it was with mixed emotions that I informed the Corporation of Brown University earlier today that the 2026-27 academic year will be my last as Brown’s president. This is the right decision for me and my family. And I firmly believe that it is the best path for Brown. Fifteen years is a significant tenure for any president, and in that time, this amazing community of faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents and friends showed up in so many ways to achieve the bold aspirations in the strategic plan we developed together near the beginning of my presidency. We worked vigilantly to demonstrate the value of Brown to the world, and we all can be proud of and deeply grateful for the transformative impact of a community-driven fundraising campaign that made so much of our work possible.

Brown is wonderfully poised to begin its next chapter, and a transition in leadership now will ensure the vision for the next phase is set by Brown’s next leader and stewarded by them from the beginning. I am committed to ongoing work to contribute to Brown’s strength and resilience until I step down at the end of the academic year.

In May of 2025, I agreed to extend my service as president past the previous June 2026 end date of my term so that I could help Brown navigate a federal funding freeze that imperiled our mission of research and education. I am proud that we came to an agreement with the federal government that restored our funding while staying true to Brown’s values.

While the federal landscape remains volatile for all colleges and universities, Brown is receiving major grants for pioneering research that will lead to tremendous innovation for this country. Our faculty, staff and students are doing both basic and applied research that holds the promise of advancing medical treatment, improving human wellbeing through technological progress, helping us understand the human condition and society, and influencing policy that addresses critical issues facing nations and communities. We also continue to expand access to a Brown education and to admit the best and brightest students in alignment with our commitment to bring students with a diversity of ideas, perspectives and experiences to Brown to educate them for lives of meaning and purpose.

I will look back on my time as Brown’s president as the most rewarding job I could possibly have had. Truly, it has been the opportunity of a lifetime. I have had the distinct privilege of collaborating with extraordinary colleagues — members of my senior team, faculty, staff, alumni and parents — and, above all, the joy of working alongside Brown’s remarkable students. The trustees and fellows of the Corporation of Brown University have been an endless source of wise advice and support.

Together, we have moved this University forward, expanding access to education and supporting education, research and scholarship that make the world better. We have celebrated our many shared successes and supported one another through times of challenge and profound loss. Through it all, our collective focus has been on doing what is best to advance Brown as both a world-class research university and a vibrant, caring and inclusive community.

I look forward to Brown’s future. Universities thrive on the excitement of new ideas and the healthy challenge of reinvention that only a new president can bring. As we navigate a transformative era for higher education in America, Brown’s model — open, collaborative, curiosity-driven and student-centered — is more essential than ever. It is the right time for a new Brown president who will have the distinct privilege and pleasure of leading a university that is exceptionally well positioned for impact in the years ahead.

My husband, Ari Gabinet, and I are deeply grateful for the warm embrace we have received from the Brown, Providence, and Rhode Island communities. After more than 14 years, this is home, and we plan to contribute to Brown’s continued success and support our local community in the years to come.

Chancellor Brian Moynihan will provide further information regarding the search process, which will engage members of the Brown community. While the search for the next president gets underway, we still have much to accomplish together in the year ahead. In a few weeks, as always, I will send a letter to the community that lays out goals for the coming year. This is not a time to put ambitious plans on pause. I look forward to working with all of you as we continue to move Brown forward.

In the meantime, I wish you a restful and productive conclusion to your summer. 

Ever true, with love and gratitude,

Christina H. Paxson

President

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Source: https://president.brown.edu/president/2026-08-03-paxson.

ET Phone Home Because Can't Read

UCLA Study: Kids who own cellphones have poorer reading comprehension scores than those who don’t, researchers find

Holly Ober, July 27, 2026  UCLA News Release

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Key takeaways 

• The widespread concern about the effect of cellphones on reading comprehension in elementary school children has led to surprisingly little experimental research. 
• New research by UCLA psychologists found a statistically significant relationship between owning a cellphone and lower reading scores — children who owned cellphones had poorer reading comprehension than those who did not. 
• In fact, simply owning a phone correlated with worse reading comprehension, whether or not the phone was brought to school. 

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School cellphone bans might seem like a good way to improve learning for elementary school children, but new research published in Behavioral Sciences shows that simply owning a cellphone correlates with worse reading comprehension. Whether a child brings the phone to school or not made no difference on the same metric, the team of UCLA psychologists and researchers found. 

“We found that there’s no age at which you can give a child a phone that’s better or worse for reading comprehension, so it’s just having a phone at all,” said lead author and UCLA psychology professor Patricia Greenfield. “That’s true in third grade, and it’s true in sixth grade.” 

The study came about as researchers sought to answer the question: Do cellphones interfere with the concentration required to perform well on academic tests? They focused on determining whether the acquisition of a phone was negatively related to reading comprehension performance on tests for third and sixth graders. 

The widespread concern about the effect of cellphones on reading in elementary school children has led to surprisingly little experimental research. The authors note only two previous studies in elementary school children. One showed that texting benefits the skill of grasping meaning; the other showed texting to be a negative influence on basic reading mechanics at the letter and word level. 

To conduct the new study, researchers obtained approval to test children’s reading comprehension with and without phones on a group of culturally and linguistically diverse children in Antelope Valley public schools and Coptic Church schools in Los Angeles. County. Phones were normally allowed in both types of settings.

The children — some who owned a phone and others who did not — read short passages. Some children had a phone with them at school, while others did not. Researchers then tested them on what they understood about each passage. Students also filled out a survey about their cellphone ownership and use.

The researchers found a statistically significant relationship between owning a personal cellphone and lower reading scores — children who owned cellphones had poorer comprehension than those who did not. This negative relationship between phone ownership and reading scores held for students who spoke English at home and those who did not. Testing for distraction from phone notifications was not possible because the students received almost no notifications during the experiments. Furthermore, there was no difference in reading comprehension when phones were on desks or out of sight. The reported age at which a child acquired their first phone did not correlate with reading comprehension skill. 

“The children who brought their phones to school had the same reading scores as children who did not have phones at school that day. So, it’s ownership of a phone, not the immediate presence of one, that correlates with poorer reading comprehension at the elementary school level,” said Greenfield. 

The study found some good news for students who do not speak English at home. For students from non-English-speaking homes who had their own phone, reading comprehension was significantly better the earlier they started using their phone to text.

“If you have a phone and if you’re from a family where English is not spoken at home, it’s better for reading comprehension to start texting earlier rather than later,” said Greenfield. “In fact, when students from Arabic- or Spanish-speaking homes began to text in second or third grade, by sixth grade they had reading comprehension scores similar to their peers who still did not have phones.” 

Although results suggest no academic effect of school bans through sixth grade, cell phone bans in the elementary grades should improve children’s social skills and relationships by increasing in-person interaction with peers and teachers; this is an important area for future research.

Postgraduate research assistant Marola Hanna, doctoral student Rocio Burgos-Calvillo, and assistant research professor Laura Rhinehart, all of whom are at UCLA, are co-authors of the paper. 

A grant from the Flora Family Foundation supported the study.

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Source: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/owning-a-cell-phone-associated-with-poorer-reading-comprehension-schoolchildren.

New Housing and Hospitality AVC

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA appointed a new associate vice chancellor for housing and hospitality, Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck announced Monday. Sarah Dundish, the director of administration and chief of staff for UCLA Housing and Hospitality, assume[d] the position Wednesday...

The department manages UCLA’s student housing, dining services, university apartments, hotels and conference facilities. Housing and Hospitality employs more than 2,600 people and serves more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff and guests... Dundish – a UCLA alumnus – will take on the role ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. UCLA’s residential and dining facilities will serve as the Olympic Village for the games. About 78% of campus housing will be used to house athletes from mid-June to mid-September 2028... 

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/03/ucla-appoints-new-housing-hospitality-associate-vice-chancellor.

Note that Housing and Hospitality now has responsibility for operations of the University Club (former Faculty Club).