Reconcile Yourself to the State Budget

You might as well reconcile yourself because you won't find a reconciliation from any official source between the governor's accrual budget (released in late June) and the state controller's cash budget (released today).

In theory, there are advantages to accrual accounting over cash accounting in judging performance, whether of a state budget or a corporation.  Accidents of timing of receipts and expenditures can distort the results for any given period.  For example, there really is no difference in a check arriving on June 30 or July 1.  But if you are on a July 1-June 30 fiscal year and look at cash flows rather than accrual, it will make a seeming difference.

That's the theory.  In practice, accrual opens the door to cosmetic adjustments as practiced in California state budgeting for the general fund (the operating budget for the state).  The fiscal year that just ended on June 30, 2013 began with a negative reserve in the general fund as the controller (cash) saw it of -$9.6 billion, as you can see on the table below.  Yet the governor (accrual) tells us that the reserve was -$1.7 billion.  The gap between them of well over $7 billion is large.  But you will find no table to reconcile the reports from any official source.  At the end of the fiscal year, the unreconciled gap had narrowed.  The controller still put the reserve as of June 30, 2013 for the general fund in negative territory (-$2.4 billion) while the governor shows it as slightly positive ($0.9 billion). 

             Controller    Governor      Absolute

$billions          Cash     Accrual    Difference

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Beginning

GF Balance        -$9.6       -$1.7          $7.6

Inflow*           103.4        98.2           5.2

Outflow**          96.3        95.7           0.6

Surplus***         +7.2        +2.5           4.6

Ending

GF Balance         -2.4        +0.9           3.3

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*Refers to “revenue and transfers” in governor’s budget and “receipts” in controller’s budget.

**Refers to “expenditures” in governor’s budget and “disbursements” in controller’s budget.

***Inflow minus outflow.

Note: Details differ from totals due to rounding.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now neither version of the budget suggests some imminent danger.  The California economy is recovering and the governor got his temporary tax increases under Prop 30.  Both factors are bringing in more state revenue.  Moreover, even with a negative reserve in the general fund, other state funds currently provide a comfortable cushion.  The controller can borrow from these other funds - outside the general fund - to cover short-term state cash needs.  We are far removed at present from the situation we experience only a few years ago when the state had to hand out IOUs instead of paying its bills.

However, for cosmetic reasons, the governor wanted a positive general fund reserve at the end of the just-concluded 2012-13 fiscal year so that we could "sleep well" as he put it in signing the 2013-14 budget.  And his outgoing finance director delivered.  Any harm done?  Not immediately.  But over time, the notion that the state budget is conveniently adjustable undermines public confidence.  When there is a budget crisis in the future - and at some point there will be one - impressions that the numbers aren't real is a Bad Thing.
---
The governor's budget summary can be found at http://www.dof.ca.gov/documents/FullBudgetSummary.pdf.  The controller's budget can be found at http://sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1213_june.pdf.

Waiting for the MOOCows to Come Home

From the Chronicle of Higher Education comes the sad tale of a MOOC in waiting:

It was big news last fall when Colorado State University-Global Campus became the first college in the United States to grant credit to students who passed a MOOC, or massive open online course. For students, it meant a chance to get college credit on the cheap: $89...  Yet almost a year after Global Campus made the announcement, officials are still waiting for their first credit bargain-hunters...

Full story at http://chronicle.com/article/A-Universitys-Offer-of-Credit/140131/

Our advice is to be patient and wait for a student.  Someday he will come:

UC Egypt Programs Suspended

UCLA student at the Sphinx

From the LA Times:

Worried about student safety amid the political violence in Egypt, the University of California has suspended its fall semester program in Cairo, officials said Monday. The move affects 22 students who had signed up to study advanced Arabic and other classes at the American University in Cairo... Those students can enroll instead in UC programs in Jordan, Turkey, Morocco and Israel that also offer Arabic classes... The move comes a few days after the safe evacuation of 10 UC students from a UC Davis-sponsored summer program in Egypt and the worsening of violence in the wake of the military coup that pushed president Mohamed Morsi from power...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-egypt-20130708,0,4719676.story.

Acountability Report to Regents: Data Source

At the July Regents meeting, there will be consideration of the "Accountability Report."  While this report tends to be a booster publication, it contains interesting information on budgets, enrollment, etc.  For example, the impact of the Great Recession and its budgetary aftermath can be seen on the chart above from the report.  Nonresident undergrads - who pay full tuition - were increased as a percent of total enrollees.  (Clicking on the chart will enlarge it and show more detail.)

The Accountability Report is at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/l1attach.pdf.

Regents to Consider Modifying Code of Faculty Conduct to Protect Academic Freedom

In an earlier post, before the full Regents' agenda for July was posted, we noted there was an item involving a modification of the faculty code of conduct.  It appears that the main modification to be proposed is explicit protection for faculty to comment on institutional UC policies.  Specifically, there is proposed explicit recognition of the "freedom to address any matter of institutional policy or action when acting as a member of the faculty whether or not as a member of an agency of institutional governance."

The report on this matter can be found at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/e3.pdf.

Keeping Online Ed In-House at UC: Regents Report

Readers of this blog will know that the governor and legislative leaders have been pushing UC to do "more" online ed.  The governor originally earmarked $10 million in the UC budget for that purpose but then line-item-vetoed his own language on the promise that UC would do it anyway. 

The Regents next week will consider a report on online higher ed at UC.  What is interesting about the report is what is highlighted and what gets little mention.  At the January Regents meeting, guest speakers from commercial MOOCs were given the floor to tout their wares.  But the report for next week doesn't talk much about outsourcing to commercial vendors.  It says in the introduction that "faculty have continued to explore MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and more campuses have established formal agreements with one or more MOOC providers."  Thereafter, it's almost all about various internal initiatives ranging from full courses to regular courses that are enhanced by online elements.

Nowadays, the buzz acronym is now ILTI which stands for Innovative Learning Technologies Initiative.

The report is at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/e1.pdf

Of course, there can be problems, inside or outside:

Regents Will Consider Privacy (in Public)

We noted in an earlier post that a preliminary agenda for the Regents' meeting next week had been posted.  The more detailed attachments for the meeting have now been posted.  One topic to be taken up is UC policy on "privacy."  At this point, however, it is all processes to set a policy rather than the policy itself.  According to the agenda item, UCLA Chief Privacy Officer Kent Wada is involved.  (Did you know we had a Chief Privacy Officer?  See http://kentatucla.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/uclacpo-ddmemo1.pdf.)

The agenda item can be found at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/a3.pdf

It's harder to keep things secret nowadays than it was back in the day:

The Trail from Riverside to Oregon

Earlier posts on this blog have noted an idea developed by some UC-Riverside students to make tuition free in exchange for a percentage of future student earnings.  (Actually, the idea has been around for a long time.)  In any event, although UCOP is supposedly studying the proposal, it seems to have found its way to Oregon where it is being considered in the legislature.  From Inside Higher Ed today: 

...The Oregon plan is similar to, and has its origins in, one proposed by students at the University of California at [sic] Riverside that made headlines last year. Since last winter, a group of University of California students have been in talks with the system administration to address some of the logistical challenges raised by the plan, but there has been little public movement.  In contrast, the Oregon plan moved quickly from being an idea to getting legislative approval. Chris LoCascio, one of the students involved in the UC effort, said he and his team worked with the Economic Opportunity Institute, a liberal think tank in Seattle, to help develop the plan. The institute then proposed a version of the plan for Washington...

Full article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/09/oregon-plan-would-shift-tuition-payment-after-graduation

That Which Cannot Go on Forever...

Herb Stein

Herb Stein, President Nixon's chief economist, once said, "That which cannot go on forever must come to an end."  There is a school of thought - to which our governor arguably belongs - that says that because tuition at colleges and universities has been rising faster than inflation, there is a bubble that will inevitably burst, maybe around now.  Bette Billet, president of the UCLA Faculty Women's Club for 2013-14, passed me an article that argues that both higher ed and medicine are in the same boat. So, one might assume, a university with a med school is really in trouble - or is soon to be in trouble.  Excerpt:

...(F)or cities hanging their hat on eds and meds growth, a ... fundamental problem now looms: these industries are at the end of their growth cycle. Spending on healthcare and college tuition costs has been skyrocketing at rates greater than inflation for years...

You can find the article at http://www.urbanophile.com/2013/07/07/replay-the-end-of-the-road-for-eds-and-meds/

Note that forecasting the timing of when things end is difficult.  Moreover, unlike financial bubbles - which tend to end suddenly with large ripple effects - other trends can reverse more gradually with less harm done. And note that the notion that putting courses online will fix the tuition problem is questionable even though that seems to be the remedy de jour. There is an item in Inside Higher Ed today that suggests that the MOOC bubble may be bursting: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/09/higher-ed-leaders-urge-slow-down-mooc-train

Listen to the Regents Meeting of March 14, 2013

We continue our archiving of Regents meetings since the Regents themselves indicate they will preserve the recordings for only one year.  This is the March 14 meeting (the final session of the March 2013 meetings).
----------
This session was mainly taken up with public comments and reviews of various programs including the nuclear labs which UC co-manages.  At the public comments, there were complaints by students of limits on the student health plan.
----------
Agenda: Thursday, March 14, 2013

8:30 am Committee of the Whole - Public Comment (open session)

8:50 am Committee on Compensation (open session)

9:00 am Committee on Finance (open session)

9:40 am Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories (open session)

10:00 am Committee on Compliance and Audit (open session)

10:30 am Board (open session)

Concurrent : Special Meeting: Board (open session)

----------

Note: Breaks in the soundtrack occurred and have been partially edited out.  The sound distorts at one point but can be understood..  Click below to hear the session:

UCLA Monkey Trial Soon

We have blogged about this case before - without really knowing what the full background is.  But apparently, it is coming to trial this Thursday: The dispute over a Wake Forest University Health Sciences primate colony in southern Forsyth County goes to its first hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.  The hearing involves Wake Forest as plaintiffs and the board of regents for the University of California system as defendants. It will be held in the federal building in downtown Winston-Salem... The Wake Forest division filed a lawsuit in February to end a joint venture with the University of California at [sic] Los Angeles at the research center in the Friedberg community. Wake Forest officials are requesting a jury trial in Forsyth Superior Court. UCLA, in return, accuses Wake Forest of financially mismanaging the research center and using vervet monkeys there for unauthorized research, including a dengue fever study. The regents alleged in their countersuit that Wake Forest is making “false” and “misleading” statements about the regents' role with the state of California. Wake Forest said it is willing to shut down the vervet colony if UCLA doesn't agree to continue to pay its obligations for operating costs... UCLA said the contract allows the university to receive the title for the colony at no cost and to relocate the monkeys...

Full article at http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/article_ac4b8b34-e803-11e2-acb6-001a4bcf6878.html

There was a former ex officio Regent of UC who knew about such matters: 

(If you have more info on this case, please use the comment option to add it.)

Taking it back

Yours truly heard a segment yesterday on "All Things Considered" about a blog called "Retraction Watch" [http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/] which compiles a listing a retractions that appear in professional journals due to plagiarism, falsified data, and other misdeeds.  Most of the listings are of medical and scientific journals due to the background of the blog authors.  Unfortunately, the segment about Retraction Watch does not appear on the available downloads from All Things Considered although NPR [http://www.npr.org/] has had earlier programs which mentioned the blog.

Perhaps the existence of Retraction Watch is well known to those in medical and scientific academia but yours truly was not aware of it.  Other fields might benefit from similar scrutiny.

By the way, I typed "University of California" into the Retraction Watch search engine and was shocked and appalled to find there were some retractions by UC authors.

Where's the bus while the UCLA Grand Hotel is being built?

From the Big Blue Bus

The answer seems to be what bus and when?  The image below is from the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus whose website says:

On Monday, July 8 Ackerman Terminal will close for renovations as part of the Luskin Conference and Guest Center construction through the summer of 2016. Due to this closure, all Big Blue Bus routes serving Ackerman Terminal, Routes 1, 2, 3, 8, 12 and Rapid 12, will begin using the new temporary transit center located on Charles E. Young Dr. between Westholme Ave. and Manning Ave. (in front of the P2 Parking Garage).

Source: http://bigbluebus.com/Newsroom/News/UCLA_Ackerman_Terminal_Closure_Begins_July_8.aspx

More generally:

For Culver CityBus service, both the Rapid 6 and Local 6 service will be shifted south on Westwood Plaza, along the east side of the roadway, at Stein Plaza. Big Blue Bus (BBB) Rapid 12 and all BBB evening and weekend service will terminate on Charles E. Young (CEY) Drive north of Manning. These buses will also make stops at Westwood/Stein Plaza (northbound) and Westwood/Med Plaza (southbound). The University Apartment Shuttle will replace its Ackerman Turnaround stop with a stop at Westwood/Stein Plaza (east side of street). Metro bus routes 2 and 302 have used the Ackerman Terminal for a layover location, which will now be moved to Gayley just north of Le Conte. The most proximate Metro bus stop is located on the southeast corner of Le Conte/Westwood Blvd. Visiting tour buses and school buses should park along CEY Drive North in the designated bus parking zone proximate to the IM Field. All buses will be prohibited north of CEY Drive after the closure of the terminal as the Strathmore Bridge height limitation precludes exiting, and there will be no other area to turn around in this location. Vanpool pick-ups and drop-offs that use the Ackerman Turnaround will be shifted to the southeast corner of the nearby Westwood and Strathmore intersection. This location will also serve as a disabled person pick-up and drop-off location, including the Access Paratransit countywide service. Staff, faculty, and students who have utilized the James West or Ackerman turnarounds for pick-up and drop-off are advised to utilize alternate turnarounds such as Marion Davies, Medical Plaza, or Sunset/Westwood Plaza adjacent to the Anderson School.

Source: http://ucod.ucla.edu/important-information-ackerman-turnaround-closure-effective-july-8-2013-summer-2016

Confused?  Well, maybe you didn't want to take the bus after all:

Listen to the Regents: March 13, 2013 - afternoon session

We continue our efforts at "permanently" archiving the audio of Regents meetings since the Regents' office apparently will preserve it for only one year.

Below is the afternoon session of March 13.  We posted the morning session yesterday.  Since there is no download option on the temporary archive provided by the Regents, we have to record the audio in real time, i.e., an hour of a Regents session takes one hour to record.

Regents Afternoon Agenda – March 13, 2013

1:00 pm Committee on Compensation (closed session)

1:15 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (closed session)

1:40 pm Committee on Governance (Regents only session)

1:45 pm Committee on Finance (Regents only session)

2:10 pm Board (Regents only session)

2:15 pm Joint Meeting: Board and Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President (Regents only session)

3:00 pm Special Meeting: Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President (Regents only session)

3:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session)

3:15 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (open session)

Note: The soundtrack at the beginning of the open session contained interference from the soundtrack of an earlier meeting.  We provide the audio after the soundtrack problem was cleared up (a few minutes into the session).  There is no audio of closed sessions available.

Click on the link below to hear the session:

How do you spell tuition relief?

Apparently, M-I-D-D-L-E  C-L-A-S-S  S-C-H-O-L-A-R-S-H-I-P:

From the Contra Costa Times: With the governor's signature this week, California college students from middle-income families will soon be in line for a tuition discount. The state-funded Middle Class Scholarship will buffer tens of thousands of students from UC's and Cal State's frequent and unpredictable fee hikes... When the program begins in 2014 it will bring some relief to California's middle-class families who have watched helplessly in recent years as public tuition and fees have nearly doubled since 2007. It will offer sliding-scale discounts of up to 40 percent for families who earn $150,000 or less and don't qualify for Cal Grants, which support lower-income students. It was a separate bill signed Monday as part of the state budget... About 130,000 public university undergraduates each year will be eligible, according to the state's estimate...

(O)bservers note that the scholarship is just another patch on the state's education finance predicament... Even at the maximum discounted rate of 40 percent, a student pays more than in 2008-09. The scholarship covers only systemwide tuition and fees -- not room and board, living expenses, textbooks or campus fees, which average nearly $20,000 a year. And, given the state's perennial budget gyrations, the scholarship could prove an unreliable financial aid. If the governor's May budget proposal shows a deficit, the program's funding -- $305 million when fully implemented in 2017 -- could drop by as much as one third...

Full story at www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_23607228/california-middle-class-scholarships-soon-available-college-students.

We're Waiting for the Complete Post for the July Regents Meeting

The preliminary Regents agenda for the July 16-18 meeting has been posted.  As yet, the detailed attachments to the agenda are not available.  However, there will be approval of contribution increases to the pension for next year (2014-15) and an interim replacement for the university’s Chief Investment Officer who suddenly resigned without explanation.  In a closed session, the Regents will discuss the criminal case the LA district attorney is pursuing against UCLA Prof. Patrick Harran.  See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2013/04/justice.htmlfor our most recent post on that case.  The Christian Head case charging discrimination (and involving a viral YouTube video) at UCLA will also be discussed at that closed session.  It was discussed a year ago at the Regents.  See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/07/regents-litigation-agenda-behind-closed.html.  An amendment to the code of faculty conduct and discipline will be considered – but what that entails is not yet available. 

When more information becomes available, we will blog about it.  The Regents agenda is at: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/july13.html

Meanwhile, it's hard to wait for the complete post:

Listen to the Regents: March 13, 2013 - morning session

Our efforts to archive Regents meetings (since the Regents' policy is currently to preserve them only for one year) continues.  Below is the agenda for the morning meeting of March 13, 2013.  Included was approval of a UCLA medical building about which cost concerns had been raised at an earlier meeting.  Eventually, the Regents seem to approve any construction project - even if concerns are raised - particularly when they are assured that it won't cost them anything.

Agenda for Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - morning
8:30 am Committee of the Whole (open session - includes public comment session)
9:30 am Committee on Grounds and Buildings (open session)
11:00 am Committee on Finance (open session)
11:15 am Committee on Educational Policy (open session)
12:00 Lunch

You can hear the audio of this meeting at the link below:
 

Good News for Everyone Except Florence

Sorry about that, Florence

From the LA Times:

After previously proposing widespread and hefty tuition increases for graduate and professional degree programs, UC's top administrators have retreated and will seek fee hikes affecting only a small group of graduate students, mainly in nursing, and at much reduced levels. Only about 800 students in eight programs will be affected by a proposal expected to be approved by the UC regents later this month, officials said. Under a previous and now abandoned plan, about 14,000 graduate and professional school students in more than 50 programs such as law, medicine, social work and business faced tuition increases that met strong opposition from the governor and other officials in Sacramento...

Full story at  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-graduate-fees-20130705,0,874986.story

MOOC Efficiency

Apparently, efficiency in the 21st century is not all that different from efficiency in the 20th century.  From Inside Higher Ed today:

Some students taking free classes from Coursera may never know the right answers. A University of Michigan professor teaching one of the company's massive open online courses, or MOOCs, told students this week he could not provide them with correct answers to questions they get wrong because doing so would reduce efficiency...

Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/05/one-mooc-professor-wont-let-students-know-right-answers

Yours truly is sure it's just a temporary glitch that can be easily remedied with the right technology as demonstrated in the last century:

Parking at Royce Hall?

Not surprisingly for July 4th, the webcam aimed at Royce Hall this morning did not show much (any) activity.  See the image above from the webcam.  [You can visit the Royce webcam at http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/bruincam/default.htm.]  Certainly, there were no parked cars there.  When the Westwood campus was under construction, however, it was a different matter as you can see below:

GlaxoSmithKline Problem Said to Be Fixed

Back in May, we blogged about a cautionary note from UCLA indicating that a grant competition from GlaxoSmithKline appeared to circumvent university procedures.

Now an email has gone out to faculty indicating that the problem has been fixed:

I am pleased to report we resolved the barriers to faculty participation in the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Discovery Fast Track Competition. We encourage faculty who are developing novel drug targets and drug screening assays to consider applying for this program.

When the competition initially launched, we found that the terms and conditions to be at odds with UC policies and faculty interests. We took a definitive stand and notified faculty – a position that was supported by many peer institutions.

With the support of the Office of the President, we have since resolved the key concerns with GSK. Faculty may submit proposals for developing and conducting screens of GSK’s internal compound collections and thereby advance the development of novel drug targets, pathways and assays. This may lead to further collaborations and/or sponsored research with GSK, thereby helping UCLA move discoveries forward to the clinic for the benefit of patients.

The competition closes on Friday, July 19, 2013. The Office of Intellectual Property & Industry Sponsored Research will work closely with you to determine whether your submission may be appropriate for the program. Given the short and strict timeframe, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible so that we can complete the necessary steps before your proposal can officially be considered.

For more on this program, please see the link below and we look forward to working with you on potential proposal submissions.

http://openinnovation.gsk.com/index.php

Sincerely,

Brendan J. Rauw
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Executive Director of Entrepreneurship

Get Ready to Miss the Bus

As we noted in a prior blog post, on July 8 they are coming to rip up the Ackerman bus turnaround in preparation for the construction of -TA-TA! - the UCLA Grand Hotel.  That step will put facts-on-the-ground while litigation continues.  Here is the official notice from the transportation folks:

The Ackerman Turnaround and its bus terminal will be closed due to the construction of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center for the period of July 8, 2013 through summer 2016. This closure affects campus traffic circulation, bus service, and general wayfinding, as the Turnaround is an easily reached, central point of campus. 

Transit bus service will be shifted to several locations on campus, and you can view the changes on this linked map. For Culver CityBus service, both the Rapid 6 and Local 6 service will be shifted south on Westwood Plaza, along the east side of the roadway, to Stein Plaza. Big Blue Bus (BBB) Rapid 12 and all BBB evening and weekend service will terminate on Charles E. Young (CEY) Drive north of Manning. These buses will also make stops at Westwood/Stein Plaza (northbound) and Westwood/Med Plaza (southbound). The University Apartment Shuttle will replace its Ackerman Turnaround stop with a stop at Westwood/Stein Plaza (east side of street). Metro bus routes 2 and 302 have used the Ackerman Terminal for a layover location, which will now be moved to Gayley just north of Le Conte. The most proximate Metro bus stop is located on the southeast corner of Le Conte/Westwood Blvd. Visiting tour buses and school buses should park along CEY Drive North in the designated bus parking zone proximate to the IM Field. All buses will be prohibited north of CEY Drive after the closure of the terminal as the Strathmore Bridge height limitation precludes exiting, and there will be no other area to turn around in this location.

Vanpool pick-ups and drop-offs that use the Ackerman Turnaround will be shifted to the southeast corner of the nearby Westwood and Strathmore intersection (map). This location will also serve as a disabled person pick-up and drop-off location, including the Access Paratransit countywide service. Staff, faculty, and students who have utilized the James West or Ackerman turnarounds for pick-up and drop-off are advised to utilize alternate turnarounds such as Marion Davies, Medical Plaza, or Sunset/Westwood Plaza adjacent to the Anderson School. Departments should advise visitors accustomed to utilizing pay stations in Parking Structure (PS) 6 that PS 6 is now closed. Visitor parking is available on the top level of Parking Structure 8.
 
Lastly, service and delivery vehicles that use the James West Turnaround will need to shift to either the Ackerman loading dock access road (by Engineering) or the bollarded pathways leading to Bruin Walk. Impacted departments should contact service providers to ensure a smooth transition. 

Source: http://www.transportation.ucla.edu/portal/emails/bcc/0713/News1.html

So if you miss the bus, you know who to blame:

There are at least two ways to skin the business school self-sufficiency cat

Inside Higher Ed today has a lengthy article about the Anderson School's self-sufficiency MBA program.  The theme, however, is that the UC-Berkeley Haas School is doing the same thing in different ways that haven't caused a ruckus with the Academic Senate.  Both schools say the object is to put more money in the kitty and gain more "flexibility."

You can read about it at:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/02/uc-business-schools-see-different-levels-resistance-innovation-plans

Lest You Thought It Couldn't Happen at UCLA...

Unfortunately, problems of the type that happened at Penn State U apparently can happen at UCLA.  From the LA Times:

A longtime UCLA athletics official resigned amid allegations that he “engaged in inappropriate conduct,” the university said in a statement released Tuesday to The Times. UCLA Associate Athletic Director Michael Sondheimer resigned June 27 after being placed on administrative leave June 3, the statement said.

CBS 2 reported that Sondheimer “attempted to engage children in sexual chats” online.  Sondheimer graduated from UCLA in 1977 and spent at least 36 years as a UCLA athletic administrator, according to a biography posted on the UCLA Athletics website. For decades he was in charge of the department's compliance with NCAA rules and UCLA guidelines on academic admissions and on-campus recruiting, the biography said...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ucla-athletic-official-resigns-20130702,0,815165.story

Vim and Vigor on UC Online Higher Ed

From the Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog:

Jerry Brown says UC, CSU leaders pledged to pursue online ed 'vigorously'

Gov. Jerry Brown said today that he vetoed his own budget proposal to earmark $20 million for online education at the University of California and California State University systems only after leaders of those institutions assured him they would pursue online course offerings on their own.
"I had an agreement from both the segments that they would carry out online vigorously," Brown told reporters at an event in Sacramento. "As the leader of both governing boards, I'm actively engaged with both the University of California and the Cal State."...

Full story at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/07/jerry-brown-says-uc-csu-leaders-pledged-to-pursue-online-ed-vigorously.html

Wow!  All that vigor!

Listen to the Regents Meeting of Jan. 17, 2013

This post completes our archiving of the Regents meetings of January 15-17, 2013.  Check our posting of June 30 for an explanation as to why we are archiving these meetings (and why it should not be necessary).  Below is the agenda of the Jan. 17 meeting:

Agenda: Thursday, January 17, 2013

8:30 am Committee of the Whole - Public Comment (open session)

8:50 am Committee on Finance (open session)

11:00 am Committee on Governance (open session)

11:15 am Board (open session)

Click on the link below to hear the meeting:

Alternative Way to Read the Blog

At the end of each quarter, we have offered an alternative way of reading the blog (without audio and video).  A pdf version of the blog for April-May-June 2013 can be read at the link below:

More Scrutiny of University Enterprise Tax Exempt Status

Pay up!

We have from time to time noted the potential tax problems of the UCLA Grand Hotel project.  More generally, there is growing scrutiny of commercial-type activity conducted by universities that claim tax exemptions. 

Inside Higher Ed today points to a court decision that questions Princeton's tax exempt status.  It links to a local New Jersey newspaper:

A lawsuit that argues Princeton University violates the provisions of its tax-exempt status survived a university-led attempt to throw the case out Thursday. Plaintiffs in the case argue that, because Princeton is earning hundreds of millions of dollars in patent royalty income and is distributing some of that money to faculty, the school is deeply involved in commercial enterprise and isn’t entitled to its tax exemptions. The suit also takes aim at campus buildings that host extensive commercial activity, such as the Frist Campus Center and McCarter Theatre, which sells tickets to the general public for many events and performances...

Full story at http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/06/lawsuit_challenging_princeton_universitys_tax-exempt_status_wont_be_dismissed.html#incart_river_mercer

The Inside Higher Ed story is at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/01/suit-challenges-princetons-tax-exempt-status 

The tax folks are thinking they are owed: