Regents Meeting Coming Next Week

The Regents are meeting March 13-14 – Wednesday-Thursday of next week.  The agenda is only partly online.  At this point it just lists topics without the supporting materials.  One March 13 item is the UCLA Health Sciences Teaching and Learning Center which we are assured won’t cost the campus a penny.  Of course, we know the Regents will carefully undertake a review of the business plan using outside independent expertise and will be monitoring the project after it is built to ensure it is a total success, just as they did, and surely will do, with the Grand Hotel:

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/gb.pdf

They will also be Working Smarter – or at least reviewing plans of the administration to do so:

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/fin.pdf

There will be a review of something called systemwide “social fundraising.”  Yours truly is not exactly sure what that is but Googling suggests it has to do with raising money on the web:

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/edpol.pdf

In the afternoon of March 13, there is a lot of closed activity - including the search for a new UC president and collective bargaining issues.*  Behind the closed doors, there will some discussion of legal actions:  (selection below of cases that have been mentioned in earlier postings on this blog)

• AIME, et al. v. REGENTS – Case Settled and Judgment in Favor of Regents Entered – Challenge to Streaming of Copyrighted Videos for Classes – Los Angeles

• AUTHORS GUILD, et al. v. HATHITRUST, et al. – Appeal and Motion for Fees Denied – Copyright Infringement – Systemwide 

• BAKER, et al. v. KATEHI, et al. – Settlement Approved by Court – Constitutional and State Law Claims Arising from Pepper Spraying Incident – Davis

• CALDWELL, et al. v. REGENTS – Motion to Stay Trial Court Proceedings Granted – Challenge to Sale of Japanese Garden – Los Angeles

• FELARCA, et al. v. BIRGENEAU, et al. – Motions to Dismiss Granted in Part – First and Fourth Amendment and Conspiracy Claims Arising from Police Response to Campus Protests – Berkeley

• PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA v. PATRICK HARRAN – Preliminary Hearing Concluded – Felony Criminal Charges for Willful Violation of Cal-OSHA Regulations – Los Angeles [This is the lab fire case.]

• REUTERS AMERICA LLC v. REGENTS – Petition Granted in Part – Petition under California Public Records Act to Compel Release of Performance Records for Private Equity Funds – Office of the President

The full list of cases can be found at:

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/finx.pdf

In an open session, there will be a review of UCPath– the new payroll system that is being implemented.

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/audit.pdf

Moving on to March 14...  There is an item entitled “Change to Appointment Terms for Employees Subject to Mandatory Retirement Age Requirements."  Mandatory retirement is not allowed under law except for certain top manager types.  This item: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/comp.pdf  appears to be a holdover from the January meeting at which an end to mandatory retirement was proposed: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jan13/g2.pdf

 

There will be a recommendation on “Continuation of Tuition Surcharge” which I assume involves no change in tuition since it is listed as a consent item:**

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/fin1.pdf

The full agenda is at:

http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13.html

*UPDATE: The search process for the new UC president is described in a UC press release:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/29127

**UPDATE: The continuation of the surcharge refers to a surcharge imposed when the Regents lost some litigation relating to professional school fees.
http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar13/f6.pdf

UCLA Request to Delay Japanese Garden Trial Denied

UCLA asked the court to delay the upcoming trial on the Japanese Garden issue.  But the court denied the application and set the next hearing date at April 23.

From time to time, we suggest negotiating with the concerned parties on this matter.  But our advice remains unheeded.

Here is the court decision:

Open publication - Free publishing - More ucla
Update: Beverly Hills Courier article on the court decision below:

Open publication - Free publishing - More ucla

The Money That Danced Away

USC recently announced a gift from philanthropist Glorya Kaufman to establish a new school of dance.  In a radio interview on KCRW, Kaufman said she had given money for renovation of a dance building at UCLA but the building wasn't being used as intended.  Excerpt:

...Glorya Kaufman, the philanthropist funding USC’s new dance school, won’t reveal exactly how much money she’s putting into it. “That’s not the important part. The important part is what it’s doing … that’s why I’m withholding that amount,” she says. But whatever the pricetag, it’s large enough to pay for a brand new building and at least part of the faculty hiring and curriculum.

So who is Glorya Kaufman?  She is the widow of Donald Bruce Kaufman, one of the founders of the home building company now known as KB Homes, who has given tens of millions of dollars to dance programs in and outside of L.A in recent years, including a $20 million gift to downtown’s Music Center to host dance companies from around the world. She’s also given $6 million to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and $3.5 million to the Juilliard School in New York.  In 1999, Kaufman gave UCLA $18 million to renovate its dance building. She says she’s since been disappointed in UCLA’s dance program — an interdisciplinary one that’s combined with the World Arts and Cultures Department –and in how the school has used the building...

You can read the full transcript of the broadcast and listen to the program at:
http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/2012/12/glorya-kaurman-brings-dance-to-usc



First with the Japanese Garden affair and now with dance, UCLA seems to be establishing a reputation with donors of not doing what is promised.  We have noted in prior posts that gifts of human capital such as scholarships, endowed chairs, and research grants are more likely to leave a long-term legacy for donors than grand buildings which can someday be demolished or re-purposed.  Yes, you can try and protect legacies with contracts.  But, as noted, the Japanese Garden affair seems to suggest that putting it in writing doesn't provide guarantees when it comes to physical facilities.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation Lists UCLA Japanese Garden as Among Major Threatened Sites

The Cultural Landscape Foundation included the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden on its "Landslide 2012" listing of endangered landscapes which appeared on Nov. 14.  As readers of this blog will know, UCLA's attempt to sell the garden with no guarantee that it will be preserved has been enjoined.

There is a long history which goes back to a gift to UCLA of the garden by former Regents chair Edward Carter with the university promising to maintain the garden in perpetuity.  You can find background on this blog by searching under "Japanese Garden."  We have urged the university to sit down with garden supporters and landscape groups rather than pursue litigation.  "Mediation" (something one does to avoid court battles) and "meditation" (something one does in a garden) are separated by only a few letters of the alphabet.  Perhaps that similarity might be seen as a guide to university legal strategy.  And perhaps someone in Murphy Hall might meditate over the mediation suggestion over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Information on the Cultural Landscape Foundation can be found at http://tclf.org/.

The Landslide 2012 listing of endangered sites is at:
http://tclf.org/annual-spotlight/landslide-2012-landscape-and-patronage

The specific listing for the Japanese Garden is at:
http://tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/landscape-patronage/hannah-carter-japanese-garden.html

Thanks to the Beverly Hills Courier for Covering Our Coverage of the Japanese Garden Issue

Beverly Hills Courier, Nov. 16, 2012, pp. 5, 13.  Click on images above to enlarge.  Full edition of the Courier is at:

http://issuu.com/bhcourier/docs/111612fissue