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

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.

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:

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

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:

Changing Demographics

The Sacramento Bee today carries this demographic chart showing the Latino and white/non-Latino populations are roughly equal in California at present and the relative growth in the Latino population is projected to continue.  Due to citizenship and voting propensities, the white/non-Latino group still predominates in elections.  However, the times, they are a'changing - as the song goes - with implications for UC and higher ed in California more generally.

The article that accompanies the chart can be found at:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/01/5536254/latinos-poised-to-catch-up-with.html

In a related article on the impact of Prop 209, the LA Times notes:

...Latinos' presence, after a temporary dip, has grown beyond its pre-1996 peak, partly because of enormous increases in Latino high school graduates. But the numbers have been stark at UCLA and Berkeley, which have the highest admissions standards of UC's nine undergraduate campuses. The Latino share of UCLA's freshmen was 21.5% in 1995, dropped to 10.4% by 1998 and has climbed to 18.1%, UC records show. Berkeley's Latino share of freshmen was 15.5%, dipped to 7.3% after the proposition went fully into effect and then climbed to 13% last fall...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-affirm-action-colleges-20130701,0,141481.story

UCLA History: Knudsen in the News Today

Vern O. Knudsen

Today's LA Times has an article about the shuttering of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.  Included in that article is this brief note (below) about Vern Knudson who was chancellor of UCLA in 1959-60 and after whom a building on campus is named:

...The main hall also featured metal acoustical panels and wall sconces, attributed to Vern O. Knudsen, an authority on architectural acoustics who also served, briefly, as chancellor of UCLA...

Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santa-monica-civic-20130630,0,7440128.story

Note: As I recall, the Auditorium's problems stem from one of the byproducts of the state budget crisis of recent years: the killing of local redevelopment agencies.  It's a long story but because of the intertwining of state and local finance after Props 13 and 98 in particular, the state saved some money by killing local redevelopment agencies including the one in Santa Monica.  If Santa Monica's agency had not been killed, it likely would have been used to renovate the Auditorium.

UCLA History: Water

Nowadays, there is a trickle of water that runs through the area where the Anderson School stands.  Back in 1933, water was more plentiful in that area.

Gone

According to LAObserved, Jerry's Deli in Westwood just south of UCLA closed yesterday as the result of a rent dispute.

Story at http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/06/another_deli_down_jerrys.php

Rent is always a problem:

UCLA History: The Power of Higher Education

Temporary power lines supplied electricity during construction of the central campus in Westwood in 1929.  Once construction was complete, the lines were removed as can be seen below.

UCLA History: UCLA marching song (to tune of “Strike Up the Band”)

UCLA Marching Band in 1946

Exactly how “Strike Up the Band,” which had its origins in a 1927 musical, was reworded by George and Ira Gershwin for UCLA in 1936 is told in http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/20/local/me-gershwin20

Here is an old recording: [Lyrics begin at 1:14.]

 

Something to look up

In May 2012, the Daily Bruin ran this photo of Prof. David Paige holding a model of the Moon in connection with discovery of lunar ice.* Now comes word that tonight, the Moon will appear oversized in the skies. See http://bit.ly/131yxTA for details.  So look up.

*http://dailybruin.com/2012/05/08/ucla_professor_and_his_team_discover_ice_below_the_surface_of_mercury039s_poles/

It Ain't What it Was

Westwood in 1929 wasn't very exciting, either.

The LA Times reviews attempts to revitalize Westwood and notes at one time it was a commercial center. 

For decades, Westwood Village was the heartbeat of Los Angeles nightlife while downtown languished in solitude. Westwood had the movie theaters, fancy restaurants and bustling street traffic, and downtown was known as a quiet and intimidating place to be after dark. These days, a humbled Westwood finds itself in the unexpected position of turning to a resurgent downtown for ideas. Of the more than a dozen movie theaters that once stood in the village, all but three have closed down. A count this week found that about a quarter of the storefronts on the main boulevard are vacant. After numerous failed revitalization attempts over the last two decades, Westwood is now looking to some of its neighborhood rivals for inspiration. Village leaders see how the arts have helped pump new life into downtown as well as formerly sleepy areas like Culver City. With a new focus, Westwood is moving away from its past as an entertainment and upscale shopping mecca. Backers see the 21st century Westwood as a magnet for arts and culture, filled with galleries, museums, performance space and trendy food...

Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-westwood-village-20130618,0,7278089,full.story

Note that to the extent that UCLA creates itself as an internal city - with its own Grand Hotel - the surrounding neighborhood gets no spillover effects.  Students can live on campus and buy meals and other supplies without leaving.  With the Grand Hotel, the same will be true for visitors to campus.  So no one should be shocked, shocked at the results.

Bad PR

There is the old saying that all publicity is good, as long as they spell your name correctly.  Maybe not in all cases, however...

From the LA Times:

A controversial policy group singles out teacher training programs at UCLA and Loyola Marymount as hardly worth attending. But the schools say the report is flawed.

 

A new front is opening in the education wars as a report released Tuesday derides California's teacher training schools as among the worst in a nation full of substandard programs.The study by a controversial Washington, D.C.-based policy group singles out UCLA and Loyola Marymount University, among others, as hardly worth attending. Both have strong reputations within the field. The report, issued by the National Council on Teacher Quality, is getting attention as a new annual offering among the education ratings published by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine's ratings of high schools and colleges already are much debated. "It's widely agreed upon that there's a problem" with teacher training, said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. "The report points out that California has an acute set of problems." ...  UCLA participated but questioned whether the advocacy group looked deeply enough... The National Council on Teacher Quality is known for taking sides in heated policy debates. For example, it strongly favors using student standardized test scores as a substantial portion of a teacher's evaluation...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0618-teacher-training-20130618,0,5100253.story

Anyway, here's some advice when someone says bad things about you


UPDATE: A more detailed article on the report can be found at
http://www.edsource.org/today/2013/critical-report-on-teacher-preparation-programs-sparks-debate/33721#.UcGUUtjbCLs

Not Coming to a Campus Near You

Not only are we unlikely to see snow on campus, according to a recent UCLA report, snow in the mountains around LA in winter will be diminishing:

...The projected snow loss, a result of climate change, could get even worse by the end of the 21st century, depending on how the world reacts. Sustained action to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions could keep annual average snowfall levels steady after mid-century, but if emissions continue unabated, the study predicts that snowfall in Southern California mountains will be two-thirds less by the year 2100 than it was in the years leading up to 2000. "Climate change has become inevitable, and we're going to lose a substantial amount of snow by midcentury," said (Alex) Hall, a professor in UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. "But our choices matter. By the end of the century, there will be stark differences in how much snowfall remains, depending on whether we begin to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions."...

 

Full story at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-climate-study-predicts-dramatic-246820.aspx  

 

That's the way it is, deer:

UC History: Post-Meeting

Then-Governor Ronald Reagan holds news conference after a contentious Regents meeting in 1968.

UCLA History: Clearing

Police clear the UCLA campus in 1970 after large protest demonstration related to the Vietnam War and the invasion of Cambodia.

UCLA History: 4 Grads

June is graduation month for most UCLA departments.  Above four UCLA grads pose for the camera in 1939.  (Yours truly is traveling for the next few days so blogging may be lighter.)

Evaluation

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate this instructor?

Exodus 4:10: Then Moses said to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."  We don’t know how the Israelites evaluated what Moses had to say on a scale from 1 to 10 – ten is the obvious upper bound in his case - but those who are non-eloquent might take comfort from today’s Inside Higher Ed:

Imagine you receive the same lecture twice: once from a charismatic lecturer speaking fluently without notes and maintaining eye contact; and again from a hesitant speaker, slumped over her notes and stumbling over her words. Which is better?  In terms of what you learn there is surprisingly little to choose between the two, according to a team of psychologists.

...Researchers asked two groups of students to sit through the same lecture delivered in radically different styles. When asked afterward how much they felt they had learned, those who had experienced the more accomplished performance believed they had learned more than the second group. However, when tested, there was little difference found between them, with those attending the "better" lecture barely outperforming their poorly taught peers.  "The fluent instructor was rated significantly higher than the disfluent instructor on traditional instructor evaluation questions, such as preparedness and effectiveness," say the researchers, in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. "However, lecture fluency did not significantly affect the amount of information learned."

Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/30/study-finds-students-dont-learn-more-charismatic-lecturers

Well, you have to make do with what you've got:

 

Those Empty Westwood Stores

Despite efforts to revitalize Westwood, there remain all of those empty storefronts up and down Westwood Boulevard between campus and Wilshire. Yet there is lots of foot traffic related to the university in Westwood and the proximity of a large student community.

So why the empty stores despite all of those students? The LA Weekly thinks it has the answer:

Living in Westwood is like being trapped in Footloose's Bomont, Georgia.* There are no clubs, no open mics, no student centers, no anything. It's bad. They're even shutting down one of the only two bars students go to with much frequency -- Westwood Brewing Company -- to replace it with the chain The Boiling Crab. The campus tries as it might to offer some sort of relief, but there aren't many opportunities to get too crazy. As a recently-graduated student, I can attest: Our only respite on Thursdays and Fridays was trying desperately to convince the frat kingdom gatekeepers to let us in...

Full story at http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2013/05/ucla_music_scene_westwood_sucks.php

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*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087277/ and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068242/