A Different Kind of Grade Inflation

From the Orange County Register: When Jose Carrillo went through medical school at Dartmouth College a decade ago, students would have thick books weighing down their white coats with reference information in case they needed it while making rounds... Today, Carrillo is helping third-year medical students understand neurology at UCI Medical Center in Orange... (L)oaded on the iPads in the pockets of the medical students' coats is every textbook, note, flash card and question from their first two years of medical school – so much information that its equal in printed copies once covered entire tables. All that information sits on the iPad, along with an app that can access the electronic medical records of patients students interact with on their rounds, as well as the entirety of Web resources...

...(T)he medical school announced a 23 percent increase in scores, on average, on the initial test for a medical license taken by the first class to get iPads...

Full article at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ipad-496247-medical-school.html

Not All Presidents Are Celebrating Today

Emory President James Wagner

President Yudof may be celebrating his impending liberation (in August).  According to Inside Higher Ed, however, Emory University President James Wagner may not be celebrating this Presidents' Day:

Emory University President James Wagner has infuriated many on his campus and scholars elsewhere by using the president's letter in the new issue of Emory Magazine to say that the "three-fifths compromise" of the U.S. Constitution was a model for how people who disagree can work together for "a common goal." Following an explosion of social media criticism Saturday as word of Wagner's letter spread, he released an apology. "To those hurt or confused by my clumsiness and insensitivity, please forgive me," he wrote...The three-fifths compromise expanded the political clout of the slave states by codifying that black slaves counted for purposes of allocating seats in the House of Representatives as 60 percent of a white person (even though the slave states gave black people 0 percent of the voting or other rights of white people)...

Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/18/emory-president-sets-uproar-statements-three-fifths-compromise-and-then-apologizes 


Update at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/02/19/critics-emory-president-arent-satisfied

Further update at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/02/21/emory-president-censured

UCLA History: Presidents

On the day before Presidents' Day, here are two presidents visiting UCLA in February 1964: Lyndon Johnson and Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos.

Why the Lt. Governor Favors Online Higher Ed at the Regents (Maybe)

Lt. Governor Newsom appeared on The Colbert Report on Feb. 14 to promote a book that seems to have something to do with online government participation:

C

The Colbert Report

Update from Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog:

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was describing his new book, "Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government," on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" on Thursday when the host, Stephen Colbert, asked him, 'What the (bleep) does any of that mean?" Newsom had been talking about the "broadcast model of governing" and about how "big is getting small and small is getting big."

Colbert flipped through the book.

"Is there a bull (bleep) translator?" he said. "What are you talking about?"...

Full story at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/02/colbert-to-gavin-newsom-what-the-bleep-does-any-of-that-mean.html

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/02/colbert-to-gavin-newsom-what-the-bleep-does-any-of-that-mean.html#storylink=cpy

Traffic, Traffic

Motorists, be forewarned: the northbound 405 Freeway will be a great place to avoid the first weekend in March. Three northbound lanes on the freeway will be closing for 55 straight hours between Montana Avenue and Getty Center Drive. In addition, the Getty Center Drive and Moraga Drive northbound on-ramps will be closed, as will the northbound Montana and Moraga off-ramps.
Despite the length of the closure, this is no “mini Carmageddon”—although officials stress that drivers should plan alternate routes through the area to avoid major backups. “We are concerned with daytime traffic,” said Kasey Shuda, construction relations manager for the project. “Obviously, there will be some delays if people don’t divert.”...

Full story at http://zev.lacounty.gov/news/major-closure-but-no-carmageddon-iii

UCLA Gets Commuter Award

Best Workplaces for Commuters^SM, a program designed to encourage sustainable transportation innovation singled out 23 employers nationwide Thursday, January 31 during the annual “Race to Excellence”  Virtual Awards Ceremony.  The awards recognize organizations who have taken exemplary steps to offer transportation options such as vanpool and transit benefits or telework and compressed workweek for their employees.  “The annual Race to Excellence provides national recognition for employers who offer high level commuter benefits,” said Julie Bond, NCTR’s national program manager for Best Workplaces for Commuters. “Offering commuter benefits is a win-win situation for employees who change their commuting habits to save time, money and stress and employers who gain a competitive edge in employee recruitment and retention.”

This year participants were awarded in four categories:  Employer, Employer (under 100), Supporting Agency, and University...

 University: Gold

• Stanford University (“Best of” 2011)
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of South Florida
• Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

,,,Best Workplaces for Commuter ™ is a program of the National Center for Transit Research at the University of South Florida.  NCTR is funded by Florida Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Transportation...

Source: http://www.bestworkplaces.org/uncategorized/3650/

More on Oil Severance Tax for Higher Ed Bill

An earlier post on this blog noted an announcement of a bill in the legislature that would impose an oil severance tax dedicated to the three segments of higher ed.  It was noted on that post that the actual text of the bill was not available at that time.  Now the bill is available.  As it turns out, some of the funding (7%) goes to the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.  At present, that department is mired in a scandal about hidden funds. If you are unfamiliar with that scandal, you can start with http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/15/5192590/california-state-parks-had-hidden.html and then Google your way back over the past year. Singling out that department for earmarked funding seems like a move certain to reduce the chances of passage.  (The other 93% of funding is split three ways among the three segments of higher ed and is not otherwise allocated.  For example, it is not earmarked for tuition reduction or any other purpose.)

The bill would require a 2/3 vote, in principle possible if all Democrats voted for it.  However, the governor has said he opposes new taxes without a vote of the people and it is not clear all Democrats would vote for it (or want to oppose the governor).  Apart from  his vote-of-the-people approach to taxes, the governor probably would not favor a general allocation with no more specific direction.

Bottom line: Don't hold your breath.

The bill's text is at:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB241

Just a little bit of history.  California was once home to an oil boom as the film "There Will Be Blood" depicted.

And southern California was home to the major Julian oil stock/fraud scandal in the 1920s:
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/mar/16/local/me-then16  The state is still a significant oil producer and might increase its production, depending on how receptive it is to the controversial fracking technology.  At some point, if that happens, the issue of obtaining oil revenue for the state will come to the fore.