Noir Track Intact

Noir Track Intact

The California state legislature is set to adjourn without a budget. UC officials remain guardedly optimistic that last year's "one-time" cut of $305 million will be restored.  Regent Chair Russell Gould informed the Commission on the Future two weeks ago that "the state is listening."  The Conference Committee documents on the state's education sectors still show a...

Blum Summer Reading

Blum Summer Reading

Among the useful material in the Daily Planet story on Regent Richard C. Blum's significant investment stakes in the for-profit higher ed sector, note especially the description of Blum Capital's investment behaviors, particularly its price arbitrage at crucial moments. I'll comment later this week on what this tells us about the relations between two distinct functions known...

The Question of the Regents

The Question of the Regents

Catherine Liu’s call to remove Richard Blum from the Board of Regents points to structural questions that confront anyone concerned with reforming the University. As Catherine reminds us, Blum’s companies hold nearly a billion dollars worth of stock in for-profit, online educational companies that, reportedly, have received millions of dollars of UC investments. Of course, as...

UC Regent profits from For Profit Higher Ed...

UC Regent profits from For Profit Higher Ed...

Frontline has a great segment on for profit education. Today the Senate is holding a hearing on a report drafted by Senator Tom Harkin on the for profit education sector. Steven Eisman, former hedge fund manager and critic of subprime mortgages says that we are on the 'cusp of a new social disaster.'Bloomberg reports that "The five largest publicly traded for- profit companies...

Dump Richard Blum

Dump Richard Blum

Berkeley Daily delivers a story about Richard Blum that is a MUST read. Please take the time to do so. I know it's summer and we are all distracted, but we MUST organize to dump Richard Blum as UC Regent. He has made many fortunes investing in diploma mills, private, for profit universities that hard sell their degrees to desperate, working class and veteran students. These private...

We, the Swinish Multitude

We, the Swinish Multitude

By Michael MeranzeUCOP’s “expanded recommendations” to UCOF envision the University as an increasingly centralized, hierarchical, routinized, and disconnected set of programs. In keeping with the managerial ideology that is their default answer to any set of problems, UCOP has proposed that the problem facing UC is an inefficient, and insufficiently disciplined, faculty and staff;...

The Coverage This Week

The Coverage This Week

Coverage of UC this week included a story in the Sacramento Bee on how the University's stated poverty hasn't prevented it from raising salaries at the top. The Los Angeles Times decided that the leading idea from the Monday meeting of the Commission on the Future meeting was changing the term "fee" to the term "tuition."  UCOP has spent much of this crisis year pitching...

Pay Some Attention: Return of UCOF 2

Pay Some Attention: Return of UCOF 2

The UC Commission on the Future is having its fifth meeting tomorrow, June 14, for its second consideration of formal recommendations.  UCOP has performed a studio cut on the original material, which has the virtue of greater clarity.  Note in particular (page references are internal to the Meeting Materials): "Selected Working Group First Round Recommendations."...

The Ghost of UC Future

The Ghost of UC Future

by Catherine M. ColeOn June 11, UCOP made public a set of "expanded recommendations" to the UC Commission on the Future which is to meet on Monday, June 14. The cornerstone of these eleventh-hour additions seems to be items number 6 and 7 of the expanded recommendations which propose an "expedited Pilot Project" for lower division online education:"Eventually, there will be online...

UCOF Financial Recommendations

UCOF Financial Recommendations

Most of the UCOF  recommendations summarize common sense that has been around for years (seek administrative efficiencies . . .)  If they are proposed as solutions, one wants to identify the problem that they seek to solve.  The Commission was created after the Regents at their July 2009 heard testimony from all of the chancellors that suggested decline on...

Cyber-campus v. 2.0: The Rebranding

Cyber-campus v. 2.0: The Rebranding

by Tobias Higbie UCLA History Department What follows is a quick review and analysis of the proposals for expanded online education reflected in the "expanded recommendations" section of the UCOF materials prepared for the June 14 Commission meeting.  Recommendations 6 and 7 are on pages 86-91.  Unlike the previous calls for an 11th "Cyber Campus," these proposals call...

UC Budget Reality 3: the Per-Student Disaster

UC Budget Reality 3: the Per-Student Disaster

The graphic below follows on those of two previous posts (one on UC's corrosive compromises, another on a better budget strategy.) It correlates declining...

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain

By Michael MeranzeUCOP’s continuing insistence that the state is, and will continue to be, an “unreliable partner” has placed them in lock-step with the very forces that are committed to reducing the importance of public commitments to our common life--indeed to reducing our common life itself. Aligning themselves with the Governor and his perception of the state of the State...

Same Flat Revenues, Same Flat Pitch: How to Do Better

Same Flat Revenues, Same Flat Pitch: How to Do Better

On occasion, in private conversations, UC officials will admit that their strategy with the state has not been working.  But the next sentence is...

UC and Extramural Funding

UC and Extramural Funding

by AnonymousOne valuable point made by the recent UCOF report is that extramurally-funded research is not a net source of revenue to UC, unlike what many people seem to believe. The report also made several good recommendations for reducing the cost of extramurally-funded research to UC, such as working to increase ICR rates. While these are certainly very helpful activities,...