Let No Campus Be Left Behind (in Having a Med School)

To loud applause at the Riverside ConventionCenter, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that she is lobbying Gov.Jerry Brown to find $15 million a year to help open and run the medical schoolat UC Riverside.

Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter Tuesday to the governor urginghim to include the money in his annual budget so UCR can open the school in2013…

“I am going to need your help to call on ourgreat governor and say, ‘Jerry, you’ve got to find $15 million,’” she said. “Itcan be found.”  Gov. Brown was travelingto Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and his office did not have an immediatecomment on Feinstein’s letter.  Themedical school has been in the works for years and was originally set to openthis year. But so far, UCR officials have not been able to secure ongoing statefunding…

Full story at http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/duane-gang-headlines/20120222-riverside-feinstein-backs-ucr-medical-school.ece

All that's lacking is money:

Regents Will Consider UC-Riverside Student Plan for Alternative to Tuition in March

Back in 1967, the Regents were curious about the goings on in the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab aas the photo on the left shows.  According to a report in today's Inside Higher Ed, the Regents' curiosity this March will focus on a plan (reported in an earlier blog post) by UC-Riverside students for an alternative to tuition.

Essentially, the students' plan would involve payment after graduation as a share of income rather than the current system of upfront payment, either in cash or through a loan.  The proposal is not a new idea.  And it raises issues of logistics, i.e., how actually to collect those payments.

There are also cash flow issues.  What would finance university operations during the period before the payments first began to arrive?  Could the university borrow against an uncertain flow of future payments?  Note that some of those operations involve recycling of tuition receipts to low-income students.

The article is at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/02/uc-system-weighs-shift-tuition-payments-after-graduation

USC covers UC Regents Protest at UCR

USC news service seems to have the most complete story onyesterday’s protest at the Regents meeting

See: http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/01/students-shut-down-uc-regents-finance-meeting

The LA Times also has a story http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-regents-rally-20120120,0,4723240.story

Meanwhile, at UC-Berkeley: UC Berkeley faculty stand between protesters, police crackdown:
http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy/ci_19779401

Update: The Riverside Press-Enterprise carried a detailed report on the Regents meeting: http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20120119-riverside-protesters-and-arrests-at-uc-regents-meeting.ece

UC-Riverside Students Propose Tuition Alternative Based on Future Pay

From the Riverside Press-Enterprise,1/16/12.  As the excerpt below notes, theidea described has been around for awhile in various forms.  There would need to be a legally-bindingmechanism for verification of income and payback including for grads who left California.  And there could be variations in the formula used.   It will be interesting to see what UCOP andthe Regents have to say:

It tooknine months of late-night meetings, data crunching, calculations andconsultations by a small group of UC Riverside students to hammer out what theysay is an antidote to state cutbacks for higher education and tuition that hasnearly quadrupled in 10 years.  They callthemselves FixUC. Their manifesto is the UC Student Investment Proposal, whichcalls for eliminating the upfront costs of college and having working graduatespay 5 percent of their salary back to the system for 20 years…

Theproposal has caught the attention of UC honchos, primarily because it wasconceived by students, UC spokesman Steve Montiel said. Two UC vice presidentsare scheduled to meet with the group before the regents meeting…

A similaridea was raised in 2009 by UC Berkeley economist Robert Reich, a laborsecretary in the Clinton administration who was appointed to a UC commission toaddress state funding cuts…

Full article at http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20120117-riverside-ucr-students-plan-gets-attention.ece

UPDATE: The story of the plan was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/18/BAF11MR30P.DTL
and by the LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-regents-20120119,0,7115732.story

Yet More Pepper: Legislative Hearings Tomorrow

UC, CSU Officials To Join Experts and Students In Testifying At State Capitol Hearing On Campus Protests

Sacramento, CA--University of California system President Mark Yudof and UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi will join other UC and California State University officials, police oversight experts and student representatives in testifying before a Dec. 14 joint legislative hearing looking into UC and CSU system-wide policies and procedures regarding non-violent protests and campus police use-of-force rules.

Assemblymember Marty Block (AD-78), chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and Senator Alan Lowenthal (SD-27), chair of the Senate Education Committee, have called the hearing in response to a number of incidents at UC Davis and UC Berkeley where peaceful student protesters were doused with pepper spray and battered with batons by UC campus police officers.

“It is the responsibility of the university to provide a safe environment for our students to learn and participate in activities on campus,” Block said. “It is also the responsibility of the university to foster a climate that promotes free expression of ideas on campus. We as the legislature must ensure that the proper procedures are in place to protect both campus safety and student free speech.”

“Something is wrong with a system where our children and students, struggling peacefully to have their voices heard, are answered by the spray of chemical weapons and the sting of a truncheon. It is imperative that we have a unified policy on the appropriate response to peaceful campus protests and on the use of force by campus police,” Lowenthal said.

Set to testify before the committee on use-of-force policies, procedures and response are Barbara Attard, a recognized expert on civilian oversight of police agencies and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Offering testimony on UC and CSU system-wide policies and procedures regarding campus demonstrations are CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Ben Quillian and CSU chief law enforcement officer Nate Johnson.

UC Davis Chancellor Katehi and CSU Fresno President John Welty will testify on specific campus policies and procedures regarding use of force against demonstrators.

In addition, the respective presidents of the UC Student Association and CSU Associated Students will speak on the policies and procedures that are followed by student groups when organizing demonstrations.

The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2011 in Room 4203 of the State Capitol.

Source: http://asmdc.org/members/a78/news-room/press-releases/item/2860-uc-csu-officials-to-join-experts-and-students-in-testifying-at-state-capitol-hearing-on-campus-protests

Maybe we should put some limits on this thing:

Update: Brouhaha reported about UC-Riverside rules concerning demonstrations which may (or may not) be timed for the Regents meeting on that campus in January. See Inside Higher Ed article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/14/uc-riverside-protest-guidelines-trouble-students-faculty

Update: UC-Riverside suspends new rules http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2011/12/15/uc-riverside-pulls-guidelines-protests

Update: News account of hearing at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/15/4123764/more-student-unrest-likely-california.html

Doing Good

The Washington Monthly has a ranking of national universities by "their contribution to the public good." It looks at such things as students on Pell Grants. UC-San Diego comes in as #1, UCLA as #2, UC-Berkeley #3, UC-Riverside #5, UC-Davis #8, UC-Santa Barbara #13, UC-Irvine #60. The full listing is at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2011/national_university_rank.php

Got any spare change for the UC-Riverside med school?

The saga of the UC-Riverside proposed med school continues post-state budget. Now the request goes to local authorities:

UCR Med School requests $12 million grant

Nicole C. Brambila, Jun. 30, 2011|

Desert Healthcare District board members are mulling over a multi-year $12 million grant request for the new UCR Medical School to help the fledging institution get the social capital it needs for accreditation. The med school was dealt a setback this week when its state funding became a casualty of the revenue shortfall and a $15 million budget request evaporated…

Full story at http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110630/NEWS01/110630014/UCR-Med-School-requests-12-million-grant

Time to Fold?

The saga of the UCR med-school-to-be continues in the Riverside Press-Enterprise (excerpts):

UC Riverside officials announced Wednesday that the opening of their proposed medical school will be postponed a year because they did not secure the ongoing state funding needed to gain accreditation. The announcement from Chancellor Timothy White came the day after Democrats in Sacramento passed a 2011-12 budget that did not include extra funding for the medical school. The budget, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed Wednesday night, cut another $150 million from the UC system on top of the $500 million reduction taken earlier this year…

"We can't focus on the negative," said Dr. G. Richard Olds, the medical school dean. "We had a shot and we came really close to getting it open. We better get it open in '13." He said he will work to develop the medical school's programs and secure funding to ensure accreditation. "If we fail, there will never be a medical school at UCR," Olds said. "It's not like I can keep trying forever. I've got five months to redo a business plan and an approach." …

Full article at http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_medschool30.40b866c7e.html

Time to fold them?

UC-Riverside Wants $$$s for New Med School

Olds urges UCR lobbying group to help gain accreditation (excerpt)

LORA HINES, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/22/11

The dean of UC Riverside's proposed medical school on Wednesday appeared before university supporters and urged them to contact Sacramento lawmakers to secure ongoing state funding needed to accredit the school.

Dr. G. Richard Olds asked members of the Citizens University Committee, a UCR lobbying group, for assistance in securing state money. Earlier this month, university officials were informed by an accreditation panel that the medical school would not be accredited because the state had not committed to ongoing funding.

The medical school needs a promise of about $15 million a year from the state, university officials have said…

The UC regents have not been willing to redirect money to UCR's medical school from their existing budget. In their original proposed 2011-12 budget, the regents included $10 million for the medical school. That funding was removed by Gov. Jerry Brown and has not been restored.

"I have not been able to talk to Gov. Brown," Olds said. "We have a lot of support on both sides of the Legislature. The governor's a mystery."

…The eventual cost of the medical school is projected to be $500 million, which Olds said is an overestimate…

Full article at http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_medschool23.3939a2f.html

Hey, it's just money, right?