Higher education

Amid criticism, CSU tweaks presidential salary comparisons

Erica Perez, California Watch — Jan 18 2012 - 4:57pm

Responding to criticism from the Legislative Analyst’s Office and others, California State University officials have revised a proposed list of peer universities they plan to use to help set pay for campus executives. The new list, provided to California Watch, no longer considers Temple University in Pennsylvania a peer of San Diego State University because Temple has a medical school – a feature that tends to drive up the cost and complexity of university operations. Temple paid its president $536,000 in base pay in 2009-10.

Researchers use S.F. mayoral candidates’ positions to rethink their places on ideological spectrum

Dhyana Levey, SF Public Press — Oct 24 2011 - 3:41pm

Political scientists are trying to measure the ideology of candidates for mayor of San Francisco in an effort to give voters a better guide as to who most closely shares their views. San Francisco’s crowded field of 16 candidates and a ranked-choice voting system, which some find baffling, seemed to be the ideal testing ground for a project that measures mayoral hopefuls positions by surveying them on past actions at the Board of Supervisors and on current policy debates. Voters aren’t always as well informed as they can be for city elections, which tend to attract less attention than national races and also lack the party labels that help distinguish each candidate, said Christopher S. Elmendorf, a professor of law at the University of California, Davis, and a visiting professor at U.C. Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

Saving the UC — but at what cost?

Holly Kernan, KALW Crosscurrents — Oct 17 2011 - 12:46pm

In the University of California system, officials are considering raising fees as much as 16 percent a year through 2015. To learn more about what this means for students, and for public education in California, KALW’s Holly Kernan spoke with UC’s student liaison to the Regents, Jonathan Stein. Stein is a graduate student in public policy and law at UC Berkeley, and he’s one of two students represented in the University’s decision-making body.

On College Radio Day, KUSF staff fight (and spin) on

Nina Thorsen, KQED News — Oct 13 2011 - 12:32pm

Hundreds of college radio stations around the country came together this week to proclaim College Radio Day. The celebration of stations that often have a cult following came amidst a particularly trying time for the format. One by one, universities are selling off stations to raise cash. FM licenses in major markets are worth millions. Recent sales include KUSF at the University of San Francisco. The January sale of KUSF to the Classical Public Radio Network, just one transaction in a multi-station radio shake-up of the Bay Area dial, set off strenuous protests by the station's staff and fans. Many of the DJs and programmers moved to the online-only KUSF in Exile.

City College students struggle to break into biotech firms

Siri Markula, SF Public Press — Mar 24 2011 - 10:57am
City College of San Francisco is helping students without a science background gain laboratory experience to work in the biotech industry, one of the Bay Area’s most promising employment sectors. The idea is to meet the demand in the industry for lab technicians who don't necessarily have four-year degrees in science. While some big companies have been hesitant to take on two-year college graduates from the Bridge to Biotech program, smaller companies are more willing to take a risk on them. How much education do you need to get a laboratory job? “Science always seemed to me like something for the intellectual elite,” said Kiel Copeland, whose internship led to a job at a San Francisco startup developing drugs to fight HIV and other viruses. “I never saw myself as that.”

University of San Francisco aims to move transmitter quickly following KUSF sale

Mineko Brand, SF Public Press — Feb 16 2011 - 7:43pm
Even as supporters of the University of San Francisco’s radio station race to file a petition with federal regulators to block the sale of its frequency, the school and a nonprofit group called Classical Public Radio Network are moving quickly to relocate the station’s transmitter off campus. Dismissing critics of the recent dismantling of the student- and community-run radio station, USF and the radio network filed their own petition Monday to move the transmitter to Sausalito, requesting speedy approval.

Regents push risk

Peter Byrne, Spot Us — Nov 10 2010 - 2:00pm

Investigation shows some officials profited while UC investments performed poorly

Last fall, amid an unprecedented state budget crisis, the University of California Board of Regents took extraordinary measures to cut costs and generate revenue. Lecturers were furloughed, classes eliminated. The regents — the governing body for the vast public university system — also reduced admission slots for in-state students while increasing the cost for out-of-state students. And to the consternation of tens of thousands of students, the regents raised undergraduate tuition by a whopping 32 percent, with more hikes to come.

Some funds restored, temperature lowered at UC protests

Rosemary Macaulay, SF Public Press — Oct 13 2010 - 5:40pm

Students, staff and faculty protested across nine UC campuses last week in defense of public education after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the 2010-2011 state budget, which partially restores the deep budget cuts made to higher education last year. Though less fired up than they had been during the previous year’s demonstrations, the protesters at Berkeley remained far from satisfied.

University of California invests $53 million in two diploma mills owned by a regent

Peter Byrne, Jul 14 2010 - 6:48pm

A year ago, Richard C. Blum, then the chairman of the Regents of the University of California, spoke at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2009, held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. The corporate confab was hosted by Michael Milken, the “junk bond king” who went to prison in the aftermath of the savings and loan fiasco in the 1980s. Milken, who is barred from securities trading for life by federal regulators, has since recreated himself as a proponent of investing in for-profit educational corporations, an industry which regularly comes under government and media scrutiny in response to allegations of fraud made by dissatisfied students.

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CSU raises fees by 5 percent

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jun 18 2010 - 4:31pm

The California State University Board of Trustees voted Friday to raise full-time undergraduate and graduate fees by 5 percent. Full-time undergraduate students will pay $4,230, a $204 increase. Graduate students will pay $5,097, a $252 increase. Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado and and Trustee Russel Statham voted no on the fee increase.

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