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Friday, 2 October 2009
1. Cal bringing in consultants to help cut millions from budget
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
October 2, 2009
Berkeley — UC BERKELEY will hire consultants to help cut tens of millions from the campus budget.
Bain & Co. will spend six months guiding Berkeley leaders through a study of campus finances, CHANCELLOR ROBERT BIRGENEAU said Thursday. The university, which had its budget cut by $150 million this year, will pay the Boston-based firm $3 million plus expenses — half this year and the remainder next year.
The Bain collaboration will be part of an effort the university has named "Operational Excellence" and is modeled after a Bain partnership at the University of North Carolina, which is starting to implement 10 changes recommended by the firm....
At North Carolina, administrators needed to overcome opposition by suspicious professors, who worried cutting supporting staff and outsourcing some administrative operations would harm the university's academic reputation. ...
In Berkeley's case, campus leaders also are telling faculty the Bain study will not affect academics. For the most part, instructors seem to be accepting that, said law professor CHRISTOPHER KUTZ, CHAIRMAN OF THE CAMPUS ACADEMIC SENATE.
"We were really impressed by Bain," said Kutz, who was involved in choosing the company. "They said the right things, and they understand their limits."...
Hiring outside consultants is more likely to lead to an objective look at how UC BERKELEY is run, said VICE CHANCELLOR FRANK YEARY, who last year left his job as a top executive at Citigroup to return to his alma mater.
"Self-diagnosis is not always the most beneficial method," he said. "And the intensity of the effort does not lend itself to asking our faculty to go offline for six months to help us."...
[This story also appeared in the Oakland Tribune] Full Story
2. U. of California and Ethiopian Collaborators Unveil Oldest Known Proto-Human
Chronicle of Higher Education (*requires registration)
October 2, 2009
Washington -- The first thorough examination of the oldest known skeleton in human lineage, by a team from the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, suggests that our human ancestors looked and acted much less like apes than has been widely believed.
The fossils indicate the gap between apes and humans was already wide four million years ago, and implies that apes may serve only as a limited stand-in for understanding human progenitors. The team, led by TIM D. WHITE, A PROFESSOR OF INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY'S HUMAN EVOLUTION RESEARCH CENTER, published its findings in Science magazine on Friday....
Mr. White has faced criticism over the length of time he took to make his findings available to outside researchers....
A member of Mr. White's team, Giday WoldeGabriel, a geologist working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in New Mexico, said such critics don't seem to appreciate the amount of time it takes to carefully recover, clean, and assemble fossil remains, especially when using volunteers on part-time duty....
Mr. White's approach also has garnered praise from Ethiopians for his conscious efforts to bring natives of the country, such as Mr. WoldeGabriel, into key roles on his team and help them gain their own expertise in a field that is bringing international recognition to their homeland.
Mr. White's team made its announcement on Thursday simultaneously in Washington and in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where the Ardi fossils remain. The Ethiopian ambassador to the United States, Samuel Assefa, attended the Washington event to give thanks.
"More and more, we see our own people being part of it, leading it," Mr. Assefa said of the archaeological expeditions in his country. "We are very well represented in the scientific community—we are not just a site."...
[Link by subscription only. Stories on this topic appeared in hundreds of sources worldwide, including Voice of America and NPR (link to audios). For others, see yesterday's edition of Berkeley in the News] Full Story
3. Cal's Rogers Diagnosed With Heart Condition
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
October 2, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. (AP) -- Highly touted CALIFORNIA FRESHMAN FORWARD TIERRA ROGERS will not play for the GOLDEN BEARS after being diagnosed this week with a rare heart condition and having a defibrillator implanted Thursday....
''I am saddened that I was diagnosed with this disease,'' Rogers said in a statement. ''But I feel God has given me a second chance at life. With the support of my family, coaching staff and teammates, I will be able to get through this.''
Cal said Rogers' condition was discovered as the result of a Sept. 21 workout in which she had trouble breathing and later collapsed at Haas Pavilion outside the training room. She was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she spent a week for testing and observation. Once doctors determined she had a cardiac condition, she was then transferred to UC San Francisco Medical Center on Monday. It was there where doctors discovered her condition -- Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia -- and performed the procedure....
''This is obviously devastating news for Tierra and her family,'' CAL COACH JOANNE BOYLE said in a statement. ''We are here to stand by her 100 percent with whatever she needs. Obviously, basketball was a very precious part of her life, but she has a higher purpose here than just being a basketball player, and her health and well-being are our primary concern. Right now, she can really use all the support and prayers she can get to help her through these trying times.''...
The school said that DR. BRAD BUCHMAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES AT CAL AND INTERIM HEAD TEAM PHYSICIAN FOR THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, provided information about the rare condition and that ''it is one of the most common causes of sudden cardiac death in young adult athletes.''...
[This story appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide, including KCBS--link to audio] Full Story
4. Talk of the Nation/Science Friday: Cooking Up A River In The Lab
NPR
October 2, 2009
For almost 100 years, scientists have been trying to create a meandering river in the laboratory. CHRISTIAN BRAUDRICK AND BILL DIETRICH OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, finally found a recipe and published it in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.
[Link to audio forthcoming] Full Story
5. Science Spending Edged Up in 2008
Inside Higher Ed
October 2, 2009
Washington -- Colleges and universities spent a total of $51.9 billion on research development in the 2008 fiscal year, with the federal government providing by far the biggest -- but a declining -- share of the total.
Those were among the findings of data from an annual survey by the National Science Foundation released Thursday....
[In an accompanying chart, UC BERKELEY is listed 18th among the top research institutions, with $544 million in research expenditure in 2007, and $582 million in 2008. A similar story appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education (link by subscription only), and it included a chart showing UC BERKELEY ranks 39th in federally funded expenditures, with $251,043 in 2007 and $249,163 in 2008] Full Story
6. On the Media: With information galore, we need news judgment
In the Web age, consumers could drown in a sea of media
Los Angeles Times
October 2, 2009
Reporting from Mountain View, Calif. -- I've felt a bit quaint the last couple of days, toting a pen, a notepad and my old journalism notions around here at the Googleplex....
We're talking about media letting the audience increasingly into the middle of the conversation. We're talking about shifting from producing single articles to curating "topic pages" from many sources. We're talking about building block-by-block databases so readers can find not just the latest news but also crime stats, school test scores and home values for their neighborhoods.
Then all that information must be promoted via social networks like Twitter and Facebook, according to several speakers at UC BERKELEY'S MEDIA TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT. When a bubbly young Web marketer told about 100 assembled reporters, editors, scientists and media executives that they must build their "whuffie factor" (more on that later), nobody batted an eye.
...NEIL HENRY, DEAN OF UC BERKELEY'S GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM, told the gathering in an auditorium on the sleek Google campus that the Bay Area already has lost half of its professional news reporters.
But this week's meeting attempted to depart from the ink-stained kvetching that can dominate these gatherings, with an emphasis on the technology-happy crowd explaining all the opportunities that the Internet provides.
"There has been a lot of lip service until now. But we can't measure what we do by asking: Is anybody else doing it?" said ALAN MUTTER, an analyst and one-time newspaper editor and media investor, who organized the conference for the Berkeley journalism school. "Innovators don't have great peripheral vision. Innovators are looking ahead. They are looking over the horizon."... Full Story
7. Tech Chronicles Blog: Web surfers say no to tailored ads, study found
San Francisco Chronicle Online
October 1, 2009
For years marketers have argued that Web surfers prefer to see ads that cater to their specific interests, but a study from the universities of Pennsylvania and BERKELEY suggests otherwise.
The researchers surveyed around 1,000 adult Internet users and found that two thirds of them said they didn't want tailored ads. The number grew to between 73 and 86 percent once people were told about some of the techniques marketers employ to mine for information....
The study is the first national survey on people's attitudes toward behavioral targeting, which involves monitoring their online habits and directing ads to them based on that information.... Full Story
8. Real Time Economics Blog: Economic Benefits of Hosting Olympics Are Few
Wall Street Journal Online (*requires registration)
October 2, 2009
There’s one lingering question about President Barack Obama’s visit to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid: Why would any city want to host them?...
No doubt Chicago is hoping to emulate the relatively successful 1984 games in Los Angeles, which generated a surplus of about $300 million, partly by using a lot of existing structures. Chicago’s bid indicates it plans to do the same, as well as build a cheaper Olympic stadium that can be demolished afterward.
Plus, economists recently made one positive economic argument for hosting the games: it can spur a 30% increase in trade for the country.
But even ANDREW K. ROSE, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ECONOMICS PROFESSOR that made the argument doesn’t expect that upside to play out if Chicago wins the bid.
“If it goes to Chicago the vast majority of people will regret it very quickly,” Rose said.
Because the U.S. is such a developed country, the trade effect isn’t likely to play out. In fact, economically speaking, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would likely experience the biggest bump from hosting, Rose said....
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
9. BART police shooting case should be moved
San Francisco Chronicle
October 2, 2009
Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer charged with murder for shooting an unarmed man on New Year's Day, will probably not be tried by Alameda County jurors.
Defense attorney Michael Rains is seeking a change of venue for the trial, and a hearing is scheduled in Alameda County Superior Court next week....
FRANKLIN ZIMRING, AN EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CRIMINAL LAW AT THE UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW, regards the change of venue motion as part of a broader plan to settle the case with a lesser charge.
The charge is murder - "but you're not going to get that," Zimring said. "Everybody wants to see this case settle, the question is, 'Settle for what?' because a murder (conviction) is unthinkable."...
So if Alameda County cannot offer Mehserle a trial decided by an impartial jury, then what would be an appropriate setting for such a controversial trial? If the defense is granted a venue change, the next step is to "find a community with a lot fewer people of color," Zimring said.
"If you're the defense, what you'd love to do is move this case to the Central Valley, but if you're the prosecution and there is a change of venue, it's going to be Los Angeles or bust," said Zimring.
If the venue motion is rejected, defense attorneys would be handed a textbook case to appeal the decision, he added.... Full Story
10. City Decides to Continue Pre-Meeting Invocation
New York Times (*requires registration)
October 2, 2009
Lodi, Calif. — When Karen Buchanan, an insurance claim worker and self-described “free thinker and atheist,” first moved to this Central California farming city three years ago, she started attending City Council meetings to find out what was going on in local politics.
What she found, though, was surprising and upsetting, she said: each meeting began with an invocation, often mentioning Jesus, sometimes asking attendees to bow their heads, and periodically sprinkling in excerpts from the Bible....
JESSE H. CHOPER, A PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, said that the 1983 Supreme Court ruling in Marsh v. Chambers found that prayer before public meetings was allowed if the prayers remained nonsectarian.
“What we do know is the use of God is not unacceptable,” Professor Choper said.... Full Story
11. Capitol Alert Blog: Who pays for the income tax cuts in blue-ribbon plan?
Sacramento Bee
October 1, 2009
Among the sticky questions regarding the tax commission's plan is how California will pay for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy.
Liberal groups charge that because half of the $15 billion income tax cut goes to top 3 percent of earners -- those making $200,000 or more -- that the burden will necessarily shift to poor and middle-income Californians. They suggest businesses will raise prices or cut wages and benefits for those groups as a way to pay for the new Business Net Receipts Tax that the commission believes will compensate for the tax reduction.
In response to that charge, Chairman Gerald Parsky emphasized Tuesday that low- and moderate-income earners would not bear the burden of offsetting tax cuts for the rich...
There are at least two potential problems with assuming out-of-state firms and the federal government will offset reduced taxes for the rich.
...A 1992 Supreme Court ruling, Quill v. North Dakota, prohibited states from requiring that out-of-state business collect sales tax without a physical presence in the state, according to a letter by nine tax experts.
Parsky and UC BERKELEY LAW DEAN CHRISTOPHER EDLEY JR. -- both lawyers -- downplayed this as a factor on Tuesday. They acknowledged that it would likely face a court challenge, but they said they believe Quill does not apply in part because the Business Net Receipts Tax is not a sales tax and that it is more akin to the current corporate tax. They also pointed to a Franchise Tax Board opinion they said defended their argument, although that letter acknowledges that a "favorable outcome is not certain" in courts.... Full Story
12. The bottom line and a baby’s death
Siskiyou Daily News
October 2, 2009
Siskiyou County, Calif. - Diane Stewart holds up a photo of the boy she loved like a son; the last picture of him she will ever take. It is of 2-year-old Craig Britton lain out in a baby blue casket, the skin around his ears and the soft curve of his cheeks a garish purple and red. Stewart manages to keep her tears at bay, but the rage at those who took the baby out of her care boils behind her quaking composure.
...In a story published in this paper shortly following the death of baby Britton on August 29, Stewart clearly suggested that the Foster Family Agency (FFA) handling Britton’s case, Environmental Alternatives, had a financial incentive to take the boy from her safe care and place him in the home where he would die....
While FFAs have clearly moved beyond their intended role, the question remains: is that a bad or good thing?
“In public foster care there is no incentive for anyone to do anything good; all the foster parents are paid the same ridiculously low rate,” says JILL DUERR BERRICK, CO-DIRECTOR OF UC BERKELEY’S CENTER FOR CHILD AND YOUTH POLICY. Because FFAs are able to leverage more money for foster parents and essentially provide a second social worker for every child in care, agencies like Environmental Alternatives have been very successful in recruiting foster parents and are thus being entrusted with more children.
Across the state this has had mixed results, according to statistics furnished by UC BERKELEY’S CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH. In Siskiyou County, where 87.4 percent of children are placed with FFAs compared to 43.9 percent of the general California foster care population, county social workers were 10 percent less likely to make their mandated monthly visits than the state on the whole. Public social workers pushed to the limits by heavy caseloads can take advantage of private social workers because there is simply not enough time in the day to see every child....
While Duerr Berrick cites research finding that foster parents working with foster agencies feel more supported, are better trained and are happier with their re-imbursement rates, she admits there is room for increased regulation of FFAs up and down the state.... Full Story
13. Bait and Switch: ICE Says Program Targets "Dangerous Criminals" but Casts Wide Net
AlterNet
October 2, 2009
Over the past several years, ICE has increased the number of partnerships with state and local police. There has also been a new emphasis on identifying “criminal aliens” who are detained in jails and prisons, and deporting them once they finish their sentences. However, many concerns have been raised about how these programs are being implemented. In fact, various reports have shown that while ICE claims they are targeting serious criminals, the majority of persons ICE identifies and deports do not actually have any serious criminal records.
A new report by the WARREN INSTITUTE ON RACE, ETHNICITY, AND DIVERSITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY documents how ICE’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) has failed to target serious criminal immigrants for deportation, and how profiling and pretextual arrests have increased as a result of CAP’s expansion....
The Warren Institute report sheds light on important themes in the immigration enforcement debate. Who is targeted for enforcement? How are they targeted? At what point in the process are they identified and turned over to ICE for deportation procedures? With 11-12 million unauthorized immigrants in the country, it makes sense for ICE to prioritize those who are threats to our communities. However, the Warren Institute report, as others before it, demonstrates that the way ICE is attempting to do it is failing. Full Story
14. A Journal's Second Thoughts
Inside Higher Ed
October 1, 2009
Caterpillars and butterflies continue to vex the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, a prestigious journal that has found itself criticized for a publishing a paper that many say makes a mockery of evolutionary biology.
While the editors have not publicly retracted the article, a scholar who played a key role in getting the article published released letters to Inside Higher Ed showing that the top editor of the journal has serious doubts about the article she backed. Further, this scholar claims (and has another letter to back her up) that her work is now being blackballed by the journal as a result.
...While a spokesman for PNAS told Inside Higher Ed last month that the editors were studying the question, there has been no retraction, nor any corrections. The author of the paper is Donald I. Williamson, a retired professor at the University of Liverpool
It turns out that the editors have very strong doubts about the piece. RANDY SCHEKMAN, A BIOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY who is editor in chief of PNAS, on September 4 wrote to Williamson -- the chief advocate for the article -- and blamed the publication of the article on the use of a special system (currently being phased out) in which National Academies members can sponsor articles and control the peer review process.
"It seems unlikely that this paper would have passed muster as a Direct Submission," he wrote, referring to the regular process, in which submissions are assigned to experts to review.... Full Story
15. Future Tech: Calling All Transhumanists
Forbes.com
October 2, 2009
Technology futurists love to talk about the Singularity as the point in time when technology starts to progress so rapidly that machine intelligence melds with and surpasses human intelligence. It is to futurists what the Rapture is to fundamentalist Christians.
Those who welcome or fear this eventuality are gathering this weekend in New York City for the fourth annual Singularity Summit. ...
ARIEL RABKIN, A THIRD YEAR PH.D. CANDIDATE AT UC BERKLEY'S COMPUTER SCIENCE PROGRAM, doubts that many technical people take the Singularity seriously. "Human-comparable AI is really hard," he says, "And we're nowhere close to achieving it." He adds, "I can tell you that nobody I work with at Berkeley or elsewhere has ever mentioned it. And just to be clear, I don't just mean, 'We don't talk about it in courses.' I mean, nobody mentions it, at all, ever. We don't think about it."... Full Story
16. The Opinion Shop Blog: 'Jobless recovery' is an oxymoron
San Francisco Chronicle
October 1, 2009
At the first of three symposia The Chronicle will host on how joblessness is affecting life in the Bay Area, our panelists Wednesday laid out a few eye-opening facts:
-- We've lost a decade of job creation, and essentially have the same number of jobs today that we had in 2000. UC BERKELEY LABOR ECONOMIST SYLVIA ALLEGRETTO estimates it will take three to four years to crank up the 1 million jobs we've lost. "And that's optimistic."...
-- If you lose your job, it creates a personal dent on your happiness and damages your brain and DNA, according to UC BERKELEY PSYCHOLOGIST DACHER KELTNER. The malaise created by joblessness isn't contagious, but it does spread out through a community. The antidote, he said, is to focus on the positive: "If you are working less, you get to cultivate personal relationships, which is a source of happiness."... Full Story