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Wednesday, 4 November 2009
1. Faculty group wants Cal to end subsidies for athletics department
USA Today
November 4, 2009
With the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA rocked by an economic crisis, a group of faculty members is calling on the school's athletics department to get its financial house in order and for the school to stop subsidizing the athletics budget.
BRIAN BARSKY, A PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, and seven other faculty members have written a resolution that calls for CHANCELLOR ROBERT J. BIRGENEAU to end the school's subsidization of athletics, draw up plan for the athletics department to pay off its debt and mandate that the department stay out of the red.
The resolution is to be discussed Thursday at a meeting of the school's academic senate.
ATHLETICS DIRECTOR SANDY BARBOUR outlined her department's financial picture Oct. 26 in a 22-page memo to the academic senate. The memo showed that the athletics department finished the 2008-09 budget year with a $5.8 million deficit, and she is projecting a $6.4 million shortfall for 2009-10. That's in spite of subsidies from the school of $7.7 million last year and a projected $6 million this year....
The state of California cut funding to the UC system, and Berkeley lost almost $150 million this year. The school is laying off faculty and staff, imposing furloughs and cutting back on new enrollment and course offerings.
With that backdrop, Barsky says continued "propping up" of the athletics department is a misplaced priority....
CHRISTOPHER KUTZ, A LAW PROFESSOR WHO IS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE, said time constraints and a possible lengthy discussion might prevent a vote from being taken on the resolution at this time. Also, the resolution could be amended or changed, Kutz said. He said, however, that there is "wide agreement" among faculty members that the subsidy coming from the school is "much too high."...
DAN MOGULOF, THE SCHOOL'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, said that although the chancellor clearly is concerned about the deficits and wants the gap closed, an immediate end to the subsidies would be "counterproductive" and would harm the athletics department and the overall experience of Cal students....
[UC BERKELEY ENGINEERING PROFESSOR ALICE AGOGINO and PUBLIC AFFAIRS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAN MOGULOF also discussed this topic on KQED Radio's California Report (link to audio)] Full Story
2. Newest Addition to Focus Center Research Program Joins 10 Universities to Tackle Multi-Scale Systems Research
AZoNano.com
November 3, 2009
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, today announced that a new center has been added to its Focus Center Research Program (FCRP) bringing together leading national universities to advance semiconductor and systems industry research.
This new center is the sixth member of the FCRP's national, multi-university network and links 10 universities collaborating on multi-scale systems research. Specifically, the new center, based at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, UNDER ENDOWED CHAIR AND PROFESSOR, JAN RABAEY, will create a comprehensive and systematic solution to the distributed multi-scale system design challenge. Its grand challenge is the development of “energy-smart” distributed systems—systems that are deeply aware of the balance between energy availability and demand, and adjust their behavior in response through dynamic and adaptive optimization through all scales of design hierarchy....
The FCRP is a cooperative initiative among members of the U.S. semiconductor industry and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) designed to expand long-range, pre-competitive, microelectronics and systems research within U.S. universities....
“Without the commitment and leadership of DARPA, this program would not have excelled as it has and we would not be in a position to launch this new center focused on multi-scale systems research,” said Rabaey. “The FCRP works so effectively because of the shared and equal dedication of government, industry and the academic community. That common sense of direction is what has led to a broad range of truly innovative solutions to hard problems over the past decade, and I am convinced it will continue to do so in the next.”...
[Another story on this topic appeared in EE Times] Full Story
3. Education: The World's Best Universities
Forbes Online
November 3, 2009
Shanghai -- Harvard's endowment may have lost 30% of its value, but the university is still on top of the world.
The school is foremost among the 500 best universities around the globe, according to the seventh annual Academic Ranking of World Universities, published by the Graduate School of Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which was released this week at an education conference in Shanghai.
To compile their rankings, researchers evaluated over 1,000 schools worldwide. Their criteria took into account major awards won by alumni and staff, the number of researchers widely cited in their fields, the number of researchers who author journal articles in Science and Nature, and the number of articles published by affiliates of a school that are recorded in the major bibliographical indexes of academic publications. A school's performance is weighted according to its size....
Since the methodology is skewed toward institutions that prioritize research and boast strong science and engineering programs, the list is dominated by tech-heavy schools. Stanford, BERKELEY, Cambridge and MIT round out the top five. Caltech, Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon also earn high marks.... Full Story
4. Op-Ed: California's higher-education debacle
Watching the decline of the California State University system from within its boardroom mirrors the erosion of the California dream.
Los Angeles Times
November 4, 2009
For nearly six years, I have served on the Board of Trustees of the California State University system -- the last two as its chairman. This experience has been more than just professional; it has been a deeply personal one. With my term ending soon, I need to share my concern -- and personal pain -- that California is on the verge of destroying the very system that once made this state great.
I came to California because of the education system....
I applied to UC BERKELEY LAW SCHOOL because it was the only top law school in the U.S. that we could afford. It turned out to be the greatest education I have ever received. And I got it because the people of California -- its leaders and its taxpayers -- were willing to invest in me....
My story is not unique. It is the story of California's rise from the 1960s to the 1990s. Millions of people stayed here and succeeded because of their California education. We benefited from the foresight of an earlier generation that recognized it had a duty to pay it forward....
So as someone who has lived the California dream, there is nothing more painful to me than to see this dream dying. It is being starved to death by a public that thinks any government service -- even public education -- is not worth paying for. And by political leaders who do not lead but instead give in to our worst, shortsighted instincts....
The solution is simple, but hard. It is what I'm doing now. Tell what is happening to every person who can hear it. Beat this drum until it can't be ignored. Shame your neighbors who think the government needs to be starved and who are happy to see Sacramento paralyzed. We have to wake up this state and get it to rediscover its greatness. Because if we don't, we will be the generation that let the promise for a great California die. Full Story
5. Philly transit strike a tough sell in down economy
Washington Post
November 3, 2009
Philadelphia -- Even in the best of times, waking up to a surprise transit strike is like a bad dream come true. When the sudden walkout comes during an economic downturn, it becomes more like a public relations nightmare.
The Philadelphia transit system's largest union went on strike early Tuesday over wage, pension and health care issues, stalling the city's bus, subway and trolley operations and forcing thousands of commuters to find other ways to get to work - and to Election Day polls....
Labor experts agree that a walkout over wages in a down economy is a hard sell. Striking transit workers may have a tough time earning the sympathy of passengers who are losing their own jobs and taking salary cuts, said HARLEY SHAIKEN, A LABOR STUDIES PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY.
"For public employees during a tough recession, it's more difficult, but not impossible, to gain broader support," Shaiken said. "The key is convincing people that your victory benefits them rather than comes at their expense."...
[This story appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide, including the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and Sacramento Bee] Full Story
6. Fed Seen Hewing to Easy - Money Course
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
November 3, 2009
Washington (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on Tuesday that is expected to end with a reaffirmation that policies to support the economy will stay in place for some time, even as signs of recovery mount....
"I don't think the recovery is clearly self-sustaining at this point," said MAURICE OBSTFELD, AN ECONOMICS PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY. "I think the Fed will be extremely sensitive to being perceived as withdrawing stimulus prematurely."... Full Story
7. State, defense lawyers try to save pot IDs
San Francisco Chronicle
November 4, 2009
Berkeley -- In a rare display of harmony, prosecution and defense lawyers urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to save California's medical marijuana identification card program from a flaw in the legislation that created it.
Both Deputy Attorney General Michael Johnsen and Gerald Uelmen, the lawyer for a man challenging his marijuana conviction, agreed that a state appeals court went too far last year when it ruled that the 2003 law protecting card-holding pot patients from arrest clashed with California law allowing medical use of marijuana....
The court said defendants who possessed greater amounts of marijuana could still try to persuade a jury that they had only what they needed for medical use. Neither side disputed that in Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing at the UC BERKELEY LAW SCHOOL.... Full Story
8. Making War on the Drug War
California Progress Report
November 4, 2009
A half generation after California began the national swing to legalizing the medical use of marijuana, the Golden State is becoming the central front in the drive to legalize, regulate and tax recreational and all other adult uses of the drug.
Last week, Tom Ammiano, the San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Assembly Public Safety Committee, held hearings on his own bill, AB 390, that would treat the commercial sale of pot more or less like the state now treats alcohol or tobacco....
ROBERT MACCOUN, A PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AT BERKELEY and one of the nation’s leading experts on drug policy, estimates, on the basis of European drug law reforms, that legalization would increase use by between 25 and 50 percent. But because the new users would be people cautious enough not to have smoked while the drug was illegal, there would be no corresponding increase in driving under the influence and other dangerous behavior. ...
But in MacCoun’s estimate, the Ammiano bill – and probably any other form of legalization – would quickly bring the federal government down on California users....
MacCoun, a pragmatist-centrist in the drug policy debates, who was not invited to testify at Ammiano hearing, points out that the Dutch, who have drawn a lot of attention to their legalization and distribution of marijuana through “coffee houses”, are now under pressure from their European neighbors to change the law. Too many residents of Belgium, France and Germany, it appears, are bringing pot back to places whose residents are not as open minded. In response, the Dutch are beginning to reduce the number of coffee houses.... Full Story
9. Women lead seismic shift in workplace
Washington Times
November 4, 2009
The glass ceiling has been shattered. Now society must pick up the pace to accommodate the needs of the changing family and workplace.
Today, half of all workers in the U.S. are women. For the first time, a woman is the primary or co-breadwinner in two-thirds of American families. More women also are single, and their collective power and shifting needs are affecting every institution in American life, according to the Shriver Report, a sweeping study by the liberal Center for American Progress, which looks at changing roles affecting workers and their families....
"We've come a long way, but not far enough," said ANN O'LEARY, the study's co-author, who is a senior fellow at CAP and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BERKELEY CENTER FOR HEALTH, ECONOMIC & FAMILY SECURITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW.
Miss O'Leary called on government and businesses to step up and help workers through updated labor standards and laws that are comprehensive enough to meet the emerging needs of both men and women.... Full Story
10. Understanding North Korea
For years, East Bay activists have been trying to influence US policy toward North Korea. Finally, Washington may be listening.
East Bay Express
November 4, 2009
As a longtime peace activist and progressive, Christine Ahn was used to being on the ideological fringe. But even she wasn't prepared to be red-baited and called a supporter of dictatorship....
When it comes to North Korea — aka the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — there's a lot the American public doesn't know. ...
..."Most people in the United States have no idea how US operations on the Korean peninsula shaped the way North Korea is right now," SAID PROFESSOR ELAINE KIM, COORDINATOR OF UC BERKELEY'S ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES DEPARTMENT. Kim noted how the American carpet bombing impacted not only the physical landscape of the North, but also the people's identity. When she visited North Korea in 1999, she noted that brush paintings sold on the street depicted the one area that had not been bombed. The entire city of Pyongyang looked like it was built in 1955. "So that means that everybody in Pyongyang can be made aware every single day, walking around, that the place was destroyed by somebody aerially," she said....
Activists like Kim, Hong, and Ahn certainly aren't unique in their advocacy for peace among Korean Americans. The Bay Area doesn't have a very large population of Koreans, especially compared to Los Angeles and New York, but that fact has perhaps allowed voices here to be particularly strong. ...
The area's proximity to UC BERKELEY has also contributed to a more open-minded atmosphere, says Korea Policy Institute's Paul Liem. In the 1990s, Berkeley students invited peers from North and South Korea to attend forums at the university. Elaine Kim, who was present during those years, said many students traveled to South Korea and were influenced by its politics. "Even if they're Christian, they don't tend to adhere to the old demonizations that used to exist," said Kim about the students. "It doesn't mean that they're not susceptible to stuff like the damsel-in-distress story — I think they probably are — but I think it's kind of easy to point out what's wrong with that story to them now, whereas before it really wasn't. If you said anything at all then rumors would fly that you were a spy and stuff like that. It was really bad in the Korean community."...
For Kim, it started in the 1960s. Until the 1980s, she said, "if you wanted to express ... any interest in North Korea, you were immediately suspected of being a spy for North Korea or something like that; it was very ridiculous." Kim said she gave a talk in the late 1960s against the normalization of relations with Japan, after which she was approached by some Korean guys who told her, "From now on, you study literature, you talk about literature." Kim responded by buying a vanity license plate that read "Juche," the North Korean ideology meaning self-reliance, which spawned a rumor that she was a North Korean spy. She said Korean students at UC Berkeley told her that they were warned by the South Korean consul general in San Francisco to not take her classes "because I was a North Korean spy."... Full Story
11. SMSes offer smart apps to basic cellphones
New Scientist
November 4, 2009
In a world of smartphones, text messaging might seem humdrum. But SMS could be used to bring internet-based services to users with basic handsets.
Umesh Chandra of the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto, California, is building a network protocol that will enable basic cellphones to connect via SMS with internet servers. He thinks it will be particularly useful in countries like India, where lots of people have cellphones but few can afford advanced models....
ERIC BREWER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, who is not affiliated with Chandra, has studied information technology infrastructure in India. He says that it would be unusual for westerners to use mobile phones for classified ads, partially because they're used to broadband and PCs with large screens.
"Developing regions are not used to that access, don't expect it and are much more comfortable using their phone for web applications that we [in the west] would find awkward on a phone," says Brewer. Full Story
12. Eye on Asia Blog: Asian B-Schools Give U.S. Programs Run for Their Money
Business Week Online
November 4, 2009
More and more Asians are looking closer to home when choosing B-school programs. Regional schools such as Indian School of Business and National University of Singapore are starting to give MBA programs at Harvard, Stanford and Wharton a run for their money. “A whole lot of schools are stepping up their game in terms of curriculum, students and faculty and new schools partnering with other business schools,” DAVID WILSON, president and CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council [GMAC] explained to me over lunch at the Four Seasons Caprice Restaurant in Hong Kong yesterday.
But that’s not the only thing tipping the scales in favor of home-grown Asian B-schools. Most Asians who study in the U.S. do so with the intention of landing jobs there after graduation, but moves by U.S. lawmakers to restrict the hiring of foreigners on H1-B visas has narrowed their options. ...
Yet Asia is likely to account for most of the growth in prospective B-school candidates for the U.S. and Europe. That’s why GMAC, which administers the GMAT exams worldwide, is looking to open an office in the region. Indeed, in 2008, 29% of the GMAT test takers were Asian, a 70% growth since 2004. ...
Over the course of lunch we discussed many of the findings from the Geographic Trend Report for GMAT Examinees published by GMAC....
When WILSON AND I weren’t reminiscing about our alma maters [we both went to Queen’s University in Canada and did graduate degrees at the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY] and how in our day all you needed to do was sharpen your Number 2 pencils and limit your alcohol consumption on the eve of taking the GMAT, we puzzled over some of the more arcane data in the report. For example, more Nepalese took the GMAT in 2008 than did Malaysians.... Full Story
13. Blog: Grading the AfPak experts
Foreign Policy Online
November 3, 2009
Now that the second round of elections has been canceled and Hamid Karzai officially declared the winner of Afghanistan's fraud-riddled ballot, it's time to assess how the AfPak Channel's experts did when they informally predicted the results of the presidential election the day before the August 20 polling in a parlor game we dubbed "The AfPak Crystal Ball."...
Our experts' accuracy on the candidates is a counterpoint to research done by a leading expert on leading experts, in which UC-BERKELEY PROFESSOR PHILIP TETLOCK found in a quarter-century long study with nearly 300 ‘experts' that their predictions barely beat out a random forecast generator. Chalk one up for the AfPak Channel's hive mind.... Full Story
14. Lessons from a nutrition conference
Monterey Herald
November 4, 2009
Here is a sampling of what I and 5,000 other registered dietitians learned at the American Dietetic Association (ADA) Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Denver last month:
• Pregnant women who are overweight have a better chance for a healthier pregnancy if they get their weight down before they get pregnant, according to current guidelines presented by Harvard professor Matthew Gillman. An easy "4 by 3" diet prescription for pregnancy was outlined by registered dietitian [PROFESSOR EMERITUS] JANET KING, PH.D, FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY: Eat these four foods — fruit, vegetables, whole grains and low fat milk products — three times a day. (And don't forget protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs and nut products.)... Full Story