UC, CSU relieved by budget proposals, San Diego Union Tribune
The governor's newest budget plan dropped no more bruising cuts on higher education, but there is financial pain left over for the 608,000 students attending the state's public universities.

San Jose State chooses new president, Hayward Review
The retired president of the University of Nevada, Reno, will lead San Jose State University on an interim basis when current President Robert Caret leaves this summer

CSUH to name new business and tech center, Hayward Review
The new business and technology center at California State University, Hayward, will be called the Wayne and Gladys Valley Business and Technology Center in honor of the Oakland-based philanthropic organization that pledged $5 million toward its construction.

Students face charges of civil rights violations over egging, San Luis Obispo Tribune
The District Attorney's Office has charged two college students with a civil rights violation in the egging of a gay student club booth at Cal Poly on Feb. 13.

High Schoolers Can Teach Too, Los Angeles Times
Five years ago, there were few experience-based programs for students this young, said Kris Marubayashi, co-director of CalTeach, a Sacramento-based teacher referral and recruitment program run by the California State University system. Traditionally, aspiring teachers had to wait until their junior or senior year in college before assisting in classrooms.

CSU greenlights new science building for CSUS, Turlock Journal
Science majors at California State University Stanislaus will be getting a new science building, courtesy of Prop. 47 funds - but they will have to wait until January 2007 to move in.

Cuts to CSU budget surprise no one, Turlock Journal
According to the office of the chancellor for California State University, however, the cuts coming down the pipeline aimed at education were both expected and prepared for.

2 Fresno State teams rescued -- for now, Fresno Bee
Two Fresno State athletic programs received new life Thursday as university administrators and the Valley Soccer Foundation reached an agreement allowing both teams to compete next season in a largely self-funded mode.

Regional recovery will come, but slowly, CSULB forecasters say, Press-Telegram
War, a weakening U.S. dollar, a flailing stock market, SARS and soaring home prices have failed to dampen the region's economic outlook, a pair of economists said Thursday. But the recovery won't be quick, warned Joe Magaddino, chair of the economic department at Cal State Long Beach and director of the university's Office of Economic Research.

Poly students proposing to take Disney to San Francisco, San Luis Obispo Tribune
Some Cal Poly students are finalists in an international Disney contest with their design for a music-themed entertainment complex in San Francisco.

Regents Wary of Bid on Job, Los Angeles Times
University of California regents voiced concern Thursday over the university's ability to compete effectively in a future bidding process to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

UC Regents Reenter Racial Politics War, Los Angeles Times
Stepping once again into the charged arena of racial politics, University of California regents voted Thursday to formally oppose a state ballot measure sponsored by regent Ward Connerly that would stop the state from collecting most kinds of racial data.

UC told it must bid to keep lab contract, San Francisco Chronicle
Even if the University of California greatly improves its management of Los Alamos National Laboratory, it must still compete to keep its job after its current contract runs out in September 2005, a top Bush administration official declared Thursday.

Regents slam race initiative, San Francisco Chronicle
Jumping headfirst into the highly charged arena of race politics, the University of California's Board of Regents voted overwhelmingly Thursday to oppose a ballot measure backed by fellow Regent Ward Connerly to prohibit the state from classifying people by race or ethnicity.

Biolab only on campus, UCD is told, Sacramento Bee
UC Davis cannot build a proposed high-security infectious-diseases laboratory at any location other than its main campus if it is awarded federal funds to construct the project.

Davis won't seize wealthy schools' taxes, San Jose Mercury-News
California's wealthiest public schools won a major concession in the state budget revision Wednesday when Gov. Gray Davis dropped his plan to seize $126.2 million in local property taxes from those districts

Scores of Teachers Statewide Receive Layoff Notices, Los Angeles Times
Several thousand teachers across California received layoff notices Thursday from financially strapped school districts seeking to cut red ink. As many as 3,000 pink slips, and perhaps more, were handed out by school systems in Orange County, Pasadena, Oceanside, Sacramento, San Francisco and elsewhere.

The New Hot Colleges: Those That Discount, Wall St. Journal
As high-school seniors finalize their choices, it's already clear that more families than usual are choosing colleges with their wallets in mind.

Nebraska Chancellor, Who Put His Job on the Line, Wins Vote of Support From Faculty, Chronicle of Higher Education
An overwhelming majority of professors at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln support the way the university's administration is dealing with big budget cuts and think that the chancellor should keep his job, according to the results of a referendum announced on Thursday. The chancellor had promised to resign if the vote went the other way.

AAUP Report Says U. of South Florida Violated the Academic Rights of Professor Accused of Terrorism, Chronicle of Higher Education
The University of South Florida violated Sami Al-Arian's academic rights when it suspended and later fired the professor without giving him an opportunity to respond to the university's charges against him, the American Association of University Professors concludes in a report released on Thursday.

CalPERS rejects regional pricing of health care, Hayward Review
The board of the state system providing health and retirement benefits to more than 1.2 million public employees voted Wednesday against making its Northern California members pay higher health care premiums than those in the southern part of the state.

Editorial: Writing Real Good, Los Angeles Times
High school English teachers just don't get it no more. College instructors who teach freshman English composition think grammar is the most important writing skill for students to have, a national survey found, but high school English teachers put it in last place,

Opinion: Hey, Thumb-Twiddlers in the Legislature: It's the Budget, Stupid!, Los Angeles Times
OK, can we get moving now? The Legislature, that is. Get moving toward a budget solution. Seriously and without detours.

Editorial: Bitter, but a new start, Los Angeles Times
The revised budget Gov. Gray Davis presented to the Legislature on Wednesday is a distasteful brew of tax increases, deep program cuts and odious debt rollover. With the state backed into a corner by banks and investors, it may also be California's last chance.

Editorial: Contracts, California-Style, Wall St. Journal
Governor Gray Davis is a busy man. Not only did he propose to hit beleaguered Californians with another $8.3 billion in proposed taxes this week, he also managed to send the message that companies should think twice before doing business in his state.

Opinion: An Unfair Grade for Vouchers, Wall St. Journal
Although the research supporting school-voucher programs has greater breadth and depth than research on almost any other education policy, opponents of choice continue to chant their mantra that the results are mixed and inconclusive.

Editorial: Governor plugs the holes, for now, San Francisco Chronicle
A BINGE of borrowing and higher taxes are the shaky foundations of Gov. Gray Davis' latest budget package. It gets the job done for this year and next, but what happens beyond is anyone's guess.

Editorial: In full retreat, Sacramento Bee
Davis waves white flag on budget realism

Dan Walters: Will Davis ever learn why he's the most unpopular governor?, Sacramento Bee
Does Gray Davis ever lie awake at night wondering why he's the most disliked and mistrusted California governor in recorded history and is facing a potential recall election?

Editorial: Don't delay UC Merced for quick savings, Modesto Bee
Shifting the opening date of the University of California at Merced, as a Senate budget subcommittee considered this week, is not a strategic way to chip at a $38 billion state budget deficit.

Editorial: SARS strategy sours, Contra Costa Times
UC-BERKELEY'S ATTEMPT to prevent an outbreak of SARS is not the reasonable policy one would expect from an institution of the university's caliber.

 

Davis' bond program questioned, San Gabriel Valley Tribune/AP
A New York City bond program, the model for Gov. Gray Davis' plan to finance part of the state's budget deficit, has been overtaken by the city's recent financial problems and may require the sale of new bonds to pay off the old ones.

Davis says tax increase key to lowering state deficit, San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gray Davis paints a dire picture of what will happen if the Legislature fails to approve his budget plan quickly, including his proposal for a temporary half-percentage point increase in the state sales tax.

Lenders support budget, Sacramento Bee
The lenders and Wall Street analysts who will play a key role in helping fill California's giant deficit called the governor's newly revised budget plan credible, but warned it lacks insurance that the state won't burrow deeper into a budget hole in future years.