UCLA officials have spent millions of dollars on luxurious travel and entertainment expenses from 2008 to mid-2012, the Center for Investigative Reporting reported Thursday.
Records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting through the California Public Records Act documented about $2 million in spending by UCLA academic deans and other officials on business-class plane tickets, chauffeured rides to the airport, hotel stays among other expenses.
The center reported that UCLA officials have been taking advantage of a loophole in a travel policy that prohibits officials from flying first- or business-class on the university’s tab without a medical excuse.
Six of UCLA’s 17 academic deans regularly submitted doctors’ notes that allow them to purchase first- and business-class tickets on UCLA’s dime, the CIR reported. UCLA spent $486,000 on those six deans alone from 2008 to mid-2012.
Of that money, officials could have saved UCLA at least $234,000 if the deans had flown economy-class, according to the article.
For example, Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, spent $647,000 on expenses including travel and lodging during that time, more than any other chancellor or dean at UCLA and more than her counterpart at the UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, according to the story. Chancellor Gene Block spent about $40,000 for car service in that same time period.
According to a statement from the university, Olian raised $118 million for UCLA in the period examined by the CIR. The statement said that the travel expenses accrued by UCLA deans “was consistent with that of deans at most of our peer institutions, though UCLA has seen a more significant return on its investment than many of those other universities.”
The statement said that, “Although the article (by the Center for Investigative Reporting) criticizes UCLA for spending $2 million in travel over a four-year period from 2008 to 2012, it neglects to point out that UCLA generated more than $2 billion in gifts during that same period and received nearly $1 billion annually in research funding.”
Here are some of the travel expenses described in university documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting:
-
A $842.49 limousine ride in 2008 between Los Angeles and San Diego for Dean Judy Olian to attend a donor’s 80th birthday. The university spent $233.82 on a pair of engraved cufflinks as an “appreciation gift” to the donor.
-
$12,083.60 in travel expenses for weeklong trip by Olian with numerous stops in Asia and Washington, D.C. The reason listed for the expenses was “donor relations.”
-
Chancellor Gene Block spent two nights at the The Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena for $545.04. The hotel is less than 30 miles from UCLA. University policy states that employees should not expense hotels within 40 miles of campus.
-
Dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television Teri Schwartz expensed more than $1,000 for a four night stay at the Westin Hotel in Long Beach. The hotel is just more than 30 miles from campus.
Compiled by Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.
WOW this is ridiculous!!! At a time when students cannot afford a UCLA education, our head admin folks are wasting money??? SMH
Ridiculous, really? Did you miss the part about the $3 BILLION in funding for the school they secured during this same time period? I applaud your efforts and encourage Dean Olian to continue her whirlwind efforts across the globe in “business class.”
I don’t know whether you’re being sarcastic or not but regardless of whether it’s $3 BILLION or MORE, to spend that much money looks bad amongst thousands and thousands of students struggling with loans and paying for college. You can go ahead and encourage (are you serious?) for unnecessary expenses with that funding because that seems to be on the education priority list.
What Block, Schwartz & Olian have all done is no different than an employee falsifying their timecard, or an employee stealing or trying to cover up their intention to steal. What do you suppose would happen to that employee? The same thing that should happen to these band of thieves! Schwartz is up for renewal and she needs to GO! Her dog continues to be dropped off (I believe she travels to Telluride the end of this month, that hotel already paid in full cost $1,500.00!!) and it is disgusting that she sees herself as some hot shot who is to cheap to pay $10.00 for her dog! I’m sure there are more lies in her expense report because like Olian she is a bully and people fear bullies especially when the university backs them at any cost! Also they know bullying their employees intimates them so even the TFT Administration turns the other cheek because some have are stealing time from the university and have attendance issues! The chickens have come home to roost and it’s time for them to GO! Buh-bye!
It is unfortunate that Mr. Tamberg does not understand that his response to the investigation of the travel expenses of the Dean of the Anderson School of Business by The Center For Investigative Reporting (CIR), vetted by the administration whom he reports to, disrespects the intelligence of any reasonable person. His response implies that the total $118 million raised in the time period scrutinized by the CIR, is justified because the total dollar amount can only have been accomplished by extravagant spending, for a well paid public employee, funded by the students Anderson serves (via their tuition) and the donors who have been successfully solicited, for travel, including limousine transportation to LAX, which is 14 miles from the UCLA campus. I would imagine that the same justification would have been given, if the $600.00 paid for make-up and hairstyling for the Dean prior to media events, would have been reported by the CIR. The response that “it is also unfortunate that the article focuses exclusively on UCLA without providing suitable context or appropriate comparisons”, is sophomoric and lame because it essentially communicates, “well what about the other guys- they’re doing it too.” What will beget further public investigation and student enquiry, is the lack of leadership and accountability of well paid, publicly employed administrators, including the Dean, who have chosen to be absent/silent in response to the CIR report, choosing instead to direct publicly paid underlings, such as Mr. Tamberg, to justify their decisions.
I think you’re missing a zero from your hair & mackup figure. You have to look good when you’re a celebrity in Hollywood, after all.
She and the other deans make nearly or over $500,000. And that makes this even more disgusting
Not to mention, Dean Olian has personally approved the laying off of valuable employees over the past year in the name of “budget cuts”. People’s lives were ruined when they lost their jobs and their pensions. Imagine all the jobs she could have saved if she would just do her own hair and makeup and drive the airport like a normal human being! Or perhaps she could bike to the airport…
Bravo Kristen Taketa. Thank you for making this information known via The Daily Bruin. I sincerely hope the student body responds accordingly to this alarming and disturbing information.
The article by the Center for Investigative Reporting called into question the travel expenses of some campus leaders. Although UCLA made every effort to convey its side of the story to the reporter, some important points were omitted from the article.
Although the article criticizes UCLA for spending $2 million in travel over a four-year period from 2008 to 2012, it neglects to point out that UCLA generated more than $2 billion in gifts during that same period and received nearly $1 billion annually in research funding. This is due in large part to travel by our campus leaders, which allows them to cultivate relationships and engage colleagues, donors and alumni around the globe to enhance research opportunities, recruit faculty and raise money. At a top-flight university with 17 deans and executive leadership managing partnerships and interests all across the world, $2 million in travel spending over a four-year period equates to less than $28,000 each year for each of those campus leaders.
Travel by UCLA leadership was consistent with that of deans at most of our peer institutions, though UCLA has seen a more significant return on its investment than many of those other universities. In fact, UCLA’s stature in respected global university rankings rose even as state support declined dramatically.
UCLA routinely ranks among the top universities nationally in higher-education fundraising. In its 2011 survey of contributions to the nation’s colleges and universities, the Council for Aid to Education ranked UCLA No. 1 for fundraising among public universities and eighth overall.
For example, the dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management managed to raise $118 million in the time period CIR scrutinized — another fact we shared with CIR reporters that they chose to leave out of the article. While much is made of the UCLA Anderson dean’s travel expenses, the article never made clear that such costs represent less than 0.2 percent of the funds she raised, and there was barely a mention of the fact that no taxpayer funds are used for travel or entertainment at UCLA Anderson.
As a public university, UCLA has stringent travel policies that allow for certain accommodations, such as business-class travel, with documentation from licensed physicians. This pertains to anyone with a medical directive.
It is also unfortunate that the article focuses exclusively on UCLA without providing suitable context or appropriate comparisons. CIR only mentioned the travel expenses of the dean at UC Berkeley’s business school. The article neglects to point out, however, that UCLA Anderson competes with the leading business schools in the world, most of which are private, for faculty and students. No other comparisons were mentioned for UCLA as a whole or for any of its other programs.
The university’s travel policy encourages all employees to seek reasonably priced accommodations, meals and transportation whenever practically possible. While today’s times demand financial prudence, UCLA must make investments in travel and related activities in order to sustain and further elevate the university’s reputation as one of the world’s top research institutions.
1. Please refer the public to the data regarding the $118 million raised. I doubt the accuracy of this figure.
2. The Anderson’s dean’s spending is almost surely fraudulent. A court of law can determine whether the alleged medical excuse is valid.
3. The dean’s spending is WAY out of line with spending by other deans at UCLA and throughout UC, including the dean of Berkeley’s business school, who raised more money than she did but spend 1/6 on travel
Somebody needs to investigate. The Chancellor’s hands aren’t clean. How about the Auditor?
By the “fundraising-to-travel expenses” ratio, Dean Olian is seriously underperforming: $118,000,000 in gifts over $647,000 in travel and lodging = $182 return per dollar spent. Obviously some deans are pulling their weight to make the University average at 1000/1 ROI (if we can believe UCLA Media Relations). I’d bet those Deans are probably the ones not faking doctor’s notes.
Get to the point. Is it not unethical to get a fake medical directive to fly first class when UCLA’s travel policy expressly prohibits it?
And what do you mean when you say taxpayer funds are not used? Taxpayer funds subsidizes our school fees. The rest students make up. The dean is basically taking taxpayer funds and having students make it up in tuition.
Come on how can u make such ridiculous statements. Yes billions come in from research in the biomed department and pattons but look at Teri Schwartz Dean of TFT she has not brought in one dime into the school coffers. Nor has the Chair of the Theater Department but then again he is not expected to. Monies that came into the school in the last several years came from special initiatives that the former FTV chair put together . I know because I was one of the students who benefitted from one of them several years ago. There is much doubt that the current Chair can bring such monies in let alone any Initiatives. How did he get the position as Chair anyway?
Are not the Chairs appointed by deans? In order to do the bidding of the Deans?
According to the article, these Deans committed fraud — through falsifying invoices and doctor’s notes — in order to obtain thousands of dollars in goodies from a public institution. Whether they raised $200 or $2 billion, that’s still a crime that needs investigation. If you think that’s okay as long as they raised lots of cash, you need to work for Goldman Sachs, not a public institution of higher education. The University, instead of back-peddling with lame excuses, should be doing a full investigation. The fact that they’re apparently not is evidence that the fix is in.
As for the School of Theater, Film & TV, I can guarantee you Dean Schwartz hasn’t raised a dime. In fact, what the Media Office’s statement fails to mention is that most of that $2 billion was raised by Deans who didn’t pillage the Travel Office for all they could get their hands on. Most of it was raised by the Medical Center, whose Dean spent a tenth of what these two larcenous broads (Schwartz & Olian) made off with.
If the University refused to investigate and hold them accountable, the Governor needs to do something. Immediately.
This is absolutely true. The UCLA Media Relations statement conveniently fails to mention Dean Teri Schwartz because she has spent crazy amounts of money without bringing any revenue into the School of Theater, Film and TV. TFT students should be storming the castle right now. How can student just take this??
The question also is how can the TFT faculty take this? Did they drink the kool aid that was handed down to them by their Chairs? students are supposed to look up to the faculty. Why are they so silent in this matter? Are they afraid they won’t be promoted or have their sabbatical approved?
Most of the TFT faculty fear Teri Schwartz. Schwartz is a bully and bully’s are also cowards. On many occasion Schwartz has berated a faculty or staff member in front of others, whether it be in a meeting or at an event. Schwartz & other deans have opened up UCLA’s wallet and helped themselves to what they are not entitled to while they stash away their hefty salaries. Other than financially run the school into the ground and bleeding it dry, what else does Schwartz have to show for the last four years? Faculty need to use their power to vote her out if they are part of the committee that decides her fate. The chickens have come home to roost and they’ve all bought this on themselves and now it’s time for an investigation which should include reimbursing the university.
The Chairs know more than they are letting on. After all with Dean Schwartz she put those Chairs in office probably gave them hearty salaries so they would spin her fraudulent behavior to their faculty . Time for the Chairs to come clean too.
Lancelot is right. The reason those chairs are chairs is because they have gone along with and become very much like Schwarz. Poor leadership begets poor leadership. A close examination of the departmental budgets would be very illuminating about the incompetence at the departmental level too, which goes unnoticed by the self-obsessed Dean.
If what these Deans did with their travel reports is indeed fraud what other fraudulent acts have they committed? An investigation needs to be done and not by UCLA. With how they are reacting to this report shows how they have lost the integrity that academics are known for. CIR reporters should go further in their investigations. At least they are honest.
I work in an office at UCLA, and I can tell you that the amount of money UCLA is willing to spend to entice donors is ridiculous. Up to $78 PER PERSON in breakfast expenses, and almost $200 PER PERSON in dinner expenses can be approved at donor events. This is money that comes out of undergraduates’ pockets.
In addition, the cuff links mentioned in the article are a blatant violation of UCLA policy, which expressly forbids public fund usage for gifts.
@uclamediarelations:disqus, I am appalled at the poor logic you use to try to defend UCLA. The “return on investment” you value so much neglects the fact that thousands of dollars (coming from taxpayers and students, who you SHOULD be serving) are needlessly spent when these thousands of dollars SHOULD be going to fulfilling a university’s duty (hint, it’s educating students).
If you really believe that this spending is justifiable, then don’t call yourself a representative of UCLA. You sound like you’re representing a corporation, not an institution of education.
As a student, as a full-time worker, and as a California resident, I am ashamed of UCLA business practice.
UCLA MEDIA RELATIONS IS ABOUT TO SPIN THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THIS!!!!!!! READ on and remember their spin is calculated and persistant as you will see below. For real local coverage with no UCLA bs spin, goto:
http://www.uclawestwood.com
I actually disagree with you guys and I am not really upset with these expenditures. First of all, they are right, these costs are consistent with other major universities. Second of all, these are career professionals. We can’t expect to send them around LA in cabs and to stay in Motel 6 and sit in economy between two fat people to go to China every month…..
These are the leaders of the university. They make the wheels turn. We need to take care of them handsomely. I think it doesn’t take a reminder that they are highly educated, experienced, and get jobs elsewhere. If the public university system wants to keep up with rich privates we need to get out there and get more money, not complain about spending this chump change. These officials need to go out and draw funding. How does it look when the show up late to meetings getting out of a yellow cab and serving cheap lunches and cheap gifts to rich businessmen who want to donate millions of dollars to the university. Get real. The world isn’t as pretty as you’d like it to be.
The UCLA Media Relations statement conveniently fails to mention Dean Teri Schwartz because she has spent crazy amounts of money without bringing any revenue into the School of Theater, Film and TV. TFT students should be storming the castle right now. How can student just take this??
But… but… how is this possible when these same leaders have been so great before now? Does this mean there’s something wrong with the fact that, since 2002, tuition and the number of administrators has more than tripled in the UC? Or that administrators now outnumber teachers at this supposedly educational institution?
Regardless, though they wasted millions on travel expenses in a budget crisis, I’m sure it’s not a waste that they’re spending 150 million bucks right now to build a freaking hotel on campus. Directly next to the bball courts they just remodeled for another 100 million last year.
I am a University employee and I am grateful for the work that our Deans are doing. The expense does not bother me. If you are spending $1 and raising $1,000, you are doing an amazing job and you are adding amazing value to the University. These people are extraordinarily accomplished and are serving the University at considerable personal sacrifice (they could, for instance, command much higher salaries in the private sector by working half as hard). Why is everybody up in arms because they fly business class? Private sector employees who work nowhere near as hard and contribute far less to society fly business. The suggestion that our Deans should bike to the airport is ludicrous.
Reality Check fails to acknowledge the reality that what has brought and is currently bringing “amazing value to the University” are the contributions of past and current faculty, current students and alumni of UCLA. It is and has been, their contributions to the world, that have made UCLA an educational institution that is successful in the recruitment of gifted faculty, gifted students and monetary resources.
According to the figures, it looks like Dean Olian is falling waaaayyyy short of a 1000/1 ROI. $118,000,000 raised and $647,000 in expenses during the period of the CIR report (according to UCLA Media Relations) gives us $182 for every dollar spent.
Of course, it’s possible the $647,000 includes expenses for non donor-related purposes, but considering how much more she spent than Berkeley’s dean, and how hair, makeup, and first-class flights could hardly be considered an “investment,” you’ll have to forgive me for questioning her accomplishments. Perhaps a performance review is in order.
I doubt you are referring to Teri Schwartz because she’s raised ZERO. TFT is bleeding out! I’ve worked at a private university and this sort of greed was not tolerated! Local conferences were allowed BUT if you choose to stay overnight, it was on YOUR dime, not the university’s! No one is seriously suggesting they bike to the airport, but a taxi would be a better way to go.
The CIR report also spoke about the blatant miss spending of Dean Schwartz with first class air and hotels and limos and town cars . Read the report and u will see for yourself this misuse of funds ! Tax payer funds I might add. And unlike Olian she has not brought money to the school. Shame on her when the cost of education is so high.
@Reality Check: I
work at UCLA, too, for a Chair who has raised over $13 million in 2 years
without indulging in any of the extravagances that Deans Olian and Schwarz
have. He travels all the time (always coach), drives himself to the
airport, and follows the campus policies for allowable maximums. He’s just one of many campus leaders who
raise money ethically. Trying to justify Dean Olian’s and Dean Schwarz’s
extravagances by saying they’ve brought in money is like hearing a well-paid bartender
say that, because he brings in customers, it’s okay for him to steal alcohol
from the bar. Deans are expected to
raise funds; it’s part of the job, and they’re paid handsomely for it. Dean Olian’s salary is listed at $509,000,
and that doesn’t count any summer ninths she receives. Since most Deans and Chairs receive a couple
of ninths per year, we can safely guess that she gets an additional $110,000 on
top of that. With a salary of over
$600,000, there is simply no justification for using university funds to pay
for personal luxuries and upgrades. As
for Dean Schwarz, she has raised virtually nothing and, in fact, has spent down
the generous discretionary fund left to her by the previous Dean (who, by the
way, raised that money without spending university money on personal
extravagances). At this point, the only
acceptable response from the university is immediate dismissal of Dean Schwarz,
along with a thorough examination of other troubling issues at TFT.
The analogy with stealing is inappropriate. UCLA Anderson chooses to invest some of its money to raise funds, and it works. How is that unethical? Who are we to question their investment decisions? The statement from the University clearly indicates: “no taxpayer funds are used for travel or entertainment at UCLA Anderson.” Any law partner at a large firm makes as much money, flies business class, and lavishly entertains prospective clients. Is that unethical? Is that stealing? I find the double standard in judging law partners and university leaders untenable.
Right. No taxpayer money is used. Only tuition and donor funds. Tuition’s gone up 70% in the past 3 years, the campus’s own rules are being violated right and left, the money’s being spent on donor gifts and doggie limo rides and you’re okay with this as long as some of it’s going to benefit the business school? Wow. I hope that’s not the kind of ethics they teach at Anderson.
This logic is flawed. Tuition has gone up because State support has declined. Not because Anderson invests some of its money on donor relations. Again, the return is $1,000 for every $1 spent, so this is a benefit to the University, not a drain.
I don’t know what they teach at Anderson. I have no connection to them.
What you are really exposing is that some of the “rules” make absolutely no sense. Of course it’s to the University’s benefit if a Dean can spend two additional hours with donors in Pasadena instead of spending those two hours stuck in traffic. But someone decided that was unacceptable. The Dean is breaking a stupid rule! Outrage!
Just out of curiousity, which rules don’t make sense? The ones that require people making half a million bucks a year to upgrade with their own $$/frequent flyer miles? The ones that forbid employees from using tuition/donor money to transport their pets to kennels? The ones that keep these hoodlums from spending student money on four star hotels 20 minutes from campus? Do tell us “Reality Check”. And then go shove your head back up the a$$ of the high-paid UCLA Administrator you work for!
NAILED it, Angry Employee.
The traffic to and from Pasadena is the same no matter if she’s personally driving or taking a limo.
your logic is flawed. no one’s arguing we shouldn’t spend money on donor relations. no one has a problem with buying donors presents. the problem is when deans spend school money to buy luxuries for themselves!
will flying first class make a donor feel honored? perhaps if you were accompanying them on a flight, which certainly doesn’t seem the case here. how about taking your dog on a limo ride to the kennel? exactly how does that bring in money for the school?
we’re SUPPOSED to get significant returns from donors – that’s kind of the point. and there are rules in place to ensure these donations go to our school and not into the pockets of certain deans.
Taxpayer funds does not necessarily mean student tuition/professional fee funds, so that argument doesn’t work. So you’re okay with Dean Olian spending university funds ($600 worth) on her hair and nails? With justifying first-class (not just business class) tickets due to a medical condition, when she participates in triathlons? Do you really see those as ‘investments’ rather than over-the-top luxuries? Also, are you seriously saying she’s doing this at ‘considerable personal sacrifice’, when she makes over $600k per year plus all those crazy perks? We should all have to endure such ‘sacrifices.’
Yes, it is a sacrifice if she can command a multi-million dollar salary elsewhere by working half as hard. When you reach that level of accomplishment, will you take the 40h/week job that compensates you millions, or will you take the 80h/week job that compensates you a fraction of that? And will you be flying coach? I fly coach, and I look around me, and I don’t see the future you in this part of the plane.
I gave up a high paying job so I could work at a university, where the mission and culture are much more meaningful. I would hardly call it a “sacrifice.” It’s a choice, and one that Judy Olian has made, too. Nobody forced her to work at an institution that has policies she’s required to follow. And yes, I’ll upgrade to first-class when and if I can afford it; I won’t ask for my state- and tuition-funded job to pay for it by submitting a phony medical justification, especially if I’m pulling in a $600k salary. There are many campus leaders who’ve raised millions without using the money on personal luxuries for themselves.
UCLA is a public school. We are to question their investment decisions. And flying first class using school money is expressly prohibited. She clearly lied. That is unethical.
If she wants to fly first class, she can upgrade using her own money, not the school’s.
EXACTLY! If you want to treat yourself to Business Class then take part of your $300K salary and pay for the upgrade! Talk about cheap and greedy!!
When the university says that the Deans have raised nearly $1 billion annually in research funds, doesn’t this actually refer to funds obtained either through research proposals created by university researchers or through university-private entity partnerships through the Office of Intellectual Property? (http://www.ucla.edu/research/) In what way are deans involved in those funding applications or decisions? That is, how does first-class travel and lodging for Deans contribute to the likelihood of researchers getting funded? Quite a strange argument by the university.
Excellent point. Fundraising can be done just as effectively when one flies coach.
One day they’ll wonder how they could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.
https://sites.google.com/site/thewestwoodvillagepress/
Whenever “Media Relations” gets involved you know there is a lot more fire than smoke. But, of course no matter how unethical or even illegal the behavior of “Campus Leaders” may prove to be, they’ll still get their bonus.
Please sign this petition, started by UCLA students, demanding that UCLA Deans be held accountable for spending our rising tuition fees on luxury air travel, laundry, dog kennel services, limos, five star hotels, etc. It’s time we take a stand!
http://www.change.org/petitions/ucla-dean-travel-scandal
The report only went to 2011. Find out how much was spent on travel for Dean Schwartz in 2013 and how much was spent for her and Chair Hacket and Chair McDonald to travel to Las Vegas to see Cirque De Soleil . For what? A $5000 award to a theater student? No one complained about that trip now did they?
Please sign the petition and be heard! Teri Schwartz is out of control and has been for a very, very long time. TFT Administrators have tried to bring to Schwartz’s attention problems with her travel expenses but the woman doesn’t want to be bothered.
am I the only person who notices that TFT’s director development’s job is posted now? Has the director gone missing since this article was posted???
University’s argument that it’s OK because of Dean Olian’s fund-raising performance doesn’t make sense. Rules are rules. Fund-raising is part of her job and she gets half a million annual salary already. If her medical condition was legit she would’ve disclosed it already. Berkeley dean spent 1/6 of her expenses all the while Haas’ ranking kept going up and Anderson’s stagnated.
Reality Check also fails to acknowledge the real transgressions, which unfortunately are not limited to the Deans flying “business class.” They include egregious expenses like taking dogs to kennels in a limo; having hair and nails done for $600 at the University’s expense, staying at the most expensive hotels, and flying FIRST class — not business — to events that are totally unnecessary and fruitless (see TFT Dean’s schedule). If the only issue were business class flights, this would not have made the news. Do your homework, RC.
And the amazing thing is the spending is still taking place in TFT. Dean Schwartz continues to spend the money and operates her school with intimidation and fear. And does not bring in money . In fact donors have said they have stopped giving money because of this. Students returning to school stand up and let your voices be heard . Don’t let our tuition and professional fees go for Schwartz limos do her dog
It will keep happening until someone stops it. that’s why the petition exists. at least the vice chancellor will have to pay attention if that goes to him. but you have to wonder. is anyone paying attention now? ??? even after all this has been exposed?