This post was updated Oct. 22 at 1:53 p.m. College admission policies have always been shrouded in secrecy. Transparency, however, might eventually become the new norm. Thanks to a lawsuit filed by opponents of affirmative action, Harvard University will soon be forced to reveal the inner workings of its admissions regime, especially as it relates […]
Author Archives: William Bleveans
UC’s overly ambitious energy plan serves political needs, not students
Economists of all stripes are fond of saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Where the University of California’s renewable energy goals are concerned, this old adage is 100 percent correct. One hundred percent, incidentally, is the stated goal of the UC’s newest energy conservation initiative. As David Phillips, the UC Office […]
Want to Fund the UC? Start by focusing on administrative bloat
For Fund the UC’s supporters, the proposition that California should increase state aid to higher education seems wholly self-evident. But it appears that an increasingly large segment of the state’s political class is willing to do just the reverse. For the most part, critics of the UC system are not motivated by a simple distrust […]
William Bleveans: Students’ gender-specific subletting advertisements violate fair housing acts
Although Facebook, Inc., has received its fair share of scrutiny recently, the behavior of UCLA students on the platform demands attention as well. Around the end of every school year, dozens of UCLA students post in a Facebook page titled “UCLA Sublets/Apartments” to sublease their apartments to their peers staying in Westwood for the summer. […]
William Bleveans: Bella Martin’s USAC victory should be revoked to uphold election code
Unfortunately for politics-weary students, the high drama that characterized last week’s student government elections is unlikely to abate anytime soon. The results of this year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council elections left many students in disbelief. Bella Martin, a candidate for general representative, won a council seat despite revelations that she had committed a serious violation […]
William Bleveans: USAC Election Board’s sanctions are misdirected, arbitrary
Although sanctions against rogue regimes like Russia and North Korea regularly command our attention, the sanctions imposed by our student government officials deserve scrutiny as well. Each election season, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Election Board is tasked with imposing sanctions on candidates who violate various provisions of the election code. Candidates can be sanctioned […]
William Bleveans: Crowded USAC election field likely to contribute to debased discourse
This year’s crowded field of undergraduate student government candidates may put the 17-strong field of 2016’s Republican presidential primary to shame. Eight candidates are running for Undergraduate Students Association Council president this year: five as independents, one from an established campus political slate and two from untested slates. Four candidates are running for external vice […]