University of California President Mark G. Yudof moved on two fronts today (Tuesday, Nov. 22) to address policing issues in the wake of the pepper spraying of UC Davis students and other incidents involving law enforcement officers and protesters.
Acting in response to a written request from UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, Yudof agreed to conduct a thorough review of the events of Nov. 18 on the Davis campus.
As a first step, Yudof reached out to former Los Angeles police chief William J. Bratton to undertake an independent fact-finding of the pepper spray incident and report back the results to him within 30 days.
Bratton, who also led the New York City police department, now heads the New York-based Kroll consulting company as chairman. He also is a renowned expert in progressive community policing.
“My intent,” Yudof said, “is to provide the Chancellor and the entire University of California community with an independent, unvarnished report about what happened at Davis.”
Assembly Speaker John A. Perez also had made a request to President Yudof and UC Regents Chair Sherry Lansing for an independent investigation.
Under the plan, Bratton’s report also will be presented to an advisory panel that Yudof is forming, again at Katehi’s request. The panel will consist of a cross-section of students, faculty, staff and other UC community members.
The advisory panel, whose members will be announced at a later date, will review the report and make recommendations to Chancellor Katehi on steps that should be taken to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters on campus. She will present her implementation plan to President Yudof.
On a second track, Yudof appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a system-wide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all 10 UC campuses.
This effort will include visits to campuses for discussions with students, faculty and staff, and consultation with an array of experts.
The review is expected to result in recommended best practices for policing protests across the 10 UC campuses.
“With these actions,” Yudof said, “we are moving forward to identify what needs to be done to ensure the safety of students and others who engage in non-violent protests on UC campuses. The right to peaceful protest on all of our campuses must be protected.”
You’d think he’d just ride MUNI or his BMW K1200 RS motosickle, but no, UC Hastings Dean Frank H. Wu sometimes actually walks almost five miles to get to campus just south of the Tenderloin* and just north of the Twitterloin.
“I invite you to walk with me to UC Hastings. From time to time, I walk to work. The route proceeds from the Forest Hill neighborhood, north through the Inner Sunset, enters Golden Gate Park at 9th Avenue, proceeds along the Panhandle, takes a slight detour through Alamo Square Park, continues along Golden Gate Avenue and ends at school. This route is approximately 4.6 miles. The pace is approximately 17 minutes per mile, but if faster walkers are amenable it could be increased to 15 minutes per mile.
I will be walking on Friday, September 23, beginning at 6:30 am. You may join me at the JP Murphy playground at 6:30 am; the 9th Avenue entrance to Golden Gate Park at 6:45 am; Faletti’s (at 308 Broderick Street) at 7:10-7:15 am; Alamo Square Park at 7:30-7:40 am.
If there is interest, I am open to walking from other starting points within the City. This is a social event and it is not an official activity of the College. Any walkers assume all risks and will be asked to sign an appropriate release form.
Please contact [Redacted] Please note space is limited; please provide your cell phone number when you RSVP and specify the rendezvous. Thank you.
Dean Frank H. Wu Chancellor and Dean”
Enjoy.
Former Interim Chancellor Dean Professor Leo Martinez passing the torch, from back in the day:
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*The Toughest Lawyer in Town, San Francisco’s [Vincent] Hallinan used to walk to work in the Tenderloin too, back in the day, but that was a bonus because it gave him a chance to engage in pugilistics when people tried to mug him. FYI, you’ll find this book on file at UC Hastings Legal Information Center, prolly.
“Featuring more than 100 free events, the inaugural Bay Area Science Festival will bring together an unprecedented brain trust of the region’s scientific and educational partners to produce what is expected to be one of the largest science-based events ever held in the United States.
The San Francisco Bay Area is known for its groundbreaking work in science and technology, yet many who call the Bay Area home have little opportunity to experience the wonder of science. Led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the Bay Area Science Festival is designed to inspire and build interest in science, technology and engineering among people of all ages and backgrounds.
The public will be invited to this series of events stretching from Santa Rosa to San Jose, including opportunities to experience science in action and hear about the latest scientific discoveries and culminating in a blow-out finale at AT&T Park.”
Your kids, don’t give money to them, else it’ll just go up their noses like so many times before, am I right?
So when you decide who deserves your hard-earned, start with UCSF at the top of the list why not?
Now, speak of the devil, UCSF is crowing today about all the money that people are giving them.
Check it out.
Marc Benioff talks about the reasons why he and his wife Lynne are giving $100 million to build a new children’s hospital, which is part of UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, during a conference in San Jose on June 22:
UCSF Exceeds Philanthropic Goals in Fiscal Year 2010
In the midst of ongoing economic challenges across the globe, UCSF exceeded all of its philanthropic goals for fiscal year 2010.
For every major target, the University surpassed its objectives – resulting in more than $268 million in private support. This total includes more than 28,000 individual gifts made by nearly 21,000 donors, according to Carol Moss, vice chancellor of University Development and Alumni Relations.
UCSF received a particularly special show of support from alumni, who contributed a remarkable 30 percent more than last year.
“These results signify the incredible dedication of the broader UCSF community, which continues to demonstrate its belief in the University’s mission even in the face of unprecedented adversity,” said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH.
One of the highlights of 2010 came in June, when Marc Benioff, founder, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, announced the $100 million philanthropic gift he and his wife Lynne have pledged to UCSF Children’s Hospital.
The Benioffs’ historic donation is both the largest gift the donors have ever made and the largest gift ever granted specifically to the children’s hospital. It is the fourth largest philanthropic gift in UCSF’s history.
The gift will help fund the construction of the new UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital at Mission Bay, part of a 289-bed integrated hospital complex for children, women and cancer patients scheduled to break ground this month.
In fact, philanthropic giving to the $1.5 billion Mission Bay medical center has been robust. Mark Lariat, chief executive officer of UCSF Medical Center, in September announced that the hospitals project has recently received two pledges of $25 million each. These anonymous gifts bring the total raised to $375 million – nearly two-thirds of the fundraising goal of $600 million.
UCSF is historically among the top institutions in the country – private or public – in its ability to attract significant philanthropy. Last year, UCSF’s fundraising results ranked fourth in the country among all public institutions.
For six consecutive years, revenue from private support has surpassed the revenue UCSF receives from state appropriations, making philanthropy an ever more vital piece of UCSF’s $3.3 billion budget.
And here’s the Mission Bay renderporn. Radar O’Reilly can already hear the choppers:
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Here’s what the 183-bed UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital might look like. For the record, the naming rights went for $100,000,000:
You can see it on the right here:
Bon Courage, UCSF!
All the deets:
The University of California Board of Regents today unanimously approved funding plans for the new UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay. The board’s action is the final endorsement for the project, clearing the way for UCSF to break ground on a world-class hospital complex for children, women and cancer patients in the Mission Bay neighborhood, south of downtown San Francisco.
“The Regents’ approval is a major milestone for UCSF and for our family of supporters throughout the community,” said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann. “It is hard to overstate the importance of the new medical center at Mission Bay, which will reinforce UCSF and the entire Bay Area as a hub of innovation, biotechnology and premier health care.”
After nearly a decade of planning, site preparations are underway on the 14.5-acre parcel of land. Construction of the 878,000-gross-square-foot hospital complex will begin on schedule in December 2010, shortly after required state permits are expected to be issued. Upon completion in 2014, the 289-bed facility will set a new standard for patient- and family-centered health care, safety, sustainability and translational medicine.
“Ten years ago, the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay was a dream, but we are now ready to break ground and bring this vision to reality,” said Mark R. Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “The greatest legacy of the Regents’ decision to approve this new medical center will be the thousands of patient lives that are saved or improved because of the cutting-edge medical care that will be provided in these facilities.”
A warm welcome back at MoFo, where Dean Wu worked as an associate back in the 1990′s:
Professor Leo Martinez passing the torch:
Conversing with recent grads Shin-Yu Wang and Jessica Leal at the alumni reception:
Will Frank regularly drive his BMW K1200 RS sport/touring motorcycle down from Sutro Heights to get to school, that is, when he’s not too busy writing?
The oldest and largest lawschool in the West will be getting a new leader as of July 1, 2010, when Howard University’s Frank H. Wu will become the dean at U.C. Hastings in San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin.
Frank’s no stranger to the bay area, having taught at Stanfoo and also having worked for Mofo (that’s the nickname for San Francisco’s historic white-shoe law firm Morrison and Foerster, srsly) representing tenants against landlords pro bono back in the 1990′s.
“Wu, a Michigan native, has said he changed his career plans from architecture to law as a teenager in response to the racially motivated* murder of a young Chinese American man in Detroit in 1982.”
“First, he said the curriculum should be structured to ensure graduates have real-world legal skills when they leave, such as taking depositions, negotiating deals, and reading balance sheets.
Second, students should be prepared to work in a global economy that is driven by Pacific Rim nations. “The global economy is not the future. It’s here and now,” he said. “I see us recruiting students and placing them in Seoul and Saigon.”
Additionally, Wu said the school is too reliant on state funding and he intends to launch its first capital campaign.”
Bon courage, Frank Wu.
All the deets after the jump.
*How about partially racially-motivated instead? If you kill somebody with a baseball bat in San Francisco these days and then admit it to the cops, you’re going to do some hard time, no doubt. But back in the day if you and your stepson killed somebody with a baseball bat in Detroit, Michigan, well, you might have been able to walk with probation and a $30/week restitution plan. It all had to do with a runaway judge and some county prosecutors who made a plea bargain deal and then no-showed the sentencing hearing, and later on, some feds who got caught committing prosecutorial misconduct. Why do voters support mandatory minimum sentencing and three-strikes type laws in the aughts? Because of cases like that of Vincent Chin in the 1980′s. Just saying.
[UPDATE: The answer is "apparently not" - per the first commenter.]
With all the passive voice and euphemism it’s hard to know for sure, but it seems that employees at University of California, San Francisco might soon be invited to contribute $35 each month to upgrade the communications network they use everyday. And by “invited” I mean money automatically being deducted from paychecks.
