Past Chair, UC's Academic Senate Committee for Planning and Budget
Professor of American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and past Chair of the UC's Academic Senate Committee for Planning and Budget; author of Ivy and Industry: Business and the Making of the American University, 1880-1980 and Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class
Is College Really Worth the Price of Admission? As senior year begins, high school students already are trying to decide what college they want to get into. Both they and their parents are wondering if higher education will mean a lifetime of debt. College tuition is going up faster than medical costs and outstanding student loans have surpassed total credit-card debt. But regardless of what parents have been led to believe, they may be borrowing more than they need to, especially to get to the "right" college. Do big-name schools provide the biggest bang for the buck in teaching or in getting that first job? Once they're in, do students use the available resources? Do colleges have to be so expensive? Will too much debt spoil the benefits of higher education?
UC Regents Decide on Fee Increase amid Protests On the campus of UCLA today, a committee of the UC Board of Regents approved a 32% increase in student fees. Fourteen protesters were arrested and removed from the committee room while scores of others chanted outside the building. The full Board of Regents is expected to approve the fee increases tomorrow. Meantime, the Cal State University system has seen a 53% increase in applicants over last year, the same time that staff is being cut and fewer courses are being offered---all to save money.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.