UC Merced Hopes to Admit First Class in ’05
Daily Bruin
May 11
While the University of California waits on new budget revisions to see if it will have to cut outreach or raise student fees, UC Merced is waiting to see if it will even be able to open its doors.
After its opening was delayed by a year due to the last state budget, UC Merced is counting on the $20 million promised to it in January so it can open to undergraduates in 2005. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger provides the funds in his May revise, which is due out tomorrow, Merced will be one step closer to opening.
“I would be very surprised if the governor backed off on the funding he’s providing to Merced,” said Steve Boilard, director of higher education for the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
UC Merced, the 10th UC campus, was originally set to open in 2005, but the UC Board of Regents moved the date up to 2004 to accommodate an expected surge in UC enrollment. However, cuts made by former Gov. Gray Davis moved the opening back to 2005, derailing the plans of Merced administrators who had been preparing prospective students for an earlier date.
In January, Merced requested $30 million in funds from the state, and Schwarzenegger, though he proposed clipping $372 million from the UC’s budget, provided $20 million.
New Low-carb, High-protein Corn May Help Lower World Hunger
The Highlander
May 11
Thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation and California Agricultural Experiment Station, researchers at UC Riverside have developed a new strain of corn.
Biochemist Daniel Gallie and his colleagues discovered the genetic construction of this new type of corn. The corn is the product of Gallie’s seven years of research; it is low in carbohydrates and has double the protein content of normal corn, radically increasing its nutritional value.
“There has always been an interest in improving grain quality,” Gallie said. “The most important food is cereal that feeds the world.”
Gallie said that cereal grains are important staples of the world food supply. They are used for animal feed, production of oil, protein, starch and feeding the majority of the population. The amount of oil, protein or starch content has been doubled in Gallie’s corn, which improves the nutrition value.
“This type of corn provides people who rely on non-meat food with a better way to obtain protein,” Gallie said.
Intruders Break Into UCSD Computer Network
The Daily Guardian
May 10
UC San Diego is notifying approximately 380,000 of its faculty, staff, students and applicants of an unauthorized break-in on April 16 of four computers in the UCSD Business and Financial Services Dept. The computers contain personal records such as names, social security numbers and driver license information. Notification letters were mailed on May 5 to those who might have been affected and will continue to be sent for several weeks.
UCSD Controller Don Larson said in a press release that the university deeply regrets the unauthorized infiltration into the computer network.
“Our main concern at this point is to inform people whose private information has been exposed by this illegal intrusion,” Larson said, “and … assure them that we have taken strong and immediate steps to bolster our defenses against any future attacks.”
Larson said the university would advise victims on steps that they could take to protect themselves from identity theft.
Although systems administrators have evidence of an intrusion, there is no evidence that the personal records were accessed.
The incident involved the unauthorized access of two computers via the Internet. Upon discovering the security breach, administrators removed the affected computers from the university network and carried out an emergency assessment of all network stations, finding that two additional computers containing personal data had also been infiltrated.
A campuswide security task force is being assembled to determine what measures need to be taken to make UCSD secure against future cyber attacks. The breach is currently under investigation by campus police and other law enforcement agencies.
“[The investigation] has been ongoing since day one,” Larson said. “We took the computers offline and now are working with campus security experts to find steps we can take to make the system more secure and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
– Compiled by Caitlin Adams
