Although the recent fires charred close to 350,000 acres and
destroyed well over a thousand homes, San Diegans still have much to be
thankful for.

When the disaster started over a week ago, many worried that
the mass evacuations might induce a Hurricane Katrina-like chaos, but things
remained exceptionally calm as the number of evacuees soared over 500,000.

Qualcomm Stadium was almost picturesque — a far cry from the
disorderly nature of the Louisiana Superdome at the height of Katrina. Instead
of violence, drug deals and suicide attempts there were activities for the kids
along with musical performances, massages and buffets for the adults.

Volunteers came in droves to aid evacuees as the National
Guard stood watch to prevent any possible outbreak of violence. Their weapons,
however, were never needed thanks to the efforts of disaster-response officials
who were quick to meet the needs of evacuated citizens.

But Qualcomm was not the only success. In fact, evacuation
centers across the county have done an equally impressive job housing hoards of homeowners and pets that flocked to
their facilities in search of shelter from the fire.

What many expected to be a political hot potato for state
and national officials turned out to be a showing of their commitment to
improving disaster-response procedue.

The president, especially, had learned Katrina’s lesson
well. Whereas congressional leaders complained of slow federal response for the
2005 hurricane, the president promptly declared a state of emergency in Southern
California on Oct. 23. The action allowed Federal Emergency Management Agency
officials to begin dispersing aid to those most affected by the fires — which
caused more than $1 billion in damage to San Diego County.

With FEMA able to distribute grants, local officials
throughout the county, along with members of the state’s Office of Emergency
Services, were quick to establish relief centers that fire victims could visit
for a bevy of services.

Given the necessity of these centers in the rebuilding of San
Diego, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s efforts to speed their development should
be commended.

Even localized efforts to cope with the fire’s aftermath
have been executed without a hitch. UCSD, for example, acted quickly to notify
students of school closures.

In order to allow affected students and faculty the proper
recovery time, they have delayed class deadlines, billing dates and Winter
Quarter enrollment; reduced instruction days, established counseling services
and donation programs; offered $3,000 loans to faculty and staff who are
victims of the fire and encouraged professors to modify or reduce syllabi to
manage the lost days.

However, the most impressive response by far has come from
San Diegans themselves — friends and families that opened their homes to
evacuees, that stood in line for hours to donate food, blankets and cots at the
shelters and that helped elderly neighbors pack their cars and leave their
homes. We also cannot forget the courageous fire fighters — many of which were
evacuated from their own homes — who toiled around the clock to save homes and
extinguish the fire.Even during disaster, these men and women displayed
kindness and concern.

And so, despite the losses that many face in the coming
days, San Diegans can feel comfort in knowing the strength of their community
and the determination of its people.

While the recent outbreak of San Diego wildfires did not
directly force any students or staff members off campus, approximately three-fourths
of resident students opted to leave UCSD voluntarily last week, citing concerns
of growing evacuation zones and poor air quality. Those who remained were led
by an emergency policy council of administrators and safety personnel, tasked
with determining how the campus would respond to, and ultimately recover from,
the worst fire disaster in the county’s history.

Headed by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and run by Vice
Chancellor of Business Affairs Steven W. Relyea, the council ultimately decided
to cancel all classes from Oct. 22-26 due to concerns about students’ safety
and well-being. Nonessential staff members were also encouraged not to report
to campus during that period.

“The group assessed the immediate threat to the campus,”
Associate Vice Chancellor of University Communications Stacie A. Spector said
in an e-mail. “Due to the extremely poor air quality, the high number of
evacuations causing severe traffic congestion, the personal situation that
students, staff and faculty might be facing with their own families and homes
and the potential threat to the campus due to the proximity of the fire … [the
group] provided a recommendation to the chancellor that canceling classes would
be the most prudent and healthy decision.”

After choosing to cancel classes for the week, the council
subsequently debated whether Fall Quarter should be extended to make up for the
missed teaching days. UC Provost Wyatt R. Hume ultimately approved Fox’s
proposal to reduce days of instruction for the quarter, meaning there will be
no make-up week, UC Office of the President spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said. The
deadline to drop a class without receiving a withdrawal mark was also extended
from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.

Though a campuswide e-mail from Vice Chancellor of Student
Affairs Penny Rue urged professors to delay exams and assignments by a week to
accommodate students who have been impacted by the fires, some students have
expressed uncertainty about what to expect when they return to classes on Oct.
29.

“I guess [the missed week] will take away from the amount of
material that I will pick up in my classes,” John Muir College senior Daniel
Casillas said. “I’m kind of in limbo about what to have done when I get back.”

The reduction means professors must maintain patience with affected
students while simultaneously condensing 10 weeks of material into nine, a
potential source of frustration for those with pre-made lesson plans or
schedules. However, many professors have expressed willingness to follow Rue’s
recommendations in the interest of their students.

“The 10-week quarter has always seemed rather arbitrary to
me,” literature professor Melvyn Freilicher said. “Though instructors obviously
design a syllabus to fully utilize that time, cutting out a week just means
making decisions about condensing and omitting some material which I feel is
less crucial. Given the magnitude of the recent devastation, losing a week of
instruction basically feels like a non-issue.”

Following the cancelation announcement, about 6,000 students
self-evacuated from campus, dropping the population of apartments and residence
halls from 8,000 to approximately 2,000 by Oct. 25.

“When people heard classes were canceled and there was still
a possibility of evacuation, a large number of them left,” said Eleanor
Roosevelt College senior and Resident Adviser Emily Lipoma. “A lot of our job
was to get info to our residents and keep them calm.”

While some students may have left due to health concerns,
others had different motives for exiting campus, said Earl Warren College
sophomore and RA Nastasha Tan.

“The majority of my residents left, but I think a lot of
them used the fire hazard as an opportunity to visit home,” Tan said.

In a campuswide e-mail sent on Oct. 22, Fox referred to the
air quality at UCSD as “extremely unhealthy.” However, Housing and Dining
Services Director Mark P. Cunningham said in an e-mail that he did not believe
this was the primary reason why students chose to evacuate.

“I think the canceling of classes did [it] for the most
part, but poor air quality was likely a contributing factor for some students,”
he said.

Lipoma and Tan said they received clear instructions on how
to handle a possible evacuation from their respective residence life offices,
although many RAs had to dispel rumors of an imminent evacuation that spread
among residents.

“There were a lot of rumors that went around,” Warren
College junior and RA Jonathan Stenstrom said. “We heard a lot of different
things, but we just told them what went on in the emergency meetings.”

Despite rumors of evacuation, UCSD Police Lt. David Rose
said the campus has responded generally well to the crisis, with a majority of
calls to the police department coming from parents seeking to get in contact
with their children. While some UCPD officers remained on campus to perform
their usual duties, others were dispatched to more severely affected areas —
such as Ramona, Julian, Chula Vista and Coronado — to assist in evacuations,
traffic control and preserving public safety.

A large percentage of those who chose to remain on campus
were heavily involved in outreach efforts for fire victims, said Center for
Student Involvement Director Emily Marx. A campuswide relief group, consisting
of members from CSI, UCSD Staff Association, UCSD Alumni Association, UCSD
Student Foundation, the A.S. Council, the Student Affirmative Action Committee
and the Student Affairs Offices, has been coordinating multiple volunteer
projects such as donation and blood drives throughout the past week.

“We wanted to do some things that are immediate responses
based on the needs of the community, and also work on some longer-term ideas,”
Marx said. “We’ve been brainstorming a lot of ideas, but they’ll be more
concrete when we see who [at UCSD] is affected.”

University officials have enacted several options to ease
the transition for displaced students and staff members, including programs for
emergency loans and donations of paid leave. Administrators also established a
hotline to assist any UCSD affiliate whose home was destroyed in the fire.

Spector said the outpouring of support is a testament to the
community atmosphere fostered at UCSD.

“The spirit of service, volunteerism, community and cooperation
are clearly vibrant at UCSD,” she said. “Many people who work for
UCSD that service patients and students were dealing with their own
personal situations related to the fire, but they showed up for work
anyway as dedicated UCSD personnel who not only have a tremendous work ethic,
but their commitment to the constituents of the campus remain
steadfast, in light of this challenge.”

Burglaries on and around campus have almost doubled in the
past year, amid rising crime rates in other areas such as motor vehicle theft,
narcotics arrests and alcohol offenses, according to the annual campus crime
report.

The Clery Campus Security Report is a collection of
statistics relating to crime at UCSD and its surrounding areas. Although last
year’s Clery report showed less reported crimes overall, the trend has reversed in several major areas this
year.

In 2006, the UCSD Police Department, San Diego Police
Department, campus security authorities and the UCSD Medical Center reported
113 burglaries, almost doubling after reaching a low point of 56 in 2005. These
agencies also reported that motor vehicle theft increased from 102 in 2005 to
152 in 2006, and that five arson cases occurred in 2006, compared to one in
2005. Reported sex offenses decreased from six in 2005 to two in 2006, while
aggravated assault remained steady at seven for both years.

However, the number of these crimes that physically occurred
on campus indicates a downward trend in certain areas. Aggravated assaults
decreased from seven in 2005 to two in 2006, and reported on-campus sex
offenses also decreased from five in 2005 to one in 2006. The number of
reported burglaries still shows a significant upsurge, moving from 52 in 2005
to 91 in 2006, but the increase in on-campus motor vehicle thefts was not as
steep, with 64 thefts reported in 2005 compared to 73 in 2006 — an increase of
only nine on campus compared to 50 in the UCSD area.

Campus security authorities, including the UCPD as well as
various staff and resident advisers, also gave out more on-campus alcohol-related
disciplinary referrals — jumping from 1,193 in 2005 to 1,380 last year.

Drug referrals reported by campus security authorities
increased slightly from 96 in 2005 to 104 in 2006. UCPD also made 34 arrests
for drug or narcotics offenses, six arrests for weapons offenses and 30 arrests
for alcohol offenses on campus last year.

According to UCPD Lt. David Rose, the crime statistics
gathered in the report do not directly dictate the department’s activities,
since they strive to curtail problems as they occur.

“Typically, the Clery is more a summary of activity,” Rose
said. “The statistics in the Clery report are tracked throughout the year, so
for instance, if we notice an increase in auto thefts or bike thefts or issues
surrounding alcohol, we’re usually aware of it in very short order and we’ll
take steps to address it.”

Rose added that the Clery report mainly influences the
department in terms of public perception — should the public perceive that
areas on campus were unsafe, for example, the department would usually hold
workshops or public meetings to increase awareness of the issue.

“We work with the City of San Diego and get statistics from
them too, so we’re trying to be proactive,” he said. “That’s not to say we can
prevent everything, but if those statistics jump out at you, they jumped out at
us a long time ago.”

The report is required under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of
Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, a federal law signed in
1990 that applies to all universities participating in federal financial aid
programs.

The legislation is enforced by the U.S. Department of
Education, and gross violations of the law could cause a university to lose all
federal financial aid.

The act mandates that Clery reports include statistics for
crimes reported on and near college campuses for the last three years, as well
as descriptions of police department policies, crime-prevention programs and
investigation procedures for reported sex offenses. It also requires the police
departments to issue “timely warnings” about ongoing crimes in the community
and to keep a daily campus crime log that is open to the public.

Following criticism by college financial aid officers that
it is unwieldy and partially ineffective, the National Science and Mathematics
Access to Retain Talent Grant has introduced new eligibility restrictions that
could make the already exclusive grant even more difficult for students to
obtain.

While the grant supports low-income students enrolled in
certain math, science or foreign language majors, those same students will now
lose this aid if they are not consistently enrolled in at least one class
specific to that major this year.

A letter written by Assistant Secretary to the Office of
Postsecondary Education Diane Jones earlier this month detailed ways in which students can lose their funding
if they fail to carefully regulate the classes they enroll in each term. Though
the document states it is simply “additional guidance” in response to repeated
administrative queries, the letter was met with concern by many students and
financial aid experts.

“If the student were enrolled only in courses that satisfy
the general education requirements of the National S.M.A.R.T. Grant-eligible
program, but not in any courses that are specific to the major, he or she would
not be eligible for a National S.M.A.R.T. Grant payment for the semester,”
Jones said in the letter.

Previously, institutions were not required to ensure that
students were taking one class per grading period in their approved major. The
new restrictions define the way students must take classes each grading period,
or risk losing their funding if they take even one term of all general
education requirements. This could present difficulties for students who finish
all their major classes before the end of their senior year, or those who are
unable to enter into heavily impacted major classes.

In February 2006, President George W. Bush allotted $1.64
billion to the S.M.A.R.T Grant and the Academic Competitiveness Grant for the
following two years. Half of this aid package — available only to third and
fourth-year students — aims to provide incentives for eligible low-income
students to enroll in college with specific majors in math, science or
“critical languages” such as Arabic.

Those looking to utilize S.M.A.R.T. Grant aid must meet very
specific criteria: Students must be U.S. citizens attending a baccalaureate
degree program full-time, be enrolled as a third or fourth-year student and
maintain a 3.0 GPA.

Another restriction involves their previous placement: If a
student did not attend an academically “rigorous” institution during high
school, they are automatically ineligible.

Though permanent legal residents are eligible for many other
financial aid programs, they are excluded from S.M.A.R.T. Grant eligibility.

Since the grant is aimed at low-income students who may
choose to attend school part-time while working, the grant’s restrictions
effectively disqualify many of those who must support themselves or their
families by working full-time, or forces them to both work and attend school
full-time.

Bill Frist, former Republican Senator from Tennessee and
initiator of the S.M.A.R.T. Grant, said that new support for math and science
education would increase America’s ability to compete in the global economy.

“China and India are generating scientists and engineers at
a furious pace while America lags dangerously behind,” Frist told the New York
Times in December 2005.

The S.M.A.R.T. and AC grants are available only to students
already eligible for the Pell Grant, which Bush boosted funds to last month
when he increased the grant’s maximum allotment to $4,800 for the 2008-09
academic year. Specific benefits include up to $4,000 per eligible S.M.A.R.T.
Grant student for each year, in addition to the Pell Grant funds students
receive. This represents a significant increase from the AC Grant, intended for
first- and second-year students, where $750 and $1,300 are available,
respectively.

Mark Kantrowitz, founder of financial aid Web site
FinAid.org, has lobbied for an increase of the Pell Grant to $7,500. He said he
believes that this program effectively achieves the goal of an increased Pell
Grant for the low-income students who are looking to enter the eligible majors.

“Increasing the Pell Grant to roughly $8,000 [through the
addition of S.M.A.R.T. Grant funds] will eliminate loans from the financial aid
packages of many low income students, removing one of the major impediments to
their enrollment in higher education,” Kantrowitz said in an e-mail.

He also said he sees the S.M.A.R.T. Grant as filling a
specific niche in student aid.

“To the extent that the S.M.A.R.T. Grant is a hybrid between
need-based aid and merit aid, it is filling the gap for some needy students,”
he said. “That will serve as an incentive for students to enter those fields.”

Major questions posed by critics of the S.M.A.R.T. Grant
include how lost aid can be recovered if students no longer qualify for the
grant as they move into another year of college, as well as how the low
percentage of Pell Grant students that also qualify for the National S.M.A.R.T.
Grant can be explained. A mere 4 percent of Pell Grant students qualified for
this year’s S.M.A.R.T. Grant.

The U.S. Department of Education looks to double the number
of AC and National S.M.A.R.T. Grant recipients nationwide by 2011.

The University
of California has hired
consulting firm R. William Funk and Associates to aid in finding prospective
candidates for the position of UC president.

The decision, announced on Oct. 19, marks another milestone
in the ongoing search for the new systemwide leader, which began in mid-August
after current President Robert C. Dynes announced his intent to resign next
year.

Based in Dallas,
Texas, the firm is widely
considered to be one of the premier search consulting firms within the field of
higher education.

Having conducted recruiting searches for over 250
universities across the country, the company is now faced with the task of
finding leadership for the 10-campus system.

The company’s services come at a fee of $90,000 plus
expenses, and will extend over a period of 12 months or until the search is
completed.

Richard C. Blum, chairman of the UC Board of Regents,
expressed his satisfaction with the selection of the search firm.

“The selection of a new president is obviously a crucial
step in charting the future of the university,” Blum said in a press release.
“The regents are confident that Funk and Associates will provide the UC
community with the professional assistance to identify the best candidates for
the position of leading the world’s pre-eminent public research university.”

According to the UC Office of the President, the recruitment
search will be conducted personally by company founder Bill Funk. With years of
experience in collegiate executive recruitment, Funk has come to be regarded as
one of the top higher education insiders in the nation.

“The presidency of the University of California is one of
the most important positions in all of higher education,” Funk said. “We are
pleased to have been entrusted by the regents to assist them in identifying and
recruiting the very best possible candidates. We will cast a wide net to help
find the most exemplary and qualified leaders for this role.”

Founded as a consulting firm focused solely on higher
education services, R. William Funk and Associates prides itself on dedication
to its academic clientele and its wide range of experience.

Having placed more than 70 current university presidents,
the firm has served such institutions as Cornell University, Tulane University,
the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, among
others.

In addition, the firm has also conducted searches for
candidates at the chancellor, provost, vice president and dean levels.

No deadline has been set for the recruitment process. Dynes
will officially step down in June 2008,
or when a replacement is found.

While some students and staff members dealt with evacuation
concerns by leaving UCSD, others spent the week-long break from classes taking
refuge on campus.

Like many students, Sixth
College senior Michael Kelly is a San Diego native. Though
Kelly lives away from his family’s Rancho Santa Fe home, he said he was glad
when the mandatory evacuations were lifted from his neighborhood so that he
could return home with his family to check on things.

“[My family] didn’t have much warning to pack up,” Kelly
said. “They had to leave the cat behind, and it was really kind of a fiasco.”

After seeing news reports of the fires, Kelly’s father
called his family at home and told them to leave immediately. They stayed with
friends in La Jolla for three days while the
fire swept through their neighborhood. Kelly was in San Diego for the 2003 Cedar Fires, but said
he felt the 2007 fires had a much greater impact.

“Everybody knows somebody who had to evacuate,” Kelly said.
“I was here for the Cedar Fires but it was nowhere as big as this … it got a
lot closer this time, at least to where I was.”

Graduate student Lauge Farnaes’ family lives in nearby
Jamul, where fires ravaged much of the rural locale. Farnaes said that even
though her family fled with their farm animals to her La
Jolla apartment, school officials were very accommodating.

“UCSD Police and Housing and Dining Services have been
awesome,” Farnaes said. “My folks got evacuated with two dogs, two horses and
one mule from the fire and we’re now in [the Mesa graduate-student apartments]
with the animals outside on the grass.”

Mira Mesa resident and Revelle College senior Alicia Yeh
packed her car on Oct. 22 and headed straight for Qualcomm Stadium with two of
her roommates.

“We did the voluntary evacuation,” Yeh said. “We started to
panic when the smoke was getting really thick … a couple of hours later they
did a mandatory evacuation of our area anyhow.”

Yeh spent the night in a tent and stayed at the stadium
until the mandatory evacuation was lifted from Mira Mesa the following
afternoon.

“People were friendly,” Yeh said of her Qualcomm experience.
“There were a lot of volunteers who gave us food, toothpaste, soap, tons of
blankets — everything you’d need.”

Though UCSD remained a safe distance out of harm’s way
throughout the duration of the fires, many students living on campus took the
week off from classes as an opportunity to leave school. Approximately 75
percent of student residents left campus, some to go home, others to take
week-long vacations, traveling to places like San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Sixth College freshman Kaveh Nikou lives on campus in a
residence hall but decided to stay, saying he wasn’t too concerned about his
safety on campus.

“[UCSD’s response to the fires] was pretty good,” he said.
“Although Monday night we weren’t sure what was going on and people weren’t
telling us much. [Tritonlink] was a big help.”

In addition to the Web site, he got most of his information
from his roommates. For Nikou and his friends, the fires came as a
much-welcomed break from classwork.

“I’ve been able to get back on track with homework and
stuff,” he said. “I’ve just been relaxing, talking to people; it’s a kind of
bonding experience even though at the same time it’s bad.”

Much like Nikou, Making of the Modern World lecturer Edmond
Chang spent time on campus last week, when his family had to evacuate their
Rancho Penasquitos home.

“Safety was the first concern — [UCSD] was close enough to
the ocean, in case the fire pushed west incessantly,” Chang said in an e-mail.
“Second, my kids had been in my office many times before, so I thought it would
be easier on them and on my mother than heading to Qualcomm.”

Chang, his spouse, three children and mother spent two
nights in his on-campus office.

“[Staying in my office was] very comfortable actually,”
Chang said. “There are couches in the lobby, drinking water from a dispenser,
great sushi for me and jumbo hot dogs for my kids from Cafe Ventanas and plenty
of computers for my spouse and I to keep track of news.”

Although his office was comfortable, Chang was pleasantly
surprised at the generosity and maturity from Eleanor Roosevelt College
students he said he experienced.

“After some of my MMW4 students found out about our
situation, we received many offers for us to use their apartments,” he said.
“Crisis reveals many things about people. I was reassured and inspired by what
I witnessed in my students this week.”

After treading up five flights of stairs and stepping
through the double doors leading into the burn unit at the UCSD Medical
Center in Hillcrest,
one’s senses are immediately assaulted with the jarring smell of burnt flesh
hanging heavily in the air. The tenacity with which the 18-bed unit has tackled
the strains of an unprecedented fire emergency has once again made the hospital
a hub of media attention, this time for treating victims of the devastating
fires this week.

Recognized as the only specialized burn unit in the San
Diego and Imperial counties, the hospital has treated many of the area’s fire
victims. To date, the unit has treated 47 fire-related injuries due to surface
or inhalation burns. Currently, there are eight patients in critical condition
and 10 in rehabilitation. Nineteen out of the 20 other patients that were
previously in critical care have been upgraded to the hospital’s general ward.

Laura Everett, an administrative assistant, described last
week in the burn unit as “chaotic, but in control.”

Burn Unit Charge Nurse Janine Dubina, like all of the staff,
underwent a harrowing week dealing with crisis conditions in the unit. Living
between Lakeside and Ramona, she had to evacuate early in the week, but still
came to work ready and able.

Most patients came in during the first two days of the fire,
and while new cases have tapered off for the moment, Dubina said she expects
the number of patients to increase as the weeks progress. She said that more
people will likely start trickling in now that the fires have died down and
residents are returning to their normal routines like after 2003’s Cedar Fires,
the disaster that put the burn unit in the national spotlight.

“Most people didn’t come in to seek care because they were
worried about their home and their family,” Dubina said.

The current patients’ burn degrees range from 20-90 percent,
some of them being treated for inhalation as well as surface burns. Although
response efforts brought victims in quickly enough to be intubated before any
internal swelling choked off their airways, some patients’ bodies have swelled
so much internally that removal of intubation tubes is now impossible.

Among those still being cared for are two severely burned
patients who were found running in canyons after being surprised by the rapidly
spreading fire. Both are wrapped in bandages and gauze from head to foot,
hooked up to breathing tubes, and unable to rest on their backs. Brought in on
Oct. 23, the pair has been identified as “border crossers” after being found by
the Border Patrol.

Dubina said their story is as chilling as the injuries they
sustained.

“You can tell they had their hands covering their faces,”
she said. “There were people running behind them, but when they looked back,
they were gone.”

The intensity of their injuries and their status made it
difficult to identify the patients until three days after they came to the burn
unit.

Dubina said that one of the major health concerns from the
fires is smoke inhalation. Having burned through many commercial and
residential developments, smoke is rife with plastics, paint and other chemical
pollutants that can cause lung damage. Smaller particles in the air farther
away from the fires can be more hazardous than the smoke and ash closer to the
fires themselves.

In order to protect patients and staff from the outside air,
high-efficiency particulate air filters are stationed near the unit’s doors,
and indoor air quality is checked daily to ensure a sterile environment.

Lasting impressions from the Cedar Fires pushed the county
to make sure that the same mistakes would not be repeated.

For instance, the implementation of a reverse-911 program
saved many more lives last week, allowing people to evacuate properly and be
informed ahead of time of the disaster. The hospital also now has a
better-developed relationship with Cal Fire, allowing for stronger lines of
communication, Dubina said.

“For everyone that complains about UCSD running disaster
drills, this is the reason we knew what to do,” she said.

The staff prides itself on a strong sense of camaraderie, a
bond that staff members said helped strengthen their team’s efficiency when
patients began to piling up at the burn unit.

Many nurses and doctors
ignored orders to evacuate their homes, instead coming in to work
12-hour shifts and occasionally overtime, just to make sure the unit wasn’t
left short-handed. On Oct. 21, the unit was graced with extra nurses, according
to registered nurse Jami Lewellen.

“Night shift nurses stepped outside and smelled smoke on the
air, they just knew to come in,” she said.

Even students from UCSD who normally volunteer at the
hospital came to help, retrieving any extra equipment or blood that was needed,
even though campus had shut down for the week. People from around the county
brought in lunches and dinners for the burn unit’s staff members, creating an
environment where nurses and doctors rarely, if ever, need to leave the floor.

Everett said she attributes the unit’s success in the past
week to its very close-knit core staff.

“We’re more like an extended family,” she said.

After six months of negotiating a proposal to increase wages
and benefits for University
of California nurses, the
California Nurses Association and university officials agreed last week to
jointly declare an impasse and request the assistance of a state-appointed
mediator to arrange a compromise.

The university’s proposal highlights market-based salary
increases, equal health-care benefits and a new paid time-off program as the
major initiatives it would like to implement for its nurses. The CNA union that
represents the nurses must approve the changes before the university can
approve the changes.

“They make a proposal, we make a proposal, and we attempt to
meet in the middle,” said Nicole Savickas, human resources and labor
coordinator for the UC Office of the President, who has been at the UC-CNA
bargaining table during the entire process.

However, Savickas said that the approval process is
sometimes more complicated than it appears, since there are actually three
parties involved: the university, the union and over 10,000 California nurses
who are the university’s employees.

“There are a number of issues that we have not been able to
reach agreement on,” Savickas said.

CNA’s UC Director Beth Kean described Savickas’ sentiment as
an understatement.

“We are very unhappy with the UC’s final offer,” she said.
“We are miles and miles apart on nearly every issue right now.”

Kean said that the biggest item of contention is the
proposed PTO program, which would require
nurses to use their vacation days to get time off when they are sick,
since sick leave would only take effect after 24 hours of illness.

“It may sound good, but the truth is that it is a very
anti-patient program,” she said. “It would force nurses to go to work when they
are sick.”

UCSD Medical Center nurse Janice Webb said that she does not
want to even consider implementation of such a program.

“Nurses can barely afford to live in San Diego as it is, and
they really can’t afford [this program],” she said. “It actually cuts your sick
time in half.”

Kean said that the proposed program is not the only area in
which the university has pursued initiatives that fail to provide for its
employees’ best interests. She outlined major staffing problems at all
university medical facilities, including the cancelation of much-needed shifts
as well as mandatory shift rotations, which force nurses to switch from day
shifts to night shifts every month, compromising their performance.

In addition, she said that the wage disparity among
university nurses is such that the most experienced nurses at universities such
as UCSD and UC Irvine earn less money than nurses coming straight from college
at UC San Francisco — discrepancies that the university’s current proposal
fails to address.

“UC can afford to staff [and pay] properly, but they refuse
to do so,” she said.

Now that both parties have agreed to the impasse, the
California Public Employment Relations Board will determine whether a deadlock
indeed exists. If PERB confirms the impasse, it will submit the case to the
State Mediation and Conciliation Service, which will assign a neutral mediator
to assist with negotiations.

Savickas said that the mediator should begin work in the
next few weeks, and she is hopeful that the mediator will resolve what she
considers to be minimal remaining disagreements.

Kean said she is less optimistic, recalling that in 2005 and
2006, the mediator was unsuccessful in finding a compromise. She said she
believes that, as in past years, the process will reach the next step, during
which a fact-finding panel reviews each side’s complaints in more depth.

Webb agreed that the mediation process is impersonal and
disjointed, and added that nurses are frustrated with the university’s
recurring attempts to pass unpopular measures.

“The UC likes to play hardball,” she said. “But the nurses have
learned over the past few years, and we’re getting good at playing hardball
too.”

Blog from Poway:

A before/after look. First is a view of the intersection of
Twin Peaks and Espola Road
in Poway, which was blocked off from the
public all day Tuesday. The footage was taken at 12 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22. The
following footage was of a mountainside off of Espola Road, a day later at 6 p.m. There
is nothing but charred, ashen landscapes. It seems that the heavy winds in the
first clip ripped the flames through the mountainside.

Blog from UCSD:

Though the weeklong shutdown of campus has made it difficult
to coordinate a campuswide relief effort, UCSD's student leaders hope that next
week, and the weeks following, will bring a consolidated push by the school to
aid victims from the fire.

The Air Pollution Control District has issued a
Precautionary Smoke Advisory for the San Diego
Air Basin,
which encompasses San Diego
County.

Small microscopic ash can enter the lungs through breathing
in unhealthy air conditions. If you are
in an area with visible smoke, or if you see ash falling or feel uncomfortable,
then avoid outdoor exercise and activity.
Persons with respiratory or heart disease should reduce activity even
further and remain indoors if possible.

A “Wildfire Smoke and Your Health” fact sheet is available
at www.sdapcd.org.

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis today
provided important consumer advice and assistance to residents dealing with the
county’s on-going wildfires. The DA’s Office offered information on everything
from insurance adjusters to charity scams, trying to keep residents of San Diego County from being re-victimized.

“Unfortunately, some individuals use this time of crisis to
take advantage of others,” said DA Dumanis. “We want people to know the
consumer rights and legal protections that are in place as they begin to
rebuild their lives.”

The District Attorney’s Office is warning residents to be aware
of ... read more.

10-24-07 7:30 p.m. CAL FIRE provided the following updates
on fires.

Harris Fire

75,000 acres

10% contained

Full containment expected on the 28th and full control on
Nov. 4th.

1,341 firefighters assigned and 7 injuries to firefighters.

Cost to date to fight the fires is $3,400,000.

155 homes destroyed

250 homes damaged

2 commercial properties and 17 outbuildings destroyed.

The returning onshore flow has moved the fire to the northeast
threatening structures along Highway 94 from Jamul to the east, Lyons Valley
to the north. The regional communications equipment on Lyons Peak
was damaged by fire, cutting off power and destroying the back-up generator.
Crews installed a portable repeater to support fire communications. The fire
progressed north in the Barrett
Lake area, consuming old,
heavy fuels.

Witch Fire

196,240 acres

20% contained

No estimated containment or control, but little fire spread.

2,331 firefighters assigned to this fire

Cost to date to fight the fires is $5 million

Fire progression has slowed to the west, southwest, and
northwest due to improvement in weather and resources assigned to the fire.
Conditions in these areas have improved to the point of evaluating the return
of some residents. Winds in the fire area are still variable with coastal
influence returning to valleys. Warm, dry and unstable conditions still exist
at the higher elevations and the eastern areas of the fire. The Poomacha Fire
continues to burn close to the north flank of the Witch Incident, they have NOT
joined.

Rice Fire

9,000 acres

20% contained

Full containment expected on the 28th, with full control
expected November 5th

1,095 firefighters assigned

Cost to date to fight the fires is $1,283,133

Poomacha Fire

35,000 acres

10 percent contained

719 firefighters assigned.

12 injuries to firefighters.

Expansion of incident in a north easterly direction due to
wind shifts. Fire increased in size due to extreme fire behavior, lack of
resources and wind shifts. Perimeter control has been initiated and structure
protection is still in place. Evacuation centers continue to be staffed and
occupied.

Cost to date to fight the fires is $750,000.

If you have lost your home, know of a UCSD faculty or staff
member who has lost their home, or you want to help those in need, please
review the rest of this message.

The campus has made available special resources for those
UCSD faculty, staff, and students that lost their homes in the San Diego fires (see
http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/fireinfo). A brief summary of some of these resources
follows:

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firesupport

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firesupport

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/emergencyloan

If you are a UCSD employee with space in your home, and
would like to volunteer to take someone in temporarily who lost their home,
please call (858) 534-5523 or send e-mail to [email protected]. If you
were displaced by the fire and need a temporary place to stay, please call
(858) 534-5523 or e-mail [email protected].

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firehelp

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/403loan

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firesupport

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firehelp

SEE http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/firebenefits

We want to extend our deepest sympathies to members of our
campus community who have experienced losses in this tragedy. We will do all
that we can to provide help and support to our colleagues during this very
difficult time in their lives.

We want to thank the countless number of students, faculty,
and staff who have stepped forward to help.

Sincerely,

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox

Vice Chancellor Steven W. Relyea