Artificial intelligence has come to the University of California San Diego in the form of TritonGPT.

Adela’s big fat raises

San Diego State University president Adela de la Torre is in line for a five percent salary boost this year, from $533,148 to $559,805, putting her pay at the very top of the list of the California State University system’s presidents, according to a “Proposed FY 2023-2024 Salary Increases” attachment to the CSU Trustees agenda for March 24. CSU San Marcos president Ellen Neufeldt is set to go from $445,519 to $458,622. At the tail end of the pack is Channel Islands chief Richard Yao, rising from $362,210 to $380,321.

Adela de la Torre keeps making more and more.

“Cal State presidents have seen their base salaries grow by an average of 43% between 2007 and 2022, translating to an average $119,882 salary increase per campus president over that time,” according to a December 1, 2023 CalMatters expose. “In 2022, all 23 presidents received a 7% raise. Additionally, 14 of the presidents who underwent three-year reviews received additional equity increases between 6.7% and 20%.” San Diego ranked highest among presidential pay boosts during the 15-year period, with a whopping 78 percent.

“Meanwhile, professor pay has risen at a rate of 30% since 2007, going from an average of $93,643 to $122,016 in Fall 2022. Full professors, the top rank on the tenure track, at Cal State are the highest-paid faculty while lecturers are the lowest.” Charles Toombs, faculty union president and an Africana studies professor at San Diego State, was quoted as telling the trustees last summer, “The CSU should use the budget it receives from the state for direct instruction and student advancement, not for continued expansion of administrative bloat and endless administrative positions at the Chancellor’s Office and on all 23 campuses.”

The presidential salary boosts come at an awkward time for the university system, which has hiked student fees to record levels. A January strike by university system faculty members fizzled out after just a day, with union leaders declaring victory. But some in the rank and file complained that their demands for a 12 percent pay hike had been abandoned by union chiefs. Last month, a more modest deal, providing a 5 percent general salary hike retroactive to July 1, 2023, was ratified by 74 percent of voting members, per LAist.

AI perks

Artificial intelligence has come to the University of California San Diego in the form of TritonGPT. “So what exactly is this new tool? Picture ‘ChatGPT,’ but uniquely trained to provide information and generate text that’s specific to UC San Diego,” says a March 19 post on the school’s website. According to the story, the new AI tool, the cost of which is not revealed, “is useful for answering questions such as ‘Do UC San Diego employees have the day off for César Chávez Day?’ or ‘What restaurants on campus serve burritos?’ It’s also capable of responding to prompts such as, ‘Draft an email to prospective students highlighting the unique aspects of UC San Diego.’ Among a pool of approximately 500 early users, who were hand-selected from areas across campus to begin using the tool in beta earlier this year, many found success using the tool for similar tasks involving text and language, as well as brainstorming ideas, tailoring documents to appeal to specific audiences, summarizing content, creating presentations and more.”

Gifted young mayor

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is out with his annual freebie disclosure, this year listing a potentially contentious October 23, 2023 $275 gift of “earbuds” from Texas-based YPO, otherwise known as the Young Presidents Organization. The group became a target of critics for failing to condemn the Hamas attacks on Israel, reported Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post in an October 11, 2023 dispatch.

If you want Todd Gloria’s ear, you could do worse than giving him earbuds.

“’Jewish babies had their heads chopped off and Jewish women were raped, and YPO can’t simply say we condemn Palestinian Hamas,’ one outraged member said of YPO’s statement,” per the Post. Adds the story: “While YPO keeps its membership secretive, it is known to host retreats and meetings for young executives and founders with speakers including Bill Clinton, Kevin O’Leary, and Lance Armstrong, according to the website.”

...When Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong cast off the San Diego Union-Tribune to vulture investment outfit Alden Global Capital last summer, the move was widely portrayed as a way to cut expenses by the neophyte publisher, who acquired both the U-T and the LA Times for $500 million or so back in July 2017. During the same period as his San Diego sale, Soon-Shiong slashed payroll in Los Angeles, causing predictions that he would also dump that paper. But now the controversial biotech maven has announced he’ll spend millions of dollars to bump up the size of the Times office complex he created in El Segundo, south of the LA International Airport.

“Construction of the final piece of the Los Angeles Times El Segundo campus has begun,” says a March 19 internal email to Times staffers cited by The Wrap. “Once completed, the new building, in between the offices and parking structure, will house the mailroom, dedicated space to preserve The Times archives and a gallery designed to host exhibits and events for the public.” Wrote a skeptical Times staffer: “I thought we were broke.”

Per The Wrap: “The Times building has been largely unoccupied since March 2020, when the company instated a stay-at-home order during the COVID pandemic. The company has since not required staffers to come to the El Segundo office on a regular basis.”

By comparison, the U-T under Alden has vacated its rented downtown digs in a San Diego high-rise and stopped making lease payments, according to an unlawful detainer action reported by TV station KFMB on December 8 last year. “Tenant has failed to pay Rent when due as required by the Lease. As of October 9, 2023, the current amount due to Landlord totals $218,950.70. This amount consists of Base Rent, Operating Expenses, and late charges for the period through and including October 2023, as set forth in the rent statement attached,” says a court complaint cited by KFMB.

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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