$647,000 on first class flights and posh hotel rooms among other travel expenses. more than $12,000 on just one flight from l.a., headed to washington and then on to asia, and the report says that like many of the school s deans, she has a doctor s note that says she cannot fly coach, due to a medical condition. despite the fact that she did do a strenuous 56-mile biking leg of a triathlon and has described herself as a cardiojunkie. so to discuss this, i m joined by john janino. and we reached out to several ucla official who is did not respond and we did not get any interviews. they declined our request for interviews with any of the folks involved in this. what did you think of the findings of this report? i want to first thank you for having me. yes. i m really here to give the student perspective. and first, i really want to say that i think a lot of students were really shocked and disappointed.
don t believe that s an excuse to have excessive spending habits. and not just to pinpoint this one woman, although she kind of stands out, the dean of the business school, she sort of stands out because of her exorbitant costs. when you compare her to, say, uc berkeley s person in the same position, her costs are seven times that of his. and we reached out to the university. this is what the communications department told us. they said, travel by ucla leadership was consistent with that of deans at most of our peer institutions, though ucla has seen a more significant return on its investment than many of those other universities. in fact, ucla s stature in respected global university rankings rose even as state support declined dramatically. they went on to add that the school raised $3 billion during that time. and you talked about that, john. dean olian in particular raised $118 million. ucla here justifying the
expenses. certainly not apologizing for some of these things that have upset you and i m assuming others students. how do you want things to change? right. so i definitely think that we need to re-evaluate the policy and we need to implement some kind of mechanism to be able to hold administrators accountable. to make sure that they re not wastefully spending, especially when it comes to tuition costs. you know, we, as students, don t want to hear that our tuition is rising, so that we can, you know, support excessive spending, especially as it relates to travel and entertainment. and i suspect, john, perhaps your agenda for the school year is now upon you, even before you start school there at ucla. john jeannino, thanks so much. just ahead in the newsroom, buying a home. perhaps you ve got the down payment, but don t forget about those closing costs. they are on the rise and home buyers are really feeling the pinch. she s always been able to brighten your day.