Bruin Bites: Coach Ryan Bailey, Mazzone Notes, People of the State of California v. UCLA?

by Bellerophon on Dec 28, 2011 2:30 PM PST in News

We have a full slate this week, with both Howland's squad gearing up for the beginning of Pac-12 play with a road-trip to the Bay Area, and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Saturday against Illinois. It isn't exactly the kind of bowl we imagined when we said we wanted a Pac-12 vs. Big-10 end-of-the-year match-up. Oh well. Anyway, we find ourselves in the middle of bowl season (with the Holiday Bowl between Cal and Texas kicking off in a few hours). So I won't waste a lot of time pontificating in this edition of Bruin Bites.

With that, let's get right to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

Starting with basketball news, former Bruin basketball player Ryan Bailey, is making quite an impact as the new head coach for the Brentwood School, leading his Eagles to a surprising 9-2 start. Brentwood, known more for academic success, is enjoying a solid season with Bailey at the helm. Funny how good coaches find a way to win, even in a tough academic environment.
Turning to football, the Orange County Register discussed Patrick Larimore's injury and the impact it will have on the Bruins' linebacker corps in San Francisco for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, specifically, the amount of playing time that Jordan Zumwalt will now see at MLB against Illinois. Also, with Brehaut out, Nick Crissman has moved up to the #2 spot on the QB depth chart, behind starting QB Kevin Prince.

Sticking with football, Dave Miller at National Football Post took note of Mora's hiring of Noel Mazzone at OC, calling it a "big coup" for UCLA. In discussing Mazzone's history, Miller takes note of Arizona State's strong offensive numbers this year (despite being a mediocre team), ranking in the top 30 or better in all of the major offensive categories.
Speaking of Mazzone, UCLA's offensive players (especially the wide receivers) are excited to be getting a new offensive coordinator who has had past experience in developing potent spread offenses. Current Bruins started getting ready for Mazzone by taking in the Las Vegas Bowl to see how Mazzone coached up his offense. Suffice to say, the Bruins were pleased.
Finally, the Los Angeles Times is reporting a story that should be of major concern to all Bruins: the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has filed felony charges against UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran, as well as the University of California itself, in connection to the Dec. 29, 2008 death of Sheharbano Sangji from a chemical fire. According to the Los Angeles Times, Prof. Harran faces a maximum of 4 ½ years in state prison (which is very unlikely to be his actual sentence), while the University of California itself is facing a $4.5 million fine. Very troubling to say the least.

Alright folks, those are your mid-week edition of Bruin Bites as we count down the days until our final football game of 2011. Fire away with your thoughts, additions, and comments in the thread.

GO BRUINS

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I was in south campus when that incident happened.

Her death was tremendously sad. I don’t know enough about the case to comment on whether there should be a lawsuit or not, but I sure hope precautions are taken to ensure greater lab safety.

by BruinMW on Dec 28, 2011 3:19 PM PST reply actions

Not just a lawsuit...

…but criminal charges. The university gets sued all the time. All schools do.

But criminal charges are a whole different animal. Not exactly how we like to see UCLA in the news.

I also don’t know enough to comment, just sharing the story with the community. Although if there are BN folks who know more, hopefully we’ll hear what they have to say.

by Bellerophon on Dec 28, 2011 8:39 PM PST up reply actions

As someone who got their BS and PhD in MolSci and had been in those labs many times

I have been following this case. Basically, this lab was cited for safety violations two months prior to the accident. The violations were not fixed by the time of the accident and therefore the prof in charge is being charged (along with the UC) for willful violations. In this case, wilfull only need mean indifference to the fact that there were cited as being in violation and no fixes were performed. If you follow the coverage, you’ll see a lot of talk about how Sanji should have known better and that the accident wasn’t the prof’s fault, but all the state is saying is that Harran did not fix the violations cited and did not enforce the laws and regulations on the books.

This is going to be an interesting case. I think the DA’s position is strong, I am not sure how anyone can argue that the violations originally cited were fixed, but the fact that this is an an academic environment is complicating the issue. Students are expected to come in and be somewhat inexperienced and do some things wrong, and then learn in the process. The counter to that is that Sangji was hired as a staff researcher, not a student. This takes out the legal grey area of whether or not a grad student or postdoc is an employee, Sangji definite was an employee and her employer is responsible.

Because Harran is an academic, I am also pretty sure Harran won’t see jail time. But if he was in industry…he probably would be sweating bullets right about now.

by JimmyBurke on Dec 29, 2011 9:13 AM PST up reply actions