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PARKING LOT GALA

The Department of Art is hosting Luck of the Draw(ing), the first of what will be an annual celebration of UCLA’s exceptional visual arts department, alumni and arts community. The June 5 benefit will be held 4-7 p.m. in Parking Lot 36. For $75 a ticket, patrons will have a chance to win hundreds of art works by established and emerging artists and enjoy good food, music and friends. Among those donating art are faculty members John Baldessari, Jennifer Bolande, Barbara Drucker, Roger Herman, Mary Kelly, Catherine Opie, Lari Pittman, Charles Ray, Adrian Saxe, James Welling and Patty Wickman. Serving as honorary co-chairs will be Ellen DeGeneres, Bette Midler, Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin and UCLArts Dean Christopher Waterman. Funds raised will be used to educate, inspire and sustain the next generation of emerging artists. To RSVP or for more information, call (310) 825-3281.

DYNEGY SETTLES

As lead plaintiff in the Dynegy securities fraud class-action suit, the UC recently reached a $468-million settlement with the company and certain former executive officers and directors. Other settlements in the case — $5 million with Citigroup and $1.05 million with Arthur Andersen, LLP, — bring the total settlement to more than $474 million. Dynegy investors suffered losses when the company’s stock price crashed after it was disclosed that the company engaged in a questionable set of transactions that allowed it to misrepresent its financial results. Since then, several former employees have pled guilty to or been convicted of criminal fraud. As part of the settlement, Dynegy agreed to appoint two directors nominated by the plaintiffs to help monitor corporate governance reforms that the company has put in place. The settlements are subject to court approval.

A NEW CONTRACT

UC’s 7,300 service workers have ratified a new three-year labor contract that runs through Jan. 31, 2008. According to the pact, UC will provide members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees with 3% across-the-board wage increases, effective Oct. 1; 3% across-the-board increases in year two; and a 4% increase in year three, consistent with the university’s budget compact with the governor and subject to final state funding appropriations in each year. The agreement also includes additional equity adjustments to ensure that UC service workers earn at least $9 per hour.