Thursday, November 20, 1997
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REAL BRUINS: As UCLA’s most popular voice, there’s more to Anita
Cotter than "Thanks No. 1 Bruins for using URSA"
By Frances Lee
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
She knows your name. She knows your number. She knows where you
live.
And, she knows your grades — even the ones your parents don’t
know about.
Most Bruins think she is just a voice, a figment of the
university’s imagination created to torment students, a fantasy
personage along the lines of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or Peter
Pan.
But she is more than a voice. Because the URSA lady is real.
Over the last 10 years, her mystique has grown into legendary
proportions: She lives in the tunnels under UCLA. She’s a
computer-generated voice. She dates the Movie Fone guy.
Every Bruin since 1987 is familiar with her, but beyond the
voice, few people know who she is. Justin Horey, a Daily Bruin
columnist, has devoted several columns to URSA, but even he is
clueless as to her "alter ego."
In some circles, it is even considered a status symbol to "know
the URSA lady."
Until now, her identity has remained largely a mystery — not
because she wants to keep it secret, but simply because "I don’t
introduce myself as the URSA lady," she says with a laugh.
And she has no reason to, because she’s not just the "URSA
lady." She’s Cotter, Anita Cotter — associate registrar, member of
the students’ association (ASUCLA) board of directors, co-driver of
her vanpool and, incidentally, the woman behind the voice of the
University Records System Access.
In Cotter’s Murphy Hall office, the bookcase along the wall is
strewn with a collection of teddy bears, most of them purchased
from thrift stores.
Cotter also collects forged aluminum pieces because, she said
with a smile, "I tend to be a packrat or collector."
During an earthquake, Cotter said, "My house goes ‘tinkle,
tinkle, clang, clang’" because of all the metal pieces she has at
home.
Cotter also saves Horey’s columns about URSA.
"I really enjoyed the one about the URSA lady being a great
girlfriend," she said. "Somebody said I should call his answering
machine."
If Cotter wanted to, she could call Horey at home — since, with
a flick of her wrist (and logging in various security codes) she
can find out Horey’s or anyone else’s phone number.
As the associate registrar, Cotter and her staff are responsible
for keeping all student records, processing course enrollment and
adjustment requests, scheduling classes, collecting grades.
Virtually everything that requires a paper trail or recordkeeping
is a responsibility of her office.
In addition to her registrar duties, Cotter also serves as the
administrative representative to ASUCLA, participates in various
committees and represents the Registrar’s Office at UC systemwide
meetings and conferences.
She is also a co-driver of her vanpool, which involves more work
than it sounds. As a co-driver, she’s partly responsible for taking
the van for maintenance, and has to worry about duties such as
filling up gas.
"I hate to get gas, and I hate to iron," she groaned.
With so many things to keep her occupied, it is no wonder she
considers being the URSA lady "a small part of what I do."
But being the voice of URSA has given Cotter some notoriety.
At last year’s Spring Sing — where she has been a judge several
times — there was a comedy skit, with the Movie Fone guy trying to
ask the URSA lady out on a date. When people found out she was
URSA, some asked for her autograph, and others took pictures with
her.
Cotter even recorded the answering machine message for one of
the Spring Sing organizers.
Cotter admits that she gets funny looks from people when they
hear her voice. She recalled how she was answering the general
phones in the registrar’s office one time.
"There was dead silence (on the other end)," she said.
When Cotter spoke again, the student exclaimed, "You’re a
person!"
"She thought she was talking to a computer," Cotter said.
Another time, Cotter was out at the service windows. After
hearing her voice, a student remarked, "You’re the URSA lady."
"It took me by surprise," Cotter said, that people have such
reactions.
"That people have such reactions" won’t take many students by
surprise.
Despite the fact that few people know who she is, and that many
people think she is nothing more than a computer-generated voice,
everyone seems to have something to say about the URSA lady.
Frustrated screams of "I hate you URSA!" accompanied by the
sound of banging phones, resonate in the air.
Few things strike as much dread into the hearts of UCLA students
than dialling into the URSA system, especially during peak times
such as second week, or during registration appointments.
Exceed the time limit, and URSA will hang up on you.
Forget to push the # sign after your entry, and you risk the
danger of having to key in the numbers — again, and again, and
again.
Despite the fact that URSA is "just a voice" to many students,
everyone refers to the system as a "she," and everyone seems to
take it personally.
"She can get a bit annoying," said Tawny Favela, a first-year
history student. "She’s kind of arrogant about the whole thing. I
don’t think anybody likes her."
Many students have stories to tell about their URSA
experiences.
Almost every student has memorized a few key URSA phrases.
"Information entered must be in a specific format."
"Welcome Bruins!"
"I’m going to hang up now."
"I think (URSA) is bad. If you press the wrong button, there’s a
chance of losing a class," said Ryan Lund, a second-year sociology
student. "(That) could ruin your future, and you could be at this
school for another year."
Lund said he got tired of having the URSA lady telling him he
wasn’t entering the information correctly, even though he claims he
pushed the right buttons.
Because of this, Lund said, "I even went out and bought a new
phone." But his new phone hasn’t solved the problem.
However, Teresa Barone, a third-year chemical engineering
student said, "I like URSA. It’s convenient to do it over the
phone; you don’t have to wait in line."
Barone even called URSA from Italy once.
And Breanna Robertson, a second-year chemistry student, likes
URSA as well. As a former UC Davis student, Robertson noted that
the Davis voice really was computer generated, and "sounded like a
robot. URSA’s better because she’s a real person."
However, Tara Gallagher, a third-year art history student, has
another theory about URSA.
"She is a subversive agent of the government," Gallagher
said.
In the beginning, there were lines — lots of them, and long
ones, too. Most of the information that can now be entered online
or over the phone, previously had to be handwritten and manually
input by the registrar’s office staff.
That was before 1987, when the URSA system was born, and
students could register for classes, get their grades, or change
their study lists via telephone, all from the comfort of their
living room.
There was never any question as to who should be the voice of
URSA, Cotter said, because "who was going to be the voice wasn’t a
big deal."
Since Cotter had been instrumental in helping to develop the
URSA system, she volunteered to do it, and spent about three hours
recording over 1,000 phrases, as well as the alphabet, numbers, and
names of all the departments.
Each quarter, she spends about five minutes updating the
deadlines and dates, from the comfort of her office.
Little did she know what a "big deal" it would become.
With reports from Michael LaFemina, Daily Bruin Contributor.
(Top) Anita Cotter is the voice behind the University Records
System Access, also known as URSA. (Center) As associate registrar
and member of the students’ association (ASUCLA) board of
directors, Cotter participates in various committee meetings.
(Above) As a co-driver of her vanpool, Cotter is responsible for
the van’s maintenance.