Attend USAC meeting if interested in office space
Our undergraduate student government will debate new guidelines for office space allocation tonight at its weekly meeting.
This board wants to encourage all students who are leaders or members of an organization interested in getting an office on campus to attend the meeting at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff Hall 417 to express your opinions on the matter.
From our perspective, these are the three things to take note of: the Undergraduate Students Association Council is considering changing the eligibility requirements to groups that have been registered for five or more years, allocating offices only every two years and giving the Office Space Allocation Committee the authority to look for office space outside of Kerckhoff Hall.
Changing the eligibility for student organizations to apply for office space is controversial ““ especially when there are so many organizations on campus.
But this board has to agree with the sentiment behind these changes. There are 16 offices USAC has the authority to allocate to student groups. These offices can support between 20 and 25 organizations.
We should give the most coveted and sought-after office space on campus to groups that have established they will last a long time.
Protecting traditions requires group effort
UCLA has a long history of campus traditions. While many of us chose UCLA for its academic excellence, fun traditions such as Undie Run or Blue and Gold Week also helped draw us in. The fact that these traditions are in jeopardy due to campus policy, which we concede is legitimate in theory, concerns this editorial board.
It is only fourth week of fall quarter, and already this campus has seen a major change in one campus tradition: Blue and Gold Week. And it is likely to see the disappearance ““ if not drastic change ““ of the Undie Run.
The reasons the university has provided for changes to these traditions make sense. The USC game is the Saturday before finals week begins, and having Blue and Gold Week during the last week of classes could disrupt studying.
However, the result of this change is a lack of enthusiasm that fills campus in the week before we hope to beat our rivals across town. Likewise, due to the thousands of dollars of damage that Undie Run has caused in the past, changing how Undie Run occurs makes fiscal sense for a school already strapped by its current budget.
All of that said, college is a mix of academics and enjoying oneself. To ensure that four years at UCLA does not become four years of blandness with little room for the fun of campus traditions, the campus community must work together on these policies to ensure that we can keep our traditions responsibly.