Tuesday, February 24, 1998
State of our union
UCLA’S PAST: Ackerman has seen its share of changes in 37 years,
but it still remains a center of campus life
By Rachel Muñoz
Daily Bruin Staff
Can you imagine a UCLA without an Ackerman Student Union? Where
would students dine on Panda Express and shop for the latest UCLA
sweatshirt? What would the campus do without the Grand Ballroom
that houses so many job fairs and $2 movies?
Imagine an empty space the size of Ackerman. If one looks 37
years back into UCLA history, one will find it.
Originally, Kerckhoff Hall was used for the student union, but
as soon as the building was put into use, it was clear that the
facilities were inadequate. At the time that Kerckhoff was
constructed in 1931, UCLA¹s student body consisted of 6,500
students, almost one-sixth of today¹s 35, 558 students.
In 1956, when five years later the enrollment would triple, a
College Union Committee was appointed to investigate the
possibilities of an addition to Kerckhoff.
What the committee proposed seemed more like a small community
than just an addition. The new seven-level structure would lodge
bowling, billiards, table tennis, food services, a post office,
hotel rooms and two small dormitories for visiting guests and
teams.
But the committee¹s big ideas didn¹t lose sight of the
students and their needs. The committee ran an ad in the Daily
Bruin for a contest to submit suggestions for the building.
Fifty dollars would be rewarded for the best idea, while $25
would be awarded to the person who thought up the best name for the
building.
With a minimum of 200 entries needed to support the contest, the
32 entries later determined the contest invalid.
However, those 32 participants entertained ideas of informal
dance and jukebox areas as well as a television lounge.
On Oct. 16 and 17, 1957, a special student referendum was held
to address the issue of a new student union building that would be
partially financed through student fees.
A landslide vote of 2,412 to 354 students was in favor of such a
building. Beginning in 1960, students paid $12 per year to repay
two of the loans needed to build Ackerman.
Half the funds for the building were provided by government
loans and the other $2.75 million was acquired in revenue bonds
that were sold through the UC Regents.
The maximum allowance for the building was $5.500 million and to
stay within this limit, the guest rooms and dormitory were
eliminated. Those arrangements alone were to cost $400,000.
The location for Ackerman was picked for its central spot and
the landscape¹s natural slope, which many believed would allow
for striking architecture.
Over 135,000 square feet make up the assignable square feet
inside the building while the outside feet surpass 197,000 square
feet.
Despite all money matters and mistakes, the Student Union was
ready for use on April 3, 1961, but it would not be officially
dedicated until six years later.
On Dec. 6, 1967 the Student Union building finally had found a
name  that of William Coit Ackerman.
Mr. ³A,² as he was affectionately referred to by many,
began his relationship with UCLA in 1919 as a student and a tennis
coach. When he graduated in 1924, he stayed at UCLA as a coach and
a physical education instructor.
In 1932, his Bruin athletic team was the first to win an
National Collegiate Athletic Association championship. Eighteen
years later, he retired from his coaching position.
Ackerman changed gears and went to work for ASUCLA as their
graduate manager and the executive director. His work was completed
with ASUCLA when he retired on Sept. 25, 1967.
At his retirement, the student union building was named after
him as a tribute to his many years of service to undergraduates at
UCLA.
³This may not be the most beautiful student union. However,
I can report to you that it is the most used. Fifteen thousand
seven hundred forty-eight scheduled events have taken place in the
past six years in this union. 1,296,674 persons have attended these
scheduled events during this period. We have an average flow of
persons through this building amounting to approximately 20,000 a
day,² Ackerman said in his speech.
Ackerman may have seemed impressed with the number of students
using the new student union building, but the students themselves
were impressed with other elements.
³We can invite the Democrats and the Republicans to hold
their next convention in the ballroom,² said Fran
O¹Brien, a graduate student in music at the time.
³It¹s the new Westwood Country Club,² added Jim
Kerr, a senior English student.
The UCLA students of the ¹60s seemed proud and they had
every reason to be. The Ackerman Student Union had one of the
largest on-campus book departments in the nation, not to mention
two high speed elevators and a public address system.
It was designed to look to the future in architecture and
interior, while facilitating almost all of the proposed areas. Also
included were music listening rooms, women¹s and men¹s
lounges, a projection booth, a trophy room and a vending machine
room.
But nothing lasts forever and Ackerman Student Union has had
many changes over the years, inside and out.
Anne Pautler, director of marketing for UCLA and a graduate
student during the ¹70s, remembers how bad the food was.
³The Coop was really pretty awful,² she said.
³One of the big changes in the ¹70s was the food went
from truly awful to edible.²
The interior decorating also left something to be desired. The
Coop had turquoise and orange plastic furniture against white
walls. What students now recognize as the Treehouse once was a
³sea of tables and chairs.² This was created by the drop
ceiling and lack of platforms.
Level B lacked the ¹90s sophistication it has today.
Textbooks were in the market section, lecture notes were where the
computer store now resides and Pautler adds that ³the clothes
were funky,² nothing students would wear.²
One advantage people did have in the ¹70s was the easy
access to Ackerman. Before parking structures and loading docks,
there was a gravel parking lot just outside Ackerman. What people
drove up to, however, was a blank facade with stairways and
lockers.
During the ¹80s, things changed again. The computer store
showed up, but the big controversy, according to Pautler,
surrounded the idea of students renting calculators during
finals.
When the last construction to improve Ackerman took place in the
¹90s, seismic improvements fixed the top-heavy building with
additions that spread out the weight.
Pautler definitely feels that the new Ackerman has a more
aesthetic feel for a pedestrian plaza. ³When Westwood
Boulevard was closed it was like the ghost of Westwood Boulevard
was still there,² she said. Since the new building has an
angle it creates more of a plaza with a pedestrian area. She adds
that she likes the big stairs.
One student who experienced Ackerman during the early ¹90s
also likes what has been done with Ackerman.
³Viewpoint is a good addition for the study space,²
said 1993 UCLA graduate Jorge Ancorna. While he was going to school
in the early ¹90s, students went to study rooms in Kerckhoff
to find a quiet spot.
Ancorna also witnessed the closing of the bowling alley during
his time at UCLA, but he said it was rarely used.
What might have changed most for Ackerman is the architecture.
Ancorna is ³very much in favor² of how the outside
appearance of Ackerman has changed.
³It is trying to look like Romanesque
architecture,²
Ancorna said, although he admits that it is a far stretch.
³They do have a lot of brick,² which Ancorna thinks is a
good thing because it ties the building in to other buildings on
campus like Royce and Powell Library.
But one thing that Ancorna believes Ackerman lacks is space to
just hang out. The Ackerman of old had a lot of recreation space,
Ancorna felt, because there wasn¹t a Wooden Center.
³But the student union is where students should hang
out,² he said. He suggests putting benches in Ackerman to give
students a place to sit. ³Most of the area that was open to
students has been converted to office space now.²
(Above) William Ackerman is the building¹s namesake because
of his years of service to UCLA.
(Left) The student union opened its doors to students
in 1961.
(Below) The rumors are true: There was once a bowling alley in
Ackerman.