I hate writing for Opinion. Sometimes. Sometimes, the column-writing process directly contradicts things I’ve learned in college. During these years at UCLA, I’ve learned to complicate and question – how to seek nuance, listen to others and empathize with their perspectives, or challenge them where necessary. I always tell people that my major, human biology […]
Author Archives: Arman Sharif
Arman Sharif: UC must assemble task force to interpret disaggregated ethnicity data
Campus communities that felt invisible in the past are finally seeing some change in how university data represents them. The University of California Information Center released enrollment and graduation data in April disaggregated by ethnicity. This data includes enrollment statistics for individual ethnicities, like Vietnamese or Armenian, as opposed to only reporting information for the […]
Arman Sharif: Selective majors should set percentage cap of denied students
Ask first- or second-year students at UCLA their major and some will emphasize they’re only a “pre-major.” The reason: They haven’t officially been accepted to their desired major. If getting into UCLA wasn’t hard enough, some departments require students undergo another application process to be officially accepted into their majors. Some programs, which range from […]
Arman Sharif: Housing at UCLA should not be gender-segregated by default
I usually get reactions of doubt when I tell students who do not live on campus that UCLA undergraduate apartment rooms are separated by gender. I ran into the issue last year during room sign-up, when my request to live with two female apartment mates felt all but revolutionary at first. Ultimately, I decided I’d […]
Arman Sharif: Respecting all views doesn’t mean legitimizing hate speech
There is a myth that sensitive “snowflake” students demand safe spaces, the destroyers of dialogue that impede vibrant educational exchange in universities. Critics often zero in on the fragile, progressive “social justice warrior” – the more liberal and politically correct, the better – although some college conservatives have echoed these demands for safety as […]
Arman Sharif: Anti-Trump protests are not in vain
Let the people protest. Lazy, entitled, ungrateful. Violent, animals, rioters. Childish, crybabies, sore losers. Political affiliation no matter, Americans have flung every name at anti-Trump protestors over the last week. The sentiment stems from complacency with Donald Trump’s election to the highest office in the country, suggesting we try to work our best with our […]
Arman Sharif: UCLA must be in solidarity with Cal, demand own multicultural center
UC Berkeley student groups have been pushing demands for nearly 30 days for administration to relocate the school’s multicultural center to new facilities. But down in Westwood, this kind of center doesn’t even exist for UCLA. The bridges Multicultural Resource Center was formed to provide resources to underrepresented students of color after Proposition 209 banned […]