Submission: Diversity referendum necessary to preserve critical resources

On Oct. 7, a coalition of students presented the Bruin Diversity Referendum to the Undergraduate Students Association Council, ultimately garnering approval for the fall special election ballot. Referendums are unique because in many cases, students take the initiative to raise their fees by a small portion in order to fund critical services that the entire […]

Submission: Reduced time in Spanish, Portuguese classes detrimental

We, the undersigned graduate students and teaching assistants in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UCLA, want to express our deep concern regarding the imminent “hybridization” of the department’s lower-division language program, which will take effect during the fall 2014 quarter. This initiative comes at a moment when the university’s lack of sufficient physical […]

Submission: Chancellor’s email on civil discourse problematic

Editor’s note: The following is an open letter from several student groups to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, responding to an email he sent to the campus community on May 16. A version of the letter was published on the Students for Justice in Palestine blog on May 17. We, the undersigned student groups, have taken […]

Submission: Groups ask USAC candidates to decline sponsored trips

Editor’s note: The following is a statement jointly written and disseminated by the Armenian Students’ Association, Samahang Pilipino, the Afrikan Student Union, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Student Association and Jewish Voice for Peace. Representatives of those organizations contacted candidates, asking them to sign the statements by the deadline of Monday at 5 […]

Submission: Race-blind admissions single out important criterion for exclusion

BY JANET NAPOLITANO What if the Supreme Court had ruled this past week that states have the constitutional right to require that their public universities consider only SAT scores when making admissions decisions? Never would happen, you might say. Because it’s absurd. Common sense dictates that universities should consider many factors about a student when […]

Submission: Shutting down Lick Observatory is shortsighted

The original photo caption accompanying this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information. In its April 15 article “UC’s Lick Observatory might soon shut down operations,” the Daily Bruin reported on the plan by the UC Office of the President to terminate systemwide funding for the […]

Letter to the Editor: Society’s obsession with diversity itself subtly racist

In response to “Editorial: Crop of commencement speakers lacks diversity” in Opinion on March 10: I am a 61-year-old white man, the sort that is often considered irrelevant and accused of being angered by the loss of privilege following social incursions of one or another previously oppressed groups. To allay any such considerations, I state […]