There are more homeless individuals in Los Angeles than UCLA graduate and undergraduate students combined. 11,000 more. In the last six years, the number of homeless individuals in LA has increased 75 percent, from 32,000 to 55,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. 41,000 of those individuals are completely unsheltered, living in cars or on […]
Author Archives: Emily Merz
Emily Merz: UCLA Housing should support students instead of catering to residents
UCLA’s administration revealed grandiose plans last year in light of enrollment increases: It would add three new residence halls and two new apartment complexes in Westwood by 2021. UCLA proposed a dorm building on the intersection of Le Conte, Gayley and Levering avenues that was supposed to be an ambitious 20 stories. Then the Westwood […]
GSA discretionary fund director receives blame for funding delays
Several Graduate Students Association groups are blaming the association’s fund director for delaying funding allocations to them. Graduate student interest groups, including the Black Graduate Student Association, Hispanic Latinx Graduate Students Association and the International Graduate Students Association, said they did not receive money for their events because their funding requests were not approved on […]
Emily Merz: UC SHIP’s off-campus services are inaccessible, potentially expensive
With threats from the federal government to repeal millions of Americans’ health insurance, UCLA students with the UC Student Health Insurance Plan have a sense of security knowing it won’t be affected. But it’s hard for students to be confident in the quality of their coverage when they try using the service off campus and […]
Emily Merz: Marijuana license regulations necessary for new recreational market
UCLA students are in luck: Los Angeles is set to have the nation’s largest cannabis market this year, according to the Los Angeles Times. While students can easily and legally purchase marijuana now, there are a slew of regulations that make its legalization more complicated than a trip to a local dispensary. Any dispensary that […]
Transfer, veteran resource centers provide study space and workshops
The Transfer Student Center and Veteran Resource Center have been able to accommodate an increasing number of students since its opening last summer. The transfer and veteran centers, which were previously located at the Student Activities Center, moved to Kerckhoff 128 and 132 in July. The new centralized space has received 4,578 sign-ins between September […]
Emily Merz: UC needs long-term solutions for homeless, financially strained students
Nearly 40 of the most elite universities in the U.S. have more students from the top 1 percent of income brackets than the bottom 60 percent. And that inequality is readily visible in the University of California. With rising tuition costs and housing prices, it’s no wonder middle-class and low-income Americans struggle to pay for […]