Yiwei Sun: Hill should be more accommodating to transgender, genderqueer students

Finding and paying for housing is rarely simple for UCLA students who live on the Hill, where dorms are expensive and roommate assignments can cause everyone grief – but access problems are compounded for students who identify as transgender. Currently, there is one Gender, Sexuality and Society themed community on the Hill, but living there […]

Ara Shirinian: LA Hacks should work to increase female representation

If there’s one word I want you to remember after reading this column, it’s disruption. In the technology industry, disruption is a way of life, a lust for innovation, a need for something better. With it, you thrive, and without it, you wither. For the last three days, more than 1400 students occupied the court […]

Aram Ghoogasian: Gender discrimination toward USAC leadership still prevalent

Male student government candidates usually don’t have to think twice about their safety while campaigning. Female candidates, on the other hand, face harassment on a regular basis. USC recently made headlines after it elected its first female student body president in about a decade. Its student government had not even seen a woman make a […]

Chloe Lew: Yik Yak brings bigotry to forefront, creates impetus for change

Ever since I downloaded Yik Yak, I have been searching for a reason to delete it. In the last few months, “riding the Yak” has become routine for me – partly in search of a laugh, but mostly in search of the one racist, sexist, bigoted or outright hateful post that would be my breaking […]

Casey Kovarik: Blogging improves student learning, deserves larger academic role

As with most other things in life, students only want to do the schoolwork they’re going to get credit for. Which is why academic blogs need to start getting the weight in course grades that they deserve. Although blogs have the potential to be good resources for teachers and students alike, their current use at […]

Shani Shahmoon: Proactive approach needed for Greek life regulations

When organizations fail to adequately police themselves, university administration has a responsibility to step in. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Greek life on campus. Following a string of troubling incidents at fraternities nationwide, UCLA administration has a responsibility to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach. UCLA should not wait for a major […]

Ara Shirinian: UC should protect student privacy, take steps to prevent data mining

Every day, billions of pieces of information are collected on students and used to create intricate profiles on them. Most of these students don’t even have a choice, because they are forced by their schools to use programs that track them. Unfortunately, state and national legislation fails to provide the same kinds of privacy protections […]