Carolanne Link, a second-year electrical engineering student with cerebral palsy, spends roughly two hours every day riding the UCLA Office for Students with Disabilities van, but when she looks around at her co-passengers, she said, she can’t tell what each person is dealing with. On a campus with approximately 2,500 students with disabilities registered with […]
Category Archives: Opinion Columns
Arthur Wang: UCs, CSUs need to improve retention programs for underserved students
In politics, pipelines bring to mind President Barack Obama’s veto. In education, pipelines are important pathways from underserved public schools to the state’s public universities. At the California State University system, a decade of efforts have proved less-than-stellar, with African American enrollments declining rather than growing in spite of increased outreach to underserved and minority […]
Ryan Nelson: Dichotomy of practical, liberal education unnecessary, unproductive
Before he ever tried to tear down a wall, former president Ronald Reagan had a much more local foe: the University of California. Forty-eight years ago this past Saturday, the conservative California governor delivered a stirring sermon: The state budget was tight, education was expensive, and people shouldn’t be given “intellectual luxuries” on the state […]
Aram Ghoogasian: Diversity vice chancellor position must prioritize students
When students try to communicate with school administrators, their grievances often fall on deaf ears. The appointment of a new administrator, however, has a chance to initiate a paradigm shift. The search for UCLA’s first vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion will approach its end next quarter. So far, three candidates have visited campus […]
Benjamin Genta: UCLA needs to encourage student voting, raise youth voter turnout
Less than 9 percent of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 turned out to vote in the 2014 midterm election this past November in California, a historic low, according to a January UC Davis report. In Los Angeles county, it was even less, with only between 5.5 and 7.5 percent of the same age demographic […]
Travis Fife: State oversight too extreme as solution to holding UC accountable
In the fight over the proposed tuition increase, the state seems to have chosen the path of direct intervention. First, in December, there was bipartisan support for Senate Constitutional Amendment 1, which grants the state unprecedented legislative oversight of the UC. The bill strips the UC of its autonomy from the state, allowing the state […]
Ara Shirinian: UC should allow more contingent faculty to pursue tenured positions
While there are many different elements that make up a successful university, the core interactions by which students learn is in the hands of the professorship. Today, across the country, that professorship is under attack. Schools have attempted to deal with budget cuts by replacing tenure-track professors, or professors that cannot be fired without proof […]