The University of California is known to provide a world-class education to its students. Its lecturers, however, get little in return for holding up the university system’s awe-inspiring reputation. Lecturers, or temporary instructors, have been thrown around by the UC for quite some time. They are usually hired to teach one course per quarter, and […]
Category Archives: Opinion Columns
Abhishek Shetty: UCLA should look at undergraduate TAs as short-term fix to TA shortage
The instructed may soon become the instructors. At least, that’s what UCLA might look like if the UCLA Academic Senate was to take a stronger approach to the campus’ teaching assistants shortage. It’s no secret the UC is in need of more graduate students. While the undergraduate student population has increased over the past few […]
Mariah Furtek: UCLA must improve professor accountability, accessibility for students
UCLA boasts a faculty roster almost as impressive as the starting lineup of its men’s basketball team, but these faculty members aren’t necessarily accessible to their students. The UCLA Academic Senate expects faculty members to hold office hours, yet it allows them the freedom to choose how to make themselves available to students. Unfortunately, some […]
William Bleveans: UCLA must reform grading policies to reinvigorate learning on campus
Finals week has us all stressed, and UCLA’s grading policies are to blame. UCLA’s letter grading model is nothing novel. Students are required to take their major-required classes for a letter grade, and those in good academic standing can take a limited number of nonmajor classes as pass/no pass per quarter. A grade of C […]
Andiver Castellanos: UCLA must consider creating resource center for campus black community
Imagine navigating a public university in which students of your ethnicity make up less than 5 percent of the undergraduate student body. Imagine your university experience plagued by things like parties centered around racially insensitive costumes and a photograph of your undergraduate student government president throwing up a gang sign like it means nothing. And […]
Gael Adrien Mbama: Transgender students should be able to have preferred names on BruinCard
UCLA offers a very progressive environment to its students, with various programs and resources dedicated to marginalized students. Our university still has a long way to go to be fully trans-inclusive, however. UCLA’s transgender students who decide to go by a different name than their legal names are not allowed to put their chosen names […]
Sandra Wenceslao: Test-material vending machines would ease student stress
You’re in class, ready to take an exam, but you realize that you forgot your blue book. The first thing you do is ask your classmates for a spare. Then, you have to run to the closest store that sells them. You sprint there, grab the required blue book, but now there’s a line – […]