Binge drinking, mob mentality and hazing. Greek life has a long list of negative stereotypes. One that has continued to stick out in recent years: its perceived sexual assault problem. The most recently publicized Greek life-related sexual assault allegations at UCLA have involved the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In winter quarter, a member of the […]
Category Archives: Opinion Columns
Westwood theaters must be preserved to connect community, protect cinema history
As you look out onto the Westwood skyline, one building’s defining silhouette sticks out: a tall white tower topped with three neon red letters reading “FOX.” Opened in the 1930s, the Regency Village Theatre and its across-the-street counterpart, the Regency Bruin Theatre, immediately became classic movie houses, serving both the student population and the affluent […]
Where Westwood Boulevard ends, level sidewalks and paved streets should begin
Uneven asphalt is rife with cracks and unwanted vegetation. Every trip in and around Westwood’s apartments is an adventure. From Gayley to Veteran avenues, battered roads test the suspensions of students’ cars, and each fissure in the sidewalk feels like a chasm. So obviously, when the Westwood Village Improvement Association applied for a grant to […]
University tenure clock disfavors women weighing academic ambition against family
Professors aspiring to get tenure are working against a ticking clock. For women, though, this clock ticks much louder. Faculty at UCLA typically start off as assistant professors and work within a roughly eight-year time frame to obtain tenure, or permanent employment. Every two years, they’re evaluated and have the opportunity to climb the hiring […]
UCLA boasts activists-in-residence to distract from on-campus inequity
UCLA asks whether activism can be taught. What it really means to ask is whether activism can be bought. UCLA Activist-in-Residence is a position put on jointly by the Asian American studies department and the Institute on Inequality and Democracy. The institute started this program in order to create a space for activists on campus […]
Predictive policing algorithm perpetuates racial profiling by LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department officers have done such a poor job of making our streets safer that they are now relying on an algorithm to tell them how to do their jobs. A racist, culturally ignorant algorithm, that is. LAPD has a history of using and abandoning predictive policing algorithms. One of the only ones […]
UCLA’s lax vaccination requirements put students at risk for future diseases
UCLA dodged a bullet – or a plague, to be more precise. The university was rocked by news of a measles case last week after a student infected with the disease attended classes in Franz and Boelter halls April 2, 4 and 9. And 11 days, at least 46 quarantines and countless worried phone calls […]