Daily Bruin – Page 273

UCLA donors’ focus on passion projects neglects those who most need the money

UCLA’s successful completion of its $4.2 billion fundraising goal came, naturally, with a glowing press release that venerated its major donors. The campaign, part of a trend of growing university donations, went toward cancer research, buying a historic theater in Westwood, expansion of the Anderson School of Management and the like.

Suddenly, the accumulated wealth of these donations has presented the idea that donors can be the saviors who make up for falling government contributions to public universities. But when debt-ridden students who are going hungry or are unable to access mental health resources look up to these individuals to save them, the only response they’re bound to get is: “Does my name come in gold or brushed Muntz?”

Billionaire donors aren’t necessarily giving to UCLA and America’s richest universities out of generosity. In a lot of cases, these are thinly veiled attempts to pay less in taxes or power moves meant to show off to the world. To America’s elite, universities are becoming a sandbox for trying out their personal passion projects.

Just take the instance of UCLA’s most well-known and infamous donation: the $100 million gift David Geffen gave the university to establish a middle and high school meant primarily for faculty’s children. That’s right, of all the charitable things Geffen could have done, anywhere in the world, he decided to build a fancy school in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Was generosity the main driver behind Geffen’s donation? Since the school charges about $30,000 in tuition, probably not. It was more likely an attempt by him to marginally increase the prestige of his namesake medical school, so that it could compete with the likes of Johns Hopkins and Harvard.

An attached private school would ostensibly help UCLA, and its medical school, attract the best faculty in the country. But for all the things that could have been done with $100 million, that’s hardly the most helpful gift, especially when the school charges its own tuition.

Oh, and the tax write-off he got from the donation was definitely another personal bonus for him.

The breakdown of UCLA’s successful centennial fundraising campaign further shows where donor priorities lie. Donors gave more than necessary to UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, going 83 percent past UCLA’s laid out goal of $140 million. That’s understandable, since rich people are known to be obsessed with art.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have scholarship support, languishing at 47.5 percent of UCLA’s goal of $1 billion.

Surely, the donors who gave $4 billion in nonscholarship money should have been able to donate toward the goal that needed the money the most.

The reason that hasn’t happened is because donors don’t consider donating to scholarships to be sexy. If you’re a donor with money to burn in tax deductions, there’s less glory in spending it on impactful yet quickly forgotten scholarships, as opposed to buildings that will bear your name for years to come.

University administrators, for their part, just enable that behavior. Chancellor Gene Block, whose job is to make nice to donors to boost UCLA’s coffers, has bristled at such a characterization of Geffen-types.

“David Geffen is a true champion of UCLA who shares our goals and vision,” Block wrote in a letter to the editor slamming a former Daily Bruin editor for daring to say UCLA’s worship of Geffen was bizarre.

Really? Do donors like David Geffen actually share UCLA’s goals? In September 2015, a secondary school for sixth to 12th graders was probably not among UCLA’s greatest, or even top 20 needs.

Let’s put things into perspective. One of UCLA’s most pressing needs at the moment, aside from the debt-ridden or food-insecure students, is deferred maintenance costs. The University of California system has a $4 billion backlog in such costs. Some of that spending is extremely urgent, yet you don’t see donors doling out checks specifically for deferred maintenance.

For all his love of UCLA’s donor class, even Block himself has admitted donors don’t necessarily give with UCLA’s most pressing needs in mind.

“If you become too formulaic and too prescriptive, I think donors get turned off because, you know, they say ‘I want to give this,’ and then you’re trying to move them over to something else,” Block said in an interview with the Daily Bruin Editorial Board.

“But if we do it in a way that makes sense, where you couple things like an endowed chair with a graduate fellowship or similar undergraduate programs, or research support, that might work as well,” he added.

Yes, nothing says generosity like taking the “my way or the highway” approach while donating to a university. It makes sense that donors have some control over how their money is spent. The amount of control, though, is troubling. For example, at UC Irvine, billionaire Henry Samueli gave an exorbitant sum of $200 million to establish a center to research integrative medicine. In other words, a donor was able to get a public university to study a branch of medicine that incorporates the pseudoscience that is homeopathy.

The bottom line is these donations are transparent power moves, meant to virtue-signal to the public. Studies have found that people use such causes to show off their altruism and to show off that they’re rich. Worst of all, these mega-donations are a way for elites to signal their smarts. And before someone like Block denounces this as another ill-informed take from the Daily Bruin, it’s worth noting that last assertion was made by researchers, ironically, from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Some, like Block, would argue these donors have done a lot of essential good for colleges. They’re not even obligated to give a cent of their money to a public university like UCLA. Some have funded a number of scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate students. But while some charity is better than no charity, donors could easily find more productive ways to help society than to, say, create a high-end conference center.

Just look at the top 10 fundraising universities of 2017 – all of them are universities that meet 100 percent of domestic undergraduates’ financial aid. All of them have multibillion-dollar endowments. But our wealthy overlords decided to give more than $7.5 billion in 2017 to universities that are already loaded with cash. And when they’re not giving back to their elite circles, they’re trying to pursue their personal passion projects at public universities with debt-ridden students, like some kind of hobby.

So let’s stop the donor worship. Stop acting like these donors are doing this out of generosity. Stop acting like these donations aren’t an attempt to simultaneously get public goodwill and a tax deduction. And please, stop trying to name three-way intersections after them.

Budding Los Angeles: Growing industry attracts young attorneys to cannabis law

Thirty years ago, buying cannabis was difficult, expensive and illegal. Buying cannabis in 2019 is somewhere between picking up a prescription from a pharmacy and buying beer from a liquor store. Join columnist John Tudhope each week as he visits cannabis companies in Los Angeles and discusses the budding industry.

“Better Call Saul”? More like better call Hilary Bricken. Except instead of meth, it’s weed.

Bricken is a Los Angeles-based attorney who specializes in cannabis law, a self-described opportunist and an expert when it comes to the dynamic cannabis industry. She is a partnered attorney at the Harris Bricken law firm, which created Canna Law Blog, a website that provides analysis of cannabis laws.

Bricken said she took on cannabis law because the older, more conservative attorneys she worked under were less interested in working in the controversial industry. Cannabis law has since become an essential aspect of her firm’s portfolio. Bricken said Canna Law Blog is a collection of articles written by attorneys which the firm hopes will be an objective source of information for business owners and consumers in the cannabis industry.

From my experiences interning at a few law firms, I tend to see attorneys as enterprising, argumentative and precise. Now, I’m not saying Bricken is argumentative – she is actually quite hospitable – but I wouldn’t want to get into an argument with her. If you don’t trust me, visit her 31st-story corner office in a downtown skyscraper and tell me if you think she comes out on the losing end often.

When I spoke with Bricken earlier this month, I treated the meeting not only as an opportunity to speak with an attorney about her law practice, but as a chance to see where a major insider believes the industry at large currently stands, and more importantly, where it is heading.

In Bricken’s 2016 TEDx Talk, her answer to the talk’s title question, “Are We Creating ‘Big Marijuana’?,” was simple: Yes. In this context, big marijuana refers to corporate investment in cannabis for financial gain alone. Her prediction was that older grassroots cultivation, manufacturing and retail businesses are likely to fall by the wayside in favor of large companies. Three years later, Bricken said investments have continually poured into West Coast cannabis markets, and that her law firm is well-placed to capitalize on this influx.

“These are the hottest cannabis markets in the country, and by far the most innovative, so we are starting to see more institutional investment come in, more Wall Street money come in and more sophisticated operators,” she said. “They are willing to invest in their lawyers.”

Law students at UCLA are betting on a future need for cannabis attorneys as well. Jonathan Dolgin, a student at the UCLA School of Law, founded the Cannabis Law Association this quarter as a networking group for law students. Dolgin, a co-president of the club, said the group aims to bring together students who are interested in cannabis law.

“Our goal is really to inform students about the legal market that services the cannabis industry,” he said.

Dolgin said attorneys pursuing cannabis law are in an advantageous position because the industry is still young and cannabis businesses need a vast array of legal services.

“A cannabis business is still a business, and they have to deal with all areas of the law, such as real estate, employment law, corporate law, land use and water law,” he said. “You name it, (attorneys) are dealing with it.”

I’ve learned that working as an attorney for drug dealers may not be as thrilling as “Breaking Bad” would have you believe. These attorneys deal mostly with business forms, assessing liability and giving advice, but there is one aspect of cannabis law that is quite interesting, and it’s colored green.

The Quad: A new generation of politicians connect with Americans on social media

Our dynamic Instagram feeds and explosive Twitter threads have become an essential part of our identity as “screenagers,” and a new class of politicians looking for an audience have noticed.

The 2018 Midterm Elections marked a historical change in demographics for the House of Representatives. A new generation of diverse women made their way into the legislative body, challenging the normative appearance of a United States politician. Their success in Congress remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – they sure know how to navigate the media.

Follow the Leader

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress, represents New York’s 14th congressional district – an area with about 700,000 people. The 29-year-old’s adept use of social media has given her a platform that extends far beyond the realms of her constituents and encompasses about 5 million people on both her Instagram accounts and Twitter alone.

Whether it’s a shot of her cuddled with a blanket eating Ben and Jerry’s “Americone Dream,” or a snack run in D.C., Ocasio-Cortez is clearly a new kind of politician – one who is incredibly and undeniably millennial.

Mark A. Peterson, a specialist on American national institutions and professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said the congresswoman’s interactions on social media are giving a lot of people previously excluded from systems of information a look into an institution that many don’t know a lot about.

“She is bringing a really positive attitude about government and politics that has been too limited in this country for a long time,” Peterson said.

After being sworn into Congress, her social media presence intensified. Now, she displays the closed-door Democratic caucus meetings, documents restricted areas of the Capitol Building and even films the United States House Committee on Financial Services meeting room.

The congresswoman brings a new layer of transparency, one where stiff and complicated politics fit into a 10-second video. Through social media, she has managed to bring her millions of followers into a world that used to sit comfortably behind closed doors; a world where participation has historically been reserved for older white men.

Although these issues of representation in Congress improved after the midterm elections, the Wall Street Journal reported that women only make up 23 percent of Congress. Hispanics make up 8 percent of the legislative body but 18 percent of the U.S. population, while African-Americans account for 9 percent in Congress, but make up 12 percent of the US population.

Taylor Tran, a first-year political science student, follows Ocasio-Cortez on social media and said it makes her happy to see that politicians are relatable and not just government elitists.

“It’s encouraging to think that being in Congress is doable – maybe this will make more people want to go into politics,” Tran said.

Following Suit

This phenomenon is not just one that remains exclusively successful for Ocasio-Cortez. New Congresswomen Ilhan Omar from Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts are also speaking to a generation that turns to social media for information.

Both Omar and Pressley tend to use memes and GIFS in their respective Twitter accounts. It is clear, then, that they are using these methods of communication to build an audience and strategically create a political movement made for those who communicate the same way they do.

In fact, in a talk with Stephen Colbert, Ocasio-Cortez recalled social media lessons she had given to older members of the Democratic party, who are now realizing the benefits of being a social media virtuoso.

“Don’t post a meme if you don’t know what a meme is,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the show.

Chris Tausanovitch, an assistant professor of political science, said this form of communication makes institutions like Congress much more interesting to the average American.

“It is increasingly the case where politicians have been humanized by letting their constituents into their lives,” Tausanovitch said.

A Changing Congress

There is an important question that remains – is this interpolation of politics and social media here to stay?

“In the old days, members of Congress communicated with their constituents through snail mail newsletters, that shifted a lot to email, and now it’s shifting to social media,” Peterson said. “Maybe 10 years from now all members of Congress will have Twitter accounts and that will simply be the new method of communication.”

The newness of this occurrence determines that it is too early to predict whether members of Congress will suddenly shift their communication techniques and prove their transparency through their Instagram stories.

Matt Benowitz, a second-year political science student and external vice president of Bruin Democrats, said that he sees a substantially positive side to these new interactions.

“At the end of the day, regardless of political affiliation, people want to know how the government will improve their lives, therefore it is imminently helpful to show them how hard politicians are working,” Benowitz said.

In the Long Run

As long as Ocasio-Cortez continues to show her Instagram followers the “swag bag” of encrypted electronics that new members of Congress receive during their orientation, the discussion will continue on whether this new method of enacting policy will work in the long run.

“The question remains: will this draw in the average American or will it distract legislators from doing their job?” Tausanovitch said.

Peterson also questions the point in which transparency and openness translate into uncontrolled hate speech. Who writes down the rules for social media politics? Who enforces them?

“This kind of communication doesn’t have to be factual or civil, it can be in many ways quite negative and detrimental,” Peterson said. “It is not clear whether we have found a way to ensure that social media advances ideas, thoughts, views and opens minds as opposed to simply engaging in verbal warfare.”

Peterson understands Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to document her public service and broadcast it to the average American. After a sabbatical year working in the United States Senate during his thirties, he saw the magnificence of working in that building as well as the sense of history and purpose.

“One of the feelings I had almost every day working there, is that I had wished that, as Ocasio-Cortez does now, I could bring the American public with me,” he said.

Documentary takes candid look at life of daring political reporter Molly Ivins

Progressive Texas journalist Molly Ivins lived a life of extremes, both personal and political.

Her life is now on display in the documentary “Raise Hell: The Life of Molly Ivins,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. Directed by Janice Engel, the film follows the life of the prominent liberal columnist through the chronology of her life, examining how her southern origins led her to become one of the most syndicated political writers in the country. Production on the documentary began six years ago, according to producer James Egan, during a time when the American political landscape changed significantly from one of relative cooperation to a standoff between parties – but that only serves to bolster the message of Ivins’ career as a political reporter.

Utilizing a variety of media sources such as interviews from C-SPAN and “Late Night with David Letterman,” Engel takes viewers on the journey of Ivins’ life using her own words as well as those of her close family and friends. Hearing and seeing the subject of the documentary explain her positions and personal life helps the film paint an authentic portrait of Ivins in a manner reflective of her style and substance: sharp-witted political criticism and uproarious humor.

The documentary begins with an examination of Ivins’ inextricable link to her home state of Texas – “the national laboratory for bad government,” as Ivins says in the film. Her domestic experiences seem to support her judgment of the state government when her siblings describe how the household was run. The cascade of family photos is punctuated by stories told from Ivins’ brother Andy and sister Sarah, who explain that Ivins felt out of place growing up largely because of her tall stature – she was over 6 feet tall by the age of 12 – and her intellectual demeanor. Citing her right-wing oil baron of a father as inspiration, she called her progressive liberal vocation “teenage rebellion that lasted more than 35 years.” Her stories push the viewer to better understand the exact trajectory of Ivins’ life; it seems only natural given her early life experiences that she became a firebrand journalist.

The film takes a deep dive into years of strife and struggle as Ivins fought to be treated fairly and equally as her male counterparts. On a few occasions, an animation of a letter with Ivins’ words emerging from the paper is used to personify her struggles. An actor narrates the words written to Ivins’ family about instances such as a time she was maced and beat up at a race riot she was covering. This technique adds a layer of personability, making it feel as if the viewer is being let into her private life through the letters. Her diffident wit and humor evident in her personal correspondence would soon find its way into her professional work as well.

It’s when the film gets into Ivins’ years at the Texas Observer that more of her own personal foibles are explored. Ivins was a lifelong drinker and self-described alcoholic who nevertheless would try to outdrink anyone who challenged her. It was also during this time that her articles garnered attention for challenging Texas legislators on their policy, largely using wit and banter unusual to a professional publication. Her frank admissions don’t detract from the knowledge that Ivins was a capable reporter and an apt public speaker. Instead, the reflections of her personal life serve to better represent the fact that Ivins was a whole person with flaws aplenty – far more realistic than the unbelievably noble martyrs of other documentaries.er

As her professional life begins to take off, the film switches gears and interviews active journalists about their takes on how Ivins’ legacy influenced today’s political reporters. NBC Journalist Rachel Maddow cited Ivins’ ability to hold accountable people who had power and misused it, while former CBS nightly news anchor Dan Rather cited Ivins’ unique tone that set her apart. Ivins’ political analyses seem all the more prescient, and the filmmakers reflect this by cutting in parallel clips from a rally for presidential candidate Pat Buchanan in 1992, where the nominee talks of building a “steel border fence,” to a video of supporters at a Donald Trump rally shouting “Build that wall.” It is all the more poignant that Ivins was identifying these political divides some 25 years before they became a topic of everyday news. This film will easily find an audience in politically minded viewers who feel the landscape of modern journalism lacks the kind of voice that Ivins exemplified.

“Raise Hell: The Life of Molly Ivins” constantly pushes home every point made with corresponding clips of Ivins explaining through some anecdote or quip – “politics is the finest form of free entertainment.” The message looks to be this: Ivins was a journalist who believed in democracy, and did her best to empower the average citizen to be an informed voter. But she always did so with humor and pugnacity. The film goes in depth to explain the intricacies of Ivins’ life, knowing that most people who see the film probably aren’t familiar with her work, but are interested in finding out why a journalist from Texas would have such fiery opinions about the modern American political environment.

In Ivins’ own words: “There are three common reactions to politics: You can laugh about it, cry about it or throw up. You might as well laugh. It’s a better way to live life.”

Fashion show raises funds for cancer research, features local Persian designers

A sold-out crowd filled the seats of the Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Sunday night to see the latest of local Persian fashion.

Over 600 people gathered to watch cancer survivors, patients and UCLA students model some of the latest trends in Persian garments, all in an effort to raise funds for the Persian-American Cancer Institute. In association with the Iranian Student Group at UCLA, PACI put on the event, “An Evening of Fashion,” to draw awareness to Be The Match, the National Bone Marrow Registry which comprises a list of all possible bone marrow donors in an attempt to match them with current cancer patients seeking treatment. The show was hosted by Persian-American comedian Maz Jobrani, and featured a number of popular Persian entertainers including musicians Andy & Shani, Arash Avin and Persian pop music icon Kamyar.

Mahdi Rafati, a fourth-year computer science student and the president of ISG, said that while he was excited to display Iranian culture through fashion, he was also looking forward to the possibility of signing up potential bone marrow donors.

“You might be the person who gets matched with someone who needs bone marrow,” Rafati said prior to the show. “You can literally save a person’s life just donating your bone marrow to them.”

Rafati had only joined ISG when he began organizing the event about a year ago and immediately started coordinating with PACI and securing the fashion designers and guest speakers. Among these speakers was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who advocated for the Affordable Care Act. Rafati said a fashion show was a great way of showing Persian culture to the local community while also drawing attendees to a fundraiser.

“As Persians, we like to dress up,” he said. “At Persian events, you can’t overdress.”

Dozens of models walked down the 50-foot runway that Rafati said was built especially for the event. In total, six different design collections, all made by local Persian designers, were featured at the show, displaying fashion ranging from the sporty athleisure wear of Hushi to the flowing bridal gowns of Simin Couture. One designer, Jila Saberi, said she designed 16 different pieces for the show, including formal evening wear, wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses. Saberi calls it the “Green Collection” because she took inspiration from nature.

“I wanted to make it a little bit dreamy because (the show) is about people who have suffered from cancer and we want to give them hope,” Saberi said prior to the event.

Tara Yazdi, a fourth-year anthropology student, modeled one of Saberi’s evening gowns during the show. The long silk evening gown is bias cut, a form-fitting style that accentuates the lines and curves of the wearer, Saberi said. The gown is a light cream color and features layered fabric accents inspired by flowers and clouds, harkening back to Saberi’s natural inspiration. Yazdi said although she has minimal modeling experience, she and the other models were trained by a designer from Vasht, one of the brands featured, on how to walk down a runway.

“I felt like I was actually learning how to model from someone who knows how,” Yazdi said. “How you’re stepping with what pace, what expression, … it made me feel like a legit model.”

Brands Vasht and Geev presented collections alluding to and resembling elaborate Persian carpet design and architecture, as well as more traditional Persian attire, with multilayered flowing skirts in bright greens, yellows and reds. The final designer of the night, Simin Couture, displayed bridal and bridesmaid wear with silken materials in pastel tones of pink, beige and cream.

Additional guest speakers addressed the crowd in between runway displays. Dr. Robert Huizenga, known as Dr. H on the television show “The Biggest Loser,” discussed the threats posed by viral-caused cancers and Rikki Rockett, drummer for the rock band Poison, spoke about his own experiences suffering from an oral cancer after contracting HPV.

Though the event ran late into Sunday night, the sold-out crowd remained in their seats until otherwise beckoned by performers Andy or Kamyar to raise their hands and sing along to their songs. An in memoriam video showed pictures of Persian community members who lost their own battles with cancer in the last year.

This event was particularly impactful for Rafati, who lost his father to cancer a month ago. Rafati said the event generated over $10,000 to donate to cancer research, and he is hopeful that the awareness of the bone marrow registry and its life-saving potential are what attendees walk away remembering.

“That’s what basically motivated me the most for the event,” Rafati said. “I’ve got to make sure we do everything we can in order to maybe save a person’s life.”

Women’s tennis starts season undefeated, advancing to ITA indoor championship

The Bruins did not concede a single loss.

No. 8 UCLA women’s tennis (2-0) emerged victorious in both of its duals this weekend at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, defeating Minnesota (1-1) 4-0 on Saturday to advance to the championship against Loyola Marymount (1-2). Another 4-0 scoreline on Sunday helped the Bruins claim their second win of the season to advance to the ITA indoor championship in February.

Freshman Elysia Bolton earned a doubles win Saturday, teaming up with sophomore Abi Altick to defeat Minnesota’s Tiffany Huber and Tina Kreinis. Bolton, who currently ranks 11th individually in the nation, came into the weekend nursing a minor injury.

“I was having problems with my foot before the week,” Bolton said. “I hadn’t had many matches, so I was just trying to get that to feel better.”

Following her doubles victory, Bolton went on to defeat Kreinis in straight sets, claiming the first dual-match victory of her collegiate career.

“It is weird to play doubles and then play singles five minutes after,” Bolton said. “But it’s so much more fun (because) you have your teammates supporting you.”

Altick later clinched UCLA’s victory over Minnesota with consecutive 6-2 sets against Huber, sending UCLA to the championship against LMU.

Coach Stella Sampras Webster said the Bruins used Saturday’s win as an opportunity to make some adjustments for their championship matchup with LMU.

“We did clean up some kinks,” Sampras Webster said. “It would have been nice to have another match before the kickoff weekend, but they did a good job of dealing with it.”

Freshman Taylor Johnson saw her game-point serve returned into the net, giving her the win over LMU’s Camila Tumosa to clinch a 4-0 championship victory for the Bruins. But Sampras Webster said the championship could not have been claimed without winning performances from the team’s older players.

“These guys are veteran tennis players who have been through a lot,” Sampras Webster said. “They know that they have to make adjustments.”

Senior Alaina Miller did not concede a single set this weekend. Miller won her doubles and singles matches against Minnesota and topped off her ITA kickoff with a third consecutive victory in straight sets over LMU’s Lillian Gabrielsen.

“We had a little bit of a rocky start,” Miller said. “For all the challenges that we did have, everyone played great.”

Now in her fourth season with the Bruins, Miller hopes the ITA Kick-Off Weekend will prepare the team’s newest players for their first collegiate tennis season.

“I think it’s most important for the freshmen, just to welcome them into the team,” Miller said. “Everyone loves each other and we know everyone has each other’s backs.”

Sunday’s win over LMU clinched the Bruins a trip to the ITA indoor championship in Seattle starting Feb. 8.

Women’s water polo extends winning streak to seven with pair of weekend victories

Another weekend, another sweep.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (7-0) earned two more top-25 wins this weekend at the Cal Cup, winning 13-8 over No. 13 UC Davis (2-3) and 14-9 against No. 17 Fresno State (2-6).

The Bruins’ first game of the weekend against the Aggies saw seven different Bruins score. Junior attacker Maddie Musselman led all scorers with 5 goals, tying a career high.

Sophomore goalie Jahmea Bent subbed in for the second half against UC Davis, registering four saves and two penalty stops. She said UCLA’s growth in playing as one unit instead of as seven individuals helped the team continue their win streak.

“One of the big improvements has to be communication,” Bent said. “Especially with calling people back and helping on defense. Confidence, as well, like who we’re up against and how far we’ve come from preseason to now has been huge.”

In their final game of the weekend against the Bulldogs, the Bruins were down 3-2 halfway through the second quarter before scoring five straight goals to take a 7-3 halftime lead.

Freshman attacker Val Ayala scored five times over the two games. She said adjusting to the college game has been tough physically, but she feels she has adapted well.

“It’s definitely a lot more physical,” Ayala said. “A lot of the girls are a lot bigger and stronger. As far as the game goes, it moves a lot faster. But I think the transition hasn’t been too bad.”

UCLA also played two exhibition games against No. 2 Stanford (3-0) and No. 4 California (3-0). While the games did not count toward the teams’ records, it gave the Bruins an opportunity to compare themselves to their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rivals.

Coach Adam Wright said his team benefited from the exhibitions, both in letting the team’s depth get some game action and allowing his team to experience tough situations and how to deal with them.

“We got a lot of experience,” Wright said. “Everybody played. For us, the big thing was to see how we react and our decision-making. Overall, can we get better? Yes, a lot better. But there was definitely some progress.”

UCLA has played seven straight games against ranked opponents. The Bruins have won their games by an average of 4.4 goals, but their margins of victory have ranged from two goals to nine goals.

Wright said his team’s goal is to play the same way every time out and continue to improve in the finer aspects.

“(We want) consistency from quarter to quarter, possession to possession,” Wright said. “It’s the small details we keep harping on, whether it be our passing or our defensive body positioning. That’s going to be critical that we keep growing in those areas.”