UCLA gymnastics cinches success over Stanford in first road meet of the year

Despite a steady points increase with each previous meet this season, the undefeated Bruins posted their lowest score of the season over the weekend.

No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 24 Stanford (0-2, 0-2) 197.225-195.125 in Palo Alto, California, on Sunday in its first true road meet of the year.

“(The Bruins) work too hard and they work so well,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “They are fully prepared to go out and hit their routines, they just need to believe it. The scoring was really tight and the team really got themselves together after our first rotation.”

UCLA gymnasts took first place in every event. Junior Kyla Ross led in the uneven bars, freshman Sekai Wright led in vault and senior Katelyn Ohashi claimed the top spot in her only two routines of the night − balance beam and floor exercise.

Junior Anna Glenn − who scored a 9.875 on the uneven bars − said that she was proud of her performance at the meet and knows how to get better in the future.

“Everyone goes out there with the intention of going all in and hitting their routines with the sake of the team in mind,” Glenn said. “I want to work up from the score that I got today. This is a great starting point to keep growing.”

Freshman Norah Flatley said she was disappointed with her individual score on bars, but she knew she had a responsibility to her team to stay positive and cheer them on no matter what.

“For bars, it wasn’t as good as it was last week, and I always want to improve,” Flatley said. “But, I will always be rooting for them and doing whatever they needed me to do and be there for each individual girl.”

Ross stumbled on her landing in her vault routine, causing her to post a 9.325 − the lowest vault score of the night.

“(Ross) didn’t do well on vault, which was uncharacteristic of her,” Kondos Field said. “She said she wasn’t sure that she should go on to beam, but I just knew that once she knew the team needed her to compete, she would do well. She ended up telling me, ‘I’m good, I’m good to go. I’ll do it for my team – I’d do anything for my team.’”

The Cardinal has yet to break 197 this season and posted its second lowest score of the season against the Bruins.

UCLA owns the longest active streak of consecutive meets in which they score 49 or above in each event, with 18 competitions and 72 straight events, which is also the 3rd longest streak in NCAA history, according to the Pac-12 Network.

The only team ranked above UCLA − No. 1 Oklahoma − scored a 197.975 on Saturday, while No. 3 Florida posted a 197.675 this weekend.

The Bruins will meet No. 19 Oregon State on Saturday for their next away dual meet. They will be on the road until Feb. 16.

Individuals shine amid top-10 team finishes for men’s and women’s track and field

Sondre Guttormsen entered this season with high expectations.

The freshman pole vaulter was a high school state champion in the event and set a Norwegian record of 5.75 meters at the 2018 European Athletics Championships.

Guttormsen needed just one meet to join the ranks of UCLA’s greatest pole vaulters as his 5.71-meter vault Saturday put him atop the UCLA indoor pole vault record list.

UCLA track and field’s trip to New York City to compete in the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge yielded top-10 finishes for both the men’s and women’s teams, which placed third and eighth, respectively.

“(Guttormsen) is very competitive and dialed into what he is doing,” said track and field director Avery Anderson said. “Achieving your country’s national record indoors – that’s a big deal. He is not going to let off the gas pedal. … He knows that the stakes are high in the event he’s in, and there are few guys around the country at or beyond where he is.”

Guttormsen paced the floor with his hands behind his head and smiled ear-to-ear after landing onto the mat.

“This was my first (meet) for UCLA and I knew that everyone was expecting a lot out of me because of all (my past) performances,” Guttormsen said. “I was a little bit nervous – … I think that was one of the reasons why I do so well.”

Redshirt senior Elleyse Garrett and freshman Tate Curran – son of pole vault coach Anthony Curran – joined Guttormsen with top-five finishes.

Guttormsen said it was fun to see Garrett set a new personal record of 4.20 meters with her second-place finish, putting her at eighth on UCLA’s indoor pole vault record list.

Sophomore Alyssa Wilson and senior Justin Stafford notched their third consecutive wins in their respective events, the shot put and the hammer throw.

“(Stafford) has done a really good job on the season,” said redshirt senior Dotun Ogundeji, Stafford’s roommate. “I’m really proud of how he’s progressed throughout the year. … It’s where he wanted to be at (but) he knows he can go for more.”

Ogundeji placed second in the shot put with a season-best mark of 19.07 meters.

Redshirt senior thrower Ashlie Blake followed up Wilson’s first-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 16.89 meters.

The Bruins’ track athletes recorded 12 top-10 finishes, including one by junior Robert Brandt in his return to the 3000-meter run. Brandt placed first among 39 runners and broke the eight-minute barrier with a time of 7:59.11. Brandt’s time was the fourth-fastest in UCLA history.

Anderson said track events provide distance runners like Brandt more ideal competition conditions, whereas cross country lacks the pressure from being side-by-side to opponents.

“What I saw from (Brandt) bodes well for him being able to get out and compete,” Anderson said. “Not having to run by himself in a race and having some competition is better for his specific event.”

UCLA will travel back to Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 1-2. The Bruins kicked their season off with 15 top-three finishes in Albuquerque just one week ago.

Proposed Cal Grant reforms could further offset students’ financial difficulties

Students may become eligible for more grants through new reforms to a California financial aid program.

The California Student Aid Commission approved a proposal to reform the Cal Grant program Nov. 30. The proposed changes would improve access to the program, support eligibility for students taking summer courses, broaden its definition of total cost of attendance to include more than just tuition, and increase aid for students attending private institutions.

The Cal Grant program provides financial aid to college students within the California State University, the University of California and California Community Colleges systems.

Kimberly Hale, a representative from the UC Office of the President, said in an email statement that the current program has provided beneficial aid to students in the past decades.

In the 2017-2018 academic year, more than 75,000 undergraduates received about $950 million in Cal Grant awards, Hale added.

Lande Ajose, chair of the California Student Aid Commission, said in a statement the financial aid awards have been slow to adjust to the changing financial needs of the average California student.

The existing program covers basic tuition costs and some additional expenses, such as books and supplies. The proposed reforms would change the program to focus on the overall cost of attending college, which includes tuition, room and board, transportation and medical costs.

The CSAC also approved reforms to expand the program’s eligibility for students enrolled in summer classes. Under the current program, a student who uses the grant for summer coursework may lose eligibility for the grant in future years of college. The commission also voted to use a formula that would increase the grant’s maximum aid to students attending private nonprofit colleges.

Sabrina Isham, a third-year biology student, said she believes the proposals are moving the Cal Grant program in the right direction. She added she thinks the reforms are necessary in order to reduce the debt students accumulate during college.

“People normally come out of college in debt, and they’re spending a huge chunk of their lives paying it off, and that makes it really hard to accumulate wealth,” Isham said.

Isham said she relies on the Cal Grant system for about 50 percent of her tuition.

Alicia Cruz, a third-year international development studies student, said she was not sure whether she would receive financial aid for summer courses last year, which made it difficult for her to plan for the courses.

“Luckily, I got the minimum amount (of aid) which I needed, but I still had to commute (without aid) and I got lucky in terms of not needing to buy textbooks,” she said.

Hale said the UC Student Association sponsored a bill in 2018 to provide additional Cal Grants for summer courses, which the UC hopes will be continued this year.

The CSAC said in a statement the additional eligibility for summer terms could help students graduate on time.

Cruz said the uncertainty of finances impedes her enrollment, housing and transportation decisions, and she cannot start planning for these things until she knows her scholarship amount.

“It would really help us focus more on education, which is what we’re here for,” Cruz said.

While the maximum award increase proposed for students in private institution could increase the aid available to those particular students, public school attendees will not receive the same benefits because the CSAC has not proposed a maximum award increase for public institutions, said Ozan Jaquette, an assistant professor of higher education at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Without increasing the maximum amount of aid a public school student can receive, only those who are not already receiving the maximum amount of aid will benefit from the proposed reforms, Jaquette said. If the proposal were enacted, California would not provide aid to any more public school students but instead only provide more aid to students already receiving awards.

“It might not exactly benefit the (public university) students with the most need, but more of the people receiving (awards) in the middle,” Jaquette said.

Jaquette said the reforms could also increase the number of lower-income students admitted to private universities. He added colleges will be less likely to consider students’ finances in acceptance decisions if they do not have to worry about whether they have to provide financial aid.

Increasing the maximum award would level the playing the field for lower-income students, Jaquette said.

“The more generous those programs are, (the more) they increase the purchasing power of poor students,” he said.

The CSAC said in a statement that it looks forward to working with stakeholders, student organizations, the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom to enact the Cal Grant reforms.

UCLA’s East and West African communities come together for a week of unity

Nearly 40 UCLA students from across the continent of Africa gathered in Rieber Hall last week to promote unity between African student groups on campus.

The UCLA East African Student Association and Nigerian Student Association at UCLA held their first annual East Meets West Week from Tuesday to Friday. The four-day event aimed to unite students from the eastern and western coasts of Africa. Activities included a discussion of the divisions between the two coasts, a karaoke night and an African dance workshop where dance coordinators from both groups taught people traditional dances from different African nations.

Faith Bosede, president of NSA and a third-year physiological science student, said the two groups organized the event because they wanted to foster interactions between members of their organizations.

“We wanted to see African unity at UCLA,” Bosede said. “This type of event hasn’t happened between these two organizations, so we thought it would be an awesome idea.”

Temesgen Gebreyesus, the social chair of EASA and a fourth-year political science student, said the eastern and western coasts of Africa have traditionally experienced a cultural division that dates back to the colonial era, during which physical and cultural separations between African nations became more solidified.

“As far as the division between West and East Africa, until we unlearn what we have always learned, we embody it,” Gebreyesus said. “We bring over those colonial beliefs, especially colonial standards of beauty.”

The groups discussed how differences in skin tones, hair textures and body types have often been a source of division due to various stereotypical beauty standards in Africa.

Yabeth Haile, vice-president of EASA and a second-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said he thinks it is important to understand the diversity of Africa.

“Africa is seen as a monolith. People don’t understand the diversity within it,” Haile said. “Africa is such a large continent, and the diversity that renders between the countries is so vast that there is no archetype.”

During the event, students discussed differences and similarities in the marriage traditions of both cultures, such as traditional garb worn at weddings, types of food and dance styles. Despite differences between East and West Africans, Haile said he was surprised at how alike their two cultures are.

“After the event, whatever perceived differences we had turned out to be much smaller than our similarities,” Haile said. “I found that we actually shared more than I expected.”

Hermona Okbu, president of EASA and a fourth-year human biology and society student, said that while colonialism may have caused the separation between the two coasts, the two groups can still appreciate each other’s differences.

“I believe there is a beauty as well to the divisions, as seen through different cultural values, traditions and practices,” Okbu said. “It is all so beautiful.”

Moving forward, the groups plan to take part in more events together and become more involved in each other’s annual cultural shows. Okbu said being able to bring these two organizations together has been special to these two communities and a step forward in uniting the African community on campus.

“We are able to bridge the gap between the two groups,” Okbu said. “We strengthen each other through newfound support systems and connections.”

Bosede said, for her, East Meets West Week was more than just a week of fun events but rather a personal mission to break any barriers that separated the two groups.

“The whole reason I decided to run for president of the Nigerian Student Association was because I wanted to empower and unite my community,” Bosede said. “I see the East Africans as my community.”

Limitations, mosaic nature of global health tackled at LA Global Health Conference

An anthropologist said everyone should care about global health at an on-campus event Saturday.

This year’s Los Angeles Global Health Conference focused on the future of global health. Speakers at the conference presented on topics ranging from food access in Native American communities to surgical care in other countries.

Carolyn Smullin and Samuel Lewis, medical students at UCLA and co-directors of the conference, said their goal was to give attendees a better understanding of how multifaceted global health is.

Saiba Varma, an assistant professor of psychology and medical anthropology at UC San Diego, said she thinks it is important to analyze global health from multiple perspectives because many students want to go into the field.

“Health and disease and illness affect everyone. It’s such a fundamental part of being human,” Varma said. “We can learn lessons from other places and actually bring them back to our own communities and vise versa.”

Malavika Theophilus, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said she had never attended a health conference before. She said the event was eye-opening and that she was surprised to see how global health could be applied to so many different industries.

“It’s really interesting to see how global health is related to the government and surgery,” Theophilus said. “I never thought of it as a health issue.”

Varma added she liked the diversity of the conference speakers.

“I am really impressed with the way the students organized this conference,” Varma said. “I think they have a really interesting mix of speakers with different disciplines and different approaches.”

Varma said she hopes audience members who attended her presentation will leave with many questions.

“I think sometimes we have this sense of global health of being this really glossy and shiny thing that’s going to solve all our problems,” Varma said. “I wanted to disrupt that idea by getting into the ethical dilemmas.”

Bianca Mallari, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said she liked hearing from Michele Barry, a professor of medicine and tropical diseases at Stanford University and director of Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health. Barry talked about gender inequality in global health. Mallari said Barry’s presentation made her realize how women still face many obstacles in global health.

“(The presentation) was eye-opening,” Mallari said. “We like to think we’re progressing very well with women in medicine but there’s a lot more we can do.”

In between presentations, Emtithal Mahmoud, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, delivered poems about her childhood and activism, and she earned a standing ovation from the conference.

Smullin and Lewis said they hoped to inspire conference attendees to become more involved in global health.

“I hope that (the conference) has been enlightening. I think that most people’s idea and conceptions of global health are pretty limited,” Smullin said. “I hope they are inspired to get involved and stay involved.”

Dashew Center’s new student collective doubles as artistic, social avenue

International students can learn and teach art skills while socializing at a new art collective.

The UCLA Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars launched a drop-in art and writing collective Wednesday. The collective provides art supplies, including watercolor paints and brushes, felt-tip pens, drawing pencils and erasers. The collective also holds meetings at which students can work on art projects, teach each other art skills and enter raffles to win art supplies.

Hillary Thomas, a case manager for the Dashew Center, said she hopes the collective will expose international students to art while helping them adjust to life at UCLA.

“I’ve heard very personal stories about how difficult it is to … feel a sense of belonging and connection,” Thomas said. “Our hope is that the art and writing collective provides an ongoing drop-in space to help international students explore their creative side and meet new people.”

Ayesha Haleem, the Undergraduate Students Association Council general representative 1, said she believes the collective will allow students to share art from their respective countries.

“All of us come from really different parts of the world and the idea of art that we bring is very different,” Haleem said. “I think bringing … different versions of what we consider art or artistic (is) cool and interesting.”

Alex Chen, a second-year computer science student, said he believes the collective will act as a space for international students to share ideas in addition to creating art.

“I would imagine it becoming some sort of exchange platform, like talking about how you’re doing or how you fit into the entirety of UCLA … rather than just focusing on art,” Chen said.

The collective also provides opportunities for students to teach each other artistic skills. The first meeting of the collective featured a student-led printmaking exercise.

Thomas said the focus of future meetings will depend on what creative skills students want to learn and teach.

“The art and writing collective is less about structure and more about coming together to work on creative projects, collaborate and socialize,” Thomas said.

The collective will also publish an affiliated magazine featuring art and writing from international students. Students will submit their work during winter quarter, and the magazine will be published electronically on the Dashew Center website in spring.

Thomas said she hopes the magazine will allow domestic students to engage with the international student community.

“Maybe the broader campus (will read) the magazine and learn about a student experience or perspective they were unfamiliar with,” Thomas said.

Seven students attended the first meeting of the collective. To increase attendance, Chen said he thinks the Dashew Center should focus on what differentiates the collective from other on-campus organizations when promoting it to international students.

“Right now I think their proposition is (that) this is a place where you can come and draw and talk to people, and I think that’s something that other clubs can already provide,” Chen said. “I think they really need to figure out what their focus is.”

The collective meets every other Wednesday in the Dashew Center’s lobby. Haleem said she believes the collective would have a greater impact on the international student community if it were located in a central campus location, such as Kerckhoff Hall.

“There’s definitely a need for more programming or activities on campus pertaining to international students,” Haleem said.

USAC raises suspicion allocating student funds without student input

This post was updated Jan. 28 at 10:00 a.m.

In the late 18th century, American revolutionaries proclaimed they would not abide taxation without representation. Today, UCLA students are protesting funding allocations without adequate representation.

The old revolutionary refrain deserves to be revived in the wake of the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s attempt to dodge student scrutiny in the allocation of its funding.

At its meeting last week, USAC used a student fee surplus to approve several purportedly time-sensitive funding allocations, including nearly $40,000 in appropriations for several of the council’s programs. Although these allocations normally would be uncontroversial, they were passed ahead of an upcoming town hall designed to involve the student body in the disbursement of funds.

USAC’s decision to jump the gun raises questions about the nature of these time-sensitive appropriations. Specifically, it is reasonable to wonder whether the council labeled these appropriations time-sensitive in order to shield them from student scrutiny.

As it turns out, these particular appropriations were not objectionable in and of themselves. As Internal Vice President Robert Watson said, many USAC offices operate on shoestring budgets, requiring the occasional allocation of surplus funding to ensure popular student services can be maintained. In particular, Watson said several of the allocations ensured his office could continue to provide clothes to underprivileged students through the Good Clothes Good People program.

But that’s not enough to let the council off the hook. Though these appropriations may have been pressing in the context of each USAC officer’s particular responsibilities, that does not give the council license to allocate tens of thousands of student dollars without student oversight. The need for oversight and transparency in USAC operations is fundamental – it has been since last spring’s electoral coercion scandal, and it continues to be in light of Election Board Chair Richard White’s refusal to abide by conflict of interest recommendations.

Simply put, the council needs to avoid even the slightest appearance of duplicity by ensuring its funding is disbursed transparently. Whether the council intended to subvert the student body’s oversight authority by approving surplus appropriations before the town hall is immaterial. What’s important is Bruins could conclude the council intended to do as much.

If students are denied a fair opportunity to scrutinize appropriations, USAC’s already poor reputation for fairness and equity would be degraded further. The mere appearance of corruption can weaken faith in democratic institutions. When institutions are perceived as unaccountable or dishonest, participation in the political process seems like an exercise in futility.

This insight is vindicated by embarrassingly low turnout in USAC elections over the past few years. Turnout has hovered slightly below 30 percent, which suggests the council has to do a better job of legitimizing the democratic process and endowing it with significance for ordinary students. Although ensuring greater student oversight of the appropriations process hardly would cure all of USAC’s ills, it certainly would be a step in the right direction.

Put another way, USAC needs to ensure students are knowledgeable about the workings of their student government. Srikar Poruri, a first-year undeclared student, said the council’s attempt to avoid student scrutiny of its allocations was indicative of its inability to represent students.

“That seems kind of not right to me – not the right way of representation,” Poruri said.

To win the confidence of Poruri and others, USAC will have to ensure that students are provided some forum to scrutinize proposed funding allocations. Such a forum can be supplied by a town hall meeting, updates via the council’s social media pages or some combination of the two. However the council members decide to proceed, they must afford students the chance to contest funding allocations before they’re approved.

That is not to say attempts to increase student scrutiny wouldn’t present a new set of problems. Specifically, Watson argued a town hall is likely to be poorly publicized and sparsely attended, resulting in the allocation of disproportionate funding to well-connected, politically involved students. However, it’s important to note that any good-faith effort to increase student oversight of the appropriations process would entail substantial outreach to the student body. At that point, it is the political apathy of the student body, not USAC’s intransigence, that would get in the way of greater scrutiny.

Clearly, USAC must take steps to increase its transparency and ensure students can hold their council members accountable. Although these reforms wouldn’t address all the council’s issues, they would go a long way toward making sure the undergraduate student government actually represents undergraduates.