Google to establish new offices near Westwood Expo Line stop

Google will establish a new campus near UCLA in two years.

Google has leased the converted Westside Pavilion shopping mall in West Los Angeles, now called One Westside, and plans to turn it into its new 584,000-square-foot campus. The 14-year lease will begin when construction, which will start later this year, is completed in 2022, according to a Google press release.

Owned by real estate companies Hudson Pacific Properties and Macerich, the property is less than 3 miles away from Century City, Westwood, Culver City and other neighborhoods in West Los Angeles.

The architecture firm Gensler has completed the designs of the new campus and plans to repurpose much of the former mall’s architecture for the new building. The campus will also feature a rooftop space with a garden and bridge access to the Landmark Theatre and Westside Tavern, according to the press release.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, who represents the council district that includes West Los Angeles, said he thinks the new campus will bring new tech jobs to both students and West LA residents. He added he thinks the addition of the campus would be a good update for the city because the former mall had been struggling.

Koretz said he doesn’t think the office will contribute to traffic because of its proximity to several major public transportation hubs, including the Expo Line’s Westwood and Rancho Park station. The campus is also close to major bus lines on Pico Boulevard and Overland Avenue and is a short distance from the Metro Purple Line, Koretz added.

Koretz added he hopes this will start a new tech wave in the district and that he thinks Google chose a location close to UCLA to capitalize on students.

“Hopefully it will pull particularly from some of our sharp students in the UCLA community and give them opportunities for jobs while they’re attending UCLA, (and) once they’ve graduated from UCLA,” Koretz said. “I don’t think it’s a total coincidence that they chose a location that is not that far from UCLA.”

The new campus would also lead to increased property values in the area, which could raise costs for those nearby, Koretz added.

“Property value increases cuts both ways. Some people will be happy about that,” Koretz said. “Some will find it more difficult to purchase a property in the immediate vicinity.”

Some UCLA students think the Google campus will help create jobs in West LA.

Anshul Aggarwal, a fourth-year computer science and engineering student and former president of Bruin Entrepreneurs, said they think the new campus will bring job opportunities and encourage more tech companies to move into the area.

“It’s definitely an interesting move, and it makes me hopeful to see more investment in the LA tech scene,” Aggarwal said. “Hopefully with the move we will see more visibility and collaboration at UCLA with Google and YouTube as well, and help elevate the current Silicon Beach ecosystem.”

Ethan Huang, a first-year computer science student, said he was curious to see how competition would increase for students applying to the limited positions at Google.

“I don’t know the effects on a large scale but it will be interesting to see how there will be increased competition amongst students who want to work at a reputable company that’s nearby with good compensation,” Huang said.

Koretz said the district and city planners will partner closely with Google to develop the property.

UC Regents recap – Jan. 17

The governing board of the University of California met for the second day of its January meeting at UC San Francisco on Thursday. Regents approved committee action items from the previous day and discussed changes to regents policy and discontinuing the student adviser position.

Governance and Compensation

  • Chair George Kieffer said he consulted Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting in 2017 to survey the 10 UC campuses and release a report with the results of the survey. UC President Janet Napolitano said she formed a working group with Kieffer and campus chancellors to address the results of the report, which was released in April. The report addressed the governance relationship between campuses and the UC Office of the President, such as whether UCOP duplicated campus programs and which programs were performed better by which campus.
  • George Blumenthal, the chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, said the report results found little redundancy in programs between UCOP and the UC campuses. He added the report found a large number of UCOP programs were working well. Blumenthal said the report found areas that could be changed, such as raising the gift threshold that campuses can accept without UCOP’s approval from $5 to $10 million.
  • The committee amended a regents policy to allow Senior Management Group members to participate in outside uncompensated activities without requiring preapproval from the University president. SMG members include those with certain leadership positions in the University, such as vice chancellors. However, SMG members must annually report their board memberships to the UCOP and are limited to hold two compensated outside Board memberships every year.
  • The committee passed a motion to discontinue the student adviser position and increase the number of Student Advocates to the Regents and Student Observers.

Board

  • During public comment, Jamie Kennerk, external vice president of UCLA, said she encourages the regents to visit the UCPath center to learn more about it.
  • The board approved the action item from the Academic Affairs committee to charge supplemental tuition for the Natural Language Processing program, a one-year program at UC Santa Cruz to train people to be engineers with expertise in NLP. However, it pushed approval of tuition for the UC Berkeley Leadership for Educational Equity Program to next meeting.
  • The board approved the amendment about the regents policy allowing Senior Management Group members to participate in some outside activities without requiring preapproval from the University president.
  • The board voted to discontinue the student adviser program in exchange for more Student Advocates to the Regents and Committee Observer positions.
  • The board approved the Health Services Committee’s request that health and counseling centers on the UC campuses have access to electronic records that hospitals have.

David Geffen School of Medicine raises admission standards, incites controversy

The medical school is raising admission standards for next year’s applicants.

The David Geffen School of Medicine is raising its math and science GPA and MCAT cutoff scores to 3.4 and 512, respectively, according to a policy proposal released by school of medicine faculty and students. Many students said they are worried this will negatively affect the school’s diversity.

Calvin Lau, a second-year medical student, said he had no problem with the increased standards, as long as admissions gave each applicant a fair chance to get into the school.

“I think test scores and GPA are very much tied to things that a lot of students do not have a lot of control over, like their background,” Lau said. “And I think if you just take people with the highest test scores you’ll get a very homogeneous class.”

Reijiani Relova, a premedical and fourth-year biology student, said the changing admissions standards is intimidating considering the already competitive nature of medical school applications.

“All through college, being (premedical) has already been an uphill battle to keep your GPA a minimum of at least 3.6 to even be competitive at mid-tier schools,” Relova said.

Clarence Braddock, the vice dean for education and chief medical education officer, said in an email statement the admissions office recognizes students from disadvantaged backgrounds may have lacked various opportunities throughout their educational career, which can negatively affect performance on standardized tests and grade point average.

Braddock added the school of medicine receives more than 14,000 applications for 175 spots. The school’s application review considers socioeconomic or educational disadvantages.

Over 300 students, faculty and alumni expressed concerns about the admissions changes at a town hall Dec. 4.

Attendees formulated a policy proposal in opposition to the changes, which will affect the entering class of 2019. The proposal argued increasing MCAT and GPA thresholds prioritize efficiency over holistic review.

The proposal states these changes would systematically prevent applicants of lower socio-economic status from making it past the primary screening process. It cites research which shows standardized tests are not objective ways of analyzing a student’s knowledge.

Relova said while a more rigorous admissions standard could be appealing to administrators, she thinks the new standard will discourage students from applying in the first place.

“I can understand why this would sound appealing to (the school of medicine), but I think it will bar so many students from even considering applying,” Relova said.

Contributing reports from Kate Nucci, Daily Bruin staff

UC Board of Regents votes to end student adviser position this summer

The University of California Board of Regents voted Thursday to discontinue the Student Advisor position after July.

The Board of Regents voted to discontinue the position during their meeting at UC San Francisco and decided to instead increase the number of Student Observer positions and Student Advocates to the Regents, or StARs. The student adviser program was created in January 2016 as a two-year pilot program to increase student representation on the board.

Regent Richard Sherman initially recommended that the board vote to discontinue the position in a statement in December. However, following criticism from student leaders, Sherman reversed the recommendation, adding that the regents should continue the position for one year to review and improve it.

The UC Student Association voted Sunday in support of ending the position and instead recommended expanding other student roles, such as Student Observers and StARs.

Edward Huang, the current student adviser, said he was left out of UCSA discussions regarding discontinuing this position. Huang, a fourth-year mathematics and computer science student from UC Berkeley, added that he thinks most students support extending the student adviser position.

“This alleged division is a power play by small handful of student leaders,” Huang said at the meeting. “This lack of transparency shows elected student leaders want to eliminate other leadership roles that are competing with their own.”

However, Student Regent Devon Graves said Huang was given opportunities to address the motion, and that he had been part of meetings and phone calls with the Regents office and was consulted on this topic. In addition, the Regents office conducted an analysis of the pilot program, Graves said.

The position was established as a one-year term based on the assumption that undergraduate students could not commit to a two-year appointment and would be more interested in a one-year term, Graves said. However, the analysis from the Regents office found that the student adviser position did not generate as many applications as expected.

Students had the option to apply for both the student adviser and student regent positions on the application. Four students in 2017 and 2018 applied for the student adviser position alone. Fifteen students applied for both student regent and student adviser in 2017. Twenty-two applied for both positions in 2018, Graves added.

However, more than a hundred students apply to be a University of California’s Advocacy Network ambassador and 20 to 30 students apply to be StARs every meeting, he said.

“Students are turned away from both UCAN ambassador and StAR positions because of the high demands,” Graves said.

UC President Janet Napolitano, who voted in support of discontinuing the program, added that no student communicated to her or brought up during public comments that they opposed discontinuing the student adviser position.

Huang added he thinks UCSA decided to support discontinuing this position in return for more UCSA-controlled positions.

However, Graves said he thinks more students would benefit from this change.

“I’m comfortable with this action knowing we are increasing other student leadership and engagement opportunities with the Board of Regents,” he said.

Students offer perspectives on benefits, drawbacks of work-study jobs

It was only 5:30 a.m., but Maya Ervin was at work, helping out athletes at her sports medicine internship. She would finish at noon, grab a quick lunch, go to class and go back to work until 8 p.m.

Thousands of UCLA students participate in work-study, holding jobs on and off campus in order to meet financial needs. For these students, proper time management is crucial in order to juggle work, academics and a social life.

Hope Shin, a second-year undeclared student, works in the Asian American Studies Center Library. She works approximately six to seven hours a week and has learned to balance her job and schoolwork.

“There’s less time to rest or do nothing, or just go on YouTube or Facebook,” Shin said. “Now that I don’t have my afternoons because I work, I just have to be more strategic on when I’m going to get my class stuff done.”

Daniel Hou, a second-year applied math student who works in Bruin Cafe, said getting a job helped add more structure to his days. He added that working helped him overcome his procrastinating habits.

“It felt like in the first two quarters, I had too much free time,” Hou said. “It gave me a schedule for my days, and I put better use to the days I don’t work.”

Ervin, a third-year psychology student, juggles three positions on campus. She works up to 20 hours combined as a front desk worker in the John Wooden Center, as an intern for sports medicine and as a resident assistant on the Hill.

“I get a lot of my work done on the weekends. Time management is a big thing, and I just like staying organized,” Ervin said. “So far, three years in, it hasn’t impeded on my ability to hang out with my friends or study, so that’s nice.”

Students are also usually given flexibility in their work schedule to ensure they have enough time for their schoolwork.

“Before midterm or finals week, (my boss) will say if I need to not come to work because I’m busier, it’s okay,” Shin said. “Some jobs, you don’t really have that choice, if you can’t come to work you have to find someone to cover for you.”

As an RA, Ervin also has a flexible work schedule. She said that her bosses understand that students are quite busy and may need to make adjustments to their work hours. She said that she is often able to schedule or change meetings to accommodate her schedule.

However, many students said having a loaded work and class schedule has affected their social lives.

For Shin, the biggest consequence was having less time for meals than before. She said that she would normally meet up with friends for lunch before she got a job, but now she will typically just grab a quick bite before heading to the library.

“I would still meet up with people on campus, but it wouldn’t be for a meal. I would just have to compensate for it in different ways,” Shin said. “But also, it was different, meeting up with people over a meal versus just hanging out.”

On the other hand, Hou said getting a job has allowed him to do more activities with his friends. He added that he can now afford to go out with friends outside of UCLA because of his extra income.

Shin said she is still able to maintain her commitment to her extracurricular activities such as Grace on Campus and Super Mileage Vehicle.

“All my extracurricular stuff is in the evening,” Shin said. “I still want to do that stuff, so if I had to work more, it would just take away from my sleep.”

Both Shin and Hou are satisfied with the amount of sleep they get, but for students who work longer hours, setting aside enough time for sleep and maintaining a balanced lifestyle can be a struggle.

Steven Huang, a second-year mechanical engineering student, worked around 18 to 20 hours a week as an assistant for the UCLA Housing and Hospitality team.

“I ultimately left the job because I got sick due to my lack of sleep and because I reached a point where I could not manage my time with the given activities,” Huang said. “I wanted to focus on academics and clubs, which aid in my long-term career.”

Ervin initially quit her job at the John Wooden Center because it consumed too much of her time. She later returned to the job to work reduced hours.

“I had quit my freshman year because I was an RA, and they just asked if I would come back and just work a short amount of time, which I was happy to do,” Ervin said. “It’s nice to go back to Wooden and have that source of income.”

Huang said that he was often very tired due to his job, which hindered his ability to learn in class. He also added that he felt more detached from his friends because he couldn’t hang out with them as much.

“I essentially gave up my time, which is one of the most valuable commodities that I owned, for money,” Huang said. “That’s all jobs, but I decided I had different priorities for my time, that I could have spent exercising, studying more, hanging out or sleeping.”

Federal financial aid policy hinders off-campus students from paying rent on time

Jan. 1. New year, new you, right? All that’s on your mind is that it’s time to start eating at Bruin Plate and hitting up the Bruin Fitness Center regularly.

Unless you live off campus, in which case rent is the only thing on your mind.

In order to pay for UCLA, some students have to ask for private loans, which often have high interest rates. When students apply for private loans, they have their credit scores checked and sign contracts with the institution issuing the private loan. This institution then sends UCLA, not the student, the loan money – which can cover tuition, rent or extra fees depending on the amount rewarded. After being used to pay off a student’s BruinBill, UCLA disburses a refund of the remaining amount to students. This is important for students who live off campus and have to pay for their rent.

The catch: UCLA must adhere to federal regulations regarding when it can disburse aid.

But a lot of UCLA students who live in non-UCLA housing in Westwood do not get to choose when their lease begins, and their rent is due on a date out of their control. While some apartment complexes allow a grace period of one to two days, this is not always enough time for the refund to reach the student. Students can be forced to pay for their rent out-of-pocket in order to pay on time, something that is not always economically feasible.

For example, refunds for winter quarter are disbursed Jan. 1. But that is not when the money reaches the student’s bank account.

“Financial aid disburses (within) two to three days with Bruin Direct, and, if not, it is mailed as a check (within) 10 to 12 business days,” said Amber Reveles, a student adviser for UCLA Financial Aid and Scholarships.

Federal and state regulations do not synchronize with students living outside UCLA-provided housing. UCLA must adhere to these rules, so it cannot prematurely disburse refunds to a student whose rent is due before the disbursement dates, said UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez. This leaves students scrambling for money in order to foot the cost of their rent.

Despite offering college students millions in loans every year to help alleviate the economic burden of college, federal and state governments still manage to inconvenience college students by not making that money accessible on time.

In order to assist students living in university housing, UCLA Housing works cohesively with UCLA Financial Aid and Scholarships so students can pay their rent on time with their financial aid.

For example, Amy Tuey, a third-year nursing student, lives on campus and takes out Stafford loans to help pay her school fees.

“I live on campus, so my loan auto-pays for part of my fees and my father pays the rest,” Tuey said.

However, students who live off campus do not have that convenience.

Vincent Loyal, a fourth-year biology student, takes out federal loans to pay for housing. He said because his rent is due Jan. 1, his parents have to pay for his rent out-of-pocket before they are refunded.

But not everyone’s parents are economically able or willing to help pay for their children’s fees, meaning the federal government is using them as a crutch to temporarily close the gap between when fees are due and when money to pay them is available.

UCLA provides emergency loans when students need money before refunds for housing are disbursed. But emergency loans are a retroactive fix to a problem in federal policy. Students can ask for up to $200 or $350 depending on whether they meet particular criteria or are employed. Yet UCLA itself, in its expected cost of attendance, lists housing costs as $939 a month – emergency loans will surely fail to cover any student’s entire rent.

Basically, UCLA has to pick up federal and state governments’ slack and attempt to put a Band-Aid on the gaping issue of the misalignment of disbursement and due dates for students in nonuniversity housing. As UCLA cannot preemptively disburse money, it is left with the task of trying to mitigate financial issues for students. If federal regulations gave more leeway for financial aid disbursement dates, UCLA would not have to expend resources on this.

This is an issue that has already been brought to the attention of the U.S. Department of Education. A federal register document from 2015 published a commenter’s note that the delay in access to refunds “(negates) the intended benefit of the regulations to give students timely access to their financial aid funds.”

That was 3 1/2 years ago.

Of course, it would be difficult for the federal government to disburse aid money based on every single student’s rent date schedule. But most rent dates are predictable, and students should be able to receive the full amount of their financial aid refund in time for their rent due date with proper documentation.

Certainly, universities like UCLA try to dull this financial blow by providing emergency loans and direct deposit, among other things.

But that’s equivalent to using tape to patch a leaking pipe instead of having a plumber replace the unit – a temporary measure at best.

UC chancellors’ decision to thwart academic boycotts protects free speech

In December, the University of California’s 10 chancellors all made a decision to promote and preserve intellectual pursuit over a political agenda.

It was the right one.

Numerous institutions launched an academic boycott of Israel in April 2004 following rising tensions in the Israel-Palestine border conflict. The demonstration was part of the larger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

But UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, along with his counterparts at other UC campuses, has consistently opposed the academic boycott in an attempt to further values of discussion and debate on campus.

Politically oriented academic boycotts tend to limit our exposure and access to sources and opportunities that allow us to expand our academic horizons. Having access to varying opinions is very important, as it allows universities to participate in an open exchange of knowledge and information, thus enabling students to form well-informed opinions of their own.

Universities and other institutions of higher education exist to promote healthy, well-rounded conversations regarding important issues impacting our world. Academic boycotts, on the contrary, oppose just that. As such, it is crucial that the UC continues to condemn and oppose any and all academic boycotts.

Ricardo Vazquez, a UCLA spokesperson, said the UC system has maintained a long-standing position opposing calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel.

By condemning the boycott, the UC chancellors made it clear the University will not compromise academic freedom at the expense of promoting a political agenda. Taking a neutral stance allows universities to separate themselves from biases that arise as a result of advocating for one side of international relations or political conflicts. Universities should aim to be spaces where all scholarly ideas and opinions are respected without judgement, inconvenience or threats.

Academic boycotts are detrimental, since they tend to do more harm than good. In most cases, they fail to accomplish their intended political goal, as ruling governments are generally more concerned and impacted by social and economic sanctions, rather than intellectual ones. Moreover, they injure the virtues of freedom and knowledge surrounding universities.

An academic boycott of Israel would severely limit the ability of faculty members and students to study abroad in Israel, participate in events held and sponsored by Israel or engage in talks with Israeli state officials. Thus, it poses a serious threat as it not only shuts down an important avenue of learning for Bruins, but can also make Jewish and other pro-Israel students and faculty members feel restricted.

Neil Netanel, a UCLA law professor, said the boycott would harm U.S. faculty members and students, as it would prevent many Israeli leaders, including Nobel laureates in various fields, from sharing their knowledge.

Policy surrounding academic boycotts is also tenuous because it is hard to determine what the grounds are for cutting educational ties with a nation. David Myers, a history professor, referenced a letter by the Pitzer College president, which notes how difficult it is to determine whether a geopolitical conflict merits academic boycott. China’s invasion of Tibet, for example, has not been met with calls for cutting intellectual partnerships.

The effects of academic boycotts can also trickle down to students’ educational endeavors.

Khushi Jain, a third-year cognitive science student, said studying abroad drastically changed her perspective on life and exposed her to a new culture and lifestyle.

“Academic boycotts prevent students from engaging in such programs and opportunities, which can shape their personalities and help them develop both professionally and personally,” Jain said.

Many have argued in support of academic boycotts, claiming they are a warranted means of opposing oppressive institutions. Many Israeli universities have, for example, denied Palestinians their basic rights. Palestinian students are subject to discrimination and suppression on Israeli campuses, which are patrolled by armed soldiers trained to quell any protests. Thus, those in favor of academic sanctions and boycotts believe cutting intellectual ties is an appropriate response.

But while an academic boycott may openly oppose such discrimination, it is harming scholars and students across the globe, by hindering their access to important information and knowledge. In addition, geopolitical conflicts are diplomatic concerns for the U.S. government, and there are nonviolent ways of opposing the actions of Israeli universities, such as through trade sanctions.

The worlds of academia and political agendas should be kept separate. It is important universities uphold their values of respect and diversity. Participating in academic boycotts compromises the pillars upon which institutions such as UCLA are built.

The UC chancellors have taken a controversial, but important stand by opposing the boycott. Students and faculty may disagree with that – but at least we still have the freedom to discuss it.