Editorial: USAC’s lack of transparency creates dangerous precedent

“Early Wednesday morning, leaders of the undergraduate student government made a decision to deny hundreds of assembled community members basic information necessary in assessing their student government.” That’s what the Daily Bruin Editorial Board wrote in 2014 after that year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council used a secret ballot to cast a vote on a resolution […]

Sikh Student Association aims to promote tolerance during awareness month

From a young age, Sonia Wraich said she has been bullied because of her religion. Wraich, a third-year biology student, is a Sikh and community service director of the Sikh Student Association at UCLA. She said she and other members of the Sikh community often face judgment, which makes her hesitant at times to display […]

Submission: Free speech should not give hateful dialogue on campus a pass

“Hate speech is free speech.” As a sophomore who was just getting acquainted with systems of authority at UCLA, this sobering truth sounded like an admission that we can’t do anything about hate speech on campus. Often, this platitude seems to be a flimsy excuse to justify staying out of the fray – that we […]

Editorial: University’s handling of upcoming SJP conference threatens First Amendment rights

This post was updated Nov. 13 at 2:32 a.m. UCLA is no stranger to ideologically charged campus events. Be it a talk in Ackerman Union by Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator, or a lecture in Royce Hall by Rahm Emanuel, Chicago mayor and former poster child of the Democratic Party, administrators have always had the […]

UCLA-affiliated professors nominated for EPA Scientific Advisory Board

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nominated a former UCLA professor as a candidate for its Science Advisory Board. He claims he was wrongfully terminated because of his controversial position on certain air pollutants. The EPA announced the 174 candidates for the board Oct. 16. James Enstrom is a retired professor in the School of Public […]

Editorial Board: Centralized on-campus voting seems convenient, does not curb long wait times

The blue wave came and went. But at UCLA, it wasn’t ideology that kept students from voting – it was long lines. Tuesday’s midterm elections were a critical point for the United States’ government, with students’ votes not only affecting who represents California in Washington, D.C., but also state policies regarding critical areas like taxation […]

Submission: Identifying bias within student government would promote minority involvement

I experienced a job interview like no other during last week’s Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting. I was interviewing for the position of USAC Election Board chair – the arbiter of student government elections. For nearly three hours, council members questioned my past leadership roles, my affiliations with student organizations and campus departments, and my […]