Seniors to leave mark with clock tower
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 15, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 10, 1996
Gift to start ticking atop Plaza Building by spring of 1997By
Suzanne Scollo
Daily Bruin Contributor
Hoping to bring the focus of UCLA campus activity to a central
location, the Student Alumni Association revealed plans for a clock
tower in Westwood Plaza.
Proposed as the 1996 Senior Class Gift, the Arthur Ashe Center
Clock Tower  to be completed in Spring 1997  will be
located atop the Plaza Building.
Decided on by the Senior Advisory Committee, the gift was among
numerous proposals from different UCLA organizations. One group
that contributed ideas for the gift was the senior class.
However, not all seniors were satisfied once the clock tower was
decided upon.
"It seems to me that in an era of downsized government, when the
school can’t pay for necessities, it would make more sense to make
a substantive gift to the university," said Chris Schemers a
fourth-year political science student.
The clock tower will be used to create a focal point for the
campus, said Diane Burell, a fourth-year physiological science
student and senior class cabinet member.
Construction of the tower will take place once renovation of
Ackerman Student Union is completed. The Arthur Ashe Student Health
and Wellness Center will be relocated to the Plaza Building once
the bookstore and other student services move back to their
original location in Ackerman.
Funds for the project will be donated entirely by the senior
class with assistance from the UCLA Annual Fund.
"Our goal is to raise $100,000, half of which will provide for
the cost of the clock tower and the benches at the base of it,"
said Russel Heskin, a fifth-year sociology student and advisory
cabinet member. "The remaining money will be given to the Student
Health Center."
Student Health Services serves more than half of the student
population annually. Moving to the Plaza Building, a more central
location, is expected to increase student visits by 20 percent,
estimated Michele Pearson, director of Ancillary Services at
Student Health Services.
After the move takes place, the Plaza Building will be renamed
the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center. Named for Ashe,
a UCLA alumnus and tennis star, the center will occupy all four
floors of the building.
"Right now we’re (hoping for) greater space because we’re really
crunched and twisted down here," Pearson said. "It’s a matter of
logistics."
Completion of the center’s clock tower is planned to coincide
with the transformation of the Plaza building into the Arthur Ashe
Student Health and Wellness Center.
The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center will be
relocated to the Plaza Building once the … student services move
(back to Ackerman).
