Regents return to UCLA roost

By Phillip Carter
Daily Bruin Staff

Indicating a major reversal in UC policy for Board of Regents’
meetings, UC President Richard Atkinson said on Tuesday that he
would recommend resuming rotation of meetings between UC
campuses.

"I think we’ll start moving back to UCLA in March or so,"
Atkinson said Tuesday at the conclusion of a meeting with UCLA’s
undergraduate and graduate student president.

"Historically, we popped between Los Angeles and San Francisco,
because it’s convenient for people who wanted to comment," said
Atkinson, adding that meetings also rotated to the San Diego,
Irvine and Davis campuses on occasion.

The change comes as the regents’ meetings have gradually become
less raucous and unruly, and fewer protesters have turned out for
them. At their September meeting in San Francisco, a small band of
protesters made an appearance but quickly left at the end of the
morning public-comment period.

The lack of demonstrators marks a dramatic change from the type
of meetings that occurred just a year ago, when dozens of
protesters would shut down sessions for hours and were frequently
forced out by university police in riot gear, UC officials
said.

Those contentious meetings became a regular feature of the Board
of Regents in January 1995, when Regent Ward Connerly first brought
up the subject of affirmative action at UCLA.

But the recent trend mirrors what many UC Regents’ meetings
looked like during the anti-war protests of the 1960s. More
recently, 1,000 protesters laid down next to cardboard tombstones
in front of Royce Hall to protest the regents’ fee raises in
1992.

But in April 1995, then-Chairman Clair Burgener decided to move
all meetings to UC San Francisco’s Laurel Heights campus because of
its "fortress" structure and ease of security.

"We were better off meeting in Laurel Heights, where at least we
can guarantee security for the public and ourselves," Burgener
said.

Explaining the decision then, UCLA Police Capt. Terrence Baker
said that it was much less complicated to safeguard the UC San
Francisco site than UCLA’s James West Center, because of the way
the campus is built.

"Securing the Laurel Heights location tactically is simpler than
securing the James West Center, just because of the logistics of
where the building is," Baker said last May about the move.

But UC officials said that several other sites are under
consideration at UCLA for regents’ meetings, including the Korn
Convocation Hall, the Northwest Campus Auditorium, and the Grand
Ballroom in Sunset Commons. Other potential sites on campus include
the Ackerman Grand Ballroom and Pauley Pavilion.

Atkinson toured both the Korn Hall and Northwest Campus sites
during a visit to UCLA this week, evaluating them for his
inauguration ceremony as UC President.

With the myriad of potential meeting places, Baker said he could
not yet project what it would take to secure the regents’ meeting
at UCLA. But should a final decision be made, he said the UCLA
Police Department would begin a comprehensive review of the site,
and gather as much "intelligence" as possible about the current
campus environment.

"(Security) depends also on what’s going on, and when the
regents meeting is proposed to come to UCLA, what demonstrations,
or what other special events are occurring, and are there any
threats being extended to the regents," Baker explained.

In addition to security issues, UC officials said there were
cost concerns involved in centralizing the Board of Regents at UC
San Francisco.

"When the regents met at UCLA in March (1995) and there were
security concerns, it cost approximately $40,000 more (than at UC
San Francisco) for the one day in which extra security was brought
in," said UC spokesman Terry Colvin.

How much it would cost to secure the UCLA meetings now in one of
those sites is uncertain, Baker said.

"We look at the facility, how secure it is, how many doors there
are, easy access points if we want to render the facility
inaccessible. Even if the event may not call for that, we have to
consider doing that," said Baker, describing the way those plans
were developed.