Welcome Week kicks off new UCLA year
By Aviva Altmann
Sept. 30, 2004 9:00 p.m.
The Associated Students of UCLA hosted a variety of activities
this week in its annual Welcome Week, drawing thousands of
participants to kick off a new school year.
Welcome Week, which has been a tradition at UCLA since 1997, was
put on in conjunction with the Undergraduate Students Association
Council. The week-long event has recently been modified to start on
what is known as Black Sunday, the Sunday before the start of fall
classes during which multiple fraternities formerly held large
parties.
Complaints had been filed against the Black Sunday parties by
Westwood residents, saying that they brought in many people from
outside the area, causing massive traffic, crime and overall chaos.
Holding university-organized events instead of the parties was
suggested in order to reduce this disorder.
Sunday afternoon, the undergraduate student government hosted a
carnival on the Intramural Field. The event was followed that
evening by a concert featuring Wildchild, a Doors tribute band, as
well as a dance party and a showing of the movie “The Big
Lebowski” at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Kenn Heller, associate director for the Center for Student
Programming, estimated that the carnival and dance drew about 2,000
participants, while the film was attended by about 250 people.
“Welcome Week was, overall, highly successful,”
Heller said.
Urim Ryu, a third-year student, said that she thought the
activities had done a good job of replacing Black Sunday.
“There are more activities this year than there were last
year, and more food,” Ryu said.
The ASUCLA-organized activities spanned throughout the week,
starting with a casino night in Ackerman Union on Tuesday. Students
played video games, pool and pinball for free in the Xcape game
room.
On Wednesday, ASUCLA hosted a job fair for students, showcasing
employment opportunities in restaurant, retail and administrative
services on campus.
ASUCLA held a “Back to the Beach” party on Thursday
with live music, games and free food samples from UCLA restaurants.
The event is scheduled to occur again today from 3 to 6 p.m.
Andrew Chen, a second-year student, said that he thought giving
the free samples at the party was a good idea, and that it tempted
him to sample foods that he would not usually pay for to try.
“[Welcome Week] was a great event. It had a very positive
outcome, and the students all seemed very enthusiastic,” said
Bob Williams, ASUCLA’s interim executive director.
USAC’s Cultural Affairs office also hosted Freshman
Convocation in Pauley Pavilion, which included multiple
student-group performances and a speech by the chancellor. The
event concluded with a barbecue.
“The purpose of the convocation was to give freshmen an
opportunity to see the different groups that they could get
involved with on campus,” said Courtney Martin, chief of
staff for Cultural Affairs.
Musical performances at the convocation included a cappella
groups such as Random Voices and Scattertones and drumming groups
such as Kyodo Taiko and Poongmul. There were also dance
performances from Samahong Modern, a hip-hop group, and Groupo
Folklorico de UCLA, a traditional dance group.
The UCLA marching band and the spirit squad also performed.
“The goal of the week was to provide activities and expose
people to things that hadn’t taken place in the past.
Students interacted and had a good time,” Heller said.
