Submission: Campus approach to transfer students overly patronizing

Last year, a referendum was passed by UCLA’s undergraduate student body to add a transfer representative office to the Undergraduate Students Association Council. Additionally, in recent years advocacy for transfer students has grown, and the process for transfer students to integrate with the UCLA community has become more transparent. However, in a recent submission written by a director in the Transfer Student Representative’s office of USAC published by the Daily Bruin on Wednesday, transfer students are characterized as students who could face plummeting grades, diminishing mental health and even the possibility of transferring to another university.

This is the same stigma that has been used to describe those who face hardship due to mental aptitude, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religious background and other identifying properties sanctioned by student groups and university administration. However, as transfer students, we reject this premise. The UCLA student body has fought tirelessly to use our limited resources to foster a safe, inclusive, and diverse community for all, because being different can be challenging. As well-intentioned as that may be, the transfer student community does not belong in that group.

While we do not dismiss the hardships of any student, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religious background, we are not of the school of thought that believes separating students by their identity solves problems. It has led to a vicious circle within the community of expecting institutional help and shelling off responsibility. Although some transfers may request additional help because of extenuating circumstances, assuming all transfer students need this help for the sole reason of being transfer students is completely wrong.

This attitude portrays transfer students as helpless, and unable to take responsibility for themselves. It further implies that transfer students need to be patronized and treated differently because of their status at UCLA. The condescending hand-holding does nothing to strengthen the transfer student community. All students at UCLA receive a degree upon graduation, regardless of whether they transferred here as a third-year, or were accepted as a first-year. Therefore, transfer students should not be treated any differently. Putting people in groups further creates animosity among students and creates more division than anything else.

Additionally, there seems to be this opinion among some students that we deserve extra help because we are transfer students. However, transfer students will never be able to have the exact same college experience as those who started as first-year students because, by definition, transfer students initially attended a different college and thus will have a different experience. That is the cost we incurred by starting out at a different college.

This fact cannot be changed and should not be the focal point of conversation. Most transfer students have used the tools made available by the California Community Colleges system to get a quality education for a cheaper price. We have done our due diligence and compete at the same academic level as traditional UCLA students. In a 2011 College Board report entitled “Improving Student Transfer from Community Colleges to Four-Year Institutions – The Perspective of Leaders from Baccalaureate-Granting Institutions” Janina Montero, vice chancellor for student affairs at UCLA, said, “Transfer students bring a focus to their academic work and they graduate at the same rate as our freshmen. Our transfers participate in all of our academic departments. They are really spread across all majors.” While we may need help finding our way around the UCLA community, it should not be an expected service for us. It is our responsibility, as contributing members of society, to learn how to help ourselves instead of making the university responsible for our successful education.

Siciliano is a fourth-year mathematics/economics student and the president of Bruin Libertarians.

Jones is a fourth-year mathematics/economics student and the president of Bruin Republicans.