Rehearsal for Bruin Life event explores diversity at UCLA

It began with a description of an ideal college climate, free of racial discrimination, sexism and homophobia but the presenters soon let their audience know they thought that was not an accurate description of UCLA.

In recent years there have been some incidents of discriminatory behavior at UCLA, including offensive stickers outside the Afrikan Student Union following Freddie Gray’s death and accusations of anti-Semitic behavior against several members of the undergraduate student government.

New first-year and transfer students learned about life at UCLA at the first-ever Rehearsal for Bruin Life on Monday.

Bobby Gordon, an event emcee, said although he loves UCLA, it is not perfect.

As hundreds of students entered Pauley Pavilion for the event, screens around the hall displayed adverts for different groups and campaigns, including All of Us, a mental health campaign founded by undergraduate students.

The screens around the room also showed advice for new students, ranging from healthy sleep patterns to tips on how to study, as well as trivia questions about different UCLA facts. The hashtag #myBRUINstory was also displayed around the room, encouraging students to share their stories as UCLA students.

In the event’s opening skit, presenters introduced issues students might face on campus including difficult roommates, discrimination and gender bias before assuring students that positives also exist, such unexpected best friends and unlimited possibilities.

Lakhiya Hicks, the director of community engagement for the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, said UCLA officials created Rehearsal for Bruin Life to teach students how to be what she called true citizens of UCLA and to challenge students to transform the university.

“If UCLA looks exactly the same when you graduate as it did when you started, you haven’t done your job,” Hicks said at the event.

Sy Stokes, a student assistant at the Division of Enrollment Management who posted a video on YouTube about his struggles as a black man at UCLA, performed a spoken word piece discussing discrimination in the university system. At the end of the piece, he asked new UCLA students if they were ready to change the world.

Throughout the event, current and former students shared their stories about their experiences at UCLA and the different kinds of oppression or discrimination they had faced both before arriving at UCLA and during their time here, as students in the audience snapped their fingers, clapped and cheered.

Speakers included D’Lo, a transgender UCLA alumnus who spoke about coming out to his family and Jackie Lopez, a UCLA alumna and co-founder of Versa-Style Dance Company who spoke about feeling different from others when she began dancing at UCLA. Maryam Abdul Karim, a second-year student, also spoke at the event, discussing breaking stereotypes as a Muslim woman before she asked attendees to appreciate each other’s differences.

Janet Luu, a first-year pre-business economics student, said she did not know what to expect coming into UCLA as a first-year student and enjoyed the event because it gave her an idea of life at UCLA.

“It was interesting because they had such a diverse group of people and everyone had a unique perspective of the school,” she said.

She added that she thought the event prepared her more for her future at UCLA and would advise future new students to attend it.

Towards the end of the event, students from the audience shared personal stories briefly before the presenters read tweets that attendees posted during the event under the hashtag #myBRUINstory.