University, state must start putting students first

EDITORIAL BOARD Christine Byrd
 Editor in Chief

Michael Litschi
 Managing Editor

Jonah Lalas
 Viewpoint Editor

Barbara Ortutay
 News Editor

Amy Golod
 Staff Representative

Timothy Kudo
 Staff Representative

Brian O’Camb
 Staff Representative

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The University of California has become a machine whose main
goal is to place students on a conveyer belt and get them through
the system as quickly as possible ““ even if it means
sacrificing the quality of their education.

And the problem just got worse.

A faculty executive committee of the College of Letters and
Science will soon vote on whether to change the unit requirements
for students. If the proposal passes, L&S students will have to
take a minimum of 13 units per quarter to be considered full-time
and the total units allowed before graduating would be capped at
216, instead of the current 228. Proponents of this measure hope
that this will make students graduate in less time, which is
especially necessary with the onset of Tidal Wave II ““ the
expected increase of over 60,000 students at the UC in the next 10
years.

Though the university takes this problem seriously, the
“solutions” proposed have negative implications for the
quality of education at UCLA.

One big concern is that many students may not be able to take 13
units. For those of students who work or are deeply involved in
extracurriculars, 12 units more than keeps their hands full.
Requiring students to take at least 13 units will be detrimental to
many.

Since students will be asked to take more units per quarter
while simultaneously having the number of total units they can take
reduced, they’ll also have less time to decide what to major
in, and much less to time to work on a double-major. This is
especially problematic knowing how many times students change
majors. Many of us come in still needing time to expose ourselves
to different subjects before deciding what we want to study.

Under this proposal, changing majors after completing a couple
of quarters at UCLA will be difficult, since students may be too
close to the maximum number of units allowed.

Even if students stick to one major from the outset, they still
won’t have the exposure to other disciplines or electives
that provide a broad perspective of the world, because of the
decreased number of courses they can take. And this has other
implications: it makes the addition of a diversity requirement at
UCLA even less likely. After all, if the new proposals pass,
students will have less time to take courses outside their major
discipline.

  Illustration by JASON CHEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff For
the sake of expediently pushing students in and out of the
university, UCLA is willing to deprive students of the important
benefits of learning about people from different backgrounds.
Familiarity with issues facing women, minorities, and the LGBT
community help students empathize with the conflicts they face and
may help stop hate crimes from continuing to occur on our
campus.

We believe the opportunity for students to enjoy a broad
education in and outside of the major is more important than this
plan’s giving them “a useful experience to meet with
counselors,” as Karen Rowe, chair of the committee, told the
Daily Bruin. While counselors do help students, visiting them
should not be substituted for educational opportunities.

We’re very disappointed that the Undergraduate Student
Association Council has not yet taken steps to ensure that the
students they represent are receiving a quality education. This
issue will have lasting consequences for all students entering UCLA
in years to come. It’s time for USAC, as our elected student
representatives, to take a more proactive role in this
situation.

It’s truly sad that students have to fight for the
retention of educational quality, especially since there’s no
reason why the university should be in this situation in the first
place.

In anticipation of Tidal Wave II in the 1980s, the university
planned to build three more UC campuses. But only one, UC Merced,
has begun construction, and it will not be able to bear the brunt
of the additional students. The state has not been much help
either. Too many prisons have been built recently, and only one new
UC is in the works. Who is getting prioritized?

The quality of students’ education should not be
compromised because the university and state did not take adequate
steps to prepare for increases in student admittance rates.
It’s not the students’ fault that the state is now more
prepared to imprison youth than to educate them.

It’s time for both the university and the state to stop
being negligent of students’ educational needs: it’s
time to prioritize.