Community Briefs

Small fire clears Student Union

Ackerman Union’s Campus Photo Studio suffered a small
electrical fire Thursday, causing the evacuation of the
building’s A-level.

Employees immediately extinguished the fire and no one was
injured. But the entire floor was closed for about 30 minutes while
fire department officials cleared out smoke.

Jerry Mann, director of the student union, said a hair dryer
used for processing passport photos shorted out and caused the
fire.

He added that all fire safety systems worked as designed,
including fire alarms and automatic roll-down doors for all A-level
venues.

“We get a lot of false alarms, and we’re glad that
employees didn’t treat it like one,” Mann said.

Schools will require sex offenders to
register

Gov. Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 4 requiring convicted sex
offenders to register with campus police when they enroll in or
become an employee at a university.

The bill, sponsored by assemblywoman Patricia Bates,
D”“Laguna Nigel, will take effect next October, according to a
press release from Security on Campus, Inc.

“We know that parents worry a great deal about the safety
of their children when they are away at college,” Bates said
in a statement. “AB 4 will help campus police defend students
and school staff from sexual predators.”

Current law requires sex offenders to register with police where
they live, but not with university law enforcement if they live
outside of its jurisdiction.

Anderson M.B.A. students win competition

A team of second-year M.B.A. students from The Anderson School
at UCLA won the 2001 National Student Case Competition held at the
annual conference of the National Black M.B.A. Association in
Orlando, Fla.

The Anderson team placed first at the same competition in
1998.

The competition attracts participants from business schools
nationwide, including Duke University, University of Michigan,
University of Southern California and Yale School of
Management.

Berns to head Fowler Museum

Marla C. Berns has been named director of the UCLA Fowler Museum
of Cultural History. The appointment is effective starting
November.

This appointment marks Berns’ return to the museum, where
she began her career in the arts as an African arts graduate intern
in 1978. She received her Ph.D. in art history at UCLA in 1986,
specializing in African art.

Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.