EDITORIAL Requirements treat students like cattle

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in
Chief  Timothy Kudo

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 Michael Falcone

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 Cuauhtemoc Ortega

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 Edward Chiao
 Kelly Rayburn

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 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao

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Even though the university has delayed enforcing the minimum
progress requirements that threatened to place around 500 freshman
on academic probation this year, no amount of suspended time could
redeem the misguided policy. It should be delayed permanently.

Minimum progress asks students to complete 13 units a quarter,
which means they have to take at least three classes but usually
four. While for some students, four classes a quarter is normal,
students who work to pay off their college expenses or participate
in demanding extracurricular activities often can’t handle
the additional workload.

Minimum progress is particularly upsetting for the burden it
places on freshman. It asks them to complete 27 units after their
first two quarters. But students who are new to the university need
time to acclimate themselves to their surroundings, volunteer for
student groups, find jobs, make friends and adjust to the fast pace
of UCLA’s quarter system. A few years ago, students were
encouraged to take only three classes in their first quarter in
order to do these things ““ now they’re being shuffled
through like a herd of cattle.

This university is not a conveyor belt. No matter what kinds of
budget and overcrowding issues the university faces, if students
are expected to develop here, it shouldn’t have to happen on
fast-forward.