Construction builds clout for UCLA

Under Construction Like Always. That’s how many people
view UCLA. If you talk to those who have been around UCLA for many
years, they will tell you that there has never been a period of
time when there was no construction on campus.

To understand this, you must realize that UCLA is a living,
breathing city with more than 56,000 inhabitants. You can naturally
expect cities to change and redevelop themselves. With more than
100 buildings already constructed and several more going up, we
should not expect the pace of construction on campus to slow any
time soon. The sounds of cranes, jackhammers and massive trucks are
going to be part of our college experience, and that makes me
happy.

Happy? What? Why would the eyesore of construction make me
happy, you might ask? Well, construction means that the city I live
in is growing and expanding. If there was no construction on
campus, I would start to wonder if anybody was actually at the
control switch running this university.

Walking around campus ““ even during a financially
difficult time for the university ““ should assure most that
UCLA has a bright future ahead. If the university is able to find
more than $657 million for a new hospital, I know that my alma
mater is safe from whatever Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might come
up with tomorrow.

While I may not see CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute, for
my North Campus friends) completed as a student, I will still reap
the rewards of UCLA’s investment in the future. Twenty years
from now, my degree will be judged on the prestige of the UCLA of
the future. Without the current investments the university is
undertaking, my diploma would be worth very little, maybe about as
much as one from USC.

Yet for every freshman who is about to discover what UCLA really
stands for, there is still a chance to work in brand-new labs in
Molecular Sciences Building 2. They will be able to perform their
dances at the retrofitted Kaufman Hall. They could even learn some
Russian when Kinsey Hall eventually reopens under the name
Humanities Building.

I will not be around to use any of these buildings, but I am
happy that UCLA has found the means to improve the school in so
many ways. I may only have another year to enjoy the dust and noise
of construction ““ but, if you’re here longer, no
worries ““ it’s not about to go away.

Maybe I will see you all at our newly expanded Wooden Center
““ if the construction delays don’t last more than a
year.

Barbalat is fourth-year economics and microbiology,
immunology and molecular genetics student. He was a 2003-04
assistant Viewpoint editor.