Beneath the veneer of academia, UCLA harbors a den of satirical wit known as the Westwood Enabler.

Established in 2014, the independently managed and student-led media outlet has specialized in shaping sardonic content. Co-editor in chief and rising fourth-year political science student Milo Ellison said the club crafts sarcastic pieces that dissect student experiences and issues by magnifying the comical undertones of campus politics. Through lampooning the latest campus trends and news, the Westwood Enabler offers a different perspective on the exclusive situations students face, he said.

“At UCLA, especially, what makes satire bite is timeliness and relevance to students in the most universal way possible,” Ellison said. “The stuff that does the best and hits the hardest is stuff that every student can relate to or is experiencing.”

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Ellison said he finds Westwood Enabler’s approach of using satire to highlight underlying power structures and exposing hidden truths as a humorous and thought-provoking way rather than a trivializing one. In addition to bringing clarity of purpose to the satirical pieces published by the paper, Ellison said the publication aims to carefully consider its targets and ensure that its caricaturelike humor accurately reflects the power dynamics without unfairly criticizing anyone.

Following the format of the satirical news outlet The Onion, Ellison said the Enabler’s concise format of its articles demands sharp, impactful humor. He said the collaborative editing process ensures each piece is polished and engaging, leaving readers eager for more. Ellison added that the rigorous process involves multiple rounds of revisions, allowing each article to reach its best possible form. This shared input from different perspectives creates a dynamic piece that showcases the varying staff and audience, making it more impactful and appealing, he said.

“We really have this checks and balances, where every article is the best version of itself coming out, and I think that’s what people respond to when they read it – especially when it’s timely,” Ellison said. “Like last quarter, everyone’s inputting and coming from all angles of reaction to an event, and it just makes the article so punchy because so many different people are writing in what they would want to hear as the audience, so we reflect a lot of our demographic just because of our staff room.”

Ammi Lane-Volz, co- editor in chief of the Westwood Enabler and rising fourth-year linguistics and anthropology student, said satire can descend into mere mockery when wielded improperly. Often, attempts at satire can devolve into offensive and mean-spirited attacks, lacking the nuance essential to the form, they added. A common principle in comedy is to avoid “punching down,” Lane-Volz said, meaning the target of humor should never be a marginalized group. They said inclusive comedy strives to be funny without resorting to harmful stereotypes or hate speech.

Moreover, Lane-Volz said they find the commentary of each piece to be what makes the satirical approach fulfilling. While supplementing with the use of strategic literary approaches such as wordplay, the Enabler ultimately finds a home in circling back to its mission of clarifying the purpose of the work, Lane-Volz said. In addition, when focusing on events affecting a large population of students at UCLA, the Westwood Enabler experiences some of its peak interactions with readers, Lane-Volz said.

Editor and rising third-year history student Gabe McNeill said when the paper focuses on real-world issues beyond Westwood, they aspire to present them in a straightforward, often humorous manner. Readers seem to enjoy the satirical takes on current events, especially political news, as it provides a comedic relief from the often overwhelming reality, McNeill said. The publication doesn’t shy away from controversial topics, he added, given the staff is directly experiencing the issues they satirize, so they feel confident pushing boundaries without fear of backlash.

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Despite finding ease in producing content that resonates with a large audience, McNeill said one of the biggest challenges of writing satirical pieces is warranting that they don’t include too niche of humor. They said being in a closely knit club like the Westwood Enabler tasks the staff with confirming that the jokes and content entered into a story aren’t just things the team finds humorous. Nonetheless, McNeill said there are various ways to go about guaranteeing that a joke or punchline lands with those outside of the writing office, such as having people who are not in the club read the articles and headlines.

“That is one of the biggest difficulties of the whole process,” McNeill said. “We’re a very tight club, we all hang out together outside the meetings. So there are inside jokes that develop, and it’s really easy to throw an inside joke into an article that everyone in the club’s going to laugh at, but you know no one outside is going to get it.”

At its core, the Westwood Enabler is a club that values the humor in people, said McNeill. He said in order to stand out in an application for the club, the most important thing is to be funny. The club is full of funny people, McNeill added, and it’s a supportive and fun environment. They said members enjoy each other’s company, creating a positive and friendly atmosphere.

“That’s kind of the beauty of the club – everyone who gets in is funny,” McNeill said. “Once you’re in, you’re just hanging out with a bunch of funny people, and everyone likes you because you’re funny. There’s really no cliques or anything, everyone is kind of hanging out because everyone likes hanging out. That’s a good vibe, you know?”