On this episode of This Week, host Jackson Wooton and correspondents cover major campus events, including the Palestine Solidarity sukkah protest, UCLA football’s first Big 10 win and the opening of the Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music. The episode also explores national election campaigns targeting overseas voters and features correspondents Alexandra Crosnoe, Una O’Farrell, Reid Sperisen and Sofia Alcomendas sharing their movie recommendations and insights from their respective beats.

Jackson Wooton: Hello. It is Friday October 25th, and you are listening to This Week by Daily Bruin podcast. This is the Daily Bruin’s weekly news podcast. Thank you for joining us on another episode. Today, we’ll be discussing the recent events all across this week on campus. My name is Jackson Wooton, and I’m a Daily Bruin podcast contributor, and why don’t we start off by saying what movie we’re looking forward to with our introductions?

Alexandra Crosnoe: Hi, my name is Alexandra Crosnoe. I’m the national news and higher education editor, and I’m the news correspondent today, and a movie I really want to see is “We Live in Time.”

Una O’ Farrell: My name is Una O’Farrell. I’m an assistant sports editor and the sports correspondent today. And a movie I really want to see is “Challengers.”

Reid Sperisen: My name is Reid Sperisen. I’m the music | fine arts editor and the arts correspondent today, and I really want to see “The Room Next Door” with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.

Sofia Alcomendas: My name is Sofia Alcomendas. I’m a podcast contributor and the national and international correspondent today. And I am also really looking forward to or watching “We Live in Time.”

JW: I’m super excited about “Wicked.” And now, let’s get into the top stories for the week. So first of all, what are the top news stories from the week?

AC: Yeah. So on Monday, Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace set up a Palestine Solidarity sukkah, which is a temporary structure used to celebrate the Jewish holiday Sukkot, to demand that the UC divest from companies associated with the Israeli military. The protest occurred in Dickson Court North, and it lasted around 12 hours. But around 8:30 p.m., police wearing riot gear arrived at the sukkah and issued a dispersal order, and while most members of the protests obeyed the order and left the scene, one person was arrested for failing to disperse.

JW: Thank you for that update. Do we know if these protests follow the new guidelines UCLA laid out?

AC: Yeah, so around 11:30 a.m., a representative from UCLA Student Affairs asked the protesters to remove the temporary structure, which is the sukkah, and to leave Dickson Court North because they were violating the new TPM guidelines. And for a little bit of context there, the TPM guidelines say that free expression activities must be restricted to areas around Bruin Walk and outside Murphy Hall, which doesn’t include Dickson Court North, and they also banned the use of camping equipment.

JW: All right, super helpful insight on that matter. Una, what are some highlights from sports throughout the week?

UO: Yeah, so UCLA watered a seven week long losing draught after capturing its inaugural Big 10 win, after defeating Rutgers in a 35-32 victory in a sell-out away match in Piscataway, New Jersey. Redshirt senior quarterback Ethan Garbers is notch career highs in single game rushing yards, passing yards and passing touchdowns in the Bruins’ first ever match up against the Scarlet Knights. Senior running back Keegan Jones on the team with 114 receiving yards, fueled by Garber’s 84% pass completion rate.

JW: So what are some of the key strategies you’d say they use in the game?

UO: So this is UCLA’s fifth conference game in the Big 10. And in previous games, Garbers has struggled with placing all attention on either the run game or the pass game. And I think in this game, he did a lot better job splitting the offense. He ran the ball up 49 yards at one point, and his completion rate was the highest by a UCLA quarterback since 2000.

JW: Okay, a good record to have. What are the highlights from the world of arts and entertainment this week, Reid?

RS: On Sunday, Oct. 20, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music held a celebratory opening for the Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music at Schoenberg Hall. The establishment of the Center was made possible through a $5 million donation by alumnus Haleh Emrani and the Farhang Foundation in memory of Emrani’s husband Ahmad Gramian and expands upon the Iranian Music Program that was established in 2018.

JW: So what does this mean for representation of Iranian music at UCLA?

RS: Distinguished professor and composer Richard Danielpour is the director of the Center and said it is important for the Center to combine the research of the ethnomusicology department and performance elements of the music department. Postdoctoral fellow and lecturer Shahab Paranj will provide artistic direction for the Center and said he hopes to educate both Iranian Americans and non-Iranians about Iranian art, music and culture.

JW: What are some non-campus related releases going on?

RS: There are several exciting releases coming this Friday. Singer-songwriter Halsey will release her fifth studio album “The Great Impersonator.” The 18-track LP will draw influences from across several decades and is Halsey’s first release with Columbia Records. The new album will follow 2021’s “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.” Likewise, the film “Venom: The Last Dance” will be released in theaters this Friday. The movie stars Tom Hardy and will be the third and final entry in the “Venom” franchise, which began in 2018.

JW: I’m a huge Marvel nerd, so I’ll have to check that one out. So Sophia, what are some highlights from the news nationally, internationally right now?

SA Yeah, so both U.S. election campaigns are targeting overseas voters with the election 11 days away. Both the Republican and Democratic nominees are busy campaigning for votes in this important election year. Akey demographic is the 1.6 million Americans who live abroad and are eligible to vote in crucial swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and Michigan.

JW: Has there been any pushback about this election season?

SA: Yeah. So recently, a Michigan judge shut down efforts by the Republican Party to block voters abroad. The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit arguing that election laws are unfair as American voters who had never lived in the U.S. but had family who did are able to vote. Judge Sima Patel ruled that there are no grounds to invalidate this election law.

JW: What’s going on internationally?

SA: So some good news. Manchester Arena bombing survivors win a lawsuit against a conspiracy theorist. The survivors of a suicide bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017 won a harassment lawsuit against a conspiracy theorist Richard Hall, who claimed that the attack was an elaborate hoax and that the victims were crisis actors. A court statement finds that his course of conduct online was a reckless abuse of freedom, as Mr. Hall had compiled and falsified evidence of victims not attending the event or faking the extent of their injuries. Victims have spent many years advocating for themselves as many need full-time physical and psychological care. The ruling on this case sends a message warning against the dangers of posting harmful and untrue allegations online, and a separate hearing will be set to determine his charges.

JW: So stay up to date on that hearing. Thank you all for joining us today, and thank you so much from our contributors around the Daily Bruin. Come back next week for another episode of This Week.