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Black History Month 2025

UCLA extends remote instruction through Friday as evacuation zones near campus

The UCLA campus is pictured as fires expand across Los Angeles County. (Max Davis-Housefield/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Dylan Winward and Shiv Patel

Jan. 11, 2025 1:38 p.m.

This post was updated Jan. 12 at 10:53 p.m.

UCLA classes will move to online instruction until Friday, marking the second time in under nine months that a weeklong change to virtual instruction has been made.

The Academic Senate authorized the UCLA administration’s request to institute remote instruction until Friday, said Chancellor Julio Frenk in a campuswide email sent shortly before 1:20 p.m. Saturday. Although UCLA does not currently have any evacuation orders or warnings, areas less than a mile away from campus are under evacuation order because of the Palisades fire.

The authorization comes as wildfires burn across Los Angeles County. 

The largest – and nearest to UCLA – has a size of over 22,000 acres as of 1:18 p.m. Saturday, according to Cal Fire.

[Related: New evacuation warning for Palisades fire borders UCLA campus]

In a Saturday morning email to students living in university housing, Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Monroe Gorden Jr. said the campus could fall under an evacuation warning and urged students to prepare for a potential evacuation.

Students living on the Hill should report to Pauley Pavilion, while students living in university apartments should report to Tipuana Apartments if an evacuation is ordered, Beck and Gorden said in the email.

Undergraduate Students Association Council President Adam Tfayli said Saturday that an evacuation of campus would only occur in the event of an evacuation order, not a warning. He added that resources, including transportation away from campus, would be available to all students – not just those living in university housing.

[Related: LIVE: JANUARY 2025 FIRES]

A petition on Change.org calling for classes to move to remote instruction until Friday received over 3,700 signatures as of 1:18 p.m. Saturday. All 15 members of USAC also signed a letter calling for classes to be moved online, citing air quality and the mental health of members of the campus community.

Some UCLA instructors had already moved their classes during week two to remote instruction ahead of Frenk’s campuswide email.

Frenk said in the email that the transition to remote instruction does not apply to health care staff. UCLA Extension will continue with remote instruction, and UCLA schools will communicate directly with impacted families, Frenk added in the email.

“Throughout all of this, I have been deeply moved by the unwavering kindness, empathy and support shown by our Bruin community,” he said in the email. “I want to thank you for these acts of compassion which I have seen firsthand. We are seeing what happens when we all come together.”

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Dylan Winward | News editor
Winward is the 2024-2025 News editor and an Arts, Copy, Photo, PRIME and Sports contributor. He was previously the 2023-2024 features and student life editor. Winward is a third-year English and statistics student from London in the United Kingdom.
Winward is the 2024-2025 News editor and an Arts, Copy, Photo, PRIME and Sports contributor. He was previously the 2023-2024 features and student life editor. Winward is a third-year English and statistics student from London in the United Kingdom.
Shiv Patel | Campus politics editor
Patel is the 2024-2025 campus politics editor and a Photo and Social Media contributor. He was previously a News contributor on the campus politics beat. Patel is a second-year mathematics/economics student from Gilberts, Illinois.
Patel is the 2024-2025 campus politics editor and a Photo and Social Media contributor. He was previously a News contributor on the campus politics beat. Patel is a second-year mathematics/economics student from Gilberts, Illinois.
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