This post was updated at 11:16 p.m.
UCLA has spent at least $213 million on the Ascend Finance Transformation project, and yet, seven years after the project’s launch, it has few concrete accomplishments.  
“I can’t say that I’ve actually seen a live screen for Ascend,” said Reem Hanna-Harwell, a former member of the project’s steering committee. 
The initial reported budget for the project was $120 million, but, according to a presentation given during the May 2024 Ascend 2.0 quarterly town hall, the estimated total cost was projected to be roughly $286 million. 
The university declined to answer exactly how much money has been spent on the project since its official start date in April 2018. 
The Ascend project involves a transformation of UCLA’s financial system – moving from the current mainframe system to Oracle Cloud, modernizing the chart of accounts and upgrading all business applications which contribute data to the central finance, research and budget systems, according to the 2021 project charter.

This post was updated April 1 at 11:05 p.m.
Students at the Fielding School of Public Health are told to focus on vulnerable communities.
So teaching a class on Palestine – the site of what the World Health Organization calls an emergency situation – seemed only natural for a group of the school’s students.

Thirty-five pro-Palestine protesters, many of who participated in last spring’s Palestine solidarity encampment, announced Thursday they will be suing the UC, UCLA, police forces and counter-protesters.

Five people struck a student in the face and took his clothes in Dickson Plaza early Thursday morning while thousands of students participated in UCLA’s “Undie Run.”
The incident happened around 12:20 a.m.

The UC announced Wednesday that it will no longer require diversity statements as part of hiring processes.
The University has asked job applicants to explain how they would contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion at the university since the 2000s, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This post was updated March 13 at 11:54 a.m.
UCPD arrested one person Wednesday evening for grand theft auto after he stole a student’s electronic bike.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it sent two squads to back up police who cleared last spring’s Palestine solidarity encampment – but only after an acting captain told the Daily Bruin it hadn’t participated at all.

This post was updated Feb. 17 at 11:08 p.m.
A major UC union announced Friday that it will go on a two-day strike later this month.

This post was updated Feb. 6 at 10:25 p.m.
Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrated outside UC Regent Jay Sures’ Brentwood house early Wednesday morning.
The protest, organized by Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, began before 7:30 a.m.

A fire that started 1.8 miles away from the UCLA campus on Wednesday evening has been 60% contained.
The Sepulveda fire started around 11 p.m. Wednesday near the Getty Center, prompting evacuation warnings bordering the campus.