“‘She Goes by They/Them’” is a biweekly series by Payton Kammerer, a nonbinary assistant Opinion editor. In these columns, they will be exploring a variety of queer issues, from those specific to campus life to those concerning broad public discourse.

“’She Goes by They/Them’” is a biweekly series by Payton Kammerer, a nonbinary assistant Opinion editor. In these columns, they will be exploring a variety of queer issues, from those specific to campus life to those concerning broad public discourse.

The first time I felt the impact of UCLA’s diversity was during New Student Orientation.
When things were in person and we could freely get close to strangers, you could feel the social tension between the incoming students – a palpable manifestation of the evergreen desire to find friends clashing with the intimidation of a brand-new environment.

This post was updated May 31 at 6:07 pm.
The pandemic has been a nightmare, but that doesn’t mean UCLA should leave behind the innovations it came with.

As UCLA looks forward, the continuing effects of COVID-19 are certainly a major concern.
But the dangers of returning to campus – and its myriad opportunities for partying after more than a year of social distancing – present another worry.

When those charged with holding the public to the law aren’t held accountable themselves, it’s time to change the rules.
On Jan. 1, UCPD began using body cameras, a move that had been delayed for various reasons since the change’s planned implementation in 2016.

UCLA has taken the first steps toward making campus a more inclusive space, but it still has a long ways to go.
Last November, University of California President Michael Drake announced a new University policy: accommodations to include students’ actual names, gender identities and pronouns on university documents.

History has a way of coming back to bite when it’s least expected.
UC Berkeley learned that the hard way in 2018.
In October, UC Berkeley announced plans to repurpose its Genealogical Eugenic Institute Fund, a $2.4 million endowment dedicated to eugenics research originally gifted to the Board of Regents in 1975.

When it comes to the environment, ignorance is bliss and education is a burden.
To anyone with a basic understanding of environmental issues, the planet’s future may seem bleak, but degree programs designed to cultivate expertise in environmental problems give students a more thorough working knowledge of all the ways humanity has damaged the natural world – and just how grave the effects of that damage might be.

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically upended life in the most unforeseeable ways. At UCLA, our community is remarkably united by similar feelings of loss, confusion and concern, but also by light, hope and the perspective that the pandemic has brought to the forefront.