UCLA has hired a new director to oversee the facilitation of academic accommodations despite student opposition to the candidate.
Dean of Students Maria Blandizzi announced Nov.

UCLA did not renew a contract for a teaching assistant, who now has to find another way to pay for his cancer treatments and tuition.
Hughlin Boyd, a graduate student in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, received an email from UCLA the day before the start of the fall quarter, informing him that he was ineligible to work as a teaching assistant for the quarter.

This post was updated Nov. 18 at 1:17 p.m. with an additional statement from a UCLA spokesperson.
A group of at least 20 students has tested positive for COVID-19 after a Halloween gathering, a UCLA spokesperson said.

Student leaders have revised their plan to rename the Janss Steps and will instead propose a more inclusive name.
Undergraduate Students Association Council leaders and students from the American Indian Student Association now plan to make a proposal to rename Janss Steps to “Kuruvungna Steps,” after previously having passed a resolution calling on UCLA to rename Janss Steps to “Tongva Steps.”
Both the Kuruvungna name and the Tongva name were meant to honor Indigenous people who originally inhabited Los Angeles and the UCLA land, said AISA Vice Chair Desirae Barragan.

This post was updated Oct. 27 at 7:15 p.m.
Voters lined up around the Hammer Museum in Westwood to cast their ballots on Los Angeles County’s first day of early in-person voting.

Some UCLA graduate schools are now operating with increased COVID-19 safety precautions for in-person instruction.
In-person classes are limited to essential workforce training programs that cannot be deferred to an online format, said UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez in an emailed statement.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council allocated more than $700 to student groups. The council also appointed new members to the Academic Senate, the Community Service Mini Fund, the Campus Sustainability Committee, and the John Wooden Center Board of Governors.

UCLA reinstated a lecturer after it found his communications to students did not warrant a formal investigation, despite student petitions calling an email to students “tone-deaf” and insensitive.

Instead of celebrating welcome week with family and friends, Bruins wore masks and greeted each other from 6 feet apart as they hauled their carts of belongings into their dorms alone.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council discussed a research project that would determine whether a physical token could reinforce students’ adherence to COVID-19 health guidance. The council also appointed new committee members to the Academic Senate.