• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Rentschler is a third-year cybernetics student.

By Scott Rentschler

Back when we used to bring G.I. Joe lunch boxes to school, many of us would engage in daily skirmishes on the playground to determine who got to play with the coolest things. The sandbox, slide, swings and monkey bars often fell into the hands of the bullies while the smaller kids got stuck playing where no one else wanted to. The only thing that mattered was size, because reason and compromise didn’t belong in the world of playground politics.

Now that we’re at UCLA, most of us probably believe that fighting over the sandbox is simply a distant memory. Well, grab your lunch boxes, because playground politics are back.

UCLA is one big playground filled with kids. The students would like to think they have a fair amount of control over what they play with here, but a bully is in control. That bully happens to be the university administration. Just as smaller kids are helpless against a bully, so are the students at UCLA at the mercy of the administration.

Consider, if you will, the closing of the Academic Technology Services computer lab located in the Math Sciences building at the end of this quarter (“ATS computer lab to close at the end of the quarter,” Daily Bruin, News, May 25). It will be converted into a research facility called the Technology Sandbox.

Currently, the ATS lab is the only computer lab accessible to all UCLA students in South Campus with a Bruin Online ID. If you happen to be a North Campus student, don’t turn to the crossword puzzle just yet. You, too, will be affected by the closing of the ATS lab.

The former ATS lab dwellers will be forced to flock to – you guessed it – the College Library Instructional Computing Commons at Powell Library, the only other computing facility accessible to all UCLA students. There are 14 other computer labs on campus, but most of them are restricted to students affiliated with certain departments or taking certain classes.

This is going to lead to a marked increase in the usage of the already-overburdened CLICC lab, which receives between 1,000 to 3,000 log-ins per day (Daily Bruin, News, May 25). There are 178 computers and 80 laptops at CLICC.

  Illustration by JARRETT QUON/Daily Bruin There are 58 computers in the ATS lab; that’s over one-fifth the size of CLICC. If the majority of ATS lab users go to Powell from now on, as they most likely will, there will be a significant increase in traffic at CLICC. I have often waited in line for up to 15 minutes to use a computer in Powell during peak hours. With the closing of the ATS lab, students will now look forward to an even longer wait.

Don’t be fooled by claims that the Technology Sandbox will benefit students by creating student internships. If you look at the number of students who will benefit from those internships and the much larger number of students currently utilizing the ATS lab, it’s obvious that the loss to students far outweighs the gain.

The administration is playing the part of the bully by taking such a valuable facility away from the students. According to Val Poliuto, manager of the Information Technology Alliance, “Students will have access to the technology available today as well as the technology available tomorrow,” (Daily Bruin, News, May 25).

By “students,” however, he must mean interns, because it’s unlikely that ATS will allow all UCLA students to wander into their Technology Sandbox and fiddle with their expensive gadgets.

The closing of the ATS lab is indicative of a much larger problem on this playground we call UCLA. If the administration continues to bully the students by taking away needed facilities and resources at its own discretion, in which direction is the quality of education at UCLA headed?

The administration’s mantra, “More money, less planning,” is an effective policy if the goal is to increase the size of UCLA’s bank account, but decidedly counterproductive if the goal is to increase the quality of education.

Examples of administrative bullying abound. Look at the recent debate surrounding the university’s denial to grant tenure to Professor Joshua Muldavin, a 1998 Distinguished Teaching Award recipient and chair of International Development Studies. His abilities as an educator and dedication to his students apparently did not factor heavily into the university’s decision process. If he eventually leaves UCLA because the university denied him tenure, the quality of education on this campus will suffer.

Look at the dire parking situation and the cramped on-campus housing situation. As the number of students forced to live off-campus rises, the number of campus commuters rises. Consequently the number of people denied parking permits at UCLA rises.

All of this happens because the administration continually admits more students than this campus can handle to increase funding. The well-being of the students is not a priority when such decisions are made.

Since our campus can no longer expand, the only way to extend programs or departments is to cut back or eliminate others, because expanding upward is something I don’t see happening anytime soon.

Realistically, programs and faculty generate funding, patents and publicity that stay and overtake the less lucrative programs. When is the last time you read a headline in the Daily Bruin stating, “Research lab to be converted into classroom?”

Hopefully it is becoming clearer that the administration has indeed been bullying the students on this big playground we call UCLA.

If the university sees itself as a world-class research institution, it should advertise itself as such instead of misleading prospective students. On the UCLA home page, I see the following passage from Chancellor Albert Carnesale’s welcome message: “UCLA’s leadership in teaching, research, and public service makes it a beacon of excellence in higher education.”

It’s funny that he mentions teaching first, because at this institution of “higher research” – I mean “learning” – teaching seems to come last.

I feel for the prospective students who see UCLA’s consistently high rankings in U.S. News and World Report and read quotes like the chancellor’s, being misled to believe that the quality of undergraduate teaching and student facilities at UCLA reflect its high ranking and praise.

If the decision of ATS to convert its much-needed computer lab into a Technology Sandbox where technologists can “play with and collaborate on different ideas” is an indication of the university’s prioritization of its students, our future doesn’t look so bright.

It’s time to let the administration know that the students of UCLA want their playground back.