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Monday, June 29, 1998

Disorientation adjusts students to UCLA life

ORIENTATION: Confusion of college doesn't stop once you've found Royce Hall

Getting an education at UCLA is seismic restructuring for your mind, which makes perfect sense because UCLA's Statue of Liberty, Royce Hall, just opened this past winter after renovations were completed. Orientation is the unveiling of your college plans - you've sneaked a peak, you've maybe even visited a few of the "architects," but you haven't seen the pages and pages of plans UCLA has for you.

First you must understand that we measure our matriculation (if you're confused, "matriculation" in this context is a student's progress through school) by the number of years we have been here at UCLA, not by class year. For example, I'm a transfer student, which makes me a fourth-year second-year - confusing, don't you think? Transfer students fit into that "other" category, so basically if you asked me what year in school I am, I can't exactly say second because in your mind you're thinking, "He's a sophomore," which isn't even really true.

From the beginning, most transfers will revert back to the old convention and tell you that they're "juniors," not "third-year first-years." "Third-year" because this is their third year of college and "first-year" because this is their first year at UCLA.

Like transfer students, seniors - just like all students - have an identity crisis. I'm not really sure what year in school I am now because this is the summer, and I finished my third-year/junior year of college, and I have senior standing. So does that make me a senior? I'm not sure, because I haven't begun my senior year, but I do like the sound of "senior."

Maybe I should be a three-and-a-half year, because I'm between the third year and the fourth year, but that's just as confusing as saying that I'm a second-year student, now isn't it?

How about I go with pre-senior, because this is before my senior year, but I'm not quite a senior yet, so that may work. I'm a pre-senior (I'm not yet, but I will be).

Confusing, don't you think? Well, that may be how you feel now, because most of you are just getting used to a new campus; you'll be moving into the dorms or an apartment, and you'll be doing a lot of new (and sometimes uncomfortable) things. Maybe you're just a little disoriented, but remember this is seismic restructuring and not a complete demolition. Unexpected changes should be expected; even the architects who built Royce Hall couldn't predict the Northridge earthquake.

Perhaps you're saying, "But Royce Hall did look like that before the earthquake, right?" Well yes it did. For those of you who haven't seen Royce Hall yet, they planned 52 imperfections into the design for the hall: the towers aren't symmetrical, a window here and window there - it's all very confusing.

And the most surprising thing is that they didn't build it in the '60s, because if they did, we would understand - the plant foreman drops acid, a few workers do some marijuana, and there you have it: Royce Hall.

But that didn't happen (or at least I don't think that happened). But don't worry about it, we all get used to Royce Hall (and some of us even grow to love it).

Speaking of confusion, have you selected a major yet? (I'm sorry, I'm sorry ... maybe I shouldn't have written that.) I'm sure many of you aren't sure of what to major in, and even those of you who have a major don't know what to do with the rest of your life; it's OK, you're just a little disoriented.

To be perfectly open and forthright about the whole orientation experience (experience makes it seems more important), I think it would be too ambitious to say that you will be completely oriented with the UCLA world by the time you leave here. You won't see it all over a short period of time and you'll still be getting to know the campus through the years - that's part of the fun.

For the first few weeks of class you'll be using a map to find your classes, then you'll get used it. And, I'm sorry, the confusion doesn't stop there. I'm sure that you'll get the professor who will turn your world upside-down, so the sky is green and the grass is blue. And I hope you like to read, otherwise, you'll be pretty disoriented throughout the year.

But whatever you do, your life won't go according to your plans. And I wouldn't suggest that you purposely make mistakes a la Royce Hall. I've always wondered about those mistakes. According to the UCLA tour guides, the builders of Royce Hall said, "Only God can make something that's perfect." OK, I suppose that makes sense, but then are the building planners assuming that if they didn't make mistakes, they were going to make a perfect building? I hope not.

What I want is for someone to find the other mistakes they made in building Royce Hall and put a little asterisk with a mistake adjustment added to the 52 imperfections. I'm sure they made plenty of mistakes, but I suppose that covering them up with premeditated mistakes was just an attempt at misdirection. Perhaps they were just trying to confuse you.

David Allison, the master architect of the confusion, used a Milan, Italy, basilica as a model for Royce Hall. And, if you're curious, Royce Hall is named for Josiah Royce, a leading philosopher of the time.

Philosophers may not have all the answers, but they're usually quotable; Josiah Royce certainly was.

On either side of the main entrance are doors leading into the hall's auxiliary rooms.

Above the west door is a quotation from Plato: "They should learn beforehand the knowledge which they will require for their art." Above the east door is a Royce quotation: "The world is a progressively realized community of interpretation."

Philosophers at least attempt to diffuse the confusion that life brings. Some people feel that philosophers are fools, who would - if given the chance - marvel at a pen cap's ability to keep the pen from drying out and be safely storable on top when in use. But philosophers do offer more to humanity, and yes, I do believe that the quotations outside Royce Hall do make at least a little sense.

Certainly I don't think that philosophy attempts to clear up the confusion about who's a first-year or a junior, and I don't think that Plato ever gave out college tips for the 20th-century student. To my knowledge he never came up with a book called "Choosing a Major: College Made Easy by Plato," so I guess you're going to have to deal with the confusion.

So maybe Plato's statement appearing on Royce Hall doesn't seem to help much; it seems like a statement of the obvious to me. I suppose that Plato didn't have all the answers (and he probably didn't claim to have them either).

What Royce had to say is perhaps just as confusing. Sounds sophisticated, doesn't it? Basically, his point is that life is based on a legacy of ideas fostered by personal point of view. Brilliant? Perhaps, maybe you should decide.

Wisdom etched in stone can be enlightening, but I'm sure that many of you are here at UCLA registered as psychology or engineering students.

Many of you will go through major changes and sit in your counselor's office trying to decide which direction you should take; you'll stare out the window looking at Royce Hall and wonder if they really did that on purpose or if they just tried to cover up their mistakes. I'll let you decide, but either way, mistakes can be an art or an embarrassment; it's all a matter of orientation.

Spencer Hill

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