Monday, June 29, 1998
You heard it first
HISTORY: On numerous occassions, UCLA dared to go where no
university has gone before ...
By Michelle Navarro
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As students trade in their names for nine-digit student ID numbers and awake in massive pain from walking the hills on campus, they may ask themselves why they chose to attend UCLA. Why choose a campus where three students live in one dorm room and where dancing isn't allowed in the neighboring town?
However, regardless of these minor inconveniences, there are many reasons to be glad the choice was Bruinhood over Trojanhood, or even over being a Golden Bear.
Aside from having one of the best hospitals and centers for research in the nation, UCLA has a history of being the first university to boldly go where no school has gone before.
So don't discount those bragging rights just yet, here are a few more merits to add to the list.
Although coed dorms are old news and seeing your male or female neighbor walking down the hall clad solely in a bath towel is rather common, it wasn't always this way. And interestingly enough, UCLA is the university students across the country have to thank for this integration of the sexes.
When Dykstra Hall opened in 1959, it was built originally to house only men, while Mira Hershey Hall was the residence hall reserved for women. However, a problem arose when all the rooms in Dykstra weren't filled and a waiting list for Mira Hershey Hall surfaced.
"The women still needed a place to live," explained Alan Hanson, director of residential life, "so it made sense to occupy the same facility with men and women."
According to Hanson, they eventually admitted women in to the top three floors of Dykstra Hall, making it the first coed dorm in the nation.
Around the same time, Sproul Hall opened up and was designed to house both men and women. But in this case they would be placed in separate wings.
So the next time the guy next door burps hello or a whiff of Victoria Secret's Pear Glaze walks by, make sure to remember that UCLA made it happen.
Among other things, one of the reasons for UCLA's renowned reputation is its athletic program. The proof lies in the packs of people that sit, either in the arena or before the television, to watch the Bruins play. In May 1997, Sports Illustrated named UCLA the No. 1 "Jock School" in the nation.
One athletic leader who may be attributed with giving UCLA most of its sports fame is none other than former basketball coach John Wooden. Under this man, major basketball history was made.
"Basketball is the third most important thing in my life," Wooden once said in an interview. "My family comes first, although I know my religion should be No. 1. Then comes basketball."
From 1971-74, the Bruins set a new record in college basketball history with 88 consecutive wins. Although it isn't a first, it is a record that still warrants high praise and recognition from all. And those golden years set a precedent for the quality of ball that would be played in the years that followed.
Shortly after the birth of UCLA, another major beginning took place - the first Asian American sorority in the nation was founded.
Helen Tomio Mizuhara and Alyce Asahi organized the Japanese American sorority, Chi Alpha Delta, in 1928 because they believed existing sororities would not offer them membership.
"We were outsiders all that time," said Shizue Morey Yoshina, one of 14 original charter members, in a 1966 Daily Bruin article. "(There was an) awful lot of racism and prejudice; no one ever thought of including any Asians in their group. They were strictly white."
Already existing sororities at the time had racial and religious membership restrictions, or discriminatory clauses, that kept the students from joining.
In 1929, they were officially recognized by the university and chose to restrict their own membership to Japanese American women only.
"We used to get together; see each other in the library," Yoshina said in an oral history interview.
"We noticed that all the scholarships, (and) ... competition for this award and that award all went through the Greek letter organizations. None of us were ever asked to join one of them. We decided to make our own. The reason why we got going was because we just wanted to be able to compete with them."
Although another Asian American organization would not be established at UCLA until decades later, Chi Alpha Delta's presence on campus forced recognition of the group and its culture.
It wasn't until 1966 that all fraternal organizations signed a non-discriminatory pledge that eliminated racial and religious restrictions for Greek membership.
One first at UCLA that has made an impact on the global scale is what is known today as the Internet. With one flip of a switch and a click of the mouse, a mega information superhighway can be accessed where anything from on-line dating to harmful algal bloom information may be found.
At the tip of one's fingers is the key to the knowledge of a full-blown library and more. Who knew that this incredible technological system had its humble beginnings at UCLA?
During the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear attack haunted Americans, the government wanted a computer network that could withstand damage from a nuclear war and still function properly.
A proposal was made in 1964 by the RAND Corporation, a group of research analysts, for a network that had no central authority and was designed to operate "while in tatters." It called for all the nodes in the network to have equal power and the ability to originate, pass and receive messages. These messages would be made into separately addressed packets that would individually begin at one node and then end at a destination node.
One of the minds behind "packet switching," was Leonard Kleinrock, who is now a UCLA professor in the department of computer science. Kleinrock had already done a great amount of research in the field, and because of this was asked to go to Washington to play a part in the creation of ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork), a government-supported data network. Because of Kleinrock's key research, the Advanced Research Projects Agency chose UCLA for the first node to join the ARPANET. And, in 1969, the first switch and host computer were connected in Boelter Hall.
By the end of that same year, four nodes were connected. Originally, it was only open to the Department of Defense personnel, private contractors and university researchers.
However, the system eventually grew, and other networks were created and connected with each other to become the Internet.
So the next time a professor forgets your name or someone mistakes the dorm building for a hotel, just remember UCLA is worth it.
Photos courtesy of UCLA archives
Dykstra Hall just before completion in 1959. Dykstra was the first coed dormitory in the nation.
The 1973-74 basketball team coached by John Wooden racked a record 88 consecutive NCAA wins.
These women were members of the nation's first Asian American sorority, Chi Alpha Delta.