Author Archives: Jonathan Van Dyke

A UCLA delegation led by Chancellor Gene Block met with U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald to discuss and observe ongoing revitalization efforts at the West L.A. VA campus. (photo by Reed Hutchinson)

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block today announced actions that are underway toward fulfilling UCLA’s 10-year, $16.5 million commitment to the Department of Veterans Affairs for new programs and supportive services to benefit our nation’s veterans. That commitment includes $300,000 annually in fair-market rent for the continued use of Jackie Robinson Stadium.

The announcement came as Block met with U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald to tour the West L.A. VA campus, following the passage of the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016. Block and McDonald observed the ongoing revitalization efforts consistent with the bipartisan federal legislation, and they received status reports from UCLA’s leaders who are spearheading the implementation.

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More than 60 student, staff, faculty and alumni volunteers helped make Thursday’s event a resounding success for 3,000 veterans, homeless individuals, students and low-income families who gathered at the West Los Angeles VA campus.

From morning to early afternoon on Thanksgiving, more than 60 volunteers from UCLA were hard at work to make sure the annual Westside Thanksgiving Community Dinner and Celebration went off without a hitch.

Student, staff, faculty and alumni volunteers helped make Thursday’s event a resounding success for more than 3,000 veterans, homeless individuals, students and low-income families who gathered at the West Los Angeles VA campus.

The UCLA Volunteer Center and UCLA Alumni Affairs organized the volunteer effort for the celebration, which has been hosted by organizations and individuals citywide since 1982. In addition to a traditional turkey dinner, those attending received free clothing and blankets, haircuts, immunizations and medical consultations. A petting zoo was on hand to entertain children and families.

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Arthur Ashe Sr. stands with his sons, Johnnie and Arthur. Johnnie Ashe, a veteran of the Marine Corps, will be the keynote speaker at UCLA’s Veterans Day ceremony. (photo courtesy of Luchia Ashe)

In many ways, he rewrote what could have been a tragic alternative history.

When Johnnie Ashe returned from his first tour of duty from Vietnam as a Marine in 1967, it triggered a plan in his mind that few people — not even his brother — initially knew about. Five years younger than his brother, tennis legend and UCLA alumnus Arthur Ashe, Johnnie idolized his brother and believed that Arthur’s future would be bigger than his own.

“When you grow up with a person, you can sometimes sense when there is a destiny involved with that person’s life,” Johnnie Ashe said. “I always thought Arthur had a destiny far above the norm.”

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Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feur hosted a special gun violence panel at Young Research Library. (photos by Jonathan Van Dyke)

Since gun violence struck the UCLA campus in June, the greater university community has worked to come together to discuss how to prevent gun violence, and if it should happen again, how to be better prepared for it. On Thursday, a group of lawmakers, police officers and students participated in a forum to talk about these issues.

“We’re here to talk about gun violence on a campus that has experienced it,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who organized the Gun Violence and Campus Safety forum held at Young Research Library. “We are really able to look at this as a real life situation that could confront us any day.”

Nearly everyone who spoke had an anecdote about what he or she was doing the day of the shooting and its impact.

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Award winners Larry Frank (Tom Bradley Local Leader of the Year) and Howard Welinsky (Advocate of the Year) pose with former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and AVC Keith Parker during the UCLA in Downtown Los Angeles reception. (all photos by Reed Hutchinson)

Just above the Spring Street steps that lead to Los Angeles City Hall, approximately 200 UCLA faculty, staff, students and alumni mingled Thursday evening with community leaders, elected officials and staff members from local government.

The UCLA in Downtown Los Angeles reception was the culmination of three weeks of local advocacy efforts by students, faculty, staff and alumni who traveled across the county to city council and county supervisor offices. All in all, UCLA has more than 200 programs that work with more than 1,200 community partners.

“Being in a public institution, all of our students — all of us — should have a public sense of purpose, and we should take these opportunities to work with the community, and to actually strengthen those values,” Chancellor Gene Block said to the crowd. “They contribute to the well-being of our city and are an essential part of what makes UCLA, UCLA.”

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