Students at the University of California, Los Angeles campus took to TikTok to vocally criticize and scrutinize school leadership for their delayed response to potential safety threats from the devastating wildfires.
It wasn’t until Wednesday night that Chancellor Julio Frenk announced that UCLA would curtail campus operations, cancel undergraduate classes and move graduate classes to remote on Thursday and Friday in light of the multiple wildfires in the area.
As of early Thursday, at least five people are dead and more than 28,000 acres have been burned while residents and UCLA students have watched the flames spread.
“UCLA? More like university care less about (its students’ lungs),” TikToker @negativesmart wrote while capturing the bright red, smoke-filled sky from their alleged dorm room.
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“L.A. may be on fire, but don’t worry, UCLA says all things are normal,” another TikTok video by @ayiana.scott said, which has been viewed more than 1 million times.
Additional videos posted by users @jiwonapieceofme and @chelsealstone to the social platform have received hundreds of thousands of views and show the close reality of the fires to campus, with titles like: “Hey UCLA, [what do you mean] I still have class??!!??” and “Hey UCLA just wondering if I should still plan on going to my lecture tomorrow morning?”
The university’s chancellor said in his letter announcing the temporary closures: “While there remains no immediate fire danger to our campus, given an expected change in wind patterns in the hours ahead, it is likely that the air quality in Westwood will worsen.”
“POV: Evacuating [because] UCLA took back their words just a few hours after claiming we were ‘safe,’” one student with the handle @kennedyhayashi filmed as she packed her bags and faced long traffic lines with others evacuating campus as well.
With the sun barely peeking through the black, smokey, daytime sky, TikToker @eireneding provided a comparison of “UCLA claiming everything is fine [versus] all the students freaking out,” and included a weather report of “unhealthy” air quality.
“We will continue to monitor conditions in the area and are prepared to further adjust campus operations if need be,” UCLA’s chancellor further wrote in his Wednesday night letter. “Any modifications to classes after the next two days will be determined in collaboration with the Academic Senate, and we will share them immediately via BruinALERT with our community.”
UCLA employees were told to coordinate with supervisors if they are able to work remotely, but health facilities will remain open and fully operational Thursday and Friday.
However, the students’ TikTok videos – and comments reacting to the footage – before Frenk’s official announcement to curtail campus operations show ultimate dissent in the late decision.
“The fact that UCLA didn’t cancel all classes is so irresponsible;” “I wish UCLA employees were given the same option. We are still [forced] to go into work;” “All my life I’ve been told UCLA is an amazing school, but they just nonstop disrespect their students.”
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