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History of the University of California, Los Angeles
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History of the University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) traces back to the 19th century, when the institution operated as a teachers' college. It grew in size and scope for nearly four decades on two Los Angeles campuses before California governor William D. Stephens signed a bill into law in 1919 to establish the Southern Branch of the University of California. As the university broke ground for its new Westwood campus in 1927 and dissatisfaction grew for the "Southern Branch" name, the UC Regents formally adopted the "University of California at Los Angeles" name and "U.C.L.A." abbreviation that year. The "at" was removed in 1958 and "UCLA" without periods became the preferred stylization under Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy in the 1960s. In the first century after its founding, UCLA established itself as a leading research university with global impact across arts and culture, education, health care, technology and more.
In March 1881, at the request of state senator Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University) in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. On March 14, 1881, Governor George C. Perkins signed the bill into state law. On March 24, the trustees of the existing normal school in San Jose arrived in Los Angeles, where they were given lodging in the Pico House, and received offers of twenty potential sites. They toured proposed sites in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Aliso Grove (part of the Arroyo Seco area) before voting on March 25, 1881 to select a small orange grove called Bellevue Terrace in what is now downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles branch of the California State Normal School opened its doors for its first classes on August 29, 1882. This was followed by a formal dedication ceremony on September 9, 1882, with Governor Perkins, Governor-elect George Stoneman, and State Superintendent Frederick M. Campbell in attendance. In coordination with the city's existing elementary school system, the new facility included a demonstration school with 150 pupils where teachers-in-training could practice their techniques with children. That elementary school would become the present day UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the branch campus became independent of the original State Normal School, in the sense that it would now be governed by its own board of trustees, and changed its name to Los Angeles State Normal School.
In October 1912, the Normal School trustees sold the original campus in downtown. The city of Los Angeles, which was looking to build a public library, bought the property and constructed what is now the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system.
In 1914, the teaching college moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue (now the site of Los Angeles City College) in East Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward Augustus Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began to lobby the State Legislature to enable the school to become the second University of California campus, after UC Berkeley. They met resistance from UC Berkeley alumni, Northern California members of the state legislature, and then-UC President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who were all vigorously opposed to the idea of a southern campus.
The state constitution expressly protected the autonomy of the University of California from political interference, which meant the Legislature could not directly command the Board of Regents to create a southern campus. However, the state constitution did not prohibit the state legislature from passing legislation to create additional state universities. The supporters of the Los Angeles State Normal School used the possibility of that scenario to pressure the Board of Regents to voluntarily accept the normal school as UC's southern campus.
On May 23, 1919, the Southern Californians' efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which acquired the land and buildings and transformed the Los Angeles Normal School into the Southern Branch of the University of California.
By 1923, enrollment had risen to 4,723 students and Southern Californians were furious that their so-called "branch" provided only a junior college program (mocked at the time by University of Southern California students as "the twig"). Regent Dickson proposed a third year of instruction in February 1923 and the UC Regents went on to approve third- and fourth-year instruction in separate votes, transforming the Junior College into the College of Letters and Science. The College awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degrees to 98 women and 30 men on June 12, 1925.
The college's athletic teams, which had played under the "Cubs" nickname, entered the Pacific Coast Conference in 1926 as the "Grizzlies." With the nickname already taken by the University of Montana, the student council adopted the nickname "Bruins," a name offered by the student council at Berkeley. That same year, the Regents renamed the school itself the "University of California at Los Angeles." (The word "at" was officially replaced by a comma in 1958.)
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History of the University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) traces back to the 19th century, when the institution operated as a teachers' college. It grew in size and scope for nearly four decades on two Los Angeles campuses before California governor William D. Stephens signed a bill into law in 1919 to establish the Southern Branch of the University of California. As the university broke ground for its new Westwood campus in 1927 and dissatisfaction grew for the "Southern Branch" name, the UC Regents formally adopted the "University of California at Los Angeles" name and "U.C.L.A." abbreviation that year. The "at" was removed in 1958 and "UCLA" without periods became the preferred stylization under Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy in the 1960s. In the first century after its founding, UCLA established itself as a leading research university with global impact across arts and culture, education, health care, technology and more.
In March 1881, at the request of state senator Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University) in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. On March 14, 1881, Governor George C. Perkins signed the bill into state law. On March 24, the trustees of the existing normal school in San Jose arrived in Los Angeles, where they were given lodging in the Pico House, and received offers of twenty potential sites. They toured proposed sites in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Aliso Grove (part of the Arroyo Seco area) before voting on March 25, 1881 to select a small orange grove called Bellevue Terrace in what is now downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles branch of the California State Normal School opened its doors for its first classes on August 29, 1882. This was followed by a formal dedication ceremony on September 9, 1882, with Governor Perkins, Governor-elect George Stoneman, and State Superintendent Frederick M. Campbell in attendance. In coordination with the city's existing elementary school system, the new facility included a demonstration school with 150 pupils where teachers-in-training could practice their techniques with children. That elementary school would become the present day UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the branch campus became independent of the original State Normal School, in the sense that it would now be governed by its own board of trustees, and changed its name to Los Angeles State Normal School.
In October 1912, the Normal School trustees sold the original campus in downtown. The city of Los Angeles, which was looking to build a public library, bought the property and constructed what is now the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system.
In 1914, the teaching college moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue (now the site of Los Angeles City College) in East Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward Augustus Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began to lobby the State Legislature to enable the school to become the second University of California campus, after UC Berkeley. They met resistance from UC Berkeley alumni, Northern California members of the state legislature, and then-UC President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who were all vigorously opposed to the idea of a southern campus.
The state constitution expressly protected the autonomy of the University of California from political interference, which meant the Legislature could not directly command the Board of Regents to create a southern campus. However, the state constitution did not prohibit the state legislature from passing legislation to create additional state universities. The supporters of the Los Angeles State Normal School used the possibility of that scenario to pressure the Board of Regents to voluntarily accept the normal school as UC's southern campus.
On May 23, 1919, the Southern Californians' efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which acquired the land and buildings and transformed the Los Angeles Normal School into the Southern Branch of the University of California.
By 1923, enrollment had risen to 4,723 students and Southern Californians were furious that their so-called "branch" provided only a junior college program (mocked at the time by University of Southern California students as "the twig"). Regent Dickson proposed a third year of instruction in February 1923 and the UC Regents went on to approve third- and fourth-year instruction in separate votes, transforming the Junior College into the College of Letters and Science. The College awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degrees to 98 women and 30 men on June 12, 1925.
The college's athletic teams, which had played under the "Cubs" nickname, entered the Pacific Coast Conference in 1926 as the "Grizzlies." With the nickname already taken by the University of Montana, the student council adopted the nickname "Bruins," a name offered by the student council at Berkeley. That same year, the Regents renamed the school itself the "University of California at Los Angeles." (The word "at" was officially replaced by a comma in 1958.)