NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin At the peak of the day around
lunch-time, students, clubs and organizations congregate on Bruin
Walk.
By Dharshani Dharmawardena
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For many entering students, not knowing their way around campus
can be an asset.
Taking the most familiar path to campus, climbing the hills of
Bruin Walk, can give students the opportunity to discover
campus.
“When you’re a freshman, and you come down Bruin
Walk, you’re new, you’re young and you’re looking
for a group to identify with,” said fourth-year biology
student Desiree de la Torre, a member of Chicanos and Latinos for
Community Medicine.
“It’s the only way for most people to get to
class,” she continued. “This is the basic (route) for a
lot of first-years. They’ve learned it during
orientation.”
Many campus organizations and clubs take advantage of this
foot-traffic during first week and grab a table on Bruin Walk to
recruit new members.
“The tables are on a first-come-first-serve basis,”
said Nathan Wang, president of the UCLA Badminton Club. “So,
we start getting here at 7 in the morning.”
 NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Students dodge flyer
distributors along Bruin Walk on their way to class Wednesday.
During fall quarter, Bruin Walk becomes one of the best places on
campus to find new members, said Justine Miu, a fourth-year
business economics student and ambassador for Delta Sigma Pi, a
professional business fraternity.
“It’s the beginning of the year and everyone is out
here looking for new organizations to join,” she said.
“People are interested in being a part of
something.”
Many of these organizations, especially the cultural clubs, look
for a variety of students, said Erica Takeuchi, a fourth-year
sociology student and member of Nikkei Student Union.
Other groups, like Delta Sigma Pi and CCM, target specific
audiences. Delta Sigma Pi seeks economics students while CCU looks
for pre-med and health-oriented students.
“A lot of the time, we have transfer students, so
they’ve been with other organizations at other schools or
know they want to get involved with something,” Miu said.
She also said because they seek out economics students, the
organization is looking for people decided on their major and
willing to contribute to the fraternity.
In addition to meeting new people, joining one of these groups
can help students make connections with others who can help them
find a job after college.
“It is important if they’re focused and they know
what they want to do,” Miu said. “It helps them get a
head start on things, whether it be networking with certain firms,
or taking classes with people that they know.”
Despite the amount of time they spend tabling on Bruin Walk,
different organizations have varying degrees of success recruiting
students.
Although some groups, like the Badminton Club, can receive up to
50 percent of their recruits from tabling on Bruin Walk, according
to Wang, others have less rewarding experiences.
“I can say for the most part, the majority of people that
come out to our events have heard about us through classroom
announcements,” Miu said.
But she said she likes to continue the tradition of tabling.
“Not to say this doesn’t help at all,” Miu
said. “It’s a formality we do because everyone else is
out here.”
Other organization recruiters said the combination of
advertising on Bruin Walk as well as word-of-mouth help spread news
about their groups.
“What we found out throughout this past week is that
people who come to sign up have heard about us from a
friend,” de la Torre said.
Despite the degrees of success, most who table agreed being on
Bruin Walk helped them meet people on a more personal level.
“In classroom announcements, I just give them a run-down
of what Delta Sigma Pi is about, but I don’t really get to
talk to anyone,” Miu said.
“Here, people who come to the table really want to find
out stuff, so I could talk to them one-on-one, find out about
them,” she continued.
Although some students said belonging to specific organizations
can sometimes create cliques, Hun Ly, a second-year American
literature student and secretary of the United Cambodian Students
of UCLA, said being part of a small group is beneficial.
“I think being on campus you’re already with a
variety of people,” she said. “For me, I kind of needed
to find my own little niche.”
As many students walk on Bruin Walk, most of them have little
time to stop and listen to group recruiters.
To make the most of their time on Bruin Walk, organization
members hand out flyers and other information. This type of
literature can cost as much as tens of dollars a day for a
group.
“Every day we make copies, and we run out and we have to
go back,” said third-year sociology student Erik Chan,
co-culture show producer of the Association of Chinese Americans.
“We spend about $40 a day on flyers.”
Most campus groups, however, depend on friendly attitudes and
outgoing personalities to attract members.
“We try to show them what we’re really like,”
Takeuchi said. “A lot of clubs giving out candy have a lot of
people coming in, but they’re not able to make that personal
connection.
“Our strategy is that all of our staff members are really
outgoing,” Chan said. “One thing we don’t do is
shove flyers in your face. Just being courteous to people, they
really respect that.”
Sometimes, people they approach aren’t so friendly.
“When somebody’s rude to you, we just shrug it off
and move on,” Chan said. “That’s all you can
do.”