Editor’s note: This post was updated May 2 at 5:26 p.m. to replace a photo of the Community Programs Office, which was unassociated with this event, with a photo of Bruin Day celebrations.
Luisa Ortiz never thought her team would have to change the name of the Latinx Admit Weekend.
The weekend is open to all newly admitted Bruins, with a focus on building community and offering support for incoming students from Latino backgrounds.
However, UCLA’s Diversity Admit Weekend Program instructed student-run admit weekend programs to remove exclusive words from their organization names around two weeks before Bruin Day, said Ortiz – a current member and former chair of the Latinx Admit Weekend.
Following the DAWP’s directive, the weekend program was renamed Bruins Unidos: The Latinx Student Experience at UCLA, Ortiz said. DAWP decided to remove the word “admit” so the event was less targeted toward just Latinx students, she said.
In the weeks leading up to Bruin Day, organizers had to revise their website, Instagram posts and redesign physical materials – including posters, flyers and merchandise – at the last minute to reflect the updated name, she added.
Ortiz added that the program received significantly less funding compared to previous years.
“We don’t know if this is the first step to something bigger,” Ortiz said. “We don’t know if it’s changing our names this year and then next year they’re gone.”
This directive follows President Donald Trump’s March executive order, which mandated the elimination of DEI initiatives across all federal agencies and called for investigations into private institutions with such programs, according to The White House.
[Related: Trump’s push against Education Department raises concerns over DEI, civil rights]
Several universities – including the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia – have closed or renamed their offices dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion in response to Trump’s attacks on diversity initiatives.
UCLA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion website was live as of 1:30 p.m. April 20. However, the UC announced March 19 that it would no longer require diversity statements in its hiring processes, marking the first major announced change to systemwide policy.
Coming from a high school where nearly 90% of students identified as Latino, Ortiz – a fourth-year labor studies and sociology student – said the admit weekend gave her financial aid guidance and a sense of belonging that ultimately influenced her decision to commit to UCLA. The program also offers tours to families in Spanish, she added.
Members of the Pacific Islands Student Association host a similar admit weekend and receive a list of newly admitted Pacific Islander students from DAWP to invite in advance of Bruin Day, said Vonnie Nightingale Smith, the vice president of PISA.
However, the admit weekend programs were not given access to the list this year, Smith added.
The Pilipino Recruitment and Enrichment Program also hosts an overnight admit weekend, Kindred and Purpose Weekend for Admits – also known as KaPWA – but a missing list delayed the team in its outreach by two weeks, said Camille Jacala, a first-year public affairs student and intern at PREP.
The delay resulted in fewer students attending the weekend, she added.
Jacala said she was disappointed by the reduced number of attendees, but she was hopeful the event still provided a fun experience for those who did attend. As a former KaPWA participant, she said the program played a pivotal role in her decision to attend UCLA.
“I just think that’s so important – having someone that you can look up to before you even get to the school, and then also knowing that when you come to the school, there’s already a community of people that you can join and learn from,” Jacala said.
In response to DAWP’s directive, PREP reinterpreted the word “kapwa” – which refers to a sense of family or community in Filipino culture – by reframing it as an acronym for Kindred and Purpose Weekend for Admits to present a more broadly inclusive meaning. Program members had to quickly revise event planning materials, logos and descriptions to reflect the change, she said.
Smith, a third-year international development studies student, said the PISA retention programs are necessary, as social disparities prevent Pacific Islander people from accessing higher education. Pacific Islander students make up less than 1% of California’s total population, said Jiorden King – a third-year psychology student and the president of PISA.
PISA’s retention project INSPIRE – Improving, Nurturing, Sustaining, and Preserving Innovative Retention and Education – provides peer counseling sessions and wellness activities to students.
“It’s really hard to get into UCLA,” Smith said. “It’s even harder to stay here and be able to actively succeed on top of everything else you have going on, so having programs like INSPIRE specifically meant to retain us here is super important – especially for us.”
Jessica Piamonte, a first-year biochemistry student and general board member of PISA, said before joining the organization, she felt out of touch with her Pacific Islander background. Being part of the organization gave her the space to explore her identity, she added.
“I finally found my community here, but now we can’t really probably say that it’s for Pacific Islanders because we’re scared of losing our funds and being shut down as a project,” she said. “I would say this was really disappointing, and I feel a little hopeless.”
Piamonte said some volunteers raised concerns about not being matched with a Pacific Islander student, as connecting with new students with the same cultural background offers a sense of comfort.
She added that the organization’s leaders have still been a source of reassurance and support.
“They really emphasize that no matter what our name becomes and how broad our audience becomes, there will always be a community for us, and that these people will always be there for us,” Piamonte said.
A UCLA spokesperson said in a written statement that the university works with student leaders every year to support their efforts in developing student-led programming for all Bruins.
“The steps we have taken demonstrate our longstanding commitment of inclusivity in the naming and descriptions of these programs,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “Our goal each year is to promote awareness of these programs generally, to provide registration information, and to foster a sense of belonging for all new students so that they feel welcomed and celebrated at all our events.”
King said that PISA board members would like administrative support on how to move forward but added that they have not received concrete guidance from the university.
Smith added she feels “adamant” that UCLA should preserve its cultural groups, adding that she believes she would not succeed as a student if they did not exist.
“If we feel like we have to hide our culture or hiding where we’re coming from, or not saying certain words or showing the pride of being who we are and showing our identity – which goes against everything that we represent – I think that’s just something that we have to think about daily,” King said.
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