This post was updated Oct. 1 at 1:32 a.m.
The UCLA Community Programs Office has temporarily shut down due to hiring delays and pending staff extensions, which CPO employees alleged have been caused by UCLA Student Affairs.
The CPO closed its office spaces located in the Student Activities Center, according to signs posted in the building Monday. The impacted offices include the CPO Computer Lab, the Basic & Essential Needs Collective Lounge, the Food Closet and the CPO’s main offices, which house student-run retention organizations that support students from marginalized communities.
“Due to hiring delays and pending student staff extension approvals from UCLA Student Affairs, the CPO office spaces will need to close temporarily,” the sign said. “We understand how important these spaces are to your work and we recognize the impact this closure may have.”
A UCLA spokesperson said in a written statement that Student Affairs is working to resolve the matter, adding that it is “committed to supporting adequate staffing and resources” at the CPO.
The closure impacts low-income students who access the CPO’s free services, said LaVon Nightingale Smith, a fourth-year international development studies student who has worked at the CPO for three years.
[Related: CPO stuffs, delivers boxes of Thanksgiving ingredients in 9th annual giveaway]
UCLA began a hiring review in March to approve all university positions – including student positions in development or with pending offers – to ensure that “critical positions” are prioritized in a “difficult budget environment,” two vice chancellors announced in an Aug. 20 email.
CPO employees submitted their contract requests one month prior to the office’s closure, Smith said. She added that the hiring delays have impacted the CPO’s recruitment process for internships – opportunities that provide professional experience to students.
Smith said in an emailed statement that the CPO also experienced hiring delays over the summer, despite repeated follow-ups from staff.
“It’s only day one of week one – so many people are trying to call us and ask what’s going on,” she said. “People are still lining up outside of the computer lab, or just coming to CPO, thinking that it’s open – and then it’s not.”
Five project directors of student-initiated retention and access programs – organizations overseen by a division of Student Affairs – did not receive contract extensions due to federal directives that “reinterpret diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as potentially non-compliant with anti-discrimination laws,” project directors announced in a July 2 letter addressed to program members.
[Related: UCLA lays off some retention, access program staff amid federal DEI scrutiny]
Jiorden King, a fourth-year psychology student, said she received a UCPath message Monday indicating that she is a “former employee.” The CPO employs hundreds of students in roles ranging from interns to assistants and tech staff, she added.
The food carts placed in dorms on the Hill – which provide free snacks and beverages – are also not operating due to there being a lack of employees to restock them, King said.
“It’s really disrupting students’ basic and essential needs on campus because, at the least, people need food to survive,” Smith said. “People don’t have the money to be paying for printing services on campus. … A lot of students aren’t meeting their basic needs and are being left hungry for the day.”
