As a student leader in the push to save the UCLA Arts Library from dismemberment, actions including a petition signed by 4,000 people, coverage in the Daily Bruin {not once, but twice} and an outpouring of Social Media hits, we were successful in keeping the library in tact with full operating hours. Below is the open letter I wrote to the University President…

There are many things that college has taught me and a great things I am yet to learn. As a World Arts and Cultures major, I am no stranger to outrage at the disintegration of the arts in our modern society. Indeed, a core principle of my education thus far has been towards sensitivity to the frailty of the arts. Yet, I am not so oblivious to believe that the building of great monuments to the arts in LA such as the New Getty, Walt Disney Concert Hall or the new Kaufman and Broad buildings would not, in time, render other venues in the city inauspicious at best, or frivolous at worst. With every great achievement, previous greatness becomes yesterday’s news. With the crowning achievements that the internet has achieved in the past two decades, the written word, the printed book or the writing on the wall has been rendered sub-par. And it comes with deep regret and sadness that I hear news of the tumultuous future of our arts library here at the University of California, Los Angeles.