UCLA alumni, students and staff visited Sacramento to commemorate the Centennial and advocate to the legislature. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)
As UCLA leaders, students and alumni met with members of the California State Assembly and Senate, the school’s story was coming full circle from a century ago.
“[It’s amazing] what you’ve been able to accomplish in just 100 years — and I have to say, you look great,” Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove said as she introduced a resolution to acknowledge the UCLA Centennial. “But to be a world-class university — the cherry on top is that this is a public university.”
On May 20, 17 members of the assembly and senate spoke on behalf of UCLA, as each chamber honored the legacy of one of the state’s prized academic institutions. Ninety-two alumni have served in the California legislature, which ratified the California Branch State Normal School — from which UCLA would emerge — a century ago. Later that evening, Sacramento alumni, community members and elected officials gathered at the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park.