Months ago, UCLA announced that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be coming to UCLA’s campus to speak. Immediately, Facebook was flooded with students planning their camp outs and hashtagging “#Hillary2016”. However, as the ticket release date got closer, the CTO announced that no camp outs would be allowed.
Told to line up for 7 AM ticket distribution at 6 AM on Wednesday morning, students still planned ahead. Some got there as early as 2 AM and formed orderly lines stretching from the CTO, in front of Pauley Pavillion and back up BruinWalk.
However, around 5:45 AM, a CTO security officer told people they might want to start lining up. And chaos ensued.
Suddenly, students started running. People sprinted, leaving behind bags, phones, and blankets in order to try to get close to the ticket office. Unfortunately, that’s when the mobbing started.
Without any kind of order or person in charge, students swarmed the CTO. There were no lines, no ropes, and no one moving through the crowd giving anyone direction.
Without any order to the crowd, CTO staffers were forced to resort to a lottery system. Every student present received a raffle ticket, and they were told to return with it filled out between 10 AM and 4 PM that day.
When lottery decisions were announced, many students were disappointed. As a result, petitions started circulating to move the lecture to a larger venue in order to accomodate the great number of students who wanted to attend.
To see or sign the petition for a change of venue, go here: http://www.change.org/petitions/ucla-for-change-of-venue-or-more-student…