This quarter has marked the return to relative normalcy at UCLA: the vast majority of classes are back in-person, lecture halls are full again and Internet personalities are back on campus. The fact that social media stars (or, in many cases, wannabe stars) are making content at UCLA is nothing new. It’s pretty much inevitable, given that the school is in Los Angeles, that many content creators will come and interact with UCLA students for views online. Usually, it’s totally fine — they’ll just come film themselves talking to a few people on Bruin Walk or in front of Wooden. And while the videos may not end up being that great, they’re often relatively harmless. Unfortunately, lately, they’ve been anything but.
Recently UCLA students have taken to GroupMe and Reddit to discuss unfunny “pranks” that YouTubers and TikTokers have been performing in some classes. A few people, for example, disrupted a psychology lecture by putting on VR headsets and playing what sounded like audio from a porn clip out loud while making obscene gestures; they were being recorded by somebody who was standing just outside of the slightly open door. Another class was also disturbed when a girl in a nurse costume entered the room and gave a mock lap dance to someone, who then started throwing money on her as their friend filmed them from a corner.
These people were presumably trying to be funny, but, like one Reddit user noted, nobody in the massive lecture hall even cracked a smile. Instead, students were left confused and upset, and professors were forced to jump into action and kick the intruders out of their classrooms.
It’s completely ridiculous that UCLA students’ (very expensive) education is being repeatedly interrupted by such immature and disgusting actions. And we’re not the only ones who have been suffering: classes at USC have also been targeted by social media “pranksters,” causing genuine fear and panic. But the difference is that while the UCLA administration has done absolutely nothing to address — or even acknowledge — the problem, USC is suing some of the YouTubers responsible for the chaos.
This is one of those rare times when UCLA could learn a thing or two from USC. Although there are some legal differences when it comes to banning people from each school’s campus (with UCLA being public and USC being private), there’s no excuse for UCLA leaders’ lack of reaction to the problem. How many more incidents need to occur before they finally say something? At the very least, lecturers should be given some guidance or training on how to deal with situations like these. UCLA needs to do better; its students deserve more.