A swarm of bodies is blocking your way, begging for attention.
They keep talking to you, despite your disinterest. They even ask for your autograph.
You could be an A-list celebrity – or a UCLA student walking down Bruin Walk.
Bruin Walk – the path between Ackerman Union and the Student Activities Center – is filled with student clubs and organizations promoting their events, fundraisers and petitions. Yet, these groups’ badgering can cause students to be apathetic toward advertisers and Bruin Walk itself.
The culture of Bruin Walk must change from confrontational promotion to easygoing advertising to make UCLA students more comfortable walking on campus. UCLA’s Student Organizations, Leadership & Engagement Office should create stricter regulations dictating where along Bruin Walk representatives can promote their organizations.
Gladys Au, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said her club has success selling clothes on Bruin Walk by waiting for interested students to come to their table.
“We’re all trying not to be obnoxious because we’re students walking down Bruin Walk too,” Au said. “We know how annoying it can be, especially if you just failed a midterm or you’re trying to get home.”
Au’s passive approach does not pressure students into buying her club’s clothes. Interacting becomes a choice instead of a necessity.
Students on Bruin Walk are not always searching for new activities to do on campus.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve probably been less likely to (talk to clubs on Bruin Walk) because I have my community,” said Tom Seifert, a fourth-year statistics and data science student who gives out flyers for his club on Bruin Walk. “It’s different than when I was younger – I would love to walk through and see what’s going on with all this stuff.”
Bruin Walk is a central place on campus to inform students, especially those new to UCLA. However, returning students often do not need the same outreach and are faced with unnecessary confrontation.
SOLE’s regulations for advertising on Bruin Walk apply only to clubs selling items.
“They may use an existing table on Bruin Walk on a first-come-first served basis,” said Mike Cohn, the director of SOLE, in an emailed statement. “As long as they are not having a bake sale or selling other non-food items they do not need authorization from Environmental Health & Safety for bake sales or a permit from SOLE.”
Telling clubs they must stay behind the tables to the sides of Bruin Walk instead of the middle of the path will make walking through easier, while still leaving room for student groups to advertise themselves.
“If people were just sitting at the tables and maybe saying ‘Hey, come buy my good’ or ‘Come check out this,’ it would be maybe a little bit better, more consolidated,” said Rebekah Field, a third-year political science and communications student.
To be sure, a change in Bruin Walk regulations may limit clubs from spreading their information to their fullest potential.
Seifert said his club hands out flyers to speak to students who would not have previously known about the club. He added that changing the rules for clubs on Bruin Walk could make reaching new students more difficult.
“If there’s a way to draw a line between annoying people but still getting people who might have not gone out of their way to come up to us, then that would objectively be better,” Seifert said. “It’s hard to do both of those things.”
But UCLA clubs and organizations can still appeal to students while remaining at the Bruin Walk tables. Signs on tables and handouts can draw in curious students, while leaving the rest in peace.
“You should let people come to you if they’re interested,” said Leena Gupta, a first-year neuroscience student. “Make a really pretty table, make posters and showcase what you’re for, and if they’re interested, then they’ll come to you automatically. If you’re pushing your opinions or papers into people, they’ll just not want to talk to you.”
Bruin Walk can still be effective in attracting interested students to clubs – all without disturbing a student’s walk from their 8 a.m. discussion back to their bed on a dreary Friday morning.
Do not ask a student to sign your petition after they failed their midterm, the same way you would not ask a celebrity to give you an autograph after they lost an Oscar.
Comments are closed.