I made this petition to make sure that the safety of UCLA staff and students is ensured through the university being transparent with its community. This issue affects everyone who comes to campus to study, attend class, and those in surrounding areas of the UCLA campus and we need change now! Please sign and share this petition with others! 

The campus safety protocols at UCLA need to be re-evaluated to ensure the safety of students and staff by having all UC administration required to inform students and faculty of issues such as mass shooting threats and taking preventive action. UCLA failed to inform students and staff of shooting threats that were targeting Dodd Hall and other students and the philosophy department. Classes continued to resume normally. Such a failure to act could have resulted in the mass death of students and staff, not only in this building, but all around campus. Students are asking that UCLA addresses their failure to act and make efforts to be more proficient in the future. 

On Monday, February 1, 2022, UCLA received a mass shooting threat from former professor, Matthew Harris. UCLA was aware of this threat and did not speak publicly on the issue. This left students, as well as staff, unaware of the issue and many in the primary location where the shooting was threatened to take place. Students, as well as staff, are outraged as UCLA has failed to be transparent or show any concern for potential loss at the university. Given UCLA’s #1 public university ranking, students questioned whether a fear of bad publicity and the possible consequences associated with the lowering of the school’s ranking was the primary reason behind the lack of communication between administration and its students.

The mass shooting threat was brought to students hours after, while the search for Matthew Harris was still underway. Given this information, students are appalled that UCLA did not react appropriately, since his location and whereabouts had not yet been discovered. Thankfully, due to the continually advancing media outlets that branch students together, many were able to share information about the shooting threats far before the school made any effort to. Former students of Matthew Harris received threats, which they were quick to share with other students.The communicative tools of GroupMe, Reddit, as well as other social media outlets allowed students to remain in the loop regarding such issues. 

This was quite a fearful time to be a student, as well as a staff member at UCLA. Such a reaction by the university was a wake up call for many that there needs to be change. As an institute, especially the #1 public university, students and staff should feel safe upon their return back to campus. UCLA’s failure to act resulted in the loss of trust between the university and its students. For this reason, there must be a re-evaluation of UCLA’s protective policies and initiatives taken to alter such policies.