UCLA Faculty Club: A History of Community, Evolution, and Renewal

The UCLA Faculty Club, a gathering place with over 65 years of history, is evolving with a new name and leadership. From its origins as a faculty-centered space, it has grown to become a vital hub connecting individuals from various corners of the campus. This article explores the rich history of the UCLA Faculty Club, tracing its origins, development, challenges, and recent transformations.

The Genesis of UCLA: From Normal School to University

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) began in the 19th century as a teachers' college. For nearly four decades, it expanded on two Los Angeles campuses. In 1919, California Governor William D. Stephens signed a bill to establish the Southern Branch of the University of California. In 1881, the California State Legislature authorized a southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University) in downtown Los Angeles. Governor George C. Perkins signed the bill into law on March 14, 1881. The Los Angeles branch opened on August 29, 1882.

Early Years and the Move to Westwood

In October 1911, the Normal School trustees sold the original campus. In 1912, the college moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue. In 1917, UC Regent Edward Augustus Dickson and Ernest Carroll Moore lobbied the State Legislature to make the school the second University of California campus. They faced resistance from UC Berkeley alumni and then-UC President Benjamin Ide Wheeler. On May 30, 1933, their efforts succeeded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, officially creating UCLA.

Under UC President William Wallace Campbell, enrollment grew rapidly. By the mid-1920s, the institution outgrew its Vermont Avenue location. The Regents appointed a Committee of Seventeen, which selected the Letts' Estate (later called the Beverly-Westwood site). The Janss brothers agreed to sell the property for approximately $1 million, less than one-third of its value. Municipal bond measures passed by Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Venice provided the funds. George W. Kelham and David Allison designed the Westwood campus in the Romanesque style. The neighboring communities of Westwood Village and Bel Air were developed alongside the university. Undergraduate classes began on the new campus in 1929 with 5,500 students.

The Bruin Spirit Takes Root

In 1929, the Bruin and Trojan football teams met for the first time. The first building dedicated to housing, Hershey Hall, was built in the early 1930s, funded by a bequest from Almira Hershey. Despite the Great Depression, UCLA continued to develop. A Southern section of the UC faculty Academic Senate was voted on in 1931 and organized in 1932.

Navigating Challenges: Communism Accusations and Loyalty Oaths

In 1934, Provost Ernest Moore declared UCLA "the worst hotbed of communism in the U.S." He suspended five members of the ASUCLA student government for allegedly assisting the National Student League. Over 3,000 students protested in Royce Quad. In 1934, UCLA received the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The College of Commerce (later the graduate School of Business Administration) was established in 1935.

With the rise of the anti-Communist Red Scare in the late 1940s, the UC system was suspected of un-American activities. In 1949, the Regents required all faculty and staff to swear a loyalty oath disavowing membership in the Communist Party. Thirty-six faculty members and 62 non-Senate UC employees were dismissed for refusing to sign the oath, including three from UCLA. In 1967, The Saturday Evening Post published "UCLA's Red Cell: Case History of College Communism," asserting that leftist student activists had tried to control meetings and incite riots.

Post-War Transformation and Growth

The December 7, 1941 airstrike on Pearl Harbor immediately put the campus on a wartime basis. Faculty adjusted the curriculum, and a student defense committee was organized. UCLA became responsible for Project 36 of the Manhattan Project. The UCLA College of Engineering was established in 1943. Male enrollment dropped significantly during the war. Fraternity houses became cadets' quarters, and extracurricular activities were curtailed. By the end of the war, a service banner in Kerckhoff Hall held 5,702 stars, 151 of which were gold for the Bruins who lost their lives.

After the war, veteran students began to enroll at UCLA. President Sproul created an Office of Veteran's Affairs in 1945. A building boom followed, with the filling in of a deep arroyo to create additional land. The UCLA Medical and Law Schools were established in 1946 and 1947, respectively. The department of Theater Arts was also established in 1947.

Achieving Co-Equal Status and Athletic Success

For the first two decades of its existence, UCLA focused on training educators and the liberal arts. With the establishment of graduate studies and professional schools, the school gradually became more oriented toward scientific research. The School of Medicine was developed primarily as a research institution. SWAC, one of the nation's first large computers, was built at UCLA in 1950.

Before 1951, UCLA was considered an off-site department of UC Berkeley. In 1951, the Regents transferred day-to-day leadership responsibilities to chancellors. Red Sanders led UCLA to 66 football victories and a national championship in 1954. John Wooden's basketball teams began to gain recognition.

Pacific Coast Conference Scandal and Restructuring

In 1956, a scandal involving payment of student athletes by booster clubs at Pacific Coast Conference universities threatened the UC system. UCLA was fined $93,000, and its football team was placed on probation. Chancellor Allen wanted UCLA to break off from the conference, but President Sproul prevented it. In 1957, a UCLA Alumni Association proposal to the Regents moved both UCLA and Berkeley out of the PCC by 1959, effectively breaking up the conference.

The Faculty Women's Club: A Foundation for Community

A seed was planted for a faculty clubhouse as early as 1918, when female faculty at Los Angeles’ State Normal School founded the Faculty Women’s Club. The UCLA Faculty Women’s Club originated as a political action group, helping to gather support for the proposed four-year college. In 1919, the Normal School became the Southern Branch of the University of California. Once the political objective was achieved, the FWC met to consider the club’s future. Although the first declared purposes did not include specific mention of scholarships, the treasurer’s report for 1920-1921 includes the entry: “$30.00 for Student Loan Fund.” This fund was the modest beginning for the FWC’s present scholarship program.

The Faculty Women’s Club aimed to promote good fellowship for UCLA women faculty and faculty wives, as well as women staff and wives of staff directly connected with the academic aspects of the University. It sought to promote educational and social activities. A new President and five officers are elected annually at the spring business meeting and take office by July 1. Six General Meetings with guest speakers are scheduled at the UCLA Faculty Center. Five of the meetings take place in the afternoon, but the February meeting is a dinner at which FWC Scholarship winners are honored. The Club sponsors special interest sections which meet weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Groups for activities and discussion include Birthday Club, Books, Bridge, Foreign Language Conversation (French, German, and Spanish), Playreading, and Writers. Galleries and Sights visits museums, libraries, gardens, and historical sights in Los Angeles and its vicinity.

The Faculty Center: A Hub for Connection and Collaboration

In 1959, the UCLA Faculty Center opened, providing faculty with meals and a home away from home on campus for a monthly due of 50 cents. However, the center was always much more than just a place to eat. Twenty UCLA faculty members and their wives waited in a cozy billiards room with closed eyes and bated breath. And so began a play reading at the Faculty Center, the building that sits just south of Murphy Hall. The Faculty Men’s Club and the Association of Academic Women had also been fundraising to secure a clubhouse on the Westwood campus. By 1950, preliminary plans for a faculty clubhouse at UCLA emerged. Early plans included a pool and even an apartment for the UC president, but these were eliminated from the final design. When the club opened in 1959, the buffet cost just 90 cents per meal, and men were required to wear a jacket and tie. Behind closed doors, men loosened their ties to play billiards, sip cocktails, and smoke.

Al Aubin, chair of the Faculty Club’s board of governors’ member engagement committee, has enjoyed the club’s benefits for family members, like the popular Mother’s Day and Easter brunches. In 2019, Aubin said he loved getting his great-grandson’s picture with the event’s “Easter Bunny,” the same picture he snapped of his granddaughter a generation before. One of the defining characteristics of the Faculty Club is the integration of gardens and terraces. Each meeting or dining room has an adjacent garden room and access. Landscape designer Studio Mia Lehrer reimagined the building’s patios.

Recent Renovations and Enhancements

While many have cherished the Faculty Club for its time-capsule-like feel, by 2016 the building needed structural and infrastructure work. The roof was leaking, roots invaded the pipes, electrical systems needed upgrades, and the air conditioning and heating systems struggled to keep the temperatures comfortable. The club also needed painting and new carpets, and the outside trellises needed replacing. In 2019, UCLA allocated $10 million to the UCLA Faculty Center Association’s board of governors to cover an extensive infrastructure upgrade and seismic reinforcement of a few areas.

“This building is deeply beloved by many across campus, but time certainly took its toll,” said Chancellor Gene Block, who supported the renovation project. Carved redwood panels made by artist and designer Evelyn Ackerman were restored as part of the Faculty Club’s refurbishment. The renovations have readied the club to carry on its role as the hub for UCLA’s faculty and staff.

Other noticeable changes are the updating of the California Room (now the Morrison Room), main dining room, Servery, and the new bathrooms at the south of the building that are energy and water efficient and accessible for the disabled. In dining areas like the Cypress Bar and Lounge, a “small bite” menu was created, and the Servery has added more vegetarian and vegan offerings. Those using the club as a venue can also benefit from the large outdoor areas.

Thanks to a generous gift of $1.6 million from Sherie and Don Morrison, the club is undertaking an extensive remodel of the west side of the Club’s main hallway. The project will enlarge the north restrooms, making them gracious and accessible. By capturing space currently occupied by two closets, two unused phone booths, and a portion of the custodians’ closet, a single-occupancy restroom will be added. Improvements will also be made to the lobby.

New and Wonderful Improvements

The attractive new main patio with drought-tolerant landscaping, the lovely new Miller-Moran Patio off the Sequoia Room, the completely redone downstairs lounge (now named The Sherie Bar and Lounge), the beautiful bronze fountain by George Tsutakawa near the front entrance, the four redone fireplaces with environmentally-friendly ethanol-fueled inserts, the well-functioning HVAC system, the fabulous new restrooms on the south side of the building, and the accessible entrances in the front of the building and off parking lot A are among the many improvements. In the south hallway, the gorgeous suite of reproductions representing the Pacific Ocean by Joseph Young, originally created in 1962, can be found. There are also many improvements to the attractiveness of the Coral Grill and beautiful new exterior lighting.

These improvements would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts and hard work of Eric Heggen, Clover Linné, Susan Santon, Luciano Sautto, Kelly Schmader, Mario Violich, and Buzz Yudell. A special thanks is also owed to Michael Beck.

The UCLA Faculty Club has raised more than $4 million, an all-time record for the Club. Vicki Steele is recognized for her incredible efforts in leading the fundraising effort and acquiring many of the furnishings and artworks for the Faculty Club.

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