Athletes.

The pride and joy of colleges all over the United States.

It’s not a secret that colleges like keeping their athletes happy. It’s a running joke that every time there’s something nice, it’s for the athletes. UCLA, in particular, is infamous for its biased treatment of their athletes when compared to the rest of the student population. Whether its housing or classes, athletes seem to get the better deal than the rest of us peasants.

For example, UCLA has the largest population of students with the smallest campus in comparison to the rest of the UC system. So this year when there was a rise in freshman attending UCLA they made it mandatory for all freshman and more sophomore to be placed in congested triple rooms regardless of their willingness to pay for double rooms. But freshman student-athletes were placed in spacious doubles with better air conditioning than the rest of the Hill. Because obviously, those “big” guys can’t live with the rest of the freshman population.

These privileges also extend to picking classes and grades too. While UCLA does state that their athletes get priority enrollment, it’s not hidden that they seem to always have better times than the rest of us. Their special treatment has also extended to UCLA creating easier classes designed for student-athletes to maintain their minimum GPA requirement. Classes like Scandanavian 50 are considered a joke as students (athletes) are not even expected to show up to class to pass and if they do they are watching movies.

While it is irritating for a small proportion of the college to get better benefits than the rest of us an argument can be made that they are the ones funding our school. UCLA’s athletic department in 2015 has seen a 10 million increase in revenues due to sports like men’s football and basketball. But regardless of a student athlete’s profitability, it should not mean that their lives are more important than the rest of ours.

The day of the Skirball fire, UCLA hired a bus to evacuate all of the student-athletes out of the fire while still sending Bruin Alerts to the rest of the student population that evacuations were not necessary. This type of preferential treatment goes beyond classes and AC but a basic sense of valuing one life over the other.

UCLA needs to reconsider its priorities and follow through their promise as educators to be protectors of all students not just the ones that can catch a ball.