Ep. 48: Commencement, with UCLA’s Gene Block

“Normally about 14,000 students live on our campus in our dormitories and that's down to I think less than about 900 students. … The campus has taken on an eerie feeling of really being abandoned.”

Big changes are afoot at UCLA, America’s #1-rated public university. Chancellor Gene Block has already seen an 85% reduction of his on-campus workforce, and with a record of 5,000-plus classes currently being taught online, he anticipates further, more permanent alterations to the way students obtain higher education.

There is one tradition, however, that Chancellor Block believes should remain intact. “Commencement is really important for students. It's a sense of closure. It's also a sense of new beginnings. It really completes one phase of their life and begins another, and we're going to make certain that our students get that experience even if it's somewhat delayed.”