UCLA History: Bonds

Yes, the legislature passed a state budget yesterday.  But in may be awhile before we see clear numbers and language as opposed to the newspaper leaks and tidbits about which we have been posting.

In the meantime, you might think about UCLA's fiscal history.  UCLA was created in 1919 out of the campus of the state normal school on Vermont Avenue (where LA Community College now stands).  To move to a new campus involved acquisition of land - which the Regents insisted had to be a gift - and construction of new buildings.  

The Janss family was willing to sell the Westwood site at a discount - but not as a gift.  (Contrary to popular belief, Janss did not give the land as a free gift even though putting UCLA in Westwood would substantially raise the value of the surround Janss land.)  So to make the land a free gift to the state, a bond issue - Prop 2 - went on the ballot in LA, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica in May 1925 and passed.  In November, a second bond issue for construction - Prop 10 - was also passed.  [The images on this post are from the book "UCLA on the Move" (1969)].

There was then a dispute over whether there would be two campuses, one on Vermont for the "Teachers College" (seen by some as not fitting for a full-fledged university) and the other for Letters and Science at Westwood.  After a tussle over that issue, the entire university was moved.