Ucla Students

Pauley Pavilion is much more than a basketball arena. It is at the center of many activities on UCLA's campus, bringing students together at key moments in their college experience, from freshman welcome to commencement. It's where students come to participate in intramural sports and other recreational activities, but also to be inspired by presidents and entertained by cultural icons. Symbolic of Pauley's access to all is the fact that it's not managed by the athletics department but rather by UCLA Recreation, a department of student affairs.

UCLA officials have decided not to use all of the $25 million in student fees that they were planning to spend on a $185-million renovation of Pauley Pavilion, home of the school's legendary basketball team. Vice Chancellor Steven A. Olsen said in a letter to The Times that $15 million of the student funds would go to other uses. The letter followed a Sunday article detailing how, in a time of crippling budget cuts, administrators throughout the state have tapped funds meant for classrooms and student services to help pay for ill-timed land deals, loans to high-ranking officials and, at UCLA, the Pauley renovation.

UCLA police have arrested a student on suspicion of attempted rape and related crimes after an attack on a female student who was making a predawn cellphone call outside a residence hall on campus. The suspect was identified as Thaddeus Staniforth, 25, a UCLA student from Fullerton. He was being held in lieu of $1-million bail at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, UCLA officials said in a statement. Staniforth was arrested Friday night at his dorm room at the Delta Terrace residence hall, police said.

The Greek mythology class has long been popular at UC Santa Barbara, but never quite like this. For the current term, 500 students are enrolled in Professor Apostolos Athanassakis' classics course, filling the lecture hall to capacity. And 300 others have tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to land a spot on the roster, he said. Recent state funding cuts have translated to reductions in undergraduate course offerings across the beachside campus, sending students scurrying for classes such as Athanassakis' that fulfill various requirements.

UCLA's Jake Dean will finally get a chance to do what he has always dreamed about . . . start against USC. Dean, a junior, will be at right guard Saturday as Ryan Taylor , out the last three games because of a foot injury, is listed as questionable. "This means a lot," Dean said. "Growing up, you want to play in this kind of big rivalry game. I'm getting a shot to finally go out and do it, and not just watch. You come here to play this game. All that matters is how you perform in this one."

A UCLA student allegedly stabbed a classmate five times and slashed her throat in a crime that prosecutors said Tuesday was premeditated and unprovoked. Damon Thompson, 20, was charged with one count of attempted murder in Thursday's attack in a chemistry lab in Young Hall. If convicted, he could face life in state prison with the possibility of parole. Thompson pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $3-million bail by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Keith L. Schwartz after prosecutors argued that the Belize native was a flight risk.

Students in a UCLA chemistry lab watched helplessly Thursday afternoon as a classmate suddenly slashed the neck of a fellow student, causing serious injuries. The attack occurred just past noon on the sixth floor of Young Hall, prompting swift police mobilization and leaving students shaken by the violence as word spread across campus. One witness inside the lab told The Times that the alleged assailant, a 20-year-old male student in the class, walked up to the 20-year-old female victim and appeared to repeatedly punch her. The witness said he realized it was more serious when she slumped over, bleeding profusely from her neck.

Three UCLA students and four other people have been arrested in connection with a melee at an off-campus fraternity party that left three students injured last month, university officials said Friday. The fight broke the morning of Sept. 22 at a party hosted by Lambda Phi Epsilon, a fraternity that was on probation at the time after an incident last fall that involved an altercation with members of another fraternity over "male and female relations," said Phil Hampton, a university spokesman Isaiah Hee Cho, 19, of Westminster and Chris Yi, 19, of Huntington Beach were arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder, Hampton said.

Brush in hand, UCLA junior Jacob Castaneda was hard at work Tuesday, spreading a fresh coat of brown paint on the exterior of a classroom bungalow at Samuel Gompers Middle School. He was among an army of about 4,600 UCLA volunteers who came to the South Los Angeles campus and seven other spots around the region for a day of community service. "It's always nice to reach out to the community and it's always great to help out kids," said Castaneda, a Mid-City resident who recently transferred to UCLA from Santa Monica College.

Actor James Franco has won critical raves for his performances in films such as the 2008 stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" and the Oscar-nominated drama "Milk." But this spring, when he agreed to deliver a commencement speech at UCLA, Franco received a thumbs-down from many members of the student body. "[We] don't feel he is as esteemed as a commencement speaker of UCLA's caliber should be," said an editorial in the Daily Bruin.