University Of California At Los Angeles

Karina De La Cruz wakes up in the dark on her first day of classes at UCLA. Pushing herself off a two-seat couch in the living room of a San Pedro apartment this September morning, she tries not to wake a brother sleeping in a twin bed next to her, or another dozing with his wife and baby daughter in the bedroom. De La Cruz dresses quickly and briefly considers taking her skateboard, then thinks of how her mother rolls her eyes whenever she rides it. She leaves it behind.

The brothers of Lambda Phi Epsilon at UCLA were excited to find the gray-and-teal apartment complex several blocks from campus. They had no house on Fraternity Row, but the complex could serve as their home base. About a dozen members of the Asian American fraternity moved into eight units in the 600 block of Midvale Avenue before the fall quarter started. In late September, they hosted a housewarming mixer to recruit new members. "Let us show you how Lambdas throw the sickest house parties in town and experience the social life that you can't experience any where else!"

Is humanism in film dead? If you consult box-office wonder "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" -- with its crush of ultra-violent, heavy-metal robots -- maybe so. If you talk to Teri Schwartz, the new dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the answer is hopefully not.

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.

A UCLA professor who taught the student accused of slashing a female classmate's throat last week said Saturday that he told a university administrator 10 months ago that he had concerns about the student's mental health, but strict federal privacy laws prevent UCLA officials from disclosing how they handled the issue. Stephen Frank, an associate professor in the university's history department, met the suspect, undergraduate student Damon Thompson, when he enrolled in the instructor's Western civilization class late last year, Frank said in an interview.

In a sign of challenging economic times, UCLA has put on hold indefinitely plans to open a second campus of its experimental laboratory school, a project that had been touted as a major effort to expand its mission to low-income communities beyond Westwood. The UCLA Lab School had planned to open classrooms in South Los Angeles or the Pico-Union district near downtown, bringing its research-based programs directly to areas of poverty and low expectations. It was to be a new educational model, the first of two or three other campuses that would reach into Los Angeles' urban neighborhoods.

It could be aspirins all around for UCLA this week. Defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough might need some help figuring out a scheme to stop Stanford's bull-like running back Toby Gerhart . And defensive tackle Brian Price already knows a few tablets can come in handy at game time. "I remember hitting him last year and it gave me a headache," Price said. "He is the toughest runner I've ever come across." Price isn't alone in those thoughts. Gerhart enters this week's game against the Bruins as the third-leading rusher in the nation, averaging 129 yards a game.

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.

State regulators performed a shoddy investigation and let UCLA off too lightly for violations stemming from a chemistry lab fire that killed a staff research assistant, the victim's family contends in papers filed with Cal-OSHA and the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board. Sheri Sangji, 23, suffered severe burns over 43% of her body when an experiment with air-sensitive chemicals burst into flame Dec. 29 and ignited her clothing.

Hollywood actor alumnus out. Rock musician alumnus in. UCLA announced Monday that Brad Delson, lead guitarist for the popular rock-rap band Linkin Park, will step in to replace movie star James Franco as commencement speaker at Friday's graduation ceremony for the College of Letters and Science.