It has always been odd to start school a month later than friends who attend semester-system schools. And the reason we do this, the nontraditional quarter system, has been a topic of debate since it was instituted in the late 1960s. The last time UCLA seriously considered switching back to the semester system was 2002, and it will inevitably be brought up again. Less than 15 percent of schools have the quarter system, according to Judith Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education. And the disadvantages of this system are clear. Read more...

From Jim Belushi as the embodiment of excess in "Animal House" to Van Wilder's escapades as a full-time socialite, pop culture tends to portray fraternities as bastions for unmotivated misfits, a university's elitist underbelly more concerned with male chauvinism than studying Charlemagne. Read more...

I won't lie. One of the reasons I came to UCLA was the fact that every spring, the entire campus is transformed into one massive outdoor library: the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Read more...