March 2026 Edition

Each month, we spotlight faculty, staff, students, and alumni whose work, research, and advocacy are shaping public conversations and appearing in the media. From interviews and op-eds to feature stories, this series highlights the impact of our community in local, national, and international outlets.

This edition features highlights from March, including recent media appearances, published pieces, and more. Look out for a new roundup at the end of each month!

Tip: Click on the photo or title to read the full media mention.

When 1 million marched for immigrant rights in Downtown L.A.

Aerial shots of March 25, 2006, show the streets packed with people headed toward City Hall. It was like the color white was “painted over the streets,” says Victor Narro, now director at the UCLA Labor Center and one of the organizers of the march.

On the ground, it felt like a community celebration, says Chris Zepeda-Millán, an associate professor at UCLA, and author of a book about the movement.

KCRW

Megan Jamerson

UCLA Historian Keynotes African American Parent Council Event Honoring Six PUSD Black Educators in Altadena

The Pasadena Unified School District’s African American Parent Council tonight will honor six Black educators tonight at a gathering in Altadena featuring Robin D.G. Kelley, a UCLA Distinguished Professor whose scholarship on Black history and social movements has earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Pasadena Now

Why so many unemployed Americans still can’t find a job

Saba Waheed, director of the UCLA Labor Center, said a stronger social safety net could help those struggling with long-term unemployment, especially in the wake of industrywide shifts.

Waheed said that policymakers could learn from the government’s response to massive job loss caused by COVID-era shutdowns and that some of those same tactics could be applied to help workers struggling with long-term unemployment. 



USA Today

Crystal Villarreal

Minimum wage ordinance impacting LA hotels, industry report says

"Yet, the state is still expecting a modest rise in total tourism in 2025, accelerating in 2026," Saba Waheed said in an email to City News Service, adding that hotel occupancy in major cities such as Los Angeles is expected to grow over the next few years due to mega events such as the World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

Spectrum News

City News Service 

Content creation is a growing part of legal sex work. It has an unexpected dark side.

Websites such as OnlyFans “have made adult workers less dependent on managers in the porn industry, less dependent on traditional directors and producers,” said Heather Berg, a feminist studies professor at UCLA. “But it makes them more dependent on big platforms that are exploitative in their own ways,” she said, explaining that OnlyFans doesn’t include robust protections for creators’ rights. 

The Nevada Independent

Kate Reynolds 

UCLA’s Chicana/o studies department votes to remove César E. Chávez from its name

“We must be unequivocal: the allegations of sexual violence against César Chávez are deeply disturbing and profoundly troubling and have caused great pain to everyone impacted,” Veronica Terriquez said in the statement. “As in the case of Jeffrey Epstein and his network, we must confront abuse without regard for power, status, or reputation.”

Daily Bruin

Amanda Velasco and Natalia Mochernak

UCLA Labor Center shares strategies to engage indigenous farmworker communities in California

Dr. Gaspar Rivera-Salgado emphasized the linguistic and cultural diversity within Mexican-origin communities in the Central Coast.“When we treat farmworker communities as homogenous, we risk designing services that don’t actually reach the people we intend to serve,” he said.

UCLA Labor Center

Victoria Ciudad-Real, Sara Roschdi, and Dulce López

TV Interviewers, Please Do Better When ‘Border Czar’ Spreads Immigration Lies

The following is a statement from Chris Newman, Legal Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON): “The news media call Tom Homan ‘immigration czar,’ a title invented out of thin air by right wing media during the Biden administration that hides what Tom Homan really is: a dangerous buffoon and a mouthpiece for the Trump Administration’s lies and Stephen Miller’s schemes. “Homan should not be platformed, period. But if talking heads insist on giving him a platform, they should at least ask useful questions.

NDLON

Administrator

Have a media mention to share? Send it to Marcos Ruiz-Rojas at marcosruiz1999@ucla.edu.

We’re on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and more! Click the icons below to check out our latest content and follow us to stay in the loop!