Name	University of California,Los Angeles
Motto	Fiat Lux (Latin)
Mottoeng	Let there be light
Caption	Seal of the University of California, Los Angeles
Established	1919
Calendar	Quarter
Type	Public
Endowment	US $1.88 billion (June 30, 2009)
Staff	26,139
Faculty	4,016
Chancellor	Gene D. Block
Provost	Scott L. Waugh
Students	38,476
Undergrad	26,928
Postgrad	11,548
City	Los Angeles
State	California
Country	United States
Campus	Urban 419 acres (1.7 km²)
Former names	University of California Southern Branch (1919 - 1927)
Colors	UCLA Blue Gold
Athletics	22 Varsity TeamsNCAA Division I
Nobel laureates	10
Affiliations	MPSFAAUPacific-10University of California
Free label	Newspaper
Free	Daily Bruin
Website	ucla.edu
Logo

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was founded in 1919 as "Southern Campus" and is the second oldest of the ten campuses affiliated with the University of California system. UCLA offers over 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines and enrolls about 26,000 undergraduate and about 11,000 graduate students from the United States and around the world every year.

The university is organized into five undergraduate colleges, seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Eleven Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university as faculty, researchers, or alumni, 37 have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 20 to the National Academy of Engineering, and 97 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

UCLA is consistently ranked high in college and university rankings. It also ranks among the top 10 schools in the country with the most faculty awards. The faculty is "highly cited" for its research according to the Institute for Scientific Information.

UCLA student-athletes compete intercollegiately as the Bruins. As a member of the Pacific-10 Conference, the Bruins have won 125 national championships, including 106 NCAA team championships as of 2010, more than any other university.

History

, in 1881.]]

Beginnings

In March 1881, after heavy lobbying by Los Angeles residents, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School (which later became San Jose State University) in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. The State Normal School at Los Angeles opened on August 29, 1882, on what is now the site of the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The new facility included an elementary school where teachers-in-training could practice their teaching technique on children. That elementary school is related to the present day version, UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the school became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School.

In 1914, the school moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue (now the site of Los Angeles City College) in Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward A. Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began working together to lobby the State Legislature to enable the school to become the second University of California campus, after Berkeley. They met resistance from Berkeley alumni, Northern California members of the state legislature, and Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California from 1899 to 1919, who were all vigorously opposed to the idea of a southern campus. David Prescott Barrows, the new President of the University of California, did not share Wheeler's objections. On May 23, 1919, the Southern Californians' efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which turned the campus into the Southern Branch of the University of California and added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science. The Southern Branch campus opened on September 15 of that year, offering two-year undergraduate programs to 250 Letters and Science students and 1,250 students in the Teachers College, under Moore's continued direction.

Under University of California President William Wallace Campbell, enrollment at the Southern Branch expanded so rapidly that by the mid-1920s the institution was outgrowing the 25 acre Vermont Avenue location. The Regents conducted a search for a new location and announced their selection of the so-called "Beverly Site"—just west of Beverly Hills—on March 21, 1925. After the athletic teams entered the Pacific Coast conference in 1926, the Southern Branch student council adopted the nickname "Bruins," a name offered by the student council at Berkeley. In 1927, the Regents renamed the campus the "University of California at Los Angeles" (the word "at" was officially replaced by a comma in 1958, in line with other UC campuses) and the state broke ground in Westwood on land sold for $1 million, less than one-third its value, by real estate developers Edwin and Harold Janss, for whom the Janss Steps are named.

Maturity as a university

The campus received its first chancellor in 1951, thereby establishing itself as an autonomous entity within the UC system. The appointment of Franklin David Murphy to the position of Chancellor in 1960 helped to spark an era of tremendous growth of facilities and faculty honors. By the end of the decade, UCLA had achieved distinction in a wide range of subjects. This era also secured UCLA's position as a proper university in her own right and not simply a branch of the UC system. This change is exemplified by an incident involving Chancellor Murphy, which was described by him later on:

"I picked up the telephone and called in from somewhere, and the phone operator said, 'University of California.' And I said, 'Is this Berkeley?' She said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, who have I gotten to?' 'UCLA.' I said, 'Why didn't you say UCLA?' 'Oh,' she said, 'we're instructed to say University of California.' So the next morning I went to the office and wrote a memo; I said, 'Will you please instruct the operators, as of noon today, when they answer the phone to say, "UCLA."' And they said, 'You know they won't like it at Berkeley.' And I said, 'Well, let's just see. There are a few things maybe we can do around here without getting their permission.'"

In 2006, the university completed Campaign UCLA, which collected over $3.05 billion and is the second most successful fundraising campaign. In 2008, UCLA raised over $456 million, ranking the institution among the top 10 universities in the United States in total fundraising for the year.

Campus

When UCLA opened its new campus in 1919, it had four buildings. Today, the campus includes 163 buildings across 419 acres (1.7 km²) in the western part of Los Angeles, north of the Westwood shopping district and just south of Sunset Boulevard. The campus is close but not adjacent to the San Diego Freeway.

The campus includes sculpture gardens, fountains, museums, and a mix of architectural styles. It is located in the residential area of Westwood and bordered by Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood. The campus is informally divided into North Campus and South Campus, which are both on the eastern half of the university's land. North Campus is the original campus core; its buildings are more old-fashioned in appearance and clad in imported Italian brick. North Campus is home to the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, and business programs and is centered around oak tree-lined Dickson Court. South Campus is home to the physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, psychology, mathematical sciences, all health-related fields, and the UCLA Medical Center.

Ackerman Union, the John Wooden Center, the Arthur Ashe Health and Wellness Center, the Student Activities Center, Kerckhoff Hall, the J.D. Morgan Center, the James West Alumni Center, and Pauley Pavilion stand at the center of the campus. Bruin Walk, a heavily traveled pathway from housing to the main campus, bisects the campus.

Architecture

The first campus buildings were designed by the local firm Allison & Allison. The Romanesque Revival style of these first four structures remained the predominant building style on campus until the 1950s, when architect Welton Becket was hired to supervise the expansion of the campus over the next two decades. Becket greatly streamlined the general appearance of the campus, adding several rows of minimalist, slab–shaped brick buildings to the southern half of the campus, the largest of these being the UCLA Medical Center. Architects such as A. Quincy Jones, William Pereira and Paul Williams designed many subsequent structures on the campus during the mid-20th century. More recent additions include buildings designed by architects I.M. Pei, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Richard Meier, Cesar Pelli, and Rafael Vinoly. In order to accommodate UCLA's rapidly growing student population, multiple construction and renovation projects are in progress, including expansions of the life sciences and engineering research complexes. This continuous construction gives UCLA the on-campus nickname of "Under Construction Like Always."

, one of the original four buildings of the campus, has become the symbol of UCLA, taking inspiration from Italian Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, in Milan]]

The tallest building on campus is named after Ralph Bunche, an African-American alumnus, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. A bust of him, on the entrance to Bunche Hall, overlooks the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden. He was the first individual of non-European background and the first UCLA alumnus to be honored with the Prize.

A mile from campus, the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is located in the community of Bel-Air. The garden was designed by landscape architect Nagao Sakurai of Tokyo and garden designer Kazuo Nakamura of Kyoto in 1959. After the garden was damaged by heavy rains in 1969, UCLA Professor of Art and Campus Architect Koichi Kawana took on the task of its reconstruction.

Filming

With a location near Hollywood and a world-famous film and television school, the UCLA campus has attracted filming for decades. Much of the 1985 film Gotcha! was shot at UCLA, as well as John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995). Legally Blonde, "Old School", "The Nutty Professor", Erin Brockovich, "How High" (2001), and American Pie 2 all were mainly shot at the university campus or locale. In January 2009, the Bollywood movie My Name is Khan was shot at UCLA. Some of the exterior shots of the fictional UC Sunnydale in Buffy the Vampire Slayer were also filmed at UCLA. In response to the major demand for filming, UCLA instated a policy on filming and professional photography at the campus. "UCLA is located in Los Angeles, the same place as the American motion picture industry," said UCLA visiting professor of film and television Jonathan Kuntz. "So we're convenient for (almost) all of the movie companies, TV production companies, commercial companies and so on. We're right where the action is."

Transportation & Parking

The campus maintains 24,000 parking spaces and operates an award-winning sustainable transportation program,. Elements of the sustainable transportation program include vanpools, a campus shuttle system called BruinBus, discounted carpool permits, and subsidized transit passes. One of the pass programs includes BruinGO, which allows students and staff members to purchase discounted one-way or quarterly passes to ride Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus and Culver City's Culver CityBus.

Academics

UCLA Healthcare

The David Geffen School of Medicine, along with the School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, and School of Public Health, comprise the professional schools of health science. In 2005, UCLA announced its five-year plan to establish the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine; the state of California is rare in its public funding of research with new embryonic stem cell lines. The California NanoSystems Institute is another project that was created out of a partnership with the University of California, Santa Barbara to pioneer innovations in the field of nanotechnology.

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is a part of a larger healthcare system, UCLA Healthcare, which also operates a hospital in Santa Monica and seven primary care clinics throughout Los Angeles County. In addition, the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine uses two Los Angeles County public hospitals as teaching hospitals—Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center—as well as the largest private nonprofit hospital on the West Coast, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. In 1981, the UCLA Medical Center made history when an assistant professor named Michael Gottlieb first diagnosed an unknown affliction later to be called AIDS. UCLA medical researchers also pioneered the use of PET scanning to study brain function. The signaling cascade of nitric oxide, one of the most important molecules in cardiopulmonary physiology was discovered in part by the medical school's Professor of Pharmacology Louis J. Ignarro. For this, he was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology along with two other researchers - Robert F. Furchgott of the SUNY Health Science Center and Ferid Murad of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

In the 2007 edition of U.S. News and World Report, UCLA Medical Center was ranked best in the West, as well as one of the top 3 hospitals in the United States alongside Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 15 of the 16 medical specialty areas examined, UCLA Medical Center ranked in the top 20.

Rankings

Global rankings

UCLA was ranked 32nd in U.S. News and World Report's World's Best Universities. UCLA was ranked 12th in Newsweek's annual ranking of the Top 100 Global universities. UCLA was ranked 13th in the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). and in 2007, was ranked 13th in the world (11th in North America) by Top 500 World Universities, an annual list published by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Global Universities Ranking lists UCLA as 15th in the world. UCLA is ranked 33rd in Financial Times' Global MBA Rankings in 2010. Human Resources & Labor Review, a national human competitiveness index & analysis, ranked the university 14th in 2010 internationally as one of 50 Best World Universities. In 2010, UCLA ranked 11th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 35th in the QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).

U.S. rankings

U.S. News & World Report ranked UCLA as the 2nd best public university among "National Universities" in the United States (tied with UVA) and 25th among "America's Best Colleges 2011: National Universities". In the August 21–28, 2006 issue of Newsweek (also released as the 2007 issue of the Kaplan Guide to Colleges), UCLA was listed as one of "25 New Ivies". The Washington Monthly ranks UCLA third nationally with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility, and first in community service participation.

UCLA was ranked third among national research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance in 2009. The Princeton Review listed UCLA as a "Dream School" selected by both students and parents in 2010. It was also the only public university in the ranking.

UCLA took the second spot among all universities (surpassed only by Johns Hopkins University), and the top spot among public universities, for research spending in the sciences and engineering during the fiscal year 2004, according to a 2006 report by the National Science Foundation—UCLA spent $773 million.

Graduate schools

The Anderson School of Management, the School of Public Affairs, and the David Geffen School of Medicine consistently rank among the top ten in the United States. UCLA's oldest operating unit, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS), was ranked second among American graduate schools of education in the 2006 edition of U.S. News and World Report, America's Best Graduate Schools. The UCLA School of Law is also highly-regarded, and is the youngest law school in the country to consistently rank in the top 15 nationally. In addition, UCLA Law was named among the Princeton Review's "10 Hardest Law Schools To Get Into" in 2010.

Departments and professors

In 1995, of the 36 Ph.D. programs examined by the National Research Council, eleven departments were ranked in the top ten. Thirty-one of the Ph.D. programs examined were ranked in the top 20, the third highest number of those distinctions in the country.

In the Institute for Scientific Information's 2004 database, 48 UCLA professors were listed as highly cited, making UCLA faculty 11th in the United States; as of December 2006, there were 54 highly cited faculty.

Library system

UCLA's library system has over eight million books and 70,000 serials spread over twelve libraries and eleven other archives, reading rooms, and research centers. It is the nation's 14th largest library in number of volumes.

The first library, University library (presently Powell), was founded in 1884. In 1910, Elizabeth Fargo became the university's first librarian. Lawrence Powell became librarian in 1944, and began a series of system overhauls and modifications, and in 1959, he was named Dean of the School of Library Service. More libraries were added as previous ones filled. Page Ackerman became University Librarian in 1973, and was the nation's first female librarian of a system as large as UCLA's. She oversaw the first coordinations between other UC schools, and formed a new administrative network that is still in use today. Since her retirement, the system has seen steady growth and improvement under various Librarians. The present University Librarian is Gary E. Strong, who has been in office since September 1, 2003.

Admissions

Undergraduate

This table does not account deferredapplications or other unique situations.

UCLA is rated "Most Selective", by the Princeton Review, with an admissions selectivity rating of 98 (on a scale of 60–99). UCLA received 55,397 applications for the Fall 2008 freshman class, retaining its position as the university with the most freshmen applicants, a title it has held since 1998. For the 2008-09 year, 12,579 applicants were admitted, 22.7% of the total. ||Under-graduates || Graduatestudents || Per-centage |- |African American | 865 | 438 | 4% |- |Asian American and Pacific Islander | 9,968 | 2,253 | 35% |- |Hispanic or Chicano | 3,812 | 974 | 14% |- |Native American | 108 | 63 | 0% |- |White | 8,861 | 4,643 | 39% |- |International, Other | 1,075 | 1,695 | 8% |- |Total | 24,689 | 10,066 | 100% |} 3,220 transfer students entered UCLA in Fall 2008, 90 percent from community colleges. Over the past 15 years over 45,000 transfer students have entered UCLA. One-third of baccalaureate degrees are awarded to students who entered UCLA as transfer students. One of the major current debates is over the decreasing admission of African-Americans and Latinos, especially since the passage of Proposition 209, prohibiting racial, sexual, or ethnic discrimination at public institutions, in 1996. Out of the 4,700 students in the Fall 2006 class, 96 were African American, and 20 of those were recruited athletes. This is the lowest number of African Americans to enter into a class at UCLA in more than 30 years, and it comes at a time when the other schools in the UC system are seeing an increase. In response to this issue, UCLA decided to shift to a more holistic admissions process, similar to that of UC Berkeley, starting Fall 2007. Preliminary data show that the overall number of underrepresented student applicants at UCLA — Native Americans, African Americans, and Chicanos/Latinos — increased from 10,097 in fall 2006 (22.2% of 2006 applicants) to 11,414 for fall 2007 (23.6%).

Graduate

In Fall 2005, the David Geffen School of Medicine admitted 4.5% of its applicants, the School of Law admitted 16.1%, and the Anderson School of Management admitted 30.6%.

According to the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Guide to Dental Schools, 44th Ed., the UCLA School of Dentistry had more than 1,465 applicants for 88 seats in the entering class of 2006. The average Dental Admissions Test (DAT) scores for admitted students in the entering class of 2007 were 22 on the academic portion (3rd highest average in the nation after Harvard and Columbia) and 20 on the perceptual aptitude portion of the exam (3rd highest average after Harvard and University of Washington).

Economic impact

from the UCLA store]] The University has a significant impact in the Los Angeles Economy. It is the fourth largest employer in the county, after Los Angeles County, LAUSD and the Federal Government, and the seventh largest in the region. In 2005-2006, the university had an operating budget of $3.6 billion, of which 17.4% was from California state government appropriations.

Trademarks and licensing

The UCLA trademark also sells as an overseas clothing and accessories brand. This trend arises from the school's athletic and academic reputation, and popular images of the Southern California lifestyle. High demand for UCLA apparel has inspired the licensing of its trademark to UCLA brand stores throughout East Asia. Since 1980, 15 UCLA stores have opened in South Korea, and 43 are currently open in China. There are also stores in Mexico, Singapore, and Europe. UCLA makes $400,000 in royalties every year through its international licensing program. Women's Softball won the 106th National Championship, on June 8, 2010. Among these championships, some of the more notable victories are in men's basketball.

Under legendary coach John Wooden, UCLA men's basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships, including a record seven consecutive, in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1975, and an 11th was added under then-coach Jim Harrick in 1995 (through 2008, the most consecutive by any other team is two).

The schools share a rivalry in many other sports. In volleyball, UCLA won 19 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships against USC's four. In women's volleyball UCLA leads the all-time series against USC as well. In the popular sport of soccer UCLA leads USC in the all-time series 13-3-0. USC has 18 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships, while UCLA only has 16. The Lexus Gauntlet is the name given to the official competition between the two schools in 18 varsity sports. This rivalry even extends to the Olympic Games, where UCLA athletes have won 213 medals and USC athletes have won 234.

The origin is unclear, but the rivalry most likely started when football Hall of Fame coach Red Sanders led UCLA to dominance in the 1950s. USC, long before established as the reigning power, diverted its attention from then-rival University of Notre Dame, and the rivalry began.

Presently, UCLA, Stanford, and USC have the most NCAA championships; UCLA holds the most, winning a combined 106 team championships in men's and women's sports, with Stanford coming in second with 95, followed by USC with 91.

Student life

from the Getty Center. Westwood and UCLA are in the middle ground.]] Students have access to a variety of activities when not attending class. The campus' location in Los Angeles makes excursions to local museums, theaters, or other entertainment venues relatively quick and easy. UCLA offers classical orchestras, intramural sports, and over 800 student organizations. UCLA is also home to more than 60 national and local Greek-letter organizations, which collectively constitute the largest membership-based and multi-faceted community on campus. Fraternity and sorority members represent 13% of the student population. The student government at UCLA is the Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA), governed by a student majority board of directors. It is the umbrella organization that includes the two branches of UCLA's student government, the Graduate Students Association (GSA) and the Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC), the UCLA Store, the Student Union, Restaurants, Trademark & Licensing, and Student Media (including the UCLA Daily Bruin). The Student Alumni Association (SAA), a branch under the UCLA Alumni Association but entirely student run, is responsible for maintaining and putting on UCLA's oldest and greatest traditions, such as Blue and Gold Week, Senior Send-off, Spring Sing, and Dinners for 12 Strangers amongst many. UCLA also operates a waterfront facility known as the UCLA Marina Aquatic Center in Marina del Rey. Students and staff participate in dingy sailing, surfing, windsurfing, rowing, and kayaking.

The UCLA community was shocked in 2009 when a student was stabbed multiple times, including in the neck, during a chemistry lab class. Lab classes were canceled the next day and counselors were available for students.

Traditions

The university has many traditions and annual events involving students, community, or the city. The school hosts events that usually require participation from more than just the student body, and competitions can occasionally involve celebrity judges and performers.

Unicamp, founded in 1934, is UCLA's official charity. It is a week-long summer camp for underserved children from the greater Los Angeles area, with UCLA volunteer counselors. Because Unicamp is a non-profit organization, student volunteers from UCLA also fundraise money throughout the year to allow these children to attend summer camp.

To introduce new students to clubs and activities, UCLA begins the fall quarter with Welcome Week activities (renamed True Bruin Welcome in 2009). The week includes the newly-added Day of Service for all first-years, the Enormous Activities Fair, the Sports Fair, and other events. At the end of move-in and the beginning of Welcome Week, UCLA holds BruinBash. The BruinBash includes a concert, movie, and entertainment. Past performers include Thrice and Common in 2005, Xzibit and Rooney in 2006, T.I. in 2007, The Cool Kids, Estelle, HelloGoodbye in 2008, LMFAO in 2009, Ying Yang Twins, Travie McCoy and the Cataracs in 2010. BruinBash was created as a replacement for Black Sunday, a large-scale day of partying including all fraternities, in North Westwood Village, where the majority of off-campus students reside adjacent to campus.

Dance Marathon is an annual event put on by the student group, the Pediatric AIDS Coalition, held in Ackerman Grand Ballroom at UCLA, where thousands of students raise money and dance to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Project Kindle, and One Heartland. Dancers are required to fundraise a minimum amount of $208 before the event, which is a 26 hour dance marathon. Dancers are not allowed to sit (except to use the restroom) during the marathon. In 2010, Dance Marathon of UCLA raised a record-breaking $407,000. Since 2002, the Marathon has raised over $2,100,000.

UCLA students also participate in "Midnight Yell" during finals week, a tradition where every night at midnight (starting on Sunday of finals week), students go outside and yell as loudly as possible for one minute, giving everyone a chance to take a short break from studying and release some nervous energy. Students who live in on-campus housing are not allowed to participate.

The quarterly Undie Run takes place during the Wednesday evening of Finals Week, when students run through the campus in their underwear or in skimpy costumes. The run first began in Fall of 2001 when a student, Eric Whitehead, wearing what he described as "really short shorts" walked around singing a song and playing a guitar to protest the Police restrictions on the Midnight Yell. With the increasing safety hazards and Police and Administration involvement, a student committee, in order to satisfy concerns but keep the event, changed the route. It was changed to a run through campus to the fountain in front of Powell Library. Now it ends with students cavorting in the fountains outside Powell Library. As attendance increased, committees in charge of organizing the event deemed it necessary to employ the UC Police during the event, to ward off vandalism and dangerous activity. (The Undie Run concept has since spread to other college campuses around the United States, including the University of Texas at Austin and Syracuse University.)

The Alumni Association sponsors several events, usually large extravaganzas involving huge amounts of coordination. An example of this is the 60-year old Spring Sing, organized by the Student Alumni Association (SAA). Spring Sing is UCLA's oldest tradition—it is an annual gala of student talent, which is held at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. In 2009 the event was held in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The committee bestows the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award each year to a major contributor to the music industry. Past recipients have included Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, and in 2009, Julie Andrews. The Dinner for 12 Strangers, a common tradition among universities, is a gathering of students, alumni, administration and faculty to network around different interests. The week before the USC rivalry football game, there is a "Beat 'SC Bonfire and Rally." The bonfire did not take place in 2006 due to fire hazard issues. Nonetheless, UCLA won the football game, upsetting the #2 ranked Trojans. This led many to believe that dispelling of the tradition led to the victory.

Various student groups organize schoolwide fundraisers such as the Jazz Reggae Festival, a two-day concert on Memorial Day weekend that attracts more than 20,000 attendees.

Student government

.]] The Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA) is the official entity encompassing student government and student-led enterprises at UCLA. ASUCLA has four major components: the Undergraduate Students Association, the Graduate Students Association, Student Media, and services & enterprises. However, in common practice, the term ASUCLA is often more narrowly used to refer to the services and enterprises component. This includes the Student Store, Bookstore, Food Services, Student Union, etc. These commercial enterprises serving the UCLA campus community generate approximately $90,000,000 in annual revenues, making it financially the largest student government operation in the world. As a nonprofit corporation, the financial goal of ASUCLA is not to maximize return or "profit" but to provide quality services and programs to the campus community at reasonable prices. ASUCLA is governed by a student-majority Board of Directors. The Undergraduate Students Association and Graduate Students Association each appoint three members plus one alternate. The respected presidents of USA and GSA usually serve as chair and vice chair of the board, alternating in the middle of the year. In addition to the student members, there are representatives appointed by the administration, the academic senate, and the alumni association. The "services and enterprises" portion of ASUCLA is run by a professional executive director who oversees some 300 professional career staff and 2,000 student employees. The board meets monthly and is responsible for setting the priority goals for the year, providing direction to the executive director, and evaluating his or her annual performance.

The Graduate Students Association is the governing body for approximately 11,000 graduate and professional students at UCLA.

"USAC" is an acronym for Undergraduate Students Association Council, the governing body of the Undergraduate Students Association (USA) whose membership comprises every UCLA undergraduate student. The student body currently has two major political slates, Bruins United and Students First!.

USAC's thirteen student officers and commissioners are elected by members of the Undergraduate Students Association at an annual election held during Spring Quarter. In addition to its thirteen elected members, USAC includes appointed representatives of the Administration, the Alumni, and the Faculty, as well as two ex-officio members, the ASUCLA Executive Director and a student Finance Committee Chairperson who is appointed by the USA President and approved by USAC. All members of USAC may participate fully in Council deliberations, but only the thirteen elected student members have a vote.

The USAC President appoints more than seventy undergraduates to administrative committees and the Academic Affairs Commissioner Appoints approximately 25 undergraduates to Academic Senate Committees. Students have an opportunity to serve on the ASUCLA Board of Directors and the Communications Board, as well as on other significant committees. Through their participation on these campus-wide committees, UCLA undergraduates have had input into the decision making process at a high level.

USAC's programs offers additional services to the campus and surrounding communities and provide an opportunity for students to participate in. For example, each year approximately 40,000 students, faculty and staff attend programs of the Campus Events Commission, including a low-cost film program, a speakers program which presents leading figures from a wide range of disciplines, and performances by dozens of entertainers. Two to three thousand UCLA undergraduates participate annually in the more than twenty voluntary outreach programs run by the Community Service Commission. A large corps of undergraduate volunteers also participate in programs run by the Student Welfare Commission, such as AIDS Awareness, Substance Abuse Awareness, Blood Drives and CPR/First Aid Training.

Student Media UCLA is the home of UCLA's student-run media, including the campus newspaper, magazines, and radio and television stations.

Media publications

Most student media publications distributed on-campus are governed by the ASUCLA Communications Board. The Daily Bruin is UCLA's most prominent student publication. Founded in 1919 under the name Cub Californian, it has since then developed into Los Angeles' third-most circulated newspaper. It has won over 20 national awards in the last five years, and is regularly commended for layout and content. In 2006, the Society of Professional Journalists awarded it Best All-Around Daily Newspaper in the national Mark of Excellence Awards. The newspaper has not been without scrutiny and controversy, and in 1954, the administration attempted to intervene with the previous policy of electing editors by a student council. UCLA Student Media also publishes seven news magazines, each established to serve a special-interest community on campus: Al-Talib, Fem, Ha'Am, La Gente de Aztlan, Nommo, Pacific Ties, and Outwrite, a school yearbook, BruinLife, Daily Bruin Television (DBTV), and the student-run radio station, UCLAradio.com, formerly known as KLA. Student groups such as The Forum for Energy Economics and Development also publish yearly journals focused on energy technologies and industries.

Housing

UCLA provides housing to over 10,000 undergraduate and 2,900 graduate students.

Most undergraduate students are housed in 14 complexes on the western side of campus, referred to by students as "The Hill." Students can live in halls, plazas, suites, or university apartments, which vary in pricing and privacy. Housing plans also offer students access to dining facilities, which have been ranked by the Princeton Review as some of the best in the nation. Dining halls are located in De Neve, Rieber, Covel, and Hedrick Halls. Residential cafes include Bruin Cafe, Rendezvous, and Cafe 1919.

The Student Housing Master Plan, released October 2007, outlines goals to improve and expand student housing, including renovating older residential halls and allowing four years of guaranteed housing to all entering freshmen by 2010. According to the Daily Bruin, 1,525 beds, 10 faculty in-residence apartments and a 750-seat dining hall will be built on the Northwest Housing Infill Project on the Hill by 2013. The buildings are tentatively titled De Neve Gardenia Way, De Neve Holly Ridge, Sproul Cove, and Sproul Landing.

Hospitality

Hospitality constituents of the university include departments not directly related to student life or administration. The Hospitality department manages the UCLA Guest House, a full-service, on-campus hotel. The 61-room Guest House services those visiting the university for campus-related activities. The department also manages the UCLA Conference Center, a 40 acre (0.2 km²) convention center in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead. Hospitality also operates UCLA Catering a Vending operation, and summer conference center located on the Westwood campus.

Chabad House

The UCLA Chabad House is a community center for Jewish students operated by the Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement. Established in 1969, it was the first Chabad House at a university. In 1980, three students died in a fire in the original building of the UCLA Chabad House. The present building was erected in their memory. The building, completed in 1984, was the first of many Chabad houses worldwide designed as architectural reproductions of the residence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York.

Other

The official UCLA site is ranked the sixteenth most accessed university site in the world by Alexa. Of universities in California, it is ranked third trailing only Stanford and UC Berkeley.

Faculty and alumni

Six professors (two of whom are current faculty) and six alumni have been awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in science, economics, and peace; notably Glenn T. Seaborg ('34) who was awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Elinor Ostrom ('54), who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Alumnus Richard Heck won the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Fifty-two have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, and eleven are MacArthur Foundation Fellows. In 2006, 54 faculty members were listed as "Highly Cited" by the Institute for Scientific Information. Terence Tao, professor of Mathematics, was awarded the 2006 Fields Medal. Two UCLA professors of history have each won 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for general nonfiction and history. Saul Friedländer, professor of history and noted scholar of the Nazi Holocaust, won the prize for general nonfiction for his 2006 book, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, and Professor Emeritus Daniel Walker Howe won for his 2007 book, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848.

A number of UCLA alumni are notable politicians. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Waxman ('61, '64) represents California's 30th congressional district and is Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. U.S. Representative Judy Chu ('74) represents California's 32nd congressional district and became the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 2009. Kirsten Gillibrand ('91) is U.S. Senator from the State of New York and former U.S. Representative for New York's 20th congressional district. Antonio Villaraigosa ('77) is Mayor of Los Angeles, California and the third Mexican American ever to hold the office of mayor in the City of Los Angeles.

Computer scientist Vint Cerf ('70, '72) is Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google and the person most widely considered the "father of the Internet." Henry Samueli ('75) is co-founder of Broadcom Corporation and owner of the Anaheim Ducks.

UCLA alumni have also achieved prominence in the Arts and Entertainment. American composer John Williams is laureate conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra and Academy Award winning composer of the Star Wars film score. Martin Sherwin (’71) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for . Actors Tim Robbins, James Franco, George Takei, and Milo Ventimiglia are also UCLA alumni. Popular music artists Sara Bareilles, The Doors, Linkin Park, and Maroon 5 all attended UCLA. Giada De Laurentiis is a program host at Food Network and former chef at Spago. Carlos Bocanegra, the USA soccer team captain is also a UCLA alumnus.

10 National Medal of Science winners (same as Harvard)

3 Presidential Medal of Freedom winners

11 Nobel laureates

3 Pulitzer Prize winners

1 Pritzker Prize in Architecture winner

1 Fields Medal in Mathematics winner

78 Guggenheim Fellows

11 MacArthur Fellows winners

11 Fulbright Scholars (since 2000)

5 California Scientist of the Year winners

See also

References

External links

Official mobile site

Official Daily Bruin Website

UCLA MAC

UCLA's Weyburn Hall dormitory 1967-1971, Westwood, CA

UCLA's 2006 Men's Volleyball National Championship

Category:Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Category:Educational institutions established in 1919 Category:Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Category:University of California California Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles, University of

Name	Terence Chi-Shen Tao
Caption	Terence Tao in March, 2006 at the Erdős Memorial Conference in Memphis, TN
Birth date	July 17, 1975
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Nationality	Australian United States widely considered the top honor a mathematician can receive. In September 2006, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on May 18, 2007. He became a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2008 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. On January 11, 2010, the King Faisal Foundation announced that Tao is the co-winner of the King Faisal International Prize in the field of science for his works in mathematics.
Name	Tao, Terence Chi-Shen
Alternative names	Terry Tao
Short description	Australian mathematician
Date of birth	1975-07-17
Place of birth	Adelaide, South Australia

Category:Fields Medalists Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Sloan Research Fellowships Category:Combinatorists Category:Mathematical analysts Category:Number theorists Category:Australian mathematicians Category:20th-century mathematicians Category:21st-century mathematicians Category:Princeton University alumni Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:1975 births Category:People from Adelaide Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Australian people of Hong Kong descent Category:Australian people of Chinese descent Category:Australian expatriates in the United States Category:Living people Category:Flinders University alumni Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Additive combinatorists

Name	Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin ()
Caption	Osama bin Laden on an al-Qaeda propaganda poster
Born	March 10, 1957
Placeofbirth	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Placeofburial coordinates
Religion	Wahhabi Sunni Islam
Nationality	Saudi Arabian
Ethnicity	Saudi
Allegiance	Al-Qaeda
| battles	Soviet war in AfghanistanWar on Terror:*War in Afghanistan*War in North-West Pakistan

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (, Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin ‘Awaḍ bin Lādin; born March 10, 1957) is a member of the prominent Saudi bin Laden family and the founder of the Islamic extremist organization al-Qaeda, most widely recognized for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. As a result of his dealings in violent, extremist jihad, Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship and was disowned by his wealthy Saudi Arabian family. Bin Laden is on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives due to several 1998 US embassy bombings.

Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the U.S. War on Terror. Bin Laden and fellow al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Variations of bin Laden's name

There is no universally accepted standard in the West for transliterating Arabic words and names into English, so bin Laden's name is spelled in many different ways. The version translation most often used by English-language mass media is Osama bin Laden. Most American government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, use either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin", both of which are often abbreviated to UBL. Less common renderings include "Ussamah Bin Ladin" and "Oussama Ben Laden" (French-language mass media). The last two words of the name can also be found as "Binladen" or (as used by his family in the West) "Binladin". The spelling with 'o' and 'e' comes from a Persian-influenced pronunciation used in Afghanistan where he lived for a long time.

Strictly speaking, Arabic linguistic conventions dictate that he be referred to as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden," as "Bin Laden" is not used as a surname in the Western manner, but simply as part of his name, which in its long form means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of 'Awad, son of Laden". Still, "bin Laden" has become nearly universal in Western references to him.

Bin Laden's admirers commonly use several aliases and nicknames, including the Prince/Al-Amir, the Sheikh, Abu Abdallah, Sheikh Al-Mujahid, the Lion Sheik, the Director.

Childhood, education and personal life

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a 1998 interview, he gave his birth date as March 10, 1957. His father Muhammed Awad bin Laden was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Osama bin Laden was born the only son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas. Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born; Osama's mother then married Muhammad al-Attas. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister. From 1968 to 1976 he attended the "élite" secular Al-Thager Model School. at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or a degree in public administration in 1981. Other sources describe him as having left university during his third year, never completing a college degree, though "hard working." At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work. He also writes poetry.

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia. According to CNN national security correspondent David Ensore, as of 2002 bin Laden had married four women and fathered roughly 25 or 26 children. Other sources report that he has fathered anywhere from 12 to 24 children.

His father, Muhammed bin Laden, was killed in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing. His eldest stepbrother and head of the bin Laden family, Salem bin Laden, was killed in 1988 when he accidentally flew a plane into powerlines near San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Beliefs and ideology

Bin Laden believes that the restoration of Sharia law will set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed. These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism. He believes Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. Bin Laden has consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believes are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states, the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He has also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.

Probably the most infamous part of Bin Laden's ideology is that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad. Bin Laden is antisemitic, and has delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next." Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.

In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs, bin Laden opposes music on religious grounds, and his attitude towards technology is mixed. He is interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejects "chilled water" on the other.

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them have led to him been designated as a "terrorist" by scholars, journalists from the New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Qatari news station Al Jazeera, analysts such as Peter Bergen, Michael Scheuer, Marc Sageman, and Bruce Hoffman and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.

Militant activity

Mujahideen in Afghanistan

in 1997.|thumb|right]] After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden joined Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and lived for a time in Peshawar.

By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established Maktab al-Khadamat, which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the Arabic world into the Afghan war. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune paid for air tickets and accommodation, dealt with paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihad fighters. Osama established a camp in Afghanistan, and with other volunteers fought the Soviets.

Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, bin Laden moved to Peshawar in 1994. It was during his time in Peshawar that he began wearing camouflage-print jackets and carrying a captured Soviet assault rifle, which urban legends claimed he had obtained by killing a Russian soldier with his bare hands.

Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda

By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.

Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion, "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 had put the kingdom and its ruling House of Saud at risk. The world's most valuable oil fields were within easy striking distance of Iraqi forces in Kuwait, and Saddam's call to pan-Arab/Islamism could potentially rally internal dissent. bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Sultan, Minister of Defence of Saudi Arabia, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim troops, and offered to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen fighters. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the American offer to help repel Iraq from Kuwait was accepted, involving deploying U.S. troops in Saudi territory, he publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military, as he believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him.

Shortly after Saudi Arabia permitted U.S. troops on Saudi soil, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the west. On November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering a great deal of evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers, marking the earliest uncovering of al Qaeda plans for such activities outside of Muslim countries. Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane on November 5, 1990.

Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.

Sudan

In Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations, in Khartoum.

Bin Laden continued his verbal assault on King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and in response, on March 5, 1994, Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport. His family was persuaded to cut off his monthly stipend, the equivalent of $7 million a year. By now bin Laden was strongly associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.

Sudan also began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:

"In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization. US Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan’s minister of defense, Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding."

The 9/11 Commission Report further states:

"In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. US officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, or both."

In May 1996, under increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden returned to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar. When Bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened, despite his ambitions and organizational skills. In Afghanistan, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Early attacks and aid for attacks

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.

It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers. The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.

Another effort by bin Laden was the funding of the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997, which killed 62 civilians, but so revolted the Egyptian public that it turned against Islamist terror. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing Bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.

A later effort that did succeed was an attack on the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his hosts the Taliban by sending several hundred of his Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.

In 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip". At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets." He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."

In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to the president that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the USA, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.

At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3, 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer USS The Sullivans in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam. In 1997, Rzeczpospolita, one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall. According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was Karim Said Atmani who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the USA. He is a former roommate of Ahmed Ressam, the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials. He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who are linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists who have lived in this area north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. Khalil al-Deek, was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama Bin Laden. In its June 26, 1997 Report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the New York Times noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.

In 1999 it was revealed that Osama bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the Government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the 9/11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.

September 11 attacks

}}

After reports of repeated initial denials, in 2004 Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft, the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the deaths of 2,974 people and the nineteen hijackers. In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable. The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001, attacks although the government report notes that the evidence presented is insufficient for a prosecutable case. Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.

In a videotape recovered by US forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge. The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."

In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers. In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.

In two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announces,

I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers … I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers … with the raids [5 minute audiotape broadcast May 23, 2006],

and is seen with Ramzi Binalshibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).

Criminal charges

On March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against Bin Laden and three other people for killing two German citizens in Libya on March 10, 1994, one of which is thought to have been a German counter-intelligence officer. Bin Laden is still wanted by the Libyan government. Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14, 1995 truck bombing of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.

Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide. for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former Al Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the U.S.

Bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added to the list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment along with others for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001. In 1999, US President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.

Years later, on October 10, 2001, bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by the President of the United States George W. Bush, in direct response to the attacks of 9/11, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.

Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama Bin Laden. It wasn't until after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial, in return for the US ending the bombing and providing evidence that Osama bin Laden was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This offer was rejected by George W Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable with Bush responding that "There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."

Attempted capture by the United States

Clinton Administration

Capturing Osama bin Laden has been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton. Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized. in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was riding.

In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".

Bush Administration

According to The Washington Post, the US government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the US to commit US ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the US in the war against al Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.

The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing Osama was shut down in late 2005.

US and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between 14–16 August 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, US government officials named bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death. On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.

The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association are offering an additional $2 million reward.

Obama Administration

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials have had no reliable information on Bin Laden's whereabouts for "years". One week later, general Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama Bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said Bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of Bin Laden. "Killing or capturing Bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."

Conflicting reports of his death and his survival since 9/11

Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, then US president George W. Bush issued a statement that as a consequence of the 9/11 attacks, he now hoped to "kill or capture" Bin Laden. Subsequently, Bin Laden retreated further from public contact as an obviously defensive measure against potential US capture. Since that time, numerous speculative press reports have been issued concerning various hearsay stories about his whereabouts, and also about alleged evidence of his supposed death. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda has continued to release time sensitive and professionally verified videos demonstrating Bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007. In the years since 9/11, Al Qaeda has also released a regular series of audio and video tapes averaging once every two to three months, which seem to be generally accepted as authentic. Most recently, US General McChrystal emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of Bin Laden, thus clearly indicating that the US high command continues to believe that Bin Laden is probably still alive. Following are some of these conflicting reports regarding both his claimed death, and his claimed continued whereabouts:

Reports of his death

December 2001 Quoting an unnamed Taliban official, the Pakistan Observer reported that Bin Laden died of untreated lung complications and was buried in an unmarked grave in Tora Bora on December 15. This report was picked up by Fox News in the United States on December 26. Also on December 26, the Egyptian newspaper AlWafd - Daily carried a short obituary by a prominent official of the Afghan Taliban, who was allegedly present at the funeral, stating Bin Laden had been buried on or about December 13:

"(Osama bin Laden) suffered serious complications and died a natural, quiet death. He was buried in Tora Bora, a funeral attended by 30 Al Qaeda fighters, close members of his family and friends from the Taliban. By the Wahhabi tradition, no mark was left on the grave"

A videotape was released on December 27 showing a gaunt, unwell Bin Laden, prompting an unnamed White House aide to comment that it could have been made shortly before his death. According to Pakistani President Musharraf, Bin Laden required two dialysis machines, which also suggests kidney failure. "I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a... kidney patient," Musharraf said. FBI Counterterrorism chief Dale Watson and President Karzai of Afghanistan also expressed the opinion that Bin Laden probably died at this time.

October 2002: In a CNN interview, Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated that "I would come to believe that [bin Laden] probably is dead."

April 2005: The Sydney Morning Herald stated "Dr Clive Williams, director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, says documents provided by an Indian colleague suggested bin Laden died of massive organ failure in April last year … 'It's hard to prove or disprove these things because there hasn't really been anything that allows you to make a judgment one way or the other,' Dr. Williams said."

Late 2005 CIA disbands "Alec Station", unit dedicated to Bin Laden.

September 2006: On September 23, 2006, the French newspaper L'Est Républicain quoted a report from the French secret service (Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure, DGSE) stating that Osama bin Laden had died in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, after contracting a case of typhoid fever that paralyzed his lower limbs. According to the newspaper, Saudi security services first heard of bin Laden's alleged death on September 4, 2006. The alleged death was reported by the Saudi Arabian secret service to its government, which reported it to the French secret service. The French defense minister Michèle Alliot-Marie expressed her regret that the report had been published while French President Jacques Chirac declared that bin Laden's death had not been confirmed. American authorities also cannot confirm reports of bin Laden's death, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying only, "No comment, and no knowledge." Later, CNN's Nic Robertson said that he had received confirmation from an anonymous Saudi source that the Saudi intelligence community has known for a while that bin Laden has a water-borne illness, but that he had heard no reports that it was specifically typhoid or that he had died.

November 2007: In an interview with political interviewer David Frost taken on November 2, 2007, the Pakistani politician and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto claimed that bin Laden had been murdered by Omar Sheikh. During her answer to a question pertaining to the identities of those who had previously attempted her own assassination, Bhutto named Sheikh as a possible suspect while referring to him as "the man who murdered Osama bin Laden." Despite the weight of such a statement, neither Bhutto nor Frost attempted to clarify it during the remainder of the interview. Omar Chatriwala, a journalist for Al Jazeera English, claims that he chose not to pursue the story at the time because he believes Bhutto misspoke, meaning to say Sheikh murdered Daniel Pearl and not Osama Bin Laden. The BBC drew criticism when it rebroadcast the Frost/Bhutto interview on its website, but edited out Bhutto's statement regarding Osama Bin Laden. Later the BBC apologized and replaced the edited version with the complete interview. In October 2007, Bhutto stated in an interview that she would cooperate with the American military in targeting Osama bin Laden.

March 2009: In an essay published in The American Spectator in March 2009, international relations professor Angelo Codevilla of Boston University argued that Osama bin Laden had been dead for many years.

April 2009: During an interview with the Telegraph, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari raised the prospect that Osama bin Laden could be dead after he said that intelligence officials could find "no trace" of the al-Qaeda chief. Mr Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharraf, similarly suggested that the Saudi terror chief could be dead. Additionally, Pakistan's intelligence agencies also believe Osama bin Laden may be dead.

October 2009: An article in the British tabloid Daily Mail points out that the theory that Bin Laden died in 2001 "is gaining credence among political commentators, respected academics and even terror experts" and notes that the mounting evidence that supports the claim makes the theory "worthy of examination".

In 2009 a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as likely hideouts of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In March 2009, the New York Daily News reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the Chitral district of Pakistan, including the Kalam Valley. According to the report, author Rohan Gunaratna states that captured Al Qaeda leaders have confirmed that Chitral is where bin Laden is hiding.

In the first week of December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee said that in January or February (of 2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen Bin Laden about 15 to 20 days earlier in Afghanistan. But, the US has had no reliable information on the whereabouts of Bin Laden in years, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted on December 6, 2009. Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden would be hiding within his country.

On January 15, 2010, the FBI published digitally aged pictures of Osama bin Laden showing what he may look like after a decade of aging. Spanish newspaper El Mundo revealed that a picture of a Spanish politician, Gaspar Llamazares was taken from Google images and used to create the image. The FBI has admitted to this and removed the image from its website. Gaspar Llamazares has responded by stating that he was stupefied by the FBI's decision to use his photograph to compose its latest image of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and that he is considering taking legal action if the FBI does not provide an explanation. An internal investigation has been launched by the FBI to find out if this was done intentionally.

On February 2, 2010, an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban would sever ties with extremists and expel Osama bin Laden. This condition was announced as the Afghan president Karzai arrived in the kingdom for an official visit, for a discussion of a possible Saudi role in his plan to reintegrate Taliban militants.

On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti Al Siyassa reported that Bin Laden was hiding in the mountainous town of Savzevar, in north eastern Iran. The Australian newspaper online published the claim on June 9.

On October 18, 2010, an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden is "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said they were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States.

Criticism of Osama bin Laden

Salafist Muslims have criticized bin Laden for adherence to Qutbism (the ideology of Sayyid Qutb), takfir and Khaarijite deviance. Critics are said to include Muhammad Ibn Haadee al-Madkhalee, Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan and Muqbil bin Haadi al-Waadi'ee. In August 2010, Fidel Castro claimed that bin Laden is a spy employed by the United States.

See also

Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden Issue Station (The CIA's bin Laden tracking unit, 1996–2005)

Civil war in Afghanistan

Islamic fundamentalism

Islamic mujahid movement

Islamic terrorism

Islamofascism

Fatawā of Osama bin Laden

Mujahideen

Osama bin Laden as destructive Cult leader

Osama bin Laden in popular culture

The Golden Chain

The World's 10 Most Wanted

Videos of Osama bin Laden

Videos of Ayman al-Zawahiri

Special Activities Division

Footnotes

References

Peter L. Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know: New York: Free Press, 2006

Michael Scheuer, Through Our Enemies' Eyes, Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, c2002

Wright, Lawrence, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11, New York: Knopf, 2006.

External links

Hunting Bin Laden – PBS Frontline (Nov. 2002)

FBIS Report, Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004

FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives poster

New Yorker article on Osama's youth, December 12, 2005

Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America', 24 November 2002

Who is Osama bin Laden, BBC News, 6 December 2009

Category:1957 births Category:Abdullah Yusuf Azzam Category:Afghan Civil War Category:Al-Qaeda Category:Al-Qaeda founders Category:Civil engineers Category:FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Category:Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Category:Fugitives wanted by the United States Category:Islamic terrorism Category:Possibly_living_people Category:Osama bin Laden Category:People involved in the Soviet war in Afghanistan Category:People of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present) Category:Salafis Category:Saudi Arabia expatriates Category:Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members Category:Saudi Arabian poets Category:September 11 attacks Category:War on Terror Category:Current FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Category:Al-Qaeda propagandists