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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014
UA sends lobbyists to D.C., Phoenix
VOLUME 107 • ISSUE 88
CAN YOU DIG IT?
SPORTS - 6
LIFE GOES ON WITHOUT ASHLEY FOR NO. 2 UA
BY ETHAN MCSWEENEY
The Daily Wildcat
The UA is looking to step up its government lobbying efforts at the local, state and federal levels. At the moment, the UA is focused on establishing its presence at the federal level in Washington, D.C., said Tim Bee, senior associate vice president for legislative and community relations. The first step involves the UA’s federal lobbyist, Shay D. Stautz, associate vice president for federal relations, permanently moving to D.C. He had previously been commuting between Tucson and the capital. “Our primary purpose is to better enhance our presence in D.C., so we can better compete for the federal research funds and track legislation that affects us,” Bee said. “What we do at the Capitol affects students and the faculty.” In D.C., the UA will vie for funding for research from the
LOBBYING, 3
SPORTS - 6
WOMEN TRY TO SNAP LOSING SKID AT ASU
SAVANNAH DOUGLAS/THE DAILY WILDCAT
ALLIE COOK, #19 of the UA sand volleyball team, passes the ball during a drill at the Jimenez Practice Facility on Monday. Sand volleyball, the UA’s newest sport, will begin its season in March.
Senate reforms merge process BY STEPHANIE CASANOVA
The Daily Wildcat Faculty Senate members approved an amended version of a proposal that will implement new guidelines for reorganizing and merging academic units at the UA on Monday. After rewording and amending the proposal in the previous two meetings, the senate passed a process for combining departments or schools at the university that requires those who propose a merger of departments, colleges or schools to discuss the proposal with the heads, deans or provosts and non-administrative faculty of the affected parties. A selected planning committee will also work with members of the Faculty Senate. The committee will continuously receive feedback from members of affected parties as it analyzes the impact of merging. The committee will present a draft and hold a
CARLOS HERRARA/THE DAILY WILDCAT
PAT HOYER discusses grievance policy revisions and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure at the Faculty Senate meeting on Monday. Hoyer is a former chair of CAFT.
question and answer session before submitting a final plan to be voted on by affected faculty who are eligible to vote. A final plan will then move to the Faculty Senate for review, before UA President Ann Weaver Hart makes a decision on the proposal. A discussion item regarding
the university’s grievance policy intended to be voted on was tabled at the meeting. The university’s grievance policy calls for tenured professors who have been recommended for dismissal or suspension without pay to go through a process to appeal the suspension or dismissal.
The university’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure holds hearings for faculty members who wish to go through an appeal process. While CAFT doesn’t make final decisions on grievance cases, it does make recommendations to Hart. Patricia Hoyer, former chair of CAFT, stood before the Faculty Senate asking them to vote for two gate-keeping steps before a grievance case gets a formal hearing. The proposal to amend the committee’s bylaws suggested the implementation of a Grievance Clearinghouse Committee to review and decide whether the case should be heard by CAFT. Once approved by the new committee, CAFT would meet with the faculty member informally and discuss whether a formal hearing is necessary. Hoyer said the committee proposed the
ARTS & LIFE - 10
‘THAT AWKWARD MOMENT’ IS AN AWKWARD FILM
OPINIONS - 4
FEMINIST FILM TEST FALLS FLAT FOR AUDIENCES FIND US ONLINE ‘Like’ us on Facebook facebook.com/dailywildcat
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Serengetee brings style, philanthropy to campus
ON OUR WEBSITE For breaking news and multimedia coverage check out
BY ELIZABETH EATON
BY JAZMINE FOSTER-HALL
The Daily Wildcat
The Daily Wildcat UA students have the opportunity to “wear the world” this Wednesday and Thursday when the clothing company Serengetee comes to campus for a trunk sale in the UofA Bookstore. Serengetee was co-founded by UA alumnus Ryan Westberg after his semester abroad took him to countries across the world. The Semester at Sea program brought Westberg together with Jeff Steitz, the other co-founder. The two launched the company three months after they returned. “We started buying fabrics from each of the countries we visited,” Westberg said. “We took these fabrics and we made them into pockets on T-shirts, and because we had seen the problems in these countries, we decided we wanted a charitable aspect as well.” The company donates 5 percent of every sale to one of 32 causes currently supported by Serengetee. Each fabric supports a charity that helps the region the fabric was purchased from. Serengetee also supports local artisans from countries around the world by buying materials for fabric weavers and buying the product they make, Westberg said. “We’re empowering people in these countries, but also giving back to charities within the region,” Westberg said. Grant Suman, an operations management junior, said it’s impressive that Westberg and his friends were able to start up a successful company in college. “I think it’s really cool how they’re able to give back, all the while being an entrepreneurial spirit coming from the university,” Suman said. “They graduate and that’s what they’re doing, that’s their primary job.” The company has expanded rapidly in the past
Club fights the use of palm oil
year, Westberg said, with the product line now including backpacks and button ups. Troy Campbell, a psychology junior, was a campus representative for the company last summer. Campbell said he’s noticed the company gaining national recognition. “It’s really picking up around the country,” Cambell
A club on campus is looking to make students aware of the environmental impact of palm oil use. The UA Palm Oil Awareness Initiative was founded by Stacey Tecot, an assistant professor in the School of Anthropology, and Kim Kelly, an anthropology graduate student, when they began looking into the environmental damage caused by palm oil plantations. Tecot originally discussed the subject of palm oil in relation to the destruction of orangutans’ habitats in her primate sexuality course, but she soon learned that there was more to the production of the oil than just deforestation. “More recently, as I started researching a little bit more about palm oil, I found out that it’s not just about threatening endangered species, it’s also about forced child labor and slavery,” Tecot said. “People are being treated really poorly; they’re paid about 2 cents an hour for their work and they’re living in really awful conditions.” Kelly said that the more she and Tecot learned about the palm oil issue, the more concerned they became. “Stacey and I talked about this, and the more we thought our way through this issue, the more we realized that we couldn’t just sit on the sidelines and watch this,” Kelly said in an email. For this reason, Tecot and Kelly
SERENGETEE, 3
PALM OIL, 3
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAVANNAH DOUGLAS/ THE DAILY WILDCAT
DOMENIC ALVARO, a finance senior and campus representative for Serengetee, holds up the company’s mission statement: to empower causes and communities. Serengetee works to give back by selling T-shirts made with fabric from around the world.
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QUOTE TO NOTE
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The passing of this new law barely touches on a much larger social problem and further confirms society’s unwillingness to acknowledge ... needs that are not being met.” OPINIONS — 4