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MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014
Groups push to legalize weed
VOLUME 107 • ISSUE 82
UA UPENDS UTES
No. 1 men’s basketball overcomes slow start to win 20th straight game, sets modern school record for consecutive wins
SPORTS - 6
GYMCATS HAVE HISTORIC NIGHT DESPITE INJURY
BY ETHAN MCSWEENEY
The Daily Wildcat With the legalization of marijuana taking effect in Washington and Colorado, a new student group on campus is pushing to bring legalization to Arizona. Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an international grassroots organization, established a chapter at the UA this month. One of the first things the group is doing is circulating a petition to put marijuana legalization on the ballot in Arizona this fall, according to Trevor Thornburg, a junior studying English and creative writing. Thornburg is the founder and president of the SSDP chapter at the UA. “I started the group because I saw the need for students to have an avenue of freedom of speech and an avenue of participating in the political process to make a change,” Thornburg said. “Marijuana legalization is a big issue right now and it’s part of our generation.” SSDP has recently been on campus in front of Heritage Hill gathering signatures for the petition. Thornburg said the group has collected more than 100 signatures so far. “I’d at least like to be out there two or three times a week, just so we have a presence and people are used to seeing us out there,” Thornburg said. The petition, started by grassroots organization Safer Arizona calls for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow individuals 18 and older to possess up to two-and-a-half ounces of marijuana for personal use. The petition needs about 300,000 signatures by July 3 in order to qualify for the ballot in November, according to Robert Clark, chairman of Safer Arizona. A May 2013 poll from the Behavior Research Center reported that support among Arizonans for the legalization of marijuana stands at 56 percent. Voters in Arizona have already legalized marijuana for
MARIJUANA, 3
SPORTS - 7
PIVOTAL FORMER UA ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DIES
ARTS & LIFE - 10
NETFLIX REIGNS SUPREME WITH VIDEO STREAMING
OPINIONS - 4 TYLER BAKER/THE DAILY WILDCAT
JUNIOR GUARD Nick Johnson dunks the ball during the second half of Arizona’s 65-56 win over Utah at McKale Center on Sunday. Johnson scored a game high-22 points to help the Wildcats pull away from the Utes and win a modern school record 20th straight game.
BY LUKE DELLA
The Daily Wildcat Despite retaining its No. 1 ranking, Arizona didn’t leave McKale Center on Sunday night as its usual pristine self. During much of the Wildcats’ (200, 7-0 Pac-12) 65-56 win over Utah (14-6, 3-5), Arizona didn’t shoot the ball well and didn’t appear to be the best team in the country. An early shooting percentage
below 20 percent put the Wildcats in a 10-point hole before anyone could even sit down. “They threw different defensive schemes at us,” junior guard Nick Johnson said. “We didn’t know what they were running, man or zone; it caught us off guard early.” For the first 10 minutes, nearly everything was going in Utah’s favor. With each shot attempt and every made basket for Utah, the tension in the sold-out arena intensified.
The title of No. 1 that Arizona fans so greatly cherished seemed to be slipping away with every ugly moment. The one bright spot keeping it close was rough and scrappy rebounding — the Wildcats outrebounded Utah 40-29. But early on, even the second chance attempts weren’t all going in for the top-ranked Wildcats. “We constantly dominated the
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BASKETBALL, 6
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White House to honor professor BY ELIZABETH EATON
The Daily Wildcat David Savitt, associate professor in the department of mathematics, has always had a special connection with math. “I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in math,” Savitt said. Savitt said his affinity for numbers became clear in elementary school, when he convinced his principal to let him into the accelerated math program. “I remember my parents taking me to talk with her,” Savitt said, “and I explained the trick where you can tell that a number is divisible by nine by adding up the digits and seeing if the sum of the digits is divisible by nine … and I explained to the principal why this worked.” Savitt’s interest has paid off. In late December he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. In 2010, Savitt was awarded a career grant by the National Science Foundation for strong research and teaching. Savitt said the NSF nominates people for the PECASE out of the pool of career grants. According to the NSF website, the PECASE is the highest honor the U.S. Government awards to scientists and engineers who show strong potential for leadership and scientific exploration. On Dec. 23, Savitt was officially
PROFESSOR, 3
Lecture series kicks off with brain evolution Community sponsors and partners help fund the The Daily Wildcat lectures so they can be free for attendees. Despite a clear physical In his lecture, Strausfeld difference, the human will display images of brain is more similar fossilized scorpions and to that of a beetle than insects that are usually expected. not thought to have any Today, Nicholas relation to humans or Strausfeld, a regents’ other complex creatures. professor in the His goal is to show how department of stable the brain is and to neuroscience and present theories about director of the Center for the possible connections Insect Science, will show between insects and community members how humans. similar the brain is across While the topic is highly species and how stable scientific, Strausfeld it has been throughout said it’s an hundreds of interesting millions of years topic for the If you go: of evolution. public and Strausfeld will that a lot of When: be the first illustrations Today at 7 p.m. lecturer in a n d Where: the UA’s 2014 Centennial Hall explanation Science Lecture Cost: will allow Series: The Free anyone to Evolving Brain. understand The lecture his lecture. His series, which hope is that people leave is in its ninth year, is Centennial Hall with a held at Centennial Hall better understanding of every spring and is open LECTURE, 3 to the general public. BY STEPHANIE CASANOVA
STEVE NGUYEN/ THE DAILY WILDCAT
UA ASSOCIATE MATH PROFESSOR David Savitt is recognized by the White House after being honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
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Truly, any number of options are open to us in Kavanagh’s disciplinesegregated educational model: we can be scientists or engineers.” OPINIONS 4