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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014
VOLUME 107 • ISSUE 109
Ukraine conflict hits home BY ETHAN MCSWEENEY The Daily Wildcat
Sergii Gorbachov is worried. The second year master’s student studying Russian is thinking of his family back home in Ukraine now, as he watches his country falling apart on the news. The Eastern European country of 45 million is in crisis. In the past two weeks, Ukraine has seen a revolution and an invasion. Late last week Russian military units covertly and swiftly seized control of Crimea, a peninsula in southern Ukraine. War seems a grim prospect to Gorbachov. His hometown of
Kharkiv, Ukraine, is only 20 miles from the Russian border. What’s even more disconcerting to him is what could happen to his 26-year-old brother, a member of the Ukrainian army reserves. “He will be called to go to war,” Gorbachov said. “If something happens, he could die.” Unease hangs over the whole of Ukraine as well, as neither side seems ready to back down, according to Pat Willerton, an associate professor of political science. Both Ukraine and Russia believe time is on their side. “I’m pretty confident that the Russians are not leaving,” Willerton said. “They will not leave if they
feel that their interests and those of Russians and Russian-oriented Ukrainians are not being respected.” Protests had been going on for months in Ukraine’s capital Kiev over Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to not seek closer ties with the European Union, but they became increasingly violent after the government enacted laws cracking down on protesters’ rights. Two weeks ago, Yanukovych was ousted from power following bloody protests in Kiev that resulted in dozens of deaths. Gorbachov was not upset to see the government go. “I didn’t like the government
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because everything is corrupt — education, health care, police,” Gorbachov said. “That’s why I came here.” Willerton said the ousting of Yanukovych and the quick ascension of a new nationalist-oriented government in Kiev has led Russia to take actions to protect ethnic Russians and Russian citizens in Ukraine. The violence since the overthrow of Yanukovych hasn’t been as one-sided as the Russians claim, according to Anna Vozna, a first-year master’s student studying Russian,
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Apps may threaten security of info data BY HANNAH PLOTKIN
REBECCA NOBLE/THE DAILY WILDCAT
MEN’S HOOPS HITS THE OREGON TRAIL
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SOFTBALL GETS MERCY RULE RECORD
ARTS & LIFE - 10
The Daily Wildcat
DANIEL VERES, program assistant at the EMT department through Pima Community College, and Yolanda Stokes-Maddox, another program assistant with the EMT department, talks with Danny Badillo, a biological anthropology freshman, about the EMT program at PCC during the Health Professions Expo in the Grand Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center on Tuesday.
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Social networking giant Facebook announced its purchase of smartphone app WhatsApp for $19 billion last month. WhatsApp is a texting app that allows users to send messages to each other without being charged by their phone company. Apps like WhatsApp allow their users to share pictures, jokes and stories with each other — but according to some, they can also compromise users’ privacy. Journalism professor Michael McKisson said that people share a lot of personal information publicly on social network sites like Facebook and the corresponding apps, which means everyone should be thinking about the security of their data. “There’s a potential that someone could come in and steal that information, or even that Facebook is using it in a way that you didn’t think about,” McKisson said. However, McKisson made a distinction between sharing information over text and sharing through an app: The revenue of phone companies like Verizon and T-Mobile may allow them to implement more effective security than the makers of a startup app, he said. Michelle Ortega, a sociology senior from Mexico, said she does not worry about her information being stolen while using WhatsApp. She said WhatsApp is the only way to text her family and friends in Mexico without being charged international fees. “A lot of my friends that are from my country use it, too, here in the
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MILEY CYRUS’ BANGERZ TOUR HITS PHOENIX
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Nonprofits, refugees share in fruit of labors BY MADISON BRODSKY
DAILYWILDCAT.COM
The Daily Wildcat
Community organizations Iskashitaa, UA Community Garden and UA Campus Pantry have teamed up to put on an event this Saturday that will give the Tucson community members a new outlook on the fresh produce they eat. Iskashitaa pairs refugees with community volunteers to share growing techniques from their home countries in order to grow and provide fresh produce for those in Tucson who are in need of better nutrition . Emily Sylvia, an international development senior, said she was inspired to get involved and create such an event because she wants to reduce food waste in Tucson and give back to the community. Iskashitaa has found many refugees with different backgrounds in and experiences harvesting who are willing to participate in the event, according to Sylvia. One refugee participating in the event is not bringing the actual herbs, but is bringing his knowledge of growing techniques from Iraq, she added. There has never been a gardening plot on the UA campus before, according to Sylvia, and the gardening will give community members a chance to connect with one another. “It is important for members of our community to get involved, because not only will they get to reconnect with the herbs and the greater community, but they will get the opportunity to meet more of the community that we live in,” Sylvia said. “Tucson is one of
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SUNNY COURTESY OF EMILY SYLVIA
MEMBERS OF ISKASHITAA, a community organization, work to harvest fruit from trees. The produce the students collect will go to the UA Campus Pantry, which distributes nutritious food to students in need.
the largest places that refugees reside [in], and [the refugees] are excited to share their stories about their lives in their countries in comparison to their lives now in America.” Sylvia said the event is concerned with justice, because Iskashitaa is helping to redistribute good nutrition to low-income households through fresh produce. Taylor Sanders, a sustainable plant systems sophomore and manager of the UA Community Garden is providing Iskashitaa with three full plots for free to allow them to grow whatever they’d like with the refugees and volunteers. Sanders said she looks forward to seeing the excited faces of those in the community
when they get fresh produce, rather than the canned foods they usually receive. “It’s really cool to see these three organizations caring about the same issue in our community because we are all so diverse, but we all care about our community and eliminating food waste in Tucson,” Sanders said. “I hope that this event is the beginning of a long-term partnership.”
— Follow Madison Brodsky @BrodskyMadison
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Don’t make your college experience something you’ll regret later in life — just because someone else made those important decisions for you.” OPINIONS — 4