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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014
VOLUME 107 • ISSUE 124
Students allege police misconduct BY STEPHANIE CASANOVA The Daily Wildcat
When Tim Decker heard people cheering out on University Boulevard after the Arizona men’s baskeball team lost on Saturday night, he left his dorm to see what was going on. Decker, a biology freshman, stood on the corner of University Boulevard and Tyndall Avenue, observing the crowd chanting “U of A.” He said people began to get aggressive when the cops showed up. Decker said he was alone when a cop approached him, asking him to back off the street. Decker asked, “Why?” because he believed he
Proposed train would cut down travel time
wasn’t doing anything wrong and was standing on public property by himself observing the scene. “The next thing that I knew is I was hit in the face with a nightstick, and then I took off my hood and I put my hands up and I was like, ‘That’s assault — you’re not allowed to do that,’” Decker said. “And the next thing that I knew, I was being grabbed by police officers, and they all started hitting me and beating me and telling me I was resisting when I was screaming, ‘I’m not resisting,’ and it was all pretty scary. I was a little confused about why everything was happening.” During Saturday night’s clash between crowds and officers of the Tucson Police Department 15
people were arrested, nine of them UA students. Decker said about six officers grabbed him and hit him with their fists, and he was also hit with batons a few times, leaving a lump on his head, scrapes on his knees and marks all over his body, including one on the back of his neck. Decker was taken to a van, where he stayed with about nine other students for two hours until the area was cleared. After being charged for unlawful assembly, Decker was released. There are videos of Decker clashing with police on YouTube and other social media sites. One of the most popular videos circulating of the clash shows a woman being
slammed into a bench by an TPD officer. The woman in the video, Christina Gardilcic, is a senior studying psychology and Latin American studies at the UA. Gardilcic is currently in discussions with her lawyer regarding a potential lawsuit against TPD. Unlawful assembly is defined in Arizona Revised Statutes as “1. Assembling with two or more other persons with the intent to engage in conduct constituting a riot … or 2. Being present at an assembly of two or more other persons who are engaged in or who have the readily apparent intent to engage
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS, 3
LIFE VS. CHOICE
The Daily Wildcat
The Arizona House of Representatives has proposed a budget with lower-than-expected funding for the UA for the fiscal year 2015. If passed, the budget could result in program cuts and raised tuition in the future. The $537 million proposed funding for higher education makes up less than 6 percent of the $9.2 billion state budget, according to a press release from Arizona Students’ Association.
FROM WESTERN NEVADA COLLEGE TO NO. 2 STARTER
ANDERSON’S NEW FILM IS WACKIEST YET
OPINIONS - 4
REBECCA NOBLE/THE DAILY WILDCAT
ANTIABORTION PROTESTOR Jason Walsh, executive director of Arizona Right to Life, speaks with nutritional science sophomore Martina Sepulveda on the UA Mall on Tuesday. The protest was put on and brought to the UA by the Center of Bio-Ethical Reform.
trimester.” Some students found the photos and the message of genocide too graphic and offensive to Signs along the UA Mall on Tuesday warned of be effective in making a point against abortion. genocide photos ahead, but the photos passersby Claire Larkin, a political science freshman saw may not have been what they were expecting. and Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Large posters hung on the Mall displayed photos Empower intern, said she felt the argument being of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide made by CBR seemed to be an uneducated one. alongside photos of aborted fetuses. “[The argument is] not racially aware and not The posters were part of the Genocide semitically aware,” Larkin said. “Genocide is Awareness Project, held on college campuses specifically killing people for what they look like across the country by the Center or what they believe in, whereas for Bio-Ethical Reform. these are women who do not The CBR was invited on to want to be pregnant.” No one really campus by the Students for Life at The graphic nature of the sees pictures of the University of Arizona group, photos, Scheller said, was the aborted babies said Kevin Olivier, an employee of point of the display. at any stage, CBR. “I actually had people who Olivier said the purpose of the any trimester. were very pro-life, like I am, and — Lauren Scheller, project was to educate people they said, ‘This is too much; this UA studio arts senior about preborn children. is too graphic,’” Scheller said. “We want people to see the “This is the only way really to humanity of the preborn child, expose the truth of the brutality and we want them to see the of it.” inhumanity of abortion,” Olivier said. Some were concerned about the display for Volunteers for CBR handed out pamphlets about reasons besides the political. Jonathan Dowell, abortion comparing the act to genocide. Lauren a philosophy and linguistics junior, said he was Scheller, a studio arts senior and volunteer with worried about how the display would reflect on CBR, said she thought the comparison between the university to visitors. the two acts was acceptable and that it would help “It’s kind of absurd,” Dowell said. “We have teach people the truth about abortion. pictures of all this death on campus. … I don’t “In today’s culture and college culture, a lot of think it gives a good image.” people are misinformed about what actually goes A lot of people were visibly affected by the on in the procedure,” Scheller said. “No one really ABORTION, 3 sees pictures of aborted babies at any stage, any
QUESTIONS ON CLASH REMAIN UNANSWERED
BY JAZMINE FOSTER-HALL The Daily Wildcat
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Though funding was increased from last year, the currently proposed amount would likely result in raised tuition for students in the long run, said Zachary Brooks, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council. Under the proposed budget, the UA will receive 37 percent of the funding it needs from the state. The rest of the funding comes from tuition. This is a significant contrast to 2008, when UA was receiving two-thirds of its funding from the state, Brooks said. The increase in funding is not enough to curb the trend of
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UA budget shrinks in House BY HANNAH PLOTKIN
SPORTS - 6
ARTS & LIFE - 10
The Daily Wildcat
— Follow Jordan Fowler @JordanFowler7
MEN’S HOOPS RELOADS WITH FIVE RECRUITS
Student groups weigh in on the abortion debate with displays on the UA Mall on Tuesday
BY JORDAN FOWLER
A potential high speed passenger rail could have a big impact on the large population of UA students from Phoenix. The Arizona Department of Transportation has been studying the possibility of building a rail line connecting Tucson and Phoenix and has currently narrowed down the route options from seven to three, according to the ADOT website. According to ADOT, the decision to narrow it down to these three options was based on technical evaluations as well as public input. ADOT worked closely with the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and local governments in Maricopa County, Pinal County and Pima County to make this decision. For UA students from Phoenix, a high speed passenger rail may mean a quicker, more convenient way to get home. Chris Rosales, a psychology junior from Phoenix, said that while he currently only goes home about two times every semester, he would be able to more often if there were a train connecting Tucson and Phoenix. “It’s kind of inconvenient to have to drive when I could use that two hours for studying or something else,” Rosales said. The passenger rail line would be a blended service, according to ADOT. An express service would have a few stops between Tucson and Phoenix, while a local service would stop at several different communities along the way. There is no construction or funding in place for the project yet, according to ADOT. Nida Raja, a microbiology junior, and Rob Busick, a first-year graduate student studying urban planning, both agreed that a passenger train would make the trip much easier. Raja said she sometimes takes the shuttle from here to Phoenix because she doesn’t feel like driving. “[A train] would be much more convenient,” Rajas said. Busick, who goes home about once a month, said he would probably go home more often if there were a passenger rail connecting the cities. “Even though it only takes two to two-and-a-half hours to drive, I just get really tired from driving,” Busick said.
SPORTS - 6
increasing tuition costs, Brooks said, and added that the UA is still recovering from funding reductions that started in 2008. “If your budget was cut for the last five years and suddenly you get a little bit more, it doesn’t feel like more, because you’re still catching up on your bills from the last five years,” Brooks said. Additional state funding would not only lighten the burden on students, Brooks said, it often returns a profit: Each dollar spent on higher education by the state yields $6 in return. Students with less debt contribute to
the economy, Brooks said, and are more likely to invest in real estate or seek graduate degrees, becoming more versatile and valuable workers. The House budget was heard and reviewed by the Senate on Monday and will return to the House for further revisions later in the week. If passed by both the Senate and the House, the budget will then go to the governor’s desk, where Gov. Jan Brewer will have the power to pass or veto the budget. Rep. Ethan Orr, R-District 9,
BUDGET, 3
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QUOTE TO NOTE
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Many people are passiveaggressive because it’s easy. We want to avoid confrontation, laugh things off and let people push us to our limits.” OPINIONS — 4