Volume 9, Issue 2

Volume 9, Issue 2 | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

UCSB’s Weekly Student-Run Newspaper

@tblucsb / thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu

PARDALL

FINCHER

PRIZE

See some of the colorful sights from last Saturday’s annual Pardall Carnival.

Find out why you shouldn’t be afraid to let David Fincher take a crack at your favorite novel.

Professor Shuji Nakamura has become the most recent Nobel Prize winner on our campus.

PHOTO / 5

A&E / 6

BIKES FOR DAYS!

Photo by Julissa Chacon

Amber Walker enthusiastically receives her bike from Kimberley Walker.

Guardian Scholars Receive Free Bikes From Associated Students Bike Shop Bryn Lemon On Oct. 9 at 1pm, 50 University of California, Santa Barbara students rode home in style after the Associated Students (AS) bike shop distributed 50 free bikes to those within the Guardian Scholars Program.

The event was made possible by the collaborative work of many groups, including the Gaucho-U bike cohort, a program intended to facilitate staff in embodying effective communication, diversity, change and teamwork on campus, according to the Executive Vice Chancellor.

“We’re really excited,” said Kimberly Tapia, a senior contracts analyst at UCSB. “We started as a staff group bringing bikes to staff, talking about health and fitness.”

According to Tapia, the GauchoU bike cohort got in touch with Lisa Przekop, director of Admissions at UCSB, and the idea of reaching out to the Guardian scholars evolved.

“This is why I love the Guardian Scholars Program at UCSB,” said Justin Brandy, a second-year biology major. “Ms. Lisa does so much for us.

She does anything she can to help us.

She just wants us to succeed because we’ve already been through a lot.”

According to the UC Santa Barbara Current, the Guardian Scholars Program was established by the Makarechian family–Hadi, the founder of the Capital Pacific Holdings real estate company, and his wife Barbara–in 2012, and is carried on by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. The program offers both emotional and financial support to students who

SCI & TECH / 7

NATIONAL BEAT REPORT

Governor Brown Signs Consent, Gun Safety, and LGBT Rights Bills Into Law

Gilberto Flores NATIONAL BEAT REPORTER Before the start of the new school year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed several key pieces of legislation into law.

In one way or another, each piece of legislation is relevant and important to the University of California Santa Barbara and Isla Vista community.

The bills each deal respectively with issues of sexual assault on college campuses, gun safety, and LGBT rights.

“Yes Means Yes” Law Senate Bill 967 makes California the first state in the country to require public colleges and universities to adopt a standard of clear consent for students engaging in sexual activity.

The law also requires that state colleges and universities develop a plan for helping victims of sexual assault, which includes expanding counseling and health services, as well as requiring more training for faculty in charge of reviewing sexual assault and harassment complaints.

The bill defines “affirmative consent” as an “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.” The bill goes on to stress that it is the responsibility of each individual involved to “ensure that he/ she has the affirmative consent of the others to engage in the sexual activity.

Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent.”

This law comes after an April 2014 report prepared by the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault revealed that 20 percent of college women experience some form of a sexual assault. This statistic was derived from a study conducted for the Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice. According to the White House report, “most often, it’s by someone she knows – and also most often, she does not report what happened. Many survivors

are left feeling isolated, ashamed or to blame. Although it happens less often, men, too, are victims of these crimes.”

“I think [the new law] demonstrates that California, in many respects, is on the forefront on understanding the importance of respect, in the strongest sense of the word… before engaging in activities that require consent,” said Rep. Lois Capps when asked for comment after an event hosted by UCSB Campus Democrats.

Gun Violence Restraining Orders Assembly Bill 1014 allows a judge to issue an emergency gun violence restraining order to temporarily revoke access to firearms from someone who has been determined to pose “an immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself, or another.” Senate Bill 505 requires local law enforcement agencies to develop and adopt policies that encourage officers to search the Justice Department’s gun registry databases to determine whether an individual subject to a welfare check is the registered owner of a firearm.

These bills were introduced to the state legislature after the Isla Vista shooting in May left six people dead and 13 injured.

“Today, Governor Brown helped to honor the life of my son, Christopher, and so many others killed by senseless gun violence by signing AB 1014 into law,” said Richard Martinez, father of Isla Vista shooting victim Christopher Ross MichaelsMartinez. “Nothing we can do will bring back Christopher, but I’m confident this new law will help save lives and prevent other families from experiencing this same kind of tragedy.

States around the country should be exploring this life-saving measure.”

See LGBT | Page 2

AS BEAT REPORT

Photos by Julissa Chacon Bikers Brandon Hendrickson (Bottom) and Kimberly Tapia (Top) are overjoyed to recieve their bikes. have recently aged out of the foster AS were all abandoned property on system. campus, according to James Wagner, The bikes distributed through program manager for the Transportation Alternatives program. The bikes were held for a period of time and then refurbished by students on the cycling team, the CSO program, and AS staff before being “released back to the community.”

Upon arrival, each of the students received a golden ticket guaranteeing them the bike of their choice, an accompanying U-lock, and a free campus bike registration.

Wagner estimates that the cost of a new bike with these additional features would be around $160 plus tax, and a used bike with the same features would be at least $100.

“I’m very excited,” said Brandy, holding his new bike. “I spotted it in line and I thought I have to get it. I ran right over to it.”

UCSB is ranked third on the 10 Most Friendly Bike Campuses in America, according to Best Colleges Online, proving just how pivotal a bike is to a student’s experience on campus. Brandy explained, “I’m really appreciative of this. My bike just got stolen a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been walking everywhere on campus to work, to classes, to 8ams, so this will add another 45 minutes to my day.”

The AS bike shop is located across the bike path from the Social Sciences and Media Studies building, and offers a variety of services for students’ cycling needs.

Associated Students Discuss UCPD Halloween Protocol at First Senate Meeting Bailee Abell AS BEAT REPORTER The Associated Students Senate began the 2014-2015 academic year with their first meeting of fall quarter on Wednesday, Oct. 8, during which they discussed University of California Police Department Halloween protocol and ongoing negotiations with the Graduate Student Association.

Chief of Police Dustin Olsen, Public Relations Specialist Ariel Bournes, and Officer Alexis Dougherty were in attendance as representatives from UCPD. They shared that the police department has increased their number of patrols, particularly on campus and in Isla Vista, on Friday and Saturday nights. These patrols have included UCPD officers from other UC campuses, which have been supporting University of California, Santa Barbara since the events of May 23.

“We are really trying to make sure the community feels safe and is safe,” said Olsen. “With that, we also have some sobriety checkpoints… leading up through Halloween, and certainly we have been really busy and engaged getting ready for Halloween.”

Olsen stated that the ten UC campus police departments participate in ongoing system-wide training and have spent the past two years focusing on crowd control training. Although the officers from other UC campuses are not as experienced with Isla Vista culture, they have received the same training as UCSB police and have been in collaboration in order to be

equipped to handle Halloween weekend.

During the Executive Officers’ Reports, AS President Ali Guthy discussed negotiations with the Graduate Student Association over the use of the GSA lounge by undergraduate students.

“We entered negotiations with the Graduate Students Association midSeptember over the usage of the GSA lounge, which, as you all know, a lot of our groups in AS utilize for standing meetings,” said Guthy.

The Environmental Affairs Board and the Family Literacy Program are two of the many student organizations that meet weekly in the GSA lounge. Despite this, GSA notified AS mid-September of their decision to rescind the undergraduate student usage of the GSA lounge.

“They were open to allowing undergraduate students to use the lounge on a case-by-case basis, but they were not interested in allowing undergraduates to use the space as standing meeting time,” said Guthy.

“We are hoping to continue our negotiations and our dialogue [but] I do not believe that this is a positive dialogue for either of our student associations. We really should be working together for all students at UCSB. We have had a longstanding history of mutual cooperation and working together.”

See AS | Page 2

2 | NEWS

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

– LGBT

Continued from page 1

A few weeks before the event, local officers conducted a welfare check on the shooter at the request of his parents, who were concerned about his behavior. The officers conducting the welfare check were unaware that he possessed any firearms.

Under SB 505, officers conducting welfare checks will be encouraged to consult the Department of Justice’s Automated Firearms Database beforehand. Under AB 1014, if a person is determined to pose a danger to themselves or another, then a judge can issue a restraining order to have their firearms temporarily confiscated.

AB 1014 states that a gun violence restraining order can be requested by either a law enforcement officer or an immediate family member. According to the bill, an “immediate family member” is defined as “any spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior six months, regularly resided in the household.” This language implies that the term “immediate family member” applies to roommates.

– AS Later that evening, Letters and Science Collegiate Senator Zach Goulhiane motioned for a directional resolution to suspend the GSA privileges funded by AS — such as free usage of the Legal Resource Center, recycling provided to the GSA lounge by AS Recycling, and $250 in startup funds to any graduate student in an Office of Student Life organization — due to the exchange of resources being no longer economically viable for undergraduates. The motion also

A large majority of Isla Vista residents don’t live with family members, but rather with one or multiple roommates. Under the new law, roommates can petition a judge to issue a temporary gun violence restraining order.

“Gay Panic” Defense Ban Assembly Bill 2501 amends Section 192 of the California Penal Code to ban the use of “panic defenses” in California criminal courts. California is the first state in the country to ban the use of panic defenses.

When a person accused of a physical assault against a member of the LGBT community uses a panic defense, they are claiming that they were so shocked upon learning of the victim’s sexual orientation that their judgment was drastically affected and that their assault of the LGBT individual resulted from a temporary state of violent and uncontrollable actions. This legal defense is used so that the person accused of murder, where the maximum punishment is often life in prison, gets a reduced sentence of voluntary manslaughter. California law defines voluntary manslaughter as “an unlawful killing of a human being

upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion,” the punishment of which is imprisonment in a state prison for either three, six, or 11 years.

The new law clearly states that a defendant’s fear of, discomfort with, or surprise at a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity can no longer be used as a legal defense in an attempt to justify the assault. The law also includes specific language that protects transgendered people by defining “gender” as including “a person’s gender identity and gender-related appearance and behavior regardless of whether that appearance or behavior is associated with the person’s gender as determined at birth.”

“There is absolutely no justification for the use of ‘panic defenses’,” said Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, who authored the bill. “Clearly this tactic has been utilized by defendants, unjustly targeting members of the LGBT community, based on damaging stereotypes… With AB 2501, we are moving forward to ensure equality in our courts and making it very clear that discrimination against the LGBT community is intolerable and unacceptable.”

Continued from page 1 called for the reallocation of funding for these programs, moving the funds instead to the groups that normally meet at the GSA lounge in order to fund new meeting spaces. The motion passed with a 20-3-1 vote.

In her Executive Officer Report, Internal Vice President Angela Lau shed light on the recent “I Heart UCSB” campaign during her executive report. Students are encouraged to take the “I Heart UCSB” pledge.

Large rubber ducks are used to

spread awareness about this pledge: UCSB students, faculty, and staff are challenged to post a picture of themselves with the duck, depicting why they love UCSB, and using the hashtag #IHeartUCSB. “Essentially, [we] are trying to make it an internet phenomenon,” said Lau. “There is no directory of why UCSB is so awesome, so this is a way to lead away from all of the horrible things that have happened at UCSB and remember why we love this place.”

Photo by Alex Albarran | Staff Photographer On Oct. 8, 2014, members from UCSB Cotillion Dance Club, Letitia Mueller and Can Aksoy spoke during public forum to ask A.S. Senate for help against UCSB Recreation Center’s policies which could “dismantle the club’s efforts.”

Photo by Alex Albarran | Staff Photographer Fourth-year student Sydney Bennet, from A.S. Committee on Committees, came to the A.S. Senate meeting to give her Boards and Commissions Report on Oct. 8, 2014.

Photo by Alex Albarran | Staff Photographer On Oct. 8, 2014, at the Ucen Flying A Room, third-year student Mohsin Mirza, from A.S. Lobby Corps, came to the A.S. Senate meeting to speak during public forum about “lack of diversity in student representation,” in response to Open People’s Party’s recent “sweep[s].”

Lois Capps Meets With Students, Stresses Voter Registration Gilberto Flores NATIONAL BEAT REPORTER

Rep. Lois Capps of California’s 24th congressional district visited students at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 to discuss the importance of voter registration, the issues that are important to students, and the impact Isla Vista has as a community on the upcoming election. The visit took place at a meeting of the UCSB Campus Democrats, who held an opendoor sit down at the Lobero Room of the UCen to welcome Capps.

Capps, a former Gaucho, commented on UCSB’s record-breaking participation in registering voters compared to other college campuses.

“Of all the college campuses in the country, [UCSB] has the reputation… of having the most, strongest voter participation of any college campus in the country,” Capps said.

She attributed this record to the students and the work of campus organizations like the Campus Democrats. 3,100 students were registered to vote over move-in weekend alone, according to James Wittrock, a field organizer for the Capps campaign.

“Isla Vista and UCSB [are] really going to make the difference in the race,” said Wittrock.

Capps also spoke briefly of her late husband, Rep. Walter H. Capps, a former professor of religious studies at UCSB. He decided to run for Congress in 1994, and was unsuccessful in what turned out to be a landslide year for the Republicans. In 1996, he ran for a second time and won, taking on the challenge of turning the central coast blue again after having been Republican for the last 50 years. Capps attributed her husband’s 1996 win to increased campaigning and attention to the UCSB campus and Isla Vista community.

Commenting on the UCSB student body as a whole, Capps said, “I’ve just been blown away by the amount of participation that has happened on this campus… You are the model for the country.” She went on to say how she hoped students, regardless of their political leanings, would take their famously active participation in the political process “as a point of pride.”

In her closing remarks, Capps expressed her sympathies with students and the massive student loan debts many will be facing after graduation.

“It still breaks my heart to think of anybody graduating from college, and I know a lot of you will, with debt so high that you cannot think

Photo by Neha Pearce | Staff Photographer President of Campus Democrats at UCSB, chemistry major Krishna Hammond (left) hosts the first meeting of the school year with Congresswomen Lois Capps (right) in the Lobero Room on Tuesday, Oct. 7. about doing the next things that you want to do,” said Capps, “We have to change that.” Capps reiterated her support for increased funding of public education by saying, “[I]f we

TBL 2014-2015 STAFF

Executive Managing Editor | Marissa Perez Executive Content Editor | Matt Mersel Copy Editor | Andrea Vallone News Editor | Isabelle Geczy Features Editor | Deanna Kim Opinions Editor | Sam Goldman Arts & Entertainment Editor | Coleman Gray Science & Technology Editor | Mimi Liu Photography Editor | Lorenzo Basilio Senior Layout Editor | Morey Spellman

WRITERS THIS ISSUE: Amol Mahal, Bryn Lemon, Gilberto Flores, Baillee Abell, Alex Grant, Lexi Weyrick, Lilian Kim, Michael Voloshin, Sirarpi Topchyan, Julius Koch, Shomik Mukherjee, Karen Hamada, Remle Scott, Mandy Sheng, Gwendolyn Wu, Judy Lau, Victoria Lievre

Layout Editor | Madison Donahue-Wolfe Layout Editor | Mathew Burciaga Layout Editor | Maria Ngyuen Multimedia Editor | Benjamin Hurst National Beat Reporter I Gilberto Flores Isla Vista Beat Reporter | Kelsey Knorp Associated Students Beat Reporter | Bailee Abell Promotion Director | Audrey Ronningen Advertising Director | Parisa Mirzadegan ILLUSTRATORS THIS ISSUE: Amy Chase, Luis Bondoc

PHOTOGRAPHERS THIS ISSUE: Lorenzo Basilio, Mathew Burciaga, Madison King, Byrn Lemon, Neha Pearce, Alex Albarran, Yilin Wang, Lilian Kim, Joshua Hsu, Julissa Chacon, Sirenia Sanchez, Ariel Reed

The Bottom Line is sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Opinions expressed in TBL do not necessarily represent those of the staff, AS, or UCSB. Published with support from Generation Progress/Center for American Progress (genprogress.org). All submissions, questions or comments may be directed to bottomlineucsb@gmail.com or content.tbl@gmail.com.

lose that priority of education, what else do we really have? It’s where we transfer our values from one generation to the next.”

UCSB’s Campus Republicans held a meeting of their own next door to the Campus Democrats. Jacob Sarabian, a fourth-year political science major and a staffer for the Chris Mitchum campaign, discussed the role voter registration played in the campaign.

Sarabian distinguished that the Mitchum campaign is not only about outreach and turning out the vote.

“While registration is one part of it… the main focus of the Chris Mit-

chum campaign has really been about getting knowledge out on the issues, and not necessarily voting to vote,” Sarabian said.

Within the upcoming weeks, voter registration, and the organization of groups like Campus Democrats and Campus Republicans, will likely prove to be crucial in a win or a loss for either candidate.

Campus Democrats meet Tuesdays at 7pm in the UCen State Street Room, and Campus Republicans meet Tuesdays at 7pm in the UCen Harbor Room. The general election will be held Nov. 4. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 20.

The Bottom Line provides a printed and online space for student investigative journalism, culturally and socially aware commentary, and engaging reporting that addresses the diverse concerns of our readership and community. This is your community to build, share ideas, and publicize your issues and events.

We welcome your questions, comments, or concerns at bottomlineucsb@gmail.com, or call our office phone at 805-893-2440.

3 | FEATURES

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

Jack Johnson, ALO, and UCSB Come Together

Photo by Lorenzo Basilo | Photo Editor Thousands of UCSB students showed up to hear speakers and performances at the Come Together Event.

Alex Grant Variations of the same message flew through cell phones around campus and Isla Vista last Wednesday afternoon, such as, “I’m not sure if this is true, but I heard Jack Johnson is playing at Storke at 3:45.”

As the day progressed, a this speculation gained pace as a soundstage was erected below Storke Tower and guitars and a ukulele were spotted in front of the KCSB offices. Around three, students, faculty, and community members began to form a crowd in Storke Plaza that crawled up the stairs, overlooked the balconies, and even filled the windows of Storke Tower.

In support of a celebration of life and a moment of remembrance, the community came together not only for good tunes, but also for solidarity in an event put on by Associated Students Program Board entitled “Come Together: Remember, Reconnect, and Unite.” A quiet breeze swept over the thousands of hopeful heads gathered at the University California, Santa Barbara.

As the crowd awaited the headliner, they were entertained by performances by Naked Voices, Intervals, Brothers From Other Mothers, and Vocal Motion. Vocal Motion’s rendition of Florence and the Machine’s “Shake it Off,” the same song that they performed at the memorial for the May tragedy, brought everyone together once again for a moment of healing and remembrance.

Ali Guthy, UCSB’s AS president, soon took the stage. First, she asked for a moment of silence to remember and honor those who were victimized and injured in the May 23 tragedy.

She looked upon the familiar crowd, which was now filling every inch of the plaza, and reminded everyone that barely a few months earlier, “We came together to love and support one another, through such magical events as the candle light vigil and memorial walk” which also began in Storke Plaza. Next, she said that the day was “to remember and celebrate the good that we have done in the face of adversity.”

Following Guthy, Vice Chancellor Michael Young said to the those that gathered before him, “You, UCSB students can change this community for the better… you, UCSB students, can fix what is broken in our community.”

With that, AS Program Board welcomed UCSB’s much-loved alumni Jack Johnson to

the stage, along with the Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO), artists whose roots can be traced back to UCSB and the densely packed streets of Isla Vista. Over an eruptive applause, Johnson and the band opened with “Good People.”

The musicians said that, in their excitement to perform, they planned a long set list and chose a lineup based on positive vibes and good times. Johnson and members of ALO met through Isla Vista’s music scene in the ‘90s, and since then they have stayed in touch, performing together on tour numerous times.

Drinking out of coffee mugs, Johnson and Zach Gill, a Goleta local and the keyboardist and vocalist for ALO, bantered back and forth with UCSB throwback stories.

During his performance of “Do You Remember,” Johnson admitted that when he locked his bike to his crush’s bike outside of IV Theater, she thought he was a “creepy guy hiding in the bushes.” The two met 21 years ago and have been married for 14 years. As he sang the lyrics, “Do you remember when we first moved in together? The piano took up the living room,” he added that the house to which he refers is on Trigo.

He also shared that he turned in the original version of “Inaudible Melodies” as a plea for an essay extension in Professor Edward Branigan’s film and media studies class. Johnson sang his original film-related chorus, singing, “Slow down Bruce [Lee], you’re moving too fast, frames can’t catch you when you’re moving like that.”

During “Bubbly Toes,” there was a cheerful murmur in the crowd when Johnson mentioned the dining commons De La Guerra, better known as DLG. Johnson and ALO combined songs in several unique mash-ups and Johnson provided back up vocals for ALO’s wellknown song “Lay You Down.” Gill wrote the song about his wife, who he met during his last year at UCSB. Another memorable moment towards the end of the performance was when Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz mounted the amp for a guitar solo.

The musicians ended with “Better Together” and Gauchos enthusiastically applauded the musicians as they left the stage. The crowd bid them farewell with the well-known “Ole” chant.

Some who have seen Johnson perform live before described this performance as even more unique and special. Fourth-year

Photo by Lorenzo Basilio | Photo Editor Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael D. Young speaks to Gauchos at the Come Together event.

environmental studies and global studies double major, Margaret Gallagher said, “I feel like this performance was a lot more personal because he [ Johnson] was explaining a lot of meaning behind the songs, and they all grew up here.”

To have such admired and respected musicians stand with their fellow gauchos created an atmosphere of solidarity and strength. Like the candles that lit up Storke Plaza several months earlier, thousands of smiles shined brightly that afternoon.

Photo by Lorenzo Basilio | Photo Editor UCSB alumnus Jack Johnson makes a special appearance at the Come Together event.

Photo by Sirenia Sanchez Jack Johnson performing at Storke Plaza for Come Together: Remember, Reconnect, and Unite on October 8th.

4 | FEATURES

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

Coffee with a Cop: A Lighter Blend Lillian Kim

”

The Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff Department held a back to school event, Coffee with a Cop, at the Starbucks on Embarcadero Del Norte on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The aromatic coffee shop was crowded with students, community members, and about two dozen law officers.

Going into Starbucks I was greeted with firm handshakes and smiles. With a limited time of two hours, I wished I could have interviewed every deputy, officer, and sergeant, but with the time I had, I was lucky to be able to meet Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover and Officer Neil Gowing.

I wanted to ask so many questions; if every day was like a day in “Law and Order” or “CSI,” whether or not they went on secret missions, and how heavy a bulletproof vest was. But, above all, I wanted to get to know the people behind the uniforms and badges. I wanted to get to know them as civilians who had their own lives as parents, sibling, friends, and spouses.

On the basis of helping others, Hoover and Gowing love their jobs, and their common goal is to ensure the safety and well-being of our community. However, being an officer is not an easy job. Often times, police officers are despised for giving out speeding tickets and shutting down parties. We tend to forget that police officers do these things so that at the end of the day, we can all go home and sleep in our beds safe and sound.

When I asked Gowing what motivated him to continue his duties as a police officer despite all of the negativity, he said, “Not everything is negative.” To Gowing, a few of the people he talks to while patrolling IV he considers friends. He said he believes that the people he regularly sees and catches up with are relatively “good kids.”

As for Hoover’s motivation in her role as a PIO, she displayed a sense of pride in her job and the people she works with. She said, “I adore my job, I’m very proud to speak on behalf of the hard working and dedicated and highly trained knowledgeable sheriffs, deputies, and staff that I work with. They do incredible work, they save lives, and it’s really an honor for me to be a part of their mission.”

Halloween in IV is coming up, and while we roam the streets of IV in our costumes, stay home, or go to a get together with friends, our own officers will be out to enforce a safer environment.

This will be Gowing’s thirteenth year

Photo by Lilian Kim | The Bottom Line

Public Information Officer (PIO) Kelly Hoover and Officer Neil Gowing.

Being an officer is not an easy job. Often times, police officers are despised for giving out speeding tickets and shutting down parties. We tend to forget that police officers do these things so that at the end of the day, we can all go home and sleep in our beds safe and sound.

patrolling IV Halloween and Hoover’s second year, and they said they have just about seen it all. Gowing said the best costume he saw was someone impersonating local reporter John Palminteri, and Hoover said her most memorable costume was a guy riding a bike with ET in his basket.

Like almost every IV Halloween, there will be thousands of people in the streets, and in order to organize a smoother Halloween, Hoover said to help them help us by keeping it local. After all, the most important thing for

Hoover is for everyone to have a great time.

Aside from patrolling our community, our officers have lives outside from their jobs. Maybe their uniforms and thick black sunglasses tell us otherwise, but the reality is that police officers are also friends and family members to others, and they risk their lives to ensure our safety.

In his spare time, Gowing enjoys going to the lake and spending time with his wife and dogs. Even away from work, Hoover is busy, supporting her four children at their

”

soccer and baseball games and spending time with her family.

As the interview came to a close, Hoover and Gowing ended with a few thoughts to keep in mind. After a moment of deep contemplation, Hoover expressed her hopes of “having a good school year by working closely with students.” She added, “Let’s kick-off the school year with a positive interaction.”

Gowing said, “Be safe, be smart, and be aware of surroundings.”

I See DC: Why You Should UCDC As I stared out at the National Mall with the Capitol in front of me, the Lincoln Memorial behind me, and the Washington Monument looming over my head, I knew I was doing something special by doing an internship in our nation’s capital.

I’m a fourth-year sociology major, and this past summer I did an internship through University of California, D.C. UCDC is an internship program that the UC system facilitates where students are selected from an applicant pool to spend a quarter in Washington, D.C. I was worried that I would mess up my course schedule by going to D.C. during the school year, but luckily UCDC offers a summer program as well, so I did not miss any class time. While at the UCDC center, students of all majors are encouraged to take classes that can go towards major course work, and I wound up taking Spies! The Politics of Intelligence while there.

However, even without taking majorrelevant courses, your education doesn’t take a hit.

Photo by Joshua Hsu | The Bottom Line

Sawyeh Maghsoodloo, a recent graduate with a degree in political science, said, “I learned just as much about our government and our country’s history in my quarter at UCDC as I did during my entire political science education.”

Personally, I worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Immediate Office of the Secretary.

I’m interested in health policy and this was a good fit for me. However, students are able to apply for many different internships in many different fields.

”

Lexi Weyrick STAFF WRITER

Neruda Atako, a fourth-year economics major, interned at the NAACP. “The best part of the experience was being around so many young, successful professionals.

It was really inspiring and made me realize how much potential I have to do bigger and greater things.”

Beyond just being a valuable learning experience in and of itself, UCDC provides students with a chance to network and figure out their footing for life after college.

“UCDC was a huge advantage to getting my foot in the door in the heart of the nation’s

I was honestly terrified when I first arrived in D.C. without really knowing anyone and having no idea where anything was, but that feeling only lasted about 15 minutes before I was making friends and already beginning my first adventure. If you’re on the fence about the program, do it.

”

The UCDC Office is located at 2110 North Hall and open Monday-Friday from 9AM-4PM.

policy world,” Maghsoodloo said.

Atako shared a similar sentiment. “I do feel that UCDC helped me prepare for life after college, being it was before my senior year so being in DC and interning/working in the real world really made me put things in perspective and really explore my interests and passions professionally.”

I also feel that UCDC helped me to better define what I’m looking for in a career.

I hadn’t too strongly considered working in politics as I plan on becoming a lawyer, but UCDC gave me great insight into policy and how things operate and now I’m quite interested in eventually pursuing a policy job.

“Ultimately, being in D.C. helped me carve out the industries I would like to go into and it really brought out my entrepreneurial/ business side,” Atako added.

While UCDC is beneficial for students’ résumés and their academic careers, the program also allows students to explore the city and form some pretty great friendships.

The UCDC Center is a building owned by the UC system right by Dupont Circle–a social hotspot in D.C. The housing is like living in an apartment but feels similar to a dorm. The building is very secure, with 24hour security guards manning the front desk.

People require a key and an ID in order to get into the building. Guests are welcome and the checking in and out processes are quick and easy.

The Center is located right by a few different metro stations, so getting around the city is very easy. Year-round there are things going on in the capital, so there’s never a dull moment.

“The most fun thing about living in D.C. was the adventures and being able to explore since we were in the middle of and close to all of the attractions,” Atako said.

From dancing to amazing food and shops to world famous locations, there was never a night where you didn’t know what to do. On top of that, all of the Smithsonian museums are free to enter, so even on a budget, the city has something for everyone.

I was honestly terrified when I first arrived in D.C. without really knowing anyone and having no idea where anything was, but that feeling only lasted about 15 minutes before I was making friends and already beginning my first adventure. If you’re on the fence about the program, do it.

More information can be found on UCSB’s UCDC website at http://www.duels. ucsb.edu/opportunities/ucdc, or you can attend one of the information sessions in 1115 North Hall. Dates and times are listed on the website.

5 | PHOTO

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

Pardall Carnival 2014-2015

Pardall Road packed with excited carnival goers.

Students snag coupons from different booths.

Fletcher Hurley runs the dart toss for the Queer Student Union.

The Isla Vista Food Co-op encourages students to come try their fresh product.

Colleen McGee and Julia Aughembaugh next to the SIRRC booth.

SIRRC reaches out to the community by aiding those of lower income to obtain higher education.

(TOP) Sandra Gomez and Orlando Torres enjoy the carnival from the top of the ferris wheel.

(LEFT) DJ T-fresh gets students on their feet at the Pardall Carnival.

All Photos for Pardall Carnival 2014 by Bryn Lemon

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

6 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Making Movie Magic with Film 106 Remle Scott Tucked away within the chambers of the Social Sciences and Media Studies building, at the heart of University of California, Santa Barbara’s Film and Media Studies department, is a program that some call “a hidden gem.” Simply titled “Crew Production,” FAMST 106 is a class unlike any other in the department. What makes it so special is how much it resembles real-world film production.

Alex Payne, a third-year in the program, emphasizes how hands-on this class is with virtually no structure. The only requirement is one midterm and one final, but more importantly, the class allows the students an opportunity to produce, plan, budget, network, and create a film.

In the class, about 10 to 16 scripts and budgets are pitched in front of three industry professionals who have real-world filmmaking experience and impressive credits. Then, four short film proposals are chosen, and the creators of the selected short films are asked to assemble a crew of fellow UC Santa Barbara undergraduate students. Much like the actual film industry, these students network and a team of six create a short film, choosing interns as needed. This project extends over two quarters and gives students the opportunity for creativity but also has them experience the stress of production timelines, budget plans, paperwork for loans, and the development of interpersonal skills among crew members.

Undergraduate advisor Joe Palladino firmly believes that as a research university filled with theorized based classes in the film department, this class in particular gives students a chance to apply the skills students learn in lectures in a real-world context.

Although UC Santa Barbara isn’t necessarily a film production school, Palladino makes a point that although this class is unique, it isn’t the only opportunity to get involved. Anyone can get a position as an intern with one of the four film crews, as long as one has the passion and drive. In fact, for most of these students involved in this program, it is their first time working on a real film production, and, for some, this class marks the beginning a lifelong career in film and television. Some students who have been involved in the 106 class have gone on to work for major motion pictures, including the recent films “Gone Girl” and “Bad Teacher,” while others have pursued a career in television, working on shows like “Vampire Diaries” and “Mike and Molly.” These former students would not be where they are today without 106, and without the exceptional professors involved in the program, who have countless, highly successful years in the film industry themselves.

From a student’s perspective, the university is focusing on theory and “punching out PhD’s,” but FAMST 106 is something else entirely, and it draws out critical skills, but more importantly passion and dedication. The four films will premiere at Pollock Theater at

the end of winter quarter, and admission is free for students. To get involved in 106, experience is not required; all it takes is a little motivation, determination, and a lot of net-

working to get yourself out there and be successful in the field. And doesn’t that sound an awful lot like the Hollywood film industry?

Photo by Sirenia Sanchez

Photo by Sirenia Sanchez

Undergrad Advisor and Internship Coordinator of the Film and Media Studies Department, Joe Palladino, shares his insight on Film 106.

Alex Payne, a third year majoring in Film and Media Studies, discusses his point of view on the Film 106 course.

David Fincher: The New Master of Adaptation?

Shomik Mukherjee It’s become a familiar sequence of events at the movies: first, we hurriedly enter the theater, feeling a rush of anticipation of seeing one of our favorite books brought to life. Then, as the movie unfolds, the first alteration of a great scene gives us an unpleasant jolt, and the inconsistencies begin to snowball. By the time the credits are rolling, we feel as though the film rushed through our cherished story, muted characters we held dear, and distorted a magnificent work.

For fans of a novel being produced for the big screen, it often feels as though film adaptations are doomed to disappoint. But, thankfully, we have David Fincher.

Fincher has been one of the most successful directors of the past two decades, and miraculously possesses the unique ability to keep the spirit of a great story intact, while blending in enough adjustments for the adaptation to shine as an individual film. In 1999, he crafted the modern classic “Fight Club” by taking the ideologies of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel and expanding them to new heights. While the film had its fair share of changes, the differences didn’t serve to alienate the characters but rather enhance them, smoothly transitioning Palahniuk’s writing style to the big screen in the process.

The highly-anticipated 2011 film “The Girl

with the Dragon Tattoo” was a more challenging endeavor, as fans of Stieg Larsson’s novel already had the ultra-faithful Swedish adaptation with which they could draw comparisons. Fincher stepped up to the challenge, but refrained from blindly following either of the two previous incarnations of the story. Instead he went with his own gut, adding a fresh and unsettling tone to the story, one that has become something of a signature in his films. Unlike many that came before him, Fincher consistently finds ways to create films that both book-fans and moviegoers can appreciate. However, with his most recent project, “Gone Girl,” which released in cinemas on Oct. 3, the method seemed easier said than done.

I read “Gone Girl,” the thriller novel by Gillian Flynn on which the film is based, this past summer upon my sister’s recommendation during a family vacation, and am afraid to say that I have no recollection of the sight-seeing during the subsequent two days of the trip. This is, no doubt, a consequence of the story pulling me in so tightly that the front and back covers of the book still bear lasting fingerprints. The story in question tells of Nick Dunne, a man whose wife, Amy, disappears without warning. As the search for Amy ramps up, so does the suspicion felt by both the other characters and the reader that Nick is, in fact, the perpetrator.

As Flynn tugged me deeper and deeper into her twisted world of scheming, manipulation, and marriage, I found the novel that much more engrossing. But upon learning that a film based on the novel was in the works, I was puzzled. It seemed that the story, which frequently relies on the unreliability of the narrator and psychological drama, wouldn’t lend itself well to the screen.

Even after learning that Fincher was at the helm of this project, I prepared myself for the inevitable letdown.

As it turns out, the film manages to echo the novel’s narrative ability, likely due to the original author Flynn writing the screenplay. Her collaboration with Fincher results in a suspenseful thriller that grasps the heavy character development of the novel while still putting up enough excitement to keep the audience on its heels.

From Ben Affleck, who plays Nick, Fincher manages to pull an honest, understated performance, leveraging Affleck’s oft-criticized stiffness to highlight Nick’s perpetual discomfort.

And, as always, he adds a layer of stunning atmosphere that could make even the most seasoned veterans of unsettlement shift in their seats.

Therein lies the genius of Fincher’s direction: his ability to push boundaries makes him near unparalleled amongst today’s directors.

Film studios will likely never stop dabbling in literature for inspiration, and many beloved

Illustration by Luis Bondoc Staff Illustrator novels will thus be butchered for generations to come. But should a book you enjoyed ever fall on the doorstep of one David Fincher, I’d advise against dreading the end result. Simply hang on, and enjoy the ride.

Fall Pilot Season Previews

Fall pilot season is one of the great crapshoots in the entertainment industry; big-budget, summer superhero movies will always be popular, and some incarnation of “Law & Order” will forever grace our television screens–but at this time of the year, countless new shows will premiere, and many of these will

not stick around very long. Every show on TV begins as a pilot, and while some become immediate and transcendent hits (“Lost,” “Survivor,” etc.), some take a little time to get their footing (the initially disappointing “Parks and Recreation,” for example), and many others never even get out of the first month

(does anyone remember “Viva Laughlin?”). As many of us are college students, I would imagine most have little time and energy to waste on a less than enjoyable show. With that in mind, we asked a few of our writers at The Bottom Line to check out some of the more interesting pilots.

A TO Z

Karen Hamada I have always found the beginning of fall to be somewhat bittersweet; the bitterness stemming from the start of classes and the piles of reading that come with it, but, much like the cinnamon that rounds out the sharpness of the ginger in a good pumpkin spice latte, October also brings the start of the fall television season that somewhat helps to make up for the end of summer vacation. This time not only brings back multiple old favorites, but also introduces countless new shows. One of the many new shows that caught my attention

is NBC’s “A to Z,” starring Cristin Milioti (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Ben Feldman (“Mad Men”).

As a relationship-based sitcom, A to Z not only drew me in with the witty conversations between the leading characters Andrew and Zelda, but also with the question of why Andrew and Zelda will date, in the words of the omniscient narrator, “for eight months, three weeks, five days, and one hour.” As the title cleverly suggests and the quirky narration reaffirms, A to Z offers a “comprehensive account of their

relationship. From A to Z.” Throughout the pilot, the awkward nature of Andrew reels the audience in as he tries (sometimes a little too hard) to win over Zelda.

Although certain points of the pilot episode may come across as cheesy, with talks about destiny and a clichéd first kiss, the chemistry between the two leads more than makes up for these. For those looking for a light-hearted and easy to watch show, I’d say that A to Z is definitely one to watch!

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER Remle Scott

Creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes takes her murderous creativity from the nation’s capital in “Scandal” to the classroom in “How to Get Away with Murder.” Once again, a career in the field of criminal law is depicted as the dream job of the century. Much like the shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “NCIS:(enter location here),” “How to Get Away with Murder” romanticizes now almost clichéd vignettes of infidelity, passion, and greed. Annalise Keating, played by Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Ender’s Game”), sets the tone as a hard-ass professor with at least two hidden agendas. The pilot begins with a flashforward

showing four of her students trying to cover up a murder while the rest of the campus rages in football rivalry-enduced revelry, in an attempt introduce the long story arc of the season. But this did not draw me in as much as I would have liked it to. That, along with the exaggerated music, quick shots of sex appeal, and the obvious foreshadows of who’s sleeping with who — I don’t know what’s worse, these students acting bad or the bad acting.

Quite similar to the unchanging seasons of Santa Barbara, fall television has become quite repetitive and redundant, and “How to Get Away with Murder” is no exception. With the occasional

rainy day in winter quarter comes the occasional plot twist, but in both cases it’s quite expected which disappoints everyone involved. On the flip side, the cast itself is something worth mentioning. So why should “How to Get Away with Murder” differ?

The fact of the matter is, fall television has been saturated to its capacity in criminal drama series, and it can almost be said that the pilot episode itself could have just been rewritten into yet another drama. With that in mind, don’t waste your time on Hulu waiting for the next episode to be released, because I can guarantee you, you’ve seen it all before.

RED BAND SOCIETY Lexi Weyrick STAFF WRITER

“Red Band Society” is, at best, a “guilty pleasure” show. The show revolves around the very original idea of sick teenagers in a hospital. If one is able to suspend their disbelief that all of these kids would actually be live-in patients at a hospital (a cystic fibrosis patient who has progressed to the point where he can run around, smoke pot, and go to the movies would definitely not require all-day hospital care), then you’re faced with a decent cast of characters. The archetypes are all there–jock, cheerleader, coma kid–and the story line, albeit a bit overdone, is initially promising.

This is the show of those five kids trying to figure out how to go through life while they’re still around to go through it, with the nurses and Dr. McAndrew providing some slightly more adult drama. These kids all wear the bands of their cancerous, quasi leader Leo, thus providing the show with a name, and theoretically creating a brotherhood of sorts between the characters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the show’s creators got beyond having an idea about a show with a bunch of sick kids.

The jokes are quite bad, there are random, shining monologues with no context, and trying to understand any of the char-

acters’ reasons for acting a certain way is pretty pointless. However, perhaps the most frustrating thing is the lack of continuity from episode to episode. There is no real plot, storylines that are introduced are later completely ignored, and there is a whole lot of set up with very little payoff.

If one is idly watching this show while doing other things or if they do not care much for content, then it is watchable. While it’s easy to see why people initially viewed this show as promising, it is even easier to understand why the show might not get picked up for a second season.

For the last Fall Pilot preview of "Selfie," as well as album reviews for Weezer amd Flying Lotus, make sure to visit Arts & Entertainment at bottomlineucsb.com

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

7 | SCIENCE AND TECH

UCSB Professor Shuji Nakamura Wins Nobel Prize in Physics Judy Lau STAFF WRITER The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Shuji Nakamura, professor of Materials, Electrical, and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, along with two others.

Nakamura won the prize for his invention of efficient blue lightemitting diodes, which enables bright and energy-saving white light sources. The prize is shared with Isamu Akasaki of Meijo University and Nagoya University, Japan, and Hiroshi Amano of Nagoya University. Nakamura is the sixth faculty member of UCSB to have won a Nobel Prize since 1998.

“This is an incredible honor for Professor Nakamura and the College of Engineering. Dr. Nakamura’s achievements in solid-state lighting continue to have far-reaching impact on lighting and computing technology,” said Rod Alferness, dean of UCSB’s College of Engineering.

“We all have his pioneering research to thank for the LED light bulb, monitors, mobile devices, and large flat screen displays that we enjoy today.”

Initially, Nakamura was working for the Nichia Corporation, a chemical engineering and manufacturing company and succeeded in inventing the first efficient blue-light laser, opening the way for products such as Blu-Ray players.

He was initially doing research regarding red LED lights but later became interested in blue LED

lights.

Nakamura joined the UCSB faculty in 2000 and was appointed the Cree Chair in the Solid State Lighting and Display Center in 2001. Known for his technological achievements with semiconducting gallium nitrides, he is also considered as a world pioneer in light emitters based on semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) and its alloys with indium and aluminum. These

light emitters demonstrated the world’s first nonpolar blue-violet laser diodes.

The development of nitridebased semiconductors by Nakamura represents one of the most important achievements in the materials science of semiconductors in the last 30 years. Specifically, the discovery of p-type doping in Gallium Nitride (GaN) and the development of blue, green, and white

LEDs have enabled energy efficient lighting and displays.

“There was a lot of red LED lighting and green LED lighting, but without blue lighting, lights could not be created,” said Dr. Nakamura. “With the discovery of blue lighting, the cost and availability of lighting is now much cheaper and much more accessible than it was before. The LEDs contribute to saving the Earth’s resources.”

Photo by Mathew Burciaga | Layout Editor Professor Nakamura fields questions from the audience regarding the widespread application of LED Lighting.

In Africa, millions of diode lamps that normally run on solar power have been handed out to replace polluting kerosene lamps.

For the same amount of energy consumption, LED bulbs produce four times the light of a fluorescent bulb and nearly 20 times the light of an incandescent bulb. Additionally, they are more durable and last longer.

“The LED bulbs are able to dramatically increase the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world, specifically in thirdworld countries, who lack access to electricity grid,” said Dr. Siddha Pimputkar, one of the researchers who worked closely with Nakamura. “Because of the low power requirements and the efficiency of the light, it can be powered by cheap local solar power.”

The applications and impact of Nakamura’s inventions are not just limited to achieving cheaper solar power. His work has a variety of other impacts in fields ranging from information and communication to healthcare and life sciences to energy and environment. Although the invention of the blue LED is only twenty years old, it has already contributed to creating white light in a completely new way that greatly benefits the world.

“What we are seeing here is the beginning of the end of the light bulb,” said Professor Herbert Kroemer, who won the Nobel Prize in 2000. “We are not just talking about doing things better, but about doing things we never could before.”

Microsoft Pledges to Protect Student Privacy Victoria Lievre Tech giant, Microsoft has banded together with fourteen other firms providing educational services across the nation in a pledge to uphold student privacy. The “K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy,” created by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software and Information Industry Association, asserts that participating tech firms will not sell students’ information or utilize said information for commercial purposes, including behaviorally targeted advertising.

The pledge is a response to the rapid introduction of technology into classrooms as an educational tool, which can be more effective for each student’s individual needs than traditional methods. Programs ranging from online courses to virtual tutoring are expanding educational opportunities while individualized reports and testing allow educators to customize plans for each student.

Though efficient and future-oriented, the introduction of technology into education has also raised significant privacy concerns. Physi-

cal records such as report cards are becoming increasingly available online, and parents and educators are utilizing methods such as email to communicate about specific student’s needs–information that is often sensitive.

“No one’s going to sell your kids’ data, nobody’s going to track your child around the Internet and no one’s going to compile a profile that is used against your child when they apply for a job 20 years later,” said Jules Polonetsky, executive director of the Future Privacy Forum.

Other firms that have pledged to protect student privacy include the likes of Code.org, an organization committed to computer coding education, and software provider DreamBox Learning, which focuses on teaching mathematics at the elementary level. However, the fourteen committed firms represent only a small portion of K-12 education providers.

Tech leaders Apple and Google have chosen not to participate in this preemptive coalition, despite the fact that the Future of Privacy Forum has labeled the participating companies an “initial leadership group.” However, it

is possible that legislation may one day create a mandatory pledge to this standard.

Groups such as the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (PCSP) have pushed for legislative reform with regards to student privacy, appealing to Congress to alter dated and largely stagnant laws. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is one such law that was passed to regulate the disclosure of student records long before they became digital.

“Specifically, we are alarmed about illthought-through federal policies that, instead of providing safeguards against non-consensual disclosure and downstream uses of children’s personally identifiable information, actually promote policies in which a child’s highly sensitive personal data is disclosed to third-parties for purposes that go well beyond reasonable educational uses and deny parents the right of notification or consent,” states the PCSP appeal.

Further legislative progress has been made with California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent signing of Senate Bill No. 1177, explic-

itly aimed at protecting student information.

The Bill vows to “prohibit an operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application from knowingly engaging in targeted advertising to students or their parents or legal guardians, using covered information to amass a profile about a K–12 student, selling a student’s information, or disclosing covered information, as provided.”

Proactive support from major companies coupled with meaningful legislative action will likely encourage other major tech companies to become involved.

“If we’re successful,” Polontesky said, “we’ll see a lot of companies stepping up.”

Improving security measures will allow tech companies to continue to enhance the K-12 educational experience without putting student’s privacy in jeopardy.

“We believe every student deserves a quality education and should have access to all the tools necessary to be prepared for the future,” said Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Worldwide Education for Microsoft, about the company’s decision to pledge.

Ebola: What We Know and What It’s Done Gwen Wu The current Ebola epidemic is the single most severe outbreak since the initial discovery of ebolaviruses in 1976. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 8,399 people have contracted the virus resulting in 4,033 deaths, with more cases going unreported.

Experts believe that this particular outbreak can be traced back to the death of a two-year-old boy in Guinea on Dec. 6, 2013, and the virus then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have developed in Nigeria, but were contained within their borders by closing off all entrances into the country. Despite precautions, medical missionaries and health workers there have fallen ill.

In July, two American doctors working in West Africa contracted Ebola and were immediately flown back to the U.S. to be treated in special isolation wards. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were given doses of the experimental drug ZMapp and survived. Brantly was critical of the response from the U.S. in his statements to the media and government.

“It is imperative that the U.S. take the lead instead of relying on other agencies,” Brantly testified at a Senate hearing about Ebola. As of early October, the aid that the U.S. has sent to West Africa consists of military troops and protective gear

for workers, but little in the form of medicine.

Controversy surrounds the international community’s response to the epidemic growing in Africa. While NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders responded promptly, criticism centers on how much media coverage has been given to Ebola, but little aid. Critics of the U.S. response point out that the country has been studying Ebola for years, yet clearly have not prepared for an epidemic as seen when researchers depleted their supply of experimental drugs to treat the virus.

“The use of our military is a legitimate and defensible request, because if we do not do something to stop this outbreak now, it quickly could become a matter of U.S. national security–whether that means a regional war that gives terrorist groups like Boko Haram a foothold in West Africa or the spread of the disease into America,” Brantly said.

“Fighting those kinds of threats would require more from the Department of Defense than what I am asking for today.”

As far as fighting the threat at home, the federal government will be screening travelers flying from West Africa at five major U.S. airports, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest. They plan to take temperatures at Newark Liberty, New York’s John F. Kennedy, Chicago’s O’Hare, Washing-

Photo Courtesy of UNICEF Liberia ton’s Dulles, and Atlanta’s JacksonHartsfield.

This move follows Ebola cases developing in the U.S. On Oct. 8, Dallas patient Thomas Duncan, who traveled to the U.S. from his native country, Liberia, died from the virus. Duncan landed in Texas on Sept. 19 with no visible symptoms, but was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nearly two weeks later. Controversy surrounds Duncan’s case, as family members claim he was initially dismissed de-

spite alerting doctors that he had traveled from Liberia. The situation worsened as nurse Nina Pham, who treated Duncan, was confirmed on Sunday to have contracted the virus.

Photojournalist Ashoka Mukpo was flown back to the U.S. on after contracting Ebola while on assignment. According to NBC News, Mukpo is being treated at the Nebraska Medical Center using a combination of an experimental drug and blood transfusion donated by Brantly. Doctors hope that antibod-

ies generated from Brantly’s exposure to the virus will help Mukpo fight the virus.

While many continue to criticize the international response, one thing is clear: something must be done about the epidemic before it spreads internationally.

“It’s a fire straight from the pit of hell,” said Brantly. “We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that the vast moat of the Atlantic Ocean will keep the flames away from our shores.”

TBL | Oct 15-Oct 21, 2014

8 | OPINIONS

Rate Your Professors Yourselves Julius Koch

As the fall quarter gets under way at the wonderful University of California at Santa Barbara, many students will have already taken the time to meet their new professors. Many, however, didn’t do this in person, but rather through the popular website Ratemyprofessors.com.

The main objective of RateMyProfessors seems to be to help students choose classes and understand how to be most successful in their courses. The site uses criteria that include “helpfulness,” “clarity,” “easiness,” and even “hotness,” so users can quickly gain an idea about the quality of their new professors.

Illustration by Luis Bondoc | Staff Illustrator

While the site was created with good intentions and continually hopes to help students in their educational pursuits, two main problems prevent it from doing so: not only are the reviews in and of themselves not credible, but the site could lead people to make important and potentially adverse decisions based upon them.

Since there is no system of identification, anyone from anywhere can take a few minutes to submit a review about any professor from any institution. An additional flaw is that a single person could submit reviews from a variety of different devices.

The reviews are also submitted anonymously, so no reviewer can be held accountable for their statements. You could essentially visit the website and submit a controversial review about a professor whom you have never even taken a class with.

The website also often attracts extreme opinions, as it doesn’t have a constant set of critics. Users who may have been upset with the grade they received or the rigor of the class could take to RateMyProfessors to vent and tear apart the professor who they deem responsible.

By asking reviewers to explain the attractiveness of their professors and the grades they received, the site naturally emphasizes reviewing based on emotion rather than logic or some sort of academic rationale. Less time is spent critiquing teaching styles than it is criticizing the difficulty of a class or the harshness of the grading. Generally, teachers who are considered “hotter” and labeled as “easy graders” will receive higher ratings.

If you are attending lectures in the hopes of sitting in the front and watching an attractive professor pace back and

forth, it may be time to be honest with yourself and reconsider your priorities. If you are trying to find the easy A’s around campus, I encourage you to try making your education your own and get into the material you are studying instead of trying to skim by with little involvement in your class. It’s all too expensive for that.

The rigor of a class or its grading can provide an awesome challenge for students interested in their respective fields of study, and you never know what meaningful relationships and connections you could gain through different faculty members at the school. Students should be encouraged to form their own opinions and forge their own paths in their education. You’ll never know what you are missing if you are deterred by a poor or spurious rating on a website. You will never open that door to find that passion, get that internship, or make that connection.

Decisions such as course selections are very important in and of themselves as the opportunity cost, in terms of time and money, is very high in college. It is best to form your own opinions about professors rather than rely on others’ views.

Many people have at some point enjoyed a film that was given low ratings in the papers. If you take the course and truly feel like your professor is inhibiting your ability to learn or enjoy a topic effectively, you can always restructure your schedule. At least you gave it a chance, and taking chances is a behavior that is bound to pay off at some point.

If, come winter, you can’t resist visiting RateMyProfessor, at least tread lightly and try to avoid making major decisions for yourself based off of the opinions of others. After all, you are the one who will have to live with them.

‘P’ Stands for Planet: Stop Fracking in Santa Barbara County Michael Voloshin

You walk outside with a mask concealing your nose and mouth.

If you had walked out without one, you would have been coughing your lungs up like there was no tomorrow.

The sky, instead of the nice blue with thin, white patchy clouds, is a dark grey, the kind of grey that happens as a result of a fire. The ocean, even though it hasn’t been clear in a long time, is even less clear now, taking on a much greener hue that is impossible to see through. People as well as pets are unhealthier, unhappier, and it is seen in their demeanor. This isn’t some far-off place like Thailand; it is much closer to home. This is University of California, Santa Barbara.

At this point, you might have the automatic reaction to call me crazy, but that image is what could potentially happen if hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is allowed in Santa Barbara County. Measure P, which is on the Nov. 4 election ballot, goes a long way to ban onshore oil and natural gas extraction methods such as fracking—methods that hurt the environment. According to Earthworks, the process of fracking involves drilling into rocks to a desired extent before injecting it with fluid, which causes fractures and eventually yields oil and gas. That wouldn’t be a problem, but there are two issues: fracking uses up an astronomical amount of water while we are in a drought, and the fluid they inject into the rocks con-

tains chemicals that are detrimental to the environment. Additionally, fracking has been known to change the landscape in ways that cause earthquakes.

You might ask yourself then, knowing this, who would be financing the fight against Measure P? The answer is pretty simple: The ‘No on Measure P’ campaign, according to Ballotpedia, is directly funded by the oil companies through the statewide political committee, Californians for Energy Independence – and its $1.8 million strong. In contrast, the ‘Yes on Measure P’ side, which draws much of its funding from the Santa Barbara Water Guardians, has less than 10 percent of that, with around $100,000.

One of the strongest and most used arguments of the “No on Measure P” campaign is that banning fracking would make us dependent on foreign oil, particularly from the Middle East. While that is essentially a good argument, we actually aren’t dependent on foreign oil and are far from being dependent on it. According to NPR, most of the oil we use is North American, accounting for well over 60 percent, and the oil we do get from Middle Eastern countries, while minimal, bolsters their economies.

An argument in favor of Measure P is simply that we do not want to look hypocritical, not only as Santa Barbara County, but as the United States. The United States has been

pushing for greener technology and that especially includes in the oil industry. We have been phasing out oil as fuel with more people walking, more bikes on the road, more hybrid and electric cars on the road, and greater efficiency for cars that do run on gas. We are far behind other western countries in the realm of helping the environment, and if we are to

be taken seriously, the last thing we want to do is say one thing and do the exact opposite. Doing things is a lot harder than saying things, but if we don’t do something to get to where we want—a cleaner earth— the consequences will be dire.

You walk outside without a mask covering your nose and mouth.

You’re not coughing your lungs out

like there is no tomorrow and the air just feels cleaner. The sky is back to its light blue color with a few scattered clouds — not like the air in the aftermath of a fire. The water is as clear as you remember it. People, dogs, cats — they’re happier and they definitely look healthier. Measure P passed, it was all a dream, and you can, literally, breathe easier now.

Illustration by Amy Chase | The Bottom Line

Banning Fracking Is Not the Solution to Our Energy Problems Sirarpi Topchyan

Fracking can be beneficial to Santa Barbara.

There, that statement is out there now. Fracking has become a word loaded with negative connotations, to the point where the thought that fracking is actually good for California is considered outrageous.

Fracking—short for hydraulic fracturing—is the process of creating cracks and fissures in the ground, then pumping high-pressured water into those cracks to open them up even more. These bigger fissures and cracks then make it easier for oil and gas to flow out.

The issue has been presented as black and white in many cases, with those for banning fracking claiming that it is harmful to the environment because it takes land that is undeveloped and turns it into an oil field, in addition to its contamination of water from the chemicals used to extract the oil and gas.

The new local ballot initiative to ban fracking is called Measure P, and it maintains that fracking is bad for the environment and should

thus be banned. But it fails to acknowledge the concept that banning fracking in California means the loss of thousands of jobs, as well as furthers our dependency on foreign oil.

A coalition titled the Santa Barbara County Coalition against the Oil and Gas Shutdown opposes this measure with their “No on P” campaign.

America’s dependency on foreign oil, including oil from the Middle East, to fuel our industrial nation has had devastating consequences. The turmoil and wars in the Middle East can be linked, indirectly, to the need for foreign oil. Our dependency on foreign oil can be decreased if oil and gas are more easily obtained on US soil, and fracking is a process that does in fact make this easier while avoiding that turbulent region. This easier access to oil and gas will increase their availability in the country and decrease our overall dependency.

Avoiding wars, where young men and women are killed needlessly every day, is worth a couple plots of land being used.

The nation, as a whole, is attempting to rid

itself of this dependency, through efforts to increase fuel efficiency and make hybrid cars more available to the public. This effort to stop using foreign oil and prevent further conflict overseas is commendable, but banning fracking will have the opposite effect on weaning ourselves off this dependency. All the effort we have made and the effort the scientific community has put into creating alternatives to foreign oil will be wasted because much of our fuel sources will continue to be imported.

Andy Caldwell, a member of the Coalition for Labor, Agriculture and Business and an opponent to Measure P, released “Oil and Gas in California, The Industry and Its Economic Contribution,” in which he details the impact the oil industry has made in boosting the economy. Caldwell cites the economic and policy analysis group’s findings that the industry created 468,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, brings in $40 billion in total labor income, and adds $113 billion worth of value to California’s economy. These statistics, while major, are not as important as considering the

impact Measure P will have on individual families. If oil and gas are not made easier to obtain, the industry will eventually suffer and need to downsize, let people go, close down factories, and raise gas prices. This will cause turmoil for the 200 families the oil industry employs in Santa Barbara, as well as all the people living in the community as a whole who depend on oil and gas to get to work, school, and to their everyday activities.

Banning fracking in Santa Barbara County, as well as the rest of California, will deeply and negatively impact the income brought in to the state by the industry, as well as take away a significant portion of the jobs the industry has created.

The measure is going to be on the ballot on Nov. 4, and whether or not the measure passes depends on the votes of the community. University of California, Santa Barbara is known and praised for being the UC with the most registered student voters, and if we want to make an impact on our community and our state, we should go out and vote on Measure P.

Enough with the Faux Liberalism: Why We Can’t Just Dump the Advent of ISIS on Islam Maddy Kirsch STAFF WRITER Comedian, television host, and atheist extraordinaire Bill Maher is finding himself in the midst of a media firestorm after spending the last couple episodes of his late-night talk show blaming Islam for everything from ISIS to female genital mutilation. Maher, despite making broad generalizations about a religion of 1.6 billion people spanning 47 countries, had the audacity to claim that he’s in fact not a bigot, just an ardent defender of liberal principles.

“Liberals need to stand up for… freedom of speech, freedom to practice any religion you want without fear of violence, freedom to leave a religion, equality for women, equality for minorities including homosexuals,” Maher said. “These are liberal principles that liberals applaud for, but when you say that in Muslim world, this is what’s lacking, then they get upset.” He went on the say that the Qur’an directly inspires violence and terrorism, and that we need to be honest about the link between doctrine and behavior.

Well, Bill, violent video games certainly inspire school shootings, but not everyone who plays “Call of Duty” becomes a killer.

Reaching that level of lunacy requires a certain cocktail of narcissism, psychopathology and poor social support. By the same token, groups like ISIS are born out of a combination of religious, political, socioeconomic, personal, and historical factors—not out of Islam alone. There is no one-word explanation for how a terrorist develops, be it a terrorist from Syria or from Isla Vista.

For the record, I support defending liberal principles around the world; what I take issue with is the accusation that Islam lies at the root of violence and injustice in the Middle East. Blaming Islam for terrorism is lazy and irresponsible, especially because it attaches a dangerous stigma to the large majority of Muslims who, as Ben Affleck said on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “just want to go to school, eat a some sandwiches, and live their lives in peace.”

As one of the panelists on Maher’s show, Nicholas Kristof, pointed out, the way Maher defines Muslims by extremists “has a tinge of the way white racists talk about African Americans, and define blacks by black criminals.” What are the consequences of stereotyping an entire group of people based on high profile atrocities committed by only some of them? Well, unnecessary violence against that group of people—just look at Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. We should not be okay with living in a culture where police officers are allowed to murder innocent black teenagers in the name of self-defense, nor should we excuse our government for taking thousands of civilian Muslim lives in the name of homeland security.

Maher claims that he escapes the label of “racist” because he criticizes ideas, not necessarily people. Islam, unlike black skin, is an idea. Conservative Republicans use the same rhetoric to explain their disapproval of homosexuality. They hate the sin, not the sinner; they hate ideas, not people. Maybe so, but at the end of the of the day, a bakery can legally refuse to cater a gay wedding, and women wearing headscarves get “randomly selected” at airports more often than white blondes.

At the heart of Maher’s Islamophobia is plain arrogance. He believes, as he said on air, that “western culture is not just different [than eastern culture], it’s better.”

Such a claim is hardly different from Jihadists believing that they are the true enlightened ones—the “better” ones. We cannot go around spreading democracy using the same holier-thanthou, we-have-all-the-answers rhetoric that extremists are using to spread Islam. That would be frankly undemocratic.

As Kristof first noticed, Maher left a very important liberal principle off of his list: tolerance. Liberalism must include looking at the world through the lens of cultural relativism, rather than the much more sinister lens of American exceptionalism.

We cannot keep excusing ourselves for harboring the same hateful, better-than-you ideology as the terrorists just because we’re, well, us, and we invented cars, the Internet, and twerking.

At the end of the day, our tendency toward bigotry finds its roots in biology. Human brains are predisposed to categorize.

Most of the time, it is highly efficient to say “this thing barks, so it must be a dog.” But what is otherwise an adaptive brain mechanism gets us into trouble when we reason that “this person is a Muslim, so they must be a terrorist.” Society evolves faster than physiology, so it is our responsibility as a so-called advanced civilization to understand the shortcomings of our own biological brains. We all carry around neural machinery adapted for tribal living—machinery fine-tuned for separating people into in-groups and out-groups. But certainly someone as enlightened as Bill Maher is above such primal temptations toward bigotry and racism.