October 25, 2018

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VOLUME 137, ISSUE 5 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

KA RIN HIG GIN S / COU RT ESY

R AU L M O R A L E S / AG GI E

Town hall focuses on UC Davis Police disarmament, militarization Training, hiring improvements sought as solution for disarmament

BY GEOR GE LI AO campus@theaggie.org

the first day of the strike. “On campus, there are more and more buildings going up. What UC is trying to do is ... get those jobs that are presently done by UC workers [and] outsource to [different] companies.”

Garcia-Prado discussed how this outsourcing might affect her and her colleagues.

“A lot of custodians, a lot of groundskeepers — even the maintenance [workers] who maintain the buildings — those jobs are always being threatened,” she said. “UC can decide to have a UC job converted to outsourcing and that will be somebody else and not a UC employee.”

Garcia-Prado mentioned the practice of laying off existing UC employees and then rehiring them as a contract employee. “It is not fair for us,” she said.

Desiree Bates-Rojas, the president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement of Sacramento, a nationwide labor advocacy group who came to support the strike, spoke about job outsourcing.

A town hall held on Oct. 15 in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom discussed a resolution forwarded by the UC Davis Graduate Student Association (GSA) to disarm UC Davis Police. The town hall was initiated by Chancellor Gary May after meeting with GSA members.

The discussion began with a proposal for the disarmament of the UC Davis police and later merged into the topic of police militarization.

On the discussion panel from UC Davis was B.B. Buchanan, a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Davares Robinson, a fourth-year political science major. Alex Bustamante, the chief compliance and audit officer for the University of California; Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr. (D-South Los Angeles); Alice A. Huffman, president of the California Hawaii National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Woodland Mayor Enrique Fernandez were also present.

The panel was moderated by the UC Davis Law School Dean, Kevin Johnson.

Buchanan explained the GSA’s reasoning for demanding a disarming of campus police.

“The actual incidents in which police intervene in school shootings is relatively rare,” Buchanan said.

“Shooting incidents happen relatively quickly.”

Instances of police intervention leading to use of deadly force were cited by Buchanan.

“Scout Schultz at Georgia [Tech] was killed by their campus police while having a mental health crisis,” Buchanan said. “We had a student at Portland State University who was also killed recently. […] The campus officers were not even indicted. These things happen and to argue that somehow we are safer with weapons, I think,

STRIKE on 12

POLICE TOWN HALL on 12

AFSCME 3299 on strike

UC’s largest labor union protests outsourcing, pay disparities, unsatisfactory offers from UC in midst of stalled negotiations

BY G EO RG E L I AO & H ANNA H HOL Z E R campus@theaggie.org

After a year and a half of deadlocked negotiations with the UC, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME), the UC’s largest employee union, representing over 25,000 workers, is holding its second three-day strike in the past year.

Citing concerns about job outsourcing and racial and gender disparities in the UC, AFSCME’s strike started Monday and continues through Thursday, Oct. 25 with organized action taking place at UC Davis and UC campuses and medical centers throughout the state.

Between 200-250 people gathered on the first day of the strike at the field off of Orchard and La Rue Road, which served as a makeshift base. AFSCME workers wore green T-shirts. Members of the University of Professional and Technical Employees, representing over 13,000 UC employees, who are striking in solidarity with AFSCME during all three days of the strike, wore blue shirts.

A 96 percent majority of AFSCME-represented employees voted to authorize a strike.

“The University’s decision to bypass collective bargaining and impose employment terms on patient care workers … would increase healthcare premiums, flatten wages, lift the retirement age, and risk the continued outsourcing of UC jobs,” AFSCME’s website states.

In a press release published before the start of the strike, AFSCME’s president and vice president commented on what they perceive to be the UC’s choice to ignore workers’ concerns.

“When UC outsources … jobs, they’re eliminating what were once career ladders into the middle-class for women and people of color,” said AFSCME Local 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger in the release. “That is in major conflict with the University’s mission of serving as an engine of economic mobility for all Californians.”

Leticia Garcia-Prado, a medical assistant at the UC Davis Student Health Center and a representative for AFSCME, gave her reason for striking.

“Way more of our jobs are getting outsourced everyday,” said Garcia-Prodo, who was present at

JE R E MY DA N G / AG G I E

Reports from chancellor’s three task forces released Questions over whether recommendations on housing, food insecurity, mental health care are sufficient

BY AARON L I SS campus@theaggie.org

In response to vocal student concerns, Chancellor Gary May convened three task forces on student

food security, mental health care and affordable student housing last spring. Each of the task forces recently released recommendations for improvement.

May asked each of the task forces to “review existing programs and options within its assigned topic

area, consider improvements and make recommendations,” according to the UC Davis website. The university has now released the findings of each task force, as well as the university’s response to these recommendations.

Recommendations from the mental health task force included lowering the non-clinician workload given to clinicians, bolstering the staff that works at the university and setting up long-term hiring plans and cultural competency training.

The student food security task force recommended ensuring the long-term sustainability of on-campus resources, creating programs that promote food security, raising awareness about existing resources and advocating for related policies at the university, state and federal level.

Lastly, the affordable student housing task force recommended planning a forum with the City of Davis and university to discuss housing needs, identifying funds to support housing and monitoring housing trends.

In an official university response, May referred to these recommendations as “potential solutions that can be implemented in a reasonable period of time.”

Katrina Manrique, a fourth-year English major and the co-director of the Mental Health Initiative, served on the mental health task force. According to Manrique, UC Davis was too dismissive of the task force’s findings and recommendations, failing to specify its response to Manrique’s recommendations.

“Personally speaking, I am dissatisfied with the university’s response to our recommendations,”

Manrique said via email. “I felt like the response was informational, however they lacked the specificity and depth that I had hoped for. There was a lot of mention about how SHCS and Student Affairs are currently assessing everything, however there was no specific say as to how they will follow up with students once they’ve assessed everything.”

Manrique said she thinks the university needs to focus more on transparency.

“There was no detail as to when they will finish assessing the quality of their services or how specifically they intend to communicate their assessments when finalized,” Manrique said. “How will we begin to know the results of their assessments or their next steps? Students are again being left out in the process and timing of these decisions. Students need to be absolutely aware of the changes and assessments that administration conducts.”

In Winter Quarter of last year, a contentious mental health town hall was held in response to a series of articles published in The California Aggie, which exposed a leaked internal audit stating the university had spent $250,000 of student fees meant for the hiring of general counselors in a questionable manner.

After the publication of the article, the university released the audit and a second audit on student fees in their entirety.

As Co-Director of the Mental Health Initiative, Manrique occupies a unique position as a student TASK FORCES on 12

2 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SHEREEN LEE / AGGIE

RAUL MORALES / AGGIE

Squirrels: Friends or foes?

October 10 “Ongoing problem with transient / Currently urinating on the building. Employee requesting 602 and contact to see about further action.”

“Squirrel inside residence.”

October 11 “Subject came to reporting party’s door and stated he was in a contest and needed to contact 1200 people.”

October 12 “Transient male has been in restroom for approximately 25 mins, requested he be removed.”

October 13 “RP’s daughter states that her parents are next door to a residence that has 30-50 marijuana plants in the backyard say she is concerned for her parents due to the numerous coming and goings — grow lights on at night — homeowner has been put in a residential facility and her grandson is now living in the home — plants came be viewed from backyard of reporting party’s home — daughter lives out of town.”

October 16 “Reporting party and husband stayed in the hotel over the weekend and during the night they heard voices from an adjacent room and smelled sulfur. Both and reporting party and husband now think there was a meth lab.”

“On-going issue with tennant, X has a history of mental health illness and has been turning on all of the water in the parking lot causing flooding. X has also taken Comcast pods.”

“Heard only group of subjects outside yelling like having fun, then heard a big truck back into reporting party’s roommates parked vehicle, damage to vehicle.”

Following radioactivity testing on beagles decades ago, UC Davis to finish cleaning contaminated soil UC Davis to clean 25-acre former testing site as part of $14 million settlement with EPA

BY SAB RINA H AB CH I campus@theaggie.org

The UC Regents will clean up decades worth of contaminated soil, solid waste and soil gas at the “Laboratory for Energy-related Health Research/Old Campus Landfill Superfund site” in Davis, after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a press release.

Studies completed at the laboratory from the 1950s to the 1980s were focused on the health effects of low-level radiation on laboratory animals, according to the press release.

Scientists at UC Davis were specifically examining the “long-term consequences of sublethal radiation exposure” on beagles in what is now called Project Four, according to an official university post online.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Project Four was part of an agreement with the same unit of the Defense Department which had overseen the Manhattan Project — the project focused on developing an atomic weapon, during World War II. Although there are no radioactive materials remaining, The Bee reported that the site is still contaminated with “pesticides, lead, chloroform and other toxic materials.”

After an expansion of the project in the ‘70s, it was terminated at the end of the Cold War in the ‘80s. The federal government spent “millions of dollars decontaminating buildings and hauling away the remains of hundreds of dead dogs,” The Bee reported.

“The site, which contains laboratory buildings and undeveloped land, covers approximately 25 acres on the University’s South Cam-

pus,” the release stated, adding that the site is just 250 feet north of “the South Fork of Putah Creek” and “south of Interstate 80 and east of Old Davis Road.”

The studies contaminated soil and groundwater on the site with what the EPA states are “hazardous chemicals”.

“Three inactive landfill areas remain on site,” the release said. “Following initial actions to protect human health and the environment, site investigations, groundwater treatment and long-term cleanup planning are ongoing.”

Andy Fell of UC Davis News and Media Relations said that the “low-level radioactivity” of the site was cleaned up in 2002. The EPA’s website confirmed this information.

A statement sent via email from Melissa Blouin, the director of University News and Media Relations, said the university has been “proactively addressing” the site since the 1990s.

“This announcement reflects the EPA’s approval of our long-term plans for this portion of the property,” the university’s statement read.

“UC Davis is glad that this long-planned collaborative and positive process is now officially moving forward towards completion.”

According to the EPA press release, this cleanup is estimated to cost $14 million.

This agreement was reached under the Superfund law, “which requires parties responsible for contaminating a Superfund site to clean up the site, or reimburse the government or other parties for cleanup activities,” the release stated.

More information about the cleanup and contamination is available on the EPA’s website.

CAITLYN SAMPLEY / AGGIE

Students support resolution at Senate meeting condemning anti-Semitic act Students from Jewish, Muslim communities voice support for legislation

BY EL I Z A BE T H M E R C A DO campus@theaggie.org

ASUCD Vice President Shaniah Branson called the Oct. 11 Senate meeting into order at 6:10 p.m. in the Mee Room on the third floor of the Memorial Union.

The meeting began with a presentation from Davis City Council Representative Dan Carson. Carson serves as a liaison between UC Davis and the City of Davis. He asserted the city’s intent to continue moving forward to build more student housing as stated in the university’s Long Range Development Plan.

“Our intention is never to discourage campus growth,” Carson said.

Carson addressed the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 3299, the UC’s largest union, and the lawsuit it filed against UC Davis and the UC Regents for the possible negative environmental impacts of such construction. He believes the lawsuit will be won in UC Davis’ favor and construction will continue.

ASUCD President Michael Gofman followed with his two nominations for interim senators. Maria Martinez, first-year political science — public service major, was chosen partly due to her experience with advocacy in her high school. Martinez pushed for a free SAT to be administered and plans

to continue serving in community outreach.

Martinez’s nomination was confirmed.

Sydney Hack, a second-year international relations major, was next nominated. She previously served on the Judicial Council and stated that her platform would strive to fix inconsistencies in the bylaws to make them more user friendly.

Hack’s nomination was confirmed.

The Gender and Sexuality Commission confirmed a new chair after a quarter without one. The External Affairs Commission also confirmed a new chair.

Senate Bill #2 which calls, “to recreate an International Undergraduate Student Committee [as] a permanent committee of the ASUCD Senate,” passed as amended.

There was a long discussion over SB #10 and SB #11. SB #10 would “formally recognize and define the default staff positions of the ASUCD Executive Branch.” SB #11 would “change the name of the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation (OASR) to the Office of the External Affairs Vice President (OEAVP).”

Debate ensued over whether the name change of OASR and its addition to the executive office would diminish OASR’s relationship with students. Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Chair Rina Singh voiced her concerns, stating that OASR’s name resonates with students as a space with their best interests in

mind. Changing its name and absorbing it into the executive office may lose its resonance with students, Singh said.

SB #10 was withdrawn.

SB #11 was tabled for next week’s Senate meeting.

A vote to review emergency legislation was conducted. In a vote of 11-1, the table reviewed Senate Resolution #1. This resolution would adopt and endorse the non-legally binding “working definition” of anti-Semitism that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance uses and would condemn all groups and individuals who have expressed or committed acts of anti-Semitism.

The resolution was written in response to anti-Semitic fliers posted across campus. The definition reads: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Dozens of students from the Jewish and Muslim communities on campus were present, waiting outside the doors of the Senate meeting, to voice their opinions on the resolution and to condemn anti-Semitism at UC Davis.

“The Muslim community is here to support the

Jewish community,” a member of the public said. “[Anti-Semitism] goes against our faith and the human rights we believe.”

The resolution passed as amended.

A break began at 8:34 p.m.

The meeting reconvened at 8:50 p.m.

Three students were confirmed as members of the Sexual Assault Awareness Advocacy Committee.

All three are members of Greek life and stated they wanted to integrate programs of awareness into sororities and fraternities.

During public discussion, a student spoke as a member of the disabled community. He noticed “not very welcoming areas,” on campus — some sections of sidewalks are rough and do not descend into the street, which makes it difficult for students with assistive scooters to cross. The student also recommended changing pool hours at Hickey Gym to consider students who require access to a pool for their physical therapy regimen.

Constitutional Amendment (CA) #58 would “create the position of Student Advocate within ASUCD.” UC Berkeley has such a position. A student advocate would be an elected position exempt from Senate. Students could call upon them regarding housing troubles, financial aid issues or other disputes.

CA #58 passed as amended.

The meeting adjourned at 11:39 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 3

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

California Office of Traffic Safety offers grants to help fund safety programs

JEREMY DANG / AGGIE

Yolo County District Attorney’s office receives grant

BY STE L L A T RA N city@theaggie.org

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has provided grants to the Vacaville Police Department of Education and Enforcement, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office as well as to the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency this year for various programs to help increase safety on the road.

Timothy Weisberg, a public information officer for California Office of Traffic Safety, elaborated on the office’s history.

“The history of the California Office of Traffic Safety dates back to the 1960’s when Congress passed the Highway Safety Act of 1966,” Weisberg said. “In 1966 alone, nearly 51,000 people died on U.S. roads and recently, 2017 statistics showed just over 31,000.

The act set new standards for traffic safety, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to administer funding for different traffic safety programs.

In 1967, OTS was created to carry out California’s traffic safety program under the direction of the governor’s highway safety representative.”

Matt De Moura, the deputy district attorney for Yolo County, helped develop a DUI program, which also received grant funding. He was the first prosecutor in the program and was involved

from 2012 to 2017.

“The grant helps continue the program,” De Moura said. “We first got the grant through the California Office of Traffic Safety in 2012. In that time, it still is a highly competitive process.

We got the funding to develop a specialized DUI unit to look at the most complicated and serious DUIs. We focused on drug-related DUIs, like marijuana and heroin. The more serious ones were where there were severe injuries leading up until death for particular homicides.”

De Moura noted how DUIs pose threats to the public through both drug and alcohol related incidents.

“Once a person gets behind a wheel of a car while impaired, they lose all ability to determine their actions,” De Moura said.

“DUIs are so dangerous because they don’t choose their victim, and they are crimes that don’t discriminate against the victim.

Anyone can be a victim because they’re so unpredictable. There’s also huge financial costs, and several billions of dollars are lost to damage, injury, lots of work — all because of DUIs. They pose a great risk to health and finances.”

Jeff Reisig, the district attorney for Yolo County, also indicated how DUIs pose threats, according to a Yolo County press release.

“Yolo County, along with all

of California, will face a unique time in its history with cannabis becoming more accessible through businesses this year,” Reisig said in the press release.

“With an increasing number of DUIs nationwide over the last few years it is crucial that law enforcement agencies and District Attorney’s offices dedicate resources toward protecting unsuspecting victims from the destruction that DUI drivers leave both physically and emotionally on their victims and the victims’ families. Our OTS program allows us to be proactive in deterrence through education, but at the same time reactive through holding those accountable who break the law and put the public at risk.”

The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office received funding for this year. They plan to focus on three categories to enrich the community’s knowledge.

“The goal is threefold — it’s prosecution, education and outreach,” De Moura said. “The outreach is where we do our community engagement, where we educate the population that drug impaired driving is a real issue. It’s increasing and it’s prevalent. Prescription pills, even when prescribed by a doctor, can impair you and make it unsafe when operating a car. We want to share that with the public, with students and education falls in line with that.”

The grants can provide money needed for resources to carry out such programs, like making sure pedestrians and drivers yield to each other. In addition, the purpose of these grants is to help educate children and teens on traffic rules.

“It is about saving lives through different traffic safety efforts, not just enforcement but through education, public awareness [and] campaigns to promote safe behaviors,” Weisberg said. “Each year, we develop a highway safety plan that identifies priority areas for funding and goals to reduce traffic injuries caused by dangerous actions.

Almost all crashes are preventable and we can’t drive that point enough.”

“Humanizing Deportation” exhibition showcases firsthand account of deportation TREVOR GOODMAN / AGGIE

Multimedia exhibition featured at International House until November

BY H ANNA N WALI ULLAH much more grave and serious after the elections happened,” Irwin city@theaggie.org

Until Nov. 6, the walls of the International House will be adorned with portraits of deported immigrants, videos of their stories and silkscreens. Stories of deportation across the border are being showcased as part of their “Humanizing Deportation” multimedia exhibit. The exhibition is a collaboration with the project of the same name.

The project “Humanizing Deportation” is an online collection of firsthand accounts that illustrate the experience of the deportation process. It began as a response to “a lack of firsthand knowledge regarding the experience of deportation and removal,” according to the project’s website.

The stories are each five-to-10 minute videos that serve to give deportation a face.

Humanizing Deportation received its original funding in early 2016, and the first group of storytellers were trained in Nov. 2016.

The training occured a week after the presidential elections, which, according to Project Coordinator Robert Irwin, had left a significant dilemma surrounding the future of immigration.

“Those of us who had signed up for the project — whatever ideas we had in mind, what kind of problematic things were happening — suddenly became

said. “We were all kinda shaken up by that. To spend that next week in Tijuana was pretty devastating.”

The research team was comprised of graduate students who have worked in different parts of Mexico, according to Sarah Hart, a member of the research team.

They created stories that chronicled the experiences of people in cities across Mexico, including Tijuana, Juárez and Guadalajara.

Each story was recorded and transposed onto a photo-video presentation. “[The stories are] very meaningful for the participants to see themselves, to hear their voice represented in the words that they want to use,” Hart said. “Many times, people are represented in negative ways or through statistics or in ways that they have no control over, so [the project is] trying to create a ‘do it yourself ’ way for people to tell their stories.”

According to Hart, the accessibility of the videos stems from how simple it is to share them.

Anyone with a phone or computer can access the videos and share them. Rijin Sahakian, the executive director for the International House, explained how when she came in last year, she was interested in doing an event on deportation because it was an issue that was prevalent in Davis and the

surrounding areas. She reached out to Irwin in hopes of doing an iteration of the online archive as an exhibition.

“I definitely wanted to do something around this issue because it was an issue that was affecting a lot of people in our communities — [and it was] an issue that people were talking about — but also one that is very resonant with our community,” Sahakian said.

The exhibition includes programming throughout the course of its run, including a workshop on how to be a legal observer.

The International House exhibition is also collaborating with the silkscreen studio, Taller Arte de Nuevo Amanecer.

The exhibition is part of an ongoing mission of the International House to spread experiences surrounding issues that affect both our community and those around the globe. The International House will host a second part to this event in the spring, in which they’ll showcase responses to this exhibit from local artists.

“What we’re really trying to do is provide experiences that really engage people, connect people, that work with a global framework and address the fact that most of us have ties with different countries, with different cities, with different areas,” Sahakian said. “We want space to explore that and to tell our stories, in an engaging and interesting way, that’s really what we’re trying to do here at I-House.”

Irwin hopes that the viewers of the exhibit will become curious and spend time going through the collection and looking at more videos. He wants people to learn through these first-hand perspectives.

“Many of them are very moving because they’re [about] people talking about their lives and the things they’ve gone through, suffered and in many cases how they’ve overcome,” Irwin said.

“They’re really moving wonderful stories.”

More information on the exhibition can be found on the International House website.

Candidate for state superintendent to sponsor studentauthored legislation addressing college affordability

Assemblymember Tony Thurmond plans to address student homelessness, decrease tuition if elected MICHAEL LEAHY / AGGIE

BY LAURE N T ROP I O & HANNAH HO L Z ER city@theaggie.org, campus@theaggie.org

Assemblymember Tony Thurmond, who is running for California superintendent of public instruction, has committed to sponsoring student-authored legislation aimed at addressing college affordability. Thurmond held a media teleconference on Oct. 4 for student reporters in the California State University and University of California systems as well as a subsequent college affordability town hall at UC San Diego to speak directly with students throughout the state.

If elected superintendent — the high-

est elected education position in the state — Thurmond would serve on the CSU Board of Trustees and the UC Board of Regents. He has previously served in the assembly education committee, on the school board and city council and has worked as a social worker for 20 years.

During the teleconference for student reporters preceding the town hall at UCSD, Thurmond answered questions about his plans to address student homelessness, administrative bloat and decreasing tuition.

“It’s really unique for state leaders to take the opportunity to hear directly from students on what our needs are,” said Caroline Siegel-Singh, a UC San

Diego student leader. “I hope that in the future, folks in Sacramento can work on addressing the total cost of attendance and ensuring the basic needs of our campus communities are being met.”

The Aggie asked Thurmond about a recent article published by the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting that at the same time UC workers finally secured a 3 percent raise, a 3 percent raise will also be given to UC leaders — amounting to a $10,000 to $20,000 bonus for some administrators in certain cases.

“It’s outrageous, and I’ve said this directly to [Janet] Napolitano — you don’t cut people’s salaries and then give huge payments to administrators,” Thurmond said. “We’ve seen already what this kind of paying out of salaries has led to — UC squirreling away money that no one knew about, money that could have been used to fund critical programs for our students. I’m going to take the job as regent very seriously to make sure we work closely and every dollar is well spent and that it’s spent in the best interest of our students.”

Thurmond said he has worked closely with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299, which represents over 25,000 UC workers. One of AFSCME’s primary concerns is outsourcing, and Thurmond said he has written letters opposing outside contracting.

“The UC contracts out so many services that could be done in house and have a tremendous savings for the university,” Thurmond said. “As a legislator, I challenge UC leadership to end those practices. I’ve supported legislation that would ban this type of contracting out and I’ll continue to take that stance.”

On the issue of student homelessness, Thurmond said current data suggests five percent of UC students, 11 percent of CSU students and 25 percent of community college students are homeless.

“I’m open to all kinds of creative solutions, but I’m not willing to accept that we’re just going to tell our students, ‘You can just be homeless and hungry and that’s just the way it is,’” Thurmond said. “We’ve got to do better and we’ve got to create an environment that’s conducive to learning. When you’re worrying about where you’re going to rest your head, when you’re worrying about what you’re going to eat, that is not conducive to learning.”

Thurmond, a Temple University graduate, struggled to pay for food as a college student and said he has a personal relationship to issues that come with securing adequate financial aid.

On the topic of tuition, Thurmond said the $60 tuition decrease for the 2018-19 school year is not “something we can celebrate.” To further decrease tuition, he said there must be conversations

about generating permanent revenue for higher education in the state.

Statistics presented at the town hall noted that state funding for higher education has declined from 18 to 12 percent of the state budget in the past 50 years.

“We need to provide direct dollars and help provide fellowships, scholarships, more financial aid, we need to look at how we work with the federal government so that students have to take out fewer loans,” Thurmond said. “And quite frankly, as superintendent, I intend to push back on Secretary DeVos and President Trump […] and say, ‘We should build an environment that protects our students from aggressive debt collectors.’”

Following the teleconference, Thurmond held a town hall with students and administrators from the UC, CSU and CCC system. Several days later, on Oct. 9, Thurmond announced plans to sponsor legislation “written by youth advocates, to address college affordability” in a press release sent by Thurmond’s campaign.

“Throughout my legislative career, I have introduced student-led bills and a few of them have been signed into law,” Thurmond said. “I believe that what’s important about being a trustee and a superintendent is listening to our students, and I intend to lead and govern that way.

I believe we should be listening to students in that way.”

4 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

The truth about pet ownership in college Students talk about owning and taking care of a pet

JORDAN CHOW / AGGIE

BY R A BI YA O BE RO I features@theaggie.org

Having a furry friend by your side may sound appealing, but it’s helpful to know both the good and the bad regarding taking care of a pet. UC Davis students spoke about the positive and negative sides of owning an animal while being in college.

Bianca Estrada, a fourth-year sociology major, talked about her pet, Kota, a Yorkshire terrier.

“I wouldn’t change anything about my situation with Kota,” Estrada said. “I absolutely love the fact that she’s at school with me and [and acts as a] support system when I have had tough days at school or simply need company while studying. However, the other end is sometimes I do feel sorry that I have to leave her for hours at the apartment alone because I am busy on campus.”

Having pets comes with huge responsibilities, according to third-year theatre and dance major Katie Halls.

“I think having pets is a tremendous responsi-

bility because you’re in charge of caring for another living thing,” said Halls. “It may not be as big of a deal as raising a child, but pets still need to eat, do their business and get cleaned often.”

Third-year anthropology major Ashdale Pierre, shared their thoughts on whether or not owning a pet adds stress to a student’s life.

“I think that having a pet both adds to and relieves the stresses that come along with being a student,” Pierre said. “If there are no unforeseen medical expenses, and if your animal doesn’t have any behavioural issues that need tending to, I would say that if you have the money to buy food and the requisite materials, having an animal is not stressful.

They can be very helpful in relieving the stress of being a student.”

While a pet’s presence may be comforting, students contemplate whether or not a college apartment is an adequate home for an animal, which is another thing to consider for those planning on getting a pet. “[Pets are] nice but I don’t think college apart-

ments are a good environment for animals,” said fourth-year cinema and digital media and theatre and dance double major Riley Smith. “But I feel that multiple people can easily take care of [a pet].”

Bringing a pet from back home to college and getting a new pet altogether are two distinct choices that result in different experiences.

“Being honest, it is not the most realistic choice to have a pet while in college if it is a new pet,” Estrada said. “I have had Kota for so long that I’ve been in so many situations where I already know how to juggle her in my life.”

Pierre had to make some crucial decisions for their dog’s health and well-being, and discussed their experience of having to give him to another family.

“He started to take up so much time that I could not dedicate that time to school, and it would have been unfair of me to bring him to Davis with me, where I would have less time to dedicate to his well-being,” Pierre said. “Being that my priority was having him be in the best situation for him and not necessarily the situation wherein I could keep him, I felt that my best bet was to find a family who I knew would be able to handle him. As hard as it was to give him up, I know that he is thriving now.”

As young adults in college, students work hard to manage their finances efficiently. There is a general consensus among students that having another life to financially provide for is another aspect which should be considered.

“Pets require a lot more than just having them there,” Estrada said. “They need food, leashes, brushes, toys, beds, doctor visits and anything else you can possibly think of. It adds up. They eat my bank account!”

Managing a budget to make space for pet expenses is another piece of advice offered by Halls to potential or current pet owners.

“Pet owners should know that having a pet can be costly, depending on the pet,” Halls said. “For dogs, you’ll have to take them to the vet and groomers on occasion, pay for giant bags of dog food, as well as other goodies. Make sure you have this money in your budget before you get a pet.”

Smith offered some advice to anyone debating

about what pet they should get.

“I would recommend a Betta fish since they are affordable and easy to take care of,” Smith said. “I don’t think college is a good place for cats and dogs.”

Halls had similar views.

“A dog needs attention, walks, to be cleaned often and of course, food and water every day, but a pet fish doesn’t need as much attention as a dog, just food and a tank clean every so often, but definitely less time and responsibility,” Halls said.

It is well known that being a pet owner comes with a lot of emotional and financial responsibility, and so students provided advice on making the decision of whether to bring a pet into collegiate life or not.

“Unless you have the time to take them out and give them the physical and mental stimulation that they need everyday, whether the weather is nice or not, then you should leave the animal at home with your parents,” Pierre said.

Estrada suggested that students manage their schedule and time well.

She also suggested that students ask themselves certain questions before they decide to be a full-time pet owner.

“Truly think of your schedule, not in present time but in the future,” Estrada said. “Having a pet during the beginning of the quarter might seem easy but think about how you are during the end of the quarter juggling a lot of units. Are you overly stressed with classes? Will having a pet only add to the stress or relieve it? Also think about your living, traveling situations.”

Lemann spoke about understanding and catering to your pet’s behaviors and needs.

“Getting a pet while they are young is important so that you can better establish yourself as the alpha,” Lemann said. “When a pet is behaving badly it is your own fault, not theirs. Understand this and correct your own behavior towards them.”

Halls advised students to take control and ownership while taking care of a pet.

“Don’t rely on your roommates, this is your responsibility,” Halls said. “Make sure you’re home enough so you can spend time caring for them.”

De-stress to impress: How to manage stress as a student Tips to organize your life better to reduce stress levels

JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE

BY R A BI YA O BE RO I campus@theaggie.org

Transitioning into college or even just living up to the demands and reality of university life are often credited as being large stressors in the lives of young adults. Not only do students have to maintain their GPA’s, but they also feel obligated to maintain healthy, active social lives, all while trying to eat well and exercise regularly.

When it comes to managing stress levels, there are quite a few techniques that students say come in handy when they feel increasingly overwhelmed.

So when it comes to decreasing these newfound stress levels in students, there are two areas that are said to encourage relaxation and confidence in one’s schedule: physical health and mental health.

“I think finding a balance between school and self care is essential to one’s happiness,” said thirdyear art history major, Kennedy Field. “If one is not taking care of themselves mentally and physically, not only will they not perform to capacity scholastically, but they will probably find themselves amidst a mental health crisis. I find it sad that one of the

things student neglect when they are overwhelmed is self care.”

Physical health is obtainable through campus resources such as the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), as well as in apartment complex gyms or simple walks in the Arboretum, but students often feel that working out is difficult to fit into their schedules. When students are tired, it is difficult to push themselves to work out.

“I just feel uninspired to work out, mostly if my head feels congested, like there’s too many thoughts,” said second-year political science and English double major, Dylan Chicorel.

Even if you’re the kind of person who wakes up 10 minutes before class and eats Skittles for breakfast, there are still ways to incorporate these two facets of physical and mental health into your routine “I manage my time by maintaining a schedule,” Chicorel said. “Sometimes things go awry and I have to improvise, which is frankly most of the time, however when managing my time and health, I’m just optimistic that everything will be alright.”

You don’t necessarily have to wake up at sunrise and run in the morning, but you could take some

time during the day to blare out some tunes, put on those headphones and just run, walk or be active for 20 minutes. The Arboretum is a pretty scenic and popular spot for a lot of runners in the morning and evening.

“As much as I hate it, [running] but I feel like I just have to run when I’m stressed,“ said Jessica Chen UC Davis alumna. “It’s a pretty basic thing, nothing too phenomenal.”

The ARC caters to students who wish to work out indoors or at night. It’s open till 12 a.m. most days and has equipment to get in a quick cardio workout.

“They [The ARC] have everything, and it’s a good place to work out,” said second-year wildlife and conservation biology major, Laura Poikonen.

“My roommate and I planned to go there, but we literally went twice and that was pretty much it.”

Students often feel tempted by junk food during the school year, due to its low prices and accessibility. Consuming copious amounts of caffeine and sugar may give you momentary gratification, but it’s going to hit you later and end up making you more anxious. (And then you’ll stress about eating junk food in the first place, then proceed to stress about stressing. You know the drill.)

“I try to stay away from it [junk food] as much as possible,” Field said. “I guess the only types of junk food I eat are pastries, which I tend to eat when I am stressed or PMS-ing.”

Especially in stressful times like midterms or finals, it is suggested that students steer clear of excessive sugar and eat more healthy foods like whole grains, vegetables and fruits, etc. This may be a hard thing to do, especially when you have a whole buffet of tempting treats available at the Dining Commons. However, looking at what nutritional benefits are present in other food options will allow for a more balanced diet.

“You should know why you’re eating healthy in the first place, whether it is just a diet or a lifestyle,” said third-year biochemistry major, Nency Patel.

“Giving in to cravings once in a while is important, otherwise it can throw you completely off track and you give up your goal entirely. So don’t go too harsh on yourself.”

Having some kind of emotional support, whether it is just being with your friends while you all sit in silence on your phones and scroll through Twitter, is also important in reducing stress. Just being in the presence of others can be greatly comforting for some students.

“For me, I am a social person and when I talk, it releases my stress,” Patel said. “I used to stress out a lot, but when I’m with my friends, that’s my time with them and it’s not gonna come back. Thinking about it [stress] is not going to help you in any way.”

Some students also find peace with animal companions by their sides.

“If you have a cat, pet them,” Field said.“Lay down on the grass, meditate or for me, what’s really de-stressing for me is going home and taking a walk and cooking is a big one too. And medicinal marijuana of course.”

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as physical health. An important question to ask yourself is: Am I getting enough time to myself where I’m not just sleeping or eating but practicing self-care through movies, music or a favorite food?

Sometimes, going a little off your schedule and doing something different can do the trick. Chicorel finds his relaxation through television, but also by maintaining an organized schedule.

“I manage stress with TV, but that’s not always around,” Chicorel said. “So my main method is organization of my priorities. By keeping track of my tasks at hand, I minimize future stress to be had.”

Managing stress levels all starts with tackling issues that you know can potentially stress you out.

Managing time to achieve deadlines, meal-prepping and utilizing agendas are all tasks that UC Davis students use on a daily basis, but it’s also increasingly important to take time to relax and be with the people (or pets) that you love.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 5

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE

Involvement Fair doubles turnout with major success Involvement Fair continues growth, staff expresses excitement over its success

BY ALYSSA HADA features@theaggie.org

Every year, the Center for Student Involvement hosts the Involvement Fair on the Quad during Fall Quarter. The involvement fair showcases hundreds of student organizations to help students find a group that fits their interests best.

This year, the Involvement Fair took place on Oct. 10 and was bigger than ever before, with more clubs present, higher attendance and a larger space.

Joe Martinez, the student expressions and campus activities coordinator at the Center for Student Involvement explained how the Involvement Fair was able to double in size over the course of a year.

“This year, we got more funding so that we could expand the Involvement Fair,” Martinez said. “One of the big things we wanted to do was to make it bigger, so we had to use both sides of the quad. We then had to let groups know that we had more signups - a big part of it was letting the signups go for as long as they could to make sure that more departments and student groups could sign up. We had never had departments included in the past so we really had to send a lot of information to get them. We ended up having around 290 groups signed up.”

With so many groups in the space, Martinez noted the difficulty of organizing the giant space between the two quads.

“The biggest challenge was looking at it as categories,” Martinez said. “So if groups signed up as a particular category, we had to let students who were coming know where the category is for the club that they’re looking for.”

Hosting the Involvement Fair required a lot of time and planning, in order to contact student organizations, set up for the fair itself and bring students out to meet the different organizations on campus.

“A lot of the execution of it was a team effort, so we had to put in a lot more time earlier in the summer to tell groups to sign up and let them know that there were things they could do to advertise that they would be there,” Martinez said.

“On the flip side, when we got closer to the event we had to focus on getting people there. The estimated attendance was between 5,000 and 6,000 students came out. Last year, there was probably about 3,000 people in attendance.”

Martinez noted the ample changes made between last year’s Involvement Fair and this year’s, attributing the success of this Involvement Fair to many of these changes.

“The biggest thing is to have as many groups as possible available out there so that students

interested in getting involved can see all the different choices that they have,” Martinez said.

“The great thing this year was having departments there show that students can get involved not just in student organizations but that they could also do department programs and things like that. By getting involved in something that the departments are doing, like getting involved with things that the Recreation Center offers, like intramurals, that’s involvement too.”

Overall, Martinez expressed satisfaction with this year’s Involvement Fair, due to the success of the event and the large turnout.

Martinez also noted that he hopes to see the Involvement Fair become even more successful in coming years.

“Initial feedback from the student groups that were there were excited that it was larger,” Martinez said. “Next year, the biggest thing is to see how we can encourage students that are attending to visit more of both sides of it, and how we can better communicate that ahead of time. We also want to better advertise the groups that are there next year in case students are looking for a specific group.”

Kathleen Hinkson, the activities coordinator at the Center for Student Involvement, explained that sponsors help the Involvement Fair run smoothly every year, and are another big factor in enticing students to come out and participate. Pepsi is a major sponsor of events like the Involvement Fair, hosting giveaways and free tastings during these events.

“Every year, Pepsi gives us supplies and giveaways to give to our students,” Hinkson said.

“They were really happy with what they saw at the Involvement Fair. One thing that they do that’s awesome is that they give student organizations sodas and waters for their events. That’s one of the ways that Pepsi really gets their name out there to the different organizations on campus.

They also helped us give away two Pepsi bikes with the Open House and the Involvement Fair.

They were really excited to see the students’ reactions and to see the students getting excited over the things that they brought.”

On the Involvement Fair, Hinkson expressed her goals for the future and how the Center for Student Involvement could better present potential resources to students at these events.

“We really want to make it as seamless as possible in regards to communicating with students the resources we’re providing at the fair,” Hinkson said. “We want to give students the opportunity to showcase their talents and really draw people to their table. We can’t really grow in size at this point because we’re already taking up both quads, but I hope we can bring back the stage.”

CAITLYN SAMPLEY / AGGIE

Celebrating Día de los Muertos Unwrapping the cultural significance of the Mexican holiday

BY EMILY NGUYEN features@theaggie.org

Autumn signifies different things for different people. For some, the coming of fall and the changing of leaves represents growth and progress. For others, the season symbolizes comfort and warmth.

For many people from the Chicanx/Latinx community, autumn is a time of remembrance. Día de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday celebrated on the first and second of November, entails the act of honoring the dead through various traditions and rituals. For the Mexican people, Día de los Muertos signifies the celebration of love and light for those who have passed away.

Día de los Muertos originated with the Aztec and the Toltec people thousands of years ago, but today it is celebrated by Hispanic people all over the world. The holiday is characterized by lively cultural traditions.

“Día de los Muertos [...] is a celebration of the dead, primarily in Mexico, but other Latin American countries and even the United States have incorporated this into their culture,” said Julietta Zubia, third-year Spanish major and current historian for the campus organization, Chicanx-Latinx in Health Education. “There are lots of things that happen [during the holiday], like festivals and parades. Ultimately, it is a celebration of the people in your life that have passed away, so you go to the cemetery and you give ofrendas, which means offerings — things like food and toys and candy.”

The holiday is also celebrated by members of the Chicanx Latinx community here in Davis. In an effort to bring this essential aspect of Chicanx Latinx culture to the Davis community, the Center for Chicanx Latinx Academic Student Success (CCLASS) took measures to ensure that students have accessible means to celebrate the holiday.

“I know that here at the Chi-Lat center we have an alter set up so that students can come and bring the pictures of their loved ones,” said Sheccid Torres, a second-year biological sciences major, member of Chicanx-Latinx in Health Education and student assistant for CCLASS. “We already have it set up with the flowers and the candles, so students just bring in their pictures. It’s a good way to keep that tradition going, even here when you’re in school.”

Día de los Muertos, because of its close date proximity to Halloween, has often been lumped together with the more commercial holiday — some even go so far as to label the sacred Mexican holiday as a “Mexican version of Halloween,” completely disregarding the cultural significance and important implications that it holds for the Chicanx

Latinx community. In recent years, it has become common to see the Catrina (skull) face makeup, which is commonly associated with Día de los Muertos, being used as a Halloween costume. This has raised a broader question surrounding cultural appropriation and how certain behaviors like this perpetuate a culture of intolerance.

“When people not of color do [the Catrina makeup], and they do it for Halloween, it’s cultural appropriation because they’re not taking into consideration the cultural background of it,” Zubia said. “It has become commercialized, and people are forgetting the real meaning of it.”

Torres believes that ignorance stands at the root of the problem and is to blame for the propagation of cultural appropriation that is so prominent in today’s society.

“I think that it stems from, for lack of a better word, ignorance,” Torres said. “It is important to spread awareness on what [the holiday] is and what it means to the population. I think it’s important for other people who aren’t in the [Chicanx Latinx] community to respect that.”

Anabelle Garza, UC Davis alumna and former member of Hermanas Unidas de UC Davis, believes that other cultures’ adaptations of Mexican traditions show growth within the Chicanx Latinx community.

But according to Garza, this only holds true if both sides have a mutual understanding of the traditions being shared.

“Despite that we continue to be a minority, I think we have thrived in keeping our cultural traditions alive,” Garza said. “I think when Americans do things such as put on the face makeup, it should be a symbol of our growth as a Chicanx Latinx community — it shows how far the Chicanx Latinx community has come with its traditional influences. People are adopting the culture’s elements because it’s different and it’s easy to popularize. But, if a tradition is going to be shared interculturally, it should be mutually understood.”

Torres feels that society can move forward to combat cultural appropriation by being mindful of the communities that will be directly impacted by the appropriation and by educating oneself on different cultures and how to respect them.

“We are in an institution where we have so much knowledge at our hands — being at Davis, there are so many classes that do shed light on different cultures,” Torres said. “It’s really important to take the time to become familiar with these, because the world isn’t just one single person. There are so many cultures out there, and I think it’s important to have at least somewhat of a background knowledge on where each person comes from.”

6 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

Opinion the California Aggie

editorial board

EDITORIAL BOARD

HHS memo threatens transgender rights Proposed gender definition could threaten Title IX protections

EMILY STACK Editor-in-Chief OLIVIA ROCKEMAN Managing Editor HANNAH HOLZER Campus News Editor KAELYN TUERMER-LEE City News Editor TARYN DEOILERS Opinion Editor OLIVIA LUCHINI Features Editor LIZ JACOBSON Arts & Culture Editor DOMINIC FARIA Sports Editor HARNOOR GILL Science & Tech Editor

SYDNEY ODMAN New Media Manager BRIAN LANDRY Photo Director TREVOR GOODMAN Video Production Manager OLIVIA KOTLAREK Design Director JONATHAN CHEN Layout Director HANNA BAUBLITZ Copy Chief CECILIA MORALES Copy Chief ZOË REINHARDT Website Manager HALI ZWEIGORDON Social Media Manager GRACE SIMMONS Newsletter Manager LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is considering changing federal laws to define gender as exclusively male or female, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times over the weekend. If accepted, this proposed rule would exclude those who identify with a gender different from the one assigned to them at birth from federal civil rights protections. This means that transgender people would become especially vulnerable to discrimination in the workplace, in health care and in education.

This is extremely concerning given the impact the change could have on transgender and gender nonconforming students. It would directly influence Title IX statutes and regulations, which explicitly forbid discrimination of any kind “on the basis of sex” across all educational institutions receiving federal funding. Since the law’s inception in 1972, the federal government has failed to concretely define whether “sex” indicates an individual’s gender identity or sex assigned at birth. In recent years and especially under the Obama administration, though, federal courts have decided several cases based on the interpretation that sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Based on the proposed HHS rule, however, the federal government would officially define “sex” as one’s sex assigned at birth. The state of California as a whole, which contains the largest 18- to 24-year-old transgender population in the nation, would in most cases still be governed by its own laws that are generally more supportive of the transgender community. But across

California college campuses, the rights of transgender individuals to file federal Title IX complaints of discrimination would be threatened.

This is not the first time this administration has supported regulations impeding the rights of transgender individuals. Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has, time and time again, deliberately encroached upon the rights and freedoms that should be enjoyed by all non-binary and non-cisgender people. The HHS memo is yet another reminder that the current administration seeks to deny recognition to the LGBTQ community.

The Editorial Board strongly opposes this proposed rule on the basis that it intentionally seeks to withhold civil protections from and undermine the identities of transgender individuals. It jeopardizes the well-being of transgender college students who rely on Title IX regulations when cases of discrimination arise. More fundamentally, this rule blatantly denies the existence of the nearly 1.4 million transgender people living in the U.S. and perpetuates the marginalization of the transgender community.

The Editorial Board calls on the University of California to proactively combat this concerning proposal and to take all steps necessary to protect the rights of its LGBTQ students, faculty and employees. The Editorial Board also urges everyone to voice their opposition on the regulations.gov website if this rule becomes available for public comment. We all have a responsibility to promote equity and inclusion within our campus community and beyond.

Fake news on social media SOCIAL MEDIA USERS SHOULD MAKE SURE THAT THEIR INFORMATION COMES FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE

BY KA N WA L JI T S I NGH kjssingh@ucdavis.edu

Anyone who is well-acquainted with social media has probably been exposed to neo-yellow journalism, which lures users to a highly-exaggerated post or thumbnail link. Many of us, while being suspicious of its authenticity, take the bait anyway. Despite falling for clickbait, it seems like we never really learn following our mistakes. This curiosity of ours to find out more about these provocative news headlines, stories and articles may be the reason why.

Among social media sites, Facebook is highly utilized by private websites whose profit is determined by clickbait. The main goal of these sites isn’t to sell some product or push their views onto the readers, but to get high views simply to generate ad revenue. Thus, we can deduce that sites that thrive on clickbait news make money just by spreading fake news or misleading news.

There are tons of articles on Facebook that operate through this mechanism and, although there have been recent developments in order to curb this issue, there’s still a long way to go. But, then

again, can we hold Facebook accountable for this issue instead of the sites themselves? Many argue that Facebook is a private social networking site that mainly serves the function of connecting people no matter where they are, and it is in no way a news outlet.

Even though Facebook isn’t news media, the repercussions of the fake news that appear on this social network may sometimes be very serious and assist in fostering hate speech or, in some extreme cases, violence — not to mention that hate speech on social media can be seen pretty much every day.

And fake news is not only a problem in the United States. Especially in developing nations with high numbers of internet users like India and China, this issue is even more severe. In China, because there is no Facebook, fake news is prevalent on the social media site WeChat. Jian Kuang, a third-year computer science major at UC Davis, hails from Hubei, China and has been living in the United States for the past four years. Kuang said that WeChat is mainly used for political purposes and it’s much more exaggerated and sensationalized, so one could easily tell that it’s clickbait.

Sometimes, clickbait may fulfill its promise but only to some extent, or the user can never make it through the whole article due to all the advertisements and how long it is. And there’s another

form of clickbait in which the only reason a user clicks on the link is to know more about the person or place on the thumbnail. For instance, the thumbnail might show a famous sportsperson who is supposedly poor now, so the reader becomes curious to know about the tragic story. But then that person, place or thing shown on the thumbnail is never addressed in the article or post. Despite not getting to know about the specific famous athlete’s story that was advertised, the article might mention other athletes and their tragic stories — thus misleading the readers while still feeding their curiosity.

However, as much as we may want to downplay clickbait’s impact on people’s minds, incomplete knowledge is far more dangerous than no knowledge at all. These fake posts have resulted in the formation of battalions of people who enter discussions on social media — which is usually a great thing — but all their points, or many of the points they make, are sadly based on the fake news spread across social media and the internet as a whole. It is always a better option to not blindly believe everything we read on social media and to instead refer to confirmed reliable sources about a topic that we don’t know much about. Knowledge is always evolving, which also means that its fake version is, too.

The Syrian refugee crisis is part of a long-held anti-refugee sentiment in the U.S. AMERICANS FAIL TO UPHOLD THE IDEALS OF LADY LIBERTY

BY HA N A D I J O R DA N hajordan@ucdavis.edu

The Syrian refugee crisis, the largest refugee and displacement crisis since World War II, has displaced over 11 million people.

Syrians fleeing violence are primarily being hosted by countries that do not have the resources to take care of them. Only a fraction of these 5.6 million refugees are likely to become permanently resettled, leading hundreds of thousands to Europe to file asylum claims there.

The efforts of the Trump administration to limit immigration and refugee admittance has resulted in dwindling numbers of Syrian refugees accepted into the United States. This coincides with a decline in the number of Americans who think the U.S. has a responsibility to take in refugees. Consequently, the U.S. has accepted a grand total of 11 Syrian refugees in 2018. This number — in conjunction with a sharp decline in refugees accepted from a multitude of countries — has put the U.S. on track to resettle the fewest number of refugees in 40 years.

The Syrian Civil War has torn the social and economic fabrics binding citizens to community; hospitals, schools, historical landmarks, utilities and water and sanitation systems are damaged or otherwise destroyed. Ensuing chaos and violence resulted in mass displacement, leading Syrians to look to other countries for assistance, at times to no avail. A child who was five or six years old

when the war started in 2012 would now be 12 years old, and has likely never attended a single day of school.

Under the Obama administration, the refugee admittance target was 110,000; within days of Trump’s inauguration, he cut that number by over half, accepting a record low of 45,000 — a number that also poses a stark variance to former president Ronald Reagan’s 200,000 refugee admittance cap.

Much of the rhetoric surrounding the anti-refugee argument is grounded in irrational fear. Politicians and citizens seem to believe that radical Muslims are most likely hiding among Syrian refugees in order to infiltrate the U.S. and carry out violence in the name of Islam. It’s important to note that since the establishment of the Refugee Act of 1980, no person accepted into the U.S. as a refugee has been implicated in a major fatal terrorist attack. The vetting process instituted by the Trump administration has not made Americans any more or less safe than the procedures in place during the prior administrations; all it has effectively done is condemn refugees to live in inhumane and dangerous conditions in their home countries or refugee camps, further aggravating an already dire situation.

The inflammatory rhetoric of the Trump era is also corrosive.

In an attempt to stoke anti-refugee sentiments, Trump and other Republicans have reduced and compared the Syrian people to a bag of skittles. The basic concept goes like this: If you had a bag of skittles and one of them was poisoned, would you let your children eat it? No, so therefore we shouldn’t let refugees in, right?

Reducing millions of people to a candy that may or may not be poisoned is a talking point intended to instigate fear — and successfully so.

But what appears to be an anti-refugee wave spurred by the Trump administration is really just a larger trend of American skepticism toward refugees that has been in place since WWII. In the years leading up to WWII, many Americans were suspicious of Jews fleeing the Nazis and nearly three quarters opposed admitting a larger number of Jewish refugees. While Americans were doling out their suspicions, Jews in Germany were being slaughtered en masse. A chronology of American attitudes toward refugees is truly heartbreaking: 1939: a majority oppose taking in German Jewish refugee children 1975: a majority fear Vietnamese refugees will take jobs 1993: a majority disapprove of giving Haitian refugees asylum 2015: a majority oppose accepting Syrian refugees In theory, Americans do support admitting refugees. In a poll conducted in 2011, participants were asked if the inscription on the Statue of Liberty should apply to immigration: 62 percent said it should. As many studies show, however, this sentiment doesn’t translate well to specific crises or actual policy. Rather, the U.S. adopts this sentiment when it’s too late.

JORDAN on 12

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 7

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

Guest: Our housing at their cost: A call for student solidarity with UC workers

STUDENTS MUST SUPPORT AFSCME’S STRIKE

BY RAQUEL V IC TO R IA N AVAR R O

As students have found themselves in desperate need of affordable housing, the university has responded with the Long Range Development Plan, which recommends privatizing the housing process under the guise of cutting costs. This neglects students’ true allies — represented by AFSCME 3299 — who run the UC system: construction workers, service workers, groundskeepers and custodial staff across the 10 UC campuses.

With the implementation of new housing, there is an opportunity for us to demand not only that these rooms are affordable and environmentally sound, but also that these criteria are met not at the expense of those who are already the least valued by the UC system. Private companies are not required to use unionized UC employees, and therefore these companies get to dictate whether their workers receive a living wage to build and maintain our housing. This privatepublic partnership is part of a growing trend of outsourcing jobs that would normally go to workers with benefits and representation under the false justification that it’s the only solution to housing students affordably.

Interestingly, this privatization push also comes at a time when union workers plan to strike in the name of future job security, increased sexual harassment protections, fair wages and more. Building new housing in Orchard Park and expanding established facilities in West Village seems like a simple numbers game to the UC. In reality, it involves the complex process of employing individuals whose own qualities of life and costs of living need to be considered and held to the same priority as those of the students.

Alleviating student debt by outsourcing jobs and thus avoiding accountability is not a just solution to the student housing crisis — it’s just a convenient one for the UC, and it shows that the UC places little to no value on the work that has built and continues to maintain its very infrastructure.

In addition, the irony of attending a university that applauds itself for serving a diverse population of students while simulta-

neously employing a less diverse population of workers is striking. One report, which looked at UC payroll and demographic data, shows that the portion of African Americans in the UC Service workforce (i.e., the workers who would normally be responsible for maintaining new campus housing facilities) has dropped by 37 percent over the past 20 years. The report also found that black workers make up a significantly larger share of the workforce at low-wage outsourcing companies.

Worse than the privatization of projects is the attempt to divide the people who feed their families by mopping UC floors in the middle of the night and the students who pack these same halls, studying in sparklingclean spaces during the day. ASUCD and UC Davis have both released statements urging AFSCME 3299 to concede and encouraging students to believe that an improved experience at UC Davis requires a poorer quality of life for the workers who support this experience day in and day out.

Without students, there would be no learning community. But without the workers who maintain the campus infrastructure through their time and labor, all the luxuries of university life that we enjoy — like clean campus grounds, the dining commons, the construction of new buildings and maintenance of student housing — would halt. If we have any interest in holding the university accountable for injustices against those who make our campus community possible, we must utilize our unique student role to advocate for public projects that employ a local workforce and stand in solidarity with UC workers, beginning with bridging the student-worker divide and supporting their strike. Join fellow students in demanding job security for the worker community and accountability from the UC at AFSCME 3299’s strike on Oct. 23 to 25 at La Rue and Orchard, as well as at the student solidarity rallies on Oct. 23 and 25 at 11:15 a.m. at Shields Library.

For a list of the 49 organizations and individuals who signed on to this letter, please visit theaggie.org.

HUMOR

This article is offensive

A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF WHY THIS ARTICLE IS OFFENSIVE ON EVERY POSSIBLE LEVEL, AND WHY YOU’RE A HORRIBLE PERSON IF YOU AREN’T DEEPLY OFFENDED BY IT

BY B ENJAMI N P ORTER bbporter@ucdavis.edu

If you haven’t already read this article, maybe you shouldn’t. Actually, you definitely shouldn’t. You probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.

In fact, I know you wouldn’t. You’re just too sensitive. Without me holding your hand, I don’t trust you to arrive at correct conclusions about the ideas in this problematic article on your own; at least not without expending inordinate amounts of energy toward critical thinking, which nobody should have to do.

I care passionately about protecting the emotional well-being of all my readers, not that I know any of you, if you even exist.

Regardless of that, this is your last chance to stop reading if you don’t want to ruin your day, week, name, reputation and quite possibly your entire life. That was your final warning.

However, that was not a trigger warning, because none of the offensive statements made throughout this article include trigger warnings before them. Not even this one. See? Didn’t that bother you? Well, it should.

Additionally, this piece is not written in a way that you should be okay with. Even worse, I use language and terminology that should offend you, and if you aren’t culturally literate enough to understand why they are deeply offensive then f*ck you!

This article contains ideas that you may not want to expose yourself to. By reading this, one of three things could happen: it could offend you, it could change your opinions or worse, it could make them more nuanced.

I don’t actually know what any of your personal stances are on the vast array of is-

J ER EMY DANG / AGGI E

FAQ #2

Prehistoric Davis Biker

BY ROSE Y M O R E A RT Y rosey@morearty.org

sues discussed in this article, but I’m going to claim that I do. For this reason, I must inform you that this article crosses the line.

I don’t know where you personally think the line is, I just know that in this article, I cross it. And which line is that? Any of them, all of them, it doesn’t even matter. It will offend you, and that should NOT happen, ever.

Maybe you aren’t offended yet. Maybe you even agree with some of what I’m saying. However, what would you think if I told you that other people who agree with these ideas are horrible people? You don’t want to be a horrible person, do you? Because if you agree with what I’m telling you to disagree with, then you are.

If you’re a good person with correct opinions about everything, like me, then hopefully you wouldn’t want to have any association whatsoever with horrible people. Being friends with horrible people is risky, because if horrible people influence you in any way, then you become a horrible person as well.

By encouraging you to not read what I have written, I am ensuring that your precious mind stays safe, guaranteeing that you remain sheltered within the intellectual equivalent of a padded room.

If your mind wandered outside and frolicked with any toxic, dirty and offensive ideas, please remember not to spread your intellectual germs. All employees must wash their hands before returning to work.

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DISC L A I M ER: Th e vi ews a n d o p ini o ns ex p re ss e d by i nd i vidu al colu mn ists be lon g to th e colu mn ists alon e and do no t necessari l y i ndi cate the vi ews and o pi ni o ns hel d by The Cal i for n ia Ag g ie. Le t te rs to t he e d i to r can be addre ss e d to opin ion @ th e aggie.org.

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8 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

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SCIENCE+TECH TR ACI MCCLUN G / COU RT ESY

SHAPING YOUR BONES Part three of a continuing series about experiences on an archaeological dig in Poland

BY RAC HEL PAUL science@theaggie.org

Sold in nearly every store this time of year, fake skeletons are a staple Halloween decoration. Unsurprisingly, these decorations are not very anatomically accurate and commonly leave out bones, fuse unrelated bones together and miss many other important features of our bones.

Over our lifetime, our bones change shape and develop features that can be used to identify us.

This summer I participated in the Slavia Foundation’s archaeological field school. We excavated both Bronze Age (IV and V Period) cremations and Early Modern (16th -18th century) inhumation burials.

These inhumation burials included a coffin that was buried deep in the ground. Once the Early Modern burials were excavated, we examined the skeletons for features that would tell us more about them.

For example, features on the pelvis (hips) and cranium (skull) can help determine the sex of an individual.

“I like looking at sex estimation because it is the easiest one, because you can look at the pelvis and specific cranial features,” said Tiffany Loera, a student at the field school. “Also kid’s skeletons are interesting because they don’t have those features unless they hit puberty.”

As juveniles, our bones are not fully formed. When we grow older, many of our bones fuse, including those in our arms and legs. Interestingly enough, if juveniles contract a disease that affects bones, the effects of it can still be seen when they are adults.

“You can see rickets, that’s also a bowing of the tibia [leg bones bending, syphilis also does this], but there’s a way to tell the difference,” said Ashley Stewart the field osteologist. “There’s this like line on the side, and if it bows it’s rickets, and if it’s straight it’s syphilis. You can see stuff that happened as a kid sometimes, but kids heal really well because

MELIN DA CHEN / AGGIE

SIERRA LEONE BATS HOST EBOLA VIRUS Researchers discover new strain of virus in free-tailed bats in Sierra Leone

BY KR I T I VA RG HES E science@theaggie.org

A new Ebola virus, the Bombali virus, was found in insectivorous bats roosting in people’s homes in Sierra Leone. This discovery led researchers to believe that bats are the natural hosts of Ebolaviruses.

“Bombali virus is the first full genome of an Ebolavirus to be recovered from a bat, providing strong evidence that bats are a natural reservoir of these viruses,” said Tracey Goldstein, a professor at the One Health Institute at UC Davis. “It also suggests that along with fruit bats, insectivorous bats play an important role in the ecology of Ebola viruses and surveillance efforts should be expanded.”

The Bombali virus is a different strain from the one that caused the 2013-2016 outbreak, which was the Zaire virus. This research revealed that the Bombali virus has the potential to infect human cells and researchers are still trying to determine if it is harmful. In Sierra Leone, the research team worked as part of the PREDICT Ebola Host Project.

“The team conducts extensive non-invasive sampling of wildlife and other animals in Sierra Leone, and then conducts testing of these specimens to detect viruses like Ebola and Marburg,” said Brian Bird, a research virologist working in the One Health Institute and global lead of the Sierra Leone team. “With this information we can understand their lifecycle and develop better health communications materials to identify exactly which animals may be infected and help the local population to reduce the risks of being exposed to these serious health threats.”

This discovery could lead to more conversations about the Ebola virus.

“I hope that now that we, the scientific community, know a little more about this family of viruses that it will further the discussion and knowledge base of this virus and its hosts,” said Brett Smith, a lab manager at the One Health Institute. “We will be able to learn how to prevent future outbreaks.

We will have a better understanding as to how humans interact with wildlife. And one day, hopefully, we find a cure.”

their bones, we call it ‘green bone’, because they recover really quickly.

So, like if you break something as a kid and it sets well, you probably won’t notice.”

Certain skeletal parts can also be used to determine how healthy the person was. For example, linear enamel hypoplasia, a condition in which teeth have bumps on them, usually indicates a poor diet or unfavorable environmental and living conditions.

“On the skeleton, you can see some parts of it, for example on the skull, you can see some marks which explain how somebody lived,” said Marta Gwizdala, the project osteologist. “For example, if there were good healthy conditions, if it was maybe not clean...about diet, some kinds of parasites.”

Those that do a lot of physical activity may have more ‘rough patches’ on their bones for muscles to attach. Other diseases such as arthritis, degenerative bone disease and tuberculosis can also be seen on skeletons. One fascinating albeit morbid area is exploring the effects of advanced diseases and trauma on bones.

At the field school, the most remarkable example of this was “skeleton number 39”. Somehow, this person endured trauma to their hip, which resulted in their upper leg bone completely fusing to the pelvis.

Not only was their leg sticking straight out in an unmovable position but they lived for quite some time after this happened in 16th-18th century Poland.

“The femur and acetabulum are fused together,” said Victoria Swenson, the osteology instructor. “I want to X-ray it because I want to see what it looks like on the inside.”

Cemeteries such as the Drawsko One site are important for archeologists to understand the people who lived during that time. They can tell how healthy a population is, what diseases affected them and how old people were when they died. And for cases like skeleton 39, a paradox is created.

“It’s sad because we go ‘wow this person was so sick’ but then that goes into the osteological paradox... because you only get skeletal changes on things like that after a really long time,” Stewart said. “So it’s like that person had to be really healthy to make it that far, but they were also super sick so it’s like which is it?”

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 9

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THE CREATIVE BLOCK

BY G EN EV I EV E RYAN geryan@ucdavis.edu

TRICK OR TREAT!

BY D I A N A O L I VA R E S deolivaresvalencia@ucdavis.edu

Sudoku

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row, column and 3x3 square must contain one of each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

10 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

REVIEW: INSOMNIA COOKIES

BY CHEYENNE WISEMAN arts@theaggie.org

New, late-night cookie delivery doesn’t disappoint

The city of Davis, notorious for quieting down by 9 p.m., has been gifted with Insomnia Cookies, a cookie shop which is open until 3 a.m., seven days a week. The Davis location opened its doors on Oct. 1 and is the company’s first store in California.

Insomnia Cookies, which was created in a dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, now has over 100 stores across the United States. Located in the heart of downtown Davis, Insomnia Cookies offers a selection of cookies, ice cream, brownies, cookie cakes and milk that are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

The cookies are served warm and practically melt in your mouth. I ordered one of the Deluxe cookies, which are significantly larger than the traditional offerings. I paired my chocolate peanut butter cup cookie with a bottle of cold milk, a classic combo.

Combining Reese’s peanut butter cups with a cookie made for the perfect ratio of gooey, chocolatey goodness to alleviate my midterm season stress.

ZOE REINHARDT / AGGIE

The “Cookiewich” is also a must-try. It is great for those who like to customize their dessert. Any flavor of ice cream can be sandwiched by your choice of cookies and it satisfies any sugar craving.

Quite the intimate setting, the store has a modern, youthful feel. What Insomnia Cookies lacks in seating, it makes up for with its delivery service: the company delivers warm cookies right to your dorm or apartment. Ordering is made simple through the Insomnia Cookies website, making it easy to satisfy those late-night munchies. Delivery is available until 3 a.m., which is perfect for long nights of studying (or partying), or if you’re just not feeling up to maneuvering through the crowds of cyclists and increasingly horrific downtown traffic.

While Insomnia Cookies definitely has competition in Davis in the form of other cookie and ice cream shops, the company’s late hours and unique delivery approach appeal to college students and families alike. During the sleepless nights of midterms and finals, Insomnia Cookies is a welcome study break.

FLICK OR TREAT

2018’S TRENDY COSTUMES

A list of Halloween movies that won’t disappoint

A prediction of this year’s most popular Halloween costumes

ALLYSON KO / AGGIE

CAITLYN SAMPLEY / AGGIE

BY LIZ JACOBSON arts@theaggie.org

With All Hallow’s Eve right around the corner, now is the perfect time to get in the spooky spirit by carving pumpkins, drinking apple cider and, of course, watching all of the following beloved Halloween classics.

“Hocus Pocus” (1993) In my opinion, this is the best Halloween movie of all time. Bette Milder, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy never disappoint as the spooky and hilarious Sanderson sisters. “Hocus Pocus” follows the villainous Sanderson sisters, who were resurrected by Max Dennison in an effort to impress his crush in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1990s.

The whole movie is a wild, entertaining ride as the witches adjust to the present, where Halloween is now a celebration. With its heartwarming end, the Sanderson sisters give us a perfect dose of witchiness.

“The Haunted Mansion” (2003) You can never go wrong with a Disney classic.

“The Haunted Mansion,” starring Eddie Murphy, is 90 minutes of silly, hilarious fun. Inspired by the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, this movie has a love story, a creepy villain, the iconic Madame Leota and singing barbershop busts.

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (1966) An absolute classic, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” is a movie that will make the whole family smile. The Peanuts gang’s Halloween shenanigans will both warm your heart and provide some classic Halloween costume inspiration.

The “Halloween Series,” “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) and “Children of the Corn” (1984) I personally like to indulge in the sweeter side of Halloween, but if you align more with the spooky, I recommend these horror staples. The textbook definition of slasher horror, “Halloween” (1978) follows Michael Myers as he stalks Laurie Strode, who is played by Hollywood veteran Jamie Lee Cur-

tis. The whole film is tense and will have you on the edge of your seat. “The Blair Witch Project” set in motion the found-footage aspect of horror and the unreliable first-person narrative. With this movie, it’s more what you can’t see that is frightening. “Children of the Corn” may be one of the worst Stephen King adaptations, but this 1984 cult favorite follows the hammy Malachai, known as “He Who Walks Behind the Rows” as he gets the local children to ritually murder all of the adults in town. The whole movie, while not scary by 2018 standards, is still a must-see at least once in your life.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

This early Tim Burton work is a staple of the season. The star-studded cast, which includes Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, doesn’t disappoint. The movie is hilarious and does a fantastic job of making fun of the afterlife with its dark humor and just enough spookiness to raise your heartbeat a little. The soundtrack, which includes “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” by Harry Belafonte and “Jump In Line (Shake, Shake Senora)” by Danny Elfman, is undeniably one of the best parts of the movie.

“The Shining” (1980) Another Stephen King adaption to make this list, “The Shining” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson is the perfect psychological thriller that will make you want to sleep with the lights on. While it may not have been King’s favorite adaptation, the deterioration of Jack Torrance’s sanity at the hands of evil supernatural forces will keep viewers’ eyes glued to the screen. This movie isn’t scary because of cheap shock effects, but rather because of the overall darkness and creepiness that inhabits the Overlook Hotel.

“Frankenstein” (1931) It would be a shame to not include “Frankenstein” on this list. While this black-and-white classic may not be most people’s go-to choice for movie night, “Frankenstein” is arguably the most iconic horror flick of all time. It’s incredibly well written and its special effects haven’t stopped inspiring horror producers and directors.

BY JOSH MADRID arts@theaggie.org

Halloween ushers in a creative time to get into character and become a frightful figment of our deepest darkest nightmares. For some, pop culture is the source of inspiration and lends a helping hand when picking costumes for evening festivities. There were many cultural benchmarks in 2018 that will likely make their mark this All Hallow’s Eve. According to Google’s Frightgeist, an online service that shows the most searched for costumes online, Fortnite is likely to be the most popular costume inspiration this year. Fortnite is an interactive game that swept the world’s gaming community and has created an entire culture of enthusiasts. Backpacks, combat boots and a cross between tomb-raider and military gear are all part of the Fortnite look.

The release of “The Incredibles 2” this year is probably the reason why Incredibles-themed costumes are flying off the shelves at Party City. “The Incredibles” is costume that groups will likely coordinate this season.

Unicorns are gearing up to be the most popular mythical creature costume because of how prevalent they were this year. They dominated Instagram, TV and inspired an awful frappuccino flavor that left a lot of people wanting their money back after the

hype.

Black Panther wins most popular superhero costume for 2018. The first Marvel movie to have a majority African-American cast made history earlier this year. The costumes inspired by the film will allow anyone to become the perfect superhero to protect kids trick-or-treating on Halloween night from goblins and ghouls.

The decade in demand is the 90s. Don’t be surprised if there is a resurgence of many Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera-inspired looks.

Britney in “...Baby One More Time” with her pink pigtails and liberated schoolgirl get-up or Christina Aguilera in “Dirrty” with her grunge vibes are two looks that anyone can serve.

There will be many dancing queens this Halloween in light of the recent “Mamma Mia” sequel. Lots of flowy, hippie attire are all that’s needed to channel the free spirit of a young Meryl Streep in the 80s.

Cardi B is surprisingly not at the top of the list. Recreating the “Invasion of Privacy” album cover wouldn’t be difficult to do with a yellow wig, checkered top and cat-eye sunglasses. Cardi B is arguably one of the biggest names that defined music culture in 2018 and channeling her persona for Halloween would make anyone the life of the party.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 11

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SUPPORT SENIORS RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF MEASURE L Whereas, housing is a major issue throughout California, and especially in Davis; and Whereas, this housing crisis is particularly burdensome on many seniors throughout California, Yolo County, and the Davis Community; and Whereas, the West Davis Active Adult Community is an innovative proposal to deal with at least one aspect of the Housing Crisis and is supported by an extensive variety of community organizations and individuals, including all five city council members; and Whereas, the project is now on the November 2018 ballot in Davis known as Measure L Therefore, be it resolved the Yolo County Democratic Party endorse the West Davis Active Adult Community and Measure L on the November 2018 ballot.

Yolo County Democratic Party Central Committee

YESVOTEON L NOV. 6 Paid for by Yes on L Committee Davis - 1408158

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12 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

STRIKE

POLICE TOWN HALL

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“This is a fight about privatization,” Bates-Rojas said. “We want to defeat privatization. We want to stop privatization of worker’s jobs. And right here in our backyard, in Yolo County, in Davis, California, we have the people’s university, UC Davis. If they can’t get to the negotiating table with AFSCME [...] to defend workers and families then we have a big problem.”

Bates-Rojas continued on to discuss issues surrounding privatization.

“Privatizing workers means a lot of things — one, it means destroying families,” she said. “It’s taking jobs away from people. It means paying lower wages. It means no protection for workers. [...]

Privatization means a to fuel a corporation to take democracy and liberty away from people.”

The UC responded to the strike and the concerns highlighted by AFSCME in a statement sent to The California Aggie by Claire Doan, the director of media relations for the UC Office of the President.

“For a year AFSCME leaders have refused to budge on their unreasonable demand of a 36 percent raise over four years for patient-care workers,” the statement reads. “That is nearly triple what other university employees have received and clearly unrealistic for a taxpayer-funded institution like UC.” The statement claims that the spending on campus service contracts has remained relatively level, AFSCME patient care and service workers are compensated “at or above market rates” and specifically mentioned AFSCME’s recently-filed lawsuit against UC Davis which could stall the construction of additional student housing.

Last May, 53,000 UC workers participated in AFSCME’s first strike. Both UPTE and the California Nurses Association participated in a sympathy strike, but the CNA’s recently-finalized contract prohibits its employees from participating in any solidarity striking.

Union leaders, including from AFSCME and UPTE, had raised concerns about what they perceived to be intentional stalling tactics by the UC until after the Supreme Court ruled on the AFSCME v. Janus case. The court’s 5-4 ruling over the summer eliminated agency fees, effectively

weakening the power of labor unions.

John de los Angeles, a spokesperson for AFSCME, told The Aggie in a recent article that the UC had sent out materials appearing to encourage workers to drop their union. A state agency recently filed two complaints alleging the UC engaged in illegal, union-busting activity, though the UC disputes these allegations.

Notably, the UC pointedly criticized AFSCME’s membership fees in its statement sent to The Aggie regarding the strike, saying AFSCME leaders have “no qualms pointing a finger at UC while choosing to take a larger portion of their members’ paychecks.”

“UC is hoping to see that the Supreme Court’s Janus decision has weakened UPTE,” a press release on UPTE’s website stated. “This is our most important opportunity to show UC that we are more committed than ever to making sure that all UC workers are treated with justice and dignity.”

Lucy Joseph, a campus vice-president for UPTE, spoke about her union’s support for ASFCME. “UPTE is here to support our colleagues in the AFSCME patient care unit, and those are the people who run a lot of the tests and procedures that you might get — respiratory techs, x-ray techs, people like that,” she explained.

On the subject of using how outsourcing might affect the morale of existing UC employees, Joseph said for those who are trained to perform a specialized job, spending time supervising “a bunch of contract employees” makes it hard “to take pride in your work.”

An email sent by UC Davis Employee and Labor Relations stated the university respects the right of workers to engage in the strike and that all absences of employees scheduled to work at any time between Oct. 23 and 25 will be presumed strike related.

“If an employee’s absence between October 23 – 25, 2018 is not approved or cleared by medical documentation, that time will be designated as unapproved leave without pay,” the email states.

Describing her experience at the first day of the strike, Garcia Prado confidently said, “it’s great — we are out here supporting each other.”

TASK FORCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

with prior knowledge of the issues in Student Health and Counseling Services.

Manrique also referenced the 12 counselors UC Davis had planned to hire with student fees over the course of a four year period to bring the university in line with minimum student-to-staff ratios. The university has not hired these counselors. To Manrique, offering options like peer help and phone lines may be helpful, but the most crucial need is long-term clinician service.

“When I entered the Task Force, one of the things that I wanted recognized within the petition was the audit,” Manrique wrote. “In my opinion, the audit showed the inconsistencies between the promises of Student Affairs and Student Health and Counseling Services. It shows that the mental health fee, a fee which came from students, was being utilized for other needs in different departments which was contrary to their initial promise of hiring 12 counselors.”

Students deserve long term care, Manrique said, “not short term solutions.” “[This] is why the recommendations emphasizes the need and prioritization of more counselors,” she said.

One of Manrique’s recommendations was to “establish and publicize a long-term hiring plan to ensure that Counseling Services meets the needs of a growing student population.” Other recommendations focused on increasing Community Advising Network (CAN) counseling and promoting

cultural awareness.

Kauser Adenwala, a second-year political science major and external vice president of the Muslim Student Association, felt that the administration’s response to the three task forces was lacking.

“These are imminent challenges and must be attended to immediately,” Adenwala said.

Ellie White, a graduate student in the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, said the university should be directly helping disadvantaged students more, rather than simply validating students grievances.

“A structural way of solving the problem of houselessness is giving people the means to afford their rent,” White wrote. “As far as students who are not employed by the UC (i.e., a vast number of undergraduates), a “bold new plan” would be to provide housing for free.”

On the topic of food insecurity, White complimented the notes that that the task force made, but challenged them to question why students are food insecure in the first place.

“So far the solutions I see are ‘educate and feed people free food’,” White said. “I love both these recommendations. They just don’t go far enough to get at the structural issues. Why do people experience food insecurity? Would you be food insecure if you have $1,000/month to spend on food and had time and knew how to cook nutritious meals? [...]

We need solutions that stop people becoming food insecure in the first place.”

is a fallacy.”

Buchanan also discussed the trend of arming police departments with military-grade weapons.

“We’ve seen the proliferation of militarized weaponry and equipment to respond to situations in which police are rarely intervening,” Buchanan said. “I really want to push back on this idea that police militarization equals safety. You can go in with great intentions, but the institution of policing can change what you are allowed to do.”

Huffman offered remarks on what she perceived as the balance between the handling of weapons by police and the preservation of safety within the UC Davis community.

“I think you have to have the kind of police force on campus that respects students, respects individual rights [and] that really care about the diversity that we try to bring onto this campus,” Huffman said. “What I think you need on campus is what you are starting to get with this dialogue.”

Huffman emphasized that bringing military weapons on campus is, in her opinion, unnecessary.

“You certainly don’t need the kind of equipment that you are talking about,” she said. “We fought to get rid of all those tanks and things they are bringing into our community.”

On the other hand, Huffman said she believes that police need certain weapons to keep the campus community safe.

“You can’t tell people to protect you if you don’t give them the tools with which they need to protect you with,” she added.

Jones-Sawyer also spoke on the use of military weapons by the police.

“I can almost guarantee you bringing military

vehicles on this campus is not something that is supported by anybody in this [current campus] administration right now,” Jones-Sawyer said. “Everytime I see legislation, it is going from people who want to eliminate military weapons all the way down to pepper spray. We are having that debate in the legislature right now.”

The need to train police officers was highlighted by Jones-Sawyer.

“We have to get to the officers that are here now,” Jones-Sawyer said. “Many of them may have been taught by officers who believe in a way to do things that totally do not fit 2018 and beyond. [...] I know what you learned in the academy, I know what the chief told you, I know what is in this manual — throw it away.”

Bustamante added to Jones-Sawyer’s comments by stressing the need for accountability and diversity in the police force as a way to improve policing.

“I think there is a lot of issues [centered] around accountability and identifying the problems in transparency,” Bustamante said. “Identifying those officers who do things that show they should not be wearing a badge [is needed]. I think you are seeing the the state legislature there is a lot of trending now.”

Fernandez then stressed the need to hire the right people for the police force.

“Moving forward, the university should really assess who they are hiring and … allowing to be police officers,” Fernandez said. “I think the university is unique because there is leadership [at the administrative level]. Beyond that, I really think there needs to be effort in looking how we train our officers in de-escalating situations.”

JORDAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Jews in Germany could have attained asylum in the U.S. if not for rampant skepticism; as a result, Jewish people who could have been saved were instead killed. Consider exactly what that means — because of Americans’ irrational fear and racist attitudes toward Jews, more died in the Holocaust than otherwise would have. And while the U.S. fought a war in Vietnam for democratic purposes, Americans were not willing to accept refugees from a crisis to which they contributed.

President Donald Trump retaliated against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical attacks and joint bombings by Britain and France because, according to Trump, “We’re talking about human-

ity. And it can’t be allowed to happen.” The juxtaposition of President Trump’s invocation of humanity in regards to these attacks and, in contrast, denying refugee admittance makes his response seem more like a publicity stunt rather than genuine concern.

Similarly, the theoretical support of refugees from Americans makes it seem as though they aspire to the ideals of Lady Liberty. However, a history of rejecting and fearing refugees proves that they fail to take action when it is most needed. It’s time that the U.S. actually lives up to its pledged ideals. We can become the country we have always aspired to be.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 13

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JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE

ALLYSON KO / AGGIE

The life of Kanye Kanye West, a man who never runs out of surprises

BY ETHA N P EA RSO N arts@theaggie.org

Kanye West first revealed his genre redefining musical style and bombastic personality to the public eye in 2004 with the release of “The College Dropout.” The album was a mainstream success and

3,358,000 albums were sold. West continued to gain traction and define his sound with consecutively successful and inventive albums; “Late Registration,” “Graduation” and “808s & Heartbreak” helped define what 2000s hip-hop was and solidified West as a hip-hop superstar. He continued to maintain relevance within the music industry by consistently

releasing albums, appearing on records and producing. West’s musical identity, success and loud style have undoubtedly correlated with elements of his personality.

A striking moment portraying Kanye West’s unique perspective was during NBC Universal’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief,” for Hurricane Katri-

ALLYSON KO / AGGIE

Looking back at UFC 229 Unpacking all the action from the McGregorNurmagomedov showdown

BY BO BBY JOHN sports@theaggie.org

UFC 229 is in the books, but audiences are still reeling from one of the most anticipated pay-perview events in recent memory, and what UFC has called the biggest fight of its 24-year history. It’s not hard to see why –– from the pre-fight antics, the post-match ringside brawl, to talks of a Nurmagomedov-McGregor rematch –– there is a lot going on.

The preamble was typical of the notorious trash

talk Conor McGregor is known so well for. UFC President Dana White described McGregor as the master of the mental game, and the UFC 229 press conference in New York was no exception.

McGregor took aim at billionaire Russian Oligarch, Ziyavudin Magomedov, who is the primary financier of Nurmagomedov’s fight club, the Eagles MMA. Magomedov was arrested back in April

by Russian officials for allegedly embezzling money during the construction of the World Cup stadium in Kaliningrad.

Mcgregor also tried to get under Nurmagomedov’s skin by bringing up ethnic tensions between the Chechen and Russian people and hurled insults at his father for praising the Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov on social media.

McGregor, while not necessarily falling short of expectations given his two year absence from MMA and UFC, didn’t quite live up to his own standards in the octagon. He claimed he would “stomp on [Nurmagomedov’s] head as he’s unconscious” after taking a swig of his new whiskey, which he promot-

na, when he ad-libbed accusations of racism regarding how black victims of the natural disaster were being portrayed by the media and treated unfairly.

It was during this event that West infamously said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

One of the most unforgettable moments in Kanye West history was during the 2009 MTV VMAs when he decided it was in his best interest to steal the microphone from Taylor Swift while she was accepting her award over Beyoncé for Best Female Video.

“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” West said as Swift stood shocked and Beyoncé appeared utterly confused.

Kanye West’s acts of outrageousness have built a culminating and telling tale that has seemingly begun to climax with his unshakeable support of President Trump. He originally met with Donald Trump in 2016 and recently visited his presidential acquaintance in the White House for a meeting in the Oval Office. After delivering a pro-Trump speech while sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat on his most recent appearance of Saturday Night Live (which was ultimately edited out), he then tweeted out a picture of himself wearing his MAGA hat claiming “this represents good and America becoming whole again […].”

He recently announced a new album named “Yandhi” that was scheduled to release on Sept. 29 and although he has typically delivered to the fullest with his music, the album was nowhere to be found. He later admitted that he had not finished the album and rescheduled the release for Nov. 23. It appears that West is attempting to once again redefine himself through his musical personality with the specific self reference and allusion to Gandhi in the naming of this new album. West has had no problem in establishing himself in multiple fields, and he is continuing this trend.

Kanye West has continuously proven his talent through his various passions and through his artistry. However, the world of Kanye West is also full of surprises and seems to be aboard a one track train of incredulity with no stops in sight.

ed at UFC 229, Proper Twelve.

Nurmagomedov wasn’t phased at all. He maintained control throughout the fight, and eventually submitted McGregor in the 4th round with a rear naked choke.

A defeated, disappointed McGregor sat on the canvas until the post-match brawl erupted. Immediately after he submitted McGregor, Nurmagomedov pointed to the McGregor camp, leaped over the cage and, in an instant, chaos ensued, prompting a swarm of security personnel.

Nurmagomedov later apologized to the Nevada Athletic Commission in the post fight press conference.

“I want to say sorry ... I know this is not my best side,” Nurmagomedov said. “He talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about my father, he came to Brooklyn and he broke bus, he almost kill a couple of people.”

All told, White predicted that the pay-per-view buys would be around 3 million. While UFC does not make its pay-per-view figures public, White later told TMZ Sports that sales stood around 2 million.

Nurmagomedov reportedly took home a $2 million purse, while McGregor netted $3 million.

White told ESPN that McGregor is demanding a rematch with Nurmagomedov just a day after tapping out.

The aftermath of UFC 229 has brought new challengers into the fold. McGregor crossed over into boxing legend Floyd Mayweather’s territory in the ring in 2017 –– a fight that attracted 4.3 million pay-per-view buys and reportedly netted a $100 million purse. After his victory over McGregor, Nurmagomedov issued a challenge to the supposedly retired Mayweather through social media while standing next to the CEO of Mayweather promotions. Mayweather didn’t back down and called on media outlets and Las Vegas to “get the checkbook out.”

It didn’t stop there, as Mayweather expressed interest in another showdown with McGregor after a potential fight with Nurmagomedov.

Pay-per-view predictions can sometimes be misleading. Mayweather-McGregor approached the total pay-per-view buys from the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, which generated $4.6 million buys. It isn’t farfetched to consider a Nurmagomedov-Mayweather showdown would be in the $3 to $4 million buy range.

reduce. reuse. recycle.

The aggie

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018 | 15

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

JULI PEREZ / AGGIE

JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE

Men’s water polo seeks improvement in midst of undefeated run Aggies win 26th straight league game, recognize need to clean up mistakes

BY B RE NDAN O G B U RN sports@theaggie.org

The UC Davis men’s water polo team collected its fourth consecutive victory Friday afternoon with a 14-8 triumph over the Air Force Academy at Schaal Aquatics Center. The Aggies have yet to falter in league games, holding a 4-0 mark against Western Water Polo Association opponents and a 13-5 record overall. In fact, the team hasn’t dropped a conference game since October 2014, a winning streak of 26 games.

Despite racking up another victory, Child and Meisel Families Director of Men’s Water Polo Daniel Leyson was particularly frustrated with his team’s effort on Friday. The Aggies outplayed their opponent for a good portion of the afternoon, but allowed them to stick around and stay within striking distance due to some avoidable mistakes.

“It’s just very sloppy on our part and an inability to play in a controlled fashion that allows us to increase the score,” Leyson said. “We kept making stupid mistakes allowing them to score and that’s a really dangerous way to live.”

Nonetheless, Leyson recognized how well his

team can perform when playing up to its full potential. The ultimate goal for the team would be a return to the NCAA tournament, where the Aggies advanced to the quarterfinal round last season.

“Our expectation is that we play much better,” Leyson said. “We have a good group and if we can bring it together at the end, we’ll be very, very strong. Today just wasn’t the level to which we aspire in this program and the guys know that.”

Senior attacker Marcus Anderson opened the scoring for the Aggies in the first quarter, firing a shot to the top-right corner of the net to make it 1-0. Just over a minute later, UC Davis cashed in on a powerplay opportunity, Anderson passed to freshman center Nir Gross who took advantage of an open look in front of the net. UC Davis piled on several more shot attempts before the end of the quarter, but came up empty.

The Aggies started the second quarter with a flurry of shots on target, but couldn’t find the back of the net again. The team finally broke through with a pair of powerplay goals by Anderson, two minutes apart, to push the lead to 4-0.

With three minutes left before halftime, Air

Force got on the board by scoring on a penalty shot. Just before the break, UC Davis grabbed a pair of turnovers and turned each one into a goal on the other end thanks to junior attacker Yurii Hanley. Air Force managed to nab an evenstrength score in between, but the Aggies still finished the half with a 6-2 lead.

Air Force quickly rattled off three straight scores in the first four minutes of the third quarter, suddenly making it a very close game at 6-5.

UC Davis kept its composure and responded with a trio of scores in the following two minutes, with two coming from sophomore attacker Jack Stafford and another from Anderson. The teams traded goals in the final two minutes of the quarter to make it a 10-6 game.

UC Davis put the game away with four more goals in the fourth quarter, including two from sophomore utility Kyle Reilly and a fifth from Anderson, and held off a late comeback attempt

by Air Force to take the 14-8 victory.

The Aggies have five more regular season games, including three within the league. UC Davis will look to win those games and finish undefeated in conference for the fourth straight season.

KAELYN TUERMER LEE / AGGIE

OLIVIA KOTLAREK / AGGIE

Is #TimeUp for professional sports?

Sac Republic upset in home postseason match

Sacramento’s USL club loses 2-1 to Swope Park Rangers

BY D O M I N I C FA RI A sports@theaggie.org

Sacramento’s local soccer club, Sacramento Republic FC, hosted the first round of the USL Western Conference playoffs Saturday night, as the team took on seventh-seeded Swope Park Rangers.

In front of a crowd in attendance at Papa Murphy’s Park, the game opened with both sides vying for control. In the first 10 minutes, possession stood around 50-50.

It didn’t take much longer for the game to open up, as Sac Republic recorded the night’s first real challenge at goal. Midfielder Keven Aleman fired in a hard-hit shot from the top of the 18 that was knocked wide of goal by Swope Park goalkeeper Eric Dick.

The shot from Aleman seemed to awaken his squad. Sac Republic began to control possession and press forward following the attempt and finally broke through just a few minutes later.

In the 16th minute, midfielder Villyan Bijev capitalized off an errant Swope Park clearance, slotting the ball into the lower left corner of the net to put Sac Republic on top 1-0. The goal could not have been scored without the hustle of Sac Republic defender Shannon Gomez, who ran down a ball that appeared to have been rolling out of bounds near the left corner. Gomez made a diving slide to kick the ball back inside, across the Swope Park goal and ultimately forced the awkward attempt at clearance by a Swope Park defender and allowed the ball to fall at Bijev’s feet.

The early breakthrough understandably sent the fans into a frenzy, as Sac Republic did not let the foot off the gas pedal just yet. Two minutes following the goal, midfielder Jure Matjasic wasted no time attacking Swope Park with a rocket shot from the right side that required an athletic save from Dick to stop the ball from going in.

The home team continued to hold possession and threatened to score again in the wake of the first goal, but Swope Park quickly found a way to counter Sac Republic’s aggression and quiet the crowd.

After Sac Republic failed to properly clear a Swope Park corner, midfielder Wan Kuzain found himself in possession of the ball inside Sac Republic’s 18-yard box. Kuzain danced through a couple of defenders and sent in a shot that narrowly beat Republic goalkeeper Josh Cohen to the near post, leveling the game at one a-piece.

“I saw the play forming — I know they worked for that, that’s their bread and butter,” Cohen said.

“But it was opening up and we didn’t have the time to react to respond and so I tried to attract the ball as much as I could, saw it as it came around our defense. And the guy did well — he put it hard and low in the corner.”

Less than five minutes later, Swope Park struck again, this time off a well-placed shot from forward Hadji Barry. His teammate, midfielder Rassambak Akhmatov, sprinted along the right touchline and slid in a cross to the trailing Barry, who sat all alone behind the Republic defenders. Barry took a firsttime touch and buried the ball past Cohen to put the visitors up 2-1.

Sac Republic Head Coach, Simon Elliott, was critical of his team’s miscues that allowed Swope

Park to steal the lead.

“We turned the ball over on bad spots,” Elliott said. “They tried to block us on one side and we turned it over and then we let them play right through us. The three-v-two at the back — there are numbers up at the back and somehow we conspire to get numbers down on our back four, which should never happen.”

Sac Republic and the home crowd were stunned, as the game’s momentum seemed to have taken a complete turn after Bijev’s goal. Swope Park took the 2-1 lead into halftime and ultimately held strong throughout the second half to secure the upset victory and send Sac Republic out of the postseason.

Sac Republic didn’t leave the pitch without a fight, however, as the team forced the ball forward in the second half. Several near misses on shot attempts and cross connections haunted the home side. Sac Republic threatened on multiple occasions, but could not quite crack the defensive-minded Swope Park squad.

On top of Sac Republic’s inability to find the back of the net for a second time, it appeared that Swope Park took advantage of several injuries and time-wasting tactics as the game drew close to ending. This lack of urgency by a team in the lead is not uncommon in soccer, but it still frustrated the home side.

“Yeah, they were definitely wasting time,” Cohen said. “It’s frustrating, and would I do the exact same thing in their shoes? The answer is yes.”

Cameron Iwasa, Sac Republic’s forward and leading goal-scorer, was bottled up for the entirety of the evening. The team’s inability to get Iwasa the ball in a quality position was another major source of frustration. Iwasa was visibly disappointed following the match, and blamed his team’s loss on a lack of execution. His coach agreed, explaining in more detail what went wrong.

“I think we need to give Cameron the ball — I mean, we can’t just lump stuff up to him, you know, we need to have a little bit of patience, we need to be able to play through pressure, we need to be able to handle the ball under a little bit of pressure,” Elliott said. “It’s a thinking game at the end of the day, it’s not just all fire and blood and brimstone and passion and all that — you have to think your way through situations, and I thought they did a better job of that then we did tonight.”

This was obviously a disappointing ending to what was otherwise a fantastic regular season for Sac Republic. The team finished second in the USL’s Western Conference and, going into Saturday’s match, had not lost a game since Aug. 18. Despite a season full of positives, the first-round postseason loss negated most of what the team accomplished and hoped to accomplish going forward, according to Elliott.

“No [I’m not proud of the way we battled today], because it’s a playoff game and it needs to be better,” Elliott said. “I don’t care how well the season went or how badly the season went. When you’re in the playoffs, it’s a whole different game. If you’re not prepared to bring it, then sorry — it’s simply not good enough.”

A great regular season can turn into a nightmare postseason, and unfortunately for Sac Republic, this turned out to be the case.

Professional sports continues to grapple with the #MeToo movement

BY B RADLEY GEI SER sports@theaggie.org

On Oct. 7, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was met with cheers as he led his team to a decisive 41-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. In baseball, New York Mets infielder Jose Reyes was recently nominated for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award, an award which commends players for their contributions on and off the field.

Over in Europe, where soccer is king, Cristiano Ronaldo was praised by Juventus manager Max Allegri for his cool composure going into his first season with the club. Back in March, retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant received his first Oscar for his animated short, “Dear Basketball,” as he prepared to debut his new ESPN program “Detail.” Former NBA star Isiah Thomas still works for NBATV. In wake of movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp, professional sports is yet to see the widespread fallout that Hollywood experienced at its onset. Of the aforementioned men, all of whom have received allegations of everything from domestic abuse to sexual harassment and assault, none have experienced the same downfall as have high-profile entertainers such as Bill Cosby, Louis CK or Kevin Spacey.

Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice briefly put a harsh spotlight on professional sports when a video of him assaulting his fiancé in an elevator forced the sporting world to rethink how it handles the gendered mistreatment of women.

As both a sports reporter for ThinkProgress and a co-host of “Burn It All Down” (which brands itself as “The Feminist Podcast You Need”), Lindsay Gibbs has covered cases like these. While she has seen some progress from the leagues with regards to how they handle issues of gendered violence, harassment and mistreatment, she has said that there’s a long way left to go.

“Gendered violence in sports has been a big topic in sports since the Ray Rice domestic violence case in 2014,” Gibbs said. “Since then, many leagues — especially the NFL and MLB — have reworked their policies and enhanced discussion about abusers. But there is still a huge prominence of the narrative that this is all just a “witch hunt,” and women are just lying to get revenge or money from men.

And excuses are still regularly made for abusers” With every new case of alleged mistreatment, many of the same tactics are used by both the fans and media to let accused abusers off the hook. The legal situations of the aforementioned men varied.

Only Thomas was found culpable inside the court of law, after a lawsuit against the New York Knicks found Thomas, owner James Dolan and the organization responsible for a toxic work environment.

Roethlisberger, who was accused of rape by two separate women in 2009 and 2010, settled one case out of court, while the anonymous accuser in the second case chose not to file charges, citing a fear of how the fallout of such a public case might affect her.

Manning never faced criminal charges, but his accuser, Dr. Jamie Naughright, claimed that in 1996, Manning made sexually explicit contact with her in the locker room. Naughright filed a defamation suit against Manning after he spoke of the incident in a book.

Reyes had his charges of domestic violence dropped. Ronaldo, who was recently accused of a

2009 rape inside the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, denied the allegations, but continues to play while they are being investigated. According to Gibbs, Juventus’ lack of immediate action does nothing to appease the problem.

“It’s absolutely terrible,” Gibbs said. “It shows they don’t take violence against women (or sexual violence of any kind) seriously, and that talent wins out. The best thing to do when there are serious allegations is to sit the player while the investigation plays out [...] There need to be processes in place for every team and sport to take accusations seriously and do investigations. And punishment and rehabilitation services need to be available, for the victim and the abuser.”

With many cases never reaching court, some will say that judging unproven accusations deprives these athletes the due process which they are owed.

Others choose to ignore them all together.

This is, perhaps, the greatest problem that Gibbs sees in high-profile situations such as these.

“Everyone has to make their own decisions,” Gibbs said. “But it’s incredibly sad how many refuse to speak out, especially against Kobe.”

In 2003, Bryant was accused of rape by a 19-year-old worker at a hotel in Colorado. In the ensuing months, Bryant’s legal team attacked the accuser’s reputation, including details of her sexual history and stating her name despite the fact that she requested anonymity.

While Bryant’s reputation took a hit, including the loss of many lucrative endorsement deals, he was also praised by the media for appearing on the basketball court the same day that he appeared in court in Colorado. The case was eventually dropped when the accuser refused to testify.

The two parties settled out of court and Bryant issued an apology which confirmed the possibility of some perceived misconduct.

“I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.”

Last year, the Lakers honored Kobe by retiring both 8 and 24, the numbers he wore during his career. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss also announced that the team will immortalize him with a statue in front of the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

While much of this may seem bleak for fans who want more direct steps to be taken, all hope is not lost. Gibbs cited the recent conviction of Larry Nassar as a step in the right direction.

Nassar was convicted and will serve up to 175 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual abuse, after several dozen gymnasts, among them several high-profile Olympians, came forward and spoke out against his crimes.

However, there is still much to do be done, and it starts with holding people accountable.

“Journalists and fans have to keep holding these institutions and individuals accountable,” Gibbs said. “That’s the only way change will happen.”

Sports is often seen as an escape. People go to games, cheer for their teams and against their rivals to get away from the problems of the world around them. However, once sports become a means by which society ignores its biggest problems, change needs to happen.

While certain steps have been implemented to ensure that change will come, the sports world — fans, players, coaches, owners and the media — must do better with the problems that are already in its lap.

16 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE