January 17, 2019

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VOLUME 137, ISSUE 11 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

DOWNTOWN DAVIS SHOOTER IDENTIFIED, HAD PRIOR BATTERY CONVICTION AND WAS FORCED TO SURRENDER SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE Shooter identified after ambush that killed 22-year-old officer Natalie Corona

JU ST I N H A N / AG GI E

BY KA E LYN T UE R ME R - L E E city@theaggie.org

The gunman who killed 22-year-old police officer Natalie Corona was identified on Saturday, Jan. 12 as 48-year-old Kevin Douglas Limbaugh. Court documents show that Limbaugh had a prior conviction in a battery case and was forced to relinquish his semiautomatic rifle on Nov. 9, 2018. The Davis Police Department said it had prior contact with Limbaugh, as he reported being a victim of a crime. However, prior contact did not indicate plans to shoot Officer Corona.

Although his motive for killing Corona was originally unknown, the Davis PD later described the situation as an ambush. Police released a one-paragraph letter Limbaugh wrote before his suicide that read: “The Davis Police department has been hitting me with ultra sonic waves meant to keep dogs from barking. I notified the press, internal affairs, and even the FBI about it. I am highly sensitive to its affect (sic) on my inner ear.

I did my best to appease them, but they have

continued for years and I can’t live this way anymore,” according to The Sacramento Bee. The typed statement was signed “Citizen Kevin Limbaugh.”

Beyond the battery conviction, Limbaugh didn’t have other prior criminal charges and had no indication of mental health concerns. Limbaugh’s roommate, who wishes to remain unnamed, said that Limbaugh led a “troubled life.” Limbaugh worked at Cache Creek Casino Resort, but was fired after an altercation around Sept.

20, 2018 that led to his battery conviction.

Officer Corona was in the street in between two vehicles involved in a three-car collision and likely unable to see the suspect when he rode up on bicycle in the shadows of the sidewalk and opened fire, according to witness reports. Corona was shot once in the neck and immediately went down. The gunman then proceeded to shoot at her several more times. After he expended all of his bullets, Limbaugh unloaded the magazine at least twice more to reload, firing multiple shots in other directions. He started toward one of the fire rescue squads that had

LAWSUIT ALLEGES UC’S USE OF ILLEGAL RACIAL BIAS IN ADMISSIONS UCLA law professor, AACSC seek access to data showing whether UC system violated Proposition 209

TIMOTHY LI / AGGIE

BY CL A I RE D O D D campus@theaggie.org

Dr. Richard Sander, a law professor at UCLA, is accusing the UC system of illegally using race as a factor in admissions decisions.

Sander requested — and was subsequently denied — access to the UC’s admissions data. He, alongside the Asian American Community Services Center (AACSC), filed a lawsuit on Nov. 15, 2018 against the university system under California’s Public Records Act. The petitioners claim this data is public information and feel that the UC’s unwillingness to hand it over proves that they have something to hide — namely, the usage of

affirmative action tactics in their admissions processes.

Sander, who has studied racial preferences and their effects on student outcomes extensively, is pursuing this data not only for his own research but also because he feels individuals have a right to access this information, which is technically public.

The UC honored Sander’s requests years ago, giving him and many other scholars access to an extensive database that held information regarding admissions between 1992 and 2006. According to a press release Sander sent to The California Aggie, however, the university has “adamantly refused to provide the same data for admissions covering the years since 2007.”

The university claims they cannot honor

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also reported to the scene of the collision, striking the boot of a firefighter who had taken flight. The bullet, however, did not penetrate the boot, and the firefighter was unharmed. A fire truck was hit several times, along with a nearby house. Another round was later discovered by a person carrying a backpack while putting items into the trunk of her car, as the bullet had gone through several items and lodged itself in a textbook.

The suspect fled the scene and headed southbound on C Street toward Third Street — it appeared that he circled the block and ended up going toward E Street to his rental residence at 501 E Street. He then met with his roommate who was unaware of what had happened because he didn’t show any signs that he had been involved with the incident. One of the witnesses at the scene of the car collision saw the suspect drop a backpack, which was how the Davis PD got information regarding the identity and location of the suspect. The gunman talked to his roommate and stayed outside for a while until he saw law enforcement start to gather at his residence, at which point he went inside. Law enforcement gave him commands to come out, and at one point he did.

“It appeared to the officers that he was wearing a ballistic vest — otherwise a bullet-proof vest,” said Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel. “He did not appear to be armed at that time. He shot at some stuff, went back in and ended out coming out again and wearing a vest and having a firearm. At that point, he went back inside the residence” SHOOTER UPDATE on 11 Sander’s request because this would require them to create a specific type of report and would compromise applicants’ privacy.

“Creating a responsive report that would adequately protect the privacy of the individual applicants involved would impose an extensive burden on University resources,” said Claire Doan, the director of media relations for the UC Office of the President via email. “UC personnel estimate that it would take us weeks of full-time work to create a specialized data set for Prof. Sander.”

In an interview with The California Aggie, Sander said he is more than willing to pay the fee to obtain such data, which cost around $8,000. He stated that he also believes the university’s supposed concern over applicants’ privacy is irrelevant because the data from 1992 to 2006 has been analyzed for more than 10 years and nobody has been able to identify any of the applicants.

“The lawsuit is [...] seeking the same type of information that the university willingly provided 10 years ago,” Sander said.

When asked what the best possible outcome of the lawsuit would be, Sander said that the UC should be consistent in its transparency policies.

“The last time we did this, it didn’t cost us very much and nobody’s personal information was jeopardized so there’s really no reason, now that we think about it, that we shouldn’t do this,” he said.

According to Doan, the university does not have to comply with the request even if Sander were to pay, citing recent court cases ruling that public agencies do not have to produce new records to fulfill a request akin to Sander’s.

“In November 2016, a San Francisco tri-

WARNME SYSTEM FAILS: MAJORITY OF STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES UNINFORMED OF ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATION Outside security system responsible for sending alerts takes responsibility for failure

BY P R I YANKA SHR EEDAR campus@theaggie.org

Due to a failure on the part of the outside security alert company responsible for sending out WarnMe alerts, the majority of UC Davis students and employees did not receive real-time updates from campus police during an active shooter situation in downtown Davis last week. The sequence of events unfolded on Thursday, Jan. 10, during which time a shooter killed 22-year-old police officer Natalie Corona and fired several other shots before taking off into the city.

The fatal shooting occurred at 6:55 p.m. and the UC Davis Campus Police Department (UCDPD) was made aware of the incident at 6:58 p.m. The initial message informing the campus community about the incident and the shooter remaining at large was sent out just minutes later, at 7:04 p.m., but not everyone received it, according UC Davis Police Chief Joe Farrow.

“Instead of sending out some 60,000 messages, it went out with like 10,000 — much less than it was supposed to,” Farrow said. “The good news is, 10,000 people got it. The bad news was the majority of the campus didn’t get it. It just didn’t go out.”

UC Davis is federally required, under WARNME on 12 al court confirmed that state law does not require public agencies to create new records in order to respond to a public records request,” Doan said. “In August of this year, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision in a unanimous published decision.”

If the university makes this data available, Sander said he foresees it serving as a catalyst for conversation around the issue. If the data were to show that UC campuses are using racial preferences once again, Sander thinks California should explore different avenues to address the matter.

“It might be a hearing at the state legislature, there might be a lawsuit asking a judge ordering the university system to stop discriminating, it might lead to a new referendum on whether the university should be banned from using racial preferences,” Sander said. “There are a lot of possible outcomes, but I think they will all be furthered along by using accurate information on what’s happening.”

Though this lawsuit is only aiming to produce withheld admissions data, with it Sander and AACSC President George Shen allege that the UC is breaking the law and factoring race into their admissions process.

UC Davis itself has an intimate history with affirmative action, dating back to the 1978 Regents of University of California v.

Bakke Supreme Court case.

Allan Bakke, a white applicant to the UC Davis Medical School, was denied admissions twice, although his test scores and GPA exceeded those of minority students who had been admitted.

RACE LAWSUIT on 11

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

2 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

Senator Ko Ser Lu Htoo resigns JORDAN CHOW / AGGIE FILE

Htoo cites frustration with ASUCD president in resignation post

BY RE B E CCA B IH N-WALLACE campus@theaggie.org

ASUCD Senator Ko Ser Lu Htoo, elected in the winter of 2018, announced her resignation from her senatorial position in a written farewell address to the Senate on Jan. 7.

“Although we have made great progress in the community, these past two quarters have been about fighting against one another and attacking an individual who doesn’t have similar views instead of working together to find common grounds,” Htoo wrote in a Facebook post.

Htoo ran on the BASED slate on platforms of increased resources for the LGBTQIA community, increased en-

gagement with the International Center and the development of outreach efforts by the ASUCD Senate with the campus community. She was endorsed by The California Aggie.

In her Facebook post, Htoo mentioned feeling that some of her colleagues in the Senate were not interested in working for causes that she holds dear, such as the minority and LGBTQ communities at UC Davis.

Last October, Htoo announced a complete opposition to working with ASUCD President Michael Gofman, citing his alleged disrespect to members of the LGBTQ community — an allegation Gofman firmly denied.

While thanking some of her colleagues

for their cooperation and support, Htoo also indicated that ASUCD President Michael Gofman was one of the reasons for her resignation.

“My colleagues, this is the fight I have fought for a very long time to make sure our Association president is doing the best he can to make sure we are being represented, to make sure the people that elected him to be represented and advocated for them,” Htoo wrote. “I have watched this president for one year and it has become a clear image that he failed to uphold his responsibilities and represent all of us.”

In an email to The California Aggie dated Jan. 10, Gofman declined to comment on Htoo’s resignation.

All 10 UC Chancellors condemn boycott of Israeli academics Jewish Studies director says statement is result of pressure from extreme, right-wing organization TREVOR GOODMAN / AGGIE

BY SA BRI N A HA B C H I campus@theaggie.org

The chancellors of all 10 UC campuses wrote and signed a statement which effectively condemned an “academic boycott of Israeli academics and/or individual scholars.”

The statement was released as a response to an increasing number of college instructors who have participated in the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), a movement dedicated to various boycotts against Israel and Israeli products.

In a statement sent to The California Aggie, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May said he signed the letter alongside the other UC chancellors because of a shared belief in “open intellectual exchange.”

“The free and unfettered flow of ideas among scholars of all backgrounds are essential elements of the academic enterprise that lead to net societal improvement and should not be infringed upon,” May said via email.

According to the AMCHA Initiative, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization “dedicated to combating anti-Semitism” at U.S. universities, the UC is the first university system to issue a statement of condemnation against academic boycotts of Israel. The UC’s statement also comes as the result of a letter written by the initiative and signed by over 100 organizations.

“College instructors have recently begun attempting […] [to] prevent their students from studying in and about Israel,” an email from the initiative stated. “Earlier this fall, two University of Michigan faculty refused letters of recommendation to Michigan students applying to Israel study abroad programs, and Pitzer College faculty attempted to shut down Pitzer’s Israel study abroad program altogether.”

The Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights has authored an objection to the statement — sent via email to The California Aggie — which claims that “Israeli academic institutions are an integral part of the Israeli regime’s brutal military occupation of Palestine.”

By “partnering” with Israeli institutions, the group claims the UC is “complicit in perpetuating an illegal occupation and abusive apartheid system.”

“You have lent your names to a letter that in effect promotes injustice, human rights abuses, and violations of international law,” the statement from the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights stated.

“When Israel ends its occupation and system of apartheid and obeys international law, the boycott will end. As guardians of academic freedom, you should work to hasten that day.”

David Biale, a professor and the director of the Jewish Studies program at UC Davis, said he is personally opposed to boycotts which target Israeli academics “who may themselves be opposing their government’s policies.” “[It] seems to me very counterproductive and also […] violates the idea of academic freedom — the ability of scholars and students to study where they want, to express whatever views they want to express,” Biale

TREVOR GOODMAN / AGGIE

Adventure Awaits: Picnic Day 2019 Theme, grand marshal announced for annual event

BY GE ORG E L I AO campus@theaggie.org

The 105th celebration of Picnic Day will be held on Saturday, April 13, during which an estimated 75,000 past, current and prospective UC Davis students along with faculty, staff and Davis community members will partake in a number of festivities.

The theme for this year’s event will be “Adventure Awaits,” and this year’s parade marshal is professor and planetary scientist Sarah T. Stewart, a recent recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellow grant.

“The theme captures both that Picnic Day itself is a day of adventure, exploration and opportunity and that coming to Davis

for school is an adventure in its own right,” said Elise Pohlhammer, a fourth-year human development and psychology double major and Picnic Day chair, in a press release.

Aaron Garcia, a third-year psychology and communication double major and the Picnic Day publicity director, explained the meaning behind this year’s theme.

“When we were looking at past Picnic Day themes, we saw a lot were sentimental and serious themes,” Garcia said. “Last year’s theme [was] ‘Where the Sun Shines’.

We wanted to continue with that fun, bright uplifting theme of representing Davis and the community.”

Garcia said that the theme was chosen to also represent “the characteristics of being

said. “Academic freedom is a very high value in the academy, and I think that this is a kind of violation of the academic freedom of Israeli scholars and students.”

Biale’s reasoning is in line with what the UC chancellors expressed in their collective letter, which states that an academic boycott of Israel “poses a direct and serious threat to the academic freedom of [UC] students and faculty.”

While Biale said he is against academic boycotts which target Israel or any other country, he finds it troublesome that the chancellors released this statement in the wake of pressure from what he says are “fairly extreme right-wing” organizations.

“To me, it’s a little bit suspect that the organization called for this and the chancellors jumped onto it and signed it,” he said.

“You have to wonder what kind of pressures there were, whether they were able to organize certain donors of the university to bring them to doing this.”

Biale also said he views the statement as incomplete because it doesn’t acknowledge that the Israeli government itself has used similar tactics against scholars and students that it disagrees with.

“There’s a Columbia law professor named Katherine Frank, who went to Israel with the director of a human rights organization, and they were bringing a group of human rights lawyers to meet with Israeli and Palestinian human rights lawyers, and they were deported,” Biale said. “They weren’t going to create a demonstration or anything, so it was a violation, in a way, of academic freedom.”

He also mentioned the case of Lara Alqasem, an American woman of Palestinian descent who was accepted to a master’s degree program at the Hebrew University in Israel. The Israeli government refused to

admit Alqasem, and she was detained until the Israeli Supreme Court intervened and required the government to admit her.

“These are both cases where Israel itself has violated academic freedom for its own political purposes,” Biale said. “I would’ve liked the chancellors to have noted that and said that they don’t agree with it either, that our students and faculty members have the right to go to Israel no matter what their political opinions are, and to engage in teaching, study, interaction with their colleagues there.”

According to Biale, the BDS movement is one of several movements stemming from an impasse between the Israeli and Palestinian governing bodies.

“In the context of this impasse, supporters of the two sides in the United States are increasingly reaching for various tactics that they think might at least keep the thing in front of the public eye, if not work,” Biale said. “Academic boycotts are one avenue that Palestinian supporters have used with, frankly, pretty minor success.”

Biale said, however, that the boycotts have been a significant way for individuals and organizations who are pro-Israel to gain the upper hand.

“People on the pro-Israel side [...] have used their very considerable political leverage — major donors — to pressure not only the UC chancellors, but there’s a bill in front of the U.S. Senate right now, and there have been a whole bunch of state legislatures that have passed resolutions against an academic boycott,” Biale said.

Parker Spadaro, a third-year political science major and member of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at UC Davis,

fun and playful, and for people to reflect on their past, present or future adventures” at UC Davis.

In an interview with The California Aggie, Pohlhammer said Picnic Day 2019 will offer a variety of activities, including the return of the Children’s Discovery Fair, aimed at entertaining and engaging all attendees, regardless of age.

“There is a children’s fair, so children can stop by and do arts and crafts,” she said.

“This year, we are doing a lot more sensory and interactive games and planning for an ‘Angry Bird’ type of interactive game.”

The proposed expenses for this year’s events will be $37,253, $1,200 of which will be for transportation and $2,200 budgeted for publicity. $3,000 will also be used for t-shirts for volunteers, and $2,800 will be allocated to sound equipment.

The expected income is $48,000 — generated through business sponsorships and food sales.

Bringing Picnic Day to fruition and ensuring it runs smoothly is a team effort. 15 student directors were recruited for Picnic Day, including hires for the animal events, Children’s Discovery Fair, entertainment and parade publicity. An estimated 80 assistant directors will also help with the event.

Bryan Perez, a third-year political science and managerial economics double major, was involved in last year’s Picnic Day through his position as a former ASUCD senator. Perez said he participated in the event by being physically available onsite, starting at 6:30 a.m.

“If you see what people are doing and if you see how passionate they are doing their jobs, it rubs off on you, and you will feel passionate too,” he said.

The annual event consistently sees a significant number of alumni return to campus.

“Alumni get to come back and explore the campus from a different point of view,” Pohlhammer said. “You get to come back and see how much the campus has changed since they have been here. It’s just a chance to come and see what the campus looks like and be reminded that this is a tradition that has been going on for 105 years.”

For Pohlhammer, who lived in the Bay Area and drove by UC Davis as a kid, the event is a good chance for prospective students to become acquainted with the university.

“The first time I really came to campus and thinking that I might go to UC Davis was [because of ] Picnic Day,” she said. “For potential students, Picnic Day is a way to see the diversity of scientific endeavors as well as cultural experiences that will be offered.”

Picnic Day will be preceded by a preweek — which changed from five days to two days — aimed at getting students excited about Picnic Day. The pre-week will take place on the Quad and will feature an interactive animal exhibit, cultural presentations and performances and both a sports day as well as a Greek day, aimed at UC Davis Greek Life, Pohlhammer said.

More information on Picnic Day 2019 is available on the unit’s website.

ISRAEL LETTER on 11

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 | 3

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

Repeat DUI offenders face new consequences in 2019

New health and community center coming to Esparto

California implements mandatory in-car breathalyzers for second-time DUI offenders

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation funds RISE Inc.’s community project

TESSA KOGA / AGGIE

BY ST E LLA T RAN JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE city@theaggie.org

BY LAURE N T ROP I O city@theaggie.org

On Jan. 1, Sacramento County became one of the first areas to enforce in-car breathalyzers for residents convicted of DUI offenses. California put the new requirement into action after the original bill received unanimous approval in legislature, emphasizing the consequences of individuals drinking and driving.

The new mandatory breathalyzer installation is an ignition interlock device that requires the driver to breathe into it in order to start the automobile. This procedure is mandatory for six months for first-time DUI offenders and a year or longer for repeat offenders whose violations resulted in injuries.

When blowing into the device, the person behind the wheel must exemplify a blood alcohol level below .02 to start the car.

If the driver chooses to try to start the vehicle while intoxicated, the ignition interlock will lock the driver out for a certain amount of time based on the failed test. The smart device can also detect mouthwash and produce a positive test result even if attempts are made to cover up the smell of alcohol.

The ignition interlock system also retests the driver throughout the car ride. When a retest is run, in the case of someone continuing to drink after passing the initial breathalyzer test, the vehicle’s lights will flash and its horn will go off to get the attention of law enforcement.

“When it comes to driving under the influence, the impacts of decisions made in minutes or seconds can last a lifetime,” said Nathan Trauernicht, the UC Davis fire chief.

“Not only is there a tremendous legal price to pay but also ramifications in potential injuries or death(s) of those involved in a collision.”

Originally, the protocol in California was to take the suspended license of those with DUIs. The realization surfaced, howev-

er, that two-thirds of the people who were charged would still continue to drive under the influence.

“My experience was my mother and sisters almost died because a guy chose to drink and drive on Saint Patrick’s Day,” said Dallas Cunningham, a California resident. “It is a miracle they didn’t [die], but they suffered countless injuries including punctured lungs, a broken pelvis, a broken neck, a fractured spine and traumatic brain injuries and were hospitalized for months. After this, my mom and sisters had to relearn how do a lot of things because of the seriousness of their injuries, but my mom and older sister are still, today, recovering since the accident.

All of their pain and suffering could’ve been avoided if the guy had just made a different decision not to drink and drive.”

The in-car breathalyzer devices cost between $70 to $150 to install and $60 to $80 per month to enable monitoring.

California is one of 31 states that motioned to approve these devices. Drunk driving is the number one cause of death on the road, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MADD estimated that over 300,000 incidents of intoxicated driving happen per day or 121 million times per year.

California is taking steps toward eliminating drunk drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There are even cell phone applications to help drunk drivers stay off the roads and find a ride home.

“My partners and I are so dedicated to preventing tragedies regarding driving under the influence that we have launched a new smartphone app appropriately named ‘I’M DRUNK’ for both Apple and Android cell phones with a simple goal in mind: ‘Two Clicks to Save a Life,’” said Tom Marquardt, the co-owner of the I’M DRUNK app. “The I’M DRUNK application allows any user who had too much to drink to simply secure a safe ride home.”

RISE Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission of providing resources for the communities it serves, will be building a health and community center in Esparto. The project has been in the works for 15 years, and with the help of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, the facility will become a reality, with hopes of completion in 2020.

Tico Zendejas, the executive director of RISE, explained how the organization started.

“RISE is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that was established in 1987, so we’ve been serving the rural communities of Yolo County for over 30 years,” Zendejas said. “RISE stands for rural, innovations and social economics. We have a wide range of programs, from a brand new preschool that we opened about a year and a half ago through a senior citizen recreation program and everywhere in between.”

Meanwhile, the health and community project has been on the back burner.

“It’s been an identified need for many many years,” Zendejas said. “I’ve been with RISE for 13 years, and it was already an established need then. We are a rural community where access to a health clinic is challenging for some. It has always been a need that several community members have been working on over the years — trying to bring and build a health clinic out here in Esparto.”

The project was made possible due in part to Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s funding.

The tribe has been giving back to the community. In addition to the health center, it

has worked on providing an Esparto park and aquatic center.

“The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is providing $1.5 million to complete the Esparto Community Park & Aquatic Center. This donation is the first from the ‘compact credits’ now available under Yocha Dehe’s 2016 gaming compact with the State of California,” according to Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s press release.

Duane Chamberlain, the Yolo County supervisor, represents the community and stated that the different projects in Esparto are just the start of what’s to come.

“With these land acquisitions, the tribe is empowering the community to enhance Esparto by bringing both the long-needed aquatic center and the community health center to reality, as well as paving the way for other desired developments in the future,” Chamberlain said to The Davis Enterprise.

Zendejas noted how the community considers the center to be a significant need in the area.

“Most recently, about a couple years ago, there was a large action plan where many community members came to talk about needs,” Zendejas said. “Number one was a health clinic. Close to that was more community services and youth or senior programs.”

He noted that the original proposal of a health clinic has developed and expanded over time. Now, the organization plans to build a space for the community’s social and health-related needs.

“Our organization has been working with other individuals to bring a health clinic, and there were always some roadblocks,” Zendejas said. “That’s when I really started doing research and coming up with this concept of a brand new facility that houses a full medical and dental clinic, but also provide a new facility for RISE and all our RISE on 12

, Welcome Back Aggies!

FAQ #1 mondavi center ad

Q: Aren’t the free tickets just for first-year students?

Indian Heritage Center to receive $100 million in funding

A: Not anymore. Every UC Davis student gets ONE FREE TICKET!

Indian Heritage Center received money from California to build a new cultural center

Go to: mondaviarts.org/students for details.

JAMIE CHEN / AGGIE

alt-Latino

Las Cafeteras and Villalobos Brothers FRI, JAN 25 | 8PM Las Cafeteras, the “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip hop, beat music, cumbia and rock,” (Los Angeles Times) are remixing roots music and telling modern-day stories using music as a vehicle to build cultural bridges.

BY JO HN RE G I D O R city@theaggie.org

Through the opening weeks of 2019, the West Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to approve the transfer of funds to allow California to build a $100 million California Indian Heritage Center. They also agreed to allot 43 acres for the project on a riverfront campus in West Sacramento. Jakeclark Bennett, a first-year at San Francisco State University, was thrilled by the decision.

“I personally feel this grant will help Native Americans financially,” Bennett said.

“After kicking them out of their grounds throughout history, I felt this is the right step in giving back to them.”

The project will cost about $200 million, so another $100 million will need to be raised through donations.

This new heritage center is expected to replace the State Museum at Sutter’s Fort State Historical Park in Sacramento. The proposed project will include approximately 120,000 square feet of building space with an orientation center, library, collection storage, public art, outdoor plaza, exhibits, and educational facilities. In doing this, the California Indian Heritage Center hopes to honor the diversity and history of California Indians by preserving their culture and tribal traditions. It also hopes to facilitate research and HERITAGE CENTER on 11

The Villalobos Brothers are internationally acclaimed as one of today’s leading contemporary Mexican ensembles, masterfully blending the richness of Mexican folk music with the intricate harmonies of jazz and classical music.

Support provided by UC Davis Global Affairs

>

#mondavicenter

UC Davis student tickets start at $12.50.

mondaviarts.org mondaviarts.org/students

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

4 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

TA LIA B ASMA / COU RTESY

OTHER COLLECTIVE BRINGS DIS-ORIENTALIST EXPRESSION TO CAMPUS

New student-run cultural magazine Other Collective offers students publication experience

BY OLIVIA LUCHINI features@theaggie.org

University settings create ample opportunities for students to establish a voice for themselves through clubs and campus publications. Through increased effort, students

work to bring these opportunities to fellow classmates who often do not see their own opinions and experiences predominantly on campus.

According to their Facebook page, Other Collective has goals to create a platform for “individuals affiliated with the culture and

issues surrounding the regions of West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Caucasus, and North Africa (countries encompassed by the Middle East and South Asia Studies program at UC Davis).” The publication hopes to spark discussion and story-sharing from students in relation to the previously listed areas. This publication was created in order to challenge “the media’s stereotypical clumping or antagonizing of these cultures as a result of today’s polarized global/political climate.”

Fourth-year English major Talia Basma serves as the arts and culture editor for Other Collective. She was brought into the publication based on her background in creative writing. She and the rest of the editors began collecting pieces for online publication during the summer of 2018 for their eventual launch in Fall Quarter 2018.

“The idea behind Other Collective is to give students at Davis a space to talk about what it means to be ‘other,’” Basma said.

“Many of the people on the team are part of that group of people who have to mark ‘other’ on the identification box of so many forms and applications that we come across in our lives.”

Basma noted the importance of the publication considering today’s political climate, which she sees as driven predominantly by

NEW YEAR, NEW ME: STUDENTS DISCUSS NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS Students share why they make or don’t make resolutions at the start of a new year

BY ANJINI VENUGOPAL features@theaggie.org

The time leading up to each new year comes with an onslaught of talk about the things and people to be left behind, and 2018 was no different. Once the new year arrives, new year’s resolutions tend to be a huge topic of conversation. For some students, new year’s resolutions are a means to improve, whereas others see it as a social pressure that won’t result in lasting change.

First-year undeclared major C.C. Clark has made resolutions every year but only started actually following through on them last year, when she started making more impactful resolutions. She emphatically believes that resolutions are the best. “[Resolutions] improve your life and the lives of those around [you],” Clark said. “I think that everybody should make resolutions — you don’t have to wait for the new year to make a change [either]. There is just one moment when you decide ‘this part of my life isn’t going well, I’m going to fix it’ — and that one decision is all that it takes.”

Clark has a list of resolutions for this year, including varying goals such as being timely, reducing her carbon footprint and giving back to the Davis community. It’s not

just around New Year’s Day that she resolves to try to improve herself, however, but she acknowledged that the new year does offer a good opportunity to consider future change.

“The end of a year and the start of a new one is a time to really reflect on your life, what’s going well [and] what isn’t, and decide what big change you want to make,” Clark said, “Or decide on the positive parts of your life that you want to amplify.”

First-year microbiology major Jennifer Gomberg decided to focus on improving her sleep habits this year, but she acknowledged that there are some societal expectations to make a resolution for the new year and that it can be hard to follow through.

“As long as you’re motivated, and you have the determination, I think that’s what will propel you to actually complete the goal rather than saying ‘Oh, it’s New Year’s, I got to make a resolution,’” Gomberg said. “And that could be any time of the year rather than January.”

Gomberg believes that making goals for oneself, as opposed to following more generic trends or resolutions, increases motivation and discussed how the lack of follow-through that some people face can be avoided.

For other students like first-year pharmaceutical chemistry major Jennifer Tran, new year’s resolutions are too associated with short term goals. Tran believes that the pressure of creating resolutions makes people jump into things they aren’t necessarily

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ROBOTIC LAWN MOWER THAT CUTS GRASS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS MISPLACED SINCE NOV. 8 After using the Miimo robotic lawn mower to cut grass on campus, the machine is now missing

BY MARGO ROSENBAUM features@theaggie.org

Outside Voorhies Hall and the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) building, a white plastic Roomba-like machine used to roam around the lawn, automatically shortening the grass on its own. It’s quiet, very quiet. As of Nov. 8, however, the robot has been missing — it was last seen on that Thursday back in the dock it resides in at

night.

The campus robot is Honda’s Miimo lawn mower, a quiet, self-contained device with an electric wire, which is in charge of mowing the lawn in a very specified, small green area. When programing the machine, perimeters are set for a specific area and it continues to mow 24/7, said Tyson Mantor, the superintendent of ground and landscape services.

According to Miimo’s website, the ma-

stereotypes.

“So much of the news and things we see online are coming from a stereotyped or orientalist viewpoint,” Basma said. “So, we decided to take things into our own hands and become a dis-orientalist magazine.”

The publication is currently up and running through their website, publishing only online for now. Basma stated that their goal is to eventually move into the medium of a physical, in-print publication as well.

“Since we are so new, our focus is to increase awareness, participation and readers for the magazine,” Basma said. “We are hoping to curate a print for next year that will be a periodical collection of the best work we have to offer.”

This sense of community has been one of the most impactful aspects for students involved in Other Collective. Members have found comfort in each other’s shared “otherness,” discovering a newfound ability to share the unique feelings that accompany this.

“All of us have different career paths and hobbies, but we all have the background of ‘other’ that bonds us,” Basma said. “We want this magazine to be an outlet for anyone who has ever felt out of place, [we want it to be] a space to connect with other people so no one ever feels alone.”

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ready for, leading them to inevitably stop trying to reach that goal later on.

“You just associate resolutions with [New Year’s] Day, and it’s short term,” Tran said.

“The whole point of a resolution is for you to stick to it. If it’s really something you want to change, why would you wait till that specific time of the year when you could have done it sooner?”

Tran also believes that resolutions tend to set high expectations, which makes failing to meet them even worse. She thinks that society contributes to these high expectations by dictating what resolutions are most acceptable.

“A resolution should be just for the individual. It shouldn’t be based on just what society wants or what you want other people to think of you,” Tran said. “Even if you don’t meet [a resolution] at that time and you fail, you think to yourself, ‘I’ll put it off till the next year.’ What you’re doing is dis-

couraging yourself, in the end making you feel guilty and imperfect. Everybody has their own pace of changing themselves.”

First-year communication major Ulises Castorena agreed with Tran in some regards, citing society’s role in individual’s new year’s resolution choices.

“As a society, when we do new year’s resolutions, we put these extravagant goals,” Castorena said, “We just idealize what we want, instead of putting more realistic goals [...] In the end, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to achieve them. And when we don’t achieve them, we just collapse under pressure, and I just feel like, in a way, it does more damage than good.”

Castorena understands why the new year is the time that many people choose for introspection but believes that it isn’t always necessary.

chine mows and charges independently and uses a microcomputer, timer and sensors to provide “automated, precise, unattended grass cutting.”

“It goes over the area like a roomba in the house,” said Matt Forest, the UC Davis grounds supervisor.

The machine does have its limitations, so it only works in this particular location at UC Davis because it is small, Cary Avery, the associative director of grounds and landscape services, explained.

“We have such a large campus, so we can only utilize it in very specific situations,” Mantor said. “It is very cool to use in small courtyards, since it takes so much time for our guys to go in and hand mow that area.”

After around two months of using the machine, grounds and landscape services had no problems using it other than the occasional shut down due to being dirty.

“It sensed that it was dirty and stopped,” Forrest said. “We blew it out and cleaned it up and reset the password.”

As for the disappearance of the mower, Forrest said that it was either misplaced or stolen.

“When Honda offered to leave it with us on campus, I was not concerned that security would be that big of a deal,” Forrest said.

Forrest said that stealing the machine is useless since in order to use it, one needs to know how to program it, which requires its dock.

“It is missing and we’d like to have it back,” Forrest said.

The California Air and Water Resource Board contacted UC Davis about whether it would be interested in trying out a new robotic lawn mower made by Honda, Avery said. UC Davis agreed. After several conversations over the course of six months, grounds and landscape services were able to bring a new Miimo to campus.

“We are really doing this for the Honda Cooperation as a test site,” Avery said.

The Miimo is not on the market yet, Forrest said, since it has not been approved for retail release in California.

“We will [be] giving them feedback and see how it works,” Forrest said. “It’s pretty handy and does its thing, but it does have limited applications.”

Using the Miimo lawn mower reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released, Mantor said; grounds and landscape services is always looking for sustainable and green technologies.

“We are very interested in any new technologies that reduce emissions, pesticide use, and we want to experiment more with battery operated equipment,” Avery said.

Mantor has hope that UC Davis can implement more of these technologies in the future.

“The technology shows promise and I’m looking forward to using more [of this] technology,” Mantor said.

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PROFILE: MOLLY MORITZBURKE

Student artist and Bike Barn mechanic finds ways to combine her passions

BY CAROLINE RUTTEN arts@theaggie.org

Molly Moritzburke, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, might be a familiar face at the Bike Barn. As manager of the campus-favorite repair shop, she is either running the register, training new mechanics or getting her hands greasy in the workshop.

“I started working here when I was a sophomore,” Moritzburke said. “I have been into mountain biking for a really long time. When I got to Davis, I didn’t really have an outlet for that. I thought that working on bikes would be a good alternative to riding bikes.”

Moritzburke is not only mechanically minded in terms of academics and bikes, she’s also an artist by nature.

“I have always been really into art as a kid, and thought I wanted to be an artist and go into art as a major,” Moritzburke said. “I screen print T-shirts for myself and friends now, and I do mostly acrylic painting. After a certain point I became interested in science and engineering as well, and I decided that would be a more fitting career path for me. But I still keep art

in my life.”

Specifically, she sustains her artistic talent through the art she does for the Bike Barn.

Moritzburke illustrates the quirky promotional signs that decorate the repair shop, from aggressive turkeys to Freddie Mercury.

“I usually update them twice a quarter, following the seasons and what’s going on in the area,” Moritzburke said. “It’s fun for me to have an artistic outlet at work, but it also provides information and attracts customers. The Freddie Mercury one was on UC Davis Snaps, and I’ve had people comment on my signs in the store.”

Beyond illustration, Moritzburke has begun to paint bikes — her two seemingly-unrelated passions intertwining even more directly. Using acrylic paint and a clear coating to finish, Moritzburke creates intricate, abstract designs on various bikes for friends and family.

“When you paint a bike, you have to start from a blank slate,” Moritzburke said. “My aunt had this old bike that the paint was coming off of, so she had all the paint taken off and base coated blue. She told me to do whatever I wanted on it. I don’t usually have an idea before I start. I’ll paint just blocks of color on the bike and then it will develop from there.”

While her practice is unaffiliated with the Bike Barn, polishing her mechanical dexterity at work has aided the hands-on skills necessary in her personal artistic venture.

“Working [at the Bike Barn] gave me the

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skills to do a lot of things that are necessary to painting bikes — how to take apart bikes, what materials I need to use to make it possible to paint a bike,” Moritzburke said. “Usually you have to take apart the bike completely to paint it, because you don’t want to get paint on any of the threaded surfaces. To strip the paint off the bike, I use a drill with a steel-wool like material attachment or just hand scrub it.”

The Bike Barn then becomes a setting for repairs, tune ups and creativity alike.

“I think the Bike Barn pulls on a lot of my interests: art, engineering and bikes,” Moritzburke said. “Those are the main things I think about on a daily basis. It’s been interesting to see how these things fit in together. The inspiring thing has been finding that meshing.”

Moritzburke isn’t the only employee who participates in the Bike Barn’s aesthetic possibilities. Other employees collectively contribute

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DRAFT HORSE AND DRIVING CLUB CARTS IN MEMBERS TO LEARN ABOUT DRIVING HORSES UC Davis Draft Horse and Driving Club teaches horsemanship and driving skills to both experienced and inexperienced horsemen

BY MARGO ROSENBAUM arts@theaggie.org

Trotting past the sea of bikes, skateboards, walkers and buses are Olive and Dee, two Percheron mares, ages 10 and seven respectively. They traipse across the grassy Auad at peak commute time between classes pulling their wagon, which holds smiling members of the Draft Horse and Driving Club.

The Draft Horse and Driving Club, a

student-run club that teaches its members how to drive draft horses in both team and single carts, has been a staple at UC Davis for 12 years. One of the past Horse Barn managers started the club when he was a student and continued it until he eventually became the barn manager.

The club meets at the Horse Barn and provides eight three-hour practice times: two on Tuesdays and one each day Monday through Saturday. The president of the club, third-year animal science major Christy

Collins, said that members do not have to come to all of the drives; they have many options for involvement, so students have a lot of opportunities to come.

“Just the horses, getting to drive, getting to go out and about on campus — it has been a very fun, very cool experience,” said Keely Davies a fifth-year animal biology major and club member.

“Any student or anyone affiliated with UC Davis can join the club; there is no horse experience required,” Collins said.

to the artistic energy of the shop, playing off the physical space that attracted them initially.

“There’s always good music playing, our space is really eclectic,” Moritzburke said.

“You don’t come in here and think that it’s clean or organized. But it is a space that draws in a lot of creative employees. We have musicians and graphic designers and more. It makes it a really interesting place to work, and we try to hire people who would enjoy working in this environment. I think that draws in those types of people naturally.”

A long table lives within the mechanic-only area of the Bike Barn, where workers discuss and hangout to the tune of hammers, loud music and sparks flying. Creativity, in this case, finds a home in a rather unlikely space, yet simultaneously and ironically, without surprise.

For Moritzburke, “it’s more than about working on bikes.”

“I didn’t have real horse experience before I joined, so I thought it was a different challenge,” said the Vice President of the club and fourth-year biological-sciences major Henrique Noro Frizzo. “And you have to learn how to deal with the horses, and since I have become an officer, the people too, and that’s really cool.”

Collins said that 270 people are signed up on the roster but closer to 40 to 50 actually show up to drives consistently. How many people come usually depends on the day of the week. During the week, usually around 4 to 7 people show up, but on Saturdays anywhere from 8 to 15 people will attend.

The club is hired for many events for different university departments like Horse Day or parades for Picnic Day. For some events, people just want the aesthetic look of the horses and wagon, and for others, they want rides. Even though the club is not paid for these events, Collins said that they like doing them because they enjoy it, in addition to receiving publicity and making connections with professors.

To join, Frizzo said that people should just show up to one of the drives at any point in the quarter. They can meet the club members at the back-east corner of the Horse Barn; the first drive for the club is free.

For new members, Collins said they start by driving in the arena. Once they learn how to drive, they work their way up to driving on a bike path in the arboretum or out west on the road by the Sheep Barn and Beef Facility. Once members are very comfortable driving, they go on campus in the quad.

“We teach them everything they need to know with handling draft horses, grooming them, driving them and all the steps in beHORSE DRIVING CLUB on 11

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Opinion THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE EDITO R I A L B OA R D EMILY STACK Editor-in-Chief

During active shooter crisis, students step up to ensure safety Students provided rides, shelter, communication on social media

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

After a shooter killed 22-year-old police officer Natalie Corona in downtown Davis last Thursday, our tight-knit community was faced head-on with the realities and dangers of gun violence. Each time news breaks about another shooting, the same thoughts come to mind: why so often, how can this be prevented, something has to change. But when tragedy strikes in your own backyard, the questions become more personal and the outcomes more painful: what if, why here, why not me?

Corona was the same age as many UC Davis students, and was sworn into the police force just two weeks before her death. The shooter, Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, lived only four blocks from campus and had two semiautomatic pistols in his possession.

While Davis has the reputation of being a sheltered college town, Thursday’s incident proves that no one is exempt from a narrative that has become all too familiar in the United States.

Limbaugh, a 48-year-old Davis resident, was prohibited from owning firearms after being convicted of battery for punching a coworker in September. At the time, Limbaugh was ordered to surrender any weapons that he owned to the police. While Limbaugh did turn in a rifle after the battery conviction, he obtained at least two semiautomatic weapons in the last two months, according to the Sacramento Bee. It’s nauseating to think that a person with a criminal record, deemed unfit to own firearms, would have access to weapons of any kind, let alone a semiautomatic handgun. It’s even more unsettling to discover that the person lives just steps away from your home, school or place of work. Perhaps the worst part of all,

though, is knowing that policymakers in Washington can’t even keep the government open, let alone make progress on gun control.

While last Thursday’s shooting brings up feelings of fear, grief and anger on both a personal and a national level, it’s also important to recognize acts of resilience and camaraderie exemplified by our student body while the shooter was at large and people were on lockdown.

Following the shooting, police spent nearly six hours trying to locate Limbaugh, who fled the scene where Corona was killed. During that time, downtown Davis was in an active shooter situation.

Although some students didn’t receive a campus alert due to a technological glitch, community members used social media as a tool to spread the word and protect each other’s safety. A Facebook post by UC Davis warning of the shooter had over 1,200 shares and a similar post by The California Aggie had 562 shares. Further, there were many stories of students offering rides home to strangers and hosting friends overnight to avoid traveling through town. Clubs and organizations also issued emergency check-ins for their members to make sure that students were accounted for and in a safe place.

When it feels like we fear for our safety more often than ever before, it’s comforting to know that members of the campus community are ready and willing to take care of each other. The Editorial Board thanks those who went out of their way to share safety notices, check in with friends and protect each other last Thursday, likely helping to prevent additional harm or injury in the wake of an already tragic shooting.

Why farmers must use nitrogen fertilizers efficiently CALIFORNIA HAS THE WORST AIR QUALITY IN THE NATION — MOSTLY DUE TO NITROGEN OXIDE EMISSIONS

BY DA N I E L O R O P E ZA daoropeza@ucdavis.edu

Fertilizers for crops are an achievement that have propelled society forward: about half the population of Earth is currently fed by the innovation of crop fertilizers. But the magnitude of this tool also has its implications. Plants can only take in so much nitrogen from the fertilizers, and when that plant reaches its maximum capacity intake for nitrogen, the rest stays in the soil, where it starts polluting our environment and contributing to climate change.

California’s Air Resource Board, the state’s voice on contributions to air pollution, estimates that about 4 percent of California’s nitrogen oxide emissions come from fertilizers. Our energies have been focused on what we thought was the leading cause of nitrogen oxide emissions to the atmosphere: transportation.

California implemented the smog check to control the amount of carbon dioxide coming from vehicles. Yet California has

the nation’s worst air quality, according to a 2017 report from the Lung Association.

In 2018 it was discovered how grossly miscalculated the actual damage nitrogen oxide emissions from fertilizers contribute to air pollution. A recent study from UC Davis shows that up to 41 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions come from overused fertilizer in soils. The Central Valley, which produces one third of the country’s vegetables and two thirds of its fruits, has the highest amount of air pollution in all of California. Central Valley’s bowl-like topography along with its hot dry climate is a recipe for disaster for its residents. It’s no surprise that cities like Fresno have 70,000 residents with asthma.

The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution causes one in eight premature deaths and is associated with increased risk of asthma, cancer and birth defects. Unfortunately, nitrogen oxide emissions are not just detrimental to our health, but to climate change as well.

Nitrogen oxide is a greenhouse gas, and like any other, it makes the Earth warmer and therefore causes climate change.

Nitrogen oxide also reacts in the air to produce ozone pollution, another greenhouse gas that is toxic for humans and the environment.

The problem of nitrogen oxide can be easily solved now that we know where it really comes from. Just like we focused our attention on cars when we thought they were the leading cause of nitrogen oxide pollution, we must now turn our attention to farmers using nitrogen fertilizers. The good news is that this is a very easy fix. A simple program that incentivises farmers to use fertilizer more sustainably and efficiently will help them save money by using the right amount of fertilizer and it would help reduce pollution to the environment, thereby mitigating the effects of global warming.

Such a program will reward those farmers who use fertilizer most efficiently, thereby creating a healthy competition between farmers to apply fertilizer

adequately. This will shape the culture of farming in a more sustainable way by instilling proper techniques and can create new jobs since farmers will need soil technicians to help them measure the right amounts of fertilizer needed for every crop.

By implementing these incentive programs, the free market could also jump in to develop new technologies that could help farmers use fertilizer more efficiently, such as controlled fertilizer drip irrigation systems like the ones currently used for watering crops. More controlled, natural depositions of fertilizer have proven to improve the intake of fertilizer from plants. Innovations can also come in the form of green infrastructure projects to prevent nitrogen runoff or catalytic converters that take out extra nitrogen from the soils. Currently, California loses tens of billions of dollars every year in health-related costs of air pollution.

When this problem is resolved, California’s economy could be stronger than ever before.

Trump begins to right the wrong on America’s disastrous foreign policy THE WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICAN FORCES FROM SYRIA FINALLY MOVES THE U.S. AWAY FROM ITS CATASTROPHIC MILITARY ENDEAVORS

BY BRA N D O N J E T T E R brjetter@ucdavis.edu

It’s time to give credit where credit is due.

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, in addition to halving the number present in Afghanistan, has largely been met with universal disdain from both sides of the political spectrum, as well as by many of the military’s establishment elite. Yet this momentous policy decision represents the first departure from the status quo of disastrous, interventionist American foreign policy since the post-War era.

America’s involvement in the war in

Syria — defined by questionable legality, the arming and funding of suspect rebel groups and a generally vague strategic agenda — has gone mostly unchecked by a mainstream media that seems increasingly interested in petty politics and less concerned with checking the powers of America’s imperialist managerial state.

Similarly, after 17 years of deadly and largely ineffective combat in Afghanistan, media coverage of the war is almost non-existent — and when it does cover the conflict, it is conducted with little regard for transparency. Both the war in Afghanistan and the ongoing American intervention in Syria project a muddled coverage of the American war machine,

often featuring contradictory reports, inconsistent narratives and, according to some, fabricated stories. The failure of the mainstream media to provide consistent and unbiased coverage of America’s foreign policy endeavors has done little to alleviate the anxieties of an anti-war crowd that sees the media as complicit in fueling disastrous American military endeavors.

So it came as no surprise this week that Trump’s positioning toward a less interventionist military strategy was met with nearly universal disdain from the country’s biggest and most powerful media outlets. But perhaps more disturbing was the similarly uniform statements of contempt expressed by both aisles of Ameri-

ca’s political establishment.

Democrat elites have jumped on the decision as an opportunity to continue to push the bizarre narrative of Trump being subversive to Russian influence, while hawkish Republicans have accused the president of rash and impulsive decision making. Yet ending catastrophic foreign policy blunders was a key component of Trump’s presidential campaign agenda, one of the few issues that had cross-spectrum appeal to both left and right populists. In fact, the pacified variant of neoconservative policy adopted by Trump during the first two years of his JETTER on 12

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HUMOR

Professor’s classic rant about packing up early works for the first time ever

Language Class

BY ROS E Y MO REARTY rosey@morearty.org

STUDENTS ACTUALLY TAKE NOTES UNTIL PROFESSOR EXCUSES THEM

BY M A D EL I N E KU MAGA I mskumagai@ucdavis.edu

A professor became enraged one day when his students began packing up when there were approximately three minutes of class left. He was getting to the most important part of an organic chemistry reaction when he heard a chorus of backpack zippers, shuffling papers and creaking desks.

“This is going to be on your midterm!

This is important stuff!” he huffed at his pupils. The sounds of packing up subsided for about four seconds before crescendoing into a deafening roar. He couldn’t have told his students about aldehyde even if he had screamed the rest of the lesson. With his cheeks puffed out and his face as red as a Unitrans bus, the professor vowed to never let this happen again.

At the next lecture, when the disgruntled professor first heard the telltale thump! of a Macbook Pro being closed at 11:56 a.m., he cleared his throat and said, “Class is over when I say it’s over!”

The students looked around in shock.

How bold! How daring! They slowly reopened their laptops, put away their Hydroflasks and turned their attention towards their professor. ‘It worked!’ thought

the professor, rubbing his hands together like a cartoon villain. He resumed the lecture.

“So! If you want to get this Mannich reaction problem right on your midterm, you’ve gotta draw the arrow like so...” He finished writing out the solution, but to his pupils’ shock, he continued teaching.

“Now, I know you all want to leave, but there’s gonna be a lot of material on this upcoming midterm, and I just want to make sure we cover it all before next class.”

He introduced a different problem.

Soon the minute hand reached 12, but the professor kept going. His students, glued to their seats by his magic words, continued to take notes. “...And that’s how you make a phenol,” he said. “Goodness gracious, look at the time! I seem to have gotten a little carried away there, my apologies. But please DO NOT pack up when I am teaching. It’s disrespectful.”

The students checked their phones, and to their horror, it was the year 2028.

“I know it took a little extra time to get through those last few topics, but I still expect you all to know how to solve these problems on next week’s exam,” the professor said. “Thank you for your patience.”

D ISC L A I M ER: Th e v iews a n d opi ni 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 alone and do no t necessari l y i ndi cate the vi ews an d o p in ion s h eld by The C al i fo rni a Ag g i e. Le tte r s to th e e ditor can be addre sse d to opini o n@theaggi e.o rg.

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SCIENCE+TECH W R IT I N G SC I E N C E / P UBLI C D O M AI N

The science behind writing UC Davis science faculty find incorporating writing into traditional science classes improves academic performance among students

BY FOXY RO BI N S O N science@theaggie.org

Writing may not be every scientist’s favorite subject. In order to change this, some UC Davis science professors are starting to incorporate writing into science coursework, from entry-level biological science courses to advanced, upper-division biochemistry and cell biology courses.

“Every discipline needs strong writing skills,” said Scott Dawson, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. “You are always teaching something in some way. As scientists, we have to convey something that we know to other people – other scientists, lab members or non-scientists. There’s jargon and concepts that might not be common knowledge.”

Students enrolled in Dawson’s BIS 10, biological sciences for non-Science majors, were tasked with drafting up public service announcements. Students wrote their own scripts detailing pressing public health con-

cerns, including Human Papilloma Virus, and the scientific concepts involved, such as how viruses hijack human cells. The videos were then shared across campus, encouraging students to think of creative ways to reach each other through writing and video while building a foundation in science concepts.

“Writing takes scientific information and helps you understand it better,” Dawson said. “Science is a language — you need to go beyond the memorization part of learning science as [a] language to speaking it as a way of practicing your understanding.”

The goal of the course, according to Dawson, was to teach science literacy so students could make informed choices in the future, even if they choose non-science professions.

Mona Monfared, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, reached a similar conclusion in her BIS 102, Structure and Function of Biomolecules, and BIS 103, Bioenergetics and Metabolism, courses.

Monfared surveyed students in BIS 102

courses with and without writing assignments over a period of several quarters.

During the quarters with writing assignments, she included two 350-word assignments. Students explored a topic related to class and wrote about the biochemical concepts involved.

Monfared found students appreciated building their writing experience after completing the process in class. For students enrolled in BIS 102 courses who had little writing experience, 58 percent indicated a need for practicing their knowledge and reading through writing assignments. On average, over 60 percent of students appreciated the ability to write after completing the upper-division science course. Over 90 percent of students enjoyed the opportunity to select a course topic to write about.

Additionally, students saw the assignments as a way to apply their critical thinking skills. Over 60 percent of students indicated they were able to use their problem detection, diagnosis and solving skills.

“Students like to read each other’s writing and be able to give and receive feedback,” Monfared said. “However, they do not like being evaluated during the peer-review process.”

“Students in science classes encounter writing apprehension,” Monfared said.

Writing apprehension refers to anxiety about writing which can lead to avoiding writing and evaluations based on writing.

To tackle this anxiety, Silvia Carrasco Garcia, a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, applied collaborative writing to relieve academic pressure and encourage students to work together to build a stronger understanding of course materials.

Carrasco Garcia teaches BIS 104 Cell Biology. In the course, Carrasco Garcia assigned students into groups of three to complete writing assignments based on each

model of cell biology. Students designed experiments to answer questions posed by primary literature, learning to deconstruct research articles.

One student wrote down the group’s answers, but only if the group came to a consensus on an answer. This left the other two group members with ample time to discuss their understanding of the concepts and receive immediate feedback, shaping their understanding and their ability to communicate with each other.

“After looking at the surveys, a majority of students say that the writing assignments helped them to review content for the class and know what I expect them to learn,” Carrasco Garcia said. “At the beginning of the course, students take a pre-assessment on their understanding of experimental design and concepts. At the final, you see the growth in their understanding. Over 70 percent achieve full marks for the experimental design component.”

Another benefit from encouraging students to collaborate in their writing has been the class dynamic. The environment becomes a welcoming space for students to learn from each other and help each other identify gaps in their knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Students leave each class with stronger class relationships and collaborative study groups.

“For a school like UC Davis, the science classes are really large,” Dawson said. “A lot of the exams tend to be scantron-based or multiple-choice and not short answer or papers, to accommodate for 400 students.”

Although class sizes are large, perhaps a new method to engage student learning involves writing, encouraging students to learn from each other and leaving them with a written record of their academic growth and progress in becoming the next generation of scientists.

Researchers Study Sierra Nevada Lakes In Changing Climate

Mouse Biology Program discovers new genes associated with eye abnormalities

Crucial factor identified in effort to better understand how global warming will alter alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada mountain range

Rodent genome phenotyping may shed light on human ophthalmological diseases

EYE DISEASE / PU B LIC DOMA IN

ADR I A N N E S M I TS / CO URTESY

BY P ET E R SM I T H science@theaggie.org

UC Davis researchers published a study in December examining how climate change is affecting lakes in the Sierra Nevada. The researchers worked with data that had been collected at Emerald Lake in Sequoia National park over the course of 35 years and found that while air temperature around the lakes rose during that time span, the temperature of the water varied widely and was driven by the level of snowmelt in the area.

“The rate of air temperature warming that we measured in that basin in the Southern Sierras was really high, over a degree per decade,” said Steven Sandro, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at UC Davis and a researcher in the study. “The response in lake temperature over that same period was highly variable, and the reason it was highly variable is because the lake was responding to changes in snow deposition much more so than changes in air temperature.”

The findings are based on the remarkably strong correlation between snowpack, layers of snow that accumulate in high altitudes, and lake temperature as demonstrated in the scientist’s paper. A snowpack is a mediator between the lakes and climate because lake temperature is affected by the snowpack, which in turn is changing due to climate change.

“Snow is like a master variable that really controls how these lakes function. If we lose the snowpack, we lose a lot of the functionality of our lakes,” said James Sickman, a researcher at UC Riverside and a co-author on the paper. “I think the biggest effect of climate change in the Sierra Lakes is going to be the effect on the snowpack.”

Still, snow is only one intermediate vari-

able.

The researchers want to create a picture of all the large factors affecting how individual lakes react to climate change. UC Davis graduate student Andrianne Smits is leading a project to deploy additional sensors across the Sierra Nevada to monitor a variety of alpine lakes.

The researchers want to understand how variables like the steepness, size or altitude of the slopes around the lake influence the water temperature and how those factors interact with the changing climate. For the past two summers, Smits and a field team, which included UC Davis students, have hiked to a variety of remote Sierra lakes to deploy sensor arrays which monitor lake temperatures at different depths and provide information about the ice cover.

The scientists hope they can use the data to build models which will give the public a better idea of how the lakes will change and allow conservators to target vulnerable lakes.

“What we are trying to do is build a model that will allow us to know what kinds of lakes in the Sierra are more sensitive to climate change, so which are going to change more than others, which are more responsive to climate,” Smits said.

“Some lakes are going to do the same thing every year regardless of climate, and others are going to change very rapidly.”

According to Sickman, this type of research is crucial because lakes are important and scientists have much to learn.

“They provide a lot of environmental services for Californians, beyond recreation,” Sickman said. “Most of our most important watersheds are up in the Sierra Nevada, so we need to do these kinds of fundamental studies of how the chemistry, biology and hydrology of the Sierra Nevada function, and how they are being affected by our actions.”

BY MICH E LLE WO NG science@theaggie.org

Imagine an assembly line of 20,000 mice being individually examined from head to toe. This is the project the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium is tackling as entities of this consortium all around the world, including the UC Davis Mouse Biology Program, are creating single knockout mice with one particular gene knocked out for every gene in the mouse genome.

According to Kent Lloyd, a professor in the Department of Surgery in the School of Medicine and the director of the UC Davis Mouse Biology Program, the Mouse Biology Program was established with the vision of creating a scientific program concerning the use of genetically-altered mice for biomedical research.

“There was no other thing like that in the world and we thought it would be good to be able to combine a number of different expertise and technologies and resources in one site to create an academic scientific program to foster, facilitate and help others use mutant mice for biomedical research,” Lloyd said.

Although the phenotyping of the entire mouse genome is yet to be completed, a team led by Ala Moshiri, an opthamologist at the UC Davis Eye Center, recently decided to examine the data collected so far to determine how many of the phenotyped mice had eye problems.

According to Bret Moore, a third-year ophthalmology resident in veterinary medicine, first-year residents are heavily involved with the eye portion of phenotyping mice in the Mouse Biology Program. After being trained to look for abnormalities in eye development his first year, he was encouraged by Christopher Murphy, a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, to continue looking at

the genes.

Within the 4,364 examined mice, the team discovered that 347 genes were found to cause eye abnormalities and collated this data into a research paper. Through comparing these genes with medical literature, the genes were then organized into three categories: genes that were already known to cause ocular abnormalities, genes that had an implied function in the eye but were not associated with abnormalities and genes that were novel in terms of eye association. Once categorized, the results showed that 75 percent of these genes had not been previously known to be associated with eye abnormalities.

“I would have thought that we would of had basically most of them figured out already and that a smaller percentage of them would be new,” Moshiri said. “But you know biology is constantly surprising.

That’s why it’s always so interesting because it’s full of surprises. As soon as you think you know something you realize, Mother Nature shows you that you didn’t know the whole picture.”

With these new genes known to influence ocular phenotypes in mice, Moshiri hopes that they can now serve as potential candidate genes for human researchers who have patients with presumed hereditary blindness which they can screen for, as there is almost a one-to-one relationship between each gene in the mouse genome and each gene in the human genome. Currently, even patients who go through the maximum genetic sequencing possible are not guaranteed a diagnosis since not all of the eye disease genes are known within the medical community.

In addition, the preserved knockout mice can potentially be revived for developing treatments and therapies if a patient is found to have a ophthalmic disease associEYE DISEASE on 11

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Review: Bird Box Netflix film challenges societal standards of motherhood, mental illness A L LYSO N KO / AG G I E

BY JOSH M A D RI D arts@theaggie.org

On Dec. 13, Netflix released “Bird Box,” an original film that is both a thriller and an existential drama which digs into the presumptions society has about motherhood and those with severe mental illness.

Malorie, played by Sandra Bullock, finds herself locked in a house with half a dozen strangers, unable to go outside or even look

A L LYSO N KO / AG G I E

BY A LYSSA I L SL E Y arts@theaggie.org

It’s safe to say that television has changed a lot in the past 50 years. Gone are the days of flipping through channels or watching tacky game shows because there is nothing else on.

Television has evolved from black and white consoles to high definition, from the introduction of TiVo allowing viewers to record live broadcasts to streaming sites offering endless viewing options at the click of a button.

Viewers themselves have changed as well.

They are more picky and demand more from the content they choose to watch.

There is a move toward increasingly niche and specific programming in the market because viewers can watch whatever they want whenever they want. The world the viewer is living in has changed as well. The social and political climate is vastly different than

out a window. The consequence of doing either would result in an entity revealing something so despicable in their eyes that it causes them to commit suicide. To reach safety, Malorie and her two children risk their lives and row down a river blindfolded.

Malorie is pregnant at the beginning of the film, and it’s clear that she tries to avoid thinking about her impending role as a mother — who could blame her? Parenthood is the blind leading the blind, but in this case, it’s the blindfolded. Director Susanne Bier, well known for her ability to portray nuanced human emotions in the midst of chaos, draws out Malorie’s soft side as the movie progresses and pierces through her guarded front.

“Bird Box” is suspenseful from start to finish, and there’s little time devoted to character development in the first few scenes because of the apocalyptic mass suicides. This developmental delay is also present in Malorie’s decision to avoid giving her two children names; she simply calls them Boy and Girl. What seems like a harsh consequence of neglect can be viewed as a necessary survival tactic.

Olivia, played by Danielle Macdonald, represents the societal norm of what it means to be a good mother. The fact that her character ultimately doesn’t survive, however,

suggests that being a nurturing mother is not appropriate for survival in their new world.

Malorie is tough because that is what is necessary to survive. The role of a stone cold parent who disowns their emotions for the sake of the greater good is usually bestowed upon father figures. Malorie also suppresses the children’s dreams and sense of what could be. Tom, played by Trevante Rhodes, is in opposition to this approach because he feels that hope is what drives survival and emphasizes the difference between surviving and living — a perspective usually held by a nurturing motherly figure. This reversal of stereotypical gender norms defies the evaluation of parents based on their gender.

Ali Wong, a comedian and writer for “Fresh Off the Boat” on ABC, said in her latest stand-up on Netflix, “It takes so little to be called a really great dad, and it takes so little to be called a really shitty mom.”

The standards placed upon women to act in a certain overly-affectionate manner is used as an evaluative tool to determine if a woman is a good or bad mother. “Bird Box,” however, challenges the valorization of affectionate mothers by making Malorie the protagonist, as opposed to Olivia.

The characters were blindfolded for a large portion of the movie, which left room for more creative techniques with

the cinematography. Some of the scenes became increasingly more intense because the camera shot was from behind the blindfold — making the viewer feel a sensory deprivation that parallels the experiences of the characters themselves.

Bullock had to rely on her voice to express Malorie’s emotions while on the river to the safe place, which is an amazing feat considering that the eyes are often a focal point for cameras in an emotion-driven scene. The pace of Malorie’s intense breathing becomes the overpowering sound in a few scenes as a clever way to make up for the viewers’ lack of ability to see her eye expressions.

Gary, played by Tom Hollander, represents one of the “crazy” people in the movie. Not only can he look at the threat without committing suicide but he also invites — or rather, forces — others to look at the entity and see its “truth.” He disguises himself as a fellow survivor and manipulates his way into the house with Malorie and the others, but it is eventually revealed that his intention was to make them “see.”

This portrayal of individuals with severe mental illness seems to distort the societal hierarchy that places “sane” people at the top and “crazy” people at the bottom. It

Reboots and reimaginations

Roseanne Barr got the show cancelled, the reboot of the the classic 90s sitcom “Roseanne” set records for the ratings the premiere received. Fans still couldn’t let go of the Conner family, and “The Conners” continued on ABC without Barr. These shows are attracting viewers and getting renewed for more seasons to come in 2019. They are not one-hit wonders, not some fleeting moments for fans to get their fix of nostalgia.

These shows have staying power, and until the next greatest thing in television comes along, there will only be more to come.

This could be because nostalgia is a powerful tool. With all the anxiety in the world, people have always found comfort in reruns. Now, people get to see that their favorite characters have survived and that their original quirks and charms have endured the hardships of the times. This lets the viewer feel like they can make it through as well. With so many shows on air, it is nice to see a familiar name. The New York Times likens the appeal of recreating old shows to that of a high school reunion — it is nice to know where everyone’s favorite characters have ended up.

There is also greater opportunity to take ideas, characters and storylines further due to advances in technology and the concept of streaming. For example, Netflix launched

a readaptation of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” called “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” which aired in 2018. The newer format allowed for an edgier Sabrina, with more realistic looking magical powers.

Similarly, the age of streaming allows for a revival of overly niche shows that simply could not survive on network television.

The 2003 sitcom “Arrested Development” was cancelled by Fox after only three seasons due to ratings; despite that, the show generated a cult following and gained critical acclaim. The show’s episodes have found even more success as viewers watch seasons with streaming services. With so many subtle jokes and running gags, the show just works better in the era of binge watching.

In 2013, Netflix gave the show a chance to finish telling its story from where Fox had cut it off by picking it up for a fourth season.

Certain shows are also able to grow beyond their original limitations due to today’s social and political climate. For example, the 1975 sitcom “One Day at a Time” was readapted in 2017 with an all Latino/a cast. While the show is still a multi-camera sitcom with a laugh track and 30-minute episodes, that’s pretty much the only thing old-fashioned about this remake. Not only

master of instruments now living in perpetuity in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Surely his influences live on in Jimmie Allen, the first black man to score a career No.1 in 2018 on Billboard with his debut single “Best Shot.” And not alone at the top, Kane Brown met the same success when his album ranked No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts, but not without meeting some racial flack on Twitter.

Sad to say the “haters” probably know little about the roots of country, and even less about the legend of DeFord Bailey.

Yet the structural disparity of country has kept female artists from meeting the same success. As of a year-end survey, only six female artists charted the top fifty on Billboard (2018). To add to the fact, Miranda Lambert, a country superstar selling albums in the millions, was only able to reach No.1 on country radio by collaborating with Jason Aldean.

This imbalance did not go unnoticed by Lambert. “Yes, I had to sing with someone with a penis to get a No. 1, [but] I do like this person, Jason Aldean, a lot […] so it was a great song with an old friend,” Lambert said in an interview with the Washington Post.

All eyes should be kept on the lopsidedness of female popularity in country; it shouldn’t require male-female collaborations for females to receive recognition. The fight shall rage on, and our hope lies with the rising stars in country to (re)pave the way, much like our own Cam Marvel Ochs, a UC Davis alumna who chose a career in country music stardom over psychology.

From writing songs for Miley Cyrus to signing deals with Sony Music Entertainment, Marvel Ochs is making strides for the genre. She is a prominent figure in music, producing award nominated content while maintaining her integral love for home: UC Davis. Her footprints are everywhere in country music and on cam-

pus. Just look to The Spokes, an all-female acapella group that she started during her time in Davis. Cam provides hope for any rising musician, proving the requirement for a dream is but a mere spark of creativity.

Though the realm of country has expanded by taking on new, diverse faces that are paving the way for the future of the genre, it doesn’t keep those considered to be “interlopers” away from the craft. These breakthrough artists like AJ Mclean (Yes, Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLlean) are considered snakes in the grass to some and superstars to the rest. Certain

In a world of rapid progression, TV can’t seem to let go of the past it was even a decade ago and would be almost unrecognizable to viewers of the past.

So, why is it that television shows from decades ago are suddenly being rebooted, recreated and reimagined? What is it about old shows that our rapidly progressing world can’t let go of? There are so many changes in television, yet, especially in the past few years, more and more reboots are on the rise.

“Will and Grace,” originally running from 1998 to 2005, returned with its original cast in 2017. That same year, the 1980s soap opera “Dynasty” was recreated for The CW and Netflix. “Fuller House,” a continuation of “Full House,” set when the children of the Tanner family are grown up, has been airing on Netflix since 2016 and has been renewed for a fourth season.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why these reboots began and what makes them so successful. Before a racist tweet by lead actress

The Amalgamation of Country Music Country music’s adaptation to the twenty-first century

DAV I S W H A L E N / AG GI E

BY JA RRE T T RO GE R S arts@theaggie.org

It’s no secret that country music has changed in the last 20 years. The content within most of the songs that top the Billboard charts have evolved into something utterly unrecognizable to “classic” country, i.e. songs about “Achy Breaky Heart[s]” and rivers named “Chattahoochee.”

On one hand, it’s a beautiful thing; country music is now more of an open calling, near flush with the pop genre with hints of modern rap influence sprinkled throughout. This is, in many ways, where any fan of the musical arts should take pride, for progress is akin to evolution, and any partition of arts is a poison.

On the other hand, the lyrics seem to have degraded over time. Songs that used to top the charts once dealt with “Friends in Low Places” and mothers inadvertently letting their children grow up to be cowboys. Seldom heard is such content on the radio for 21st century country; those lyrics required a steel guitar (and definitely a cowboy hat).

Country music is a now a product of development, adapting with the times and to popular radio culture, thus producing a more progressive sound. The lyrics may still be catching up, but the instru-

mentals deserve a level of appreciation.

This blending of genres is highly prominent in the melodies and lyrical flows of modernized country. Most songs in the Top 100 on Billboard embody this new musical algorithm. With an apparent deviation from the “down home” roots of the genre, veering away from fiddles, banjos and acoustic drum sets, and now utilizing looped guitar tracks and electronic drum pads; much of these tempos contain snap and clap type effects often heard in trap music.

These notorious rhythms are now well-known in country. Although opinions differ on the genre’s evolution, the more optimistic listeners would consider this a testament to the musical brilliance and widespread popularity of the rap, hip-hop and pop genres, from their influential aesthetics to flows which render the totality of the genre so catchy.

Although it happens less now than it did in the early 2000s, rap-country collaborations used to be all the rage, possibly the catalyst to the genre’s expanse; honorable mentions go out to collaborations such as Nelly and Tim McGraw in 2009, Nelly and Florida Georgia Line in 2012, Ludacris and Jason Aldean in 2011, and the kings of smoke, Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson also in 2009.

In fact, more so now than ever, musicians of color are topping the charts for country music, and they are amassing a diverse fan base while producing some integral content relative to their experience as a musician of color. This cultural breakthrough, at its finest, can be directed to its predecessor, a man that stepped on stage in 1927 to display his prowess at the harmonica during a country music radio show in Nashville — the legend, DeFord Bailey, a grandson of slaves and

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 | 11

SHOOTER UPDATE

RACE LAWSUIT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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The gunman had two semiautomatic pistols in his possession, although it is unknown how he obtained them, seeing as he had surrendered his semiautomatic rifle a couple months prior and didn’t have other registered guns. The suspect used a deadbolt and pushed a couch in front of the door to create a barricade, making it harder for police to infiltrate the residence. Not wanting to risk sending in any personnel, however, a robot with a camera was sent to assess the situation. A gunshot was heard from inside the residence, and the robot camera showed the dead suspect lying on the floor.

“It was clear at that point also that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Lieutenant Paul Doroshov, the public information officer for the Davis PD. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. The roommate had been evacuated earlier, and no law enforcement officers fired any weapons or used any force throughout the night. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department took over the case, and many other agencies were present throughout the manhunt.

“Any time you have a situation of this magnitude, pretty much every law enforcement agency you can think of shows up and they volunteer and do whatever they can,” Pytel said.

California Highway Patrol volunteered an entire major collision team to take care of the scene around the accident, while the California Department of Justice handled the scene at the residence.

No one was injured during the incident other than Corona, who was fatally shot while returning a driver’s license to one of the motorists involved in the collision. Corona was 22-years-old and was sworn in to the Davis PD approximately two weeks prior to her death. She started at the police department as a part-time employee in 2016 when she was a junior college student.

“We had just gotten authorization from the city council to hire temporary part-time employees, pay their college tuition for two years and then hopefully bring them on and put them through the police academy and

hire them,” Pytel said. “So, [Corona] was our very first person that we hired in this program.”

On Saturday, volunteers tied blue ribbons to trees and posts in downtown Davis, and many brought flowers, cards, teddy bears and signs to both the Davis PD and the site at which she was killed. A candlelight vigil was also held in Central Park to remember Corona and thank her for her service. Over a thousand people were in attendance, and many were deeply affected by her loss. Attendees spoke of how well-rounded and dedicated she was. Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry recounted an officer who told her that “this rookie [Corona] would have been the chief someday.”

Noelle Candelaria, a second-year human development major at UC Davis, had just met Corona on campus at work the morning she was shot. Although their interaction was very brief, Candelaria noted how sweet and genuine Corona was.

“She told me she was a student not that long ago and had a huge smile on her face as she offered to open the door,” Candelaria said. “She seemed very energetic, fun personality.”

The Davis PD was also in shock at Corona’s recent death. Officers gathered at a meeting, recounting stories about her and how memorable of an individual she was.

“I can tell you that this has been just absolutely devastating to the Davis Police Department,” Pytel said. “What really hits us with [Corona] is that she started off as a temporary part-time employee, but she had a personality that was just energizing. And it didn’t matter who it was in the police department — didn’t matter whether they were janitors that take care of the building for us or me, the police chief, and everybody in between, sworn, non-sworn, men, women, everybody in the department — she was the most friendly, outgoing and just wanted to be everybody’s friend and was. And truly, I don’t think I’ve ever worked with anybody quite like her that has just been able to make so many friends and leave so many impressions with so many people.”

HORSE DRIVING CLUB CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

tween,” Collins said. “We try to provide experience for people who do not necessarily have the opportunity to work with horses. This is purely for people who are interested in horses at all.”

All of the draft horses and most of the equipment, like harnesses and carts, have been donated. UC Davis funds the club and pays for the upkeep of the horses in exchange for one horse being used for breeding to make the school a profit.

Collins said, however, that since they only have two horses right now, none are used for breeding. Other funding for the club comes from selling t-shirts and member dues.

From donations, the team has a wagon for team driving, two single carts, a two-seater cart with two wheels and a four-seater cart with four wheels, Davies explained.

The horses that the team currently has, Olive and Dee, are both used for single and team driving. Collins said that the team has had Olive for about six years and Dee for about three. Dee was completely untrained when she was donated, so the team was in charge of teaching her how to drive.

“Dee is very cool because she had no training whatsoever,” Davies said. “I think they are both really great horses, and they are both very quiet, very mellow.”

Collins said that she joined the club as

a first-year because she thought it was the easiest way for her to get horse experience.

The only expenses for the club are team dues, which are $20 for the first quarter and $25 for the rest.

“Many of the other horse clubs and teams require a lot more expenses or a lot of experience or your own horse sometimes,” Collins said. “This club is solely [so] you come out and work with horses, which I really like.”

Since Davies has previous horse experience from being around horses her whole life and riding on the UC Davis Hunter-Jumper Team, she said joining this club and learning to drive horses was a novel experience for her. Davies explained that driving is similar to riding horses, but you cannot use your legs to make the horse go forward. Davies stated that team driving is hardest because one person must control two horses at once.

“There are more brains at work,” Davies said. “In riding, you’ve got yourself and your horse with its own mind, and now you’ve got two of them and a bunch of people sitting in the wagon.”

After joining the club and fulfilling her childhood dream of getting to drive horses, Davies said that she recommends others join the club.

“I met a lot of different people, made friends and felt like I am a part of something historical,” Davies said.

The Supreme Court ruled that a state may consider race as a factor in its admissions process, if other factors were taken into account as well. The case established that the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions was constitutional, while the use of racial quotas was not.

Years later, Proposition 209, appearing on California’s ballot in Nov. 1996, sought to eliminate affirmative action programs in areas such as public employment and education.

This measure was passed, reversing the Bakke decision and making it effectively illegal for California public schools to consider race throughout the admissions process.

Over the past few months, however, there has been scrutiny over affirmative action’s role in the UC system, and questions have arisen regarding its alleged presence in the admis-

sions process.

These accusations take place in the wake of the infamous Harvard discrimination trial, which debated whether or not white and Asian American individuals were discriminated against in admissions decisions. A key difference between Harvard and the UC, however, is that the former is not subject to the standards that Proposition 209 set — therefore, it’s perfectly legal for Harvard to factor race into its admissions but illegal for the UC system to do so. “[The Harvard trial] demonstrated real reason for concern about whether our most prestigious private universities are treating Asian-Americans fairly,” Shen wrote in an email forwarded by Sander to The California Aggie. “We believe there is just as much reason for concern about anti-Asian-American

ISRAEL LETTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

criticized the statement by the UC chancellors and defended the BDS movement, labeling it as nonviolent and “a really great tool to combat disagreements with positions on the state of Israel.”

“This statement from the chancellors prioritizes abstract rights, like rights, but ignores other rights like freedom of speech or the civil rights of Palestinians in Israel,” Spadaro said.

With regard to the BDS movement, Biale said boycotting is an expression of free speech and an individual — and perhaps even a professional organization — cannot be penalized for engaging in a boycott.

Spadaro, however, referred to instances of enforced restrictions against the BDS movement, all of which continue to remain legally

questionable and mentioned the Republican-backed Senate bill intended to support Israel and condemn boycotts, which has been blocked by Democrats until the government reopens.

Biale believes that there should be a place for all political views on campus without interference from organizations outside of campus.

“I think the students should have a space to be able to debate these issues,” Biale said. “The debate can be ferocious, that’s okay, as long as it’s just words. There should be organizations where students can find their place according to whatever their beliefs are.”

The student group Aggies for Israel did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

RESOLUTIONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

“Just make your resolutions more realistic and achievable,” Castorena said. “And if you don’t achieve them, don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Tran doesn’t think that new year’s resolutions are entirely bad. She said it’s fine whether or not someone sticks to their personal resolutions but thinks that people tend to use New

Year’s as an excuse to make the same resolution over and over.

“If you honestly think you can stick to it, it’s fine. And if you can’t stick to it, that’s completely fine too,” Tran said. “But don’t just keep repeating the same resolution every year when you know you [won’t] do it. If it’s a resolution, make it count.”

BIRD BOX CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

flips the widely held idea that those with mental illness can’t be on the right side of the truth, and possibly, that everyone else can’t see what they see — the “truth.”

Birds are often used as a metaphor for freedom, and in the movie, following the sound of the birds is how Malorie and her children reach their freedom in the form of a shelter.

Birds also serve as a warning signal for when the entity is near — letting people know their freedom is in danger.

For me, the film came to a screeching halt, and it felt as if there were avenues left unexplored. The movie could have answered

a few logistical questions about the entity, which causes everyone to commit suicide, without making the viewers surrender their own theory as to what it could be representing.

“Bird Box” is a true testament to the influence Netflix possesses because the popularity and accessibility of streaming helps encourage people like myself to explore a genre that they wouldn’t normally seek out. The scale has tipped in favor of streaming over going to the cinema, which arguably helped to foster more conversation about the film.

Bird Box is available for streaming on Netflix.

HERITAGE CENTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

education on Native Americans not only for the state, but for the world as well. Sebastian Fazio, a first-year at Saint Lawrence University, remained hopeful for the new grant and the extension of the center.

“I believe the center will improve people’s views on the Native Americans who lived and still live on their local region,” Fazio said. “The center will also clear up misconceptions about their people and culture.”

The 43-acre property has been under the control of the city’s Redevelopment Agency since 1997. Many other projects were considered in the region, including a private high school and Governor’s residence.

The guiding principles of the project are to “[c]reate a place that represents and celebrates all California Indian Cultures, while remaining nameless, faceless and neutral,” “[h]onor and respect local tribal protocols and traditions for welcoming other tribes,” and to “[e]ncourage understanding of Indian values through site design, reinforcing the message of California Indian Culture as a Living Culture.”

“As someone who has Native American relatives, I believe it will help modern day people understand that these people aren’t gone,” Fazio said. “They still live today and have a culture, but so many people act as if the Native Americans are gone. I believe the center will help to celebrate and remind people that

Native Americans are still very much a part of California.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

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presidency was largely met with opposition from his anti-war base.

Defined by a platform of political resistance to President Trump and absent a unified ideological foundation, the Democrats will continue to portray the military establishment’s disapproval of Trump’s decision-making as evidence of his incompetence. Similarly, pro-war Republicans will become increasingly hostile towards the president’s administration and cite prominent military resignations as proof that warmongering is the only way forward.

What both sides fail to realize is that America’s attempts at regime change and hegemonic influence have been catastrophic failures that have both harmed our global image and made the world less safe. The War in Iraq led to a power vacuum that facilitated the rise of ISIS, paved the way for greater Iranian influence, increased sectarian violence and led to the mass exodus of the country’s already dwindling Assyrian Christian minority. Libya — once North Africa’s crown jewel — descended into chaos after the NATO-backed ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Now the country has plunged into chaos and has become littered with violence and home to a modern-day slave trade.

So what future awaits Syria if a similar strategy were to be adopted? Already, conflict between the sovereign government of Syria and American-backed rebels have helped create a massive refugee crisis that has overwhelmed surrounding countries and emboldened the European far right. Should the U.S. and NATO continue the illegitimate policy of regime change, Syria’s diverse collection of ethnic and religious minorities stand to lose the most in the inevitable violence.

While it remains to be seen whether or not Trump’s recent policy announcements are a legitimate departure from the status quo or mere rhetoric, it is at the very least a clear indictment of the shocking power of the American military-industrial complex. No longer should Americans or the world remain hostage to hawkish, transnational interest groups who stand to benefit from perpetual foreign wars.

Political allegiances aside, it is time to end the bloodshed.

the Clery Act, to notify students and employees about information related to campus crime and security threats Rave Mobile Safety, the vendor used

by UC Davis to send out WarnMe alerts, has taken responsibility for the technical issue which occurred on Jan. 10. The university tests the system twice annually — the next test will be in January, according to an article posted by UC Davis news.

“The Jan. 10 problem occurred because, due to an error in this updating process, key users were shut out of some lists and only one systems administrator had full access to all lists,” the UC Davis article states. “When the problem was identified during the evening, the administrator restored access to all the lists so that later messages (starting at 8:45 p.m.) went to the full campus.”

Rave’s Chief Technology Officer Brett Marceau said the company takes “full responsibility for the fact that not all of the intended recipients received notifications and regrets the position into which it put the university,” in a letter sent to the university, according to the article.

Chancellor Gary May labeled the system failure as “unacceptable” in a Facebook post and assured the campus that the university will take “all necessary measures to ensure 100 percent performance in the future.”

According to Farrow, as the night of the shooting progressed, it became increasingly apparent to the UCDPD that not everyone was receiving the alerts being sent out. At this point, campus police contacted Student Affairs and Strategic Communications, asking these offices to inform the campus about what was happening.

The UCDPD also entered information into the system by hand in an attempt to send the alerts out to more UC Davis students and employees. By

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ated with one of the new genes discovered.

“The mice themselves will serve as a testing ground for new treatments,” Moshiri said.

“Not only will they be telling us new genes that are important for vision and the prevention of blindness, but they’ll serve as disease models for the testing of new therapies for those diseases.”

As for the project of phenotyping the entire mouse genome, Moore predicts that once all of the genes are phenotyped in roughly six to seven years, each one will be studied to understand the mechanism behind it and added to diagnostic panels to confirm that they can cause diseases in humans as well.

“It’s going to become the first catalogue of single gene mutations of the entire genome of a mammal and only by doing that are we going to be able to determine which genes can potentially cause problems from a global view,” Moore said. “Now we’re going to be able to look at everything and step back and look at the big picture and say during development, these are all the things that can contribute to problems, and not just for the eyes, but for really any organ system in the body.”

Lloyd said that all the work done at the Mouse Biology Program is working towards advancing human and animal health, and believes the mouse is an essential part of this research.

“The mouse is an extremely important model for doing that work and as we continue to work in the area, we’re going to be making transformative advances in medicine to be able to first help diagnose the disease, second to be able to treat the disease and hopefully to prevent the disease from happening in the first place,” Lloyd said.

hand-manipulating the system, 5,000 more individuals received an alert each time it was reloaded. This also meant some of the same individuals who received the initial messages ended up receiving redundant messages.

Farrow said three key messages — one informing the campus about the shooting, the second declaring a shelter in place and providing a description of the shooter who remained at large and the third declaring an all-clear — were supposed to be sent out. Ultimately, around seven messages were sent out. Farrow said UCDPD’s messages finally reached the entire campus at 9:30 p.m.

“It was two hours and 25 minutes before we finally sent out the one we originally wanted to send out at 7:05,” Farrow said. “I know people are really angry, [but] the whole time we were sending out messages through email and through texting.”

One Facebook post with 71 shares criticizes the university’s communication issues, labeling the situation “unacceptable.”

“In my eyes the university failed at protecting the 30,000 students in the heat of the action,” the post reads. “I’m extending my experience of walking home alone at 7pm, in the heat of the crime scene and at the time when the suspect was fleeing the scene armed and dangerous, with absolute no warning from the university about a fleeing suspect.”

Immediately following the events of that night, May and Farrow attributed the issue to “an unanticipated glitch in the WarnMe system,” in an online letter, and said the issue was corrected “as soon as possible.”

Behind the scenes, Farrow worked with the large amount of law enforcement personnel to create a barrier around

campus, comprised of nearly every UCDPD officer as well as officers from UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Francisco and California Highway Patrol, to ensure the shooter would not be allowed access.

“We had the shift that was just going off plus the shift that was just coming on and every person we had put on the uniform and we surrounded this campus,” Farrow said. “That person was not getting on this campus. We made a decision right then and there that we were going to protect our institution. We were doing it because we needed to protect our students and our staff.”

If a similar high-stress, high-risk situation were to occur again, Farrow said that students, faculty and community members will be provided with real-time instructions.

“When the system works the way it’s designed, you will get a notification that an incident is going down and you are going to get a direction — read the direction,” he said. “If you are in a place of safety, shelter and place. For those of you that did that, you are following direction.”

In an interview several days after the shooting, Farrow said that the incident is a tragedy and the focus now should be on supporting Corona’s family and friends.

“The university takes very seriously the responsibility to secure the campus,” he said. “Best intentions were out there, they did everything they could to secure, [but] there was a glitch in the system. I’m very proud with the way the university responded: nobody was injured, everybody was safe. I thank our university for doing what they did that night.”

A memorial service for Corona organized by UC Davis is scheduled to take place this Friday, Jan. 18, at the ARC Pavilion at 11 a.m.

where people hang out too. So if someone walks through our building, they don’t necessarily know what someone’s doing. It’s just a place where people want to be to feel connected.”

One of the ways RISE is planning to build community connections includes cooking classes in a classroom kitchen.

“One of the big ones is that there will be a large classroom commercial kitchen,” Zendejas said. “We want people to come and prepare meals to teach other community members a recipe of the month. It’s a classroom-style kitchen, so people can go and learn. It’s going to be

a transformational space building facility for our community.”

Overall, the community center will come at a steep price, and Zendejas expressed his gratitude for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.

“None of this would be possible without the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation supporting their community and willing to invest — still not sure how much this facility will cost, but it will be in the multi-millions,” Zendejas said. “For them to invest and give back to their community — words really can’t express the tremendous gift that they’re giving.”

will of the artist is to deny the power of creativity. McLean’s form of “art” is without a doubt hard to grapple with, and that’s understandable.

Concerning the tune, McLean’s song has the obvious pop influences with a pinch of urban roots in the lyrics. The guitar is looped, as is the drum track which holds the tempo, and his lyrics (ignoring the prosaic content) have a smooth flow that could have easily been placed over some 808s rather than an acoustic guitar.

This seems to be the common theme with most of the songs charting the Top 100, although McLean’s song did not reach that level of hype, possibly due to its lyrical insipidity.

To find such depth in modern country music, once had by artists such as Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline and Conway Twitty, a suggestion would be to opt out of country music altogether and transition to folk

music. That is not to say the depth no longer resides in country music — take Sturgill Simpson, for example, or Rick Trevino. Both musicians are prominent figures in country music and produce a wide range of songs with philosophical content in the lyrics. But in folk music, the focus is less about the tune and more about the story to be told.

Country music is not dead, but is instead adapting to its new and diverse life.

The hope is there, maybe not so much for former Backstreet Boys, but for the overall inspiration that’s fueling the culture.

To acquire the depth that many demand in their country, it requires a bit more digging.

To witness the future, though, the natural blending of musical genres and cultural amalgamations, the product stands before us. One but needs to turn on their radio.

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social services.”

The plan is to have many rooms providing necessities, as well as a place where the community can come together.

“We’ll have a food closet, a clothes closet, several counseling rooms, a large community space, community computers — we’re focusing on a connection center, where individuals feel connected to the community and connected to services,” Zendejas said.

With the help of these community spaces, Zendejas said people are able to “connect to physical, mental and social health. We also want this to be a place COUNTRY MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

fans are not too thrilled about arrivals such as these, calling their music the “worst country music of 2018,” and whether their judgment is on point or not is up for consideration.

Recently, in a red carpet interview, McLean said that he would be entering the country game to shake things up.

His exact words were, “I’m coming in to disrupt country.” As to how much disruption he has actually caused must be weighed against his most popular, debut song, “Back Porch Bottle Service.”

The song sings as the title suggests: “Damn girl you lookin’ gorgeous / Just keep lightin’ me up like them tiki torches on a… / Back porch bottle service.”

One thing is for certain, the song doesn’t exactly handle the most groundbreaking content, but it’d be wrong to consider this bad art, because art is art — a creation from the soul. And to deny the

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does the show have more cultural representation than the original, but it also has an LGBTQ character and speaks to topics such as mental illness and sexism. The reboot took the format of the original show — the struggles of a single mother raising two children — and expanded it to be more relatable to a modern audience.

Similarly, the reality TV show “Queer Eye” was rebooted in 2017 on Netflix. The show originally aired in 2003 and was titled “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” The two shows have a similar premise of a “fab five” group of gay men with expertise in different aspects of culture, fashion and food

who perform makeovers on people in need. While the original show focused mainly on making over straight men, however, the new adaptation has expanded to set its sights on helping anyone in need of a confidence boost. While the original series has faced some criticism for adhering to stereotypes of certain sexualities, the revival has worked to patch up those issues.

Further, in a more modern era, the new show can focus more on gaining true acceptance of all spectrums of humanity. Because the original Fab Five fought to normalize the LGBTQ community for its viewers, the reboot has the

opportunity to truly humanize and nuance the ideas of sexuality.

Overall, television reboots of old shows from different decades are not inherently bad things. While some have criticized the market for lacking creativity in storytelling, the temptation to recreate old favorites with modern technology and ideas is understandable. With all the creative progress and advances that have taken place within the past few years, it makes sense to take advantage of a chance to go back and improve upon a work that was once limited.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 | 13

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Men’s basketball welcomes fresh start as Big West play begins Aggies remain optimistic after difficult 4-10 non-conference run

BY B REN DA N O GB U R N sports@theaggie.org

The UC Davis men’s basketball team has enjoyed a journey of unprecedented success over the last two seasons.

The team made history with a run to the NCAA Tournament in the winter of 2017 and came within two victories of doing it again last season.

As a result, it should come as no surprise that the expectations were very high entering this current season, especially considering the number of seniors and amount of overall experience on the roster. UC Davis was picked by 24 media members to finish third in the Big West this season, according to the conference’s official preseason poll.

Long before this campaign began, many of those veteran players made a plea to Head Coach Jim Les to ramp up the team’s non-conference schedule this year so they could test their abilities against superior competition. Les obliged and did not pull any punches, putting together a demanding preseason slate and setting up dates with traditional powerhouses like Arkansas, Indiana, Arizona and USC among others.

Being in a mid-major conference like the Big West, UC Davis knows that its only real path to the NCAA Tournament is by taking home the conference title in mid-March at the Big West Tournament in Anaheim. Anything the team does in non-conference play

is an added bonus, so they don’t have much to lose by scheduling tough opponents.

Needless to say, the Aggies had their struggles through November and December, losing 10 out of 14 games and winning just once away from the Pavilion. Nonetheless, one of the important details that gets lost when simply looking at the win-loss record is the fact that UC Davis was incredibly competitive and hung around in the majority of these contests, often trailing by single digits late into the second half. The Aggies typically started off strong in the first half of most games but struggled to retain that level of play for the full 40 minutes.

Playing in a hostile environment halfway across the country on Black Friday, UC Davis had Indiana on the ropes with an eightpoint lead in the second half but could not seal the deal. In another road game against Arizona in mid-December, the Aggies fell on a game-winning shot in the final minute of regulation. Lastly, the team finished out its roadtrip with a tough battle against USC that saw them hold an advantage early in the second half before tailing off.

If nothing else, this challenging stretch of basketball has served as a wake-up call for the team and has shown them what areas they need to improve on.

“I think we played some really good teams and [had] really good competition,” Les said. “It’s accentuated what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are, so it’s out

there.”

In response, UC Davis has altered some of its practice routines and tried to pinpoint where it has gone wrong thus far.

“We picked up the competitiveness in practice and tried to figure out those deep-rooted problems, and I think we’re getting there,” said senior guard Siler Schneider.

In a way, the string of tough losses also gave the team some confidence, as it offered a glimpse into what they are capable of doing when everything comes together.

“I think the takeaway is that we can really play with anybody,” said senior guard T.J. Shorts II. “When we’re clicking on the defensive end and we’re getting out and doing our stuff on the offensive end, we can really compete with anybody. We just got to take that confidence from those first halves and put it together when we go into conference, and play two halves of basketball everytime we step on the court and we’ll be alright.”

UC Davis’ four victories included an overtime triumph over Texas A&M Corpus Christi and blowouts over Northern Arizona, William Jessup and Holy Names.

Les and his players know what their winning formula is and realize that it all starts on the defensive end of the floor.

“We don’t have a false sense of security,” Les said. “We know who we are and what it takes to be successful. The stats are pretty clear—when we defend and hold teams to a low shooting percentage, come up with first rebounds and create turnovers, we give ourselves a chance to win.”

Overall, the players don’t regret asking for a tougher non-conference schedule and ultimately think the experience will pay dividends down the line.

“How we finish at the end of the season will tell us if it helped or hurt us,” Schneider said. “I don’t regret anything. We’ve figured ourselves out and learned things within ourselves that we might not have with an easier non-conference schedule. Hopefully it’ll be a blessing in disguise.”

The Aggies view the start of Big West play as a chance to reset, both physically and mentally, and prepare themselves for the grueling conference schedule that extends nonstop until early March. This has always been a philosophy of Les’ teams over the years.

“We’ve reset it every year regardless of what our record was,” Les said. “You can’t rest on your laurels if you had a great non-conference because now you can get humbled quickly in conference and vice versa.”

In order for the team to reach its ultimate goal of winning the conference, the Aggies know they have to pick up their level of play away from the friendly confines of the Pavilion.

“We respect the grind of a conference season and we know how hard it is to go on the road and get conference wins,” Les said.

“You put yourself in a position to contend when you go out on the road and steal some victories, and that’s we plan to do.”

That plan has not gotten off to a great start, as the Aggies dropped both games of their road trip to Southern California last week. On Thursday night, UC Davis overcame a 16-point deficit in the second half and forced overtime against UC Irvine, but ended up falling 71-69. The Aggies came out hot against Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon, but watched an eight-point halftime lead slip away in the 82-77 loss.

At the end of the day, UC Davis has no reason to push the panic button just yet. The team has been in tough situations countless times over the last few years and has always found ways to stick together and overcome adversity.

“I’m excited for this group and the level that they’re going to compete when we hit the league season,” Les said. “We’re not an unproven commodity and these guys have proven they can be successful, so I’m looking forward to that.”

The Aggies are well aware that championships are not won in December and know that they have time left to right the ship.

“We got a lot of confidence,” Schneider said. “I know it might not show with our record, but we’ve been practicing really well and clicking and we’re ready to start this new year off right. This is a senior-led group and an experienced team, but there’s still a lot of kinks to work out with that, so it all matters on how you finish the year.”

UC Davis hopes that a return to the Pavilion can help jumpstart its Big West campaign. The team will take on UC Santa Barbara on Thursday at 7 p.m., before facing Cal Poly on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.

Aggies battle back in season, lose championship game

M A R K H O N B O / U C DAVI S ATH LETI C S

BY RYA N BUG SCH sports@theaggie.org

After a strong 7-1 start to the 2018-19 season, the UC Davis men’s soccer team proved why it should be considered a top-level squad. At one point, the Aggies were ranked the No. 17 team in the nation by United Coaches Poll and No. 25 by College Soccer News.

In conference play, however, the Aggies hit a rough patch, losing three and tying one in their first five games. Still playing with the same tactics of constant movement, passing and switching the ball between lines, what started out as a formidable squad appeared to be dissolving.

“Right before conference began we unfortunately had a few injuries that occured at that time, and there were four significant players in the team that all were injured within the same week,” said Head Coach Dwayne Shaffer. “It took us a little bit of time to regroup and get ourselves going again.

Another factor is at that time [start of conference] that’s right when school begins. Veteran student athletes are prepared but we had a large group of freshman, and it takes them a while to acclimate.”

After a 1-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Oct.17, the Aggies knew that they would have to fight harder in order to clinch a spot in the Big West Tournament. Proving that they still had something left, the Aggies were able to defeat Cal State Fullerton and Sacramento State, on Oct. 20 and 27 respectively, to earn the fifth seed in the Big West Tournament.

“We have a really experienced coaching staff, and Shaffer’s coaching experience helped us to battle back from the bad position we were in but we also just had great senior leadership,” said junior goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley about entering the tournament. “Ultimately, for the season and the playoffs we were at our best so I am proud of that.”

Not unfamiliar with the high pressure and high level of play brought to the tournament, the Aggies

UC Davis Aggies men’s soccer loses in Big West Championship to UC Riverside 4-2 in penalties did what they do best in the playoff atmosphere: win. Defeating CSUN 3-2 in the first round of play, UC Davis took the semi-final game with UC Irvine with double overtime into penalties. Going back-and-forth with made and missed shots, the Aggies closed the narrow 6-5 victory to head to the championship game.

UC Davis had one more game before they could hold up the championship trophy, facing off against UC Riverside in the Big West Championship on Nov. 10. UC Riverside, being new to the championship finals, gave the Aggies a hard fought battle, keeping the game 0-0 all the way through double overtime. For the third year in a row, penalties were the deciding factor in the championship game.

“It’s [penalties] something we prepare for,” Lapsley said. “It is a difficult part of the game, but that is just the way the game is, that you have to end with a winner and a loser and penalties were the only way to finish the game. When you win in penalties, it’s total elation but when you lose it stinks, so I think we did what we needed to do ahead of time and it is just a coin flip in those situations.”

The Aggies were not able to secure the same result as their semifinal game however, losing 4-2 in the shootout. The Big West tournament victory for UC Riverside was its first in program history.

The Aggies ended the year with an 11-4-5 overall record and five seniors graduated from the team.

“They [graduating seniors] have all contributed to the program in various ways, and all of them have had a positive influence on the program,” Shaffer said. “They have also had a positive impact and influence on the young players in the program, so I have been very happy to be able to coach these guys, and they will all be successful young men in whatever path they choose. I am excited for them.”

UC Davis looks to continue their high level of play in the 2019-20 season and bring home a Big West championship.

U C DAV IS AT HL ET ICS / COU RT ESY

Solid start to women’s basketball Big West play Bertsch and Aggies eager to make it to the Big Dance

BY B O B BY J OHN sports@theaggie.org

The UC Davis women’s basketball team dominated opponents during the winter break, grabbing five wins before taking down its first Big West opponent, UC Riverside.

The University of Hawai’i snapped the Aggies’ six-game winning streak on Saturday, however. With this loss, the Aggies and Rainbow Wahine are now 1-1 in Big West Play, and the Aggies hold a 9-6 record overall.

Throughout December matchups, the Aggies lost only once to the University of Montana in early December at the Lady Griz Classic. The Aggies pummeled Sacramento State, 109-60, behind a game in which senior forward Morgan Bertsch set a program single-game record by scoring 40 points.

The Aggies then cruised through the last of their non-conference schedule with games against Seattle University, University of San Francisco — in which sophomore forward Cierra Hall got her first double-double and junior forward Sophia Song scored 15 points to surpass her previous record of 13 — and Saint Mary’s. Bertsch launched a half-court shot with less than one second left to dash Saint Mary’s

hopes of an overtime win. This led the Aggies to an easy win against Dominican and then a win against UC Riverside.

Bertsch has been shattering record after record in her last year with UC Davis women’s basketball.

After etching her name into the UC Davis women’s basketball’s record books back in November against University of the Pacific, Bertsch realized the need to look at the bigger picture.

“I need to take time to think about how fun it’s been and how the past three years have gone and look forward to the future with this new team and the things we can accomplish,” Bertsch told The Aggie after becoming the women’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer.

She is leading the defending Big West champs into conference play with one goal in mind.

“Make it to the Big Dance in March,” Bertsch said. “It’s just something that I want so bad. That’s really what has been on the back of my mind.”

UC Davis will host the next two games against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday and a red hot UC Irvine on Saturday, a team that currently holds a 12-2 record and are undefeated so far in Big West play.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE