November 8, 2018

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STATE AGENCY ALLEGES UC Davis violated labor law when terminating temporary counselors UC Davis terminated employees during negotiations while other UCs transferred temporary workers to career positions

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

The Public Employment Relations Board has filed an official complaint on behalf of University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), a university labor union, alleging that UC Davis violated labor laws in its termination of contracted counselors during the summer of 2017. This is the second of recently filed complaints against the UC by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), a state agency which enforces California’s labor relations statutes.

The termination of the counselors was explained in a previous article published in V E N O OS M OS H AY E DI / AGGI E

DUI suspect drives into local 7-Eleven Driver, customers uninjured

BY LAUREN T RO P I O city@theaggie.org

After a car crashed directly into a 7-Eleven store located on L Street on Oct. 10, employees and surrounding stores attempted to manage and fix what was left of the front windows. Police reported that the driver seemed to be under the influence, as the suspect barely managed to perform the sobriety tests officers gave.

“Upon arrival, officers suspected the driver was impaired and placed him through field sobriety tests which he performed poorly on,” police said to the Davis Patch. “Please remember that DUI does not always mean just alcohol. Drugs (even legal ones) can impair one’s ability to drive a motor vehicle.”

The red SUV plowed through the front of the 7-Eleven, leaving behind dented beams and shattered glass throughout the area. The store was open at the time of the accident, but no one was injured. An employee stationed behind the cash register witnessed the vehicle coming straight through the store. The following day, the 24-hour chain store had to close to clean up.

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The California Aggie which acknowledged that the 10 employees were hired on a contract basis to temporarily satisfy under-met student mental health needs as part of a four-year initiative by the UC Office of the President.

As part of this initiative, UC Davis planned to hire 12 counseling psychologists using student fees. The university, however, hired temporary contract employees instead of full-time counselors.

In the meantime, counseling psychologists from all of the UCs were going through accretion negotiations to settle the terms of a new contract after becoming newly represented by UPTE. “There’s no safe amount to drink or use of a substance that impairs you prior to operating a vehicle,” said Nathan Trauernicht, the fire chief for the UC Davis Fire Department. “In fire and emergency services, we see the outcomes of DUI accidents that far too often result in traumatic injuries or death. If someone had to see first-hand the loss of a life taken too soon — or the devastated family that arrives to find out that their loved one was harmed by your choices — maybe people would think twice before getting behind the wheel. These aren’t dramatizations; they are the reality of driving while under the influence.”

Responders to the scene of the crash used it at as a time to remind those around Davis of the impacts an impaired driver can have on the community, especially when it comes to the safety of residents.

“I live off campus at The U Apartments and found this 7-Eleven as a quality, go-to place for after a long day of classes to grab a snack or for a water after practice,” said Cameron Timble, a second-year managerial economics major. “I mean, the people around this part of town do kind of seem a bit sketchy and then it is incidents like this that make me realize you really do have to be aware of your surroundings. I easily could have been in that store during this accident, considering I go to bed so late and have my late-night snack needs, making me just not want to come to this store anymore.”

Currently, the 7-Eleven has a large piece of wood covering the hole created by this car. The store hopes to be rebuilt and fully functioning as soon as possible.

The California Aggie reached out to the employees and manager of the 7-Eleven store, who declined to comment on the incident.

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VOLUME 137, ISSUE 7 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

The existing healthcare contract doesn’t provide for contracted employees — or employees who are at-will and can be fired at any time.

“The Hx contract does not have provisions for contract workers — the union is a firm believer that you don’t need contract workers, you hire people into career positions and if funding sources disappear then there’s provisions for layoffs,” said Jamie McDole, the vice president of UPTE. Unlike many of the other UCs, which transferred their contract workers to career positions, UC Davis terminated all the counseling psychologists who were contract workers while bargaining was taking place, McDole said.

“Part of the negotiations were the discussions that anyone who was on contract needed to be converted to a career position,” McDole said. “The other campuses did have contract workers and did convert them to either career or let their contracts run out if they didn’t have the work for it, but UC Davis decided to go ahead and terminate all the employees who were on contract.”

Margaret Walter, the director of health and wellness at UC Davis, said that “the decision to end the contracts early was related to budget,” in an article published by The Aggie in February. Both Walter and Cory Vu, the assistant vice chancellor for Divisional Resources, declined The Aggie’s requests for comment for this article. Walter and Vu issued nearly identical responses via email: “Given that litigation is pending, I must reserve any comment except to say that I respect the process and have full confidence in the university’s compliance with the applicable laws and policies,” Walter said via email.

According to McDole, UPTE’s charges against the UC include “bad faith bargainN ICHOLAS CHA N / AGGI E F IL E

After UCOP denies right to academic freedom, UC librarians circulate petition Academic freedom gives librarians independence to curate materials, pursue research as seen fit

BY E LIZ AB E T H ME R CADO campus@theaggie.org

UC librarians are advocating to extend the academic freedom of their positions in new labor contract negotiations with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP).

Contract negotiations have been ongoing since April. On July 26, UC librarians discovered that the rights of academic freedom do not extend to their positions as they previously assumed it had.

“It gives us the right as professionals and as members of the academic community, the same freedom as students and faculty, to pursue research — not guided by what an administrator tells us to do but by our own search for knowledge and our right to advise on how the libraries are run, the best way to handle collection, the best way to serve students and faculty,” said Adam Siegel, a humanities and social sciences librarian in the research support services de-

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ing” and “a violation of the terms for engaging in good faith.”

Felix de la Torre, the general counsel for PERB, discussed the way in which complaints begin to make their way through the internal workings of PERB. De la Torre said that the complaint begins in his division the Office of General Counsel, which reviews and investigates charges.

“If there are enough facts stated within the charge, which would eventually be proven true in a charge, we then issue a complaint,” de la Torre said. “This is what happened in this case: UPTE filed a charge and alleged a number of facts, and we took that and investigated it to see if there was enough allegations to support that there was a violation of state law by the Regents. The fact that we issued a complaint shows that our attorney who did the investigation found that the allegations were sufficient to state a violation.”

According to de la Torre, after a complaint is filed a conference is mediated between the two parties involved by a separate attorney than the one who investigated the initial charges.

“If the mediation is successful, those terms are implemented and the parties back away from this dispute,” de la Torre said.

“If they don’t settle, we send it to the next division which is the division of administrative law. It has administrative law judges who function very similar to any judges in a court setting where they basically hold trials.”

De la Torre described concessions the terminated counselors can expect to see if both the UC and UPTE cannot come to an agreement during the mediation phase and if the administrative law judge rules in favor LABOR LAWSUIT on 11 partment.

Without academic freedom, Siegal added, “we can’t properly serve the academic mission of the university.”

UC librarians are unionized under the University Council-American Federation of Teachers Unit 17 (UC-AFT). The bargaining team is composed of librarians across the UC, excluding UC Merced and UC San Francisco.

The librarians’ previous five-year contract expired on Sep. 30 and negotiations will continue until a consensus is reached.

According to the University of California Academic Personnel Manual, “the principles of academic freedom protect freedom of inquiry and research, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression and publication. These freedoms enable the University to advance knowledge and to transmit it effectively to its students and to the public.”

As the definition stands in the context of the classroom, academic freedom allows instructors to draft lessons and content to their liking and to the knowledge of their field of study without fear of retaliation by university administration. Academic freedom permits the pursuit of research as instructors see fit and shared governance in spaces that provide input in the running of the university.

“The librarians decided that it was time to clarify all this and how all that applied to librarians explicitly,” said Dan Goldstein, a subject specialist librarian in the research support services department.

The bargaining team presented a proposal of language to define academic freedom’s extension to UC librarians.

“The University recognizes librarians as academic employees, and further recognizes that they possess specialized expertise ACADEMIC FREEDOM on 11

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C A IT LY N SA M P L E Y / AGGI E

Lengthy discussion over Senate resolution condemning anti-Semitic fliers Senate Bill to rename OASR tabled for third week in a row

BY K EN TON G O L DS BY campus@theaggie.org

The Oct. 25 ASUCD Senate meeting was called to order at 6:11 p.m. by Senator Alisha Hacker. President Michael Gofman was late. Vice President Shaniah Branson and Senator Brandon Clemons were absent.

Hacker, the senate pro tempore, filled in for Branson. An election was held to select a replacement pro tempore for this meeting only and Senator Sydney Hack was elected.

Because Hacker acted as chair during the meeting, she did not have a vote. Hacker and Clemons were counted as abstentions in all votes.

The Senate first heard a quarterly report from Darin Schluep of UC Davis dining services who spoke about numerous happenings within the unit. This included the recent 50th anniversary of the Coffee House, the merging of the satellite staffs at the South CoHo and BioBrew and the choice of a new coffee vendor for the CoHo. After Dec. 14, the CoHo will switch to serving ecoGrounds coffee after using Beantrees coffee for a decade. There are also plans for the CoHo to host a free, latenight breakfast for students on Dec. 11. The event was conceived of and advocated for by Chancellor Gary May. The Senate then moved into public discussion to give time for Gofman to give a report about his meeting with the UC Council of Presidents. The council is composed of other UC student government presidents and UC President Janet Napolitano.

Gofman spoke about the body’s efforts toward standardizing police reporting procedures across all of the UCs and the advocacy the council is doing toward making sure that students’ basic needs are met.

Gofman specifically mentioned an effort to have immigration attorneys available at all UC campuses; currently, the UC Davis School of Law is the host of the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center.

Stacey Wong, the unit director for The Experimental College, then gave a unit report. The main issues the unit is addressing this quarter are promoting publicity through social media and providing online waivers for classes. An introduction to electronic music production is a new class the unit is offering.

Emergency Legislation was then seen by the table. ASUCD Resolution #3 was authored by the ASUCD DREAM Committee. The resolution calls “for support from the Association and ASUCD President, Michael Gofman, to demand that UC Davis Administration immediately begin the active, open and nationwide listing for the position and hiring process of a full time permanent Director for the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center.” Edits were made to the bill to have it be directed, more

explicitly, toward the UC Davis administration.

It was adopted without objection. Since that time, a full-time director has been appointed by UC Davis administration.

Members were then confirmed to the Business and Finance Commission, two members were confirmed to the Elections Committee and one member was confirmed to the Judicial Council.

The Senate then took up Senate Bill #X, another piece of emergency legislation. The bill would have allocated funds for the EC Gardens to purchase a new shed. A similar motion to this bill passed unanimously last year according to Helen VanBeck, who advocated for the new shed, because the current shed is falling apart and vulnerable to break-ins.

Senator Atanas Spasov was particularly critical of the bill and rejected the use of emergency legislation to fund this project.

Spasov disapproved of the funding source chosen for the purchase of the shed. Ultimately, the bill was tabled without objection and the funding was not allocated.

A member from the University of California Student Association was introduced to the Senate by OASR Legislative Director Jake Sedgley for public comment. He spoke about being a resource for the table and advocated for Lobby Corps.

For the third week in a row, Senate Bill #11 was called into discussion. This week, OASR proposed changing its name not to the Office of the External Affairs Vice President, as had been previously proposed, but to the Office of Government and Community Affairs. Several senators were critical of this bill, including Spasov, Hacker and Ko Ser Lu Htoo.

“We have spent over an hour talking about this goddamn name change for the past two weeks,” Spasov said.

The bill was eventually tabled without objection.

Senate Resolution #2 was called before the Senate. The resolution recognized “the posting of anti-Semitic flyers on the University of California, Davis campus as a hate crime committed against students from the Jewish community.”

Senators engaged in a lengthy debate about this resolution, particularly about whether to amend an existing clause or add an additional clause that would acknowledge discrimination and attacks against people of other religious minorities. The addition of such a clause was first suggested by Environmental Policy and Planning Commission Chair Alice Beittel.

Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission Chair Rina Singh, Senator Jumoke Maraiyesa and Htoo were also in favor of adding such a clause. On a motion to divide the house to gauge support of adding such a clause, Maraiyesa and Htoo voted in favor.

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Be wary of email, phone call scams, warns police department Police tell students to be cautious of suspicious messages

Seven senators voted against and Senator Jesse Kullar abstained.

Though there were other senators who had voiced agreement on having such a clause during debate, only Maraiyesa and Htoo voted in favor of adding one.

During debate, Hacker said, upon hearing feedback, she was unsure whether including an additional clause to acknowledge other religious minorities would be appropriate, and she stated that “we can pass another resolution on hate crimes in general.”

Singh referenced her Sikh identity as a reason for her support of adding such a clause.

“Is it too much to ask for another whereas clause?” Singh asked. “I feel like my community gets no representation.”

“A lot of things happen [in my community],” Singh said. “Hate crimes to the level that people get murdered [...] I would personally think that it’s not too much to ask to just add that sentence that denotes inclusion.”

After the motion to divide the house, Singh objected the passage of the resolution.

“I am kind of disappointed because I feel like my community is also targeted a lot,” Singh said. “It’s not fair that you erase my realities and I’m feeling like that’s what’s happening right now.”

Maraiyesa supported such a clause because other resolutions had included similar clauses that condemned other types of discrimination. She also brought up that black students had also seen the fliers and had been affected by them.

“Other communities are also impacted by this kind of language,” Maraiyesa said.

“There were black students who also saw the signs […] That is coming from a black student.”

In response, Spasov said the resolution “is against a very targeted attack on a specific community” and “if an attack on a specific community occurs we will write another resolution.”

Near the end of the debate, Maraiyesa said that she would be taking the issue back to her community.

External Affairs Commission Chair Nayzak Wali-Ali suggested finding “a middle ground.”

“I want to see both sides to this bill,” Wali-Ali said. “There have been hate crimes against my people. But if I feel that I wanted to be specific, then I can respect that. I understand where Gofman is coming from when he says that he wants it to be specific to Jewish students. I understand that. I think that if someone is advocating for the Jewish community and they feel that way, then we should also respect that [...] I also understand it wanting to be inclusive.”

Senator Maria Martinez voiced her agreement with Wali-Ali. “I feel like I agree with her on giving the attention to the Jewish community,” Martinez said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking away from that [...] I kind of agree with [that] train of thought, adding in another sentence or another clause to reach that middle ground. I wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and diminish it I guess.”

Hack stopped discussion for a moment to acknowledge the absence of a senator.

“If you haven’t noticed, Daniella [Aloni] had to leave the room,” Hack said. “This has been a really upsetting conversation for her as a Jewish student. She understands where

BY CLARA Z H AO campus@theaggie.org

A wave of phone and email scams have plagued the Davis community in the past months, and the UC Davis Police Department has warned students to be wary.

According to the UCDPD website, these scams don’t specifically target students and have been reported nationwide.

The fraudulent messages vary in content, ranging from fake job offers and warnings that the receiver is going to be arrested to notifications that the receiver had won a prize or could get an apartment.

In addition, many of these messages seemed to be targeted specifically toward international students, claiming the receiver’s visa is about to expire or that someone needs help transferring money to the receiver.

“One common variation is a recorded phone message in Mandarin Chinese but there are many others in circulation,” the UCDPD website said.

In all cases, the scammer at some point demands the receiver send them money in various forms, including gift cards to Amazon, iTunes,

we are coming from with inclusivity, but she wants to respect the incident that happened to Jewish students.”

Hack said during debate that Aloni was potentially in favor of adding an additional whereas clause and not amending a current one.

Gofman then spoke for the Jewish students on the table.

“Most of the Jews that are in this room have already stated their opinion,” Gofman said.

Beittel then questioned the support of a change to the resolution, stating that she was unsure if “that support still stands”.

Internal Affairs Commission Chair Jacob Ganz, who had made a motion to pass the resolution, rescinded it after there were objections from Singh and Htoo.

“I totally get where you [Singh and Htoo] are coming from,” Ganz said. “As a Jewish student, it felt like other communities had been talked about and we had not.

This is our moment in the sun. All communities should get their moment in the sun.

Ko, you mentioned that we might need to pass 10 resolutions. Then let’s pass 10 resolutions. That might be the best resolution.”

Ganz then remade his motion, and Maraiyesa objected to its passage.

“Let me get personal here,” Maraiyesa said. “Black students always have to share their space. We are just asking you to be a little more inclusive. […] We are in solidarity with Jewish folks, but we’re tired of always having to share our spaces. We do include other ethnic and religious groups as well. I don’t understand why, because I know it’s not about the what-aboutisms, but it just doesn’t make sense to not put that clause in.

I’m not saying we take out the clause that specifically says, ‘Jewish students,’ that is also fine, but adding another clause about having other religious groups feel safe — why not? Because I can point to not only a Senate Resolution, but also ‘It’s Okay to be White’ when Palestinian students came in as well. Why not this one? If anyone can please explain.”

Spasov countered Maraiyesa’s reference to the Senate Resolution in response to the “It’s Okay to be White” posters hung on campus last year. “[Those] posters were a very generalized attack on any community that hasn’t been the standard white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant,” Spasov said. “It was an attack on [...] everyone under the sun who isn’t white [...]

This was a very targeted attack on one community and one community only. It is my hope that we will pass this resolution and that if it comes to the point where another attack happens on a community on campus we can write a resolution to support that community in question.”

Maraiyesa responded, saying while these most recent anti-Semitic fliers were posted, “black students also saw the swastika signs” and mentioned “the quick response” the Jewish community received and “the amount of support the Jewish community got.”

“And then on top of that, this is why we added it should be the same manner for other groups on campus,” Maraiyesa said.

Before the final vote, Maraiyesa apologized before the Senate.

“First, I will apologize,” Maraiyesa said.

SENATE on 12

Walmart, Target or other retailers.

Police stated they have received four reports of phone scams since the beginning of summer as well as a recent report of attempted fraud on the community site Uloop.

UC Davis Police Chief Joseph Farrow addressed the scams at the ASUCD Senate meeting on October 18.

“We’ve had five international students who have fallen victims to these,” Farrow said.

“We’re working closely with international students so they know about these scams.”

International students who were aware of these scams expressed their concern.

“I think [we’re targeted] because they [the scammers] know international students usually are rich,” said Jiayi Liu a third-year communication major and international student from China. “I wish it will never happen to any of my friends or other international students.”

Students are advised to refrain from sending money in any form in response to such requests.

In addition, the police urge those who think they have been a victim of fraud or have information about such a crime to call the police department by phone, 530-754-2677.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 3

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Jewish student leaders meet with chancellor to discuss future outcomes when addressing anti-Semitic incidents

MICHAEL GOFMAN / COURTESY

Moving forward, ADL will host training workshops, administration will provide more efficient communications after targeted attacks

BY R E BE CC A BI H N-WAL L AC E campus@theaggie.org

Jewish student leaders on campus met with Chancellor Gary May on Friday, Oct. 19, to discuss how the university can pro-

actively address issues regarding anti-Semitism at UC Davis. The meeting was sparked by anti-Semitic fliers that were distributed throughout campus on Monday, Oct. 9 by a local chapter of the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer.

UC Davis responds to Trump administration’s proposed change to gender definition

MARKUS KAEPPELI / AGGIE

University leaders affirm students’ rights, denounce proposal

BY AA RON L I SS campus@theaggie.org

A memo from the Department of Health and Human Affairs obtained by The New York Times in early October proposed changes to the concept and definition of gender in federal programs including education. The changes would “roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law,” according to The New York Times.

The federal law of Title IX under the Education Amendments Act of 1972 states that: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

The memo proposes defining gender “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable” and lays out a plan to define persons as unchangeably male or female determined by an individual’s physical features.

UC Davis, as a public institution, receives federal funds. Wendi Delmendo,

chief compliance officer of UC Davis Title IX, said that UC Davis won’t change discrimination policies that protect students based on gender expression.

“I’d like to reassure our students that, based on the information currently available, the University does not anticipate any changes in the way UC Davis handles complaints of discrimination or harassment,” Delmendo said. “Existing University policy prohibits discrimination based on sex, gender, gender expression and gender identity, among other legally protected characteristics such as race, religion and disability.”

According to The Williams Institute under UCLA’s School of Law, approximately 1.4 million individuals in the U.S identify as transgender. After The New York Times released the contents of the memo, a widespread wave of backlash followed on the basis that this federal recognition erasure would explicitly and implicitly further discrimination of trans, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals and remove their civil protections.

Following the memo, The Student Health and Counseling Center published an open letter to students, stressing that its policy hasn’t and won’t erase the value of trans, nonbinary and intersex people. The letter was signed by Cindy Schorzman, the center’s medical director, and Paul Kim, the center’s interim director.

“We see you,” the letter said. “You exist. You are our students, our friends, our coworkers, and our family. You cannot be erased; you are indelible. In these uncertain times, please know, with certainty, that you are intrinsically valuable as a human being.

Nothing anyone else says, or does, or even passes into law, can ever change that fact.’

The letter also stated that “Intersex, TRANSGENDER on 11

Students who were present at the meeting included ASUCD President Michael Gofman; Dana Benavi, the president of Jewish-interest sorority Sigma Alpha Epsilon Phi; Arielle Zoken, vice president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Phi and Noah Pearl, Internal Affairs Commission chair and president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish-interest fraternity.

Zoken, a third-year economics major, described her experience as a Jewish student at UC Davis.

“We’re white when it’s convenient and Jewish when it’s not, so a lot of us at UC Davis, we’re Caucasian so we’re not seen as a minority, [and it’s not seen] that we need protection or sensitivity,” Zoken said. “I’ve experienced anti-Semitism on campus. My freshman year, I was asked where my horns were. I’ve been asked, when I was speaking Hebrew, if I was ‘speaking terrorist.’ Somebody said it as a joke. [...] I think the main issue that we have at Davis is that there’s not really a space on campus [where we feel welcome]. Off-campus, Hillel, Chabad, that’s where we go, but as of now the goal here is to make it so that the classroom is a welcom-

ing space for us.”

Benavi, a fourth-year communication major, also spoke about the need to make the campus a more welcoming place for Jewish students.

During the college application process, Benavi hesitated to attend UC Davis due to a incident in which swastikas were painted on the walls of the AEPi fraternity. Realizing that excluding Jews from UC Davis was probably the culprit’s mission, Benavi decided to attend the university and become involved in Jewish student life.

According to Benavi, the meeting with Chancellor May was successful and proactive, and May referenced the meeting as the start of a long-term partnership between the Jewish community and the administration.

Pearl, a third-year statistics and political science double major, was also present at the meeting and said that he initially felt the university’s response to the fliers was “a little bit inadequate.” However, Pearl stated that after Jewish students wrote to May expressing their concerns and offering constructive FLIERS AFTERMATH on 12

As AFSCME strike ends, the voices of the people remain DIANA LI / AGGIE

ASFCME, UPTE members discuss their reasons for striking

BY G E O RG E LIAO campus@theaggie.org

The three-day strike held by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME) from Oct. 23 to 25 against the University of California system has ended. In a show of solidarity, employees represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) union joined AFSCME 3299 on the picket lines.

AFSCME 3299 cited the outsourcing of union jobs, poor working conditions and stalled negotiations as the reasons for the strike. The union specifically emphasized outsourcing of existing and future jobs as the catalyst for the latest strike.

In a press release circulated before the strike, the President and Vice President of AFSCME Local 3299 outlined their purpose.

On the second day of the strike in Davis, the focus shifted to the University of California, Davis Medical Center (UCDMC) in Sacramento where the primary concern was the outsourcing of jobs in connection with the planned construction of a new re-

habilitation hospital.

The new rehabilitation hospital will be a partnership between UC Davis Health and Kindred Healthcare, a nationwide health care services company, as part of the Aggie Square initiative to build a facility for brain injury patients. The existing rehabilitation facility at the UC Davis Medical Center will be moved to the new building as a result.

Alexis Roberts, a clinical laboratory scientist at UCDMC and a member of UPTE, expressed her concerns about moving the rehabilitation facility to the new hospital.

“They are trying to move the [rehabilitation] floor of UC Davis Medical Center to a different hospital,” Roberts said. “They are planning to build a separate building which sounds like a good idea, because it will say UC Davis on the side of the building, but actually [there] won’t be any UC Davis employees inside of the building.”

UC Davis officials, however, have said there will be no outsourcing.

“There will be no job outsourcing related to the UC Davis Rehabilitation Hospital,” said Steve Telliano, an assistant vice chancellor for UC Davis Health, via email.

“None at all.”

Telliano explained the UC Davis Rehabilitation Hospital is a new, separately licensed hospital which will be built and operated by Kindred Healthcare, which is a completely separate company.

“Therefore, just like applying for any other job with any other company, someone would need to apply for positions that are open at that company in order to work there,” he said. “It’s expected that about 200 new jobs will be created at this new hospital. UC Davis does not own this hospital, … we are a partner in this hospital, and we AFSCME VOICES on 12

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How AFSCME’s strike impacted classes Three-day strike prompts class cancellation, relocation across departments

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

A three-day strike took place in late October across the University of California system on behalf of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299, the UC’s largest employee union.

While professors and teaching assistants are not included in this union, a number of them altered their schedules around the strike.

Workers participated in the strike to address issues such as healthcare premium increases, flattening wages, risky 401(k) plans and the outsourcing of jobs within the UC system.

Several classes, discussion sections and even office hours were cancelled or moved to

alternate locations off-campus while other professors held tight to their strict 10-week plans and continued lecturing.

Though the professors and teaching assistants who cancelled or relocated classes don’t belong to the union, changing their schedules was a show of support for fellow colleagues who feel they are not being given what they deserve. Po-Chun Huang, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology, discussed his reasoning for cancelling his classes.

“I simply want to support the union that is working hard on negotiating a fair contract for all the UC workers who provide services to support our teaching and research functions,” Huang said.

A look at his syllabus shows that a midterm was scheduled for the following week

The Dumpling House slated to reopen in six months, contrary to online information

The Dumpling House still undergoing restoration, remodeling after fire damage

TIMOTHY LI / AGGIE

BY H A N N A N WA L IU L L A H city@theaggie.org

Six months after The Dumpling House was damaged by a fire, repairs are still underway. The source of the fire was the attic of 117 E Street, a property that is being developed into a restaurant by the owners of the Dumpling House. The fire was caused by electrical issues in the upcoming restau-

rant Little Bao Bao. Although no employees or customers were hurt during the fire, it forced the restaurant to close for restoration.

The Dumpling House is not slated to open for another three to six months, according to owner Linda Liu. The Dumpling House’s recorded phone message states that the Sacramento location is still open and that anyone who wishes to can place an order there.

Information found by a quick Google search, however, may be misleading. For the past couple of months, the Yelp page for the Dumpling House had posted a slated reopening date for Oct. 22. The Dumpling House location on E Street has a printed sheet of paper posted on the window stating that it is still closed.

“Just last week, my friend had heard that the Dumpling House had reopened and also I looked it up on Yelp and Google and it said they were open [...] and on the way I had asked my friends to call because we

Cannabis out for delivery

Davis City Council considering moratorium for delivery-only cannabis services

RAEL HANUS / AGGIE

BY ST EL L A T RA N city@theaggie.org

The Davis City Council has approved more delivery-only cannabis businesses; however, it will consider calling for a moratorium. Currently, there is a limit on cannabis storefront retailers and the delivery-only option may soon be capped as well.

Brett Lee, the mayor of Davis, elaborated on the process it takes for cannabis businesses to be approved. “[Businesses] go through a fairly long application process where they have to submit a lot of information to the city,” Lee said.

“And that’s information reviewed by staff.

And then in terms of the actual approval, it will go before the planning commission.

The planning commission makes the recommendation. The city council then gets the information in terms of what the planning commission decides — ultimately, it’s the city council that gives the final approval.”

Gloria Partida, the mayor pro tempore of Davis, stated that there are specific rules that cannabis businesses must follow to be approved. She noted that The People’s Kush and The Good People Farms are the two businesses that have been approved so far.

“There were guidelines for what the cannabis businesses had to follow,” Partida said.

“They were the only two that came forward at that particular time and so because they met the guidelines, we approved them. We then realized that this could start a run-on delivery businesses, because we placed a limit on the storefront types of businesses. This could really be a way for cannabis businesses to expand and really throw a number.”

The Good People Farms also previously applied for conditional use permits to open dispensaries; however, it was chosen for delivery-only service.

“The Good People Farms is a cannabis agriculture and dispensary company [… ]

after the strike. When asked whether or not this will affect students’ performance, Huang replied that he did not anticipate any consequences and was able to effectively combine two lectures into one.

Other classes were made optional, including Dr. Scott Shershow’s clerical theory course. The English professor sent out an announcement that any student who did not want to cross the picket line would be excused, and students who did attend lecture were taught about strikes and labor unions. Coincidentally, the lecture topic for that Wednesday was the relationship between labor and education.

“I feel strongly about balancing my support for the strike and not wanting to cross the picket line, while also keeping my obligations to the students,” Shershow said in regard to his explanation for the decision.

He also said that he felt that the strike should not hinder students’ opportunities to learn but instead teach them something.

Some other professors chose to get creative, and many found ways to hold class without setting foot on campus and crossing the picket line. Among them was, Dr. Eva Mroczek, a professor in the Department of Religious Studies. Mroczek opted to hold class in Central Park and did not go onto campus during the strike.

“While I am fortunate to have good benefits and job security, that doesn’t go for everyone who works here, and we’re all in this together,” Mroczek said. “Knowing if the people who take care of our health, maintain our campus and make our food every day are being treated fairly definitely affects our ability to learn and teach.”

She reported that students were relieved that they did not have to choose between supporting workers and attending class, and nearly everyone was present at the session in the park. Mroczek also felt that the reason behind the strike impacted the students ability to learn.

Students had a variety of reactions to the altered schedule during the week of the strike. Several students were grateful for the cancellation, because it allowed them more time to study and slowed the quarter-system pace down.

Second-year animal science major Bianca Burkhart said that the cancellation of her three-hour chemistry lab came as a relief.

“We will be cutting the class one lab short and not making it up,” Burkhart said.

“It took a lot of stress off of my plate, and as for the material we missed, we will just be learning about it in lecture and not acting on it in lab.”

While some students were glad their professors cancelled classes, others were relieved when their schedules remained unchanged.

No two classes are the same, and while some courses have room for one or two missed sessions, others are on stricter schedule and instructors are unable to drop a whole lecture from the syllabus.

“I’m honestly grateful that my sections weren’t cancelled or moved, because that would’ve led to a lot of unwanted stress for me,” said fourth-year managerial economics major Ryan Donat. “I understand wanting to respect the strike and not cross the picket line, but I also think that my main priority at Davis is to learn and I need the help of my TAs and professors to do so.”

wanted to order takeout,” said Simon Santos, a second-year cinema and digital media major at UC Davis. “But no one answered the phone, and it was just a woman who was saying that they were temporarily going under renovation, — please text us at this number at this Sacramento location — and we were very confused.”

Liu said that the construction is taking longer than originally planned because it is a slow process to receive permits from the city, which the Dumpling House needs in order to reopen. Liu anticipates that these permits will be acquired in approximately one month.

DH construction company has been working with the restaurant to make the grand reopening as smooth as possible, but Liu stated that the actual restoration can’t begin until the company receives the permit.

While the total cost of repair and remodeling is estimated to be between $200,000 and $300,000, it will all be covered by insurance.

Meanwhile, food from the Dumpling House can be spotted every Wednesday at the Farmers Market under the restaurant’s white tent. There, one can find employees from the Sacramento location, along with former employees of the Davis location, cooking the dumplings.

According to Ivy Mai, an employee of the Dumpling House, working at the tent is no

different from working at the store because the customers are the same.

“I think that we have so many customers that used to go to Dumpling House,” Mai said. “They are so happy that we are here.”

In the future, Liu plans to open a new restaurant next to the Dumpling House and London Fish n’ Chips which will serve bao — Chinese steamed buns. “Little Bao Bao” will be opening in the summer of 2019, around the same time as the reopening of the Dumpling House.

In the meantime, Liu is preparing and refining the restaurant’s existing recipes.

Additionally, she’s looking at furniture and supplies for their new restaurant.

“We’d like to have a new place — where everything is brand new and clean — to serve Davis and the community and to do a better job,” Liu said. “And right now, I’m [doing] a lot of shopping to get all good recipes and to learn a lot. We will still have dumplings, but we’ll have something new on the menu.”

Liu also mentioned that students are welcome to apply to work at the new restaurant, once it opens.

“For [the] future, we like to give some students the opportunity for the jobs, and we also plan to help some of the students,” Liu said. “Some of the students really need help — we have help, we want to give something to the community and [UC Davis].”

TGPF is applying to open a dispensary at this location to serve the medical needs of patients and sell cannabis products to adults 21 years of age and older,” according to the Cannabis Dispensary Application. “The dispensary will offer mobile delivery service and will phase this service in after the dispensary is up and running smoothly (3-6 months). The company intends to hire 90% of its staff from the local Davis community.”

Partida hopes that the new businesses, like The Good People Farms, will be able to generate revenue for Davis as they intend on hiring locals as well.

“I’m hoping that they are successful because this is a good revenue string for the city,” Partida said. “I think that it’s a business that could really be successful and would help alleviate a lot of other problems that we might have.”

Since there has been a limitation on storefront dispensaries, the city council is considering a moratorium for the delivery only services as well.

“We haven’t officially issued a moratorium yet, but what we talked about the last meeting was that we have five retail cannabis locations that we approved,” Lee said. “One of them has been opened so far, and I believe three or four of them have a delivery component as well. We have those three to four businesses planning to do delivery — we have now approved three additional delivery-only locations. It’s my sense that we

have to see how things go before we keep approving delivery businesses. It’s a new area for the city of Davis and it’s relatively new for California. We want to make sure that it works out as we anticipate.”

Partida also indicated that the city is quite unsure about the effects of the newly-approved dispensaries.

Even so, Lee noted that there are many things to consider when approving either retail or delivery-only businesses.

“On the retail side, we need to make sure that it’s an appropriate location so that people can come and go to,” Lee said. “We don’t want it to be next to an elementary school or something like that. For the delivery side, the criteria is really more about the impacts in terms of delivery vans coming and going.

We prohibit that activity in our downtown, it’s more meant to be on the outskirts of downtown or in the commercial or industrial-zoned areas.”

So far, a new delivery-only application is undergoing review.

“There’s one other delivery-only application that has been submitted, and it’s working its way through the process,” Lee said. “My belief is that city council will say that we need to take a break and see how the businesses that were approved and see how they do. Once we feel comfortable, then we will reopen the applications for both retail and delivery. We just need to see how they work out.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 5

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

CAITLYN SAMPLEY / AGGIE

STUDENTS SLEEP, WORK WITH SHEEP, COWS, SWINE, HORSES Students work at different animal barns on campus in exchange for free living at the facility

BY MA RG O ROSE N B AU M features@theaggie.org

Instead of being residential advisors for freshmen at dorms on campus, some students work as “RAs” for livestock at animal facilities on campus.

Through barn residency programs, students can live rent-free for a year at one of nine animal facilities on campus in exchange for 10 hours of weekly work. These programs are offered at the beef barn, dairy barn, feedlot, feed mill, goat barn, avian facility, horse barn, sheep barn and swine barn, according to the UC Davis Department of Animal Science website.

At most of the animal facilities, basic student resident responsibilities include feeding the livestock, cleaning the facility and making sure everything runs smoothly when the facility managers are not there, according to second-year animal science major Rayann Eaves who works at the dairy facility.

“It’s not always the easiest, but it’s worth it for sure,” Eaves said. “You get to learn different things here that most people never get to experience, so that’s pretty awesome.”

Second-year animal science major Tara Falt, who works at the horse barn, said that student residents are responsible for checking on the horses. “[We are the] first responders if anything

UC DAVIS OFFERS FIRST-EVER ASL COURSE

Students and faculty members fight to bring ASL course to campus

OLIVIA KOTLAREK / AGGIE

goes wrong, ” Falt said.

Second-year animal science major Joseph Terry said he wants to be a large animal veterinarian, so living and working at the feedlot has helped him gain a lot of hands-on experience in the field.

“You get to apply what you are learning in animal science classes to your work, so it really helps out,” Terry said Even though residents are only required to work 10 hours a week, students can work additional hours. Fourth-year animal science and management major Carissa Garrity, who lives and works at the beef barn this year and lived and worked at the swine facility the previous year, said that she usually works around 15 hours a week.

“Any extra hours that you work you can either be banked to use in case there is a slow time in the season and you can’t get in all your hours [...] or you can cash them in,” Garrity said.

Since barn residency programs begin in June, Terry said that he worked more hours over the summer since he was able to devote more time to working and less to school work.

Garrity said that she has not had difficulty balancing school with work at the beef barn since her shifts start early in the morning, so she has lots of time for her other job and schoolwork.

BY E MILY NG U YE N features@theaggie.org

The UC Davis Department of Linguistics will offer an American Sign Language (ASL) course for the first time ever this winter. Set to appear on the Winter Quarter 2019 registration calendar, the course will go under the title LIN 105. The course was approved as a result of a collective efforts by students, faculty and thousands of members within and outside of the Davis community.

This summer an online petition circulated on social media asking for local support in convincing the UC Davis administration of offering ASL courses on campus. The petition, spearheaded by Hailey Gleason and Brooke Pritchard of the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission (AAC), gained momentum quickly. Within a week, the petition received thousands of signatures and garnered support from a wide array of communities.

“It’s a difficult transition learning how to wake up early in the morning to feed the horses,” Falt said. “Morning chores need to be finished by 8 a.m. so that includes feeding and cleaning out the barn. So whatever time we need to get up in the morning to accomplish that, it can get pretty early.”

For Falt, she said that the job has a duality of working hard and gaining experience in her intended field which she appreciates.

“Balancing classes and the residency, it’s like balancing any other job,” Falt said. “We have our hours that we need to commit to.

And we are getting experience and racking up those hours that are going to job applications or vet school applications while we are getting paid.”

Part of gaining all of the experience working with the animals comes from living in rooms in the actual barns at the facilities.

“As far as living in a barn, it has its ups and downs,” Garrity said. “We contact facilities management all the time because we either have light bulbs that go out, or our wifi is down. For the most part, the living quarters are not that bad, it just gets dirty really quickly.”

Since Falt lives in the horse barn, she said when their air conditioning is not on, she can hear horses in the stalls next to the room they live in.

“The walls are thicker than you would think they are which is a good thing, because our donkey likes to bray very loudly at random hours of the night and we can’t hear him unless we are really trying to,” Falt said.

However, Falt said that living at the facility has major perks since she never has to worry about commuting to work.

“I think it is nice being able to roll out of bed and be at work already,” Falt said.

Fourth-year animal science major Janna Davis said that she likes the convenience of living at the barn in addition to the one-onone work with the horse barn manager.

“I love just whenever I am stressed out I can just go outside and snuggle [the babies] and they all remember me,” Davis said. “It feels really nice, like they’ll all walk up to you and just get to scratch them.”

To become a barn resident, the animal science advising center releases applications during winter quarter. According to the UC Davis animal science website, applicants

must be currently enrolled students, should be enrolled in animal-oriented majors since they get priority, have appropriate animal experience, willing to work holidays, weekends and evenings, possess a valid California driver’s license and have the ability to lift a bale of hay.

“You submit your interests in which facilities you want to look at,” Eaves said.

“You rank them in order and write small little essays with prompts.”

Since the application process is competitive, Eaves recommends that the best way to get involved is to first get an internship at your desired animal facility, talk to the facility manager and take an animal management course.

“Make sure that you really like what you are doing because sometimes it is really difficult,” Eaves said. “You have to really love the animals and, put your best into it and it should work out from there.”

Regardless of which facility someone wants to work at, Falt said that she thinks the residency position is not for everyone.

“It’s a very routine job that you have to stick to,” Falt said. “It’s non-negotiable as far as your chores need to get done. These animals have to get fed; they have to get cleaned up after. You are looking after their well being and general health.”

Additionally, Davis said that residents are scheduled to work all year including holidays, weekends and school breaks.

“If you are used to going home every weekend or [leaving] for every holiday or three-day weekend, [this job is] probably also not for you because you have to work or get coverage for 365 days a year, 7 days a week,” Davis said.

“[The project] was first brought to my attention by one the of [ASUCD] senators Rahi [Suryawanshi],” said Hailey Gleason, a second-year environmental science and management major. “Before she graduated, she had brought the idea to our commission and wanted to see if anybody would be willing to work on it. I told her I’d love to work on it. Then [Pritchard] asked if she could help and I [thought] that’d be awesome because I really value her input.”

Once they brainstormed ideas on how to get the project going, the two AAC commissioners met with faculty members and members of the school administration board to discuss their concrete plans for the execution of the ASL course.

“We started with people on campus that we knew would have an investment in [the project],” Gleason said. “We met with Dr. Corina who is a faculty member on campus that does research in ASL. He was all for it, and he recommended that we talk to the Raul, the chair of the linguistics department, so that we [would have] a place to house ASL if it was to become a class. [Raul] was very receptive of it as well. He said that they had been wanting to do it for a long time, but there hadn’t really been any push from students. Then we met with the Associate Dean of Letters and Science, Ari Kelman, and he was excited to hear our ideas but he couldn’t guarantee that [ASL] was going to become a class. He said that if we figure out a way to [...] get enough support on campus and students showed interest, he would be willing to help us introduce the class into the two-year long process that gets classes on campus.”

Gleason and Pritchard knew that in order to build enough momentum for the project to get approved, they would have to reach the public through multiple platforms and mediums. Elise Israel, a second-year animal science major and the publicity chair of ASL Club on campus, said that she was thrilled when the two approached the ASL Club with the idea of starting an ASL course on campus.

“They reached out to [ASL club] and asked if we wanted to start a class, and we were like ‘of course we do,’ and so once they

wrote the petition, I did everything I could to get people to sign the petition,” Israel said.

The overwhelming support of the petition proved more than sufficient to give the project its final push. Hours of meticulous planning and organizing paid off when the school registrar announced that the proposal to have an ASL course on campus was approved.

The prospective course will give students the opportunity to learn about the historical, cultural and societal implications of ASL. In addition, students will have the option to enroll in LIN 197, a complementary course designed to enhance students’ understanding of ASL through practice of signing.

“The professor [who will teach the course] will be Dr. Corina, and it’s not really the actual sign language that will be taught, it’s more the background of [sign language],” Israel said. “There is a conjunction class that goes with it, which will be 1-2 units, where you learn the sign language. Undergrad students, like me, would teach you, and I would get credit for that also.”

Nikki Villalon, a fifth-year animal science major and president of ASL Club, hopes that the ASL course will make the UC Davis campus more inclusive of members within the deaf community.

“I feel like we should be able to have people in the deaf community feel more comfortable with us, and I want us to be more comfortable with them,” Villalon said.

“There’s a huge deaf community here [at UC Davis], and we want to be able to [communicate] with them. I want to be able to have us come together.”

To the students who were involved in the process of getting the ASL course approved, this victory is one that is not only shared amongst themselves but also with members of the deaf community and society at large.

“I think that this is good for promoting the understanding of different communities and incorporating them into society at large,” Gleason said. “I really want that for our campus, especially since we promote that in the ‘Principles of Community.’ I think it’s important that we make sure that we hold ourselves accountable to that.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

6 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Opinion THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

E DI TO R I AL B OAR D

Senate endorsements: consider the following The Editorial Board endorses four candidates for ASUCD Senate

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

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

In anticipation of ASUCD’s Fall Election, which begins on Nov. 13, the Editorial Board sat down with seven of the eight senatorial candidates to discuss their campaign platforms and attitudes toward ASUCD. One candidate, Alexis Ramirez, declined the Editorial Board’s request for an interview. While many of the candidates expressed enthusiasm for the position, the Editorial Board felt that the following four individuals gave concrete solutions to problems impacting the UC Davis student body. The Editorial Board ultimately chose not to endorse graduating seniors, as they won’t be able to fill the entirety of their terms, which will end in December of 2019.

Maya Barak — Unite!

Third-year international relations major Maya Barak’s platforms include spreading ASCUD resource awareness and advocating for minorities. Barak hopes to connect students to tools that exist on campus but aren’t necessarily taken advantage of. Additionally, she plans to establish an interfaith floor in the dorms and provide Kosher and Halal options in the dining commons to serve minority communities. The Editorial Board feels that Barak’s willingness to work with people of differing opinions and accept constructive criticism would make her a positive addition to an often divided Senate table.

Peiyuan (Tony) Chen — BASED Peiyuan (Tony) Chen, a third-year undeclared major, impressed the Editorial Board with his motivation to bridge the gap between international and domestic students. An international student himself, Chen plans

to develop an international student day to recognize those from different countries. He also wants to create a study abroad mentorship program in which students planning to study in different countries could meet with international students from that area to get a feel for the culture abroad. The Editorial Board was also interested in Chen’s plans to reorganize parking on campus, using a data to open up more spots for students.

Francisco López-Montaño — Unite!

Francisco López-Montaño, a third-year political science and economics double major, is running with the goal of increasing student involvement both on campus and within ASUCD. The Editorial Board supports their plans to establish partnerships between ASUCD and student clubs so that the Senate can get input from more student voices when crafting legislation and proposing resolutions. López-Moñtano also plans to create a more organized and timely ASUCD budget, helping to sustain the organization in the long term.

Noah Pearl — Unite!

As a member of the Internal Affairs Commission, third-year statistics and political science double major Noah Pearl has experience with the ASUCD legislation process, which will make him a more informed senator.

Pearl’s platforms emphasized affordability in a comprehensive manner, showing his understanding of issues important to students. The Editorial Board supports his plans to develop a partnership with a ride-sharing service to provide free rides to students on weekend nights, as well as his goal of providing meals to students who stay on campus during holiday breaks.

Social Media Echo Chambers: Fake news and confirmation bias in the online era HOW MISINFORMATION AND PERSONAL BIAS THREATEN CRITICAL THOUGHT

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

“Fake news”: it’s a phrase we hear more and more in today’s political climate in reference to sensationalist and often entirely fabricated journalism. Its effects are widespread and damaging; according to one analysis of Facebook trends during the 2016 election, the top 20 fake news stories had more shares, comments and reactions than the top 20 legitimate news stories.

The impact of such stories on democracy has become a popular and highly contentious political issue, culminating in fiery congressional testimonies this September that put the executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter under the

grilling scrutiny of American politicians.

Yet despite all of this attention, fake news is not the only misinformation-related issue that threatens our democracy in the age of the internet.

Confirmation bias — “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs,” according to the “Encyclopedia Britannica” online — is being amplified by the proliferation of partisan news reporting online. 47 percent of self-identified “consistent conservatives” stated that they more often see political posts aligning with their own beliefs, according to one study of Facebook users by Pew Research Group. This is in contrast to just 17 percent of politically moderate users who say the same thing.

While “consistent liberals” were less likely than their conservative counterparts to see political opinions in line with their own (33 percent), evidence suggests that they are avoiding contrasting views as well. The study found that 44 percent of consistent liberals stated that they have blocked or unfriended someone on social media because they disagreed with something they said politically. Regardless of ideological identification, Americans seem more and more likely to filter out potentially dissenting viewpoints.

This trend has created a social media echo chamber in which we deliberately avoid conflicting viewpoints in order to satisfy our own biases. Social media websites are aware of the issue and are exploiting this bias by filtering ads and

content based upon users’ perceived political alignment in hopes of maximizing ad engagement.

The issue is so large that even our notoriously social media-active president consistently falls victim to fake news.

In Nov. 2017, President Donald Trump generated controversy when he retweeted three inflammatory videos posted by Jayda Fransen of the anti-Muslim, British ultranationalist group Britain First.

The videos, whose content legitimacy was heavily questioned in the followings days, were apparently originally retweeted onto the president’s Twitter timeline by conservative commentator Ann Coulter, one of only 45 people President Trump follows JETTER on 12

You’ll probably only read this headline SOCIAL MEDIA USERS OFTEN “LIKE” AND SHARE NEWS STORIES WITHOUT EVEN READING THEM COMPLETELY

BY KA N WA L J IT S I NGH kjssingh@ucdavis.edu

Every once in a while, we come across an interesting post on Facebook and can’t help but share it. All kinds of posts are shared on social media, ranging from breaking news stories to videos of adorable puppies. Sharing is a very effective way to spread news, interesting articles or something we find funny. But at a time when superficiality has taken over sincerity, it shouldn’t be a surprise when we observe the same in shared posts.

According to a 2016 study by computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked; in other words, most people appear to retweet or share news without ever reading it. This may be due to a lack of effort or our diminishing attention spans, which are sadly at an all-time low. Thus, without attaining any reasonable amount of information

on some topic, we — out of laziness and our craving for online attention — end up posting something that we aren’t very aware of, doing it for the sake of appearing cool or smart.

This has led to a group of people who have formed preconceived notions about various topics based only on the headlines of articles, as they never really get to know the whole story. A headline is not the full news (which most of us know). But when there’s a group of people triggered by just the headline, what was supposed to foster intellectual conversation leads to people around the world dragging each other into the abyss of ignorance, where everyone acts like an expert.

Another feature on Facebook that has made our online experience much easier is the save button, which allows us to save anything on our newsfeed that we want to check later, thus creating an archive of various pictures, videos and articles. But our lack of attention and slothfulness have somewhat contributed to a useful

feature like this being misused or underused. All these posts that we save gradually start piling up and we tend to ignore most of them.

There is also the practice of saving posts that we barely even like or are interested in. This often times results in the posts that we are genuinely interested in getting unnoticed, as they’re pushed way down the pile and we don’t want to do the arduous task of scrolling down thousands of posts. Sometimes users even see an interesting video on Facebook and then proceed to click the save button, only to realize that it had been saved already.

Then they proceed to unsave it and save it again in hopes that it’ll now be on the top of the pile, but it actually just ends up in its original place before it was unsaved.

Another common group of people these days are what I like to call “pseudo-likers.” These are people who like any post or page on social media, not because they necessarily associate with them, but because they want virtual approval and

confirmation from their friends. For example, some users may support a sports team they don’t really feel connected to (they might not even like the sport let alone the team), liking their posts or posting about them just to get approval from their friends who are part of that community. Most of us have liked something at least once just to feel included in a community or appear to support some view.

There’s one more category I like to call “blind likers,” and the people practicing this may not even be aware of what they are getting into. If a person likes any post on Facebook without actually going SINGH on 11

through its content — or even reading the headline — gradually his or her whole news feed transforms, as Facebook uses an algorithm based on our liked posts to decide what should be on our newsfeed.

This leads to a lack of variety on our newsfeeds, andMICHAEL LEAHY / AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 7

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

HUMOR

Delta of Venus designated official meeting place for “cool” instructor office hours PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS RESPOND TO THIS NEW POLICY

BY CON N ER S H AW cjshaw@ucdavis.edu

As a part of its new “Get Aggied!” engagement initiative, which builds connections between Davis businesses and the University, the Aggie Alumni Association has designated local cafe Delta of Venus as the official office space for “cool” instructors on — though technically, off — campus.

“Delta of Venus was the obvious choice,” said the President of the Aggie Alumni Association. “When you walk in there, you see the purple walls, those wooden chairs, the patio — I mean, chalkboard menus? Come on. Who doesn’t feel like a hipster in there?”

(The president insisted we describe his look during this interview: a flannel scarf, ripped jeans and shirt and pompadour haircut tied back in a messy bun attempt.)

The Aggie Alumni Association recently issued a press release to accompany the announcement. In it, the association drew several parallels to professor office hours on campus.

“For students wishing to join their coolest professors for office hours, the location will be the only significant change,” the release reads. “Due to Delta of Venus’ irregular hours, students will still find themselves struggling to make office hours that always seem to be during their other classes. Students wishing to avoid office hours will still find themselves awkwardly encountering their instructors when they go to the cafe, and that extremely uncomfortable recognition and sheepish waving will retain its usual feeling. And, best of all, students can still expect to walk in on their cool instructors eating a sandwich and make excruciating small talk until they are

comfortable enough to ask about what they originally came for.”

The press release also outlines how an instructor’s “coolness” rating is determined on the popular site RateMyProfessor — a personalized statistic based on clothing choices, meme knowledge, music taste and general aesthetic.

Plenty of Aggies, including professors themselves, took to the change immediately. Many students enjoy the cafe’s friendly atmosphere and mention that, before the policy, they had “literally no reason” to step into their professor’s office.

“I hate having to trek all around campus just to find different offices for office hours,” said one student. “And now, since I try to only have professors with high coolness ratings, it makes my life easier just to go to Delta.”

However, some professors are saying this new policy is alienating for instructors who students might not consider as “cool.” One professor, who thought it might be more “hip” of him to remain anonymous, told the Aggie his thoughts.

“I mean, what does cool even mean these days?” the professor said. “I’d say I’m pretty cool. I trade silly bands. I wear pretty ‘dank’ clothing on a regular basis. I donate to D.A.R.E. What more do I have to do to get to these kids? Maybe they’re just confusing what’s hot with what’s cool.” (The professor also insisted we mention his rattail as further assurance of his coolness.)

Sudoku

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

ALLYSON KO / AGGIE

Sh*t Humanities Majors Hear

BY ROSEY M O R E ART Y rosey@morearty.org

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

8 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

SCIENCE+TECH

QU IN N SPOON ER / AGGIE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DONKEY UC Davis sparks a global discussion to improve the quality of life and social status for donkeys everywhere

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

For six years, the annual Donkey Welfare Symposium has brought donkey researchers, equine experts, veterinarians, enthusiasts, undergraduate and veterinary graduate students and companions together for a three-day experience highlighting the donkey’s importance for communities across the world. This year’s symposium was organized

by Eric Davis, a veterinarian at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine International Animal Welfare Training Institute, his wife Cindy Davis and Amy McLean, an equine lecturer at the UC Davis animal science department, UC Davis Global Affairs and the non-profit Donkey Sanctuary.

When most people think of donkeys, they think of Donkey from “Shrek”– a hyper, talkative and annoying animal companion.

“Eddie Murphy’s character in Shrek is not a donkey character,” Davis said. “Actually, most donkeys have the complete opposite behavior.”

While donkeys generally don’t get a lot of respect, they are vital to human well-being across several national and internation-

al communities. In countries like Mali and Tanzania, donkeys are important for carrying water and for the well-being of families.

They have social and economic impacts on many communities.

Researchers came from over 14 countries through the UC Davis Global Affairs “Global Education for All Initiative” to create a space for global curiosity and opportunity for animal welfare.

“There aren’t that many veterinary-skilled people that look after the welfare of donkeys, an important animal particularly in Africa and other areas across the world,” said Ermias Kebreab, the associate vice provost of Academic Programs Global Affairs. “Being exposed to the Donkey Welfare Symposium could create opportunities for vet students who would want to have a career in animal welfare as an intern for future Summer or Quarter Abroad programs.”

Attendees came with a variety of donkey needs they wanted to address in donkey sanctuaries, donkey rescue spaces and in their own personal encounters with donkeys. Some concerns included how to maintain behavior after buying a donkey from another trainer or how to design engaging programs and environments for donkeys PU B LIC DOMA IN

GIVING CORAL REEFS A SECOND CHANCE UC Davis study demonstrates success in rehabilitating damaged coral reefs

BY MI C HE L L E WO NG science@theaggie.org

With the help of collaborative efforts between UC Davis, Mars Symbioscience, Hasanuddin University and Indonesian scientists, coral reefs in Indonesia that were once destroyed by blast fishing have shown signs of recovery. Through the implementation of “spider” structures within the region, researchers facilitated rehabilitation for the coral reefs that resulted in approximately 60 percent live coral coverage on the structures compared to the previous 10 percent.

Jay Stachowicz, the department chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary biology at UC Davis, explained that there are two main approaches within coral reef restorations: planting the corals or facilitating their natural growth.

While physically planting the corals does have the benefit of increasing the probability that the corals would grow, this method could potentially harm other reefs when extracting the coral fragments to plant. A research study conducted by Susan Williams, a former professor of the College of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Bodega

Marine Laboratory at UC Davis, used the latter method, implementing structures that would create an encouraging environment for the coral larvae to settle while protecting them during their younger stages. This method presents the advantages of leaving healthy coral reefs unharmed along with the ability to implement the strategy over a large area.

“I think that with reefs, the structure that’s formed on reefs by the coral organisms themselves is what harbors, what attracts most of the biodiversity to reefs,” Stachowicz said. “The idea with these kind of restorations is that restoring the base, the foundation of an ecosystem, will allow you to attract and restore essentially the populations of all the other organisms that use that environment.”

However, this technique still is susceptible to some uncertainty. According to Stachowicz, if there are not enough adults to produce the larvae the chances of restoring the coral reef decreases. In addition, the “spiders” are more likely to attract fast-growing corals which may only be a subset of the population needed to facilitate a healthy coral reef in the long run, as ideally multiple

with different individual expression habits.

The first day of the symposium was dedicated to understanding behavior science and shaping donkey behavior, providing strategies to train, handle and become a donkey companion. Donkeys have their own individual personalities and perspectives shaped by experiences beyond their character and species, including previous interaction, environment, pain and medical conditions, genetics and evolution. As a result, longterm training must be thoughtfully adjusted to meet each individual donkey’s needs in a way that meets the trainer’s personal principles.

“Most apply strategies to training horses to the way they train donkeys,” said Donkey Sanctuary Equine Expert Ben Hart who led the behavior and training discussions on the first day of the symposium. “Donkeys are not small horses with big ears.” Better donkey training starts by understanding their behavior as a tool for problem-solving their needs.

The second day of the symposium involved two separate tracks for enthusiasts and veterinarians. For enthusiasts, the day was filled with strategies and discussion to change attitudes and perspectives of donkeys in communities, while veterinary-focused attendees addressed medical needs such as hoof lesions, cognition and ophthalmology.

“You feel the energy and vibes from the guests’ participation,” McLean said. “It’s one of the few conferences where you have veterinarians, researchers, people from academia, people involved in rescue and donkey enthusiasts participating in wet labs and training demonstrations.”

The third day hosted a series of demonstrations including trimming donkey feet and freezing donkey semen. Although there are diverse donkey species across the world, several donkey species are at risk of going extinct. The symposium provided a space to preserve gene pools and information of atrisk species.

“Some of the biggest issues that we have, climate change or animal welfare, is not something that one country can solve for itself,” Kebreab said. “If we join forces, then you can come up with solutions that work for everybody and the impact is much

greater than if you work with one university.”

During the symposium, all of the speakers were invited on tours to show guests donkeys in nature and where they evolved in the desert. On one day, speakers and symposium organizers went up to Susanville, California with Amy Dumus, the manager of the Bureau of Land Management-California Wild Horse and Burro Program, to visit donkeys in their natural habitat. The visit was the first for many guests from Mali, Pakistan, Egypt, Spain, Italy and Tanzania who had never seen donkeys in the wild before.

Another tour involved seeing the first mule and donkey industry at a farm in Lincoln, California. At the farm, speakers saw mules used for racing and cloned mules worth over $130,000.

“They got to see mules and donkeys in a completely different perspective in place of animal abuse, dairy production or an animal that is kept as a pet or companion,” McLean said.

The Bureau of Land Management and UC Davis have a student-learning project where donkeys are gathered from the wild, placed into holding facilities and trained by UC Davis students. Domesticating the donkeys improves their welfare, shapes students’ perspectives about donkeys and improves students’ equine knowledge. At the end of the Donkey Welfare Symposium, attendees were able to see the progress of the UC Davis student-learning project through a donkey adoption event.

Eight donkeys were directly adopted at the Donkey Welfare Symposium, while eight more donkeys wait for the completion of their adoption process before they are transferred to a better home with new adventures to come.

“My favorite part is working with the donkeys, but also we’ve had people who’ve been coming every year for six years from Canada and many different places,” Davis said. “I always enjoy visiting with them and asking them about their donkeys. They come back because they learn so much and as do I.” Next year, there will more donkeys to learn from and more experiences to share.

species of corals are required to fulfill various ecological roles within the ecosystem.

Despite these potential drawbacks, Stachowicz believes that this technique reveals the prospect of helping rehabilitation within remote or hard to reach areas where physical plantations are impossible.

“There’s obviously [...] a huge amount of success in a short amount of time,” Stachowicz said. “Then I think the question is what becomes of that? What happens over the longer run? But it’s a really promising start for sure.”

Jordan Hollarsmith, an author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate in the graduate group of ecology at UC Davis, explained that the objective of this research was to give reefs a second chance after they had been destroyed. She explained that when, despite an act of destruction, the reef is still growing, the power of rehabilitation is important to recreate a reef system where the corals can adapt to the changing conditions around them. Hollarsmith described how actually seeing the reefs was a large inspiration for working on the project.

“Diving over those reefs which are impacted by high temperatures, by nutrient runoffs from the islands, from over fishing, from all stressors that are causing declines of coral reefs worldwide, and yet those reefs were among the most vibrant I’ve ever seen, just truly spectacular coral reefs that just really demonstrated the resiliency of the system in the face of all of these human changes,” Hollarsmith said. “So that was a big motivation to use the spider technique to repair the parts of the reef that had been destroyed by blast fishing because it was otherwise such a resilient system.”

Although Hollarsmith had prior exposure to working with coral reefs through her

experience with coral reef restoration projects, Williams’ academic approach presented Hollarsmith with an interesting and exciting opportunity. Hollarsmith’s main role within the project was assisting Williams in Indonesia along with data analysis and collection and then taking over as the lead of the research paper through revision after Williams’ passing.

Although, there were many difficulties while working in Indonesia, such as health threats posed by the water, Hollarsmith explained that one of the major difficulties was the communication and balancing between the multitude of perspectives coming from Hasanuddin University, other Indonesian scientists, Mars Symbioscience and UC Davis.

She said that Williams played a large part in making sure that the university and Indonesian scientists were participating within the study, as she had been an ardent supporter of making science inclusive and collaborative. “[One] really inspiring [experience] was working with the Indonesian graduate students and just recognizing that despite huge differences in language and culture and religion and upbringing and everything, we were all still motivated by understanding the natural world together and that just overcame all of those other boundaries,” Hollarsmith said.

Although restoration is only one aspect required to ensure the health of coral reefs, Hollarsmith stated that this study presented another possible option for future rehabilitation efforts.

“With something so difficult as reef rehabilitation, the more options that are available, it will just be much more powerful,” Hollarsmith said.

reduce. reuse. recycle.

The aggie

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 9

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

2018 ASUCD FALL ELECTION — MEET THE CANDIDATES EIGHT CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR SIX SENATE POSITIONS

BY H A N N A H HO L ZE R , K E NTO N GO L DS BY & O LIVIA LU CH INI campus@theaggie.org, features@theaggie.org

The following eight candidates are running for six senatorial positions in the upcoming 2018 ASUCD Fall Election. The candidates are running either independently or on one of two slates: Unite! and BASED. The Senate Debate will be held on Nov. 13, with voting beginning the same day and ending Nov. 15.

COU RT E SY / AG G I E STUD I OS

PEIYUAN (TONY) CHEN — BASED SLATE COU RT E SY / AG G I E STUD I OS

RICHARDO (RICKY) ZAPARDIEL — UNITE! AL E XA FO N TA N I L L A / AGGI E

NOAH PEARL — UNITE! COU RT E SY / AG G I E STUD I OS

ALEXIS RAMIREZ — BASED COU RT E SY / AG G I E STUD I OS

SEAN KUMAR — UNITE! TI MOT H Y L I / AG G I E

FRANCISCO LÓPEZ-MONTAÑO — UNITE! A L E XA FO N TA N I L L A / AGGI E

MAYA BARAK — UNITE!

A L E XA FO N TA N I L L A / AGGI E

KEVIN BUTT — INDEPENDENT

Third-year undeclared major Peiyuan (Tony) Chen is running on the BASED slate and has three main platforms: relocating the parking structure to expand access to student parking, partnering international students with the study abroad program and creating an all-encompassing international student committee to represent the voices and needs of international students.

As an international student himself,

Chen feels that international students do not have representation on the Senate table even though this demographic of students makes up nearly 20 percent of the undergraduate population.

Most international students go to class and then home, so they do not have much of a social life and interactions between international and domestic students are limited, Chen said. But he hopes to change

this state of affairs by creating a bridge via student government between domestic and international students.

He also brought up concerns with voter turnout in ASUCD elections and noted that past elections have yielded votes from less than 10 percent of the student population. Chen also has experience working at the Peet’s in the ARC and is interested in working with the CoHo if elected.

Richardo (Ricky) Zapardiel is a fourthyear political science — public service major and candidate for the Unite! slate.

Zapardiel’s platform is three-pronged, consisting of food security, first-generation students and bicycle security.

The food security platform is based off of the Global Food Initiative and surveys that have been issued during the past few years. He particularly mentioned his interest in The Pantry.

Zapardiel plans to work with The Pantry

and the Mental Health Initiative if elected.

He identifies himself “as someone who has undergone certain mental health roadblocks.”

He is also a first-generation student and a veteran of the Marine Corps.

“I have talked to other first-generation students and with our campus being more than 44 percent first-generation students, I feel like connecting them to those resources that go unused [is important],” Zapardiel said. “I’m a veteran myself of the Marine

Corps and it was a little bit troubling being a transfer and a first-generation student because of some of the resources I was not connected with.”

With bicycle security, he explained that he feels there are ways “to implement higher tech means of security, like security cameras.”

As a fourth-year student, Zapardiel is unsure at this time whether or not he would be able to fulfill the entirety of his term if elected.

Third-year statistics and political science double major Noah Pearl is a current member of the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) and is running on the Unite! Slate.

Pearl has been a member of the IAC since the fall of 2017, and looked over and edited virtually every piece of legislation before it reaches the Senate table. He has three platforms: improving transportation services, improving the long-range plans of every ASUCD unit and planning communal meals for students who remain on campus during holiday breaks.

To improve means of public transportation in and around campus, Pearl has plans to advocate for more rental bikes, as there are currently only 60 on campus, and look into a partnership with a rideshare company such as Uber or Lyft to provide discounted rides on weekend nights.

If elected, Pearl plans to improve ASUCD’s long-range plans, which every unit has.

“Currently, they’re not given enough attention and they’re not done in a thorough way,” he said. “If we distributed the work among all seven ASUCD commissions […]

they’d be able to put more effort into each plan, which would cross over and help each unit year-by-year with their institutional memory and in training new hires.”

As an out-of-state student, Pearl said he was stuck in the dorms during breaks. He believes ASUCD has the resources to sponsor community meals during these breaks for students who remain on campus.

If elected, Pearl is interested in adopting Unitrans and utilizing the expertise of unit officials to bring his plans of improving public transportation into fruition.

Fourth-year political science major Alexis Ramirez is running on the BASED slate, with a focus on three main platforms: holding administration accountable, promoting and supplying a nutritionally-balanced Pantry and ensuring ASUCD is run effectively.

As someone who identifies as a mi-

notiry student, Ramirez chose to run on the BASED slate because he agrees with the slate’s mission to represent minority communities.

If elected, he has plans to partner with ASUCD’s Office of Advocacy and Student Representation to send out a survey to students to assess campus-wide confi-

dence in student government, make sure all ASUCD committees and commissions are properly staffed and work with the Yolo Food Bank on behalf of The Pantry to supply students with nutritional food items. Ramirez plans on graduating in spring 2019 and would not be able to fulfill the entirety of his year-long term if elected.

Second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Sean Kumar is running with the Unite! Slate and has three platforms: expanding on-campus mental health services to keep up with student needs, expanding STEM representation on Senate and placing more compost and recycling bins around high-trafficked areas like the MU to keep up with the UC’s zero-waste

initiative.

Kumar served as current Senator Jesse Kullar’s chief of staff. Following an increase in STEM representation on the Senate table after the Winter Elections, Kumar saw a difference in the discussions being had at Senate meetings. Kumar hopes to provide additional representation for STEM students on the Senate table

and to implement more STEM workshops for students.

Kumar also addressed concerns with the availability of on-campus mental health resources for students. He hopes to ensure students have sufficient access to counseling appointments.

If elected, he is interested in adopting KDVS.

Third-year political science and economics double major Francisco López-Montaño is running with the Unite! slate with platforms of united student advocacy and increasing the efficacy of student representation through student involvement and club representation.

López-Montaño has been thinking of running for Senate since their freshman year and has been to a number of Senate meetings.

If elected, they have plans for ASUCD to directly partner with student clubs and organizations — such as a partnership

between the Asexual Club and ASUCD’s Gender and Sexuality Commission — so as to more effectively serve as a representative voice for as many student groups as possible.

“We need to make sure these lines of communication are not just visible but that they’re direct and accessible which means that they don’t just work for ASUCD and their purposes but also for the clubs, their purposes and what they need,” López-Montaño said. “I think the best way to reach out to students is through clubs and organizations.”

López-Montaño also mentioned ASUCD’s deficit and said the association should begin to address the issue by looking into its history and seeing what has worked and what has not.

With regard to increasing voter turnout, López-Montaño discussed reserving computers in computer labs around campus specifically for voting purposes.

If elected, López-Montaño said they are interested in adopting Unitrans and working with the unit to ensure students get to campus as efficiently as possible, especially during midterms and finals.

Maya Barak is a third-year international relations major running on the Unite! slate.

Her platforms include ASUCD resource awareness, minority advocacy and Greek relations with the campus.

Above all things, Barak is hoping to work toward creating a campus in which students are aware of what ASUCD is truly responsible for, whether that’s ASUCD’s ability to ignite change within the community or simply the resources that it provides. She firmly believes that ASUCD

is meant to be a student representative group, and for this to properly work the campus as a whole ought to know how to get involved.

Barak supports a constitutional amendment that would establish a new position called “student advocate,” a position that already exists on other UC campuses like Berkeley and San Diego. The position would work to help students in areas that ASUCD hasn’t helped them with before, according to Barak. This student advocate

would be an expert in financial aid, student housing and student judicial affairs.

Barak believes that her platform of resource awareness is representative of her desire to run for office. She admits that she still has much to learn about how ASUCD operates, but believes that this desire to know and do more is what makes her a driven candidate. Her priority is to act as a liaison between ASUCD and communities that don’t hold as strong of a voice within the university population.

Kevin Butt, a fourth-year political science, African American and African studies and theater and dance triple major running independently, previously ran an unsuccessful executive ticket campaign in the Winter Election. His platforms focus on pushing for transparency, inclusivity and accountability, informing students about how to utilize available transportation services and helping transfer students navigate the UC system.

“Bridging the gap for transfers is basically working within the [ASUCD] Bylaws to pass resolutions where the whole association and all the different units acknowledge lack of access for transfers,” Butt said, adding that he has plans to implement a campus-wide mentorship program for transfers.

Butt also discussed reserving seats on the Senate table specifically for transfer students and creating a transfer student com-

mittee within ASUCD. In regards to transportation, Butt feels services including Tipsy Taxi, Safe Rides and Unitrans are not fully utilized. He discussed plans to create a streamlined app for all campus transportation resources and organize outreach events to inform students about these resources.

As a fourth-year, Butt would not be able to fulfill the entirety of his term if elected.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

10 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

ZACH ARY LACS O N / AG G IE

MEMOIR FICTION COMES TO THE AVID READER Marc Zimmerman presents his newest short story collection

BY CHE YE N N E WIS E MA N arts@theaggie.org

On Nov. 1, author Marc Zimmerman presented his latest book of short stories, “The Short of It All: Dreams and Scenes of Memoir Fiction” at the Avid Reader in downtown Davis.

In addition to holding the title of emeritus professor at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Houston, Zimmerman has taught Latin American studies in Nicaragua, Canada, Argentina and Spain, among others. Zimmerman has authored over 30 books, and the event was focused on his fifth collection of short stories.

Just as the title suggests, the stories in “The Short of It All” are short in length. A lot of the stories are based on Zimmerman’s TESSA KOG A / AGGIE

BULLET JOURNALING HERE TO STAY Bullet journaling benefits organization, mental health

dreams and feature the protagonist “M” as he goes through life, reminiscent of Kafka’s “K,” in “The Trial.”

Zimmerman, who began writing memoir fiction in recent years, has only hosted a couple of reading events so far.

“I’ve just started having writing events and I’m still trying to learn how to do it,” Zimmerman said. “I’m an old man who is just beginning his career. As an older writer, I feel I want to get down as much of my experiences as possible and put it in a way that works sort of aesthetically.”

In “The Short of It All,” M deals with the struggles of writing, aging and controlling his weight, as well as heavier topics of anti-Semitism and the fear of death. Zimmerman sees writing as a way of beating death.

During his writing process, Zimmerman likes to list things from his life he is interestBY A LYSSA ILS E LY arts@theaggie.org

Every so often, internet fads and Pinterest trends actually have some merit and staying power. A few years ago, the term “bullet journal” began trending among hashtags and blog posts alike.

These dotted notebooks, however, have allowed for serious organizational and mental growth for those who actively use them, leading to the continued use of bullet journals today. These journals may have gained

ed in exploring.

“I think of different people I’ve known, can I tell their story, is there a story they can be part of or do I have to invent a story to be part of them,” Zimmerman said.

He then begins writing, creating descriptions of his characters and settings. “[These details] might not be in the story at the end,” Zimmerman said. “But you start writing and writing, until you hit on something that you look at and say, hey, this is really something to tell here, I can really construct with this. So I then go back and change all the beginning stuff and try to find what I want at the end, then reconstruct it again. So it’s a process starting with memory.”

The reading on Nov. 1 was an intimate event. Zimmerman created a welcoming atmosphere by personally introducing himself to everyone in attendance. As a presenter, Zimmerman was engaging and had an expert command over his audience. He wove humor into his anecdotes, sharing many lessons from a long life of travels and teaching. Zimmerman began the night with some facts about Día de los Muertos and then dove into a story set in Mexico called “The Sculpture,” which Zimmerman considers to be his best piece. “[Zimmerman is] one of the experts in the country in academia, in the art of Central America, the artists,” said Elaine Brown, Zimmerman’s sister.

Zimmerman is the Founder of Global

CASA/LACASA Books, which seeks to promote Latin American writing, culture and theory and has served as its Director since 1998.

A set of stories, “Out of Gas Triptych,” stars M as he runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere and attempts to bargain with difficult storeowners. Like many of Zimmerman’s pieces, “Out of Gas Triptych” is based on a dream. The second part of the story finds M trying to write “Out of Gas” while on an airplane, and the third part introduces a woman on the flight who observes M trying to write and is thoroughly amused, a sort of meta twist to the plot.

Several of the stories come directly from Zimmerman’s life experiences. “Paris and Venice: Racism and The Three Wives Triptych” focuses on the racial profiling Zimmerman and his wife experienced while abroad.

A more comedic piece, “The Parking Space,” details an incident in which Zimmerman was able to convince a man who rudely stole his parking spot to relocate.

Zimmerman hopes to continue publishing stories and hold more readings. “The Short of It All” and his other works are available for purchase on Amazon.

The Avid Reader hosts writers like Zimmerman weekly. Authors can range from lesser known and local to more prominent and international.

Events are listed on the bookstore’s online calendar. Everyone is welcome to attend these events and support the authors.

popularity for their aesthetic layouts, but the viable and proven benefits to using them have transcended the ephemeral hype of an internet trend and have established them as respected tools for academic, career and mental success.

Bullet journals can be described as hybrids of yearly, monthly and daily planners, with a use for note taking, journaling and even sketching or doodling. To begin bullet journaling, one simply needs a blank or dotted notebook. Because there is no predetermined format, bullet journals allow for the individual to discover a way to set up their journal that works best for their own personal needs. The journal can range from rigorous scheduling to haphazard note taking or even functioning as a personal diary.

It can be all of these things or none of them, depending on what one decides to place on each page. There is always the opportunity to alter the format or purpose of the journal, which is something that most standard planners do not allow for. The bullet journal is not only customizable to the individual using it, but to their daily moods and whims as well.

Because the bullet journal is so multidimensional, it has lead to improvements in people’s organizational skills. Having every important task or event in one space allows for more efficiency and productivity. Additionally, people have also noticed improvements to their overall wellbeing and mental health while using bullet journals. The habit of reflecting upon one’s day while planning for the future reduces stress and instills a sense of control over one’s life.

With these benefits, it is no wonder that bullet journaling remains a respected organizational tool, especially among college students. On the UC Davis campus, many students enjoy bullet journaling and have personally experienced the advantages.

Gwendolyn Little, a third-year animal biology major, has been bullet journaling for the past two years. She sees it as a hybrid between a planner and a journal.

“I mostly use it as a planner,” Little said.

“It helps me organize my life.”

In her bullet journal, she has a sleep tracker and a daily reminder to take her medications. She finds that the journal is a useful tool for self-care, and it keeps her responsible for handling her physical and mental well-being even in times of stress.

Little uses her journal as an artistic outlet. Some people allow their creative side to flourish within the blank pages. Little decorates her journal with thematic sketches and paintings, allowing her to destress and reduce anxiety over whatever is scheduled beside the pictures in her journal. It helps her feel better about whatever is worrying her.

The time she spends making her journal look aesthetically pleasing also motivates her to use the journal daily and keep her schedules up to date.

“I definitely like want to use my bullet journal more [than other planning alternatives] because I put the time into it,” Little said. “I can set it up how I want.”

Valentina Bunnell, a fourth-year communication and Spanish double major, uses her bullet journal in a similar way. Along with being an organizational tool, she has found that it lets her artistic side come to life with sketches and drawings. She also dedicates space for daily journal entries. “[I write about] emotions and stuff,” Bunnell said. “It’s good for me because I get really stressed and being able to write everything down, like, puts [me back in] control.”

After seeing Youtube videos about the journals, Bunnell decided to give it a go. She has been using them for a few years now and has kept all her old notebooks to look back and see how they, and she, have evolved.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 11

LABOR LAWSUIT

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

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of UPTE. “Generally, when you’re dealing with employees who are either laid off or let go with retaliation you’ll always get a back pay award and they’ll probably add legal interest to the amounts of the back pay,” de la Torre said. “There’ll be other what we call ‘make whole’ remedies,

which are things like bringing up their seniority levels, making sure their vacations are restored, making sure any payments they had to pay out of pocket for healthcare are reimbursed. It’s trying to put the employee in a position he or she would have occupied had they not been illegally terminated.”

TRANSGENDER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

transgender, non-binary, agender, and gender nonconforming students are vital to our campus,” and deserve the same respect and consideration as any other student.

Monae Roberts, the interim director of UC Davis’ LGBTQIA+ Resource Center, recently published a letter addressed to students who are impacted by these potential changes in public policy.

“To the UC Davis Community, we understand that many of you are concerned by the Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent plan to establish a legal, binary definition of sex under Title IX,” the letter read.

“Please know that we are also concerned about this decision, particularly what it means for our trans and intersex community members. The decision to legally define sex and gender under the law, as binary and static, overlooks the various truths of our intersex, trans, non-binary, agender and gender nonconforming community members. Please know that we are here to support you in every way possible and even in some ways that seem impossible.”

Roberts further discussed how the center can help trans, non-binary and intersex students take direct action, organize and community-build, adding that these students have a place at the LGBTQIARC and “in the greater UC

Davis campus community.”

“California State has policies in place to protect people against discrimination and our UC Davis community is guided by these very policies, to ensure that every member is validated in their existence within our community,” Roberts said in the letter. “Please don’t hesitate to lean on us and utilize the resources we have to offer, now and throughout the academic year. At the center of our mission is to uplift the marginalized, by challenging all forms of oppression, even in the face of those with far-reaching power. Today and every day we celebrate YOU and applaud your very existence!”

Roberts provided resources for these students and reminded folks to “Remember that YOU define YOURSELF!” On October 23, Chancellor Gary May addressed student concerns in a press release and identified UC policies in place to protect individuals against discrimination. ”While no policy decision has been made, we share concerns about what any action or decision might have on our trans and intersex community members,” the release stated. “The University of California has policies in place to protect people against discrimination.

It is critical that every member of our campus community feels valued for who they are.”

and independent professional judgment, and employ both in service to the mission of the University,” the proposal said. “The University recognizes that all librarians are entitled to academic freedom, as their primary responsibility to their institution and profession is to seek, state, and act according to the truth as they see it.”

At the fourth contract bargaining session on July 26 at UCLA, the proposal was denied.

Claire Doan, the director of media relations for the UCOP, delivered a statement to The Aggie via email in response to the office’s rejection.

“The University of California is establishing a systemwide work group to carefully examine UC policy on academic freedom and the possibility of extending the associated privileges and responsibilities not only to librarians, but also other non-faculty academics,” Doan said. “That work group, led by Chancellor George Blumenthal, will make recommendations in the summer of 2019.”

A petition on GoPetition.com written by UC-AFT Unit 17 in support of the right to academic freedom began to circulate on Aug. 21.

The petition urges “UC President Napolitano to instruct UC negotiators to grant academic freedom to university librarians as they

rightly deserve and have requested.”

To date, the petition has acquired 2,430 signatures. The signatures are composed of library staff across UC campuses and faculty and staff from other universities.

“Librarians are busy people and the fact that we are devoting so much energy and effort to this topic shows you how deeply important it is to all of us,” Goldstein said.

“It’s not just some, ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be nice,’ thing. This really gets to the heart of what it means to be a librarian.”

The UCOP’s statement asserted that the extension of academic freedom would need to take place outside of contract negotiations.

“In consultation with the Academic Senate, any extension of the privileges and responsibilities associated with academic freedom to non-faculty academic appointees will be made appropriately through establishing UC policy, rather than through collective bargaining,” the statement said. “While the university appreciates the pursuit of academic freedom by UC-AFT, the union represents neither all UC librarians nor the other UC non-faculty academic appointees, including academic researchers, who will also be impacted.”

The 11th bargaining session is scheduled for Nov. 9 at the UCOP office in Oakland.

SINGH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

through its content — or even reading the headline — gradually their whole news feed transforms, as Facebook uses an algorithm based on our liked posts to decide what should be on our newsfeed. This leads to a lack of variety on our newsfeeds, and this blind liking may be really hazardous, as one might be clicking like on posts that are filled with hate against women, the LGBT community or people of color. And over time, this may transform a person’s notion of the world

around him or her completely — simply due to the clicking of a thumbs-up button.

We’ve made immense strides in making our social media experience more convenient and engaging. But at the same time, we need to make sure that the content we’re sharing has been well reviewed. Liking or sharing something may just take a matter of seconds, but its effects are far more profound, affecting the way we perceive ourselves and the people around us.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

12 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

AFSCME VOICES

SENATE

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will oversee the care delivery in the facility.”

Jamie McDole, the vice president of UPTE, spoke about outsourcing and how UPTE members of the rehabilitation unit were notified of the planned privatization.

According to McDole, UPTE members in the rehab units had received notifications that the rehab unit at UCDMC will be closed and relocated to the new hospital once construction is completed in five years.

“Their positions will be incorporated into the rest of the hospital [...and] if they actually want to continue in rehab that they will have to apply at Kindred,” she said.

Telliano, however, explained that the UCDMC will employ the same number of workers and no jobs will be lost.

“The UC Davis Health rehabilitation therapist employees currently employed will still be employed to do exactly what they do now, inside the UC Davis Medical Center, working for UC Davis, after the second hospital opens,” he said. “There is such a need for rehabilitation services in the Sacramento area that we will need not only the current staff in the UC Davis Medical Center, but also the additional staff to be hired in UC Davis Rehab Hospital.”

McDole also said that UPTE was seeking legislative remedy in response to the university’s plans.

“UPTE is already been talking to different legislators,” McDole said. “This is public money. This is university land, public money and UC money being used to build this, and these need to be UC jobs.”

Jasmine Tobin, a certified occupational therapy assistant at UCDMC and an AFSCME union member said the union has been attempting to settle a new contract with a specific focus in addressing outsourcing.

“We’re out here to get a new contract that we have been working on for over a year with a really big focus on the outsourcing that continues to happen here for UC Davis which personally affects me and my possible future career here,” Tobin said.

Tobin also spoke about the pay gap between administrators and union workers. “[It] seems like the top officials keep giving themselves more and more raises,” Tobin said. “The example that we definitely see is the top CEO administrators make over million dollars and continue to get their raises as we are sitting here paycheck to paycheck [...] we are in a stuck position.”

“UPTE and AFSCME have both been in contract negotiations for over 18 months,” McDole said. “AFSCME has been imposed upon with a lot of cuts from the university after going through impasse, so UPTE is coming out in solidarity to support them and to support their stance that the university not impose these cuts on them as well as impose outsourcing their jobs.”

Greg Wine, the UC Davis UPTE local vice president and a senior dietician at the UCDMC, spoke about the tight bond between UPTE and AFSCME. “UPTE and AFSCME are all in this together,” Wine said. “Both of our unions are experiencing outsourcing and both of our unions are experiencing pay inequalities. When AFSCME has the right to call a strike, UPTE is always going to be there to support them.”

Mohammed Akbar, an operating room assistant lead and an AFSCME member,

spoke about the broader personal effects of outsourcing.

“Outsourcing is bad from the get-go because when you outsource a job you take away from somebody who is already doing the position,” Akbar said. “You are also taking away not just from them, you are taking away from their families. You are taking away from their livelihood. All these things you are taking away from them and then you are making somebody to do the job that they are going to do when they are outsourced.”

Akbar said outsourcing personally affects him.

“When I come in to work, this is my first home, this is my family — I see the people I work with day in and day out more than I see my family,” he said. “I also assume that [the] UC upper management would treat us like family, but family does not put you out on the street.”

Wine brought up concerns about outsourcing with the construction of each new building.

“We do not want to set a precedent where every time they build a new building, everytime UC builds a new center for excellence or new center for this disease or that education, we do not want them contracting out merely because it’s a new building,” Wine said. “We have to stop this in its tracks, UC is our university. It is a public university.”

A rally was held on the second day of the strike on the grounds of UCDMC where Christopher Shelton, the president of the Communication Workers of America which UPTE is a member of, gave an emotional speech to a large crowd of union members.

“All of you are out here on strike because of one thing and one thing alone: greed,” Shelton said. “It’s not your greed, it’s the CEO, the administrators and all the higher management that work for UC. They are making millions of dollars while they are trying to steal [funds] from you.

Are we going to let them steal anything from you?”

With this the crowd responded with a resounding “No.” On the final day of the three-day strike at the UC Davis campus, Rebecca Chidester, a referral coordinator for the UC Davis Medical Group and AFSCME member, spoke about the potential saving of money by contracting out work.

“It’s not like they [the UC administration] can’t afford it,” she said. “They can. [They are] trying to get work done as cheaply as possible [when] they are increasing their pay all the time. From what I understand, they just got a three percent increase, and we are trying to get the same thing, and we are never going to make what they make. I don’t plan on ever being at their level. But at least respect what I do and quit making me beg for what I deserve.”

Sam Howell, a second-year psychology major who is affiliated with the group United Students Against Sweatshops, came out to show support for the strike.

“The wages that service workers make at this school are completely absurd,” Howell said. “There is gender and racial discrimination. It’s a public school, but it’s clearly for profit — it’s privatized.”

Howell emphasized the importance of students acknowledging “the dignity of labor.”

“These workers are out here giving their times so that students can have an education,” Howell said.

JETTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

on Twitter.

Facing widespread condemnation for reposting the videos, President Trump eventually capitulated and apologized on British television, admitting he was unfamiliar with the controversial nature of Britain First. Rather, he had simply retweeted the content that had appeared on his timeline without prior context. The interview culminated with him apologizing for reposting Islamophobic content — but depending on who you follow on social media, you might not have heard of this.

The President emboldening fringe beliefs on social media stokes the flames of division, and works to create a climate

that can has already lead to much violent political extremism. Odds are our own decisions about who we follow and what we post will not have consequences of this magnitude. Nevertheless, ignoring relevant news stories or only perusing content that reinforces your opinion weakens your comprehension of reality and serves to increase political polarization. Avoiding dissenting opinions diminishes our critical thinking skills, which are a vital aspect to being a well-informed voter. As citizens of a democracy, it is our responsibility to pursue the truth and use this knowledge to make the decisions that are best for our country. In an era of post-truth politics, transparency is as important as ever.

“It does seem like what I am saying is taking away from [the Jewish community] and I don’t want that to happen. I came from a very sensitive and hurt position, and I understand for this resolution, I am not part of the community that was attacked […] I am just apologizing for my reaction […] and there’s members of the community at this table, so I will be respectful of that.”

Singh responded once more, saying she was unsure why the additional reference to all marginalized communities could not be included.

“It’s a very difficult topic, it is, for everyone, and I don’t want to take that away from Jewish folks,” Singh said. “I can’t even imagine what the whole situation has been like. And again, I definitely stand in solidarity, I just don’t understand why we can’t just add this one clause in which we just state — this happened, and we’re acknowledging it, we have been acknowledging it in so many different clauses, the whole resolution is dedicated and it is in solidarity with Jewish students.”

Singh then said that each community “doesn’t live in a bubble, we live together.”

“We’re affected by the same groups in the same manner,” she said. “I feel like my community doesn’t get representation at all in any discussion, I don’t think there has been a resolution condemning […] about what’s been happening with our Sikh community.

I don’t want to take away the spotlight from — I just don’t understand.”

Academic Affairs Commision Chair Justin Hurst made one final comment on the resolution before it was put up to a vote.

“I obviously can’t speak for any minority community,” Hurst said. “Clearly the intent of the bill is to make the Jewish community feel better after the hate crime incident. So if this whole conversation that we are having is serving to be counter to that, and it seems like it is […] if the goal of this is to help the Jewish community, this conversation has had the opposite effect.”

On a voice vote, the motion passed with nine senators in favor and four abstaining, including Senators Bryan Perez and Simran Kaur.

New legislation was discussed. Spasov introduced legislation to outline the proper use of the Senate listserv and emergency legislation.

Htoo responded to Spasov’s ideas of correct email usage.

“If you’re not comfortable receiving email […] I don’t think there’s anything I can do to stop that,” Htoo said.

Beittel suggested making a Google form to collect information on how senators wished to use different forms of communication and for what topics. Spasov liked the idea and welcomed the insight it would provide.

The minutes from the previous week’s meeting were approved.

The meeting adjourned at 10:33 p.m.

Reports were shared via email.

FLIERS AFTERMATH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

ways of addressing similar incidents in the future, the administration took action.

Through the meeting, Pearl said the group learned more about the formal process for addressing hate-related incidents, and he noted that the chancellor does not have direct control over what occurs on campus.

As some individuals found out about the fliers via social media, they were upset that they hadn’t been notified first by the university. Pearl expressed concern about how UC Davis could alert the Jewish community in the future should another incident like this occur.

As Pearl learned, because UC Davis is a public institution it is illegal to maintain a record of its students’ religions, so it isn’t possible for the college to immediately contact Jewish students when these kinds of events happen. Other suggested measures, such as installing more security cameras on campus, have been taken into consideration, especially since the identity of the flier distributor remains unknown.

Additionally, Zoken said the Anti-Defamation league will run a series of workshops “with professors, administrators and student leaders” to talk about the rise of “minority hatred” in the United States. She also said that the school has been proactive in helping coordinate this.

In terms of making the university a more culturally welcoming place for Jewish students, the individuals present at the meeting are working with the campus dining commons to make more Kosher options available. Zoken recalled often having to eat frozen meals at the on-campus dining commons because of the lack of dietary options, an experience iterated by some of Pearl’s friends during their first years, which became especially difficult during Jewish holidays like Passover.

Other ideas presented at the meeting included having a Jewish advocacy officer present at the university. Although there is a Middle Eastern Student Association on campus that could ostensibly be a place where Israeli Jews in particular could find support, some feel uncomfortable seeking help there due to what Pearl described as the “heated issue” of Zionism on campus, a struggle reflected in demonstrations that happened at UC Davis in the spring of 2018.

Moreover, Zoken, Benavi and Pearl all stressed the importance of Jewish students feeling comfortable enough to approach university officials about their community’s needs in reaction to anti-Semitic hate crimes on campus. Because mental health professionals on campus were not notified about the incident initially, there was no specialized help or treatment available for students who felt threatened or afraid due to the content of the fliers.

That being said, Pearl feels that there is now an “open line of communication” between Jewish student leaders and the administration.

As Dana Topousis, chief marketing and communications officer at the university, noted in an email, Chancellor May found that there were “positive outcomes and agreements on several next actions.”

And as Sheri Atkinson, vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said in an email, “It is all of our responsibility to work to build an inclusive campus environment.”

“When there are breaches, it is important for us to respond, evaluate ways we can continue to collectively work together to address issues, and provide education,” Atkinson said. “We are also committed to addressing all forms of discrimination and anyone can file a report at reporthateandbias.ucdavis.edu when something occurs.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 | 13

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

IAN JONES / AGGIE

JASON SPENCER/ COURTESY

Inside the game: Dylan Wood A look into the New Zealander’s transition to the U.S.

BY RYA N BUG SCH sports@theaggie.org

Transitioning to a new school can be challenging. Leaving home, adjusting to a new environment and dealing with a new curriculum can be hard for anyone going to college. But what if your home was 7,000 miles away from school?

That is the case for Dylan Wood, junior midfielder for the UC Davis men’s soccer team. Wood came to the U.S. from Wellington, New Zealand after high school. In Wellington, he was named to the extended squad for the New Zealand U20 National Team in 2017 and has previously played with the Wellington Olympic Amateur Football Club in one of New Zealand’s top leagues.

Before coming to Davis, Wood played for two years at Metro State University in Colorado, earning second team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors in both seasons. The California Aggie had the chance to talk with Wood, discussing his transition to the U.S., why he chose to come to Davis and the differences between playing soccer in New Zealand compared to playing in the states.

Aggie: What age did you start playing soccer and what got you into the sport?

Wood: I’ve pretty much played soccer all my life. Probably starting when I was like four or five. I actually originally really wanted to play rugby and play first five because I was really good at kicking, but at that young age they dont kick at all so that’s how I just fell into soccer.

Aggie: Being from New Zealand, how popular was soccer there?

Did it’s popularity help shape your love of the game?

Wood: Soccer in New Zealand is definitely not as big as rugby but probably sits in second. This is because a lot of parents would rather see their kids growing up playing soccer rather than rugby. I think my love for the game came about through all of my friends loving it too, I just enjoyed playing and competing with my friends at school so I just grew to love it!

Aggie: Why did you choose to come to UC Davis and play soccer here?

Wood: When it came down to making my decision on where to play, the main thing that sold UC Davis for me was the academics, being one of the best academic schools in the country means that being able to graduate with a degree from Davis will help me out a lot in life. The second thing that I found out more once I got here is the college town vibe that Davis provides, I like the atmosphere and people around Davis and has made my time here so enjoyable already.

Aggie: What was the feeling like when you stepped on the field to play your first game at UC Davis? Was it any different than normal?

Wood: It was against Bakersfield and it was awesome. Playing [Division I] soccer is an extreme honour and should not be taken lightly. It was also a moment of relief for me, transferring schools is a stressful process and at times I had questioned whether it was the right choice or not. But once I stepped on the field I felt so much relief after such a long wait to get here and play.

Aggie: Is there a difference between how people in New Zealand play soccer versus in the states as far as speed of play and physicality?

If so, what are those differences and how did you adapt your play style coming to the states?

Wood: Yes there certainly is a difference. In the states the emphasis is mainly on physicality, Americans play a very fast and physical brand of soccer even if sometimes it means lacking technique etc.

Back home because of the different populations I had been playing in means leagues since I was 15, this means it is a much more tactical emphasis in the play with the variety of ages that would play.

Aggie: You were previously named to the extended squad for the 2017 U20 New Zealand National Team, and you have played for various clubs. How has playing for these high level teams matured you as a soccer player? How did these experiences help the way you play soccer?

Wood: Similar to the last question, playing against full grown men as a teenager makes you have to work out things quickly. I feel I learned a lot from the older players which I wouldn’t have if I continued playing against high school kids, those players have been around a long time and played in many different teams. As for getting the chance for being around the national age group teams it was an awesome experience! I am obviously guttered that I didn’t make the final squads but to be training with the best kids in the country in front of the best coaches in the country is unreal. I learnt a lot from my time there and hopefully can be considered in the future at the national level too.

Aggie: What is the thing you like most about playing soccer at UC Davis?

Wood: My favorite thing about playing over here so far is by far all the people that I have met. I have met a wide variety of people from so many different backgrounds and it is really interesting to hear all their stories. Also though the US is a very interesting place to live, there are so many different sights to see and I have thoroughly enjoyed experiencing everything I have so far.

Aggies win sixth straight game in comfortable fashion Blowout victory versus Northern Arizona puts UC Davis football on cusp of first ever Big Sky title

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

The UC Davis football team continued its magical 2018 season with a 42-20 win over visiting Northern Arizona University on Saturday afternoon at Aggie Stadium. The sixth consecutive victory for the Aggies, a program record— keeps them in first place in the Big Sky conference with a monumental showdown looming versus second-place Eastern Washington next Saturday in Cheney, Washington.

Last Wednesday, the FCS committee placed UC Davis at No. 3 in its top-10 rankings. The top eight seeds at the end of the season will automatically earn a bye in the first round of the FCS playoffs, a 24-team tournament that begins Nov. 24. The Aggies haven’t earned a berth in the FCS playoffs nor won the Big Sky conference title since moving up to the Division I level.

UC Davis was in cruise control for the majority of Saturday afternoon’s contest, jumping out to an early 21-0 lead after three possessions. This was a stark change from the previous three games in which the Aggies fell behind by double-digits before staging big comebacks.

“The emphasis was to start out fast, try to take the life out of them early and set the tempo for the rest of the game,” said junior quarterback Jake Maier.

Sophomore running back Tehran Thomas and senior wide receiver Keelan Doss each scored a pair of touchdowns, and the Aggies utilized a balanced attack on offense to keep the Lumberjacks guessing. UC Davis rushed for 215 yards on the ground, averaged an even five yards per carry and gained 262 yards through the air.

Thomas handled the largest workload of his career, carrying 24 times and running routes out of the backfield for a total of 150 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s a big guy that can be a battering ram, but he’s also fast,” said UC Davis Head Coach Dan Hawkins.

“He’s hard to bring down.”

Northern Arizona was forced to counter with an extremely one-dimensional, run-heavy attack due to multiple season-ending injuries at the quarterback position prior to Saturday’s game. The team ran the ball a whopping 66 times versus just 12 pass attempts, despite trailing by double digits for most of the afternoon.

There was plenty of action at the beginning and end of the game, but the contest hit a lull in the second and third quarters. The teams combined for 12 punts during that span, eight of which resulted from threeand-out’s.

UC Davis received the opening kickoff and promptly drove 69 yards in eight plays to get the scoring started. The Aggies made a couple key plays on third downs, including a 16-yard catch by Doss and a 13-yard run by Maier to keep the chains moving. To cap things off, Doss streaked down the seam with a 25-yard touchdown catch to make it 7-0.

Just when it looked like Northern Arizona was going to even the score, senior linebacker Mason Moe jumped in front of a screen pass to the running back, intercepted the ball at the 10-yard line and returned it 37 yards the other way. Moe was named the National Defensive Player of the Week by Stats FCS for his performance against Montana last weekend which included 13 tackles and a forced fumble.

“In my opinion, he could be the defensive MVP in

the conference,” Hawkins said. “He’s really that valuable. He’s kind of the classic Aggie linebacker that’s really smart. It’s hard to fool him or fake him out because he knows what’s going on.”

The Aggies wasted no time in taking advantage of the turnover, quickly finding the endzone just three plays later. UC Davis executed a running back screen to perfection, with offensive linemen kicking out to the right side and setting up the blocks that sprung Thomas to an untouched, 39-yard catch and run to the endzone.

On its third possession of the game, UC Davis was content to slow things down and establish the run. Besides a few completions to its wide receivers, the Aggies continually grinded out short gains on the ground with the likes of Thomas and senior running back Namane Modise, culminating in a 13-play drive that took over four minutes. Thomas scored his second touchdown of the first quarter, taking a direct snap in the backfield and coasting untouched for a five-yard score to make it 21-0.

“Whenever my number’s called, I just try to make plays for my team,” Thomas said. “I’m here for my team and my coaches and anything they need me to do, I’m willing to do.”

The Lumberjacks started to show signs of life on offense as the second quarter began. Northern Arizona imposed its will in the trenches, trudging 75 yards down the field on 13 consecutive running plays capped off by a one-yard touchdown run. Only two of those runs went for more than seven yards, as the visitors steadily grinded out short gains to tire out their opponent. The extra point was blocked by the Aggies, so the score remained 21-6.

UC Davis took the ball into enemy territory at the 38-yard line, but Maier tried to find Preece over the middle on a third play and was picked off by a Lumberjack defensive back.

Neither side could get anything going on offense in the final nine minutes of the half, and the teams headed into the locker room with the score at 21-6.

The teams continued to trade punts back and forth until midway through the third quarter, when Modise broke the scoring drought with a 43-yard touchdown run up the middle to make it 28-6.

Early in the fourth quarter, Doss grabbed a 16-yard touchdown catch over the middle to push the lead to 35-6. He finished the day with eight receptions for 103 yards, marking his 17th career game with at least 100 receiving yards –– now the all-time record in Aggie football history.

Northern Arizona scored a pair of 49-yard touchdowns in the following six minutes to get back within two scores at 35-20.

UC Davis slammed the door shut with a nine-play scoring drive near the end of the quarter, capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback C.J. Spencer.

Next Saturday’s clash with Eastern Washington is undoubtedly the most meaningful game the program has seen in several years. With a win, UC Davis would, at minimum, guarantee a share of the Big Sky title with one game left against Sacramento State. If the Aggies win out, they will take home the conference’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs and a first round bye.

“It means a lot because we’ve given ourselves an opportunity, and that’s really all you can ask for,” Maier said. “We’re going to head down there, give everything we’ve got, have a great game plan like we always do and we’ll see if we can out-execute them.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

14 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

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