February 28, 2019

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VOLUME 137, ISSUE 18 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019

MEET THE NEW CCC DIRECTOR: CHAZ CRUZ Cruz looks forward to developing new partnerships in his role ALEXA FON TA N ILLA / AGGIE FILE

BY A L E X I S LO P E Z- P E R E Z campus@theaggie.org

The Cross Cultural Center on campus has hired a new director. With an extensive background working with identity resource centers during his undergraduate, graduate and personal career, Chaz Cruz is looking forward to reaching out to different groups and people on campus while ensuring the CCC upholds its core values.

Cruz described how his past experiences influenced him to apply for the job.

“My academic background in education, a masters in organizational leadership, my personal interests of working with marginalized communities and all of my professional work ties to working with identity resources centers on campus,” he said. “For this position, I think it requires

J E SS E ST E SH E N KO / AGGI E

being open to working with a diverse population and being skilled in working with multiple communities. I have a positive outlook on situations; I know I’m working with and supporting a lot of people [...] I think the best quality that I have is finding the most ideal solution in a given situation.”

Cruz said he is looking forward to fulfilling his responsibilities as the new director. He plans on ensuring that the CCC works with as many departments as possible and wants the CCC to develop new partnerships. “[The CCC] has been known as a resource for the campus and the community, as being stellar in identity development, cultural competence, community building and addressing inequities,” he said.

Cruz acknowledged that he still has a

lot to learn about the CCC. Since he is new, he has to learn about how the CCC has functioned thus far and said he will rely upon the perspectives of those who have been working there to plan his mission of outreach.

“I’ll have to figure out what’s been working with the center, work with the full-time and student scholar staff and figure out the things that they see need to be improved and get their take from their experience from being here at the CCC,” he said.

Another one of Cruz’s plans for outreach is to make himself accessible to other communities across campus. If he is able to create partnerships with those communities, then it will allow the CCC to reach a greater population and make a bigger impact on campus.

“Sitting on many committees opens up the opportunity for many partnerships to be made.”

When asked what he wants the UC Davis community to know about him, Cruz said a lot of his work “as a practitioner and as a scholar is informed by love.”

“I do know that there is a desire for the CCC to uphold, in the best ways possible, our values and being known as a center to do that, that is what I am most interested in doing,” he said. “There’s a lot of problems that need to be addressed in making sure our society is more equitable. It will take a lot of people to do that and I am willing and I am here to work with as many people as possible to make sure we uphold those values.”

UCOP, STATE AUDITOR AT ODDS OVER FUNDING TRANSPARENCY Auditor raises concerns over implementation of recommendations

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

UC President Janet Napolitano recently faced inquiries from California State Auditor Elaine Howle regarding her office’s failure to disclose $175 million in reserve funds to the Board of Regents.

The aforementioned audit took place in 2017 and has since been a source of controversy regarding the UC Office of the President’s perceived lack of transparency in relation to funding matters.

“We are still concerned about the lack of sufficient transparency related to fund balance amounts,” Howle said in a progress report released in Feb. 2019.

UCOP Director of Media Relations Claire Doan stated in an email to The California Aggie, however, that the assumption the UC did not disclose the $175 million “is incorrect.”

“Regents policy requires that we annually present the operating budget for review and approval,” Doan said. “These funds were made up of fund balances and reserves; they were not hidden. They were used to fund temporary one-time projects and initiatives, among other priorities.”

An article published in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Napolitano was supposed to implement the recommended policies, limiting reserves and returning

money to campuses, by last April.

“The audit found that $32 million of the reserves came from fees paid by campuses that could have been spent on students and that much of it should go back to the campuses,” the article stated.

Zoanne Nelson, UCOP’s chief strategy officer, told the Chronicle that UCOP does not “accumulate money just to accumulate money” and is allocating more money to campuses in light of increased transparency.

Howle, however, identified the “absence of sufficient reserve policies” as an area of great concern. She stated in her report that this allows UCOP “to retain and maintain virtually an unlimited amount of fund balances and reserves.”

“UCOP is currently working with the State Auditor to address areas of disagreement on the other recommendations,” Doan said.

The sources of disagreement between the UCOP and the state auditor are both practical and time-related. According to the Chronicle article, UCOP does not believe that a standard number should be set for reserve funds, preferring to allocate different amounts for specific programs.

Howle wants the UC budget to be released this April so California legislators can incorporate it in processes related to the state budget. However, UCOP would prefer the budget be released this May, when the

Regents meet.

According to documents sent to The California Aggie by Doan in October of last year, the California State Audit (CSA) was dissatisfied with the implementation of several other recommendations issued to UCOP. A number of recommendations made by the CSA, which were supposed to be implemented in April of 2018, have been marked “pending.”

Recommendation #5 asks UCOP to combine the “disclosed and undisclosed budget into one budget presentation.”

UCOP states that they “engaged in a project to simplify, clarify, and present a transparent annual operating budget to the Regents.”

According to the CSA, however, this recommendation is one of the many that have been marked “pending.” “[UCOP] did not implement the State Auditor’s recommendation for developing its budget by April 2018,” the CSA document stated. “The failure to do so may hinder the Department of Finance, the Legislature, and the Governor when making decisions regarding the UC’s portion of the fiscal year 2018-19 state budget. Moreover, the Office of the President was not forthcoming about its decision to delay providing us with its budget information.”

While UCOP considers Recommendation #11, which asks UCOP to determine how to “restructure salary ranges to make certain the ranges encourage employee development and ensure pay equity,” the CSA asserts that no action has been taken in this regard.

“It was unclear to us what actions the Office of the President planned to take to restructure its salary ranges because its response largely reiterates how its current salary setting system works,” the CSA stated.

PU B L IC DOMA IN

NEW STUDIES SHOW POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM UC EMPLOYEES OVERWHELMINGLY GO TO DEMOCRATS Students, staff discuss whether political ideology leaks into classroom environment

BY ALLY R USSELL campus@theaggie.org

A recent report showed that the majority of individual political contributions from individuals associated with the UC, as well as contributions made by UC political action committees (PACs) go to Democrats. This opened up a discussion about whether political ideology has leaked into the classroom setting and influenced students’ educational experiences.

The report, published by Open Secrets — a group that falls under the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, non-partisan research group — analyzed political donations from the 2018 election cycle. During the 2018 election cycle, UC-affiliated donors contributed $3,437,446 to Democratic congressional candidates and $78,727 to Republicans.

The political candidate who received the OPEN SECRETS on 11

The CSA also stated that UCOP’s executive director of human resources was “unable to provide any evidence of any action taken regarding a determination of how the Office of the President would restructure the salary ranges and confirmed that that analysis would begin next fiscal year.”

Timeliness appears to be a recurrent issue in the documents as well.

“Had the Office of the President started this process sooner, the results of the above analysis would be responsive to our recommendation,” the CSA stated.

Other recommendations marked as “pending” by CSA are Recommendation #20, asking UCOP to publish the “results of its review of fund restrictions and fund commitments and any funds it anticipates reallocating to campuses,” #21, which asks for the implementation of budgeting “best practices”, and #28, which was supposed to “[e]stablish spending targets for systemwide initiatives and administrative costs.”

Other pending items include Recommendations #29, which asks that UCOP publish its review of “systemwide and presidential initiatives,” including funds allocations to UC campuses, and #30, which asks that the budget and accounting tracking systems be “restructure[d].”

“Moving forward it will be important for the Office of the President to transparently share these challenges with its stakeholders and the impact that the need for a new system may have on its ability to complete our recommendations by their due dates,” the CSA added.

Despite the CSA’s commentary in the document, UCOP has listed all of the CSA’s recommendations as “fully implemented” as of October, 2018. And Doan stated that AUDITOR on 11

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2 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

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

BRIA N L A N D RY / AGGI E

Drop in UC freshmen applications for first time in 15 years UC freshman applications decreased by 3 percent systemwide

A fact sheet released by the UC Office of the President (UCOP), which highlighted the UC admission statistics for Fall 2019 applications, reported a 3 percent systemwide decrease in applications sent to the UC, the first time the number of applications has dropped in 15 years.

Claire Doan, the director of media relations for UCOP, said via email that there are several factors that might have led to the slight decrease in freshmen applications, including the many wildfires that took place directly prior to the Nov. 30 deadline for UC applications.

The deadline for UC applications, however, was extended to Dec. 15, 2018 for “students who were affected by recent natural disasters,” according to the fact sheet. Therefore, students affected by California wildfires had an additional several weeks to submit their applications.

Doan referenced projections from the California Department of Finance in her identification of other explanations for the decrease.

Other explanations include “high school counselors helping students better narrow

their lists of prospective college choices,” “the signing of California College Promise, which waives the first year of tuition for full-time community college students” and “national immigration policy,” Doan said.

“Also, last year’s surge was unexpected,” she explained. “So this year’s numbers may reflect some levelling off.”

Additionally, the decrease in the number of high school graduates, Doan mentioned, is relatively insignificant. About 3,000 less students are projected to graduate from high school this year in California, according to the California Department of Finance website.

The website also states that high school “graduates are expected to remain flat” until a projected increase in the 2023-24 school year.

California State Universities (CSUs) also experienced a decrease by 0.4 percent in freshmen applications according to an email from Toni Molle, the director of Public Affairs for the CSU Office of the Chancellor.

Molle attributed the slight decrease to many of the same factors Doan listed, including the natural disasters, the leveling off in the number of California high school graduates and the possibility that students are becoming more selective when applying to college.

Strange alien object?

February 13 “Subject being belligerent, and was urinating in the sink in the bathroom.”

February 15 “Unknown object on the ground along the trail next to the Railroad tracks. Object has a red LED light, and beeps every 30 seconds to a minute.”

February 17 “Across the street from above resident — unfamiliar couple in a black 2D Fiat have been in and out of the vehicle and taking photos of the houses for several hours. Reporting party concerned they are casing.”

“Subject keeps breaking into both complex laundry rooms at night and

Q U I N N S P O O N E R / AGGI E

Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter, HOPE rally to save shower program for homeless population Liability, health concerns, fees threaten to end program serving Davis homeless population

BY A N N E F E Y city@theaggie.org

UC Davis student organization Homeless Outreach through Prevention and Education has been fundraising and raising student awareness in an attempt to save the Showers Program — a program that allows individuals experiencing homelessness to use Hickey Gym’s athletic showers for one hour on Sundays.

Two years ago, UC Davis women’s water polo coach Jamey Wright began the Showers Program after an experience volunteering with the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter, in which a guest needed to use a shower.

Wright then developed the idea to use the Hickey Gym showers — as he noticed that the facility was underutilized on Sundays — and worked with the athletic department to start the program in December 2016.

Wright said that when he met with department leadership, he offered ideas of how the program would benefit the department and the community.

“I said really, the bottom line of why we’ve got to do this is because it’s the right

thing to do, and it doesn’t cost us anything, really,” Wright said. “And the other thing is […] this really provides an opportunity for the coaches volunteering to help be there [to] run it, monitor it, [and] if they want to bring their athletes, I think it’s a great way to develop empathy.”

Wright said the program ran smoothly, with a small handful of participants — about six to nine, but at times as many as 12 individuals — coming each week. They signed simple waivers releasing the department, university and Wright from liability, and received towels and soap to use, donated by community members, the Davis Water Polo Club and athletes. In addition, Wright said he notified the UC Davis Police Department most days the program happened.

After an incident in July 2018 prompted police action, however, the viability of the program was called into question.

“Someone who had not been part of our regular group that would come in got a bit disruptive, and so they called the campus police, and they came,” Wright said. “There was no confrontation at Hickey with this

guy, but the officer that showed up was concerned. He said, ‘Yeah, I think you guys really want to rethink what you’re doing here.’”

A few weeks after the incident, the Showers Program was discontinued.

According to Wright, the athletic department had been supportive of the program, but this situation affected its willingness to continue.

“They were the ones that embraced it in the beginning and were very supportive, and I think they just got a little gun-shy when, well, maybe there’s some concerns there, maybe there’s some liability we haven’t really assessed and maybe somebody else can champion this cause for a while instead of us,” Wright said.

Already, IRWS — which partnered with the Showers Program each winter — has stepped in to continue the program after its hiatus in the late summer and fall of 2018.

IRWS rented the space from the university and used its existing liability insurance to cover the program, but as IRWS only runs from Dec. 2 to Mar. 17, this was a shortterm solution.

After this winter season ends, HOPE — which began volunteering with the Showers Program last summer — wants to make sure that the program continues. HOPE anticipates a need for about $500 to $600 of funding, and to this end has hosted a bake sale. In order to spread awareness, HOPE will also host a film screening and panel about homelessness on Mar. 2 at 123 Sciences Lecture Hall.

Wright said this funding may or may not allow the program to continue.

“The university would have to approve it [at] some level in there,” Wright said.

sleeping inside.”

“Plastic bag sticking out of storm drain on NorthWest corner of this loc — Reporting party thought something was inside that appeared to be a body.”

February 18 “Unknown male was seen looking into front window reporting party made contact with male down the street and male said he was just drinking water.”

February 19 “Grandson is at the resident ‘trashing’ the place.”

February 20 “Multicolored Porsche parked blocking the sidewalk.”

“Somebody has to say, we’re going to sponsor this thing, and then they have to feel comfortable with it.”

Julia Nguyen, a third-year global disease biology major at UC Davis and outreach coordinator with HOPE, spoke about her motivation to fight for the program’s continuation.

“As a club, as volunteers, we saw how important the showers were to everyone in the community,” Nguyen said. “To have the showers here and [see] the gratitude that’s expressed by all of the participants to us volunteers was just, we knew how important it was.”

HOPE also sought to address health concerns by reaching out to CommuniCare Health Centers for a professional opinion about the program. Melissa Marshall, the chief medical officer at CommuniCare Health Centers, provided a written statement.

“While one cannot say that health risks are non-existent, they are certainly negligible in light of exercising standard precautions and providing hygiene access to this vulnerable population,” the statement said.

Nguyen said that the program serves as an important bridge between students and the city of Davis.

“It’s our job to say that we want these facilities to be used in […] inclusive ways, and we want them to be used in ways which foster a sense of community,” Nguyen said.

“That’s one of the principles of UC Davis — we have principles of community. So I think that’s very relevant to how we can play a role in this, and […] the city is linked to the UC Davis campus [by] the fact that we need to be advocates together.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 | 3

Newcomer i-Tea to open at location of closed textbook store Boba shop caters to students as a hangout spot J OR DA N C H OW / AG GI E

BY R EN EE HO H city@theaggie.org

The building on the corner of Third and A Streets, formerly occupied by Off-Campus Books, will be separated into two eateries, one of which will become i-Tea, a boba tea shop.

According to Jacky Ruan, the president of 168 Eat & Entertainment Enterprises, the company is opening the Taiwanese franchise in Davis in addition to its location in Sacramento, which UC Davis students often go to. The shop has already begun training em-

ployees and is looking to host a soft opening by the end of February.

A wall was built to isolate the original bookstore into two establishments. The restaurant next door will start construction around when i-Tea opens and will likely feature Chinese cuisine. The boba shop’s menu will include boba drinks, fruit drinks, fruit tea, ramen and various appetizers. Other amenities include electrical outlets for students to use, a community area and an intended outside hangout spot.

“We picked this area because it’s very convenient,” Ruan said. “We’re going to have a

nice patio buildout for people to hang out.”

The establishment will be across the street from the Social Sciences & Humanities Building. The company looked into other locations in downtown Davis, but ultimately decided to buy out the bookstore’s lease.

The prime location, however, proved to be challenging in the construction process. The Third Street Improvements Project halted the shop’s construction for nearly six months and inhibited resources from getting through the blocked streets.

In addition, Ruan said the City of Davis was slow in approving its plans, and reluctant in accommodating changes such as installing more glass windows. The project was proposed around a year and a half ago, and racked significant costs in vacant rent. i-Tea will be located directly across from another boba shop called RareTea, which recently replaced ShareTea. First-year environmental science and management major Alice Kilduff expressed concerns over the proximity of the two shops. “i-Tea will be a good addition, but it’ll spark a bit of competition,” Kilduff said. “If we look at it from more of a conservative standpoint, the boba might become better due to this competition, or it could just fall

A N DR EA GON ZA LEZ / AGG IE

J E RE M Y DA N G / AG GI E

Davis woman will face murder trial in May for killing ex-boyfriend

New pizza restaurant, Pizza & Pints, to open in Davis

Yolo District Attorney has presented evidence for murder charge in preliminary hearings, contradicting claims of self-defense

Owner of Village Pizza & Grill to open new pizza restaurant in the heart of downtown Davis

BY SA RA H G L I C KL I C H city@theaggie.org

The owner of Village Pizza & Grill, Aziz Fattahi, will open another pizza restaurant at 236 B St., on the corner of Third and B Streets. Fattahi, who opened Village Pizza & Grill in 2009 and also owns Village Bakery, hopes to open the restaurant near the end of March.

The new restaurant, Pizza & Pints, will have a casual setting with counter service, in contrast to Fattahi’s other restaurant, Village Pizza & Grill.

“The other restaurant is a full-service,” Fattahi said. “This is counter service. We [Village Pizza & Grill] have a very extensive menu, eclectic menu. Pizza & Pints is going to have a very limited menu — eight pizzas, four pastas and four salads […] Also, what’s different is the oven is a rotating brick oven we imported from Italy and it will burn wood.”

Pizza & Pints’ simple menu will be a departure from Village Pizza & Grill’s food selections. Village Pizza & Grill’s menu features usual fast-casual dining fare like pizza, burgers and salads, as well as some more unexpected options, like Persian dishes, yogurt soda and smoked salmon pizza. Other than pizza, pasta and salad, Pizza & Pints will also serve breakfast options.

“We will be serving coffees and breakfast

apart.”

First-year managerial economics major Kady Adams is familiar with and enjoys the Bay Area i-Tea locations, but also questions the necessity of another boba shop given the high concentration of shops near campus.

“I feel like you could do other things instead of a boba place right next to it,” Adams said. “If they put them next to each other, one’s going to get more business than the other. One’s going to have to close. I’m sure the rent is a lot.”

In the past, the Sacramento location hosted events for UC Davis student groups and often delivered to students’ homes. For firstyear neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Jacquelyn Mae dela Cruz, the addition of another boba shop means more to choose from, whether after class or through delivery.

“I like the variety,” Mae dela Cruz said. “[the boba shops] are not going to run out of business.”

Davis can expect two new additions to downtown after months of waiting for the space to be occupied.

“The excitement’s already gone, let’s put it that way,” Ruan said. “We’ve been dragging and dragging and dragging, but we’re finally there.”

items,” Fattahi said. “We do have a full bakery by the train station, and we’re planning on supplying this new restaurant with a lot of pastry options.”

Fattahi, a self-taught baker, opened Village Bakery in 1997. The bakery, located on Second Street, features fresh-baked bread, pizza and pastries.

Another difference between the two restaurants will be the beer selection. As the name implies, one of Pizza & Pints’ selling points will be its large selection of craft beers.

“We have craft beers at the Village Pizza & Grill, too, but there’s only 12 taps, so there’s limited rotation options,” Fattahi said. “We’ll have 30 taps at the new place, Pizza & Pints, and we can feature more local craft beers.”

Location played a big factor in Fattahi’s decision to open a new pizza restaurant.

Village Pizza & Grill is located on G Street near the perimeter of downtown, while the new restaurant will be in the heart of downtown Davis. Fattahi said the busier B Street location was the main draw and would help get the word out about the new restaurant.

“We wanted to be in a better location,” Fattahi said. “There’s not a lot of foot traffic where we are here [at the Village Pizza & Grill]. I think we have a pretty good name PIZZA on 11

BY T IM LALO NDE city@theaggie.org

Davis resident Hayley Gilligan maintains that she shot her ex-boyfriend in self-defense last October. The prosecution, however, has presented evidence that disputes her accounts of events in preliminary hearings, according to The Davis Enterprise. After an arraignment on Feb. 15, Gilligan will stand trial on May 28 for murder and felony use of a firearm.

Early in the morning on Oct. 20 last year, police responded to an emergency call saying a man had been shot on the 900 block of F Street. in Davis, according to a press release from the Davis Police Department.

“Detectives determined that a 29 year old female shot a 35 year old male,” the press release said. “The male victim was pronounced deceased at the scene. The female was questioned by detectives and arrested.”

The release identified the shooter as Hayley Gilligan, who was taken to Yolo County Jail on homicide charges. The male victim was later identified as Jamie Kinseth. Gilligan’s lawyer, Mark Riechel, told KCRA 3 that Kinseth had previously dated Gilligan.

Riechel also said the shooting was in self-defense, claiming his client was afraid for her life when she shot Kinseth.

“Once he was inside, she got very scared,”

Reichel said. “Obviously, fearing for her life, this is what happened.”

Gilligan told the police responding to the 9-1-1 call that the shooting was in self-defense, but evidence presented by the prosecution in preliminary hearings contradicts her account of events, according to The Enterprise.

Gilligan told police in a conversation captured by the responding officers’ body cameras that Kinseth had abused her in the past, according to The Enterprise. Kinseth forced his way into Gilligan’s apartment and began threatening her, Gilligan said, refusing to leave after she warned him she had a gun and would call the police. Gilligan stated that she ran to her upstairs bedroom to grab the gun and heard Kinseth rummaging for something in the kitchen downstairs.

When Gilligan entered kitchen, she said, Kinseth turned his back to her.

“It seemed like he was trying to grab a knife or something,” Gilligan said in the video, The Enterprise reported. “He had his arm up to hit me and I just kind of instinctively (shot him).”

Evidence that challenges this narrative includes a forensic examination of a bullet wound on Kinseth’s head, suggesting he was shot at point blank range — not from across the room as Gilligan previously stated NEW TESTIMONY on 11

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

4 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019

ZAC H A RY L A R SO N / AGGI E

SKATEBOARDERS SOAR SMOOTHLY ACROSS CAMPUS Instead of choosing the more classic commuting choice of biking, some students skateboard to class

BY MARGO ROSENBAUM features@theaggie.org

Davis, widely recognized as the bicycle capital of the United States, is well-known for the bikes that whizz across streets and sidewalks. However, some students prefer a different mode of transportation — still on wheels, but with four instead of two. Skateboarders glide amongst the sea of bikers, choosing to use their boards to commute to class instead of using the traditional bikes.

“I brought [my skateboard] as a secondary mode of transportation in case my bike broke down,” said first-year biology major Anna Rhee.

Second-year biochemistry and molecular biology major Jada Garcia chose a longboard to ride around campus because it is a smoother ride and made for commuting.

Miley Couwenberg, a first-year envi-

ronmental science major, decided to bring her skateboard with her as well. When she committed to Davis, she researched whether there was a skatepark and found one about a mile north of campus.

“I decided to bring it because I kind of wanted to get more into skating anyways,” Couwenberg said.

Second-year environmental science and management major Kit Chou got into skateboarding just a few weeks ago after she tried out her friend’s board. A week after trying it, she bought a longboard.

“I try to skateboard every day after school,” Chou said. “I don’t really skate at school since I’m not proficient enough or I don’t trust myself enough yet. But I skate around the West Village in the parking lot, and I ride along the roads.”

Garcia, like many other skateboarders, also has a bike that she sometimes uses to

STUDENTS AND PROFESSOR DISCUSS ETHICS SURROUNDING HIGH-TECH ETHICS

Computer science ethics professor, students share opinions on tech ethics

BY ANJINI VENUGOPAL features@theaggie.org

Ethics are intertwined with practically all disciplines but recently are discussed increasingly in the context of technology.

Updates on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal continue to be published and discussed at length, along with calls for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to step down. The HBO documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” which investigates the fraud at Theranos and its CEO Elizabeth Holmes, will release on March 18. Despite controversy at other companies such as Microsoft, the epicenter of such ethical scandal seems to be Silicon Valley — a renowned hub of STEM activity. Of undergraduates at UC Davis, over 56 percent major in STEM,

and students aspire to work in Silicon Valley.

“There are many companies that I and other students would consider ideal workplaces, such as Google, Apple or Amazon,” said Christopher White, a first-year computer science major, who hopes to get a software engineering job in the Bay Area after graduating. “This is mostly due to pay, benefits, public reputation of the company and the enjoyment from working at these places.”

Employees in the tech industry, according to a New York Times article that discussed Microsoft’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are increasingly mobilizing against their companies’ actions.

The article also mentions the letter signed

by Google employees protesting Google’s involvement with the Pentagon regarding an artificial intelligence and weaponry pro-

HISTORY OF NORTH AND SOUTH HALLS

ride to campus. However, she said she prefers the convenience of skateboarding.

“I found bike parking to be hard,” Garcia said. “You can always have your skateboard with you, and you can get somewhere fast right away. You can take it on the bus too.

Since I live off campus, I can bus to campus and skate around once I’m here.”

When deciding whether to bike or skateboard to class, Couwenberg said that she considers the weather, since she does not like to skate in the rain, and the amount of time she has to get to class, since skating usually takes longer.

“I feel like when I skate, I go a little slower, and I see more rather than biking,” Chou said. “When biking, I’m going faster, and I’m more focused on destination. When I’m skating, I have more time to look around.”

The Davis campus and city is well known for being bike-friendly. According to Garcia, she thinks it is also fairly skateboard-friendly since the roads are all very flat.

“If you’re like, skating cautiously, it’s pretty skateboard-friendly,” Garcia said. “I skate around Davis. I will skate from my house, and there’s not much of a difference to biking. I use the same lane as everyone.”

However, according to Chou, since she just started learning to skateboard, she finds Davis more difficult to skate in.

“It is really not safe,” Chou said. “In the roundabouts, people don’t yield, and you need to have enough room to turn. Bikersdon’t consider how hard it is for skateboarders to turn. I’ve almost gotten into a couple accidents.”

Even though Couwenberg has been skating since she was eight years old, she still finds it difficult to skate on the Davis campus. According to her, there are a lot of cracks in the roads that are easy to trip on and cause crashes.

“Thankfully, I have not gotten into any accidents on my skateboard,” Couwenberg gram.

A professor in the department of computer science, Phillip Rogaway, referenced the Google employees’ letter when discussing the role of employees in holding their companies accountable. However, he still believes that employees need to push back against unethical situations.

“Employees in the companies [...] need to push back strongly against their employers’ decisions in many instances, to become whistleblowers or to obstruct management wishes,” Rogaway said. “You’ve seen a little bit of it with Google employees pushing back against [Department of Defense] ties [...] It doesn’t happen much.”

Rogaway is a professor for ECS 188, “Ethics in an Age of Technology,” a class that he has made an effort to change significantly since 2004. The course was initially offered as a way to “reluctantly” satisfy the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requirement of having an ethics class for the computer science and engineering (CSE) major.

“I was interested in the ethics of our outgoing computer science students and wanted to check out how we were doing

said. “But there was a time, I was going to class and I was going around a roundabout and I tripped on a crack, but there was a biker behind me and there were two bikers and a skateboarder coming in. I was just in the way. It was really bad because they were all maneuvering around me.”

Rhee has also had some difficult encounters with bikers on campus. According to her, the issues usually come from bikers not understanding that skateboarders do not have brakes.

“We have to stop with the sheer force of our will or just putting our foot down and stopping,” Rhee said. “So [bikers] think ‘Oh, they’re going to stop for me. I’m on a bike. I’m bigger than them.’ We can’t stop that easily, and if we do stop the board is going to keep going. I’ve just had several instances where I just had to veer around them.”

Overall, according to Couwenberg, she thinks the relationship between bikers and skaters is friendly. She thinks the environment of the campus makes it more difficult to skate than the bikers themselves. Rhee and Couwenberg like going to the Hutchinson Parking Garage to practice tricks since the roads there are smoother.

“We do little things that I would not classify as tricks,” Couwenberg said. “We jump off curbs and slide on the ground.”

According to Garcia, she thinks there is a stigma about skaters on campus and about having skateboards in class, and people may think it is disruptive to campus. However, she thinks it is actually an effective, fun way to commute.

“It’s just a really easy way to get around campus,” Garcia said. “I use my skateboard because I can.”

Also, Rhee said that the skating community on campus is really strong, and she has made many friends through skating.

“There’s definitely a community between skaters,” Couwenberg said.

DA N IEL L E MOF FAT/ AG GIE

with that class,” Rogaway said. “[I] was very disappointed by what a weak class it was — how narrow in focus, how unchallenging to the students and how little I imagined that it would make a difference in their behaviors.”

However, it appears that Rogaway has been successful in his attempts to reinvent the class. Since ECS 188 is an upper division course, White hasn’t had the opportunity to take it yet, but he hopes to, in part because he has heard people talking about it being one of their favorite classes. Rogaway says that in some ways, he is “most proud” of that class.

STEM ETHICS on 12

VEN OOS MOSHAYEDI/ AGG IE

An inside look at two of the oldest buildings on campus

BY LINH NGUYEN features@theaggie.org

Before UC Davis was the campus we know, it was UC Berkeley’s research farm.

UC Berkeley’s University Farm School opened in Davis in 1909, whose first students were 40 males from UC Berkeley seeking degrees in farming and agriculture. That number grew to 115 male students’ once the university started accepting students not pursuing degrees in agricultural sciences. Those students found their housing in North Hall and South Hall.

North Hall and South Hall are the second and third oldest buildings on the UC Davis campus to date, respectively. They were originally built as dormitories. North Hall, built in 1908, was the men’s dormitory and South Hall, built in 1912, was the women’s dormitory. South Hall also had three infirmary beds. Architects Harold Louis Cunningham and Matthew V. Politeo designed the two buildings.

In the 1960s, the North and South Hall

dormitory buildings were converted to office spac. South Hall was first to make that transition in 1961 and North Hall followed suit in 1964. Over the years, they served as office spaces for the Advisory Skills Center, Learning Skills Center, Internship and Career Placement Center, Services for International Students and Scholars, Student Activities, Student Affairs Research and Information and the Student Employment Center.

Today, North Hall is one of the two locations for Student Health and Counseling Services, containing the SHCS Counseling Services and the Mind Spa. It is also where the Women’s Resources and Research Center is. South Hall is now home to Advising Services, the Internship and Career Center, the Unitrans office, Student Recruitment and Retention Center, the Peace Corp office and many other student services.

“I knew that these were dormitories; I didn’t know which gender was assigned to which one,” said Cecily Nelson-Alford, the director of the Women’s Resources and Research Center, referring to the fact that the

original men’s dormitory now serves as the Women’s Resources and Research Center.

The halls of the two buildings still resemble the original dormitory architecture.

They’re narrow with doors on both sides all the way down the hall. The staircases leading to the upper levels of the buildings are also narrow and resemble older-styled architecture.

“It’s old,” Noelle Tran, a first-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major, said, describing South Hall. “It’s very gloomy inside. It doesn’t surprise me that it used to be housing because I thought it was on-campus housing the first time I saw it.”

North and South Hall, two of the three

historical dorm buildings, still stand today even though they are not used as dorms anymore. The third dorm building, called West Hall, was built in 1914. In 1951, West Hall was demolished, and in its place today stands the Memorial Union.

“Overtime, it’s typical that universities change and needs change, so I’ve been in buildings that used to serve very different purposes,” Nelson-Alford said.

The change in use of the two buildings is not unusual compared to other universities.

It is notable, however, that two of the oldest buildings on campus, North and South Hall, still stand today to serve the students.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 2019 | 5

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE CA I TLYN SA MPLEY / AGGI E A LLYSON KO / AGGI E

THE LIFE OF PIE: IMPROV COMEDY CLUB CHERRY PIE'S JOURNEY The brief history of how the newest improv group on campus came to be

BY ISABELLA BERISTAIN features@theaggie.org

Centered around the theme of Valentine’s Day, Cherry Pie, UC Davis’ self-described newest and sexiest improv team, put

on a show on Feb. 15 that completely filled Young Hall’s room 194. The setlist included many performance pieces that can also be found at their practices and Improv Jams.

The team played games such as “World’s

Worst,” where actors act out or say slogans that embody the worst versions of an occupation or company. The group also played a game called “Apartments,” a format that begins as three sets of two actors performing different scenes in adjoining “apartments” that then join together and intertwine each story.

The group’s Facebook page, which lists all of their upcoming shows, “jams” and improv opportunities, is quirky, fun and inviting – just like the group itself.

Third-year genetics and genomics major Hannah Haensel is a member of the club and attests to the familial nature of the group.

“Everyone on the team is so supportive when you try something new, and doing improv has really helped me be more confident in my daily life,” Haensel said.

The 12-member group takes their craft very seriously and dedicates two days a week for practices. On weeks with shows, they’ll often allocate more time.

Even though this seems like a lot of time and effort to spend on anything, third-year computer science and technology management major Abhay Sawhney finds it all to be worth it.

“There’s literally no downside, practic-

es are fun, I love performing and I love the people that are on the team, so what’s not to love?” Sawhney said.

Besides being just a friendly group of people, Cherry Pie works to make sure that improv is something to be enjoyed by all.

Many of the group’s members have only been doing improv since joining the team.

Like Haensel and Sawhney, fourth-year biological science major Sarah Karels started improv for the first time when she joined Cherry Pie. Sawhney also credited the supportive and caring nature of the group.

“It is fairly easy for anyone to show up and just do their best,” Sawhney said.

Haensel said that there “is absolutely no judgement and you can just be weird,” providing this as her reason for enjoying improv.

Whether in the audience or up with the Cherries performing, Karels said that “improv is fun whether you are doing it or watching it.”

Updates on Cherry Pie are available on its Facebook page. Make sure to check out a show or attend one of their impromptu improv jams for an easygoing and comedic experience that is sure to introduce a group of people who are as sweet as pie.

STUDENT SURVIVAL GUIDE: KAREN BRETZ

DAV IS WHA L EN / AG GIE

From eagerly anticipating graduation to finding pride in extended education

BY VINCENT SANCHEZ features@theaggie.org

When most students are in the midst of their fourth years of college, it usually signifies the closing of the curtains. All the time and effort put into getting a degree will finally come to fruition. Karen Bretz, however, is not like most students.

The fourth-year biomedical engineering and art history double major has come to grips with the fact that, after Spring Quarter, she will “love Davis for an extra year,” as she put it. The decision was all hers; after a minor setback early in her academic journey, she accepted the reality of having to stay an extra year to accomplish her goals. Bretz shared her story to shine light on the struggles and obstacles that have come to define her growth and ambitions toward building her future.

Bretz began her academic journey by taking independence head-on, doing anything and everything she could to find her footing in an unknown environment.

“I ran with a lot of the things I knew from high school,” Bretz said. “I was involved in leadership in high school, so I did the Tercero leadership council in the dorms area. That was really cool because I knew how to plan events and I wanted to meet people in my housing area, so I got to meet a lot of them, and I still am friends with them now.”

While maneuvering through the various organizations offered on campus, Bretz recalls feeling anxious about joining clubs and being part of something so unfamiliar, but later finding a core group that alleviated the stresses of academics.

“I heard about lots of different clubs, like the hiking club and the astronomy club,” Bretz said. “One of my friends told me about that and I said, ‘That sounds weird, I don’t wanna go to that.’ But they dragged me along and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this

is the coolest thing ever, I need to come here all the time now!’”

Pushing out of a comfort zone may not always be at the top of the agenda, but for Bretz, this was a necessary step to becoming more independent and finding comfort within herself to embrace the changes she would eventually face. Entering her first year, initially as a biomedical engineering major only, her early course loads were dense. But the real wake-up call came when Bretz entered her sophomore year.

“That’s when all the classes started to get a little bit harder,” Bretz said. “Classes my freshman year were familiar because I had taken similar content in high school. Sophomore year was like, ‘Whoa, this stuff is all new.’ In high school, I was so used to getting good grades, but in college, you can’t always do that.”

The challenges led Bretz to question her choice of study and doubt her ability to succeed in her engineering courses in the same way she did her freshman year.

“I started contemplating about switching majors,” Bretz said. “I had taken some art history classes and I thought about minoring in it, but I also thought about majoring in that instead of biomedical engineering. It was a mind exercise for me to get over the hurdle of not necessarily being the best or comparing myself to everyone else and saying, ‘They’re getting it, why am I not getting it?’”

Bretz strongly believes that students should take pride in their own personal abilities and avoid the dangers of constantly comparing yourself to others around you that may have greater experience with material and courses. She had to realize that everyone is in different situations, so a C+ grade in one class may be different from the A+ that can be achieved in another.

“My housemate has a quote on her desk that says ‘comparison is the thief of joy,’” Bretz said. “Everyone has different experi-

WORLD TOUR

SPECIAL GUEST

ences, but that doesn’t mean you can’t perform well. You’re always going to do the best you can no matter what. You have to be okay with those students giving a perfect answer in class. It just means they have more experience, and that’s not something you can control.”

During the spring of her sophomore year, Bretz took a course specific to biomedical engineering students which serves as a prerequisite for entry into upper-division courses. Bretz described the significance of the class, explaining that if students fail the course, they either switch to a new major or wait another year to take the course again.

“I didn’t pass the course, so that was another obstacle that made me rethink about staying in my major,” Bretz said. “I really had to analyze my whole life, in a way - I felt like I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had to step back and accept that these things happen to everyone; we’re all going through different stresses, but I needed to figure out what’s best for me. Things got easier after that, and I was happy I had my friends and my family to support me and tell me, ‘We love you still.’”

When initially faced with the idea of taking an extra year to complete her major, Bretz had the mindset of wanting to graduate on time, so having that goal out of reach was a hard reality to accept. She soon began to find comfort knowing that the decision was best for her moving forward, despite some of the circumstances surrounding her

decision.

“It’s interesting because, being a fourthyear, a lot of my friends are graduating,” Bretz said. “I feel like it’s going to be interesting trying to figure out where my new community is and who my people will be.

One of my friends is also a fifth-year, so I’ve been talking to her a lot and learning how she’s been thriving.”

Bretz remains fearlessly optimistic and views her fifth year as her grand finale at a campus she thoroughly enjoys.

“It’s your victory lap, you want to make it a good thing; you don’t want to be sad about staying,” Bretz said. “I have a lot of people who I still feel comfortable with on campus, and that still makes me feel welcome and like I’m part of the community here.

I’m looking forward to it, it’s definitely not something to be upset or sad about.”

Bretz has seen her fair share of setbacks, and she admits that it’s still challenging trying to figure out the best way to handle those situations. Rather than trying to limit these challenges, Bretz finds that taking on more units and having greater responsibilities actually helps her become a stronger individual and put to practice the skills she wants to attain through hard work and staying consistent.

“Freshman year, my roommate had a lot of free time and only took three classes as opposed to the four classes I was taking,” Bretz said. “She wasn’t as diligent, but STUDENT SUR VI VAL o n 1 1

MARCH 7 GOLDEN 1 CENTER TICKETMASTER.COM

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Opinion THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

University fails to proactively address dangerous man in Art Building

E DI TO R I AL B OAR D EMILY STACK Editor-in-Chief

Students should be made aware of threats to their safety

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

A transient individual by the name of Nicholas Chavez had been living in the Art Building on campus for several weeks up until his arrest last Thursday.

During this time, he reportedly sexually assaulted a student in the building last quarter, damaged university property, and allegedly also vandalized, stole property and sexually harassed a second student.

While this was occurring, students — especially those who frequent the Art Building, sometimes staying until 4 a.m. or later to finish projects — expressed reasonable concerns for their safety and well-being.

Chavez, who had been arrested and later released last quarter after sexually assaulting a student, was obviously a dangerous presence on campus and was a threat to student safety. Students in the Art Department, those placed most directly in harm’s way, did receive more than one email about an unwarranted individual present in the building. But none of these emails contained any mention of Chavez having allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed two students, which is an inexcusable oversight.

Yet it’s not just students in the Art Department who frequent the Art Building –– classes that fall under a variety of departments are taught there.

Chavez was also reportedly loitering in nearby arts and humanities buildings, which are close to a busy Unitrans stop. Given the multitude of students who spend time in this area, it’s unreasonable that no campus-wide email was sent out to inform students of the situation while police attempted to gain a warrant for Chavez’s arrest and Chavez remained on campus.

Though Chavez’s actions were a cause of concern, the university’s failure to act in a decisive and mean-

ingful way kept students in the dark and made the situation that much worse.

After anti-Semitic fliers were posted on campus last October, the Editorial Board criticized administrators for their refusal to send out a campus-wide email informing students of this targeted attack.

Chancellor Gary May later made his position on campus-wide emails clear, telling The California Aggie that a campus-wide email is only warranted if there’s an emergency or an immediate threat.

Apparently, according to this administration, hate crimes committed by neo-Nazi groups do not count as immediate threat to student safety, nor does an individual who has reportedly assaulted and harassed at least two students and who allegedly committed a string of other crimes.

Instead of an email sent by university officials, vague signs were posted in the Art Building telling students to report suspicious behavior and “study with a buddy” after hours. Although the Art Department held a town hall for the primary purpose of addressing the concerns of students, it wasn’t conducted until a week before Chavez was arrested.

Much of the student body had remained unaware of the situation. The university’s first public mention of Chavez’s presence was a news report about his arrest last week that came without any relevant background or context.

Students should not have to advocate for their own safety. The university must be proactive in addressing any threats to student safety as soon as these threats become apparent, even at the expense of becoming monotonous. Whatever happened to the old adage “better safe than sorry”?

American liberalism and the cult of personality FOR MANY AMERICANS, POLITICAL FIGURES HAVE REPLACED THE TRADITIONAL VANGUARDS OF MORALITY

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

137 years ago, Nietzsche famously quipped: “God is dead.”

In spite of its now-cliché position in philosophical rhetoric, Nietzsche’s fundamental proposition — that western society’s embrace of Enlightenment thinking had brought about the decline of belief in objective Christian morality — remains true to this day. The decline of organized religion has in turn been matched by an increase in instances of self-focused spirituality. This has become especially true among Americans, who have increasingly relegated religious practice to a passive status.

German sociologist Georg Simmel similarly noted the decline of religious practice and belief in objective morality in the post-WWI era. Simmel wrote that organized religion and monotheism

had been replaced with “religiosity as an all-embracing, spontaneous process of life.” In a contemporary context, this phenomenon is best understood by the popular moniker “spiritual but not religious.”

Traditionally, such a belief was largely synonymous with personal, singular religious practices or New Age spirituality.

In recent decades, however, this practice of personal spirituality has grown increasingly connected to the indirect worship of finite beings in the physical world.

Absent of the belief in a transcendent God historically present in Judeo-Christian tradition, many people have increasingly applied a religious-like degree of reverence to physical beings. This has often emerged through the establishment of cults of personality centered around public figures. Frequently, these figures have been ascribed characteristics such as heroism, infallibility and benevolence — all of which have been traditionally be-

stowed upon religious luminaries.

In the era of the Trump presidency, this practice has become particularly apparent among certain strains of American liberalism. This degree of immanent spirituality has manifested itself through the application of traditional religious values to left-wing political figures. Examples include Robert Mueller prayer candles, the sanctification of Nancy Pelosi or the increasingly cult-like worship of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

At first glance, it is easy to simply brush off such practices as petty humor or cultural expression, but further introspection leads one to wonder if there is a more metaphysical explanation for these practices.

Naturally, American liberals — significantly more irreligious and nontheistic than both their conservative and moderate counterparts — have grown increasingly pessimistic about the future of the

country under President Donald Trump.

It should come as no surprise that many of these individuals have indirectly turned to celebrity worship as a means of providing stability to their worldviews. Without belief in the objectivity of the moral dichotomy of good and evil found in fundamentalist Christian tradition, many liberals have instead applied a dualistic worldview to the contemporary political spectrum. With this understanding, each side of the partisan divide takes on a position of either innate goodness or total immorality. Consequently, this provides an existential motivation behind political resistance and reassures the participant of the dualistic nature of morality.

This practice bestows the individual in question with a belief in the intrinsic value of the world, providing a remedy to the rampant nihilism of postmodern JETTER on 11

The good, the bad and the ugly THE GREEN NEW DEAL ISN’T PERFECT, BUT IT’S THE BEST WE’VE GOT

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

The Green New Deal is not so new. Its roots stem from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ambitious plan — the New Deal — to yank America out of the Great Depression. Both deals take unorthodox approaches to fix dire problems. But while the Green New Deal matches Roosevelt’s plan in ambition, will it match in success as well?

The Good There’s no question that the Green New Deal offers the kind of big, progressive ideas we should be discussing in order to tackle large problems like climate change. The plan proposes to transform the United States into a 100 percent renewable, zero-emission, clean-energy

nation by 2030 through investments in electric cars and high-speed rail systems and implementing the social cost of carbon. Wall Street is even showing willingness to fund the plan.

The Green New Deal does not dictate how to implement these policies, and while this might seem like a weakness, it can actually be a strength, according to Steve Cohen of the Columbia University Earth Institute. Like Roosevelt’s New Deal, the lack of specificity allows for more improvisation to specific, unexpected problems and more flexibility than a cemented plan would. After all, this is how the Social Security Act was signed into law by Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

The Green New Deal also sets a political standard for environmental talking

points, with presidential candidates already voicing their opinions on where they stand with the plan. The resolution encourages voters to pressure Congress members to support it, shifting the conversation from “Is climate change real?” to “Let’s start doing something about it.”

This dialogue is a powerful tool for environmentalists to bump climate change up the list of priorities.

The Bad The Green New Deal mixes environmental solutions with unrelated issues, such as income inequality, universal health care, monopoly prevention and federal job compensation. This could prove to be dangerous for Democrats, as it might be labeled as a ploy to push a left-wing agenda under the guise of addressing climate change.

Republicans have already jumped at the chance to attack the resolution — including how incredibly expensive it will be — making the Green New Deal a partisan issue when it shouldn’t be one.

Experts such as Jesse Jenkins, a postdoctoral environmental fellow at Harvard, have also claimed that the goal of becoming a 100 percent renewable, zero-emission, clean-energy nation in 10 years is not feasible — undermining the potential of actually reaching such a daunting goal.

The Ugly While rushing to release more information about the resolution, a “Frequently Asked Questions” draft summary was posted on Representative Alexandria OROPEZA on 11

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 | 7

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HUMOR

Aggie Dorm Tips: Making Friends A NIFTY LITTLE GUIDE TO HELP YOU STAY SOCIALLY COMPETENT

BY CO N N E R SH AW cjshaw@ucdavis.edu

This is Conner here with Aggie Dorm Tips, your one-stop shop for all the tricks you need to stay at the top of your dorm life game. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the first step on your journey: making friends. Follow this guide exactly and you won’t be disappointed with your results. Let’s get started!

First, you want to evaluate your demeanor going in. Ask yourself these three questions to find the most successful version of yourself: What are the best qualities I can accentuate? What are the qualities that I can hold back until someone really knows me? Finally, how much do I enjoy unpasteurized, unhomogenized goat milk? With these answered, you’re already on your way to loving and embracing your true self.

Your next step is mapping out your “turf,” the areas you could see yourself hanging out with friends. These places are your best chance at finding friends who share your interests. Areas marked “Employees Only” around campus or your local boiler rooms are good places to start. Don’t be fooled — the dorm lounge might seem like a social spot, but most of the people you’ll find there don’t fear

God’s wrath as they should. The only reason you should approach people in the lounge is to attempt a spiritual cleanse, commence a courtship or request help on an assignment.

Once you’ve found your space, invite others to join you or just loiter as often as you can. When you come into contact with an individual or group, do not engage immediately. Potential friends are very similar to goats — they will approach when they feel ready, they vocalize when they feel comfortable and all of them are potential agents of Lucifer. Don’t look them directly in the eyes lest you risk entrapment in their vampiric gaze. Just remain calm and let them accept your presence. Murmur in tongues until the moment they stop in front of you. This last step is crucial. Otherwise, you might find yourself on the other end of a hellspike.

If all has gone well, you have a potential friend or friends standing right in front of you. Great work! Now, just a few more steps to ensure lasting friendship. Of course, your first step is to pull out your Hydro Flask of holy water and empty its contents onto your hands, body and the space around your feet. If this was S H AW on 11

CoHo under investigation for trying to pass off boiled water as pho WHAT THE PHO?

BY MADE LINE KU M AGAI mskumagai@ucdavis.edu

Students arriving at the CoHo this morning were confused by the crime scene tape bedecking the pho restaurant Chopstixx. The reason? Campus police received an anonymous tip that Mandalay Express was serving faux pho to the good people of UCD. “The campus chief of police sent me to investigate this crime against flavor,” policewoman Minnie Stroney said. “We kept getting complaints that the CoHo pho was an embarrassment to the culinary world. One caller even described it as ‘the La Croix of pho.’ We got complaints by the thousands, but we didn’t have probable cause to investigate these claims until yesterday.”

Stroney then went on to describe an anonymous caller, who insisted on calling himself the ‘Pho King.’ The Pho King told the police that the ‘broth’ was actually just boiled water.

“If these souper juicy rumors turn out to be true, the CoHo could be found guilty for fraud,” Stroney said.

Later that day, pho-rensic chemist Bonnie Mee tested the broth for its chemical composition. After the results

came in, Mee tutted, shaking her head.

“My kit said this ‘broth’ is 100 percent water, zero percent pho. Not a single grain of salt. These noodles aren’t the real deal, either. They’re impastas. And don’t get me started on these ‘meat’balls.

I’m not sure we can legally call these meat. Lock ‘em up!” shouted Mee. Stroney handcuffed the CoHo employee who had been making and distributing the phoney pho.

“I would’ve gotten away with it, if it weren’t for you meddling pigs!” the disgruntled employee huffed at the police.

Fans of Chopstixx found themselves hot and broth-ered at the closing of their favorite food stall. However, this anger quickly subsided when students realized they could drink water out of hot tubs to get pretty much the same flavor.

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SCIENCE+TECH C A L IFO R N I A N AT I O NAL P RI M ATE RE S E A R C H C E N T E R / CO URTESY

FINDING THE PATHWAY TO LOVE Researchers study the effects of oxytocin, alcohol, methamphetamine on pair-bonding in Titi monkeys, prairie voles

BY JESSI C A M O NT R OSS science@theaggie.org

With Valentine’s Day having just passed, the topic of love is a frequent conversation starter and comes with lots of questions.

What causes people to fall in love? How do close relationships form, and what causes them to end?

The answer may lie in observing monogamous animals, such as Titi monkeys and prairie voles, since they form partner bonds similar to humans.

“People often ask me if humans are monogamous and I avoid the question a little bit, but what I think is the important similarity between these other mammals and humans is that as adults both sexes can form these long term and very affiliative, selective relationships, and a lot of males do help take care of kids,” said Karen Bales, a professor of psychology at UC Davis. “These are commonalities we can study in these species that you can’t study in say a rat.”

Bales studies both Titi monkeys and prai-

rie voles and pointed out that, in terms of relationships, humans are more attached to loved ones than these mammals.“What is different is that humans have the capability of maintaining very close selective relationships not just with our partner but also with our parents, kids and friends,” Bales said.

“Adults (mammals) are not that attached to their kids. A way to measure attachment is whether one gets upset when someone is gone. The adult Titi monkeys do not get upset if their kids leave.”

Observations of socially monogamous mammals like prairie voles can also tell us more about what neurologically causes pair-bonding in humans.

“Studies in prairie voles have been predictive for human research: neural mechanisms that have been found to regulate pair bond formation in prairie voles have been later found to be involved in social attachments in humans,” said Andrey Ryabinin, a professor in behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health State University.

Hormones such as oxytocin have also

GOT MICROBES?

been shown to play a role in pair bonding in both male and female mammals.

“A lot of what I’ve done has been looking at manipulations that are developmental,” Bales said. “We’re researching how being exposed to a bunch of extra oxytocin the day a prairie vole is born affect[s] the ability as an adult to form a pair-bond.”

Bales also studies the effects of oxytocin on non-human primate mammals, such as Titi monkeys.

“We have been doing experiments where we give a little extra nasal oxytocin or temporarily block oxytocin and looking at changes in females,” Bales said. “We studied the males first and now our current funding is to study the neurobiology of pair-bonding in female Titi Monkeys, and I expect there will be differences.”

Ryabinin is also studying the effects of drugs and alcohol in prairie voles in an effort to see the effects of these substances on pair-bonding.

“In these studies, the drugs were not simply administered to the animals by an experimenter without any control by the animal,” Ryabinin said. “Instead, our prairie voles were voluntarily self-administering the drugs. Most of our studies have been with alcohol, but some also examined the effects of methamphetamine. We found that voluntary alcohol consumption had an unexpected sex-dependent effect on pair bonding.

Alcohol inhibited pair bonding in males but enhanced it in females. In contrast, methamphetamine inhibited pair bond formation in both male and female prairie voles.”

Ryabinin has concluded that different substances affect pair-bonding through slightly different mechanisms, and his lab is currently studying those mechanisms.

IA N CA MPB ELL / COU RT ESY

A snapshot of the dairy microbiome from dairy cows to consumer food products

On a different note, research that is based solely on human relationship formation and how we select our partners is also currently being conducted at UC Davis.

“Generally speaking, relationship initiation is a pretty extensive and lengthy process,” said Paul Eastwick, an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis. “It’s a process that can take anywhere from months to years.

This is even true in the modern technological age.”

Eastwick also studies ideal partner preferences, which are sets of traits humans say they value and want their partner to have.

“Traits can include things like attractiveness, ambition and trustworthiness,” Eastwick said. “There is general agreement that these traits are positive. But other than that individual differences in who says they care about what particular quality, say you care about attractiveness and I care about ambition, is basically uncorrelated with how much attractiveness and ambition ultimately appeal to your immediate romantic partner. People don’t seem to have a lot of insight into the traits that are uniquely appealing to them.”

Eastwick also explained how certain inherent factors or situations dictate how we select romantic partners.

“If you live in a part of the country that is more religious, for example, you’re more likely to date people that are religious.”

On top of this, people generally tend to date people who are similar to them in terms of levels of attractiveness, a concept known as assortative mating.

Ultimately, relationships among both humans and animals are areas of extensive research and both neurological and social aspects of our lives may affect how we form bonds with partners.

UC DAVIS SLEEP LAB LOOKS INTO THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SLEEP NEED AND AGE Study finds shorter sleep durations lead to a decrease in EEG waves

PU BLI C D O M A I N

BY FOXY ROBI N S O N science@theaggie.org

Dairy products house a variety of nutrients and are capable of supporting both human health and microbial life. UC Davis research offers a glimpse at the microbial life maintained by dairy milk during its production and provides clues as to how dairy food products influence human gut microbiome and health.

Dairy faces its own bacterial environment before it becomes processed. Milk can be contaminated by cow hides, food, feces, human handling and milk production equipment. Pasteurization, controlled milk heat-treatments inside of silos, aims to remove bacteria.

Mary Kable, a research molecular biologist at the United States Department of Agriculture Western Human Nutrition Research Center and associate adjunct professor in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition, worked to identify microbial communities inside of raw milk between tankard transportation and the beginning steps of pasteurization.

When raw milk is collected from dairy cows, it undergoes pasteurization, where the milk is heat-treated to remove microbes and food-borne pathogens, and then converted into dairy products.

After assessing over 800 tankards, Kable found several microbial communities that survived the first step of pasteurization.

“After pasteurization, I found that strains of Turicibacter, a bacterium found in feces, remained prevalent in milk and Staphylococcus remained in smaller quantities,” Kable said. “Overall, the quantities of bacteria that lead to spoilage did not change.”

A factor in the presence of microbial communities lies in silo cleaning.

When raw milk is pasteurized, it is concentrated in streams and separated into different dairy components: fresh milk, cream and skim milk. After pasteurization, silos are cleaned in place, or rather rinsed in place, which could miss

the small nooks needed for dairy processing and leave room for bacterial biofilms to bloom.

Dairy products can be nonfermented, or maintained fresh without microbes, or fermented with select cultures of microbes for dairy processing. Nonfermented dairy products include 1 percent or 2 percent milk to increase shelf-life and avoid spoilage. Fermented dairy products can consist of cheeses, yogurts, kefir and butter.

“Fermented dairy products, like yogurt and cheese, contain lactic acid bacteria such as Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, at a much higher concentration than in other foods like fruits and vegetables,” said Maria Marco, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. “The microbes grow in dairy products, consume lactose sugars and change the texture of milk into the desired fermented dairy products based on their proportions. Research shows that exposure to lactic acid bacteria improves the human immune system.”

Once consumed, the lactic acid bacteria create transient changes in the human gut microbiome, lasting for only a few days.

“A recent study of over 100,000 people from 21 different countries showed a lower disease risk, especially of the risk of stroke, for those consuming two servings of dairy per day,” said Danielle Lemay, a research molecular biologist at the United States Department of Agriculture Western Human Nutrition Research Center and associate adjunct professor in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.

“Dairy consumption is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis which is a loss of bone mineral density, and cardiovascular disease,” Lemay said. “Dairy consumption also improves exercise recovery and reduces muscle loss in the elderly.”

Lemay’s research will now focus on lactose intolerant people, determining how dairy consumption shapes their health outcomes and gut microbiomes.

BY MICH E LLE WO NG science@theaggie.org

In a recent study restricting sleep durations in adolescents, the UC Davis Sleep Lab found that shorter sleep durations led to a significant decrease in waking EEG power.

This is just one part of the laboratory’s long history of looking at sleep in adolescents.

According to Ian Campbell, the associate project scientist in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, the Sleep Lab started its adolescent studies in 2002 when they initially began looking into how sleep and EEG brain waves change across childhood and adolescence.

“What was special about that study, what made it different from all previous studies, is that it was longitudinal,” Campbell said.

“So we followed the same people over time.

Previous studies had been cross-sectional, so they compared the brain waves of like a nine year old to a 15 year old and would look at how they were different. By following the same kids over time, we are able to very precisely determine how sleep and the EEG brain waves change across adolescence.”

The study found that total sleep time between the ages of nine and 18 decreased by approximately 10 minutes per year, which was correlated with a decline in the time they spent in bed. The decline in total time in bed was not caused by earlier waking times, but rather by going to sleep later. Hans P. A. Van Dongen, the director of Sleep and Performance Research Center and professor of Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University, has also studied the effects of sleep and sleep deprivation on performance and came to similar conclusions.

“Sleep need is not the only aspect of sleep that changes with age - so is the optimal timing of sleep,” Van Dongen said. “This applies to adolescents who have trouble getting out of bed in the morning - they are not “lazy” as is often assumed, just aren’t ready to wake up yet in the early morning hours. And it also applies to older adults, who may gradually wake up earlier and earlier in the morning and think they cannot get enough sleep

anymore - but may actually get more sleep if they would also go to bed earlier in the evening than they may have been used to.”

Campbell also said that the research found that this decrease in sleep duration was entirely in non-rapid eye movement sleep, with an increase in REM sleep. In addition, although Campbell and his team had prior knowledge that children have more slow wave activity than adults, they were unsure whether this was a gradual or abrupt change.

“We were particularly interested in these big slow waves because these big slow waves are an indicator of a type of recuperation that happens during sleep,” Campbell said.

“If somebody has been awake longer, they will have more of this slow wave activity. If somebody takes a nap in the afternoon, then they will have accomplished some of the night time recuperation during that nap and they’ll have less of that slow wave activity at night.”

The longitudinal study showed that slow wave activity was fairly constant between the ages of six and 12, but their delta power plummeted from there until age 16. Campbell stated that he thinks that during this period, the adolescent brain changes in a way that there is a decreased need for recuperation throughout sleep, which may be driven by synaptic pruning. By comparing females and males, the team found that this change occurred earlier in females, a finding they attributed to puberty, though they are unsure whether puberty causes the EEG change or if a mechanism upstream triggers both occurrences.

“We did not think it was going to be related to puberty,” Campbell said. “We thought these were two totally independent things, that sexual maturation was one thing and the synaptic pruning that’s causing the EEG changes was something different. There’s was no reason for them to be linked in time and [we were] surprised that they were.”

With this portion of their study ending in 2012, Campbell and his team are currently running a dose-response study determining SLEEP ENERGY on 12

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Voices of Morality: political poetry’s recent popularity The bond between poetry and politics has not died — only intensified

JA M I E C H E N / AGGI E

BY C L AY A L L EN R O GE R S arts@theaggie.org

In recent years, the sale of poetry books has experienced a surge from young buyers looking to make sense of the world. In 2018, poetry sales grew by over 12 percent, according to UK book sales monitor Nielsen Bookscan, equating to 1.3 million volumes of poetry sold in the United Kingdom, adding up to £12.3 million in sales (roughly $15.5M USD). In Canada, during the years of 2016 to 2017, poetry sales increased by 79 percent.

While in the United States, there was a compound annual growth of 21 percent within the same time frame.

All these numbers pose the question: what’s driving the need for poetic literature in the 21st century?

Andre Breedt, managing director of Nielsen, a market research firm, said that sales are booming because poetry offers comfort in times of political upheaval.

“Poetry is resonating with people who are looking for understanding,” Breedt said. “[It’s] a really good way to explore complex, difficult emotions and uncertainty.”

The audience that’s contributed to this rise in popularity is young women — 41 percent of these buyers are between the ages of 13 and 22, making teenage girls and young women the biggest consumers as of two years ago.

The question of what draws these young readers to the craft has been explored by Katy Shaw, a professor of contemporary writings at Northumbria University in England, who said that poetry is no longer being used to passively reflect, but to actively engage.

“Poetry as a form can capture the immediate responses of people to divisive and controversial current events. It questions who has the authority,” Shaw said. “Writing poetry and sharing it in this context is a radical event, an act of resistance to encourage other people to come round to your perspective.”

Shaw is referring to a poetic movement on Instagram — the “Instapoets” — where short and easily digestible poems are written by young, fierce

poets and shared to the social media platform. The coordinating hashtags have created a multi-million person movement.

The leader of this movement is Rupi Kaur. The 26-year-old poet reached international best-seller lists with her first publication, “Milk and Honey” which has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide.

She has been deemed the queen of “Instapoets,” and her Insta-peers are only building a larger poetic presence on instagram by posting their concise, yet powerful poems that address themes of race, sexuality and gender.

The saying goes, it’s never a good thing when poetry makes the news.

Kaur and her peers have created an interesting divide in the poetry community; they are blamed for rejecting the fundamentals of the craft. Nevertheless, her social media presence is strongly contributing to the rising popularity of poetry among young adults. Such growing popularity might just accomplish poetry’s intended purpose on a much larger scale, which is a rising awareness of the self that results in united benedictions.

Kaur may receive some criticism for her newfound way of circulating poetry, but the buck should stop there.

According to Rebecca Watts’s argumentative essay, “The Cult of Noble Amateur,” social media has a dumbing effect on poetry; the technicalities of the craft have been reduced to revolve around self expression rather than larger, sweeping topics, creating “personality poets,” as she refers to the Insta-poets. Curtailing poetry in this sense, however, does not negate the fact that personality poems have young readers thinking about what it means to be human in an unrelenting era, as Kaur’s themes suggest.

However, the rise of political poetry or even the recent spike in its popularity did not begin with Kaur and the social media movement. The predecessors are the Beat poets. Beat poets, specifically, were figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and UC Davis’ own Gary Snyder who wrote to rebel against the conventions of mainstream American life. Not to compare Allen Ginsberg to Kaur, but their mass popularity, “rejection of the craft” and themes of liberations are distinctly similar to hers.

The beats — a name that embraces social weariness, down-and-outness but also the idea of a beat in adherence to a piece of music — questioned the society they lived in and sought to step out of it. As described by the

Poetry Foundation, “[they] helped to spearhead a cultural vanguard reacting against institutionalized American values, materialism, and conformity.”

Closing our eyes to the generational gap between the two movements, they seem similar at first glance. Considering the forms of structural oppressions the beat poets were attempting to unearth, Instapoets can then be thought of as a product of the beat generation, or rather an evolution of tackling social problems.

The former may have been dealing with themes of capitalist consumerism and the latter with the voice of morality within the self. However, addressing both fields go hand-in-hand in the politics of tomorrow. The beat poets attacked the normalized utilitarianism so present in American culture and the systems that promote such a lifestyle.

The Insta-poets are in the process of finishing the battle in addressing the self that accepts these regularities of oppression. Pablo Picasso said it best, “[Art] is not made to decorate apartments. It’s an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.”

Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States, talks about the variety and potential of political poetry in her recent article written for the New York Times. In it, she says political poetry is a means for owning up to the complexity of our problems, and that even the righteous may be implicated by the wrongs they decry.

Smith said, poetically, “Poems willing to enter into this fraught space don’t merely stand on the bank calling out instructions on how or what to believe; they take us by the arm and walk us into the lake, wetting us with the muddied and the muddled, and sometimes even the holy.”

Smith said that poets who are willing to expose their internal voice are not doing so just to be a seraph on the shoulder. Poetry means to be interpreted through an out of body experience where one may contemplate the self, the ego and the world in which it resides. The poet’s job is supposed to provide that means of trascedency.

There is no wrong way to share poetry, but there is a wrong way to read it — poems should not be interpreted as fluffy language simply meant to dazzle the mind. Poems are meant for the heart; they’re meant for united movements towards the light of tomorrow. But it starts with the individual and the requirement for them to sit, breathe and read every word as if each one was a poem itself.

Revisiting Books from our Youth Books of the past compared to college reading

JA M I E CH E N / AGGI E

BY R OSI E SC HWA R Z arts@theaggie.org

Looking back at books from our past, the novels that stand out are ones that were taught in high school classrooms, were trending with our peers or were part of a larger phenomenon. College opens up a world of knowledge and education for many to explore their own literary preferences. This list serves as a short revisitation to books of the past in comparison with potential books that many have read in college.

Freshman Year While many have strong opinions about the “Twilight” series, it was nevertheless a large part of everyone’s adolescence. Stephanie Meyer’s novels provided a fantasy world where love existed in the form of a sensitive vampire and a rugged werewolf. Memes aside, this series played a pivotal role in conversation and daily life for a freshman in

high school trying to find love with the sparkling boy in their chemistry class. Sharing the theme of “light,” Virginia Woolf ’s “To the Lighthouse” is a novel comparable to “Twilight” in the sense that they have nothing in common. The same way that freshman year of college was extremely transformative, the philosophical exploration of reality, work, intellect and the passing of time in “To the Lighthouse” seemed to perfectly relate to themes present in freshman year of college.

Sophomore Year During sophomore year of high school many students read J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher In the Rye” and remember a red hat and that everyone’s a “phony.” This book polarized many people because they themselves were attempting to learn who they were and how they interacted with those around them. It put words to feelings they didn’t know how to express yet. For those who viewed life a little more optimistically, Holden’s disconnect from reality was sad and frustrating to read. This book will forever remain a staple in American literature. Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is another book with a cult following that might have been read around the same time, but seems to be more applicable to the college sophomore year experience. This book is longer and heavier than

BY LI Z JACOBSON arts@theaggie.org

Television: Forever This Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard creation stars the incredible Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen and follows June and Oscar — a plain, seemingly content married couple who navigate the afterlife together.

What the New Yorker calls a “big hearted satire,” this show explores thought-provoking themes of love, hope and the time old question: what’s next? The beautiful and calm cinematography pairs well with the quirky charm of the SNL alums. While the story may not always take the turn you want it to, it takes the turn it needs to. All eight episodes are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Movie: Empire Records This 1995 Allan Moyle-directed teen classic features a young Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger. Along with their edgy, quirky coworker friends and their father figure of a store manager, the plot tackles young love, capitalism, teenage angst and pressures (as well as the result of those pressures), all with a kickin’ soundtrack.

The movie serves up a healthy dose of nostalgia and will leave you wanting to head down to your local record store. “Empire Records” is worthy of a rewatch on a Sunday afternoon.

Novel: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman’s debut novel centers on the socially awkward Eleanor, a 29-year-old with a degree in Classics from Glasgow, who lives an ordered, but lonely life with only her cat and two bottles of vodka from the corner market to keep her company. This page-turner will leave you feeling both embarrassed and in awe of Eleanor as she embarks on a journey to find love. The novel explores themes of isolation, loneliness and mental health in an intriguing way and will keep you invested right up to the final page.

Album: X100PRE Bad Bunny’s long-awaited debut album is undoubtedly one of the greatest albums of 2019, although it was released in December of last year. This genre-defying album proves Bad Bunny is a Latin music chameleon; each song is a hit in its own right, but together, the songs create a work that seamlessly blends trap, R&B, reggaetón, bachata and dembow. The album, surprisingly, doesn’t feature a posse track like the ones that helped skyrocket Bad Bunny to fame, but does feature the Dominican Republic dembow king El Alfa, Latin superstar Ricky Martin, Diplo and Drake. This album will find you itching to press replay before the last song is even over.

“Catcher in the Rye,” but where “Catcher in the Rye” left people saying everyone’s a “phony,” “Catch-22” left people saying “you’ve got flies in your eyes”. This postWorld War II satire functions as a comical look into the absurdity of war, bureaucracy and American life. And for many, sophomore year of college is a time where they begin to question their major, the bureaucracy of the UC system and the American college experience. These books are completely different, but in considering their long lasting impacts and ability to appeal to a group of people who feel disheartened or lost, they both function similarly.

Junior Year The junior year of high school curriculum seemed to differ depending on the English class, but “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, a popular choice, features the changing approaches to psychology and psychiatric institutions in the late 1950s. This novel is filled with allegory, symbolism and mature content that most students enjoyed because it was different from anything they had read before.

This book felt like one of the first times in high school when students were trusted with heavier content, and with the context of further education, it serves as a great reread.

Choosing a book that rhymes with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” it seems that “Infinite Jest” would be fitting for junior year of college. David Foster Wallace’s famous 1,079 page novel is a complicated

work that many have attempted to read and understand, and many have achieved. Or so it seems at least. It’s a novel that seems to fit the rigor and challenge of junior year of college. As a “postmodern encyclopedic novel,” this categorization seems to describe the academic rigor of junior year in which there probably was not enough time to fully commit to understanding the book, but at the very least, students felt accomplished knowing they finished it. If this seems daunting, I would recommend rereading “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” instead.

Senior Year Senior year of high school was an introduction to existentialism and the theatre of the absurd, which has not so ironically seemed to remain a theme throughout college, especially senior year as many are faced with things that won’t be listed here as not to trigger any further existential crises. Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting For Godot” is a play that many read and enjoyed their senior year of high school. As two characters wait for Godot to arrive, they contemplate death, God and their life. The absurdity of this play seemed to excite everyone who read it, and those that didn’t enjoy it at least got a kick of their teacher asking people to read scenes.

A novel with similar themes of existential dread, which has probably not been revisited by many since their parents gave it to them in middle school, is Judy Bloom’s “Are REVISIT BOOKS on 11

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 | 11

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AUDITOR

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UCOP has dedicated “over 17,000 hours” to the state’s recommendations since the audit was released in 2017.

“By March, we will have presented 34 times to the Board of Regents on this issue, in an effort to significantly improve our budgeting and salary classification processes and budget presentation,” Doan said.

UCOP will finalize its reserve policies this year.

“We are also establishing a replicable annual process to evaluate fund balances, reserves and commitments within the context of the UCOP budget,” Doan said.

“In the May 2018 presentation to the UC Board of Regents, then

Lt. Gov. Newsom made supportive comments about the increased transparency of the UCOP budget and fund balances[...] The Department of Finance determined that UCOP’s budget, including the information about fund balances, sufficiently met the April 2018 CSA [...] recommendations and chose to disburse $50M in 2018 – funding that had been withheld pending the outcome of this work.”

The Regents have also hired Sjoberg Evashenk, an independent firm, to aid in the implementation of adequate and transparent reserve fund policies, in accordance with the recommendations of Howle.

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in town, and the fact that it’s at a good location — the main corridor from downtown to the campus — will get a lot of bicycle and foot traffic. I think it’ll probably just advertise itself.”

Pizza & Pints will be another addition to Davis’ many pizza options, including Woodstock’s, Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza, Uncle Vito’s Slice of NY and Steve’s Pizza, as well as the usual big chains like Domino’s and Little Caesars.

While this many options might seem to make for stiff competition, Steve Wilkinson, the founder of Steve’s Pizza, did not express concern over the arrival of Pizza & Pints. Wilkinson, who opened Steve’s Pizza in 1978, noted the expansion of Davis’ dining scene and thinks it will benefit all downtown businesses.

“The downtown has changed over the years,” Wilkinson said.

“There are a lot more restaurants and bars in the downtown area. I think it just brings more people downtown, so it helps us all.”

About one in eight Americans consume pizza on any given day, according to a 2014 report from the United States Department of Agriculture. Young males consumed even more pizza, with more than one in four males ages 6 to 19 years eating pizza on any given day. College students also supply an ample customer base for Davis restaurants.

Independent pizza restaurants feed a large share of this market, and customers often choose them over chains. The Chicago-based food industry consulting firm Pentallect, in collaboration with Critical Mix, found that consumers rated independent restaurants as superior to chains in 12 of the 15 studied key attributes across both operational and emotional metrics, such as being community-oriented, offering personalized service and sharing values with the customers.

Pizza & Pints, an independent pizza restaurant, is expected to open near the end of March.

largest amount of funding from UC PACs or individual employees was Beto O’Rourke who unsuccessfully ran against Ted Cruz for the position of Texas state senator.

The study specified that donations are not on behalf of the UC as an institution but rather by UC PACs and individual employees.

Ryan Gardiner, a third-year political science — public service major, and current chair of the Davis College Republicans (DCR) said he was not surprised to find out that contributions overwhelmingly go toward Democratic candidates and said the political ideology of UC faculty has affected his educational experience.

“There are instances where [… ] what [professors] choose to teach is geared towards their point of view, and I think that gets a little tiring when it really is only coming from one side,” Gardiner said. “ I t ’s not just Republicans that suffer, everyone suffers when you don’t hear from the other side.”

Aaron Latta, a fourth-year political science major and the executive director of the Davis College Democrats, had a different take on how political ideology comes into play in classroom settings.

“Political donations are not evidence of partisan indoctrination on our campuses,” Latta said. “On campus, there are hundreds of registered student organizations all servicing various ideals, creeds and missions.”

Latta also added that he believes UC faculty and administration “go out of their way to be apolitical in the classroom.”

UC Davis Professor Christopher Hare studies American political behavior, working to better understand why people vote the way they do. Hare is a self-identified conservative. Hare mentioned studies which corroborate data suggesting that individuals associated with the UC donate largely to the Democratic party.

Certain industries and professions, such as those in motion pictures, media and academics, tend to skew politically left, while those employed in the industries like oil, construction and agriculture usually contribute to more conservative platforms, Hare said.

“It’s not a problem in and of itself that so many people out here are Democrats,” he said. “But when that starts to influence the curriculum, it’s more negative than positive.”

Overall, Hare said he believes the UC Davis faculty and staff are more “fair-minded.”

Without the perspective of being a student, Hare could not comment on how professors’ political ideologies potentially impact the educational experience. Instead, he focused on the clear lack of conservative perspectives among faculty.

“It’s not that professors are trying to keep conservative ideas out, it’s just that there’s not a lot of ecosystem here so it’s difficult to present the other case when you’re not even aware of it,” Hare said. “When you’re having debates, even if you’re trying to be fair, it’s difficult if you haven’t been regularly exposed to some sort of thoughtful arguments on the other end.

That can be quietly dangerous.”

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— and a blood stain in between Kinseth’s body and Gilligan’s bloody sofa seemed to indicate the body was dragged after the shooting. And despite Gilligan’s statement that he had forced his way into her apartment, The Enterprise recounted substantial evidence presented by the prosecution that Kinseth had been living there the whole time — including a prescription medication bottles with his name on the label, a dresser containing men’s clothing and a cat that had been microchipped in his name.

The DA is seeking a murder conviction along with a felony charge for the negligent discharge of a firearm, according to a complaint submitted to the Yolo County Superior Court. The charges entail that Gilligan shot Kinseth willfully, with “malice aforethought.”

Furthermore, the prosecution now alleges the special circumstance of “lying in wait,” the DA’s website reports. “Lying in wait” means that the accused planned the murder ahead of time and waited for the right opportunity to kill the victim, using the element of surprise to gain the upper hand, according California jury instructions. If proven in court, these special circumstances will make the charge first-degree murder, a capital offense punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. The DA’s website indicates it will not seek the death penalty.

Judge Paul Richardson found the prosecution’s evidence sufficient to proceed to a jury trial for murder in May. The trial will take place in Woodland at Yolo Superior on May 28 at 8:30 a.m.

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Ocasio-Cortez’s website, who introduced the proposal along with Senator Ed Markey. This document has been targeted by Republicans and others for its vague language and questionable remarks, such as “economic security to all who are [...] unwilling to work” and “fully [getting] rid of, for example, emissions from cows or air travel.”

The fact that the government has reached the point of rushing ill-prepared documents speaks volumes to how little we prioritize the seriousness of climate change in politics. The high school meth-

ods of writing papers last minute and sacrificing quality for a finished product should not be how the government addresses life-ordeath issues.

But the ugly truth is that the Green New Deal is the only option we have. When time is a factor affecting the intensity of the issue, we don’t have the luxury to throw aside this idea and wait for a “better” idea that might never come, especially when the opposition is still debating whether we should do anything at all.

Any idea is better than no idea.

some elaborate ruse for a demon to inhabit your body, their time on this earth will now come to an end.

Next, grab your potential friend softly by both temples, making — and never breaking — eye contact. If they try to escape, grab them before they slip away, keeping your eyes locked. Their skittishness will fade in time, and it will be replaced by mutual pleasure between you. An overwhelming sensation

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You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” While this book mostly deals with a sixth-grader coming to understand herself and the world around her, there is no time like the imminent dread of entering the real

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American society. This becomes particularly important among irreligious American liberals, who are likely to have recently adopted increasingly pessimistic perspectives on the human existence.

The world can be a scary place. As western tradition turns away from a universal belief in a divinely-ordained moral order, it is natural to search for meaning and understanding in other places. With our reality progressively feeling more and more surreal, expect personal spirituality to take increasingly odd forms.

will begin growing within you. Do not question it.

Remain focused. As soon as the sensation seems as if it will burst, part your lips and wrap them around your new friend’s nose for exactly six seconds. This will serve as an acknowledgement of their vulnerability. After, release them and part ways for three nights.

And there you have it. Follow these steps and you’re well on your way. Thanks for reading Aggie Dorm Tips!

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whether sleep need decreases, increases or remains unchanged throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.

There have been various previously conducted studies that looked into sleep need in adolescents. Mary A. Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and director of chronobiology and sleep research at EP Bradley Hospital, published an article June of 2011 titled “Sleep in Adolescents: The Perfect Storm” about how adolescents’ loss of sleep is not driven by a lower need for sleep, but rather a combination of biological, psychological and socio-cultural influences. She believes that many people have misconceptions about adolescents being able to obtain an adequate amount of sleep by going to sleep earlier.

“For many teens this is just not feasible, given the biological process that are also reinforced by modern ‘conveniences’ that provide reasons to stay awake late,” Carskadon said. “That said, if we lived by the rule of daylight and darkness, which of course we do not, the issues would not manifest as they now do. On the other hand, I suspect that adolescents would still

carve out a temporal niche that is later than that inhabited by grown ups.”

In Campbell’s current study, participants are assigned to spend either seven, eight and a half or 10 hours in bed and then come into the laboratory for performance testing, which is then compared with their prior sleep duration. The researchers will follow these participants over time to discover whether this relationship changes with age. In their most recently published paper, “shorter sleep durations in adolescents reduce power density in a wide range of waking electroencephalogram frequencies.” They found that from 10 hours in bed to seven hours in bed, waking EEG power declined significantly. As they have already conducted studies on individuals from ages 10 to 14, Campbell hopes that by studying people of ages 15 to 20 they will be able to attain a more firm answer on how daytime performance is related to age and how this changes with age.

“This idea that sleep is not important, that I can stay up all night and study and still perform well the next day is not a good approach to life,” Campbell said.

STUDENT SURVIVAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

sophomore year, she realized she wanted to get involved more and was worried about the possible stress, but because she had all those responsibilities, she managed her time much better. I took a page out of her book and realized that, although I have a lot more going on, I can become a lot more organized.”

The natural trade-off that emerges from taking on greater course loads is that free time becomes thinner, forcing students to rethink their priorities and make decisions that are best for their goals. Bretz acknowledged that this was something that became a staple of her journey as she progressed, but she stressed the importance of making

time for those important to her and setting out to study with friends or grab food together, any activity that could lend them time to spend with each other.

As Bretz continues along her journey and prepares to take on her fifth year, she is content with the progress she has made and looks ahead to the many opportunities that await her.

“Try not to be freaked out by all the possibilities out there and all the stresses that happen from day-to-day,” Bretz said. “Surround yourself with friends who will tell you you’re awesome and great and will have dance parties with you. Everything will be okay.”

“[ECS 188] is the one that I think really has the best chance of changing students’ trajectories and getting them to be more thoughtful in their professional and personal choices,” Rogaway said. “And it’s the class that students come up to me years later and say, ‘Your class was important to me.’ [...] Would the theory of computation change their life? But the ethics class seems to do that routinely.”

Rogaway thinks users of technology should stop being mindless consumers.

According to him, remedies for this include turning gadgets off and not using them, yet he acknowledges that it is easier said than done. In his ECS 188 classes, he asks students to give up their phones for a week and says that he is lucky to get a couple students in a 24-student class to turn in their phones — and usually they do so because they are able to use their emails and messaging services on their laptops.

In addition to users, Rogaway believes that the government should hold tech companies more accountable and that it should “go in and strongly regulate” these companies. Despite increased publicity recently, he doesn’t think that corporations are really changing all that much.

“I don’t think the recent publicity has changed the nature of the beast,” Rogaway said. “We have lots of corporations that are doing their very best to enrich themselves, their shareholders [and] their top management, and they create a kind of ludicrous fiction that they’re doing it all in the public interest. And there’s this myth that Silicon Valley is out there to create a new and wonderful world for us all, when of course, they’re primarily about making money.”

Alyssa Buchthal, a third-year computer science and communication double major, plans to do some “soul searching” and then find a job as a software engineer or project manager or do government work within the tech realm. She said that the job-searching process isn’t really affected by scandals that are seen in the news and that young techies consider “ideal” workplaces to be big name companies regardless — particularly because those workplaces generally offer well-paying jobs, are flexible and have additional “little things,” such as free food and drinks in the office.

“The difference in levels between Mark Zuckerberg and a recent Facebook hire is equivalent to people trying to make eye contact across an ocean,” Buchthal said.

“When someone tells you they work at Facebook, you don’t automatically equate them with the FBI guy in your computer watching you all the time, or someone tracking your data and using it for illicit means. [...] People in tech have a moral compass, but they also have a drive to feed themselves and have job security, and that is more likely to be found at bigger name tech firms than smaller start-ups or ailing companies.”

Rogaway has a different opinion, though. In past years, he was disappointed when he asked his students about their employment goals and would hear exclusively about their self-interests. Rogaway says it is “absurd” to discard one’s own interest, but it is at least as absurd to discard

REDUCE. REUSE. RECYLE. THE AGGIE.

the social value of the work one is doing.

He says that it is “a sad view of the human condition.”

“Social science research says that one of the best predictors of how happy an individual is is how much they feel they’re contributing socially,” Rogaway said. “I think if students internalized that that’s what matters — feeling good about your work and doing something positive and not maximizing your paycheck and benefits — then we’d have a lot more [of them] steering themselves in good directions. So tell them not to be so fearful, they’ll get a job.”

Fear is something Rogaway sees in his students a lot. According to Rogaway, for the most part, most of these students grew up in a time of domestic peace, historically low crime and high employment, so he finds it strange to see this fear. He is unsure what the cause is, but thinks that it could be attributed to the economic downturn that many students witnessed as children or even a broader cultural trend.

In his opinion, fear is what causes “amoral, unquestioning behavior.” He says that if someone believes saying no to an interview at a particular company will leave them “destitute on the streets,” then that is definitely a hard “no” to utter. However, not taking that interview does not mean that the person won’t find another job.

Buchthal recognizes that the ethical problems are of high importance but thinks that at the employment level, a lot of people are focused on paying the bills and keeping their jobs.

“As someone who isn’t in the workforce, I’m also not imminently qualified to answer a lot of these questions for those people,” Buchthal said. “But I can speculate on the paths I’ve seen recent graduates take and how I know most people consider their future.”

Buchthal thinks that despite companies being in hot water, there seems to be a low chance of such companies actually closing, and students seem to keep this in mind when looking for jobs after graduation.

“The biggest thing[s] students need to consider when entering jobs like these is their personal moral compass and job security,” Buchthal said. “Most students won’t completely boycott a company like Facebook or Peoplesoft because of the scandals they’re facing in the media, but if you choose to do so, you can apply elsewhere and exclude those places from your job search. They won’t miss you. Otherwise, ensuring that you’ll have a job a few years down the line is equally important.”

Despite what Rogaway says about students being too fearful, to some extent, he does think that it makes sense, particularly with regards to employees who don’t want to speak against their company.

“Most employees are fearful that if they become vocal within their company, they’re likely to get fired or marginalized,” Rogaway said. “And I think that fear is valid. That’s probably exactly what happens to people who speak up. But that doesn’t mean they’re not supposed to do it. We need to encourage a more assertive and questioning and oppositional sentiment in our technical workforce.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 | 13

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

14 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019

JU ST I N H A N / AG G I E

GYMNASTICS TOPS SAN JOSE STATE Hebert continues to shine in victory

BY BOBBY JO HN sports@theaggie.org

It isn’t everyday that you see coveted leadership roles in Division I sports taken up by a sophomore athlete, but sophomore gymnast all-arounder Kelley Hebert found herself in a position to take up one of those roles this year. Her performance propelled the UC Davis gymnastics team to victory against San Jose State at The Pavilion last Friday, 195.050 to 193.250.

Hebert took first place in vault, tied for first place on the balance beam and on the floor and edged out Taylor Chan of SJSU for the individual all-around. Sophomores

Kyla Kessler and Sarah Liddle tied for first on the uneven bars with 9.850 and sophomore Alyssa Ito took third with 9.800.

“We all really had a goal, even though everything didn’t go the way we wanted, we kept fighting through the meet and ended up with a really good score,” Hebert said.

Despite stellar individual performances recently, with Hebert posting a season high in the Aggies’ meet against New Hampshire and an individual all around title and floor exercise title against Alaska Anchorage, the Aggies have not had as many team wins.

“I was really focused on the details of this meet,” Hebert said, pointing out that there were little things from previous meets she

wanted to fix.

After helping her team place second in a six team field in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship, Hebert was named the MPSF Gymnast of the Year.

She then went on to qualify for the individual NCAA regional tournament along with Alexis Brown, now graduated.

While not officially a captain, the all arounder has posted consistent scores and has so far been named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week six times. She also has the highest floor average on the team with 9.853.

The floor exercise is the event in which gymnasts are arguably best able to let their personality shine through. This is readily apparent especially given that a video of UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi went viral earlier this year with a seemingly effortless yet, energized floor routine that garnered a perfect score.

The floor is Hebert’s time to shine and the event she is most confident in.

“Every time I go to floor, I have a sense of calm over me and I get into the event and it’s fun for me,” Hebert said. “As soon as I start, I have a giant smile on my face and it carries through the rest of the routine. My nerves are kind of put to the side.”

The Aggies’ lineup last year featured more freshman than usual, and that class is continuing to contribute this year in a big way, according to Head Coach John Lavallee. The way the lineup played out last year required them to compete.

“Every class had a different experience, for last year’s freshman class, we didn’t have a lot of those spots [filled],” Lavallee said.

“And they were out there whether they

wanted to or not.”

This provided Hebert a chance to prove herself as an asset to the team, and this year she has continued to improve.

“I actually felt, the pressure in the preseason of living up to last year, it was really getting to me,” Hebert said. “It took a lot of mental training to calm that down. I had to start this year with a fresh mindset and I incorporated an entire new bar routine.”

And Hebert is eager to mentor her other teammates.

“Last year I was looking up to people on the team,” Hebert said. “This year I wanted to be able to be someone who my teammates could look up to.”

With such a young team, Lavallee says there is some developing to be done.

“Having to perform at a higher level every week to get in the lineup, it’ll help them in the offseason to know what level they’ll need to be at,” Lavallee said.

Lavallee said one of the team’s goals is to qualify for the NCAA postseason and so far he thinks things are going well, but nothing is set in stone yet.

UC Davis will make a quick trip across the Causeway to square off against Sacramento State tomorrow before returning home to finish the regular season with two home meets in early March.

J E RE M Y DA N G E / AGGI E

QU IN N SPOON ER / AGG IE

UC DAVIS SOFTBALL SHOWS PROMISE AT AGGIE INVITATIONAL Aggies win five of six games in four days

PROPOSED BILL MAY ALLOW COLLEGIATE ENDORSEMENT OPPORTUNITIES Senator Nancy Skinner proposes a “Fair to Play Act”

BY RYA N BUG SCH sports@theaggie.org

California State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) recently proposed Senate Bill 206, known as “The Fair to Play Act” in order to allow collegiate athletes to accept sponsorship deals for their name, image or likeness. Washington State Representative Drew Stokesbary (R-Auburn) recently proposed a similar bill.

Under the proposed bill, collegiate athletes from California’s 24 public universities would be able to accept money from organizations in exchange for sponsorship or endorsement deals. The majority of college athletes, even those who currently have full-ride scholarships, are located at or below the poverty line, according to a 2012 study by the National College Players Association. This study is one of the driving factors that pushed Skinner and coauthor Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) to draft this proposed bill.

Under current NCAA guidelines, college-level athletes are prohibited from accepting money for endorsements or from hiring agents. SB 206 would essentially remove the NCAA’s prohibition on these matters. It would also make it against the law for any organization to revoke a scholarship because of these endorsements. If passed, collegiate athletes would have similar choices to Olympic athletes in regards to receiving endorsements while competing.

In the past, the NCAA has argued against endorsements for collegiate athletes, assert-

ing that it would blur the lines between being a student and an athlete.

“For too long, college athletes have been exploited by a deeply unfair system,” Skinner said in a recent interview with FOX KTVU 2 News. “Universities and the NCAA make huge amounts of money from TV deals and corporate sponsorships of their teams. ‘The Fair Pay to Play Act’ allows athletes to finally be compensated for their hard work — work that generates billions of dollars for their schools, corporate sponsors and media networks.”

Skinner and Bradford are expected to add more provisions to the bill throughout the next few months. These provisions would add language that prevents institutions from revoking scholarships for endorsed athletes and allows athletes to acquire legal representation and sports agents if needed. Furthermore, colleges and universities would be able to remove themselves or opt-out of the act. However, opting-out could potentially make the university less competitive when it comes to recruiting and signing future collegiate athletes.

There has not been a clear statement on what the passage of this bill would do for the UC system schools that have Division I level sports programs like UC Davis.

Director of Athletics at UC Davis, Kevin Blue, declined to comment on the issue, giving this statement to The Aggie: “There are several aspects to this important and complex issue. At the moment, we do not have any comment on it.”

BY CARS O N PARO DI sports@theaggie.org

The UC Davis softball team took first place at the annual Aggie Invitational this past weekend, going 5-1 and pushing themselves to 11-3 on the season. The tournament kicked off at La Rue field on Thursday and welcomed teams from the University of Texas at El Paso, Seattle University, Idaho State and Saint Mary’s.

The Aggies swept their double header series against UTEP and Seattle University on Thursday and Friday, before losing a close game versus Idaho State on Saturday. But despite facing their first six-game weekend this season, they had plenty left in the tank headed into Sunday’s matchup against Saint Mary’s.

The Aggies gained an advantage early, scoring two runs in the second inning, providing all the run support senior pitcher Sara Cadona and junior pitcher Katie Kibby would need to shutout the Gaels. But even with a bitter winter wind kicking up dirt from La Rue field, the Aggies weren’t finished. They tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth that put Saint Mary’s out for good.

“I think we learned a lot this weekend,” said Head Coach Erin Thorpe. “We were not consistent, and we didn’t play our best games, but we’re continuing to build and seeing how we respond and what we need to do to stay consistent.”

Only 14 games into the long season, the Aggies are already showing signs of a team ready to do damage in the Big West, grinding out tough wins on a tough schedule all while not fully in rhythm.

“It’s all about getting in a groove,” Thorpe said. “Our season is 57 games long. It’s

really long, and it’s really grueling so we want to be playing our best ball at the right time.”

For one Aggie, the bar of excellence continues to rise, her best ball knowing no time frame. Sophomore pitcher Brooke Yanez is coming off a glittering freshman campaign in 2018 where she was named to the All-Big West First Team and won Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

Yanez continued to shine this weekend, opening the tournament by striking out a career-high 15 batters on Thursday before capturing her sixth and seventh wins on Friday and Saturday and lowering her ERA to 1.63 on the year. But in her second season, the sophomore ace is proving that her dominance may reach far beyond the chalk outline of the pitching circle.

“Brooke’s biggest asset is that she’s just a competitor,” Thorpe said. “She did a lot of work in the offseason to work on her swing and get her swing in a better spot this year, and I think she’s feeling some confidence with that now.”

So far this season, Yanez is batting .400 with two home runs – including one this weekend – providing an offensive boost to a lineup that Thorpe admits will need to find a way to support Aggie pitchers when they’re inevitably not throwing shutouts.

“It’s just going to be them kind of figuring it out through the season and figuring out what they need to do to be successful,” Thorpe said. “So, continuing to work on that consistency and getting better at that throughout the season is going to be our main focus.”

The grind continues for the Aggies this upcoming weekend at the San Diego Classic, where they are slated to play five games in three days.