October 14, 2021

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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 4 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021

STAFF SHORTAGES FORCE THE COHO TO CLOSE ON FRIDAYS The campus-wide student employee shortage has led the CoHo to decrease operating hours

BY EMILY REDMAN campus@theaggie.org Due to an ongoing shortage of student workers on campus, the CoHo announced that they will be closed on Fridays for the time being.

“The decision to close the operation on Fridays wasn’t an easy one, but in discussions with the Coffee House management team and student leaders, it was clear that with our current staffing challenges a 5-day operating schedule was not sustainable,” the official announcement stated.

The CoHo is actively looking for more employees to join their team.

“We have been supported by ASUCD Marketing in primarily reaching out on our social media channels and on site with signage,” Darin Schluep, the food services director of Associated Students Dining Services, said via email.

In addition, Schluep mentioned the CoHo’s presence at Aggie Job Fairs and the work of the communications team to advertise vacancies.

“We have approximately 50 new employees currently in the onboarding process, and we continue to collect applications on the ASUCD Jobs website,” Schluep said.

According to the announcement, the reduction in service days will ideally be temporary

as more student employees are hired. With staff shortages, the management team at the CoHo has put in effort to address the “workload, morale and mental health” of their student employees.

“We have discussed a variety of employee morale-boosters that we’re hoping to start next week, including an employee-only coffee station, a ‘goodie table’ with snacks and candy that they can take at the end of their shift, and ‘pizza day’ where we order out pizza for the employees,” Schluep said.

In the future, Schluep hopes to raise the employee discount to thank employees for continuing their work and persevering through these staff shortages.

According to Schluep, employees at the CoHo can build skills in time management, customer service and communication that can be used in future employment. Schluep also mentioned that there are opportunities for advancement in supervisor or student manager positions.

“Since it started in the late 60’s, the Coffee House has a proud tradition of student-focused food service that has elevated it to becoming the most popular place to eat and drink on campus,” Schluep said. “We’re looking for the next group of students to be a part of that tradition.”

Memorial Union CoHo. (Ben Cheng/Aggie)

PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 BOOSTER SHOTS NOW OFFERED IN CAMPUS VACCINE CLINICS Eligible employees and students can make appointments through Health-e-Messaging

BY CHRISTINE LEE campus@theaggie.org Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authorization of a third COVID-19 vaccine dose, the UC Davis vaccine

clinic began offering Pfizer-BioNTech shots to eligible students and employees at the end of September.

The Centers for Disease Control Statement on Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 encourages booster shots for individuals 65 years and

Person receiving a vaccine. (Aggie File)

older in long-term facilities, people aged 1864 at increased risk for contact through their occupation or other environments and people within that age group with medical conditions.

Individuals in these demographics are able to receive the third dose if they were administered the two Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations at least six months ago. Appointments can be made through the Health-e-Messaging website. Proof of immunization will be required along with completion of the Daily Symptom Survey.

“We just started a few days ago, but it has picked up a lot since we started offering the third one,” Andrea Long, a kiosk worker and lab helper for testing and vaccinations at the UC Davis campus vaccine clinic, said. “I think for a lot of older people and those with conditions, it’s a good thing that we’re offering that especially for staff and students because it’s convenient on campus.”

The decision to offer booster shots is a part of a continued effort to mitigate and ensure a healthy campus environment.

“98% of UC Davis students are vaccinated,” Jeffery Hosh, a professor of health economics in the Department of Public Health Sciences, said via email. “Having booster shots accessible on campus will facilitate this trend of protecting our community through prevention.”

According to Hosh, the work of Aggie Health Ambassadors and Healthy Davis Together have been successful in educating and strengthening the Davis community. The university has also employed the use of mandatory frequent asymptomatic testing and contact tracing in an effort to keep students, staff and faculty safe.

Through the mask requirement and testing of thousands of students, the campus has reported a 0.15% positive rate since Sept. 14 and 7% of oncampus isolation and quarantine housing in use.

“Prevention is the key to public health, and getting the vaccine is the key to beating [COVID-19],” Hosh said via email. “Offering the booster shot continues this tradition of helping our community stay safe.”

UNITRANS FACES SEVERE SHORTAGE OF STUDENT DRIVERS The campus bus service remains operational while it experiences staff shortages

BY YAN YAN HUSTIS HAYES campus@theaggie.org While many employers on and off campus have been experiencing staff shortages, the Unitrans driver shortage in particular has been deeply felt among students who rely on the service for regular transportation.

According to third-year electrical engineering major and Unitrans driver Maximus Rusi, Unitrans has yet to reach the same operational status as before the pandemic.

“The driver shortage has definitely been rough on service,” Rusi said via email. “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to get back to full ‘prepandemic’ service due to the lack of drivers.”

The lack of sufficient employees puts stress on both drivers and supervisors, but those most affected are students and patrons who use Unitrans, according to Rusi.

“While this affects drivers and supervisors, [...] I feel worse for our community that uses public transportation,” Rusi said via email.

“Those that live in West Village or North Davis specifically feel it the worst.”

The shortage of drivers means that buses run less frequently, some only running once per hour, which leads to larger crowds on the buses that are in service. Two bus lines are also being temporarily operated by the Yolobus service.

“During the normal year we would normally run busses to them every 15 minutes but right now we can just barely manage to run [highlyfrequented lines] every 30 minutes,” Rusi said via email. “You would think that’s not a big deal, however it’s actually leading to buses being over packed and running super late.”

Jeffery Flynn, the general manager of Unitrans, recommended that students planning to take the bus leave earlier than they otherwise would to get to class.

“Please be patient and expect crowded buses and delays,” Flynn said. “We recommend trying to get to classes at least 30 minutes before you need to arrive. As more students apply and finish driver training, we will add more service.”

Flynn encouraged students who may be looking for on-campus employment opportunities to consider working for Unitrans.

UNITRANS on 7

Unitrans Employees pose in front of a Bus. (ASUCD Unitrans / Courtesy)

MORE BIKE RIDERS AT UC DAVIS SPARKS CONVERN OVER ACCIDENTS, SAFETY As a record-breaking amount of students return to campus, new riders learn the ropes through trial and error

BY KATHLEEN QUINN campus@theaggie.org

Students on lawn chairs spectate cyclists navigating UC Davis roundabout on the first day of instruction (Ben Cheng /Aggie)

With an unprecedented number of new cyclists navigating the UC Davis campus for the first time, lack of biking knowledge and familiarity with the road conditions have caused an uptick in accidents and long lines for repairs at the Bike Barn.

Jeffrey Bruchez, the bicycle program coordinator for UC Davis Transportation Services (TAPS), said that one of the biggest challenges this year is having the largest first-year class in UC Davis history. This is coupled with a significant increase in the number of new bikers, as second-year students, fourth-year transfer students and second-year graduate students were almost entirely absent on campus last year due to the pandemic.

“There are over two-thirds of the university that [are] new to the environment,” Bruchez said.

“We already have almost a third of the university riding bikes, [so] that’s a stunningly large number of new or novice cyclists.”

Joseph Farrow, the UC Davis police chief, said that there tend to be more accidents at the beginning of quarters, especially during the first week.

“A lot of people are coming to campus, I’m not saying that have never ridden a bike before but haven’t ridden a bike as a main form of transportation,” Farrow said.

Jeanine Palicte, a third-year transfer student and cognitive science major, said she recently started riding her bike again this past week.

“The last time I rode a bike I was in grade school, maybe even before the fifth grade,” Palicte said. “And then last week, I got a bike.”

Richard Pham, a third-year political science major, said he was in an accident on Oct. 4 while riding an electric scooter when a cyclist circle near the ARC entered a bike circle from the left instead of the right side.

“It’s pretty bad,” Pham said, showing injuries on his hands and leg. “Imagine just a giant scrape that looks like pepperoni.”

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

ASUCD SENATE BILL #3 PASSED AT SEPT. 30 ASUCD SENATE MEETING ASUCD senators voted to create a special election reform committee

BY RACHEL SHEY campus@theaggie.org On Thursday, Sept. 30, the ASUCD Senate meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m. by Internal Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez. All senators were present.

Senator Kabir Sahni was confirmed as the President Pro Tempore; he will preside over the senate in the absence of the vice president.

Chair of Club Finance Council (CFC) Joe Martinez gave a presentation about student organizations on campus, reminding everyone about the involvement fair and AggieLife. The CFC is working on allocating their funds to UC

Davis clubs through grant applications.

“Students do better in classes if they are involved on campus,” Martinez said. “We are all working together to find that outreach.”

Hernandez gave a presentation about using Slack as ASUCD’s primary mode of communication. She gave a quick demo of Slack’s features and presented a few etiquette rules.

Then, Vinal Chand was confirmed as the associate vice president of external communications. Chand stated that he hopes to organize “more in-person events, start with tabling, get the word out, get more people to know about ASUCD, whatever the initiative may be [and] to create events so that everyone can get to know one another.”

President Ryan Manriquez announced that the official date for Sunset Fest will be Nov. 5 at the UC Davis Health Stadium.

The senate meeting then moved on to evaluating past legislation. Senate Bill #1 was passed, including a judicial stipend of $75 a week for the judicial chair, paying TSR and ISR for 10 hours a week starting Winter Quarter and reducing the hours for the Bike Barn by 30 minutes. The operating budget is $1,920,713.

Senate Resolution #1, the first ASUCD resolution to outline the “overarching goals, priorities and business strategies of ASUCD” was tabled. Senator Kristin Mifsud suggested withdrawing the resolution and making it more concise. Sahni expressed concern that the

resolution was too hastily written and appears to have no clear purpose. Internal Affairs Commission Chairperson Radhika Gawde said that it should be rewritten to communicate the administrative priorities more clearly. Manriquez motioned to table the resolution and guaranteed that he would “make it right for next time.”

Senate Bill #3, creating a special committee on elections reform, was passed. The committee “will work to study and analyze matters regarding elections, including Article VII of the Constitution,” according to the text of the bill.

The previous minutes were approved and the meeting was adjourned at 11:34 p.m.

AGGIE FILE

AGGIE COMPASS AND DAVIS COMMUNITY MEALS AND HOUSING PROVIDES HOUSING SERVICES Aggie Compass student manager explains experience with homelessness

BY ELLIE LEE city@theaggie.org Resources are available to UC Davis students and Yolo County residents who face housing insecurities. According to the 2019 Homeless Count, which was conducted by the Yolo County Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition, 655 people faced homelessness on a single day on Jan. 22, 2019. The report noted that the number reflected only that particular day; many families and individuals go in and out of homelessness.

Lyzette Perez, a fourth year UC Davis student majoring in psychology faced homelessness in 2017. Perez, who is originally from Southern California, said her uncle lived with her family while struggling with a drug addiction. Perez described how he became violent, poked fights and yelled at her family members; one day, she decided to call the cops.

“My grandparents and my mom were upset with me because they said, ‘He’s family. How can they turn your back to family,’” Perez said.

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

“I decided if that’s what they would rather have, I’m just gonna leave.”

She moved in with a friend in the same area before deciding to go up to Washington; her dream was going to the University of Washington. Although she and her friend had a place in mind to stay in Washington, plans failed soon before they got there.

“We had fifteen hundred dollars to our name at the time,” Perez said. “We ended up being homeless for a month.”

They slept in the car parked in a 24-hour grocery store parking lot. After figuring out obstacles in Washington; she came back to Los Angeles, where she finished up community college credits.

“I eventually transferred to Davis last year,” Perez said. “I was fortunate to find housing during COVID, and I was able to find something at a very decent price.”

Today, she is a student manager with Aggie Compass, a basic needs center. The collegefocused rapid rehousing program, exclusive to

students who are homeless, provides housing for homeless students, a meal plan and intense case management based on academic success.

Once a month they drive around campus, seeing how many students are in their vehicles. She mentioned that in past years they found more than 10 in a month.

Aggie Compass also provides hotel vouchers for students in circumstances that might currently have nowhere else to go but shelter in their cars.

“I know that if you’re experiencing housing or food insecurity, it’s hard to ask for help; you almost feel like a shame because you’re like, ‘What did I do to myself where I’m in this spot?’”

Perez said.

For those who need housing and are over 18, Davis Community Meals and Housing has a Transitional and Bridge Housing program.

They assist individuals who are homeless with a safe, stable environment and help meet daily needs, like food and shelter. Ray Brent Jr., the resource coordinator of the Transitional and

Bridge Housing program, details the services they provide.

“We deal with your finances,” Brent said.

“We deal with drugs and alcohol. We deal with budgeting resources. We help with applications or give you paperwork to find apartment complexes.”

He says they currently? have six to eight people there, but they can serve up to 12.

“Without this place a lot of people would be in worse predicament in their lives. This place actually helps people out 100%,” Brent said. “I actually went to this program.”

Brent gives advice to those who may be afraid to ask for help.

“Understand where your fears are coming from and deal with that,” Brent said.

Resources for students experiencing homelessness can be found at the Aggie Compass website. These include emergency and short-term Housing, housing services and listings, free legal services and housing organizations.

ARTS & CULTURE THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021 | 3

‘ANNETTE’ FALLS INTO ABYSS OF OVERAMBITIOUS, PRETENTIOUS FESTIVAL FILMS The surreal rock opera falls short with awkward artistic choices and an unsuccessful social commentary

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org “Annette” was perhaps one of the most talked-about movies of the Cannes Film Festival this year, due in part to its star-studded cast and its eccentric combination of operatics and surreal storytelling.

The film is now available for free on Amazon Prime, meaning anyone is able to watch Adam Driver, the movie’s lead, yell and attempt to sing for two hours. Essentially, it tells the story of the destructive stand-up comedian Henry (Adam Driver) and his whirlwind romance with a successful opera singer named Ann (Marion Cotillard), who plays the part of the absurdly clichéd lover, wife and ultimately mother.

Not to say that Driver and Cotillard are not exceptionally talented actors, but even with Driver’s quintessential aggression and Cotillard’s beautiful voice and gentleness as an actress, the movie has multiple segments that seem to go on for years. Yet, nothing is said or done — not

to mention, they are upstaged by a (slightly unnerving) wooden puppet.

This brings us to “BABY ANNETTE!” — this is how her name is said about 50 times throughout the movie. Henry and Ann’s only child ends up being a cognizant, singing doll/ puppet who Henry soon begins to exploit for her talents as his own success as a comedian quickly dwindles after his child’s birth and later loss of his beloved Ann. The wooden doll is one of many surreal aspects of this musical drama, but interestingly enough, it is not what makes the film too conceptual to truly enjoy.

The real problems I and so many others on Rotten Tomatoes have with the film come from the music, the casting and the poorly executed social commentary this film was trying to make.

This is not to say that it is not watchable, but one moment you might find yourself reaching for your phone during a scene that is ten lines too long, and then a moment later you’ll be lost in the storm of “Annette.” Even with some redeemable moments, by the end of the film, you will be wondering what the point of those two

hours was.

The 15 songs of this movie’s soundtrack are “woven” into the script — the songs themselves are primarily a hybrid form of talk-singing, so a song might be starting and your only clue is the fact that a line is being repeated or that there are too many rhymes to be a coincidence. The one musical number that feels completely appropriate to this conceptual film is the opening “May We Please Start” because it successfully establishes the film as a theatrical performance, and alerts viewers to the dramatic nature of the entire movie. I cannot say as much for the rest of the songs, which just directly sing out the characters’ thoughts and motives.

Driver is a powerful and talented actor and obviously has an affinity for yelling in his roles, but was he the right choice to play what is supposed to be a charismatic, controversial comedian in a singing-heavy role? No, he was not.

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Annette theatrical release poster. (Courtesy of Amazon Studios)

THE EVOLUTION OF AN INFLUENCER How social media has reshaped our idea of fame

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org We live in the age of the influencer — there’s one everywhere you look, from the Met Gala red carpet to the couch of any relevant talk show host — but how did our celebrity culture get so diluted?

Being deemed “famous” used to hold a certain weight in society. Celebrities were put on an almost untouchable pedestal, and it seemed absolutely out of reach for “normal” people to get even a taste of their acclaim. However, it seems like anyone has the ability to become a household KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

name overnight as long as the algorithm is on their side.

It is thought that influencers can be dated back to the Middle Ages. There have always been people with more reach on others, who could start certain societal trends or influence the zeitgeist.

But there’s no denying that the boom of social media in the 2010s completely changed the game. All of a sudden, people had the ability to accumulate a huge following in an insanely short amount of time.

One of the earliest examples of the modern social media influencer is Caroline Calloway. As one of the first people to create Instagram posts that were actually vulnerable (as opposed to an oversaturated picture of some palm trees with the hashtag #vacaymode), she paved the way for the oversharing culture of social media. She also was one of the first to be sponsored on the app.

It’s worth mentioning that Calloway even went so far as to write a book through Instagram posts, but when she finally secured an actual book deal for just shy of $500,000, she didn’t follow through with it because she felt it was disingenuous.

Calloway and others of her time opened the door for a stream of well-known Internet personas to follow in their footsteps. These influencers existed in every corner of the internet and varied in popularity. From the YouTubers with 10s of millions of subscribers (i.e. David Dobrik, Bethany Mota, Pewdiepie, etc.) to the mega-famous TikTokers of today that amass hundreds of millions of followers (Charlie D’Amelio was the first to crack this barrier on the app), they created a new, immensely lucrative online business model.

Social media has become so saturated that having 10,000 followers on Instagram now constitutes the user as a “nano-influencer”.

As a result, social media has created jobs with the potential to make an immense amount of money. Teenagers and young adults on these apps are earning millions of dollars a year in a career that requires little to no schooling.

The argument could also be made that the predecessors of our modern influencers were the socialites and reality TV stars of the early 2000s (think Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, Snookie and their circles).

When they first broke onto the scene, many

of these women were surrounded by a whirlwind of controversy. The public did not know what to make of someone like Kim Kardashian — she didn’t seem to possess any of the qualities that would typically propel someone into stardom, like a talent for singing or acting, yet she still had American pop culture wrapped around her finger.

America’s obsession with the KardashianJenners is the perfect analogy for the public’s general view on influencers. They exist in an interesting space in modern pop culture. People love to hate them, and the more controversy they are surrounded in, the more attention, fame and money will be thrown at them.

That’s why social media has evolved into a materialistic, competitive space, where influencers compete to see who can pull off the most outlandish controversies and be the one trending on Twitter the next day.

Who knows how celebrity culture will evolve next? With the possibility of any internet user going viral, Hollywood’s elite status will likely continue to wither away in the years to come.

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.edu Movie: “Divorce: Italian Style” dir. by Pietro Germi (1961) Desperate to marry his extraordinarily pretty cousin, Ferdinando conspires to get around Italy’s restrictive divorce laws by inducing his cloying wife to cheat on him so he can kill her. Germi’s terse humor swarms every element of the film: The compositions are vibrant and precise, allowing for scenes full of quick, dense humor. Fast-speaking characters collide and deliver stealthy jokes with a hypnotic rhythm. The legendary Marcello Mastroianni provides a lead performance fitting of his pedigree — Ferdinando’s dour stares and his robotic, despicably memorable facial tic that replicates itself like the boom of a gong as he draws closer to murder. Wickedly funny.

Book: “Hellfire” by Nick Tosches (1982) Nick Tosches’ biography of the tormented Jerry Lee Lewis shivers with suggestion and pious anxiety. Rolling Stone once called it “the best rock and roll biography,” an assessment difficult to dismiss. Tosches perfectly mingles the facts of Lewis’ life with measured prose and a penetrating demeanor that leaves the book rich in meaning and memory usually reserved for the most skillful fiction. Lewis’ need for God, inculcated by his Southern family, is diametric to his gifted Rock ‘n’ Roll and debauched lifestyle, a tension begging to explode, but which simmers for decades as his life warps around him. “Hellfire” doesn’t restrict itself to the sore tropes of celebrity biographies, and instead seeks to retrieve something glittering and purposeful from the wreckage of a troubled life.

Album: “Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home” by The Newfound Interest in Connecticut (2005) Released to no attention at the band’s final show in 2005, “Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home” is one of a number of vintage (or nearly vintage) emo records to see a sudden and mild resurgence at the rumblings of internet forums and house shows, a pocket of people dumbstruck by the patience and rough precision of the band’s Alaska-themed tracks. Long, ghostly passages of sweet singing and windy ambience connect heart-thrashing moments of violence. The album comprises a vast and frostbitten melancholy, perfect for the oncoming season.

TV Show: “Kenny vs. Spenny” (2003) In the tradition of “Jackass,” the early 2000s saw an interminable number of low-budget, crass reality shows in which men with improperly developed selfpreservation instincts place themselves in violent danger for the amusement of skaters and the unemployed. “Kenny vs. Spenny” is such a show, but one which deserves special note for its ingenuity and consistency. In each episode, the two hosts compete to outperform one another in sundry tasks, such as smoking weed, staying awake for as long as possible, antagonizing strangers and eating impossible amounts of meat. For a reasonably low-concept show in the protoYouTube vein, it manages to elicit a certain amount of pathos and joy.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SCIENCE AND TECH UC DAVIS HEALTH STUDY FINDS UNUSUAL VISUAL INSPECTION IN 9-MONTH-OLD INFANTS IS PREDICTIVE OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER Findings suggest an increased focus on repetitive behaviors is needed in screening techniques for autism spectrum disorder

BY BRANDON NGUYEN science@theaggie.org According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 54 children are found with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Over the years, clinicians and researchers have focused on identification of the disorder at earlier stages to better facilitate children’s development and social engagement.

A recent UC Davis Health study conducted at the UC Davis MIND Institute found that unusual visual inspection of objects by infants around 9 months of age is indicative of eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

“This behavior [of unusual visual inspection] in particular involves looking at an object at different angles or rotating it while staring at it,” Megan Miller, an associate professor at the MIND Institute and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis, said. “Sometimes, it involves looking at an object

from the peripheral vision or just looking at the object for a long duration. So in this particular study we defined it as more than 10 seconds.”

In a previous study conducted in 2008, Sally Ozonoff, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the MIND Institute at UC Davis and the principal investigator of the study, looked at repetitive behaviors of 12-month-old infants at elevated familial risk for ASD compared to those at low risk. Ozonoff found that one of the behaviors that was a distinguishing indicator of later development of ASD was unusual visual inspection. This study is an expansion on the previous study, following infants at 9 months of age to 3 years.

“Unusual visual inspection at 9 months predicted 12-month social behavior controlling for 9-month social behavior, but not vice versa, consistent with major theories of autism suggesting that an increased focus on objects early in life has detrimental cascading effects on

KATHERINE FRANKS/ AGGIE

social behavior,” according to the paper in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology publishing the study.

This behavior at 9 months of age is stably present in the infants Ozonoff and Miller had observed in this study.

“They were given toys to play with for 30 seconds each, and we looked at each of these kinds of repetitive behaviors from spinning an object to rotating an object but also at unusual visual inspection of objects,” Miller said. “That’s

the one that really sort of stood out in terms of distinguishing most consistently and earliest in the babies, who went on to develop autism from those who didn’t.”

Extending the range to an earlier age is key to improving early identification of ASD so therapists and clinicians can quickly begin treatment to facilitate children’s social development and engagement.

“The earlier we can identify whether a baby is kind of going on that track, the more likely we are able to help them develop some of those social behaviors or find ways to engage with them a little bit differently so that they can still develop those social communication skills over time,” Miller said.

In addition to bringing greater ease to an infant’s social growth and development, both Miller and Ozonoff stress the major implications the findings in the study have on present screening.

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ANIMAL AGRICULTURE AND ALTERNATIVE MEATS: ADVANCING SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND ALLIED INNOVATION A UC Davis review highlights technological innovations across livestock sectors and alternative meat options, broadening conversations about sustainable diets

BY VICTORIA MCJUNKIN science@theaggie.org Impossible burgers, steak, almond milk, 2% milk — which of these foods contribute to a sustainable diet? Sustainability discussions breed controversy, often pitting animal products and meat alternatives against each other. However, this dichotomous framing may impede critical KATHERINE FRANKS/ AGGIE

research, as innovators across both sectors work to reduce the environmental impact of food production.

A recent review by UC Davis’ Department of Animal Science calls for a broader understanding of eco-friendly diets in order to also consider its implications for global food systems, adequate nutrition and food security.

“It’s not a simple topic,” Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, the cooperative extension specialist and head of the Animal Genomics and Biotechnology Lab, said. “There are many nuances of sustainability and it’s getting sold in a way that doesn’t appreciate the tradeoffs.”

The first world experience with nutrient consumption vastly differs from lower-income countries, Van Eenennaam said.

“We have such an abundance of choices that we’re probably going to be nutritionally alright, almost irrespective of whether we choose to be,

you know, vegetarian or flexitarian, or omnivore or carnivore,” Van Eenennaam said. “We’re probably going to get enough to be fine from an insufficiency perspective—where we run into trouble is overconsumption.”

In low to middle income countries, however, under-nutrition and lack of essential nutrients pose the biggest problem, leading to cognitive stunting and impaired development, according to Van Eenennaam. Diets in low to middle income countries are primarily composed of plant based foods due to the high prices of animal-sourced foods.

“Because they can’t afford animal source food products, they’re malnourished because they’re lacking essential nutrients,” Van Eenennaam said.

“So even if you don’t want to eat animals, there is a role for animals in sustainability discussions.”

In order to evaluate the environmental impacts of animal-sourced foods and meat

alternatives, Van Eenennaam worked with Samantha Werth, a Idaho science and technology policy fellow, in conducting a series of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). LCA’s serve as a methodology for assessing the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product’s life, from the development of a resource to it’s disposal or recycling.

Their work in these models emphasized the importance of accurate metric choices for each assessment. As exemplified in the article, in LCAs, greenhouse gases are typically expressed as their global warming potential (GWP) over a 100-year timeline. However, greenhouse gases vary in atmospheric lifetime, especially those produced by ruminant production systems who digest their food more than once, leading to the production of methane. The atmospheric lifetime of this short-lived climate pollution extends to only 12 years.

ALTERNATIVEMEAT on 7

UC DAVIS SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE PRIORITIZES STUDENT WELL-BEING Veterinary students often face significant mental health challenges, but UCDSVM offers counseling, financial literacy curriculum and more in order to mitigate stress Content Warning: Suicide. Resources for 24/7 national and local crisis phone lines and text lines are listed below.

Prevention Lifeline is (800) 273-8255; the number for the 24/7 Crisis Text Line is 741741; the number to speak with a trained counselor through The Trevor Project, available 24/7, is 1-866-488-7386 and the number for Yolo County’s 24-hour crisis line is (530) 756-5000 for Davis callers.

For students seeking mental health support, here are some resources: • Mental health visits: Counseling Services are available by phone or via secure video conferencing.

Schedule an appointment through the Health-eMessaging portal or by calling 530-752-0871.

All Mental Health Crisis Consultation Services are offered via phone consultation or secure video conferencing. Call 530-752-0871 to access these services.

• LiveHealth Online: Have secure, online video visits with licensed mental health professionals and primary care providers; no referral is needed.

• Therapy Assistance Online: Use interactive tools and self-care exercises for mental health concerns.

• The number for the 24/7 National Suicide

Prospective veterinarians face many hurdles, from high student debt to frequent imposter syndrome, competitive academics and simply the emotionally draining nature of the career. Female veterinarians were 3.5 times as likely, and male veterinarians were 2.1 times as likely to die by suicide as compared to the general population, according to a 2018 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite rating job satisfaction highly, 52% of veterinarians in the U.S. would not recommend a career in the veterinary profession, according to a 2020 study by Merck Animal Health. The same study found that veterinarians, despite working fewer hours, had higher rates of burnout than physicians.

BY SONORA SLATER science@theaggie.org

With UC Davis’ veterinary school ranked among the best in the world, how does it balance its academic rigor and prestige — and an introduction to the realities of the profession — with its students’ mental well-being?

One of the first obstacles the program faces, according to Dr. Joie Watson, the associate dean of professional education at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (UCDSVM), is helping students shift away from the competition mindset.

“It’s very competitive to get here, and that competition is almost all that they’ve known,” Watson said. “But once they’re here, what’s the mission for the next four years? To learn and understand so they can become the best practitioner they can be.

The goal is not to be a better practitioner than someone else. We say it on the first day, we say it on the second day, we say it on the third day.”

VETERINARIANSTRESS on 7

Natalie Gracia, a 2020 UC Davis graduate now in her first year at the Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine, poses with a kitten named Mimosa that she rescued and fostered.

UC DAVIS ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY INSTITUTE PARTNERS WITH RIO TIERRA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TO TEACH BEYOND CAMPUS 150 eighth grade students given the opportunity to learn about air quality and build air purifiers

BY AARYA GUPTA science@theaggie.org Science teachers at Rio Tierra Junior High School and researchers at the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute partnered together to deliver a two-day lesson on air quality to about KATHERINE FRANKS/ AGGIE

150 eighth-grade students, according to an article published by UC Davis.

“This partnership came about after talking with my friend, Theresa Pistochini, regarding concerns I had with ventilation in my classroom,” science teacher at Rio Tierra Junior High School Amber Mitchell said via email. “I decided to pursue this partnership because I have been following Theresa’s research for years, and consider her an expert source for help and information.”

Pistochini is the Co-Director of Engineering at the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Institute and the lead for this project.

“Connecting K-12 students with university students and researchers[,] students learn about potential future education and career opportunities they may have not otherwise thought about,” Pistochini said via email. “Often when students think about engineering[,] they generally think about opportunities like studying

cars, aircraft, and space, and not necessarily about buildings, energy efficiency, and the environment.”

Mitchell said that the lesson consisted of a “guided presentation by researchers at UC Davis.”

“Students learned about indoor and outdoor pollutants, health effects, air quality sensors, ventilation and filtration, and how to build a low cost air filter with a box fan and MERV13 filters,” Pistochini said.

The presentation was followed by the students having the opportunity to engage in a hands-on learning experience.

“The students explored different types of filters, and determined which filters would be best based on their characteristics,” Mitchell said.

“The students built an efficient air purifier, and each system was delivered to a different room on campus.”

Mitchell emphasized the importance of her

students learning about air quality.

“It is important for K-12 students to have these experiences because it relates what we are doing in the classroom with what is happening in the real world,” Mitchell said. “They are living through the pandemic and the horrific wildfire seasons. They understand that they have some control over the air they breathe, and this project showed them a way to directly influence the air in the classrooms.”

Camille Kirk, the UC Davis director of sustainability and campus sustainability planner, echoed similar sentiments.

“It is critical to engage K-12 students in projects related to sustainability for the same reasons it is critical to engage college students— these kinds of opportunities offer students a chance to learn more about sustainability science, social science, legal and humanistic approaches to global challenges,” Kirk said via email.

AIRPURIFIER on 7

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021 | 5

OPINION UNITRANS AND COHO WORKER SHORTAGES MUST BE ADDRESSED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE Despite efforts to increase staffing at essential ASUCD units, basic student needs aren’t being met

THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

EDITO RIA L B OA RD ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Campus News Editor MADELEINE PAYNE City News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD Opinion Editor KATIE DEBENEDETTI Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor

Unitrans and the CoHo — two absolutely essential services at UC Davis — are facing serious worker shortages. Unitrans serves over 3 million riders annually and the CoHo has more than 7,000 daily customers. Both are severely understaffed this fall and thus haven’t been able to support the UC Davis community in the way that it needs.

Many students, especially those who cannot walk or bike to campus, rely on Unitrans as their primary means of transportation.

Due to the shortage, however, bus lines are running a maximum of twice per hour (rather than every 15 minutes as they would if operating normally) and some are only running once per hour.

Students therefore must pick between arriving early or being late to class if they are unable to take the earlier bus. This decrease in available bus times makes getting to and from campus inconvenient for students who do not have other methods of transportation available to them.

The CoHo has also had to reduce service; it now closes at 4 p.m. on weekdays except on Fridays, when it is not open at all, reducing options for students who regularly purchase food there, especially because it is one of the primary places to buy food on campus for those not on a meal plan. Students also use the area to eat food brought from home and make use of the microwaves near the CoHo. With limited hours of operation, the time in which students can use the space is also limited. And as we move into the cooler months, students need indoor places on campus where they can eat and study.

Not only do we need these services, but we’re also paying additional fees each year to support them. The Basic Needs and Services Referendum of 2020, as well as the Unitrans Fee Referendum of 2019, provide additional financial support for ASUCD and Unitrans, respectively. The budget is sufficient for the

CoHo and Unitrans to be fully employed; students are paying for services operating at full capacity but are not seeing the benefits.

The worker shortage has not only impacted students in general, but it has also put stress on current student employees and career staff of these units who must maintain the highest possible level of service until more employees are hired.

And unfortunately, the hiring process is slow. Onboarding for new ASUCD employees takes time, and this does not even include the hours spent training — which for Unitrans is an extensive 70 hours before they can drive students.

To rectify this employee deficit, both units have put in effort through hiring campaigns, tabling and, for Unitrans, increasing wages to make the job more appealing to students. The CoHo, however, may struggle to find student employees when some other on-campus jobs offer higher wages. Additionally, students may be more incentivized to work in off-campus food industry positions where they would receive tips.

Although we, as students, feel inconvenienced by fewer hours of operation as a result of the shortage, we understand that this is a transition. Unitrans drivers cannot be safely trained in less time, and hiring can only happen so quickly. We hope that efforts to appeal to students and hire more employees will allow for this shortage to be overcome as quickly as possible.

While the members of the Editorial Board do not work for Unitrans or the CoHo and cannot, therefore, recommend it based on our personal experiences, these jobs do offer the ability to be employed on campus. If you are looking for an on-campus job, perhaps consider working for one of these two units — you would be helping supply a basic service that the student population sorely needs.

OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MICHELLE WONG Science & Tech Editor

KATHLEEN QUINN New Media Manager BENJAMIN CHENG Photo Director KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director ANNE THISELTON-DYER Copy Chief SABINE LLOYD Copy Chief KESHAV AGRAWAL Website Manager ANTHONY NGUYEN Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager JENNA HEATH Marketing Manager JELENA LAPUZ Outreach Director LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

AIRPORT SECURITY OR SECURITY THEATER? At what point does the cost outweigh the now-marginal benefits of security theater?

BY ALEX MOTAWI almotawi@ucdavis.edu Airports are often the worst part of every trip, and security theater shoulders much of the blame. Security theater is the idea that some security processes exist purely to make people feel safer, even though the process has little effect on the person’s safety. However, has the security theater gone too far in airports? Is the psychological benefit gained by some worth the rigamarole of all of us just to get to our gates? While this may be a touchy topic, security theater is something we need to be thinking about.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the group that runs airport security, has been becoming more and more stringent with security ever since its creation following the tragedy of 9/11, which happened 20 years ago. It has been adding more security measures and while we haven’t had another massive tragedy (thankfully) on the scale of 9/11, it feels like security is starting to bother normal passengers more than catch terrorists. Sometimes

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

getting through TSA takes even longer than a short flight, which can irk even the most considerate of passengers.

If measures that were more style over substance could be reduced, everyone would benefit. The difficulty in this is being able to distinguish what processes are best for providing actual security so that we can keep safe while being able to strip out the processes that offer little-to-no security benefit.

TSA PreCheck, which allows travelers to pay their way out of regular TSA screening, represents how little some of the steps in regular screening must actually matter. If taking your shoes off in a dirty airport, watching your lotion bottles like your life depends on them, having to dig through your bag to remove all the technology or removing your belt wears you down as a person, just get PreCheck. Instant immunity from all the worst parts of going through security — it’s that easy! All PreCheck members are allowed to ignore the “security” risks of not removing shoes and belts and not taking out liquids and electronics.

One would assume that they offset this risk by having an extensive vetting process to make sure only truly trusted individuals can indulge in this first-class experience, right? Well, there are three steps anyone can follow to get the green check: fill out an application, have a 10-minute in-person background check and pay $85. Sorry if I have a pessimistic outlook here, but I assume people looking to cause harm would be willing to pay $85 and try to pass a background check if that makes it easier for them to get through security. For something like TSA PreCheck to be so easy to get, the skippable security measures must not be as vital as we were made to believe. That’s security theater in a nutshell. All of that rigamarole provides the illusion of safety but barely makes you any safer, while the important steps are the full-body scanners and the X-ray of bags.

This is without even mentioning the rampant racial profiling and corruption that seems to be ingrained in our TSA security system. Former TSA agent Jason Harrington told The Atlantic that those “random” people they pull aside for pat-downs and further checks skew more toward people with Middle-Eastern features. I

understand and agree that we need physical security to go along with the X-rays and body scans to ensure safety, but there must be a smarter way to go about it.

There are also economic implications of the TSA choke point.

The cost of running TSA back in 2016 was astronomical, and it’s only getting larger. The Behavior Detection Officers who are supposed to identify people to get extra checks cost over 1 billion dollars in 2016, subjecting 100,000 people to deeper checks over four months. Furthermore, during a 2013 Congressional hearing relating to the Behavior Detection Officer program, Congressmen Richard Hudson and Jeff Duncan both recounted that the TSA has been unable to prove that the program has succeeded in catching a single terrorist. The New York Times reported that at Logan International Airport in Boston in 2012, officers trained in the behavior detection program were encouraged to make arrests, leading to rampant racial profiling. In 2017, the ACLU obtained TSA documents contradicting the efficacy of some of its own behavior detection techniques and recording instances of alleged racial profiling by officers.

Behavior Detection Officers aren’t the only costly yet ineffective TSA program. A 2015 Homeland Security report writes that the 70 billion dollar TSA program failed to catch 95% of test bombs or weapons that undercover agents brought through security.

Security for our airlines is an incredibly important job, as it keeps us all safe when we’re 30,000 feet up in the sky, and some well-needed reform could benefit travelers in the U.S. We could improve our security time, money and safety-wise by reducing security theater and ensuring that all safety steps are necessary and effective. The best time to challenge the current norms and figure out a solution that’s better for everyone is now, so what are we waiting for?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

HUMOR

WELCOME TO THE HOTTEST NEW GAME SHOW: WAS THIS EMAIL WRITTEN BY A DRUNK 8-YEAROLD OR YOUR TENURED PROFESSOR? When the emojis come out, it’s anybody’s guess

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu Host: Hello and welcome to UC Davis’ newest and only gameshow! Joining us today are three undergraduates who will compete for the most sacred prize of all: two points of extra credit. Let’s meet our contestants. Tyrone, it says here that you’re a first-quarter senior who’s considering switching from chemical engineering to anthropology. How are your parents feeling about that, Tyrone?

Tyrone: What is “not good,” John?

Host: My name is not John and this is not “Jeopardy.” Sasha, let’s hear a bit from you. Is it true that you’ve been dating the same guy since sophomore year of high school?

Sasha: It sure is!

Host: And how is that relationship going?

Sasha: Pretty bad, John. We both went to the same college because we thought we would last forever and now we cheat on each other constantly.

Host: Again, my name is not John. I’m not actually allowed to have a name. Let’s move on to Jake. Jake is actually a cinema and digital media major and this gameshow is a major requirement for

him. Oh, he’s already asleep. Anyway, let’s get started! Audience, what’s the name of the game?

Audience [garbled and out of time]: Was this email written by a drunk 8-year-old or your tenured professor?

Host: In fairness, that chant was a lot to ask of you. Alright, the first email is this: “K. Sent from my iPad.” Contestants, what do you think?

Sasha: I’m going to say “professor.”

Host: You are correct! This is the same professor who shows you 45 photos of her high school-aged children and will never grade the syllabus quiz. Next email, “u can sohw up whenever :).”

Tyrone: What is “professor”?

Host: No luck, that was actually a drunk 8-year-old. We let him run around an abandoned Chuck-E-Cheese and he found tequila in a hamster bottle. Oh look, Jake’s waking up. Jake, listen.

This is essential for your major. You might not graduate if — and he’s asleep again. [pauses] Hear that? The sound of people passiveaggressively zipping up their backpacks means we’re out of time.

Sasha, congratulations! What will you do with your two extra credit points?

Sasha: I think I’m just going to have sex with Tyrone.

Tyrone: Sweet!

Host: Alright. Audience, don’t forget to not do the reading for next time! This has been…

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

Audience [overlapping and muddled]: Was this email written by a drunk 8-year-old or your tenured professor?

Host: We’ll work on it.

Disclaimer: This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

6 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021

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

Answer to previous puzzle 10/07/2021

CROSSWORD Answer to previous puzzle 10/07/2021

Scan this QR code to subscribe to The California Aggie’s Newsletter!

reduce. reuse. recycle.

The aggie

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021 | 7

UNITRANS

ANNETTE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

“We have a lot of room for job opportunities and growth,” Flynn said. “All of our frontline supervisors are undergraduates and most of our managers are undergraduates.”

Until these positions are filled, however, students who commute to school via bus will continue to feel the effects of the driver shortage.

Fatima Alvarez, a fourth-year managerial economics major, explained that the reduction in Unitrans services has affected her daily commute.

“The reduced service meant I had to look for other forms of transportation,” Alvarez said via email. “I’m grateful that Yolobus took over the service of the line I would have to take to campus.”

Alvarez said that she hopes bus services will

increase sooner rather than later.

“Maybe it’s too early to have the lines that were suspended back, but I would like them back,” Alvarez said via email. “Some lines are only running once per hour and I would like to see them running twice an hour as regular service.”

According to Rusi, Unitrans’ present concern is providing all students who need one with a ride.

“We haven’t been able to keep up with the demand for more buses on the road,” Rusi said via email. “Right now, making sure everyone can get a ride is our biggest goal. I just hope we will have the capacity to improve service for our community as soon as possible.”

BIKEACCIDENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Farrow said that they have been called out to six or seven accidents since the beginning of fall quarter, but only in five instances, the injured parties were there when the police arrived.

“The most serious one was the one that was last week, where it was actually a car and bike that sideswiped each other,” Farrow said. “The bicyclist hit the ground pretty hard, and I think there was a fracture.”

For the most part, minor accidents do not involve the police department unless a report needs to be taken for insurance purposes. “‘Minor can just be you hit a curb, you fall, you have a little abrasion,” Farrow said. “They don’t even call us — we don’t even go out for things like that because they don’t call.”

Pham said, in his case, he decided to leave the police out of it and instead went home to tend to his injuries. “[The bike rider] was also hurt. We both wore helmets, but he still got some scrapes,” Pham said. “So I just forgave him and we had to move on because [the leg injury] was bleeding so I had to go straight home.”

A challenge for inexperienced bike riders is the sheer amount of cyclists on the road at the same time.

“I went out to practice biking, and it was really nice,” Palicte said. “There was no one except a few families. But my first go through the bike circle during normal class time was [...] pretty stressful.”

The most important thing for riders to remember is to not be in a hurry, Bruchez said.

“If we can take the average speed on campus and go from 13 miles an hour down to eight miles an hour, you are going to get everywhere you are going probably at the same speed, but you’re also going to get there without getting in an accident,” Buchez said. “Because when you get in an accident, you slow everything down.”

TAPS offers a canvas course entitled “cycling savvy” that goes over defensive cycling skills

as well as a training session they conduct in partnership with Student Health and Counseling Services, “Helmet Hair Don’t Care,” which offers a free bike helmet in exchange for the education.

“In order to get a free helmet, you have to go through this five-to-10-minute bike education thing,” Bruchez said. “It’s about three different pages where we go over rules of the road, why we want you to ride on the right, and ‘Who do we yield to? We yield to pedestrians,’ — things like that.”

The police department also offers free bike lights during their community events for students to maintain visibility, which is required by law at night.

Kahui Lim, a UC Davis doctorate alumnus in environmental engineering and former Bike Barn service manager, said when he was working at the Bike Barn, he noticed an influx of students coming in the first week of the fall quarter.

“It’s a regular occurrence, not necessarily because of accidents,” Lim said. “A lot of students are trying to get their bikes in working order or they find that they have a leaky tube.”

For example, Palicte said that she has already noticed something off with her bike.

“I bought a really cheap bike off of Target because I didn’t really know where to start,” Palicte said. “I’m pretty sure the back wheel is busted — it keeps clicking.”

UC Davis touts itself as a bicycling university, Bruchez said.

“What do you bring when you come to Davis? You bring a bike, right? Everyone thinks you have to bring a bike when you come here,” Bruchez said.

But in order to maintain safety while riding around campus, Farrow stated that it’s important to recognize one thing about bicycles.

“They defy gravity every time you ride them,” Farrow said. “Gravity is always trying to pull you down off those two wheels.”

AIRPURIFIER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 “Students are the future and they will be the most impacted by climate change and other major social and environmental challenges.”

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Sustainable Community Program provided funding to the UC Davis Sustainable Campus, Sustainable Cities Initiative, which funded this project, according to the article published by UC Davis.

Director of Sustainable Communities at SMUD Jose Bodipo-Memba said via email that SMUD is “proud of its long and successful

history of partnerships with UC Davis.”

“As a community owned nonprofit, it is our responsibility to ensure that all communities are holistically sustainable, with the ability to provide a healthy environment, economic opportunities, safe mobility options, and access to social services,” Bodipo-Memba said. “The two-day air quality lesson made clear to students that they can improve indoor air quality at home and in the classroom. We hope this foundational knowledge will also inspire them to do even more.”

ALTERNATIVEMEAT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 To accurately represent short-lived climate pollution in LCAs, researchers at the University of Oxford have introduced a new expression of the global warming potential metric: GWP*.

When LCAs are conducted for ruminant systems without taking into consideration the short-lived climate pollution of animal-sourced foods, the products yield over 10.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

However, when assessed with GWP*, products assist in the removal of 2.85 metric tons of carbon dioxide — a vast difference.

“Seeing livestock production in terms of the newer characterization method of GWP* and what that actually means in the grand scheme of our impact of livestock on environmental impacts,” Werth said. “It really puts things in a totally different perspective.”

Although LCAs might reveal animal-sourced foods to be more environmentally friendly than commonly thought, there are still measures to be taken to reduce emissions and create more productive systems in striving toward climate stabilization.

Meat alternatives will also play a critical role in sustainability discussions; as the global population increases, so does the demand for protein and animal-sourced foods, according to a recent estimate by the United Nations.

Nutritionally-complete meat alternatives (such as the Impossible Burger) and cultured meat (meat produced through cellular agriculture) will aid in meeting this demand without having to mitigate environmental effects as much as livestock production.

“Synthetic biology and cultured nutrients getting added to plant foods has the potential to make it a more complete food source,” Van Eenennaam said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity for synthetic biology to augment and supplement plants and to improve the nutritional composition.”

In livestock sectors, continued innovations in feeding, breeding, genetics, animal health and management will drastically reduce the emission intensity of animal-sourced foods in middle to high income countries according to researchers at the University of Oxford. Agricultural experts have already successfully utilized supplementary feeds, developments in veterinary medicine, advanced breeding methods and reproductive technology.

“A cow today in the U.S. produces about four times the amount of milk she did in the 1950s,” Van Eenennaam said. “And as a result, a glass of milk is a third of the environmental footprint it

was of the 1950s.”

Innovations in livestock production have also decreased the environmental footprint of beef and chicken production.

“We’re very good at what we do in terms of producing beef in the U.S.,” Werth said. “Over the last 50 years, we’ve kept the herd size the same, but increased production by 40%.”

Furthermore, comfort is not compromised by a quest for efficiency; advancements are made with careful consideration for the animals within these systems.

“In order for these animals to be as productive as they are, we have to put a lot of time and care and love into how we’re producing them,” Werth said. “If an animal is being mistreated, if it doesn’t have the optimal nutrition and optimal feeds going into its diet, it’s not going to be as productive as it can be.”

By balancing ethical treatment with sustainability goals, Werth believes it can help feed a planet in a sustainable manner. When it comes to cattle production, Werth suggests we shift our framework from “How do we keep making these animals more efficient?” to “How do we actually minimize the emissions they’re producing?”

In applying this structure to global food systems, this will look like asking questions such as: “Where are these animals at? What’s the land like? What are the resources available to these ranchers and farmers whose livelihoods depend on cattle? Then, what can we use in that space to help these animals become the most efficient they can be?” Werth said. “If you can produce more with less, then you don’t need as many animals and you’re helping to improve sustainability in that way.”

When we acknowledge innovations in both animal agriculture and alternative meats as allies to sustainable efforts and health initiatives, science can more effectively guide policy to meet our goals, as advised by research conducted by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Proposed policy that sounds good on paper isn’t always beneficial in the long run, and data-driven science assists in identifying blind spots.

“It sounds really nice [for policymakers] to think, ‘Yeah, we’re using less pesticides and less fertilizers’, but then our food costs go up 50%. In these decisions, an entire part of the population now no longer has access to these higher quality health foods,” Werth said. “And that’s a choice that we have some power over in the way that we communicate the science behind it.”

I thoroughly believe Driver was simply the wrong choice for this character, who is eerily similar to the now-disgraced comedian Chris D’Elia, who had the same kind of purposely offensive stand-up act as Henry in this film.

Not only is no part of Henry’s act actually funny, but it gets to be quite tiresome when he continually screams at the audience “Laugh, Laugh, Laugh, Laugh!” as if doing some sort of Joker cosplay on stage. Additionally, it is almost impossible to see a hulking Driver as anything other than a threat to Cotillard’s petite, damselin-distress character. Their juxtaposing figures and characters removed any ounce of suspense as to what is to come for Ann, but perhaps it was done on purpose (although just because something is done on purpose does not mean it is a good decision).

On the other hand, Cotillard is beautiful and perfect in the role, with her riveting voice and innocent look that evokes feelings of hatred toward Henry for hurting her. And yet the role is almost too small for an actress of her prowess — it is almost astonishing how little Ann actually speaks throughout the entire film.

When she does open her mouth, it is most often to sing, and Cotillard’s voice does repair the damage done to the audience’s ears after each time Driver does his form of yell-singing.

Again, it could have easily been a conscious choice to silence the female lead of this film, as a far too blatant metaphor for how successful women are “silenced” by the men around them.

The question must be asked, did anyone need this metaphor to learn the dangers of misogyny?

And did we need a film where a bunch of men overpower and take control of the few women in each scene (primarily just Ann and baby Annette), even if it was supposed to be a satire?

In an attempt to present a misogynist getting what’s coming for him after his crimes against a caring woman who surpasses him in her career, we are instead forced to sit through two hours of a self-serving, destructive man “singing” and killing people. Perhaps the “#feminist” love scenes that were included (quite abruptly) were supposed to repair the oversight of women in the film, but in reality, having to watch Driver sing “We Love Each Other So Much” into Cotillard’s thighs was more of an annoyance than anything else.

The surreal aspects of this film would have worked so much better if the creators simply did not attempt to force a feminist commentary where it did not belong — a film does not have to make some grand statement about society, especially coming from an all-male production team.

VETERINARIANSTRESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Lindsay Allen, a first-year student at UCDSVM, said that she was pleasantly surprised by the emphasis during orientation on collaborating rather than competing with peers.

However, during the undergraduate and application process, competition lives on, according to Natalia Gracia, a 2020 UC Davis animal science graduate currently in her first year at the Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

“Let me start off by saying I loved my time at Davis 100% and am so thankful for the life, the experiences, and the tools that it gave me,” Gracia said via Instagram direct message. “But, I think they could do better with their Animal Science students in terms of making [us not] feel like just a number. My first day of school at Davis they had everyone raise their hands who wanted to be a vet and said that less than a third of us would actually achieve this goal. That pretty much set the tone of the rest of my four years, creating a constant state of anxiety about my future.”

Despite the barrier that competitive academia poses, it’s not unique to veterinary medicine. So what other factors play into their statistics of wellbeing?

“The biggest one I’ve seen is imposter syndrome — people think you’re a lot more qualified than you feel,” Allen said. “They expect perfection, and that’s just not the reality. A lot of times you don’t know, there’s not a definitive diagnosis or you can’t fix it, or the client has a limited budget and you’re trying to work within that. And that’s amplified when you go into the workplace.”

Kelsee Tran, a first-year student at UCDSVM, suggested another unique stressor.

“We are one of the only professions where it is okay to euthanize your patients depending on their quality of life, and I know that part can be taxing and stressful to veterinarians,” Tran said via email.

Watson said that the program’s approach to supporting students through their challenges begins with knowing what those challenges are.

“I think that having been a vet for 35 years, I know what challenges I’ve faced, but the thing that we need to figure out is the current students’ challenges and those are always changing,” Watson said. “It really starts with communication. Being in communication with our student body and finding out how we can best help them.”

One response they’ve had to reduce student challenges was significantly changing the structure of the curriculum in order to reduce the overall hours of class time from around 35-40 hours a week to 20-25 hours, according to Watson.

“We were dealing with stress and burnout in students more and more, and we were worried that they weren’t getting a deep understanding,” Watson said. “They were binging and then purging information from their heads, racing from test to test.”

Watson went on to describe mental health support that the school offers, including two full-time psychologists who work with veterinary students and “intentional academic mentoring,”

where mentors and students meet four times a year to discuss educational goals as well as any barriers to their education or other challenges they’re facing. She acknowledged that their support system was “imperfect.”

“We’re still working on it,” Watson said.

Even if students have exemplary support of their well-being while they’re in school, there’s a whole new realm of challenges waiting for them once they graduate.

“I think the vet school does have some responsibility for taking care of the mental health of their students, and I think [UC Davis does] a pretty good job taking care of their students,” Allen said. “I’m a little more worried about what happens after vet school than during vet school itself, when there’s all these resources to take advantage of.”

Watson said that the school is working to integrate preparation for post-school challenges into their curriculum as well, including financial literacy courses as well as mock interviews and mock salary negotiations.

She went on to emphasize that “there’s a time constraint that vets face,” with only four years to learn a vast amount of information, and so the school recognizes that they won’t be able to directly prepare students for everything they may encounter in their future careers. Instead, Watson said, “We want them to learn how to learn,” in a way that hopefully prepares them for a lifetime of learning and adapting to their work environment.

“We were put on this planet to make a difference in animals’ lives,” Gracia wrote in a recent Instagram post reflecting on her first few weeks of graduate school. “To make the world a little bit brighter… I’m hoping this will resonate with at least one person that you matter, that your life matters... Please, vet students, pre-vet students, and vets that could be reading this, be kind to yourself, and take care of yourself.”

For students seeking mental health support, below are some resources: • Mental health visits: Counseling Services are available by phone or via secure video conferencing.

Schedule an appointment through the Health-eMessaging portal or by calling 530-752-0871.

All Mental Health Crisis Consultation Services are offered via phone consultation or secure video conferencing. Call 530-752-0871 to access these services.

• LiveHealth Online: Have secure, online video visits with licensed mental health professionals and primary care providers; no referral is needed.

• Therapy Assistance Online: Use interactive tools and self-care exercises for mental health concerns.

• The number for the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is (800) 273-8255; the number for the 24/7 Crisis Text Line is 741741; the number to speak with a trained counselor through The Trevor Project, available 24/7, is 1-866-488-7386 and the number for Yolo County’s 24-hour crisis line is (530) 756-5000 for Davis callers.

AUTISMVISION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 “Findings from our study suggest that unusual visual exploration of objects may be a valuable addition to early screening and diagnostic tools for ASD,” Ozonoff said in a recent UC Davis Health press release.

“There are a lot of screening tools out there to screen for autism related symptoms early in life, but a lot of them focus more on those social communication symptoms,” Miller said. “The

social communication challenges, which is what many primarily look at, often overshadow the repetitive behaviors, which is what this unusual visual inspection would fall into. So it’s possible that we should be paying a little bit more attention to screening for this type of behavior early on, more so than we’re already doing if we’re working toward early identification.”

NBAPREVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Philadelphia’s hope is that they could get something equal in return but that remains to be seen. As it stands, the situation with the 76ers could just be another example of inefficient leadership killing a championship team.

The NBA season is upon us once again, and basketball fans are rejoicing. Aside from

the teams mentioned above, there are many young stars on the rise that will be enjoyable to watch like Luka Doncic, LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards and many more. With a normal October return and so many storylines, it’s no wonder the 75th season of the NBA has more buzz than normal around it.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

8 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021

SPORTS TRENT TOMPKINS’ MAGIC LIFTS THE AGGIES PAST IDAHO IN DRAMATIC FASHION Ranked in the FCS, UC Davis football started 5-0 for the first time since 2004 and now return for homecoming on Oct. 16

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org As the UC Davis football team played at home in front of 11,622 fans, UC Davis Health Studium’s atmosphere was electric. However, heading into the fourth quarter, Idaho’s defense had zapped that energy. Trailing 13-20, the UC Davis football team’s offense was flatlined and their perfect season seemed to be a mirage.

The Aggies overcame adversity and won 2720 in exhilarating fashion thanks to the elusive Trent Tompkins, a redshirt freshman wildcat quarterback. UC Davis brought their season record up to 5-0, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since 2004.

“There are a lot of guys that said, ‘Hey, that was an Aggie pride win,’” Coach Dan Hawkins said. “And it kind of was. There was a time there in the third quarter where I was really thinking to myself, ‘We don’t necessarily maybe deserve to win this game.’ But our guys made plays to win the game and that’s kind of that Aggie pride.”

Backup quarterback redshirt freshman Miles Hastings started the game in place of injured starter Hunter Rodrigues. Hastings demonstrated potential as he kept his poise in the pocket passing for 33 yards with one touchdown and completing 4 out of 5 of his passes to end the first quarter.

The second quarter was back and forth as UC Davis scored a field goal within the first two minutes to take the lead, 10-6. In response, Idaho generated 10 plays that produced 61 yards, resulting in a two-yard rushing touchdown by third string running back Aundre Carter.

With 6:09 left to play in the second quarter, quarterback Hastings led the Aggies down the field. Unfortunately, on second and third, stout running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. dropped a crucial pass at the 14-yard line that would’ve given UC Davis the first down. On the next play, Hastings looked uncomfortable and threw an incomplete pass to Gilliam Jr. That would bring

on the kicker, Isaiah Gomez, for a 31-yard field goal that would tie the game 13-13.

In the next series, Idaho marched down the field to score a rushing touchdown by Zach Borisch. Idaho was up 20-13, gaining momentum and taking full control of the game.

Idaho’s defense began to take a toll on Hastings, as he was sacked and began to feel the pressure when Idaho utilized the blitz package.

Once pressured by the defense, Hastings overthrew and under threw his receivers and ultimately was intercepted as the ball went through the hands of wide receiver McCallan Castles.

“I thought Miles Hastings did a really nice job coming in for Hunter and did some really good things,” said Hawkins. ”He started cramping up, and we went with magic, and magic did magical things.”

Hastings’ night would end in the third quarter due to cramps, with 26 seconds left in the third quarter as he finished with 15 out of 27 completions, 144 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Tompkins replaced injured Hastings for the Aggies, which was pivotal as the deflated crowd began to witness magic. Tompkins’ first pass attempt was good for 16 yards. The following drive, Tompkins operated from the shotgun as Idaho blitzed and the pocket collapsed. Tompkins took off running, swerving in and out of lanes and making defenders miss. Tompkins gained 21 yards on the play to end the third quarter.

“I do want to make a comment about the crowd which was magnificent,” Hawkins said.

“It’s big to our players, it’s big in recruiting. We do have a magical atmosphere here.”

The momentum swung. Once again, Health Stadium was roaring. Tompkins followed the next play with seven yards on the ground, once again evading defenders effortlessly. The next two drives were two completions in a row including an eight-yard touchdown pass to running back Gilliam Jr. to tie the game at 20-20.

Idaho seemed to be confused and their offense

UC Davis AGGIES Scores a touchdown in football game against Idaho Vandals. (Benjamin Cheng/Aggie) stalled throughout the entire fourth quarter. The offense could not generate any points against the Aggies’ energized defense.

UC Davis Health Stadium was in for a treat; Tompkins once again operated from the shotgun and threw a lateral pass to Carson Crawford, who then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Castles to give UCD the lead, 27-20.

The Aggies’ defense was fundamental in stopping Idaho as they blocked a field goal attempt with four minutes and 14 seconds left on the clock.

Idaho would eventually get the ball back with under two minutes on the clock. However, quarterback Mike Beaudry was intercepted by Devon King to seal the victory for UC Davis.

“The defense made some opportunistic fourth down stops, which was really critical,” Hawkins

said. “And then it just was really wonderful to see King come in and make the game-winning interception.”

Tompkins completed four out of four of his passes, 45 yards passing, with one touchdown.

He led the team with 85 yards rushing on 13 attempts. The Aggies improved their record to 5-0. Furthermore, the home crowd witnessed a memorable game that was sprinkled with magic.

UC Davis looked to go 6-0 in a Big Sky Conference showdown at Idaho State on Saturday, Oct. 9, but was clipped by the Bengals, ending their undefeated start to the year. After falling behind 24-3 at halftime, the deficit was just too much to overcome as they fell by a final score of 27-17 in favor of Idaho State. They will look to regroup at homecoming on Oct. 16, as they will take on the Northern Colorado Bears at UC Davis Health Stadium.

A GUIDE TO THE 2021-22 NBA SEASON From controversy to championship hopefuls, here’s everything you need to know as the NBA season commences

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org In October 2020, the Los Angeles Lakers secured their 17th title in NBA history in the NBA Orlando bubble, tying the Boston Celtics and winning all-time great LeBron James his fourth championship in the process. Fast forward to just over a year later and the league has undergone a whole season and is now in the process of starting another — a far different experience for basketball fans.

When the 2021-22 season tips off on Oct. 19, there will be more of a sense of normalcy when it comes to the regular schedule of an NBA season. Ever since the four month delay due to COVID-19 back in March 2020, the NBA schedule has been in a funk. The quick turnaround from the Lakers’ championship saw the quickest offseason in professional sports history — just 72 days — to start the 202021 season. After a slew of COVID-19 related absences and an uptick in injuries, this longer offseason and season that will run from October to June will be more normal feeling — but that doesn’t mean there are no big stories this time around.

Although the league has approached a 95% vaccination rate, outspoken players like Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and Golden State Warriors role player Andrew Wiggins have voiced their refusal to take the vaccine. For what they classify as “personal reasons,” they were outspoken against it; because of the teams they play for, it could become a problem for their respective clubs.

Due to the vaccination mandates of COVID-19 in San Francisco and New York, both players would not be able to play in home games. Being that those are 41 of the 82 games in a season, this can prove to be troublesome for some teams as missing prominent players could be the difference when it comes to seeding. Not only that, but the players will not be paid for games they miss due to being unvaccinated — a rule that eventually made Wiggins cave in and get vaccinated. The difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated is that vaccinated players will have much fewer restrictions and unvaccinated players will follow similar protocols to last year.

Irving, however, remains adamant that he will not be vaccinated, and the Brooklyn Nets have come to terms with that. What happens or how it affects the team remains to be seen,

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

but what is certain is that this will be making headlines as the season goes on.

Regardless of the major stories ongoing prior to the start of the season, this year is shaping up to be one of the more memorable ones. With star power all over the league and the return from injury of some superstars, the teams vying for a championship are eager to return to the court.

While some teams may be more favored than others, there are many tiers of teams that can make some noise this year.

NBA Juggernauts look to dethrone the Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks won their first NBA title since 1971 this past summer over the Phoenix Suns in six games behind the fantastic play of 2x MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and all-star Khris Middleton. Their fantastic clutch play and timely buckets led them to the championship and now all eyes are on the Bucks, as it is their crown to defend.

While their offseason additions were not major names — Grayson Allen, Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye — their departures include some of the key pieces that led them to the title.

PJ Tucker, Bryn Forbes and Jeff Teague all moved on, and players like Tucker, who was a major contributor on the defensive end especially against the likes of Kevin Durant, will leave a hole in the Bucks defense. Still, the main core of Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Jrue Holiday is still there, and with all of them healthy they will have a chance against any opponent. Despite being the defending champions, they currently have the fourth best odds to win the NBA championship according to BetMGM — behind some bigger names.

One of the teams the Bucks defeated enroute to their championship was the Brooklyn Nets, whom they beat in seven games. Although injuries hampered the Nets like losing Irving and having a hobbled James Harden, an overtime thriller is what took down the favorite Nets.

As the new season is set to begin, the Nets are healthy again and hoping that it is a thing of the past. Still, their offseason acquisition of guard Patty Mills, LaMarcus Aldridge, James Johnson and Paul Millsap alongside the superstar trio will help lessen the load that they sometimes had to carry.

What happens with Irving and his vaccination status and how that affects the Nets remains to be seen, but for the time being he will not play home games. Still, they are the odds on

favorite to win the Eastern Conference and the NBA Championship. A team who might have something to say about that suffered a similar disappointing early exit last year.

That team is the Los Angeles Lakers who, as always, provided much conversation this offseason. After losing to the Suns in the first round after superstar Anthony Davis went out of Game 4 with an injury, the Lakers have completely shifted their identity to something that they had more of during their 2020 championship run — defense and toughness.

In their complete retooling of their team, their biggest name acquisition by far was their splash trade for former MVP Russell Westbrook, whom they let go of Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma for.

The addition of Westbrook gives the Lakers even more star power alongside James and Davis as they look to get back to the finals. Questions have risen over the fit, as Westbrook now on the Lakers means Anthony Davis would have played more center due to Westbrook’s struggles shooting. But, the Lakers are not worried about their fit questions, as they are confident they can figure it out over the long season. In addition to Westbrook, the Lakers added Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington and five other players in their complete restructure of the team that now includes more shooting— an area they lacked last season.

As the season is set to begin, the Lakers are not worried about their veteran age, as they will hope it plays to their advantage. Sitting with the second best odds to win the NBA Championship, the Lakers are looking to win another NBA title and maximize whatever time they have left with James as he enters year 19.

The Championship hopefuls While the Bucks, Nets and Lakers continue to receive all the attention, there are a few teams that are looking to stop those teams from winning it all. Last year’s Western Conference representative, the Phoenix Suns, are looking to build on their success of the previous years. Led by all-star Devin Booker and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul (who resigned this offseason), the Suns led a magical run to the finals before falling to the Bucks. Still, their success came virtually out of nowhere, as even their high standing did not give them the respect they deserved. After bringing in Landry Shamet, Javale McGee and bringing back crucial bench piece Cameron Payne, the Suns’ core of Booker, Paul, Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton are aiming to once again spoil the party and capture their first title in franchise history.

Often the subject of the question “What happened to them?”, the Golden State Warriors are finally hoping that this is the year they can get back to the NBA Finals post-Kevin Durant. Even with superstar point guard and 2x MVP Stephen Curry terrorizing the league once again and finishing third in the MVP voting, the Warriors did not make the playoffs after falling to the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in game.

This offseason, the Warriors brought in Otto Porter Jr, Nemanja Bjelica, Avery Bradley and Andre Iguodala — a familiar face. After also drafting both Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, the Warriors are mixing in veterans with younger players they hope can contribute to a championship team. But perhaps the most important piece this season is the return of one of the greatest shooters of all-time — Klay Thompson. After missing the last two seasons

due to injuries, the team expects him to be back early in 2022 and be a part of the stretch run for the Warriors. If Thompson can come back healthy, Curry dominates once again and with the contributions of young pieces the Warriors could be a dark horse if the chips fall the right way.

Speaking of teams looking to get back, the Miami Heat were on the wrong side of the Lakers’ championship run in 2020 and also suffered a first round exit at the hands of the Bucks. Needing major changes, the Heat were able to do just that, adding NBA Champion point guard Kyle Lowry to the core of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. Lowry adds the third scoring threat and also gives the Heat the ability to have another player who can create their own shot — something they lacked last year in long stretches. Not only that, but the additions of PJ Tucker and Markieff Morris also give them the ability to have lineup versatility when it comes to certain playoff matchups. In the end, the Heat could shape up to be one of those teams that could make it difficult for someone like the Nets enroute to a championship and find themselves back in the NBA Finals.

The question marks With every NBA season comes injuries, and those came at inopportune times for both the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. On the Nuggets side, with MVP Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, they were looking to go into the playoffs and build on their 2020 success that saw them be one of the final four teams remaining.

But, that quickly came to a halt as Murray tore his ACL, ending his season and ultimately the Nuggets hope of contending. With Murray set to be back sometime during the season, they will look for their midseason trade for Aaron Gordon to be worth it, as having the core three plus forward Michael Porter Jr could make them a legitimate contender in the Western Conference.

On the other side, the Clippers were able to make their first Western Conference finals in franchise history this past year — but did it without their superstar Kawhi Leonard. Leonard suffered a partially torn ACL in the second round against the Utah Jazz and at the moment there is no timetable for his return. As much as he could return before the playoffs, Leonard’s history of prioritizing his health may mean that he won’t come back at all, which would be a nail in the Clippers’ season. It remains to be seen what happens, but for now the team will try to hold it down.

A pair of #1 seeds from last year rounds out the list of question marks — but for entirely different reasons. The Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers look like they may be heading in different directions, as the Jazz’s only big question mark is will they be able to repeat last season’s success as well as translate into the playoffs — something they did not do.

The 76ers problems, however, are much deeper than that. After all-star Ben Simmons took heavy criticism from not only the fans but his own teammates and coaches, the point guard decided to request a trade this offseason.

Adamant he would not show up, Simmons looks as though he may return to avoid fines — but that doesn’t mean he’ll stay for good. It is believed that he still wants out, and having him leave would be a big loss for the 76ers who have major title hopes.

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