2013
HOUSING GUIDE
VOLUME 46, ISSUE 49
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013
UC SYSTEM
www.ucsdguardian.org
San Diego
San Diego and Tijuana UC Irvine Fraternity Bid to Co-Host Olympics Apologizes for Racist Incident The cities’ joint proposal has reached a short list of 10 The Lambda Theta Delta fraternity was reprimanded after the release of a video depicting a member wearing blackface makeup. BY mekala Neelakatan
NEWS EDITOR
U
C Irvine’s Lambda Theta Delta fraternity — the largest Asian-American fraternity at the university — apologized on Friday for a controversial music video depicting a member lip-syncing in blackface makeup to the Justin Timberlake song “Suit and Tie.” “We want to ensure everyone that this video does not represent the views of the collective house,” LTD said in a Facebook post. “With that being said, it does acknowledge the fact that we have some ignorant individuals within our organization, with whom we have already dealt with ourselves.” The video featured fraternity brothers Justin T. Nguyen, Tony D. Duong and Philip Lam dancing while dressed in formal suits,
with brother Rainier Nanquil portraying rapper Jay-Z in blackface. According to a statement from LTD president Darius Obana, the action was not intended to be offensive; when released on YouTube on April 16, the music video included the description: “No racism intended. All fun and laughter.” Nevertheless, the fraternity received a great deal of backlash from several student organizations across the campus. In a statement to NY Daily News, the UC Irvine Asian Pacific Student Association said that the LTD is not a constituent of the APSA, separating itself from the fraternity. See irvine, page 3
cities currently under consideration to be hosts in 2024. BY aleksandra Kostantinovic
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR San Diego’s plans to host the 2024 Summer Olympics in a joint bid with Tijuana made it to a list of 10 U.S. cities currently under consideration to be hosts, according to U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Scott Blackmun and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. Blackmun confirmed in a statement last Friday that the San DiegoTijuana proposal is on a short list that also includes Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Filner first announced his plans to create a binational proposal for the Olympics in February after the USOC invited San Diego and 32 other cities to bid for the opportunity to host. Filner, a Democrat, hopes that former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will lead the two cities’ campaign and believes that his presence would add validity to the proposal. “I’d like [Romney] to be the honorary chair of this whole effort,” Filner said, according to an April 27 story that appeared in the U-T San Diego. In addition to owning a house
in La Jolla, Romney served as president of the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games that hosted the Winter Olympics in Utah in 2002. Romney has yet to respond publicly to Filner’s request. A previous effort to hold a binational Olympic Games between San Diego and Tijuana was first considered by local real estate developer Malin Burnham in 2006. Burnham’s committee found the idea financially sound, but USOC ultimately shot down the proposal in the first round of consideration. Filner also said that the cities of San Diego and Tijuana would release a joint statement in the next 10 days as they prepare their Olympic committees. If Filner’s proposal succeeds, the event will become the first binational Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee will select a host city for the 2024 Olympic Games in 2017.
readers can contact aleksandra konstantinovic aLkonsta@ucsd.edu
SCIENCE and technology
Researchers Use Algae to Create Edible Vaccines Investigators at the Mayfield Laboratory are hoping to use algae in developing an edible vaccine for malaria. BY Helen Hejran staff
photo by YASMEEN ELSAWAF/Guardian
SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH
As part of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), the National Sexual Violence Resource Center hosted a variety of events, including the National Day of Action and Denim Day Awareness. T-shirts with various phrases explaining sexual assault awareness were displayed in Price Center.
writer
UCSD researchers at the Mayfield Laboratory have been working on developing a malaria vaccine using algae. On April 19, they published their discoveries collected this past year from their most recent study. This study’s primary researchers were principal investigator Stephen Mayfield, professor of biology; postdoctoral fellow James Gregory; and undergraduate researchers Aaron Topol and David Doerner. The researchers discovered that after feeding mice the dried algae, which retained functional vaccine proteins, the antibodies were seen
in their gut but not in their blood. Because the antibodies must be in the blood for the malaria vaccine to work, the proteins used in this vaccine are not effective. However, this study does show that a different protein may be effective in getting the antibodies into the bloodstream. “Since the feeding did induce antibodies we know the system works,” Mayfield said. “Now we just need to identify a protein that can move the protein from the gut into the blood system so we can get antibodies there.” When deciding what kind of vacSee malaria, page 3
photo by andrew ricci/Guardian
San Diego Living Made Easy SEE P. 7-9