April 27, 2017

the California Aggie SERVING THE UC DAVIS CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY SINCE 1915

THEAGGIE.ORG

VOLUME 135, ISSUE 24 | THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

BRIAN LANDRY / AGGIE FILE

AGGIE PROFILES:

UC DAVIS MAKES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT IN INSTRUCTIONAL EQUIPMENT REBECCA RIDGE / AGGIE

Taranbir Chowdhury

BY KENTON GOLDSBY campus@theaggie.org

The smiling face of Raja’s Tandoor

BY H A N N A H HO L ZE R features@theaggie.org

On a busy Thursday afternoon during lunch hour, a young woman approached the cash register at Raja’s Tandoor and was immediately greeted by the warm, welcoming smile of Taranbir Chowdhury, the establishment’s owner. Chowdhury asked how she was and, after she returned the question, he seemed visibly moved, and clasped her arm appreciatively.

“Everybody raves about his hospitality,” Chowdhury’s son said.

“Everybody loves it. It’s just the icing on the cake — on top of the good food and the good vibes.”

At Raja’s, Chowdhury engages with every customer, which keeps him constantly occupied. Chowdhury has a weakened voice due to medical complications, so Chowdhury’s son, who preferred not to be named in this article, spoke on behalf of his bustling father.

On Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Reviews, Raja’s is predominantly characterized by the hospitality of its owner — even the official logo of Raja’s is a caricature of Chowdhury, fittingly displaying a wide, gracious smile.

Chowdhury grew up in a small town in Punjab, a state in North India which borders Pakistan. Chowdhury’s son said that the appeal

of Davis as a place of residence and business is due in part to it being a small town akin to the place where his father grew up.

One of four children, Chowdhury’s father worked as a police officer in India and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. Chowdhury’s son said that, even at a young age, his father’s dream was to come to America, which he accomplished at the age of 32.

“His sister was already living here,” Chowdhury’s son said. “My mom went [and] my dad decided to come here too, for the school district, for us.”

Around 2011, Chowdhury saw another dream turn to reality after he took over Raja’s Tandoor from a family who had previously owned the business. Raja’s Tandoor translates to “King’s Clay Oven.”

“Purchasing the restaurant and being able to start that up, that was his dream,” Chowdhury’s son said. “He always wanted to be in the restaurant business. He wanted to have the community try what he grew up on and bring the flavors to the local community.”

Though Chowdhury himself does not do any of the cooking, Raja’s uses his mother’s homestyle recipes.

“He’s gradually made it more authentic, like what he had at home,” Chowdhury’s son said. “[In] homestyle cooking, we don’t use so much cream and oil and butter. That’s what he wanted to implement in this business — the same type of food he grew up on.”

With new instructional equipment arriving for the 2017-2018 school year, an effort by UC Davis to upgrade, replace and purchase entirely new equipment is already underway.

What was initially planned to be a two-year program has been condensed into one year, with millions of dollars being funneled into equipment purchases.

“The estimated cost for all equipment requested totaled $3.4 million, of which $2.3 million was the proposed campus share and $1.1 million was the proposed unit match,” said Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Kenneth Burtis in a letter to college deans and vice deans. “Given the significant needs identified, I am pleased to announce that the campus will provide up to $2 million, allocating two years of funding up-front, to support the replacement, repair, and addition of specialized instructional equipment.”

The letter from Burtis also explained who served on the committee to make the decisions about funding allocations. The goal, Burtis wrote, is to serve as many students as possible.

“Funding requests were reviewed by a committee, chaired by Associate Vice Provost [Matthew] Traxler of Undergraduate Education, and consisting of an Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and a representative from Procurement,” Burtis said in the letter. “The committee recommendations focused on the goal of providing the greatest benefit to the most students and addressing the highest priority needs. The result is

PROFILE on 10

EQUIPMENT on 10

ASUCD RULES PRESENCE OF AMERICAN FLAG OPTIONAL DURING SENATE MEETINGS Senate Bill #76 creates controversy surrounding patriotism

CAT TAYLOR / AGGIE

BY AARON L I SS campus@theaggie.org

In order to keep ASUCD practices consistent with bylaws, the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) created Senate Bill #76 to amend Section 1410 of the ASUCD bylaws, no longer mandating that the American flag be in the Mee Room during meetings. Instead, ASUCD senators will have discretion over whether or not to fly the American flag. The flag is not currently in the room and has not been for several years. The vote passed majority six to one at a Senate meeting on April 13.

Itamar Waksman, a third-year international relations major and vice chairperson of the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC), authored the bill, amending Senate bill Section 1410. National news and media outlets have painted this legislature with a political brush, accusing it of being “unpatriotic.” Although Waksman maintains that this was apolitical and procedural, many major news organizations, including Fox News and Breitbart, have charged his bill with harnessing a political narrative or conviction due to its language about differing patriotism.

“In accordance with the understanding that the concept of United

Funding given up-front for second year of equipment replacement plan

States of America and patriotism is different for every individual, and it should not be compulsory that the flag is in view at all times during Senate meetings,” the bill states. “Considering that the flag is seldom present at senate meetings, it should not be mandated by the Bylaws as a codified practice.”

On April 16, Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” ran a segment titled “Trouble With Schools: Fight Against Old Glory,” which featured the ASUCD bill. The following day on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” live program, Carlson told viewers that “two UC Davis student senators,” referring to Waksman and ASUCD Senator Jose Meneses, who introduced the bill to the Senate, “backed out last minute and stopped returning any of our phone calls” about talking on-air. On the program, radio host Tammy Bruce talked about how Waksman “is also a naturalized citizen [...] they’ve come here not to become part of America, but to punish it.”

Waksman stated that Tucker Carlson “used the segment to bash me and [Meneses]” and was repeatedly calling Waksman that night asking him to talk on-air.

Previously, Section 1410 made it mandatory for the Senate meetings to fly a U.S. flag, yet there is no flag displayed in the Mee room, where the ASUCD meetings are held. Waksman views this amend-

ment as a non-partisan and apolitical decision that solely corrects existing bylaws, keeping the ASUCD practices consistent with the codes.

“We many times have had to change the bylaw itself so that our actions are consistent,” Waksman said. “And that’s really a question of the legitimacy of an association. With that in mind, we were going through all the chapters of the bylaws and different inconsistencies in them, and then section 1410 came up, the one that said the flag shall be up at every Senate meeting. There has never been a flag there since 2005 or 2006.

With that fact, I said I’m just going to change the language of this portion on the bylaw so we weren’t constantly breaking it. I just reformed Section 1410 to say that it should not be compulsory that the flag is at every Senate meeting. In ASUCD, we have our bylaws, and our issue is that there are a lot of inconsistencies between our practices and the bylaws themselves. And there are many, many examples of this. So, what IAC has been doing, because we deal with the institutional makeup of the ASUCD, we’ve been kind of scrubbing the bylaws for the last year plus.”

Waksman said that news stations and ASUCD members have pushed a bill that was aiming toward procedural legitimacy into a political narrative.

“I want to say that most of the articles that have been written so far are huge misrepresentations of what I did, what the bill is and my intentions,” Waksman said. “It’s clear that mostly right leaning media sources have been covering this, and they’ve definitely been adding a spin to it.

The right seems to really have taken this, and certain individuals in the ASUCD Senate have used this for their political gain, in my opinion, and so have the other right wing media elements. However, this originally was really not over this kind of political debate over the flag and what it represents. It became that after individuals starting using it for their own political gain.”

Waksman said he understands that this bill cannot be completely apolitical for every person, even if it is for him.

“Don’t get me wrong, everyone has their view of the flag,” Waksman said. “Personally, I applied to be an American and I went through the process — it wasn’t just given to me at birth. I love this country, and I have very positive feelings associated with the flag, which is why it’s been sort of strange that I’ve been framed as this sort of ‘flag-hater.’ However, I do acknowledge, and I acknowledge in the bill, that certain people because of their experience in the country, or there people’s experiences in this country, have a different view of the flag and symbols of this FLAG on 10

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48TH ANNUAL NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE DAYS HELD FROM APRIL 10 - 15

Weeklong program builds connections, addresses issues concerning Native American communities

BY C L A RA Z HAO ca mpu s @ th ea ggi e .o r g

The UC Davis Cross Cultural Center held its 48th annual Native American Culture Days (NACD) from April 10 to 15.

The NACD is a weeklong program filled with various events and workshops designed to help local Native communities build connections and collectively address the social, cultural, historical and political issues concerning their communities.

The theme of this year’s NACD was “Honoring

All Our Relations: Protecting Land and Water.” This theme was chosen because many indigenous communities are currently fighting to protect their land and water around the world.

“Native American Culture Days honors the culture, traditions, contributions and hemispheric unity of Indigenous people of the Americas,” said Karli Quintana, the coordinator of the NACD, via email.

“The NACD also helps provide the campus community some knowledge about Native Americans and seeks to demystify some of the stereotypes surrounding Indigenous and Native American People.”

HANNAH LEE / AGGIE

BY YVONNE LEON G campus @ th e a ggi e .o r g

ASUCD Vice President Adilla Jamaludin called to order April 13’s Senate meeting in the Memorial Union’s Mee Room at 6:10 p.m. All senators were present at quorum call.

The Senate began with a presentation from Darin Schluep, the food service director for the CoHo, who reported that the unit is continuing to work with the Manetti Shrem Museum on a CoHo cart and CoHoTo-Go, an on campus convenience store, which will soon be established.

The CoHo recorded increased sales from the finals week library cart from Fall Quarter earnings of $39 per day to Winter Quarter earnings of $89

per day. Lastly, Schluep reported on the availability of açaí bowls all day and efforts to make horchata, poke bowls and more authentic sushi.

Next, Chief Information Office (CIO) Executive Advisor Carolyn Nordstrom presented a report on CIO. The report summarized the complexities of Information Technology governance and requested a student representative from ASUCD to sit on the committee. Controller Joe DeAngelo mentioned that there was a Campus Council for Information Technology (CCFITT) representative, but Nordstrom said that position has been defunct.

Two confirmations were made in the meeting. Stacey Wong was confirmed as the Experimental College

This year, the culture days coincided with the grand opening of the Native American Academic Student Success Center (NAASSC) located at the University House. The program started off with the Sunrise Ceremony, in which participants joined in song, prayer and reflection for the week, and ended with the powwow event.

A variety of other events took place over the course of the week. On Tuesday, April 11, Michelle Villegas Frazier, the director of the NAASSC, held a workshop teaching students how to cook and eat well as part of the effort to retain Native American scholars on campus.

The Cross Cultural Center held a film viewing of When Two Worlds Collide followed by a discussion on April 12. The film depicts the journey of an Amazonian leader who confronts the rules of the globalization game created by developed countries.

The next day, the sixth annual Native American Studies Graduate Symposium took place with the theme “Currents of Resistance, Activism and Justice: Indigenous Response to Neoliberalism.”

unit director and Nicole Karine was confirmed as the Campus Center for the Environment unit director. There were no objections to either candidate.

Sexual Assault Awareness Advocacy Committee (SAAAC) chair Rachelle Fishbin presented a report on SAAAC. Fishbin requested more ASUCD representation at SAAAC events and meetings. SAAAC has also been working on an anonymous tip box on its website to share information to the university. Fishbin voiced concern that fraternities have never been fully investigated for sexual assault on campus.

Disability Rights Advocacy Committee (DRAC) was confirmed during the meeting. There were no objections to the committee.

ASUCD President Josh Dalavai then clarified to the packed audience that Senate Bill #76 was not made because of ideological reasons, but to protect ASUCD from legal risk.

Senate Bill #76 concerns the American flag not being compulsory at Senate meetings. But senators or ex-officios may request the flag by petitioning the Senate President Pro Tempore 24 hours in advance. During this meeting, no American flag was present in the Mee Room.

Many of the audience members were concerned with how this could put the Senate at legal risk and the

cost of the flag. Others felt that the flag was necessary because their family members fought for the symbolism of the American flag.

One audience member who supported the bill said that the flag embodied an America of misogyny, genocide and sexual assault.

Senate Bill #76 was passed with seven saying yes, two saying no and three abstaining. Senator Matt Yamaguchi and Senator Michael Gofman voted no. Three members abstained to speak with public audience members outside of the Mee Room.

Senate Bill No. 61 concerns the scholarships to ASUCD volunteers for their service. The Student Government Administrative Office did not have record of the bill being voted on last quarter. The Senate introduced the bill as an emergency bill and it passed with no objections Senate Bill #75 concerns changing the required amount of weeks the commissions have to meet from nine weeks to 10 weeks. The bill was amended and passed with no objections.

Senate Bill #79 concerns requiring the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic to provide giant posters for sororities and fraternities with contact information for sexual assault help lines. The bill passed with no objections.

On the last day, there was an indigenous arts market on the West Quad featuring indigenous arts and crafts vendors, food and live performances from student dance groups.

Other events included a silk screening workshop, hoop dancer demonstration and a workshop on making traditional medicine bags.

“The culture days provide visibility for native community and a way for us to talk about the different things that are going on in our community,” Frazier said.

Many Native American students found the culture days to be a rewarding experience.

“I got a very good sense of what struggles [Native Americans] are facing and the ways in which they’re able to come together as one and have conversations about what is university life, what kind of home lives they have and how the way I identify impacts me in all different aspects of life,” said Kealani Beltran, a third-year psychology major and a student assistant at the NAASSC who participated in the culture days.

Police Logs:

NIKKI PADAR / AGGIE

Picnic Day edition

BY SAM SOLOMON c it y@t he aggie . org

April 22 “Subjects setting off bottle rockets in the backyard.”

“Groups of students gathering in the streets.”

“Male approached RP and whispered to him.”

Party “on Pole Line [...] has a bounce house.”

“Intoxicated female in RP’s vehicle refusing to get out.”

“Several subjects in parking lot — dancing on their vehicle yelling.”

“Intoxicated subject came inside apartment.”

“Complaint of dogs barking.”

NICKI PADAR / AGGIE

THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE Presentation features new realms of DNA, genealogy

BY KA E LY N T U E R M E R - L E E ci ty@th ea ggi e .o r g

In a world centered around science and its effects on our everyday lives, deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is an especially important component since it is the fundamental unit of life. Genealogy is a vast field of study that enables people to find out more about recombinant DNA and family lineage.

On April 19, the Davis Senior Center held a presentation entitled “Opening Pandora’s Box: When DNA Finds Unexpected, Improper Ancestors” in which speaker James Baker discussed aspects of DNA that most people might not already know. One main concern with DNA testing is that some results may show that a presumed genealogical family member

is not truly genetically related. This is due to the fact that there are missing connections along the way. For example, two siblings who are genetically related might not have the same ancestors show up in their DNA lineage. Typically, research is done on an autosomal test, and the data shown is later confirmed with a mitochondrial or y-test.

One common way to trace back family lineage is to use the Ancestry DNA Family Finder test. This provides thousands of matches that help to establish possible familial connections.

“Personally, I’ve had my dad tested; it’s important to try to get the older generations tested as soon as possible because they won’t be with us forever,” said Lisa Henderson, the vice president and program chair of the Genealogy Club at the

Davis Senior Center. “So I always encourage our members to have their relatives tested.”

Baker, who gave the presentation on DNA, has presented over 200 times on genealogy in the past five years. Although he mainly gives talks in the Sacramento area, Baker has given several presentations at the Davis Senior Center as well.

Having previously taught in both the UC and CSU systems, Baker is now retired and writes for the Sacramento German Genealogy Society Newsletter. The German society in Rockland, where Baker lives, was what first introduced him to the field of genealogy.

“DNA is becoming big in genealogy and is the newest frontier. It’ll do things for you,” Baker said. “I know a few of my matches personally and where they go in

the [DNA] tree.”

Many people in attendance at Baker’s presentation were a part of the Davis Genealogy Club, which was established in 1979 and meets on the third Tuesday of every month. The club aims to promote the study of genealogy by assisting others in delving deeper into family history research. They also have a library, located at the Davis Senior Center, which holds over 1,000 volumes pertaining to genealogy and family histories. Glen Erickson, the chair of the Genealogy Library, has looked into his own family lineage, specifically from ancestors in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He travels frequently to Scotland for vacation and even continues his genealogy work there.

“When I’m over there [in Scotland] and I meet somebody and we find that

there is a [genealogy] meeting or a library, we’ll go in for a lunch or something [...] we quickly call up the President, who would come over and talk to us about what we do and so on because they don’t get that many who are chasing back family,” Erickson said.

Baker’s presentation captured the interests of not only the Genealogy Club, but also non-members interested in genealogy. Baker himself has also looked into his ancestral DNA and encourages others to do the same.

“I have reached out to people I have matched with because it’s sort of interesting to find a new second or third cousin that you didn’t know existed and related to you,” Baker said. “The genie is out of the bottle, and there’s just no putting him back.”

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Forum on immigrant rights held at UC Davis School of Law Senator Bill Dodd holds latest in a series of forums aimed at addressing recent immigration concerns

BY IVAN VALENZUELA campus@theaggie.org

California State Senator Bill Dodd and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry hosted an installment of the Know Your Rights Forum on April 17 that addressed recent concerns regarding immigration policy. The event, which was held at King Hall, was the latest in a number of forums held by Dodd.

“I’m hosting these forums around the district because I’ve heard, really, from hundreds and hundreds of people that are concerned — scared people as I indicated earlier over the last couple of months,” Dodd said. “People are worried about federal immigration policies under this new administration.”

Davis Mayor Robb Davis, who sat on a panel of five speakers during the event, opened the forum with a speech.

“I want to thank Senator Dodd and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, who could not be here tonight, for providing the opportunity for us to think about immigration,” Davis said. “It’s timely, and I think as we consider the many students and community members who we love and value, with whom we work everyday, whose hard labor brings us many of the things that we value and appreciate about our region, as we think about those things we

realize we have to talk about this now and we have to talk about what it means for people to exercise their rights.”

In addition to Dodd, the panel also featured Yolo County sheriff Ed Prieto, Dean of the UC Davis School of Law Kevin Johnson and professor and co-director of the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic Amagda Perez.

After introductory remarks from each of the panelists, the floor opened up for questions.

Questions covered topics such as search warrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, sanctuary cities and President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration.

Prieto, who is now serving his fifth term as Yolo County sheriff, said that his department would uphold the rights of every resident in the county.

“I think it’s very important to know that most of us in law enforcement do believe in the Constitution, at least I certainly do,” Prieto said. “And everybody who works for me, whether they believe in it or not, they’re going to uphold it when it comes to those who are undocumented.

So when you say the process, the process is the same for anyone who comes into our facility.”

One of the frequent topics that came up during the forum was the issue of access to accurate information regarding immigrant rights. Davis, who discouraged re-

GEN ESIA TIN G / AGGIE

Davis Rebekah Lodge to hold Annual Bollywood festival Festival proceeds will be donated to local charities

BY NICOLAS RAGO city@theaggie.org

The Davis Rebekah Lodge will host a Bollywood night, which includes Indian food, music and dancing, on May 6. While the night serves as a way of bringing residents of Davis together, it also helps those in need; all proceeds are

donated to Empower Yolo, a local charity.

“Bollywood is different and it’s fun,” said Diana Schmiegel, the event organizer, via email. “The Rebekah’s [Lodge] looked to bring something different to our community that other organizations are currently not doing. The Bollywood Night dinner and dance party certainly is different.”

TAY LOR RU N N EL L S / AG GIE

liance on rumors, made note of the different resources available in Yolo County.

“I think the City of Davis and I’m pretty sure the City of Woodland or the school districts in those cities have been really good about getting the word out to populations especially in schools where there is a large concentration of children of unauthorized immigrants,” Davis said. “I think the Yolo Interfaith Immigration Network and specific congregations that have large immigrant populations are probably one of the best ways to get accurate information out so, that’s what was sponsored a few weeks ago, and I think

we just need to continue to use those venues.

Schools and churches in particular I think are two of the best that we have, and we have very strong networks within them.”

Dodd has said that he plans to keep hosting these forums throughout the district to continue to answer questions about immigration laws. Residents with questions are encouraged to reach out to his office.

“It’s really important that we’ve come this far; we’re in this building, I would hate to have you leave here now and not have a question answered that’s important to you,” Dodd said.

Schmiegel made it clear that while the night is highly enjoyable, it is made better knowing that the proceeds from the event are being donated to local charities.

“We hope to raise money this year for the Empower Yolo’s Family Violence Coordination Pilot Program,” Schmiegel said. “We hope people will have a good time and gain greater appreciation of South Asian culture while knowing they’re helping a good cause in our community.”

The festivities at the event include a lively performance from Prashant Kakad, the founder of Bollywood Dreams Entertainment, and his troupe of dancers.

“We are going to present a lot of different dance performances –– my dance troupe will [perform] –– but also have interactive music and dancing for people to get involved [...],” Kakad said. “So people will end up learning some really fun and infectious Bollywood [...] dance moves. And they will learn about the culture, a little bit, as well.”

Prashant believes the night will be different from what attendees initially expect.

“Everybody that is going to come, is going to dance way more than they expected they would and we get that constantly,” Prashant said. “People saying ‘my husband never dances, for three dec-

ades! Now look at him!’ So definitely, we are planning to make sure that this is the wildest dance party Davis has seen in a long time to come.”

This is not Prashant’s first time performing in Davis.

“We went [to Davis] last year and we absolutely loved it,” Prashant said. “We loved being there for the fundraiser.”

Schmiegel shared a similar positive attitude regarding the night. “[I like] the step by step dance instructions,” Schmiegel said. “It’s easy and made fun by our Bollywood Dance Troupe.”

Alissa Beall, a first-year biology major, has never been to a Bollywood event, but is very interested in attending. “[The event] seems like something I’ve never experienced before,” Beall said via email. “I think a major upside to hosting a Bollywood event is the different culture being introduced to Davis.

We don’t have many events like that, and cultural immersion is an integral part of any community.”

For those who wish to try out their dancing skills at the Annual Bollywood festival, tickets are available online at the event website, www.eventbrite.com/e/davis-rebekah-bollywood-night-tickets-33050335443.

MOR G A N T I E U / AG G IE

Duel of the DCs

N ICKI PA DA R / AGGIE

Taking a look at the similarities, differences among UC Davis dining commons

BY MARLYS JEANE features@theaggie.org

Almost every student who has lived in the residence halls at UC Davis has participated in the age-old debate: which dining commons (DC) is the best? The classic rivalry between Tercero, Segundo and Cuarto is a fun outlet for playful competition among students.

“As a resident of Segundo, I have a little bit of a bias toward the Segundo DC,” said Leanne Taylor, a first-year mathematics major. “If I’m drawing comparisons straight off the bat, the Segundo DC is the only DC that doesn’t have stairs as part of its design. So when you go to the Tercero DC you have to climb up stairs, and then when you’re in the Cuarto DC and you want to sit on the top level, then you have to climb stairs. I don’t want to be climbing stairs when I’m about to go eat.”

Each DC has its own unique characteristics. The tall ceilings and large glass windows of Segundo make for a light atmosphere, opening the space and creating a less chaotic dining experience.

“I like [the layout of the Segundo DC] a lot better because it’s spread out and open, it has high ceilings,” Taylor said. “If I’m go-

ing ‘HGTV’ with this, I like the open design and the flow of the DC. There’s also a bunch of different seating areas depending on where you want to sit. I have to say I like the amount of windows because one entire wall at Segundo is just windows, so you can sit there and enjoy the weather outside while being inside.”

Tercero has a similar layout and design features, such as large windows along the walls. However, one notable downfall of the Tercero DC, according to third-year political science major and resident advisor Nkem Anene, is the lack of space.

“I personally like Segundo just because my freshman year I lived in Segundo, and it’s not busy like the Tercero DC,” Anene said. “At certain times you can’t go [to the Tercero DC] because it’s like 50,000 people [in there]. It’s annoying to have to stand in line for 30 minutes. There are certain times you literally can’t be there.”

For Anene, going to eat a meal isn’t about working around a school schedule, but rather the schedules of all the other students that use the Tercero DC. Despite this year’s addition of the downstairs seating area in what used to be the main study DC RIVALRY on 10

YOLO COUNTY’S BIG DAY OF GIVING $20,000 goal to be raised for CASA

BY MADISON LYZNICK city@theaggie.org

May the fourth be with CASA during Yolo County’s Big Day of Giving. With May 4 just around the corner, cities within Yolo County are striving to reach new charitable heights.

An annual event put on by Yolo County is looking to raise $4,000 more in donations compared to last year, a total goal of $20,000. The money raised by the event will benefit CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates.

It costs $50,000 to support an advocate supervisor, according to a Davis Enterprise article on the event.

The goal this year has been raised due to last year’s events.

According to the Enterprise “Before the clock even struck 8 a.m., there was a regionwide technical failure […] We had donors calling in with credit-card numbers, bypassing the portal […] and physically stopping by the office with checks. In the end, we far exceeded our goal.”

A program designed to help children in need, CASA has been providing mentors for children for the last 40 years. United amongst various counties across California, CASA’s reach spreads across the nation with an estimated 1,000 CASA programs to help recruit and train those seeking to become advocates to help children in need.

The first page of CASA’s website reveals how many children are helped by the organization, yet so many more are still in need of an advocate. While there are

76,756 daily volunteers to help children, only half of abused and neglected children received a CASA last year, leaving 452,000 without a volunteer.

As the CASA website further explains, “CASA/GAL volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes. Volunteers stay with each case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home.”

Amy Atun, a third-year Spanish and animal science double major, recently ran as the Service and Philanthropy Director for Kappa Alpha Theta. She helped put on a charity event to raise money for Yolo County CASA, making $4,080 over the course of a week, concluding with the main fundraising event.

“Winter and fall are when we bring in the most money,” Atun said. “The winter event took two months to plan, starting over winter break.”

Atun was personally involved with the CASA charity.

“The way to help a lot of the time is to be a CASA so the [way] we can help is to raise money,” Atun said. “We do want to partner with them more on events to try to get more familiar with the organization. It was really fulfilling to help […] It’s really satisfying to help them help more children.”

To help raise money for this organization, please donate online at http://www.bigdayofgiving.org/yolocasa for the Big Day of Giving.

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 | 5

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UC Davis Native American Studies professor receives Mellon Foundation fellowship

ZO Ë R EI NH A R DT / AGGI E

Liza Grandia’s research will merge social, environmental sciences to study the intersection of toxicology, rights of indigenous communities

BY K IMI A AKBARI campus@theaggie.org

Liza Grandia, an associate professor of Native American Studies, recently received a $270,000 New Direction Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation for her research proposal entitled “Toxic Trespass.”

In her proposal, Grandia detailed the goals of her research. “[I’ll work] at the interstices of environmental justice, Native American and indigenous studies, and cultural anthropology […] for building new transnational alliances based on mutual vulnerabilities to environmental hazards,” Grandia said.

Grandia will begin her research by spending a year at UC Davis taking toxicology and environmental epidemiology courses.

Zoila Mendoza, a professor and the chair of the Native American Studies Department, expressed her appreciation for the topic that Grandia’s research focuses on.

“UC Davis and the department of Native American Studies are fortunate to have among the faculty people like Professor Grandia who is a committed and engaged scholar who works closely with indigenous communities that rely on informed and effective interlocutors like her in order to fight for their rights and a better future,” Mendoza said via email.

The intersection of different educational spheres particularly interests Grandia.

“At UC Davis, there is an aspiration to bring the humanities and social sciences together with the hard sciences, and I hope to do that,” Grandia said to UC Dateline.

This opportunity will enable her to become “a more productive interlocutor” between indigenous communities and the environmental health sciences.

Mendoza conveyed the same sentiments regarding the importance of an intersectional understanding of socio-cultural and scientific circumstances when approaching issues of human-induced environmental hazard.

“It is certainly crucial in the case of any kind of community, because science and understanding of human and social behavior have to go hand in hand in order to develop strategies that work and that are sustainable,” Mendoza said via email. “Indigenous communities around the world need to have access to knowledge such as that which will come out of Professor Grandia’s interdisciplinary research in order to fight for their lives and rights which are constantly threatened by corporate interests.”

Although some of the courses Grandia will be taking are out of her field, she is nevertheless excited to learn material that will enhance her knowledge about toxicology.

“I need to put some organic chemistry where my mouth is,” Grandia said. “In a world in which corporations have released 85,000 chemicals into the environment, I’m interested in looking at the chronic impact it has on our everyday life and rais[ing] awareness about the greater injustices suffered by indigenous people and people of color from environmental hazards.”

According to Grandia, the acquired knowledge from the science courses will “enhance the scientific rigor” of her ongoing research with the Q’eqchi’ Maya people and also help her start her ethnography project on “ordinary peo-

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Overcoming history as a Native American Student Struggles, triumphs of UC Davis’ Native American and Indigenous community ple’s cultural perceptions of the risks associated with toxic chemicals in everyday life.”

Grandia further elaborated that in her role as a “translator” between anthropology and environmental science, she strives to know enough about the assumptions behind the science in order to learn the cutting-edge environmental health research. By doing so, she aims to connect researchers with indigenous communities.

“In a complex, corporate-dominated world we have to understand the forces of globalization and nationalism that are impinging on the sovereignty and wellbeing of indigenous people,” Grandia said.

Grandia’s attempt to acquire an intersectional understanding of the social and hard sciences sheds light on the importance of a holistic perspective when approaching issues like the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

“The kinds of environmental injustices that indigenous people routinely suffer through the hemisphere and that the native people in America have suffered for a long time just made news this time,” Grandia said.

Grandia recounted her time in Guatemala, when a palm oil company deforested the rainforest and exuded one of the very few illegal pesticides into the river. This contamination action resulted in the accumulation of several dead species, which cost $10 million.

“No one bothered to measure the pesticide in the water,” Grandia said. “It would be helpful to provide the hard data to be used in legal settings but also in political and social movements to validate the citizen science that indigenous people have long had as they compare stories and take note of the health impact in their own lives. In certain political and social jurisdictions [the scientific data] is needed to validate the local understanding of pollution.”

Grandia’s proposal states that she will use a legal principle called “free prior informed consent” (FPIC) from the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to “draw attention to the non-consensual presence of synthetic chemicals in the bloodstreams of indigenous peoples [...] and virtually everyone else on the planet.”

This inspiration stemmed from an unfortunate turn of events when Grandia was unexpectedly diagnosed with lymphoma. As a result, she was required to go through chemotherapy, which sparked her idea to investigate toxicology.

“To commit to chemo is an act of voluntary poisoning,” Grandia said. “Somewhat consensual, but somewhat not. [...] Pumping poisons into my blood that were damaging to my health [...] [made me think about] the body burden we are all carrying around, with hundreds of synthetic

BY KRISTEN LEUNG features@theaggie.org

Accounting for just 0.9 percent of the UC Davis student body, Native American and Indigenous students form a small, tightly-knit community that is severely underrepresented despite being one of UC Davis’ most active student groups.

“Western education has always been used as a tool to suppress Indigenous populations,” said Jessa Rae Growing Thunder, a third-year Native American studies graduate student and member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes.

According to Growing Thunder, Native and Indigenous students live in the shadow of a dark history in which, throughout the twentieth century, Native American

children were forcibly separated from their tribes and relocated to military-style boarding schools in order to “Kill the Indian and Save the Man” by assimilating them into white American culture.

For Growing Thunder and the Native and Indigenous community at UC Davis, even being in school means facing centuries of historical injustices committed against their people.

“Throughout these 500 years, I think that [these injustices] caused a lot of pain and trauma for people on so many different levels and I think it’s learning how to overcome that,” said Gabriela Martinez-Garcia, a third-year Native American studies major and member of the Purepecha tribe of Northwestern Michoacan.

However, not only must Indigenous students overcome the traumas that have been passed down over generations NATIVE AMERICAN on 14

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UC Davis partners with SEaB Energy to research sustainable energy generation Research on SEaB’s FLEXIBUSTER to be conducted at U.S. Naval Base in Ventura County

BY JEAN N A TOTA H ca mpu s @ th e a ggi e .o r g

In order to tackle food waste concerns, UC Davis researchers are collaborating with the SEaB Energy company to install sustainable energy technology at a United States Naval Base in Ventura County this fall.

Making its way from Southampton, United Kingdom, SEaB’s FLEXIBUSTER is an anaerobic digester (AD) designed to convert organic waste into

energy and heat for immediate use, according to the SEaB website. Through grant-funded research by the California Energy Commission, the principal investigator, UC Davis Associate Professor Edward Spang, will lead his team in studying the AD at a prototypical scale from Oct. 18, 2017 to Oct. 18, 2021.

“This is a prestigious win for SEaB Energy and gives us coast-to-coast visibility in the US where we already have a burgeoning pipeline of contracts to fulfil this year,” said Sandra Sassow, the SEaB

Energy CEO and co-founder, in a press release. “British engineering and manufacturing has an important place in the U.K. economy, and we’re very proud to be creating jobs and exporting worldwide.”

As an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology and the associate director at the Center for Water-Energy Efficiency, Spang was interested in the research because he believes that there is potential for many prevention efforts to address food waste.

BY LINDSAY FLOYD ca m pus @thea g g ie.org

Earth Week Sustainability Fair promotes campus sustainability Fair brings together all facets of eco-friendly organizations

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It is only fitting that the world’s most sustainable university would host a fair to highlight the campus’ eco-friendly practices in light of Earth Week. On April 19, students gathered on the Quad to play games, make upcycled crafts and listen to student club ambassadors, all in the name of learning how UC Davis promotes green practices.

The Quad was bustling with students, as both Cowchella and the UC Davis Farmers Market were occurring at the same time as the Earth Week Sustainability Fair. Rows of booths were set up, each highlighting a different campus organization that practices sustainability for the UC Davis Energy Conservation Office-sponsored Earth Week Sustainability Fair.

Among the booths were the Bike Barn, the Aggie Reuse Store, Facilities Management, Thermoostat and Project Compost, along with a campus draining simulation and demos on how to properly dispose of food waste. Many booths offered a gauntlet of interactive games that rewarded participants with candy and prizes, drawing a large number of participants. Additionally, one table, sponsored by Aggie Surplus,

His concerns lay in the fact that 30 to 40 percent of food in the U.S. is misused, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

Spang stressed the importance of finding alternative disposal methods of organic waste to prevent greenhouse gas emissions by methane.

“The project is focusing on this issue of diverting organic waste [...] away from landfills,” Spang said. “There’s always going to be food waste. This project was looking into how we can take some of those food waste streams and convert it back into reusable resources as energy.”

The research will be conducted in Ventura County with the help of Biodico, a sustainable energy and biodiesel production company, as it already has a cooperative research and development agreement with the US. Navy. Additionally, Biodico has a preexisting network of food waste providers from the naval base and other institutions in the area that will be suitable for Spang’s research.

“Our company philosophy is [to] produce clean energy from locally available resources,” said Trey Teall, the vice president of operations at Biodico.

The physical FLEXIBUSTER will be at the naval base for Biodico to operate the system and aid in the collection of data. However, it will be monitored remotely by the research team in Davis to evaluate and improve the AD’s performance on a larger scale. “[We will evaluate] the potential economic and environmental costs and ben-

offered the chance for students to make upcycled art out of recycled wires.

The fair also offered participants a view of how sustainability is practiced on both the student and managerial levels at UC Davis. Melanie Gentles, a campus arborist from Tree Campus USA, explained that groundskeeping practices green methodology on almost all levels of operation.

“We plant more trees than we take out, and our campus tree canopy is growing over time,” Gentles said. “We use low emission equipment, the landscapes that are going in now around new construction projects are drought-tolerant and as low water as possible.”

On the student level of sustainability, Margirie Dublin, a fourth-year Native American studies major, explained that Aggie Surplus offers students an inexpensive and eco-friendly option of purchasing and donating many necessities.

The service essentially acts as a campus thrift store, and even offers items such as lab equipment, mini fridges, couches and desks at student-friendly prices. By providing a location for the UC Davis community to donate unwanted items, Aggie Surplus promotes sustainable business practices.

“We take stuff that are salvageable and we resell them, so we support sustainabil-

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What’s in today’s lunch box?

How busy students find the time to eat lunch

BY EL I Z A BE T H M A R IN featu res@ th e a ggi e .o r g

College comes with many new challenges, but few would guess that lunch would be one of them. Many students who are on campus for a large portion of the day do not have time to go home and eat lunch. They find themselves making the choice to either buy food on campus or preparing a lunch ahead of time. Students oftentimes tend to be strapped for time and money, too, so taking the time to prepare a lunch versus buying one can be a difficult decision.

Timothy Cater, a second-year microbiology major, has mastered the art of preparing his meals at the beginning of the week.

“I generally bring something that fits in a small tupperware that I can take with me,” Cater said. “Meals always center around some

carb because those are easy and cheap. I’ll add a good vegetable that’s in season on that to keep it healthy.”

Cater decides what his meals will consist of based on how easy it is to cook a specific meal and how well it lasts throughout the week.

“I make beans once a week,” Cater said. “Also, spanish rice is super easy, and that’s like a perfect combination. I can generally have that three to four times in a week before I finish one recipe of it.”

Some days Cater adds hot sauce to his bean and rice dish, and other days he will bring a tortilla and cheese. Cater picks meals that he can add a different twist to throughout the week in an attempt to mix up what he is eating.

“Something that is really basic is good to use,” Cater said. “You can rip off of it in different ways and have it packed in the fridge.”

While Cater finds it easy to plan and prepare his meals ahead of time, other students, like Sarah Rotondo, a fourth-year clinical

efits of deploying this size of technology versus some of the larger technologies that we’re familiar with,” Spang said.

Though Spang’s team consists of only a few UC Davis faculty, their study will be shared with the campus community through presentations. Student teams will also have the opportunity to contribute to the research. Spang said the team will use SEaB’s small-scale AD’s to determine how the system would work in full force.

“There’s a tradeoff between energy required to transport the food waste to the anaerobic digestion site and the amount of energy actually produced by the digester,” Spang said. “There’s a value in keeping the digester closer to the waste source so you don’t lose energy in its transport.”

Andy Pyke, the SEaB sales manager, said the project will hopefully prove the “viability of [..] converting organic waste into energy.”

“It really is a privilege to be involved with an American university and have our technology be brought out to California,” Pyke said.

Spang hopes the research will yield promising results for the future of recycling organic waste through sustainable energy technology.

“We do have quite a bit of wasted energy, water and food,” Spang said. “[But] there’s a lot of potential for us to be more efficient across these resources [and] for cities and communities to be more sustainable.”

ity on campus,” Dublin said. “Instead of buying something new that you might get rid of, we support sustainability and can help you get a brand new [item].”

The Food Recovery Network (FRN), a national club with a Davis chapter, had a table at the fair where students could learn about food waste management. FRN collects unused food from the Dining Commons (DCs) and recently the football concession stands as well, and donates the properly stored food to the local community in need. They also use information gathered by the quarterly waste audits in the DCs to investigate how to best combat food waste.

“We coordinate with the DC staff on campus, Segundo and Tercero, to take the edible food and take it to the community,” said Annie He, a fourth-year clinical nutrition major. “We want to educate students about how to reduce food waste on campus and also at their home.”

Although it is already the World’s Most Sustainable University, UC Davis took a pledge to be zero waste by 2020.

The most recent statistics available say that currently, upwards of 76 percent of campus nonhazardous waste is being diverted away from landfills and instead is being reused in ways such as recycling or compost.

nutrition major, take a less calculated approach to lunch.

“I have had quarters [when] I haven’t been able to go home for lunch,” Rotondo said. “I usually went to South CoHo or the Silo [or] I would pack something.”

Rotondo does not plan out her lunches for the week. Her lunch varies depending on if she has leftovers from dinner — that is, if she has the time to pack a lunch at all.

“I bring leftovers from the night before [that] I can heat up,” Rotondo said. “For grocery shopping I try to get at least a few meals [...] mostly for dinner stuff and out of that I make stuff for lunch. I don’t really plan it, I guess I just wing it.”

Some students, like Sandeep Rai, a third-year human development and psychology double major, forgo packing a lunch altogether and instead choose to buy food on campus.

“I’ve tried bringing lunch to school but it’s too much,” Rai said. “I would forget some stuff at home and then I’d end up going to the CoHo or the Silo.”

Rai found that preparing her lunch ahead of time took more effort than it was worth.

“I just get too lazy to bring it,” Rai said. “I’d have to bring [my lunch] in a separate bag and I’ll forget to pick it up after class.”

While eating on campus may be more convenient for some students, Rai has found that the selection of food offered on campus can start to get boring over time.

“I wish there were more options here in the CoHo,” Rai said. “The Silo is fine but [the CoHo] is just the same old stuff and plus the lines are really long so when you’re in a rush it’s hard to get in and get out.”

Like Rai, Cater found that having the same basic foods for lunch can become bland, even when he adds different toppings and flavors. While Cater does not have to deal with the lines in the CoHo, he does have to think up more creative recipes in order to please his taste buds.

“The thing about meal prep is that you get a little monotonized — where you keep eating the same meal everyday,” Cater said. “Sometimes I’ll have two different meals going [at once].”

Cater offered advice for students who are trying to get into the habit of preparing their lunches ahead of time.

“This isn’t top chef or anything but make something that you want to eat,” Cater said. “Find something you like. Make something that you know that is easy, fast, and that is good.”

Cooking, planning or budgeting are all life skills that students can pick up from lunch.

“The only person you are trying to impress is yourself,” Cater said. “As long as you can eat it, you feel happy after you’re done, you should be good.”

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 | 7

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With Liberty and Justice for All

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from this loss has manifested itself as an inner drive and passion to become a public defender and to give back to the community that supported her family through this time.

“I know how much it means to people to at least have closure — to know that your family got justice,” Roman said. “Every person deserves an effective lawyer. When my family was going through such a tragic moment, my community was always there for me. I […] want to give back for all the help I received when I need it the most.”

Roman believes joining the La Raza Pre-Law Student Association has been one of her best decisions, allowing her to find a safe space of people with whom she shares the same ambitions.

The group, geared toward increasing the number of Chicanxs and Latinxs in the profession helps its members through the process of getting into law school; students often share internships and beneficial opportunities with each other.

“La Raza, I guess in a sense means ‘our people,’

[in that] my people are coming together and trying to excel in life together,” Roman said.

Another organization on campus that also strives to create a space for pre-law students is the Pre-Law Association.

Brittney Samuels, a third-year sociology and African American and African studies double major and co-vice president of the organization, has wanted to pursue law since she was 7 years old.

“When I was in elementary school, I used to come home everyday and my aunt would be watching Law and Order,” Samuels said. “So I’d be watching that [too] until my mom came and picked me up. And I thought, ‘oh my God this is perfect!’”

Upon hearing her speak, people would ask young Samuels if she hoped to be an attorney someday, as she was not afraid to ask questions and challenge what was true and just.

“When I was 9 [years old], I called Sprint customer service, and [argued] about a charge on my bill,” Samuels said. “I saw the bill on the table and [realized] it wasn’t right, because I didn’t do this and if my parents found out I’d get in trouble. So called them and I handled it myself.”

Samuels’ active and confrontational personality enable her to approach contentious situations fearlessly and seek a solution, never acting solely as a bystander.

“I probably call places [...] almost every two weeks,” Samuels said. “If something isn’t right I never just sit there and say ‘it’s okay, next time.’ No. I don’t do that. I’m gonna get my justice.”

Jennifer Wilson, a fourth-year psychology and communication double major, has recently accepted an offer from the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law. A former member of UC Davis’ Pre-Law Association, Wilson is now a success story and someone her community can look to for advice.

“I didn’t come into Davis thinking that I wanted to do law school,” Wilson said. “I kind of just came in. I decided to take a legal writing course here to try to see if there was something that I was interested in, and ended up really liking. The next quarter I

took an investigative journalism class — that’s the best class I’ve ever taken here. It was so rewarding.

That’s when I kind of decided law school is for me.”

After navigating through different courses and interests, Wilson discovered a passion in law. However, she admits that this journey is not without its tests — quite literally.

“I took the LSAT prep course. That really sucked.

[The whole journey] sounds really jumbled up, but [there] was a lot more crying and confusion between there,” Wilson said. “But I really have to say, when I toured law schools last year, whenever I sat in a law school, I just feel it in myself. I feel like I belong there, and it’s just somewhere I want to be.”

Many pre-law students pursue bachelor’s degrees in philosophy, english, history or even economics.

However, Wilson and Roman both chose to major in psychology.

“A lot of people go the traditional route with studying political science, history or English,” Wilson said. “Honestly, I didn’t do any of the pre-law things that they say to do. I majored in what I wanted to do.”

Roman believes that studying psychology will give her an edge in understanding the human psyche, motives people have behind their actions and, most importantly, whether or not someone is lying.

This mindset is an example of how UC Davis students mold their unique backgrounds to complement their individual career goals and set themselves apart from the “typical” pre-law student.

“The biggest thing is knowing if your client or someone else is lying to you,” Roman said. “I feel that through psychology, you are able to detect [and] start to learn the techniques of why people act the way they do. That’d be a very good advantage to have as a lawyer.”

Wilson aspires to practice entertainment law, Samuels aspires to practice sports law and Roman aspires to become a public defender.

“I want to do this to empower my community, to empower my people,” Roman said. “And to show people that even though life gets hard, there’s still hope. We are the change and we are the future.”

projects,” said Alin Wakefield, an advisor in the College of Engineering Dean’s Office and a coordinator for the Engineering Design Showcase. “This just brings them all together under one roof. I call it a really cool science fair, almost.”

This year’s showcase, which will take place on June 8 in the Pavilion, features the posters, prototypes and programs of close to 700 students, divided among their respective departments into teams of two to 10. Past projects have included a redesigned strawberry picking cart, model aircrafts, an electric-powered wheelchair and more.

“They get a chance to take the knowledge that they’ve learned from the classroom and actually apply it,” Wakefield said. “A lot of students [...] want to get their hands dirty, building something, doing something, and the senior design project is the opportunity to take three plus years of classroom work and actually turn it into something tangible.”

On the other side of the academic spectrum, the humanities departments also have similar opportunities for students to show off their undergraduate work. Both the English and Comparative Literature Departments host senior thesis programs for honors students.

“Many students […] do a lot of short little papers, but they don’t have a chance to extend their interests in a broader scope,” said Margaret Ferguson, a distinguished professor of English and director of the 2017 honors English seminar required for theses candidates. “The thesis [...] let’s them propose a topic, talk to an advisor and then [...] work on this project.”

John Pitre, a fourth-year comparative literature major, recently finished a 50 page research essay on how North African authors write about their own identities in the form of the novel, an originally French style of literature that was introduced to North Africa in the wake of French colonization.

“I thought it would be fun, rather naively,” Pitre said. “It really required a lot of effort on my part.

You do get a thesis advisor, [...] but a lot of the legwork comes from you. As an undergrad, I’d never written anything that [...] long. I learned a lot.”

While Pitre and other seniors complete their capstone projects through their departments, many students find other ways to leave their final marks at UC Davis. Cynthia Chong, a fourth-year design and art studio double major, plans on presenting a culmination of art pieces at the Art Studio Senior Show, an ongoing gallery of senior art projects that will be open to the public through June.

Although Chong’s pieces focus on painting and drawing, other students at the show will present sculptures and various other kinds of artwork with many different mediums and styles, from watercolor to oil. One of Chong’s favorite works in her collection is a striking gouache painting of a polaroid camera in which the lens depicts a full moon, while the printed photo reveals the same moon in a different phase. “[This piece] is actually something that I imagine in my mind [...], inspired from my own story,” Chong said. “We [...] usually assume something is perfect or we want to be perfect for something. Usually things do not turn out perfectly, but there’s still another beauty in the same thing when you look at it in a different way.”

While Chong looks forward to presenting her work to an audience, she also faces the challenge of finding inspiration for her work and deciding how to best convey her message.

“I don’t want to just copy from a photo,” Chong said. “I want to do something more unique. Also, I want the piece [to be] related to myself. It’s [...] personal artwork, so the audience will have their own [interpretations]. I’m interested to see how the audience will react to my pieces.”

Similar to Chong, Pitre and many other students working on senior projects find that a capstone venture is not an easy task. In fact, most projects are started as early as Fall Quarter and are not finished until spring. Jeanette Chiu, a fourth-year design and communication double major, president of the UC Davis Student Fashion Association (SFA) and director of the SFA Fashion Show, has been preparing for the show for nearly a year.

“My biggest challenge was definitely figuring out the timeline,” Chiu said. “[With] leading my fashion class and then [...] also directing the fashion show at the same time, [...] I think I had three schedules going at once.”

Whether students are casting models, changing the world of science, brandishing a paintbrush or pouring their literary analysis into writing, most seem to find that the senior capstone experience is, as Pitre called it, “an intellectual adventure.”

“I wish it were an experience more students at UC Davis could have,” Ferguson said. “It’s sort of a way of rounding out your four years. I think the people who do it really benefit from it. [It’s a] chance to stretch your wings.”

UC Davis pre-law students share stories, paths, organizations on campus

UC Davis student Alejandra Roman

BY SAHITI VEMULA features@theaggie.org

A series of different conversations, exchanges and choices often converge to create what students call a career path. After having traveled very different paths, Alejandra Roman, Brittney Samuels and Jennifer Wilson all arrived at the decision to pursue prelaw undergraduate degrees.

Alejandra Roman suffered a tragic loss in seventh grade; she lost her sister in a car accident, and when her family tried to get justice for her death, the case was closed as a fatal accident. The driver responsible for her death walked free, and Roman’s family was stripped of justice for their daughter.

“It’s [this] personal experience that made me take the pre-law route route,” Roman said. “I come from a low-income family, [and we] couldn’t afford a lawyer, so we were assigned lawyers, [and they] weren’t effective to my sister’s case. [It] was labeled as a fatal accident when it wasn’t her fault.”

Roman believes that her family’s inability to afford a lawyer placed them at a disadvantage in achieving the justice her sister deserved. The pain and anger

CYNTHIA CHONG / COURTESY

Crossing the fiNish line UC Davis seniors finish their college experiences with capstone projects

BY ALLYSON TSUJI features@theaggie.org

For UC Davis’ graduating class of 2017, the time of year has come for a multitude of pressures. Along with putting the final touches on their GPAs, searching for jobs or graduate schools and living out the end of their undergraduate careers to the fullest, many graduating seniors are also faced with the responsibility of completing a senior project.

Although not all departments require students to complete a capstone project, some do require it as a part of the curriculum. The College of Engineering, for example, requires all engineering majors to complete a senior design capstone course and holds an annual design showcase for students to present their work. “[Students] spend a lot of time working on these

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Opinion editorial board

the California Aggie

UC Davis’ excellent Plan B

EDITORIAL BOARD

Wellness To Go machine provides affordable emergency contraceptives to students SCOTT DRESSER Editor in Chief ELLIE DIERKING Managing Editor ALYSSA VANDENBERG Campus News Editor SAMANTHA SOLOMON City News Editor ELI FLESCH Opinion Editor EMILIE DEFAZIO Features Editor AMANDA ONG Arts & Culture Editor BRYAN SYKES Sports Editor ARIEL ROBBINS Science & Tech Editor

CHIARA ALVES New Media Manager JAY GELVEZON Photo Director HANNAH LEE Design Director EMILY STACK Copy Chief OLIVIA ROCKEMAN Copy Chief VERONICA VARGO Website Manager ALEX GUZMÁN Social Media Mangager MADELINE ONG Newsletter Manager

UC Davis has made strides in sexual health and reproductive rights with the installation of a Plan B vending machine in the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) on March 31. The “Wellness To Go machine” offers tampons, lubricant, condoms, various other forms of birth control and, most controversially, morning-after pills. The project was led by former ASUCD senator Parteek Singh, with help from the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) and Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS).

The Editorial Board commends Singh, the SHWC, the SHCS and all others who were instrumental in bringing this vending machine to campus. While many ASUCD senators enter and leave office without making much of a dent in any of their platforms, this was never the case with Singh, whose knowledge of ASUCD and forward-thinking platforms (one of which was Plan B vending machines) impressed members of the Editorial Board back in fall 2015 when they made him their number-one endorsement.

The two years of hard work, planning and dedication on behalf of Singh and those involved was well worth it, as UC Davis is now one of only four campuses in the U.S. to provide students with this level of access to emergency contraceptives (EC).

The placement of the Wellness To Go machine in the ARC means students have nearly 24-hour access to EC on almost all days of the week. This is a huge improvement considering that prior to this month, the only other on-campus facility that offered EC was the SHCS Pharmacy, which extends extremely inaccessible hours (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and closed on weekends) that can make these resources unattainable for busy students in need. Singh also ensured that the machine would offer students Plan B at the lowest price possible, $30 — a con-

siderable feat seeing as the pill’s price can reach up to $65 at local drugstores.

This accomplishment could not have come at a more crucial time in U.S. history. The Trump administration seems hell-bent on risking decades worth of progress made in women’s health and reproductive rights with recent threats to defund Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides sexual and reproductive healthcare to “nearly five million women, men, and adolescents worldwide” each year, according to its website.

However, taking away an organization that provides outreach and resources to millions of people nationwide won’t change the facts — a 2015 study found that 87 percent of U.S. college students reported having had sexual intercourse, with “a third of sexually active college students [reporting that] they have used EC.” Additionally, 56 percent of college students said they know someone who has had an STD, and 62 percent of students reported having known of another person who’d had an abortion.

Teenage pregnancies in the U.S. decreased 42 percent from 1990 to 2008 as a result of improved contraceptive use. The statistics speak for themselves.

While it’s both impractical and impossible to try and stop young adults from having sex, providing them with the proper resources to practice safe sex is entirely achievable — something Singh proved this past month.

The Editorial Board hopes that other student leaders can follow in the footsteps of ASUCD senators like Singh, with his most recent success, and Samantha Chiang, who founded UC Davis’ first ever mental health conference in February. It is because of the leadership of determined students, like Singh and Chiang, that UC Davis will continue to advance in the areas of mental, sexual and reproductive health.

LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

The essentials of time management FORMING BETTER ACADEMIC SKILLS CAN HELP TO DECREASE STRESS, INCREASE SUCCESS

BY MARI SOL BE AS mbeas@ucdavis.edu

Time is not on our side in the rapidly-progressing quarter system, and bad time management could be harming both our mental health and academic performance. The best-rehearsed line students repeat is often “I don’t have enough time,” and it speaks to the problem of poor academic planning — a key factor in creating academic stress.

Victor M. Garcia, a retention advisor at the Academic Success Center, said that being at UC Davis “requires students to be skillful and [to be] able to manage their time” because “academics require quite a bit of commitment.”

Research has found that students have an increase in academic stress when they feel short on time and cannot contain all of the required information given within a course. The same study also found that students who prepare for an exam with the feeling of having “not enough time” saw an increase in stress, which impaired students’ physical and psychological performance.

Time management has been defined in terms of clusters of behavior deemed to facilitate productivity — something we all want and should have at UC Davis. In the book Essentials of Managing Stress,

Brian Luke Seaward, an expert in stress management, provides tips which could be used to better facilitate time management, thereby reducing stress.

Seaward talks about the importance of breaking up assignments and rotating through them one by one. This is obvious, but most honest students would say we don’t give equal time and priority to all of our assignments. The key is to not only get through the bigger assignments first, but to have enough time and energy left for other assignments. Set a schedule, a time of devotion that will give equal time to each subject matter and start a rotation. Hopefully, it will prevent burnout.

Next: Prioritize. Seaward reminds students to determine what’s important and to identify the work needed to complete a task at hand. Students have to be able to consciously determine and distinguish between things of high and low interest. For many students, school is of low interest, and hanging out with your friends is far more interesting. Think about the times you were out having fun with friends, only to later face the dreadful work due next week and the accompanying low motivation as you sat down and struggled to start your assignments. Try to change this habit. Use potential leisure time as an incentive to get your work done. Fully commit and treat

yourself only after you are satisfied with the work you have completed. Remember you’re a student first and foremost.

Finally, create a schedule. Once you have identified that schoolwork is important and takes priority over leisure time, then you can have fun. Schedule what needs to be done in order of importance and set a goal to accomplish each task. Take time to reflect on your personal productivity level by noticing when you’re most tired, most awake and most efficient and schedule your responsibilities around those times. Also remember to finish your work all the way to the end. Don’t let yourself off so easy.

Wondering where to start? Begin by checking out the Student Academic Success Center here on campus. It has workshops to help students with time management, procrastination, test taking and other helpful study skills.

By developing skills like time management, students will have a greater sense of control over their lives, leading to better performance, increased satisfaction and decreased stress.

Garcia has personally encountered the “great positive impact” a student gets from improving their skills, saying that “When you feel that you are more in control of your education, it’s a very positive thing for students.”

Cultivating resistance through the co-ops BOTANICAL DECOLONIZATION ON J STREET

BY C AMI LL E C H A R G O I S cachargois@ucdavis.edu

WestCo is an annual conference where cooperatives along the West Coast meet to exchange ideas and resources. This year, Davis hosted the event. I was super hyped about experiencing WestCo, so much so that I most likely imposed upon it impossible expectations and optimisms about how the programs would run and what conversations would be had. The workshops I attended were based on messy topics like sustainable food systems that don’t have definite answers. Admittedly, as an outsider knowing little to nothing about co-oping and specific approaches to sustainability, these workshops may have seemed unorganized because I had a very shallow understanding of topics being discussed.

Thinking about sustainability is not a linear process. Cooperative living is not as easy as co-opers make it look in their successes, and it’s definitely not a lifestyle choice like choosing to live in the suburbs or a new city. It is inherently political, personal and tied to real-world problems that are hard to solve. Cooperative living extends past theorizing about systemic issues one wishes to solve through a professional career into actually living with those issues as part of day-to-day reality. In practicing botanical decolonization, the co-opers at J Street embody the latter way of life.

When I arrived at the J Street Co-op, I was warmly greeted by

Emma Torbert and Katie Fyhrie, the project designers and workshop leaders. They explained where the idea of planting a garden full of native plants came from, and how they ran with that idea to implement their own botanical decolonization, which took a lot of design and research. They stressed that they are learning throughout the process too and are liable to make mistakes — but they are open to suggestions and new knowledge. This was admirable because it’s often assumed that people doing important work should be experts in their field, but usually that only comes through experience, and with experience comes mistakes. Once enough people showed up to help, we were given a basic introduction to planting and then got to work putting native plants into the soil from which they historically hail.

I met co-opers from Berkeley and Santa Barbara who had their own ideas about sustainability. As we talked about the pros and cons of monoculture, we put fuschia, deer grass, wildflowers and purple needlegrass into the ground, selected for their water retention and compatibility. There’s something therapeutically gratifying in planting a garden that’s amplified by knowing that it’s for a specific, revitalizing purpose. I felt a wash of calm serenity as I dug, planted, sifted and rubbed the cool clay-like dirt between my fingers.

The term native is complicated when applied to plants. The text that inspired the workshop at J Street, Botanical Decolonization of Native Plants, explains that discussing native plants has become popular in ecological and sociological academic spheres. It deals with

specific contexts concerning “the legacy of settler colonialism, and dilemmas of scholarship and activism in the ‘Anthropocene.’” This is what has informed the specific framework in which the co-opers at J Street are working to decolonize their space. Their vision for the project is not only to be able to identify the native plant species of this region of California and have them planted, but also to utilize the presence of these plants in an interactive way rather than as mere aesthetic fixtures in the landscape.

This interactive aspect is reflected in the design of the co-op garden, where the plants are placed in circular patterns of various sizes that contain spirals alternating between plants and space for people to sit and relax. A lot of the conversations, hangouts and cooperative plans at J Street are created by gatherings on the front porch. They wanted to extend that conversation, both in theoretical thought and literal practice, to the front lawn.

Botanical decolonization is now part of the physical framework of the J Street Co-op, an idea turned into a reality thanks to the innovative thinking and initiative of the people who live there. Cultivating resistance can be a painstaking, intimidating feat, as it takes a lot of love, time and work to become aware of different forms of oppression and then to unlearn them. But it can also be as doable as planting a decolonized garden on a leisurely Saturday afternoon. The seeds of revolution are sown in seemingly insignificant or discursive ways, but when they take root, they grow into a voluminous plume of foliage.

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 | 9

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

HUMOR Student finally builds up courage to shout out wrong answer in class MEET THE STUDENT WHO MOVED TO THE EAST COAST FOR GIVING A TERRIBLE ANSWER

BY BRI AN LAND RY bjlandry@ucdavis.edu

Speaking up in class can be really difficult.

Especially when the class is in a large lecture hall with 300-plus students.

In an effort to understand this problem, The California Aggie sat down with some students who are trying to tackle the scary situation that is participating in class.

“It’s been a long process, but I think I’m finally ready to raise my hand in my chemistry lecture,” said Guy Fieri, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and owner of multiple pairs of glasses that don’t actually have a prescription. “The worst thing

that could happen is that everybody laughs at my answer and I’m so scarred from the experience that I never speak to anyone again.

Which is fine.”

Shortly after being interviewed, Fieri went to his chemistry lecture, raised his hand and gave a completely wrong answer to a question.

“This is why you should never take any risks,” he said. “Just keep doing everything you’ve been doing and you won’t get hurt like I did. Everybody listened to my wrong answer and then they just went back to listening to the professor like I didn’t matter. I’m still shaking.”

Other students share opposite sentiments about speaking up in class.

“I really like speaking up in big lecture halls,” said Randy Dandruff, a third-year biochemistry major and author of a book full of selfies of himself. “I love shouting out answers to every question, even when the professor calls on somebody else. And I don’t care if I’m wrong, because in a way I still win, because I got everybody’s attention for a second.”

After interviewing Fieri again a week after his debacle, he had a slightly better attitude about his situation.

“I realized that I was being a little dramatic about never wanting to speak again. I’ve decided I’m going to try and answer another question in class. Except I’m going to wait a few years until I’m in grad school, and I’m going to make sure I’m at a school on the East Coast.”

CoHo to start charging one punch in the face for every açaí bowl order NEW POLICY IS “UNSAFE” AND POTENTIALLY “ILLEGAL”

BY LARA LOPT M A N lrloptman@ucdavis.edu

The CoHo has begun to run things a little differently this Spring Quarter. With its recent groundbreaking announcement to serve açai bowls all day, demand for this food has changed the entire way the place is run, with student employees now forced to toil over a hot blender to satisfy the masses at UC Davis.

The açaí bowl (pronounced: keen-wa) is an enigma of a meal consisting of blended açaí berries, granola and the last shred of hardworking students’ patience.

Because the bowl takes an excruciating 5 to 7 minutes to make,

the CoHo has decided to implement a cover charge for anyone who dares to order one: a punch in the face.

“The charge was supposed to deter students from ordering açaí,” said Eli Tresh, a CoHo employee and avid açaí hater. “But we did not anticipate how desperate students would be to have a melted smoothie covered in oats in a cardboard bowl.”

When asked why most CoHo employees can’t stand to make açai bowls, Tresh admitted, “This is honestly my first time working a blender.”

Tresh isn’t alone. Other CoHo workers came forward with similar issues. A majority of employees said they didn’t want to make the bowls because, as one worker put it, “pronouncing açaí correctly is

more work than we are paid to do.”

Others staffers were uncomfortable with carrying out the cover charge, questioning whether such a fee is even legal.

While this new cover charge may seem slightly harsh to some, a lot of students are jazzed about the new policy.

“I’m just excited for the human contact,” said Grace Hackie, a first-year student with no concept of personal space. “This will be my first interaction with another person since my roommate moved out.”

Clearly, everyone is really excited about this new charge, and there are absolutely no problems with it. Seems like the CoHo has really got it all figured out.

Crazy unitrans bus actually being driven by two raccoons, Tony and Sal TWO TRASH CATS TOOK A DOUBLEDECKER FOR A WILD RIDE

BY OL I VI A LUC H I N I ocluchini@ucdavis.edu

A V-line Unitrans bus hit a roundabout on Thursday with so much force that the sides of the bus screeched along the pavement.

Passengers were jarred at how someone driving a vehicle the size of a whale, a vehicle full of young — though incredibly sad — lives, could be so reckless. However, when a bystander yelled what can only be described as a bath-bomb full of profanity toward the front of the bus, they heard only angry chitters in response.

“There were two raccoons driving the bus,” third-year Ralph Hexter said. “I peeked at the driver’s seat and one of them was holding the steering wheel with his lil’ hands, and the other one was jumping up and down on the gas pedal while holding a bottle of malt liquor.

I’m not sure these raccoons were even of legal drinking age, and I’m

pretty sure that they’re not allowed to drink and drive even if they were. Then again, does it count as drinking and driving if you’re just hitting the gas?”

The two masked rodents, known as Sal and Tony, are actually employees of Unitrans. They’re paid with trash from the CoHo, but they seldom get to enjoy their pay because they can’t figure out which of the three trash options contains real trash. They usually just give up and instead eat the flyers from people tabling at the MU. “No one ever thinks we’re actually employed by UC Davis, but it’s true!” Sal said in an oddly Brooklyn-esque accent for a California critter. “I think it’s because of all the stereotypes about us raccoons nowadays. Everyone thinks we’re bandits or something. I only rob squirrels. I pop ‘em right in the kisser — WA-POW — and take their acorns. I don’t even like acorns.”

Sal and Tony have been told that they need a little work on their

bus captaining. Their main issues are speeding, taking off without letting students completely get on the bus, drinking malt liquor like it’s going out of style and often blasting their Enrique Iglesias and Jason Derulo albums just a little too loudly.

“I mean, I will say that they do get us where we’re going faster than anyone else,” said second-year Sergio Smith.

Sal and Tony also run a mildly successful pizzeria in the Silo called “Pizza Hut” where they sell traditional, authentic Italian cuisine.

They’re making strides on this campus, coming to ranks with other famous Davis critters.

“Watch out, cows!” Tony said. “Sal, Tony and the boys are the new talk of the town!”

The raccoons will continue to drive the busses so long as they don’t pickpocket students for trash anymore, which management recently told them is “really uncool.”

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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 . Letters to the editor can be addressed to opinion@theaggie.org.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

PROFILE

FLAG

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Raja’s markets itself as a healthy dining option, which is largely because of the recipes used to make the food.

“It’s healthier than other restaurants because we’re not using MSG, no artificial coloring [and] no artificial flavors,” Chowdhury’s son said. “We’re not commercializing it, it’s homestyle cooking — that’s why it’s healthier.”

The famous all-day buffet, which runs around $7 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., is an attractive option to college students, keeping Raja’s busy around the clock. Chowdhury can be spotted from across 3rd Street making his rounds to the tables inside and outside on the elevated wooden patio to check in with customers.

The buffet serves 17 options, 13 of which are vegan.

Until recently, Chowdhury himself was vegan, but after suffering a stroke within the last year, his doctor recommended that he include more animal-based protein in his diet.

The Raja’s Tandoor Facebook page uploaded a photo of Chowdhury during his first return back to the restaurant after his stroke. The photo received over 140 likes and comments filled with well-wishes and stories.

One anecdote left on the post by a UC Davis student recounted the student’s “accidental dine-n-dash” at Raja’s in the midst of pre-midterm stress. The student

returned to pay after realizing his error, and Chowdhury clasped his arm and told him that the student’s chaos “would soon pass, and that the meal was on him.”

The community support shown in Chowdhury’s time of need meant a lot to him, according to his son.

“There were a lot of good comments from people who were concerned,” Chowdhury’s son said. “It was nothing but love, which was nice.”

Chowdhury’s son said it is important to his father to interact with and give back to the community. Raja’s partners with organizations on the UC Davis campus for over 100 fundraisers a year. However, what Chowdhury loves most is interacting with students.

“He loves the students, they’re like his kids or grandkids,” Chowdhury’s son said. “It keeps him young, keeps him going.”

Chowdhury’s family lives in Davis and his first grandchild is on the way. His future plans are “nothing major,” though Raja’s is planning to open a new location in Sacramento to cater to the UC Davis alumni who have settled nearby, according to Chowdhury’s son.

“It’s important to give back and [...] bring good food to the community at a reasonable price,” Chowdhury’s son said.

And, with regard to his father, Chowdhury’s son said “he’s the greatest host in town.”

EQUIPMENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

that all first priority requests submitted, totaling approximately $1.5 million in campus funds, will be funded. The remaining $500,000 in campus funds will be allocated based on the prioritization level and the number of students served. In total, courses serving over 40,000 enrollments (i.e. total number of students enrolled in each course) will benefit from the use of new equipment, reaching a significant portion of our undergraduate students.”

Traxler, when further explaining the allocation process, described the effort to impact as many students as possible.

“How many students each request would likely affect [was a criterion],” Traxler said. “All things being equal, we gave higher priority to requests that would provide opportunities for more students. If there is a course that 1,000 students a year take, we would consider that a higher priority than a course that 100 students take.”

An exception to the strictly-numbers criterion is that if a course is required of all students in a particular major, that course could also receive high priority.

Little detail was given about the funding sources for this effort.

“The campus is investing two million [dollars] in state funds and tuition revenue in instructional equipment,” said Sarah Mangum, the director of UC Davis’ academic budget and policy.

Carolyn Thomas, the vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, is excited to see the new and better experiments that students will be able to run using the new equipment.

“This is a very exciting investment that the colleges and central administration are making in our undergraduate teaching laboratories,” Thomas said

via email. “[…] The investment in new laboratory equipment — across several fields — will allow our undergraduates to run the strongest experiments and see the best results. This is important because undergraduate research is one of the things that makes a UC Davis education exceptional. We always want our students to be learning at the cutting edge of their fields.”

Echoing Thomas, Traxler hopes that this new equipment will give UC Davis students the best opportunities to succeed in their undergraduate careers.

“The mere existence of this initiative, it’s important to me personally that students on this campus have the kinds of equipment they need to succeed in mastering their undergraduate disciplines,” Traxler said. “I’m just really excited that we are able to improve, in a tangible way, the experience that students are going to have in their lab classrooms.”

Traxler spoke about what purchases he is especially looking forward to: mass spectrometers for use in chemistry and gene transport equipment for biology.

“What’s cool to me might not seem cool to other people, but the mass spectrometers seem to be, this is a very interesting piece of equipment,” Traxler said. “You can determine the chemical composition apparently of substances by running them through these things. The gene transport equipment I think is fascinating. You can actually go in, and apparently students will be able to manipulate genes inside of cells. That to me, and again I’m not an expert, I’m a layperson, but that just seems like a really interesting and exciting capability. I’d be really interested to hear what biology students themselves had to say about that.”

DC RIVALRY

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country. I didn’t want to take a side in this debate, and I didn’t want to use legislation to force the victory of one side over another.”

Michael Gofman, an ASUCD senator and a first-year political science and economics major, believes that Itamar’s decision was charged by political motivations.

“In my opinion, and what the author himself stated in multiple TV interviews, is that this bill had to do with patriotism,” Gofman said. “That patriotism means such different things to different people, and that the American flag can be found offensive to certain kinds of people.I think it’s great that there’s been so much attention put to this at a local level, national level, state level. I think a lot of it is very one-sided, and in reading articles, there’s so much misinformation in what’s going on, but I think it’s good that this makes people upset, because this bill made me upset and it’s good to see that a lot of Americans feel the same way.”

While Waksman assured that the decision was solely procedural, Gofman views this as a cop-out.

“This bill was proposed within Senate as if it was a logistical issue like the whole purpose is correcting a bylaw, like there’s some kind of misunderstanding within bylaws, and that’s the not the case,” Gofman said. “As I mentioned earlier, when talking with outside news agencies, when talking about it in any other format, all parties involved agreed that this was a political bill and that’s why I was against it. I was against it from a political perspective.”

Gofman said that once the bylaw has been officially edited, he will submit another resolution, effectively to supercede the resolution that that Itamar authored.

Gofman’s re-resolution will maintain optionality of the flag and allow any student to put the flag up in the Mee room.

“Once the bylaws are edited so that I can then submit a new resolution about them, I’m going to submit a new resolution which will sort of be a compromise,” Gofman said.

“It will maintain the optionality so that if no one wants it there, it won’t be there. However, any student can, of their own volition, go up there and put the flag up on their own.

And I actually have a few groups that are interested in paying for a new flag for Senate, because we already have a flag pole, we just need to get the flag back.”

When asked about why he didn’t uphold Section 1410 to physically place a flag in Senate until hearing about Waksman’s amendment, Gofman explained the multitude of bylaws.

Gofman also asserted that Waksman brought this issue up first, not him.

“I am a brand new senator; I’m brand new to the school,” Gofman said. “I’m a freshman. This is going to be my third week right now of Senate. We have two-and-a-half-ish thousand individual lines of bylaws that I’ve read through from start to finish before. I will actually cite the fact that I actually just had not known this rule existed. Had I known — had I had more time to read the bylaws more carefully —I would have brought this

up and said ‘Let’s get the flag up there’. If I had read it, maybe I would have started pushing to bring the flag there, but I hadn’t.

The only people that were pushing for this were people who were trying to get rid of it, and that’s why I think there’s a political agenda tied to this because this is so insignificant and inconsequential to anything on campus.

If you’re focusing on the flag, that means you have a reason to focus on the flag.”

Waksman said that his intention was never to incite political polarization and that it is unfortunate that “certain individuals in ASUCD used this for their own political gain.” He sees this ASUCD infrastructure adjustment as something minor and non-partisan that has been spun and narrativized.

“This is also an example of this amazing machine that exists in this country of fake news,” Waksman said. “They took this, which really isn’t a news story — a very localized, isolated event. On a national scale, it really gained traction only from right wing media sources including Fox News, and that’s because their spin machine decided ‘Wow, this is another great way to rile up our viewers and use it for our gain, and to ferment more outrage and polarization. What me and my friend [Meneses] have gone through in last few days with this article, and with the interviews we’ve done, they basically took it and turned it into fake news. It’s been amazing on a personal level to experience this incredible, incredible fake news machine in this country.”

ASUCD President Josh Dalavai understands the flag controversy’s sensitive nature.

“It’s the Senate’s decision and I’ll support what they do,” Dalavai said. “I will comment on the misinformation that’s been going on and has spiraled into something much larger than it actually is. People hear the word ‘flag,’ and it’s a symbol. It represents something, it holds value and because of that is very sensitive — understandably so. The ASUCD did not vote to take down the American flag; all they did is say that it shall not be mandatory to fly the flag.”

At the April 20 Senate meeting, Dalavai vetoed Itamar’s bylaw, which required that the Senate pro temp approve of a request in advance to display the flag.

Dalavai will introduce his amended resolution, which gives any senator the instantaneous right to fly the flag, at the April 27 Senate meeting. The flag was flown at the Senate meeting on April 20.

Outside of ASUCD members and nationwide news, community members have also expressed anger towards what they view as anti-American counter-patriotism, even using threats and xenophobia. In an email with the subject title “Itmar,” one person named “RP McMurphy” emailed the ASUCD Senate.

“Your behavior is despicable,” the email said. “What you don’t understand, is that without the Flag and everything it stands for, you would not be here. Someone will grant you the wish. Suggestion: m----- f-----, keep your head down and your mouth shut. You are in the wrong alley.”

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lounge, Anene still believes the space issue is the biggest nuisance for residents.

“I went [downstairs] once,” Anene said. “I thought it was fine, it can be a cool spot to go, but it’s still out of the way. You still have to come up and down the stairs [...] if you want something else [to eat].

Anene attributes this problem to the growing population in the Tercero residential area, as new dorm buildings will house this fall’s incoming freshman class. “[They] clearly don’t have enough space to house all these people,” Anene said. “[They’re] accepting more and more students, so [there needs to be] a second DC at this point. Adding a second additional level isn’t going to make the lines any shorter; it’s not going to help with the crowded issue.”

In contrast to Segundo and Tercero, though, is the Cuarto DC. This dining commons comes with a number of different advantages, the first being that it is off campus. This, coupled with the fact that there are fewer residents that live there than in either Segundo or Tercero, means there are not as many problems with overcrowding.

“I like the Cuarto DC because [...] it’s really small, so you always see the same people and it’s much easier to find your friends,” said Emma Voit, a first-year undeclared social science major and Cuarto resident. “It feels less like you’re in a dining hall and more like you’re in a family-style dining [establishment] because we don’t have the big 12 to 13 person tables. The biggest table you can get is an eight-person table, and there’s two-person tables too.”

Voit often eats lunch at one of the DCs on campus because it’s not as far as going back to Cuarto, but, overall, Cuarto is a more positive experience for her due to the fact that there’s never a lonely moment.

“Almost always if you go by yourself, chances are you’re not going to end up eating by yourself because there’s someone that you know,” Voit said. “Because people from campus don’t come to Cuarto, it’s nice and small and not crowded, and there’s never really any lines, which is nice.”

Not only does Cuarto DC offer a homier vibe for many students, but the smaller amount of people means more opportunity for different kinds of foods, including hand-scooped ice cream and, on occasion, sushi. Although Cuarto faces limitations in terms of equipment availability, it makes up for the lack of stations with a robust offer of local, fresh foods.

“Cuarto is mainly set up with the goal of serving as much local product and sustainable food as possible within the operation,” said Felipe Becerra, the assistant director of residential dining. “Cuarto’s ability to do that is a lot easier because of the volumes that they serve. Everything from the way that the building is designed to what we’re serving on the plate is the same mentality and goal, and we’re trying to translate that on with the other locations as well as much as possible.”

Despite these differences, the DC staff make every effort to make the food and dining experiences the same across all DCs. Whether it’s a themed night or a regular school night, the meals students can find in one DC will be no different than a meal found in another.

“We have a goal,” said Kue Her, the senior executive chef at UC Davis. “We have a vision of having consistency with what we serve. We want it to be fair for all the students. If they live in Tercero, they should be able to come over to Cuarto and still have the same food and same environment and same feel. If someone lived at Cuarto and they have class near Tercero, there shouldn’t be any difference quality-wise.”

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chemicals in it without permission.”

Grandia is interested in an unconventional approach to the regulation of chemicals in the human body. She would like to explore the interactive effects of the many chemicals that are present in the bloodstream at low doses.

This approach would contrast the single chemical regulation method that measures blood for a particular exposure. “[This idea is] very new in the environmental sciences, and I think it’s very provocative,” Grandia said. “[I]t has the potential to mobilize new constituencies around environmental chemicals.”

According to Grandia, her efforts for environmental justice take place during a critical point in history when it is important to not only be environmentally conscious but also politically active.

“I think the discourse about eliminating two environmental regulations [...] is quite insidious

and an ideology we’re going to have to contend with for a long time,” Grandia said. “For every personal defense mechanism that we do to protect our environmental health we need to take steps to protect that civically [...] so if you commit an act of green consumerism you should write two letters to Congress at the same time because otherwise we’re not going to push back the anti-regulatory tide.”

Mendoza believes that Grandia’s research will be very successful in bringing attention to environmental and health-related issues.

“Professor Grandia’s research will contribute greatly to bridge tremendous gaps between the knowledge that exists in different disciplines, specifically in our campus, and the results will be a well-argued and well-researched corpus of knowledge that will be appealing for large audiences and that will have effects in policies and actions,” Mendoza said.

GALAXY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

scope on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii to detect and confirm the distance of the new galaxy.

“The fact that the galaxy we study is located in the same direction as the galaxy cluster MACS1423 makes it a prime candidate for us to see,” said Marusa Bradac, a physics professor. “The light from the galaxy got magnified by this massive foreground structure.”

This discovery, along with future discoveries of galaxies, may reveal critical information about the mystical origins of the early universe and, specifically, the nature of the

first galaxies and their role in reionization in the Epoch of Reionization.

“The main consequence of this study is that we have now definitively found evidence that what we believed to be typical galaxies at this epoch exist and appear to roughly have the properties they were expected to have,” said Brian Lemaux, a co-author of the paper. “Galaxies such as these will be the main targets of future telescopes and ones in the not-so-distant future, [like] the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be launched into space [in] a year’s time.”

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 | 11

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SCIENCE+TECH UC Davis Grad Slam competition features graduate research Fourth-year doctoral student Sam Westreich to represent UC Davis in final round

MORGAN TIEU / AGGIE

New galaxy an astronomical discovery Astronomers led by UC Davis graduate student discover faint, distant galaxy

NICHOLAS CHAN / AGGIE

BY E MMA SADLOWSKI s cience@thea g g ie.org

BY H A RN OO R G I L L s ci en ce@ th e a ggi e .o r g

A team of ambitious astronomers led by a UC Davis graduate student have unearthed an incredible finding: the discovery of one of the faintest and most distant galaxies in the universe.

This ultra-distant galaxy, at 13.1 billion years old, is an ancestor galaxy from the Epoch of Reionization. This was a period of time after the Big Bang when cold, neutral hydrogen, which rendered the universe dark, was re-ionized by ultraviolet light emitted by galaxies. This led to the demise of the “dark ages” and the universe became visible.

“One of the main reasons for studying these distant galaxies is to determine how the Epoch of Reionization unfolded,” said Austin Hoag, a physics graduate student and the lead author of the paper published in Nature Astronomy. “Reionization was a major transition in the history of the Universe, and we really do not know much about it.”

Interestingly enough, the newly discovered galaxy, deemed MACS1423-z7p64, falls short of extraordinary.

“There is evidence that the Epoch of Reionization was primarily driven by intrinsically faint galaxies, which were much more abundant than the intrinsically bright galaxies at that time,” Hoag said. “The ordinary nature of this galaxy is that it is intrinsically faint compared to the other ones discovered at the same distance or further.”

This galaxy is exceptional in another way, however. It is located behind a large galaxy cluster, which bends the path of light as it passes by and magnifies the brightness of MACS1423-z7p64, thus making it visible to the scientists. The team was able to use images and spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope and the 10-meter Keck TeleGALAXY on 10

UC Davis hosted its annual UC Grad Slam finalist round on April 14 at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, where 10 UC Davis graduate student finalists were given three minutes each to present their research in front of an audience. Sam Westreich, a fourth-year doctoral student in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics program, was crowned the event’s winner and will represent UC Davis in the UC Grad Slam Finals round on May 4.

The UC Grad Slam provides an opportunity for UC graduate students to share their research findings with the general public through brief but lively presentations.

“Grad Slam is a system-wide contest in which UC grad students compete to deliver the best three-minute, jargon-free TED-style talk about their research,” said Stephanie Beechum, a UC spokesperson via email. “Each of UC’s ten campuses hold preliminary Grad Slam contests of their own, and the 10 campus winners — all PhD or master’s students in any subject — go on to compete for the system-wide title.”

The UC Davis Grad Slam drew over 80 proposals from interested graduate students, more than double last year’s number. A preliminary round in February narrowed the competitors down to the 10 finalists who competed on April 14.

The California Aggie 1/4 page BW 5.8125” x 10.75” 5 Run Date: April 27, 2017 Production: Morissa Rubin mrrubin@ucdavis.edu 530-752-0999

MARK HUISING / COURTESY

Recently discovered pancreatic cell could serve as new insulin source

An estimated 29 million Americans live with diabetes and 86 million live at risk of the disease, which is recognized as a nationwide epidemic.

However, the recent discovery of a new type of pancreatic cell may serve as an alternative insulin source to help those diagnosed with type I and type II diabetes.

The discovery of this new cell was published in Cell Metabolism by Mark Huising, a UC Davis assistant professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior.

“Looking at how common diabetes is, this is not isolated to scientific discovery,” Huising said.

“It impacts us all, and we have or know somebody with this health problem.”

Pancreatic cells, specifically beta cells, produce insulin to control the amount of glucose, also known as sugar, in the blood. People with diabetes do not make enough insulin (type I), or cannot use insulin properly (type II).

High amounts of blood sugar can lead to health effects such as heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, blindness and lower limb amputations.

Huising and colleagues unveiled a new type of insulin-producing cell that could lead to replacing nonfunctional or depleted beta cells in the pancreas.

Through the use of specialized microscope imaging, scientists located a new type of cell around the pancreatic edges of islets. The observed cell had similar appearance to an immature beta cell.

Scientists concluded that these new cells are

able to produce insulin, but they do not have the receptors to detect glucose, and are therefore unable to function as a full beta cell. These immature beta cells are actually at an intermediate stage, between the mature beta cell and the mature alpha cell, also involved in blood sugar regulation.

This study is the first time that critical cells in the adult stage can transform into a highly needed cell, such as the beta cell.

“This transformation is happening all the time in normal healthy islets, and occurs even in the absence of disease or injury,” Huising said.

Plasticity, or the ability to change, is a widely researched topic, but not in a manner similar to Huising’s. This research identified plasticity in a different angle, looking at it in minority cells, or cells that are not fully mature. Minority cells transdifferentiate, or naturally change from one cell into a different cell type.

This new beta cell population is unique because the nature of it has never been characterized before or identified in adults.

This research was accomplished through new order image strategy approaches. The new cell was identified via labeling in imaging. Traditionally, researchers kill the cell or tissue being examined and then induce staining to see it more clearly under magnification.

However, the novel discovery of immature beta cells was observed during live staining methods.

“Using confocal microscopy, we are able to image the cells alive,” said Dr. Siming Liu, a researcher at Huising Lab. “That is the unique part of this data included in the publication.”

PANCREAS on 14

Westreich presented “Understanding the Gut Microbiome with Metatranscriptomics,” in which he highlighted how to maintain a healthy immune system, as well as other disruptions that can occur in the microbiome.

“It’s very difficult to study this environment because it’s super complex and it’s inside of us, so it’s hard for us to reach and doesn’t adapt well to growing in labs,” Westreich said. “A lot of the approaches have been in recent years, and they’re big data approaches where the strategy is to sequence everything and sort it out once it’s all on a computer.”

Westreich’s research focuses on designing programs that help sort this data once it has been collected digitally.

With only three minutes to present, summarizing and simplifying years of research can be a challenging task for Grad Slam participants. Westreich attributes practice as a key factor for his success. Prior to presenting, he would give his pitch to anyone who would listen and revise parts that did not seem clear.

“Whenever anybody asked a question, it tells me that the part where they asked the question isn’t clear enough,” Westreich said. “So I would re-work that part and practice more.”

Carina Fish, a first-year geology Ph.D. student, took third-place at the event and a $250 prize for her presentation of “Surface-Deep Connections: Ocean AcidiGRADSLAM on 14

UC Davis Human Rights Lecture Series

“Killing Doctors in the War on Syria”

Susannah Sirkin, Physicians for Human Rights

MAY 4, 7 P.M.

Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Research could lead to cure of both type I, type II diabetes

BY S HIVA N I KA M A L s ci en ce@ th e a ggi e .o r g

NICHOLAS CHAN / AGGIE

human-rights.ucdavis.edu College of Letters and Science

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

12 | THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

ARTS & Culture SFA OCEANA:

Below the Surface Fashion Show

Yeppers host annual “My Resilience is My Resistance” art show Youth Empowerment Program presents art, poetry through the lens of youth from juvenile center

A charity event like no other

MORGA N T IEU / AG GIE

BY B E CKY LE E arts@theaggie.org

JAY GELVEZO N / AGGI E

BY C A RA JOY KL EI NR O C K arts@theaggie.org

This year’s theme for the Student Fashion Association’s (SFA) annual fashion show is “Oceana: Below the Surface,” which incorporates both light and dark aspects of the ocean. The proceeds of the show will be donated to the organization “Charity Water,” which helps build clean water projects in rural communities around the world.

Jeanette Chiu, a fourth-year design and communication major, is the president of the Student Fashion Association (SFA) as well as the head of the marketing committee for the show.

“We have been working on this all year long and it is a celebration of all the arts,” Chiu said.

The night will begin with a performance

by The Spokes followed by a performance from Popping Club, which will raise the crowd’s energy and get everyone ready for the fashion show to start. After the first act of the show there will be a small intermission, and at the beginning of the second act there will be a raffle with $1 tickets that can be purchased at the door. Then, to kick off the second half, Afterglow and Vision Dance Troupe are set to perform, and the night will end with a showcase of the rest of the designers’ work.

The show consists of local designers from UC Davis and other schools in the

Bay Area and Yolo County. There was a casting call for models, most of whom are from UC Davis and were selected by the designers.

Yvonne Dang Lee, a fourth-year managerial economics major, is the historian for SFA. She is also the co-partner for the talent committee, which finds talent for the show.

“We made flyers looking for costume designers, hair and makeup and the actual designers,” Lee said. “We had all the committees hand these out and publicize, which made it a huge success. Our club worked really well together in getting the word out and everyone supported each other.”

Elizabeth Chang, a second-year textiles and clothing major, is the secretary for SFA and acts as the other co-partner for the talent committee.

“Winter Quarter we had a fashion planning class where we split our club into five committees,” Chang said. “The marketing, talent, stage design, fundraising and decorations committees [...] each had their own responsibilities.”

The planning process was an organized chaos, but the organizers stated that they managed to fulfill their vision for the show.

The fashion show will be held at the UC Davis Conference Center on April 29 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 presale or $12 at the door.

DDA / CO U RT E SY

DANZANTES DEL ALMA HOSTS ANNUAL SHOWCASE UC Davis folklorico dance troupe celebrates

BY SYDNEY OD MA N arts@theaggie.org

Danzantes del Alma (DdA), the premier folklorico dance troupe of UC Davis, will host its 40th an anniversary niversary showcase on May 6 in the

People who say that the world’s youth will shape the future oftentimes fail to take into consideration the many incarcerated children and adolescents in juvenile detention centers who don’t feel they have a future. The Youth Empowerment Program (YEP), a student run organization at UC Davis, strives to fix that.

YEP, founded in 2009, visits the Yolo County Juvenile Hall twice a month to connect with the youth through lesson plans and shared experiences about their home lives, families, fears and general beliefs. The purpose of the organization is to show these individuals that their past actions do not define them and to educate them about the effects of racial and class marginalization.

Members of the organization, known as “Yeppers,” are hosting their annual “My Resilience is My Resistance” art show, which will present artwork created by youth in the juvenile detention center to reveal truth behind those closed doors.

Deziana Torres, the president of YEP and a 2016 UC Davis graduate, said that YEP’s primary goal is to break stereotypes and to instill hope in young people’s minds.

“The youth we work with are often labeled as ‘failures’ ‘thugs’ and even labeled by judges themselves as ‘menaces to society.’ These labels have so much more power than we could ever imagine,” Torres said. “It becomes their future because they are constantly reminded of their mistakes and of their [lack of ] worth. We say things instead like ‘we need you in this world,’ ‘you have too much potential to be locked up in here,’ ‘you can have a better and brighter future that you desire,’ ‘if no one ever believed in you, we do,’ ‘you’re amazing’ and ‘you’re important.’ We truly mean what we say and the youth know it. Our hope in them breaks the stigmas that would otherwise continue to marginalize them from society.”

Like Torres, Maria Pantaleon, a fifth-year Spanish and Chicanx Studies double major, stands firm in her belief that the youth, especially within these communities, need to be encouraged because they are the face of the future.

“We tell them that once they get out of there they have a future, they can go to college, they can go back to school, it doesn’t mean that they’re bound to failure and that their life is over,” Pantaleon said. “We’re trying to break those stereotypes out of their heads. We need to empower our youth because they’re our future. Everyone has the power to do good in life. Maybe these kids can be the next president or an engineer. Yes they might have had a rough time growing up, but we can direct them to a better path.”

Youth that spend their time in juvenile detention centers are limited in social interactions and activities, making it difficult for them to express their mixed emotions, worries and insecurities. Brenda Baresi, a third-year Chicanx Studies and sociology double major, said that YEP’s lesson plans and discussions are important for both the detained youth and for people who attend the annual art show.

“They’re there all the time, right? And the only things they really do are get up in the morning, shower, get breakfast, maybe go outside for an hour and do whatever they can to make up their time. But a lot of them do art

Activities and Recreation Center Pavilion.

Based within the Cross Cultural Center on campus, Danzantes del Alma was established at UC Davis in 1977.

The members of DdA celebrate their Hispanic, Chicano and Latino culture through different styles of traditional and contemporary dance. As an organization that started out mainly as a student activist group, Danzantes del Alma has grown significantly ever since.

Over time, they developed a highly regarded reputation throughout the community.

Crystal Romero, a third-year math and Spanish double major and the DdA administrative manager, emphasized the importance of the strong alumni network that comes along with being a member of

Kava bar provides alternative experience

Bitter taste, cool ambience outweigh relaxing effects J E RO R E A L / AG G I E

BY AB I G A I L WA N G arts@theaggie.org

Upon taking my first sip of my Kava Kolada, I was pleasantly surprised.

Notes of coconut and pineapple and then… a weird numbing sensation followed by an unpleasant taste that I can only describe as similar to a Halls cough drop.

Kava is a crop made from the root of a plant originating in the Western Pacific and is often ground into powder to be put in drinks such as tea. It is served here in Davis, downtown at Root of Happiness. The drinks are available

to make time pass by,” Baresi said. “There are so many things that are building up inside of them because they have no one to talk to. For them, art is what helped them get through their time their and gave them the opportunity to put all their thoughts in art. That’s also why we try to do the art pieces every year so that people can see their experiences and to humanize them again.”

A large part of YEP’s visit to the YOLO County Juvenile Hall is the members’ ability to connect with and share personal experiences with the youth.

“Some of the times that we go in there, they don’t want to do the lesson plans. They feel like it’s dumb and that it’s not going to help them,” Baresi said. “What we try to do in those times is we try to move away from the lesson plans we have set for them and just have a discussion with them. The only way we’re going to be able to reach out to them is if we’re vulnerable to them. Every time I go in there I make myself vulnerable and tell them about my experiences.”

One of the pieces featured at YEP’s upcoming art show allows the viewer to see multiple experiences through the lens of the artists.

“One of the ones we did was ‘if you looked into my eyes could you see what I see?’ We gave them an actual picture of a drawing of an actual eye, and in there they wrote or drew about different experiences that they’ve had in the past that have impacted them,” Baresi said. “The different lesson plans we do with them is a form of selfexpression, and we want to give them that outlet to talk about some of the things they can’t in that institution.

The whole purpose of the art show is to show people in society that the youth that have been detained — it’s not necessarily their fault that they’re there, it’s different institutional barriers and oppressive forces that led them to where they are. We want to show the world that these youth have dreams and futures and are not necessarily bad people.”

YEP’s main goal is to show the world that there are multiple facets to the U.S. criminal justice system, meaning that people should take into account the reasons behind a criminal’s actions. Yeppers also educate their community about systemic and institutionalized racism, as well as social marginalization as two of the factors that lead to the incarceration of youth of color.

Edi Xacon, a fifth-year Chicanx Studies major, wants to see change not only in Yolo County, but also in his community back at home.

“I think programs like this and what we do are important for people of color because in reality there are a higher number of people of color incarcerated,” Xacon said. “In order to reduce recidivism rates, meaning going back in and out [of juvenile detention centers], programs like this and connecting with the youth can serve as a tool to inspire them to do better. I’d like to see YEP expand in other campuses and I want it to be seen as a model for others who are interested in doing similar work. Personally, I would like to be a mentor and someone who can inspire youth back at home.”

The art show will be held on May 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the ARC Ballroom. To learn more about the upcoming art show, visit YEP’s Facebook event page or email them at ucdyepcoordinator@gmail.com.

Danzantes del Alma. As this year’s show approaches, DdA is extremely excited to perform for not only members of the community, but also its esteemed alumni coming from all over.

“We’re a family,” Romero said. “Once you’re in DdA, you’re always in DdA. So it’s not just our show but it’s also for all the past generations, which makes it very special.”

This specific showcase is extremely important to the members of DdA, not only because it is their 40th anniversary as a troupe on campus, but also due to the significance of what it means to celebrate one’s own culture in this political climate.

“We’re really excited to bring back that aspect of social justice to our show, especially at this time, and to see how the audience is gonna react to all of our

to those who are 18 and older.

Kava is notable for its side effects, which include relief of anxiety, sleeplessness and stress — all common symptoms of the average college student, and something that I was definitely intrigued to try.

I was a little nervous, as friends have recounted a variety of experiences, from feeling nauseated and a little drunk to actually enjoying the experience and having a relaxing time. I could only hope for the latter.

I ended up ordering two different drinks since Kava works in the opposite way of coffee or alcohol: the first time you drink kava, you have to drink more to feel the effects, and as you drink it more regularly, you have to drink less and less. The first drink I ordered was a Kava Kolada, one of the specialty drinks. It was presented in a mason jar with a toothpick and two pieces of pineapple. In hindsight, that was probably the best part of the drink. I also ordered traditional kava that you can add flavoring to, which I highly recommend. Mine was mango flavored and served in a coconut-shell bowl with another slice of pineapple.

The drinks are pricey: the speciality ones range from $7.50 to $9, and the traditional drinks go cost $5 for 4 oz. and $7 for 8 oz. I suggest going during happy hour from 3 to 7 p.m. when the prices are a few dollars cheaper.

Similar to coffee, Kava tastes bitter but it is definitely a different, more earthy flavor, especially with the traditional kava. Root of Happiness says on their menu that kava takes a while to start work-

new material,” said Aurelia Montoya, a third-year biomedical engineering major and the DdA performance manager. “I’m also really excited for our new members to experience what it’s like to perform and be proud of what they learned.”

The importance of this organization to its members and its alumni is proudly displayed through each member’s passion and skill toward their craft.

“For me, DdA has been a home away from home since my freshman year,” Romero said. “It’s one of the few places where I feel like I can express myself in all aspects and find acceptance.”

Danzantes del Alma’s Showcase will be held May 6 at 6:30 pm in the ARC Pavilion.

Tickets to the show are available for purchase online for $10.

ing, so sit back and relax. As I impatiently waited to feel my stress dissipate I observed my surroundings.

The bar gave off some serious vibes: the lighting is dim, with a blue glow that illuminates murals of the Western Pacific communities where kava is from. There are several TV screens on the walls of the room, with kaleidoscope images that rapidly change in time with soothing music. The bar has some of the most comfortable couches I’ve ever experienced. After observing the place’s ambience, I wasn’t quite sure if I was feeling those relaxing effects of the kava or just enjoying the bar’s environment.

The bar attracted a different sort of crowd. I even saw one person apparently doing work on their computer while sipping on their kava.

My friend and I decided to leave the bar to see if the effects we were feeling were legitimate or simply a result of the environment.

As we walked back to campus I noticed an effect not mentioned anywhere online: burping. We both burped a lot. Additionally, we both felt warm, and our ears tinged pink.

By the time we got back, we both had homework to do, but felt way too relaxed and apathetic to do anything but listen to music and stare at our computer screens. Again, I wasn’t quite sure if this was kava’s doing or just typical procrastination.

Would I have kava again? Yes, if I could afford the habit. Hopefully next time the burping subsides so that I can just feel what kava does best, and “ride the wave.”

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017| 13

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

13th Annual HellaCappella Showcase Cross Cultural Center Hosts A cappella premier showcase features West Coast’s best college choirs DIA N A LI / AG GIE

BY MYAH DANI ELS arts@theaggie.org

Weeklong event celebrates Asian Pacific Islander community, culture

N IC KI PA DA R / AG G IE

BY C A ROL I N E RUT T E N arts@theaggie.org

With the diversity that embeds itself into the UC Davis community, specific groups on campus have found ways to celebrate the breadth and depth of such cultural variety. The Asian Pacific Islander Community, a part of the Cross Cultural Center (CCC), will be hosting an Asian Pacific Islander Culture Week from May 1 to 5 at the International Center, with an additional Night Market on May 5.

“The Culture Weeks have been going on for 20 years,” said Kriti Garg, a program coordinator at the CCC. “There will be professors speaking on an academic angle, a lot of workshop held by students and a lot of vendors who are students or people from the community. We will have a large variety of [Asian Pacific] culture, politics, community, food, dance and music throughout the week.”

However, the concept of a concluding Night Market is new for the Asian Pacific Culture Week.

History Professor Omnia El Shakry discusses Arab art

“The Night Market is the culminating event of the week, it is like the grand finale,” Garg said.

“We have had other Friday night events like a talent performance, but we decided to be a little more creative and come up with something new. This year we are having the Night Market outside the International Center, which will also have a comedy show inside the International Center.”

There will also be performances from a UC Davis Hawaiian and Polynesian dance group as well as a comedy performance during the Night Market by Jenny Yang and D’Lo from Disoriented Comedy.

“Expect the same [political charge] as Hasan Minhaj from the comedy show,” Garg said.

Volunteers have been recruited for help in preparing for the event.

“I assist the coordinators with anything they need help with, which is mostly a lot of logistical work and general event planning,” said Stephanie APCN on 10

EL SHA KRY / COU RTESY

Art provides understanding, insight into other cultures

BY PA RI SAGAF I arts@theaggie.org

The California Aggie interviewed Omnia El Shakry, a professor in the Department of History, over email to find out a bit more about Arab art, its impact and its importance. El Shakry completed her B.A. in Psychology at the American University in Cairo, went on to receive an M.A. in Middle East studies at NYU and completed her Ph.D. in History at Princeton University.

“Although my own research and writing is focused on Arab Intellectual History, I have always had a longstanding interest in the Visual Arts, and became truly inspired to write about the visual culture of the Arab world after a rooftop screening of Hassan Khan’s Tabla Dubb in Cairo,” El Shakry said.

Professor El Shakry is teaching two courses this Spring Quarter: “Middle East from 1914” and “Middle East/South Asian Studies Selected Themes.” She is also a founding member of the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program at UC Davis.

The Aggie: How, and why, do you incorporate art into your curriculum?

Professor El Shakry: I integrate the visual arts very widely into my teaching, both in my Modern World History and in my Modern Middle East History courses. The Arab artists and filmmakers that I most enjoy thinking with alongside my students are: Ali Cherri (Lebanon), Hassan Khan (Egypt), and DAAR-Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (Palestine).

Art enables us not only to grasp complexity when thinking about contemporary politics, but also to feel something about it, to actually have an affective and not just an intellectual response.

The Aggie: Could you please briefly explain why you believe that projects/exhibitions/events like “Unfixed Itineraries...” are important to the Middle Eastern community? Would you like to see an event like this take place at UC Davis? What was your involvement like in “Unfixed Itineraries...”?

The Spokes, UC Davis’ first all-female a cappella choir, held their 13th annual HellaCappella showcase at the Mondavi Center on Friday, April 21. The night featured several well-known college choirs from Stanford, Berkeley, USC, UC Santa Cruz and Oregon.

The nearly sold-out 1,800 seat show took several months of advanced planning to put on. The Spokes spend most of the year fundraising and practicing for the show.

“We start planning in September as far as reserving the Mondavi Center goes,” said Amanda Beardsley, a fourth-year psychology major and president and choreographer of The Spokes. “We also try to find groups we want to perform, as well as find a repertoire of songs we want to perform for this year’s show.”

Between singing, dancing and coordinating the event, the past few weeks have been extremely chaotic for the group.

“The past two weeks has been a lot of cramming all of the choreo we have learned,” said Mary Grafilo, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and the musical arranger of The Spokes. “I think we’ve been losing sleep, but as much as we are scared, we are having lots of fun.”

The Spokes is made up of 13 female singers, all of whom juggle academics and extracurriculars along with preparing for this annual showcase.

“I’ve had at least three nightmares about HellaCappella and it’s my first one,” said Sarah Kadlec, a first-year undeclared humanities major and new member of The Spokes.

Students, faculty, staff, families and friends from all over Davis and surrounding areas attend the event every year.

“We work really hard to get a lot of the student population to see our show, and also the Davis

community,” Beardsley said. “That is one of the cool things about HellaCappella, we are able to have so many people come, and at the same time we are able to do it with just 12 to 14 girls year after year.”

Two of the Spokes’ boyfriends M.C.’d the night.

After opening with a few jokes, the female powerhouses took the stage, wearing their signature black and hot-pink attire. Starting in a tableau, the group opened the night with a version of “Move Like U Stole It,” originally done by ZZ Ward. The crowd went wild with clapping, screaming and cheers.

With The Spokes’ saucy take on modern hits, Berkeley’s classic jazz tunes, Stanford’s original compositions taking stabs at Cal, Oregon’s rendition of Earth, Wind and Fire, Santa Cruz’s quirky takes on indie tunes, and USC’s Indian twists, it was a night full of variety.

Even within The Spokes’ set, styles varied from song to song.

“This year we have four different arrangers, so each song you hear a different kind of style,” Grafilo said. “Not only in genre, but with the person arranging it.”

After intermission, the show continued with more amazing back-to-back performances from each group. The Spokes ended the night with a sweet farewell to their senior members. They rejoiced about the good and bad times they have gone through over the years, and how they have been there through it all. They made it apparent just how close the group is.

The Spokes finished the night off with a performance of “Freedom” by Beyonce, arranged by senior member Mary Grafilo. It was a strong performance full of confidence and enthusiasm.

This year’s HellaCappella performance brought energy, passion and love to the stage. The night portrayed just how close and hard-working the college a cappella community is on the West Coast.

Professor El Shakry: I was one of the co-organizers of Unfixed Itineraries: Film and Visual Culture from Arab Worlds, alongside Peter Limbrick from the Film and Digital Media Program at UCSC. At the symposium, we brought together artists and filmmakers from the Arab world and paired them with academic scholars and curators from the U.S. in order to engage in scholarly and critical debates with cultural producers (rather than just “about” them). In addition, we did screenings of a number of films (in conjunction with the Berkeley Art Museum) and video installations (in conjunction with the Sesnon Art Gallery, UCSC). This enabled us to show a large number of works by artists from Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. Although UCSC hosted the event, we did have other scholars from UC Davis in addition to myself—Susette Min and Sunaina Maira from Asian American Studies, both of whom have written about and/or curated artistic production from the region.

I can honestly say that it was one of the most fulfilling academic and creative endeavors I have ever participated in. I would absolutely love to see a follow up event take place at UC Davis, ideally in conjunction with the Shrem Museum, and I believe we would garner a tremendous local response both from the campus community and the wider Davis community.

So why a focus on art in the Arab world? The Arab world is oftentimes and increasingly in the news and on people’s minds. But what would it mean to think about the Arab world not merely in terms of a series of wars and conflicts? How might we understand the region in terms of artistic movements and forms of expression that intersect with wider cultural, social, and political forces? How can we explore Arab visual culture and the multiple trajectories (aesthetic, transregional, multilingual and political) within which it is made, experienced, pondered, and discussed? Further, if in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, hope is, as I like to say, a revolutionary sentiment, then art can provide both affective and philosophical insights into as yet unlived and uncertain futures, of life in the aftermath of a “surpassing disaster,” to paraphrase the work of artist Jalal Toufic.

GRAND OPENING! WED. APRIL 19 C E P S

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NATIVE AMERICAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

through Western education, but these wrongdoings central to American history are often overlooked in school curricula.

“They’re not taught, they’re not acknowledged and I think that’s really hurtful because they grow up feeling inferior to society,” Martinez-Garcia said. “Why would they want to pursue a higher education if they’re inferior?”

Martinez-Garcia compared the resources available on campus to that of the community college she previously attended, College of Alameda. “[Alameda] didn’t have all these resources, they didn’t have all these classes,” Martinez-Garcia said.

“Over here, they have a lot more resources and they’re a lot more open-minded to new ideas, and I think that’s a good thing that Davis has because they’re able to go a bit above and beyond.”

The new Native American Student Success Center, opened on April 10, has been a landmark advance in providing appropriate resources to Native and Indigenous students on campus.

“Before the center, it was harder to find those hubs where you can come together and talk about your experiences or how somebody was disrespectful to you because of who you are as an Indigenous person,” said Deserea Langley, a third-year Native American studies graduate student and a member of the Paiute Shoshone tribe from Susanville Indian Rancheria, a reservation located in Lassen County.

Desiree Negrette, a third-year psychology and Native American studies double major and a member of the Shoshone and Paiute tribes as well as a member of the Te-Moak Band of Western Shoshones of Nevada, added that many new faces have become visible in the community as a result of the center.

As an officer for five different Native American student groups, Negrette said that while she appreciates the resources offered to Native students, she sometimes finds that those within the Native American Studies Department can be isolated.

“We’re in the same jobs, the same clubs and [...] it just feels like there’s a lack of support from administration and even a lot of professors,” Negrette said. “The Native American studies department here on campus is very welcoming and supportive but just outside of that it feels like we’re in a weird bubble. I feel like there a lot of people who don’t know that there is a Native community here on campus.”

Other Native and Indigenous students agree with Negrette, but believe that their visibility has increased with on campus events such as the Powwow hosted on April 15, the opening of the new center and especially the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline movement.

“The movement with Standing Rock wasn’t just

a issue of tribal sovereignty, it wasn’t just an issue of social and environmental justice [...] it was a movement for all humans,” Growing Thunder said. “We had so many student activists rise up and challenge capitalism, challenge the oil industry, and really engage in it as our future leaders. Because that’s what we’re doing here. Being at UC Davis is a big deal because we’re the next leaders of this country.

Right now, more than ever, we need to be united.

We need to support one another, no matter where we come from.”

Langley recalled how during the Standing Rock protests, the presidential election had spurred hate speech on campus, leading to graffiti on Hart Hall that read “Build A Wall.” She said that it was a representation of the type of negativity Native and Indigenous students face on a daily basis.

Langley and other Native and Indigenous students battle the pervasive stereotypes of their people daily, dispelling the common western conception that all Natives are akin to those in Disney’s Pocahontas in courses like NAS 1.

“A lot of times this is the first time people have ever left home and they’ve never taken a Native American studies [class] before,” Langley said.

“You’re like, okay let’s talk about stereotypes and then you kind of have them look at you and you’re like, ‘Do I fit this representation? No, I don’t.’ I don’t live in a teepee, I don’t live on the rez. I’m not dressed up in like my buckskins or [...] have my hair in braids all the time.”

Martinez-Garcia has been confronted similarly by peers, making her insecure about her Indigenous identity.

“When I come and tell them I’m Indigenous, then they’ll be like, [...] ‘Do you still practice this tradition, do you still do this, do you still do that?’”

Martinez-Garcia said. “People always want to question your authenticity, people want to sit there and question you, but sometimes it’s not really about [that]. You kind of feel who you are. You can’t keep questioning them and asking them why.”

Though its members come from a myriad of different backgrounds, tribes and knowledge of their culture’s traditions, the Native and Indigenous community unites over a common struggle to succeed against the odds of history, bearing the diverse experiences of their ancestors not only for themselves, their homes and their families, but for their entire communities.

“I don’t think my journey has been easy, but it’s been workable with the right amount of resources I’ve received,” Martinez-Garcia said. “But I think it’s all about acknowledging where you come from, taking your experiences and creating something that will benefit the future generations and something that will make you feel whole again.”

GRAD SLAM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

fication.”

Fish recalls the competition as an exciting experience that introduced her to new people and research outside of her department.

“It was great meeting other graduate students who are passionate about their work and and communicating their science,” Fish said. “I think sometimes it can get lost in translation because you get so invested in your own work and you forget to zoom out and connect with other people around you. It was really nice meeting people outside of my department [...] who are doing great things in their fields.”

The UC Grad Slam Finals will take place on May 4 in San Francisco and can be live-streamed on the Grad Slam’s official website. UC President Janet Napolitano

will emcee the competition, which will be judged by a panel of leaders in industry, media, government and higher education, according to Beechum.

The winner of the final round will receive a grand prize of $5,000.

Westreich’s plan of action is to continue practicing and to revise parts of his pitch that did not seem to flow well during the UC Davis round. He looks forward to representing UC Davis and hopes to take home the event’s grand prize.

“It’s been a really great experience so far,” Westreich said. “I always love not just doing the work, which involves me sitting by myself in the lab, but getting out and sharing my research with people and hopefully encouraging them to get excited about it too.”

KOHLMOOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

the Big West Championship tournament that will be hosted at Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis, starting on April 28.

The Aggie sat down with Kohlmoos to ask her about the stellar season she is having, her journey as a player and how she feels about the team this year.

You have caught a lot of attention in the athletic world for the career year you are having. Has this season so far been a blast for you? Or have you found it to be more of a challenge with all of the talented teams you are facing?

I think it’s been fun because it’s been more challenging. I’ve gotten a lot more experience in games as opposed to the last two years I have been here, so that’s helped a lot. Every day is so much fun and I learn so much every day.

You’ve been a consistent scorer for this team over the years, with 30-plus goals in each of your first two seasons. How have you made the jump this year to scoring over 60 goals now? What do you think made the difference?

Like [I mentioned] in the last question, being on the team for two years, I learned a lot and I didn’t play as much as I have been playing this year, so the playing time [this season] has definitely helped with that. But gaining the experience the last two years and going up against these tough opponents has really prepared me for this year and playing against the tough competition we’ve faced so far. And also my teammates are amazing, and they’re so strong, so just playing against them every day [in practice] has made me a lot better.

How did it feel to be awarded Big West Conference Player of the Week back in February for your incredible performance at the Aggie Shootout? What does that award mean to you?

It felt really good. I had no idea I was even nominated that week, so I got a text from my coach on Wednesday. She’s like, ‘Congrats!’ and I was like ‘For what?!’ So I had to actually go look. So that felt really good. It’s definitely really nice to get acknowledged by the conference for something that I have been working toward every day in practice, and it’s just also something that really helps me visualize and see how my hard work is paying off.

Scoring a lot of goals is something that is not all that new to you – you scored 152 back when you were a senior at Granada.

Do you think that the skills you harnessed in high school have helped you find success here? Or has it been a completely different game at the college level where you have had to alter your play?

High school really helped prepare me to be ready to fill a leadership role, in that sense.

The girls I was playing with — it was a whole mix — it taught me to adapt to certain situations being on that high school team and really be creative with how I played. So coming here, it was definitely kind of a shock to be on a team with some of the best girls in the country. Being at Granada really prepared me mentally to come here. But physically, I would have not gotten to where I am today without the girls that have been on this team the last three years.

Your fellow junior, Paige Virgil, is close behind you in goals scored this season and was also a conference player of the week.

Do you guys have any special relationship as leaders of this team and as offensive threats?

She’s a badass. Paige and I get along really well outside the pool as well as inside the pool, so that really helps translate. I think it’s super important where, if you’re friends with someone outside of the pool, the chemistry shows in the pool. I think Paige and I, as soon as we got here, we kind of clicked offensively.

She’s such a big threat outside that she can draw defenders to her like that. But at the same time, if I’m working and digging down at set, it really helps to open her up too if they’re trying to drop back on me.

I know the conference championships are coming up fast. How is the team and how are you specifically preparing in order to finish this year off strong?

Two days a week we’re coming just for an hour of conditioning and that has been a tremendous help at getting us physically in shape for that tournament. Also, just going into it we’ve been watching a lot of game film and seeing what the patterns are with some of our opponents. It also helps that we can look back on our conference games from the last couple weeks and see how we can attack certain teams in different ways to gain the advantage in the conference tournament play.

And also, we’ve been really focused on trying to maintain positive attitudes in the water because positivity goes a long way. We have to approach this tournament like we’re going to win it. We can’t go into it thinking, ‘Uh… I don’t know, maybe…’ No, we have to go in like, ‘We got this. We’re gonna going to NCAA’s,’ which is what we really want.”

TRANSFER ATHLETES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

PANCREAS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

An incorporated fluorescence protein was added so that scientists could label specific cell type. In this method, the stained tissue can be isolated and it is still alive.

The immature beta cell was observed in both mice and human tissue, prompting the idea that these cells could be conserved in other species as well, although it has not been confirmed.

Analyzing and organizing the genetic data collected can be accomplished in multiple ways.

Regarding the context of Huising and colleagues’ particular questions, the interest mostly lied in identifying the genetic components that underlie the behavior of the immature beta cell.

“I used a computational approach to explore the differences between immature and fully mature beta cells, as well as the alpha transdifferentiate cells,” said Alexander Mawla, an author of the study and a UC Davis integrative genetics and genomics graduate student.

Not only does this this new population have the potential to serve as a replenishing source of the affected beta cells in type I diabetes, but they can also help understand the condition of cells with those of type II diabetes.

“The field used to think that beta cells in type II diabetes die, but more recent insight suggests that

they regress into a state that is no longer functional,” Huising said. “And because these cells are still around, it gives us an opportunity to see if we can coax these cells back into functional cells.”

The immature beta cells may also help to develop stem cell therapies, since stem cells are undifferentiated and capable of developing into a wide range of other cells. “[The immature beta cell population] gives us a blueprint on how we can make functional beta cells from stem cells,” Huising said.

Currently, growing real beta cells from stem cells has proven difficult because they are missing some traits and the full functionality that standard beta cell have.

Although much information is provided to the public with regard to managing and preventing diabetes, such as the CDC website, its widespread prevalence is cause for further research.

In order to advance human health, it is essential that researchers publish and share their findings with the wider community.

“People reading this [publication] can understand how the biology performed in labs can be applied to health issues such as diabetes,” Liu said. “[As well as] applying their scientific knowledge to help studying this disease, and others as well.”

back as far as making checks and making audibles and all that. Other than that, same game [...] A little bit bigger guys, a little bit faster, but nothing you can’t handle. It’s a little bit of a bigger stage.”

For Diaz, the most noticeable difference wasn’t the game, but rather the changes in academics.

The transition to UC Davis also included transitioning to a quarter system.

“The biggest [difference], I want to say, is the school,” Diaz said. “At Napa, you don’t really have to worry about school. And then here, you actually have to be at school every

day, you have to study, every day homework.

And then just the level, [it’s a] day and night difference.”

Transferring to UC Davis for their junior years, all four athletes had to make both the athletic and academic transition.

“For me, it was always a God thing,” Dale said. “He has a plan for us, so I’m on that. I trust in His process in my life.”

Perry, like the other athletes, doesn’t regret the path she chose.

“I think financially and academically, even athletically, it was one of the best decisions I could have made,” Perry said.

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 | 15

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

BACKSTOP AN H -T R A M B U I / AGGI E

Inside the Game:

Greta Kohlmoos UC Davis water polo star discusses recordbreaking season

BY DOMINIC FARIA sports@theaggie.org

Some call her “Greta the Great.” Others call her “Greata.” But you can just call her Greta. For junior center Greta Kohlmoos, scoring goals is almost second nature.

Netting an explosive 62 this season, Kohlmoos has tied her goal total from her first two seasons combined and is currently the seventh all-time goal-scorer in UC Davis water polo history. With plenty more games left in her career, she still has the potential to climb even further up the record ladder to potentially become one of the most prolific players to compete in a UC Davis uniform.

Kohlmoos possesses all the tools that make for a terrific water polo player. In the pool she is aggressive and gritty on the attack,

JAY G E LV E ZO N / AG G I E

From JC to UC A look at UC Davis athletes who first played at junior college level

BY L IZ JACOBSON sports@theaggie.org

A handful of UC Davis’ athletes have not spent their entire collegiate careers at UC Davis, instead competing for their first two years at a junior college (JC). Although each athlete has different reasons for

taking the path from a JC to a UC, oftentimes their experiences prove similar.

Senior quarterback Brock Dale first played football at Long Beach City College. After not getting enough looks right out of high school, Dale chose to go the junior college route and was later recruited to UC Davis by former assistant coach Kevin Daft.

“For me, it was that I wanted to play Division I football,” Dale said. “I wanted to play with the best talent I could possibly play against, whether it was Division I, DII, DIII, whatever it was, but I always thought that I could play at this level […] It ended up being a really good choice.”

Dale was attracted to UC Davis for multiple reasons, one of which being he loved the campus.

“I came up for a visit and loved what I saw,” Dale said. “So I decided that this was the best option for me, especially with academics and the football side.

I knew the program was on the up and up, we’re getting better everyday, and with the academics paired with that, you know you’re going to have a successful career after you’re done here with all the connections, the alumni and all that.”

Baseball’s senior catcher Ignacio Diaz was recruited out of Napa Valley College. After sustaining an injury that didn’t allow enough at-bats during his

penetrating deep into the heart of the opposing team’s defense while using her strength and savviness to hold her threatening position close to the goal. She is fierce and intelligent on and off the ball, demonstrating an excellent feel for the game. She is a decisive swimmer, knowing exactly where to position herself to get the ball, where her teammates are and, of course, where the net is.

On dry land, Kohlmoos is approachable, outgoing and downright friendly. Her radiant positivity and amiable personality makes it impossible not to smile and laugh along with her, making it easy to forget her level of intensity when in the water. She is a prime example of a team leader, one who always praises her teammates and is committed to the success of her team.

With one final game to play, Kohlmoos and her squad are 1516 this season. The team is set to compete as the fourth seed in

senior year of high school, Diaz had to compete against 75 other players for a spot on the community college’s 35-man roster. Like many other JC athletes, it was up to him to catch the attention of a four-year university — in this case, UC Davis.

“It’s actually pretty funny because my best friend [...] called Coach [Matt] Vaughn and we made a video together, and the next day Coach Vaughn was at my game,” Diaz said. “I remember having a pretty good game. I guess he liked it! In a couple weeks, [former assistant coach Tony Schifano] was there, and that’s when he was like, ‘yeah, you’re on our team.’”

UC Davis women’s water polo senior attacker Emily Perry and senior goalie Avery Dotterer were both recruited out of American River College (ARC).

The teammates have been playing together since high school and were friends for years prior, although their motivations for playing water polo at ARC differed.

“I have always planned on playing water polo at the collegiate level,” Dotterer said. “I just felt like it would be silly not to since [...] I had worked really hard in high school and I really wanted that hard work to pay off somewhere later down the road.

I thought that going to a JC and training for two more extra years was going to give me the edge that I

KOHLMOOS on 14

needed and it also gave me time to think about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to study.”

Perry was planning to attend a four-year university and not pursue a collegiate athletic career, but her coach at the time convinced her otherwise.

“My high school coach, who was going to coach at the JC that I ended up going to, convinced me that I would regret not playing water polo in college and going this route would be better for me in the long run and I would get to go to UC Davis, which is where I wanted to go for academics,” Perry said.

Both Perry and Dotterer echoed Diaz, saying that they had to present themselves as options for the UC Davis women’s water polo team.

“They don’t really look at community colleges, so you really have to advocate for yourself,” Perry said.

“Luckily we had two really great coaches at ARC who really advocated for us.”

Despite playing different sports for UC Davis, each athlete has noticed differences in the caliber of playing, but maintain that the game is the same game no matter where an athlete plays.

“First, it was the playbook,” Dale said. “There’s a lot more complexities, more control for the quarterTRANSFER ATHLETES on 14

16 | THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

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