THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE
SERVING THE UC DAVIS CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY SINCE 1915
VOLUME 133, ISSUE 10 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2013
BRIAN NGUYEN / AGGIE
MELISSA DITTRICH & JORDYN MAY
campus@theaggie.org
Freeborn Hall, an on-campus lecture hall and event venue, is to be renovated due to necessary seismic updates. The hall is in critical condition and renovations need to be done as soon as possible. It is likely to close down for renovations in summer 2014. “After being looked at again this summer, it was decided that Freeborn
Hall needed to be seismically renovated. It is hardly safe enough for the uses it has now. According to code, it should not be used as a lecture hall. It is barely within legal parameters,” said ASUCD Senator Miles Thomas. A significant problem with shutting Freeborn down temporarily is the loss of a massive lecture hall on campus. Freeborn Hall can seat 1,800 people and losing this space will cause major issues for professors and students. There are
COURTESY
no other spaces on campus that could seat large classes and the new California Lecture Hall is not scheduled to open until fall of 2017. “Student government is trying to figure out where we would put these lectures. The hall may stay open through the summer because of this issue,” Thomas said. The future for Freeborn Hall is currently uncertain. Prices for renovation will cost $10 million to $13 million.
The renovation would include steel stabilizers and would make the hall earthquake-safe. Demolishing the building and replacing it would cost $20 million to $30 million. The UC Davis administration is in favor of creating a whole new building that may not have the same function Freeborn Hall currently has. Administration considered turning the buildfreeborn on 9
DCEA rejects DCEA rejects proposed proposedhealth, health, retirement cuts retirement cuts James Kim / Aggie
Vice president of Warner Bros. visits alma mater Alumnus considers ASUCD involvement vital to career
Davis City Council votes to pass on issue for second time VALENTINA NAKIC campus@theaggie.org
ELI FLESCH features@theaggie.org
Michael Chang is the Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Warner Bros. He is also a UC Davis alumnus who attributes his future success in part to campus involvement. Recently, he and his wife, also an alumna, brought their family back to town hoping to encourage their daughter to apply and attend. Chang graduated in 1992 with a degree in international relations, and UC Davis and ASUCD were integral in shaping Chang personally and academically. He cites the ASUCD Lobby Corps as one of the most influential enterprises in his time at the university. “I was part of the internal affairs … our job was to help knock on doors and advise the administration on key issues that affected students back in those days,” Chang said. These issues included managing budget cuts, tuition increases and the acceptance of gays and lesbians in Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) programs. The vital nature of these issues made Lobby Corps a very special program to Chang. “My biggest fear was that I would be a loner,” Chang said. “I was not comfortable in my own skin having come to this country not speaking a word of English.” Overcoming this struggle was a natural process. As alumnus on 12
The Davis City Employees Association (DCEA) hasn’t received a salary raise since 2009, and simultaneously rejected retirement and healthcare cuts proposed by the City of Davis. During the Nov. 19 Davis City Council meeting, the City of Davis voted for the second time in two years to pass on the issue. As a result, the DCEA reports no longer having sufficient incentive to pursue further negotiation. In 2009, all city bargaining units were due to renew their agreements with the city, with respect to salary raises, healthcare and retiree benefits. The city proposed that city units pay their own CalPERS contribution (seven percent of annual income) and reduce monthly cash out to $500, in exchange for a 12.5 percent salary increase over several years. Most of the groups agreed, with the exception of DCEA
representatives. Arguing that their constituents would still suffer from decreased income following the proceedings, they didn’t agree to the proposal and consequently haven’t received any scheduled raises. This is along with the addition of the CalPERS payment. The DCEA represents City of Davis employees in jobs such as public works maintenance, water systems, custodial, park and road maintenance, electrician and mechanic. Dave Owen, president of the DCEA, said that there is nothing left to gain and the DCEA only stands to lose more retirement benefits and health cash out. “They’ve stripped everything out of our benefits that they wanted. The only thing they didn’t get was the only thing they couldn’t take, which is retiree/medical benefits,” Owen said. “They said they’re constrained financially and that their hands are tied in terms of what they can do for us financially
with raises to offset the fees.” “ME TOO” CLAUSES HINDER NEGOTIATIONS
Approximately $1.2 million will be paid to make DCEA whole for the legal proceedings and city’s initial rebuff in 2012. The total reparations made were $2.46 million, with the rest going to other bargaining units included in the Favored Nations clauses. Under the Favored Nations clauses, commonly known as “Me Too” clauses, if a bargaining unit receives a good deal, the other units can upgrade their benefits to the same level. With the clauses, there is an incentive to piggyback on other unrelated bargaining units. The City of Davis defended the “Me Too” clauses as a way to remain equitable and avoid penalizing groups for cooperating earlier. Ken Akins, the attorney for DCEA, held a strong position against the “Me Too” clauses. employees on 9