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volume 131, number 7
thursday, january 19, 2012
House bill could restrict access to scientific journals Federal institutions would need publisher permission to distribute By AMY STEWART Aggie Science Editor
The Research Works Act, a bill introduced to the House of Representatives by Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-49), proposes to keep federal agencies from distributing privately or publicly funded scientific research without the consent of the publishers. The bill, formally called HR-3699, states, “No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work.” The bill further defines “private-sector research work” as research that could be funded by taxpayers, as long as a publisher includes a “value-added contribution, including peer review and editing.” The Research Works Act could put more control over ac-
cess and fees of papers to publishers of scientific journals, an idea opposed by open access advocates. “The bill is a disgrace,” said Jonathan Eisen, a professor in the departments of evolution and ecology, microbiology and immunology and the Genome Center at UC Davis. “It should be trashed entirely.” Eisen is an advocate of open access publishing in the scientific community. Open access to scientific research involves unrestricted access and unrestricted reuse. “Right now not only do taxpayers pay for the research, they also pay the salaries of the scientists/doctors to do the work, and they pay for scientists and others to review and edit publications,” Eisen said. “It is ludicrous that then some publishers take those publications and restrict access to them.” According to Eisen, if this bill passes, it could increase costs to individuals and to institutions such as UC Davis to access these papers. UC Davis currently sub-
scribes to about 52,000 journals, which gives students and faculty access to electronic copies of the papers published within them. However, the high cost of some journals keeps those publications from the UC Davis subscription list. “This new law basically means that they [the publishers] will have full control over everything that’s been published and they can raise the prices to whatever they want, which will mean only the wealthiest institutions can have the luxury of buying all of those journals in order to read it,” said Daniel Melters, a senior biochemical, molecular, cellular and developmental biology graduate student. Melters also supports open access publishing, but is mostly concerned with taxpayers’ ability to access scientific research that was paid for with public money. “I am all in favor of private companies making money in relation to scientific publishing, but they
See BILL, page 8
Irisa Tam / Aggie
Meet the Regents
UC Davis reacts to UC Berkeley’s middle-income aid plan
First UC Regents meeting of the year takes place at UC Riverside
No specific plan in the works yet By SARA ISLAS Aggie News Writer
By MAX GARRITY RUSSER Aggie News Writer
The University of California Regents met Wednesday and are reconvening today at UC Riverside for their first of six yearly meetings. Topics for discussion include the regents’ yearly diversity report and the amount of private fiscal support the UC system brought in last year, which totaled $1.6 billion, a $250 million increase from last year. “A big topic we will be talking about is how the UC system fared in Gov. Brown’s budget proposal,” said UC Student Regent Alfredo Mireles. A 26-member board comprises the UC Regents. Eighteen members are appointed by the governor for 12-year terms, one student regent is appointed by the sitting board members for a single-year term and seven are ex-officio members, which include UC President Mark Yudof. The regents come from a variety of backgrounds. For example, Chair Sherry Lansing is the CEO of Paramount Pictures, Eddie Island is a retired attorney and Odessa Johnson is Dean Emerita of Community Education at Modesto Junior College. Two UC faculty members sit as non-voting members as chair and vice-chair of the Academic Council. “Each Regent serves on four out of the ten committees and their work is primarily in the context of the committees they’re in, with the chair of each committee naturally being the leader, who helps shape the direction of the work that the committee does,” Mireles said. When it comes to UC budgetary issues, UC Davis Budget Director Chris Carter said in an email interview that most budget-related issues that come before the board are university-wide issues. “The Regents directly approve tuition and student services fee levels charged to all UC students. They also approve some additional fees charged across the UC system: e.g. Nonresident Supplemental Tuition and Supplemental Professional Degree Tuition,” said Carter. “Campus-based student fees are generally handled at the campus level. As state support for the UC has declined in recent years and student fees have increased, the importance of student fees to the campus budget has increased. The current year marks the first at UC Davis in which student fee revenues exceed the state support coming to the campus,” Carter said. Mireles said that the regents support individual campuses’ making many of their own dayto-day decisions. “You won’t find the Regents telling, for example, UC Davis really specific things that should be handled by UC Davis administrators. We work on things that affect the entire UC community,” he said. Only the President of the UC Regents, Gov. Jerry Brown, receives pay for being a member of the board. A student regent’s UC tuition and fees are waived during their time on the board. “For a lot of Regents, it costs them money to serve,” Mireles said. Spokeswoman for the University of California Dianne Klein said that the next meeting of the regents is set for Mar. 27 to 29 at UC San Francisco and is expected to have large UC student involvement. MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
Today’s weather Rain High 51 Low 43
Since UC Berkeley’s initiation of the Middle Class Access Plan last month, UC-wide administration has placed the possible reworking of financial aid at the forefront of conversation. UC Berkeley’s plan attempts to halt the decrease of middle-income students by capping tuition costs for families who make between $80,000 and $140,000 annually at 15 percent of their household income. Any remaining tuition costs after their 15 percent contribution will be funded by UCB. Financial accomodation has tried UC leaders since tuition started rising more quickly a decade ago. In that time, tuition tripled and California students began contributing more money to their public education than the state subsidizes. State and nationwide financial aid only supports students whose families make less than $80,000 annually. UC Office of the President (UCOP) reports show a six to nine percent decline in students with annual family incomes between $99,000 and $148,000, while students with annual incomes on the lower and higher ends of these numbers increased. Kathryn Maloney, the Director of UC Davis’s Financial Aid Office, said that the drop in middle class students is a reflection of the transitioning ratio between income and tuition. “Financial aid is supposed to cover students who can’t afford tuition due to low annual family incomes,” Maloney said. “But now tuition is too expensive for many students who have annual incomes too high to qualify for need-based financial aid.”
Maloney said every UC is going to be looking at enacting a plan like this, especially to accommodate rising numbers of students. Applications to the UC system rose 13 percent this year, according to UC officials. Meanwhile, tuition is expected to rise 16 percent annually for the next four years. “I think it’s awesome that UC Berkeley is putting its money where its mouth is,” Maloney said. “The middle-income group is the one we struggle to accommodate the most; they never get ‘good money,’ only loans. I would love to initiate a plan like this at Davis.” Though the diminishing middle-income population is a UC-wide problem, UC Berkeley has more middle-income students on its campus than Davis does. Davis has more low-income students; over 43 percent of Davis students receive Pell Grants, whereas only 35 percent of Berkeley students do. Maloney said that UC Berkeley felt greater urgency in providing support to middle-income students. Desire Campusano, a senior sociology and Chicana/o studies major, as well as Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi’s student advisor, said that the chancellor has dedicated much effort to raising philanthropic support so that UC Davis has more money of its own to redistribute to students who need it. She said that UC Davis doesn’t have the kind of fundraising that UC Berkeley does, but is trying to increase it. Last year, Irisa Tam / Aggie UC Davis reached record fundraising heights; donors committed to giving more than $117.6 million to the university. At the moment there is no precise plan to aid middle-income
See AID, page 8
Undergraduate course offers free textbook Music professor works to make education more accessible By Alicia Kindred Aggie News Writer
Undergraduate class Music 10 (MUS 10) is offering course readings, including an e-book, for free via SmartSite. Readings for the music appreciation course were previously offered in textbook form and are now available electronically through SmartSite for students enrolled in the class. “I was never in it for the money to begin with; everything has gone wrong for the undergraduates financially,” said D. Kern Holoman, professor of music and author of the Music 10 textbook. “This is something I could do that is a win-win for everybody. It can teach me as an author what an e-book is and how it works.” The e-book is printable for students who want to bring sections of the text to class. There is also a lending library for those who want to have a physical text in hand, Holoman said. The box set for Music 10, which includes the text, three CDs and a CD-ROM, costs around $75. The “compact edition,” which includes the text and a CD, costs around $35, Holoman said. This is not the first time that Music 10 offered an e-book in replacement of the textbook. The e-book debuted Fall 2010. “Many people have observed that there are a lot of e-books out there and not a lot of e-textbooks out there. I think the fairer priced textbook companies and music companies can make their materials, then more students will want to take the courses,” said Philip Daley, events and publicity manager for the muForecast
I hope nobody threw out their rain coats just yet because it seems that winter weather has finally arrived here in Davis! Expect the majority of the rain to happen later in the afternoon today and into the weekend. Jump in a big puddle for me! Matthew Little, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
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sic department. “I think it is a move in the right direction and hope it continues that way.” The cost of textbooks in relation to tuition increases has been a burning issue for students and faculty, Holoman said. In the 2011-12 academic year, California resident undergraduate tuition was expected to cost $15,123.36. For non-California residents, undergraduate tuition was projected at $38,001.36, according to a UC Davis “facts and figures” sheet. This does not include the price of textbooks. “I would like to see a world where the basic factual content that you learn as an undergraduate is already available. The material that reaches the students through the college professor should be available at a very fair price,” Holoman said. Music 10 will continue to teach the course with the e-book format in Spring 2012, Holoman said. “In the music department, where students have to pay for lessons, we have a lot of double majors, and oftentimes their textbooks expenses are in the hundreds of dollars. The music students that I have talked to are very grateful for having a free option. Overall, it has been positive,” Daley said. In a time where students can use websites such as Amazon. com or Slugbooks.com instead of college bookstores to find lower prices on textbooks, the e-book offers a new perspective on how students can obtain course material. “This is part of a much bigger package of what it means to be a college student and how that is changing,” Holoman said. ALICIA KINDRED can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
Wednesday was a horrid day. Please, Reddit, don’t ever leave me again.
Mimi Vo