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volume 131 number 31
monday, march 5, 2012
Students re-occupy the Quad Activists marching to the Capitol today By HANNAH STRUMWASSER
Campus News Editor
Brian Nguyen / Aggie
Students set up more tents on the Quad in preparation to receive student protesters from other campuses.
On Saturday, student protesters re-established the occupation on the Quad. Since winter break, only a few tents have remained on the Quad. Students occupied Dutton Hall at the end of Winter quarter, and then occupied the old Cross Cultural Center Building in January. “I don’t think the movement has stopped or slowed down, I think it’s a continuous thing but it has its peaks and valleys,” said a student named Johnny. In preparation for the arrival of student protesters and the 99 Mile March for Education, students had set up approximately 35 tents as of Sunday afternoon. The 99 Mile March for Education is a state-wide act of student activism. Today, stu-
dents will be marching to the Capitol to protest cuts to higher education. The re-occupation of the Quad is part of the call for action across the state of California. On Thursday, protesters held a “funeral” for higher education. In preparation for the fiveday movement, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter and Administrative and Resource ManagementVice Chancellor John A. Meyer sent an e-mail to the UC Davis community about the protests. “For many, these are difficult times. As a community, we respect the passion and energy of those seeking to create constructive economic and social change. We hope that participants in campus demonstrations will respect the rights of community members to freely engage in academic, professional and personal pursuits,” Hexter and Meyer wrote in the letter. HANNAH STRUMWASSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
UC Davis celebrates “Days of Action to Defend Public Human Rights and Education” begins with a Humanities Week mock funeral
Provost lecture this evening to discuss the Arab Spring By DANIELLE HUDDLESTUN Aggie News Writer
Today the UC Davis Human Rights Initiative will kick off its first Human Rights and Humanities week. This will be a series of separate lectures, colloquiums and symposiums, finishing Friday with the second annual Symposium on Human Rights. “I’m really happy it has come together so well. It shows the importance of studying human rights at UC Davis,” said Dr.
Participants mourn the death of public education
Keith David Watenpaugh, associate professor and director of the Human Rights Initiative. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Executive Director of Middle East and North Africa Division, Human Rights Watch, will be the keynote speaker for the Provost lecture this evening. “The important thing about the Provost lecture, is that she’ll [Whitson] give us up to date information about human rights in Syria,” Watenpaugh said. Whitson’s lecture is the main
See HUMANITIES, page 2
News iN Brief
Findings of UC Davis task force on pepper-spray incident to be released Tuesday The UC Davis task force investigating the pepper spray incident on Nov. 18 will be releasing its findings Tuesday. At noon the task force documents will be available online, and there will be a meeting to present the findings Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the UC Davis Conference Center ballroom. The task force was called for by Chancellor Linda Katehi,
and then put together by UC President Mark Yudof following the pepper-spray event on the Quad. Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Cruz Reynoso, professor emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law chaired the task force. A live webstream of the meeting will also be available at ucdavis.edu. — Hannah Strumwasser
Davis’ Ben & Jerry’s closes Those looking for a Vermonster in Davis are out of luck. Ben & Jerry’s at the Davis Commons officially shut its doors on Feb. 29 at 5 p.m., earlier than their normal closing time. A sign was posted on the store’s door thanking customers for their years of patronage and announcing its closure. Sam Hensley, operations manager of the ice cream store and former manager of the shop, said the lease was up and
Today’s weather Mostly sunny High 71 Low 45
business had dropped. “Ever since the end of the 2007-08 year, there were five to eight dessert concepts in town,” he said. “There are too many dessert options, leading to an oversaturation of the industry for the population of Davis to support.” Ben & Jerry’s first opened in Davis in 1997. Discount coupons — not free cone certificates — will be accepted at the San Francisco Ben & Jerry’s stores. — Angela Swartz
Yash Nagda / Aggie
Student protesters held a mock funeral for higher education on Thursday. Students dressed in black and marched across campus and listened to speeches from different members of the community.
By MAX GARRITY RUSSER Aggie News Writer
A mock funeral procession for the “death of public education” was held on Thursday afternoon in the Quad which included bag pipes, a drummer, “mourners” dressed in black and even a coffin. The funeral procession for public education was the first event held during the “Days of Action to Defend Public Education,” which were planned for March 1 to 5. Numerous other campuses across California and in other parts of the country are participating in the events to raise awareness and support increased funding for public education. The “Days of Action” planned at the UC Davis campus is tied with the Occupy UC Davis movement. “These budget crisis and budget cuts do affect 100 percent ofstudents and more students need to get involved,” said ASUCD Senator Kabir Kapur. “Anything we can do to raise awareness and get students involved in whatever fashion they’re willing to do it in; if it’s marching, if it’s lobbying or even writing to their legislators.” Kapur said that he planned on
Forecast After one of the nicest weekends of 2012 to date, we will once again be graced with another bout of this years pseudo-winter. The chance of precipitation on Monday night and Tuesday will most likely give us just enough rain to be a nuisance and nothing more. Alex Neigher, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
participating in more of the events following the mock funeral. An imitation minister preached to participants before the procession slowly marched around campus and then returned to the Quad. “The university is not succeeding in getting the legislators to vote [for] the funds they should,” said UC Davis alumnus Richard Seyman. “It is a slow death by attrition.” After the march, there were speakers both on the Quad and just outside the Memorial Union (MU). They cited the need for increased student participation and the raising of taxes to help counter loss of funding to public education. “For one, students have a worse off learning environment because class sizes are going up,” said graduate student of history Andrew Higgins. “The level of an education that you are getting is getting worse as you are paying more for it. We’ve seen across the board at the UCs that section numbers are going up. So for students a few years ago a section could be around 45 students, whereas now some might have 75.” Higgins also cited graduate students as being overwhelmed due
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to the lack of funding. Undergraduate student protesters also had grievances about their university experience being worsened by decreased public education funding. “Not enough people show physical support for public education,” said junior transfer student Natalie Roman. “It has affected my ability to get financial aid; my ability to take classes and not be stressed about the two jobs that I depend on for food and rent.” Higgins also noticed how students’ preferences in majors have changed as a direct reaction to the new cost of education. “One thing that I’ve noticed is that students are staying away from the liberal arts majors because they don’t see it as a viable way to pay off the debt that they are going to have when they graduate.” Most participants cited the first event as a way to raise awareness for a massive march on Sacramento today. Students from all over the state will be coming to advocate for high education at the capitol. MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@ theaggie.org.
That’s right, people. Your iPad is no longer just for your consumption - it’s for your cat too. There are several different apps developed just for your feline friend, such as Paint for Cats and Cat Fishing. So that’s what our society is coming to ... Amanda Nguyen