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serving the uc davis campus and community since 1915
www.theaggie.org
volume 131, number 87
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012
$1 million pepper spray settlement calls for collaborative university reform Chancellor to issue personal apologies to plaintiffs By ROHIT RAVIKUMAR Aggie News Writer
Shazib Haq / Aggie
On Sept. 26, local attorney Mark Merin spoke to the press on the UC Davis Quad regarding the pepper spray settlement. The settlement between the University of California includes a $1,000,000 payout, a personal apology to the students pepper sprayed and policy changes regarding free speech.
ASUCD and CALPIRG hold voter registration drive on campus AggiesVote promotes new online voter registration tools for students
Brian Nguyen / Aggie
ASUCD senator Bradley Bottoms helps fourth-year mechanical engineering student Hannah Zhu register to vote for the first time.
By STEPHANIE B. NGUYEN Aggie News Writer
Registering to vote is now easier than ever with the launch of online voter registration in California that began Sept. 19. With the national presidential elections in November quickly approaching, ASUCD and California Public Interest Group (CALPIRG) have joined forces to promote and facilitate voter registration among UC Davis undergraduates with AggiesVote. The students behind AggiesVote hope to register
Today’s weather Sunny High 99 Low 55
as many students as possible, and in recent weeks AggiesVote has been a widespread force around campus, tabling at the dining commons, on the Quad and at various welcome week events. The coalition also hopes to expand their reach by partnering with student groups and Greek organizations in the coming weeks. “College students are some of the most politically active and well-informed participants in our democracy, but they're also very busy and occasionally let things like registration slip through the cracks,” said ASUCD senator and fifth-year
See VOTE, page 2
Students, alumni and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys gathered on the UC Davis Quad Sept. 26 to discuss a recent settlement between the University and the plaintiffs of last November’s pepper spray incident. The settlement, approved by the UC Board of Regents in a mid-September meeting, would distribute $1 million: $630,000 to the 21 plaintiffs, $250,000 to be split between their attorneys, $100,000 to be put aside for individuals who were pepper sprayed but have yet to come forward and $20,000 to the ACLU in exchange for collaborative work on university reform. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi will also issue personal apologies to each person who was pepper sprayed. At the conference, plaintiffs gathered to share their experiences from last November. “Nightmares, waking up screaming, anxiety [and] panic attacks all came, and it just wasn’t with me,” said UC Davis alumna Fatima Sbeih, who was a student last November. In addition, the settlement will bring collaboration between UC Davis and the ACLU on a series of reforms. “I know the $1 million figure got a lot of attention, but we think it’s important that the community see that our reforms and policies will have the benefit of a very respected organization, the ACLU,” said Barry Shiller, executive director of strategic communications at UC Davis. The first reform is a complete internal reorganization of the police department, a process which began with Police Chief Annette Spicuzza’s resignation on April 18 and her re-
See PEPPER, page 2
Absurd Publications pushes full steam ahead Unexpected success buoys company
By ANDREW POH Aggie News Writer
In May, the new student-run press Absurd Publications had yet to print a book. Four months later, it’s sitting on a monthly reading series at The Avid Reader, a self-printed anthology titled “All the Vegetarians in Texas Have Been Shot,” two prints of a small creative journal titled “The Oddity” and radio airtime on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight.” “When we first began, we had grand plans: a final printed book to be sold in bookstores, a place in which to host our own readings, a connection enough with the community to publish a monthly journal — a sort of ‘mini-anthology,’” said Evan White, co-founder of Absurd Publications. “And, in every case, we've been successful. I don't pretend to know how any of it happened.” Other co-founder of Absurd Publications Corey La Rue said the press was conceived at UC Davis. “It was a community project really — born in the hot halls of Voorhies last year in a poetry class taught by Dr. [Andy] Jones,” La Rue said. “That class really changed everything, and we took away a lot with us. One day I approached Evan after class at a Starbucks and was like, ‘Hey you wanna start a
courtesy
press?’ and the rest is history.” The entire process has not been an easy one, according to White and La Rue. They realized early on that making the books would be taxing, both mentally and financially. In fact, after all the equipment had been bought, the company only had $20 left of their seed money. Absurd Publications is currently run entirely in the apartment that La Rue and White share together, with a steady stream of friends
helping to smooth out any bumps they may encounter along the way. Though White and La Rue had come into the business imagining that they wouldn’t turn any profit, time has shown that there may just be a little gold in it after all. “In the beginning we told ourselves, ‘We're making a book of short fiction, which there's almost no money in. We're also going to include poetry too, which there is
See ABSURD, page 3
News iN Brief
ASUCD to host congressional candidate forum On Oct. 8, Rep. John Garamendi will join the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD) in a congressional candidate
Forecast I guess global warming is real, right? Written by Amanda Nguyen Weather report courtesy of www.weather.com
forum from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Student Community Center. Students are encouraged to attend and ask questions at the forum as the City of Davis read-
Wednesday
Thursday
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ies itself to vote for a new representative in November. — Claire Tan
Alpha Kappa Psi, a co-ed professional business fraternity at UC Davis, encourages you to start now in investing in your future, in investing in yourself. Join our Fall Rush 2012 on Facebook and check out www.davisakpsi.org for more info! Valerie Francisco