January 16 2020

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VOLUME 138, ISSUE 12 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

THEAGGIE.ORG

CHAIR OF MATH DEPARTMENT LIKENS UC’S DIVERSITY STATEMENTS TO 1950 ANTI-COMMUNIST OATHS IN OP-ED Following publication of piece, discussion and debate ensues

KA IT LY N PA N G / AGG IE

CITY TO ALLOCATE $1 MILLION IN GRANT MONEY TO FUND SERVICES FOR LOW-INCOME POPULATION Davis starts process to determine division of HOME and Community Development Block Grants

BY EDEN WI NNI FOR D city@theaggie.org

SYDN EE R ODR IG U EZ / AG GIE

BY JA N E L L E M A R IE SAL ANGA campus@theaggie.org Diversity statements are political litmus tests, according to an editorial notice published in the December issue of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Notices penned by Dr. Abigail Thompson, a professor in and chair of the UC Davis Mathematics Department. This notice was later expanded upon and appeared as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Both articles have drawn varying reactions — including from the chancellor — and have garnered discussion on both a campus and national level.

When The California Aggie reached out to Thompson for comment, she said she was currently swamped with requests. The College Fix recently reported that Thompson would be writing a general response about her opinion piece and what followed from it, saying that she wanted to release the statement “hopefully in the next few weeks.”

In October 2018, the UC Regents changed the Academic Personnel Manual, resulting in the

consideration of “contributions to diversity” under “Criteria for Appointment, Promotion, and Appraisal.” According to Melissa Lutz-Blouin, director of UC Davis News and Media Relations, all tenure-track faculty at UC Davis must submit a “Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” statement. The statement is scored with a rubric and factored into the hiring committee’s evaluation of candidates.

“Applications with ‘weak’ diversity statements may or may not proceed to the next step of hiring; this is left to the discretion of the recruitment committee,” Lutz-Blouin said.

In the “Knowledge” section of the College of Engineering’s diversity statement rubric, a score of 1-2 — 1 being the worst and 5 being the best — is given to applicants with “little demonstrated understanding of diversity trends” and who are “unaware of personal challenges faced by under-represented groups.” The same score, in the “Track Record” section of the rubric, is given to applicants with “no participation in activities related to diversity and advancing inclusion.” The “Plans” section of the rubric states that a 1-2

score will be given to applicants who have “vague or no statements about what they would do if hired” and whose statements “describe only activities that are already the expectation of all faculty (e.g. mentoring, treating all students the same).”

After seeing a similar rubric made public by UC Berkeley, Thompson, who is also a vice president of AMS, referred to these diversity statements as “a political test with teeth.” She said requiring faculty to submit such statements was political because it required faculty candidates to treat people differently according to their identity — a reflection of one’s belief about the way the world is organized.

“Faculty at universities across the country are facing an echo of the loyalty oath, a mandatory ‘Diversity Statement’ for job applicants,” Thompson wrote.

Chancellor Gary May and Vice Chancellor Renetta Tull wrote a response to Thompson’s comparison of diversity statements to the loyalty oath.

THOMPSON on 10

STUDENTS PAID THE MAJORITY — OR $23.5 MILLION — OF UC DAVIS’ 2018–19 ATHLETICS BUDGET Breaking down students’ contribution to UC Davis athletics

JU STIN HA N / AGGIE

UC Davis Health Stadium on the UC Davis campus. UC Davis student fees make up $23.5 million of the UC Davis 2018-19 athletics budget. (Photo by Justin Han / Aggie)

BY G RASC HEL L E FAR I ÑAS H IPO L I TO campus@theaggie.org Students at UC Davis directly fund student athletics: For 2018-19, the NCAA reported that student fees made up $23.5 million, or about 57%, of UC Davis’ athletics budget.

Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) at UC Davis receives student funding through student fees.

Separate from tuition — which sits at $11,442 for full-time undergraduates who are California residents, with an additional $29,754 for non-

residents as supplemental tuition — the cost of campus-based fees is $1,925.27 for all UC Davis students. A high percentage of the revenue from student referendum fees, such as the Facilities and Campus Enhancements/Legal Education Enhancement and Access Program (FACE/LEEAP) fee, the Campus Expansion Initiative (CEI) fee and the Student Activities and Services Initiative (SASI) fee, are allocated to the athletics budget.

In the 2018-19 academic year, 23% of the FACE/LEEAP fee went toward athletics for maintenance and enhancements of the UC Davis Health Stadium and the Schaal Aquatic Center.

According to 2017-18 financial reports, 38% of the CEI fee funded ICA for student-athletes’ grants-in-aid to support the campus’ move to NCAA Division I. Financial reports from the 2018-19 school year show that 88.7% of the SASI fee was allocated to ICA sports to support the campus’s 25 varsity sports teams. Totaling almost $10.5 million, this money from student fees was used to cover operating expenses such as team travel, equipment, home game expenses, medical-related expenses and coach salaries.

UC Davis receives about 75% of its revenue from allocated resources, which includes institutional support and student fees. Other Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and Big West schools operate with similar percentages.

Anissa Nachman, chief financial officer of UC Davis Athletics, said that the program has reached record fundraising totals and continue to push to increase the amount of generated revenue if more funding is needed.

“We allocate any increases [in funds] to areas that directly benefit the student-athletes and we’ve done a good job,” Nachman said. “Between revenue generation and being mindful to be efficient with funds, we are able to stay within our budget.”

And while millions of dollars annually go toward ICA, student fees also go toward Campus

ATHLETICS on 10

Over the next few months, the City of Davis will give almost $1 million of federal grant allotments to various community organizations that provide services to the low-income population. City officials expect to receive roughly $300,000 of HOME grants and $680,000 of Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs).

HOME grants, provided by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department of the federal government, are meant to fund the construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing units. The CDBG program is also run

by HUD, and these grants are given to cities in order to provide affordable housing and other services to low-income populations.

Davis Assistant City Manager Kelly Stachowicz said the entirety of each yearly HOME grant is usually spent on a single project. Past projects have included the Bartlett Commons and New Harmony Mutual Housing Community.

CDBG grants are spent on a variety of community projects. In Davis, 15% of the total grants are put toward nonprofits, while the rest are used to enhance Americans with Disabilities construction projects. Nonprofit recipients include Yolo County Meals on Wheels, the Interfaith Rotating Shelter program, Yolo County Children’s Alliance and more.

Meals on Wheels is a program that provides daily meals to eligible seniors facing food insecurity. Christi Skibbins, the executive director of Yolo County Meals on Wheels, said the program helps seniors “worry less about food” and “feel less isolated and alone.”

“We know their participation in the program improves the quality of their life,” Skibbins said. “The one meal we bring them each day may be the only meal they get.”

Grant money helps pay for the food and wages of cooks, along with other costs. Yolo County Meals on Wheels, however, is still struggling for funds — 80 senior citizens in the county are currently on their waiting list.

The Interfaith Rotating Shelter is a program where roughly 15 churches, consisting of a variety of denominations, host people experiencing homelessness from Thanksgiving to early April. Each facility hosts from 25 to 40 people for one to two weeks.

Pastor Jonathan Zachariou of the Davis Christian Assembly said each church provides “meals and a warm place to sleep.”

“And there might be some form of entertainment,” Zachariou said. “By cooperating like this, we try to get as many folks as possible off the streets in the winter months.”

Funds from CDBG are used to pay for overnight support and staff members involved in outreach. Zachariou added that the program is seeking student volunteers for overnight stays to monitor for emergencies. If any students are interested, his email is jonathan@davisaog.org.

Deputy Director Robin Frank further described the mission of Children’s Alliance, another recipient of the grant.

“We provide a range of community and family-focused services from assisting families to access food resources via CalFresh to accessing health insurance and medical services needed,” Frank said. “We provide parenting classes and tax return preparation.”

All Children’s Alliance staff are bilingual in languages such as Spanish, Farsi and Russian and can aid students in applying to the CalFresh program. For questions regarding

DAVISHOUSINGGRANT on 10

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In-store Wellness Fair and

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OPEN DAILY 7AM—10PM 620 G ST, DAVIS (530) 758-2667 WWW.DAVISFOOD.COOP @DAVISFOODCOOP

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

2 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

$15 BILLION SCHOOLS BOND TO COME BEFORE CALIFORNIA VOTERS ON MARCH 3 $2 billion of bond would benefit UC schools TE SSA KO G A / AG G I E

BY R EBE CC A BI H N -WAL L AC E campus@theaggie.org A $15 billion bond to support preschool, K-12 and higher education will be placed before California voters on March 3 during the state primary election. Known as Proposition 13 –– or

the Public Preschool, K-12 and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 — this piece of legislation allocates $9 billion for preschool and K-12, $2 billion for community colleges, $2 billion for the California State University (CSU) system and $2 billion for the UC. Authored by State Senator Steve Glazer and

CONTRACTS BETWEEN UC AND DIGNITY HEALTH RESTRICT CARE THAT CONFLICTS WITH RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE

Religious doctrine dictates care for patients, what is taught to medical students and what care is allowed to be performed by UC doctors

State Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, the bill focuses on improving seismic security, enhancing maintenance and expanding school buildings in order to better serve students. After passing both houses of the California state legislature with a two-thirds vote, the bill was signed

by Gov. Gavin Newsom and went up for approval by a simple majority during the state primary.

According to the UC Office of the President (UCOP), Prop. 13 will be the first bond that supports the UC since Prop. 1D in 2006, which allocated $345 million per year in 2006-08 for similar improvements.

The bond is designed to provide additional funds to the UC system in an attempt to meet the demands of increased enrollment and limited housing availability, among other issues. The UC system plans to prioritize fire safety-related projects, as well as address “seismic deficiencies” and maintenance issues.

“The university administration has identified more than $11.8 billion in unfunded capital needs across the 10 campuses, especially due to the fact that more than half of all UC space is more than 30 years old,” the UCOP press release read. The release states that this, as well as an enrollment increase of roughly 10,000 students during the last few years, has caused campuses to face significant physical constraints.

With many students struggling to find homes in the midst of the statewide housing crisis, the allocations for CSU and the UC are contingent upon systems conducting studies that examine housing affordability and availability both on and off-campus, according to Ed Source.

If passed, Prop. 13 will mandate that the UC develop a five-year affordable housing plan, which could have a profound impact on UC students. The UC will be eligible to receive money from the 2020 University Capital Outlay Bay Fund — pursuant to Prop. 13 — if it complies with these requirements.

Sarah McBride, a media and communications strategist for UCOP, said in an email that the UC is “on track to exceed its goal of having 20,000 student housing beds by fall 2020.” Additionally, the UC hopes to add 15,000 more beds between 2021 and 2025. McBride added that all UC housing is “below market rate.”

She highlighted these accomplishments as evidence of the success of the Student Housing Initiative put forth by UC President Janet Napolitano in January 2016. The initiative outlined plans to “expand the pool of student housing over the next four years” and “to keep housing as affordable as possible for UC students,” goals which continue to be reflected as the UC seeks to house more students.

Basic Needs & Services Referendum ASUCD base fee

currently $8 / quarter

UCD

this funds organizations like... asucd

asucd

asucd

C O F F E E H O US E

EST. 2010

PICNIC DAY

THE PANTRY

ASUCD BASE FEE HASN’T CHANGED SINCE 1979 UC Base Fees CURRENT ANNUAL BASE FEES

UC Budgets for ‘20 – ’21

BUDGET SIZE

$15M

$10M

$5M

$0M

UCSC UCD

UCB

UCI

UCM

UCR

UCSD

UCLA

UCSB

LET’S FIX THIS: $26 / quarter increase new budget

ASUCD employees include UCD students on campus

1000+

40%

pays student wages

YES, I APPROVE THE BASIC NEEDS AND SERVICES REFERENDUM: K IYO M I WATS O N / AGGI E

AGGIE REUSE STORE

asucd

KDVS

BY JE SSI C A BAGGOT T campus@theaggie.org Dignity Health, a Cathlolic hospital chain and the largest hospital provider in California, has agreements with five out of six UC medical centers. Contracts between the UC and Dignity Health explicitly restrict UC students and instructors from providing care that conflicts with religious doctrine issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) including reproductive and gender affirming care.

The UC Office of the President (UCOP) claims that the university’s “goal in establishing relationships with other health care organizations is to extend the reach of the University’s high-quality care,” as well as “ensure that UC is training the health care workforce to meet the needs of the people of California” Dignity Health, as an organization affiliated with the Catholic church, must uphold the doctrine issued by the USCCB. This doctrine includes the denial of the existance of transgender people and strict witholding of reproductive health care including contraception, sterilization, abortion and treatment for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy.

The partnership between the UC and Dignity Health goes directly against the UC’s stated goals in many ways, according to Phyllida Burlingame, the reproductive justice & gender equity director for the ACLU of Northern California “UC as a public university should not be engaging in activities that that constrain providers based on religion,” Burlingame said. “It undermines UC’s commitment to evidence based medicine and it stands in stark opposition to UC’s professed values of equity and inclusion.”

According to a study done by UCLA Law, 60% of transgender people who have been denied health care based on their gender identity have attempted suicide. Nationally, only 4.6% of the population have reported at least one suicide attempt.

Evan Minton, a transgender man scheduled for a hysterectomy at a Dignity Health hospital in 2016, was denied the procedure solely on the basis of his gender identity.

“You’re not expanding healthcare when you’re partnering with an entity that restricts it,” Minton said.

Minton, an alumnus of UC Riverside, said that had he known about the UC’s partnerships with Dignity, he may have reevaluated his choice to attend a UC. “I think that if I knew what the UC was doing then I would really be hesitant about wanting to be a student there, because [I would wonder] what is your commitment to LGBTQ+ students?” Minton said.

Furthermore, Burlingame argued that “If UC really wants to ensure better quality care for underserved patients, where those patients really are is in the public hospitals [...however], these are not the institutions that UC is partnering with.”

Providing comprehensive care that aligns with the UC’s values should be the UC’s goal, according to Burlingame.

“UC seems to be placing a priority on market growth over its commitment to providing quality comprehensive care to its patients,” Burlingame said. “Expanding is fine and good as long as it’s done so with UC values. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening here.”

UCOP is trying to address concerns with the current agreements between UC Health Centers and Dignity by pursuing amendments to “certain existing contracts to revise language that may be inconsistent with UC values and expectations.”

UCOP reports having several dozen agreements in the process of being updated.

Furthermore, guidelines are in place in order to protect the freedom of UC employees and students working at faith-based facilities. Finally, UCOP has created a committee — the Working Group on Comprehensive Access (WGCA) — to “evaluate current practices and provide recommendations to ensure UC values are upheld in affiliations with other health care organizations.”

Current UC Davis medical student and Co-President for the UC Davis chapter of Medical Students For Choice Caitlin Jade Esparza explained that students can only learn medicine from from those who supervise them. This can be a problem when studying under a doctor who must follow USCCB policy.

“Even if the restrictions isn’t as obviously applying to me [as a medical student], if it’s affecting the person [who is] supervising me, who I’m supposed to be learning from, who’s supposed to be my teacher, then I’m going to receive a lower quality medical education,” Esperanza said.

maintain current ASUCD operations

CLOSED

expand ASUCD program & services

$ increase student job opportunities

NO, I DO NOT APPROVE THE BASIC NEEDS AND SERVICES REFERENDUM:

fund expansions for ASUCD events & organizations

shorter hours for commercial units BIKE BARN: CLOSED INDEFINITELY

fewer services when you need it

EDITORIN-CHIEF student jobs eliminated and replaced by full-time career staff

VOTE: Feb. 18-21 | elections.ucdavis.edu

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 | 3

$9,000 RAISED AFTER DONATIONS STOLEN FROM WOODLAND SALVATION ARMY SERVICE CENTER

SHEREEN LEE / AGGIE

Christmas break-in resulted in two doors being badly damaged, police still investigating KAIT LY N PA N G / AG GI E

Tables turning, police taking off handcuffs January 2 “Open line sounded like child playing.”

January 3 “Reporting party babysitting six year old who put on and locked handcuffs; they are utilizing keys and unable to get off. Requested assistance.”

“Vehicle stuck in car wash and not authorized to be there.”

January 4 “Subjects in white BMW egged bicyclists.”

BY MADELEINE PAYNE city@theaggie.org Thousands of dollars that had been raised through donations were stolen from the Salvation Army Service Center in Woodland over the holidays. The burglary occurred at 413 Main Street between late Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019 and 12:30 on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 and resulted in damages to the service center of up to $1,000.

Sam Jarosz, the public relations director for the Del Oro branch of the Salvation Army said employees who were returning to work after Christmas break “found two doors that were just pretty much destroyed.”

“Upon searching the buildings more, they found that $2,413 in kettle donations — which had been raised in the two days leading up to Christmas Eve — were stolen,” Jarosz said.

According to Jarosz, the total losses added up to around $3,500, a blow to the holiday fundraising campaign and the efforts by the Woodland Salvation Army Service Center.

“The last couple days in the red kettle cam-

paign are usually some of our biggest days,” Jarosz said. “We really push to get those donations.”

The red kettle campaign, in which volunteers stand outside businesses with a red bucket for donations and a signature bell, generally operates between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The donations collected provide a large amount of funding for community programs offered throughout the year by the Salvation Army.

This year, with Thanksgiving later in the month of November and fewer donations in general, the Salvation Army was already behind on its fundraising target before the break-in occurred.

The Salvation Army mentioned the effects of the burglary in a KCRA article, stating “although no one was injured, this is far from a victimless crime” and “these crimes push the service center further away from its fundraising target and could mean some people in need may not be able to receive services.”

In response to the burglary, the Salvation Army set up another donations page to recover the losses. According to Jarosz, the fundraiser raised

January 5 “Loud subjects in the hot tub after hours.” almost $9,000 in the weeks since it was created.

No suspects have been apprehended in the burglary, and the Woodland Police Department is currently investigating the incident.

The Woodland Salvation Army Service Center provides a food pantry, Christmas rental and utility assistance and additional services in the Yolo County area. In Northern California, the nonprofit is known for supplying emergency shelters, transitional living centers, workforce development programs and adult rehabilitation programs for those in need.

Jarosz described one of the most impactful Salvation Army programs for the Northern California and Nevada regions: Camp Del Oro. “It’s a wonderful experience to just be kids and learn about the outdoors and each other,” Jarosz said. “It’s been really helpful for children of Camp Fire survivors too.”

According to the Camp Del Oro website, donations to the Salvation Army help reduce the price of overnight camp by $32, and additional scholarships help children from low-income families afford the experience.

UCAL.US/REGISTER

January 6 “Reporting party advised that the vehicles car alarm is continuously going off and then stops.”

“Reporting party saw a subject riding a bike while carrying another bike.”

January 7 “Two buses headed northbound have been stuck at the light for approximately seven minutes.”

January 8 “Vehicle horn sounding, reporting party saw someone inside the vehicle and then saw a subject get out and start kicking the vehicle.”

January 9 “Resident playing with phone.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

4 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

UC DAVIS HONEY AND POLLINATION CENTER CONTRIBUTES TO CAMPUS RESEARCH, EDUCATES STUDENTS

Center focuses on outreach with bee industry professionals through cross-disciplinary work

FREE FITNESS DAYS OFFERED AT ARC FOR FIRST TWO WEEKS OF QUARTER Program allows students to try classes before purchasing a group exercise pass

KAIT LY N PA N G / AGGI E

BY LEI OTSUKA features@theaggie.org With the recent uptick in awareness of the “save the bees” message, the topic of bees and their rapidly declining population have been all the buzz. For years, the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center has been working with several departments on campus to raise awareness about honeybees, pollination and bee-related products through education, research and outreach to those in the industry.

The center gains much of its publicity through several events it hosts throughout the year, including the honey tasting event held during Picnic Day. Other events hosted by the center are catered to a specific audience, whether that be industry professionals or families.

The Annual Bee Symposium brings in about 200 to 300 beekeepers for a one-day seminar that hosts an internationally-known speaker from the industry as well as several other presentations that cover topics from bee health and migration to the philosophy of beekeeping.

For more amateaur honey enthusiasts, the center hosts the California Honey Festival in Downtown Woodland, which approximately 35,000 attendees flock to for a lively day of learning about bees and honey tasting.

The center’s work has a broad impact throughout the campus, including on such academic departments as entomology, viticulture and food science. It also spreads its roots in the Arboretum — the campus joined the Bee City USA program and became one of 90 bee campuses in the country.

The center’s accomplishments are thanks to the dedication of its director, Amina Harris.

Having owned her own honey company since 1980, Harris has a significant amount of experience in the honey industry and is the driver behind much of the research and outreach the center does.

Harris hopes to promote the cross disciplinary research that the center has done with the Department of Food Science and Veterinary Medicine — Harris developed a technique for treating burns on animals by sewing on tilapia skin and using a salve created with olive oil, bees-

wax, honey and a few other ingredients.

“We get it made, we put everybody’s logo on it, it would just be so much fun to be able to market this real UCD cross pollination product,” Harris said.

The center also works closely with the Bee Lab, which does its own separate research. The Bee Lab’s location in the agricultural research fields on campus gives them the opportunity to house honeybees as well as offer unique academic experiences, such as the California Master Beekeeping Program, initially created in conjunction with the Honey and Pollination Center.

The center itself offers its own full series of courses in making mead, allowing people with any level of experience to get involved. The Meadmaking Bootcamp is a one-day course geared toward beginners who want to explore hands-on mead making from beginning to end and introduces participants to different tastes and styles. There are two additional courses, 201 and 301, that are for more experienced mead makers.

Since the center is not funded by the university, the course costs go directly toward financing the center — as such, the courses may be pricey, but Harris offers a volunteer route for students.

“You need a ton of volunteers to make programs like this work,” Harris said. “They have to be pouring mead, they have to be cupping honey, they have to be getting a lot of stuff together, they have to help setup, breakdown, clean up. So the volunteers essentially come and sit in for free.”

Currently, the courses do not offer credit, but Harris hopes to provide that option in the near future.

As for the future of the center, Harris has ambitious plans in terms of research and industry engagement with the steady focus on raising awareness of the values and varieties of honey.

“We want to make sure that everything on campus is kind of aligned, especially as I go forward with [...] hopefully what will become national testing,” Harris said. “I have an international group that’s interested in funding our research, and that’s always the issue, if I can get the funding, then I can do the research and the research will help promote American honey. I want [beekeepers] to understand that they shouldn’t sell their honey for less, and they should be proud of it.”

The Activities and Recreation Center on the UC Davis campus provides free entry on certain days. (Photo by Quinn Spooner / Aggie)

BY ANJINI VE NU G O PAL features@theaggie.org The Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) has offered Free Fitness Days as a rebranding of Try Before You Buy for a few years now. Unlike its predecessor which was offered for the first week of the quarter, Free Fitness Days is offered for the first two weeks of each quarter. Free Fitness Days are offered by Living Well, a unit within UC Davis Campus Recreation.

“Our focus is the whole being,” said Kayleigh Rohrbach, Living Well program lead and coordinator, in an email. “We offer a variety of wellness programs including fitness classes, personal training, nutrition services and more. Our hope is that students will try a bit of everything and find a form of fitness that both works with their schedule as well as enjoy before committing for the rest of the quarter.”

Other units within Campus Recreation are Aquatics, the UC Davis Marching Band, the Craft Center, the Equestrian Center, Sport Clubs and Rec Sports. The motto for all programs within Campus Recreation is “Come As You Are.” “Students of all background levels and experience are welcome in any of our Campus Recreation programs,” Rohrbach said via email. “It is a place where you can find your sense of belonging on campus.”

Rohrbach works with the Living Well staff to provide wellness programs to students. Living Well also teaches an annual American Council on Exercise (ACE) class to prepare student employees to test for new certifications which will be offered in Spring 2020. She also works with other on-campus departments to “promote wellness among our student population.”

In her role as Living Well attendant, second-year clinical nutrition major Samantha Seefeldt works at the front desk of the Living Well center. She and other attendants have shifts

to check in patrons to group exercise classes.

“Our goal is to [be] welcoming and informative,” Seefeldt said in an email. “Some roles of my position are being knowledgeable of the different programs we offer, helping patrons with any questions, scheduling of the different programs, [facilitating] contact between patrons and the personal trainers/ different instructors.”

Second-year cognitive science major Isabella Munar attended her first Free Fitness cycling class with her roommates.

“The class was really tiring, but I really liked it,” Munar said. “I think I’ll register for this quarter and maybe Spring Quarter too.”

According to Rohrbach, attendance during Free Fitness Days varies between 10 to 40 participants. Not every attendee registers, but “most students” continue throughout the quarter.

Rohrbach added that most of the certified instructors are students who are trained and tested for nationally accredited certifications.

“Our schedules are built around our student instructor’s availability and the demand for class formats such as Party Cycle, Zumba, Yoga, Bombay-Jam and more,” Rohrbach said.

“Student instructors submit their availability every quarter and the schedule is built from there. As far as classes go, we try to offer as much variety as possible. In addition, we try to offer classes at all times of the day and on weekends so that every student can find a class that fits within their schedule.”

The Free Fitness Days program was set up to “encourage UC Davis students to find what type of fitness works best for them.”

“Our overall goal is to promote wellness among our student population,” Rohrbach said.

“College can be one of the most stressful times in life. Our hope at Living Well is to provide students with resources for stress and anxiety while encouraging them to take a break from their hard academic work.”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 | 5

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

Opinion THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

E DI TO R I AL B OAR D KAELYN TUERMER-LEE Editor-in-Chief HANNAH HOLZER Managing Editor KENTON GOLDSBY Campus News Editor STELLA TRAN City News Editor

ASUCD needs you to vote to save student jobs and services Basic Needs and Services Referendum is crucial to preserving association’s future

HANADI JORDAN Opinion Editor CLAIRE DODD Features Editor LIZ JACOBSON Arts & Culture Editor DOMINIC FARIA Sports Editor CECILIA MORALES Science & Tech Editor

HANNAN WALIULLAH New Media Manager JUSTIN HAN Photo Director SYDNEE RODRIGUEZ Design Director ARIANA GREEN Layout Director SABRINA HABCHI Copy Chief ISABELLA BLOOM Copy Chief ZOË REINHARDT Website Manager SYDNEY ODMAN Social Media Manager LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

Our basic services and student jobs are in jeopardy.

That’s why students must vote on the Basic Needs and Services Referendum, which will be on the ballot in the 2020 ASUCD Winter Elections. The Editorial Board realizes that while students may be unaware of the full spectrum of amenities ASUCD encompasses, increased attention is necessary. If this referendum fails, students will suffer the consequences and lose services they may not realize fall under the jurisdiction of ASUCD. Though the fine print of this referendum has yet to be released, its aim is clear: to raise the quarterly fee students pay to ASUCD by an estimated $28. While the concept of an increase may seem initially burdensome, it’s actually quite the opposite. Twenty eight dollars is a small price to pay for the continued ability to provide meals to food insecure students, keep coffee costs on campus low and maintain the supply of student jobs.

This fee, which currently rests at $8 per quarter, or $24 per year, has sat untouched since 1979, rendering it ineffective against harsh inflation rates. In fact, since the organization’s inception in 1915, the price has remained relatively steady — a stark contrast to California’s minimum wage, which has increased 31 times over the past 100 years.

While some ASUCD units generate revenue, others are programmatic or service-oriented. Some of the roughly 1,400 students who work for ASUCD work for the latter. Without this increase to the base fee, how can this non-profit organization continue to afford to pay those student employees and continue to put on events such as Picnic Day or the Whole Earth Festival?

It can’t — and, without this increase, it won’t. These additional funds are an absolute necessity to sustain ASUCD, an organization that represents the livelihood of UC Davis, alive. Our elected officials have chosen this route because it’s the only feasible way to keep the organization afloat.

Less than optimal alternatives include accepting assistance from the administration, which would force ASUCD to forfeit its financial autonomy, or privatizing the CoHo, which would result in price increases of up to 300% and an estimated 80% reduction in student jobs.

The numbers speak for themselves — ASUCD’s current base fee of $24 per year is notably the lowest ASUC fee. Students at UC Santa Barbara, for example, pay $630 per year. UC Berkeley’s yearly base fee is $112, and the remaining campuses’ fees average around $174.09.

ASUCD is simply asking for is a base fee that is on par with that of its fellow UCs. To say that ASUCD is just our campus student government would be a gross understatement. Yes, the organization contains the Senate, Executive Office and Judicial Council, but it also houses 16 units, seven commissions and 12 committees. ASUCD brings bigname artists to campus, ASUCD fixes students’ bikes, ASUCD advocates for mental health and so much more.

Though voter turnout in ASUCD elections is usually dismal, the past shows that students will often support for matters that greatly affect them — seen through the 2019 ASUCD Winter Elections, when 35.63% of the undergraduate population voted on the Unitrans Undergraduate Fee Referendum. A voter participation rate of at least 20%, with 60% of those voting yes, is needed to pass all fee referendums, and our hope is that students will recognize the same sense of urgency for this matter as they did with Unitrans.

We care deeply about this referendum, and we hope that our readers feel the same way. When voting on the Basic Needs and Services Referendum, students have the chance to support not only ASUCD, but also their fellow students’ basic needs, student organizations, news sources, transportation methods and more. This referendum is your chance to intervene to save structures fundamental to UC Davis’ identity and community.

HUMOR

Entire congregation of local church hospitalized after string quartet plays jazz version of “Silent Night” at Christmas Eve service “FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, STOP THE GODDAMN MUSIC!”

BY BE N JA MI N P O RT E R bbporter@ucdavis.edu

***This page has been repeatedly updated to reflect new information about Sunday night’s events as it has become available since our initial Breaking News Report*** During the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at St. Reagan Catholic Church 20 miles outside of Fresno, a major event of great public health concern occurred, requiring all 67 church congregants to be hospitalized.

The event was initially investigated by local law enforcement and forensics experts as a potential gas or chemical leak — and even foul play — with major fears that the church’s cyber security network had been compromised. Cyber criminals may have been able to hack the church’s automated climate control system and bring the interior temperature down to a freezing 86 degrees — intolerable for the church’s Fox News-watching-aged worshipers.

Interviews conducted after the fact with some of the recovering victims of this mysterious “attack” revealed Sunday’s events to be of a far more disturbing and un-Christly nature than anyone could have imagined.

As it turns out, a string quartet that was hired for the service to play along with the church organist for the Christmas hymns is now at the center of the investigation. They stand accused of embellishing “Silent Night” with jazz chords and blue notes. As any self-respecting musician should know, jazz can be extremely dangerous around certain listenerships, especially old white people.

The chaos began during the hymn’s second verse when the quartet began adding a few dominant seventh chords into the mix, which caused a few worshipers to become light-headed. Unfortunately, the quartet took things much further, eventually incorporating augmented sevenths, dominant sharp 5/flat 9s, minor elevenths, minor thirteenths, Lydian chords and even some jazzy rhythms. The St. Reagan worshipers who had not already fainted or experienced panic attacks, nose bleeds, temporary hearing loss or jazz-induced joint pain were sent into a state of delirium when, during an unplanned instrumental interlude between verses, the first violinist broke into a Stephane Grappelli-style improvised gypsy jazz solo.

In the quartet’s defense, they may have been under the impression that this year’s Christmas service could have used some lightness and excitement since news events from the past few years threaten to diminish Christmas’s usual levels of joy and jubilation. Of course, there was last year’s fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Additionally, with Pope Francis struggling to deal with the child sex abuse scandals within the Church, the damning attorneys general re-

Bosc D’anjou / Flickr

ports in Pennsylvania and Illinois and the rise of #Nunstoo, St. Reagan’s Father Handsy, one of the hundreds of accused priests, pledged to make his Christmas sermon less erotic than usual. How dull!

The string quartet initially planned to play their jazzed-up arrangement of the hymn during the earlier 8:00 p.m. mass, but that was thrown into disorder when the incense set off the fire alarm. Consequently, the musicians exercised artistic and creative restraint and chose to wait until the later service.

Although some outraged community members feel that the quartet inflicted this physical harm on the congregation accidentally, others are pointing to the violist, spinning his status as an atheist to suggest that he could have “had a motive” for wanting to play music that is neither wholesome nor Godly. An examination of his social media accounts shows that a few days before, the violist shared a meme of Jerry Seinfeld (also not Catholic) in “The Bee Movie” saying, “You like Jazz?” — coincidence??? ***7:28 p.m. update*** County prosecutors are proceeding against the four string players with charges of conspiracy to commit musical harassment, musical vandalism, musical fraud, assault on the ears, indecent musical exposure, disturbing the peace (literally) and of course, “A minor” in possession.

reduce. reuse. recycle.

The aggie

6 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

VIOLINIST ITZHAK PERLMAN PERFORMS, SPEAKS AT MONDAVI CENTER Perlman tells his life story by “praying with a violin”

BY KA ELYN T U E RME R-LE E arts@theaggie.org

Violonist Itzhak Perlman performed at the Mondavi Center on Jan. 11 (Lisa Marie Mazzucco / Courtesy).

Few violinists are able to play with as much passion as Itzhak Perlman. At 74 years old, Perlman — a famous violinist, composer and music teacher — performed at the Mondavi Center on Saturday, Jan. 11 as he told stories about his life and career.

Perlman first heard an old recording of Jascha Heifitz playing a Hebrew melody on the radio, the main form of entertainment in Tel Aviv, Israel at the time, which inspired him to play the violin. His parents then went to a shop and bought him a violin.

Perlman explained that he tried to play, but was disappointed that the screeching sound he produced sounded nothing like Heifitzt.

As a result, he threw his little violin under the bed.

Perlman wasn’t always as well respected as he is today, and he has had to overcome a number of setbacks. At the age of four, Perlman contracted poliomyelitis, a virus that destroys nerve cells in the spinal cord, which led to the paralysis of his legs. He spent months in the hospital before getting measured for leg braces and crutches. Even though Perlman had to adjust to his new lifestyle, his passion and curiosity for music

PROFILE: BIKE BARN GENERAL MANAGER JACK ROGERS

Rogers, a UC Davis undergraduate, explains how the shop is run by students, for students

continued.

“For me, I think you have to have the ability to evolve,” Perlman said during his talk. “What was interesting is that the idea of music never left my brain — I still wanted to do it.”

A video showed Perlman sitting down playing the violin, as he joked that he had to do something since he obviously wouldn’t be a tennis player. Even though his disability proved not to be without its setbacks, it wasn’t what defined him.

“What he’s doing isn’t playing music — this is praying with a violin,” someone said about Perlman in the introductory video.

Perlman began taking lessons after his parents went to a local conservatory to ask if anyone taught the violin. His parents fell in love with Schubert’s “Serenade,” the beginner’s piece from Perlman’s childhood.

The first time Perlman heard himself play was a tape of his first public concert, and he wasn’t happy.

“I hated practicing,” Perlman said. “Let’s face it, if you meet someone who loves practicing, there’s something wrong.”

He explained that his parents always told his violin teacher, “He never practices.”

Needing to please his mother, Perlman said he would pick a simple technique,

spiccato, which he called “Bouncing Ball,” and practice it for an hour as he looked around the room or watched people outside his window. It wasn’t until later, when he attended The Juilliard School in New York, that he practiced for about five hours per day.

“Everybody always practiced, so I was shamed into it,” Perlman joked.

Perlman used humor throughout his talk to engage the audience, his two main subjects of conversation being music and food. His parents came from Poland and immigrated to Palestine, his father working at a barber shop he had opened. Money, Perlman explained, was always tight, so he was very excited to get one-fourth of a chicken after performing concerts since he usually only got a drumstick.

Other than food, Perlman talked about his difficulties believing that he could make it as a violinist. People constantly doubted that Perlamn could be a serious violinist because of his crutches and leg braces.

“It was not spoken, but people really had a hard time taking me seriously.”

After scouts from The Ed Sullivan Show — a variety show that ran on CBS — P ER LMAN on 1 0

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GOOD FRIEND: THREE SETS OF FRIENDS DISCUSS Aggies offer their own meaning of true friendship

JA MI E C H E N / AG G I E ARCH I VE

Students relax on the Quad with their friends. (Quinn Spooner / Aggie).

BY S N EHA RA M AC H ANDR A N features@ucdavis.edu

Since 1966, Davis has been deemed the “Bike Capital of the U.S.,” a title students and locals say with pride. Throughout the city, there are 10 bikes shops, but only one of these is run completely by students. The Bike Barn, located in the middle of the UC Davis campus, is managed by ASUCD and has served as a convenient repair shop since 1971.

Fourth-year managerial economics major Jack Rogers is the current general manager of the Bike Barn and has been a mechanic since his second year.

“I wear a lot of different hats here,” Rogers said about his position. “The main thing that I really want to do is to promote the same sort of work ethic and goal for all the employees here to the standard that I hold myself.”

The most rewarding part about being a mechanic at the Bike Barn, he explained, are the interactions and relationships he has built with a diverse population of students throughout the campus.

“I know it sounds kind of corny, but I love seeing the joy on people’s faces when I get to return their bikes,” Rogers said. “I love being able to help people, whether that means fixing the problem for them or explaining the problem to them

and helping them have a safer ride.”

Because the shop is student-run, the mechanics are better able to understand the specific needs of the students who come into the Bike Barn, Rogers said. Given that the shop is intended to be a resource to help students out, it is less focused on profit — unlike other shops in town, Rogers noted — and is simply looking to do “the best possible service” for students and the occasional community member.

Rogers feels as though many students are intimidated to come into the Bike Barn because the barn is employed by many avid cyclists — however, he discounts this fear and says the Bike Barn’s services are for everyone, at all different skill levels of biking.

“Sometimes it’s something [students] heard from other people, or it’s them thinking, ‘Oh I don’t really know anything about my bike, and if I go in there I’m going to look stupid,’” Rogers said. “But realistically, we have people come here everyday and hand us their bike and say, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, please help me.’

And we are totally open to that and we want to do whatever we can to help you and make you more informed about [your] bike and biking in general in Davis.”

Rogers encourages students to visit the barn for free diagnosis.

B IK E B ARN on 10

BY ANDRE W W ILLIAMS arts@theaggie.edu

What is the one thing you can’t live without? A good book? A loyal family dog?

God forbid, your cell phone? Maybe, just maybe, an actual person popped into your head. Someone who has been there for you through thick and thin. Someone to laugh with, cry with or even someone to share in a much needed moment of silence.

Predictably, friendship is found to have a tangible and profound impact on our happiness and fulfillment. Harvard’s Second Generational Study is a 75-year-old longitudinal study used to identify the most important factors in determining long-term happiness. The study found that having strong durable relationships was the single leading indicator for boosting happiness and having a long life — even more so than diet or physical exercise.

As important as friends are to our wellbeing and sanity, we may seldom take time to step back and ask ourselves what makes a friend a goodie. What separates the person you nonchalantly wave to in Wellman from the person that you would do just about anything for at the drop of a hat? Three sets of friends, all students at UC Davis, shared how they knew they’ve struck friendship gold.

For Emma Roberts, a first-year neurology,

biology and physiology major, being a good friend means reciprocation. Roberts stressed that effort shown on both sides works as a source of validation. “[A good friend is] someone who is going to reciprocate the amount of effort that I put into a friendship,” Roberts said.

Roberts said showing that you respect and care about the person enough to go out of your way to make plans demonstrates that you value their time and company.

Jazmine Dahi, a fourth-year environmental science major and friend to Roberts, noted that genuine interest in conversation and your life is a mark of a quality friend.

“They make you feel valued and are willing to listen,” Dahi said. “They show genuine interest in your life and your problems.”

For Trevor Carpenter, a third-year computer science major, meaningful friendship means there needs to be a willingness to step out of your comfort zone to support and demonstrate that you care.

“Everyone has things that they don’t want to do, and it’s a give and take between friends,” Carpenter said. “A good friend would be willing to be in an uncomfortable situation for you, but at the same time, a good friend also wouldn’t try to put you in an uncomfortable situation to begin with.”

GOODFR I ENDS on 1 0

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 | 7

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

FIVE ALBUMS THAT DESCRIBE UC DAVIS An exploration of music as community

BY JOS H MADRID arts@theaggie.org

TV Show: “Dracula”

KATH E RI NE FRANKS / AGGIE

BY ILYA SHRAYB E R arts@theaggie.org Campus is a strange place. Don’t get me wrong, since being admitted here I have sung the praises of UC Davis to an arguably annoying amount, both in print and to friends.

There’s beauty everywhere you look, even if you have to squint sometimes. There’s not a better way to remind ourselves of who we attend school with than by looking at the albums that describe us as a campus. This is an exploration of who you’ll find in our little university, in our little slice of Cowtown, in five albums.

Kanye West-“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” You already know who this is.

Late to class, has a Supreme sticker on their laptop or their HydroFlask (although it is in truth probably both). They’re most likely an economics or an engineering major who feels deeply connected with hip-hop even though they are probably from a suburb of Los Angeles. This won’t take away from the fact that they will inevitably explain the ins and outs of hip-hop’s most recent magnum opus that is Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” “It has layers,” they will say. “Did you even hear the piano on ‘Runaway?’

What about the Bon Iver feature?”

“This is the greatest album of all time,” they’ll yell at you, as you pa-

tiently sip on CoHo coffee. If they don’t own a pair of Timberland 6” Tan Work Boots, you can bet they’ll spend most of their time in their 400-person lecture browsing for them. You can find this person hanging by the Quad, lost at the Death Star or anywhere that isn’t Shields Library.

Chris Stapleton-“From A Room” They think they’re as smooth as Tennessee Whiskey, but in truth, you’ve never understood that because every time you’ve had whiskey, it’s really burned your throat and made you look like an idiot in front of everyone. These are the people in Agricultural Sciences, looking to make their bread and butter. They effortlessly pull off a flannel better than you ever will. Chris Stapleton’s “From A Room” plays softly in the background whenever they walk into a room, whether it’s to outdo you in a farming demonstration or just knock back a cold one. (And they love to knock back a cold one.) City folk just don’t get them, and we probably never will. You can find these people around the Student Farm, passing

by Mrak Hall or anywhere a field of wheat is present, trying to desperately learn its secrets.

Mac DeMarco-“This Old Dog” Do you smell that? It’s a mix of American Spirit Blues, mason jar quinoa and not showering after a Yo-

UCDALBUMS on 10

Among the multitude of vampire television shows and movies that have arrived and been easily forgotten, “Dracula” does not have the most creative title, but has an interesting synthesis of old Hollywood, Transylvania and the modern world. This Netflix mini-series is a suspenseful, witty depiction of a character easily written off as pure evil and lacking any redeeming qualities. In a more morally ambiguous account, Count Dracula, played by Claes Bang, spends his nearly five undead centuries searching for the perfect bride — finicky at its finest. My favorite line in the series is when Agatha Van Helsing (Dolly Wells) — a 19th century nun that doesn’t believe in God — asks Dracula why he kills things he finds beautiful. His response: “Why do you pick flowers?”

Movie: “The Two Popes” dir. by Fernando Meirelles Based on true events, this Netflix biographical drama depicts the series of events that lead up to Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Papacy. Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) travels to the Vatican summer home to meet with Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) in hopes that Pope Benedict XVI will grant him his retirement. At the same time, the Catholic Church is under heavy scrutiny for several allegations including sexual harassment and financial misconduct, so Pope Benedict sees Bergoglio’s retirement as a protest. Pope Benedict, a conservative preservationist that holds tradition closely, is resistant to change. On the other hand, Bergoglio sees the changing world around him and understands the Church’s obligation to connect with this world in new ways. The film is moving, as the audience watches Bergoglio melt Pope Benedict’s cold heart.

Book: “Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language” by Gretchen McCulloch This is a great read for people that like to think about language and the reasons we speak the way we do (i.e. linguistics). Times change and language changes with it and, in this era, the internet is influencing our language at a rapid rate. The author, Gretchen McCulloch, is an internet linguist and founder of the podcast and blog “Lingthusiasm.”

She debunks common linguistic issues such as the assumption that informal writing makes us less smart.

Album: “Norman F***ing Rockwell!”

This was my absolute favorite album of the year and, hopefully, the winner of Song of the Year for “Norman F***ing Rockwell!” and Album of the Year of the same title at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Del Rey discusses American nostalgia through the lens of the famous American painter, Norman Rockwell. The name alone won’t bring a specific painting to mind for most, but notable paintings include “Freedom from Want” and “Before the Shot.” Del Rey explains in an interview that the album inspiration stemmed from frustration toward the trajectory of the country.

She poses the question: Is Norman Rockwell all we have to look forward to? I’m also ecstatic about the album because it centers around Los Angeles and in particular my hometown of Long Beach. My favorite tracks include “Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - but I Have It,” which is reminiscent of Jim Morrison’s ballad “Mariners Apartment Complex” for its ode to nautical melodies, and “Doin’ Time” because Del Rey is well-qualified to represent the LBC.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

8 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

UC DAVIS GRADUATES AT FOREFRONT OF RECYCLING REVOLUTION WITH AMBERCYCLE Innovative technology finds an efficient way to address loss of garments to landfills

Ambercycle hamper filled with garments to be used for polyester extraction (Ambercyle,Inc. / Courtesy).

BY ALMA MECKLER-PACHECO science@theaggie.org As graduating seniors from UC Davis, Akshay Sethi, class of 2015 in genetics and genomics, and Moby Ahmed, class of 2015 in biochemistry and molecular biology, were faced with a difficult challenge: pursue a mainstream career or attempt to create something on their own. As Ahmed, describes it, “it is just as hard to have a normal non-remarkable job as it is to have a remarkable and fun job.”

With this mentality in mind, they decided to start a company together: Ambercycle.

Ambercycle seeks to address the growing amount of garments that end up in landfills and in the environment.

“You can’t recycle a garment, and when we found that out we thought, ‘Wow, we should be able to do that,’” Sethi said. “That seemed strange, so that’s what sparked our business.”

The current life cycle of garments is highly linear, the end destination being a landfill or incineration. Textiles are the sixth most prevalent material type in waste streams and, in California, more than 1.24 million tons of textiles are

disposed of in a landfill in a single year, according to CalRecycle.

“Textiles comprise 4% of landfilled waste,” said Lance Klug, CalRecycle’s spokesperson.

“Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.”

In addition to taking up space in landfills, wasted textiles are a tremendous loss of important resources. According to CalRecycle, 60% of textiles are now petroleum-based synthetics that require enormous amounts of resources to mine as well as cause extreme harm to the environment. With no efficient way to recycle textiles, these resources are wasted and more damage to the environment occurs in order to create new textiles.

After learning of all the negative consequences of the current system of textile disposal and the high loss of resources, Sethi and Moby saw an avenue for their innovative technology. While working with Marc Facciotti, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, in his lab during their undergraduate years, they initially used genetically engineered microbes to degrade plastics. After starting Ambercycle in 2015, they discovered a more effective method for destroying

plastics.

“The end goal [...] to get rid of plastics was the same, but we used our own method that was green chemistry to do it which was faster and more efficient,” Sethi said.

The green chemistry method they currently use is composed of three steps, in which plastics such as polyester, can be extracted from garments of different materials and then woven into new yarn. This technology closes the gap in textiles’ life cycle and, instead of ending up as waste, the same material can be used infinitely many times. Since it is a very simple and inexpensive technology, it has the capacity to change the way garments are recycled.

Having started with humble beginnings in San Francisco with three feet of bench space in a shared building and daily commutes of up to four hours, Ambercycle is now based in Los Angeles with its own lab space and a team of 12 people.

This new location has allowed them to have more direct contact with the fashion industry and begin partnerships with clothing brands. Ambercycle’s quick success and growth exemplifies the uniqueness of their technology

and its incredible capacity to revolutionize the fashion industry.

The company has not gone without recognition: they were awarded $1,000,000 in SBIR grants from the National Science Foundation and were recently listed under Forbes’ 30 under 30 in the manufacturing and industry category. In just five years, Sethi and Moby have proved that taking the more risky path can pay off.

While Ambercycle is currently striving to solve the problem of waste produced by the fashion industry, the company sees this type of technology being used to recycle many forms of plastics.

“Our goal is to eliminate the concept of waste and to make plastic climate positive,” Moby said.

Using its efficient method of recycling plastics, the ability to make plastics more renewable is far more likely than ever before.

Since this technology can be applied to other plastic materials, they hope to spread it around the globe to eliminate the rising amount of waste.

With 150 million metric tons of plastic currently circling our oceans, Ambercycle hopes to create a world without its negative consequences.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 | 9

Sudoku

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row, column and 3x3 square must contain one of each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Answer to previous puzzle

10 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THOMPSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“We disagree strongly with this premise,” the response said. “It is inaccurate, at once illogical and rhetorically inflammatory, and reminiscent of historical attempts to blunt substantive actions aimed at desegregation and broadening participation.”

The UC loyalty oath controversy happened between 1949 and 1950, during which time all UC faculty were mandated to sign a statement confirming they were not a member or supporter of the Communist Party. Thirty-one faculty members, including Edward Tolman, the leader of the non-signers and the namesake of UC Berkeley’s Tolman Hall, and David Saxon, a physicist who later became the UC’s president, were fired for refusing to sign.

Dr. William Casey, a UC Davis chemistry professor, applauded Thompson “for her article about the reappearance of loyalty oaths at the University of California” in a statement published in the Wall Street Journal editorial section.

Casey recalled the Standing Order of the Regents 101.1d, which says that “no political test shall be required of applicants for jobs at the University of California,” as trying to eliminate viewpoint discrimination.

“Why should your opinion on the right to life or gay marriage or electric cars — why should that have any bearing on your ability to discharge your abilities of teaching, service and research at the University of California?”

Casey said.

Unlike the administration’s response, Casey said there was no position that would be the unified voice of the faculty.

“In the first loyalty oath controversy, the faculty approved the oath by a factor of four to one,” Casey said. “So don’t look for unanimity in issues of free speech. It’s always controversial speech that needs protection.”

The AMS opened up a response form to Thompson’s op-ed, which generated three letters. Two supported Thompson’s arguments and accumulated a total of 890 signatures. One that opposed Thompson’s arguments gathered 621 signatures. The letters were published online on Dec. 13, 2019, as part of the AMS Notices’ January 2020 edition. Additionally, the AMS Notices’ editor-in-chief posted a Twitter response acknowledging that Thompson’s piece was not representative of the views of AMS and apologized “to those who understood it as such.”

One response in AMS Notices in support of Thompson directly addressed a response posted on the Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (QSIDE) site, calling it an attempt “to intimidate a voice within our mathematical community.” Authored by Chad Topaz, a Williams College mathematics professor, the response called for those who disagreed with AMS’s decision to publish the piece to contact UC Davis “to express [...] concerns about diversity in the Department of Mathematics and about Thompson’s role as Chair.”

It also encouraged faculty to direct students not to attend UC Davis.

Topaz, the director of QSIDE, submitted a preprint of a data science study that examines ethnicities, genders and other demographics of people who signed the three letters published in the AMS Notices. Using the platform Amazon Mechanical Turk, he and his fellow researchers crowdsourced the gathering of demographic and academic data of the signatories.

They found that those who has signed on to what they termed Letter A — the letter opposing Thompson’s arguments — represented a broader range of institution types and levels of professional security and contained more women and members of minoritized ethnic groups. Those who signed both Letters B and C were “overwhelmingly inferred to be tenured white men at highly intensive research universities.”

Topaz said he hoped the research prompted people to reflect on mechanisms of power and added that he believed free speech, diversity, equity and inclusion were not in conflict.

“If someone doesn’t want to teach, they might not be appropriate for teaching positions,” Topaz said. “Just like if people don’t want to at least orient themselves toward diversity, equity and inclusion, for the relevant members of the university community, they might not be appropriate for certain jobs.

It has nothing to do with speech. It’s a job qualification.”

Topaz identifies as a “social-justice-oriented professor” on his Twitter bio and said he started seeing how “discouraging” the mathematics landscape was after seeing the Society of Industrial and Applied Math’s announcement of their 31 fellows, 29 of which were men.

With regard to Thompson referring to diversity statements as political litmus tests, he said the way “political” has been used bothered him.

“We could then say that insisting a candidate be good in a classroom is political,” Topaz said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with politics.”

UC Davis alumna Stephanie Chang, who signed Letter A, said her first reaction was one of shock.

“I didn’t know what to say. I was extremely disappointed,” Chang said. “It was something I was shocked to see come from Davis itself. Diversity statements show people know we don’t live in a vacuum where we’re all born equal — it’s not just ‘if you work hard, you’re fine.’”

Thompson has also received recent pushback when the Math Department, under her leadership, brought Yuval Peres, a math professor with a series of sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him, to speak at UC Davis. Peres’ lecture and Thompson’s op-ed made Chang feel that Thompson should be removed as chair of the department.

“I’m not a huge fan, given her current opinion and her inviting him,” Chang said.

“You’re saying that his work is more important than his character.”

Chang, who now works as an engineer at GoDaddy, said she heard other opinions regarding the op-ed, where people agreed with Thompson’s sentiment but not her reasoning.

“I’ve heard that it can be hard for people who are struggling financially or mentally — who can’t do outreach because they don’t have time — to write a diversity statement that’s sufficient enough,” she said. “I can see that point, but Thompson’s point wasn’t that at all. It was a false equivalency.”

Chang said she agrees with the intentions behind diversity statements and affirmative action, but cannot speak about whether the execution is perfect.

As a student, Chang was secretary of the Davis Computer Science Club for two years and vice president during her senior year.

With the club, she held a yearly Gender Diversity in Tech conference supported by the department.

“It was almost as if the onus for diversity, equity and inclusion was left to our club,” she said. “If I didn’t hold the event, there wouldn’t have been anything else going on. They weren’t against diversity, but they weren’t proactive about it, though they did try to hire more female professors.”

With regard to hiring, Casey said search committees have done a “fine job” at making sure no one or their application is overlooked.

“They don’t underrepresent minority and women candidates, they overrepresent them by a factor of about two relative to the applicant pool,” said Casey. “The problem isn’t with the search committees.”

Casey believes that Thompson’s notice is not about anyone’s specific opinion about how to eliminate the achievement gap or achieve diversity.

“The question is whether they’re even allowed to have an opinion that has not passed a narrow ideological filter that was determined by University of California administrators,” he said. “It’s not about my opinion.

It’s about my right to have an opinion.”

DAVISHOUSINGGRANT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CalFresh enrollment, contact Jose Ceja at (530) 902-6381.

The CDBG grant money specifically funds the organization’s programs such as helping families enroll in CalFresh and Medi-Cal and Covered California. After enrollment is completed, the Children’s Alliance follows up to ensure recipients understand how to navigate and utilize their insurance

benefits.

On a broader scale, Stachowicz summarized the city’s goal of using the grants to keep existing organizations operating and to help start new service programs.

“For the projects that we put funding in, sometimes it can be the difference between them being able to start their project and not actually having a project,” Stachowicz said.

BIKEBARN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

“We aren’t going to tie you into paying anything, there’s no price to get a quote,” Rogers said. “Come on in. Even if we can’t fix your bike for free, we can at least give you more information as to what is going on with your bike.”

The Bike Barn is a unit within ASUCD — an organization that is currently operating on a roughly $500,000 deficit. To solve this, ASUCD is proposing a fee referendum that would effectively raise the base fee students pay each quarter. The referendum will be on the ballot in the Winter Quarter 2020 elections. Rogers explained that while the Bike Barn is one of the few profitable ASUCD units and isn’t necessarily in financial trou-

ble, he still supports the fee referendum and hopes that students will turn out to vote.

“As a student at UC Davis, I interact with units of ASUCD on a daily basis, whether it’s getting coffee from the CoHo, catching a bus on a rainy day, or reading through articles in The Aggie,” Rogers said. “Not only are these key parts of my experience here at Davis, but they also supply numerous jobs for students across campus. Cutting staff will not only be burdensome to students who rely on those services, but will also force students to look off campus for jobs, which may be harder to get and less flexible with the demanding class schedule most students take.”

UCDALBUMS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

American Spirit Blues, mason jar quinoa and not showering after a Yosemite trip. Print is a visual medium, yet one can catch a whiff just from that description alone. There is a 99% chance they are not in STEM, but if they are,

you can bet they’re there to dismantle the worker-exploitative, oppressive regime from the inside. There is also a 99% chance they believe in Communism and a 100% chance they have never talked to anyone who lived

American Spirit Blues, mason jar quinoa and not showering after a Yosemite trip. Print is a visual medium, yet one can catch a whiff just from that description alone. There is a 99% chance they are not in STEM, but if they are, you can bet they’re there to dismantle the worker-exploitative, oppressive regime from the inside. There is also a 99% chance they believe in Communism and a 100% chance they have never talked to anyone who lived in the former Soviet Union.

With a love for old synthesizers and being emotionally unavailable, they throw on Mac DeMarco’s “This Old Dog” to unwind from a long day of posting watercolors on their Instagram. This is all to say that “Old Dog” folks are always quite warm, albeit a little intimidating. (Their tattoos of vegetable gardens really put the pressure on you to seem interesting during casual conversation.) They throw the best parties, with people who actually dress up in theme, a rare find with the imminent collapse of Davis Greek life. Find them hanging around Cruess Hall or Turtle House and being rightfully exhausted

after their CoHo shifts.

Lana Del Rey - “Norman F*cking Rockwell!”

Lana Del Rey is an artist who I’m not very familiar with, but can understand the general gist of what she’s going for, just like I can gauge the general vibe of this crowd. Super into Glossier. Also super into not calling you back.

Carole King - “Tapestry” Ah, the ol’ reliable. There are days when everything can go wrong. These are the days when you need a friend, one who won’t let you down. Stern, smart and an all around warm person. Which is why “Tapestry” by Carole King is such a mainstay in their life; exuding a sort of energy you’ll never not appreciate.

They’re the friend that has a really serious internship, a crazy thesis project, a super steady partner and somehow still manages to do meal prep. You are jealous, but not so much so for it to delve into envy.

It’s a good vibe. They’re probably a political science major or something else important to the fabric of this country. Either way, they’re a keeper.

ATHLETICS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Recreation. That department, which oversees Recreational Sports – formerly Intramural Sports – has seen some scrutiny over how much the university charges to rent play fields, even with Campus Recreation being part of student fees.

Executive Director of Campus Recreation, Student Unions and Stores Jason Lorgan explained that the costs in the case of Recreational Sports directly benefit the program. Labor costs to pay officials, recorders and supervisors are a large expense, as is equipment.

“The participant fees are less than one-third of the costs incurred by the program,” Lorgan said.

“Our largest expense is student labor, and that expense continues to go up as minimum wage goes up to $15 an hour by 2022.”

Lorgan also said that the goal is to keep costs for students as low as possible and to find other funding sources to offset programming costs. With student debt at record levels, however, some find that universities should focus their budgets toward education rather than athletics. “[Academic institutions] should be about the academic, educational aspect rather than the entertainment piece,” said Fritz Polite, a consultant to the NCAA and the NFL on college athletics and recruiting, in a KCRA3 article.

In the article, Polite said students already spend

too much money on college, saying athletics departments need to do a better job budgeting. Polite also said that universities need to let students know exactly what they are paying.

“It’s not a transparent process,” Polite said in the article. “There are some schools that give students the option, but very few. They just wrap it in their fine print, and the next thing you know, they’re paying these additional fees to support some activities that they may not even use.”

According to UC Davis’ ICA presentations, the department reiterates its financial operating principles of being transparent on the use of student fees in a frugal, clear and easy-to-understand manner.

ICA also presents to the Council on Student Affairs and Fees (COSAF), one of the Chancellor’s Administrative Advisory Committees that aims to provide a comprehensive oversight of student referendum fees, as well as assure “the highest degree of transparency and accountability regarding the use of student fees.” COSAF votes on whether or not to approve of Consumer Price Index increases for many student fees.

“ICA presents to COSAF numerous times during each academic year and students can ask clarifying questions and regular provide input to ICA,” Lorgan said.

PERLMAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

were sent to Israel to listen to the acts, Perlman was selected after playing an Allegro by Fiocco. Perlman was then set to go on tour in the U.S. and flew to New York.

When he was given an opportunity to play his Carnegie Hall debut, he hoped to get good reviews, but there was a newspaper strike, and Perlman was unsure when it would end. The critics, however, kept writing reviews, casting a shadow of doubt on Perlman. One critic had written at the end of the article that he wasn’t sure if the standing ovation at the end was due to Perlman’s talent or because he was sitting down. Perlman said that the critics needed to describe his struggles of getting on stage and performing sitting down rather than simply describing the performance itself.

Toward the end of his talk, Perlman talked about his family. He met his wife at the Meadowmount School of Music, which he described as one of the most important times of his life. She went backstage after one of his performances in 1963 and asked him to marry her, which shocked Perlman. As Perlman was going on tour, they didn’t have much time to get married, but said that they married twice, once on New Year’s Eve of 1966 and then on Jan. 5, 1967.

The first time was in City Hall in Chicago, his wife explained in the video clip.

“We wanted to do it because then it would save $600 on our income tax,” she said.

The judge during the marriage ceremony, however, mispronounced Perlman’s name, which has been a joke ever since.

“The judge said, ‘Do you, Is-a-tack, take [...]’ and I had to keep a straight face,” Perlman said. “I was called ‘Is-a-tack’ for the next year.”

After his marriage, Perlman had five kids and continued to be honored with awards: 16 Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Genesis Prize, a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton, a Medal of Liberty by President Reagan and a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama, the Nation’s highest civilian

honor, according to the program from the event, An Evening with Itzhak Perlman.

In addition, Perlman was also in The Trout, Historic 1969 Documentary, as well as on the front page of Newsweek in 1980 for Top Fiddle. Perlman went on to help compose the scores for the movie Schindler’s List after being asked by John Williams, a composer whom Perlman loved.

Throughout the night, Perlman wove the musical pieces into his stories about his childhood and musical career. Perlman is well known for his knack for storytelling, and he painted a picture for the audience. People were in awe during the show, saying “beautiful” after performances, and Perlman was given several standing ovations for his music.

He had impeccable rhythm, clean notes and played with such precision and an undeniable passion.

Many audience members traveled from outside of the Davis area to hear him play.

“We’d never heard him [in person] before and have enjoyed his music in the past,” said Laurie Morkert, a member of the audience.

Morkert drove with her husband from Roseville to see Perlman perform, and both she and her husband are donors of the Friends of Mondavi Center program. Morkert described Perlman as a very humble person, and she and her husband were thrilled to see him in person.

“It’s been sort of on and off with his career, but we’ve always recognized him as a virtuoso since a young age,” said Craig Morkert. “This was a special experience.”

Kathlan Latimer, a part-time lecturer in the CalTeach/MAST program at UC Davis, has been a Mondavi Center subscriber for around the past five years.

“I’m a subscriber, but this is the first time I’ve come to one of his performances,” Latimer said. “I typically do the jazz series, but I played the violin as a kid [...] and I’ve always wanted to hear him and just to learn more about him. I just knew he was one of the few people that I wanted to hear and had the opportunity and couldn’t pass it by.”

GOODFRIEND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Carpenter also elaborated on the necessity of mutual trust, which ensures that friendships can remain stable even through conflicting opinions and heated debate.

“I have friends who have different political opinions that I don’t agree with, but as long as there is mutual respect, then that is your opinion and I don’t associate it with you as a person,” Carpenter said.

To Parsa Jamshidian, a third-year statistics major and close friend to Carpenter, a critical component to building a strong connection was trust.

“Someone that you can trust — 100% trust,” Jamshidian said. “You can open up to them and know that everything you say is between you and them.”

In addition to trust, Jamshidian also highlighted humor as an excellent way to start and uphold the bond and keep things light and fun.

“Humor is huge for me; I love laughing,” Jamshidian said. “For example, Trevor is a good friend to me and I pretty much laugh at everything he says.”

Humor was the initial spark between friends Justin Prentice and Julie Cooper, both third-year political science and philosophy double majors.

“I think that [humor] helped bridge our gap because we were always really goofy when we first met and that helped us be friends, but we are very different people on many different levels and we give each other a bunch of crap,” Prentice said.

To Cooper, being a good friend means knowing them well enough to intuit when they are down and be there for them even when they don’t deliberately ask for support.

“I think [it’s about] knowing you so well that they know when you’re down and need help even if you don’t express it,” Cooper said. “Someone who believes in you and wants the best for you.”

Prentice said knowing your friends’ goals is an essential component to friendship. He asserted that a valuable friend is motivated to support, nurture and guide you into growing and becoming the person you aspire to be.

“A good friend knows who you are at that moment and they know what you want to become,” Prentice said. “They help you become what you want to become while also supporting who you currently are.”

According to Prentice, in order to execute this, a good friend has to tailor actions to what’s best for the individual.

“A good friend is someone who tells you what you need to hear about yourself and you trust them more than you trust yourself,” Prentice said. “It’s someone who is always honest with you but knows when to tell you something and knows when to hold off. It’s someone who knows how to tactfully deliver what you need to hear and how you need to hear it.”

The comments provided demonstrate the myriad ways to add value to and maintain friendships, but all of them boil down to effort. To harken on the often used, but never overused saying: you only get back what you give out. So maybe next time you grab a cup of joe with a promising new pal or partake in some downright tom-foolery with a day one, reflect on these ideas and consider what friendship means to you.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

12 | THURSDAY, JANUARY, 2020

AGGIES STUMBLE IN ANOTHER CLOSE DEFEAT UC Davis men’s basketball drops tight conference opener

Guard Erza Manjon (5,right) of the UC Davis men’s basketball team dribbles along the baseline while being guarded by Dominick Pickett (22,left) during the game against UC Riverside on Thursday, Jan 9, 2020.

(Photo by Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

BY BRENDAN OGBURN sports@theaggie.org The UC Davis men’s basketball team suffered another painfully close loss in Thursday night’s Big West Conference opener, falling 65-59 to UC Riverside at The Pavilion.

The tough defeat dropped the Aggies’ record to 6-11 on the season, with the last nine defeats all coming by 10 points or less. UC Davis is one of the youngest teams in the nation with a half dozen freshman and three sophomores on the 14-man squad, but the lack of experience has not held the team back.

With the exception of a 82-48 season-opening loss at Loyola Chicago, the Aggies have given themselves a chance to win every game they have played in, often turning around large deficits

with big second half comebacks.

On Thursday night, UC Davis got off to a rocky start again, punishing itself with six sloppy turnovers in the opening four minutes of action.

The team quickly fell behind and was forced to play catch-up for all but 43 seconds on the night, never once holding a lead.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get enough contributions from everybody, from our starters to our bench,” said ninth-year Head Coach Jim Les. “I didn’t think our defensive intensity was what it needed to be. I thought we had too many unforced offensive errors and we’ve got to get that cleaned up if we’re going to be successful in this league.”

The Aggies were able to weather the early storm thanks to consecutive three pointers by senior guards Joe Mooney and Stefan Gonzalez,

and sophomore guard Caleb Fuller. UC Davis relied on its sharp shooting from long range to stay competitive early in the game, nailing four of its first six attempts beyond the arc.

Unfortunately for the home team, UC Riverside simply would not slow down and instantly responded with eight points in a row to eliminate any momentum the Pavilion crowd hoped to create. The Highlanders shot 61.5% in the first half and were difficult to stop in the low post, scoring a total of 24 points in the paint. They also took advantage of nine UC Davis turnovers and cashed in on numerous points in transition.

UCR took a 37-29 lead into the locker room at halftime, but it could have been a lot worse for the Aggies without sizable contributions from their bench. Gonzalez hit a trio of three pointers and Fuller was perfect from the field.

The same problems continued to remerge for UC Davis in the second half when a flurry of six more turnovers in a four-minute stretch came at the most inopportune moment. The Aggies had began to build momentum with a 6-0 scoring run that cut the deficit to three points, but the team quickly got careless with the ball, which prompted a five-and-a-half minute scoring drought.

“I’m not sure if it was nerves, but I thought a lot of those turnovers were from a lack of aggressiveness,” Les said. “If we make aggressive turnovers trying to make plays, you can live with those. But the ones tonight were unaggressive.”

The Aggies immediately suffered the consequences as UCR rattled off 10 straight points to regain a 13-point edge.

As time started to run out, UC Davis kept chipping away at the deficit, largely due to the efforts of freshman guards Ezra Manjon and Elijah Pepper. The young duo — which had a combined total of 30 points that night — started to run loose on the fast break and suddenly the Aggies found themselves in a one-possession game with 42 ticks left on the clock. UC Riverside did not let it slip in the final minute though, calmly hitting seven free throws to ice the game.

Besides Mooney, nobody else on the roster has played more minutes than Manjon and Pepper. Manjon, the only player to start all 17 games, ranks second behind Mooney in points scored and leads the team in assists. Pepper has especially made his presence felt on the defensive end of the court, leading the squad in rebounds and steals. Both players have made significant impacts in their short time on campus and un-

doubtedly have bright futures ahead of them at UC Davis.

UC Davis will enjoy a second consecutive weekend off before resuming conference play on Thursday at Long Beach State. Overall, the Aggies have hardly spent any time in Davis over the first two months of the season. The team’s 12 road games during the non-conference slate are the most in any season since Les took over in 2011.

The Aggies have been highly competitive in all but one contest this season, but are continually finding themselves on the wrong side of close results. The young players have certainly experienced the high’s and low’s of a college basketball season and have had to learn some tough lessons the hard way.

“The mentality is that we have to just keep working and stop beating ourselves and shooting ourselves in the foot,” Les said. “We had a number of miscues tonight on both ends of the floor, so we’ve got to eliminate those. Teams are good enough, especially the way they play, where we can’t feed the fire and make mistakes on our own and I thought we did that tonight.”

During Thanksgiving week, UC Davis came excruciatingly close to knocking off a pair of Pac-12 opponents on the road. On a short road trip to Berkeley, the Aggies dug themselves an 18-point hole against Cal and were headed for an embarrassing blowout loss on national television until they furiously stormed back to grab the lead with nine minutes left in regulation, before eventually losing by six. Three days later in Salt Lake City, the team endured another sluggish start and fell behind by 13 at halftime, but another heroic comeback came up just short in the 77-73 loss to Utah.

Other notable losses include a double overtime defeat against VMI at the Red Wolves Classic in Jonesboro, Ark. in November and a five-point loss against New Mexico in front of a raucous crowd of nearly 11,000 fans in late December.

The Aggies hope their fortunes will turn around as the Big West slate progresses and maybe the ball will start rolling their way down the stretch. UC Davis won back-to-back conference titles from 2017-2018 before suffering a disappointing setback last season.

With so much fresh, up-and-coming talent that will keep developing over the course of the season, there is no reason to believe the Aggies will not challenge for another championship in the near future.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM CONTINUES HOME COURT DOMINANCE

Aggies extend streak with overwhelming victory in Conference home-opener

Q U I N N S P O O N E R / AGGI E

UC Davis guard Katie Toole (13,middle) goes up for a layup during the match against the University of Hawaii on Saturday, Jan 11, 2020. (Photo by Justin Han / Aggie)

BY AJ SEYMOUR sports@theaggie.org Coming off a historic 2018-2019 season in which the Aggies only lost a single game in conference play, head coach Jennifer Gross and co. are yearning to reciprocate last year’s success. Although the team lost numerous starters and seniors from last season, and is now battling through some injuries at the moment, the Aggies have displayed admirable resilience. Dating back to the end of 2017, the women’s basketball team is undefeated in home conference play, a streak that was extended with a come-from-behind win against Hawaii in the team’s inaugural 2020 conference matchup.

Saturday’s contest started off tumultuously for the Aggies, with Hawaii leading 13-7 at the conclusion of the first quarter. Gross placed an emphasis on defense and rebounding heading into the game, and it began to manifest in the second period, as the Aggies fought back to tie the game 15-15 behind smooth passing from redshirt junior point guard Mackenzie Trpcic.

Following the tie, Hawaii called a timeout to cool down the Aggies; albeit, to no avail.

Out of the timeout, freshman guard Evanne Turner, sophomore guard Mikaila Sanders and then Trpcic nailed consecutive threes, sending the Pavilion into a frenzy.

Not only did the Aggies explode for 20 points in the second frame, but they also held Hawaii to just four points — tied for second-fewest total in all of women’s college basketball since the NCAAW returned to quarter-play in 2015. That meant UC Davis led 27-17 entering the halftime break.

UC Davis burst out of the tunnel post-halftime still red hot, with lethal scorer and redshirt-senior guard Katie Toole burying a three and sinking a few other close range shots. It was Sanders, though, who stole the show in the third, splashing in three consecutive deep balls on her own and pushing her total to five on the afternoon. The third quarter ended with the Aggies sitting on a comfortable 49-28 lead.

Although some substitutions led to some minor runs by the Rainbow Wahine, the Aggies shut down any hope of a miraculous comeback behind a clutch corner three from Toole, and lights-out free throw shooting courtesy of redshirt-sophomore forward Kayla Konrad. The scoreboard read 62-49 when

the final buzzer sounded, solidifying the Aggies’ 23rd consecutive home court conference victory.

Toole contributed a team-high 21 points — her fourth game this year with 20 or more.

Also stuffing the statsheet was junior forward Cierra Hall, who recorded her fifth double-digit rebounding game of the season by grabbing 11 boards — including four on the offensive end.

Although the season has not been perfect, the now 6-9 Aggies are looking to kick things into gear with the heart of the season upcoming. Gross lauded her team’s mental fortitude.

“After the loss on Thursday, we really took a lot of accountability and the rebounding was an area where we were really unhappy with ourselves,” said Gross following Saturday’s game. “I think players, coaches, everybody. [We] turned it around today and had one of our best rebounding performances. I think we brought a lot of focus and urgency to the boards. I think we rebounded at about 90 percent which is very very good. So I’m really pleased at how we bounced back at something we struggled with the other day and turn that into a strength today.”

The Aggies outscored the Wahine 14-2 in second chance points, largely because of their aggressive rebounding on both ends of the floor. Being strong on the boards was also an important factor of limiting Hawaii’s scoring, especially in the middle quarters. Being able to lock-in defensively helped propel UC Davis into the lead and allowed them to stay ahead when the final buzzer sounded.

“That’s been a main point of ours, is consistent level of play and building habits everyday to perform the way that we want to,” Gross explained. “So I think the team gets it and why it’s so important because if you don’t have the strong habits to rely on, you never know what’s going to happen. So now it’s just about showing up everyday, committing to getting better, and working really hard to build those strong habits.”

The scrappy UC Davis squad will return numerous players from injury before the season ends, including a crucial veteran piece in senior forward Nina Bessolo, who is weekto-week with a thumb injury, according to Gross. If the Aggies can manage to maintain a winning edge even without key starters in the rotation, it should instill confidence in a UC Davis team that’s still finding its stride.

“We could have easily gotten down on ourselves,” Gross said. “And I thought, ‘Its a

new thing about this team that we’re staying positive and not focusing on the outcome and just focusing on our growth.’ And if we continue to do that I think we’re gonna be very dangerous in this next month or so.”

Gross is optimistic her team will catch fire at the end of the season with good reasoning, and Konrad backs up that sentiment.

“We come out here everyday and we know it’s going to be a dogfight, so I’m just bringing everything I can,” Konrad said. “I think we’re going up from here and I’m really excited. Ev-

eryone’s really bought in [...] We have a lot of really good young players, a lot of players stepping up with two of our best players out right now. So everyone’s just for the team and everyone’s going to step and do whatever they need to do.”

The Aggies will continue their dive into the Big West slate with a battle against Long Beach on Thursday night. UC Davis will hope to garner a 24th-straight conference home win before heading back on the road for a two-game stretch.