December 2, 2021

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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 10 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

UC DAVIS MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SENATE SPECIAL SESSION BATTLE SAC STATE AT THE GOLDEN 1 CENTER HELD WITH ASSOCIATE UC Davis women’s team dominates their rival; men’s team rally was too little too late

VICE CHANCELLOR OF STUDENT LIFE

Senate met with Sheri Atkinson, the associate vice chancellor of student life, to discuss concerns about ASUCD business manager and the director of Creative Media

BY EMILY REDMAN campus@theaggie.org

UC Davis Aggies Mens Basketball facing against Sacramento State Hornets at Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento. (Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org For the first time in the program’s history, both UC Davis’ men’s and women’s basketball teams played at Golden 1 Center together. With the men’s team having played there before in previous years, this provided the opportunity for both sides to play their rival Sacramento State at the home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Both programs were unable to play the Causeway Classic in 2020 due to COVID-19, but the rivalry renewed this year in front of the crowd in Downtown Sacramento.

UC Davis women’s basketball gets back on track “It was super exciting,” said redshirt junior guard and Sacramento native Makaila Sanders about playing at Golden 1 Center for the first time. “For me, I’ve been living in Sacramento my whole life. It was one of my dreams to play at the Golden 1 [Center]. Just being here and being on the court back and healthy from taking a year off because of my injury, this is the biggest blessing I’ll ever have and I’ll remember this forever.”

UCDMBB&WBB on 9

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND CURIOSITY PARTNERS WITH UC DAVIS TO INTRODUCE KIDS TO SCIENCE, SHOWCASE INNOVATION The SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, the new name and location for the former Powerhouse Science Center, hosted its public grand opening on Nov. 13

BY SONORA SLATER science@theaggie.org

Within MOSAC, kids and their families interact with an engineering exhibit that encourages them to experiment with building and architecture, and a sign on the wall asks ‘What are you curious about?’.

(Sonora Slater / Courtesy)

Emerging from the chaos of the I-5 freeway, you turn a bend to see the top of a domed building rise into your line of sight. Pulling into the parking lot, you watch a family get back into the car to leave, all excitedly chattering about their new shared experience.

As you enter, a front-desk worker encourages you to ask them any questions you might have, and a sign on the wall asks, “What are you curious about?”

You have just walked into the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, or MOSAC, the newest name and location of the former Powerhouse Science Center that opened to the public on Nov. 13.

The museum focuses on serving young students in the Sacramento region. According to a recent press release, the museum showcases exhibits and attractions surrounding nature, water, power and engineering, in addition to the UC Davis Health-sponsored Health Headlines and Innovation gallery and the digital dome UC Davis Multiverse Theater.

Shahnaz Van Deventer, the director of marketing and development for MOSAC, described how the move came about.

The Senate meeting was called to order at 5:03 p.m. by Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez. She then recited the UC Davis Land Acknowledgment.

This session was held to discuss concerns with Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Life Sheri Atkinson about Alex Park, the director of Creative Media, and ASUCD Business Manager Greg Ortiz.

At the Nov. 18 Senate meeting, senators shared that they were uncomfortable working with Park and Ortiz which led to resolutions of no confidence for both ASUCD staff members. Prior to these resolutions, Park and Ortiz were offered closed sessions to discuss these issues. Both declined to attend.

Atkinson said she understood why she was invited to the meeting and that she was willing to listen and share information about next steps.

“Typically what happens is there is a conversation where we give employees an opportunity to make some changes,” Atkinson said.

Student Advocate Devin Santiago-Vergara spoke about his experience working with Ortiz.

“The communication was not good,” Santiago-Vergara said. “I tried my best to be on top of it but there was a lack of communication between us.”

Atkinson described possible next steps regarding Park and Ortiz. Typically, there would be a private discussion where they would be presented letters of expectation outlining changes that needed to be made. If no change is seen, then the human resources department would need to get involved.

“Part of the reason why I wanted to come tonight is to talk to you all, but I do not want to escalate the situation,” Atkinson said.

“I am committed to engaging in a way that includes looking into these things further and more comprehensively.”

President Pro Tempore Kabir Sahni said he wanted members of ASUCD to have the right to refuse to work with Park and Ortiz for the time being.

“I think that is one thing we could potentially consider,” Atkinson said. “I have some ideas that maybe we could talk about.”

The Senate then discussed timelines for when it can move forward with the steps outlined in the meeting.

“I want to find a way to come back from winter break in a better place,” Atkinson said.

Martinez Hernandez adjourned the meeting at 6:28 p.m.

Ortiz and Park did not respond to a request for comment on Nov. 29.

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YOLO COUNTY’S YOLOWORKS! LAUNCHES NEW VIRTUAL EMPLOYMENT CENTER Efforts to provide opportunities for job seekers continue in Yolo County with an emphasis on accessibility and diversity

BY YAN YAN HUSTIS HAYES city@theaggie.org On Nov. 16, YoloWorks! launched its first virtual career center platform. The Virtual Employment Center allows Yolo County residents to virtually receive career and vocational training services from case managers and employment specialists.

YoloWorks! Program Coordinator Erica Johnson said that the Virtual Employment Center is very similar to an in-person experience because it offers many of the same services.

“We’ve been working on our virtual employment center for about a year now and it’s essentially like an employment center on the go,” Johnson said. “Individuals have the ability to set up virtual appointments with us where we can assist them with resume development, reviewing their resume, mock interviews, job application assistance and career advice.”

The Virtual Employment Center is part of YoloWorks!’s broader mission of connecting job seekers with employers. The virtual aspect of the employment center makes it easy for job seekers to connect with YoloWorks! resources, according to Johnson. “[YoloWorks!] is a collaborative community effort to work with job seekers to address needs that they have and to also work with businesses to address their needs,” Johnson said. “An individual can go to our website and the first thing that pops up is our Virtual Employment Center. It’s an easy set up.”

Since YoloWorks! offers so many programs, the exact number of customers and job seekers that it has reached with its programs is difficult to determine exactly because the numbers change depending on the program, said Johnson.

“We just launched our Virtual Employment Center last Tuesday and in just over [two weeks] we’ve had about 20 appointments set up,” Johnson said. “The numbers vary quite a bit. It’s just based on the service and if someone is interested.”

YoloWorks! serves a wide range of job seekers with an equally wide range of opportunities, according to Johnson.

“It’s folks who’ve been unemployed, underemployed or individuals who are seeking different opportunities,” Johnson said.

“We have individuals from entry level to individuals who are skilled. We host [a lot] of positions when we advertise for employers in the community.”

In addition to its Virtual Employment Center, YoloWorks! has

hosted in-person career pathway job fairs with the state with upwards of 1,900 registrations and more locally focused ones with around 300 registrations. Johnson said that because of the pandemic, services like these have experienced an increase in need, both from local employers and local job seekers.

“This is a time for reinvention for a lot of job seekers so what we are seeing now is a lot of folks, who may not have accessed our services before, access our services,” Johnson said. “A lot of our employers in the area are hurting, whether they are looking for entry-level or skilled workers, just because there is a labor shortage — not just here in Yolo but throughout the country.”

While local workers are reaching out to services like YoloWorks! more frequently, local employers also remain committed to facilitating education, training and career path opportunities. During a virtual job talk hosted by UC Davis in partnership with YoloWorks! on June 29, UC Davis Leadership and Recruitment and Diversity Services Senior Talent Acquisition Partner Ellen Jordan told prospective applicants how to move through the application process. “[We’re here] to help you start your career at UC Davis or UC Davis Health,” Jordan said. “Our team came into existence about a year and a half ago and we provide executive recruitment level services.”

Manager of the UC Davis Leadership and Diversity Services office and member of Yolo County’s Workforce Innovation Board Lyndon Huling said that as an employer, ensuring that local talent and community members get work is an important part of supporting the local economy.

“We do a lot of work in the community; the focus there is specifically on local outreach — contacting prospective job seekers around the university and the medical center to ensure that they can put their best foot forward,” Huling said. “Just making the application process as simple as possible is important to recognize in order to give everyone a fair opportunity for roles.”

For employers and members of industry like UC Davis, building relationships with YoloWorks! and organizations like it helps foster ties within the community and open up opportunities to more local job seekers, according to Huling.

“We spend a lot of time making sure that we are spreading the word about opportunities when they come up — we do a lot of work sending out job vacancies to the folks who lead community-based organizations to make sure that they know when we’re recruiting,” Huling said. “[It’s] really important to figur[e] out how we can make our resources visible and available to as many people as possible.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many outreach events have pivoted to online and virtual spaces. While this can create some challenges regarding broadband accessibility, virtual outreach has allowed employers and programs like the Virtual Employment Center cast a much wider net, said Huling.

“We work with community partners to make sure that we’re announcing opportunities with enough time for job seekers to secure access to workstations or smartphones,” Huling said. “The lesson that we’ve learned is that we need to do both [online and in-person outreach]. It’s really shifted the paradigm over how we reach and engage with prospective job seekers.”

2 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

UC DAVIS BECAME THE FIRST PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE U.S. TO ADD CASTE AS A PROTECTED CLASS While this is seen as a win for caste equality, many on campus want more than a quiet addition to the anti-discrimination policy

BY JENNIFER MA campus@theaggie.org

In September, UC Davis became the first public university in the U.S. — and the first campus in the UC system — to add caste as a protected class in its anti-discrimination policy.

This decision was in partnership with casteoppressed community members and part of a larger national movement for caste equity.

The caste system, a hereditary system that separates people into distinct social groups with varying privileges and limitations, dates back thousands of years to ancient India. These dictate important aspects of life for many people, such as their occupations, their schools and where they can worship. Typically, those that are casteoppressed have limited social mobility and face discrimination.

UC Davis community members that have been part of the campaign for caste equity and members who have been affected by casteism on campus recognize that making caste a protected class is a significant step. Some believe, however, that there is more work to be done.

Specifically, some community members voice their concerns on the lack of communication from campus administration to let students know what this addition means. Currently, there is no place to file a report of casteism on campus online. Students can report hate, bias discrimination and harrassment they have experienced or witnessed, but casteism is not an option. Students who have experienced casteism must select the category “national origin.”

“Davis’ whole focus is on making a safe environment for pursuing our education and for students like me, who have suffered through [casteism], it’s not a safe environment and it can impede on our education,” a caste-oppressed fourth-year student said. “It almost in a sense feels performative if they’re not going to take actions against [perpetrators of casteism].”

The student outlined the actions they want campus administration to take to better support caste-oppressed students.

“Some sort of diversity training would be very helpful, support systems for students to be able to report this, some sort of counselor [...] and taking it [...] a bit more seriously,” they said.

“Not acting like this is only an issue that affects a very small population but actually realizing this affects a big student population.”

Danésha Nichols, the director of UC Davis’ Harassment and Discrimination Assistance and Prevention Program (HDAPP), provided a statement on behalf of the university, including the chancellor, regarding the perceived lack of communication.

“We were in the process of doing standard updates to our local nondiscrimination policy and thought this would be a great opportunity

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

to make it clear that our policy prohibited discrimination on the basis of caste,” the statement reads. “The update was part of a regular policy review process, and that is why no formal announcement was made.”

The statement also mentions HDAPP’s plans to update educational materials to spread the word. Along with this, the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is working on integrating information about caste as a protected class onto their website and beyond.

A third year psychology and communication double major shared how they think students themselves can help support caste-oppressed

students.

“Really taking the time to learn and educate yourself about these issues is a great way to learn more about caste and learn about what it means to have caste as a protected category,” they said.

“It’s so easy to learn about these issues. We’re at a public research university, first of all, so you have access to so many amazing professors.

And you can also, of course, learn about these issues through social media. There’s so many organizations that have been raising awareness about caste so that’s also another option to learn more about this issue.”

Nine Middle Eastern, North African and

South Asian (MENASA) student organizations and elected representatives from the BASED slate within ASUCD have also come together to pen an open letter to the campus community regarding their experiences with casteism and how everyone can work towards change.

“If we look at caste, I think it helps us broaden our understanding of power and privilege,” a leader in the caste protections campaign said.

“We can’t be an anti-racist space if we’re not looking internally in our community.”

DR. KIM BARRETT JOINS UC DAVIS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AS VICE DEAN OF RESEARCH The School of Medicine selected new leadership to promote and maintain its operations

BY CHRISTINE LEE campus@theaggie.org The UC Davis School of Medicine (SOM) welcomed Dr. Kim Barrett as the vice dean of research in early November. Barrett previously served as a distinguished professor of medicine at UC San Diego and the director of graduate education at the National Science Foundation.

“I’m really excited about being here in such a vibrant institution,” Barrett said. “You may know I’ve essentially spent my entire career in the UC system, at our sister campus. But I’ve always looked at Davis in an incredibly favorable light.”

Barrett said her background working in the UC system and as a renowned researcher in

gastrointestinal physiology and immunology will allow her to support early-career personnel and create pathways for them to hold faculty positions.

“I am particularly excited about Dr. Barrett’s appointment, as I believe she is a leader who is ideally poised to upkeep the steep trajectory of growth in translational research in the SOM,” Dr. Angela Haczku, a professor of medicine and the associate dean for translational research, said via email. “She will be able to also significantly contribute to the training of the upcoming generations of our biomedical scientists. I am

UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. (UC Davis)

certain she will continue to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive research community in our school.”

Barrett will also take on the program at Aggie Square, which will be an “innovation hub” on the Sacramento campus that includes research facilities, classrooms, housing and private industry partners.

“Post-graduate education is out on the Sacramento campus,” Dr. Ted Wun, a professor of medicine and the associate dean of research said. “We don’t have the excitement that you have on an undergraduate campus where you

have a lot of students around so I think that’s going to be a big change for us to create a more campus feel than just an academic health center.”

Barrett said she values collaboration as vice dean and enjoys that it includes working with new voices as well as performing facilitative duties for the university.

“I’m a secret administration junkie, and I like the sort of aspects of the job that are about keeping the trains running on time, making sure that the system works effectively to support all those marvelous researchers,” Barrett said.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 3

33RD ANNUAL TURKEY TROT HELD IN DAVIS 33rd annual Turkey Trot held in Davis

BY LEVI GOLDSTEIN city@theaggie.org On Nov. 20, the 33rd annual Turkey Trot in Davis was held at Civic Center Field. Since its beginning, the Davis rendition of the event has been organized by A Change of Pace Foundation.

According to the A Change of Pace Foundation website, the races began at 8:15 a.m. with the 5K, followed by the two-mile “Dog Jog” at 8:40 a.m. and were closed out by the 10K at

9 a.m. The kids’ fun runs started at 10:30 a.m.

Runners also had the opportunity to run an unofficial 15K by running both the 5K and 10K events subsequently or by registering as a team.

The UC Davis Cross Country, Track and Field Club ran the Turkey Trot as a team.

According to club president Luigi Zialcita, most club members ran the 5K, but a few attempted

the 10K. Zialcita said that a few club alumni joined them for the run as well.

Zialcita is a fourth-year environmental science and management major at UC Davis.

His favorite part about the club is spending time with his best friends, but he also appreciates what running does for his mental health.

“It’s fun to push your body to the limit

Courtesy photo from Natalie Laurie and Claire Chung

and find out what you’re capable of,” Zialcita said. “It’s cool to prove to myself that I can do something really hard. I can do something that I didn’t think was possible.”

Being president of the club has been gratifying for Zialcita, he said.

“When I first came to Davis, I didn’t really have any friends here,” Zialcita said. “I found belonging through the club team. [Being president] has really just been a way for me to pay it forward.”

Zialcita and the other club members greatly enjoyed the event, he said.

“Getting to see so many people come out and just have fun on a Saturday morning, that was really heartwarming,” Zialcita said.

According to A Change of Pace, race registrants picked up packets at Civic Park with race information, their racing bibs and complimentary T-shirts on Friday, Nov. 19 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 20 from 6:30 a.m. until race start time. Registrants who entered after 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17 picked up their packets at Will Call.

The Turkey Trot included a community expo after the races with live music, food and kidfriendly games. Exhibitors such as businesses and community organizations were able to preregister for a 10-by-10 booth space by Nov. 13 with a $125 fee, $150 with a table and chairs or $100 for non-profits.

A Change of Pace followed COVID-19 protocols at the event. All runners, vendors, volunteers and spectators were required to wear masks at all times and were not permitted to attend if they had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 or had any COVID-19 symptoms.

All races used RFID chip timing, according to Davis Turkey Trot Runs at RunSignup.com.

A disposable chip was attached to each runner’s bib, and runners’ individual start times were not activated until their chip crossed the start line.

This allowed for less starting line crowding and made the event more COVID-19 safe.

QR codes were posted around the event venue for runners to check their times and places, according to A Change of Pace Foundation. Race results are also available online at the A Change of Pace Foundation website.

The next Turkey Trot in Davis will be on Nov. 19, 2022, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Turkey Trot Finisher medals (A Change of Pace Foundation / Courtesy)

ARP FUNDS ALLOCATED TO WELCOME BABY PROGRAM The program is supported by UC Davis HEAL Lab

BY RACHEL SHEY city@theaggie.org COVID-19 has negatively impacted many mothers and babies in Yolo County, according to experts. According to data obtained from Communicare Health centers in Yolo County, “rates for low-birth-weight infants have more than doubled during the pandemic.” Only 47% of pregnant women in Yolo County received prenatal care in 2020, compared to 84% in 2018.

First 5 Yolo, an organization aimed at helping Yolo County’s young children, has obtained American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to launch a new program called Welcome Baby, which aims to help mothers and babies during the first few weeks postpartum, according to First 5 Yolo Executive Director Gina Daleiden. “[Welcome Baby] is a health and wellness program for newborns and their mothers in particular,” Daleiden said.

“Statewide, national and local data tells us that women giving birth in the time of COVID-19 are at particularly high risk for adversity and stress that then reflect on the newborn and their ability because the relationship and the bonding is so important.”

The Welcome Baby program is supported by ARP funds that Yolo County received, according to First 5 Yolo Systems Improvement Officer Sarah Hartman. The Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate the funds to the Welcome Baby program.

“There was a call for proposals for the American Rescue Plan Funding and First 5 Yolo funds programs for families of children zero to five, so First 5 Yolo submitted this Welcome Baby proposal, which is this home visiting program, and that was funded by ARP,” Hartman said. “First 5 Yolo is leading the Welcome Baby program, and we work with the healthcare system, so we work with Communicare, and we also work with other different community organizations like Yolo County Children’s Alliance to provide Welcome Baby.”

The program largely takes the form of home visits. Those who are eligible for the program will all receive a home nurse visit, and then up to two community health care visits.

“In its simplest form, it would be one home nurse visit for every MediCal or uninsured woman in Yolo County within the first week after release from the hospital after giving birth, postpartum,” Daleiden said. “In that visit, the nurse will be able to assess the mother’s mental health as well as physical health, look at the baby and assess its health at that point, do a full clinical and health assessment and give a screen to gauge risk of adversity.”

This program is new to Yolo County, but similar projects have been done before, according to Daleiden. This type of program originated in Colorado, where it is called Family Connects; it

First 5 Yolo Systems Improvement Officer Sarah Hartman and her son when they came home from the hospital. (Sarah Hartman / Courtesy)

has also been done with First 5 Los Angeles and First 5 Orange County. Here in Yolo County, however, UC Davis is a collaborator with First 5 Yolo. Dr. Leigh Ann Simmons with HEAL Lab is participating in assisting with Welcome Baby.

“We have a current collaboration on a project and that’s how we got connected to First 5 Yolo,” Simmons said. “We’re collaborating with them specifically to help them with evaluation.

Everything from looking at health outcomes from the birthing person and their child or infant, to finding if there are any cost savings associated with having a nurse home visit after someone gives birth.”

One of the goals for Simmons is to evaluate whether Welcome Baby reduces costs as well. She aims to help First 5 Yolo collect data that can be used to evaluate whether the program is reaching its goal.

“We’re doing a combination of things; one is definitely looking at the literature,” Simmons said. “There are other programs like this where people have published peer-reviewed literature. We’re also getting input from First 5, what are they interested in, one of the issues is sustainability, and so that’s why finding out if there are any cost savings associated with this in the long-term, like maybe fewer babies or fewer birthing persons returning to the hospitals.”

4 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

STUDENTS’ FOSTER CAT WITH PARAPLEGIA GAINS INTERNET FAME AFTER VIRAL TIKTOK George the cat’s TikTok raises awareness for disabled cats — and is helping him look for a forever home

BY JALAN TEHRANIFAR features@theaggie.org George, an orange tabby kitten fostered by two UC Davis students, captured the hearts of 4.2 million TikTok users across the globe after a video of him running — despite only having the use of his two front legs — went viral in October.

The video, in which George chases down treats on his two front legs, was originally posted on Oct. 29 and has since racked up 28.6 million views, 4.2 million likes, 60,000 comments and 325,000 shares across other platforms — and the numbers are still rising.

Two UC Davis students, Natalie Laurie, a third-year cognitive science and music double major, and Claire Chung, a thirdyear wildlife, fish, and conservation biology major, are currently fostering George while he waits to find a forever home.

The students found George through the Orphan Kitty Project, a student-run nonprofit organization at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They had never fostered before meeting George, and Laurie said that the decision to do so was spontaneous — and luckily, it worked out.

“We discussed fostering a kitten through the Orphan Kitten Project (OKP) for two days, but because each one came with different health conditions and they were often taken by other fosters very quickly, we never decided on a cat and instead waited for the right opportunity,” Chung said. “One day, Natalie found an email from OKP about George needing a foster and she immediately signed us up for it.”

According to Chung, because George has paraplegia, he faces struggles that other cats do not face. His paralysis affects his lower body and back legs, leaving him with a loss of muscle function in his hind legs and lower half of his body. Chung explained some struggles specific to George, and how she and Laurie accommodate them.

“The struggles vary across different paraplegic cats, but George needs frequent diaper changes because he can’t walk over and into the litter box,” Chung said. “Due to this, we try our best in including diaper changes as part of our daily schedule [by] going back to our apartment after a morning class or afternoon class.

Contrary to what most people may think, caring for George is like caring for any other cat or dog. Besides diaper changes which only take about five minutes or less, George is a wonderful companion and comes with lots of love, cuteness and one-of-a-kind zoomies.”

Chung said that George behaves more like a dog than a cat — in her “professional opinion.”

George’s viral video was not his first time in the spotlight, Chung said.

“I have been posting fun and short videos of George on TikTok for months in hopes of getting him viral to better advertise George and hasten his adoption process,” Chung said. “One afternoon, I thought it has been awhile since I have posted on George’s TikTok account so I decided to film him doing something I, at least, thought was normal since we’ve had him since April 2021. Turns out, George zooming toward his food in 10 seconds was just the right material for going viral on the platform.”

Courtesy photo from Natalie Laurie and Claire Chung George’s foster moms were pleasantly surprised to find that the video blew up the next morning.

“I woke up the next morning with a text message from my friend saying that George is going viral with 600,000 views and excitedly woke up Natalie,” Chung said. “It was very exciting to see that George was finally going viral, and I quickly got sucked into the obsession of the numbers of likes, views and shares — which prompted Natalie to remind me to be humble.”

The video of George has now reached millions of people, many of whom have reached out to Chung and Laurie about his condition. One user even commented: “I don’t think cats are supposed to bend like that.”

“There were quite a few comments that were concerned with George getting carpet burns from zooming across the floor so quickly, as well as people who suggested him getting wheels or amputating his hind legs,” Chung said. “While those are all valid concerns, we can definitely confirm that he has not experienced any sort of carpet burn. I believe it’s due to the elevation his poofy diaper provides for his hind legs.”

Chung also explained why, as of now, George is not going to have his hind legs amputated.

“The problem with wheels is that George wouldn’t be able to

sit or lay down properly when he wants to take a break,” Chung said. “Amputation is not an option unless he has serious health issues stemming from his hind legs, which is not true. He is doing just fine with his legs, so for now, we will be gladly keeping them attached.”

Aside from the concerns, the post has also been flooded with funny, loving comments — and fans can expect more George content on his TikTok account soon.

“We’ve posted a couple of videos already and will probably continue to do so,” Laurie said. “Hopefully his new fame will help him find his forever home.”

Laurie said that though she and Chung have considered adopting George, it is not feasible for their lifestyles. They both expressed that though they love George very much, they hope that he does find a permanent home soon.

“Adopting a pet is a huge responsibility, and as college students, we just don’t have the resources to do so,” Laurie said. “We are really thankful that the Orphan Kitten Project covers all of his expenses, so all we have to do is love him. We really hope that one day George finds a permanent home that will be able to provide him with everything he needs for the long term.”

TWO EXPERTS AT UC DAVIS EXPLAIN CRITICAL RACE THEORY, WHY CONSERVATIVE LEADERS ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT IT Development of Critical Race Theory, why it became a nationwide phenomenon and how the U.S. has seen this kind of movement before

BY SIMRAN KALKAT features@theaggie.org In June 2020, people in every state in the U.S. protested the extrajudicial murder of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. Though these large-scale protests and accompanying panic over riots and looting are not as prominent today as they were during the summer of 2020, the backlash to progress on racial equity has remained, especially under the pretense of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Despite its presence in the news and politics, many people do not fully understand CRT. Nina Farnia, a Ph.D. candidate in history at UC Davis and a graduate of UCLA School of Law with an emphasis in Critical Race Studies, explained the basics of the theory.

“It’s important to remember that when it comes to Critical Race Theory, each of those three words — critical, race and theory — are an important part of the concept and the overall movement,” Farnia said. “This is what differentiates it from ethnic studies, for example, or other academic concepts that are not affirmatively theoretical or affirmatively about race. Critical Race theorists think about racial systems and structures, like white supremacy or settler colonialism, and how they impact law and society.”

Farnia said that the movement’s origins are in critical legal studies — a discipline which examines the role of capitalism in the American legal system. Critical Race Theory emerged as a response to critical legal studies when a group of young legal scholars — including Kimerlé Crenshaw, Derrick Bell, Charles Lawrence, Mari Matsudo and Richard Delgado — pointed out the need to examine the intersection of white supremacy, capitalism and the American legal framework. Farnia described the theoretical idea and framework behind Critical Race Theory.

“The question really is how do race and the law constitute one another?” Farnia said. “How does race constitute the law? How does it impact the making of the law and how does the law impact the making of race, especially in a society that from its inception has been both white supremacist and settler-colonial? CRT scholars interrogate the systems and structures of power that produce racial inequality and try to offer answers that address those problems and redress those who are most harmed.”

The trend of panic and backlash against studying racial inequity is nothing new, but over the past year and a half, there has been a wave of “panic” over Critical Race Theory being taught in schools.

Professor Kathryn Olmstead of the History Department at UC Davis explained how this “panic” came to be.

“For a while, [CRT] was referred to as ‘woke culture,’ and then some conservative strategist rebranded it as Critical Race Theory or CRT, which for some reasons that I don’t quite understand, caught on to the public’s imagination more than simply calling it ‘woke culture’,” Olmstead said. “But certainly for at least the last five or six years, there has been a lot of conservative dialogue about the dangers of a ‘woke culture’ of making white people feel bad.”

Currently, the objection to Critical Race Theory, which comes largely from right-wing organizations and leaders, focuses on the teaching of race in schools. Multiple state and local governments have rushed to restrict teaching Critical Race Theory and civil rights history in the classroom. Farnia explained their argument for doing so, and why it is misguided.

“According to the right — what you would hear on Fox News, for example — the teaching of some basic civil rights history in primary and secondary schools is Critical Race Theory, but that’s

not true,” Farnia said. “That’s just basic U.S. history. Right now, the right is proposing a white-washed revisionist form of U.S. history that would exclude all this and is seeking to justify it by igniting a battle against Critical Race Theory.”

Olmstead, whose research interests include conspiracy theories, explained that the current panic over Critical Race Theory developed from a small modicum of truth, as many conspiracy theories do.

“In a way, this [is] a conspiracy theory,” Olmstead said. “It’s a real thing; there’s this germ of truth there. There are a lot of teachers and professors who think it’s important to talk about continuing racism in the United States, the history of racism in the United States. But the way it’s been turned into this gigantic plot is really concerning.”

Olmstead said that this panic is similar to the long-lasting panic about communist teachers beginning in the 1920s and ‘30s.

They explained that what began as concern over children having left-wing teachers took off in a dramatic way in the ‘40s and ‘50s when McCarthyism became popular. During this time, many “dangerous” books and educational materials that were deemed too left-leaning were banned from classrooms. Olmstead suggested

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that this is not too dissimilar to what is happening today. Earlier this year, a Texas high school principal, James Whitfield, was suspended by the school board over accusations of indoctrinating students with Critical Race Theory.

According to both Farnia and Olmstead, the attacks and backlash against Critical Race Theory are not ones to be taken lightly. Farnia said that educating students on CRT will lead students to come up with answers for the problems in the U.S. that it exposes. She said that some cities and movements are beginning to look into how to give reparations to Black people and return land to Native nations — which she believes is why many are so wary of CRT. “The logical conclusion of education, if done well, is to change how society operates,” Farnia said. “The right-wing is very aware of that, [...] that if they don’t get out in front of this and effectively stop it, things are going to change, [and] racial equity and racial justice are going to become more and more significant guiding principles in U.S. society. This is why the assault on CRT is so dangerous.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 5

OPINION EDITORIAL BOARD MEETS WITH CHANCELLOR MAY, UC DAVIS ADMINISTRATORS May and administrators discuss winter quarter plans, campus policing and student fees The California Aggie’s Editorial Board met with Chancellor Gary May, Faculty Advisor to the Chancellor and Provost Ari Kelman, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Pablo Reguerín, Vice Chancellor for Finance, Operations and Administration Kelly Ratliff, Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff Karl Engelbach, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dana Topousis, Chief Campus Counsel Mike Sweeney and Director of Athletics Rocko DeLuca on Nov. 24, 2021.

Below is a transcript of the meeting that has been edited for length and clarity.

For many students, the transition from virtual learning to inperson learning has not been easy. What advice do you have for students that are struggling with the increased strain of inperson learning?

May: I think one thing is to be patient with yourself and with each other and your professors — kind of get back to the rhythm of in-person learning. We have a lot of resources available if you are struggling. There’s all sorts of counseling, tutoring and other resources that are available for students who are having particular problems with the transition.

Reguerín: For some students it might help to reduce the number of units they’re taking as they transition back. There’s more flexibility in the policies around academics overall, but really try to practice self care through therapy or getting support. I think the key message we’re trying to convey to students is number one, you are not alone. If you do feel isolated, disconnected, overwhelmed and you think it’s just you, it’s a different feeling when that’s happening. And then be supportive of yourself while also being supportive to others around you. Students, peer connections are helpful. Trying to be supportive is one of the tips I would add too.

We noticed a change to the testing requirement in the Winter Planning email from a couple days ago starting Jan. 17. What other changes to COVID-19 policies should students expect in the next few quarters?

May: No other real drastic, immediate changes. The change to the testing was motivated by the fact that we are doing so well. Our positivity rate has never been higher than .1% for our asymptomatic testing. As [Ratliff] described, we’re finding needles in haystacks and we’re spending a lot of money trying to find those needles in the haystacks. So, what we decided to do is strongly encourage testing [rather than mandate] testing after the first of the year, that way we get through the holidays, travel and all those risks. Presumably, if all things continue to go the direction they’ve been going, the virus will continue to decline, the transmission will continue to decline and we’ll be in better shape. There were academic changes that were announced as well, maybe [Kelman] can highlight those.

Kelman: Just a quick point. People who are not vaccinated but are complying with the campus policy, they will continue to be tested. I say that because given that you are the newspaper of record for the campus, it really is important for people to understand that that policy has not changed. The burden will remain for those people that for one reason or another, have not been vaccinated. In terms of academics, I think the Academic Senate just announced considerable flexibility for instructors who choose to use that flexibility around final examinations this quarter. We anticipate that is going to continue into next quarter. The same is true that we will continue the [remote teaching] policy for faculty who have some kind of vulnerability in their family, who take care of someone who is immunocompromised or [who] have a child that is too young to be vaccinated. Those faculty will be able to petition for an exception that will allow them to continue to teach remotely.

The 10th anniversary of the pepper spray incident was last week. How would you evaluate the reform that has taken place over the past 10 years?

May: The pepper spray was obviously something regrettable and an unfortunate part of our university’s history. I think it’s important to first acknowledge that no one in leadership here now was in their same position at UC Davis then, including the police officers. I’m not saying that to not take responsibility, but I mean it as a lot has changed in both the university leadership and practices. There’s been so much reform here at UC Davis, I would consider us one of the leaders among the UC system in policing, but I would arguably say we’re among national leaders. The Police Accountability Board, our CORE Officers, the fact that our force is accredited nationally, the work the chief has done with mental health — there are many other examples of our desire to have a community policing approach where students can feel confidence in and at the same time feel safe. I take some pride in that. We just had a year long safety task force to examine the things we were doing and making recommendations on how to move forward. I’m okay with where we are with that one.

Ratliff: With respect to how we’re approaching the task force, we’re actually framing it related to four separate reports. There was the report of the Next Generation, we used the report from the ASUCD task force that also came out last summer. Kelechi Ohiri, who was hired as a public safety analyst in student affairs, published some findings in respect to students and stakeholders.

Finally, President Drake and that process that happened universitywide in the UC community safety plan. We’re really using all four of those reports as a series of steps. Knowing it was the anniversary last week and a lot of progress has been made, the chancellor had a statement, we had a release in Dateline, our internal publication.

We had the opportunity to meet with folks from ASUCD earlier in the quarter to talk about some of the progress. The set of recommendations is very broad, and the report we got from ASUCD is one of the tools we are using.

Engelbach: I would just add that we implemented more communication between students and campus administration. We now have monthly meetings between ASUCD leadership and the chancellor and other campus leaders, which, prior to the pepper spray incident, was not as consistent. We’re hoping that further dialogue will help us ensure that we understand the concerns and address them in a more timely manner.

You’ve mentioned the taskforce a couple of times already. Are there any follow-ups regarding the timeline about when the campus safety task force recommendations will be put into action?

May: There are a few. We have a Campus Safety Oversight Committee now that follows the progress of the recommendations and makes sure we’re keeping our progress on those. There’s a new safety transparency dashboard on the UCDPD website that has all sorts of metrics on the activities of the police so everyone can see every stop: what they do, what the result was, how many they make in a period of time, the place and different situations. The chief had three vacant positions that we decided to transform. One of those was a position that [Ratliff] just mentioned and there are two other positions that have been created for police officer vacancies. I think that’s a pretty good summary of ongoing activity.

Reguerín: I’ll add one more. There’s a project from student affairs and the fire chief that they are putting together called Health 34. In a nutshell, it puts a more mental health approach, provider approach on public safety issues and crises that come up. It reduces the need for the police to come out, something you would consider lower-level 911 calls. It’s ongoing, so they are developing ongoing

relationships. It’s what people call a mental health approach to crisis. We’re hoping that will help the relationship with students as they reach out. It’s for students and community members more broadly. This is still a partnership. The police are partners in this program but I think all of these reforms are going to have some impact on student experience. It’s going to have a fundamental impact on how students are engaged and who they need if they feel their safety is at risk or need additional support. It’s a much more proactive approach. You respond differently if you have an ongoing relationship than just coming out for the crisis. We’re going to work whether it be [through] our Aggie Compass or different offices [that] are plugged in to provide support, similar to our counseling and psychological team. It is a very integrated approach, it is very exciting. It is not going to be easy and will take some time, but I think we have all the key ingredients and collaboration to do this so we are very excited about it.

Chancellor May, you have said in the past that students are the most important donors for the UC Davis Athletics program.

What do you think of the proposed referendum to eliminate a portion of student fees that go toward funding athletics? Should it be passed, how does the university plan to find additional funding for the ICA program?

May: If the referendum were to pass and we had to eliminate the fee, that’s about $20 million. It’s 19 something but we’ll round and say $20 million. So, we have to find $20 million elsewhere, so if we wanted it to continue as it does now, we would have to find it from another source other than fees to maintain the operation.

Chances are very low that we would find that money from the academic enterprise. We would probably have to find it somewhere else in Student Affairs or another side of campus activity, which would have some consequences. Some other services would be curtailed or eliminated. We could say “Well, instead of doing that we will just reduce the ICA budget by $20 million” and make them live off of that. That would have some repercussions. We would have to cut sports I would imagine and cut personnel for sure. All sorts of things we would have to consider. It could also be something in between those two extremes. Maybe a little bit of both of those things we’d have to do. I don’t want to respond directly about my opinion on the referendum because I don’t think that would be appropriate given that it may go to a vote, but I will say some things that will probably make my feelings pretty obvious. The referendum appears to be framed from the notion that Intercollegiate Athletics benefits only the 700 or so students who participate. I think that’s a logical fallacy, I don’t think that’s true at all. This type of model of funding is not unusual in our society. I pay property taxes to benefit public schools but my kids are not in school anymore, so it’s not like this is a strange way of doing things in American society. That aside, you have to think, many of those 700 student-athletes come from marginalized communities and would not be able to go to a university without that scholarship support. We have examples of other fees that only benefit specific student populations. For example, should we extract these because there are only a small number of disabled students on campus, should we not charge the fee that funds the Student Disability Center? That’s the kind of logic that the way the referendum is framed leads you to. I said I would give some examples on how everyone benefits. I think there’s a community benefit.

The fee that is in question generates financial aid. It generates about $7.5 million in return to aid. That financial aid goes to all students, as all our fees do in this return to aid mechanism. The local community benefits. Davis hotels and restaurants, when we have teams from other universities come and play us, there’s an economic benefit to the community. You as students patronize those establishments. Our student-athletes go on to become very successful alumni and give back to the university.

There has been a notion of “Well why can’t we just raise the $20 million elsewhere? We’re great at fundraising.” A couple things there, we’ve raised about $1.4 billion dollars in the current campaign. Very little of the money is unrestricted.

Going forward, maybe we can raise $20 million dollars this year, but remember this is not a one year thing. We have to raise $20 million every year to maintain this current level of operation.

Or, we could build an endowment that would generate $20 million, that would be $400 million to do that. The largest gift ever given to the university was $100 million so we have to raise a gift four times that size to do it with philanthropy.

DeLuca: From where I sit, the transparency on the fee, we do present four times a year to the COSAF board to say how the fees are used. We’re very open and transparent with that piece.

We publish our financials on our website, so we feel like we run a very lean and efficient operation with very little waste, and we take great pride in that. Ultimately, we’re very transparent from the beginning when people decide to come to Davis that there is an athletics fee component to that. It’s not like we hide that or bury it into other areas. From entry point all the way through, including the student engagement at our athletic events, we try to be as good of partners as we can. I think that’s at the heart of what the chancellor’s message is about treating our students like major donors. Our donor advising board gets the same information that we give to the COSAF group. We let everybody know how the money is being taken in and how it’s used. Ultimately, we do try to do a lot in support of the student-athletes.

Reguerín: I also wanted to say too, I think students, particularly high school students, middle school students, whether they are going to play at the school or not, look at what the school has in the online college tours. This is a factor in their decision

THE

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EDITO RIA L B OA RD ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Campus News Editor MADELEINE PAYNE City News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD Opinion Editor KATIE DEBENEDETTI Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MICHELLE WONG Science & Tech Editor

KATHLEEN QUINN New Media Manager BENJAMIN CHENG Photo Director KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director ANNE THISELTON-DYER Copy Chief SABINE LLOYD Copy Chief KESHAV AGRAWAL Website Manager ANTHONY NGUYEN Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager JENNA HEATH Marketing Manager JELENA LAPUZ Outreach Director LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

whether they will play sports or not, they are coming from an environment where sports are taking place generally. It’s hard to measure exactly what the impact is on the incoming class, but I think it plays a factor. Also, I think the facilities that are used and shared in our Campus Recreation — club sports programs have a lot of practices, play games. There’s a lot of sharing of resources and facilities. There are thousands of students who benefit from it.

There are many places where it benefits more broadly. Just to add one more thing to what Chancellor May said, we have a number of different student services that are funded through the student referendum process, so the loss of revenue is going to impact the broader set of services one way or another. While there are different sources and uses of funds, we have to look at the bigger picture too.

I don’t believe you can simply extract any one of the referendums on their own and not see an impact in other places. They are individual areas but they have a relationship as well.

Sweeney: One of my concerns has been one of the motives behind this initiative has been premised on what I would call misinformation. There is misinformation being circulated by some folks to try and drum up support for the referendum and looking backwards and misrepresentating things that occurred in the past.

The misinformation implying that there has been corruption is simply not true. I would encourage our student reporters to ensure that you are reporting facts and base in reliable sources, and not just people repeating misinformation.

Reguerín: There is some element of fact analysis that people miss whether it be on social media or in conversations: How do you make comparisons? It’s very complicated. The paper [Ratliff] mentioned that was shared with COSAF helps someone walk through. The one I’ve already heard twice is UC Berkeley and it really is a false comparison. It is complicated but I think the document does a nice job of laying that out. How to describe that in an article or in a way that is succinct for a reader, we need some help with that, but it is complicated. I think that document does a good job of doing that so you aren’t cherry picking the data to get the outcome that you want.

DeLuca: On that point that [Reguerín] mentioned, the funding model for UC Berkeley and UCLA is what they call FBS institutions that play a higher level of competition than we do in football specifically. PAC-12 revenue is like $33.4 million for those schools so the reliance on student fees is not as high as ours at the FCS level. Again, our percentages are right in line if not a couple percentage points below our peers in relation to our need for that outside support.

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OPINION REST IS A PRODUCTIVE USE OF TIME Remove your guilt for not being productive 24/7

BY NADIA ANEES nsanees@ucdavis.edu “Ugh, I’ve done nothing all day.” It’s something I hear so often from my classmates, siblings, parents, friends and even strangers at coffee shops. I also feel this guilt, especially on restful days when I have not accomplished work or school-related tasks. But I have come to realize through many experiences with burnout and exhaustion that rest is a productive act.

So many people I come across, including myself, suffer lots of guilt when they have been unproductive — which, in this case, means not having done as much work as was expected of them. Alternatively, any time spent laying down or relaxing is described as lazy and bad.

I firmly believe that these days or moments of “unproductivity” are indicators that you need to pause or take a break.

Say you are of the type that likes to work even through bouts of exhaustion. When you work through periods of tiredness, you don’t do a great job at the task at hand and so you stay up late, procrastinating and grudgingly making it right up until the deadline. Then the cycle repeats and you find yourself still not well rested, but with more work to do. It goes on and on and on.

Imagine that when you feel the exhaustion and burnout coming on — even if you have not completed as much work as you hoped for —

you take a pause. Take me as an example. About a week and a half ago I reached a point that I felt I could not produce more work. I felt mentally and physically drained. My body was giving me all the signals that I needed to let myself take complete rest. So, I tuned into the queues.

I did not do any glamorous acts of selfcare. To be honest, I slept a lot even though it was a weekday, I focused on fulfilling my basic needs of eating and drinking, getting showered and unplugging from things that were stressing me out. A key difference I made during this “pause” was removing myself from the guilt for taking a day or two to myself. After taking time

to completely listen to my needs to rest, I felt recharged and ready to get back to my work.

Unfortunately, it feels like nearly everyone can relate to a feeling of being exhausted and overworked, whether they’re a student or in the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call to people across the country that the 9 to 5 workweek is outdated. Research has shown that in an eight-hour workday, most workers are only productive for three hours. There is hope that after learning from the pandemic, institutions and corporations will become more attuned to giving students and employees time to rest and recharge.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

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SHOULD SPORTS TEAM OWNERS BE ALLOWED TO OWN A STAKE IN BETTING COMPANIES? Insider knowledge is like insider trading and ruins the integrity of sports

BY ALEX MOTAWI almotawi@ucdavis.edu

Gambling on sports has been around for ages. Many baseball fans know of the Black Sox Scandal (where the White Sox intentionally lost games in the World Series to help gamblers back in 1919), and many U.S. sports fans have heard about former professional baseball player and manager Pete Rose’s lifetime ban for betting on his own games as a manager, which was handed out in 1985. U.S. sports have had a rocky history with sports betting, and we are quickly entering an era that may be the worst yet, as far as betting is concerned. With betting coming back in force due to a 2018 Supreme Court decision, conflict of interest problems are springing up everywhere.

Sports owners and reporters gain too much of a betting advantage, so they shouldn’t be allowed to affiliate with betting sites.

The rise in betting began in 2018 when the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) was repealed by the Supreme Court.

The PAPSA was a rule instated in 1992 (not long after the Pete Rose ban) that banned most states from legalizing sports gambling. It was repealed on the grounds that regulated sports betting is a great avenue for states to recoup funds through taxes, and it paved the way for states to legalize sports betting. Now that states have had time to legalize betting, a litany of services have sprouted out from the woodworks, entering U.S. sports betting into a golden age. With both sports leagues and the government strapped for cash, greedy owners and politicians have turned to betting as the solution.

In California, we could have an opportunity to vote in 2022 to decide whether to join the 33 states who have legalized sports betting. As of now, the only way to bet on sports in California is through online sites located in

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other countries, so legalization could lead to better regulatory practices even though it brings up a whole host of other issues.

One of these issues is that sports insiders like owners or reporters can abuse their status to sway the odds in favor of their betting companies. While at face value it may seem like a small issue, small issues add up when money is at stake. It needs to be looked at and stopped, and the leagues in question (primarily the NFL) are probably not going to do anything about it unless forced. Team owners have the power to steer the league and its policies and are not

going to willingly give up their ownership in these betting companies primed to balloon over the coming years without a push. Even if you do not believe in sports betting as an institution, anyone can recognize an unfair deal and make the conscious choice to help others.

There are many reasons why this is a dangerous conflict of interest. Pre-game, a team is given 75% odds to win the game. Only the team owner knows that the team’s star player is going to be out sick. They can then set the odds to reflect a 65% chance of the team winning.

This will lead the bettors to bet heavily on the

win at 65% odds because they will receive a better payout. Now the betting line has a lot of money on the team winning because the public sees the inaccurate 75% odds. However, because the star is not playing, the true odds of the team winning is more like 25%. The team starts the game without its star, loses the game and the site profits big time as it used its inside influence to motivate bettors to bet for the wrong result on the site. It’s a complicated example because sports betting is a complicated endeavor, and it is definitively not fair.

Power like that, even if it only affects a fraction of the games, adds up quickly to large amounts of money pilfered from the pockets of bettors playing an unfair game. It fills the coffers of the company and scams the bettors. It is no different from the concept of insider trading in the stock market, and the stock market works to prevent insider trading and levies heavy punishments for people caught.

If sports betting is going to be commonplace and government endorsed in California — and the entire U.S for that matter — it needs to be regulated. Team owners, reporters, players and everyone else with insider information need to sell their stakes in betting companies and find something else to do with their large heaps of money. I would recommend tackling homelessness or world hunger, but that’s just me. It’s the only way to make the system fair and let gamblers bet away their money on sports on an equal playing field. We need to push the leagues and our government to enforce more regulation on these conflicts of interest — it’s only fair.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

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ARTS & CULTURE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 7

UC DAVIS IS ‘FITTED UP’ With all the cool outfits across campus, two students took the initiative to create an Instagram dedicated to documenting students’ range of style

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org The @ucdfits account on Instagram showcases the fashion sense of UC Davis students on and off campus. Run by Olivia Hurley, a second-year design major, and Cleo Harrison-Felner, a second-year sociology major, the two created the account in mid-October after spending time in the dining commons and across campus, admiring the unique style that so many students have.

“Everyone’s walking around this school too ‘fitted’ for us not to document it,” HarrisonFelner said.

The account follows a fairly simple format — which has garnered a great amount of engagement — creating a positive and supportive environment for students to showcase their self-expression through fashion. Hurley and Harrison-Felner started out by simply approaching and introducing themselves to strangers with cute outfits, snapping a few quick pictures and posting to their rapidly-growing follower base.

Since the account has gained some traction, they have begun receiving more outfit submissions, allowing for students to show off their weekend, evening or even out-of-town outfits, a perfect opportunity for students who prefer a more lowkey school day look to have their creative side seen by the UC Davis community.

With almost half of the undergraduate student body being brand new to campus this year, little ways of creating community like this are more valuable than ever.

“It feels good to walk around and hype

people up,” Hurley said in reference to their newfound hobby of going up to students and complimenting their outfits before posting them on the account.

Natalia Stehlin, a second-year sociology major, who has had a white monochrome outfit featured on the account (and is depicted in the illustration as the second to the right), understands the value of a good fit.

“I love putting time and thought into what I wear to class,” Stehlin said via email, explaining how expressing herself through fashion really is a part of each day.

The appreciation for students’ looks on this account goes beyond any one style, trend or grade level. According to Harrison-Felner and Hurley, students seem to have gotten more comfortable with experimenting with their own individual style since the pandemic, citing the new kind of exposure to different trends on social media (Tiktok in particular).

“What’s trendy has expanded,” HarrisonFelner said, noting how students are all inspired from different sources, as well as infusing their own personal backgrounds into their daily style — resulting in an incredibly “fitted up” campus.

Even though many would not immediately dub UC Davis as a particularly style-oriented school, with our reputation as a locus for STEM majors often eclipsing our student’s creative expression regardless of major, fashion is truly alive and well at UC Davis. With everyone from design and art majors to environmental and animal science majors featured, this account disproves the idea that a sense of style and studying STEM are mutually exclusive.

From cool and casual fall outfits to

COMMENTARY: HOW MODERN FEMALE RAPPERS HAVE COME TO FACE CRITICISM FROM A MALEDOMINATED INDUSTRY Though many have paved the way, there is still much to be done

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org It is fairly obvious that hip-hop is not exactly a feminist art form. Historically, the genre has been dominated by male rappers, and in more recent years, has been overwhelmed by lyrics that tend to sexualize and objectify women.

It was not always like this — in fact, hip-hop was born in the ‘80s as a way for the Black community to artistically respond to the oppression they faced. The art form takes inspiration from jazz, poetry and other cultural influences of the time period. Since it formed as a response to injustice, naturally many hiphop artists emphasized social justice and other political themes in their tracks — notable examples of which include 2Pac, KRS-One, N.W.A. Ded Prez, Mos Def and many more.

However, like so many other male-dominated industries, hip-hop is permeated with sexism and objectification of women that extends back before hip-hop was even invented. Black women in particular have often been portrayed as either moral objects in need of protection or immoral hypersexual beings. This demeaning viewpoint is reinforced through lyrics, music videos and the overall language used towards women.

Thankfully, it did not take long for women to change the game.

Among the very first women to break onto the scene was Roxanne Shante, who rose to fame with the track “Roxanne’s Revenge.” Only 14 at the time, she was one of the youngest MCs in the industry, and on top of that, one of the first female artists to taste commercial success in this harsh industry — though she did struggle to achieve long-term acclaim.

Even with this breakthrough of female artists in hip-hop, the first female MCs tended to take on a very masculine swagger in order to achieve their success. Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah come to mind as examples of this. No one who owned traditional feminine stereotypes truly experienced success — that is, until Lil’ Kim showed up.

It is fair to say that, paving the way for today’s female artists, Lil’ Kim was the first female MC to fully own her sexuality in the exaggerated, hyperfeminine way we have now

become accustomed to seeing from the likes of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. Her lyrics matched the profanity of any male artists, with raunchy music videos and an air of confidence to boot.

Even with the work of their predecessors, modern female rappers still face criticism when they choose to be overtly sexual in the way that a man might be. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” received immense backlash from men and women alike for its explicit lyricism and music video — which, it is worth mentioning, features no men.

Even some of their coworkers in the industry gave negative input. In an interview with The Breakfast Club, Snoop Dogg said, “Cover your body up, let a man have some imagination and think and be like one of the women up in the office, up in there.” Clearly, many still have an issue with women flaunting their sexuality.

As if the criticism from outsiders wasn’t enough, female MCs also have to deal with a toxic spirit that exists within the space, determined to stoke competition among its women.

“In every industry, women are pitted against one another, but especially in hip-hop, where it seems as if the male-dominated ecosystem can only handle one female rapper at a time,” said Megan Thee Stallion in an opinion piece written for The New York Times.

It makes sense that a genre so saturated in toxic masculinity will work to prevent the simultaneous success of multiple female artists and instead set them up against each other (e.g.

Nicki Minaj throwing a stiletto at Cardi B’s head at New York Fashion Week).

Even with all these barriers, the future looks strong for female hip-hop artists. Though there is still a lot of work to do toward breaking down barriers for these talented musicians (and the women who listen to their music), the rate at which female MCs are demolishing them is promising.

As an example, for two weeks in May of 2020, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj were alongside Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé to occupy the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

These ladies are just four of the many multitalented female artists leading the charge into a male-dominated industry and making it look easy.

handmade pieces, @ucdfits can serve as a neverending source of inspiration for anyone looking to expand their own style, or even just as proof that there are truly no rules to style. This account provides a platform for people to engage with each other and express themselves.

“We are all happy to see eachother feeling

lovely and confident in what we are wearing,” Stehlin said via email.

The account is always accepting submissions via DMs — “We post everything people send us,” Hurley said — so if you find yourself in an outfit deserving of more recognition, be sure to send it over to them!

A sketch of outfits from the @ucdfits Instagram page. (Olivia Patitucci / Courtesy)

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.org Movie: “California Split” dir. by Robert Altman (1974) Coming off the magic of 1973’s “The Long Goodbye,” Robert Altman’s fast-moving, casual chaos proves an immaculate fit for the anxious world of compulsive gamblers. The infinitely charming Elliott Gould, also returning in a lead role from the aforementioned film, plays a wry and energetic gambler who joins forces with a reporter and fellow addict, played by George Segal, to maximize the good times. The movie is a hedonistic tsunami: The changing fortunes and sleepless euphoria of prospective Big Wins trap the characters inside with no apparent means of escape. Altman’s signature overlapping dialogue and an ambiguous sense of time make the viewer feel as exclusively obsessed as the protagonists Elliott Gould’s unreplicatable magnetism is at its peak in this film, second maybe only to “The Long Goodbye.” His monotonic persuasion, lithe drifting and dry slang, all slightly inhuman, compose the alien appeal.

(His smooth, trollish stoner’s face is the coup de grâce, of course.) Gould is adept casting here, and through him, the film succeeds at making the viewer feel as much as understand the nature of these gamblers.

TV Show: “On Death Row” by Werner Herzog (2012) The legendary indie pioneer Werner Herzog takes his arid and strange style to a series of interviews with U.S. death row inmates. Through a series of interviews with lawyers, other parties involved with their crimes and the inmates themselves, Herzog paints a straightforward and crushing picture of each crime and the person who may have perpetrated it.

As interesting as the horrible stories and fates of these individuals is Herzog’s awkward and flat demeanor, which seems to have nonplussed his interviewees with amusing regularity. Herzog himself is, to some degree, the antidote to the difficult subject he portrays: he makes no secret of his feelings regarding the death penalty in the U.S., and his attitude toward his subjects betrays sympathy and personality uncommon in documentaries and saves the content from becoming dryly horrifying.

While Herzog makes the series less demanding on the viewer, it still remains a very taxing watch. The details of the crimes are not made more palatable by his presence. Viewers would be wise to watch piecemeal rather than all at once.

Album: “The Art of the Trio, Vol. 2: Live at The Village Vanguard” by Brad Mehldau (1998) Ex-child prodigy Brad Mehldau re-invented and epitomized the piano jazz trio in the mid-late ‘90s with a precise and technical style that suggested the likes of legends Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. In the second volume of his “Art of the Trio” series, his style becomes more individualized: overtly melodic movements have been transformed into lengthy and constant roads of sound, traversing similar ground with an unvarying cadence that suggests the endless fall of rain or the undulations of a machine. The result is a selection of idiosyncratic and complexly interesting 10-plus-minute tracks that represent a skillful intrusion into the underbelly of an already welldeveloped genre.

Some sections may not be quite as remarkable as those found on the first volume of “Art of the Trio,” but the sacrifice of some amount of immediate appeal is more than compensated for by the new shapes discovered

Book: “Masks” by Fumiko Enchi (1958) This is a short and stunning novel by one of Japan’s greatest postwar writers. Saturated by the ominous suggestions of spirit possession in literature and the venerable style of Noh theater, the novel concerns a love triangle between two men and a young widow named Yasuko, but it becomes clear as the novel progresses that control of the situation belongs not to any of the parties involved, but to the honorable and enigmatic mother of Yasuko’s dead husband. A dense and elusive mystery unfolds, with nearly every page involving some manner of indirect suggestion, invoking the artistic and spiritual to deep and multifaceted ends. Despite its slim word count (under 50,000), the novel grasps a shocking volume of depth through its concise, self-referential and layered structure.

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

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8 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

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With their usual starters of Evanne Turner, Cierra Hall, Kayla Konrad, Sage Stobbart and Sydney Burns, the UC Davis Women’s Basketball team took the floor against the Sacramento State Hornets, who held a 2-2 record coming into the game. At 1-2 the Aggies struggled in their first couple games following the offseason. With a lot of firepower on both sides, this matchup looked like it had a lot to give.

“The rivalry with Sac State and UC Davis for both the men and women is just a lot of fun,” said UC Davis women’s basketball head coach Jennifer Gross. “We’re really grateful to participate in this.”

Although the Hornets controlled the tip, the Aggies came out firing, as some three point shooting put them up 13-3 in the first five minutes of playing time. Coming out of the timeout, the Hornets knew that the high powered Aggie offense needed to be controlled early, so they moved into a zone defense in addition to more attacking defense. This worked, as Sacramento State would hold the Aggies to just three more points the rest of the first quarter. Still, the Hornets were unable to beat the stifling UC Davis defense and only scored two points of their own, making it 16-5 at the end of one.

The second quarter saw the Aggies change up their offensive play, calling a little as the emphasis was now put on getting the ball inside the paint and letting redshirt senior Sage Stobbart and redshirt junior Lena Svanholm either get the post up, or pass it out for an open three. Makes from beyond the arc by Sanders, Konrad and Stobbart blew this game out of the water, as the score was 31-12 near halftime.

On the Sacramento State side, missed shots — both open and contested — could not find the bottom of the net as graduate transfer Lianna Tillman was 2-10 in the first half. Tillman went into the game as the Hornet’s leading scorer with over 20 points per game, so the Aggies made sure to not let her get going.

With the halftime score of 35-19, Stobbart was doing it all with 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks. As a team, they shot 44% from the field but also held Sacramento State to 7-30 shooting from the field. Again, UC Davis came out of the half firing, getting out to a quick 6-0 run that made it a 22 point game.

“They were in the gym all week getting shots up,” said Gross. “It was nice to see us knocking down shots tonight.”

But as the UC Davis women’s basketball team has shown in the early games, the scoreless streak struck again midway through the third quarter. Yet, their suffocating defense did not allow the Hornets to chip away at the lead and eventually led to a 13-1 run to close the third quarter, capped off by a Cierra Hall three as the buzzer sounded to make it a 58-26.

Complete domination was the story in this one even through three quarters, but the Aggies kept their foot on the gas. With three made three pointers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, they proved to be too much for Sacramento State who searched for some kind of answer.

The answer would never come, as UC Davis cruised to a dominating 75-46 victory over their Causeway rival, moving the win streak against the Hornets to five straight games. Sage Stobbart was the leading scorer for the Aggies, with 14 points in addition to eight rebounds and three blocks. Cierra Hall added 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals while Kayla Konrad had 12 points (all from three), four assists and three rebounds. As a team UC Davis shot 13-27 from three point range and 28-56 from the field while holding Sacramento State to 16-57 from the field and 5-23 from beyond the arc.

“Like Makaila said, it was awesome,” said Konrad. “We’ve come to the boys games before and we always hoped it would be us, so it’s just full circle being here. I know the whole team was super excited and to come out with a win makes it even better.”

In their first Causeway Classic since 2019, the UC Davis Women’s basketball team delivered a resounding win they hope put them back on track. Despite a shaky start to the season, the win against Sacramento State and the win at home against Weber State on Nov. 26 could be the catalysts as they count down non conference play against some of the better teams in the country like Oregon, Gonzaga and Stanford.

“We’re trying to challenge ourselves,” said Gross. “We’re trying to bring exciting teams to the area but more than anything, we’re just trying to put a product on the floor where the kids are playing hard, they’re playing selfless basketball and they are fun to watch.”

UC Davis men’s basketball late rally falls short In the second half of the double header at Golden 1 Center, the UC Davis men’s basketball team took the floor to battle the Hornets. With a vibrant energy in the crowd, both teams took the floor. Entering the game with a record of

2-1 and big wins against Utah State and Eastern Washington, the Aggies were favored in this rivalry matchup.

“I can’t thank the Kings organization enough,” said UC Davis men’s basketball head coach Jim Les. “It’s unique and special. Really grateful. I think it’s a sign of how committed they are to the community and to local schools, so we appreciate that.”

The Hornets won the opening tip and opened the scoring, jumping out to a 4-0 advantage early. Still, this matchup was a physical one on both sides of the floor, as both teams’ adrenaline was showing early, flying around to defend. After over four minutes of action, the score was tied at four and both teams started shooting poorly from the field. Sacramento State began 1-7 from the field while UC Davis only converted one field goal of their own. The Aggies’ second field goal wouldn’t come until Cameron Ba made his presence felt with over 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

Sloppy play proved to be the achilles heel for the Ags as the turnover margin continued to grow as the half went on. Still, their defense provided the Hornets with some struggles as they also failed to pull away throughout this Aggie drought. After Kane Milling scored the sides’ first three pointer to make it 12-16, fourth-year junior Caleb Fuller’s basket and the foul provided a spark that UC Davis desperately needed.

With Sac State holding on to an 18-15, they suddenly hit a burst. A 7-0 forced Coach Jim Les to call a timeout to momentarily stop the bleeding. But, that run would eventually turn into a 18-1 run in over five minutes of play to give the Hornets a 20 point lead in the blink of an eye. A jumper by Fuller stopped the run, and the Aggies moved into a press defense to try and chip away the lead. In the final 8:34 of the first half, the Hornets would outscore the Aggies 23-8 and went into the break with a 41-23 lead.

“They were physical, they pressured us,” said Les. “I thought we were soft and unaggressive with our passes from A to B, our ability to come and catch it, be physical. They contested everything we tried to do. We had some good looks at the rim that didn’t go in. We were reacting consistently to their aggressiveness and that is usually not a recipe for success for us.”

Only shooting 33% from the field at half and committing 12 turnovers led UC Davis into a difficult hole. Star guard Ezra Manjon was held to one point and was 0-5 from the field. It was Fuller (eight points, two rebounds) and Christian Anigwe (seven points and five rebounds) who led the team at the break. On the Sac State side, they were shooting 17-35 from the field despite their slow start and scored 16 points off turnovers. Hornet senior Bryce Fowler led both sides with 13 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

It was clear that UC Davis needed a spark and they needed it fast coming out of the break.

But, the Hornets picked up right where they left off, coming out to a quick 6-0 spurt. Manjon restored order, knocking down a jumper but another Hornet three in the first four minutes of action led to Coach Les calling a timeout.

Coming out of said timeout, the Aggies had life, cutting the deficit to 18 with over 11 and a half to play.

As both teams crossed the 10 minute mark of play in the half, they both went cold. With countless opportunities to cut into the deficit while the Hornets went scoreless, the Aggies were unable to and it became a 65-49 game with only 5:45 remaining. UC Davis made it interesting once again, as a Ba three pointer made it a 13 point game, but costly missed free throws by Elijah Pepper and Milling on a oneand-one hurt the Aggies chances. Still, Pepper went back to the line and sank both, making it an 11 point game with under 3:30 to go. But, Sacramento State guard Zach Chappell made it a 14 point game once again and consecutive turnovers by the Aggies ultimately sealed the game for the Hornets.

“I thought [Sac State] was really good. I thought we were out coached, outplayed,” said Les. “They did an excellent job of being the aggressor tonight and they took us out of what we wanted to do offensively. We didn’t have many answers for what they did offensively and how we defended them. They were the aggressor all night and to the aggressor goes the prize of the W, so credit to them.”

Fuller led all Aggies in points with 16 to go along with four rebounds. Pepper had 10 points and 8 rebounds of his own, but struggled at times from the field, as did Manjon with 9 points. As a team, the Aggies shot under 40% from the field in their second straight loss and lost 17 turnovers which turned into 21 Sacramento State points.

After another loss on Nov. 28 to Academy of Art, UC Davis must find some answers as they prepare for conference play. As they have shown early, the talent is there and only time will tell which adjustments will be made as they close out non conference play.

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“The director saw that we needed a bigger statement on the importance of science and the role it will play in future generations,” Van Deventer said. “A group got together and said, here’s this abandoned building [on the Sacramento River], and it just looked like a great destination point.”

According to Van Deventer, MOSAC has had a long-standing relationship with UC Davis, leaning on the university for some of their content development and education materials.

In recent years, they have entered into more of a financial partnership.

“I think it made sense to them as it made sense to us,” Van Deventer said. “It really is a dream to a science center to have this kind of relationship with a tertiary research university, and UC Davis is such a leader in not just science, but science education.”

She then elaborated on, apart from financial support, what this partnership might entail.

“There’s a couple of groups at Davis that are student-run, and we would love for them to have some of their meetings [at the museum],” Van Deventer said. “We would also love to bring in subject-matter experts, pull in our audience but link them to Davis. We’re also launching a program for Ph.D. students teaching them to communicate their research to the general public, which can be really important when they’re applying for grants.”

Ph.D. Director Emerita of the UC Davis Biotechnology Program Judy Kjelstrom, who is a member of the MOSAC board of directors, listed more ways that the partnership could be mutually beneficial.

“Having experts in numerous scientific disciplines as resources will keep our informal science programming at MOSAC fresh and relevant to the changing world of science and technology,” Kjelstrom said via email. “MOSAC will [also] be an excellent venue for volunteer opportunities for students [...] We plan to work with the Internship and Career Center, [and] part time jobs will be available for those who really want a deeper experience, especially for our summer camps.”

According to Van Deventer, another opportunity for UC Davis students interacting with MOSAC’s audience is the chance to talk directly to kids — and the chance for kids, in turn, to ask questions directly to scientists.

“Then [kids] can ask what it actually means to be a scientist,” Van Deventer said. “What does it mean to be a brain surgeon? To be a chemist? Is it boring? Or is it really interesting?

How much math do you have to do?”

Kjelstrom explained via email MOSAC’s goal of making science accessible to everyone, saying that they are focused on reaching

Title 1 schools in order to allow underserved communities to develop the skills they need to attend college.

Van Deventer described a similar target of teaching the next generation of scientists.

“We want it to be a place where we encourage curiosity and open-ended questions, where we break things down into manageable pieces,” Van Deventer said. “No matter your educational background, you can participate and engage.

Five days a week, we will be hosting school field trips, and we want them to identify themselves as future scientists — future astronauts, future physicists.”

Van Deventer noted that while the museum’s focus is primarily on kids, they also plan to offer programs for different age demographics — including seniors. According to Van Deventer, MOSAC recognizes that senior citizens are an important part of their demographic, especially as they make up part of the population that will vote on environmental and energy policy.

Kjelstrom explained via email that whether it be for children, college students, adults or seniors, and whether organized by MOSAC or UC Davis, their goal is the same.

“Our mutual goal is to explore the wonders, possibilities and responsibilities of science, whether through interactions with exhibits, public programs or a school group activity,” Kjelstrom said via email. “Science is for Everyone and Science is FUN!” Brad Simmons, the chief administrator of UC Davis Medical Center and chief operating officer of UC Davis Health Hospital Division, talked about what the partnership has meant to their organization.

“We are honored to partner with MOSAC to bring its Health Headlines and Innovations exhibit to the Sacramento region,” Simmons said via email. “Groundbreaking research and fostering innovative education are fundamental to UC Davis Health’s mission. As the region’s academic health center, we are proud to engage with the community and share advancements in tools, treatments, and therapies that will improve lives and transform health care.”

Van Deventer offered some final thoughts on the mission of MOSAC and how she believes it will support elementary school kids dreaming of science careers to fulfill their dreams in university.

“No matter what you want to be when you grow up, you’ve gotta have a support system,” Van Deventer said. “We want to encourage these families to support their kids going into STEM fields. Look at what your kids are interested in and help them along the way. [This is] an incredible partnership on both sides to be able to inspire kids who are dreaming.”

ED18 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 You’ve mentioned COSAF a lot and ASUCD recently passed a Resolution of No Confidence in COSAF. With regard to that, is there anything you would say in terms of those concerns that ASUCD government and Senate seem to have with COSAF? May: This was also a topic in our meeting with ASUCD yesterday. I would say there are certainly parts of the way that organizations operate that could be looked at and optimized in certain ways. But over the years, COSAF is our mechanism to get student input on fees. The vast majority [of the organization] is students. We really rely on COSAF as a way to receive student input on those financial decisions. They have some authority to make those decisions. With regard to the specific resolution, I think as you read it, I’m not sure in all cases it was a fact based assertion and there is some misinformation in there as well.

Reguerín: ASUCD does have a voting seat on COSAF as well as [ex-officio members]. I’ve never seen these issues raised from ASUCD so I think to come out with a resolution like that when you have a seat at the table and you haven’t raised those issues at the table, I think, is problematic. The COSAF chairs, which are students, will take a look at it as well and look at how best to respond. We try to give COSAF quite a bit of independence. I don’t want to speak for the student co-chairs but I think they will take a look at each one of those issues. I do think it’s problematic though to raise these issues in that format, especially when you have a seat at the table, but we will certainly leave it to the co-chairs to see what course of action they would like to pursue so there will be more coming from COSAF on that.

Many students feel as though they were left in the dark for many months while the baseball team was under investigation. What was the reasoning for this lack of transparency, and how is that justified when a part of student fees are going to Athletics?

Sweeney: You don’t want people to conform their testimony. You can imagine how that might look if people have an opportunity to learn exactly what one is saying and then conform their testimony around that. A common feature of an investigation is witnesses are asked not to speak to other witnesses. That happens in all investigations. With respect to the lack of transparency, I understand the motive for your question. I’ll just say, it’s for the integrity of the investigation to try to get as close to the truth as we can. We did go out of our way to publish the maximum amount of that report as possible.

There is a law called FERPA that compels us to make sure we redact personal information about students and we did, but that was it. I thought that was an unusually frank investigation that we shared with our campus community. Athletics, as you saw, corrected action and there’s now programmatic changes that will be instituted going forward.

DeLuca: I think on the transparency piece, the public information we were putting out was both internal to the team and their parents — there was no additional information being had behind the scenes so you got exactly what we put out to everyone. In regards to the follow-up piece, we have put out a couple pieces specifically to baseball like a sports administrator traveling next spring with the new coaching staff that’ll be hired hopefully this month. We will have a third-party survey tool that we’ve always done.

Postseason surveys electronically, we do senior exit interviews. This surfaced because I was doing exit interviews virtually with some programs given the complexity of COVID. This was given due to the fact that most of our sport programs were either canceled, weren’t competing or had their competitions modified. So that’s why we

did it that way, but our new way is going to allow us to do the season-ending survey plus provide an anonymous platform. In the future, if our student athletes feel compelled, good or bad, to share their experience in a manner that will feel comfortable and won’t jeopardize either their athletic participation or scholarship down the line.

On Thursday, May 13, a Davis high student died by suicide from the Hutchison parking garage. Why did the administration choose not to publicly address the incident after a suicide at a popular on-campus location?

May: First off, I’ll say that in any tragedy like this, our highest priority is showing sensitivity and compassion to the family in the tragedy. It’s really their prerogative to transmit and communicate any information they’d like about it. This was not our student, this was a student that attended Davis High School.

The Davis Joint Unified School District was then responsible for communicating whatever needed to be communicated to whatever audience needed to hear it. I will say, there was an article in the Davis Enterprise the next day that described the incident. I don’t think that we could’ve added anything that wasn’t already in the public domain in that particular incident. We do have a process in place when a suicide occurs in our community, we do have a particular process that we use and people who are trained to handle it, but this was not our student or really our responsibility. I thought the right thing to do was just stay in our lane.

We tried to take some of the measures to keep this from happening again in that location. We have taken some measures to keep some of the activities that we think are somewhat dangerous in the parking lot from happening. We try to curtail that activity when we have a suicide among our community. [Reguerín] can share what we do.

Reguerín: This applies to students more broadly but we have an interdisciplinary team, it’s called the Postvention Committee. This is a type of an intervention post crisis and post student death situation. It’s an interdisciplinary team so a student or family can have one single point of contact. We have our counseling team and we have folks across campus to assess the case and what took place. All students who are a part of different communities; How do we provide support across the different folks?

Sometimes we have students that come from very low-income backgrounds, students who want to travel for funeral services. We try to take a holistic approach in looking at the impact for a student. The Postvention team and the policies are among the best I’ve seen in higher education.

The case management provided to the families is done in a very compassionate manner, and again we do provide funding and support to make sure money is not a barrier to the healing process. I think we have a really good program in place.

It’s a program we’re really proud of, we hope we don’t ever have to use it but the professionals engage in that process. It really is a way to try to kick start the healing process. There are so many little things you have to deal with and do to support closure and try to be compassionate as an institution. As large of an institution as we are, these situations call for a lot of humanity and compassion.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

10 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

UC DAVIS COMMUNITY SHARES TIPS FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE HOLIDAY SEASON To navigate holiday consumerism, here’s a guide to reducing its environmental consequences

BY MAYA SHYDLOWSKI features@theaggie.org From potluck dinners to gift-giving traditions, navigating the holidays sustainably can be challenging, but these tips and tricks can help you minimize waste, reduce your carbon footprint and have a more eco-friendly holiday season.

A telltale sign that the holidays are coming is when Trader Joe’s trades their pumpkin spice cookies for peppermint candy cane, which means making lists, checking them twice — and finding out if your budget has been naughty or nice. In addition to considering budget when making those lists, it is important to also take note of the environmental impact of gift purchasing and receiving.

Alana Webre, a fourth-year environmental policy and planning major, is the Student Sustainability Career Fair (SSCF) committee chair and the Green Workplace coordinator for UC Davis’ Office of Sustainability. Webre suggested that to reduce food waste at holiday parties, guests can coordinate and plan their potluck contributions, so they do not end up with five plates of gingersnaps or peppermint bark. She also suggested making food from scratch, which helps avoid the plastic waste that many prepackaged foods are wrapped in.

Webre said that she knows that getting the whole family to prioritize eco-friendly celebrations is not always possible, but that she, and other college students, can take small actions themselves. This year, Webre’s contribution to a more sustainable Thanksgiving feast was a homemade pie.

“I know one of the main issues with trying to reduce food waste during the holidays is that there are a lot of members of the family who may not be as environmentally conscious as college students,” Webre said. “And there’s also a lot of traditions surrounding the holidays, as we all know, so many people may not want to change their ways.”

As Webre mentioned, multiple family members might really want to prepare their “famous green bean casserole,” but when possible, coordinating who’s bringing what to a meal is helpful to minimize food spoilage and surplus.

Ned Spang, an associate professor of food science and technology, researches food waste and how to minimize it.

“There’s lots of reasons for food loss and waste across the supply chain, whether it’s at distributors or restaurants or retail, and even in our own homes,” Spang said. “And part of that is, you know, we have a very robust food system; we have lots of food available to us. It’s relatively cheap to us in the United States.”

He said that timing is key to minimizing food loss. The food has to be the correct amount of ripeness or otherwise unspoiled. The amount of food also has to match the market demand in order to minimize losses. If these factors don’t add up, then food gets thrown out. This is just

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE the food wasted in the middle of the supply chain, but similar reasons can lead to waste on the consumer side of the food chain as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, between 30 to 40% of food is wasted in the U.S. Consumer waste can come from food rotting or expiring before use or from being thrown away. Spang said that one way to reduce the waste that comes from leftovers is to preplan a use for them, like in a soup or stir-fry, so that they don’t inevitably get thrown out after the holiday meal. Especially before holiday parties and events, people tend to buy and prepare food in excess because a host doesn’t want to run out of food when they have guests over, so Spang suggests buying in smaller quantities and meal planning before grocery shopping.

There are also ways to talk to family members about switching to more sustainable holiday practices, even though it can be difficult. Kelli O’Day, the assessment program manager for the UC Davis Office of Sustainability, said that there are many online resources with suggestions for how to have a more environmentally conscious holiday and reduce waste in general.

She suggested that students pick and choose how to introduce new sustainable practices to their holiday celebrations and that it can be an incremental process.

“There is a lot of information to consider when trying to be more sustainable during the holidays, which can be overwhelming,” O’Day

said. “Try to pick one or two actions to adopt at first, so you can take time to research accordingly and hopefully adopt practices that you can stick with year after year.”

For hosting events, the Office of Sustainability suggests decorating with reusable decorations, putting up clear signage for recycling and compost bins, serving food and drinks in bulk rather than individually packaged meals and encouraging guests to bring their own tupperware for leftovers. To reduce the carbon footprint of a meal, they suggest buying locally grown or produced food, as well as buying meats from sustainable and ethical farms — and even incorporating some plant-based options.

O’Day also gave some tips for more sustainable gift giving and other holiday traditions. Instead of gifting a physical present, she suggests giving experiences, like tickets to a concert or a planned day trip. If — and when — people do opt for physical gifts, O’Day said that buying from local and minorityowned businesses and finding products that are sustainable or fair trade certified is best. And because people have shifted toward shopping online, she suggests ordering ahead of time to avoid overnight or rushed shipping, which has a larger carbon footprint than standard shipping.

Some other practices she suggests help save money too. Setting up a Secret Santa gift exchange means buying one gift rather than a gift for everyone in the group. Wrapping presents

in recycled grocery bags or newspapers, or not wrapping at all, reduces waste while also saving a couple extra dollars. Although there are pros and cons to either option, buying a fake tree over a freshly cut tree can reduce expenses in the long run since it can be reused every year. O’Day also suggests using LED lights, which reduce energy consumption — and your energy bill.

When it comes to holiday shopping, it is important to keep longevity in mind. The cheapest option at the moment may be the more expensive option in the long run. Cheaper clothes, especially from online sites, are usually lower quality and wear down or break more quickly than high-quality clothes. Try to give gifts that will last longer and include a gift receipt to ensure the clothes — or other gifts — will actually be used.

Of course, like all other times of the year, having a completely sustainable holiday season is not easy — or feasible for many. Frankie Veverka, a fourth-year human development major with a minor in sustainability in the built environment, suggested that this year, making small changes to holiday traditions that lessen their environmental impact can help.

“Little lifestyle changes help,” Veverka said.

“You don’t need to go completely zero-waste to make a difference. You just have to add some little changes in your everyday routine like using a reusable water bottle, eating locally sourced food and shopping small and local.”

SHOPPING LOCALLY AND SUSTAINABLY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON The Arts Desk shares some local options for holiday shopping to combat mass materialism and waste in American consumer culture

BY SIERRA JIMENEZ arts@theaggie.org The fever dream of the winter holiday season is here at last. With COVID-19 vaccinations available to everyone aged five and older and booster shots at hand, festivities are mainly back on track this year — a stark difference from the last holiday season. Re-opened shopping centers are bustling and addictive online Black Friday shopping only feeds into high consumer demands and material expenditure around this time of year.

The average American spends around $998 from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 as of 2020 (and roughly the same for the predicted average of 2021) on gifts, holiday items and nongift purchases, according to Investopedia.

Additionally, Americans dispose of 25% more trash during the holiday season, resulting in an extra 7 million pounds of waste according to Stanford University’s Holiday Waste Prevention page.

As of 2021, consumers plan on making the majority (57%) of their purchases online, 47% at a department store and only 24% at local or small businesses, according to the National Retail Federation. Shopping locally as opposed

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

to fueling large corporations is beneficial for many reasons — one being decreasing economic inequality in the workforce.

According to the 2015 study “Wage Inequality and Firm Growth” by Holger M. Mueller, Paige P. Ouimet and Elena Simintzi, the disparity between the best-paid workers and all other workers is far larger at big corporations as opposed to smaller businesses— a phenomenon they call “corporate consolidation,” where large corporations are spread thin by the increasing market demands.

Shopping locally further enhances community, social capital and civic engagement as well. According to the 2011 study “The Health and Wealth of US Counties: How the Small Business Environment Impacts Alternative Measures of Development” by Troy C. Blanchard, Charles Tolbert and Carson Menken from the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, there is a strong tie between “an economy of small-scale businesses and improved community well-being, including lower rates of crime and better public health,” through the communities’ “collective efficacy” acting for

mutual benefit.

To help combat the negative impacts of the holiday shopping season, here are some ways you can limit the amount of waste you produce and shop locally this holiday season to better our local and global economy and our planet’s well-being.

Low-waste gift ideas: Reusable items: Water bottles are a good sustainable and trendy option (Hydroflask, YETI, Camelbak and Nalgene) along with lots of other sustainable gifts!

Vintage/secondhand clothing: Do not give into fast fashion; the ‘90s are back and fads come and go. Steer clear of online clothing shopping and check out Depop instead.

Handmade gifts: Thoughtful, personalized gifts are heartwarming and priceless (plus they can save you a ton of money).

Activities: Evident from the lack of social time with family and friends during the pandemic, make every second count and plan outings and fun things to do together as a gift (it can be as simple as getting dinner in Midtown Sacramento or as extravagant as planning a weekend trip out of town).

Tickets: Now that live events are back in action, go to a live concert in Sacramento or view the latest film at the Varsity Theatre.

Wrapping tip: Use old newspaper or magazine pages to wrap gifts — The California Aggie always has leftover papers up for grabs!

Shop Local: Davis Craft and Vintage Fair: Every first and third Sunday of the month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., various local art vendors convene at Central Park to sell their unique crafts. A perfect way to shop locally, support local artists and buy personal gifts (ask if their craft is made out of recycled materials!).

Farmer’s Market: Open to all twice a week every Wednesday from 3-6 p.m. and every Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., community members can meander around the diverse organic food and produce stands to get ingredients for holiday dinners and gifts. Art vendors and local shops also appear at this centralized location for individuals to buy their goods (holiday gifts, wink wink).

Armadillo Music: A quaint vintage music shop with affordable used vinyl records, CD’s and cassette tapes.

Newsbeat: A traditional local newsstand with newspapers, magazines, greeting cards and so many more little trinkets.

The Paint Chip: An artist’s heaven with all mediums of art supplies and custom framing to complete the look.

A Better Place to Bead: A free and creative space to create customized beaded jewelry (beads for purchase), get jewelry repairs and take free beading classes.

Avid Reader Active: Davis’ local independent bookstore holding an assortment of books of all genres.

Davis Wine Bar: Offers an assortment of wines, beers, wine tasting and events, perfect for mature holiday gifts, such as a certificate for quality wine tasting.

Bohéme Used Clothing and Gifts: A quirky, vintage and affordable used clothing shop which caters to all styles and sizes.

Vault Board Shop: A new locally-owned skate shop including boards, shoes, clothing and skate accessories.

Treehouse Vintage: A second-hand co-op of various local fashion vendors selling their vintage finds.

Locally-owned independent Davis stores keep $68 in the Davis community for every $100 spent, whereas chains only keep $43, according to the Davis Downtown website — so shop locally and sustainably to support our cowtown and protect the planet.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 11

SCIENCE AND TECH $18 MILLION GRANT EXTENDS LIFE COURSE STUDY ON COGNITIVE DISEASES The KHANDLE Study receives a grant from the NIA to continue the study for another five years and open up a brain donation program

BY MONICA MANMADKAR science@theaggie.org Researching how early life experiences can affect dementia and other cognitive diseases late in life, Professor Rachel Whitmer in the Department of Public Health Sciences has been given a grant from the National Institute of Aging to continue her study at UC Davis Health.

The $18 million, five-year grant will continue the KHANDLE (Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences) Study, which looks at a variety of risk factors that could affect one’s chance for cognitive decline later in life.

In addition to being the principal investigator of the KHANDLE study, Whitmer is the chief of the Division of Epidemiology at the Department of Public Health Sciences and also the associate director at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “[This study] helps understand how life course, health and behavior from mid-life to young adulthood are associated with these late-life brain outcomes,” Whitmer said.

Over the last five years, the KHANDLE study has had 1,700 participants of ages 65 and older, who are all members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Whitmer said the racial breakdown of the participants were 25% Asian, 25% Latino, 25% Black and 25% white.

She also said that the participants come from communities that are historically underrepresented in research. Other current large studies that are looking at risk factors for dementia or brain health tend to focus on populations that are not as representative.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association Alzheimer’s 2021 Fact and Figures Special Report, many BIPOC individuals would like to have culturally competent healthcare providers and lack trust in research trials. Many doubt that advancements made in dementia care will be racially unbiased and equally available for all. Hence, Whitmer is more eager to gain a large, diverse set of participants that can accurately reflect the population affected by dementia and provide profitable research progress for all.

Throughout the past five years, the KHANDLE study conducted three research interviews with each participant and will now conduct two more interviews. Whitmer said that the study has access to the participants’ health records from the 1960s and 1970s, allowing them to do life course epidemiology.

“Life course is really understanding how things that happen throughout your lifetime can be associated with whatever outcome you’re interested in, [which] in this case is under brain health,” Whitmer said.

Additionally, the grant is allowing the KHANDLE study to enroll another 500 participants and open a new brain donation program, where the participants who pass during the next five years would be able to donate their brains for research. Whitmer said she is glad to have this new addition to the study with the help

of the grant. She believes that the brain donation program is highly valuable in terms of looking at the brain and understanding what cognitive decline looks like beyond just imaging.

The program will be run by Brittany Dugger, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

“This grant leverages and enhances existing infrastructure within the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center,” Dugger said via email. “One brain [donation] can have a huge impact, providing a plethora of information to advance scientific research and the potential to improve treatments for future generations. Brains are especially needed from diverse populations to help researchers improve diagnosis, treatments and prognosis of diseases for all individuals.”

With the donations, researchers can conduct a neuropathology examination and try to understand the underlying causes of these cognitive diseases. Dugger illustrated that by using the data from a person’s life and by looking at their brain, scientists can better understand the mechanism of dementia and other related disorders.

Overall, Whitmer hopes that the study will further knowledge in acknowledging early and mid-age risk factors beforehand and understanding how they affect brain function and health later in life.

KATHERINE FRANKS/AGGIE

STUDY REVEALS HOW TELEHEALTH CAN BE UTILIZED TO BRIDGE GAP BETWEEN EARLY SOCIAL COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENCES AND AUTISM DIAGNOSIS Researchers’ TEDI protocol has promising results from both examiners and caregivers

BY AARYA GUPTA science@theaggie.org In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute began researching how infants with early social communication delays develop and how researchers can support families looking for resources related to their infants’ early development.

Developmental Psychologist and Assistant Professional Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Megan Talbott said via email that it can be difficult for families to participate in research, especially at university-based laboratories.

As a result, researchers at UC Davis turned to telehealth to reach out to more families, who could participate in the project from the comfort of their own homes.

Telehealth is defined as “the mode of delivering health care services and public health via information and communication technologies,” according to the California Department of Health Services.

Talbott said that parents are often told to ‘wait and see,’ when they raise concerns about their infant’s social communication development.

“We know there can be years between when parents first identify developmental differences in their children and when they receive the formal diagnoses needed to access autism-specific services,” Talbott said via email.

These are not the only barriers parents face, Talbott said.

Families can experience lengthy waitlists for diagnostic evaluations and services, and there may even be geographic barriers to access these specialized services.

Program Director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Alice Kau also shed light on the benefits of closing this gap.

“Early screening and intervention can likely improve longterm outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders,” Kau said via email.

After reading an article published by UC Davis Health regarding the study, third-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior student An Pham was also intrigued by the interplay between telehealth evaluation and access to care.

“I think that telehealth screenings seem like both an efficient and time-saving solution to diagnosing autism earlier,” Pham said. “Even though telehealth approaches are still under study, I think they have a bright future in tackling medical barriers and diagnostic delays.”

This telehealth-based approach is called Telehealth Evaluation of Development for Infants, or TEDI. According to the paper published in Autism, TEDI uses “a parent-coaching model to engage parents and infants in a specific set of semi-structured parent-child interactions.”

“Our hope is that the kind of telehealth-based approach we’ve used in this study could help to more closely monitor infants’ development, give families some feedback and support [...] and help to identify infants most in need of further evaluations,” Talbott said via email.

According to Talbott, her team had a participant pool consisting of 41 infants between six to 12 months of age to evaluate the initial feasibility of their telehealth protocol for assessing infants with early social communication challenges.

“We asked families to complete questionnaires about their infants’ development and to complete one or two live telehealth sessions with a study examiner,” Talbott said via email. “Examiners coached parents through specific play activities like peekaboo,

bubbles, reading a book [...] and natural play so they could observe infants’ development across a variety of areas like language, imitation [...] and play.”

Researchers were able to conclude that examiners, who saw infants on different days, evaluated infants similarly: Infants demonstrating clear social communication challenges had an elevated likelihood for autism spectrum disorder. On the other side, parents “found [the researchers] methods acceptable and rated them very highly in terms of their usefulness, easy of use [...] and satisfaction,” Talbott said via email.

Talbott said that researchers are continuing to follow participants into toddlerhood to get better insight as to how these evaluations play out in later years.

“This study is a first step in developing a robust and validated approach for studying infants’ social communication development via telehealth,” Talbott said via email. “We hope that by demonstrating the strengths of this approach, we can involve more families in research and develop evaluations and other supports that better meet their needs.”

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

12 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SPORTS SIX TURNOVERS THUMP THE AGGIES IN NCAA PLAYOFF LOSS TO SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UC Davis threw six interceptions and allowed the Jackrabbits to run for 433 yards, ending their playoff run

The UC Davis Football team. (Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org After starting the season 8-1, UC Davis’ rollercoaster ride comes to an end on the road in their second FCS playoff appearance in program history falling to South Dakota State 56-24.

The 8-4 Aggies were coming into the game on a two game losing skid, meanwhile the 9-3 Jackrabbits appeared in their 10th straight FCS playoffs.

“Give those guys a ton of credit, they’re a deserving team, well coached, a lot of really good players and an opportunity to have a home game,” Head Coach Dan Hawkins said.

UC Davis was competitive for the first two quarters, until their six turnovers became the story of the game. The Jackrabbits intercepted quarterback Miles Hastings twice and backup Hunter Rodrigues four times enroute to a dominant performance.

In addition, the Jackrabbits rushed for a season-high 433 yards behind the leading rusher in the FCS Pierre Strong contributing 175 yards and Isaiah Davis adding a staggering 217 yards.

“We obviously knew what they were trying to do coming into the game. They were going to try to run the ball until we stopped it,” said sixth-year defensive back Erron Duncan. “I think there were a bunch of factors initially, they started doing some things up front that we weren’t used to.”

Duncan added, “having them commit to the run throughout the game really put pressure on us to tackle and to make sure to have discipline.”

Hastings, the redshirt freshmen for Davis, opened the game with a pair of excellent completions to C.J. Hutton down the middle for nine yards and a dart Blake Thorpe for 23 yards. The following play highlighted Ulonzo Gilliam’s running abilities on a zone play as he shifted in and out of tackles swerving left and right making defenders miss for a gain of 19 yards.

UC Davis settled for a 32 yard field goal to go up 3-0. The Aggies started hot going for 60 yards on nine plays in under three minutes of possession.

The Jackrabbits would respond by rushing the ball to the 40 yard line. Under center for South Dakota State, Chris Oladokun botched the snap at the line of scrimmage resulting in a fumble, however Oladokun dove on the ball for the recovery. Ultimately, South Dakota State would settle for a 50 yard field goal attempt by Cole Frahm, which he missed.

Hawkins was fired up on the sidelines raising his arms in celebration to a great start as the Davis sideline jolted with excitement.

UC Davis would go three and out on the following drive, squandering an opportunity to extend their lead. South Dakota State would respond with a stiff arm from their tailback Davis for a 53 yard run down the sideline to the eight yard line. Their elite running back Strong finished the drive with a two yard rushing touchdown to put the home team ahead 7-3 in the first quarter.

Later in the quarter, both teams would go back and forth showcasing their defense however with 37 seconds left in the first the Jackrabbits would yet again miss another field goal. This time, from 56 yards giving the Aggies the ball back at the 39 yard line with a chance to capitalize on missed opportunities from the hometeam.

The Aggies drive would go into the second quarter however, they could not generate a first down with a combination of Trent Thompkins and Hastings under center. Punter Finn Rudd for UC Davis punted the ball 41 yards to the 13 yard line with Tyler Feldkamp waving for the fair catch. Surprisingly, the ball bounced off Feldkamp’s hands into the Aggies’ Jordan Perryman hands at the 10 yard line.

The play in itself was incredible which provided a golden opportunity for UC Davis to capitalize once again. Hastings surely took advantage with his poise and accuracy in the pocket that led the Aggies down the field. On 4th and 4 at the four yard line Hastings faked the jet sweep and threw a four yard touchdown pass to CJ Hutton. The home crowd was stunned and the momentum swung to the visiting team as the arena became silent.

The Aggies would go up 10-7 early in the second quarter with a gutsy call from Hawkins electing to go for it on fourth down.

Things were going right for Davis while the Jackrabbits looked discombobulated.

In the next series, South Dakota State would march down the field to score a rushing touchdown by Isaiah Davis to take control of the game making it 14-10. That drive saw Strong go off for 62 rushing yards on three attempts with Davis punching in the 18 yard touchdown in just four plays.

South Dakota State’s defense imposed their will on the Aggies offense, especially on Hastings. The insurmountable pressure from the pass rush startled Hastings into making rash decisions forcing him to get rid of the football rather quickly.

The Jackrabbits took advantage with a trick play that saw their star running back Strong toss a 10 yard touchdown to quarterback Oladokun to go up 21-10. A drive that generated 79 yards in six plays seemingly put UC Davis in a rabbit hole.

With 6:27 left to play in the second quarter, UC Davis abandoned their run game instead opting to use Hastings’ arm.

That would prove to be a costly mistake with Hasting’s throwing an interception while getting hit off a blitz from the defense.

Taking advantage of the turnover, Oladokun would throw a perfect pass down the middle to third-year wide receiver Jadon Janke for a 33 yard touchdown adding to their lead, 28-10. The home team took full control of the game scoring 21 unanswered points while sucking the life out of the Aggies.

The following series was an opportunity for Hastings to redeem himself using the shotgun formation. The ball snaps the pocket holds as he rolls to the right and erratically throws toward four defenders that resulted in an interception, making that back to back picks in two consecutive drives. The second interception would end the day for Hastings, as he finished 8/18 with 72 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions completing 44% of his passes.

Late in the second quarter, with 3:05 left to play, kicker Frahm for South Dakota State missed his third field goal of the day from the 21-yard line. With UC Davis desperately needing some points before the half, Hawkins inserted a familiar face, third-year Rodrigues who is known for his mobility outside the pocket.

Rodrigues was the spark the team needed leading the Ags down the field with completions of 4, and 34 yards while rushing on two attempts for 30 yards. Gilliam capped off the drive with a two yard rushing touchdown to cut the lead 17-28.

The half came to a close with the Jackrabbits rushing for 275 yards and 83 passing yards compared to UC Davis’ 114 rushing yards and 124 passing yards.

Going into the third quarter UC Davis stopped the South Dakota State’s offense with a quick three and out to force a punt.

With Rodrigues under the helm the team seemed to get their swagger back.

On 3rd and 5 with Rodrigues under center and seven defenders on the line of scrimmage, one of them came across unblocked, blindsiding Rodrigues and rocked hard as he threw. The ball bounced onto Adam Bock for a pick 6 worth 39 yards making it

35-17.

With another opportunity still in the third quarter, Rodrigues again would throw an interception marking his second interception of the evening, on back to back drives.

South Dakota State would pull away rushing the ball with ease down the field and a touchdown pass to pull away 43-17 a drive that ensued 63 yards in nine plays.

Within the first minute of the fourth quarter, Rodrigues again threw an interception in the endzone making it his third pick of the night.

The Jackrabbits thumped UC Davis with their strong rushing attack thrashing the Aggie defense scoring off their own fumble to make it 49-17.

To make matters worse, cornerback Dalys Beanum once again picked off Rodrigues, amazingly spinning and twirling through defenders making the entire defense miss as he zig-zagged all the way to the house for a 59 yard touchdown, marking his third interception of the night while Rodrigues threw his fourth and final interception of the evening.

This was by far the worst interception of the bunch by Rodrigues evidently overthrowing his receiver by a wide margin into coverage. Overall, UC Davis committed six turnovers with two being pick sixes that ultimately doomed the Aggies.

“We don’t ever quit, that’s what we go by,” Gilliam said. “I’m proud of our boys. We never really gave up, just things didn’t go our way.”

With the game out of reach Rodrigues would find the endzone for a 15 yard rushing touchdown, 24-56. The Aggies final drive generated 75 yards in 13 plays. Rodrigues would finish the game 19/27 for 146 yards, four interceptions completing 70% of his passes, one rushing touchdown along with 62 rushing yards.

Gilliam, the Aggies second all time leading rusher finished the night with one rushing touchdown, 73 rushing yards on 10 attempts, 55 receiving yards along with eight catches.

“No one likes getting bumped out of the playoffs. No one likes losing your last game but again you talk about developing a championship program, I think we’re getting there,” said Hawkins.

“We’re making strides we’ve got a long way to go but clearly the effort and the courage and the commitment of our guys, their buy in, I mean it’s second to none I wouldn’t trade these dudes for anybody I love every one of these guys, they’re great people, they’re great football players,” Hawkins said.

UC Davis had a great season with the program moving in the right direction making the FCS postseason twice in three years.

They started by upsetting Tulsa, an FBS team, and going 8-1.

However, with the future uncertain at the quarterback position, the playoff loss raises more questions than answers. Who will be under center next season? That remains the biggest question heading into the offseason.

Although the quarterback position remains uncertain, the program at UC Davis is in good hands with a coach who is proud to be an Aggie such as Hawkins. He emphasizes courage, the desire to face the challenges that life throws at you and being resilient when adversity comes knocking. That is what it means to be an Aggie.

“We’ll lick our wounds — that’s part of being in the fire, that’s part of being in the arena and so much of what we do is teaching our guys about life and response to adversity. I hope they always have the courage to get in the fire and sometimes it’s painful, sometimes it’s joyous but you just gotta keep getting there,” said Hawkins.