Volume 63 Issue 08

FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

“SPAMALOT” UCR’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” is not one to miss.

A&E, Page 17

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Volume 63

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C a l i f o r n i a , R ive r s i d e

Issue 08

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Founding member of UC Riverside passes away AMY ZAHN Contributing Writer

Professor Emeritus of Zoology Wilbur “Bill” Mayhew, founding faculty member of both UC Riverside’s biology department and the UC Natural Reserve System (NRS) — the world’s largest universityadministered natural reserve system — passed away on Sept.

19 at the age of 94.

Mayhew first applied for a job at UC Riverside in 1953 and was hired as a parasitology instructor in 1954. Described as a dedicated teacher, Mayhew developed close bonds with his pupils. Many of the courses he taught “were small enough that you easily were able to learn the names of the students,” he said in an oral history interview conducted in 1998. “I always did that. I wanted to be sure I knew who they were and that I could talk to them.”

One of the students he influenced included Patricia Lock-Dawson. “I was planning on going to medical school … and then I took Dr. Mayhew’s vertebrate field biology class and it changed my life,” she said. “I became a wildlife biologist and it was all because of him.” Mayhew would go on to teach 5,600 students during his time at UCR before retiring from teaching in 1989.

During the course of his teaching, Mayhew discovered another passion: land conservation.

He became troubled when he noticed “one after another of his field sites ► SEE MAYHEW, PAGE 4

JANINE YBANEZ / HIGHLANDER

Chancellor Kim Wilcox cuts the ribbon at the gate of UCR’s brand-new 11-acre solar farm.

$350,000 spent to build largest UC solar farm

AARON GRECH Staff Writer

An opening ceremony was held last Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of UCR’s solar farm, the largest of its kind in the UC system. Located near the UCR community garden behind Lot 30, the solar farm seeks to reduce peak demand of electricity, while also helping improve clean energy production around UCR and the city of Riverside. The 7,440 panels work by providing the electricity to the city’s electrical grid, which powers the area around UCR. The campus signed a power

OPINIONS

purchase agreement in 2011 with Sun Power Corporation, based in San Jose, Calif., to help support the solar farm at UCR. The Green Campus Action Plan (GCAP) Committee spent $350,000 to clear the site and prepare the project to begin building in 2012. The Sun Power Corporation will cover any other potential costs associated with construction, operations and maintenance for the solar farm over a 20-year-period.

The solar farm is projected to produce 6.6 million megawatthours of electricity annually, which is enough to generate power for 960 homes each year. It is also

FEATURES

Editorial: Napolitano’s tuition powerplay leaves student futures in the balance.

PAGE 6

projected to save $4.3 million for the campus over the length of the contract.

According to UCR’s Director of Sustainability Dr. John Cook, “The total renewable energy production from the solar farm combined with solar carport at CE-CERT will increase the solar (photovoltaic) in the city of Riverside by 40 percent.”

Other benefits include carbon reduction and LEED certification, which will provide additional financial and environmental benefits. LEED certification is given to buildings and structures which fulfill certain energy-saving

RADAR

Highlander spirit spreads like wildfire all week for Homecoming 2014.

PAGE 10

prerequisites.

Cook said that, “The solar array has been in discussion for six years … The technology has been available for decades, it is just the cost that has been the limiting factor for most.” In addition, Cook mentioned that there were “many drivers” to push the project, including student investment in renewable energy and the UC Sustainable Practices Policy, which establishes goals for implementing sustainable and environmentally sound policies.

The benefits to campus ► SEE SOLAR, PAGE 4

SPORTS

Comedy Central on Campus’ show provided much-needed laughs.

PAGE 14

Brittany Crain scored 29 points to lead women’s basketball past Santa Clara.

PAGE 19

2

NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

highlandernews.org

Interfraternity Council brings forth Yik Yak resolution AMY ZAHN Contributing Writer

On Nov. 5, members of ASUCR postponed voting on a resolution that sought to ban the campuswide use of Yik Yak, the social media app which allows users to anonymously develop and view posts within a 1.5-mile-radius.

Delivered by President of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) Daniel Engels, the resolution calls for a joint IFC and ASUCR letter to be sent to Yik Yak, requesting that they grant UCR a geofence, a virtual perimeter to prevent the use of the application within a predetermined area. Yik Yak currently only offers this service to elementary, middle and high schools, but Engels feels that the hate speech, cyberbullying and impersonations that can run rampant on the app create a hostile learning environment that “should be removed from the direct proximity of the classroom.”

The resolution was met with overwhelming opposition from various members of ASUCR, who held concerns that the application could still be useful for students who do not abuse it.

Vice President of External Affairs Abraham Galvan described it as being “extremely beneficial” for communication between students and to “provide an anonymous

Yik Yak is an anonymous social media app that allows people to share short bulletin messages with anyone in the nearby area.

source of information.” Senator Summer Shafer and Marketing and Promotions Director Ravin Rathod agreed, citing the anonymous aspect of the app as a means for students to, in Rathod’s words, ask “basic questions” that they won’t have to feel judged for asking.

However, no senator denied the harmful nature of cyberbullying that can occur on Yik Yak. “I think (hate speech) is definitely an issue we should address, but putting any across-the-board restrictions on it is really problematic,” said Galvan.

Other senators echoed this

sentiment, including Rathod, who believed that “there is a problem with hate speech,” but that the real issue is campus climate and culture. He expressed that targeting the sentiments behind students thinking that “it’s okay to talk about someone anonymously in a hateful manner” would be more helpful than an outright ban on a single application.

Senators also felt that telling adult students what they aren’t allowed to do is an inappropriate measure for a university to take.

“We’re not here to be parents,”

Photo of the Week

18

Janine Ybanez CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Chancellor Kim Wilcox and faculty members explore UCR’s brand new solar panel farm after the ribboncutting ceremony. This 11-acre solar panel farm is currently the largent solar array in the UC system.

Quotebook “However, students like you and me spearheaded the project in order to move the university into the future.”

Upcoming Events

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Thursday

said President Pro Tempore Devin Plazo. “We’re a public university.”

In a 12-2-1 vote, the wording of the resolution was amended to exclude the geofence, but to instead promote mental health and “a better campus climate by having a positivity campaign run by the Vice President of External Affairs.” However, a subsequent 10-3-2 vote postponed voting on the resolution indefinitely until different campus groups, including the diversity council, could have a chance to work on it more closely.

Although there may exist

23 Sunday

24

Monday

Contributions made by Daniel Kelley

Graduate Student Yoga ASPB Presents: Beyond the Screen 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

(Three Social Media Celebrities) HUB 269 7 p.m.

HUB 302 International Education Week 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Highlander / Watkins Lawn

Undocu Talking Circle 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

HUB 367

An Evening with Bestselling Author Rebecca Skloot 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

HUB 302

Tickets to “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” 2 p.m.

HUB Info Desk GO! PB&J (Peanut Butter & Jogging) 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

The Well (HUB 248)

Friday

Saturday

doubt over the efficacy of such a resolution, IFC representative Alex Mastache advocated for its importance in an interview with the Highlander. “All we can do is be the driving force behind cleaning up the social networking on our campus,” said Mastache.

“The point we want to get across is that we wish to maintain a positive learning environment for the students of UCR, but we have to start somewhere.”

■H

NOVEMBER

21 22

NELSON LUU / HIGHLANDER

CityRace - Adventures in Old Riverside 10 a.m.

White Park

Anne of Green Gables the Musical 2 p.m.

Riverside Women’s Club CA Future Business Leaders of America 8 a.m.

Riverside Convention Center Board of Library Trustees 5 p.m.

Main Library Auditorium, Community Room, 2nd Floor

- Vice President of Internal Affairs Fernando Echeverria on the opening of the solar farm

Scan this QR code and visit us

at highlandernews.org

4

NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

highlandernews.org

ASUCR: More backlash following proposed UC tuition plan MELA MAGAT Contributing Writer

The issue of rising tuition within the UC system was the main focus of last Wednesday’s senate meeting.

Both President Nafi Karim and Vice President of External Affairs Abraham Galvan were vocal opponents of UC President Janet Napolitano’s proposed stability plan, which would hike UC tuition by up to 5 percent every year for five years.

Karim, reporting from a meeting of the UC Council of Presidents, felt bothered that the financial data and information about the tuition plan was not clearly accessible during the meeting. Nonetheless, Karim rejected the tuition increase.

“Like countless other UC students, I know firsthand the burden such tuition increases can put on students,” expressed Karim. “I will graduate with $62,984 in debt.”

Increasing the enrollment of 5,000 more students is a goal of the UC tuition hike. Karim further explained, “The UC says the increase of these students increased the need for services such as mental health services, improvement in student-to-faculty ratio, increase in class availability in order to decrease time of graduation.”

To combat backlash to the proposal, the UC points out that its Blue and Gold Plan currently covers the full tuition of 55 percent of UC students (65 percent at UCR) and partially gives coverage to 14 percent of students, according to Karim.

Galvan expressed that this is not enough assistance and that many students would still need to take out numerous loans. “Student loan debt has already surpassed one trillion dollars,” stated Galvan. “I fail to see how this plan gives us any more stability then we have now even if we get that 4 percent increase (in state funding annually for the next two years) promised by Gov. Jerry Brown.”

Galvan reported that the average

V.P. of External Affairs Abraham Galvan questions the budget management of UCR, questioning salary increases in the face of a tuition hike.

tuition per year for a UC at $13,200 was already significantly higher than the average tuition for public four-year universities nationwide, at $8,893. “Napolitano’s 5 percent every year in five years plan could potentially lead to a 28 percent increase in tuition overall,” expressed Galvan.

According to UC officials, state disinvestment is a motivating factor behind this increase in systemwide tuition. Vice Chancellor for Planning and Budget Maria Anguiano expressed that “the state used to pay 80 percent of our total costs. Now it’s down to 42 percent. When it is that decreased, we only have so many funding sources to keep the same quality of education.”

In a letter sent to Napolitano and the UC regents, The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), which represents UC faculty on a state- and university-wide level, demanded that, “Tuition should (be) … rolled back to 2001-2002

► MAYHEW FROM PAGE 1

disappearing under housing developments,” said Biology Professors Emeritus Mary Price and Nick Waser.

Mayhew had already acquired land for the university, including 160 acres where the “C” is located in 1964, and 17,000 acres that he converted into Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Research Center in 1958, but he did not believe these were enough.

Mayhew and two of his colleagues, Ken Norris of UC Santa Cruz and Mildred Mathias of UCLA, channeled their discontent into creating the UC NRS in 1965 to preserve land for teaching and research. Starting out with 130,000 acres, the NRS has since grown by more than 756,000 acres and is comprised of 39 sites, 16 of which Mayhew helped acquire. Today, the reserve is used annually by thousands of researchers from all over the world.

After securing a tenured position in 1969, Mayhew decided to devote himself entirely to land acquisition at the cost of delaying his own research.

He concluded “that he could make more of a positive impact by protecting California’s wildlands for research

levels, inflation adjusted ($4,717 for the University of California compared to the $13,860 planned for UC next year) … It would cost the median California household just $50 a year.”

From 2001 to 2002, Gov. Gray Davis allocated state funding of $3.2 billion ($4.4 billion in 2014 dollars) to the University of California. In that academic year, tuition was $3,964.

The CUCFA analyzed state funding over the decade and noted that Gov. Brown’s 2014-2015 budget will only allot $2.8 billion for the UC. That is more than onethird less than Gov. Davis’ 2001 to 2002 financial allocations despite having a UC student enrollment increase of over 50,000 students in the same time.

“When (state funding) is that decreased, we only have so many funding sources to keep the same quality of education,” said Anguiano.

Ways in which students could

and teaching … than by publishing more research papers,” said Price and Waser. Mayhew’s colleagues certainly admired his perseverance. “Bill was indefatigable, despite a cost to his own professional advancement,” they said.

“He infected many a donor … with his enthusiasm, outgoing nature and clear vision.”

He also established the Mayhew Graduate Research Award in 1996, which helps fund graduate research at Boyd Deep Canyon, and received the George B. Fell Award from the Natural Areas Association in 2003.

Mayhew’s legacy, however, is difficult to quantify. “It will continue to grow as the UC Natural Reserve System contributes to a greater quantity and variety of research,” said Jennifer Singleton, a biology graduate student who received the Mayhew Graduate Research Award in 2013. Traces of his impact can be spotted in other, less expected areas as well. “My youngest daughter at age eleven now wants to be a wildlife biologist,” said Lock-Dawson.

“None of that would have happened without him.”

Wilbur Mayhew lives on in the lives he touched. “He opened a whole world to

TIFFANY LIAW / HIGHLANDER

HIGHLIGHTS - Vice President of Internal Affairs Fernando Echeverria discussed changes in the UCR and general UC admission system in which holistic reviews of students may be implemented as early as next year.

UC admissions will now include reviews by a faculty board; prior to this, admissions were granted based on meeting UC requirements.

- The California Public Research Interest Group, a nonprofit public policy group, presented their victories to the senate in banning California plastic bags, which will be fully implemented in January of 2015.

- Senator Reem Blaik presented an initiative to highlight Women’s Awareness Month through a series of events focused on issues such as equal working rights and misconceptions surrounding feminism.

combat this and be heard was also discussed. Both Karim and Galvan said that students need to have full access to the information and data regarding the finances of the UC. “When there is no student consultation beforehand, that is problematic,” addressed Galvan.

“We need to have information before (the Board of) Regents can

vote.”

Galvan says another way that students can advocate their opposition to the proposal is to participate in a walkout on Nov. 18 at 11:15 a.m. and rally near the Bell Tower. Galvan explained that students refuse to be “made political pawns between the government and the UC.” ■H

► SOLAR FROM PAGE 1

COURTESY OF UCR TODAY Mayhew passed away at the age of 94.

me,” said Lock-Dawson. “He opened the environmental world, the outdoor world (and) the natural world. He created a love of it that never has gone away.”

In the eyes of biology professor Kimberly Hammond, his influence has also left a more visible mark. “Every time the students look up at the ‘C,’ they should think of Bill,” Hammond expressed.

■H

may also improve UCR’s environmental rankings and generate interest in the university. “The solar farm is visible from the 215 and 60 (freeways).

We will have a dashboard so people can track the energy production and it will raise our rankings in Sierra Cool Schools, Princeton Review of Green colleges and AASHE STARS,” Cook stated.

The solar panels’ cost has been questioned by some students. Arturo Perez, a fourth-year English major, stated that while “the benefits of cleaner energy can reduce the cost for the campus, the initial cost is really high, possibly affecting our tuition.”

Brandon Prell, a third-year cellular and molecular biology major, made a much more cynical statement. “I think it’s funny how they do this to save $4.3 million yet they probably won’t lower tuition at all. They also should have built the panels over Lot 30 to provide shade for vehicles during those hot March-October months.”

“Leading the state in clean energy is exactly why the University of California was developed,” said ASUCR Vice President of Internal Affairs Fernando Echeverria in an interview. “In order to move away from our dependency on fossil fuels these are the type of projects to invest in. We are the generation that will have to solve climate change (and) we will have to show the next generation that H it is possible to move to green clean energy.” ■

NEWS

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

5

Co-founder of UCR’s Eaton Collection dies ESTEFANIA ZAVALA Senior Staff Writer

George Slusser, a cofounder of UCR’s Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy, died Nov. 4 in his house in Highland, Calif.

As a professor emeritus in comparative literature and the curator emeritus of the Eaton Collection, Slusser helped to make UCR a premier influence in science fiction.

Slusser earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, a Diplome d’Etudes Francaises from the Universite of Poitiers and a PhD in comparative literature from Harvard University. In 1991, Slusser was one of the first professors at UCR to incorporate science fiction as part of his curriculum and he eventually taught the first classes in science fiction on campus.

“He was a brilliant guy.

A series of smaller earthquakes struck the city of Loma Linda in the past few weeks. With Riverside located not too far away, the Highlander took a closer look to see how prepared the university is for the next “big one.”

► READ MORE AT HIGHLANDERNEWS.ORG

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I can’t speak enough to his passion for (science fiction),” said Melissa Conway, UCR’s head of special collections and university archives in an interview with Redland Daily Facts. “It was really his heart and soul. Talk about a prolific scholar.”

Explaining his own love for the subject, Slusser said in an April 2000 interview that “science fiction is the natural bridge between things scientific and things artistic.”

He went on to state that it was his dream to see the Eaton Collection grow to national recognition.

The Eaton Collection is currently the largest publicly accessible science fiction and fantasy collection in the world.

“The field of science fiction studies owes (Slusser) an incalculable debt,” said Rob Latham, UCR professor

of English and co-director of the Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Program in an interview.

Along with Latham, creative writing professor Nalo Hopkinson and English professor Sheryl Vint comprise the Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies program, making UCR one of the few universities in the country to offer a specialty study in science fiction.

This program is the “logical extension” of the Eaton Collection which Slusser helped start, according to former CHASS Dean Stephen E. Cullenberg.

“Dr. Slusser’s dream of making the Eaton Collection, and by extension UCR, a central locus of (science fiction) studies has definitely been realized,” said Steven Mandeville-Gamble, the ■H university librarian.

AARON LAI / HIGHLANDER H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” is one of the many timeless pieces included in the Eaton Collection that George Slusser helped found.

6

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

. OPINIONS .

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HIGHLANDER HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL EDITORIAL

TUITION PLAN IS JANET NAPOLITANO’S PROVING GROUND

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O

nly one year into her first year as UC president, Janet Napolitano is facing her most difficult challenge yet. It’s not about passing her much talked-about tuition plan, though — it’s taking on the titan of California politics, Gov. Jerry Brown.

By now, almost every student has heard about it: tuition increases. Napolitano has announced that the UC Board of Regents will be presented with a proposal to cap tuition increases at 5 percent per year for five years, depending on state funding levels. The challenge isn’t the tuition plan — that’s all but assured to pass. There has been some hedging here and there by a few people, but when the UC Board of Regents considers it at their meeting this week, the three-year tuition freeze will in all likelihood be thawed.

If so, Napolitano could set in motion a chain of events that could actually restore state funding to the UC and result in few, if any, tuition increases. This is because the proposal has a release valve: If the state boosts its funding, the plan allows for tuition to stay constant. Gov. Brown has campaigned on keeping tuition frozen for Californians and shepherding through legislation to fund higher education. If tuition increases go through, the burden falls on students and parents, and political pressure will fall on Brown to do something about it. The calculation is that the threat of tuition hikes forces Brown to take action and begin funding the UC as it should be.

There is some evidence that this could work. Over the past decade, even as tuition has increased, Cal Grant awards have similarly increased by over a halfbillion dollars. And even as tuition skyrocketed for most students, lowincome students were for the most part completely covered by financial aid. It’s arguable that the steep tuition increases ultimately pressured the legislature into passing the Middle Class Scholarship Act, which has just gone into effect this academic year.

This is a big gamble by Napolitano.

But in some ways, the UC doesn’t have a choice. Gov. Brown has been downright miserly when it comes to state funding for higher education. The UC receives $2.64 billion from the state’s general fund, which reflects a drop of 14 percent, or almost $500 million, since before the

ARCHIVE / HIGHLANDER

recession. Not only has overall funding decreased, per-student funding has declined as well. In this same timespan, enrollment increased by more than 18,000 students — nearly the entire student population of UC Riverside.

Perhaps his emphasis on fiscal prudence was somewhat justified a few years ago, when the state was still deep in recession. But today? The unemployment rate is 6.9 percent, five and a half percentage points lower than the height of the recession and just a tick above the national average. A recently released survey shows economic performance humming along, with California reclaiming its No. 8-in-the-world status, beating out Italy and Russia. We have our first budget surplus in years. California can now boast of its A-plus credit rating.

Yet the UC hasn’t benefitted much from the state’s financial improvement.

Way back in 2012, students were integral in the passage of Proposition 30, which Gov. Brown promised would dedicate more funding to the UC. What we got was a measly 1.7 percent increase in the UC’s academic budget, barely enough to keep pace with inflation. More incremental proposals felt the pain of the governor’s veto pen — a one-time cash infusion of $50 million was slashed, despite the support of the legislature and a personal campaign by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. Each time, the person standing in the way has been Jerry Brown.

With this track record, there’s not much the UC can do. Even if the university has massive support in the legislature, Gov. Brown can easily remove funding with his line-item veto. There’s nothing in the text of the proposition that says that more money needs to go to the UC. Simply put, there’s no way for the UC to force Gov. Brown to reinvest in higher education.

Except possibly one — and this tuition plan is it. Napolitano has just set in motion a real-time political battle between two very astute politicians, and there is a glimmer of hope that it can restore at least a modicum of funding to the UC. The proposal is nonetheless a huge disappointment for students, and we have every right to be incensed. The proposal breaks an agreement to keep tuition frozen until the 2016-2017 academic year, ironically adding uncertainty to a plan intended to decrease it. Several

student leaders have said they weren’t given enough advance notice of the plan.

(Napolitano has replied that they have been given the same amount of time as the regents themselves.) To top it off, student debt is higher than ever.

There’s no question that the plan is incredibly risky. For his part, Brown is bolstered in his opposition by a who’s who of political leaders, not to mention his accrual of nearly 60 percent of the vote in the November elections. Napolitano must also remember that she’s not just dealing with pieces of plastic on a chessboard — actual students hang in the balance.

Any increase in tuition affects the lives of UC’s more than 230,000 students and their families.

Napolitano was brought on as UC President because of her political chops.

Even as students voiced doubts over her experience and record on undocumented immigrants, the belief was that, through her political savvy and know-how, she could help restore funding to the UC. Now is the time for her to show her skills and prove her doubters wrong.

The gambit could easily fail. If it does, and tuition hikes indeed go through; or if tuition increases are enacted despite increases in state funding, Napolitano should be held responsible. She should consider departing her position — or at the very least, her pay should be docked.

But if she succeeds, we could boost our course offerings, ending the purgatory of an endless life as professional students.

We could hire more faculty to bring new perspectives. We could renovate our dilapidated buildings, or finance the start of new projects to improve the look of the campus. We could expand outreach programs and ensure that every California student knows that, no matter their background, the UC offers a way forward.

These are still possible, and the tuition proposal may be the only way to achieve state funding for them. But only if Napolitano proves herself the better chess player. If not, she should be wary of students turning the tables and making chess the least of her worries.

■H Highlander editorials reflect the majority view of the Highlander Editorial Board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Associated Students of UCR or the University of California system.

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OPINIONS

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

7

Why video games are not the be-all, end-all cause of violence QUINN MINTEN Contributing Writer

The jury is in — playing video games is not going to turn you into a homicidal maniac, or at least, it is not the sole cause for youth violence. Two recent correlational studies performed at Stetson University in Florida have demonstrated that exposure to violent media, particularly video games, are not responsible for causing long-term real-life violence. Psychologist Christopher Ferguson and his team discovered in their research that there has been a drop in violent crime perpetrated by teens in recent years, even though the consumption of violent media — movies and video games — has increased in the same time period.

The conclusion we can draw from this study is that many violent crimes, especially the tragic shootings at such sites as Sandy Hook or Columbine, cannot simply be blamed on a simple scapegoat factor such as video games. The parties responsible for these respective shootings cannot be described as being in the best of mental health; psychiatrists have retroactively diagnosed these perpetrators, among other possibilities, as psychopathic and depressive, with evidence of drugs in their systems that are prescribed for behavioral issues.

Therefore, to simply place blame on video games while ignoring the underlying psychological symptoms of these culprits is an unfair attack on a particular form of media that does not meet approval by the whole of society.

However, to ignore the influence any form of media may have on a person who commits a crime ignores a key element to be considered; namely, the inherent desire of humans to emulate a role model. In past times, the only role models around were one’s parents and perhaps other adults to which a young person might be exposed.

In this modern era of mass media, however, a youth can be influenced by a multitude of different sources, and these sources are not limited to video games: Movies, music and even books can also display similar levels of violence.

For most of them, these influences are not malignant; I do not believe a kid is

DANIEL GARCIA / HIGHLANDER

going to be affected badly by wanting to be Elsa from “Frozen,” or one of the Ninja Turtles. Furthermore, there is a major difference between liking something and trying to emulate it. There is a problem, however, when a 10-year-old, because of easy access, has the chance to emulate a game like “Call of Duty” or “Grand Theft Auto,” games that feature violence and profanity fit only for someone of 17 years or more — hence, their rating of M, for Mature.

Perhaps the evidence shows there is no long-term causal link between video games and violence; I have no qualification to argue that. Nevertheless, nothing good can come of exposing young people to the sorts of violence that even some people in the military never see. When games feature combat involving chainsawing people in half, exploding people’s heads by shooting them, and other gratuitous gore, it should be no surprise that someone

young and impressionable — including teens — might think such violence is no problem, or even useful as entertainment.

Thankfully, there is a major gap between finding entertainment in a violent video game and imitating it in real life; perhaps it takes a combination of the exposure to violence and some form of mental disorder to make that transition, as evidenced by the fact that the Columbine shooters were obsessed with the game “Doom.”

By permitting a young person to have such video games, it is ultimately the parents of a child who are responsible for allowing exposure to any violence.

A kid will find it hard to buy an M-rated game; for those of you unfamiliar with the ESRB system, one must be 17 or older to buy such a game. Therefore, parents either judge their child mature enough for an M game or simply do not care about the rating. Either way, the act translates

to condoning the content of the game in the child’s eyes. If the worst should happen and a youth commits a crime, in part because they are influenced by a video game, the parents must take more responsibility for the actions of that child, because the child would not have been influenced without the permission of the parents.

No single element can be blamed for setting certain people off and turning them into killers. It is the combination of multiple factors — psychological issues and media violence — that is the ultimate cause of violence. Therefore, the solution is twofold: by simultaneously making effort by both vendors and parents to prevent youths from accessing media beyond their level of maturity, as well as researching psychological disorders, (for instance in a school setting), we can perhaps prevent further losses from acts of mass violence.

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President Obama: More accomplished than you think CHRIS HOOKS Contributing Writer

Turn on CNN, Fox News or MSNBC and there will be umpteen talking heads and pundits shouting about how much of a failed and weak president Barack Obama has been. But only a select few actually point out any of the great accomplishments that will be part of our president’s legacy. I believe that President Obama has done a great deal of good for our country.

I have to admit that I wish he had been stronger in his goals, but he has delivered on enough promises to the American people. There are five key sections that the president has done a lot of great work in: climate regulation, energy reform, global public relations, the financial sector and health care.

My first point, and the one that I believe President Obama will be most remembered for (other than maybe health care), is his fight against climate change. The president has faced great opposition from the right against regulations dealing with climate change. Many

Republicans think it is a useless topic, citing that China would never be on board, and some remain who still dispute its existence. But even with all of this opposition, the president was able to get many key regulations implemented, such as his directive for the federal government to reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020. His largest and most recent accomplishment in his climate change fight is the deal he struck with President Xi Jinping of China, where for the first time, China has agreed to set a date for when carbon emissions would finally begin to turn downward: 2030. The agreement also states that China will implement another 800 to 1,000 gigawatts of zero-emission energy, like solar, wind and nuclear. This is a great step for President Obama, as he has forced China to do what it has refused to do for many years.

The president’s fight against climate change has also included changing the energy makeup of the U.S. Just in the last year alone a quarter of all new power generation facilities in the U.S. were solar.

Since Obama has taken office back

in 2008, solar energy use is 10 times greater and wind energy use is up threefold. These new industries have created highly trained and skilled jobs in the U.S. and will continue to do so as we change our energy makeup. These new job sectors are critical for the future of American jobs and education.

The president has made major strides to keep the U.S. relevant in global relations. President Obama has reached out to many Asian countries like Japan and South Korea to reaffirm ties and also create new ones. These deals are very important to the future of the U.S. economy, since the 21 economies that comprise the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group make up about 60 percent of the global economy. This is an incredibly large influence on global trade, and is an economic group that the U.S. cannot afford to miss out on.

Another surprising country replying to President Obama is Iran, a country that has been notoriously opposed to the U.S. This icy relationship has been in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, where the United States-

backed government fell.

The core issue that has always been a part of Obama’s presidency is the economy. When the president came into office, he inherited terrible economic conditions, with GDP falling 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, and unemployment beginning its climb to 10 percent.

Obama took great measures to ensure that the recession did not become a depression through enacting plans such as the stimulus package of 2009. Through these efforts, the economy has been able to recover, and many sectors are at prerecession levels. After 2009, GDP has largely grown. In the beginning of President Obama’s first term in office, the jobs market was abysmal, with job losses exceeding 700,000 per month; since 2010, for more than 45 consecutive months, jobs have increased, yielding a net total gain of over 4.5 million U.S. jobs.

These numbers are good, and should improve even more. The economy looks even better when compared to the European Union, where doubledigit unemployment paints a bleak scene.

Finally we get to the most debated topic of President Obama’s terms in office: health care and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Even with the shaky website launch, the ACA has been able to insure 10 million people who were uninsured. Over less than a year, the ACA has dropped the uninsured rate from 17.1 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent, according to Gallup. The sharpest decline comes for Hispanics and African Americans, where it is needed most.

This is a great accomplishment by the president, as many pundits thought that the ACA would not be able to accomplish anything meaningful for people and only have negative effects — both of which are untrue so far.

President Barack Obama has shown great skill in the roil of difficult times. He has proven himself to be smart and steady with his decision-making. As a lame duck president, he continues to work for the American people in an effort to advance us both economically and environmentally. This is the truth despite what the talking heads may say.

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OPINIONS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

highlandernews.org

Opinion Poll What do you think of the tuition plan proposed by Janet Napolitano?

C ompiled

Kelly Sandberg Art Second-year

Sam Finch Anthropology Third-year

Finn Allgaier Biochemistry First-year

“Tuition is already really expensive and some people don’t get very much financial aid.”

“It’s important to have that stabilizing measure in place, we don’t want to have a sudden spike.”

“5 percent per year is quite an increase, but spread over 5 years isn’t so bad.”

Brittney Williams Dance Fourth-year “I’m opposed to the raise. We spend money in the wrong places, with could be used to meet educational needs.”

Racheal Adair Anthropology Third-year “It seems that they don’t actually need to increase tuition; it has more to do with profit rather than the students’ benefits.”

by

T im B aca

Shelly Green Art Fourth-year “I feel that everybody has to pay the same price of tuition, so we might as well all pay.”

► See more at Youtube.com/UCRChannelH

Tuition hikes have got to go: Potential UC increase is threat to students HONEIAH KARIMI Contributing Writer

“Hey ho, tuition hikes have got to go!” chanted UC students at the UCSA Students of Color Conference (SOCC), one of the largest annual UC-wide conferences hosted this year at UC Merced. The conference coincided with UC President Janet Napolitano’s announcement about the new UC tuition plan, where tuition will increase by up to 5 percent per year over the span of five years.

This tuition hike has sparked a movement across all 10 UC campuses. SOCC provided a platform for UC students to voice how escalating tuition rates will affect them, in addition to students hosting rallies on various UC campuses to garner the attention of the UC Board of Regents before their vote on Nov. 19.

After three years of tuition freezes, this plan — if it is to be implemented — will increase enrollment and course selections. Be that as it may, students should not be treated as blank checks. Education is a fundamental right for all citizens, regardless of economic status. The proposed tuition policy holds students hostage by giving students an ultimatum: Either take out more loans or give up on the pursuit of education if it’s not in your price range. This “fiveyear stability plan” will only result in financial ruin and instability for many students.

Tuition hikes such as this one only serve to reiterate the misconception that education is a privilege, all the while using students as political pawns. As the University of California

DANIEL GARCIA / HIGHLANDER

Students Association stated in their call to action: “We are at risk of further eroding two cornerstones of the university: its affordability and accessibility.”

Tuition hikes make it all the more challenging for people of color and dreamers (individuals who meet the requirements for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) to attend university.

Considering both of these groups, among others, have historically been disenfranchised, it’s important for the UC Regents to realize lack of diversity on its own is enough of a reason to vote “no” on raising tuition.

Despite state support recovering as of late, this year’s funds still are $460

million less than seven years ago. If the tuition hike goes through, in-state tuition next year will be $12,804, which is $612 more than this year — not to mention that hefty price tag does not include room, board or books. By the fall of 2019, it could rise to $15,564.

In either case, the Regents receive their paychecks, but if this tuition hike goes through, that ultimatum leaves UC students in the lurch with nothing other than financial distress to show for it.

UC students have been utilizing opportunities such as SOCC and rallies on their respective campuses in defiance of the continuous marginalization exercised by UC officials on matters such as tuition where students are time and time again neglected

in the decision-making process. If UC officials are not going to make decisions in the students’ best interests, then it’s up to the students to challenge this plan.

Although the tuition hike received support from UC chancellors and faculty leaders, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon contest it. In fact, de Leon referred to UC tuition as “already too expensive” and promised to fight for more state funding. Gov. Jerry Brown made his stance on the tuition hike crystal-clear, reiterating the importance of his previously announced plan that depends on continuing tuition freezes in order to increase state funding by 4 percent for both UCs and

CSUs. UC officials posit this tuition hike is in pursuit of increasing UC enrollment by 5,000, hence their insistence on making this “five-year stability plan” for all 10 UC campuses, but if they cannot support the current number of students through ensuring accessible and affordable education, why bring in more students? The UC, as a public institution, has a responsibility to educate students; however, the entire UC system’s reputation of providing students with quality and affordable education is at stake if this tuition hike passes. For the sake of a better UC and a better California, the Regents must render this tuition hike null and void.

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OPINIONS

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Regarding the UC proposal to increase tuition F rom ASUCR P resident N afi K arim I fundamentally reject UC President Janet Napolitano’s proposal to increase tuition up to 5% for 5 years. Like countless other UC students, I know firsthand the burden such tuition increases can put on students. Having worked throughout college to support myself for much of my college career, I will still graduate with $62,984 in debt, the equivalent to a year’s salary of a wellpaying job. At a time when Germany just declared its university system to be free, our education system is failing to invest in higher education, passing the burden onto us.

And yet, with the insistence that tuition increases are inevitable, we, as students, have still managed to gain ground.

The proposal now includes a stability plan to prevent the tuition spikes that occur every few years, sometimes as high as 40%. The UC has set a goal to enroll 5,000 more California students, increase student support for services such as mental health, improve studentfaculty ratio, and increase class

availability to decrease the time to graduation. Given that 65% of UCR students do not graduate in 4 years, it would still be cheaper to graduate in 4 years even with the tuition increase than pay an additional year of tuition at current rates. However, I have serious questions as to how exactly and to what extent this would be accomplished.

The UC has also guaranteed to continue the “Blue and Gold Plan” and its financial aid program, which currently covers the full tuition of 55% of UC students (65% at UCR) and partially covers to another 14%.

This, in essence, is a progressive taxation leaving a little less than a third of students who make up the middle to upper class to bear most of the burden. Except the problem is that it is being enacted on solely those who attend the UC, when the state and society as a whole benefits from an educated workforce.

While I agree that many of these services are badly needed and increase the quality of the UC, I fundamentally reject the notion that such benefits should

come on backs of already debtridden college students. Instead of resorting to this tax system on its students, we need to go to the legislature and governor for the additional 5% increase for 5 years from state funding, as we were led to believe that higher education would receive sufficient funding from the passage of Proposition 30. The more we rely on a tuition-based system for sustainability, the more it implies our acceptance of the status quo, that it is “okay” for the state to not fund our university. We cannot move our ideals from what the UC was envisioned to be in the California Master Plan for Higher Education: a free public research university.

Currently, we are in a “monkey in the middle” situation between the UC and state. The state calls for the UC to enact cuts to increase efficiency, while the UC blames the decrease of state funding and rising costs as the cause of tuition increases. We can’t continue this blame game and diffusion of responsibility. In

the end, it is the students who are losing out in the middle.

The UC claims that fundraising and enacted operational efficiencies have saved more than $664 million out of the $1 billion in state funding cuts. The UC not only needs to provide us with the data that proves its efficiency claims and necessary information about alternative proposals it considered, but it needs to make firm commitments to continue maximizing its cost efficiencies. Not having some of this information (in a timely manner) is inherently problematic and compromises our ability to make an informed decision as major stakeholders. Granted that salary increases of chancellors and the total salaries for top UC administrators account for less than 1% of its payroll, has the UC truly maximized all of its cost efficiencies? Only if it has, can the regents pass this plan to save us from cutting majors, reducing research, and lowering the quality of our education.

Meanwhile, the Governor

and the state needs to better prioritize higher education in its budget. It is a fact that state funding has decreased 27% while UC enrollment has gone up by 43% since 2008 and that state funding is still $460 million less than what it was in 2007/08. Since 2011, student fees now exceed funding from the State of California.

Unless this is the only way to sustain the quality of the UC, I ask the Board of Regents to reject this proposal. Taking inspiration from Germany, here’s my call to action to my fellow students, but also to the UC administration, the Board of Regents and the people of California: actually make the commitment to work together and lobby the legislatures and Governor Brown before he proposes the budget in January and persist until the May Revised Budget to remind our governor and state the need to better prioritize higher education.

Sincerely, Nafi Karim ASUCR President

Regarding the Nov. 11 article entitled, “Pro-choice supporters clash during pro-life demonstration” F rom A lessandro M orosin and S tephanie A ttar We strongly take issue with the H i g h l a n d e r ’s coverage of this incident and the personal denunciations/ mischaracterizations of students who chose to protest (and will continue to protest) the presence of anti-abortion groups on campus.

As a matter of public record, the group working with the Women’s Resource Center was invited to join a protest against “Students For Life.” The open invitation was swiftly met with strong denunciation, which among other things, claimed that protesting against Students For Life would be disrespectful to survivors of rape. A decision seemed to have been made that treated survivors as uniformly “triggered” by both the Students for Life display and the call to protest. The presumption that rape survivors speak with one voice is problematic, as is some of the ways in which “trigger warnings” are mobilized by some quarters of the feminist movement (see Jill Filipovic, “We’ve Gone Too Far with Tr i g g e r Wa r n i n g s , ” T h e Guardian, March 2014).

Rape survivors also supported and participated in the counter-protest against the message of “Students for Life.”

To re-cap, we who protested clearly took on the crux of SFL’s message: their idea that something is inherently immoral about choosing to terminate a pregnancy, even in cases of rape. This is the same logic the anti-abortion movement has been harping on for decades, as more and more clinics are forced to close, and women and clinic staff are harassed and sometimes physically attacked by hateful religious fundamentalists. If it is true that November 11 was the first time Students For Life has been protested on a campus, as one of their national representatives claimed in your article, this is a sad state of affairs indeed.

On coat hangers: we did not invent this symbol. It was first wielded by the women’s liberation movement in the battle to attain the legal right to abortion. There is no reason why both men and women cannot take it up in resistance today. Before Roe v. Wade, 5,000 women a year died from botched abortions. In many states of this country, women are already being forced to “go back” to those days, as abortion has become all but inaccessible (especially for poor women), and they are trying to self-

abort through dangerous means.

Denying women the right to abortion is (like the rape culture in which a woman is raped every 12 seconds in this country) is a form of vicious patriarchal female enslavement.

Simply stating this truth is not “lecturing.” Saying that we do not feel safe in a society where women are subordinated in this way is not “appropriating” anyone’s feelings, it is a statement of our feelings and a call to fight back.

The real question is, what should be the response of our generation to this urgent fork in the road we’ve reached over the right to abortion (not to mention a host of other systemic injustices)? What is it going to take to defeat this tide of attacks?

We think a dose of boldness and audaciousness would serve the women’s movement, and the broader society, quite well. That said, the exchange we had with others about the coat hanger lasted about 15 seconds. First people willingly took them, then changed their minds.

Some passionate statements were exchanged but nobody was personally harangued.

We’d like to point out that the counter-protest included several men and women. A person’s

gender does not give them a monopoly on truth or falsehood.

The sentence saying Morosin “disagreed with the other protesters who suggested that the display was a trigger warning for sexual assault survivors” is misattributed. What we disagree with is the idea that a group who openly opposes abortion even in cases of rape, a group very connected to the whole anti abortion movement we’ve been speaking of, should somehow NOT be met with vocal protest. Notwithstanding SFL’s façade of merely “distributing information,” they are a political group deserving a political response. We are proud to have apparently started a trend of actively protesting Students for Life and we hope that continues to grow.

Finally, the Highlander chose a poor title for the article. It essentially promoted and printed gossip, while losing the bigger story: an antiabortion group was met with broad opposition on campus, and the relations among those who totally oppose SFL’s message are both cooperative and contentious. This is not mainly about personalities, but in fact reflects an existing divide in the women’s liberation

movement (or what remains of it). The approach that favors working in the legislative process, minimizing use of the very word “abortion,” etc. is by far the most visible section of today’s feminism, but other approaches exist. They have a strong historical precedent, and in our eyes, they are badly needed today.

Alessandro Morosin, Sociology graduate student Stephanie Attar, Political Science graduate student The Highlander accepts letters from the campus community. They must be 600-800 words at length and include the author’s name and contact information. Topics should be UCR-centric and/ or pertain to our generation of students. Contact opinions editor Jake Rich at opinions@ h i g h l a n d e r n e w s . o rg by Wednesday if interested in writing a letter and submit completed letter by Saturday at noon. Letter can and will be rejected if it does not meet requirements.

The opinions expressed in the Opinions section belong solely to their authors and do not represent the Highlander Editorial Board or the University of California, Riverside.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

FEATURES .

highlandernews.org

CAMERON YONG AND JEFFREY CHANG / HIGHLANDER UCSD’s Triton sat atop of a mound of wood ready to be burned for the Homecoming Bonfire. The event also included a fire and lightning performance among other attractions.

HOMECOMING 2014 Watch the triton burn NELSON LUU MELISSA FUENTES Contributing Writers

The time hundreds have been waiting for is finally here: basketball season. UCR held its annual homecoming bonfire Nov 14. UCR doesn’t mess with Homecoming, and much like previous years, Bonfire did not disappoint. From 6 p.m. to late into the evening, the celebration to prepare for Saturday’s game against UCSD raged on. Free food, bungee jumping, a mechanical bull, fire and lightning dancers and DJs spinning music all evening long highlighted a night of festivities.

What seemed to be yet another normal Friday turned out to be a phenomenal night. Students gathered in Lot 19

hours before the event actually began, as the first 300 students received free Carl’s Jr. A handful of others were in line for the mechanical bull ride, while a couple of others were simply wandering around. It all felt mellow — but by 6 p.m., food in hand and music bumping, it just got real.

DeeJay Simplexx and DJ Suma provided electronic music that amped up attendees as they explored the bonfire grounds. There were so many activities to check out during the event and I got a chance to try out each one. The mechanical bull and bungee jumps were definitely the highlight of the night.

As soon as the announcement of the Tesla Lightning Coil show came on, many rushed to see the show. People were in awe at how the man flipped, turned and put fire into his mouth. The fire dancers played with rods of fire, swallowed the flames and spit them back out in an amazing show of skill. In between, lightning dancers controlled streams of electricity that coursed from a tower to their suits. Many in the crowd were amazed at the level of skill and precision these per-

formers had and each subsequent performance drew in larger crowds.

If attention wasn’t ignited by the shows, others grabbed the fun by the horns — literally. Either straddling a mechanical bull or catching air in the human slingshot, adrenaline junkies had no mercy. For those who are not such risktaking creatures, there was a photo booth and a dance floor. Also, to further enjoy the night there were food vendors selling Carl’s Jr., hand-dipped ice cream and frozen bananas (which are quite delicious), and mini-doughnuts.

As the night continued, students anticipated the main event: the torching of the Triton. The UCR spirit squad and band almost outshined the neon lights as Scotty and cheerleaders led a small pep rally and introduced head basketball coach Dennis Cutts and Chancellor Kim Wilcox to the stage. The blue and gold pom-poms and bright smiles could not cover the chant: “Burn the Triton!” The roar lit the spectacular fireworks. As the last spark flew into the air, the fire crew began to set the pyre on fire. Screams

and cheers erupted from the crowd as the UCSD mascot burst into flames and a huge bonfire was created from its incinerated remains.

The fire died down, but the heat continued. Kennedy Jones took to the stage to perform his set. Continuing on the theme of electronic music, he performed for a large crowd of excited students who immediately filled the tent. In a haze of smoke, lasers and driving beats, UCR soon turned into the University Club of Riverside. Near the front of the stage, friends began hoisting each other onto their backs — some even got thrown up into the air and almost crowd-surfed.

A wild night filled with music, games and food definitely lifted everyone’s spirits after a long week of midterms and studying. ASPB was successful in providing an amusing time for students and an awesome welcoming for the basketball team. With all the spirit activities, there is no doubt the student body is pumped and ready for the season. It truly was a memorable college experience to ■H attend UCR Homecoming Bonfire.

Experiencing a Scotty celebration TIFFANY LIAW Contributing Writer

NELSON LUU / HIGHLANDER Scotty poses with a UCR student during his bitrthday celebration.

It was a cloudy and chilly day for a celebration, but ASPB wasn’t going to let that ruin Scotty’s big day. Ten minutes before the event was supposed to start, eager college students, intrigued by free food, had already begun to line up around the Bell Tower for complementary Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Casey’s Cupcakes.

Looking around, there honestly wasn’t much to do, but there was definitely enough to see. A rock climbing wall stood near the side of the tower while KUCR set up to play music near. ASPB’s tent was ready with giveaways and a photo booth was set up on one side of the Bell Tower with a bunch of cute accessories including flamingo hats, turkey leg hats and many strange yet hilari-

ous decorative items.

By the time I had gotten a cup of free Milk and Cookies ice cream (my favorite), however, the event had warmed up. Seemingly right on cue, the sun came out and cheerleaders surrounded the area happily handing out paper Scotty pop-out figurines while Scotty himself posed for various pictures. Chill music courtesy of our own KUCR surrounded the Bell Tower, although for a birthday celebration the playlist might have seemed chill and mellow.

Regardless, Scotty danced along with the cheerleaders to the relaxed beats, stopping here and there for pictures with the squad and other fans. Afterward, he handed out free buttons to promote the Homecoming Bonfire and even agreed to take selfies.

The line for cupcakes was shorter at this point so we headed over to get a mini cup-

cake. The cupcakes were all decorated accordingly, with either a Scotty or a Bonfire logo and various colors of icing sprinkled with gold glitter: so cute! It was just a plain cupcake but it served as a small and satisfying dessert nonetheless.

I wandered over to the ASPB booth and they were hosting a wheel for giveaways. (What better way to celebrate than by getting free food, pens, pins and foam hands?) One by one, students stepped up to the wheel to test their luck, and a win was pretty much guaranteed. To sweeten the deal, students could also enter a contest to win backstage passes for a meet-and-greet with the stars of ASPB’s upcoming event, “Beyond the Screen,” where famous comedians of social media such as Andrew ► SEE SCOTTY, PAGE 11

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FEATURES

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

PIGGY POT

11

Restaurant Review:

The Garlic Hot Pot is a dinner favorite (right)with beef and glass noodles. The potted plant milk tea (left) features a combination of milk tea and crumbled Oreos on top, complete with a mint.

Robert Lees, Contributing Writer // Photos by Tim Baca

W

ith warm temperatures finally subsiding in our third week of November, winter is finally coming to Riverside. Last Tuesday’s cold evening inspired me to seek out some comfort food at Riverside’s newest hot pot cafe — Piggy Pot — located next to the Palms on University Avenue, near Ten Ren’s and Jafang Pizza.

Even for people familiar with the area, Piggy Pot can be easy to miss as it is hidden behind strip mall-style buildings. The walking crowd will have a much easier time coming to this place, with a frustrating parking lot of a narrow alleyway.

After some time, we found the door and headed inside, greeted by bright lights, warm colors and the dulcet tones of Top 40 radio intermixed with conversations of the other patrons.

Piggy Pot’s decor was a cross between modern apartment and classic nursery: Bright ceiling lamps and cream-colored walls painted with circle art blending with cotton-candy pink benches and a pink-purple color palette on the tables and wall trim. The decor created a carefree atmosphere that put me in a good mood. I was able to take in the atmosphere without any distractions as we sat around for several minutes, wondering if we had made some social faux pas entering through the back door. After our wait, our server appeared from the kitchen to hurriedly bring menus to ourselves and the other patrons.

Piggy Pot seems to be understaffed.

There are only about four employees total, and the large size of the dinner crowd meant that the two servers had to pull triple-duty: serving tables, man-

► SCOTTY FROM PAGE 10

Bachelor, Jimmy Tatro and Brittany Furlan will discuss their stories.

The music picked up its pace despite the slowly dissipating crowd and about an hour into the event, KUCR led students around the Bell Tower in singing the birthday song to Scotty. “Happy Birthday to You” rang across the area, and students continued to wander from booth to

ning the register and preparing drinks.

Many tables were unevenly served, with some people eating while other still waited for drinks.

When one of the employees finally got around to us, we ordered milk tea, potted plant milk tea, green tea and three hot pots: garlic, veggie and spicy.

Green and black teas were only $2.75, while milk teas and specialty drinks were in the $3-$4 range. The tea, albeit slow to come, was delicious, and the presentation of my potted plant tea was delightful, with crumbled Oreo and mint leaves giving it a unique appearance akin to its namesake. The hot pots themselves were also presented well, but the exaggerated wait times had started to grow irksome in contrast to our food’s handcrafted charm. The metal bowls were large and full of colorful soup, and were served suspended in a metal frame with a burning coal underneath. Unlike other hot pot places I have tried, everything arrives precooked except the noodles. However, we enjoyed cooking our noodles in the boiling broth, and our waiter offered advice on proper cooking and eating methods for those of us unfamiliar with the cuisine.

Although long wait times can be tolerable, Piggy Pot let me down with the mediocre quality of its food. While their initial pot selection appears extensive, all contain the same water and vegetable stock for the soup base, and the only variance comes with the addition of one or two spices, such as the addition of garlic or satay. Furthermore, the main ingredients (enoki mushrooms, tomato, lettuce, crab meat, tofu) were all the same for each pot, and everything is

booth examining the limited attractions.

Soon, the ASPB booth had run out of free goods, along with Ben & Jerry’s and Casey’s Cupcakes.

Needless to say, the event had a successful turnout and although the celebration itself wasn’t too big, Scotty definitely seemed to enjoy himself.

As the event wound down to its last hour, we sat on the benches and

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1400 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, SUITE 108 RIVERSIDE, CA 92507 $$$ MON. - SAT. 11 A.M. - 11 P.M., SUN. 11 A.M. - 5 P.M. HOT POTS, ASIAN FUSION YES WWW.YELP.COM/BIZ/PIGGY-POT-RIVERSIDE

boiled into a monosyllabic slurry with a forgettable bite. The only difference between the pots is in name only, as the lack of any meaningful options for customization creates an illusion of variety where there isn’t any. While guests can choose between beef, pork and lamb, the beef and pork are overcooked to the point that they become indistinguishable. The portion sizes are impressive, but the unremarkable flavor makes eating eventually feel like more a chore than a treat.

The menu contained many options for ingredients we could add to personalize our pots, such as clams, fish filets and the like, but we discovered that most of the options were either sold out or no longer offered, making personalization of our meals nearly impossible.

Dessert was not much better, as the “cold pots” (a shaved ice-style dessert) had the same problem of the rest of the menu items: There were 18 “listed” options of cold pot combinations, but only four were offered at the time. The other dessert options were cheesecake and tiramisu (Oreo cake and creme brulee were also listed, but again, not available), and the pairing of traditional

listened to KUCR’s music while making our miniature paper Scotty figurine (which was harder than it looked, for me at least).

As I walked back toward the Campus Store, I noticed that artists at the Chalk the Walk were still hard at work getting ready for judging (which would happen later on that afternoon) to win the grand prize of $100 or other smaller awards of $50.

Chinese cuisine with Western desserts made the tone of the meal inconsistent.

In addition, the tiramisu and cheesecake weren’t very good as they were served frozen and tasted store-bought, lacking any of the handcrafted charm of the rest of our meal, despite their $3.75 price.

None of my party felt we had gotten our money’s worth when the time came to pay, as three drinks, three pots and two split desserts cost over $60, which felt steep compared to the disappointing quality of the food.

It really pains me to give Piggy Pot a so-so review as I feel it has all the necessary ingredients of a good restaurant but stumbles in its execution. Its decor and charming atmosphere put me in a good mood that was dampened by the blandness of our meal. If Piggy Pot wasn’t a new restaurant, I would give it a lower score, as I hope that in time the understaffing and menu issues can be addressed. I believe a streamlined approach to menu design and the addition of more unique meal options would greatly improve its quality. If you are craving hot pots, try other places around Riverside, then give Piggy Pot a try afH ter some time off its training wheels. ■

For those that are unfamiliar with the event, the Chalk the Walk is a competition for artists all across campus to demonstrate their abilities by drawing something UCRrelated in their designated concrete squares and to simply make our concrete floors a little more amusing as we walk to class. Along with a crowd of students, I too gathered around the Chalk the Walk spaces admiring artworks, including mul-

tiple fictional interpretations of Scotty, scenery of UCR and even a cartoon of Norm the Navel lying down and saying, “Draw me like one of your French girls.”

Together, the Chalk the Walk and Scotty’s birthday helped liven up this gloomy Thursday for us Highlanders. From free food to activities to music, it was a successful day overall. Happy Birthday, Scotty!

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@highlanderradar

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

R adar ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Events this week Tuesday | 11/18

Beauty and the Beast @ Fox Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m.

Wednesday | 11/19

Azar Lawrence at Pierce Street Jazz @ La Sierra University / Lot 19, 7 p.m.

Friday | 11/21

Saturday | 11/22

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

Riverside County Philharmonic @ Fox Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.

King Arthur takes over the stage during the Theater Department’s production of Monty Python’s Spamalot.

READ MORE ONLINE @ HIGHLANDERNEWS.ORG “The Endless River” by Pink Floyd “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” “Harvest Moon: The Lost Harvest” “Ladyfest IE” Benefit Show OSCAR HO / HIGHLANDER

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

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Students Give

COMEDY CENTRAL ON CAMPUS a Passing Grade

JAMESON ADAME, STAFF WRITER

C C

omedy Central’s “Comedy Central on Campus” tour hasn’t had the best track record at UCR. Last year the performances in question were held as an addendum to the Midnight Madness event, leaving only a tired and played-out audience to appreciate comedic sets that were aimed at what seemed to be the wrong audience. It comes as no surprise that — being held as its own independent event — the comedians were much better received by an audience desiring exactly the entertainment the tour offered.

This year’s set at the Barn was oddly reminiscent of the previous appearance of Comedy Central at UCR, beginning with comedian Thomas Dale. As with last year, Dale’s performance was initially met with tepidity from the audience, who either didn’t manage to relate to his jokes about being a gay Long Islander in California, or else did not find the relations funny enough to raise more than a lukewarm chuckle. Certain jokes were blatantly recycled from

his prior material, telling the audience about his lust for straight men, and looking out in the audience to find all the “cute straight boys” who came to the performance. It was after this moment, however, that Dale’s set became more effectively received.

He picked a member from the front row of the audience, choosing to verbally molest him in such a way that any member of the crowd was hard-pressed not to enjoy the tinge of sadism. Dale finished his initial set much stronger than it began and set a precedent of audience interaction that the following comedians made perfect use of.

After Dale came Alice Wetterlund, whose performance was nothing of a novelty to UCR. It wasn’t surprising how much it bore a resemblance to Dale’s earlier set. Wetterlund began by informing the crowd about her experiences growing up in the South, with jokes that were either hit or miss. As her performance went on, she made note of the fact that the audience was hard to read, prompting her to ask what the au-

PHOTOS BY RICHARD LIN dience would like to hear her talk about. The topic settled on relationships, and Wetterlund quickly earned the laughs by directing her attention to the same member of the crowd that Dale had made note of previously, all the while making jokes about porn, the merits of talking instead of texting and men having calluses on both hands instead of one.

(Get it? I laughed.) Having got the majority onto her side, Wetterlund left the stage and Dale returned for another few minutes of mixed reception before bringing out the show’s headliner.

Rounding out the show was Ron Funches, whose performance was surprisingly measured and instantly won over the crowd in a way that the previous comedians had failed to.

Only moments after taking the stage, Funches looked at the same member of the audience that had been joke fodder all night and pointed out to him that he “could see why Dale finds you so cute.” Right from the start, Funches’ set seemed to resonate more with everybody present,

each joke only tangentially related to the last, and quite often pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable (which is honestly funnier than being well-behaved). His jokes covered the topics of: Being prepared if a terrorist demands you have gay sex to save your mom, watching naked Mexican toddlers dance, hating that his son is a snitch, wanting the audience to picture him naked on a fancy pillow and much more aside.

Overall, “Comedy Central on Campus” was hit-or-miss. While the first two sets weren’t the most fruitful to everybody watching, it came about more as a mismatching of topics and listeners. Comprised of students hoping to escape from their jobs, clubs and midterm-induced nervous breakdowns, the audience was unlikely to enjoy the jokes that hit too close to home — whether they came at the end of a pep rally or not.

It was fortunate that Funches’ set came at the end, giving the irreverent touch of nonsense that would be great to hear more of, should the tour come around again next year.

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Thomas Dale (left), Alice Wetterlund (center) and Ron Funches (right) performed their uniquely individual sets at the Comedy Central event.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

highlandernews.org

MOVIE REVIEWS COMING SOON: EXTRATERRESTRIAL THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY

V/H/S: VIRAL HAPPY VALLEY

ROSEWATER RATING: ★★★☆☆ BY: JESSICA BAKER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

W

hile he is an amazing satirist in front of the camera with expressive hand gestures and funny rants, Jon Stewart is a tad awkward as a director in his first movie, “Rosewater.” Based on Mazier Bahari’s imprisonment in an Iranian government’s jail for being an alleged spy, the film accomplishes its main goal — discussing the need to protect journalists against government oppression — yet the editing and writing flops around this blunt theme. However, redeeming it are the gripping characters, specifically the grueling yet humorous interrogation scenes between Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his nameless interrogator (Kim Bodnia) — known for wearing Rosewater perfume.

For the first half of the film, the story sets a steady, but routine, pace with scenes concentrating on the tensions surrounding the 2009 Iranian presidential election, building up to Bahari’s forced confession on national Iranian television.

These tensions are enhanced by combining real footage of the protests, the presidential debate and international news coverage, such as when Bahari wills himself to film protesters being shot.

The scenes smoothly transition between the film and Bahari’s actual footage of the shooting, giving the necessary essence of reality to this highly political film.

However, “Rosewater” is not just about politics — it’s about Bahari. The growth and exploration of his character often refers back to his childhood, when his father and sister also underwent imprisonment. While a bit cliched (but necessary), the ghost of his father allows Bahari to confront his troubled past and present through dialogue with the dead, but these scenes usually zoom in and out with his ghost father appearing and disappearing beside his son. It is a healthy reminder from the film to the audience that the father is a figment of Bahari’s imagination. And it is unnecessary — the editing, not the father.

His sister Maryam exists in flashbacks introduced in flashes of searing white or in other brief moments to comfort her younger brother in her popped-up ghost form. Even Bahari’s ultimate realization, that there is an international effort to free him, is expressed through a montage of various 2009 news coverage discussing his imprisonment that Bahari somehow envisions: Paola Bahari, his wife, stands, timely emphasizing the need

for him to have hope by holding her pregnancy bump, in front of a green screen presenting more news coverage as if she was the weather forecaster no one listens to. Somehow understanding he should never relinquish hope in a montage edited like a news channel, Bahari presses on.

All the awkward editing aside, the acting offers vitality to Stewart’s statement that, “We hear so much about the banality of evil, but so little about the stupidity of evil.” Instead of implying that all of the interrogations between Bahari and Rosewater were just beatings, name-callings, death threats and questionings of his sexual background, Stewart does justice to the journalist’s belief that his imprisonment “was stupid and funny at the same time.”

Rosewater constantly crossexamines Bahari with questions that are earnest and genuine to the interrogator, but are actually rather silly. During their first scenes, Rosewater pointedly asks, “Who is Anton Chekhov? … You tell me. It is you who has listed an interest of him on Facebook.”

Once Bahari revitalizes his hope, he teases Rosewater with titillating lies of traveling to sexual massage establishments all over the world as a somber confession of his disloyalty to his wife.

When Rosewater is astounded that Fort Lee, an American army base, is the infamous destination for massages that can cause men to die of pleasure, Bahari softly laughs, which encourages the audience to laugh out loud. His Napoleon Dynamite dance routine in his solitary confinement cell celebrates not only Maryam, but “the stupidity of evil” as the dance routine scene contrastingly switches to a dark, silent room with Rosewater confusedly looking at a monitor of Bahari dancing to no music. This was editing and composition done right.

Clumsy, dark, yet somehow light-hearted, Stewart’s directorial debut is a running start for him if he wishes to continue with directing. Though the editing needs to be less obvious and the writing a bit cleaner (the ending wrapped up a bit too neat and tidy for its own good), Stewart already expresses his own style in directing with his well-timed humor and interesting themes.

“Rosewater” is not Stewart’s discouraging failure in addressing serious issues with pure slapstick and satirical monologues. It’s Stewart’s honest attempt that leaves the audience wondering, “I wonder how he’ll approach his next film.” The audience may not be enthusiastic, but we’re still ■H interested.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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DUMB AND DUMBER TO

RATING: ★★★☆☆

B

BY: ROBERT LEES, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

efore we begin, I would like to touch briefly on the subject of sequels.

As we all know, Hollywood has been putting out sequels with surprising regularity.

A good sequel is supposed to use the original film as a jumpingoff point, using established characters and setting to explore new situations and tell a story that demands to be told; a good sequel should be better than the first film.

A bad sequel is often created to cash in on the success of the first film, and spends its time mired in reverence of its predecessor, rarely establishing its own identity or improving upon the original. Despite having some charm and the unmistakable wit of the Farrelly Brothers, “Dumb and Dumber To” leans into bad sequel territory.

For anyone familiar with the plot of the original film, “Dumb and Dumber To” will seem eerily reminiscent of the first film, as much of the plot is blatantly copied from it. Two friends, Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) must take a roadtrip to deliver a package to its rightful owner. Along the way, they use a ridiculous mode of transportation, are hounded by hitmen and one of the eponymous

duo pines for the affections of the female supporting actress. The first film’s suitcase full of money is now a billion-dollar invention, the dog car is now a zamboni, hitmen Karen Duffy and Mike Starr are now Laurie Holden and Rob Riggle — who both act far too goofy to play the straight man to the duo’s ridiculous antics — and the attractive socialite Mary Swanson is now Harry’s attractive long-lost daughter.

These parallels are not beneficial to the sequel, however, as it only served to remind me (a fan of the original film) of the originality and superiority of the first film.

That being said, the film does have some redeeming qualities.

Daniels and Carrey appear right at home on set, using their traditional style of over-the-top, lowbrow humor that put the two stars on the map. Both actors (especially Carrey) have tried to perform serious roles in past years with particularly shoddy results, and the film feels like a true return to form for the first stars. The frenetic delivery of gags keeps the pace up, and any unfunny jokes are forgotten quickly enough that it becomes hard to dwell on the failings of some of its stinkers.

The movie does try to keep many balls in the air: wacky

slapstick, sight gags, gross-out humor and self-reference, so there is something for everyone, but I found many of the jokes unfunny, and I spent much less time laughing then I thought I would. The more lascivious jokes in particular, which felt incharacter for the young actors, sometimes come across as creepy and perverse from the aging stars.

The movie does take the lowbrow approach to comedy, and fans of meta-humor or sophisticated comedy will be left disappointed.

However, if you can turn your

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

brain off and lapse back into your giggling 13-year-old self, you’ll be entertained, but likely left unsatisfied.

Although the Farrelly Brothers have recently chosen to work on artistically devoid films such as “Movie 43,” this film represents a possible return to form with some of the spark of their early-’90s gems. However, the jokes and humor seem a bit dated and stale in this decade as the aging Daniels and Carrey, while still funny, lack the youthful energy that made the first film stand out. Furthermore,

the blatant self-reference prevents “Dumb and Dumber To” from forging its own identity, and any comparison only draws attention to the superiority of the original.

“Dumb and Dumber To” doesn’t revitalize the franchise. Instead it simply serves to remind us that it exists, and nostalgia isn’t a substitute for wit. While I can’t wholeheartedly recommend the film, there is enough humor to make the overall experience pleasant. If you do decide to go see it, leave your brain at home.

■H You won’t need it.

MUSIC REVIEW BIG K.R.I.T. // CADILLACTICA

RATING: ★★★☆☆ BY: WILLIAM ROBERTS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

B

ig K.R.I.T.’s come a long way from his days of being a 2011 XXL Freshman or the victim of Kendrick Lamar’s notorious “Control” verse.

With his sophomore release “Cadillactica,” K.R.I.T. makes up for the lost potential of “Live From the Underground” with spacey synths, soulful compositions and encapsulating concepts. Big K.R.I.T. has

always been known as the underground’s rapper but “Cadillactica” reveals a Big K.R.I.T. who proves he can truly bridge the gap between the underground and mainstream.

Coated in thin film of homage to Southern rap, K.R.I.T. is able to dive into modernity on his own terms, constructing a cosmic atmosphere around the audience.

The first half of the album does a thoughtful execution of

the overarching concept, taking you into the subconscious of K.R.I.T., where the world of “Cadillactica” awaits. Enter “Kreation” and “Life,” where K.R.I.T. animates his world with striking imagery: “These hands of mine can hold the weight of planets / Allow me to use the hues of lunar cools to paint a canvas.”

Along with his unique accent and inflection present in the flurry of his double-time technique, bounding tracks only become more triumphant. K.R.I.T. is able to inject personality and aggression while riding vibrant synthesizers across the outer limits of his mind. In “My Sub Pt. 3 (Big Bang),” he goes as far as to compare his subwoofers to the creation of life itself, and with good reason. A demand for efficient bass can either take away from or augment the experience, but either way these are the kind of sonic choices that make “Cadillactica” more than a mock Aquemini.

What sets this album apart from the majority of today’s rap is Big K.R.I.T.’s ability to be vulnerable and human, showing his love for fresh whips, Southern culture and his observations on life. Such is heard in “Soul Food” where he reminisces over the values of his grandparents while faced with our generation’s increasing disinterest in finding love: “Most people don’t make love no more, they just fuck and they fight / What happened to

the stay-togethers? / Die with you, and that means forever / Grandparents had that kind of bond, but now we on some other shit.” This turns into “Pay Attention,” where K.R.I.T.’s attempt to compose an R&B single echoes the sonic qualities of a Drake track a little too much. Sharing his attraction to a stripper, K.R.I.T. flows about how he’s been entranced by

While enjoyable, Cadillactica has its phases of genius just as much as it has phases of commercial appeal, making it underwhelming in some areas. the best of the best, searching for her presence every time he comes out for the nightlife. A little contradictory, aren’t we K.R.I.T.?

By this time, the magic of the world created in the first four tracks has dwindled and we descend to earth, entering a worldlier “Cadillactica” of lust, rap monarchy and hedonistic hypnotism with “Mind Control.”

Backed by Wiz Khalifa, E-40 and probably the ghost of “Stankonia”-era Andre 3000, K.R.I.T. sacrifices identity for accessibility, which leads the listener to a dull and unsatisfying world.

With that said, the interlude

Courtesy of Def Jam Recordings “Standby” is probably one of the most poetic and honest minute and 40 seconds on the entire record, sharing a tale of lost love with a moody saxophone levitating in the background thanks to Kenneth Whalum III. Such is a great transition into the more laidback slice of “Cadillactica,” with songs “Do You Love Me” and “Third Eye” that, although satisfying in sonic fragments, don’t entirely do the job. The sentimentality is clear, especially in each hook, but something is lost in the lyricism that attempts to be too profound with too little. While aspects seem to fall short, the funk and soul is prevalent on this half of the album, making you feel like you’re in zerogravity at times. “Angels,” “Saturday=Celebration” and “Lost Generation” masterfully blend K.R.I.T.’s introspective tendencies with ballad-like production that you can feel in your ribcage.

While enjoyable, “Cadillactica” has its phases of genius just as much as it has phases of commercial appeal, making it underwhelming in some areas. If they’re willing to swallow a few commercial errors and lyrical teetering between elegant prose and mediocre stabs at the philosophical, veteran K.R.I.T. fans will probably find gems worthy of their car’s sound system. “Cadillactica” is a little more than decent but a little far H from K.R.I.T.’s magnum opus. ■

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

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UCR STUDENTS TAKE ON BROADWAY MUSICAL

“SPAMALOT” Monty Python’s Spamalot bursts onto the University Theater’s stage with a rush of well-written comedy and great student acting.

CHRISTAL MIMS, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

U

“

King Arthur is never portrayed as a black guy so that was a challenge for me, to get over that when coming into this.

”

- Khalif Gillet

CR students brought “Monty Python’s Spamalot” to life in front of a packed house at the University Theater Thursday night. The Tony awardwinning musical comedy was adapted from the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Around 7:45 p.m., the doors opened and began to let in an enormous line of people stretching from the University Theater doors to the entrance of Olmsted Hall. Fans of the original film couldn’t contain their excitement and proceeded to talk about their favorite parts of the movie while entering the theater and taking their seats. Finally, the lights dimmed and the audience was immersed into the world of “Spamalot.”

The play follows King Arthur as he embarks on a long journey to recruit knights to join him in Camelot. UCR student and third-year theatre major Khalif Gillet snagged the lead role of King Arthur and spoke about how he approached the comical character.

“King Arthur is never portrayed as a black guy so that was a challenge for me, to get over that when coming into this.” Gillet said. “When I got cast for this part, Paul Jacques, the director, said we don’t want Tim Curry’s King Arthur, we want your King Arthur.” Gillet went on to explain how not being forced to follow a particular path gave him the artistic freedom to create his own unique King Arthur. Gillet was comedic gold, producing laughter among the audience with almost every line he spoke.

King Arthur’s loyal sidekick Patsy was played by second-year theatre major Alvin Chow. Chow said that he had no trouble at all getting into character. “I honestly feel as if I am basically Patsy in real life, usually just the sidekick of anyone, really.” Chow did an excellent job of portraying the hilarious friendship dynamic between the two characters during the musical number “I’m All Alone,” in which King Arthur proceeds to sing about how alone he is even though Patsy is standing right beside him.

PHOTOS BY OSCAR HO King Arthur finally gathers his Knights of the Round Table, which include Sir Galahad (Michael Rosenbaum), Sir Bedivere (Cat Priamos), Sir Lancelot (Josh Stephenson), Sir Robin (Eli Reich) and Sir Not-Appearing (Silvestre Aceves). The knights gather in a Las Vegas-themed Camelot and party hard until they are approached

by God, who tells them to find the Holy Grail.

Along their search, they run into a castle where they are taunted by French soldiers. UCR student Giselle Austria, who played one of the French taunters, was hilarious and consequently got the audience laughing louder than they’d been all night.

Another show-stopper was second-year theatre major Isabella Lomax, who played the Lady of the Lake. Dramatic and over the top, her character kept the show alive despite being one of the few female main characters. “I had to find a lot of strength and attitude and bring a lot of energy to it.” Lomax said. “She’s important because she’s just as silly and goofy and it’s important to have that kind of woman be there and represent the females,” she explained.

The play continued with more humorous encounters between the characters and thoroughly showcased the acting skills of everyone who hit the stage. And under the direction of awardwinning director and former UCR student Paul Jacques, how could the show not be a success?

“It’s been a really good cast, they’re very eager to learn.” Jacques said. “In the choreography, blocking and the staging, we definitely put our own stamp on things,” he explained.

UCR’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” is a testament to how talented our campus is.

The singing and dancing are good but the acting is certainly the strong point of this production and if you’re looking for a good, hearty laugh this is certainly a show you should see. The musical will run for two weekends, ending on Nov. 22. Fans of the original film and fans of musical theater will definitely enjoy this remarkable show.

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Be heard.

Join the Highlander every Monday at 5:15 p.m. in HUB 101 to learn more about the exciting opportunities available for you to pursue your interests, obtain your career goals and get your voice out there.

Highlander

SPORTS

highlandernews.org

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

19

Women’s basketball bounces Santa Clara in season opener DARREN BUENO Senior Staff Writer

Annelise Ito (No. 3) prepares to make a play against a Santa Clara defender.

VINCENT TA / HIGHLANDER

Brittany Crain scored 29 points and the Highlanders drew 36 fouls to defeat Santa Clara 80-69 on Friday night.

Competing at the same time as the homecoming bonfire on campus, UCR women’s basketball didn’t let a lack of crowd attendance affect them as the Highlanders opened up a 22-16 lead behind two silky-smooth three-pointers from Crain.

Santa Clara exploited its one obvious advantage over the Highlanders: size. Though they constantly focused on generating offense inside the paint, UCR was simply too good from behind the arc. The team made five-of-10 three-point field goals in the half, three of which came from Crain, to lead 40-28.

The Highlanders maintained their advantage in the second half until the Broncos made a late-game push, cutting the lead to just three points at 59-56 with six minutes left in the game. A fast break layup by Simone DeCoud then put the Highlanders up by six points. UC Riverside was never in trouble again, eventually beating the Broncos

80-69.

Crain led all scorers, pouring in 29 points while converting on 10 of 12 free throws with eight rebounds. DeCoud chipped in 19 points and freshman Michelle Curry scored 11 points in her UCR debut.

“I thought we played really hard. Santa Clara is a good team,” Head Coach John Margaritis stated. “They were superior in height inside. At halftime, they had as many offensive rebounds as we had defensive rebounds. It was hard to defend them. We had to overplay to be able to defend them inside, but I thought we played really hard and it was a team effort.”

UC Riverside was outrebounded 53-43 in the game, but converted 22 points off of turnovers.

Playing undersized will be a struggle for the Highlanders all season. Starting center Natasha Hadley graduated and forwards Jamila Williams and Jazzmeen Williams will be unable to play this season due to injury and NCAA transfer rules.

The women’s basketball team remains at home to face off against San Jose State on Nov. 20.

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Volleyball loses in straight sets to Irvine, Fullterton CODY NGUYEN Senior Staff Writer NOV. 13, 2014

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Anteaters 3 - Highlanders 0

With the home stretch looming in the 2014 women’s volleyball season, some teams begin to make that final push toward the postseason, while the ones who have all but been eliminated hope to play spoiler, which is exactly what the Highlanders hoped to do against the 4th place UCI Anteaters.

The beginning of the first set served as a microcosm of the Highlanders’ season up to this point, as UCI piled on seven of the first eight points to take a commanding lead. A late rally by the Highlanders narrowed the margin to three points at 2017, but the Anteaters were able to close out the first set with a 25-19 victory.

At the start of the second set, both teams remained neckand-neck in a tightly contested battle, with neither able to gain more than a two-point lead on the other until the Anteaters scored three straight to take a 10-7 lead. The largest lead of the set came when an Alex Gresham attack error opened up a 21-15 Anteater lead. UCR was able to rally and narrow the margin to 22-20 late in the set, but Irvine scored three of the last four points to earn a victory in the second set.

A Bri Holmes kill in the early stages of the third set gave the Highlanders a 4-3 lead and some hope for a comeback, but those plans were immedi-

ately quashed by the Anteaters, who scored seven of the next eight points en route to opening up a 10-5 lead. At this point, the wheels really began to come off for UCR, who were outscored 15-7 the rest of the way, resulting in the 11th instance in which the Highlanders have been swept this season.

NOV. 15, 2014

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Titans 3 - Highlanders 0

Just two days removed from their defeat at the hands of the Anteaters, the Highlanders hoped

to snap their winless streak against Cal State Fullerton in a battle between the two cellardwellers of the Big West.

UCR jumped out to a 7-4 lead early in the first set, but the Titans scored four of the next five and snatched an 11-9 advantage. The set remained closely contested until Fullerton pulled away with five straight points late in the set, giving them a 22-14 lead over UCR. The Highlanders were unable to recover, giving the Titans a 25-16 set victory.

The match’s second set

proved to be an absolute nailbiter, with neither team able to gain more than a four-point lead at any point in the set. With the score tied at 23 apiece, a kill by Highlander Cristina Maietta and a service error by UCR evened the score at 24-24. A kill by Niki Withers and an attack error by the Highlanders ended the second set in favor of the Titans, 26-24.

UCR gained an early 3-2 lead in the third set, but it was again erased on a 4-0 run by the Titans. However, the Highlanders scored three straight of their own

to even the score at 6-6. Both teams played each other closely throughout the rest of the set, but the Titans again came out on top 25-19, thanks to a 6-3 run at the end of the set.

With Saturday’s loss, the Highlanders now sport a 2-23 overall record, along with being winless in conference play (013). With just three matches left in the season, the Highlanders are set to play the first match of their two-game homestand against the Cal State Northridge Matadors on Thursday Nov. 20.

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. SPORTS .

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

highlandernews.org

Men’s basketball powers past UC San Diego ALEXANDER MANZO Contributing Writer

NOV. 15, 2014

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Highlanders 75 - Tritons 52

Ricardo Ruiz (No. 8) chases the ball down midfeild neck-and-neck against a Fullerton defender.

CAMERON YONG / HIGHLANDER

Men’s soccer postseason hopes dashed versus Cal State Fullerton

JASON AHN Contributing Writer

NOV. 12, 2014

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Titans 3 - Highlanders 0

As the final seconds wound down, several blue and gold jerseys spotted the field in crouched positions, shocked at the twist of events that led to a 3-0 loss in the Big West semifinals against Cal State Fullerton, 3-0. The men’s soccer team had an improbable journey up to this point, posting a 4-3-3 conference record and defeating nationally ranked UC Irvine twice, claiming the Big West Southern Championship.

The anticipation in the air was heavy as children, students and fans piled into the stands prior to the game. Highlanders had their blue and yellow kits while the Titans wore white. Some fans were spread along the fence bordering the field, and some even opted for the staircase in the Materials Science and Engineering building for a better view.

The opening goal came from a penalty kick in the first five minutes. Titan Ian Ramos took advantage of a foul committed

by Highlander Stephen Copley in the box, which resulted in a red card and his dismissal from the game.

At this point, Head Coach Tim Cupello knew the odds were stacked against his team. “Tough game to play when you’re down a man,” he stated. “I give our guys a lot of credit, even being down a man, we took it to them

quite a bit.”

UCR outshot CSUF, nine to three in the first period, but couldn’t convert any chances into the back of the net.

The Highlanders quickly attempted to even up the match.

By the 10th minute, UCR had a chance to score from a corner kick by Ricardo Ruiz, which led to a missed shot by Ruiz a minute later.

“In the first half we had more shots and corner kicks, which means a bit more of an attacking threat,” Cupello said.

The Highlanders played aggressive offensively due to their early point deficit. This meant there would be easier counterattacks from the Titans.

At 12:53, Fullerton’s Marc Fenelus scored with the help of Colin Okirie and Ian Ramos, 2-0.

He made the goal from 12 yards out.

UCR’s defense came into the game having a record low of goals against average (1.06), and goals allowed (20). Starting goalie K.C. John was fresh off a six-save game against UCI, but was pulled for Ashkan Khosravi in the 20th minute.

A few minutes later, in the 29th minute, UCR could have shifted the momentum with a penalty kick after a foul committed by the Titans’ Gabriel Quintero. Highlander Otis Earle had the pressure on his shoulders, as he approached the penalty box.

He sent his shot to the bottom left corner which was blocked by an outstretched Jeff Salt.

“I put it decently in the bottom left but he’s a big kid. I should’ve put it higher, to be honest,” Earle said.

In the second half, UCR continued their offensive attack, with Juan Mendoza attempting a shot at the 47th minute, only to be blocked again by Salt. Both teams tried to score without any luck until late in the game. In the 75th minute, CSUF’s Diego Sanchez placed a goal from four yards out to bring the Titans’ lead to 3-0. Nicolo D’Amato and Mark Vasquez were both awarded assists.

The Highlanders were unable to score in the game, as their late-season run came to an end with a 3-0 loss.

“Obviously they scored on the two chances they did have,” Cupello stated. “It’s tough when there’s a call like that’s made that early that drastically changes the landscape of the game. Unfortunately it’s the second time against that team we had to deal with that.”

Cupello was referring to the game UCR played against CSUF with two less men, which still resulted in a 2-2 tie in double overtime. However, on this highstakes night, playing down a man meant more ground to cover and less scoring opportunities for UCR. “To protect a player defensively, you lose a player offensively. We had to play 85 minutes down a man, and it drastically, drastically changes the landscape of the game,” Cupello

said.

Cupello showed remorse when asked about his graduating class of players but is proud of their influence on the program.

“At the end of the day these guys made an impact during their duration in the program. They left the program better than they joined it,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent returning and there’s going to be talent coming in.”

Graduating senior Earle also reflected on their successful year.

“We turned it around, with only two wins in the beginning (of the season),” he said. “At the end of the day … we won the southern championship and I’m excited as an alumni to see what’s in store.”

“We beat nationally ranked teams and we have guys getting drafted in the MLS,” Cupello said.

Moving on to next season, he hopes for an even more successful year. “Our ambition moving forward is to be back in the same setting, hosting a playoff game next year and hopefully turning that into a positive result,” indicated Cupello.

After the game, the Highlanders slowly made their way to the opposite goal to debrief their game. The hours of training, travel and tribulations had come to an end. For the seniors it was their last game. Moving forward, Cupello and his team hope this experience may be the extra push the Highlanders need to make it to the conference finals next sea■H son.

The UC Riverside men’s basketball team had the entire Student Recreation Center Arena roaring with a 79-52 win over the UC San Diego Tritons. The Highlanders used a 21-0 run in the early minutes of the second half to power past their opponents in front of a near-capacity crowd celebrating Homecoming.

Taylor Johns put the first points on the board, and the Highlanders got off to a great start, scoring 13 of the first 17 points. Junior transfer Jaylen Bland knocked down a pair of three-pointers during the run. The Tritons started to convert on their shots and the rest of period featured fairly even play.

The Highlanders never lost the lead in the first half and were up by five heading into intermission, 29-24.

In the second half, UCR exploded on a 21-0 run which ballooned the lead to 52-28.

During the span, the Tritons committed four turnovers and missed eight shots. The Highlanders shot over 60 percent from the field and the three-point line compared to 45 and 40 percent from the first half.

“We going to step on ‘em and keep going. We’re trying to push this lead up. Every time you get up by 10 points, 20 points, we’re bringing it (up) to 30 now. We have that killer instinct,” Johns commented after the game.

The UCR offense was commanding while the defense forced missed shots and turnovers.

“Every game will evolve, every matchup will evolve.

Depending on how guys are playing, we have to be ready to go,” Head Coach Dennis Cutts stated. “If any one of them is not ready then the next guy has to be ready to go.”

Three players made huge strides to open up the season with double-digit point performances. Third-year Johns scored 18 points while transfer student Bland recorded 17 points. Nick Gruninger tallied 15 points.

The Highlanders will hit the road to face off against H Utah on Friday, Nov. 21. ■