The Highlander
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
For the week of Tuesday, May 24, 2022
VOL. 70, ISSUE 28
est. 1954
THE PROTEST GARNERED ABOUT 30 PARTICIPANTS WHO MARCHED FROM THE BELL TOWER TO HINDERAKER HALL.
NEWS
Student workers hold a protest in solidarity with student’s attempts to unionize AMARAY ALVAREZ Assistant News Editor
Student workers at UC Riverside held a protest on Wednesday May 18 at the university’s Bell Tower in solidarity of student’s attempts to unionize. The protest was organized and supported by students from the UCR Botanical Gardens, R’Garden, 28ers organization, United Student Labor Action Coalition and the Graduate Student Union to name a few. Student workers at UCR have been attempting to unionize and secure a raise to make a livable wage but have been unsuccessful in coming to any agreements with administration. In a recent meeting between the Botanical Garden workers AMARAY ALVAREZ / THE HIGHLANDER and UCR’s Human Resources department, the student workers were told that they
should not be able to make a livable wage. Other organizations like the R’Garden were present to support their fellow student workers while also advocating for more funding towards the R’Garden. The campus is currently refusing to pay their student workers a livable wage while not giving adequate funding to resources that help combat food insecurity. During the protest about 30 students gathered at the Bell Tower holding signs with the phrases, “student workers deserve dignity” and “back R’workers.” The back and forth chant, “when I say union, you say power” could also be heard being repeated over the megaphone by UCR graduate student Christian Valdez. Valdez currently aids the R’Garden and has been at the forefront of advocating for more funding. “Both
the Botanical Garden workers and the R’Garden workers have been communicating with the school but they have ignored our emails,” stated Valdez. Last year Valdez and other members of the R’Garden met with UCR Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox and Vice Chancellor Brian L. Haynes to discuss implementing a $10 student referendum. This referendum would assist the R’Garden in hiring more student workers and expanding so that more food can be produced and redistributed to the campus community. They were told that no new referendums would be considered yet an athletics referendum was then allowed to be presented and voted on by the student body. Valdez and the other students feel they were lied to and ► SEE UNIONIZE PAGE 3
‘MR. MORALE AND THE BIG STEPPERS’ IS AN HONEST, MULTI-ENDED REVELATION OF LAMAR, INCLUDING THE WAYS HE MAY NOT ALWAYS LIVE UP TO THE PEDESTAL HIS FANS PUT HIM ON.
RADAR
Kendrick doesn’t exemplify a savior, but the fact that we desire one HANNA RUTQVIST Contributing Writer
“Heavy is the head that chose to wear the crown.” This is a repeated adage in the track “Crown” from the double-length album “Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers” released on May 13. In the five year period since the release of “DAMN.,” rapper Kendrick Lamar reverted back to sequestration as is usual for the massively popular artist. Seeking honesty with one’s mental health was a topical reason for his hiatus, as he mentions outreach for therapy in his opener song. Thus this new album is an accumulation of his self-discovery since we last heard from him. Surrounding the theme of the “Crown,” the album cover shows Lamar posing with his family, holding one of his children while wearing a silver crown of thorns. He’s comparing himself to Christ — but not in self-proclamation. One of Lamar’s earliest teases on the album was revealed on his Oklahoma-based fanpage, Oklama. A statement on the page reads, “As I continue to pursue my life’s calling. There’s beauty in completion. And always faith in the unknown.” He also mentions this being his final project under Top Dawg Entertainment, a label that for so long coincided with his name. Hence we must pay particular attention to
“completion;” this being his final contribution to Top Dawg before the unforeseeable future, Lamar decides to present a complete selfimpression that leaves no stone unturned. Kendrick opens up about his history of cheating, hypocrisies in his personal values and times when ignorance got the better of him. But as we applaud his choice of honest revelation, we must also be sensitive about these parts of him that are unfashionable — and take care not to immediately defend his faults, as in actuality that ruins that point of the album. However, there was controversy with the song “Auntie Diaries,” in which he talks about his experience in learning of his ► SEE KENDRICK PAGE 14
COURTESY OF KENNY SUN VIA FLICKR UNDER CC BY 2.0
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NEWS 3
OPINIONS 6
FEATURES 10
RADAR 13
SPORTS 15
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