Volume 66 Issue 15

THE HIGHLANDER

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

est. 1954

FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

VOL. 66, ISSUE 15

“OUR KIND OF POWER!”: UCR UNION MEMBERS PROTEST UNFAIR WORKING CONDITIONS UNIVERSIT Y WORKERS OPEN UP ABOUT LOW WAGES, RACISM AND POOR ACCOMODATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE

ANDREAS RAUCH Senior Staff Writer

On Thursday, Feb. 1, UC employees and students assembled by the UCR Bell Tower to protest unfair working conditions in a demonstration organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299. The five-hour-long event was part of a UC-wide day of protest and attended by over 120 individuals, including members of UAW Local 2865 (a student worker union) and the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) Local 5.

Also present was a television crew from KABC-TV, channel 7 (ABC7) and a representative for California State Assemblyman Jose Medina.

Demonstrators began assembling on

the lawn in front of the Bell Tower around 11 a.m., with supporters and unionized employees carrying signs emphasizing solidarity between university workers. After about an hour, the protesters gathered for a photo and chanted motivational slogans.

Following a call and response of “Whose university?

Our university!” and “What do we want? Contracts!

When do we want them? Now!” attendees assembled to hear AFSCME Executive Board Member Isaiah Martinez speak about the importance of the protest. Martinez discussed the historical origins of the AFSCME movement in the 1960s civil rights movement and emphasized the continuing importance of bargaining and exerting pressure on employers to ensure fair wages and safe working conditions.

Following the speech, organizers led the attendees for a march to Hinderaker Hall to protest and air grievances directly to UCR administrators, including Chancellor Kim Wilcox. “We didn’t speak with the Chancellor for he was not in the office,” shared Martinez in an email, “but we spoke with his assistant and he promised that he will inform Chancellor Wilcox of our concerns.”

Following a short break, protesters past Vice Chancellor for Business and tive Services Ron Coley’s ing “The peowill

then marched Administraoffice, chantple, united, never be divided,” and “We’re fired up, can’t take it no more.”

The march concluded around 4 p.m. by the Bell Tower with a word of appreciation from Martinez for those who came to support the union.

► SEE PROTEST, PAGE 4

ANDREAS RAUCH / HIGHLANDER

UPTE-represented employees protested in solidarity with AFSCME service workers.

NextGen Candids account posted “sexually suggestive” photos of UCR students

EVAN ISMAIL Senior Staff Writer

On Friday, Jan. 26, several students alerted the UCR community about social media accounts posting sexually suggestive photographs and videos of female students from UCR taken without their knowledge.

The accounts, all titled NextGen Candids, were found on Twitter, Tumblr and iFunny, a medium usually used for the circulation of memes.

The account’s oldest tweet was dated Oct. 20, 2016, purportedly showing girls attending UCR’s freshman orientation. Though freshman orientation had already passed by October, the women in the photos were wearing UCR accessories characteristic of those distributed during orientation.

Arelybel Iniguez, a third-year business major and president of the UCR Panhellenic Association, said she was alerted to the accounts by Interfraternity Council President Matthew Nicolai

because some of the women in the pictures had Greek backpacks. In response, Iniguez took to Twitter to notify her followers of the account on Jan. 26. Several other women also alerted their followers of the account.

“As a student and a woman on campus as well ... seeing a fellow student walking by minding their own business ... being basically stalked ... it’s personal,” said Iniguez in a phone conversation.

Iniguez said people were spreading information around social media about the accounts since late January. She, herself, had tweeted about it on Jan. 26 but noticed others had been spreading information around Twitter, especially.

Though she does not know anyone pictured on the accounts personally, Iniguez explained that an officer on the Panhellenic board has a friend who was the target of the suspect in one of the videos. ► SEE NEXTGEN CANDIDS, PAGE 4

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News

“Our kind of power!”: UCR union members protest unfair working conditions University workers open up about low wages, racism and poor accomodations in the workplace

► FROM PROTEST, PAGE 1

Martinez acknowledged that the timing of the protest coincides with the 50th anniversary of the deaths of two sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.

The two African-American garbage collectors were killed by an equipment malfunction on a refuse collection vehicle, prompting widespread strikes in the following weeks to draw attention to poor working conditions faced by people of color. The protests soon became intertwined with the civil rights movement in progress at the time.

Speaking with the Highlander, Martinez highlighted a variety of issues faced by workers at UCR. One perennial issue is the low wages paid to service employees, who are mainly represented

by AFSCME. Martinez, who has worked as a senior custodian in the Glen Mor apartments for the last four years, emphasized that wages for service workers and labor remain low even in the face of expanding facilities and housing in the UCR community.

Citing his own experiences at Glen Mor, Martinez said, “Before the university decided to expand, we had one senior custodian per building. That’s one per four to five floors.” After the fivebuilding Glen Mor expansion in 2014, however, Martinez noted that this number has doubled.

“Now we have one senior custodian for eight to 10 floors. There are 11 apartments per floor.” The expected compensation for this extra workload, says Martinez, never came.

“We want to have a full staff

and high expectations, with high quality,” said Martinez, “the university doesn’t care … it cares about its budget.” According to Martinez, the university often cites budgetary concerns as reason for not hiring additional personnel to meet maintenance needs. Despite the downsizing of service staff and failures to increase resources attributed to financial limitations, Martinez notes that UCR has increased administrator hirings, promotions and salary raises for administrative employees.

As of fiscal year 2017-2018, the UCR Chancellor’s office has announced potential wage increases of up to 3 percent for “non-represented” university staff (employees not part of a union).

This in particular has caused frustration among unionized employees, as these benefits would not extend to them regardless of performance.

Demonstrators also raised concern about alleged racist treatment of university staff, across a variety of positions on campus. Martinez claims that certain minority workers are, at times, placed under heavier scrutiny than their white counterparts while performing their jobs. “Certain people of color always seem to be picked on,” Martinez said.

“Often, they’re questioned by their superiors. ‘Why are you here early? Why are you here late?’”

Martinez emphasized that superiors often assumed negligence or ill intent on the part of non-white employees, even when evidence of any wrongdoing was lacking.

A student worker, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, detailed similar expe-

riences while working in an undisclosed on-campus restaurant.

The student claimed that they were subjected to closer scrutiny and harassment by a supervisor in the workplace. The supervisor’s alleged misconduct included making political comments that the student deemed intrusive and offensive, as well as accusations of negligence and theft against the student. Additionally, the student alleged that student workers at UCR were denied benefits being accorded to employees at other locations of the restaurant they worked in. The Highlander has been unable to verify these allegations.

Contractual and wage issues were the main concerns expressed by technical employees represented by UPTE, who attended the protest in solidarity with other employee unions. Many issues facing AFSCME-affiliated members also affect UPTE employees, according to Soren Weber, a research technician demonstrating for better pay and working conditions. Weber expressed the need for unity among workers in their efforts to negotiate with UCR. “The university should actually go to the bargaining table,” Weber said, adding that the only solution to poor working conditions is cooperation on the part of the university.

Members of the UAW student worker union, which represents academic workers such as TAs, readers and tutors, highlighted overworking and insufficient support as the main concerns facing graduate and undergraduate employees. Mackenzie Gregg, sixthyear Ph.D. student in the English department and head steward of

the UCR UAW chapter, outlined the main issues causing frustration among graduate students.

“One of the big issues is the workload. Many TAs are responsible for 75 to 120 students, in addition to their graduate school work,” said Gregg, adding, “many students don’t get the oneon-one attention they deserve.”

She emphasized that many teaching assistants often work overtime to keep up with the demands of grading large volumes of student work. Often, Gregg said, a student’s inability to handle the workload is seen as a negative, leading the work itself to become “a built-in shame tactic.”

Another UAW-represented graduate student, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, pointed to misunderstandings among faculty members as much of the reason for this overburdening. “Many times, faculty members aren’t aware of grad students’ rights and contracts,” she said, adding that, often, addressing these concerns is difficult due to fear of retaliation.

“Many times, it’s hard to raise these issues because these people are your (Ph.D.) advisors. It can put you in a huge position of retaliation.”

The student also discussed the university’s negligence of the poor living conditions affecting some graduate students. In Falkirk, for example, where many graduate students live, chronic neglect of facilities is a problem.

“Housing is a workplace issue. I pay $1025 a month for a half-condemned apartment. The balcony has holes and the door is nailed shut. There is a termite problem.

The stairs creak when I walk on

them. And the price is only going up.”

Also in attendance was Jorrel Verella, district director for Assemblyman Jose Medina, who was unable to attend the protest in-person due to prior engagements. Medina, who has campaigned on a pro-labor platform, is also the chairman of the California State Assembly Committee on Higher Education, which is responsible for legislative oversight regarding public universities in California.

Verella commented on Medina’s support for union protesters, saying Medina has “stood for labor a lot, always voted with labor. We don’t want to take sides, we just want the university to negotiate with workers.” Verella also expressed admiration for the determination shown by the demonstrators. “What’s interesting is that the workers are using their lunch breaks to come out here,” he said. “I think it’s important that there’s so many people and that it’s being taken seriously so that the university understands that these people are vital to its operation.”

Martinez, summing up the sentiments of anger and frustration driving the protesters, offered his view of the UC’s unwillingness to bargain. “I look at the working conditions that those workers faced in 1968 and see that little has changed. Unfortunately, that masterplan of education, the university that is affordable for everyone — it’s broken, it’s lost.”

AFSCME and UPTE intend to continue negotiations with the UC on these issues. As of time of publication, UC Riverside was unavailable for comment.

■H

ASUCR

New R’Feed committee to combat food insecurity EVAN ISMAIL Senior Staff Writer

ASUCR held their fourth meeting of winter quarter commencing at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31. The meeting primarily covered the approval of the bylaws for the R’Feed Committee, a project headed by CHASS Senator Mariam Alkhalili.

The committee seeks to work with Dining, Hospitality and Retail Services (Dining) and the WELL to recover excess food that would otherwise be thrown away due to health codes. The food will then be repackaged and distributed to students at no cost. This is meant to lessen food waste at UCR and combat UCR’s 62 percent food insecurity rate.

Food waste is not only a problem at UCR — according to

the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery, Californians dispose of about 5.6 million tons of food each year, representing 16 percent of the material going into landfills.

The food recovery will be conducted in a new student kitchen in HUB 346 which is currently being renovated by The WELL and expected to be completed by the end of spring quarter.

In an interview with Alkhalili, she said that, in the meantime, her primary goal will be to fill the seats on the committee and work with Dining to establish the logistics behind food pickup and redistribution. The committee will consist of 10 members: A chair and vice chair, logistics coordinator, an ASUCR senator and six general members.

The deadline to apply is Feb.

11 and can only be done using a ucr.edu email address.

Students who are selected for the committee will receive three separate trainings. The first will be a food handlers training that restaurant workers must undergo. Members will also undergo training that dining hall and retail staff receive as well as a basic needs training. Alkhalili expects the project to begin fall quarter of 2018.

Alkhalili was particularly motivated by an encounter with food waste in the HUB one night during her freshman year. “At LaFiamma ... there were two full trays of salad and they just threw it away,” said Alkhalili. “There are people who are unable to purchase meals on campus, who don’t have enough money for food, they’re unsure if they’re going to get a meal.” Alkhalili also

cited the high cost of meals in the HUB and on campus. “A full meal is about ten dollars on campus and that’s about 30 dollars on one given day ... the same schedules happen about two or three days every week, dropping that amount of money is unreasonable.”

According to the California Retail Food Code, ready-to-eat salad bars cannot be kept out for more than 12 hours in a 24hour period, mandating that these unused portions be disposed of at or before the end of this 24 hour time window.

Alkhalili explained that other UC campuses have food recovery projects, such as UC Irvine. There is also a national organization called the Food Recovery Network (FRN) that has chapters on four UC campuses. Alkhalili shared that she considered opening a FRN chapter at UCR but discovered

that Dining supported launching an entirely new program for UCR students.

Alkhalili stated that she only wants to “get the project on its feet and stable.” She also explained that she does not want to chair the committee, only establish its network.

“I don’t want this to start and end with me, I want to see it go forward without me and instill the vision in the committee members,” she said.

Alkhalili is primarily working with Devon Sakamoto, the director of The WELL, and Gustavo Plascencia, the General Manager of Safety, Sustainability & Special Projects for Dining, Hospitality and Retail Services to get the project off the ground.

ASUCR’s next meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 7 in HUB 261 beginning at 6:30 p.m.

■H

NextGen Candids account posted “sexually suggestive” photos of UCR students ► FROM NEXTGEN CANDIDS, PAGE 1

Iniguez urged targeted women to come forward if they know something or saw themselves in one of the videos. “We really encourage students to come forward,”

said Iniguez, also citing her conversation with UCPD and Student Conduct. “If you have any type of evidence, let’s say you also took screenshots and can send that over to UCPD, or you recognized yourself in one of the videos ... if you could come forward ... any-

thing is helpful.”

In a campus-wide email sent on Feb. 1, which included a statement from Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Thomas M. Smith, he acknowledged the accounts, which have since been suspended, posted “images fo-

cused on the clothed buttocks and breasts of the unaware women and were posted online with sexually suggestive captions and hashtags.” Smith further noted that the images represented “sexual objectification” and contradict UCR’s goal of creating a safe envi-

ronment for all students. The UCR Title IX office and Student Conduct and Academic Integrity are working closely on reviewing the matter and ensuring that safety and campus policies are respected, according to Smith.

H This story is developing. ■

NEWS

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Elsinore area earthquake signals caution for California, says UCR seismologist AMANI MAHMOUD Contributing Writer

Just after 2 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck and was centered west of the 15 Freeway between Lake Elsinore and Corona.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake had a depth of about six miles and occurred on the Elsinore Fault Zone. The Elsinore Fault is approximately 112 miles long with a slip-rate (the rate at how fast the two sides of a fault are slipping relative to one another) of 4.0 millimeters per year.

In an interview with The Highlander, Abhijit Ghosh, an assistant professor in the geosciences department at UCR and an earthquake seismologist, stated, “This earthquake essentially failed. It did not really cause any significant damage. This earthquake, however, does remind us that the Elsinore fault exists.” Ghosh’s research goal is to better understand the physics of earthquakes, the processes that control them and their associated hazards by examining a wide spectrum of fault slip across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. Ghosh uses seismograms, ground vibrations created by earthquakes and recorded by seismometers, as his main tool.

Ghosh believes that California residents tend to forget that the Elsinore Fault exists because those living in California have a tendency to prioritize bigger and more infamous faults in California such as the San Andreas Fault. The Elsinore Fault is much less active than other California faults; Ghosh noted that the slip-rate of the Elsinore fault is very slow compared to other California faults.

Ghosh claimed that despite the fact that the Elsinore Fault is not regarded as a threatening fault, in 1910, the Elsinore fault generated a 6.0-magnitude earthquake. If an earthquake of that magnitude were to occur on the Elsinore fault today, it would cause significant damage to areas such as Riverside and Los Angeles, according to Ghosh.

“I think it is dangerous that we do not pay too much attention to the Elsinore Fault,” said Ghosh. “The San Andreas Fault is definitely the greatest threat to California, undoubtedly; however, faults like the Elsinore Fault can still cause great damage. I definitely think people should pay more attention to it.”

Since the magnitude of the earthquake that occurred on Jan. 25 was a 4.0, the damage in California was virtually nonexistent. However, Ghosh claimed that if the earthquake was of a higher magnitude, cities such as Riverside would suffer

great damage. A larger earthquake along the Elsinore Fault Line could cause fires, destruction of landscapes and gas pipe explosions.

Ghosh noted that it would be difficult to pinpoint an exact number in regard to how much financial damage cities such as Riverside would face. Ghosh stated that many factors would play a part in how significant the financial damage would be, such as the direction in which the earthquake occurs. Ghosh stated, “There are too many variables to consider but there is

no doubt that the financial impact would be very significant.”

“Whether it is the Elsinore Fault or the San Andreas fault, there will be earthquakes in California,” noted Ghosh.

“Some will be damaging, and we cannot stop them. What we can do, however, is we can be prepared. During earthquakes everyone should know to drop, cover and hold. It is important to educate those who may not know this. It is also important to have an earthquake kit. That’s really all H we can do. We have to be prepared.” ■

The earthquake, which occured about 25 miles from UCR, had “failed,” per UCR seismologist Abhijit Ghosh.

UCR researcher receives $4.68 million grant for military cyber security research VASKEN NAJARIAN Contributing Writer

Heng Yin, an associate professor in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC Riverside, has been awarded a $4.68 million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to fund research into protecting outdated government computers and software.

According to recent reports, cyber security has become the forefront of military concerns.

“Decades ago, hackers did it as a hobby with the aim of showing how cool they were or how skilled they are,” said Yin in an interview with The Highlander, “But nowadays, hackers have become more of serious business.

They make money by compromising machines and selling systems to other people so people can send spam out.”

As software systems become increasingly relevant in everyday lives, Yin suggested hackers have increasing incentive to use

their skills to exploit private information. He emphasized that hacking can cause a significant amount of harm for ordinary civilians and the military alike, and old codes can leave individuals particularly vulnerable.

Maintaining the critical infrastructure of military systems is the primary purpose behind Yin’s research. The government is concerned with defending itself against attackers of all different classes, which include both unprecedented threats and recurring threats. Yin said their main focus is on developing the capability for the government to more adequately defend its critical systems, which are at the most significant risk of malicious hackers.

Yin emphasized that his research is not supporting any particular political agenda, but rather an initiative focused on updating the software used by government agencies. “The United States can do it to other countries as well, so there is no political statement behind my re-

search,” said Yin. “The grant is from the Navy, and there is nothing classified. Our job is to provide good research so the Navy can use it, and the other government branches can use it.”

The systems Yin will be working with are vastly more specialized than the types of devices that most civilians work with such as mobile phones and laptops. Yin’s work will aim to prevent people from being able to use Javascript to exploit Adobe Reader. “These systems that run on our laptops and phones have very good ecosystems like Microsoft, Google or Apple and they have good mechanisms so they can update very quickly and often,” said Yin. “However the systems we are working with are more specialized ones that only government agencies use so it is tougher to maintain them.”

Due to how specialized these systems are, Yin explained that there are no dedicated efforts to keep them up and running because of just how difficult they are to update. The research is

being done with the ultimate aim of meeting the expectations of cyber security analysts who anticipate that top government agencies are currently vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The money from the grant will largely be used on subcontractors, who Yin claimed will be small businesses that will provide the necessary supplies in order to make the research possible. “Our team is the lead, so it is going to (hire) subcontractors, so small business companies have to develop some

portion of the product,” stated Yin. “We provide these capabilities to them so they can protect the old code.”

■H

COURTESY OF UCR TODAY

UCR research shows how Argentine ants have been a successful invasive species

COURTESY OF MIKE LEWIS, CENTER FOR INVASIVE SPECIES RESEARCH

ATENAS ODRIOZOLA Contributing Writer

A recent UCR research paper, “Verification of Argentine Ant Defensive Compounds and Their Behavioral Effects on Heterospecific Competitors and Conspecific Nestmates,” explores how Argentine ants have been able to fight against other ants and become a successful invasive species. The research was conducted for about three years by UCR Entomology Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist and

Assistant Professor Dr. DongHwan Choe, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Kamlesh Chauhan, All Things Bugs founder Aaron Dossey, Shao Hung Lee (Dennis) and Ph.D student Kevin Welzel.

Argentine ants are hypothesized to have been introduced by intercontinental trade.

These species of ants have existed in California, particularly Southern California, for more than 100 years, where they cause problems ranging from urban infestations to agricultural concerns such as

threatening citrus orchards.

Argentine ants have been a concern to citrus orchards due to their mutualistic relationship with citrus orchard pests.

The citrus pests create a sugary waste called honeydew, which, when deposited on the citrus leaves, form sooty mold. The ants then consume some of the honeydew and in return, protect the pests.

“As a result from that protection, pest population grows to high levels,” said Dr. Matthew Daugherty, agriculture extension specialist and prin-

cipal investigator in the UCR Department of Entomology.

The Argentine ants were analyzed on a hypothesis formed through previous researchers’ observations of ant behavior.

Argentine ants were observed raising their abdomen to face a competing ant, who would suddenly become irritated and disoriented. Based on this behavior, it was hypothesized that the competing ants were affected by the Argentine ants excreting two compounds called dolichodial and iridomyrmex from their abdomen.

The research tested this hypothesis by placing different species of ants with Argentine ants. “Once we saw the Argentine ant was behaving aggressively towards the other ants, we would take a sample from the air scene,” explained Lee. The researchers hope to use this new information to better improve insecticides. The goal is to modify these two compounds to create an insecticide that attracts the Argentine ants while repelling native ants. Currently, the use of sugary baits, which contain 25 percent sugar solution and 0.0001 percent of pesticide,

are used to control the Argentine ant population. The ants drink the bait, but since there is a low amount of pesticide present, it does not kill them instantly. This gives the ants time to bring the poison back to the queen inside the colony.

However, this method not only reduces the population of the invasive species, but unintentionally affects the native species as well.

New, suggested alternative controls include the introduction of phorid flies. These flies drill into an ant’s neck, depositing eggs which hatch, becoming maggots that consume the ant’s brain. However, using the information gained in the research project, the Argentine ant’s own biology could be used to control their own population.

While Dr. Choe does not currently have any future research on Argentine ants in progress, Choe will continue to study Argentine ants and other ants since “the ant diversity in Riverside and other parts of southern California is slowly changing” due to biological or environmental factors.

■H

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OPINIONS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL

Pass SB-320: Students deserve access to medication abortion

S

enate Bill 320 (SB-320), introduced by Senator Connie Leyva in February of last year, would mandate that California public universities’ health centers provide medication abortion, which would supplement the contraceptives that many already offer for reproductive health. SB-320 is the result of students at UC Berkeley advocating since 2016 for university health centers to provide better resources for reproductive health in the form of medication abortion.

The bill, already passed by the senate and, at time of writing, waiting on a decision by the assembly, is a necessary and progressive step to ensuring that unwanted pregnancies will not interfere with student success. Thus, it should be passed, though should not be implemented without care. Student health centers at public universities need to also make sure that additional resources, such as counseling services, are provided to aid students who are considering medication abortion or who choose to get one.

Though critics may argue that abortion medication is too far removed from students’ academic careers and therefore irrelevant to their education, maintaining both the right and ability to choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is necessary for students who end up having to make that choice.

Because of how the stress and other

JUSTUS ROSS / HIGHLANDER

burdens that come with pregnancy, especially an undesired one, can affect one’s mental and emotional health, it’s obvious this presents an unnecessary stress for students who also have to deal with their various educational responsibilities.

The right to terminate a pregnancy is still a subject of contention in this country, and the culture of stigmatization and shame surrounding that choice presents problems for women who ought to be free to decide for themselves whether the pregnancy is right for them and their future. Providing medication abortion through student health clinics would protect students from any potential harassment or pressure they may face if they instead attempted to use an offcampus clinic. Another benefit, one touched on by Senator Leyva, is the greater flexibility students would have to access the pills when they are ready instead of having to make time to go off-campus for them.

Part of the challenge of ensuring that the bill, if passed, is successful in aiding students, lies in making sure that universities go the extra mile. There comes a heavy emotional toll with deciding whether to terminate or carry a pregnancy to term. Universities should make sure that, if providing medication abortion, there are counseling services specialized in helping students deal with the decision, as well as staff

who are properly trained in providing medication abortion. This could very well complement existing counseling and supportive services, such as those offered by UCR’s Counseling and Psychological Services.

One potential problem is that the most recent version of the bill specifies the use of private money for its funding. This would be in the form of grants that would go to public universities’ health centers to cover the costs of the pills and the necessary training and equipment to go along with it. SB-320 even goes so far as to specify that nothing in the chapter that it would add to the Education Code “shall be interpreted as requiring public universities to support implementation of abortion by medication techniques with General Fund appropriations or student fees.”

This is concerning. On one hand, it would be nice to avoid additional expenses, especially for people who wouldn’t want their money going toward funding medication abortions.

On the other, the reliance on private money for funding may present issues for students down the line if universities are unable to secure consistent funding to both maintain and improve these services. If that were to happen, a university may need to consider using student health services fees to make sure that the program can stay afloat for students in need.

However, per NPR, there’s already a private consortium willing to foot the implementation bill of an estimated $14 million, which bodes well for the future of access to medication abortion on public campuses and may even serve to encourage other groups to help fund similar programs elsewhere.

Given the extent to which public universities already encourage the use of contraceptives and provide some contraceptive resources (such as the free condoms provided by UCR’s Well), it is natural that they also provide resources like medication abortion for the students who may need it. Not only should the pills be available through student health centers, the universities must also ensure they deal with any possible funding hurdles that may arise during the implementation of these services, and ensure that students will also be able to access other forms of support.

Students deserve more freedom in exercising their right to choose, but often lack access to resources needed to do so. Providing medication abortion at student health centers is one step toward fully acknowledging that right.

SB-320 must be passed.

■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.

8

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions

OPINION POLL Compiled by Bri Chew, Staff Photographer

“Is “.gif ” pronounced with a soft ‘g’ or a hard ‘g’?”

Simran Shah Pre-Business First-year

Gabriel Berry Business Third-year

Antonio Karraa Pre-Business Second-year

Rikin Patel Pre-Business First-year

Shamaria Martinez Psychology First-year

Lauren Pak Psychology First-year

“It’s a hard ‘g’.

The dictionary online says it’s pronouced like that.”

“Soft ‘g’. Based on all the things I’ve seen online, the majority says it’s a soft ‘g’ and it sounds more natural. The (soft) ‘g’ is like the peanut butter.”

“I think it’s the hard ‘g’.”

“I’m fuckin’ faded bro. Hard ‘g’ and I have no clue why.”

“It is the (hard) ‘g,’ because the word ‘gift’ uses a (hard) ‘g’.”

“It is hard ‘g’. The person who created it says it is a hard ‘g’.”

“Mad ” Mike Hughes, the modern Copernicus

MICHAEL BEELI Contributing Writer

Throughout history, we’ve all come to admire the brilliant, independent scientists who defied the status quo and made transformative new discoveries. The Galileos, Copernicuses, Avogadros and Keplers were all rejected and brandished as fools in their own time, but it was their unrelenting courage, brilliance and conviction that finally led to the recognition of their genius. Today, the world has been graced with the presence of a new pariah scientific genius of our time, professional limo driver and armchair rocket scientist, “Mad” Mike Hughes.

The intrepid Hughes has rightfully become the de facto leader of our favorite band of

science skeptics after nearly performing a highly empirical publicity stunt in November of 2017, in which he planned to launch himself a mile across the Mojave Desert in his own personally constructed rocket.

A marvel of modern science, Hughes’ steam-powered rocket has the rallying cry of America’s most woke: ”RESEARCH FLAT EARTH” is painted across the side.

Ultimately, Hughes’ most honorable act of courage and selflessness was shut down by conniving deep-state bureaucrats at the Bureau (see?) of Land Management, who forbade him from launching just hours before his scheduled takeoff. He did however, receive plenty of coverage from the fake news media like the Washington Post, which reported “This

man is about to launch himself in his homemade rocket to prove the earth is flat,” as well as National Public Radio.

Our scientific lord and savior’s newest quest is to procure a hot-air balloon, rocket pack and space suit to launch himself 52 miles into the sky and see the shape of the earth for himself. According to rough estimates, Hughes needs to fundraise about $2 million for the materials in order to settle the debate once for and all.

All of Hughes’ efforts are part of the rightful campaign to prove that the earth is a flat, frisbee-shaped object, and that the round earth “theory” is the product of an elaborate conspiracy of astronauts stretching back decades.

Within the rightful campaign is a sophisticated network of

COMICS SEASON SISTERS #8 BY: RANDY YAMANAKA

“woke” individuals across the globe who were able to slip away from the sheep of the world and challenge the status quo.

The campaign however, has been infiltrated by deep state actors aiming to dismantle our scientific honesty and curiosity; some “flat-earthers” have begun to claim that Hughes does not even believe in flat earthism. Hughes has since responded in eloquent scientific terms, stating, “Do I believe the earth is shaped like a frisbee, or flat or whatever?

I do, because in my months of research I’ve not been able to prove (otherwise).”

Further sticking it to both the man and his haters, Hughes went on to say, “All the crap we were taught in school about the mantle is all B.S. No one knows.” In his controversy

however, Hughes has parted ways with the former standard bearers of America’s greatest intellectual movement, the Flat Earth Society, which has now become just another cog in the globalist round-earth machine.

Today, “Mad Mike” stands abandoned, left behind by the global syndicate spanning the disc-shaped earth. It is our duty as self-appointed scientists, engineers and very stable geniuses to launch Hughes into space so that he can tear down the veil and release the round-earth-believing sheep from their mental pastures.

Mad Mike is a prophet that comes around once in a lifetime, it’s only righteous that we let our modern-day Copernicus regress us back to a pre-Copernican era of thought.

■H

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

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R adar ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

EVENTS THIS WEEK 02/06

Hercules and Alcestis in Rome’s Catacomb of Via Latina @ Humanities & Social Sciences Building, 1500 , 5:30-7 p.m.

02/06

UCR Chamber Singers - VALENTINES! @Arts Building, Performance Lab, ARTS 166 , 8:30-9 p.m.

02/07

Arts & Letters: Janet Fitch @Palm Desert Center, Auditorium, 6-7:30 p.m.

MYLES ANDREWS-DUVE / HIGHLANDER

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

Radar

90

th

Academy Awards:

JULIAN MEDRANDA, SENIOR STAFFWRITER

HOPES VS EXPECTATIONS The 90th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 4 and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. In what is arguably the largest pop cultural event of the year, films released in 2017 will be awarded based on their merit in 24 separate categories.

As with 2016, 2017 was a phenomenal year for films both foreign and domestic. It also proved to be a historic year with many unique choices in nominations: Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy-drama “The Shape of Water” sits with the most nominations at 13, first-time director Greta Gerwig is nominated for Best Picture and Best Directing for “Lady Bird,” African-American comedian-turned-filmmaker Jordan Peele’s psychological horror film “Get Out” is nominated for Best Picture — the first of its kind since 2000’s “The Sixth Sense”; and legendary French filmmaker Agnes Varda became the oldest Oscar nominee for her documentary film, “Faces Places.”

For me, the biggest thrill in watching the Oscars is seeing films I love being recognized on as large a platform as this — in spite of my disagreements with the Academy. But with that excitement comes an understanding that the Academy’s choices are, by and large, formulaic. Here are the films I want to take home the gold on March 4, as well as the ones I predict will crush my hopes.

WHAT WE WANT

WHAT WE EXPECT

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Get Out

The Shape of Water

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name

Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049

Production Design

Blade Runner 2049

The Shape of Water

Original Song

Mystery of Love (Call Me By Your Name)

Remember Me (Coco)

Original Score

Johnny Greenwood (Phantom Thread)

Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water)

Documentary

Faces Places

Last Men in Aleppo

Director

Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Costume Design

Mark Bridges (Phantom Thread)

Mark Bridges (Phantom Thread)

Cinematography

Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049)

Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049)

Actor (Supporting Role)

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Actress (Supporting Role)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Actor (Lead Role)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Actress (Lead Role)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Picture

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The Shape of Water

■H

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

MEET RAP’S MODERN SPICE GIRLS: RICO NASTY, ASIAN DOLL AND CUPCAKKE HUGO CERVANTES Contributing Writer

Among hip-hop’s incoming class are female rappers Rico Nasty, Asian Doll and Cupcakke.

Their careers are interesting to take notice of, as they’ve come into public eye mostly through the internet’s trouves.

Some of these drafts are underdeveloped, but most are brilliant and overflowing with ecstatic energy — it’s a robustness that is surely headed for mainstream success. For the time being, it is pleasurable to watch them figure themselves out.

Nasty is interested in the similarities that exist between the assumed dichotomies of rap and rock. She mixes rock’s grainy and stretched tonalities (usually in the form of her scream-yell delivery) alongside skeletal trap beats to induce a colossal force.

Nasty has described her style as “sugar trap,” a more aggressive variation of the bubblegum trap that rappers like Lil Yachty and Kyle subscribe to. She resembles, at times, a blinged-out variation of the Rugrats theme song, something like Kyle’s “iSpy” or Lil Yachty’s collaboration with Nasty, “Hey Arnold.”

Nasty adds aggression that elevates this bubblegum trap to be more bullish and deliciously asinine. Her viral hit, “Poppin,” is a mix of raw vulgarity folded into a rhythmic and melodic chant. It is extremely addictive. “I’m a poppin ass bitch let me remind ya,” she declares in a vengeful cheerleader-esque hook that could easily double as a punk song. On the single “Smack a Bitch” her interest in rock textures are more effervescent.

The song dips into screamo’s sonic textures, with strained and bombastic grainy and strained tones against an industrial dragged guitar riff.

Her delivery is frightening and inviting, interweaving punk abrasion with rap’s rhythmic melody.

The common denominator would be their candy-colored aesthetic. It is a style that plays between adolescent recklessness and youthful exuberance. Something these rappers play into: The sparkle of presumed innocence of youth against the rage of living fast.

The self-proclaimed “Queen of Teens,” Asian Doll fashions herself to be between ‘90s Spice Girl at best and EDM festival fairy at worst — a style for rappers like Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim to literalize their perfection t‌ o be a Barbie.

Similar to those rappers, she does not disappoint. Her reworking of a Minaj classic, “Itty Bitty Piggy,” proves the rapper’s high mileage. She carries her own weight, lining catchy and bouncy hooks as well as looping around to deliver jerky verses. “Lame Niggaz,” a Playboi Carti remix, follows the same formula that highlights Doll’s talents as a lyricist. Only 20 years old with five mixtapes under her belt, she is accelerating into bigger success. Watching her decide her next move will be as exciting as it is to listen to her distinct sound.

Pop stardom as a destination point for female rappers has not always been a guarantee.

Tracing through, for example, The Grammy’s, awards for women in rap are mythical.

Women in rap have excelled and lived through other ecologies like local rap circuits

COURTESY OF YOUTUBE

and the internet today makes women rappers easier to find and listen to. These distinct old and new ecologies have all outsourced icons like Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot and Nicki Minaj who have carved pathways for female rappers to be moguls, fashion icons, and supreme avant gardist.

Through their possibilities they have made it possible for rappers like the Chicago rapper Cupcakke to flourish.

Cupcakke welds a steady rate of an eventual mainstream break out. Her latest album, “Ephorize,” has the rapper’s sharpest and most polished collection of songs that range from Chicago drill (“Navel”) to soupy, pestle and mortar synth pop (“Total”).

At her most lewd and jarring, Cupcakke demonstrates a

COURTESY OF YOUTUBE

mastery of the one-liner and revels in comic punchlines.

There is a Youtube page dedicated to the malleability and brilliance of “Vagina.” It is an endless pit of “Vagina” mashups with top 40 hits that punctuates and emphasizes the songs memorable lines. It’s designed to be funny initially with the second feeling being astoundment. It can be remixed with anything and be just as potent.

Cupcakke’s infectiousness has garnered attention and support from more mainstream acts like Charli XCX, with the two collaborating on XCX’s two last two mixtapes.

Cupcakke’s approximation to mainstream pop posits her as a future headliner. Last summer at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, Cupcakke’s brought the entire

audience to moan alongside her during her performance of “CPR,” a small glimpse to what Cupcakke has yet to offer. I hope by 2019 we are all moaning to Cupcakke.

The trio are all expanding and introducing different forms of how to succeed as a rapper in 2018’s music ecology.

From “stan twitter” icons to the depths of Soundcloud, these rappers are connecting with their fan bases through a plethora of constant new music, live performances and the unruliest of memes. New rules of music-making lean heavily on the internet, the platform that makes these rappers interesting enough to follow as they carve out ways to maximize their time online and off — in between gigantic H memes and Grammy stages. ■

COURTESY OF YOUTUBE

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

MOVIE REVIEW

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

13

“WINCHESTER”: GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE, ATROCIOUS WRITING DOES

COURTESY OF LIONSGATE

JULIAN MEDRANDA Senior Staff Writer

There’s something uniquely satisfying about films, especially in the horror genre, that market themselves as “inspired” by true events.

What does that even mean? It’s become common knowledge at this point that some of the genre’s most beloved entries that adopted this marketing ploy stretched the definition of inspiration one mile too far: A tragic shooting-turned ghost story became a cinematic legacy of demonic predation with “The Amityville Horror” series; likewise, shreds of Ted Bundy’s grisly murders map themselves onto “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” baddie Leatherface.

“Winchester” is the latest film to get moviegoers’ salivary glands going crazy at the thought of a ghost story grounded in reality, but we (hopefully) know all too well that it’s code for laughably climactic ghost confrontations and jump scares aplenty.

Directed by the Spierig brothers (“Predestination,” “Jigsaw”), the film’s “true events” concern Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) and her enigmatic mansion in San Jose, CA. Griefstricken following the death of her husband, the heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company constructs a labyrinthian mansion designed

to house the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle.

In 1906, medical doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) is called upon by a representative of Winchester Repeating Arms to determine whether or not the spooked widow is mentally sound enough to run the company. Once there, he encounters spirits both benign and evil, shaking the skeptical man of medicine to confront the realities of his situation.

What makes “Winchester” so painful to discuss is the potential the Spierig brothers present in the film’s first half. Barring jump scares, the pacing is excellent. As far as haunted house setups go, the Winchester mansion is a seemly environment to mine effective spooks from. When the film isn’t busy setting up traps for its underage viewers (reminder: A PG-13 horror film is meant to satisfy no one but its MPAAapproved demographic), it’s creeping along well-lit and marvelously adorned interiors.

Cinematographer Ben Nott is given just enough freedom to shoot the mansion from eerie angles that highlight just how perfect Victorian-era buildings are for horror locations.

We’re led to believe that the film has an operating brain when the motif of gun violence is introduced early on. The nature of the widow Winchester’s trade is inherently bloody — as she says, the success of her product is measured on its

ability to indiscriminately end another’s life. She attempts to make amends with the specters roaming her house by allowing them to possess her momentarily, drawing diagrams of the rooms they were murdered in so that she could add them to her everexpanding maze of a home.

If you could ignore the laughably cliche scares, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to read the film as a psychological horror that explores how grief has conjured ghosts — tangible or otherwise — into the lives of Price and Winchester. But it’s a lot stupider than that.

Our antagonist is a disgruntled Confederate soldier whose brothers’ deaths at the hands of Winchester rifle-wielding Union soldiers turns him into a vengeful spirit who haunts the mansion. At midnight, ghosts get powerful (for some reason), possessing the innocent and scaring those foolish enough to go for a night stroll investigating creaky corridors.

Also, apparently you can shoot ghosts with a rifle. So much for nuance. What begins as a promising horror film about rising gun deaths through the lens of one guilt-ridden superstitious gun merchant — merely bogged down by run-of-the-mill jump scares — devolves into inscrutable vacuous genre cliches with no more merit than the next soulless title.

For what it’s worth,

“Winchester” owes its overall failure to little more than the awfully written script and genre cliches. Mirren and Clarke are the rare bunch of leads that treat their ridiculous script with earnest. By the time I checked out, they were still giving it their all. Mirren is an Academy Award winner — we expect her to excel. On the other hand, Clarke is her equal. While his character’s arc is underdeveloped, the performance he delivers is almost gripping and does

highlandernews.org

nothing but bolster the material. In the hands of other performers, the film could fare much worse.

Verdict: “Winchester” somehow manages to do a disservice to the lore of its namesake mansion. It’s not offensively terrible, but its narrative failures overcome the strength derived from its solid lead performers and engaging beginning.

■H

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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

15

HIGHLANDER UCR women’s track and field breaks record at Mountain T

HOT TAKES The wild “West” of lacrosse

COURTESY OF MAJOR LACROSSE LEAGUE

DOMINIC PETRIC Contributing Writer

The game of lacrosse has long been dominated by those on the East Coast. From high school teams all the way to the professional level, the East Coast states have overwhelmingly outperformed other states across the nation. For decades, the best high school players came from states like Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. The best college teams included Maryland, Syracuse and Duke and most of the professional teams are represented by cities on the eastern half of the United States. While a lot of this still holds true today, it is changing right before our eyes. Lacrosse is coming to the West.

Within the last five years or so, some of the best high school players have come from Western states, particularly California.

This was not the case prior to the mid-2000s, when nearly every significant high school lacrosse player was from the east. High schools in the San Diego area like Torrey Pines and Poway have begun producing Division I lacrosse players every season. They’re invading the territory that has been held by the East for so long, taking away their dominance of the sport.

While it was somewhat true that East Coast-ers were better lacrosse players, one of the biggest problems was the lack of visibility these West Coast players received. They’ve always been just as good of athletes, but the top programs were all located in the east and couldn’t justify a trip to California to look at just a few players when they could find equal talent in Virginia.

This leads us to college lacrosse. For years, there was never even a significant team on the West Coast. This all changed in 2011, when the University of Denver Pioneers went to the NCAA Final Four. Since Denver was and still is the most western Division I lacrosse team, this event demonstrated that college lacrosse was coming west, and they meant business. Now, in 2018, the University of Utah will be the next team in the west to get a Division I team and their season will begin in 2019.

All that needs to happen next is a professional team to come farther west. Right now, Major League Lacrosse (MLL) has teams in Denver and in Dallas, but that is not enough. If the MLL wants their enterprise to grow, they must bring teams out to California where lacrosse is becoming quite popular and gaining recognition.

Overall, the westward expansion of lacrosse has been monumental for the sport as a whole.

It is picking up a lot of popularity and will soon be a significant sport from coast to coast. The game is no longer dominated by H the East, the West is coming. ■

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

JON HAMMOND

Senior Staff Writer

After a shaky showing at the UW Invitational, the UCR track and field team sent four athletes to the Mountain T Invitational at Northern Arizona University from Friday, Feb. 2 to Saturday, Feb. 3.

In the women’s pentathlon, sophomore Didi Amarasekara broke the school record for the indoor long jump with a distance of 5.87 m. Coincidently, the previous record, 5.84 m, was set last year in 2016 by Jorden O’Neal in the Mountain T Invitational. Amarasekara also placed first in the last two events of the pentathlon as she won the entire event with a

score of 3701. She was seven points shy of breaking yet another school record, Danielle Littleton’s 2015 pentathlon score of 3707.

The other women competing for the Highlanders were senior Tayler Fleming, who won the shot put, and freshman Seline Schinke.

The lone competitor for the men was Aidan Olvera, competing in the heptathlon. Olvera placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 12’11.50 and was tied for eighth place overall with a total score of 3771.

This week, the Highlanders will be at the UNM Don Kirby Invitational and the UW Husky Classic from Friday, Feb. 9 H through Saturday, Feb. 10. ■

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

Men’s and women’s tennis go winless in week JONATHAN FERNANDEZ

Senior Staff Writer

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

UC Riverside’s men’s tennis team (2-6) dropped their first game of the week on Friday, Feb. 2 in Las Vegas to UNLV (2-2), 4-2.

The Highlanders secured the doubles point by winning two of the three doubles matches.

The winning teams for Riverside were junior Kyle McCann and freshman Filip Engstrom, as well as junior Anderson Ju and sophomore Nabil Abdallah. In singles play Riverside was dominated by UNLV who won five of the six singles sets.

UCR’s lone win came from Abdallah who was 6-0 in singles competition prior to their match against Weber State University.

The men’s team went winless in a double header on Saturday, Feb. 3 against Weber State and New Mexico State University. Against Weber State the Highlanders put up

a good fight, winning four of the nine sets, but still lost the match, 4-2. UCR split the singles sets 3-3 but came up short in doubles play where they lost two out of the three sets which ultimately cost them the match.

Abdallah lost his first singles match of the season to Weber State sophomore Michiel Van Schoor. The Highlanders also lost to New Mexico State University 4-2 later that day.

UC Riverside’s women’s tennis team (1-4) suffered their fourth loss of the year against Big West opponent Cal State Fullerton (3-1) on Saturday, Feb. 3, 6-1.

Fullerton took a one-point lead after earning the doubles point by sweeping all three doubles matches. The Titans also won five of the six singles matches against the Highlanders to secure the dominant victory. The lone win on the singles side for Riverside came from freshman Tia Elpusan to make her 2-1 in singles play in the season.

■H

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

SPORTS

Men’s basketball blows lead late in loss to Cal Poly

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer

UC Riverside’s men’s basketball team (5-17, 0-8) attempted to get their first conference win of the season at Cal Poly (7-15, 2-6) on Wednesday, Jan. 31, but despite keeping it close throughout its entirety, it ended the same way the team’s previous six conference games have, with UCR on the losing end in a 7168 thriller.

The Highlanders were able to keep it close thanks to some unlikely contributors. Junior

guard Koh Flippin and junior center Idy Diallo, who started in place of injured senior center Alex Larsson, both had career highs of 11 and 17 respectively to give Riverside an unexpected punch.

The Mustangs opened the second half by making a threepointer to extend their lead to a game-high seven points. UCR was still able to stay in the game due to timely shooting, including a stretch with under nine minutes to go in the second half where they made three three-pointers on three consecutive possessions.

Two of the three came from redshirt sophomore guard DJ

Sylvester, who finished with 11 points on only six attempts, the third was knocked down by Flippin. The quick onslaught of threes gave the Highlanders a three-point lead, 61-58.

With five minutes remaining in the game and the score tied at 65, Diallo made 3 of 4 free throws in back-to-back possessions to give Riverside a three-point lead. A pair of free throws from the Mustangs then cut the Highlanders’ lead to one with just under a minute left to play. The Highlanders failed to convert on the offensive end which gave Cal Poly one last chance to steal the game.

Otto scores career high, but women’s basketball drops 91-73 decision to Cal Poly JARYD BONGCARAS Contributing Writer

Turnovers plagued the UC Riverside women’s basketball team (6-17, 3-6) as they fell on the road to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (13-8, 7-2) Saturday, Feb. 3, 9173.

The Highlanders committed 24 turnovers on the night, from which the Mustangs were able to convert into 27 points. Meanwhile, the Highlanders could only manage 15 points off of Cal Poly’s 13 giveaways on the night.

After jumping out to a 16-7 first quarter lead, the Highlanders’ largest of the day, Cal Poly responded with a 14-0 second quarter run. The score was 4030 in favor of the Mustangs with 3:23 left to play in the first half, as UCR responded with a 12-1 run, taking a slight 42-41 lead after senior forward Skyler Lewis hit a jumper early on in the third.

Cal Poly jumped out to a solid start to the second half, outscoring Riverside 26-16 in the third

quarter. This allowed the visiting team to take a 67-54 lead into the fourth quarter, and the lead never fell below 14 points going forward, reaching as high as 22 in the fourth.

Redshirt sophomore guard Jannon Otto scored a career-high 22 points for UCR, becoming the third Highlander this year to have a 20-point game. Otto also rounded up the stat sheet with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Senior guard Michelle Curry put up 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting, along with three assists and two steals after returning from a two-game absence. Curry now has 300 assists for her career, moving her past former player and current assistant head coach Seyram Bell (299) for No. 8 on the UC Riverside all-time charts.

Senior Lauren Holt had 10 points on the night, marking the 16th consecutive game that she scored at least 10 points. Redshirt sophomore forward Skyler Lewis barely missed out on another

UCR’s men’s golf team opened up their winter season with an 11th-place finish in the Pepperdine Waves Challenge held from Monday Jan. 29 to Tuesday Jan. 30. The travel team for the Highlanders consisted of redshirt sophomore Tyler Moore, juniors Andrew Spilman and Michael Wong, senior Luke Park and redshirt senior Brandon Tsujimoto. Senior Matt Lutz, who is usually on the travel team, did

not travel with the team for an undisclosed reason.

Moore led the Highlanders with his second-best career finish tying for 16th place, despite shooting over par in all three rounds, posting a 77, 80 and 74 for a total score of 231. Tsujimoto finished second for the Highlanders in a tie for 29th place, as he shot 31 pars en route to a 235 total.

Spilman and Wong finished tied for 50th and 54th respectively, finishing two strokes apart at 243 and 245. Spilman also led the group on the par-three holes,

Mustangs’ junior guard Donovan Fields hit a game-winning jump shot with 12 seconds left on the clock to extend UCR’s losing streak to 10 games and seven straight in conference play.

A look at the numbers suggests the Highlanders lost this game because of their inability to keep the Mustangs off of the charity stripe. Cal Poly made 20 out of 27 free throws compared to just 7 of 11 for Riverside. Not only did UCR shoot a worse percentage from the line (64 percent compared to 74) but they also shot it at a much lower volume. This is disappointing considering UCR actually played

great defense, holding Poly to 38 percent from the field, and their offense was also in a rhythm, as they shot 48 percent from the field. It hasn’t been too often that UCR has had both their offense and defense firing on all cylinders this season, so this game was a squandered opportunity for Interim Head Coach Justin Bell and his team to earn their first conference victory.

Riverside will travel to Hawai’i (13-7, 4-3) on Wednesday, Feb. 7 to take on the Rainbow Warriors and attempt to break this 10-game losing streak.

UCR split last years season series with Hawaii 1-1.

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Upcoming Events & Highlights MEN’S TENNIS Sat., Feb. 10 vs. Biola University @ SRC Tennis Courts 10:00 a.m.

WOMEN’S TENNIS COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

double-double, scoring nine points and grabbing a season-high of 12 rebounds. Lewis and fellow wing Marina Ewodo (sophomore) both had a game-high of three blocks.

UC Riverside will return home to face UC Santa Barbara for the first time this season on Thursday, February 8 in this year’s Play4Kay H game. Tip-off starts at 7 p.m. ■

Men’s golf begins winter season with 11th-place finish JON HAMMOND Senior Staff Writer

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

shooting 4-over-par for the tournament.

Park, in his first tournament of the 2017-18 season, led the team with seven birdies as he shot 85, 86 and 81 for a total of 252 which tied him for 70th. The Highlanders, as a team, were also seventh in birdies for the tournament as they carded 28 over the three-day event.

The Highlanders will look to recover in their next tournament, the Farms USD Intercollegiate, on Monday, Feb. 12 and Tuesday, Feb. 13.

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Sat., Feb. 10 vs. Colorado State University at Las Vegas, NV

MEN’S BASKETBALL Wed., Feb. 7 vs. Hawai’i @ 9:00 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 10 vs. UC Irvine @ SRC Arena 5:00 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Thurs., Feb. 8 vs. UC Santa Barbara @ SRC Arena 7:00 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 10 vs. UC Irvine @ 2:00 p.m.