Volume 67 Issue 24

THE HIGHLANDER

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

est. 1954

FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, APRIL 16 2019

VOL. 67, ISSUE 24

Author of judicial council amendment strikes proposal

2019 ASUCR Executive Cabinet Debates highlighted major issues facing UCR

CAMERON SADEGHI Contributing Writer

JORDAN HUANG / HIGHLANDER

AMANI MAHMOUD Senior Staff Writer

The second ASUCR meeting of the quarter took place on Wednesday, April 10 and began at 6:36 p.m.

During the approval of the agenda, CHASS Senator Julian Gonzalez voted to add a judicial council amendment discussion to the agenda. The amendment which was discussed at last week’s ASUCR meeting would allow the senate to, with a two-thirds majority vote,

hire a legal arbitrator to make a decision that can either override or confirm the judiciary’s decision on the case in question, with true finality. The motion to add the discussion to the agenda passed 9-0-0.

The meeting then moved on to the approval of last week’s meeting minutes which prompted CHASS Senator Chelsea Davenport to point out that the minutes could not be approved because a vote was recorded incorrectly. Davenport noted that at the meeting that took place on April 3, a

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vote that took place regarding the Basic Needs Referendum was recorded as passing 11-0-0 but actually passed 11-1-1.

During ex-officio reports, Sarai Fuentes, a justice on the judicial council discussed an unofficial proposal in which the judicial council would have an advisor or mentor to ensure that they are doing their duty to best interpret the constitution and to ensure that the Senate has a more robust check on judicial power.

On Wednesday, April 10, UCR student candidates debated each other for positions on the ASUCR Executive Cabinet. The debate was held at the HUB Plaza.

Candidates tackled issues such as food insecurity, undocumented student resources and funding for Costo Hall resource centers.

The first debate of the afternoon was for vice president of internal affairs. Third-year business major Jocelyn Ortiz debated against third-year statistics major Andy Veliz. Ortiz stressed for more advocacy for basic needs and Costo Hall funding. On the other hand, Veliz pointed out WiFi connection issues and sustainability issues as major issues on campus.

Both Ortiz and Feliz have new initiatives to enhance students’ experiences. Ortiz is pushing for a program to help students file taxes, a program to improve students’ health and school thrifting events for basic needs.

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HUMANS OF UCR

UPCOMING EVENTS: WEEK 3

CRESCENT ROSE | LINGUISTICS | THIRD-YEAR TRANSFER

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Send Silence Packing 8:00am to 5:00pm UCR Bell Tower

Fly with M.E. 5:00pm to 6:30pm HUB 269

CARE Conversations: R. Kelly, Rape Culture and Representation 12:30pm to 1:30pm HUB (Highlander Union Building), 379

Family Fun Night: Easter Edition 2:30pm to 4:30pm Student Recreation Center (SRC), classroom kitchen

National Transgender HIV Testing Day 11:00am to 2:00pm Costo Hall, 245

R’CHELLA Food Truck Festival 11:00am to 2:30pm HUB Plaza and Bell Tower

UCR Welcomes Phi Beta Kappa Scholar William Chester Jordan 10:00am to 11:30am Humanities & Social Sciences Building, 1303 (History Department Library)

Film: At Eternity’s Gate 7:00pm to 9:00pm UCR ARTS, Culver Center of the Arts

4th Annual Food Security 5K Run/Walk 7:00am to 11:00am Community R’Garden, Back of UCR Parking Lot 30

Film: Loving Vincent 3:00pm to 4:30pm UCR ARTS, Culver Center of the Arts

Senior Career Plan 12:00pm to 1:00pm Career Center

Entomology ENTM250 Seminar Terry McGlynn 4:10pm to 5:00pm Genomics Building, 1102A

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“I mostly hang out in the LGBT Resource Center, that’s because that’s

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where I feel most comfortable. I also do like hanging out with nature by trees. Trees have this way to just ground you. They’re strong and they’re sturdy and if you ever need support, they’re always there for you.”

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Presidential Candidates

Julian Gonzalez

United. Action. Transformation.

Julian Gonzalez currently serves as ASUCR’s President Pro Tempore as well as a CHASS senator. Gonzalez also serves on ASUCR Finance, Legislative Review, Outreach, GCAP and Marketing committees. Gonzalez’s goals as president include creating a coalition of united voices that will fight for students who are food or housing insecure and sacrificing necessities for class materials. As president, Gonzalez hopes to lead with transparency, accountability and passion.

Mehvish Ali

Innovate. Advocate. Execute.

Mehvish Ali is a third-year business major with a minor in philosophy. Ali currently serves as CHASS Senator. As president, Ali hopes to secure permanent funding for basic needs and to be an advocate for students regarding the future of UCR. Ali hopes to contribute to the improvement of UCR and serve the needs of students of all different backgrounds.

The three words that Ali feels define her campaign are: innovate, advocate and execute.

Executive Vice President Candidates Abigail Cortes Hope. Transformation. Unity Abigail Cortes currently serves as a CNAS Senator. As Executive Vice President Cortes hopes to continue working on initiatives that she has worked on as CNAS Senator. These initiatives include: increasing accessibility of feminine hygiene products in all restrooms, representing the student perspective on UCR’s Long Range Development and Growth Plan and her creation of the finals hammock initiative. Cortes also intends to innovate the functionality of ASUCR both internally and externally. Cortes hopes to host events such as meet the senators and open house in order to connect the student body to UCR’s student government.

Vice President of Internal Affairs Andy Veliz

Strength in numbers.

Andy Veliz is a third-year statistics major and a current CNAS Senator. Veliz believes that the STEM high school that is being built on campus is a major issue facing UCR. He also hopes to work on providing free testing materials all year round. He also hopes to improve gender equality at UCR’s campus. Veliz intends to improve student WiFi on campus and believes that the wifi is currently inefficient and has impeded students from doing their work. Three words that define Veliz’s campaign are, “strength in numbers.”

Jocelyn Ortiz

Defy the odds.

Jocelyn Ortiz is running for Vice President of Internal Affairs because she wants to “defy the odds,” which are the three words that she believes define her campaign. Ortiz is a firstgeneration college student who has experienced food insecurity and housing insecurity in addition to the challenges of being a full-time student. Ortiz hopes to protect and promote the community in spaces and resource centers such as R’Pantry, Costo Hall and the Academic Resource Center.

Vice President of External Affairs Lennin Kuri

Opportunity. Access. Transparency.

Lennin Kuri is a second-year political science major and has served as government relations director under ASUCR. Kuri intends to utilize his experiences to bridge the non-traditional student pipeline to create opportunities for an increase in resource access, wellness and professional opportunities. He hopes that this will strengthen the UCR student presence in government.

Luis Huerta

People. Power. Progress.

Luis Huerta is a second-year political science major who currently serves as the Organizing Director under the External Affairs office. As vice president of external affairs, Huerta will prioritize legislative and advocacy efforts that are reflective of the Highlander experience . He will also engage communities that have historically been excluded from the legislative processes.

Vice President of Finance Carolyn Chang Commitment. Confidence. Cheerfulness.

Carolyn Chang is currently the 2018-19 Outreach Director and has previously led the Outreach Grant Hearings and Committee, was CHASS Senator on four committees including: Finance, Outreach, Green Campus Action Plan and Legislative Review Committee. She was also a 2016-17 Freshman Finance Fellow. As vice president of finance, Chang hopes to continue efficiency of funding through commitment, confidence and cheerfulness.

Outreach Director Candidates

Kircee Killian

Informative. Transparency. Recognition.

Kircee Killian is a first-year neuroscience major. Killian currently serves as an ASUCR executive fellow to the president. As outreach director, Killian intends to table at two high schools each quarter, create a larger social media presence for on-campus organizations and work alongside UCR’s committees to continuously grow the knowledge of UCR’s diverse campus.

Nicholas Wong

Education. Diversity. Excellence.

Nicholas Wong is a third-year business administration major with a concentration in accounting. Wong currently serves as the executive secretary of finance for the Finance Committee. As outreach director, Wong hopes to ensure that every hearing is run efficiently to make sure that every organization gets a spot. Wong will also strive to promote higher education through schools in the Riverside community and help them prepare for their future college education.

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Transfer/Non-Traditional Director Juandi Riley Candidate did not provide a photo or biography.

Eric E. Calderon

Experience. Integration. Representation.

Eric Calderon is a third-year public policy major with an emphasis in international and foreign policy and policy institutions and processes. Eric served as a commissioner in the Associated Student Union at his previous college, where he had the opportunity to address issues concerning academic affairs, college funding and student services. As transfer/ non-traditional director, Calderon hopes to collaborate with different organizations at UCR in order to foster a smoother transition for transfer students.

Personnel Director Candidates

Farzaneh Talebi Liasi

Innovate. Collaborate. Redefine.

Farzaneh Talebi Liasi is a first-year biology student. Liasi hopes to bring the different components of ASUCR’s team together in an effort to create a cohesive environment of productivity. She is currently a project leader in the Mini Medical School for “Access to Healthcare” and a productive member in Phi Delta Epsilon, an international medical fraternity.

Luna Sebastian Leadership. Results. Transparency.

Luna Sebastian is a first-year political science major. Her goal as personnel director is to be as transparent as possible with thefunctions and responsibilities of those holding elected positions in ASUCR and the committees run under UCR’s student association.

Green Campus Action Plan (GCAP) Director Olenka Graham Castaneda

Recycling. Education. Basic Needs.

Olenka Graham Castaneda has been a sitting member of GCAP since Winter of 2018 and GCAP Vice Chair since the start of Fall 2018. As GCAP Director, Graham Castaneda hopes to continue working on her initiatives to build a stronger recycling program for the school and setting up a student collecting route program to build on the recycling streams already in place.

CHASS Senator Candidates

Tyaira Gonzalez

Undeclared not Undetermined.

Tyaira Gonzalez is currently undeclared but working towards a psychology major. Gonzalez is running for CHASS senator because she believes that student organizations are vital to a healthy campus environment and believe they allow an array of benefits for students and organizations. Gonzalez wants to be a representative for all those undeclared majors who are still trying to figure things out.

Preeti Juturu Reliable. Determined. Bold.

Preeti Juturu is a first-year public policy student with concentrations in economic policy and health and population policy. Juturu was previously an intern at the Highlander Newspaper and is currently a contributing writer for the Highlander Newspaper as well as an executive fellow for the ASUCR Office of Internal Affairs under Jose CortezHernandez. Juturu’s goal as senator is to tackle food insecurity by supporting R’Pantry’s infrastructure and to provide CHASS students with the respect and utilities required for their success.

Aaron Sanchez Hardworking. Diligent. Reliable Aaron Sanchez is a first-year political science major. Sanchez has worked for the Berkeley City Council for councilmember Kriss Worthington who represents the district that encompasses the UC Berkeley campus and its surrounding neighborhoods. He has worked closely with the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) to coordinate events, write articles of legislation, proclamations and uphold the students’ rights as constituents.

Shayan Saeed Boldness. Progress. Progressiveness Shayan Saeed is a first-year psychology major. As CHASS senator, Saeed hopes to implement an affordable textbook rental system that will allow easier access to textbooks.

Adam Gutierrez Action. Access. Advancement.

Adam Gutierrez is a second-year business student. Gutierrez is involved in The HUB Governing Board and philanthropic organizations. As CHASS senator, Gutierrez plans to actively collaborate with professional staff at UCR to address student concerns and ensure that access to campus resources are protected.

Tiffany Menendez Empowerment. Change. Empathetic.

Tiffany Menendez a third-year media and cultural studies major working on a political science minor. Menendez is currently the communications director at the internal affairs office at ASUCR where she helps coordinate on-campus programs for students. Menendez aspires to work on media content for political campaigns that support politicians and programs that she personally believes in.

Tiffany Menendez Pivotal. Ambitious. Inclusive.

Miranda Lara was previously a youth representative for the Fresno City Council who helped create 100 government internships and a swimming program for kids to help increase river safety. She also worked at the local and national level to advocate for a lower voting age for municipal government elections. As CHASS senator, Lara will fight for increased funding for Costo Hall so marginalized students can have better opportunities for scholarships and inclusive activities.

She also intends to advance student-run programs that benefit and inform the student body such as programs for sexual health, career outreach, financial wellness and programs that address the vast food insecurity problem many students face.

Kyle Stafford Conservation. Dedication. Empowerment.

Kyle Stafford is a second-year history and political science/ international affairs double major. Stafford is currently treasurer for UCR’s Model United Nations team and was a first-year fellow for former ASUCR President Aram Arya.

As a senator, the first bill Stafford wants to work on will call for increasing the list of possible choices for the ethnic studies requirement to include the choice to take a gender and sexuality class instead. Stafford also wants to increase the school’s sustainability and access to counseling and psychology services.

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CHASS Senator Candidates cont.

Kiley Atwood Communicate. Innovate. Leadership.

Kiley Atwood is a second-year political science major running for CHASS senator. Atwood is a student athlete on the women’s track and cross country team. She is the new chair of the Highlander Pride Committee and the media director in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. As a CHASS senator, Atwood would be dedicated to representing the opinions of students around her and would bring forward ideas from those who struggle to have their voices heard.

Itzel Heraldez

Representation. Equality. Education.

As CHASS senator, Itzel Heraldez hopes to provide workshops to help CHASS students build professional resumes and portfolios that they are then able to bring to career fairs and interviews. Heraldez also hopes to work with Amazon Prime to bring more internship and representative opportunities to students.

Angelica Rose Garcia

Transparency. Advocacy. Reporting.

Angelica Rose Garcia is a first-year undeclared student from Redlands. She is currently an executive fellow for the ASUCR Office of Internal Affairs. Garcia hopes to work on providing further transparency with regard to our parking developments as well as north district developments. Garcia will work on these projects through advocating for further student representation on the boards in charge of making these decisions, as well as through creating public reports pertaining to all campus developments each month.

Angel Cuevas

Informative. Transparency. Recognition.

Angel Cuevas is a first-generation college student. Cuevas is currently involved with the Latino Business Student Organization (LBSA), United Latino Students (ULS), Latino Union (LU) and does volunteer work for organizations such as Border Angels (San Diego), food banks and the Chicano Youth Conference. If elected, Cuevas intends to recognize organizations that promote student success and secure needed student resources.

Nelson Huerta

Motivational. Evolutionary. Proactive.

Nelson Huerta is a second-year double major in media and culture studies and sustainability. A specific goal of Huerta’s is to motivate commuters, people with social issues and anyone who feels as though they do not have the opportunity to be involved. Huerta has been involved in multiple organizations on campus such as Habitat for Humanity and Planned Parenthood.

Evelin Castaneda

Educate. Advocate. Compassion.

Evelin Castaneda has two goals if she is elected CHASS senator. Castaneda hopes to educate students on the complexities of UCR, add another student program for Central and South American students because she believes that the Chicano Student Program (CSP) is not as inclusive as it should be.

Yoseline Jacqueline Gutierrez De La Torre

Kavan Nakai Unity. Diversity. Leadership.

As CHASS senator, Kavan Nakai wants to focus on pressing issues such as food insecurity or the mental and emotional health of our student population. Nakai wants to focus on the well-being of his fellow peers as well as commit himself to amplifying the voices of the unheard.

William Wang Inspire. Optimism. Determined.

William Wang is a first-year in pre-business major. A major priority for Wang as CHASS senator is to increase WiFi standards across the campus. Wang believes that slow and unstable WiFi is a huge issue at UCR and that unstable WiFi connections prevent students from completing assignments on time and hinder their ability to succeed.

Miguel Ramirez Representation. Accountability. Effectiveness.

As CHASS senator, Miguel Ramirez hopes to increase accessibility to education for all UCR students by working to make textbooks more affordable, promoting open educational resources and banning access codes because he believes students should not have to pay high rates for course materials.

He also hopes to help institutionalize voter registration and create a campus-wide culture of voting to ensure that UCR students have a voice in our democracy.

Sandra Do Courage. Wisdom. Loyalty.

Sandra Do is currently a senate intern at ASUCR. As CHASS senator, Do believes she will be helpful with the employment process, clubs, planning activities and managing time.

Ky Nguyen Integrity. Equality. Knowledge.

Ky Nguyen is a first-year political science major. As CHASS senator, Nguyen hopes to work on an awareness campaign to spread awareness of campus resources such as TAPS Mobility, a service for “mobility impaired students, faculty, staff and UCR guests.” Nguyen also hopes to create a better relationship between ASUCR and UCPD in addition to expanding our Campus Escort Program in order to create a sense of safety while also increasing class attendance for evening classes and campus activities.

Jon Rudolph Advancement. Transparency. Communication.

Jon Rudolph is specifically concerned about issues such as student access to UCR faculty and accessibility to adequate technology systems on campus. He believes that with enrollment numbers rising significantly with each passing year, there has been an increasing strain on class registration and access to academic resources due to UCR’s overloaded systems. As CHASS senator, Rudolph’s platform includes academic access, increasing technology resources and improving faculty-student relations.

Preston Nam

Candidate did not submit a biography.

Consistency. Community. Transparency.

As CHASS senator, Yoseline Jacqueline Gutierrez De La Torre plans to work for and with the students of UCR to continue to provide the resources that students need to move forward with their education. As a senator, she will work to get more students involved in voicing their concerns and suggestions.

Isaiah Kim Communication. Involvement. Convenience.

Isaiah Kim’s campaign will target “Communication, Involvement, and Convenience.” If elected as CHASS senator, Kim’s priorities will focus around the promotion of on-campus clubs and organizations, parking convenience and establishing efficient communication channels between CHASS students and administration.

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CNAS Senator Candidates Phoebe Ly Collaboration. Integrity. Transparency.

Phoebe Ly is a second-year statistics major with a pending minor in computer science. She is the Secretary of the Highlander Statistics Society and a University Honors student. As CNAS senator, Ly intends to work on projects that help eliminate food waste in dining halls, expand mental and physical health services, advocate for early syllabus access, and keep administration accountable for how student fees and tuition is distributed.

Natalie Hernandez Enhance. Balance. Unity.

Natalie Hernandez is a second-year cell, molecular and developmental biology major. As CNAS senator, Hernandez hopes to increase mental health awareness on campus.

She also hopes to decrease the prices of textbooks and lab equipment.

Jaime Perez Enhance. Balance. Unity.

As CNAS senator, Jaime Perez, a third-year, hopes to provide a smooth career path for CNAS students who want to excel in their studies and give back to their communities by providing students with enough resources for the obstacles students may face.

Luv Amin Opportunity. Community. Engagement.

Luv Amin is a third-year biology major. As CNAS senator, Amin wants to make sure that underrepresented groups and minorities have an equal say and equal access to all of the resources within the campus and the Inland Empire.

Becky Guan Determination. Compelling. Involvement.

As a CNAS senator, Becky Guan intends to work together with local hospitals, UCR’s wellness center and UCR’s medical school to open up more opportunities, especially internship programs for individuals to get experience. She also hopes to use her position as senator to fundraise money for lab coat rentals for students through ASUCR and offer more panels with medical professionals to allow students to do further outreach.

George Sidarous Compassion. Approachability. Ambition.

As CNAS senator, Sidarous intends to support minority groups at UCR, make graduate school preparation easier for students and connect with students through tabling, social media and surveys. He also intends to connect with students through tabling, surveys and social media.

Britney Huynh Opportunity. Involvement. Difference.

As CNAS senator, Britney Huynh hopes to reduce plastic waste by formulating a plan in which Scotty’s can sell metal or bamboo straws. She hopes to implement this at HUB restaurants as well. Huynh also hopes to provide more Academic Resource Center review sessions during finals week as well as homework hotlines.

Danielle Velarde Kindness. Humility. Gratuity.

Danielle Velarde is a first-year biochemistry major and is currently a first-year fellow in ASUCR. As CNAS senator, Velarde intends to find ways to better UCR’s community for current and future UCR students in multiple areas, especially regarding maintaining healthy lifestyles, lowering financial obligations and preparing for future careers.

Matthew Nguyen Communication. Accountability. Respect.

Matthew Nguyen has previously served as an orientation leader and a UCR campus tour guide. As CNAS senator, Nguyen hopes to implement change based on feedback from CNAS students.

Nicholas Dayap Power. Community. Affordability.

Nicholas Dayap is a first-year biochemistry major. As CNAS senator, Dayap hopes to endorse more financially stable methods of acquiring textbooks and laboratory materials. He also hopes to advocate for the utilization of supplementary instruction at the Academic Resource Center, research opportunities and promotion of summer programs.

BCOE Senator Candidates Leo Ngo Preparation. Productivity. Excellence.

Leo Ngo is a third-year electrical engineering major. If elected, Ngo intends to allow BCOE students to have more control over their core classes. He feels that more BCOE students often experience a lack of seats within each core class. Ngo also intends to increase the amount of R’Courses provided in order to provide more extracurricular options. He hopes this would allow also allow students to learn the ability to code regardless of their major.

Richard Jiang Trust. Vision. Progress.

Richard Jiang is a first-year chemical engineering major. If elected, Jiang intends to work toward installing more BCOEbased research grants to help further foster creativity within the undergraduate departments of BCOE. He would work to accomplish this by utilizing ASUCR’s ATM income instead of student fees.

Jonathan Thai

Maurice Armstrong Bridge the gap.

Maurice Armstrong is a third-year environmental engineering major. Armstrong is currently involved in Engineers Without Borders’ biogas project, the Society of Women Engineers’ Team Tech and currently sits on the Green Campus Action Plan committee. As BCOE senator, Armstrong hopes to work closely with Leadership Council so that he can convey the need of the student body to the dean of our college during my mandated meaning with him. In addition, he hopes to continue providing opportunities for the growing hackathon community and connect UCR to industrial partners.

Shray Glover Empathetic. Transparent. Diligence.

Shray Glover is a first-year computer science with business applications major. As BCOE senator, Glover will ensure that BCOE’s voice and input will be heard despite the fact that BCOE has a smaller number of senators compared to CHASS and CNAS. If elected BCOE senator, he would serve the students of BCOE and represent them to the truest extent.

Sustainability. Transportation. Accessibility.

Jonathan Thai is a third-year computer science major. Thai currently serves as a BCOE senator. His first priority if re-elected is to survey the students to accumulate more data on critical issues of BCOE and the entire student body. He also plans on educating BCOE students on the power of networking with companies and businesses to enhance their professional development.

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Referenda The Cortez Basic Needs and Aid Referendum

The Basic Needs and Aid Referendum would support funding a $5 fee each quarter, including the summer quarter, per undergraduate student to ensure that UCR students have access to increased food security and basic educational needs resources. 25 percent of the fee, which would be $1.25 for fall 2019, would be returned to students in the form of undergraduate financial aid. The remaining fee would be used to secure and support food security and basic needs infrastructure such as childcare supplies, food, hygiene and educational staff.

The Green Campus Action Plan (GCAP) Referendum

The GCAP Referendum intends to rephrase the current GCAP Referendum in place. If this referendum passes, the GCAP referendum will be rephrased so that its fee distribution will include food security and distribution changes in GCAP policy.

The Highlander Empowerment Student Services Referendum (HESSR)

The Highlander Empowerment Student Services Referenda (HESSR) will replace the current HESSR fee of $14.00 per quarter for a net increase of $2.00 per quarter and will include Undocumented Student Programs. The new fee would be $16.00 per quarter. 25 percent of the fee, $4.00 per quarter, will be returned to financial aid. The remaining $12.00 would be split evenly amongst all eight ethnic and gender programs and transferred to each program’s budget. The fee increase would provide increased co-programming with student organizations and student-led initiatives, including funding and advising, staffing to assist students in finding support and resources, support for conference hosting and conference travel, support for common ground collective projects and collaborative initiatives with the diversity council, peer mentoring and peer education programs support and more resources in each student program office and center, such as student computer support and educational materials.

Highlander News Referendum

The Highlander News Referenda is seeking to increase funding for the Highlander Newspaper. It proposes a $1.50 increase to the current quarterly fee of $2.00 would help absorb the Highlander’s rising print, maintenance and operating costs in order to provide practical experience for students interested in journalism, marketing, media production and design on a campus, deliver breaking news and commentary on the issues that affect the future of our campus, expand media team and resources to consistently hold campus administrators, faculty and student leaders accountable and give a platform for students, clubs and organizations to tell their stories and highlight their service to campus.

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ASUCR

Author of judicial council amendment strikes proposal Senators voice concerns over closed session meeting and transparency

JORDAN HUANG / HIGHLANDER

Senators voiced concerns on Wednesday evening over a closed session meeting and transparency. ► FROM ASUCR

This unofficial proposal, stated Fuentes, would act as a possible “liaison should senate ever feel as if judicial council is not interpreting the constitution.”

Fuentes stated that the Senate would be able to look to the advisor, who should have experience in legal studies or any sort of legal jurisdiction, to make Judicial Council rescind a decision if they feel as if the council was not interpreting the constitution correctly.

Fuentes’ proposal would look to hire a full-time or parttime UCR professor who has experience in legal studies.

However, Fuentes stated that

be more transparent about votes and amendment items.

He believes that this would really help “foster more trust between our student government and the students.”

In response, Executive Vice President Andrea Cuevas noted that Wednesdays are the only days that ASUCR is permitted to send out a mass email to students.

Justin Domecillo, a fourthyear English major also addressed the Senate during public forum. Domecillo began his statement by claiming that he had a few things he wanted to call attention to. This statement prompted laughter from a few members of the senate

1:00 p.m., which includes setting up and putting away the table.

Domecillo also addressed the dismissal of exparliamentarian Jose Rodriguez.

Domecillo stated, “It is unethical and it is unwise to dismiss members of the senate who are not official such as parliamentarians … it should be something that is voted on and is transparent.”

After Domecillo left the podium, an unnamed student took to the podium and stated, “It is to my understanding that Kappa Sigma is not allowed to house Riverside because of known rape parties. This is

“I WOULD EXPECT THAT THE BRANCH THAT IS EXPECTED TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION WOULD BE AWARE OF (THE RULES) AND WOULD NOT INVITE ELECTED OFFICIALS INTO A CLOSED SESSION MEETING WHEN ONLY APPOINTED OFFICIALS SHOULD BE PRESENT.” the advisor chosen would be acting as a volunteer and it would not be a paid position.

During public forum, Samir Al-Alami, a thirdyear political science major, took to the podium to address his concerns with the transparency of ASUCR. AlAlami stated that he would appreciate it if ASUCR’s agendas could be posted in such a way that is “actually transparent to members of the student community.” AlAlami went on to state, “I believe the regulation is that the senate agenda has to be posted 48 hours prior to the senate meeting, however, I believe most of the students here were notified of the pending agenda items this morning.”

Al-Alami addressed the senate and stated that for the sake of transparency, it would be best if going forward the Senate could

which Domecillo addressed by stating, “I’m sorry I did not think it was funny that having knowledge of the bylaws was a laughable matter.”

Domecillo then went on to state that the Senate is required to table every Wednesday however they did not do so during winter quarter. “I really encourage you guys to be better coordinated about your schedules and enforcing this section of the bylaws.”

According to the ASUCR bylaws, Chapter 20 of the Senate Accessibility and Transparency Act states that ASUCR Wednesday tabling should be conducted every Wednesday at noon during the regular academic sessions. It also states that each senator is required to participate in tabling at least once per quarter. A minimum of two senators are supposed to staff the table from 12:00 p.m. to

worrisome in itself that some candidates running for office this season are suspected of being involved with this organization.” The student then went on to state, “I propose that the senate ought to investigate all candidates and disqualify anyone who has been or is involved in any sort of organization that sexually assaults or plans rapes of Riverside students.”

The student then promptly left the meeting. Immediately after the statement was made, the senate did not address the student or the student’s statement and Executive Vice President Andrea Cuevas immediately stated, “We’ll be moving on to committee reports.”

During committee reports, Julian Gonzalez informed the senate that as of Monday, April 8, the author of the judicial amendment no longer wishes to have the amendment

considered. He then went on to state the author is striking the amendment and that this means that the amendment will not go through. Gonzalez stated that the author apologized for not having the proper communication with judicial council about the amendment and hopes to see that future leaders of ASUCR are more transparent about making such large decisions.

In an interview with the Highlander, CHASS Senator Chelsea Davenport stated that she did not support this amendment because, “It would essentially give the executive branch the power to overrule anything that the judicial branch says that they didn’t agree with … which is not how a three branch government works.”

Davenport also stated that a balance of powers is a concern for multi branch governments, and Davenport believes that the judicial branch’s power can be checked in two ways. It can first be checked, according to Davenport because justices are nominated by the president and can only preside in the judiciary if confirmed by the senate. She also believes justices can be checked because they can be removed.

During public comment, CNAS Senator Abigail Cortes took to the podium to address a judicial council meeting that occurred on Friday, April 5. Cortes stated that a list of specific senators were disclosed in a private email between a member of the judicial council and a member of the senate. In this email, Cortes stated that there were specific senators who were invited to a closed session meeting with the judicial council which Cortes stated sparked a red flag to her because when a closed session meeting occurs, “it is only appointed officials.

No one from the public is allowed to be present.”

Cortes stated that when

she first asked about how these specific senators were chosen to attend this meeting, she learned that these senators approached the judicial council directly by themselves. She then heard, however, that a chief justice stated that a list of the senators who were invited to the meeting was given personally to a justice.

Cortes stated, “I’m bringing this situation to light because I want to ensure that this kind of secrecy does not continue. We all talk about being transparent and run on platforms about transparency, yet here I am as a senator and that is not even being practiced in our own senate.”

In response to Cortes’ statements, CHASS Senator Mehvish Ali stated, “Respectfully, it is to my understanding that as per Robert’s Rules of Order, you can invite anyone to a closed session meeting if you have a reason to,” to which Cortes replied that a reason was not given at the meeting. Ali then stated, “The reason does not have to be disclosed.”

Ali then invited the newly elected Parliamentarian Stephanie Michel to review the rule in Robert’s Rules of Order but Cuevas noted that Michel was never issued a book of Robert’s Rules of Order, which Davenport voiced her concerns over.

At the end of public comment, Gonzalez also voiced his concerns over the closed session meeting and stated, “I think that it is unethical to leave out half of the elected student voice who sit on the horseshoe. We were all elected to represent the voice. This is exactly what we fight against. I think it is important to have the entire senate involved when a decision involving our highest ruling document in our association which is the constitution.”

The meeting was adjourned at 7:42 p.m.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/news

2019 ASUCR Executive Cabinet Debates highlighted major issues facing UCR

LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER

LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER ► FROM DEBATE

Veliz’s planned initiative is to host a mental health conference that will inform students about mental health programs on campus.

Lennin Kuri and Luis Huerta are both second-year political science majors vying to become vice president of external affairs. Both Kuri and Huerta find Costo Hall funding to be a major issue. Kuri accused ASUCR officials of performative politics on Costo Hall funding. Huerta also believes that the Costo Hall funding issue is important but other issues should be addressed for all students.

Current organizing director under the external affairs office, Luis Huerta sees basic needs as a human right.

Kuri believes that UCR referendums transcend the university. He believes more advocacy should be done on a local and national level.

Current Outreach Director Carolyn Chang is running unopposed for vice president of finance. An audience member asked Chang about grocery receipts being reimbursed.

Chang’s response, “We can ensure that students are not overusing the budget for their own personal use. It is for the organization to do something for the clubs, not for themselves.”

CHASS Senators Mehvish Ali and Julian Gonzalez are both running for president. Both candidates battled over the amount of funding between

R’Gear and R’Pantry. Gonzalez stated that R’Gear has had a long-lasting impact at UCR, but he wishes that ASUCR would be allowed to write a check to R’Pantry to solve food insecurity; according to Gonzalez, ASUCR is not allowed to directly fund the R’Pantry. Ali believes that more funding should be directed to other programs instead of R’Gear.

For example, Ali suggests more funding for R’Pantry and providing more visibility to the students. In the debate, moderator and current Highlander Newspaper Editor-inChief Andreas Rauch questioned both candidates about presidential stipends. The presidential stipend per year is $9,900. Both Ali and

Gonzalez claim that they are running for president to provide change and not simply for enrichment.

Green Campus Action Vice Chair Olenka Graham Castaneda is running unopposed for GCAP director.

Castaneda wants to prioritize more resources for the R’Kitchen: “I would like to focus on basic needs a little bit more. I would love to pump in more resources for the R’kitchen. I want to make sure it is successful and also is zero waste.” Strengthening the recycling program is also another component to Castaneda’s platform.

Eric E. Calderon and Juandi Riley are running for Transfer/NonTraditional Director. Juandi Riley, Calderon’s opponent, was not at the debate. Calderon wants to provide transfer students with priority in class registration and offer more resources to non-traditional students.

Two first-year students Luna Sebastian and Farzaneh Talebi Liasi are pursuing the Personnel Director position. Sebastian states she has learned a lot from the current personnel director Nataly Morales, however, Sebastian views the personnel director position can be more efficient in performing tasks.

Liasi wants to extend resources for undocumented students and Cal Grant funding. Both Sebastian and Liasi believe that directly listening to students’ concerns can better aid in solving campus problems.

The voting period will last between April 22 through April 26.

UCR students can either vote online H or at a specific polling location. ■

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/news

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

Chancellor Wilcox holds town hall to discuss 50-year vision for UCR

ANDY LI Contributing Writer

On Thursday, April 11 UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox held a one hour town hall with members of the university community in HUB 302 to discuss the progress made towards the Year 2054 goals for sustainable development that focus on assessing community needs as well as other ideas that attendees wanted to share to improve current programs and services on campus.

COURTESY OF UCR NEWS

Approximately 80 people attended the event, including professors, students, police officers, campus workers and other educational specialists.

The Chancellor began the meeting by acknowledging the amount of success the university has had within the last couple of years. “UCR is now number one in terms of graduating Pell Grant recipient students,” Wilcox announced.

“This is a stunning achievement that continues to ensure that we are on track to meet our

academic success goals in the decades ahead.”

Other issues discussed included the ethnic diversity of the campus population.

“Currently, 84 percent of students at UCR are people of color,” said Wilcox. “However, we absolutely have more room to improve when it comes to faculty positions, an area where racial diversity is not as pronounced.” The Chancellor expressed optimism that more non-white professors will be hired in the coming years, from

both domestic and international sources.

“UCR saw the biggest jump in the U.S. News and World Report rankings last year,” Wilcox added. “About 100 years ago, UCLA was actually known as the ‘southern branch’ of the UC campus system.

Today, it has surpassed UC Berkeley in the annual rankings.

Just imagine the potential UCR has when we pass our 100 year anniversary.”

Finally, the Chancellor asked attendees, all of whom were assigned to about a dozen tables, to work in groups and to discuss their respective visions for UCR 2054 as the university celebrates its centennial anniversary. “Just thirty years ago, my biggest hurdle with technology was alternating between the keyboard and the mouse,” Wilcox stated, referring to an image of the first Apple computer on the PowerPoint presentation. “Technology has grown so quickly over the last few decades, and it’s amazing to imagine what kind of new resources the university will require in the next 30 years.”

During the townhall session, students, faculty and community members asked questions about various challenges that the university

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continues to face. A professor expressed interest in having more research opportunities and publication sites become available to faculty and grad students on campus. The Chancellor also agreed about the importance of ensuring more awareness and access to the variety of research areas the university currently offers.

Another student brought up concerns that the Middle Eastern Student Center’s current location in the HUB was inconvenient because it was isolated from the other ethnic minority departments, including the African Student Programs, the Chicano Student Programs and the Asian Pacific Student Programs.

The chancellor offered to look into the issue and to take into consideration the requests to relocate MESC. After the question and answer session, the university provost, Dr. Cynthia Larive, gave a brief presentation to conclude the town hall by further emphasizing the campus development goals with regard to Year 2054. Issues that were mentioned included increasing research in green energy technology and strengthening UCR’s continued specialization in agritech.

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UC workers strike in protest against unfair labor practices

CHRISTINE TRAN Contributing Writer

On April 10 from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., service workers across all 10 UC campuses and medical centers once again took to the streets to stand up against the University of California.

The strike was organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 with the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) in attendance to show solidarity.

The unions went on strike after deciding to file two charges against the UC for unfair labor practices.

“I’ve been here at the University of California, Riverside for close to twenty years and I noticed that a lot of the employees where I worked in dining services were getting mistreated. That’s why I decided to get involved, because I wanted to let people who were intimidated and afraid to speak out that they have a voice,” stated Jesse Hernandez, the executive board member and bargaining representative for AFSCME Local 3299

AFSCME 3299 has been negotiating a new contract with the University of California for two years and claims the UC has responded by breaking the law. Their charges allege that the UC failed to prevent or denounce a supervisor’s violent attack on workers while they picketed and discouraged members from joining the strike by giving out perks like gift baskets. They also openly campaigned for members to quit the union by spreading false rumors about the benefits of dropping from the union.

“Many of the people here are struggling to make ends meet but the University of California wants to go ahead and make a lot of cutbacks, which will hurt a lot of families. Most of the people on strike are just looking for job security,” said Isaiah Martinez, an executive board member with AFSCME Local 3299.

As for the future, Hernandez stated that AFSCME Local 3299 is determined to continue fighting until the UC comes up with a fair contract.

Hernandez also shared how local government officials like Assemblyman Jose Medina

ADRIAN CRUZ / HIGHLANDER

and Rep. Mark Takano sent representatives from their offices to show their support to the strike. Many students attended the strike in solidarity with UC workers. “I come out to support because I understand what they fight for. I’ve worked with so many of the chefs and it’s hard when

they put in a lot of effort and help the student workers out so much. It’s difficult to watch them get treated unfairly because they’re good people and hard workers,” said Melanie Gonzalez, a third-year Spanish major and a student worker at Glen Mor market.

The strike occurred on the corner of 900 University Ave., next to the Arts Building. Workers walked around holding signs and rested beneath tents set up.

There were several separate eight hour striking shifts, so AFSCME Local 3299 also set H up food stations for strikers. ■

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NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/news

UC will not raise tuition for California residents this fall

AMANI MAHMOUD Senior Staff Writer

The University of California (UC) announced that they will not raise tuition for California students this fall. However, UC President Janet Napolitano stated that she expects tuition increases for out-of-state and international students.

The regents’ finance committee passed a proposal on March 6 that would require non-resident undergraduate students to pay about $762 more in tuition for the 20192020 school year. This would raise about $30 million for the UC. On March 14, many UC regents disputed a raise in tuition prices for non-resident students.

Regent Cecilia Estolano stated that she was against a raise in tuition for non-resident students, stating that, “We shouldn’t just be the playground of a few very, very wealthy people from a few countries.”

In an interview with the Highlander, Sarah McBride, the media and communications strategist for the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), stated that the university is committed to affordability and accessibility and is pleased to be able to hold in-state undergraduate tuition steady for the 20192020 academic year. McBride wrote that, “we are optimistic about our partnership with the governor and legislature to work collectively in identifying additional resources to support UC’s core mission, in lieu of tuition revenues.”

McBride stated that consistent with UC’s commitment to affordability, “we do not expect a minor increase to non-resident tuition (which is less than the rate of inflation) — if approved — to affect non-resident enrollment or timely progress toward graduation.”

In addition,

COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

McBride noted that financial aid offices offer support in finding forms of assistance available to help families with a range of incomes meet their expected contribution.

Non-resident tuition enables UC campuses to expand course availability, student advising and other services that help in-state students make timely progress towards graduation, stated McBride. Without that support, McBride said that California residents would have fewer course selections, larger classes and reduced support services.

In an interview with the Highlander, Gerry Bomotti, the vice chancellor for planning and budget at UCR, stated that, “We here at UCR have a much smaller portion of our student population that is non-resident, but we believe the non-resident

rate is already pretty high.”

He stated that UCR was not requesting any additional increase in the non-resident costs and concurrently trying to increase its non-resident population under the existing fee structure.

Bomotti believes that it is a benefit for UCR instate students to not have a tuition increase. He stated that, however, approximately one-half of UCR’s total core budget that supports basic instruction for UCR students and does not include grants and contracts or housing and dining or other similar selfsupporting activities comes from the State of California. If there is no tuition increase and if the state does not cover this with additional state revenue, Bomotti believes there will be a financial impact on the campus.

In order to clarify what the financial impact on UCR’s campus would be if the state did not provide additional revenue to cover the lack of revenue that would occur if tuition prices are not raised, Bomotti provided a hypothetical situation. Bomotti stated that, “under these proportions, if the state gave a 4% increase in funding that does sound very good, but if there is a 0% increase in tuition income that means our total core budget goes up about 2%.”

He also stated, “if at the same time mandatory expenditure increases (like salary, benefits, etc.) are going up by 3.5% of the total core budget we end up with a 1.5% budget cut to balance our budget.”

In the past, Bomotti stated that the state has agreed to fund the equivalent of a tuition increase in order for

campuses to be able to balance their budgets with fixed cost increases such as salary, benefits and utilities but the state has not indicated they would provide that support for the next fiscal year. “If this happens UCR will have a budget cut in order to fund fixed cost increases,” stated Bomotti.

No tuition increase for California residents will “clearly be beneficial for our students, but if the state does not provide additional revenue to the institutions (which they have in the recent past), we will have to make some budget cuts in order to balance our budget,” stated Bomotti.

Bomotti stated that he is sure UCR and the UC would work to focus those cuts on areas that would have a lesser impact on students.

Bomotti believes that there needs to be a balance of resident to non-resident students. He stated that, “UCR is at about 3.5% non-residents right now, so very modest. We would like to grow that number up to 10% over the years, but it still would mean the vast majority of our students would be residents.”

In response to disagreements over raising tuition costs for non-resident students, Bomotti stated that as a state public institution of higher education, it is very important to serve state residents. “The value of non-resident (full paying) students is that they add some diversity to the student body, but they also can bring in additional revenue that can be used to support the campus overall, for the benefit of all students,” wrote Bomotti.

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JIMMY LAI / HIGHLANDER

Opinions

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions

OPINIONS

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

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HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL

What can we do about the opioid crisis in America?

A

lthough drug abuse is by no means a new problem for modern society, its prevalence has been largely bolstered by the drastic number of overdose deaths in recent decades. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) there have been over 700,000 overdose deaths over the last two decades, and around 400,000 of those deaths involved some form of opioid.

To better understand what many now are calling the opioid crisis, as well as offer potential solutions, it can be helpful to develop a better understanding of drug abuse and societal attitudes towards these issues.

The term “opioid” refers to any substance that resembles the opium molecule, whether it is derived from the poppy plant itself like heroin or artificially produced in a laboratory like fentanyl. These substances have analgesic, or pain-reducing effects, but can also produce euphoric effects as well. These properties have allowed scientists to create pain-relieving medicine that has benefitted the lives of many who suffer from pain. However, for as long as these substances have been sold, addiction never took long to catch up.

Modern medical understandings of drug addiction typically view it as a disease, considering how the “symptoms” of addiction are typified by fairly standardized diagnostic criteria. However, American attitudes on drug

COURTESY OF AIR FORCE MEDICAL SERVICE

addiction have, since early in its history, reflected embedded Christian attitudes which hold that addiction is a personal moral failing, and that it can be cured through willpower alone.

Given the addictive and destructive potentials of opioid pain relievers, it is clear that a careful balance must be struck between appropriate medical prescribing and identifying the potential for addiction in a patient. Striking this balance falls on several shoulders, including the healthcare industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the government.

The rise of prescription opioid sales can be traced back to the 1990s when Purdue began aggressively marketing Oxycontin as a miracle drug.

Perhaps their boldest claim at the time was that the medication was non-addictive. This could not be further from the truth, as hundreds of thousands of people would soon come to find.

Pharmaceutical companies marketing to doctors is a major factor in the scale of the opioid crisis. According to a study by Dr. Scott Hadland, countries who spent more on marketing these kinds of medications to doctors had higher overdoserelated mortality rates than those that did not. It is careless on the part of doctors, despite certain reforms in recent years like stricter access to opioids for people picking them up from the pharmacy, to prescribe these drugs so willingly just because of the extra money in their pocket or for the

convenience.

The picture is not black and white, however, as in many areas of the country opioids can be the only option available to healthcare providers. Many rural areas do not have access to resources for alternative pain treatments like mindfulness meditation or physical therapy.

This leaves one option for prescribers: they must weigh a patient’s desire for pain relief against the potential for abuse.

To be fair, this dilemma should not fall on doctors, unless they are an addiction specialist.

More resources need to be made available and affordable both for addicts and for prevention awareness.

Alternative treatments, pharmaceutical research into alternative pain-relieving medications and better funding for addiction treatment and prevention are all admirable goals that many on all sides of the aisle have proposed and endorsed. Yet too little by way of policy has been done to address the opioid crisis.

The societal cost of this crisis is estimated to be around $504 billion, substantially more than what is currently available.

The lackluster response to this public health issue may reflect those traditional American attitudes towards this epidemic.

The modern interpretation of the moral failing argument concerning addiction is reflected in policies like Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs,” an era in the 1980s throughout which drug crimes saw increased sentencing

and harsher sentences for perpetration. The problems of drug abuse and addiction were and continue to be viewed as criminal justice issues, yet given the death toll it is clear that this epidemic is a public health crisis, and should be treated as such.

While it is easy to blame the current president for any and all woes afflicting this country, the opioid crisis has been going on for nearly three decades, and no administration’s response has thus far been adequate. It can be difficult to catalyze funding, however, when the impetus to do so is met with disdain from a significant portion of the population. That is, many do not want to pay higher taxes or convince their representatives to address the problems of the crisis. This ultimately means less research into new treatments and medications, fewer options for government sponsored healthcare providers like Medicaid and fewer policies or regulations on pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare industry.

One major avenue through which success may be possible is pharmaceutical research. While it requires far more funding than it currently receives, this type of research could lead to new medications which could replace opioids as non-addictive alternatives to pain treatment or management. However, this too requires an attitudinal shift as pharmaceutical companies would likely challenge the efficacy of such drugs in pursuit of continued profits

from the highly addictive pain drugs currently available.

It is also important to remember that treatment cannot easily be monetized, as many addicts lose everything they have through their addiction.

This lack of resources tends to force addicts into the black market for cheaper alternatives to opioid medications like heroin. This lack of monetary incentive effectively cripples the well-intended within the healthcare industry, and slows progress on nearly all fronts.

When it comes to effecting change and stopping or even slowing the opioid epidemic, it is clear that attitudes need to change. Drug addiction needs to be destigmatized so as to allow the rest of society to see the affliction as they do in certain other countries like Switzerland, who — while certainly not perfect in their methods regarding addiction treatment as it tends to focus more on harm reduction and less on prevention and research — offer statesponsored needle-exchanges and drug rehabilitation centers.

Accomplishing this by way of changing people’s minds will not be easy, but without a significant shift in attitude the devastating opioid crisis will only continue to wreak havoc on scores of Americans.

■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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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions

OPINION POLL Compiled by Lydia Tsou Staff Photographer

“Have you or someone you know been affected by the opioid crisis?”

William Leon Biology Third-year

Xizhon Clare Psychology Second-year

Edgar Rodriguez Political Science Second-year

Kalena Manzano English Third-year

Shamia Khan Earth Sciences First-year

Amala Sarwar Business Marketing Fourth-year

“Yeah, my uncle is addicted to painkillers. It’s a whole mess.”

“Yeah, I know a decent amount of people from both high school and university who are addicted to opioids.”

“I have some friends from back in high school who got into that stuff.”

“Someone I know has been affected. It’s sad how quickly they got hooked and it spreads a lot in suburban areas.”

“No, I don’t know anyone.”

“No, no one I know has been affected.”

Colorado sheriff ’s decision not to uphold state gun laws should not be tolerated SAMUEL HARRISON Contributing Writer

Colorado Sheriff Steve Reams recently told CNN that he would rather go to jail than enforce a newly introduced gun law. He wishes to give himself permission to ignore state law at will, but he could be seeing the inside of his own prison soon. Sheriffs do not have the right to disregard state law, and refusal to enforce it could result in Reams being held in contempt of court.

The Colorado Senate passed a bill on March 28 that would allow a relative, roommate or law enforcement professional to petition to confiscate someone’s firearms should that person be deemed too mentally unstable to possess them.

The owner of the firearms would then be able to appeal the judgment in court within 14 days of the seizure, and if they fail to make their plea, the judge could order the guns remain withheld for up to one year.

Sheriff Reams is entitled to his passion for his Second Amendment right. His opinions on the recent bill are just as valid as anyone else’s while he is wearing civilian clothes, but the moment he puts his sheriff uniform on, those opinions cannot be allowed to influence his decisions.

The police are an extension of the law; they should not be the arbiters deciding which laws are valid.

It is worth noting that Reams is not only conducting himself in a way that seems to indicate a lack of understanding of his role, but is also setting a frighteningly low standard for other officers. Allowing the police free rein in choosing which laws to uphold has had devastating results in the past. In June 1999, Colorado police refused to enforce a restraining order Jessica Gonzales had on her husband.

The children were kidnapped by their estranged father and later found dead in his truck. The father was killed in a police shoot-out shortly thereafter.

A future in which law enforcement can choose which laws they want to enforce has the potential to quickly become chaotic, further exacerbating

COURTESY OF WELD COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

the pervasive distrust in our police force here in the states.

Those in opposition to stricter gun control laws will argue that Sheriff Reams should not be obligated to enforce a law he deems unconstitutional. While one could argue that the law is indeed unconstitutional, it is likely that, had this been most any other law, a sheriff ’s dismissal of it would have been met with greater backlash.

Many of those supporting the sheriff are likely doing so because he is taking a stand in defense of the Second Amendment, but had he taken a stand against laws regarding the enforcement of restraining orders, he would have fewer admirers.

An officer of the law should,

ideally, strive first and foremost to protect and serve. Not upholding these laws could very well mean doing the opposite of protecting the people he serves. Controversial as this bill may be, it was written with an intent to ensure that potentially unstable individuals could not gain access to weapons that could make them a danger to themselves and others.

Furthermore, should he refuse to uphold the law and an innocent person is hurt, then Reams, or any other officer who chooses to take part in this particular form of protest, could on some level be considered responsible. The fact that gun violence is unusually prevalent in the U.S. is common knowledge, and the fact that we have six times as many

firearm homicides as Canada and 16 times as many as Germany is all but an open secret. With rates like these, we should be doing all we can to reduce the chance of gun violence.

Failure to enforce these laws could result in deaths that would have been prevented otherwise.

Regardless of whether we are proor anti-gun control, we should make it our duty to hold our officers to a higher standard. Sheriff Reams is perfectly within his rights in publicly disagreeing with the recent passing of the bill, but he cannot be allowed to interpret state law while on the job.

There is no place in today’s society for a sheriff with a desire to derelict his duty and fail to uphold the law he has sworn to serve.

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“REAMS IS NOT ONLY CONDUCTING HIMSELF IN A WAY THAT SEEMS

TO INDICATE A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HIS ROLE, BUT IS ALSO SETTING A FRIGHTENINGLY LOW STANDARD FOR OTHER OFFICERS.”

FEATURES

FEATURES

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/features

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

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Authors Vanessa Hua and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto open up about real life inspirations in fiction CHRISTINE TRAN Contributing Writer

On April 11, from 3-5 p.m, the UC Riverside Creative Writing Department invited writers Vanessa Hua and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto to talk about their new books, “A River of Stars,” and “Shadow Child.” Creative Writing Professor Susan Straight also hosted a Q&A where the authors opened up about the reality of trying to get their work published and the roadblocks they encountered along the way.

“I asked these two authors to come because there are some fascinating parallels in what they’re doing but also because they’re writing about a lot of things I know my students are interested in,” stated Straight.

Hua is a UCR alumna and graduate from the Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts MFA Program. She has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. Hua is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and has also published a short story collection called “Deceit and Other Possibilities.”

Rizzuto has previously published two novels, her memoir, “Hiroshima in the Morning,” and her first novel, “Why She Left Us.” Her awards and recognitions include an American Book Award, Grub Street National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Finalist, Asian American Literary Award Finalist, Dayton Literary Peace Prize Nominee, among others.

She is also a recipient of the U.S./Japan Creative Artist Fellowship.

Rizzuto began with a brief reading from her novel “Shadow Child,” a murder mystery that weaves together stories from New York City, Hawaii, the injustices of Japanese internment camps and the bombing of Hiroshima. She was inspired to write after discovering that her own mother, who was a Japanese American who grew up in Hawaii, had been a prisoner in an internment camp.

“My beginning as a writer was actually about finding a story that was fascinating to me that I wanted to uncover. There were always these secrets, my grandmother wouldn’t speak about

it and my mother didn’t know so I began to try to fill these gaps in my family history,” stated Rizzuto.

Following Rizzuto, Hua read a few pages from her novel, which details the struggle of a pregnant Chinese woman who plans to give birth to her son in the United States in hopes of opening up opportunities for her and her baby.

Afterwards, she spoke about the differences of going from being a journalist to a fiction writer.

With both Rizzuto and Hua choosing to write about different groups of Asian origin, they also addressed the difficulties that came along with representation. They did not want their stories to be viewed as the only story for a certain group of people and there was much pressure for the both of them to maintain authenticity.

Hua mentioned how ensuring authenticity can especially be a struggle when writing about ethnic groups outside one’s own.

“It is a question that often comes up, can you write outside of your experience, is it cultural appropriation?

But I think that it is all about the way you go about it, I feel what works best though it is having an established relationship with the different communities you are writing about,” stated Hua. The authors also briefly went into detail about the process of becoming a published author. They shared how it could take from months to a decade to get one book published. Along with that, the process of finding an agent that they are satisfied with is filled with trial and error as well.

“It’s not a cut and dry occupation as a writer, you might start something and put it aside for even five to six years because you’re not ready to write it yet and when you come back to it the market might change. There’s no way you can control any of that,” stated Straight.

Towards the end, Rizzuto and Hua took questions from the audience. One topic that came up was about branding and social media.

Hua expressed that while social media can allow authors to maintain connections with a community, people should not allow it to consume them. After the Q&A session, members of the audience were allowed to purchase copies of their books and get them signed by Hua and Rizzuto. There was also a raffle for two free copies of the book to end the book talk.

This talk was apart of the Sixth Annual Creative Writing Reading Series by the Department of Creative Writing. Past speakers have included UCR alumna and New York Times bestseller Fatima Mirza.

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“I FEEL LIKE FICTION CAN FLOURISH WHERE THE OFFICIAL RECORD ENDS. TO ME, RESEARCH LIKE COURT DOCUMENTS, THAT IS LIKE THE FLOOR, IT SHOULD NOT BE THE CEILING OR THE LIMIT BECAUSE YOU ARE CONSTRAINED BY WHAT YOU CAN DISCOVER BUT NOT WHAT YOU CAN IMAGINE,” SAID HUA.

NICHOLAS ROH / HIGHLANDER

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMAZON

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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/features

International Student Union’s first International Night celebrates and unites UCR’s vibrant international I

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MARTHA DELGADO Senior Staff Writer

The lights inside HUB 302 were dimmed and the smell of curry and enchiladas filled the room. Posters of cartoon foods with phrases such as “I love you so matcha” and “Hummus where the heart is” decorated the space. Over 200 students, international and domestic, joined ISU in their first International Night. ISU had been created over a year ago, and spent the last three months planning the event.

On Friday, April 12 International Student Union (ISU) in sponsorship with the Internal Affairs office, UCR Extension Center, ASPB and Gram’s Mission BBQ held this inaugural event.

Throughout the night, organizations performed cultural shows and food from different cuisines was served.

Among the performers were Senryu Taiko, dance group Sixcess, Ballet Folklorico de UCR, HallyUCR’s K-Pop dance team Tartan Seoul, Oceania dance and 909 dance team.

The night also featured performances from UCR students Ran Tan, who performed a classical Chinese Dance, Sherry Meng who performed a flute

solo, Nyl Doligosa who sang a Filipino song with outside performers Laurence Tan and KC Gonzales, Prashanthi Manoharan who gave a Bharatanatyam performance and Aakash Saha who sang a medley of songs.

The night began with ISU president and fourth-year psychology major Viresha Perera welcoming the audience.

“Our goal was to create a campus and a place where international students feel empowered and connected. Tonight is a celebration of our culture, our diversity, and our unity,” said Perera.

In the middle of the event, Vice Provost of International Affairs Dr. Kelechi Kalu addressed the importance of international students since he himself was at one point an international student too. “International students are key components of what UCR is today and will become tomorrow,” said Kalu.

“I thank you so much for taking the initiative to advance our collaborative interest, to come together through food, through music, through dancing, through friendship and family to build a community that connects your homeland to this country, your family to this institution, and to expand your global reach.” He added, “By so doing you have honored us and in return,

club When Hannah Navarette came to UCR as a first-year, she knew that she wanted to pursue research. With the help of faculty, she was able to find out about the UC Campus Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP).

“There is kind of a culture on campus, and this isn’t unique to UCR, that faculty members and mentors don’t know how to mentor undergraduates from a diverse population,” said Navarette.

Now a fourth-year biology major, president of CAMP and finishing the process of graduate school applications, she had found mentors to turn to during the stressful application process thanks to the support she received from the organization. “By participating in CAMP and eventually serving in leadership roles, I have found within me a motivation to help other people and particularly within research within science,” said Navarette.

CAMP is part of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation grant and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). CAMP’s goal is to support students from underrepresented minorities in STEM

I

yourself.”

Throughout the night, attendees participated in the henna and photo booth activities while others enjoyed the performances and food.

“International students before ISU didn’t have a place where they could feel at home,” began Perera, “where they could feel empowered, feel connected to the rest of the campus and to each other. I’m glad that ISU is finally doing that for us.”

Lisa Dong, a fourth-year psychology major and director of International Night, emphasized the effort the ISU officers and board members put on for

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ALEJANDRO MEZA-AGUILAR / HIGHLANDER

the event. “This is our first time doing (International Night),” said Dong. “It was the most amazing because we wanted (it) to be the legacy for the future. Hopefully the one next year and the year after will be better than this year’s.”

ISU can be reached through their Highlander Link (International Student Union) or Facebook page. ISU’s holds the recurring event Coffee Hours every Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the patio behind Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where students can meet and socialize with ISU members and international students.

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UC CAMP offers guidance and success for minorities in STEM

fields to participate in research and apply to postgraduate programs.

Among the resources CAMP provides are research opportunities, stipends for research, faculty mixers, professional development mentorship and opportunities to present research at the CAMP statewide symposium, among others. Currently, there are 20 students in the program.

“The grant itself provides a variety of resources to students, and those resources really are something that you just don’t get in the regular classroom.

(CAMP) is designed to get students to engage more in undergraduate experiences,” explained Dr. Thomas Dickson, assistant vice provost of Undergraduate Education.

General meetings are open for anyone to attend. However, stipends to fund research are limited to the students that meet the criteria as listed

by NSF of being in the STEM field and identifying as an underrepresented minority as listed in CAMP’s UCR website. This includes students with “Black/African-American, Hispanic/ Latino, Native American, or NonFilipino-Pacific Islander ethnic backgrounds reported at UCR at the time of admission.”

All nine UC campuses with the exception of UC San Francisco have a CAMP cohort.

Previously, UC Irvine had been the seat of CAMP but due to paperwork, UCR applied for the grant renewal and became the lead campus. Along with the responsibilities of being lead

spotlight

MARTHA DELGADO Senior Staff Writer

student body

campus, UCR will host the CAMP statewide symposium in February 2020, where CAMP members from other UC’s will come to present their research.

UCR’s CAMP cohort has been successful compared to other UCs in the number of undergraduates applying to graduate school and participating in research symposiums. At the last CAMP symposium at UCI, 10 UCR students won awards out of the 12 members that presented, which was more than the second highest awards won by another campus at six students.

Student Engagement Assistant Larry Rodriguez, highlighted former CAMP member Rosa McGuire, who received an NSF graduate research fellowship and an award from SACNAS among others during her time presenting research as an undergraduate.

Dr. Richard Cardullo had been the faculty mentor for UCR’s CAMP for 27 years. Now the position of faculty mentor will be transitioned to UCR Medical School faculty member Dr. Brandon Brown, a former CAMP

participant during his undergraduate years at UCI. As Student Engagement Assistant, Rodriguez provides staff support to CAMP as well as reporting information on the rates of CAMP members applying to graduate school.

Rodriguez has seen the resources and impact CAMP makes in students.

“When (CAMP members) become officers, they take the initiative and look for programs earlier and more than anyone else. They’re seeing these opportunities early. When you put yourself in this group and when you present at a statewide symposium, the prestige of that gives you confidence that you are worthy of being able to do a graduate program,” said Rodriguez.

To join or learn more about CAMP, students can attend the general meetings which take place every other Thursday from 5-6 p.m. in the Rivera Teaching and Learning Center.

They can also be reached through Highlanderlink at Campus Alliance for Minority Participation.

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COURTESY OF UC CAMP

Radar HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

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“Hellboy”’s 2019 rebirth is a

BLOODY MESS COLIN CARNEY Staff Writer

In 2004, film audiences were introduced to the halfdemon paranormal detective that was Hellboy in a cult favorite film directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman in the titular role. The film was followed by a sequel, “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” which branched out from the source material in the comics while still delivering on the compelling characters and monster-filled action that the original was beloved for. However, del Toro was never able to complete his vision for a Hellboy trilogy due to budgeting issues, resulting in the decision to reboot the character and start fresh.

Fans were at first disappointed that Ron Perlman would no longer wield the Right Hand of Doom, but were given fresh hope when David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) was cast as Hellboy and when Hellboy’s creator Mike Mignola was confirmed to be writing the screenplay.

Sadly, however, this didn’t turn out to be a winning combination.

2019’s “Hellboy” follows the titular paranormal detective as he is tasked with preventing an ancient sorceress, the Blood Queen, from returning and bringing about a plague that would destroy all of humanity.

On his journey to defeat her, Hellboy combats giants, witches and a pig monster in several action packed and blood-soaked battles. “Hellboy” takes heavily from the comic book source material as fans of the series will recognize several comic book story arcs make their way into the film, but sadly their integration into the plot creates a serious pacing issue, being haphazardly stitched together and condensed in order to fit into the main narrative.

What made the Blood Queen story arc so great in the comics was that it was the culmination of years of several plotlines that had built up the main villain and the events surrounding her. The film crams all of these stories into one two hour-long film but fails to make them cohesively fit into the narrative, resulting in sudden turns in the story and a jarring stop-and-go pacing throughout. Any one of the several story arcs used in “Hellboy” could easily make for their own film, but were instead crammed into one

Verdict:

feature in a desperate attempt to world-build and set up the main villain.

Furthermore, the faults in the story could easily have been overshadowed had the film been populated with endearing characters that the audience cared about and rooted for, but sadly “Hellboy” fails to deliver on that as well. The plot never slows down long enough for any of the characters to have any meaningful impact on the audience

and are simply thrown at us out of nowhere alongside exhausting bits of lengthy exposition to accompany them. This inability to deliver on a meaningful emotional connection to our heroes is exemplified by Hellboy’s relationship with his adopted father, Professor Broom (Ian McShane). Much of the film’s plot is dependent on the conflict between these two characters, as Hellboy comes to realize that his destiny is to bring about the end of the world and struggles to understand why Broom adopted him in the first place. Their interactions are never fully fleshed out and their conflict is never fully explained either, resulting

COURTESY OF LIONSGATE

in a lack of an emotional payoff when the end finally arrives. Furthermore, the character of Hellboy comes across as overly emotional and hot-headed in the film as opposed to the world’s greatest paranormal detective, resulting in another failure to capture the audience’s interest. Additionally, whereas Perlman’s Hellboy felt real when on screen, Harbour never feels like anything more than a man in a suit as the practical effects never quite live up to the original. Similar statements regarding character attachment and performance can be made for the supporting cast as well, as none of them manage to stand out in meaningful ways and are simply just there to read their lines and get to the next scene.

Overall, “Hellboy” falls flat with regards to nearly everything. Special effects are glaringly obvious and lackluster throughout the film. This is especially evident in the final act when all hell breaks loose and monsters roam the streets. Nothing looks real and the scenes are filled with gratuitous blood and gore that goes so over the top at times that its use feels as if they’re desperately trying to justify an R-rating.

The practical effects are decent, but they too are often hindered by the special effects added on top.

The same can be said for the action sequences, as “Hellboy” does feature a handful of fun interactions between the titular character and a slew of mythical monsters.

Again, however, the poor effects distract from the action and muddy the experience.

“Hellboy” also doesn’t fare well when it comes to dialogue, as much of the film is plagued by clunky exposition dumps that feel out of place, so much COURTESY OF LIONSGATE so that Professor Broom’s entire character seems to be centered around exposition and the lines themselves feel clunky and unnatural.

The poor dialogue is further highlighted with the film’s gross use of humor, as practically none of the jokes land with the audience.

In the end, the film fails to justify its existence, especially after the fan-favorite originals from only a few years back. The character of Hellboy, and the world he inhabits, is one of the best in comics and this film fails to capture that and leaves viewers with a bad taste in the mouth.

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“Hellboy” fails to justify a reboot of the series as poor dialogue, pacing, effects and humor make for a painful movie-going experience.

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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

"UNICORN STORE"

The Childlike is saved by its star-studded cast Silvia Ferrer, Staff Writer

In her directorial debut, “Unicorn Store,” Brie Larson puts her acting chops to the test playing Kit, the eclectic protagonist. After “Room,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and most recently, “Captain Marvel,” Brie Larson has displayed an excellent and broad performance range. She can play the traumatized young mother, the funny and sexy ex-girlfriend and the superhero — so playing the immature but earnest heroine was an easy feat for her. The premise of the film seemed like it would tap into Larson’s prowess further by providing a mature spin on the regular coming-of-age story: Kit attempts to keep some magic and color in the gray adult world by keeping her desire to own a real unicorn alive. The union of Larson and her “Captain Marvel” co-star, Samuel L. Jackson, the addition of other seasoned actors (such as Joan Cusack), and the stunning visuals seemed like Netflix was adding another hit to their growing list. It was exciting to see that Larson and Jackson were teaming up once more and that there was potential for the film to draw on the chemistry of the two to create a funny, buddy-comedy feel that would add some distinct feature to the premise.

But while “Unicorn Store” has all of the ingredients (the talented cast, the sweet plot, visually appealing shots) for a decent, feel-good movie, the film’s poor writing detracts greatly from the value of the film.

Kit has had an obsession with unicorns ever since it was still socially acceptable for her to wear princess dresses, but her obsession is less cute now that she’s an older, art school flunk living with her parents. Kit doesn’t let her parents or her teacher’s attitudes to her youthful enthusiasm dissuade her. She still acts, talks and dresses like a child — she wears a princess dress to bed, sleeps in a room where she’s watched over by Care Bears and refuses to eat vegetables. Like a child, she also lashes out quickly and recklessly. While her temper gets cloying really quickly, Larson does her best to bring some emotional vulnerability in key scenes with her parents despite struggling with the rather stilted lines.

As they express their disappointment in her, the conversation feels stiff and unnatural, instead of emotionally hardhitting. It’s hard to say whether the blatant discomfort was a choice by the director— it could be a symbolic way of showing

VERDICT:

how uncomfortable Kit is living in the demanding adult world that she feels has no place for her unjaded, childlike wonder.

While that’s possible, it detracts from the fantastical nature of “Unicorn Store” and focuses the audience’s attention instead on the strange delivery of the lines by the actors.

Kit is unable to tolerate her parents’ disapproving stares any longer and begins working as a temp at a public relations firm. The awkward script works perfectly with some characters, such as her boss, Gary. Hamish Linklater plays the role of the creepy boss managing to work the writing to his advantage by delivering a convincing performance.

Similarly, Jackson surpasses the limitations of the writing and the shallow character development and manages to inhabit the playful role of The Salesman with ease. Soon after Kit resigns to conforming to the boring office space, The Salesman invites her to The Store, a mythical shop that entices her with the prospect of finally fulfilling her childhood dream. This role is radically different from the violence-heavy, serious roles that Jackson usually takes on, but as he did as Nick Fury in “Captain Marvel,” he works well with Larson. He deviates from the stiffness of the script by casually dropping some profanity, transforming the supporting role with his charisma. The introduction of The Store and the Salesman mark a turning point in the film. The script stops feeling so dry, Larson relaxes after sharing a screen with Jackson’s character, and the striking contrast of the store and The Salesman’s wardrobe choices make for a more entertaining watch.

The last act of the film is by far the best, and it is propelled by Larson’s love interest, Virgil. Virgil balances Kit’s childish intensity by speaking like an actual adult (again, deviating from the stunted script). Larson and Virgil share several charged scenes that display the emotional vulnerability of the actors to the fullest. Larson’s delivery of her final monologue as Kit sheds the exaggerated baby-like attitude and the seemingly cheesy goal to reveal a sweet authenticity that nicely resolves the tensions at the heart of the film; Kit doesn’t compromise her uniqueness and realizes that adulthood can begin on her own terms.

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COURTESY OF NETFLIX

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

The characterization and writing of “Unicorn Store” has potential, but lacks the skill to explore the depth at the core of the roles or the plot. Nevertheless, the actors do an incredible job at bringing a certain uniqueness that breathes life into the roles. Although it takes several scenes to settle into a groove, the nuance of the performances make the film a worthwhile watch.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

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FROM REMASTERS TO REMAKES: how developers resurrect the past to turn classics into masterpieces Adam Alvernaz, Contributing Writer

Remakes are staples in the current video game market. These types of games are a way for a developer to rerelease a video game by bringing the game to a modern standard. This is most commonly done by improving graphics and retooling gameplay to recreate the feel of the original, while enhancing it to meet modern standards. These new recreations of classic titles are usually handled by a third party company to assist in the development process of getting these titles up to par.

Most often these titles are handled with care and love by the original developers, yet not every remake is made the same.

Studios will often push out a poor title just to make easy revenue at the expense of the consumer. As history never fails to repeat itself, we can analyze previous trends to get a better idea at what good rereleases do to faithfully recreate the experience of playing the original.

Similarly, exploring the failures in poor remakes can tell us where the developer could have made a better effort to make a better game.

2019’s “Resident Evil 2” made a huge splash recently with its impressive faithful recreation of Raccoon City.

Capcom were extremely careful to ensure that the title would uphold the quality of the original while also modernizing it. It goes without saying that the game itself bolsters graphics that restore the quality of the PlayStation 1 original.

Gone are the polygonal, b l o c k y characters placed in a washed o u t world

devoid of detail. Thanks to modern graphic capabilities, Capcom treats us to new stylized renders of classic characters that are extremely fresh and new. Raccoon City is no longer the dull uninspired city as it is now full of detail which makes it look surreal. Graphics are only part of what was given an upgrade; for instance, the gameplay was given a total makeover. In the original, the player had to use clunky, tank-like controls to move. Coupled with fixed isometric camera angles, more often than not the player would have to fight against the game just to get through an area.

In the 2019 title, all of this is thrown out and replaced by a third person, over-theshoulder perspective. The change is one that makes the game feel more realistic and makes gameplay much more smooth, not to mention enhancing the horror atmosphere of the game.

With new graphics and a better gameplay system, the player experiences the frightening sights of the rundown Raccoon City in a totally new way. It only heightens the creepy and eerie feeling the city has, and can scare the player much better than the original did in 1998. This remake is one of the many ways developers faithfully recreate classic titles that play into modern standards. Of course, beautiful graphics aren’t the only thing that goes into making a great title. For instance, “The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD” is a rerelease of the Gamecube Zelda game that retains its graphical style, but enhances the gameplay to make the player’s experience more streamlined.

Where Capcom’s 2019 “Resident Evil 2” revitalized the game with new graphics and gameplay, Nintendo’s remake of the popular GameCube title focused more so on polishing the original. Released in 2013, “Wind Waker HD” saw to it that the title receive multiple upgrades to the gameplay formula to ensure a streamlined experience. Alongside these changes, the game also received a graphical update that polishes the game to look more modern with a better lighting engine and crisper models. The game still retains its cell-shaded art style, but now with a modern feel. These upgrades are essential to the HD version as they change many instances of grief that players experienced when playing the original. Many of these changes are done in hopes to streamline that gameplay and allow players to keep moving without immersion breaks. One change essential to the HD version is the better sailing mechanics. In the nonremake, the player would have to pause their sailing and change the course of the winds manually with the Wind Waker item. This was a main point of criticism that Nintendo faced since it interrupted the flow of gameplay and stopped the player’s forward motion.

In the HD version, this mechanic is made mute because of the new Swift Sail item that allows for quicker sailing and course changing of winds. Due to this change, players now have more control over sailing, giving them a better experience overall. It’s a simple change that would help the HD version feel definitive and better than the original by retooling the game to fit a more modern setting. Yet, Nintendo has failed to recapture the essence of a classic with their “Super Mario 64” remake for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo sought to capitalize on the DS’ release with the publication of “Super Mario 64 DS” that would reinvent the original. This new game would bring more characters to the title with the inclusion of Luigi, Wario and Yoshi. With graphics that trump the polygonal Nintendo 64 game, the remake looked extremely promising.

Yet, when fans finally got to play the remake, the reception COURTESY OF CAPCOM was mostly mixed due to the console the game was released

COURTESY OF CAPCOM

on.

The

original 64 game r e l i e d heavily on player control over Mario with a smooth analog stick and distinct camera buttons.

In the DS version, the players are only left with a D-pad to control the cast of characters. With weak controls and camera integration, the Remake felt clunky and disorganized.

Mainly, this contributes to the idea of rushed poor ports of classic titles that developers make to capitalize on a beloved franchise. This aspect of remakes is an unfortunate consequence to the allure of high sales numbers.

Developers who take a modern approach to rereleasing classic titles can bring great enhancements to breathe new life into old titles. With new mechanics, graphics and gameplay changes, developers bring their older titles to a higher standard than ever before.

When done well, these remakes can really enhance the feeling of playing the original while also retaining the same elements of the base title. 2019’s “Resident Evil 2” definitely reinvigorates the hope of good remakes as the gaming market continues to push forward.

However, many who stay skeptical about remakes are justified as the industry’s volatile history still proves true. The industry shows no signs of decline with confirmed remakes of “Final Fantasy 7” and “System Shock.” The future of remakes seems bright, with both Microsoft and Sony moving forward with a new generation, and new, remastered classics likely to follow.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts

“THE

BEST OF ENEMIES”

an overly simplistic depiction of a complex and fascinating historical era SUMAYA KHANDOKER Contributing Writer

“The Best of Enemies” takes us through a trip in history to witness the unimaginable friendship between a civil rights activist and a KKK leader in Durham, North Carolina.

While some friendships are built on sunshine, picnics and daisies, others are established on a foundation built on racial disintegration, anger and fear. The latter appropriately fits the description of the bond held by Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson) and C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell).

With assistance from writer and director Robin Bissell, we slowly navigate through the twohour long narrative that forces two juxtaposing groups, the black and white communities in the 1970s, to inevitably come together when a black high school burns down. When the idea of a racially integrated school is proposed, tensions arise in the town in the backdrop of the racial tensions of 1971 America.

Ultimately, when no progress is made, the court orders a committee to form a desegregation resolution within a two-week time span under the direction of two co-chairs, Atwater and Ellis. The thought of watching a frustrated, sweaty activist and an ignorant racist arguing sounds intriguing at first. However, Bissell’s take on their fluctuating rapport is not what I had anticipated. In fact, while patiently waiting for an acting tour de

force, I was disappointed to find that nearly two hours had passed without much in the way of compelling story conflict.

Although the film was envisioned to be heartwarming, it unintentionally backfires.

Rather than feeling sympathetic, we are never allowed the opportunity to experience anything at all. Given the fact that the film is based on a true story, the chemistry that the best friends share in reality is absent on the screen. By the end of the film, their “friendship” feels a little too Disney-like and unrealistic.

Adding to Bissell’s list of failures is his two-dimensional portrayal of Atwater. It is unclear whether he forgot to add any psychological depth to her character or if he intended to model her after a two-sided coin.

If it’s the latter, Henson gives a convincing performance of frustration and contentment, but only one of the two at a given time.

Meanwhile, Rockwell may have salvaged the remainder of the movie, but only because Bissell took the time to shape C.P. Ellis’ story. On the surface, Ellis is the front man of Durham’s KKK chapter. Beneath the surface, we learn that Ellis is an emotional family man who cares deeply about the wellbeing of his disabled son. Throughout the duration of the story, Ellis’ thought process admittedly becomes more understandable, especially after we learn that he isn’t as impressionable as the other KKK members. However,

the direction that the film is headed becomes questionable with its concentrated focus of Ellis as a victim after he leaves the KKK. While Bissell had the right intentions, a larger percentage of the film should have been allotted towards Atwater and the black community she was representing. A missed opportunity, we are presented with an uncomplicated version of a very complex world, which seems prevalent

COURTESY OF STX FILMS

in many of Hollywood’s depictions of social and racial justice. Conversely, we are expected to empathize with the fear and justification voiced by the white community. Regardless, if there’s one thing “The Best of Enemies” depicted well, it’s that all people are capable of understanding each other, as proven by the unlikely alliance between two of the most dissimilar people, Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis.

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COURTESY OF STX FILMS

VERDICT:

Hollywood’s ignorance shamelessly shines through once again in “The Best of Enemies”, which aims to provide meaningful insight into America’s race issues in the 1970s. Without any clear direction, the film instantly crashes and we are left with an unmindful, lackluster production that even a talented cast can’t fix.

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

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Women’s golf finishes fifth in Cowgirl Classic JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer

The Highlander women’s golf team competed in the Cowgirl Classic on April 8-9 and finished in fifth place. Riverside competed against a 15-team pool of schools, including Northern Colorado University, New Mexico State University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

UCR played their best golf early, shooting a tournament-low 293 in the first round which placed them in a twoway tie for second place. However, the Highlanders were unable to keep up this level of play and shot higher scores in the last two rounds. The team shot a 297 in round two and a 298 in round three. Riverside finished the tournament 24 shots over par and just five strokes

behind first place.

Senior Jakeishya Le led the way for Riverside, finishing tied for 11th place.

Le shot a 220 and finished two shots over par. Senior Hana Furichi finished tied for 27th with a 225. Sophomore Ping Huang had an impressive final round to move up 22 spots and finish tied for 32nd place. Huang recorded the best round of the tournament by any

Highlander, with her team-low 73 score in the third round. Junior Hailey White and sophomore Serena Chon rounded out the Highlanders lineup, finishing 38th and 56th respectively.

This was the final regular season tournament of the season for UCR. Up next, the Highlanders will compete in the Big West Conference Tournament which will take place from April 14-17.

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COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

Men’s and women’s tennis Legendary Coach honored both earn non-conference in Chris Rinne Twilight victories on the road meet JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams won on the road against nonconference opponents on Friday, April 12. The men’s team travelled to Santa Barbara to take on Westmont College while the women’s team went to San Rafael to face off against the Dominican University of California.

The men’s team (19-11, 1-1) played Westmont (7-11, 5-5) on the nine-point system in which every match counts as a point, and ran away with a 7-2 victory. The doubles team of juniors Nabil Abdallah and Gilbert Chung earned the first win on court three, but the Highlanders lost the remaining two doubles matches on courts one and two.

With UCR down 2-1 heading into singles play, they had to win at least four of the six singles matches to win. Luckily, Riverside was able to do so relatively easily, winning all six singles matches.

Abdallah showcased big-time resilience in his singles match. After losing the first set 6-1, he bounced back in a major

way, winning the final two sets 6-1, 6-0.

The two sides had only met twice before, but this victory marks the Highlanders second straight win against Westmont.

The women’s tennis team (6-10, 0-5) also had themselves a successful road trip with a 7-0 win over the Dominican University of California (3-14). The Highlanders won every single doubles and singles match in a completely dominant showing.

UCR started off the match winning the three doubles matches, with the team of freshman Lindsey Gelinas and junior Lauren Wolfe bageling their opponents 6-0. As stated earlier, Riverside also went on to win every singles match on their way to a road win. Freshman Natalie Shamma had the most competitive match, winning 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets.

The upcoming stretch of games is important for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams, with both sides wrapping up conference play next week. The men’s side has three straight conference matches coming up, while the women’s two final matches are against conference opponents.

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COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

KEVIN SANCHEZ Contributing Writer

The Highlander track and field team had themselves a day at the Chris Rinne Twilight meet. The meet was named after legendary UCR track and field head coach and former athletics director, Coach Rinne passed away in fall 2018.

The meet was notably high in spirits, as former and current athletes paid tribute to Coach Rinne.

Freshman John Ober III embodied the energy-filled day, as he broke his men’s javelin personal record of 55 meters four times in the meet. He finished the day in second place, throwing an impressive 59.18 meters, which set a UCR record.

Ober continued his success with the discus throw, throwing for 48.62 meters and breaking his personal record for the fifth straight tournament.

Junior Aidan Olvera finished on top for the men’s pole vault, posting a height of 4.50 meters.

In the women’s 1,500 meter run, senior Cydney Branch ran a time of 4:35.42, good for a personal best and a second-

place finish.

Junior Heinrich Van Niekirk followed suit with a time of 3:59.47, also placing second in the men’s 1,500 meter run. Van Niekirk was beat out by .30 seconds in a nail-biter.

Senior Quinn Williams found his share of success on the day in the men’s 400 meter hurdles, dusting his competition with a time of 52.53.

In the women’s high jump, freshman Purnima Gunarathna set a UCR record with a distance of 1.62 meters.

Freshmen Delany Harris, Emily Hawk, Asia Mallory and Kenady Jackson also broke a UCR record in the women’s 400 meter relay, with a time of 47 seconds flat.

The men’s 1,600 meter relay also had a statement day, setting a UCR record time of 3:14.25. The team consisted of Slade Cavallaro, Justin Parker, Tanner Anderson and Quinn Williams.

On a day that was dedicated to Coach Rinne, the Highlander track and field team showed up and showed out, continuing to bring their best and H honoring Rinne’s inspirational legacy. ■

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

The Highlander’s Jordon Hom, Staff Writer

Western Conference First Round (1) Warriors sweep the (8) Clippers in four games This will be an easy series for the Warriors. Clippers deserve praise for a successful season but their season ends here. Golden State simply has too much talent for Los Angeles to handle.

(7) Spurs defeat the (2) Nuggets in seven games The Nuggets have exceeded all expectations by finishing second in the west. However, the Spurs have many veterans on the roster with playoff experience who should give them an edge. Led by LaMarcus Aldridge and Demar DeRozan, the Spurs will ultimately overwhelm the Nuggets in this hard-fought series. San Antonio also has the coaching edge with Popovich who can adjust on the fly. The Spurs combination of experience and coaching will propel them past the Nuggets.

(6) Thunder beat the (3) Blazers in six games The Blazers might be the third seed but they aren’t going into the playoffs at full strength. Jusuf Nurkic is injured which means Enes Kanter will be the starting center. Russell Westbrook will have an easier time attacking the basket without the Nurkic patrolling the paint. Portland will have no answer for Paul George. The Blazers will make games competitive but without Nurkic, they stand little chance to advance.

(4) Rockets defeat the (5) Jazz in seven games These two teams met in the playoffs last year and the Rockets handled the Jazz in five games. Rudy Gobert has improved his mobility on the defensive end so he won’t be as big of a liability on switches and the Jazz will also have Ricky Rubio this time around. Their gritty team defensive will neutralize James Harden as much as possible but he will still get his way offensively. It will be a very close series but the Rockets will prevail.

Eastern Conference First Round (1) Bucks over the (8) Pistons in five games The Bucks should easily take care of the Pistons.

No player on the Pistons has the strength or the length to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is a oneman wrecking crew capable of dominating his way to the basket with little resistance. Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond should give the Bucks front court a little bit of trouble on the inside but Brook Lopez can just as easily cause trouble for the Pistons from the perimeter. Outside of those two, the Pistons don’t have enough depth or overall talent to ensure a fair competition.

(2) Raptors beat the (7) Magic in four games The Magic have surpassed expectations by even making it to the playoffs, but their road ends here.

Nikola Vucevic is the Magic’s best player but the Raptors have the veteran Marc Gasol to counter.

Aaron Gordon has the athleticism to bother Toronto’s front court but Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka can neutralize Gordon. Defensively, Orlando will have no answers for Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry.

The Magic will keep games competitive but the lack of playoff experience and star power will be their downfall.

(3) Sixers over the (6) Nets in six games The Sixers geared up for a strong playoff run when they paired Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris with their already established stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The Nets will not be able to counter the sheer star power of the Sixers. However, the overall core of the Nets can keep things interesting.

D’Angelo Russell made his first All-Star appearance and Caris Levert returned from injury. The Nets have a group of young and scrappy players who compete on a nightly basis. Things won’t be easy for the Sixers, but they will ultimately win the series due to their star power.

(4) Celtics defeat the (5) Pacers in seven games This series might be the first upset in the Eastern Conference. While the Celtics appear to be the more talented team on paper, they have underwhelmed this season. Boston will also begin the playoffs without their best perimeter defender in Marcus Smart as he will be sidelined with an oblique tear. Indiana will be without star Victor Oladipo, but the Pacers still have a solid core group of players in Bojan Bogdanovic, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis to keep things close. The Celtics will ultimately prevail and advance in the series but the Pacers will give them a good scare.

Western Conference Semifinals (1) Warriors defeat the (4) Rockets in five games The Warriors star power will be too much for James Harden and the Rockets to handle.

The Warriors have multiple defenders to throw at Harden such as KD, Klay, Draymond and Iguodala. The Rockets will need their other players to step up to even given them a chance.

In the end, Harden might steal the Rockets a game or two but the Warriors should dominate this series.

(6) Thunder defeat the (7) Spurs in seven games The playoff-tested Spurs should be able to challenge the Thunder with their experience and their coaching. The Thunder will ultimately come out on top due to their star powered duo of Westbrook and George. Popovich is the superior coach which gives the Spurs a chance, but the Thunder have the overall edge in terms of talent. It will be a close series but the Thunder should prevail, giving them a shot to dethrone the Warriors. Thunder in seven games.

Western Conference Finals

(1) Warriors defeat the (6) Thunder in five games The Warriors should have no trouble against the Thunder, barring injuries.

Golden State is simply too talented to lose this series. Westbrook and George can give them a brief scare but the Warriors overpower them in every aspect. This will be a short series and the Warriors should advanced to their fifth straight finals.

(1) Warriors defeat the (2) Raptors in six games The Raptors have beefed up their roster with players that have championship and playoff experience. They have the versatility and length to bother Steph, KD and Klay. Gasol is a high-IQ defender that can neutralize Cousins but the Warriors have too much talent to squander this series.

They are the two-time defending champions and should be reigning champions once again.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

(1) Bucks defeat the (4) Celtics in six games Boston has more playoff experience but Milwaukee has the best player in Giannis. The Celtics defensive scheme will give Antetokounmpo more trouble because of their length and positionless style, but Giannis is talented enough to power his way through this series.

The Bucks offensive system is better than when they faced each other last year in the first round thanks to Coach Bud, and Antetokounmpo is also better this time around. The Celtics will take a few games but won’t be as successful in this matchup.

(2) Raptors beat the (3) Sixers in six games Kawhi Leonard will be the star of this series.

He will likely match up with either Ben Simmons or Jimmy Butler and will get the better of them both offensively and defensively.

Joel Embiid is dominant enough to give the Raptors a scare on the inside but Marc Gasol won’t make things easy. The Raptors’ previous playoff experience will give them the edge in this series but expect this to be an exciting run of games.

NBA

Eastern Conference Finals

(2) Raptors defeat the (1) Bucks in seven games The Raptors’ best weapon against Giannis is Kawhi Leonard. He doesn’t quite have the same freakish length as Giannis but his defensive IQ will make things as difficult as possible for Giannis. The Bucks have the better record but they lack the playoff experience which might cost them a game or two in this series. The Raptors also have their own Giannis-lite in Pascal Siakam, who can be the x-factor in this series. With LeBron not in the picture, Toronto will experience the finals for the first time in this hard fought series.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

23

NBA Playoffs predictions Ricardo Garcia, Contributing Writer

Western Conference Semifinals Western Conference Finals (1) Golden State Warriors over (6) Oklahoma City Thunder in four games

Finals

(1) Golden State Warriors over (5) Utah Jazz in four games The Warriors played close games against the Jazz all season, but was that truly indicative of their true potential? The short answer: No. The Jazz have the defense but not the offensive firepower, and that’s going to be the difference in this series.

This series will be ripe with storylines and will be touted as an extended Russell Westbrook versus Kevin Durant battle.

However, KD’s team will best OKC in quick fashion, as I predict that Westbrook will try to take over himself to show up Durant instead of facilitating, and the Warriors will be able to key in on Westbrook’s outside shooting liability.

(6) Oklahoma City Thunder over (2) Denver Nuggets in seven games You may be wondering: why pick the Thunder if the Nuggets swept them in the regular season? OKC is much more experienced and will take advantage of the youthful Nuggets in what should be a long, grinding series.

(1) Golden State Warriors over (2) Toronto Raptors in four games The Raptors would hold home court advantage in a potential series against the Warriors, and they swept them in the regular season: a win at Toronto in which they won without Stephen Curry playing, and a win at Golden State in which the healthy Warriors lost to a Kawhi Leonard-less team, which seem like indicators that they can win a championship. But this is the Warriors we are talking about. They don’t care about the regular season, and they will look to become the first team ever to go 16-0 in the NBA playoffs.

Western Conference First Round (1) Golden State Warriors over (8) Los Angeles Clippers in four games The Warriors have been cruising through an 82-game preseason and are finally ready for the chance to three-peat. As valiant as it was for the Clippers to make the playoffs, they do not have the firepower to keep up and will easily lose in a quick, four-game sweep.

(2) Denver Nuggets over (7) San Antonio Spurs in seven games This matchup is ripe with upset potential. Most of the Nuggets players have yet to taste playoff basketball, and the Spurs are playoff veterans. Because of this, San Antonio will be able to give the Nuggets a scare, but their lack of outside shooting and playing a potential game seven at high altitude will be the weaknesses that give Denver the edge.

(6) Oklahoma City Thunder over (3) Portland Trail Blazers in six games The Blazers have lost their starting center Jusuf Nurkic for the season and were swept by the Thunder in the regular season even with Nurkic playing. It shouldn’t be a cakewalk for the Thunder either, as they played some inconsistent basketball down the stretch and fell from the third seed down to sixth.

Expect OKC to attack the paint with Nurkic on the sidelines and steal at least a game on the road to win this series.

(5) Utah Jazz over (4) Houston Rockets in seven games The Jazz will have a chip on their shoulders in this playoff rematch of last season’s semifinal series and now have the experience to take down the Rockets.

Houston’s iso-heavy offense will soon run them weary, and Utah’s defense will be the difference in this series.

Eastern Conference First Round Eastern Conference Semifinals Eastern Conference Finals

(2) Toronto Raptors over (1) Milwaukee Bucks in seven games The Raptors have been mocked the past few years for their playoff failures, and this is the year they finally win their first Eastern Conference championship. Most Milwaukee players have never gone this far into the playoffs, while several Raptors have. The experience of playing this deep into the playoffs will be the difference for the Raptors.

(1) Milwaukee Bucks over (4) Boston Celtics in seven games The Bucks proved throughout the season they were the team to beat in the East. They will put themselves to the test against the preseason East favorite Celtics. Though the Celtics may be more experienced, it is unknown if their defensive heart and soul Marcus Smart will be ready to play by the second round. The Bucks will take advantage of this, and put the Celtics in a hole too deep to climb out of.

(2) Toronto Raptors over (3) Philadelphia Sixers in seven games This will be the best series of the second round. The Sixers traded for pieces at the trade deadline to make a deep playoff run. The Raptors run very deep and their trade acquisitions will pay dividends late in the series, especially if they can turn Ben Simmons into a liability as a deep shooting threat.

(1) Milwaukee Bucks over (8) Detroit Pistons in four games This is probably the most boring matchup of the first round. The health of Blake Griffin is still unknown, but even considering his condition, the Pistons are severely overmatched on both ends of the floor, and the Bucks win handily.

(2) Toronto Raptors over (7) Orlando Magic in six games This matchup is second to the Bucks-Pistons series in terms of boredom. Though the Magic finished 11-2 down the stretch and ranked fifth in defensive efficiency in that span, they lack the experience to take down the Kawhi Leonard and other veteran Raptor players. The Raptors tend to have baffling losses in the postseason (i.e. getting swept by a weak Cleveland Cavaliers team last season), so don’t be surprised if it takes a while for them to win the series.

(3) Philadelphia 76ers over (6) Brooklyn Nets in six games The Nets are an upstart young team who can put a scare into the Sixers, even though Philly has more firepower. I fully expect both teams to defend homecourt in the first four games, before the Sixers take control in the final two games.

(4) Boston Celtics over (5) Indiana Pacers in seven games The Celtics have been an inconsistent team this season, while the Pacers fell off a bit after Victor Oladipo went down for the season. Marcus Smart’s injury will hurt the Celtics on the defensive side of the ball, but their depth is what helps them prevail in this grueling, defensive series.

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Sports 24

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports

Softball bounces back from series loss with win over Cal Baptist

RICARDO GARCIA Contributing Writer

Following a tough series against the Cal Poly Mustangs in which they struggled to contain the opposition’s bats, the Highlanders (20-15, 3-3) looked to bounce back against the Cal Baptist Lancers (16-24, 3-6).

Both teams were held in check offensively as both team’s starting pitchers put up a scoreless inning.

The Highlanders struck first as a result of poor defense by the Lancers. Junior center fielder Kayla Curtan reached on an error, scoring junior catcher Sarah Parten from third for a 1-0 lead.

UCR scored again in the second inning, again the product of CBU’s defense. Junior right fielder Danielle Ortega scored on junior third baseman Emma Ramelot’s single and an error by a Lancer first baseman, to push the lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lancers loaded the bases with one out and looked to do some big damage to get back into the game.

Freshman starting pitcher Megan Casper induced a fielder’s choice and was one out away from escaping the inning unscathed, but an error by shortstop scored junior center fielder Caitlyn Lloyd. The Lancers chipped away, now trailing only 2-1.

The Highlanders got the run back in the top of the fifth inning, as senior shortstop Hannah Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch by the Lancers senior starting pitcher Kellye Springstead, pushing the lead to 3-1.

However, in the sixth inning, a home run by Cal Baptist senior shortstop Anise Avalos off

junior reliever Jacy Boles cut the lead to 3-2, and was the only earned run allowed by either team in this game.

Boles settled down to complete a three-inning save, her third of the season, and the Highlanders improved to (21-15, 3-3) on the season.

For UCR, Casper pitched four innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run to improve to (7-2) on the season. Ramelot was two-for-three with an RBI.

COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS

For Cal Baptist, Springstead pitched a seven-inning complete game, but took the loss, allowing three unearned runs on five hits while striking out eight Highlanders. Her record is now (14-13). Lloyd was two-for-two with a walk and a run scored.

Up next for the Highlanders, they begin a three-game road series against the Cal State Northridge Matadors with a doubleheader April 13.

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ISURU KARUNATILLAKA / HIGHLANDER

The UCR baseball team (10-21, 2-5) took on Cal State Bakersfield (15-19, 3-6) on Tuesday, April 9.

The Highlanders had previously lost five straight games but finally broke out of their slump on their way to a huge 12-1 win.

Riverside started the game hot offensively, scoring three runs in the first, three more in the second and adding two more in the third for good measure. The highlights of the offensive clinic put on by UCR in the first three innings included a three-run homerun from senior right fielder Dean Miller in the second inning, followed by a two-run

Nikola Vucevic should be considered for the All-NBA third team JORDAN HOM Staff Writer

Offensive surge leads UCR baseball to two big wins over Cal State Bakersfield, Hawaii

JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer

HIGHLANDER HOT TAKE:

homerun from sophomore shortstop Nathan Webb in the following inning.

Where Riverside has struggled this year has been on the defensive side, but that was not the case in this matchup. Senior pitcher Jared Noonen earned his first win of the season, but the pitching was a collective team effort. UCR used a total of seven pitchers and none of them pitched more than two innings.

Freshman pitcher Trevor Bateson finished the game with a team-high three strikeouts.

The Highlanders added to their lead in the fifth inning when junior Connor Cannon crossed the plate off of a wild pitch that allowed

all runners on base to advance.

This would give Riverside an insurmountable 10-0 lead. The Roadrunners scored their only run of the game in the seventh inning off of a ground out that advanced a runner from third to home plate. UCR added two more runs to the already lopsided scoreboard in the eighth inning courtesy of a wild pitch and a walk drawn by freshman catcher Taylor Juline with the bases loaded.

The team totaled 10 RBI, with Webb and Miller accounting for three apiece. Miller also led the team in hits with four out of six at bats. The Highlanders showcased patience at the plate, drawing seven walks, three of which came from

Juline.

Riverside followed up their offensive outburst on Tuesday with another on Friday, April 12 against the University of Hawaii (13-18, 3-4). UCR finished with 16 runs against the Rainbow Wahine while only allowing five.

The Highlanders bats once again got hot early, scoring five runs in the second inning, and eight runs in the first four. Everybody was getting in on the action for Riverside early, with seven different players recording at least one RBI. After already being up 8-1 in the fifth inning UCR delivered the knockout punch, scoring seven runs to effectively end the game and put themselves up 15-1. Cannon played a huge part in the seven-run inning, recording four RBI off of a grand slam. Cannon finished the game with three hits, five RBI, two walks and two home runs.

Head Coach Troy Percival again had his pitchers on short leashes, but they came out with a big win. The Highlanders used seven pitchers, but none recorded more than two innings of work. Junior left-handed pitcher Hayden Petrovick earned his second win of the season.

The baseball team will look to continue their hot streak Tuesday, April 16 against Loyola Marymount University.

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Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic is having the best season of his career at the age of 28.

Vucevic is averaging careerhighs in multiple categories including points, rebounds and assists per game with averages of 20.8 points per game, 12.0 rebounds per game and 3.8 assists per game.

His player efficiency rating (PER), a statistic created to measure a player’s contributions with one number, is the highest it has ever been in his career at 25.4. His PER places him at ninth in the league, ahead of players such as Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Paul George.

This 2018-19 season is the first time the Orlando Magic have reached the playoffs since 2012.

The Magic have been in a playoff drought for the past seven seasons.

The last time they made the playoffs was when they had Dwight Howard back in the 2011-12 season.

Vucevic has been a key staple in ending the Magic’s playoff drought.

He leads his team in three categories: points, rebounds and steals and is second on the team in assists only behind D.J. Augustin. Though he doesn’t have the flashy game or the big market/media exposure like some of his counterparts, his consistent play has given the Magic an opportunity to compete for a championship. The Magic will likely get bounced in the first round by the Raptors but this season has been a massive success because they were projected to be a lottery team once again at the start of the season.

The All-NBA first and second teams should be occupied by Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, respectively, leaving the third spot open. The other candidates competing for the third team are Nikola Vucevic, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Rudy Gobert should likely receive the Defensive Player of the Year but the main knock against him is that he doesn’t create offensive opportunities for himself. The majority of his baskets are assisted by the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio. Vucevic, on the other hand, creates his own offense.

Gobert also might not be the best player on the Jazz while Vucevic is the undisputed best player on the Magic.

The main argument for Vuc over Towns is team success. The Orlando Magic have a better regular season record and are the 7th seed in the east while the Minnesota Timberwolves are out of the playoffs, sitting at 11th in the west. Towns averages more points and rebounds but Vuc is the better passer and averages more steals. Because the Wolves aren’t a playoff caliber team, it is much easier for Towns to put up higher stats than it is for Vucevic. Some of the higher numbers that Towns produces might be a product of stat padding or inflation due to empty statistics.

Nikola Vucevic should be considered for the All-NBA third team because he is averaging careerhighs in multiple categories while leading his team to the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. He might not be a household name as his counterparts are, but that shouldn’t discount his bid for one of the three prestigious All-NBA spots.

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