UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
The Highlander For the week of Tuesday, April 21, 2026
VOL. 74, ISSUE 24
est. 1954
The R’Garden Referendum will save the garden
BENJAMIN WRIGHT / THE HIGHLANDER
The R’Garden Referendum is here again during ASUCR Election Week — if it doesn’t pass this year, the R’Garden will close permanently. AYE AYE HTET
I am a third-year sociology and education student at UCR. I have been working closely with the R’Garden as president of the Gardening Club and as the point of contact for the R’Garden Referendum submission this year. Reach out to me if you have any questions at ahtet001@ucr.edu.
If the R’Garden Referendum does not pass, it will close. Currently, the R’Garden is running on temporary funding from the Provost and CNAS at about 75% capacity. But next year, this funding will not continue. That means losing one of the few campus resources that directly help with student food insecurity and provides a space for agricultural learning outside the classroom and paid student jobs. It would also mean no more free campus-grown produce, no more internships and no more space where students can connect around food, sustainability and community.
The loss of these resources will have a significant impact because the need for something like the R’Garden is big. At the University of California, Riverside... food insecurity is a serious issue. Previous data show that 62.5% of students experienced food insecurity, and more recent reporting still shows that over half of undergraduate students continue to face food insecurity. to know that we are here to stand together.” AFSCME claimed that they are protesting over the “University’s failure to settle contracts addressing the cost of living and affordability... ► SEE OP-ED R’GARDEN ON PAGE 8
The Gardening Club’s mission to give back to their roots Gardening Club helps students touch grass for the first time in a while. SANJANA THATTE, Features Editor NOLA PERIFEL, Assistant Features Editor
Gardening Club found its beginnings with the University of California, Riverside (UCR)’s R’Garden and has since expanded and supported the singular plot of the agricultural space on campus. Helping students connect with nature and having fun while doing so has been their message for years, and this year leadership plants focus on reconnecting with their roots and helping support the dying project. Aye Aye Htet, third-year sociology and education major and president of Gardening Club, joined as a freshman for a dream catcher making event that they had. She found herself attending more club activities and joined their board first as an outreach coordinator. Htet went on to describe the club’s origins and her goals as club president, stating, “Gardening Club started as a way to help the R’Garden.... ALEXANDER WONG / THE HIGHLANDER ► SEE GARDENING CLUB ON PAGE 13
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