VOLUME 49, ISSUE 23
MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2016
WWW.UCSDGUARDIAN.ORG
AROUND CAMPUS
UC SYSTEM
STAR WARS: JUST LET IT IN
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINA CARLSON
UC Regents to Vote on New Student Adviser If approved, the regents will create the nonvoting position in response to pressure for more student representation. BY HEEJUNG LIM
Contributing Writer WANT TO BUILD YOUR OWN LIGHT SABER? OR FLY A TIE FIGHTER? TOO BAD, IT’S ONLY SCIENCE FICTION. OR IS IT? EXPLORE THE SCIENCE FACT BEHIND THIS FAMOUS FRANCHISE.
Outside hitter Ian Colbert went for a kill during the UCSD Men’s Volleyball game against Univesity of Charleston last Friday. Photo by Megan Lee /UCSD Guardian
STRANGE ALLIANCES
DECISIVE WIN OVER SF STATE SPORTS, Page 12
FORECAST
MONDAY H 63 L 43
TUESDAY H 63 L 45
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY H 61 L 50
H 60 L 47
See WATER, page 2
See REGENTS, page 3
UCSD Transportation Services Website Crashes
A LOOK AT SAUDI ARABIA
W. BASKETBALL TRIUMPH
your toilets. Be mindful of the world we live in.” The Chairwoman of the Control Board Felicia Marcus defended these below-target marks by pointing out that, during this time of year, temperatures are higher and people tend to irrigate their plants less, leaving them with fewer methods of saving water. “We anticipated a dip in the conservation rate for October, but it is not because people are losing interest — they actually did quite well considering how unusually hot it was in October,” Marcus said in a Dec. 1 press release. “It’s harder to keep the percentages up in the fall and winter when little outdoor watering takes place.”
CAMPUS
FEATURES, PAGE 6
OPINION, Page 4
The UC Board of Regents will vote on the formation of a unique student adviser position during its Jan. 20 to 21 meeting, following demands for increased student representation. The student adviser is expected to be a nonvoting board member advocating for student issues. The proposal will first go to the Committee on Governance, which has six voting regents. If the item reaches a simple majority vote, it will then be forwarded to the entire board for another majority vote. If the resolution successfully passes, the first student adviser’s term is projected to begin July 2017. According to current Student Regent Avi Oved, the student adviser will most likely be chosen from the Student Regent applicant pool. Oved considers the student adviser position a much-needed first step to increasing student power at a political level. “We have nearly 250,000 students across the UC system, yet we only have two seats in the UC Board of Regents and only one single vote,” Oved told the UCSD Guardian. “There was always interest in having another voting student regent, which requires a constitutional amendment. It has been talked about among student regents for years but there has never really been a foundation to build off of.” Oved described how the student adviser will be collaborating with the Regents to achieve specific goals. “Modelled similarly to the student regent position, [the student adviser] has the flexibility to speak at the table and build relationships, to talk about what they want to accomplish during the term,” he said. “The student regent and the student adviser would work together as a unit, with the student regent serving as a mentor.” The UC Student Association, an organization that dedicates itself to politically empowering UC students, has come to support Oved in his efforts. UCSA President Kevin Sabo agrees that a new student position on the Board of Regents has the potential to be beneficial. “The student adviser would presumably have more access [than the UCSA Board],” Sabo told the Guardian. “It will be a good opportunity to increase student representation. ... There are always a lot of issues to work on, such as issues for graduate students or housing.” UCSA Board Member and Vice
BY KRITI SARIN News
S
everal UCSD students, faculty and visitors were temporarily unable to purchase multi-use parking permits after the Transportation Services website stopped working on Monday and Tuesday of last week. As a result, department officials did not penalize people for parking without a permit on these days and issued free one-day passes to those who purchased permits at their on-campus office. Transportation Services Associate Director Todd Berven explained the crash was a result of excessive sales being made at different locations but that the situation is now under control. “[There were] too many online sales and office sales happening simultaneously and the university servers were not able to handle the volume of traffic,” Berven told the UCSD Guardian. “Campus IT was able to figure out a temporary solution for the servers so they could handle the increased volume [and] the system has been stable for both online and office purchases since Tuesday evening.” Undergraduate students who wish to purchase nondaily ‘S’ spot parking permits can only do so through the online payment system. According to Berven, there have been similar technical issues with the website but never
Editor
to this scale or at the start of a quarter. He added that the department is currently making efforts to prevent future crashes and ensure that students will be able to purchase their permits before classes begin. “In the past, this has happened during less busy times, affecting fewer people,” Berven commented. “Campus IT and our vendor are working on a permanent solution to this issue. Transportation Services is also taking action to prevent this in the future and will make permits available for purchase one week earlier starting next quarter.” Thurgood Marshall College senior Sana Khan told the Guardian that she bought single-day visitor passes on both Monday and Tuesday and was unaware that the department was not enforcing the permit system on those days. “I wasn’t aware of the [website] crash until Wednesday… and I hadn’t bought my quarterly parking permit yet so I decided to buy an all-day one for $8,” Khan said. “On Tuesday, I had seen signs on some cars in the Muir parking lot saying the machine was broken. However, it worked when I paid with my card … [though] a little slower than usual and the machine did say that the cash payback aspect of the machine was jammed.”
See PARKING, page 3
VERBATIM
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GUYS SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE IS NOTHING MORE ROMANTIC THAN STANDING OUTSIDE, ALONE IN THE RAIN, WHILE GAZING OFF INTO THE DISTANCE WITH INTENSE, SOULFUL EYES. FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO IMPROVE YOUR LOVE LIFE THIS NEW YEAR, TAKE ADVANTAGE...”
- Live Through El Nino HOW-TO GURU
OPINION, PAGE 4
INSIDE ANTIBIOTICS ................... 2 STAR WARS QUICKTAKES 4 RAE ARMENTROUT.......... 7 CLASSIFIEDS .................. 9 SWIM & DIVE ................ 11
SAN DIEGO
City Fails to Meet Water Conservation Targets California also came short of its statewide, mandated water savings goal last November. BY JACKY TO
Associate News Editor Two-thirds of San Diego County’s water districts, including the City of San Diego, failed to achieve their conservation goals in November, according to the State Water Resources Control Board’s Jan. 5 report. The City of San Diego’s water savings, which is calculated by comparing the water usage of a particular month to that of two years prior, reached 13.8 percent in November. This, unlike its October savings of 16.7 percent, falls under the state-mandated goal of 16 percent. Furthermore, California as a whole failed to reach its water conservation goal of 25 percent in November for the second straight month. The state’s
savings in November hit just 20.3 percent, which is down from 22.3 percent in October. Though A.S. Associate Vice President of Environmental Affairs Moon Pankam expressed discontent with the numbers, she stated that the report demonstrates the need for more action and awareness. “It’s a disappointing result, but all the more reason to continue to encourage people to be more mindful of the impact that their everyday practices have on the environment,” Pankam told the UCSD Guardian. “Be mindful of how long your showers are. Be mindful of the water that can be saved if the faucet is turned off during shaving and brushing one’s teeth, rather than on. Be mindful of any hidden leaks around the house, whether in your pipes, your faucets or