VOLUME 50, ISSUE 30
MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2017
WWW.UCSDGUARDIAN.ORG
PHOTO COURTESTY OF LAURA MOREJON-RAMIREZ
BEAR GARDEN
UC SYSTEM
PHOTO TEASE MUIR GOES HERE MUSICAL
Sexual Harassment Policies Violated Of the 124 cases reported over a three-year period, nine occurred at UC San Diego. BY Lauren Holt
news editor
MUIR COLLEGE, SHROUDED IN CONCRETE AND WOODS ALIKE, HIDES MORE THAN A BURSTING POPULATION OF FRESHMEN AND THE COMMON COLD. ITS ANNUAL STAGE PRODUCTION, MUIR MUSICAL, IS NOW IS PRE-PRODUCTION AND READY TO MINGLE WITH AUDIENCES CAMPUSWIDE. a&E, PAGE 8
UC ENROLLMENT CAP saving room for residents OPINION, PAGE 4
NATIVE AMERICANS AT UCSD NATIVE AMERICANS ARE ONE OF THE MOST UNDERREPRESENTED ETHNIC GROUPS IN UCSD’S STUDENT BODY, YET THEY ARE ONE OF THE MOST HEAVILY AFFECTED BY BOTH LOCAL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS. WE SPOKE TO MEMBERS OF THIS COMMUNITY TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUES AFFECTING THEIR COMMUNITY. FEATURES, PAGE 6
TRACK AND FIELD UCSd hosts all-uc challenge
Students at the Raza Resource Centro celebrate the unveiling of three murals, focused on student activism, Afro-Latino identity and indigenous roots. Photo by Esra Elhendy// UCSD Guardian
CAMPUS
Judges Dismisses Koala Lawsuit Against Khosla, A.S. By Matthew Zamudio News Editor
F
ederal Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed a lawsuit filed by satirical student newspaper The Koala against Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, A.S. Council President Daniel Juarez and A.S. Council Financial Controller Justin Pennish last week. The lawsuit, filed in June 2016 and carried out by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of The Koala, claimed that A.S. Council’s decision to defund printed media on campus violated the First Amendment and singled out The Koala because of its viewpoint. The lawsuit sought compensation for the time when The Koala didn’t receive funding. It also sought to restore funding for print publications on the grounds of the 11th Amendment, which protects states from being sued by private individuals in federal court. As for claims of First Amendment violations, Miller said the government may restrict speech in a limited public forum as long as the restrictions are reasonable and not based on viewpoint. “Here, there is no doubt that the elimination of funding for all print publications is viewpoint neutral,” Miller wrote. A.S. Council’s decision to defund printed
See KOALA, page 3
sports, Page 16
VERBATIM “ IF WE CAN GET THE MAJORITY OF
COUNTRIES ON THIS PLANET TO DO JUST THAT, THEN ALL WE NEED TO DO IS STAND BACK AND WATCH WITH GLEE AS HE THROWS ALL HIS TOYS OUT OF THE PRAM. AND GOOD LUCK TO US ALL!”
- Rebecca Abbott
LETTER TO THE EDITOR OPINION, PAGE 4
INSIDE HEALTH HACKATHON....... 2 CHANCELLORS..................4 LIFESTYLE..................... 10 CROSSWORD ................ 14 M. BASKETBALL............ 16
media came after The Koala released a Nov. 2015 story mocking “safe spaces” on campus, where the author used the word “nigger” five times and stereotyped Asians, who make up 46 percent of the student body at UC San Diego, according to a 2016 enrollment report. In response to the article, campus administrators released a public denouncement of The Koala, calling the publication “profoundly repugnant, repulsive, attacking and cruel.” Hours later, A.S. Council made the decision to defund printed media on campus, with then A.S. President Dominick Suvonnasuna telling the UCSD Guardian that administrators’ denouncement of The Koala played no part in the vote. Later that month, The Koala created a GoFundMe page that was shared on its Facebook page with the caption: “We’re getting another issue out in the next couple of weeks, but we need your help! Support The Motherfucking Koala, and help us send a big middle finger to the UCSD Administration and A.S. [Council].” The university said in a recent statement that UCSD is “pleased that the federal district court
2017 ELECTIONS
A.S. Holds Candidates Meeting, Campaiging Begins Six slates will be running for positions, but only three of them will be fielding candidates. BY Lauren Holt
News Editor Candidates running for A.S. Council and all the college councils attended the annual A.S. Candidates meeting Thursday at 8 p.m. in Price Center after filing for this year’s election closed at noon. The elections managers for A.S. Council and the individual colleges explained the election bylaws and introduced the candidates, which was followed by the candidates having their official election pictures taken. Over 100 student candidates gathered at the event, representing different slates or running independently. Although six slates registered to compete for positions on A.S Council, John Weng’s Army, Students Determined and THRIVE will be the only groups fielding candidates. There is only one slate for each college council. A.S. elections manager Jan Natarajan told the UCSD Guardian that due to the unpredictability of elections, she cannot say whether candidates will campaign cleanly and fairly. “I think that the nature of elections means that
things come up unexpectedly, but I look forward to working with this group,” Natarajan said. Natarajan also said that she hopes to improve student participation. “On of my main goals is really just increasing voter turnout,” Natarajan stated. “I feel like in the past, having been a participant in elections in the past, the people who vote are people who are immediately involved in it, which I hate because so much of this involves the entire campus. I would love to have an unprecedented level of voter turnout.” Campaigning commenced as soon as the meeting finished and will end on April 8 at 4 p.m. Any violations of the election rules by A.S. candidates, such as hanging posters in prohibited areas or campaigning during lecture, will be brought before the A.S. Elections Committee by filing a complaint online. The committee, which consists of representatives from each college and is headed by the A.S. elections manager, will review the complaint in a grievance hearing, render a verdict and potentially decide on a sanction. For See ELECTIONS, page 3
University of California faculty, contractors and staff were determined to have violated UC sexual harassment and violence policies in at least 124 cases systemwide over the last three years, the Daily Californian reported in a March 1 article. Of the 124 cases of employee sexual misconduct, nine of them occurred at UC San Diego. Out of all the cases obtained, 25 percent of those who violated UC sexual harassment policy were faculty, 35 percent of complainants were students and seven percent of cases included sexual assaults, according to the Daily Californian. Approximately one third of employees who violated UC policy retained their jobs. The Daily Cal learned of these violations through a California Public Records Act request that produced hundreds of documents dated from January 2013 to April 2016, describing inappropriate comments, physical assault and unwelcome sexual passes. Several other news organizations were also provided with those documents. UC spokesperson Claire Doan told the Daily Cal that given the timeframe in which these cases occurred, many would have been investigated and resolved prior to March 2016 reforms made by the UC administration to systemwide sexual violence and harassment policies. The new measures, among other things, established a peer review committee with members from all campuses to examine all proposed sanctions against senior officials and redefined the role of employees in reporting harassment. “It’s important to note that these cases run from January 2013 to April 2016, so most, if not all, of these cases were investigated and adjudicated under policies and procedures that are no longer in effect,” Doan said. “We’ve made so many drastic and significant improvements over the past two and a half years … that we are able to provide more clarity (and) more fairness … when it comes to these investigations.” Compared to the nine other UC campuses, UCSD investigated and resolved the sixth highest number of cases in which employees breached sexual harassment policy. UC San Francisco had the most with 26 cases and UC Santa Cruz the fewest with five. One case involved former UCSD Athletics Director of Strength and Conditioning Rudy Thomas, who allegedly touched a female client’s breast and genital area during a training session. When she expressed discomfort and tried to leave, Thomas then hugged her and tried to kiss her mouth. Following the release of the documents, UCSD administration released a statement reiterating the university’s commitment to fostering a campus free of sexual violence or harassment. “Like our sister institutions in the University of California system, UC San Diego takes very seriously the importance of ensuring that our Lauren Holt
lcholt@ucsd.edu