VOLUME 47, ISSUE 50
THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014
PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION FROM FOCUS WORLD
Elizabeth Banks stars in the latest comedy “Walk of Shame,” coming to theaters May 2. We chatted with everyone’s favorite funny girl about her hilarious role. weekend, PAGE 6
PENNY PINCHING
Funding our student orgs opinion, Page 4
HAWTHORNE'S PLAN new v.p. will fight for sports
sports, Page 12
Price Center Arson Suspects Plead Not Guilty in Court UCSD students Hoai Vi Holly Nguyen and Maya Land, charged with eight counts of arson and reckless fire setting, will begin trial proceedings in July. BY zev hurwitz
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wo UCSD students accused of setting twin fires in Price Center last year pleaded not guilty to all charges at their arraignment on Tuesday, April 29. Hoai Vi Holly Nguyen and Maya Land were both present in the San Diego Superior Court Central Division County Courthouse as they entered their pleas to eight charges through their attorneys. According to Nguyen’s counsel, Eugene Iredale, both students had been charged with two counts each for arson of a structure, arson of property, setting a reckless fire to property and setting reckless fire to a structure. On Dec. 3 of last year, firefighters evacuated Price Center after two separate fires broke out in restrooms on the first and second floors of the building before extinguishing the fires and ruling that both had been set deliberately. Police later arrested Nguyen, who was 22 at the time, after surveillance footage showed her and Land entering Price Center shortly before the fires were ignited. Land, 21, later turned herself into authorities. “We plan to vigorously contest these charges,” Iredale told the UCSD Guardian after the arraignment. “We have two clients who are young and idealistic, and we have hope that justice will prevail.” Initial San Diego Police Department reports speculated that the fires had been set in response
FORECAST
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BY mekala neelakantan
Senior Staff Writer
zhurwitz@ucsd.edu
UCSD COLLEGE DEMOCRATS
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS AT UCSD
SUNDAY
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GRAPHIC BY DOROTHY VAN
SATURDAY
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to a plan to bring a Starbucks branch to campus to replace Espresso Roma in Price Center. The University Centers Advisory Board had been in a meeting regarding the Starbucks plan at the same time the fires were set. The vote ultimately passed 11–4–0 in favor of a Price Center Starbucks branch. District Attorney Agustin Pena, who has served as the prosecution in the case thus far told the Guardian that “eco-terrorism” was not being considered as a motive in the case. “We’re treating this case like any other arson case,” Pena said. “We have provided sufficient evidence against the defendants to proceed to trial.” Land’s counsel, Jessica McElfresh, said that her client’s prospects in the case are “excellent” but declined to comment further on what strategy the defense will employ as the case goes to trial. Because trials usually begin within 60 days of arraignment, Land and Nguyen had originally been scheduled to appear in court before criminal court Judge Kathleen Lewis in June. However, both defendants told Lewis that they would waive their right to a trial within that time frame in order to find a court appearance that would suit both the defendants and the prosecution. Both Land and Nguyen are due back in court for a procedural hearing on July 1, and trial for both students’ cases is set to begin July 29.
SPRING QUARTER POLITICAL DEBATE
FRIDAY
VERBATIM
Comparing CodeBabes to Code. org or Khan Academy... is like comparing cats and dogs. They’re entirely different and one is obviously far superior to the other.”
- Lauren Koa
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
OPINION, PAGE 4
INSIDE Briefs............................... 2 Letter to the Editor........... 5 Restaurant Review........... 7 Crossword..................... 11 Sports............................ 12
PHOTO BY TAYLOR SANDERSON/GUARDIAN
PHOTO BY ALWIN SZETO /GUARDIAN
TOPIC #1 – Should voters be required to bring photo identification to polls? DANIEL FIROOZI
EMILY GOLDENBERG
Voter ID laws place an undue burden on minorities and students, which is a form of voter suppression rather than true democracy. The government should work towards expanding voting accessibility.
Voter IDs are a simple and efficient way to combat voting fraud and increase confidence in the electoral process. Governments should take steps to provide free Voter IDs to all citizens.
TOPIC #2 – What is the role of unions in the economy? ZANE RICE
AUSTIN PETERS
Public and private sector unions protect workers from the Individuals have the right to join private and public sector government and reinforces the power of collective bar- unions. However, in most cases they benefit the few at the gaining to promote fair wages and fair pay. cost of the many.
TOPIC #3 – What should be the focus of improving the American economy? MAXIMILIAN COTTERILL
MARCO VASQUEZ
The economy should focus on closing the income inequality gap by raising the minimum wage, increasing public funding to education and investing in infrastructure projects.
The economy should take steps to free up markets, increase opportunities for small businesses, incentivize investment, ensure that entitlements are sustainable by re-prioritizing the federal budget.
For full coverage of the debate see page 3
Super Slates Are Banned From Future Elections In response to recent election grievances, Council prohibited crosscouncil endorsements.
editor in chief
readers can contact Zev Hurwitz
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A.S. COUNCIL
CRIME
THANKS TO BANKS
THURSDAY
WWW.UCSDGUARDIAN.ORG
Members of A.S. Council voted against several amendments to the current Council election bylaws on April 30, maintaining the illegality of the formation of election “super slates” and cross-council endorsements. The concept of super slates — an alignment of college-specific and campuswide slates through means of financial and other election-related support — faced controversy in the 2013 A.S. Council election. “You can’t really tell if [super slates] win on merit or the ability to reach out to more students,” incoming A.S. Council President Robby Boparai said. This led to last year’s unanimous decision to prohibit the creation of super slates, an idea introduced by Boparai, Alex Noronha, Colin King and Andy Buselt — all members of A.S. Council at the time. The coalition — excluding Boparai, who recused himself due to conflicts of interest because he ran for A.S. Council president — added to the bylaws that “under no circumstances shall a campuswide slate provide election support for a college-specific slate” and that “all slates must make a goodwill effort as to not be complicit in any sort of alignment between a campuswide and a college council slate,” all of which council members attempted to remove via the amendments proposed at last night’s meeting. According to outgoing Social Sciences Senator and Elections Committee member Colin King, these amendments came after a series of grievances associated with super slates that were filed by the Tritons Forward slate during this past council election. The grievances involved A.S. Council slates Tritons Forward and Let’s Act! as well as Muir College Council slate GLAD. Boparai and Tritons Forward, filed two grievances against Let’s Act! and GLAD due to actions seen as complicit with super slate and slate alignment behavior. Although the amendments were meant to prevent similar grievances from happening again, Boparai thought the issue should have been solved by amending the language in college council elections bylaws. Conversely, Vice President Finances and Resources Sean O’Neal stated that slates’ ability to support one another is an exercise of free speech and expression as a comment in the A.S. Live Blog. However, a guest on the blog commented that super slates give power to “hyper-visible people” and that taking away super slates is “empowering students who are typically disenfranchised from A.S. as an institution.”
readers can contact Mekala neelakantan
mneelaka@ucsd.edu