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VOLUME 48, ISSUE 3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014

WWW.UCSDGUARDIAN.ORG

CAMPUS

REVEL IN NEW REVELLE FOOD

Future of Che Cafe will Be Determined in Trial BY gabriella fleischman

news editor

UC SYSTEM

Regents Plan for New Research Grants UC President Janet Napolitano announced a new venture capital fund for the university system last week. BY aleksandra konstantinovic

PHOTO BY SIDDARTH ATRE

senior staff Writer Plaza Cafe is reincarnated as 64 Degrees — the newly renovated dining facility in Revelle College. The UCSD Guardian sat down for a bite at the new restaurant.

The bill has caused some people to cross ideological lines. Wall Street Analytics founder and conservative libertarian Ron Unz has called the bill a relief to taxpayers because it incentivizes those receiving public goods including welfare and food stamps to become taxpayers through increased wages. “One reason people don’t want their taxes to be increased is [that] they sense a lot of the money will be burned up in the system and will never really go to the beneficiaries,” Unz said in an interview with The Nation. “With the minimum wage, the money goes straight to the person who has a paycheck. [Therefore], many workers are no longer so poor they no longer qualify for anti-pov-

The University of California Board of Regents approved the creation of a $250 million venture capital fund called UC Ventures, which it will invest in startup companies founded on campus research. The fund will be governed by an advisory board of outside experts and spent on commercializing the UC campuses’ most potentially profitable discoveries. UC President Janet Napolitano sees the fund as a natural avenue for the research already happening on campuses. “In addition to any financial benefits, we see this fund as a potential vehicle for providing resources to support the basic research and talent — among both faculty and students — required to develop innovations that can benefit California and the world,” Napolitano said in an online post last month. In documents obtained by the UCSD Guardian, one of the new programs approved by Napolitano will allow the UC system to accept a stake in companies founded by faculty in exchange for the use of university facilities and equipment. UC Office of the President Assistant Director of Media Relations Dianne Klein says that the fund is still in its early planning stages. “We hope those investments will pay off — both for the principals and for the investors — but there is no guarantee,” Klein said. “But keep in mind that these are long-term investments; they are not envisioned as quick profit-taking exercises and will not be designed that way.” Following the announcement of UC Ventures, a press release from UCOP confirmed that the fund will not use tuition or state funding. Klein also mentioned that, should the fund provide a good return on investment, it would not be enough to mitigate a potential tuition increase. “Any one-time payout — such as might, theoretically, come from cashing out of an investment — does not provide the permanent, ongoing source of revenue that tuition does,” Klein said. “Those monies are used to fund faculty, teaching assistants and staff needed to perform our core educational mission.” Klein stated that the cash infusions from UC Ventures may help the system pay for maintenance and equipment needs, as well as other costs like faculty recruitment and graduate student support. While the venture fund itself is new, the UC system has launched hundreds of startups over the years, some of which were founded by UC

See WAGE, page 3

See VENTURES, page 3

WEEKEND, PAGE 8

BROWN ON BILLS

governor taking action Opinion, Page 4

CHE’S DAY IN COURT

PERFECT ON THE FIELD SOCCER shuts out ccaa foes SPORTS, PAGE 12

FORECAST

THURSDAY H 77L 62

SATURDAY H 79 L 62

FRIDAY

H 79 L 63

SUNDAY

A pair of lawsuits filed by the Che Cafe, pictured above, will contest the legitimacy of 2014 university actions to shut down the co-operative. Photo by Taylor Sanderson/Guardian. The Che Cafe Co-operative currently faces two legal battles against the UC Board of Regents, both scheduled for this month. The first, a jury trial that will take place on Friday, Oct. 10 at 1:30 p.m., reviews the eviction notice that the university placed upon the Che Cafe this past summer. The second, scheduled for Oct. 31, is a preliminary injunction. According to Che Cafe core member Rene Vera, the preliminary injunction essentially asks UCSD to renegotiate and uphold the terms of the Master Space

Agreement, the lease agreement between the all campus Co-ops and the university. During Spring Quarter 2014, the University Centers Advisory Board decided not to include repairs to the Che Cafe that University Centers said were necessary to keep the space functional and safe in theirits yearly budget. Shortly afterward, the Graduate Student Association voted to decertify the Che Cafe Co-op, citing that it did not adhere to the Master Space Agreement, pay rent or serve the best interest of

students. At the beginning of the summer, the Che Cafe Co-op filed a lawsuit against the university that stated that the GSA’s decertification of the Che Cafe was unjust because the Co-op does adhere to the Master Space Agreement and that the vote was made without informing the Che Cafe or allowing for public input. This lawsuit led UCSD to place a temporary restraining order against the Co-op. However, according to Vera, the Che Cafe Co-op decided to seek new legal

H 83 L 63 See CHE, page 3

VERBATIM

IT’S NICE TO THINK THAT AFTER JUST FOUR MONTHS OF BEING HERE, I ALREADY ASSOCIATE COMING BACK “HOME” TO BEING BACK IN ITALY.”

- Shelby Newalis VINOS AND VINAS WEEKEND, PAGE 6

INSIDE New Business.................. 3 Editorials......................... 4 Film Review..................... 8 Classifieds..................... 10 Sports............................ 12

CALIFORNIA

State Minimum Wage Continues to Rise Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 10, securing incremental increases until 2017. BY brian iniguez

contributing writer California’s minimum wage has increased from $8 to $9 an hour due to a law that passed the state assembly in June 2014. California state assemblyman Luis Alejo’s bill AB 10 will further increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour in January 2016 and, beginning in 2017, the minimum wage will be continue to be modified in accordance with the consumer price index. Proponents of the bill, including the National Employment Law Project, agree that placing more money in the hands of the consumer middle class will bring about eco-

nomic growth and stability as a result of increased monetary circulation in the market. Those who oppose the increase, including senior labor economic policy analyst James Sherk, express concern about the effects on business; as a company takes on increased expenditures for its labor, cuts will have to be made elsewhere, potentially in total employment. “A higher minimum wage helps only those workers who actually wind up earning that wage and further disadvantages lower-income workers, who suffer [from] fewer job opportunities and working hours,” Sherk said in a 2007 report. “Though intended to help low-income families get ahead, the minimum wage instead costs some of their jobs and others hours at work. This leaves poor families actually worse off.”


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