Happy Friday, Aggies!
Spring Quarter, at last. Week one of the new quarter — a.k.a. week of class swapping, anxiously eyeing waitlists and wandering the campus looking for that lecture hall you’ve never heard of — has come to a close. Picnic Day is on the horizon, and The Aggie is hosting a Picnic Day open house. Come take a break from the sun, check out vintage newspaper technology and snag some free pizza! Our office in 25 Lower Freeborn opens at noon.
And now for the news…
Campus:
Band-uh! Uh-oh! Accusations of sexual assault and hazing have risen within UC Davis’ California Aggie Marching Band. Current and ex-members came forward to The Aggie to tell their stories, making the student body aware of the dark side of Band-uh!. Hazing new members is seen as tradition by the group, but a series of “marching tests” and “bonding” events have contributed to a “toxic” culture. Joel Gutierrez, a third-year American studies and gender, sexuality and women’s studies double major, described the pressure put on new members to attend these gatherings. “At one specific bonding, new male members were blindfolded and taken to an outdoor area, dimly lit by candles. They were handed hand-carved penis candles and were instructed to describe what the candles felt like. They were all subsequently asked to describe their own genitals as well.” Read on.
City:
#Health4All — On Mar. 20, hundreds of advocates in the Health4All Coalition gathered in Sacramento to urge legislators to support a bill to extend healthcare for all Californians, including undocumented immigrants who have been “locked out of healthcare.” Senate Bill 29 would expand on the already-in-place Senate Bill 75 — “Health4AllKids,” which provides healthcare to all undocumented children — to include adults.
“We have taken the first steps toward providing healthcare for all, regardless of immigration status,” said Senator María Elena Durazo, who authored SB 29, in a press release. “In spite of their integral role in our state, undocumented Californians are, for the most part, left out of our health insurance system. They can’t get preventive screenings for serious health conditions like diabetes. They rely on emergency rooms and last-minute care.” Read on.
Features:
Following admissions decisions released Mar. 8, campus tours are getting increasingly busy. Campus tour guides have the responsibility of leading groups of 15-to-25 prospective students and their families around campus and through residence halls, as well as working admissions events and greeting at the Welcome Center. This is an important job that requires guides to be well-steeped in facts about the campus and to be able to answer a variety of questions for prospective Aggies.
“For the two hours you are there giving the tour, you must be 100 percent present,” said Shubha Chakravarty, third-year communication and cinema and digital media double major, who has been a tour guide for a year. Chakravarty and other fellow tour guides share their experiences. Read on.
Arts:
Get Hella Spoked — The fifteenth annual HellaCappella is tonight at 7 p.m. in the Mondavi Center. Hosted and organized by UC Davis’ Spokes, the premiere cappella showcase welcomes groups from University of Oregon, The Claremont Colleges, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.
“This year we’ve really harnessed all of our unique music tastes and musical backgrounds to create a diverse and dynamic sound,” said Tanya Kameswaran, a fourth-year psychology and communications double major and President of the Spokes. “Fifteen years is a huge milestone to celebrate so we’re so thankful to have this opportunity to share our music with the Davis community.”
The women of Birdstrike Theatre will be the emcee this year. Tickets are $21 for students and children and $35 for general admission at the door. They can be purchased beforehand or online for a reduced price. Doors open at 7 p.m. Read the full preview.
Sports:
After a rocky preseason, UC Davis baseball captured their first Big West series win, claiming a 2-out-of-3 victory against the UC Riverside Highlanders.
“The series [against UCR] went very well,” junior outfielder Cooper Morrison said. “It was good to win a series at home. It was big to come back in the 6th, 7th and 8th. Kind of carries into next week, next game — Pacific, then Hawaii — which is a lot of fun. It’s key to win games at home in conference so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
Aggies’ next home series starts Apr. 12 against Cal Poly. Read the full recap.
Science:
Studies show students’ insecurities about national and local community events are being translated into mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Despite an overall decrease in school violence in California, a survey of 12,000 high school students’ social and emotional health showed that a higher number of students who reported feeling unsafe correlated to feeling sad or down.
“Being exposed to school violence is a risk factor for mental illness, with the more intense and direct exposures being associated with higher rates of challenges, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” said Stephen Brock, a professor and coordinator of the School Psychology Program in the California State University, Sacramento’s Department of Graduate and Professional Studies in Education. “While it is expected that most people exposed to school violence will not go on to develop mental illness, like PTSD, some do, and this can seriously affect school adjustment and academic functioning.” Read on.
From the Opinion Desk: “A Tale of Two Californias: Is it time to finally restructure our state legislature?”
Have a laugh: “Humor: Marvel creates new UCD-themed comic book, “The Agents of Shields Library””
Editorial: “College admissions scandals take spots away from deserving students”
Itzelth’s Weekly Picks:
Television: Delhi Crime
Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Novel: I’ll Give You the Sun
Album: RKS
That’s all for your weekly briefing. Check back next week.
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— Grace Simmons
