Campus News

In a Wednesday night talk in Wellman Hall, Professor Aquiline Tarimo spoke about changing the international approach to human rights. He said it needs to change its focus from what is mostly political pragmatism and academic discussion-without-action to addressing the needs of the poor and fighting poverty. “Unless the human rights debate recognizes the needs of the poor, it will dissolute its relevance and meaning,” said Tarimo, a Jesuit priest and human rights scholar from Africa, citing a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, where the poor lack clean water, health care and sanitation services. Unemployment is high and the“lack of proper sewage system creates stagnant water, [which] becomes a breeding ground for [disease-carrying] mosquitoes,” he said.

In a primary full of twists, turns and uncertainties, two UC Davis students could play a critical role in determining the outcome. An Apr. 13 caucus of Democratic voters from the First Congressional District elected Don Gibson, a sophomore biotechnology major, as a delegate for Hillary Clinton. Ryan Loney, a sophomore environmental policy and planning major, was elected as an alternate delegate for Barack Obama. Both students will attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver from Aug. 25 to 28. According to quotas set by the state to ensure equal gender representation at the convention, there was one male delegate position from the First Congressional District available for Hillary Clinton. Gibson, who won that seat, said he sought to dispel the idea that only Obama attracts young voters.

This Friday and Saturday, olive aficionados will flock to the Hutchins St. Square conference center in Lodi to hear international experts discourse on topics regarding various aspects of the production of olive oil. The course is aimed at olive lovers of all levels and will include discussion on economics in the olive oil industry, advanced methods of producing and harvesting olives, varieties of olive oil and pest control. “The olive oil industry is growing very quickly in California,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center. “It’s expected to quadruple in size over the next few years as the trellis system becomes more widespread and farmers get more volume from an orchard for less cost.” The courses are sponsored by the UC Davis Olive Center, whose stated goal is to, “Promote increased market share of California table olives and olive oil through education, research and outreach,” according to its website.

UC Davis is harvesting more than just vegetables this spring. The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) has recently licensed the commercialization of several inventions that work to reduce the cost and increase the dependability of daylight harvesting systems. The co-exclusive license agreements were with Watt Stopper/ Legrand, a Santa Clara-based company that manufactures energy-efficient lighting controls and sensors, and Axis Technologies Inc., which both designs and manufactures a line of energy-saving and daylight harvesting devices.

The Cancer Survivors Network and UC Davis Colleges Against Cancer will hold the first cancer survivors panel in 194 Chemistry from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be six to eight UC Davis student survivors on the panel as well as an American Cancer Society funded researcher and clinical social worker at the UCD Cancer Center, John Linder. The event was inspired by UC Davis junior Brett Fontaine, a neurology, physiology and biology major, and senior Liz Creger, his UC Davis Cancer Survivors Network co-chair.

Plagiarism A student of senior standing was referred to Student Judicial Affairs for failing to cite sources properly for a take-home final exam. The student included information from the class reader in the final essay, word-for-word. The student claimed to have misunderstood the professor, but the professor stated that he had clearly indicated that all passages should be quoted with the proper citations. The student agreed to disciplinary probation in which he completed 10 hours of community service in conjunction with the Learning Skills Center until graduation.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded $8.2 million in fellowships last week to 190 artists, scholars and scientists in the United States and Canada. Out of more than 2,600 applicants, 18 of the selected few are University of California faculty, greater than any other system with just under a whopping 10 percent of the winners. “[The UC system is] very pleased that 18 members of our faculty have been honored by this very prestigious award. The broad range of faculty recognized and their specialties highlights the tremendous strength of our faculty in a diverse set of fields,” said Chris Harrington, spokesperson for the UC system.

UC Davis graduate student Benjamin Hanken was one of the 25 students chosen from across the nation to participate in the first annual student program at the Idaho National Laboratory this summer. Hanken, an alumni of Oregon State University, started his graduate studies in chemical engineering and materials science at UCD this year. Hanken was offered a scholarship from the Idaho National Laboratory to attend Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User facility summer session from July 16 to 20. “I first heard about the summer session through Professor Niels Jensen, one of the principal investigators for the project I’ll be working on for my thesis,” Hanken said in an e-mail interview.

With Picnic Day Parade just a few days away, staff members at the Education Abroad Center are making final preparations for their group’s float. But they will have to march without their prized centerpiece: a giant papier-mâché globe, which vandals destroyed. EAC Outreach Coordinator Jake Hosier said he lives close to the EAC, located on the corner of Third and A streets, and was driving by the office on the morning of Apr. 5 when he noticed shreds of papier-mâché throughout the street. Vandals had apparently detached the four-foot diameter globe from its base and rolled it around the street, Hosier said. One side of the globe, whose structure was made out of wood and chicken wire, was completely collapsed, he said. The globe cannot be repaired in time for the parade, Hosier said. “It’s one of those things that you don’t expect … to happen in Davis,” Hosier said. “We can’t even have a float in the parade because someone goes and does this kind of stuff. It’s really frustrating and disheartening.”

Wednesday’s Rail Jam event, hosted by ASUCD and the Ski or Snowboard Club (SOS), has been postponed due to a breached agreement between the Rail Jam promotion company and the equipment provider. The event was scheduled for Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Aggie Stadium and was intended to showcase winter sports in a competition setup. ASUCD planned to bring snow to campus from Lake Tahoe and allow students to attend free of charge. According to ASUCD Senator and event coordinator Jesse Rosales, the equipment provider previously owed the promoting company money and planned to compensate by providing UC Davis the equipment for the event. The equipment provider then backed out of the agreement, asking instead for $12,000, which ASUCD funds could not provide.

ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Apr. 10 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room. Meeting started at 6:15 p.m. Ivan Carrillo, ASUCD president, absent Molly Fluet, ASUCD vice-president, present Rebecca Schwartz, ASUCD senator pro tempore, present Andrew Bianchi, ASUCD senator, present Sergio Blanco, ASUCD senator, present

Archaeologists work to uncover peace Efforts by Ran Boytner, an archaeologist at UCLA, and Swartz Dodd, an archaeologist at USC, could aid the peace process in the Middle East. The two have led a team, comprised of highly regarded Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists, in creating an agreement as to the disposition of historical artifacts if a Palestinian state is formed. “Israelis and Palestinians never previously had sat down to achieve a structured balanced agreement to govern the region’s archaeological heritage,” said Dodd in a press release. “Our group got together with the vision of a future when people wouldn’t be at each other’s throats and archaeology would need to be protected, irrespective of which side of the border it falls on.”