Campus News

Imagine walking into the ASUCD Coffee House and having an array of sushi rolls directly on your right, or moving toward the bakery island overlooking the Quad and ordering a refreshing fruit smoothie.

As the final quarter of the school year commences, several construction projects on the UC Davis campus have reached or are nearing completion. Though the new Tercero dormitories represent some of the more obvious activity, other developments promise major changes for the campus.

On Tuesday the UC Davis School of Medicine's Department of Public Health Sciences hosted a Public Health Week symposium from 5 to 7:45 p.m. in the Genome Building Auditorium.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of approximately 30 students gathered at the Memorial Union fountain to protest Chancellor Katehi, budget cuts, fee increases and the privatization of the UC system and the recent hate crimes across UC campuses.

False move A student was recently referred to Student Judicial Affairs for providing false information to a professor in an upper-division economics course. The sophomore told his professor that he had not submitted any work for the course and asked to be given a "No Work Submitted" grade for the class. The professor told the student that as long as he had not submitted any work, the NWS grade would be given. The professor then received an e-mail from a teaching assistant stating that the student had frantically e-mailed the TA and asked him to throw away a homework assignment that was submitted earlier in the quarter. The student admitted to providing false information during his informal meeting with an SJA officer and agreed to probation until winter 2011 and 15 hours of community service. Although this student was in an upper-division course and lied to a professor, his forthrightness and lack of prior offenses were taken into account when a sanction was decided upon.

For students, staff and faculty facing fee increases and pay cuts in light of the UC-wide budget crisis, one local professor has placed the blame on the regents with evidence to back it up. Dr. Jerold Theis, a professor in the department of medical microbiology and immunology at the UC Davis School of Medicine, bases this accusation on evidence he discovered while investigating the regents' use of 19900 General Fund Support [cq], funds allotted by the state to help subsidize the functioning of the UC.

Jim Leach is going on tour. The chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will bring his 50-state "civility tour" to Davis Thursday at 11 a.m. in Freeborn Hall, featuring lessons on mutual respect and understanding for others.

This Saturday and Sunday, over 200 relay teams will walk around a track for 24 hours straight, collectively staying awake and active throughout the Relay For Life walk to reflect the idea that "cancer never sleeps."

Keegan Groot usually swims two hours a day and lifts weights for an hour three times a week. Along with individual practice, Groot may clock in around 20 hours of training by Sunday. But for the sophomore exercise biology major and breast stroke-swimmer on the UC Davis's men's swimming team, this routine may not last. Groot is one of possibly three hundred student athletes whose teams may be targeted for closure as a result of a projected $2.4 million cut to the UC Davis Intercollegiate Athletics Department.

UC Davis' Muslim Student Association (MSA) kicked off its annual Islam Awareness Month last Thursday, seeking to demonstrate the many faces of followers of Islam. The month's theme, "I am Muslim …" is an open-ended examination of the various sources of inspiration to worship of those within the Muslim community. Events will span five weeks, each of which bearing a sub-theme, and will incorporate activities intended to engage students. They will take place on the quad, and there will also be reflections later in the evening.

ASUCD Senate Meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the April 1 meeting location, the Memorial Union's Mee Room. Meeting called to order at 6:09 p.m. Jack Zwald, ASUCD president, present, left early Previn Witana, ASUCD vice president, present Abrham Castillo-Ruiz, ASCUD senator, present Adam Thongsavat, ASUCD senator, present Alison Tanner, ASUCD senator, present

How to Train Your Dragon and Alice in Wonderland stand as the current top two movies at the box office, and with Clash of the Titans appearing in theaters today, 3-D movies may soon sweep the hits list.

Creating the appearance of cheating: A professor referred a senior to Student Judicial Affairs for submitting another student's work as his own after discovering that the senior's homework was identical to the previous year's assignment.

UC has neither the funding nor the classroom space to cope with an expected increase of 20,243 students to the system by 2019, according to a report by the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

Evidence has existed for quite some time implying the possible benefits of animal companionship, including lower blood pressure, reduced anxiety and more active lifestyles. Many benefits, however, are only anecdotally or correlationally supported - a situation that scholars at UC Davis have taken an interest in rectifying. UC Davis researchers recently conducted an empirical study along with Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) that showed quantitatively significant improvements in reading skills when children read aloud to animals. The experiment was one of the first of its kind.