Opinion

A list of local resources for knowing your rights, engaging in safe reporting and supporting your community    By THE EDITORIAL BOARD — opinion@theaggie.org   On Jan. 24, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Minneapolis resident Alex Jeffrey Pretti. While President Donald Trump’s administration claimed Pretti was “brandishing a gun” in an […]

In just 12 months, Trump plunged America into social, economic and environmental havoc   By THE EDITORIAL BOARD — opinion@theaggie.org   January 2026 marks the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration and the end of the first year of his second term in office. During that time, he has enacted an unprecedented amount of […]

Latinos join ICE for job security, but they should rethink their positions By SABRINA FIGUEROA — sfigueroaavila@ucdavis.edu With the recent murder of Renee Good in Minnesota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently under a microscope — and deservingly so. As attention grows, so does the question of who makes up ICE and why they […]

The core struggle with maintaining friendships through adulthood is less logistical and more emotional By GEETIKA MAHAJAN — giamahajan@ucdavis.edu My mom has beef with the popular American sitcom “Parks and Recreation;” she rolls her eyes whenever I turn it on because, as she says, “Nobody actually has friends like that.” For those unfamiliar, “Parks and […]

The buffer between adolescence and adulthood By NEVAEH KARRAKER — nakarraker@ucdavis.edu Time is both our greatest ally and our biggest constraint. There’s never enough of it, and we’ll never be satisfied. We desperately try to grasp at time, as we watch it slip between our fingertips like water. If only we could have more time […]

Unless we abolish ICE, Good won’t be the last to die in vain By SAGE KAMOCSAY— skamocsay@ucdavis.edu On Jan. 7, 2026, Renee Good was shot and murdered by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent near her home in Minneapolis.  Video footage shows several agents stepping out from an unmarked car in ski masks and […]

The case for having a pet in college By ANJALI IYER — amiyer@ucdavis.edu Last spring, my roommate informed me that we would be gaining temporary custody of her sister’s pet hamster, Daddy. He was to come live with us during the upcoming school year, as her sister wouldn’t be able to house him in her […]

The war over controlling language is deeply rooted in historical and legal implications  By VIOLET ZANZOT— vmzanzot@ucdavis.edu Hell will be “raised” when a woman is waiting to be made a “girlfriend,” “wife” or “mother” (if she wants it). Hell can “knock on your door” to hand you “drugs” (prescription) when it used to hand you […]

Ingest gossip cautiously By ABHINAYA KASAGANI — akasagani@ucdavis.edu For years, I have shirked participating in gossip, believing it to be the product of idleness. Gossip has always felt invasive, but its modern vilification led me to reconsider why exactly I react so poorly to the spread of information, despite it remaining one of the few […]

The circumstances of one’s birth should not play a heavy hand in determining their future By SAGE KAMOCSAY— skamocsay@ucdavis.edu Equality of opportunity encapsulates the idea that all members of a particular society are given an equal chance to succeed in work and politics and live a prosperous life — a meritocracy. It’s a concept that […]

Does this paradox hold true? By ABHINAYA KASAGANI — akasagani@ucdavis.edu Recently, a call with my mother led to a prolonged lecture about how, although our generation is more aware than hers had been, we are less able to translate our awareness into action and more inclined to morph it into anxieties. There are few poignant […]

Joining a book club is a learning experience in more ways than one By SABRINA FIGUEROA — sfigueroaavila@ucdavis.edu I’ll admit it: I hated reading as a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love it now, but back then I thought I was just too dumb to ever understand complex prose. I’d even get a little […]