Opinion

A five-cent tax increase on all ASUCD commercial units' credit card transactions has been in effect since Jan. 1. The decision was passed by the University Rate Group on Jan. 23 without student approval or representation.Michael Allred, associate vice chancellor of finance, said Accounting and Financial Services "would welcome student feedback" regarding the tax increase reported in Monday's Aggie. The ASUCD Senate, however, did not learn of the tax until roughly two weeks ago.

Somewhere between our youthful commitment to whatever lifestyle our parents raised us with and a midlife crisis, most college students put the idea of religion behind them. Succumbing to an authority figure, with its rules and regulations, and lack of tangible force doesn't fit well in the schema of our college lives.

Let's be honest, we all have our bad weeks. I'm not talking about anything serious (although those happen, too), I'm talking about those times when tons of little annoyances just add up and the tiniest thing can make you break down into tears of self-pity. Take right now, for example. I should be happy as a clam (which I'm pretty sure means that I should be pretty gosh-darn happy, although I never understood how clams became the mascot for happiness).

For months you tried to plant the seeds of romance by being a genuine and thoughtful friend, often consoling her and listening to her complain about how Stage 3 douchebags (if you're confused about the stages, I encourage you to check out last week's column) seem to be a dime a dozen in this shanty town.

And all the while you wondered if she was blind.

I want to murder my toilet. Lately, it has decided to go rogue and do everything it's not supposed to do. One day, I'll open the lid in hopes of (ahem) "dropping the kids off at the pool," and see that there is absolutely no water in it.

Being a student at one of the world's largest public universities makes avoiding passionate debaters practically impossible.

Most of the time such debate appears to be intelligent. You'll simply overhear a few of your peers calmly tossing out points and counter-points, secretly nod your head at the validity of their claims, and decide to get moving to your next class.

Dear editor,

The recent opinion piece by Jan Weeks, "Animal Welfare at UCD," makes a number of inaccurate statements about the animal research at UC Davis and at the California National Primate Research Center.

Dear Editor,

I was deeply troubled by the guest opinion article by Jan Weeks, entitled "Animal Welfare at UCD." I am also a UCD alumna and I currently work in a research lab at the UC Davis Medical Center. My research on liver fibrosis requires animals be sacrificed frequently for experiments.

University officials are considering a change to add a Middle Eastern category on the University of California application.

Currently, students who self-identify as Middle Eastern are typically expected to categorize themselves as white on the UC application, although some opt to choose African, Asian or other.

The decision by UC Davis to secure housing for future transfer students shows a positive shift by the university toward caring for the entire student body.

By securing housing agreements with Primero Grove, The Lexington and The Arbors, the university has guaranteed that it will be able to provide housing to incoming transfer students. Previously, UC Davis was the only UC campus that could not guarantee housing to this group.

Yogi Bear would have felt right at home here Saturday. Plenty of picnic baskets for him and Booboo, and nary a Ranger Rick to spoil the fun.… That is the Marvel of the annual Davis Picnic Day. It's like the entire Davis area had been transformed into our own Cartoon Network classic.

Another Picnic Day has come and gone, and now the UC Davis campus has a week or so to recover from the trampling it took from the billion or so people that visited on Saturday.

Meanwhile, students will spend the next few days contemplating, avoiding and ultimately studying for the quarter's first batch of midterms.

In Oceania, the decaying socialist military state George Orwell imagines in 1984, an omnipotent governmental party continuallyengineers and imposes "newspeak" on its citizenry

Super Senior,

I've been dating my girlfriend for about nine months and it's come to my attention that her parents don't like me. At all.And they show no signs of warming up to the idea of me dating their daughter. I think it's got something to do with my political and religious views, so you seem the right guy to ask; should I even bother worrying about this and what, if anything, can be done to ease the tension?

From the House of Montague

Americans are obsessed with the mass accumulation of stuff. The bigger the heap of stuff they have, the happier they are. And nothing, not even loved ones, dare get in their way of amassing more stuff. People abandon their families for higher paying jobs and divorce their spouses because of avoidable money issues.