Opinion

During last week's ASUCD elections, several candidates clung to the tired mantra of "bridging the gap between students and their Association." For years now, this has been a favorite tactic of those desperately seeking the sense of self-approval that, apparently, only an ASUCD elected position can bring.

It's finally over. At least for now.

After 18 months of negotiations, service workers and the University of California have come to an agreement regarding workers' pay.

ASUCD voting hit its second highest turnout on record last week. This occurred despite a three-and-a-half-hour downtime on Thursday night. The downtime was compensated for with an additional three and a half hours of voting time on Friday morning.

Whether it's a big thanksgiving feast at the same house every year, or the first song sung on a long road trip, for most kids traditions large and small, are a big part of our lives. Before we even understand the concept of familiarity, we learn what it's like to count on something, or someone, year in and year out.

So this week I had several column ideas that I thought were interesting and relevant to college folks and was totally unable to choose between them. Below, separated by well-placed boldface type, are the bare bones of each.

The War on Drugs, by its very nomenclature, is illogical. Using the word 'war' vests an undue amount of power into the agencies carrying out the 'fight' for 'justice,' and in the case of the War on Drugs, what is it a 'war' against? 

The prophet again ascended the mountain to seek the wisdom of the Lord.

"Did I not provide you with 10 commandments previously?" he asked.

As goes California, so goes the nation. And between Nixon, Reagan and the political climate they bequeathed unto us, that certainly appears to be the case.

As you all may be aware of, Facebook has been under heat from users for a recent update in its Terms of Use. Under these changes, all user-generated content - basically anything that's ever been posted or uploaded on Facebook - could be used, altered and even sublicensed by the site.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a well-known schematic for a person's priorities represented as a pyramid. Each tier corresponds to a "need" that can only be fulfilled once the tiers below it are satisfied. Although Maslow makes a fairly correct outline of our needs, there is still some controversy over its accuracy.

In the classic 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams' portrayal of a poetry professor inspiring his students to love poetry for its intrinsic qualities - as opposed to a singular focus on grades - is at once touching and haunting.

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son," says Dean Wormer in Animal House. Just because you're an adult in the eyes of the law doesn't actually mean you have to act like it. Okay, yeah, maybe mooning strangers on I-80 and flashing the vajayjay sign in your holiday greeting cards is not exactly model behavior, but it can be stupidly entertaining and really fun.

This quarter's ASUCD elections produced their usual crop of quality senate and executive candidates. Unfortunately, they also produced unruly and disruptive crowds at the two debates in the ASUCD Coffee House. Slate supporters, most notably LEAD supporters, are excessively loud and raucous at such functions on a consistent basis.

The announcement of a possible US Bank branch in the Memorial Union was bad enough. The latest news is even worse. UC Davis could allow US Bank to put its logo on the back of all UC Davis identification cards as part of the ongoing negotiations to allow a US Bank branch in the MU.

Some light needs to be shed on a particular minority of women. These women come in various shapes and sizes, skin colors, religious beliefs, sexual orientations and everything else that makes people vary. Actually, they really have nothing in common, besides one crucial aspect of their personalities that distinguishes each from the rest of society.