Anything for love
A first-year student was referred to SJA for allegedly letting his girlfriend cheat off his quiz in a physics class. In a meeting with a judicial officer, the student denied that he had
allowed his girlfriend to copy from him during the quiz. However, he and his girlfriend
had previously been referred for collaborating on a quiz, and as a result of that incident
he had signed a disciplinary contract agreeing not to sit by his girlfriend during quizzes or tests and to sit in the front row. Therefore, although he denied that he had collaborated with his girlfriend on the physics quiz, he was in violation of the terms of his previous disciplinary agreement. He agreed to be placed on Deferred Separation status until graduation and to do community service and receive counseling at CAPS for stress management. He was also required to complete a reflection paper.
Caught by the web
A third-year student was referred to SJA for plagiarism on a take-home exam. Specifically, the student plagiarized his answers from a previous quarter’s exam that was posted online. In a meeting with a judicial officer, he admitted to the violation. He agreed to Deferred Separation status and 10 hours of community service as his sanctions.
Rating: 4/5
Cloud Atlas is a rarity. How can we begin to describe what an accomplishment it is that this film even exists?
Its source material, a novel of the same name by Englishman David Mitchell, was said to be unfilmable: six stories, all distinctly plotted, representing several centuries from the 1800s to the post-apocalyptic future. Mitchell pieced them together in a narrative structure that won him critical praise and landed him on the Man Booker shortlist. But using the same concept for a film? Impossible.
Yet here we are with just that: the film.
The Matrix-famed Wachowski siblings and their good friend Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), a German director, pulled it off by weaving the stories together instead of presenting them at length one at a time. It was the right decision for the nuts-and-bolts reason that it’s easier to remember characters this way (the film is hefty, clocking in at two hours and 43 minutes). It was also the right decision for pacing, to keep things interesting.
Funny, then, that Cloud Atlas starts off ploddingly, making you wonder for the first 45-or-so minutes if the rest of the film will continue floating around lost in space. Perhaps the filmmakers can be forgiven for this, since they had to present a new exposition six times. We should be less forgiving, though, for the unclear distinction between stories, which hampers our ability to connect different events and characters to each plot.
But the film learns to walk. It finds its stride. And finally, it blossoms beautifully. The six stories, deadweight at first, suddenly become intriguing, progressing alongside one another in freewheeling glory. The film’s structure becomes a strength, keeping proceedings tense and gripping with mini-cliffhangers abound. No matter that the film’s grand theme, that everything and everyone is connected somehow, is a bit of an afterthought. Cloud Atlas’ storytelling is thrilling and carries the day.
Tom Hanks is reliably compelling, most notably as an eccentric doctor tending to an ailing lawyer (a convincing Jim Sturgess) aboard a Pacific ship. Halle Berry is resilient as a deep-digging journalist wading into a mess of corruption. Jim Broadbent (of Harry Potter fame) shines as a harried and wide-eyed publisher, tricked into imprisonment in a nursing home and determined, huffing and puffing, to escape. Ben Whishaw (cast in the upcoming Bond film Skyfall) is irresistibly suave as a young playboy musician working for a master composer. And South Korean actress Bae Doo Na is entrancing as a clone in 22nd-century Neo Seoul, a futuristic city stylized as wonderfully as you might expect from the Wachowskis. Make sure you stay for the credits to see which actors played various characters throughout the film.
Most importantly, Cloud Atlas is an experience. It was filmed gorgeously, and its soundtrack is veritably haunting. It takes you on an exhilarating ride and, in breathtaking fashion, ends on as close to a perfect note as you could imagine.
That’s a relief, because, to be sure, Cloud Atlas was far more than a mere gamble. Most filmmakers don’t get $100 million to take a chance on a radically different film, so when they do, we want them to succeed. Their success blazes the path for filmmakers who dare to try something new.
The Wachowskis and Tykwer stumbled a bit, but they got it mostly right. Cloud Atlas is perhaps the most extraordinary feat of imagination we’ll see on the screen in a long time. That, no doubt, is a rarity.
JOEY CHEN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
The 2012-2013 Student Assistants to the Chancellor (SAC), Annemarie Stone, Artem Trotsyuk and Miguel Espinoza, hit the ground running this year, organizing events to bridge the gap between students and the administration at UC Davis.
“We act as liaisons between the administration and the students,” said Trotsyuk, a fourth-year biological sciences major.
The student assistants all come from very different backgrounds, giving them the opportunity to bring something unique to the table.
“We can approach things differently, but we work as a team,” said Miguel Espinoza, a fourth-year women and gender studies major. Espinoza served as an ASUCD senator and member of the Gender and Sexuality Commission before beginning work as a Student
Assistant to the Chancellor this year.
Trotsyuk served as a member of the ASUCD Business and Finance Commission and as a research ambassador for the Undergraduate Research Center.
Stone is a fourth-year English major. Last year she chaired the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission and was vice chair of the ASUCD Scholarship Committee.
The student assistants work to understand the diverse student body at UC Davis in an attempt to represent and cater to the needs of all students, according to the SAC. Their goal is to ensure that UC Davis serves as a safe, inclusive environment to all of its students.
The SACs do this by meeting with students and the administration separately and coordinating events throughout the year that will allow students and administrators to interact.
According to Trotsyuk, the theme that the SAC is working around this year is student wellness with a holistic view. Programs are geared toward keeping students healthy, both mentally and physically.
Stone said that the SAC wanted to bring the administration to the students this year, as opposed to having the students come to the administration. The assistants are featuring three major programs this year that intend to do just that: Meals with Mrak, Exercise with Mrak and the 5K Wellness Walk.
Meals with Mrak is a breakfast series taking place in the Segundo Dining Commons that will allow students to sit down with various Mrak Hall administrators, including Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and Provost Ralph Hexter, to talk about their concerns and experiences on campus. These events will take place every quarter.
Exercise with Mrak invites students to speak with various campus leaders in smaller group settings. Activities will include walking and bowling.
Students, parents, administrators and community members are invited to participate in the 5K Wellness Walk later this year. Participant entry fees will raise funds for scholarships.
“A lot of [administrators] like the idea of talking to students,” Trotsyuk said.
The SAC aims to organize events related to current events. Most recently there were presidential debate gatherings in the Student Community Center multi-purpose room.
“Election years are always important in an institution of higher education,” Stone said.
The SAC collaborated with the South East Asian Resource Action Center to coordinate the gatherings. Students were also able to register to vote at these events.
A post-election town hall will be held in November, allowing students and administrators to speak about what the results of the election will mean for the UC Davis community.
The assistants have open office hours, which are listed on their website, sac.ucdavis.edu. Information about how to get involved with current campus events and programs can be found on the SAC Facebook page.
LAUREN MASCARENHAS can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
A fire occurred yesterday morning on the east side of Olson Hall, causing students, faculty and staff to evacuate the building. Both Olson Hall and Sproul Hall were evacuated.
According to Nathan Trauernicht, UC Davis Fire Department fire chief, the department received a call notifying them of the fire at 9:14 a.m.
The source of the fire was determined to be a pile of dead leaves in a metal grate outside the building.
Trauernicht said the fire was likely unintentionally caused by someone dropping a cigarette on the pile, which produced a large amount of smoke. The flames, however, were small.
“We knew it was small and easily resolved,” he said.
Students reported smelling the smoke inside Olson Hall as well.
“We could see the smoke coming out of the vents in the ground,” says Jordan Lowery, a student who was in the building for class at the time of the fire.
Lexi Gritlefeld was in the middle of a midterm when the alarm sounded.
“We smelled smoke maybe five minutes before the alarm went off. … We came out and we saw the [UC Davis] fire station,” Gritlefeld said.
— Jessica Grill
Despite Chancellor Linda Katehi’s and UC President Mark Yudof’s statements encouraging the vote as a voice, I am not in support of the idea that voting is having one’s voice heard. In fact, I believe that what’s more important than voting is the depth behind the education of the issue and what one is willing to do with it.
While I do encourage those who can vote to go and do so, I am far more in support of everyone who can read this to inform themselves regardless; to keep reading, or to start.
Speaking of which, here’s a fact from the UC itself: “In 1990-91 the state funded 78 percent of the total cost of education per student. In 2010-11, the state provided 47 percent.”
Another fact from the UC: Prop. 30 or not, state funding for our public education will continue to fall. “As state support has declined, the students’ share of their education costs, net of financial aid, has tripled, from 13 percent in 1990-91 to 41 percent in 2010-11. As the state’s share falls in 2011-12, the student share will rise further.”
Now after that’s understood, how could we not read more?
After that’s understood, how can we not ask why, and how?
Whether we’re voting or not, in history these elections go down as another critical turning point in what continues to be the most pressing time for students of higher education in California today, whether we’re at Pasadena City College, UC Davis or any other public institution.
Another fact, from USC Annenberg: “During the past two fiscal years, CSU’s state funding was cut by $650 million, causing tuition to rise by 12 percent last year and enrollment to be slashed by 10,000 students.”
To me, reading that links all students together, or it reminds me of that linkage in case I’ve forgotten. And I have forgotten. I do forget. And I’m sure you do too.
But it is not my intention to tell you what to do with this information. Right now it is only my intention to ask that you go and seek the information for yourself and encourage others to do so as well.
That you keep reading, or start, because reading is power.
And I believe the moment we learned how to read, we gained the responsibility to share our voice and its findings, to help others find theirs, and to in turn help each other as a whole in the long journey that is moving society forward.
Here is another fact with regards to state funding, from Death Penalty Focus: “A 2011 study found that California has spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978 and that death penalty trials are 20 times more expensive than trials seeking a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole … California currently spends $184 million on the death penalty each year and is on track to spend $1 billion in the next five years.”
Regardless of where one stands on the death penalty, it is an inarguable fact that it’s more money not going to education.
The links are there.
But don’t take my word for it, research it yourself. Whether you’ve voted already or are going to or not, keep reading, or start, because your voice depends on it and because others depend on your voice.
And keep reading, or start, because soon you will be asked for your opinion; do it because others will still ask for more than your opinion when they ask you to join them somehow.
And do it because you can.
Because no matter how busy you might be, you are a student of the world and you must be informed.
In the days coming up to elections, like Chancellor Katehi and President Yudof, I encourage you to study the issues more.
Taking things one step further, however, I encourage you to keep reading —or start immediately — and to continue do so well after ballots are cast.
I know it’s not easy and that you have tons of reading to do as it is, but the truth is that as we come of age more reading is simply necessary if we’re to be critical contributors to society.
Here’s one last fact. According to the World Literacy Foundation: “[In 2012] one in five adults, or 796 million people, lack basic literacy skills.”
JIMMY RECINOS is writing to administrators; you can help him at jrecinos@ucdavis.edu.
— Matthew Yuen
The San Diego native has recorded over 1,000 assists each year she has played for the Aggies and is on pace to shatter former standout Denise Bilbaeno’s school recorder of 3,549 career assists.
Woolway recorded 36 assists in the Aggies’ four set victory against Cal State Fullerton last Friday, totaling 754 for the season and eighth among all Big West setters.
When UC Davis last met LBSU earlier in the season on Oct. 5, Woolway recorded 37 assists, but the effort was not enough as the Aggies dropped a four set loss.
For UC Davis to pull out a win against a tough 49ers team this weekend, expect them to be looking to their setter for leadership.
While Woolway often sports a quiet, unassuming demeanor, there is no doubt that a fire to win burns deep inside her. Look for that fire to come out against two tough opponents this week.
Did you know? UC Davis, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton are all in a dead tie for third with 6-5 Big West records apiece.
The three schools trail behind second place Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara by a mere one game, while UC Irvine sits in fourth place, also by the slim margin of a single game.
Hawai’i has set itself head and shoulders above the competition with a dream 12-0 record, but second place is very much up in the air. A single loss or a pair of wins can easily boost any one of these teams into a second place advantage.
Preview: There’s no place like home. There’s no place like — UC Davis. While the Aggies did fight for some well-earned road victories, there is no doubt that the blue and gold colors of their home floor will provide some much needed comfort for this well traveled team.
Six of the Aggies’ last eight games have been on the road and while they did achieve an even 4-4 record during the run, UC Davis will look to steal some crucial victories in front of their home crowd.
“When we last played at Irvine, that was a very good match,” said coach Jamie Holmes. “I thought that was one of the highlights of our season so far.”
The Aggies visited Irvine on Oct. 6 and were able to complete an extremely close 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 sweep of the Anteaters.
Senior outside hitter Allison Whitson had a team high 19 kills while defensive specialist Kaitlyn Plum and Woolway led the defense with 14 digs.
“Irvine is a young team that is physically talented,” Holmes said. “They have a talented outside hitter who we did a great job of containing last time. Being able to do that again is crucial to our success.”
As for Long Beach State, the Aggies have not fared too well against their Southern California rivals. UC Davis has not recorded a victory against the 49ers in over 6 years, making their next meeting not only a must-win, but a grudge match as well.
“Long Beach State is always a very well trained team,” Holmes said. “They execute their skill set very well. We are going to have to do a good job of being efficient.”
In their last matchup, UC Davis came out strong and took game one 25-19. However, the 49ers took advantage of a few mental errors in game two and the Aggies could not recover. UC Davis will focus on executing consistently throughout the match in order to take this crucial win.
— PK Hattis
This Halloween, CloverUp Club, a condom-distributing service, will be working with Davis fraternities and sororities to distribute a large number of sample condoms from Halloween through the weekend, both on campus and at the organizations’ houses. Halloween weekend is historically one of the most sexually active of the year at university campuses.
Throughout the year, CloverUp Club delivers condoms online, providing a cheaper and less awkward way to procure protection. The program is also working with various universities to spread the availability of their product and sex education.
“Sex should be fun, safe and hassle-free,” said UC Davis alumna Marisa Swain, who works in marketing with CloverUp Club. “That’s why we are working for this cause.”
Over the next week, plain, flavored, colorful and glow-in-the-dark condoms will be distributed. For more information, visit cloverupclub.com.
— Rohit Ravikumar
The Poetry Night Reading Series is held at the John Natsoulas Gallery at 521 First St. in Davis on the first and third Thursdays of every month.
The reading series, which starts at 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public, features an hour-long reading from a guest poet followed by an hour-long open mic performance.
Emeritus professor Sandra Gilbert speaks tonight, while English professor Joe Wenderoth performs on Nov. 15 and Sacramento State professor Joshua McKnight performs on Dec. 6.
The Poetry Night Reading Series is emceed by Dr. Andy Jones, writing professor at UC Davis. It started in the summer of 2007 at Bistro 33 and has since moved to the Natsoulas Gallery.
“John Natsoulas is a longtime supporter of the arts and a longtime supporter of my radio show,” said Jones, whose show “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour” airs on KDVS. “He lets us use his gallery rent-free.”
How does Jones attract guest readers for Poetry Night?
“Because of my radio show and my advocacy of poetry, I know a lot of the readers beforehand,” Jones said.
He also follows the schedules of traveling poets and attempts to work them into the schedule.
“In some cases, poets will come to me and ask if they can do a reading. I may also see a great poet and try to recruit them,” Jones said.
UC Davis English professor Joshua Clover, who has done three readings for the series, loved the experience.
“I have loved the chance to read there,” Clover said in an email. “We usually get a pretty good crowd, often over 100 people. Also, we are able to have drinks, which makes poetry and most other things better.”
“I’d say the exposure to so many varied forms of poetry, prose, performance, and everything occupying the spaces between, has been as beneficial to me as any actual class ever was.”
Open-mic participants are encouraged to show up at 7:45 p.m. to sign up. For more information, check out poetryindavis.com.
JOHN KESLER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
While other counties are waiting to see if Proposition 30 will pass and how many cuts they may face next year, the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) is trying to take a preemptive measure.
The proponents for Measure E state that this is a way to safeguard against Prop. 30 failing. Opponents argue the measure isn’t a transparent process and creates new taxes that would cost residents more than necessary, especially in a recession.
Public school funding has become so controversial that there are two propositions on the ballot to increase funding. Gov. Jerry Brown and Molly Munger, an attorney, both proposed initiatives to help public schools: Prop. 30 and Prop. 38, respectively.
According to the California Voter Guide, Prop. 30 and Prop. 38 both allocate money to K-12 schools, although they propose different ways of doing it — Prop. 30 plans to tax those who make over $250,000 for seven years and increase the sales tax by 25 cents. Prop. 38 proposes a tax for incomes over $7,316 for 12 years.
Measure E replaces a current parcel tax, Measure A. However, Don Saylor, member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, said there is guaranteed money if Prop. 30 doesn’t pass.
“[The bill is to] anticipate the possibility that Prop. 30 will not pass, and to support the school system,” Saylor said.
If the proposition doesn’t pass, then there will be a supplementary tax allocated toward school children, grades K-12.
“Davis has supported parcel taxes since 1982,” Saylor said. “It’s a long-standing tradition in the community. The Davis community values education. I think it’s largely from the university’s location here.”
However, some of the support has turned to threats. Jose Granda, a candidate running for the DJUSD School Board, received a letter written on Oct. 17, referencing a “No on Measure E” sign.
“Davis supports schools. Take down your no on C [sic] sign or we will do it for you (and f— up your house). Vote Yes! on C,” the letter said.
Granda was upset when he received the threat.
“Measures are won with solid, logical arguments, not with threats and intimidation,” he said. “The fact that supporters of Measure E have resorted to these tactics is an indication of the weakness of their arguments and their concern that I may get elected.”
Granda said that he has been subject to attacks because of his stance, and that he was not invited to the Measure E forum at Cesar Chavez Elementary School.
“With intimidation, taking our signs from front yards, replacing others with theirs, the only thing they may accomplish is to put the Yes on E campaign on life support,” Granda said.
Saylor, on the other hand, disagreed based on the current financial situation of Davis schools.
“The ever-increasing financial challenges that are facing school districts make Measure E even more important,” Saylor said. “The reason this is included here is that in the past, over the past several years, they’ve been too late to adjust the budget or to address new problem[s].”
Prop. 30, Prop. 38 and Measure E, in part, come after increasing anger over reduction of school teachers and an increase in prices for university education.
The latest poll by the California Business Roundtable indicates 49.2 percent in favor of Prop. 30, while Prop. 38 is behind with only 33 percent of “Yes” voters.
While Prop. 30 only needs a simple majority, Measure E needs a two-thirds vote. Yet Harris feels confident about the measure passing despite the difficulties of attaining a supermajority.
“That’s why it’s tough to adopt local funding. But we’ve always done it. We’ve never failed, and frankly I don’t plan that we’ll fail this time,” Harris said.
JULIE WEBB can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
Your Oct. 29 article “Measures and propositions on the Nov. 6 ballot” may have inadvertently given a misleading impression of the potential impact of Measure Q.
In 2002, the taxpayers of Solano County funded a $124.5 million bond measure (Measure G) to improve the facilities at Solano Community College. Of that amount, $5 million was used to remodel the science/engineering building. The remodeling was just completed during the summer of 2011.
Now the district has spent $300,000 to float a new bond measure (Measure Q) in the November 2012 election, asking the taxpayers of Solano and Yolo Counties for an additional $348 million.
Part of the money from Measure Q will be used to gut or entirely demolish the newly remodeled science/engineering building and build a new one. In addition, $1 million from Measure G was spent on building a new soccer field. If Measure Q passes, the soccer field is to be demolished and replaced with a pond.
Meanwhile, 14 programs, including engineering, remain under threat of program discontinuance at Solano Community College. After the campus and community spoke out to support these threatened programs last year, the program discontinuance process was “put on hold,” but was not cancelled.
What the students of Solano Community College urgently need is a commitment from the administration that their educational programs will remain intact and that their classes will be offered. However, Measure Q provides no funds whatsoever for keeping these and other academic programs alive.
If Measure Q passes and statewide Proposition 30 (which would provide funds to pay teachers and other staff) is defeated, students at SCC may find themselves with an unnecessary new science/engineering building, but with no classes being taught due to program closures, class cancellations and layoffs.
Dr. Melanie Lutz
Engineering and Physics Departments
Solano Community College
Fairfield
The internet has done it again. Parodying serious events, even as the events are still occurring. Case in point: Hurricane Sandy. Serious and dangerous but somehow extremely entertaining online.
Some genius created the Hurricane Sandy Twitter account not to inform the nation of updates on the disaster, but rather to say ridiculous quips that celebrities are even finding humor in.
With tweets such as “RT [Retweet] IF U WANT ME TO DESTROY YO SCHOOL. I GOT YOU” and “YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO DESTROY CITIES AND TWEET AT DA SAME TIME? YOU AIN’T BOUT DIS LYFE,” most of us can’t resist laughing out loud.
Not to worry; this account does acknowledge the real damage that’s occurring. Information is being spread by this account on how to help through Red Cross, and it’s nice to see that these joke accounts can still do good.
But in order to relate this entire topic to the theme of Arts and Entertainment, I’m going to reference the multiple “photos” this Twitter account has shared with the web.
The “LATEST SHOT OF NEW YORK” is a picture of The Statue of Liberty being taken over by water monsters, aliens and a dinosaur. There’s a picture of a lawn chair on its side with the caption “STAY INDOORS EVERYONE, HURRICANE SANDY IS NO JOKE.”
These photos are referencing the “earthquakes” of the East Coast, where people were freaking out over lawn chairs falling down. That first photo, though? I’m going to just speak on that for a second.
UC Davis class of 2016 has a Facebook group, as we all did when we submitted our Intent to Register. This class, however, decided to be ridiculous and post pictures of “Swaggies,” hashtagging “YOLO” and Photoshopping cats and Lieutenant John Pike into psychedelic colored backgrounds. This is what the internet people call “trolling,” in case you are behind on literally everything that was cool months ago.
Most people who have no sense of humor or any presence online have no idea why these Twitter accounts exist or why so many people think these crazy Photoshopped pictures are so hilarious. That’s what makes being an internet person so friggen fun.
And no, we’re not giving you permission to reference anything that’s on Tumblr in real life — not only are you revealing yourself as an internet geek but also making the rest of us hate you. If you’re a jokester online and can appreciate .gifs as much as the next blogger, you should know that you have to stay that way. Online.
I’m just glad that these ridiculous accounts exist, and that they aren’t too offensive for me to retweet or reference in real life. Personally, I respect those with an offensive sense of humor, but for the sake of my reputation, I’ll keep silently snorting as I scroll through Tumblr, at home.
Send offensive jokes to ELIZABETH ORPINA at arts@theaggie.org.
Beyond Tolerance is a campus program that provides support and resources for various campus clubs and organizations to promote knowledge and respect of the many diverse cultures that exist in our community. The program is sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) in partnership with the Office of Campus Community Relations.
A few of the organizations on campus that have utilized the resources offered by Beyond Tolerance include the Black Student Union, Non-Monosexual Alliance and the Youth Empowerment Program.
On the subject of her role in the program, Lori Fuller, program coordinator for Beyond Tolerance, said that the program fosters leadership development for students and student organizations.
According to Fuller, one of the most important parts of her job is helping students through those processes of event planning.
When a student club or organization wants to hold an event on campus to raise awareness about who they are and what they do to promote diversity, they contact Fuller, and she provides them with the space and equipment needed to organize their event.
“All of the student centers provide community, space and events for students and student groups to learn, grow, find comfort, make connections and get involved in issues on or off-campus,” said Lane Lewis, Campus Climate and Community outreach coordinator for the Cross Cultural Center in an email interview.
As an active member in student organizations that promote diversity, Lewis said that such events play an important role in getting clubs’ messages out to the public.
“It is important for campus clubs and organizations that support diversity to have a resource that helps them put on events … The campus needs more representation, visibility, space for diverse communities, issues, voices, ideas, etc.,” Lewis said.
Beyond Tolerance recognizes the importance of putting on these campus events and works to help clubs and organizations with the most difficult part of this process: finding a space to hold the event and the money to buy or rent equipment for production.
CSI, in partnership with the Office of Campus and Community Relations, helps to fund programs that support student activities which aim to educate the community about diversity.
One example is the Diversity Training Program. Initiated in 2006, the Diversity Trainers Institute, which consists of a volunteer staff, provides a variety of workshops on campus to promote learning about diversity.
Dr. Rahim Reed, associate executive vice chancellor of the Office of Campus Community Relations, said that the Diversity Trainers Institute was created to pay attention to those aspects of our campus that deal with issues of diversity.
“[The program is] important because the faculty, staff and students … come from all parts of the country and all around the world. We want to be able to manage the diversity that we have as an asset, to make something that stimulates creative thought,” Reed said.
As with Beyond Tolerance, the Diversity Training Institute works to emphasize the positive attributes of a diverse campus such as UC Davis, while educating the community about existing diverse cultures.
Both Fuller and Reed agree that one of the most important ways to eliminate discrimination in the daily lives of students is to communicate.
Any student clubs and organizations that wish to utilize the resources offered by Beyond Tolerance can contact Lori Fuller at ljfuller@ucdavis.edu.
JESSICA GRILLI can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
UC Davis men’s basketball is ready to bury the memories of last year and start winning.
After finishing last year’s season with a dismal 5-26 record, head coach Jim Les had some restructuring to do. He started by recruiting some promising young talent to help fill the holes in last year’s roster.
Ultimately, the Aggies have to step up their game on both sides of the court. A winning percentage of .161 is the result of a lackluster defense and an unproductive offense.
The biggest focus for UC Davis is offensive production. Last year, Aggie opponents averaged 74.4 points per game while UC Davis’ offense only managed 62 points a game.
That 12-point margin needs to close if the team wants to add some more wins to their record this year. Luckily, the Aggies have an excellent offensive threat.
Junior Tyler Les received national recognition for his talents in a recent CBSSports.com ranking. The coach’s son was named the 35th best shooter in the nation on the preseason list of NCAA players.
Tyler was certainly productive last year, boasting a .833 free throw percentage and was the Aggies’ leading scorer title in seven games last season.
“I’m proud of Tyler because I know he’s put in a lot of time and effort and hard work,” coach Les said.
While Tyler is a weapon, he cannot carry the Aggies alone. Other players will need to step it up and force defenses to shut down multiple threats, not just their shooting guard.
While speaking about his son’s recent honor, Coach Les highlighted the importance of the team effort and the team result.
“I know he’s [Tyler] appreciative to be recognized on a national level. Now we want to do it collectively for the accolades that our team can achieve.”
Coach Les is certainly looking for an offense that will highlight UC Davis’ talents in a much more positive light this year.
“We want to make UC Davis basketball relevant on a national scale,” he said.
To accomplish that, they will need a stronger defense as well. UC Davis went 3-13 in Big West conference play last year and their only wins came at home. Teams often play their best at home but it is imperative that they can win on the road.
Two of Coach Les’ new additions to the roster are freshmen guards coming from extremely successful high school programs. Freshman Olivier Paul-Betu hails from Massachusetts where he earned ESPN recognition as one of the best players in New England. Fellow freshman Darius Graham had a much shorter commute to UC Davis.
Graham is a proud alumni of the Sacramento High team that made the NorCal regional finals in 2010. His outstanding junior and senior seasons earned him a spot on the All-Metro Conference team.
This year’s squad is full of fresh faces and new talents, but it is aimed at regaining some of the glory UC Davis basketball held when Mark Payne and Joe Harden used to dominate the court.
Their schedule is kind this year and it lets UC Davis unveil their new squad at home. The Aggies’ first few games are at home which will allow them to formulate a positive chemistry in front of a supportive crowd.
UC Davis’ first opponent is Division III foe UC Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs were 12-10 last year and managed 70 points per game.
UC Santa Cruz is a fair representative of the conference opponents UC Davis will face later on in the season so this is a perfect opportunity for them to test out their new squad and figure out what improvements still need to be made.
While the Aggies may enjoy their games at home, they will eventually have to play on the road. Last year’s squad only earned one victory on the road and this will be another big test for the team.
The players are ready and the coaches are excited about the prospect of a new season.
Can the Aggies turn it around this year? They certainly have the talent necessary to do so. It all boils down to their ability to come together and play well in every game.
KIM CARR can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
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