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Judo team throws down the competition

Features Editor

May 24, 2012

As this progressively warm spring weather seeps into a baking summer, students are finding many new outings and hobbies to keep themselves cool and entertained. While many lounge at the Rec Pool, some frequent the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) instead — but not in preparation for a shirtless Houseboats. The UC Davis Club Judo Team grapples with achieving other aims, practicing during these hot months to constantly build their stamina, coordination and strength in preparation for local tournaments and, ideally, win National Collegiate Judo Championships.

Judo is a form of Japanese martial art. Opponents start by standing up and the goal is for one person to throw the other to the floor — getting them on their back which signals a win. If an opponent is on the ground and not on their back, one must grapple, choke, arm bar or pin them for more than 20 seconds in order to get the opponent on his or her back.

During competitions, if there is mere grappling and nothing else, referees will determine when it is time to pull both opponents back.

“It’s not for the weak at heart,” said Victoria Marcus, first-year international relations and economics double major. “It’s a sport where you have to keep trying in order to get good.”

Marcus saw the judo class one day while visiting the ARC, tried it out, and has been attending ever since. She has been doing martial arts since she was 9 years old, and is now a second-degree black belt, having earned a double degree in Shotokan karate. Marcus became involved with judo because she wanted to polish her skills like she has done with karate and jujitsu.

“I knew the basic throws and hold downs, but the actual competitive part, I hadn’t been doing,” Marcus said. “Attending the ARC sessions and eventually becoming a part of the team has helped a lot with that.”

No prior experience with judo is required when joining the UC Davis Judo Team. There’s also no trying out. Like Marcus, interested individuals first attend the judo classes offered at the ARC. If they like it, then they buy a gi (a uniform) and a white belt. Individuals must continue to practice before participating in tournaments.

New members practice with more advanced members, which expedites the learning process, according to the team’s philosophy. However, this causes obvious challenges for new members. Tatiana Gegan, sophomore communication major, said she couldn’t hang.

“I attended one of the judo classes at the ARC having learned about and gained interest in the art in a Japanese studies class I took last winter,” Gegan said. “While it was fun, I learned it was much harder than expected. I didn’t expect to be in action against people who had been practicing the art for years. It just wasn’t for me, but don’t make me mad, because I did learn a few moves.”

Judo competitions are categorized by weight, measured in kilograms, and gender. In mid-March, the team attended collegiate nationals in San Jose. There are two divisions in the competition, Novist and Champion. The women’s Novist division landed second place in the tournament.

Marcus said this could only have been achieved through their hard work and dedication.

It is such loyalty that Anthony Batarse, junior neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, believes has awarded him the position of judo team president this quarter. Batarse’s experience with judo dates back to junior college where he first learned the art in San Francisco. He has been affiliated with the UC Davis judo team since his first winter quarter.

“I bumped into an old friend who invited  me to practice judo with him and the UC Davis judo team,” Batarse said. “During this practice my passion for judo was revived.”

As president, Batarse focuses on structure.

“I feel that it is my responsibility to maintain the structure which is responsible for the collegiate and national standing of the UC Davis judo team in both men’s and women’s divisions,” Batarse said. “With the inspiration from our sensei and the determination of the judo team, I intend to continue our success through hard work.”

The judo team practices at the ARC from 8 to 10 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 8 to 10 a.m on Saturdays.

ISAIAH SHELTON can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Safeboats keeps on sailing

Campus Editor

May 24, 2012

This Memorial Day weekend, the Safeboats program will once again return to Lake Shasta to protect Houseboats attendees from themselves.

The program, which was initiated in 2005 following the death of a UC Davis student at Houseboats, educates students on how to take safety precautions for the weekend and provides essentials throughout the event such as water, sunscreen, bandages and condoms.

As many of the students in attendance partake in the consumption of alcohol, student injuries are more or less an annual occurrence at Houseboats. However, since the beginning of Safeboats, there have been no UC Davis student casualties.

For this reason, many argue that Safeboats is an essential accompaniment to the excess of Houseboats.

“[Houseboats] is different from other off-campus partying done by Davis students in that students are isolated on the lake,” said sophomore Senator Anni Kimball, an international relations and psychology double major. “With no cell phone reception and over an hour of transportation to the nearest hospital, Safeboats becomes a vital link between students and medical attention.”

By mooring a boatful of EMTs on the lake right alongside the rest of the houseboats, Safeboats ensures that there will be medical service available to any partygoer in the event of their injury.

Within a relatively short period of time, Safeboats has already proven itself to be very effective in preventing injuries and death, according to various sources.

Several personal accounts written by Davis Wiki users on the Houseboats page describe the experiences of past attendees who have injured themselves, with the severity of these injuries ranging from bumps, bruises and alcohol poisoning to severed arteries.

Many of these personal accounts credit Safeboats with preventing such injuries from turning deadly.

However, while few would morally question Safeboats’ efforts to protect students’ lives, many — including members of the ASUCD Senate — remain divided over the program’s sources of funding.

The ASUCD subsidy for the Safeboats program was one of the most hotly debated issues at this year’s budget hearings. Members of the Senate were largely divided over whether or not to cut the size of the subsidy contributed to the over $5,155 cost of the event.

Although Safeboats receives funding from organizations such as the Water Safety Council, in previous years about $1,000 of its annual funding has come from ASUCD subsidies. In next year’s budget, Safeboats will only receive $370 for Safeboats and $130 for Safeboat education. ASUCD’s budget, of course, is largely funded by student fees, which is where the contention begins.

Because funding Safeboats is an inherent acknowledgment of the unsafe activities which occur at Houseboats, many view ASUCD providing money to the program as an endorsement of Houseboats itself.

Furthermore, certain students have expressed disagreement with the notion that their student fees are paying for part of an event which is only open to a fraction of students.

Some students, including ASUCD Senator Justin Goss, a senior political science and philosophy double major, believe the answer is the gradual transition to private funding.

“Houseboats is an inherently, empirically dangerous student event,” Goss said. “My main problem with it is that when you engage in a dangerous activity knowingly, you do so knowing the consequences. These individuals are fully aware of what they are doing and they want to protect their own lives, therefore they should insure themselves.”

On the other hand, many students see this subsidy merely as an extension of ASUCD’s efforts to cater to a diverse array of students.

“The reason there are so many different grant programs is because they are trying to reach out to as many different groups of people as possible,” said Senator Don Gilbert, a junior English major. “If everyone is going to pay student fees, everyone should be benefiting in their own way.”

Regardless of their varying opinions on how it should be funded, many Senate members seem to agree that the program itself should stay intact because of the safety it provides.

“I would have liked to have seen [the cuts] done in a better way, but as long as Safeboats is out there and doing its job that’s what really matters,” Gilbert said. “I don’t want it to take someone losing a life for us to wake up and realize we could have done something.”

DYLAN GALLAGHER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Column: Dances suck

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 24, 2012

This past weekend I returned to my hometown to take part in the festivities that lead up to one of the most anticipated nights of high school captivity: senior ball.

No, I was not some innocent young 18-year-old boy’s date. I was used in other ways: for my hair and makeup skills. And while I’m usually compensated with smiles, hugs and kind words, this year my sister decided to reward me with sass, complaining and boredom.

I spent seven hours that day pinning pins, spraying hairspray, applying fake eyelashes and taking over the role of mom: submitting to every wish of the 18-year-old princess, following her around to take her picture and squatting with the rest of the suburban soccer moms in the backyard of an eight million dollar mansion to get the perfect shot of the couples.

Yeah, sure, the people actually attending the dance technically had to endure similar situations, but did I get chocolate covered strawberries and get to dance on the patio of The Metreon in San Francisco?

Even though this was the second year in a row where I’ve returned home to help out my sister in preparation for big events, it hit me that this year would be my last. And while I was briefly reminiscing about my captivity in high school, I came to a conclusion that I’ve come to multiple times over the years: I hate organized dances.

Fun fact about my high school: a year or two before I began my reign on that campus, it was on the national news. Not for anything awesome, but for being the “horniest school in America.” That title was bestowed upon my school after angry parents lashed out at administration for not banning grinding and sexual dance moves at school dances.

Not that any of this bothered me. I gained press passes to all of the dances, providing me hours of entertainment watching my classmates get pregnant on the dance floor, embarrass themselves as I flashed my $3,000 camera at them and realizing how I never want to move my body.

Of course, being the giver that I am, I approached specific groups at group photos and taught them my secrets: stay on the outer circle of the mob for easy exit, eat as much as you can (you paid $150 for a ticket) and have no expectations.

If you’re going to spend that much on a night of entertainment, you shouldn’t have to create it yourself. Am I right? I’m right. I could pay that much to treat myself to a Broadway show ticket in S.F. and watch actually talented people instead of scream my way through crowds of grinding teenagers.

Now, I’m not saying that these dances completely suck. You get some things out of them: new profile pictures, tons of likes on Facebook (if you’re remotely popular) and the ability to say you experienced something as a high-school student that you honestly can achieve at a dance club in Las Vegas a couple of years later.

My senior class did a respectable job for my senior ball. We had professional ballroom dancers perform, caricature artists, buffets on every one of the 8+ floors we had access to and a large dance floor for those planning on starting a family.

I guess I’ll just leave it at this. I have mixed feelings about organized dances, but I lean towards hating them. Because that’s what I do best: hate things.

Tell ELIZABETH ORPINA at arts@theaggie.org how expensive your prom dress was and why she should feel bad about herself for not wanting to grind on her respectful date and instead did the Hoedown Throwdown to every song instead.

City of Davis releases annual Water Quality Report

City Editor

May 24, 2012

If, when skimming through your mail, you regularly throw out the letters that seem impertinent to you, you may have already thrown out a very pertinent pamphlet that may have innocuously been disguised as spam. The city of Davis recently distributed its Water Quality report for the year of 2011 — statistics abound.

Upon unraveling the neatly-folded pamphlet, a wealth of information is catalogued before your eyes. On one side, a thorough background on the report gives the reader some exposition before they dive into the Excel spreadsheet of water statistics on the flip side.

The report was prepared in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Public Health regulations that require water providers to report annual water quality information to their customers.

It outlines all of the components found in our water, where said water comes from, how the water compares to state and federal standards and other related information.

Davis’s water is pumped from 20 municipal wells which draw water from aquifers deep below the surface level. The newest addition to these wells is located on 3608 Chiles Road and taps into water at depths ranging from 735 feet to 1560 feet below the surface.

The pamphlet goes on to mention that, “The water is filtered naturally by sands and clays as it passes through geologic formations.”

In addition to the natural filtering, each well has an assigned chlorine tank designated with the duty of injecting a 12.5 percent solution of sodium hypochlorite into the well site.

Turning it over, one is confronted with a detailed chart delineating the amount of a certain substance found in our water, showing whether it meets or exceeds Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), or Public Health Goal (PHG) standards. Most constituents of our water managed to stay below the Public Health Goal Level — which is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is not an expected or known detriment to health from consuming it.

“The City of Davis met all of state-required mandates,” said Marie Graham, the city’s utility program coordinator. “Public Health Goal is set with no risk involved in terms of health. It’s not uncommon. If MCLs were exceeded, we would have to take action. We’re very pleased we met all the standards.”

Nevertheless, levels of arsenic, gross alpha, radium-228, and uranium were all at levels that exceeded the PHG level. The potential source for all of these is listed as erosion from natural deposits.

Jason Clegg, a senior civil engineering major, sheds a little light on the matter of the contaminants. Clegg is currently enrolled in an Ecology 155 Water Resources course.

“Oftentimes placing pipes into aquifers to pump water for use is a risky venture. Aquifers are surrounded by a relatively impermeable layer of clay. This clay resists seepage and basically acts like a giant storage tank underground,” Clegg said. “As pipes are pierced through the clay layer, contaminants can leak into the aquifer, decreasing the quality of the water. Proper engineering needs to be done to make sure that there are no dangerous contaminants that can seep into the aquifer when placing piping into the aquifer.”

Other constituents mentioned prominently in the report were nitrate, boron and radon. Three of the wells in Davis have boron concentration levels that exceed the notification level of 1,000 parts per billion.

In a statement issued to The Davis Enterprise last year, Bob Clarke, the interim director of Davis Public Works, noted that the constituents found in the water were “well below limits that would be considered harmful under state and federal standards.”

Further information can be found by contacting the Davis Public Works Department at 757-5686 and asking to speak to Marie Graham, Rick Thompson or Diana Jensen. Past water quality reports can be found at cityofdavis.org/pw/water/WaterQuality.cfm.

ANGELA SWARTZ contributed to this article.

ANDREW POH can be reached city@theaggie.org.

The 12th Annual UC Davis Film Festival:

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 24, 2012

The UC Davis Film Festival began Wednesday night and will run again tonight at the Davis Varsity Theater. This will mark the festival’s 12th Annual showing in Davis. Produced by the Department of Theatre & Dance, presented in association with UC Davis Cinema and Technocultural Studies and co-sponsored by Art Studio, the show will run from 8:30 to 10:30 both nights for $7.

“It’s an awesome showcase of student work and a chance to see films that otherwise are only viewed in a small classroom,” said Todd Kaiser, a student Technical Director for the festival. “We have a lot of experimental films in this year’s program. Submissions of comedy, drama, documentary and animation have led to a well-rounded show.”

The Irrelevant and Shallow Life of Birdie Peacock, a student-produced mockumentary about a washed-up child star, is one of several experimental films submitted in this year’s lineup. Put together by last year’s winners Anna Hossnieh (best documentary for Standing Compassion) and Meredith Sward (best experimental film for Oh Dear), the film revolves around a has-been child star struggling to make a movie of her life.

Ngoc Le, Lead Student Producer of the festival, will also contribute to this year’s lineup. Her documentary submission centers on Janet Liang, a UCLA student suffering from leukemia looking to find a perfect bone marrow match.

According to the festival’s press release, the film was inspired by Le’s own recent struggle.

“When I was diagnosed with a lifelong autoimmune disease last fall, I was told that I might eventually need a bone marrow transplant,” Le said. “During my treatment, I became inspired upon reading media accounts of Janet’s story. Her YouTube cry for help brought me to tears because she only had a few months to live and that made me think, ‘that could have been me or that will be me one day.’”

“Nothing is more encouraging than an audience’s response,” Le said in an email interview with The Aggie. “Every student has been working hard to showcase their talent and interest in cinema. It would be a great encouragement and accomplishment for them to see their hard work on the screen viewed by an audience in a theatre setting.”

If you couldn’t make it to Cannes this year, the UC Davis Film Festival is a prime alternative. Dozens of filmmakers will be displaying their work.

JAMES O’HARA can be contacted at arts@theaggie.org.

News-in-brief: City names Scott Kenley as Interim Fire Chief

City Editor

May 24, 2012

As of May 21 Scott Kenley became the city of Davis’ interim fire chief. The city manager Steve Pinkerton made the announcement as Interim Fire Chief William Weisgerber leaves. Weisgerber served as the interim chief for the city since March 2010.

Kenley has been active in fire services for over 40 years. He has experience ranging from firefighter operations to fire chief.

“I look forward to working collaboratively with the men and women of the Davis Fire Department, the city and the community to set the stage for the new fire chief,” Kenley said in a city of Davis press release. “The goal is a smooth transition from three years of an interim management team to a more permanent management team with a long-term vision for the department.”

A recruitment effort is underway to hire a permanent fire chief.

“We appreciate the fine service provided to the city of Davis by Bill Weisgerber and look forward to working with Scott Kenley and utilizing his many years of experience in fire services,” said City Manager Steve Pinkerton in the release.

— ANGELA SWARTZ

Thirsty (for knowledge) Thursdays

Campus News

Campus Editor

May 24, 2012

The Student Academic Success Center (SASC) is one of the most valuable academic assets available to undergraduates in UC Davis. Located in 2205 Dutton Hall (on the east side of the Quad), they offer a vast amount of resources and assistance to ensure the success of all interested students. Although many people may feel shy about seeking help from the SASC, their group tutoring and workshops are unparalleled and will help you experience a rewarding quarter. And the best part is that all of these services are completely free for undergraduates.

The first service offered is drop-in tutoring in math, chemistry, physics, statistics and writing. While the first four are self-explanatory, the writing drop-in sessions are one of the least well-known existing amenities. All you have to do is bring in a paper draft and the staff will assist with paragraph development, grammar and punctuation. Another option is to make an individual, one-on-one appointment with the SASC writing specialists for more specific discussions of your work. This can be especially helpful to students in majors that are math or science-focused, but that need to complete general education requirements in writing. The entire schedule for drop-in tutoring, including locations, can be found at lsc.ucdavis.edu/tutor_dropin.

For students who feel that they need more personal time with tutors, there is the option to sign up for weekly group tutoring. All you have to do is stop by Dutton Hall and sign up for a TutorTrac Account. Once that is done, log in and sign up for whichever subject you need help in. For the Spring Quarter of 2012 tutoring is offered in biology, general and organic chemistry, math and physics. To ensure that as many people who need to sign up for these sessions are able to, each student is limited to only two tutoring hours per week.

Finally, the last of the main resources offered by the SASC are its free workshops. The workshops available cover a broad range of topics. In the math and science workshops, the specialists have practice tests and occasionally give tips on studying and note-taking. Writing skills workshops include sessions on pre-writing, in-class writing and correctly citing sources. There are also a number of sessions covering several matters pertaining to students who learned English as a second language. Lastly, the “Core Four” workshops are for undergraduates who want to learn how to achieve the highest academic standards possible. The topics are time management, strategies for critical reading and exams and getting the most from your notes. A complete schedule of all the workshops can be found at lsc.ucdavis.edu/workshops.

Whether you’ve been feeling a little lost in class, can’t make office hours or just feel like you could use a bit more help on your toughest subjects, the Student Academic Success Center can assist you. For more information, stop by 2205 Dutton Hall or visit their main website at sasc.ucdavis.edu. Happy studying!

Column: Young and hungry

Opinion

Opinion

May 24, 2012

I’ve written a lot about what it’s like being an international student in Davis, including the academic side. But I haven’t talked much about the practicalities of student living. So, how fun of a place is Davis from an outside perspective?

In Lithuanian, we have these two words: “studijuoti” and “studentauti.” Both describes the activity of students, but while the first one simply means “to study,” the second one applies when studies become just a secondary activity and being at university is simply an excuse to party.

Before coming to Davis I was definitely in the first group. I wasn’t too nerdy, but going out three nights in a row was unheard of. Having fun is not a bad thing, but there needs to be a balance. I’ve been working hard on it this year and things have changed a bit since, even prompting my mom to blurt, “Finally you have some social life, too.”

To be honest, this comment was entirely based on the increased activity on my Facebook account (and yes, I still have my mom among my friends). People just feel the need to capture every single moment of our year abroad and, while sometimes silly, I think that’s completely understandable.

But excessive picture-taking is only part of the story. Me being in the picture — that’s what changed. I’m still studying a lot, and studies definitely come first. But I guess the “it’s only one year” thing is powerful enough to make me say yes much more often and to more things. And yet I’m staying in tonight writing this column, while others are having $1 pizza at Uncle Vito’s. Oh, the irony!

Let’s admit it, for many students going out and having fun are strongly associated with alcohol. Now in most countries the legal drinking age is 18, which seems reasonable. But then we come here and some of us are under 21. We can’t help but curse the seemingly stupid laws that don’t allow us to spend the night at the bar with our friends, even when we don’t have any interest in drinking.

American students have come up with a perfect solution to this “problem,” though — house parties! I haven’t been to so many house parties since middle school when everyone was having a mandatory birthday at their place. But who didn’t love those?

Same with house parties now. It’s much more casual (you can wear funky wool socks and drink from a cup that says “A nice Jewish boy”), there’s always lots of food (either salty junk or amazing homemade Chinese), discussions are often very interesting (from linguistics to Eurovision) and the DJ will always play the song you want.

We even had a house party for my 21st in February, where cakes were made, poetry written, salsa danced and karaoke played. What bar or club could offer all that in one night? Plus the thrill that police visits offer. I still vividly remember fleeing from our very first house party here due to a police scare. Fun times!

When I mentioned this week’s topic to one of my friends, she insisted that I also write about food. I love food but it also presents tons of problems, especially for students, such as eating healthy without spending too much money and trying to learn how to cook without giving up and eating out. Add the idealism of being a budding vegetarian or environmentalist, and each meal becomes a nightmare.

What I don’t like here is grocery shopping. I got used to that a little bit, but at first all that corn syrup, chemicals, hormones and GMOs looked very discouraging. As a result I’ve been eating out a lot, discovering all these new cuisines and tastes. Also, the fruit and veg stalls at Farmers Market are my favorites. I still can’t believe that oranges and kiwis are grown in the local area, and pluots and persimmons were totally new to me.

Of course, being a student is so much more than just drinking and eating. But it’s lunches on the Quad and pub crawls in downtown at night – not my classes, unfinished assignments or applications for internships – that I look forward to the most when I start my day.

You can reach KRISTINA SIMONAITYTE at ksimonaityte@ucdavis.edu.

Column: Against labor

Opinion

Opinion

May 24, 2012

The Labor Department recently released figures showing that record numbers of people aged 65 and older are still working jobs. With poverty rates for the elderly rising, many are holding onto their positions long past traditional retirement ages. Meanwhile, report after report confirms that Americans work longer hours than the rest of the developed world and that number keeps increasing. Even up to our deaths, our lives are being devoured by work.

Most of us hate work and would rather be doing something else. At the same time, labor-saving technologies have slashed the time required to produce enough for ourselves. Why, then, aren’t we enjoying more leisure?

Because our bosses won’t let us. Workers are always paid a fraction of the value they produce for their employer. (Otherwise, why would anyone hire them in the first place?) If labor-time increases, capitalists receive more value at the expense of workers. It is therefore in the capitalist class’ interest to expand work hours as much as they can get away with.

Under this social system, nearly all goods and services are obtained either through laboring for someone else as a worker or feeding off someone else’s extra labor as a capitalist. If you do not work, or force others to work for you, you do not count.

Naked coercion and the threat of poverty ensure the acquiescence of most workers, but it also helps that most have been instilled with a deep moral revulsion for idleness. For many, the most loathsome idea is that the state might provide bare subsistence to someone who can’t or won’t work. We pay workers to produce landmines and menthol cigarettes, but subsidizing someone to hang about strikes both sides of the political spectrum as obscene.

In recent years, however, a small but growing tendency of libertarian Marxists and anarchists has developed in opposition to the dominion of labor. Theorists ranging from the Italian Autonomists to the British journal Aufheben have rejected both the capitalist work ethic and the Leninist ideology of the worker’s state to call for an end to drudgery.

That is not to say that we should all just laze around. There will always be a need for some kind of useful activity, but, whereas capitalism demands more and more labor for its own sake, a democratically organized economy would strive to expand free time — the only real wealth.

This might sound like something out of “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” but it’s the direction our economic system is lurching toward. Productivity gains are slowly eliminating necessary labor — the lifeblood of capitalism. For example, between 1976 and 2006, the labor-time required to produce a ton of steel dropped by 90 percent. And it isn’t just industrial labor that’s being automated out of existence. Now, even complex service tasks from paralegal work to marketing are being performed by inexpensive software.

The results of this have been clear: Capital is starved for exploitable labor. Since the early 1970s, the capitalist economy has remained relatively stagnant, unable to achieve the profit rate of the postwar period. While this trend continues, we will see growth in the “surplus population,” those no longer needed by the capitalist work machine. Barring some unforeseen technological breakthrough big enough to jump-start a new era of work – something on the order of the automobile – we will undoubtedly see ever-sharper crises.

Of course, as David Harvey often jokes, Marxists predicted 12 of the last three crises. Capitalism remains cunning, able to evolve and respond to new threats, however bad economic conditions may be. We cannot base our hopes on economic fatalism.

At the same time, I think it’s premature to declare the unemployed or precarious workers the new gravediggers of capitalism. Lacking shared social labor or collective institutions, these subjects remain atomized. Instead, any revolutionary movement will have to construct cross-class allegiances that bring together the energies of the unemployed and the strategic positioning of the working class. But what that alliance will look like is yet to be seen. Despite the claims of some tired, old, idealist organizations, there is no sure formula here.

Even on the left, we’ve heard too much about the dignity of labor and the need for more jobs. Unless we wish to perpetuate a system that sacrifices our lives to work, we must do all we can to abolish labor.

JORDAN S. CARROLL is a Ph.D. student who can be reached at jscarroll@ucdavis.edu.

Track preview

Sports Editor

May 24, 2012

Event: NCAA West Regional

Where: Myers Stadium — Austin, Tex.

When: Thursday through Saturday, all day

Who to watch: Junior Melanise Chapman’s performance at the Big West Championships was a promising start of post-season competition, and could provide the momentum the Aggies need to perform at the NCAA West Regional.

Chapman tied school records with victories in both the 100m and 200m, with times of 11.67 seconds and 24.09 seconds, respectively. She also was a member of both of UC Davis’ third-place relay teams.

Did you know? In the 2010 NCAA West Preliminary Meet at Texas, the Aggie men and women posted phenomenal results. Two-time Big West champion Thomas Phillips finished 32nd in the 400 with his third-fastest time of the year.

On the women’s side, Lauren Wallace placed 33rd in the 800m prelims with a 2:10.53. Kaitlin Gregg placed 19th and Sarah Sumpter placed 31st in the women’s 10,000m.

Preview: The Aggies begin their quest for positive results in this year’s NCAA Championships with a meet at Myers Stadium.

The Aggies have been consistently posting strong performances this year, the most recent at the Big West Championships.

Last weekend Sumpter, a senior, and coach Drew Wartenburg were honored with Big West awards. Sumpter was named the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, while Wartenburg shared Women’s Coach of the Year honors.

Wartenburg was impressed with the way Sumpter performed in both of her events at the Big West Finals.

“The 5,000/10,000-meter double is a grueling event assignment,” Wartenburg said. “But Sarah [Sumpter] would not have had it any other way.”

Over the past several months, the Aggies have proven that they possess the willpower, vigor and consistency to accomplish phenomenal results at the NCAA West Regional at Myers Stadium on Thursday.

— Veena Bansal

News-in-brief: Tour de Cluck is Saturday

City Editor

May 24, 2012

Tickets for the Bicycle Chicken Coop Crawl sold out, but there are still other activities associated with the event people can attend. Tour de Cluck begins at 8 a.m. with the Fowl Food Fair at the Davis Farmers Market.

The Community Kick-off and Courage to Cluck Exhibition will be from 9 to 10 a.m. and the Tour de Cluck Silent Auction from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Raffle drawings will also be held at 1 p.m.

— Angela Swartz

Arts week

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 24, 2012

MOVIES
UC Davis Film Festival
Tonight at 8:30 p.m., $7
Davis Varsity Theatre, 616 Second Street
Produced in association with UC Davis Cinema and Technocultural Studies and co-sponsored by Art Studio, the UC Davis Film Festival consists of short films and plays. This will be an evening of unpredictable and exciting short student films that include comedy, drama, animation, documentaries and more.

MUSIC
Spring Quad Show Series: Plastic Villains
Today at noon, free
West Quad
Plastic Villains performs as part of Entertainment Council’s Spring Quad Show Series today on West Quad. This band is described as “a bunch of friends who came together, jammed and had fun making music in a San Francisco basement, realized they all rocked and started a band.”

Occupella: LocalTones 2012
Tonight at 7 p.m., $5 presale, $10 at the door
Freeborn Hall
Featuring The Spokes, The Liquid Hotplates, The Lounge Lizards and The Afterglow, this night will be filled with talent and entertainment. MC’d by UCD’s Birdstrike Theatre and hosted by The Spokes and The Afterglow, this non-political event is for all parties and denominations.

Performers Circle
Monday at 7 p.m., free
Village Homes Community Center, 2661 Portgage Bay East
This monthly open mic is an opportunity for anyone to present stories, music and dance as well as watch performers. Usually an acoustic show, sometimes people bring small amplifiers. Tends toward folk music, but all styles are encouraged and welcomed. Featured performer is Five Three Oh.

White Fang, Fine Step, Sneeze Attack, Bad Daddies
Tuesday at 8 p.m., $5
Luigi’s Fun Garden, 214 E Street

Spring Quad Show Series: Marlene Marlene
May 30 at noon, free
West Quad
A group that has worked together since September of 2010, Marlene Marlene spent its time combining musical interests and backgrounds to develop their own distinct alternative rock identity. Drawing inspiration from groups like The Strokes and The Ramones, they strive to provide great music and enjoy playing live for those who will listen.

UC Davis Jazz Bands
May 30 at 7 p.m., $12 (general)/$8 (student)
Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center
The UC Davis Department of Music presents the UC Davis Jazz Bands show, directed by Delbert Bump.

THEATRE
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
May 28 at 7:30 p.m., free
Davis Art Center, 1919 F Street
What does Shakespeare have to do with football, rap, bad Scottish accents and cooking shows? Watch this play that visits each of Shakespeare’s works to find out! Bring a picnic dinner or enjoy BBQ at 6:30 p.m.

194 Chemistry to be renamed Peter A. Rock Hall

Campus Editor

May 24, 2012

194 Chemistry to be renamed Peter A. Rock Hall

In Fall 2012, 194 Chemistry building will no longer be Chem 194. Instead, the building has been renamed Peter A. Rock Hall.

Beginning Fall 2012, Peter A. Rock Hall, or Rock Hall for short, will be the new name for 194 Chemistry, named after Peter Rock, the founding dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences for eight years before retiring in 2003. Rock had worked at UC Davis since 1964. Three years later, on June 14, 2006 he passed away and now, six years later, 194 Chemistry will be renamed in his honor.

“He’s my predecessor and he [was] very passionate about the quality of teaching — and as you know, Chemistry 2 is really fundamental to many and the quality affects the campus as a whole. And not only that, he felt passionate about it. He also taught a lot himself and his textbook in general chemistry, which he wrote with Professor McQuarrie, is a pretty well-known textbook, so we thought that we should honor him,” said current Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Winston Ko.

The Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences is under the College of Letters and Science — which is celebrating its 60-year anniversary this year. Ko feels that renaming 194 Chemistry in Rock’s memory is very fitting during the 60-year anniversary of the College of Letters and Science.

In order to have a building named after someone, it is a requisite that the person have been deceased for at least two years and the chancellor makes the renaming proposal to the president that comes from the department dean, according to Ko.

Ko said the chemistry chair made the case to rename the building and then he proposed it to the naming committee.

Neurobiology, physiology and behavior junior transfer student Lillian Ghaly said she didn’t see any problem with the name change.

“I don’t think it makes a difference. I mean maybe at first it’ll be like ‘Oh, it’s not Chem 194 anymore,’ but I mean there’s no meaning for the name Chem 194 to me,” said Ghaly.

Although the sign in front of the building still says “194 Chemistry”, in the Course Registration Guide for Fall 2012 “CHEM” no longer exists since it was replaced with “ROCK”. According to Ko, changing the signage will cost approximately $1,000 and will happen during the same time of the convocation in September.

“I have a great respect of Dean Rock. He is my predecessor and I think he made a great contribution to the campus in terms of both teaching and the research and bringing up the quality of mathematical and physical sciences. As the dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences I really have a great respect of what he did for the campus, so I’m very excited,” said Ko.

LILIANA NAVA OCHOA can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Editorial: Please innovate

Opinion

Opinion

May 24, 2012

For those who spent hours waiting in line outside the ARC Pavilion to obtain five pieces of paper for their family and friends to attend a commencement ceremony of equal length, one thing was evident: administrative efficiency is not present at UC Davis.

Tickets for the College of Letters & Science commencement ceremonies brought hundreds of people to the Pavilion on Monday.
It is safe to say it probably wasn’t the best day for those working the scant three-booth windows either, dealing with dehydrated and hungry students standing in the never-ending, sun-drenched line from hell, who most likely don’t want to sit through their own extremely long graduation anyway.

Students, with nothing but a bagel in their systems, became desperate for sustenance. These humans began to borderline worship those who offered them the prospect of a popsicle.

As time-strapped scholars who have responsibilities, we do not have three hours a day to spend waiting for something which we’ve already ordered.
Additionally, the University’s lack of communication skills contributed to this annoying situation. The school sent out an e-mail informing students to pick up their tickets a day before the first of the three pick-up days and proceeded to resend the same e-mail two more times within the hour. It’s pretty clear that with the two extra e-mails, notice was supposed to reach students much earlier.

Although it would have been wiser for these students to go pick up their graduation tickets the first day of distribution, students aren’t to blame. This problem shouldn’t even have arisen since the school should be smart enough to set up more convenient alternatives for students. Apparently, this happens year after year.

Adding to the frustration was the fact that an administrator came out to the line to inform students, some of which had been waiting at the Pavilion for over two hours, that they could pick up their tickets starting the next day at the Dean’s Office. Had students been informed that this was an option via e-mail, or really any other means of notification, prior to investing their little hearts and souls into this infamous line, they most likely would have waited a few days to try to get their tickets.
Here are some logical and simple solutions to prevent a similar debacle:

1. Scan our families into commencement: Movie tickets can be bought online through Fandango with few issues of fraud, why not graduation tickets?

2. Send them home: We would gladly pay the postage, so we don’t have to devote hours of our life to getting these tickets (the Engineering college automatically sends tickets to a preferred address).

3. List: Students provide the school with a list of names of people who will be attending under their name and guests can provide ID’s to confirm they are said guests.

We urge you, UC Davis administration, to think outside the box, in this case the ARC Pavilion Box Office, and save our toesies the pain of waiting in lines of pure bureaucracy.

Occupella: LocalTones 2012

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 24, 2012

Glee aired its final episode of the season this week, leaving many fans desperately waiting for new a cappella-laden episodes. Luckily for them, Occupella is right around the corner.

This year, Occupella, the annual LocalTones A Cappella Showcase at UC Davis, will be hosted at Freeborn Hall tonight with doors opening at 7 p.m. This year’s showcase will feature four collegiate a cappella groups: The Spokes, The Afterglow, The Lounge Lizards and The Liquid Hotplates.

In addition, members of Birdstrike Comedy and Improv Theatre will be the hosts of the event.

“This is our first time hosting this show and boy, are we excited,” said Omri Kruvi, a sophomore landscape architecture major who will be one of the three hosts for the event.

“Students should come for the sultry singing. I have seen all of these groups perform and they are sexy good,” Kruvi said. “Members of the audience will be leaving with fulfillment of outstanding entertainment by their own peers.”

Kruvi also mentioned that Birdstrike will be integrating some short skits during the show.

Camille Martinez, a senior human development and communication double major, who is also part of The Spokes, expressed how exciting the upcoming show will be.

“LocalTones is a fan favorite for UC Davis students. I’ve seen every seat at LocalTones filled for the last three years I have been in the group,” Martinez said. “This year, students can expect a show that will blow their expectations out of the water. The Spokes will be singing a wide variety of songs this year, from the jazz classic ‘Smile’ by Charlie Chaplin to rock anthems like ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ by Pat Benatar.”

Milton Jackson, a fifth-year African American studies and music double major, agrees with Martinez. Jackson sings with The Afterglow, the all-male a cappella group on campus.

“Students should most definitely come to Occupella: LocalTones 2012 because it’s sure to be a show-stopping musical extravaganza that is unlike your quintessential a cappella show,” said Jackson. “The Afterglow will be performing songs by Boyz II Men, Everlast, Fastball, Kanye West and The Spice Girls.”

The Spokes and The Afterglow have teamed up together for a special collaboration titled “The AfterSpokes” for the first time ever. There will also be a live beatbox battle.

Ellen Labitzke, a sophomore English and women’s studies double major, who is part of The Lounge Lizards, pointed out that the real highlights of the event will be listening to the groups performing new songs.

“The Lounge Lizards have learned quite a few new songs for this (‘Some Nights’ by Fun being one of them), and we’re definitely looking forward to performing them,” said Labitzke.

Ali Wallace, a senior anthropology major and a member of The Liquid Hotplates, said that her group will be performing songs by Adele, Gotye and the Backstreet Boys.

“This is sure to be an event to remember, and the atmosphere is going to be wonderful,” Wallace said.

Or, as Jackson summarizes it: “The Musical Occupation shall commence Thursday night!”

Tickets are $5 presale at the Freeborn Box Office or tickets.com. Tickets are $10 at the door.

MICHELLE RUAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

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