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News-in-brief: Students encouraged to ‘Take Back the Night’ during Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Campus Editor
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The month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). In an effort to raise awareness and education about sexual violence while preventing it, the Campus Violence Prevention Program is holding “Take Back the Night” on April 11, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on the East Quad.

According to the Campus Violence Prevention website, “The spirit of Take Back the Night is to empower and support survivors of sexual violence, raise awareness, promote action to end sexual assault, and assert that it is wrong for people to live in fear of the night … or any time of day.”

Co-sponsored by the Women’s Resources and Research Center and the Cross Cultural Center, Take Back the Night is a program available for all students to attend.

Coordinators also suggest bringing awareness by posting on Facebook, presenting to clubs or departments, getting involved in the Clothesline Project and reading the student guide “How to be Sexcessful.”

All events are promoting a message of empowerment to survivors of violence along with educating the general public.

The Walking Spanish, Liquid Hotplates, The Spokes, and the cast of V-Stories will be performing at Take Back the Night.

The event is open to all students.

— Danielle Huddlestun

Second annual TEDx event to be held on campus

Features Editor
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Eighteen minutes — the time allotted for a TED speaker to give the talk of their life.

On May 19, UC Davis will host its second TEDx event featuring a variety of local speakers, who will each have 18 minutes to present their research, discoveries or point of view. The event is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 1100 Social Sciences and Humanities, and this year’s theme is “The Power of Perspective.”

The TED organization, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, was created 30 years ago, eventually giving birth to TED talks.

“The idea was to create a talk that could be listened to on someone’s coffee break or between activities during the day and it had to deliver a message more than facts,” junior economics and psychology major Tyler Wilson said. “TED talks seek to inspire and enlighten people about something that the speaker of the talk thinks is important in the world.”

A multitude of these talks are given at an annual conference; however, three years ago this non-profit branched out, allowing others to hold their own independent events. The events are called TEDx and have spread to more than 200 countries worldwide.

Senior economics major Phil Chu is the director of public relations for TEDxUCDavis and the master of ceremonies for the event.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for people to learn and to share their ideas and to kind of inspire you with hope,” Chu said.

Those asked to speak at the events, including UC Davis chemistry lecturer Andreas Toupadakis, recognize the power of these talks.

“They are unique because they present ideas that are usually ignored by the mainstream media,” Toupadakis said in an e-mail.

The founder and curator of TEDx at UC Davis, junior biological sciences major Cory Warshaw, said that he saw TEDx as a great opportunity.

“It’s just such a powerful idea and such a powerful platform,” Warshaw said. “It turned out to be way more work than I thought it was going to be and way more rewarding.”

Co-curators Michael Lipp, a junior managerial economics major, and Wilson say they work with TEDxUCDavis because they like the passion for learning that TED talks inspire in listeners.

“It’s a way that people can convey their ideas to an audience ranging in understanding, skill and perspective and be able to share those ideas in an approachable way,” Lipp said.

This year, the TEDxUCDavis organizers created the theme “The Power of Perspective” to bring the event together and leave the audience with a resonating message.

Wilson said that while the event is long, it is suggested that all participants stay for the entire day to receive that message.

“It’s a very engaging event and to take the message that we want people to take away, we really need people to stay to gain the wide variety of perspectives and take the time to speak with people,” Wilson said.

With this in mind, the student organizers acknowledge the fact that in order for the event to really carry the message and reach the goal of diversity and perspective, all of those involved have to be willing to be engaged.

“We are not trying to sell TED,” Chu said. “We want people to be inquisitive and kind of figure out what is going on and get excited about it.”

In order to reach these students, certain marketing techniques were used to find students who would contribute to the event.

“We get so much visual information constantly. We only really take things in when we are touching them and interacting with them,” Lipp said. “We just want people who are passionate about learning to find out about this.”

Chu said that students should and even need to attend to remove themselves from the daily stresses and bureaucratic elements of being a student and take the time to learn with no pressure.

“TED brings back that adolescent energy that otherwise might get tapped out of you,” Chu said.

Not only is this event beneficial for students, the organizers say, but it also offers much more to the university as a whole.

“Everyone wins from this situation,” Wilson said. “Students gain a lot intellectually and personally from the events but professors get a lot, too, not only intellectually but it also helps support the work that they are doing.”

Toupadakis said that professors benefit because their work is broadcast on a wide scale. These talks are not only shown to those who attend the event but also posted to the website for anyone to watch.

“The more people that hear [these ideas], the higher the possibility is to find people with similar vision, thus being able to work together in translating the ideas into action,” Toupadakis said.

All of the speakers who will be presenting at the event are local, such as Toupadakis, or have a message relevant to local interests. This is important to the organizers because it helps the event achieve the overall mission to form a closer community.

“One of our main goals at TEDxUCDavis is that it is really locally oriented. We are trying to build a sense of community and that people have a shared interest in ideas,” Warshaw said.

While last year’s TEDx event was successful, this year Wilson said they are expecting attendance to double due to the larger location.

“We hope to expand even more next year,” Wilson said. “We want this movement to pervade the university and really become a part of it.”

Tickets are $18 for students, $24.50 for UC Davis affiliates and $30 for general admission, and can be purchased at tedxucdavis.com. To work with TEDxUCDavis, contact Tyler Wilson at twilson@tedxucdavis.com.

DEVON BOHART can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Column: Yahooligans

Opinion
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Grads, brace yourselves. Yahoo cut 2,000 from its workforce last Wednesday, which is bad news – really bad news – for those of us looking to work in the Bay Area. Those freshly unemployed, highly qualified Yahooligans will flood the labor market, making the job hunt that much more difficult for outgoing seniors such as myself.

But I can’t say that I am completely surprised. The financial forecast for the Sunnyvale-based company hasn’t been, well, sunny. For the past decade, Yahoo has watched itself slip into irrelevance as Facebook and Google flew by on technology that was faster, better and more equipped for the mobile era.

It’s not that Yahoo isn’t popular. Yahoo is, amazingly enough, still one of the most heavily trafficked sites in the world. Every month, over 700 million unique users visit at least one of Yahoo’s branded sites (Finance, Sports, News, etc.) – that’s nearly half of all internet users worldwide – but the company can’t seem to profit from its visitors.

Yahoo remains one of the largest websites in the United States. So why, then, is such a huge force in the tech world struggling to keep its head above water? I was intrigued and proceeded to investigate.

Well, for one, the company can’t seem to commit to anything. It has serious internal problems‚ having had five different chief executives in the past 10 years. It also has major identity issues. Yahoo was just a search engine before growing into a web portal, like Google, offering e-mail, news and such. But today’s cash-strapped Yahoo hasn’t yet decided whether it wants to focus on technology or media. Is the money in search or content?

This last question seems obvious to me. Yahoo has outsourced its search to Microsoft’s Bing since 2009, rendering its in-house search team useless. Its branding sites bring in the majority of its traffic anyway, due in part to its stronghold over fantasy sports fanatics. But alas, the deeply troubled company is too proud to let go of the technology that brought them to the Web in the first place.

Yahoo’s decline matters for two reasons: a) the aforementioned influx of ex-Yahoos that will push the ever-diminishing supply of jobs down even further and b) the lessons it teaches us about the volatility of tech companies, and the investment risk those companies pose.

I realize that thinking about investment seems premature. In my economics class, in which there are hundreds of graduating seniors, our professor asked who among us had already secured a job. Only two students raised their hands. The job prospectus is not looking very bright. Our pockets will not be as deep as our parents’, but investing in stock may be a course of action for those who feel they can play their cards right. But, amateur investors, be wary of companies like Yahoo that lack direction and are resistant to change. Know when to jump ship.

Yahoo has grown far too corporate, far too bureaucratic, to function. Michael Smith, formerly of Yahoo Southeast Asia, wrote on his blog rather bluntly that his former employer needed to “trim the fat.” Perhaps that meant laying off 14 percent of the company. Ironic, really, for a company whose name stands for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” Yahoo is indeed another bureaucratic self-important authority — one that is bound to fail if it keeps on its current track.

This administrative oversaturation is symptomatic of a company that went wrong after it went public, something to keep in mind as Facebook’s lucrative billion-dollar IPO nears. One should take heed of the rise and fall of online empires (also the name of an amazing infographic by CenturyLinkQuote — just Google it), and how they eventually fade into oblivion. The technological environment changes so often that evolving can be difficult for highly organized companies with large governing bodies and slow decision-making processes. The tech industry is conducive to small, risk-taking startups for this very reason.

These days, Yahoo is so preoccupied with filing patent-infringement suits that it has failed to create any new technology of its own. Yahoo’s latest lawsuit, against Facebook, seems like a lame attempt at prolonging its own demise. As the Hollywood Mark Zuckerberg once said, “If you invented Facebook, you would’ve invented Facebook.”

Oh silly Yahoo, tech giant of yesteryear, how desperate you are to stay relevant and alive.

You can reach NICOLE NGUYEN at her non-Yahoo-affiliated address, niknguyen@ucdavis.edu.

Aggies roll through Northridge

Sports Editor
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Aggies roll through Northridge

After a difficult preseason schedule where they played six top-25 teams, the Aggies have exploded into conference play.

With three wins against Cal State Northridge over the weekend, UC Davis moved into first place in the Big West Conference with a 5-1 conference record and a 15-22 record overall.

Starting pitchers freshman Justine Vela and junior Jessica Thweatt dominated the now 7-27 Matadors as they combined for 34 strikeouts and no runs allowed in the Aggies’ three shutout victories.

On the other side, Cal State Northridge’s pitching was also outstanding. In the first two games of the series, both teams were held off the board through seven innings. Fortunately for the Aggies, clutch hitting in the eighth innings allowed UC Davis to squeak out victories.

In the final game of the weekend, the Aggies were able to avoid needing late-game heroics as their three runs by the fourth inning were enough to comfortably put them ahead for the rest of the game.

Friday — UC Davis 1, Cal State Northridge 0 (eight innings)
The first game of the series was a true pitcher’s duel. CSU Northridge starter Mia Pagano and UC Davis starter Vela battled back and forth in the eight-inning game as each only allowed four hits on the day.

With both pitchers dominating, neither team was able to score in the first seven innings, and the game was forced to go to extra innings.

In the eighth inning, following a one-out single by sophomore Chandler Wagner, junior JJ Wagoner provided the biggest hit of the game with a triple to give the Aggies a one-run lead going into the final half-inning.

The Matadors would not go down without a fight, however, as three Vela walks loaded the bases with one out left in the game. With little room for error, Vela was able to stay calm and force the final batter to foul out, sealing the Aggie victory.

Friday — UC Davis 2, Cal State Northridge 0 (eight innings)
After the brilliant pitching in the series opener, UC Davis starting pitcher Jessica Thweatt and CSU Northridge starter Brianna Elder combined for yet another pitching duel. In an eerily similar game, both Thweatt and Elder had no hitters through five innings and shutouts going into the eighth.

The Aggies would again come up with clutch performances in the extra inning as singles by Wagoner and senior Heather Zimmerman set up senior Kelly Harman’s two-RBI single.

With a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning, Thweatt slammed the door on the Matadors by striking out the last three batters to give UC Davis another win.

Saturday — UC Davis  3, Cal State Northridge 0
After an exciting day of play on Friday, the Aggies carried over their momentum to the final game of the series with a 3-0 win to finalize their sweep of the Matadors.

This time UC Davis did not need to wait until the eighth inning to get its offense going as the Aggies combined an unearned run and an RBI single by freshman Amy Nunez to take a two-run lead in the first.

“Amy has driven the ball really well,” said coach Yoder.  “I think she has huge potential.”

Harman added a third run to UC Davis’ lead in the fourth inning after scoring on a CSU Northridge throwing error.

On the mound, Vela was even better than her previous outing as she blew past the Matadors with 14 strikeouts and only one hit allowed in her seven shutout innings.

UC Davis returns to action this Saturday against Long Beach State in a home game at noon.

DOUG BONHAM can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggies go 1-1 in week’s matches

Sports Editor
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Aggies go 1-1 in week’s matches

The difference between a win and a loss seems to be the doubles point for the UC Davis women’s tennis team.

Both of this week’s matches were decided by a 5-2 score, and UC Davis experienced both sides of the coin. The Aggies came out on top Wednesday against Cal State Northridge, and then, on Saturday, came up short against Nevada.

“I was worried about fatigue after our Hawaii trip, but it didn’t seem to faze us,” said coach Bill Maze. “The team played really tough and it was nice to get the win at home.”

The Aggies ended the week with a 7-11 record, including a 3-2 mark in Big West Conference play.

Wednesday — UC Davis 5, Cal State Northridge 2
Winning the doubles point was a good start for the Aggies against Big West foe Cal State Northridge.

UC Davis started singles play with a 1-0 advantage for only the fourth time this year and never looked back. Senior Dahra Zamudio and sophomore Nicole Koehly had an up-and-down doubles match that they eventually took by a score of 9-7, which captured the first point for the Aggies.

“When it is that close of a match, the doubles point gets even bigger,” Maze said. “We’ve been struggling and figured it couldn’t hurt to change the doubles pairings to find some teams that click.”

Sophomore Kelly Chui added to the UC Davis lead with a quick 6-1, 6-1 victory. Junior Lauren Curry, who struggled through her first set, cruised through the second to finish the match with a 7-5, 6-0 score.

Junior Ellie Edles also contributed with a straight set victory and senior Dahra Zamudio pulled out the third set to round out the Aggies’ 5-2 victory.

The Matadors had very few answers for the strong UC Davis lineup, putting up wins at the No. 1 and 5 positions.

Saturday — Nevada 5, UC Davis 2
The Aggies fell into a 1-0 hole when they lost the doubles point and were never able to recover. UC Davis played tough in each ensuing singles battles, but were only able to salvage two of the six matches.

Freshman Layla Sanders put the Aggies on the board with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 performance. UC Davis’s other point came from Curry’s hard-fought 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 victory, in which she trailed 4-0 in the third set.

“We had already lost the team match and she was the last one on,” Maze said. “It was really inspiring to see her keep fighting out of that deficit by winning six of the last seven games.”

This was as far as the Aggies got, however, as they dropped two close straight set matches as well as two three-set contests.

“I knew it was going to be rough playing in the higher altitude, but I believe in my team and I thought we could get them,” Maze said. “They were too good this time, but we will bounce back.”

MATT YUEN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggie Digest

Sports Editor
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Baseball

The UC Davis baseball team surrendered two Cal State Fullerton comebacks that resulted in one-run losses in the opening of Big West Conference play.

After the sweep, the Aggies fell to 11-16 overall and 0-3 in conference.

On Thursday UC Davis took an early 1-0 lead after stringing together three straight base hits, but CSU Fullerton responded with a run of its own and added another run in the bottom of the third.

Senior starter Dayne Quist struck out seven batters with no walks in 7.1 innings of work to keep CSU Fullerton in check.

Senior David Popkins hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to tie the game at two apiece, and UC Davis rallied in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead.

The Titans showed why they are the No. 14 team in the country, responding with three runs to win 5-4.

Freshman Kevin Barker went 2-for-3 and recorded his first triple of the season on Friday, while Popkins was 2-for-2 with his second home run of the series.

Senior starter Anthony Kupbens struck out five in 8.1 innings of work, but for the second straight game, Cal State Fullerton was able to rally late for the victory.

UC Davis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, and then in the fifth Barker tripled to center field and Popkins then hit one over the left field wall to give the Aggies a commanding 4-0 lead.

After Kupbens blew a save in the previous game, head coach Matt Vaughn elected to let Kupbens pitch the entire game, to no avail, as once again the Titans rallied, scoring one in the eighth and three in the bottom of the ninth for the 5-4 comeback victory.

There would be no comebacks in the series finale, as CSU Fullerton scored early and often, five times in the first and nine total in the first four innings.

UC Davis recorded nine hits in the game, but they were all singles. The Aggies had runners in scoring position in four different innings but couldn’t cash in on their way to an 11-0 loss.

The game brought an end to a six-game road trip for UC Davis. The Aggies will return to Dobbins Stadium for a matchup with Fresno State on Tuesday, first pitch 2:30 p.m.

— Russell Eisenman

Column: Play ball!

Sports Editor
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Spring is in the air, and that means it’s time for laying out on the Quad, Picnic Day and yes, Major League Baseball.

By the time this reaches print, baseball will have already gone through Opening Day (or it’s “second Opening Day” depending on your perspective), and that makes this the perfect time to explore which UC Davis teams match up with squads from the Major Leagues.

Baseball: Since we’re comparing UC Davis to the MLB, it seems only natural to begin with the UC Davis baseball team.

And my diagnosis will make part of this campus smile and the other parts curse in their chairs.

UC Davis baseball provides a striking resemblance to the San Francisco Giants.

Both teams will be carried by their pitching staffs, and just as the Giants tout the starting abilities of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, the Aggies lean heavily on Dayne Quist, Anthony Kubpens and Tom Briner.

The UC Davis trio may never receive any Cy Young consideration, but if the three pitchers continue to throw at this level for the remainder of the season, there is a reasonable chance that all three will be selected in the MLB draft this summer.

And while neither the Giants nor the Aggies have any single bat in their lineup that strikes fear into their opponent’s hearts, both teams have a relatively solid batting order from top to bottom, and will be able to create scoring chances.

Softball: UC Davis softball is the Putah Creek version of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yes, it’s true that the Aggies are not coming off a national title, but both teams lost their best player of the last several seasons during the offseason and are looking to replace their production during the 2012 campaign.

For the Cardinals the loss was Albert Pujols, and the jury is still out on whether or not the team will be able to recover from losing his production.

The loss for UC Davis was pitcher/leadoff hitter Alex Holmes, who was a dominant force for the Aggies over the past four seasons. Fortunately for UC Davis, it has found at least a partial replacement for Holmes’ abilities in the pitching circle: freshman standout Justine Vela.

The Bakersfield, Calif. native leads the Big West Conference in both ERA and strikeouts.

Still, the Aggies have struggled to replace Holmes’ bat, sitting near the bottom of the Big West in several offensive categories.

Women’s golf: UC Davis women’s golf compares nicely to the New York Yankees.

It seems like both teams enter every season as top contenders for a title — the Yankees for the World Series, the Aggies for the Big West.

Additionally, over the past several seasons both UC Davis and New York have been able to retool following every player they lose.

The bookmakers currently have the Yankees as the favorite to win the American League, as two-time defending Big West Champions the Aggies have to be considered favorites to repeat again.

Lacrosse: UC Davis lacrosse is the Colorado Rockies, a team that is not the favorite to win their division, let alone the national championship, but if a few things fall the right way could contend for a conference title.

And if the Aggies are the Rockies, junior Elizabeth Datino is Troy Tulowitzki.

Datino has been among the nation’s leading scorers so far this season, and if she keeps attacking the goal at the same frenetic pace, UC will have a chance to make some noise this season.

Men’s golf: UC Davis men’s golf is the Washington Nationals.

Both the Aggies and the Nats are built around young lineups, and both squads will not be considered serious contenders in the 2012 season.

Still, both teams have bright futures, and just as Washington has an outside shot to make the postseason if things fall in its favor, UC Davis could repeat as conference champions if they can put things together in the Big West Tournament.

TREVOR CRAMER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Senate briefs

Campus Editor
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This ASUCD Senate meeting was scheduled to begin Thursday at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the April 5, 2012 meeting location, the Mee Room in the MU. The ASUCD president is not required to attend senate meetings.

Meeting called to order at 6:12 p.m.
Rebecca Sterling, ASUCD president, present, left early
Yena Bae, ASUCD vice president, present
Kabir Kapur, ASUCD senator, present
Jared Crisologo-Smith, ASUCD senator, present
Bradley Bottoms, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Goss, ASUCD senator, present
Anni Kimball, ASUCD senator, present
Paul Min, ASUCD senator, present
Don Gilbert, ASUCD senator, present
Joyce Han, ASUCD senator, present
Erica Padgett, ASUCD senator, present
Beatriz Anguiano, ASUCD senator, present
Patrick Sheehan, ASUCD senator, pro tempore, present
Yara Zokaie, ASUCD senator, present

Appointments and Confirmations
Anni Kimball was appointed as the new pro tempore.

Melanie Maemura was confirmed as Controller.

Jessica Tran was confirmed as STS/ Tipsy Taxi Unit Director.

Joyce Zhou, Kriti Garg, Bree Rombi and Olivia Brown were confirmed to the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission.

Zokaie and Han were appointed to the Student Health and Wellness Commission.

Gilbert and Padgett were appointed to URSAC.

Goss and Sheehan were appointed to the Committee on Committees.

Padget was appointed to the Internet and Networking Committee.

Sheehan was appointed to the Aggie Public Arts Committee.

Anguiano and Han were appointed to the ASUCD Scholarship Committee.

Sheehan was appointed to the Inter-Collegiate Athletic Budget Review Subcommittee.

Min was appointed to the Media Board.

Crisologo-Smith was appointed to the Recruitment and Retention Organizing Committee.

Han and Kimball were appointed to the Aggie Bound Outreach Committee.

Presentations
President Sterling made a presentation and introduced her staff for this quarter. She announced that ASUCD will not be joining the Shared Services Center. However, the tax from the UC Office of the President will still affect ASUCD.

Unit Director Reports
Lobby Corps Unit Director Bihter Ozedirne  said that Lobby Month will be April 22 to May 25.  She also said that the unit will be hiring interns instead of volunteers, and that the letter campaign is going to be online.

Unit Director of STS/Tipsy Taxi Sebastian Belser said that they have hired a new replacement. He said that the unit is doing tremendously, and over the past three fiscal years it has reduced its subsidy by 30 percent. He also said that Tipsy Taxi ridership is going up.

Consideration of Old Legislation
Senate Bill 75, authored by Pascual, co-authored by Dias, Gindi and Yip, introduced by Kimball, to implement a revised Long-Range Plan for the Office of City and County Affairs, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 73, authored by Cano, co-authored by Coelho, Maemura, McManus, Moosavi, Repicky and Truong and introduced by Repicky, to implement the Long Range Plan for Aggie ReStore, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 83, authored by Goss, co-authored by Kapur, to require senators to attend Lobby Corps meetings at least once per quarter. Padgett said that she didn’t like the bill, and she didn’t think it was appropriate to require senators to attend a specific unit’s meetings. She was concerned that it could later apply to all units. Sheehan suggested that senators be required to attend an advocacy training meeting instead. Zokaie said that she liked the bill and said that she thought Lobby Corps was very important, especially right now. The bill failed in a 3-9 vote.

Senate Bill 72, authored by Hsu, co-authored by Boeh-Sobon, Coronado-Moses and Maemura, to implement a revised Long-Range Plan for University Affairs, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 90, authored by Cano, co-authored by Crisologo-Smith, Barnett, Gilbert, Goss, Kapur, Kimball and Sheehan, introduced by Kapur, to allocate $2599.85 from Capital Reserves to purchase two 21.5-inch iMacs for the Senate Office. Cano said that the computers need to be upgraded, whether the senate table likes it or not. A member of the public said that PCs are cheaper. The senate table responded that Macs are easier to use and that Creative Media Director Alex Park requested that the senate table buy Macs. In an 11-1 vote the bill passed. Anguiano voted no.

Senate Bill 84, authored by Cano, co-authored by Barnett and Ho, introduced by Kapur, to restructure Chapter 12 of the Bylaws, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 93 authored by Cano, to create Chapter 20 of the Bylaws on closed sessions, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 91, authored by Cano, to enact a new version of Chapter 9 on Open Meetings and Special Meetings, passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 92 authored by Cano, to enact Chapter 21 on Public Records, passed unanimously.

Consideration of Urgent Legislation
Senate Resolution X, to honor the life of the late Ted Adams, passed unanimously.

Closed session 10:20 to 11:30 p.m.

Public Announcements
Anguiano announced that this week is Pride Week.

Zokaie announced that Take Back the Night is this Wednesday.

Meeting adjourned at 1:07 a.m.

Open positions within ASUCD can be found at vacancy.ucdavis.edu. HANNAH STRUMWASSER compiles the senate briefs. She can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UC Davis smothered by Fresno State

Sports Editor
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UC Davis’ struggle to close out tight matches in their nine past encounters on the road persisted this past weekend in Fresno. The Aggies fell to 1-10 away from home while moving to a 3-13 overall record.

Fresno State captured the doubles matches to earn the first point of the evening. Junior Toki Sherkabov and senior Josh Albert displayed their best showing at the No. 1 doubles showing before falling 8-5 in the third-set tiebreak.

The Bulldogs’ momentum continued in the singles play, where they posted a victory at the No. 5 singles spot after three straight-set victories. Hugo Verdi-Fortin extended his No. 4 singles match into a third set before being retired.

Sophomore Kyle Miller was the highlight of UC Davis’ performance, as he battled for a three-set victory at the No. 2 singles spot. He trailed 6-3, 5-2 in the second set and saved a match point before making a comeback and capturing a 3-6, 7-6, (10-8) win against David Ayoun.

“He displayed tremendous poise and composure out there,” coach Daryl Lee said. “Those are the two key factors that helped turn that match around.”

Despite the Aggies’ early-season woes, Lee stresses the fact that the team has shown up to matches and given high-ranked teams tough fights.

“In the singles, we went to three sets against No. 4 Hugo and No. 6 Georgia,” Lee said. “Players have been playing well across the matches.”

The Aggies will look to snap their nine-match losing streak this week against UC Riverside on Saturday.

“Riverside is a good team,” said Lee. “It won’t be an easy match, but I think they’re going to be ready to play.”

VEENA BANSAL can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggie Threads opens in the Memorial Union

Campus Editor
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Houseboats is right around the corner, which means a flurry of HB2K12 tank tops needs to be made. Newly opened Aggie Threads is seeking to satisfy any Houseboat shirt needs this year, along with any other custom shirt orders on campus.

The new shop, located in the Memorial Union (MU) next to Campus Copies/Classical Notes, is the newest branch of ASUCD’s Campus Copies/Classical Notes. Aggie Threads specializes in printing unlimited colors on shirt orders ranging from one to a few hundred.

“I actually pitched the idea in my interview for Classical Notes Director,” said fifth-year Classical Notes/Campus Copies and Aggie Threads director Ryan Hagens.

After Hagens got the job he got together with former ASUCD Controller Don Ho and senior Eddie Hu to start up the new division.

“It’s a method that prints the ink directly onto the shirt, rather than setting it on with something else,” said Ho speaking of the type of shirt-printing machine the group decided upon. “We were thinking originally about doing a screen printing machine but then we saw that the direct garment printing was much more efficient.”

The group prides itself on customer interaction with the employees that is not available with any online retailer.

“We can sit down and go through a design and actually print off a proof on a shirt, and if you like it we can print 50 more,” said Hagens. “We can do it so fast. Our turnaround time is quick, one week.”

A former ASUCD controller, Don Ho helped lobby ASUCD for funding the new start-up. Senate Bill 28 gave the group $35,195.97 from Senate Capital Reserves, which they used to buy the printing machine that they ordered at the beginning of last quarter. Problems with backordering delayed the printer and the opening of the shop.

The group hopes to have a greater presence on campus than just a supply-structured business.

“We want to form an artist collective down the road,” said Hu. “We want to have competitions and help artists promote their own brand.”

Aggie Threads is excited to start serving ASUCD and UC Davis’ shirt needs.

“A lot of ASUCD units make T-shirts,” said Ho, “We wanted to minimize the externalities and make it internal.”

MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Students hold rally for “Davis Dozen” last Thursday

Campus Editor
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Students hold rally for “Davis Dozen” last Thursday

Last Thursday a group of protesters rallied outside the Memorial Union (MU) building to show support for the “Davis Dozen” and to
celebrate the closure of U.S. Bank’s UC Davis branch.

The “Davis Dozen” are a group of student and faculty protesters that allegedly took turns protesting U.S. Bank by sitting for months outside its doors, eventually contributing to its closure and a cancellation of its contract with UC Davis. Recently the Yolo County District Attorney has cited members of the group with 20 accounts of misdemeanor charges.

“Education is not a private good,” said a student protester who asked to remain anonymous. “We need to remember that this is a public university.”

Members of the group ordered to appear in court blamed bank-subsidized student loans as a contributing factor to tuition hikes.

Speakers at the rally said that the UC Davis administration is using a new tactic of “retroactive repression” to suppress student
protests. They said the administration is sending a message by punishing demonstrators.

Some demonstrators said that they could face up to 11 years in prison for their charges.

“The administration is using tactics of fear to drown out our voice,” said junior transfer Roxanne Favre. “We need to show them that we’re not afraid.”

After all the speakers had gone, the group marched around campus to further voice their message.

Later in the afternoon, protesters marched to Mrak Hall and considered occupying the building. However, the students ultimately decided not to stay in the building overnight.

MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Aggies finish season in Seattle

Sports Editor
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Two of UC Davis’ finest gymnasts traveled to Seattle Saturday to represent the Aggies at the NCAA Seattle Regional meet.

Junior Katie Yamamura and freshman Tiana Montell both earned berths to the Regional meet with their performances at last week’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship meet.

Yamamura began her meet with floor exercise where she earned a 9.700 for her routine. She then moved on to the vault, where the Palo Alto, Calif. native has excelled for the Aggies this season. The vault added another 9.775 to her overall total score.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, the seasoned junior suffered a fall during her mount in beam which knocked her score down to an 8.700 for that event.

Yamamura also struggled during her release in uneven bars, resulting in another fall and a score of 8.975.

The junior placed 20th overall in her second NCAA Regional appearance, earning a 37.15, even with the penalties of two falls. UC Davis gymnastics can look forward to another incredible year next season because Yamamura will be returning with all of her talents and the experience she gained at this meet.

“Unfortunately Yamamura didn’t have the day we were hoping for but it was still a great meet overall,” said head coach John Lavallee.

The Aggies’ other competitor was Montell who has proved to be an excellent addition to the UC Davis squad.

Montell has impressed Lavallee all season long with her poise, and this meet was just another example of her ability to compete against the big guns.

“Tiana did a great job going four-for-four. It was a great way to finish off the season,” Lavelle said.

The Hilo, Hawaii native began her meet at the vault where she earned a 9.500. Montell then moved to the uneven bars where she swung another 9.500 to add to her total score.

The freshman’s best event was the beam where she earned a 9.700. Montell finished the meet on floor where she struggled but still earned a 9.475 which brought her total up to 38.175.

Montell’s total score was enough to the land the Aggie at 17th place in the all-around division.

The NCAA Regional brought UC Davis’ impressive season to a close. This year’s squad fought through disappointments early on but they brought it in the home stretch. The Aggies are returning an incredible amount of talent next year and with a little luck they can grab another MPSF Conference Champion Title.

“It’s time to take a little rest and then we are going to start getting ready for next year,” Lavallee said.

KIM CARR can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

120409_ci_crown

City Editor
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At the April 3 Davis City Council meeting, it was concluded by a 4 to 1 vote that Crown Castle, a corporation that provides infrastructure for both mobile and broadcasting telephony, would be allowed to begin setting up mobile phone antenna nodes throughout Davis.

These antenna nodes would boost phone coverage for Metro PCS customers, according to Crown Castle.

In 2010, the city had already revoked Crown Castle’s permit to install nodes in the public right-of-way, to which Crown Castle filed a lawsuit in response. If the city were to reject Crown Castle’s plan again, the lawsuit would resurface and it would have been highly likely the city would have ended up losing.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission, Crown Castle has the right to set up the antenna sites as long as they’re in the public right-of-way. This is because Crown Castle is a public utility, so it has both federal and state law on its side.

Most councilmembers said they would rather not deal with these legal matters at the moment.

“I don’t believe this community can even begin to afford going into a lawsuit on this matter. It would be frivolous, unnecessary and I’m not going to put staff time… or citizens’ money into that,” said Mayor Joe Krovoza.

The council went on to approve each of the proposed antennae sites one by one. Three sites have been tentatively approved; however, four sites have been rejected and the remainder have been left to be decided on at the April 10 council meeting.

Many residents were in opposition to the proposal, one going so far as to call it “an urban blight.”

Frank Gestino, speaking on behalf of Village Homes, a homeowners association, pointed out that Metro PCS has advertised to the community that they have great service and full coverage of the area in the first place. “So for them to come to us now and say that they don’t have great service and this is why they’re putting these polls up … this is fraud.”

The overall sentiment of the residents was that if the city gave up an inch here and conceded to federal and state laws, where would the line get drawn? If other unwanted changes to the city were imposed upon the city by state and federal laws, would the City Council simply roll over and take it again?

Also, many felt that the addition of the polls would mar the overall look of Davis.

“I find it really disappointing and even shameful that the council is just going to roll over on this,” said Jay Feldman, a Village Homes resident. “The Crown Castle people don’t have the greater good of the city of Davis at heart; all they care about is money.”

Despite some citizens’ negative opinions of the measure, the council still decided to continue with the proposal.

Councilmember Dan Wolk voted against the proposal.

“I’m going to be voting no on this,” said Wolk. “For me it’s just a matter of principle and a matter of local control.”

The remainder of the sites will be examined and new sites will be chosen by Crown Castle to replace the rejected ones tomorrow. Currently, no antennae are to be installed until the sites are fully approved by the City Council.

ANDREW POH can be reached city@theaggie.org.

Peterson and Sumpter enter UC Davis record books

Sports Editor
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It was a landmark weekend for the Aggies as two of the team’s top distance runners made their mark on UC Davis track and field history.

Junior Sarah Sumpter set the UC Davis record in the women’s 10,000-meter on Friday at the Stanford Invitational — breaking a mark that had stood for 29 years. Later that day, senior Jonathan Peterson set the university’s 10K men’s record.

Overall, the Aggies had several strong performances over the weekend as competitors placed in both the San Francisco State Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitational.

Friday — San Francisco State Distance Carnival
While no records were broken in San Francisco, several Aggies did find ways to place near the top of their events.

Freshman Lawrence Doherty took second in the men’s 400-meter while sophomore Kristine Lozoya was runner-up in the women’s 5,000-meter.

Sophomore Melinda Zavala took third in the 800-meter.

Friday and Saturday — Stanford Invitational
Sumpter’s record-breaking 10,000-meter placed her 22nd at Stanford on Friday while Peterson’s milestone landed him in 12th.

“Capping the night off with two school records is a great way to finish the day,” coach Drew Wartenberg said. “Sumpter and Peterson posted times that will figure on the national scene as we move forward.”

Katie Barber finished fourth in the high jump while Emily Bush took the same spot in women’s collegiate pole vault on Friday.

Saturday also featured solid performances for UC Davis.

Sophomore Brandon Greenberg was the highlight of the day for the Aggies as he took first place in the shot put.

Senior Lauren Radke took fourth in the women’s invitational pole vault.

UC Davis will return to action Thursday at the Mondo Mid-Major Challenge in Sacramento.

TREVOR CRAMER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Softball Preview

Sports Editor
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Teams: UC Davis at Cal State Northridge
Records: Aggies, 12-22 (2-1); Matadors 7-24 (2-1)
Where: Matador Diamond — Northridge, Calif.
When: Friday at noon and 2:00 p.m.; Saturday at noon

Who to watch: Cassandra Ginnis has needed little time to adjust to the college game. The freshman sensation ranks second on the team with 25 hits on the season, and is also tied for the team lead in runs scored with 11.

The Santa Ana, Calif. native hopes to continue her success near her hometown when the Aggies travel down to Southern California to play Cal State Northridge in their second Big West Conference series of the year.

“It is a really good feeling to start freshman year on the field,” Ginnis said. “Especially during conference [play].”

Did you know? In the Big West Conference, Pacific is the only team to maintain a winning record after finishing pre-conference play.

With the conference title up for grabs, UC Davis will certainly hope to continue the momentum from its two conference victories against UC Riverside.

To do this, the Aggies will need to improve their 5-13 record away from LaRue Field against the Matadors who are only 1-5 at home.

Preview: UC Davis faces a CSU Northridge team that, while dropping its first 13 games of the year, is coming off two wins against Pacific.

Although the Matadors are tied at the top of the league standings with UC Davis in the early season, the Aggies appear to be the more complete and consistent team.

At almost three runs scored per contest, UC Davis is averaging a full run per game more than CSU Northridge in addition to having a team batting average of .240 compared to the Matadors’ meager.192 average.

In addition to their offensive struggles, the Matadors also had difficulty keeping runs off the board, as they have a team ERA of 5.62 compared to the Aggies’ 4.24 ERA.

UC Davis batters, who have racked up 73 walks on the year, have a great opportunity to add more to their totals when facing the Matadors’ primary starter Mia Pagano, who walks over two batters per game.

On the other side, the Aggies’ starting pitchers will have to be careful when pitching against CSU Northridge catcher Mikayla Thielges. The powerful junior ranks second in the Big West Conference in home runs with six on the season.

With a couple wins in this weekend’s series, the Aggies will be in prime position to continue their battle for the league title.

— Doug Bonham

 

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