During the Holiday recess
Only 3 tents remained
Until the New Year
When a little red tent
Came to bloom
As if Spring was premature….
A few days later
2 more sprouted up
And then would come Thursday
The official day
The occupiers would return
Town Hall meetings would resume
And the media trucks
Yeah,
As Thunderclap Newman sang
“Something’s In The Air”
Gary Saylin
Shields Library, technical services
KDVS Radio
When I’m surfing the net as I often do, I always notice the abundance of advertisements lining each web page I land on and wonder what Don Draper would think about advertising these days.
For those of you who have somehow avoided watching amazing television, stop what you’re doing right now and go burn through all four seasons of AMC’s “Mad Men.” Not only will you learn a great deal about the history of advertising, but you’ll also thoroughly enjoy the depiction of rampant sex, drinking and general debauchery based on Madison Avenue ad men in the 1960s.
Don Draper, aptly portrayed by a shit-this-guy-is-good-looking Jon Hamm, is the creative director of one of the biggest ad firms in New York City. He and his team design attractive ad campaigns for their clients which both brand their company in a unique way and boost sales of their product or service.
While Don and the other chauvinist ad men live in the ’60s and thus work primarily on designing print ads and early TV commercials, it would be interesting to consider how they would react to getting fast-forwarded 50 years into a landscape where the internet is king, social media sites present opportunities no one could have expected and print media is grasping for survival.
I previously worked as an ad sales rep for your very own California Aggie, and although my job didn’t include a constant flow of whiskey, cigarettes and sexism, I did work a fair amount on the process of designing ads for print, much like good old Don Draper.
Partway through my tenure as an ad rep, I went on a “Mad Men” binge and it got me thinking about what challenges the infamous ad man would face today. How would Don tackle the job of creating an image for a company online knowing the media world today exists in such a vast setting?
Businesses today have to take into consideration a wild number of factors when marketing their products. Google Analytics and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media strategies and a whole bevy of other boring-sounding tools are used to target an audience and grab their attention.
This game of find-and-attract-the-consumer is so progressive these days thanks to the advancement of technology, but also in part because it has to be. Gone are the days when American minds could be brainwashed by taglines like “Christmas morning she’ll be happier with a Hoover!” and “For a better start in life, start Cola earlier!” alongside a woman fawning over a vacuum and a baby, respectively.
Ad campaigns these days have to take into account that the American public is a hell of a lot more self-aware than it was in the ‘60s. Mass media has given us the ability to share information and do research faster than ever, and advertising firms have had to adapt. Unfortunately, this makes it very possible that even if we appear smarter than the dopes that fell for cocaine toothache drop ads back in the day, we really aren’t. Consumers fall victim to the same traps today, due to strategies that might appear archaic and foolish another 50 years from now.
Would Don be able to keep up with the modern day trends? Would he be able to work in partnership with major corporations like Google and Facebook, who help businesses cleverly pervade our internet experience with sometimes irresistible ads? It’s interesting to consider how far advertising has come since the “Mad Men” days, and where it might go in the future now that the interweb has a hold on our brains.
So what can aspiring Don Drapers of the internet age do to achieve success in advertising? Or would the world be better off if they turned their creative energy into entertaining society instead of emptying its wallets?
I think the answer to the second question is probably yes. But I’ll be damned if Jon Hamm doesn’t make sitting at work in a full suit with a glass of whiskey in hand just look like the best job ever.
Join VICTOR BEIGELMAN for an Old Fashioned With a Twist at the bars or contact him with questions at vbeigelman@ucdavis.edu.
Allen Banez graduated from the University of California system in 1988. After seeing the recent lambasting of UC Davis students by the gauzy orange burn of pepper spray, he was inspired to create Evil Boss, a weekly comic making light of the social slavery surrounding the populace.
“I was totally disgusted with the UC Davis security department,” he exclaims.
As a postmodern critic on everything from the 99 percent to the one percent, Evil Boss breaks routine by utilizing sparse yet effective imagery. Together Banez and Jon Wilson collaborate on Evil Boss to further social commentary and bring awareness to those asunder, in order to bring about solidarity.
The Aggie sits down with Banez to dig deeper behind the social and political statements behind the comic.
You cite that the Occupy movement inspired your comic Evil Boss. Can you explain to me how?
The Occupy Movement is about the 99 percent which are the people who are fighting against the one percent. The one percent has all of the power which is the like the Evil Boss while the 99 percent are the people who are trying to survive financially. The main twist is that the Evil Boss gets punished in every issue. It was our chance to show the one percent losing for a change.
How did the characters in Evil Boss come to be?
The characters are the people that we deal with in the workforce daily. They are the people that are just trying to make a living. I wanted everyone to relate to the good and bad employees in a company. Think about any of your current or previous jobs and you will see characters like ours.
As an alumnus of the UC system, what can you say has changed? And does this reflect in Evil Boss?
A lot of the company benefits have been decreased since I graduated. For example, insurance co-payments and insurance payments from our paychecks have increased. We have also have benefits cut like pensions and tuition reimbursement programs. We cover this in the Evil Boss comic strip. We joke about the benefits cuts that everyone is facing today.
What style of comic is Evil Boss portrayed in?
We are very honest and make fun of what has gone on in corporate America for the last 20 years. There is a lot of truth to what we cover. Truth is always stranger than fiction. People can relate to our comic strips because they deal with these issues on a regular basis.
How does Evil Boss support the Occupy movement?
We show that the Evil Boss gets punished. It is a chance for the 99 percent to feel like the Evil Boss got what he deserved. People deal with these issues on a regular basis and are powerless. Evil Boss lets them live vicariously through our comic strip. In our comic strip, the Evil Boss gets punished and tortured for his bad and greedy behavior. Payback is a bitch and you will see Karma get the Evil Boss which will be fun for everyone. Read, laugh, enjoy and smile through his pain.
What can one learn of the sentiments across America from reading Evil Boss?
We can learn that we are not alone. Everyone can relate to what is going on in the workforce. The main thing I wanted to point out is that even if you are a boss you are just an employee like everyone else.
I know you run a consumer advocacy business called “LetterChamp.” Are you an evil boss? If not, then what makes you different?
I am not an Evil Boss. I treat people the way that I want to be treated. I really believe this and have followed this my entire life. We are all people and we are all created equal. Everyone and their opinions matter. This is how I have managed the LetterChamp.
What do you hope to achieve with Evil Boss?
I want to entertain people and make them laugh. We all have to work so if I can make someone’s day better with a comic strip then I have done a great thing. One of my other goals is to promote our e-book called Greed is Bad and Corporate Bosses are Evil! Staying Ahead in Tough Times and Saving For a Life of Royalty. We show people that they have the power to cut the evil boss bonus check. Revenue less expenses equal profit. Throughout our book, we show the consumer that they can decrease the company revenue and increase the company expenses which cut the company profit. Without the customers there would be no company so customers have the true power. The 99 percent can control the company. Our e-book will show you how to save money, get things for free and get the quality products that you paid for and deserve.
PETER AN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
THEATER
Cyrano
Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., $8 for students
Veterans Memorial Theatre, 203 E. 14th St.
Acme Theatre Company in Davis presents Cyrano, a story about heroism with a slight twist of comedy and adventure. The story is about a poet and swordsman named Cyrano who pines for his cousin Roxane. Due to his large nose, he is ashamed to tell her and therefore writes love letters in the name of the man she loves.
ART/GALLERY
Between the Quotes: Work by UC Davis Art Faculty
Today to Feb. 29, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., free
Pence Gallery, 212 D Street
Rarely do students get the opportunity to view the work created by their professors. In this exhibition, faculty members (Gina Werfel, Timothy Berry, Robin Hill, Bryce Vinokurov and many more) will showcase their body of work for the public to see. The reception will be held tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m.
UCD Art Studio Visiting Artist Lecture: Fred Tomaselli
Today, 4:30 p.m., free
Technocultural Studies Building
As a part of the continuing Artist Lecture series, UC Davis’s art department welcomes Fred Tomaselli. Tomaselli is a New York-based artist that focuses on highly detailed paintings done on wooden panels. Utilizing resin and other unique materials, Tomaselli is a unique artist that makes a very intriguing series.
Three Painters/Three Flavors: A Local Celebration of Art and Community
Today to March 18, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., free
Nelson Gallery
Leslie Shows, Fred Tomaselli and Peter Edlund combine to make up the “three flavors” in this exhibition, presented by the Nelson Gallery. Each carrying their own powerful style, these artists will present their work which primarily focus on the natural landscapes. Through collage and other mediums like oil paint and resin, each artist depicts their own interpretation of the subject matter.
MONDAVI
Alexi Kenney and Hilda Huang
Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., $17.50 for students
Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center
Alexi Kenney (violin) is the 2010 senior grand prize winner of Mondavi Center’s Young Artists Competition. Kenney began playing violin at the age of four. Alongside Kenney will be Hilda Huang, who was the junior grand prize winner of the same competition. Both will surely bring their impressive talents to the stage for a two-night performance.
UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
UC Davis campus police officer Ralph Nuno, along with another unidentified officer, locked the doors of U.S. Bank during a teach-in Wednesday afternoon. English professor Joshua Clover gave a talk on the history of private banks on college campuses. Students sat on the floor of the U.S. Bank office in the Memorial Union for about 25 minutes before the officers kicked non-sitting students and reporters out of the room and locked the doors. Clover finished his lecture around 1 p.m. and the remaining group left the bank. U.S. Bank reopened later in the day.
––Becky Peterson
Following the Nov. 19, 2011 press conference held in response to UC Davis police officers’ pepper spraying of students, Reverend Kristin Stoneking was called to mediate between protesters and UC Davis administration.
Stoneking is a United Methodist minister who has served as director of the Cal Aggie Christian Association (CA House) for 13 years. Her leadership has produced the Multi-Faith Living Community (MLC), a residence area created in response to religious misunderstandings that resulted from 9/11 and to stand as a symbol of CA House’s values of compassion, empathy and tolerance.
Prior to the pepper-spray incident, Stoneking had been involved with the students who were occupying, helping to shuttle food and other resources to students on the Quad. Although not an employee of the university, she has formed deep relationships with students, giving her a broad perspective on issues and events at UC Davis, Stoneking said.
Which was why, on that evening in November, she was called to mediate a tense situation between some of UC Davis’ highest paid officials and hordes of students enraged over the use of pepper spray on the Quad just the day before.
“I think the administrator who called me knew I could do and say some things that someone who worked for the university couldn’t, and had credibility that someone who worked for the university didn’t have,” Stoneking said.
Ari Polsky, senior studio art major and resident of the MLC, agreed that Stoneking was the appropriate person to help find a solution to the problem that night.
“She is a leader that the administration was familiar with and trusted, and helped ease their fears about the outside student body,” Polsky said. “She is a respected leader also on the side of the students and shared many of their concerns. She was able to speak to both sides, and help center both sides of the conversations.”
The press conference, which was scheduled to include Chancellor Linda Katehi, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Fred Wood and UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza, was promptly cut short when protesters entered the building and demanded that their concerns be addressed. Enosh Baker, a UC Davis alumnus who was present at the press conference that night, said that the secrecy of the conference was what drew protesters in such large numbers.
“After receiving a leak that it was taking place, the word got put out right away,” Baker said. “And there was already a lot of momentum from the events of the 18th. Folks who had never been a part of the movement up until then joined folks who had been involved since its inception. Since it was supposed to be a press conference, the people wanted to be heard.”
But because of such high tensions at that time, Stoneking acknowledged that any constructive exchange of dialogue would not have been possible. After entering the building with a student representative, she focused on finding a solution over two hours of discussion with multiple groups of administrators.
“I said that it was important that [Katehi] understand that the students wanted to see her, and to see her seeing them. We came up with a scenario where she would leave, be seen, and get the face-to-face contact [with the students] that was necessary. It had to be silent and respectful, not a shouting match. It was the best we could hope for.”
Video footage of Stoneking escorting Katehi’s silent ‘walk of shame’ has, like the footage of the initial pepper-spray incident, gone viral. The UC Davis community is currently waiting for the findings of the task force called to investigate the incident.
“We’re probably going to find out what we already know, that responsibility in an institution as large as the university is diffused,” Stoneking said. “What I’m afraid is that the investigations will allow us to skip over the real work, which is to decide what healing is and how to use this experience to become the kind of community we can be.”
Rather, Stoneking expressed a heightened need for compassion, as understanding and empathy are critical steps for promoting positive change. Instead of waiting on results of the investigation as an excuse to get back to business as usual, empathic listening would be the key to getting everybody on the same side and on the same agenda, she said.
“Our best hope is to get everybody in a conversation to understand how everyone feels,” Stoneking said. “Students need to understand what it’s like to be a chancellor of a university — that’s a life sacrifice. Meanwhile, [Katehi] needs to understand what it’s like to be a student who has to live out of their car for a quarter because they can’t pay rent. And all of us need to understand what it’s like to be a cop.”
Just as she noted that the students’ commitment to peaceful silence channeled their power in a positive way, Stoneking believed that peaceful communication would help ensure that the collective power of the Occupy movement be used constructively.
“That night at Surge II, this great space was opened for compassion,” Stoneking said. “What can happen if we adhere to a means that [reflect] the ends that we want? Respecting each other means honoring each other to do good.”
LANI CHAN can be reached at features@theaggie.org.
Momentum shouldn’t be a problem for the UC Davis gymnastics program in 2012.
The Aggies are entering the season coming off of two consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles, and a successful 2012 season could result in their fourth championship in five years.
“We really hope to maintain our position in the conference and win the championship again,” Head Coach John Lavallee confirmed. “The team has done a great job through the preseason to prepare.”
The biggest challenge facing Lavallee could be the youth of his squad. Of the team’s 15 athletes, only four competed for the Aggies in the 2010 season and freshmen make up one third of the roster.
However, the young squad has already drawn comparisons to UC Davis’ 2008 team that won the program’s first MPSF title with a roster containing just two upperclassmen. The young Aggies hope to duplicate this success in 2012.
“Every year is a challenge,” Lavallee said . “It’s just a different set of variables to deal with.”
Though the squad is young overall, Lavallee has a solid group of veterans that are ready to lead the team. Senior co-captain Erica Van Dyke is expected to overcome an ankle injury sustained in December to finish a successful four-year career with the Aggies. Last season she earned All-MPSF honors on balance beam, posting a conference-best 9.735 regional qualifying score.
Junior Michelle Ho was also All-MPSF on both bars (9.685) and floor (9.825) in 2011 and led the conference on floor. Junior Katie Yamamura was the MPSF Champion on vault. Her score tied the school record of 9.900.
The team opened its season on Friday in Tempe, Ariz. against Arizona State. The Aggies came out strong against the Pacific-12 team, but were narrowly defeated 190.500 to 190.850.
Yamamura was the stand-out performer for the Aggies, scoring a 9.800 on both uneven bars and balance beam, taking first in beam and all-around. The scores were career highs for the junior.
Junior Taryn West placed second in floor with a score of 9.650 and sophomore Anna Shumaker and Yamamura both earned 9.625 on the vault to tie for third.
“It was a tremendous day for us,” Lavallee said . “For us to go into their gym … [and stay] close the whole way … it’s a good sign.”
The match was the first of a season that will be marked by the frequent presence of Pac-12 conference schools in addition to conference rivals Air Force, Alaska Anchorage and Seattle Pacific.
The Aggies will return to action Sunday at Stanford.
KAITLYN ZUFALL can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
The David and Goliath story of last week’s Iowa Caucus continues to frazzle political analysts, most of whom wrote off Rick Santorum’s chances early in his running. That he could come within eight votes of the Mitt Romney election-industrial complex is, in reflection of his core constituency among social conservatives, nothing short of a miracle.
One puzzle piece to this effect is a curious statement caught by Slate Magazine’s John Dickerson. He quoted one Santorum supporter, a self-identifying evangelical voter, saying this: “Everyone talks about the economy, but Santorum comes at it from a different way. If we take care of the social issues and the family, the economy will come around.”
To those who believe his campaign crested for its focus on social issues, this is a rare insight into the mind of the evangelical voter.
The first time I read that I thought it weird. When I weigh candidates, I think about their platforms as a portfolio of separate issues. There are some issues I care more about than others. In this view, issues are separate. They may intersect in various ways, but they are mostly discrete entities.
If the voter quoted above is at all representative of other social conservatives, they’re not like me. Rather than a portfolio, candidate platforms are like stories. In this alternative view, the issues are arranged in a narrative order, one issue leading to another. Issues are not discrete, but continuous like a row of dominoes. If we can get our policies on social issues like marriage, contraceptives and evolution right, only then will our approaches to budget deficits, foreign policy and education work.
I don’t highlight this difference to belittle social conservatives, as if it’s silly to think issues necessarily build on one another that way. I think it’s helpful to know that folks can not only have different positions from yours, but that they also may think about the relationship between issues differently. I also want to note that this is not new.
The German social thinker Max Weber approached issues much the same way in his 1904 sociological classic, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. His spiel was that the development of capitalism in northern Europe was largely influenced by Protestant (and in particular, Calvinist) religious ideology.
Weber’s work solved an early problem in the application of economic theory. The theory tells us that people paid higher wages will work harder because they have greater incentive. In practice, this didn’t work too well. Instead, people paid higher wages worked less because they found it easier to satisfy their wants with fewer hours. As a result, capitalism couldn’t develop simply because they were able to earn more. They needed a different reason to labor in the face of higher earnings.
According to Weber, the Reformation framed the way people approached work. All jobs, even the less glamorous of professions, elicited religious devotion in the form of a “calling.” It was this work ethic, which favored saving income in the practice of piety, that initially made capitalism possible. As the Santorum supporter might say, they let religion arrange their social relationships first, and then economic growth followed.
Whether Santorum really understands this nuance is debatable — maybe he simply picked the right issues to organize a campaign around. But he would be served well to study his success. Understanding the way people think about the relationship between issues changes how you engage their support. Instead of pitching to social conservatives the promise to prioritize social issues, the domino theory of issues will likely hold more resonance. Whichever candidate gets this point will have an edge in the general election.
You can tell RAJIV NARAYAN whether writing is his calling at rrnarayan@ucdavis.edu.
The University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) recently announced a $1.5 million scholarship initiative that will affect all participating campuses, as the program enters its 50 year anniversary.
Funds for scholarships dedicated to the UCEAP will increase from $300,000 to $500,000 a year consecutively for the next three years. An intense growth in student enrollment within recent years has prompted the influx of funding to the program.
“As we enter our 50 anniversary year, there is no better way to translate our commitment to a vision of ‘study abroad for all’ than to provide scholarship opportunities that help as many UC students go abroad as possible,” said Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of UCEAP Jean-Xavier Guinard. “We recognize the financial obstacles brought about by the current state of the economy and the rising cost of higher education, and we remain dedicated to providing funding to UC students who face this new financial reality.”
UCEAP has been active since 1962 offering a summer or semester abroad option that includes 250 diverse programs taking place in 36 countries around the globe. So far the UC system has sent 76,000 students to foreign universities and in turn 24,000 international students have completed a non-degree study at a UC campus.
“Financial aid automatically carries over during your stay abroad and summer aid applies as well,” said senior wildlife, fish & conservation biology major and UC Davis Education Abroad Center student advisor Claire Woolf. “Obviously you need to budget for personal travel but it’s very doable.”
According to Associate Director of the UC Davis Education Abroad Center Zachary Freiders, it has not been announced how the scholarship funds will be distributed.
“The funds are focused on students who wouldn’t normally do a study abroad program such as unrepresented majors and students with disabilities,” Freiders said.
UC Davis also offers unique study abroad opportunities to students within its community which include faculty-taught summer and quarter programs. Scholarships for these UC Davis specific programs range from $250 to $1,000.
UC Davis has 40 programs and the largest amount of international study opportunities and is the only UC with a quarter abroad option. Around 800 UC Davis students participate in the UC Davis faculty-led summer abroad program each year.
“It’s really challenging but it’s extremely rewarding because you experience things that you never would have experienced here culturally, academically and personally,” Woolf said , “It’s more than just moving to a new town, it’s moving to a new culture.”
For more information on UCEAP scholarships and opportunities visit their website at eap.ucop.edu .
MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
Too many of us are under the comforting illusion that we, humans, are the be-all-end-all of nature’s evolutionary process. We are the smartest, we build the biggest, we fly the highest and are the most creative of anything else out there. Among the numerous fields of study we seem to have mastered, cryptography (code making and breaking) appears no different. However, according to a new study by UC Davis researchers, bacteria and certain plants have left us embarrassingly outperformed.
“Like the German military scientists [in World War 2], single-celled bacteria communicate with each other using coded messages to coordinate attacks on their targets,” said Pamela Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at UC Davis and the lead researcher on the study.
Bacteria perform this cryptographic feat using a tiny protein called Ax21. Ax21 is made inside the bacteria and then released outside the cell. When other bacteria of the same kind perceive this secreted protein, they conglomerate into protective structures called biofilms.
“Biofilms render the bacteria resistant to dessication and antibiotic treatment,” Ronald said. “[Through] communication and communal living, bacteria increase their chances for survival and proliferation.”
But staying true to the World War 2 cryptographic plot, the plants targeted by these cooperative bacteria have figured out a way to intercept these coded messages, decipher them and turn them against their bacterial attackers.
“[Some] plants have developed a code-breaking system called the XA21 receptor that allows them to intercept the bacterial coded messages and trigger a strong immune response,” Ronald said.
The XA21 receptor can recognize distinguishing characteristics of invading bacteria and can also recognize the coded proteins that these bacteria use to communicate. This early interception of the bacterial messages gives the plant time to enact its immune response.
“Plants and bacteria are in an evolutionary arms-race,” said Richard Bostock, a professor of plant pathology at UC Davis. “The plant evolves to resist the bacteria, and the bacteria evolve to subvert the plant’s defenses.”
The two organisms have to continually evolve just to maintain the ecological status quo.
“Resistance to bacteria often comes naturally through evolution, but with most agricultural crops, resistance is achieved through selective breeding,” Bostock said.
Selective breeding has created an agricultural policy of using genetically identical clones for use in farming. Since all the plants are identical, it leaves the whole field open to mass infections.
By understanding how these bacteria communicate and attack, immunologists can begin to develop ways to fight back against many bacterial diseases for which there are no known treatments. A recent paper published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America claims that there is a quickly growing number of bacterial infections that are resistant to all current antibacterials.
Bacteria only start to form their tough biofilm shells once the population has reached a certain size. The population determines its size through a process called quorum sensing. The research underway to treat bacterial infections focuses on disrupting quorum sensing, which will render the bacteria unable to detect population size and therefore unable to form protective biofilms.
By stopping biofilm formation, we can dramatically reduce the infection rate of diseases like tuberculosis, staphylococcus and streptococcus, as well as prevent large-scale bacterial infections of important crops.
Breaking and learning these bacterial codes could give us another layer of protection against bacterial invaders.
HUDSON LOFCHIE can be reached at science@theaggie.org.
The UC Davis School of Law is hosting speaker Rebecca MacKinnon today. MacKinnon, who is a TED Talks speaker and an expert on Chinese internet censorship, will be talking about internet freedom and censorship. The talk takes place at King Hall from 4 to 5 p.m. and is free to the public.
— Hannah Strumwasser
Many Asian American students are not identifying themselves as such on their college applications, believing that doing so would hurt their chances of being accepted to top universities, according to recent studies including one at Princeton University.
According to these studies, Asian students believe themselves to be evaluated at a higher standard than students of other races.
Kara Miller, who worked as an application reader at Yale, said, “Asians were evaluated more toughly.”
Miller called around to Ivy League universities and discovered them all to have a similar percentage of Asian students, leading her to believe the schools had some sort of quota in mind.
“They don’t feel comfortable going over that percentage,” Miller said.
The Princeton study conducted by sociologist Thomas Epenshade found that, “When comparing applicants with similar grades, scores, athletic qualifications and family history from seven elite private colleges and universities: Whites were three times as likely to get fat envelopes as Asians. Hispanics were twice as likely to win admission as whites. African Americans were at least five times as likely to be accepted as whites.”
“When you’re part of a high achieving group, there is some effort to try to make sure that group isn’t out of proportion in the university. This is understandable,” Miller said.
“There are more women applying to college, too, but you don’t want a school that is 70 percent women, even if they are your best applicants.”
Steven Hsu, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon, believes the effect of ethnicity in the admissions process should be minimized as much as possible.
“There are many forms of diversity,” said Hsu in an e-mail. “Intellectual diversity is as important as ethnic diversity.”
Admitting students on a quota-like basis may be a possibility for private schools, but what about public institutions such as the University of California?
“Prop 209 eliminated much of this discrimination. Simply compare the ethnic makeup of admits pre- and post-209,” Hsu said in an e-mail. “The Asian population fraction went up considerably. What does that tell you about the pre-209 process, or the process still in place at other universities?”
“UC schools used to have a much smaller percentage of Asians, and now it is over 40 percent at many schools,” Miller said .
The National Association of Scholars website stated that Prop 209, which was approved in 1996, prohibited all state agencies from using race, gender, or ethnicity to discriminate against or give preference to people in public employment, competition for a state contract and university admissions.
“Our admissions policies have complied and will continue to comply with the California Constitution, which prohibits granting preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or gender, in accord with Proposition 209,” said Dianne Klein, media specialist at the UC Office of the President.
Timothy Groseclose, professor of political science at UCLA, has had a somewhat different experience with the effects of Prop 209. Groseclose resigned from the UCLA admissions committee in 2008 in protest of unwillingness on the behalf of the school to submit to him admissions data that would aid him in his investigation of preferential admissions practices.
Groseclose found that there was pressure on UC admissions committees to admit more African American and Latino students.
“It’s mainly based only on casual observation, but I don’t think it really matters whether an Asian student checks the Asian box,” Groseclose said in an e-mail.
And, as Miller points out, there are ways of getting around knowing things even if the box is left unchecked.
“If your last name is Wang, you can mark whatever you want, but admissions can still figure it out,” Miller said.
Miller does not see a clear solution to problem within the admission system. She does, however, think campus diversity is important.
“You have to balance the needs of individuals with the macro need of creating a student body.”
EINAT GILBOA can be reached city@theaggie.org.
If you’ve been reading political news headlines from websites as diverse as Fox News, MSNBC and the Huffington Post, you are probably under the impression that the U.S. Congress has recently reaffirmed that pizza is indeed a vegetable. Skimming those headlines, it’s easy to scoff at such a ridiculous notion, and easier still to believe that Congress could be that stupid.
There’s one problem, though. They never actually said that pizza is a vegetable. Pizza is not even mentioned, except by news sources and commentators after the fact.
The truth, as usual, is a little more complex and illustrates the difficulty of matching policy to nutrition science.
The goal of the House of Representatives was to give public school children a more nutritious breakfast and lunch. This is a laudable goal, together with the fact that they used information and research from both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
First, a quick overview of what the proposed menu regulations actually say. The key points are: 1) reduce the number of starchy vegetables like potatoes in favor of more varied fruits and vegetables; 2) reduce the salt in food by 25 percent in breakfasts and 54 percent in lunches and 3) the servings of vegetables credited to tomato paste will be determined on a per-volume basis.
This third point is what became distorted as news sources reported that this would make pizza a vegetable. This is somewhat true but misleading, as a slice of pizza could contain enough tomato paste to have one serving of vegetable but also contains too much salt and fat to be allowed on the proposed menu.
However, like a game of Telephone, the headlines went from, “Pizza could be considered to have a vegetable serving,” to “Congress says pizza is a vegetable!”
I know that writing accurate but eye-catching headlines can be hard. It’s tempting to put something spectacular and weird in big, bold font above the story. It’s especially tempting to do so if it reaffirms something that everyone already believes, so we can all feel smart.
It’s called confirmation bias, a psychological phenomenon that means we are more likely to believe something if we think it confirms something we already believe, e.g. that Congress and politicians are stupid and/or overly swayed by corporate lobbyists.
It’s a strong feeling, one that can be hard to resist, even for people who are supposed to remain objective. I almost fell for it too; the original subject of this column was going to be explaining nutritionally what exactly is in pizza, and therefore why the Congress menu proposal was misguided.
The obvious problem with confirmation bias is that people will believe that something is true when it isn’t, and strengthen convictions that should be, if not challenged, at least examined critically. This example is rather mundane but does illustrate what can go wrong when both the general public and journalists fall for confirmation bias.
There is another problem with confirmation bias, at least in this case. The actual proposal isn’t that great, either. First of all, there’s a reason salt is in a lot of foods — it can add flavor to an otherwise flavorless dish. When you have a good chef in the kitchen, salt can be reduced because with a decent recipe, a chef can make a delicious meal without salt. Public school cooks, while I’m sure they do their best with the very limited funds that they have, don’t always have this skill.
Having attended various public schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, I can say that the food would either be fairly good but unhealthy, or supposedly healthy but almost inedible. Healthy alternatives are expensive, an expense that public schools can’t always afford. Trying to make the school food nutritionally perfect could be at the expense of children actually eating the food, unless more money is allocated to afford healthy food that tastes OK.
As for the tomato paste, the new regulations would require that the serving of paste would go from a quarter of a cup to three quarters of a cup. The Congress, however, was forgetting that tomato paste is concentrated; a quarter of a cup is equivalent to about three tomatoes, making three quarters of a cup of tomato paste equal to about nine tomatoes. That’s a bit excessive to be going on a serving of spaghetti.
Or pizza.
AMY STEWART can be reached at science@theaggie.org.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is considering closing the Downtown Davis Post Office along with approximately 3,600 other post offices across the nation. To compensate their struggles with decreasing revenue, the USPS also decided to increase postage stamp fees from 44 to 45 cents beginning Jan. 22.
A public meeting was held on Dec. 6, 2011 to inform the Davis community of the possible closure of the downtown post office.
“In the Sacramento District, which Davis is part of, there are 34 post offices on that list,” said USPS media contact for California Augustine Ruiz in an e-mail. “It is undetermined how many will actually be closed nationally, or in [the] Sacramento District.”
The Downtown Davis Post Office could not be reached for comment.
According to Ruiz, there are multiple factors that are taken into account when studying the potential closing of a post office.
“First and foremost, the community impact — how will we continue to provide valuable postal services to the general community if a post office is closed, what alternatives can we provide?” Ruiz said. “Employee impacts are another consideration — where do we move the affected employees; economic factors are a consideration. However, we are prohibited from closing a post office for purely economic reasons.”
Ruiz said despite the prohibition, majority of the post offices on the list don’t make enough revenue to cover their costs so economic issues are still factored in.
“America’s mailing habits have changed,” said U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in an interview with the Public Broadcasting Service. “In the year 2000, 5 percent of people paid bills online. Today, 60 percent pay bills online. And when you combine that with the loss that we have seen in advertising mail as part of the recession, we have lost about 23 percent of our total volume, 27 percent of first-class mail.”
Donahoe said first-class mail pays for the USPS’s bills. The USPS also does not take taxpayer money, so to recoup losses they are forced to take action.
“We have got to do other things, like consolidating facilities, reducing the number of routes we have out there, in order to close that gap,” Donahoe said.
Likewise, Ruiz said the severe decline in volume — thus, loss in revenue — has resulted in the USPS taking cost-cutting measures in order to remain stable.
On Dec. 5, 2011, the USPS proposed ending overnight delivery service for First-Class mail and periodicals. The U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) is currently reviewing the proposal.
“[This] would instead provide two and three day delivery service,” said Chairman of the PRC Ruth Goldway in a statement. “The intent of these changes is to capture significant cost savings from the consolidation of the Postal Service’s mail processing and transportation networks.”
On Dec. 13, 2011, USPS agreed to the requests of multiple U.S. Senators to delay the closure or consolidation of post offices and mail processing facilities until May 15. The USPS said in a statement that in the meantime, it will comprehensively review the list and hold public input meetings.
“It is the things we do not control that bring us to this predicament,” Ruiz said. “And those things out of our control are within the control of Congress.”
CLAIRE TAN can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
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