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Aggie Daily Calendar

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TODAY

Sustainable Picnic Day

Noon

Quad

Chill on the quad and learn how to relax without increasing your carbon footprint. Experience the power of solar cooking with a solar oven cook-off.

Find a Job or Internship Workshop

12:10 p.m.

229 South

Learn about tools and tricks to getting hired.

APIQ Live!

6 to 9 p.m.

MU II, Memorial Union

Celebrate queer and API identities with spoken word, poetry, music, drag and more with Asian Pacific Islander Queers.

Campus Rotaract Club of Davis Meeting

6:10 to 7 p.m.

194 Young

Learn about volunteer opportunities locally and internationally. New members are welcome.

How to Find a Summer Job and Use it to Launch Your Career Workshop

7 to 8:30 p.m.

119 Wellman

Student Investors and Entrepreneurs present topics such as how to get the most out of career speed dating. Collegial Staffing founder Robin Reshwan speaks.

WEDNESDAY

Paint a Pot for Earth Week

Noon to 2 p.m.

Quad

Decorate a pot and plant some seeds with guests Project Compost.

President’s Undergraduate Fellowship Grant Info Session

12:10 p.m.

409 Surge IV

Need funds for research? Attend the session to speak to an advisor and find out how to get started.

Interview Practice Workshop

2:10 p.m.

307 South

Practice responses and strategies for job and internship interviews in a supportive environment.

Career Speed Dating

4 to 6 p.m.

Freeborn Hall

Students rotate among information tables hosted by professionals in careers they would like to learn more about. Many professionals are UC Davis alumni. Students can make six or more contacts and learn about career and internship opportunities.

Education for Sustainable Living Program: The End of Education

4 to 6 p.m.

1002 Giedt

Marcela Oliva, professor of architecture and environmental design at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, discusses a new way of viewing knowledge.

Off the Presses with Eclipse Rising Presentation

5 to 9 p.m.

MU II, Memorial Union

Admire artwork made by members of the UC Davis community and discuss relationships of social justice issues of Korea, Japan and the U.S. with Eclipse Rising, a U.S.-based Zainichi Korean group.

Relay For Life Wrap-Up Meeting

8 to 9 p.m.

202 Wellman

Share feedback, pick up team materials and hear information for next year.

To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie.org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing, and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.

City of Davis Police Briefs

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FRIDAY

Toe nailed

A bicyclist ran into someone’s open car door, causing injury to the bicyclist’s toe.

… To get to the other side.

Four chickens wandered in the street at Third and K Street.

When life gives you a broken window…

A teen was throwing lemons at passing vehicles, at Arlington Boulevard and Shasta Drive.

What pranksters

An unknown suspect tore fraternity letters off the wall, on Adams Street.

SATURDAY

Someone’s jealous

Someone was awoken by her neighbor having excessively loud intercourse, on Alta Loma Street. Twice.

Cited for being douches

A rowdy group was in a raised, black truck, smoking and drinking beer, on E Street.

See above

A group of adult males were in a plot drinking, loitering and littering beer cans, on Second Street.

Stolen stolen-laptop collection

Someone’s bedroom window was broken. Four laptops were taken, on Sycamore Lane.

Hot.

Three females were passed out on a couch and unknown males were grinding on them, on C Street.

Large group? More like the entire city

A large group of subjects were playing beer pong and being loud, on Seventh Street.

Downtown dirt bag

A male, without a shirt on, was spitting and randomly hitting pedestrians on Second Street.

Can’t hitchhike to Hawaii

An extremely inebriated subject was attempting to sit in other people’s cars, while wearing a straw hat and a blue Hawaiian shirt, on F Street.

That sucks

A drunk subject in the emergency room said he was jumped for four males, on Fifth Street.

Typical Dairy Queen

A white male with long blonde hair took off his pants and was running around and falling, on Fifth and I Street.

SUNDAY

Hamburglar

Someone’s purse was stolen off of her. She later found the purse, but the wallet was missing and the credit cards were used at Jack in the Box in Dixon.

Free the animals

A female was yelling near the merry-go-round at Central Park.

Now that’s something to yell about

A squirrel was hit by a car on East Eighth Street.

Searching for their pet squirrel

A toddler was in the roadway, without an adult, on Pole Line Road.

Haven’t they had enough?

Subjects were out front with a beer bong, on B Street.

Police briefs are compiled from the city of Davis police bulletins. You create the news, we just write about it. Contact BECKY PETERSON at city@theaggie.org.

Woman bitten by dog

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A 24-year-old woman was bitten by a black and white pit bull outside of Woodstock’s Pizza on April 8.

The woman was later sent to the hospital due to the severity of the wounds she sustained from the encounter. The dog is still at large.

The incident occurred between 2 and 2:30 p.m. when the woman approached the pit bull tied up outside the restaurant.

“A lot of people will leave their dog unattended sometimes and run into a store and it’s not that long a period of time,” said Yolo County Animal Control Officer Sergeant Mike Nevis. “… People have the right to do that as long as [the dog] has shelter, water and things of that nature.”

The confrontation happened outside of Woodstock’s Pizza, but it was not made known to the employees of Woodstock’s nor general manager Dee Clark.

“Nothing was reported to me,” Clark said, “but as a person I would definitely help someone in need.”

The dog’s owner did not break any of the Davis leash laws, but Nevis said if the owner had knowledge of the incident, he could be cited for failure to report a bite.

“If we witnessed a dog attack, I would just get on my cell phone, like I hope anybody would,” Clark said.

If the dog is not found and tested to be negative for rabies, the woman will have to undergo treatment.

“If we would have known ahead of time that the dog was tethered at that address, we could have contained the dog and at least found out if the dog had a rabies vaccination or not,” Nevis said.

Although rabies is not curable, there is a powerful post-bite treatment process that victims may undergo immediately after first contact. The treatment encompasses one dose of rabies immune globulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a 28-day period.

According to a poll done by Woodland’s Daily Democrat and verified by national statistics, there were 84 dog bites reported between July 1 and Sept. 28, 2010. Of those reported cases, 17 involved pit bulls.

“It’s not just in Davis, it happens everywhere,” Nevis said. “Unfortunately when somebody gets bit, they may not report it. The details of the woman’s injuries were not filed in the police report, but according to Nevis, “there may have been facial lacerations.”

Once the dog is located, it will be put in 10-day quarantine while it is being tested for rabies and its registration with the city of Davis is verified. According to Yolo County policy, all dogs must have up-to-date registration.

If the dog is not registered with the city of Davis or if the registration has expired, the owner is required to pay a $15 fine. If it is apparent that the dog is a threat to society, it will be euthanized.

DYLAN AARON can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

UC Davis store strives to bring business downtown

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A new UC Davis store will be opening in the heart of downtown. What will be tentatively called the UC Davis Store Downtown will be located at Second and F Street and is expected to open by mid-June.

“I think it will be a welcome and needed addition and retail outlet with products and services that are in high demand in the downtown area,” said Charles Kratochvil, director of UC Davis stores. “It will provide a much better connection for us to the city of Davis.”

The store will accept student accounts as a form of payment, and hours will be consistent with other downtown merchants, Kratochvil said.

Although the new store will carry some books, including popular best sellers and books authored by members of the University Writing Program, the majority of the products will be UC Davis gear.

In addition, the new store will carry a series of products that are known as “Campus grown.” The series will feature items such as olive oil and olive oil-based body products made from trees located around campus. The store will also offer custom embroidery services, which may be popular amongst the Greek community.

Kratochvil said he is particularly excited for the new store because of the current MU bookstore’s inadequate size.

“This store – at 27,000 square feet – is too small. An industry standard of two square feet per student has not been met. And a planned expansion has been put on pause while the Memorial Union assesses the current financial situation and climate,” he said in an e-mail.

Some current bookstore employees are looking forward to the new addition.

“If they offer me hours working at the downtown store once it opens I would gladly take them,” said Olivia Henry, a junior evolutionary anthropology major, who has worked at the bookstore since June 2010. “I live closer to downtown than campus and would also love to see what kind of different clientele the new store will bring in.”

Some employees said they think that the new branch will bring in more of the townspeople of Davis. They are also not the only people interested in the store.

“I am really excited a new store is opening up downtown because it will allow more people to buy UC Davis gear,” said Robert Goodman, sophomore technocultural studies major. “[This] will maybe [give] the locals a chance to be more proud that they live in Davis and represent what a nice school we have.”

The store will have a full-time career supervisor, as well as one other career employee. The rest of the staff will consist of students. The UC Davis store program currently employs over 300 students and will be hiring more closer to the opening of the downtown location.

The UC Davis Store Downtown will be opening across from the Avid Reader, though it was stated in a press release that the UC Davis Store would not compete with the existing establishment. Those behind the new store believe it will only benefit other businesses downtown.

“UC Davis will be much a part in the revitalization of the downtown area. Our goods, services and programs should help draw more people to the area,” Kratochvil said.

The organizers intend to open the new store before this spring’s graduation ceremony, providing an opportunity for visiting families to be the first to experience the new addition.

The new store will combine two spaces and is currently being remodeled. One part was previously occupied by Strands Hair Salon, which has relocated. The other was First Northern Bank’s real estate division, which shut down in 2010.

AARON WEISS can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

News in Brief: Student group to screen porno, star to come

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If your relationship is a little rocky, watching porn could be the answer.

To facilitate this merriment, Sex Lust Un-Tamed is screening sections of Bong Load Girls in Sciences Lecture Hall 123 tomorrow night.

“Porn is a great way to communicate with partners and start relationships,” said Molly Russell, president of SLUT and a sophomore undeclared major. “We hope people will participate – not in the porno – but watch it and increase their communication with their partners.”

Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at the Freeborn Hall ticket office for $5 until then. After 7:30 p.m. SLUT is charging $8 at the doors, and the film will start at 8 p.m. The event is open to anyone over age 18 with a valid identification card.

The film’s director and star, Rob Rotten, will also be present. Rotten is scheduled to hold a Question and Answer session after the movie.

“We are a sex charity club, so a lot of people have wondered what it’s like to be in the porn industry,” Russell said.

Rotten describes “Bong Load Girls” as a THC-infused head trip.

“It’s a five-scene vignette with stoner chicks in stoner situations,” he said in a press release. “There’s a lot of stoner humor, subliminal messages, psychedelic visuals, editing – there’s nothing else like it.”

SLUT will be screening the group’s favorite scenes, which do include explicit ones, Russell said.

In honor of the unofficial stoner’s holiday of April 20, SLUT is selling munchies at the event. All proceeds will be donated to San Francisco AIDS charities.

– Janelle Bitker

Letter to the Editor: Cal Aggie Hosts are necessary

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Cal Aggie Hosts are necessary

Alex Byrne’s letter of April 12 (“Unprofessional security”) presents a hyperbolic, insensitive and, quite frankly, naïve perspective with regard to the Cal Aggie Host program. While it is certainly true that security staff at events can and may often have a dampening effect on an otherwise celebratory atmosphere, their presence is necessary for several valid reasons, not least of which is to ensure the safety of the event participants.

Alex complains of the Cal Aggie Hosts “shining lights, harassing students, and disrupting the pleasant experience” of event attendees. Deeming these actions “unprofessional” is simply perverting the truth in order to paint a negative image of the security staff. As a former staff member and liaison to the Whole Earth Festival I have had numerous interactions with the Cal Aggie Host security staff, and I have always witnessed them acting professionally.

Whenever a light is being shined toward attendees at an event, it is because the security staff are attempting to identify an individual or individuals who may be violating campus policy or engaging in behavior that would amount to a security or safety risk. At concert and festival events, this often amounts to looking for a person or persons smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol, both of which are routinely noticed first by smell. Shining a light toward people is a secondary step after a potential risk has been identified.

As for claims of harassment, if a risk is suspected, then it isn’t a case of harassment, but is rather a case of following through on protocols to ensure the safety of those attending the event. While this may result in a minor impact on one’s “pleasant experience,” the benefit, in my opinion, far outweighs the potential cost should an incident occur and security staff not be present to handle it.

Simply put, the Cal Aggie Host program provides a level of security between self-monitoring by event attendees and the campus Police Department. They offer their services at rates far below what is charged for uniformed police personnel and do so as peers of those attending events on campus. As a professionally trained security team, the Cal Aggie Hosts are responsive to threats and risks, and are prepared to call for uniformed assistance as needed. Should any legitimate complaints about their behavior arise, it is probably best to forward those concerns directly to the Police Department.

AARON SIKES

UC Davis Conference and Event Services

Alumnus, Class of 2003

UC Davis ends regular season on high note

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The 18th hole of the 2011 Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah signaled the end of the regular season for the UC Davis men’s golf team.

The Aggies finished with an overall record of 81-62 and a Golfweek national ranking of 55.

UC Davis took an honorable fourth place finish out of eight teams over the weekend. As the last regular season event of the year, head coach Cy Williams expressed optimism going forward into postseason play.

“It has to give us great confidence going forward because while our results were pretty good, we found a couple of areas we can very much improve on,” Williams said.

Freshman and Los Osos, Calif. native Matt Hansen finished at 9-under 207, tying a season-low with a 68 in the final round. Hansen was only two strokes behind the tournament winner as he took third place overall.

“[Hansen] has been doing great all season,” Williams said. “I think he is doing a very good job preparing for each event and he is a great competitor.”

Senior Austin Graham placed 10th overall to help lead UC Davis to a fourth-place team finish. The Aggies improved steadily throughout the event, taking three strokes off each round’s score and finishing at 6-under.

Colorado State won the team title, finishing at 17-under, four strokes ahead of 39th-ranked UNLV.

Junior Tyler Raber tied for 29th overall at 2-over, taking two strokes off his second round score to finish with a 71 in the final round.

Sophomore Andrew Haggen finished at 6-over, improving on his second round score by four strokes, while freshman Daniel Covrig was 8-over to help the Aggies.

BYU’s Zac Blair earned medalist honors, finishing at 11-under.

The Aggies must now get ready for the Big West Championships, which will take place in Mission Viejo, Calif. at the Mission Viejo Country Club on May 2 and 3.

A conference title for the Aggies will guarantee a bid for the NCAA Regional Championship on May 19-21.

Williams was crystal clear about his expectations for that event.

“It’s all about the Aggies,” he said. “We plan on winning.”

RON HOOPER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org

Women’s golf preview

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Event: Big West Conference Championships

Where: Tijeras Creek Golf Course – Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

When: Monday and Tuesday, all day.

Who to watch: Senior Chelsea Steltzmiller has some big expectations entering this week’s event.

The Placerville, Calif. native won the individual title at last year’s Big West Conference Championships. Coach Anne Walker said Steltzmiller’s experience will be key for UC Davis this weekend.

“She’s been there and done that before,” Walker said. “That creates a comfort level among the underclassmen.”

Did you know? Regardless of what happens at this weekend’s event, the Aggies are guaranteed a trip to the NCAA West Regionals.

UC Davis’ current ranking, according to GolfStat, is high enough for the team to qualify for Regionals. Walker said her team will still play its best this week in anticipation for Regionals.

Preview: The Aggies are swinging with a bulls-eye on their backs this week.

The UC Davis women’s golf team enters this week’s Big West Championships as the defending title-holders, and, according to Walker, every team in the league will be gunning for the Aggies.

“The other teams want to beat us,” Walker said. “That’s a totally different mentality. Rarely do we go to a tournament and everyone wants to beat us. We need to focus on what we can control.”

Especially for this week’s event, Walker wants her team to only worry about its game.

“We need to focus on what we have and do the best we can with our resources,” Walker said. “It can be easy to get caught up in the competitors, but we’re competing this year as one of the biggest names in college sports.”

Walker said the Aggies’ biggest competition this weekend will be Long Beach State, UC Irvine and Cal Poly.

The course on which the event will take place – The Tijeras Creek Golf Course – is relatively unfamiliar for UC Davis. As a team, the Aggies have never played there, while a couple of their biggest foes, UC Irvine and Long Beach State, have.

Nonetheless, Walker believes the biggest thing in the Aggies’ favor is their experience. All but one of the five golfers UC Davis will send this week were a part of last year’s conference-winning team.

– Jason Alpert

Aggie seniors snag 10 wins

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At Toomey Field, Picnic Day was more than just wiener dog races and nitrogen-cooled ice cream – it was about fans screaming with Aggie pride.

With a big, enthusiastic crowd, UC Davis triumphed in the track meet with 13 first-place finishes. Of those 13 wins, 10 came from seniors.

Interim director Byron Talley felt the weather and the atmosphere was much better than in previous years.

“It was a beautiful day weather-wise,” Talley said. “It was a perfect day to compete. I think we were pretty even in our level of competition and performances.”

In Saturday’s Woody Wilson Classic, the Aggies hosted over 600 collegiate, club and unattached athletes for the Picnic Day tradition.

With plenty of competition, senior Ugo Eke won the 200- and 400-meter dash, along with the women’s 4×400 meter relay. Eke, who broke the school record in the 400-meter dash at Sacramento State last weekend, captured the event this time around with a time of 54.84 seconds.

Meanwhile, senior Alex Wilright took two wins for the men with his performances in the 4×400 meter relay and 400-meter hurdles.

Seniors Offune Okwudiafor, Chidinma Onyewuenyi and Lauren Radke also got top scores in the triple jump, shot put and pole vault, respectively.

The Woody Wilson Classic marked the last home meet of the season and the final time the track and field seniors will compete at Toomey Field.

“I don’t think the weight of the day hits our senior class until we have our senior ceremony during the meet,” Talley said.

Though this was the last home meet, there are still several more meets for UC Davis this season.

Next weekend, the Aggies will travel to Berkeley for the Brutus Hamilton Invitational.

 CALEIGH GUOYNES can be reached at sports@theaggie.org

Aggies falter in final league match

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With their last conference match behind them, the Aggies are set to receive a three seed at the Big West Championship Tournament in two weeks.

The women’s tennis team lost to conference powerhouse Long Beach State on Friday and to regional rival Santa Clara on Saturday.

The two losses dropped the Aggies to 16-6 overall, but with a 6-2 league record, they sit behind only Cal Poly and Long Beach State in the Big West.

Friday – No. 42 Long Beach State 6, No. 56 UC Davis 1

A top 50 team again proved to be too much for the Aggies. Still, coach Bill Maze is confident in his team’s abilities with the postseason tournament approaching.

“I never count this team out,” Maze said. “It’s a matter of doing the basics better.”

Friday did not start the way the Aggies would have liked. The team lost all three of its doubles matches, an area where the coach would like to see improvement.

“We definitely have to keep working on the doubles,” Maze said. “When you play doubles you have to get a lot of first serves in the box, make your returns, close the net. That’s the plan. It’s a lot of basic stuff.”

The singles play against Long Beach State started strong for UC Davis. Freshman Megan Heneghan and junior Dahra Zamudio both won the first set in their matches, while several other Aggie players kept their matches close.

Sophomore Lauren Curry earned the only point for UC Davis, downing her opponent 6-4, 6-3.

As the other matches on Friday progressed, though, the Aggies seemed to tire. Heneghan and Zamudio were unable to hold on for wins, as they both lost the final two sets of their matches.

Junior Nicole Koehly, sophomore Ellie Edles and freshman Kelly Chui each lost in straight sets.

“A lot of this is about getting in better shape,” Maze said. “We faded a little bit in third sets. We’ve got to get stronger.”

Saturday – Santa Clara 5, UC Davis 2

Picnic Day saw the Aggies lose to an unranked opponent for the first time this season.

Local rival Santa Clara earned a surprise victory against the ranked UC Davis team, taking five of the six singles matches in the afternoon heat.

The Aggies started strong, winning two of three doubles matches to earn a point. However, they struggled in the singles competition.

For the second time over the weekend, Curry was the only player to win her singles match, winning 6-3, 6-2.

Heneghan played another tough three-set battle against Santa Clara’s No. 1 player. Heneghan won the first set in a tiebreaker, but was unable to win another set.

Koehly, Edles, Zamudio and freshman Melissa Kobayakawa all lost in straight sets.

The focus now shifts toward the conference championships, with only one regular season match left – against Cal State Bakersfield this Friday.

Maze is confident his team will be ready for postseason play.

“This team really competes,” he said. “We have a chance in every match we play. We’re going to peak at the right time.”

CAELUM SHOVE can be reached at sports@theaggies.org

Aggies unable to tame Tigers

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Though the festivities were numerous in a Picnic and Senior Day special, the Aggies had little else to celebrate.

In a fierce head-to-head battle between two conference foes, the Pacific Tigers clawed their way past the UC Davis women’s water polo team in a hard fought 6-5 victory.

UC Davis got on the board first when sophomore Carmen Eggert powered a shot past the Pacific goalie. The Tigers pounced back quickly with a goal at the 3:45 mark. Early in the second, Pacific scored to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Things were looking up for UC Davis as it came out of the break. The Aggies had several fastbreak opportunities, but the Tiger defense squandered them.

UC Davis drew a 5-meter penalty shot after countering a Pacific drive. Junior Alicia Began converted on a penalty shot early in the third period to close the gap to 4-3.

Sophomore Jessica Dunn tied the game at four with a goal late in the third, but the Tigers scratched two more scores on the board to pull ahead for good.

Despite dropping all four sprints to open the quarters, the Aggies held possession of the ball a majority of the time.

Coach Jamey Wright is certain his team could have walked away with a victory and attributes the loss to offensive struggles.

“I don’t mind losing games where we were outplayed, but that’s what makes this loss so tough,” Wright said. “We outplayed them.”

The Aggies struggled on their seven 6-on-5 opportunities, converting only two into goals.

Among their many chances, it seemed like just a matter of time that UC Davis would pull ahead. The Aggies shot just 5-for-29 on the game.

“We were not patient enough [on offense], we forced passes and did not make the shots we should have,” Wright said. “We are a good team and we can compete with the top teams in the NCAA, but we just have to execute.”

With the loss, the Aggies fall to fifth place with a 1-4 record in the Big West Conference. There is a good chance UC Davis will match up against this same Pacific team in the league championships.

“We are going to come back and play the fourth place team [in the Big West Tournament],” Wright said. “We know we can beat [the Tigers] like we did back in March. All I have to say is ‘bring it on.'”

MATTHEW YUEN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org

Column: Cause of the Way

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Every athletic team has one. Some are more intense than others, but nonetheless, they exist for every squad.

I’m of course talking about rivals. Every high school has that crosstown school that it simply doesn’t like. It’s the same at the collegiate and professional levels.

But no two rivalries are the same. Every one has its unique history and intensity. For some, just the mentioning of the opponent’s name sparks fiery thought. Other rivalries are a lot, lot more tame.

For UC Davis, two “rivals” exist. There’s Sacramento State across the Causeway and Cal Poly down south. The Mustang-Aggie rivalry is much more centered on football, while the Hornets’ is much more complete.

Either way, it’s safe to say neither one is that intense. You wear a Cal Poly or Sac State shirt around campus? No big deal. You wear a Michigan jersey around Ohio State? Run for cover. Hell, a soccer rivalry between El Salvador and Honduras even led to a four-day war.

The reason for the intensity directly lies in the history. This is the biggest cause as to why the Causeway rivalry isn’t as intense as one might want.

I want that intense rivalry. Not to the point that wearing Sac State apparel this side of the Causeway is dangerous to one’s well being, but a rivalry where we want to beat the Hornets at everything and anything.

The Aggies recently won the seventh annual Causeway Cup over Sac State, an award given to the program that wins the most head-to-head athletic competitions over the course of the year. This was the fourth time UC Davis captured the Cup since its inception in 2005.

Because Sac State and UC Davis are in different athletic conferences (at least until 2012 when our football team joins the Hornets in the Big Sky), the Cup is mainly used to increase competition between the two schools.

And it has. Almost every coach on campus circles the match against Sac State as a key one. Not so much for the game itself, but the pride associated with it.

“There’s a sense of pride in your school,” said football coach Bob Biggs before UC Davis matched up with Sac State in the fall. “We really are competing for our student body. We’d like to come out and perform for them, and the more people in the stands to support us, [the more it] helps our football team.”

However it doesn’t seem like a majority of the student body cares about this rivalry as much as the coaches and players.

Sure, there are the select few students (specifically those that outlasted the rain and lighting at this year’s Causeway Classic football game) who do care about the Sac State rivalry as much as the athletes and coaches. To those Aggie Pack members, I salute you. I truly appreciate your intensity.

However, the overall rivalry is relatively lackluster – and I want more. The intensity of going to Dodgers-Giants games is untouched. I remember back in high school how the overall school community came together before those games.

Having a more intense rivalry with Sac State – and maybe even Cal Poly – can do wonders for the UC Davis unity prior to those games. I would like nothing more than to see the Quad littered with “BEAT SAC” shirts before the Causeway Classic next year.

It’d be awesome to see “WE BEAT SAC” shirts, too.

This was the first time JASON ALPERT mentioned the Giants in his column in a long time. That is all. To talk about the Causeway rivalry, e-mail him at sports@theaggie.org

Aggie Senate Briefs

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ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the April 14 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room. The ASUCD president is not required to attend senate meetings.

Meeting called to order at 6:13 p.m.

Adam Thongsavat, ASUCD president, absent

Bree Rombi, ASUCD vice president, present

Yena Bae, ASUCD senator, present

Miguel Espinoza, ASUCD senator, present, left meeting early at 6:40 p.m., returned at 8:01 p.m.

Emmanuel Diaz-Ordaz, ASUCD senator, arrived late at 6:30 p.m., left meeting early after a break at 7:30 p.m.

Andre Lee, ASUCD senator, present, returned late at 7:35 p.m. from a break scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m.

Amy Martin, ASUCD senator, president pro tempore, present

Mayra Martín, ASUCD senator, present

Tatiana Moana Bush, ASUCD senator, present, returned late at 7:35 p.m. from a break scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m.

Darwin Moosavi, ASUCD senator, present

Matthew Provencher, ASUCD senator, present

Brendan Repicky, ASUCD senator, present

Rebecca Sterling, ASUCD senator, present

Eli Yani, ASUCD senator, present

Appointments and confirmations

Ahmad Merza was appointed Court Justice.

Richard Yu was confirmed as book exchange director.

Hannah Oakes was confirmed to the Environmental Policy and

Planning Commission.

Dale Maglalang was confirmed as chair of the Student Health and Wellness Committee.

Consideration of old legislation

Senate bill 56, authored by Martín, co-authored by Espinoza and Alison Tanner, introduced by Martín, to create the Special Committee on first-generation middle school, high school and transfer outreach to be known as Aggie Bound Outreach Committee, passed unanimously.

Senate bill 60, authored by Lee, co-authored by Rombi and Amaan Shaikh, Sergio Cano, Bae, Provencher, Dana Percoco, Sterling, Diaz-Ordaz, Bush, Moosavi, Martin, Martín, Edward Montelongo and Repicky, introduced by Lee, to establish and fund the Mark and Linda Champagne ASUCD Customer Service/Exceptional Hourly Employee Award, passed unanimously.

Senate bill 61 authored by Lee, co-authored by Rombi, Shaikh, Cano, Bae, Provencher, Percoco, Sterling, Diaz-Ordaz, Bush, Moosavi, Martin, Martín, Montelongo, Yani and Repicky, introduced by Lee, to establish the Mark and Linda Champagne ASUCD Customer Service/Exceptional Hourly Employee Award Committee, passed unanimously.

Senate bill 62, authored by Lee, co-authored by Rombi, Cano, Bae, Provencher, Shaikh, Percoco, Sterling, Diaz-Ordaz, Bush, Moosavi, Martin, Martín, Montelongo, Yani and Repicky, introduced by Lee, to enact Chapter 19 of the ASUCD Bylaws, passed unanimously.

Consideration of urgent legislation

Senate bill 64, authored by Lee, co-authored by Cano, Rombi and Shaikh, introduced by Lee, to fund the Mark and Linda Champagne ASUCD Customer Service/Exceptional Hourly Employee Award for spring 2011. Lee is working on revising the bill and it will be addressed at a later date.

Public discussion

Mark Champagne spoke on behalf of the legislation in his honor that was passed. Champagne stated that his contribution of $25,000 is a thank you to ASUCD and all their work.

Yani wants the senate to discuss ASUCD making an official statement that they do not want to rejoin University of California Student Association (UCSA). Repicky responded by suggesting they collaborate before making a statement. Sterling said that there was no suggestion of losing Lobby Corps in the discussion of rejoining UCSA. Martin said that she met with UCSA and believes that the collaboration is a good idea.

Public announcements

Lee said that he would like the Mark Champagne award to be given before Champagne retires at the end of the school year.

Bae said Lobby Corps is having its letter writing campaign from Wednesday to Friday, and she encouraged students and senators to write letters to legislators.

Provencher announced that he is sick of the computers in the senate office not logging him in and hopes that ASUCD can get wireless on the third floor. He stated he will be writing a bill about this issue in the future and would like everyone to be a co-author.

Bush announced that on May 26 there will be a campus community day out on the quad where students can get free food and participate in activities put on by the Student Academic Success Center, the Student Recruitment and Retention Center and ASUCD.

Meeting adjourned at 12:10 a.m.

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

Column: Polite pastimes

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If L.A. and S.F. are the main battlegrounds for bike/car wars, Davis is where bicycles politely agree to disagree but never get in a fight.  Davis is a place that’s too kind to cyclists to encourage aggressive events such as bike polo, underground racing, or critical masses. The main activities of leisure in Davis are drinking way too much, peeing on cars and stealing bikes (I know, I live downtown and put up with a billion of you bros this weekend. My housemate was watching a crew of boys walk away from downtown and look at our bike rack and say, “man, we would go a lot faster if we had some of those”. Thankfully she was there to stop them before they got too creative, but the fact remains that young irresponsible males need a channel for this sort of negative energy). 

If you want to participate in bicycle events, you’ve got to set them up on your own. And while playing, you have to dodge the rice rocket kids and monster truck dudes and the people that drive to the ARC to work out. Bicycle polo, underground racing and critical masses are all important and vibrant cycling events in big cities. In Davis, where cycling is important but maybe not as difficult, community events such as these are a little less emphasized but just as vital.

Bicycle polo is a game that takes on the world’s most dangerous, awkward, and fun games and makes them accessible. Professional sports emerged from aristocracy, and polo is the pinnacle of such sport: a hockey-like game played with horses, elephants and now bicycles.

I love polo. I’m sort of like the fat kid you picked last in junior high when it came to sports. I’m not going to score the clutch goal or beat everyone in a race, but I will put all my energy into it. The trash talking is endless, as is the bicycle repair.

At Friday’s game at West Manor park, a group of us got together to test out new mallets. Four of us are ministers from the bike church, a good group if you want your bicycle repaired in time for the second chukkar. The other four players weren’t as trained in the art of repairs, but made up for it in talent and bravado: I would never run my bicycle into harms way with quite the same fervor.

Polo is not just about speed nor is it purely skill. Luck plays a huge role, as well as your ability to maneuver the fairly constant game of chicken that’s being played with various sections of your bicycle, someone else’s bicycle, the fence of the roller hockey rink and the buckets we use for goals. So … that’s equal parts speed, skill, luck and chicken. It is the true do-it-yourself game. We’ve put together our bike polo bicycles, we’ve built our mallets and we make up rules as we go. We tap out of the ring when we set our feet down. You’d be surprised how easy it is to balance your feet on your bike and the guardrail, and hit it backwards through your bike at your friend. There are constant hits on your stick, bikes threatening to hit your bike and a ball rolling millimeters away from the reach of your club what seems like every time. It’s an amazing game and I want to get more people playing.

If group sport isn’t your cup of tea, Davis is a town that is built for bicycle racing. It’s almost criminal that there aren’t tons of underground racing events. Unfortunately for the UC Davis Police Department, the emptied campus serves as a perfect site for a quick unsanctioned race: there is seldom traffic from cars or people, and the common awareness of the campus makes for simple checkpoints. I’ve helped organize a few derbies and races, but the racing in Davis is all painfully covered with lycra and carbon fiber. Davis could be the fast and the furious for bikes every weekend if we wanted to. 

I’m almost done but here’s a parting image. I recently got off a bus with my bike in Los Angeles, and I realized I was looking at the L.A. critical mass. I saw 400 bicyclists, all wearing crazy cool getups, neon lights and making life hell for a bunch of people who were driving less than one mile to get to a super market. I know we don’t live right at the front of the conflict, but the least we can do here in Davis is stop being polite to people who waste gasoline.Christopher Salam is a minister at the Davis Bicycle Collective, and can be reached at mrsalam@ucdavis.edu. If you are interested in DIY bicycle repair, visit the DBC at its Bike Forth location, on L Street and 4th. (M) 1 to 5 p.m., (T-R) 4 to 8 p.m. & Saturday 12 to 6 p.m.

Column: Feelin’ tech-sy

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Peer pressure is a bitch. Here I was, starting my column for this week, about to delve into some deep, controversial discussion on Libya (I had a Wikipedia page pulled up and everything) when I realized that – whoops, nobody told me! – we were supposed to be discussing technology last week. I don’t know if you noticed, but the words Facebook, blog, and OkCupid were thrown around quite a bit in The Aggie’s columns. Since I spend as much time in cyberspace as the next over-stimulated college student, I decided, hey, what the hell, Gaddafi is too hard to spell anyway.

I’ll start by prefacing today’s column by telling you that I know nothing about technology. I only recently figured out where my laptop’s on-button is located. My philosophy on computers is to click on everything you can until you reach your desired effect. While this usually leads to a frozen screen and a $200 Geek Squad bill (believe it or not, sexual favors only get you so far with these guys), I still refuse to open a manual. I firmly believe that in the next five years I’ll have a robot that does all my Internet research for me anyways, so why learn now?

Luckily, I get to blame all of my technological ineptitude on genetics. My grandmother, for example, has yet to master the space bar on the keyboard. This makes for many entertaining, yet often cryptic, e-mails telling me all about her bridgegamesonsaturdaynight. And yes, she very often wins the $10 pots. Go Grams.

As discouraging as I find technology, I also think it’s awesome. I recently discovered the magic of illegal downloading, and let me tell you something: downloading is the shit. Seriously, I haven’t stopped. I don’t even care what it is, I just download because it’s free. New Avril Lavigne album? Hell yeah. Susan Boyle? Why the fuck not? A three-disc set of classic Winston Churchill speeches? Gimme.

And the movies. I’ve seen more crap in the last week than I care to admit, but I’ll admit it anyway (this column is better than confession, you know). Instead of poring over my copy of Beowulf like a good English major, I’ve been wasting my time over When in Rome, Sex and the City 2 and Hot Tub Time Machine, all while drooling Cheeto residue onto my collarbone. I don’t know who these people are that keep telling us to “unplug” or to “go interact in the real world,” but I’d like to have a stern instant message conversation with them to set things straight.

Technology has tons of room to grow. When my body starts to fail me, I fully expect to be a talking brain in a jar of formaldehyde. My middle-aged children will have to carry me around everywhere, until one day they leave me in the car without the windows cracked and I boil in my own preservative liquids. You see, technological advancement can only bring us good things.

I do feel I need to mention the importance of Internet safety. I’ve heard that if you post nude pictures of yourself online, you should prepare for them to come back to haunt you. Like, in a year or two, you’ll realize that those high heels you’re sporting in that butt-naked photo of yourself just aren’t hot anymore. And don’t even think about trying to run for president. I hear it’s a major White House faux-pas to have a sex-scandal before you get elected.

However you dice it, technology is here to stay. And I’m all for it. When I’m feeling bad about myself, I go through 1,500 party photos of myself on Facebook and marvel at how damn sexy I look when I’m blacked-out drunk. And when I need a friend, I know I’ve got at least a few hundred who would (most likely) remember me if they clicked through my profile pictures. And that’s real.

LENA PRESSESKY can be reached at lmpressesky@ucdavis.edu