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Aggie Daily Calendar

Features

Features Editor

November 16, 2010

WEDNESDAY

Flu Vaccination Clinic

10 a.m. to noon

Second Floor, Student Health and Wellness Center

Protect yourself from getting sick this flu season at this vaccination clinic.

SIE Budgeting and Financial Management Workshop

7 to 8:30 p.m.

1130 Hart

Student Investors and Entrepreneur’s Club would like to invite you to join them for their workshop on financial management.

UC Davis Global Dental Brigades Info Meeting

7 and 8 p.m.

233 Wellman

Interested in becoming involved in an amazing volunteer and hands-on experience in the dental field? Attend one of their info meetings.

Last Lecture Series: Professor Susan Keen

7:10 p.m.

Griffin Lounge, Memorial Union

Professor Susan Keen will present a lecture on “The Rich Mind.” Free refreshments and pizza will be provided.

THURSDAY

American Red Cross Club Meeting

6:10 to 7 p.m.

166 Chemistry

Join this fourth and very special general meeting and find out how you can help.

Nameless Magazine Print Issue Release Party

8 to 10 p.m.

Nastoulas Gallery, 521 First Street

Celebrate with Nameless Magazine for their print release party with an evening of fiction, poetry, music and other arts.

FRIDAY

Challah for Hunger: Baking a Difference

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Quad

Try some delicious challah bread. All proceeds go to relief efforts in Darfur and Yolo County Food Bank.

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.

Women’s basketball: This ain’t a Cougar-town

Sports

Sports Editor

November 16, 2010

UC Davis could not have asked for a better start to the 2010 season.

The Aggies relied on aggressive defense and hot shooting as they won their first two games by a combined 63 points. UC Davis gave up just 28 combined points in the first half of both matches.

Friday – UC Davis 69, San Francisco 45

Defensive intensity was the name of the game as UC Davis opened its season on the road against a young San Francisco team.

The Aggies held the Dons to 14 points and 17 percent shooting in the first half.

Coach Sandy Simpson believed San Francisco’s lack of experience came into play as the Aggies dominated defensively.

“They’re a young team,” he said, “and if you haven’t seen the way we play before, it’s tough. Our zone traps and defensive pressure are hard to simulate in practice.”

The Dons improved in the second half, but the Aggies were too strong as they cruised to the 69-45 win.

One of the keys for the Aggies was how they crashed the glass – UC Davis out-rebounded San Francisco 46-27 for the game. Simpson knows grabbing boards has not been a characteristic of UC Davis teams in recent years.

“[Rebounding] has been an Achilles heel for us in the past,” he said. “We out-rebounded them by a significant margin and we were able to get a lot of offensive boards.”

Leading the way for the Aggies offensively was senior Paige Mintun, who scored 20 points, shooting 50 percent from the field.

All 12 UC Davis players that checked in scored.

Sunday – UC Davis 77, Washington State 38

Simpson expected the Aggies to be evenly matched with the Cougars.

He was wrong.

“If we played Washington State five more times, they will probably all be close games,” Simpson said. “Fortunately we only have to play them once.”

The Aggies obliterated the Cougars in a game where the only tie was at zero.

The Aggies again started strong on defense, holding their opponent to just 14 first-half points for the second straight game.

Mintun believes the team’s success was largely due to the play of the backcourt.

“The guards in our zone played really well early,” she said. “[Hana] Asano and [Samantha] Meggison really set the tone for the game.”

Asano and Meggison each had six steals and the Aggies forced 28 turnovers – 20 of which came in the first half.

Those steals created transition opportunities for UC Davis, and the Aggies converted with 22 points off turnovers in the first half.

“Our defense was creating our offense,” Mintun said. “It created a new pace for the game. We’re capable of playing at a fast speed.”

UC Davis controlled the tempo for the majority of the contest, and the Aggies cruised to a 39-point victory over the Pac-10 squad.

The Cougars finished the game shooting just 25.5 percent from the field – 0 for 19 from three-point range.

Senior Heidi Heintz led UC Davis with 14 points. Heintz believes her success stemmed from the overall team attitude.

“We went out there with the mentality of wanting to hit open shots,” Heintz said. “I wanted to be aggressive and I felt really confident.”

Mintun and junior Vicky Deely both finished in double digits in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The Aggies had 11 different players score in the game. The contest went even better than Simpson could have imagined.

“I don’t know if I expected us to play as well as we did,” he said. “We caught them on a poor shooting day and we were really playing well defensively. Those two factors conspired to create a blowout situation.”

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

New graduate program mentors faculty

Campus News

Campus Editor

November 16, 2010

Instead of a program merely to mentor students, Graduate Studies has established Mentoring at Critical Transitions (MET) – a program to help faculty help students.

Though UC Davis has a higher graduate student completion rate than the national average, the program aims to help faculty better counsel graduate students past three critical transitions. Transition one involves helping students get through the coursework. Transition two concerns getting past the oral doctoral qualifying exam, where students are required to appear before a panel of five faculty members to present their research. Finally, transition three involves researching and writing the dissertation.

“Most mentoring programs you see on campuses are focused on grad students and how to be good [graduate] students,” said Lenora Timm, associate dean of Graduate Studies. “We turned that on its head and said, ‘why don’t we start with the faculty to teach them how to be good mentors?'”

UC Davis Graduate Studies won a grant for the yearlong program from the Council of Graduate Schools and Education Testing Services, umbrella organizations in Washington D.C. UC Davis Graduate Studies is matching the funds the grant provided.

The program seeks to help 35 faculty members in four programs (science, technology, engineering and math) learn how to better help their students through a two-day retreat last summer, followed by monthly seminars by guest speakers on a variety of topics throughout this academic year. Christopher Thaiss, director of the University Writing Program, hosted one such seminar.

Thaiss said the goal of his presentation was to make the faculty aware of the resources available through the University Writing Program.

“[We] offer workshops on demystifying the dissertation and procedures for writing professional articles in graduate fields and also a peer writing fellows program [where] a few [graduate] students work as tutors to help other students with writing,” Thaiss said.

Thaiss said that the main difficulty for graduate students comes from the fact that the writing that is expected of them is very different from what is expected of undergraduate students.

“They are expected to very quickly become professionals, write for publication and do different kids of writing such as dissertations and literature reviews,” he said.

Another guest speaker, Margaret Swain, director of Gender and Global Issues, presented on outreach programs through the women’s center. According to Swain, the women’s center is actively working with other student centers to develop a graduate ally coalition, which offers training programs for graduate students to be allies for people in the program or department.

“[The ally] would be a person to turn to with particular life or mental issues or how to negotiate advisers,” she said. “It’s a support network of people who are trained to know how to find resources.”

Timm hopes that the program can continue in the future though she’s unsure of the degree to which it will be the same as the current program.

“Because it was externally funded, there was lot more money than generally will be available,” she said. “It’s very successful so we’re going to offer something similar in the following years, though maybe not a year-long program.”

AKSHAYA RAMANUJAM can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Google sued for alleged privacy violations

City News

City Editor

November 16, 2010

As a user of a UC Davis Gmail account, you likely received an e-mail on Nov. 2 regarding the class action lawsuit filed against Google Inc. for its social networking program, Google Buzz.

The plaintiffs allege that Google automatically enrolled Gmail users in Google Buzz, publicly exposing data without permission. One immediate concern was the inclusion of users’ most commonly used contacts in a list of “users to follow”. As many users noted, however, the people you communicate with over e-mail the most are often not the ones you desire to be included in a social networking website.

A preliminary settlement was reached at an Oct. 7 hearing, under which Google agreed to establish an $8.5 million common fund to support organizations focused on internet privacy policy or privacy education. The money will also be used to cover lawyers’ fees and other expenses accrued by the plaintiffs.

Though Google refutes the accuracy of the allegations and denies having broken any laws, they are accepting the terms of the settlement.

“We are satisfied with the agreement and are glad to move forward,” said a Google spokesperson. “We have always been committed to offering users transparency and choice in Buzz and all our products, and will continue to work together with users to provide the best experience possible.”

Google notified Gmail users of the agreement via e-mail, addressing the fact that it made changes to Google Buzz following its February 2010 launch.

“The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns … We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.”

The e-mail also stated that Gmail account holders would not be able to file for compensation under the settlement.

Rather, users in the United States who had the opportunity to use Google Buzz before Nov. 2 have four options: exclude yourself, object, go to a hearing or do nothing. Only by excluding yourself will you be able to file your own lawsuit against Google. Users are given until Dec. 6 to file a request for exclusion.

As residents of northern California, UC Davis students have fairly easy access to the fairness hearing, which will take place Jan. 31 in San Jose. It has been noted that the hearing may be moved to a different date without additional notice. Any written objections or a notice of Intent to Appear must be received no later than Jan. 10.

The Google Buzz lawsuit brings to the surface other issues of Internet privacy, especially when it comes to social networking websites.

“Basically when you put information on the Internet, except for with banks, assume people will see it,” said computer science professor Matt Bishop. “For example, Facebook.com regularly changes what its privacy settings means. So what is private today may not be private tomorrow. That goes for e-mail too.”

Bishop also noted a problem particular to university internet security.

“The security that’s there can’t block people outside from looking in,” he said. I shouldn’t say the security is lax, but it’s a different kind of security. If this was a bank, a lot of things that are done wouldn’t be allowed.”

Bishop’s final word of advice: “Basically, if it would embarrass you to be on the cover of the New York Times, don’t put it on the Internet.”

MELISSA FREEMAN can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

New Love Lab rolls onto campus

Campus News

Campus Editor

November 16, 2010

On Monday, the Health Education and Promotion (HEP) department unveiled an all-new Love Lab cart. The cart will be touring around campus until Thursday at the Activities and Recreation Center and Memorial Union.

Donated by the Capital City AIDS fund, a non-profit organization that raises money in support of HIV/AIDS services in the Sacramento area, the new Love Lab is bigger and more modern looking.

“It’s definitely more inviting, and that’s why we want to promote it as much as possible,” said Jason Spitzer, a sexual, social and stress health educator at HEP. “We’re excited to get out on campus and engage with the students. Our volunteers are trained and ready to answer any questions you may have. There are no wrong questions.”

The new Love Lab also plans on giving demonstrations and playing games for prizes. Spitzer said he is excited about the educational skill-building the Love Lab will bring.

“We will be having students watch how to properly use condoms and other products and then ask them to teach it back to our volunteers for prizes,” he said. “The last thing we would want is for a student to receive products from the Love Lab and not know how to properly use them. That would defeat the purpose.”

The American Social Health Association reported that there are over 19 million new cases of STDs/STIs every year, only some of which are curable.

As in recent years, the Love Lab will be handing out 10 free condoms and packets of lubrication per student.

“We encourage everyone to stop by, check out the new Love Lab and ask questions,” Spitzer said. “The more questions and the more dialogue we can have around these products, the more comfortable people are with using them and using them correctly.”

Students agree that a new Love Lab will definitely help increase awareness of safe sex and better engage with the campus.

“They do a good job getting the message out to [first-year students] by coming to the DC and passing out condoms,” said Mike Manas, a first-year economics major. “I can imagine a new Love Lab would only increase their presence on campus, and to [first-year students] in particular, as it’s hard to ignore when you walk in and out of the DC.”

Olivia Henry, a junior anthropology major has never visited the cart before but admitted a flashier cart would probably attract more people.

“If I remember correctly, the one they had before was kind of janky,” she said.

The Capital City AIDS fund donated the new Love Lab cart. The organization is governed by an all-volunteer board made up of community leaders, and annually donates to various Sacramento area non-profit HIV/Aids Services.

“Someone there saw our cart and brainstormed a few ways to make it look sleeker and more inviting,” Spitzer said. “I think we’ve definitely succeeded in doing so. We’re very thankful for their help.”

Access to links about STDs/STIs and other statistics and information can be found at the Student Health Services website or by visiting the Love Lab this week.

ANDY VERDEROSA can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

CSU increases tuition

City News

City Editor

November 16, 2010

The California State University (CSU) board of trustees approved a two-step tuition increase last Wednesday. This is the fifth time in the past three academic years that CSU students will experience a fee hike.

Student fees will increase by 5 percent effective January 2011. Undergraduate students will be paying an additional $105 for the winter/spring term, bringing the total semester fee to $2,220. The Trustees voted 14 to 2 to establish this mid-year tuition hike.

With votes 13 to 3, the Trustees also approved an additional 10 percent increase for the 2011-2012 school year. Full-time undergraduate students will pay an additional $444, for a total of $4,884, effective Fall 2011.

“We need to raise tuition not only to adequately serve the students we have, but also to serve the students we have coming on board in the spring and fall,” said spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp, to the Ventura County Star.

There are 23 CSU campuses in the state, with an enrollment of 433,000 students annually. This year, the universities received a one-time federal stimulus of $106 million to increase enrollment by 30,000 students system wide.

“While we appreciate the funding that we did receive in this year’s budget, the reality is our state support is roughly the same as it was five years ago and we have 25,000 more students,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Quillian, CSU executive vice chancellor for business and finance, in a press release.

“In addition, part of the funding we received…is being used at the state’s direction to admit 30,000 more students. These students will be on our campuses long after this one-time funding has been exhausted, and we have to ensure that we have the ongoing resources to support them.”

In the state’s 2010-11 budget plan, the state assumes that CSU will increase their tuition by 10 percent. This leaves CSU resources about $64 million short in its present budget.

The fee increase will support 3,000 new classes for the winter/spring term to accommodate incoming students. Graduate students and credential program participants will also experience an increase in tuition. Graduate students will pay an additional $129 and credential program participants $123.

For the 2011-12 school year, graduate student fees will increase by $546 and credential programs by $516. Combined with the undergraduate tuition hike, this will generate approximately $121.5 million. The revenue will support an increase of about 6,000 new classes for Fall 2011.

“We will need additional course sections for those students, and we are already working on accommodating this larger enrollment,” Sacramento State president Alexander Gonzalez said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The University Budget Advisory Committee will be part of the discussions on using the additional funds from the tuition increase and the funding restored in the state budget. Most likely, we will look at a combination of one-time spending and an augmentation for all campus divisions.”

The board plans to ask the governor and state legislature to “buy out” the 2011-2012 tuition increase in next year’s budget. If the state agrees, the board will rescind this 10 percent increase.

SARAHNI PECSON can be reached at city@theaggie.org

Video Game Addiction

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 15, 2010

On Aug. 5, 2005, Lee Seung Sop, a middleaged South Korean man, went into cardiac arrest due to exhaustion after playing the computer real-time-strategy game, Star Craft for nearly 50 hours straight. On Oct. 20, 2007, Ohio teen Daniel Petric shot both of his parents in the head after they took away his copy of Halo 3.

Although not yet officially recognized as an addiction by the American Medical Association, video game dependence is as real as any drug addiction, and often just as harmful. Regular gamers can often spiral down into compulsive and addictive behavior such as skipping school and work to play, stealing from friends and parents to buy more games and behaving aggressively when confronted about their gaming. Gamers’ responses to psychiatrist’s questions even mirror those from alcoholics and drug addicts.

Steve Pope, a therapist in the England was interviewed for popular gaming magazine 1up.

“Two hours of gaming equals a line of cocaine in the high that it produces,” Pope said.

The mother of one of Pope’s patients said that buying her son his first video game was like buying him a first shot of whiskey.

Peter Yellowlees is a clinical psychiatrist at the UC Davis Mind Institute. He said that video games are designed on a task-reward system. This means that the player is given a task (a mission, a quest, a level, course, etc), and once the task is completed, the gamer is rewarded, usually with an upgrade, a new item, a new level, etc. Being rewarded stimulates the reward center of the brain by releasing large amounts of endorphins. It is this natural high of accomplishment that addicts gamers.

UC Davis junior Jason Wu enjoys playing Street Fighter III: First Strike at the MU arcade. To an inexperienced player, the game looks like a bunch of glorified button-mashing.

“This is one of the most popular games here. There is always someone playing,” Wu said. “The game is really deep. You have to be thinking 100 percent.”

Despite the simplicity of the controls, just a joystick and two buttons, the speed of the game requires intense concentration and well developed hand-eye coordination.

Video games contain “hooks” that keep players playing for hours. The most notable hooks are the High Score and “Beating the Game.” The High Score is the most powerful hook, and players will spend hours trying to beat old high scores, even if that score is their own. The desire to “beat the game” is exacerbated as the gamer unlocks more and more features within the game. MMORPGs (Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games) are often the most addictive of all game types because there is no end to the game.

Yellowlees said the amount of time spent gaming is the real problem, not the video games themselves.

“[People] spend far too much time playing,” Yellowlees said. “This leads to problems in their home lives, social lives and academic lives.”

Addiction is a diagnosis that is given on an individual basis by not only the behavior indicative of addiction, but also the patient’s past history. According to data from the Smith and Jones Center in Amsterdam, a clinic that treats video game addiction, nearly eight in 10 gaming addicts were bullied in school and used gaming as an escape. For socially maladjusted youth, video games provide a level of control unavailable to them in the real world.

Children who play sports or take part in other extracurricular social activities are at less risk than children who have little to no group interaction. Many children who play online games are uncomfortable talking with real people in real time. Online, there is time to edit what you say and no risk if you say the wrong thing.

Yellowlees said it is always important to maintain a diverse lifestyle that has a healthy portion of interactions with real people. Social skills are harder to develop as you get older. Forgoing those skills is not worth the time spent building a level 70 Paladin.

For more information on video game addiction, visit video-game-addiction.org.

HUDSON LOFCHIE can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

Swim and dive: Aggies lose Big West Tourney opener

Sports

Sports Editor

November 15, 2010

With wind whipping against her back, sophomore Jennifer Meyer stands at the edge of the diving board ready to plunge.

Despite the testy weather, the Santa Rosa, Calif. native won her 3 Meter match against Fresno State last Saturday in the diving event.

“It was not ideal conditions at all,” said coach Barbara Jahn, “and Fresno State has some really good divers [to compete against.]”

As a team, the Aggies won 14 of 16 events and came away with definite win to add to their tally. Nine swimmers had season records in the meet against Fresno State.

“I didn’t expect fast swimming at this point in the season,” Jahn said. “They just got the job done.”

Even though Fresno State was strong at the top, the Aggies made their mark with depth.

Freshman Maya Sprinsock won the 500 Freestyle with a blow-out finish.

“This was her first college race that she won,” Jahn said. “She was really excited.”

Other standouts include junior Kayleigh Foley and senior Heidi Kucera.

Foley narrowly lost the 50 freestyle to Bulldog opponent, but came back 15 minutes later to beat the same Fresno State swimmer in the 100 freestyle.

Jahn was impressed by Foley’s ability to comeback despite the earlier loss.

Kucera won the 200 IM with her best time of the young season.

Jahn said the results from this weekend show the Aggies are headed in the right direction.

“I look not so much at the wins but at season best times,” Jahn said. “The work we’ve been doing in the weight room and pool is going to help us at the Arena Cup [next weekend]. “

Jahn believes the teams the Aggies have matched up against will only help them down the road.

“The competition we’ve had has been good preparation,” Jahn said. “Now we know what to do differently or improve upon and we can go from there.”

CALEIGH GUOYNES can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Men’s water polo: UC Davis finishes season-sweep over Santa Clara

Sports

Sports Editor

November 15, 2010

There are more important things than winning.

Despite losing on Friday to Stanford, men’s water polo coach Steve Doten said honoring the seniors with playing time in their last home game was more important than the win.

“It was senior night and I wanted to show them respect and give them their time,” Doten said. “I think they’ve earned the right to get some minutes in the game.”

The Aggies split their weekend set, losing to Stanford on Friday and toping Santa Clara on Saturday. With the split, UC Davis moves to 16-8 overall and 13-1 in Western Water Polo Association matches.

Friday – No. 3 Stanford 12, No. 14 UC Davis 4

The stands were packed Friday night as the Aggies faced the Cardinal on senior night.

Before the match, Erik Quinn, Mattie Stone, Carlos Martinez, Cory Lyle and Matt Richardson were honored.

After the seniors were recognized, UC Davis opened the game playing with inspiration.

In the first half the Aggie defense kept the potent Stanford offense from running away with the game.

Senior Erik Quinn refused to allow any easy goals and would tally a total of seven saves.

“Quinn did a great job in the cage for us,” Doten said. “As a senior, I wanted to give him his time.”

Goals from Aaron Salit and Ryan Hagens cut the Stanford lead to three by the end of the first half.

The game would get even closer in the third quarter as Walter Eggert scored on an outside shot to bring the score to within two.

“Walter is one of our better outside shooters,” Doten said. “If he can hit a shot like he did, he can open up the middle. We needed more of that.”

Though Stanford responded with a goal of their own, Colin Hicks would bring the Aggies back to within striking distance as he converted on a five-meter penalty shot.

The game got out of hand in the fourth period as the Cardinal utilized their strength to score five goals and put the game away.

“They’re talented and have great physical conditioning,” Doten said. “The beauty about Stanford is they use similar tactics [to us]. The tactics I’m teaching work. Hopefully we can take something away from [the game].”

Saturday – UC Davis 6, No. 12 Santa Clara 4

The Aggies were able to finish the regular season on a high note with a win over favored Santa Clara.

UC Davis showed defensive tenacity and clutch scoring to close out the mild upset.

Martinez and Colin Hicks netted early goals for the Aggies, giving them a 2-1 lead. Lyle and Matt Vowell each added goals of their own to send the game into halftime tied at four.

Richardson scored the only two goals in the second frame, and UC Davis would never look back. The Aggie defense continued to stymie the Broncos as goalie Kevin Peat tallied ten saves.

With the win, the Aggies are now 3-0 on the season against the Broncos.

With its conference record, UC Davis is almost guaranteed a high seed as the Aggies for the WWPA Championship starting on Nov. 19.

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

Women’s volleyball: Women’s volleyball struggles to put away matches

Sports

Sports Editor

November 15, 2010

It’s been two years since the Aggies had a losing streak of four games or more.

So, needless to say, UC Davis is treading in unfamiliar waters.

The Aggies dropped both of their matches this weekend to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly to slip to 16-12 on the season and 7-8 in Big West Conference play.

Three of the losses came in five-set matches. Coach Jamie Holmes said some could be attributed to the equality of the teams in the Big West.

“There is a lot of parity within the conference,” Holmes said. “The teams are equally matched and have similar styles of play. I think it’s one of those deals where teams battle and there can be only one winner.”

Friday – UCSB 3, UC Davis 2

When the Gauchos and Aggies match up, you’re practically guaranteed a five-set thriller.

The last two matches between the squads went five sets with UC Davis battling back from a 2-0 deficit to win.

On Friday, however, the tables turned and it was UCSB battling back from a two set deficit to take the match.

“I think we played fantastic against UCSB,” Holmes said. “We put ourselves in a position to win and we just didn’t. It was disappointing not to win, but it was still a fantastic match. I’m really proud of the way we played.”

UC Davis jumped out to the quick lead behind the hot swing of senior Kayla Varney. Seven of Varney’s 15 kills came in the first two sets.

A late rally helped the Gauchos take the third set. The Aggies were one point from taking the fourth game and match, but UCSB rallied for three-straight points to tie it at two sets apiece.

The Aggies were unable to overcome an early deficit in the deciding fifth set as the Gauchos took the match.

Junior Betsy Sedlak had 15 kills and had a hitting percentage of .480 to lead UC Davis.

Holmes said the Aggies’ breakdown was partially due to the youth on the roster.

“We are very young and at the end of matches when the game is on the line they tend to tighten up,” Holmes said. “Sometimes we think ahead and don’t play in the moment. We just need to take a deep breath and execute.”

Saturday – Cal Poly 3, UC Davis 1

There was only enough magic in San Luis Obispo Saturday night for one late Aggie rally against the Mustangs.

The same night the Aggie football team pulled off a thrilling comeback over the Mustangs, the UC Davis volleyball team was unable to muster up a comeback of their own.

The Aggies fell in four sets to the rival Mustangs for their fifth straight loss.

UC Davis played the match without Varney who suffered a season-ending injury the night before. Holmes believes the absence of Varney hurt the Aggies.

“We had to put in a new lineup and it took some time to adjust,” Holmes said. “We played tough but we had some ball control issues. Cal Poly is a very tough team.”

After dropping the opening set, the Aggies rallied back to tie it up at one set apiece.

UC Davis struggled to find consistency in the third and fourth games and eventually lost the match three sets to one.

Senior Melanie Adams led UC Davis with 11 kills on the night. Sophomore Allison Whitson and freshman Morgan Borch each added 10 kills of their own.

The Aggies will close out the season at home next Saturday when they take on rival Pacific. The game will be special on many levels as UC Davis will honor seniors Adams and Varney for their four years of dedication to Aggie volleyball.

JASON ALPERT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Column: What to play for

Sports

Sports Editor

November 15, 2010

It’s the feeling athlete’s never wants to experience.

It’s a nightmare where you try to as hard as you can to wake up but you just can’t.

It’s realizing the fear of failing.

In every league of every sport in every country there can be only one winner – one team that never has to fall into the sinking pit of athletic rejection.

At UC Davis, two teams know this feeling all too well.

Both the football and women’s volleyball squads are mathematically eliminated from winning their divisions and hence, post-season play.

As a fan of teams that have been in this situation, it sucks. There’s no better way of saying it. As a player, it has to be unbearable and motivation can be hard to come by.

For the football team, however, inspiration entering the final game of the season is easy to find.

The Aggies match up against rival Sacramento State this Saturday. Even though UC Davis can’t win a Great West Conference title or qualify for the postseason, quarterback Randy Wright is having no trouble waking up.

“If you can’t get amped up for the rivalry games, then you’re in the wrong sport,” Wright said. “That should be all the motivation you need.”

The Aggies were obviously pumped up for their game Saturday against Cal Poly. A late rally capped by a touchdown pass from Wright to senior Sean Creadick with 35 seconds left gave UC Davis the thrilling 22-21 win.

The Aggies were sluggish in the first half, but found a second wind after the break. UC Davis played inspired football and never laid down to for the Mustangs.

With the rivalry games, Coach Bob Biggs has no problem getting the team motivated to play.

“Our motivation is to have a winning season and to beat Cal Poly,” Biggs said. “It doesn’t matter if we were both 0-10 at this point, it would still be the motivation to go beat them.”

The same day the Aggie football team was taking on the Mustangs on the gridiron, the UC Davis women’s volleyball team was squared up against Cal Poly.

The volleyball team has struggled of late, and Saturday’s match was no exception. UC Davis lost its fifth straight entering the final game of the year.

The Aggies were eliminated from winning the Big West Conference two weeks ago, but coach Jamie Holmes still believes the Aggies have plenty to play for.

“We’re playing for pride. We’re playing to have a winning record in conference play. We’re playing to finish as strong as we possibly can,” Holmes said. “And I don’t want to eliminate this – we’re playing for our seniors who have dedicated four years of their lives – their blood, sweat and tears – to success.”

“First and foremost, I hope we play for pride. We work hard and we definitely don’t want to be the dog that lies down and dies.”

As Holmes said, it all comes down to pride. Pride is what keeps a team going at full speed despite a 40- point or two-set deficit. It’s what forces a player to give it their all for the team despite a nagging injury.

Athletes are egotistical. They need to be. They need to have that cocky attitude to keep them going. They need that killer instinct.

It might sound shallow and I might be oversimplifying things. But that’s what you need to do in sports. Athletes need to keep the sport simple, and there’s nothing simpler than pride.

JASON ALPERT would like to congratulate the California High School Grizzlies, my alma mater, for their inspired performance against De La Salle High School Friday night. Cal was a successful onside kick away from being the first northern California team in nearly 20 years to top the nationally seventh ranked Spartans. To talk Aggie football, Aggie volleyball or Cal High football, e-mail me at sports@theaggie.org.

Football: Aggies take home the Golden Horseshoe

Sports

Sports Editor

November 15, 2010

According to coach Bob Biggs, no Cal Poly football team that loses to UC Davis in The Battle for the Golden Horseshoe gets its team photo hung in the Mustang locker room.

Thanks to the 2010 Aggies, this year’s Mustang squad will have to hang its picture somewhere else.

A sellout crowd of 11,075 came to Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo Saturday night probably expecting the ranked Mustangs to beat the Aggies.

What the crowd got, though, was a tireless UC Davis team that fought its way out of a 21-0 deficit to stun Cal Poly 22-21.

“As good as it felt to beat them, it felt better to beat them the way we did,” said coach Bob Biggs. “To be completely outmatched in the first half and to completely turn it around and make a comeback to win is incredible.”

Freshman quarterback Randy Wright found receiver Sean Creadick in the back of the end zone with 35 seconds left in the game to tie the score at 21. A Sean Kelley extra point gave the Aggies the lead and kept the Golden Horseshoe in northern California.

The Aggies struggled early on as they fell into a deep hole.

A stifling Cal Poly defense forced UC Davis to punt each of its first five possessions. The Aggies couldn’t manage to drive more than 12 yards at a time in the first half.

Meanwhile, Cal Poly marched the ball up the field effortlessly.

The Mustangs scored in each of its first two drives on a pair of short touchdown runs from the one-yard line.

Cal Poly rolled into halftime with the momentum, capping off a 99-yard drive with a touchdown.

The Mustang defense held UC Davis to just one Kelley field goal in the first half.

“It could have been very discouraging because we didn’t have any answers,” Biggs said. “You think you’re ready, and then you get in there and say, ‘oh baby, this is going to be tougher than I thought.'”

After the intermission, the Aggies found the answers they were looking for. UC Davis moved the ball into field goal range twice to come within 21-9.

Biggs said the consistency from long snapper Joey Waters to Wright holding the ball for Kelley on the kick, not only helped UC Davis in the comeback win – it also made his life on the sidelines a whole lot easier.

“If [Kelley’s] kicking, I can turn away,” Biggs said. “I trust Joey, I trust Randy, and I trust Sean. They trust each other, and they’re a model of consistency. We settled in for the field goals, and we chipped away.”

In the second half, Biggs said it became a matter of the Aggies’ will versus the Mustangs’.

The UC Davis defense forced three Cal Poly turnovers in the third quarter and held it to just 15 yards on the ground in the fourth.

The offense took advantage of Mustang mistakes as Wright found Creadick for a 16-yard touchdown pass for a 21-15 score.

Biggs said the big play of the game happened with just over five minutes left on the clock.

The UC Davis defense stopped Cal Poly running back Mark Rodgers on a 4th and one, regaining the ball and the momentum on the Aggies’ own 30-yard line.

UC Davis made easy work of the Cal Poly defense on the ensuing drive, capping it off with Wright’s winning touchdown pass.

Helping the Aggie defense was Linebacker Byron Gruendl, who supplied a game-high nine tackles and his first career interception.

Wright threw for 302 yards, a new career-high, connecting with eight different receivers throughout the game.

“I’m so proud of these kids and the coaches,” Biggs said. “Being proud of them for winning is one thing, but the way they won is another.”

GRACE SPRAGUE can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Baking a difference

Features

Features Editor

November 15, 2010

UC Davis students looking for a home-cooked snack at the end of the week are in luck.

Rain or shine, the Challah for Hunger Club at UC Davis sells challah bread on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the quad by the Memorial Union. Plain challah sells for $4 and various flavors of challah for $5.

All the proceeds go to charity – half to the Yolo County Food Bank and the other half to the American Jewish World Services’ Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund.

Although the national organization has over 30 chapters nationwide, including UCLA, UC Berkeley and Yale, the Davis chapter was started this year by Rachel Sabes, a junior communication major who found the group on the Challah for Hunger national website. Chapters this fall have sold 2,905 challahs and donated over $11,000.

Hannah Goldner, a sophomore human development major and club board member, said the group wanted to help both local and national charities.

“All the charters donate to the Darfur fund, but we voted and chose the Yolo Food Bank. I like that it’s local, cool and tangible; we can see where the money’s going,” Goldner said.

Rachel Posalski, a senior psychology major and customer, also feels better about buying from a charity organization that helps with hunger and disaster relief.

“I feel really good about the charities. I’m glad they’re donating to something local and to something global,” Posalski said.

The club bakes all the bread at the Hillel House of UC Davis and Sacramento on A Street from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays. Members take all the challahs out to the quad on Fridays to sell them. Goldner believes the challah is a good value because of the quality.

“It’s definitely worth the price because it’s going to charity and the challah is handmade and fresh,” Goldner said.

The club makes the dough with flour, oil, sugar and salt. After putting in yeast, the members let the bread rise until the proper size. Later, they separate the dough into equal pieces, stretch and knead the dough, add the flavoring, twist and bake. Goldner notices a slight change from other challah recipes.

“It’s a little different because we don’t use the eggs like in traditional challah, but it’s still really good,” Goldner said

The flavored challah varies every week. They have had cinnamon sugar, chocolate, nutella and cinnamon sugar with pumpkin.

Posalski, who has had other types of challah, appreciates the taste and flavor variety of the challah sold.

“It tastes really good and you don’t find all these flavors all the time, especially the pumpkin,” Posalski said.

The Davis chapter of Challah for Hunger also participates in other bonding activities such as bowling.

“We’re planning on doing other activities but we just started. We’re mainly working on advocacy and advertising now,” said Sari Haskell, president of Challah for Hunger and senior communication major.

Club members want to expand both active membership and university-wide awareness so Haskell encourages students to join in and volunteer with the group.

“We have 20 active members but we are always looking to add new members,” Haskell said.

Challah for Hunger is not a religious organization and anyone can volunteer to bake or sell. UC Davis students interested in joining the club can e-mail Hannah Goldner at hannahgoldner@gmail.com, stop by the Hillel House or visit the club while selling on the quad for more information.

GRACE BENEFIELD can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Column: Identifying a stoner

Opinion

Opinion

November 15, 2010

Often when I hear a good song, I visualize it in my head. I try to imagine how I would direct a video for the song, or what kind of movie the song would work in.

I’m so Spike Lee with this shit.

Last Thursday morning, I spent my free time working out at my apartment gym, listening to “Can’t Stop Now” by Major Lazer. It’s a nifty little Jamaican dancehall piece, and I imagined how I could fit it into a stoner movie.

Oh, it’d be perfect. It’d be Monday morning; Zach Galifianakis would be asleep on the couch in just his boxer briefs and in front of an empty bong, his hand trapped in a bag of Cheetos with the TV left on. Seth Rogen would be rippin’ one, and my hubby Paul Rudd would be in that business suit, coffee tumbler in hand as he carefully walked over his roommates’ drug paraphernalia scattered about the floor, his eyes still a bit glazed from the night before.

“Can’t Stop Now” would be playing as this morning scene unfolded itself.

I thought about this imagined film with great delight as I walked myself back to my front door, the song still blasting away.

Those reckless stoners. Ha!

To my frustration, my door would not open, so I proceeded to physically assault the knob, twisting it with aggressive vigor.

The thought suddenly hit me: No way, I told myself. Don’t tell me this is not my apartment!

In my own marijuana inspired self-delusion, I had indeed taken a few extra steps to my neighbor’s lodgings.

I mouthed a “sorry” to him through his window. He stood there in his kitchen, arms in midair with food still in his hands, a shocked look on his face and very shirtless (is that you, Zach?).

I muttered cuss words to myself as I made the walk of shame back to my apartment. I swear I know where I live, I thought as “Can’t Stop Now” came to its end.

And that was when I realized I had just placed myself in my own movie.

Fantastic.

Was this embarrassing situation a result of my stoner habits, or just typically clumsy May Yang behavior? I would say it’s more of the latter, because before anything else, I’m just May Yang: student, writer and well-humored daughter, sister and friend. To be a “stoner” is a word that describes just one side of me. I don’t fall into any heinous stereotype and I’m by no means unmotivated, unproductive or destructive because of my marijuana use.

The same goes for so many other marijuana users. They come in all sizes, shapes and forms. Some keep mum about their usage for fear of negative stigmas or losing their jobs. High Times calls these people “Closet Stoners” and famed writer and Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan has been prolific in pointing out the diversity of those in the “Cannabis Closet.” They are lawyers, government workers, parents, teachers, nurses (dear God, not the nurses, too!) and more.

I’ll never forget how a few weeks ago, I was mindlessly perusing the Davis Farmers Market and talking to an innocent looking dude selling baked goods. Little did I know he also sold baked special goods as well – at his second job as a medical marijuana dispensary employee! Who’d have thunk it?

I told him how cannabis users often have unfair labels placed upon them, and he agreed, noting the variety of personalities he meets at his job as a budtender. He then pointed to random people in our lovely Davis crowd. “For all you know, he smokes, she smokes, he smokes, she smokes…”

So you see, your average stoner is more than just a drug trafficker, a lazy teenager, the Giants’ dear ol’ Timmy or Wiz Khalifa. They are your neighbors, classmates, librarians, probably some professors here, too – you name it!

I didn’t need to write so much to prove this point, for I’m sure there are plenty of you who already know this from experience, and are perfectly functional members of this school as well (though you may not pass a drug test). But clarifications are in order for the many Americans that misunderstand marijuana usage.

A reader in Sullivan’s Cannabis Closet series said it well: “It is only to show that someone can smoke weed almost daily while completely destroying almost all of the myths of the harm of pot (Unmotivated Loser Syndrome, Lazy Overweight Muncher Syndrome, Gateway Theory).”

So how do you identify a stoner? You simply cannot.

Reach MAY YANG at mayyang@ucdavis.edu.

Column: Let’s go horizontal

Opinion

Opinion

November 15, 2010

Mother nature must have known what she was doing when she created the phenomenon of sexual attraction. What is it about human psychology and physiology that causes us to shift into another gear when speaking with someone who is attractive and engaging? Suddenly a feeling of “this makes life worth living” seems to ooze out of one’s pores, as we put our best foot forward with high expectations and a sense of high intrigue.

And then it happens: the boyfriend/girlfriend reference. For me it’s when a woman starts a sentence saying: “Well, my boyfriend-” I usually don’t hear the rest of the sentence. It feels like a five-gallon pickle bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on my head.

This is not just something that plays out in one-on-one situations but can also happen between groups of people (in non-sexual situations). This is how I envision the current dichotomy in student politics between students majoring in social science, the humanities and the arts compared to students majoring in the science, technology, engineering and math (“STEM”) fields. Social science students are driving the ongoing (now worldwide) student protest movement, while STEM students are, by and large, dragging their feet on the issue.

Making the analogy to the romance scenario, when I’m chatting with a student, not knowing what their major is, feeling inspired and engaged in the conversation and the topic of the student protest movement comes up, a STEM major might say something like: “Well, why make waves? If you want to make changes on certain issues, then just approach the administration politely with a better idea. If it’s a good idea they will probably approve it.” Arg, there’s that pickle-bucket-of-ice-water-dumped-on-my-head feeling again.

Such an approach to the situation reflects gross political naiveté. For one, it assumes that holding student protest rallies is somehow improper. It assumes that such rallies are being led by a bunch of loud-mouthed and impractical ideologues who are alienating the administration, and that their efforts will backfire because they will lose the battle and end up being shunned later since, supposedly, no one will be willing to work with them.

A STEM student who makes a comment like that is suffering from political myopia. The point of the protest is that problems have escalated to the point where simple and straightforward meetings no longer suffice. For our current situation in the University of California, you can blame Gov. Schwarzenegger. While we don’t have conclusive evidence, it’s fairly apparent that he decided to follow the advice of his aides several years ago and push for the quasi-privatization of the UC system. This is most likely why the UC Board of Regents hired Mark Yudof in 2008.

Now, with Jerry Brown coming in as our new governor, Yudof has begun to change his tune. Last Monday he held a press conference and issued a statement (if we take it at face value) extolling the virtues of the University of California as a public university. In fact, Yudof might now be on his way out, realizing that he made severe political miscalculations in the past couple years and has dug himself into a personal political hole that he can’t climb out of.

Whether Yudof resigns, gets nudged out of office by our new governor, or stays with us for a few more years, it appears that we protesters have had a major influence in saving the UC system. Since the UC system is the premier public university system in the world, we may have even saved the general concept of the public university worldwide.

But the work is far from complete. Speaking in moral terms, as participating citizens (of the university or the state) we are all coequal participants at the table. It’s our university and we are the people who have the ultimate say as to how it is run. We need to “go horizontal” by recognizing where the true political power lies and by continuing to exercise that power.

In an effort to bring everyone together on the issue, including STEM students and students of all majors, we will be holding a teach-out on the Quad all day tomorrow. Peter Byrne will speak at noon about conflicts of interests on the Board of Regents. Engineering students will be participating in a concurrent event on the Quad, so this will be a great opportunity to forge new bonds of student unity.

See you there!

Reach BRIAN RILEY at bkriley@ucdavis.edu.

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