On Thursday, the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Stress and Wellness Ambassador Program is hosting an event aimed at reducing student stress through dog therapy.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Memorial Union patio.

With stressful class schedules and time consuming extracurricular activities, many UC Davis students have issues dealing with their stress in an effective way. The Stress and Wellness Ambassadors hope to help students de-stress with the event.

“More than 35 percent [of UC Davis students] indicate stress hurts their academics, and nearly all UC Davis students indicated they felt overwhelmed or exhausted at some point during the school year,” said Dorje Jennette, stress and wellness clinic coordinator, in an e-mail interview. “We want to help students succeed and feel better through providing opportunities to manage stress better.”

Pet therapy is a technique that has been shown to provide stress and health benefits.

“It’s been proven in studies that just petting an animal lowers blood pressure, and for most people dogs just bring a smile to their face,” said Deb Haggerty, member of Independent Therapy Dogs Inc. and owner of Spuddy, a golden retriever who will be at the event on Thursday.

Stress and Wellness Ambassadors said they hope to help students deal with their stress in new ways through this event.

“We just wanted to put on an event where students can de-stress in a way that they may not be able to normally if they don’t have a pet. We’re trying to use the benefits of pet therapy for students,” said Emily He, Stress and Wellness Ambassador.

The idea comes from a similar and very successful event at UC San Diego, said Barb McKown, who participated in the de-stress day with her therapy dog.

“Students, staff and educators all flock to the dogs. You’ll see magic happen. The students’ faces will become more animated, their faces and bodies will relax and many will start sharing their experiences,” McKown said.

The dogs that will be at UC Davis will come from both the Yolo County SPCA and Independent Therapy Dogs Inc., a registered therapy dog organization.

As companions, dogs can help people live a happy life, Jennette said.

“Dogs can decrease stress through providing unconditional companionship, getting us out interacting with other people who like dogs and being so affectionate that it’s nearly impossible to stay in a bad mood,” she said.

On the Facebook event for the UC Davis Therapy Fluffies De-Stress Event, 2,674 students said they would be attending as of Tuesday.

Haggerty is excited that UC Davis has chosen to hold a therapy dog event and is looking forward to bringing her dog to campus to help students.

“It allows me to spend time with my dog and be able to share my dog and the wonderful things that dogs can bring to people,” Haggerty said. “It’s really heartwarming; it’s feel-good for everyone.”

HANNAH STRUMWASSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

With the UC Board of Regents expected to implement an 8 percent fee increase on Thursday, teaching assistants held their class sections out on the quad in protest.

Roughly five classes at a time were held outdoors throughout the day, said Sarah Augusto, a graduate student in sociology and organizer of the event. Some classes were dedicated to learning about budget cuts while others continued with normal course material.

A little after noon, students gathered on the Memorial Union patio to discuss the state of public education. Award-winning investigative journalist Pete Byrne addressed a crowd of approximately 75 students, faculty and staff, as did a number of concerned students.

“Business people should not be running our education system. Students should be running our education system,” said Senator-elect Tatiana Moana Bush.

Speakers also focused on current negotiations between United Auto Workers 2865, a union representing over 12,000 Academic Student Employees, and UC. Bargaining deadlines have been extended repeatedly by UC and teaching assistants are still working without a contract, said Jordan Carroll, UAW member and doctoral student in English.

Approximately 15 students marched to Mrak at 1:45 p.m. to present a list of demands to Chancellor Linda Katehi. The list included saying no to the 8 percent fee increase, extending TA contracts permanently to reflect TAs’ demands and having UC Davis officials pressure the UC Regents to appoint a peer-elected student representative per campus to vote on the board. Katehi, however, was not present.

The group returned to the MU and dispersed around 2:30 p.m. Protesters are going to the regents’ meeting at UCSF tomorrow.

For a full story on Tuesday’s action at UC Davis, look in Thursday’s Aggie.

– Janelle Bitker

If you think UC Davis is more crowded than ever this year, then you would be right. Davis currently has the largest student body in the university’s history.

This fall 32,290 students are registered at UC Davis, a 0.4 percent increase from last fall’s 32,153.

Of those 32,290 students, 2,756 are transfers. The 24.2 percent increase from last fall’s 2,219 transfer students reflects the success of recent efforts by UC Davis to boost transfers from California community colleges, said Frank Wada, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions and university registrar, in a press release.

“The increase is significant since it validates the recent trend where a growing number of students are attending California community colleges first, and then deciding to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue their baccalaureate degree,” Wada said in an e-mail interview.

The majority of transfer students admitted this fall did exactly that.

“Students who may have some financial difficulty or are not sure what to major in or are just not sure if they should go to a four-year right away decide that the community college is great, especially with the guarantee transfer,” said Richard Yang, Interim Transfer Center director at Sacramento City College (SCC).

All UC campuses, except for Berkeley and Los Angeles, offer a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program. TAG ensures all students who have 45 UC-transferable units and a minimum GPA of 2.80-3.10, depending on intended major, admission to a UC campus.

In addition, Davis provides a transfer adviser for regional community colleges through the Transfer Opportunity Program. Pam Blanco, the Davis representative for the Los Rios Community College District, visits SCC once a week and holds financial aid workshops and appointments for students who wish to transfer to Davis.

“Our contact with Davis specifically is very good,” Yang said.

The UC system collectively increased the number of transfer students for fall 2010.

“(The increase) has been extremely beneficial for students seeking transfer to a UC campus since many other in-state transfer opportunities were decreased during the same period,” Wada said.

Students who plan to transfer to a UC campus next fall are currently undergoing the application process. Nov. 30 is the last day to submit applications.

David Rincon is a prospective transfer student for Davis next fall. He decided to attend Fresno City before transferring to a UC campus.

“Community college saves money. I can finish my G.E. requirements and also get an associative science two-year degree while I’m at it,” he said.

Even though community college transfer students receive priority admission, thanks to TAG, some of the transfer students come from other institutions.

Transfer students from private universities and other UC campuses make up a small portion of the transfer student enrollment. This fall only 84 students – about 3 percent of all transfer students – came to UC Davis from other UC campuses.

However, transfer students aren’t the only new students added to the campus this year.

Despite the increase in tuition this fall, UC Davis admitted 4,501 new first-years compared to last year’s 4,412. This class is not only larger, but has a higher average GPA of 3.86 compared with last year’s 3.85.

“Our campus goal was to enroll the same number of students in fall 2010 as we did in fall 2009, so we admitted roughly the same number of students,” Wada said. “The enrollment figure this fall 2010 was a reflection of more students accepting our offers of admission than in the past.”

The size of next year’s incoming first-year class is still up in the air as the application deadline for both first-years and transfer students quickly approaches.

“Although our admission criteria and process for the upcoming fall 2011 cycle will be the same as this fall 2010 cycle, it is possible that we could experience fewer [first-year] students admitted if we are asked in the coming months to change our first-year enrollment target,” Wada said.

MICHELLE MURPHY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

No ID card, no service

A sophomore student was referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for helping a friend gain unauthorized access to the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC). When approached by ARC staff about the violation, the student did not appear remorseful and assumed that staff would not report the incident because she was a first-time offender. The ARC facilities are provided only to currently enrolled students to control costs and provide a higher quality service. Thus, the incident was a violation of university policy. The student’s name will be retained on file by SJA until her graduation.  In addition, Campus Recreation suspended her membership to the ARC.

No helping hands

A first-year (Student A) was referred to SJA for alleged collaboration on an exam in his lower division chemistry class. Student A was observed sitting next to another student (Student B) with the same color exam, a violation of the professor’s instruction to sit in an alternating color pattern so that students sitting next to each other would have different versions of the test.  Additionally, Student A was observed speaking with Student B and laughing while the exam was in progress. The professor also observed Student B looking at Student A’s exam. Upon completion of the test, the professor examined both tests and saw that Student B had many answers in common with Student A, though without the supporting work that Student A had shown. In an informal meeting with a Judicial Officer, Student A admitted to helping Student B on the exam and agreed to a sanction of disciplinary probation for two years.

You only get one chance

A senior was referred to SJA for altering an exam and submitting it for more credit in her upper division biology class. The professor reported that the student had come to his office hours requesting that he take a second look at the point totals on her exam. Upon further examination, he saw that the point totals did not match up and updated it in his grade book for the class. The instructor then took a further look at the student’s exam and saw that the pages were clearly photocopies of the original test that had been altered and re-stapled. He confronted the student about this and she immediately confessed. After meeting with a judicial officer, the student agreed to a sanction of deferred separation, as well as 15 hours of community service and a short writing assignment on academic honesty. Deferred separation means that the student may continue attending UC Davis, but if she is again referred to SJA for any kind of academic misconduct, she waives her right to a formal hearing and would likely be suspended or dismissed if found in violation.

CAMPUS JUDICIAL REPORTS are compiled by members of Student Judicial Affairs.