The Segundo high rises will be closed for the 2010-2011 academic school year due to a renovation plan titled Segundo Life Safety Project.

The Segundo Services Center (SCC), which houses the Area Service Desk, Academic Advising Center, and The Junction will also be renovated and modernized.

These projects all fall under a 10-year master plan that saw the renovation of the Segundo Dining Commons and the building of the Segundo North Dorms.

The Services Center Project and Life Safety Project complete the main Segundo project, explained Mike Sheehan, associate director of facilities services.

Updates of the high rises – residence halls Malcolm, Gilmore, Ryerson and Bixby – include a seismic upgrade from poor to good, a fire sprinkler system and roof replacements. The project will also install other amenity upgrades such as wireless Internet, carpet, new lighting, better ventilation and a new exhaust system.

Many students see the implementation of wireless Internet as the biggest upgrade to the UC Davis dorm experience.

“It was a hassle living in the dorms without wireless [Internet], but at least the high rises will provide the incoming freshman with the basic amenity in two years,” said Maxine Sarai, a first-year undeclared major living in Bixby Hall.

Wireless Internet will be one of the many upgrades that Student Housing will allocate its renovation funds toward. The university is able to finance the project because, as Sheehan explained, Student Housing is an auxiliary service, which means the department budget comes 100 percent from rates charged to dorm tenants.

“The Segundo Life Safety project is being funded through Student Housing Capital Reserves,” Sheehan said. “We actively plan for five to 10 years out to ensure that we have appropriate reserves to fund projects while maintaining a competitive rate structure.”

The SCC currently holds the mechanical room, which supplies heating and water to the high rises. The new SCC will supply a new mechanical room for the high rises when they both reopen in fall of 2011.

“We were going to upgrade the high rises one at a time, but because of the renovation of the SCC it made sense to take all four at one time,” Sheehan said. “Knock it out all at once.”

This is all possible because of the of the new Tercero South dorms, which will open next fall. The Tercero area will see an influx of students due to the closing of the high rises. The new Tercero dorms named Wall Hall, Potter Hall and Campbell Hall will join Kearney and Laben Hall to complete the Tercero area renovations, which also included the new Tercero dining commons.

“The Tercero dining commons’ renovation was done with the idea that there would be an increased occupancy,” Sheehan said, referring to the expected increased residency in Tercero.

Many students, upset with increased lines at the Segundo dining commons after the closing of the Oxford Circle Dining commons located at Cuarto, seem pessimistic.

“After the Oxford Circle closed in spring last year, those students living in Cuarto had no choice but to eat at Segundo,” said Wendy Li, a sophomore English major. “The lines in the DC got noticeably longer during peak hours, and seating was harder to find overall. Overall, it just became a more crowded and hectic place to eat.”

Many wonder whether the Tercero dining commons will be able to accommodate for such a high increase in students, but Brenan Connolly, general manager for resident dining is confident that the transition will run smoothly.

“Dinner will have the most impact,” Connolly said. “But with extra staffing and doing some things differently in terms of preparation, we don’t anticipate any issues. We’ve thought it out and have a pretty good game plan. Either way, we still won’t be as busy as Segundo is currently.”

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

“If any athletics get cut it should be football. A lot of money is spent on that program.”

Glenn Hoban

junior comparitive literature major

“I think the real problem is that we need more money to spend on everything we want. We already cut too much.”

Katie Parkhill

sophomore economics major

“The bike cops. They waste money and give us tickets.”

Ken Umeh

senior biological sciences major

“Cut the entire administration.”

David Mac

senior economics major

“Cut a lot of the new construction. We don’t need to build new dorms and dining commons every other week.”

Neiman Paw

junior neurobiology, physiology and behavior major

“I think both the centennial walkway and the bike circle murals were a waste of money.”

Adam Chludzinsky

senior international relations major

“The salaries of people that make hella money. I believe in cutting from the top.”

Nerissa Hall

first-year political science major

“Small things like the amount of paper used in classes. Professors should use the Internet more and stop all the printing.”

Jessica Huang

sophomore animal biology major

“There are some really crappy professors that the school keeps around just for their research. We should cut them.”

Caroline Jaynes

sophomore sociology major

– Text by Erica Lee

– Photos by Jeff Perry

A majority of the UC Davis Police Department and several officers from the Davis Police Department will be on the MU Patio today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Rather than reacting to a student protest, however, the officers will be trying to make friendly conversation.

The police have partnered with the ASUCD Police Student Relations Committee to host the first Student Police Relations Event today. In addition to the officers on hand, the event will feature police cars, motorcycles, the diggler – a motorized scooter – and other police equipment.

“[The event] gives students a chance to become familiar with the equipment and put a name to the officers,” said Kara Rodenhizer, chair of the committee. “Most students only encounter police when they’re being cited, so this is kind of trying to bridge the gap.”

Organizers hope the event will allow students to get to know local police officers on a more personal level in an informal atmosphere.

“The police want to have a better line of communication with the students so that [students] feel more comfortable talking to police officers,” Rodenhizer said, adding that some officers will attend the event in plain clothes in order to seem less intimidating.

“The police are all nervous, too,” she said. “They think all the students hate them. Nobody should feel apprehensive. It’s a meet and greet kind of thing, students can ask any question in an off-the-record sense.”

In addition to talking to police officers and seeing law enforcement equipment up close, students will have the opportunity to try on drunk goggles and play hopscotch. Winners will receive raffle tickets, which could win them one of several prizes at the end of the event.

“Hopefully students will stop by and meet us and see the equipment,” said UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza. “Our hope is that we can break down some of those walls. It’s a friendly gesture and we’re just trying to be involved.”

The event comes soon after the Mar. 4 protests, in which hundreds of UC Davis students pulled fire alarms all over campus and blocked intersections throughout Davis, but organizers have been planning for more than a year.

“Last year the event was scheduled to take place during the same time as culture week and people protested,” Rodenhizer said. “They felt it would be disrespectful and offend their communities.”

The committee has hosted meetings this year in advance of the event so that concerned parties could voice concerns beforehand. Rodenhizer said she doesn’t anticipate any kind of negative reaction to the event, noting the meetings were low in attendance and the committee has taken steps to avoid the same scheduling conflicts as last year.

“It’s not during culture week,” she said. “This shouldn’t be an event where anyone gets offended.”

ASUCD President Jack Zwald encouraged students to stop by and attend the event.

“It will be a great time for law enforcement and students to communicate,” he said. “While recent events may be more fresh in our minds, it’s always important to have a positive relationship between students and law enforcement.”

RICHARD PROCTER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

A few rode or walked their bikes. Others held tennis rackets or slung oars over their shoulders. Many taped their mouths but all in the procession marched in silence.

Almost two weeks after they marched into Hickey Gym, student athletes yesterday protested the possible closure of sports teams resulting from budget cuts to UC Davis Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) by staging a silent sit-in protest at Mrak Hall.

Director of athletics Greg Warzecka has hinted that a decision would be forthcoming but did not state a specific time for an announcement. He said that four to five sports will be cut.

“We’d like to announce a decision as soon as possible,” Warzecka said. “But we don’t want to rush the process to the point where the process is not complete. We will continue with due diligence and a decision will come shortly.”

By press time yesterday, Warzecka had not announced a decision.

Student athletes and their supporters initially occupied the first floor lobby of Mrak Hall, but decided to present a petition of signatures urging Chancellor Linda Katehi to stop the cutting of sports teams. They then proceeded in groups of five up to the second floor to give the petition to the chancellor, which was accepted by the Office of Student Affairs on her behalf.

Signs taped to the door of a conference room reading, “Where is our voice?” and “Public school, private decisions” reflected the concern of student athletes who believe the process has not been transparent and done without their input.

“We want the administration to let the student athletes in, to voice our opinion,” said Darcy Ward, a senior neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and member of women’s varsity rowing team. “To at least let us become part of the process.”

In the weeks following the initial protest, student athletes and university administrators have split over the interpretation of two student-passed referenda, the Student Activities and Services Initiative (SASI) and the Campus Expansion Initiative (CEI).

Student athletes have argued that closing a range of sports would violate student approval of SASI’s first fee option to support ICA, which mentions a 23 ICA program.

“Students voted to keep 23 sports and a cut of five or more sports falls behind 23,” said Shawdee Rouhafza, a junior communication major and former ASUCD senator.

Rouhafza and other student athletes also believe cuts runs counter to several principles of CEI. Among such principles is the prohibition of “tiering” or unequal treatment between sports and another that states UC Davis “cannot reduce its broad-based program but rather must seek to add sports.”

Rouhafza said closing small sports teams, like swimming or water polo, while allowing sports like football or basketball to remain, would violate both principles.

Infringing on both referendums, she warned, would undermine student faith in the initiative process.

“Regardless of the legal issue with this,” Rouhafza said. “The fact that these referendums were violated sets a precedent for any referendum that has been passed or will be passed at UC Davis. It loses trust in the university as a whole. And we’re going to make that known.”

University officials have also considered both initiatives but view those tenets of SASI and CEI as important guiding philosophies rather than legal constraints to follow.

Janet Gong, senior associate vice chancellor of student affairs, said SASI references but does not specify a 23-sport program and that it allows for a reduction in sports if approved by the Campus Unions and Recreation Board.

Addressing the CEI language of maintaining a “broad-based program,” Gong said the principle addressed UC Davis’ compliance with Prong 2 of Title IX where the university expanded sports for the underrepresented gender.

The impact and severity of university budget cuts was unforeseen by the framers of the referenda, Gong said.

“I have never seen a budgetary climate that we’re in now,” Gong said. “It’s unparalleled, unprecedented and extraordinary.”

Warzecka cited a sharp decline in funds available for the department as the reason for the cuts.

“We’ve lost 2.4 million in the athletic budget, in addition to that we’re running a $1.4 million dollar deficit,” said Warzecka, who also stated that it would be difficult to bring sports back after their closure. “The most difficult part is that there’s only $1.3 million in transition money that we can use over the next three years.

“We’d have to find resources to sustain ourselves into the future past 2013-2014 or we’ll be back to this discussion again.”

But for student athletes and their supporters, any elimination of the sports teams will not be the final word.

“We should fight to defend those 27 sports so all of them have an ability to compete,” said Jack Zwald, president of ASUCD. “I’m protecting the student athletes and making sure we honor our commitments to them in paying for school. Because we said when you come here you can compete on this team and receive the scholarship. I’m going to fight it.”

LESLIE TSAN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Christian philosopher and theologian William Craig will describe tomorrow the seven reasons, he believes, God exists.

Craig, a research professor of philosophy at the Talbot University of Theology, is well known in the philosophy and theology communities, as well as on college campuses around the world where he travels extensively to speak.

“[Student] response has been highly encouraging,” Craig said. “They are interested in hearing arguments for and against the existence of God.”

Craig, who just returned from speaking at two universities in Hyderabad, India, added that his speeches are not just for Christian audiences.

“People of all world views are interested in and can appreciate them. This is very evident in the questions that are asked,” he said.

Craig usually holds a question and answer session after his presentations that lasts about 45 minutes, allowing him to open up a forum for discussion where he can debate his beliefs and answer questions from the audience.

Among those who receive him favorably are UC Davis professors.

Richard Spencer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, agrees with Craig’s beliefs. He believes that one of Craig’s important contributions to the field of theology is his work in Christian Aplogetics, a field that strives to produce rational evidence of Christian faith.

“In general there’s a misconception that faith is contrary to evidence and that’s not true,” Spencer said. “Bill Craig is an excellent example of some of the reasons why.”

Craig said his speeches don’t just focus on preaching, but seek to approach theology through a philosophical perspective. Craig received his Ph.D. in philosophy and has worked outside of religion in metaphysics as well as in presentism, which focuses on the idea that only things in the present really exist; the future and past are not real.

Cody Gilmore, a philosophy professor, admits that much of Craig’s work on presentism is compatible with modern physics. Gilmore reads, analyzes, critiques and debates Craig’s work in his classes with his students.

Gilmore himself, however, doesn’t buy Craig’s philosophy.

“I’m not convinced by his arguments,” he said, “but I think they’re interesting and useful.”

Despite offering criticism, Gilmore mentioned several of Craig’s books that refer to Craig’s contribution to rehabilitating the cosmological argument. Gilmore feels that this argument is one of Craig’s most important contributions to the fields of theology and philosophy.

Spencer, on the other hand, said the only criticism he has to offer are minor theological issues so trivial they are not worth mentioning.

“[Craig] is very intelligent, well read, educated and his work is very accessible,” he said.

In spite of their differing views of Craig, however, both Gilmore and Spencer expressed hope that students will attend the event, regardless of their religious practices.

“[Students] are likely to run into ideas they haven’t been exposed to,” Gilmore said. “It will be a mind-expanding event.”

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

Twelve hours, 200 events, and 100,000 guests are only a few of the massive statistics that describe the only party whose attendance will exceed those who RSVP’d on Facebook.

But while the majority of the Davis community will be spotted somewhere on campus this Saturday, its minorities may be staying home.

That’s because Picnic Day places certain factions of the greater campus community under the metaphorical microscope more than any other day, according to Andrea Gaytan, assistant director of the Cross Cultural Center.

“[The lack of diversity] is magnified because Picnic Day is like a homecoming, or open house,” Gaytan said. “You see generations of students come back, and it’s just more obvious that historically this institution has been predominantly Anglo.”

Because Davis’ roots are as a farming town, and Caucasians have only recently been surpassed as the most common race on campus, the trend will likely continue until the current generation’s homecoming, Gaytan said.

Meanwhile, illustrating campus diversity is one of the Picnic Day committee’s annual goals, according to chair Monica Lindholm, who cited the Multicultural Children’s Faire – an all-day crafts and activities event for children in the Hart Hall courtyard – as an example of cultural representation.

Kids can make their own Aztec mask or African bead necklace at the Faire, or learn to write their name in Chinese calligraphy.

Lindholm said stages throughout campus will again be filled with a variety of styles and cultures expressed through music and dance. Danzantes Del Alma, a returning favorite and UC Davis’ only folklorico dance troupe, can be seen at East Quad from 3:20 to 3:40 p.m.

While displaying diversity is one of the Picnic Day committee’s greatest hopes, it isn’t something they can do alone. Their role isn’t to host or charter events, Lindholm said, only to provide a forum and physical space.

Lindholm said that every department is sent an invitation to participate, and some, like Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, even have more than one event.

“We do our best to include everyone who wants to participate, and we usually don’t turn down any applications from within the UC Davis community,” Lindholm said.

What the Picnic Day Committee can’t do is usher in departments that are reluctant to participate.

“We do our best to make sure that we represent the diversity on campus with as many views as possible,” Lindholm said. “We’re students too, and we want to show the best of Davis.”

Gaytan said that even though the structure is open for people to participate, if students don’t feel safe and comfortable on campus on a day-to-day basis, they’re not going to participate on a day their differences will be even more visible.

“If we don’t feel welcome and if nothing else is done any time of the year, why should these people of color be paraded out on this one day,” she said, alluding to the streak of hate crimes the University of California experienced during winter quarter. “It’s a dog and pony show to get people to look at what a happy family we are, too, especially to donors.”

More visibly troubling is the increase in alcohol-related incidents on Picnic Day, as many students choose the day that academic departments try to look their best as one to look their worst.

“It’s a fun day that the university and our units try to put our best foot forward, wash our windows, offer free things, and show what we do in the world and then you have a good portion of students who play the fool,” said UC Davis Chief of Police Annette Spicuzza. “And it’s like, ‘What are you doing? You’re out of control and not helping anybody.'”

Spicuzza said there has been a rise in complaints from the community in recent years about drunkenness, disorderly conduct and underage drinking on Picnic Day.

“We probably see violations of the open container law the most – and that doesn’t mean if you put a cap on it it’s legal.” Spicuzza said. “We’re still going to have you dump it out and confiscate it.”

Emily Glass [cq], a junior at Davis High School, said high school students get excited for this weekend because alcohol is more accessible than any other.

“A Street apartments are so open that anyone can get in,” Glass said. “You just say ‘Mom, I’m going to the weiner dog races … and I couldn’t hear the phone because the dogs were barking.'”

Spicuzza said that the campus police department has increased the number of officers on duty for this year’s Picnic Day and cautioned students against drinking on campus.

“If you’re going to do it, be smart and responsible about it – don’t drive, or get in a car with someone who’s been drinking,” she said. “Your best bet is to just not do it, because the City of Davis isn’t going to tolerate it at all.”

MIKE DORSEY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.