‘Recipe for a party’ didn’t promote binge drinking at all

Dear editor,

Your Oct. 27 article “Recipe for a party” was not promoting binge drinking. Yes, when broken down on paper (why you would ever waste the time doing this eludes me); some drinking games may seem to promote getting drunk “as fast as possible.” The reality is that’s not their point, nor was it yours, I imagine, when you printed this piece.

To anyone who has actually played drinking games, such as seven, 11 or doubles, they represent a social experience that makes breaking the ice and getting to know people at parties or other social gatherings easier. As for the fact that they also tend to get you drunk – sometimes quickly – my response is: duh. It doesn’t take a graduate student in agricultural and environmental chemistry to understand that in college (seriously, they don’t understand), people like to drink.

Playing one or two rounds of a drinking game and drinking one or two drinks does not constitute “binge drinking.” Thank you for writing an article that is both informative and helpful to those of us living in reality. For all of you who live in “fantasy land” – a.k.a. graduate school – lighten up and have a beer. (I know a great game you can play.)

DANIEL GOODMAN, Political science, history double major

Class offerings must be addressed before fee increases

Dear editor:

My daughter e-mailed me a copy of the letter from President Mark Yudof outlining the UC fee increases being proposed to the Board of Regents for the next two academic years.

Although I understand the need for these increases, and applaud efforts to help offset the financial burden with additional financial aid, as a parent of a UC Davis student, I would like to ask for something in return. The UC system is known for not having classes available that would guarantee graduation in four years. Often, it seems, students need an additional fifth year to graduate because of an inability to get into required classes. I would ask that the Board and UC administrators guarantee the course offerings the students need to graduate in that four-year time period.

My daughter is a very good student. In several quarters, she has been unable to get the prerequisite classes she needs to assure graduation in four years. As fees continue to increase, I hope that students become insistent that the necessary, required classes are readily available. This should become a requirement before any fees are increased. I challenge the Board of Regents to offer the classes necessary to guarantee graduation in four years to those students who fulfill the requirements.

BUTCH COYNE, Father, UC Davis Student

Bliss without geography?

Editor,

I was honored to be invited to give one of the ancillary lectures to this year’s ongoing Campus Community Book project focused on Eric Weiner’s delightfully uplifting work, The Geography of Bliss, which poses links between places in the world and relative happiness. Giving a related lecture was a tailor-made assignment because, for me, geography is bliss.

So you can imagine my dismay upon hearing that, concurrent with the campus book project, UC Davis is recommending elimination of the highly popular and rapidly improving Geography Graduate Group (no, I am not kidding). If, like me, you find it ironic that UC Davis would invite world-class geographers like Jared Diamond (UCLA Geography Department) to speak at the Mondavi Center and celebrate Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss with the entire Davis community while disestablishing geographic education and research at UC Davis, then perhaps you might make your feelings known to the Chancellor, and particularly, to Dean of Graduate Studies Jeffery Gibeling in Mrak Hall.

And, of course, I cordially invite you to attend my own Campus Community Book Project lecture on Nov. 12 at 12:10 p.m. in the Garrison Room at the UC Davis Memorial Union. My talk is entitled: “If you can’t find happiness right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”

ROBERT L. THAYER

Emeritus professor, UC Davis

Griffin Lounge is the new CoHo

Dear editor,

Renovating the ASUCD Coffee House is so bittersweet. I have been hanging out there since spring quarter of my freshman year. Now I’m a senior and will not be able to reap the benefits of the new CoHo.

I, along with the rest of my sorority, am trying my best to compensate by hanging out outside or in Griffin Lounge. I want it to be known that because of what happened to the CoHo, Griffin Lounge should be considered the new CoHo – a place to talk, gather and eat.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been “shushed” in Griffin Lounge and I’m tired of it. I think we all need to realize that Griffin has become a social atmosphere, and if you want quiet study time, you need to go upstairs to Art or King Lounge. With the cold weather approaching, Griffin will probably be louder than ever, and we all need to come to terms with that.

TINA PORCELLI,Senior, sociology major

Riddle me this! What do fat babies, rape victims and people who have been abused by a spouse all have in common? [Cue Jeopardy thinking song here.] Give up? They each can be denied health coverage because of their “pre-existing conditions.” Obesity, anti-HIV medication and post-traumatic stress disorder can all be considered pre-existing conditions, respectively.

Sorry, it wasn’t a fun riddle.

Health insurance companies have some nerve with the kinds of things they’ll deny people coverage for these days. The idea that a pre-existing condition can deny anyone coverage at all is contradictory in itself, but what qualifies as one is becoming incredibly more broad – and with that, more discriminatory.

Having a child who weighs in above what is known as the “95th percentile” for weight-height-age ratios can be denied coverage because “unfortunately, when we try to sell people insurance, a number has to be used as a cutoff,” according to Dr. Doug Speedle, medical director of Rocky Mountain Health Plans in Colorado.

A four-month old who weighed 17 pounds was denied coverage! Who doesn’t love a fat baby? Insurance companies, it would seem.

People with brown eyes are 80 percent more likely to have cataracts than those with lighter eyes, according to Apples For Health, a group of Australian researchers. I hope this doesn’t count as a pre-existing condition by the time I need to buy my own health insurance.

Life insurance companies also denied coverage to a woman from Florida who was drugged and raped in 2002. This was because she took precautions by taking anti-HIV medicine. The insurance companies said she must wait two or three years so she can prove that she doesn’t actually have HIV. She went seven years without any insurance until her husband’s job covered spouses.

Rape as a pre-existing condition is absurd. Insurance companies do not say straight out that rape is what is preventing victims’ coverage. They are making affected people choose between long-term health coverage or immediate and necessary precautions. What these private companies are doing is forcing victims of rape – who already face stigmas and difficulties seeking legal and medical help for what happened to them – to choose between being safe and being covered. Ironically, the two seem mutually exclusive to companies when it comes down to making a profit.

Women in Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming can also be denied coverage for being in abusive relationships, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

Good God. Apparently, the logic is if you’re in an abusive relationship, you’re more likely than the average person to continue to get into more abusive relationships. And that means you’ll need more coverage, which means more work, time and money spent by the insurance companies on you.

Without getting into a huge health care debate, let me say this: The few, the powerful and the rich get to decide who lives and ultimately who dies by having the discretion and ability to grant and deny people the opportunity to even buy health coverage.

Using latent terminology like “pre-existing conditions” allows these companies to pick and choose who will afford them the highest profit with the lowest cost while completely ignoring what is the purpose of an insurance company. The well being of people is undermined for the fiscal benefit of a few wealthy company owners that want to continue to expand when they already have so much.

Tupac puts it best when he says, “Through this suppression they punish the people that’s askin’ questions, and those that possess, steal from the ones without possessions.”

SARA KOHGADI hopes being an Afghan woman and a senior at UC Davis isn’t a pre-existing condition. Contact her at sbkohgadai@ucdavis.edu.

I’m leaning up against the main double doors of SciLec. Some nutrition professor is rambling on about fish or something, and I’m on the precipice of exploding with excitement – and it’s not about the omega-3’s in rainbow trout. No, I’m barbarically salivating over the seat that’s going to open up when she’s finished babbling: the most coveted of all the seats in SciLec for a huge, left-handed guy.

It’s located behind the front-row handicapped seat on the very left-hand side in the middle-section. It’s legendary – no scratch that, it’s biblical. In addition to its rare lefty design, it has Godly leg-room. And that’s unbeatable for a southpaw who’s as tall as Yao Ming but as fat as Danny DeVito.

Currently sitting in my soon-to-be seat is a middle-aged woman with a Native American inspired wolf T-shirt who is taking way too many notes for a power point slide. But, in reality, she’s the least of my worries. I shift my gaze to my competition, a.k.a. the uncomfortably disheveled girl who is always wearing a grimy backpack and carrying an overflowing purse, as if to convince any would-be skeptics that she is, in fact, a girl.

Let me explain how their little sting operation works. Two friends with better things to do than arrive early for lecture solicit their mutual, disheveled quasi-friend to come in 30 minutes beforehand to park herself in a seat and save those directly on each side of her – one of which is my jacked desk. Her definition of “saving seats” is placing her overstuffed JanSport to the left of her, and her smelly UC Davis sweatshirt to the right.

Then her accomplice comes in: It’s an ungainly, pasty white dude who snaps at you if you even attempt to sit down, or even ask gently if it’s possible. He snapped so badly at me once, I almost cried. And I’m a big, hairy, Persian beast. I felt pathetic. And his assoholery doesn’t hinge on me being brown or big. I saw him do this to an innocuous little Asian dude who asked very politely if he could sit down in that seat. The pasty white guy bit him like a pit bull. The poor Asian was so red after the exchange I thought he was drunk. I eavesdropped on the pasty white dude’s justification for snapping: “I’m in a bad mood.” Really? That’s the wrong definition of paying it forward, jackass.

Why not just sit in the front row, you ask? Well, you see, front row seats are always taken by horny-for-letters-of-rec pre-meds, and I don’t want to have to compete with them. Not to mention the fact that I’d have to sit in on the previous lecture and that would mean coming in at like 10 a.m. for a noon class. That’s precious time that could be spent heckling the guy giving out Coke-Zero at the Silo or thinking about my imaginary Narwhal friend, Mortimer J. Hornswell.

The histrionics may seem gratuitous, but I’m getting to the reason I’m so angry. Immediately after the tense eye-contact, I hear people rustling in their seats. Class is over. I run down the stairs of SciLec. I don’t think you understand – I’m flying down these goddamn stairs like I’ve never flown before.

As I’m flying, I look to my left and there’s this guy in a cheap plastic jacket who’s miraculously keeping up with me. Time slows down. My heart is racing, but he breaks off down another row … fortunately there’s a seat he likes more than mine. I simply don’t give a fuck about the people trying to leave; I’ve clogged up the entire left side of the lecture hall as a result of this death-defying stunt.

Glistening with the sweat of exhaustion and nervousness, I get to my seat. Fuck me! Wolf lady is still taking notes. I look at my watch 15 times to hurry her ass up subconsciously, but she’s painfully oblivious. She finally finishes her PowerPoint extravaganza and BAM, I plop my fat-ass into the seat. My grin is so huge and my pride so great, the pain of coming 30 minutes early to organic chemistry is completely gone.

I grope for the fake wood desk but only scoop air. Are you shitting me? After scarfing down breakfast, scoping out the desk from above, sprinting down the stairs and nearly pissing my pants because of wolf lady, I realize that I missed my target and just sat in a right-handed desk. The only fucking anomaly in all of SciLec had to be the one I fought for so tirelessly. Goddamnit!

DAVE KARIMI has plenty of stories about Mortimer J. Hornswell and his evil nemesis, Mortimer J. Hornsbad. E-mail him at dkarimi@ucdavis.edu to hear more about them.

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dropped out the California governor’s race due to personal and current professional responsibilities.

Even though we can’t help but be a little disappointed, his decision was a smart move. His reasons for dropping his campaign are perfectly understandable.

Newsom replied to our past editorial piece with a plan of action on how to address student fee increases and his goals for the future of higher education. We appreciated his willingness to engage with college students, even though he could have been more specific. This was a lot more than other public officials have done in the past.

Students need a leader that has their best interests in mind, and Newsom seemed like he was making higher education a priority. He had the makings of someone who could potentially lead the interests of students. Hopefully, future candidates will take the time to engage in dialogue with UC Davis and other universities.

Newsom is relatively young and is focusing on his family right now. This time off will give him a chance to gain some substance as a candidate. When he returns, he will be ready and better prepared to take on a campaign once again. He should use the next few years to establish a solid presence on a statewide level and he already has a strong foundation. Moreover, he will not have to suffer through the personal negative attention his political campaign would most likely instigate.

One downside of Newsom’s withdrawal from the race is the lack of a challenger to the presumptive nominee. Now there will be no one challenging the leading Democratic candidate.

Here’s to the next race!

UC Davis ranks among the top five universities in terms of total number of international students.

These numbers may be in jeopardy. The Budget Advisory Subcommittee on Instruction and Research put forth several proposals for the restructuring of the English as a Second Language Program in an effort to save approximately $475,000.

The ESL program is designed to help acclimate international students to the life of an American college student by helping them learn English and introducing them to the skills needed to do research.

However, these opportunities might not be available in the near future. Two of the possible solutions are the outsourcing of courses for undergraduates to community colleges and incorporating courses with the University Extension or Summer Sessions.

While it may be easy for students who know the ins and outs of Northern California to get on the Yolo Bus 42A to Sacramento or drive a car to the Bay Area, it may not be possible for international students to do the same.

Another issue with these cuts is that ESL department officials claim these programs and lecturers will come back shortly after the cuts.

Historically, this hasn’t turned out to be the case. Once programs like this are cut, they are likely to be gone for good. Basically, it is a 10-year problem, not a two-year one.

The issue of international students’ fees also plays in the mix. They pay the full cost to go here and deserve all the resources they need to feel comfortable.

Chancellor Linda Katehi says she wants UC Davis to be an internationally recognized university. In order for this to be accomplished we need to continue to attract international students who want a UC education, not send them off to Sac City or Woodland Community College.

The bottom line is with a total savings of about $500,000 the cuts are not worth it. We need to find somewhere else to cut that doesn’t affect our reputation as a renowned international university.

In other words, we cannot afford to save this money.