Bike theft: It happens to the best of us, and brings with it the crushing realization that the thief is somewhere in Davis enjoying your bike while you are stuck walking all the way to class.

Statistically, bike theft on campus is on the rise. As of Sept. 29, the UC Davis Police Department received 38 bike theft reports in two weeks, more than the total reported thefts in the month of August.

Out of the 59 bike thefts in September, 54 of those thefts were reported online, according to the UC Davis Police Department (UCDPD).

The increase in the theft rate can likely be attributed to the online bike theft reporting system created by the UCDPD, said UCDPD Lieutenant Matt Carmichael.

“It can be hard for students to come down [to the station] to make a report. Sometimes the only time students have to report it is late at night,” Carmichael said. “More times than not, students go online.”

For victims of bike theft or those looking for a fixer-upper, bikes will be sold at the bike auction this Saturday. Through the abandoned bike program, TAPS removes nearly 1,000 neglected bikes from campus each year, and sells them “as is” at its bi-annual bike auctions.

“We look for bikes that have the appearance of not having moved in a long time – it usually comes down to months,” said David Takemoto-Weerts, Bicycle Program Coordinator at TAPS. “The ones that we are picking up: the tires have gone flat, there is rust, and they start to lose parts somehow,” Takemoto-Weerts said.

While reporting bike theft is far more convenient than it used to be, bike recovery rates are minimal. According to Carmichael, the best students can hope for is that their bikes can be recovered by identifying the bike by its registration stickers.

In an effort to recover stolen bikes, the UC Davis Police Department is in what Carmichael calls “a warning phase.” During the regular 100 to 150 bike offenses that occur each day, officers check for suspicious activity, such as obvious removal of registration stickers from bikes or matching license numbers to the bike rider’s identification.

Between July 2008 and June 2009, TAPS sold 4,247 licenses and renewals to the staff and students of UC Davis. Though ignored by many students, bike registration is mandatory for all bikes that cross the UC Davis campus and is nearly the only way a bike can be recovered if it is stolen.

Bike theft is a familiar reality for Ph.D. student and three-time theft victim Shafi Bashar.

“I did not report bike theft in any of the three cases because none of the bikes were registered to TAPS and I didn’t think I could get the bikes back by reporting, and I feel that the registration fee is too high,” Bashar said.

Takemoto-Weerts stressed that even if a stolen bike is unregistered, it should be reported to give the police department more data about where and when bikes are stolen.

“My guess is that probably for every 500 bikes that are reported stolen on campus, there are another 500 that go unreported,” Takemoto-Weerts said.

The bike auction will be this Saturday at the West Entry Parking Structure near the intramural fields and Transportation and Parking Services office. Viewing will take place at 8 a.m., and the bidding starts at 9 a.m. For more information please visit taps.ucdavis.edu/bicycle/auctions/.

Info Box:

Numbers of bike thefts per month in 2009

April 56

May 28

June 36

July 37

Aug. 33

Sep. 59

(Courtesy of Lieutenant Matt Carmichael)

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

David Plouffe, campaign manager for Barack Obama, examined how election principles and strategies he oversaw can now shape the president’s approach to policy goals in a speech at the Mondavi Center Monday night.

Plouffe addressed the consistent message and strategy – the “two pillars” in politics – that provided the campaign with the stability necessary to overcome external difficulties.

He said campaign election simulations run by the Obama campaign had the candidate losing to his rival, Hillary Clinton, nine times out of 10.

“We had such a narrow path of success,” Plouffe said. “So we had to commit to a path, no matter now narrow it was, and stick to it with the belief that even one flawed strategy is better than seven different strategies.”

Plouffe believes continuing this long-term approach will help Obama in pursuing his agenda in Washington. The president is able to pursue legislative aims, such as health care reform, because his campaign paid less attention to polls or short-term political gains, Plouffe said.

Plouffe said that the techniques honed during the campaign, such as using the Internet to send unified messages to supporters, will also help the administration avoid discrepancies in policies.

He recognized that supporters might be swayed by information from the media and the opposition, but that sending such a clear message early on mitigates its effects.

“Voters want to talk about what’s in the blood stream that day,” Plouffe said in reference to the value of having consistent information, which could help the administration garner support for issues such as health care or clean energy.

Plouffe also detailed how he worked to change the electorate to be friendlier to the campaign, which included an effort to increase youth turnout. In Iowa, the campaign roused the support of high schools and colleges to caucus for Obama, he said.

The strategy proved successful in Obama’s campaign, according to a study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The study showed that the youth participation surged in the caucus from 3 percent in 2004 to 13 percent in 2008.

This level of grassroots organizing also occurred on the Internet, which played a large role in creating networks of support for the Obama campaign.

The Obama campaign relied on the Internet to organize supporters, with instructions on how to make calls to voters on the campaign website, according to an article in The Chicago Tribune.

Plouffe led an effort in mobilizing grassroots fundraising on the Internet. According to the Washington Post, Internet contributions raised $500 million for the campaign, mainly through small donors whose contributions typically were $100 or less.

The role of technology, said Plouffe, helped build the campaign and allowed for communication amongst supporters. Youth particularly have a grasp on utilizing new media that will help them organize for policy issues like health care. “They obviously understand technology in a way a lot of people do not,” he said.

Concluding his speech, Plouffe urged people to stay involved and informed and said that the future was bright for the country.

Students who attended the event were excited that an insider to the Obama campaign came to speak at the campus.

Brianna Johnson, a first-year individual business and humanities major said the event stirred feelings of nostalgia for the 2008 campaign.

“To have someone here from the campaign was a liberating experience and to hear the recap was like the whole experience all over again,” Johnson said.

Another student was pleased with the amount of insider’s knowledge Plouffe offered in his presentation.

“I’m so used to seeing the campaign covered by the media,” said Colin Turcotte, a sophomore undeclared science and Japanese double major. “It was refreshing to see how they handled obstacles from their perspective.“

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

Following a wildfire-filled summer that covered over 336,000 acres of California, the UC Davis Fire Department is doing its part to keep fires from becoming a problem here on campus.

Monday marked the beginning of Fire Prevention Week, a national event sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association, said Kim Stephens, the fire prevention assistant for the UCDFD.

“This year’s [Fire Prevention Week] theme is titled ‘Stay Fire Smart –Don’t Get Burned‘ and is focusing more on general prevention of fires,” she said.

The UCDFD held its version of an open house at its “Day on the Quad” yesterday. Students passing by had the opportunity to participate in a number of fire safety activities and to speak with UC Davis firefighters.

Although only 20 percent of their calls are for fire-related accidents, the UCDFD hopes to prevent some of the most common home fires through education, said student firefighter Brent Marriott.

“The number one cause of fires in the dorms is candles,” said Marriott, a junior mechanical engineering major. “There are also oven fires, kitchen fires and electrical fires. Most of these can be prevented simply by knowing where their fire extinguishers are and how to use them, in addition to the number to call when things get out of hand.“

Marriott noted that the correct way to put out an oven fire is with baking soda – not baking flour.

The “Day on the Quad” originally started four years ago, said Wes Arvin, assistant fire chief for the UCDFD.

“We were trying to think of new ways of reaching out to the student population and this was one of our brainstorms,” he said. “It has been really successful … where better to interact with students than on the quad?”

In addition to getting more information about fire safety, students also practiced using a fire extinguisher, put on fire gear and watched the air-lift helicopter make a landing.

Members of the UC Davis student firefighter program were also available to talk with fellow students. The UC Davis student firefighter program is one of only three in the country and will be recruiting new members next year.

“The 15 students in the program live at the firehouse and go out with us on pretty much all of our calls,” said Arvin, who is also an alumnus of the program. “Many of these students go on to pursue a career in the fire service. We are very fortunate to have this program.“

The program also allows students the opportunity to experience the work of a firefighter without as much of the danger that full-time firefighters endure, Marriott said.

“It’s the greatest job,” he said. “It prepares you to do the job of a firefighter but is a lot less stressful.“

Student firefighters respond to on-campus calls and provide mutual aid for accidents in Yolo County. They also ensure that fire safety appliances like smoke detectors are in working order.

In addition to teaching fire safety, Arvin said the UCDFD also tries to emphasize prevention of any situation that can get out of hand.

“We try to get students to think about the impact of their actions on their roommates and other people in the building,” he said. “We also talk about bicycle safety and drinking responsibly … our department responds to a wide range of cases, including many where students have had too much to drink.“

To find out more about fire prevention week or how the student firefighter program, students can visit fire.ucdavis.edu.

ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org. LAUREN STEUSSY contributed to this article. 

Every year, universities around the country are required to release the numbers of nine different categories of crime as a result of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

Last year’s statistics for crimes committed both on and around the Davis and Sacramento campuses were announced at a press conference in the ARC conference room on Thursday. Overall, the UCD Police Department reported a decrease in forcible sex offenses, motor vehicle theft, arson arrests, drug arrests, weapon arrests, liquor disciplinary actions and liquor arrests.

Notable increases in 2008 include drug disciplinary actions and burglary.

The Clery Act, enacted by Congress in 1990, was created after Lehigh University student Jeanne Anne Clery was raped and murdered in the school’s freshmen residence hall. Her parents were appalled to find that the school had not disclosed 38 other violent crimes in the last three years, so they urged Congress to pass a law requiring this information be public.

“People need to know what is happening in their community,” said UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza in a previous article. “The more they know, the more alert they can be to their surroundings.”

This year’s announcement of the Clery Report was met with controversy, as UC Davis officials disclosed that the numbers of forcible sex offenses for the last three years had been significantly inflated. The inflation was linked to former Campus Violence Prevention Program (CVPP) director Jennifer Beeman.

Beeman declined comment to The Aggie during initial reporting of the inflation.

As a result, the Clery Report cases will now be handled by three panel members instead of just one. Panel members include a uniformed command officer from the UC Davis Police Department, a Clery Act specialist from the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and an attorney from the Office of Campus Counsel.

“The problem with the reporting of these statistics was an isolated incident related solely to one individual,” said Robert Loessberg-Zahl, assistant executive vice chancellor at the press conference.

Officials believe that the panel will prevent another incident of overreporting. Having a single person in charge of both hearing cases and reporting Clery numbers was a mistake on their part, as reported in The Sacramento Bee.

“This one person’s poor decision making should not reflect poorly on the program,” Spicuzza said. “And of course, the new panel will keep confidentiality as sacred as it has always been.”

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Lower Freeborn is how it’s spelled. But it’s often pronounced with a question mark at the end – “Lower Freeborn?” – by students struggling to find Campus Copies after their move downstairs.

Campus Copies is just one of the ASUCD units forced to relocate for the 2009-2010 school year by the construction of the new ASUCD Coffee House. Others are Campus Copies‘ partner, Classical Notes, which joins them in the Lower Freeborn maze, and the Post Office, which now resides in the Smith room on the second floor of the MU.

“We often hear about people wondering where Campus Copies/Classical Notes is,” said junior Lauren McCarthy, who manages Classical Notes. “Professors are really trying to help us out by telling their students specifically where to find us.“

Classical Notes hires a note-taker for most major lectures on campus. The note-taker is paid to take detailed notes from every class period and submit them to Classical Notes. Then, if a student realizes they are behind and can’t get the notes from a friend, they can purchase them from Classical Notes.

However, the process was easier when Campus Copies was next door, instead of down the hall, said employee Aaron Winkler.

“Part of the deal was that when people came here, our policy was when they asked for an archive we’d copy it right away, or within five minutes,” Winkler said. “But now we have to do something where they have to come back after 1 [p.m.] to pick it up, because we have to walk down the hall to run [the copies] off.“

Winkler noted that while it still takes the same time for a booklet of notes to be produced, people working at Classical Notes would have to abandon students in line to go down the hall and serve the current customer immediately.

McCarthy said Classical Notes‘ business is still mostly normal and that they’ve actually run out of cash in the register several times.

“We’ve sold just as much as we usually do as far as our readers are concerned, and we’ve had pretty much a rush at the popular hours like last year,” she said.

One type of customer that Campus Copies/Classical Notes has lost, though, is the walk-up customer, Winkler said.

“People would pass by and ask who we were and what we did, and they’d end up buying notes, so our influx of ‘random people‘ customer base – we don’t have that anymore,” he said.

But Campus Copies is not alone in feeling a lack of walk-up business, said senior Robert Hunt, director of the Post Office.

“It’s been a change, having fewer customers, but it’s not too major,” Hunt said. “But people can’t really find us now that we’re upstairs and out of the way.“

The Post Office is now located on the second floor of the MU, facing the elevator.

“We have signs, but some people still don’t know how to get here,” Hunt said. “They forget that there are multiple levels to the MU and keep looking around the old one.“

Of the relocated units, the future benefactor of the construction, the Coffee House, has felt their move the hardest – both economically and convenience-wise. Director Sharon Coulson said they are currently experiencing their lowest number in the past 20 years.

“There’s no reason to expect that we could maintain the same level of business during this interim year,” she said.

A side effect of the relocation was cutting one of their most popular offerings, the Tex Mex Grill, said Coulson.

“That was not what wanted to do, but the kitchen trailers cannot handle the cooking and storage required to offer our popular Tex Mex Grill menu,” she said.

The greater difficulty though, has been working out of rooms that were not built to house restaurants and with limited storage space.

“We wish they had several things they don’t, such as ventilation hoods for grilling, gas hookups, floor drains and walk-in refrigerators,” Coulson said. “The kitchen trailers are small as well, and we have about one-tenth of the cold storage space we had at the old Coho.“

Coulson said even with daily deliveries, the limited storage space still forces them to curtail their menu – including a popular breakfast item.

“Many morning customers miss our breakfast burritos, and we hate to disappoint our customers,” she said.

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

Plagiarism

A sophomore was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for plagiarism. The student’s paper contained material copied from multiple sources and little original work. The student claimed she had submitted the wrong copy of the paper to the professor by accident, but this claim seemed highly unlikely since copied portions of the paper were purposely altered. In any case, students at UC Davis are responsible for all work submitted, intentionally or not, as long as their names are on it. Due to the severity of copying, the student agreed to a sanction of 15 hours of community service, a plagiarism writing assignment with the Learning Skills Center and deferred separation until graduation. Deferred separation means that if a student is found in violation for an act of misconduct in the future, he or she would almost certainly be suspended or dismissed.

Providing false information

The Community Service Resource Center referred a student for providing false information to the university. The student failed to complete the community service hours he was assigned as a sanction for academic misconduct, but submitted false documents to the ICC stating that he had finished the required hours. Because this was not the student’s first violation of the rules, the student agreed to a sanction of deferred dismissal until graduation and a sanction payment of $300 in lieu of the uncompleted community service.

Copying on an exam

A professor referred a student to SJA after the TAs saw the student looking repeatedly at another student’s Scantron during an exam. The referred student admitted to the misconduct and explained personal difficulties for which she was going to CAPS for counseling. Consequently, the student agreed to disciplinary probation and 15 hours of community service.

The Campus Judicial Report is compiled by student members of the Campus Judicial Board. Additional information about SJA and the Campus Judicial Board may be found at sja.ucdavis.edu.