Unitrans will use $90,000 starting this summer to shuttle people from the center of campus to downtown in collaboration with the Davis Downtown Business Association.

Due to the closure of the ASUCD Coffee House, U-DASH’s purpose is to get hungry students, faculty and staff quickly from campus to downtown for lunch.

In a city that prides itself on its record bicycle usage people should use their bikes to go downtown. They also have the option to walk, skateboard, scooter, hop, skip or jump their way downtown. Campus itself is quite large: Walking or biking downtown from Shields Library would not be too different than walking or biking to the Silo, where there is also food available, including the newly re-opened Gunrock Pub.

Adding these extra shuttles will also add unnecessary emissions into the air, contributing to pollution and other ill-effects. UC Davis is well known as a “green” campus. Adding this service will not comply with that notion.

While securing funds for this project comes at no additional cost to students, taking out an unnecessary $90,000 in a time when the budget is so tight, seems unfounded. These funds could be used toward another project, such as improving the Tipsy Taxi service so that students do not drink and drive – not so that students can go get lunch.

Unitrans already provides buses that travel downtown on a daily basis, for free. While the shuttle will be free during the summer, after August 3, the fare will increase to $1, adding an extra cost to students.

According to Googlemaps.com, from the Memorial Union to Crepeville, on Third Street, walking takes approximately 12 minutes. Shuttles come every 10 minutes. If a person misses the bus and has to wait 10 extra minutes for the next shuttle, for only two extra minutes of their time, they can get to downtown faster than a shuttle.

America’s Greenest Campus competition

Dear editor,

Climate Culture is hosting a national competition, America’s Greenest Campus, to see which college can get the most students, staff, faculty and alumni to sign up at americasgreenestcampus.com and complete a carbon footprint by Oct. 5. This website is a great way to see that when each person makes a small change, together it amounts to something substantial.

If you have ever wanted to know approximately how much carbon each action you take releases into the environment, find out by filling out a carbon footprint at americasgreenestcampus.com using your UC Davis e-mail.

UC Davis is on the rise, moving from 35th place one month ago to third place today. Sign up today to help us on our way toward leading the nation in this competition, and help raise UC Davis‘ national profile as a leader in environmental awareness and sustainability.

There is up to $10,000 in prize money for winning schools, which would directly fund student projects that promote sustainability. If you enjoy making movies, there is an opportunity for you to win $10,000 through the SmartPower Energy Smart Ad Challenge.

If you have any questions or ideas about the competition, or want to help out, e-mail me at wpklein@ucdavis.edu.

Will Klein

Campus Center for the Environment

Legislature reigning in UC

Campus community,

If you wish to learn how wasteful, degenerate and destructive the university has become, lacking any regard for academic freedom or basic civil rights of students and faculty, attend the hearings in the case of Zochlinski v. Regents on June 8 at 9 a.m. at Department 15 of the Yolo County Superior Court (1100 Main St., Suite 300) in Woodland, Calif.

This hearing regards my reinstatement to the university, a matter originating in 1993. To counter my efforts, the university has wasted over $1.5 million tax dollars just to prevent me from doing cancer research.

In 2005, after 13 years of effort, I had a due process hearing before the Academic Senate. I received 92 percent of the vote. Yet Dean Gibeling, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and Provost Barbara Horwitz, refuse to abide by that vote; they would rather lie and commit fraud than admit the university was wrong. I was alone in my struggle until 2005.

On Monday, I will argue alongside Professor Jerold Theis of the Medical School and a student senator of ASUCD, both of whom support faculty and student rights. Please come, add your support or learn how your fee money is wasted to protect bureaucratic egos.

Sincerely,

Howard Zochlinski

Summer abroad in Israel program

Dear editor,

As you may be aware, UC Davis is instituting a summer abroad program in Israel this academic school year. The program was instituted in the wake of the internationally condemned Israeli massacres in Gaza.

The inception of the program not only nullifies the U.S. Department of the State Travel Advisory against Israel, but the way in which the program is structured is also limiting the freedom of education of the students enrolled in the program. Contrary to what is advertised, the program is also unrepresentative of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Please read our open letter to the UCD administration that the EAP Equality Coalition has drafted against the inception of this program. The letter can be found here: thepetitionsite.com/1/uc-davis-summer-abroad-in-israel.

The EAP Equality Coalition is a California wide organization of UC undergraduates, graduates and faculty members that organized in response to the inception of this program to demand the affirmation of justice and equality in education, and to combat the discrimination and biases inherent in the current UCD Summer Abroad program with Israel.

In solidarity,

Abla Harara

Tonight at 6:10, the ASUCD Senate will be discussing a resolution that reprimands BloodSource, a blood-donation organization, for not allowing the queer community to donate blood. This is in addition to the recent action taken by ASUCD at last week’s budget hearings to withdraw approximately $1,000 of ASUCD funding and sponsorship of BloodSource’s quarterly blood drives.

The legislation that is being introduced rests on two premises:

First, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines discriminate against the queer community by banning men who have had sex with men (MSM) from donating blood. This is based on information that the American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers all consider to be “medically and scientifically unfounded.“

Secondly, the ASUCD Senate is “beholden by its constitution to uphold the University of California, Davis, Principles of Community, which states, ‘We confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on … sexual orientation.‘”

The essential conclusion from these two premises is that any organization that accepts blood donations – BloodSource included – is knowingly participating in discriminatory practices. If that is not enough to end a partnership with an organization on its own, then the fact that working with an organization that discriminates against any group that contradicts our Principles of Community should be enough to terminate any relationship between ASUCD and BloodSource.

My initial reaction is that this is a pretty logical argument. I, too, believe that the FDA policy is anachronistic, and that working with BloodSource does violate our Principles of Community. However, I am against the budget cut and the reprimand because after some critical analysis, it becomes apparent that cutting ASUCD’s co-sponsorship and reprimanding BloodSource does not effectively work toward the end goal it hopes to achieve.

When facing a question like this we must look at intent over impact. The intent of the proposed actions is to force the FDA to change its policies and regulations. Unfortunately, the impact of the approval of such proposed action would not be affecting FDA policy at all, but rather would cripple BloodSource’s ability to collect blood on the UC Davis campus – the “largest single campus blood drive” that BloodSource works with, said Leslie Botos, Vice President of Public Affairs for BloodSource.

In one two-day blood donation period on the UC Davis campus, BloodSource can “bring in nearly 1,000 donors” which sends blood out to “40 hospitals, with the UC Davis Medical Center being the largest medical center we provide for,” Botos said. “ASUCD is an influential body that validates the importance of saving lives … and gives us credibility when we come to campus.“

By withdrawing support – be it financial or through a resolution – we are not attacking the FDA regulations, but instead we are attacking the innocent individuals who need blood to stay alive.

Although I have never received a blood transfusion, a close family member of mine has been the recipient of blood transfusions on several occasions. At the time it was imperative that my family member received the transfusion in a timely manner. Blood from organizations like BloodSource saves lives. Blood from individuals who are willing to donate makes that possible.

I in no way approve of the outdated FDA policies, or the discriminatory practices that they encourage. However, by withdrawing support from BloodSource, we are not harming the FDA, but rather we are harming the individuals who actually need the blood.

In summation, by withdrawing financial support and sponsorship from BloodSource blood-drives, we are adversely affecting those that need blood the most rather than changing the outdated policies of the FDA. I agree that we should actively lobby and work toward changing FDA policy, but withdrawing money and support from blood drives simply isn’t the way.

I encourage concerned students to attend the ASUCD Senate meeting tonight on the third floor of the Memorial Union to voice their support or share their personal stories.

California State Senator Leland Yee thinks UC has a problem. The regents are out of control, he says, and their behavior is so bad it’s time for the legislature to take over.

Last week Yee and several other co-sponsors proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove the near-absolute autonomy UC has enjoyed for its entire history and instead give control to California lawmakers. While we generally support efforts to make the UC regents and the university as a whole more accountable, this approach is foolish and should be rejected.

UC governance should not be entrusted with the state, period. California has a long history of damaging its public universities through drastic budget cuts. For example, state spending per UC student has dropped 40 percent in the past 20 years. In the past two years alone, the state has reduced the amount of money it is allocating to UC from $3.3 billion to $2.5 billion. It is abundantly clear that higher education is not a priority for the state, so the UC community has little reason to support this amendment.

It is particularly audacious for Yee to bring this amendment now, as our dysfunctional state government approaches the brink of collapse. The legislature’s chronic inability to successfully complete its most important task – passing a balanced budget on time – speaks volumes about how well it would do managing the university. Unfortunately, Yee and the bill’s other co-sponsors have no credibility when they talk about proper management and upholding the public trust.

One of the arguments supporters of this amendment make is that UC has more autonomy than any other public university in the country, and only five other systems have a similar status. This argument ignores the fact that UC is also one of the best public university systems in the U.S. It also ignores the possibility that being free of political control has helped UC in its success. Without question, the regents know the university better than anyone else in state government and they are thus the most qualified to determine its policy.

None of this is to excuse the regents for some of the poor choices they have made in recent years, such as simultaneously offering pay hikes to top executives while raising fees for students. Yet while egregious on their own, these issues must be viewed in the greater context of the enormous achievements the university has made since the Master Plan for Higher Education was instituted in 1960. These achievements were made because of UC’s autonomy, not in spite of it.

In general, Yee is a good legislator who has brought many great ideas to the state senate, such as a proposal to give protection to whistleblowers in the UC system.

This amendment is not one of them. The rest of the legislature should recognize this and reject it.

I was determined not to write a raging cheesefest of a final column, but in the interest of bidding you fine people adieu, some failbloggage may have gone down. The least I can do is promise that you will not be exposed to any inspirational Eleanor Roosevelt quotes. Only time will tell if I‘ll look back on this column with pride or disgust. The years will age and perhaps even mature me a little, but my intuition tells me that when I‘m old and decrepit, that pervy ex-Catholic schoolgirl who grew up listening to Howard Stern over the breakfast table will continue to live on. Among the things that remain to be seen are whether or not I‘ve printed enough blasphemy to jeopardize my future third husband‘s mayoral campaign. The occurrence of this scenario is uncertain, but one thing I do know is that I will always have had this column. Even if I get kidnapped by pirates tomorrow. Even if I get into a freak gasoline fight accident. Even if I never write recreationally again. This was my turf, damnit. I was here. If I was more diligent, I would tally up the feelings I hurt and the bottles I emptied singlehandedly through this column, but, you know, I‘m not. This is not the most morally fibered or PC stuff out there. That‘s all I can really say to anyone who ever sent me an e-mail with a biblical rant on how offensive I am. While I firmly believe that everyone is more than within their rights to voice disagreement, I beseech that you don‘t force yourselves to read anything that so torments you. It‘s not good for the soul. Hostess cupcakes are good for the soul. My aim this year was to entertain more than it was to inform. That being said, even if you only drew a mustache and devil horns on my photograph on a weekly basis, I sincerely hope that at some point I made you smile. If there‘s anything I‘ve learned, it‘s that life is full of surprises. Sometimes the moments of sheer madness hold the most joy. You can find yourself running wild on a field with people you don‘t know in the middle of the night, stay up talking until the sun comes up and laying on a roof under a star-filled sky while no fewer than 18 drunks belt out Whitesnake‘s “Here I Go Again“ on the floor below you. I once read this story of a dude who had a threesome with two really hot girls and said that no matter how awesome his life got, he knew that he would always remember that night as the greatest night of his life and could die happy at any moment. While I hope my greatest is a little more meaningful, I gotta say I‘m kind of jealous that he could be so certain of his satisfaction with life. That sounds pretty supreme to me. On that note, here‘s some last-minute advice … Don‘t be too afraid of being weird. We all have a few loose screws, some admittedly more than others. There are many people out there in the world. At least a handful are bound to think that your weirdness is kind of endearing, maybe even cute. Just don‘t distortedly interpret this to mean that it‘s okay to produce kiddie porn in your garage or anything. I know that this comes dangerously close to breaking the Sapometer, but follow your dreams. At worst, you could end up shuffling along the Sunset Strip in your undies, stripped of your dignity and your wallet. Even if that does happen, always keep in mind that tomorrow is another day and your mother‘s basement will always have a cot with your name on it. On Apr. 11, five players on the Ultimate Frisbee team at the University of Oregon decided against wearing pants. Consequently, the school forced the team to end their season early. The team‘s defense was that there‘s nothing wrong with playing without pants. It‘s on this note that I conclude that I believe in the freedom of choice, and that most definitely includes the choice of whether or not to wear pants.

MICHELLE RICK urges you to be the now or never kind and do the now or never thing. Send your feelings to marick@ucdavis.edu or just hit up a yogurt shop and eat them.