There is more to websites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter than pictures and wall posts. A UC Davis employee will explore social networking sites as a means to raise money for the campus.

The Palo Alto-based Society for New Communications Research awarded Susanne Rockwell, web editor for University Communications, with a fellowship to study social media’s uses on college campuses.

In early February, the nonprofit announced this year’s 50 plus fellows, who work on original research to study media and communication trends and effects.

The UC Davis alumna holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in rhetoric and communication, both from UC Davis. By working with the Society, Rockwell aims to study the school’s use of social media to reach out to students, faculty and staff and how it can affect philanthropy.

“We are really interested in how people respond to social media,” Rockwell said. “The problem is it’s like a run-away train. Today it’s Twitter. Yesterday it was Facebook. Tomorrow it’s who-knows-what. It’s something that is evolving so quickly.“

After looking at Rockwell’s proposal, the Society was very interested, said Jen McClure, executive director at SNCR.

“We want to support her with her research, share the findings with the UC community and help her own organization as well,” McClure said. “Online networks are changing the way we communicate and are changing lives.“

At a time when available funds are limited, every university in the country is looking to find new ways to bring in money.

“With social media exploding in impact and number of people using it, it only shows common sense to pursue an area where there are a lot of people participating,” said Mitchel Benson, director of the UC Davis News Service. “It makes sense to get their attention, help explain to them why their support is needed instead of just exchanging pictures and videos.“

The main models for fundraising through these sites are mostly political ones, especially the Obama campaign, Benson said. The university is looking at ways to borrow this concept to fundraise for higher education.

UC Davis is already immersed in social networking sites as a medium to reach out to the campus community. On the UC Davis homepage, users can find links to blog, iTunes, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube pages.

There are links to 21 blogs by staff and faculty, featuring the Egghead blog on research. With an extensive collection of videos, podcasts, interviews, music and athletics, UC Davis‘ iTunes site is considered among the best at universities in the country, Benson said.

There are currently 140 videos on YouTube, and Undergraduate Admissions has its own MySpace site.

While perusing through pictures, videos, messages and new friends, students can also stop by UC Davis‘ Facebook page, loaded with videos, quizzes, links, groups, facts and photos.

Whether people are “tweeting” on Twitter or Facebook “stalking,” exploring how to use a place where so many people connect and congregate can have great advantages for UC Davis and campuses like it.

“Social networking is really intriguing. People find it useful,” Rockwell said. “They like the personal part of it. People respond because they are responding to people they know. It’s more collective communication and people like that. This is very dynamic, so we are going to where the communication is happening.”

POOJA KUMAR can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Forgery

A student was referred to SJA for submitting a fraudulent quiz for grading. After the quizzes had been graded and returned, the student forged a quiz, filled in the answers, forged grading marks and gave the quiz to the professor as evidence that it had been missed in the grading process. The sustained fraud, premeditation and lying aggravated the seriousness of the violation. The student agreed to accept deferred dismissal status until graduation, which means that the student waives the right to a formal hearing if referred again, and would likely be expelled from the university if found in violation of any UC or campus policy. The student also agreed to 20 hours of community service, a writing assignment on integrity and a consultation with the Learning Skills Center.

Unauthorized materials

A professor referred a student for using unauthorized materials during an exam. After getting stuck during the exam, the student retrieved study materials that she had left in her backpack and used them to answer the questions. Since the student already had a prior violation, she agreed to deferred separation status and 15 hours of community service. Although similar to deferred dismissal, a student on deferred separation would likely be expelled or suspended if again found in violation of campus or university policies.

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.

Nearly 200 faculty members across the country have signed on in support of an academic boycott of Israel.

The United States Campaign for an Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USCACBI) was founded in response to a call from the Palestinian Civil Society to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Movement against Israel.

“The reason we propose a boycott of Israeli academic institutions is that they are state universities that generally support the Israeli government’s policies,“ said Sunaina Maira, UC Davis associate professor of Asian American studies who signed the boycott. “It is very simple, we cannot continue to remain silent.“

The charge from the Palestinian Civil Society is for a “call to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era.”

Four of the 193 advocates come from UC Davis and two – Maira, and Magid Shihade, a research associate in the history department – were involved in the founding of the campaign. Amanda Lashaw, a lecturer in the education department and Stefano Varese, a professor of Native American studies, also signed the boycott.

“Given that this is a nonviolent, peaceful way to put pressure on Israel and draw attention to the atrocities that have been committed there – I believe this is what has motivated the approximately 200 academics in the United States,” Maira said.

Many in the U.S. have talked about a boycott for years, Maira said, but it took recent violence to lead people to reconsider – specifically, the attacks in Gaza, which began in December and continued for three weeks.

“They were unable to leave or flee and were basically bombed in their homes and schools,“ Maira said. “Three UN schools and a university in Gaza were bombed, and the Israeli army used white phosphorous, which burns bodies to the skin.“

Organizers say the key to the boycott is fighting violence with nonviolence. It‘s not about cutting the cord and refusing to make contact with Israel academically, Maira said.

“The call we‘ve issued is for an institutional – not individual – boycott,“ she said. “We‘re not opposed to individual professors, scholars, and artists – we‘re opposed to illegal occupation and racial discrimination and apartheid-style segregation.“

UC Davis Summer Abroad will be sending students to Israel for a four-week program this summer – a unique experience and relationship they‘d like to continue, said Eric Schroeder, faculty director of UC Davis Summer Abroad. The program, taught by UC Davis professor of political science Ze‘ev Maoz, looks at both sides of the Israel/Arab conflict, and the Palestinian issue in particular.

“We feel like our students are going to come home better educated about what‘s going on and maybe more able to make a difference in arguing for a policy that seems fair to both sides,“ Schroeder said.

Maoz is an Israeli, but is renowned for his lack of bias to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and has numerous contacts on both sides, Schroeder said. He believes that USCACBI‘s recommendations for boycott would contradict their stated objectives.

“What boycott and divestment would cause – and the recent Israeli elections amply demonstrated this point – is just weaken even further the peace camp in Israel … and ultimately result in greater abuses of human rights and further oppression of the Palestinians,“ Maoz said.

Maira said opponents who argue that international civil society pressure will push Israel further to the right are suggesting that the only response in the face of a bully is inaction.

“This cannot be justified morally, for it means that one cannot ever resist oppressive regimes, and it flies in the face of the logic of sanctions that the U.S. has itself used in several cases to apply pressure,“ she said.

Maoz‘s main issue with the boycott though, is its “hypocrisy.“

“Before talking about academic and cultural boycott of Israel due to its human rights violations these people need to divest from and culturally and academically boycott the United States and the United Kingdom who have occupied two countries – Afghanistan and Iraq – overthrown their regimes and continue to occupy these countries, imprisoned thousands of people without indicting them or putting them to trial and denying these people for years basic human rights,“ Maoz said.

Maira said this argument is a common one – but that there is clear opposition to U.S. wars here, compared to the silence and “organized censorship“ of the critique of Israel.

“Academics who support the boycott of Israel also oppose U.S. wars and occupation but we are well aware that we are funding the Israeli occupation with U.S. taxpayer money,“ she said. “Since we are not citizens of Israel, what we can do as educators of conscience here is to take a moral stance that sends a message of principled opposition to massacres of students, children, women and human beings that is backed by our government.“

Participants are to refrain from collaborating on joint projects with Israeli institutions. The USCACBI also encourages universities to institute funding for Palestinian students, many of who cannot study due to segregation and have to leave the country to attend college, Maira said.

“The reason why we do this [boycott] is because the Israeli academy has always been complicit with the state‘s policy – there has never been a significant movement there among academics in opposition,“ Maira said.

More information in favor of the boycott can be found at usacbi.wordpress.com/. MIKE DORSEY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Roundtable discussion for faculty interested in integrating the book into courses or programs next year. Wed. April 8 from 12:10-1:30 p.m. in the Fielder Room MU

This year’s selection for the 2009-2010 Campus Community Book Project takes readers across the globe as author Eric Weiner shares a humorous and insightful look into The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.

As a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, Weiner has reported from over 30 countries in his career – most of which he describes as “profoundly unhappy places.” In his book, he sets out to find a refreshing new take on life by researching cross-cultural perspectives on what defines happiness.

“As a writer, he has a very distinctive, humorous voice,” said Gary Sue Goodman. As a lecturer for the University Writing Program and former coordinator of the Book Project, Goodman is part of the selection committee that read through hundreds of books to determine one which best fit this year’s theme of “psychological and emotional well-being.“

“[Weiner’s] book looks at the subject of psychological well-being from the broadest perspective of any of the books and from a positive perspective – what makes us happy instead of what makes us depressed – which I think would be more appealing to students,” Goodman said in an e-mail interview.

Beginning in the fall, The Geography of Bliss will be integrated into a wide range of course curriculum, and the Davis community will be encouraged to pick up a copy to participate in the project’s related discussions and events. A copy of The Geography of Bliss can now be purchased at the UC Davis Bookstore for $9.99.

“[Weiner] approaches the book with a great deal of humor, so it’s ‘lighter,‘ compared to the very heavy topics of past book projects,” said Mikael Villalobos, administrator of Diversity Education and chair of the project. “But it still very much stays true to the book project’s goal, in that it will engage the university and the community in conversation about issues that are pertinent for us, and will encourage learning about cross-cultural issues.“

In an interview with The California Aggie, Weiner discusses some of the major themes of his book, and relates his experiences directly to college students.

How long did it take to research and write this book? What is something you discovered along the way that surprised you?

Well it took about a year and a half total, which is not a lot of time for what I was undertaking – that included travel, research and writing – I could have easily spent twice as long. And in doing this, I found how hard it is to get people to actually talk about their happiness. People are much more comfortable talking about how miserable they are than why they’re happy. In most languages there are more words to describe unhappiness than happiness, and giving people a fill-in-the-blank of “why are you happy?” doesn’t give you enough information to write a chapter, let alone a book, so sometimes I really had to dig.

In your book, you define happiness in many different ways. As a self-professed “grump,” how would you define “grumpiness?” What causes it?

In this country in particular there’s an expectation and almost a demand to be happy all the time, and realistically, no one can be happy all the time, but we feel like there’s something wrong with us if we aren’t. To some extent, I think we’re just born with a genetic predisposition to be happy or unhappy. I think I was born grumpy from the beginning – but at the heart of it, there’s a dissatisfaction with the way things are, and the way your life is. Another idea is that we can be addicted to sadness, and we can use it as a kind of buffer in our life – it’s better to feel sadness than to feel nothing. And in some ways, it’s more fun being grumpy than happy.

How can the message of your book relate to college students?

I think this will appeal to college students because they have that wonderlust, and still are forming their way of looking at the world. For one thing, the book is based on the idea of travel, and the virtues of changing your location, and contrary to what a lot of self helps books say about happiness being inside of you, a lot of it is your environment, and getting out into the world. And then of course there’s a chapter in the Netherlands where I smoke Moroccan hashish for research purposes – there’s a lot of heavy drinking in Iceland, some sex in Thailand and things like that. But there’s always a serious point. I think funny books can also be profound ones – they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Based on what you discovered in your book, what advice would you give to college students looking to find their own happiness?

One thing that I think is good about the college years is your proximity to other people. As we get older, we tend to physically separate ourselves from others, but in college you have that constant social interaction. Relationships with others is one of those universal elements of happiness, so in that sense, college life can be a very happy place.

One subject I talked about in my book is expectations, and how countries and people with low expectations tend to be happier. Kids in college have a lot of expectations, and I think it would be good for them to be lower – not in the sense of being lazy and just sitting around and drinking beer all day – but actually putting your whole effort into what you do, without being over preoccupied with the end result. Going to class, doing the reading, and enjoying it, but not doing it just for the A’s. Enjoying where you are.

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