A year of accomplishments, controversy, pursuits for the executive office

Michael Gofman, a second-year economics and political science double major, has been serving his term as an ASUCD senator since he was elected in Winter Elections of 2017. Gofman ran on the platforms of environmental sustainability, affordability for low-income students and student-teacher relations.

ASUCD President Josh Dalavai and Vice President Adilla Jamaludin described Gofman as composed, organized and proactive during his campaign for Senate.

“I wanted to get more involved in our student government,” Gofman said. “I figured joining the ASUCD Senate would be the best way in order to create some of the changes that I wanted to see on campus and tackle some of the problems that I had heard from other students going on with campus.”

In office, Gofman has served as the adopted senator for the Campus Center for Environment, the Bike Barn, the CoHo, Entertainment Council, KDVS, Refrigerator Services and Unitrans.

He regularly worked with Senator Marcos Rodrigues, former Senator Julie Jung, interim Senator Shaniah Branson and Internal Affairs Commission Chair Jacob Ganz — he referenced these individuals’ “unit centric” outlooks and like-minded goals.

Gofman became involved with controversial ASUCD legislation over whether or not to mandate the presence of the American flag at Senate meetings. National media outlets including Fox News weighed in. Gofman voiced his disapproval at removing the mandate to keep the flag present.

“I think [the flag legislation] put him in a very controversial position for a period of time,” Jamaludin said. “I have been impressed at the way that he has made very good relationships, for the most part, […] with the unit directors and has done his duties.”

In the summer of 2017, the Campus Center for the Environment removed Gofman as its adopted senator over disagreements regarding the senator’s decision to abstain from voting on a resolution concerning the student organization Environmental Justice for Underrepresented Communities.

Gofman said the separation between himself and the CCE prevented his ability to move forward with projects he had in mind for sustainability on campus. Efforts to synthesize environmental groups into a coalition toward progress in environmental sustainability did not come to fruition.

“A lot of the work that I was hoping to do with them, they did not want to do, and they didn’t want to do it with me,” Gofman said. “If I could do things over again, I would definitely have tried to get closer with them earlier on so that even if we may have had political disagreements it wouldn’t have gotten in the way of the work that I was hoping we’d be able to do together.”

Gofman’s accomplishments are tangible within the CoHo, after legislation was passed to get more microwaves available to students. He spoke on the finalization of a project that would create a space for students to “bring their food from home and cook it in that 20-minute period in between classes instead of having to wait for that half hour line that starts across the CoHo.”

His attention to affordability led to the creation of the Career Closet. In association with Alumni Relations, the closet provides professional attire to students who cannot afford clothes for a job or an interview.

Unit directors who have continued to work with him described Gofman as responsive and attentive to their respective units. Liz O’Neill, the Entertainment Council unit director, said Gofman maintained a communicative relationship with the unit and CoHo Unit Director Darin Schluep said he feels the needs of his unit are being supported.

“It’s helpful to know that every Thursday we have someone at the Senate table who is representing our interests and would let us know if we came up as a topic of discussion,” Schluep said. “This doesn’t happen very often, but it’s nice to know that you have that support.”

Jamaludin also discussed Gofman’s strong connection to his voter base and to “the communities he comes from.”

“A lot of senators will cultivate that relationship when they’re running and sort of drop off the face of the planet once they’re in the Senate,” Jamaludin said. “[They] tend to forget that, yes, you’re in this ivory tower, but you should try and democratize the ivory tower and make it more accessible to other people. I think Michael has done a good job of doing that.”

Gofman acknowledges disagreements among voices on the table and welcomes discussion over disagreement.

“I get into disagreements over bills, issues with senators and commission chairs all the time,” Gofman said. “I think we’re able to move past it and generally agree to disagree. But we manage to put those things aside so that on the issues we both want to work on together we can actually work on instead of fighting over the little things.”

Gofman is currently pursuing the position of ASUCD president. He said he advises the Senate to focus on financial management and says the association is “on the brink of falling apart.” Gofman mentionioned the inconsistencies regarding election cycles and waning public interest, but places the most stress on irresponsible spending by ASUCD.

“The cost of operating the [association] has skyrocketed but our income has not,” Gofman said. “I’m really worried as less and less experienced senators and executives coming in, that some of those issues are going to go to the wayside while they focus on important current event issues, not realizing that the association is falling apart through their wasteful spending.”

Gofman leaves Senate with pride in his work and takes his relationships with ASUCD members into the 2018 Winter Elections.

“I’ve stayed true to myself and I’ve stayed true to the people that voted for me and hopefully that helps me out this Winter Quarter,” Gofman said. “But even if it doesn’t, I can leave knowing I never betrayed my principles.”

Written by: Elizabeth Mercado — campus@theaggie.org

UC Davis team documents deportee narratives

The Humanizing Deportation project is a collaboration between UC Davis and Colegio de la Frontera Norte, in Tijuana, Mexico, to document personal stories of deportees expelled from the United States. The narratives were collected last summer over the course of a month-long field study.

Robert Irwin, a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Davis, co-leads the Humanizing Deportation project.

“Humanizing Deportation is a digital storytelling project,” Irwin said. “Its objective is [to] help disseminate more true, nuanced and humanized idea[s] about deportation than what we hear about in the media.”

Irwin said that the purpose of the project is to provide a more genuine view of deportation.

“A lot of people have opinions about deportation and about people getting deported without knowing up close what it is like,” Irwin said. “We devised this project in order to [deliver] to the media and the world through our website a more real view of what is happening.”

Irwin also discussed why Tijuana was chosen for the study.

“The project was conceived in collaboration with people here at UC Davis and Colegio de la Frontera Norte, which is a university in Tijuana,” Irwin said. “We chose Tijuana as a field site from which to launch the project because it receives more deported people than any other city in Mexico and probably the world, with something like 350 [people] arriving there everyday.”

Irwin stated that videos by deportees gave them the ability to tell their personal stories.  

“We are simply giving a platform for people in the [deportation] community who have something they want to say [and] to say it in an audio-visual form,” Irwin said. “We facilitate the production but we don’t control the content. They are not our stories, and we don’t select just certains kinds of people — anyone who wants to say something about deportation, about their personal experiences with deportation, is invited to do so on our platform.”

Irwin also talked about how issues related to deportation have resulted in homelessness, substance abuse and the breakup of families.

“It is definitely a humanitarian issue,” Irwin said. “Another problem that occurs in Tijuana, unfortunately, is many of the people end up living in shelters. They have difficulty getting employed. Some of them fall into drug addiction or other forms of substance abuse. Some of them fall into homelessness or semi-homelessness where they are drifting [from] shelter to shelter.”

Lizbeth de la Cruz Santana, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Spanish as well as a member of the Humanizing Deportation team, further discussed the separation of families caused by deportation.

“We noticed when we were there [that] you could see more men who have been deported and you can see more women and children as well,” de la Cruz Santana said. “Dr. Irwin would encourage us to go to a shelter. There you would see the reality of the whole issue. They come with a deported mom and dad or one of [the parents] stays behind, so you then start seeing families being separated. For me, that was one of the biggest issues with deportation.”

De la Cruz Santana also talked about how people in the United States often do not see the real situation in Tijuana.

“It is a different type of way in which we talk about [deportation] here in the United States, because it is a phenomenon we see that is going on,” de la Cruz Santana said. “But once you go into Tijuana, you see the reality of how their lives are and how they try to get out of that state.”

Marinka Swift is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in sociolinguistics at UC Davis and another member of the team that went to Tijuana. Her interest in the project stemmed from how the Spanish language is used by deportees compared to that of native speakers in Mexico.

“I was looking for opportunities to learn about people’s language experiences in Mexico — people who have been deported and repatriated back to Mexico,” Swift said. “I was interested in the linguistics experiences of the deportees [and] I was curious about what languages people are using after they are deported. I know that many people who are deported are not necessarily fluent in Spanish or they will simply choose that they would rather be speaking English, because it was their dominant language after spending so much of their lives in the United States. I wanted to get a sense of how people feel about Spanish and English and looking at that through the lens of human rights and linguistic rights.”

Sarah Hart, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in performance studies at UC Davis and another member of the field study team, said she wanted to understand the plight of the deportees and how to express their experiences through her work.

“I come from a background in socially-engaged performance,” Hart said. “I was interested in how to work with narratives or testimonies that people experienced in a creative way, and how to express those experiences to a public audience in order to raise awareness around social issues.”

When asked how she would describe her experience in Tijuana, Hart said she “would tell people to be informed and to question where they are getting their information [from] and why they are being told the things they are being told about people. And to exercise some empathy.”

The Humanizing Deportation narratives can be viewed at http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/.

Written by: George Liao — campus@theaggie.org

May, Lund join legacy of UC Davis staff in Academy

On Feb. 7,  the National Academy of Engineers announced that it had elected UC Davis Chancellor Gary May and Jay Lund, a distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering and the director of the university’s Center for Watershed Sciences, to join the organization. According to its website, NAE is an American, nonprofit, non-governmental organization that strives to promote engineering professions by “marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology.”

To be elected, candidates must be nominated by their peers in the NAE. Becoming a member of the NAE is one of the highest professional honors that can be bestowed upon an engineer. According to a press release from the NAE, May was elected “for contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research and for innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering.”

A press release from UC Davis included May’s response to his recent election into the NAE.

“I am honored to be included in the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2018,” May said in the press release. “It is gratifying to be recognized for my research in semiconductor manufacturing and for creating programs to encourage underrepresented groups to pursue STEM careers. All of us can play a role in inspiring people of all ages to find ways to follow their dreams.”

In the aforementioned NAE press release, it was stated that Lund was elected “for analysis of water and environmental policy issues leading to integrated water resources planning and management.”

Lund has been a professor at UC Davis for 31 years and is not only involved with civil and environmental engineering, but also with graduate education, such as the Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group.

“This is a great place,” Lund said. “It’s got great students, good colleagues and, I guess for me, importantly, it’s close to a lot of good water problems.”

Lund described his initial reaction to the announcement of the NAE Class of 2018 as “shock.”

“I’ve done a lot of things over a long period of time,” Lund said. “And I guess people like it. This is just a great honor.”

Lund’s most recent work is primarily focused in water resources and environmental system engineering.

“I think it was a culmination [of all research done], but I think it probably helped that I’m doing a lot of work on drought and that I have a drought to work with,” Lund said. “We’ve worked a lot [on] the effects of the drought on cities, ecosystems and agriculture throughout the state and how [effective the…] state, federal and local agencies [have] been in managing water during the drought.”

Lund reflected on the impact this election into the NAE may have on his career.

“It’ll probably make me busier than I am already,” Lund said. “But it’ll probably bring some good attention to UC Davis and the students that graduate from here. Usually these things come a little bit later in your career, but it’s good that I’ll be around for a while still as a professor so that the students and the campus can benefit from it.”

Lund said that students who participate in research alongside professors often do not fully comprehend the enormity of the work that they are assisting with, and credits part of this honor to many students over his tenure at UC Davis.

“I don’t think students completely understand just how important their success is for the success of the professors and they greatly benefit from each other,” Lund said.

Lund quoted his mother when describing what motivated him throughout his many years of research and other projects he had worked on.

“I have to blame my mother because she always told me, ‘If you see something that needs to be done, do it’ and maybe I’ve done too much of that,” Lund said.“But it certainly kept me motivated throughout my whole career.”

Lund said that he attempts to impart a little of that motivation he received from his mom to his students.

“There [are] a lot of problems that we have out there and […] students are often a little meek in thinking ‘Well, I’m not very good, […] maybe there’s nothing I can do,’” Lund said. “Well, that’s actually not the case. Most students are much better than they think they are, and I think that part of the role of the university is to not only […] improve the knowledge that the students have, but also improve their level of comfort in actually working on these problems and coming to solutions.”

Lund described his eagerness to continue with his ongoing research and said he is looking forward to lengthening his tenure as a professor at UC Davis

“I’m just delighted to be here at UC Davis,” Lund said. “[I] am looking forward to being here for quite a while longer.”

Written by: Priyanka Shreedar — campus@theaggie.org

Meeting opened to students, public

On Jan. 26, UC Davis students and Students for a Democratic Society held a public meeting with Chancellor Gary May and other UC Davis administrators in the Student Community Center. While the meeting was spurred by proposed UC tuition hikes, SDS also demanded that UC Davis address housing and food insecurity, the removal of lethal weapons from the campus police department, the Noah Benham case, student protest referrals, May’s severance from outside boards and other issues.

Students also advocated for the reallocation of the UC’s $175 million in funds that the the state auditor said the UC Office of the President had hidden. Since the findings from the state auditor’s office were released, the proposed tuition increase the regents will vote on in May would raise $143 million for the school. SDS seeks to hold the UC administration and regents responsible and is calling for increased student input over budgetary decisions and democratizing administrative decisions.

According to The Sacramento Bee, May profits from Leidos and Charles Stark Draper Laboratory by serving on the boards of the companies. In 2015, May earned $288,280 in salary and stocks from Leidos, a defense company that has partnered with Lockheed Martin. May acknowledges his positions on these boards, but says he has a right to do whatever he wishes if it does not impact his duties as chancellor.

“The focus should be on how we improve the experience of UC Davis students and the overall quality of the university,” May said at the meeting on Jan. 26. “My board service doesn’t detract from my service as chancellor.”

There were similar concerns with Chancellor Emerita Linda Katehi, who ‘moonlighted’ by taking board positions at outside companies — online education and textbook companies Devry Education Group and John Wiley and Sons.

B.B. Buchanan, a sociology graduate student worker and leader of the Jan. 26 SDS meeting, agreed that May’s time may be his own, “but being on boards of defense businesses is not just something that affects” his time, but also “affects the people right here campus.” Buchanan also laid out a goal of collective bargaining between students and administration for budgetary allocations.

“When we say we want to have meetings, we aren’t just [interested] in what you have to say,” Buchanan said. “We know what you need to do and we need to be part of the process.”

After May stated that he does not set his salary which is “determined by university president and regents,” SDS member Shira Briskin, a fourth-year entomology major, responded.

“You still have the option to commit those funds [toward students],” Briskin said. “There’s no reason for a large mansion — how can you sit in your mansion when students don’t have a place to sleep or food to eat?”

According to an article published by The Sacramento Bee, the chancellor’s residence is 7,779 square feet, and stocked with a large staff and household allowance. SDS members at the meeting asked that his residence be sectioned off for student-dedicated areas, such as a mental health building.

May responded that “the residence is actually a university property and its use [is] determined by the Office of the President and regents.”

May agreed to look into food and housing insecurity issues as well as setting up means of transporting students to Board of Regents budget meetings. He told students that their other demands were controlled by the regents or UCOP. One of SDS’ demands responded to this point — asking for administration to advocate for these needs to their higher-ups, like legislators and regents.

May then took a moment to reply to student comments regarding the UC upholding institutional white supremacy.

“My staff and my wife have counseled me not to take this personally,” May said. “I mean this with all due respect and love, but I will not be lectured to about white supremacy by people [who] haven’t been called a n***** to their face. I will not be lectured to about white supremacy by people who don’t have two daughters that other parents said they couldn’t play with because they’re brown.”

In response, SDS members said that the point they made to the UC upholding institutional racism and white supremacy was not directed specifically at May, but instead toward the institutional umbrella of UC administration.

Amara Miller, a graduate student worker within the department of sociology, spoke about the university cost trajectory since the UC was started in 1868. Until 1956 — nearly the first 100 years — tuition for in-state students did not exist, and the student and incidental fees were only $84 per year. In 1970, a shift away from free tuition began in the form of an additional student educational fee. Miller posited that this change was enacted for political reasons and has been continued to price out marginalized students, student activists and students of color.

SDS members placed posters on the wall of the conference room that read “I still can’t  believe we still have to protest this shit” and “Why are UC athletics coaches being paid millions a year while students starve?” Another sign listed May’s base chancellor salary — $495,000 — as well as the salaries of other UC Davis administrative figures.

SDS members asked the administration and Student Judicial Affairs to be transparent about the Noah Benham case. Benham is a UC Davis student who was allegedly arrested and charged with felonies for non-violent protests at Milo Yiannopoulos’ UC Davis appearance last year. Sheri Atkinson, an interim associate vice chancellor, spoke about the criminalization of student protesters such as those who received referrals for protesting in Mrak Hall and Noah Benham’s situation.

“There will be an opportunity for those folks to provide their defense and go through the proper channels to express your disagreement, but we will not be dropping those at this time,” Atkinson said. “There will be a due process for those.”

Miller rejected some of these answers as dismissive.

“I wanted to note that the two things you did not say you would help us with or respond to were the SJA referrals being dropped and the Noah Benham case,” Miller said. “You are targeting student activists.”

According to Miller, de-escalating the militarism of campus police is imperative to democratizing the UC.

“The Picnic Day 5 are a wonderful example of […] police regularly targeting people of color on our campus,” Miller said. “Most of us have seen the little, fancy, god-knows-how-much vehicle the police drive around in on Picnic Day. That shit should be going to tuition, housing and food. The police do not need a fancy car. I also want to point out when police pepper sprayed students in 2011, they were doing so with military grade pepper spray. Socio-psych research shows that the very nature of having a [gun] on their person makes them more likely to use it. You have to make sure that they do not have lethal weapons that they are able to use in high-intensity situations. Why give them this?”

Buchanan again asked if the administration is “against using lethal force on students.”

“That has been something that you’ve skirted around quite significantly,” Buchanan said.

The administration did not directly answer this and did not agree to remove lethal weapons from the UC Davis police.

One student spoke about how administration could be incorporating cheaper on-campus housing, as it claimed it was in the beginning of the meeting. They pointed out that students who are priced out of expensive university housing become de-incentivized from going to class and work due to lack of proximity, Unitrans hours and expensive campus parking permits. According to this student, the university is helping out the people who don’t need help by giving better access to education to people who can already afford it.

May responded to student remarks that his answers were not solidified in his response to SDS’ demands.

“One comment about the wishy-washy language, every time I said we’re happy to consider something, consider that a ‘yes,’” May said.

By the end of the meeting, May and other administration agreed to meet with SDS regularly and publicly. Concrete agreements revolved around addressing food insecurity through campus projects, providing transportation and access to UC Regents’ budget meetings, advocating for the Cross Cultural Center and accessing the lost $175 million.

The student organization said it wants to hold UC Davis to the agreements made at the meeting.  

Written by: Aaron Liss — campus@theaggie.org