Community discusses mental health, financial aid, student population

Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter received questions and concerns from students at a public forum on Feb. 28 from 6:30 to 7:50 p.m. at Everson Hall. The event was attended by over 25 people. Hexter was joined by faculty and administration officials who were able to answer more specific questions.

The discussion topics included financial aid, student population, mental health services and the political climate on campus.

Students questioned the distribution of funds for financial aid and whether there were plans to keep increasing tuition or lower fees for students. Hexter said that he understood the difficulty that students face when trying to pay tuition or to graduate with little debt and that one of the saddest things about the country is that it has allowed income disparity to grow. He said that a model that some people consider is the high tuition-high aid model, in which part of tuition would be able to be directly funnel into more financial aid. However, due to the high sticker price, many families are discouraged and believe that they will no longer be able to afford a UC education.

Hexter believes that public education is in the middle of many contradictions and is fighting to keep it together despite challenges like antagonizing stories from the press about students having high levels of debt. The administration is making it a priority to explain the benefits of an education at UC Davis.

“The set of schools with the highest level of debt are for-profits, then the nonprofit privates and the lowest is the publics,” Hexter said. “Within the publics, the UC system has the lowest debt thanks to the return-to-aid programs. For UC Davis, […] about half of our students graduate without any debt whatsoever. Of that half that have debt, the average is under $20,000.”

Another student voiced concerns about the increasing student population — shortage of lecture hall seats, more dorms but less apartment space in the city, and the overcrowding of public spaces on campus, such as the dining commons and food areas. Hexter explained that the massive increase in student admission was due to UC Davis’ 2020 initiative growth plan, as well as a UC systemwide agreement to increase student population.

According to Hexter, Freeborn Hall is no longer used due to seismic problems, but new classrooms have been used or built in the Mondavi Center, Pitzer Center and Manetti Shrem Museum. There are plans to increase rooms in Haring Hall and Cruess Hall, and the biggest change will be the addition of a 600-seat auditorium in Storer Hall by Winter Quarter 2019. There are also plans to increase the size of dining halls, to build a new dining center in Tercero and to increase the number of food trucks in the space around the Silo.

“The Silo food trucks are the fastest way to add dining capacity,” Hexter said. “Even as we build more dorm space […] we’re acknowledging that when we do triples we squeeze people, so we’re building to accommodate people from the get-go.”

Students also voiced their disapproval of current mental health services and asked for a plan to increase services. One student spoke at length about their negative experiences with CAPS and their difficulty with being misgendered and disrespected at the Student Health and Wellness Center.

Students also called for more Community Advising Network counselors, especially for undocumented students, victims of sexual assault and students who are neurodivergent. Hexter redirected the question to Milton Lang, associate vice chancellor for student life, campus community and retention services at the Student Affairs Office of the Vice Chancellor.

“We have gotten a lot of pushback from students, faculty and staff,” Lang said. “[…] counselors are overwhelmed by the volume of students they are trying to serve.”

Lang confirmed that the university is in the process of hiring seven or eight new counselors who would operate out of the Student Health and Wellness Center. Since the ratio of students to counselors is very high right now, Lang believes this is the best decision. Students were also disappointed by faculty and administration’s lack of awareness regarding students’ mental health experiences on campus. Sheri Atkinson, the executive director of community resource and retention centers, mentioned that more conversations were being held at the centers.

“[There is a] willingness to do intersectional work, a lot of folks acknowledge it’s an area that needs to be worked at,” Atkinson said.

Tensions ran high and students became emotionally charged as the conversation turned to the political climate and the discussion of free speech and Milo Yiannopoulos’ controversial visit to UC Davis earlier this quarter.

A student expressed displeasure about having professors who do not know how to be supportive or choose not to attend workshops to build their knowledge regarding student experiences. Regarding a particular incident in which a professor voiced a personally hurtful opinion during class hours, the student questioned why it was difficult to take action against faculty and place trust in the system.

Hexter admitted some trainings were mandatory whereas other trainings were only “encouraged.”

“We’re in a continuously merging and evolving situation and we’re learning, and faculty have to learn as well,” Hexter said. “It is a journey. What we have to do is, wherever anyone is, we nudge them further along wherever they are on this journey. […] The administration cannot tell the faculty what to think.”  

Donald Dudley, the director of Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs (OSSJA), mentioned more places students could go to resolve issues regarding hate or bias. OSSJA is a resource for students who are uncertain about where to go to file a complaint. Hexter hopes to support those who are on the front lines to keep improving the university.

“[In] our office, we have case managers who really help to connect students with potential resources,” Dudley said.

ASUCD Senator-elect Rahi Suryawanshi, a third-year international relations major, was concerned about recent hate crimes and questioned how the administration ensures the safety of students and draws the line concerning hate speech.

Michael Sweeney, senior campus counsel, was on hand to answer any questions regarding legality.

“As a public institution we cannot tell people not to speak,” Sweeney said. “We are a public institution and have to follow government rules.”

Sweeney explained that for speech to be considered hate speech, a person must threaten to take a physical action against another being and it is only considered an issue after it has been uttered. He added that in order to prevent hate speech, one could enact a prior restraint, which could stop someone from speaking beforehand, but that this has very rarely worked. According to Hexter, censoring someone who has been invited by a public institution is difficult.

“The interim chancellor cannot prevent speaking under the First Amendment, even if it is hateful,” Sweeney said.

Hexter remained firm that guests would be welcome as long as situations remained nonviolent. Students were upset with Hexter’s email responses to the situation, in which Hexter defended Yiannopoulos’ right to speak on campus. Hexter added that there were discussions about contractual obligations for any campus guests to adhere to certain guidelines. Hexter answered a few more questions before wrapping up the town hall.

Students had mixed responses to the forum. Priyanka Sanghavi, a second-year cognitive science major, felt that the conversations were very interesting and that people were honest and civil.

“These town halls are extremely important because they foster mutual understanding and empathy between the administration and the students,” Sanghavi said. “Administrators need to have more open discussions because in a system as large and complex as a public university, they don’t always know right away when students are facing problems.”

Suryawanshi believes the conversation between students and administration is very important and must be held regularly.

“Admin forgets what it is to be students in this fast paced quarter system and these dialogues are necessary to remind them as well as to increase transparency between the two bodies,” Suryawanshi said via email. “[The] open dialogue steered in a similar direction as the others; the admin heard us out but failed to empathize with us.”

Written by: Jayashri Padmanabhan — campus@theaggie.org

Students, faculty, staff, postdoctoral students, alumni invited to submit a 30-second video sharing what makes them an entrepreneur

On Nov. 18 of 2016, the University of California (UC) launched the “I am a UC Entrepreneur” Campaign to highlight entrepreneurship across the UC campuses. Students, faculty, staff, postdoctoral students and alumni from all 10 campuses are invited to submit a 30-second video sharing what makes them an entrepreneur. The videos are made up of individual stories and represent the depth and expansion of the UC’s entrepreneurial efforts across more than two dozen incubators and accelerators throughout the system.

Everyone who submits a video will receive a “UC Entrepreneur” T-shirt and have their video posted on the UC website.

At the end of this month, there will be a special lunch in which one eligible applicant with a qualifying video will be chosen at random from each campus to meet with UC President Janet Napolitano and Senior Vice President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Christine Gulbranson. They will be accompanied by well-known venture capitalists Brook Byers of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Josh Green of Mohr Davidow Ventures and Brendon Kim of Samsung NEXT.

“This campaign is about celebrating the talent, creativity and passion that makes UC an entrepreneurial powerhouse,” Gulbranson said in a statement to UC Davis Dateline. “UC’s entrepreneurial community is so diverse that much of it goes unnoticed. But not anymore!”

Student entrepreneurship groups and clubs across all UC campuses are encouraged to promote the campaign, host video parties and assist each other in making their 30-second videos.

“My roommate has a lot of entrepreneurship skills so this would really help her out,” said Alicia Dwell, a fourth-year biology major. “A campaign like this is what makes the UC system the best place to thrive.”

Dwell believes this campaign is very important to her fellow friends and classmates.

“This actually sounds really neat,” said Alex Relay, a third-year computer science major. “I might just go home and submit a video myself!”
Written by: Demi Caceres — campus@theaggie.org

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering professors honored

Professors Ross Boulanger and Deb Niemeier have been elected as members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Membership to the NAE is one of the highest professional honors awarded to engineers. The NAE honors those who have made outstanding contributions in the fields of engineering and technology.

Boulanger and Niemeier will be formally inducted in a ceremony in Washington D.C. in October. Thirteen current or retired faculty from UC Davis are members of the NAE. 84 new members and 22 foreign members, including nine other UC researchers, were also announced as elected individuals on Feb. 8.  

In an official NAE press release, Boulanger was recognized for “contributions to geotechnical earthquake engineering and the development of procedures for evaluating seismic behavior of soil-structure systems.” Niemeier was recognized “for developing groundbreaking tools to characterize the impact of transportation emissions on air quality and environmental justice.”

According to its official website, the NAE was founded in 1964 as a nonprofit to provide engineering leadership in service of the nation. Its mission is to advance well being by promoting engineering professions and using its members’ expertise to advise the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine established by Congress.

New members are elected by current NAE members. The process of choosing members to elect takes almost an entire year. Nominations are called between February and May and then confidential peer committee reviews take place. The final list of nominations are voted on by all members in January of the following year and results are announced to the public in February.

Boulanger and Niemeier both work in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis. Niemeier is former department chair.

“This is a first for our College of Engineering to have two faculty members elected to the NAE in the same year,” said Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, the dean of the College of Engineering. “We are thrilled for Professors Boulanger and Niemeier and proud of their outstanding career accomplishments. They exemplify the exceptional quality of faculty throughout our college.”

Niemeier is founding director of the Sustainable Design Academy of UC Davis and the former director of the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis. She has served on a few panels for the NAE as well its Energy Systems and Environments Board.

“For me, it is a huge honor and I’m really grateful for all of the support that has been given to me by my colleagues and friends and the campus more generally,” Niemeier said via email. “It is also recognition of the incredible students who have worked in my lab and then gone on to be themselves exceptional engineers and scholars.”

Niemeier believes the NAE is important for the recognition of work that has been done by engineers all over the country and world.

“It is recognition that engineers can address social and environmental equities and do it in a way that helps to bring positive change,” Niemeier said.

Niemeier combined her knowledge in transportation with new knowledge in vehicle combustion and emissions to start working on ways of better estimating vehicle emissions. Previously, there were no methods for scaling emissions from vehicle tailpipes to estimate emissions loads at regional or airshed levels. These measurements are key inputs to estimate primary and secondary pollutant concentrations. If estimates are too low, there will not be enough emissions control technologies in policies, which could jeopardize health and the environment. If estimates are too high, too much control could result in economic inefficiencies.

“Students and I developed new algorithms for estimating vehicle emissions and new scaling techniques that allowed public agencies to better incorporate air pollutants into decision-making,” Niemeier said. “We helped write new regulatory guidance for EPA to help protect the public health and ensure that agencies practiced state of the art methods.”

Boulanger is director of the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling. His work revolves around studying how soil and structures such as buildings, bridges and dams respond to earthquakes.

“To find that people who I admire deeply would elect me into the academy is very humbling and very satisfying,” Boulanger said.

The NAE has various committees that make reports to government organizations and agencies. Boulanger believes that the independent advice the academies provide to the government is valuable.

“Those reports can be excellent summaries of where a profession has gotten to or current status of an issue that is important to the country,” Boulanger said. “They become good reference materials for researchers in the broader community and students. A lot of the products they produce are very useful.”  

Boulanger has not served on any committees with the NAE. His service activities have been through other organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), the United States Society on Dams and the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. The EERI is a prominent society for dealing with multidisciplinary aspects of earthquake engineering and working toward better practices in reducing hazards. The Society on Dams deals with the environmental, flooding and water management aspects involving the official regulation of dams. Boulanger enjoys his work with the International Society, where he heads an earthquake research committee.

Written by: Jayashri Padmanabhan — campus@theaggie.org

State legislators write letter to UC President, express concern for UC worker wages

Following the University of California (UC) workers’ strike on Jan 10. regarding fair wages and pension plans, a group of state legislators, consisting of 26 General Assembly members, composed a joint letter to UC President Janet Napolitano. The legislators voiced  their concern for the current state of this labor dispute and urged Napolitano to display leadership by facilitating a smooth resolution.
While the UC is the third largest employer in the state, wages for administrative, clerical and support workers have either remained stagnant or decreased by 24 percent in the past two decades. These declining conditions for UC workers coincide with the recent increase of UC tuition prices.
“[University of California] continuously fails to uplift communities” said Christian Castro, the communication coordinator for Teamsters Local 2010. “Tuition keeps getting more expensive, making it harder for our own citizens to attend college [meanwhile] you’re not paying the people who live in these communities enough and hurting them on the back end […] while executives are getting bigger bonuses.”
Since the strike, negotiators for the Teamsters and the university have resumed  bargaining.
“We believe that there have been improvements,” Castro said. “We are continuing to push and go back and forth to get a resolution that is fair for everyone.”
Castro stressed that one of union’s biggest concerns is fighting the 2016 retirement tier.

“What this is doing is going from a designed benefit plan with regular pensions, where you put in so much time and with a formula it says how much you get after you retire, and instead turning it into a 401(k)-style […] and there is no certainty you will get anything in your retirement,” Castro said.
Castro insisted that the union completely oppose this proposal, and he believes that “if you put 25 years of work, you should have a dignified retirement plan after.”
Castro also mentioned that Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and senator representing the Sacramento region, is in the process of authoring a letter — cosigned by other members of Congress — in support of fair wages for UC workers.

Napolitano requested adopting a new retirement tier. In response, the UC Regents put forward a new pension plan. This new 401(k)-style plan is predicted to be a costly endeavor of $500 million in the first 15 years. As a result, according to Castro, the plan will provide “a lesser benefit to workers.”

While the union and the legislature were told they had the option of refusing the new retirement tier, Teamsters 2010 negotiators are currently bargaining.

“[We are] finding out that the UC lied to the us and are trying to force the new, more expensive and worse performing 401(k) on our bargaining units,” Castro said.

According to Lani Richardson, a UC Davis Teamster bargaining representative, the letter has, to an extent, ameliorated the cooperation of the UC negotiators.

“It is telling, and disappointing that our elected officials have had to weigh in, to remind the University they are expected and required to bargain in good faith [plus] make a fair proposal to our Union,” Richardson said via email. “I am hopeful that the letter will impress upon the University that…as a public institution — the UC’s executives must be held accountable.”

Richardson also wrote about the current state of the bargaining process.

“The UC promised the Unions and the California Legislature that retirement benefits would be collectively bargained — unfortunately, we’re finding that to NOT be the case,” Richardson wrote. “‘Collective Bargaining’ is just that… ‘Collective Bargaining’ not holding intransigence positions and saying, “here take this, we’re not interested in your needs or ideas.”

The UC Office of the President (UCOP) is also eager to reach a speedy and fair resolution to this conflict.

“The university shares the legislators’ urgency in bringing the negotiations with the Teamsters to a close,” said Ricardo Vazquez, UCOP media representative, via email. “Since the letter, UC has had several intensive bargaining sessions with the Teamsters with regard to the Clerical and Skilled Crafts Units […] the university is urging the Teamsters’ leadership to finalize a new contract without further delay, and we hope the Teamsters will take an offer to their members for a vote.”

He listed the provisions of the UC’s latest offer, which are now expired and thus require further bargaining to establish new offers.

According to Vazquez, the UC’s initial offer included an “average 18 percent wage increase over a six-year contract. These increases are on top of the 22.5 percent in pay increases UC clerical employees received under the most recent five-year contract.”

This offer is intended to ensure that salaries for clerical workers remain market competitive.

“Currently, the average annual salary of a UC clerical employee is $47,300 — nearly 20 percent above the state average of roughly $39,200,” Vazquez said.

As for healthcare benefits, Vazquez said that the UC had offered “an average annual cost of just $384 for generous health benefits for employees and their dependents. By contrast, the average American worker typically pays more than $5,200 per year for less generous health benefits for just themselves.”

Negotiators from both sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining tables in the next few weeks.

“The university is urging the Teamsters’ leadership to finalize a new contract without further delay, and we hope the Teamsters will take an offer to their members for a vote,” Vazquez said.
Written by: Kimia Akbari — campus@theaggie.org