Resolution urges UC Board of Regents to divest from private prisons, private prison-investing corporations

In late February, ASUCD passed Senate Resolution #14 (SR# 14), a private prison divestment resolution which urged the University of California Board of Regents (UC Regents) to take social accountability for their involvement in for-profit prisons.

The resolution urged the UC Regents to divest from private prison-investing corporations such as Wells Fargo, to remove themselves from other unethical businesses and to refrain from partaking in corporations that are directly or indirectly involved in the private prison enterprise in the future.  

Demands include, but are not limited to, an ASUCD evaluation on all companies where future investments will be made, UC Davis and UC Regents to implement a Socially Responsible Investment screening policy and an emphasis to invest in companies that maintain ethical and fair products and services.

University of California recently sold approximately $30 million of its $100 billion investment portfolio after a meeting with the Afrikan Black Coalition on the coalition’s concerns with UC investments in private prisons.

“After that meeting, we evaluated those holdings […] based on risk over the next several years. These holdings were not a good investment for a long-term investor such as UC […] and decided to sell,” said Dianne Klein, director of media engagement and strategy for the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) in an email interview. “Many factors figure into this perspective, such as whether social, governance, or environmental issues make the asset too risky over the long term.”

Joshua Dalavai, an ASUCD senator and co-author of the private prison divestment resolution, critiques UCOP on its business explanation rather than the moral reason for divesting.

“The chief investment officer or equivalent of that position in the UC said that the reason they divested wasn’t because of student pressures or the Black coalition or unethical investment practices, but rather because it was an unsustainable business model,” Dalavai said. “They still haven’t acknowledged the inherent racism of private prisons.”

According to Dalavai, private prisons disproportionately affect the Black community through their ongoing and vast implementation of a biased Black imprisonment rate. He argues that crimes made by ethnic non-Black counterparts committed in equal rates are subjected to far less imprisonment.

Dalavai explains his reason for committing to the ASUCD private prison divestment resolution as a call to action for the marginalized Black community.

“As a person of color, I thought it was extremely important because you have to show intersectionality and solidarity with other oppressed groups and the most historically oppressed group have been the Black people of this country,” Dalavai said.

According to supporters, the private prison divestment resolution pushes the Black Movement forward and keeps Black rights a relevant issue.

“This resolution is statistically important because on a lower level or grass roots level it keeps the movement going and […] does keep the conversation going,” said Eyonna Woghiren, vice president of UC Davis’ Black Student Association. “The resolution is another way to keep people accountable for what they are going to say and do.”

Woghiren cited that the recent trend in UC schools, like UCLA and UC Santa Barbara,  authoring private prison divestment resolutions is due to the current prevalence of Black lives movements in popular media.

“I think that a lot of people have been working on these issues for a long time and given that the Black Lives Matter Movement and a lot of different movements for Black lives are coming out, it’s being noticed,” Woghiren said.

For Woghiren, the ASUCD private prison divestment resolution is a move in the right direction, but she still believes there is more work needed to be done.

“I think that it’s a great step and I think that the UC is a leader in the world and in a lot of movements in that it pushes other people to divest as well,” Woghiren said. “But I definitely still believe that we have a lot of work to do.”

Written by: Yvonne Leong – campus@theaggie.org

Researchers hope to discover developmental impacts, test potential vaccines for virus

UC Davis’ California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) will commence its study on the effects of the Zika virus on primates on March 16. Led by virologist Dr. Koen Van Rompay, the research team will work toward discovering the developmental impacts of Zika virus and eventually test potential vaccines.

The project is split into two phases; the first examines how the Zika virus is transmitted and its physiological effects on primates, while the second studies the virus’ effects on the fetuses of pregnant primates. The primates in this experiment, rhesus macaques, will be injected with the Zika virus in a controlled environment.

“From this study, we hope to confirm the proof of concept: firstly, that the Zika virus can infect macaques, and secondly, to see if it has any effects on the fetus,” Van Rompay said. “Once we have that proof, we can go into further study to see how the virus moves into the brain and also test vaccines.”

Van Rompay has previous experience studying viruses and testing vaccinations at CNPRC. In the 1990s, he contributed to the development of the antiretroviral drug Tenofovir, which is commonly used today to treat Hepatitis B and HIV. In one study, Van Rompay recorded the effects of Tenofovir on HIV-positive pregnant rhesus macaques. The results determined that the drug could reduce the chances of a fetus contracting HIV in utero.

Since its discovery in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda, the Zika virus has infected millions throughout the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Zika virus outbreaks occurred in areas including Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands prior to 2015. More recently, outbreaks have occurred throughout Central and South America, specifically in Brazil. Researchers expect the virus to spread with increased traveling rates.

Zika virus symptoms include joint or muscle pain and feverish fatigue. It is most commonly transmitted via mosquitos. The Zika virus causes an acute disease, rather than an autoimmune disease like HIV, which means that adults may be able to clear the virus within a few weeks through the strength of their own immune systems.

“Zika virus is similar to measles in that they cause very acute diseases,” Van Rompay said. “Most people will get over them because their immune systems make a good immune response that controls the virus. So, what we need to do with the vaccine is just imitate that.”

Van Rompay said that studying fetuses with Zika-infected mothers is important in order to develop a vaccine for unborn children that risk developmental issues by this virus. Based on previous studies, Zika virus has been correlated with a negative impact on the placenta and amniotic fluids of pregnant women, and it also may increase the risk of microcephaly (deformed head shape of newborn).

Van Rompay also said that the Zika virus can be sexually transmitted. From his research, despite the virus being acute, it appears to survive longer when using sperm cells as hosts.

Some members of the UC Davis community have voiced their concerns for the well-being of the primates under experimentation at the CNPRC.

“There will always be more diseases to study and more humans suffering from illness, but it is time to stop using this fact of life to justify the enslavement, torture and murder of innocent beings,” said Caroline Webb, a geology graduate student and member of the activist group Free Davis Primates. “We have the intelligence and technology to develop better ways to improve our medicine and maintain our ethical integrity.”

Others have expressed how a stressful and unnatural laboratory environment may contribute to skewed results. Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), an organization that strongly advocates the cessation of animal cruelty and exploitation, believes that using animals for scientific research creates an ethical dilemma.

“Any study of Zika is essentially an infectious disease study, which is dependent on the immune system of the animals,” said Michael Budkie, the director of SAEN. “The stress of the laboratory environment is sufficient to cause many primates to become self-destructive. Similarly, the stress of the laboratory setting is also sufficient to have a major impact on the immune systems of the monkeys. Therefore, you would likely not be able to generalize any study of captive primates even to a population of primates in their natural habitat, let alone to humans.”

Van Rompay and his research team have stated that the primates will be quarantined in order to prevent outside disturbances that could affect the experiment, and that the research team will protect the primates from harm to the best of their ability.

Van Rompay hopes to have some sort of vaccine developed for the Zika virus by next year. He believes that his strong connection with his research team will contribute to finding more sufficient data.

“I have a lot of hope for the future,” Van Rompay said. “Especially with the Zika virus research, I’m very impressed with how much people are interested to share their data. We’re working with different groups and contacting them every day about their findings. I am hoping that this will set a good example for future researchers.”

To keep updated on this study, the CNPRC is providing real-time updates on their website.

Written by: Emma Sadlowski – campus@theaggie.org

Resurrected student organization seeks to restructure orientation to cater to reentry students’ needs

Older, Wiser Learners (OWL), a student organization run by transfer and reentry students, recently reactivated at the end of Fall Quarter 2015 for the first time since its discontinuation back in 2007.

OWL, which is primarily made up of undergraduates who do not fall within the 18- to 22-year-old age range, aims to make this smaller and more non-traditional group of older students more visible at UC Davis in order to foster a sense of community with other transfer, reentry and veteran students.

The organization is supervised by Victor Garcia, who also serves as the primary advisor for students at the Transfer, Reentry and Veteran (TRV) Center. The TRV Center addresses the needs and concerns of TRV students who usually begin their studies at UC Davis with special circumstances, such as raising dependents, or entering or reentering the university after serving in the military.

“OWL is a student organization resurrected by students who participated in a seminar that I facilitated [EDU 198],” Garcia said. “These are students who are over 25-years-old, students who have dependents, and even single parent students. The transition is especially hard for them because, in addition to being a student, they have other responsibilities like raising their kids, being the head of the household and working to pay the bills.”

Thea French, a reentry sustainable environmental design major and the secretary of OWL, said that her responsibilities as a mother have often interfered with her lecture attendance.

“I decided to leave my high school girls back in Sunnyvale because I didn’t want to uproot them,” French said. “Sometimes life happens. They get sick or they’re having a mental breakdown, and I have to miss three or four lectures in the middle of the week because I have to take a train home to take care of them. It would be nice if the faculty had some sort of sensitivity training to understand these circumstances.”

Another OWL member, Ilse Manuela, a 27-year-old transfer/reentry cognitive science major, has a nine-year-old daughter living with her in Davis and struggles to plan her school routine around her daughter’s schedule.

“The first challenge I had was when I came to orientation to sign up for classes,” Manuela said. “I had to keep in mind the hours of childcare, when my daughter would be in school, and who’s going to pick her up. Resources to help me with those issues were not readily available. At orientation, everything seems geared toward the traditional students, the 18-year-olds.”

Receiving financial aid has also been an issue for Manuela.

“Even at the [financial aid] department, I applied for some scholarships [for students with dependents], but the cut-off was for people who have children who aren’t older than six-years-old. I thought that was unfair. It’s not like children get cheaper as they get older,” Manuela said.

One of the main goals of OWL is to push for a reform of the first-year experience (FYE) orientation structure, such as holding a special orientation session for TRV students led by TRV orientation leaders.

Manuela specifically said that priority registration and advisers who can direct students to programs like child-care should be offered at orientation. She also said that there should be more financial aid opportunities for students with dependents and that Unitrans should be free for the children of university students.

Sam Park, one of the incoming ASUCD senators who identifies as a transfer student, promised to advocate for the restructure of orientation in his election campaign.

“We are currently researching better ways to outline resources on the FYE packet,” Park said. “I want to provide a better directory for advising, student health and mental health issues for these students. Overall, we’re trying to improve the current packet that we have.”

OWL has many plans to voice these issues and make themselves more visible on campus.

“OWL is going to outreach more and get involved during events like Picnic Day and Whole Earth Festival,” Garcia said. “Many of these students can’t experience campus life because they have kids to take care of. I hope that OWL will give these students more of a reason to stay on campus and to spend time with people who they can relate to. I don’t want them to feel isolated.”

Written by: Julian Leus – campus@theaggie.org