Extensive security precautions at temporary bookstore helps in catching culprits
Two students were arrested Jan. 12 at the temporary bookstore at the UC Davis ARC Pavilion for burglary and theft after walking out with stolen textbooks. UC Davis student Adam Sato, 21, and James Hoblitzell, 19, a student at UC Merced, were taken into custody after employees reportedly saw the pair sneaking textbooks out of the store without paying.
“They were observed by bookstore staff putting books into a backpack and then leaving without paying for them, so staff followed them outside and called the police, who arrested them,” said Andy Fell, associate director of news and media at UC Davis.
The bookstore was relocated to the ARC after its original location at the Memorial Union (MU) began renovation in 2015. The bookstore is expected to move back to the MU in Spring 2016.
“Shoplifting is fairly common in our campus stores as it is at nearly all retailers,” said Jason Lorgan, director of the UC Davis bookstore, in an email. “Having said that, we believe we experience less theft than many mainstream retailers, primarily because of the market we serve.”
Lorgan also notes the different procedures that the store has had to implement since moving to the ARC, including placing non-uniformed employees who monitor the area.
“The temporary spaces have extensive camera systems for the safety and security of our stores and customers, and plain-clothed student loss prevention employees roam the locations just as they do in our permanent locations,” Lorgan said. “The spaces being more spread out now have created some challenges that we have had to adjust our procedures to compensate for.”
Maheep Virk, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, expressed his disappointment in the incident and his thoughts on the students’ motives.
“It’s understandable that somebody would try and steal them. I just don’t think that that’s really the morally correct thing to do,” Virk said. “They probably realize that it’s probably harder to keep track of because the bookstore is now at the ARC and it’s a lot harder to catch people since it’s more of just a cage with books in it.”
Both Sato and Hoblitzell were booked at the Yolo County Jail on burglary and theft charges. Most students who shoplift pay a civil demand fine and are sent to Student Judicial Affairs. Fell notes that the nature of the incident is rare, but unfortunate.
“I don’t recall a similar arrest being made,” Fell said. “It’s unfortunate. We’d rather not see people try and do something like that.”
Written by: Ivan Valenzuela – campus@theaggie.org
Lee and Sandhu have the experience and knowledge to take a seat in ASUCD’s Executive Office. Lee, who recently finished his term as a senator, and Sandhu, who currently serves as the chair for the Internal Affairs Commission, have the astute understanding of ASUCD necessary to pull off their ambitious, yet doable, platforms. The Editorial Board was particularly impressed by the pair’s willingness to delegate through creating a cabinet with focuses such as units, external affairs and academics. The pair showed further promise to students through their unique take on a club festival with a focus on fundraising for clubs through selling food and merchandise. With an additional idea to create an assembly to represent the four colleges, Lee and Sandhu are the right pair to spearhead this complex association.
With an impressive amount of effort already taken to communicate with administrators and outside organizations to learn the ins and outs of her platforms, Molodanof shows no bounds to what she can accomplish if she was actually in office. The second-year English and communication double major, who has held a seat on ASUCD’s Outreach Assembly, impressed The Aggie with her thoughtful answers and defenses to potential holes in her platforms. Molodanof, whose platforms include bringing more microwaves to the CoHo, creating a 24-hour non-urgent mental health stress line and displaying nutritional information at the CoHo, showed particular promise in her back-up plans and even 
As the Executive Office’s current Chief of Staff, third-year international relations major Dhaliwal, who also has experience as a senate staffer and an advocate for the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation, has been involved in ASUCD since her freshman year. As current ASUCD President Mariah Kala Watson’s right-hand woman, Dhaliwal has sat in on various high-level budget hearings, providing her with a deep understanding of ASUCD’s budget and the motions she needs to take in order to realize her platforms. These platforms include using the Entertainment Council’s large show fund to launch a student talent-centric Davis Music Festival and partnering with the Academic Senate’s library committee to create more lounge spaces in Shields Library. With her experience in the Executive Office, Dhaliwal has a strong grasp on how to work with administrators and is now focusing on catering to students. 
As a student who has been personally affected by the issues she’s seeking to change, second-year English and psychology double major Chiang impressed the Editorial Board with her passion for ASUCD and devotion to the student body. Chiang, who has served as the director of public engagement for ASUCD’s current Executive Office, showed particular promise with her refreshing and practical platforms, which include integrating a letter of recommendation request system into OASIS, making course evaluations public online and bringing vending machines to Shields Library stocked with bottled coffee and vital study supplies. However, she solidified her passion for students with her progressive platform to mandate mental health training for all professors following her struggle last quarter with anterograde amnesia, a mental illness that prevents the formation of new memories.
Through his short time in ASUCD as a staffer for Senator Kamaal Thomas and a commissioner for the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission, third-year political science and philosophy double major Martinez made a strong impression on the Editorial Board with his quick learning and humble, but necessary, platforms. As a member of the underserved Chicanx/Latinx community, Martinez is following in Thomas’ footsteps to foster student retention and ensure post-graduation success to students in this community with a series of professional workshops, similar to those provided to the African diaspora community. Martinez also showed his astute awareness of other underserved communities on campus through his platform to bring Community Advising Network counselors to specialized locations such as the AB 540 and Undocumented Student Center, the LGBTQIA Resource Center and the Women’s Resources and Research Center. With an additional platform to add a “Jobs/Internships” tab across all department websites, Martinez epitomizes the right voice to represent the student body.
Through his time as a commissioner for the Gender and Sexuality Commission, third-year design and communication double major Santamaria is a qualified advocate for UC Davis’ frequently overlooked LGBTQIA community. As a former resident advisor for student housing, Santamaria impressed the Editorial Board with his experience talking to leaders in student housing to begin implementing his Safe Dorm Initiative, a plan that would secure safe living environments for transgender students by automatically placing them in housing they are comfortable with. Santamaria also showed his awareness of the needs of LGBTQIA students and other marginalized communities with his platforms to indicate preferred gender pronouns on class rosters and bring more community-specific mental health services to campus.
Fourth-year political science major Park inspired the Editorial Board with his personal struggles that led to his carefully-selected platforms. As a transfer and re-entry student, Park exemplified his passion when speaking on behalf of these communities with his needed platform to restructure transfer and re-entry orientation to more closely resemble the university’s First Year Experience program, which provides a full scope of services and students organizations available to the campus. He also plans on serving veteran students by implementing a peer advising program. Park, who battled cancer during his first year at UC Davis, refreshed us with his much-needed platform to create a resource packet detailing all the mental and physical health services available to disabled students as well as bring a specialized counselor to the Student Disability Center. With an additional platform to revamp Aggie Job Link by partnering with the Cal Aggie Alumni Association to include more job listings for post-graduates, Park showed his strong grasp on satisfying the needs of the student body.
As a transfer from Santa Monica College and the vice chair for the Transfer, Re-entry and Veteran Committee, Downer, a third-year English major, seeks to improve resources for students by making the Orientation Handbook more student-friendly. 
As a member of Alpha Chi Omega and second-year managerial economics major, Chan hopes to unite ASUCD and Greek life through her platform — Greeks Giving Back, a joint fundraising campaign to increase funding to support groups such as Cal Aggie Camp and The Pantry. 
As the vice president of Ignite UC Davis, an organization serving to empower young women to become active leaders, second-year political science and psychology double major Grewal hopes to further sexual assault advocacy on campus.
Abusaa began his senatorial run with the goal of creating a series of student committees to help increase advocacy and representation for students, particularly international students and students of color.
For second-year genetic and genomics Nahabedian, running for re-election came down to ensuring the completion of his unfinished projects from his past year as senator. He hopes to continue his work as adopted senator of the Bike Barn, by expediting repairs, updating the showroom and restructuring the unit so that its focus is on selling and repairing parts. 
Shehadeh, a second-year biochemistry and molecular biology double major, would like to implement a more supportive academic probation (AP) system by providing peer advising and more efficient warnings to those students on AP. Shehadeh also aims to bring more career resources for non-STEM majors.
Both stemming from backgrounds of student leadership at the same community college, Pipersburg, a third-year political science major, and Kong, a fourth-year political science major, hope to strengthen energy, education and representation through their executive ticket. They strive to not only represent UC Davis students but to also highlight and encourage student voice, while invigorating the Aggie spirit on campus through their “Project Fun,” consisting of acts like bringing headliners back to campus.
For Chang, a former senator and a fourth-year English and statistics double major, running a second time means a chance for him to further his former projects, including his reinstatement of the Transfer, Re-entry and Veterans Committee earlier this year. He also wants to continue to work with the Academic Affairs Commission to create a freely accessible portal for students to access class syllabi.
For Pollack-Reeber, a third-year political science and international relations double major, running for senate stems from his passion for social justice and his background in student leadership.
If elected, Soomro, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, hopes to use his previous experience as senator and commission member at his past community college to serve the UC Davis campus community.
Serrano, a third-year history and Spanish double major, wants to up the accessibility of resources to students. She hopes to increase the availability of gender neutral restrooms on campus, while also planning biweekly academic advising on the Quad from all the colleges.
For Foley, a second-year political science major, club funding is his number one goal. Foley, who ran for senate in Fall 2015, hopes to assist with funding through working with local businesses and providing tips for applying to grants. 
As a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, Brady, a second-year statistics major, wants to focus senate on UC Davis-related issues.
For Tirkas, a third-year economics major, running for senate is all about supporting the arts. As a past DJ at KDVS and treasurer for his co-founded campus guitar club, Tirkas believes that providing students with the tools they need to execute and explore their artistic ideas would be a vital part of his role as senator.
