On April 1, the UC Davis Farmers Market relocated from the Silo to the North Quad and will be open every Wednesday during the Spring Quarter from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market was started as an extension of the Davis Farmers Market in 2007 and was originally located behind the UC Davis Silo near the Campus Recreation Craft Center until its relocation this year. The weekly event is meant to further a commitment to healthy eating, natural sustainability and overall healthy lifestyles in the UC Davis community, as well as to increase UC Davis students’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

We believe the relocation of the market will lead to positive changes for the market, which will ultimately support a healthy UC Davis community lifestyle. The Quad is a more central, spacious area; thus, students are more likely to be aware of the market’s presence.

Along with the advocacy of healthy lifestyles, the market brings together and creates visibility for different campus organizations and communities.

Many eco-sustainability groups in the UC Davis community such as the Campus Center for the Environment, and the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission (EPPC) support the event in its backing of eco-friendly living. Additionally, the market has a zero-waste policy and promotes the use of reusable bags. We hope the Market’s message of sustainability encourages more students to reject environmentally-destructive habits.

The Market is still somewhat small, but we hope that it continues to exist and expand so that we can continue to support local farmers and UC Davis’ pursuit for a healthier, eco-friendly community.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.

This weekend, tens of millions of viewers will tune in to watch the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis, Ind. The state has turned into a battleground over Senate Bill (SB) 101, commonly referred to as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that was passed on. SB 101 allows Indiana businesses to refuse service to individuals that violate their religious practices. Many opponents believe that the bill is specifically targeting the LGBTQIA community. With such a large stage set, we believe that the NCAA must take a stand against the blatantly-discriminatory law that was just passed in Indiana. The final three games of the NCAA tournament must be moved to show that an organization representing over 450,000 student athletes will not stand for discrimination of any kind.

The NCAA represents hundreds of thousands of students of differing races, religions and sexual orientations. It is also an organization that should strive to be a role model to the student athletes that they represent and the millions of viewers who will be watching this weekend. It is not, as many would like to believe, merely a passive organization without greater cultural influence.

The NCAA tournament in 2015 will not actually be affected by the recent law passed in Indiana that many believe will open up the door to legal discrimination by businesses, as the law will go into effect after this weekend. Instead, this marks an opportunity for this non-profit organization to take an active stance against a discriminatory law and protect the students that it serves. It sets a precedent for future events held by the NCAA, including the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Basketball that is to be set in Indiana as well.

Many opponents of moving the Final Four have come out, often with the argument that sports should not be made political. Sports, however, are undeniably a part of the political realm, whether spectators want them to be or not. Professional sports leagues were the front lines for integration throughout the 1900s, with black athletes and coaches fighting for the right to participate and then for equal roles.

There is even precedent over choosing event locations based upon political stances within the history of the NCAA. In 2001, the organization imposed a ban on all post-season events at a predetermined site within South Carolina and Mississippi until the Confederate Flag was removed from the State Capitol of each state. Viewers will still not see March Madness games hosted in either one of these places.

The NCAA has been presented with an opportunity to combat discrimination, thereby best representing their student athletes and serving as a positive role model for the millions of viewers. Thus far, it has taken a tepid stance by saying, “We will work diligently to assure student athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill.”

Administration within the NCAA must see their actions beyond simply protecting attendees of the 2015 Final Four. Instead, they need to understand both the implications of keeping March Madness in Indiana and in the potential impact that they could have by taking a stance and moving the games.

We believe that SB 101, or any other legislation that serves to promote discriminatory practices, should not exist. However, since SB 101 cannot be repealed before the Final Four is played, the California Aggie Editorial Board urges the NCAA to move the tournament regardless of the logistical challenges presented.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.

The focus of this column will be on ideas or beliefs about health that people generally follow and/or teach to others. My aim is to debunk these myths, but the intention is not to make individuals feel silly for believing them. Instead, the goal is to provoke some critical thought and understanding about where and why these beliefs may have emerged. Overall, I hope that readers will receive a new outlook on whatever health practice or topic is being discussed. I also hope that the column will encourage them to question what is commonly accepted as orthodox in health.

Wait you put what where?

Typically at the sight of any sort of feces, humans naturally tend to steer way. Excretion does not have a pleasant smell nor does it have an appearance worthy of a gaze. If you see animal feces on the ground, you will more than likely move away and maybe even add in a gagging sound. However, there is something about human waste that makes people cringe at the very thought of seeing it anywhere other than in the toilet. Therefore, it is not surprising that making use of human excretion is taboo in Western culture. Waste is usually associated with disease and uncleanliness, so to imagine that it may have a positive medicinal effect is unthinkable. This common conception of human excretion is put to a challenge by fecal transplant or more officially called fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). This novel treatment requires placing the stool of a healthy person into the colon of a sick person. Most notably, the individuals who undergo this transplant have Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that reportedly does not have a cure and whose activity is still being understood. It has also been proven to work in treating a bacterial infection called Clostridium difficile or C. difficile, which has symptoms similar to Crohn’s disease.

Poo is really medicine?

FMT has had incredible results and in many cases people recover within hours. In 2013, a trial comparing the effectiveness of FMT to vancomycin, an antibiotic drug that fights bacterial infections ended early because it was concluded unethical since less than a third of the patients treated with vancomycin recovered whereas 94 percent of those treated with FMT recovered. There is a new organization called Openbiome and it is the world’s first stool bank. Essentially what they do is recruit donors, and these donors are then put through intensive clinical tests and a strict screening process. Less than 20 percent of the recruits actually pass the blood and stool tests. They then process the stool, freeze it, track it and then ship it to hospitals across the country. It is a very careful, nonrandom process, and it is also relatively inexpensive in comparison to the prices implemented by pharmaceutical companies selling drugs for C. difficile. Not only is FMT exceptionally effective, with almost all treatments being successful, but it is also really cheap.

Big Pharma and the FDA

Despite FMT’s effectiveness, doctors are not allowed to perform the procedure without special licensing.The reason being that FMT has not undergone clinical trials, and is thus interpreted as an unfair advantage to the drug companies. These companies have to invest large amounts of money and time into clinical trials in order to get their drug approved by the FDA. FMT, however, has not had to undergo this process, which has stirred up some controversy with the Openbiome organization because they are endorsing this treatment, especially considering that they are now processing stool capsules. Therefore, drug companies will likely want FMT to go through the FDA because the cost is so low and effective, that it will obviously outcompete their products. Unfortunately, regulatory agencies’ decision to require a special licensure to perform FMT has prolonged and made it difficult to access treatment. Sufferers cannot always find doctors to perform their procedure or maybe they cannot afford the drug prices, so they choose to perform FMT at home. This is incredibly risky, so that is why organizations like Openbiome are created to make fecal transplant easily accessible. However, if they have to undergo FDA approval, then this easy access might be hindered. Their prices will likely go up and at-home procedures may persist.

Give A Sh!t Campaign

It is odd to imagine that you can be incredibly ill and have a reliable, effective treatment, but you might not receive it because of the stigma surrounding fecal medicine or because of the legal controversy debating whether poo should or should not go through clinical trials. This treatment, like any other medicine, is intended to help people recover from illness. Although, excretion may be offsetting to most, it is still a powerful medicine and it would be great if more people would be more open to it. Openbiome has a “Give A Sh!t Campaign” to help raise money for lab equipment and an expansion of their organization to make the treatment more accessible.

Tiffany Marquez can be reached at tmmarquez@ucdavis.edu.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.

Before you came to college, your parents probably sat you down, poured you a cup of tea and warned you of all the dangers that accompany your soon-to-come freedom.  While you cringed uncomfortably, Dad went on about his wild college adventures and gave you the overused advice, “Beer before liquor, never sicker; liquor before beer, never fear!” Mom laughed awkwardly, pretending like she had no idea if that was true or not, and proceeded to lecture you about the high risk of sexual assault on college campuses.

She might have said something like, “Just don’t walk alone at night, don’t dress too provocatively and always stay with your friends.  If you do those things, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Trust me, you can avoid getting raped.”  You smiled obligingly while shoving their words towards the very back corner of your brain. “That would never happen to me anyways,” you thought.

But as you adjusted to college life, you realized that most people don’t take their mother’s advice. You realized that a safe college campus by day could be a sea of impending danger by night. And you realized – as you watched countless creepy guys lure your drunk friends up to their rooms – that sexual assault occurs just about as frequently as your Chem midterms.

So the real question then, is how can you protect yourself when the reality of your culture is driven by sexual violence? How can you be the one to avoid the trauma, the one who made the smart decision?

Yes, it is your choice if you want to drink or not. It is your choice how revealing you want your outfit to be and whether or not you want roam the dark streets at night. But does that mean it is your responsibility to lock yourself in a cave your whole life to avoid getting sexually assaulted?

By enforcing a set of “risk reduction strategies” we are implying that ultimately, it is the victim’s responsibility to not get raped.  If there was an alternative choice, i.e., not drinking that night, then the choice to drink was directly correlated with the “deserved” outcome. It implies that if the victim chose to wear a gigantic ill-fitting garbage bag instead of a flattering dress, the victim could have avoided his/her inevitable fate.

It is a completely unfair double standard that some are able to go off to college, go out to parties, be a little reckless, drink a little too much and wake up with a harmless hangover while others must wake to the total objectification of their bodies.

College is the first time in our lives we are finally able to explore new opportunities freely, and it is unfair to deprive some people of those experiences because our culture has trained us to live in fear. If I want to go out with my friends, wear something cute, drink a little bit and mingle with others, I shouldn’t have to be constantly worrying that my words and actions are going to tempt some guy to the point of no return.  But I do.

So is there an answer to the question “How can I avoid getting raped?” There is an answer, but not a fair one.  If you are content with wearing that extra sized trash bag, by all means go for it.  (I recommend the scented one).  But if not, let’s start with accepting the ramifications of our perverted culture and educating ourselves about the frequency and devastation of sexual assault.  Then maybe, just maybe, I can leave my dorm with a tank top on.

Like her bluntness? Contact Maddy Pettit for more information at mepettit@ucdavis.edu.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.

We humans are artists by nature.  Our perception of the world is arranged artfully by our minds; we are attracted to color, novelty, originality, and creativity.  Perhaps that is why we are so drawn to spring, with its colorful flowers and bright sunlight.  In this vibrancy, we sense the glow of creation and can recognize in nature a kindred artistic spirit.

Nature’s capacity for artistry has never before been demonstrated as clearly to me as it was just this past week camping in Big Sur with my dad. In the broad coastal meadows of what’s been been called ‘the greatest meeting of land and sea,’ we were treated to one of the most glorious testaments to springtime I’ve ever seen.  Vast arrays of lupines and poppies speckled the landscape with blue and gold, while brilliant red paintbrush flamed beside the train and deep purple irises lit shaded canyons with quiet grace.  Everything around us burst with life, eager to prove the time of the earth’s opening was nigh.

Of course, now that we’re all back in Davis, we students find that the spring’s grand unfurling is obscured by a myriad of other concerns.  As we brave the heat and slog our way through the last few months before freedom, our thoughts turn to all the upcoming campus events and the fun we’ll soon have with friends.  Yet in this, too, there is an essence of spring.  Finally free from winter’s cloud, we open ourselves, putting on our summer clothes and letting a little more sunlight through the curtains of our minds.  Bit by bit, we’ll relax our souls and our habits to welcome the promise of change and the approaching summer.

The parallel opening in the world’s nature and in our own is no accident, and they reference a dichotomy best illuminated by the bright colors of the current season.  Spring’s opening can be imagined in two different lights.  When we think of spring in terms of the passing of the seasons, we picture what happens to the landscape.  As the great blue expanse of the heavens clears above us, the land all around emerges from its slumber and springs into new life.  I’ve been privileged to witness this firsthand on countless trips like last week’s that I’ve taken throughout my life.  For me, the land’s opening has all the familiarity of an old friend.

And yet, when most of us try to imagine spring itself, we tend to frame it in more intimate terms.  We picture the baby robin hatching from its brilliant blue egg, or the iris rising to stretch its delicate petals in the shade.  In this light, spring is the unique journey taken by each young chick, bud, and sprout as they open into whom or whatever the spring enables them to be.  I believe this view significantly informs our view of our own opening in spring. Under the nurturing gaze of the sun and sky, our nascent identities are coaxed into blooms we each feel are entirely our own.

But to forget that spring is also a season is to forget something amazing and beautiful in its own right, and what we too often fail to see is that it is not only spring’s identity but also ours that can be enriched by considering the big picture.  Each flower has a bed, and every colorful field is comprised of hundreds of individual blooms.  The identity of the spring includes each budding flower, and the identity of each flower includes the bright pixel they represent in spring’s visage.  And so it goes for us; our identities inform and include the identity of the world in which we live.

To explore what is ‘in our nature’ is to discover our identities through not only examining our petals, but finding our places in the field.  Our place in the world is an immutable part of our identities, and in the columns to come I want to explore ways that through a relationship with nature, we can come to understand ourselves on this connected level and find new meaning in our lives.  Life is an art and we are the painters; in nature we find the greatest possible palate.

As we flowers and the earth bloom together this spring, I hope we all find our own places and colors in the great patchwork field of every hue embedded in the green.

Look up, look out, look around – spring is in our nature.

NICK JENSEN can be reached at njensen@ucdavis.edu.

Graphic by Jennifer Wu.