Alex Lee:

As the founder and president of the UC Davis Filmmaking Society, second-year political science major and independent senatorial candidate Alex Lee plans to prioritize student organizations if elected.

“We have 700+ registered student organizations at UC Davis, but we don’t have ASUCD infrastructure to oversee them,” Lee said. “Student government should be about student services. I saw a need and I am trying to fill it.”

In addition to increasing club resources and advocacy, Lee’s platforms include implementing testing materials vending machines and adding Boba drinks to the CoHo menu.

Lee’s experience includes internships with University Affairs and ASUCD Senators Felicia Ong and Gareth Smythe. Lee said his involvement with the Vietnamese Student Association and Taiwanese Chinese Student Association also helps him understand the needs of clubs on-campus.

Anabiah Syed:

Coming from an underrepresented community on-campus, third-year political science major and Students Matter: Activism, Retention, Teamwork (SMART) senatorial candidate Anabiah Syed said she believes running for ASUCD Senate would allow her to give students a voice.

“For me, being from a community that has been underrepresented in the past has been important,” Syed said. “A big thing for me is being accessible for students in general, not just my community.

In addition to being heavily involved in student organizations relating to the Middle East/South Asian communities on-campus, Syed also serves in ASUCD as a Commissioner for External Affairs Commission and as a member of Senator Azka Fayyaz’s executive staff.

“There is a disconnect between ASUCD and students on campus,” Syed said. “I want to make sure I really represent the student voice, not just one community over another. If I have the opportunity to take student voices and represent them fairly, then why not?”

Syed’s platforms include increasing the accessibility and security of charging stations on-campus and improving overall campus climate.

Andrea Velazquez:

As a result of her early involvement with the non-profit UC Davis student organization M.E.Ch.A, fourth-year political science and psychology double major Andrea Velazquez has demonstrated her leadership interest in community-based work.

As a senatorial candidate with the SMART slate, Velazquez’s platforms include promoting mental health awareness on-campus and establishing transparency with federal grants.

“I am not here just to represent myself,” Velazquez said. “I want to make sure I am voting for everyone, not just my own self interests.”

Although she was originally called upon to run for senate, Velazquez said she herself finds the position to be very important and hopes she can work towards her platforms if elected.

“I want to get my hands on how its all working and moving and what ASUCD is about,” Velazquez said. “I want to make sure to work on my platforms, but also help others with their platforms, especially the ones that I am aligned to.”

Brendan Chang:

A first-quarter community college transfer student, third-year mathematics and statistics double major and SMART senatorial candidate Brendan Chang became involved with ASUCD immediately after he was admitted to UC Davis last year.

“I was so excited to go to Davis, so I researched ASUCD. I applied to be on Outreach Assembly because of my past experiences being involved,” Chang said. “I have had a great time being involved, meeting people and learning about UC Davis.”

As a member of Outreach Assembly, Chang has helped coordinate events including first-year orientation and ASUCD Harv-Fest. This quarter, Chang’s platforms include expanding tutoring resources and redesigning resources available to transfer students.

“I have always been involved and served students. I want to be a teacher and help students in general,” Chang said. “I want to serve the students and be a voice, especially for transfer students because we don’t currently have that representation at the ASUCD Senate table.”

Casey Nguyen:

For third-year Asian American studies and community and regional development double major Casey Nguyen, running as a SMART candidate for ASUCD Senate was an opportunity to bring her passion for student advocacy to the next level.

“I really enjoy all the things senators do in Senate meetings and outside of them,” Nguyen said. “There are a lot of privileges that ASUCD senators are afforded that not all students are given. I think that using those benefits to the student’s good is something I can do as an ASUCD Senator.”

In addition to working at the Student Recruitment and Retention Center on-campus, Nguyen has interned for current ASUCD Senator Robyn Huey and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission.

Nguyen’s platforms include expanding sexual assault and sexual awareness resources on campus and creating an early warning system for students facing academic probation and subject to dismissal status.

“If elected, I want to make sure that students know that we are available to them. Senate meetings aren’t just scary place where people yell at each other, but are a place where we get things done,” Nguyen said. “As a senate table we represent the general UC Davis community.”

Reem Fatayerji:

For third-year economics and international relations double major Reem Fatayerji, running as an independent senatorial candidate is the best and most transparent way to represent all student interests.

“I have always wanted to be in charge of change rather than just watching it happen in front of me,” Fatayerji said. “I very much believe that everyone is in charge of their own change that they wanted to see. [Before running for senate], I didn’t think I was in charge of the change that I wanted to see.”

Fatayerji’s on-campus involvement includes Greek life and her platforms concentrate on strengthening the bonds between student organizations and ASUCD, expanding peer tutoring opportunities and adding outlets to the CoHo and library.

“I chose my platforms based on what I thought would be the most applicable,” Fatayerji said. “I realized that most of my platforms applied to most students.”

Roman Rivilis:

The decision to run for ASUCD Senate was easy to make for fourth-year political science and economics double major Roman Rivilis, given his four-year long involvement with the UC Davis student government association.

“ASUCD has been a definite part of my college experience,” said Rivilis, who has served as an intern for former ASUCD Senator Justin Goss and commissioner for the Internal Affairs Commission. “As an elected official, I want to be a resource to the rest of ASUCD with historical perspective with what has not worked in the past and what will be successful in the future.”

Rivilis’s platforms include starting a Greek Hunger Initiative to link the Greek community with the on-campus Pantry, establishing a peer advising program within the university Financial Aid office and creating a testing center for students with disabilities.

“I am running because I don’t feel the administration is being responsive to student concerns,” Rivilis said. “I want my term to be about reaching out to as many students as possible.”

Photos by Ciera Pasturel

A little over a year ago, a man carried a 89-pound iron ball into the Hattie Weber Museum, located on C Street in Downtown Davis.

The iron ball had sat atop Davis’s first water tower, previously functioning as a lightning rod. The man’s father-in-law, who was moving to a rest home, told the volunteers at the museum that every Fourth of July, the Davis Fire Chief would crawl on top of the water tower, grab the iron ball and stand on his head to the general cheers of the masses below.

This iron ball is just one of many curious artifacts donated to the Hattie Weber Museum. Situated in the corner of Davis’ Central Park, the little building exhibits a wide range of objects that each hold a little piece of Davis’ history: a locked safe that not even an expert could open, a quilt made during the Civil War, a till from the 1920s that can ring up no more than $9.99 and creamers from when UC Davis first started out as a farm school.

“People come by and donate the strangest things. I think the top of the water tower is one of the most interesting things we have gotten,” said Dennis Dingemans, a retired UC Davis geology professor and volunteer director for the Hattie Weber Museum.

The museum is housed in the building of the old Yolo County Library and is named after Hattie Weber, the first paid librarian in Davis, then Davisville. When Weber started working in 1906, the library only had 200 books; when she retired in 1953, it had 23,144.

“The Webers owned a saloon in town, and Hattie was the youngest and most beautiful of the three Weber girls. She never married because nobody was good enough for her,” Dingemans said. “She was famous for being cranky in her old days. She was strict and she knew a lot.”

Other than housing a variety of historical artifacts, the Hattie Weber Museum also occasionally participates in the Davis ArtAbout, a monthly event dedicated to viewing local art galleries.

Merrily DuPree, a researcher and supporter of the museum, said they decided to partake in last Friday’s ArtAbout since they were featuring watercolors done by local artist Betty Berteaux. Five of Berteaux’s watercolors are featured in the museum’s permanent collection and many of her paintings are of local landscapes. One of her most recent projects was sketching of all the olive trees lining Russell Boulevard.

“What I thought was, ‘I should document these trees,’” Berteaux said. “So I started on the north end and I worked my way down.”

In total, Berteaux estimates she drew around 200 trees. The project lasted several days and the results were showcased in a few sketchbooks displayed in the museum. By now, Berteaux has gotten her technique down and recommends that the novice-olive-tree-artist begins with drawing an olive tree’s negative space.

Other than providing art for the museum, Berteaux has been a member of the Yolo County Historical Society since 1972. The Historical Society is also the organization that operates the museum, previously located on F Street. Her husband gave a helping hand in the design of the new and improved location, which volunteer DuPree says is one of the reason people are so drawn to the place.

“People come in here because they are interested in history, but they end up liking it too,” DuPree said. “I think it’s a really good place to get a vivid sense of Davis’ history. It’s a really welcoming place.”

As a researcher for the museum, DuPree looks further into interesting subjects by digging into archives and reading old newspapers. She is currently working on a project that involves the Schmeiser family, famous German pioneers in Davis during the early 1900s.

The most notable artifacts left over from the family were letters from the family’s daughter, Pauline Schmeiser, whose photo also hangs in the museum. Most of the letters were from a trip she took to Europe in 1903, all of which were addressed back to Yolo County.

DuPree transcribed many of the letters and hopes to publish a piece in an upcoming Yolo County Historical Society’s newsletter. For now she is also focusing on the museum’s current collection of quilts that are on display, ranging from the Civil War era to the 1950s, and helping out with community events like the ArtAbout.

The museum has approximately 3,000 visitors per year, most of whom come on Saturdays. While there are a few Davis families who are regular guests, most of the visitors are not Davis residents.

“The museum is rarely visited by college students, and if it is, it is mostly because their parents are in town and going to a museum seems like a good, cultural thing to do,” Dingemans said. “Most of the visitors are people from out of town — old students or people who are visiting relatives in Davis. We also have quite a few international visitors. Last year 35 countries from six different continents were represented.”

Dingemans explained that when long-time Davis residents visit the museum come for the first time, their most typical reaction is: “Why didn’t I come here earlier?”

Photo by Anisa Bashiri