On May 4, students and community members alike joined together at the Mondavi Center to attend the fourth annual TEDxUCDavis event. Based on the well-known TED talks, which has the motto of “Ideas Worth Doing,” TEDxUCDavis is just one of many independently organized TED events that occurs often all over the world.

Director of Speaker Relations David Smotherman said that the UC Davis event has grown larger every year.

“Cory Warshaw started this from scratch about four years ago and is now an alumni,” Smotherman said. “It’s slowly progressed in size up to where we are now, where this is the first time we’ve ever been in Mondavi.”

The theme of this year’s TEDxUCDavis was “Pause or Press Play?” The host of the event and event programs encouraged the audience to consider at what times in their lives they should take the time for reflection, and at what times they should jump right in to the unknown without looking back.

The event featured a variety of speakers, including UC Davis Ergonomics Program Administrator Danny Nou, physician Dr. Richard Pan, UC Davis freshman Harley Litzelman and UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. Topics ranged from the making of beer to the democratization of education to new technological advances.

“I have been watching TED talks since high school, and I had always found their mix of deep ideas and creative presentations appealing,” said Cory Warshaw, the founder of TEDxUCDavis, via email. “I felt if we could bring that style of conference to Davis, we could create a space on campus where people could share their own passions and dare I say it, make ideas cool.”

The event also featured performances by UC Davis student groups Jadoo and Danzantes del Alma to further emphasize the diversity in the Davis community.

TEDxUCDavis Director of Marketing Shavika Singha believes that the conference also gives the Davis community a chance to see the talents of UC Davis researchers.

“It’s an opportunity for the community to see what the real heart is in the UC system and what the real purpose of researchers and research is,” Singha said.

Although hosted on the UC Davis campus at the Mondavi Center, TEDxUCDavis promoters encouraged the greater Davis community to attend the event as well.

“I wanted to bridge the gap between the University and the community of Davis,” Singha said. “I want to make it less of an exclusive UC-attended event and encourage community members to come.”

The TEDxUCDavis team worked for months before the conference in order to ensure the event’s success.

“The speaker process is what really takes up most of the time because we start right at the beginning of the year,” said Allison Butler, TEDxUCDavis director of speaker relations. “We have a speaker selection committee, and right from the get-go we use connections we have from different TED events, and then we start contacting those people to see if they’re interested. Then we start meeting in person with these people. We go from emailing 100 people to breaking it down to 11 or 12. It’s cool because we get to work closely with the speakers.”

The TEDxUCDavis team has also worked on previous projects to bring TED projects to the UC Davis campus. Earlier this year, the team held the Davis Inside Out project, in which 400 photos of UC Davis students and community members were posted on the outside of the Social Sciences and Humanities building in order to recognize the individuality of campus members.

“This originally comes from a French artist called JR,” Butler said. “In 2011, he won an award for TED. After his recognition with TED, this project is going up all over the world. It’s really kind of a global art project.”

According to the TEDxUCDavis team, TED talks are the perfect way to engage students and community members to make a change.

“TED is the perfect place to bring brilliant, innovative new ideas and get people thinking,” Butler said. “TED is an amazing venue for that. Get people thinking, get people inspired.”

Warshaw’s goal is for event attendees to take what they learned from the event into their daily lives.

“I hope that the students and community find inspiration in the talks they hear, but more importantly I hope that they take that inspiration into action,” Warshaw said.

ALYSSA VANDENBERG can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Photo by Katie Lin.

On May 2 at 11:30 a.m., around 100 students gathered at the Memorial Union flagpole, wearing red in solidarity and holding signs and banners with phrases like “We’re a culture! Not a costume!”

The students were protesting the ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo) in reaction to a recent Facebook event called “Cinco de Drinko Sloshball,” which was apparently made by and for CoHo employees. The event cover photo depicted four people in sombreros, ponchos and mustaches standing behind a fence, and two others dressed as border patrol police. In the description, the event planners wrote, “come drink a few cervesas and siesta out on the grass…grab those sombreros, and we’ll see you all there bright and early!” The event was scheduled for May 3, falling on the same day as La Gran Tardeada, the culmination of the week-long celebration of La Raza Cultural Days.

“Students are having a sit-in to peacefully get the message across to the University and CoHo employees to stop racially insensitive parties,” said Armando Figueroa, ASUCD president and a fourth-year Chicana/o studies and sociology double major. “The CoHo seems to be a platform [for racial insensitivity] because this is the second time that this has happened this month, [following] an event called “Holy Land” which had racially charged depictions of Muslims.”

According to Figueroa, the Holy Land event resulted in racially charged depictions of a Muslim dressed as a terrorist.

The May 2 protest was organized via a Facebook event arranged by Jackie Santizo, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies and sociology double major, and included a 40-minute sit-in inside the CoHo and a boycott of all CoHo items until one or more of the group’s demands were met.

Multiple members of the UC Davis administration observed the event, including Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, who voiced her support for the protesting students.

“That event that was organized was inappropriate and it was an event that really promotes stereotypes,” Katehi said. “I’m against any effort to stereotype any group and I‘m going to be sympathizing with those who object to it.”

The students chanted “UC Davis isn’t safe!” as they entered the CoHo from the south side at 11:45 a.m., and then gathered in the main walking area and waited for the organizers to speak.

The demands presented during the speech included creating a forum or safe space for CoHo employees and all other ASUCD units where they can share concerns, involving UC Davis Counseling Services as an accessible resource to those student employees, meeting with the chancellor and others to discuss the climate of racism on campus and documenting the consequences of student employee actions violating UC Davis policy not only within the CoHo, but within all ASUCD units.

The leaders of the sit-in held that the boycott would cease when one or more of the 12 demands were met.

The protest spanned beyond the UC Davis Chicano community, according toMichelle Villegas, a 2012 alumna who majored in Chicana/o studies and sociology and is a major voice behind the protest.

“The purpose of this was to let folks see that we are here, we are upset about this and we’re not just going to sit back and let these things happen,” Villegas said. “That doesn’t just include Chicano, Latino students, it includes students of all different types of backgrounds.”

Adriana Arrambide, a fourth-year majoring in environmental policy analysis and planning, expressed her disappointment with the lack of change in climate throughout her time at UC Davis, and recalled how in her sophomore year she had gone into an administrative building for advising and was mistaken for a cleaning lady by an office administrator.

“Here I am [in] my fourth year, and it’s still happening. When I see pictures of Cinco de Drinko, when I see pictures of someone mocking border patrol, not knowing remotely how hard it is to cross the border … it just disgusts me,” Arrambide said. “I see this list of demands that we’re making and I think it’s the minimum. That’s the least the administration could do for us.”

Outside the CoHo, close to where the protesters initially gathered, a group of four students were wearing sombreros, including Dylan, a fourth-year civil engineering major, who requested his last name not be mentioned.

“It’s comfortable and keeps the sun off my neck,” Dylan said. “I understand people are offended, people are hurt, just in my opinion it’s not racist or anything.”

According to Villegas, however, those students were an example of an instance of racism on campus.

“That just shows that on this campus, that’s the mentality. People don’t want to be open-minded, people don’t want to sit and dialogue,” Villegas said. “It’s upsetting obviously, like you want to go up and say like ‘hey what the hell are you doing wearing that,’ but in this case, you know, we wanted to make sure that it remained peaceful.”

Sabrina Sanchez, a first-year student majoring in political science and another organizer of the protest, agreed with Villegas and said that it put on display what needs to change.

“I definitely think we had a really good turnout,” Sanchez said. “But there definitely needs to be more done, and this is just the beginning.”

ELLY OLTERSDORF can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

[Photos by Misha Velasquez, Ciera Pasturel and Brian Nguyen.]

On April 26, UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students gathered in front of the Student Community Center (SCC) to protest a campus visit from University of California (UC) President Janet Napolitano. Napolitano was visiting the school to speak at the Fourth Annual UC Global Health Day.

Maria Salazar, a third-year chicano/a studies and psychology double major who was participating in the protest, said that the visit was not publicly announced to students.

“A lot of student leaders, like the student chancellors and leaders in ASUCD, had no idea she was coming,” Salazar said. “We had to be told by other student leaders on other campuses.”

Salazar said that they were first notified of Napolitano’s visit from a post on the UC Irvine website that she would be at UC Davis. According to Salazar, the public is supposed to be notified when Napolitano makes campus visits.

The Global Health Day website did list Napolitano as a speaker weeks prior to the event.

Abrahan Tapia, a fifth-year psychology and chicano/a studies double major, said the purpose of the protest was to show that the students do not understand or agree with the decision to have Napolitano as UC president.

“We’re trying to show we’re still opposing her appointment,” Tapia said. “We want to know why they picked her over other, more qualified people.”

Tapia said that another reason for the protest is Napolitano’s previous experience as the U.S. Homeland Security secretary. Many students worry about how her past experience with deportation will affect current students.

“She was the chief deporter of immigrants,” Tapia said. “She’s responsible for breaking a lot of families apart.”

Guadalupe Espinoza, a second-year psychology and human development double major,said Napolitano’s high security when visiting campuses and supposed cover-up of her visit was another reason for concern. Espinoza said that the police presence at her events appears as if she finds students to be threatening.

“We want to know why she needs so much security and why she is considering us a threat,” Espinoza said. “The police presence at the schools also affects how the media frames her.”

Students at the protest said that they wanted to talk to Napolitano regarding her position as UC president. One of the main goals of the protest was to speak with Napolitano.

“We want to get her attention and show that we’ll always be there,” Tapia said. “If she’s willing to talk to us, we would like to talk.”

Protesters handed out fliers during the protest to address its purpose and goals. A list of questions addressed to Napolitano were on the fliers and included, “Why do you need so much security when coming onto campus?” and “Given that you have no educational background, why do you think that you’re qualified to run such a large educational institution?”

During the UC Global Health Day, protesters marched from the SCC on campus to the Conference Center, where the Global Health Day event was being held. Students taped posters onto the windows of the Conference Center so that attendees inside who were leaving for lunch could see them.

Tapia said that the protest was broadcasted via social media with the hashtag, “#no2napolitano.”

Brooke Converse, a UC Office of the President (UCOP) spokesperson, said that UCOP did not know what the purpose of the protest was.

“We are aware that there was a very small protest at Global Health Day, but we do not know what they were protesting about,” Converse said via email.

MELISSA DITTRICH  can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

[Photo by Rousseau Gleitsman]