FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
Highlander University
Volume 61
of
C a l i f o r n i a , R ive r s i d e
Issue 14
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Governor and UC regents clash over budget Culprits in campus crime spree arrested in Moreno Valley Matthew Ward
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
S a n dy V a n SENIOR STAFF WRITER
C o u rt e s y
of
Carrie Rosema
Held on the campus of UCR, the January Regents meeting in 2012 occurred in the midst of student protest over state disinvestment.
Sandy Van
SE N IOR STA F F W R I T E R
The UC Board of Regents reconvened for their bi-monthly meeting Jan. 15 to 17 at UCSF Mission Bay. Continuing discussions included the positive trajectory of state funding, degree of systemwide faculty diversity, expansion of online education and student health care. In the week prior to the meeting, Governor Jerry Brown released his proposed 2013-2014
state budget report, which provided the UC with $125 million of additional funds—$10 million of which is designated to the development of new technologies and online courses. The state budget assumes additional state funds of $125 million or a 4 to 5 percent increase over the next four years. Yet, this is less than half of the $265 million that the regents requested in November to forego tuition inREGENTS CONT’D ON PAGE 3
Three Moreno Valley residents were arrested for their connections to six armed robberies that took place Jan. 16 and 17 near campus—five of which occurred within the span of one hour, officials said. University students were held at gunpoint by then-unidentified assailants last Wednesday, which led UCPD and the Riverside Police Department to launch an investigation into the string of burglaries. The following day, a sixth robbery occurred near the streets of Fair Isle and Lochmoor. Matching the listed vehicle and suspect descriptions to the previous crimes, officials arrested Xavier Vining, 20, who was sent to Robert Presley Detention Center on one count of robbery. Associated with a series of robberies occurring in San Bernardino County, Doneal Lewis Cephus, 18, was arrested in Fontana as a person of interest and sent to county jail. Markeith Shavers, 19, was the third suspect interviewed by officials and charged with one count
Mark Yudof to step down as UC president Sandy Van
SE N IOR STA F F W R I T E R
UC President M ark Yudof will resign from his position in August 2013, according to a statement released on Jan. 18. After serving a five-year term, Yudof cited “a spate of taxing health issues,” and a “change in my pro fessional lifestyle” as the reasoning behind his decision. This revelation follows the January regents meeting, which held promise of a multi-year funding agreement between the UC and state. According to the propo sed 2013-2014 state bud get, the UC may receive annual four to five percent increases in funding. Over the last five years, the UC incurred nearly a billion dollars in financial reductions. “Now, it appears the storm has been weathered,” said Yudof in a statement. “We are not fully in the clear, but we are much closer than we were even a few months
ago.” Yudof became the 19th presi dent of the UC, when he took office June 16, 2008. WIth stu dent tuition rising to 32 percent, he faced the travails of leading a struggling UC out of financial angst. In 2009 alone, campuses furloughed 1,900 employees, removed 3,800 positions and deferred filling 1,600 faculty positions. Despite the continuous budget sequestration, Yudof sought to maintain the affordability and accessibility of the UC for low and middle income students by enacting a series of financial aid programs. In 2009, the regents passed the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, which covers UC tuition for eligible households that make less than $80,000 a year. In the same year, the Project You Can program was launched as a systemYUDOF CONT’D ON PAGE 5
of robbery, where he was also placed in the same jail as Vining. Five additional charges of robbery are expected to be filed against Cephus and Shavers, while detectives are still gathering extra evidence against Vining in the Riverside County District Attorney’s office. Prior to the investigation, police suspected the series of robberies to be related due to the one-hour time frame and similar descriptions offered by victims. Between the hours of 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., the first robbery occurred within the close proximity of Linden St. and Rustin Ave.—a street that is prominently known for having high rates of criminal activity. Other instances of theft occurred near Big Springs Rd. and Mt. Vernon Ave., Blaine St. and Rustin Ave., Lot 30, and lastly near Lochmoor Dr. and Fair Isle Dr., where the fifth and sixth crime occurred. The assailants, in all cases, were described as black males in their early 20s and 6 feet tall and above. The suspected vehicle is a four-door Honda, dark gray or silver, with a partially-identified BURGLARIES CONT’D ON PAGE 3
INSIDE: Space exploration does more for our society than we give it credit for.
OPINIONS
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Free Enterprise showcases the relationship between art and space travel. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Tartan Epidemic marketing campaign infects UCR students with school pride. FEATURES
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Women’s basketball earns back-to-back wins against conference rivals
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SPORTS
C o u rt e s y
of
University
of
California
UC President Mark Yudof guided the university system through years of financial reductions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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STAFF
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PLEASE RECYCLE AFTER READING
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
NEWS
HIGHLANDER
U C re c eives re c ord numb er of app l ications Michael Rios
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Applications for the University of California reached an all-time high as the number of students applying to a UC rose by an 10.7 percent this past year. UC Riverside received the third highest application rate—among freshmen and transfers— systemwide, with an average of 12.2 percent, behind UC Merced and Santa Cruz at 14.2 and 14.8 percent. It was also revealed that for the first time ever, ChicanosLatino students made up the largest share of UC applicants from within the state; the number of applicants jumped from 30 percent to 32 percent this past year. “Marking a milestone in California demographics, Chicanos-Latinos—the largest racial/ethnic group among state high school graduates—now are the largest ethnic group among California freshman applicants,” a statement from the UC Office of the President read about on the numbers. Arlene M. Cano, the Program Coordinator of the UCR Chicano Student Programs, responded to the news and voiced her thoughts
C o u rt e s y I n c o m i n g f re s h m e n a n d t r a n s f e r s t u d e n t s c ro w d t h e H i g h l a n d e r U n i o n B u i l d i n g ( H U B ) d u r i n g t h e 2 0 1 2 U C R C o n v o c a t i o n .
on what the numbers meant for Chicano students and campus in general. “I think [it shows] the plight of our students,” Cano said “I also feel that it is also a reflection of our growing numbers here on campus...I think that it definitely empowers the community to know that they can be here [at UCR]. That’s what it means for our campus. I think that our numbers willg continue to
grow.” Despite the UC’s increase in tuition over the past five years, all nine of the undergraduate campuses reported higher numbers in student applications. State applicants rose by 6.2 percent for a total of 99,129 students, while non-residential and international applications rose by nearly 15 percent. UCLA once again reported the most freshman applicants of any UC with 80,472g students.
UC Merced and Santa Cruz reported the biggest jumps in applicants, both seeing a 14 percent increase. As for UCR, the campus also reported a boost in total applicants. Last year, 29,879 high school students applied to the 2012 fall quarter. This time around, 33,809 applied for the 2013 fall quarter. That’s an increase of 13.2 percent. As for transfer students, UCR’s numbers also rosge from
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My fel l ow U CR stude nt s and I climb e d up to t he “C ” on t he B ox Spr ing Mou nt ains. We share d t he v i e w u nd e r a b e aut if u l s e tt ing sun.
7,727 to 8,369 students, for an increase of 8.3 percent. The average California student applied to about four of the nine campuses. About half of Californian applicants indicated that they would be the first of their families to graduate from college. The news follows similar reports from the California State University system, which also reported an increase in undergraduate applicants. ■H
Flash Mob Showcasing 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Bell Tower
Tuesday
Tsung Su
Carrie Rosema
January
Photo of the Week
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
of
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Wednesday
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Thursday
Resume Critique by Employer 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Veitch Student Center (Health Service Bldg) Career Center Resource Room
ASPB Press Start: Video Game Panel 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. HUB 302
Lunctime Learning: Balance your busy schedule as a peer 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. HUB 260
Women’s Basketball vs. Pacific 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. SRC Arena
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Spanish Music and Dance of the 1700s 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. ARTS 166
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Women’s Basketball vs. UC Davis 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. SRC Arena
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UCR Orchestra 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. University Theater
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Mid-Term Nap Session 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. HUB 260
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
at highlandernews.org
NEWS
HIGHLANDER REGENTS FROM PAGE 1
-reases for the following year. UC Vice President of Budget and Capital Resources Patrick Lenz and Executive Vice President of Business Operations Nathan Brostrom honed in on the topic of debt restructuring, which would provided the UC with additional revenue of $80 million. Notably, Governor Brown and Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles) made rare appearances at the regents meeting on Thursday. Placing a strong emphasis on stable levels of undergraduate tuition, they challenged the regents to cut down on what they viewed as internal “inefficiencies” and increased efforts to expand on technological advances. “Today we have the opportunity to focus not just on the nitty gritty economics, but to focus our discussion instead on how we deliver quality education services to our students and how we might perform that deliver service to better meet the needs of the students and also to do so more efficiently,” stated Yudof, at the onset of the three-day meeting. Concerns over online courses arise in public forum UC Academic Senate Chair Robert Powell introduced the topic of online education, through which he described as “dynamic” advances in an undergraduate learning environment. The designated funds of $10 million from the state will ensure the continual pursuit of technological advances and online education. Encouraging the room to keep an open mind, Regent Sherry Lansing added that the three-year expansion of online courses was initiated as a pilot program in early 2011. Yet, many questioned the UC’s “money-generating” approach for a widespread online curriculum, while maintaining the affordability of a UC education. “Students want to be clear that we support online education as long as it is used to supplement, not substitute, our in-person courses,” stated UCSA President Raquel Morales, who argued for the preservation of a high-quality UC education. Discussions revolved around an expanded course curriculum and online BURGLARIES FROM PAGE 1
plate of 3-U-P-D, C-F or 4F. “The descriptions of the suspect and the vehicle are remarkably similar,” stated UCR Media Relations Kris Lovekin. In all five crimes, the suspected criminals used a black semi-automatic handgun as their weapon of choice. In California, a “may-issue” state, individuals are allowed to carry concealed weapon, if a permit is obtained. It is illegal to use semi-automatic firearms, which constitutes as weapons carrying more than ten rounds of ammunition. Second-year student Jacob Moore, one of the earliest victims, retraced his confrontation with the armed assailants. After playing basketball at the Rec Center, Moore started walking to his car at 7:50 p.m. on Linden St. While crossing the dirt path in front of Grace Church on the corner of Linden St. and Rustin Ave., Moore noticed a vehicle turn around and park up ahead of him.
catalog for UC Online—the systemwide program which allows students to enroll in online courses for credit. Since it was first launched in Jan. 2012, UC administrators expected a large influx of non-UC student enrollment. In the last year alone, nearly 1,700 UC students enrolled in 13 online classes last year, with only one non-UC student. Due to the lack of overall public interest, UC Online experienced a marketing loss of $5 million. Regents condemn diversity report as “embarassing” Delivered by UC Provost Aimee Dorr, the fourth Annual Accountability Subreport on Diversity received backlash for lacking “substance” in faculty data and the regents recommended measuring the progress of each specific campus and systemwide programs to create clear goals. To analyze the diversity of UC faculty, the committee on educational policy—established by President Yudof-—took into account academic policies, the data collection of faculty recruitment, the president’s postdoctoral program for diverse,
“The reality is over the last several years, we’ve made roughly $900 million dollars in cuts and you’ve increased fees by $1.4 billion dollars...” -Speaker John Pérez underrepresented scholars in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). “Several UC campuses have also been awarded National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health funding to further support similar [diversity] initiatives, specifically Berkeley in partnership with UC Hastings College of Law, Davis, Irvine, Riverside and San Diego,” stated Dorr. Self-reported information among faculty included race, ethnicity, gender and national origin, yet only culminated in an overview of annual systemwide data, which a few regents viewed as interesting numericals that lacked a sense of purpose.
A man exited the vehicle and approached Moore, who thought nothing of it until the suspect pulled out a semi-automatic pistol, expressed Moore. The suspect said, “Give me everything you got.” Moore complied, placing his laptop bag, jeans, sneakers, phone, wallet and keys on the ground. Following this, a second suspect was ordered by the first suspect to “hit [Moore] in the head,” but Moore ducked and with quick thinking was able to snatch his keys as the suspects fled, as well as scream to a passing cyclist, “Get the license plate!” In the event of an armed robbery, Moore advises others to “look past the gun” in order to get as detailed of a description as possible. “Listen to them, comply, but try to get as much information as you can. Finding something unique is prime in an investigation.” Moore also makes the crucial point of traveling in groups, “the bigger the better.” In 2012, UCPD reported 31 cases of criminal activ-
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
Regent Monica Lozano expressed her frustration over the data collection, which did not explain enough about its impact on campus climate. “So if we’re just looking at a number, as opposed to how this translates to the experience on campus, I just don’t feel like we’re getting to the objective [of achieving greater diversity].” “In a state where over 50 percent of the students graduating from high school are chicano or latino and to have a faculty that is roughly 5 percent chicano or latino, we ought to be embarrassed about that,” expressed Regent Eddie Island, who was irked that the data did not present a sense of urgency for hiring a more diverse faculty. Filling the healthcare gap Charlie Eaton, the financial secretary of the UC Student-Workers Union, criticized UC SHIP—the systemwide student health insurance program—which maintains risky lifetime benefit caps leaving students vulnerable to inadequate coverage. “Most students don’t know about the caps until it’s too late and then when they’re seeking life-saving care, they’re confronted with the situation where the care they might need, might not be covered,” stated Eaton. Through a collection of 5,000 surveys by UCSA, most students supported the removal of the cap on health benefits. Other health-related issues involving the loss of staff positions, which reduces the quality in patient care. “I work at San Francisco General Hospital and I see greater increases in our demands all the time,” speaker Margarita Tempero. “Yet at UCSF I heard they’re eliminating 300 full-time positions. This really impacts patients.” Restructuring debt and unfunded pension liabilities Lenz and Brostrom reported a fourprong plan through way of state funding, the driving down of administrative costs and shifting resources to the academic sector, maintaining alternative revenue sources and cementing stable tuition levels for students. “We do believe and feel strongly that we will be able to produce a plan which is a balanced budget that funds most of our expenditure needs without a tuition increase,” stated Lenz, who emphasized the need for debt restructuring. Approval for the process is still pending from the state’s Legislative Analyst Office. Due to the fiscal uncertainty, the university still faces the challenges of energyrelated costs, increasing student enrollment
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and the regular maintenance of facilities. At the same time, Lenz expressed the appreciation for the governor and his dedication to Prop 30, which temporarily spared the UC from undertaking any further reductions for the current academic year. “So clearly with the passage of Prop 30 and with the framework that the governor has provided in his budget, we see some relief, in this regard, to do some long term planning and I think that is as significant as the kind of funding...in the years to come,” stated Lenz. Brown, Pérez request internal accountability and more “mindful” regents In addressing the Board of Regents, Pérez said that the solution to increasing costs did not lie with increasing tuition and that failure for the regents to take this into account would lead to faltering state support. Brown emphasized the need for “fiscal discipline” through means of unit caps and expedited transfer rates—all of which was included in his state budget. “The reality is over the last several years, we’ve made roughly $900 million dollars in cuts and you’ve increased fees by $1.4 billion dollars,” said Pérez. “Fee increases were disposition to the level of disinvestment from the state resuscitated by the gravity of the financial crisis.” With a high likelihood for increased professional degree supplemental tuition (PDST)—an additional fee atop of graduate tuition—Pérez said that graduates may be “hamstrung” by mounting debt and the regents needed to be more “mindful” of higher education costs. Governor Brown sought to address the “inefficiencies” in the university system through lower instructional costs, incentives for increased graduation rates, support for the expansion of technologies and a more detailed analysis of costs. His proposed state budget enacts a 255 unit cap for UC students, in which subsidized-tuition would no longer be provided by the state. In an earlier statement by President Yudof, tuition revenue covered only 38 percent of the $900 million cuts to the UC within the last five years. Spending cuts in facility hours, faculty and staff employment, and reductions in class sizes made up for the rest of the 62 percent. “The only way to stop [tuition increases] is for colleges and universities to reconfigure themselves so that they are more effective and they are able to do excellent work but do it in a way that will not keep the costs escalating at more than two times the cost of living,” stated Brown. ■H
L e e n a B u t t /HIGHLANDER One of the five robberies that took place on January 16 occurred near the intersection of Blaine and Rustin. UCPD and Riverside PD patrol officers are partnering to provide an increased visible patrol presence in these areas.
ity through mass emailing. A total of eight crimes were reported in the month of January. This is the fourth email
released by the police in the month of January, which increases the total to eight reported crimes. To assist with
ongoing investigations, please call UCPD at (951) 827-522 or email at ucpdgeneralmail@ucr.edu. ■H
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NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
UC offers breakdown of proposed state budget S a n dy V a n SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Jan. 18, UC Vice President of Budget and Capital Resources Patrick Lenz participated in a one-hour webinar, discussing Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed 2013-2014 state budget, which allocates an additional $125 million to the UC after years of state divestment. Hosted by Larry Salinas of UC’s Office of State Governmental Relations (SGR), topics included the state of the UC’s budget, online education, funding for the UCR School of Medicine and cost-saving maneuvers such as the Working Smart Initiative. In exchange for a one-year tuition freeze, the UC was promised a tuition buyout of $125 million for 2013-2014. At the same time, the passage of Prop 30 simultaneously prevented a one-time reduction of $250 million. Lenz identified the potential for “fiscal stability” for the UC that will result from additional funding, despite a loss of nearly a billion dollars over half a decade. “UC received about 28 percent from the funding of the state in 1990 to 11 percent from the general state budget. When you look at the current year budget of $2.3 billion, it’s $900 (million) less than what we made five years ago,” stated Lenz. The UC is serving 70,000 additional students, despite operating on budget levels comparable to the late 1990s.
With high prospects of stable tuition levels and multi-year funding assumptions, Governor Brown’s budget includes an additional five percent increase, or $125 million, from 2013 to 2015 and four percent for the next two consecutive years. The anticipated impact on students include an increased student-to-teacher ratio and the continuing maintenance of campus resources, such as libraries and technological equipment. The proposed state budget earmarks $10 million for online education, while the remaining $115 million will cover mandatory operating costs made by the UC. Apart from the expected funding, $5 million is already being funneled into the interactive UC online courses for the purposes of marketing. Nearly 1,700 UC students enrolled in 14 online classes within the last year, yet only six non-UC students have enrolled so far, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Provisions of the budget include capping UC enrollment at 225 units and halting state-subsidized tuition as a way to encourage expedited graduation rates and increasing class accessibility for transfer students. Another question involved the possible impact of Senate Bill 15 and Assembly Bill 67—a set of Republican bills introduced in early January—which would freeze UC tuition for seven years, in accordance with Proposition 30. The Legislative Analyst office estimates a $6
billion increase in tax revenue for Prop 30, but it is not entirely guaranteed to the UC and CSU system. Due to rising energy and health costs, Lenz was weary about the freeze, due to the UC’s history of inconsistent state funding. “I would contend that students and families would benefit from a modest but predictable tuition increase that’s somewhere between the 3 to 5 percent range annually,” he said. Despite fluctuating student fees seen on an annual basis, the UC has continually catered to low-income households by providing generous financial aid packages. Through the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, eligible households making less than $80,000 a year—approximately 45 percent of all UC students— have tuition costs covered. Disregarding the anticipated funds from the state budget, Lenz noted that, “Any significant economic downturn would increase the overall structural deficit because the assumptions on the general funds revenue just aren’t going to materialize... from the governor’s budget.” The lack of additional funds for capital facility projects and the UCR School of Medicine (SOM) was also a topic of concern addressed by Lenz. “I think about the kind of provider services and community-based medical delivery that they’re doing and I think that’s extremely beneficial. There’s already two bills that’s been introduced in
C o u rt e s y o f C h e y e n n e J o h n s o n /THE BOTTOM LINE Left: UC VP of Budget and Capital Resources Patrick Lenz.
the legislature to appropriate $15 billion to the School of Medicine,” stated Lenz, along with additional credit that is provided by UCOP; UC President Mark Yudof has pledged to provide support for the medical school. Based on the UC expenditure plan of $584.3 million, the state budget also assumes a three percent merit increase for all employees. According to Lenz, unfunded pension liabilities—$800 million out of the total UC budget of $24 billion—will undergo reform on July 1, where new employees are expected to fall under a certain retirement age. Questions were raised over an expanded workload spread amongst a limited number of faculty members, despite increasing class enrollment. Lenz responded, “We are a research university and we need to be mindful that research provides additional funding in times of fiscal trouble. Research is valuable of economical viability of state of California
in the future.” Lenz also emphasized the need for debt restructuring within the span of a decade, expected to generate $80 million in additional revenue for each year. Cost-saving programs, such as the Working Smart Initiative, reportedly save UCOP $281 million over the last two and a half years, through increased efficiencies and reduction of administrative costs. “We recognize that even with the funding that we’re getting from the state, that it’s not as much as we hope for....so there has to be a balanced understanding of the budget as a whole as we move forward,” stated Lenz, who expressed signs of optimism. “I do believe that we continue to make our arguments about UC’s economic viability to the state, which only generates more tax dollars, which only helps support those other programs other than the University of California.” ■H
UCR alumnus named head of Federal Aviation Administration Carrie Meng STAFF WRITER
UC Riverside alumnus Michael Huerta was recently nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Association (FAA). On Jan. 9, Huerta was sworn into office, beginning his five-year term. “I’m very honored that President Obama placed his trust in me to direct this agency,” said Michael Huerta, in a phone interview with the Highlander. “My interest is in public service, government, and business…and the FAA combines all of these areas.” The FAA is an operating part of the U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates and oversees all aspects of civil aviation in the nation. Some roles of the association include developing and operating a system of air traffic control, regulating U.S. commercial space transportation, and researching and developing the National Airspace System. “It’s a big industry and it’s important for global competitiveness and ensuring a strong economy,” said Huerta. Huerta specifically oversees a $15.9 billion dollar budget as well as over 47,000 employees. He also oversees the FAA’s multi-billion dollar NextGen air traffic control
modernization program. Prior to joining the FAA, Huerta held senior positions at Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) from 2002 to 2009. He then rose to the position of President of the Transportation Solutions Group. ACS is presently a Xerox company specializing in business processes and information technology. Huerta was also commissioner of New York City’s Department of Ports, International Trade and Commerce from 1986-89. From 1989 to 1993, he served as the Executive Director of the Port of San Francisco. He then held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. from 1993 to 1998, serving under Secretary Federico Pena and Secretary Rodney E. Slater. Huerta notes that his interest in government stems from his undergraduate education at UCR. “My undergraduate advisor, Ron Loveridge, got me excited about the notion of working in government.” Upon graduating with a bachelor ’s degree in political science, Huerta eventually earned a master ’s degree in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Huerta expressed words of en-
couragement to current students at UCR, “It is possible to over plan things but you want to think big and keep an open mind.” Raised in Riverside, Huerta attended Notre Dame High School before graduating from UCR. He still maintains a strong connection with his alma mater to this day and winvited back last October to speak on campus. “Michael is top tier in terms of continued connection and support of the campus,” said Kyle Hoffman, the former assistant vice chancellor of alumni and constituent relations at UCR of 22 years. Hoffman, now the vice chancellor for development and alumni relations at UC Merced, said that Huerta won the first Outstanding Young Alumnus award in 1986. “Having UCR alumni in higher positions raises the profile of the school… it benefits all those who graduate, especially undergraduates,” said Elliot Miller, a recent alumnus of UCR master ’s program in physics. Shortly after Huerta’s appointment, the FAA made headlines when it grounded Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner passenger jets, due to a potential fire risk with the onboard lithium-ion battery. One of the 787s, operated by All Nippon Airways,
C o u rt e s y
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FAA
As Administrator of the FAA, Michael Huerta will oversee a $15.9 billion budget and 47,000 employees.
made an emergency landing in Japan. “The FAA will work with the manufacturer and carriers to develop a corrective action plan to allow the U.S. 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible,” according to a press release. Huerta is faced with the task of reassessing design, manufacture and assembly evaluation that deemed the aircraft as initially safe—Boeing Co. stocks dropped by 3 percent within hours of the incident. ■H
NEWS
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
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ASUCR SENATE UPDATE
Senate announces town hall meeting, regent application deadline In the second ASUCR senate meeting of the winter quarter, senators announced the various plans and proposals they have lined up for the upcoming few months. During the officer reports, ASUCR President Liam Dow started by congratulating his fellow senators for the work put in during the fall quarter. He highlighted achievements such as providing podcasts in supplemental instruction classes, accommodating students with finals week snack packs and registering 5,500 educated voters in the 2012 election. He continued by outlining some of the proposals he has for the student body on campus. Among the proposals is a planned town hall meeting for UCR students and faculty hosted by student representatives from Search Advisory Committee—selected to find a replacement for former Chancellor Timothy P. White. Dow, who was one of the 17 appointed members, announced during the senate meeting that the town hall will most likely take place on March 7. Dow went to detail his expectations for the town hall meeting. “This way we can involve faculty and staff within the town hall so that when you have questions or you have concerns that you want to voice about the chancellor that you want to be hired, you can [voice them] to everyone who is on the committee,” he said. “I truly feel part of ASUCR history, but more importantly, a part of one of the strongest teams here on campus. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish this winter quarter,” he concluded. Later in the meeting, Vice President of External Affairs Lazaro Cardenas shared information about the upcoming application deadline to apply for the UC student regent position.
YUDOF FROM PAGE 1
-wide fundraising initiative. The program has raised more than $671 million over the course of three years. “I will leave it to others to judge what difference my leadership made, if any,” stated Yudof. “But I will say that I entered each day with a laser focus on preserving this great public treasure, not just in the present day, but for generations of Californians to come.” At the end of his tenure, Yudof will return to teaching law at UC Berkeley. The Board of Regents will form a national search committee to find a replacement for the resigning UC president. The committee will also collaborate with the academic advisory committee, which consists of one student from each campus, as delegated by the head of the UC Student Association. Prior to his employment as UC president, Yudof served as chancellor of the University of Texas from 2002 to 2008 and president of the University of Minnesota from 1997 to 2002. Yudof is the third system
HIGHLIGHTS: Academic Affairs Director Shadi Matar announce a solar energy project on campus. The joint collaboration with CALPIRG will showcase research of professors on campus. The goal will be to make students more aware of what research projects are available at UCR. The second annual Dance Marathon at UCR is underway It is designed to raise awareness for the Guardian Scholars Program which provides the gift of education to former foster youth. The event will take place on Feb. 23
R i ch a r d L i n /HIGHLANDER ASUCR Senate members take a vote during their meeting last Wednesday at the Senate Chambers.
UC Berkeley law student Jonathan Stein is the current student Regent at the University of California, vesting him with the powers of a full voting member on the UC Board of Regents. After Stein’s oneyear term is completed, his position will be filled by the current Regent-designate, Cynthia Flores, who is a UCI law student. Flores will transition into her new duties as student Regent for 2013 to 2014, which leaves her current position available. “The student Regents are going kind of on campus tours,” informed Cardenas. “[They will be] doing kind of a recruitment process for student who would want to become a student regent. That will be happening next week, Jan. 25.” The deadline to apply for the 2013 to 14 regent-designate and 2014 to 15 student ■H regent will be on Feb. 28.
leader to step down from California’s three tiers of higher education. Serving as the head of the California State University system, Charles B. Reed resigned last month, in addition to Jack Scott, chancellor of the California Community College system, who left in October. Yudof leads a university system with 10 campuses, five medical centers and three national laboratories, which in total consists of more than 234,000 students, 208,000 faculty and staff, and 1.6 million alumni. “Throughout his tenure, Mark has always maintained his commitment to protecting the quality of the institution and to doing everything he can to ensure student success, the vibrancy of research and creative activity, and the robustness of health care,” stated former UCR chancellor Timothy White. “Mark has been a strong and principled leader of higher education in one of the state’s most challenging eras, and I am very grateful to have worked side by side with him during my time as chancellor of UC Riverside.” ■H
Senators are currently awaiting approval from the student services fee committee in order to establish a Middle Eastern student center. With support from surrounding cultural and ethnic organizations on campus, senators are also in the midst of programming movie series and cultural events for the year. Reported by Vice President of Finance Crystal Kim, the senate motioned to approve GCAP funds for the construction of a R’garden outdoor classroom and compostable toilet. Headed by Senator Ian Cavasos, the approved theater proposal will grant student organizations funding for theater-related events. Senators voted for a travel fund increase of $775 for President Liam Dow, in order to meet with UC President Mark Yudof and other UC officials. Academic Affairs Director Shadi Matar proposed a plan to increase the wifi range on campus. No specific details were given. Senators expressed plans to make the Highlander One Stop Shop building more efficient, due to the lengthy wait-time that most students endure.
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6
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
. OPINIONS .
HIGHLANDER
HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL
LIES, DECEPTION, AND BETRAYAL: THE FALL OF LANCE ARMSTRONG
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Jake Rich C o u rt e s y o f h a rv e y b r i gg s . b l o g s p o t . c o m Lance Armstrong owes the world more than just an apology after lying about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
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We believed in Lance Armstrong. When trace amounts of corticosteroids, banned during cycling competitions, were found on the way to his 1999 Tour de France victory, we believed his line that they were merely used for a skin rash. In 2004, we trusted that his lawsuit against the publisher of LA Confidential, a book that accused Armstrong of doping, was justified. When he parted ways in 2009 with a doctor that ran an independent, comprehensive anti-doping program, we took him at his word that the reason for his departure was “a myriad of problems relating to administration, coordination, and cost.” We believed him every step of the way. Then came the interview with Oprah. It was here where Armstrong re-emerged from obscurity to admit what he couldn’t for the last twenty years: that he had indeed used illegal substances. And for once we desperately wanted to disbelieve him. We frantically cast around for far-fetched explanations. But it was all in vain. Because we all knew the sad reality: this time, for perhaps the only time in his cycling career, Armstrong was telling the truth. As long as he competed in the Tour de France and even after, Armstrong pushed his own self-serving lines, initiating lawsuits and accusing people of libel and defamation when anyone dared raise their voices and question his infallible self of using banned performanceenhancing substances. To hear Armstrong tell the story, he was a victim of “persecution” and “vulture journalism” that sought to disqualify him from his cycling competitions. It is clear now that this story he sold to people around the globe was only a fiction. Yet this itself is not what is most maddening about the Armstrong case. Doping in cycling is unfortunately as commonplace as smog in Riverside, with over 800 people having at least one run-in during their cycling career. In this sense, Lance Armstrong is no different from the masses of other cyclists and athletes who consciously choose to engage in a misguided Faustian bargain to trade in their ethics for the potential glory that comes with being number one. But what sets Armstrong apart from every
other amoral athlete is the way he blatantly exploited his otherwise inspiring personal struggle for personal gain. In 1995, early in his cycling career and at the young age of 25, Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer that had metastasized to his abdomen, lungs and brain. He was given a 40 percent chance of survival. Even if he survived, he would likely be unable to compete in cycling again. But Lance Armstrong beat the odds. More than 15 years after his original cancer diagnosis, there was no recurrence. And not only did he triumph over cancer, he returned to competitive cycling and accomplished what nobody thought possible, especially for a cancer survivor: winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times, more than anybody else in history. Millions of people, cancer survivors and people who had never undergone the tribulation of cancer alike, looked up to him as a shining example of what could be possible. He was hope. When Lance Armstrong stopped trying to lie to fellow cyclists, cancer survivors and even his own children, he did more than dishonor the sport of cycling. With his public admission, he shattered the hopes and trust of everyone he asked to place their faith in him and his story. He revealed himself to be nothing more than an imposter who spun the tale of a 20-year-old lie and used people’s faith in him to elevate his own narcissistic ambitions and build a legacy undergirded by guile and fraud. All this time, he used people’s trust and goodwill for his personal gain, and thought nothing of harming them when the lies would inevitably fall apart. Unlike other cyclists, who merely admitted to skirting the rules in order to achieve victory, Lance Armstrong used his otherwise inspiring role as a cancer survivor to construct a brand— his brand. If any athlete won seven consecutive Tour de France victories, it would be a huge accomplishment. But it was Armstrong who won those trophies, Armstrong the cancer survivor. Touting his cancer diagnosis, he leveraged a serious illness into worldwide celebrity. He padded his résumé by becoming the figurehead of his own charity, LiveStrong, convincing people to donate their hard-earned
money, even though not a penny of it goes to actual cancer research. These actions were taken without any consideration for what destruction would occur once the lies brought about by Armstong’s megalomania were revealed. The sport of cycling has never been more discredited now that its most famous champion has admitted to doping. LiveStrong, originally designed with the benign goal of raising cancer awareness, will likely now fade into obscurity, a victim of the close association with its egocentric namesake. Children aspiring to be athletes look at Armstrong with disgust and now trudge disillusioned through the sports world—or worse, they continue to see him as a role model, and in the future will perpetuate the lies and pain Armstrong has single-handedly spread. Armstrong has even managed to bring down a positive view of humanity during his fall, with nobody being a better example of human cruelty and selfishness than Armstrong himself. The devastation wrought by his egotistical selfishness is now complete. He had been an inspiration to cancer survivors and people that never experienced cancer alike. People who were never before interested in cycling became ardent fans because of the lies he perpetuated for over 15 years. He was the shining example of what people could be if they tried and fought against the odds. Every person that feels betrayed by Armstrong and what he stood for has every right—he did betray everyone who trusted him. “It’s bad for the sport, for the Tour, and for me,” Armstrong conceded in an interview with Oprah, which he hopes will help rehabilitate him so he can compete in cycling again. But he never mentions the people he trod over during his masquerade: all the people who stood with him, trusted him, and believed him. To us, even an apology is not enough. ■H Highlander editorials reflect the majority view of the Highlander Editorial Board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Associated Students of UCR or the University of California system.
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OPINIONS
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
7
Governor Brown’s budget forgets about the students
D a m i n g Y e /HIGHLANDER Governor Jerry Brown’s new budget doesn’t set aside enough funds to expand classes at community colleges like Riverside Community College.
Sean Frede SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Just last academic year, UC Riverside admitted 5,266 transfer students and the entire UC system admitted 48,662 students. For every UC school over 90 percent of these transfers came from a California Community College. The current UC system offers 239,500 undergraduate and graduate students while the California Community College system is taking in 2.4 million students. One of the main goals of these students is to move on to the university level. With such a large number of students, overcrowding is significantly hurting community colleges; classes are already full before many get a chance to enroll. Due to this, students aren’t getting a high quality of education. Most of these problems stem from the economic struggles of the past few years. For the first time in five years, Governor Jerry Brown’s new budget proposal is offering increased funding for California’s higher education system. While this sounds great, we have been in a downward spiral for five years and are nowhere near where we need to be. The budget proposal doesn’t do enough to help solve the overcrowding in the community college system. Community college is supposed to be the gateway towards CSUs and UCs. But right now it is merely a black hole that holds on to you for four years until you finally transfer or just give up on the idea of college. Hardly ideal to get students excited to
move on to an upper level of education.
“But right now [community college] is merely a black hole that holds onto you for four years until...you give up on the idea of college.” Gov. Brown’s budget proposal states, “…California’s approach to higher education has been to heavily subsidize the public segments and keep costs low for university students (and even lower for community college students).” From 2008 to 2012, community college fees have jumped from $20 a unit to $46 per unit. They are hardly keeping up with their word. Community colleges are slowly getting pushed to the sidelines even though they remain the state’s largest educational institution. Jed Saba started going to college at Palomar Community College—the largest community college system in San Diego County—in the fall of 2010. I have had classes with him in the past before transferring to UCR and gave him a call to see how classes have been. I asked if he was able to get into many classes lately. Saba stated, “Since I started going to Palomar, [over the
past five semesters] I haven’t gotten into 15 classes because they were already full.” This came as a shock to me. That’s almost three semesters’ worth of classes that he has been denied. A full year and a half put on hold for his future. Saba continued, “I have to wait an entire year longer to apply because I couldn’t get into classes that are required to transfer because they were already closed.” How is anyone supposed to transfer in just two years to a university? Is just creating online classes going to be enough for the students? I figured the new budget would have plenty of money set aside for creating more classes to allow students to not worry about classes being full. Looking more closely at Brown’s budget, there is going to be an increase in $16.9 million toward expanding courses through technology, $49.5 million is going towards energy efficiency projects and $196.9 million is going towards “general purpose community college funding.” If they are only setting aside $16.9 million for more courses then where is this almost $200 million of general funding going toward? According to the Community College League, this general funding distribution is defined as an “undesignated apportionment increase.” We aren’t even being told where this mass of money is going. The budget also states that “California’s public higher education institutions have led the world in terms of quality, innovation, and affordability.” The first word surprised me:
quality. Quality of education. I decided to ask Saba about this idea of quality with one question: has he ever had to sit on the floor during class? Without hesitation he gave his answer: “Oh, God yes, multiple times.” If Governor Brown really does worry about the student’s quality of education then why are students sitting on the floor? We are paying for “higher education” and yet cannot even sit in a desk. Affordability: that’s what the budget states California has led the world in. But in that exact same budget report it
“If Governor Brown really does worry about the student’s quality of education then why are students sitting on the floor?” states that “California students in public and nonprofit colleges rank 46th in student debt levels.” How is this affordable at all? Since when does being ranked 46th mean leading the world in affordability? While community colleges do have significantly lower fees, these students have also witnessed them skyrocketing, going from $20 a unit to $46 dollars in the past three years. Fees have more than doubled in just a
few short years. While Saba begins yet another semester at Palomar, I wonder what will be in store in the future due to this surplus. More money sounds like a great idea, but it isn’t being channeled into the right place. Students are still sitting on coffee-stained carpets learning about Plato’s Cave, and many other students have simply given up on the idea of college. Many of you here at UCR and others at the CSU level might wonder why should we have to worry about community colleges. We’re beyond that, right? UCs and CSUs rely heavily on the community college system to provide them with students and more money. According to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, 28% of UC students and 55% of CSU students who earn their degrees came from a community college. With the push towards math and science degrees it turns out that currently 48% of Bachelor’s degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math came from community colleges. These numbers are staggering. With almost half of the degrees coming from community college it is time to place a larger emphasis on the community college level—the first stepping stone. You can’t build a house starting with the roof, you need a solid layer of concrete or else the entire structure will crumble. This same idea needs to be implemented when it comes to California’s higher education system and budget. ■H
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
OPINIONS
HIGHLANDER
Space exploration: why the U.S. needs it now more than ever Michael Rios SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Much to the dismay of the 34,435 supporters that signed an online petition for the U.S. to build a Death Star, the White House responded by telling them that the proposal was rejected. To be completely fair, building a Death Star that would cost approximately $850 quadrillion is pretty outrageous considering the challenging economic times the nation currently faces—not to mention that that amount of money doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. But it brings up a good topic of discussion: Is the nation spending too much on space exploration or is it not spending enough? Given the nation’s recent struggles to reduce the federal deficit, it is easy to understand why the United States would want to reduce its spending on space exploration. Most of that funding has been cut in recent years as many have argued that the costs outweigh the benefits. Factually speaking, however, that’s not entirely accurate. NASA, one of the nation’s largest public agencies, currently has a budget that is 0.48 percent of the the nation’s total federal budget. In fact, the U.S. actually spent more on the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) than it has on NASA in its 50year history. $700 billion worth of bailout money was committed that year in the TARP program, while NASA has been given just over $500 billion since its inception 50 years ago. That’s outrageous. Although one can make the argument that the 2008 bailouts were key investments for the
future of the nation, that doesn’t necessarily mean that NASA doesn’t rake in the money either. According to NASA, for every dollar that is spent on space exploration, two dollars are directly or indirectly returned. That seems like a pretty fair investment on its own, but there is even more to consider. When NASA was at its peak in the 1960s, it received as much as four percent of the nation’s federal budget during the Apollo missions. At that time, for every dollar the United States spent on the program, nine dollars were recovered through new technologies. In other words, the more money we put into it, the more money we got out of it. From a budgetary standpoint, it’s pretty clear that this is agency is a profit-maker. Just by looking at these sheer numbers alone, it should be a no-brainer that the U.S. ought to invest more money on it, but that just hasn’t been the case. So there must be another issue to consider in this debate: What are the social benefits that public spending on space exploration brings to the table? Putting aside the the sensible economic benefits that the space exploration consistently brings— as so many people do already— there are also civil benefits to consider when tackling this issue. NASA has been responsible for more than just space research and mechanical engineering. It has a positive effect on public health, transportation and climate change. From creating bioreactors that drove advances in tissue engineering to constructing cameras that improved navigation for pilots and drivers and even to analyzers
C o u rt e s y o f NASA Space exploration has provided us this image of the Horsehead Nebula, along with numerous other underrated benefits.
that measure greenhouse gases and airborne pollutants, it’s obvious that this agency does far more good to improve our quality of life than most people think. The beauty of this is that the power of space exploration is not limited to just one nation. On the contrary, with agencies like NASA, there is room for international cooperation all across the world. Consider the International Space Station (ISS). The United States currently shares the station with Russia and Canada. It acts as a sort of universal laboratory where different nations are free to cooperate in the name of science. Quite frankly, it’s one of the most sensible kinds of international cooperation that exists today. By simply glancing at these benefits, it becomes increasingly
clear that public funding for space exploration is not something that’s only done just for the satisfaction of saying that we can; it’s done because it makes the nation (and the world) work smarter. It is the key to the future. Building a Death Star may be a project that’s a little farfetched, but investing in practical missions and explorations such as Apollo, the Space Shuttle and Mars Rover—which could give humans insight as to whether or not there is life outside our planet—is clearly more advantageous than continuing to cut its budget. It’s not rocket science—pun intended—it’s simply a fact: funding space endeavors benefit us in more ways than one. At the turn of the 19th century, chemist Humphry Davy, famous for his discovery
of several chemical elements, argued in favor of the advantages of science and technology. He stated, “Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose that our views of science are ultimate; that there are no mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer.” Consider again the final words of that quote. Spending on space endeavors literally has the power to conquer new worlds. It was public spending that built an orbiting space station around Earth, it was public spending that sent man to the moon and it was public spending that successfully landed multiple rovers on Mars. There are new worlds to conquer, and with the tools we have at our disposal we can do just that. We H should not give up that power. ■
Turn off all electronic devices: does a cell phone really pose a risk to airplanes? Courtney Parker CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I am one of those typical college students who just so happens to come from a city about 400 miles north of Riverside. So, just like many other students also from distant locations, I travel home via airplane about three times per year. The routine to board an airplane has become pretty standard, especially for those who travel by plane quite often: check in, check luggage, receive boarding pass, go through security checkpoint, board the plane, put on seat belt and turn off all electronic devices. It is this last habitual activity that is one of the most confusing things required of any passenger. Turning off my iPhone is relatively inconvenient because of the ongoing communication with the cyber world. I, like many others, enjoy gluing my eyes to the screen just to check my Facebook and Twitter news feeds. The controversy and even refusal to follow this particular procedure have resulted in passengers being arrested for refusing to turn off their electronics. But according to The New York Times, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not have evidence to prove electronics disrupt airplane activity. The fear of crashing during a long-distance flight may be just enough to convince passengers that leaving their electronic devices on during takeoff and landing are potentially dangerous and life-threatening. Though airplane safety is the number-one priority of everyone on board, should there be restrictions on playing Words with Friends when ascending into the sky if there is not sufficient evidence to prove doing so will cause the destruction of the aircraft? It was this reason— along with his unruly attitude— that just so happened to get actor Alec Baldwin thrown off his American Airlines flight in 2011, even though the airplane had not taken off yet. It is understandable why airlines take so many precautions to ensure flight safety, and why passengers often remain cautious while on board. Flying on an airplane can have devastating risks if the proper procedures are not taken. However, the issue of electronic emissions interference
L e e n a B u t t /HIGHLANDER We should be able to use our electronics during our flights.
only continues to raise problems and controversy on and off board. And nobody is helped when a person believes he is protecting the plane when he threatens somebody pulling out a phone. It seems as if explanations are not needed when it comes to one’s safety because the only concern is simply walking off the plane in one piece. The obvious solution is for
airlines to provide concrete evidence to prove a game of Angry Birds on an iPad will contribute to the obliteration of a Southwest airplane. Funnily enough, pilots are now permitted to use their own iPads during takeoff, rather than using paper maps and manuals to navigate the plane. If pilots are not worried about the possible electronic interference potentially caused by their tablets, why
should the passengers also feel concerned? Kevin Bothmann, testing manager of EMT Labs, a consulting firm that tests electrical devices, has even stated, “There is no difference in radio output between two iPads and 200.” If pilots can use iPads, passengers should not feel frightened to use a cell phone or a Kindle ELECTRONICS CONT’D ON PAGE 9
OPINIONS
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
9 21
Obama’s binders full of men: is there a lack of women in the White House? J o s h ua W a g o n b l a s t STAFF WRITER
Plenty of critics, reporters and columnists believe that President Barack Obama has surrounded himself with too many white men in his cabinet. Ruth Marcus, opinions writer for the Washington Post and one of Obama’s disgruntled fans, said bluntly, “about all those white guys: what a shame.” Am I the only one who finds her comment to be sexist? Perhaps I shouldn’t, but I cannot say that I agree with Mrs. Marcus. Many women have begun expressing their disappointment with our African American President because his staff seems to be shaping up to be like an oldtimey boy’s club. (Remember your childhood treehouse days?) I cannot help but think that all of this criticism is undeserved. I may not have voted for President Obama, but I do in fact support whatever cabinet choices he plans to make. He is our president after all, and although it would be nice and even monumental to see a cabinet full of all races, genders and sexual orientations, this is just not realistic as of now and I assume that the leader of the free world would rather not sacrifice the proficiency of his staff just to flaunt a roomful of diversity. President Obama has a new four-year agenda, and has staffed his cabinet accordingly. Sure, it would have been interesting to see Susan Rice as the Secretary of State or Michèle Flournoy as Secretary of Defense, but I am not opposed to Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) or former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) receiving the nominations for these positions. Rice and Flournoy would have been great members of the cabinet because their promotion would exhibit a trend of rising women in the defense and foreign policy ranks. But Obama had his reasons to select Kerry and Hagel. Although Rice was a good candidate, she withdrew her name from consideration due to the controversy over Benghazi when the U.S. Ambassador of the United Nations said that the attacks “began spontaneously,” even though the terrorist act was premeditated. As Rice gained more attention for her remarks, Congress advised
President Obama to ensure she did not become of Secretary of State because her misleading commentary had “caused irreparable damage to her credibility both at home and around the world,” according to a letter from Congress to the President. And the Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist John Kerry does not sound like a terrible choice. Former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has been getting flak for his nomination since the beginning. Not only should the Grand Old Party revel in the limelight of his selection, but those who find Obama’s cabinet to not be diverse enough should take a second look. In 2009, Michèle Flournoy was the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the highestranking woman in the history of the Pentagon, and this is quite the achievement. As said by The Washington Post, she does not have a very large public profile and decided to step down from her job at the Pentagon back in 2011, so it seems like she would rather not even take the chance to serve as Defense Secretary. Chuck Hagel, on the other hand, is pretty well-known and has been around the block a few times in the political game—he did serve as Senator from Nebraska for 12 years. Hagel has also been awarded two purple hearts after his time in the Vietnam war and was quoted as saying, “If I ever get out of this and I’m ever in a position to influence policy, I will do everything I can to avoid needless, senseless war.” In 2005, this is exactly what the former Senator strived to do, and criticized the nation’s involvement in the war in Iraq. Chuck Hagel may not be a woman, but the President chose Hagel because of his opposition to war and the promise of a fruitful relationship. The current status of Obama’s cabinet is not going to be recorded in the history books as the most diverse, but that should not be a President’s main prerogative when choosing the most reliable members. This is one reason that the disparaging comments made by influential women across the board have been so frustrating. For instance, Bloomberg News mentioned statements made by Nita Chaudhary, president of UltraViolet,
ELECTRONICS FROM PAGE 8
while the aircraft is taking off. Pilots of all people should know what is and what is not safe on board of a flight. If electronics really do cause disturbances for the plane, wouldn’t pilots stick to paper manuals, and use their devices after takeoff and before landing like the rest of the passengers? Although there is no evidence to prove electronics are 100 percent safe on airplanes, there is still no evidence to decisively prove electronics are not safe. In order to dispel any false information, airlines would have to conduct studies to determine which devices are safe and which are unsafe. However, according to DailyTech.com, the FAA has yet to begin research on this area due to the costs
C o u rt e s y o f Critics are making too much over the gender of President Barack Obama’s cabinet choices.
an activist foundation that largely campaigns for gender equality, in which she says that women “deserve to be represented in the highest offices in our country…and [Obama] should know women are watching closely to see if he will.” This comment sounds more or less like a threat and one that makes it seem as if the president should select women for his cabinet purely because they told him to.
“Wouldn’t women themselves want to know that their positions were rightfully earned rather than a fluke?” The leader of our nation is making the decisions he thinks will be the most beneficial for the next four years. There is no reason that our country should be in the hands of members the president thought did not want to serve. Wouldn’t women themselves want to know that their positions were rightfully earned rather than a fluke? Ruth Marcus herself is an example when she said
and the amount of testing required. For example, simply testing one model of the iPad is not sufficient. The FAA would have to conduct research on each generation of the iPad in addition to the new iPad mini. And the testing would not stop there. Despite the discrepancies, airlines have taken the “better safe than sorry” approach to restricting electronic usage during takeoff and landing. Although there are still passengers who do not switch their devices to the “off” position. For example, the author of a Discovery News article openly admits to leaving his cell phone on during takeoff, only placing it on airplane mode. Clearly, he lived to share his experience. He also states that even after years of research, there has yet to be a correlation between plane malfunctions to
that she would hate “if readers were to see a female byline at the top of this column and assume, she got this gig because she’s a woman,” so why all the denigration toward our President? President Barack Obama has currently filled twelve of the sixteen cabinet positions. Of these twelve, four white men are sticking with Obama for his second term. The Secretary of Education, Secretary of Transportation and two other positions are confirmed to be filled by male figureheads. Only three other white men are so far expected to join them during the next four years: Jack Lew for Secretary of Treasury, John Kerry for Secretary of State and Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. In total Obama’s cabinet amounts to having a mere seven white men. Yes, there are only two women in the cabinet right now (Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius), but this is only for the time being. Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce, the last of which is currently filled by woman Rebecca Blank, are all open to contenders. Plus, it is believed by the National Journal that the former Governor of Washington, Christine Gregoire, will certainly be obtaining one of
powered-on devices. Since people have admitted to leaving their devices on in the airplane during takeoff, placing electronic devices on airplane mode, which simply shuts off their wireless features, should be the simple solution to the mayhem that continues to float around; there is a reason why it was created on cell phones, tablets, and laptops. If passengers can leave their devices on this setting without causing any kind of interference, then passengers should not be told to turn off their electronics on takeoff or landing. If there comes a time when the FAA provides evidence as to whether electronics cause problems on airlines, clear and concise instructions should be printed for all passengers to read. Similar to the safety proce-
whitehouse.gov
these high-profile jobs on Capitol Hill. It is preposterous to condemn the President of the United States for not making sound decisions for his cabinet since all of the positions have not yet been filled. I do not doubt that girls will soon be allowed inside the boys’ treehouse. The president has a duty to fulfill his obligations in the executive office as efficiently as possible. In order for someone of his stature to do so it is essential that he encircles himself with the most trusted people whom he believes will make effective leaders. Without faith in his employees or chemistry between them that makes him feel comfortable, the branch would be in serious disarray. Obama, like any world leader, needs influential and competent people that will ensure the implementation of his policies. The president should not be scrutinized about his choices. This nation has come a long way from cabinets that were filled solely with white men. The citizens of this country should not try to force or rush the man’s decisions with complaints and critiques because these are some of the most important choices to be made for the country. There may be some white males in his cabinet, but there are women, other men of ethnically diverse backgrounds, and more to come. Let us have faith in our president. ■H
dures for emergencies explained prior to takeoff, more detailed procedures regarding electronics, including the reasons for the dangers of using electronic devices on board, should also be explained by the pilot in order to avoid rebellious acts similar to Baldwin’s. Though it is better to take safer precautions on board, it is not safe to leave passengers in fear of what will happen to the aircraft if one pulls out their cell phone for just a second. Lack of knowledge will not fix the problem. If concrete evidence is not found, passengers will only continue to be kept in the dark instead of being informed about anything and everything that can potentially go wrong during any flight. Perhaps airlines should simply permit its passengers to continue operating their electronics, just as their pilots are allowed to. ■H
OPINIONS
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
On June 6th, the Supreme Court refused to strike down a California law that offers state residents reduced tuition rates at California colleges.
HIGHLANDER
HIGHLANDER SHOWDOWN: WRITE TO THE DEATH
Hope on the horizon for the undocumented dreamer Damilola Bajomo CONTRIBUTING WRITER
There are an estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States. They have made significant sacrifices, risked their lives crossing borders, accepted below minimum wage, all in the hopes that one day their children will be able to attend better schools, access better-paying jobs and attend college. Most of these parents have managed to get their children into elementary schools and high schools. From kindergarten through 12th grade, these undocumented students place their right hands over their hearts every morning and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. These immigrants who have spent most of their lives in the United States now live restricted lives. Unable to work or attend college, they face the fear of being deported back to a country they have never known. There is hope on the horizon, however. President Obama has been advocating for an immigration reform act that would benefit second-generation immigrants: the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, also known as the DREAM Act, would provide a five-year-long conditional path to citizenship that would allow qualified undocumented students who attended and graduated from high school in the United States to attend college or join the military. After living in the United States for five consecutive years, avoiding criminal convictions, and serving in the military or achieving a bachelor’s degree, undocumented immigrants would be able to attain citizenship. The DREAM Act has given hope to undocumented students who would otherwise have not been able to receive financial aid while attending college. A DREAM Act has already been passed in the state of California and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. This law allows undocumented students to qualify for financial aid and in-state tuition only if they meet GPA and residency requirements, such as graduating from a California high school. Parents with children in college worry that allowing undocumented immigrants to receive aid would significantly reduce the amount of financial aid available to their children. But though undocumented students would indeed qualify, financial aid would only be provided after all eligible legal residents have received aid. The 2.1 million students who would benefit from the California DREAM Act represent less than one percent of the student population and would not have any significant impact on student funding. This act is a significant step forward for California and should be expanded to include the rest of the country. However, there are those who are against the national DREAM Act and fear that the passage of the DREAM Act would push the United States further into debt. But this is not the case. The DREAM Act is not only beneficial for undocumented immigrants, but to the American economy as well. Allowing undocumented students access to higher education at colleges and universities would provide legal immigrants access to better-paying jobs, which would yield more taxable income. A study conducted by UCLA’s Dr. Raúl HinojosaOjeda for the Center for American Progress found that undocumented immigrants generate $150 billion in revenue every year; the
Center for American Progress found that by 2030, the passage of the national DREAM Act would create 1.4 million jobs and add an additional $329 billion in funds to the United States economy. Providing the United States’ undocumented immigrants with financial aid for colleges, just as the California DREAM Act does for the state’s estimated 2.1 million undocumented immigrants, would bolster the economy financially. Even more than the California DREAM Act, the national law would also give undocumented immigrants an incentive to pursue higher education because it contains a provision that would grant legal status. Higher education leads to better-paying jobs that would not require those here illegally to be paid under the table, and thereby allowing them to raise their standard of living and boost the economy. In addition, the citizenship clause in the national DREAM Act would improve on the California law by allowing undocumented immigrants to become contributing, taxpaying members of society, enabling them to return the favor to the country that allowed them to be successful in the first place. The Center for American Progress also notes that the financial benefits of the DREAM Act would not be a one-time immediate occurrence, but would develop over time with the economic benefits increasing as time progresses. The DREAM Act would also create a wider range of candidates for the military and armed forces to choose from. Immigrants would likely be skilled in foreign languages and cultural awareness, knowledge that has often been in short supply within the military, and military experts have advocated for the passage of the National DREAM Act. Likewise, undocumented immigrants bring a valuable point of view to our institutions of higher education and would make valuable contributions to science and the humanities after they graduate from our colleges. Rather than deporting immigrants back to foreign countries, why not use the talents they have gained in the United States for the United States? In fact, deporting undocumented immigrants would only put the United States further into debt. According to the Center for American Progress, a mass deportation of just 4 million undocumented immigrants could cost the United States between $206 billion and $230 billion over the course of five years. There are more than two million children, teens and adults with so much potential and promise just in the state of California that remind us every day why the DREAM Act should be passed on the national scale. Frankly, the decision comes down to what is right and what is wrong—what is better for our economy and what is not. There are always costs and benefits with every law, but in the case of the DREAM Act, the benefits far outweigh the costs. All these students want is an opportunity to prove to both themselves and the United States that they deserve the right to remain on American soil. To deny them this simply because a piece of paper says that they are not American would not only be a moral injustice, but an economic injustice as well. After all, what makes a person American anyway? Is it a birth certificate? Or is it the patriotism for a country you hold in your heart? California has already passed its own DREAM Act. Now, the United States should do the same. ■H
The California DREAM Act proves detrimental to legal residents Alexandria Camarella CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With the fresh start to a new year, many students at UCR are getting adjusted to their new class schedules. Along with the start of the quarter, the beginning of the year will see the California DREAM Act come into effect. This longawaited law will enable students who are not United States citizens to be eligible for in-state tuition and financial aid for California public colleges. It is estimated that about 20,000 of these students will apply for state-funded Cal Grants under the 2011 California DREAM Act. But exactly where is this money coming from? Governor Brown signed both parts of the act earlier last year and is already allowing private universities to give financial aid to undocumented students from their own funds. In addition to this private aid, the California Department of Finance estimates that 2,500 additional students will qualify for Cal Grants at a cost of $14.5 million. This does not include the fact that these students would also qualify for in-state tuition. With this in mind, UCR students should expect to see a slight increase in enrollment and even a “crowding-out” of U.S. citizens in public universities because of the added competition. About one out of every three college students already drop out before receiving a degree, with costs being the major reason for the high dropout rate. Because of the California DREAM Act, competition will increase, and more American citizens will be unable to afford higher education or will be unable to compete with the fewer spots available in these institutions. In other words, these undocumented students will be taking the place of, and crowding out, legal citizens who could have been enrolled in these institutions. Even though supporters of the law state that it will not affect how many of the grants go to legal residents, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office said in a 2011 report that it could still end up reducing how many students with citizenship obtain financial aid, no matter what the legislators’ intents were. This report estimates the law will cost about $65 million a year by the 2016-17 school year. And according to State Budget Solutions, California’s debt trumped all other states with a staggering amount of $617 billion—money the state does not have. Although Governor Brown is expecting a surplus of $851 million at the end of the next fiscal year, he is expecting to gain much of the money through a 7.5 percent sales tax and additional taxes on incomes starting at $250,000, reaching 13.3 percent on households making $1 million or more. These added taxes on the wealthy will be detrimental by deteriorating the state’s tax base in the near future—not to mention the fear that wealthy individuals might decide to no longer contribute to California’s economy and move to states with lower income taxes. According to the Center for American Progress, the passage of the national DREAM Act would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy and create more jobs by 2030. This idea of additional money to add to the economy is a great incentive
for citizens who want to see the nation pull itself out of debt and move forward. Many proponents of the DREAM Act stress that the act will open more doors for these students. Although the law will open more doors for these individuals, it may not necessarily directly aid the economy. These advocates assure citizens that the DREAM Act will give these undocumented students a chance at a higher education so that they can compete in the professional world and, thus, put more money into the nation’s economy. Although this is a nice theory, it would only greatly add to the unemployment rate and create more job competition in America. These students would be taking away job opportunities from American citizens, and because they are not legal residents, would not have to pay income taxes until they have been granted amnesty—a provision that the California government does not seem likely to pass yet. This kind of competition can lead to an increase in unemployment which can potentially “crowd-out” more American citizens in the job market. Some of these candidates have spent most of their lives in the U.S., and thus consider themselves American citizens. The only thing separating these individuals from legal standing is the documentation. Every person deserves a chance at an education, success, mobility, and property—no matter who he is. While this is true, the problem still arises that these students are undocumented and, thus, unable to further their education past college. Unfortunately, these students are still not legal citizens—and California’s DREAM Act does not actually provide citizenship—and would therefore be taking money away from those that are. A poll conducted by USC’s Dornsife College and the Los Angeles Times found that 55% of Californian voters oppose the law. This might be because of the fact that the money generated for the DREAM Act will most likely be coming from every taxpayer’s pockets. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a leading opponent, states that the law is “an insult to every taxpaying citizen, and to every California student.” With taxpayers’ money going away to these students, the DREAM Act might create even more of an influx of illegal immigration into the state. This kind of legislation is detrimental because it would encourage other illegal immigrants to migrate to California for these better opportunities, which would add even more competition for schools and lessen the financial aid available to legal residents. While the California DREAM Act proposes idealistic goals and has some very positive points, California is not able to afford such a proposal at this time. As the California DREAM Act comes into effect, students have already applied to CSUs and UCs for the 2013-2014 academic school year. Although this is a great opportunity for these individuals, it is not fair to the families who are legal residents and pay taxes every year. Students at other public campuses, along with UCR, should be prepared for a decrease in financial aid readily available and prospective students should be ready for the increased competition in applications for the next school year. ■H
The opinions expressed in the Opinions section belong solely to their authors and do not represent the Highlander Editorial Board or the University of California, Riverside.
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
R adar ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Events this week Wednesday | 1/23
Victoire free concert at Culver Center, 8 p.m.
Thursday | 1/24
“Moving Matters” signing by Susan Ossman at Cellar Door Books, 6:30 p.m.
a r n o l d s ch wa r z e n e gg e r s ta r s i n
Friday | 1/25
Opening Reception for “Eco Art/Women Artists” at Riverside Art Museum, 6 p.m.
Saturday | 1/26
Asian Pacific Lunar New Year Festival in Downtown Riverside, 10 a.m.
“the
l a s t s ta n d ”
@ h i gh l a n d e r r a d a r
c o u rt e s y o f l i o n s g at e
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
MOVIE REVIEWS COMING OUT THIS WEEK:
MOVIE 43
HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS
PARKER
MAMA
RATING: ★★★☆☆
BY: NICOLAS AUSTIN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
A mother’s love is unconditional and precious— sometimes to the point of being frightening, and that’s when you feel the constriction in the relationship. This is definitely the case in “Mama,” a thrilling and more comprehensive recreation of director Andres Muschietti’s Spanish short film, “Mamá” (2008). He collaborates with fairy tale and horror genius, executive producer Guillermo del Toro (“The Orphanage,” “Splice”), as well as screenwriter Neil Cross (“Luther”), in order to create this artful mastery of horror versus beauty. The story takes place in Richmond, Virginia, where the audience is introduced to Jeffrey (Nikolaj CosterWaldau), a man in financial ruin who goes on a murderous rampage that leads to the brutal deaths of his business partners and estranged wife. Jeffrey kidnaps his two young daughters and drives through the snow to an abandoned cabin in the woods. As he contemplates whether or not to kill his daughters and then himself, he is abruptly attacked and slain by a mysterious figure (Javier Bovet) in the shadows. In present day, Jeffrey’s twin brother Lucas (Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabelle (Jessica Chastain) celebrate the end of the five year search for his nieces, Victoria (Megan
“I found it funny, in a bizarre way, to sit there in the theater, watching a little girl laugh and play with a paranormal entity instead of screaming or running away.” Charpentier) and Lily (Isabelle Nélisse), when hunters discover the two girls in the cabin where their father was killed. They are entrusted to the care of Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash), a psychiatrist who offers to aid Lucas in a custody battle against the girls’ maternal aunt Jean (Jane Moffat) on the condition that he and the girls move into a house that has been designated for psychiatric case studies. The couple soon comes to question their familial situation when they are terrorized in their new home by an apparition—whom the children refer to as “Mama”—
who is determined to preserve her relationship with Victoria and Lily at all costs. Muschietti gets creative in the conception of Mama’s character and design, but her physical appearance wouldn’t make you jump out of your seat in fear. The ghostly antagonist scarcely appears onscreen until we are well into the story, and she comes out to extinguish the growing bond between Annabelle and the girls. There were a few scenes, with Mama rapidly rushing towards the screen, which would have looked better shot in 3D, especially if the goal is to scare the audience. At certain points during the film, things take a turn for the humorous, but nothing flat-out ridiculous you might see in a teen horror flick like “Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Friday the 13th;” the comicality stems from the mother-and-daughter relationship between Mama and the girls, especially Lily, who engages in games of tugof-war with the ghoul. I found it funny, in a bizarre way, to sit there in the theater, watching a little girl laugh and play with
a paranormal entity instead of screaming or running away. The ghost may provide the horror in this story, but the real stars are Victoria and
Lily, who make the audience “Mama” won’t make you feel unsettled throughout the literally scream for your mama, movie; the young actresses’ but it offers plenty of fright for POST-CREDITS COOKIE performances make the trip anyone looking to be creeped to the theater worth the price. out. ■H
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
13 21
THE LAST STAND RATING: ★★☆☆☆
Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a smashing comeback to the silver screen in the action-packed thriller, “The Last Stand.” Like many of his earlier roles—take the futuristic “Terminator” film series for example—this B-feature can be summed up by its title. Audiences can expect lots of gunfire, revved engines and clichéd oneliners that are dropped in at
“... this B-feature can be summed up by its title.”
the end of violent scenes. After a harsh past in law enforcement, Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) takes care of Summerton Junction, a peaceful town by the U.S./Mexican border. The regularly low-crime rates take a hit when notorious drug cartel leader, Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), makes an elaborate escape from an FBI transport en route to death row; he heads for Mexico at top speed with the aid of heavily armed gunmen and a stolen Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1. The situation escalates until the only point between freedom and recapture is the same town where Owens expects a quiet weekend. “The Last Stand” is a classic underdog story, complete with a cast of unlikely heroes, including Deputies
BY: JACQUELINE BALDERRAMA, STAFF WRITER
Mike Figuerola (Luis Guzmán), Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander) and Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro), as well as the somewhat crazy yet convenient weapons distributor, Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville). In comparison to their motley group, Cortez seems almost over-prepared as his army of brutes clears a path for him to flee the U.S. The film keeps a swift pace, which is probably the result of every other scene cutting to the speciallyoutfitted Corvette as it zooms away, but it manages to fit in a complicated plot. Owens’ history as an officer in the narcotics division at the LAPD is briefly mentioned, which helps to balance the adventure-seeking temperaments of his younger subordinates. The movie features an assortment of action scenes with armored vehicles to ram through barricades and bazookas when a million bullets can’t do the job. While this does not create a lot of depth for the story, the graphic carnage is spectacular in its own right. Although the film pokes fun
“... the graphic carnage is spectacular in its own right.” at the extremeness of his character’s predicament,
Schwarzenegger proves to be capable of holding his own in man-to-man combat, even in his 60s. The stunts and special effects, at least where the Chevy was concerned, are far from realistic but amazing to watch on a big screen, as the tricked-out vehicle zigzags through patrol barriers; getting Cortez from point A to point B remains interesting as the various obstacles in his path lead
Courtesy of Lionsgate
up to the final showdown at Summerton. Overall, “The Last Stand” was entertaining enough, in spite of its predictable plot and inflated comedic relief. I was impressed by its array of high-contrast roles: the FBI agents who never seem to get anywhere fast enough, the merciless gang led by Cortez and the innocent townspeople who refuse to leave their breakfast even when their
Sheriff comes to warn them of the impending peril. As a result, the film is not an embarrassment, and worked well within its generic plot and character polarity, but I don’t see any award nominations in its future. To its credit, “The Last Stand” succeeds in highlighting S c h w a r z e n e g g e r ’s unforgettable stardom by placing him in a role only he ■H can fill.
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
15
Free Enterprise:
The Art of Citizen Space Exploration at the UCR ArtsBlock
by Rebecca Paredes, Senior Staff Writer
C a m e r o n Y o n g /HIGHLANDER Top: Frank Pietronigro’s Creativity Chamber. Bottom left: XCOR engine. Bottom right: A fluid is placed above a subwoofer. In weightlessness, the fluid floats in the middle of the vial.
Space has long been regarded as the final frontier of human travel. But once we have found our place among the stars, what happens to human culture? “Free Enterprise: The Art of Citizen Space Exploration” seeks to answer this question through an exhibition of 25 international artists and organizations that closely examines civilian space exploration. Ranging from thought-provoking choreography to collections of some of the first art pieces set in space, Free Enterprise endeavors to meet one goal: delving into the intersection between space exploration and artistic production. And from what I observed during the exhibit’s opening panel and reception on Saturday, Jan. 19, at the UCR ArtsBlock, that goal has absolutely been met. As art director Tyler Stallings told me during a tour of the exhibit, Free Enterprise has been in the planning stages since spring 2009, but the foundational principles of artists examining the relationship between art and space has existed for ages. The UCR/California Museum of Photography (CMP) holds one of the smallest, yet arguably most important, examples of this examination: a miniscule ceramic tile titled “Moon Museum” by Forrest Myers. Crafted in 1969, it contains the art of six influential artists, including Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. One of 20 copies of the tile was hidden within the Apollo 12 lander, which touched down on the moon the same year “Moon Museum” was created. The piece marks one of the first moments in which art physically intertwined with space travel, and its seemingly innocuous appearance represents decades of artists working into zero gravity in order to explore concepts like weightlessness, nothingness and
how the body can function in zero gravity. French choreographer Kitsou Dubois explores zero gravity expression in a phenomenal way by incorporating her dance research into a series of parabolic flights. These flights involve a plane ascending to a high altitude and then free falling, which renders the body weightless for about 20 seconds and is the only way to experience zero gravity on Earth. During her brief period of weightlessness, Dubois and her team explored movement within zero gravity, and the presentation of the finished product is outstanding.
“But once we have found our place among the stars, what happens to human culture?” Titled “Bulle,” the installation consists of a long box suspended at eye-level. At one end, a concave bubble projects a looped video of Dubois’ choreography through which viewers can lean their heads and allow the images to fill their peripheral vision. The distorted, all-encompassing video gives the viewer an idea of the zero gravity disorientation Dubois and her team experienced, thereby physically immersing the viewer into their weightless world. Despite my initial reservations about sticking my head in a box, watching the dancers move fluidly and with unbridled curiosity through their padded space inside of the plane was a surreal and strangely
beautiful experience. For future space travelers who wish to recall a sense of home, artist Carrie Paterson has the solution. Paterson’s “Homesickness Kits” are puzzle spheres painted with images of constellations. The sphere is split into smaller, wedge-shaped compartments, each containing a small hole that can be filled with scented wax. During the exhibit’s opening reception, faux-salespeople were available to offer samples of a potential scent. It was a sampling of 20 of the most generally accessible scents on Earth—including sandalwood, birch, pine and jasmine—in a small wax ball, and it reminded me of a woodsy representation of our planet. Like many of the artists exhibited at Free Enterprise, Paterson is taking active steps to legitimately impact the evolving field of private space exploration and the democratization of space travel; she has a patent pending on her design. From an artistic viewpoint, her product forces the viewer to consider what home will become when man is able to travel through space on a whim. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, Paterson is taking a solid step in the evolving space industry, like many others featured throughout the exhibit. One such example is XCOR, a private company founded in 1999. In the middle of the Mojave desert, XCOR tests plane engines and rocket-powered vehicles as part of their ultimate goal: affordable space travel for private citizens. A few of the engines and planes are presented in the Culver Center, but the most exciting thing to see is a scale model of Lynx, a space tourism ship designed to take its passengers into space and back on a 45 minute flight. A video presentation accompanies the exhibit in order to
J i n y o u n g K o /HIGHLANDER Top: (from left to right) Carrie Paterson, Khaki Rodway, Connie Samaras, Dragan Živadinov, Rob La Frenais, Richard Clar, Frank Pietronigro, Bradley Pitts during the opening panel. Bottom left: “Space Flight Dolphin” by Richard Clar. Bottom right: New era astronaut wear by Final Frontier Design.
explain the way Lynx flights would work. Even though XCOR’s exhibit isn’t strictly art, it pairs well with the rest of Free Enterprise because one of the overarching themes is the idea of exploration. And like Paterson, Dubois and the rest of Free Enterprise’s artists, XCOR’s founders are carving a rapidly expanding niche within the space industry. Entrepreneurial spirit is one thing, but as Stallings reminded me, the relationship between artists and space travel is incredibly important, because “artists are there to ask the big, ethical questions” without worrying about profit margins like private investors. In this spirit, one of the unique elements of Free Enterprise (aside from how absolutely cool it is) is that the artists were selected for their tangible study of art and space. “I tried to stay away
“‘...artists are there to ask the big, ethical questions...’” from artists who work in the purely allegorical perspective,” Stallings said, and it shows. None of the exhibits in Free Enterprise feel like ultra-lofty, undecipherable pieces of art that the viewer would need a degree and a cigarette to understand. Each exhibit harkens back to the idea that the uncharted frontier of space exploration needs to be accompanied by a close artistic eye, because without that element of culture, how can we
hope to understand the humanistic element of an industry that is quickly reaching fruition? New York-based artist Bradley Pitts brings the human element into his work by presenting “Singular Oscillations” as an inside-out experience. Pitts’ parabolic flight into zero-gravity is presented as a series of DVD monitors which play different angles of him floating through weightlessness, while three of the room’s walls show the outside sky as an external view from the plane. He removed any elements of the outside world by plugging his ears, shutting his eyes and experiencing zero gravity completely nude. In an interview, Pitts explained that the project is about “having this highly internal experience that cannot be documented or quantified and putting
those two worlds in touch with each other in order to see what happens.” The end result? “It’s very still,” Pitts said. “Anytime I wasn’t touching anything I felt completely still, and that was another powerful cultural aspect of the weightless environment because it’s completely anti-hierarchical. Everything is moving relative to each other, so in my state of having my eyes closed and my ears blocked, I become the center since I have no reference.” I would write about Free Enterprise
all day long, but for the sake of space, I’ll sum up the experience with this: go see it. It’s an incredibly well-executed study of the way art and space have interacted and how they should continue to relate to each other in the future. It’s exciting and thought provoking, and reveals just how close we are to traversing the frightening, thrilling and unknown realms of outer space within our lifetimes. Free Enterprise will be on display at the ArtsBlock until May 18. ■H
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
HIGHLANDER
MUSIC REVIEWS CHRISTOPHER OWENS // LYSANDRE RATING: ★★★☆☆
The troubadour was a figure of lyrical poetry that became very popular during the Middle Ages. Christopher Owens seems to embody this role in the 21st century. After the breakup of his debut band Girls just six short months ago, Owens takes listeners through the journey of his promising musical career with his first solo album “Lysandre,” titled after an anonymous muse. “Lysandre’s Theme” sets a mellow tone for the album, and the 30 second-long acoustic chord progression is a prevalent theme throughout the 10 following tracks. Like the composition of a true poet, the album acts as one cohesive and metamorphic song that depicts Owens’ inner state since the dawn of his career with Girls. “Here We Go” is a prosaic ballad that brings attention to the flurry of excitement that came with the sudden flood of success during his first tour. In contrast, the lyrics of “Love Is In the Ear of the Listener” (“Or maybe I should sing about / how I’m not gonna control what comes out of my mouth”) really exhibit the naïveté and suppressive environment that eventually led to the disbanding of Girls. Once the listener reaches “Everywhere You Knew,” Owens returns to the present as he recounts the climactic yet short-lived love story that quickly escalates before plummeting into a broken heart over the inevitable
BY: JILLIAN RAUSA, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
breakup. Owens returns to the iambic, storytelling stanzas that incessantly blend together in a run-on sentence of a song. Despite the seemingly lackluster product, there is an intimate, minstrel-like style, overlaid with a conjunction of surprising saxophone strains and electric piano, that makes “Lysandre” quite likeable overall. He breaks up tales of stage fright and newfound love with a jazzy interlude or upbeat dance number, here and there, which balances the monotonous epiphanic verses. On that note, Owens focuses his inauguration as a solo artist to playfully translate the experiences in his mind through music. However, that being said, I found his vocals to be flat and subpar. Christopher Owens declares that his solo debut album “Lysandre” is “a moment in time that has been captured and brought to life through art.” It is a mere snippet of his developing story, told in a beautiful closure piece in order to move onto the next chapter. There is a sense of growth and maturity throughout the arrangement that is significant enough to attract the newly born hipster generation, which can only attract a bigger audience. Devoted fans of Girls will be pleased to hear from Owens again, especially since this album promises more stories to be heard in the future. ■H
Courtesy of Fat Possum / Turnstile
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
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YO LA TENGO // FADE RATING:
★★★☆☆
WEDNESDAYS @ 9AM
HIGHLANDER NEWSROOM
KUCR RADIO 88.3
Just close your eyes and listen—actually, don’t close your eyes. You might fall asleep, albeit in the coolest way possible, to legendary indie band Yo La Tengo’s “Fade.” Their latest album—also, their first since “Popular Songs” (2009) and 13th overall— consists of a dreamy set of sometimes catchy, sometimes endearing tracks that leave the listener in a happily-induced daze. The album starts off with arguably its best track, the nearly 7 minute long jam session that is “Ohm.” Husband-and-wife team Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley sing lush harmonies over a catchy guitar refrain, “Sometimes the bad guys come out on top / Sometimes the good guys lose / We try not to lose our hearts / Not to lose our minds.” Throughout the album, they maintain a personal quality that lyrically goes along with their soft, fuzzed-out tunes. On the
BY: JAKE RICH, SENIOR STAFF WRITER next track, “Is That Enough?” Kaplan quietly admits that, “It’s unimportant / As far as I can tell / But what’s important / I can’t see so well,” over a simple guitar melody with the mellifluous flourishes of an orchestra to back him up. Another highlight comes in the tender number “Cornelia and Jane,” sung by Hubley. The song is a whispered plea to a friend who may be aging and losing themselves when it comes to character or memory; she sings, “Hear them whispering, they analyze / But no one knows what’s lost in your eyes / Sending the message, it doesn’t get to you / How can we care for you?” Hubley’s soothing yet stricken falsetto croon is accompanied by gentle bass, guitar and understated horns in the background that bring a truly sympathetic tone to “Fade,” in continuation of one of its themes of change coming about within different aspects
of one’s life. One note that I would make to listeners who wish to appreciate the album fully would be to play it through earbuds or headphones. Many of the songs on this record are intricately coordinated together, and these intricacies are much more easily noticed when they are not simply being played as background music. The gentler but emotionally significant riffs bring a subtle superiority to the album that one may not notice initially. As a whole, Yo La Tengo has accomplished one thing: even if “Fade” is not the most innovative collection of work, or the best of their musical output, they’ve made a very solid effort that should stand the test of time for fans. The album shows great vulnerability in its lyrics in addition to a mature approach to love that values trust even during periods of fear, and acknowledges that bad
Courtesy of Matador Records
things happen sometimes, but it is possible to overcome them. The band says it best themselves in the song “Point of It,” when
they tell us, “Say that we’re afraid, say that we were wrong / Maybe that’s ok, if we’re not so H strong / That’s the point of it.” ■
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
HIGHLANDER
TELEVISION REVIEWS AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM - “SPILT MILK” / “CONTINUUM” RATING: ★★★☆☆ / ★★★★☆ BY: DIANA S. HUANG, STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Television
Viewers are finally shown the Lana Winters we’ve longed for: sassy, determined and channeling Jackie O as she struts her stuff in “Spilt Milk.” Just before her release, she promises Jude that she will return and expose all the horrors at Briarcliff. In present day, the episode unveils some highly disturbing, Oedipal interaction between Johnny Morgan and a prostitute in a scene that is intercut with the final confrontation between Lana and Thredson a.k.a. Bloody Face. The creative cinematography brings together the closest we’ll ever get to a family portrait of the Thredson-Winters family. Although Sarah Paulson steals the show with this one, the writers unfortunately fail to deliver on Thredson’s demise. The only thing that saves this blunder from ruining the remainder of the hour is the cliffhanger we are presented with, as Kit and Grace, free at last and eager to start their new life together, find Alma waiting at the house with a baby of her own. Lana also undergoes a bizarre change of heart when she decides to keep the baby, insisting that there have been too many deaths. It’s an infuriating move—how can she go from being desperate enough to use a coat hanger to becoming strangely sentimental over the evidence of her rape? These events lead us into “Continuum,” the last episode before the season finale. It opens with a chilling scene that involves Kit pulling an ax out of Grace’s bloodied body (note the irony) as a toddler is heard calling for, “Daddy,” in the background. The story has jumped ahead several years in time since the conclusion of “Spilt Milk,” and Kit appears to have settled into his “Big Love” lifestyle with Alma, Grace and their kids. The
“The creative cinematography brings together the closest we’ll ever get to a family portrait of the ThredsonWinters family.” dynamic and duality between the two women is skillfully crafted; Grace obsessively draws her alien abductors and talks about them with reverence, while Alma, who hates the aliens for their cruelty, is determined to forget. The tension between the pair escalates until Alma finally snaps, which reveals just how unstable she has become, when we were at first led to believe that it is Grace who is unhinged. Alma is then committed to an even more dangerous and dilapidated Briarcliff. Since its handover to the state, the establishment has been flooded with correctional facility inmates. Judy Martin’s death has been falsified, and her new identity, Betty Drake, is no doubt the scheme of Monsignor Howard, who is now Cardinal of New York. Frances Conroy returns this episode without the black suit or wings, but instead as a tough queen bee at Briarcliff; she offers Judy the option of working with her or becoming crushed by her, mirroring Shachath’s proposal of life or death. The interaction between the two shows us that Jude still retains her fire and resists death at every turn, despite having been abandoned by all those who had prom-
ised to help her. Lana—one of the aforementioned promise makers—who was basically crowned the show’s heroine last week, has since become a fame-seeking sellout; she is busy riding high on the success of her book and is convinced she has “found [her] voice.” She has completely renounced her lesbian relationship with Wendy and has exaggerated the account of her suffering at the hands of Bloody Face. “American Horror Story: Asylum” has become a delightfully unpredictable show, thanks to showrunner Ryan Murphy’s ability to manipulate character development and plot to elicit just the right response from its audience. Despite the hopeful undertones in “Spilt Milk,” “Continuum” shows us that it is impossible to escape Briarcliff and its influence. The storyline is still full of holes that require resolution (e.g. Lana being hunted by her son in present day, the missing explanation regarding the aliens), but with only one episode remaining in the season it’s going to be a close cut. Nevertheless, the madness that reaches past the confines of Briarcliff adds a wholesome feeling to this season. We are reminded that “Asylum” is sick and twisted, through and through—no H place is safe for its characters. ■
“American Horror Story: Asylum” has become a delightfully unpredictable show”
20
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
. FEATURES .
HIGHLANDER
Spotlight on:
Vietnamese Student Association
J e ss i c a M a r t i n e z CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A sports team, club, fraternity or sorority, whatever it may be—they are all in existence because of members who share a common goal or interest and fight for it to stay alive. One club that has been in existence here at UCR for 31 years is the Vietnamese Student Association. VSA, as it is abbreviated, strives to provide a cultural experience for its members. Students choose to identify with a group that they may relate to culturally, and, being one of the most diverse campuses across the nation, UCR has a variety of clubs that are culturally associated. But Vietnamese Student Association also seems to aim to be more than just that. According to current President Chris Le, it is also about family, networking and making sure there is something for everyone’s tastes. Something that he believes differentiates UCR’s VSA from other UC campuses is that they’re innovative:
“We’ve increased our output by 200 percent... for example, we used to meet every other week, and now we meet every week.” There really is something for everyone to participate in, in terms of sub-divisions narrowing down to specific interests of the members. Among the activities that members can join are an intramural sports team, community service, modern dance team and internships. An annual culture night is also presented each year which could only happen with the dedicated members’ time and effort. Le, who is a senior biochemistry major, joined because he wanted to get involved, but was also influenced by his father who was the president of Cal Poly Pomona’s VSA. Family is his favorite part of being in the organization. “I’ve found family from it, I’ve gotten close friends I consider family.” Culture and family seem to go hand in hand, which is what has made this one of the longest lasting organizations at UCR. Davina Chau, a third-year psy-
chology major, shares the same opinion: “It gave me a family away from home.” Continuing the legacy, Chau was also involved in her high school’s version of VSA and recently, she represented UC Riverside alongside another member, Angeline Tran, in a Rose Pageant hosted by UC Irvine’s VSA. The pageant included plenty of cultural identifying such as wearing the traditional dress and having to answer questions related to culture in Vietnamese. “It gave me insight into other people’s perspective on culture and how everyone else’s VSA works.” Chau placed in the top five out of 18 girls, which is not a first for UCR, but it is the first time both contestants that represented UCR have placed. As to why the organization has managed to represent for 31 years and currently keep over 130 active paying members, she believes it is because everyone is so welcoming and friendly. Not everybody in the organization is Vietnamese, so it must be the open and welcoming environ-
ment that keeps members coming back. Le believes it is also the time and effort all the members put into the club. “We owe it to the club to give back,” he states. “We always take care of our members; we never pocket the money.” In addition to taking care of each other, VSA aims to provide for their community through a series of fundraisers throughout the year. Just on Thursday night of last week, VSA hosted their “Pho night” where members prepared and cooked traditional Vietnamese noodle dishes and sold them to the public. “Viet Idol” is another annual event that was hosted in HUB 302 during Fall Quarter. In addition, proceeds from the food that members sell at Block Party all go into the same account; one that VSA chooses a charity or organization to donate to at the end of the year. The club has given its members a place they can turn to, which is sometimes hard to find in college. Le’s goal this year is to make sure the other members feel integrated. He wants to take a different approach and
have his staff tell him what to do instead of him telling them what to do. As a leader, he is allowing members the space to come up to him with their ideas on what to do in the organization which should make for a unique experience. “Be our VSA, not a part of VSA,” is Le’s general goal. The student organization recently returned from a trip to Big Bear on the weekend of Jan. 11. Le mentioned that the organization charged its members barely enough to cover the fees for Big Bear, emphasizing that “we don’t fundraise through our members. We just want to take care of them.” The Vietnamese Student Association itself is a part of something bigger, with a Southern California branch including other colleges and high schools. Each group strives to help out other groups by attending their events which help raise profit for a different organization each year. The value of family is interwoven in this organization and is what has made it so strong and united all these years. ■H
TOP LEFT PHOTO: C a m e r o n Y o n g /HIGHLANDER, TOP RIGHT & BOTTOM PHOTO: C o u rt e s y
of
Paul Tran
TOP LEFT: VSA member Davina Chau talks about how she was introduced to the group and has helped the club grow. TOP RIGHT: Viet Tran and Danny Lam at VSA’s Winter Retreat 2013. BOTTOM: Group photo of VSA at their cabin for Winter Retreat 2013.
FEATURES
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
21 21
TARTAN EPIDEMIC infects
UCR photo courtesy of Ross French Left: Daniels speaks to spirited students about his film “The Last One.”
by Toni Louie & Alexander SuffolK Upon realizing that zombies are the next big thing in pop culture, Adam Daniels translated the thematic zombie virus as an infection caught by UCR students every time they decide to join a club, attend a game or take advantage of resources on campus. What resulted is the spread of the Tartan Epidemic. Daniels, who is originally from Oregon, was involved with Highlander Orientation during the summer and works full time for Student Life and Commuter Programs. He has always been interested in film and decided to utilize his job here as well as promote pride and unity among our students. His other work includes a “Stuff Commuters Say” video on YouTube. “It became so much more than I expected it to,” says Daniels. Because the film was praised so highly by ASPB, Student Life and Athletics, he took advantage of the project gaining momentum and planned an official “quarantine zone” to be held in the beginning of Winter Quarter. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan 16, a diverse group of excited students consisting of of student athletes, club members, friends and couples huddled outside of HUB 302. When the doors finally opened 15 minutes later, students dispersed into the large space, settling into the far corners of the room with their free slices of cold pizza. The crowd, which was genuinely enthusiastic, listened intently when Assistant Athletics Director Jason List took the stage and announced: “Thank you for coming out. We know you’re all very concerned about the epidemic.” The microphone was then handed to Adam Daniels, who told everyone to “imagine a world where everyone is infected by school spirit.” Before proceeding to show his 8 minute film titled “The Last One,” he admitted: “This is kind of my baby.” The film opens with a lone student wandering around the Bell Tower and HUB. He explains to us that, as far as he knows, he is the last student to remain uninfected by a highly contagious plague of school spirit, and he thus spends
his days in empty classes on an empty campus. He then spends his nights trying to avoid the infected, who would most assuredly take him to a game or make him join a club and spread the plague. After 85 days of solitude, he meets one more uninfected student, and the two share a brief companionship before our hero sees blue paint beginning to drip from her nose—the first sign of infection. He runs for shelter and locks the other student out, letting her get taken by a pack of ravenous Highlanders, all clad in blue and gold clothing and paint. The guilt of letting her get
“...imagine a world where everyone is infected by school spirit” -Adam Daniels taken away drives him to seek out the heart of the infection at the Student Recreation Center that night. There he finds Patient Zero, the start of great epidemic, who turns out to be the one and only Scotty the Bear. He high fives Scotty and walks into the SRC for his first basketball game, knowing that after giving in to the infection, “things would be better... things would be different.” When we see our hero again, he is now sporting a UCR shirt and blue face paint. He talks about being happier now that he is more active on campus. He leaves with the message, “It could get lonely out there by yourself, so get involved.” The film ended with a warm applause from the audience, especially from Scotty. Daniels then
returned to the stage briefly, reminding us that school spirit is quite easy to get infected with and that there are already organizations that exist purely to promote it. With that he gave the stage to two representatives of Highlander Hype, who informed the audience about their presence and purpose on campus and then lead them in UCR’s fight song. Jim Wooldridge, head coach of the men’s basketball team, then took the stage along with three of his players. Unfortunately, he fumbled on the last names and hometowns of his players, causing a short-lived but nonetheless awkward rift. He asked the crowd, “Do you know how good you guys have it here?” After the proud cheers and hollers of students died down, he proceeded to say that he had been all over the country and that “UCR is the best school I’ve ever been to.” During the short and sweet one hour event, the priority mainly seemed to center upon encouraging students to go to the basketball game the following day at 7 p.m. as well as just to attend more games in general. Coach Wooldridge made it a point to tell the audience that the team does play better whenever the crowd is spirited and supportive. The event then came to a close with last reminders to stay spirited and infect everyone else that you can. Check in on any its Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accounts and find a very sincere reenactment of disease spreading through UCR’s campus reminiscent of medical thrillers such as 2011’s “Contagion” and 2007’s “I am Legend,” complete with up-to-date warning statuses and recorded interviews with concerned members of the community. Complete with its biohazard symbolism and dangerous mystique, Tartan Epidemic was not some new student organization that promotes school spirit, as some had suspected, but rather a new marketing strategy for those that already exist. And from the looks of the virus so far, no student is immune. ■H
“YOU ARE INFECTED”
FEATURES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! A consistent thrashing of the trends, tropes, and traditions of the silly little world we live in.
The Kingdom of Quirky by Alexander Suffolk, Senior Staff Writer dynasty that rules over pop culture. That dynasty is the cruel and unforgiving Kingdom of Quirky.
Behold Queen Quirk I, Bringer of Bangs.
“Quirky” is defined as “being characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits” and Zooey Deschanel is the first monarch of this regime, arguably the most significant as well. She was inching towards power with her involvement in “Hitchhiker ’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Elf,” but she assumed direct control with “500 Days of Summer.” She used Joseph-Gordon Levitt’s sincerity to distract us from her insidious agenda to brainwash the public into worshipping manic pixie dream girls. Now she sits on her throne named “New Girl,” raining down quirks and expectations upon her subjects. In Deschanel’s
world, you aren’t beautiful unless you break out into song at inappropriate times or act like a child at age 30. But Deschanel is not the sole ruler of the Quirky Kingdom. No, it is more like that of a triumvirate, with three faces to the single king that rules from the ninth circle of hell. The second face is King Cooper, the leader of “The Big Bang Theory.” He presides over a pool of pseudo-science and references of eighth grade physics, which he relishes in serving up to the masses under the shadow of catchphrases and curves of KINGDOM OF QUIRKY CONT’D ON PAGE 23
MEETINGS ON MONDAYS 5:15PM @ HUB 101
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! For the times, they are a changin’. There was a time, not too long ago, when an empire of eyeliner, ripped skinny jeans and whiny vocals ruled the world. When Hot Topics were inescapable and Pete Wentz was actually taken seriously. Well, more seriously, anyway. Yes, it was the Emo Empire, and it held considerable influence while leaving the elderly wondering why teenagers were identifying as large Australian birds. But now those are times are gone and lost to the wind, only remembered by embarrassed and regretted trips back to MySpace. Now there is a new
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22
FEATURES
HIGHLANDER KINGDOM OF QUIRKY FROM PAGE 22
Kaylee Cuckoo. The sheeple that adore him then laugh at the fact that there are people that are different then them. They laugh because science and fantasy are absurd quirks that they just can’t get enough of. They laugh, and it fuels him with more power, allowing his socially awkward army to take over television channels one by one.
sense how popular he became; little girls always flock to young men that look just like them. But then Psy came along and we voted him to be our supreme ruler of the Internet. And it wasn’t because the beats were catchy or the lyrics insightful. Let’s be real, it’s because he danced like he was on a horse and screamed at some girl’s butt and that’s just so cuhrazy, right guys? Wasn’t it just so quirky?
become addicted to the strange and zany to the point where we just need more and more. But how far are we going to push this particular envelope? I mean, for goodness sake people, how did we come to decide that banjos are considered romance-made music and viciously maiming our ears is now considered self-expression?
idea of irony to the point where they have to specifically state that they are saying something unironically. It’s madness I tell you! I’m calling it now people, it’s only a matter of time until strange things begin to happen, like a harmless hip-hop song about something silly like going to thrift shops topping the iTunes charts.
I got a padlock with your name on it, buddy.
My god, it has begun!
The war cry of the damned. The final face came into power the most rapidly, seizing control over the Internet faster than a cat with enormous breasts made out of bacon. I’m speaking of course of the great Sultan Psy. There’s no greater example of the conquest of quirky than the absolute wildfire that was “Gangnam Style.” I mean, come on people, it toppled Justin Bieber ’s “Baby” in YouTube views. Just think about the implications of that. While we can probably all agree that the Biebs is an eternally pre-pubescent scourge on our society, it made
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“What’s that? You say people like K-pop for the wrong reasons? Sorry, it’s hard to hear you over my trucks of money.” The worst part of the new kingdom we have found ourselves in is that we are living in a paradox. As I said before, “quirky” is defined as “being characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits,” but I think we are ignoring the implications of that now being mundane and expected. We are dividing the matrix by zero, ladies and gentlemen; at some point, nothing is going to compute anymore. We have
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
Just imagine a world where this kind of thing keeps growing. Imagine a world where thirty-year old men seek entertainment from television programs for eightyear old girls. Imagine a world where people use an app to post pictures of meaningless tripe with the same sepia filter to show off their photography skills. Imagine a world where people wear glasses without any glass in the frames to show off just how much they dig geek chic. Imagine a world where “geek chic” is a term people use unironically. Imagine a world where people abuse the
SHOOT
for the Highlander
It is a funny age we live in, my friends. An age of indie music, ‘90s nostalgia and memes beaten enough to the point where dead horses have come to feel envious and neglected. And at the heart of this zany zeitgeist is the Kingdom of Quirky, which has ignited a lust in every single one of us for all things wacky and offbeat. But like all great dynasties and empires, this cultural kingdom will fall and fade away, destined to become a strange footnote in future sociology textbooks. Then some new power will inevitably take hold and I will inevitably write something H about how stupid that is as well. ■
Meetings on Mondays at 5:15 pm at HUB 101
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SPORTS
HIGHLANDER
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
Highlanders start season with a loss against San Diego State Michael Rios SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Jan. 17, 2013 Aztecs 7 - Highlanders 0
Coach Mark Henry kicked off his 20th year as a coach for UC Riverside tennis on Saturday, Jan 19. The UCR women’s tennis team traveled to San Diego to take on the San Diego State Aztecs in their first match of the 2013 season. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the team was unable to earn a win and fell to the Aztecs by a score of 7-0. The Aztecs won decisively on singles action. One by one, San Diego State defeated each of the Highlanders’ players. It was UC Riverside’s Courtney Pattugalan who proved to be the most competitive player of the matches. After losing the first set, she battled fiercely in the second and challenged her opponent, Michela Casanova, until the final point was scored. Pattugalan ended up losing, however, with a score of 6-1, 7-6. Doubles action was a bit more
competitive than the singles matches. But the duo of Natalie McKay and Pattugalan was beaten by SDSU’s Laura AntonanaIriarte and Dora Somoracz by a score of 8-3. Following that, SDSU’s Kristen Buth and Tami Nguyen defeated UCR’s Kate Bergeson and Thanh Doan by an identical score of 8-3. It was the duo of Jamie Raney and Taylor Raney that caused problems for SDSU’s Julia Wais and Casanova. The match ended up going into 14 games, but in the end, the Aztecs prevailed with a score of 8-6. The Aztecs completed the sweep of UC Riverside and now the Highlanders begin the season with an 0-1 record. The Highlanders will move on and focus on their next match against Missouri-Kansas City in Riverside’s season home opener. With construction underway at the Student Recreation Center, the tennis team will be unable to play on campus and will be forced to travel to Andulka Park to compete there from this point forward. The game will take place on Jan. 25 at 12 p.m.. ■H
Highlander
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Meetings at 5:15 PM in HUB 101
A r ch i v e /HIGHLANDER
Junior Kate Bergeson returns a shot during a match at UCR.
WOMEN’S TENNIS STANDINGS BIG WEST GAMES Team
W
L
PCT.
Cal Poly UC Irvine UC Davis Cal State Northridge Long Beach State UC Santa Barbara Pacific UC Riverside Cal State Fullerton Hawai’i
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
ALL GAMES
W
L
PCT.
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 3
.500 .500 .333 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
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SPORTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
Women’s basketball earns back-to-back conference wins against Long Beach and UC Irvine Darren Bueno STAFF WRITER
Michael Rios SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Jan. 17, 2013 Highlanders 50 - 49ers 49 KENDALL PETERSON
KENDALL’S FASTBALL Is Patton the answer for UCR? Two months ago Ron Larson resigned as the head women’s volleyball coach and left the athletic department searching for a new one. Well that search is finally over. A few days ago UC Riverside’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Brian Wickstrom held a conference and announced the hiring of Michelle Patton as Larsen’s replacement. When coach Larsen was with UCR from 2009-2012, he posted a 23-98 overall record and a 9-57 conference record. We can certainly say he did not get it done during his tenure here at Riverside. We can also say that the resignation of coach Ron Larsen was not much of a surprise. Yet, looking at his past it seemed like he had potential. Larsen was the assistant coach on the gold medal-winning 2008 US Olympic men’s volleyball team, a coach that has won four Coach of the Year honors and coached 51 all-conference performers. However, he was unable to use his experiences and propel Riverside into contenders for the Big West Title. This season, Riverside played very competitive in most of their games, as a lot of them went to five sets, but just could never find a way to pull out the victories. Yeah they had their bad games, but this team showed they can compete. Maybe it was time for a change. Patton brings much experience to Riverside and she can propel Riverside to the top. She earned a bronze medal in the USA Junior Olympics in 1993. She turned San Francisco State, a team that went 20126 in five years, into playoff contenders. In 2009-10 Patton led San Francisco to their first backback- winning seasons since 1996-97. The five seasons that she was there she got to the NCAA Division II tournament twice and last season she went 21-9 overall. I believe this a good move for the Highlanders. She will have 12 of the 19 players returning next year and have the opportunity to develop chemistry with her players. As her track record shows, she can turn this team around and make this program a threat in the Big West Conference. ■H
In the midst of a three game losing streak, the UC Riverside women’s basketball team (8-7, 1-3) rallied back from a 13 point first half deficit to power past Long Beach State, 50-49. Tre’Shonti Nottingham sank the game winning free throw with two seconds remaining to give the Highlanders their first Big West Conference win of the season. Nottingham, who leads the team in scoring, muscled her way to her first double-double of the season tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds. Brittany Crain chipped in 14 points while Janelle Kearney added eight. The Highlanders jumped on the board first when Crain made a jumper four minutes into the half. Both teams struggled offensively, making a combined two out of the first twenty attempted field goals. The 49ers gained a 17-5 lead by second chance opportunities. Nottingham scored six consecutive points to cut the advantage to eight but Long Beach pushed the lead to 24-11 with 4:44 remaining. UC Riverside closed the half on a 13-2 run by punishing Long Beach State in the paint. Nottingham’s three pointer closed the gap within two points at intermission, 24-26. The second half was tightly contested as neither team was separated by more than four points.
C a m e r o n Y o n g /HIGHLANDER
Senior Tre’Shonti Nottingham breaks away from defenders for a fast-break toward the basket.
UCR pulled ahead 41-36, at the six minute mark, and continued to apply pressure connecting on successive layups to increase the lead 48-43 with under two minutes remaining. Energized by their 500 fans cheering, the 49ers fought their way back to a 49-49 tie. With six seconds remaining and the game seemingly headed for overtime, Nottingham raced up the floor and was fouled with two seconds remaining. Nottingham stepped up to the line and knocked down the first but watched the second rim out. The 49ers rebounded the ball but the time expired and the Highlanders won their first conference game of the season. UCR outscored Long Beach State, 36-14 and converted 38.9
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS BIG WEST GAMES Team
W
L
PCT.
Pacific Cal Poly Cal State Northridge Hawaii Cal State Fullerton Long Beach State UC Riverside UC Santa Barbara UC Davis UC Irvine
4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 0
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 6
.800 .800 .667 .667 .600 .500 .400 .400 .200 .000
Jan. 19, 2013 Highlanders 68 - Anteaters 67
percent (21-54) of their shots, while holding the 49ers to a dismal 24.6 percent (15-61). After the one-point victory over the 49ers, the Highlanders followed with yet another close win on Saturday. This time, it was at the expense of the UC Irvine Anteaters. A 25-point performance from Tre’Shonti Nottingham set the tone for her team as the Highlanders earned a 68-67 win. The Highlanders were on cruise control during the opening minutes of the game. After Irvine scored the first bucket of the match, Riverside went on to score 13 unanswered points to take a 13-2 lead at the 12:43 mark. The Highlanders managed to maintain their double-digit advantage through the majority of the first half and went into the locker rooms with a 31-18 lead. The second half proved to be a bit more challenging for the Highlanders. The Anteaters came
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out aggressively and continued to chip away at Riverside’s lead. By the 11:08 mark, the lead was down to just five points. Both teams traded buckets for a short stretch, but Irvine was relentless and battled back to cut the lead to one after a three-pointer by Jennifer Tsurumoto. With under a minute remaining, Nottingham hit two crucial free-throws to retake a three-point lead. Irvine had the final shot of the game, but the Anteaters missed a three that would have tied it. Instead, UCI settled for a two-point basket that did virtually nothing to help their cause and UC Riverside escaped with a one-point victory over the Anteaters. Nottingham shot 8-15 from the floor to lead all players with 25. UCR’s Natasha Hadley added 14 in the Highlanders’ victory. Riverside has now won two straight and the team currently has a conference record of 2-3. UCR will take on Pacific for the first of a two-game homestand at the Student Recreation Center on Thursday, Jan. 24. ■H
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
27
Men’s tennis loses to San Diego State and Fresno State for an 0-2 start K e n da l l P e t e r s o n SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Jan. 18, 2013 Aztecs 7 - Highlanders 0 MICHAEL RIOS
RIO-SIDE Nadal is sorely missed The 2013 Australian Open is missing one of its most storied competitors. With Rafael Nadal out of the tournament due to injury and illness, it almost feels as if the fun was just sucked out of the entire competition. There will be no Djokovic-Nadal rematch this season, unfortunately. It’s such a shame considering how epic the 2012 match was. Nadal was so close to beating his rival, but he sort of fizzled toward the end and lost the six-hour final. It would have been great seeing a rematch of last year’s competitive game. But we won’t be getting more this time around. To get a feel of how huge that potential final would have been in this year’s Australian Open, just consider the history of the two. This is a rivalry that has intensified over the past few years. Both players met one another in four straight Grand Slam finals from 2011 to 2012. Djokovic took the first three and Nadal finally won the last one in the French Open last summer. It’s a rivalry that easily demands the attention of the sport. Just consider the following tagline: The cool and collected Nadal facing off against the rowdy and always emotional Djokovic in a battle for the sport’s top seed. The tagline itself guarantees the kind of thrill and excitement that we all long for when watching sports. But when Nadal left the game, fans were left craving more. To a lesser extent, the other great rivalry of Nadal and Federer will be put on hold for a few more weeks. Granted, this bout has waned over the years, but simply having these two going off against one another would have been a treat welcomed by all. Nadal, of course, is already one of the most successful tennis players of all-time. His six-month hiatus has left a giant hole in the sport of tennis. Without him, the excitement has been lacking in a huge way. It’s almost as if tennis became too dependent on this one player when it came to thrilling competition. If that’s the case, hurry up, Nadal. Tennis needs you desperately. ■H
The UC Riverside men’s tennis team traveled to #67 ranked San Diego State to play at the Aztec Tennis Center but failed to get their first win of their 2013 season with a shutout loss 0-7 against the Aztecs. The doubles action for Riverside was no competition for San Diego State. Highlander duo of Kevin Griffin and Marcus Vizcarra fought hard against their opponents Hunter Nicholas and Thorsten Bertsch but lost the match 8-2. Next up for the Highlanders were Luis Gastao and Calvin Ngo. They faced off against Aztecs Derek Siddiqui and Andranik Khachatryan. They didn’t do any better than their teammates as they went on to lose 8-1. The singles action for the Highlanders gave more problems for San Diego but the Aztecs were too much for Riverside. Kelly Dickson for Riverside was the only player to take his opponent to three sets. Dickson went up against SDSU Shiva Sangwan and lost the first set 6-1, then won the second set 7-6 (6) before falling 10-7 in the tiebreaker. Highlander Jimmy Roberts fell 6-1, 6-2 to Aztec Siddiqui. Highlanders Julian Ruffin and Ngo both fell to their op-
A r ch i v e /HIGHLANDER Senior Kevin Griffin gets ready to backhand the ball during a match at UCR.
ponents 6-1, 6-3. Highlander Gastao lost to Nicholas 6-2, 6-1. Lastly for Riverside was Griffin who challenged Aztec Spencer Simon but would go on to lose first set 7-5 and then the second set 6-0. Jan. 20, 2013 Bulldogs 6 - Highlanders 1
After facing San Diego State, the UC Riverside men’s tennis team traveled to Fresno State for their second consecutive non-conference matchup. They were searching for their first win this season but their hopes were crushed when they were unable to get past the Bulldogs losing 1-6. In doubles action for Riverside Kevin Griffin and his partner Marcus Vizcarra was defeated by
Reid deLaubenfels and Nikolas Papic 8-3. The duo of Julian Ruffin and Calvin Ngo fought hard against Fresno State’s Sam McNeil and Jeremy Quiroz but fell 8-5. The two duos that lost for Riverside gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage. The single matches for the Highlanders were better than their doubles but Fresno State showed their composure as the Bulldogs finished three matches quickly out of the five to gain enough point to earn their 6-1 victory. The first singles player for Riverside was Griffin. He squared off against Bulldog Papic, losing 6-3, 6-3. Next to finish their match was Highlander Ngo who went against McNeil and lost the match 6-1, 6-2. The final Highlander to fin-
ish their match against Fresno State was Jimmy Roberts, losing 6-2, 6-3. The three losses by Riverside in the single matches were enough points required for the Bulldogs to earn the win. Some matches that should be noted for the Highlanders are Ruffin’s match and Luis Gastao’s. Ruffin won his first set against Quiroz and lost the second 6-4 but was unable to finish the third set. Then Highlander Gastao was beating his opponent Sai Kartik Nakireddi 7-6 (7-5) but by that time Fresno had already sealed the victory. The Highlanders have about two weeks before they head to Nevada Vegas Feb. 1-3 for three games in three days. Their first opponent is against New Mexico state ■H Friday, Feb. 1.
28
. SPORTS .
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013
HIGHLANDER
Men’s basketball falls in overtime to Long Beach State, beats Irvine at home C o dy N g u y e n STAFF WRITER
Jan. 17, 2013 49ers 91 - Highlanders 82
Just as they have done for the vast majority of the season, the UC Riverside men’s basketball team broke the hearts of the crowd in the SRC Arena with an 91-82 overtime loss against the Long Beach State 49ers. Throughout both halves, neither team was able to pull away as the largest lead in regulation was six points, which was held by Riverside early in the first half. With 1:18 left in the second half, down six, desperation mode kicked into full gear for the Highlanders. They capitalized off of a missed free throw and a late turnover by 49er James Ennis to cut the lead by one point, 72-73. On the 49ers’ subsequent possession, the Highlanders fouled Ennis to give themselves one last shot. With Ennis making both of his free throws, the score was 72-75 with 14 seconds to go. As the sense of urgency elevated for the Highlanders, so did the shooting of Chris Harriel, who drained a game-tying threepoint shot with nine seconds remaining. The 49ers were unable to score on their ensuing possession, sending the game into overtime. Seeming to have all the momentum in the game from Harriel’s electrifyingly clutch shot,
the Highlanders came out egregiously flat in overtime. Shot after shot, Long Beach State absolutely dissected the Highlander defense for 10 straight points on their way to a 91-82 victory. With the loss, the Highlanders continue to struggle as they have fallen to a 4-13 overall record and a 2-4 Big West record. Jan. 19, 2013 Highlanders 68 - Anteaters 58
The Highlanders bounced back from a tough overtime loss against Long Beach State by beating the UC Irvine Anteaters 68-58. The Highlanders asserted their dominance from tipoff, opening a 9-2 lead in the first five minutes of the match. Shutdown defense from the Highlanders was the X-factor in the matchup. In the first half, the Anteaters were held to 18 points on a meager 20 percent shooting as the Highlanders tiled up 29 points. Things got interesting in the second half as the Anteaters were able to open the second period with a 13-4 run that brought them within two points of the Highlanders at 33-31. However, the Highlanders showed resilience and responded by going on a run that was led by Taylor Johns. Though the Anteaters would cut the Highlander’s lead to five point on two occasions, they were unable to gather enough strength to pull off the come-
V i n c e n t T a /HIGHLANDER Junior Chris Harriel leaps in the air for a reverse layup.
back and Riverside secured a much-needed home win. UC Irvine’s Daman Starring led the game in scoring with 22 points, 20 of them generated in the second half. Trailing not far behind was Highlander Chris Patton with 21 points. Josh Fox for Riverside was also a standout performer with a 10 point/10 rebound doubledouble on six of nine shooting. The Highlanders travel to Stockton Jan. 24 for a Thursday night tilt against the Pacific Tigers at 7 p.m.. ■H
MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS BIG WEST GAMES Team
W
L
Long Beach State Pacific Hawaii UC Irvine Cal State Fullerton Cal Poly UC Davis UC Santa Barbara UC Riverside Cal State Northridge
6 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 0
1 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 7
PCT.
.857 .667 .571 .571 .500 .500 .500 .500 .333 .000
COACH SPOTLIGHT
Mark Henry WOMEN’S TENNIS Matthew Guerrero CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Mark Henry has provided stability for UC Riverside’s female tennis program over the last 20 years. His record and performance with the team are just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what this experienced coach has brought to the program with his leadership and keen-eye in the recruiting process. Coach Henry is leading a squad of veteran players who look to play smart ball and show improvement from last year to remain competitive in the Big West conference. Coach Henry found time to sit down with the Highlander staff for a candid interview. Coach Henry reflected on the tough seasons he has had with Riverside and his resilient love for coaching here. “I still enjoy it, I’ve always enjoyed it. Just working with student athletes that want to be good, keeps me going more than anything,” Coach Henry stated. That response echoed the true character of the Highlander
“I still enjoy it, I’ve always enjoyed it. Just working with student athletes that want to be good, keeps me going more than anything.”
C o u rt e s y
of
UCR A t h l e t i c s M e d i a R e l at i o n s
Coach Mark Henry prepares his team for a long day of practice.
vision. His coaching career is inspired just as much by the hardworking students he coaches because they are inspired by the effort he puts in to prepare them for the season. Entering his 20th year, it appears that Coach Henry has no plans of stopping the development of young adults through sports, as his passion shines through. Coach Henry has won many awards throughout his career, including two Division-II West Region Coach of the Year awards. He is dedicated not for accolades or awards, but because he
wants to help the younger Highlander women grow as athletes. When asked about his favorite part of being a coach, Coach Henry responded, “On the court part, getting to know the athletes, getting to know how they think, and again trying to help them achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve. So it is a lot of the on court tennis stuff, but it’s also getting to know them too.” Coach Henry stressed the importance of the one on one and team building during his interview and again echoed his
sentiments in his response, showing his love for Tennis, but also his love for helping athletes achieve what they need to achieve at UC Riverside. Coach Henry has an all-time record of 120 wins and 207 losses at UC Riverside, with outstanding seasons in 1997 and 1999, winning 21 matches combined. After a disappointing 2012 season, in which the Highlanders won just three matches and lost 15, Coach Henry hopes his team can improve to a winning record this season. ■H