THE HIGHLANDER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
est. 1954
FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
VOL. 66, ISSUE 25
BURGERS FOR VOTERS: ASUCR ELECTIONS AIMED FOR HIGH TURNOUT WITH HELP OF INCENTIVES
Spring Splash 2018: What you need to know JULIAN MEDRANDA Senior Staff Writer
MARTIN LOPEZ / HIGHLANDER
VIVIAN LEE Staff Writer AIDAN RUTTEN Contributing Writer
ASUCR elections were conducted over the past week, with an unorthodox candidate running for president and doubts about voter turnout. Students were introduced to paper-and-pen ballots in the
voting stations, which caused concerns about a lower voter turnout for this year’s election. This is due to new bylaws enacted by ASUCR earlier this year that eliminated laptopping, a practice which, while controversial, made voting more accessible in the past. Despite concerns about voter turnout and trust in student government, those running seem committed to tackling common campus concerns. One CHASS senator candidate, first-year pre-business major Evan McGuffin, is hoping to
improve the reputation of ASUCR. “The corruption present in these parties and the abuse of laptopping caused the downward popularity of ASUCR that we see today and I have faith that since we are all running independent (sic) and using paper ballots, we will have better outcomes to elections resulting in better representation and perceived view of ASUCR,” said McGuffin in an email.
Like seemingly ever year, HEAT was taken from us before we even had time to react to a lineup. Tectonic plates shifted and hope was momentarily lost among graduatesto-be but lo, to the HEAT festival what once was, to artists unseen and hearts broken, for the time of the reclaimer, Spring Splash, draws near. And we get Lil Uzi Vert … and Coast Modern, Lauv and Zeds Dead, but most importantly we got Lil Uzi Vert! Spring Splash is going to be held the same place it’s always held, on the lawn adjacent to the Bell Tower, on Saturday, May 12. The time has yet to be announced, but if last year is anything to guess by then expect an early time starting around 3 p.m. and ending as early as 8 p.m. At the time of writing, all non-student tickets have been scarfed down so expect a full crowd as with most every music event held on campus. But per usual, your UCR student ID allows a free entry and re-entries are not permitted. Empty, reusable water bottles, ASPB states, are allowed — and encouraged! While there will be a total of nine food trucks — three of UCR’s own and six completely new to us (including two trucks with vegan options and a few others with vegetarian options) — it’s advisable not to enter on an empty stomach since the trucks may cost you a pretty penny. ► SEE SPRING SPLASH, PAGE 16
► SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 4
The 2018 Spring Food Truck Festival offers some diverse food choices at some not-so-affordable prices HIGHLANDER STAFF
Students on campus were lined up across the HUB upper plaza last Thursday, looking to indulge in a variety of foods that spanned various regions and cultures at the Annual ASUCR-hosted Spring Food Truck Festival. With wait times for some trucks being longer than 30 minutes, it was impossible to try everything. But not to worry, we here at the Highlander tried a number of options and are here to give you some of our takes on what the festival had to offer. ADRIAN DIZON / HIGHLANDER
► SEE FOOD TRUCK, PAGE 11
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UPCOMING EVENTS: WEEK 5
EVELYN RODRIGUEZ, EDUCATION, SECOND-YEAR
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Tuesday
COMPILED BY MARTIN LOPEZ
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Wednesday
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Thursday
“Dance really helped me be less fearful ... I used to be really shy and I hated talking in front of people, it really scared me but dancing I realized that I’m just gonna be dancing for that short amount of time so I might as well go full out and do my best because at the end of the day no one is going to remember that specific person.”
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The Highlander accepts letters from the campus community. They must be 600-800 words at length and include the author’s name and contact information. Topics should be UCR-centric and/or pertain to our generation of students. Contact Opinions Editor Christian Monroy at opinions@highlandernews.org by Wednesday if interested in writing a letter and submit the completed letter by Saturday at noon. Letters can and will be rejected if it does not meet requirements. LEGAL The Highlander is published and copyrighted by the Highlander for the students, faculty and staff of UCR. All rights are reserved. Reprinting of any material in this publication without the written permission of the Highlander is strictly prohibited. Readers are allowed one free copy of the newspaper. For additional copies or for subscription information, please contact the Highlander. The Highlander fully supports the University of California’s policy on non-discrimination. The student media reserve the right to reject or modify advertising whose content discriminates on the basis of ancestry, color, national origin, race, religion, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation. The Highlander has a media grievance procedure for resolving complaints against it. All inserts that are printed in the Highlander are independently paid publications and do not reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the staff or The University of California or the Associated Students of UCR.
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Monday
Power of the Peers: Recruitment Fair 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. UCR Bell Tower
Movement Workshop with Grupo Sotz’il 12:40 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. UCR, Athletics and Dance Building, ATHD 159
“The Changing African/Ghanaian Family in Global Perspective” 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Humanities & Social Sciences Building, 1500
Arts & Letters: Ivy Pochoda 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Palm Desert Center, Auditorium
Comparing PolicyMap and Social Explorer 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Rivera Library, 140
Creat’R Lab Anniversary Showcase 4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Orbach Library (Science Library), Atrium & Creat’R Lab (140)
Friday BBQ in the Geology Courtyard 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Geology Courtyard
Film: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 6:00 p.m. ARTSblock, Culver Center of the Arts
UCR Third Annual Courts for Life Doubles Charity Tournament 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Student Recreation Center (SRC), Tennis Courts
37th Annual Medicine Ways Conference 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. UCR Main Campus
Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Surgeons 9:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Orbach Library (Science Library), Atrium
Cycling Savvy Course: How to Bike Anywhere 2:00 p.m. Student Recreation Center (SRC), SRC North Training Room
Interviewing for Introverts 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. HUB (Highlander Union Building), 260
Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Symposium 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. HUB, 3rd Floor
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Burgers for voters: ASUCR elections aimed for high turnout with help of incentives ► FROM ELECTIONS, PAGE 1
Elections Director Taylor Brown noted that traditional voting using paper ballots makes it difficult to maintain a high turnout. “I’ve noticed that students who are already empowered to vote, voted the first couple days, but after that it’s difficult to get the average student to come to a polling station and think about who and what they want to vote for,” she said. “This is why we had incentives everyday, but unfortunately we could only give them in limited quantities.” Even with the new rules, however, incentives to run for office still appear lacking as there remain seats to fill and several candidates ran unopposed. McGuffin highlighted this, and urged more candidates to run. “I understand some positions are ‘scarier’ than others,” he said. “I believe that having more candidates creates a more diverse ASUCR and will lead to the progressive changes that UCR students want to see in ASUCR.” Brown is also optimistic, predicting that this year the 20 percent threshold will be met and hopes that ASUCR will continue some of the work she has done so people will feel more connected to their government. “I hope next year’s (ASUCR) administration makes a point to put themselves out there to go to various organization events, sit on committees with UCR admin (sic) and work on making themselves more personable to regular
students,” she said. “I think there’s a huge disconnect between what students think we do versus what we really do, and students would appreciate us more if they knew what we did.” Some of the other candidates shared how the new ballot system has changed their campaign strategy. Carolyn Chang, who is running for the position of outreach director, recognized how difficult it is for candidates to differentiate themselves from others running for the same position. Due to this, many of the candidates this year have increased their efforts under the new bylaws to get their name out through their campaign. Chang also shared how she has adjusted her campaigning skills, saying, “I’ve learned this year that I can talk to more people if I offered them free Scantrons and from there I can talk about my platform.” Some voters were drawn to vote because of the free giveaways that took place daily. However, some have also acknowledged how important it was to vote for the referenda and their new cabinet. Second-year political science student Karina Villagrana expressed what it meant for her to have an impact on campus issues. “I think it’s important for student voices to be heard because people say they want change and the only way to enact change is to go through the process of voting,” said Villagrana. One name not present on the ballot was Furry Boi, otherwise known as Timothy Hughes. The self-titled entity who dons a squir-
rel costume, is a protest presidential candidate who aims to change what he sees as an unjust status quo. Moderators on the UCR Dank Memes for Rejected Tweens Facebook page hosted A.M.A.’s, or “ask me anything,” open interviews which allowed members to ask the candidates questions. It was only after these interviews that the moderators began to notice a pattern of exclusivity which they felt tipped the scales of representation in favor of certain groups. “What we came to realize though is that both presidential candidates (and a majority of the other ASUCR candidates) were Greek affiliated, supported parties and laptopping, or both,” Hughes said. “The Greek life stranglehold on ASUCR is obvious from every angle and poses a major obstacle between the general student population and ASUCR.” According to Brown, Furry Boi would not take office if elected. However, Hughes considered his campaign more symbolic than practical, stating that he was never actually meant to get elected. “He was meant to show to ASUCR that if they bothered to do a little outreach to the general student population instead of just to Greek Life, that the elections would draw a lot more students and students would care more about ASUCR and want to be more involved,” said Hughes. Other students like Pooja Sahota, a third-year psychology student, also agreed with the stigma that ASUCR can be exclusive on campus. “The way ASUCR holds
themselves is very elitist and behaves like a fraternity,” commenting on the interactions and experiences she has had with the cabinet members. Despite the nature of Furry Boi’s candidacy, he too shares the
other candidates’ optimism and desire to get more students involved. Election results were announced Monday at noon in the senate chambers (HUB 221) and are available on the Highlander website. ■H
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JORDAN HOM / HIGHLANDER Elections Director Taylor Brown at the polling site near the Bell Tower on Friday.
“If they fought for us then, we should fight for them now”
Armenian Student Association pays respects to Armenian Genocide victims
MARK BERTUMEN Contributing Writer
Last Tuesday, April 24 was the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, where 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed by the Young Turks in World War I. The Young Turks overthrew Turkey’s Sultan Abdul Hamid in 1908 and took power soon after. As nationalists, they aimed to “Turkify” the then-Ottoman Empire, ostracizing Armenians in the process. Turkey claims the killings were partly due to spillover fighting from the First World War as well as a response to Armenians under their rule attempting to gain independence by fighting against them on Russia’s side. On Monday, April 23 the Armenian Student Association (ASA) of UCR held a meeting commemorating the Genocide. In the meeting, the ASA invited Joseph Kaskanian to speak about the Genocide and recent political developments in Armenia. Kaskanian was the treasurer of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) from September 2016 to August 2016. According to the AYF website, the Federation “strives to advance the goals of a free, independent and united Armenia. Towards these ends, the AYF is dedicated to the principles of freedom, democracy, self-determination, economic justice, and social equality.” Kaskanian has been a board member of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) since the end of his AYF treasury term. ANCA aims to create a free and independent Armenia, as does AYF, and according to the website also aims to “influence and guide U.S. policy on matters of interest to the Armenian American community” while acting as representative of the said community, as well as its mediator to the government. When asked in an interview about why he came to the meeting, Kaskanian found personal commitment to both raising awareness of the Armenian genocide and encour-
aging Armenian activism today. “They (the ASA) asked if I would give an educational speech about this topic, because it means a lot to me,” Kaskanian said. “I continue to fight for our cause here (in America), and we’ll continue to fight for our cause, because I don’t want to be silenced by the Turkish government; they tried silencing us once, and I’m not going to get silenced (either).” During his speech, Kaskanian stressed that the Armenian generation of today should be personally responsible in furthering the cause of Armenian organizations. “What we need to be aware of, as students of the United States, as future workers for our cause, (is) ‘What are we doing?’” Kaskanian inquired. “What are we doing for our cause? What are we doing for the Armenian Genocide? We’re remembering April 24, but what about April 25? What happens then? I want you guys to get engaged with the Armenian community, get involved.” As an example of Armenian activism in action, Kaskanian referred to an event that happened earlier that day, where Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned from his position amidst protests from both citizens and soldiers. Sargsyan’s 10-year term as president ended last March, but Armenia’s parliament voted to transfer presidential powers to the hands of the prime minister, which Sargsyan soon became after the decision. As a result, protests have transpired in the capital of Yerevan since April 13, eventually convincing Sargsyan to resign 11 days later. Kaskanian likened the experience of the protestors to that of the Armenians that fought during the Armenian Genocide. “The protestors were fed up with constant oppression, all the corruption, a lot of things and they fought to make sure they saw some results. Our ancestors in 1915 did the same thing. They could have easily just given up, but (they) fought back. We lost 1.5 million people, but you all are here right now, because your ancestors fought for you guys, and if they fought for us then, we should
fight for them now.” The modern generation of Armenians today is where Kaskanian believes even greater change can come from, citing the Glendale protest on Sunday as an example, which was targeted against Sargsyan’s position of power before his resignation the next day. “If I were a Turkish or United States government, I would be really scared. Why? Because we’re smart, we’re educated and we have passion; if we’re going to do something, put our minds to it, then we’re going to do it,” Kaskanian declared. “I was in Glendale at the protest. We shut Brand Boulevard, Central, Orange, Broadway and Glendale. The community I felt there was like no other. Everyone was upset and happy at the same time, upset with (the situation they were in), but happy to see an Armenian standing right next to them, walking together, united.” After the speech, the ASA members and audience participated in a student panel to discuss their ancestors’ experiences as victims of the Armenian Genocide. One speaker of the panel was Meri Mkrtchyan, a second-year art history major. Mkrtchyan discussed the experiences of her twice-great grandmother, whose husband helped hold off Turkish deportators so she and the rest of her village could escape. She brought no warm clothing, thinking she would return to the village later, and had her four children with her, two of whom were two-year old twins that died during her escape, exemplifying the conditions the Armenians underwent, if they lived through them. After Meri finished her story, she was followed by Maher Zaher, a fifth-year environmental engineering major. He talked about how he lived with his friend Mike for nine months before finding out that their grandparents came from the same village. Incidentally, two other people in the room had ancestors from that village as well. The room voiced delight in the timing of these revelations, considering that it was the eve of a historic Armenian event. “I can’t think
of many other nations that are as close knit and tight as us,” Zaher reflected. Later in the panel, attention was then given to David Ayrapetyan, a second-year business major, who talked about his grandmother’s experience in the Genocide. She was born into a family of 21 people, but was forced to walk a death march with her mother and sister. The latter two were killed, and the grandmother eventually settled in Georgia, after escaping an arranged marriage with a Turkish family. She was the only survivor of that family. At the end of the panel, Karam, a spectator from the audience, spoke up to offer the perspective of an outsider; he pointed out that he was from the Bay Area and hadn’t much contact with Armenians in the past. He emphasized that it was important for groups like the Armenians to have healthy environments for discussion, such as the ASA meetings, as well as that everybody be a global citizen. “You guys opening up is what made me want to come here. Sure, if you guys were to tell me, ‘Armenian history is like this and this and this,’ for the most part, it’s not going to be enough to make someone care for your cause. I care about your guys’ cause because I care for these people.” The room applauded in response to his remarks. The next ASA meeting is on Monday, May 7, in HUB 357. ■H
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UCR report offers insight to Inland Empire’s immigrant population
AMANI MAHMOUD Contributing Writer
UCR’s Center for Social Innovation is exploring the nearly one million immigrants living in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Published April 18, a report titled “State of Immigrants in the Inland Empire” aims to offer an extensive view of the Inland Empire’s immigrant population and policy issues that have impacted the population. The report provides a historical view of immigration in the region, information on the current immigrant population, profiles on immigrants who reside in the region and an overview of recent policies and community efforts. The Center for Social Innovation-Immigrant Research Group, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the Immigrant Policy Center all collaborated to publish this report, which intends to “provide a solid foundation of data and shared understanding, to better inform the work of public, for-profit, and nonprofit enterprises in the region,” according to the report. In an interview with The Highlander, Cecilia Ayon, a professor of public policy at UCR and a contributor to the analysis stated, “Through these collaborations, we are identifying research needs in the community. This report addresses a gap by providing a comprehensiveness profile of immigrants in the region.” This gap refers to the disparities immigrants in the Inland Empire face when it comes to accessing affordable housing and earning fair wages. The history of immigration in the Inland
Empire from the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the increase of the Mexican population that permanently resided in the Inland Empire from the 1920s to the 1950s, is detailed throughout the report. The study found that in the Inland Empire, Latino immigrants mostly live and work in the Coachella Valley and in western regions of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Latino immigrants in the Inland Empire are more likely to work in agriculture, transportation and construction compared to other regions in Southern California. Asian immigrants in the Inland Empire primarily reside in Chino Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, Loma Linda, Corona, Temecula and Murrieta. Asian immigrants in the Inland Empire are more likely to work in healthcare compared to those residing in other regions in Southern California. Immigrants’ access to material in their native language is a key policy issue addressed in the report. Subsequently, the study demonstrates that, “Language access is a major issue affecting Latino and Asian immigrants alike in the region — about 1 in 2 Asian immigrants and about 2 in 3 Latino immigrants have limited English proficiency, meaning that they speak English ‘less than very well.” Furthermore, immigrant access to health insurance is lower in the Inland Empire than it is statewide and the gap in college fulfillment, whether immigrants attend or graduate college, among immigrants in the Inland Empire is very large. What this suggests, based on the study, is that, “These patterns indicate that immigrant communities in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties may need even greater investments in health, lan-
guage access, and education than similar communities in Los Angeles County and Orange County.” Alton Wang, the assistant director of the Center of Social Innovation, stated in an interview with the Highlander, “As the region continues to grow, it is important to examine key issues pertaining to its immigrant communities, including poverty, education, employment, and social service needs.” In regards to what he hopes this report will offer the community, Wang wrote, “We hope that this report furthers the conversation on how to better support im-
migrant communities in the Inland region, and to find ways to strengthen these communities— and by extension, strengthening the entire Inland Empire.” “For some the report will shed light on who the immigrant community is in the IE (Inland Empire), provide a comparison of the immigrant community locally vs statewide,” stated Ayón. She believes that the report can “be a tool that community leaders use to advocate for expanding access to language, health insurance and higher education for immigrant populations.” ■H
AIDA YEUNG / HIGHLANDER
UCR research links anti-immigrant sentiment to higher mortality AMANI MAHMOUD Contributing Writer
Brittany Morey, a UC chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow in the School of Public Policy at UCR, published an article in the journal Social Science and Medicine, that links populations with anti-immigrant sentiment to the mortality rate of immigrants residing in these populations. Working with Columbia professors Peter Muennig (health policy and management) and Mark Hatzenbuehler (sociomedical sciences) and UCLA Professor of Community Health Sciences Gilbert Gee, Morey discovered that anti-immigrant prejudice does not affect immigrants as a whole, but that U.S.-born ethnic minorities seem to fare worse. In an interview with The Highlander, Morey stated that she
was inspired to conduct this study well before the 2016 presidential election, before it was known who the candidates for the presidency were going to be. Morey stated that she noticed a lot of the rhetoric from early candidates contained the subject of immigration and she believed that these candidates held anti-immigrant sentiments. Morey stated, “I started to think to myself that this rhetoric or that simply living in a place with more prejudice could have an impact on health somehow. This inspired me to set out to answer this question.” In order to conduct this study, Morey found a data set called the General Social Survey, published by The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, which is an independent social research organization. The General Social Survey has been linked to the National Death Index,
a United States resource available to researchers from the National Center for Health Statistics to obtain the cause of death of U.S. citizens occurring within the United States. This, according to Morey, is a very unique data set that has allowed her to look at whether social attitudes affect mortality. The General Social Survey asks questions about people’s opinions on race, religion, politics and immigration. Morey stated, “I was able to look at how these social attitudes around immigration were linked to a very concrete and unambiguous health outcome, which is mortality. I was able to see whether people who live in communities with very high antiimmigration prejudice die sooner or not.” Morey said that she found some very surprising results. Prejudice against immigrant communities was not associated with equal
results across the board. It was not associated with mortality for blacks or for whites even if they were black or white immigrants. It does, however, seem to be associated with mortality for a race category consisting of mostly Asians and Hispanics. Morey stated, “Surprisingly, those who were born in the United States and were Asian and Hispanic were dying off faster when they lived in a community with a high level of prejudice against immigrants whereas those who were foreign born Asian and Hispanic were not dying off as fast.” Morey believes that this study is important because, “It tells us interesting things about how living in a prejudiced society and living in a more prejudiced climate can actually have an impact on health and an impact on mortality in ways that we do not expect.” Morey
claimed that there seems to be a racialized component of antiimmigrant attitudes. She found that those who are U.S.-born Asians and Hispanics, who might be mistaken for being an immigrant, are actually faring worse in communities with prejudice against them. “To me,” Morey stated, “this indicates that there are unintended spillover effects of prejudice against immigrants that can affect those who might come from an immigrant family but are themselves born in the United States.” Moving forward, Morey believes that it is important to consider how political rhetoric and anti-immigrant thought in general have unintended consequences and that it is also important to consider how large populations of color can be negatively affected in an antiimmigrant political climate. ■H
ASUCR
Cheaper summer school? ASUCR supports extending Cal Grant to summer session
MYLES ANDREWS-DUVE Senior Staff Writer
Summer school at a UC could soon be easier to afford. That is at least the hope with the latest resolution to pass through the ASUCR senate, SR-S18-005 (official title: “Resolution in Support of the Campaign to Extend Cal Grant to Summer Session from the Coalition for A Better UC”). Introduced by Vice President of Internal Affairs Semi Cole near the end of the senate meeting last Wednesday, April 25, the initiative extends support for the efforts of the Coalition for a Better UC (CBUC) to offer the Cal Grant, a financial aid program which can provide up to $12,630 a year in the UC system, to qualified students taking summer classes. The Cal Grant is awarded at the start of every academic year to students who apply and meet the minimum GPA and unit requirements. Though, currently the award only extends through the fall, winter and spring quarters, which leads some students to either take out loans for summer classes or avoid taking them entirely. Cole and the resolution’s primary authors Steven Ho and Brandon Mora of the CBUC see the lack of access to non-indebted financial aid over the summer as a large reason behind some University of California and Cal State students not graduating within the expected four years.
“Not enough people of color or people in general are graduating on time,” said Cole on Wednesday. “ … When we talk about tuition increases and we talk about graduating in four years, these are solutions that actually bring that about.” According to most recent data from California Governor Jerry Brown’s 2016 budget summary, the average four-year graduation rate for the Cal State system is around 19 percent, significantly below the 34 percent national average for public universities. In the UC system, 64 percent of students meet four-year graduation rates, while 85 percent graduate within six years. This most recent UC data, however, was compiled in 2011 and doesn’t account for the around 42,000 more students enrolled in the UC system as of fall 2017. The larger the student body the harder it may be to register for needed classes, which is another possible delay for students. “I think it’s an important issue for students,” said Cole. “We believe allowing them this financial resource … will be able to help them graduate on time.” The resolution passed through the senate 12-0-1, with the lone abstention coming from BCOE Senator Patrick Le. •
Highlights: Commuter Meal Plan coming soon … CHASS Senator Roy Tongilava
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has been busy these past few weeks. He recently met with Assistant Vice Chancellor of Auxiliary Services Andy Plumley to work on finalizing the commuter meal plan, a proposition to provide commuter students with meal swipes, which are currently only allowed to students living on campus. This week, Tongilava says he will be “following up with (Plumley) regarding all the final details,” but the plan is slated to be available starting fall 2018 and will provide commuting students up to five meal swipes per week. Tongilava also worked with UCR’s Transportation and Parking Services to remove the sequestering barriers in Lot 21 (outside Pentland Residential Housing), integrating resident parking with Gold Plus parking. Longer Spring Break? … CHASS Senator Mariam Alkhalili is looking into the possibility of extending spring break by one week, effectively cutting summer vacation by a week. She says she “still has to see how we’d be able to implement that.” Alkhalili also had discussions with two students in the UCOP office about the possibility of creating an Arab Muslim Task Force at the student level, an idea she says was originally “shot down because they don’t believe that there is a direct need
for the addressing of Arab and Muslim issues on campus.” As of now, Alkhalili is building a network across the UC of students to build a task force on her own. The next senate meeting will be this Wednesday, May 3, beginning at 6:30 p.m. H inside the senate chambers (HUB 221). ■
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TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
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HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL
Blackface vs. critical tweets: California universities are struggling to balance free speech with respect
COURTESY OF CAL POLY, SAN LUIS OBISPO A student of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo was not punished by the campus after wearing blackface on social media. The campus drew criticism when a Cal State professor was at risk of losing her job after criticizing the late Barbara Bush.
I
t’s clear that there is a certain unevenness in how “freedom of speech” is defined, regarded and respected at public universities when it comes to offensive speech — an unevenness, as pointed out by The Guardian, exemplified by recent events at two schools: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California State University, Fresno. At Cal Poly, a fraternity member’s donning of blackface in early April was met with immediate public backlash and criticism, but the administration asserted that it was likely protected as a form of freedom of speech and expression. Yet in the very same month, CSU Fresno Professor Randa Jarrar was thoroughly castigated both by the public and by the administration for criticizing the late Barbara Bush on Twitter as racist and alleging she “raised a war criminal.” Some of the most troubling criticism against Jarrar came from university President Joseph Castro, who asserted that Jarrar’s words were “beyond free speech” and that a professor with tenure “does not have blanket protection to say and do what they wish.” Granted, given that these incidents took place at different universities with different leadership, it is somewhat difficult to compare them directly, but the facts are apparent. CSU Fresno’s kneejerk reaction to Jarrar’s tweet was out of proportion for what she actually did, and while Cal Poly’s defense of the blackface as protected under free speech (even in the midst of condemnation by Cal Poly president Jeffery Armstrong), was technically right, the response indicates what appears to be tone deafness and a lack of empathy for the students who could be deeply affected by the presence of such a racist display, one with a
painful history of cruelty stemming back to minstrel shows. These incidents and the uneven responses by the universities signal the existence of a deeper problem that universities have with balancing freedom of speech with empathy and common sense, especially when deciding how to respond to the range of offensive, distasteful and reprehensible forms of expression that the First Amendment protects when it comes from members of their university. While a critical reflection on a recently deceased public figure can certainly be seen as distasteful, disrespectful and even potentially defamatory, this is perhaps the worst that one can say about Jarrar’s tweets regarding the late Barbara Bush. As CSU Fresno concluded in its review of the tweets, these were Jarrar’s own opinions, expressed on her personal Twitter account, meaning that while those views could have been offensive to those who did not see the former First Lady in the same way, the university had no grounds to formally punish Jarrar — it was fine that they called her words “disgraceful” and left it at that, as punishing her for punching upward at a dead public figure would have set a very dangerous precedent for other professors with unpopular opinions, potentially leading them to be silenced or silence themselves. One might even argue that CSU Fresno largely shouldn’t bother with investigating or critiquing the personal tweets of its employees in most cases unless they constitute actual threats. On the other hand, the blackface incident at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was indeed about more than freedom of speech, specifically the need for awareness of how the revival of blatant and
historically charged images of racism like blackface can affect an entire campus community. While Armstrong was correct about how blackface has protection under the First Amendment, having that as a focal point for the university’s response to this sends a very negative message to those students, staff and faculty who were personally affected by the presence of blackface. Empathy for the affected and steps to ensure that the incident would not repeat itself should have been the primary concern in that moment. To their credit, the fraternity which the person who wore blackface was a member of, Lambda Chi Alpha, was put on interim suspension following the incident, and the administration held a town hall meeting to speak with the students and hear their grievances with the situation and the way the administration handled it. Both of these situations present a question of how universities and all individuals and organizations that represent the universities ought to balance the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression with the consequences of said speech. While it is necessary to protect the First Amendment under all circumstances, that doesn’t preclude anyone or any group from their responsibility over the effects of their words and expressions, especially when the forms they take are targeted against historically oppressed peoples. Restricting speech on the grounds of it being offensive or reprehensible opens up all kinds of precedents for other censorship, but by the same token, not taking the consequences of blackface and similar forms of hate speech seriously opens up the door for others to engage in it, believing that they will basically get away with it
(apart from the immense social shaming that will inevitably come from the public). What are universities to do, then? Perhaps there are no universal solutions, given the tricky nature of officially censoring forms of speech (like blackface) that everyone with an ounce of common sense and knowledge of history knows are wrong and unacceptable in today’s society, and which will result in public backlash, if not any actual censorship from the university. It’s also clear that a focus on restricting offensive speech without any nuance or understanding of broader social contexts can result in situations like Jarrar being grilled by CSU Fresno’s administration for mere tweets, which were a critique of a specific person’s actions and not a racist depiction of a group of people. However, the difficulties in dealing with the consequences of speech shouldn’t keep a university from trying to navigate them. Rather than trying to micromanage speech itself, perhaps universities’ efforts would be better reserved for understanding the consequences of that speech — who is it affecting, how is it affecting them and will it result in longer consequences, to name a few categories of inquiry — and adjusting their responses with this in mind to ensure the safety of those affected by said speech. Free speech is indeed a fundamental and inalienable component of our country, but so is empathy, responsibility and respect for our fellow people. ■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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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions
OPINION POLL Compiled by Bri Chew, Staff Photographer
“What do you think of the annual ASUCR elections?”
Serena Nguyen Biology Second-year
Makeen Farha Psychology Third-year
Elizabeth Lee Psychology Second-year
Micaelia Sun Business Third-year
Jaymar Sabino Computer Science Third-year
Kayla Vue Pre-Business First-year
“Well, I don’t really particpate in them. I think it’s a good idea and that everyone should vote, but I don’t know any of the people.”
“I just transferred here so I haven’t really paid attention to it.”
“I don’t really know much about it. I see the posters though!”
“I think the marketing for it is good. I get spam emails about it! But the posters are cool. They’re some quality posters.”
“I don’t know much about the A S...ASUCR? I don’t even know how to say it... election.”
“I think it’s a great idea to get the campus involved with voting because not a lot of students are registered so it’s a great way to practice that idea.”
Four years of failure: An appeal for change for the new ASUCR regime QUINN MINTEN Senior Staff Writer
It has been my pleasure, or more accurately, my displeasure, to watch the operations of our student government for the last four years as a member of The Highlander Newspaper. The inner workings and various happenings of ASUCR would likely have passed me by if I had not been involved in the paper, and likewise it has been my observation that only a small part of the student body is actually aware of how corrupt, self-serving and arrogant the organization has been. It is because of these observations that I wish to advocate for the new members of ASUCR to take a look at their past and consider how they will try to improve upon the tainted record their predecessors have left. ASUCR, ostensibly the place for student leaders to demonstrate their prowess, has shown that it does not truly value responsibility from its members, by allowing them to do mediocre work and still get paid — to the tune of up to $9,900 a year. The historic GPA requirement for ASUCR representatives was only 2.0 until February 2017, which allowed potentially less dedicated and hard-working individuals to hold office. When other prestigious organizations and positions on campus demand much higher
GPAs, it was a severe insult to students that their representatives could be comparative underachievers. In the past, the members of ASUCR have liked to kill off time at senate meetings — time that could have been used to create actual policy — on empty words for the sake of posturing. The most egregious example of this was when ASUCR wasted time in several meetings on a debate over Sabra hummus in January 2017, which, regardless of the ethics of the sale of Sabra, was ultimately futile, because the resolution that was passed was inherently toothless and incapable of forcing UCR administrators to change their policies. Of course, passing the resolution ended up earning ASUCR favor with proPalestinian groups on campus, if not the primarily liberal campus population at large, and thus benefitted the members of the senate without accomplishing anything for the student body as a whole. There have been numerous instances of abuses of power by figures in ASUCR as far up the ladder as the president. The most recent of these was current President Aram Ayra’s illegal veto of this year’s R’Gear allocation. While the move was motivated by concern for students, especially those facing food insecurity, it was still a move that violated
ASUCR’s bylaws and therefore cannot possibly be for the benefit of the campus. Another example is former President Shafi Karim’s questionable October 2016 executive order regarding the appointment of an ASUCR justice, which sparked significant concerns about the functionality of ASUCR with regard to judicial appointments. The number of people removed from various ASUCR offices is quite high; indeed, it is unacceptably high and is anomalous considering that there has not been even a reprimand or censure, much less an expulsion from office, of a U.S. representative since 2012, and of a U.S. senator since 2011 — these events happening well before the four-year window of time in ASUCR discussed here, and in much larger legal bodies than ASUCR in all its branches. These include the removal of two justices in April 2015, the censure of the president and executive vice president in May 2015, the attempted impeachment of two justices in January 2017, the vacating of the presidential office during that winter quarter and the suit against that same president over elections violations in April 2017. Perhaps no issue better reflects the pervasive corruption and cronyism in our student government than laptopping, the
coercive act of approaching a student using an electronic device and requesting that they vote online, and the resulting damage done to student elections. Issues with laptopping have existed all four years that I have been at UCR: In 2015, the [OUR]Voice party was accused of laptopping, despite an official ban on the practice, prompting administration to threaten intervention; in 2016, ASUCR removed restrictions on laptopping in their bylaws, thereby allowing it into the election legally; in 2017, the bylaws regarding “illegal” laptopping were modified, but laptopping remained legal; and in 2018, laptopping was finally banned again, and made impossible by the elimination of an election website in favor of physical polling places. And what became of the presence of laptopping? [OUR] Voice, the party which caused major controversy over laptopping, swept through ASUCR, taking a majority of all elected positions. Then in February 2016, they absolved their members who had been censured during the previous year’s election. Thus, because the senate in 2015 was unable to disqualify [OUR]Voice members from running, that party’s corrupt actions netted them absolute control of ASUCR, and then allowed them to legitimize themselves and discredit those who opposed them. Despite
protecting their right to continue laptopping, ASUCR faced further controversy when candidates in the 2016 elections raised concerns that laptopping created an unfair election environment, resulting in the Judicial Council’s temporary refusal to validate the election results. The continuing policy of legal laptopping through the 2017 elections casts a shadow of illegitimacy on that year’s results as well, likely prompting the aforementioned decision to outlaw laptopping in the 2018 elections. We see, therefore, that in the short span of one undergraduate student’s time at UCR, the student government of this school has racked up a number of failures and crimes that make it hard to justify its continuing existence. While I would truly like to see ASUCR disbanded as a whole, and the funds spent on them distributed to other organizations or projects directly so that there are no overpaid middlemen, I also understand the need for students to have representation, which they can realistically only get from a democratically elected student government. Thus, I hope that the new student government-elect will acknowledge the mistakes and misdoings of past members, rather than attempt to justify or downplay them, and work their hardest to regain the trust of the student body to demonstrate that they are in their jobs to actually represent students. ■H
Cricket and the coming change in American sports culture SHYAM RAJAN Contributing Writer
Is it odd that soccer in the United States was once considered a women’s sport? This is not just stereotypical — the popularity of soccer, known as football internationally, rose stateside with the victories of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team in the FIFA World Cup in the 1990s. In both 1999 and 2003, the U.S. hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Since then, the popularity of the sport has continued to sprout, finally cementing itself in the core of American sports culture. This marks a change in tradition; The great American pastime has always been baseball. Introduced to Japan in the late 19th century, baseball, like basketball, has spread across Europe and throughout East Asia. The National Hockey League employs many international players. Even as the most popular sport in the U.S., American football has been slow to diffuse overseas. In 1993, Major League Soccer was founded as part of an agreement to host the 1994 Men’s FIFA World
Cup in the U.S. It was the first time the team had participated in the tournament since 1950. Although they have never claimed a title, their qualification helped fuel the sport’s rising popularity. Domestic broadcasts of the English Premier League followed in the early 2000s, paving the way for expanded coverage of Mexican and Spanish leagues. In 2002, the men’s team made the FIFA quarterfinals, their highest placement since 1930. Subsequently, the floundering Major League Soccer’s popularity resurged, developing legitimacy after a decade of unprofitability due to its niche market position. Although the men’s team did not qualify for the World Cup this year, the sport’s rising popularity will not wane. Rather, its popularity has paved the way for its European cousin, rugby, to be introduced here from its hub overseas. Developed in England, rugby today is played worldwide. However, it has only recently begun to creep into American athletic consciousness. Having a reputation as a collegiate sport played in the Ivy Leagues, the
rise of rugby in the U.S. was stifled by the rapid growth and popularity of American football, a game that evolved from it. Although the USA Rugby Union was founded in 1975, it took almost 40 years for the sport’s popularity to grow domestically. The U.S. won two Olympic rugby championships in the 1920s, but the sport was thereafter removed from the Olympics. The revival of rugby for the 2016 Summer Olympics came hand-in-hand with its rise in the U.S. As the decade of soccer’s rising popularity came to an end, rugby remained close behind. Attendance at professional games more than doubled in the past decade, and USA Rugby has since joined the Olympic Committee. This decision led to NBC broadcasting rugby on television at both the collegiate and professional level. As viewership rose, the English Premiership and related European tournaments were resultantly broadcasted. The introduction of two popular foreign sports into American discourse may come as a surprise, but the bigger surprise is the omittance of one in particular that has enjoyed
international crowds since its origin centuries ago: Cricket. Developed in the Middle Ages, cricket has since spread from England to the majority of nations once governed by its empire, including Australia, Bangladesh, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Baseball has dwarfed the popularity of cricket in the U.S. much like rugby had been by American football. The exclusion of the U.S. from international cricket may have been because of its popularity within the British Empire, of which the U.S. was no longer a part. Administrative developments like the suspension of the U.S. governing body from the International Cricket Council have contributed to its slow growth domestically. Even as bureaucratic blockades prevent its growth, the rising number of immigrants to the U.S. has contributed to the sport’s growing popularity. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world behind soccer. Behind the FIFA and Rugby World Cups, the Cricket World Cup is the third most watched sporting event in the world. Cricket may not have been
introduced to U.S. markets earlier because executives have been waiting for the prime time to sign away the broadcasting rights. Although payper-view and package deals have been the main ways for Americans to watch, this pattern has begun to shift overseas as international media can no longer profitably broadcast the sport. Consequently, now is the time to finalize these contracts. Recently, CBS has been approached by an Australian delegation for exactly this purpose. Cricket, like rugby, may initially latch on as a collegiate sport. Furthermore, it has been called America’s fastestgrowing sport. The U.S. hosted the Cricket All-Stars in 2015, who toured throughout the country. Then, a licensing agreement made between Global Sports Ventures LLC and the United States of America Cricket Association is expected to bring a franchised Twenty20 professional league to the U.S., effectively bringing the professional sport home. As viewership increases and Americans become more involved, the popularity of cricket will continue to grow until it becomes a staple in American athletics. ■H
OPINIONS
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions
OP-ED An open letter regarding Wilcox’s silence Writer: Carisha Maria Moore, ASUCR executive vice president and undergraduate representative of the UC-wide Title IX Advisory Board Major: Third-year, cellular, molecular and developmental biology Email: asucrevp@ucr.edu Recently, our very own Chancellor Kim Wilcox was alleged to have ignored claims of sexual misconduct made against William Strampel, former dean of osteopathic medicine at Michigan State University, where Wilcox served as provost prior to arriving at UCR. Even more recently, it was reported that our former Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Jim Sandoval took a paid administrative leave in light of sexual harassment allegations before being able to retire two months later. In the midst of this, Wilcox has been disturbingly quiet. I fully condemn Chancellor Wilcox and his lack of transparency in addressing the issues regarding these cases. In his statements he has contradicted himself by claiming that “none of the feedback (he) received” indicated that Strampel was problematic but also stating that he did receive “some anonymous feedback that Strampel had made several inappropriate comments.” Doesn’t that mean he knew something? If so, what exactly does it take for Wilcox to take justifiable action? With sexual misconduct being an extremely prevalent issue at the university level, Wilcox’s complacency at Michigan State is more than concerning, as it suggests these
issues are overlooked by current UCR administration. I hope our campus is more responsible in handling such claims and accusations. As the executive vice president of ASUCR, undergraduate representative of the UC-wide Title IX Advisory Board and a woman on this campus, I know I share the same concerns as several other students. Sexual violence is now being talked about more with the help of movements such as #MeToo and the #TimesUp and It’s On Us campaigns. Even with these movements calling for greater transparency nationwide, Wilcox has been absent in providing assurance of safety at UCR. As the chancellor, he should be aware of student concerns and addressing them more proactively. It’s pertinent that our administration and chancellor are kept accountable in not only educating the campus, but educating themselves and faculty on the importance of sexual violence awareness. I hope these recent circumstances lead to a more transparent and responsible administration when it comes to approaching issues related to sexual violence and misconduct. I recognize UCR has zero tolerance for sexual violence, but I think it is time H they start representing this standard. ■
COMICS TALL TAIL #23 BY: JUSTUS ROSS
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/features
Features
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The 2018 Spring Food Truck Festival offers some diverse food choices at some not-so-affordable prices
► FROM FOOD TRUCK, PAGE 1
M A D E I N B R O O K LY N MARTHA DELGADO Staff Writer
PEPPERONI PIZZA $6 The Made in Brooklyn food truck offered a simplified menu that consisted of cheese and pepperoni pizza, water and soda. This food truck offered one pepperoni slice for $6. With no line, it took less than two minutes to get my slice. The fun of eating the pizza
folded vanishes as the slice loses its warmth. Personally, I liked the soft-crust and the tomato sauce, but the cheese was too greasy. Since I wasn’t given napkins with my order, I was left with grease all over my hand. Overall, the pizza was good, but I wouldn’t order it again. It was too messy, and I could get a similar experience for less money at the University Village.
ADRIAN DIZON / HIGHLANDER
BURGER MONSTER EDWARD DAVE Staff Writer
ADRIAN DIZON / HIGHLANDER
AMERICAN WEREWOLF $10 Burger Monster surely packs a ferocious punch. There’s a certain science to getting the perfect burger. People don’t realize that there’s a bun-to-patty ratio that needs to be considered, or that there needs to be just the right amount of condiments or the bun begins to falter a few bites in. Luckily, Burger Monster addresses those issues
and delivers a satisfying treat for any burger aficionado. The medium-well cooked patty was seared to perfection and had a nice coat of seasoning on it. The brioche bun was also very solid and withstood multiple clutches until about a quarter of the way left. The item I tried was dubbed the “American Werewolf.” It’s a standard burger decked with onions, lettuce and tomatoes with a signature garlic sauce. Thankfully the experience goes beyond a standard binge at a typical burger chain by making
the burger Instagram pretty and cooked to perfection. Just shy of $10, this burger may be too steep for some foodies trying to get a variety for their buck, but burger fans will surely rejoice at the price. The only pitfall of the experience was the wait time. It seemed as though they cook their burgers in groups regardless of whether anyone orders solo. But overall, Burger Monster is a delectable force to be reckoned with and very much deserved to be included in the conversation of good burger joints in OC.
MIDDLE FEAST ANDREAS RAUCH Senior Staff Writer
SHAKSHUKA $11 (VEGETARIAN) The aptly named Middle Feast food truck promises much and mostly delivers. For this review, The Highlander tasted the vegetarian Shakshuka ($11), a duo of poached eggs, ensconced in a pillowy pita wrap. The first bite yielded a curry-like taste with strong notes of cumin, courtesy of Middle Feast’s signature North African-inspired tomato and peppers sauce. The wrap itself
was somewhat unwieldy, with one egg falling out basically as soon as the pita had been folded taco-style. This in itself is not bad; gratuitous fillings, especially with the light yet robust flavors in the sauce-drenched egg, are always a delight. What remained in the wrap, however, was an overwhelming, bland base of shredded lettuce — which Middle Feast’s website boasts are “mixed greens.” Unfortunately, the wrap’s final layer, a generous sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese, was not enough to make up for the overuse of filler.
ADRIAN DIZON / HIGHLANDER
RICE BALLS OF FIRE ANDREAS RAUCH Senior Staff Writer
ADRIAN DIZON / HIGHLANDER
LOCO SUSHI BURRITO $15 Composed of a nori (dried seaweed) outside, the LOCO sushi burrito includes rice with a core of assorted sushi. Spicy tuna,
salmon and imitation crab intermingle well, and a small yet flavorful helping of shrimp tempura introduces salty, breaded delight into the wrap. A small helping of leafy greens left much to be desired, however, and its dry texture detracted from the overall composition of the
roll, a must when it comes to the delicate flavors of sushi. The true disappointment, however, was the size of the dish which seemed almost comically thin and short (about as small as a dollar bill). The burrito left this reviewer LOCO for better, cheaper food options. ■H
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FEATURES
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/features
Students light up the dance floor at
Silent DisGlo JIMMY LAI / HIGHLANDER
JIMMY LAI / HIGHLANDER
MARTHA DELGADO Staff Writer
The floor of the HUB Plaza flashed pink, purple and blue last Wednesday night as a disco ball spun overhead. Students signed in and were handed headphones that glowed with a mix of red, blue and green lights. With the push of a button they could switch between three stations: A ‘90s and 2000’s throwback station, a hiphop station and an EDM station DJ’d by Luca Lush. Outside of the dance area was a body paint station and a taco truck. This was the scene of ASPB and HUB Programs’ Silent DisGlo, held Wednesday, April 25. Silent discos date back to the early 1990s, where such dances were held by eco-activists who did not want to cause noise disturbances to the local wildlife. In 1994, the Glastonbury Festival was the first to adapt the trend as a way to let festival goers enjoy the event while also allowing neighborhoods closeby a quiet night. It wasn’t until 2005 when the term “silent disco” was coined at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. In 2008, a silent disco company HUSHconcerts began touring America to hold “silent raves on boats” and wireless headphone parties on the beach. Silent discos serve a similar purpose on college campuses by allowing students to dance to music on a Wednesday without disturbing the usual quiet atmosphere of campus at night.
One aspect of the silent disco that I found amusing was how personalized of an experience it is. While there were only three stations to choose from, the user could switch between them in a matter of seconds. There was a song for everyone. One second, one can listen to Panic! At the Disco’s “Sugar We’re Going Down” and as soon as it’s over, switch over to hear what Luca Lush was currently playing. Another nice function of the headphones was that you could adjust the volume, so you could dance with the music at your preferred level. While a silent disco may look like an isolated activity, there were plenty of friends dancing together in groups throughout the dance area. One could either dance on their own, or join the multitude of people showing off their moves around the dancefloor. To an outsider, the silent disco looked bizarre. If you took off your headphones, then you could hear the numerous people singing Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” The best way I can describe it is as if you were watching a music video without music. It looked just as amusing when line dancing songs came up on one station. You would have half of the dance floor dancing to “Caballo Dorado” and the other half dancing like normal to a Jason Derulo song. Overall, I would recommend anyone who has not gone to a silent disco to try it. While the idea seems strange at first, you still feel connected to the other people just by knowing what song they are listening to. ■H
MARTIN LOPEZ / HIGHLANDER
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/features
UNDER THE
KILT
The end of the school year comes with a lot of changes. For first years, the end of spring quarter signals their transition away from dorming life to living in apartments. Some students may decide to transfer out to a new university in the fall and of course, seniors say their goodbyes to UCR and go off to graduate school and beyond. For couples with any sort of year gap, or simply a significant other (SO) that is transferring out, this leads to a predicament: Should the relationship be ended or should an effort be made to make it work despite the circumstances? And even if the relationship continues, the question arises: How can a couple keep it healthy and strong despite distance? The first question can only be answered by you and your SO since it is unique to every relationship. It’s obvious that the two of you care about each other and probably don’t want the relationship to end; however there are more factors that must be taken to account other than just strong feelings. For one, the relationship is more than likely to be long distance, unless your SO lives relatively close. But even if distance isn’t a large factor, differing schedules are guaranteed to be. Dating is never a smooth and stressless process, but if continuing the relationship is negatively impacting other aspects of your lives, it might be best to part ways for now. If the decision is made to continue seeing each other, then the next hurdle will be managing all the previously mentioned downsides of a long-distance relationship. At first it might be difficult to adjust to your partner not being a 15-minute drive away or being unable to see them on campus; however long-distance isn’t impossible. With the internet, texting and social media, there is no shortage of methods for communication. However, finding time to talk in the first place is a different story. Keep in mind that you and your SO
FEATURES
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
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MANAGING A COLLEGE RELATIONSHIP POST-GRADUATION MARCELO GARCIA, SENIOR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF PEXELS
highlandernews.org
very well may end up living in different time zones, which would limit your time spent with each other to a few hours a day. Even if your SO stays in California, they will likely be working or attending graduate school. In either case they will likely have an intensive workload, which limits the aforementioned time together even more. But this is not to say that the relationship is destined to fail. There are multiple ways to assure that you and your partner can maintain that essential communication. One method is messaging which, as impersonal as it may feel, can still go a long way. Whenever either of you has free time, take the opportunity to send a text. It may not be replied to in that instant, but it allows for you and your partner to keep a conversation throughout the day, which helps prevent the two of you from growing distant. Scheduling video calls ahead of time is another popular approach, since it allows for you and your partner to see each other face to face, even if separated by a screen. However, it is extremely important to note that both your schedules have the potential to change at a moment’s notice. While you both might think you are free to talk at an established time, any number of things can cause this to no longer be the case. As with any problem, deal with these sort of situations while keeping considerate of your partner’s feelings. Spending less time with each other will be a result of busyness, not a lack of caring or effort by either side. Lastly, remember to relax. A relationship is meant to enhance your life, not detriment it. Even with the stresses of a long-distance relationship, be glad that you and your partner are both willing to put the effort into trying. If there is genuine a sense of connection and commitment, a relationship will thrive no matter the odds. Have confidence in the bond that you have formed with your partner and move forward in the relationship together. ■H
Be nutty.
Just because the school year is almost over it doesn’t mean it’s too late to get involved. Branch out of your comfort zone and plant your roots in one of the over 300 student organizations on campus. Don’t know where to look? Start with the Highlander Newspaper. Join us every Monday at 5:15 PM in HUB 101. We won’t leave you behind.
HIGHLANDER MARTIN LOPEZ / HIGHLANDER
R adar ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
EVENTS THIS WEEK 05/01
Wednesday@Noon Lecture/Performance by Grupo Sotz’il @Arts Building, Music Rehearsal Hall, ARTS 157, 12:10pm to 1:00pm
05/02
Indigenous Choreographers at Riverside Gathering @ARTSblock, Culver Center of the Arts, 12:10pm to 1:00pm
05/07
Weekday Carillon Recitals @UCR Bell Tower, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
BRI CHEW / HIGHLANDER
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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
Radar
SPRING SPLASH 2018: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ► FROM SPRING SPLASH, PAGE 1
As for the artists, expect a more eclectic lineup than in years prior. Switching up the rap-heavy lineup of Block Party is one that reflects a slightly broader range of interests, but don’t expect something completely out of
left field. Coast Modern’s an indie pop duo who’ve toured with acts like Borns and The Wombats, their music evoking the sunnier side of the minifest’s face. The crowd may be lacking by the time they take the stage, but Spring Splash may be worth going to early if you’re looking for some
COURTESY OF ASPB
ARCHIVE / HIGHLANDER
safe, catchy and agreeable pop tunes. Lauv, a singersongwriter known for the stripped-down electronic pop song “I Like Me Better,” is set to continue the mood before EDM titans Zeds Dead buckle it with their party-starting anthems. Closing the night off is Lil Uzi Vert, a huge name in mainstream rap right now and one of the most sought-after names in the industry. His
unique blend of cloud rap, trap and emo sensibilities lends him some favors in standing out amongst a sea of unremarkable figures proliferating the air waves. Expect a lot of hype. Other amenities include: A photo booth, rock climbing wall, inflatable slide, UV face paint, silent disco, ferris wheel, massage therapy and a VR mini golf experience. Nothing revolutionary on the
whole, but neat evolutions that add to the experience of the annual mini-fests more and more. For more information on Spring Splash, check out the website, where they include a full list of prohibited items, food vendors and safety tips to make the most out of your night, and check out their playlist, where you can know what tracks to keep an ear out for next week. ■H
INSIDE THE MAKING OF “MUSE,” A UCR STUDENT FILM ATENAS ODRIOZOLA Contributing Writer
The UC Riverside Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production (TFDP) showcased the student film “Muse” as part of its ongoing Sixth Annual Film Festival on April 27 and April 28. Written and directed respectively by UCR students Justin Reich and Carlos Viejobueno, “Muse” is a period piece set in 1963 during the Cold War. West and East Berlin are separated by the Berlin Wall, splitting the two countries, as well as the two protagonists of the story: An American playwright and his East German muse. Reich is a second-year screenwriting graduate student, and his first draft of “Muse” was inspired by what he learned about sublimation as an undergraduate. Sublimation is a defense mechanism, he says, in which one transfers their negative compulsions — such as murder and theft — to positive and useful acts. This defense mechanism was the foundation of the protagonist and to make the audience question he his true intentions. However, the story evolved though collaboration to incorporate the romantic story of two lovers separated by the Wall in the 1960s. Initially, the story was designed to be set in contemporary times, but the change was made to create a parallel of what occurred in the past to current events. Viejobueno, a fourth-year film production major and now the first undergraduate
director of a TFDP film, explained he added the Berlin Wall as a “callback to the time we are living in now.” He wanted to draw a parallel between the U.S. opposition of the Berlin Wall and to the current U.S. support of Donald Trump’s wall. “Muse” incorporates a vintage feel with a combination of what Viejobueno calls a “Alfred Hitchcock feel,” and what Reich calls a “romanticism of the 1950s but with a dark turn.” The majority of the film was shot in a dutch angle — a term that describes tilted camera angles used to evoke discomfort — and had an original composition by UCR student Jonah Chaffin. Reich explained he wanted his screenplay to incorporate a similar style as Austrian film director, Michael Haneke, whom he admires for using the composition to work alongside the story. The film was funded by TFDP. Every year, the department calls for writers to submit an original 10-page screenplay. One is chosen based on its content and its ability to be created in a short period of time. The department acts as the producers by funding the project, finding the actors and premiering the movie. The film festival includes other films besides “Muse” such as others by Reich, Viejobueno and several other students. They ranged in topic, from dealing with the discovery of the Holy Spirit in “Joseph’s Gateway,” to a story centered on watches that could teleport someone throughout time in “Space-Time Shenanigans.” The films are expected to be uploaded on the TFDP Youtube channel in the near future. ■H
COURTESY OF CARLOS VIEJOBUENO
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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
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MOVIE REVIEW “AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR” — 10 YEARS OF FAN INVESTMENTS PAY OFF QUINN MINTEN Senior Staff Writer
No spoilers. You’re welcome. There was an idea — moviegoers know this — called the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The idea was to bring together the stories of a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something greater, to see if they could get the average person to return to the big screen again and again, to see these remarkable people fight the forces of evil. That idea worked, to the tune of $15 billion so far. “Avengers: Infinity War” is the 19th and most recent installment in the MCU, and the payoff of 10 years of films in the MCU; it is the reason why diehard Marvel fans, average moviegoers, and obsessive people
COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES
who got hooked and now need to see the franchise through, have invested so much money and emotional value in the series. It is not the last MCU movie lined up, but it is essentially the climax of the series. Unfortunately, that makes this review very difficult to write. The nature of this film, as the crown jewel of what will be a 24-movie series by its end, means that so much of its plot is tied down to things that have happened previously in the series’ timeline, and much of its significance will only be revealed when the fourth Avengers movie comes out in one year’s time. Things like the emotional weight carried by the movie — which is substantial — must therefore go only barely discussed here for the sake of avoiding spoilers of this and previous MCU films. Suffice it to say that the film brings together the Avengers, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and an impressive host of other heroes, antiheroes, and side characters from the previous films to oppose Thanos (Josh Brolin) in his quest to acquire the Infinity Stones — a handful of McGuffins that have driven the previous movies — and bring death to trillions across the universe. “Infinity War” shows that the franchise has learned from the mistakes of some of its predecessors, making it the second-best of the four MCU ensemble movies to date (counting “The Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” along with “Captain America: Civil War” because it is close enough to the others in my book). A primary example of this is the refusal to bog down the film with side action. There is little in terms of character development in “Infinity War,”
which would seem to be a criticism if it were not for the fact that much of it was built up over the last 10 years. A key failing of “Age of Ultron” and “Civil War” was the attempt to give each character adequate screen time and a side plot or two, alongside all the action one expects of an MCU story. In “Infinity War,” on the other hand, there is no such conflict. The roughly 2.5 hour runtime is fully devoted to uniting separate groups of characters toward a single overarching plotline, and to delivering physical and emotional confrontation along the way. The characters, always (at least in theory) the main strength of the MCU movies, are for the most part used well based on the personages that have been presented thus far in the MCU. Naturally, only the most wellestablished heroes have the largest share of screen time and impact on the plot. However, the presence of such a broad and diverse cast of characters nevertheless gives the movie a lot of flavor. A few of the scattered characters do seem to have less impact on the larger goings-on in the film though, making for a bit of a lull between its stronger moments. A few words should be said for Thanos, whose appearance in this film makes him one of the best villains in the MCU to date. Granted, few of them are even memorable (I doubt I could name the main villain of, say, “Ant-Man” without resorting to Google), but that does not undermine the fact that much of the strength of this movie owes itself to Thanos. The tension of the film grows as his strength grows, leading to a cataclysmic ending when he is at his strongest. At the same time, we also see his emotional vulnerability, as well as the elements of his past that shaped his admittedly simplistic, cruel motives. As the villain Marvel fans
have been waiting to see since the end-credits scene from “The Avengers,” Thanos is an intimidating and dangerous enemy, taking his place alongside Loki from the Thor movies and Erik Killmonger from “Black Panther” as one of the actually interesting or compelling MCU villains. There are other factors that can be considered in examining this movie, but they overall do not deter from the strengths of the movie. CGI is probably overused, which is to be expected from a movie featuring alien hordes, space battles and catastrophic destruction, but it’s also of generally good quality, not too difficult to look at. The score is nothing worth mentioning, even underusing now-classic pieces such as the Avengers’ theme so as to be nearly unremarkable. At about 2.5 hours, the film does come quite close to dragging on, though as with all MCU movies, the ending is the most interesting part, and entirely makes up for the handful of duller moments. And that snarky Marvel humor that many have grown tired of is still present, but in more measured amounts than in some MCU movies. Of course, all these arguments against the movie are moot; the same could be said for more or less all the previous MCU films, so these are hardly new complaints, and people have crowded into theaters anyway time and again. Verdict: “Avengers: Infinity War” is not a perfect film nor the best movie in the MCU, and is sure to leave many fans disappointed when it has been the subject of so much speculation. But, it does deliver exciting action, surprising and even shocking emotional moments, and a satisfying high point for the MCU franchise H that will ensure fans coming back for more. ■
VIDEO GAME REVIEW “GOD OF WAR” ISN’T PERFECT, BUT IT’S AN UNEQUIVOCAL MASTERPIECE JULIAN MEDRANDA Senior Staff Writer
No spoilers. You’re welcome. Few games are as deserving of the descriptor “epic” as much as those in the “God of War” series. It plays like a Japanese-developed hack-and-slash but is presented with the grandeur of a Western blockbuster, and that formula is precisely why each game in the series has done well both critically and financially. But like every successful franchise, there comes a time where the formula needs tweaking and the past needs to be redressed. Kratos, the series’ protagonist, has killed just about every single Greek God and Titan (!), but he was never too much of a character as much as he was an unadulterated vessel of rage. The softreboot of the series, the (uninspiringly named) “God of War” continues the Ghost of Sparta’s tale as he tackles his biggest hurdle yet: Transitioning from Kratos, God of War, to Kratos, Dad of Boy. Creative director Cory Barlog has put in considerable work in making the new “God of War” as foreign to series newcomers and veterans. This is good. In the undisclosed amount of time between “God of War III” and its 2018 sequel, Kratos somehow made his way from Greece to Scandinavia, grew his beard out and settled down. The “how” he got here, as well as the “why,” are questions for another time. Along with many, many other ambiguities throughout the lore the game acknowledges, this mystery is one of new joys the series offers. The opening frames of “God of War” introduce us to so much of the series’ newly established identity, one that Kratos himself is fiercely fighting to distance his past, and his son, from. Boy, Kratos’ son whom he refers to once a blue moon by his birth name, Atreus, is an exciting new character this game introduces. In many ways, Atreus makes the game what it is and will compel players to see their journey’s end. Their quest is a simple one: Scatter the ashes of
Kratos’ betrothed, Atreus’ mother, on the highest peak in the Nine Realms. Along the way, the two encounter a few friends and a lot of enemies, though it’s the relationship between father and son that make those encounters meaningful. There really is too much to say about “God of War’”s story that can not be done justice in any sort of review. Play the game, experience it firsthand. Just when you think the game cannot get any more exciting, developments occur and emotions swell to the brink of explosion. At one point, “God of War” flips the castle and you realize that everything you’ve done is merely a portion of the monumental task ahead. It’s been said once but I’ll say it again to reiterate: “God of War” is a beautiful story that brings out the human in Kratos. Christopher Judge’s voice as Old Man Kratos is a commanding bass that would make the devil curl up in a ball, and the young and always promising Sunny Suljic continues to show immense talent as the blissfully naive Atreus. Spending time with them in conversation is rewarding and unlocks layers to their relationship. Very early into the game, Kratos tells Atreus not to be sorry, but to be better. It’s a line that boldly speaks to Sony Studios Santa Monica’s legacy and the places a series as defiantly brutal as “God of War” can go. They never needed to be sorry for their games — they’re excellent titles — but they could always improve, and the new “God of War” encapsulates that improvement in nearly every fathomable way. It’s not perfect, but it’s a masterpiece of a video game from a technical, writing and gameplay perspective that will hopefully (but unfortunately won’t) send a ripple through the gaming industry beckoning for characterdriven single player games. The history of great games is built on taking pre-established ideas and innovating upon them. If we’re judging “God of War” solely on the basis of originality, it’d fail harder than an ESRB supercut of the PG
moments in the series. There’s so much that has already been said, but Santa Monica Studios clearly drew a lot from Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us,” something Barlog has openly discussed. But rather than splitting hairs about the way they’re informed by “The Last of Us,” the simplest of differences between them reveal how singular each title is. And for what it’s worth, the didactic father-son story has been told too many times to count; the particular dynamic “God of War” explores hits many of the same beats as others, but its epic tale of Gods and the grueling process of coming to terms with your past make it exceptional. Shifting combat from past “God of War” games has been a seamless evolution that retains the intensity, but Old Man Kratos’ speed is not what it once was. One of the biggest differences the game introduces is the lack of a jump button; occasionally you’ll be prompted to leap over an edge or climb to a wall, but otherwise your mobility is purely on one plane. Replacing the iconic Blades of Chaos from previous installments is the Leviathan Axe, a frost-elemental weapon that rivals the blades on impact. Attacks are swift and brutal, and though the game doesn’t run on 60 FPS and Kratos is slower this time around, combat is absolutely riveting. Playing “God of War” on its hardest difficulty is a Herculean task that requires precise attacks, feline reflexes and expert timing to parry foes using Kratos’ collapsible shield. This is all not to mention the inclusion of Atreus in combat who, despite the notion of AI-controlled partner being an anchor to the flow of gameplay, he is anything but. The square button is by default designated for son control: A tap will cause him to shoot an arrow at whoever’s nearest or, if you’re aiming at a particular enemy, whoever you tell him to. Vitally useful to gameplay, Atreus is the player character just as much as Kratos is, communicating the player’s point of view and empathy. “God of War” is seamlessly responsive to player input
and will devastatingly punish you when you make the wrong decision. Playing without the assistance of Atreus is a fool’s goal, since he can help Kratos juggle enemies and inflict other forms of damage necessary to dynamicize combat. It irks me to make the comparison, but think of a faster “Dark Souls,” but just short of “Bloodborne’”s razor-sharp speed. Eventually, you’ll unlock more tools to assist you in combat that add on to the already satisfying “umph” of the Leviathan. In particular, one weapon makes for some of the most gnarly means of crowd control since the BFG in “Doom” or Cloud’s Omnislash in “Final Fantasy VII.” “God of War” is pretty. It is very, very, exceedingly pretty and it’s hard to believe that what you’re playing at times is not one continuous cutscene. Here’s a challenge: Take a screenshot, and ask someone unfamiliar with the game to determine if what they’re seeing is a cutscene or actual gameplay. It’s that gorgeous. Naturally, there’s some hiccups, as especially in the first quarter of the game there is more attention paid to beautiful presentation. There are some aspects of the visual department that clearly were less favored than others, like certain environments having poorer textures and lighting. But even then, the graphical fidelity in these scenes are nothing short of breathtaking and leagues ahead of most the competition (operative word being “most” because “Horizon Zero Dawn” exists). Volumetric lighting, particle effects and physical rendering of objects like Kratos and Atreus’ equipment (that beard though!) lend the photorealistic authenticity that every single gamer will find something to ogle at. Featuring a single-camera perspective that never once cuts, the gimmick holds up phenomenally to provide the game the jaw-dropping feel its content requires. It would be nice, though, if there was an option to make the game run at 60 FPS at the expense of graphical fidelity, as with Team Ninja’s “Nioh,” since the action
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in “God of War” can be so breakneck. Because of how cinematic the game is, it’s understandable that it would need to be accompanied by a sound design that communicates every awe-inspiring visual and deep, viscous attack to your ears. Famed composer Bear McCreary helmed the game’s larger-than-life score which amps up everything from desperate battles and colossal boss fights to the serene ambience of the Norse wilderness. You won’t catch the acclaimed theme song from the original series, but in its stead are equally swelling orchestrations. Of course, what would a “God of War” game be without the sound of flesh razing and bone breaking? It’s got that, and it delivers it in spades. And it’s in the collision of sound and visuals that a story so simple in mind but epic in execution takes form. Video games are more than the sum of their technical parts, but it’s impossible not to take a step back from the towering achievement of Sony Santa Monica. Verdict: Though early in the year, “God of War” is top contender for game of the year. It’s the perfect package: Intuitive combat with a rich amount of light RPG-like detail; an emotional story that spells a bold new direction for the series; and a technical marvel that testifies to the power of the PS4. Buy this game and do not hesitate. ■H
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HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/arts
Politics in gaming, or the “Far Cry 5” fiasco: You can do Ubisoft JULIAN MEDRANDA Senior Staff Writer
There comes a point across the 40 or some hours of “Far Cry 5’”s expansive open world where you realize that the bold leaps it suggested it would take turn out to be mush. About two hours into the much more brief, linear campaign of “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus,” it’s clear that developers MachineGames have their fingers on the pulse of some of the social anxieties plaguing America. They don’t exist on polar opposite sides on the spectrum of quality, but it’s clear that each game’s respective developers took drastically different steps when constructing a politically charged world. Both games promise some incredibly satisfying gameplay that feeds on power fantasies aimed at white supremacist rule, but only “The New Colossus” delivers on that promise. Meanwhile “Far Cry 5” is much more content backpedaling the poignant social commentary we thought it would deliver. It seems like forever ago that Ubisoft revealed the first glimpse of “Far Cry 5.” For a series signified by its exotic locations, bombastic action and intriguing villains, the unveiling of the next installment to be set on U.S. soil was refreshing. The fictional location of Hope County, Montana, felt like a direct response to the criticism that “Far Cry” was a series built, to some extent, on racist tropes. In “Far Cry 2,” you get to choose from a number of different characters — an American, an Albanian Haitian and an Algerian, among others — and are tasked with taking down an arms dealer supplying weaponry to opposing factions of a civil war in an unnamed country in central Africa. Notwithstanding the worn trope of barbarous Africans constantly embroiled in civil war, it’s about as racist as, say, “Resident Evil 5” is (which is to say it’s not). On the other hand, playing as a rich 20-something year-old white dude on vacation, getting kidnapped, hunted down and nearly forced into human trafficking by ambiguously racialized pirates on an island neighboring Indonesia in “Far Cry 3” felt a bit more nearsighted. Not racist per se, but it established the series’ eye for the exotic Other, exemplified best by the noble savages of Rakyat. Naturally, your protagonist is on a quest to save his brother and help liberate the Rakyat from the clutches of the pirates, like the white savior he is. There are arguments in defense of its writing, calling its choice of character and tropes a critique of imperialism, but what little evidence there is in support for this reading are blown to smithereens by the end-game’s careening insanity. Really fun game, but a bit over-reliant on questionable narratives we’ve seen before. “Far Cry 4” was a step forward in untangling the legacy of imperialism that left the locales of “2” and “3” the way they were. Rather than simply exploring an exotic sandbox filled with gun-toting Asians in another fictional location, Ubisoft makes attempt to editorialize the landscape with its commentative side characters. Last year, a follow-up to 2014’s “Wolfenstein: The New Order,” an alternate history FPS set in the context of a Nazi-won WWII, was released to a storm of discussion over the politics of punching a Nazi. Seriously, of all things, we should agree that punching a Nazi is objectively a palatable thing regardless of ideology, right? Anyway, the revenge fantasy of a Jewish ubermensch dismantling the Reich was innately political; the worst case scenario could have painted the villains as little more than mustache-twirlers devoid of substantial examination, and still could have been political. The reason I bring up “Wolfenstein” is because, like “Far Cry,” it’s published
by a gaming industry giant, Bethesda Softworks (not to be confused with their “Fallout” and “Elder Scrolls” devs, Bethesda Game Studios). From that angle we know that it’s possible to tackle real-world problems through the medium. When “Far Cry 5” was shown, gamers quickly flooded forums and YouTube comments to complain that politics have no place in the medium. While a chunk of the game’s development predated the political storm Trump spun, the depoliticized story could have been told as far back as the series’ glory year of 2008 and still resonate. Where one game shows integrity and trust in the people who will eventually play it, the other shows reluctance that borders on cowardice. Back to “Far Cry 5” though. Rural Montana, or really any point on U.S. soil, pointed to an attempt by Ubisoft to rectify problems of the previous games’ writing. Gameplay, too, but that’s another can of worms. Channeling a bit of Jim Jones with a dash of David Koresh, pepper in the appearance of a goofy manbun-sporting Angeleno and you get Joseph Seed, The Father. The mastermind behind the Project at Eden’s Gate and his militant supporters (whom the local folks refer
WHERE “THE NEW COLOSSUS” SHOWS INTEGRITY AND TRUST IN THE PEOPLE WHO WILL EVENTUALLY PLAY IT, “FAR CRY 5” SHOWS COWARDICE. to as “peggies”), Joseph follows in the footsteps of previous “Far Cry” villains. He’s intimidating, influential and surprisingly elegant. Whenever you do get the chance to meet him, it’s tense, due in no small part to the brooding presentation and measured performance by Greg Byrk. But every villain needs a motive, even guys who never wear shirts and always rock manbuns. This is where Ubisoft really dropped the ball. Eden’s Gate is, ostensibly, a religious doomsday cult: Far-right (or ultra left, depending on your reading), anti-government, pro-gun, agrarian, domestic terrorists seizing an entire county on the pretense of divination. But don’t call them Christian, or Republican, or any other label remotely tied to real-world demographics, because Ubisoft is toothless in stirring conversations surrounding real-world issues. They’re boringly crazy and high on the hallucinogenic Bliss, a drug not unlike scopolamine. This isn’t to say that Christians or Republicans are Bad, or that everyone else is Good. That’s absolutely absurd. Hell, Eden’s gate violently rejects Christianity for some never-defined Abrahamic offshoot just to make the peggies seem more artificially (and less believably) evil. But to set your game in rural Montana in a post-Trump world, you can’t just walk on eggshells because investors might feel that those demographics might be offended. Even outside of that context, there’s plenty of interesting political angles the game suggests an interest in mining. Take a stance, Ubisoft; you’ve provided glimpses of critical thought in previous entries, why withdraw when you have such prime real estate for legitimate discourse? Anything would have been better than apoliticism. The biggest shame is that “Far Cry 5” leaves behind a breadcrumb trail of almost intelligent thought. Of course, you really have to dig for that stuff. The Seeds — Joseph and his equally
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psychopathic lieutenants, John, Jacob and Faith — have one-dimensional motivations for taking arms and forcing their quasi-religious spittle. Some ingame notes and diaries flesh out their worldview and the bystanders they affect, but they’re few and far between, not to mention only fragments of what a real-world version of these people would be like. Jacob’s manifesto reads, “We have polluted our minds by letting the pathetic sycophants that run our government support those that can’t help themselves. They are our anchors, holding us back.” Where’s more of that introspection? The game would have benefited from exploring the warped perspectives of the rural Montanan, betrayed by the false promises of the government despite possibly being in favor of the bigoted stuff, prepping for a nuclear holocaust and murdering any government errand boys who come in the way. (And it can’t be argued that the game exists on the periphery of a Trump presidency, there’s an absurd quest literally about retrieving the mythical golden shower tapes.) There’s a Vice article that got a lot of undue heat about the abundance of black people in “Far Cry 5’”s open world, and I think that heat is symptomatic of just how afraid most gamers are of their medium of choice taking a stance on real-world issues. Dexter Thomas, the author, points out that, for the location of rural Montana and for the militant Eden’s Gate, there are too many black folks. And that’s so true. It’s not just that there’s a lot of black peggies, but even the inclusion of a noticeably large count of black NPCs is telling of, as he puts it, “(occasionally awkward) efforts at inclusion.” There’s a rich amount of context that could have been explored, but, again, Ubisoft missed the mark. In a couple of ways, “Far Cry 5”
and “The New Colossus” are inverses in AAA gameplay and story. I could play “Far Cry 5” for hours and have fun and gain absolutely nothing from it — which I have; I can only play “The New Colossus” for so long, though: It’s not a very meaty campaign and its side content is pathetic. The difference is, I can talk about the richness in “The New Colossus’” story for far longer than I can with “Far Cry 5.” (A rebuttal to the contrarian asking what’s the difference in wasting time in “Far Cry 5” and an equally plotless game like “Nioh” or “Fortnite: Battle Royale”: Neither of those games or games like them made the slightest attempt to resonate with political climates.) “The New Colossus” is a gloriously blood-soaked power fantasy, as much an absurd shooting gallery as it is a haunting reminder both of what could have been and could still be. It’s a stark contrast to be in a room with a decrepit and paranoid Hitler, a tried and true embodiment of evil, to then plow through a Nazi base on Venus and eviscerate their goons with a hatchet. It’s simultaneously enamored with the banality of evil in KKK Klansmen taking orders from Nazis as though they’re the Reich’s lapdogs, and amused by the image of a topless pregnant women mowing down Nazis with akimbo machine guns as their blood pours over her. Like “Far Cry 5,” notes litter the game world, but here they actually flesh out a world where Americans are forced to adapt to Nazi rule. Unlike “Far Cry 5,” though (which is just as loony) there’s a legitimate reason for all of that. Ubisoft ridiculously takes the piss out of everyone with no comment. MachineGames’ ridiculousness is the gunpowder to “The New Colossus’” Sturmgewehr, and its target is the H absurdity of white supremacy itself. ■
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SPORTS
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
Highlander World Cup Halftime The 2018 World Cup in Russia is still months away, and some teams are still being put together. However, that’s not stopping the Highlander from breaking down every group to give you a comprehensive overview leading up to the first kickoff.
Brazil FIFA Ranking: 2
FIFA Ranking: 8 World Cup Appearances: 10 First Appearance: 1934 Last Appearance: 2014 Best result: Quarter finals, 1934, 1938, 1954
Coach: Tite, Brazil (2016-present). Previously coached Corinthians (2015-2016).
Marcelo Marcelo is unarguably the best left back in the world. Although he is not known too much for his defensive capabilities, Marcelo always adds extra strength to the attack when he runs through the left side of the pitch. The 29-year-old will be playing his second World Cup, where he will seek to provide Brazil with leadership and motivation whilst playing the elegant and risky style he is used to playing, the joga bonito way. Potential lineup: Alisson - Marcelo, Miranda, Silva, AlvesPaulinho, Casemiro, Fernandinho-Coutinho, Jesus, Neymar Formation: 4-3-3
Jose Flores, Contributing Writer
Switzerland
World Cup Appearances: 20 First Appearance: 1930 Last Appearance: 2014 Best result: Champions, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
Players to watch: Gabriel Jesus At just 21, Gabriel Jesus is playing as if he was already an established player. Having made his professional debut at 18, Jesus astonishingly made his national team debut the following year. Now a key figure for Guardiola at Manchester City, the young striker has managed to score 11 goals while providing an additional three assists in 25 appearances. Jesus’ rise to stardom came during a time when skeptics claimed “joga bonito,” Brazil’s iconic playing style, was over. However, Jesus, along with fellow strikers Neymar and Coutinho, have proved joga bonito is far from dead. This same playing style should be what could guide Brazil to winning the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.
Group E, Part I
Coach: Vladimir Petkovic (Bosnian), Switzerland’s coach since 2014. Previously coached Lazio from 2012-2014.
Players to watch: Xherdan Shaqiri After brief spells with giants Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, Shaqiri finally settled at Stoke in England where he has had quite a silent run. This is not ameliorated when becoming aware of the fact that Shaqiri has only managed to score seven goals in 34 appearances this season. Despite these struggles at the club level, Shaqiri has been consistent on the international stage. In his first World Cup, Shaqiri scored three goals in four games. Therefore, Russia will be Shaqiri’s second World Cup in which he has the opportunity to gain the recognition to place himself in a big club once again and to lead Switzerland to the semifinals for the first time in Swiss history. Granit Xhaka As a defensive midfielder, Xhaka has still been able to provide six assists and score one goal this season in the Premier League with Arsenal. Xhaka is vital to both defense and attack. Xhaka possesses great tackling ability, which allows for him to recover the ball from his team’s half and is then able to push it forward and begin an attacking play. This is supported by Xhaka’s tackle success in the Premier League of 74 percent and 453 recoveries. Such stats demonstrate how effective and crucial Xhaka can be for Switzerland. After a great display in Brazil 2014, Xhaka must seek to do the same in Russia if he wants to dream of bigger things with his country.
Prediction: Semi-final elimination, 3rd place
Potential lineup: Sommer- Rodriguez, Djourou, Schär, Lichtsteiner- Xhaka, Freuler- Shaqiri, Frei, Mehmedi- Seferovic Formation: 4-2-3-1 Prediction: 2nd in group, round of 16 elimination.
Matches: Vs. Switzerland, 6/17 Vs. Costa Rica, 6/22 Vs. Serbia, 6/27
Matches: Vs. Brazil, 6/17 Vs. Serbia, 6/22 Vs. Costa Rica, 6/27
■H
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HIGHLANDER
HOT TAKES Giannis is not the real deal … yet
JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been viewed as one of a couple players who could be next in line to take over for LeBron James as best player in the world at some point, and while he’s been successful statistically, he’s yet to lead his team to any on-court success. In the 2017-18 season The Greek Freak averaged 26.9 points, 10 rebounds and 4.8 assists. During the postseason his numbers, hovered around that same area with averages of 25.7 points 9.6 rebounds and six assists. Those stats are great and his individual statistical success is unquestionable, but he is still yet to lead his squad out of the conference quarterfinals in a weak Eastern Conference. His latest series loss to the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series is perhaps the most damaging to his reputation primarily because of the fact the Boston Celtics were so depleted due to injury. The Celtics have been without all-star Gordon Hayward since the first game of the regular season due to his horrific injury and lost another all-star in Kyrie Irving for the remainder of the season back in March due to knee surgery. This put Boston at a huge disadvantage going into the series against a Milwaukee team that was very healthy and boasts proven quality players in Giannis, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe and Jabari Parker While Boston was forced to rely on young guns Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Antetokounmpo had players around him that were recognized as far more proven. This latest series loss should hopefully pump the brakes on all the hype around Antetokounmpo and slow people down from crowning him as next in line. ■H
Around Athletics JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
Women’s tennis earns first conference tournament victory since 2009
The ninth-seeded UCR women’s tennis team (6-19) started their Big West Tournament in a match against eight seed UC Irvine (9-16) on Thursday, April 26. UCI was riding some momentum into the matchup after winning the previous meeting between the two teams on Saturday, April 24. The Anteaters got out to a quick start after winning two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. However, The Highlanders were able to answer back with two wins on the singles side to even the score. Senior Karla Dualy gave UCR a 2-1 lead after defeating UCI junior Stephanie Hazell 6-0, 6-3. UCI would take the next point to even the score at two after freshman Flora Amiri won the team’s only singles match of the day. The Highlanders would battle back in their last two games to earn a 4-2 match win. Sophomore Lauren Wolfe fell in her first set 6-2 before battling back to win the next two 6-3, 6-1, to give Riverside the lead for good. The victory was UCR’s first conference tournament win since 2009. With the win the Highlanders advanced to face number one seeded UC Santa Barbara (12-12) in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 27. UCSB dominated from the start, winning every game on their way to a 4-0 match win. This match was the last for seniors Dulay, Chloe Pham, Natalie Penner, Tamila Vaksman and Kassie Truong who helped lead this team to its first conference victory in nine years.
Men’s tennis falls in Big West Tournament quarterfinals
UCR’s sixth-seeded men’s tennis team faced off against number three seed UC Davis in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament on Thursday, April 26. The Highlanders were unable to earn a single point against the Aggies and fell 4-0. This loss concluded a season in which the team broke the program record for most dual match wins. Sophomore Nabill Abdallah, freshman Vignesh Subramanyan and junior Kyle McCann all finished the season with more than 20 singles match victories in dual match play. The doubles team of McCann and freshman Filip Engstrom also had a fantastic season, finishing with an 18-8 record.
The team has no seniors on their roster so we can expect to see a large amount of returning players next season.
Baseball goes 0-2 against UC Santa Barbara
The Highlanders baseball team lost a high-scoring 12-inning game against UC Santa Barbara in their series opener. The game was a back-and-forth affair as the lead changed hands three times within the first six innings. UCR was able to take a one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, but failed to close things out as UCSB scored to extend the game into extra innings. The Highlanders would ultimately give up a run in the bottom of the 12th inning to end the game at 9-8. In the second game of the series The Highlanders allowed 14 runs off of 13 hits on the way to a 14-2 loss. Junior catcher Anthony Lepre and senior second baseman Cody Sporrer led the way for the Highlanders on offense, accounting for a teamleading two hits each, but it wasn’t enough to get the job done against the Gauchos.
Softball wins series against Hawaii
The UCR softball team got off to a poor start in their series opener against the University of Hawaii, losing the first game 11-0. Hawaii’s bats were on fire as they had 11 hits in only six innings of play while the Highlanders were only able to get two. UCR bounced back in a double header which were games two and three of the series, winning both. Senior pitcher Taylor Misfeldt started in the first of the two games and was able to keep Hawaii off of the board throughout her seven-inning shutout. Junior shortstop Hannah Rodriguez had a standout performance on the offensive side, adding three hits and the team’s lone RBI to give the Highlanders a 1-0 victory. In game three of the series Riverside’s offense caught fire almost immediately, as the team opened the first inning by scoring three runs and would not let up. This time it was junior infielder Amanda Lynch who led the team to a 10-2 win with three RBI’s. Freshman pitcher Hailey Dolcini allowed only two runs in five innings in her 13th win of the season. ■H
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TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018
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Sports
Freshman Hailey Dolcini throws an “adrenaline rush” of a no-hitter DOMINIC PETRIC Contributing Writer
In the Big West Conference opener for the Highlander softball team on Saturday, April 14, freshman Hailey Dolcini had a stellar outing versus the Cal State University Northridge Matadors, throwing her first career no-hitter. This is the first no-hitter for the Highlanders in several seasons, and their 12th shutout this season. In a 6-0 game, it appears on paper that this was not even close; however, with all six runs for the Highlanders being scored in the sixth inning, this game was closer than it appears. The Highlander sat down with Dolcini and Head Coach Nikki Palmer to speak on the historic game. Before the game, Dolcini felt something was different, and not necessarily in a good way: “In warm-ups, I didn’t have a curveball at all. It was not an overall good warmup, but I was able to improvise and throw a few different pitches.” Dolcini said she isn’t typically very reliant on her curveball, but says it is a “good ‘ahead in the count’ pitch.” Since both teams were throwing no-hitters all the way until the sixth inning, it was a very defensive game. Dolcini
recalls “only throwing four strikeouts. Most of the outs were balls hit straight to the outfield.” This game in particular helped a lot with Dolcini’s confidence in her defense. “It helped my mentality a lot with pitching to contact, trusting your defense and trusting the pitches I throw.” Dolcini says she “didn’t realize this was happening until about the fifth inning,” and “started to get an adrenaline rush in the seventh inning, since it was so close to happening.” Head coach Nikki Palmer had lots of good things to say about Dolcini’s performance as well as her potential moving forward: “(Dolcini) did a tremendous job.
As a freshman, she has a very mature mentality and a great presence on the mound. She has a very high ceiling and will only get better working with the pitching coaches.” Like Dolcini, Coach Palmer noted the quietness of the performance: “It was not a super noticeable no-hitter, there wasn’t a lot of strikeouts. The fact there wasn’t many strikeouts is a testament to the whole team and our defense. It was a total team effort.” Highlanders softball will be playing their next Big West series this Saturday in a double header versus the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. ■H
LIZELLE ORENO / HIGHLANDER
Track and field: Sprinting ahead on the track and in the classroom DOMINIC PETRIC Contributing Writer
On Wednesday, April 4 the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) announced their 2018 All Academic MPSF Student-Athlete selections for both men’s and women’s track and field, which featured 15 Highlanders. 10 of the studentathletes recognized came from the women’s track team while the remaining five came from the men’s track team. In order to be eligible for selection the student-athlete must maintain a 3.0 grade point average, be at least a sophomore academically, complete one full year at the institution, and compete in at least half of the team’s contests. The Highlander caught up with Track and Field Director Nate Brown over email to see how he’s been able to create a culture that values academics just as much as on the field success. Dominic Petric: What have you done for the team to create a culture that embraces a high scholastic culture? Nate Brown: We try and emphasize that academics come first by recruiting student-athletes with a strong academic profile that are driven to get a degree. We hold standards high by not allowing athletes under a 2.5 to travel to away competition except for postseason. If someone identifies as needing extra oversight they are assigned weekly study hall hours and meetings with our athletics academic counselor. Petric: Are there any changes that have been made within the
last couple seasons that have helped the student-athletes raise their GPA’s? Brown: The biggest change was the travel GPA standard. No one wants to miss out on opportunities because they’re being a deadbeat in the classroom. We also implemented a perpetual trophy for the highest event group GPA. The first year men’s sprints won, the second year it was men’s throwers. This year it’s looking good for one of the distance groups. Petric: How do your studentathletes balance their academics and athletics at the same time and have you had any impact or offered any advice on how they can balance those two things? Brown: We deal with at the root which is time management. No matter how busy one’s schedule we all only have 24 hours in a day. They must “put the big things in first” and then fill their calendar with everything else. Those that get a handle on their weekly calendar and prioritize and stay proactive don’t have any issues balancing. Petric: What resources does your team use to maintain their GPA’s? Brown: We use study hall, tutoring services, office hours, the academic computer lab, group studying, supplemental instruction. Our school has so many resources literally at their fingertips. So those that struggle continually aren’t using those resources in my opinion. Petric: How do you motivate your student-athletes to perform their best both on and
off the field? Brown: We remind them that their future is waiting. The better they perform now, the more doors will be open to them in their future. We talk constantly about “next step” thinking and prioritizing and making decisions now that will affect the next few years of your life. Track and field will fade but their education will prepare them for their future. Below is the list of UCR’s winners of the MPSF award: Women’s Indoor Track & Field: • Camille Deadwiler, Senior, Fremont, CA • Kenady Jackson, Sophomore, Berkeley, CA • Destiny Mitchell, Sophomore • Weslie Pearce, Senior, Santa Clarita, CA • Emily Sanchez, Junior, West, Covina, CA • Stephanie Martinez, Senior, English, Murrieta, CA • Taylor Brown, Senior, Merced, CA • Ashley Rodriguez, Senior • Victoria Teraji, Senior, Castroville, CA • Leslie Rivera, Sophomore, La Puente, CA • Jessica Tobias, Senior, Huntington Park, CA
• • • • •
Men’s Indoor Track & Field: Michael Kojin, Senior, Valencia, CA Ethan Van Setten, Junior, Fontana, CA Lawrence O’Hara, Senior, Riverside, CA Wesley Braddock, Senior, San Diego, CA Aman Irani, Junior, San Diego, CA ■H
Meet the men’s basketball 2018 recruiting class JARYD BONGCARAS Contributing Writer
Name: Dragan Elkaz Height: 6’5” Weight: 210 Position: Shooting Guard Prev. school: Westfield Sports High School (Australia) What they bring: Elkaz not only brings height and shooting to the Highlanders’ backcourt, but he’s equipped with the experience of playing in big games. The Australian shooting guard dropped 22 points against Canada and RJ Barrett, the No. 1 prospect in the 2018 class, and also poured 25 points against Bosnia. Both these games took place during the World Championships. Expect Elkaz and Dikymbe Martin to make a lot more noise amongst Big West backcourts.
Name: Callum McRae Height: 7’1” Weight: 265 Position: Center Prev. school: Palmerston North Boys’ High School (New Zealand) What they bring: McRae provides a dominant presence in the paint, giving Riverside much-needed size and skill in the post, especially with Alex Larsson graduating this June. McRae has had experience at the international level too, shooting 53.8 percent and averaging 2.5 pts and two rebounds in just under 10 minutes per game for the New Zealand U19 National Team during last year’s FIBA World Cup run.
Name: Zac Watson Height: 6’7” Weight: 205 Position: Forward Prev. school: Liberty High School What they bring: The No. 48 small forward prospect by 247Sports Rating gives the Highlanders more of a small-ball power forward variety. He has the ability to rebound with bigger bodies underneath the post, along with being able to score while facing the basket. The three-star recruit from Frisco, TX looks to serve as the team’s Swiss Army knife on both ends of the floor.
Name: George Willborn III Height: 6’3” Weight: 194 Position: Guard Prev. school: University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) What they bring: Willborn averaged careerhighs of 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 46.3 percent shooting for UTSA this past season. His athleticism and experience in the Conference USA Tournament gives the Highlanders someone to look up to both on and off the court. Unfortunately, the third-year transfer will sit out the 2018-2019 season due to NCAA rules, and will be eligible to play H as a redshirt junior during the 2019-2020 season. ■