THE HIGHLANDER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
est. 1954
FOR THE WEEK OF TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
VOL. 67, ISSUE 21
UCR Mobility Hub on track for Fall 2020 completion, final design revealed from A&E
International Women’s Day celebrated with march on Chancellor’s office
JAKEB TIVEY, Staff Writer
This spring quarter, the “UCR Mobility Hub and Central Campus Linkages” project will break ground in the construction of a transit center dedicated for UCR commuters and RTA bus lines in an effort to establish a new dedicated alternative transportation area to the UCR campus. In interviews with the Highlander, Principal Architect Andrew Hecht, Project Manager John Franklin and the Mobility Hub’s Senior Project Manager Gerald Caraig all give updates on the key aims of the project and major development milestones to reveal an on-schedule completion in March 2020. The team also shared the latest renditions of the completed product with the Highlander, featuring color-changing canopies, kiosks and ample vegetation where Lot 19 sits today. According to a description by UCR’s Architects and Engineers group, the Mobility Hub project “includes a centralized multi-modal bus transit center, a new front door to campus, and critical pedestrian-oriented, safe and accessible connections from the Mobility Hub to the existing campus core.” Hecht explained that, “The Mobility Hub kind of already pre-exists on campus.” The principal architect references the bus space which sits in front of the Bannockburn student apartments on Canyon Crest drive. Hecht went on to explain, “It’s not in a good spot,” and that “moving it over to the Lot 19 area solves a lot of problems.”
MARTIN LOPEZ / HIGHLANDER
AIDAN RUTTEN Senior Staff Writer
International Women’s Day was this past Friday, March 8, and a group of students gathered at the UCR sign near the Bell Tower to hear speeches and then march to Chancellor Kim A.
Wilcox’s office to show their support for a free menstrual products resolution. ASUCR President Semi Cole introduced the event and spoke about solidarity surrounding women’s and gender issues. Cole said, “We stand united — students, staff and faculty in
recognition in the strength all around us.” He continued by addressing the purpose of the speakers and the march: “We celebrate the vitality of their ambition, the truth of their humanity, and most of all their greater call for justice and dignity.” ► SEE MARCH PAGE 6
► SEE MOBILITY PAGE 4
University of California drops subscription to Elsevier, the world’s largest publisher of academic journals
ANDY LI Contributing Writer
The University of California has dropped its subscription to Elsevier, which is the world’s largest publisher of academic research journals. The main rationale behind this decision was due to the fact that academic publishing costs have increased rapidly out of control, according to UC President Janet Napolitano. “I fully support our faculty, staff and students in breaking down paywalls that hinder the sharing of groundbreaking research,” said Napolitano. “This issue does not just impact UC, but also countless scholars, researchers and scientists across the
globe — and we stand with them in their push for full, unfettered access.” The decision occurred after repeated negotiations behind closed doors failed to produce tangible results that satisfied the demands of the UC Board of Regents. Generally, Elsevier has been an important tool that allows researchers to print their reports in return for almost completely open access everywhere around the globe. However, costs have skyrocketed far past the normal rate of inflation. Before cancellation, Elsevier cost the University of California $10 million per year.
COURTESY OF UNSPLASH
► SEE PUBLISHER PAGE 5
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UPCOMING EVENTS: WEEK 1O
SERGIO SANCHEZ ALCANTRA | MATHEMATICS | FOURTH-YEAR
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Tuesday
COMPILED BY LLOYD KAO
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Wednesday
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Thursday
“Death Metal is a more diverse genre than people give it credit for. I
SBIR Conference 8:00am to 6:00pm Highlander Union Building, Room 302
Winter 2019 Dance Showings 2:00pm to 6:30pm Arts Building, ARTS 100, ARTS 300, ATHD 102, ARTS Building outdoor spaces
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Sociology Colloquium: Tod Hamilton (Princeton University) 12:30pm to 2:00pm Humanities & Social Sciences Building, 1500
FREE public Astronomy talk 6:30pm Physics Building, 3035
Surprise Snack Giveaway Time TBD Rivera & Orbach Libraries
Film: The Wild Pear Tree 7:00pm to 10:00pm UCR ARTS, Culver Center of the Arts 3824 Main St, Riverside, CA 92501
AUDITIONS: MARISOL, a play by José Rivera 10:00am to 4:00pm Arts Building, Studio Theatre, ARTS 113
Women’s Club Soccer 4:00pm to 6:00pm Student Recreation Center (SRC), Glen Mor Fields
15 Friday
find that certain bands have a way of making death metal a beautiful genre and place their story behind that song. It makes me feel pumped up depending on the type of taste and really gets me through the day.”
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Saturday
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R’Finals Study Jam with the ARC 4:00pm to 8:00pm Orbach Library (Science Library)
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Burritos Fix Everything with ASPB 3:00pm Rivera Library
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UCR Mobility Hub on track for Fall 2020 completion, final design revealed by A&E ► FROM MOBLITY
The team stated that the three primary problems the Mobility Hub would address were the lack of an entryway to campus, safety and accessibility of alternative transportation, and the delivery systems to the Highlander Union Building and dining areas. Regarding a “front porch” to the campus, Hecht stated, “one of the problems that the Chancellor identified early on is that there’s really no set place for a sense of an arrival when you come to UCR, there’s no gateway … this is going to create a front door for the campus.” In order to make that front door, Hecht stated that it requires collaboration with “five government agencies,” which includes “UCR, the Federal Transit Authority, Riverside Transit Agency, City of Riverside, and Riverside County.” Hecht reports that they have “met essentially all of the milestones … We’ve all played together and got along great to deliver the project on time; we’re at budget.” Caraig mirrored the sentiment, stating that “it’s quite amazing having those five entities and orchestrating everything and being on time. Right now we’re projecting an on-schedule project so we’re pretty excited.” A key consideration put forward by Franklin was their attempt to convey that they do not want the rapid construction to inconvenience those who frequent the area; “Our
concerns are the separation of the construction site with the students and faculty. What I mean by that is that to the contractor – and we’ve made this perfectly clear – we want separation and pathways for everybody because we have many sites.” Hecht went on to deliberate the nature of the Mobility Hub itself, stating that “this is not a relocation of the bus transit center from downtown, this is a completely UCR-specific use.” Along with the exclusivity, he stated, “RTA is not adding any lines, so it’s just taking a use that was never planned for that grew – and creating a place for it.” Caraig explained the final traffic plan for the intersection that will connect the hub with University Ave. and Canyon Crest Dr., stating that “the barriers that we see there now that direct traffic up toward Canyon Crest will be eliminated, so there will be a traffic signal right there.” Franklin assured that “a traffic study was done” in an effort to set the signals on a timer to prevent vehicle congestion. Caraig expects that the implementation of the U-turn design, updated intersection and various docking zones at the hub will promote “more efficient flow of traffic both for pedestrians and for regular vehicle traffic.” Another purpose of the Mobility Hub outside of commuter traffic is addressing an existing delivery and service
COURTESY OF UCR PLANNING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
vehicle issue: “One of the problems that the Mobility Hub is going to solve is that right now when we take deliveries to the core of campus, it’s very awkward – they have to go up Linden then down Aberdeen then down North Campus Drive and go over by Surge,” Hecht said, “they do this big windy route, they cross way too many paths of students.” Franklin stated that, “as a refinement, this is also enhancing the ways that we deliver goods and all the support for the HUB, the food and the campus needs.” With the addition of a designated service vehicle turnout from one corner of the hub, Hecht said,
“in order to get deliveries into the core of campus they’ll just pull into the Mobility Hub and go straight in.” The team reported a generally positive community response to the development stage thus far, in part because of the implications for increased use of alternative transportation: “I think that by providing a front door, and the visibility of it,” Caraig said, “it could encourage a certain percentage increase of ridership via alternative ways of getting onto campus.” In addition, Hecht adds, “It’s safer, it’s nicer, it’s cleaner and it’s more efficient,” with estimates that the RTA “spends half a
million dollars each year in gas and wasted time with all the buses rounding the block.” Describing some of the more visual features of the project, Caraig said that “the whole area will be beautified. We’ll have changing-color canopy lights and it’s going to be very inviting with lots of greenery and foliage.” He went on to affirm that the Mobility Hub should feel “like a park setting but with busses going in and out.” Referencing the new renditions which show the Mobility Hub within the campus framework, Hecht concluded that “this is going to be a jewel for our campus.” ■H
COURTESY OF UCR PLANNING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
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NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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ASUCR
ASUCR passes feminine hygiene product accessibility, ex-parliamentarian addresses senate accountability JAKEB TIVEY Staff Writer
ASUCR’s last meeting of the winter quarter occurred Wednesday, March 6, and began at 6:38 p.m. The legislative assembly featured an ex-officio report by ASUCR President Semi Cole, followed by a public forum expose by ex-parliamentarian Jose Rodriguez on his dismissal by the chair. The senate also gave an election update on vacancies in three ASCUR administrative positions and passed legislation regarding the accessibility of feminine hygiene products at UCR. Senate reports featured new CNAS Senator Christopher Chebat’s intentions as a new member of the legislative branch, reports of positive feedback from various committee efforts and calls for senate involvement in the Friday, March 8 International Women’s Day Rally at UCR. For the roll call, CHASS Senator Jackie Chang was not present for the ninth consecutive week, CHASS Senator Asia Ou was excused, CNAS Senator Kenneth Thai was absent and CNAS Senator Kenneth Vongdi was missing for the second week in a row. Taking to the podium for an exofficio report, Cole gave an update on the projects his office is currently executing. Cole reported that on Tuesday, March 5 he visited the University Office of the President and spoke with UC President Janet Napolitano regarding undocumented students, food and housing insecurity, mental health and measures to combat racial tension system-wide. Cole said that his office is also working to establish a partnership program with Lyft; however, they have “run into some road blocks because Lyft does not want to engage in a contract with just ASUCR, they want to do a greater campus contract.”
Cole closed his statements by moving to make senator attendance mandatory at Friday, March 8’s International Women’s Day Rally, which passed unanimously. Following the ex-officio reports, the floor was opened for public comment where the recently-discharged ASUCR Senate Parliamentarian Jose Rodriguez addressed the legislative branch: “I will no longer be the parliamentarian because – I’m not resigning – I was dismissed by the chair just today.” Rodriguez said that as parliamentarian, he accomplished his duties by “advising on the rules of parliamentary procedure, specifically the bylaws and constitution,” with the goal to “improve the student senate.” In a message directed at each of the present senators, Rodriguez stated, “I need you all to remember that I wasn’t your enemy here, the director is not your enemy, the chair’s not your enemy … As student representatives we have a social
responsibility to the students but also to each other.” The now-former Parliamentarian Rodriguez closed his public statement by once again speaking directly to the senate: “Just a reminder, do better, do good. As a student, now I am asking that of my student government.” When another individual rose to question on what grounds Rodriguez was dismissed, Executive Vice President Andrea Cuevas stated, “the employment of my personal staff is going to remain in closed session.” During the main content of the meeting, the senate passed five bills unanimously including: SB-W19-002B, which extended the personnel director’s timeline from nine to 12 months, SB-W19-11, which updates the committee regulations maintained by the personnel director, SB-W19-14, the removal of the inactive Athletics Awareness Committee, and SB-W19-02, which affirms that ASUCR follows the
LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER
initiative set by the UCSA bylaw revision. The fifth article, SB-W19-01, is titled “Accessibility of Feminine Hygiene Products at UCR,” and calls for the provision by campus administration to provide said products in all applicable restrooms campus-wide, the maintaining of a sustainable quantity of these items and recommends that feminine hygiene products be available to students free of cost. Cole once again rose for comment, affirming the necessity of the resolution: “This is something that’s being called the ‘Menstrual Movement,’ at colleges and universities all across the United States and we’re trying to join as a part of that … we’re moving for critical campus adoption and making sure this is on the agenda for our chancellor.” Following a brief set of senator reports, the ninth weekly meeting was adjourned at 7:29 p.m. ■H
University of California drops subscription to Elsevier, the world’s largest publisher of academic journals
COURTESY OF PEXELS ► FROM PUBLISHER
In an interview with the Highlander, current Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development Dr. Michael Pazzani expressed strong support for the decision to terminate Elsevier from the University of California. “The internet and digital publishing have changed the underlying technology of publishing and reading articles, but the business model has remained the same,” said Pazzani. “This business model is good for Elsevier because it does not pay
faculty or students to write papers nor to review papers. Other industries have transformed as well, including music, video and commerce.” Pazzani predicted that there will be some short-term pain for faculty and students to find articles published after 2019, but in the long run, this decision will accelerate the transformation of the publishing industry as faculty and students shift their publications to publishers that embrace open access. Efforts to remove the “middleman” from the highly profitable business of
academic publishing continue to pose a challenge, but the UC system is the first major institution in the United States to terminate its relationship with Elsevier. “Make no mistake: The prices of scientific journals now are so high that not a single university in the US — not the University of California, not Harvard, no institution — can afford to subscribe to them all,” Jeffrey MacKie-Mason, a UC librarian and economics professor, said in a press statement. The push for universal open access is not just a sentiment within California – in fact, being able to read
academic journals is even more difficult in non-Western countries such as Iran, where costs can rise up to $1,000 per week to acquire basic literature for graduate courses. Universities banded together in Germany, Sweden and Hungary last year but also failed to reach an agreement with Elsevier over the same demands for a publish and read deal. Due to the terminated contract with Elsevier, it is unclear how current UCR faculty and students will adapt to changing policies and circumstances. ■H
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NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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International Women’s Day celebrated with march on Chancellor’s off ice
LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER ► FROM MARCH
He was followed by Tina Wong, a representative of Period at UCR, who spoke about menstrual rights saying, “We started this initiative called ‘pad initiative,’ and we’re working with different entities on campus to install free menstrual product dispensers in all the women’s restrooms.” She also spoke about wanting more access to free menstrual products and mentioned the dispensers already in places like the HUB and SRC. Cole once again took the
stand again to address ASUCR’s commitment to women’s rights and issues of inclusion. “We as your associated students commit ourselves to the critical work of this space. We stand in solidarity and pledge our allegiance to supporting the encouragement of young women and girls in positions of leadership.” He also announced a new project, “developed to combat sexual violence (and develop) safety measures for our community.” After Cole, Elizabeth Kavianian, co-president of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at UCR, a group
which focuses on political issues surrounding Planned Parenthood, took the stand and spoke about women’s rights and the work that the group has been doing, including advocating for the free menstrual products machines. She said, “It’s always encouraging to see our fellow students from UCR working hard to initiate change and establish their own individual projects.” Next at the podium was Denise Davis, the director of UCR’s Women’s Resource Center and the first openly LGBTQ Redlands city council member. Speaking about her work, she said, “I dream of a day when this work is no longer needed. I think we are far from it, but with your help we can keep moving forward to gender equity.” Davis also spoke of the impact of women’s movements both for women and other marginalized communities. She said, “I appreciate movements like this one which are born out of a desperate inability to accept one more second of not being seen, heard or valued as women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, people
with disabilities, immigrants, Muslims and anyone who lives within a marginalized identity in this country.” Following the speeches, the group of students along with Cole and several of the speakers marched from their position near the Bell Tower to Hindraker Hall while playing Queen’s “We are
the Champions.” Once inside the group went up the stairs to the Chancellor’s office, on the fourth floor, where they were met by Wilcox. The chancellor said that he “really appreciate(s) the effort and a great, great demonstration.”
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UC to pay out more than $162,000 to student workers as a result of faults in UCPath system
AMANI MAHMOUD Senior Staff Writer
The UCPath system, which has been gradually spreading throughout the UC campuses, will pay out more than $162,000 in make-whole payments to student workers who, as a result of errors in the UCPath system, received missed, delayed or less than expected paychecks. In an interview with the Highlander, Claire Doan, the director of media relations at the UC Office of the President (UCOP), stated that “it is important to address the financial hardships of the small number of students who experienced payroll problems and reached out to the union with a proposal to provide these payments. After months of negotiations with UAW, we believe we have reached a fair agreement to help impacted students.” According to Doan, student leaders first informed them that students whose pay was disrupted were being subjected to late fees and other fines ranging from $10 to $150. “We decided to apply the high end of that range to everyone affected and accounted for taxes, so impacted employees will receive a net of $150 – and up to $450, as appropriate and warranted by circumstances,” stated Doan. UC and the UC Student-Workers Union (UAW) Local 2865 worked to identify roughly 750 represented and unrepresented students who were affected during the course of several months of payroll following UCPath deployments. Doan noted that 750 students are equivalent to 2.5 percent of all UC student employees served by UCPath, or less than one percent of all UC employees on UCPath. The university will send a notification letter and payment in the form of a check to impacted employees within 60 business days. Doan stated that represented students who were affected but do not
receive payment should contact UAW; unrepresented student employees with similar concerns should reach out to their campus payroll representative. Doan believes that problems with UCPath and the recent rollout were due to a number of primary factors: conversion of data from the old system and staff getting used to the new system. In order to address these issues, UCPath and the UC are making a number of improvements. UC campuses are expanding the use of loaded pay cards as a quick, efficient solution for impacted students, as well as same-day and overnight checks. The UCPath Center is also sharing reports with campuses before final payroll calculation to ensure that student payroll is correct, and that time cards are received from the campus. Doan also stated that UCPath representatives met with student leadership from UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and UCR to listen to their concerns and brainstorm solutions. “We will also continue engaging student associations, which have proven to be instrumental in communicating with students,” stated Doan. The UC and UCPath additionally plan to enhance communication to students before and after the campus deployments, especially with respect to how to get they can quickly get help with pay issues. Furthermore, the UC and UCPath are implementing deeper, more comprehensive training for those carrying out campus transactions on student issues. In an interview with the Highlander, Gerry Bomotti, the chief financial officer and vice chancellor for planning and budget, stated that he is not aware of the exact number of students at UCR who were included in the $162,000 settlement by the UC. However, he stated that “our records show a very high number of UCR graduate students with incorrect paychecks since
UCPath started.” Despite this, Bomotti noted that the situation has improved over the year that it has been implemented at UCR. According to Bomotti, the issues surrounding UCPath especially impacted graduate students at UCR. He stated that, “with any new system there is a learning curve to understand the new technology and sometimes this leads to some errors.” The most prevalent issue for graduate students in UCPath’s system is that UCPath assumes that all graduate students are subject to all payroll deductions, such as deductions made by retirement. If the student enrollment feed from the campus lines up with the UCPath process and they are deemed an enrolled student, UCPath does not take these deductions. There have been many instances, however, where the deductions were taken, leading to underpayments to UCR students. Additionally, many of UCR’s graduate students have multiple appointments for different jobs across campus. Bomotti stated that in some cases this means that they are involved with more than one processing center; “if there is not careful coordination of the processing of these multiple jobs it can lead to errors.” Bomotti felt it was important to note that an issue that is always present for any
COURTESY OF UC PATH PROJECT
system, is that not only graduate students, but all employees, will not be paid if their paperwork is not entered into the system by the required deadlines. The UCPath deadlines are earlier than the previous system deadlines and this has led to some students not getting paid due to missing this processing deadline, according to Bomotti. He stated, “Many UCR graduate students have endured hardships due to not being paid on time or being paid incorrectly. These issues have improved over time, or so it appears to us at UCR.” Bomotti noted that UCPath is a very large and complex system, being implemented for all of the UC system. “While there have been many improvements to the system over the year plus that we have been on it, the UCPath staff also face challenges with more and more UC campuses coming onto UCPath,” stated Bomotti. This diverts attention away from finalizing some of the improvements that are ideal to be made to the system. Over the course of the next year all UC campuses will be on UCPath and Bomotti stated that, “I do believe there will be time to address some of the improvements we would all like to see, which will increase efficiency in the use of the system and decrease any errors to our staff (especially graduate students).” ■H
NEWS
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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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NEWS IN BRIEF:
Bourns College of Engineering deranked from U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Engineering Schools”
MARK BERTUMEN Senior Staff Writer
On Feb. 7, 2019 the U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) released an update on which previously ranked colleges for the 2019 year are now considered “Unranked,” due to misreporting of information by colleges. UCR’s Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE), previously ranked by USNWR’s as one of the “Best Engineering Schools,” is now unranked due to misreported research expenditures. The Highlander reached out to BCOE Dean Christopher S. Lynch for further comment on the deranking. “The US News rankings are based on a comprehensive list of metrics that reporting institutions pull from a variety of sources,” Lynch stated. “In December 2018, while compiling this year’s metrics, we noticed a discrepancy in the research
expenditures reported compared to the previous year.” Initially, BCOE sent in “all research expenditures, as would be normal for annual reports and summaries of
research,” according to Lynch. However, upon looking into the guidelines the text “showed that U.S. News and World Report had requested only external funding sources.”
The update states that BCOE “originally submitted research expenditures for fiscal year 2017 of $68.3 million. The school informed U.S. News the correct value is $30.9.”
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Lynch stated that BCOE will retain the “Unranked” status “until the publication of the next edition of the rankings, due to be released on March 12, 2019.”
ASUCR Parliamentarian dismissed, circumstances unclear AIDAN RUTTEN Senior Staff Writer
LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER
ASUCR’s Parliamentarian Jose Rodriguez, who joined the organization this academic year and was responsible for advising the senate on proper procedure (i.e. Robert’s Rules of Order) and on following the bylaws correctly, was dismissed from his position this past week. During public comment at last Wednesday’s ASUCR meeting, Rodriguez informed the senators, most for the first time, that Executive Vice President (EVP) Andrea Cuevas had dismissed him earlier that day. When another constituent present at the meeting asked about the dismissal, Cuevas said that employee matters were closed. Speaking with the Highlander, Rodriguez stated that he was “just trying to do (his) job,” as
evidenced by a previous meeting in which he voiced concerns that the student government was not following their own bylaws. “Another thing Robert’s rules doesn’t really approve of is adding items at the very last minute; during the meeting, that’s been done several times,” Rodriguez said. “As the parliamentarian I was advising ... I don’t think we can have a meeting today because the agenda wasn’t set on time and it wasn’t posted at the chambers. So the EVP would say ‘Yes, but it’s really important so we’re going to have it anyways.’ It’s like ok, well I did my job, I advised.” Speaking about the senators’ reactions, CHASS Senator Julian Gonzalez said that, “We were all shocked.” He also said that “I don’t know what the reason was for the dismissal so I guess I can’t
have an opinion before knowing what actually happened or the reasons why he was dismissed.” Gonzalez mentioned Rodriguez’s track record, saying, “(Rodriguez) was really passionate about getting the rules enforced which is really cool to have in ASUCR because we have a lot of rules and it’s really complicated.” He also said that “The reason why he was dismissed none of us know. I think it was just more of personal decision with the EVP and himself.” It is still unclear what legislation has passed this year that may not have conformed to the bylaws. Cuevas was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing. More information is forthcoming. v
ASUCR Outreach director position will now fall under VP of Finance AIDAN RUTTEN Senior Staff Writer
The Outreach Director, the ASUCR position responsible for coordinating UCR’s outreach efforts to students and the community, will be absorbed by the Finance Committee. According to Carolyn Chang, the current Outreach Director, the move will make things more convenient by facilitating effective communication. She
states, “The main purpose of the Outreach Director is to hold the Outreach Grant Hearing, which is under funding which can be directly under the VP of Finance. The Outreach Director position is being moved because Finance and Outreach work very closely together in order to host the Outreach Grant Hearings.” Chang suggested that the move will ensure that the
Outreach Director has to communicate with only one committee, as opposed to two, making “communication more efficient.” She went on to say that the change will benefit UCR: “ ... this will give a chance for ASUCR to focus more on other aspects such as expanding on marketing or sustainability.” The change will not take effect until next year. The position, according to the
ASUCR bylaws, is responsible for presiding as the chair of the ASUCR Outreach Hearing Committee and General Committee; coordinating outreach information from the ASUCR website and other ASUCR Outreach Committee social media; and representing ASUCR through collaborations or annual meetings with UCR Undergraduate Admissions and UCR Administration, among other things. ■H
LYDIA TSOU / HIGHLANDER
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OPINIONS
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL
Aff irmative action positions Asian Americans in identity purgatory
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n Oct. 2018 lawsuit regarding Harvard’s alleged discriminatory admissions process against Asian-Americans garnered national media attention, bringing to light at least two issues in affirmative action and where Asians should stand on it. In a country so concerned about polarizing colors like black and white or blue and red politics, AsianAmericans don’t always fit one political mold. Coinciding with the “model minority” stigma that’s been gaining more traction within the Asian community, AsianAmericans often are looked at as the minorities that get by in life the “right way.” Most people across the board view the Asian demographic as upper-middle class, and although there is some truth regarding this, it simply continues to perpetuate stereotypes while also failing to tell the narratives of underrepresented members within this group. What most people don’t know is that Asian-Americans are the racial group with the largest and fastestgrowing income disparity. Of course, the main reason as to how this occurred is by throwing together more than 40 ethnicities with backgrounds including the Indian subcontinent, East Asia and maritime and mainland Southeast Asia. The broad umbrella term of what it means to be “Asian-American” encompasses hundreds of different languages into one category with a handful of factors as the only real
regarding their 2013 admissions process and found bias against their Asian-
as Hispanics or AfricanAmericans. To make matters worse, an employee
American applicants, and continued it by consistently rating these applicants in the lower tier when it came to personality rating. In other words, AsianAmericans were fighting an even steeper uphill battle to get into Harvard, all because the university rated their personality based off outdated, racist stereotypes of Asians being submissive and lacking personality outside of academics. If this notion were to hold true, this means that a lowerclass Cambodian refugee would face the same odds as a middle-class Chinese American when it came to being admitted to Harvard, all due to a personality
at Harvard’s Office of Institutional Research even wrote in a report that “Asian high achievers have lower rates of admission,” as if the group needed more obstacles to hurdle. As for affirmative action, the reason why AsianAmericans are so torn on the issue is because there are too many people to include. Other than the obvious aspect of Asians being a diverse group based on geographic origin with varying socioeconomic backgrounds, Asians are identified as minorities but don’t necessarily reap the benefits of being one. Combine this aspect with the fact that Asian Americans are generally in favor of
similarities at best. This relates back to the Harvard case and affirmative action in the sense that it shows how thousands of applicants are affected because of only a couple of stereotypes. Harvard conducted an internal investigation
report conducted by this Ivy League institution. Even if the case weren’t as drastic, a middle class Asian-American would still have a lower chance of getting into the university compared to their fellow minority counterparts, such
affirmative action, leaves their identity all the more confusing. As stated earlier, Asians would either support minorities for enjoying the benefits that they themselves don’t get to see, or be viewed as tokenized puppets to white
conservatives. Liberals cry out that Harvard is enacting illegal quotas by purposely
–“Coinciding with the ‘model minority’ stigma that’s been gaining more traction within the Asian community, AsianAmericans often are looked at as the minorities that get by in life the ‘right way.’”–
–“Affirmative action sheds light on what was once heralded as a restitutive measure for minorities in recognition of past injustices, to specific minorities like Asians being discriminated against. ”–
not admitting more Asians, while conservatives use this as an attack on affirmative action backfiring against an already-oppressed demographic. If America still wants to continue keeping track of demographics in the future, they should do it more accurately. In the meantime, it would be a step into the right direction to at least break down the geographical parts of Asia within their own groups, like East Asians being their own subcategory, for example. Also, the fact that Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) is even a term that seemingly combined the latter with the former at the last minute, does a huge disservice to the subregions of Oceania — and that’s only one of the many issues at hand. There isn’t going to be one solution that will surely solve all our problems regarding race-based admissions. Although it may have started as a means of compensating for what happened to minorities in the past, affirmative action walks a fine line nowadays between assured diversity and state-sponsored racism. Perhaps emphasizing socioeconomic status over race might balance out these discrepancies in the meantime, as there exist poor people of all colors. But affirmative action started it off with the supposed right intent in mind too, it’s all a matter of time before taking socioeconomic background into account accepts lower class applicants at the demise of their upper class counterparts. Race-based admissions
cause issues like these, where richer white kids and the poorer minorities thrive, pitting the Asian Americans against each other. In this ongoing battle of “who can stick out the most out of the middle class” often leads to these top-tier schools to only accept Asians who have nearly perfect test scores. Asians with phenomenal academic records “settle” with second-tier schools if they don’t get into the premier universities that they statistically qualify for. This is an issue considering who ends up getting into these top-tier schools – those from Hispanic or black backgrounds with scores that didn’t meet the standards Asian-Americans and whites are held to. Affirmative action sheds light on what was once heralded as a restitutive measure for minorities in recognition of past injustices, to specific minorities like Asians being discriminated against. Perfect legislation will never exist, but improvements can always be made. Affirmative action is outdated and focus needs to shift on other more important factors like income and resources in communities that may have a lack thereof. If that proves to not be better in the long run, it would have at least tried to even things out short-term. Being Asian-American can mean so many different things, regardless of your background. It could mean playing this middle role in a polarizing American racial climate that often pits the demographic group amongst themselves. Perhaps the definition of being AsianAmerican isn’t about fitting the mold of black or white America, or agreeing on one stance when it comes to affirmative action. Maybe being Asian-American is embracing the unique and diverse amount of people and their opinions in spite of this dated umbrella term. Maybe our country needs to reevaluate these racial categories and be more specific about the diversity of the world’s largest continent. We need to stop treating these classifications and terms as if it’s the priority, whether that be in casual conversation or in a high-stakes, academic setting. ■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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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/opinions
OPINION POLL Compiled by Lydia Tsou Staff Photographer
“What are you doing over Spring Break?” Zach Miller Biology Second-year “I’m going to Vegas for the whole week with friends.”
Johnathan Bogarin Statistics Second-year “I’m going home to LA and I’m happy to see my mom, my friends and my girlfriend.”
Edward Schuberg Statistics Sixth-year Graduate “I just work full time, but I’m trying to go to the beach to surf on the weekend.”
Amanda Torres Biology Third-year “I’m looking forward to hanging out with family, because when I’m in school I hardly go home.”
Lakshya Gutti Biology First-year “My parents and I might go to LA to stay for four days. I’ll go to the beach, go jet-skiing and parasailing.”
Genesis Flores Marketing Third-year “I’ll be going home to Sacramento to see my family.”
The curious case of white people against Marie Kondo
DAVINA GARCIA Contributing Writer
The Netflix series “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” has taken the world by storm since its debut. The star of the show, Marie Kondo, is a pleasant Japanese consultant who helps people clean up their habitually cluttered homes. Initially, she inspired many, gaining fans around the world with her positive methods and ideology concerning cleanliness and organization. However, in spite of this popularity, a rather unexpected wave of controversy from a certain demographic of the population has come to overshadow it. Some white people in particular, are unique in their unwarranted vitriol regarding Kondo. With faint but disturbing notes of xenophobia, they willfully misinterpret her philosophy and make poorly disguised attempts to undermine the success of her work as a woman of color. Marie Kondo is undoubtedly an accomplished person. Her first book titled “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” was published in 2011 and sold millions of copies in many different languages; thus inspiring the emergence of her Netflix series and introducing the KonMari Method to all. Said technique involves the concept of mental care and cultivation, stemming from the ideologies of Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan which focuses upon treating the home as a sacred space that deserves special care and devotion. Essentially, Kondo advises one to consider whether or not a certain object “sparks joy,” and to handle said item accordingly. This benign thought process is fairly simple to comprehend, which is part of the reason why the initial controversy surrounding Kondo is difficult to stomach. In particular, there was an odd misinterpretation concerning Kondo’s opinion on books. During one of the episodes in her show, she states, “By having these books, will it be beneficial to your life going forward? Books are the reflection of our thoughts and values.” This would appear to be a gentle reminder of her cleaning methods; she is simply asking whether or
not each book is worth keeping. However, Twitter users and online writers wasted no time in twisting her words, strangely misinterpreting them to paint Kondo in a negative light. One of the main culprits of this barrage, Anakana Schofield, took to Twitter and wrote a following piece in order to criticize Kondo, declaring that the organization consultant was misguided and incorrect in saying that one needs to throw out books that don’t “spark joy.” Other attacks were quick to accumulate; a now deleted viral picture featuring Marie Kondo and an edited speech bubble with the words “one should only keep thirty books or less,” circulated the internet; the caption rancorously calling her a “monster.” Those attacks certainly erred on the harsher side, especially given the fact that they were all based upon a misunderstanding. Kondo has said time and time again, that personally, she keeps only about thirty books in her home. Never once has she told someone that they needed to follow a specific numerical rule; in fact, she takes a distinctly feeling-based approach. The idea is to keep the books that you value and take pleasure in. So upon closer inspection, the misinterpretation of her words becomes incongruous. It is as if these people are intentionally misconstruing her message, preferring to paint her as some sort of villain and turn others against her influence. It is even more concerning to learn that this assault was only the beginning of the crusade against Kondo. She has since become the target of white disparagement, with many major publications putting out dismissive, and often denigrating pieces regarding the Japanese consultant. There is a general consensus among these critiques, in which they appear to lack an understanding of her philosophy, but simultaneously take it upon themselves to attack her for personalized issues or try and speak over her as an authoritative figure, with the simple objective of subverting her clear ascendancy as a homekeeping expert. By now, it is evident that a great many of these detractors feel threatened by this small Japanese woman. Some people have an extraordinarily difficult time accepting Marie
Kondo and her many triumphs, feeling the need to vocalize their strong, unrestrained disdain — which most definitely raises a question or two. It may be difficult to discern the exact reason why, but one can make an educated guess. Americans in particular are accustomed to authority figures being male, and more importantly, white. Indeed, the concept of keeping items that are important, and tossing ones that are not, is not new in any way. A related idea, minimalism, advises people to try and rid themselves of any objects that are unnecessary, and it does so in a much less empathetic manner. There are many blogs and books dedicated to the concept of minimalism, and yet, the many who support and advocate for this lifestyle are not facing nearly any of the same repercussions that plague Kondo. This becomes even more of a serious issue as one considers the language that said white critics use when speaking about her. She has been continuously “othered,” or condemned to being treated as completely alien due to her being of a different race; in other words, a sly form of dehumanization one may attribute to her identity as a foreign, East Asian woman. This particular criticism is more disturbing due to its blatant xenophobic overtones, as an American woman at a conference for the National Organization of Professional Organizers, described her books as only being fit for a
“20-something Japanese girl” living at home with Hello Kitty stuffed animals. Another writer, Barbara Ehrenreich, gave her two cents about Kondo, tweeting that her hopes in America have been lost, in part thanks to the popular cleaning-guru’s lack of English language ability — a sentiment that is nothing if not prejudiced. These are unmistakable attempts to racialize her, to push her back into the stereotype and role that these white people are most comfortable with. Marie Kondo and her success do not fit into the boxes that her race and sex would deem appropriate for America. In this way, they are plain endeavors to mark her as someone different and undesirable, and to sabotage the positive following that she has amassed. It is incredibly disconcerting to think that certain people, often of white descent, are going out of their way to trivialize the success of Marie Kondo simply because she is an Asian woman; and that they are doing so with an obvious racist and xenophobic agenda, whether volitional or not. Kondo deserves none of the negativity that she is being subject to, and it is worrisome to think that in a supposedly post-racism time, this is how the some members of the white public decide to treat a minority woman who is committing no crime, and doing nothing wrong other than gaining prestige and influence in her field of work. ■H
through the airwaves, Democrats are attacked for having no values. The best example of that is the infamous “Godless” ad filmed in 2008 accusing Kay Hagan, a then-Senate candidate of North Carolina, with accusations of having no values. If Republicans now wish to cede this moral authority, Democrats should act to take that high ground, and show people that they will uphold such values to win our votes. The Democratic party needs a candidate with a clean slate because if they are to truly compete in the hard-fought swing states that Democrats lost in the prior presidential election, we must select a candidate who has the kind of bonafide homegrown values that represent America at its best. We certainly do not need to elevate and re-elect a candidate who reflects an America losing her moral compass. To make this clear, in no way is this meant to brush over some of the wrongs
other presidents have done, such as Bill Clinton in the Lewinsky scandal and Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy in their infidelity to their wives and sexual misdeeds. But something must be made very clear: the Republican Party has claimed not so long ago to stand for the America that still cared about its values, and that party has all but ceded that credibility with their explicit toleration of a president who seems to spend more time cultivating a Twitter feed denigrating political opponents and scoring partisan points rather than trying to really lead us in a moral direction. The President currently holds above 90 percent approval among his own partisans, thus making it impossible for the Republicans, for the time being, to say they care about their values. It is my belief, then, that the abandonment of values from one party gives the other side the opening to occupy the moral high ground in a way no one has
since Jimmy Carter more than 40 years ago. We need a return to a presidency where the incumbent commands respect in his or her moral character, not a talking head that will merely deliver a policy prescription with a mile-long scandalprone presidency to boot. ■H
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
2020 is an opportunity for Democrats to regain the moral high ground
SAMIR AL-ALAMI Contributing Writer
This past Saturday, President Donald Trump gave a speech that essentially reflected how he presents himself to the people of this country each and every day: without dignity or morality. Ironically, this speech was given at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), an organization that espouses the same “family values” that the Republican Party as of late seems to have all but abandoned. Values like fidelity to your wife and, perhaps using less profaneladen language or racist caricatures of your own former Attorney General. All these things have fallen by the wayside in the Republican Party, and so it is my belief that the Democrats must try to secure the higher ground. The basis for this is for this simple fact: for years through commercials floating
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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FEATURES
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers discuss overcoming challenges and the value of education
ANTONIO VELAOCHAGA Contributing Writer
On Wednesday, March 6, ASPB hosted an early screening of the “Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart” documentary and a Q&A with teacher and featured protagonist Erin Gruwell. The event began at 7 p.m. in University Lecture Hall 1000. ASPB hosted this event as a means to bring a demographic of storytellers to campus. The documentary is about the students who Erin Gruwell taught during her teaching career in the mid-1990s at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach and how she was able to help them succeed despite the poverty, racism and crime they faced daily. To help them cope with their hardships, Gruwell gave her students journals to anonymously write down anything they wanted. By developing a curriculum that would engage her students and allow them an outlet to express themselves, Gruwell gave her students a comfort and freedom they never had. This allowed all of her students to graduate from high school and further succeed in their lives. In homage to the 1960s civil rights group called the Freedom Riders, Gruwell’s class named themselves the Freedom Writers; in 1999, the students’ journals were published in an anthology, “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.” The audience was filled with over 100 students, educators, administrators and others who were excited to watch the documentary. When given the microphone, Gruwell had the Freedom Writer teachers in the crowd stand up. These were teachers who were taught Ms. Gruwell’s methodology in intensive workshops through the Freedom Writers Foundation which she founded in 1997. After a brief introduction, the film began. After the screening, ASPB passed the
microphone to Gruwell, who directed most of the Q&A. Gruwell began by presenting three of her former Freedom Writer students: Erica, Norma and Tye, using their experiences as a springboard for the Q&A. Gruwell praised her former students’ successes despite their hardships; Norma graduated from UCR in 2014, Tye is a former combat medic and works for the Freedom Writers Foundation and Erica’s story was accepted for publishing by Random House publishing. Gruwell gave her students the platform to tell parts of their story. Norma was an undocumented immigrant and nearly gave up school multiple times. After receiving her citizenship, she persevered through raising three children with her husband while going to school. Gruwell connected Erica’s adoption of a baby boy to the moment in the documentary when one of her Freedom Writer classmates had constantly moved foster homes and was left without a definite home. Gruwell drew this idea of sparing people from the hardships Erica prevented from happening to her son, who could easily have been a foster child like her former classmate. Gruwell asked Tye why representation is so important for people as she noted him representing his fallen military brethren and on the representation of the Black Lives Matter movement. Tye commented on his life in Inglewood, surrounded by constant violence and death, and explained that these stories are often lost or ignored. Tye said that a reason he joined the military was due to his desire to stand up for victims of injustice. He remarked that things have improved, but that there is still systemic racism and more work to be done. Tye ended by saying, “It’s very important to express those that were lost and that people did hear about them because their lives did matter.” Next, Gruwell gave the Freedom Writer teachers the opportunity to ask the first audience questions. They asked questions that would aid them in the current difficulties they have encountered with their own struggling students. Then
Gruwell and her Freedom Writers gave these teachers helpful guidance and insight based on their own views and experiences. Gruwell discussed her Freedom Writers Foundation, which strives to improve education through teaching institutions, speaking engagements, video chats and outreach programs. Today, there are 700 Freedom Writer teachers in every state and 20 countries focusing on
THOMAS HOLGUIN / HIGHLANDER
improving the education and welfare of their students. When the event concluded, Gruwell and her Freedom Writers signed books and took photos with the crowd. The event was quite successful while ASPB Directors of Films and Lectures Neha Khushalani and Mandy Felix said that many students left inspired. “Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart” will be released March 28 at 8 p.m. on PBS. ■H
THOMAS HOLGUIN / HIGHLANDER
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FEATURES
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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BOBA TEA HOUSE: A UCR FAVORITE THAT NEVER FAILS TO IMPRESS Jasmine Yamanaka, Contributing Writer
JASMINE YAMANAKA / HIGHLANDER
Drinks
8.5/10
Price
$2-$4
Ambience
7/10
Everyone who likes boba and goes to UCR knows that you can’t go wrong with Boba Tea House. They seem to have just about every flavor of milk tea, fruit tea or smoothie, and something I appreciate about their wide selection is that the items aren’t just a repetition of the same ingredients to make interesting-sounding combinations. Instead, the variety stems from an expansive stock of fruits and flavors: guava, lavender, pina colada, chocolate mint, red plum, salted caramel, cactus cooler, chai, you name it. Not only that but everything I’ve ever tried from Boba Tea House has always tasted good. Their drinks are never sugary or watery but always gentle, creamy and boldy flavorful. If you have never tried Boba Tea House, this one’s for you. Thai milk tea is hard to get right: it can easily be too watery or too creamy. Boba Tea House’s take, however, always has the same delicate touch of creaminess that I can rely on to not overpower the beautiful earthy black tea. It provides that lovely Thai tea flavor and velvetiness without ever making me feel like I’m drinking something too rich, which is often a trap that this drink falls into.
The taro milk tea also features an unbeatable, soothing taro taste, which is naturally creamy and has a hint of vanilla flavor. Although the ice had melted by the time I got to this drink, the flavor and consistency still shone through. Melting ice is an inevitable problem for all boba but somehow, Boba Tea House still tastes great. It’s a sign of quality that they don’t add excessive ice to save money, something that is, unfortunately, all too common in the industry. Boba Tea House’s winter melon milk tea, for once, did not disappoint me. It still isn’t my favorite flavor but at least at Boba Tea House, it tastes good. With winter melon tea from other boba places, such as the winter melon tea from 5s’ Teas, the winter melon just dilutes the regular milk tea, so essentially it just tastes like bitter, watery and slightly sour regular milk tea. But at Boba Tea House, the sweet,
juicy flavor of the winter melon is taken advantage of to add a refreshing kick to the regular milk tea. The smoothies do not disappoint, either. Out of everything I tried on this day, I anticipated drinking the strawberry smoothie the most because it just looked so rich, pink and well-blended. I was not let down because it was smooth, thick and tasted like real strawberry. Out of all the boba places in Riverside, Boba Tea House has my favorite tapioca because it is nice and big and chewy. Some days, I even prefer it over the tapioca from its biggest competitor, Ding Tea, which overall has higher quality tea, because Boba Tea House’s is a little bigger and stronger in that rich, brown sugar tapioca flavor. With regards to atmosphere, Boba Tea House is top-notch. The management knows that most of their customers are college students, so their music selection features catchy pop music that is never loud or distracting like in so many other boba shops. Modern window seats and tables that seat more than two people offer a nice and spacious environment for group study, laptops and paperwork. The store is always well-lit, the decorations are minimal and the colors are warm to create a homely feel. Even though Ding Tea has the best milk tea in Riverside, Boba Tea House is still a classic and many days, I even prefer to go to Boba Tea House over Ding Tea. I think it has something to do with their wide variety of fresh, healthy ingredients and a distinctive, gentle and creamy taste that is specific to Boba Tea House. Boba Tea House is a student favorite, and a visit to this UCR staple will convince you that their passionate fanbase has it right. ■H
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FEATURES
The Verbal Coliseum’s
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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second annual showcase features a night of UCR’s best spoken word poetry MARTHA DELGADO, SENIOR STAFF WRITER
THOMAS HOLGUIN / HIGHLANDER
The Verbal Coliseum held their annual spoken word showcase on Thursday, March 7 at HUB 379, in a room packed with spoken word aficionados. The showcase featured 13 of the club’s poets each performing their own original work. A table near the front of the room had pictures of each performer and sticky notes for people to leave encouraging notes to them. The featured poet of the night was Tongo Eisen-Martin, a spoken word artist from San Francisco. Eisen-Martin is the author of the poetry collections “someone’s dead already” and “Heaven is All Goodbyes” which received a 2018 California Book Award, 2018 American Book Award, was named a 2018 California Booksellers Association Poetry Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2018 Griffin International Poetry Prize. The first of the Verbal Coliseum’s performers was Martiza Altamirano, a fourth-year transfer student and business major who has already performed at spoken word poetry slams in her native Central Valley. Altamirano performed three pieces, one of which was a poem wishing her mother a happy birthday. Altamirano’s last poem, titled “Acceptance,” discussed selflove and comfort in one’s own body. She ended the poem by having the audience call back “I love myself.” Another of the poets presenting was Verbal Coliseum secretary Eddie Ramirez, a fifth-year anthropology major whose poems talked about failed relationships and moving on from heartbreak. For the poem titled “Dope Ass Mofo Poem Y’all Wassssupp,” Ramirez performed alongside
another member Kris Allen, fourth-year transfer English major, as they sang and rapped. Ramirez collaborated on a poem at last year’s showcase and wanted to collaborate again this year, this time with Allen due to their similar styles and subjects. Devany Harden, the Verbal Coliseum’s president and third-year theatre, film and digital production major, performed two poems about dance and one titled “Mixed Voice” about her experience as a biracial individual. “Our showcase and the open mic are (meant) to give our poets opportunities to perform, experience performing and meet other people who are interested as well,” began Harden. “Our guest speakers give them access to somebody who’s been in their shoes, and to expose them to new worlds, other poets (and) connections.” After an open mic and brief intermission, Eisen-Martin closed the night by performing three poems where he critiqued politics and racial injustice. He then answered questions about his writing process, performances and life in San Francisco. Eisen-Martin shared how he used to just read his poems at open mics until another poet advised him to be direct with the audience. Eisen-Martin began to make eye contact with his audience when performing which some audience members were receptive to. “In any given audience there are people who are instantly with you. All you really need is a person there and there and you can make it (through),” he said. One day at a protest, however, his direct style prompted a female audience member to tell him to not be so intense
with his audience. “What you’re doing is too strong. Don’t bring that down into people,” he joked as he recalled what the lady told him. Since then he has looked to musicians like Jimi Hendrix for inspiration on performing spoken word. “I’m just going with what’s naturally there momentto-moment, and that’s all I’m trying to do,” he commented. On his style, Eisen-Martin explained that the more detailed and nuanced a poet’s writing is, the more they are able to develop their unique voice. “You get to your voice through awareness of yourself, figuring out what makes you tick and being detailed,” said Eisen-Martin. He also shared how writers should be open to contradicting themselves on the page to show their growth in mentality. “Some people (when writing poetry) in the beginning, we write like we never disagree
with ourselves, and that’s why it sounds a little off,” he began. “It doesn’t reflect the natural process because all we do is walk around disagreeing with ourselves all day long.” The first spoken word showcase by the club was held in 2018 and featured nine poets. One year later, the Verbal Coliseum has grown and now features 13 poets for the showcase. A component of the club are workshops where members get feedback from other members on their poems. Each of the featured poets hosted a workshop leading up to the showcase. The Verbal Coliseum meets Fridays from 3:30-5 p.m. in different locations in the HUB. Meetings locations for Spring 2019 will be posted on the group’s Highlander Link (@TheVerbalColiseum) and Instagram (@theverbalcoliseum) pages. ■H
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R adar ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
JIMMY LAI / HIGHLANDER
RADAR
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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Captain Marve Marvell
is a marvelous addition to the MCU Silvia Ferrer, staff writer
COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
“Captain Marvel” is the long-awaited (and much critiqued) addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After being revealed in the end credits scene of “Avengers: Infinity War,” the titular character became a source of contention among Marvel fans; some fans speculated whether the film was the correct move for the franchise, while others were joyous that a Marvel film would be female-led for the first time. With a strong, three-dimensional protagonist and talented supporting cast, plenty of funny witticisms, excellent visual effects and great action sequences, Marvel produced a film that would satisfy any die-hard fan or casual viewer. Captain Marvel’s (Brie Larson) first encounter with Earth is when she crashes into a Blockbuster in 1995. Although the time period fades from attention as the action revs up, the film doesn’t miss the chance to poke fun at the slow technology
of Windows 95 or emphasize the fashion choices of the era. As a member of the Kree (which she describes as a race of “noble warrior heroes”), Captain Marvel is inherently strong. But Marvel enhances her characterization through flashbacks and interactions to ensure that Captain Marvel’s tragic origin story and threedimensionality are on full display. She is bold, rebellious, a bit cocky, but she’s also funny, sweet and loyal (not unlike another hero, Tony Stark). Larson’s performance and the dialogue make her characterization feel natural, especially in her interactions with other characters, such as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and her best friend, Maria Rambeau. In the 1990s, Fury is far from the tough leader of the first Avengers film — he’s a slightly awkward, low-ranking, cheerful member of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s office division. He provides light comic relief, but Jackson’s comedic abilities shine
brighter when he shares the screen. As a team, Captain Marvel and Fury fill the time with fun banter and intense action sequences. The CGI in the action sequences is a bit much, as sometimes the scene seems more on par with video game graphics than a live-action flick. Overall, however, the editing makes for a visually impressive watch, especially when it was used to spice up action-less scenes. The soundtrack, like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” is full of throwbacks that make the action sequences infinitely more interesting than just placing them against intense instrumentals. Rambeau has an intense emotional exchange with Captain Marvel that’ll have the audience fighting back tears. As a character central to Captain Marvel’s origin story, Rambeau ensures that she is more than just a playful warrior. Together, the two are a dynamic duo that establish undertones of empowerment that add
a layer of complexity and relevance to the film. That’s where Marvel’s secret lies — it has found the perfect balance between action, comedy and drama. So far, Marvel’s flawless execution of this formula and unique characters has prevented this formula from feeling repetitive. “Captain Marvel” is packed with details that add to the MCU, but also pay homage to it. It includes a bittersweet cameo and tribute to iconic creator Stan Lee as a thanks to the man behind the comic book. It continues the longstanding tradition of the mid- and end credits scene, which is sure to excite even the most casual fan for the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame.” With outstanding performances from the cast, playful banter and visually striking edits, “Captain Marvel” lives up to the high expectations that exist for every Marvel film. ■H
COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
Verdict:
Whether you need a break from studying or are looking for a way to celebrate Women’s History Month, “Captain Marvel” is a must watch for Marvel fans and casual watchers alike.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
eezer LAURA ANAYA-MORGA Contributing Writer
In recent years, Weezer has leaned further away from the rock heroes they once were and have transitioned into the playful jokers they are now. Their newest release, “The Black Album,” comes just a few months after their earlier 2019 release “The Teal Album,” which consisted of old school covers ranging from Michael Jackson to Toto. “The Black Album” was in the works since the release of their 2017 album “Pacific Daydream,” which featured a much brighter powerpop vibe as opposed to this new, electric and innovative sound the band was trying to achieve. During the promotional run, frontman Rivers Cuomo teased that “The Black Album” would be the darkest entry yet in the band’s discography, but unfortunately, this project has fallen a bit short of that. Sure, there is an overarching theme of isolation and loneliness on tracks like “Piece Of Cake” and “Too Many Thoughts In My Head,” but this theme is inconsistent throughout the LP. The tone is leaning towards a more somber sound than any of Weezer’s previous releases but it is far less dark than it was hyped up to be. The rest of the album is quite scattered and feels rather unfinished compared to its predecessors, especially on tracks like “Zombie Bastards” which, while I admit is one of the musical high points of the album, doesn’t serve much purpose for the theme and overall narrative. Sonically, there are definitely some good moments that shine through on the album. The lead single and opening track “Can’t Knock The Hustle” carries an experimental, 1970s-inspired funk sound that is very different to the band’s typical discography. “High As A Kite” and “Piece Of Cake” both follow the lonesome themes of the album with the lyrics, “I only want to disappear” and “Let me swing by / Tears in my eyes” Lyrically, “Piece Of Cake” is not very complex but the heavy electric guitar and soft piano
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perfectly complement each other to make the track a sure fan favorite. “Livin’ In LA” sounds like an upgraded song off of their last album “Pacific Daydream;” it’s very similar to what the band has released in the past but with proper production and an overall better sound. “I’m Just Being Honest” takes listeners back to early Weezer like a breath of nostalgic yet fresh air. The song features a classic rock vibe that will surely become a fan favorite. However, after this point the songs begin to sound quite basic and don’t pick back up until the very end. On “Too Many Thoughts In My Head,” Cuomo explores new heights with his voice by adding in a surprising falsetto towards the end of the track. The drums and vocals are very repetitive, which make the song quite
boring to listen to. However, the track does hold up with the dark theme of “The Black Album” with lyrics like, “I never wanted to be lonely / I never thought that life would turn out like this.” There is not much to say about “The Prince Who Wanted Everything,” other than it is an obvious allusion to the late singer, Prince. The lyrics mention “his paisley bones” and “red corvettes” which reference his songs “Paisley Park” and “Little Red Corvette.” Unfortunately, these last few tracks tend to sound like one long verse, never reaching a chorus and disrupting otherwise good flow. The same goes for “Byzantine” which only adds to the feeling of faultiness and incompletion on the LP. However, the album’s closing track, “California Snow,” is another
where the band experimented with their sound and it turned out quite well. The lyrics are strange and cringeworthy to begin with, the first lines being, “When I play guitar it’s sick, woo / This is the definition of flow, woo,” but the ‘90s video game-inspired synths and the strong electric guitar make for a fun song to bop your head to. Overall, when listening to the album in its entirety, the songs just seem to pass by and there are no particular points that catch the listener’s attention. “The Black Album” lands in the middle of the road between innovation and classic Weezer, which is not necessarily a bad thing but will leave devoted fans wondering if Weezer will ever release something entirely new. ■H
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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
HIGHLANDER // highlandernews.org/sports
Baseball loses three straight during week
JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
UCR’s baseball team (6-9) started the week with an embarrassing loss at home to the University of San Diego (18-13), where the team gave up a total of 31 runs. The Highlanders came into the game on a three-game winning streak but were unable to continue their good stretch of play against USD. Riverside allowed San Diego to score four or more runs in six of the nine innings of play. Junior pitcher Connor Cannon was only able to earn one out in his start before being pulled by Head Coach Troy Percival for allowing five runs. USD totaled 25 hits to score 31 runs while UCR only totaled four hits on their way to three runs. San Diego had three players with three or more hits and four players with three or more RBI. The Highlanders had four different players get one hit each. UCR’s next game was against Rider University (4-8), which ended in a 5-1 loss for the Highlanders. Both teams scored in the
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fifth inning, but Rider scored twice compared to Riverside who only scored once. RU would add one more run in the sixth and two more in the ninth inning to secure the victory. The Highlanders were only able to total two hits while RU collected 10 hits on their way to five runs. Sophomore pitcher Jeremiah Priddy suffered his second loss of the season after allowing three runs in seven innings of
play. UCR would endure their third straight loss against the University of San Francisco (9-5), 8-2. Riverside scored their only two runs in the second inning, while USF score two or more in an inning in three separate innings on their way to eight runs. The Highlanders were again out-hit by their opponent. UCR had only five hits while
USF doubled their hit count with 10. Shamus Lyons suffered his second loss of the season, allowing eight hits and three runs to cross the plate in his five innings of work. Riverside had four pitchers take the mound, three of them allowing two or more runs during their appearance. The Highlanders’ next game will be Friday, March 15 against Tulane University. ■H
Highlander Hot Take:
Bryce Harper’s mega-contract is a mistake for both him and the Phillies.
RICARDO GARCIA Contributing Writer
It has been such a long winter for MLB free agency. The market for player services slowed down as everyone waited to see where two marquee names would play next season. These two players were Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. Machado was fresh off a World Series run with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and even though Harper missed the postseason with the Washington Nationals, he launched 34 home runs to place in the top 20 among qualified players. This winter was essentially a grudge match to see which player would get paid the most money for their services. While that occured, the hot stove went cold on just about everyone else’s market. As spring training began, Machado signed a then-record 10-year, $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres. Days later, Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for 13 years and $330 million contract. Harper and the Phillies made a big mistake with the contract. While Harper gets more money, he’s essentially stuck in Philadelphia for the rest of his career. There is no opt-out clause at any point, so he will be 39 years old when his contract ends. Machado, on the other hand, can opt-out in 2023. So if the Padres aren’t getting close to a meaningful playoff run, he can jump ship and find another team who is close to winning it all, while he is still in the prime of his career. In the past, Harper has been known to stir controversy with his temper on the field and in the clubhouse. If those issues arise in Philadelphia, they are basically stuck with that until 2032. Let’s also assume that at some
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point in the middle of his contract, the Phillies decide to rebuild while their superstar ages. Although Harper stated he has a desire to remain in Philadelphia for the rest of his career, there may be a point during this proposed rebuild that he decides he wants to be traded to a more competitive team. The amount of money he’s getting paid per year and the length of the contract makes it difficult to trade him if it ever gets to that point. If he or the Phillies underwhelm, there will be some severe criticism being thrown their way. That being said, let’s also look at some notable recent megacontracts that illustrate this.
Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera signed an eightyear, $244 million contract extension back in 2014. At the time, it seemed justified. The Tigers had made the postseason for four consecutive years, including a trip to the World Series. Since 2015, they have been near the bottom of the standings while their superstar continues to age and struggle with injuries. Let’s also look at Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols’ mega-contract. The Angels signed him for 10 years and $240 million in 2012, just a year removed from winning the World Series. At the time, having a veteran
soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer in the lineup with a young Mike Trout looked like the start of a successful era for the Angels. It’s only produced one playoff appearance, which ended in a first-round sweep after winning 98 games in 2014. The Angels have been wasting Trout’s best years, while Pujols continues to underwhelm and struggle with injuries. Bryce Harper and the Phillies are now on the clock to make dividends and take advantage of his young age. If there isn’t any immediate success on the field, people will get fired and fans won’t ■H be happy for years to come.
Women’s tennis goes 1-1 against Cal Poly, Weber State JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
The UCR women’s tennis team (3-7, 0-3) went 1-1 in their week after losing 4-3 to Cal Poly followed by a 5-2 win against Weber State. The Highlanders first took on Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (4-6) on Monday, March 4. Riverside split the singles matches with the Mustangs which evened the score at 3-3. UCR would go on to lose the match 4-3 after losing in pivotal doubles matches. Freshmen Mahli Silpachai, Natalie Shamma and sophomore Tia Elpusan each earned a point through victories in their singles matches. The Mustangs won the deciding doubles point thanks to 7-5 and 6-0 wins from their doubles teams. Riverside was scheduled to take on Villanova University on Wednesday, March 6, but the match was cancelled due to rain. The Highlanders would instead take on Weber State (9-5) on Thursday, March 7 and earn a 5-2 victory. UCR won two of the three doubles matches to earn one point. The teams composed of Elpusan, junior Sara Khattab, freshman Lindsey Gelinas and junior Lauren Wolfe were both victorious. Riverside was also able to pick up four points on the singles side. Silpachai, Elpusan, Shamma and Khattab each won their respective matches to help UCR win their third game of the season. The Highlanders next match will be at home Wednesday, H March 13 against Illinois State. ■
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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
SOFTBALL CONTINUES WINNING STREAK HEADING INTO WEEKEND JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
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JONATHAN FERNANDEZ Senior Staff Writer
The Highlander softball team (7-12) hosted the Highlander Classic from Friday, March 8-10. As part of the Highlander Classic, UCR competed against Omaha University, the University of Houston and the University of San Diego. Riverside faced off against Omaha University (2-15) in the first game of their doubleheader on Friday, March 8. The Highlanders were able to earn their second straight win in a commanding 8-0 victory. Junior Jacy Boles pitched a complete game shutout and only allowed three hits while striking out six
batters. UCR amassed a total of 12 hits and had five hitters get two or more hits including junior catcher Kayla Curtan who went three-for-four at the plate. In the second game of their doubleheader, the Highlanders took on the University of Houston (16-7) in a defensive showdown that ended 1-0 with Riverside earning their third straight victory. The game was scoreless through seven innings thanks to dominant pitching performances on both sides. Freshman Megan Casper started on the mound for UCR and pitched six scoreless innings before being subbed out for Boles who earned the win after 1.2 innings of scoreless
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play. On the other side of the diamond, Houston’s pitcher Presley Bell had an equally impressive showing, pitching the full 7.1 innings and only allowing one run and four hits. Houston totaled five hits while the Highlanders compiled only four, but managed to score the only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior right fielder Danielle Ortega led the team with two hits while junior shortstop Emma Ramelot hit the team’s only RBI in walk-off fashion. UCR’s next game will be at San Diego State (11-11) Wednesday, March 13 before the team hosts the UCR Tournament from Friday, March 15-17. ■H
WOMEN’S GOLF FINISHES NINTH IN GUNROCK INVITATIONAL
The Highlander women’s golf team competed in the Gunrock Invitational which was hosted by UC Davis from Monday, March 4-5. UCR competed against 11 teams including Grand Canyon University, who they’ve competed against in their past three tournaments, and finished ninth. Riverside combined to shoot a 309 score in the first round. The Highlanders responded in the second round by shooting their lowest score of the season, 294. UCR rounded out the competition by shooting a 314 in the third and final round to finish in ninth place. Junior Hailey White had a career-day in day two of the competition, shooting a careerlow 69 in the second round of action. White finished the tournament 13th overall at five over par. Senior Jakeishya Le finished tied for 32nd place with a 228 score. Sophomore Ping Huang rounded out UCR’s top three players as she finished tied for 47th with a 234 score. Senior Hana Furuichi and sophomore Kayla Kwong finished tied for 49th and 63rd respectively. The women’s golf team will have a couple weeks off before their next tournament, the Fresno State Classic, which will take place from April 1-2. ■H
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GUNROCK INVITATIONAL RESULTS
PLAYER HAILEY WHITE JAKEISHYA LE PING HUANG HANA FURUICHI KAYLA KWONG
R1 78 76 78 79 77
R2 69 72 78 75 87
R3 74 80 78 82 84
TOTAL 221 228 234 236 248
PLACE T-13 T-32 T-47 T-49 T-63
MEN’S TENNIS EXTENDS WIN STREAK TO FOUR WITH SWEEP AT HOME
JARYD BONGCARAS Senior Staff Writer
NICHOLAS ROH / HIGHLANDER
After just over a month of playing matches on the road, UCR men’s tennis (8-7) finally returned home to host a doubleheader against Villanova and Hope International on Friday, March 8. The first match saw Villanova strike first by grabbing the doubles point with triumphs on courts one and three. The tandem of senior Kyle McCann and freshman Andreas Whelan-Merediz earned a 6-2 victory on court two. The Highlanders responded to trailing 1-0 by earning straight
set victories in singles on courts one, five and three. McCann won 6-3, 6-1 while Whelan-Merediz provided a 6-2, 6-3 victory of his own. Junior Gilbert Chung rallied for a 6-4, 6-4 win on court number three, but the visitors took court four to cut the lead to 3-2. And just like he’s done earlier this season, junior Nabil Abdallah closed out the match by going the distance with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win. Abdallah’s victory gave the team a 4-3 win. Contrasting their Villanova match, UCR snagged the doubles point with wins from McCann
and Whelan-Merediz, and senior Anderson Ju and junior Max Cohen. Riverside added to their 1-0 lead by taking the first four singles matches to notch the team’s fourth straight victory. Chung double-bageled his opponent on court three 6-0, 6-0, as Ju won on court six topping his opponent 6-3, 6-1. WhelanMerediz also won 6-3, 6-1; with Abdallah putting up a 6-2, 6-1 scorecard. HIU would take court as the Highlanders won 5-2. UCR continues their homestand as they host Navy H Tuesday, March 12 at 9 a.m. ■
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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
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Women’s basketball splits final two games before the Big West Tournament WOMEN’S TENNIS JORDAN HOM Contributing Writer
UC Riverside (15-14, 9-6) lost their final home game to Hawaii (13-15, 9-6) by a final score of 51-44 on Thursday, March 7. This was a critical loss for the Highlanders because they are currently battling for seeding in the upcoming Big West Tournament. Because of the loss, second place in the conference is out of the picture but placing third will ensure the Highlanders will secure a first-round bye scenario. The Highlanders were without their leading scorer, junior guard Jannon Otto, who is out after suffering an ankle injury during the game against UC Irvine. Despite Otto’s injury, Head Coach John Margaritis still utilized a shorter rotation and relied heavily on his starters.
LLOYD KAO / HIGHLANDER
“Just being short-handed caught up to us a little bit. You would think that it just takes putting five players on court. But when you have the third-leading scorer in the conference not playing and someone who produces 20 points a game and does other things, it does play a factor. We knew going in that we had to overcome her (Otto’s) injury and we just could not do that tonight,” Margaritis said. Senior forward Malou De Kergret led the Highlanders in scoring with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. It was a special night for De Kergret because it was senior night and her parents were at the game, flying in from France. However, she did not get caught up in the hype of senior night nor did she let the occasion dictate her emotions or performance on the court. “It was just a regular game for me really. I thought it might be different but it was really not. It was just a game that I wanted to win and it wasn’t very emotional because we lost. My goal on the court is to just get the win and compete every night,” De Kergret said in a post-game interview. Only one other player reached double-digit scoring for the Highlanders. Junior Marina Ewodo rounded out the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. The Rainbow Wahine were led by freshman Myrrah Joseph as she scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds while senior Tia Kanoa added 11 points and five assists. On Saturday, March 9 against Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside overcame a 17-point deficit to win their final regular season game. The final score was 75-67. It was an all-around team effort as four Highlanders scored in double figures. Ewodo scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, sophomore guard Keilanei Cooper and De Kergret each scored 17 points apiece and Daphne Gnago added a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. They will play in the Big West Tournament on the road starting March 12 with their opponent currently to be decided H as the remaining teams battle for the tournament seeding. ■
Men’s basketball falls to Long Beach, earns playoff berth with win over UC Davis JARYD BONGCARAS Senior Staff Writer
UCR men’s basketball (9-22, 3-12) dropped the season series against Long Beach State (14-18, 8-8) with a 70-57 defeat on Wednesday, March 6. The Highlanders started the game off well, leading by as many as eight points and out-rebounding Long Beach 21-13 in the first half. However, the team would end the period by going cold from the field, as well as turning the ball over nine times in the final five minutes of the half. This gave the visitors their first lead of the game, as LBSU went into halftime up 30-25. Riverside responded by going on a mini run to retake the lead at 41-36 thanks to a three-pointer from freshman DJ McDonald. McDonald started getting hot from long distance in the period, tallying a career-high 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. The Highlanders collectively shot 46 percent from beyond the arc in the second period. However, Long Beach’s offense really began to pick up midway through the second half. A couple of threes from Edon Maxhuni and Deishuan Booker gave the opposing team an 58-45 lead with 8:01 remaining. Riverside failed to keep the game within a single digit deficit in the last eight minutes of regulation as the 49ers never looked back on their lead. Freshman Callum McRae nearly had a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds, while senior Menno Dijkstra recorded 10 points and five rebounds himself. The last game of the regular season was determined by McRae’s last shot. Coming off an inbound pass from sophomore Dominick Pickett, McRae caught the ball in the post, picked up his dribble to the opposite side of the rim and hit a game winner with just under two seconds left. The Highlanders wound up winning 71-70 and earned the eighth seed slot in the Big West Tournament. Riverside shot 62 percent from the field in the first half, with strong outings from junior guard Dikymbe Martin and Dominick Pickett. Martin recorded 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first half while Pickett put up 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting. UCR led through the majority of the game, as Davis only held leads in the first minute of play and the last minute of play. With the Aggies up 70-69 with four seconds left, McRae responded with his turn-around hook shot to seal the game. Four Highlanders earned double figures in scoring, with Martin leading the way with 17 points as Pickett put up 16
points and nine boards. Dijkstra recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards and McRae ended the game with 11 points. The victory gives the Highlanders the 8th seed in the Big West Tournament as the team will face top-ranked UC Irvine on Thursday, March 14 at the Honda Center. UCI has held UCR’s number all season long, with the Anteaters’ two victories averaging a 19.5 point margin. Everything’s going to need to go right for the Highlanders to pull off an upset on Thursday, and though matchups with Irvine aren’t in their favor, anything can happen in just one game of basketball. ■H
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Freshman Lindsey Gelinas won the number one singles matchup
BASEBALL VS. USF
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Freshman catcher Jacob Shanks led the team in RBI with 1
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK VS CAL POLY & UCSB Had 11 student-athletes qualify for Big West Championships Freshman Purnima Gunarathna won in the high jump with a 1.7 meter jump Sophomore Hana Johnson won the triple jump with a season-best leap of 12.28 meters Sophomore Quinn Williams won both the 110 meter and 400 meter hurdles with times of 14.88 and 54.10 seconds respectively
upcoming matches WOMEN’S BASKEBALL Wednesday, March 13 competing in the Big West Tournament @ 6 p.m.
MEN’S BASKEBALL Thursday, March 14 competing in the Big West Tournament against number one seed UC Irvine @ 6 p.m. COURTESY OF UCR ATHLETICS