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TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011

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THIS WEEK’S EVENTS

MON 1/09

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Men’s Basketball vs. UC Santa Barbara7:00pm - 9:00pmStudent Rec Center

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Co u rt e s y o f a rt h i s to rya s s o C i at i o n at u C r.b l o g s p o t.C o m

The UC Riverside Task Force on Speech and Assem-bly had their first meeting last Friday following the release and subsequent removal of guidelines concerning student protest. The publication of the protest guidelines occurred in the aftermath of the highly con-troversial incidents that marred protests on the UC Davis and UC Berkeley campuses, where numerous students were injured by police. The guidelines, how-ever, were promptly removed following backlash from uni-

versity students, faculty and other concerned members of the community—many of whom resorted to an online petition that garnered nearly one thou-sand signatures. UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy White, who is serving as the head of the task force, announced the removal of the protest guidelines in an email dated Dec. 14. “It is clear that the document does not ac-curately reflect UC Riverside’s demonstrated commitment to free expression and peaceful, non-violent protest. We were in error to post guidelines that neither comport with our values

nor reflect the realities of how the campus exercises the right to free speech,” stated Chancel-lor White in the email.

A major source of back-lash was a clause in the protest guidelines which made it a vio-lation to “hold a protest without planning and scheduling ahead with UCR,” thereby posing a prior restraint on public speech (a restriction which is subject to the highest tier of judicial scru-tiny). “We fully understand that most protests and demonstra-tions are spontaneous, and are in response to current events.

Chancellor White creates task force, promptly removes protest guidelines

UCR leads efforts to eliminate citrus pest

The usage of parasitic wasps by UC Riverside scientists is among the most recent and in-novative strategies implemented in the fight against the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), a highly problematic agricultural pest. The release of the parasitic wasps marks the first time that these creatures have been intro-duced to California. “We antici-pate that over the next year or so thousands of these parasitoids from Pakistan will be released throughout Los Angeles, River-side and San Bernardino coun-ties and other areas as the pest

continues to spread. Once [the wasp species] establishes, it will move and find new populations of ACP to attack and kill,” stated UC Riverside Professor and Di-rector of the Center for Invasive Species Research Mark Hoddle in an article by the UC Riverside Newsroom. Hoddle and his wife, Christina Hoddle, have spent the past year traveling to Pakistan in order to obtain and study the parasitic wasps whose release was recently authorized by the state and federal government.

Mark and Christina Hoddle received widespread recogni-tion last September when their

gordon huang/highlander

Grant enables UCR to continue community outreach

The Educational Talent Search (ETS) program at UC Riverside has been selected to re-ceive a five year, $1.15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This educational program, first implemented at UC Riverside in 2002, aims to provide guidance and resources to promote higher rates of college attendance among low-income students in the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SB-CUSD).

The ETS program is one of over 450 such programs na-tionwide, 60 of which reside in California. Arroyo Valley High School, Pacific High School, San Bernardino High School and San Gorgonio High School are the four schools that are involved with UC Riverside’s chapter of the program. “The schools were chosen based on need and the working relationship we have es-tablished with SBCUSD. The tar-get populations at these schools have a high need for assistance,” stated Program Director Alicia Valezquez in an article by the UC Riverside Newsroom.

Velazquez said that she antici-pates the involvement of 1,000 students to participate in the program, which consists of one-on-one academic advising, men-

toring, college campus visits, cultural activities, and summer residential visit at UC Riverside, as stated in the newsroom article. The summer residential visit, in addition to staff mentoring, is a new development of the program and is a feature that is not offered at every participating educational institution. ““This will be the first year that we offer the summer residential visit. Students will stay on campus and take college-like classes taught by graduate students, listen to guest speak-ers and participate in enrichment programs and team-building ex-ercises,” explained Velazquez.

Velazquez also notes that students in the program are not urged or encouraged to attending any specific college even though UC Riverside is conducting the program, nor does the program highlight any particular fields of study. “ETS provides students who are motivated to pursue a higher education with the infor-mation and tools that they need to prepare and apply for col-lege, and to succeed once they get there,” stated Velazquez. Past trips by students in the program including visits to the University of Southern California and UC San Diego.

The $230,000 annual grant payments will continue until 2016.

Co u rt e s y o f uCr ne w s r o o m

Er i c Ga m b oaSENIOR STAFF WRITER

ca r r i E mE n GSTAFF WRITER

Er i c Ga m b oaSENIOR STAFF WRITER

TASKFORCE CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CITRUS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

White addressing protesters during 2009’s Day of Action.

Students in the ETS Program visiting UCSD.

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UC STUDENT INVESTMENT PROPOSALON PAGE 2

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE EDITORINTRODUCING THE UC STUDENT INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

Dear UCR,

Last April, in the midst of California’s budget crisis, members of the Highlander editorial board began work on a comprehensive overhaul of the University of California’s funding model. Fed up with the influx of short-term answers to long-term problems funded entirely on the backs of students, and with no hope of increased state investment, we were com-pelled to come up with a solution that addresses the core problems in the UC.

With time, we enlisted the help of several other UC students and grew the concept from what was originally going to be the subject of an editorial in the Highlander, to a formal proposal to the UC regents. After nine months, I’m proud to announce that it is finally com-plete.

The concept is simple. We saw a problem with charging students at a time in their lives when they aren’t making money. We saw a problem with placing the burden of paying for college on students’ families, or deferring it in the form of interest-accruing debt upon grad-uation. Some, but not all deserving students receive the financial aid they need. Under this proposed plan, no student would pay a dime for their education while they are in school. Not only that, but the UC would receive dramatically more funding than it currently does, without a rise in public or private funding. Instead, the UC will be funded by students after they graduate and enter a career, contributing a small percentage of their incomes, interest-free, for a set period of time.

What this means is that the UC will be able to grow again. Instead of faculty reductions, increasing class sizes and dropping course offerings, each UC campus will have more than adequate funds to accommodate each and every one of their students, and all of those in the future.

For more information on how this groundbreaking solution works, please visit fixuc.org. There you can find the proposal, data report, frequently asked questions and more.

Once you’ve read the proposal, I ask that you share it with others and engage in discus-sions with them about it. If you, like us, feel that the UC needs to consider a new way for-ward, you can show your support by signing the online petition found on the website. Help us let the regents know that it is time to permanently fix the UC.

Chris LoCascioPresident, FixUC, UC Student Investment ProposalEditor-in-Chief, UCR Highlander Newspaper

2 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

NEWS 3TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

At UCR, we have a long history of accommodating such dem-onstrations…” stated Chancel-lor White, in reference to the aforementioned clause that would have banned most spon-taneous demonstrations due to their lack of planning and advising with the university. Additional guidelines included a ban on overnight events and the disruption of classes, meet-ing with members of the event review committee and contact-ing the assistant dean of stu-dents. Another source of con-fusion which went unaddressed in the campus-wide announce-ments dealt with whether the guidelines were mere sugges-tions to facilitate a protest and prevent the violation of laws, or whether the guidelines were backed by disciplinary action and stood independent from laws and other applicable reg-ulations.

The task force that met on Friday, Jan. 6, was created by Chancellor White to review the abandoned guidelines.

“The review will be conduct-ed by a task force consisting of students, faculty, and staff, who in turn will be asked to consult widely before making their recommendations. Our goal is to be certain that we fully support the right to free speech and peaceful assembly on campus,” stated Chancel-lor White in an email. The functioning of the task force and the implementation of any new guidelines or changes was also elaborated in the email. “Subsequent to the review, the campus will post any pro-posed updates, changes, or clarifications to the guidelines to provide a brief period for public comment before final-izing the revisions,” concluded the chancellor. The list of the selected task force members was announced on Jan. 4. Members included professors, undergraduate and graduate students, UC Riverside Chief of Police Mike Lane, Provost Dallas Rabenstein and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Jim Sandoval.

An outspoken critic of both the initial protest guidelines and the subsequently created task force is UC Riverside graduate student Guanyang Zhang. Zhang, who sponsored the online petition against the protest guidelines, was among the individuals selected by the Chancellor to serve in the task force. The entomology gradu-ate student, however, declined White’s invitation and de-nounced the method behind the selection of members. “I stand by my statement that the meet-ing and the ‘task force’ have to be democratic, transparent, and representative. The way that the ‘task force’ is formed by invitation from the univer-sity administration is no way a reflection of those principles. Four student representatives in a group of 20 is the result of a hegemony of the univer-sity administration and a fail-ure to respect democracy and diversity,” stated Zhang in a mass email sent to Chancellor White and dozens of university administrators from every UC

campus. Zhang also highlighted sev-

eral other issues with White’s handling of the situation, in-cluding the fact that the meet-ing was not open to the public (non-members were directed to send their comments to the executive administrator spe-cialist’s email), the guidelines failed to regulate police action, the initial guideline release was not officially announced to the campus and the invita-tion of the dean of UC Berke-ley School of Law was not mentioned in the email stating the names of the members.

Zhang concluded his email with numerous questions di-rected at the chancellor along with some suggestions for the creation of an alternative task force. “Did [White] know the guidelines? If he did, why did he let the guidelines be drafted and released, given that he ac-knowledged later that it was not worthy to have the guide-lines. If he did not know or was not involved, how could his ad-ministration release guidelines

that would affect all students on campus without letting the Chancellor know?” questioned Zhang.

Zhang’s sentiment was shared by numerous student protesters who were allowed to enter the private task force meeting. “The task force needs to be stopped immediately and will not be acceptable. Our campus needs to look forward by creating a public democrat-ic discussion with representa-tions from students, faculty, professors, and workers to dis-cuss the issue of free speech on campus. Do not write or revise these guidelines, they will not be accepted,” stated UC River-side student Adriana Cruz in an interview with the Highlander. Cruz was among the group of nearly 20 protesters who con-vened at the meeting place of the task force and allowed to “join the discussion.”

Official announcements regarding any decisions made during the task force meeting are expected to occur in the near future.

TASKFORCE FROM PAGE 1

UCR faculty recognized for scientific contributions

Vy nG u y E nSTAFF WRITER

The American Association for the Advancement of Sci-ence (AAAS) has selected four faculty from UC Riverside to join the prestigious association. According to AAAS guidelines, fellows are singled out for their “scientifically or socially distin-guished efforts to advance sci-ence or its applications.”

The AAAS, or “Tripe A-S,” is an international non-profit or-ganization devoted to promote the fields of science around the world. Xuemei Chen, a profes-sor of plant cell and molecular biology, was elected for her work in the field of plant biol-ogy and development.

Chen elaborated on her fas-cination with her field of work on her personal website, stating, “I’ve been fascinated with na-ture since I was little. I’d have to say that it is my desire to un-derstand nature that got me in-terested in plant biology. I feel fortunate that over the years I’ve been able to contribute to this well-populated research field and compete with other labs in this world.”

Rajiv Gupta, a professor in the field of computer science and engineering, was recog-nized by the association for his research in computer archi-tecture. Throughout the years, Gupta has published over 195 articles in conferences and jour-nals. He has also supervised 15 PhD dissertations, one of which won the ACM SIGPLAN Out-standing Doctoral Dissertation Award in the area of program-ming languages in 2001.

AAAS CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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NEWS4 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

endeavors in Pakistan were chronicled by the Los Angeles Times. The release of the 281 parasitic wasps, a natural en-emy of the ACP, represents the finale of months of research—most of which were spent in quarantine in order to prevent any premature release of the wasps. This research was pre-dominantly aimed at examining the effectiveness of the wasps along with proving that the wasps did not pose any unjus-tifiable environmental hazards. “It’s like releasing the genie out of the bottle. You can never get it back in…We don’t want our good guy to wipe out another good guy,” stated Mark Hoddle in a Los Angeles Times article, addressing the concern that the wasps could potentially harm other insects. Hoddle, along-side numerous other UC Riv-erside faculty administrators including Executive Chancellor Dallas Rabenstein, were pres-ent during the official release of the wasps that took place on the morning of Dec. 20. The wasps were contained in glass vials that were tied to the branches of citrus plants and were subse-quently released by administra-tors. “This is very good news for the integrated management of Asian citrus psyllid and a highly significant contribution of the University of California. Parasitoid releases will add a new and exciting component to the management program for ACP, especially for the many homeowners who have citrus trees in their yards,” stated cit-rus Entomologist Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell in a UC Riv-erside Newsroom article.

The tiny parasitic wasps (1/16 of an inch in length) can eliminate the threat posed by the ACP since female wasps and their larvae feed on the younger population of the ACP in their nymph stage. The ACP has been the focus of much research due to its costly impact on the citrus industry. The ACP is respon-sible for over one billion dollars worth of damage to California’s agriculture and is also promi-nent in Florida, Arizona, Texas and several other states. The insects are carriers of a bacteria that causes Huanglongbing dis-ease, which makes citrus fruit unfit for retail by means of bit-ter juices, smaller sized fruit and other irregularities. The most significant threat, however, lies in the fact that the disease cur-rently has no cure and eventu-ally results in the death of the entire plant.

The wasps are intended to serve as a supplement to the usage of insecticides, although officials anticipate that the cit-rus industry may be able to decrease their dependency on insecticides once the wasps become widespread. Chancel-lor White expressed his hope regarding the new strategy in Dec. 9’s Friday email, stating, “ When we know for certain that Tamarixia will control the psyl-lid, spraying with insecticides can be stopped. Good for us. Good for California. Good for the worldwide citrus industry.”

CITRUS FROM PAGE 1

The galaxy known as GN-108036 was recently discovered by a team of as-tronomers including two UC Riverside researchers. Professor Bahram Mobasher and graduate student Hooshang Nayyeri assisted in the research, which found that the galaxy is one of the brightest of its ancient neighbors, whose birth dates back within a billion years of the Big Bang.

Ground-based telescopes were some of the instruments used to locate the lu-minous galaxy 12.9 billion light-years away. Both the Spitzer and the Hubble telescopes were also involved in mea-suring its production rate of stars. The galaxy produces an upwards of 100 suns per year according to the UC Riverside Newsroom. Despite its brightness and high rate of activity, GN-108036 is still small compared to the Milky Way gal-axy, which is approximately five times larger and 100 times more massive than GN-108036.

GN-108036 is unique because most galaxies that were created during the

early formation of the universe usually lack such brightness. Since this galaxy is located in the extreme depths of the uni-verse, it has taken 12.9 billion years for its light to reach our instruments. “The high rate of star formation found for GN-108036 implies that it was rapidly build-ing up its mass some 750 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about 5 percent of its present age. This was therefore a likely ancestor

of massive and evolved galaxies seen to-day,” stated Mobasher in an article by the UC Riverside Newsroom.

Researchers who contributed to the discovery came from a variety of edu-cational institutions including the Uni-versity of Arizona, University of Tokyo and UC Berkeley. The National Optical Astronomy Observatory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) were also involved in the project.

mi c h a E l Tu rc i o sCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Co u rt e s y o f uCr ne w s r o o m

UCR scientists assist in discovery of rare galaxy

UC Riverside Professor Bahram Mobasher.

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NEWS 5TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

UCR researchers locate rarest bumblebee in the United States

The latest buzz in the scientific com-munity has been around the recent redis-covery of an elusive species of bumblebee that was last seen in the United States in 1956. On Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, a team of UC Riverside scientists announced that the species, known as “Cockerell’s Bumble-bee,” was found living in the White Moun-tains of New Mexico.

After more than a half-century of dis-appearance, the bees were located during a summer expedition carried out by UC Riverside scientists Douglas Yanega, Keve Ribardo and Greg Ballmer. Three speci-mens were collected for research along a highway north of the New Mexico town of Cloudcroft on Aug. 31, 2011. Cockerell’s Bumblebee is unique in that its biological characteristics have yet to be studied and its distribution has the most limited range of any bumblebee species in the world, occupying a small area of less than 300 square miles.

“Most bumblebees in the U.S. are known from dozens to thousands of speci-mens, but not this species,” stated Douglas Yanega, UC Riverside’s senior museum

scientist, in a press release. “The area it oc-curs in is infrequently visited by entomolo-gists, and the species has long been ignored because it was thought that it was not actu-ally a genuine species, but only a regional color variant of another well-known spe-cies.”

In an interview with the Highlander, Yanega said, “With the resurfacing of Cockerell’s Bumblebee, people are now alerted to its existence, which is certainly a lot better than people not even knowing or believing it’s a real organism, sort of the reverse of the situation with the endan-gered Florida panther, which has recently been declared to not be a distinct entity.” After testing the DNA of the collected specimens, the scientists confirmed that there is enough decisive evidence to verify Cockerell’s Bumblebee as a genuine and original species.

Though only a sparse population is ex-pected to be living in the area, the species’ demise is not a concern among experts. “Given that this bee occurs in an area that’s largely composed of National Forest and Apache tribal land, it’s unlikely to be un-der serious threat of habitat loss at the mo-ment,” stated Yanega in an article by the

UC Riverside Newsroom. The scientists are assessing the genetic

makeup of Cockerell’s Bumblebee in rela-tion to similar species in hopes of deter-mining its closest living relative. As for additional work with Cockerell’s Bumble-bee, Yanega said that nothing further was planned. “The first step is to come to a firm conclusion regarding the status of this bee as a species. The second step is spreading the word to the scientific community that this bee deserves some attention, as it has been completely overlooked. Here at UCR we may or may not be involved beyond that point, in gathering data on the distribu-tion and biology of this species, but at the very least our discovery can get the prover-bial ball rolling,” explained the scientist in the newsroom article.

Yanega stated that the expedition was funded in part by the Friends of the Ento-mology Research Museum, a supporting non-profit organization. “Almost every field trip we take we either discover some-thing new or rediscover something rare. That’s sort of the whole point to being an entomologist in the first place, since it cer-tainly isn’t about glamour, money, or pres-tige,” concluded Yanega.

an d i E la mCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Co u rt e s y o f uCr ne w s r o o m

AAAS FROM PAGE 1

Professor of Electrical Engineering Yingbo Hua was elected for his extensive work in signal processing. Hua has published over 260 articles in journals, books and conference events. De-spite his numerous prior achievements, Hua stated that he was very honored and “delighted” to be elected as a fellow by the AAAS.

Lastly, Yinsheng Wang, a professor of chemistry, was elected for his contribu-tions to bioanalytical chem-istry. The AAAS emphasized Wang’s role “in the devel-opment of novel analytical methods enabling under-standing of the biological consequences of DNA dam-age.” Wang’s research is rooted in two general defined areas: DNA damage and mu-tagenesis and proteomics.

In order to become a fel-low, AAAS members are elected by their peers. “I was nominated by three highly distinguished peers in my field. It is my high honor that they recognized my con-tributions,” stated Hua.

Five alumni from UC Riverside were also named AAAS Fellows in 2011: Brian M. Barnes, Bradford Hawkins, Kevin Plaxco, Da-vid C. Geary and Gerald E. Edwards.

The newest fellows will be given an official certifi-cate as well as a gold and blue rosette pin during the annual meeting of the AAAS in Vancouver, Canada on Feb 18.

All 2011 AAAS fellows were announced in the De-cember 23 issue of Science magazine, a journal pub-lished by the AAAS.

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HIGHLANDEROPINIONS. .TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 20116

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LEGALThe 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. 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, nation-al 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 inde-pendently 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.

On June 6th, the Supreme Court refused to strike down a California law that offers state residents reduced tuition rates at California colleges. The law’s opponents argue that the bill, which does not dis-tinguish between lawful residents and illegal immigrants, violates a federal law that prohibits states from giving college benefits to illegal aliens on the basis of residence within a state. Unfortunately for the law’s detractors, the Supreme Court wouldn’t even hear their challenge. Lawyers for a conservative immigration-law group that backed the appeal claim that the law is patently unfair to the thousands of full-bred American high school graduates who apply to California colleges from other states each year. These students will have to pay as much as $20,00 more for college tuition than the illegal immigrants (and many other California residents) that the bill aids. Others have argued that the bill gives preferential treatment to illegal immigrants - it is just one more derivative of affirma-tive action, bent on taking positions away from the hard working, middle-class Caucasians who really deserve

In what can only be characterized as a vast overreaction to the Occupy Davis and Berkeley protests, both of which were marred by police violence, UCR administrators released a list of official “protest guidelines” in late November that significantly limits the freedom of students to demonstrate on campus property. The guidelines have since been roundly criticized for their unnecessary and unconstitutional demands of students.

Among other things, they suggest that students clear protests with the Dean of Student’s Office at least two weeks before they are set to occur. Under the guidelines, everything from location and route to management and cleanup would have to be approved by the administration prior to any demonstration. Following an immense backlash from the UCR student and faculty community, which argued that the guidelines violated students’ right to free speech, Chancellor White decided to remove them from the site on which they had been posted.

Since then, administrators have been scrambling for a way to rectify what was clearly a rash effort to preempt violent incidents like the ones that occurred at Occupy Davis and Berkeley. There is little doubt that they had very good intentions in mind when they drafted up the guidelines, but the

notion that restricting student protest is the right way to go about preventing violence is remarkably unintuitive. It is UCR’s responsibility to ensure that students remain safe on and around campus—not the other way around.

However, UCR’s leaders seem to be under the illusion that the primary reason that other Occupy UC protests have gotten out of hand is the student populations involved in them. Such is clearly not the case.

So far, all of the Occupy UC protests have been exceptionally peaceful—no rioting or violence to speak of, at least not on the part of the protesters. Police, on the other hand, have been using excessive force to remove demonstrators who refuse to pack up after being asked to leave. Administrators at Davis and Berkeley went to so far as to allow authorities to use pepper spray and batons to disburse crowds.

Students are not the problem here, and acting as though they are is as insulting as it is unsettling. If UCR is really interested in protecting its students from the violence of past Occupy protests, perhaps it should look into regulating the forces responsible for it.

Police should not be told to respond to peaceful protests with whatever force they deem necessary for the occasion.

True, there are some circumstances that call for protesters to be removed and arrests to be made, but not all of those situations also call for the use of pepper spray or batons. We need a safe and reliable system for determining when authorities should be allowed to use varying degrees of crowd control tactics against UC students.

The coming weeks will reveal whether or not Chancellor White has taken to heart the onslaught of objections that followed the release of the protest guidelines. He has organized a task force composed of students, staff and faculty to revamp the guidelines in time for the UC regent’s meeting, which is scheduled to take place at UCR next week. The meeting, at which regents will discuss further budget cuts and tuition hikes, is sure to attract a large crowd of protesters.

We can only hope that UCR administrators have learned from their (and others’) mistakes and that our campus will not become the next victim of the police violence that has sullied the Occupy UC movement in recent months.

UCR’S PROTEST GUIDELINES UNFAIRLY RESTRICT STUDENTS’ RIGHTS

Highlander editorials reflect the major-ity view of the Highlander Editorial Board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Associated Students of UCR or the Uni-versity of California system.

HIGHLANDER EDITORIALMiddle income UC students in trouble

The University of California, Berkeley has come to the rescue of the middle income student. Berke-ley has introduced the Middle Class Access Plan (MCap) aimed at dependent undergraduate students whose family’s gross income ranges from $80,000 to $140,000. The plan caps tuition at 15 percent of the parents’ income, allows for typical assets and includes tuition, fees and expenses such as room, board and books.

An estimated 6,000 UC Berkeley undergraduates will benefit from MCap, which will begin awarding financial aid in the 2012-13 school year. Berkeley’s Chancellor Robert Birgeneau hailed the MCap as “the first program of this sort at any public univer-sity in the United States.”

Berkeley’s actions are commendable and certain-ly a step in the right direction, but the fact that MCap is the first and only program of its kind in the public education system is disheartening. Tuition has in-creased over 300 percent in the last ten years and has seriously outpaced middle income salaries and the cost of living, but the administration of state and federal grants and other aid has ignored the needs of this student population. It is not about pitting low income families against middle income families; it is about ensuring access to a quality education to those who have fallen between the cracks in a sys-tem that has failed to keep pace with the economy.

So why hasn’t more been done to ensure access to a quality public education for this student popula-tion? Certainly, recent funding cuts to public educa-tion are serious cause for concern, but as the battle for funds continues, students from middle income families fall deeper and deeper into debt. Some have turned to community college and state colleges or deferred their education because they cannot af-ford the increasing cost of a UC education.

In support of MCap, UC Berkeley Vice Chancel-lor of Student Affairs Harry LeGrande said, “Today the cost of attendance is at a level that can be easily accommodated only by affluent families. Even as we continue to advocate for increased state support, we feel the need to address the very real issues of our middle-class families.”

If 6,000 students will benefit from MCap at Berkeley, how many can benefit at other UC cam-puses? How long will it take before relief finds its way to students at UCR? These UC students strug-gle to make ends meet because the dollar no longer represents what it did 10 years ago, as the cost of ed-ucation continues to climb exponentially. But there is no DREAM ACT for them, and no one is fighting their fight, at least until now. The sad reality is that this effort may be too little and too late for those who have fallen victim to a system that has ignored their need for financial assistance over recent years.

According to the University of California web-site, “The 10 campuses of the University of Cali-fornia open their doors to all who work hard and dream big. These campuses are home to more than 222,000 students, and in turn, to their parents and families making them part of the UC family. Through its teaching, research and public service, UC drives California’s economy and leads the world in new directions.” Maybe Berkeley can lead the other nine campuses in reaching out to a member of our family in dire need of financial assistance.

Ti m r. aG u i l a rSTAFF WRITER

Co u rt e s y o f po s tne w sgr o u p.C o m

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OPINIONS 7TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

f ro m Jo r da n ar i E l ro h d E, so c i a l awa r E n E s s ch a i r o f hi l l E l

In Dr. Suess’ classic story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” the grouchy green Grinch living on Mount Crumpit gets so weary of Christmas music from the nearby town of Whoville that he goes down and steals all the Christmas pres-ents and decorations! This places the Grinch as one of the ultimate villains of childhood storybooks. But what if the Grinch was actually justified in stealing Christmas? What if the Grinch wasn’t annoyed with Christmas carols? What if he was dismayed with how Christian-centric Whoville had become? What if the Grinch was fighting for first amend-ment rights?

Last month at UCR, a shiny, larger-than-life tribute to Christianity was placed in the entrance of the campus bookstore. The Christmas tree was im-possible to miss if walking by or glanc-ing in the direction of the bookstore. It

was not accompanied by a single deco-ration representative of any other reli-gion, but there were, however, several more Christmas trees and stars displayed throughout the rest of the campus store. This seems a bit strange for a campus that boasts being one of the most diverse universities in the nation, and the most diverse of all the UC’s.

Most people don’t think twice about Christian decorations in public places. What kind of world would it be if not for a Santa at every mall and blaring Christ-mas music from the start of October? What’s the big deal anyways? Well, when it comes to UCR, the first amend-ment is the big deal. Although not legal-ly a religious symbol, logic kicks you in the face and forces you to realize that a Christ-mas tree is a not secular symbol. The name should say enough, but if you need more, look to the top of the tree for a vivid reminder of the Star of Bethle-hem or the host of angels over the Nativ-ity. Moreover, when is the last time you saw an observant Muslim or Jew with a Christmas tree in their house? You haven’t. That’s because a Christmas tree is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a secular symbol.

Having Christian decorations in pub-

lic areas of campus isolates students that do not celebrate Christmas. I personally observe Jewish holidays, and I felt com-pletely left out of the way the university chose to celebrate winter. I do not think, however, that a menorah should have been placed next to the Christmas tree or that a Star of David ornament should have been placed on its branches. Once you start collecting various religious relics, there will undoubtedly always be someone left out. If the university really believed in protecting minority students, then absolutely no religious decorations should have been displayed in any pub-lic areas of campus. This country is al-ready so drenched in Christianity that I would hope that at least at our suppos-edly secular, progressive university, constantly boasting about its diversity, I wouldn’t have had to feel like I’m not part of the norm. Was it really worth it to the university to hurt countless num-bers of Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Atheist, Buddhist and other non-Christian stu-dents for the sake of displaying a Christ-mas tree?

The United States Constitution guarantees the protection of minority religions and calls for the separation of church and state. The University of

California, Riverside is run by the State of California and therefore is obliged by the Constitution to remain as secular as possible. When the Vice Chancellor and the Head of Diversity Initiatives were contacted about removing the Christ-mas tree, the two gentlemen seemed to agree with me that a Christmas tree did not belong on university grounds. But despite their eagerness to agree with me and an agreement made that at least the stars would be taken down, absolutely nothing was done. By having a Christ-mas tree welcoming in (or scaring away) students from the bookstore, our univer-sity chose to assert that Christianity and its holidays are valued above all other cultures and religions on campus (not to mention that our school breaks suspi-ciously always fall during Christian hol-idays). If UCR wants to welcome mi-nority students and provide a safe, warm environment on campus, then Christian idolatry has no right on public areas of campus. Until then, the university has no right to brag that it is the most di-verse of all the UC’s—it actually has to value, cherish, and protect minority stu-dents. The least the university could do is not overtly celebrate Christianity on campus.

The Highlander accepts letters from the campus community. They should be 400-500 words in length and include the author’s name and contact informa-tion. Contact editor Townsend Scholz at opinions@highlandernews.org for more information

HOW THE GRINCH FOUGHT FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT

2011 unveiled a radical shift in the arena of geopolitics. It all started when a Tunisian veg-etable vendor, fed up with liv-ing in oppression at the hands of his town’s police department, lit himself on fire. That man’s action served as a spark that took the Arab World by storm. The Tunisians demonstrated and protested, and a revolution en-sued, resulting in the ousting of a dictator.

Other Arab nations followed suit, from Egypt to Libya to Ye-men and beyond. What is most puzzling about this is that for two generations the West has tried to convince many of these nations to embrace democracy, and now that the citizens of the nations seemingly want change, the United States and her allies have had little to do with it.

Occupy Wall Street was, and may continue to be, an ur-gent cry for change in America. Meanwhile as income inequal-ity, a bad economy and crony capitalism oust more and more people from the middle class in Europe, not just financial com-panies, but entire states are col-lapsing due to insurmountable debt.

Russia’s strongman, resi-dent tiger warrior and alligator wrestler, Vladimir Putin, was dealt an embarrassing election showing when the United Rus-sia Party had to blatantly rig parliamentary voting to stay in power. Russian citizens took to the streets by the thousands in protest after the results were an-nounced; it was the first real po-litical action by Russian citizens since the mid 90s.

With these dramatic changes

to entire societies all around the world occurring, one must won-der whether or not there is some kind of string that connects all these events together.

There could be any number of reasons as to why the geopoliti-cal theater was littered with so many events last year. The Inter-net, for one, played a vital role in most of these incidents. Peo-ple all around the world use it as a source of real time communi-cation and information-sharing, thus effectively eliminating all obstacles that previously stood in the way of political discourse.

Also, the world’s economy is, to put it nicely, in the toilet, and the middle classes of na-tions around the globe are under siege, thus pushing people to be more active in their respective political processes. Both these factors played a huge role in the events that shaped 2011.

However, it must be noted that none of the aforementioned causes are the primary reason that the world is literally be-ing transformed right in front of us. That reason is the rise of gerontocracy, a political system in which society is governed by the old. Our world leaders have grown out of touch, and they are governing an angrier, more educated, more disenfranchised and less optimistic generation than the previous one. The fact that these leaders are oblivious of this reality is what is making these events crop up.

For example, in the Arab world, dictators have ruled with an iron fist for decades. During all that time, these leaders have become more and more iso-lated and cut off from the rest of society. Their subjects, the entire public, have become dis-

enchanted by their corrupt rule, and last year when oppression reached the inevitable critical mass, people stood up and took action.

It was the Starbucks Theory in action. The doctrine claims that once you introduce choice, labor contracts and free markets into command-driven, central-ized economies, citizens are bound to eventually acquire a wealth of goods and services to choose from (think all the different kinds of coffee one can get at Starbucks). Eventu-ally people will insist on hav-ing democracy and the ability to choose their leaders in the political arena as well. In short, people are starved for change, but politicians refuse to grant it to them.

2011 was a year filled with major geopolitical events, some of which might even go on to have unintended consequences on the very people who brought them about. However, there is a strong feeling among many that the past year will be overshad-owed by the year ahead of us.

In 2012, China will find itself governed by a new leader, as its current Premier, Hu Jintao, is stepping down from power. Rus-sia will go to the ballot booths and attempt to find their Putin alternative. France will also have elections, and its citizens will be faced with two starkly different choices: stick with the unpopular Nicolas Sarkozy, or replace him and run the risk of undermining his work during the Eurozone crisis. Iran will probably test their first nuclear bomb, officially starting an arms race in the Middle East. Also, the United States will be faced with their own decision: re-elect

Barack Obama, albeit with no more Hope or Change to cling to, or consider a nominee from the Republican primaries, the first in almost four decades that will not involve a Bush or Dole.

Whatever the case, these events leave room for more dis-course, more Occupying, more

revolutions. For those of us who are level-headed watchers of the political process, this year will be more than intriguing. The cold winds of political winter are upon us, slowly but surely rising up into the atmosphere. Brace yourselves—here comes the most thrilling year yet.

Co u rt e s y o f th enat i o n a l.a e

2011: The international cry for changeJa m E s nJ u G u na

STAFF WRITER

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HIGHLANDERFEATURES. .TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 20118

Gastronomy, the art of good eating, con-stitutes the very core of the dining experi-ence, giving relevance to restaurant reviews and online websites such as Yelp. It is com-prised of several elements, from the level of expertise in cuisine, to the service, to the surrounding ambiance. I’d like to think of gastronomy as a grading system much like a report card, which helped me examine my experience at Sushiya Japanese Restaurant and Bar, one of the newest dining additions to the University Village. Since its opening in November of last year, I had not heard raving nor disparaging reviews about it by word of mouth, so as a sushi foodie, I had to stop by myself.

Open from 11:30 am to 9:30 pm from Mon-day to Thursday and 11:30 am to 10 pm from Friday to Saturday, I visited on a sunny Friday morning as soon as it opened, famished for my fix of sushi. Located next to the University Village Theater, the restaurant was hard to miss, especially with a store sign in front, ad-vertising their tempting special: 50 percent off special and cut rolls during lunch and din-ner and hand rolls during dinner. Sake aficio-nados can expect a daily drink special: $2 for sake shots and $11 for a carafe of sake.

Upon stepping into a crimson red, earthy atmosphere, waiters dressed in dark, classy garb and sushi chefs midway into rolling their creations stopped and greeted me with hearty cheer. Seated immediately, I opted for the sushi bar. A few people trickled in as I perused the lunch and sushi menus, so the waiters seemed more at ease than they would have been if I had visited later in the

day. Thick moist towelettes rolled into a plas-tic wrapper sat at each seat, a rarity at most Japanese restaurants I have visited. Sports news on a flat screen TV above the sushi bar kept me entertained as I waited for my order to arrive. The intimate lighting from small light fixtures, wooden and concrete accents, and the butterfly decorations that peppered a wall produced a real glow around the entire restaurant.

I did not have to stare at the ambiance too long, as my large plate of yakisoba noo-dles arrived within minutes, followed by the special Scallop Dynamite and traditional Crunchy Roll¸ two choices highlighted on the menu and included in the half off special. The latter sat beneath a drizzle of sweet Kabayaki sauce and a sea of fried tempura crumbs, which can make the roll fun to eat, but can take away from the balance of crab meat, cucumber, and avocado tucked inside. That ratio between the different ingredients in a sushi roll can make it delectable, or fall short to impress. In this case, the generous layer of tempura crumbs did not quite make up for the small amount of crab meat inside the roll.

The yakisoba noodles, another dish that can be found at a commonplace Japanese restaurant, sit in a light, but distinct sauce that can be served with chicken, beef, or veg-etables. I opted for the vegetables, eager for a healthier alternative, but after sampling the dish, I wouldn’t order it again. Small broccoli slices, green onions, carrots, and romaine let-tuce sat nestled in the noodles, but the car-rots and broccoli were used more sparingly

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Sushiya RiversideSushiya RiversideChelsea Santos, Senior Staff Writer // Gordon Huang, Photographer

★ ★ ★ ☆☆RATING:

SUSHIYA CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

FEATURES 9TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

SUSHIYA FROM PAGE 8

than the greens. Further, the sauce lacked the zest that gives yakisoba noodles a distinction from any other noodle dish.

The Scallop Dynamite roll, baked with creamy scallops atop crab meat and cream cheese was more decent; a must-try among Sushiya’s special rolls. The sweet seasoning mixed with cream cheese gives the roll a light kick that is sure to entice the palate.

From perusing the menu, it is clear that Sushiya’s intent is to provide customers cost-friendly sushi and Japanese dishes. All rolls do not exceed $15 aside from Chef’s Choice combina-tions. The $7.99 lunch specials, in-cluding a side of rice, miso soup, salad, California roll, and main item may appeal to UC Riverside students wishing to eat some-thing other than dining hall food. Options include both Japanese and Korean items: breaded pork cutlet, chicken teriyaki, pan fried Korean marinated beef, grilled salmon teriyaki, and grilled mari-nated Korean BBQ short ribs.

If my guess about Sushiya’s in-tent is correct, then it would be accurate to say that you get what you pay for. My bill came out to be about $29, including a cup of hot genmaicha tea, which I con-sider impressive for three main items. So considering all the fac-tors that make for a gastronomic experience, Sushiya’s intimate ambiance ultimately fails to com-pensate for the forgettable, but decent sushi. ■H

FEATURES10 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

THE DIGITAL WORLD WITH RYAN SIMONLEARN TO CODE: A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONWRITTEN BY RYAN SIMON, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

One of your New Year’s reso-lutions should be to learn how to program—new start-up company Codeacademy certainly wants you to. In what could be one of the most simple yet clever mar-keting campaigns in regards to computer programming to date, Codeacademy recently launched a website called Code Year. The motivation behind Code Year is to get as many people as possible to sign up for a set of free email-based programming lessons pro-vided by Codeacademy. So far, over 250,000 people have signed up to learn how to code, but why should you? Not only is program-ming a useful skill in our growing digital world, but it also can pay pretty well too.

There’s no denying that our economy is becoming more tech-nologically oriented, and because of this, talented programmers are

in high demand. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a tech-nical person, websites like Co-deacademy exist to turn the pro-cess of programming into an easy to understand set of instructions. Being only seven months old, Codeacademy offers three excep-tional courses on a popular cod-ing language called JavaScript. The great thing about JavaScript is that it is used on almost every modern website to date, and it is really easy to learn the basics of the language.

Besides just learning JavaS-cript, Codeacademy promises its users that they’ll be able to pro-gram entire websites, games and applications from scratch. These types of skills are highly sought after in the current job market. After making a quick scan over job sites like Monster.com, it is pretty clear that technical jobs

like programming aren’t going away anytime soon. In fact, grow-ing tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter are con-stantly looking for new capable and technically savvy people to hire. The idea of coding may be surrounded by a web of geeky stereotypes, but it’s worth noting that said geeks aren’t running out of jobs anytime soon. Codeacad-emy couldn’t have appeared at a better time.

In all my searching for coding tips and tricks over the years, I have never come across such an impressive site built specifically to teach people how to program. Further investigation into Co-deacademy yields a list of opti-mistic investors. With some luck, this new coding site may not only help people code, but turn a de-cent profit too. Here’s to hoping that Codeacademy continues to

grow its list of users and available lessons. I know I certainly appre-ciate the simplistic approach the site provides. In the near future, Codeacademy lessons for popu-

lar coding languages like Ruby and Python will be available, but for now users can test and share programs in any of the three lan-guages mentioned on their site.

ph o to Co u rt e s y o f Co d e aC a d e m y

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FEATURES 11TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

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HIGHLANDER EDITORIAL STAFF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONSCHRIS LOCASCIO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

- Get 8 hours of sleep a night- Find time for free time- Make a difference

KEVIN KECKESIEN, MANAGING EDITOR- Catch the Chupacabra on campus- Climb the Bell Tower

TOWNSEND GALLINGER-SHOLZ, OPINIONS EDITOR- Find and publish a cure for “Bieber Fever”- Make it through election season without cursing at the TV- Put an end to the “5 minutes of work for 5 minutes of Tetris” rule

ERIC GAMBOA, NEWS EDITOR- Go to the gym more often. Seri-ously. - Spend more time with my fam-ily, especially my younger brotherLess videogames, more recre-ational reading

EMILY WELLS, A&E EDITOR- Make time for ballet- Have a piece of fiction com-pleted that I would be proud to publish - General personal growth

FATIMA MIRZA, FEATURES EDITOR- Drink less coffee and maintain a healthy diet- Explore So Cal more- Spend more time doing things I love

IRIN SON, PRODUCTION MANAGER- Develop my portfolio- Keep up with news and politics- Finish at least one book a week- Go to a gallery exhibition at least once a month- Visit San Francisco

TYLER JOE, PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR- Not be lazy- Save money - Graduate

MIKE RIOS, SPORTS EDITOR- Run more often- Study harder- Read more

GORDON HUANG, ASST. PHOTO EDITOR- Study harder for classes- Don’t procrastinate- Get a job

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

13TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

radar

pHoto CoUrtesy of tHefilmstage.Com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT14 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

RADAR JAMMINGBY CHRIS LOCASCIO, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Best Albums of 2011Who would have thought? 2010

was the year of reflections on suburbia, 2011 follows up with what else than the “hardcore opera.” Bookending this year’s list are two “hardcore punk nar-

rative albums,” a term I’d have cringed at a year ago. But Defeater and Fucked Up pulled them off, in excitingly differ-ent ways. In 2011, punks became story-tellers. And really good ones.

Honorable MentionCity and Colour - “Little Hell”Real Estate - “Days”True Widow - “As High As The Highest Heavens...”Cold Cave - “Cherish the Light Years”

Joyce Manor - “Joyce Manor”Thursday - “No Devolución” Weekend Nachos - “Worthless”Balance and Composure - “Separation”Pulling Teeth - “Funerary”

1 Fucked Up - “David Comes to Life”It’s not even close. FU ran away with 2011’s

top spot by releasing the prolific band’s mag-num opus- an epic 18-song 80-minute narrative hardcore punk opera. No hardcore band has ever attempted anything on this scale, and FU pulled it off and made it look easy. Mike Haliechuk’s

songwriting mastery is displayed full-force, both in the realization of FU’s long-developed my-thology and in the complexity of the music itself. This is one musical I would love to see staged. It is also the only album I’ve ever given a full 5 stars.

2 Pygmy Lush - “Old Friends”My first few listens to “Old Friends” sent

chills across my body. Pygmy Lush, the band that rose from the ashes of hardcore pioneers Pg. 99, wrote what is as good of a contemporary folk re-

cord as anything in recent memory. Listen for the little things: the intricately layered guitars, the always moving rhythms and the unbearably hu-man lyrics.

3 Kurt Vile - “Smoke Ring for My Halo”

Kurt Vile’s “Smoke Ring for My Halo” is one of 2011’s best composed albums. The fact that his creative lyrics and Dylan-esque croon-ing are able to keep up with his brilliant

guitar work, is a tes-tament to his song-writing capabilities. “Jesus Fever” has the most infectious riff of 2011, and once you learn to play it on the guitar, you won’t be able to stop.

6 Touché Amoré - “Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me”

Touché Amoré has cata-pulted to the top of the heap in the hardcore scene in the past

three years, and “Parting the Sea” confirms their deserved attention.

7 Yuck - “Yuck”

Yuck didn’t do anything revolutionary on their self-titled album. In fact, they owe a great deal to the ‘90s indie rock bands that so bla-

tantly influenced them. But what they lack in trailblazing originality, they make up for in simple, solid music, front to back.

5 Bon Iver - “Bon Iver”Bon Iver’s self-ti-

tled follow up to “For Emma, Forever Ago” is hauntingly beauti-ful. The emergence of powerful, hard-hitting and fuzzed-out gui-tars in “Perth” out of a military-march snare rhythm were alone enough to outdo just

about anything re-leased in 2011, but the rest of the album fol-lows suit. Had it not been for the excruci-ating ‘80s pop throw-back and album-closer “Beth/Rest,” “Bon Iver” would have been even higher on this list.

4 Frank Turner - “England Keep My Bones”Consistency. Al-

though “England Keep My Bones” isn’t a wild departure from Turner’s prior work, it doesn’t need to be. He has mastered the perfect blend of folk, punk and rock ‘n’ roll, and it shows. The songs are built

for singing along, and by the album’s shock-ing and boundary-pushing closer “Glory Hallelujah,” you can’t help but join in and belt out along with Mr. Turner.

8 Wye Oak - “Civilian”

The cover artwork for Baltimore duo Wye Oak’s “Civilian” captures the re-cord perfectly. “Civilian” is a canonball of an album- its

songs plunge into down-tempo, contemplative dark-ness and then ride the ener-getic waves that result. It’s a ride.

9 Wugazi - “13 Chambers”

This mashup record by Doomtree’s Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy takes Wu-Tang Clan rhymes and puts them over legendary Fugazi tunes. “Sleep Rules Everything Around Me,” made up of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Cash

Rules Everything Around Me” and Fu-gazi’s “I’m So Tired,” captures both groups at their best and seam-lessly combines them. What results is by far the most interest-ing hip-hop record of 2011.

10 Defeater - “Empty Days & Sleepless Nights”

On “Empty Days & Sleepless Nights,” Defeater turns their attention to domes-ticity, telling the story of a young man and his dete-riorating family and love lives. Over the course of the double LP, the nameless man endures the death of his father and the blaming of

his brother, his de-scent into alcohol-ism, the beginning and end to love, his mother’s drug addic-tion, and ultimately the climactic con-frontation with his brother. It is a grip-ping story told hand in hand with the mu-sic, which is already some of the best in melodic hardcore.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 15TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER14

MOVIE REVIEWSALSO THIS WEEK: THE DEVIL INSIDE BENEATH THE DARKNESS LOOSIES NORWEIGIAN WOOD ROADIE

★★★★☆RATING: BY: EMILY WELLS, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

THE ARTIST

“The Artist” is an exquisite piece from Director Michel Hazanavicius that combines the nostalgia of the silent film era with fresh, bold innovation. An abso-lute pleasure to watch, the film is without a doubt one of the best of 2011.

The film charts the fall of one star and the rise of another, all while paint-ing a vividly glorious portrait of old Hollywood. Silent film star George Val-entin (Jean Dujardin) seems to have it all—wild success and fame, wealth, a hilariously loyal dog, and general joie de vivre. Contrastingly, Peppy Miller (Béré-nice Bejo) is a young up-and-comer who is selected to be a background dancer in one of Valentin’s films. The two hit it off and an infatuated friendship blossoms. When the manager of Valentin’s film pro-duction studio announces that the studio will switch its focus to “talkie” films and that Valentin will have to take on speak-ing roles, Valentin refuses and says he wants nothing to do with a film that re-quires him to speak, writing the “talkies” off as a passing fad. From there on out, Valentin’s life takes a downward spiral. He finds himself unable to obtain work, his wife leaves him, he loses his home and belongings, and his last attempt at a silent film flops completely. Meanwhile, Peppy Miller flourishes as Hollywood’s new sweetheart. Watching a young ac-tress whom he once gave advice to rise above him overnight places an additional strain on Valentin’s disturbed psyche.

The film deals with a fear of many artists—becoming obsolete. Entertainer George Valentin’s grappling to remain relevant is explored at its full capacity, and the character exposes the danger of refusing to accept the world’s inevitable

change. Valentin is a hopeless romantic for silent films, and the longer he clings to them, the further he falls. Peppy Mill-er takes on the role of Valentin’s guard-ian angel, anonymously purchasing all of his personal effects at an auction he holds to raise money and taking him in after an attempted suicide. Her unfailing faith in Valentin’s talent gives the audi-ence hope for his cinematic redemption.

The filmmaking is almost entirely visual. However, the film incorporates a few moments of sound, which are in-credibly striking and effective due to their scarcity. When George Valentin is told that the film industry is changing and sound is now necessary, he suddenly becomes strikingly aware of the every-day sounds around him. At one point, a feather drops and the result is an ear shattering crash.

One of the film’s only outright flaws is that it can err on the side of being gimmicky. However, somehow its self awareness makes up for this. “The Art-ist” does not come close to mocking the period material it deals with, but simulta-

neously does not take itself too seriously. The movie acts as a celebration of the

silent film era as well as the progress of the “talkie” industry, and the over-the-top visual spectacle of silent films is portrayed in an appreciative light. Large gestures and dynamic facial expressions dominate in the film, as they did in the si-lent film period, but the movie still man-ages to explore a wide emotional spec-trum. The result is a captivating blend of melodrama, sentimental romance and screwball comedy. The audience finds the characters likable, and the movie has a universal soul despite its emula-

tion of a cinematic style that came long be-fore most of its viewers. Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo shine brilliantly in the star-ring roles. They perfectly capture the light-hearted cheerfulness of the film era, while still maintaining emotional depth in their characters. The costuming and makeup are a shining beacon of what a period film should look like.

While crafting a picture of the silent era, this movie manages to create something that will most likely never be imitated, setting it far apart from other 2011 box office hits. Despite it’s silence, “The Artist” receives my loudest applause.

Photos Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT16 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

BY: CAMERON BOOTH, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

David Fincher, critically-acclaimed di-rector of “The Social Network,” “Fight Club” and “Seven,” received high marks for his latest exhilarating thriller, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The film is an adapta-tion of the internationally-bestselling book

by the same title, written by Stieg Larsson. Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a jour-

nalist propelled by his considerable ethical convictions, is loved by some and abhorred by others for his unrelenting efforts against white-collar crime in Sweden. But when

Photos Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆RATING:

he attempts to take on the suspicious fi-nancial dealings of businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström, things go horribly awry, and he finds himself with a libel conviction that effectively shatters his credibility within the Swedish media. Defeated, both in court and in spirit, he is surprised to receive an unusu-al job offer from Vanger Industries CEO, Henrik Vanger. Vanger requests Blom-kvist’s investigative skills to help solve the 40 year-old murder of his niece, Harriet. In exchange, he promises to provide proof of Wennerström’s crooked financial dealings. Blomkvist accepts.

Meanwhile, the edgy 24 year-old Lis-beth Salander (Rooney Mara) is caught up in an array of personal dilemmas. But she is not to be underestimated. At first glance, one might only notice the array of piercings and tattoos with which Salander adorns herself, but as it happens, she’s also brilliant. With a photographic memory and an uncanny ability to hack into the com-puter of just about anyone she pleases, her skill set lands her in the company of Blom-kvist, who is busy investigating the Vanger mystery. As the two delve deeper into the history of the unsolved crime, Blomkvist and Salander find themselves unraveling a dark and twisted string of disappearances, violence, and murder—and they’re caught right in the middle of the mayhem.

True to the book’s fast-paced and heart-pounding momentum, the film manages to remain engaging for the full two hour and thirty-seven minute duration. Fincher effectively compresses and captures the thrills of the novel without sacrificing too much in the process. As the second director to adapt the widely-renowned bestselling book to the screen (the first was Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev), Fincher faced a great deal of pressure both from fans of the Swedish film and fans of the novel. For those who haven’t read the book, the first thirty minutes of the movie may feel a tad disjointed and rushed, as a great deal happens seemingly at once. In this regard, those familiar with the book will likely have a higher understanding of the plot progression. But by midway through, the movie has settled into a comfortable, albeit suspenseful, flow that all audience mem-bers can appreciate.

Lead actress Rooney Mara shines

throughout the film in her role as Lisbeth Salander. Prior to filming, Mara had pre-vious work experience with director David Fincher in “The Social Network,” in which she played Mark Zuckerberg’s temporary girlfriend, Erica Albright. In “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Mara assumes the remarkably different persona of a Goth-style computer hacker, demonstrating an impressive versatility in her acting abilities. Though Salander is known for her terse, two-dimensional and straight-to-the-point remarks, Mara captures the true depth of Larsson’s character.

Actor Daniel Craig also offers an im-pressive performance, though his is some-what dwarfed when compared alongside Mara’s. The film features no unexpected or new tricks from Craig, known primarily for his role as James Bond in “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace,” but the kind of character he’s famous for playing, he plays exceptionally well. The role of Mikael Blomkvist called for an equal combination of intellectual finesse and an undeterred sense of daring fortitude—Craig was a per-fect answer.

The opening credits feature a long surre-alistic and artistic “tar and ooze of the sub-conscious,” as described by director David Fincher, all to a cover of Led Zepplin’s “Im-migrant Song.” “I think title sequences are an opportunity to sort of set the stage or to get people thinking in different terms than maybe whatever they understand the movie to be,” said Fincher in an interview on Cine-blend.com. Achieving this goal, Fincher shattered some preconceived expectations about what his film would be, giving it an artistic flare that no one else could.

Still, the film was by no means perfect. Some attributes were lost within the fast pace of the dialogue, and it was at times difficult to keep up. In addition, some of the darker elements of the story tended to be all-pervasive, with very little relief in be-tween. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” leaves little to the imagination, adding to the realism, but detracting somewhat from the artistry.

Still, all of the pieces manage to fall into place. Take a masterful cast headed by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, a celebrat-ed story by Stieg Larsson, and an incredibly well-written screenplay by Steven Zaillian, and all the instruments are in position. Da-vid Fincher simply had to raise his hands and conduct. ■H

Intriguing and provocative, the histori-cal film “A Dangerous Method” explores the dynamic relationship between Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Sabina Spielrein, as well as the emergence of psychotherapy. The film is directed by David Cronenberg and written by Christopher Hampton, who adapted it from a play he had written.

Michael Fassbender plays the part of Carl Jung, and Viggo Mortensen plays his mentor, Sigmund Freud. Their relation-ship and approach to their field is forever changed when Jung takes in hysterical Sa-bina Spielrein, played by Kiera Knightley, as his patient.

Inspired by Freud’s advancements, Jung uses his methods on Spielrein. He treats her using the ‘talking cure’ and discovers Spiel-rein’s deep rooted issues and guilt that cause her anxieties and frequent spasms. As their sessions help Spielrein overcome her obsta-cles, Jung and Spielrein develop a relation-ship driven by both intellectual and sexual attraction that eventually culminates into an affair. Their relationship quickly becomes the forefront of the movie, and greatly ef-fects the way Jung and Freud view one an-other, as well as their approach to psycho-therapy. Unfortunately, because the movie became primarily about the affair between Spielrein and Jung, the relationship between Freud and Jung was not explored as much as one would expect. Spielrein eventually be-comes a pioneer in the field of psychology herself, and the conversations that emerge between the three characters are intriguing and compelling, staying with the audience long after the movie has ended.

The director’s approach to the scenes was unique in the sense that the scenes were very brief, only lasting for a few minutes. The movie took place over years without giving any explanation to how much time passed between the scenes, giving it a dis-jointed feeling. Viewers had to infer how much had changed from one scene to the

next. However, the decision to split the scenes into brief moments helped maintain the movie’s momentum, for each scene was composed of only the most essential infor-mation and dialogue. It was also success-ful in creating a character arc. Because the brief moments spanned across years, view-ers were able to see how much each charac-

ter changed individually and in relation to one an-other.

The film had an ex-cellent cast; both Fass-bender and Mortensen delivered great perfor-mances. Fassbender es-pecially had a powerful presence on screen, and he played a contempla-tive man struggling with his id and super ego ex-ceptionally well. Kiera Knightley on the other hand embodied her char-acter to the extreme—her attempt to portray a

hysterical patient was distracting and unset-tling. Her acting was overdone, making it clear that she was an actor playing a role. She was excessively erratic, twitching in unnatural ways, contorting her face to the point that it was disturbing and took away from the scenes. Even the accent Knight-ley had felt false and was difficult to un-derstand.

The most satisfying part of the film is the script; the movie is full of amazing lines and revealing dialogue. On the surface, the movie tells the tale of three important psy-chologists that revolutionized the field of psychology, and of their intertwining rela-tionships. But what is most compelling is the thought provoking script that reveals as much about human nature as it does about the characters’ journeys. Audiences are left with much to contemplate on: the dark as-pects of human nature, creativity, the com-plications of relationships, the clash of de-structive forces. Though the dramatic and romantic aspect of the movie is done well, the themes and conversations presented are what leaves a lasting impression.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 17TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

BY: FATIMA MIRZA, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A DANGEROUS METHOD★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ RATING:

Photo Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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HIGHLANDERSPORTS. .TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 201118

Tigers 80 - Highlanders 59

It was a tale of two halves for the UCR women’s basketball team. The Highlanders came out of the gates with a lot of ener-gy in the first half, but it was a completely different story in the second as they were outscored by 20 points in the following period. Losing two starters to in-game injuries, the Highland-ers could not seem to get things together and the team would ul-timately fall by a score of 80-59 to the Pacific Tigers.

The Highlanders and the Ti-gers were involved in a tight one during the first 20 minutes of the game. UCR jumped out to an early 15-8 lead after free throws by Brittany Palmer. Pa-cific battled back by outscoring UCR 15-2 late in the first half to take a six-point lead..

With 3:48 remaining in the first, star point guard Tre’Shonti

Nottingham took an elbow to the head and was knocked down. Nottingham remained unresponsive on the floor for a few minutes before getting back up with the help of the team’s trainers. Nottingham would not return to the game after that point.

The score remained close un-til the Highlanders regained a three-point lead in the closing minutes of the half. The High-landers led 34-33 late in the first half but were unable to maintain their lead. With only a few sec-onds remaining, the Tigers sank a layup at the buzzer to take a one-point lead into the locker room. The score was 35-34 in the Tigers’ favor.

Pacific rode that momentum into the second period. The Ti-gers opened up the second half with a 20-2 run to take a com-manding 55-36 lead. Coach Margaritis called various time-outs and substituted a few play-

UCR basketball extends winless streak to sixmi c h a E l ri o s

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ar C h i v e/highlanderW. BBAL CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Sports are always a big deal during the Holiday sea-sons. From the NFL teams clinching playoff games, to the college football bowl games, to the NHL Winter classic. The NBA lockout made sports news during the holiday season even more interesting.

For most fans, the start of the season was the best Christmas gift Santa could give on Christmas Day. However, the Chris Paul trade and the Dwight How-ard trade watch dominated the news ticker.

After the NBA basically impeded the Lakers from getting the man known as “CP3,” the Clippers also failed in their first trade at-tempt to get Chris Paul. Fortunately for them, their second try worked out and now they have a good young team for the first time in a long time.

The Dwight Howard trade watch resulted in noth-ing. Fortunately, with the NBA season under way, all that trade talk is old news—something sports fans like me worried might linger around. David Stern should be happy that everything worked out all right after the disaster over the Chris Paul deal with the Lakers.

Imagine a current NBA season with one of the league’s brightest stars Chris Paul playing with New Orleans only because the league refused to ac-cept a trade for him that is of fair market value. The ar-gument of the league and of the NBA small market own-ers is that they did not want players to dictate where they got to play. However, this is not the case. Because Chris Paul was going to be a free agent next year and was not going to re-sign with the New Orleans Hornets, the organization thought they might as well get full mar-ket value for him rather than have him leave for nothing. Luckily, all parties got what they wanted—except for the Lakers. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with disastrous controversy like the Chris Paul trade again.

PRANAV BHAKTA

Unwarranted News

P-BHAK’SCORNER

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SPORTS 19TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011HIGHLANDER

ers to try to change the rhythm of the game, but it was to no avail. The Tigers were resilient and maintained their lead.

Late in the game, starter Brittany Palmer was tripped and knocked down by an op-posing player. She would lie on the floor holding her head in pain before being helped up by the team trainers. Palmer, like Nottingham, would not re-turn to the game.

Adding insult to injury, the Tigers then took their first 20-point lead with 3:28 re-maining at 76-56. The High-landers were unable to respond from that point on. UCR lost the game by a score of 80-59. For the Highlanders, this proved to be the team’s sixth consecutive loss and 13th de-feat overall. The team’s over-all record now stands at 2-13 while their conference record stands at 0-4.

After the game, coach Mar-garitis went on to talk about his injured players. “Both got hit,” he said. “How bad it is, I have no idea. [Our trainer] said she was going to hold them out until they knew.”

The Highlanders shot 42.4 percent in the first but fell apart in the second, shooting a dismal 26.9 percent. UCR was outscored by 20 points in the second period.

“I thought we played hard,” said Coach Margaritis after the game. “We could have finished

the half a little bit better by controlling the situation and we didn’t. And then the start of the second half wasn’t good.”

Jessica Ogunnorin finished the game with a team-high 14 points and Brittany Palmer added 12 points of her own be-fore being injured.

The Highlanders will travel to San Luis Obispo to face the Cal Poly Mustangs on Jan. 12 and will look to snap their six-game losing streak.

Aggies 70 - Highlanders 53

The Highlanders played

their first match of the new year against the UC Davis Aggies this past Thursday at home. UCR’s Tre’Shonti Not-tingham scored a game-high 21 points, but her efforts were not enough as the Highlanders lost the game by a score of 70-53.

After trailing 29-18 at the half, the Highlanders used a strong 15-2 run to take a two-point lead in the game. The Aggies countered with nine unanswered points of their own to retake a seven-point lead at 40-33 with 12:18 re-maining in the game.

Davis never looked back from that point on. The Ag-gies later took a 19-point ad-vantage with 19 seconds re-maining in regulation at 68-49 to seal the game. UCR lost its fifth straight game by a score of 70-53.

Nottingham scored 21

points for her team and Jessi-ca Ogunnorin added 10 points for Riverside. The team com-mitted a total of 25 turnovers in the game a shot 39.5 per-cent from the field compared to the Aggies’ 36.8 percent.

For the fifth time this season, UCR shot a better percentage than its opponents and still lost the match. This proved to be the Highlanders’ third straight conference loss of the season.

W. BBAL FROM PAGE 18

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SPORTS20 TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 HIGHLANDER

Following the recent trend of super conference shuf-fling, the Big West confer-ence will soon have a few big changes of its own in the upcoming years. But these changes aren’t neces-sarily bad things. For the first time in a long time, the Big West will actually have the opportunity to become a household name.

With the addition of high-profile teams like Hawai’i and San Diego State in the upcoming years, the Big West will have 11 strong teams competing against one another. Cal State Sacramento will also be joining the conference but only in soccer. The three additions have combined to win a total of four Division I titles over the yeas. With the addition of these teams, every school in the Big West will now have to fight even harder and more com-petitively to win conference titles in each respective sport. It also means that our conference will now have even more national expo-sure.

We’re starting to see that trend already. Granted, the Big West has been relying on powerhouse teams like Long Beach in basketball and UC Irvine in baseball to gain national exposure, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’ve already started seeing our confer-ence’s name on ESPN, the LA Times and USA Today on a regular basis. It’s a sign that the Big West is grow-ing! For the first time in a while, the Big West has the opportunity to become as well-known as names like the Big East, the Pac 12, and the Big 12.

But where does UCR fit in the picture? It seems almost as if the Highlanders are going along for the ride but aren’t taking the initiative like Long Beach, Hawaii and Irvine. It almost seems as if we’re lost in the middle of all this frenzy.

True, we’re currently in the middle of creating a new brand identity with the update of our athletics logo, but I still don’t think it’s enough. Our teams need breakout seasons more than ever. We can’t afford to get lost in the middle of all the changes. For UCR to be

Following the recent trend of super conference shuffling, the Big West conference will soon have a few big changes of its own in the upcoming years. But these changes aren’t necessarily bad things. For the first time in a long time, the Big West will actually have the opportunity to become a household name.

With the addition of high-profile teams like Hawai’i and San Diego State in the upcom-ing years, the Big West will have 11 strong teams compet-ing against one another. Cal State Sacramento will also be joining the conference but only in soccer. The three teams have combined to win a total of four Division I titles over the years. With the addition of these teams, every school in the Big West will now have to fight even harder and more competitively to win confer-ence titles in each respective sport. It also means that our conference will now have even more national exposure.

We’re starting to see that trend already. Granted, the Big West has been relying on powerhouse teams like Long Beach in basketball and UC Ir-vine in baseball to gain nation-al exposure, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’ve already started seeing our conference’s name on ESPN, the LA Times and USA Today on a regular basis. It’s a sign that the Big West is growing! For the first time in a while, the Big West has the opportunity to become as well-known as names like the Big East, the Pac 12 and the Big 12.

But where does UCR fit in the picture? It seems almost as if the Highlanders are going along for the ride but aren’t taking the initiative like Long Beach, Hawai’i and Irvine. It almost seems as if we’re lost in the middle of all this frenzy.

True, we’re currently in the middle of creating a new brand identity with the update of our athletics logo, but I still don’t think it’s enough. Our teams need breakout seasons more than ever. We can’t afford to get lost in the middle of all the changes. For UCR to be taken seriously as national contend-ers, the university’s athletic teams must start to grow as quickly and as superbly as the conference is. It’s a great opportunity that must not be taken lightly. The door is wide open. UCR must now walk right through it.

MICHAEL RIOS

Big changes in the Big West

RIO-SIDE

Highlanders 64 - Tigers 57

With a 64-57 victory over the Pacific Tigers, the UC Riv-erside men’s basketball team improved its season record to 8-8 and its Big West record to 2-1. The Highlanders managed to secure the victory thanks to Phil Martin’s career-high tying 29 points and a Highlander de-fense that held off a late Pacific rally.

The game began with a slow start from both teams as the Highlanders made only two of their first nine shots, while Pa-cific made just one of its first six shots. With the game tied at 7-7, the Highlanders found a rhythm and went on to put up eight straight points to go up 15-7. The Tigers responded quickly as they went on a 6-0 run themselves after the High-landers’ 8-0 run. This cut the Highlander lead to two with the score holding at 15-13. For the rest of the first half, the teams traded points as the Highland-ers held a three-point lead at the half, 25-22.

In the second half, the Highlanders came out strong and built a double-digit lead throughout the game. A Robert Smith layup at the 12:19 mark

in the second half put the High-landers up 45-32, which was the largest lead of the game. Pacific kept chipping away at the Highlanders’ 12-point lead as a 7-2 Pacific run reduced the Highlander lead to single dig-its. With the Highlanders hold-ing just a six-point lead, Phil Martin scored his 29th point of the game on a driving layup to give his team an eight-point lead with the score at 58-50. Pacific scored the next four points thanks to two trips to the charity line to cut the lead to four, 58-54.

With 1:28 left in the game, Highlander Robert Smith made one of the two free throws to give his team a five-point cush-ion. In their next possession, the Tigers made it a two-point game thanks to a three-point play where Pacific’s Travis Fulton got a basket and drew a foul. The score stood at 59-57, but Kareem Nitoto got a bas-ket to give the Highlanders a four-point lead. From there on, the Highlanders closed out the game decisively as they made their chances count to secure the final score of 64-57 and win it by seven points.

The Highlanders will now play two games at home this Thursday and Saturday against UCSB and Cal Poly where they will look to improve their sea-

son record and Big West re-cord.

Highlanders 60 - Aggies 58

The final minutes of this game were thrilling, as the Highlanders had several mo-ments with their backs against the wall. However, they were able to survive the Aggies’ last minute attack to secure a 60-58 road victory. Highlander Phil Martin had a game-high 24 points. The Highlanders im-proved to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in Big West play.

The Highlanders got off to a very fast start as they had a 9-0 lead before the Ag-gies got to the free throw line to score their first two points. The Highlanders found them-selves with a double-digit lead when an Elliot Berry jump shot made it a 15-5 game. The Ag-gies responded by playing a press defense that limited the Highlander offense signifi-cantly as they were scoreless for three minutes and 15 sec-onds. Thanks to a jumper by Highlander BJ Shearry, the Highlander scoreless drought was over as they extended their lead to 17-11. The Aggies had a scoring run of their own and tied the game up at 20-20 with four minutes remaining in the first half. A jump shot by the

Aggies gave them the lead, but the Highlanders’ Phil Martin responded with a jump shot of his own.. The Highlanders got back on top with a Shearry steal and dunk. At the end of the first half, the Highlanders held a 27-25 lead.

Late in the second half, the Highlanders had a large 10-point lead at 40-30 thanks to a long scoring run where Martin had seven points. The Aggies kept chipping away at the lead and managed to tie the game at 50-50 with 7:47 remaining on the clock. The Aggies got back in the driver’s seat, holding a three-point lead at 53-50 over the Highlanders. At the 3:50 mark, the Aggies were up by four, 58-54, but the Highlanders’ BJ Shearry, Rob-ert Smith and Martin combined for a 6-0 run in the last minute of the game to give the High-landers a two-point lead, 60-58. In the last possession of the game, the Aggies got the ball to their player Eddie Miller. With a foul to give, Highlander Mar-tin tried to foul Miller, but no call was given as Miller went to the basket uncontested. High-lander Berry saved the day for UCR as he drew a charging foul against Miller. The defensive play made by Berry secured the Highlander victory. UCR won by a score of 60-58.

Highlanders earn two straight conference victories

Pr a naV bh a k TaSENIOR STAFF WRITER

ar C h i v e/highlander

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