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TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012

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THIS WEEK’S EVENTS

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UCR Choral Society: Songs of Loss2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.ARTS 166

Co u rt e s y o f sfGat e

The implications of Governor Brown’s revised May budget were the main focus of the UC Board of Regents meeting last week in Sacramento. The regents dis-cussed the prospect of a six percent tuition increase—which is nearly guaranteed giv-en the revised budget’s failure to provide the $125.4 million necessary for a tuition buy-out. Other prominent issues included a discussion of a UC-wide report on campus protests, the future of the UC’s Blue and Gold Plan and a brief controversy regard-ing the approved salary of the upcoming UC San Diego Chancellor. Notably absent

from the meeting was UC President Mark Yudof who was unable to attend due to his wife’s hospitalization.

The public forum period of the meet-ing witnessed protests in the form of chant-ing and shouting from protesters wearing mock prison attire. Protesters wore orange to draw an analogy between the plight of students—namely, via debt “sentences” and crackdowns on student protests—and the conditions faced by inmates. The re-gents were forced to declare a one-hour recess due to protesters’ refusal to stop chanting. No arrests were made and the protesters left the forum during the recess.

One of the lengthiest portions of the

meeting was spent evaluating the UC’s financial position following the release of Governor Brown’s revised budget. Chair Lansing began by announcing a consensus among regents pertaining to several items: the importance of restoring Cal Grants, ob-taining a tuition buyout, passing Speaker Perez’s Middle Class Scholarship Act and receiving proper funding from the state.

The revised budget allocates $52 mil-lion to the UC—$38 million short of the state’s $90 million commitment. But even accounting for the entirety of the $90 mil-lion pledge (which would be fully dis-persed in 2014), the state’s commitment

UC regents review prospect of 6% tuition increaseStudents, chancellor, regents join forces to lobby in Sacramento

For the first time since 1993, the University of California Board of Re-gents held a meeting in Sacramento, rather than a specific UC campus. With the threat of further budget cuts and a budget deficit looming, regents hoped to join forces with students on a united front to lobby legislators on UC issues. Four UCR students joined Chancellor White in Sacramento to speak with local state representatives and make their case for the University of California.

UCR’s student representation came from the Highlander Lobby Corps, a volunteer-based group ran by the Legis-lative Liaison and overseen by the Ex-ternal Affairs Office of ASUCR.

The organization focuses on lobbying efforts and making sure student voices

Brown’s revised budget allocates UC less funding than expected

Gov. Brown’s revised bud-get, which seeks to address the state’s $16 billion deficit, will temporarily withhold $38 mil-lion from the state’s initial $90 million commitment to the UC while boosting K-12 funding by 16 percent. Public education was largely exempt from the numer-ous cuts enacted in nearly every other government sector, which included a five percent state em-ployee payroll freeze and nearly $550 million in trial court system cuts. “Governor Brown’s revised

budget proposal makes it clear that he considers public higher education a priority for the state, and we appreciate that,” stated Steve Montiel, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) media rela-tions director, in a press release. Governor Brown, however, has noted that the funding of public education depends on voter ap-proval of Brown’s tax measures in the November ballot; if the tax measures fail to pass, the UC and California State University System would each be subject to $250 million trigger cuts begin-ning on Jan. 1, 2013.

“We can’t balance the budget with cuts alone; that would just further undermine our public

schools,” stated Governor Brown in a press release. “The budget I am proposing will boost fund-ing for education, protect public safety and prevent an even deeper round of trigger cuts.” The boost referred to the additional fund-ing of K-12 education, whereas the California State University did not undergo any substantial financial changes and the UC was granted $52 million. Some of the most controversial aspects of the revised budget related to educa-tion pertain to the California Stu-dent Aid Commission.

The revised budget has re-formed the Cal Grant program in terms of participation among Co u rt e s y o f sfex a m i n e r

Er i c Ga m b oaSENIOR STAFF WRITER

ch r i s Loca s c i oSENIOR STAFF WRITER

LOBBY CONTINUED ON PAGE 7REGENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

BUDGET CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Er i c Ga m b oaSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Courtesy of timothy White

Protests during the UC regents meeting forced the regents to take a one-hour recess.

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cr i s t i na Gr a na d o sSTAFF WRITER

Governor Jerry Brown.

From left to right: Governor Brown, Nick Oifoh, Aundrey Jones, Nicole Rosales and Johanna Sanchez.

SPORTS

ON PAGE 20BASEBALL BEATS #8 FULLERTON

FEATURES

ON PAGE 10FOREPLAY: SENIOR ART SHOW

KUCR Comedy Apocalypse8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.The Barn

UCR Campus Memorial4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.Botanic Gardens Info Center

History of Protest & Policing in the UC System and Beyond Part II10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.University Theatre

31st Annual UCR Pow Wow5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.UCR Sports Center

NEWS2 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

Last Wednesday’s ASUCR senate meeting resulted in the controversial ta-bling of a resolution to denounce the de-facement of an Israeli flag that occurred on campus last March. Conflict arose due to senators’ varying opinions regarding the appropriateness of including the phrase, “hate crime,” in the resolution. The reso-lution had been drafted in response to the scrawling of the word “terrorist” on an Is-raeli flag that hung in front of Hillel’s of-fice in Costo Hall. Other topics that were addressed during the meeting included a revisit of the controversial Legislative Convention incident.

“I think the problem with the resolution is that it doesn’t differentiate between the act of vandalism and its content…the Is-raeli Flag represents the nation-state, not the people,” stated fourth-year Shaheen Nassar, who argued that act amounted to political criticism against the Israeli gov-ernment and was not a hate crime aimed at Israelis. However, Nassar condemned the physical act itself as “reprehensible” and supported a public denunciation of the act without the use of the contested phrase. Senators Derek Roberts and Da-vid Falstein were among the supporters of the resolution in its current form which stated, “The University of California does not condone any sort of hate crime.”

“By defacing an Israel flag at an in-stitution…in front of their own place of gathering would be considered a hate crime…whether it was meant to be hate

or political, the fact is... [that] it came off to be a hate crime,” argued Roberts, who authored the resolution.

The connection between the defini-tion of a hate crime and how it related back to the resolution itself prompted a debate amongst senators and members of the audience. Nassar linked the defi-nition of racism to having “institutional value,” sourcing the classification back to UC Riverside Ethnic Studies Chair Dylan Rodriguez. Through this interpretation, Nassar argued that the racial stereotype of term “terrorist” is not typically associated with Jewish communities.

Senator Esther Hwang supported the altering of the resolution in order to pro-vide clarity, while others expressed the desire for more emphasis on the act of

defacement, lest the standards be lessened in terms of defining a hate crime. “Our in-tention is to condemn any further action such as this from happening again and that there are better ways of going about expressing political ideologies than defac-ing property,” stated Senator Roberts. As a result of the differences in opinion, the resolution was tabled and will likely arise in a new form during the next ASUCR meeting.

Senator Hwang and Albert Yum’s in-volvement in the “Leg Con” controversy was also revisited during the meeting. At the previous ASUCR meeting, Sena-tor and Vice President of External Affairs Andrew Whall announced that none of the Leg Con attendees would be charged a $500 fee for failing to carry out the full

extent of their duties. Whall defended his decision, noting that the contract speci-fications for senators’ requirements was “up for interpretation.”

Other items addressed during the pub-lic forum period addressed a students’ request for increased number of seats al-located to each respective college, the implementation of more hydration sta-tions throughout campus and the need to register more students to vote. UC River-side alumna Latonya Young also pressed senators to endorse May 30–which coin-cides with the senior barbecue–as a day of diversity for students to dress in cultural attire.

The next ASUCR senate meeting will take place on May 30 (5 p.m.) in HUB 221.

ASUCR tables resolution critical of Israeli flag defacementsa n dy Va nSTAFF WRITER

Go r d o n hu a n G/hiGhLander

The UC Haiti Initiative (UCHI), a program started in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the Caribbean country in 2010, was awarded the 2012 UC President’s Award for Out-standing Student Leadership during the UC regents May 16 meeting in Sacramento.

UCHI was specifically rec-ognized for “brokering peer-to-peer projects developed in collaboration with the Uni-versite d’Etat d’Haiti (UEH), the state university in Haiti.” The partnership allowed UC and UEH students to collabo-rate on important issues fac-ing the nation. “Through this approach, UCHI successfully leverages the aggregate talent and resources of all Universi-ty of California campuses into a bilateral partnership with the UEH community,” stated a press release by the UC Office of the President. The program seeks to help improve condi-tions in Haiti by providing novel solutions to the coun-try’s problems—both those that were created by the earth-quake and those that existed long before it. “Many issues and problems plagued [Haiti] even before the earthquake. We are naturally inclined to be ignorant and care about ourselves only...This culture needs to be changed, and it starts by changing the mental-ity within us,” stated Mohan-

nand Awadalla, UCHI’s Riv-erside Chapter Director.

UCHI was started in 2010, the same year that the UC President’s Award for Out-standing Student Leadership began. The UCHI has become a fixture on all 10 UC cam-puses and consists of a col-laborative effort by faculty, students and staff. UCHI co-founders Nicolas Pascal and Noah Stern received their award during the May 16 UC regents meeting in Sacramen-to.

Awadalla explained that the program was centered on a two-pronged approach: promoting higher education and sustainable development. “Students in Haiti are expe-riencing difficulty in com-pleting their thesis; without completing their thesis, their degrees are incomplete,” stat-ed Awadalla in an interview with the Highlander. “With an effort to assist our Haitian counterparts with this endeav-or, we would like to partner them up with a UCR graduate student in a mentor-mentee collaboration.”

In the field of sustainable development, Awadalla ex-plained that several projects are underway to help promote more efficient practices in Haiti; one of the projects in-volves rebuilding an orphan-age with better infrastructure. Although not related to higher education or sustainable de-velopment, another beneficial

program included the creation of a micro-finance lending project that would “lend [and] raise funds via fundraisers to sponsor Haitians who would like to start a business. UCHI would provide with them with the business expertise on our respective campuses,” stated Awadalla.

Awadalla gave his own rea-

sons on why UCHI has been effective and what sets it apart from other groups. “Most [philanthropic] organizations do not have a very clear vi-sion for sustainability. I feel, however, that this problem has been addressed with [UCHI]. The solution pre-sented by the Haiti Initiative is to directly involve college

students at the state univer-sity of Haiti in Port Au Prince (UEH),” stated Awadalla. “The future of the country is in the hands of these stu-dents. If we develop project ideas and revolve those as-signments around educated, young students we can pro-duce positive outcomes via sustainable development.”

Co u rt e s y o f uChi fa C e b o o k

dE a n mayo rG aCONTRIBUTING WRITER

UC president honors UC Haiti Initiative with leadership award

ASUCR senators were unable to overcome their differences regarding the resolution’s use of the phrase “hate crime.”

UCHI co-founders accepted their award at the UC regents meeting on May 16.

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NEWS4 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

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The source of a disease that has taken a massive toll on Israel and Southern Califor-nia’s avocado industry has been identified by a plant pathologist at UC Riverside. Akif Eskalen recently discovered that the preva-lence of the disease owed its success to a collaboration between beetles and a new species of fungi—the former serving as the vector of the disease and the latter being the cause of the disease and food for the beetle.

The beetle, known as the Tea Shot Hole Borer, is an exotic species that poses a threat to a variety of fruits and plants such as man-go, silk oak, persimmon, citrus plants, mac-adamia nuts, lychee and guava. The beetle’s exceptionally small size (smaller than a sesame seed) makes it easy to evade capture and spread the Fusarium fungus.

The Fusarium fungus caused the dis-ease known as “Fusarium dieback,” which occurs when parts of a plant begin to rot. “When a beetle burrows into the tree, it inoculates the host plant with the fungus it carries in its mouthparts,” stated Eskalen in an interview with the Highlander. “The fungus then attacks the vascular tissue of the tree, disturbing water and nutrient flow, and eventually causing branch dieback. The beetle larvae live in galleries within and the tree and feed on the fungus.”

Eskalen chanced upon the discovery of the beetle-fungus disease last February after being contacted by a homeowner in South Gate, Los Angeles. Recognizing dieback symptoms on a backyard avocado tree, the plant pathologist decided to embark on the research project.

Eskalen’s discovery has implications for the international community since the Tea

Shot Holer Borer-Fusarium fungus combi-nation is the same culprit behind the decline of avocados in Israel.

“The symptoms were unlike anything I have ever seen on avocado,” stated Eskalen. “I brought the samples into my lab, and found the beetle in the plant samples, as-sociated with necrotic tissue. We were able to culture a fungus out of the symptomatic tissue and, using molecular techniques, we identified a new Fusarium species that the beetle was associated with.”

Eskalen requests that gardeners keep a watch for any indication of the beetle or fungus in their trees. Symptoms may in-clude white chalky exudate around a small opening on the bark of the branches or the trunk, which could be the beetle exit hole. The wood may appear wet or discolored due to the exudate from Fusarium dieback.

“The first step is to identify its current distribution and host range, which is what my lab is working on,” added Eskalen. “Ev-ery day we are identifying a new host and we now know that this beetle/fungus can be very aggressive. The next step we are work-ing on with (Richard) Stouthammer’s lab is identifying how the disease is transmitted, and what stops the beetle from moving the disease around.”

Eskalen’s lab has teamed up with scien-tists from the plant pathology, microbiology and entomology departments to uncover control measures for the fungus and beetle. Eskalen has collaborated with Alex Gonza-lez, a field specialist, in an attempt to deter-mine the current distribution and host range of the specimens. Meanwhile, Professor of Entomology Richard Stouthamer and As-sociate Specialist in Entomology Paul Rug-man-Jones are studying the beetle’s biology and genetics.

UCR scientist discovers cause of avocado-killing diseasean d i E La mSTAFF WRITER

Co u rt e s y o f uCr to d ayTop: The Fusarium fungus leaves behind branch dieback.Bottom: The Tea Short Hole Borer, carrier of the fungus.

NEWS 5TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

NEWS IN BRIEF

UC Berkeley officers arrested nine protesters for unlawful assembly and for remaining on UC-owned farmland after dispersal orders were given. The protesters had begun their occupation of the land after it was discovered that the property would be turned into a Whole Foods grocery store and senior living center. Protesters argued that the land should remain as a place where faculty and students could cultivate food.

Prior to the arrests, approximately 40 UC Police Department officers removed numerous protesters from the land. However, those that refused to leave were arrested after failing to follow po-lice orders. UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslau-er and Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance John Wilton have insisted that the administration attempted to work with the protesters and avoid arrests. “At

every step of the way our efforts were either rejected or ignored, and sadly we have now run out of time,” stated the ad-ministrators in a press release.

Anya Kamenskaya, a spokesperson of the “Occupy the Farm” noted that protesters would continue to meet with the administration in attempts to save the land from industrial development. “It’s not over,” stated Kamenskaya in an ar-ticle by the Daily Cal.

More than a week after initiating a hunger strike, students from numerous California State University campuses have ceased their peaceful demonstration. The protesters, whose demands included the freez-ing of current tuition levels and pay rollbacks for top CSU administrators, had consumed only veg-etable juice for the entirety of the protest.

While none of the protesters’ demands were met, the student group has voiced their opinion that the protest was a success in terms of bringing height-ened scrutiny to CSU system. In particular, the stu-dents have pointed to a recent investigation by CBS News which found over $750,000 in questionable charges from CSU Chancellor Charles Reed’s of-fice, reports the Press-Enterprise.

Administrators from the CSU such as spokesper-son Mike Uhlenkamp stated that the demands of the students were unrealistic in light of the state’s finan-cial conditions. However, the group has been able to meet with both CSU trustees and administrators in order to discuss their demands in person. “We knew this was something that was going to be impactful,” stated CSU San Bernardino student Natalie Dorado in an article by the Press-Enterprise. Dorado, who participated in the hunger strike alongside approxi-mately 12 other CSU students, indicated that she had lost 12 pounds during the ordeal.

COMPILED BY MICHAEL TURCIOS, c o n t r i bu t i n G w r i t E r

NINE ARRESTED AT OCCUPY PROTEST NEAR UC BERKELEY CSU HUNGER STRIKE ENDS

UC Davis protesters known as the “Davis Dozen” have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of instigating the withdrawal of a U.S. Bank branch on campus. The protesters face 11 years in prison and $1 million in fines due to public obstruction in a public space and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, reports UC Davis’ California Aggie newspaper. The sit-ins that occurred at the branch were prompted by students’ concerns that the bank was worsening student debt and posed a conflict of in-

terest with the university; one concern involved an arrangement between the university and bank which allowed UC Davis students’ ID cards to act as U.S. Bank debit cards.

The students have prompted a mas-sive criticism of the UC Davis admin-istration for failing to address the issue within the campus and instead relying on criminal charges. The issue was brought forth during the UC regents meeting on May 16 when several audience members urged the regents to support the Davis

Dozen. The UC Davis Faculty Asso-ciation and a local union representing UC Davis undergraduate students have passed resolution to stand in solidarity with the Davis Dozen. “We are disturbed that the Administration is not only regu-lating student dissent through policy and force, but also criminalizing protesters in ways that are contrary to what you call part of the “learning process,” stated a press release co-signed by faculty from UC Davis’ Asian American Studies De-partment.

“DAVIS DOZEN” PLEAD NOT GUILTY

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falls significantly short of the UC’s $326.6 million expenditure plan. Furthermore, the budget al-locations did not meet the $125.4 million that would have allowed the university to freeze tuition rates for 2012-2013; a memo released by the UC Office of the President (UCOP) indicated that the failure to meet the $125.4 million would trigger a six percent tuition increase. Offi-cials noted that the increase would be significantly higher if Governor Brown’s tax initiative failed to pass in the November ballot.

UC officials had originally been notified that the initiative’s failure would result in a trigger cut of $200 million in 2013. The revised budget, however, revealed that the $200 mil-lion had increased to $250 million. Chair Lansing revealed that the re-gents would continue to lobby the legislature and governor to reject the $250 million trigger cut.

The regents’ discussion of the revised budget temporarily shifted to the governor’s tax initiative when UC Student Regent-designate Jona-than Stein urged regents to endorse the initiative. Although UC Presi-

dent Mark Yudof had previously ex-pressed his support of the governor’s tax initiative, the Board of Regents have thus far refrained from doing so.

The regents’ ambivalence toward the plan stemmed from concerns that it did not guarantee that any money would go to the UC. Stein ar-gued that the lack of a guarantee was a better option than the $250 million cut that the UC stands to lose if the initiative does not pass. “If we’re the only public stakeholder that refuses to get on board, we’re going to poi-son [the UC regents’] relationship with [Sacramento],” stated Stein. “The governor and the legislature are simply not going to overlook their partners on the tax measure in order to do us favors despite the fact that we’re one of the only pub-lic stakeholders who refuse to get on board with them.”

The next discussion shifted to the revised budget’s impact on Cal Grants and the UC’s Blue and Gold Plan. Admitted Cal Grant recipients are able to have their entire UC tu-ition covered by the state, while the UC’s Blue and Gold Plan does the same for students whose family in-

come is $80,000 or less. The budget contained an important change to Cal Grants by changing their meth-odology to follow that of Federal Pell Grants, meaning that the Cal Grant would no longer exclusively offer complete tuition coverage but would instead offer funds equivalent to a student’s financial need.

Officials noted that the Cal Grant changes would result in the disquali-fication of thousands of students—whose tuition would have been com-pletely covered—from the Cal Grant Program, thereby subjecting the UC’s Blue and Gold Plan to higher demand (which the UC may not be able to afford). “[Cal Grant changes] would limit the upper reaches on family income that would qualify for Cal Grants…It would threaten our ability to keep going with the Blue and Gold [plan],” stated UCOP Executive Vice President for Busi-ness Operations Nathan Brostrom.

Another portion of the meeting that entailed debate was an analy-sis of a UC-wide report on police-administrative responses to campus protests. The report, written by UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law

Dean Christopher Edley, was sub-ject to criticisms from members of the public forum and UC Faculty Representative Robert Anderson. The report contains numerous rec-ommendations for the UC to pursue such as relying solely on UC police (instead of city and county officers), decreasing police response to peace-ful protests and using force only un-der extreme conditions.

Anderson noted that the recom-mendations ignored the role of fac-ulty as conflict mediators and the importance of campus-based sanc-tions (as opposed to criminal charg-es). The latter posed a particularly time-sensitive suggestion consider-ing the criminal charges that were recently filed against UC Davis stu-dent protesters; the students, known as the “Davis Dozen,” face charges for their alleged role in forcing the closure of a U.S. Bank branch on campus. Members of the public fo-rum then denounced the recommen-dations for failing to address the root causes of protests—budget cuts, tu-ition and other factors—and for not suggesting a more democratic form of UC governance in place of the UC Board of Regents.

The meeting also witnessed the approval of the appointment terms of Pradeep K. Khosla as the next UC San Diego Chancellor. Kho-sla, whose term will begin on Aug. 1, was granted a 4.8 percent higher salary than his predecessor; Kho-sla’s annual salary will be $411,084 while the outgoing chancellor’s sal-ary is $392,200. A brief debate arose between UC officials prior to voting on the appointment terms. “We’re giving a raise…[but] I just don’t think this is the right time to be do-ing that,” stated Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re taking big cuts…and we’re going to be asking for an tuition increase and I just think the optics are wrong on this.” Support-ers of the appointment, however, noted that the entirety of the pay in-crease would be funded by non-state sources.

The UC regents will meet again in mid-July at UC San Francisco, where they will likely examine and vote upon tuition increase scenarios. During the May 16 meeting, Chair Lansing suggested that the regents would potentially condition tuition increases on the outcome of a $125.4 million tuition buyout from the state.

NEWS6 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

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colleges and the requirements for students. One such change is to subject the Cal Grant pro-gram to the Federal Pell Grant methodology. The Cal Grant’s “all or nothing” methodology, which currently covers the full cost of tuition, would be amended to now distribute varying amounts. “This would ensure that the neediest applicants—who constitute some 63 percent of Cal Grant recipients—continue to receive the maximum award. Students with higher family incomes will receive reduced assistance,” stated a press release by the governor. The proposal, which would not impact current Cal Grant recip-ients, received criticism by the UC Regents dur-ing their meeting on May 16; the regents noted that the decision would harm California’s middle class and put even more pressure on students to resort to loans.

The second change would restrict Cal Grant participation to colleges and universities that meet criteria regarding student default rates and graduation rates. The former was decreased from an acceptable level of 30 percent to 15 percent, while the latter requires that schools maintain a 30 percent minimum graduate rate. This change was also discussed at the UC regents meeting when officials assured the public that the new debt default and graduation requirements would not impact the University of California. Schools who fail to meet either criteria would be barred from participating in the Cal Grant program for one academic year. The Cal Grant restrictions were enacted in order to reflect a decrease of $38.4 million in funding.

The budget’s impact on the 426,400 student of the California State University system and Com-

munity College system were less certain. The section pertaining to the CSU system only reviewed changes on how the university would conduct negotiations regarding employees’ health insurance. How-ever, a portion of the budget related to the Cali-fornia Student Aid Commission revealed that the award amount for Cal Grants would account for the CSU’s 9.1 percent tuition increases for 2012-2013. Meanwhile, changes to the Commu-nity College system focused on shifts in block grant funding; the revised budget indicated that the amount of block grant funding for Commu-nity College students would be $28 dollars per student.

The common characteristic shared by the UC, CSU, Community College and K-12 system was the hefty cuts that would ensue if voters reject higher taxes in the November ballot. The UC and CSU would experience a $500 million trigger cut that would be evenly split between the two insti-tutions. K-12 and community colleges would be subject to a $5.5 billion cut, although the distri-bution of the cuts had not been determined.

“I don’t like making additional cuts, and I recognize the impact they have on Californians. They are difficult—but necessary—in order to get us back on firm fiscal footing until Cali-fornia fully recovers from the global economic recession,” stated Governor Brown, who was subject to fierce criticism after it was revealed that he underestimated the state’s deficit by ap-proximately $7 billion. The largest cuts in the re-vised budget were directed at state welfare, trial courts and health care for low income residents, with cuts of $880 million, $544 million and $1.2 billion, respectively.

are heard by government rep-resentatives. The students pushed four core issues in Sacramento: protection of Cal Grants, no further cuts to the UC, a buyout of a tuition in-crease for next year and sup-port for the governor’s tax measure in November. The stu-dents also expressed that they don’t want public education to be paid for at the expense of necessary social services.

Among the legislators the students met with were Sena-tor Bob Dutton, Senator Bill Emerson, Senator Joel Ander-son and Senator Bob Huff.

The lobbying effort was further bolstered by the par-ticipation of chancellors and regents. In addition to Chan-cellor White, Regents Wil-liam De La Peña and Bruce Varner joined the students in their meetings with the sena-tors. Although the presence of university leadership helped get the attention of legislators, it was the students who took the lead in making the UC’s case for more funding. Each

student assumed a different role in the lobby visit, fulfill-ing duties like facilitating the meeting, note-taking and shar-ing a personal testimonial.

“They organized meetings with legislators across all the campuses. It was very pow-erful. Two or three students, plus a regent, plus a chancel-lor, would walk into a legisla-tor’s office...and that created an image, a command and a re-spect in the legislator’s office that they didn’t normally get. Coming together delivered a very powerful message,” said Chancellor White in an inter-view with the Highlander.

The students even had an opportunity to meet Governor Jerry Brown, who has been no-ticeably absent from UC-relat-ed events since he took office in 2011. With the release of his revised budget and a larger-than-expected budget deficit, his budgetary decisions were a hot topic of debate.

“I think the general consen-sus for the students here from the separate UC campuses is that this has been an amazing

first step. Not having to fight against the regents, but fight with the regents. I think it was very effective. We actually spoke to the senators instead of staffers; that’s something that the regents allowed us to do. And we got to hear their perspective and not just many angry students’ perspective,” said UCR student and High-lander Lobby Corps member Johanna Sanchez. “It was a re-ally wonderful experience and I enjoyed it.”

Last week’s lobbying trip marks the second significant effort by UC students this year. The first, which took place in March, consisted of students from across California’s pub-lic higher education systems congregating on the Capitol steps, then participating in lobbying visits as arranged by UCSA.

“Our students are hold-ing these guys accountable. They’re being enormously respectful, professional and polite, but penetrating at the same time,” said Chancellor White.

NEWS 7TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

LOBBY FROM PAGE 1

BUDGET FROM PAGE 1

Co u rt e s y o f s a C b e e.C o mGov. Brown announced that the state’s deficit had grown to $16 billion.

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HIGHLANDEROPINIONS. .TUESDAY, MAY 22, 20128

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 distinguish between law-ful 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 affirmative action, bent on taking positions away from the hard working, middle-class Caucasians who really deserve

University officials recently announced their intentions to build an 8,000-seat arena where Bannockburn Village currently resides. The purpose of the C-Center, as officials are tentatively calling the arena, would be to serve as a venue for large university events like concerts, athletic competitions and commencements. Student response to the proposal has been largely mixed, due in part to fears as to what the loss of Bannockburn, which contains affordable student housing and well-loved local restaurants, would mean for the UCR community.

There is no question about it—UCR has needed an establishment like the C-Center for some time now. Over the last decade, the campus has grown not only in student population, but also in reputation. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the amenities our university has to offer its athletes or the kinds of locations at which student organizers are forced to plan concerts and other cultural events.

UCR’s basketball team has been relegated to playing its games in the Recreation Center, a building that (while it is a valuable resource for students at UCR) pales in comparison to the arenas in which some of UCR’s competitors play. Concerts, meanwhile, are either held outside or in The Barn, a venue that cannot house a large enough audience to cater to university-wide events. The C-Center would provide the university with an opportunity to plan events on a scale that it has never before had the resources for. Imagine what kinds of artists we could attract for concerts and how many more students might be interested in attending basketball games if they were held in the C-Center.

That’s not to mention the potential boon

for UCR and Riverside at large. Arenas like the C-Center create a lot of buzz for the institutions that construct them, and regular big-name concerts and/or other events would mean more traffic in and around UCR and the surrounding area—and more traffic means more commerce for local businesses. The C-Center could be the start of a big change for UCR, one that would simultaneously increase school spirit, heighten the caliber of university events and help the local economy.

But the construction of the C-Center is not without its controversy. As previously mentioned, Bannockburn Village is a somewhat historical site for many UCR undergraduates and alumni. The center is home to The Substation, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a regular stomping ground for the UCR community this year, and Getaway Café, a similarly renowned local eatery. These businesses, which are as much a part of UCR as any building on campus, must not be allowed to founder.

The C-Center is an important step for the future of UCR, but it should not cost us such a vital part of our past. Both restaurants should either be included in the design for the C-Center or moved to new locations near campus so that they can continue offering students the services they have provided them for so long.

Bannockburn Village also contains student housing that is notable for both its affordability and its convenience. Bannockburn’s student apartments, which are located right across the street from UCR, may not be the prettiest housing alternative for the UCR community, but they are one of its cheapest; and in a tough economy that counts for quite a lot. The C-Center would displace a considerable number of students

that currently call Bannockburn home, and there is some concern as to where they could turn thereafter.

UCR is currently in the process building additional student housing in the form of Glen Mor 2, which should be completed by the fall of 2013, but there is no guarantee that the establishment will offer prices as reasonable as Bannockburn does. Also, Glen Mor 2 was designed to accommodate the growing population of UCR, not to offset the loss of existing housing.

If the C-Center is to do students more good than harm, as its designers surely intended it to, then UCR officials are going to need to come up with some way to account for the displacement of students currently residing in Bannockburn. One potential solution might be to renovate current housing alternatives so that they can fill the gap. Family Housing, for example, has long needed a bit of an update; and a little bit of renovation could go a long way to ensuring that students are not left without necessary housing in the wake of the C-Center’s construction.

The C-Center is perhaps one of the most momentous and campus-altering projects that UCR has proposed in the last 10 years, but coordinators must come up with a contingency plan for the invaluable student housing and local businesses that its construction would unseat. Otherwise, UCR will have succeeded only in purchasing progress at the price of its community’s history and basic needs.

ST UDEN TS SH OULD WELCOM E C-CEN T ER

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 EDITORIAL JPMorgan’s risky business costs big

During the recent financial cri-sis, Jamie Dimon was considered one of the smartest CEO’s on Wall Street. He had prudently steered JPMorgan away from the wave of subprime mortgage waste that was bearing down on much of Wall Street. He was Wall Street’s golden boy and shareholders’ sav-ior, but that was 2008. Fast forward to 2012, and Dimon finds himself embroiled in a derivatives mess that has tarnished his reputation and called into question whether or not big banks learned anything from 2008. But this recent fiasco proves banks haven’t learned any-thing, and it’s business as usual on Wall Street.

According to a recent piece by the Wall Street Journal, the prob-lems began on April 30 during a meeting with senior executives. It was revealed to Dimon that the bank had made some bad bets on derivatives, financial products used to curb risk, and that it was going cost them. The estimated loss could be well above $2 billion—enough to leave Dimon breathless. For a man who is considered a prudent, risk-averse CEO, the loss was too much to handle. It showcased the hubris of Dimon’s belief that banks can regulate themselves when it comes to risk when, in reality, they can’t; risk is part of the culture, and making profit is the name of the game. Believing in self-regulation is as naïve as believing in Santa Claus. The complexity of the trades and the size of the banks make it impossible for one person to over-see everything that happens, and eventually something somewhere goes wrong and the true nature of the current banking system is re-vealed.

The causes of the giant loss were tied to credit default swaps, opaque financial instruments that are sup-posed to hedge big bets to prevent further losses, though in this case a trader used them to make big bets that went south in the end. A credit default swap, or CDS, is essentially an insurance policy to protect a par-ty from negative exposure to assets. Basically, I sell you an insurance policy on an asset—if the asset per-forms, you pay me a premium for insuring the asset, and if the value of the asset falls I pay you the full value of the asset.

The trader who had sold those swaps was nicknamed the London

JPMORGAN CONT’D ON PAGE 9

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OPINIONS 9TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

Apathetic on Afghanistan: Why the candidates are ignoring voter sentiment

One of the most important in-dicators of a healthy democracy is responsiveness, or how carefully political leaders acknowledge the preferences of a majority of voters and work to implement these pref-erences. When a particular politi-cian proves reluctant to support policies overwhelmingly approved by the populace at large, a respon-sive system provides a credible al-ternative capable of fulfilling these wishes. But as the near-identical positions of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on the Afghan War make clear, American democracy is hardly a model of good health.

An Associated Press GfK poll conducted earlier this month re-vealed that support for our ill-fated adventure in Afghanistan has sunk to an all-time low. A measly 27 percent of Americans now believe President Obama’s “good war” re-mains a good idea. This includes only 19 percent of the president’s own party, 27 percent of indepen-dents and, shockingly, just 37 per-cent of Republicans. In fact, oppo-sition to the Afghan War receives more bipartisan support than any other issue by far, and this in what is already proving to be a bitterly divisive election year. The presi-dent, however, remains quietly but stubbornly opposed to any troop reduction before the tentatively scheduled drawdown sometime in 2014. Great news for the presi-dent’s challenger, now presented with a golden opportunity to rally Americans of all stripes behind an anti-war banner. Right?

If only. Mitt Romney’s great-est challenge concerning Afghani-

stan seems to be distinguishing his own position on the war from that of his opponent. While acknowl-edging that the 2014 deadline for withdrawal may be appropriate, he goes one step further than Presi-dent Obama by insisting that even this late date is subject to change. Should commanders on the ground recommend an enduring presence beyond 2014 to ensure that the mission is completed, Romney promises to give the generals more time. Ignored by both candidates are a full two-thirds of Americans who believe not only that the mis-sion will never be completed, but that there is no longer even a clear mission in the first place. What could induce these men, who are desperately wooing voters with wild promises on the economic and social fronts, to casually disregard the American people’s war weari-ness after almost 11 years of unin-terrupted conflict?

As the embattled incumbent, President Obama likely feels re-strained by his policy failures of the past four years. The economy con-tinues to stagger along at an ane-mic pace, a myriad of White House budget and policy proposals have gone down in flames in the face of bipartisan congressional opposi-tion and his signature achievement of healthcare reform is unpopular and likely unconstitutional. Not much of a record to run on. Yet de-spite all this, his leadership in the effort to kill Osama bin Laden and his abundant use of drone strikes on suspected terrorists in Pakistan remain very popular among voters.

Ironically for a man who ran an anti-war campaign just four years previously, Obama is now trying to distinguish himself as the national

security candidate in 2012. Going wobbly on Afghanistan would un-dermine this carefully crafted im-age, a risk the president is hesitant to take given his lack of success in other arenas. Should his campaign prove successful in November, he will certainly have “more flexibil-ity” on the issue after the election. It is possible that the president, whom many view as reflexively anti-war, will up the withdrawal date to earlier than 2014 once the danger of re-election has passed. But no one is holding their breath.

Mitt Romney’s position on the war is more predictable. A greater number of Republicans (though still a distinct minority) support America’s continuing involvement in the Central Asian quagmire. More significantly, the former gov-ernor requires vast amounts of cash to feed his ravenous campaign and catch up to Obama’s unprecedent-ed haul of donations in the past few months. He can hardly risk alien-ating big-donor hawks, who tradi-

tionally contribute overwhelming-ly to the Republican nominee and likely remain some of the staunch-est supporters of the Afghan War. With a professed expertise in eco-nomics and seemingly little interest in the foreign policy game, Rom-ney seems content to play it safe and stick to the status quo, even if most of the rank-and-file of his party disagrees.

All of these conditions and ca-veats should mean nothing to ei-ther of the candidates in the face of such overwhelming opposition to our continued presence in Cen-tral Asia. Yet neither Obama nor Romney have had to reevaluate their stance on Afghanistan for one simple reason – voters are not mak-ing them. The most recent Ras-mussen poll on the significance of campaign issues, conducted in late February of this year, shows that of ten key issues, the economy, health care, government corruption and taxes are far and beyond the most important in the minds of likely

voters. Afghanistan ranks dead last, nearly 25 percentage points behind the next least-important is-sue. The immense economic prob-lems besetting the nation affect the lives of every single American. By contrast, outside the increasingly isolated culture of our military and their families, the distance and ob-scurity of the Afghan War allows it to be easily forgotten.

The blame for the noticeable lack of democratic responsiveness in today’s body politic lies not with Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but with us. If Americans cannot muster the courage to stand by their convictions and hold our elected officials accountable for wasteful and destructive policies, the worth-less death and devastation may well continue into 2014 and beyond. In the last two presidential elections, war was a central campaign issue. This time, voters only worry about Afghanistan when they’re forced to. Can we expect our politicians to behave any differently?

br E n da n bo r d E L o nSTAFF WRITER

Co u rt e s y o f Cbs ne W s

Whale by the Wall Street Journal—he had previously bet heavily against a financial in-dex based on the credit worthiness of com-panies and won. So how did it work? The Whale initially felt that the index was going to tank and decided to buy a large amount of CDS’s, and hedge funds were only too happy to oblige, betting the index would hold. His bet paid off when a couple compa-nies in the index filed for bankruptcy protec-tion, sending the index into a nosedive and forcing hedge funds to pony up the cash. He then decided to go for broke and reversed his initial position, betting the index would perform, and hedge funds, hoping to exact some revenge, bought the CDS’s he was selling. It turned out he was wrong, and the bets failed.

The story of the whale is a prime ex-ample of how broken the culture of banking is—it’s no longer about serving clients or financing bold projects, it’s about who can make big bets and claim big bonuses. It’s Vegas: the players on a hot streak feel they can’t lose, so they bet bigger, hoping they will hit payday, but eventually the house al-ways wins. In this case, the market always wins.

The loss and article about the London Whale have renewed calls for further regu-lations on risky bets banks can make and questions as to whether or not JPMorgan violated the Volcker Rule, a rule meant to prevent overt risk-taking as demonstrated by JPMorgan. The Volcker Rule prevents banks from using bank deposits to trade on their own behalf, and, while this recent trade

may seem like it violated the rule, the reality is that regulators aren’t sure.

Generally, I am opposed to most gov-ernment regulations, but the Volcker Rule is necessary to the implementation of real financial reform. The culture of Wall Street has become completely unhinged, driven purely by overt greed—it’s the Wild West without a sheriff. Derivatives like CDSs were originally created to curb risk and help banks finance more projects, but now they are used in complex trades involving highly leveraged bets that increase risk. It’s no wonder that Warren Buffet has referred to them as “weapons of mass destruction.”

Wall Street was once a place where com-panies or startups went to obtain funding. Now it is a place to bet the house and have someone else pick up the check. The culture

of greed runs rampant throughout the sys-tem and when left unchecked leads to disas-ters like the one in 2008 and more disasters down the line. We cannot allow big banks that exert such pressure on the financial system to partake in risky ventures that can backfire and bring down the entire financial system. While the JPMorgan loss is only small fraction of their total assets and the firm is projected to still earn a profit at the end of the quarter, risky bets by large financial institutions for share-holder gain aren’t worth the health of the en-tire system.

Banks should have learned from Lehman Brothers that too much risk and too little over-sight make a recipe for disaster. And Jamie Dimon should have learned from Dick Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, that hubris is better left to gods than mere mortals.

JPMORGAN FROM PAGE 8

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HIGHLANDER POLL RESULTSWould you support construction of the

proposed “C-Center” on the current location of Bannockburn Village? YES

NO

POSSIBLY

53.85%

7.69%

38.46%

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER10 11FEATURES. .

F O R E P L A Y

On Saturday, May 19, Sweeney Art Gallery opened its doors to a flood of students, faculty and members of the general public. All had come to witness the artwork of UCR’s finest senior artists and cel-ebrate the talent and hard work that went into it. The opening recep-tion, which was organized by the UCR Art Department and Sweeney Art Gallery, lasted from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., but all those who missed it have the opportunity to see the exhibition until June 2.

The exhibition, titled “Foreplay,” featured the work of 23 graduat-ing art students. The title of the show was voted on by all participat-ing artists. Roxana Martinez, a contributor to the exhibition stated, “[The title] Foreplay plays on the idea that our show is a culmination of what is to come in the future for us. Moreover, that we have a fu-ture ahead of us. Not only that, but the word foreplay in and of itself also had its own attention grabbing connotation.”

The artwork presented in the exhibition was a medley of medi-ums—some chose to present a series of paintings, others presented photographs, drawings, sculptures and even a video installation. Showcasing the work of seniors is not an unusual occurrence for the Sweeney Art Gallery. The annual tradition gives deserving under-graduate students who go through a selective process the opportu-nity to present their work in a gallery setting.

An hour after viewers had the chance to soak in the work, Tyler Joe, a contributor to the gallery, gave the only performance that night. Sound system equipment was set up in front of his artwork, and a large crowd gathered to hear him. Tyler Joe informed the public that the piece he was presenting was the first time he had ventured into writing, and he delivered it in the style of a spoken

by FATIMA MIRZA, WriterBRYAN TUTTLE, Photographer

word piece. The piece is a reflection of Tyler Joe’s approach to his artwork and revolved around the various philosophical and cre-ative thoughts that arise in his mind during a trip to the grocery store. It was humorous, witty and entertaining, and he delivered it well, exuding confidence and great stage presence. Audience members cheered and laughed, and the performance helped start the event with an energetic bang that was present for the rest of the evening.

The theme of Tyler Joe’s performance tied in with his contribution to the exhibi-tion—a series of 14 photographs of instal-lations he himself made in Lowe’s home improvement store. Tyler Joe worked for months on his project, venturing to local Lowe’s stores to search for inspiration in each aisle. He would then build sculptures using the materials in the aisle and photo-graph them at the center of the aisle, ren-dering crisp and neat photographs that were pleasing to the eye. The sculptures varied—some were composed of bricks ar-ranged artistically, another was a beautiful photograph of wheelbarrows stacked on top of each other.

The event without a doubt showcased great talent. One striking series was con-tributed by Matthew Brown, who created his pieces with papier-mache, acrylic, wood and enamel. His vibrant and textured art-work literally lifted itself from the canvas be-cause it was three dimensional. The pieces were technically composed very well, and one’s gaze was drawn towards two large pieces that displayed a woman using blue tones and swirls, and another that appeared to be a trapped, pained and distorted man using hues of yellow and orange.

One nook of the gallery contained work by Martinez. Titled “Catorce,” the piece fea-tured light fixtures hanging from the ceil-ing, made of doilies, strings, starch and electrical cords. The 14 lamps gave the room they occupied a dreamlike vibe, and the light from behind the doilies reflected beautiful colored patterns on the wall. Each of the starched doilies were shaped into dif-ferent sculptural forms. Martinez shed light on her process by saying that the doilies were hand crocheted by members of her family and it took her two months to com-plete. She said, “They signify a cultural past,

traditional female roles and craft.” Another intriguing series was done by

Gordon Huang, who showed five manipu-lated photographs that were presented in a hexagonal form. In order to create his proj-ect, Huang used photographs he had taken in the past. Huang’s project sprung from a dissatisfaction with the typical process that most photographers embark upon when creating their work. Huang was determined to push the boundaries of photography when creating his pieces. The photographs are surreal and beautiful depictions of ev-eryday locations taken in San Francisco and Riverside. Huang expanded upon the hex-agonal form he chose, stating, “It had a lot of sculptural potential while still allowing me to keep the element of photography prevalent.”

Yet another series that caught the eye of onlookers was a series of photographs titled “You Are What You Eat,” which was compiled by Anita Six. The photographs displayed mannequins that were dressed in various outfits made of perishable food items. Some dresses were made of dessert items, others were made of lettuce or fruit.

Six described her work as, “Sculptural, pho-tographic and temporary. The dresses no longer exist. The materials I used for the out-fits came from real food.” Few commented that the idea was all too reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s antics and outfit composed entirely of meat products. However, Six says that she drew inspiration from everyday life and thoughts she had surrounding food, obe-sity, diets, etc. She described the process as long and tiring, but rewarding. Some of the dresses were made using cooked food, so Six would have to wait until the food dried to create the dress. Six said, “The spaghetti for the pasta dress grew mold so I had to make a new batch. This actually worked out because I decided the spaghetti didn’t look right and wanted to change it to fettuccine.”

All night the gallery teemed with those who had come to admire the artwork. Six reflected on the exhibition and stated, “I felt that the show was a success. All the artists in the show are creative, serious and dedi-cated to their art. If you look at the work, you can see it.”

Full disclosure: Artists Tyler Joe and Gordon Huang are members of the Highlander staff.

Artworks clockwise from top left: Matthew Brown, Roxana Martinez, Guadalupe Salazar, performance by Tyler Joe, Kari Robledo.Opposite page: Artwork by Gordon Huang.

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FEATURES12 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

Thursday, May 17, marked the latest installment in the “Speak Out!” series, a symposium reflecting on the current economic and educational climate at the University of California. The event, titled, “Alternative Funding Models for the UC System,” revolved around three prospective funding models for higher education. It was sponsored by the UCR Center for Ideas and Society and fea-tured a panel composed of UCSF Pro-fessor of Medicine Stan Glantz, Chris LoCascio and Alex Abelson of FixUC, and political activist of ReFund CA Jono Shaffer. Amidst the $15.7 billion deficit currently facing California and the implications of Jerry Brown’s recent state budget proposal, panelists dis-cussed the need for further investment towards higher education through dif-ferent modes of funding.

“The core of the agreement between the governor and the UC system is that the UC will no longer be held account-able for its priorities,” stated UCSF Pro-

fessor of Medicine Steve Glantz who referred to the unfulfilled goals of the 1960-1975 Master Plan for Higher Edu-cation.

In a proposal entitled “Financial Op-tions for Restoring Quality and Access to Public Higher Education in Califor-nia,” Glantz advocates pressing the “re-set” button by rolling back fees to the 1990 timetable, which would result in the annual tuition of $3,299 per student. The funding for this initiative would cost the median taxpayer an annual sur-charge of $49, which constitutes over half of the labor force in California and the overall cost of $6.67 billion dollars per year.

As chair of the systemwide Com-mittee on Planning and Budget (2005-2006), Glantz had assisted in the devel-opment of the “Current Budget Trends and Future of the UC” report, which played out the political accords between the university and the governor as be-ing “financially untenable.” At the time

of the report, Glantz traced the crisis back to the period of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose governance had led to tremendous cuts to higher educa-tion and the failed promises of a 3 per-cent increase for the following years. “I think one of the other problems is that UC (system), Cal State and CC are al-ways fighting with each other over the shrinking pie and it weakens them polit-ically,” stated Glantz at the event. In an

interview with the Highlander, Glantz expressed great frustration over com-promised proposals by both the gover-nor and university officials, which has led to a greater disinvestment in higher education, a “squeezed” student enroll-ment rate, and the depreciated value in the lack of funding

As one of the primary creators of the

Alternative Funding Modelsfor the UC System

BY: SANDY VAN, STAFF WRITER // PHOTOS BY LIN CHAI

From left: Patricia Morton, Stan Glantz, Chris LoCascio, Alex Abelson.

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FUNDING CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

FEATURES 13TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

Tattoo Taboo

On May 16, ASPB presented “Tat-too Taboo,” an event on tattoo stigma and identity. The event fea-tured Kip Fulbeck, an author, spoken word performer and affiliate faculty of Film & Media studies and Asian American Studies at UC Santa Bar-bara. Fulbeck has authored several books such as “Permanence: Tat-too Portraits” and “Part Asian, 100% Hapa.” Fulbeck has also directed a few short films such as “Banana Split.”

Before the event, ASPB asked UCR students to submit pictures of their tattoos and the stories behind their tattoos. The stories and pictures were showcased at the event. While a few students got their tattoos for fun, many were heartfelt and touch-ing, such as the cancer awareness and tattoos symbolizing the loss of a loved one. Other fun tattoos in-cluded a Haunter and Cubone tat-too one student got as an homage to Pokémon.

Fulbeck started off the event by stating that he wouldn’t consider himself an expert on tattoos, but rather an expert on identity. “Every-one has some form of identification to prove who they are, whether it ’s their driver ’s license or their school id card; tattoos are just another way to identify yourself,” said Fulbeck. He continued to say that everyday people make conscious decisions about how they want to portray themselves. People view how they style their hair or how they compile their outfits as expressions of their identity and, similarly, tattoos are another form of expressing one’s identity.

Tattoos are much more than an image—for many they also repre-sent stories and personal histories, be they simplistic or emotional. In Fulbeck’s book “Permanence: Tat-too Portraits,” many people from all over the nation are shown with their tattoos and a handwritten and very personal note describing their tat-

too. Fulbeck told the audience about his process when creat-ing the book, and also shared stories of some of his encoun-ters with the people photographed.

One particularly compelling story he told was when he approached men he described as “gang-sters” in order to get them to contribute to his book. Thinking that his friend knew them, Fulbeck walked straight into a group of men who appeared to be threatening, only to find out that his friend didn’t know them. He then realized that the situation could be slightly risky, but began telling them about his book and asked if he could use their tat-toos. They welcomed him with open arms, treated him like an old friend and even invited him to their barbe-cue later that night. Fulbeck told the story to prove that although many are feared or stigmatized for their tat-toos, tattoo bias is often unjust.

For his book, Fulbeck also photo-graphed some of the most famous people in both the tattoo and music industry today. His book features Kat Von D, Grime, Oliver Peck and Hori-yuki as well as well acclaimed music figures like Paul Stanley, Slash and Johnny Winter.

Fulbeck continued his presenta-tion by teaching the audience about Japanese tattoos and the culture be-hind them. He explained that tebori is a traditional Japanese hand tattoo-ing, as well as the process a horishi (tattooer) goes through to create a beautiful, organic horimono (tattoo). All of this knowledge and informa-tion stemmed from his own personal experience.

Fulbeck has many tattoos himself spread across his back and both of his

arms are covered, which he had done in Japan and at State of Grace tattoo shop in San Jose, CA. Some were done by artist and friend Horitaka, a well known practitioner of tebori and a previous apprentice of tattoo master Horiyoshi II.

At the end of his presentation Ful-beck answered a few questions from the audience. When asked about growing tattoo popularity and tattoo longevity, Fulbeck responded that he sees tattoos being around for awhile and that people will continue to get them. He believes that it is not spe-cifically due to growing trends, but rather people get them because they

want to. He was also asked whether or not he sees tattoos being accepted into corporate America, or business in general. To that Fullbeck said that he definitely does not see it being accepted in Japan, because there it is associated with the Yakuza, but in America possibly, depending on the area and the growing rate of tattooed Americans.

Fulbeck will continue his work on identity and tattoos. Fulbeck is wor-kng on developing a tattoo project with tattoo artist Horitaka, which is set to debut in 2014 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

ASPB Presents:

By Natalie Pau, Contributing WriterPhoto by Richard Lin

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FEATURES14 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

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FixUC proposal and Editor-in-Chief of the Highlander newspa-per, Chris LoCascio advocated the need for a more sustainable means of funding that was less reliant on the backings of a fluc-tuating and unpredictable form of state funding.

LoCascio focused on “re-thinking education” of the UC system through the proposal, which would eliminate upfront costs and therefore, eliminate the need for financial aid and interest-incurring loans. Fund-ing would result from students contributing around 5 percent of their earnings for 20 years, thus creating a greater sense of per-sonal investment for their alma mater. In retrospect, universities would encourage graduate em-ployment and continuing alumni benefits as a source of ultimate revenue. LoCascio stated that the UC system remains one of the biggest sources of rev-enue returns to California where “UCR specifically invests $1.4 million dollars into the state.” In an updated model released back

in March, the Capped Contribu-tion Model creates an income threshold between for graduate contribution. Through the en-forcement of the IRS, the collec-tions aspect of the funding pro-gram will bring forth consistent funding.

In hopes of readdressing the core of the state financial crisis, organizer of the Service Employ-ees International Union Jono Shaffer, wanted the audience to further address the source of tax-ation and the need for increased revenue throughout the state. In reference to the “Millionaire’s Tax,” Shaffer suggested that the few who had been responsible for the recession should be the ones responsible for fixing the economy.

Shaffer declared the discus-sion a matter of a revenue crisis versus cuts and taxation. “The question of the CA budget with-in the contents of the broader economic situation if we want to fix the problem (is) that we can’t just sit and rearrange the deck chairs on the titanic if we want a real fix,” expressed Shaf-

fer whose main message was to “make the 1 percent pay.” Shaf-fer considers plutocracy to be the problem with the actions of political actors and pushes for a united front through voter regis-tration and stronger legislation.

The end of the discussion al-lowed for a short public forum period which addressed con-cerns among each model and their overall application. “I don’t think we can roll back the clock because we’re going to find our-selves in the exact same situation 10 years later” stated LoCascio in response to Professor’s Glantz proposal, while Shaffer felt that the FixUC proposal “accepts too much of the status quo and it al-lows the system to fall apart...so you’ve come up with a solution that fits within a paradigm that’s broken.”

Glantz also expressed the “political motive” for the over-all financial crisis. Questions ad-dressing the student loan bubble had been identified by Shaffer who “identify the debt and get debt forgiveness on anything that’s profiteering,” which ex-

cluded bankruptcy, and ultimate-ly can hurt one’s credit. Despite the disagreement in the accuracy of financials, the overall panel pushed for further investment in

higher education through alter-native sources of funding.

Full disclosure: Panel partic-ipant Chris LoCascio is a mem-ber of the Highlander staff.

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Stan Glantz speaks about the master plan.Lin Chai/hiGhLander

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

15TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

JonatHan godoy/HigHlander

radar

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT16 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

G a r d e n s & V i l l aby EMILY WELLS, Senior Staff WriterJONATHAN GODOY, Photographer

The latest and greatest band to come out of Santa Barbara, Gardens and Villa, played to an enthusiastic crowd at the Barn Wednesday night. The band was the headliner for the high-ly anticipated “free secret indie concert,” which was not announced publicly until April 24.

The group’s rise has been quick. After leav-ing their hometown of Santa Barbara (the name “Gardens and Villa” comes from a street near where they lived) they moved to Oregon to re-cord their debut album. They were featured at Coachella 2012, and are now continuing to tour the United States with wild success.

Gardens and Villa has a compelling sound, since they manage to blend so many genres into each individual song, resulting in some-thing all their own. There is definitely a 90s Br-itpop tone to some of the songs, blended with an 80s synthesized vibe. Frontman Christopher Lynch‘s signature is to add a traditional Native American flute to the songs, playing in harmo-ny with the other instruments and occasionally breaking off into a solo, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The opening band, Milo Greene, set the stage for the evening perfectly. Milo Greene will be releasing their debut album this sum-mer, and judging by the crowd’s reaction at the Barn, they are off to a great start. Their easy listening indie folk sound is difficult to dislike, and they had a great stage presence that kept the crowd moving along with them. In addition to their originals, Milo Greene also performed a cover of Sufjan Stevens’ classic song, “All Things Go.” The group truly made it a new song that is much heavier than the original.

Headliners Gardens and Villa opened with “Thorn Castles,” which prepared the audience for a unique show. The track could be best de-scribed as 80s electronica with Native American

traditional flute. Somehow it worked. While there were some technical difficulties with over-powering bass, the audience response was still positive, with one member yelling “We like it!” when a band member pointed out the faux pas. The band member then agreed, saying, “yeah, I think we kind of like it too!”

One audience favorite was “Black Hills,” one of the band’s more contemplative songs. This has been a highly successful single, and it is easy to see why. “Sunlight” was crooned like a mantra or chant, alongside synthesized drum beats. It is very clear that Gardens and Villa focuses on vibes and harmonies rather than lyrics, holding long vowel sounds and incorporating intricate harmonies. While the lyrics are simple, usu-ally about nature, the universe, or an abstract philosophy, they are certainly fascinating. “All through the night I was a redwood before your door... sunlight through the blinds, black hills, white nights,” Lynch crooned in “Black Hills.”

The group ended the evening with another successful single, “Orange Blossom.” With a slow, spacey vibe, the song felt dreamy and light, with a much slower bass than usual. The casual percussion creates a relaxed mood as well. To me, the popular song was reminiscent of Prince albums “Sign O the Times” and “Around the World in a Day.” As could be expected, the audi-ence did not want the evening to end. The room broke into chanting as all demanded “one more song.” The band seemed more than happy to ac-commodate the request.

Though the band recorded in Oregon, their sound is pure California—breezy, whimsical and unique. This laid back, natural vibe permeates through the electronic beats. UC Riverside was fortunate to get this band straight from Coach-ella, and I can hardly wait to see what Gardens and Villa will come up with next.■H

THE FREE SECRET INDIE CONCERT

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 17TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012HIGHLANDER

MOVIE REVIEWSALSO THIS WEEK: MEN IN BLACK 3 CHERNOBYL DIARIES MOONRISE KINGDOM

RATING: BY: ALEXANDER SUFFOLK, STAFF WRITER

THE DICTATORPhoto Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Photo Courtesy of pitchfork.com

★★★☆☆

“The Dictator” is the first feature written by Sa-cha Baron Cohen that is not focused on one of the personalities that he created on “Da Ali G Show.” Also setting it apart from his former ventures of “Borat” and “Brüno” is the actual format of the film. While his two previous movies ran more like grandiose episodes of a reality TV show, “The Dictator” is a full-fledged scripted movie, with-out any interactions with bystanders nor the use of hand-cameras. But while “The Dictator” comes in a different format as its predecessors, it is just as effective.

The movie tells the story of Admiral General Haffaz Alladeen, dictator of the oil-rich North African nation of Wadiya. Alladeen is very much the paragon of modern tyranny. He spends most of his country’s resources on his palace, executes his subjects with little provocation, and is himself a devout fascist, sexist and anti-Semite.

The story really picks up with the UN threat-ening an air strike on the country if Alladeen does not show up at the next meeting to discuss Wadiya’s nuclear weapons policies. But after only a day in New York, Alladeen is captured and shaved of his trademark beard. Left to wander in the American streets as a common man while his advisor (played by the great Ben Kingsley) uses a comically thickheaded body double in order to make Wadiya a *gasp* democracy. Alladeen comes across Zoey (Anna Faris), who is his com-plete opposite: a radical liberal who owns a vegan market and majored in female literature. Since it is her market that is set to cater the event of Alla-deen’s double signing Wadiya’s new constitution, Alladeen becomes her employee and hatches his plan to take back his throne and resume his loving oppression. But along the way, he learns a little more about himself and must grapple with his de-veloping feelings for Zoey.

Admittedly, the plot isn’t entirely complex and is very much predictable at certain moments. But then again, this is a comedy, and has advertised

itself as far from serious as you can be, so one shouldn’t be expecting too much in that depart-ment going in.

Luckily, the movie’s cast makes up for the lack of sophisticated writing. Cohen is of course excel-lent as the character he fully immerses himself in playing, and while Anna Faris and Ben Kingsley’s characters don’t have many comedic moments themselves, they do a good job of moving the plot along as well as providing more normal figures for the eccentric Alladeen to bounce off of. A sur-prising show-stealer was the lesser-known Jason Mantzoukas, who plays Alladeen’s former nucle-ar weapons specialist and lone ally in regaining power; he supplied most of the film’s witty quips. There were also small, but humorous parts with John C. Reilly and Bobby Lee as well as a few appreciated cameos.

There is a pretty good range of comedy throughout the film. The moments of pure silli-ness almost seem reminiscent of Monty Python—a scene with a zip-line failure and a few with a severed head are particularly amusing. Then there is also a fair amount of subtle humor that shines through the movie, like it starting with a tribute to the dearly missed Kim Jong-Il and having a score of easily recognized music with the vocals replaced by Cohen singing indistinguishable Ara-bic. However a majority of the gags are Cohen’s staples: satire, stereotype and shock-value. There are moments where you can’t help but laugh, like one ridiculous scene involving a birth. But then there are others where it almost seems like Cohen is just trying too hard—nudity and foreign accents only go so far. And of course, like Cohen’s other films, most of the material is purposely offensive, so this movie may not be for everyone.

Still, I was chuckling or at least smiling for most of the movie, so I’d say it was a pleasant experience. It has its hits and misses, but over-all, “The Dictator” is a good laugh to kick off the summer.

MUSIC REVIEWS

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆RATING: BY: JACQUELINE BALDERRAMA, STAFF WRITER

BLOOM // BEACH HOUSE

Beach House released their fourth album, “Bloom,” on May 15. The dream-pop/indie-rock duo formed in 2004 with Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand. Since, the pair has gained posit ive feedback from all their albums, but “Bloom” dist inguishes i tself by exploring new depths while remaining true to their entrancing sound. Driven by keyboard, organ and guitar, the

vocals seem to play less of a role than with past albums. Unfortu-nately, the album has a tendency to get lost in these extensive inter-ludes, which cloud the meaning of the tracks.

The album starts out with “Myth,” a track introduced with a whimsi-cal keyboard and violins, preva-lent throughout most of the piece. In fact , the whole album uses with long intros and fadeouts. Despite the length, the tracks are soothing and calming. The third track, “La-zuli ,” focuses on keyboard chords while “New Year” perks up with a l ivelier chorus. This style is not for everyone, but the harmony of f low-ing rhythms and loose vocals cer-tainly works for a relaxing, thera-peutic l istening experience.

Beach House continues i ts style with bit tersweet lyrics, largely echoed by the accompanying in-struments. In “Myth,” Scally sings, “What comes after this momentary

bliss, the consequence of what you do to me,” followed by “help me to make i t” as a chorus. I t explores a theme of healing while not neces-sari ly making i t romantic or delu-sional. Furthermore, the narrative of a troubled family is rhymed with with the accompaniment of a soft tambourine. That isn’t to say that there aren’t more romantic tracks. “Other People” includes lyrics, “help me keep us together.” The al-bum as a whole focuses on lyrics and themes that reveal universal human experiences: love, hurt , for-giveness and healing.

Unfortunately, the lyrics occa-sionally seem to drown in the mu-sical accompaniment. “The Hours” is one of the more mediocre tracks with lyrics, “frightened eyes look-ing back at me, change your mind, don’t care about me.” Brief, in-coherent phrases such as this can make i t diff icult to follow and un-derstand. As a result , the vague

words weaken the track. Simi-larly, “Wishes” stresses the image of “wishes on a wheel. How’s i t supposed to feel?” But due to the dreamy nature of the album, mean-ing is often arbitrary and can be overlooked. However this also puts the album at r isk of being incom-prehensible and distant .

“Bloom” does manage to evoke complex emotions through i ts ee-rie yet whimsical instrumentals and lyrics. I t has some intriguing images such as “walls are shaking in their skin,” in “Troublemaker” and a “heart…spill ing,” in “On the Sea.” These pronounce both accu-sation and forgiveness.

Unfortunately, the album’s suc-cesses are overshadowed by i ts shortfal l ings. This album feels weaker than the group’s earl ier work. With the lengthy tracks and excess lyrical obscurity, Beach House has fai led to make another outstanding album.

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HIGHLANDER SPORTS. . TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 19

UCR athletic department looking into replacing men’s tennis with sand volleyballPr a naV bh a k ta

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The UCR athletic department is looking into a possible reorganiza-tion of certain programs by remov-ing men’s tennis and replacing it with women’s sand volleyball. The primary purpose of the proposed change is to free up funds to fully accommodate all other programs. The department also cited a desire to increase participation in wom-en’s sports.

Athletics Director Brian Wick-strom asked UCR and surrounding

community to share their thoughts on the proposed idea by holding a 10-day comment period until May 28. By exchanging men’s tennis with women’s sand volleyball, the athletics department expects to save nearly $150,000 annually, which can be distributed to other sports programs. Another issue is that when the expansion of the Stu-dent Recreation center starts, access to the tennis courts will be limited for two years. In the press release, the athletics department also cited that student and community inter-est in the men’s tennis program is

low. The interest in sand volleyball, according to the proposal, is grow-ing as a few students on campus have formed a sand volleyball club. In addition, the city of Riverside hosted the AVP Crocs Tour Riv-erside Open, a professional beach volleyball tournament, which drew a notable crowd at the Riverside Convention Center in 2009.

If sand volleyball is adopted, the athletics department will construct three courts at an estimated cost of $76,000. Additional scholarships will not be needed as sand volley-ball athletes will also be part of the

women’s indoor volleyball team. This is possible since sand and in-door volleyball seasons are held in different months of the year.

Sand volleyball is a relatively new collegiate sport—having its first official season just last year. The NCAA termed the sport sand volleyball, which is otherwise known as beach volleyball, in order to attract landlocked universities like UCR to pick up the sport.

One issue with its adoption at UCR is the lack of Big West competitors, as CSU Long Beach is the only Big West conference

team to have adopted the sport so far. Therefore, travel costs will be a huge expense. There are only 16 Division I schools currently with sand volleyball teams. Only five of those teams are located in the west: Pepperdine, USC, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount and CSU Long Beach. Pepperdine won the NCAA national championships last year, defeating CSU Long Beach in the final round.

A decision on whether the ath-letic department will go forward on this proposal will be announced by the end of the first week of June.

Assistant coach Andrew Basler has been a part of the devoted coaching staff here at UCR track and field since 2007. Basler coaches sprints, hurdles, long-jump athletes along with combined-event athletes. Basler brings tons of experience having been a collegiate athlete himself at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, where he majored in art. Basler succeeded on and off the field, having been recognized for both his academic achieve-ments and winning accolades on the field.

“I entered college as a long jumper, high hurdler and javelin thrower. During my third-year, I started competing in the decathlon. By the time my fifth-year of competition came around, I concentrated strictly on long jump. I ended my collegiate career as a three-time All-American (including an individual national championship in long jump) and part of four team national championships. On the aca-demic side of being a student-athlete, I served as president of my school’s and conference’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Due to my success on the track and in the classroom, I was fortunate enough to be a five-time Aca-demic All-American,” recalled Coach Basler.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Basler went to Central Michigan University to get a master’s degree in sports administration and was an assistant coach for the women’s track and field program there. After graduating, Basler came out west to UC Riverside.

“My two year graduate assistantship at Central Michigan University was ending so I was searching for a full-time coaching posi-tion. I interviewed at Eastern Michigan Uni-versity, George Mason University, and here at

UC Riverside. I felt that UC Riverside offered me the best potential to grow as a coach,” ex-plained Coach Basler.

Spending most of his career in the Mid-west, Basler noticed a significant difference in the track and field culture between the Mid-west and Southern California.

“I think there are a few differences be-tween the track culture in the Midwest as compared to Southern California. The level of talent out of high school can be compa-rable, but Southern California has so much more of it because of its population. I think the geographical difference is apparent in the overall work ethic of high schoolers. I think since the majority of the Midwest is rural, kids learn the value of hard work from work-ing on farms. Since Southern California is so urban and everything seems so ‘fast’ high schoolers out here don’t have the opportunity to learn the value of hard work as readily as Midwestern kids. This translates on the track when kids expect fast times and far distances without putting in the necessary work in their life to achieve their goals,” explained Coach Basler.

Basler’s experience as a collegiate athlete has helped him in his coaching career. His coaching success includes two athletes who took part at the 2008 US Olympic Trial Qual-ifiers, and this year, long jumper Ted Hooper placed first in league at the 2012 Big West championships. Basler draws from his expe-rience with his interactions with his former coaches when he was an student athlete.

“I was blessed to have great collegiate coaches who were passionate about the sport and worked hard to make sure us athletes

received the best student-athlete experience possible. Experiencing that as an athlete re-ally helped shape how I coach and mentor my own athletes. The level of success I ex-perienced individually and as a team during my collegiate career made me realize that I have that winning drive as a coach. I want my athletes to experience that level of suc-cess because I know how good it felt for me as an athlete” said Coach Basler.

Basler got into coaching because teach-ing has been his passion since bring in grade school. While looking to pursue a career in the arts, Basler did not find it as his niche, and changed course into coaching, bringing him back into his natural habitat, the track.

“I have always wanted teach/coach ever since I was in grade school. When I gradu-ated college with my bachelor’s degree in art, I went on to work toward my master of fine

arts degree. While art was very competitive, my success was based on people’s opinions. It was very subjective and as a former track athlete, that was very frustrating. I was used to getting measured more objectively with times and distances. As a result, I got out of the field of art and pursued a coaching career in track” said Coach Basler.

Basler hopes his athletes learn to apply his teachings and apply it not just athletics-wise, but also to other parts of their lives. He explains, “I hope my athletes take away the value of hard work, the importance of pro-cess, and benefit of having a positive attitude. The technical training I provide them will al-low them to find short-term athletic success. But when the track spikes get hung up, I hope that the underlying values I possess as a coach and try to teach them will help them be successful throughout their lives.”

FEATURED COACH: ANDREW BASLERTrack and Field Assistant Coach

BY PRANAV BHAKTA, SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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UC Riverside and Cal State Fuller-ton squared off against each other in a pitcher ’s showdown last Friday. High-lander Eddie Orozco was outdueled by Titans pitcher Dylan Floro en route to a 2-3 loss. Three men were left on base for Riverside which turned out to be their Achilles heel in a one run loss.

UCR’s Orozco went eight strong innings and his f ive strikeout perfor-mance earned him a total of 98 strike-outs on the year. Orozco’s ERA for the year is a team best with 2.49. He allowed three runs on eight hits and walked three batters.

In the first inning, Riverside used three hits to get on the scoreboard for a 1-0 lead. Vince Gonzalez singled to center and was advanced to second when Clayton Prestridge singled to right f ield. David Andriese stepped up and singled to center for Riverside’s only RBI. Andriese went 1-3.

The Highlanders went on a seven inning drought until they scored in the ninth inning. Eddie Young started i t with a double and scored on Gonza-lez’s hit to second.

Riverside is now 6-7 when they start Orozco, which is second best be-hind 7-6 with Dylan Stuart . This Big West Conference loss puts UCR at 7-12 and an overall record 19-28.

Riverside faced Cal State Fullerton late Saturday afternoon in the second game of a three-game series. Phil Ho-linsworth homered twice which helped the Highlanders win 6-3, even though they were outhit by the Titans 8-9.

Holinsworth achieved his 10th multi-hit game of the year when he homered for his third and fourth t ime this year. Holinsworth’s performance allowed him to collect four RBIs and three runs scored.

Nick Vilter and Vince Gonzalez were the only other Highlanders with two hits. Vilter went 2-4 with one RBI and Gonzalez went 2-5 with one run scored and one RBI.

Riverside starter Trevor Frank went 7.1 innings. He allowed two earned runs on eight hits and now has 39 strikeouts on the year.

In the first inning Holinsworth homered for two RBIs while River-side used the third inning to go up 4-1 when Holinsworth walked and Gonza-lez doubled for an RBI. Vilter stepped up for an RBI single to put Riverside up 4-3. With the sl im lead, Riverside used Holinsworth’s two-run homer in order to seal the game.

UCR is 4-13 when they strike out 10 or more t imes, and 3-9 when they strike out more than they get hits . Sta-t ist ically Riverside should have lost the game but Holinsworth’s offense proved the stat book wrong.

The UC Riverside baseball team (21-28, 9-12) took the series 2-1 against nationally ranked opponent Cal State Fullerton. Riv-erside competed in another pitcher’s duel as both teams combined for only nine total hits. A double by Alex Rubanowitz was the key factor in the 1-0 shutout victory for Riverside.

Dylan Stuart (6-6) went a complete game for the Highlanders. Stuart allowed six hits but zero runs, along with two strikeouts which gives him 55 strikeouts total on the year. Stu-art has significantly improved as a starter for the Highlanders, with 55 strikeouts compared to 29 last year.

Both teams were scoreless until Riverside broke the 0-0 tie in the seventh inning. Kyle Boudreau singled to right center and Nick Vil-ter laid a SAC bunt to third base, which ad-vanced Boudreau into scoring position. Bou-dreau then scored on a Rubanowitz double down the right field line. The double gives Boudreau five total on the year and eight RBIs on year.

Rubanowitz went 1-4 with one RBI, Bou-dreau went 1-4 with the only run scored, and Clayton Prestridge had a hit going 1-3. Vince Gonzalez unfortunately had his 19-game hit-ting streak ended when he went 0-2.

Riverside improved their record to 4-9 when they achieved more strikeouts than hits. With Fullerton leaving six men on base, Riv-erside was able to secure the win. Riverside has five games left on the season, two on the road and the last three at home. The Highland-ers’ next game is away versus Loyola Mary-mount on May 22.

SPORTS20 TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 HIGHLANDER

With the report of UC Riverside planning to build a potential 8,000 seat arena for athletic, cultural, and recreation-al purposes, I wanted to express my support this proposal because it serves a great need of an adequate arena for bas-ketball games.

Our Highlander bas-ketball teams currently play in the Student Rec-reation Center, which is not exactly the most eventful place for a Divi-sion I basketball game. The Rec Center as a bas-ketball venue reminds me more of my high school basketball gym than any-thing else.

When we look at where other Big West rival host their games, the current UCR basketball home court is not up to par. The CSU Long Beach 49ers host their basket-ball games at the Walter Pyramid. The Pyramid is well-designed, can host 5,000 people and is a true venue for basketball games, with its true seat-ing configuration unlike the configuration found in the Rec Center. Even UC Irvine has the Bren Events Center for their basketball games.

I understand that the Rec Center is a decent facility, but if the pro-posal of the so called C-Center becomes a real-ity, then I feel it is worth investing in. Basketball games have always been the most widely popular sporting events here on at UCR. If we have an area like the C-Center, it will improve UCR student attendance at athletic events, with the new cen-ter making for a better sports atmosphere. And especially with the UCR student body’s growing population, the need for a facility like the C-Cen-ter clear.

The C-Center will not be built in my time as a UCR student, but as an alumnus, I would love to come back and watch a game. If there is one thing I disagree with the C-Center proposal, it’s the name. R’Center any-one?

PRANAV BHAKTA

The C-Center

P-BHAK’SCORNER

May 18, 2012

Titans 3 - Highlanders 2

Baseball wins series with Big West leader, nationally ranked #8 Fullerton

kE n da L L PE t E r s o nSENIOR STAFF WRITER

May 19, 2012Highlanders 6 - Titans 3

BASEBALL STANDINGS

Team W L PCT. W L PCT.

CSU FullertonLong BeachUC IrvineCal Poly CSU NorthridgeUC Santa BarbaraUC DavisUC RiversidePacific

1514131210109

103

BIG WEST GAMES ALL GAMES

6789

1111121418

.714

.667

.619

.571

.476

.476

.429

.419

.143

332733302324212413

182520222629282740

.647

.519

.623

.577

.469

.453

.429

.471

.245

ty L e r Jo e/hiGhLander

May 20, 2012Highlanders 1 - Titans 0

WRITE FOR THE HIGHLANDER

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