Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane explains the possibility of a desalination plant in Santa Cruz's future. The project is still in the planning phase, but it could solve the area's water shortage problem.

The Santa Cruz City Council approved the continuation of a contract with an environmental impact desalination consultant last week. Desalination has been in the works for decades now, and for Santa Cruz County it may serve as a feasible source of water in a city that just experienced its second driest December in history.

The plant is projected to produce 2.5 million gallons a day, and comes with a price tag of nearly $100 million. The cost will be split between Santa Cruz and Soquel County water districts, with Santa Cruz paying 59 percent of the bill. Cost aside, it will take some time for a desalination plant to become a reality in Santa Cruz, as controversies come with its construction.

The final decision on whether to construct the plant will likely be voters’. For now, the plant’s construction is still being negotiated by environmentalists and city council members.

“We’re in the development stage,” said Heidi Luckenbach, Santa Cruz desalination program coordinator.

This stage includes determining all the effects and consequences the plant will have on the community and the environment.

“Part of the process is thinking through how to make it the most environmentally sound project it can be,” said Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane.

Several environmental concerns arise out of the plant’s use.

“It would take a lot of energy to operate,” Lane said.

It is possible, however, the high use of energy can be offset by renewable energy, said Brent Haddad, UC Santa Cruz professor of environmental studies.

Other concerns include the pollution the desalination plant would produce and the negative effect it may have on marine life.

“Forcing water through tightly meshed membranes produces greenhouse gasses,” Haddad said. “There are also risks it will create a zone that it is hard for sea lions to live in.”

A test was conducted by the city of Santa Cruz several years ago in which a small-scale desalination plant was examined to test its its effects on marine life.

“The test was enormously successful in eliminating any negative effects on marine life,” Lane said.

Due to the county’s drought, a new source of water — whether it be a desalination plant or an alternative to it — is something that deserves attention, Lane said.

“We have a water problem,” he said. “It seems pretty clear that we need an additional supply and this is the most obtainable and feasible supply opportunity that I’ve seen.”

If the drought were to continue, Santa Cruz would face some tough decisions about water use. Businesses would have a hard time operating at full capacity and the community may have to begin rationing water, Lane said.

“We’d have to start cutting back in severe ways,” he said. “That’s one of the main reasons desal is being considered. If this year continues to be as dry as it is, and next year is similarly dry, we could be in a world of trouble.”

Directives from both the state and federal government require less water be taken from local Santa Cruz rivers and streams in hopes of sustaining the salmon population. Reducing water levels is harmful to the salmon indigenous to the San Lorenzo River and surrounding local streams.

A large reservoir and the San Lorenzo River make up most of the water supply to Santa Cruz, and with the addition of a desalination plant, the depletion of both these sources would be about 25 to 33 percent lower.

“[The desalination plant] is supplemental to Santa Cruz,” Luckenbach said.

The reservoir and the streams will always be a source of water for Santa Cruz. Proponents of construction say the intent of the plant is not to provide for the total water supply, but to give the county a back-up plan in times of drought.

“Having a desal plant is like buying insurance,” Lane said. “It’s going to cost a lot of money to build the desal, but the question is, what is the cost if we don’t build it?”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Santa Cruz Looks to Desalination for Water

(from left to right)

“Resorting to alcohol as a get away [from] something.”

Angela Troung
Second-year, College 9
Biology

“Any disruption of higher priorities or passions… like family, school or work.”

Jack Mazza
First-year, Porter
Environmental Studies

“Drinking four or more times a week and getting really drunk every time you drink.”

Malarie Chodos
First-year, Porter
Literature

“When alcohol disrupts a relationship or friendship.”

Daniel Becuer
First-year, Porter
Environmental Studies

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Public Discourse

Illustration by Leigh Douglas

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s degree in business management economics in 1991, organic ice cream connoisseur Dave Kumec moved to Paris. There he excelled as a chef and pursued culinary graduate work before moving back to Santa Cruz in 1995. Kumec spent a number of years in the high-tech business before opening his very own organic ice cream business, Mission Hill Creamery, in downtown Santa Cruz’s Culinary Center in July 2010. Kumec was forced to close the storefront in 2011 after a dispute with the landlord, and has since spent his time building Mission Hill’s wholesale business, selling organic ice cream and sorbet pints at business like Whole Foods and New Leaf Community Markets across northern California. A new Mission Hill Creamery location is set to open its doors this summer in downtown Santa Cruz.

CHP: What is your background in the food industry, and what got you interested in making ice cream?

Kumec: I worked my way through restaurants and have held every position from dishwasher to owner. I did an apprenticeship in Paris when I was 18. I like the satisfaction I see in a customer’s face when they try something good that I make, and ice cream is one of the best ways to get that satisfied reaction. Plus, I don’t cut and burn myself as much when I make ice cream.

CHP: You’re a UCSC graduate from the class of ’91. What brought you back to Santa Cruz to start your business?

Kumec: When I graduated UCSC, I got married and moved back to Paris as an opening chef for the new EuroDisney resort, but eventually I missed Santa Cruz too much and we had to come back. I spent from 1995 to 2008 in high-tech, but I am very passionate about ice cream and organic food, so I decided to follow my passion.

CHP: Mission Hill Creamery serves organic ice cream. Where do you source your products and how do you carry out this organic process?

Kumec: Sourcing the finest ingredients is a vital process. We source fruits, nuts and other produce from local farms whenever possible. There is no local chocolate, coffee or vanilla, but we still seek out only the finest organic varieties.

Organic ice cream is better because it doesn’t include any of the processed stabilizers, emulsifiers and gums practically all other ice creams contain. We like simple, clean, robust-flavored ice cream. When you compare our ice cream against the competition, there really is no comparison.

CHP: What prompted you to reach out to local markets, and eventually markets all over Northern California, to sell Mission Hill products?

Kumec: We really started out with the idea to have a nice little ice cream shop. However, we have had a lot of “bumps in the road,” including losing our store on Front Street. We have needed to adapt, and during the time when we didn’t have a store, we decided we could keep the brand alive by selling wholesale. Our first wholesale customer was the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and that was a huge home run for us. Then it was Staff of Life, New Leaf, etc. Now we are in over 30 stores in nine counties around the San Francisco Bay Area.

CHP: There are a lot of ice creameries in downtown Santa Cruz. How do you plan to differentiate Mission Hill Creamery from these other businesses?

Kumec: It’s true that Santa Cruz has a lot of good ice cream places these days. Our goal is to be the best. We make a very consistent, creamy and delicious product that highlights our artisan skill. And we are not afraid of flavor, ensuring every bite of Mission Hill Creamery ice cream is bursting with that perfect balance of flavor and texture. We welcome you to try our ice cream and compare it to the other stores in town.

The New Mission Hill location will open this summer at 1101 Pacific Avenue, Suite B.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Q&A: Mission Hill Creamery Combines Artisan and Organic

Technology is continuing to change the way humans live and interact with each other on a daily basis. UC Santa Cruz alumna Rupa Dhillon has contributed to this change in a way few others have done before with a video game for both blind and sighted gamers.

Dhillon designed “Rock Vibe,” accessible both to the sighted and to the blind. Dhillon came up with the idea when she noticed a “Rock Band” controller while brainstorming for her thesis in a human-computer interactions course, part of her master’s program at UCSC.

“To play the game, you put on a wearable device that contains four or five vibrating motors,” Dhillon said. “Each motor would represent a color band you would respond to if you were playing Rock Band. So if you felt a vibration on the far left side of the device you would know that you would need to press the far left button on the guitar controller or keyboard.”

Research for the game was published by the Association for Computing and Machinery after Dhillon presented the game at their national conference.

Rock Vibe Belt Prototype

Sri Kurniawan, UCSC computer engineering professor and former instructor for Rupa’s human-computer interactions course, said “Rock Vibe” is an inclusive gaming model.

“‘Rock Vibe’ is a much bigger scheme,” Kurniawan said. “We are looking to modify mainstream games that interact with both sighted and blind people.”

Kurniawan’s research is in games for health and healthy living, including assistive technology for people with disabilities and people with low social economic and educational backgrounds.

“There are quite a number of games that can be played by people who are blind,” Kurniawan said. “However, there are fewer games that a blind person and a sighted person could play together.”

Traditional board games like chess and Battleship allow sighted and visually impaired players to interact together, she said.

While there are options, Dhillon said they are limited and not attractive to the average player.

“Most games are really simple — they don’t do much, and aren’t very fun,” Dhillon said. “There are many games available for both sighted and blind people, but again, they’re too simplistic to be taken into the mainstream.”

While the game has only been played by game testers, Dhillon is hoping to give access to the community through centers for the blind and visually impaired.

Sharon Hudson has been working as an associate director and teacher at the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired for 28 years. Hudson said current technology hasn’t been as inclusive of the blind community as it can be.

“Things like the iPhone and computers have been great in general, but they continue to make them more visual,” Hudson said. “They’re producing more devices with icons and touch screens … things that aren’t accessible to the visually impaired.

Hudson said “Rock Vibe” could be something her students will enjoy.

“I know a lot of our students are interested in music, so anything that would make them connect with others would be great,” she said.

“Rock Vibe” is hoping to receive most of its funding from the online pledge website, Kickstarter. Kickstarter opens a pledge system for projects to raise funds and sets a goal the project must reach in order to receive any of the pledge funds. Dhillon has until Feb. 25 to raise $16,500 or the project won’t receive any funds. As of Feb. 1, over $12,000 has been pledged toward the project. The Kickstarter project can be found here.

“It is possible to create games that can reach a wide range of people, regardless of their capabilities,” Dhillon said. “It is possible to bring people together, no matter their differences. And I hope that ‘Rock Vibe’ can show people that.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at UCSC Alum Designs Innovative Game

Illustration by Jamie Morton.

Writer and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni is the featured speaker at the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation being held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 2. Giovanni spoke with City on a Hill Press about becoming a writer and her connections with civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

City on a Hill Press: When did you come to realize that you were a writer?

Nikki Giovanni: I always liked storytelling. I’m an Eastern Tennessean by birth — I was born in Knoxville, Tenn. We grew up storytelling. If I had been born in Memphis, I would have been a blues singer. If I had been born in Nashville, I would have been in gospel, country or western. It comes down to that. We didn’t get television until the late ‘60s. We were in the mountains. We had to talk to each other, which was a good thing. When I started writing, I was just trying to make sense of the world, trying to give a voice. Black Americans were being silenced and somebody needed to say what was going on. So I wrote. I’ve always written for whoever would read it — I wasn’t trying to start a revolution. I wasn’t trying to do anything but be honest. It’s important to be an honest writer.

CHP: I’ve read that your primary focus is on the individual, and the power one has to make a difference. When did you come to realize the importance of the individual?

NG: I grew up in the era of segregation, and watching Ms. Parks give up her seat was a galvanizing moment for all of us. It was during the Montgomery bus boycott. All of the people participated, but without Ms. Parks saying, “It’s time for this to stop, it stops here,” [the revolution wouldn’t have been as strong]. The power of the individual is incredible. That you actually stand up for yourself and say, “No, I’m not doing this anymore” — I think she galvanized a generation. What Dr. King did was to articulate what the people were expressing physically. I think without Ms. Parks we wouldn’t have had Dr. King.

CHP: You had a friendship of 20 years with Rosa Parks. What about Dr. King?

NG: I didn’t know him nearly as well as Rosa. Of course, we were all in the civil rights movement, but he’s Dr. King and I’m not. You always have to know where you are. Everybody thinks Martin was just an old guy, but he was only 26 years old. He was a young man. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He liked good music and he loved good food. Well, I should say he loved southern food — not necessarily good — but I like fried chicken, so I say what the hell, fried chicken is good for you.

CHP: Can you give us a little preview of your talk at the MLK Jr. Memorial Convocation, “The Privilege of Serving: Art and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.”?

NG: I think it’s so important that young people recognize it’s your mind, and you should make it up for yourself. And in doing that, sometimes it’s going to be difficult, and sometimes you might even disappoint yourself, but other times you’re going to find yourself standing there pretty much alone. That’s why I always talk about the individual — because a crowd is no better than the individuals in it. And it’s very important if you are with a group, you be proud of the fact you’re there. What I’m trying to say, essentially, is don’t do anything in a crowd that you couldn’t do alone.

CHP: Is that what you mean by the privilege of serving?

NG: Sure — the privilege of being yourself, the privilege of standing up. All of these are privileges, because if they were rights, there wouldn’t be any discussions. Everybody would leave everybody alone; life would be a lot easier. It’s a privilege to be educated, it’s a privilege to have First Amendment rights, to worship as you choose, and it’s a privilege to recognize some people don’t worship as you do. We are privileged to live in the 21st century, where so much knowledge is available to us. Two hundred years ago, people were ignorant because they didn’t know. We don’t have that excuse anymore.

CHP: How do you want Dr. King to be remembered?

NG: I think for the sanity and the soul of America we have to recognize the wonderful contributions people have made for our freedom. And it’s not just the freedom of black Americans — it’s all of us. Any time you can take a step away from hate, this is a good thing.

CHP: What do you feel the most effective form of student awareness and change is? What would be most crucial for students across America today?

NG: I don’t try to tell one generation what to do, so let me just be clear. I have great admiration for your European counterparts, students in Europe, who facilitated the takeover in Egypt. Without the courage of those students to relay messages, things would not have happened the way they did. We saw it again in Libya. Things are happening differently — a whole different world from what people like me knew. What you youngsters will be doing is something we have not thought of. What will happen is not beyond my imagination, but at this point outside of my articulation.

CHP: What would you say to those who underestimate the power of spoken word as a social change agent?

NG: Human beings only have our words — anything else, we are only fooling ourselves. Now we have contracts of course, but there was a time in the mythology of human beings that we shook hands and said, “I’ll do it, I’ll be there, I’ll help you.” The word among human beings is sacred, and should be treated as that. Being Americans, we have wonderful strong words such as, “all men and women are created equal.” This is an important revelation. It is important that we speak it aloud, that we recognize it. Words determine who we are — we dream in words — so words are always important.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Q&A with Poet and Activist Nikki Giovanni

Illustration by Jamie Morton.

Twitter announced last week in its blog post, “Tweets still must flow,” that it will begin censoring its users’ tweets on a country-by-country basis, which in a way is contradictory.

The announcement means that, at the request of United States law enforcement officials, the company will delete any post from the eyes of viewers in a specific country, leaving those posts available to other countries.

Before this controversial move, content on Twitter could still be censored, but the censored information or tweets would be erased completely and disappear worldwide.

Some may see the step to censor individual countries from others as a liberating one because it doesn’t completely erase the censored tweets, but that would be misguided.Twitter will be setting a bad precedent if it continues, as an extension of the U.S. government or otherwise, to censor information. Twitter is a tool that has brought about revolutions, but it is becoming more and more subject to the hand of government rather than serving as a platform for freedom of speech.

For an American-based company, freedom of speech should always apply, even if the majority of users are outside the United States.

Some say the Internet cannot and should not be entirely free and open, and applaud Twitter’s announcement. This opinion comes most forcefully from the countries of Thailand and China, which both censor their citizens. China’s state-run newspaper, Global Times, published an editorial in the wake of Twitter’s announcement written by Xu Ming that states, “It is impossible to have boundless freedom, even on the Internet and even in countries that make freedom their main selling point.”

This is not true for Twitter. If the company wants to survive, grow and remain accessible to all people across the world, it needs to step back from censorship.

But it is true Twitter wants to look out for its financial standing. This is evident in the case of J.P. Morgan. Twitter failed to mark J.P Morgan’s Twitter feed as trending when it was being targeted by Occupy Wall Street last year, and in so doing, effectively cut other Twitter users off from important information. The explanation: J.P. Morgan is a major shareholder in Twitter.

As a newspaper that uses Twitter, we can say that censorship in any form inhibits our business and our freedom, as well as that of our readers. Neither Twitter nor the United States government has any business hindering freedom of information.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Twitter Announces Censorship Plan

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Super Bowl Snacks

Katarina Lanfranco sketches out the plan for her site specific installation "Natural Selection which in the Sesnon Gallery. Photo by Sal Ingram

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Seeing the Forest for the Trees

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Island Hopper

Less than 10 years ago, campus email was handled in-house with the school’s own servers and IT infrastructure, which was called CruzMail. But as the campus population expanded, the home-grown system groaned underneath the added e-traffic.

Lisa Bono, communications manager at Information Technology Services, said that the pathway to using Google as a vendor has been long and complex one.

“A few years ago, we needed $1 million for the handling of CruzMail. We did do a lot of upgrades to keep up [with the increasing traffic], but really, it was very clogged,” Bono said. “Then a few years ago, Davis moved its students to Gmail. That move of some 18,000 accounts really relieved their servers … CruzMail was just getting old. We couldn’t keep up with the new technology.”

To relieve their traffic, the school created a Gmail account and called it SlugMail, which all student accounts were migrated onto. Faculty and staff remained on the CruzMail server.

“Last year, we surveyed the faculty and staff and they voted to switch to Gmail,” Bono said. “There was no way [CruzMail] could compete with all the capabilities Gmail has.”

Faculty and staff migrated onto a new UCSC Gmail domain last November.

“Those were two separate domains [for students and faculty/staff] … it caused a lot of buildup,” Bono said. “Having one domain is more reliable … just better infrastructure all around, and Google prefers [it].”

Rather than switching the smaller population of faculty and staff to the SlugMail domain, ITS decided to switch students onto the UCSC Gmail domain.

“Faculty did not want to jump onto the student email system,” Bono said. “We talked about that … we emailed the professors and asked them what they thought we should do. Overall, leadership wanted to move the students rather than the faculty and staff. It would have confused a lot of staff.”

Because SlugMail is a Gmail account, switching students to the UCSC Google domain is expected to be much simpler than the earlier switch from CruzMail (in-house) to SlugMail (Google).

Google offers their Gmail service to the school, with support, free of charge and advertisements. Bono spoke about the alternative rewards Google stands to gain from UCSC’s use of Gmail.

“What they get out of it is they get you for life,” Bono said. “I think they really want us to be loyal Gmail users. And the more people, the better for them.”

As per negotiations between UC Office of the President and Google, a contract signed in June of last year commits the entire UC system to an eventual transition to Gmail.

Google has the final rights to this service, but they do not own the data, and usernames and passwords of UCSC accounts are encrypted.

“Overall, its a win-win … Gmail is more efficient, more modern, more cost-effective,” Bono said. “We’re giving up some control. Everything has to follow their policy. But how likely is an email outage beyond one or two hours? That would be a global problem.”

With the free service, the multi-million dollar funding model once devoted to email infrastructure across the university is no longer needed.

“It does help us out financially,” Bono said. “Those funds can be allocated elsewhere and more efficiently.”

All positions at ITS are being re-evaluated. Certain staff members may not be replaced when they leave.

“We still have an email infrastructure crew, but they’re more in the networking field … and we still manage email traffic through the servers, but we don’t house the software,” Bono said.

UCSC is the first UC to switch its faculty and staff to Gmail, and will be the second to switch its students, after Davis.

Come Feb. 22, students will need to log into the Gmail domain. As this is a new account, previous mail stored in SlugMail will not be there.

“We have a tool to migrate it which we will link [students] to,” Bono said. “It’s a super easy tool that works very quickly. Mobile devices will also need to be updated.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at New Email Accounts for Students

Illustration by Leigh Douglas

Following UC-wide attempts to diversify the undergraduate population, business and management school deans and executives gathered to announce the unveiling of a fellowship for students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on Tuesday.

Together, Robert S. Sullivan of the Rady School of Management and Rich Lyons, dean of UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, announced the fellowship’s inauguration. The fellowship will seek to introduce “business curriculum in an exciting format,” to first-year students who have never been exposed to business and management studies, Lyons said.

Over time, Lyons hopes this fellowship will “bring the kind of diversity, creativity, and innovation our programs are built on and that California is built on.”

By bringing students from HBCUs, which are primarily located in the southeastern United States, Lyons and his fellow administrators hope to “attract as diverse as a population as we possibly can.”

The fellowship is geared toward students from HBCUs outside of California in efforts to entice them to join the UC student body.

“HBCUs are a terrific pool of talent,” Lyons said of the decision to focus on HBCUs in the first stages of the fellowship.

The goal of the HBCU fellowship, said Lyons, is to get first-year students to begin thinking about their futures.

“We want to excite them about the world of business and their potential, their role as leaders,” Lyons said.

The program itself will be offered to 25 recipients who will be awarded an all-expenses-paid two week Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders session at one of the six UC business schools. The six schools include the UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Riverside business and management schools.

This year the inaugural session will be held at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Berkeley has been a hub for start-up companies and focal point for recruiting new talent, making it an apt location for the fellowship.

“You’ve never seen anything like this — it’s a kind of a beehive for enterprise,” Lyons said. “Why not give them a taste of what we’re best at?”

Anthem Blue Cross and Wells Fargo are funding the fellowship. They will cover the roughly $100,000 a year required for the two-week sessions.

“We have been very excited about how much support we’re getting from the private sector — we know we need it because it’s not coming from the public sector,” Lyons said, predicting a trend in increased university donations from non-federal monies.

Erika Walker, executive director of Undergraduate Program Haas School of Business, has been working with a similar program for business training, the Business for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (BASE) program. BASE has been running every summer for the past 15 years, and served as a template for the HBCU fellowship.

Walker will be implementing the inaugural program at Haas-Berkeley this summer. She hopes the program will spur students into eventually pursuing an MBA at one of the UC campuses.

“We’re looking for that kind of transformative change,” Walker said. “We’re just trying to excite them and energize them about what these various opportunities [in business] are.”

Jacqui Smollett, a first-year global economics major and SUA representative for African/Black Student Alliance, said while the program is a step in the right direction, diversity among UC faculty needs to be addressed.

“There are currently very few faculty of color at UC Santa Cruz,” Smollett said. “It is nice to be taught by a diverse community.”

At UC business schools, the major itself is also highly impacted. Of HBCU graduates, 49-64 percent are business majors, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

With classes filled to the brim, Smollett says it is important to have “different viewpoints from different people on how we do business.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at HBCU Fellowship Comes to UC

A variety of chocolates was available to taste from the 28 vendors during the Chocolate Festival held on Jan. 22. Photo by Morgan Grana.

For Jeffrey B., UC Santa Cruz alumnus and former university employee associated with the Office of the Registrar, there was always something about the local charm of Santa Cruz that kept him coming back — and for the past five years, his visits have only gotten sweeter.

Jeffrey was among a bustling crowd of chocolate lovers last Sunday, including locals, newcomers and diehards strolling through the aromatic aisles of Santa Cruz’s fifth annual Chocolate Festival. The festival featured 28 vendors from as far away as Seattle, and ran from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Cocoanut Grove.

“It’s a tradition,” Jeffrey said. “I miss Santa Cruz, so it’s nice to come back, and I love chocolate and sweets. I also love being back in Santa Cruz and seeing former colleagues from when I worked at UC Santa Cruz.”

Organized by the UCSC Women’s Club, the Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival serves as a fundraiser for re-entry students, or students who have left college for a period of years, to receive scholarships at UCSC. To date, the festival has raised over $50,000 in support of this cause. Tickets for the festival were made available to the public in mid-December through local businesses like Whole Foods, Bay Tree Bookstore and Bookshop Santa Cruz, and cost $12 for six tastings.

“[The festival] is the Women’s Club’s largest fundraiser, and I believe approximately $13,000 went to the scholarship fund last year,” said festival coordinator Ann Berry-Kline. “We typically are able to give away somewhere around $20,000 in scholarships.”

Current scholarship recipients who attended the festival include Merrill third-year Yuliana Vasquez and Stevenson fourth-year Jesse Avila. Vasquez and Avila are both among a group of UCSC re-entry students who have been awarded scholarships funded in part by past festivals.

The festival was first hosted by downtown Santa Cruz’s former Attic Café and Art Gallery in 2008, and was relocated to the Beach Boardwalk’s Cocoanut Grove in 2009. New additions to this year’s festival included a larger venue space and a cupcake decorating station for kids.

Organizers also brought back the silent auction after a two-year absence due to overcrowding and space limitations within the Cocoanut Grove venue. The addition of the Cocoanut Grove sun room this year allowed for a much more relaxed atmosphere, while accommodating the growth of the festival over the years.

“It started out as an idea to fundraise amongst a couple of the Women’s Club members, and they didn’t think anybody would really show up at the Attic,” Berry-Kline said. “It was pouring rain that day… [and] you couldn’t move in there one bit.”

Alongside tables lined with gourmet chocolate cupcakes were savory dishes, like chicken mole with chocolate mole sauce, served up by local Santa Cruz restaurant Chocolate. Featured vendors included healthy chocolate pioneers and three-year festival veterans Xoçai, who shifted the event’s guilt-ridden focus toward revealing the health benefits of the antioxidants found in raw dark chocolate.

The festival also hosted many new vendors, like Soquel-based day spa Sudzz, which offers chocolate spa treatments and products. Regardless of how long each vendor had been attending the festival, a common trend of chocolate entrepreneurship and local support served as one of the festival’s major themes.

“There are so many great things about chocolate — not just to eat, but for your skin,” said Sudzz representative Sarai Thomas. “I sponsored the festival in its first year and opened up Sudzz last August, and signing up to be a vendor seemed like a great way to showcase my business to people who love chocolate and are open to experiencing it in a different way.”

As the festival has continued to grow, the event has become an experience that keeps people coming back year after year.

“I heard about it from a friend and it seemed like a cool thing to do,” said Stevenson third-year Jeff Davis. “This [was] my first time and it’s really cool. There are a lot of local people around here and it’s cool to support your local businesses. [I’m] definitely coming back next year.”

With another successful year added to its budding reputation, the Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival has become a tradition for both the Santa Cruz community and tourists alike. As the event’s audience continues to grow, organizers hope to expand next year’s festival into a two-day event.

“I hope to make it a destination kind of thing in the future, and get the local hotels involved in a chocolate getaway weekend,” Berry-Kline said. “Hopefully we can raise more funds and be able to touch more scholarship recipients.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Chocolate Festival Satisfies Sweet Tooth for Scholarships

(from left to right)

“I don’t think it should be a factor, because it doesn’t tell how they’ll lead or how they’ll run a city, or country or whatever. So it doesn’t really make sense to judge them by it.”
Zach Simon
Third-year, Porter
Biochemistry, Molecular biology & Theater arts

“Yeah, I think it is important, because someone’s personal life says a lot about their ethics and their moral values when it comes to something like that. So if they’re not morally ethical in their personal life, I wouldn’t trust someone to run my country.”
Silvia Sanchez
Fifth-year, Stevenson
Anthropology

“Yes I do — I think it should be. I mean, if they’re a politician, they’re going to be working with things. Personal life always does end up affecting things in the long run, and it’s an important part of a person.”
Maureen Argo
First-year, Stevenson
Psychology & Linguistics

“Definitely not. Unless, so long as it’s legal and lawful, but I mean, not like the moral aspects of their private life — that should not affect anything.”
Johan Brandter
Graduate exchange student from Sweden
Linguistics researcher

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Public Discourse

Photo by Auralee Walmer.

Dr. Marla Wyche-Hall is the new director of the African-American Resource and Cultural Center (AARCC). She stepped into the position a year after the previous AARCC director and founder, Sister Paula Powell, left UC Santa Cruz after a career of over two decades. The center focuses on retention of African-American students by creating a community hub, providing students with mentors, workshops, educational programming and peer groups.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A Fresh Face, A Fresh Perspective

Jacob Rosen, UCSC computer engineering professor and chief investigator of the project, said the Raven II will follow an “open source” model, which enables the sharing of robotic software among the various robotics research institutions and will result in higher frequencies of communication during experiments.

“We are collaborating with our peers to create a common platform,” Rosen said.

Ji Ma, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSC who assisted Rosen on the project, also acknowledged the significance of using an “open source” model.

“When all these leading labs have a common research platform for doing robotic surgery, the whole field will be able to advance more quickly,” Ma said in an email.

Robotic surgery is a commonly utilized tool in procedures such as prostate surgery.

Rosen, who has directed the bionics lab at UCSC since 2008, was assisted by Blake Hannaford of the University of Washington bio-robotics department in creating the Raven II, which was funded with a grant from the National Science Fund.

Raven II is equipped with two robotic arms and a camera for viewing the operational field. This also allows for the possibility of online telesurgery, an advanced process which enables doctors to conduct surgical procedures utilizing robotic technology while in remote locations.

Rosen thinks collaboration among research institutions is integral to the development of advanced research mechanisms like Raven II.

“Sometimes we need to collaborate in order to survive — even though this isn’t a matter of survival, we can still progress science.” Rosen said. “This [collaboration] is not just with the University of Washington, but all in our field. We are creating new knowledge that will allow us to move forward.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Bionics Lab Develops Advanced Surgical Robot

Young inmates at the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall exercise outside at the Felton facility. Photos by Toby Silverman

The inside of what a tour guide called an ‘average’ cell at the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall

For the second time in two years, Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing the closure of all state Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) facilities, beginning this year, in light of California’s budget deficit.

With an annual cost of about $200,000-$250,000 per child, “California can no longer afford to operate dual state and county juvenile justice systems,” said Daniel Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice executive director. This means the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall in Felton could soon receive more inhabitants.

The current California system has been running since 1859, when the first juvenile correctional facility opened. It still stands “as a 19th-century relic,” Macallair said.

In addition to county facilities, California has five state detention centers across the state, each making up a part of the total 1,118 DJJ population. To adequately make the transition from state to county facilities, Brown has proposed giving each county $10 million.

Until 2007, when the Major Juvenile Justice Reform Bill was signed, the population was nearly twice as high. The bill filtered out non-serious offenders and kept less-serious juveniles at the county level. Since then, counties have sent only homicide or assault cases to DJJ, and have equipped themselves to meet the needs of the remaining offenders. With the possibility of the state system’s closure, the counties may also have to meet the needs of those more serious and long-term offenders.

“[The Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall] was not meant to hold people for long periods of time,” said Scott MacDonald, Santa Cruz County chief probation officer.

Regardless, county probation officials are confident DJJ closure will not affect the overall operation of their facility.

“[DJJ Closure] will affect everyone,” said Robert Igarta, associate director of Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall. As three Santa Cruz juveniles are currently in DJJ, the county would have to find a way to accommodate those individuals.

However, “the impact won’t be as severe as it will in some counties where there are a lot of kids in DJJ,” Igarta said.

Dealing with the cuts would not be too much of an issue, he said, as only three juveniles would have to be removed from DJJ, and one is moving to an adult prison.

“I think we could do a better job if the kids came back home,” MacDonald said.

Santa Cruz has set a precedent for creating innovative methods of accomodating juvenile offenders. In 1992 it was one of the first counties in the nation to establish the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), which cut juvenile hall population by about 50 percent. The initiative took individuals who were not serious offenders out of juvenile hall, and placed them in community-based programs designed to help integrate them into society. Today, the initiative has spread nationwide and is even being used in adult prisons.

“Our philosophy is a lot different from other counties,” Igarta said. “Ours is very restorative and compassionate.”

Igarta said by fostering a warm environment and encouraging staff interaction the needs of the children will be identified and more easily attended to. That means participating in recreational games, sitting down with the kids for dinner, and even playing a game or two of chess.

“The showers are warm,” said one of the juveniles of the Santa Cruz system. “It’s one of the best programs.”

Classes are held at the facilities Monday through Friday.

“If you provide one kid with hope, it’s contagious,” teacher Bonnie Dankert said.

Officials are optimistic about the DJJ closure, saying it will just be a minor setback to deal with. For now, they plan to run things as they always have. Although the notion of housing juveniles long-term is not one Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall is familiar with, MacDonald said he doesn’t foresee the closure as one they can’t tackle.

“I’m going to make it work, one way or another,” he said. “Quite frankly, I think we could do a better job than the state.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Santa Cruz County without the Department of Juvenile Justice

Illustration by Louise Leong.

No matter who you are, you are born with the individual privilege of being yourself.

This is a privilege Nikki Giovanni — world-renowned poet and writer, storyteller, English professor, civil rights activist and commentator — feels is underestimated and misrepresented, and should be harnessed by contemporary American society, especially its youth. Giovanni will share these sentiments with the Santa Cruz community as keynote speaker at the 28th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation.

On Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Giovanni will speak on “The Privilege of Serving: Art and the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.” The event is hosted by UC Santa Cruz each year as a part of the celebration of Black History Month, and as a way of remembering Martin Luther King Jr. and continuing to raise awareness about civil rights.

Giovanni was active in the civil rights movement after growing up in segregated eastern Tennessee. She said although she was only 12 years old at the time, watching Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery in 1955 was “a galvanizing moment for all of us.”

Rosa Parks, whom Giovanni grew to be very close friends with, took an initiative that had not been taken before and represented repressed Americans all over the United States.

“It’s so important young people recognize it’s your mind, and you should make it up for yourself,” Giovanni said. “In doing that, sometimes it’s going to be difficult, sometimes you’re going to find yourself standing there pretty much alone — that’s why I talk about the individual, because a crowd is no better than the individuals in it. It’s very important that if you are with a group, you be proud of the fact you’re there.”

David Anthony, associate history professor at UCSC and emcee of the event, discussed the importance of informing and inspiring students on this subject matter.

“Not everyone has had the opportunity to attend [a university], or even if attending, to complete [a degree],” Anthony said. “And yet, there are many ways to become educated through being observant and committed to building a better world for oneself and one’s fellow human beings, in all ways. Student awareness usually comes as a response to living in stimulating environments.”

Giovanni says she enjoys talking to young people because there is a future in it, an opportunity for even more change.

“Change is important for the self, for itself, change in every way,” Giovanni said. “That’s why you grow old. If you never changed, you’d be running around in diapers right now.”

She said she is amazed at the change that has already happened in her lifetime.

“What you youngsters will be doing is something we have not thought of,” she said. “It’s not beyond my imagination, but at this point it’s outside of my articulation.”

This event is a rare opportunity, as Nikki Giovanni will help us remember the great and inspirational man Martin Luther King Jr. was. She will, as he did, use the power of spoken word as a change agent.

“Human beings only have words — anything else, we are fooling ourselves,” Giovanni said. “The word among human beings is sacred and should be treated as that. Words determine who we are. We dream in words, so words are always important.”

A balance of the individual and the crowd is crucial. When asked what she means by “the privilege of serving,” Giovanni explained,

“The privilege of being yourself, the privilege of standing up.”

“It’s a privilege to be educated, to have First Amendment rights, to worship as you choose and to recognize that some people don’t worship as you do,” she said.

Joy L. Lei, assistant campus diversity officer, said Giovanni will be the perfect person to speak at the event in honor of Dr. King.

“She has an immense amount of energy— she is known to be such a dynamic speaker,” Lei said. “This is important, for Dr. King was such a wonderful orator. I’m hoping that [Giovanni] will speak to what civil rights and equality mean to us today.”

In addition to Giovanni’s talk and poetry reading, there will be several other performances including the African-American Theatre Arts Group (AATAG), Reverend Johnson’s reflection on faith, Chancellor George R. Blumenthal speaking, and the presentation of the fourth annual Tony Hill Memorial Award.

For the past four years, UCSC officials at the MLK Jr. Memorial Convocation have presented the award in memory of Tony Hill, a beloved community leader, mentor and volunteer that was a part of the convocation planning committee. The award will be presented to a community member who reflects Hill’s qualities: a mentor, inspirational leader, and bridge builder in the community. The recipient will be awarded $500 to donate to their charity of choice.

Nikki Giovanni said recognizing and remembering leaders is vital.

“I think for the sanity and the soul of America we have to recognize the wonderful contributions people have made for our freedom,” Giovanni said. “And it’s not just the freedom of black Americans, it’s all of us. Any time you can take a step away from hate, this is a good thing.”

In addition to the event at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium at 7 p.m. (free of cost), Nikki Giovanni will also lead a student panel in the Stevenson Event Center beforehand, on Feb. 2, at 3 p.m.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Importance of the Individual

Illustration by Jamie Morton

In this issue’s column, I really wanted to try and write a piece critical of UC student activism— and then the regents went and did something stupid again.

It’s gotten to the point where you can set your calendars by campus protests — there are always a big showings in September, November and March. Recent campus graffiti (the “FUCK TUITION” on the side of McHenry Library and “OCCUPY MY SCHOOL” on the side of the freshly painted Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) seems to be regressing the movement almost to a state of self-parody. Spray paint against a wall, see what sticks.

Activism on campus never felt more like a well-executed play without a climax than during the Hahn Student Services occupation in November. Early in the day, students listened to the teleconferenced regents’ meeting on a laptop. Applause broke out periodically during the public comment portion, but as soon as the regents started speaking, someone snapped the laptop shut — a gesture full of great theatricality, but a disappointment to anyone hoping to learn something about the UC’s future.

How surely history repeats itself. In her 1979 book “The White Album,” essayist Joan Didion writes about her impressions of student activism at San Francisco State University in the 1960s:

“As I walked across the campus that day and on later days the entire San Francisco State dilemma — the gradual politicization, the ‘issues’ here and there, the obligatory ‘Fifteen Demands,’ the continual arousal of the police and the outraged citizenry — seemed increasingly off-key, an instance of the enfants terribles and the Board of Trustees unconsciously collaborating on a wishful fantasy (Revolution on Campus) and playing it out for the six o’clock news.”

That “unconscious collaboration” Didion writes of has been palpable in the UC system for quite a while now. The regents have scheduled and canceled and rescheduled meetings and visits, playing the part of tone-deaf
bureaucrats. Students responded in kind. As appalling as the now-infamous footage of a campus police officer pepper-spraying UC Davis students last year is, it ultimately proved to be a favor to the student activist movement, fueling its fire and lending it many new supporters, at least temporarily. At the end of the day, none of this amounted to much. Until now.

In a cringe-worthy twist, the regents are organizing their own rally. The May regents’ meeting will be held in Sacramento, with one full day dedicated to rallying at the Capitol in an attempt to pressure the California government into giving the UC more money. Never mind that the growth in tuition does not at all mirror the decline in public funding, nor that there are over 3,000 people in the UC system who make over $200,000, nor that the UC chooses to keep spending money on construction projects over education — UC president Yudof and his cohorts are mad as hell, and apparently they’re not going to take it anymore.

The UC student regents are already trying to involve students in this rally, and it will be interesting, to say the least, to see who shows up. What’s even more interesting at this point is the farcical nature the UC’s decline has taken on. The May rally is a brilliant piece of political theater — deflect, deflect, deflect — but it also symbolizes a sort of throwing in the towel on the regents’ part. Anything they do is going to infuriate the student body at this point, so why not go out on a limb and try to redirect our wrath?

Which brings us back to “FUCK TUITION.” As much as I want to reprimand our more activism-inclined peers for their sloppiness, I cannot in good faith write a piece putting them in the same category as the regents.The UC student movement is flawed and often too predictable, but they have something the regents do not — the best interest of the students at heart. I hope there’s a huge turnout out in Sacramento in May, and that they’re all carrying signs that say “FUCK THE REGENTS.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A Rally of Their Own

Photo by Auralee Walmer

With only seconds remaining on the clock, Slug supporters were on their feet cheering the UC Santa Cruz men’s basketball team, which was on the verge of victory. Toward the end of the game, the Slugs held their breath as the Chapman team approached the free throw line with a chance to tie the score. As the ball hit the rim and ricocheted away from the basket, the Slugs clinched the win, prevailing in a low-scoring battle.

On Jan. 20, the UCSC men’s basketball team edged out a win in a 44-43 nail-biter against rival Chapman University, supported by a packed crowd. The win improved the Slugs’ record to nine wins and nine losses for the year, with a 4-4 record versus Division III teams.

Senior UCSC guard Sam Allen said the key to the win was a group effort, with everyone fighting for their teammates.

“This was a great team win,” Allen said. “Everyone did their part. There was no selfishness, there were no egos. We were playing as a team.”

Head coach Gordon Johnson said he was pleased with the win.

“Overall, we did a great job,” Johnson said. “I’m elated right now. This is a great win. Chapman is our nemesis, so it feels good to come away with a victory.”

This is a significant upset, as Chapman finished last year at No. 4 in the west region. The Slugs ended Chapman’s six-game winning streak on Friday. Chapman University had not lost since Dec. 10.

Though the team won, Coach Johnson still sees room for improvement.

“There are still things we need to get much better at, particularly our shooting,” he said.

Senior forward Brent Jacobs led the team with 11 points total, shooting only four for 11 from the field. Together, the two teams made only 31 shots of 89 attempts.

The Slugs are looking to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championships, which begins on March 1. The tournament culminates in the Final Four held in Virginia, from March 16-17.

Senior guard Nathan Mohri said confidence will be a key factor in the team’s success.

“We have to go through the rest of the season believing we can win every game,” he said.

Senior guard Sam Allen said the Slugs need to carry the momentum of their win over Chapman into their final seven games of the season.

“From here on, we need to build on this win to push us through the year,” he said. “We need to put together a winning streak to have a shot at getting into Nationals.”

The Slugs will play Pacifica College on Jan. 27 at 6 p.m., and UC Merced at home on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Slugs End Chapman’s Streak

Illustration by Amanda Alten

As students and their families struggle to pay ever-increasing tuition costs, UC executives watch their wallets bloat. While university executives are granting themselves and their peers larger paychecks, students are pouring money into a system that cannot even guarantee them access to classes, professors and teaching assistants.

But a new piece of legislation, authored by California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), aims to address such financial irresponsibility by restricting UC and CSU executives from receiving pay increases in years of tuition hikes or state budget cuts.

Such legislation could not have come at a more appropriate time — 12 UC administrators and attorneys received salary increases in December, ranging from 6.4 percent to 23 percent — but it is only a glimmer of hope.

While CSU executives would legally be bound by the bill if it passed, the UC would not be forced to comply, according to reports from The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s student-run paper. The UC is outside the control of the state legislator, so the bill serves as more of a suggestion than a rule.

Respecting the UC’s autonomy — because this isn’t a question of whether or not the UC should be autonomous, though Yee has previously attempted to bring the system under the state legislature — it is nonetheless important that the UC follow the guidelines laid out by the bill if it is passed into law.

This is a question of fairness: Is it fair that students watch the accessibility and diversity of their education dwindle while executives grant themselves unnecessary (and arguably undeserved) compensation?

December’s salary increases have been justified by the regents.

“UC President Mark G. Yudof and other UC leaders defended the raises, saying even during an economic crisis the 10-campus university system with 180,000 employees needs to retain and recruit top staff and faculty,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

But such an argument seems arbitrary when students do not even have access to such “top staff and faculty” because they cannot enroll in their already overcrowded classes. Furthermore, when UC representatives necessitate pay increases to continue recruiting such grade-A faculty and staff, they indirectly spin such decisions as ones made for the good of the student body.

It is hard to understand how executives’ already engorged pay will benefit the students, many of whom work multiple jobs just to scrape by while attending university.

If Leland’s bill passes, executives at the UC should adhere to its guidelines and prioritize students — and prioritize them in a way that doesn’t manifest itself in growing six-figure salaries.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Do the Right Thing: Considering Budget Realities

Illustration by Christine Hipp

Between the 32 percent fee hike in 2009 and the annual ritual of slashing curricula, there’s been plenty for UC students to be upset about. What does it mean when every UC Board of Regents meeting for the last decade has been met with the hoarse cries of an ignored student body?

The Occupy movement that swept the the nation last fall was a similar catalyst for mobilization. An uproarious — and more importantly, awakened — student body discovered just how far the UC administration was willing to go to keep its status quo in check. Helping hands were cuffed, defiant faces were pepper-sprayed, and a number of students were hospitalized. The administration’s message was clear: Where there’s a will, there won’t be any way but theirs.

But the attempts of the UC to regulate students who would defy them are patently inane. We cannot be rounded up and pushed along like rats in a maze.

The most recent effort to suppress student voice manifested itself at the UC Riverside campus in December. In response to student protests, the dean of UCR handed down guidelines for demonstration. This slap to the collective student face was met with outrage.  Overlooking clear violations of First Amendment rights, the protocol was demeaning to students, and treated them like children.

To be in compliance with those guidelines, UCR student demonstrators would need faculty chaperones, they could not carry stick-borne signs, and designated protesting areas were strictly enforced. While the UCR dean was swift in removing these guidelines in response to public outcry, the post in its original form is still available for view on a Say No to UCR Protest Guidelines online petition.

The dean’s response has been to form a task force on assembly guidelines. Yet the task force, composed mostly of administration officials, has proven to be a less-than-welcome response. In their first meeting, task force member Stephen Lee’s comments belittled student protesters.

“In a sense, administrators closely resemble the role of parents while students closely resemble the role of children,” Lee said.

UCR is not alone. UCLA, UC Berkeley and other UC campuses have similar policies in place barring students from disrupting the day-to-day affairs of their respective campuses. While one UC Davis fact sheet on protests refers to such activity as “the lifeblood of a successful university community,” the strict enforcement of UC policies has made it clear that business-as-usual comes first.

UC students are not children. They are old enough to choose to bury themselves in student loan debt, and they are old enough to express their opinions without hand-holding guidelines. In fact, there is one childhood lesson administrators themselves could stand to learn: Treat others as you wish to be treated. In the future, administrators should show students the same respect they demand of us.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at We, the Students

Photo by Morgan Grana.

UC President Mark Yudof has announced that all UC campuses will become smoke-free by January 2014. In a letter released Jan. 9 to all UC chancellors, Yudof outlined a plan giving each campus two years to enact a strategy to ensure a smoke-free environment by the 2014 deadline.

According to a press release from the UC Office of the President (UCOP), the ban will prohibit the use of tobacco products on campus, which will include parking lots. The ban will also prohibit the sale and advertisement of tobacco products by campus vendors.

“Smoking is the leading cause of preventable and premature death,” said Grace Crickette, UC chief risk officer in the UCOP press release. “Making all of our campuses smoke-free provides a healthy environment for our students, faculty, staff, patients and visitors. It is the right thing to do.”

In the letter released to UC chancellors, Yudof said individual campus committees would be responsible for implementing the smoking ban. UC Santa Cruz has yet to determine its course of action.

“At this point in time, we have not yet developed a process for implementing this by the January 2014 deadline,” said Jim Burns, UCSC public affairs correspondent. “But we expect to do so soon.”

UCSC implemented smoking restrictions in 1997, but their current scope is minimal compared to the proposed 2014 ban.

“This is obviously more rigid than our current policies,” Burns said.

Under the smoking regulations in effect at UCSC since 1990, the sale of tobacco products by campus vending machines or establishments is banned. Smoking is also banned in all buildings on campus, within 25 feet of windows and doorways, and on all campus shuttles and transportation.

A 1996 status report from the university called compliance with the regulations “sporadic,” and noted a student with multiple chemical sensitivities had filed an informal grievance against the campus under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“The student was suffering serious physical effects from walking through groups of smokers to get to classes,” according to the 1996 report, signed by ADA compliance officer Susan Willats. “The basis of the grievance was that UCSC is not enforcing its own smoking policy.”

The ban has been met with mixed reviews. The 2010 proposal cites several studies finding university students largely in support of similar bans, while other individuals and some publications say the new policy oversteps boundaries.

“You’d have to take a bus [to smoke off-campus],” said third-year Sean McGowen when asked for the previous issue of City on a Hill Press what he thinks of the ban. “I don’t think it’s fair. It’s an imposition on our liberties and freedoms … it won’t stop smoking on campus. Especially for the students who live on campus — they’re 18, they have rights.”

Nearly 585 colleges and universities nationwide have active campus smoking bans. Studies cited in the 2011 Smoke-Free Policy Proposal find the number of students and UC employees below national averages, at 8 and 10 percent, respectively. Still, tension remains while some students — like McGowen — oppose an all-out ban.

“It all comes down to liberties,” McGowen said. “We pay to come to this school. I’m a 27-year-old student and I deserve freedom of choice at the very least.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at UC Campuses to be Smoke Free by 2014

City on a Hill Press: Is being a student athlete a big commitment for you?

Contreras: Yeah, it’s a big commitment. Being a college athlete is very demanding. But in the end, if it’s your passion, it’s all worth it. It’s fun being surrounded by people who share similar goals and interests with you. I love all my teammates and coaches. We all support each other. We train hard and race hard. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

CHP: How do you balance your team and school?

Contreras: Runners are athletes, even when not at practice. We have to sleep early, wake up early, do school, practice, race, every day until the season is over. Even when the season is over, we have to train. I think being an athlete makes me more disciplined as a student. We race almost every weekend and have to get our stuff done. There is a lot of sacrifice involved. We can’t always go out and do things normal college students would do.

CHP: Did any of your fellow runners surprise you with their performance?

Contreras: I’m not surprised with what my teammates can do. They run hard and run well. I’m particularly proud of the freshmen on the team. They did very well and had a good season, and can only improve from here. Two of our runners, Mimi Petersen and Lauren Carlton, had spectacular performances at regionals and placed top 35 in the west region. As for the guys, I think they really showed other teams they are serious and ready to compete … They will only continue to show the competition what they’ve got.

CHP: What are you doing to prepare for next season?

Contreras: I want a faster time. To get faster next year, I will have to allow myself to save my mental energy for the race and not spend it all at practice. Most importantly, I need to stay confident and rest more. I will be a senior next year and I will train my best to make my season count, and hopefully make it to regionals with the top seven girls.

CHP: How much do you train per week?

Contreras: I train 12-15 hours a week. One or two hours, six days each week.

CHP: Does UCSC support the team?

Contreras: UCSC tries its best to support us, but since we don’t have as many resources as Division I schools, we have to just do the best we can with fundraising, and use the voices of our athlete representatives [to] push for more resources and opportunities. I think the student body is becoming more aware of the sports teams UCSC has. Everybody can always use some more school spirit.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Q&A: Cross Country Slug

Illustration by Leigh Douglas

A thinktank of students at UC Riverside have taken on the perennial problem of tuition hikes with a revolutionary funding model.

Released to the public on Jan. 10, FixUC’s Student Investment Proposal outlines a tuition plan under which students would no longer pay up-front tuition costs. Rather, upon entering a career, graduates would instead pay 5 percent of their annual salary to the university for a total of 20 years.

According to the FixUC website, this will generate “nearly three times” the revenue of the current tuition system, and “allow the University of California to reduce its dependency on unreliable state funding.”

Drafting began last April, when editorial board members of UCR’s student-run newspaper The Highlander decided they had had enough of the consequences of California’s budget crisis.

“Every week, we published an editorial [about the state cutting from UC ] … we called on the regents and the student body to change their response strategy,” said FixUC president Chris LoCascio. “Ultimately, it got to a point where we ended up meeting one to two times a week to brainstorm and come up with a plan ourselves.”

The proposal was initially kept under wraps to prevent premature criticism.

“Once we had the core ideas, we essentially poked holes in it, and kept thinking about how it wouldn’t work,” LoCascio said. “We spent a lot of time coming [up] with solutions for [the complexities].”

Although the group initially didn’t present the plan to the general UC Riverside student body, the group approached several administrators and professors for input, and pursued research of their own.

Alex Abelson, a FixUC Data analyst and fourth-year economics major, obtained statistics from UC, IRS and U.S. Department of Labor records, and used some of his own field data.

“I took the core idea of [a fixed-percentage graduate contribution] and found the numbers,” Abelson said. “I went through what the university was making, and what would be a reliable amount of contribution that would sustain the university.”

Erik Green, UCR’s Graduate Student Association president, said he supports the group’s methodology.

“’I’m really encouraged to see a truly radical funding model,” Green said. “Rather than the system we have now, which is based on the assumption that students will graduate and get jobs … It moves towards actual statistics and data.”

Repeatedly referencing a “worst-case scenario,” the proposal assumes a mere 60 percent employment rate at $50,000 annual salary for the first 10 years of employment.

“If you look closely at our figures, you will see we were very conservative,” LoCascio said.

Stephen Lee, Riverside’s Associate Student Body president, teamed up with FixUC in the fall to help with outreach. He arranged a meeting with Chancellor Timothy P. White, and has contacted the student leadership of other campuses. All, he said, have been very encouraging and have urged them to “keep going.”

“I can’t say I support every detail in the proposal,” said UC student regent Jonathan Stein in an email. “But it’s awesome that students have begun to think outside the box about budget solutions at the UC, and have stopped waiting for the administration to come up with all the answers for them.”

The proposal has already met scrutiny and skepticism, but its authors stress the importance of open dialogue and honest compromise.

“I think this is really the highest level of student that UC was created for,” Lee said, “to not only be very educated … but to really understand all of that knowledge, and stand up for it and fight.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A Proposal to FixUC

UC President Mark Yudof recently announced the UC’s plan to ban the use of tobacco products on all 10 UC campuses over the next two years, and although we recognize the obvious benefits of such a decision, it is ultimately neither feasible nor fair.

The second part of Yudof’s plan — to also ban the sale and advertisement of tobacco products on campus — deserves praise and should be enacted. UC Santa Cruz already implements this policy, as do several other UC campuses, and it makes sense that the university actively discourages students from smoking. But trying to prevent legal adults from using legal substances is going too far.

It would be a wonderful thing if everyone chose not to smoke on campus. The Santa Cruz air would be even more crisp, health risks would go down, and cigarette butts wouldn’t litter the forest and sidewalks. But we don’t live in an ideal world, and the fact is that for the foreseeable future, some portion of the student body and faculty are going to smoke cigarettes. To assume that they will not smoke on campus — where they’re not only attending classes, but also socializing, working out, eating and often living — is a bit too hopeful. Making this a reality would be especially difficult in Santa Cruz, where the terrain makes it impossible to simply step off campus for a quick smoke in between classes.

To gauge the potential efficacy of a smoking ban on campus, just take a moment to consider how often people engage in using other illicit substances on campus and aren’t caught. Would banning cigarettes really make people stop using them — or would it only cause them to light up inside a dorm room or bathroom, where it would be more hazardous?

A better strategy the university could use would be to better mark and regulate smoking and no-smoking zones on campus. They exist now, but few consequences meet those who bend the rules beyond being told to put out the cigarette. Since TAPS has recently beefed up its parking surveillance, perhaps tickets could also be given for those who don’t comply with smoking rules. Under Assembly Bill 795, signed by by Gov. Brown in November 2011, the UC has the right to to enforce state, local and system-wide smoking and tobacco laws, regulations and policies by issuing fines. Enforcing regulations would achieve the same goal of cutting down the risk of secondhand smoke, but in a more cooperative way.

College students are notorious for two things — experimenting and bending the rules. As the Los Angeles Times pointed out, binge drinking is still a huge problem on college campuses. Only 8 percent of UC students smoke cigarettes, but some studies cite as many as half of all college students as binge drinkers. Keeping that in mind, perhaps it would be best for Yudof to more wisely pick his battles.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Ash in Yudof’s Plan

(from left to right, top to bottom)

 “Well I don’t smoke [cigarettes], so it doesn’t affect me, but my friends who do smoke are upset. I think people will smoke anyways — secretly … Weed is banned on campus and people smoke that all the time.”

Brittany Hopkins
Merrill, fourth-year
psychology

 “When you walk through Kresge, there is always somebody smoking because it’s really no big deal. If they ban [tobacco], though, people will be more upset than happy. I feel like students will protest — especially here.”

 Roxanne Kaplan
Kresge, first-year
undeclared

 “Well, that won’t fly well. I don’t smoke, but I believe people have a right to do so. It’s bad for your health, and I love my lungs. But if people want to destroy their lungs, they have a right to. It’s a stupid rule and it won’t fly.”

Daniel Hoisch
Porter, first-year
proposed literature

  “I don’t smoke, so I have no disposition to approve and it’s not a problem for me. [But] it’s not effective to tell people what they can and can’t do. They’ll take it down. There will be too many complaints and there is such a large [smoking] population. Time will tell.”

Ivan Quintero
Crown, fourth-year
chemistry

 “A lot of bio majors are going to be pulling their hair out around finals time. I mean, you hear students offering $1 for a cigarette all the time around finals. It’s not good for your health, but we’re lucky to have such an open campus where there is plenty of space. Students now can barely make it through an hour and 45-minute class without smoking. They just can’t wait to get their fix. It’ll be pretty bad for those students who are addicted, but a lot of students start smoking their first year, so for future classes as long as you don’t start — because you can’t start — that will be good for you.”

 Keri Kekkonen
Merrill, fourth-year
neuroscience

 “At a [junior college] in San Diego, the students voted [on a no-tobacco policy], and it still went through. But that campus is small and it’s not a big deal to just step off [campus]. Here, you’d have to take a bus. I don’t think it’s fair. It’s an imposition on our liberties and freedoms. I don’t think it will be effective at all. Rating its effectiveness will be a matter of ticketing students — they may make some money, but that won’t stop smoking on campus. Especially for the students who live on campus — they’re 18, they have rights. It all comes down to liberties. We pay to come to this school. I’m a 27-year-old student and I deserve freedom of choice at the very least. If [the UCs] want to corral me and smokers into a little smoking area, I can accept that. The current rule is no smoking within 20 feet of any doors or windows, and I don’t mind that. I’m a courteous smoker, I don’t smoke around children or people eating — it’s just a courtesy issue. Smokers are aware of this and they know how it affects the people around them. Most smokers don’t like littering and will use an ashtray to dispose their butts. If [the UCs] remove the ashtrays, what choice do we have? I can’t carry a butt with me into class. The policy won’t change people — people will continue to smoke.”

 Sean McGowen
Kresge, third-year
art and economics

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Public Discourse

I was experimenting with living out of California, feeling the rush of an inter-city internship and then the equally terrifying rush of learning a school system in a different country. I experimented with lifestyle choices, some pretty gross Irish-vegetarian cuisine — that thank goodness did not include the blood sausage my friends ate on several occasions — and plenty of beer. Oh my gosh so much beer. But at least it was vegetarian, as my overly zealous nighttime drinking crew often reminded me.

So, obviously, an experimental dinner was in order. I didn’t look at any of the 100+ recipes that I had saved to my laptop since last summer, though I have been waiting for a chance to try them. Instead I searched my brain, which I should say is supplemented with quite an extensive knowledge of food, all learned from the Food Network. With that I came up with something I might not have otherwise made. But I was so glad I did.

It was a Panini with an assortment of vegetables that somehow came together: avocado, eggplant, spinach, garlic and shallot, as well as a heavy heaping of vegan butter-spread. I put the eggplant on the Panini-maker first to cook it through, and then fried the spinach with the shallot, garlic and vegan spread. I layered the avocado and eggplant onto the bread, and then topped it with the cooked spinach and threw it back onto the Panini-maker. There was even some cooked spinach left over to use as a side.

The results sent tingles down my spine. I’m convinced that humans do not have a sufficient vocabulary to put into writing the feeling you get when eating caramelized shallot. Besides the taste though, this 100 percent vegan meal is completely healthy for you. Goodness knows I need a healthy diet after three months of drinking beer for dinner. (I did STUDY abroad by the way.)

Spinach is a huge power food, as well as eggplant, so using those two ingredients together with the soft, lush avocado creates a combination of flavors your taste buds will rejoice at, and your body will thank you for later. That is especially true if you are lacking iron or Vitamin A, which are supplemented by the spinach, or fiber, which is supplemented by the eggplant at almost no expense to your calorie-count.

But these are definitely not the only foods you should be on the look out for at the nearest farmers market or grocery store. It’s also a great idea to buy in-season vegetables and use them as an excuse to learn how to properly cook them. That’s one way to greatly expand your cooking skills, and believe me, winter vegetables are nothing to be scoffed at. And as always, this is a great way to get to know where your food comes from and who grows it.

So, go experiment! Try the Santa Cruz farmers market this week and buy something completely out of your comfort zone, or simply walk into a grocery store without a menu planned. You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll probably surprise yourself!

Farmer’s Markets are Wednesdays downtown (the corner of Lincoln and Cedar streets) and Saturdays on the Westside (2801 Mission St.)

Recipe:

Two slices sourdough bread

One eggplant, three slices

One avocado, sliced

One bag spinach

One shallot

One garlic-clove

Two tablespoons vegan buttery-spread

Grill the eggplant slices for two minutes, then lay on sourdough bread with avocado slices. Fry the shallot, garlic-clove and vegan buttery-spread until shallot is translucent, then add in a quarter of the bag of spinach. When cooked thoroughly, remove from heat and add a layer of spinach on top of the avocado slices. Put the sandwich in a Panini-maker for two minutes until golden brown. Serve with extra cooked spinach as a side.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Gastronomy

The Red Cross Battle of the Badges brought Santa Cruz Police and the Fire Department out to donate blood in a big way. With the help of other community members the blood drive surpassed its goal of 40 donations'-worth of blood. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Forty-six units of blood were donated in Santa Cruz’s first ever Red Cross Battle of the Badges blood drive, six more than the Red Cross’ original 40-unit goal. The competition, held between the city’s police and fire departments, took place in the Freight House at Depot Park on Saturday, Jan. 14.

The departments and various members of the Santa Cruz public turned out to donate blood for the cause. The fire department won both awards against the police department, the first for most recruited 22-21, and the second for most employees present at the drive 5-3.

Sgt. Michael Harms, police officer with the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) Community Services Division, helped with the organization of the drive. Harms said holding the drive in the beginning of the year was important.

“This time of the year blood banks are historically low, right after holidays,” he said. “We wanted to bring more awareness to blood drives with the battle.”

Harms coordinated the event with Patti Childress, account manager at the Red Cross Northern California Blood Services Region, and Rob Oatey, president of Santa Cruz Fire Fighters Association Local 1716. The planning began between four and five months prior to Saturday.

Community blood drives on a smaller scale happen much more frequently, said Mary Woodill, a Red Cross Volunteer Coordinator who helped manage volunteer participation at the event.

Usually the goals for community blood drives are lower than the standard used at the Battle of the Badges blood drive, Woodill said. The goal for the Battle of the Badges drive was an ambitious 40 units, and by the end of the day that goal was surpassed at 46 units. One unit can save up to three lives.

However, Woodill said, sometimes not enough blood is gathered for the region to sustain its hospitals’ needs.

“Four hundred and fifty units are needed in our region daily,” Woodill said. “When we can’t get that, we sometimes purchase units from Stanford or other areas with a surplus. When we have a surplus, we export our units. Not one unit is wasted.”

Childress said while the Battle of the Badges blood drive is a first for Santa Cruz, the Red Cross in Southern California has been doing it for years. She said she hopes it will become a yearly event in Santa Cruz as well.

“It was a huge success,” Childress said. “We were really excited about that. This was our first time doing it, so it was really exciting for us to have it not just happen, but happen well.”

Childress said she the idea of organizing the Battle of the Badges drive in Santa Cruz was in the back of her mind for two years. She finally made contact with Harms last year, and Harms was on board as well.

“Once you get the right people involved who really want to make it happen then it’s just getting all the logistics down, and everything falls into place,” Childress said. “It was just perfect. You couldn’t have asked for better.”

Childress said the hardest part of any blood drive is getting the location. Typically, the location has to be secured three months prior to the event.

This can make coordinating with UC Santa Cruz in the organization of blood drives difficult, because students who organize a drive would have to approach the Red Cross a full quarter before the event would be held. Childress said her personal goal would be to have a blood drive scheduled at UCSC every month.

Richard Smith, owner of auto repair shop Santa Cruz Motorsports Inc., participated in the Battle of the Badges blood drive on Saturday.

“For four years, I’ve had my blood drawn probably hundreds of times, but I’ve never donated before,” Smith said. “I figured if I could have blood drawn and not pass out, I could deal with it.”

Smith said he was also donating blood for personal reasons.

“[California Shock Trauma Air Rescue] helped save my life four years ago,” Smith said. California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CalSTAR) is a nonprofit regional air ambulance service. “I had a traumatic brain injury and it was because of [a flight nurse with CalSTAR] that I decided to do this. [Donating blood] just seemed like an ideal thing to do.”

 The next scheduled Red Cross blood drive is scheduled for Jan. 26, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Health Services Agency and Public Health Department in Santa Cruz County.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Police and Fire Department Face Off in Blood Drive

Illustration by Jamie Morton

With 40,000 undergraduate applicants for the upcoming fall quarter, UC Santa Cruz broke its own application records and saw a 17.2 percent increase in freshman applications. UCSC is now second only to UCLA in application figures.

The diversity of applicants to UCSC also rose sharply, with wide variances in socioeconomic background, ethnicity, and country of origin. African-American, Chicano and Asian-American applications rose 17 percent, 22.3 percent, and 15.6 percent, respectively.

“UCSC is committed to attracting, admitting and enrolling students who are truly reflective of the diversity of the state of California,” said UCSC director of admissions Michael McCawley in a Jan. 12 press release.

SUA chair Amanda Buchanan said this speaks to the efficacy of UCSC’s outreach programs.

“An applicant profile like this goes to show how important our Student-Initiated Outreach programs are,” Buchanan said. “Specifically, Destination Higher Education, Orale and A Step Forward did amazing work this past spring in bringing in students from African-American, Chicano and Asian-American communities to see what life is like on our campus.”

Buchanan has some reservations about the campus’s shaky financial situation and how it will affect these new students.

“As we present opportunities to our students, we need to make sure that the campus is prepared to offer any resources they may need,” Buchanan said. “This becomes increasingly difficult in times of budget reductions. We need to make it clear to campus administration that prioritizing the needs of students outside of academics is equally as important for retention and quality.”

The university needs to preserve institutions that serve students from varying backgrounds, she said.

“Our Ethnic Resource Centers need to be reinvested in to preserve the amazing work that they do,” she said.

Applications from Chicano and Latino students amounted to 29.6 percent of the total, bringing UCSC closer to being a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). To be considered a Hispanic Serving Institution, the university’s undergraduate population must be at least 25 percent Latino. This designation provides schools with grants and support services.

“It’s a source of revenue that would be very, very helpful,” said Patricia Zavella, professor of Latin American and Latino studies (LALS) and department chair, about the HIS distinction, in a 2011 interview.

Jonathan Fox, department chair of UCSC’s Latin American and Latino studies program, said these statistics demonstrate the success of campus admissions policy.

“In fall 2005, 75 percent of incoming frosh came from households where only English was spoken,” he said. “In fall 2011, only 54 percent of UCSC frosh came from households where only English was spoken. These changes were not driven by demographics alone. Our campus admissions policies take into account a wide range of indicators for understanding students’ achievement and potential.”

In addition, out-of-state and international student applications saw similar spikes, both in numbers and percentage. McCawley said UCSC’s recent recognition by Times Higher Education as a world-class research school is at least partially responsible for this jump.

“Recognitions like these speak to students around the world about the important role our faculty play on an international stage,” McCawley said in reference to UCSC’s current ranking as third-best worldwide in terms of research impact, behind only MIT and Princeton.

With all of these numbers in mind, one thing may be true: This fall, UCSC may begin to reflect the diversity of its home state even more.

“Our student body is looking more like California,” Fox said.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Fall Applicants Break Records

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band: “Bat Chain Puller,” Jan. 15

Illustrations by Jamie Morton.

Some die-hard fans of Captain Beefheart, a cult experimental rock musician from the 1970s, have probably already heard the frequently bootlegged album “Bat Chain Puller.” But the fact that this album will be officially released 36 years after its planned release date is worth a mention. The album is due to release on the birthday of Don Van Vliet (also known as Captain Beefheart, who died in December 2010). The album is sure to prove a treat for those who have been awaiting it patiently, for this release will be properly mixed (unlike its predecessors) by members of Captain Beefheart’s accompanying ensemble, The Magic Band. This serves as a kind of poetic justice, seeing as the album’s release was delayed by disagreements between producers. Although Captain Beefheart isn’t what one might describe as “casual listening,” anyone with as experimental and open a mind as the master himself will undoubtedly enjoy his free and poetic approach to music.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Air: “Le Voyage dans la Lune,” Feb. 7

With music as light and ambient as the band’s name itself, Air’s new album “Le Voyage dans la Lune” resembles a trippy medley of funk, acid rock, psychedelic and electronic. The French duo originally premiered this collection as a score for Georges Melies’ 1902 silent film, “A Trip to the Moon.” The process of creating the 10-minute-long film score produced enough extra material for a full-length album to be released. If you like what you hear, check out the silent film as well — the two go hand in hand. This album will be a good one for those long hours of winter, and a lovely, white-noise-type background music for studying purposes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Listen to the new song here.
Phenomenal Handclap Band: “Form and Control,” Feb. 14

“Regurgitated psyched out dustbowl funk” is how the Phenomenal Handclap Band has been described in the past. Their new album “Form and Control” will be released on Valentine’s Day this year. Their already-released single “Following” has had a warm welcome in the music world, with sounds reminiscent of a combination between Chic, Fern Kinney and the Human League. Writer and co-producer Sean Marquand dedicated this song to the “energy takeoff in the room” at “a truly great dance party.” You know when you feel this thing at a party, and you know everyone around you is feeling the same thing? That is what this song is for. I’m sure, as winter often calls for spontaneous bedroom dance parties, we can all relate.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Winter Music Guide—New Tunes For the New Quarter