Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

It’s been just over 100 days since America started breathing again.

In fact, we’ve been holding our breath for a while now. From the moment the towers came crumbling down in 2001, we held our breath in jolted anticipation,wondering what the following months would bring. When the continuing war with Iraq gave way to a further and further end date, we held our breath with unhealthy, yet unwavering, patriotism. 

And when Barack Obama burst onto the scene, invigorating our sense of hope and the possibility for change, we held our breath wondering whether he could meet our expectations and desperation for a new leader. 

On April 29, he passed the 100-day mark that has seen prior presidents either rise to the occasion (claps all around, FDR) or fall into a premature political abyss (here’s looking at you, JFK). And while the American people breathe a sigh of relief, the Obama press machine has been working in hyperdrive, regardless of whether the administration is taking notice. 

Obama has been fulfilling much of what he initially promised. And he’s been doing it with the same overarching ease and contemplative cool that had the public and the press initially write him off as some sort of naïve political hotshot — one trying desperately to stay afloat in the pool of popularity that was Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, seemingly backed with more experience and, most importantly, more money. 

But now here we are, one year after the initial interest and 100 days after the actual inauguration. That those same news outlets are now beside themselves with pride for their country and over-the-top praise for their leader seems to be more a comment on the fading news industry, desperately plugging its primary stock as much as it can. After all, nobody can sell a magazine or newspaper like America’s — scratch that — the world’s — biggest celebrity. 

Even Michelle Obama, whose patriotism was once questioned in the wake of her comments about feeling “proud of [her] country for the first time,” is now seeing higher approval ratings than her own husband. Her intelligence! Her class! Her plastic J-Crew belt! This woman can do no wrong.

(I, however, beg to differ. A see-through belt does no good for anyone.) 

As of now, the most important change Obama has made is restoring our nation’s faith in its politicians and in itself, which in a post-Bush era is no easy feat. His strongest naysayers balk at his bevy of tasks, citing it as too much too soon. 

Yet that ambition, that desire to delve into these disasters immediately, is not only invigorating our country’s spirit, but proving to his greatest skeptics that their concerns about him — he’s too timid, too inexperienced, too wishy-washy — are the hurdles he is least concerned about. 

But even 100 days in, even with a new-wave politician like Obama, the constant flow of praise still seems freakishly premature. From the Middle East to the middle of Wall Street, both locations could damper whatever inspirational high the 100-day celebration is supposed to give us. Both could lead toward ideological and economic annihilation. Obama has yet to gain control of either. 

But most of all, what the 100-day mark has truly punctuated is the collapse of the Republican Party, a juxtaposition that Obama and his administration actually require. We may love Obama, but that doesn’t mean we’ve truly fallen for the Democrats.

Sure, you’d be hard-pressed to find a 20-something in present-day America who doesn’t align himself with at least some componant of liberal ideology, but much of that is probably grounded in an “anything but the Republicans” outlook rather than an actual agreement over Democratic policies.

When our previous administration was in office, committing numerous domestic and global atrocities, it was the Democrats who sat in Congress, twiddling their thumbs until the next “green” bill came in. Maintaining your neutrality in times of moral crisis doesn’t scream innocence. 

Republicans may have once controlled everything, but they seemingly accomplished very little. The Ronald Reagan disciples have seen their party crumble into a bull’s-eye of political discourse, all in an attempt to maintain their three upstanding beliefs: the cementing of a powerful defense, the preservation of traditional values and the belief in economic conservatism. 

But those credos don’t mean the same thing anymore. Not in an era when a “powerful defense” has led to pre-emptive wars and the torturing of innocent civilians. Not when “traditional values” leave no room for same-sex marriage or pro-choice policies. And “economic conservatism” is a comical phrase in the wake of our current financial meltdown. 

Republicans are fully aware that their only hope for political recovery would be Democratic failure, leaving Obama’s dependence on right-wing opposition in a catch-22. So now, as we face the next chapter of his presidency, let’s cease the celebration of his work thus far. We need to focus our attention on not only what has yet to be done, but also what the indirect consequences of his time in office have been so far.

But if the party that so recently ruled Washington can essentially go extinct in 100 days, you know he must be doing something right.

Several volleyball teams competed during the Intramural Games at the East Field House on Tuesday night. Photo by Morgan Grana.

“It’s not about whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game,” the old sports adage tells us, and the thousands of UC Santa Cruz students who participate in intramural athletics each year would likely agree. While they play with a competitive spirit, their main goal is to have fun with their friends.

Kevin “Skippy” Givens, who has supervised the intramural program for 21 years, said that “friendship through competition” is the motto of the program and that participation in intramurals can have long-reaching benefits.

“It’s designed to be a friendly competition amongst friends, and quite often what happens is that lifetime friendships are established as well as some of the fondest memories of college life,” Givens said.

Senior environmental studies major Casey Rummel, who is a captain for one of the intramural basketball teams and has also played intramural volleyball and soccer this year, said that the competitive spirit that comes with playing is also a plus.

“It’s cool to be able to play organized sports because you can go out and shoot around with your friends,” Rummel said, “but to actually compete adds a level of intensity to the games and makes it more fun for me and the people I play with.”

Sophomore Lauren Negrete, who is a lead official for intramurals, said that playing competitively is not the primary focus, however.

“While intramurals can definitely be competitive, it’s not like win or die,” Negrete said. “Sure you may lose, but it’s totally fine to put a team of your friends together [though] you have no experience and just go out there and mess around.”

Rummel said that while there is definitely a competitive drive in intramural sports, it does not compare to that of NCAA teams.

“Intramurals get competitive and people do care,” Rummel said, “but with NCAA you’re talking about scholarships and people practicing five to six days a week with their team, which is a whole other level of dedication.”

Senior environmental studies major Graham Wesolowski said he chose intramural soccer over the UCSC team because of the significant time commitment required of league teams.

“I played soccer in high school, but if you’re not willing to commit to a ton of practice there’s no real way to play competitive soccer besides being on the team or the club team,” Wesolowski said. “So [intramurals] seemed like a good level of investment for me.”

There are, however, drawbacks to the intramural program, particularly when it comes to officiating.

“The refs are a lot more nonchalant about the game,” Wesolowski said. “At times it seems like the refs don’t really care — it seems like they’re just trying to make their $6.50 an hour.”
Rummel said that in intramurals no one enforces the important rule in athletics that referees remain neutral.

“They can do whatever they want,” Rummel said, “and they take advantage of that sometimes.”

As a lead officiator, Negrete recognizes this concern.

“Intramurals is great, although we could have some better-trained officials, myself included,” Negrete said.

Intramurals board supervisor Givens acknowledged that there can be issues with referees sometimes, but said that completely fixing the problem is impossible due to a lack of funding.

“It’s always going to be a constant problem because we have limited resources, so to address that issue is going to be cost-prohibitive,” Givens said. “I’m not trying to marginalize it, but it’s so frustrating dealing with the university, and there are looming budget cuts, so there’s not much we can do.”

Despite these financial issues, UCSC’s intramurals program has had significant staying power since it was first introduced in the fall of 1966.

During that first year, there were a total of roughly 900 members on all  intramural teams, a number that more than doubled within five years. Last year the participation total was nearly 4,000, and Givens expects that number to grow even more this year with the reopening of the West Gym.

“We have close to 5,000 students participating this year,” Givens said, “which is a staggering number considering the resources made available to us.”
Rummel agreed that the  popularity of intramurals seems to be ever-increasing.

“I’ve just been involved in it this senior year,” Rummel said, “and from what I can tell, its popularity is growing, especially with A-leagues, because people are actually pretty good.”
Wesolowski attributes the appeal of intramurals to the “friendship through competition” motto of the program.

“You can lose every game and still have a good time,” Wesolowski said. “Which is a really cliché sports thing to say, but with intramurals it gets to be true.

UCSC water polo coach, Alan Cima. Photo by Rosario Serna.

Alan Cima has been the head coach of the UC Santa Cruz men’s water polo team and the co-head coach of the women’s team for the past nine years.

Despite his laid-back demeanor, a more careful look makes clear the strain Cima has endured, both personally and professionally, in the face of a dying UCSC water polo program. Though visibly agitated as he discussed OPERS management, Cima has worked hard to remain even-tempered and calm as he watches the program he loves fade away.

In his office, lined with the All-American certificates of past water polo players, Cima sat down with City on a Hill Press to discuss the negative consequences facing water polo and other UCSC athletics due to recent budget cuts.

City on a Hill Press: The pool has been in relatively bad condition all season, ending with its current closure. How has that affected the water polo teams?

Alan Cima: The pool deck is being rebuilt and the pool is being resurfaced, [but] that doesn’t really affect us that badly. Originally, the closing of the pool was supposed to happen earlier, so we couldn’t schedule any home games during that time.

And then with the program being dropped, we had no program during the normal scheduling season. We had to try and fit games into the schedules that all the other teams already had. Most people were more open to playing a second game only if we traveled to their home pool. Usually we have more teams that want to come here, but because of the scheduling timing it wasn’t true this year.

CHP: How does the current water polo program compare to the one you saw when you first started at UCSC nine years ago?

AC: Well, the water polo program has gone through three or four coaches in two or three years. Overall, the program from then till now has better athletes, more fit and more disciplined practices and certainly more success.

CHP: It seems that in the last couple of years the water polo program has been in danger of getting cut. How have the current budget cuts been directly affecting the water polo teams and coaches at UCSC?

AC: In terms of last year’s budget cuts, that is when OPERS management decided that they needed to cut the water polo program, but then it was reinstated for one year, which is this season. Clearly the budget cuts are impacting the whole OPERS department and so it’s impacted water polo in sort of a major way, with them eventually deciding to drop it.

CHP: Do you think that the cutting of water polo was mainly a question of money?

AC: Realistically, the year I got here water polo hardly got any money from the university anyway, though it’s improved through the years. After the announcement of the dropping of the program last year we raised about $75,000. When the reinstatement for one season was announced, we asked the donors if they still wanted to continue to donate. We ended up giving back about $20,000 because, as one donor put it, “Who wants to donate to a funeral?” In 10 years as a varsity program water polo has raised more than $400,000 in donations.

CHP: Through what outlets does the water polo program get most of these donations?

AC: Supporters in general. Alumni, parents who are part of the unofficial parent group, people that have played against us in years past. It varies.”

CHP: What is the reason behind OPERS management effectively ending the program from here on out?

AC: They’ve switched their story from ‘cost-cutting’ to ‘lack of infrastructure,’ which has yet to be defined. The parent group offered to raise money — $25,000 per year — to give to the athletics department to help pay for infrastructure for all sports, but that was refused.

CHP: What has been the response from other water polo programs, players and coaches regarding the end of UCSC water polo?

AC: Water polo in California is pretty big, but outside the state not so much. All the other UCs were worried, such as Cal and UCLA, to name a few.

CHP: What does the future for the UCSC men’s and women’s water polo programs look like?

AC: At this point, it looks fairly negative because they’re dropping the program. It was a decision that was made with inaccurate information.

CHP: What would your argument be to get OPERS management to bring UCSC water polo back?

AC: Well I think that if they look at California and serving the students that are here and the students coming up through high school, I think they’ll discover that they should bring back water polo because it’s sort of part of the mission of the UC. That mission has traditionally been to provide education, leadership and athletic opportunities to students. There are several hundred students that are here that want to play and every year there are 20,000 students who graduate high school in California that want to play.

Ronika Kalpage performs in order to publicize the multicultural Festival at the Quary Plaza. The multicultural festival will be on Sat, May 16th from 12-6pm in Oakes. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this Saturday, the 2009 Multicultural Festival (MCF) boasts a wide variety of cultural performances and ethnic cuisine.

Titled “Unity Under Changing Skies,” this year’s festival will focus on the growth within cultural communities. Additionally, the event will feature both traditional and contemporary performances, from Indian dancing to hip-hop, samba and much more.

Among the 18 participating groups are the Chinese Student Association, serving Boba tea, the Filipino Student Association, with hip-hop group Haluan, and the Indian Student Organization.

Adrian Dorris, a UC Santa Cruz alumnus and SOAR advisor who helped plan this year’s festival, hopes the program will create a multifaceted view of cultural groups on campus and beyond.

“Having both traditional and contemporary representations from different cultures distinguishes them from romanticized stereotypes,” Dorris said. “It shows that people have very complex cultural experiences.”

Third-year biology major Ronika Kalpage said that nothing was black and white about growing up Indian-American. A member of UCSC’s Indian Student Organization, Kalpage will be dancing with fellow club members at the festival. She said that participating in the club’s events, including the Multicultural Festival, opened her eyes to her own background.

“Growing up, I wasn’t really exposed to Indian culture outside my immediate family group,” Kalpage said. “I wasn’t classically trained in Indian dance, so I’m glad that we have things like the Indian Student Organization and the Multicultural Festival. They allowed me to learn and experience things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Kalpage’s performance will be on the traditional side, with the group dancing Bhangra, an Indian folk dance with ancient roots dating back to 2000 BCE.

“Cultures are constantly changing,” said Arpan Bajaj, a member of both the Indian Student Organization and MCF’s planning committee. “Most of the cultures outside the U.S. are much older. They started out very basic and old-fashioned, but they’re still around and are really coming into the world. Representing older and newer interpretations shows the growth that takes place within these communities.”

Diesel Tyne and Raul Flores perform in order to publicize the multicultural Festival at the Quary Plaza. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

SambaDa, a local Afro-Brazilian music group, will be headlining the MCF this year. Identifying themselves as a “samba-funk dance music” group with reggae, hip-hop and capoeira beats, members agreed that combining these different styles has made their work appeal to a wider audience.

“We use our exposure to old Brazilian traditions, but it’s more fun to put our own unique impression into it,” band member Marcel Menard said. “We’ve found that bringing in new musical ideas is more successful with Bay Area crowds. Even though we’re singing in Portuguese and people don’t always know what we’re saying, it still hits them hard. There’s some reggae in there or a funky back-beat that people can grab on to and relate to.”

A veteran Porter student, Menard’s interest in Brazilian music was sparked while studying fine arts at UCSC. Joining campus music circles and cultural dance classes offered at the East Field House created a foundation for Menard’s current musical career.

His experiences here still resonate with him, and he hopes to continue connecting with the university through music.

“It’s really important for us to perform up on campus,” Menard said. “We get a really warm reception from the older students that come to see us at clubs, but it’s essential that we connect with the under-21 crowd too. It’s nice when we can step into their university bubbles and share something with them. We’re overjoyed whenever we can play for UCSC students.”

Dorris hopes that SambaDa’s performance will help to create visibility for the group and invite a wider audience to campus. While MCF participants are excited for the headlining band, Dorris said that the event’s priorities lie in strengthening student organizations.

“So many of these campus communities are underrepresented, and the opportunities to express themselves can be very limited,” Dorris said. “We’re hoping to provide a lot of education and encouragement by bringing all these different organizations together to create this one great day.”

———-

The 30th annual Multicultural Festival will take place at the Oakes Lower Lawn this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.

Sheryl Vacca (left), University of California Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance and Audit Officer, talks to Regent Gould at the recent Regents meeting. Photo by Arianna Puopolo.

Regents Richard Blum, Leslie Schilling and Russell Gould sat under the fluorescent lights of the UC San Francisco community center at Mission Bay, conducting side conversations while the regents’ senior vice president and chief of compliance and audit directed the May 7 meeting. 

The office of the regents cited  swine flu as the cause for reorganizing the event, which was adapted from a three-day conference in San Diego to a six-hour teleconference.

Thanks to the change of plans, and despite the fact that a potential student fee increase was the topic of discussion, there were none of the protests that usually mark each of the six regent meetings held every year. 

One or two students at each of the dozen participating satellite sites took turns speaking during the public comment period. Although, in some cases, these students were separated by hundreds of miles, they were joined in solidarity against the proposed fee hikes. But even after listening to 35 minutes of students crying, begging and pleading, only four of the 26 regents voted against the increase. Beginning fall 2009, student fees will go up by 9.3 percent. 

Adam Brown, a second-year engineering major at UCLA, resented the likelihood that he would see many tangible benefits from the hikes.

“If we’re not going to see any return on [the fee hikes], it’s unfair,” he said. “We’re being taken advantage of.”

Lisa Chen, a fourth-year at UC San Diego, was aggravated by the regents’ lack of accessibility.

“I’ve never felt so silenced and so marginalized as I do right now,” she said through the teleconference speakers. 

Many of the students who participated in the public comment period condemned the “high-fee, high-aid” model that the regents seem to be subscribing to. In this model, they said, middle-income and undocumented students suffer the most.  

UC President Mark Yudof dismissed these claims, saying that the UC is far from a high-fee, high-aid model. He said the fiscal implications are intended to be minimal for students.

“You are exaggerating the impact,” Yudof said to those listening in from the other teleconference sites. “Everybody has a compelling case.  We just don’t have a lot of money.”

Andrea San Miguel is a fifth-year community studies major affiliated with College Ten. She joined the Coalition to Save Community Studies and was approved by SUA to attend the conference call in San Francisco as a whiteliner, someone who has permission from the office of the regents to have the same access privileges as a member of the press.

San Miguel approached Yudof after the meeting went into private session. She wanted to discuss program cuts at UC Santa Cruz, but said Yudof was unreceptive.

“I tried to speak with [Yudof] after the meeting, asking if he minded if I got a few more seconds with him, and he said yes, he did mind, [and] that our conversation was over,” she said. 

Lucero Chavez, UC Student Association (UCSA) president and second-year UC Berkeley Boalt Hall Law student, commiserated with the student body and promised the regents retaliation if the fee hike trend continues.

“I have a very high threshold on pain,” Chavez said. “But we’re reaching a breaking point.  As students, we’ve been really quiet this year and we don’t have to be.”

Chairman Blum responded to Chavez by saying, “Please just don’t come here and complain.”

Many of the regents extended their sympathy and regret to the students anticipating financial crises due to the fee hike and blamed the legislature, denying that there might be any other solution to the budget crisis.  

Retired attorney Eddie Island was one of four regents who voted against raising fees. 

“The continuous increase of student fees changes the fundamental principle of the university creating access and affordability,” Island said. “Every time the legislature says they’ve got other priorities, the regents respond by raising student fees. It’s time for us to turn to … a model that will guarantee the funding and security of the university.”

Island said that treating this year’s fee hike like an isolated incident is inaccurate and deceitful because similar hikes have happened in seven of the last eight years. The exception, he noted, was an election year.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi serves on the Board of Regents. He was one of the four to oppose the fee hike. Garamendi explained that his opposition reflects the respect with which he regards public education and what it can contribute to California.

“If we stay on the course we’re on with ever-higher fees, we will have lost one of the most important economic systems that can benefit this state,” Garamendi said. 

“The result of the vote to raise students’ fees will have a bigger impact on students than some of the regents and President Yudof are willing to admit to themselves,” UCSC student San Miguel said.  “Increasing financial aid does not necessarily neutralize the effect of higher fees, and it does have an impact on who applies and how hard high-school students attempt to get into four-year schools, as UCSA said in their presentation at the meeting.”

Illustration by Justin Martinez.

Slugs, food and rock ‘n’ roll.

These three words define UC Santa Cruz’s second annual day-long concert and fundraiser event, Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll.

The knoll of choice, a typically serene, grassy hill located behind Stevenson College, will house a mini music festival this Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., complete with about 10 local performers, pizza, DJ sets and face-painting.

Organized by students, with partial funding from Stevenson Housing, the event aims to bring UCSC students from all ends of campus together to celebrate a common interest in music in the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.

Second-year Ira Goldenring was one of the main coordinators of this year’s event.

“A bunch of us organized ourselves into a group to put together the show,” Goldenring said. “Personally, I dealt with booking bands, organizing set times, hanging posters up all around school, that sort of stuff.”

Although Goldenring did not organize the event last year, he and many others wish to recreate the benefit, making it bigger and better.

“It began in the spirit of charity,” Goldenring said. “Students wanted to give back to the community while organizing something that would be fun, free and local for the whole university.”

Second-year Paulie Dellamano helped Goldenring organize the event this year.

“It’s mainly supposed to be a local thing,” Dellamano said.

Last year’s event had a good turnout, with about 300 people attending over the course of the entire day.

“It was very impressive for a first run,” Goldenring said, “but we are trying to get two or three times the outcome of last year to come on Sunday.”

Dellamano discussed new plans to prepare for this year’s event.

“Last year was really last-minute, but this year has been planned out for a while,” Dellamano said.

Dellamano said  that although last year’s turnout was not as large as expected, and there could have been more donations, Stevenson Housing agreed to match the amount of money made.

Organizers expect a significant difference in the number of attendees this year, as a result of their increase in advertising and upgrade in entertainment.

Dellamano discussed the new additions to Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll for this year.

“[Stevenson Housing] paid for our whole sound system, which is gonna be legit, and money for food that we won’t be selling, but asking for donations [for].” Dellamano said.

Proceeds from these donations will go to the Santa Cruz Homeless Shelter.

“The concert is free but we are asking for a suggested donation of $5 to $10, which will help to feed and house dozens of people who really need it,” Goldenring said. “Just one dollar can give 30 people a hot meal.”

Dellamano also discussed the process of informing UCSC administration prior to the event.

“We had to notify the police department and CSOs because it’s going into the evening,” Dellamano said. “There’ll be pizza, drinks and probably some other activities going on as well.”
Goldenring also commented on the notification process.

“There’s a lot of paperwork,” Goldenring said. “You have to follow guidelines in a major events policy handbook.”

While following these guidelines, as well as keeping the event drug and alcohol-free, Goldenring expects things will run smoothly.

Regardless of the turnout or amount of money made, Goldenring’s goal is to promote community and cooperation.

“I think it is really cool that Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll is student-run and student-imagined,” Goldenring said. “Students had the idea, and students made it into a reality.”

Photo by Isaac Miller.

To many, rap and hip-hop lyrics might seem to speak of nothing more than women, sex, drugs and money. Those who performed at the Oakes Learning Center on May 12 sought to dispel such stereotypes.

Lyrical Union, a rap and hip-hop event, showcased a variety of performers including emcees, DJs, break dancers and graffiti artists. The event was presented by the Asian/Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APISA) and headlined by Magnetic North, a hip-hop duo hailing from New York City.

Consisting of Theresa Vu and Derek Kan, Magnetic North performed early on and supported the event’s theme of “Decolonizing hip-hop,” a message focused on disrupting stereotypes found throughout mainstream rap and hip-hop lyrics. 

Vu emphasized the importance of combating stereotypes applying directly to their Asian-American heritage.

 “This is something we can definitely get behind, being Asian-Americans in hip-hop,” she said. “The Asian stereotype clashes so much with the hip-hop stereotypes … you know, we’re seen as nerdy and quiet, where hip-hop is all posture and swagger. Combating stereotypes is something we do on a regular basis.”

 Crossed-out words such as “homophobia,” “misogyny” and “sexism” could be found along the perimeter of the learning center. Plastered on the walls was the phrase “What does hip-hop mean to you?,” a question that APISA wanted to keep attendees thinking about as they watched performers on stage.

“To me, hip-hop represents accessibility, especially for people who do not have anything else,” said Alicia Tang, a fourth-year community studies major. “It also represents empowerment and healing for people. A lot of people think that hip-hop … has been commodified, but we want to bring it back for people to gather around … and celebrate the community.”

Brigitte Mardigras, a third-year legal studies major, helped to organize the event and bring all of the performers together. She emphasized the importance of fighting against stereotypes commonly associated with mainstream hip-hop.

“It’s a response to how mainstream hip-hop usually leads to misogynistic, homophobic and racist language,” she said. “We really stress that we don’t tolerate that type of language.”

Derek Kan commented on the problem of mainstream rap as he prepared to perform for Lyrical Union.

“It’s not the problem with the rappers themselves — it’s the problems with the people that support and listen to them,” he said. “I think a lot of the emcees out in the mainstream, they do what they’ve been brought up to do, and you can’t really hold it against them — that’s what they know.”

Vu elaborated on Kan’s points. 

“It’s what sells in the industry,” she said. “If you stick with the status quo, and the status quo is degrading women and talking about money and cars, it’s really hard for [someone] who wants to be a successful artist to break that mold.”

Although she noted that she has “a beef with the industry,” Vu said that there are ways to combat the “cookie-cutter” mold that many artists fall into.

“From an artist’s perspective, you just have to be you, you have to make music that you believe in,” Vu said. “Hopefully, people who do like your music will support you — they’ll want to see that there is a market for something outside the radio.”

Vu said that she wants her music to portray what she deems a vital message for all artists hoping to become successful in the hip-hop industry.

“Do what you love — that’s our motto,” she said. “There’s a lot of pressure for kids, especially Asian kids, to be doctors, lawyers, engineers. … We’re all about doing what you love.”

Men’s Tennis
Quarterfinals of National Championship held @ Claremont
5/19 vs. Williams (winner moves on)

Last Week’s Results:

Men’s Tennis
5/8 vs. Whitman (home) 5-0 (win)
5/9 vs. Claremont (home) 5-0 (win) Regional Champions!

Park supporters join hands and dance to live music performed from People’s Stage. They frolicked across the grass before dispersing to their respective picnic blankets. Photo by Arianna Puopolo.

The 40th anniversary celebration of People’s Park in Berkeley, Calif. reeked of history and body odor as hundreds of wayfarers, wanderers and wonderers came together on April 26 to share stories and honor the park by remembering those who fought to protect it.  

A love child of rebellion, the park was founded on the principles of freedom of speech, assembly and expression. Today the space serves as a public park and a daytime sanctuary for much of Berkeley’s homeless population.  

A grassy landscape covers most of the park grounds, but in its back corner gardens are planted among a grove of trees.  At the park’s anterior, a playset still stands and People’s Stage is the venue for several concerts and colloquiums every year. 

“There’s no other place like it,” said a former People’s Park resident who asked to be identified as Caleb X. “When you come back to Berkeley you come back home.”

People’s Park began as an expansion project for UC Berkeley.  The campus bought up the entire space in 1967, with the intention of building dormitories for the growing student population. 

The area was known to be “alternative” and the students who lived there adhered to a lifestyle that the university condemned. 

Jack Radey attended Cal in 1964, and joined several activist groups while living in Berkeley. He witnessed and participated in many of the movements to protect the park and challenge the authority of the university.  

“The existence of considerable student housing in the Southside area was a constant concern to the UC deans,” Radey recalled. “Because in such quarters it was hard for Mommy and Daddy to supervise the young people who were believed to indulge there in such improprieties as sex, marijuana, beat poetry and leftist discussion  — to say nothing of espresso and jazz music.” 

The year after the university bought the neighborhood, the UC deans issued evictions and the neighborhood was promptly bulldozed. Shortly after, the university ran out of money and the property became derelict. 

“While it would have been indecorous to conduct room searches and the like, the university did the next best thing,” Radey said. “It bought up a bunch of the buildings and leveled them, leaving a big, muddy space above Telegraph.”

Everyone is welcome at People’s Park. The signpost located nearest the garden-side entrance, greets visitors.

On April 20, 1969, community members joined forces and took over the space. They tore up the concrete and asphalt, replacing it with gardens, flowers and play equipment. 

Less than one month later, the California Highway Patrol and Berkeley police officers occupied an eight-block area around People’s Park. The officers took positions in the early hours of May 15, 1969. Later that day, infamously known as Bloody Thursday, a rally of several thousand gathered at Sproul Plaza on Berkeley’s campus and began to venture toward the park.

Police officers opened fire on the crowds.

They fired tear gas and double-aught buckshot bullets while the marchers retaliated with projectiles, including rocks and bottles. Student James Rector was fatally shot. Today, a mural near the park depicts the Rector shooting. 

Over 100 civilian injuries were reported, but no police were hospitalized. By the end of the day, Gov. Ronald Reagan called in the National Guard and banned public congregation.

“We were not supposed to congregate, so the cops and troops were periodically called out to disperse us,” Radey said. “We would not fight them, but we would continue to be in the streets, retreating, advancing when they fell back, regrouping in the side streets, and nonviolently resisting their attempts to violate our right to assemble.”

Radey recalled that the will of the people made an intimidating force against the police. The National Guard and Oakland and Alameda County police forces were called in for backup, causing several casualties including one fatality and one student being blinded.

“The Berkeley police were the most professional and the calmest,” Radey said. “The UC police were pathetic … and scared stiff.  [They] ordered parking attendants to do stormtrooper duty. The Oakland pigs and the Alameda sheriffs were the worst, and most dangerous.”

Radey recalled the force with which students and civilians rallied against the police presence as if it were yesterday. 

“They had numbers, an uphill lie, youth and grim determination,” he said. “They broke through police lines, trashed police cars, threw back the gas and volleys of bottles and anything else that could be thrown.”

The ensuing battle came in the midst of youthful rebellion and political reform. The appeal of the People’s Park movement, many said, stemmed from having a cause that could be justified. 

“We weren’t fighting somebody else’s war. This was ours,” said Julie Vinograd, a Berkeley alumna of the class of 1965.

Vinograd, known as the Bubble Lady, waged her war against the university by blowing soap bubbles from a rooftop near the park for 24 hours. 

Daily protests continued for the next two weeks. Security officers and civilians continued to have confrontations.  Tear gas was dropped from helicopters and a rally marched in Sacramento. 

Despite lack of experience and resources, Radey feels the rally organizers succeeded because of their solidarity and innovation. 

“The organizers did manage one impressive feat,” Radey said. “In the face of the marijuana drought, the organizers managed to score a kilo of pot somewhere, and had it rolled up into joints, put in a cardboard box, and thrown off the back of the lead truck into the crowd.” 

Between marches and confrontations, Radey said he and his friends spoke with many of the National Guard officers. Radey recalled the reluctance with which these officers served and the solidarity they ultimately succumbed to. In the midst of one particular confrontation, the masses called on the guardsmen to lower their weapons.

“One soldier dropped his rifle and dove into the crowd, stripping off his uniform shirt,” Radey said. “The crowd covered him, gave him the clothes off their backs, and helped him disappear. I do not know what happened to him afterwards. But the fact is, the tool that Reagan wanted to use to crush us turned in his hand into mush. They were just like us for the most part, were in the Guard to avoid Vietnam, and wanted no part of a war at home.”

Vinograd recalled feeling a similar reluctance in the face of confrontation. As a pacifist, she said, it was difficult to motivate herself into activism. 

“I had this argument with my feet,” Vinograd said. “They wanted to go in and I didn’t.”

After weeks of tension and unresolved conflict, tens of thousands marched peacefully past People’s Park on May 30, 1969.

Mamma Taffy reclines in the Berkeley sunshine and enjoys the company of friends.

Today, UC Berkeley employs a community relations site coordinator to plan special events, enforce rules and manage the park day to day. Devin Wooldrige has been the site coordinator at People’s Park for nine years.

At the People’s Park 40th anniversary celebration, Wooldrige discounted what he determined to be an erroneous rumor that the university might reclaim the park to build the originally intended dormitories.  

“The university pumps quite a bit of money into the park and I don’t believe the park is now, or will be, in danger of being redeveloped,” he said. 

As for personal goals, Wooldrige takes his job seriously. He works toward making the park acceptable and palatable to the campus and civilian communities.

“I’d like to enhance its value to the community,” he said.

People’s Park is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.  The UC Berkeley Police enter at 10 p.m. every evening to vacate the park.  

Wooldrige said the park is frequented by an indeterminable number of visitors each year. Although it is closed at night, during the day People’s Park is a sanctuary for the homeless. 

Every season, new and old visitors take refuge at the park. 

“The population rises and falls with the weather and season,” Wooldrige said.

Tom Thompson is a Vietnam veteran living in Santa Cruz. Curiosity about the 40th anniversary celebration motivated him to venture up to Berkeley.  

Unlike many of the park’s patrons, Thompson didn’t protest the Vietnam war — he fought in it. He said serving in the military was the American thing to do and it wasn’t until long after the war that his principles came in conflict with those of the U.S. government.

“I didn’t fight the corporations because the corporations aren’t the problem … other people minding other people’s business is the problem,” he said. 

Thompson worked as a concrete finisher for the military nine years after being discharged. He retired at 38 and lost his home to a divorce settlement.  

Since then Thompson has been homeless. He said the military has done very little to provide aid to him and many other veterans. 

“They care about those they have to,” Thompson said of the military. “Now, I live in the redwoods and grow weed.”

Thompson first experienced People’s Park at its conception.  With nostalgia in his voice and a distant look in his eyes, Thompson snapped back to reality when he began to describe the transformation the park has undergone.

“This place has really changed,” he said. “This place is supposed to be a safe spot.”

Thompson is not the first to notice the park’s metamorphosis. 

In 1990, ongoing incidents of police brutality inspired the foundation of Cop Watch, an organization that works to educate people about the prevention of police brutality. Cop Watch distributes literature and camera equipment to volunteers. They advocate for civilians knowing their rights and encourage witnesses and victims of police brutality to report and document it.

Brandon Absher is a volunteer with Cop Watch and a Berkeley resident. He said the group distributes cameras to help execute their mission of education and prevention.

“Having a camera around, even if it can’t prevent what’s happening, lets people know what’s going on,” Absher said. 

Russel Bates is a Vietnam War veteran who says he’s been arrested several times. He volunteers with Cop Watch and advocates for the homeless and poor. 

“People who don’t have anything, who have lost everything, it’s definitely the community’s responsibility to provide the basics for them,” Bates said. “The police don’t seem to serve the poor and homeless well at all. When you’re homeless you have no place to retreat to and the police know that.” 

Bates attributes ongoing police brutality to the growing gap between the social classes. 

“There’s been a gentrification going on in Berkeley for quite some time now,” he said. 

Mamma Taffy, a tie-dye-clad woman soaking up the sun in People’s Park and offering her pipe to anyone passing by, said that verbal abuse from police officers to residents is a common occurrence in the area, where she often takes temporary shelter.

Mamma Taffy believes that, true to its name, the park is meant for the people, and she condemned the police who use force to relocate park residents. 

“This doesn’t belong to the state,” she said. “It belongs to the people.” 

Any attempts by the university to reclaim the park will be unsuccessful, Mamma Taffy emphasized. 

“We want a peaceful protest that leads to the people owning the park like they used to,” she said. 

For many, the history the park symbolizes is much more important than the grass and gardens that cover it. As former park resident Caleb X said, “It represents democracy.”

Photo by Catie Havstad.

Jennifer Gunnell doesn’t know how much longer she can tread water.  

It’s 6 a.m. when the UC Santa Cruz women’s water polo team jumps in the pool to train, hoping that winning a championship could save their sport.  

Players say they cannot bear to look at each other with the thought that this could be their last practice, as the loss of their program seems immenent. 

“It’s more than nationals; it’s trying to save water polo,” said freshman Jennifer Gunnell, a defensive and offensive player who decided to attend UC Santa Cruz because of the water polo program. “They can’t cut champions.”

During the end-of-year athletics barbecue last year, water polo coaches Alan Cima and Danielle Mulford were told by administrative athletic officials, Linda Spradley and Ryan Andrews, that the UCSC athletic department was dropping the water polo program. 

Cima said the reason he was given for the cuts was that the athletics department had to implement the budget cuts by cutting a team. In response, water polo parents presented a written proposal, which promised $320,000 to financially support the program over the next four years. 

However, Spradley and Andrews rejected the proposal, dubbing the donation “soft money.”  The concern was that after students leave and graduate, funds from parents would no longer be available. 

Because so many freshmen committed to the university to play water polo, the administration reinstated the sport for one year. According to Spradley, this was to give athletes time to transfer if they wanted to continue playing intercollegiate water polo at a different school.

But Gunnell, who was aware of the cut and yearly reinstatement when she committed to UCSC, hoped the university would accept her sport’s contributions before the season was up, and revise their decision to cut the program. 

“[The freshmen] knew that UCSC was the place we wanted to go and we would take the risk,” Gunnell said on her way to the Western Water Polo Association (WWAP) Division III national championship. “I was ready to fight for this team because I knew this was the fit for me and playing for anyone else wouldn’t be the same as playing for UCSC.”

Gunnell, whose lowest grade to date in college has been a B, could have attended any UC or upper-echelon college but was drawn to UCSC by the water polo program.  She doesn’t regret her decision, though, due to the connections she made with the players and coaches on the team at UCSC.

If the sport is no longer offered at the intercollegiate level, UCSC will be the only UC that doesn’t offer intercollegiate water polo. Gunnell is staying optimistic, but fears for the future of water polo at UCSC. 

“One [more] year isn’t enough,” she said. “If water polo gets officially cut, we’re out of here.” 

Like fish out of water: The men’s and women's water polo teams have found themselves without a program to call home. Photo by Catie Havstad.

Funding an Intercollegiate Team

It wasn’t until after the parent group offered to set up a long-term fund that decision-makers brought up other reasons for cutting the program, Cima said. 

Aside from a lack of administrative staff and no institutional support, Spradley said the decision was based on the absence of an individual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) DIII title and less expansion of the sport on the DIII level, as well as other reasons. 

 “We had to cut them, we had to,” Spradley said, raising her voice defensively. 

Unlike most other schools, UCSC’s athletics and OPERS programs are combined. As the executive director of OPERS, Ryan Andrews has the ability to make decisions that affect the athletic department. 

“The decision to cut a sport was purely financial and predicated on the fact that we were facing budget cuts,” Andrews said. “The other factors were only considered when trying to decide which sport to cut.”

After the news about the cuts broke, Mike Huff, father of second-year Connor Huff, and other water polo players’ parents organized to raise funds.  

Huff, who has worked for UC Berkeley’s athletics department for 30 years as an operations and maintenance manager, knew that Princeton University’s DI water polo team once faced cuts and now operates as a fully self-funded team.

“If the university were to allow [water] polo to exist, the team would be able to fund the operational costs or a part-time person to help with infrastructure issues,” Huff said. 

“Infrastructure” refers to the administrative staff members within the athletic department. As budget cuts continue to take effect, administrative staff positions are the first to go. Recently, the department has just dropped the position of Sports Information Director.   

Huff also authored a written proposal that offered to establish a “Friends of UC Santa Cruz Water Polo” fund similar to one that UC Berkeley uses to support its aquatic program.   

The proposal offers to pay $80,000 each year for the next four years totaling up to $320,000.

In a press conference held with student media last week, Chancellor George Blumenthal said looking for outside donors is a way to fight off budget cuts.

“Private money is key to the future of our campus … we’re in a financial crisis,” he said.  

However, Spradley said she rejected the proposal because the money is not guaranteed to be there in four years, when the students whose parents started the fund will most likely graduate. 

Spradley said that all other intercollegiate sports on campus are required to raise 50 to 60 percent of their budget. However, she did not distinguish the difference between the fundraised money coming from other NCAA sports, which is also not guaranteed to be there in the long term, and the “soft money” coming from water polo.  

Andrews said that all NCAA sports have some institutional support. 

“NCAA teams represent the university and therefore should receive funding (in part or full),” Andrews said in an e-mail addressed to senior water polo player Heather Stewart. “That has been the distinction at UCSC between a club sport and an NCAA sport. To have a team be 100 percent fundraised is setting a precedent I do not want to create.”

Unfortunately, playing for a club team isn’t an option for many intercollegiate water polo players after playing two years of NCAA water polo.

“All the girls who have played [intercollegiate water polo] for two years can’t even play club,” Gunnell said. “The boys’ team asked that water polo be an exception, but the committee [who regulates club sports] said no.”

Stewart was the first to question the cuts last August when she heard that both Spradley and Andrews did not accept financial support to keep the program.

In the e-mail, Andrews went on to explain that allowing an NCAA team to be 100 percent self-funded would “blur the lines between club sports” and intercollegiate sports. He also said that giving an NCAA team the chance to be fully self-funded would create expectations from club sports also seeking NCAA status. 

The NCAA did not reply to confirm whether or not institutional funding is a requirement of their organization. On its Web site, there is no implicit mention of institutional funding as a requirement. 

“Typically, what it means to be an NCAA sport is that the school wants you as a program,” Andrews said regarding institutional support as a definitive aspect of NCAA sports. “To me it’s a requirement. I’m not sure if it is [for] the NCAA. I don’t know what they require.” 

More Money, More Problems

Coach Alan Cima said in the 10 years water polo has been at the university, the team has raised more than $400,000, mostly from parents and fundraisers.

“The year I got here water polo hardly got any money through the university, anyway,” Cima said. “Though it’s improved through the years. After the announcement of the dropping of the program last year we raised about $75,000. We [ended up] giving back about $20,000, because as one donor put it, ‘Who wants to donate to a funeral?’”

Even water polo Olympian Natalie Golda offered support in order to keep the program alive at the intercollegiate level. 

Golda, a three-time NCAA national water polo champion and two-time Olympian, is a product of UC water polo. Golda sent a letter to the chancellor asking the university to reconsider the decision to cut water polo. 

Andrews said in an e-mail, “Although I appreciate and applaud the community rallying behind water polo and agreeing to provide funds, this is only a short-term solution.” 

Spradley said that some teams occasionally fall short in fundraising and that the athletics department is left with a deficit. As of last year, the department is $85,000 in debt.    

“The teams that I have can’t even raise their own money,” Spradley said.  “And if they don’t, it comes back on athletics.”

Most of the NCAA sports have accumulated a debt over the years. Coach Cima said if the deficit for polo is an issue, then they should keep the program and request that the sport clear the deficit.    

“We were told that the accumulated loss did not matter,” Cima said. “If there is an issue, then they should just say that water polo has to clear that deficit to continue, like they did with Shakespeare Santa Cruz.”

The slugs stay competitive with an opposing NCAA team during a six-on-five play. Players say they will not give up the fight, and continue to push for water polo to remain an NCAA intercollegiate program at UCSC. Photo by Alex Zamora.

Two weeks ago, the women’s water polo team competed in the WWPA DIII Championships, where they placed third after being ranked seventh. 

WWPA is a NCAA DI water polo conference featuring 14 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. Each year the WWPA hosts a championship for men in November and women in April. 

Heather Stewart earned an honorable mention this season. Her reasons for wanting first place went much further than glory. 

“We thought if we got first, how could they cut us?” Stewart said.

Placing first in the conference, which is different than placing first in the division, would have advanced the team to the NCAA DI, DII, DIII national meet in Maryland. 

Linda Spradley said the decision to cut water polo was partly because the sport does not have its own DIII national championship, which she thinks is necessary for recruiting purposes.  

“It’s not Div. III, it’s Div. I, II, III all together,” Spradley said. “Do you really think that a DIII is going to qualify for DI, DII national championship?” 

But Coach Cima said the combined championship has helped with recruiting, regardless of a title. 

“Players know that if they play for UCSC they will have the opportunity to play against all of the best teams in the country, not just those in a certain division,” Cima said. “I can’t tell you how many letters I’ve received from student athletes saying, ‘I saw your game against USC.’”

A Growing Sport 

Though invented outside of the U.S., water polo has been growing in popularity in the States — especially in California. Every water polo NCAA champion has been a Californian college, and no non-Californian college has ever made the finals.

According to Cima, there are 20,000 Californians who graduate high school wanting to play collegiate water polo.

One of the reasons Spradley gave for cutting the water polo program was that the sport is not growing at an intercollegiate DIII level. She said that last year there were only 15 DIII men’s teams and this year there are only 14 men’s teams.  She also said that the amount of women’s DIII water polo teams has gone from 19 to 18. 

But Cima feels this factor is irrelevant when used to decide which sport to cut.

“There are nine NCAA teams within 100 miles of Santa Cruz that want to schedule UCSC and play us,” he said. “I think that compares favorably with any other sport that UCSC sponsors.” 

What the future holds is still uncertain and despite news of demise, the team will keep fighting to protect what means the most to them. 

As Stewart prepares to graduate in the spring, she can’t help but get emotional.

“I look at my teammates and I don’t want the administration to deny them their right to play,” she said. “Water polo is one of the best things that happened to me at UCSC, hands down.”

Photo by Conner Ross.

Graffiti is constantly looking for a home.

Standing before a graffiti mural, the collection of colors and keen stylistic movement denotes the persistent argument of implication the art form has faced over the years.

Always expressing the passion and aptitude of the creator while providing an underlying message to the public space it inhabits, graffiti’s place in the greater community has proven to be a constant topic of debate.

With forms ranging from extensive illustrations to scant signatures stating a name or staking territory, the definition of graffiti often relies on interpretation, framed by the culture in which it resides.

Local graffiti artist Jake Kline* has been producing graffiti art in public environments for the past seven years and believes the art form represents much more than often perceived.  

“It’s an amazing thing to interact with your environment and to change it, to make it yours,” Kline said. “Just as scholars and the archaeological community covet cave paintings and native etchings, they should find merit in the marks that the people of yesterday and today and tomorrow are so bold to make.”

A Misunderstood Art 

Dating back to the 1960s, graffiti art has progressed over the years, leaving behind it a misconstrued history. Starting in Philadelphia with a man dubbed CORNBREAD, street art has taken multiple forms throughout its lifetime, from denoting gang competition to making poignant political commentaries.

Buried beneath the social and political debates over graffiti art is a unique craft that artists have expanded to incorporate more than just straightforward statements.

“There are a lot of things that drive me to do it,” Kline said. “It can just be a message or it can be a reflection on a concept that’s interesting to me. To have someone put their mind to a concept they find interesting or important and have them be able to add that to the community, that’s amazing.”

However, the way in which some people have decided to go about expressing their ideas and opinions has criminalized graffiti in society.

“I feel like graffiti has officially gotten a negative connotation, in the way that it’s a nuisance that just needs to be cleaned up,” Kline said. 

Part of this negative connotation likely stems from graffiti’s long-standing ties to gangs. But according to Kline, this represents a very narrow concept of graffiti, or tagging. He thinks that graffiti needs also to be recognized in a broader sense as a stylistic art form practiced by many different people for many different reasons. Other artists and advocates like Kline believe that this form of expression is ultimately in need of a forum for constructive development.

Bill’s Wheels, a Santa Cruz skate shop located on Soquel Avenue, has donated the outside of their building to this effort, welcoming graffiti artists to freely display their artwork on the space. The shop is one of the only local businesses known to offer this.

Bill Ackerman, who owns the skate shop, has established a long list of artists from around the county who want to paint his property. 

“[Graffiti] is an unbelievable skill and true art form,” Ackerman said. “Seeing these guys go from tagging public walls and trains to producing books of their artwork, you can see the different levels graffiti can be taken [to] and the artistic value it can have.”

People like Kline, whose name graces Ackerman’s list of interested artists, wish more places like Bill’s Wheels would provide graffiti artists with a backdrop to articulate their passion without the threat of being arrested.

“There are all these spots that people never go, with big pieces of concrete that have been put there for bridges to go over them or for water to run through them, and to this day they do have amazing pieces on them,” Kline said. “But these are the spots people should feel safe painting at.”

Nonetheless, some street artists revel in the idea that what they do is illicit and view the danger that comes with defying authority as part of the graffiti lifestyle and culture.

Jon Harden*, a graffiti writer living in Los Angeles, started tagging at age 13 as a way to get out of the house and hang out with friends. Primarily hitting spots under bridges and along the Los Angeles River, Harden never viewed his thrill as harmful to the community despite knowing it was illegal. 

“As a kid I loved the feeling of not knowing whether or not you’d get caught,” Harden said. “Even now, my heart still races if I’m working on a spot that has high visibility and I feel that pressure can be seen in my artwork.”

But despite enjoying the art-induced rush of adrenaline, Harden says he thinks the laws pertaining to graffiti art are too severe and said that police departments should spend their time and money on issues more threatening to human safety.

“I do believe that gangs tag as a way of marking territory,” Harden said. “But I also see so many different types of people out there just trying to make art, [so] calling it criminal just seems so extreme.”

Community Call to Action

For the past five years, the city of Watsonville has seen an increase in tagging and graffiti-writing throughout the community, and Watsonville police have responded.  

“[The] increases caused us to launch a special investigation to try and curb it and control it as much as we can,” said Manny Solano, deputy chief of police at the Watsonville Police Department. 

Four months ago the department launched a trail investigation called TAG, or Target All Taggers, which incorporated traditional means of catching criminals, such as talking to those involved and understanding the strategies behind tagging, coupled with an aerosol sensor developed by Broadband Discovery Systems Inc. of Scotts Valley. 

However, the police department has purposely kept the specifics of their investigation vague in order to maintain its effectiveness across the community.

“We also created a very thorough database and we’re sharing it with other agencies in the county,” Solano said. “Being that a lot of these graffiti writers will move around through different jurisdictions, we’ve begun sharing information to identify taggers throughout the county.”

Three months after TAG was initiated, 22 juveniles and 15 adults were arrested and charged with 885 counts of vandalism, according to the Watsonville Police Department. Deeming the pilot project a success for the community, other areas of the county have now joined in on fighting vandalism.  

“On Feb. 1 we started a graffiti task force in light of Watsonville’s success,” said Sgt. Robin Mitchell of the Santa Cruz County sheriff’s department. “We wanted to be on the same page.”

While the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) has not seen an escalation in graffiti within the city limits, they hope to implement a task force like Watsonville’s in future years.

“We’re looking into creating a task force that would involve compiling reported acts of vandalism onto a centralized database,” said Zach Friend, SCPD spokesperson, “but it’s relatively still in the beginning stages.”

Santa Cruz was incorporated into the task force overseen by the county, but due to lack of resources, they have yet to appoint a designated graffiti investigator, Mitchell said.

Nonetheless, volunteer organizations within the city, such as Graffiti Free Santa Cruz, have arisen in response to community aggravation over the presence of graffiti and the need for assistance in removing it from the public sphere.

Graffiti Free Santa Cruz’s mission is “to maintain the natural beauty of our city by preventing and removing graffiti through community involvement, eradication, education and enforcement,” according to its Web site.

In Watsonville, an annual $150,000 is spent on removing graffiti around the city, not including the amount spent by schools and other businesses paying out of their own pocket.

“It costs the county $10,000 just for the primer in covering up graffiti, and that alone leaves walls scarred and damaged,” Mitchell said. “People need to see that it’s not just artists trying to make murals — it permanently damages both public and private space, and the environmental impact is huge.”

In creeks and watersheds around the areas where graffiti markings can be found, empty spray paint cans and markers litter the area, leaving the natural beauty tainted with remnants of taggers, Mitchell said.

In addition to the efforts made to catch acts of vandalism, Watsonville has tried providing education and alternative outlets to discourage the desecration of public and private spaces. 

“The [Watsonville] Parks and Recreation Department is exploring ways in which they could start a community art wall,” Solano said. “We’ve tried this in the past and it hasn’t been very successful, but we’re going to give it another shot and hopefully steer this energy in a positive way.” 

———-

*Names have been changed.

Statewide Special Election (May 19th) | Campus Elections (May 13th-20th)

~~~~~~~~~~

{Statewide Special Election}

Band-Aid Proposals or Crafty Solutions?
By Arianna Puopolo
City on a Hill Press Editor

Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger introduced six ballot measures to the California legislature in an effort to remedy California’s budget deficit.  The UC Regents voted to endorse the propositions, but groups like the League of Women Voters and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations oppose one or more of them. Many argue that these propositions are shortsighted “Band-Aids” for the budget, while proponents say these measures are necessary to remedy the crisis. Chancellor George Blumenthal and others have even suggested that, were these propositions not to pass, the UC will face even more cuts come fall. City on a Hill Press believes in the importance of student voice, so we’ve provided you with some basic information about each election item. No matter how you vote next Tuesday, what’s important is that you vote. 

Prop. 1A

Pro: Increases size of state “rainy day” fund from 5 percent to 12.5 percent of the General Fund. Limits spending.

Con: It would amend the California Constitution to dictate restrictions on the use of funds put into the reserve and limit how “unanticipated” revenues can be used in good years. It could lock in a reduced level of public services by not taking proper account of the state’s changing demographics and actual growth in costs.

Prop. 1B

Pro:  Requires supplemental payments to local school districts and community colleges to address recent budget cuts. This funding is intended to address uncertainty about what the Proposition 98 school funding guarantee requires.

Con: Proposition 1A must pass in order for 1B to be effective.

Prop. 1C

Pro: Allows the state lottery to be modernized. Increased lottery revenues will be used to address the current budget deficit and reduce the need for additional tax increases and cuts to state programs. 

Con: Allows the state to issue $5 billion in bonds that are “securitized” by future lottery profits. The lottery would no longer be a source of revenue for education, and the state General Fund would be required to make up for the loss to education of lottery funds.

Prop. 1D

Pro:  Redirects existing tobacco tax money to protect health and human services for children, including services for at-risk families, services for children with disabilities, and services for foster children. 

Con: Redirects tobacco tax funds reserved for “First 5” early childhood programs to the state General Fund. $608 million would be diverted in 2009-10 and $268 million a year for the following four years, creating the illusion that more revenues are available. Prop 1D raids these funds in the short term in order to pay for some services, while taking funding away from other services.

Prop. 1E

Pro: Amends Mental Health Services Act to transfer funds, for a two-year period, from mental health programs under that act to pay for mental health services for children and young adults provided through the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Program. 

Con: For the next two years, Proposition 1E would redirect about $230 million a year from the Mental Health Services Act to the state General Fund to replace state funding for an existing screening, diagnosis and treatment program. As with Prop. 1D, it raids existing programs to create temporary “savings,” but makes less money available for some services. 

{Campus Elections}

Spring Election Time is Here
By City on a Hill Press Staff

Between May 13 and May 20, UCSC students can exercise their right to vote on four meausres in the school’s annual elections. Here’s a look at those initiatives. 

Measure 38: Amend the Renewable Energy Fee passed in Spring 2006

A “yes” vote on Measure 38 acts as a renewal of Measure 28, passed in 2006. Measure 28 generated approximately $135,000 annually that went toward renewable energy certificates designed to offset the campus’s electricity purchases. Passage of Measure 38 will not implement a new fee, but instead will continue the existing $3 per student, per quarter fee instated via Measure 28. The money collected through the fee ultimately goes toward creating on-site renewable energy sources at UCSC in addition to providing funding for other energy-efficient and energy-saving projects on this campus.

Measure 39: Provide funding for the Sustainable Food, Health and Wellness Initiative

Children hold signs they made to protest the closing of Santa Cruz's Garfield Park Library during last Friday's candlelight protest. Photo by Rosario Serna.

On Monday, the Santa Cruz City Council stepped in to rethink a proposed plan by the Santa Cruz Libraries’ Joint Powers Board to close the historic Garfield Park branch library on the Westside. 

A local landmark, the Garfield Park branch was erected in 1915 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992. 

The possibility of closure has been met with resistance. Westside residents and community members denounce the shuddering of the beloved site due to county library budget shortfalls, which still maintains its original fireplace and painting from nearly a century ago. 

Their efforts included a May 8 candlelight vigil in front of the library to mourn the potential loss of the historical landmark.

“The Garfield library is approaching its 100th anniversary as a neighborhood branch library,” a local resident who attened the vigil said. “Previous generations struggled through various obstacles, such as Prop. 13, to keep it open for us, and we owe it to the children of today to maintain that.”

Residents also contend that the branch serves the entire Westside of Santa Cruz as well as Bonny Doon and Davenport. 

After listening to over 50 residents from Santa Cruz County, the councilmembers and the Library Joint Powers Board made the decision to try to keep options open for now and to not close any of the branches. The most popular scenario the board members came up with consisted of continuing to issue furloughs, cut staff, limit the book budget, and limit the hours each library is open.

Vice Mayor Mike Rotkin said that it would be best to look at all the options to create more flexibility before making a concrete resolution.

“We can mix and match the five options we received from our staff to get a result that works within the budget and fixes the deficit,” Rotkin said.

The librarians began cutting costs earlier this year on February 6 by taking off 10 percent of their salary in order to reserve funds for the library, but it has not been  enough to keep it running under the budget cuts. 

Library director Susan Elgin said that closing the smaller library branches would not be enough to tend to the new budget constraints. Elgin said the board would need to save an additional $565,000 to keep things running.

In June, the board will decide whether or not to close more library branches, excluding the regional branches of Central, Scotts Valley, Live Oak and Aptos libraries.

Diane Cowen, the Garfield library’s branch manager, is particularly concerned about the loss of jobs. The Library Joint Powers Board is currently preparing a seniority list for the librarians, but temporary library pages — who perform manual and clerical duties such as book reshelving — will be completely cut.

“We [the librarians] will probably land elsewhere because of our seniority, but someone down the line is going to get bumped,” Cowen said. “Eventually someone somewhere will lose a job.”

Members of the community in the Westside of Santa Cruz responded to the proposed closure by getting together to inform citizens and to convince the Library Joint Powers Board and the City Council to keep the library open. 

A public letter-writing campaign was set up on May 6 at the Garfield Park Library for community members to express their concern over the closure and to converse with some of the board members who visited.

Cowen said she was pleased with the turnout and with the passion community members showed for the library.

“I have never seen the library so packed,” Cowen said. “There were kids, teens, and adults all participating.”

Because many people in the Garfield Park area were not informed by the Library Joint Powers Board, Linda Snook, protest organizer and mother of three, has been gathering and informing community members since the decision was first proposed.

“By word of mouth and, of course, e-mail, we were able to gather about 50 people at my home on Monday for an organizational meeting,” Snook said.

The neighborhood residents have really shown that they are not ready to give up their library and their hard work has finally paid off.

“[The Garfield Park library] is many things to many people: a place to read, e-mail, do homework, find knitting patterns,” Snook said. “It is a community center, a meeting place. It is not something we can afford to close.”

The administration refused to allow the water polo team to continue, despite the fact that the team raised $400,000 in donations to fund the sport. On May 30 of last year, the team learned of the university’s proposal to cut their program and proceeded to raise pledge support. Now that the support and pledges are here, the university continues to turn its head away from reinstating the team for another year. 

It is vital that alternate forms of income are considered when UCSC is in such severe economic distress. Student organizations that are willing and able to provide for themselves should be allowed to do so, regardless of the inconvenience it places upon the administration as far as paperwork and processing. 

This, however, is not to suggest approval of privatization. To our dismay, Chancellor George Blumenthal said in a press conference with student media last week that “Private money is key to the future of our campus.”

This is not and should not be the case. The university is a public institution. The very name of the school speaks to the notion that it is an institution founded on deprivatization, not the reverse. The University of California is not a private university. 

We are asking the university to consider private donations when it comes to student life programs — such as water polo, club activities or Engaging Education (e2) — regardless of the fact that donors are willing, even in tough times, to preserve programs that give the university vibrancy, diversity, and life. 

We do not want private interests to encroach on our academic departments, where the disparity between certain divisions, such as the sciences, and others, such as the arts, is often in favor of the former. 

Ideally, we would live in a country and state where the funding for public education receives more than the measley 3.7 percent of the California budget that goes to the entire University of California system. 

But the reality is that we don’t. 

Our school and its programs need as much help as they can get. In the case of water polo, where the funds are there, it is laughable and tragic that our university’s administration would refuse money raised voluntarily by the team and its supporters for reasons that seem to be very unclear and inexplicable.

To propose that a team be cut entirely while the economy is low, or to imply that a public institution begin to lean excessively on privatization, reflects the inability of the administrators at UCSC to look to the long term. 

The economy in this country fluctuates. The economy has its ups and downs. And just as the bubbles of economic excellence burst when they float too high, so do the suds of the economic lows float upward once again.

This economic downturn will not last forever, so we should not implement permanent measures to privatize and alter the very core of its existence; nor, however, should the administration fail to recognize and accept alternate modes of monetary assistance to its programs, such as water polo, that are already saturated in promise and success.