“To my knowledge there are enough, but I have not participated in any, so it’s hard for me to know. I do see emails about diversity outreach groups.”
Tom Campbell
Fourth-year, Crown
Economics

“I don’t think there are ever enough resources for underrepresented groups in the university. I am Indian, but also Sikh, and I don’t see how the university has been promoting for that particular group.”
Avneet Randhawa
Fourth-year, College Ten
Neuroscience

“So far, I do think they do offer enough. I checked out El Centro, which offers support to minorities. This school has a cool vibe in regards to that sort of thing, and I have liked that about here so far.”
Cassandra De La Torre
First-year, Cowell
MCD Biology

“I think they do, but I don’t really know what they offer.”
Greg Hou
Graduate student
Economics

Protesters gather in front of Wells Fargo Bank on Feb. 15 to support the 11 individuals who have charges against them for actions taken during an occupation of a vacant bank in November. Photo by Toby Silverman.

As the Occupy Santa Cruz encampment in San Lorenzo Park entered its final stages in late November of last year, an estimated 20 to 30 demonstrators who claimed to be “anonymously, autonomously acting in solidarity with Occupy Santa Cruz” broke into and occupied a vacant bank building at 75 River St. for three days, beginning on Nov. 30. That was nearly three months ago.

Today, 11 alleged members of this group, known as the “Santa Cruz Eleven,” are facing a total of 22 charges after local authorities completed an investigative identification process. All were charged with felonies except for Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, who was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor for delaying an officer.

“Three people were arrested in their homes and taken to the county jail,” said Tom Jones,* who is currently facing charges. “Others like myself were able to get ourselves to the county jail and turn ourselves in.”

The November occupation racked up an estimated $35,000 in damages, according to police records.

Among the charges filed against the 11 are claims of conspiracy to commit a crime, felony vandalism, trespassing, and refusing to leave private property at the request of police and the building’s lease owners, according to court records.

The list of defendants includes long-time Santa Cruz activist Robert Norris Kahn, also known as Robert Norse.

District Attorney Bob Lee announced the indictments on Feb. 8. One member of the group was “arrested, handcuffed and taken from her home with pancakes burning on the stove,” according to an Occupy Santa Cruz report.

Only four arrests have occurred as of Feb. 22, as the remaining defendants continue to seek legal advising in addition to attending their scheduled arraignments. The sheriff’s office’s jail records show not all of the 11 warrants had been served as of Feb. 22. Those listed in the complaint are all expected to appear in court for their scheduled arraignment dates.

In late December 2011, Santa Cruz police announced they had identified 13 demonstrators who had occupied and vandalized the vacant Wells Fargo-owned building, and subsequently submitted the names to the district attorney’s office. At this time, police claimed much of the information regarding the 13 proposed suspects came from community members who viewed photos from the incident.

Eleven of the 13 suspects charged with felonies were allegedly identified in this manner. Information on the other two suspects was not released.

“I think [the claim that community members helped identify those involved] is very misleading,” Jones said. “All the testimony I’ve seen in the documents was of police identifying people.”

The Santa Cruz police department’s Deputy Chief of Police Steve Clark said all accused were accurately identified as participants in the incident.

“There are no mistaken identities in this particular case,” Clark said. “We have photo or video evidence of each of the individuals who have been charged.”

A counter-protest in support of the defendants was held on Feb. 15 in front of the Wells Fargo Bank, across the street from the still-vacant building where the initial occupation took place. The counter-protest began at 3 p.m., and after 40 minutes of demonstrations forced closure of the bank for the remainder of the day. One person was arrested.

“I don’t think people should be arrested for expressing their views,” said Santa Cruzan Courtney Oberholser, who observed the protest while making a trip to the ATM.

However, not all community members were in support of the occupation back in November.

“The feedback we got from community members is they felt a much higher sense of violation, especially business owners, property owners, homeowners,” Clark said. “They felt that ‘if people could do that in this building, they could come do that in my house or in my business. What are you, the police going to do about it?’”

Among the attendees of the Feb. 15 protest were some of the 11 people charged in the indictments, who came to vouch their support for the cause.

“It was a non-violent civil disobedience action,” said Becky Johnson, one of the 11 charged. “The people who did enter the building knew they were breaking the law but did it to draw attention to the greater good.”

Johnson, a local activist and 1988 UC Santa Cruz graduate, taught in Santa Cruz for nine years. While Johnson is currently working as an in-home support service worker, she hopes to return to teaching in the future. The charges filed against her could mean more than fines and jail time.

“I am in a very bad position,” Johnson said. “Even though I am completely innocent, a single police officer identified me inside the building. It really comes down to this officer’s word against mine, and in my experience juries tend to side with the police officer. If I am convicted of these charges I will lose my teaching credentials.”

Of the 11 defendants named by the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s office, Judge Ariadne Symons has arraigned seven, including Johnson and Norse. All but Norse pleaded not guilty. Norse was scheduled to continue in court on Feb. 29 after asking Judge Symons for time to hire an attorney.

Those who plead not guilty are required to obey all laws, cooperate with police, and stay away from the 75 River St. location. A preliminary hearing for several of the accused defendants is scheduled for
March 5.

Photo by Prescott Watson.

The Second Stage Theater is completely dark except for the lights illuminating center stage, where members of the African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT) gather in an intimate circle before their rehearsal. They aren’t holding hands, but they might as well be. Here, the students open up and share what’s currently happening in their lives, from handling midterms to loving Skittles.

This isn’t just another production or class — it’s a family, one that is celebrating its 20th anniversary as the only African American theater troupe in the entire UC system. In spite of financial struggles through the organization’s history, AATAT has triumphed to reach this milestone, one they will commemorate with the opening of their latest play, “Ruined.”

A student-based organization, AATAT is a group of predominantly African American students who perform an annual production depicting aspects of African American life. According to their website, AATAT’s mission statement is “to create unity, higher visibility and an understanding of the African American culture at UCSC.” Through “Ruined,” AATAT hopes to bring awareness to present-day social injustices.

The group sings and dances around the stage with excitement in preparation for their latest play before Don Williams, founder and director of AATAT, arrives. Williams, director of Cultural Arts and Diversity (CAD), has been working at UC Santa Cruz for the past 22 years and is the backbone behind programs like Rainbow Theater and AATAT. Williams and AATAT are almost one and the same — you can’t mention one without the other.

“I believe that if we’re going to be a teaching institution, it is our global duty to make sure we touch upon the major culture groups that are really here at the university,” said Williams, who regularly spends 12 hours a day on campus during the week working on various projects.

AATAT gives students the opportunity to act, direct, stage-manage, film and write plays. AATAT is open to all students, regardless of ethnicity or level of experience. This program gives students the foundation to connect, learn, grow and change with the support of their peers.

Williams said the motto for AATAT and Rainbow Theater is, “if you want to be truly blessed, learn to uplift others higher than yourself.” An emphasis on sharing students’ gifts and building upon strengths — whatever they may be — to help others is key to AATAT.

“It’s not even about the grade, it’s not even about the class, it’s about the service,” Williams said.

AATAT also acts as a major outreach and retention program for the university, giving students of color — especially African American students — a chance to be in theater and full-length productions with other underrepresented students. Out of the 16,451 students at UCSC, only an estimated 450 are African American, which amounts to 3 percent of the population. Of the current members of AATAT, 30 of the 40 are African American.

“There was a time when the UC was losing a lot of African American students who would come here because of the isolation that went on,” Williams said. “AATAT provided that nature of common experiences.”

AATAT was established in 1991 by a group of African American upperclassmen who persistently approached Williams about producing a theatrical show. Williams, who first began at UCSC as a theater technician, said he took time out of his own schedule to create AATAT. At first, students did not receive credit for the productions.

Since the program’s inception, AATAT has given over $85,000 in scholarships to participants of the program. Five members are chosen annually by AATAT to receive $1,000 for their role in AATAT as well as for academic excellence, another way the program supports its community.

Jessica Jones, playing brothel owner Mama Nadia, attempts to soothe war victim Salima, played by Precious Wingo in “Ruined.” Photo by Prescott Watson.

Third-year theater arts and feminist studies double major Alana Duvernay is the assistant director of “Ruined.” Duvernay, who has been a member of AATAT for all of her three years at UCSC, sits in the front row at every rehearsal to assist the director and actors with their lines and overall character development.

“I chose UC Santa Cruz because of AATAT and Rainbow Theater,” Duvernay said. “First, because there are not multicultural theater groups in the UC system, [and] second because it is my goal, and AATAT’s goal, to uplift other people.”

During rehearsals, it is obvious a clear line of communication is necessary to attain a level of respect and trust among AATAT members. This is especially true when touching upon sensitive subjects like rape in “Ruined.” The actors must abandon their everyday personalities and transform into characters they may not be comfortable or familiar with.

Thousands of students have participated in AATAT over the past 20 years. AATAT’s success has sparked the creation of other multicultural programs like Rainbow Theater, also run by Williams. But despite their constantly sold out shows, AATAT continues to struggle yearly with financial shortfalls.

Over the years, AATAT has experienced many setbacks, predominantly a lack of staff and funding for the inherently costly productions they put on each year. However, with Williams’ focus on the future, you won’t ever hear him talk about the negatives.

“This art form of theater is a vehicle we cannot allow to [die out] or something,” Williams said. “It has a way of connecting with you like nothing else. You can go to the movie theater and you’re at the discretion of the editors. But [when] you come to live theater, you are the editor.”

Photo by Prescott Watson.

Photo by Prescott Watson.

Theater arts graduate Maria Olivo, an AATAT alum and former president of Rainbow Theater, is currently getting her master’s degree in theater education in the hope of creating a similar multicultural theater arts program in California’s Inland Empire. This was almost made impossible during Olivo’s four years at UCSC, when Williams’ job and programs were at risk of termination due to budget cuts.

“We knew that without him Rainbow and AATAT wouldn’t exist,” Olivo said, sitting in the theater and taking notes for her dissertation. “He’s really the heart and soul of these programs, and the students are the breath that keep it all going and functioning together.”

Duvernay, who encourages and supports the entire cast of AATAT, said Williams continually struggles to maintain his position and receive the support and funding needed for his programs.

“Don is constantly fighting for us, constantly charging things on his own credit card, running from meeting to meeting, conference to conference, seeing if he can do something for us,” Duvernay said.

But AATAT now sees more possibility for prosperity in their future, thanks to Measure 49. Undergraduate students voted last year to voluntarily increase student fees by $5.25 per quarter. This money goes toward the CAD, which supports AATAT and Rainbow Theater.

Third-year electrical engineering major Amanuel Zeryihun is acting for the first time in “Ruined.” On Tuesday night, Williams awarded Zeryihun with one of the $1,000 scholarships. The cast and crew cheered him on, but Zeryihun was speechless.

While sitting behind the stage with his fellow actors, Zeryihun said it is important for people to recognize all the hard work put into this organization.

“People need to know this didn’t just come out of nowhere,” Zeryihun said. “It didn’t just last 20 years. It required the struggling of everyone who got on board, especially Don Williams, who is the visionary for this.”

Zeryihun is inspired by witnessing the changes AATAT and Williams create in the community on campus.

“It’s really important our university invest in people like him because he teaches from a very genuine approach, and it’s not something you find here a lot of the time,” he said.

Jessica Jones, a third-year student who plays Mama Nadia, the main character in “Ruined,” looks forward to the 20th anniversary celebrations. Many AATAT alumni will return to watch the show.

“For people to actually see how long this legacy has lasted is very powerful,” Jones said. “We’re here now, but we want to know what happened 20 years ago.”

Photo by Prescott Watson.

On stage and off, the players of AATAT spend time together working on lines, getting into character, and sharing valuable information to feel more comfortable about the play. Jones and Zeryihun bring their characters into their everyday life, like asking one another to pass the milk in a Congolese accent at their house.

Adam Buxbaum, a fifth-year theater arts graduate student, said there’s a lot of experimental theater occuring on campus, but AATAT’s theater work goes a different route.

“AATAT is consistently the only production every year that actually brings real poignant and pertinent issues to the community,” Buxbaum said. “AATAT works to agitate and educate, to make people leave the auditorium angry and feeling like they can make a difference.”

AATAT members hope it will continue to grow and gain support as a theater troupe so African American productions will continue to exist on campus even when Williams is gone.

“My hope is that AATAT will always be here,” Williams said, “[and] that this campus will always be a beacon to making sure diversity really does happen and is not just spoken.”

Student dancers perform a variety of dance styles choreographed by students for “Random with A Purpose XX.” Photos by Morgan Grana.

You watch human bodies do the unimaginable. Figures float off the earth’s surface, glide down, and flip again and again over themselves, over others. This is dance as performed by “Random with a Purpose XX.”

To showcase UC Santa Cruz student talent, the yearly student-directed dance show “Random with a Purpose” opened Feb. 17 with a diverse array of pieces. The show’s 20th anniversary performance features everything from the crawling undead to sensual belly dancers, with the standard mishmash of modern dance and ballet mixed in between.

Directed by fourth-year Chelsea Moreno and assistant directors fourth-year Patrick Sheck and third-year Maggie Wander, “Random with a Purpose XX” is a beautifully composed production that keeps the annual event a fresh performance, far from a stale recital.

While not overwhelming the audience with the medley, “Random” incorporates an eclectic range of styles. Some pieces are so vibrant and passionate the sound of jaws dropping is virtually audible.

Yuliya Yankina’s contemporary ballet piece “À Pied” was anything but predictable. Charged with dark energy, the piece was thrillingly technical and surprisingly edgy. Featuring two dancers en pointe, Yankina’s piece melds the precision of fine technique with the creativity of modern schools.

Photo by Morgan Grana.

“À Pied” features an allegro style in lieu of the fairytale elegance of slow, controlled movement expected in classical ballet. The desperation and vigor apparent in the dancers’ faces and their sharp and forceful movements to the song “Time Is Running Out” provide a stunning performance. As they demonstrate, attitude is everything among dancers.

Working seamlessly with light management, the dancers’ costumes in “Caught Up in the Sea” play tricks on the eyes. Fear not, they aren’t naked — their bodies are blank canvases and their movements are brushstrokes. Choreographed by Chelsea Wells and Darla MacDonald, the piece is every bit as fluid as droplets of water bouncing off a stage. Effortlessly, flawlessly, each performer undulates through space in ways that leave us wondering how they just leapt, fell, bounced, pitched and rolled, only to repeat the same maneuvers without a hint of fatigue.

While these pieces emphasize the grace of their dancers, Juliet Ulibarri’s “Shadow Possession” abandons all preconceptions of female fragility. Menacingly crawling on stage, hair teased, clothes ripped, the performers are more reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” than dainty dancers. The remixed Radiohead song “Street Spirit” also creates a creepy feel, with dubstep beats lending a dramatic edge to the gravity-defying stunts.

Ulibarri fully grasps the awing effect of gymnastic moves, her dancers lifting each other in the air one moment, dropping backwards and flipping around in the next. Like the undead, the dancers’ faces appear lifeless, a theatrical juxtaposition to their lively movements. The makeup, the costumes, the music, the theatrics, even the facial expressions send up a playful middle finger to traditional dance forms.

Performing to the sounds of bemused applause, “Furrst Meating” employs the art of minimal movement. The music you keep waiting for never plays — performers produce their own sound. Tyler Wardwell’s unique piece adds intrigue to “Random.” Is there a technical difficulty? Why are they sliding across the stage on their backs? What is going on? One thing is certain: “Furrst Meating” is memorable. It’s modern, it’s unique and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Although the variety showcased may seem a bit random, the purpose is to celebrate the triumph of dance. In addition to the power of every gesture, the creativity in every piece, it is the passion of the performers that brings the art to life. After all, do we go to see a dance show? We want to be entertained, mystified and impressed. “Random with a Purpose XX” accomplishes all that and more.

“Random with a Purpose XX” will be showcased at Theater Arts Mainstage on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. through Feb. 26. Tickets can be purchased online at santacruztickets.com, by phone or in person at the UCSC Ticket Office (831-459-2159) and at the Santa Cruz Civic Box Office (831-420-5260). Admission is free for undergraduate UCSC students with valid ID first purchase, $11 general admission, $10 seniors 62+, $10 students with ID.

Illustration by Leigh Douglas

Last November’s news that Eddie Murphy had stepped down as this year’s Academy Awards host prompted much discussion about nothing — which is a shame, given all that can be said about how race and gender play out on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Murphy’s departure came the day after the producer he brought with him to the project, Brett Ratner, left after uttering a homophobic slur on “The Howard Stern Show” (whose official tagline should be “the shameful one-night stand of radio”). Murphy reasoned that although the word choice was regrettable, he couldn’t make the show work the way he wanted without Ratner.

Make no mistake: Murphy’s departure was most devastating to the Academy because of his image. Choosing Murphy gave the 94 percent white, 77 percent male Academy a perceived edge, despite the fact that Murphy’s unpredictable nature faded out with “Daddy Day Care.” He was a route the Academy hadn’t taken since 2005, when Chris Rock did a commendable job deconstructing Hollywood’s pretensions, pulling stunts like interviewing moviegoers at the Magic Johnson Theater in Los Angeles about their personal favorites of the year — never to be asked back as host.

This model Academy — black performer; mostly white, male production team — is strikingly similar to a lot of the past and present films it chooses to honor.

This year’s nominee “The Help” shows the civil rights struggle through the lens of a heroic, young white journalist, who coaxes fearful black housemaids into telling her their stories. The film treats black women much how one might treat a particularly bright young child: They have insight, but it’s always cloaked in insufferably cute and simple language, and even then it comes as a surprise. “The Help” is based on a book written by a white woman, and has a white director and screenwriter. The only people of color exist onscreen, where it has become poor taste to fake one’s background — though apparently that doesn’t matter so much on the other side of the camera.

“The Help” has gotten flak for being as racially problematic as James Cameron’s behemoth blue-people movie “Avatar.” Actors of color play all the Na’vi (read: native) characters in that film, and in the end they’re all led to triumph by a white ex-Marine. Similar problems can be found in Disney’s “Pocahontas,” as well as Kevin Costner’s “Dances with Wolves” — both Oscar winners, interestingly enough.

People of color aren’t the only ones traditionally relegated to offscreen honors. It was wonderfully satisfying to watch Cameron lose to his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for Best Director, making her the first woman ever to win in that category. But it’s telling that to get there, Bigelow had to make “The Hurt Locker,” a war movie with an all-male cast. The Academy couldn’t bear to give one of their precious behind-the-scenes statues to someone with a vagina unless the film had more than the standard dose of machismo.

The most progressive nominations made this year, then, are the ones for “Bridesmaids.” Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo got a screenwriting nod for making a movie about and for women, and Melissa McCarthy’s supporting actress nomination breaks the mold in a category usually reserved for sexy newcomers and blubbering older women. It’s a shame the chances of a win are next to nothing — the Academy isn’t used to rewarding women or minorities for work that isn’t about sexism or racism (just look at “Young Adult,” this year’s most egregious snub), and it certainly wouldn’t deign to give a win to a mainstream comedy.

The Academy chose to replace Murphy with host Billy Crystal, who hasn’t been relevant since he met Sally in 1989. That shouldn’t hinder him, though — not much has changed. And until Hollywood and the Academy can recognize women and people of color for being as important offscreen as on, nothing will.

County Supervisor Mark Stone discusses education and local politics with UCSC students at the Kresge Town Hall. Photo by Kyan Mahzouf.

State Assembly candidate Mark Stone has served as county supervisor since 2003, was a professor of law at the Monterey Naval School, and has been on the California Coastal Commission since 2009. At a Feb. 17 Town Hall on the UCSC campus, he answered questions from the audience about education and criminal sentencing, and gave his reasons for voting against the La Bahia Hotel Project.

City on a Hill Press: You voted against the La Bahia Hotel project this summer, despite its projected economic benefit of generating $700,000 a year, saying it would open the door for future problems. Can you explain your reasoning?

Stone: The Coastal Commission has a responsibility to implement the Coastal Act up and down the state of California. In the case of La Bahia, a local developer wanted to come in and change an existing hotel. The new hotel was taller than the Coastal Commission allows for, so we would have had to make an exception. When a question like this comes up, the Coastal Commission is not inclined to allow for individual changes without a clear justification or without a review of the impact with respect to the plan in general … What often happens is if we allow variance for one project, the same thing will be asked for the next project that comes in.

Audience Question: You’re talking about the need to rethink how education is financed, and one of the main factors contributing to the lack of funding for education is Prop 13, which limited California property taxes and constricted a significant source of education funding. Given that we can’t get rid of Prop 13, how would you suggest we rethink financing?

Stone: I think there are several different ways. Prop 13 did several things, one of which was it kept property taxes low, but it also … prevented us from being able to raise the property taxes on businesses and caused Sacramento to decide how money was spent on education. If the state were to set standards and then give school boards flexibility to meet the community’s standard to some extent, and then let teachers teach rather than tell them how to teach, it will go a long way for efficiency and improving the educational system. We have to change the way testing gets done so it actually benefits the kids, give school districts some flexibility, raise taxes to put more money into the school system and change the way we approve textbooks.

Audience Question: What do you think of the UC president’s proposal to have a commitment from the state for a multi-year funding program so they can predict the tuition in the future?

Stone: I think it’s a good idea. One of the problems with the way public agencies do budgets is we do them on an annual basis. We don’t have the ability to look long-term, so we make poor decisions a lot of the time, which will end up costing that institution a lot more five or ten years from now. I like the idea of multi-year budgeting because you have to look a little bit longer and look at things in terms of investment.

Audience Question: Do you think moving to a two-year budget cycle will do that?

Stone: It won’t do it all the way, but it will help. It’s going to force the institution to look a little further ahead in time.

Audience Question: What strategies do you think would ensure money is being spent well in our education budget?

Stone: Instead of telling teachers how to teach and how to use specific methods, we should take a step back and look at setting standards for performance. If we set standards … for what we expect students to achieve in a certain time, schools are going to be punished. For instance, the biggest learning problem for local schools is spelling. So we bought spelling books for the kids, but because spelling books are not covered by state textbook funding, we had to pay for them with our precious supply of general funding. If the state would simply give us more flexibility for how we teach our kids and not require us to adhere to a strict standard, we would not have this problem.

Audience Question: How do you feel about mandatory minimums for criminal sentencing?

Stone: I really struggle with that because of prison overcrowding, and [we live] in a society that is putting more people in jail for longer amounts of times. Programs that have been working really well here are community-integrated. It is delicate, though, because people get panicky about putting those folks back in the community. But those folks aren’t going to harm the community if we put more attention into monitoring them. By continuing the minimum sentencing, we’re exacerbating the problem and costing ourselves more and more money, because we have to then facilitate more offenders. It’s a way of throwing money at a system that is failing with a recidivism rate of 70 percent in California.

Editor’s Note:

Interested in getting involved in local politics? Interning with a state or federal assemblymember is “the best way for students to stay involved, make a difference, and build your resume and relationships with policymakers and staffers … it is exciting and fun, with invaluable research and constituent response opportunities,” said Adam Spickler, senior field representative to Assemblymember Bill Monning, in an email.

Students can turn in internship applications this year to the office of Assemblymember Bill Monning by emailing a resume and cover letter to his Senior Field Representative, Adam Spickler, at: adam.spickler@asm.ca.gov. And next year, please send a resume to Mark Stone once he gets elected. Mark Stone will have contact information available after December 1, 2012, at: http://asmdc.org/members/a29/.

Students attend a presentation by guest speaker James Fadiman. Fadiman discussed the safe use and history of psychedelic drugs. Photo courtesy of Aviva Wolman.

Editor’s Note: As printed on Feb. 23, Samuel Montero is quoted as saying “There’s a lot of history that cultures have used [psychedelics] recreationally, for religious purposes.” The quote should read, “There’s a lot of history that shows that cultures have used [psychedelics] not simply recreationally, but for religious purposes.” Also, the quote that reads, “The rift between the social sciences is disgusting,” should read instead “The rift between the social sciences and hard sciences is unacceptable.” This piece was updated on Feb. 28 and Oct. 16 to reflect these changes.

The fire marshal would have been angry. With over 350 people at “Shattering Certainty: The Promise and Pitfalls of Psychedelics” Feb. 15, the Humanities Lecture Hall was bursting at the seams.

“How many of you have never taken a psychedelic?” researcher, professor and author James Fadiman asked the audience. A small fraction raised their hands.

Hosted and promoted by the student-led Brain Mind and Consciousness (BMC) Society at UC Santa Cruz, the event’s Facebook page encouraged people to wear “psychedelic attire.” Artwork adorned the walls, provided by Santa Cruz-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), also present.

“You takers are part of a worldwide research group,” Fadiman said. “[Psychedelics] used to be central to Greek culture, Siberia, the indigenous cultures of Latin America … they’ve been illegal in the U.S. for 40 years, but that’s a tiny dot in human history — and it looks like we are rejoining that history.”

Fourth-year Samuel Montero commented on the social relevance of the presentation.

“There’s a lot of history that shows that cultures have used [psychedelics] not simply recreationally, but for religious purposes,” Montero said. “If we had a regulated area where people could use it, I think it would make things safer and more successful all around.”

In 1970, the U.S. Controlled Substances Act classified psychotropic drugs as Schedule I: “No accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.” Alcohol and tobacco are not federally classified as Schedule I.

Fadiman’s book, “The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys,” has been reviewed by Jay Brown of MAPS as “the very best guide that exists on how to prepare for a safe and therapeutic psychedelic journey, with positive psychological transformation as one’s goal.” Copies were sold at the conference.

The presentation mirrored Fadiman’s book, with a history of different psychedelic drugs and their cultural uses, followed by a no-nonsense, straightforward guide to a good trip.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, Fadiman explained the “six critical conditions”: set (how you approach the experience), setting (where you are and what “sensory assists” you have nearby), substance (what you are ingesting and how much of it), sitter (who is with you), session (how much time you set aside for the trip), and situation (how you exit the trip and return to sobriety).

Fadiman also included a dosing guide in his presentation, listing 400 micrograms (mcg) of LSD as the dose required to elicit transcendental experiences, 50 mcg as a “disco-hit,” and 10 mcg a micro dose that “seems to enhance energy and awareness … except rocks don’t glitter and flowers don’t watch you.”

“On the scale of trips, you can have ones like ‘oh’, and you can have ones like ‘whoa!’” Fadiman said. “If you’re going to use these substances, you might as well go for the ‘whoa!’”

Additional topics included Portugal’s broad legalization of substances, potential drawbacks to approaching psychedelics use incorrectly, the American medical model, and the neuroplasticity theory, which hypothesizes that the brain continues to evolve throughout adulthood.

Founder and president of the BMC Andrew Kornfeld spoke to Fadiman at a recent MAPS conference and asked him to be a guest presenter at UCSC.

“We [at the BMC] are not just about psychotropic drugs — this is an aspect of consciousness,” Kornfeld said. “When I’m taking a psychology class, [the other students] don’t understand biology. When I’m taking a biology class, they don’t understand psychology. We’re sick of that. The rift between the social sciences and hard sciences is unacceptable.”

BMC vice president Jessica Heitel discussed the social intent of the presentation.

“We’re bringing together different kinds of people from all walks of study … everyone chipped in to this event,” Heitel said. “[We wanted] to create a community pride atmosphere instead of it being like a lecture.”

A Q&A session among the audience, Fadiman and his panel of colleagues from MAPS followed the presentation.

First-year Nic Zinter commented on the conference’s relevance in Santa Cruz.

“There’s an undeniably big drug culture at UCSC,” Zinter said, “and I think it’s really good to host forums like this to explore the potentials [of psychedelics] and prevent abuse.”

Illustration by Leigh Douglas.

Apparently, all it takes for ESPN to lose their standards of professionalism is for Jeremy Lin to lose a game.

For those who haven’t followed the story, ESPN recently ran a headline on NBA player Lin’s recent loss titled “A Chink in the Armor.” True, ESPN apologized and is conducting a review of its editorial process, which involved firing the editor who chose the headline. But no amount of review can mask the fact that Asian Americans are subjected to levels of casual derision that, applied to any other underrepresented group, would come off as callous and bigoted. It’s this blasé application of racial slurs that is the most troubling in this case.

The New York Times recently ran a piece on the
apparent lack of sensitivity in sports journalism. Its writer, David Carr, elegantly outlined Lin’s career and lamented the fanboy-ism endemic among sports reporters which, unfortunately, manifests itself in racial caricatures on a regular basis. We would take it a step further and
argue those sports reporters — ESPN or otherwise — wouldn’t have made such an egregious misstep had their culture not subtly condoned it. By their culture, we mean ours — the American melting pot that ostensibly celebrates its diversity every chance it gets. If this is what passes for a celebration, we don’t want to be there for the after party.

It’s a two-part gaffe. As a supposedly post-racial culture, we have made casual racism only mildly distasteful. On top of that, racism against Asian Americans hasn’t recieved the same attention as other underrepresented groups.

UCLA student Alexandra Wallace’s racist “Asians in the Library” rant earlier last year serves as a solid
example of how easy it is to take advantage of the
seemingly endless tolerance of America’s “model minority” — a term that has negative connotations in itself. Model, as in modeled after “normal” white Americans? And what does that make other underrepresented groups? Failed models? This is exactly the sort of language that we shouldn’t be using.

Lest we forget, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps during World War II. Yet the American populace at large is remarkably ignorant of the marginalized status of Asian Americans. The well-being of the nation’s underrepresented groups isn’t a matter of convenience, and while it may be slightly hyperbolic to equate the ESPN slur with a hate crime, it stands as an equally abhorrent example of the American sense of
convenient colorblindness.

Asian Americans have a long and involved history within the United States; to trivialize their experiences with a slur like “A Chink in the Armor” is almost more dangerous than outright aggression. Modern racism is increasingly taking this more insidious form, and we need to be ready for it. Racism is alive and well, and ignoring even seemingly minor infractions in political correctness does nothing to hasten its demise.

In 2011 protesters shut down Wall Street, on March 1 protesters will shut down the university, and on March 5 they will shut down the capitol. It is no surprise to the UC Santa Cruz student body that we are in a class struggle for social and economic equality.

Van Jones spoke on campus on Feb. 21 about the economic crisis and his reformation of the American dream.

Jones is a Yale Law School graduate, former advisor to the Obama administration, bestselling author of “The Green Collar Economy,” award-winning pioneer in human rights and clean energy economy, and was dubbed one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009 by TIME magazine.

Charismatic and humorous, Jones described the center of America’s struggle as an economic and cultural task. The notion of the American Dream, he said, is a confused and misinterpreted one that should be transformed to better reflect today’s society.

“There is a thing they call the American Dream,” he said. “This is the notion that everyone in American is going to get as rich as they possibly can. This is not the American dream, but it is the American dance. This dream is a dying dream. This dream is dying, and it should be dying.”

Jones is currently working on an organization called Rebuild the Dream, which focuses on community reformation through traditional techniques, like teach-ins and rallies, as well as digital services like online petitions and viral digital projects. The plan is to reestablish the American dream as something that protects and expands jobs for the middle and lower classes.

UCSC students are part of the new generation in this plan, Jones said.

“The diversity you have in your generation is a miracle in history,” he said. “You have every class, every faith, every race, every gender, and you’re even making new genders. You have all of these things, and you get along pretty well. This diversity, through your generation’s social and political movements, can and will restore prosperity.”

First-year Leilani Salvador is a member of the Cultural Arts and Diversity Program board of directors. Salvador helped organize and sponsor the event.

“One of our goals [with bringing Jones to speak] was to get a more politically diverse community,” Salvador said. “The majority of the politically active communities on campus are ethnically white students. For us to have Jones, who is a politically prominent figure, represented by so many ethnically-based groups really encourages ethnic students to participate in the campus’ political opportunities.”

Dr. Marla Wyche-Hall, director of the African American Resource and Cultural Center, one of the event’s sponsors, said Jones spoke well about the challenges and promises facing our diverse, multicultural generation.

“I think one of the purposes of his speech was to cross boundaries,” she said. “We have to acknowledge the differences between our social and ethnic groups, but, despite this ‘rainbow generation,’ we can still come together and make change.”

Read City on a Hill Press’ exclusive Q&A with Van Jones

Illustration by Christine Hipp

“Putting it simply, California is on the mend.” These were some of the first words of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Jan. 18 State of the State address. Based on the address, we can infer that funding is a top priority for the governor and California right now. Later in Brown’s speech, he mentioned last year’s deficit of $20 billion and assured California residents that cuts and tax increases were temporary and necessary.

“In a world still reeling from the near collapse of the financial system, it makes no sense to spend more than we have,” Brown said.

But also included in his address was a proposal to raise the bar for the grade point average (GPA) necessary to be eligible for a Cal Grant, a part of the California Student Aid Program in California that provides aid to California undergraduates. The minimum GPA was raised from 3.0 to 3.25 for larger Cal Grant awards and from 2.4 to 2.75 for smaller awards. According to Brown’s administration, this change is expected to aid 26,600 fewer students than it has in the past, which will save the state $131 million.

Good intentions aside, this is a further attack on higher education and will lead to decreased accessibility and increased privatization of schools in California. In the name of balancing the state’s budget, Brown has effectively cut off support to a significant portion of students — students whose education he could instead be cultivating to secure the state’s future workers and entrepreneurs. This future workforce will be instrumental in digging our way out of the current financial hole.

Aside from being a misplaced attempt at addressing the financial crisis, this move is also highly classist. Students who need Cal Grant financial aid to attend college are the same students who may be working part-time on top of going to school. They may be working harder than students who don’t need supplementary jobs in order to achieve the GPA necessary for state aid. This will mean these students will have to work even harder to fund their education, and will have an even more difficult time meeting the minimum eligibility requirement. Moreover, students with access to more educational opportunities and support — often those already financially better off than others — will have yet another leg up over their peers in lower income brackets. The proposal could easily make the higher-education playing field far less even than before.

Are we supposed to be able to stomach the fact that this proposal might punish people for their financial situation, especially when such a large number of people in the state are currently suffering in the financial climate? Is higher education returning to its historical, institutional tradition of remaining accessible only to those fortunate enough to afford tuition increases or to be unaffected by this GPA requirement increase?

The nation saw George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy fail not too long ago. Enticing schools by basing funding on test scores punished schools that struggled — mainly with English as a Second Language (ESL) students — and instead of helping those students reach higher goals, the policy had the reverse effect of lowering graduation rates, according to researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Do we want this proposal for raising the GPA bar to discourage students in the same way No Child Left Behind did? No. The state should stabilize its budget with more temporary tax increases and stop attacking higher education in California. Education should be a top priority, with every person having an equal opportunity to succeed — not an easy target for the Brown administration’s budget balancing, and a commodity only to be bought.

Members of the track and field club run laps around the Santa Cruz High School track, monitoring their laps to keep consistent pace times.Photo by Morgan Grana

For many athletes, getting in the school’s record books is the achievement of a lifetime. But for the UC Santa Cruz track and field club, breaking and gaining records is commonplace. They have set 24 records this school year, 14 of them since Jan. 1.

“We count everything,” said head coach Geoff Foley. “If you throw a toaster, that’s a record. And it’s a different record for a four-slice toaster than a two-slice toaster. We just count everything.”

Not everyone takes a lighthearted approach to their athletic prowess. The record-breaking comes with hard work on the field. Practices include long runs and weightlifting before any javelins are thrown or any triple jumps are jumped. Captain Jean Michael Sabile said the record-breaking is part of creating team spirit.

“Breaking records means we’re making progress,” Sabile said. “It’s good motivation for people.”

For athletes like Sabile, the track club offers a flexibility few other sports clubs offer. Sabile said that despite being a relay runner and sprinter, he is learning to throw the javelin on the side. For Sabile, who is a fourth-year neuroscience major, this adds reason to continue working on his track performance, when he could be studying or in the lab.

“It’s not like every track team, as there’s distinction in what you do,” Sabile said, “but not in what you want to do. If you’re a thrower and you want to learn running, we’re totally cool with that. We don’t want to put limits on you.”

For Cabrillo second-year Chelsea Hedenland, the track and field club offers an escape from her busy work life. Currently, Hedenland splits time between full-time babysitting, working at June Bug’s Gym, school and breaking UCSC track records. As one of a select number of Cabrillo students in the track and field club and the only female shot put thrower, Hedenland knows what it’s like to stand out.

“I wish I had another girl to throw against,” Hedenland said. “It’d be fun to tag along with one to events.”

Hedenland, who has broken 12 shot put records this year alone, admits that she can be intimidating to throw against. Earlier in the season, Hedenland threw against two other prospective female throwers from UCSC during a tryout. Hedenland’s performance, though by her own admission not her best, was enough to scare off the potential rivals.

For now, Hedenland’s competition is her brother Drew, who also throws shot put. The siblings hail from a family of throwers, and now battle to see who can break more school records than the other. To date, Drew owns three records, while Chelsea owns 13 records.

For a young club, setting and breaking records helps establish itself on campus. Sabile said breaking records is a result of the team growing from nine people in 2006 to over 100 people, with at least 30 regulars in recent years. The team has gone from having only six meets in 2006, to over 40 meets scheduled for the 2011-12 school year. The team is breaking records at an even faster pace than last year, with 24 records set so far. The team set 52 school records last year.

“While we have definitely gotten better,” Sabile said, “we have room to improve, if you can believe that.”

Illustration by Amanda Alten.

It is said the greatest joy in life is the gift of giving, and what better way to give than to put on your funky shoes and dance the night away?

This is what Slug 2 Slug is all about. A student group committed to building a stronger campus community and a larger sense of school spirit, Slug 2 Slug works to raise school spirit and plans events to unify the student body. Slug 2 Slug’s latest fundraiser is the annual Slugfest dance.

Slugfest will be held at the Stevenson Event Center on Feb. 25 from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. With headliner DJ Savadelic, organizers hope to attract an even bigger crowd than the previous year’s 1,400, which raised over $500 for the UC Santa Cruz undergraduate scholarship fund. Attendance is free, but optional donations will be accepted and proceeds will go toward student scholarships.

Mitchell Bates, Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) intern and fourth-year Cowell student, is the Slug 2 Slug director. Bates said students should not be charged, because first and foremost this event will be a place to have fun.

“People shouldn’t be obligated to give, because I don’t think that’s really what philanthropy is about,” Bates said. “The optional donation is to promote giving without requiring it.”

He said he is focusing on fundraising this year as a way to promote philanthropy and help support student scholarships and other campus programs.

“[The money we raise is] money for students to be more independent instead of having to rely on the state for money,” Bates said. “It’s a way for students to support each other, it’s a way for students to look around and see their fellow Banana Slugs in need and see what they can do to pitch in and help.”

Greg Gerschenson, third-year business management economics major and College Nine student, is promoting and marketing Slugfest to make it an even bigger success.

“The thing that I’ve noticed about our school is the only three events that really draw over 1,000 people are 4/20, the naked run and the OPERS Fall Festival,” he said.

Gerschenson said the level of school spirit at UCSC isn’t as high as it should be, and he hopes to improve on this.

“It’s like that point during freshman year, I feel like everyone has it, where you realize that we don’t have much going on here,” Gerschenson said. “Other schools provide big events that UCSC just really hasn’t been able to provide yet.”

Shayna Kent, UCSC’s director of alumni, student outreach and development and Slug 2 Slug staff advisor, said interaction between students is most important, and is what promotes the school spirit UCSC needs. She said Slug 2 Slug helps build strong relations across campus and strengthen alumni ties to UCSC.

“One of the most important things Slug 2 Slug does is to educate,” Kent said. “I really feel the most effective way to create change is by face-to-face interactions, and that’s what Slug 2 Slug does. Students talking to other students — I think that’s what really matters.”

As Slug 2 Slug’s director, Bates expressed the importance of school spirit and his hopes for the program to progress.

“My hope for Slug 2 Slug next year is that it really continues to be a strong presence on campus,” Bates said. “Hopefully each year we build a little bit on what we’ve done in years past, as long as the legacy of slug philanthropy continues to grow.”

UC Student Regents answer questions about student interaction with the Board of Regents at UCSC Feb. 17. Photo by Mikaela Todd.

For video coverage of this event, check out City on a Hill Press’ section on the website: www.sctv28.com. 

Alfredo Mireles Jr. and Jonathan Stein, the current student regent and student regent-designate, respectively, came to UCSC to talk with students who were interested in becoming the next UC student regent Feb. 17. At this meet and greet, the student regents answered questions regarding the UC system, current events and what their jobs entail. Student regents are appointed by student leaders from each UC campus.

Students asked about the positions and one student remarked that the student regents “are more of a cure, not a prevention for issues that come up.”

“A huge portion of our job is reactive,” Stein said.

Mireles elaborated on the duties of student regents.

“Most student regents come in with a personal agenda of things they want to accomplish,” Mireles said. “But issues more often than not fall into our lap, such as UC San Francisco’s proposition to break away from the UC system.”

UCSF’s bid for autonomy would not be welcomed by the UC Board of Regents, Mireles said. But most of UCSF’s budget comes from outside sources, such as grants and other funding. Only 1 percent comes from actual tuition and 4 percent comes from the state.

In the meeting, the student
regents focused their discussion on the protest slated for March 5 and the UC-backed rally on May 17, both taking place in the capitol. Both protests will focus on lobbying against any further budget cuts in Sacramento.

The March 5 protest is organized by the leaders of the UC Student Association (UCSA).

KZSC, UCSC’s radio station, asked what the UC student regents’ expectations for the May 17 rally were.

“Students are wary, and understandably so,” Stein said. “There is no communication from the regents, so students ask, ‘Why should we take part?’”

The student regents have been making an effort to get the regents to come to campuses and talk to students. But they say it’s an uphill battle.

“For the most part, the regents are not interested in visiting and listening to students,” Stein said.

It is clear that Stein and Mireles go against the grain of such tradition, being students themselves.

But not every member on the UC Board of Regents believes in a hands-off approach to running the UC system. The new chair of the board, Sherry Lansing, has shown that she is willing to go above and beyond the examples her predecessors and colleagues have set, the regents said.

“She is going to every university in the UC system to speak with students, which is unheard of,” Stein said. “She is also trying to convince the other regents to come to the universities to meet with students.”

Stein has been working on a project that strives to improve the “campus climate” across UC campuses.

“Campus Climate involves outreach to the different communities across the UC, such as minority groups and LBGT,” Stein said. “We want students to feel comfortable on campus. We want them to feel welcome.”

At Berkeley, Stein has also been key in implementing a campus climate survey.

“My goal is to make a system-wide Campus Climate group, where all campuses can share their ideas for making a better university,” Stein said.

While some students see the regents as the source of tuition problems, the student regents say the regents are only reacting to the larger issue at hand.

“We need to demand more money from the state,” Stein said. “The state is going to discuss some tax initiatives so that they can increase their revenue. The regents are financially conservative, for the most part. We need to convince them that while they may be against the tax initiatives in their personal lives, as part of their job they need to endorse it wholeheartedly.”

The March 5 and May 17 protests call for the same thing: more money from the state. Mireles believes that it is time to fight back against these budget cuts.

“We’ve been playing defense, because that’s what you have to do until the economy recovers,” Mireles said. “But May 17 is our opportunity to play offense.”

The student regents have a lot on their plates, but are excited to be a part of this period in UC history.

“This is a historical moment in the UC,” Mireles said. “Students are realizing their own power, their own voice, and are using it.”

Illustration by Christine Hipp

After months of posters plastered over signposts, chalk on sidewalk, and graffiti on walls, March 1 is almost here.

The March 1 protest will be a lead-up to the March 5 protest in Sacramento, which aims to give students the opportunity to lobby against cuts to higher education and lobby for tax initiatives to prevent those cuts.

Noah Miska, one of the many UCSC General Assembly members organizing the protest, said collaboration would be the key to the event’s success.

“[It is about] focusing energy from the Occupy movement into a series of mass mobilizations to push for the re-funding of social services in California,” Miska said.

The March 1 protest has attracted international attention as well.

“March 1 has snowballed into an international day of action, with reports of solidarity actions being organized as far away as Korea and Sudan,” Miska said. “The biggest teachers’ union in the UK, representing some 200,000 instructors, is also going on strike for March 1.”

Protesters at UC Santa Cruz intend to block the entrances to the campus and erect a university of tents at the base of campus. There will be food, discussions and activities like workshops and skill-shares, throughout the day.

Miska ties the “tent university” to the Occupy movement.

“The tents are partly for shelter and partly symbolic of the connection between the UC budget crisis and the socioeconomic inequality highlighted by the Occupy movement,” Miska said. “The budget crisis is a result of the fact that this university is managed by and for the 1 percent. What would a university run by and for the 99 percent look like? The tent university is an opportunity to begin finding answers to that question.”

Protesters plan to block campus entrances and let only essential personnel like medical staff and emergency vehicles past in hopes of shutting down UCSC.

Miska said a large act of protest like shutting down campus for a day really captures people’s attention.

“When we do big things, they hear about it,” Miska said. “If the first is big, the fifth will be bigger. We feed each other’s fires.”

While the planned protest has gotten significant attention, some students are apathetic about the protest.

“My favorite thing about these kinds of protests is that I get to stay home and sleep really late,” said Zach Hammond, a third-year Porter student.

“Even if I still have class, I’m not such a dedicated student that I will walk up two miles of hills with no buses,” he said.

Some feel that the Day of Action won’t draw enough attention.

“Nobody gives a fuck about our fees,” said second-year Sheila Allen-Cooley.

Despite this, Allen-Cooley said students need to protest against the tuition hikes caused in part by these state budget cuts.

“If I wanted to pay this amount of money, I would’ve gone to a private college,” Allen-Cooley said. “I think it is rude of them to charge for classes when I feel like I have to teach myself.”

Miska doesn’t anticipate police action on March 1 as long as protesters do what they say they will. For students who want to get involved and stand against tuition hikes and budget cuts, all you have to do is show up, Miska said.

“It’s going to be an epic day,” he said.