By VINCE BASADA — campus@theaggie.org

United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811, the union representing academic workers across the 11 UC campuses, called on union members at UC Davis and UC Los Angeles to strike starting on Tuesday, May 28. This will be the second round of campuses to join the strike, following workers at UC Santa Cruz who began on May 20.

The union — composed of 48,000 teaching assistants, graduate students, postdocs, researchers, some undergraduates and other academic workers — is calling on members of selected campuses to stop all work-related duties, including teaching discussions, grading papers and conducting research. Striking members would picket and hold rallies upon the return from the Memorial Day weekend, similar to actions taken on the UCSC campus earlier this week.

In calling for a strike, UAW 4811 has cited several unfair labor practices (ULPs), including the University of California’s alleged failures in preventing attacks on the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA and arresting an approximate 200 students and academic workers on May 1 and 2. The union has also taken issue with the university’s decisions to make “unilateral changes” affecting members’ workplaces and safety, as well as for disciplining and calling police on UAW members engaging in peaceful protests for workplace changes.

“The regents and office of the president [need to] take leadership to make sure that the situation is deescalated, because this is one university system and it is their job to make sure that it’s functioning well,” Emily Weintraut, a Ph.D. student in the UC Davis Food Science Graduate Group and UAW 4811 Davis Academic Student Employee unit chair, said.  “We’re ready. If they want to prevent an entire UC-wide strike, then it’s up to them to take action.”

5,700 workers are covered by the UAW at UC Davis, according to Weintraut.

The unions’ strike authorization vote was held from May 13 to 15 and passed with a supermajority. Weintraut did not go into detail on how the board and union leadership would choose which, and when, campuses would be called to strike.

On Friday, May 17, the University of California filed an injunction request which argued that the union’s strike was illegal. 

“Allowing the strike to continue will cause the University and its students irreparable harm — UAW members play a critical role in year-end activities like teaching, grading, and ongoing time-sensitive research,” one UC statement released Tuesday, May 21 read. “UAW’s strike is unlawful because the goal is to pressure the University to concede to a list of politically motivated demands closely linked to the protests occurring across California and the nation.”

On Thursday, May 23, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) rejected the University of California’s injunction request. 

PERB said that the university “did not meet the threshold required for [them] to intervene,” according to an LA Times article. 

UAW workers previously striked in November 2022 to demand better wages and benefits. The contract dispute was resolved that December.

This story is developing, check back for updates. Last updated: May 24 (10:35 a.m.)

Written by: Vince Basada — campus@theaggie.org

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By AALIYAH ESPAÑOL-RIVAS — campus@theaggie.org

On Feb. 10, UC Davis hosted its annual Biodiversity Museum Day which consisted of multiple collections of biodiversity exhibits. Open to students and the public, the free event allowed attendees to choose between 10 different exhibits spread throughout campus. Exhibits featured topics such as entomology, botany and plant diversity.

In the Bohart Museum of Entomology exhibit, attendees were greeted with rows of booths featuring various insects and animals. Student interns were also there to provide insightful information for anyone who stopped by. In some booths, participants were allowed to hold and feel various insects, allowing for a hands-on learning experience. 

Student Intern Guenever Hall, a second-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major, enjoyed seeing all of the excitement visitors had for the animals and insects on display. 

“I like seeing how interested everyone is, because it’s not often people see all these kinds of animals just out and have the opportunity to touch them,” Hall said.

Hall’s booth was dedicated to the Lunar New Year and displayed species that exhibited different aspects of a dragon: the Chinese zodiac animal for 2024. To achieve this, the booth displayed pictures and models of carp, catfish, eagle talons, deer antlers and a rattlesnake.

As for attendees, Alejandra Mercado, a third-year linguistics major, enjoyed how knowledgeable all of the interns were and how they provided a fun experience at every exhibit.

“The student interns seem really interested in the topics they know,” Mercado said. “They just love to share their knowledge, and I love to learn […] about things I don’t know about.” 

In addition, Mercado also enjoyed the free horse-drawn carriage rides the event offered. The rides took visitors between the entomology exhibit in the Academic Surge and the plant diversity exhibit at Katherine Esau Science Hall. 

“I was freaking out like, ‘Oh my god, this was the first time I’ve seen [horse-drawn carriages] on campus,’” Mercado said. “I thought I wouldn’t get the opportunity to [take them], but we could, and the workers were super nice.” 

In addition to student interns, the event also had various volunteers. Nazzy Pakpour, a UC Davis alumna who studied entomology and completed a postdoctoral working with mosquitos, explained that she wanted to volunteer to give back to the Bohart Museum and the community. 

“I love interacting with the public and seeing people that are not normally geeked about insects get super geeked about insects,” Pakpour said. “I love supporting the museum because it’s been so supportive of my career in all of its different stages.” 

Looking toward the future, participants expressed their hope to return next year and encouraged students to do the same. Ana Machado Perez, a fourth-year psychology and human development double major, said that it was important for students to attend Biodiversity Museum Day because it’s a special opportunity for students who don’t regularly learn about science.

“We have such a special opportunity to see all these animals,” Perez said. “There is so much nature all around us, and if you don’t take classes talking about it, you may never learn about it. It’s important to learn about the different disciplines Davis has, even if [they aren’t] your major.” 

Written by: Aaliyah Español-Rivas — campus@theaggie.org

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By LILY FREEMAN — campus@theaggie.org

June 29 marked a historic decision made by the Supreme Court that deemed the use of affirmative action in college admissions unlawful. The decision, according to the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., ruled race-based admission policies at both Harvard and the University of North Carolina a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. 

“The Harvard and U.N.C. admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause,” Chief Justice Roberts said in the majority opinion. “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.” 

The consideration of race in college admissions was banned in California 27 years ago through Proposition 209, meaning that University of California will not be directly impacted by this ruling. However, in response to the Supreme Court decision, University of California (UC) President Michael Drake issued a statement that began with the following.

“We are disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to bar the use of race in college admissions, a valuable practice that has helped higher education institutions increase diversity and address historical wrongs over the past several decades,” Drake said.

In his statement, Drake also said that a diverse student body leads to enhanced quality of instructional and educational outcomes, community benefits and fairness. 

“The consideration of race was not the conclusive solution to inequities in college admissions, but it was a necessary pathway to addressing systemic deficiencies,” Drake said. “Without it, we must work much harder to identify and address the root causes of societal inequities that hinder diverse students in pursuing and achieving a higher education.”

Drake’s statement concluded with the notion that student diversity remains a top priority for the University of California, even in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. 

“The University of California continues to work to create clearer pathways to college and to address inequality in admissions,” Drake said. “We stand ready to share our expertise and lessons learned as we collaborate with our partners to achieve a higher education landscape that reflects the rich diversity of our nation.”

  UC Davis Chancellor Gary May also issued a response to the ruling.

“In track and field, the ‘staggered start’ is a mechanism used to account for the fact that runners in the outer lanes of the track have a longer distance to run than those in the inner lanes,” May said in his statement. “Like the staggered start, affirmative action is intended to account for historical inequities experienced by marginalized communities in higher education and other endeavors. Today, the Supreme Court has decided that this tool is no longer appropriate.”

May’s statement went on to say that opportunities available for underrepresented students may become fewer as a result of the decision to end affirmative action. 

“I worry that underrepresented students of color and women will find more challenges and obstacles on their way to fields like mine, engineering, and in other science and technology fields,” May said. “Without programs that engage students early in their education and encourage them to persist in fields they may not have seen as available to them, our nation may further neglect nurturing intellectual diversity and promote a lack of inclusivity. That takes the country backward, not forward.”

Regardless of the decision to end the use of race in college admissions, according to May’s statement, UC Davis will “continue to provide equitable access to all Californians.”

“We are committed to the notion that a college degree holds a transformative power to shape a person’s life, no matter what their background or circumstances are and no matter what barriers they may face in their academic journey,” May said. “No more stagger? We’ll just have to run faster.” 

Written by: Lily Freeman — campus@theaggie.org

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By SYDNEY AMESTOY — campus@theaggie.org 

ASUCD’s second annual Pride Festival is returning to the Memorial Union Quad on June 2 from 3-8 p.m.

The event will feature numerous vendors selling crafts and food, along with a performance by the student pole dancing club and shows from local drag queens, according to fourth-year American studies and neurobiology, physiology and behavior double major Emma Bishoff.

Bishoff, along with second-year communication major Hallie Wong, are this year’s ASUCD Pride Festival co-chairs. The two have been working throughout the year to organize June’s event, which is new to UC Davis as of last year.

Some of the tasks that went into organizing this year’s festival included gathering student volunteers to help table and run the event, as well as bringing in new vendors and entertainment not featured at the inaugural event. 

“This year, it’s bigger,” Bishoff said. “I would say [there are] aspects of the festival that are unique to the queer and trans community like drag performance. We’re also having tarot readers come, and we’re having a Henna artist. So we’re having a lot of activities.”

Many of the vendors being brought in are local, according to Wong.

“This event also provides a platform for local businesses and small businesses owned by queer and trans individuals,” Wong said.

The Pride Festival was recently designated an ASUCD unit. Last year, it was organized by the ASUCD Gender and Sexuality Commission with a relatively small budget, but this year, it was granted a budget of $10,000.

“[The budget] definitely alleviated a lot of the stress, because last year, we didn’t have [much] funding, and nobody believed in the event because it had never happened,” Bishoff said. “[Now] it was like people had confidence in us, which was nice. We could take a little bit of a deep breath.”

Pride Month at UC Davis is celebrated throughout the month of May, rather than the nationally recognized month of June, because of the fact that many students aren’t in Davis over the summer. ASUCD and the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center have been putting on numerous events throughout the month so far. 

The LGBTQIA+ Resource Center’s events were themed around ‘Rage and Resilience,’ which Bishoff said was inspired by the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City.

The festival is not a part of the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center’s May Pride Month events, but according to Bishoff, it shares the same themes of resilience.

“Right now, in our country, we’re at a very important moment,” Bishoff said. “The people who are standing up and saying we are proud of this community, and we are here to support it, I think that every chance we have to do that, we must. This event is not just to be fun and celebratory. It’s also a protest [to say], ‘We are we are here, we are we exist, we matter and we’re going to take up space.’”

Both Wong and Bishoff emphasized what they see as the importance of an event like this, both for the LGBTQIA+ community on campus and individually. According to Wong, her attendance at last year’s Pride as a freshman was one of the main factors that encouraged her to take on the co-chair position. 

“Celebrating and uplifting the queer and trans community and just knowing that I can contribute or help contribute this year, I’m incredibly honored to be a part of this new tradition,” Bishoff said. “I’m super excited and proud of this event and I hope it carries on forever.”

Written by: Sydney Amestoy — campus@theaggie.org 

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By RACHEL GAUER— campus@theaggie.org

Choir students and members of the UC-AFT union are calling for the reinstatement of Erik Peregrine, who currently serves as the director of choirs and as a lecturer in music at UC Davis. Peregrine, who identifies as transgender and uses they/them pronouns, initially signed a two-year contract in 2022. However, when the department gained permission and funding to create a tenured faculty position for the role, they terminated Peregrine’s contract and conducted a national search for the new position, eventually selecting a different candidate.

Peregrine first began as a lecturer in the Music Department at the beginning of fall quarter 2021. According to a timeline created by Katie Caceres, who is a second-year environmental policy analysis and planning major and a student of Peregrine’s, Peregrine initially worked under a one-year contract that was meant to be reevaluated at the end of the academic year. At this time, according to Caceres, the university then granted them a two-year contract that was set to last from 2022-2024.

This past January, Peregrine was notified that the position was going to be turned into one with a tenured track. As a result, Peregrine would have to re-apply for the position alongside the other candidates, effectively terminating their original two-year contract because of the nature of the new position being offered.

Laurie San Martin, a professor in the Music Department and the Chair of Music at UC Davis, provided a comment on the situation. She noted that when hiring for a tenured faculty position like this, the department is required to conduct a national search and open the role up to other candidates. 

“Erik Peregrine has done a wonderful job with the choirs at UC Davis these past six quarters,” San Martin said via email. “Last fall, the dean’s office granted permission for the music department to conduct a search for a tenure-track faculty member, who would serve as director of the choirs. […] The final four candidates (one of whom was Erik Peregrine) were all very impressive. The search committee ultimately chose Nicolás Dosman for the position, and the department agreed with this choice. ”

Caden O’Flaherty, a third-year sociology major who identifies as transgender, has participated in choir courses with Peregrine for the past four quarters. O’Flaherty said that they sent a recommendation to the department chair to encourage the rehiring of Peregrine on Jan. 28, but said that their email recommendation received no direct response. 

Later in the interview process, Peregrine was asked to present their research at a presentation that was open to students. Caceres said that the student turnout and student support for the professor were significant. 

“A bunch of other students and I all attended,” Caceres said. “It was so full, to the point where we had to bring in extra chairs.” 

At the event, students were asked for their contact information to be involved in the remainder of the hiring process. Caceres and several of her classmates provided the department with the information. 

“A staff member came up to us and asked us to put our names and emails on a notepad if we wished to be involved in the rest of the hiring process,” Caceres said. “I put my information down and later heard nothing.” 

The department said that it was very open to receiving and considering student feedback during the search process, and received a variety of responses, which it says it took under consideration.

In mid-February, shortly after the hiring process began, Peregrine was notified that they were not going to be rehired for the position. The students within the department were not notified until Peregrine informed their students on April 12. 

Throughout both their career at the university as well as throughout the hiring process, Peregrine cited experiencing various instances of misgendering and transphobia within the department. In April of 2022, Peregrine said that their pronoun sign by the door of their office was vandalized. 

“My ‘they/them’ pronouns were scratched through with a thumbtack, ” Peregrine said. 

“I reported a hate crime through Harassment & Discrimination Assistance and Prevention Program (HDAPP) and never received any follow-up from the university.”   

Peregrine also attributed not being rehired for the position primarily to “discomfort” surrounding Peregrine’s gender identity from Mika Pelo, the chair of the search committee. 

“[Pelo] misgendered me in multiple settings during the process, including the final interview with the full faculty,” Peregrine said. “No one else in the room — all my current colleagues — interrupted him to correct, so I did. I believe that his discomfort with my gender is a primary reason that I was not offered the position.” 

In response to Peregrine’s accusations, Mika Pelo acknowledged his misgendering of Peregrine but denied the accusation of this being a recurring problem.  

“I did misgender them once during the interview, and immediately emailed them to apologize,” Pelo said. “They accepted the apology. […] That I misgendered them multiple times, is an outright lie. […] I would never mean any mal-intent by mistakenly using the wrong pronoun. I think many like me, with English as a secondary language, would understand why this unfortunately can happen.”

Previously, Peregrine used both he/him and they/them pronouns, and Pelo said that prior to the interview process, he had read an outdated online biography for Peregrine which listed both sets of pronouns. However, Peregrine said that their Music Department biography was, at some point, changed to include these now incorrect pronouns without their knowledge or consent. 

Peregrine commented on their initial reaction to the termination of their contract and how they believe the decision will affect other lecturers in the union at the UC. 

“I was shocked when my contract was terminated early and without any conversation involving me about my future at UC Davis,” Peregrine said. “My union (UC-AFT) fought so hard to finally win multi-year contracts for lecturers beginning this academic year. My layoff is a direct affront to that agreement between UC-AFT and the University of California, and it sets a very dangerous precedent for all lecturers teaching at a UC campus.” 

Within the timeline Caceres compiled, she recounted the treble ensemble’s general reaction to Peregrine’s announcement. 

 “[Their students] were shocked, and some immediately started asking what they could do to help, or even reverse the decision,” Caceres wrote. “This is a testament to how loved Dr. Peregrine is, and what an amazing director they are.”

In response to Peregrine’s dismissal from the university, UC-AFT, the union that represents Unit 17 and Unit 18 throughout the UC system, published a petition that calls for the reinstatement of Peregrine. The petition says that the alleged issues of contract violation and gender discrimination-related incidents have not been “properly address[ed]” by the university. As of May 15, 1,577 signatures were collected on the petition in support of Peregrine’s reinstatement. 

  Mika Pelo provided a concluding statement regarding the backlash he has received from the university’s hiring decision, and gave Peregrine well wishes for the future of their career. 

 “Anyone can slip up, and I did, and then I apologized,” Pelo said. “I think this says more about Erik than me, unfortunately. I wish Erik all the best for the future, and harbor deep respect and gratitude for [their] work.”

O’Flaherty commented on the way they feel the university has handled the rehiring process from a student perspective. 

“There is something inarguably wrong about the way that the university has conducted this whole process,” O’Flaherty said. “We as a community have been asking for answers from the department chair and the chair of the search committee and have gotten nothing. There has been so much ambiguity as to why this is happening and why Erik wasn’t chosen.”

Peregrine commented that they feel speaking about this situation may help other lecturers and specifically transgender people in academia in the future. 

“Regardless of the outcome, I hope that awareness of my situation can contribute to illustrating a larger picture of how both lecturers and transgender people are mistreated within the UC system,” Peregrine said. “If we stay quiet, if we let our voices go unheard, it will remain extremely difficult to identify system-level problems for what they are. Lecturers deserve the job security we’ve been promised, and trans people deserve supportive, or at the bare minimum, non-hostile, work environments. I feel an ethical responsibility to use my experiences here to create greater accountability, equity and positive change.”

Written by: Rachel Gauer  — campus@theaggie.org

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By KAYA DO-KHANH — campus@theaggie.org

The UC Davis Office of Sustainability and the ASUCD Environmental Policy and Planning Commission (EPPC) planned a number of activities and events for the campus community to celebrate Earth Week. Both partnered with The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) to present the Earth Week Challenge, which provides a list of challenges from four different categories: food and waste, water, energy reduction and education. Some of the challenges listed include using one’s organics as fertilizer, going vegan, binging climate change and sustainability films and only walking or biking for a week. Community members were encouraged to join the event and challenge others to participate through social media. 

The EPPC hosted two events on campus for Earth Week, starting with a seminar speaker event on April 18 by environmental lawyer and UC Davis Professor Tracy Windsor about the basics of environmental law and specific cases she has worked on. The event was successful and received positive feedback, according to fourth-year environmental science and management major and former EPPC Chairperson Mackenzie Field. The second event was a campus clean-up on Earth Day.

“We hosted a speaker event because responses to our Environmental Justice Survey Report from Fall 2022 indicated that more students wanted to learn about environmental justice,” Field said via email. “We are hosting a clean-up event to make a direct, positive impact on our campus. I hope the community continues to engage in sustainability throughout the year, not just during Earth Week.”

The EPPC also partnered with the UC Davis Office of Sustainability on the Cool Campus Challenge, a competition between UC Berkeley and UC Davis to claim the title of the “greenest campus.” The competition is running from April 3 to April 28 and encourages students to engage in climate-friendly actions to reduce their carbon footprints. Field said that there has been more engagement in the challenge this year than in previous years. 

“We hope the competition will gain more traction during Earth Week when students are more consciously aware of their environmental impact,” Field said. 

This month, the Office of Sustainability is promoting their Sustainability Champion Awards nominations for their Sustainability Summit on June 2, which is an opportunity for people on campus to recognize their peers who are environmental leaders on campus, according to Engagement Program Manager for UC Davis Sustainability Carla Fresquez. 

Fresquez also highlighted the Office of Sustainability’s recent partnership with Student Housing and Dining Services to give out free, reusable utensil sets to the campus community. There was a reusable utensil giveaway on April 18 at the CoHo and another on April 19 at the Student Community Center for the UC Davis Farmers Market’s Earth Week celebration. Fresquez said that the reusable utensil giveaways have been well received by both students and staff. 

“That has been a campaign that I have been really excited to see the response to,” Fresquez said. “We have been getting so many inquiries about how people can get their hands on one of these sets and how they can make these sets available to their whole departments so that they no longer need to purchase disposable items for break rooms and offices.” 

Written by: Kaya Do-Khanh — campus@theaggie.org

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By LILY FREEMAN — campus@theaggie.org

With hotter summers and wetter winters on the horizon, the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is working toward adapting all trees on campus to Davis’s weather conditions. The Texas Tree Trials, a research project created by the Urban Tree Stewardship internship program, is an effort to improve the resilience of the UC Davis tree canopy, according to its website. 

Nurjannah Wiryadimejo, a fourth-year environmental science and management major and co-coordinator of the internship, provided more detail about the project. 

“Our trees on campus are not currently prepared for the climate that is oncoming, as many can see — with the recent storm event, a lot of the trees fell down on campus,” Wiryadimejo said. “Keeping that in mind, we came up with this idea of going to Texas and getting seeds of certain trees that match the changing climate in Davis. Our team brought those trees back here, germinated them in our nursery and planted these trees all around campus, which has become our living lab.” 

According to Wiryadimejo, Texas was the best place to collect seeds because the state shares a similarly expected future climate of Davis and is home to a wide range of trees that are well equipped to handle droughts, storms and certain soil types. 

Sam Vitt, a fourth-year environmental science and management major and the other co-coordinator of the internship, outlined the timeline of the project. The collection of tree samples took place in 2019 and since then, the group has been planting trees across campus and monitoring them each spring. 

“We [want to] see what we can take away from these trees, asking whether or not they can survive on our campus in our future urban tree canopy,” Vitt said. 

There are several plots located around campus, but the main research grove is near the Mondavi Center. 

Wiryadimejo explained the difference between the trees that have previously grown across campus and the ones that have been planted as part of the project. 

“Redwoods are very prevalent on our campus,” Wiryadimejo said. “If you look at our redwoods, they do not appear very healthy. If we’re being realistic, redwoods need so much water and they thrive on fog and constant irrigation, and that doesn’t work with our climate. With that, we’re leaning towards cypress [trees] that give off the feel of redwoods but are more drought tolerant and can handle acidic soils.” 

Vitt described the process of planting these cypress trees, noting that they recently planted a group of Arizona cypress trees between the stumps of redwoods that were recently cut down near Meyer Hall. 

“Now, there are all of these little baby trees that will hopefully one day cover up the ugly parking lot where the redwoods once stood,” Vitt said. 

To allow the community to learn more about the trees, according to Vitt, the internship program created a database that describes each tree, its potential on campus, why it is important for urban forestry and why it was chosen for the Texas Tree Trials. 

The Texas Tree Trials project is funded by both the Arboretum and Public Garden and The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF), according to Wiryadimejo. She said that a vast amount of the funding that has allowed them to transform the campus tree landscape has come from TGIF, which will appear on the ballot in the 2023 spring ASUCD elections in the form of a fee referendum that would provide continued funding for the project. 

The Urban Tree Stewardship, through the Texas Tree Trials, has planted over 250 trees this school year with the help of the internship team and several volunteer tree-planting events. 

Mara Feldman, a second-year environmental science major, described her experience as a volunteer for Urban Tree Stewardship. 

“It was a super rewarding experience since the trees we were planting were picked for their drought-resistant qualities,” Feldman said. “This is super important in the changing climate we’re experiencing. As an environmental science major, I know how critical it’s going to be in the coming years to adapt to climate change and do our best to help out where we can.” 

The project is ongoing, according to Wiryadimejo, and the Urban Tree Stewardship program plans to continue to monitor the growth of these trees until their full maturation, which could take anywhere from 20 to 50 years. 

“Our internship applications open up over the summer for the next school year and we will announce [them] on the Arboretum website and Instagram page,” Wiryadimejo said. “We also have a ton of community tree-planting events coming where you can volunteer to plant trees, typically during fall and winter quarter.”

Vitt concluded by saying that her experience with the project so far has been “so rewarding,” both personally and through seeing volunteers and interns enjoy themselves and their work.

“I just really enjoy that we get to see these trees that we planted and the impact that they are making […] both on students and for our changing campus climate,” Vitt said.

Wiryadimejo also described the joy she has in watching others get excited about the project. 

“It is so cool to be able to teach people something new,” Wiryadimejo said. “I love seeing the glitter in people’s eyes when they plant their first tree.” 

Written by: Lily Freeman — campus@theaggie.org

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By JADE BELL — campus@theaggie.org

A patient satisfaction survey conducted by Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) during the summer of 2020 revealed that one of the main deterrents of students seeking out medical care at the SHCS facility was the required weight measurement at appointments. As a result, SHCS created and implemented of a new policy that allows students to decline being weighed if it is not necessary to their appointment purpose.

Shantille Connolly, a health promotion specialist at SHCS, explained the details and results of this survey.

“We are tracking the number of people who have opted out of being weighed,” Connolly said. “So far, in this school year, 318 students declined to be weighed when they came in for an appointment. In fall quarter, we were using a card system […], but now we changed it to where the MA just asks, ‘Would you like to be weighed today?’ And then the patient can say yes or no.”

Connolly said that in February, before the change was implemented, only around 15 students took advantage of the card to decline to be weighed. By comparison, when the new practice was implemented in March, 137 students declined to be weighed. 

“It really shows that when you change the practices of an organization, it increases access and gives the patients more autonomy,” Connolly said.

Medically speaking, according to Connolly, it’s not always necessary to weigh a student if that’s not the main point of their appointment. However, she noted that in instances where an exact weight is necessary, it will now be recorded in a way that allows the patients to remain unaware of the number on the scale.

“Some medications are weight-based in order for them to effectively work, so we do have the option for a blind weight,” Connolly said. “[This] is where they turn their back toward the scale, so they don’t have to see the number. [The MA] would tell the patient that the medication they are in for is weight-based, so they need an accurate weight to prescribe the correct dosage.”

In addition to the measures being implemented by SHCS, Connolly said that similar steps are being taken across campus to “build and maintain a body-inclusive environment.” She attributed some of this to a response to student feedback collected via the free response survey that SHCS ran. 

“The bookstore, for example, was talked about a lot for not having a variety of sizes available,” Connolly said. “Keep in mind that this was in 2020, so things have changed — they have changed their clothing vendors specifically to go with clothing vendors who have a wide variety of sizes. The bookstore is trying to be more intentional about that […] as a result of the survey.”

SHCS also received feedback from students in regards to how they felt in classroom spaces, in particular, how lecture hall seating affected their mental health and academic performance.

“We just did a pilot [program] in Olson Hall,” Connolly said via email. “We wanted to know how classroom seating that was not size-inclusive was negatively impacting students’ mental health. And we found that students were really anxious and stressed about coming to class because they couldn’t find seats that fit their body [and] couldn’t focus because they were in seats that were digging into their sides or they couldn’t position their laptop or iPad to take notes appropriately. So it impacted their academic performance and just overall sense of belonging.”

Connolly addressed these issues by sharing what campus policy updates are being made to better accommodate all bodies in classroom seating.

“We did update the campus policy — all new furniture that is purchased should be at least 400 pounds in weight capacity, 22 inches wide and armless whenever possible,” Connolly said. “That policy was enacted before the Teaching and Learning Complex was complete, so all the furniture in there complies with that policy.” 

Written by: Jade Bell — campus@theaggie.org

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By JADE BELL — campus@theaggie.org

We’ve all had it happen to us — two minutes until an assignment is due, you finish it, go to Canvas to turn it in and then, at the critical moment, your device disconnects from Eduroam. In the digital age, and especially post-COVID, much of an education at UC Davis relies on technology — from Zoom lectures and online office hours to Canvas homework submissions and quizzes. So when this technology fails, it can be frustrating. But what does it really take to manage a Wi-Fi network that serves more than 50,000 people?

Neeraj Chauhan, the Associate CIO of Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS), explained the system of Wi-Fi management on campus — an effort to facilitate the connection of more than 40,000 devices.

“On average, it’s about 43,000 devices connected to our Wi-Fi networks,” Chauhan said. “We look at resolving Wi-Fi in multiple different ways. [When you report] Wi-Fi issues on campus, we narrowly focus on you and what is going on with your setup. We are very aware when you run into Wi-Fi issues, but most of the time people aren’t reporting it. We don’t blame you; you’re either in class or doing something important, so you just want to get going.”

Chauhan went on to say that students should feel free to contact IET (information and educational technology) support “for Wi-Fi connection issues big and small.”

“If you do report it, we will interact with you and figure out very specifically what is happening with your device,” Chauhan said. “We also constantly monitor this coverage proactively on campus. [If] our sensors are saying there is some fatal connection [in one area], we proactively try to look at what we can do.”

Chauhan said that in addition to any issues on their end, failed Wi-Fi connections can sometimes be due to device hardware — even new hardware.

“There can be multiple reasons for the [Wi-Fi] scenario to be happening,” Chauhan said. “It could be with Mac’s new M2 chip, which has a known issue with Wi-Fi. Apple is trying to get that resolved. We try to publish information like that through our service desk to get the word out. If you have the newer Macbook, you might run into an issue where it just drops your connection, or it shows you’re connected, but you have no internet.”

With the hardware issue in mind, Chauhan said that IET services has begun replacing old hardware in major campus locations.

“We’re constantly replacing hardware,” Chauhan said. “The library has been completely replaced, and we’ve added more access points to the library to increase coverage. The Student Community Center is next week because we know this is where the students congregate the most. The MU is the other one.”

In addition, Chauhan said that campus’s routers have been updated to help maintain user capacity. They also have a system of sensors that automatically and consistently check Wi-Fi connection on campus.

“With Wi-Fi, we look at multiple approaches,” Chauhan said. “One is keeping our gear up to date. We are doing a major refresh this year and then we should be good for most of the Wi-Fi routers on campus for the next five years. [Two] is us proactively monitoring. So if you experience an issue, we experience it. We’ve been deploying sensors; these little machines that connect to the nearest Wi-Fi over and over again. If they experience what you experience, it is recording it and going deeper and understanding what is happening.”

Chauhan said that EIS team tries to communicate with students, letting them know via email when there might be a long outage and providing suggestions for alternatives to utilize in the meantime. 

“The other connection you might use is your [phone] hotspot if you have it, but cellular coverage on campus isn’t great, especially if there are many people congregating in one area,” Chauhan said. “Our campus facilities are doing a study to see what we can do to make the cellular coverage more robust. Our job is always looking at what we can do to have reliable service.”

When Wi-Fi is being fixed, according to Chauhan, service changes must be done in certain windows of time to reduce class disruption; namely, between school quarters or over the summer.

“The issue is that we can’t interrupt teaching, learning and research,” Chauhan said. “So this summer, there will be a lot of buildings on campus with brand new gear. Having a lot of this gear replaced will make the experience better.”

Chauhan emphasized that he wanted to “give a big shout-out to the team who supports Wi-Fi.”

“These folks give up their weekends and work at night because they care about your experience,” Chauhan said. “This is their mission; a lot of them have been here working at UC Davis for 20-plus years. It’s just one team that keeps the Wi-Fi up, trying to make it better.”

For more information about IET’s Campus WiFi Refresh project, you can visit https://iet.ucdavis.edu/campus-wifi-refresh.

Kayla Lee contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that IET stood for “Integrated Education and Technology,” when it is actually “Information and Educational Technology.” 

Written by: Jade Bell — campus@theaggie.org

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By SONORA SLATER — campus@theaggie.org

Two people were arrested and the glass doors of the University Credit Union Center (U Center) were broken by protesters outside of the speaker event held by conservative student group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) on March 14, but the event went on as planned. 

After an on-campus event planned by the group last fall was canceled before it began when fights broke out between protesters and counter-protesters affiliated with the Proud Boys, the university said that they had security plans in place to ensure public safety at this event.

These plans involved limiting tickets to the event to 1,000, checking IDs and event registration confirmation emails at the entrance, having attendees pass through metal detectors, not allowing bags or backpacks inside the venue and having a presence of more than 100 police officers, including campus police and private security, in and around the U Center.

The event, which began at 7 p.m., featured TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, who is known in part for previous anti-LGBTQ+ statements, such as describing the LGBTQ+ movement as a “social contagion.” Kirk spoke to an audience of around 500 people.

Protesters, some of whom appeared to be associated with the left-wing political movement “Antifa,” began gathering slightly before 5 p.m. wearing black clothes and masks and holding black umbrellas to cover their faces. They were holding banners that read “Protect Trans Kids,” among other statements. Throughout the protest, they yelled at or pushed several members of the press who attempted to take pictures or videos.

Some conservative media outlets have reported that the protest may have been spurred on by a Sacramento Bee op-ed published ahead of the event which stated that, “Kirk has also called for the lynching of trans people.” A correction was later issued to the Sacramento Bee article noting that the claim was “extrapolated from Kirk’s comments” about a women’s swimming competition in which he said that, “Someone should’ve took care of it the way we took care of things in the 1950s and 60s.”

Kirk has said that the comment was in reference to female college swimmer Riley Gaines being uncomfortable with trans swimmer Lia Thomas’s presence in the women’s locker room and that his callback to the 50s and 60s was meant to imply that “local law enforcement would have interceded” if a similar situation were to take place back then.

The crowd of protesters outside the UC Davis event slowly grew, and by 6 p.m. they were blocking the sidewalk toward the southeast entrance of the U Center, making it difficult for people attending the event to get through. As police began to let attendees into the building, more officers emerged in riot gear, including face shields and batons. They lined the entrance of the building and began to move the line slowly back away from the plastic barrier set up surrounding the entrance. They continued to hold the line as protesters threw eggs and other small objects at police and event attendees.

Slightly before 7 p.m., the line of officers moved quickly to the other side of the building, where 10 glass panes in the doors to the northeast entrance, near the ARC, had been kicked in by protesters. 

These protesters did not get into the building or the event, and no arrests were made related to the breaking of the glass — however, two people were arrested and charged with vandalism in relation to graffiti of the Trans Pride flag on the wall of the U Center. One of these two is not affiliated with the university in any way, according to a March 14 press release from UC Davis, and the other has not been identified.

Some of the UC Davis eggheads were also graffitied with messages against the university and the Antifa symbol. Additional incidents reported at the event include one officer sustaining an injury when he was jumped on from behind and pushed to the ground and people being pepper sprayed by others in the crowd of protesters.

First-year chemistry major Alex Cabrera said that he initially came to the event as a protester but ended up shifting to the side to watch because he didn’t feel safe in the crowd after people dressed in Proud Boys attire said threatening things to some of the protesters.

“I really don’t like Charlie Kirk and some of the things he’s said about the border,” Cabrera said. “I’m Mexican American, and my parents are immigrants, and I feel threatened by [TPUSA] being on campus.”

He went on to say that the fact that he felt unsafe despite the presence of 100-plus police officers made him feel like “the police are protecting [TPUSA], not us.” However, he noted that he did not agree with any violent actions of the Antifa protesters and that he believes “there needs to be some type of police to protect against when Antifa gets violent.”

On the same day as the TPUSA event, ASUCD hosted a finals study session and decompression space in the CoHo from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. offering free Scantrons, Blue Books, snacks, coffee and bike lights, as well as a safe and quiet place to study far away from where the protest was taking place.

“It’s finals week, so normally there’s some sort of finals study session going on held by one of the centers in the Student Community Center,” ASUCD External Affairs Vice President Celene Aridin said. “But unfortunately […] they decided to close down today because of how close they are to the event, so we decided to step up and say, ‘Hey, if anyone wants to study, we’ll just keep the CoHo open a little longer.’” 

Before the event, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May posted a video message addressing the concerns regarding TPUSA. 

“Thank you for sharing your distress at a student group hosting a speaker who is a well-documented proponent of misinformation and hate and who has advocated for violence against transgender individuals,” May said. “UC Davis stands with our transgender and non-binary Aggies in opposition to this hateful and divisive messaging. UC Davis did not invite this individual and did not sponsor this event.” 

He went on to acknowledge that as a registered student organization (RSO) on campus, TPUSA has the right under UC and campus policy to reserve space on campus for events and invite speakers of their choice. 

Kirk responded to May’s video with a video of his own, saying in reference to “advoca[ting] for violence against transgender individuals]” that he had “never done that” and “might sue [May] for [saying] that.”

In the March 17 edition of May’s “Checking in With the Chancellor” newsletter, he addressed the event, saying that “the limits of free speech are being tested at college campuses across the country, [including] at UC Davis.”

“Freedom of expression is vital to our higher education mission,” May said. “As a public university, we’re also obligated by law to uphold free speech protections. History shows us how these have protected the voices of oppressed and minoritized communities. Let’s reaffirm our commitment to nonviolent exchange and the highest standards of conduct and decency toward all.”

Written by: Sonora Slater — campus@theaggie.org

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