Editor’s note: You’re Majoring in What? is a new Aggie column that features students of UC Davis’ lesser-known majors. Amie Patel is a fourth-year landscape architecture major. What is landscape architecture (LDA)? Landscape architecture is the planning and design of outdoor spaces. The world which you see outside of a building is designed by a landscape architect. It is such a broad major/profession, and there are so many different opportunities for LDA majors to explore after graduating. Why did you choose LDA as your major? I came to Davis as a math major, but I knew pretty much straight away that I wanted something more creative and more environmentally focused. LDA is great because you get to be creative and fluid in your designs, but there’s still a pretty strong science and factual base from which you derive your designs off of. It’s great to use knowledge and research from your lecture and lab classes and to input them into a design which has so many different functions. And all... ...

University of California (UC) President Mark Yudof presented the Board of Regents with a report outlining the current state of the UC system, in comparison to the previous six years, during a May 15 regents meeting. “To the best of my ability, I’ve tried to outline the good, the bad and the ugly — and there’s some of each,” said Yudof in a UC Newsroom press release. Yudof has been president for the past five years and will be retiring in August. Yudof’s “white paper” report was drafted with the intent of providing a data-driven report about what has occurred in the past six years within the system in regard to trends and policies that might await his successor. “With a transition in sight, he thought it his duty to document what had transpired in the past six years — framed not by opinion or memory, but as a set of neutral facts. It is an unusual report in this way, and it also is what makes it so effective,”... ...

Beginning July 1, Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) will implement rate increases on all monthly permits, with the exception of the “L” permit. The daily visitor rate will increase from $7 to $8, according to a TAPS news release. “The 2013-14 rate increases are necessary in order to offset reduced revenues from permit sales over the past four years as well as the increased operating costs of TAPS programs and services. The last parking rate increase was implemented in 2011,” the release stated. — Muna Sadek ...

A new online course and faculty evaluation survey is currently being developed, similar to the current end-of-course Scantron evaluations that are currently in place. A limited release is expected at the start of 2013-14 school year, with widespread use expected in 2014-15. Already in place at UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara. UC Davis is the last major UC campus to implement online course evaluations. The survey program, Automated Course Evaluations (ACE), is being developed by programmers under the Administrative Application Development Initiative (AADI) at UC Davis. According to Jeff de Ropp, committee co-chair and department manager of the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, survey content and use will be at the discretion of individual departments. “We really wanted a flexible system so different departments can do what they want with it,” he said. The project began to gain traction when the Special Committee on Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET), suggested that online surveys be developed. AADI reviewed... ...

The UC Davis Police Department (UCDPD) is conducting an investigation concerning an alleged hate crime that took place on May 12 and occurred on campus near Putah Creek Drive. According to the police report, the victim was walking on Levee Road when a burgundy Jeep SUV slowed alongside the victim. The suspects allegedly exited the vehicle and began shouting “sexual-orientation bias slurs” and repeatedly assaulting the victim. The suspects then returned to the vehicle and drove down Brooks Road. According to UC Davis Police Chief Matthew Carmichael, neither the suspects nor the victim is affiliated with the University. Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, along with Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza, sent a campus community email May 17, addressing the crime. “While such behavior is inconsistent with our values, so, too, is silence or indifference in the face of such a crime,” the email stated. “Working together, we will do everything in our power to see that the perpetrators are identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Carmichael said that... ...

Question: I saw on the local news that a “pickup artist” in Sacramento got arrested for trespassing at Arden Fair Mall. When the reporter interviewed him, the pickup artist said he shouldn’t have been arrested because he had a “First Amendment” right to be there. Is that true? Can I just go to a mall and say whatever I want? (He also said the Founding Fathers believed in the “freedom to flirt,” but I think that was supposed to be a joke.) — Alexis J., Davis, Calif Answer: Believe it or not, the pickup artist is right — at least about the first part. He’s got free speech rights in malls, though those rights are grounded in Article I, Section 2 of California’s constitution, which states: “Every person may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press.” The First Amendment to the federal constitution states that... ...

The ASUCD Senate table discussed the Association’s $11.7 million budget for the 2013-14 school year from May 17 to 19. The California Aggie reported on the three days of budget hearings. The remainder of budget hearings will be continued during the May 23 ASUCD Senate meeting in the Mee Room on the third floor of the M.U. FRIDAY Meeting called to order at 6:28 p.m. ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo) director Darin Schluep addressed the table about the changes the CoHo was undergoing. This included an increase in catering rates, a decrease in equipment purchases by 50 percent because of the CoHo renovation and an increase in labor payroll. He added that the CoHo will be seeing more hours and more student jobs. “Sales are strong enough to where they do not need to raise prices on products,” Schluep said. The table promptly closed the budget. The $4.5 million proposed Unitrans budget was discussed next. Director Teri Sheets said that there aren’t many differences from last year’s budget. There are some... ...

This year alone, three independent, student-run publications have emerged. The Davis Beat, which made its debut Winter Quarter, the Davis Political Review (DPR), which circulated its first issue on May 1, and The Third World Forum, which resurfaced after years of inactivity. The Davis Beat and DPR utilized the Club Finance Council (CFC) on campus to receive grants for their projects. The Davis Beat received $1,675, but they have recently stopped printing due to a lack of advertising. “We’re thinking about going online, but we’ll see if we can make print work. It’s definitely a tough ad market out there. So we’re on hiatus until we figure out our finances … I hope we can keep it going,” said Adrian Glass-Moore, editor in chief of The Davis Beat and third-year East Asian studies major. To continue printing the publication, Glass-Moore said he hopes to be able to seek out funds from a variety of sources. He cited a potential combination of advertisements, donations and other grants. DPR also received a... ...

Poolside Police Three students were referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for possessing alcohol in the pool area of the dorms. The students were approached by two Residential Advisors (RAs) who asked the students if their bottles contained alcohol. The students stated that their drink did in fact contain alcohol, which was against Student Housing Policy. The RAs documented the misconduct and also stated that the students would be referred to SJA. When the students met with the SJA officer, they took full responsibility for possessing alcohol when they were not allowed too. The students agreed upon a censure, or a warning, for breaking the Student Housing Policy. Not off the hook-ah An RA referred two students to SJA for tampering with a fire alarm in their room. The two students were smoking hookah in their room when one of the floormates decided to tell an RA about the tobacco smell. The RA then proceeded to the students’ room where he found a hookah machine as well as a tampered... ...

Editor’s note: You’re Majoring in What? is a new Aggie column that features students of UC Davis’ lesser-known majors. Tristan Leder is a third-year technocultural studies major. What is technocultural studies (TCS)? Technocultural studies sits at an interesting crossroads between media, art, humanities and, of course, technology. The major focuses on both the critical theory behind all of it, as well as the production side of things. Students are given the opportunity to make music, sound pieces, electronic art installations, documentaries, short films, 3D animations and many other forms of physical and digital art. Why did you choose TCS as your major? I came into Davis with extreme interests in Web 2.0 and social media. Specifically, what it was, how it did what it did, and how I could better understand it. Over the past three years, my interests have changed, focusing more on community-based media and independently-developed video games. What jobs can you get with TCS? What do you plan to do? To be quite honest, I could not... ...