The second legislature of the Graduate Student Government Association (GSGA) convened on March 19 to fund the Taste of Africa event and discuss a potential “spring fling” for all graduate students.

The legislature unanimously approved African Students Association (ASA)’s request for $2,665.

“It brings people from different backgrounds to be able to experience our culture through different performances, food [and] other forms of talent,” ASA Treasurer Onyi Ohamadike (16Ox, 18C) said.

Ohamadike said that ASA plans to hold the event on April 6 at the Fox Theater to accommodate for up to 480 people. ASA held last year’s event in the Emory Conference Center Hotel and in the Cox Hall Ballroom in previous years.

The total cost of the event is expected to be $17,021, according to Ohmadike. Some of the event cost will be recovered through revenue from $12 tickets for Emory students and staff, but ASA has already secured funding from Student Government Association (SGA), the Office of the President, Emory Dining and others.

Vice President of Social Affairs Claire Allen (18B) and Deputy Vice President of Social Affairs Sakinah Watts (19B) proposed a “spring fling” event for all graduate students.

The proposed event would use surplus money that was placed in a contingency fund last year due to possible emergencies arising from the referendum that split student government into autonomous graduate and undergraduate bodies.

“It’s looking like we’re not going to have any emergencies,” Vice President of Finance Deepa Raju (18B) said.

The fund will not be replenished until the end of the summer.

Multiple legislators questioned whether it made sense to allocate $7,200 toward headphone rentals for a silent disco. Some GSGA members thought the price was high for headphones, especially because the $7,200 does not include a DJ.

The vote count to begin signing contracts with vendors was 11-2.

Legislators Sydney Kaplan (19L) and Elyse Cooke (20T) voted against the bill, arguing that the bill was not fiscally responsible.

“We didn’t have to use our contingency [funds],” Cooke said.

Kaplan also noted the event occurs before Law School students take exams, and she didn’t expect many law students to be able to attend.

The event is currently scheduled for either April 20 or April 27 at 7 p.m.

Raju also gauged interest from the legislators in changing the finance code to allow families of graduate students to attend events funded from allocated accounts. Allocated accounts are funded through the $92 per semester Student Activities Fee (SAF).

Raju said that GSGA has already been permitting students’ families to attend events funded from allocated accounts. Multiple legislators expressed interest in changing the finance code to reflect the pattern of accepting families.

The post GSGA Funds Spring Social Events appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

Chancellor Carol Christ announces men’s roster spots likely to be reduced

Derek Remsburg/File

Chancellor Carol Christ announced in a campuswide email Thursday morning that roster spots for men’s sports will likely be reduced to shift UC Berkeley’s Title IX policy compliance by 2021.

Christ’s email comes after Collegiate Sports Associates, or CSA, the sports consulting and search firm Christ hired in November 2017, released its report after a review of Cal’s athletic department.

This report includes a survey completed by 367 individuals, the main takeaway being that 86 percent of those respondents expressed a desire to consider changes to the current sponsorship of 30 sports.

Cal currently abides by Prong 3 of Title IX compliance, which supports gender equity by requiring schools to add sports for the underrepresented gender when sufficient interest, ability and opportunity arises.

Instead of continuing to comply with this prong — Christ writes that this “seems unwise” — Christ has decided to shift to Prong 1 of Title IX compliance by 2021.

Prong 1 is satisfied by providing proportionate participation opportunities for both male and female student-athletes. For Cal to transition without adding sports and still remain compliant, roster spots for men’s sports will likely be reduced.

In addition to shifting to Prong 1, Christ says there must be a commitment to gender equity in its facilities for men and women. This will be achieved by immediately building courts for beach volleyball and improving softball’s facilities.

Christ noted that Cal already has difficulty sustaining its 30 Division 1 sports, but cutting sports will be a “last resort.”

Christ re-emphasized that the athletic department must have a balanced budget by 2020, the same year campus must have a balanced budget.

CSA’s report also discussed other matters, including proposed strategies for campus to consider implementing, ways to cut costs and generate revenue, the status of facilities and areas of investment.

Proposed strategies

CSA proposed that the campus should consider implementing institutional alignment, where there is a shared understanding of a mission centered on the “overarching aim of student-athlete holistic development.”

Additionally, the firm noted the need for a clearly and “unapologetically” defined set of goals and expectations, rather than what it sees as “competing communications.”

CSA also laid out the expectations of Cal’s next athletic director, who will likely be chosen in April. Among these expectations are being a skilled fundraiser with interpersonal, management and mentoring skills.

The next athletic director will also need to manage a multitude of responsibilities such as coaching, business operations and sales, among others.

Cost saving

CSA’s recommendations in regards to cost saving are broken up into two main sections: institutional procedures and staff.

Institutional procedures

CSA cited that paying in-state tuition for athletic scholarships does not increase campus expenses and can help reduce the budget by at least $1 million annually.

The firm also noted that processes between athletics and campus can be improved. CSA added that it would be beneficial for athletics and the CFO’s office to have regular or quarterly budget reviews.

Staff

CSA concluded that athletics is overstaffed in some areas but understaffed in others, with most of the understaffing coming from areas of student support.

In particular, sports medicine is understaffed, with certain individuals receiving only two or three days off in an entire semester.

A partnership between athletics, the Student Health Center and a private medical organization has the potential to expand the breadth of resources but would not reduce expenses, according to the firm.

The firm noted that there are areas in the athletic department that are redundant with campus personnel, and that eliminating these redundancies could save costs.

Given several currently vacant positions, the athletic director has the opportunity to restructure the department in ways that could save costs as well, according to the report.

CSA added that Cal should develop an annual assessment program that identifies talented staff and develops a plan to retain said individuals.

The firm also suggested that the new athletic director should consider other areas to outsource partnerships to further cut costs.

Revenue opportunities

In addition to saving money, CSA suggested multiple avenues to generate revenue. CSA noted, however, that some of these strategies “may challenge the University’s long-standing concerns regarding commercialism.”

This section features two time frames: by FY20 and FY21 and beyond.

By FY20

CSA spelled out that naming rights for California Memorial Stadium could generate as much as $4.1 million annually and that off-campus, weeknight home games could generate $2 million every other year.

The firm also wrote that a new tailgate area and restructuring of current parking policies could generate $200,000 annually apiece. CSA built a 3 percent growth in ticket sales into future projections, citing the figure as a realistic minimum.

The addition of an Intercollegiate Athletics Advisory Board could also increase annual revenue, according to the report.

Beyond FY21

CSA cited other revenue opportunities, such as alcohol sales, advertising, beverage partnerships, student fees and non-vehicular tailgating, among others.

The firm also suggested an “Endowment Campaign.” This campaign can be broken up into phases that target athletic scholarships, coaches’ compensation and benefits, travel and lodging, equipment and practice and competition facilities.

Facilities

CSA noted that the revenue potential for football and men’s basketball is far greater than that of other sports and should be supported appropriately.

The firm wrote that there are issues in regards to equity, health and safety, and the experiences of student-athletes, which need to be addressed. To address these issues, it suggested a capital campaign to ensure that student-athletes have the appropriate facilities to develop.

CSA also recommended evaluating Edwards Stadium and possible alternatives for the site, such as academic resources, student housing, retail space and/or renovated athletic venues.

Investment

CSA included multiple areas in which to invest, including football and men’s basketball, resources, facility maintenance and nutrition.

Regarding football and men’s basketball, the firm has included an initial annual investment of $1 million which increases over time in budget projections.

Justice delos Santos is the sports editor. Contact him at jdelossantos@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @jdelossantos510

The Daily Californian

If there’s one indication that a game is over before it’s actually finished, it’s when Kelly Barnhill steps into the batter’s box.

First-of-its kind subscription disrupts the industry model to increase affordability and access for students BOSTON —March 29, 2018—Cengage, an education and technology company, today announced the Cengage Unlimited author royalty framework, a structure that allocates royalties based on content used by students. Cengage Unlimited is the first-of-its-kind subscription that gives students access to all the […]

Information is powerful. Historically, empires with higher technological advancements were the ones who conquered. We live in a day and age where our information is like bacteria: scattered everywhere and ripe for cultivation. The people who reap our data operate in the shadows, as we saw with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

In that scandal, companies targeted voter biases using data aggregation, the gathering and summarizing of information for a specific purpose. The data were extrapolated from 270,000 people who downloaded an app designed by a Cambridge professor that gave permissions to access their information and that of their friends under the guise of academic use. In total, this scandal involved 50 million Facebook users, most of whom did not consent to the use of their information.

The data were then passed to the company, Cambridge Analytica, which used it to serve up highly personalized and curated political advertisements dictated by personality or by microtargeting.

Consent and transparency are at stake here. Consumers need a clear picture of what their data will be used for.

This information was acquired and misused through a completely legitimate route of data acquisition at the time. This scandal puts into question the restrictions that we have in place surrounding our data protection and look toward solutions for data misuse.

The European Union already has a robust data protection law in the pipeline called the General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect on May 25, 2018. This insightful regulation essentially hands the control of data to the people by giving consumers more power to opt-out of directed marketing, giving consumers the right to retrieve their data and sell it, and prevents the collection of data from children under 16 years old without parental approval.

In order to give this law teeth, the European Union is fining violators of the law up to 4 percent of their annual revenue depending on the particular statute that they violate. For the tech behemoths that we know, this number could be in the billions of dollars.

This law is not solely directed toward the tech giants, but also the mixture of smaller ad companies that stalk people across the web.

This progressive regulation is empowering for European consumers because it gives them the wheels to the very lucrative car that is their data. The Honest Ads Act, a bill in the U.S. Congress that seeks information disclosure about the purchasing of ads on social media networks, does not even scrape the surface of how user data could and should be protected.

What makes the Cambridge Analytica scandal matter is not the seedy and shady way that this particular company has claimed to influence elections — similar situations have been happening abroad for years.

The core of the scandal is the control of our data, the information that makes up the people that we are and how that information can be acquired and disseminated.

We have allowed companies to freewheel with our data for too long, and stricter regulation is the only way we can take control of our identities.

Senior staff columnist Perren Wright is a computer science junior and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.

—
“Cambridge Analytica scandal shows how companies abuse our data” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar

Almost midway through the season, sophomore pitcher Blair Henley has been a sure bet on Texas’ pitching staff. Going into Thursday’s matchup with  Kansas State, Henley had five quality starts in six appearances and led all starters with a 2.75 ERA.

The Wildcats would get the better of Henley, however, chasing the righty after 3.1 innings — his shortest start of the season — en route to a 5-2 victory over the Longhorns. In his short time on the mound, Henley gave up nine hits and four of Kansas State’s runs.

The Wildcats would do the bulk of their damage in the second inning. Henley gave up four hits in the inning, including back-to-back doubles that knocked in three runs for the Wildcats.

Texas would inch closer in the next frame. After sophomore outfielder Austin Todd led off the inning with a walk, junior outfielder Tate Shaw sent a single to right field to get the Longhorns’ their first runs of the game.

With Texas trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Henley surrendered base hits to three of the first four batters he faced, leading to another run for the Wildcats. The pitcher’s struggles would lead head coach David Pierce to pull the plug on his starter.

Asked to come in earlier than usual for a Henley start, the bullpen for Texas performed well. The pen held Kansas State to two hits for the remainder of the game and only allowed one additional run.

Freshman pitcher Matthew Whelan, who had seen only five innings of combined work this season, was impressive in an extended 2.2 inning outing. The freshman rendered the Wildcats hitless and allowed zero earned runs for the first time since an appearance against Lamar in the team’s opening week.

Despite the performance from the bullpen, Texas found itself in too big of a hole to dig out of. The Longhorns were limited at the plate, knocking in only five hits in the contest. This marks the second straight game for the team with five hits or less.

Still, Texas had its opportunities. In the top of the seventh, senior infielder Jake McKenzie led the inning with a single, and junior infielder Kody Clemens followed with a double to put runners on second and third base. Two batters later, junior infielder Masen Hibbeler would hit a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 4-2. But with a runner in scoring position, sophomore infielder David Hamilton would ground out to end the inning.

The pair of Clemens and Shaw accounted for most of the Longhorns’ offense Thursday night. Clemens had a pair of doubles, while Shaw recorded a double and a single. Even without a hit, Todd also had a successful night for Texas, reaching first base three times after a trio of walks.

For the second consecutive week, Texas opens up a conference series with a loss. The team will look to get back on track tomorrow night, as the series continues at 6:30 p.m. at Frank Myers Field in Manhattan, Kansas.

Women in the arts have been chronically dismissed from conversations about history, both as participants and topics, according to Jessica Colbert, who is a librarian at the University of Utah’s Marriott Library. So on March 7, they organized a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon at the library.

The event was part of the international campaign, Art+Feminism. In 2013, the group wanted to improve the representation of women on the internet. It began organizing Wikipedia edit-a-thons, which spread to institutions across the globe.

“People use Wikipedia every single day — it’s how people can get a general idea about something,” Colbert said. “I, as a librarian, use it to answer research questions I don’t know much about to get a cursory overview of the topic. It’s important to be able to interact with that in a way that’s critical.”

The most recent data on the demographics of Wikipedia editors, which comes from a survey conducted by United Nations University in 2010, shows that only 13 percent of the website’s editors were women, while men made up 87 percent of the community.

Art+Feminism believes as more women have the opportunity to edit and create Wikipedia articles, the visibility of women on the internet will rise.

“There are so many women who have been ignored and left out of history because history is written by men or because things that women did were considered craft instead of art,” Colbert said.

The event at the U had approximately nine participants who edited six articles and made a total of 148 edits. Colbert said the group also worked on creating articles about women who are not already documented on the website — especially local female artists.

Some of the article drafts the group created include sculptor Ella Peacock, multimedia artist and U art Professor Wendy Wischer, mural artist and U graduate Ruby Chacón and ceramic artist and former U Professor Dorothy Bearnson.

Most people who attended the event, Colbert said, had never edited a Wikipedia article and had to spend most of the time on tutorials. They said many plan to use the skill to continue to edit on Wikipedia.

Colbert hopes these individuals will chip in next year when she said the library aims to host the event again around International Women’s Day.

According to Heidi Brett, a spokesperson for the library, the Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon is the type of event the library looks to host. It is an event, she said, that allows the library to engage with the diverse range of students at the U.

“The library is located right in the middle of campus and we see students from all walks of life,” said Heidi Brett, a spokesperson for the library. “Because of that, we want to make sure we offer events that are relevant and meaningful.”

e.anderson@dailyutahchronicle.com

@emilyreanderson

The post Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon at Marriott Library Increases Woman Representation on the Site appeared first on Daily Utah Chronicle.

Video by Erica Giesenhagen More than 2,500 people gathered on CSU’s campus Thursday afternoon in a demonstration of support for students affected by the racially-motivated incidents that occurred on campus between August and the spring semester.  The crowd of CSU students, faculty and administration gathered to walk across campus from Newton’s Corner to the Lory […]

Originally posted on The Rocky Mountain Collegian at Thousands take to CSU campus in demonstration against hate, “bias-motivated incidents”

Assistant Vice Chancellor Claudia Covello to retire after 37 years at UC Berkeley

Assistant Vice Chancellor Claudia Covello will retire this year after working 37 years at UC Berkeley’s University Health Services, or UHS, according to a campuswide email sent by Interim Vice Chancellor Stephen Sutton on March 21.

Covello began her journey at UC Berkeley as an undergraduate studying clinical psychology and volunteered much of her time at various health care organizations, such as Cowell Hospital — the original name of UHS.

After her graduation in 1978, Covello was asked to return to UHS to help develop the campus’s first women’s health clinic with the goal of redesigning the health care of women so they were “empowered” and informed about their bodies, which she said would foster a partnership between women and their clinicians.

Covello added that her role in developing this clinic led to her long-term career with UC Berkeley’s health care system.

During her time at UHS, Covello held “dozens” of roles, and in 1990 she was tasked with developing the Student Health Insurance Plan, or SHIP.

“Claudia has provided institutional expertise and strong stewardship over SHIP, developing a robust insurance plan for our undergraduate and graduate students,” Sutton wrote in the email.

After working as the deputy director of UHS, Covello was promoted to the role of UHS executive director — a position she held for 10 years. She was appointed assistant vice chancellor in July 2017 but remained in her role at UHS to continue her work in promoting student and faculty well-being across campus.

Covello’s most recent project — the Collaborative Care Initiative — placed mental health counselors in primary health clinics to respond to concerns from students who would not go to counseling centers. Covello said she received feedback from students who said they would not have visited a mental health professional had it not been so easily available.

“It was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on because it was so clearly needed and appreciated by students,” Covello said.

In her retirement, Covello said she plans to be a “world traveler and a free spirit.” Covello added that she and her husband want to begin checking items off their bucket list, and that she knows UHS will be well-run in her stead.

“Working with people who share my same passion and mission at the UHS was one of the joys of my life,” Covello said. “I may have been the leader these past 10 years, but I leave it in good hands.”

Covello’s last official day will be June 28.

“She will be missed here on campus, and she is leaving a great legacy for UHS and our university,” Sutton said in the email.

Contact Amanda Bradford at abradford@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter at @amandabrad_uc.

The Daily Californian

Alex Scruggs | News Editor

Hundreds of political signs were put up in BAL by an on-campus group, Turning Point USA ODU, last night. The signs had various messages, some reading, “Socialism kills, do something about it; Make taxation theft again; … Read More

The post Conservative group places hundreds of signs in the Batten Arts and Letters building appeared first on Mace & Crown.