Oregon junior August Raskie was selected to the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team Europe Tour (CNT-Europe) 12-player roster as one of two setters, USA Volleyball announced on Thursday.

Raskie will join the team in Venice, Italy, on July 5 to train and practice before competing in the Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia, July 10-13.

In the fall, Raskie appeared in all 30 matches and 112 sets for Oregon, with five starts. She finished second on the team with 5.06 assists per game and third with six double-doubles. Over the season she averaged 1.74 digs per set and totaled 13 services aces. In Oregon’s five-set win against Oregon State, she made a season-high 29 assists after setting a career-high 16 digs against Washington earlier in the season.

Tryouts for the CNT-Europe team were held March 2-4 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Raskie tried out with Oregon teammate Taylor Agost.

The Pac-12 will represent half of the selected athletes on the roster. Among Raskie, Berkeley Oblad (University of Utah) will play as a middle, MacKenzie May (UCLA) as an outside hitter, Audriana Fitzmorris (Stanford) and Taylor Mims (Washington State University) will be the two opposites and Alexis Dirige (Washington State University) will be the team’s libero.

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter: @maggie_vanoni

The post August Raskie selected for U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team Europe Tour appeared first on Emerald Media.

Cal track and field shows out at Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge

Jinsu Elhance/File

Cal track and field will be returning from Arizona this weekend with not only some high finishes, but a couple historic performances.

At the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, Cal’s first outdoor meet against West Coast rivals, the men placed fourth in the eight-team competition while the women followed not far behind in fifth.

“Well I think it was kind of low-key, because most of these teams are coming back from a pretty heavy-duty indoor season,” said Cal head coach Tony Sandoval. “But nevertheless, those are very, very good athletes. When you talk about LSU and Arizona State and Colorado, every event had some very good people to compete against.”

The challenge kicked off Friday afternoon with the women’s hammer throw. Freshman Camryn Rogers, in what is becoming a regular thing, set a new freshman record in event — a record previously held by herself. Rogers placed second with a throw of 213 feet and 4 inches.

But Rogers’ performance arguably wasn’t Cal’s most impressive of the day, as junior Chrissy Glasmann set a school record in the javelin, launching it for a distance of 164 feet.

The impressive throw bested the 12-year record previously held by Emilee Strot. In addition to shattering the record, Glasmann came in second in the event and set a career best by nearly 16 feet.

Junior Silviu Bocancea and senior Destiny Parker also impressed in the hammer, as Bocancea placed third for the men while Parker notched in a fifth-place finish for the women.

“Well I think that the teams that were there brought some good throwers,” Sandoval said. “I think (throws) coach (Mohamad) Saatara focused in on this meet because of the good weather. The javelin, the discus — those long throws would be under ideal conditions, and they responded very well with that.”

After a successful day one, Cal’s remaining athletes had some big shoes to fill on day two. Three first-place finishes and 12 top-three performances later, it was safe to say that Bears’ shoes were bursting at the seams.

Cal’s throwers picked up right where they left off in the discus. In the first event of the day, junior Kendall Mader and sophomore McKay Johnson placed third in the women’s and men’s discus, respectively. Johnson would later notch a win in the men’s shot put .

Junior Lauren Martinez impressed as well, winning the pole vault with a vault of 4.02 meters. For Martinez, that performance was practically a layup, having won the event without even having to attempt a vault near her career best of 4.30 meters.

Redshirt junior Isabella Marten notched the Bears’ third win of the meet in the triple jump. Marten’s jump of 12.92 meters now stands as her season best.

The track part of track and field, however, shouldn’t be ignored. Senior Ashtyn Davis had a solid performance in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.86 seconds. Despite beating his mark from last season’s challenge, Davis finished the event in third.

Sophomore Paramveer Chohan contributed in the 400-meter with a second-place finish of his own.

This weekend was the perfect opportunity the Cal. With a combination of elite competition and great conditions, the Bears truly showed out.

Harshil Desai covers track & field. Contact him at hdesai@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

Presidential elections in Egypt will take place during the last week of March. With all serious opponents eliminated from the race, it seems that the farce will inevitably end with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi being re-elected. His first four years have included the murder of dissidents, mass arrests, torture of prisoners, suppression of LGBTQ groups, turning a blind-eye to the plight of Coptic Christians, censorship of independent media outlets and the expansion of the police-state.

As our government prepares to give another $1.6 billion in aid to Egypt, we Americans have questioned where the money is going, how it’s being used and whether or not aid makes us complicit in the crimes of the dictatorship. In short, the onus is on us.

“UH students, and all university students, are citizens in training. The use of their U.S. tax dollars in Egypt, or anywhere else for that matter, is their concern,” said Emran El-Badawi, the director of the Middle Eastern Studies program at UH.

Since the first military coup d’état in 1952, the Egyptian state has been a police-state.

However, unlike what exists today, what followed the first coup under President Gamal Nasser was a radical shift economically and socially. Under Nasser there was a social contract, where the state gave the next generation of Egyptians a significant shot toward upward mobility while providing serious social reforms. In return, civil society was expected to accept military dictatorship.

After Nasser’s death in 1970, his successor, Anwar Sadat, broke the social contract by privatizing components of the economy and keeping the police-state intact.

In the 40 years that followed, the Egyptian military held an iron grip on state affairs and repressed any potential dissent, all with U.S. financial support. These conditions gave rise to discontent known as the Arab Spring that erupted in late 2010. It represented a major rupture in Arab history as the masses came out in force to denounce the regimes in Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia. Each movement had different results, but in that moment democracy had left the halls of power and returned to the streets.

After the Arab Spring, it was possible that Egyptians might be freed from military interference because President Mohamed Morsi was democratically elected. Unfortunately, this hope quickly dissipated after the 2013 coup that swung General Sisi into power and renewed the status-quo with vengeance.

Since the announcement of elections last year, four potential candidates threw in their names while knowing the potential risks. Sami Anan, a former Chief of Staff in the military, was arrested after announcing his candidacy; Ahmed Konsowa was sentenced to six years in prison for announcing his candidacy; Ahmed Shafik was forced by the government to withdraw; Khaled Ali was also pressured by the government to drop out of the race.

The only candidate running against Sisi is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a former supporter of the president who declared his candidacy 15 minutes before the deadline and functions as a placeholder to make Egypt appear as a democracy.

“No serious candidate has a chance. Egypt belongs to Sisi for now,” Badawi said.

Human rights continue to be a secondary issue within Egypt and internationally.

Within Egypt, tens of thousands of political dissidents have been arrested and imprisoned since 2013. Trade unions, which are the historic backbone of popular movements, are being cracked down on by the state to limit their role in any potential political movements. Even international students are susceptible to repression. An Italian student, Giulio Regeni, studied union organizing in Egypt and was tortured and murdered by state-security forces.

Internationally, Egypt has maintained a reactionary position toward the war on Yemen by siding with Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war against the Yemeni people. Sisi has even offered to send 40,000 troops to fight in Yemen. Against the Palestinians, Sisi has helped maintain the blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. It would not be hard for Egypt to simply keep the border crossing open.

Instead, the state consciously chooses to condemn Palestinians to living in an open-air prison.

“Today, and especially since the Arab uprisings of 2011, Egypt is firmly in the grip of two political institutions: The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the U.S. Pentagon,” Badawi said.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Egypt is openly allied with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Coordinating Council, although not officially a member nor a Gulf country, which has become the equivalent of an Arab NATO. This has resulted in its decision to back the isolation of Qatar along sectarian political lines. In keeping with the Camp David Accords, he is also openly allied with Israel as they continue their genocidal policies against Palestinians.

Sisi needs international backing from these corrupt regimes and monarchies in order to hang onto power. It is for raison d’état (reason of state) that Egypt engages in these policies as it attempts to maintain the crumbling institutions that proved inadequate in satisfying the hopes of Egyptians for a better future.

Egyptians live in a hollow shell of the once-bright future that came with the Arab Spring. It is from this potential cocoon that trade unions, popular movements, underground radicals, women’s movements and the outcasts of society will eventually confront the state and burst forth in a new movement.

Change can only come in confrontation with the state, not from within it. For now, they wait. As the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once wrote: “Waiting is steadfastness and a stand.”

Opinion columnist Brant Roberts is a history senior and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.

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“Egypt’s undemocratic election will reelect a dictator” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar

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 company’s digital higher education materials—more than 22,000 products across 70 disciplines and more than 675 courses—for $119.99 a semester, no matter how many Cengage materials they use. Students using the digital platforms also have the option of free print rentals, paying only a $7.99 shipping fee.

“Our industry must change and be contributors to lowering the cost of higher learning.  With the introduction of Cengage Unlimited, we are breaking with tradition to offer students complete access to quality learning materials at an affordable price point,” said Michael Hansen, CEO, Cengage. “Today’s announcement marks an important milestone on our journey and we look forward to working with our authors to reach more students.”

“Our authors are incredible partners and we appreciate their willingness to work with us to change our business model to one that truly puts students first,” said Erin Joyner, Senior Vice President, Higher Education Product Management, Cengage. “In many cases, our authors are also instructors who witness firsthand the challenges students face in securing the best learning materials. This subscription model will disrupt the industry and make affordable access possible for more students.”

Similar to royalty models used by other online subscription companies, the Cengage Unlimited usage-based model means that every item used earns a percentage of royalties. Authors can expect their 2019 first-quarter royalty statements and payments to reflect sale of all products – through both individual units and Cengage Unlimited. Cengage will continue to sell products outside of Cengage Unlimited as it always has and the royalty framework for that business model will continue.

Cengage authors are being notified in writing both electronically and via postal service.  Authors needing additional information should contact Cengage-Authors@Cengage.com.

About Cengage
Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. As the largest US-based provider of teaching and learning materials for higher ed, we offer valuable options at affordable price points. Our industry-leading initiatives include Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its-kind all-access digital subscription service.  We embrace innovation to create learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. Headquartered in Boston, Cengage also serves K-12, library and workforce training markets around the world. Visit us at www.cengage.com or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

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Media Contacts
Susan Aspey
Cengage
202-695-6012
susan.aspey@cengage.com

Lindsay Stanley
Cengage
203-965-8634
lindsay.stanley@cengage.com

After three years in the making, Performance Park is now live at the Vortex.

Conceived and directed by Bonnie Cullum, Performance Park is an interactive game, original musical, art installation and a magical divination through Tarot. The cast consists of all of the major arcana — the most impactful cards in a Tarot deck such as the Emperor, Strength, Justice, Star, Moon and Baba Yaga.

“In terms of scale, this is just grander than anything we have ever done,” Cullum said. “This is our 30th season (at the Vortex), so I wanted to do a big splash project that would encompass the entire compound and really bring the theater out of the theater.”

Instead of buying a ticket, participants buy toolkits that each contain a map, clues, poker chips and other items needed to start the game. As they go along, participants collect things for their toolkits. If they manage to collect all the right objects, they are allowed into the magician’s sanctum and have a unique experience with the magician.

Along with the toolkit, guests receive a costume piece to wear. This not only makes them feel like they are part of the performance, but also helps the 28-member cast know who is playing and who is just waiting for their pasta from Patrizi’s — the Italian food truck on the grounds of the Vortex.

Melissa Vogt plays Baba Yaga in Performance Park. She said having the audience play a vital part of the show is stretching the skill sets of all of the cast members, but in the best kind of way.

“For me personally, every show is new and different,” Vogt said. “The citizens coming through the door don’t know what to expect, nor do I know what they’re going to bring into the mix. Every night I’ve walked away with at least a couple of instances where I’ve learned just as much from the people interacting with me.”

Cullum said she wanted people to treat Performance Park like an amusement park, national park or museum, where you can take in as much or as little of it as you want.

“I had a very vivid dream in my sleep one night where audience members were engaging in the performance,” Cullum said. “They were singing, dancing, wearing costumes, and they were on some kind of quest.”

Using research from Jane McGonigal’s book, “Reality is Broken,” Cullum implemented game theory to embed the game into a show. Cullum said she ultimately wanted to adapt Performance Park from a fairy tale, but she struggled to find one that really spoke to modern issues.

Cullum said working with the universal archetypes that the major arcana characters embody speak to us about where we are in our own lives while being able to reflect back on our challenges, successes and dilemmas.

“I thought what better way to kind of take on what I was feeling then to really go on and dig into the arcana and really let them help inform the citizens who came to the Performance Park,” Cullum said. “It is in a way inviting everyone to really step up, to become active and to be a voice of resistance in the park.”

Actress Sandie Donzica plays the Star in Performance Park, and she said it is a wonderful experience to finally be a part of a show where everyone can be the protagonist.

“The degree of interactivity with the audience fascinates me,” Donzica said. “Performance Park takes you to a different world, and you don’t want to leave it.”

Greg Imhoff and Max Giard share a campaign trait this Student Government election season—they are running without any opponents.

Imhoff, an English and Secondary Education major, is running for Academic Vice President.

Giard, a political science, film and finance triple major, is running for the position of Vice President of Finance.

“I’ve worked under our current finance chair for the past year… he’s a good friend and I’ve learned a lot from him and I’m ready to take the mantle,” Giard said.

The position Giard is running for is no light one. The Vice President of Finance, according to updated SGA bylaws, has monthly meetings with the College Vice President of Finance, Mr. Terry Dennis.

Beyond regularly scheduled meetings, the VP of finance for SGA must also be able to wisely supervise the distribution of funds and keep track of the receipts and reimbursements that pertain specifically to SGA.

Finally, the Vice President of Finance must keep records to submit to the SGA president every month for the purposes of accountability and safety.

Imhoff, if he is voted in as Academic Vice President, has several goals in regards to said position. He hopes to increase interdepartmental communication and facilitate an effective professor-to-student open line through events like forums so that anyone can communicate to faculty “know(s) what’s working and what’s not,” Imhoff said.

Both men also have the long goal in mind. Imhoff is a student representative for the Peace Corps at FSC and hopes to teach abroad with them post-graduation. Giard has “a passion for finance” and hopes to combine his three majors so that he may work on the business and money side of filmmaking.

Each of them has had experience with SGA in the past—Giard as a First-Year Senator and Imhoff as senator one year and Secretary of the Executive Board this year (a position that has been eliminated as of this election).

They also serve around campus in other faculties as well, especially in Greek Life and academic honors societies. Imhoff is Ritual Chair for Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors Society.

So far this season, the Arkansas women’s tennis team is 5-11 overall, only has one win in SEC play and is on a current six-match losing streak.

The first point for the Bruins was the quickest one to earn – and it was no surprise.

“They’re the cornerstone of our team,” said coach Stein Metzger of junior Izzy Carey and freshman Megan Muret. “We get to walk into every match almost counting on the fact that we’re 1-0 (already), just because they’ve had so many strong wins against strong teams for us.”

No. 2 UCLA beach volleyball (19-3) nearly swept the nation’s top-ranked team, dominating No. 1 Pepperdine (15-3) with a 4-1 victory. Carey and Muret claimed the first point for the Bruins, winning the match with scores of 21-8 and 21-13.

“Probably the most consistent fives in the country right now,” Metzger said about the duo, who boast a 14-1 record as UCLA’s No. 5 pair.

Following that win, the No. 3 pair junior Zana Muno and sophomore Savvy Simo, won their first set, 21-17. But after the second set was knotted at 12-12, the pair gave up a 9-1 run and dropped the second set 21-13.

“That run was a lot of errors on our side, so we just had to get back to our basics,” Muno said. “Making the easy shots instead of making a lot of high risk shots.”

The junior said they made adjustments defensively. And on the pair’s second match point in the third set, Muno slammed the ball for a cut shot to the left side to get the three-set victory and give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

“In the third we played consistent,” Muno said. “Setting well and then just keeping the ball on the court. We just have to trust our own defense and that’s what worked well for us.”

Freshman Mac May and senior Elise Zappia put up the third point for UCLA to clinch the dual, as the Bruins defeated a No. 1 team for the second time this season.

The pair fell in the first set 21-16, but didn’t let their mistakes affect the next two sets. They won the second set 21-14, and a block by May on match point secured the third set 16-14.

“We definitely worked on our defense,” May said. “We talked about it, and then changed a few things (like) blocking and positioning, and I think that helped a lot for us to get a lot of defensive plays just so we could turn it around and gain a lot more momentum.”

UCLA posted a 3-0 lead over Pepperdine with still two matches to go. The Waves escaped the sweep after trailing 4-0, snagging a tight three-set win from junior transfer Sarah Sponcil and sophomore Lily Justine.

“It’s really exciting,” May said about taking down the top team. “The confidence going into the rest of the season is very huge in helping us to just know where we are … I think everyone (was) pretty pumped about how we (had) already won (after three matches).”

Juniors Nicole McNamara and Megan McNamara also won for the Bruins, logging a straight-set victory of 21-19 and 21-11 as UCLA extended its win streak to 14.

“I think our team (continues) to be confident no matter what happens,” Metzger said. “Even from the beginning of the year when we took a heavy loss from Hawai’i 0-5, the team never lost confidence.”

UCLA will travel to Miami for the Surf and Turf Invitational this weekend, facing five top-20 teams in a two-day span. Should the Bruins come home maintaining their win streak, UCLA will likely move into the top spot in the rankings.

“We’re playing well at this point in the season,” Metzger said. “We do have some areas that we can improve, no question. I know we’re going to have some tough fought battles out in Florida this weekend.”

Both of the campaigns putting forth candidates for next year’s vacant ASUO seats have announced their platforms on social media, and both platforms emphasize giving students more influence in campus decisions.

Ducks Together and United UO are the two ASUO campaigns this year, and they’ll be facing off for the 32 open spots in next year’s ASUO administration until election polls open on April 9.

Ducks Together

Ducks Together describes itself as “the representation this campus needs,” according to its Facebook page. Its platform emphasizes ensuring students have influence in campus decisions and that the right of students to voice themselves on campus is protected. A major goal of the campaign is to institutionalize student voices in tuition decisions.

“Too often these decisions are made behind closed doors and without vast student input,” stated Ducks Together on its Facebook page, “and we are here to tell admin that we are not just a piggy bank, but that we have a seat at the table.”

Other goals of Ducks Together include protecting student access to resources such as Safe Ride, counseling services and the Student Food Pantry.

Maria Gallegos is the Ducks Together candidate running for ASUO President, and she is campaigning alongside Ivan Chen for ASUO External Vice President and Imani Dorsey for ASUO Internal Vice President.

Gallegos said that she believes in community organizing — echoing the tagline of Ducks Together — because she has seen how it can bring communities together to collaborate on a common issue.

“No one will know more about the tuition increases than a student who just got priced out,” Gallegos said. “Students, community members, the people who are impacted by these decisions, they know what the issues are, they know what they need.”

“I know that when it’s organized and you do the work, people show up and people make a difference,” she added.

United UO

United UO is focusing primarily on advocating for student voices and on making ASUO more transparent. It describes itself as “determined to give all students a voice and to make a difference in the University of Oregon community,” according to its Facebook page.

Jacob Faatz is the United UO candidate for ASUO president, and he is bringing in Karishma Shah as the candidate for External Vice President. United UO does not have a candidate for Internal Vice President, and Faatz said that it was because he believes that it would be simpler to communicate with only one vice president.

Faatz also said that United UO wants to hold town halls with students and focus on ensuring student safety on campus and keeping off-campus housing affordable.

“I think that now more than ever, there needs to be more lighting on campus,” said Faatz, referencing the recent surge of crimes near campus.

ASUO will be holding a candidate town hall debate on Monday, April 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m., with its location to be determined. Campaigns will push their positions on social media until ground campaigning begins and the 2018 ASUO election polls open on DuckWeb at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 9. The polls will close on Thursday, April 12, and election results will be posted on DuckWeb the same day by 6 p.m.

The post Online campaigning for ASUO elections emphasize having student voice in campus decisions appeared first on Emerald Media.

The University accepted 1,742 students to the class of 2022 through regular decision Wednesday, said Dean of Admission Logan Powell.

The overall acceptance rate for the class of 2022 was 7.2 percent, the lowest in the University’s history, while the regular decision acceptance rate was 5.5 percent, according to Powell. Students were admitted from a record-high pool of 35,438 students, an 8 percent increase from last year’s applicant pool, which marks the largest year-to-year increase in over five years, he added.

“There were just so many incredibly qualified students in the applicant pool,” Powell said. “We could probably admit three classes of students who are enormously academically qualified from the group of applicants we had.”

Powell said that the Brown Promise initiative, the addition of another A Day on College Hill program and the doubling of travel grants should increase the yield rate of admitted students, which is one reason why the acceptance rate is lower this year.

The incoming class will be the first cohort of students to be admitted under the Brown Promise initiative, which guarantees that incoming and current students will have no packaged loans in financial aid rewards for the 2018-19 academic year, The Herald previously reported. The initiative “should be a strong factor for students to be able to choose to come to Brown,” Powell said. “Where in the past they might have not been able to afford it, this year, because of Brown Promise, we hope they can.”

Sixty-four percent of the pool intends to apply for financial aid — the same percentage as for the class of 2021.

Forty-nine percent of accepted students identify as students of color, an increase from 47 percent last year, Powell said. Additionally, 13 percent of admitted students identify as first-generation students, a slightly lower percentage than last year, Powell said.

The admitted students hail from 48 states and 76 nations, with international citizens making up 11 percent of the pool. The top five represented states were California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Texas, while the top five represented countries were China, India, the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, according to Powell.

Additionally, the University will host two ADOCH programs this year, and early decision students will be invited to attend for the first time in a decade, The Herald reported. The University has doubled the funding available to bring low-income students to campus for ADOCH, Powell said. This year, the University will offer travel grants for 432 admitted students, which will cover the entire cost of transportation to and from campus. Last year, the University offered 189 admitted students that same opportunity, according to Powell.

“We know that when admitted students visit Brown, they are more likely to enroll,” Powell said. “When students come to College Hill and attend classes and meet faculty and current students, they see how special a place Brown is and they’re more likely to matriculate.”

The University also admitted 88 students through Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education and 19 students through the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program, both decreases from last year’s admitted class.

Students admitted through regular decision will join the 737 students admitted through early decision in December. Of those deferred from early decision, 3.8 percent were admitted through regular decision, a decrease from the 5.4 percent accepted last year, Powell said.