Sun God Safety Foremost Concern
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DON’T CAGE THIS BIRD ▶ OPINION, PAGE 4 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO www.ucsdguardian.org Thursday, January 24, 2008 The Student Voice Since 1967 APPOINTMENT Committee: Sun God Safety Foremost Concern By Charles Nguyen PUTS MARSHALL Senior Staff Writer During committee meetings aimed at re-evaluat- ing both the Sun God festival’s specific operations COUNCIL AT ODDS and broader purposes, administrators and campus programmers are prioritizing student safety issues that could mark a swath of changes to the daylong event WITH PROVOST and the evening concert itself. The annual festival is a massive financial and logistical undertaking that attracts tens of thousands Havis defends makeup of to campus with its nighttime concert, and costs nearly new search committee, $250,000 in security, technical staff and artist book- ing fees. but concedes to inclusion In the first meeting of the planning committee of additional student rep. charged with discussing and possibly implementing changes to the event, members focused on parking By Sam Huang and transportation issues. Transportation and Parking Contributing Writer Services officials gave an initial approval to proposals to shut down Hopkins Parking Structure during the After several Thurgood Marshall concert, using the site as a temporary entrance to College councilmembers criticized RIMAC field. Brian Ross, assistant director of campus Marshall Provost Allan Havis for events for the University Events Office, said that the WILL PARSON/GUARDIAN FILE allegedly cutting corners in choos- solution was reached in a large-scale effort to empha- Last year’s Sun God concert posed many structural and safety problems for organizers, who are currently investigating ways to streamline the event. ing the search committee to replace size safety at the concert. an outgoing dean, Havis authorized “The committee wanted to do something other God from a day of rowdy unruliness to one of com- bers, council programmers, UEO officials and UCSD a student subcommittee last week than debrief past errors,” he said, referencing problems munity building and campus relationships. Numerous administrators, was commissioned to pick through that will appoint a third undergradu- of overcrowding, which instigated disorderly activ- complaints about the event’s linkage to alcohol were the subcommittee’s proposals to determine which ate representative to the contentious ity at last year’s event. “We want to highlight specific raised in an in-depth report released last quarter. ones it should implement. selection panel. plans of action, like opening the parking structure so The report listed a barrage of grievances from Several councilmembers have voiced concerns One week after Marshall Dean of we don’t have thousands of students pouring down every campus department regarding the concert’s over the report’s breadth, especially the plausibility Student Affairs Ashanti Hands left Ridge Walk to get into the concert.” impacts on UCSD. Several subcommittees, dubbed of massive changes such as barring all students unaf- UCSD on Jan. 11, Havis met with a The committee’s next meeting will concentrate on “steering” bodies, were commissioned to discuss the filiated with UCSD from the concert and scheduling group of TMCC members to justify issues of advertising and marketing, Ross said, which report’s recommendations. The planning committee, his selection of the two student rep- UEO hopes will help shift students’ perceptions of Sun whose membership is composed of A.S. councilmem- See SUN GOD, page 3 resentatives on the search committee that will field candidates to replace her. The councilmembers accused Havis of bypassing standard applica- tion and interview processes with his selection, saying that excluding NEW POLICY the student body from the process University House Gets Stay of Demolition was detrimental to the committee’s LOCAL NEWS purpose. Bringing Down the House Havis responded by greenlighting Pressure from state senators convinces COULD PUT an additional subcommittee that will UC President Robert C. Dynes elect a third student representative UC regents to defer vote to raze JAN. 2004 asks for a structural and seismic to the selection board, which con- historic La Jolla chancellor’s house. assessment of the property. CAP ON ‘W’ sists primarily of staff and faculty from the six colleges. By Danielle Warren University House is placed on the National Register of Historic The two students on the cur- Staff Writer NOV. 2007 Places, delaying its demolition. rent search committee are TMCC MARK USE Chair Lana Blank and Marshall UCSD officials’ plans to demolish the historic UC Regents defer a vote on senior Prince Ghuman, an intern University House were once again interrupted Jan. 14 JAN. 2008 leveling house after receiving By Justin Gutierrez at the dean’s office. While some after state legislators and other advocacy organizations letters from two state senators. Staff Writer councilmembers said they antici- submitted last-minute letters of opposition. SOURCE: UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS pated Blank’s appointment due to Since it was deemed uninhabitable in 2004, the uni- An Academic Senate committee is her council position, they expressed versity and several local parties, including historians and Courtney Coyle, an attorney representing one of the asking for campus input on revisions concern over the addition of various American Indian groups, have clashed over what tribal entities concerned about the project, faults the to UCSD’s current course-withdraw- Ghuman, who was chosen after a to do with the structure and surrounding property. university for poor communication with the community al policy, which members hope to Marshall dean recommended him Campus officials believed the wait would finally end since the project began. change so that students are allowed to for the position. last week, when the UC Board of Regents was scheduled “There have definitely been some deficiencies in the withdraw from a class only once. “We wanted a person of the to adopt its reduced-scope construction plan during the process,” Coyle said. “It was only in the last couple of The Committee on Educational Marshall students at large so that Jan. 15-17 meetings at UCLA. months that any substantive outreach or progress was Policy — the body heading the revi- they could represent the student UCSD’s reduced-scope plan included reusing, when made with the tribal communities.” sion — began discussing the current perspective,” said Kyle Samia, A.S. feasible, structural elements of the original adobe house, However, Executive Director of University course-withdrawal policy more than Council Marshall senator. “For including remnants of the walls, ironwork and tiles. The Communications Dolores Davies said the university has three months ago. Members analyzed Prince Ghuman to work in the stu- plan also included an extensive historical archival record. made every effort to keep communication open with all different policies from other UC cam- dent dean’s office and to get this However, letters from Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny constituencies. puses, such as a stricter one at UC privilege is unfair. Just because he and Sen. Christine Kehoe, asking for the matter to be “We have been and will continue to be responsive and Irvine, which requires a formal peti- works in the dean’s office doesn’t deferred until more discussion takes place, forced the have an open dialogue with all members of the commu- tion when requesting a withdrawal make him more invested in Marshall regents to postpone actions on the item. nity,” Davies said in an email. from a class after the add/drop period College than any one of the other “I became involved because local tribes, the La Jolla UCSD is now proposing that UC President Robert C. has passed. Marshall chairs.” Historic Society and members of the community let me Dynes, among other officials, meet with the interested Currently, UCSD does not The council was initially con- know they had concerns about a historic site being razed,” parties to discuss the situation and formulate a project that require any petition to withdraw cerned because such committee Kehoe said. will be mutually beneficial to all involved, Coyle said. from a course, and a student can use appointments are usually done in Ducheny said she became concerned when it appeared “The goal should be that options could come back TritonLink to drop a class repeatedly a more democratic manner, Blank that UCSD had ended negotiations with the local groups. to the regents not for action but for their consideration for an indefinite number of academic said. “UC officials also appear to have cut short discussions for thinking about at the March regents meeting in San quarters. The unguarded accessibility “We were frustrated because nor- with tribal entities and may not have completed consulta- Francisco,” she said. of this option has consistently frus- mally appointments go through a tions that could result in feasible project changes to satisfy The house, added to the National Register of Historic trated professors, said physics profes- both tribal and university needs,” Ducheny said in a Jan. See MARSHALL, page 7 11 letter. See HOUSE, page 7 See POLICY, page 3 HIATUS SPORTS INSIDE WEATHER Foiled in Atlanta New Business .......................3 The Mixtape Messiah Column .................................4 Jan. 24 Jan. 25 Forget Chamillionaire, Lil Wayne stacks more Fencers run into problems against the nation’s Album Reviews .....................9 H 56 L 47 H 58 L 45 onto his