PROGRAMMING GIVES SUN GOD NEW WINGS ▶ OPINION, PAGE 4 Thursday, March 6, 2008 A NEW FACE Price Center Porter’s Pub Dodges Drastic Changes FOR SUN GOD Facing overwhelming Fee Refund employee opposition, Programmers new management agrees on Horizon to forgo proposed Restructure establishment overhaul. Students may get partial By Sonia Minden Festival’s fee reimbursement for Senior Staff Writer premature billing of Price Although a recent shift in Center activity charge, Porter’s Pub ownership prompted Entry Process pending UC approval. swirling rumors that the tavern By Charles Nguyen would be converted to a week- Senior Staff Writer By Matthew L’Heureux end sports bar, these rumors have News Editor been quelled by both employees This year’s Sun God Festival will and former manager Robert Porter, employ a new procedure for admis- While the Price Center expan- who assure that the pub’s original sion, swapping last year’s electronic sion continues into Spring Quarter, integrity of the pub will remain identification system for wristbands the university may soon return as intact — save a few requisite sur- and handstamps. A.S. Programming much as $500,000 in student activity face renovations. officials said that the new process fees as a result of the project’s pres- Porter reopened the UCSD streamlines entrance to the nighttime ent incompletion. tavern in his name as a graduate concert and allows re-entry for the first At the beginning of this quar- student in 1993 through a joint time in the event’s history. ter, all UCSD students paid $39 to effort with the Graduate Student Programmers’ new festival design fund the construction and main- Association and A.S. Council. Since is composed of “five pillars of Sun tenance of the upgraded facili- then, Porter’s Pub has been one God,” according to A.S. Associate ties, which include Price Center of only three locations on campus Vice President of Programming Kevin and Student Center. However, licensed to serve alcohol and hosts Highland. The pillars represent a num- the Student Initiated University university-run events and concerts ber of thematically organized activities, Centers Expansion and Renovation on its patio and stage areas year- all located on RIMAC Field and oper- Fee Referendum, passed in Spring round. ated throughout the day. One such site, Quarter 2003, mandated that the However, in its 2006 three-year tentatively dubbed by programmers as fee would not be collected “until the lease renewal, the pub met demands “Sun God Avenue,” will feature a street facilities are completed and open to from university administrators to fair venue along Hopkins Drive. By students.” remodel outdated kitchen facilities utilizing Hopkins Drive and opening In response to this apparent dis- and other offensive exterior viola- an entrance to the festival through the crepancy, Vice Chancellor of Student tions, or risk being replaced by an Hopkins Parking Structure, program- Affairs Penny Rue announced last outside venue. The administration mers are trying to shift heavy amounts week that she would seek a refund estimated the renovations to cost of activity that have traditionally filled in the amount of $26.52 per student, nearly $100,000. the campus’ Ridge Walk. the amount allocated toward Price Lacking the financial means to “[Ridge Walk] was never meant to Center’s operations. pay for administrators’ requests handle what happens during Sun God,” “We had hoped to be further and facing potential eviction, SANH LUONG/GUARDIAN Ten of 13 Porter’s Pub employees threatened to walk out last week after the establishment’s new managers See FEES, page 7 See PUB, page 13 proposed major changes to its atmosphere, ultimately opting to stay after the managers changed their minds. See FESTIVAL, page 3 ... But Then They Got High Dwindling Support Forces Campus to Court Young Alums Colleges nationwide demographics. “One of the big factors is the num- see decrease in alumni ber of alumni that universities list as donations, as UCSD alumni,” Council for Advancement and Support of Education President tries new programs to John Lippincott said. “If you have combat lackluster giving. more alumni on record but the same number giving, the participation By Teresa Wu rate actually goes down.” Senior Staff Writer More students are graduating from college each year, and univer- Alumni donations to universi- sities are concurrently doing a better ties nationwide continued to decline job of capturing graduates in their last year, raising concerns about the databases, which could explain last diminishing role of contributions year’s decline in the participation and prompting UCSD to utilize rate. While the number of donating new programs to increase voluntary alumni increased by 2 percent, the funding. number of alumni recorded in data- According to a Feb. 20 report bases increased by 4 percent. released by the Council for Aid to Additionally, since colleges have Education, overall donations to experienced a significant increase in American colleges increased by 6.3 enrollment over the last 10 years, the percent while alumni support also overall alumni base is younger than it declined by 1.5 percent. has been in the past. WILL PARSON/GUARDIAN Experts suggest that the decrease “Our UCSD alumni are extremely Pot enthusiasts and hip-hop fanfare converged on Price Center to watch Afroman perform his cult favorite “Because I Got High” on March 4, as part of in donations from alumni can be a Nooner concert sponsored by A.S. Programming. Festivals Coordinatior Garrett Berg said the mid-day event attracted approximately 1,000 students. partially attributed to changes in See DONATIONS, page 7 HIATUS SPORTS INSIDE WEATHER Best of Both Worlds Currents ................................2 Thieves Like Us New Business .......................3 March 6 March 7 Jason Statham knocks out and cashes in on Roger Men’s and women’s basketball win their respective Seasoned to Taste ................4 H 70 L 44 H 70 L 47 Donaldson’s bad-ass caper “The Bank Job.” playoffs to advance to conference semifinals. Letter to the Editor ...............5 page 8 page 16 Classifieds ..........................14 March 8 March 9 Sudoku ...............................14 H 69 L 50 H 69 L 50 2 NEWS THE UCSD GUARDIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 POORLY DRAWN LINES BY REZA FARAZMAND Charles Nguyen Editor in Chief Matthew McArdle Managing Editors Hadley Mendoza Serena Renner Nicole Teixeira Copy Editors Teresa Wu Matthew L’Heureux News Editor Jesse Alm Associate News Editors Kimberly Cheng Reza Farazmand Hadley Mendoza Opinion Editor VIincent Andrews Associate Opinion Editor Rael Enteen Sports Editor Danai Leininger Associate Sports Editor Alyssa Bereznak Focus Editor Katie Corotto Associate Focus Editors CURRENTS Serena Renner Chris Kokiousis Associate Hiatus Editors Chris Mertan AFSCME Pickets on Campus research, his goal is to discover new Sonia Minden ways to protect and preserve human Will Parson Photo Editor life. Kanamori pioneered the academic GUARDIAN ONLINE for Wages, Benefits Erik Jepsen Associate Photo Editor field of great earthquake seismology, Richard Choi Design Editor Members of the American and seismological institutions world- Wendy Shieu Associate Design Editor Federation of State, County and wide have adopted an earthquake Municipal Employees Local 3299 magnitude scale that he developed. www.ucsdguardian.org Christina Aushana Art Editor picketed outside UCSD’s Thornton His work in “real time” seismol- Patrick Stammerjohn Web Designer ogy has revolutionized the modern Page Layout and Hillcrest hospitals on Feb. 28 to Emily Ku, Sonia Minden, Kent Ngo, voice their concerns with inadequate systems of earthquake and tsunami Michael Wu, Kathleen Yip wages, high-stress working condi- warning. FOCUS HIATUS Copy Readers Allie Cuerdo, Rochelle Emert, Christine Ma, Najwa Mayer, tions and a rising cost of benefits that The topic of Kanamori’s address Slideshow: How Things Work Blog: The Mixtape Elizabeth Reynders, Anita Vergis they say have negatively impacted will be “The Diversity of Earthquakes Professor Doug Smith and Hot tracks reviewed weekly. Anna Gandolfi General Manager the quality of patient care. and Its Implications for Hazard his research assistant Dorian This week: soul cuts from Mike Martinez Advertising Manager The union represents over 20,000 Mitigation.” The event is free and James Durbin Advertising Art Director health care and service workers at open to the public. Raymer explain the ins-and- Musiq Soulchild, Ne-Yo Michael Neill Network Administrator UC’s five medical centers and 10 Student Advertising Manager outs of their internationally and Chris Brown. Julia Peterson campuses whose contracts have Chamber Orchestra to Advertising/Marketing Representatives expired. These employees include famed knot research. Maggie Leung, Ching Young health care providers and technicians, Accompany Silent Films Blog: The Tube Business Assistants Charissa Ginn, Maggie Leung custodians, food service workers, bus OPINION We start our coverage of Advertising Design and Layout drivers, groundskeepers and security The UCSD Chamber Orchestra Nick Alesi, Jennifer Chan, George Chen Web Poll: What do you HBO with looks at “The Distributors officers. will present a surrealist afternoon at Charissa Ginn, Jason Gubatayao Wire” and “The Sopranos.” Scott Havrisik, Danai Leininger Since August 2007, AFSCME the movies on March 9 at 3 p.m. in think of the Sun God has emphasized that below-market Marketing and Promotion Mandeville Auditorium. Festival’s new layout? Dara Bu, Priya Kanayson, Kathleen Ngo, wages, expensive benefits and the Director Geoffrey Gartner promises Jennifer Snow, Lisa Tat, Jennifer Wu, Ching Young failure to implement a step system for The UCSD Guardian is published Mondays and to disrupt spectators’ mental anxieties Thursdays during the academic year by UCSD students wage increases have created issues with live orchestral accompaniment to and for the UCSD community. Reproduction of this newspaper in any form, whether in whole or in part, with recruitment and retention prob- René Clair’s “Entr’acte” (1924) and without permission is strictly prohibited.