AFSCME holds UC-wide strike in response to alleged intimidation by University

Standing outside Murphy Hall, service workers wearing green shirts and carrying noisemakers and rattles chanted, “We are not afraid.”

University of California service employees held a systemwide strike Wednesday after their union claimed the UC had condoned the intimidation of workers participating in previous strikes.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the UC’s largest employee union, filed an Unfair Labor Practices charge against the UC on March 25 to the California Public Employment Relations Board. The charge listed 10 incidents during which UC administrators allegedly criticized or attempted to intimidate striking employees.

The charge included alleged incidents such as UC administrators providing food and gift baskets to nonstriking workers, police officers preventing strikers using bullhorns and a UC Davis superintendent physically assaulting picketing workers and threatening them with his car.

Melissa Lutz Blouin, a UC Davis spokesperson, said UC Davis campus police attempted to investigate the latter charge but were prevented because they said AFSCME refused to provide them an unedited video of the incident.

John de los Angeles, a spokesperson for AFSCME, said the union called the strike to call for the UC to respect the workers’ rights to protest for their demands.

“AFSCME is seeking from the University to refrain from (using intimidation tactics), and immediately correct the problem and actually even encourage the workers to be active with their rights,” he said.

Claire Doan, a spokesperson of the UC Office of the President, said in an email statement the UC believed AFSCME’s labor charge was a blatant attempt to justify another strike.

“For the fourth time in under a year, union leaders will try – and again fail – to extract bargaining concessions from the University through economic pressure,” she said.

This strike was the fourth held by AFSCME in the past year. The union called strikes in May and October 2018 to demand the UC raise workers’ wages and stop outsourcing. It also went on strike March 20 in solidarity with University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which represents about 14,000 research and technical workers in the UC.

Workers said they gathered at 6 a.m. to begin their march. They said they walked across campus and through the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center parking garage, stopping for a rally in front of Murphy Hall before returning to Bruin Plaza.

Speakers at the rally included student supporters, an AFSCME local 3299 executive board member and a representative from Sen. Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. Harris announced in 2018 she would be boycotting UC Berkeley’s commencement to support AFSCME while it negotiated with the UC.

Alexia Hatun, a third-year history student and organizer for Student Labor Advocacy Project, said SLAP had joined the march and rally to support the workers and inform students about how poorly she thinks the UC treats its employees.

Gabriel Cortina, a third-year anthropology student and organizer with SLAP, said he had begun advocating for workers’ rights after working on campus alongside employees in conflict with the UC.

“For me it was someone who would work alongside with us,” he said. “Just hearing the struggles that she had to go through to provide for her children really agitated me to get more involved. It’s the reason I’m still out here.”

Dan Russell, statewide executive vice president of UPTE, said UPTE had also called its workers to strike in solidarity. He said UPTE had joined the strike to also protest illegal worker intimidation tactics by the UC.

“(The UC needs) to allow workers who are, you know, are exercising their rights, to be able to picket or demonstrate or speak out and strike without fear of retaliation,” he said.

Russell said UPTE had also filed an Unfair Practices charge against the UC. He added several UPTE workers who had stayed home for the strike Wednesday had received a letter from their management warning they would be disciplined if they did not return to work.

Lorna Carlyle, a care partner at Reagan Hospital and AFSCME member, said she joined the strike because she thinks the UC was refusing to provide workers with a fair contract.

“Why would you think (Reagan Hospital is) ranked No. 7 (in the nation)?” Caryle said. “Because we are doing a good job, right? If we are doing a good job, we should be treated good.”

Marco Pacheco, an AFSCME spokesperson, said AFSCME workers are an integral part of the UC.

“We want to have the respect we deserve,” Pacheco said. “And today is not about begging or asking for respect, it is about demanding respect.”

Contributing reports by Martin Bilbao, Daily Bruin contributor.

As sesquicentennial occurs, debate on arrangement of periodic table continues

Eric Scerri, a UCLA chemistry lecturer, has written at least six books discussing the orientation of the periodic table.

His office is cluttered with posters and three-dimensional models of different periodic systems. Even his credit card has a picture of the traditional periodic table.

“The periodic table has been called the paradigm of chemistry; it’s the framework, it simplifies and organizes chemistry,” he said.

The periodic table was created 150 years ago by Dmitri Mendeleev, but is still a point of contention for many researchers in the field of chemistry. Since then, the table has been published in at least a thousand different forms, organizing the elements in different shapes and using different criteria, such as atomic weight and number of orbitals.

The placement of helium is at the center of the periodic table debate. The periodic table traditionally taught in textbooks, which organizes elements based on chemical traits such as reactivity, places helium in the rightmost column with the other less reactive elements.

The left step table, one of the many proposed alternatives to the traditional table, prefers to organize elements based on the number of outermost electrons regardless of reactivity and groups helium with highly reactive elements such as magnesium and calcium. This organization makes sense for physicists who think of elements in terms of orbitals and electrons. For chemists, however, placing helium with highly reactive elements feels wrong.

“From a purely chemistry point of view, this version seems to be a bit unnatural and forced,” Scerri said. “This highlights the tension between physics and chemistry.”

Philip Stewart, a chemistry professor at the University of Oxford, said he likes the aesthetic appeal of organizing the elements in a spiral.

“Curves appeal to our eyes, which evolved for millions of years,” he said. “In a world of curved forms, straight lines and right angles only appeared with the invention of building with blocks or bricks a few thousand years ago.”

While the spiral might look nice, it does not break the elements into periods so, if he had to choose, Stewart said he would pick the left step table.

He said he initially resisted the idea of putting helium with alkali metals such as magnesium and calcium because of their varying reactivity, but said this difference might be insignificant because the purpose of the table is to understand electron configurations.

He said there are rare situations in which an element’s electrons do not behave as expected according to their chemical traits, suggesting the element should be grouped with other elements that share the same electron configurations but not the same chemical traits, which do not always align. The easiest way to resolve this is to put a small symbol at the corner of the odd elements, indicating they are exceptions.

René Vernon, an Australian-based periodic table researcher, said he values clarity in a periodic table more than aesthetic appeal.

He said his main concern with the left step table was that it does not show the progression from metals to nonmetals and other chemical trends across elements.

“The left step table appeals to a lot of people based on its aesthetics, it’s highly regular, it’s highly ordered,” he said. “It’s a very interesting form to study but it’s at the expense of clarity.”

Vernon said three-dimensional versions of the periodic table have their own merits and demerits but can be difficult to convey in a textbook. Scerri said there are people trying to create three-dimensional pop-up tables in textbooks.

“The big question is ‘How efficiently is information conveyed and what is it representing?’” Vernon said.

Hammer Museum panel discusses effects of release of the Mueller report

Political and intelligence experts said they think the United States Attorney General’s assessment of an investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russian government may be misleading, at a Hammer Museum event Wednesday.

Malcolm Nance, a counterterrorism and intelligence analyst, Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent and CNN counterintelligence analyst, and Scott Horton, a legal expert, joined moderator Ian Masters, a journalist and political radio host, to assess the impact of the recently released Mueller report.

Robert Mueller, former FBI director and a special counsel for the investigation, began the probe into interactions between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign for signs of collusion in 2017.

He turned in his completed report to Attorney General William Barr on March 22, who stated in a letter to Congress the investigators could not charge Trump or the administration of criminal collusion or obstruction of justice.

Barr added that while there were no criminal charges, the report doesn’t completely exonerate Trump of all charges.

The panelists challenged this verdict, suggesting instead Trump and many of his associates had incriminating ties to the Russian government that would have been heavily prosecuted under a different administration.

Nance said Trump’s marriage to Ivana Trump, whose father was associated with the KGB, the former Soviet Union’s security agency, began a long history of the Russian government collecting information about Trump.

He said records of Donald Trump Jr., Michael Flynn Jr. and Jared Kushner meeting with Russian officials also connect the administration to the Russian government, which he added under normal circumstances, would be considered treasonous.

“There appears to have been a waiver for this White House,” Nance said.

Rangappa said it is important to draw the distinction between criminal conspiracy and counterintelligence. She said Mueller may have not found a place to file criminal charges, but that does not absolve the administration of all collusion with the Russian government.

“If you are then trying to cover up what Mueller has found in a two-year investigation, you are now, at best, throwing your reputation away,” she said. “At worst, engaging in criminal activity.”

The panel also agreed Barr’s reluctance to share the full report or elaborate on its findings was indicative of a larger scheme.

Horton said he thinks Barr is delaying the release of the report to build public distrust in its findings.

He added he suspects the report has reached the Trump administration due to Barr’s refusal to answer questions about whether the White House had seen the report.

“Barr is now dissembling about the report in his four-page letter, clearly misleading people about what it says, and refusing to provide it for Congress, although I think it was written intentionally very clearly for Congress, but providing the information to people who should absolutely not be seeing it,” he said. “That’s egregious conduct.”

Rangappa said one of the goals of the Russian administration is to erode U.S. citizens’ faith in the country’s governmental institutions. She added this should not discourage the U.S. public, but should serve as a call to hold the government accountable and continue civic engagement.

She added the public should be optimistic because political activism has been at a high in recent years, and people have become more willing to vote, protest and educate themselves.

Nance said the burden falls on the people to help convince the government of the gravity of the administration’s errors.

Horton said public opinion could have a crucial impact on the government’s response to this issue.

“The fact that people pay attention to this, read, stand up and speak, that makes all the difference at the end of the day,” he said.

UCLA should make research more accessible for its undergraduates

UCLA is a world class research university that receives hundreds of millions in research funding every year.

You can imagine the irony when students realize they still can’t find research positions here.

Participating in undergraduate research is critical and allows students to develop important laboratory skills. Many South Campus majors like microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and cognitive science require students to take up research for course credit. Students outside of these fields also choose to participate in research for the job experience.

Researchers from various departments can post about open positions on the UCLA undergraduate research portal. The portal allows students to look through various on- and off-campus research opportunities and apply online by submitting their resumes and cover letters. Many departments also post a list of research opportunities on their websites.

But most researchers do not use these avenues, so departmental websites and portals often miss out on many opportunities or are outdated.

“There are a lot of research opportunities at UCLA, but they are all over the place,” said Thaksaporn Chitrakorn, a third-year psychology student. “Students find out about them through the research portal, flyers or by contacting professors, and so the process is kind of messy.”

This limits students in research-oriented majors by preventing them from finding appropriate research opportunities to supplement their theoretical knowledge. In extreme cases, this may even prevent students from graduating on time. This also disadvantages those who wish to pursue research as a career by hindering their ability to gain valuable exposure and hands-on experience in the field.

Undergraduate students need a more effective avenue to take advantage of being at one of the top research institutions in the nation. The university needs to ensure professors are transparently and regularly posting research opportunities on established campus channels like the undergraduate research portal.

One reason why faculty do not post about research opportunities is because there simply aren’t as many open positions as there are interested candidates.

“Many labs have far more students interested in working in them than they can accommodate,” said Gregory Miller, chair of the psychology department.

The psychology department, for example, has more than 3,600 students – 38% higher than in 2011, Miller said. He added that the department has not seen a similar growth in the number of faculty, meaning the number of research opportunities hasn’t grown significantly.

Additionally, many undergraduate students don’t know how to seek out open positions. They also often do not know what information to include while emailing professors for research positions or how to prepare for interviews. This is because most undergraduate students have never been exposed to research environments before and thus are not familiar with the requirements of the job.

“As a freshman, it was very confusing as to where I should look for opportunities and how I should approach professors and different labs,” said Girija Chatufale, a third-year cognitive science student. “Do I need a CV? Did I need to already have an established relationship with a professor? I had a lot of questions.”

And yet there is a huge demand for undergraduate research positions. Miller said 500 to 800 undergraduates in the psychology department alone sign up for course credit for their work at research labs per year.

Many students are therefore forced to take things into their own hands, but often do not receive responses when they cold-email researchers and their contacts.

Chatufale said she emailed about 10 psychology labs about potential opportunities as a research assistant and only heard back from two, one of which told her the psychology department’s information was outdated and the project she asked about was no longer operational.

And this seems to be quite a UCLA-specific problem.

“After cold-emailing several postdocs and principal investigators at UCLA and other schools, I found that it is easier to get a response from researchers from other schools than from your own school,” said Om Kapoor, a first-year cognitive science student.

Students justifiably expect more from a top-tier research university. UCLA should inform and encourage researchers to post about open positions on the undergraduate research portal. A formal application process for all research positions on campus would also ensure that students are given a fair chance for getting and being regularly updated about research opportunities.

And while it may seem like interested students should be asked to take initiative, UCLA shouldn’t be forcing Bruins to go on wild-goose chases for research opportunities. It is difficult for students to seek opportunities when they are unaware of the necessary steps they should be taking to start the process. Moreover, the quality of candidates for undergraduate research positions only improves when there is more transparency about those jobs.

The spirit of research is to share findings and information with the community in an accessible and procedural manner. UCLA would do well to embody that ideal, too.

It’s high time UCLA cultivated its cannabis-related curriculum

The California marijuana market has been set ablaze.

Too bad students will only get a whiff of it.

Proposition 64, passed in November 2016, legalized recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21, effectively allowing the state to reap billions of dollars in potential revenue. It also created a tremendous new demand for labor.

California now has one of the world’s largest regulated markets for weed. An estimated 400,000 new jobs may be available in the cannabis industry or related fields by 2021, according to an article by Green Entrepreneur. Cannabis companies need to hire more employees to maintain their production levels and revenue streams.

Many of these jobs require high-level skills and rigorous backgrounds in science or business. Applicants are expected to have a keen understanding of how those fields apply to the marijuana market.

That rules out UCLA students.

There aren’t academic avenues for Bruins to learn about weed. While multiple universities around the country have begun to offer cannabis majors and specializations, UCLA only offers a few classes at best.

A university like UCLA should offer more classes that allow students to gain an educational concentration in cannabis – especially when it’s located in the middle of a multibillion dollar industry hiring smart, qualified graduates from other universities.

Northern Michigan University, for example, offers a major called medicinal plant chemistry that prepares students for the chemical and scientific work of the cannabis industry. UC Davis also prepares students interested in the cannabis workforce through its plant sciences major in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

UCLA itself has a graduate research program known as the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative that focuses on cannabis science, as well as effective cannabis public policy. But only recently did the university begin teaching a few general education classes on cannabis to undergraduates.

The main course in the set is Cannabis 101, an introductory course created after advocacy by student group Cannaclub. There’s also a one-unit class focusing on public policy for criminal justice as well as cannabis and other drugs. But these light additions to students’ curricula aren’t enough to thoroughly prepare them for the cannabis workforce.

A grand total of two classes on cannabis won’t cut it for Bruins who are prospective growers, chemical analysts and governmental regulators. A single general education class surveying cannabis won’t provide students with the kind of expertise they’ll need if they join the industry. And students know this.

Eugenio Garza, a second-year political science student and the director of Cannaclub, said the cannabis educational opportunities at UCLA are severely limited.

“There’s no resource for information for students (and) no opportunities for students who want to work in the (cannabis) industry,” he said.

There are a lot of students seeking to learn about the science of cannabis, like pre-medical students who want to learn more about the endocannabinoid system, or the brain’s use of cannabinoids – which resemble cannabis – to maintain homeostasis. There are business economics students who want to get involved in the venture capital side of the industry. There are even pre-law students who want to center their practice around marijuana and learn about regulations.

Whatever the discipline, there is student demand for courses centered around cannabis.

And the industry needs qualified students. Brandon Canfield, an associate professor at NMU who teaches courses in its medicinal plant chemistry major, said inspector reports revealed that many companies have abysmal laboratory environments and untrained employees doing analysis.

“There’s a growing industry in cannabis analysis with a need for trained analysts,” Canfield said. “We should have social science studies of cannabis, like how it’s affecting society. The more (disciplines), the merrier.”

And the university knows that students are interested. Brad Rowe, a lecturer in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said his upcoming summer class on cannabis policy needed to expand class sizes three times due to the overwhelming numbers of students who wanted to enroll.

Since many students, like Garza, are interested in the social justice aspect of the cannabis world, the university should meet their demands by promoting additional classes similar to Rowe’s.

The fact that students are already maxing out class capacity means UCLA should offer more classes related to cannabis in each broad academic discipline – something that can noticeably improve interested students’ postgraduate employment. If student interest increases, perhaps it can offer a field-specific cannabis degree plan down the road.

It’s true UCLA might not want to create an entire major committed to a substance that’s still federally illegal. And that’s OK: Nobody is asking the university to create a major exclusively centered around cannabis – at least not yet. But the fact that there is a high demand for cannabis-related classes means the university should do its best to offer more of them.

Cannabis – and the cannabis industry – will keep growing. The only question is if UCLA wants in on the high.

Exhibit to highlight Syrian textile culture by showcasing upper-class garments

This post was updated April 16 at 9:03 p.m.

Robes with metallic accents once served as the fashion of upper-class individuals in Syria.

Such traditions will be brought into the present through “Dressed with Distinction: Garments from Ottoman Syria,” an exhibition running through Aug. 18 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, showcasing pieces like robes and jackets. The exhibit highlights clothing from early 20th century Syria, featuring Ottoman styles. Christian de Brer, Fowler Museum’s director of conservation, said the pieces appealed to him because of the variety of dyes, the hand-weaving techniques and gold and silver threads running through the clothing.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood who is the curator for the exhibit and has worked with them for her research. She said she looks at present-day exhibitions to study how textiles were made. After working as a textile archaeologist for 30 years, she began collecting Middle Eastern clothing during her role as director at the Textile Research Centre in Leiden in the Netherlands. The pieces in “Dressed with Distinction” are important to understanding Syrian culture, Vogelsang-Eastwood said.

“Even if (the exhibit) just means people say that’s where Syria is, at least (it will make people more aware) of where these countries are and aware of … how glorious they are and beautiful,” Vogelsang-Eastwood said. “It’s slipping away, all of this beauty.”

Collector David Reisbord said his interest in Syrian objects grew after touring the country and visiting bazaars there. But he could barely find anything written about Syrian clothing, so he decided to learn by collecting his own textiles. At first, he collected items he simply found interesting, but later began to focus on items from specific ethnographic groups, such as clothing from Syria.

The robes and other clothes in the exhibit are from the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Reisbord said. It was worn by upper-class members of Syrian society, but is rarely worn by anyone today, he said. Most of the clothing share common themes, such as patterns of upside-down triangles and gold and silver threading. But there are variations in each piece, such as some differences in color. The upside-down shapes also vary in size as well as in level of detail. Some viewers may see the commonalities among the pieces and consider them monotonous, but when considering the differing patterns and colors, the pieces are actually eye-catching and striking.

“I just like to accumulate beautiful things,” Reisbord said. “Starting out as a collector, I never dreamed that I would have a collection of any significance.”

De Brer said that, when conserving the clothing pieces, he focused on the metallic fabrics weaved throughout. The metallic hints were always used as the decorative elements in the clothing, and, after the pieces had experienced some wear, it was easy for those threads to be lost or tarnished. Discoloration would make them appear darker or of a matte texture, he said. While he could not do much to fix the wear over time, de Brer said the changes in the clothing show that it was consistently used, rather than worn every once in a while as ceremonial garb.

Vogelsang-Eastwood said she hopes people will see the pieces of clothing and consider them beautiful, but the most important part of the exhibition is considering serious issues in Syria. Vogelsang-Eastwood said she is worried about the preservation of Syrian clothing because the textile industry, which has been alive for nearly 2,000 years, has nearly disappeared in the past few years due to the war currently taking place in Syria. Any type of knowledge about the area will raise awareness about the war and the country’s current climate, Vogelsang-Eastwood said.

“The most serious side of the exhibition I think is the war in Syria and the destruction in the last few years of the textile industry,” Vogelsang-Eastwood said. “It’s celebrating this amazing tradition of textiles, but it’s also to be aware of what war can do, because this textile industry will never come back again.”

Alumna’s co-run YouTube channel provides realistic insight to pre-med students

Alumna Jane Lee met her boyfriend Jady Pham at their medical school orientation in 2014.

The couple now runs a YouTube channel together with over 100,000 subscribers based on their experiences as anesthesiology residents and medical school graduates.

The two started their channel, JaneandJady, in 2015 and have since created 200 videos. Pham said he and Lee initially posted lifestyle content, such as ice skating vlogs and grocery hauls, not focusing on their academics. However, people began to pick up that they were medical students and asked questions about their experiences, leading them to upload videos on the admissions process, choosing the right medical school and study tips. Lee said she has found online resources like message boards helpful and felt she could give back to other students who are currently on the pre-medical path. In particular, she wanted to be frank about the strenuous conditions medical students face and not romanticize the process.

“The reason we started this is to add to the repertoire of resources for pre-med students and medical students to help them, because this process requires help – nobody could do this alone. Growing up, I loved looking online and asking people their experiences and their advice,” Lee said. “I would have loved to have these YouTube channels and talk to those people.”

[RELATED: Alumna at UCLA Health encourages Instagram followers to reckon with failure]

Though most of their videos include tips and encouragement, Lee said she and Pham have not shied away from the difficulties and stressors of becoming a doctor. In one of their videos, titled “What is Medical School Like (All 4 Years) | Med Student Vlog,” Lee said typically, the first year of medical school entails waking up before 8 a.m. and attending three to four lectures in the morning, then studying for the rest of the day. In other videos, she talked about not having time to do laundry or dishes and working 12 days straight without time off during residency.

She also said medical school can be time-consuming and draining, and most medical students have to sacrifice time devoted to loved ones and hobbies. It can be hard to be open about the negative aspects of pursuing medicine, Lee said, as she doesn’t want to sound ungrateful or discouraging. However, she said prospective students deserve to know the obstacles they will face.

“It’s so important to be realistic with everybody, not glamorize medicine, because a lot of people think, ‘Oh, my God, being a doctor is so great, you get to save lives,'” Lee said. “They forget about the sacrifices that come along with pursuing medicine.”

JaneandJady’s authenticity is what drew in Dania Abid, who has been subscribed to the channel for the last four years. Abid said she found many of JaneandJady’s videos useful, including “Applying to Medical School with Low MCAT/GPA | JaneandJady,” which she said debunked myths that medical schools only accept people in the top 10% of their class. She also appreciated that their videos provide viewers with a detailed portrayal of Lee’s and Pham’s lives during the residency process.

“Initially, when they were both at (Drexel University College of Medicine) they gave a lot of advice on pre-med for pre-med students. Once they got to residency, they had a really hard time balancing crazy amounts of hours,” Abid said. “They became really honest about their experiences about how challenging it was.”

Once they graduated in 2018 and moved to New York City to begin their residency programs – where they both specialize in anesthesiology – Lee said they began focusing on giving advice to those who want to pursue the same specialty. They posted videos on their work, such as “Being Honest: Stress of a Doctor in Residency.” She also said she wanted people to know the switch from student to worker can be significant: Students transition from focusing only on their schedules to being accountable to their employers.

Besides preparing prospective medical students for the intense workload, Pham wanted to convey to subscribers the importance of personal time. Even with their hectic schedules, Pham said that he and Lee prioritize their hobbies, such as filming YouTube videos, because it provides a way for the two to destress throughout the week.

[RELATED: Student enhances vision for film by incorporating English, premedical experience]

When it comes to collaborating on their channel, Lee said both she and Pham bring something specific to the table and can create a nuanced perspective. Lee said she enjoys adding creative elements, such as on her personal Instagram page, @theanatomyoffashion, on which she posts beauty and fashion content, like a discussion of Korean skin care trends. Conversely, Pham handles most of the technological aspects of the channel, including filming and executing ideas.

Whether they are filming a vlog about their daily lives, working on a video on cardiac arrest or answering frequently asked questions about medical school, Pham said he is happy that both he and Lee are able to create content he feels is beneficial to so many people. Having always been a fan of YouTube – specifically the videography and editing aspect of it – Pham said he is glad that he’s able to contribute to the platform in this way.

“My favorite part is knowing that we’re able to help people,” he said. “Whenever we get a message saying, ‘Oh, your videos definitely made an impact on us,’ or ‘Watching your videos gave us motivation to study harder,’ I think that’s probably the coolest part about the YouTube channel.”