Daily Bruin – Page 146

UC librarians conclude negotiations of salary increases and academic freedom protections

University of California librarians ended yearlong negotiations with the UC Office of the President late March after gaining salary increases and academic freedom.

University Council-American Federation of Teachers Unit 17, a union representing more than 350 librarians at the UC, reached a tentative agreement with UCOP on March 25. The five-year contract went into effect April 1 after members voted to ratify it.

UC librarians negotiated a total salary increase of 22-26% over the length of the contract, depending on the librarian’s position, said Martin Brennan, a UCLA librarian and member of the UC-AFT librarian negotiating team.

“We are really pleased with the gains we got,” Brennan said. “It is going to make a real difference in librarians’ lives right away.”

Brennan said the union negotiated these wage increases because librarian salaries at the UC lag behind market rates.

Starting salaries for librarians at the UC trail those at California State Universities by 37% for senior assistants, 32% for associates and 25.5% for librarians, according to the UC-AFT librarian website.

Brennan said the wage increase does not close this gap completely, but significantly reduces it.

UCOP spokesperson Sarah McBride said in an email statement the University believes the agreement is fair and recognizes the contributions of its librarians.

In addition to salary increases, the agreement offers excellent health and retirement benefits and professional development funding, McBride said.

Librarians requested academic freedom protections in their contract, such that they have the freedom to express controversial viewpoints without censorship. Academic freedom is currently enjoyed by UC faculty and students and is subject to academic standards.

Brennan said the University refused to give librarians explicit academic freedom protections in their contract and instead proposed a committee to make policy recommendations on the academic freedom of nonfaculty academic personnel.

The committee was formed in December, and the union agreed to accept the UC’s process for drafting new policy.

The proposed UCwide policy drafted by the committee was made public April 1 and extends academic freedom to all academic appointees for work that contributes to the academic mission of the UC, including but not limited to teaching, research, scholarship and the public dissemination of knowledge.

The policy was made in consultation with nonfaculty academic appointees and other stakeholders, according to a university letter.

The proposed policy is under a mandatory 90-day review by the systemwide Academic Senate, McBride said. Members of the UC community can provide feedback on the policy by July 1, she added.

Brennan added he thinks the proposed policy provides strong academic freedom rights for librarians and 60 other academic titles in the UC.

“It’s really a great victory for us. I mean, I honestly got misty-eyed when it all came true,” Brennan said. “I feel really great to have been part of this, that we’ve made a major change for academics for the University of California, not just made changes for librarians but impacted real change for all academics.”

The union fought for rights that faculty members enjoy, including academic freedom, sabbatical and eligibility for housing assistance programs, Brennan said. The union gained academic freedom protections afforded by the upcoming policy but conceded on the other benefits, he said.

Henry Reichman, chair of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure for the American Association of University Professors, said he thinks the proposed policy is a huge step forward but thinks the University has taken too long in providing librarians academic freedom.

“I think it’s actually shocking that it’s taken this long for the University of California to acknowledge the fact that librarians, in particular, have academic freedom,” Reichman said.

Reichman added he would have preferred the UC to provide librarians with faculty status, as California State Universities and the state’s community colleges have done.

The AAUP and the Association of College and Research Libraries have also recommended that university librarians be classified as faculty members when their jobs involve teaching, research and service. UC librarians said they perform all of these tasks.

Brennan said librarians did not push for faculty status because they were not sure they could win that benefit.

“We tried to fight that battle in the past and we lost. We didn’t know if we could win it this time around, so we went piecemeal,” Brennan said. “We went at the issues one by one.”

Brennan added the new contract does not fully recognize the work that librarians do.

“We had some important gains but not enough to fully recognize the impact that librarians have and compensate us the way that faculty are compensated,” Brennan said.

Un-Connon Opinions: Pac-12 mayhem demonstrates larger institutional incompetence

It’s been said time and time again, but I think that’s for a good reason – it’s true.

The Pac-12 is a mess.

And “mess” is a bit of an understatement. There are plenty of more accurate, vulgar descriptions of the situation all over social media.

This has almost nothing to do with the Pac-12 garnering just four wins in March Madness over the past two years – two of which belong to this year’s Oregon squad – nor does it have anything to do with the conference’s 4-12 record in bowl games during that span.

The Pac-12’s recent struggles in revenue sports are historically rare, but that is not the root of the organization’s problems. For me, the best representation of the mayhem was the series between No. 1 UCLA baseball and then-No. 2 Stanford this weekend.

The two highest-ranked teams in the nation faced off in the regular season for the first time since 2016 and for just the 13th time since Baseball America started its rankings in 1980. It has been deemed “The Showdown Out West” and it very well could be a preview of a Super Regional or College World Series matchup.

What was the Pac-12 Networks’ plan for coverage of the series?

There wasn’t one. West Coast baseball fans tuning in for Friday’s game would have instead seen a re-airing of a women’s lacrosse game.

None of the series’ three games were televised on the conference’s flagship network, the project that Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott was adamant would be the Pac-12’s first step towards becoming a powerful media mogul. Scott has tripped up time and time again – highlighted best in The Oregonian’s John Canzano’s in-depth, awarding-winning investigative series this fall – but I’ll try to hit some of the major points here.

Scott has said he wants to turn the Pac-12 into a media company, electing to turn down ESPN’s offer to run the Pac-12 Networks in favor of an independently-run entity. An entity that is not available nationwide, and one that is not available to DirecTV or Verizon Fios customers.

The NCAA, as a whole, seems to have constant problems in terms of televising nonrevenue sports. UCLA gymnastics broke the 198-point mark en route to an NCAA Regional victory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, but the event was not on television.

Sports like baseball, gymnastics and softball are becoming increasingly important to UCLA students, considering their growing appeal and consistent success. All three teams are in the running for national titles, and gymnastics put up similar attendance numbers to the men’s basketball team it shares Pauley Pavilion with – and that’s with the lower level baseline seats typically closed off.

But the Pac-12 makes it difficult for its biggest fans to support their teams, hindering their growth and alienating its new biggest assets.

So while blacking out the smaller sports is keeping the Pac-12 from reaching its full potential, Scott’s financial oversights on the bigger stage are costing the company millions.

The conference dished out $31 million to each of its members, 19% less than the Big Ten – which has 14 schools – and 32% less than the SEC – which is also made up of 14 schools. The new Pac-12 headquarters is in San Francisco, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world. Scott’s salary of $4.8 million is higher than any Pac-12 football coach or fellow Power Five conference commissioner.

Scott and the Pac-12 schedule more late-night Thursday and Friday football games than any other major conference. An investigation into the conference’s replay review system uncovered that the league’s general counsel Woodie Dixon – who was not a trained official or replay expert – had called in to referees at the Sept. 21 USC-Washington State game to overturn a correct targeting call against the Trojans.

Wherever you turn, you find a new avenue that the Pac-12 has utilized to hemorrhage cash, fall into corruption or just simply exist in a perpetual state of ignorance.

It all starts at the top, with a misguided former Harvard tennis player leading the way. UCLA may be having its own administration problems within its athletic department at the moment – with the Varsity Blues scandal and messy men’s basketball coaching search making headlines – but the mismanagement of West Coast collegiate sports goes even higher.

The Pac-12’s mishaps are both grand and minute, and the extent of the problems and possible solutions is too widespread to discuss in full detail here, which is why I implore every sports fan to read Canzano’s entire series on the issue.

From ill-informed financial decisions to the poor management of sports of every shape and size, Scott and the Pac-12 are driving the Conference of Champions into the ground.

Sorry Bill Walton.

UCLA gymnasts embrace lineup changes, prepare to compete for national title

Spur-of-the-moment lineup changes have been common for the Bruins this year.

And Kyla Ross said she doesn’t think that will change any time soon.

“As a team, we are really fortunate to have that depth,” the junior said. “We have eight or nine people on each event that are ready to go up at any moment, and we had a lot of people that aren’t in the lineup as frequently perform, and they always shine.”

No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (9-1) placed first in the Ann Arbor NCAA regional final Saturday to advance to the NCAA championship April 19. The regional weekend saw several new lineups for coach Valorie Kondos Field’s Bruins.

In the semifinal Friday night, junior Grace Glenn was slated to go sixth on balance beam – a position frequently taken by either senior Katelyn Ohashi or Ross – Ohashi filled Glenn’s usual lead-off spot.

After five Bruins finished their beam routines, it was announced sophomore Nia Dennis would be taking Glenn’s place in the lineup. Dennis had not performed on beam since Feb. 10.

She posted a 9.850.

Another change came in Ohashi and Ross’ removal from the floor lineup in the semifinals. Dennis and senior Macy Toronjo performed in their places.

“It was really great to see (Toronjo) and (Dennis) go on floor,” Ross said. “It’s been a long season, so (Ohashi) and I were able to rest and get ready for the next few meets. I’ve seen how hard they have been working in the gym, so it was great that they could come out and hit it. Overall, it was really great to see people come out and compete for the first or maybe second time this season, because they are so skilled too.”

Kondos Field said the Bruins’ fame is beginning to take a toll on the team, which contributes to lineup changes.

“Because of this team’s depth, we can continue to make the lineup choices that are best for everyone,” Kondos Field said. “They struggle with the emotional fatigue that comes from being the reigning national champions, and honestly, the celebrity of this whole team. There is an expectation to honor the fans that come to see them, so we simply won’t let hiccups get in the way of what happens next.”

The Bruins have drawn season-high crowds in all five of their 2019 road meets and have recorded their highest home attendance average on record this season. In their second to last home meet, the Bruins set a new UCLA gymnastics single-meet attendance record, with 12,907 fans in attendance.

Toronjo said she is proud of her team for keeping up with the shifting lineups and being ready whenever they are needed.

“It’s definitely hard to grasp (the lineup changing) as a lowerclassman, because that has never happened before,” Toronjo said. “In club, you are always competing − every event, every meet. It makes you stop and put your team over yourself. Everyone has the mindset of ‘I’m either going to cheer as loud as I can if I’m not competing or I am focused on what I need to do to hit a great routine, so I can give my score to the team.’”

The Bruins’ final weekend of action will take place April 19-20 in Fort Worth, Texas, where they will be competing for their second straight national title.

No. 1 baseball returns home to face top-ranked UC Irvine

For the first time this season, the Bruins will face back-to-back ranked opponents.

No. 1 UCLA baseball (23-6, 9-3 Pac-12) will return home to face No. 18 UC Irvine (21-5, 5-1 Big West) on Tuesday after clinching a road series win against then-No. 2 Stanford this past weekend.

The Bruins have just one day of rest before they play the Anteaters, who have won 13 of their last 14 games to move up the national rankings and take the top spot in the Big West Conference.

While UCLA is undefeated on Tuesdays this season, the team has yet to play a ranked team in five midweek games. The Bruins are 6-3 overall against teams currently in the top 25.

Coach John Savage said Tuesday’s game should provide a tremendous challenge for the Bruins.

“Irvine’s been playing really well from the beginning of the season, and has been a very good program for several years,” Savage said. “This year, they clearly look like one of the elite teams in the Big West.”

UC Irvine took down UCLA 8-1 at Jackie Robinson Stadium last season, but the Bruins blew out the Anteaters 12-0 on the road to return the favor. Junior first baseman Michael Toglia reached base five times and drove in a pair of runs in UCLA’s win.

Toglia started this season 7-for-43, but has raised his batting average by over 100 points and has driven in 17 runs over his past 10 games.

“(UC Irvine) always seems to grind out a good game against everyone they play, so it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Toglia said.

For the Anteaters’ offense, a key addition this year has been third baseman Brandon Lewis, who transferred from L.A. Pierce College this fall. Over UC Irvine’s last 14 games, Lewis is batting .396 and has driven in 22 runs to help the Anteaters score 8.1 runs per game.

Lewis and UC Irvine’s lineup will go up against a UCLA pitching staff that has posted a 1.60 ERA with 55 strikeouts in Tuesday games.

Freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin has recently moved to fourth in the rotation and will make his third straight Tuesday start against the Anteaters. In his recent appearance, Bergin allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings and struck out eight as the Bruins took down CSUN 10-1 on April 2.

“(Bergin has) been great for us so far,” said right-hander Ryan Garcia. “We’re hoping that he’ll just keep the ball rolling and get the momentum going for us going into this next weekend series.”

First pitch will be at 6:00 p.m on Tuesday.

Men’s tennis prepares for Pepperdine match following narrow USC victory

The Bruins have a chance to continue their winning streak in midweek play.

No. 13 UCLA men’s tennis (11-4, 4-0 Pac-12) will host Pepperdine (9-9, 3-2 West Coast Conference) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Tuesday. The match against the Waves will come as a breather between the Bruins’ Pac-12 matchups against USC on Friday and Oregon and Washington this Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Redshirt sophomore Connor Rapp said the team will need to rely on the positive momentum of the Bruins’ seven-game winning streak that began against Grand Canyon in February.

“You definitely need to ride the wave,” Rapp said. “A huge part of college tennis is confidence and getting hot at the right time. (Right now), we’re really doing a good job of that we’re coming to form at the best time.”

The Bruins’ most recent victory came against their crosstown rival USC Trojans. In a match that lasted almost three and a half hours, UCLA edged a 4-3 win over USC to claim first place in the Pac-12 standings.

“(Senior Maxime Cressy) and I talked to all the guys and told them to keep the energy going,” said sophomore Bryce Pereira. (The team needs to) cherish those moments and use the feeling from Friday as fuel for the rest of the season.”

Freshman Patrick Zahraj decided the match with a three-set win over USC’s Riley Smith to seal the victory for the Bruins.

Sophomore Keegan Smith led chants from the sidelines to spur on his team as fans congregated around the backcourts. Smith said it was important for him to be present, even after his own match had finished, to support the remaining players who fought for the win.

“I just want to leave tennis better (than how I found it),” Smith said. “Hopefully people see that, and say ‘Wow, I want to play tennis.’ For the team, you just always have to be supportive and show love.”

UCLA faced Pepperdine last year in the Bruins’ third dual match of the season. Pepperdine was defeated by UCLA 7-0. Then-senior Logan Staggs posted the clinching win, triumphing over the Waves’ Dane Esses by a score of 6-3, 6-2.

In the 2013-2014 season, UCLA and Pepperdine met twice. The first meeting was part of the ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, held in Houston that season.

Pepperdine was not originally scheduled to meet UCLA in the first round of the tournament but did so as a late replacement for Duke, which was unable to travel to Houston. The Bruins dispatched the Waves by a score of 4-0 and moved to the next round of the tournament.

The second meeting between the teams came a week later, where the Bruins won again by a score of 4-0.

Pepperdine’s coach, Adam Schaechterle, is in his first season as the Waves’ head coach. Schaechterle was previously the assistant coach for Notre Dame men’s tennis.

“He’s a nice young man who’s doing a great job, and did a great job (at Notre Dame) with their program,” said coach Billy Martin. “(Pepperdine this year) has been struggling a bit, and they’re not the best team they’ve had through the years.”

The Waves have posted a 9-9 record overall and a 3-2 record in the WCC this season. Their last three matches have come against St. Mary’s, Gonzaga and Portland. Aside from a 4-3 loss to Gonzaga, Pepperdine posted 4-1 wins over the other two opponents.

The match Tuesday is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

“We’ve had some unbelievable battles with Pepperdine in the past, and I’ll be expecting nothing less tomorrow,” Martin said. “We need to get our competitive juices going again, (and keep) working hard and improving.”

Softball powers through series against Arizona State after close match with Cal

There was no shortage of offense for the Bruins in their sweep over the Sun Devils this weekend, consisting of 35 runs and 10 homers between the three games in Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium.

But what coach Kelly Inouye-Perez was most proud of wasn’t the results. It was how No. 1 UCLA softball (35-1, 9-0 Pac-12) stayed positive and responded to failure.

“Our game is challenging in that it can be very outcome-oriented, like how many runs you are scoring or how many hits did you get? Inouye-Perez said. “Our game is tricky because we have hitters that are having quality at-bats and are squaring up to hit balls hard but are not getting hits. But we have to focus on the process separate from our outcome.”

The two players Inouye-Perez talked about from the Arizona State (25-14, 5-7) series that powered through their recent struggles were sophomore utility Kinsley Washington and freshman utility Kelli Godin.

In the seven games leading up to the series in Tempe, Arizona, Washington went 5-for-25 at the plate. She was rung up seven times and all five of her hits were singles.

Washington responded by going 1-for-3 on Saturday and picking up two hits in the series finale on Sunday, including her first collegiate home run.

“I was telling her to be patient, but it’s hard to be patient when you’re not getting an outcome,” Inouye-Perez said. “Her ability to focus on the process, stay positive, … (if you stay positive, and) let go of your frustration, the game will start paying you back. Her home run was a big one.”

Godin struck out twice in the opener Friday night – just the third time that has happened all season.

“It’s a mental challenge and you don’t always get to own the game,” Inouye-Perez said. “(Godin) struck out twice on day one, haven’t seen her do that all year.”

She shook off the punch outs with three hits and two runs in the next two games of the series. Her contributions were also visible by the dirt and grass stains she has worn all season, swiping two bases and making multiple diving catches in left field.

“She made some spectacular defensive plays that flipped the momentum and prevented them from getting on the board,” Inouye-Perez said.

UCLA – after barely breaking double-digit runs in last weekend’s series against California – scraped by with back-to-back one-run victories in Berkeley.

UCLA responded to its 10-run showing against Cal by more than tripling that number down in the desert.

Senior catcher Taylor Pack only got two hits against the Bears but was at the forefront of Bruins’ offensive explosion with three total home runs and 10 RBIs against the Sun Devils.

“I was just focusing on doing what I thought was right for my swing and not trying to focus on what their pitching or what they were throwing,” Pack said. “I was focusing on keeping it simple for myself.”

Junior utility Bubba Nickles only had two hits in eight tries against Cal. She turned it around and got at least one hit in all three games against the Sun Devils. She also drove in five RBIs and recorded her 10th home run of the season.

“We knew we had it in ourselves, but I think that sometimes we struggle to maintain that confidence,” Nickles said. “These past three games were a great representation of us just being ourselves and sticking with our plan.”

Second Take: Recent wave of nostalgia-based marketing is compelling, but may be unsustainable

America’s burnin’ up with nostalgia. But all fevers have to break.

In March, the Jonas Brothers made a move that possibly changed the course of American society by dropping “Sucker” – their first song since the band’s historic split in 2013. And it didn’t disappoint. Riding a wave of sentimentality, the song clearly drew from Joe and Nick Jonas’ time away from the band, eliciting the upbeat nature of DNCE’s “Toothbrush” and the provocative lyrics of Nick Jonas’ “Chains.” It’s no wonder that their first single since reuniting has led to their first No. 1 song on Billboard.

The brothers’ six-year break allowed them to grow with their audience and evolve, giving the cookie-cutter boy band an opportunity to finally mature. In the music video for “Sucker,” they abandoned the characteristic white skinny jeans and blazers for sleek suits and highlighted their significant others in various extravagant looks. Immediately, the internet erupted, with fans who grew up fawning over the band expressing their obvious excitement over the comeback. And “Cool,” their April follow-up to “Sucker,” has kept the excitement alive, garnering a similar response from former Jonas Brothers fans.

Following in the group’s footsteps, Aly & AJ – of “Potential Breakup Song” fame – dropped a single and announced the Sanctuary Tour in March. Their announcement gained more buzz than the fairly under-the-radar music they produced throughout 2017 and 2018.

And now donning blonde bangs, Miley Cyrus recently transformed her hair in a direct callback to her iconic Hannah Montana wig, one she noted herself on her Instagram story. It’s clear the golden age of the Disney Channel is making a comeback. But unlike the Disney renaissance of the ’90s that focused on creating original content, this revival is instead centered on resurrecting what was long thought to be dead – mid-2000s musicians, empowering cartoons and many a girl’s love for Nick Jonas. While they make for fun memories, relying on such content limits creativity and often fails to live up to the original.

One need look only as far as Disney’s multiple live-action remakes to see the dangers of relying too heavily on nostalgia to carry a film. “Beauty and the Beast,” its highest-grossing live-action remake, did fairly well among critics and audiences alike. A few of the company’s live actions have even gone on to earn Oscar nominations in a few categories. But take the upcoming “Aladdin” remake – Will Smith as the Genie almost immediately became a meme, and audiences don’t seem too thrilled with the trailers. Despite its stacked cast, “The Lion King” also has garnered a mixed response because of its categorization as live action despite its reliance on computer-generated imagery. Just because people may have fond memories of specific films doesn’t mean those memories can transfer to remakes.

But the far-reaching power of nostalgia tends to come with mixed results. The ’90s sitcom “Boy Meets World” was revamped as “Girl Meets World,” which ran from 2014 to 2017. The show took a more progressive stance than its somewhat outdated counterpart, commenting on social justice and feminism, finding its niche among younger Disney Channel viewers. But it didn’t appeal to the same audience that tuned in for “Boy Meets World” week after week, thus failing to pique enough interest to sustain nostalgia-based marketing.

Similarly, “Kim Possible” – the 2019 live-action remake of the beloved Disney cartoon – disappointed even before its February release, with the first trailer earning over three times more dislikes on YouTube than likes. And it arguably fulfilled expectations, earning a 37% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Considering that the 2005 animated film “Kim Possible: So the Drama” currently boasts a 73% audience score, it’s evident the reboot was less than successful. Disney both called and beeped, but this audience didn’t want to be reached.

Such content also has an inherent safety net. There’s a built-in fan base; even if people aren’t rewatching “The Lion King” every other week, people might buy a ticket solely to compare the remake to the film from their childhood. And even for audience members, there’s a certain comfort in reimmersing oneself in a world that may have once been so familiar but has since fallen by the wayside. It provides an opportunity to reminisce. At the end of the day, such marketing puts bodies in theaters and money in the bank.

But even with the Jonas Brothers’ recent reintegration to popular culture, it’s unclear thus far if the fever is sustainable or if they will soon fade back into relative obscurity. After all, watching the boys many loved as kids gallivanting around ornate castles and lounging in outdoor bathtubs is entertaining.

But this could very well just be a blip in the internet’s ever-shortening attention span. If the mighty trio of brothers’ next single doesn’t live up to expectations, well, the “Burnin’ Up” music video – complete with its iconic rap solo by Big Rob – is but a click away, ready to ease the wounds of disenchantment.