Man selling paintball tickets on campus appears to claim false association to ASUCLA

A man who appears to be falsely claiming association with on-campus organizations has been coming into classes and attempting to sell tickets to students for admittance to paintball parks.

The man has been entering lectures and advertising discounted paintball tickets, which are valid and accepted at the parks listed on them. Despite claiming to be affiliated with Associated Students UCLA and UCLA Special Events and Protocol while selling to students, the man does not appear to be connected with either organization.

Jazmyn Yap, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, purchased a ticket Feb. 26 after the man came into her Chemistry 153A class. Yap said the man also came into her Life Sciences 107 class.

“He said he was working with UCLA’s special events,” Yap said.

She paid $10 via Venmo for a ticket that is valid for two admittances. She added she remembered him similarly advertising in one of her classes last year and felt more comfortable buying a ticket from him because of that.

Hollywood Sports Park, one of the paintball locations in California listed on the back of the tickets, confirmed that they do accept the tickets. They sell them to a third-party company, listed as Monetary Marketing on the tickets, which then resells them through independent contractors to the public.

A spokesperson from Hollywood Sports Park said students who purchased the tickets are often surprised when they try to use them, as the ticket does not cover additional required fees. These fees include the costs of carbon dioxide cartridges and paintballs. As a result, a round of paintball can end up costing up to $50 as opposed to the initial $10 cost of the ticket.

A spokesperson from Monetary Marketing said they work with an independent contractor, who is a UCLA graduate student and has been selling tickets on campus. They added the contractor sold 27 tickets on campus in an incorrect manner, but Monetary Marketing is currently working to address the situation. The spokesperson did not clarify what was incorrect about the way in which the contractor sold tickets.

However, the spokesperson also said that the contractor used a Venmo that did not match his own name, and did not disclose the real name of the individual.

Tod Tamberg, a UCLA spokesperson, said no one matching the description of the man appears to be working for UCLA Special Events and Protocol. Roy Champawat, director of the ASUCLA Student Union, also said he does not believe this man is a part of the association. Champawat added he is unaware of any current events or fundraisers that involve paintball.

“Many of the things that are agreement or contract-related come through my office,” Champawat said. “I have not heard of this initiative if it has come from some office.”

Champawat also said it is possible one of the student-run business enterprises associated with ASUCLA may be hosting a fundraising event involving paintball. However, he added this is unlikely because the man never specified he was selling the tickets for fundraising purposes.

“I wouldn’t anticipate that they are in fact associated with ASUCLA officially,” Champawat said.

Some professors and students said they initially believed the man was part of a scam because of his false claims to have connections to UCLA Special Events and Protocol and ASUCLA. Yap said she and her classmates received an email from Heather Tienson-Tseng, a chemistry professor who teaches Chemistry 153A, encouraging them to verify the validity of the tickets and apologizing for allowing the man to speak to the class.

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Robert Frank Jr., a history professor, said the man came into his History 3D class Feb. 26. Frank said he assumed the man was part of a UCLA organization and perceived him to be legitimate at the time.

Logan Flores, a first-year study of religion student who is in Frank’s History 3D class, said the man introduced himself as being part of ASUCLA but did not mention his name.

“He said, ‘Hello, I’m part of ASUCLA and we’re going to be selling paintball tickets.’ And I don’t remember the numbers exactly, but I think he said it was like a 90 percent-off discount to go paintballing,” Flores said.

University police Lt. Kevin Kilgore said in an email statement that UCPD is currently investigating this situation.

UCLA Extension employees express concern over institution’s shifting leadership

UCLA administrators and UCLA Extension employees offered conflicting accounts of UCLA Extension’s recent leadership overhaul.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh appointed three new interim administrators following the retirement of UCLA Extension’s previous dean, Wayne Smutz, in October.

After UCLA Extension’s revenue for the 2017-2018 school year was about $10 million below the projected value, UCLA administration brought in Huron Consulting Services LLC to audit UCLA Extension’s operations and evaluate its performance.

Huron’s audit, submitted May 2018, found an increasing operating deficit, low employee morale and inadequate communication with staff, and gave recommendations to overhaul UCLA Extension’s workplace culture and business administration from the ground up. Since then, approximately 75 employees have left the organization.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez said UCLA Extension has made significant progress implementing the Huron report’s recommendations, including greater fiscal oversight and increased course offerings for students.

“UCLA is confident that UNEX has turned a corner and is (on) the right track to strengthen its core mission,” Vazquez said.

However, some UCLA Extension employees said they feel like that corner is still a ways away.

UCLA Extension employees who spoke to the Daily Bruin asked to remain anonymous because they were concerned for their job security.

Employee A said they think the UCLA Extension leadership team, specifically interim Vice Provost Tom Oser, has not been transparent enough with the staff and the public about implementing the recommendations.

“(Oser) has never gone to explain anything about how we’re accomplishing those,” Employee A said. “There’s been lack of vision and lack of transparency in his agenda and his decision-making process.”

Oser declined to comment, and Vazquez declined to comment on any allegations on his behalf.

Employee A added they think the leadership team delays projects, like renaming UCLA Extension, by hyperfocusing on arbitrary details. The renaming has been on hold since August.

“(Oser) has focused on details such as fonts,” Employee A said. “This has delayed rebranding, signage, brochures, ordering stationery, uniforms, etc.”

Employee B said they believe the leadership team has too many outside responsibilities to manage UCLA Extension efficiently. Oser is a visiting professor at the Anderson School of Management and manages his own consulting firm in addition to his position as interim vice provost at UCLA Extension.

“We have these three part-time people here,” Employee B said. “They’re not even here – two of them are in India working for Anderson – so how does that benefit our organization?”

Oser and the other two interim deans work full-time at UCLA Extension, Vazquez said.

Employee B added Oser does not respond to emails and they think Oser is unfamiliar with some plans for the organization.

“He tells everyone he doesn’t read emails,” Employee B said.

Employee B said they believe the UCLA administration has not been transparent enough with the staff and the public about their involvement with the hiring of the next dean.

“(Campus) did that Huron report … but then the dean retired,” Employee B said. “What’s the plan? When are they hiring the next dean?”

Vazquez added the university recently began the search for a permanent dean, but did not provide a time estimate or what such a search will entail.

Many active job searches are listed on the executive vice chancellor’s website, including a search for the dean of the Anderson School of Management; however, a replacement dean for UCLA Extension is not among them.

Vazquez added the current leadership has addressed last year’s mass departure of employees by filling previously vacated positions.

“The leadership team is working with UCLA Extension managers to ensure proper staffing levels are maintained,” Vazquez said in a statement.

As of last month, UCLA Extension hired 26 new employees to fill empty positions.

However, Employee A said they believe concerns for job security remain present among many employees, though not within every department.

“There have been unannounced departures with little to no explanation,” Employee A said. “Two people in marketing were no longer at work the next day.”

They added the reasons for their departures still have not been explained.

“People don’t know what’s coming,” Employee A said.

Authorities must set up safety regulations for ride-hailing, e-scooter employees

School seminars and parental advice were always big on one fact: Don’t get into cars with strangers.

Today, it’s just another way to get around. But these services still come with dangers – labor and safety ones.

Los Angeles has taken some initial steps to take over-reaching companies to the curb. On Feb. 28, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to study the effects of Uber and Lyft on traffic congestion. Over two years, the studies will help officials gauge the potential of a tax on these services to help promote alternative forms of transport and relieve traffic.

In addition, with the growing popularity of shareable electric scooters, bikes and other dockless transportation devices, the city introduced a 16-month pilot program in September to gather data on new regulations. The city instituted a cap on each companies’ vehicles, a 15 mph speed limit and a hotline to report misplaced scooters. Scooter companies are responsible for responding to these reports.

However, these regulations only address a fraction of the problems these services produce. Worker compensation and protections are still lacking, years after app-based sharing companies came to prominence. The rules surrounding the operation, management and liability of dockless vehicles are unclear and the safety standards of these and other gig-economy elements are not yet set in stone.

Municipal, state and federal efforts to regulate these new industries need to be more forward-thinking, instead of tackling problems as they come up.

Many of those problems arise with the workers these services employ. Chargers – the people who collect, charge and place dockless vehicles for a small fee – have not had the benefit of certain protections under the law.

Typically, chargers are paid per device charged, with increased rewards based on the difficulty of retrieving a device. This system does not provide for a secure livelihood. This is especially relevant under LA’s recent pilot program, which requires dockless device operators to respond within two hours to reports of improperly placed vehicles. If these companies want to leverage their existing workforce, they should be obligated to provide for them.

Indeed, the state has grappled with this issue before. In April, state courts tightened the standards by which employees could be considered independent contractors, who don’t have all the benefits of full-time employees. However, problems still exist. For example, the average minimum wage of drivers is still below LA’s minimum, and doesn’t take into account associated expenses of operation.

In other accounts, working conditions for chargers can be unsafe. Many set out to retrieve vehicles in dangerous areas, like the bottom of canyons, and reports said competition could turn fierce. Some workers were actively threatened when they beat someone else to a scooter. In other cases, chargers sometimes ride unsafely in order to transport many scooters at a time. This form of employment is too unregulated to form an evenhanded part of LA’s transport infrastructure.

The rush to enter the market early has also resulted in dangerous technical problems. Recently, some Lime scooters were found to have a mechanical bug that resulted in premature braking and injuries. Though these vehicles are subjected to general statewide safety testing and standards, they are still being deployed at a large scale with dangerous defects. These scooters are being used at a larger scale than before, and state standards for testing and safety need to be more rigorous.

While the scope of issues posed by these services is large, legislative barriers do exist. For example, many ride-hailing regulations fall under the purview of states’ utilities commission, and not municipal governments.

Companies have also argued that additional regulations place burdens on them that could halt growth. The benefits of the transport gig economy are also potentially held back by the requirement that riders have a smartphone and access to online payment.

“New York City, for example, put a cap on ride-hailing,” Brown said. “The effects of it are uncertain, but in general people are quite concerned with what that will mean for equity.”

However, governments can still maintain the benefits of these services to society while preserving the rights they infringe upon. For one, caps on dockless vehicles can be adjusted based on usage data in specific neighborhoods, as provided by companies. Similar transparency with regard to wages might help provide the first steps to issues with employment.

Getting into cars with strangers has become a normal part of everyday life, with a number of positive effects. But California has a long way to go until it’s safe for everyone.

Editorial: UC ends deal with scientific publisher, moves toward open access to knowledge

Sometimes you have to walk away.

The University of California announced last week it is cutting ties with Elsevier, the world’s largest scientific publisher. The University will no longer be paying millions in subscription fees each year to get its campuses access to published work and the ability to share their research.

This decision appears to have rocked the publishing world. The UC is responsible for nearly 10 percent of the nation’s publications. Its clout as the foremost public research institution has put its decision in the spotlight.

And rightfully so. The traditional publishing paradigm involves paying not just for access to articles, but also for the rights to share your work with others – an overpriced model that suffocates the transfer of knowledge.

The UC challenged that by engaging in negotiations with Elsevier in July. The University has vied for a “read-and-publish” subscription model that entails a singular payment for access to articles and the ability to make its researchers’ work immediately available to the public. Elsevier offered up something the University liked, but not before – per University accounts – slapping on an unseemly price tag.

The deal was called off. And as far as the UC is concerned, it should continue to stay that way.

The University’s decision to break off from Elsevier sends a powerful message that information monopolies are antithetical to the mission of research institutions – a message faculty and researchers largely appeared on board with because of town halls and regular updates. That same level of interfacing with the research community is necessary for the UC to navigate the untested waters of open access.

And the waters really aren’t that tested. The UC is one of the first major U.S. public universities to stand up to and break away from a publishing megalith like Elsevier over restricted access.

Much of the local resistance to the Amsterdam-based company’s burly prices have come in the form of petitions. And save for a couple of university-wide initiatives to share knowledge with the public, publishing in the U.S. has been confined to a handful of publishing strongholds who charge a pretty penny for their services. It’s no wonder Elsevier made a whopping $1.17 billion in revenue in 2017 – what amounts to an insulting 37 percent profit margin.

But a scientific future outside of Elsevier is undoubtedly possible. All universities in Germany and Sweden cut ties with the company in 2018, following failed negotiations for open access to research they published. In fact, Germany sought a similar “read-and-publish” deal to the UC’s, and a conglomeration of 700 German libraries and institutions signed a three-year, open-access contract in January with the publisher Wiley. That deal made history as the first-ever deal between a research-focused nation and a publisher.

It’s the kind of deal the UC can score too. And the ramifications of that brokerage stands to significantly shape research publishing in the nation.

Certainly, the road to an open-access deal has its obstacles. For one, Elsevier still commands an impressive suite of journals, and it’s foreseeable UC researchers seeking to publish their work will have to weigh the readership of open-access with that of existing platforms. The same applies to accessing other institutions’ research still published through traditional channels.

But the University and its researchers have taken the first step toward more democratized access to knowledge. And the fight for that ideal and its adoption was never going to be easy.

Just ask the UC when it walked away from the negotiating table.

Musical humanizes Einstein through balance of ambition, romantic relationship

Albert Einstein is known for his academic prowess, but “Rebel Genius” will bring his romantic endeavors to center stage.

The musical’s world premiere, presented by the department of theater in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television will run from Friday through March 16 in Macgowan Hall’s Little Theater. Director Brian Kite, chair of the theater department, said the musical doesn’t attempt to recreate a biography of Einstein’s life; rather, it places Einstein and Mileva Maric’s love story in present time to emphasize how figures from the past faced similar struggles as modern creatives.

“Doing it in a more current way makes us realize that ‘(Einstein’s) just a guy like me,’ or ‘Mileva’s just a woman like me,’” Kite said. “We’re talking about history, but we’re going to tell that story right now.”

Contrary to the Einstein characterized by wild hair and a lab coat, Kite said the musical portrays a young man balancing relationships and academic ambition. Through reading Einstein’s love letters to Maric, playwright Matthew Puckett said he better understood who Einstein was as a person outside of his accomplishments, humanizing the iconic figure.

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In addition to Einstein, Puckett said he hopes audiences will learn more about Maric as both an individual and a scientist. Maric, Einstein’s first wife who he eventually divorced, is rumored to have assisted Einstein with much of his research without credit, though Kite said this has not been proven. As Einstein’s ambition pushed him closer to his goals, Kite said it also pulled him away from personal relationships. Despite her strong affinity for physics, Puckett said Maric faced barriers as a woman in science, and the musical explores how her minimal success in comparison to Einstein’s impacted their relationship.

Although Einstein’s love story occurred at the turn of the 20th century, Puckett said he removed both musical and visual elements indicative of the time period to help audiences better relate to the renowned historical figure. Costume designer Marisa Melideo, a third-year master of fine arts graduate student, said Einstein’s signature costume references the vest and pants style of the early 20th century through its silhouette with an elevated waistline, but its cut has been modernized as a streamlined jumpsuit.

In addition to the clothing, Puckett said other aspects of the musical help to modernize the story. Instead of composing a score similar to the music from Einstein’s period, Puckett said he wrote contemporary music so the audience could better connect to the stage. Removing European accents and dated language also helps to make the audience feel as if they are watching a story that is happening now, not 100 years ago, Puckett said.

“I tried to contemporize as much as possible to how someone today would understand what (Einstein) was going through,” Puckett said.

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Such efforts to modernize Einstein’s story helped Michael Wells, a third-year musical theater student portraying the scientist, realize that everybody deals with love and relationships when they’re younger – even Einstein. As someone in a relationship with another theater student, Wells said he can relate to Einstein’s struggle to balance one’s professional endeavors while maintaining a connection with someone who shares the same aspirations. Puckett said he hopes audience members will be able to see pieces of themselves in Einstein and Maric.

“(Einstein’s) not just this genius. He was a human and he had relationships,” Wells said. “He’s a very special person, (but) a person like the rest of us.”