Daily Bruin – Page 198

USAC election board chair ousted from position in unanimous vote

Student government leaders removed their main election coordinator Tuesday.

Richard White served as the Undergraduate Students Association Council election board chair for four months. He was removed from his position at Tuesday’s council meeting by a unanimous council vote during executive session.

White was the second candidate appointed by USAC President Claire Fieldman for the election board chair position after Mher Mkrtchian was rejected by the council in the summer. The council voted 10-2, with one abstention, to approve White on Oct. 30.

Though threats to remove previous election board chairs have occurred, this is the first time in recent years that an election board chair has actually been removed from their position.

In his time as chair, White advocated for extending student voting hours, increasing campaign spending limits and increasing the number of student signatures required for candidacy. It is unclear how White’s removal will affect his proposed changes going forward.

White also made appointment recommendations for the election board. Almost all of White’s proposed appointments have or had ties with the Community Programs Office, of which White is a member. Council members questioned White’s outreach for the positions and the potential conflict of interest during the appointment hearings.

White revealed the identities of potential candidates in the upcoming USAC election before the candidate list was officially published. He has also called several council members racists during his tenure.

In the event of an election board chair’s removal, USAC election code states the USAC president must appoint a new chair to be approved by the council.

Restaurant review: Audrey’s variable dish quality fails to justify inflated prices

Audrey at the Hammer makes a visitor wish they stayed confined to the galleries of the museum.

Located near the Hammer Museum’s Lindbrook entrance, Audrey, which opened Feb. 26, serves hallmark diner fare that could be found at Denny’s. The restaurant also provides some European dishes that don’t belong on its menu and overall fails in its delivery to be a contemporary Californian establishment that matches its price tag.

The restaurant’s tawdry mix and match of style is first reflected in its interior design. While the immense windows occupying an entire wall give Audrey a refreshing and a la mode feel, the sensation is immediately dissipated by the tacky green couches lining the opposing wall.

To the right of the entrance, one encounters a poorly lit bar. However, Audrey momentarily redeems itself with the drinks offered at around $15 each – average price for a cocktail. Dear Rosemary is a surprisingly refreshing drink made from vodka, soto sake, pear brandy and rosemary. The taste of alcohol in the drink is barely noticeable to the causal shot-taker.

Sage Advice, made from rye, lime, rhubarb bitters and sage, tastes stronger and has a delightfully bitter aftertaste. Both beverages are served with a branch of their corresponding herbs dropped into the drink. The exquisite drinks, unlike the dishes, were up to par with the au courant feeling the Audrey attempts to induce. They are a refreshing interlude between ordering and attempting to enjoy the poorly presented entree.

Again the unfortunate push and pull between diner and contemporaneity is reflected in the food’s inconsistent presentation. While the white bean hummus was elegantly presented on a wooden board, the citrus salad and grains bowl were served in plain white bowls. For a restaurant that goes out of its way to appear contemporary and classy, the presentation of some of the actual entrees was underwhelming.

The appetizers range in price from $6 for the spiced nuts to $22 for the Iberian ham. The white bean hummus was one of the more reasonably valued menu items at $10, with the quality surprisingly matching its price. The rich spread was served with perfectly charred slices of toast lightly drizzled with olive oil. However, it was not accompanied by enough bread to fully enjoy the appetizer.

The grains bowl, however, was rather unremarkable. With too much black rice decorated by three mushrooms, half an egg and part of an avocado, the dish conditions one’s taste buds to longingly crave richness it can never fully bite into. The majority of the dish simply is rice in a lemon vinaigrette, with not enough toppings to balance out the dish.

The citrus salad followed suit in its inability to impress. While the the combination of radish, orange slices and pecans led to a melange of flavors, Whole Foods probably sells a comparable salad at a lower price.

The rest of the menu is a hodgepodge of diner classics such as grilled cheese, spaghetti and lamb meatball sandwich. The lack of originality in the majority of the menu items makes one blink twice in surprise when reading dishes such as SunFed ranch burger or miso glazed eggplant sandwich. These mod-sounding dishes stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of classic American cuisine.

The dessert menu is again an assortment of items without a clear unifying theme. But the majority of the menu still looked appetizing and seemed distinct to Audrey compared to the typical restaurants in Westwood. The desserts are about $9 each, with the exception of the selection of dessert cheeses at $14.

The bittersweet chocolate torta, $9 for a small slice, is served with creme fraiche and pistachios. The lightness of the creme fraiche beautifully balanced the richness of the chocolate torta itself. However, not much can be said about the pistachios’ contribution to flavor as there were only a measly four of them. The price tag on the dessert is to be expected at a museum restaurant, but the torta was one of the more enjoyable culinary avenues.

The richness of the dessert left a tough act to follow for the concluding latte. The mediocrity of the latte, available with normal or almond milk, is not mirrored by its cost. The Earl Grey tea, however, comes in a large glass teapot that can fill about 2 1/2 cups of tea. The stylish beverage selection paired with the dessert menu leaves one wondering why the restaurant owner did not just stop there, instead of adding overpriced, unimpressionable food.

Overall, Audrey fails to break from the restaurant-in-a-museum stereotype. Students are better off walking five minutes into Westwood and buying a sandwich for $8 than paying a double- or triple-digit figure for a meal to sit in what is essentially an Ikea cafeteria.

Diversity Showcase serves as a show of solidarity for female STEM students

Attendees of the Diversity Showcase have the option to pull a light switch accompanying a wooden art piece depicting someone’s face.

If attendees pull the switch and turn the lights off, they will be representing the power society has to dim and discredit people’s passions. The metaphor can translate to how women in STEM are often pushed out of their respective fields, said artist Allison Shindell.

The Diversity Showcase, a gallery of student quotes, art pieces and interactive posters, will be on display in Kerckhoff Art Gallery through Friday. The weeklong event, hosted by the Society of Women Engineers at UCLA, centers around the isolation and difficulties women in engineering experience. SWE member Sana Shrikant, a second-year computer science and engineering student, said the gallery reminds underrepresented students in STEM that they are not alone in feeling marginalized.

“We created the Diversity Showcase because we wanted to highlight the diversity present in UCLA engineers, because we wanted to be able to show different perspectives of people in engineering,” Shrikant said. “The perspective of people who aren’t as numerous in the field usually tends to get left out.”

All of the curated pieces in some way depict the experience of being a woman in math- and science-oriented spaces, said Mounika Narayanan, a fourth-year mathematics of computation and statistics student. Shindell, an Asian languages and linguistics student, said her piece with a light switch, for instance, features her own face cut from a wooden board.

Shindell, who hopes to double major in computer science and linguistics, said her art piece is somewhat pointillist, a style in which small dots make up a larger image. Differently sized circles, cut from the board with a laser cutter and then placed in front of a black background, represent the varying depths and dimensions of her face.

An LED light switch accompanies the portrait; when turned on, rainbow lights shine through the holes in the wood. When illuminated, the piece is supposed to represent people in their natural state, highlighting their passions and interests, Shindell said. But viewers can also switch the light off, symbolizing a disregard for someone’s natural state or passion, the way women in STEM are often disrespected, she said.

SWE members also interviewed about 15 people – most of them women, and a couple of men of color – mainly in engineering fields. Direct quotes were pulled from the interviews and printed out on white paper to be hung up around the walls of the room.

Shrikant said she and the other SWE organizers asked interviewees about their experiences as UCLA STEM students and how they think it has been different from others in the classroom. Another question they asked interviewees was if they have any advice for students coming into UCLA engineering. Across the board, Shrikant said the interviewees reported a sense of impostor syndrome when coming to UCLA, which will show students they are not alone in their struggles.

“I want to inspire confidence in people who will see themselves in the interviewers – that’s the whole point of interviewing people,” Narayanan said. “It really brings people together; it makes people see humanity in everyone.”

Shrikant said she first felt isolated as a woman in STEM when she arrived at UCLA after attending an all-girl high school. One day at UCLA, she was sitting in a discussion section for her computer science class when she said she realized there were only about five girls in a class of nearly 40.

“I was uncomfortable asking questions especially freshman year because I was afraid they would be like, ‘Of course the girl is confused,'” she said. “I didn’t want to make it publicly known that I was confused about anything.”

Female STEM students at UCLA also face subconscious discrimination from others in the classroom who may think they are unqualified, Narayanan said. For example, Jillian Dudley, a member of the SWE advocacy committee and a third-year computer engineering student, once worked in a group project where the boys in her group would allow her less responsibility than others, assuming she did not understand the material, Narayanan said.

Narayanan said microaggressions like these build up and collect over time, but knowing that others at UCLA face similar struggles can help combat the pressure faced in disproportionate classrooms. She added the art exhibit reminds students that there is a community on campus that supports them.

“I think the importance of having events like this is to show people who might be in this situation that there are other people like you who feel the same way, because it’s not talked about openly,” Narayanan said. “I feel like if I had this if I was a freshman, I would have felt more confidence.”

Afro-Cuban band incorporates intercontinental sounds to inspire free-flowing dance

Ritmo de Orun combines the Spanish word ‘ritmo,’ meaning rhythm, and the Nigerian word ‘orun,’ meaning heaven or sun.

The name encapsulates the two cultures that inspire the Afro-Cuban band’s style. Ritmo de Orun will perform at the Fowler Museum on Wednesday – their first gig as a group. Douglas Sauceda-Vidal, who will play electric bass, said the band plasy a mixture of upbeat Afro-Cuban and Afrobeat music, the latter of which combines West African music with American funk and jazz. With an Afro-Cuban and Afrobeat repertoire, Sauceda-Vidal, a fourth-year ethnomusicology student, said the band’s goal is to get people dancing and grooving.

“(Afro-Cuban) music is a dance music, and when you’re a musician that plays dance music, you have to be open to the fact that it’s not just about you on the stage,” Sauceda-Vidal said. “You’re connecting with the audience, and the audience is not just staring at you – they’re dancing too.”

Originating in Cuba during Spanish colonization, Afro-Cuban music grew in reaction to the Atlantic slave trade between Cuba and the western coast of Africa. Paul De Castro, a lecturer in ethnomusicology, said rumba – a secular style of Cuban music – grew as a result of lower-class white and black Cubans working together at ports. Their cultures and music started mixing, eventually leading to the rumba style, which contains Spanish lyrics and African drumming, he said.

Today, traditional elements of Afro-Cuban music are still practiced. For example, the music of the West African-derived religion Santeria utilizes drum beats and the Yoruba language during rituals, which still can be seen in Cuba, De Castro said.

“When (Cubans) were doing ceremonies, they were playing secular music, (and) they were incorporating all of these elements in what we would call dance music,” De Castro said. “At the same time, they were drawing from their African background. No matter what you look at in Cuba, you can always find the African root.”

Although Afro-Cuban music is based on African rhythm, the music possesses Spanish-influenced melodies, said Metebrafor Agindotan, one of Ritmo de Orun’s percussionists. It is marked by more chordal progressions in comparison to West African music, which emphasizes the horns as well as vocal melodies, the fourth-year ethnomusicology student said.

Because of its syncopated four-beat musical rhythm, called clave, the music lends itself to a tempo favorable for dancing, Agindotan said. Multiple rhythms play at the same time within the band’s music, so whether the bass or congos dictate the rhythm, they both inspire dancing, and participants can decide which instrument to follow, Sauceda-Vidal said.

“You can feel so many different rhythms at once. It gives you the freedom with your body to move different ways and express yourself and feel different things,” Sauceda-Vidal said. “It gets kind of loud, and also all that energy builds up.”

Afro-Cuban music is also meant to appeal to minorities, unlike American pop music, which can tend to be commodified for profits and targeted toward the masses, said Justin Inbar, a member of the band. The former is meant for everyday people to come together to listen to and play it, the alumnus said.

“The two things are more of a community behind the music, which brings it together. It’s not purely commodity-driven,” Inbar said. “Within (the Cuban) community there’s a certain communal knowledge of how the music works, how to dance to it, what it might mean.”

At the Fowler Out Loud performance, the band will play both original works and covers of existing Afro-Cuban songs. Agindotan said he hopes people will listen to the music and want to dance, while also learning about a musical genre many students don’t often experience.

“We want to make people dance. But of course we definitely want to expose them to the different genres,” Agindotan said. “We hope to show people how much there is in common between the music of Africa and the music of Latin America.”

USAC recap – Feb. 26

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Bruin Viewpoint Room and are open to all students. Watch a livestream of the meetings on the USAC Live! channel on YouTube.

Public comment

A representative from the office of General Representative 1 said the office is hosting an organization networking event.
Students from the Community Programs Office said they disagreed with General Representative 3 Eduardo Solis’ claim that their food closet does not provide fresh produce.

Special presentations

Election Board Chair Richard White presented proposed changes of the election code. The council voted against increasing the number of student signatures required for candidacy from 75 to 200, and voted against increasing maximum campaign spending per candidate from $600 to $2,000. The council voted to increase spending limits for ballot propositions from $600 to $5,000.

Agenda

The committee approved a resolution for the continued support of the removal of the ACT and SAT from the University of California admissions process.
The committee approved a resolution for in support of Assembly Bill 40, which advocates for zero-emission vehicles, and 100 percent clean transportation in California.
The council allocated $12,178 from the Contingency Programming Fund to USAC and non-USAC groups.
The council allocated $2,009.59 from the Student Wellness Programming Fund to USAC and non-USAC groups.
The council allocated $2,300.59 from discretionary funds to the Academic Affairs Commission’s Travel Mini-Grant.
The committee discussed how to allocate surplus funds into subcommittees, how to evaluate funding and how many committee members should review each application.
The council appointed Angel Aguilar, a second-year political science student, as election board vice chair.
The council appointed Nicole Nukpese, a third-year sociology student, as election board finance director.
Academic Affairs Commissioner Nidirah Stephens appointed Dakarai Moses and Alexandria Davis to the Academic Senate.

Reports

President Claire Fieldman said her office hosted the South Campus Research Fair on Monday night. Her office will host a Title IX town hall in Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Her office will also host the UC Women’s Leadership Conference on Sunday.
Internal Vice President Robert Blake Watson said his office is hosting a study hall for finals on March 16 from 1 p.m.-9 p.m. in Ackerman Grand Ballroom. He added that his office is hosting a Food Truck for Finals event March 17-March 19.
External Vice President Jamie Kennerk said her office is lobbying for more accessible summer Cal Grants.
General Representative 1 Ayesha Haleem said her office hosted multiple events for deans and administrators to speak with students at Kerckhoff Hall this past week.
Stephens said her office is advocating for the removal of the SAT from the UC admission process.
Campus Events Commissioner Alley Madison said her office screened “Ralph Breaks the Internet” on Feb. 19 at Kerckhoff 319. She added that her office will screen “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” on Feb. 21 at James Bridges Theater. She also added submissions for the office’s Short Takes film festival opens March 4.
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Sarena Khasawneh said her office is making a documentary about the experience of black women at UCLA. Her office is hosting a DiverseCity Tours to Sawtelle thrift stores and restaurants March 2.
Financial Support Commissioner Jay Manzano said his office is hosting an event about creating the perfect elevator pitch March 7 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. in the Bruin Viewpoint Room. He added that his office is offering parking and public transportation scholarships for winter quarter.
Student Wellness Commissioner George Louis Faour said his office is hosting a panel on heart health Thursday in Dodd Hall 167.

The Quad: Culture surrounding popularity of posting about traveling on social media

The time has come to book our spring break trips, which means I’ll soon engage in a game of Where’s Waldo? on my Instagram feed, working out who is lounging on a remote beach, afoot European streets or hiking steep mountain ranges.

Posting pictures of yourself on vacation on social media is such an integral part of our experience these days that it even has multiple names. Call it “vacation envy” or “fear of missing out,” it all boils down to one thing: people love to show off where they travel, and we love to hate them for it.

Many of us are guilty of arriving at a new destination, taking a picture, dressing it up with a nice filter and alerting all our followers that we are on vacation. A recent survey done by a United Kingdom rental home insurance firm shows the most important factor among millennials when choosing a place to vacation is its “Instagrammability.”

Research done by the popular dating apps Hinge and Tinder also shows that both traveling or expressing one’s desire to do so is a fundamental part of a person’s profile. Hinge found in 2017 that a traveling picture on someone’s dating profile tends to get 30 percent more likes than an average photo might.

Sharing posts

But why is traveling so shareable? It’s not particularly complicated to understand – we have always loved to share our adventures when we are far away from home. A historical look at this phenomenon equates the average Instagram travel post as the evolutionary progression of the postcard.

As obsolete as it may seem now, postcards were once the primary means of sharing travel experiences starting in the late 1800s. When they first arrived in American society, postcards suggested high socioeconomic status as only the wealthy could afford lengthy trips.

Similarly, an article from Vox detailing the appeal of social media and traveling shows that posting pictures on Instagram about our travels connotes high-income. The idea that one would spend money on intangible things or have a significant excess of income to vacation, breathes insight into the social class of the user.

The science of oversharing

In the 1950s, psychologist Leon Festinger popularized the theory of social comparison. This idea presents the argument that as human beings we tend to evaluate ourselves in comparison to others. This is due to our desire to form part of a group and to live and associate with others.

Social media satisfies this need to be a part of a community. Much more than a device of communication, joining a social network is a means of association. Thus, as we associate with one another, our self-esteem becomes a product of comparison – and there is no better mechanism for comparison than social media.

“That’s why I deleted my Instagram. I was tired of looking at people on the beach while I was on my couch at home,” said Leah Carrere, a first-year undeclared student. “It was lowering my self-esteem.”

But why do we choose to share our experiences on social media? A study by the Tourism Management journal analyzed the motivations for people sharing their travel experiences on social media. They identified two different types of sharing – those related to personal values versus community values.

Community value sharing tends to be the reason why websites like TripAdvisor or Yelp seem so prominent in a travel experience. People share their trip in order to positively impact other peoples’ decision making. However, community values are also the reason why we send pictures to our friends and family members; it’s a way to maintain relationships when one is far away.

Social media sharing, on the other hand, tends to be more related to personal values. This is classified as the gaining of social capital.

Social capital is hard to define, as it has held many different meanings throughout time. However, the most accepted definition is that the term accounts for the need to bond with our close friends and families and bridge our acquaintances. When people put their pictures on social media networks they do so as to gain recognition, as a statement of belonging within their friends and acquaintances.

“I understand why people (post pictures of the places they go). It feels good to show off (the fact that) you are living your best life to the people you know,” said Palmer Turnbull, a first-year political science student.

Whether it is a statement of being “cultured,” being of higher socioeconomic standing, or that we are living our best lives, it seems as though posting pictures of our traveling always suggests something positive. It sends a message of good social standing and that’s motivation enough to share it.

Long and stressful study sessions are not as glamorous as going on vacation. There are very few people who would choose to lounge at home over roaming the streets of Paris or going hiking in the Grand Canyon. However, there is one thing these mundane acts have that travel envy blogs on Instagram do not – they are real. They reinforce the idea that we don’t all spend our lives jet-setting from one destination to the next.

We spend a small percentage of our year traveling, but it often feels like such a huge part of our social media personas. Our Instagrammable lives can exist in conflict with our real ones – be it on the couch or on a beach, it is clear that what we may just want is to be “liked.”

Michelle Obama to speak at UCLA in celebration of college-bound students

Former first lady Michelle Obama will speak at UCLA in May to celebrate students’ college admissions.

Obama will attend College Signing Day on May 1 in Pauley Pavilion. College Signing Day is an event that aims to celebrate students who are taking steps to pursue higher education. It is one of the flagship events of the former first lady’s Reach Higher initiative, which aims to encourage high school and transfer students to pursue higher education.

This is the initiative’s fifth anniversary, but the first time Obama will celebrate College Signing Day at UCLA. Other UC campuses will stream the UCLA event at their own simultaneous events, according to a university press release.

The Reach Higher initiative includes the Better Make Room Campaign, which aims to help 14- to 19-year-old students navigate the college application process. These efforts aim to garner support for former President Barack Obama’s “North Star” goal for the U.S. to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

Reach Higher aims to work toward these goals by featuring students on social media, promoting college access tools and improving school counseling.

The event will only be open to invited California high school and community college students, but members of the public can watch via livestream.