Editorial: USAC’s poor outreach results in overdependence on student attendance

Representative democracies have a simple formula: Voters cast their ballots for candidates who represent their interests. Those representatives then make decisions aligning with the interests of their constituents.

UCLA’s undergraduate student government seems intent on different calculus: Voters decide everything.

This year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council has hardly been up to the task of making decisions for the student body. Instead of enforcing rules designed to maintain the institution’s integrity and efficiency, it has relied on a lazy tactic: inviting the student body to take over their meetings.

Whether it’s for deciding council resolutions, allocating fees or appointing members of the student body to vital positions, USAC has depended on student attendance at its Tuesday night council meetings – which can run for upward of six hours – to determine how to cast votes.

The council has been bullied into making decisions it finds morally ambiguous, even on matters related to the spring USAC election. This susceptibility to the Tuesday night mob rushes sets a dangerous precedent: Anyone with the time and manpower can pressure council members into making decisions they, their staff and their communities object to.

We saw as much Tuesday night. Richard White, the USAC election board chair, sought to nominate candidates primarily affiliated with the Community Programs Office and Student Fee Advisory Committee to the board. While an affiliation with CPO is itself not disqualifying, the fact that the majority of White’s nominees were from the same organization drew into question whether they would be able to hold each other accountable – and perhaps more importantly, whether White had effectively solicited applications from all corners of campus.

Moreover, White’s nominees provided few new ideas to reach out to politically disengaged students, besides well-worn solutions, such as an “office hours” system and a meet-and-greet – efforts that will probably fail to increase USAC election voter participation from last year’s meager 26.5 percent.

Yet following an impressive attendance at the meeting and several shouts from audience members, council members approved a majority of White’s nominees. A similar turn of events in fall quarter involving many CPO members crowding around the council table resulted in White himself being approved as the election board chair.

There are numerous other examples. It took a room with dozens of passionate, arguing students for the council to make a decision on whether to support the right of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA to hold the National SJP conference on campus. The council has even come to rely on students attending meetings to go through the regular exercise of allocating funds.

This interest in USAC isn’t inherently bad; the issue is where it’s happening. If students are only able to get their voices heard by hounding council members at 11:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, we’re left to wonder whether USAC is truly making the effort to interface with its constituents outside of its weekly, 14-person musings.

Dialogue with the student body, after all, should be happening regularly enough that council member decisions shouldn’t be contingent on who has time to spare to show up to a drawn-out meeting.

USAC has a responsibility to represent students and provide the most effective campus governance possible, not carry water for powerful student organizations. Conflicts of interest in elected and appointed representatives, unnecessary student fees and inequitable access to campus resources will only be resolved if the council has the resolve to commit to educated decisions.

Otherwise, its weekly meetings will have little meaning – save for reminding students they’re paying 14 people to cast votes, despite doing the work for it.

The Quad: Looking back at when the slasher films of the ’80s crept onto UCLA’s campus

In 1974, a group of novice filmmakers – some of whom were students at the University of Texas at Austin – finished working on a film about a masked cannibal stalking a group of five teens. It was titled “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”

The Austin American-Stateman called it important, while Harper’s Magazine called it pornography. Audiences, meanwhile, called their friends and flocked to the theater. The film became a smash hit.

Along with “Halloween” in 1978, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” helped kick-start the nascent “slasher” genre, a subgenre of horror that generally featured a group of teenagers being stalked by a masked killer. Up to the mid-’80s, slashers were among Hollywood’s most reliable moneymakers thanks to their low costs and high rates of return.

A student film

Like the crew who worked on “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter were students attending UCLA when they finished work on their own slasher flick, “Pranks,” in 1982. Made with a small budget of about $90,000, the film centered around college students who stay behind at an empty dorm over winter break to help clear it out.

New Image Releasing acquired U.S. distribution rights and set the release for April 1982. After a brief, unsuccessful run, the distributor pulled the film from theaters and released it again in the fall of 1983 as “The Dorm that Dripped Blood.”

In the meantime, the Motion Picture Association of America balked at the scenes featuring power drills and spiked bats. Four minutes of special effects had to be cut simply for the film to receive an R-rating. In the U.K., it barely made it off the infamous “video nasty” blacklist.

After all that, the film, released to an audience confused by the name change and betrayed by the relative lack of gore, only made about $215,000. The same year saw the monster success of the similarly university-themed “House on Sorority Row,” directed by fellow UCLA alumnus Mark Rosman and backed by producer Edward L. Montoro. It grossed $10.6 million from a $425,000 production budget.

Though it was largely forgotten, “The Dorm that Dripped Blood” managed to receive a brief namedrop in 1997’s “Scream 2,” one of the most successful slasher movies ever to date when adjusted for inflation.

A crash course in terror

Special effects artist Matthew W. Mungle first met Obrow and Carpenter in 1979. The latter two planned to direct a cheap slasher film as a way to break into the industry and wanted Mungle’s help in creating the special effects for a short proof of concept to show investors.

“I produced some ‘out-of-the-kit’ make-up effects for the short film including a cut-off hand and other small effects for just a few dollars,” Mungle wrote in an email statement.

Mungle would eventually be hired to create the special effects for the film itself.

The limited budget meant the mayhem had to be done for cheap. Still, Mungle found community in creating a film with so many young filmmakers.

“We were all new to the business and so very excited to be creating a slasher film, making it ‘work’ on such a tight budget,” he wrote.

In a way, everyone working on the project was a student. They were still getting into the groove and making mistakes: Some scenes are poorly dubbed, others poorly lit. At the time, Mungle had barely finished schooling at Joe Blasco’s Make-up Center when he was called to work on “The Dorm That Dripped Blood”; it was only his second major feature. In one scene, Mungle wrote that they used an effect involving monofilaments – thin, see-through threads – tied to blood bags, which were hidden underneath the actor’s clothing. When the monofilaments were pulled, the blood bags would simulate a sudden injury.

“It never fully worked as we kept shooting it over and over again and we all got very frustrated with the ‘monofilament gags,'” Mungle wrote. “Needless to say, (Obrow) has never let me forget it.”

Still, even with the mistakes, there’s a real energy to everything about the film. Carpenter suffuses the script with commentary on class privilege: A handyman gawks at how much furniture is thrown away by rich students, while a vagrant is falsely accused of stealing a drill. Young actors like Woody Rollas and Stephen Sachs are believably unhinged, while composer Christopher Young produces wild, “Insidious”-esque violin shrieks.

And despite the mediocre box office, Obrow and Carpenter’s plan for breaking into the industry worked. Obrow became a powerhouse music video producer, while Carpenter went on to create popular shows like NBC’s “Grimm.”

Mungle, meanwhile, continued to work in special effects, eventually winning an Oscar in 1993 for his work on “Dracula.” His company has done everything from providing cadavers for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” to creating the de-aging prosthetics for Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” Mungle eventually got the infamous monofilament gag to work in 1990’s “The Guardian.”

But Mungle still misses the early days.

“I miss those days tremendously as I’ve gotten older,” Mungle wrote. “I miss creating effects and prosthetics on smaller projects where everyone is creative and new to the industry.”

Sex, drugs and heads-will-roll

Slashers are often accused of being sloppy, juvenile fantasies. The sloppy part’s right; movies like “Friday the 13th” featured pioneering prosthetics work to bring punctured throats and decapitations to life.

But these films were also juvenile in a deeper way than just the blood and gore. Even at their biggest, slashers were the proving grounds for young actors, young directors, young screenwriters and young artists, and they brought their everyday experiences – ostracization, high school drama – with them. They brought their politics too: “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” showed how America was eating its own counterculture. “Black Christmas” handled the abortion debate and the rise of feminism.

Violent film, student film, teen film, political film – “The Dorm that Dripped Blood” was like any other slasher: oozing with youth.

Every age comes to an end. “Sweet Sixteen” gave way to “Sixteen Candles.” The slasher became bottom-shelf fodder for Blockbuster. Students graduated, grew old.

But pieces endure, floods leave tide marks, and the slasher boom changed America. American censors loosened restriction on violence. “Scream” single-handedly made the meta mainstream.

“The Dorm that Dripped Blood” left its own aftershock: a Blu-ray Disc version that came out in 2011, gore scenes included. Mungle’s effects still hold up; the drill scene, done with a plaster head instead of the standard latex, looks particularly good. Still, in a post-“Saw” world, it’s hard to imagine that modern ratings boards would object to those scenes.

But we have slashers – young films at heart – to thank for that lenience. It was through them that the students shook the world.

Proposed policy would improve working conditions for Westwood retail employees

Retail workers in Westwood may be able to work more predictable hours and receive improved workplace benefits due to a proposed labor policy.

The North Westwood Neighborhood Council voted in its Jan. 9 meeting to show its preliminary support for the policies of Fair Workweek LA, a coalition promoting fairer working conditions for retail workers.

Edgar Ortiz, a research and policy analyst for Fair Workweek LA, said the coalition supports providing employees with consistent and flexible scheduling to improve working conditions in retail jobs.

Ortiz said he thinks Fair Workweek LA will benefit student workers by introducing new regulations for employers.

“Other than availability, student workers are often expected to have open availability by their employers, which can be detrimental,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz added that the policy would ban employers from making employees work both the last shift of the day and the opening shift of the next day.

Michael Skiles, president of the NWWNC, said he thinks the policy could help retail workers in Westwood enjoy their work more, which in turn could benefit the companies they work for.

“Generally, companies that treat their workers well and pay their workers well reap the benefits as a result of having happy and well rested workers,” Skiles said. “Ultimately, it’s a win-win.”

Despite the NWWNC’s preliminary support for the program, Skiles said the council needs to review an official copy of the policy in order to assess any details they may be overlooking.

“The council is 100 percent behind the principle to make sure that large retail employers treat their workers fairly and provide them scheduled hours that allow them to maintain a stable workweek balance,” Skiles said.

Arlin Aguilar, a third-year English student, said she thinks the coalition could benefit some students who work retail, but will probably not affect students who work for Associated Students UCLA, which provides its workers with hours based on their class schedules.

Chris Perez, a third-year environmental science student and cashier at the UCLA bookstore, said he also thinks ASUCLA already provides fair working conditions, but the coalition could still help students who work retail outside ASUCLA.

“I think it’s necessary. Especially for people that work outside outside of here,” Perez said. “They’re not as flexible.”

Skiles said he thinks the NWWNC’s support for Fair Workweek LA will encourage other neighborhood councils in LA to also support the policy and help set fairer working conditions for their retail workers.

“I think that our council already has a reputation for being one of the most progressive councils in the city of Los Angeles, so when there’s a group like Fair Workweek LA that’s focused on fairness and inclusivity, our council is a natural starting place,” Skiles said.

Fair Workweek LA hopes to use the NWWNC’s support and share stories of student workers’ experiences to spread their platform across LA and push the LA City Council to enact their policy, Ortiz said.

“(Student workers) are an important nexus between UCLA and the Westwood community, so we can leverage their stories and support,” Ortiz said.

Development of haptic sensors allows for physical feedback in robotic surgery

UCLA engineers developed a novel sensor that could add a sense of “touch” to robotic surgery.

Robert Candler, an associate professor of electrical engineering, helped develop a haptic feedback sensor that, when placed on the tips of surgical instruments, would provide feedback on the various forces exerted on body tissues to better guide surgery.

In robotic surgery, surgeons use controllers to guide robotic surgical instruments inside the body.

The new technology would provide haptic feedback in the form of vibrations, forces and buzzes, which is currently not available in robotic surgery.

“The bad thing is surgeons don’t have a sense of touch while using them,” Candler said. “You can see what you’re doing, but imagine trying to tie your shoes without having a sense of touch.”

In the study, published in Biomedical Microdevices earlier this month, researchers tested the sensors on robotic surgery tools with novice trainees to determine whether the new technology helped the trainees effectively make knots in tissues without breaking or damaging them. These delicate knots and stitches in the tissue are known as sutures.

Jake Pensa, a graduate student in bioengineering, helped design the regulation system for the sensors’ output. He said sutures that break can cause hemorrhaging, which can damage the affected tissues and vessels via blood loss.

“Tying surgical knots is an exact science in itself, so we want it done in the right way,” Pensa said.

The researchers found that the trainees managed to break fewer sutures when aided by the robots with haptic feedback sensors.

Jonathan King, a general surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, was not directly involved in the study but said he was excited by the potential benefits of the new technology.

“Robotic minimally invasive surgeries allows us to sew using finer sutures, but without physical feedback, we must use visual cues,” King said. “(Haptic feedback) would help trainees to get better used to the robotic tools and avoid breaking sutures.”

Mark Girgis, a surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, was also interested in how the sensor technology could be applied to many types of surgery.

“Haptic feedback would generally help with all kinds of surgeries, especially for fine dissection around structures such as blood vessels and nerves,” Girgis said.

Candler said the team hopes to better integrate the sensor with the robotic surgical tools in order to make it ready for clinical usage.

“Just like when you feel the sliding feeling when you tie your shoes tightly, it’s a different kind of force compared to a compression force or normal force,” Pensa said. “We want the surgeons to be able to ‘feel’ the tissue.”

Student-run Wazo Connect offers personalized peer support as alternative to CAPS

A student organization aims to bridge the gap between the high demand for mental health services and the low supply of programs UCLA provides.

UCLA students founded Wazo Connect about a year ago with the goal of bringing a more personalized and relaxed approach to mental health care to the campus. Wazo Connect pairs students seeking mental health assistance with peer mentors who want to provide it.

Yewon Kim, president of Wazo Connect and one of Wazo Connect’s founders, said the organization used to be a think tank through which students would think of solutions to what they thought were the most pressing issues in their community, such as mental health. After brainstorming for a little over a year, the group came up with Wazo Connect as a way to fight depression that might result from feeling disconnected from the campus community.

Kim, a fourth-year philosophy and psychology student, said a large campus community such as UCLA needs more resources than Counseling and Psychological Services can provide.

Wazo Connect is one of various peer counseling organizations and external resources that aim to meet students’ mental health needs on campus and supplement professional treatment from CAPS, which only provides limited short-term care. Students without the University of California Student Health Insurance Plan can only book three therapy sessions per quarter.

Kim said Wazo Connect works closely with CAPS, but added she thinks student mentorship could potentially have some benefits over professional help.

“Peer mentors are students and can relate to situations more closely,” she said. “Treatment from CAPS can be delayed, so mentors can meet with students in those off times.”

Kim also said being a casual resource benefits students who are too intimidated to seek help through traditional methods or who have never sought help before. She added that students often feel as if their problems are not significant enough to seek professional help due to a stigma around mental health.

“We advertise ourselves to people who are just going through a hard time. Specific problems aren’t necessary,” Kim said. “Every mentee is accepted.”

David Ho, a third-year materials engineering student, said he agrees that there is insufficient mental health support at UCLA.

“I know we have CAPS at UCLA, but CAPS has an appointment system and it’s always backed up,” he said. “It would be difficult for someone who really needs help to get it.”

Ho said he has never heard of Wazo Connect, but said he would be open to using it.

Yasemin Yahni, a fourth-year cognitive science student and Wazo Connect’s director of recruitment, said she was inspired to get involved with the organization after a rough transition into college life.

“I had a harder transition than most. I’m an international student from a small school,” she said. “I realized I was lucky to have the friend group that I had so early on, and wanted to help others feel more included.”

As the director of recruitment, Yahni looks for mentor applicants with diverse backgrounds to ensure the UCLA student body is well represented within Wazo Connect. The organization partners with UCLA Housing and CAPS to inform students about its resources.

“We are trying to be a really casual resource,” she said. “There are other peer counseling clubs, but they are really structured.”

Marianne Lewandowski, a third-year classical civilization and political science student, said she relies mostly on the Dashew Center for International Students & Scholars to receive mental health support. While she’s never heard of Wazo Connect, Lewandowski said she appreciates how the organization focuses on peer counseling.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “It’s always good to talk to students our own age.”

Wazo Connect aims to continue improving mental health on campus and decreasing stigma around the subject by hosting wellness events such as meditation and confidence workshops this quarter.

UC advises staff traveling in China against use of WeChat and WhatsApp

The University of California distributed a warning to staff in January advising against the use of communication platforms such as WeChat and WhatsApp for those traveling in China.

The UC received the advisory notice from WorldAware, a risk management company the UC consults with, said Myla Edmond, director of marketing and communications for the UC Education Abroad Program.

Students at UC Davis and UC Berkeley received the email regarding the travel warning earlier this month, according to CNN.

Edmond added the UC distributed the recommendation to staff, but never intended for it to be sent to students.

“UC staff shared that recommendation with other UC staff as an information item, but never as a recommendation nor as a message for our students,” Edmond said.

The U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning Jan. 3, advising travelers to exercise increased caution when in China. The alert level is currently a two on a four-point scale.

Edmond said the UC decided not to forward the recommendation against using the communication platforms to students because the alert level was not high enough to warrant such a reaction.

“The Department of State’s alert level has not increased and so we haven’t changed any of our processes,” Edmond said. “We continue to monitor that but we haven’t changed anything.”

WorldAware sent the recommendation to the UC following the alert issued by the Department of State.

Peter Reiher, an adjunct professor of computer science, said he believes most forms of digital communication are susceptible to serious breaches of privacy and travelers should therefore assume that any online activity can be divulged.

Reiher added China demands a certain degree of access to whatever data is being passed through legal applications such as WeChat and WhatsApp.

“The Chinese are very, very sophisticated at cyber espionage,” Reiher said. “It would be safest to assume that anything that you bring into China on a computer or a smartphone … is going to be available to (the Chinese government).”

A member of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at UCLA, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation for speaking publicly about the Chinese government, said these applications are China’s primary platforms for messaging and social media.

“WeChat is such an important social aspect in Chinese people’s lives,” the CSSA member said. “Almost everyone in China uses WeChat to communicate with family and friends.”

The CSSA member said because these social platforms are so integrated into their daily lives, most Chinese people are not worried that the government might be monitoring their communications.

“Personally, I am not too concerned with it. I know there (have) been rumors that the government is … stalking everyone … monitoring everyone’s record,” the CSSA member said. “But… I haven’t seen any concrete evidence on that, so personally I am not concerned with it.”

Reiher said travelers should avoid being critical of their host countries while traveling due to possible cultural and political differences.

“Doing things like talking about democracy movements in China, or about various kinds of religious groups that the Chinese do not approve of, or whether Tibet should be independent … while you are in China is certainly a hazardous thing to do,” Reiher added.

Edmond said while the recommendation was not intended to be distributed to students, they should still research and be mindful of the possible risks they face when communicating in China.

Reiher added travelers should keep in mind that behavior that is permissible in their home countries might not be acceptable in other countries.

“Anybody who is an international traveler – in particular, an international student – is a guest of the country in question and … should respect the laws, … culture and customs of that country,” Reiher said.