UCSB Public Survey -- Finding the Obvious?

Our friends at edHat provided a link to the UCSB "Central Coast Survey" which shed light on a few things such as the fact that lack of affordable housing is a major concern among us. Another obvious result was their Reagan question which asked if we feel better off economically today than we did last year. The percentage has tripled from the year before. Here's another point you may have been able to surmise:

Fifty-eight percent of all respondents indicated that high gas prices have placed a strain on their household budgets, and 29 percent described that strain as substantial.

Kidding aside, I like the fact that they did the survey and hope it becomes an annual tradition at the Sociology Department. Here's the full survey at their website

UCSB's Technology Management Program

The Pacific Coast Business Times ran a story about UCSB' Technology Management Program and their business plan competition. Impressive ideas looking for funding in our own backyard.

Does Judge Hill Deserve a Red Card?

The Independent Voices had a fascinating op-ed piece by former prosecutor and trial lawyer Kim A. Seefeld on the Eric Frimprong rape case. It seems Frimprong, a Ghana native who played on the 2006 NCAA National Champion Gaucho mens soccer team, is being convicted of rape without due process and a preponderance of evidence.

She says his DNA was not found on the victim who had an incredibly high drug alcohol level and that her boyfriend's DNA was found on her. She said she and Frimpong wrestled with her on the sand on Del Playa -- but there is no evidence of such. Frimpong wasn't read his rights and hardly understood what was going on when a Sheriff's Deputy wanted to "talk". Read the article...if it is true, it is a shocking display of discrimination and lack of process in our legal system.

Unfortunately, very real consequences face Eric Frimpong who was drafted by the Kansas City Wizards for Major League Soccer, has no funds to appeal yet still has the respect of his former teammates and coach:

Everyone who met Eric came away with admiration and affection for this young man from West Africa. Eric was drafted by a professional soccer team, the Kansas City Wizards, and was set to graduate from UCSB with a degree in mathematics. UCSB soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg describes Eric as a wonderful young man who he cannot believe would commit rape.

Is this op-ed skewed? Bloggers over at The Indy claim that she didn't tell the whole story -- something she insists is the case during the trial. They say some DNA was found on his privates -- why didn't she mention that and why else would they be there? Was their sex consensual? Most of us are probably left confused in this strange case of who did what and when -- when we weren't in the courtroom to hear the whole story and may be prejudiced by the Kafatia case at City College.

What is really important, however, is did he really get a fair trial?

Clinton to Visit UCSB Tomorrow

I don't have a lot of information on this but Hilary Clinton is coming to Santa Barbara and visiting UCSB tomorrow - Jan 17th at 6:45pm at the Campus Recreation Center. Please post more information if you have it!

Classified ads more than double in price for SB News-Press, and UCSB still plans to buy some.

Community Contribution by David Pritchett

Considering all the money the "News"-Press supposedly is saving by not having any experienced writers and editors, why are they nearly doubling the classified ad price for non-profit organizations and UCSB??

And perhaps more important, why does UCSB even buy ads there?? With all the social and ethical conscientiousness that University of California supposedly tries to practice, why does the biggest public institution in the County pay so much of its money --especially to that publication-- in the era of monster.com, craigslist.com, and other free media on the Internets??

As its top line indicates, below are excerpts from an email message circulating very widely around UCSB and beyond:

**********PLEASE GIVE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION*************

January 10, 2008

TO: Campus Community
FR: Melinda Crawford, Employment/Training & Development Manager
RE: 2008 Rate Increases for Santa Barbara News Press Classified Advertising

Effective January 1, 2008, the Santa Barbara News Press classified advertising rates for non-profits were increased from $1.52 to $3.42 per line. Based on the 2008 rates changes, departments interested in posting their job advertisements in the Santa Barbara News Press will now be subject to new rates that have at least doubled in cost.

Since the Santa Barbara News Press did not provide our campus with appropriate advance notice, departments that had already posted job advertisements in 2008 (e.g., in the 1/3/08 Sunday display ad) will not be recharged by Human Resources at the higher rate.

We are currently exploring the possibility of negotiating better rates with the Santa Barbara News Press and hope to have the opportunity to share a more positive update about our Santa Barbara News Press rates in the near future.

Please contact the Employment Office at ext. 3166 or email melinda.crawford@hr.ucsb.edu with any questions.

Bait and Switch by Arno & Associates at UCSB Makes National News

While former US Senator and President of the New School in NYC Bob Kerry tries to tell us that Barack Obama is a Muslim in a desperate effort to get H. Clinton a second place showing in Iowa -- we have our own problems with electoral politics right here in Santa Barbara.

In mid-November, I reported that there was possible ballot signature fraud at UCSB saying that "It turns out that paid signature gatherers are duping students at UCSB with a series of nefarious initiatives separated by a rubber band and assurances that one needs to sign the original initiative four times and that the other pieces of paper they sign have nothing to do with the first.".

Arno and Associates, a well-known signature gathering firm, in the past has tricked Florida college kids into registering Republican and saying an electoral ballot initiative was an anti-war initiative. Perhaps worst was telling Massachusetts voters that an anti-gay initiative was actually an initiative that would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores.

It seems karma has begun to catch up with them according the The Daily Kos which shows a video of students at UCSB who went through the signature petition process and told their stories. The post was generated originally by UCSB graduate student/activist Steven Attewell.

Using a grifter type of bait-and-switch move, the "California Counts" initiative (seeking Electoral College "reform") is now under investigation by Secretary of State Debra Bowen's office. Here's a snippet from the activist's diary on Daily Kos based on a letter from Bowen:

Dear Mr. Love:

We have reviewed the video file you shot showing circulators on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

We will be opening a case for investigation for possible violation of Elections Code 18600 (misrepresentation) and Elections Code 18602 (obscuring the summary of a measure).

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Sincerely,

Election Fraud Investigation Unit
Secretary of State

Update: Gaucho's Fail to Make Elite 8

With a 3-1 lead eight minutes into the second half, defending NCAA champions and twelfth seeded UCSB lost 4-3 in OVERTIME to #5 Ohio State and failed to make the Elite 8 today in Ohio.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, this loss is hard to believe but it shows that home field advantage is everything. Maybe they should have won some of those early games in the season...then again, everyone wants to beat the champion. It goes to show that there is parity in the top 20 teams in the NCAA and anything can happen on any day.

Congrats for a great season to the Gauchos -- even though we wanted a repeat. With younger players, don't count them out for the next several years -- a repeat may still be in the making. You heard it here first.

Gaucho Men's Soccer Make Sweet 16

I just got back from seeing the UCSB Gaucho Men's soccer team beat Washington 1-0 to make the Sweet 16 tonight in front of 9,000 fans at Harder Stadium --- just one night after our basketball team beat rival UNLV with a 3-pointer at the buzzer that made ESPN.

Let's hope the Gaucho touch continues when they play Ohio State on December 2nd in the Big Dance. If they win, there will be another home game at Harder Stadium only because improbable Bradley beat #4 Indiana tonight. Will our Gauchos continue as national champions? Hard to say as the #1 seed Boston College lost to UMASS tonight in a surprising come from behind victory. Here's the bracket.

Perhaps the Gaucho's ultra-defensive posture in the second half of this game was the best move after all considering the trouble other powerhouses had in the tournament.

Ballot Signature Fraud at UCSB

Several readers today emailed me about a story that has already been reported at The Daily Kos. It turns out that paid signature gatherers are duping students at UCSB with a series of nefarious initiatives separated by a rubber band and assurances that one needs to sign the original initiative four times and that the other pieces of paper they sign have nothing to do with the first.

Arno Political Consultants should be sued for hiring, training and sending out initiative gatherers that don't understand the rights of voters. In the past, they have tricked Florida college kids into registering Republican and saying an electoral ballot initiative was an anti-war initiative. Perhaps worst was telling Massachusetts voters that an anti-gay initiative was actually an initiative that would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores. Yuck.

Community Post by a Dedicated Reader

So today I witnessed what I think is an incidence of ballot initiative fraud relating to the electoral vote apportionment initiative. Outside the UCEN (student center) at UC Santa Barbara, there were a number of people with cardboard clipboards soliciting people to sign ballot petitions for a proposal to spend $1 billion on cancer hospitals for kids. If you agree to sign, they tell you "you need to sign 4 times." What they do not tell you is that the three pages after the ballot initiative on concern hospitals are different ballot intiatives: the second proposes to abolish eminent domain, the third proposals to abolish rent control, and the fourth is the proposal to apportion California's electoral votes by district (the so-called Dirty Tricks Initiative).

I should note that the clipboard is arranged such that a rubber band holding the petitions to the cardboard is positioned on the top of the page, across the actual ballot language in question - thus, partially hiding the text of the ballot initiatives on pages 2-4 unless you actually stop and pull down the top of the page.

I agreed to sign the cancer initiative, but the comment about signing four times raised a red flag, because I'm familiar with the structure of ballot petitions, so I paused before signing and looked at the other initiatives.

However, I'm absolutely sure that most of the people signing, young college students on a rush to get their lunches and off to class, did not take this step.

What they are doing is getting people to sign for ballot initiatives without their knowledge or informed consent, using young peoples' desire to do a good thing and their lack of familiarity with the legal paperwork of initiative petitions. If this is not illegal it is certainly deeply unethical. The moment I realized what was going on, I told the petitioners that they shouldn't be telling people to sign for ballot initiatives they're not aware of. Immediately after, I called the school newspaper, the Daily Nexus, the Courage Campaign, the Santa Barbara Democratic Central Committee, and the California Democratic Party. I have also contacted
the Secretary of State to report this.

Let's Review UCSB's Long Range Development Plan

From a citizen stringer:
================

A topic that needs discussion and airing is UCSB's LRDP, which is the major planning exercise for UCSB. The old one was put together in 1990, and the new one was due in 2005, and the public process has just begun for the new one. LRDP stands for `Long Range Development Plan', and that is UCSB's major blueprint for the future, like the General Plan for a City.

UCSB's LRDP website is:

http://www.ucsbvision2025.com/

In the reports there, you can read that UCSB planned in 1990 to grow to 20,000 students, 1,175 faculty, 2,650 staff, and to add 1.21 million square feet of buildings, 2,000 student beds, and 50 new faculty housing units by 2005.

In fact, the numbers now are 20,000 students, 1,054 faculty, 3,631 staff, 1 million square feet of buildings, 1,776 student beds, and 172 faculty housing units. The main difference is a lot more staff; the faculty housing has actually not yet been built.

The plans for the next 20 years include: adding 5,000 new students, 300 new faculty, 1,400 new staff, 5,386 student beds, and 1,800 new housing units for faculty and staff.

UCSB To Add Another Building/Lego Block

Recently, we had a heated discussion about UCSB and growth. Another lego block is set to go up in front of Robertson Gym. Project Manager Karl Burrelsman told the Valley Voice the following about the project:

“Classrooms and offices for the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and the Koegel Autism Center will occupy one of the buildings. Classrooms and offices for the College of Letters and Science will occupy another. The third building, named the Pollock Theater, will be used by the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film Television and New Media,” he said. Pollock Theater will seat about 300 people.

UC Regents Buy Devereux

The 33 acre Devereux Property was acquired today by the UC Regents according to an announcement that was sent out by UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. Two questions -- what about the school? Here's what he had to say:

The Devereux School has long been an important part of our community, and will continue to lease back a small portion of the property for the ongoing programs of the school. I have met with the family members and staff of Devereux, and we look forward to continuing our mutually collaborative relationship.

Next -- what does this mean for development of this coastal property? UCSB continues to expand and now the Devereux Property will be developed without needing to adehere to local planning guidelines as it is now state property. Yang didn't discuss any plans other than have the property produce income so there is no additional financial burdern for UCSB. This will be something to keep a close eye on.