For the sake of conciseness, I’ll summarize feminism’s roots in one brief sentence: Feminism began as a means to an end of women receiving equal status in the eyes of the law and, consequently, equal status in the eyes of society as a whole. It stemmed from the denial of women’s rights to vote and work for equal pay, and, from an unbiased standpoint on humanity, it made perfect sense and was a long time coming. Today’s so-called “feminism,” though, is another beast entirely.

Women today march around kicking and screaming in a stubborn refusal to be “subjected to men’s will” any longer. They demand insurance-covered contraceptives, cite statistics of inequality in wages of the genders and claim that putting on heels and earrings for a night out is giving in to our subjugation by men.

Quite frankly, this is all a load of crap. Instead of reflecting our feminist foremothers’ passion around being seen as humans rather than being defined by gender, these displays of animosity toward males do nothing more than destroy the credibility of the equality argument altogether. Feminism has become a clever disguise for the idea that we women, not men, “run this shit.”

Take, for instance, the outrage over the wage gap. My feminist friends will not relent when it comes to the fact that women’s salaries — depending on their age groups — are between 75 and 85 percent of men’s. This statistic, however, is sadly misleading. First of all, women comprise almost 60 percent of the population in both undergraduate tracks and graduate schools. And though I typically hear the argument that this should lead to higher women’s salaries, my fine-feathered friends neglect that the more time spent in school, the less time spent slaving year after year for the same company (and slowly climbing the payscale ladder). Education is definitely a wise investment, but every extra year of school can delay the job search. And though having more degrees may lead to faster, more lucrative promotions, you’ll initially earn less than colleagues of the same age who began working at the company sooner.

Secondly, we women possess the miraculous gift of giving birth to our world’s future generations. It’s somewhat difficult for a company to continually promote an employee who can take three- to four-month (and typically longer, by choice) lapses from the job at really any time. Women can’t expect to take up to 10 years off from their careers and still come back and earn as much as male counterparts of similar ages.

Those who cry complete unfairness in the wage gap seem to forget that men and women lead completely different lives. The natural deviation between the genders’ lives is bound to lead to discrepancies between salaries, which don’t necessarily point to inequality. Though yes, the world isn’t perfect, and yes, various forms of inequality do exist almost everywhere we look, we need to stop placing every issue into gender-versus-gender terms and see that we can be equal without being exactly the same.

The only true feminist in mainstream media anymore is Nicki Minaj. Yes, I said it. Nicki, in all her wig-clad glory, is the prime example of seeing oneself not as a man or woman but as a person. She herself has said, “I’m trying to entertain, and entertaining is more than exuding sex appeal … I’m trying to just show my true personality, and I think that means more than anything else. I think when personality is at the forefront, it’s not about male or female.” Nicki — who also refers to herself as a king and runs in the heavily male-dominated rap industry — is solely out to prove her own worth, not her worth in comparison to a man’s. She represents everything genuine about traditional feminism — in a nontraditional way, that is. We ladies could learn something from her.

So, the next time you’re looking to rail against the “War on Women” and complain about how oppressed we’ve been for far too long, ask yourself: “Am I a real feminist?” Because if you are, you’ll feel no need to worry and whine about everything you’re missing out on that men might have. You’ll simply pursue whatever it is you want to do, expect nothing to be handed to you freely and avoid constantly comparing your situation to someone else’s. You are powerful, and you are equal. And so am I. And so are men.

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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One of the selected plans was submitted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, a group that aims to give students more representation in city government through the creation of a district with a student supermajority. A student supermajority would increase the likelihood of a UC Berkeley student being elected to Berkeley City Council.

“It’s important to note how historic of a move the council took last night (by) indicating that one of their top proposals is one submitted by students,” said Shahryar Abbasi, ASUC external affairs vice president. “It’s quite a shift in the discourse and the dialogue.”

About 45 UC Berkeley students, including Abbasi, attended the City Council meeting in support of the campaign. While seven different plans were considered at the public hearing Tuesday night, only two did not include a student-majority district.

The only remaining competition to the Berkeley Student District Campaign is the “simplicity” plan, which focuses on straightforward district divisions. The plan’s author, Eric Panzer, openly endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan and said that he hopes his proposal will be considered only as a “worthy alternative.”

The City Council may favor Panzer’s plan due to its clarity, according to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Redistricting Director Noah Efron.

“There are certainly some council members who want clean lines on their map,” Efron said. “The council still has full control.”

Throughout the hearing, multiple City Council members expressed their support for a student-majority district, which has never existed in the city of Berkeley. The only UC Berkeley student to ever hold a seat on the City Council was current State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, who served from 1984 to 1992.

The plans were made possible by the passage of Measure R last November, which amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai, a student district would allow students a say in major city issues like safety, economic development and other issues that impact students and residents equally.
“I think we would benefit from more voices of young people,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin last night. “It accomplishes the goal but keeps a lot of major neighborhoods intact.”

The next public hearing, during which the City Council is slated to select a plan, will be on July 2.

Though the meeting will take place during the summer, Mecklai said the campaign plans to build a coalition of students to attend and express their support.

“We certainly took (last night) as a great victory, and it certainly feels more tangible now than it ever has,” Efron said. “(But) until we hear that they have officially adopted it, we won’t be celebrating.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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UAW 2865, a union representing UC student workers, put forth a petition on April 17 drafted by SLC tutors seeking to alter the SLC policy toward compensation, which dictates that a tutor’s first semester of work is unpaid.

“The university isn’t going to be compelled to pay people unless there is pressure from the community to do so,” said Munira Lokhandwala, a head steward of the union’s UC Berkeley unit. “It’s about people who use and understand the value of the center wanting the people who work there to get paid for the work that they do.”

During their first semester, tutors at the center complete job training and work for class credit instead of payment. After their first semester, they have the opportunity to be hired for pay going forward.

According to Lokhandwala, this system breaches the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the university.

“The university has just figured out a way to categorize them as not being workers,” Lokhandwala said. “It’s an indirect violation of the contract we have. They’re denying that the tutors being hired for credit are working.”

Tutors at the center who asked to remain anonymous to protect their positions said that they were led to believe they would be considered for paid positions during interviews but that they later found out that class credit for education courses was the only option available.

According to the tutors, the center refers to their unpaid first semester as a “training seminar” despite the fact that the tutors receive little to no instruction and have the same tutoring responsibilities as their paid counterparts.

“The center is trying to frame it as training, but it’s not,” said one of tutors who also contributed to the petition. “We’re doing the exact same work, and we’re not receiving training. Lots of people have previous tutoring experience, and they’re still required to take this course.”

UAW 2865 filed a grievance in February against the SLC regarding tutor pay that was declined by the university. The grievance is currently pending third-party arbitration, according to Lokhandwala.

Both the UC Berkeley administration and the SLC declined to comment for this article.

The center’s tutor payment process is different from those of academic centers at other UC campuses.

According to Dan Givens, a program administrator at UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Learning Assistance Services center, tutors at that center start tutoring lower-level classes for pay in their first semester and progressively build up to tougher material instead of having an unpaid apprenticeship period.

The petition contributors said their appeal is not meant to be confrontational and that they would like to work with the center rather than against it.

“The administration is not recognizing our academic labor,” commented another contributor to the petition. “Right now, we’re just trying to build up attention on campus.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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Philologist, author and campus professor in the department of Slavic languages and literatures Viktor Zhivov died of lung cancer at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley on April 17. He was 68.

Zhivov first arrived at UC Berkeley in 1995 as a guest lecturer for one semester. He was a professor at Moscow State University at the time, and after proving to be an integral part of the campus’s expanding Slavic department, he became a permanent faculty member, according to Eric Naiman, a fellow professor in the department.

Zhivov spent the next 18 years teaching in both Russia and California, studying Russian and East Slavic culture and typically holding his courses at UC Berkeley during the spring semester.

“He was very accessible, and he was a really good lecturer and conversationalist,” Naiman said. “He didn’t repeat himself, he was incredibly lively and incredibly vivacious, and he was loved by his friends and colleagues.”

According to Naiman, Zhivov was deeply religious, profoundly open-minded and interested in new ideas and discoveries, having contributed to dozens of articles and books throughout his career.

“It was really inspiring to see someone be so invested in his work,” said Luba Golburt, an assistant professor in the department.

One of Zhivov’s most notable characteristics was his ability to connect with his students. Born in Moscow, Zhivov quickly adapted to teaching courses in English despite never having done so before joining UC Berkeley.

According to Golburt, who was mentored by Zhivov as a graduate student, Zhivov was very patient, respectful and inspiring.

“He brought in a very different approach to graduate teaching,” Golburt said. “His seminars were basically very well-prepared lectures and were very colorful, very entertaining. He usually taught very obscure material, and … he really made the material come alive.”

Zhivov’s students appreciated his ability to make their three-hour classes entertaining, enjoyable and less stressful than other graduate seminars.

“He was very passionate and excited about his work,” said Peter Golub, one of Zhivov’s graduate students this semester. “I can’t imagine anyone not liking him.”

Zhivov was also known for being incredibly hospitable to both his colleagues and students, even inviting them to spend time at his homes — both in Berkeley and Moscow. Past students traveled from across the globe to attend his funeral in Berkeley on Friday, according to Olga Matich, a professor emeritus in the department.

“He was incredibly stoic and strong at the end and was devoted to his work and his students, even correcting midterm exams in the hospital,” Naiman said. “Viktor really was an invaluable part of our program.”

Zhivov is survived by his wife, Maria Zhivov-Polivanova; their three children, Margarita Zhivova, Stepan Zhivov and Lina Zhivova; and their grandchildren.

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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The Drone Lab, a group-directed study composed of nine students in the UC Berkeley School of Information, is currently working with consumer-grade drones to extend the possibilities for their application in everyday life. The students meet regularly to test the drones’ capabilities, write codes to make the drones more user-friendly and brainstorm possible future applications for the machines.

“We want to understand the affordances of this technology and how we can apply (it) in various contexts to some real-world problems,” said Dave Lester, a member of the Drone Lab. “We’re trying to think of how these drones could be used by people in their everyday lives.”

The Drone Lab has received much attention due to the prevalent negative implications of the word “drone” and its associations with military use and surveillance. According to the group, however, these associations present a limited view of the possible applications of drones.

“The term ‘drone’ has a pretty bad connotation right now, largely due to the association with controversial military use as well as surveillance and privacy concerns,” said Coye Cheshire, faculty sponsor of the Drone Lab and an associate professor at the School of Information. “But if we only focus on these limited military/surveillance applications, we run the risk of only seeing the technology as something to fear.”

The Drone Lab has theorized uses for the drones extending from retrieval of books in libraries to the convenient delivery of snack foods, according to the group. The group has also experimented with programming different ways of controlling the drones, including voice-command activation and arm-motion signaling.

“We certainly started off with the grander ideas and then focused on what we could actually implement,” said Elliot Nahman, another member of the Drone Lab.

A community of members of the Drone Lab and people from different departments on campus discussing the implications of the drones has emerged, according to the group.

“Everyone wants to give you their opinions on what these things can and should and could do, which is interesting,” Lester said. “It’s a fertile ground for creativity.”

The group’s members said they hope the drone research will continue after some graduate this spring. According to Lester, drones are going to play a larger role in society in a coming years, and it is crucial that groups like the Drone Lab plan for the future.

“I do think that what makes drones so interesting and different from many other technologies is that they are unmanned and often autonomous flying devices,” Cheshire said. “Of course, so are many scientific weather balloons — but the sophistication and fidelity of computer-controlled quad-copters opens up a whole new world of possibilities.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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The supercomputer, called Edison, will be used to complete complex computations that are necessary for research on materials technology, biological systems like the human genome and cleaner renewable energy sources.

According to Jon Bashor, communications manager for Berkeley lab’s Computing Sciences organization, researchers are hoping to guide the computer to artificially replicate photosynthesis in plants, an achievement that would revolutionize the green energy sector and shift attention away from inefficient solar power.

“We use the computers to simulate these processes,” Bashor said. “If we can understand the chemistry that the plant carries out to do photosynthesis and we can mimic that, we would have very efficient energy sources.”

The new supercomputer will also be used to study regional climates and their future changes in much higher detail than before. Climates vary extensively between regions that are close to each other, and Edison has the ability to pinpoint extremely small regions of the world to produce more accurate data about the climate patterns in different areas.

This extensive segmentation will allow simulations of climate patterns and future climate changes to be more accurate and useful to scientists, according to David H. Bailey, a senior scientist in the Computational Research Division of the Berkeley lab.

“If we can use a supercomputer to model the Earth’s climate for the next 100 years and do it in a couple of weeks, then we have some good knowledge to work from,” Bashor said. “Climate changes a lot, and understanding it fully is a very complicated process.”

Researchers have access to Edison through the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a center at Berkeley lab funded by the U.S.Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The center is currently testing only a portion of Edison and will receive access to the rest of it during the summer. NERSC will then decide whether to permanently install the computer.

In its complete form, Edison has 10,000 processor cores and can run two quadrillion arithmetic operations per second, twice as many as the center’s current supercomputer, Hopper.

“When it’s installed, I’m not sure if (Edison) will make the top 10, but it will almost certainly make the top 20 (supercomputers) in the world,” Bailey said. “It’s certainly one of a very small number of computers worldwide that can perform at this level.”

More than 4,500 researchers from universities and laboratories across the country are currently utilizing Edison’s vast capabilities.

“This has led to an enormous number of scientific discoveries,” said Kathy Yelick, a campus professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences. “I think this type of capability in the hands of scientists all around the country is really important to the next generation of science challenges that we’re seeing.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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The report, entitled “Crisis in the Sahel,” identifies four major challenges facing the region — namely climate change, population growth, natural resource depletion and insufficient education of women in the Sahel, a semiarid section of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

If no action is taken to address the challenges, the rapid increase in population size in the region, coupled with global warming, will cause the region to become unlivable in coming decades, said Malcolm Potts, a professor of population and family planning at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a co-author of the report.

“There will be increasing malnutrition, and it’s always children who die first,” Potts said. “We’ll see more terrorism and more fighting over resources. People will begin to die because of conflict.”

According to Michael Wehner, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a co-author of the report, global warming can no longer be entirely prevented, and therefore, the Sahel region will benefit the most from proactive decision-making.

“To think that we’re going to stop climate change is pretty naive, and the sooner (we) start recognizing that and adapting to it, the better off we are,” Wehner said. “You can’t wait until the problems have accrued, because if you do, then it’s too late.”

The paper suggests possible courses of action, including extensive research and investment in technologies that utilize global warming to the region’s advantage, such as new water-storage systems for farmers. However, such structures are expensive and could take decades to implement.

“The hardest part is convincing others that you need to tackle the problems in the Sahel from three different perspectives at once — not just population growth, climate change or environmental degradation alone,” said Federico Castillo, a lecturer in UC Berkeley’s department of environmental science, policy and management and a study co-author.

The report also emphasizes the importance of improving the conditions for women in the Sahel region.

Currently, child marriage is extremely common, and women of all ages lack the ability to make choices to limit the number of children they have, Potts said. This has led to large-scale population increases.

“I can think of nothing more fundamental than being able to control one’s own bodily integrity, including when, if and how many children to have,” said Courtney Henderson, a doctoral student in the School of Public Health and another study co-author. “Contraception gives women this control over their own fertility.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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If passed, the referendum would amend the ASUC Constitution to shift the responsibility of addressing the Advocacy Agenda’s items from the senate to the Office of the President.

The ASUC Senate surveys the student body at the beginning of each academic year to understand common concerns and then determines which of those it would like to address in the coming year as part of its Advocacy Agenda. Currently, the responsibility of implementing the agenda falls on the senate.

Historically, however, implementation has been plagued by a variety of problems, according to Cooperative Movement Senator Jorge Pacheco,  chair of the ASUC Constitutional and Procedural Review Committee and co-author of the bill.

“It’s a question of people-power, committee structure and conflict of interest,” Pacheco said. “The senate has historically had a problem with keeping itself accountable.”

According to the authors of the bill that placed the measure on the ballot — six ASUC senators from CalSERVE, Student Action and the Cooperative Movement Party — the Office of the President is more suited to handling the Advocacy Agenda because it is constitutionally mandated to represent the collective concerns of the student body.

“It’s not too big of a deal,” said CalSERVE Senator and presidential candidate DeeJay Pepito, a co-author of the bill. “It really just transitions the responsibility. It’s just a matter of what makes the most sense to really match the responsibilities of a different office.”

According to Pacheco, the transition is vital because it will allow the agenda to benefit from structured task management, financial power and public accountability.

“This will show the general campus that the ASUC cares about the students’ voice and that the ASUC will take a proactive stance on their issues,” said Student Action Senator and executive vice president candidate Chen-Chen Huo, another co-author of the bill.

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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A public hearing took place on Wednesday regarding the construction of the $15 million aquatics center, which was proposed to address concerns of inadequate swimming facilities on campus. The Spieker Aquatics Complex, UC Berkeley’s only aquatic center, is used by NCAA athletes as well as community swimmers, students in physical-education classes and postgraduates.

“Currently, (users of the facility) share one pool for all training and competition at Spieker, which … puts pressure on the facility seven days a week,” said Herb Benenson, spokesperson for intercollegiate athletics. “These scheduling challenges reduce the availability for all who want to swim at Spieker.”

The new facility will be used for athletic training purposes only but will take much of the pressure off the Spieker Aquatics Complex to accommodate too many swimmers, according to the intercollegiate athletics website.

The proposed location for the new facility is a university-owned parking lot next to the Tang Center. If the proposal is approved, the parking lot will be destroyed and replaced with the campus’s second aquatics center.

“The location is important for its proximity to Spieker pool,” said Jennifer McDougall, the principal planner responsible for review of the project under the California Environmental Quality Act. “The near-campus location helps meet project goals to reduce scheduling stress on student athletes.”

The proposal of replacing the parking lot is problematic, however, because the project is not strictly consistent with the city’s Southside Plan, a plan passed in 2011 to revitalize the area south of campus. Those who regularly park in the lot will have fewer spaces available to them and will have to consider alternatives to driving to campus or find parking elsewhere, according to McDougall.

The aquatics facility project is entirely funded by Cal Aquatic Legends, an independent nonprofit donor group founded to raise money for the project. The group will handle the building of the facility, overseeing the entire process from architectural plans to actual construction on the university-granted land, unlike similar projects typically controlled entirely by the campus.

“The facility is basically an exceedingly generous, in-kind gift,” McDougall said.

The public has the opportunity to submit commentary on the project’s Environmental Impact Report and its compliance with the Southside Plan until April 24. The UC Board of Regents will review the report and will have a chance to approve the project at its meeting in May.

“A new pool will provide the time, flexibility and space the Golden Bear teams need to continue to achieve at such a high level,” Benenson said. “The fact that Cal’s aquatic teams and so many individuals continue to excel is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to their perseverance and the abilities of the coaching staff.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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While printers that dispense objects have been used by UC Berkeley engineers for decades, the installation of a new 3-D printer on campus now allows students to print everything from models to shot glasses in minutes.

UC Berkeley is the first university in the world to receive the Dreambox, a wirelessly accessible printer that prints multidimensional objects and offers fast, low-cost printing to students.

The Dreambox was conceived by recent UC Berkeley alumni Richard Berwick, David Pastewka and Pavan Ravipati, along with current senior Will Drevno, and has received massive interest from individuals and universities around the globe.

The team said it created the printer to address current difficulties of 3-D printing on campus, which is available only to students in certain majors for academic projects. The Dreambox is simpler to use than the existing printers and is open at all times, as opposed to the current printers’ limited open hours.

“3-D printers in general right now are not automated in any way, shape or form,” Berwick said. “We’ve taken the headache out of the equation, since we have the ability to remove the problem from printing, and that is user interaction.”

The printer, which has been installed in Etcheverry Hall, allows students to remotely order prints by logging onto the Dreambox website, uploading a file and providing payment to submit an order. Customers then receive an access code that they can use to retrieve their creations from the machine in as little as 15 minutes.

According to the team, the Dreambox machine prints almost all of its projects on the same day they are ordered, as opposed to the standard 10- to 15-day waiting period.

The machine also allows customers to print objects they wouldn’t otherwise be able to create due to a lack of skills or resources. Dreambox streamlines productivity so that customers can avoid having to go to outside companies to develop specialized products. For example, an individual can upload an image of a personalized shot glass and have it printed within an hour.

The group first worked together last year in a mobile application development class at UC Berkeley.

“We enjoyed working together, and we thought we worked well together,” Pastewka said. “We’ve always been intrigued by 3-D printing, and that’s when we got to the issue of accessibility of 3-D printing. Now, for the first time, anyone can use it.”

The 3-D prints are stored in drawers on the machine so that customers do not have to be present to pick up prints immediately.

“What I see this doing is essentially bringing a very complicated technology to the masses,” Berwick said. “The value is in the customization for the application.”

The homegrown project received all of its capital from family and friends of the team, and the team received mentorship from the College of Engineering Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

The Dreambox team said it is looking to expand significantly and eventually print in materials other than plastic, which the machine currently uses.

“The strongest part of Dreambox is by far the team,” Drevno said. “We work very well together, we’re very scrappy and we learn quickly.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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