USDA

The campaign for a student district is finally in its last stages. As the Dec. 31 deadline for the City Council to complete redistricting approaches, only two maps remain. The fact that both maps were produced by students and contain a student district is a testament to how far this campaign has come.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service determined Thursday evening that plans put forth by Foster Farms to immediately change their slaughtering and processing practices were sufficient to avoid shuttering the facilities.

For over a decade, GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, have been a point of contention among scientists and citizens alike. While many criticize the technology as potentially harmful to health and environment, others, like UC Berkeley scientist George Chuck, see genetic engineering as the answer to many of the world’s most pressing problems.

Although not included in this agenda, ASUC senators will likely vote on a bill that asks the senate to support the United Student District Amendment in the Berkeley City Council. The amendment pertains to the city's ongoing redistricting negotiations and supports the creation of a largely student district. Unlike an alternative map that would also be composed mostly of students, the USDA map would include co-ops and other student housing on Northside.

Even though the USDA map does split up those neighborhoods, there’s no indication that those areas contain concrete interest groups the same way the Northside concentration of co-ops and residence halls represent hundreds of students in the space of a couple city blocks.