Tag Archives: University of California

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Degrading black professors

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Depicting a black professor as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor was just the beginning. Sign my petition calling on California’s attorney general to investigate systemic racism at UCLA.

Dr. Christian Head was a respected surgeon at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). But because he is black, Dr. Head was the target of blatant discrimination — including a public presentation that featured an image depicting Dr. Head as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor.

Dr. Head fought back. After more than 100,000 people signed a petition supporting him on Change.org, his lawyers were able to secure a landmark settlement from UCLA. But Dr. Head was far from the only faculty member to experience racism at UCLA. 

In fact, a shocking new study reveals that the problem is extremely widespread. As a national board member of the NAACP who lives in Los Angeles, I am abhorred that a prestigious public university like UCLA would turn a blind eye to the systematic degradation of its non-white faculty members.

That’s why I started a petition on Change.org calling on California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, to launch an investigation into racism at UCLA to determine if civil rights laws have been violated and to recommend solutions. Click here to sign my petition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the recent campus-wide study of racism at UCLA — led by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno — said that UCLA regularly ignored complaints about discrimination and retaliation. One Latino professor reported being called a racial slur by a colleague in front of his students. He says he was told that reporting what happened to him would only “cause more trouble.”

Since UCLA refuses to take action to address systemic racism on campus, it’s time for Attorney General Harris to step in. 

As a strong woman of color in California leadership, Attorney General Harris is uniquely positioned to take swift and decisive action to address UCLA’s pernicious culture of discrimination. I know that if thousands of people sign my petition, Attorney General Harris will respond, just as a petition created key pressure to enable Dr. Head to win his settlement from UCLA.

Click here to sign my petition calling on Attorney General Harris to launch an investigation into systemic racism at UCLA. 

Thank you,

Ron Hasson Los Angeles, CA

~ Culture & History

World’s Oldest Shoe Discovered, Dates Back 5,500 Years


world's oldest shoe brown sheep dung lace-up stuffedYou won’t find this style on Zappos! The world’s oldest shoe dates back 5,500 years. Photo: AP Photo/Department of Archaeology University College Cork
Looks like our ancestors had a little trouble watching their step.

Researchers excavating an Armenian cave have discovered the world’s oldest shoe — a cowhide lace-up encased in a pile of sheep dung, The New York Times reports.

(Ew. We suspect even Imelda Marcos might give this one a pass.)

Tanned in oils from a plant or vegetable and bearing leather eyelets for its laces, the right shoe reportedly pre-dates Stonehenge, the Egyptian pyramids and Joan Rivers.

“These were probably quite expensive shoes, made of leather, very high quality,” Gregory Areshian of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, a lead scientist on the project, told the paper.

The shoe is estimated to date back to the Copper Age, around 3653 to 3627 B.C., and would fit a woman (or petite man) with a size 7 foot, according to The New York Times.

Scientists told the source that the shoe appears to have been deliberately preserved, with grass stuffing and yellow clay lining keeping its shape intact. (Nice to know ancient gals were as shoe-obsessed as we are.)

“You can see the imprints of the big toe,” another team leader, Ron Pinhasi of Ireland’s University College Cork, told the paper.

“As the person was wearing and lacing it, some of the eyelets had been torn and repaired.”

The discovery was reportedly made after the National Geographic Society-funded researchers found other artifacts, including horns, pottery, and something doctoral student Diana Zardaryan thought felt like “an ear of a cow.”

“But when I took it out, I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s a shoe,'” she told the paper. “To find a shoe has always been my dream.”

Ah — a woman after our own hearts!

So who was this Copper Age Carrie Bradshaw? We may never know… but it makes for one heck of a good, old-school Cinderella story.

In other shoe news, read about this government-funded “Sexy Heels in the City” college course.

by Erin Donnelly

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Fracking forum: Secure your spot

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UCS

Register for the Forum Today!

Register now to secure your spot for the live webcast of our Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking Forum on July 25, 2:00 p.m. PDT, at UCLA.

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Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking A Lewis M. Branscomb Forum

Dear Carmen,
We’re less than a month away from our public forum at the University of California, Los Angeles. Don’t forget to register to secure your spot for the live webcast of this popular event!
Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking A Lewis M. Branscomb Forum Date: Thursday, July 25 Time: 2:00-5:00 p.m. PDT/5:00-8:00 p.m. EDT Location: UCLA
Register today!
Featured speakers will include: Felicia Marcus, chair of the California Water Resources Control Board; Tom Wilber, author of Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale and Shale Gas Review blog; Jose Bravo, executive director of Just Transition Alliance; and Todd Platts, former U.S. Representative (R-PA). Click here for the full line-up of speakers and program.
This event will be a unique opportunity to join leading thinkers and key stakeholders for a dynamic discussion about the state of the science around hydraulic fracturing, the state and federal policy landscape, and what citizens and policy makers need to know to make informed decisions oil and gas fracking.
We look forward to you joining us and contributing to the conversation!

Sincerely, Andy Rosenberg signature.jpg Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Director, Center for Science and Democracy Union of Concerned Scientists
P.S. You can also check out our new video, The Curious Case of Fracking: Questions from the Road, to get a flavor of the types of questions that arise when people are faced with making decisions on fracking in their communities.