Shomik Mukherjee
News Editor
CAMPUS
Students called California Governor Jerry Brown’s office during a phone bank on Thursday in support of a state senate bill that would have affirmed an Obama administration “Title IX” policy clarification classifying sexual harassment as a form of sex-based discrimination. Gov. Brown vetoed the bill on Tuesday, citing “colleges’ failure to uphold due process for accused students” in campus sexual harassment complaints. The office of Kristin Hsu, the External Vice President of Statewide Affairs at Associated Students, organized the phone bank to show support for the bill, SB 169, which would have codified existing national Title IX standards into state law.
University of California, Santa Barbara students organized a small protest on Thursday as patient care workers began contract negotiations with the UC. A few dozen workers, including groundskeepers and student workers, marched with picket signs carrying phrases like “united to secure our future.” A Facebook post by the coalition said the workers involved will “continue fighting together until and beyond the time that the UC stops enforcing poverty wages onto our communities.”
The UCSB Men’s Soccer Team played to a 0-0 tie against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the first of two seasonal Blue-Green rivalry matches. Harder Stadium drew 10,293 fans, making the match the 21st-largest crowd in regular season National Collegiate Athletics Association history. Though the Gauchos lead the all-time series against the Mustangs 46-19-10, Cal Poly has proved a formidable opponent against UCSB in the past two seasons. The Mustangs forced an identical 0-0 draw at Harder Stadium a year ago.
ISLA VISTA
UCSB graduate student Jonathan Abboud helped establish the Isla Vista Community Services District (CSD) in the two years after he finished his undergraduate career at the university. Now, Abboud will officially be a part of the CSD, after its Board of Directors hired him as the board’s Interim General Manager at its Oct. 10 meeting. Abboud will work with the CSD as an official consultant to manage its budget, which doesn’t have a significant source of funding yet. He will also help manage facilities and interns, Board President Ethan Bertrand said in a press conference on Wednesday.
UCSB sent out a “timely warning” alert to students on Tuesday morning, after the campus Clery Act Compliance Coordinator received an anonymous report of an aggravated assault on Oct. 7 at People’s Park. The alert reported that the victim was “asked for the time by three male suspects.” The man was physically assaulted by the suspects when he pulled out his cell phone to look at the time, according to the report.
COUNTY
The sales tax in the city of Santa Barbara may rise from 7.75 percent to 8.75 percent, after the City Council placed a ballot up for a vote in this November’s election. Measure C, if passed with a 50 percent plus one vote, will generate $22 million in tax revenue for the city, Noozhawk reports. The ballot measure will accompany the 2017 city mayoral candidates, who are vying to replace outgoing incumbent Helene Schneider, who has served since 2009.
NATIONAL
Fire crews have made progress against the wine country fire, which is now the deadliest wildfire in California history, having killed at least 41 people and destroyed over 6,000 homes. New fires broke out Tuesday in the Santa Cruz Mountains, as well as a blaze in the northern area of Los Angeles. The Santa Cruz fire burned 150 acres and put 150 Bay Area homes on high alert, while the Los Angeles fire blazed 5 acres and threatened to burn a historic astronomical observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains.