News in Brief: Nov. 22 – Nov. 28

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CAMPUS

Award-winning author Zadie Smith will speak on Wednesday at Campbell Hall for a UCSB Arts & Lectures event. Smith has authored five novels and her latest, Swing Time, published in 2016, has been nominated for the Booker Prize. The event costs $10 for UCSB students to attend.

A play written, produced, directed, and performed byUCSB community members won Best Production of the Year at the 2017 United Solo Awards. First performed at UCSB as part of Theater and Dance’s LAUNCH PAD program, the show has since had a 10-week run at Theatre Row in New York City. Professor Anne Torsiglieri told the Office of Public Affairs & Communications last Wednesday that she was “so thrilled to be able to share this story, which is not only our experience in the world of autism, but also the very universal journey of how to reframe and embrace happiness, and how to find it all around us.”

ATHLETICS UPDATE

The women’s basketball team has had a sluggish 1-5 start, capped off by a 71-58 loss Monday night at home vs. San Diego State. The Gauchos committed 24 turnovers in the loss, their highest of the season.

The men’s basketball team pushed to a three-game winning streak with a 69-66 squeaker victory over Prairie View. Still weeks away from league play, the Gauchos sit at 4-2, and on Sunday, sophomore Max Heidegger was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Week. Heidegger scored 30 points in the win against Prairie View, his second 30-plus-point output of the season.   

ISLA VISTA

The Isla Vista Community Services District took the first steps on Tuesday toward developing a program that would provide support to I.V. residents, as well as mediation services between tenants and their landlords. Board of Directors President Ethan Bertrand said the program would cost up to $25,000, and members agreed that the program would need to work in conjunction with existing services, like the Isla Vista Tenants Union.

COUNTY

A Goleta attorney was disbarred from the State Bar Court of California after a third DUI conviction, the Santa Barbara Independent reported. John Darwin McCurdy, 73, was found in 2015 to have been driving at over twice the state legal limit. McCurdy’s legal firm is located on Hollister Ranch Road.

NATIONAL

Social media websites erupted over Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairperson Ajit Pai’s announcement last week that the FCC will vote on Dec. 14 to potentially end net neutrality laws. Current laws prevent Internet Service Providers from “throttling” the internet, or making the connection slower or costlier for websites not doing business with them. If the vote passes, Pai said in an official statement, telecommunication companies would need to be transparent about their practices, but the federal government could not block their actions.