Content about Social Issues

A new collaboration allowing UC Merced to join a national nanotechnology-biology hub is made thanks to a five-year grant. This new collaboration will provide new opportunities and resources for students and faculty at UC Merced. Additionally, it also demonstrates UCM’s growing prestige across the US.

School of Natural Sciences Dean Juan Meza and Professor Mike Colvin have received a $175,000 per year grant for the next five years from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

One of the most disheartening consequences of Christopher Dorner’s bloody rampage across Southern California is the exacerbation of the already tenuous relationship between law enforcement and the minority community in the United States.

Chlamydia has become a huge public health threat among young female college students in Merced as well as all around the country. 

Case reports have been increasing over the past 20 years.  According to the Centers of Disease and Control and Prevention, 1.3 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2012. In California, there are currently more than 155,300 reported cases. In Merced County, there currently are 1,035 reported cases of chlamydia.

UC Riverside hosted the annual Students of Color Conference (SOCC) on the second weekend of November with 1200 students attending. The conference is a combination of workshops and speakers that all have the goal of providing a forum for individuals to discuss, explore, and educate themselves regarding a wide array of issues affecting people of color.

Lab coats, goggles, math and lab reports sum up the life of a typical pre-health student. Whether the goal is to be a doctor, an optometrist or a dentist, there is more to life for these students than their grade point average.

Students at UC Merced enjoy a variety of organizations geared to support them on the quest to becoming professionals. From fraternities and other organizations to workshops and advisers, a strong network has developed on campus for pre-med students.

Mitt Romney’s pick for running mate may have ultimately convinced the far right that the Republican ticket isn’t so disappointing after all.  Although a potential Romney-Ryan administration has surely captured the conservative vote, the Republican nomination of the Wisconsin congressman for the vice presidency may have done more damage than good to the party’s prospects of cutting the Obama administration’s existence short.

The Sixth Annual Cinco de Mayo Celebration, hosted by the Latino Associated Students along with other organizations on campus, was another great success this year. The event was one of the biggest of the year, with a large turnout, lots of food, and performances.

The student run event lasted two days, and each day was filled with activities, a variety of food, and informational sessions for those who do not know why Latinos all over the country celebrate this particular day.

Last Friday, comedian Jason Stuart visited campus for an hour of stand-up. The event, which was free to the public, showcased a notable talent with the LGBT community, and demonstrated a huge amount of acceptance on the behalf of all UC Merced students.

In today’s world, we cannot deny the fact that tuition increases are affecting students directly on an individual basis. Our reality is that students are getting out of school with tremendous amounts of debt in both subsidized and unsubsidized loans.

With the growth rate of students at UC Merced every year, students work hard to build up opportunities in our community. As you may know, a portion of our community continues to remain medically underserved due to gaps in our healthcare system. Fortunately, our community has access to dedicated, local health providers, such as the Golden Valley Health Centers that continue to provide quality comprehensive care for our communities.

Western academia will have us believe that the “peculiar institution” is both ancient and extinct, like the dinosaurs. With careful consideration we will find that this is not so.

UC Merced's weekly Human Rights Films Series brought us Mimi Chakarova's, The Price of Sex, on February 24. Forgoing the trite adjectives that normally accompany descriptions of these types of documentaries, the content of the film is simply horrifying.