UCI hosted their inaugural Esports conference and festival at the Student Center on Oct. 11 and 12. Festivities were held on the Student Terrace outside the Esports Arena, and presentations by notable Esport figures were organized in the student ballrooms.
UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman visited Professor Amy Depaul’s Literary Journalism 21 class on Oct. 16 to discuss his views on public universities and their obligation to protect speech, regardless of whether it is deemed offensive or marginalizing.
ASUCI’s annual concert event Shocktoberfest was cancelled following a security and safety hazard which was prompted by midliner Famous Dex, walking into the audience area. Video footage of the incident shows students rushing the floor after the rapper stepped down from the stage, causing a stampede. According to witnesses, the rush of students caused barricades to be knocked over.
The lineup for UCI’s annual fall concert Shocktoberfest was announced on Oct. 8 with Famous Dex slotted as the midliner despite a leaked security video from 2016 showing the rapper chasing down his girlfriend down a hallway and getting into a physical altercation with her.
ASUCI Senate voted on Oct. 11 to support the UCI DREAM Center by issuing a letter to the university administration declaring their support for the center to receive additional funding.
Several UC Irvine professors have penned a letter to Science Magazine expressing their concern that injustice was committed against their “colleague and friend,” Francisco Ayala, who resigned from UCI July 1 upon multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
After a summer of unsuccessful negotiations, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299’s patient care unit members voted on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 to authorize a potential strike.
The University Art Gallery and Contemporary Arts Center Gallery at UC Irvine will be displaying, until Jan. 5, an exhibit titled “First Glimpse” that includes pieces from the Buck Collection by California artists from the 20th and 21st centuries.
There had been recent speculation that the College Republicans at UCI (CRUCI) will be inviting controversial media speaker Milo Yiannopoulos this upcoming year. An invitation was also extended to right-wing political commentator and host Dennis Prager. However, UCI event administration rejected the proposal to have Yiannopoulos to speak in the Pacific Ballroom located in the Student Center on campus citing security assessment concerns. Yiannopoulos spoke twice at UCI in 2016, the first visit leading to a year long suspension for the College Republicans due to private security insurance issues.
UCI’s Forum for the Academy and the Public, a collaborative conference and lecture series organized by the Literary Journalism program, hosted a “pop-up” panel on Oct. 2 to discuss Brett Kavanaugh’s controversial nomination to the United States supreme court in light of sexual assault allegations and its impact on American politics moving forward.
In their second meeting of the 2018-2019 school year, the ASUCI Senate voted in favor of withdrawing from the United States Student Association (USSA). Resolution R54-01, authored by External Vice President (EVP) Holly Woods, passed 20-0-0.
On August 28, California state legislators passed Senate Bill 100, which will mandate the state to generate 100 percent of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources by the year 2045.
