“After careful thought and consideration and consultations with loved ones, I’ve decided to step down as head coach of the UC San Diego women’s rowing program,” Truex said in a press release. “It has been a great pleasure and honor to serve in the role for over a decade, but it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life, whatever that may be. I’ve absolutely loved working with this team and we had many great years together.”

Truex inked a two-year, $188k extension in 2025. His contract was due to expire in June 2027, according to contracts obtained by The UCSD Guardian through a public records request. UCSD associate head coach Kim Dale will serve as the interim as Athletics searches for a new head coach.

Taking over during UCSD’s Division-II days, Truex led the team to four NCAA Division II Championship appearances. In the 2018 tournament, the Tritons finished second in the Varsity Eight Grand Final, six seconds behind Central Oklahoma. Since transitioning to Division I in 2020, UCSD saw the most success in 2024. The Tritons finished second at the CAA Championships and Truex was named CAA Coach of the Year. Truex’s departure comes a month after the 2026 season’s conclusion, when UCSD placed fifth at the CAA Championships.

The story follows a free-spirited and impulsive nun, Maria Rainer (Cayleigh Capaldi), who finds herself feeling restricted within the walls of Nonnberg Abbey. She is sent by Mother Abbess (Christiane Noll) to the fractured home of widowed Navy Captain Georg von Trapp (Kevin Earley) as governess to his seven mischievous and neglected children. While developing a unique  bond with each member of the family, she brings love and music back into their lives.

The show opened with a strikingly cinematic set design: a backdrop of the enchanting hills of Salzburg, Austria, paired with alluring lighting and fog that accented the whimsical feel of the stage. Taking us through the landscapes of Austria, the Abbey, and the von Trapp estate, the set moved seamlessly from one location to the next. In addition to accurately representing the performance’s various settings, the atmosphere and ambience of each location seemed real and lived in, making me feel like I was really there. The Abbey was particularly stunning, featuring a colorful stained glass window reflecting on the characters to give the building a divine feel. The walls of the set also shifted back and forth gracefully to follow the movement of Maria, Mother Abbess, and the sisters as they walked around the stage.

Maria is the heart of the story — her enthusiasm and passion for music makes “The Sound of Music” what it is — and Capaldi captured her essence with stunning accuracy, embodying the charm of this universally beloved character. Her vocals throughout the show truly brought the Civic Theatre alive — only heightened by Earley when their voices merged impeccably to depict Maria and the captain’s love in the song “Something Good.” It was truly a breathtaking performance, punctuating why this classic tale remains timelessly captivating for all audiences.

The young actors portraying the von Trapp children put on equally incredible performances despite their ages. Each one of them breathed their individual characters to life in how their relationships with not only each other but also Maria felt natural and genuine as the show progressed. This is especially portrayed during their thunderstorm-prompted rendition of “The Lonely Goatherd.” The scene perfectly illustrated the breaking of the ice between the kids and Maria, as the comfort she provided solidified her unwavering presence in the family.

The family’s newfound joy does not go uninterrupted, however, as “The Sound of Music” is set on the precipice of World War II. After receiving a mandatory commission in Reich’s navy, the captain — a patriotic Austrian — refuses to comply with the force of encroaching Nazi ideology. His character’s stance on this topic is drastically different from his friend Max Detweiler (Nicholas Rodriguez) and eventual ex-fiancee Baroness Elsa von Schraeder (Kate Loprest). While the captain and Detweiler share humorous quips and interactions throughout the show, they act as foils to one another, with the captain standing tall behind his morals and Detweiler urging him to comply for the sake of survival. Earley’s portrayal of this character is a refreshing portrait of hope and endurance during a tumultuous political climate.

These tensions are most explicitly portrayed in the song “No Way to Stop It” — a number notably cut from the 1965 film adaptation — performed when the captain breaks off his engagement with Schraeder. Loprest’s strong vocals stole the show here, perfectly capturing Schraeder’s character and her rigid indifference to the situation, adding an extra layer to the musical’s turning point. 

This leads into the Salzburg music festival, which cements the direness of the family’s situation with a glaring backdrop of Nazi flags. The family sings my personal favorite song from the musical, “Edelweiss,” here. The calming and lullaby-like anthem praises the country of Austria, directly contrasting the hateful flags behind the characters. In this moment, the melody transforms into a symbol of the von Trapp family members’ subtle rebellion against the Nazi annexation of their home country. Although I used to cherish this song as a lullaby, the quiet strength in it captures their love for their homeland despite being drastically torn apart from it, foreshadowing the family’s impending escape. 

Seeing this story brought to life beyond the screen with all of the clear love and thought that was put into it, I was able to appreciate the musical on a new level. Ending with a standing ovation from the audience, this performance was truly a testament to the skill and heart keeping this piece of art alive 60 years after its creation.

KSDT’s Spring Concert was a night to remember, featuring performances by student bands Less than Lethal and Chanel Beads. The event took place at UC San Diego’s Stage Room on May 21.

Less than Lethal opened with its unreleased song “I am the Bird,” which will appear on its upcoming album.

As the audience lit up the room with flashlights, Less than Lethal closed its energizing set with “Thin.” The song started off with a rhythmic guitar then showcased lead singer Karen Salas’ powerful vocals. Salas stepped off the stage to share an intimate performance with the crowd, setting the tone for headliner Chanel Beads. 

Chanel Beads brought experimental pop to the Stage Room, using unique instruments and sound layering. Students lined up next to the stage and sang along to every song. Chanel Beads delivered a captivating performance, making KSDT’s Spring Concert an amazing way to end the academic year.

“I felt tough as a mug,” Less than Lethal drummer Elizabeth Luevand said in a comment to The UCSD Guardian. “I was nervous at first, but at the end, I was having fun.”

“It was a nervous and quick-paced set, but it’s always an amazing experience playing to a lively crowd,” Less than Lethal bassist Yves Mojica shared with The Guardian.

The student opener, Motion Blue, was full of enthusiasm, cheering as it came on stage to amp up the ballroom. The first song it performed, “Treasure” by Bruno Mars, created a fun, lively energy as attendees entered the venue. To make the song feel like the band’s own, it added a refreshing extra guitar riff. Lead singer Kyla Ma made “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees feel personal — like a karaoke night with friends — as people sang along. “APT.” by Bruno Mars and ROSÉ featured excellent drum work from Tony Li. As a cover band, Motion Blue added something fresh to these songs with a new voice and added instrumentals. “Beat It” by Michael Jackson was a highlight: The crowd’s excitement soared through the roof and attendees gathered on the dance floor, mimicking Jackson’s iconic moonwalk. Motion Blue singer Elian Fontanilla was especially skilled at keeping the buzz of the crowd up, jumping around the stage and engaging the listeners. Openers often have the difficult challenge of preparing the audience for the rest of the concert, but Motion Blue was able to do exactly that through its enjoyable song lineup and pure joy.

You could feel the bass more than you could hear it during Rebecca Black’s performance. People rushed to the stage as the room fell dark, lit only by colorful stage lights reflecting off fog from the smoke machines. Slowly, the beat got louder, the bass got stronger, and the music got wilder. Black showed an obvious love for her art, calling on people to jump with her to the rhythm, shaking the entire room. Most of Black’s set was purely instrumental, but when she incorporated popular songs into her DJ set — sampling “DARE” by the Gorillaz and playing “Hyper-ballad” by Björk — the crowd went crazy. You can tell a room is lost in the music when everyone starts singing along at the top of their lungs. The artistry of a DJ lies in their ability to move an audience’s energy, and Black showed a masterful ability in creating a feeling of musical euphoria for an electro-pop landscape.

After a 15-minute delay, a crescendo of hollers and waves of raised phones signaled that Remover had arrived. Accompanied onstage by DJ and fellow producer Dazegxd, Remover immediately hyped up the crowd with songs from their latest studio album, “Revengeseekerz,” and extended play “♡” — my personal favorite project of theirs. A pioneer in the posthyperpop genre, Remover’s music incorporates a complex layering of both traditional instrumentation and inorganic sound. Flooded with sharp electronic trills, bouncy beats, and glitch-like noises, the tracks were eclectic and unconventional — but never once dull. 

Remover and Dazegxd’s command over the venue was commendable and awe inspiring. We jumped when they told us to jump, and chanted when they told us to chant. Mosh pits opened up under instruction from the two artists, bringing a sheer exuberance that normally would not be associated with West Ballroom. The vinyl floor warped and wobbled beneath our feet with each ripple of the horde as we shouted lyrics to the punchy “TURN UP OR DIE” or the more ballad-like “Flash in the Pan.”

Remover’s final number was the electropop anthem “Dancing with your eyes closed.” After arriving at the chorus, the audience almost instantly liquefied. Forget a mosh pit, the entire front half of the room turned into a mad free-for-all. Attendees throughout the lineup had been fairly tame, save for a rude individual elbowing their way to the front every now and then, but this was carnage. Having moshed with the swarm around me all night, I found myself suddenly losing my balance during this last song and falling to the floor as people screamed and shoved above my head. Remover’s audiences are notorious for moshing, but even prepared with this knowledge, I was not ready for the dizzying fervor I experienced. I felt a flash of worry that I could be trampled before a friend helped me up. When considering inviting an artist to UC San Diego, organizers must also be sure to research the kind of environments that bubble up around certain acts — I wouldn’t be surprised if a curious student less familiar with Remover was caught off guard by the crowd’s behavior.

Despite the mild scare, I found Remover’s performance one of the most enjoyable during my tenure at UCSD. The Marshall College and Warren College committees understood their audiences — proved by the swift sellout of tickets. I hope other campus organizations see the success of this event as a positive shift in highlighting more niche artists and genres.

“Someone North Loves You” premiered on May 5, in UC San Diego’s Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre. The show was made up of two parallel storylines: one about Jules (Gabby Burton), a girl in the 2000s searching for love, and the other set between two cavepeople, Fiv (Emelysse Paez) and Gor (Joey Aquino), in the ice age. 

The show jumpstarts with Jules’ vow to find a relationship, and she encounters Alex (Clay Man Soo) through a missed connection on Craigslist. After an awkward situationship and discovering Alex’s infidelity online, Jules cuts ties with him and moves to California with her coworker and best friend, Palmer (Hero Marguerite Hendrick-Baker). The equal emphasis on Jules’ friendship with Palmer and her relationship with Alex punctuated the strength of all kinds of connections, not just the romantic.

The play alternated between scenes of Jules — figuring out her relationships with Alex — and Palmer and Gor, a caveman trying to survive the ice age. A longtime solo traveler, he is forced to shelter with Fiv, a cavewoman, after a destructive avalanche.  

Although both plotlines’ premises began the same — people looking for love — their endings were completely distinct. Jules stays single, while Fiv and Gor end up together. The play seemed to focus less on ensuring a traditional happy ending and more on the process of building links with the people around us. “Someone North Loves You” felt more well rounded because of its attention to multiple types of relationships — we’re all trying to find love in any form.

However, cultivating kinships is not easy. Jules and Gor both struggle with miscommunication and opening up to their partners, which reflected the universal highs and lows of bonding with another human.

“In a way, the internet dating sphere feels like this void you’re shouting into in the same way as crossing an arctic tundra feels,” playwright Chesed Chap said in an interview with The UCSD Guardian. “Relationships are hard with online dating, but it’s also hard just walking around, trying to outrun death and finding someone.”

Whether it’s plowing through snow alone or stepping out onto the internet, maintaining connections is hard. It’s a struggle, no matter what time period you’re in. 

Both storylines implied an untold future beyond the show. Jules’ impulsive decision to move to California lets viewers imagine her adventures before settling down. Fiv and Gor open up to each other, and their story ends with them deciding to travel south to warmer weather. Everyone finds companionship on their own timeline; there is no right way of doing things.

“Love and having someone to depend on is sort of a mode of survival in the monotony of life,” Chap said. 

Whether it’s platonic or romantic affection, “Someone North Loves You” stresses the beauty of the connections humans have fostered between themselves for thousands of years.

The show opens with a job interview between its two key characters: interviewee Margo (Sabrina Liu), a young Vietnamese American playwright, and her interviewer, Lucy (Maia Nguyen), a Chinese American first-time showrunner looking to round out her writers room. Margo is invited to join the team, and the two get into the details of this pithy TV drama; Lucy calls it the chance to finally tell her own story. Within simple interview small talk, Lucy and Margo introduce the tensions within the Asian American community up for discussion across the play’s runtime. 

The scope of “Fancy Jungle” certainly sets out to tackle a lot of ground. Lucy and Margo tell you the show’s guiding questions and theses outright: What does it mean to be Asian in America? Or as a character on TV? What do Asian Americans want to watch? Is authenticity achievable when you’re making media meant for everyone? And, is there any beauty at all in assimilation? Should stories be universal, as Lucy and the streamer think, or frustratingly narrow and specific, which Margo argues for? Is it realistic or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy to have your Asian female lead in a love triangle where both guys are white? 

There are no definitive answers for these questions, but “Fancy Jungle” makes attempts. Halfway through, the play takes a darker turn visually, a choice that I found more limiting than expansive. Each singular absurd element is weighted with the pressure of embodying a particular argument Đỗ makes, and thus the success of that argument is conditioned upon whether or not you buy that absurd element as meaningful or valid. In that sense, I often found the play’s discourses and depth to fall prey to its own thesis: That in being generalizable, it no longer hit on anything specifically resonant. 

Nevertheless, the play is a strikingly honest portrayal of what Asian Americans are — not who we were or who we want to be. Situated in active negotiation, these two foil characters demonstrate the range of Asian American ritual existence outside a white lens. “Fancy Jungle” does an excellent job as a touchpoint representation of how it feels to be and look Asian American in the contemporary moment. Though the dialogue dates itself with a few references that made this Generation Z Asian wince — the same way I think Generation Alpha Asians might hate my writing voice — Đỗ’s writing lucidly reflects her status as an Asian American woman deeply embedded in this community. She practices significant restraint in refusing to contextualize her references to non-Asians. “Partner Track” is the type of show that was so fed to Asian American and Pacific Islander audiences that I think we’re the only people who actually know about it. The titular term of fancy or jungle Asian is pulled from the pages of the Asia America dictionary, nestled under the 2016 Ali Wong special from which it was encoded. I loved how abundantly indulgent this play was in celebrating what Đỗ sees to be all our little idiosyncrasies.

But unfortunately, I found the playwright’s love of the Asian American identity to hit a noticeable ceiling when it comes to writing experiences that differ largely from her own. Considering how personal this particular true(ish) story is, I found the metatextuality of the show to activate, not mitigate, my skepticism regarding the caricaturization of these characters. While there is a real effort — especially through Nguyen’s dynamic portrayal — to give care and nuance to Lucy’s character, I couldn’t help the feeling that I, as an audience member, had more insight into Lucy than the playwright. Đỗ limits Lucy to the very real pain and hurt she presumably experienced at the hands of Lucy’s real-life inspiration. While I have endless empathy for the unique pain of marginalization by someone who should have understood you, I couldn’t shake the sense that the main function of Lucy’s character was as an object of catharsis. 

The most heartbreaking moment in the play comes with a final tragic piece of dialogue: As Margo walks away, Lucy calls out, “I wish I had thought to live like you.” And while this is an arresting and powerful observation from Đỗ, there is nothing beyond this comment — no character arc or redemption for Lucy — that would cement how this vocalization impacted her life. Lucy’s voice is completely isolated from her behavior, and so even as Đỗ tries to open her up, it is not enough to convince me that she paid this character true depth, and thus, realism. 

The play takes place at the heart of the contradictions within identity and representational politics, and, like its topics, varies in applying its own takeaways. “Fancy Jungle” also features a sweet — if strangely placed and uninterrogated — lesbian power-dynamic relationship, a white comedic relief character, and a first-generation Asian American immigrant writer. There are many representational issues among these other characters, too, similar to Lucy. For example, the decision to use the term “AAPI” in both advertising the play “Fancy Jungle” in real life and on stage for the show-within-a-show makes for a rather ironic potential oversight, considering the lack of Pacific Islander representation in either. 

But these are imperfect characters trapped inside a play by imperfect Asian American artists navigating a deeply imperfect real world, and I believe our humanity is embedded in the willingness to take each other as we are, keep talking, and keep learning. Đỗ is doing the hard work of storytelling, of fitting as much of the nuances within the Asian American community into one show, and putting forth this effort is truly admirable. So, as I love to dally with the love-hate feelings I have about being Asian American myself, I loved this show. If the point of theater is to give you something meaningful to talk about and chew upon, then “Fancy Jungle” is a success.

Under vibrant LED lights and dramatic smoke, the crowd synchronously nodded along to the band’s emotionally and instrumentally intricate songs. The audience featured a vast range of ages, from Generation Z to Generation X folk. Despite this generational difference, the entire sold-out venue felt connected as every person cherished the live music together. 

American Football’s musical catalogue largely explores the tribulations of getting older and navigating relationships with a nuanced tone. Through its work, the band critiques the advent of hustle culture, nonchalance, and the omnipresent internet.

In a backstage interview with The UCSD Guardian, American Football drummer and trumpet player Steve Lamos described our present day as “a time where everything feels like it’s a sort of crisis.”

Perhaps that’s why American Football attracts 1.5 million listeners monthly — the band speaks to an era before the digital age pervaded everyday life. 

The track “Everyone Is Dressed Up” from “American Football (LP2),” for example, highlights the tension between fast-paced, technology-ridden lifestyles and genuine relationships: “Our love will surely be forgotten by history and scholars / Forever lost in time’s currents.” 

After American Football released its first LP, “American Football (LP1),” in 1999, the band didn’t return to the music scene until 2014. Since then, it has released three other projects and is currently touring its most recent album, “American Football (LP4).”

This show was the group’s first at The Observatory since 2018. The diverse yet cohesive setlist consisted of a combination of new songs from “American Football (LP4)” and past records, including American Football’s breakout hit “Never Meant” from its first album and “Bad Moons,” the lyrical pinnacle of its most recent one. The melodic instrumentals flowed together and were enhanced by the audience’s excitement, especially when Lamos picked up the trumpet. 

The band also made space for more contemplative moments, such as during the instrumental “The One With the Wurlitzer.” With velvety trumpet and soft guitar notes, this two-and-a-half-minute interlude exuded ambient harmonies that set a serene tone, albeit with a touch of heartache.

Although American Football first released music almost 30 years ago, its fandom substantially grew years after, hence the variety of concertgoers at The Observatory. Midwest emo is a rock subgenre with bittersweet memories, growing pains, and suburban blues at its focal point. Regardless of different bands’ interpretations of such categorical topics, throughlines of melancholy define Midwest emo.

Through wistful descriptions of liminal spaces and coming-of-age tales in late ‘90s and early aughts-era America, the Midwest emo genre, and American Football’s specific sound particularly, appeals to younger listeners who yearn for a simpler time.

As the retroactive concept of Midwest emo music gained popularity in the last decade or so, listeners began to feel a sense of connection to the genre. It satisfied the longing many felt for a time not too far away yet distinctly different from the present.

“For even your age, the ‘90s, late ‘90s, early 2000s represents a time when we had technology, but it hadn’t quite overdetermined what everybody does,” Lamos said. 

In this vein, Lamos described Midwest emo as an “interesting invention of a revision of history.”

“Certainly people didn’t use the term; Midwest … emo was like a throwaway term,” Lamos said when reflecting on the band’s start in Illinois. “Now, it’s like a term of pride.”

Sonically, American Football utilizes guitar arpeggios — playing individual notes of a chord instead of strumming them all at once — as well as jazzesque chords. 

“In a time of autotune and everything else, the plinky guitars and warbly drums and vocals and everything seem authentic instead of mass produced,” Lamos said.

These techniques shone throughout the show, notably in the concert’s opening track, “Man Overboard.” Guitarists Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes’ dynamic picking, Lamos’ drumming, and Kinsella’s vocals demonstrated what American Football does best: create various highs and lows within a piece by manipulating typical sonic landscapes with musical inflection points. The unexpected ebbs and flows set the stage for an engaging concert experience: The audience never quite knew what was coming next. 

As soon as Kinsella and Holmes played the opening notes of  “Never Meant,” the last track before the four-song encore, the crowd broke out in ecstatic cheers. Unlike a solo listening experience, being among the sea of people in this moment felt familial.

While American Football’s music definitely emulates nostalgia, the captivating lighting, intriguing instrumentation, and lively company at The Observatory compelled the crowd to embrace the moment and experience the music viscerally. Whether someone is new to the band or a life-long listener, they can resonate with American Football’s discography and enjoy a worthwhile performance at its next concert.

Beginning with the top prize, Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or for his film “Fjord.” The drama stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as a religious Romanian couple who move to a small Norwegian town and become subject to investigation for child abuse. This marks the second time Mungiu took home the prestigious award, the first being for his 2007 film “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.” 

The runner-up prize, the Grand Prix, went to Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” a Russian political thriller set in 2022 during the Russia-Ukraine war. The film, which was praised for masterfully blending individual turmoil with larger-scale political corruption, centers on a struggling business executive who suddenly finds out his wife has been unfaithful.

The award for best director tied between Pawel Pawlikowski for his biographical film “Fatherland” and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for the triptych queer romance “The Black Ball.” Starring Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, “The Black Ball” received a 20-minute standing ovation, earning the longest standing ovation at this year’s event and coming very near to the 22-minute record in the festival’s history set by “Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2006. 

Both the best actor and actress performance awards were split between pairs working on the same film — actors Valentin Campagne and Emmanuel Macchia for the queer war drama “Coward” and actresses Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for the intimate, dialogue-driven “All of a Sudden.”

Critics have characterized this year’s lineup as underwhelming compared to the strength of last year’s festival. They called works by veteran auteurs derivative, reviewing acclaimed Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales” as a shallow, lackluster take on familiar themes. 

This year’s Cannes was similarly lackluster, with the absence of major Hollywood titles leaving the event noticeably less star studded. Many big studios opted out of the event, shying away from notoriously tough French critics, incredibly expensive marketing bills, or misaligned production timelines. 

No worries, though — Cannes only marks the beginning of the film awards season. Winners like “Fjord” and “The Black Ball” might already be garnering Oscars Best Picture buzz, but there’s even more to come. Cinephiles can look forward to the Venice Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival in early September to uncover more hits before they reach the big screen.

“As president this year, seeing all of the teams work together, people from all different backgrounds, was really amazing to see,” third-year Ryan Eslami, president of Adwave, said in an interview with The UCSD Guardian. “As a preprofessional [organization] and one of the few organizations that is wholly dedicated to marketing … I think that provides anyone, whether they’re a general member or on the executive team or a presenter, the opportunity to really get that hands-on experience with working with other people.”

Adwave placed first in the district competition at Mount Saint Mary’s University on April 15, marking its first district title since its founding. They advanced to the semifinals, which took place virtually from April 30 to May 1. The team earned a spot among the top 15 universities in the nation, allowing it to advance and compete in the NSAC.

The NSAC evaluated teams on their ability to develop and present a marketing campaign for a real-world client. Adwave began preparing in early August after case study materials were released. This academic year, teams were challenged to create a campaign for the NFL. Adwave decided to focus on strategies to strengthen the league’s connection with younger audiences through its youth initiatives. Its proposal emphasized increasing social media presence and forming partnerships that would appeal to a younger demographic and help create a welcoming environment in the NFL’s youth programs.

Fourth-year Cameron Cao, a member of Adwave’s production team, managed the team’s video materials and deliverables for competitions while also serving as a presenter. Cao described the competition as an opportunity to see the group’s preparation and hard work come together in an interview with The Guardian.

“So my experience in the competition is—along with Alex—is a bit different from the other team members as we have to prepare to present at the competition itself,” Cao said. “We basically practice for two straight weeks memorizing a 20-minute presentation. So I was memorizing both my lines, but also other people’s lines and the timing of the presentation.”

In each stage of the competition, Cao and other presenters pitched their ideas to judges from the NFL. This included Q&A sessions with creative and marketing NFL directors during the semifinals and a final presentation during NSAC to Tim Ellis, the chief marketing officer of the NFL.

Third-year Alex Bazanov, the team’s media analyst, was in charge of handling video material and conducting research for the team’s campaign, which focused on boosting exposure for the NFL and identifying factors that could hinder the company’s original marketing strategy. Bazanov presented the team’s marketing campaign for the first time alongside Cao.

“I was one of the presenters this year, and to be frank, I think I almost said no to becoming one, just knowing how much stress and hours would go into it,” Bazanov said. “But I’m so glad I didn’t, because that was probably my favorite part of the campaign.”

Fourth-year Vyda Lam was the team’s outreach director, focusing on networking with other organizations and creating promotional content. In an interview with The Guardian, Lam emphasized the importance of the competition for Adwave as it both helps the team obtain experience and ensures the members’ collective work is recognized at a greater scale.

“There’s pressure to kind of portray it in a way that does their team justice,” Lam said. “And so from my personal perspective, I found that you really feel like everything has a stake in it and all of the work throughout the year comes to fruition. It’s a very anxiety-inducing day, but I think it’s overall very rewarding.”

The top three colleges that ranked in the NSAC were the University of Oregon, Liberty University, and Texas State University, in that order. Although Adwave did not place among the top three teams nationally, advancing to the final stage of the competition reflected the team’s tenacity and dedication to its craft.

Triton Gaming’s decision to reopen registration to the public in part contributed to this year’s high turnout. Non-UCSD attendees could purchase a two-day pass for $12, while UCSD students, alumni, and faculty received free admission. Prior to 2023, this was standard policy for TGEX, helping establish the event as a major gathering for gamers across California.

According to the president of TGEX, the Associated Students administration cracked down on Triton Gaming in 2023, prohibiting public access to the event on the basis that all student organization funding should go solely to students. This decision impacted Triton Gaming’s partnerships with industry sponsors, as TGEX was no longer a local event and made it difficult to convince companies to fund it, ultimately raising the cost to host the event.

In an effort to solve this problem, Triton Gaming worked with the current A.S. administration to build a case against the previous referendum. Under this year’s new agreement between Triton Gaming and A.S., $5 from every ticket purchased goes back to A.S., which then partially funds future student programming and campus initiatives. The remainder of the money covers facility costs for hosting the event at Price Center. Any money left at the end of this process is reinvested back into Triton Gaming’s ongoing projects.

“At the end of the day, our students are the most important thing we do, and we try to do that in all the work we do,” said fourth-year Chris Kreins, the president of Triton Gaming, in an interview with The UCSD Guardian. “We also want to make sure that this event is sustainable, and it’s not easy to do that. So, we have to make sure we are having that impact, and we’re opening our doors to the general public in order to make this event further succeed in the future.”

In addition to hosting the event, Triton Gaming continued efforts to support the broader San Diego community. This year, the organization raised over $1,000 for children with cancer at Rady Children’s Health and featured a booth for the cause on the second day of the expo, reflecting the club’s commitment to giving back to the community.

TGEX is also entirely student run. The process of planning the expo began Fall Quarter, involving a team of around 80 students who worked constantly behind the scenes to bring the event to life. Leading up to the expo, members reached out to sponsors, recruited talent, created activities, promoted TGEX on social media, and more.

Kreins credits the club’s organization and success to its extensive 10 years of experience and its passionate members.

“It’s just a lot of people that really like gaming, and they might not be practicing the act of loving gaming in that moment, but the work that they do is in the space,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to go on to work in the gaming industry, but they can practice photography here, they can practice broadcasting here, they can practice their creative work here. And we try to offer that for a lot of folks, and we always want to grow more.”

TGEX offered a variety of experiences for fans and newcomers alike, from freeplay games to student artist alleys to alumni and professional meet-and-greets. The Price Center college rooms featured “Mario Kart” and fighting games while the ballrooms hosted clubs and setups for friendly gameplay with “Roblox,” “Minecraft,” “Splatoon,” “League of Legends,” “Dance Dance Revolution,” and more. There were also cosplay cafes, a Red Bull room, and contests judging cosplays and talents.

“The mindset of our organization is that gaming is for everybody,” Kleins said. “We work along with accessibility, and we work along with interest, and we don’t really do esports. That’s what our wonderful sister program, UCSD esports over at Recreation, does. We do general, and so what that means is, like, when we build events like these, we want to think about what can attract everybody.”

TGEX also hosted a multitude of tournaments — including the final match of the Neptune Series 2026, which was a Valorant tournament stream where schools across Southern California competed in a bracket-style gaming tournament. Additionally, FlyQuest, Riot Games, and other gaming companies were present to offer students career advice and networking opportunities with industry staff.

The artist alley in Price Center Ballroom West was a key feature at this event, showcasing student shops and creations. The space allowed attendees to support local businesses and create meaningful connections over shared interests and hobbies.

“I think it’s good exposure to people, coming by, being able to talk to people,” Latte, a small business owner of plush line Bupuri, said in an interview with The Guardian. “It’s very meaningful that I could have face-to-face connections.”

Adjacent to the artist alley was a two-day voice actor panel series featuring popular voice actors from a multitude of fandoms, including “Jujutsu Kaisen,” “Genshin Impact,” and “CookieRun: Kingdom.” Following the panels, fans had the opportunity to speak to these experienced professionals during meet-and-greet sessions.

English voice actor Connors, known for roles such as Pieck Finger in “Attack on Titans” and Toy Chica from “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” highlighted the significance of in-person connections in an increasingly digital world.

“As technology has evolved to what it is now, it’s so important to have face-to-face human interaction with everybody,” Lee said at TGEX. “Go to these events, make some friends, bring your friends, support real human artists, you know? I think that’s just what’s really important about human connection.”

Each day featured a headlining guest speaker. Streamer and cosplayer tuonto spoke about his journey as a creator the first day. Prominent streamer and voice actor LilyPichu appeared at the voice actor panel on the second day.

In an interview with The Guardian, both streamers emphasized the importance of fan interaction and gratitude for support at student expos.

“This is my first student expo,” tuonto said. “The campus is beautiful. I think it’s really cool that it’s student led, too. It’s a good sign that people are still going to uphold these things.”

For LilyPichu, the event served as an opportunity to connect with her audience.

“I’m very grateful,” LilyPichu said. “Thank you [fans] for appreciating what I do and liking what I do. [I’ve been] doing this for 15 years now. Everyone tells me they’ve been watching me since middle school, so that’s incredible. It’s an incredible journey.”

The expo focused on the importance of community and uniting people across many backgrounds to enjoy the festivities, culture, and appreciation for the art of gaming.

“TGEX is what you make of it,” Thanh Nguyen, a fourth-year and Triton Gaming creative officer, said in an interview with The Guardian. “It can be for you a conference, just a place to hang out, a place to get inspired by artists, but ultimately for us, we want you to have that flame of passion for gaming that you used to have ignited again. And being an adult doesn’t have to be boring and tiring, and you can still have your passion.

It was a disappointing send-off for the Wave, who, despite being atop the NWSL leaderboard, have struggled at home this season. San Diego has lost three of its six home games so far and secured only 9 of 18 possible points in America’s Finest City.

San Diego started the first half on the front foot as it pushed for an opening goal. A crucial chance in the 33rd minute ended in nothing for the Wave, as midfielder Lia Godfrey was denied from point-blank range on a second-chance effort. Minutes later, Wave winger Gia Corley got a crack at goal, lining up a shot from outside the box that went straight to the hands of Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse.

Payne opened the scoring on the ensuing Pride possession. A long ball from Orlando winger Luana would get deflected to Payne outside of the box, who calmly lofted it past the hands of Wave keeper DiDi Haracic and into the net. The goal was Payne’s first of her professional career.

After halftime, the Wave struggled to get past the Pride defense in their quest to find an equalizer. In the 86th minute, a cross from defender Kristen McNabb found winger Gabi Portilho, whose header went wide left. A stoppage time free kick presented a final chance for the Wave to break through, but winger Melanie Barcenas’ attempt was scooped up by Moorhouse, and the Pride hung on for a 1-0 win.

San Diego came back to its winning ways on May 31, defeating the Chicago Stars 2-0. Heading into the June break, the Wave remain atop the NWSL leaderboard, with the Utah Royals a point behind with a game in hand.

The tournament favorites are France, Argentina, and Spain, but countries such as England, Portugal, and Brazil are also expected to be top contenders. England striker Harry Kane is going into the tournament in top form after an impressive club season with Bayern Munich. Kane netted 36 goals in the Bundesliga and 14 goals in the Champions League despite getting knocked out in the semifinals. Brazil, now led by legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti, is always dangerous in international play due to skillful talents including wingers Vinícius Júnior and Raphinha. For Portugal, striker Cristiano Ronaldo is looking to win the World Cup in his final attempt to match his eternal rival: Argentina forward Lionel Messi. This year, Ronaldo arguably has one of the best supporting casts to help him achieve his goal. Let’s break down my predictions for this year’s World Cup:

Winner: France

France is, on paper, one the best squads in the tournament. The talent it boasts up front is particularly impressive, as the potential front three — striker Kylian Mbappé, forward Ousmane Dembélé, and winger Michael Olise — have proved they’re capable of dominating games by themselves as the focal point of their club teams’ attacks. The French attack will be a nightmare to face, though the midfield could be where other teams find hope to beat France. The French midfield isn’t quite as star studded, but talented defensive midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Aurélien Tchouaméni are still capable players.

Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappé

Mbappé had a disappointing 2025-26 season with Real Madrid, but the French superstar seems to play at his best when the World Cup comes around. His performances in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups have already cemented him as a hero of French football, and with his powerful team’s help, he looks good to take home another World Cup Golden Boot this year.

Dark horse: Türkiye

Türkiye, though not traditionally a football powerhouse, is in an advantageous group for its knockout ambitions. Türkiye will be competing with the U.S., Paraguay, and Australia, which is definitely a group it can top. Individual brilliance can shine more in international play compared to structured club play, which could help Türkiye overperform in this year’s tournament. Young talents like midfielder Arda Güler and winger Kenan Yıldız will make a huge impact in Türkiye’s World Cup run.

Disappointment: Morocco

The surprise semifinalists of the 2022 World Cup, Morocco, will disappoint this year. The Moroccans are up against a strong group, with Brazil and Scotland set to put up tough competition. If Morocco makes it out of Group C, it may face a top team such as the Netherlands. The magic of 2022 will falter in the first round if Morocco is forced to confront the talented Dutch national team, leading to an unfortunate early exit.

Breakout star: Luka Vušković

Luka Vušković, the young Croatian center-back, has potential to show his talent to the world this summer. With his fellow Croatian defender Joško Gvardiol coming off a right leg fracture earlier this year, Vušković may get the opportunity to step in and become a trusted defender on a Croatia squad that often punches above its weight in international play. Vušković, while being loaned out to Hamburg, scored six goals in the Bundesliga, an especially impressive number for a defender. Though he hasn’t played much for Croatia yet, Vušković has already scored his first international goal in a friendly against Colombia. Vušković’s eye for goal makes him a flashy defender with the ability to catch the attention of many this summer. With his large frame, the young Croatian is a terrifying aerial threat on both sides of the pitch. After spending last season at a weaker Bundesliga club, Vušković’s name is not yet well known, but his talent will be on full display this summer as he makes his World Cup debut.

Isaiah Benitez, Senior Staff Writer

The New York Knickerbockers consist of proven talent, immense chemistry, fantastic leadership, and — perhaps most importantly — an insatiable hunger for an NBA Championship. However, the San Antonio Spurs have all of that to a greater degree … and more. What the Spurs might lack in an 11-game playoff winning streak, they more than make up for with their 7-foot-4-inch extraterrestrial French Catholic-blessed Shaolin-trained Wembanyama. 

Alongside “The Alien” Frenchman, San Antonio constructed a terrifyingly complete roster that has exceeded even the loftiest expectations. Moreover, with each playoff series victory, the Spurs have battled to symbolically establish their Earvin “Magic” Johnson Trophy winner’s socialist agenda in the American political climate. The country has beared witness to this group beating the Netanyahu-endorsed Avdija-lead Portland Trail Blazers, then overcoming deadbeat dad Anthony Edwards and his Minnesota Timberwolves, and lastly toppling the corrupt elites that make up the OKC Thunder.

San Antonio is just more experienced, vicious, and hungry than the Knicks could ever hope to be. The Spurs will have no mercy for the city of New York, brutalizing the Big Apple with poster dunks and half-court treballs. Gotham’s only hope is Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who just might appeal to Wembanyama’s political affirmations, so prayers up to him when New York explodes — regardless of this series’ results. Give me San Antonio in six.

Prediction: Spurs in six

Ruben Perez, Staff Writer

In the first round of the playoffs, the New York Knicks were down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks and all hope seemed lost. Since then, the Knicks have won 11 straight games and now find themselves on the verge of claiming their first NBA title in decades. Even with a towering French Alien standing in the way, the Big Apple will be home to the 2026 NBA champions.

Since Game 4 of the Hawks-Knicks series, New York’s offense has been flowing, amassing four wins by 30 or more points in the playoffs. Jalen “King of New York” Brunson averages 26.9 playoff points and rises to the occasion when his name is called, as evidenced by his 2025 Clutch Player of the Year award. Playing alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, who shoots 48.9% from deep, and OG Anunoby, who averaged 19.7 points in the playoffs, the Knicks have three stars who can score from anywhere. Rounding out the group with Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, two players who have unlimited energy and give the team spark at any point in the game, the Knicks’ starting five outclass the Spurs’.

As mentioned, there is a man the size of the Eiffel Tower that no one has been able to stop all year long. For those questioning if the Knicks can contain him, I have two words for you: Mitchell Robinson. Broken finger or not, Robinson’s shot-blocking skills and agility will help him go toe-to-toe with Wembanyama in a matchup that will decide who wins the finals.

To top it off, New York only played in eight total playoff games in the month of May, while the Spurs just went a full seven games with the OKC Thunder. The last two teams to face the Knicks following a Game 7 this year were the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Both were swept by New York.

Prediction: Knicks in six

Jordan Mationg, Multimedia Co-Editor and third Sports Co-Editor

The Spurs and Knicks finals series will prove to be a competitive matchup. Coming into the postseason, the Spurs’ starting five had a combined seven games of playoff experience, thanks only to De’Aaron Fox. Through its successful series against the Minnesota Timberwolves and last year’s champions, the OKC Thunder, San Antonio confirmed head coach Mitch Johnson’s words: “They don’t give a damn about the word ‘experience.’” The Villanova-era Knicks, however, have been terrorizing teams on both sides of the court, with New York’s now-legend Jalen Brunson leading the charge. High-energy fans rapturously go along for the ride, whether it’s parading through the streets of Manhattan or taking over arenas at the Knicks’ away games.

While it’s expected that Brunson and Wembanyama — the All-NBA talent of each team — will continue to prosper offensively, whether their co-stars are up to the challenge will prove key to this series. For New York, Karl-Anthony Towns surprisingly had success as a secondary playmaker for the team. As a shooting threat, Towns denies the opposing team’s bigs the ability to camp the paint, making space for Brunson to finish or kick out to wings for easy threes. As long as Towns continues his 3-point efficiency, it will be difficult for the Spurs to handle such offensive pressure. For San Antonio, Stephon Castle is vital in complementing Wemby’s interior presence with his lockdown perimeter defense, as he’s been able to pressure star guards like Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into making tough shots. While Castle thrived this postseason thanks to his defense and shotmaking, his playmaking has been sporadic, averaging 6.7 assists and 3.7 turnovers in the playoffs.

Though both teams proved their worth, New York lacks the ultimate X Factor: a 7-foot-4-inch dude. In a seven-game series, the immense gravity of The Alien will be too much for the Knicks. All in all, Wemby and the Spurs will be the ones to take their NBA Cup revenge and raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Prediction: Spurs in seven

Lionel Liu, Staff Writer

The real NBA Finals have already ended with a seven-game series between OKC and the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. The Knicks finished third in a weak and injured Eastern Conference, unable to crack 55 wins. Now, they are walking into a matchup against a San Antonio team that already survived its real test against the reigning champs.

San Antonio has shown what this matchup will look like. Sure, the Knicks won one against the Spurs later in the season when a rusty Wembanyama was coming back from injury, but that does not move me. That is not the version of Wembanyama they are about to see in the Finals. The real preview came on Dec. 31, when the Spurs beat New York behind Wembanyama’s 31 points and 13 rebounds in just 24 minutes. With Robinson’s messed up right hand and his inability to shoot free throws, New York’s interior defense becomes baby food with Kitty KAT anchoring.

The Knicks’ path here has been soft. They went down 2-1 to a Hawks team that basically hit reset after trading away Trae Young as 34-year-old CJ McCollum gave them problems. New York beat a tired Sixers team coming off a 3-1 comeback against Boston while Joel Embiid was on 1 HP. Then the Knicks got the easiest possible conference finals against a fraudulent Cavs team with Jarrett “The Lights Were Brighter Than Expected” Allen and James “Game 7” Harden.

The Spurs win this in five. The only reason New York gets one is because San Antonio wants to close it out at home.

Prediction: Spurs in five

The tour supports her sophomore album, “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” a lyrical prequel to her 2022 debut “Preacher’s Daughter.” The project follows the doomed love story between Cain and Willoughby Tucker, two characters carrying the weight of traumatic small-town upbringings. If “Perverts,” her 2025 experimental ambient studio recording, tested listeners’ patience, “Willoughby Tucker” restores the balance between accessibility and artistic depth. The album marries plainspoken aching and lyricism with sweeping character arcs. The tour, then, arrives not just as promotion, but as proof of concept. 

Emerging in denim overalls, a baseball cap, and a hoodie, Cain opened with “Sunday Morning” from her 2019 EP “Golden Age.” Her airy vocals built an immersive ambience that grounded the concert in something intimate and distinctly human — a reminder that beneath the mythmaking is a voice capable of startling vulnerability. She moved straight into the radio-friendly “American Teenager,” singing about the American Dream and the quiet devastation of loss. From there, she pivoted into “Janie,” a character study from the new album, with an understated vocal tenderness. She then settled into the emotional core of the evening: the world of “Willoughby Tucker.” “Nettles,” a centerpiece of the record, unfolded slowly, its aching progression allowing the storytelling heft of the album to take hold in real time. A shortened version of “Willoughby’s Interlude” followed, before “Dust Bowl” extended the album’s country-dusted bleakness into the open air.

The production of the stage itself could hold its own. Moss hung from above and around the performers in the center of a bed of textured grass and weeds. A steady stream of fog enveloped the stage, distorting Cain’s silhouette until she appeared less like a performer than an apparition. The lighting was a character in its own right — strobe heavy in ways that felt genuinely disorienting, at times mimicking lightning flashes or the flicker of a failing memory, reinforcing the show’s fixation on decay, loss, and revelation.

The crowd moved through a variety of emotional ranges for a single night: swaying in quiet reverence for songs like “Janie,” jumping and dancing for pieces like “American Teenager,” and moving to complete stillness for heavily charged tracks like “Vacillator.” In those moments, the boundary between performer and audience seemed to dissolve entirely — what remained was a shared immersion in grief, longing, and something almost spiritual.

However, the fan-favorite moment of the night came during Cain’s encore, “Crush.” Perhaps her most mainstream song, it may have been a predictable choice, but sometimes the obvious moments are the most effective. There is something uniquely spellbinding about jumping around to a song you know every word to, surrounded by hundreds of strangers who know them too. After a set steeped in sorrow, yearning, and emotional devastation, “Crush” felt almost euphoric — not because it abandoned those feelings, but because it transformed them into collective release. For a few minutes, the carefully constructed mythology surrounding Ethel Cain dissolved, and what remained was simpler: the thrill of live music, of catharsis, of being young and overwhelmed alongside everyone around you.

After a magical night spellbound by Cain’s narrative universe, the crowd slowly filed out of The Rady Shell, the harbor lights even more luminant. What the Willoughby Tucker Forever tour makes undeniably clear is that Ethel Cain is not just a compelling backstory or carefully curated aesthetic, but a genuinely singular artistic voice with the rare ability to make deeply personal grief feel communal. In a moment where so much of mainstream pop and touring culture can feel increasingly manufactured — dominated by interchangeable aesthetics, algorithmic branding, and performances engineered for virality — Cain offers something far more original and fully realized. Long after the final song ended, her world lingered: in the fog hanging over the bag, in the ringing silence between strangers leaving the venue, and in the uneasy feeling that, for a moment, everyone there had stepped into something far larger than a concert.

The Knights came into the playoffs fourth overall in the Western Conference and struggled coming into the postseason. Flailing against the Utah Mammoth and the Anaheim Ducks in their first two series, Vegas won both rounds in six games. The Knights then dethroned the Colorado Avalanche — which was missing its top defenseman Cale Makar for the first two games and dealing with an injured forward Nathan MacKinnon in Games 3 and 4 — in an astonishing third series. But the Knights’ luck won’t be able to match the Hurricanes’ postseason rampage, which is built on something sturdier: consistency.

Storming past their opponents in the Eastern Conference, the Hurricanes have made it clear that they are an unstoppable force that lives up to their name. They swept the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers in quick succession, making them the only team to go 8-0 to begin the postseason since the NHL instituted the current format in 1987. The Hurricanes had a rough start against the Montreal Canadiens, losing the first game 6-2, before winning the next four games. The Hurricanes took the Canadiens down in five for a 12-1 record going into the finals. After two decades of waiting, there is just one team left to defeat before Carolina can bring home the Cup.

The Knights also have strengths, no doubt. They play a very traditional-styled structure, boast a tight top-four defense, and possess undeniably talented forwards to the tune of star Mitch Marner, who leads the league with 21 postseason points.

However, the Knights lack the ability to adapt, instead preferring to play the way they always do. When the Hurricanes were surprised by the Canadiens’ scrappy, frantic style in Game 1, they came back in Game 2 ready to take the Canadiens on, using the Habs’ own style of play against them. The rigidity of the Knights’ style will hold them back, while the Hurricanes’ versatility will help them advance to win the Cup.

It’s not just the Hurricanes’ fluidity that makes them a mighty force to face. This is their eighth consecutive year of playoff competition, and with time comes experience. The Hurricanes have curated a robust roster capable of reproducing the favorable results that have been crucial to Carolina’s success. With an incredibly structured defense in players like defensemen Jaccob Slavin and K’Andre Miller, as well as an explosive offense with forwards Sebastian Aho, Jackson Blake, and Logan Stankoven, the Hurricanes will be quick and relentless. Their second offensive line of Blake, Stankoven, and left wing Taylor Hall has been the team’s scoring bank. Hall is currently ranked third for most postseason points with 16, three of which came on Friday in the Hurricanes’ win against Montreal.

The Hurricanes have an additional advantage with goalie Frederik Andersen, who leads the league with a .931 save percentage. Vegas’ Carter Hart, on the other hand, can’t save his reputation, much less the puck.

A storm is brewing with Carolina’s history of relentless play, adaptability, and dynamic chemistry on the ice. Once it clears, the Hurricanes will take home the Cup.

Stanley Cup prediction: Hurricanes defeat Golden Knights 4-2

There were three candidates for the 2026-27 EVP of external affairs race: Sen. and second-year Truchan, incumbent and third-year Ricardo Miranda, and third-year Aydin Yelkovan. Campaigns took place during the first two weeks of Spring Quarter, beginning March 29. On April 10, the electoral commission disqualified Truchan and Yelkovan for multiple elections code violations, resulting in Miranda winning the seat with 1,529 votes. During the voting period, Truchan received the majority of votes with 2,092 votes, while Yelkovan received 1,892 votes. 

The A.S. elections code outlines specific guidelines and laws a candidate must follow in order to be eligible to run for office. If any undergraduate student believes a candidate violated the codes, they can submit a grievance detailing the violation through the A.S. complaint portal, which opened April 6 and closed April 10. According to these codes, three formal warnings result in disqualification from the race. Each case is brought before a student-led electoral commission that reviews every grievance and issues formal warnings accordingly. 

During the campaigning period, various students filed a total of 37 grievances against all the candidates running for office, nine of which were filed against Truchan. Of those nine, the commission ruled three as violations — cases 2, 4, and 36. 

On April 4, the electoral commission issued Truchan a formal warning for the violation in case 2, which Miranda submitted. The formal warning said that a March 15 Instagram post from Truchan about his involvement in the Makerspace was classified as a campaign post and thus violated Section 42(d). This code states that candidates cannot campaign outside of the designated campaign period — Weeks 1 and 2 of Spring quarter. 

Off-Campus Senator Jack Derby submitted a complaint on Truchan, which resulted in him receiving his second formal warning on April 6 for violating Section 15(1) in case 4. The section states that candidates cannot use preexisting social media accounts for campaigning, and any accounts for campaigning must be registered with the A.S. elections manager within 24 hours of creation. This grievance refers to the Instagram account mentioned in case 2. 

Warren College Student Council Basic Needs Advocate Anvi Sapra filed a complaint on April 10, and the electoral commission issued Truchan’s third formal warning for the violation in case 36. The grievance stated that Truchan allegedly violated four sections of the elections code. The commission issued a ruling the same day, finding him in violation of Section 43(b). That section prohibits the use of A.S. resources for campaigning. 

The A.S. Judicial Board is composed of UC San Diego students Chief Justice Sofia Earley, Presiding Justice Hadia El Hallou, Justice Cameron Golbahary, Justice Shaina Sanchez, Justice Tyler Hijirida, Justice Mani Sefas-Loos, and Justice Shail Bardolia. The board is responsible for reviewing all grievances and complaints regarding violations of UCSD governing documents. On May 22, Sanchez, Golbahary, Hijirida, Sefas-Loos, and Bardolia heard an appeal Truchan submitted for case 2, filed the same day he received the violation.

All present justices voted in favor of overturning the commission’s initial ruling, which held that Truchan violated Section 42(d). The Judicial Board found that the elections code does not apply to Truchan’s Instagram post, as it was not campaigning for specific proposals for the position but rather highlighting his accomplishments in his current position as a senator. 

The Judicial Board also overturned Section 14(1) regarding the process of issuing warnings for violations of the elections code, deeming the section “unworkably and unconstitutionally vague” and that it cannot remain as it is at the moment. This decision responded to the commission’s lack of an adequate public response, saying that “the Electoral Commission did not provide a publicly available justification explaining why Truchan received a formal warning as opposed to a verbal warning or disqualification; however, even if they had, Section 14(1) cannot stand in its current form.”

Additionally, the board will nullify the legislative power of Section 14(a) in light of two formal warnings issued against Truchan’s Makerspace Instagram post. The elections code does not specifically state whether a candidate can receive multiple warnings for the same grievance — this will remain the case until the Senate specifies the guidelines on “double jeopardy” penalizations. 

Following the overturning of case 2, Truchan now has only two formal warnings instead of three and is no longer eliminated from the election. This reversal makes Truchan the winner of the EVP of external affairs race. 

Following a complete examination of the elections codes, the Judicial Board also found that Section 44(a) violated the U.S. First Amendment — though it did not specify which aspect of the amendment — and removed any penalties under this section. Currently, the section code states that “obligations of campaign Candidates, proponents of referenda positions, or representatives or agents thereof shall be obligated to: a) Campaign in a civil, decent, and respectful manner.” 

Amid the issues presented at the hearing, the Judicial Board recommended in a letter to the Senate that several changes be made to ensure that the A.S. governing documents — especially the elections codes and A.S. judicial rules — are detailed, clear, and free of ambiguity. The suggestions included the establishment of an oversight committee, regular legal reviews of governing documents, and staff advisor oversight of amendments. 

In response to The UCSD Guardian’s request for comment, Truchan shared his perspective on the changes and future aspirations as he takes on his position. 

“I want to thank everyone who supported me throughout this election and the process of overturning it, it was long and arduous,” Truchan wrote. “I am very excited to serve as YOUR next Executive VP of External Affairs and you can expect a lot coming next year. Let’s slash tuition, keep our students safe, fed, and housed. Love you Tritons!” 

At a news conference last Tuesday, NASA released information on its $20 billion plans for developing a permanent base on the moon, which will serve as an outpost for scientific research and testing new technology. 

During the “Ignition” event on March 24, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman first shared the agency’s intention to return to the moon in the current space race with China. China has not formally announced any missions to space, but aligned with timelines, goals, and roadmap arrangements, “America will no longer be the exclusive power to send humans into the lunar environment,” according to Isaacman.

“NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again: to return to the moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space,” Isaacman said.

This week, NASA released specific information about its plan to build the base, sharing the timeline of its construction and implementation. The moon’s harsh conditions — with temperatures ranging from 130 degrees Fahrenheit in sunlight to minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit at night, along with meteors and space radiation — make constructing a permanent base challenging. 

The building of the base will occur in three phases, beginning in 2026 and continuing through 2032. The first phase — “Learn, Test, Build” — will consist of robotic missions to survey the south pole of the moon, test technologies, and prepare for operating on the moon’s surface. The second phase  — “Early Habitation” — will incorporate creating semipermanent infrastructure and beginning to map out the process for living on the moon. The third phase — “Sustained Human Presence” — will include an active presence on the moon and crew rotations. 

For the first phase, NASA announced that private contractors will largely support its expeditions. Companies, including Astrobotic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, will provide lunar landers. Similarly, Astrolab and Lunar Outpost will build and provide lunar terrain vehicles for the first officially announced Moon Base missions I, II, and III.

DOJ sues UCLA over alleged Title IV violations 

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against UCLA in its investigation of antisemitism at the university, alleging the university maintains a “hostile educational environment” for Israeli and Jewish students on campus. 

The DOJ wrote that the campus’ 2024 pro-Palestinian protests and encampments in response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict created a heightened antisemitic presence, reporting that demonstrators physically attacked and injured Israeli and Jewish students. The lawsuit states that UCLA violated Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which promotes desegregation and stopping discrimination in schools, by failing to “fulfill its legal obligations” in responding to “reports of antisemetic incidents against students.”

In February, the DOJ sued UCLA for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli employees from antisemitic harassment. In a statement released by the DOJ Office of Public Affairs, DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said, “Now, the Department of Justice calls UCLA to account for its toleration of the equally appalling hostile educational environment against its Jewish and Israeli students.”

In response to the current lawsuit, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk noted in a statement to ABC News that UCLA had previously taken steps to prevent antisemitism on campus by hiring staff to strengthen law-enforcement policies.

“Let me be direct: the suggestion that UCLA has been passive in the face of antisemitism is simply wrong,” Frenk said. “Combating antisemitism is a moral imperative — one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable.” 

The Trump administration also demands that UCLA repay all federal grants from the last two years, during which the university was not in compliance with Title IV, and will prevent the introduction of new federal funds until the university complies with the act.

SDPD officer arrested for possession of child pornography 

A grand jury indicted 33-year-old San Diego Police Department officer Brandon McGibbon on May 20, charging him with five counts of child sexual abuse offenses involving three minors. On May 26, McGibbon pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. If convicted on enticement, McGibbon will face a life sentence in prison. 

According to NBC News, McGibbon, a six-year veteran of the SDPD, is accused of “engaging in the attempted receipt and production of child pornography” and “the attempted enticement and coercion of the minors to engage in obscene matter and sexual conduct” from Oct. 25, 2025, to Nov. 6, 2025. 

The FBI first became aware of McGibbon’s alleged actions in April 2025. An 18-year-old woman made a report alleging that McGibbon had reached out to her on the messaging app Telegram while she was 17 years old and requested pornographic videos and photos.

In November 2025, FBI agents searched the residence McGibbon shared with his stepbrother, his stepbrother’s wife, and their two children. The agents discovered a collection of digital child pornography and his cell phone containing messages to numerous minors, suspected minors, and women. The victims’ ages ranged from 13 years old to early 20s.

According to court documents obtained by CBS News 8 and Times of San Diego, McGibbon contacted minors on social media apps such as Snapchat, complimenting their appearance and asking if they wanted to be given “princess treatment” in exchange for sending nude photos and videos of themselves. In one case, McGibbon told a 17-year-old girl that he was a police officer and that he was going to “risk it all” to see her. Over the course of his conversations, McGibbon would send victims gift cards for Roblox, Shein, and other trending stores and gaming platforms popular among adolescents. 

The SDPD issued a response to McGibbon’s charges, stating that they suspended McGibbon when they became aware of the investigation, and stripped him of his police officer position. They added that they hold officers “to the highest standards” and that allegations against McGibbon “do not reflect the great work of the men and women of the [SDPD].”

IDF airstrikes kill dozens of Lebanese citizens

According to the BBC, the Israeli Defense Forces launched an intensive wave of airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people.

The strikes hit nearly 50 locations in Lebanon overnight, including the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara and the southern Lebanese village of Burj el-Shamali. In Mashghara, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said authorities pulled the bodies of 11 people from the rubble, with 15 others injured. 

Mohammed, a 7-year old survivor of the attack, was asleep when a missile struck his home and killed his father and two sisters. 

“When I woke up, I felt like I couldn’t move, and beside me was just darkness,” he said. 

The IDF struck more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites overnight, including more than 90 weapons storage facilities, command centers, and observation posts across southern Lebanon. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “deepening [its] operation in Lebanon,” adding that Israeli forces were “fortifying the security zone” to protect communities in northern Israel. He vowed to “deal them a crushing blow” in response to Hezbollah’s escaping drone and rocket attacks, including fiber optic drones capable of evading Israeli defenses.

Hezbollah said it targeted three barracks and a military post in northern Israel, in response to what is described as Israeli violations of the ceasefire. Both Israel and Lebanon have repeatedly violated the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, in force since April 17. Israeli strikes since the conflict began on March 2 have killed at least 3,020 people, according to the Lebanese ministry. 

Plant Power Fast Food closes at UCSD

Plant Power Fast Food, a restaurant offering vegan and plant-based options at UC San Diego, closed on May 22. UCSD did not renew its contract with the establishment for the next academic year following seven years of operation.

Located inside Catalyst in Sixth College, Plant Power first opened on Aug. 6, 2021. The UCSD location was the restaurant’s seventh and only university-based spot. The vegan restaurant chain is “steering the future of fast food and making a positive impact on the perceptions of veganism worldwide,” according to its website.  

Co-founders Mitch Wallis, Zach Vouga, and Jeffrey Harris established the restaurant chain in 2016, with the first location originating in Ocean Beach, San Diego. The chain was initially known for its plant-based drive-thru concept and mission to promote a 100% vegan menu with sustainable packaging and building materials, along with clean ingredients. 

Vouga, who has pursued a vegan lifestyle since he was 18 years old, is “especially passionate about promoting a vegan lifestyle and doing his part to pave the way toward a more sustainable future,” according to the Plant Power webpage. 

Supported in 2022 through the NIH Common Fund, the FIRST program was among several canceled by the NIH in 2025 due to federal budget limitations. Its reestablishment this month created 12 tenure-track positions available for faculty to teach and conduct research in the life sciences. 

The FIRST program currently funds research positions for graduate students at the UCSD School of Medicine and aims to strengthen developmental support for its cohort. This includes providing access to a Health Sciences Grant Writing Course, faculty mentorship, and scientific education. Specifically, the program focuses on research sustainability in four key clusters: cancer, cardiovascular sciences, immunology and infectious diseases, and neuroscience. 

President Donald Trump’s federal funding cuts in 2025 targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programming at the NIH and the National Science Foundation led UCSD to a hiring freeze, with additional layoffs and project delays. Since then, researchers have faced uncertain future conditions, including reductions in department lecturers’ hours and an estimated $150 million in funding losses. 

In a written statement to The UCSD Guardian, UCSD FIRST Principal Investigator JoAnn Trejo, who has led the program since 2022, explained the legislative process to restore funding. 

“The program was relaunched following a formal appeal process and a lawsuit brought by 17 states,” she said. “The success of this appeal is in part due to UC San Diego’s strong existing institutional infrastructure, which allowed us to better navigate the political and legal challenges.” 

The disruption in funding caused immediate setbacks for researchers already in the program. According to Trejo, the canceled funding introduced “overall uncertainty about the future of the program” and caused delays in progress for faculty in the FIRST cohort.

Trejo emphasized the importance of diversity in research at higher education institutions such as  UCSD. 

“UC San Diego is among the most enriched biomedical research environments in the world but lacks faculty diversity and effective programming to enhance inclusive excellence similar to other research-intensive institutions,” she said at the time of the program’s initial introduction in 2022. 

On its website, the NIH also articulated its commitment to diversity in science, encouraging research institutions to “diversify their student and faculty populations to enhance the participation of individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences.” 

Since Trejo’s launch of UCSD’s FIRST program in 2022, the support it has provided to researchers has yielded $16 million in new grant funding. 

The renewed recruitment search maintained the cross-institutional scope of its previous cycles. UCSD Health Sciences conducted searches for researchers, including stakeholders from multiple campus departments in accordance with university, state, and federal policies. Their research spans scientific projects that study the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disorders like cancer, infectious diseases, and immune dysfunction. 

“This was a truly cross-campus search,” Trejo said. “We involved faculty from across the university, including medicine, pharmacy, engineering, biology, physical and social sciences, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This kind of interdisciplinary collaboration is a hallmark of UC San Diego, and it allowed us to identify and recruit talented faculty who can tackle complex biomedical challenges from multiple angles.”

For faculty in the cohort itself, the program’s impact has been tangible. Melissa Campbell, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the School of Medicine, said the cohort model addresses a common challenge for early-career researchers. 

“As a new faculty member, you’re often the most junior person in a department, and it’s easy to feel isolated,” Campbell said. “Because we’re all in the same phase of our careers, it’s very different from being the lone junior hire.” 

With the initial NIH grant set to conclude in 2027, Trejo has indicated her commitment to making the restoration of FIRST’s infrastructure a permanent campus feature. She and her team are currently working to institutionalize their mentorship and career development models as a lasting part of UCSD’s future faculty recruitment processes. 

“Our vision is to make these programs part of UC San Diego’s long-term identity,” Trejo stated. “FIRST has given us the foundation. Now we’re working to embed these practices into the fabric of UC San Diego so that every new faculty member has the support they need to thrive.”

The UC San Diego School of Medicine is built upon values of “respect, justice, compassion, empathy, and inclusion.” The “response” from the SOM to recent concerns raised by Medical Students Against ICE about immigration enforcement is in direct contradiction to each one of these values. 

Several students have previously expressed reasonable fears about federal authorities potentially detaining, intimidating, questioning or physically harming their family members regardless of citizenship status. Said family members were unable to attend the white coat ceremony this past August or visit their loved ones in San Diego in large part due to the lack of a proactive, preventative, and clear set of policy actions by the UCSD SOM.

Instead of directly addressing the matter, the SOM administration referred to UCSD’s official policies and statements on immigration, which Chancellor Pradeep Khosla issued via email on Jan. 16, 2026. Khosla’s response cited UCSD’s decision in Fall 2024 “not to issue statements regarding specific political or social issues that do not directly pertain to the university’s mission and operations,” a policy that brings forth a cognitive dissonance and raises more questions than answers. If an institution dedicated to training physicians cannot ensure that students and their families feel safe attending a foundational professional ceremony, then they are not upholding their values or commitments. 

The policy also explicitly affirms that Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any federal immigration agency presence is permitted on our campus for “non-enforcement activities which can include recruitment and activities related to normal nonimmigrant visa status verifications.” It is easily foreseeable from the history of state-sanctioned violence and policing — especially within the context of our nation’s current condition — that federal law enforcement can and will use any pretext to conduct their operations. CalMatters reports a nearly 1,500% increase in arrests related to civil violations of immigration law from May 2025 to October 2025 in San Diego and Imperial counties compared to the same period last year.

The International Services and Engagement Office student FAQ page details that 35 students on UCSD’s campus have had their F-1 Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record terminated, and one student was deported with no explanation of their termination as of April 21, 2025. It is further stated that of the 35 F-1 SEVIS record terminations, all 35 are in the process of reactivation with the one deportation withstanding as of April 28, 2025. Although there are updates on SEVIS record terminations and reactivations provided by the ISEO, we believe this information to not be practically accessible nor well-known to students.

Our concerns are not solely about “what is currently happening around the country,” as stated in the SOM’s response to our initial request, but also the school’s inability to address threats that have existed for years. 

The SOM and affiliated institutions have not taken appropriate action amid the reported 290 people who have died since 2004 in ICE custody and the many more thousands subject to inhumane medical treatment, often under the supervision of unqualified medical staff. From 2017 to 2024, four people have died just 27 miles away from UCSD while imprisoned in the Otay Mesa Detention Center, contributing to the 70 overall deaths in detention centers nationwide. UCSD’s Undocumented Student Services FAQ page highlights six border checkpoints that surround the county and are “unpredictable when they become active.” 

Decades have passed to appropriately address concerns all too familiar for several affected generations. What is happening now is simply a logical progression of indifference and reactive inertia. 

Evidence for this concern stems from the letter sent to Khosla and Campus Counsel Daniel Park by the UC San Diego Faculty Association on Sept. 17, 2025 titled, “Request for transparency over release of personal information to federal agencies.” In seemingly direct opposition to the approved resolution, The UCSD Guardian on Oct. 6, 2025 described how “UC San Diego’s administration sent personally identifiable information of UCSD faculty, staff, and students to the University of California Office of the President, which sent said information to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.” The Guardian confirmed later that federal investigators acquired names of the aforementioned individuals. Thus, it is clear that student information is not secure. This eerily resembles actions other institutions have taken against students exercising their first amendment rights — such as in the cases of Rumeysa Öztürk, Mahmoud Khalil, Rasha Alawieh, Leqaa Kordia, and many more.

These contradictions and lack of accessible transparency from UCSD demonstrate the need to address several concerns. The University’s plans to protect its students when faced with threats of federal funding cuts, clarify how it will respond to federal actions against students or community members on campus, and publish more accessible updates regarding these aforementioned actions are necessary to address those contradictions. 

We have proposed a student-led forum with the SOM deans to ensure our concerns are understood and addressed. The main points during the proposed forum can be found within the letter sent to the UCSD SOM deans on March 24. We have yet to hear a response or acknowledgment of receipt as of publishing this piece.

Gen Z’s traditionalism is a movement that screams, “There has to be more to life than this!” It is an open rejection of being worked to the bone and a proclamation that young people crave prosperity. Working more for less is not the future Gen Z wants. Although traditionalism has helped push back against corporatism, it is not a sustainable solution. The past has given us the wisdom that this ideology is not practical for every single person and often leads to harm of historically oppressed groups of people. Ostracizing those who do not live traditionally hurts more than it helps because it sows division and collapses a societal sense of community. 

Personal identities should not be scrutinized, and yet traditionalist politics commonly target LGBTQ+ individuals and immigrants by portraying them as threats to social stability. The real threats to social harmony are polarization and greed, which have both been festering for quite some time. Attacking and excluding specific groups is not productive because diversity will always exist in a country like the U.S. that was built by immigrants. What is actually productive is addressing the economic insecurity and isolation that has depleted young people’s quality of life. 

Traditional gender roles, which cast men as providers and women as homemakers, were once seen as necessary pillars of past American family life. Traditionalism, however, is not a one-size-fits-all ideology, as it marginalizes groups including the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, women, single parents, and others who do not fit into narrow norms. 

Social progress movements like feminism, civil rights activism, and LGBTQ+ advocacy have sought to push society toward greater individual freedom alongside social acceptance. Yet the pressure to work and contribute to the corporate world has also become gradually embedded within American culture, restricting these hard-fought freedoms and making economic success a fundamental component of modern identity. 

The traditionalist lifestyle is simply a reflection of the American Dream — a dream that is unattainable and out of reach for young people who are barely surviving in today’s economic hardship. Nonetheless, the movement is counterproductive to its goals in that it focuses more on preserving social norms and traditional roles than addressing the economic conditions that prevent people from starting families.

Compared to previous generations, Gen Z faces rising housing costs, declining economic mobility, and growing social isolation. This has created an increasing sense of economic fragility. Buying a house and starting a family, core milestones of the American Dream, are nearly unobtainable for Gen Z. These conditions did not emerge overnight but are symptoms of escalating wealth inequality and a culture obsessed with profit and productivity. 

Corporatism — the prioritization of corporate interests and economic growth — has thrown the well-being of ordinary people to the wayside. Corporations treat the working class as disposable and expendable, which in turn has placed immense pressure on individuals to work as much as possible. As wages struggle to keep up with the cost of living, many workers take on multiple jobs and work excessive hours. People no longer have the time or financial security to meaningfully contribute to their communities, pursue hobbies, or build families of their own. As these problems worsen, many members of Gen Z have turned to traditionalism in search of stability and purpose. 

Per the Public Religion Research Institute, Gen Z men are consistently religiously affiliated. In 2013, 35% of young men identified as religious. This trend continued throughout the next decade; in 2024, 36% of young men expressed religious affiliation. Male influencers such as Jordan Peterson and Matt Walsh reinforce this, endorsing traditional masculinity while volunteering religion and gender roles as answers to social decline, like stagnating pay and the erosion of community life. Their messaging resonates with many young men because it offers a clear sense of identity and direction. 

Gen Z women are generally less religious, with 40% identifying as religiously unaffiliated. Regardless, many have gravitated toward the “tradwife” trend, which romanticizes homemaking and modest fashion. Female influencers associated with the tradwife movement, such as Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman, present housekeeping and motherhood as fulfilling experiences. Such content aestheticizes domesticity and frames it as far more gratifying than working for a neglectful corporation. 

In many ways, the trends of young people turning toward religion and domestic life challenge the contemporary expectation that people should dedicate the majority of their lives to working and making money. Since traditionalism emphasizes personal fulfillment and community, ideals lost to economic struggle, it appeals to young people who are overworked and exhausted from trying to succeed professionally. 

Gen Z should take the good from traditionalism and leave the bad. Leading a traditional life and subscribing to gender roles is not inherently oppressive when people freely choose to live that way, nor is it incompatible with social progress. Traditional or not, most people genuinely want to have thriving communities and easygoing lives. Prioritizing family and personal happiness should be values that everyone shares. At the same time, we cannot afford for social progress to move backward. Finding solutions to corporate greed is a collective issue, and we are stronger when we work together despite our differences.