GAUCHO GOSSIP

UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang was among a delegation of 12 U.S.
college and university presidents who visited Japan, South Korea,
and China earlier this month to recruit international students. The
delegation was led by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings and Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell. Yang
said that he hoped the visit fosters intellectual exchange and
cultural enrichment. He refuted the idea that the motive was to
improve the university’s competitiveness for research funding by
recruiting science scholars.

For the second time in three years, the UCSB men’s soccer team
has battled its way into the Final Four of the NCAA soccer
tournament. Thanks to a hat trick of goals from junior midfielder
Tyler Rosenlund, the Gauchos eked out a 3-2 victory Saturday night
over Northwestern University. More than 9,500 screaming fans were
on hand at Harder Stadium as the Gauchos continued their
against-all-odds march toward a possible national championship
(they began the season with a lackluster 7-6 record). The boys will
be back on the pitch this Friday night in St. Louis, Missouri, when
they take on the number two seeded Demon Deacons of Wake Forest
University, with the winner headed to the national
championship.

Concern about a taser gun incident at UCLA migrated to Goleta
last week. At least one UCSB graduate student voiced concern about
the incident, in which a UCLA campus police officer was filmed
striking a passively resisting student with a taser five times in a
row. In response, UCSB spokesman Paul Desruisseaux told The
Independent, “We do not use or own tasers.” But some Isla Vista
sheriff’s deputies are coming to the defense of the pain-inducing
control devices. Last Saturday, for example, officers drew guns and
tasers on parolee John Darren Dutton, 30, after watching the
suspect climb through an apartment window wielding a large knife.
According to Sheriff’s Department spokesman Mike Durant, the
suspect “seemed to take note of the taser’s red light and
immediately became compliant.”