SACRAMENTO — Believe it or not, UC President Mark G. Yudof asked to hear some Lady Gaga from the California Aggie Marching Band-uh! during UC Day at the Capitol.
The band obliged, performing “Bad Romance,” after which Yudof told the UC Day audience: “That song is a metaphor for our relationship with the state of California.”
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Besides setting up Yudof’s comment on UC's relationship with the state, the marching band also helped warm up the crowd, literally and figuratively. The delegates had assembled in 38-degree weather in an open-sided tent on the west side of the Capitol — with no portable heaters, as per policy on the Capitol grounds.
After a one-year absence, UC Day returned this year on an austerity budget — with the tent replacing the warm confines of the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel a block from the Capitol.
Also gone: the sit-down lunch for the delegates. An advance report indicated that the delegates would receive box lunches in the tent, but instead the university provided a buffet — and delegates served themselves, on paper plates.
swag did away with its UC Day dinner, opting instead for a legislative reception that drew more than 100 people to the atrium of the old Senator Hotel across the street from the Capitol.
Earlier coverage: Dateline UC Davis (Feb. 25, 2011)
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Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu