CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
VOL. LXVIII, ISSUE 83 | APRIL 3, 2017 CONSTRUCTION
Repairs finally coming to arts building Artists United’s demands for facility improvements are being heard. By Lola Olvera Staff Writer
Photos by Jose De Castro
James Deane in his #130 Worthouse Drift Team/Nissan 240 defeated Alex Heilbrunn’s #949 IMR/BMW M3 in the final round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Saturday.
PUSHING HIS LIMIT
James Deane of Ireland celebrates as he returned to the Formula DRIFT Black Magic Pro Championship series. Deane in dominant fashion was victorious in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Round 1: Streets of Long Beach.
The streets of Long Beach were hot this weekend as Formula DRIFT kicked off its 2017 season. Irishman James Deane took the title after defeating Alex Heilbrunn in the final. Deane made his comeback to the Formula Drift Pro Championship circuit after a seven-year hiatus. Heilbrunn was competing in his first final. The event used Turns 9 through 11 of the Toyota Grand Prix Long Beach course. To read more about Formula DRIFT, see page 8.
Falling ceiling tiles, moldy restrooms, leaks, uncontrolled indoor temperatures: these are a few items on the laundry list of repairs that art students are requesting for the Fine Arts 4 building. After years of student and faculty complaints regarding the old structure, students may start to see a change. Art students Nikki Vecchio and Holly Furnish have been organizing and mobilizing fellow art students under the Facebook group Artists United since fall 2016. On their Facebook page, students document building damage through photos, anecdotes and videos. One student even posted a photo of an art piece, titled “Guillotine,” in which half a ceiling tile serves as the deadly blade. “On multiple occasions, I have witnessed tiles fly within inches of someone’s head, and we have had more than one case in which technology in the FA4 computer lab was damaged by tiles falling,” Vecchio, a senior in the animation program said in an email. Vecchio says that lack of efficient air conditioning is equally as dangerous. “Students have fainted in their classes from heat exhaustion and on numerous occasions classes have been canceled due to the extreme heat,” Vecchio said. “In the FA4 Illustration and Animation computer lab, it has reached temperatures over 98 degrees. Whenever the inside temperature climbs above 90 degrees in the lab, we have to make everyone leave and shut
see ARTS, page 2
ADMINISTRATION
Complaint filed against VP of Student Affairs Student and former employee faces expulsion after “email campaign” against administrator. By Miranda Andrade-Ceja and Valerie Osier Staff Writers
A former Student Life and Development coordinator is being investigated through the University Police Department on grounds of harassment against Vice President of Student Affairs Carmen Taylor, after sending hundreds of emails over a span of time to Cal State
University officials, Taylor and universities where Taylor used to work. According to Cal State Long Beach spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh, UPD felt the investigation is warranted due to both the number of emails sent and “additional documents” that were included in the former employee, Alisia Thompson’s, last email “campaign” forwarded to campus officials. The email forwarded contained a 31page PDF document including the Executive Order 1096 Complaint Form, an 8-page testimonial from Thompson and a number of email and text message screenshots as evidence for alleged abuse and discrimination inflicted on her by Taylor. According to Thompson, Taylor’s behavior eventually led to her
resignation as an SLD coordinator for African American and Latino student organizations and Greek chapters. Executive Order 1096 is a “systemwide policy prohibiting discrimination, harassment, retaliation, sexual misconduct, dating and domestic violence and stalking against employees and third parties and systemwide procedure for addressing such complaints by employees and third parties.” Thompson, 27, acknowledged sending 1,600 emails, saying that she had gone through all the university channels for resolving the issue, including speaking to her supervisor, going to the
see EMAILS, page 3
ALISIA THOMPSON
FORMER CSULB EMPLOYEE
CARMEN TAYLOR
VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS