Spring 2019 Issue 8

THE STUDENT VOICE OF SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1927

TUESDAY, MARCH 19,

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Activists birth first College of Ethnic Studies in nation, University fails to live up to promise of diversity, student agency

A

Fifty years ago the College of Ethnic Studies

tions like la La Raza, General Union of Palestine Students, Mov-

was birthed by the longest student strike in the

imiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan (MECHxA), Students

nation, and kept alive by students who starved

for Quality Education (SQE) and the were at the forefront of the

themselves for ten days in 2016 in response to

hunger strike to save the COES.

proposed budget cuts.

The College of Ethnic Studies is the only one of its kind in the

In this speciality package, Xpress traces the history of the COES,

its creation and the legacy of student-led activism that saved it from severe budget cuts that would have cut the the college in half.

nation, and the University often uses this as a selling point when marketing itself as a liberal campus to incoming freshman.

But the University does not mention that when it was faced with budget cuts, the COES was one of the first on the list to have its

In 2016, the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front, an organization made up of various student organiza-

funding slashed, and how it is still underfunded compared to other colleges on campus.

People raise their fists in protest against proposed funding cuts for the College of Ethic Studies Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

Protesters raise their fists in the center of SF State on Dec. 3, 1968. , the day later referred to as “Bloody Tuesday”

NACIO JAN BROWN/Library archive

RYAN MCNULTY/Golden Gate Xpress archive

Rat droppings found in ‘Shitty’ Eats CARLY WIPF Staff Reporter

Students at a Residential Housing Association town hall meeting last month described an abusive manager and unsafe food conditions at the residential dining hall facility City Eats, and an Xpress investigation uncovered what appear to be valid reasons for those concerns.

“There’s a reason we call it ‘Shitty Eats!’” exclaimed one student at the meeting.

In addition to reports of hair in food and undercooked meat, the Department of Public Health, which conducts routine annual inspections, received a Feb. 5 complaint that a diner became ill after eating at City Eats. This prompted an investigation two days later that found the presence of rodents and improper food storage and preparation.

To add insult to injury, diners allege that a man they described as white and short in stature regularly verbally attacks his subordinates at the establishment.

“There’s this one specific dude that yells at his employees and it really pisses me off,” sociology major Drew Reems-Webley said after finishing a meal at City Eats.

Students who made the allegations confirmed the man’s identity by viewing a photo taken by psychology and women and gender studies double major Kristian Morgan.

Xpress sought comment from the man identified by witnesses who wears a name tag that reads “Nicholas,” but he, his supervisor and co-workers declined to comment. City Eats Director of Student Dining Ken Allen and Executive Chef Gerard Rangel also declined to comment.

“I feel it’s racially charged because he’s a white guy and everyone else is of Asian descent or something else,” Reems-Webley said.

City Eats Resident District Manager HeeBong Hyun declined to identify the employee by name, though she said based on the physical description that she knew who the employee in question was.

Information on most employees at SF State can be found

online at Transparent California, a site that discloses the pay and pensions of state employees. But people who work in the residential dining hall are employees of the private contractor Sodexo, a company the University first partnered with in 2015, and their identities are not readily available.

Hyun declined to provide any specific information on “Nicholas” and ejected an Xpress reporter from the dining hall during the course of the investigation into the alleged bullying behavior.

Hyun said the matter is between her and Sodexo’s Human Resources Department, though she noted that the City Eats team has “huddle meetings” every Wednesday, where she addresses diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She said it’s in this group setting that she gives employees the chance to speak out about any issues they are facing.

Marco Gonzales primarily works at another on-campus eatery, Bricks, but he spends about one day a week helping at City Eats.

See EATS>> PAGE 3

2 OPINON

Xprëßß Gøldëñ Gåtë

Forced meal plan draws ire, makes campus residents sick

VOL. 109, ISSUE 8

Monserrath Arreola Managing Editor marreola@mail.sfsu.edu Julie Parker Campus News Editor jparker1@mail.sfsu.edu Paul Eichenholtz City News Editor peichenh@mail.sfsu.edu Alexis Manzanilla Lifestyle & Culture Editor amanzanilla@mail.sfsu.edu Jailene Escutia Opinion Editor jescutiachavez@mail.sfsu.edu

Lola Chase James Chan Photo Editors lchase1@mail.sfsu.edu jchan2@mail.sfsu.edu Devon Haripal Ildar Sabirov Sports Editors dharipal@mail.sfsu.edu isabirov@mail.sfsu.edu Cody McFarland Copy Editor cmcfarla@mail.sfsu.edu Christian Urrutia Art Director curruti1@mail.sfsu.edu Brian Vu Multimedia Editor bvu2@mail.sfsu.edu Tahnia Ortega Social Media Editor tortegag@mail.sfsu.edu Chelsey Schallig Assistant Copy Editor cschallig@mail.sfsu.edu

In 2015 the University sold a monopoly on campus residents’ eating habits and nutrition to Sodexo, a multinational food services and facilities management company with a long history of healthcode violations at universities across the country, but it’s about time SF State cut ties.

Residents of Mary Park, Mary Ward, the Towers and the Village are all required to purchase meal plans redeemable only in the residential dining hall, a facility run by Sodexo. Their choices there are limited to three establishments, one of which is known to many students as “Shitty Eats.”

A Department of Public Health investigation in February prompted by a complaint after a diner became ill after a meal at City Eats validated that nickname when an inspector discovered ‘old rat droppings’ beneath the deep fryer.

The obligatory meal plans cost thousands of dollars—the minimum 240-block meal plan runs $554 per month—but it’s a paternalistic concern that leads the University to pick the pockets of students, many of whom are already diving head first into tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

“Freshmen tend to not cook for themselves,” Executive Director of Housing, Dining & Conference Services Jeny Patino said. “[They] need to have structured access to a good variety of healthy, nutritious foods and meals while they focus on adapting to their new environment and educational goals.”

Tarnished reputations amid largest university admissions scandal

Jesse Garnier Print Adviser jgarnier@sfsu.edu

FOLLOW US TWITTER @GGXnews YOUTUBE /XpressNewsVideo FACEBOOK /GoXpress INSTAGRAM @GGXnews

So, instead of offering students accessible and updated kitchens in their residence halls and to provide the option of beginning their adult lives as independent and self-sufficient individuals, the University infantilizes them for profit.

“I have access to cooking facilities, but it’s one kitchen for six floors of first-year students,” said 18-year-old freshman Kiara Rios Johnson.

“It’s not the most convenient kitchen ever, so I never use it. If I had an easier kitchen to use I would so opt out of a meal plan.”

What’s more, once the academic year comes to an end, all unredeemed meals are non-refundable.

“With how much I paid in the dorms it’s absolutely ridiculous,” sophomore Kelly Scheurer said of her experience living in the Towers last year. “I paid approximately $1800 per month to share a room and get sub-par food.”

You would think if SF State was so concerned with the nutrition and health of students that it would prioritize the quality and safety of the food instead of cutting corners with a private contractor infamous in the pages of college newspapers across the country for subpar food and health code violations.

Pittsburgh University’s Market Central, a dining facility run by Sodexo racked up 46 different health violations in 2018.

During the Feb. 7 inspection, City Eats was not only cited for the presence of rodents but for storing beef at temperatures nearly 40 degrees fahrenheit below the USDA recom-

With how much I paid in the dorms it’s absolutely ridiculous. I paid approximately $1800 per month to share a room and get sub-par food.” mended 135-degree holding temperature.

When Xpress asked City Eats Resident District Manager HeeBong Hyun about recent health inspections she initially glossed over the three Feb. 7 violations.

“We passed [the inspection] with great scores which are posted in City Eats,” Hyun said.

“The inspector repeatedly said to me personally and to my management team how clean and sanitized our facility looked.”

The lack of transparency is concerning because City Eats serves thousands of students on a weekly basis. SF State needs to save face— and students’ health—by terminating their partnership with what students have dubbed “Shitty Eats.”

n - Golden Gate Xpress Editorial Board

The true cost of a college acceptance letter

XPRESS ADVISERS

Kim Komenich Photo Adviser komenich@sfsu.edu

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

STAFF EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL BOARD Lorenzo Morotti Editor-in-Chief lmorotti@mail.sfsu.edu

GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

JAILENE ESCUTIA Opinion Editor

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hirty-three parents have been accused of bribery and fraud in the largest university admission scandal ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice in the attempt to set their children up for success at elite universities across the nation.

The parents involved included wealthy actresses and CEOs who allegedly spent between $200,000 and $6.5 million, according to FBI special agent Joseph Bonavolonta, in cheating tactics to give their less-qualified child an upper hand in admissions to prominent campuses, such as Stanford, Yale and USC. Amid the scandal, two Stanford students have sued the latter

schools for not allowing “a fair admissions consideration process” despite their outstanding SAT and ACT scores and athletic talent.

The greatest issue outweighing the media’s obsessive focus on the tarnished reputations of the affluent is the hundreds of applicants whose shot at admission was overlooked by the acts of conniving parents and their undeserving children.

Inheriting privilege is a birthright we all know exists for those born into the top 1 percent, along with the parental expectation to discourage second-rate education and third-rate careers from tainting a bloodline of ‘legacy.’

Constructed as the “side door” to accessible higher education, the masterminds aiding in the admissions scam are William “Rick” Singer, owner of the college counseling and prep business “The Key,” Mark Riddell, director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy, and Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, former Yale women’s head soccer coach.

Singer, 58, once described to a parent a “three-way system” that enables students to be admitted into their dream colleges. The first route is the “front door,” in which one gets in on their own merits.

The second is the “back door,” which is by means of institutional advancement and is “10 times as much money,” according to Singer.

The last way is the “side door” Singer created—the exchange of large sums of money for falsified test scores and athletic profiles.

Riddell, 36, became the brains of acing SAT and ACT scores for students and Meredith, 51, aided in finessing universities into believing these students were star athletes in sports that many of them never even competed in.

Not only has this scam tarnished the reputation of successful business moguls and celebrities such as Fuller House star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, but the students involved are also getting a taste of the backlash. The question that remains unanswered is whether the students will have to suffer the consequences of expulsion or the revocation of their degree because of the wrongdoings of their own pretentious parents.

Olivia Jade Giannulli, Loughlin’s daughter and a freshman at USC, is an affluent Youtuber with nearly 2 million subscribers, who has branded her beauty and fashion empire through being a role model for young girls who admired her opulent lifestyle.

In a video posted by Giannulli in August 2018, she expressed her desire to go to college for the game-day and partying experience, claiming she “didn’t really care about school at all.” Her mother

allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to have her nominated as a recruit for the University’s crew team. Since the allegations, she has lost ties with brand deals that promoted and sponsored her college-inspired videos in the past, such as Amazon, Sephora and Lulu’s.

As for USC, a spokesperson has reassured the media that they we will be conducting “case-by-case reviews of current students and graduates” who are connected to the scam and those “in the current admissions cycle who are connected to the scheme alleged by the government will be denied admission to USC.” The parents involved may have justified their actions claiming the best intentions for their child’s future, but in reality they have exacerbated a corrupt system that was initially designed to repress low-income minorities from a better future.

With the spotlight dangling heavily over this issue, the divide between those born with the silver spoon and those who have continuously pulled themselves up by their bootstraps has been amplified. A scheme forged to “boost the odds” of a less suitable candidate has further proven the inequitable truth that money can buy you anything, even the best education—that is, until you are caught.

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EATS: Dining Hall serves mandatory meals with undercooked, tainted meat to dorm residents CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Marco Gonzales primarily works at another on-campus eatery, Bricks, but he spends about one day a week helping at City Eats. Despite student reports, Gonzales described the work environment as friendly and said he likes the job because it gives him a chance to be active in a group setting.

International relations major Jorge Ruiz reported witnessing “Nicholas” allegedly make a racist comment on one occasion in addition to the alleged abusive behavior he’s seen the manager direct at subordinates.

“I’ve heard him say, ‘The noodles are good today because [the woman who made them is] Chinese,’” Ruiz said.

Undeclared major Jiovanni Valdivia described a recent incident he found disturbing in which the man he confirmed was “Nicholas” allegedly berated an employee who spilled water on the floor.

“The guy kept reminding her that he was very disappointed in her and that she made a huge mistake,” Valdivia said. “She obviously looked uncomfortable.”

Morgan said he’s witnessed similar behavior and finds it equally unsettling.

“The way he talks to them and the mannerisms he addresses them in makes City Eats a really uncomfortable place to eat,” he said. “I’ve heard him ask other employees if the dishes are going to wash themselves.”

‘Old rat droppings’ The employee environment isn’t the only toxic aspect of City Eats, according to technical writing and marketing major Kelly Scheurer.

She said said she got sick from eating there last year.

All campus residents, excepting those in UPN and UPS, are mandated to purchase a meal plan for the restaurant, which Scheurer and many other diners call “Shitty Eats.”

“It wasn’t uncommon at the time that I lived in Towers to find hair in my food or get sick from undercooked meat,” Scheurer said.

Official DOPH records show that on Feb.

7 health inspectors they go in between investigated a complaint “It wasn’t uncommon at the meat and vegetables,” from a mother who said Scheurer said. “They time that I lived in Towers her daughter got sick never do.” eating at City Eats. The to find hair in my food or The Sodexo corpoDOPH then conducted ration is notorious for get sick from undercooked an inspection and found health code violations three health code viola- meat.” in universities across tions that Hyun initially the country, according -Kelly Scheurer, technical writing and marketing omitted when talking to Corporate Research major with Xpress.

Project findings. Re“We passed [the ports from the the Alinspection] with great legheny County Health scores” Hyun said. “The inspector repeatedly said Department documented 46 safety violations last to me personally and to my management team year at a University of Pittsburgh dining facility how clean and sanitized our facility looked.” run by Sodexo. The Pittsburgh Sodexo facility, But DOPH records contradicted Hyun’s initial called Market Central, notched 18 violations statement. during two of six 2018 inspections.

“Observed old rat droppings beneath the fryer Hyun said she and the other City Eats managon the cook’s line behind the food service area,” ers conduct daily walkthroughs and document the inspector reported. any problematic findings.

They also found beef held at 99.5 degrees “We’re finding opportunities to correct, to fahrenheit, well below the 135-degree standard. teach and to improve our conditions and enviThe meat was then reheated and put in a holding ronment,” Hyun said. container.

Failure to rectify the problems documented According to the USDA, holding food at by the DOPH could have resulted in citations temperatures below the health department’s or fines for the dining hall, but in a Feb. 15 specified range can lead to rapid bacteria growth follow-up inspection City Eats was found to have and foodborne illness. cleaned up its act.

City Eats was also found guilty of a third Hyun said it was “routine practice” to make violation. The inspector documented “unclean corrections after an initial inspection. or degraded walls or ceilings” and noted areas of As for correcting any potentially negative built-up grease, especially under the deep fryer. employee behavior, Hyun said she would need to Theater major Megan Jameson said her further investigate. experiences with City Eats this year have been She said she takes feedback seriously and positive overall, but her one complaint is that the encouraged students to contact her if they have chicken in the stir fry is sometimes undercooked. negative experiences.

“I’ve been eating it sometimes and it’s been “If there are opportunities to sensitize our empink on the inside,” she said. “It’s like, ‘OK, I’ll go ployees regarding anything that may have been get something else,’ [but it] really sucks. I don’t negatively perceived by the guests, then I would like when meat isn’t cooked.” have a general conversation about the impact An inspector for the DOPH observed a versus the intent [of their actions],” Hyun said. similar issue last August when they measured “[And] about how feedback can be perceived or chicken temperatures at 28 degrees fahrenheit construed not in a positive light.” below what safety requirements dictate. This was Students can provide feedback about their marked as a high-risk violation, and the inspecexperiences at City Eats using comment cards tor also marked the dining hall down for lack of at the dining hall or via the City Eats website. employee food safety knowledge.

The dining hall conducts biannual resident n “They need to change gloves every time surveys and Hyun said she received more

yourself Does SF State provide enough mental health services on campus and spread enough awareness?

Joe Griffiths, 27 Psychology “Yeah I mean I have no idea what’s even offered. I have no idea what mental services are even provided.

I don’t know if anybody’s fault.

They don’t spread awareness for a lot of other things.”

Rohit Raj, 22 Kinesiology “I don’t think so, I’ve seen [awareness] about regular health, wellness programs, but not mental health. It should be out there a little more approachable.”

Meal plan costs raise concerns among residents JULIA CUSTODIO Freelancer

Mandatory meal plans for students who live on campus are drawing ire from residents who say the plans are overpriced and inefficient, while the dining hall food is unappealing and at times inedible.

The meal plans, starting at a minimum of $538 per month according to the 2018-2019 fee schedule, must be purchased every semester.

Any meals that go unredeemed at the end of the academic school year are non-refundable.

At a minimum, students must purchase a 240-block meal plan, and not only do many students view the plans as wasteful, they say they often find the dining hall conditions unsanitary.

“I am never really satisfied,” 18-year-old criminal justice major Abby Jaime said. “The chicken looks gray [and] the beef looks bloody.”

Jaime said if she could choose to buy her own groceries instead of putting her money into meal plans, she would.

Jeny Patino, executive director of Housing, Dining & Conference Services, said students who live in core campus housing are mostly freshmen and the meal plan requirement is for their own good.

“Freshmen tend to not cook for themselves,” Patino said. “[They] need to have structured access to a good variety of healthy, nutritious foods and meals while they focus on adapting to their new environment and educational goals.”

But, many students expressed a desire to take control of their own eating habits and said they’d rather opt out of the plans.

A common complaint is that even for the

minimum 240-block plan, the number of swipes, each of which accounts for one meal, is excessive.

“It’s still more than you need,” Jaime said. “If they had a lesser minimum, the meal plans would be better.”

Swipes that go unused are non-refundable and non-transferable, and while some meal plans allow roll-over from fall to spring, others expire unused swipes after just one semester.

“We piloted a program where students could donate anticipated unused meals to the Basic Needs program,” Patino said. “To date, approximately 1,600 meals have been donated for distribution to students in need.”

But mechanical engineering major Cass Gascon, 18, said she found out not all meal plans have that option.

“I wanted to donate, but only block meal plans have that option,” Gascon said.

Patino said unused funds are absorbed into the dining hall’s budget.

Kiara Rios Johnson is on a block plan and said she donated 50 swipes last semester but is unsure of where those meals went.

Patino said the base price of the meal plan covers all dining expenses and operation of dining facility.

“Our meal plan structure is based on the historical usage of the plans,” she said.

But many meals are neither redeemed nor donated.

“Any funds that are not immediately applied to cover the cost of salaries and benefits, operating expenses or scheduled projects go to make the much needed improvements to the facilities and infrastructure,” Patino said.

Two of the first-time freshmen buildings, Mary Park and Towers have access to cooking facilities, but, students say it is unclean and not

easily accessible.

Johnson lives in Mary Park and she said the kitchen is technically an option but the conditions are poor.

“I have access to cooking facilities, but it’s one kitchen for six floors of first-year students,” she said. “If I had an easier kitchen to use I would so opt out of a meal plan.”

“The kitchen is crusty and old,” Jaime said.

“Nobody goes there.”

Aside from bristling at the mandatory cost of the meal plans, Jaime and Gascon also said that oftentimes food in the dining hall is undercooked.. “[There are] a lot of cleanliness issues,” Jaime said. “But the most disgusting thing is the dish room. It’s a revolving platter of dishes piled with food.”

Johnson said the food isn’t so bad, but she said she’s still not 100 percent satisfied.

Asked how the residential dining experience could be improved, Gascon said students’ voices should be heard and there should be at least some discussion about what they want to eat and how many swipes should come with a plan.

“One thing I would do is make the meal plan not mandatory if you live on campus,” Johnson said.

According to a March 2019 study by Expatistan.com, a modest grocery bill for a single person in San Francisco adds up to around $250 a month. The lowest monthly cost for a 240-block meal plan will increase next academic year to $554.

Gascon said that as a freshman away from home and on her own for the first time, she feels SF State has left her with very little agency over her eating habits.

“I just wish we had more say,” she said. n

Mimi Orellana, 21 Kinesiology “No because it’s only ever advertised in the beginning of the semester when you go through syllabus but they don’t advertise it during times when people are really having mental health issues, like test anxiety during midterms and finals.”

Francesca Rodriguez, 20 Psychology “So far I do because I am in a lot of general ed classes right now, so my teacher gives out a lot of information about that.”

JAILENE ESCUTIA AND LOLA CHASE/Golden Gate Xpress

4 CAMPUS

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Student need outweighs availability

INFOGRAM BY BRIAN VU/Golden Gate Xpress

SHAYLYN MARTOS Staff Reporter Duriel Meisner woke up with nothing to do on July 4, 2018. They showered, changed, and gathered their things to go hang themself on Mount Tamalpais.

For weeks, Meisner, a third-year art studio major, said they struggled with intense suicidal ideation, flipping between feeling fine and deciding to end their life.

They practiced tying knots and using belts to asphyxiate themself. During a party they used a friend’s toy gun to visualize shooting themself over and over. At one point, they took out their stepfather’s gun from the safe in their garage and a friend took it away.

“Holidays are hard for me,” Meisner said. “It was the most determined in my life I’d ever been to do it.”

At this point, Meisner had yet to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder or BPD, and they did not yet identify as gender non-binary.

As they walked to their car to head to the mountain, Meisner turned around to check if they had forgotten anything.

“This thought had cut through all of it—‘Do you want to see any of this ever again?’ And I just really started breaking down,” they said.

Meisner’s roommate drove them to the hospital at UCSF, where they were kept for about a week on a 5150 hold, a temporary non-voluntary psychiatric commitment for those who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others.

Gender non-binary college students are most affected in suicidal ideation, stress, anxiety and depression, according to the California State University system’s 2018 Student Health, Wellness and Safety Report.

Students at SF State who are overwhelmingly anxious and depressed hoping to receive mental health services on campus may run into obstacles due to a limited number of healthcare professionals on campus.

Dwindling support For the 27,273 students enrolled at SF State for the 2019 spring semester, there are 17 mental health care professionals, according to Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Gene Chelberg.

Chelberg is the head of Student Health

Services, Counseling & Psychological Services or CAPS, Health Promotion and Wellness, the Disability Resource Center and the Children’s Campus.

SF State students reported more mental health issues than the national average among college campuses in the National College Health Association’s spring 2018 National College Health Assessment II. Out of the SF State students surveyed, 69.4 percent struggle with overwhelming anxiety and 50.3 percent were so depressed they had difficulty functioning in the last 12 months.

On a national scale, 63.4 percent of students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety and 41.9 percent feeling so depressed that it was difficult to function.

The National Health Assessment is a voluntary study, and Chelberg said it is not 100 percent representative of the student body.

Only one permanent psychiatrist who works part-time is employed by SF State in SHS, and two contracted psychiatrists work part-time, according to Chelberg.

Chelberg confirmed that the contracts of both temporary psychiatrists will terminate at the end of May. He said SHS is planning to hire a full-time psychiatrist to replace them.

Another option for students is to contact CAPS on campus. Chelberg said while there is one case manager and 12 counselors, Student Affairs is in the process of hiring a director who will also provide counseling to students.

Chelberg is the designee of the Vice President of Student Affairs, Luoluo Hong, in the Student Health Advisory Committee. SHAC members heard a presentation on the budget for CAPS and determined the mandatory Student Health Fee will be raised come 2020 to cover costs.

“What we know about the SHS fee is that the current revenue it generates does not cover the annual expenditures,” Chelburg said. “The good news is the SHS units have a reserve, so the balance that is not covered is being covered by the reserve.”

Funding mental health Staff physician Kay Gamo said the lack of additional funding is concerning.

“In the 11 years I’ve been here, we’ve had some periods where we had zero psychiatrists,” Gamo said. “Certainly if a situation is more complicated and more challenging it’s absolutely essential that we have the ability to either have the student see the psychiatrist them-

selves or we can consult the psychiatrist.”

Chelberg said there is also one mental health case manager in SHS, a licensed social worker who helps students with insurance find more permanent solutions for therapists, psychologists or psychiatrists.

“I don’t think that’s enough, and we definitely know that because when the semester starts getting to midterms and finals we see that,” Gamo said. “Students are on waiting lists, they can’t get an appointment over at CAPS and they’re having waits to get in with the psychiatrist.”

Third-year English major Marc Lopez went to CAPS in October looking for counseling because he was feeling basic college anxiety and stress and was experiencing relationship issues.

At the time, the next available appointment was in December—two months away. Lopez determined that he was not in crisis and he could wait.

“I didn’t expect to be seen any time soon,” he said. “I think the counselors are really good at what they do. It’s just unfortunate that there’s just so many students here and so little counselors.”

He had two appointments and decided that he did not need to continue treatment, although he said he could see how some people needed access to routine counseling sessions.

“A lot of people move from their small towns to San Francisco, the city,” Lopez said. “That can be a really stressful change for them.”

CAPS Interim Director Cornel Morton retired from his position as Vice President of Student Affairs at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before joining CAPS in September 2018.

“We have had situations where we had to ask students to delay seeing a counselor, if it’s not a crisis,” Morton said. “That’s important. If that student indicates they’re in crisis on the intake form, they’re seen right away.”

He said since CAPS is a short-term resource, students can see counselors as many as five times throughout the academic year. Some students will have more than five sessions and some will have fewer, and he said this depends on the individual student’s needs.

There is also the SAFE Place on campus, located in the same office as CAPS, which focuses on providing support to those who have experienced sexual violence.

“So far this semester we don’t have a waitlist, which is great,” Morton said. “We did have a long waitlist last semester, but again, it’s a func-

tion of episodic need on the part of the student community.”

Morton said that long waitlists can be an issue during midterms and finals, what he calls “academic crunches.”

Navigating transitions Meisner said the services offered on campus were not sufficient to help them through the difficult transition into university life.

They saw a therapist throughout high school but hadn’t received treatment for about a year before they heard about CAPS. “The summer before my freshman year I went through a bad breakup, and it put me in a bad place,” they said. “I asked to see a counselor or a therapist and they were like, ‘OK yeah, our next available appointment is like six to seven weeks from now at 7 p.m.’”

In order to see a counselor right away, Meisner said they were referred to the Peggy H. Smith Clinic, located in room 117 of Burk Hall, where psychology graduate students provide counseling. These students are not licensed therapists. They complete clinical work under the supervision of CAPS counselors to receive their master’s degrees.

“It was really bad, honestly,” Meisner said. “[But] they’re trying their best, and that’s cool.”

Meisner ended up finding their own therapist in the city using their dad’s insurance and the website Psychologytoday.com. Since then, Meisner has seen two different therapists and a psychiatrist.

If a student needs long-term care and does not have insurance, the case managers at CAPS and SHS can help to connect them with no- or low-cost mental health care through non-profit organizations around the Bay Area.

Morton said the access to CAPS is “critically important” to students because the program works to address the “whole person.”

“We’re not only the intellectual being that shows up in a classroom and does academic work,” Morton said. “We’re also the emotive person or the spiritual person, we’re the feeling person.”

Meisner said they are doing better than last year without using the mental health services on campus.

“It’s been pretty good for the past couple of weeks,” they said. “I’ve been doing pretty well, made a lot of changes in my life and it’s been a lot easier to deal with the things that come up.”

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CITY 5

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

Bicyclist fatality angers community PAUL EICHENHOLTZ AND CARLY WIPF Xpress Staff

Bicycle advocacy groups urged the city of San Francisco to add more protected bike lanes after a traffic collision killed a bicyclist riding down Howard Street on March 8.

A truck hit and killed bicyclist Tess Rothstein on Howard and 6th Street Friday morning. She was riding next to a row of parked cars when a vehicle’s door swung open and caused her to swerve into traffic.

Rothstein’s death marks the fourth traffic fatality on Howard Street within the past three years. Howard Street is known as a “high injury corridor”, a designation for the 13 percent of city streets responsible for 75 percent of traffic injuries in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition demanded city officials to improve bicyclist safety on Howard and Folsom streets by adding additional protected bike lanes and dedicated traffic signals.

“A protected bike lane would have saved this person’s life,” San Francisco Bicycle Coalition spokesperson Jennifer Gennari said. “Where infrastructure stops, people die.”

The coalition is holding a rally at city hall this Tuesday to push for complete bicycle lane protection on Howard and Folsom streets.

The SFMTA responded to the fatality by immediately restricting parking on the north side of Howard Street between 4th and 6th streets until a permanent protected bike lane can be approved for completion by early April.

San Francisco participates in an ambitious road safety program known as Vision Zero, which aims to completely reduce traffic fatalities by 2024.

An average of 30 people die from traffic accidents in San Francisco every year and around 200 are seriously injured while traveling on city streets, according to Vision Zero.

San Francisco recorded 23 traffic fatalities in 2018 and Rothstein’s death is the sixth so far this year.

The pedestrian advocacy group Walk San Francisco said Vision Zero isn’t acting fast enough to address this issue.

“The pace at which our city is delivering on Vision Zero is too slow, especially in the face of the massive influx of vehicles on our streets, and we’re losing precious lives in the meantime,” said Walk San Francisco Executive Director Jodie Medeiros in a March 8 press statement. “Every time we lose another innocent victim to traffic violence, it is a black mark on our city and its ideals for all people.”

The bike lane where Rothstein died on Howard and 6th streets are unprotected. Only two stripes of paint on the road separate it from

SHAYLYN MARTOS/Golden Gate Xpress People using various forms of transportation rely on the bike lanes downtown to travel on March 17. Due to the recent death of bicyclist Tess Rothstein at 6th and Howard streets on March 8, residents are fighting for more protected bike lanes on city streets. traffic, according to SFMTA analyst Andy Thornley.

“It’s important to note that irony,” Thornley said. “If Tess had just gotten a couple hundred feet further down on Howard she would have been in a protected bike lane.”

Roughly 44,000 cyclists share the roads with vehicles on an average weekday, according to 2017 SFMTA data.

Bay Area traffic deaths rose by 43 percent between 2010 and 2016.

San Francisco has one of the lowest fatalities per capita but also has one of the highest fatality rates per mile driven, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell said pedestrian

and bicyclist deaths are not taken as seriously as other transportation fatalities.

“The public is numb to it,” Campbell said. “The best thing we can do is slow cars down.”

Campbell said without slower speed limits and protected bike lanes, bicyclists are vulnerable to getting “doored” by parked vehicles or hit by drivers at busy intersections.

“In my opinion, cities are committing traffic engineering malpractice [by] pandering to parking needs and requiring people bicycling to dodge car doors and speeding traffic,” Campbell said.

The urban planning advocacy group Smart Growth America

focuses on improving commuter access and safety in major metropolitan cities.

Smart Growth estimates drivers in the United States killed 49,340 pedestrians between 2008 and 2017, the “equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people crashing—with no survivors—every single month.”

Smart Growth’s National Complete Streets Coalition Director Emiko Atherton said city planning that prioritizes high traffic speeds over safety is to blame.

“All transportation deaths are preventable,” Atherton said. “We know how to solve that problem and it’s through better street design.”

Employee wages vary under work-study program ROBERT JUAREZ Staff Reporter

The minimum wage in San Francisco will increase from $15 an hour to $15.59 by July 1, while SF State work-study students are only paid $12 an hour despite the rising cost of living in the Bay Area.

Students participating in the work-study program have flexible hours and the convenience of working close to campus. Job duties range from sitting at a desk helping students at J. Paul Leonard Library to supplying sports equipment at the Mashouf Wellness Center.

“It’s really relaxed, the job isn’t too strenuous and the staff scheduling really makes an attempt that your school schedule and your work schedule are really in sync,” said Andrew Pannell, 24, a fourth-year finance and broadcast and electronic communication arts double major who works at the library help desk.

While the academic benefits of work-study may serve students well, their paychecks fall short of the $15 an hour minimum wage in San Francisco.

Work-study students are paid once a month and cannot work more than 20 hours a week.

However, not all positions meet that criteria, according to SF State spokesperson Mary Kenny.

“Student employees at SF State are paid the California State minimum wage of $12.00 per hour. Most students are paid more than that – each department sets their own compensation rates. Students do not receive sick or

INFOGRAPHIC BY PAUL EICHENHOLTZ/Golden Gate Xpress vacation time,” Kenny said.

Bay Area household incomes have not kept up with living expenses, which has increased by 88.4 percent between 2000 and 2015, according to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

A handful of SF State work-study students spoke to the Xpress, including 20-year-old communicative disorders major Jeralyn Dasalla.

“It’s very lenient compared to all the previous jobs I’ve worked for,” Dasalla said.

Rather than going through the stress of helping numerous patients throughout the day, Dasalla peacefully works at the front desk of the library’s computer lab.

“Working here, it’s very simple, more calm. I get to do homework here and there whenever its not busy,” Dasalla said.

Library student worker Lisa Phan said she

was also content with work-study..

“It’s very convenient. I live near campus and after class I can just swing by and start working,” Phan said.

While most students said work-study was a positive experience for them, some said they were frustrated and disappointed with the program. “[Work-study jobs] are not worth it unless you’re looking for a part-time job to have some spending money for a night out with friends,” said Alfredo Garduno Hernandez, 20, a second-year business major who works as a tutor and referee for the campus’ intramural soccer league.

“I ref at the Mashouf for men’s soccer and we have students yelling at us for the calls we make. We get cussed out or called names because we play ‘favorites’ or ‘we don’t know how to ref ’, but we get training every semester,” Garduno Hernandez said. “The $13.25 they pay us isn’t worth it.”

Not all positions on campus qualify as a work-study position. For example, students working at Taqueria Girasol in the Cesar Chavez Student Center are not part of the program. Taqueria Girasol employee Gabi Ballesteros, 24, earns $15 an hour compared to the $12 an hour work-study participants receive.

“I used to do work-study back in the day. I’ve been here since 2013, and now I’m doing my master’s. I used to get paid $8 when I worked for athletics and the minimum wage was $10,” Ballesteros said.

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revoked her approval and didn’t allow them to hire new replacements.”

In fall 2015, faculty told students the University planned to defund the COES even further.

“They were going to cut the budget and hire more administration and give them big salaries,” said Arab and Muslim Ethnicities Diaspora (AMED) Director and Founder, Rabab Abdulhadi. “This was not in the interest of the academic institution.”

President Wong offered a one-time installment of $250,000 to assuage faculty concerns and students but members of the college determined it wouldn’t be enough to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis.

This prompted protests around campus and in the spring of 2016 four students participated in a hunger strike to demand adequate funding for the college.

SF State student Julia Retzlaff was invited to take part in the strike by her peers, Ahkeel Mestayer and Sachiel Rose but Retzlaff was hesitant at first. The knowledge that the strike was potentially the only thing between the COES and extinction drove her to join though.

“There was a pressure of wanting to do something,” Retzlaff said.

Ultimately, 10 of the protestors’ 26 demands were met and the University made a $482,806 investment on top of the $250,000 initially granted by Wong.

Among the strikers’ other demands were the allocation of funds to support two additional Africana Studies professors, the maintenance of administrative transparency in future budgets and funding and immunity from disciplinary action against students and faculty involved in the strike.

Over its 50-year history the COES has consistently found strength in its students, who California Faculty Chapter President James Martel said have had to defend the college from the administration nearly perpetually.

“It’s a continuous loop [and] there are many protests on campus that the administration does not want to support,” Martel said. “Protests keep the College of Ethnic Studies alive when the administration tries to underfund it at marginal levels.”

Martel noted that the University often trots the COES out as an advertisement for its history of activismt to donors, students and parents, but one wouldn’t know it from the way it’s funded.

“The university loves to brag about the College of Ethnic Studies,” he said. “But [they] deal with it like it’s the unloved stepchild.”

Despite the many budget cuts and instability faced by the college in its half-century, it has persevered.

“I’m super hopeful about the college’s financial future,” Interim Dean of the COES Amy Sueyoshi said. “We’ve been doing pretty well for the past year [and]. I’m really excited about the role we’ll continue to play for the University.”

The COES is currently searching for a new dean as former-dean Kenneth P. Monteiro resigned from the position last spring in the wake of litigation against the University charging discrimination.

Kennesaw State University English department chair Sheila Smith McKoy, CSU Los Angeles Asian and Asian American Studies chair Jun Xing and interim chair of COES Sueyoshi are all candidates to fill the position.

Funding allocations show challenges COES face despite legacy SAHAR SWALEH Staff Writer

SF State regularly cites the College of Ethnic Studies (COES) as a signpost for the University’s activist and progressive roots, but despite ads on buses and billboards it’s one of the most consistently underfunded colleges on campus.

Born out of the five-month Third World Liberation strike of 1968-69, the COES includes scholarship in the areas of Africana, Asian American, American Indian, Latino/Latina and Race and Resistance studies, but its 50-year lifespan has been fraught with conflict, and many say student protest has been the biggest factor in keeping the college alive.

“We’re historically underfunded because we’re the smallest college on campus,” race and resistance professor Larry Salomon said. “In 2016 it was argued that our cuts were disproportionate to other colleges.”

The COES has received many budget cuts over the years despite being the first and only college of its kind.

The College of Education (COE) has 11 departments to COES’ five, but according to budget reports from 2014-19, the COE received an average of $7,327,409 in funding — $1,198,804 more than the COES averaged in that time.

The overall budget has risen over the years, but funding for COES is still fundamentally lower than SF State’s other five colleges.

“There are some cuts that are targeted towards [specific] departments,” said Interim Dean of the COES Amy Sueyoshi.

“During the 2016 hunger strike, the provost at the time approved two faculty replacement hires in Africana Studies, but later

“That was essential to the victory of the strike,” he said.

Soon after forming, the Third World Liberation Front made 15 demands of the university, including a college of ethnic studies, department of Africana studies, increased admission of students of color, and anti-racist distribution of financial aid.

Glover said many students who participated in the strike were already engaged in a “continuum of activism” that was happening around Civil Rights movement, labor organizing and against the Vietnam War. “Black and other minority students were at a new stage in their own collective struggle,” he said.

He said the BSU knew that the local community would be an essential part in whatever work initiatives they planned.

“The whole idea for all of us was the struggle for justice,” he said.

Juanita Tamayo Lott, author, former strike leader and co-founder of the SF State Filipino American studies department, said coalition building during the strike was an organic

ETHNIC STUDIES

process, noting that most of the communities of color had been living side by side in San Francisco for generations.

But white students also understood the importance of the strike and knew that it was part of a larger social movement for Civil Rights, she said.

“When you look at the clips [from the 1968 strike], most of the folks are white,” Tamayo Lott said. “At that point, there were mainly white students on campus; that was one of the reasons for the strike was because there were so few people of color.”

Dr. James Garrett, then the BSU president, told the Xpress that “building a critical mass” was essential part of his work for the union.

“You build a coalition by finding points of unity,” he said.

The Third World Liberation Front was an “organization of organizations” that was not aligned with any party but sought to support all liberation and movements of self-determination both inside and outside of the country.

The Third World Liberation Front was a product of the BSU,

which remained the dominant political force amongst students on SF State’s campus.

“That included winning ideological debates with progressive labor party students,” Garrett said. “The main reason was because we trained people to work, we didn’t train people to just be leaders.”

Garrett said the BSU pushed students to be involved in campus affairs, make good grades, and be “outward looking.”

The BSU today continues its legacy of leadership on campus as well as coalition building.

Current BSU board member Deon Brown, says the group works closely with other ethnic organizations on campus to make sure efforts align.

“The BSU looks to the Third World Liberation Front as a guide for everything that we do,” he said. “Although the BSU represents Black students in particular, we understand that there is a lot of intersectionality with other groups.”

For example, Brown said, some Black students are queer, some

1968 activists give insight into history of longest student strike JULIA CUSTODIO Staff Writer

T

he action that precipitated the 1968 SF State strike may have begun with the Black Student Union, but it soon spread to thousands of other students demanding the administration for a more ethnically diverse curriculum and faculty.

Chicano, Latin American, Native Indian and Asian student activists united under the banner of the Third World Liberation Front.

The term “Third World” referred to colonial and racial experiences of minorities throughout U.S. history, and gave a nod to the international movements for independence and self-determination that had taken hold in the Third World countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

On Oct. 26, award-winning actor Danny Glover told journalist Kitty Kelly Epstein on the Berkeley radio KPFA that one of the most important things to come out of the strike was the coalition building.

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7

Joseph Adams, the Africana Studies department is largely present.

Contrary to Gandara’s belief, students organizing these end of the year ceremonies must fundraise outside of ASI funding, with ticket sales and at times out-of-pocket donations.

According to Robert Collins, chair of the American Indian Studies (AIS) department, student organization SKINS’ end of the year ceremony, American Indian Rite of Passage, requires independent fundraising.

For this, SKINS and the AIS department involved turn to AIS faculty donation, as well as selling student and faculty made artwork like beading to raise money for the end of the year celebration.

Collins feels it is unfair that other SF State departments receive graduation funds from the University, while departments in the College of Ethnic Studies do not. While Collins said AIS should be entitled to University funds just as other departments are, he does not mind the collaboration with SKINS and their AIS funds, as well as the independent efforts students make to fundraise.

Collins sees this fundraising as hard work, upholding the decades-long tradition their predecessors have upheld.

“It would be fair [for the university] to fund them [...] but to some extent I think that struggle would be lost,” Collins said. “If that were to be taken off the back of students, that would be very great. But I believe in struggle, especially when that struggle is related to people that came before you.”

Adams states that he is unsatisfied with the decreasing ASI funding over the years.

“We’re essentially putting on a graduation for $5,000,” he said. “That doesn’t really stretch a lot when you’re having to pay for audio and video equipment, balloons, chairs — all the stuff adds up.”

Adams said Jabulani offsets the cost of their end of the year ceremony through collaborating with other SF State departments.

“We have to go to other departments to ask for donations or sponsorships so that we can offset the cost of certain things,” he said.

According to Dariotis, ASU and AAS generate funds from ticket sales, which also help to limit the number attendants in the limited-space venue they can afford.

Gandara said student organizations’ do struggle for funds.

“We have to evaluate it to see if it’s working for our students,” Gandara said. “But as of right now, we are

Organizations, departments host celebrations ALEXIS MANZANILLA Staff Writer

A

mid a lack of University funds, the students and faculty of the College of Ethnic Studies turned to Associated Students, Inc. for help funding their own departmental end of the year celebrations, according to College of Ethnic Studies faculty.

Many College of Ethnic Studies graduation ceremonies hold historical significance, like the American Indian Rite of Passage, put on by student organization Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations (SKINS), which has taken place for the past 44 years.

According to Asian American Studies (AAS) professor Wei Ming Dariotis, while these traditions are imperative to a departmental sense of community in the College of Ethnic Studies, student organizers of these events are struggling for funds Because of this, student organizers turn to ASI funds and independent fundraising like ticket sales.

According to the AS Student Organization Funding Handbook, however, ASI is prohibited from funding any departmental graduations.

ASI VP Finance Elizabeth Gandara states funding is only to be used by historical organizations such as SKINS, Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), Jabulani and Asian Student Union (ASU) for their end of the year ceremonies. Gandara said departments are finding loopholes to use ASI funding for seemingly departmental graduations. For example, the ASU student organization partners with the Asian American Studies (AAS) department in their end of the year ceremony, causing the perception of the ceremony to inevitably seem departmental.

According to Dariotis, ASU graduation coordinator, ASU has around three to seven graduates per year. For this reason, ASU partners with the AAS department, which plans to have around 45 graduates this year. Because of this partnership, the AAS department is able to use ASU’s historical ceremony ASI funding for their collective ceremony.

“Department graduations are technically not allowed to ask for ASI funding,” Gandara said. “Departments can fund their own ceremonies, but I don’t think that they do.”

Another student organization that uses ASI funding for their end of the year ceremony is Jabulani. While the event invites all Black, African, and African American SF State students, according to Jabulani President

Published writers of the 68’ strike and read excerpts of their work and discuss the events leading up to the strike on Wednesday, March 13.

TRISTEN ROWEAN/ Golden Gate Xpress

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NAKED AND UNAFRAID DIMITRI BAILEY Staff Reporter

Nudists marched down the streets of the Castro for San Francisco’s fourth annual Nude Parade, with signs hoisted in the air to protest against San Francisco’s public nudity ordinance.

The San Francisco Nude Parade took place at Jane Warner Plaza on Sunday in the Castro district. The San Francisco Police Department ushered parade-goers through the streets of the Castro and Haight-Ashbury districts in an act of defiance against an anti-nudity bill.

“Make Love Naked and Stop the SF Nudity Ban,” read signs that participants carried around in an effort to protest the anti-nudity bill passed by Sen. Scott Wiener in 2012. According to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the anti-nudity bill made it illegal for genitals to be exposed in any public space, with the exception of permitted events that are approved by the city and county of San Francisco. Since the bill was passed, nudists of San Francisco have come together to protest in the annual parade.

Gypsy Taub, the 49-year-old organizer of the Nude Parade, feels compelled to protest.

“I’ve been organizing these events for over six years now in opposition to the nudity ban that was forced on the city illegally

by Scott Wiener,” Taub said.

Taub believes nudity is part of the culture and history of the Castro district, where she recalls her first time being exposed to public nudity.

“For me, the Castro district is where I first saw public nudity, which was 20-something years ago when I was a student at San Francisco City College,” Taub said. “Back then, they had amazing Halloween celebrations with a lot of body freedom—so beautiful and so much creativity.”

The mother of three encourages her children to partake in this expression of

LOLA CHASE/Golden Gate Xpress Inti Gonzales (left), daughter of parade organizer Gypsy Taub, sits on the pavement with fellow nudists for the Nude Love Parade at Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2019. creativity as well.

Inti Gonzalez, 18-year-old daughter of Gypsy Taub, stood topless alongside her mother holding a sign that read “Freedom of Choice.”

Gonzalez feels as though nudity is more difficult for her to embrace at times.

“In my house it was considered fine, and then outside in society it was not, so I still have shame about it and it’s still even hard for

me to go topless,” Gonzalez said.

Gary Smith, long-time attendee of the annual Nude Parade and active nudist, feels empowered by his decision to go nude.

“It’s just so unusual to be out in public in a crowd and not have to wear anything,” Smith said. “I heard others say it’s a freeing experience and it is, very much so. There is an erotic overtone to it. To be nude out in public is a lot

of fun.”

Taub sees the Nude Parade as a way for members of the LGBTQ+ community to embrace breaking away from societal expectations.

“The gay culture, those were the people who broke loose from the chains,” Taub said. “It takes courage [...] to step out of your comfort zone and go against societal norms.” n

ARTIST EXPRESSES STYLE THROUGH STICK-AND-POKE KEMI IKE

Staff Reporter

Sketching, painting and tattooing are some of the many talents of SF State sophomore Hailey Mead.

The 19-year-old studio art major has expanded her artistic ability outside of school through her small stick-and-poke tattooing business. The intricate, manual needle-and-ink process of stick and poke allows Mead to build trustworthy relationships with her clients and freely express her artistic style.

Mead’s artistic interest began in high school. While she wasn’t as strong in other schooling subjects, art became her main interest. Mead became inspired by the people closest to her.

“My older brother made these comics growing up and I always thought that he was [...] so good at art and drawing,” she said.

“My little sister started drawing things, but her style was so specific, she would only draw monsters and it was the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen. I always wanted to be able to have what

they have, they both knew their style so well.”

Her siblings’ distinct artistic styles inspired Mead to find her own. After coming to SF State to study art, Mead feels she is on track to finding her own style.

“Anyone can actually draw something but it’s nice to sit in the class and actually gain a different perspective on things,” Mead said. “Now I’m slowly starting to find my style.”

Javon Martin, Mead’s roommate, appreciates the art and creativity she shares with him.

“It’s cool seeing the art that she makes and having it hung up on our walls because it makes it feel more like a home,” Martin said.

After finding her style, which features abstract faces and bold colors, Mead’s small business of stick and poke tattooing was born.

“I always had the idea in high school, like that would be so dope to be a tattoo artist, but obviously I still didn’t have my style then so it was hard to make up all these flash sheets when I didn’t even know what I wanted to do,” she said.

Mead began tattooing after one of her roommates, Derek Fernandez, taught her how to.

After Fernandez encouraged Mead to tattoo him, she realized that she had a knack for stick and poke and ended up practicing on others. Now, half of Mead’s roommates have a stick and poke tattoo from her on different parts of their bodies.

“Derek showed me literally everything,” she said. “Even after the first couple I did, he would still set up everything for me. So if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have done any of it. He’s the reason why I like doing it.”

Mead feels a sense of pride in her artwork, as she is reminded of her artistic talent every time she is with her tattooed friends.

“I look on my roommate Eliana’s wrist and it’s literally my art there,” Mead said.

SF State sophomore Eliana Hsieh, one of Mead’s clients and closest friends, said she knew she wanted to try a stick and poke after she saw Mead practicing on others. Hsieh has a small tattoo on the side of her hand that resembles a twinkling star.

TRISTEN ROWEAN/Golden Gate Xpress Hailey Mead in her apartment, where she draws, sketches, paints, and does stick and poke tattoos.

“One day I saw this sees art as a feeling design and I knew that comes along “One day I saw this that it was the one with the memories design and I knew it because it was small of its creation. and simple,” Hsieh was the one because “Art doesn’t said. “I knew that I always have to be wanted Hailey to do it was small and simthe tangible things it for me.” we create,” she said. ple.”

As Mead con“Life itself is art and -Eliana Hsieh, sophomore tinues to explore people have beauartistic expression tiful insight on the through tattooing and other media, little things they’ve seen and done.” she expresses that art is more than just simply creating something or putting a pencil to a piece of paper for her. She

n

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Alumnus continues legacy of Asian American Studies

JANAE RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

G

rowing up in the hipster movement of San Francisco, SF State graduate student John Jimenez always dreamt of being a pro skater, with no consideration of pursuing college. Now a graduate student in the Asian American Studies graduate program, Jimenez is thankful for his change in pursuit.

According to Jimenez, in his adolescence, he was surrounded by a eurocentric curriculum that he never felt connected to because of his traditional Filipino upbringing. In his adolescence, he dedicated his time to skateboarding and dreamed of going pro.

Those around him, however, reminded him that pursuing college would be an investment in his future.

Because of this, Jimenez went on to attend San Francisco City College, where he studied film to make skate videos. San Francisco City College also introduced Jimenez to the world of ethnic studies. After taking a number of Filipino Studies classes, Jimenez never looked back.

Jimenez describes feeling a personal connection to what he began studying then and still studies to this day: “It was just kind of interesting seeing my experiences or [...] the experiences of my family in forms of academia,” said Jimenez.

One of Jimenez’ mentors as a graduate at SF State is former 1968 striker and Asian American Studies professor Dan Gonzales. Gonzales encouraged Jimenez to enroll in SF State and the College of Ethnic Studies in when Jimenez was living city college, and Gonzales continues to be a mentor to Jimenez to this day.

“I told him that other programs [...] they are not based in the center of broad and diverse community, including lots of people from different cultures, lots of immigrants, people of color and so, rather thaen have to travel some distance to go observe people of color, SF State is in the midst of it,” Gonzales said.

Jimenez did not regret his decision to attend SF State, and values the connections he has gained with others and his field of study.

JAMES CHAN/ Golden Gate Xpress

John Jimenez, an ethnic studies grad student, stands for a portrait in Cesar Chavez Student Center on March 14, 2019.

“When I got there, it was very refreshing [...] It was interesting taking some classes and seeing people like me, people of color or Asian American[fall] into this place of U.S. history,” Jimenez said.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies in spring 2017, Jimenez began the master’s program in fall 2017.

Jimenez is one among six students in the Asian American Studies masters program and is in his second year of the programhere at SF state.

Philip Nguyen, friend of Jimenez,UC Berkeley alumnus, is also in the Asian American Studies masters program and feels inspired by being around historical figures like Gonzales.

“To be able to walk through the [ethnic studies building] and run into people like professorssfers like Dan Gonzales, who is one of the original strikers [...] we stand on the shoulders of giants at SF State,” Gonzales said.

Graduating in May from the masters program,

FORMER STRIKERS SEEK CONSISTENT SUPPORT ALI LEE Staff Reporter In the wake of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies, many former strikers feel a lack of sustained support from current students and faculty.

The five-month-long student-led strike ended in the historical creation of the first College of Ethnic Studies in the U.S. The college has maintained its title to this day and has hosted several events commemorating the 50th anniversary of strike efforts.

Although current students and faculty now carry much of the legacy of Ethnic Studies, former strikers are at times unsatisfied with the support and activity of the current department, especially in showing up to events to support the former strikers.

In an interview after the Third World Women’s Striker Panel on-campus event on Nov. 8, 2018, former striker Carmen Carrillo expressed confusion as to why both faculty and students were not there.

“Where are the professors?” Carrillo said. “I think all of us would be gratified if the professors were here.”

Carrillo expressed that, while chairs spoke at the reception of the 50th anniversary events, her and other strikers felt a lack of sincerity.

“Obviously there’s a disconnect,” Carrillo said. “It was kind of ceremonial, but didn’t feel genuine. We’re a little puzzled by that. Not just speaking for myself, we would like to see a closer connection.”

Carrillo felt that the disconnect between current Ethnic Studies and the former strikers and activists is detrimental to strikers’ understanding of how the current department is carrying on their legacy.

“I think in general we would like to understand where Ethnic Studies is going a little better, meaning we don’t totally understand it,” said Carmen Carrillo. “Our view was to have a college of Third World Studies, which would be intricately involved with the community [...] We’re not sure that’s happening.”

When talking about community, Carmen explains that she would like for the current Ethnic Studies department to go out into the Bay Area community to interact and learn from it, rather than waiting for the community

Jimenez hopes to one day work for a nonprofitspecific to Asian American political participation and become a lecturer at a junior college.

He feels passionately about teaching at a junior college because he feels junior college gets a bad reputation but is something that really benefited him.

“For me I want to teach at the junior college level because it was at the junior college level that really helped me find ethnic studies,” Jimenez said. “[Junior college] really helped me find the path to become a lecturer or a professor in academia in a field that was very close to me.”

Gonzales, is impressed with students like Jimenez and Nguyen, who carry on the legacy of original strikers.

“When we see students of the quality like [Nguyen] and [Jimenez] and several others, it inspires me,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales saw potential in Jimenez, so much so that he offered Jimenez a teaching assistant posi-

to come to SF State.

Kristal Osorio, student in the Ethnic Studies department, agrees with Carrillo that there is little sense of community within the department, and within the departments relationship to the world outside of school.

“Students and faculty don’t really collaborate nowadays, in terms of you know, doing things for the college,” Osorio, a minor in the Ethnic Studies Department. “I feel like there’s a generational gap.”

Asian American Studies major Charlene Cayanan says she feels bad she neglected these events, but was never notified of them.

“I feel so bad that I didn’t know about this because I definitely think that it’s important to show fruits of their labor,” Cayanan said.

American Indian Studies professor Andrew Jolivette believes that the lack of attendance of these events is due to poor advertising. He also thinks people are too busy at times to make it to all the events.

“I don’t think the number of people is as important, as the message and the work that’s being done,” Jolivette said.

“So I think just the fact that people are continuing to honor that legacy is what’s most important.”

Jolivette thinks an obstacle of this generational connection and continuation of a legacy is connecting the

tion while Jimenez was still an undergraduate.

“He was just outstanding,” Gonzales said. “He could anticipate what the needs of the students were and he could relay what he thought would be a good way to approach further explanation of a difficult subject to me.”

Gonzales expresses that Jimenez influenced him to change his way of teaching.

“He helped actually redevelop the program courses in many ways,” Gonzales said. “20 to 30 percent of the course would change.”

Gonzales is on his second year of the early retirement program as a professor and feels at peace knowing that the program will stand strong with the next generation of students coming out of the program.

“When we have students like [Jimenez] and [Nguyen] and many others that come out of our program it heartens me because I know they are going to take a stand based on principle,” Gonzales said. n

present times to the past history.

“I think apart of it is, how do we continue to have conversations about what’s history while centering what’s present?” asked Jolivette.

Although there has been a lack in event attendance of striker celebrations, students and faculty have tried to show support in other ways.

American Indian Studies assistant professor John-Carlos Perea says that this strike is an essential part of his life, as his parents, Jacob and Barbara Perea, both went to SF State during the 1968 strike, his father being an active participant in the strike.

Perea hopes to keep the legacy of Ethnic Studies going by holding space for open discussion.

“In a way, just showing up to class and keeping the space is, for me, part of the strike, because what were people out there for?” said Perea.

When Perea teaches, he uses the history of the strikers with a modern lens.

“In my classes, I try to teach in a way that reflects those elders that I came up with who were active in the strike,” Perea said. “I try to bring elements of them back in while also understanding that things have to change.”

Cayanan is trying to become a teacher and hopes to carry on her education by teaching through an ethnic studies lens to her future students.

“I’m trying to become a teacher so,

teaching in an ethnic studies lense and never forgetting what the strikers have done and mentioning that wherever I go and the spaces I am in,” Cayanan said.

Perea also says he tries to publicize events by sending out flyers to students as well as assigning the events.

Cayanan believes faculty is improving in advertising events commemorating the strikers and the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies.

“I guess this year they’re doing a better job because there are more emails about events and I think a lot of Ethnic Studies professors are making it a requirement to go,” said Cayanan.

With more insight and word of mouth with what is going on around campus and within the department, the students and faculty hope to be able to show how proud they are to carry on the legacy of the ex-strikers.

Carrillo hopes that greater student and faculty involvement and communication will aid to a greater legacy for the College of Ethnic Studies, where former strikers can help out if needed.

“It’s not that we want to tell them what to do, but we would like to know what they’re doing and if there’s anything we can do to support,” Carrillo said. “We feel like we have an investment in this. We laid our bodies on the tracks for this and so we care.”

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10 SPORTS

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TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

If you run cross country, you run track.

- Tom Lyons, Director of Track and Field and Cross Country

PHOTOS BY SHAYLYN MARTOS/Golden Gate Xpress Senior Jacob Mendoza (left) runs around the track during practice on March 15. He is a part of the SF State wrestling team and the track team as well. Mendoza joined the team to help meet the 18-person requirement for the spring 2019 semester.

MEN’S TRACK TEAM REBORN

Two-sport athletes from wrestling, soccer and cross country fill out an unusual roster makeup ILDAR SABIROV Sports Editor

After a 15-year hiatus from the athletic lineup, SF State reintroduced men’s track and field this past month, with almost half of this season’s roster doubling as two-sport athletes.

The team houses five wrestlers and three soccer players, something that might cause a double-take when initially looking over the athletes on the team roster.

The rest of the team?

Cross country runners make up the remaining ten athletes on the team.

“They [cross country] would naturally be part of the track team,” said Tom Lyons, the director and coach of track and field and cross country. “That’s what most schools have, is cross country and track [combined]. So if you run cross country, you run track.”

15 years after shutting the men’s track program down, their spring announcement and midseason formation was a bit of a surprise.

A surprise that needed athletes, according to Lyons.

After the long-distance runners from men’s cross country joined, Lyons needed eight more athletes on the team to make it official.

“My wrestling coach came in and told us that they [men’s track]

needed help to get the program rolling,” said freshman Jacob Mendoza. “I’ve had a similar issue to that back in high school, where my wrestling program needed people to keep the program going. So I just saw it as another opportunity.”

Mendoza, who runs the 100 and 200-meter events and the 4 x 400-meter relay, is coming off the conclusion of wrestling season. SF State wrestling finished 17th at the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championships. Mendoza wrestled at the 174-pound weight class for the Gators this season.

As Mendoza sat on the bleachers at Cox Stadium, waiting for the short-distance practice to start last Friday, March 15, SF State men’s soccer was on the field finishing one of their offseason practices.

Three of the track and field runners, who are also soccer players, were out there running through a live-game drill.

“I get a lot of my conditioning in through soccer,” said sophomore Peter Swinkels, an All-CCAA honorable mention goalie for Gators soccer in the fall and now a runner for men’s track in the spring. “For the most part, I’m just there for events.”

“The soccer guys are focused on their soccer this offseason,” Lyons said. “So we’re trying to not interfere too much with their program.”

Although soccer athletes are

Junior Jonathan Orozco (middle) plays on the soccer field on March 15, 2019 and is on the soccer team and began running for the track team this semester.

mostly focused on their respective sport, it doesn’t mean they don’t represent some real talent for running, especially from junior runner and soccer midfielder Jonathan Orozco.

“He’s [Orozco] got a lot of ability for running,” Lyons said of his athlete. “He was able to do really well in our first meet.”

Orozco placed third in the 1500-meter event at the season-opening East Bay Quad Meet for the men’s track team on Feb. 22, the program’s first event since 2004.

“We’re pretty much doing what we do in soccer, running….without the ball,” Orozco said.

After joining the team this spring, Orozco has taken an interest to track and plans to continue

next spring. After completing his final season playing soccer for the Gators, that is.

“I was always interested in track,” Orozco added. “It was actually one of the track girls [told him about the team]. I told her I would be interested in doing track if there was ever a team. So when she found out there’s gonna be a men’s team, she instantly texted me and let me know, and I emailed the track coach.”

The connection to the women’s powerhouse track team runs deeper than just recruiting for the team. Other than running the same events, men’s and women’s teams practice together, with the women sharing tips for the men’s runners, according to Orozco.

“We learn a lot [from women’s

track],” Orozco said. “It was my first time running [at the East Bay Quad Meet] and they were the ones I went to personally before the meet to get information.”

“For them to give me the details of what to do and how to pace myself for the 1500 so I don’t gas out in the beginning, they were … one of the big parts of why I ran so well that day.”

This season’s team started out on a strong note with numerous runners placing on the podium in their season-opening meet, but coach Lyons reminded his runners to keep the expectations a bit more grounded than the sky-high expectations of his 10th ranked women’s squad.

The Gators sent some of their cross country runners to the Hornet Invitational last Saturday, March 16 at the Hornet Stadium of Sacramento State University. The limited group did not do as well at the event, with no runners able to crack the top-10 at their respective events.

After all, almost half of the team’s roster has a different sport they’re focusing on.

“In the next year or the year afterwards, we’re looking to get up to 18 men on our roster who will also be on the cross country [team,]” coach Lyons said.

Then, expectations can truly start rising.

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SPORTS 11 Keeping up with the Ugbajas

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After years away, the Ugbaja causins reunited under the Gator colors.

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

We went to different high schools so we started out as rivals and that helped form this connection we have today.

- Chiefy Ugbaja Guard/forward, SF State Basketball

JULIAN MONCALEANO Staff Reporter

O

ver the years, the city of San Francisco has produced many athletes and if you’re familiar with local sports, the Ugbaja cousins are two of the latest names on that list.

Jiday and Chiefy Ugbaja are two cousins born just a few months apart and have played basketball their entire lives. They were raised in a Nigerian household and they are one of many past or current collegiate athletes among the Ugbaja family.

From their AAU travel team days to their time at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, it was clear these two were made to compete together.

Many spectators watched the Ugbajas play in high school and have continued to attend their games here at SF State, according to Chiefy Ugbaja. The duo appreciates their hometown and everyone who has supported them along the way.

“At first, we went to different high schools so we started out as rivals and that helped form this connection we have today,” said 6-foot-4 guard/forward Chiefy. “At this point, our brains click together and sometimes I feel like he’s my twin.”

The two have demonstrated how well they compliment each other on and off the court, but still enjoy competing against each other in practice or during their free time.

Back in 2013, Jiday participated in the Nike Global Challenge and competed with top-tier athletes from across the nation and was looking to play division one basketball.

The Ugbajas graduated high school in 2014 and at first took separate routes in college.

Jiday played his first four years of NCAA Division I basketball at Sacramento State and is now enrolled in SF State’s graduate program. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to play, but that was before he was recruited by Chiefy.

“It was meant to be,” said Chiefy, “when I heard he’s leaving Sacramento State I thought it’d be pretty cool if he came here, but at the end of the day it was his choice.”

Chiefy redshirted at SF State following his senior year of high school and was named Scholar-Athlete in his first two seasons.

Growing up in The City and attending SF State have been two completely different experiences for the Ugbajas.

“SF State is very diverse. You’d think a lot of people from the city would be going to school here, but I always run into people from SoCal or out of state and I really enjoy how everyone meshes together,” Chiefy said.

Baltic Basketball League. Iroegbu, who went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft, is also a member of the Nigerian national team.

“Our goal is to keep playing as long as we can since this is the last go around for both us,” Chiefy said.

They plan to continue to improve their game and hope to earn a roster spot overseas, following the footsteps of Gator basketball alum Brantley Bynum, who currently plays for Denmark’s Randers Cimbria of the Basketligaen League.

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It’s a lot to have on your plate, but at the end of the day, it’s all worth it. Not many people get the chance to have an opportunity like this,” - Jiday Ugbaja Former Gator guard and current SF State Graduate student.

SHAYLYN MARTOS / Golden Gate Xpress

Jiday Ugbaja (23) about to go for a shot as his cousin, Chiefy Ugbaja (1), watches from behind him during a game facing Cal State Los Angeles in The Swamp on Jan. 31, 2019.

For Jiday the transition back to the city took some getting used to, with San Francisco serving as a bigger city than Sacramento. The Gator’s leading scorer this past season had to adapt his lifestyle.

Even though he’s not on campus that often, Jiday fully embraces what it means to be a student-athlete “It’s a lot to have on your plate, but at the end of the day, it’s all worth it. Not many people get the chance to have an opportunity like this,” the 5-foot-11 scoring guard said. “Waking up and having to

go to class or work is tough, but it’s important to find a balance.”

As their season came to an end, with an upset by Cal State L.A., the Ugbajas reflected on their playing careers and at the time intended to

finish the season on a strong note.

“We wanted to win the league and get a banner,” Jiday said. “We [were] the fourth seed and [believed we had] a great chance of competing in the playoffs.”

Win or lose, the Ugbaja cousins don’t see their basketball careers coming to an end.

Their cousin, Ike Iroegbu, plays for Panevėžys Lietkabelis of the Lithuanian Basketball League and

12 ETHNIC STUDIES

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TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

Culmination and aftermath of strike

1967

June 22: The Carnegie Corporation invites San Francisco State College to apply for funds to develop it’s black curriculum.

Nov. 6: An altercation with BSU students and James Vaszko, an editor for The Daily Gater, took place in the newsoom after Vaszko wrote an editorial asking the Carnegie Corporation to not give the BSU grant money.

Nov. 29: The BSU students, who were involved in the newsroom altercation, were suspended.

Dec 6: More than 500 protesting students shutdown the administration building in protest of the suspension of black students.

1969 Jan 6: The American Federation of Teachers joins the strike, creating a picket line around campus.

Mar 21: The strike ends, marking the new beginnings of the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies.

Sept. 9: The first semester of Africana Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian American studies, Latina/o Studies and Race and Resistance classes were offered in the class schedule.

1968 Mar 23: The Third World Liberation Front, consisting of BSU, the Latin American Students Organization, the Filipino-American Students Association and El Renacimiento, occupied the YMCA Office at San Francisco State College.

May 21: Police removed 400 students from the administration building after the nine-hour sit in.

May 24: Chancellor Glenn Dumke asks Dr. Summerskill to resign immediately. Robert Smith Becomes

1968 Sept. 18: Dr. Nathan Hare is named acting chair of the new Black Studies Department Nov. 6: The strike begins after the suspension of George Murray, a graduate teaching instructor and Black Panther member. Murray is an active and respected voice in the community.

Nov. 26: Dr. Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa is named acting president after Smith resigns. Hayakawa’s first official act is to close the campus amid strike.

Nov. 26: Students in a sound truck urged other students to continue the strike. Hayakawa climbs onto the truck, trying to disconnect the speakers.

2016 2016

May 2: Possible spending cuts urged students and faculty to organize a hunger strike in protest. Julia Retzlaff, Ahkeel Andres Mestayer, Hassani Bell and Sachiel Rossen were the four who vowed to stop eating.

The protest was set up outside the administration building and demanded $8 million to be allocated to the College of Ethnic Studies.

May 9: Julia Retzlaff, one of the four hunger strikers, was hospitalized after having chest pains. Soon after, she returned to continue the protest.

May 11: The hunger strike ends with President Wong agreeing to 11 of the 26 commands including the allocation of an extra $482,806, restructuring the Academic Senate to be more transparent with budget reviews and the recruitment of underrepresented minorities from Bay Area high schools.

Photos 1 & 2 Archival/SF Gater, photo 3 Aleah Fajardo/ Xpress 2016

*Information compiled by Brian Vu