Volume 64 | Issue 3 | October 7, 2016
New Crazies aim to amp up crowds – Five new faces hit the Crazies stage to heighten Lancer spirit at home games.
S P O R T S , pg. 13
Public safety officers to carry guns – Campus security looks to reinforce safety with new measures.
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N E W S , pg. 3
This was the first time I had felt powerless, but also the first time I realized that God is greater than 27 million slaves and evil traffickers.” Local company combats human trafficking
B U S I N E S S & T E C H , pg. 11
The Woman Is Required to Pay Vision | Pages 4-5
United Nations offers pledge of aid to refugees BY JASMINE EMEISH ASST. NEWS EDITOR
“There are some kids that have been asked ‘What do you want now?’ and they would say ‘I want to go to heaven,’” said Zaid Robeen Abdelhamid, California Baptist University graduate student in business administration. “The reporter asked ‘Why?’ and the children said, ‘Because we heard that there’s bread in heaven.’ They just want bread.” At the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 20, President Barack Obama announced 50 countries have pledged to take in 360,000 refugees in the next year. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, “A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of per-
secution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.” Some countries, such as
I didn’t get my information from the news or from CNN, or from what the media says. I got what I know from my friends who I lived with when I was a child, who went to Syria and who died. That’s it.
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Zaid Robeen Abdelhamid, graduate student in business administration
Canada and Germany will double their intake from last year. The U.S. has pledged to take in 110,000 refugees in
the 2017 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. This is in addition to the 85,000 pledged last year. Along with opening borders, the countries have pledged an increased amount of $4.5 billion in financial aid toward humanitarian groups and the U.N., specifically for the refugee crisis. Having visited refugee camps in Jordan and knowing people personally affected by the conflict, Abdelhamid said he supports the movement by the U.N. He said he wanted to speak about what he has experienced and heard from friends directly instead of the current state of international politics. “I didn’t get my information from the news or from CNN, or from what the media says,” Abdelhamid said.
Iona Brannon | Banner Seven-year-old Shahed, Syrian refugee, came to Turkey after a month caught in a conflict-stricken border.
SEE REFUGEE AID | PAGE 2
Freshman recovers from major incident New student starts journey at CBU after life-changing car accident BY JOHN VICTORY & AZUCENA OROZCO LIFESTYLE EDITOR & STAFF WRITER
Photo courtesy of CBU Theater Program
Ashley Setzler (right), California Baptist University alumna, played the role of Penny Sycamore alongside Kayley Nuzum (left ), alumna, as Alice Sycamore in the 2013 production of “You Can’t Take It With You” before moving to New York to continue her career in theater.
Theater alumna turns professional BY HANNAH PRESTON A&E EDITOR
Performing under the lights of a professional stage is usually the end goal for theater students, however, only a select few have what it takes. For some California Baptist
University alumni, that goal is achieved. Whether staying local or making the big move to New York City, performing in professional productions is seen as glamorous, but the road to the stage is a demanding one. The start of an actor may not
be as put together as it seems, instead requiring endurance for long days and nights and possibly uncomfortable sleeping quarters. Ashley Setzler, California Baptist University alumna and graduate student of the educational theater program at New
York University, describes the adjustment as difficult, yet rewarding. “I moved to New York three years ago with only two suitcases and a kind stranger’s couch to sleep on,” Setzler said.
SEE THEATER ALUMNA | PAGE 8
In just a split-second life can take a tragic turn, yet it can also leave a testimony for years to come. That much is true for Libby Otten, freshman communication disorders major at California Baptist University. Mere months before Otten was to be handed her high school diploma, she was in a car accident that left her hospitalized and injured. “I lost my grip and got thrown out the back of the jeep, and it rolled on top of me,” Otten said. After breaking several bones in her legs and shattering her pelvis, medics said it is only a miracle she is alive.
For many people, this type of tragedy could leave them in a state of shock or even paranoia, but for Otten it has given her a new outlook on life. “The peace that I experienced just laying there told me that just because one thing happened in my life that doesn’t mean I have to get worked up about it,” Otten said. While Otten lay next to the car that ultimately could have taken her life, her family prayed over her as they waited for help. “There is no reason I should be alive,” Otten said. “It is only by the grace of God that I am.” Otten and her family waited nearly two hours in the mountains of Pozo Creek near Bakersfield for help from firefighters and paramedics. After nearly a complete reconstruction of her legs and pelvis, she stayed the next two weeks in the hospital, and then 10 days in rehabilitation. “I was in a wheelchair for two months,” she said. “I couldn’t put any weight or pressure on my legs.” She participated in home study and visited her high school campus when she could.
SEE OTTEN | PAGE 6