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Men’s soccer defeats No. 13 UC Santa Barbara in overtime thriller Eric Stubben The Cal Poly men’s soccer team defeated UC Santa Barbara 3-2 in sudden-death overtime for its first Blue-Green Rivalry win in three years. With the score knotted up at 2-2 in the 104th minute, junior defender Jack O’Connor curled a corner kick into the box. Junior defender Kody Wakasa crashed toward the near post and met the ball with his head, sending it airborne into the back of the net. Wakasa’s game-winner was the first goal of his collegiate career. “Just this whole game was a battle,” Wakasa said. “Every time I go up for corners, I’m just telling myself ‘get something on it, get something on it.’ I scored a goal with Jack (O’Connor) serving a ball in the spring and so I just had a feeling. And I just went near post ’cause I know he loves to hit near post runs. (I) literally hit it, just saw the ball go (to the) back of the net.
The rest I don’t remember.” A 11,075-fan sellout crowd — the 12th largest in NCAA men’s soccer regular season history — rocked Alex G. Spanos Stadium as the rivalry’s signature tortillas flew and the whistle blew for the game to begin. Just more than 6 minutes into the game, UC Santa Barbara’s Ismaila Jome silenced Cal Poly’s home crowd with a curling shot from the top of the box that found the top right
corner of the goal. The goal, assisted by Kevin Feucht, marked Jome’s second goal of the season and sent the Mustang Manglers into an eerie silence. The Mustangs didn’t take long to respond. In the 10th minute, junior forward Justin Dhillon dribbled into the box before passing the ball to junior defender Ruben Duran. Duran’s first touch swiftly tapped the ball along the ground past UC Santa Barbara’s goalkeeper for the equalizer. Over the next 20 minutes, both teams traded attacks. Cal Poly senior goalkeeper Wade Hamilton highlighted the scoring draught with a diving save in the 24th minute to thwart a UC Santa Barbara attack. Six minutes after Hamilton’s save, the
Mustangs’ offense struck again. Senior midfielder Matt LaGrassa’s 30th minute through pass found senior defender Kip Colvey, who fired a rocket off a defender’s foot and into the upper right corner of the net. As the clock drew closer to the 45-minute mark, the Gauchos found an equalizer of their own. First, Gauchos star forward Nick DePuy drilled a shot off the left post that deflected back out onto the pitch. Then, UC Santa Barbara’s Seo-In Kim took advantage of a corner kick in the 39th minute as he muscled through Hamilton and headed in his first goal of the season. The rest of the half remained scoreless, and the teams went into halftime in a 2-2 draw. The four goals scored in the first half marked only the second time since
@EricStubben 2009 that there were four goals scored in an entire match between the Mustangs and Gauchos. At half, the Mustangs trailed the Gauchos 10 shots to seven, but had only committed five fouls compared to the Gauchos’ 11. The second half began with both teams playing tentatively. The first bout of action came 7 minutes into the half when UC Santa Barbara’s Kevin Feucht was awarded a yellow card for a hard foul near midfield. As the half dragged on, several shots from the Mustangs and Gauchos couldn’t find the back of the net. The Gauchos mounted a strong attack in the 79th minute. Two UC Santa Barbara corner kicks threatened the Mustangs, but after a valiant Cal Poly effort, the attack fell short. Three minutes later, DePuy fielded a cross in the middle of the box and made a shifty move on a Cal Poly defender before booting a shot that just sailed by the left side of the goal. With 1 minute remaining in regular time, UC Santa Barbara’s Geoffrey Acheampong tried to capitalize on another Gauchos attack. Acheampong’s shot rolled toward the bottom right corner of the goal, but was stopped by a diving Hamilton. Regular time ended in a tie with both teams sitting at two goals apiece. UC Santa Barbara outshot the Mustangs by a count of 20-10. Hamilton tallied four saves in the first 90 minutes, his second-highest total of the season. After a 4-minute break, the 10-minute period of extra time began. It marked the teams’ eighth overtime match since 2008. Two minutes into the extra time, the Gauchos pressed an attack on the Mustangs. Two shots fired toward the goal, but Hamilton recorded another save and the other shot was stopped by the Mustangs’ defense. In the 9th minute of extra time, UC Santa Barbara’s Josue Espana received a yellow card for physical play after a hard shove to the back of Cal Poly junior midfielder Austin Wilcox sent him diving face-
first into the turf. The first overtime concluded with no scores and remained a 2-2 tie. Just under 2 minutes into the second period of extra time, Cal Poly fans got something to cheer about. UC Santa Barbara’s Espana was called for his second yellow card in 3 minutes of play, resulting in a red card. Police escorted Espana from the field as the Mustang Manglers found their second wind. As play resumed, the Mustangs found their second wind as well. More than 103 minutes into the game, they found their game-winner. As Wakasa’s header met the net, Alex G. Spanos Stadium immediately erupted. Fans poured onto the field in cheers of excitement as the Mustangs won their first match over UC Santa Barbara since 2012. After the game, first-year Cal Poly head coach and former United States Men’s National Team coach Steve Sampson summed it up by saying: “I’ve seen a lot of college soccer games in my career ... and that may be one of the best games I’ve ever seen.” Cal Poly’s three goals in the match was the first time in more than a year that the Mustangs have scored three or more goals in a conference match. Sampson also noted that the Mustangs’ defense played extraordinarily well, holding the Gauchos scoreless after the first half and containing DePuy, perhaps the Big West Conference’s premier soccer player. “Give credit to three people in particular: Kody Wakasa, Trenton (Matson) and Austin (Wilcox),” he said. “Always two players on (DePuy). (DePuy) wasn’t able to turn … He earned that respect from us. He’s, I think, one of the best players in the country, so to hold him scoreless is a great feat.” The men’s soccer portion of the Blue-Green Rivalry continues next Saturday in Santa Barbara with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Both teams will look to repeat the quality and intensity of this game. “I don’t think they’ll change anything,” Sampson said. “I think it’s just going to be one more incredible game.”
ILIANA ARROYOS, CHRISTA LAM & JASON HUNG | MUSTANG NE WS
News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
Monday, October 19, 2015
NEWS | 2
Cru and InterVarsity reinstated after year of disaffiliation Wren Fox
@thirdculturechr
Two national Christian clubs with Cal Poly chapters — Cru and InterVarsity — were disaffiliated last fall, but are back on campus this year. At the time of Cru’s and InterVarsity’s disaffiliations, the California State University (CSU) system required all CSU clubs to sign a non-discrimination statement, which ensured religion would not be a requirement for leadership. Both Cru and InterVarsity did not agree with these new measures and were disaffiliated for not signing the statement, as publicly stated at a Cru meeting. Cru Mission Team Leader Jamey Pappas wanted to keep Cru’s Christian roots. “We are just an organization that wants to be real about Christianity,” Pappas said at the time of disaffiliation. “Yet this entails that the people who lead meetings and prayer services must be Christian, which makes sense because we are a Christian club.” Cru and InterVaristy’s national organizations actively pursued a solution with the CSU as soon as they were disaffiliated for the 2014-15 school year. A year’s worth of lengthy talks finally came to fruition last spring quarter, as the CSU system, Cru and InterVarsity came to an agreement that allowed both organizations to re-affiliate with Cal Poly as well as other schools. The agreement entails that Cru and InterVarsity both have to accept applications from future student leaders without a profession of
faith. Both organizations changed their bylaws accordingly in order to comply with the CSU’s new standards for affiliated clubs and student organizations. On changing their bylaws, Greg Jao, InterVaristy’s National Director of Campus engagement, said, “What we worked out was Cal State’s key interest was that every student should have the ability to be a member and run for leadership. We’re very comfortable with that — in fact, we would love it if every student would come out for InterVarsity. It would save us a lot of effort.” Furthermore, the agreement is uniquely Californian in that it is one of the only recent major changes in higher education discrimination policy that affects a system as large as the CSU. Due to their recognized status, Cru can easily reserve rooms on campus and participate in the Week Of Welcome club showcase, as well as have a presence during the annual Open House events. InterVaristy has also regained recognition from Cal Poly and now has the same privileges as Cru. In the first few weeks of fall quarter, Cru set up a small area in the University Union (UU) in order to spread information about the organization and show that it is now re-affiliated with Cal Poly. While Cru can now use campus space with significantly less effort, it will still conduct its weekly Tuesday meetings at Mountainbrook Community Church. Cru and InterVarsity
are back on campus, but Christian fraternity Alpha Gamma Omega (AGO) remains barred because of religious restrictions. Despite having a booth in the UU for a short period of time this fall, AGO has been disaffiliated from Cal Poly since March 2009 and is listed as such by the Dean of Students. Executive Order 1068, a memorandum from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, reads, “No campus shall recognize any fraternity, sorority, living group, honor society or other student organization unless its membership and leadership are open to all currently enrolled students at that campus.” AGO allows men of different faiths to join the organization, but leadership positions are only open to Christian members. On disaffiliation the fraternity’s website states, “We reserve leadership in the fraternity for members who have signed the fraternity Statement of Faith, and profess belief in Jesus Christ. Because our elected officers are required to be Christians, the university disaffiliated itself from Alpha Gamma Omega in accordance with Executive Order 1068.” AGO’s “sister” Christian sorority, Alpha Delta Chi’s San Luis Obispo chapter was founded separately from Cal Poly in 2008. The sorority requires its members to remain abstinent until marriage, attend church regularly and not consume alcohol or use illegal drugs.
ILIANA ARROYOS | MUSTANG NE WS
Monday, October 19, 2015
NEWS | 3
Priority housing for homeless and foster youth required for all CSUs Naba Ahmed @nabaahmed
On Oct. 7, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1228 into law after a majority vote. Mike Gipson, assembly member, wrote Assembly Bill 1228 which requires the California State University (CSU) system to provide priority for homeless youth in receiving on-campus housing. The bill defines a “homeless youth” as a student under 25 years old who has been verified within the previous two years of the receipt of his/her application for admission by a campus of the CSU. “Studies show that housing instability is a critical fact that leaves students more likely to drop out and not finish college,” stated Gipson. “With AB 1228, we have the opportunity to provide students with stability and improve their long-term outcomes for success.” Assembly Bill 1228 passed in the California State Senate and Assembly, which directs the University of California (UC), CSU system and California Community College Systems (CCC) to expand accommodations for students who were former foster or homeless youth. The CSU system will be relatively unaffected by the passing of the bill, Public Affairs Web Communications Specialist of the CSU Office of the Chancellor Liz Chapin said. “The bill mirrors the CSU’s existing process for providing housing for foster youth, so there would be minimal impact,” Chapin said.
While it requests campuses of the CCC to provide accommodations, it requires CSU and UC campuses to give priority housing to current and former foster youth. It also asks that the campuses maintain student housing facilities and keep them open for occupation during school breaks on a year-round basis. When it is kept open on academic or campus breaks, current and former homeless and foster youth should not be charged any additional costs. However, Cal Poly had priority and holiday housing in place, university spokesperson Matt Lazier said. “This assembly bill will not have a significant impact on Cal Poly’s University Housing system, which is already equipped to provide priority and holiday housing to students in need,” Lazier said. “As well, the university’s Student Affairs Division operates a support program called Cal Poly Cares that aims to provide help for students who housing, food and other fundamental staples.” Cal Poly has already implemented programs to aid homeless students, according to Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey. “After reading the final bill, we do not see any impact on Cal Poly since we already have programs in place to provide housing for homeless students,” Humphrey said in an email. “We are currently supporting about a half dozen students, so this law does not shift our occupancy rates or construction plans as part of the proposed
MUSTANG NEWS FILE PHOTO ALL SET
| Cal Poly has established housing for students at risk of being homeless, Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey said.
Master Plan process.” The bill requests the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees to explore methods of using the admissions-by-exemption category. This category will help facilitate the transition of students who are homeless or foster youth into public institu-
tions of higher education. Additionally, each of the 23 CSUs are requested to formulate a plan to ensure that current and former homeless and foster youth can access housing resources as needed during and between academic terms, such as during campus breaks, even if
the university does not maintain student housing facilities. However, Cal Poly already maintains student housing facilities year-round, so it will not have to create a plan to accommodate for this bill. “Cal Poly has always offered year-round housing on campus
in Cerro Vista apartments,” Humphrey said in an email. “We have offered this housing for years as it is also important to students who might not be able to travel home over the break, like international students or domestic students that live far away.”
Monday, October 19, 2015
ARTS | 4
CultureFest 2015: Uniting Cal Poly’s diverse community with food, music and performances Michelle Zaludek @michellenistic
If one thing could bring students together this weekend, other than the Blue-Green Rivalry game, it was CultureFest. The Rio de Janeiro Carnival-themed festival, put on by the Cross Cultural Centers, showcased a variety of student talent through arts and crafts, fresh food and drinks, dance routines and musical performances. The day would go long, running from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and for the 32 student-run booths participating, it would stretch even further after prep work, setup and takedown were all accounted for. Civil engineering sophomore Oscar Sandoval, who worked Lambda Theta Phi’s booth selling elotes, said they came out at about 9:30 a.m. “There were already a lot of friendly faces out though,” Sandoval said. “So it’s been good.” Most students running booths brought up how friendly the entire atmosphere was, often adding that it may have been because CultureFest was designed to be a sharing experience. “I’m here to support everybody else — to see the nice differences in our cultures… and I’m happy to be involved,” child development senior Laura Alvarez said. The event was filled with performances from different cultural organizations, including dance routines by the Korean American Student Association, bellydancing instructor Majida Fk and Mexican folk dance group Imagen Y Espíritu Ballet Folklórico de Cal Poly, as well as musical performances by the Arab Music Ensemble and Samba Loca.
Food and drink were heavily emphasized as an important way for different cultural organizations to share a little bit more of themselves. “It’s one of the few times we can get cultural food in SLO,” said sociology junior Rito Yi, who was working the Omega Xi Delta booth selling chicken bowls. Alvarez, working the Lambda Theta Alpha booth, which sold orange and lemon aguas frescas, explained that they did so to show culinary diversity from their ethnic group. “It’s good for Cal Poly to know that we have drinks in our culture, too,” Alvarez said. “Not just food.” Psychology senior Wesley Choy, who worked the Thai-Vietnamese Student Association’s booth selling Thai tea, explained that their cultural club has a specific emphasis on food. Their members come together to share recipes for popular meals, including pho and hot pots, using some of their organization’s funds to purchase ingredients. “We teach (club) members how to cook,” Choy said. “And then we bond over the food.” Choy said the Thai-Vietnamese Student Association sticks to serving Thai tea at public events because they know it’s well liked and they want to give people a chance to try authentic renditions of it. The Chinese Cultural Club’s fried doughnuts were also intended to bring a genuine cultural sample to Cal Poly, with a sweet twist. Philosophy sophomore Alex Chiang, who worked at the booth, explained that the doughnuts are usually
It lets us represent our culture, and shows that Cal Poly is a very diverse place. WESLEY CHOY PSYCHOLOGY SENIOR
HANNA CROWLEY | MUSTANG NE WS HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT | The six-hour event was filled with food, drinks, music and performances put on by 32 student-run organizations.
served with rice porridge — and less sugar — as a common Chinese breakfast. “It’s something casual, but with a lot of culture,” Chiang said. Civil engineering junior Andrea Look, who worked the Chi Delta Theta booth selling cream cheese wontons, explained that sharing the wontons at CultureFest every year has become a tradition for them. “I’m not sure why it started with wontons,” Look said,“other than they’re really delicious.” For others, the food of the day was meant to be witty. History sophomore Sean Leavey, working the Student California Teachers Association’s booth, explained
that they chose to showcase candied apples as a play off the teacher’s apple adage. Other organizations used the day as a bonding experience. Food science junior Cam Clay, working the Black Student Union’s booth selling mixed-fruit lemonade, explained that not only the food, but the entire event, was a good way for students to promote cross-cultural bonding. Clay said the Black Student Union acts as a safe space for him and his fellow group members. “We enjoy each other’s company,” Clay said. “It’s like a family away from home.”
Specific events like CultureFest allow them to branch out and form relationships with other cultural organizations, Clay said. Outside of sharing food, many said that CultureFest was important for showing the growing level of Cal Poly’s diversity. “It brings everyone together,” said electrical engineering freshman Eden Rabishaw, who worked the Cal Poly Pride Center’s painting booth. “Everyone’s celebrating each other’s culture.” Choy explained that when he first came to Cal Poly, CultureFest was significantly smaller — composed of about 10 booths off campus at Santa Rosa Park. Watching it grow has been re-
warding for him. “It puts minorities on the map,” Choy said. “It lets us represent our culture, and shows that Cal Poly is a very diverse place … and I love to see (CultureFest) getting bigger every year.” Biomedical senior Tanner Quon, who worked the Omega Xi Delta booth selling chicken bowls, summed up the experience. “We get to help out our organization, make some money for ourselves, enjoy some chicken, have some fun, enjoy some culture,” he said. Tim Wetzel contributed to this article.
Monday, October 19, 2015
ARTS | 5
Queer Student Union to entertain and enlighten audience at second drag show Madi Salvati @MadiSalvati
On Oct. 21 and 22, Cal Poly’s Queer Student Union (QSU) will be hosting its second drag show in Spanos Theatre. Adam Serafin, advisor for the Queer Student Union and Cross Cultural Centers Coordinator, said having a drag show goes against the norm in a place like San Luis Obispo. “SLO is smaller, so a lot of folks may not have ever been to this sort of thing,” Serafin said. “But this is an opportunity to go.” Members of the Queer Student Union have been putting a lot of work into this, Serafin said. Auditions were held, cos-
tumes put together, dancing was choreographed, lip-syncing was practiced and a storyline for the show was written. “It’s suppose to be entertaining,” Serafin said. “It’s going to be a bit different from a typical drag show because there’s a storyline behind it.” This is the Queer Student Union’s way of becoming a more social outlet, Serafin mentioned. It’s a newer club and in the past, it’s been all about activism. “ This e vent is main ly for entertainment,” Serafin said. “Drag shows are a performance.” While they’ve done their part to raise awareness, QSU is using this opportuni-
ty to perform and bring the community together. So forget all of the raunchy stereotypes about drag shows seen in the movies because, according to Serafin and QSU, the performance is about playing with the idea of gender. “There’s confusion about drag shows,” Serafin said. “There’s a difference between ‘transgender’ and ‘gender identity.’” QSU is hoping the event will help separate ideas about drag shows and gender, as well as show the community that there is more to drag shows than high heels and sparkly outfits. The show is free and the Spanos Theater doors open at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 22.
GEORGIE DE MATTOS | MUSTANG NE WS BREAKING STEREOTYPES | The Queer Student Union is hoping to shatter conventional ideas about gender.
The Complete History of Comedy: To pie or not to pie Brendan Abrams @brenabrams
The Reduced Shakespeare Company kept laughs rolling in at breakneck speed Friday night at the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC), where the trio of boisterous performers owned the stage by utilizing every comic cliché in the book. The show, entitled “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged),” quite literally used a book. The story went that Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese author of The Art of War, had a brother who wrote a little-known companion piece called The Art of Comedy, which Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) used as its guide. Despite relying on ancient texts, RSC provided a decidedly modern take on comedy through the ages. From disparaging modern political figures (watch out, Justice Scalia and Donald Trump) to presenting multiple scenes in listicle format (Kim Davis and Adam Sandler make the list of the 10 least funny people of all time), the troupe was well aware of the liberal-minded, lighthearted audience sitting before it. It was more than a simple recitation of a catalogue of jokes, however. Writers, directors and actors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor refused to shy away from references to touchy subjects most people wouldn’t dream of laughing about to tackle some real dilemmas as they relate to comedy.
Is gun control a laughing matter? Take, for instance, the heated debate about the dangers of the classic pie-in-the-face gag: “Pies are not the problem. Pies don’t pie people. People pie people!” What about Abraham Lincoln assassination jokes? Enter Abe, the “inventor of stand-up comedy,” who was quick to point out his discomfort from being in a theater. Through all the scathing commentary, potentially offensive comparisons and general goofiness, there remained a sweet genuineness that made RSC’s reverence for its genre quite obvious. In the green room post-performance, Tichenor explained his purpose in choosing to write a show about comedy specifically. “We always try to pick a topic that people take seriously, and we realized that this is the topic that we take the most seriously,” he said. Tichenor went on to talk about his inspiration for choosing a career entirely focused on making people laugh. “We wasted so many years of our childhood, and our adulthood, watching Abbott and Costello movies, Marx brothers, old sitcoms (and) Monty Python,” he said. Tichenor’s comments mirrored what had transpired onstage minutes earlier. In an impassioned demonstration of Chekhovian comedy, actor Dominic Conti delivered a brilliant physical homage to Cosmo Kramer of “Seinfeld” fame. That shtick was preceded by a quaintly En-
glish interpretation of Abbott and Costello’s masterpiece skit, “Who’s on First?” Tichenor, Martin and Conti didn’t stop there with their tributes to comedians past and present. In hypocritical yet completely self-aware fashion, Tichenor walked out on stage alone with a ukulele near the end of the show and played a touching tune eerily similar to Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song,” mentioning what must have been nearly 100 of his comedic heroes. The final line of the song was beautifully poignant: “If I did not know how to laugh, I would cry.” By this point in the show, there was still some work to be done. It was necessary to find a way to meld the crude and outrageous nature of comedy with its inherent value to the authenticity of everyone’s life. That task was accomplished with a clown named Rambozo, the revered, semi-divine, banana-wielding personification of comedy. It is Martin, as Rambozo, who explains to us why comedy is so important. Rambozo really is the glue that holds it all together. Put more elegantly by Tichenor, “Rambozo and The Art of Comedy became the line on which to hang the rest of the dirty laundry of the show.” It was Rambozo himself who taught the most important lesson of the night. “Every day is a new chance to make the world a better, funnier place,” he said, before putting a pie in someone’s face, or something like that.
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ILIANA ARROYOS | MUSTANG NE WS NON-STOP L AUGHS
| The trio of comedians sang songs and even brought out a banana-wielding clown.
Monday, October 19, 2015
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“I just want to buy one song so I can, like, play it on repeat and stuff.”
Why I regret the Second Amendment Brandon Bartlett @CPMustangNews
Brandon Bartlett is a political science senior and Mustang News conservative columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News. You awake to the sound of shattering glass. Your eyes instinctively flicker to your clock as it proclaims 3:27 a.m. Paralyzed by fear, you pray that the noise will not come again. Crash! What was that?! You hear footsteps playing the familiar tune of your floorboards. You know you are not alone, but what should you do? If you’re like me, the best self-defense training that you have comes from the Bourne film series. All you can do is call 911 and wait, trying not to breathe too loudly, as you hope those footsteps don’t come closer. But what if I told you that there is a way that you could defend yourself? A technique so powerful that, with just a few short hours of training, you could take down any intruder. Luckily for us, that revolutionary piece of advanced technology already exists. And you can even buy it at your local Wal-Mart! What is this miracle machine? Well, as all my NRA readers have already guessed, it’s a gun. But I know what you’re thinking, “Miracle machine? It kills people! That is the exact opposite of a miracle.” And though “miracle” may be a bit facetious, that misses the point. You see, guns changed a fundamental aspect of power dynamics in confrontation. For as long as animals have walked the earth, the winner (or survivor) of almost all fights was the most powerful, most agile and most aggressive male. In any sort of one-on-one, simple youthfulness and brutality were nearly the only factors that mattered. But that is no longer true! For the first time in history, the masses can take back their own safety. That being said, guns also
prove a serious threat to society. One can hardly even turn on the news without hearing about the latest shooting. And while it is true that guns don’t kill people, they certainly make it easier for people to kill each other. So how should we deal with guns? First and foremost, we need to deal with the very emotional nature of this issue — emotion on both sides. For the left, it is entirely true that mass shootings are a problem. However, the problem is overblown. Mass shootings make up 0.1 percent of total firearm-related deaths, and only a fraction of those are caused by assault weapons. So even if we were to eradicate every mass shooting, the change in total gun deaths would fall within the margin of error. Moreover, every mass killing since 1950 has happened in areas where civilians are banned from carrying weapons. And above that, 72 percent of homicide deaths in 2012 were committed with handguns. Not only are no politicians pushing for a ban of handguns, but such a ban was deemed unconstitutional in both 2008 and 2010 by the Supreme Court. Now to the right (thank you for waiting your turn): Firearms are not an inherent right; it was given socially and can be taken away. The Bill of Rights is not a guide to ethics and we are not only compelled by the founders themselves, but also obligated by our own ethical code, to change the Bill of Rights if a sufficient argument is made to do so. Moreover, a right to self-defense does not necessitate a right to guns, in the same way (and for the same reason) that it does not grant a right to high-level explosives. And this is why I regret the Second Amendment (GASP! How dare he say that?). Gun control has become a polarizing argument — you’re either for or against it, and the other side is always despicable. For this reason, no change is able to happen either way and everyone leaves upset while the next shooter
plans his moment of glory. But why do issues become so derisive? In truth, I’m sure there are several valid answers to this question, but I want to hone in on one: Issues become derisive when the discussion isn’t evolving, when we sit there talking past each other and no good comes of it. And this is exactly what has been going on with gun control. Talking points have hardly changed in the slightest in the past several decades even though it’s constantly coming up. But whose fault is this? Well, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s ours — the right. Our figureheads keep to the same old arguments that do not actually refute the challenge given by the left. We say “Second Amendment,” they say “People die,” and we say “Second Amendment” again. But who can blame us? This does seem like quite the fiat. Now, this isn’t the full story. There have been some attempts to actually engage with the left on this issue, but they so often fall short — or those who make the argument do so with such a lack of nuance (*cough cough* Trump) — that the power of the argument is utterly lost. Take, for instance, the newest round of rhetoric: “This is not a gun problem, but a mental health problem.” Not only does this only address a fraction of mass shootings (read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Thresholds of Violence” article for more on this), but, as the right is so quick to point out, mass shootings are a very small percent of total gun violence. This is rooted in the ideology that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” which, though a truism, is more of a red herring than anything else. No one promoting gun control (correction, no serious person promoting gun control) really believes guns are the problem, but that they are a mechanism which further exacerbates the ill will of certain individuals. The claim is not “he killed because he had a gun,” but “he killed
return to rationality substantially more people because he had a gun.” And this is why extensive background checks make so much sense. If it is the person at fault, should we not do what we can to keep weapons out of untrustworthy hands? Why not create a system in which people can only purchase guns if they have a license that is similar to a driver’s or pilot’s license, i.e. where one must go through substantial hours of training, prove one’s operational competency and pass certain psychological screenings? Sure, this would not entirely fix the problem, but it would help. The next major argument, as already touched upon, is “but this doesn’t hurt that many people.” And while perspective is a good thing, it doesn’t actually defeat the argument. Saying “a few thousand people are not very many” does not equal “and, thus, we can drop this issue.” These are still real lives lost. And finally, “people will still get them from the black
market.” Yes, but this is true with every illegal commodity. Moreover, this totally overlooks the accidental deaths or those done in the heat of passion. Yes, there will always be guns, but this does not imply that having fewer of them is a bad thing. But I digress. The one good argument that I have seen made on the Republican side of things is “the only thing to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” For this is exactly the point — the gun is a powerful tool in the use of self-defense. However, I would slightly amend this statement: The only way to reliably stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good, well-trained individual with a gun. Which is why, in the end, I am not against guns, just against the way we talk about them. Come on, right, let us rise above the rhetoric of Trump and the NRA, and prove to the country exactly why the Second Amendment is an idea not worth regretting.
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Monday, October 19, 2015
NEWS | 8
Volleyball wins its sixth match in a row Ayrton Ostly @AyrtonOstly
The Cal Poly volleyball team took all of 1 hour and 29 minutes to send UC Riverside home with a 3-0 loss Saturday night at Mott Gym. The Mustangs (14-4, 6-1 Big West) went to work early in the match, converting 13 kills without an error in a 25-7 win in the first set. Freshman outside hitter Adlee Van Winden had four of her 18 kills in the opening set, and the Mustangs never trailed. Similar to last weekend’s match against UC Santa Barbara, the Mustangs had some trouble in the second set. After going up 8-3 following a block by senior outside hitter Hannah Schleis, Cal Poly let the Highlanders (6-14, 1-6) back in the game, tying the score at 12 and later holding on to a 23-22 lead. But Schleis slammed the set-winning kill to make it 26-24 and give the Mustangs the pivotal set win. That would be the closest the Highlanders would come to winning a set against the Mustangs. Van Winden knocked another three kills early on in the third set as Cal Poly opened up an 8-2 lead. From there, the Mustangs maintained that margin and won 25-19 on a kill by junior middle blocker Taylor Gruenewald.
The win was the eighth sweep on the season for the Mustangs and the fourth in their last six games. UC Riverside was unable to attack consistently against Cal Poly, posting a .194 kill percentage for the whole game. Much of that had to do with personnel; the Mustangs’ starting six of Gruenewald, Schleis, Van Winden, sophomores middle blocker Savannah Niemen, libero Bailey Roach and setter Taylor Nelson are an average of 6 feet tall. In contrast, the Highlanders’ starters averaged out at 5-foot-9, and had problems converting attacks against an unrelenting defensive effort by the Mustangs. This win marks the sixth in a row for the Mustangs and maintains their perfect record in October. The Mustangs have gone a combined 18-2 in their past six matches to make a strong statement in conference play. “The team is certainly feeling confident on what they can do on the court,” head coach Sam Crosson said. “Every match for us is different, and it’s good to see they can go into each match and not change how we play depending on who the opponent is.” With the win, the Mustangs maintain their second-place standing in the Big West Conference. Cal Poly volleyball looks to continue its run of dominance in road games against CSUN and Long Beach State next Friday and Saturday, respectively.