Monday, A pr il 2 0, 2 0 15
Established 19 16
w w w. m u s t a n g n e w s . n et
Administrators receive pay increases amid faculty and staff salary dispute What they can buy with their monthly increase: ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY AND STAFF
92
137
Starbucks grande caramel frappuccinos every month
Chipotle carne asada burritos every month
4.5
Starbucks grande caramel frappuccinos every month
3
Chipotle carne asada burritos every month
see page 3 for a more in-depth breakdown
Graphics by Celina Oseguera Data: Sacramento Bee State Worker Salary Database & Letter from the Office of the President
Frances Griffey Special to Mustang News
Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong promised to move forward with plans to increase staff and faculty salaries at a listening session Thursday afternoon. During the Q&A session, which comprised the majority of the event, staff and faculty voiced similar concerns over the fairness of their compensation compared to other uni-
versities, between the Cal Poly colleges and between genders on campus. Armstrong and University Provost Kathleen Enz Finken told attendees that their voices were heard and that they are doing everything they can to be transparent and address this pressing issue. The session filled Julian A. McPhee University Union room 220 with faculty, staff and students. In the Q&A portion of the event, English professor Johanna Rubba said Cal Poly staff
and faculty feel demoralized and want to see action. “I want to see gender gap in salaries closed, and I want more money devoted to faculty salaries,” she said. “It’s got to be there somewhere. If you can hire more administrators and give them big salaries, you can raise faculty salaries. We’re worth it.”
see ADMIN, pg 3.
Greek life off social probation after 13 weeks
ANDREW DARE | COURTESY PHOTO GRAFFITI
| The swastikas were painted across the street from the main house of Alpha Epsilon Pi.
Swastika graffiti near AEPi house not an attack, chapter president says Brenna Swanston @Brenna_Swanston
Graffitied images of swastikas were found on the bike path across the street from the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house this past Saturday night. Aerospace engineering sophomore and Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) chapter president Jake Marguilles said he does not believe the graffiti on California Boulevard was a threat to the
Jewish fraternity. “I don’t think it’s some sort of attack on AEPi necessarily,” Marguilles said. “It’s just antisemitism that we don’t want in our community.” The graffiti also included satanic images and the greek letters for Delta Sigma Phi (DSP), though Marguilles said he doubts Delta Sigma Phi brothers were connected to the vandalism. “I personally don’t think it was a Cal Poly student,” he said. “Be-
cause it says DSP out there, it worries me that this might be something that could sabotage greek life. And that’s probably what it was, in a way — just a really lame attempt at doing that. I don’t think it can really be called an attack on AEPi specifically just by the way it looks out there and its spot on the ground and how far it is away from the house.”
see GRAFFITI, pg 3.
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NE WS
Olivia Proffit @ojproffit
Fraternities and sororities were taken off social probation on Friday after 13 weeks. Chapters can register social events as long as they adhere to the party registration policy, according to Panhellenic Council President Kristen Henry. “There’s definitely a lot of things that we get to start implementing now, program-
ming-wise and from a risk-reduction standpoint. I’m excited to see the new plan and see it put into action,” Henry said. After reported sexual assaults in January, fraternities and sororities were put on social probation for 30 days until they could come up with an action plan to change the culture around sexual assault. They created the Students Taking Action Towards University Safety (STATUS) plan in response. Administration revised the
News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
plan and approved it on March 23. Fraternities signed the revised plan and it was then up to the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) to approve STATUS. Every sorority chapter’s national headquarters reviewed the plan together and separately and gave the chapter presidents permission to sign the plan, according to Henry.
see GREEK, pg 2.
Monday, April 20, 2015
NEWS | 2
ASI presidential debate ends with a shock Benjy Egel @BenjyEgel
Thursday’s Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) presidential debate opened with three candidates competing against each other on stage. When it ended, there were only two. Write-in candidate and environmental management and protection junior Kyle Jordan withdrew from the competition in his closing remarks, but not before endorsing civil engineering senior Lance Collins over agricultural business junior Owen Schwaegerle. “I hope that the best candidate for this position will win, and I believe that is Lance Collins,” Jordan told a crowd of students gathered around the outdoor stage in the Julian A. McPhee University Union (UU). Jordan, who transferred into Cal Poly before the start of the year, dropped out of the race because he felt the other candidates could do a better job of representing students across campus. He has served on current ASI President and graduate student Joi Sullivan’s executive cabinet and still plans on being active in student government, especially if he attends graduate school at Cal Poly. But for the time being, he’s more interested in handling administrative affairs than directly
GREEK continued from pg 1. It took about four weeks for the National Panhellenic Conference to approve the STATUS plan, according to Interfraternity Council President and kinesiology senior Alex Horncliff. “I do think (social probation) was extended maybe longer than
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS CALLING IT QUITS | Following the ASI presidential debate, write-in candidate and environmental management and protection junior Kyle Jordan dropped out of the race.
representing students. “I definitely feel like I have the right critical mind to solve a lot of issues on campus, but I realize that I don’t have enough of the connections on campus to make the decisions students want,” Jordan said. Former candidate Will Blumhardt was disqualified from last year’s presidential race. He eventually joined Sullivan’s campaign team and now serves on her executive cabinet alongside Jordan.
Jordan supported Collins in part because of his history with orientation programs. When all three candidates were asked whether they supported mandatory Week of Welcome (WOW) and Soar programming, Collins was the only one to respond affirmatively. “Lance has worked tirelessly for the last four years as both a Poly Rep and as a WOW leader; and then finally (as an) Ori-
entation Board leader to make the experience for students on campus the best it can be,” Jordan said. “The idea is taking WOW week and making that kind of connection that everyone makes on campus for the rest of the year.” Collins and Schwaegerle both had booths at the event staffed by members of their campaign teams. Schwaegerle’s supporters handed out lemonade and SLO
Donut Company doughnuts, while Collins’ team passed out root beer floats. Schwaegerle was just as surprised as the rest of the audience by Jordan’s statement at the end of the debate, he said. While he didn’t plan on Collins receiving an endorsement from one of their competitors, he has six days to win over students until voting opens on April 22. “That took me a little by sur-
prise ... I didn’t expect that to happen,” Schwaegerle said. “It’s anyone’s game at the moment, but ... I’m confident that the students will make the best decision.” Voting will open Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. and close Thursday at 7 a.m. Students can vote for Collins or Schwaegerle as well as Board of Directors representatives for their academic colleges through the Cal Poly Portal.
it needed to be, but we got the work that we needed to get done,” Horncliff said. “The university held their agreement exactly as they said they would and I think we are on the way to really making a framework for how a lot of colleges will tackle sexual assault.” During social probation, fraternities and sororities also made changes to the party regis-
tration policy. They added a section called “Risk Management,” which outlines how events should be run to reduce risks, according to Henry. According to the online document, the Risk Management section includes: • Prohibition of activities that “encourage inappropriate drinking behaviors” such as
drinking games and shots • Implementation of sober monitors who are responsible for “preventing open containers from leaving the facility” • Developing a wristband system to identify those over 21 years old • “Fraternity and Sorority Life Programs will review the educational program created in
house that want to host events with alcohol” and designate a responsible person to be sober monitor at events • Some members of the chapter will serve as sober monitors at parties that are exclusively between two or more chapters Fraternities and sororities are expected to follow these new guidelines now that they are off
social probation. “I’m excited but there’s definitely still more to do,” Horncliff said. “We really have to keep our end of the bargain because at the end of the day, it’s great that we’re off social probation but we have to really focus on the reason why we were on social probation in the first place, and work to solve that issue.”
Monday, April 20, 2015
ADMIN continued from pg 1. Armstrong said salary increases are a priority for Cal Poly. “This is (the) No. 1 priority for us: to increase the salaries of our faculty and staff. We cannot continue to have Cal Poly be the excellent university it is today into the future if we don’t do that,” Armstrong said. $2.5 million has been allocated for salary adjustments,
$500,000 of which is being processed now. Come July 1, $1,000,000 will be implemented for the fiscal year, $500,000 will be given the following year and the final $500,000 will be incorporated after that. In comparison, the 20 highest-ranked administration employees received a total of $147,000 in salary increases from 2013 to 2014, according to data from the Sacramento Bee State Worker Salary Database.
NEWS | 3
Armstrong said the $2.5 million salary increase isn’t enough. “We need two, three times $2.5 million, easy, to move where we need to move,” he said. Where we need to move, Armstrong said, isn’t only toward an increase in pay. “It’s not just (about) paying more, it’s also (about) hiring additional faculty and staff to make class availability even better,” he said. Though the state has given
money to Cal Poly, Armstrong said it isn’t enough and that he is trying to come up with ways to get more money in order to satisfy the staff and faculty’s financial needs. “I want you to know that we are on the same page,” Armstrong told the audience. “We are striving to put additional resources (and) additional plans into place so that we can do more.” Armstrong said student suc-
GRAFFITI continued from pg 1. DSP President and business administration senior Derek Morefield said there is “no bad blood” between DSP and AEPi. “There would be no reason for any of us to do something like that, let alone tag our letters on it,” Morefield said. “It’d be a pretty stupid move to do something like that.” DSP’s fraternity house was also vandalized this past weekend either late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Morefield said the words painted on the house were illegible. “I’m disgusted,” he said. “There’s no place on Cal Poly’s campus for graffitying anything.” DSP submitted a report of the vandalism on their house to the San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD), and an investigation is ongoing. SLOPD has not yet received a report of the vandalism across from the AEPi house. Marguilles contrasted the crime with an attack on UC Davis’ chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, in which vandals defaced the fraternity house with painted swastikas. Marguilles said that while the incident at UC Davis
ANDREW DARE | COURTESY PHOTO CLEAN UP | Alpha Epsilon Pi brothers cleaned the swastika graffiti off the bike path Sunday afternoon.
carried an obvious and direct message; last night’s vandalism in San Luis Obispo did not. “Probably, some kids just looked up and said, ‘Oh look, there’s an Israeli flag, let’s just put down a swastika because what else are we going to put down?’”
Marguilles said. He said Cal Poly’s chapter of AEPi has not had problems with antisemitic vandalism in the past. “Really, over the past few years we’ve realized how lucky we are in SLO, in a place that’s not over-
ly political,” Marguilles said. “We let each other be, let each other do what we want to do. We feel lucky in that respect.” Marguilles and other members of AEPi used cleaning solution to remove the swastikas and other graffiti at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
cess depends heavily on faculty and staff success, and he recognized that increased salaries will help faculty and staff be more successful. “Our success is dependent on your continued commitment to be the best you can be, and we need to equip you and reward you so you continue to do that,” he said. “If we have the opportunity to do more, we obviously will,” Enz Finken said. “And we will
be trying to work on a more long-term plan that would address the concerns overall of this campus.”
see mustangnews.net for the full story
Monday, April 20, 2015
ARTS | 4
From ‘Teflon Galaxy’ to a prophetic dance, exhibition shows off student artwork
DYL AN SUN | MUSTANG NE WS MOMENTS FROZEN IN SPACE
| Kendra Dimino placed first in the exhibition’s photography category with her photo series featuring her kitchen pans posed as planets in space, called “Teflon Galaxy.”
Annie Vainshtein @AnnieVain
Each project held a strong presence in the University Art Gallery’s student art reception and award ceremony this past Thursday night. The exhibition housed work from all across the art and design department, including studio art, graphic design and photography. The space was full of color and promise. Every piece stood with conviction. The crowd was respectful, exuding an air of awe as they examined each piece of work. The sounds of video music pulsed through the covered walls. Some student artists received awards for their classwork.
Lauren Manning, art and design senior Manning’s piece, entitled “Center,” came in first place for Best in Show: Studio. The piece took six weeks to make, which she said was longer than usual. MN: What inspired you to make this piece? LM: It’s a concept that another piece I made was an iteration of. It’s this idea of, like, trying to make a visual metaphor for how people influence you in your life. The idea was that you to yourself are very real and you have all your thoughts and feelings that you don’t have to explain to other people, and you fully understand them, but then trying to empathize with other people — the only real way you can understand what’s going on with them is
DYL AN SUN | MUSTANG NE WS “CENTER”
| Lauren Manning won Best in Show: Studio with her paint piece.
through language, which is really shallow and difficult at times. MN: Who’s in the painting? LM: The images in the background are my family members, and I projected them onto (the subject of painting) Tenney. They’re always around you, and you grow up in context of them, and you can’t separate who you are from your family members. You never know them as well as you know yourself, though you think you know them really well. My brother appears a lot in the painting. The rest of it was abstracted shapes from other images that I have. Kendra Dimino, art and design senior Dimino placed first in the photography category. Her photo collection, a piece called “Teflon Galaxy,” won Best in Show: Photo. The project emerged from the remains of another assignment she had done of abstract kitchen elements. “Teflon Galaxy,” however, focused just on her pans. MN: What led you to the idea of this project? KD: I took out the handle of the pan ... and it looked really neat. I got a lot of comments that it looked “otherwordly.” So I got the idea for a final project to photograph every pan I had in my kitchen, ‘cause I noticed that they each had these characteristics that reminded me of a planet. Like I have a pan with grill marks, and they reminded me of the spiral-y lines on Jupiter. And I have one that looks like rings. And I had one with grease stains, and it reminds me of Earth. MN: How did you craft the rest of the project? KD: So what I did was I took these in my kitchen and then I did a lot of editing and warping to make it look like rings or to give them coloring that would be
DYLAN SUN | MUSTANG NE WS “SPIRIT-LED” ART | Charles Wilton showed an abstract video of himself dancing.
synonymous with a planet — the eight planets. And then I really wanted them to look like Hubble Space photographs. I was really, really excited about this, and now I’m even more excited that it’s a winning piece. Charles Wilton, art and design junior Charles Wilton received an honorable mention for his studio piece, “Requiem Dance.” At first glance, it looked holographic, almost pixelated, with mesmerizing colors and motion. The video was of him dancing, playing in reverse and in loops. It was projected onto a large screen, and through headphones students could hear unscripted recordings of a memory,
one that was highly personal. It played to the musical stylings of M83. The piece was for a class in which Wilton was given a prompt to perform a prophetic dance. It took Wilton about a week and a half to come up with an idea, but less than a week to execute it. MN: Can you tell me a little bit about the process of making it? CW: The prompt was for it to be spirit-led or emotions or external problems, and with the project, it ended up being led by all of that. It brought up these thoughts and issues from now 13 years ago, from when my uncle passed away. And it just kind of came together like that in two or three days. It’s the only really personal work I’ve done — a lot to churn up.
SLO Brew
Aisuru Sushi Monday, AprilSpencer 20, 2015 Makenzie’s
Farmer’s Market
Kokoro Sushi
ARTS | 5
Brighten your weekdays with the best deals in town 6
Coming off of a hard day of work or classes, sometimes all you crave is a meal that fills you up without draining your wallet. Luckily, San Luis Obispo eateries are privy to this fact and offer some pretty nifty deals Monday through Thursday. We’ve sifted through these deals and found the best ones in town — check them out below.
2
3
5 see mustangnews.net for the full multimedia story
1
4 IMAGE VIA GOOGLE MAPS GR APHIC BY R ACHEL SUN & GEORGIE DE MAT TOS
1. Farmers’ Market 4. High Street Deli 2. Aisuru Sushi 5. SLO Brew 3. Spencer Makenzie’s 6. Kokoro Sushi
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
SLO Brew $1.00 tacos
$2.00 California Rolls at Kokoro Sushi and Aisuru Sushi
50 cent wings after 4 p.m. at Charlie’s Place Wing Wednesday
SLO Farmers’ Market
Buy one taco get another free from 3-5 p.m. at Spencer Makenzie’s After 4 p.m. every day High Street Deli offers sandwiches for $5.50 during their 420 deal
Monday, April 20, 2015
OPINION | 6 MUSTANG NEWS Graphic Arts Building Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
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“... or mouth”
End the Boston bomber Eric Stubben @ericstubben
Eric Stubben is a mechanical engineering junior and Mustang News conservative columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News. April 15, 2013, was one of those “remember where you were” days. The bombings at the Boston Marathon shook the entire nation and the world. The largest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 reminded us all that terrorism is not a threat to be reckoned with. After the dust settled, more than 260 people were injured and three were left dead. A manhunt ensued for days before a massive interdepartmental collaboration reined in two suspects. Here’s a side note that I must make clear from the beginning: I will not refer to any of the Boston Marathon bombers by name. I personally believe that a person (or in this case, two people) who commits a crime as heinous and disrespectful as either of the Boston bombers should not be publically named. Therefore, from here on out this column, I will refer to the surviving bomber as simply the “Boston bomber.” As the memory of the bombing fades, the reality of the situation is still present. Two weeks
ago, the Boston bomber was convicted on 30 criminal counts, 17 of which have the possibility of execution. In the aftermath of the convictions, the parents of one of the victims – 8-year-old Martin Richard – wrote an editorial published by the Boston Globe that requested dropping the death penalty. “We are in favor of and would support the Department of Justice in taking the death penalty off the table in exchange for the defendant spending the rest of his life in prison without any possibility of release and waiving all of his rights to appeal.” I hold the parents’ opinion with the upmost respect. The tragedy and pain they’ve suffered over the past two years is likely more than most will suffer cumulatively over a lifetime. But, I cannot agree that the death penalty should be removed. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. The Boston bomber must be executed. In all cases regarding terrorism, I support making the lives of terrorists a living Hell. A person, or group of people, who kills others for disagreeing with a certain perspective of life does not deserve the same basic rights that humans worldwide deserve. What often makes the lives of terrorists worse is giving them exactly what they don’t want. In many cases, terrorists are caught in plotting or in the act of martyrdom – dying for their cause. During theses cases, I’m
more inclined to support a tumultuous life in prison because it’s far from what the terrorist wanted. A slow, uncelebrated death within the confines of three frigid cement walls and a rusted bar door is far less “glamorous” to a terrorist than a fiery death inflicting death or injury on the masses. The case of the Boston bomber is different. In this case, surveillance caught both bombers fleeing the scene directly after they set down their backpacks containing the bombs. Clearly, neither of the bombers had any intention of acting as martyrs. Consider the lack of consequences that would likely be present if the Boston bomber is sentenced to life in prison. A life in a jail cell, however miserable or secure, is a lifetime that the Boston bomber can spend basking in his glory of being forever remembered in terrorism lore. The bomber would not be forced to die against his will but would spend a lifetime living in the comforts of knowing his actions successfully disturbed a culture he wanted no part of. As a country, we must continue to send and reiterate the message that we will not support those who commit or harbor acts of terrorism. As American conflicts wind down in the Middle East and escalated combat against terrorism is extremely unpopular, our message must start at home. The sentencing of the Boston
the right angle bomber is an important step to combatting terrorism on our home soil. I do not agree with the de-escalation of Guantanamo Bay or the removal of Cuba from the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list. Yet, this sentencing can set a precedent that we will not allow terrorists to perform deadly acts on our soil and continue to live a life of self-glory. Part of the Martin family letter reads, “As long as the defendant is in the spotlight, we have no
choice but to live a story told on his terms, not ours.” While I cannot reiterate enough how deeply I respect the opinion of the Richard family, I believe the death penalty is the right way to end the story of the Boston bomber. While the Boston bombings temporarily took away part of the comfort and confidence from this great country, the death penalty can take away one thing the bomber clearly valued: his life.
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Monday, April 20, 2015
SPORTS | 8
Baseball drops rubber match to UC Santa Barbara, 7-3
CHRISTA LAM | MUSTANG NE WS MARKY MARK | Cal Poly’s leadoff hitter, junior second baseman Mark Mathias, went 2-for-4 with one RBI on Sunday in Cal Poly’s losing effort at UC Santa Barbara. Mathias is batting a team-high .347 on the season.
Mustang News Staff Report @CPMustangSports
Having won five straight games entering the series against rival UC Santa Barbara, the Cal Poly baseball team was streaking. But in a battle of who’s hotter, the Gauchos validated their top 10 ranking by taking two games out of three this weekend, including Sunday’s 7-3 contest in Santa Barbara. The Mustangs (16-20, 5-4 Big West) dropped to fifth place in the Big West standings with the loss, while UC Santa Barbara
(28-9, 6-3), ranked Nos. 9-11 in the major NCAA Division I polls this week, moved into a tie for second. UC Irvine leads the conference with a 10-2 record in Big West games, while Cal State Fullerton and the Gauchos sit at 6-3. With a losing record overall this season, Cal Poly will have to win the conference title to receive the Big West’s automatic bid for postseason play. On Sunday, the Gauchos broke a 1-1 deadlock with a threerun third inning that Cal Poly could never come back from.
Senior pitcher Taylor Chris got the loss for the Mustangs after giving up the winning runs in relief of freshman starter Erich Uelmen, who lasted 1 ⅓ innings. The game marked Uelmen’s first start at the collegiate level. Cal Poly is now 2-7 with a 6.87 staff ERA in Sunday games this year. Cal Poly got RBIs from junior second baseman Mark Mathias, sophomore left fielder Kevin Morgan and freshman pinch hitter Josh George. Mathias and junior right fielder John
Schuknecht finished with two hits apeice to lead the Mustangs on offense. UC Santa Barbara first baseman Robby Nesovic, the conference leader with 36 knocked in for the year, torched Cal Poly for four hits and two more RBIs on Sunday. Junior lefty Domenic Mazza got the win for the Gauchos on the mound. Cal Poly had a chance at a series win against one of the nation’s top teams on Friday night,
but imploded in the late innings. After leading 6-3 entering the frame, Cal Poly surrendered five runs in the eighth inning and eventually lost 8-7. Senior right-handed closer Danny Zandona gave up the runs, along with three walks and four hits. The Mustangs came back on Saturday to edge the Gauchos 4-3 thanks to three-hit days by the top three in the batting order: Mathias, junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen and junior
designated hitter Brian Mundell. Freshman southpaw Kyle Smith earned the win after scattering six hits and giving up three runs in 8 ⅓ innings of work. Cal Poly will travel north to play Santa Clara in a nonconference matchup on Tuesday before welcoming Long Beach State at Baggett Stadium this weekend. Stephan Teodosescu contributed to this report.