Thur sday, Janur ar y 14 , 20 16
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JOEL AWICH A MAN ON A MISSION Michael Frank @CPMustangSports
With five seconds left in the Big West Tournament title game, Joel Awich closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch. When the buzzer sounded, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team was going to the Big Dance. “It was one of those moments that you see on TV as a kid. It was a dream come true. It was amazing,” Awich said about the Mustangs’ 2013-14 NCAA Tournament berth. With a stellar start to this season, the senior forward and team captain is trying to steal that incredible feeling back. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Awich had an
unconventional childhood. After his mother moved away early in his life, Awich’s uncle stepped in to raise him and his younger sister, Audrey. “It was a very interesting experience. I wasn’t technically an orphan, but I was raised by multiple people in my family besides my parents,” Awich said. “I’m happy my uncle was there for us.” At an early age, Awich learned the value of discipline and solemnity. Continued on page 6
NAH HA | MUSTANG NE WS
News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 7 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
Thursday, January 14, 2016
NEWS | 2
University outlines changes for more inclusivity
ANDREW EPPERSON | MUSTANG NE WS CULTUR AL CHANGE ON CAMPUS
Naba Ahmed @nabaahmed
Cal Poly released proposed changes to the university’s Diversity and Inclusivity office last Friday. The changes were made after weeks of student protests and the resignation of former Executive Director of University Diversity and Inclusivity Annie Holmes. President Jeffrey Armstrong and Interim Executive Director
| SLO Solidarity has looked over the proposed changed rules to Diversity and Inclusivity, and is asking for Cal Poly to do more for minority students and faculty.
of University Diversity and Inclusivity Jean DeCosta oversaw the creation of the Diversity Strategic Framework and the draft Diversity Action Plan. In SLO Solidarity’s list of 41 demands, they asked for an action plan before the start of Winter 2016. According to Armstrong, the action plan was shared before the end of Fall 2015 with the Academic Senate Executive Committee, Campus Advisory Council and
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) leadership. However, SLO Solidarity’s demands were not the only influential factors in prompting the new diversity and inclusivity policies, DeCosta said in an email to Mustang News. “SLO Solidarity is one of the many voices involved in this campus-wide discussion, and everyone who has weighed in so far (including administration,
which already had many diversity-related endeavors under discussion when this issue came to the forefront last quarter) shares the same goal of improving our campus’s diversity and inclusivity,” DeCosta said. The Diversity Strategic Framework addresses four main goals: diversifying the campus community, supporting and retaining a diverse campus community, enhancing campus climate and
GEORGIE DE MATTOS | MUSTANG NE WS MARCH
| Thousands of students and faculty marched together to protest hate speech on campus after Klepfer received a death threat.
exemplifying inclusive excellence in Learn by Doing, scholarship, teaching and learning. The Diversity Strategic Framework and the action plan go hand in hand, DeCosta said. “As you review the items under the Suggested Action Items category, you will see there are actions which can fall under one or more of the goals,” DeCosta said. For example, the first item in the action plan is to include more diversity education in Week of Welcome (WOW). This addresses both areas of enhancing campus climate and supporting and retaining a diverse campus community, DeCosta said. “The efforts made by New Student and Transition Programs to expand their programming in this area will help to inform and educate students in this critical area, and also, will help to improve campus climate as new students attend classes, interact with students from different backgrounds,” DeCosta said. SLO Solidarity has made advances by working with the administration to achieve common goals and changes. SLO Solidarity organizer and political science sophomore Matt Klepfer said there are more changes that should be made — such as creating a position in the Cross Cultural Centers for all culturally based clubs and organizations, including more diversity education in WOW and adding “mandatory cultural awareness” online programs for all students. Despite the expected changes, the vague wording of the action plan leaves room for interpreta-
tion, Klepfer said. “By using vague words like ‘continue,’ ‘consider,’ ‘improve’ and ‘collaborate,’ the administration is able to decrease responsibility on their end while showing the campus community they are doing something,” Klepfer said. “I’m hopeful, however, that the following action items they listed in one of the three action plans we were sent will come to fruition quickly and in accordance with their timeline on their most recent action plan.” The administration and SLO Solidarity’s goals have overlapped. Therefore, the student body must help in achieving these goals, Klepfer said. “I ask myself this question: ‘If SLO Solidarity were to dissolve now that the administration has released an action plan, would anything actually change on campus?’ I’m not so hopeful,” Klepfer said. “If we, the student body, want to see any change, we have to keep the pressure on. We have to hold our administration accountable to follow through with their action plans and to follow through with their rhetoric of wanting to make Cal Poly a better place for underrepresented students.” Even with the combined efforts of the administration, SLO Solidarity and other advocates, implementing change for diversity and inclusivity is still a work in progress, DeCosta said. “I expect to see more ideas and changes as we continue our work and focus our energy on implementing the draft plan and bringing about systemic change,” DeCosta said.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
NEWS | 3
Computer science sophomore killed in train incident Gina Randazzo @Gina_Randazzo9
COURTESY PHOTO BELOV ED FRIEND
| Wolf ’s friends w i l l remember him for his goof y a nd positive attitude.
Computer science sophomore Aaron Wolf was killed by an Amtrak train Saturday evening near Sweet Bay Lane in San Luis Obispo, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. Wolf’s death is still under investigation by the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office. His autopsy was conducted on Wednesday. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity. On Monday night, some of Wolf’s roommates, friends and brothers came together to share stories about Wolf and talk about who he was. Materials engineering sophomore and Wolf ’s roommate Luc Tousignant talked about Wolf ’s goofy attitude and pleasant company. “You could hang out with him every minute and he would always have something new to say and have a new way to entertain you,” Tousignant said. “He just made everyone happy.” Computer engineering sopho-
more and TKE member Dane Low talked about Wolf’s talent for music and passion for Super Smash Bros. Wolf played piano, trombone, guitar, drums, ukulele and the cajon. “You could put any instrument in front of him and he could figure it out. But he never bragged about it; he was so humble,” Low said. “Same goes for Smash Bros. He wrecked everyone as Bowser.” Friends shared memories about Wolf ’s easygoing nature and calming presence. They talked about Wolf’s ability to get through any bad news or stressful situation with ease, and about his natural intelligence. “He probably went to class half as much as me and made dean’s list,” civil engineering sophomore Jennifer White said. “He just knew everything and got stuff done without trying.” Wolf was originally from Danville, Calif., where he lived with his mother Marcia Gerg, father Mitchell Wolf, sister Amanda Wolf and
grandfather Robert Alexander. According to Amanda Wolf, he had recently accepted an internship at Cisco Systems in San Francisco and was planning on spending the summer with his family in the East Bay. “He was so gentle and brought so much joy and a sense of calm to our family,” Amanda Wolf said. “He was all of our best friends.” Business administration junior and TKE president CJ Estores has set up a memorial fund on gofundme.com to help the Wolf family cover the cost of a memorial service. Estores was also Wolf ’s “big brother” in TKE. He said that a loss in the brotherhood only made it stronger. “I think it makes you appreciate the relationships that you have, not only with the people in your fraternity, but with your mother and your father, your brothers and sisters,” Estores said. “Go and tell your family that you love them.”
Thursday, January 14, 2016
ARTS | 4
The University Art Gallery: Inspiring students and showcasing creativity
JASON HUNG | MUSTANG NE WS A SACRED SPACE | Students work hard for the opportunity to have their work displayed in the University Art Gallery. The gallery, however, functions both as an exhibition venue and a soure of inspiration.
Madi Salvati @MadiSalvati
The walls were bare: It was blank space on every side of the medium-sized room, which seemed off-putting for an art gallery. But the blankness of the walls is some kind of analogy for what is about to occur in this room in a few days. The walls are the canvas, waiting for someone to tell a story, hang a picture or, in this case, paint them by a process of layering acrylics. This is the University Art Gallery, a segment of the Art and Design Department. Gallery specialist Garet Zook explained that this is a place for student art to be represented on all ends of the spectrum.
“The gallery is primarily for the students,” Zook said. “So we try to represent the department really well with studio art, photography and graphic design.” According to Zook, as a part of the CSU system, in order to have an accredited art department there has to be a gallery. Art and design senior Charles Wilton works at the student gallery as an assistant, helping with the various shows. “The art featured here is varied,” Wilton said. “We have student shows and also feature outside artists. At the last show, we featured photographer Clint Baclawski.” The gallery has welcomed quite a few notable artists for exhibitions and installations.
“Every outside artist we’ve featured here is notable in their own way,” Wilton said. “We’ve had Erin Draplin, who had an entire wall of posters. And Heather L. Johnson, who did stitching and drawings and left them in places for people to find.” This month the University Art Gallery is featuring the art of Erin Curtis, who will be working on an installation piece during the show. “There will be some paintings in the show,” Curtis said. “But I am also going to be working on a site specific installation painting here.” The show is called “100% Acrylic,” as Curtis will be working mostly with acrylics and other materials — some she says are new to her.
“I hope people find it exciting,” Curtis said. ”It’s going to be a little bit crazy.” “A little bit crazy” and full of inspiration is what the University Art Gallery aims to be for art and design students, as well as for anyone who walks through the gallery. “This is tremendously important to Cal Poly,” Wilton said. “This is about getting the extra exposure, meeting other artists and being exposed to other methods of other people.” For art and design students, this is a prime spot to gather new ideas, inspiration and to be encouraged by other artists. “You can come here and realize you might share the same struggle
with some of the more successful artists out there,” Wilton said. For students who might not have the urge to put paint to canvas, this gallery is also there to inspire them. “There are just so many different departments at a polytechnic school and they are usually really open to working together,” Zook said. “I’m really hoping to collaborate with other departments — have shows together and group projects together where artists can influence architects and vice versa.” The University Art Gallery will have five shows this 2015-16 academic year with Erin Curtis being their third show and second featured artist. “We have a juried student show
and a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) exhibition for graduating seniors in the spring,” Wilton said. “These are shows for students to strive for.” Along with showcasing student art and outside featured artists, the gallery is about Learn by Doing. “Learn by Doing is the most important part,” Zook said. “It’s about different creative minds getting together and working with each other.” It’s also about students being able to showcase their art and be proud of what they’ve created. “You can learn a lot from this gallery,” Curtis said. “It’s one thing to see your work in the classroom, but it’s another to see it in a gallery.”
Thursday, January 14, 2016
ARTS | 5
K AORI FUNAHASHI | COURTESY PHOTOS SOMETHING DIFFERENT | Held twice a week, Beleza Nights at Novo include diverse music from local DJs and a unique menu as an alternative to other bars downtown. They run from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Friday and Saturday.
Inside Beleza Nights at Novo Michelle Zaludek @michellenistic
Amid a strip of bars pounding with top hits, Novo is surprisingly refreshing. Soft pinks and blues illuminate the small bar bustling with people and servers carrying appetizers while a DJ stands bobbing his head near the front window. The music is upbeat, but quiet enough that patrons can talk over the din. Welcome to Beleza Nights at Novo: a free, unique experience that sprouts up in Downtown San Luis Obispo twice a week. The name “beleza” shares Novo’s lingual origin: Portuguese. Novo means “new” and beleza means “beauty” or “beautiful.” “It’s also a greeting in Brazilian culture,” said Molly Kiely, Novo’s marketing manager. “People walk up to their friends and call out ‘Beleza!’ to them.” Students looking for a distinct atmosphere downtown — or
those who may be without a reliable watering hole after SLO Brew’s doors closed earlier this month to work on moving — may want to head to Beleza Nights, running 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Friday and Saturday. Beleza Nights has been an official staple of Novo for about three years, according to Kiely. The event offers unique features such as an appetizer menu that’s accessible until midnight and an outdoor dance floor open during warmer months. Kiely described the atmosphere as a place for “young professiona ls,” including “fourth- or fifth-year students who aren’t into going crazy, but still want to have a good time.” Additionally, Novo keeps a rotation of four to six local DJs who work to make each night different. “With the group of DJs that we have now, we each have individual styles and ability levels,” Novo DJ and Cal Poly
alumnus Damian Camacho said. “But I think that the one thing we really excel at is being responsive.” That’s important for Novo. With a bar that caters to wide age and personality ranges — usually people in their mid-20s to early 40s — the DJs have to be able to gauge what music fits the crowd at any given time and create a festive mood for the group. “I think you just gotta play it by ear,” Novo DJ and biomedical engineering junior Jack Ross said. “If an older crowd shows up then I go for disco, but if a younger crowd shows up, I go for throwbacks … I figure if people are throwing their hands up in the air and singing along, then I’ve accomplished the atmosphere I want.” Because of that, Beleza Nights feature a more diverse array of music that isn’t as common in other bars. “If I go to MoTav, I’m gonna
hear Fetty Wap,” Ross said. “If I go to The Library, I’m gonna hear Fetty Wap. If I go to SLO Brew, guess what I’m gonna listen to: the newest Fetty Wap song. And they do what they do really well, but Novo comes along and provides the atmosphere of something different. Like, do I play Fetty Wap? Yeah. But not all the time.” Not to say that Novo doesn’t get some of its inspiration from other bars. The nightlife in San Luis Obispo is, after all, extremely condensed, and most people in the business know and appreciate each other’s work. “It’s a very difficult thing to quantify, really,” Camacho said. “Because we do play a lot of the same music that other DJs play … and a lot of (DJs downtown) have been doing it for years,
and they work really hard and a lot of them are better than me. Like, I’ve gone out and heard something and just been like: ‘What — what is this? This is incredible!’ So, I’m simultaneously a fan, but trying to do the same thing.” Novo’s attempt to create a unique space based on who’s at the bar on a given night allows them the opportunity to make Beleza Nights one of a kind. But one of Novo’s biggest draws — the fluidity of its music — is also one of the DJs’ biggest challenges. Trying to find a balance between what songs the DJ loves and what the crowd is responding to can be difficult if the DJ and the crowd just aren’t on the same frequency, music-wise. “I think it’s important to check my ego at the door, in a way,”
Camacho said. “Because, you know, every DJ puts in hours of trying to find music and things they really love and the things you want to play sometimes don’t go over that well.” “I don’t want it to sound like we’re doing something revolutionary,” Camacho said. “We’re just playing dance music … but I think the packaging — the outdoor dance floor and just the vibe of people — makes a big difference.” Altogether, the Novo staff works to bring a collective unique experience to the downtown nightlife. “I think the staff does such a good job of that,” Ross said. “The bartenders are amazing … the bouncer knows every single person who walks through that door … So I can’t help but feel lucky to work here.”
OPINION | 6
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Victimization as objectification Brandon Bartlett @bacbartlett
Brandon Bartlett is an English sophomore and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News editorial. Through the past several decades there has been an ever-widening shift in our rhetoric to make room for those who have been hurt and abused by the world around them. From laws that help people who have been unfairly disadvantaged by our system and its history, to criminal defenses that find abused women innocent when they kill their abuser in self-defense; we seem to be moving ever closer to a more understanding view of humanity. And we absolutely deserve to celebrate this. We have shaken loose the fetters of barbarian justice which discriminately dooms some to lives of quiet desperation as their skin color or sex organs silently work against them. But in the great throwing off of chains, we must be careful to not take up new shackles which will further pin the new thinker. And I fear this is exactly what we have done. We have, as many have done before us, taken too much of a good thing. The dragon has eaten its tail and our desire to empower victims of unjust situations by liberating them has turned to stripping them of agency and systematically objectifying huge
swaths of individuals. It has been noted the increasing regularity of labeling someone as a “victim.” Victim, in this context, merely means guiltless of the wrong done to or by them: They are a product of a system and, hence, not culpable for actions taken as such. And while the former is a necessity for justice, it is the latter which should be feared. Secondly, what does it mean to be objectified? Although there is debate on the exact definition, at the concept’s core it is to treat someone as though they do not have agency or will of their own; it is to treat someone as a mechanism of a larger system. At this point, my reader, you should begin to see the similarities between these actions: In both cases, one is assuming that the person in question has no agency of their own. But equally so, you should notice the difference: Objectification is done for the sake of the party doing the objectifying, whereas victimization is done for the sake of the party being labeled a victim. And while this distinction of motivation is very important, the fact that the two actions are, in practice, so similar raises some questions — especially when the reason one is labeled a victim is often for the sake of empowerment. Take, for instance, the stronger form of this as example: In a recent discussion I had with one of my liberal friends, they told me that African-American individuals who were raised in unprivileged areas are not cul-
pable for crimes as they have been socialized into a world in which they are constantly identified as criminals by the media, police and society. Which is to say, because they were raised in a certain environment which criminalizes them, they had no choice but to become criminals. And, of course, if someone had no choice, then they are not culpable for their actions. One quickly sees the problem with this as soon as the shoe is put on the other foot, such as in Ethan Couch’s “affluenza” case. But now, let us take a softer form of the ideology. Such as when rape is conflated with having sex after drunken consent is given. Removing the lens of gender for a moment, what is being said here is that after a person makes a choice to lower their inhibitions, the culpability of the outcome of that choice is now placed on someone else who may also have their inhibitions lowered. And, as we have already discussed, it is this divorcing of action from culpability which is a key factor in both labeling someone as a victim and treating them as an object. Moreover, let us examine how this is being done. The new trend of stricter policies concerning sexual assault comes out of the feminist movement, a movement whose goal is to empower women. However, when, as has been documented, you have a situation in which both parties are intoxicated but only the
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Return to rationality man gets punished for the supposed rape, we are, necessarily, implying that men have a greater capacity for agency than women. Which is to say that we are further objectif ying women through our attempts to empower them. And this, obviously, is a bad thing.
While I am proud to be a part of a society which attempts to better understand the motivations and psychology of a person before passing judgement, I also implore you, for the sake of those who have been systematically discriminated against, to stop treating people as objects and let us stop their further victimization.
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MICHAEL FR ANK | MUSTANG NE WS BIG MAN
| Awich towered over his peers as a 5’11” eighth grader, but lacked the technical skills of more experienced players. He worked with his mother on low-post drills.
Continued from page 1
“I went to a private elementary school, top-notch education, Catholic-style,” Awich said. “In kindergarten, all of us were praying as the nuns were passing out the food. I opened up my eyes and started making jokes during the prayer. The nuns took me aside and beat my knuckles with keys.” After living in Kenya for eight years, Awich and his sister moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he lived for five years with
his grandmother. While there, Awich’s mother visited him and bought him a gift that would change his life: a basketball. The move Before the start of eighth grade, Awich found himself on the move again – this time to the United States. His mother Lynette, a former player on the Kenyan Women’s National Basketball Team, brought her children over to the U.S. and began teaching Joel the fundamentals of the game.
Then 5-foot-11, Awich was a man among boys at Cleveland Middle School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Still, he had to hit the gym almost every day with his mom, focusing on the simple things: layups, footwork and his mom’s favorite, free throws. “She loves free throws. Every time I miss a free throw, even now, she calls me about it and says I need to get back to the gym,” Awich said. As the next four years of high school went by, Awich progressed steadily. He won the Most
Improved Player award three times while playing for Tartan High School near his home in Maplewood, Minnesota. Only a two-star recruit, Awich’s college basketball outlook looked dim. Then Cal Poly took a chance on him. His progression has been incredible, with his points and rebounds per game averages rising steadily over the course of his career. Awich still credits his success to his mother, the woman who, as he says, taught him everything about the sport
he now loves. “As teens, (my sister and I) thought we knew everything. I’m so happy my mother dealt with us,” Awich said. “She always had our best interest in her heart.” As a freshman for the Mustangs, Awich struggled. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound youngster wasn’t ready for the physicality of Division I college basketball, and spent the season limited to practices as a redshirt. Continued on page 8
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Thursday, January 14, 2016
SPORTS | 8 The forward has also emerged as a defensive presence in the paint. His 15 blocks on the year are by far the most from any Mustang, with senior forward Zach Gordon’s six rejections the next-highest. His stats have only risen as his minutes continue to increase as well. Awich’s dedication to self-im-
provement has led to a boom in almost all statistical categories, making him even think about the possibility of basketball after college. “Sure, I’ve thought about it. If someone wants me, I’ll go for it,” said Awich on playing in the NBA or overseas. “Who wouldn’t? It’s every kid’s dream.” Far improved and motivated as al-
ways, Awich is leading the Mustangs in points and rebounds as they try to recapture the magic that led them to March Madness in 2013-14. Only time will tell if Awich can lead the Mustangs to where they want to go: a March date with a big school in the promised land. Joel Awich is a man on a mission.
MICHAEL FR ANK | MUSTANG NE WS I C E B AT H
| Awich ices his legs after practice. The forward is currently nursing a rolled ankle.
Continued from page 6
Redshirt Awich worked to get stronger as he redshirted his freshman year. He focused on gaining weight and staying disciplined with his nutrition. Strength training combined with the difficulty of Cal Poly academics led to a year of learning for Awich. He fell behind and struggled. “I’m thankful for that year. I’m thankful that I learned how to manage my time,” Awich said. Awich credits his mentors, teammates Chris Eversley, Will Taylor and David Hanson, for helping him survive this difficult transition. “I’m forever grateful. They abused me my freshman year, but it was worth it, because it has shaped me into the man I am today,” Awich said. “Everything they’ve taught me, I try to teach to the younger guys.” Evolving as a player Awich learned much in the next three years at Cal Poly. He played
in the Big West Tournament, experienced the sweet taste of a conference championship and slowly became an integral part of the Mustangs’ rotation. Awich played more important minutes as his progression continued, putting his hard work to the test. He has faced some of the country’s most skilled players on teams such as UCLA, Gonzaga and Arizona. While his physical strength has surely increased, so has his mental strength on and off the court. “Joel just is respected by his teammates,” head coach Joe Callero said. “He takes care of his schoolwork, gets along with everyone on the team, and is emotionally steady. He’s a quiet leader.” He preaches the importance of constant focus, especially in games against ranked opponents. A lapse in focus can lead to a big deficit and a lost opportunity, as Awich knows from experience. “If you aren’t ready in the game, it will just go right by you. You will be stuck. You have to be mentally ready,” Awich said.
The result of his hard work: progress and recognition that is well deserved. Awich was named one of the Mustangs’ three captains alongside senior guard Reese Morgan and junior guard Ridge Shipley. “Honestly, I didn’t expect it, but coach wants me to just pick my moments,” Awich said about his captain’s responsibilities. “I’ve been in the program for five years, so I’ve been through it all. He looks to my experience to help the younger guys on and off the floor.” Morgan, who roomed with Awich in Muir Residence Hall when the two were freshmen, said the forward mainly leads by example. “When he says something, people listen,” Morgan said. “This year, a lot of our success rides on him playing the way he can. Senior year In his farewell season, Awich is averaging 10.5 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field through the first 14 games.
HANNA CROWLEY | MUSTANG NE WS BUCKETS | Awich started 28 of 29 games for the Mustangs as a junior and averaged 29.3 minutes per game.