Mustang News May 18, 2021

C AL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO ’S NE WS SOURCE

Students from marginalized backgrounds feel pressured to write about hardship

MAY 18, 2021

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MUSTANGNEWS.NET

IN THIS ISSUE

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LEADERSHIP

Stephanie Zappelli

Lauryn Luescher

Sabrina Pascua

Solena Aguilar

Sofia Silva

Lauren Walike

Marcus Cocova

V IDEO Sofia Silva Video Manager Daisy Kuenstler Blas Alvarado Matthew Bornhorst Brady Caskey Ellie Spink

KC PR NE W S Lauren Walike KCPR News Director Blas Alvarado Daytona Clarke Sophie Lincoln Katherine Lane Ruby Tincup Sierra Hickman Nicole Morgan Tessa Hughes Maya MacGregor Francisco Martinez Lily Dallow Logan Kimball Sean Galusha Jezzia Smith Tony Farias Jennifer Newton Miki Dubery Amanda Wernik Violet Maguire Marcus Cocova Torstein Rehn Olivia Galvan Ava Kershner

Editor in Chief, Mustang Media Group

Managing Editor

Creative Director, Co-Digital Director

Co-Digital Director, Radio News Director

MUSTANG NEWS NEWS Cameryn Oakes Editor Catherine Allen Assistant Editor Ethan Telles Sophia McDevitt Sarah Banholzer Ariel Lopez Lauren Boyer Victoria Lachnit OPI N I ON Kiana Meagher Editor Raho Faraha Rahma Faraha Nicki Butler Izzy Ditztler Anya Popslavska Declan Molony Sophie Corbett Tessa Hughes Kate Inman

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

D E SI G N Solena Aguilar Director Von Balanon Sophie Kroesche Grace Kitayama Marta Lukomska Nicole Herhusky Sydney Ozawa

UPFRONT

A R TS & ST U DENT LIF E Sydney Sherman Editor Kiana Hunziker Olivia Meis Emily Tobiason Grace Kitayama Elissa Luce Samantha Riordan Alexis Bowlby Naomi Vanderlip

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SPO R TS Adam Birder Editor Garrett Brown Sports Video Editor Kyle Har Jack Clark Rafael Medina Gabe Arditti Diego Sandoval Griffin Kemp Eric Villalpando Derek Righetti Austin McLellan

PHOTO Kylie Kowalske Editor Connor Frost Kyle Calzia Kate Karson Shaelyn Ashamalla Rachel Arabia Andy Sherar Zachary Regner Emilie Johnson Emmy Scherer Fae Bruns CO PY Grace Power Smith Kyra Soares Brett Vollrath Sarah Banapour SO CI A L Lauryn Luescher Manager Chloe Chin Lauren Brown Brian Brennan Ashley Holly DATA Omar Rashad Lead Reporter Jordy Roth Harrison Kirk Mason Ogden Owen Mastalir

KCPR M A R KETING & PR Mikaela Lincoln Director Melissa Melton Madison McDonald Emily Brower DISC JO CKE YS Hailey Honegger Keagan Scott Liv Collom Zoe Boyd Kyle Himmelein Justin Pioletti Melissa Melton Caroline Seibly Jaxon Silva Liam Reece

Social Media Director

Video Manager

Co-Digital Director

KCPR .ORG Tessa Hughes Editor Alice Sukhostavskiy Lilly Leif Evan Gattuso Jenna McCarthy Sophia Pattison Gracie Walter Kallie Kidder Jonathon Crespin Spencer Egbert Jennifer Newton Lauren Boyer Trey Barbuto Brooke Mylander Cindy Nguyen Emily Brower Alina Jafri

MMG BUSINESS A DVE R TI SI NG & PR Justin Vermeltfoort Director Carley Epple Marketing Assistant Brynna Barton Advertising Manager Clare Giatzis Advertising Manager Von Balanon Design Manager Michelle Kang Ad Designer Elaine Do Ad Designer Katherine Olah Ad Designer A DVI SOR S Jon Schlitt General Manager Pat Howe Adviser Brady Teufel Adviser Patti Piburn Adviser

Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region in whose homelands we are guests.

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WHO’S TAKING ON THE KRISTIN SMART CASE? Story by Lauren Boyer Designed by Marta Lukomska

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CAL POLY IS THE WHITEST CSU. HERE’S WHY Story by Catherine Allen Designed by Von Balanon

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MARGINALIZED STUDENTS FEEL PRESSURED TO WRITE ABOUT HARDSHIP

Story by Omar Rashad Designed by Nicole Herhusky

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HOW A NETWORK OF GARDENS IS FIGHTING FOOD INJUSTICE Story by Cameryn Oakes Designed by Von Balanon

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PASSING THE TORCH Story by Amman Fasil Asfaw Designed by Grace Kitayama

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COMFORT IN NUMBERS Students support fall mask mandate

DAN LAMBERT | MUSTANG NEWS

San Luis Obispo County offered free vaccines at a clinic at Cuesta College.

BY SIERRA PARR

Cal Poly will require vaccinations for all who plan to return to campus in fall 2021 if the FDA approves a COVID-19 vaccine. While the return to in-person instruction remains highly anticipated, the campus community holds mixed opinions on the importance of requiring vaccines.

Because the three vaccines currently being distributed in the U.S. have only been authorized for emergency use, requiring vaccination is dependent on one or more of these

vaccines receiving full approval from the FDA. While many students are looking forward to life beyond the pandemic, some are still looking for reassurances of safety upon a return to campus life.

“The numbers don’t lie,” software engineering senior Simon Ibssa said.

“There’s already been a lot of comfort in seeing case numbers go down and such high efficacy rates on the vaccines.”

Like other vaccinations required

by Cal Poly, the policy for COVID-19

vaccination would likely allow for medical and religious exemptions.

“I think it’s great that Cal Poly is looking to require the vaccine,” liberal studies junior Elana Gladish said. “You’re taking a risk when you go back to in-person activities ... so knowing that most people are vaccinated would definitely give me peace of mind.”

Biology professor Jean Davidson supports the university’s efforts to get students vaccinated.

“There are currently already many required vaccinations for Cal Poly —

the concept of requiring vaccination is not new — but we need to be aware that people have concerns and we need to clearly share all the information possible so people feel confident in their decisions,” she said.

While having the majority of the student body vaccinated against the disease would be a major safeguard against potential outbreaks, it is likely that masking and distancing practices will still be in place when students return to class in the fall.

“I’m looking forward to any in-person classes that I get the chance to

take even though wearing masks inside for hours on end during class wouldn’t be ideal,” said Gladish.

After nearly four full quarters of Zoom classes, there remains a level of frustration with the slow return to normal.

“It is a risk but at some point you have to take the band-aid off and try to reintegrate society back to what it was like pre-pandemic,” Ibssa said.

BY MUSTANG NEWS STAFF

Zamora is a former employee of The Pad Climbing Gym. He had a non-violent criminal history and no registered firearms.

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

CONNOR FROST | MUSTANG NEWS

CONNOR FROST | MUSTANG NEWS

Officers could be seen hugging and consoling each other after hearing the news.

Detective Luca Benedetti, a law enforcement officer for 12 years, was shot and killed.

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San Luis Obispo Police Detective Luca Benedetti was shot and killed while serving a search warrant near South Higuera Street for stolen property on Monday, May 10.

Benedetti was hired by the San Luis Obispo Police Department in 2012, and has a wife and two children.

“This is a tragedy beyond measure for all of those who serve our community,” City Manager Derek Johnson said in a press release.

Detective Steve Orozco was shot as well, and is expected to fully recover from his injuries, according to a city press release.

When the officers arrived at the apartment to serve the warrant, they provided “knock and notice.” After a period of time without response, they “forced the door open,” were allegedly shot by Edward Zamora and they then returned fire, Acting San Luis Obispo Police Chief Brian Am-

oroso said.

Zamora was found dead in his apartment with wounds from the officer’s gunshots and a self-inflicted fatal gunshot.

MUSTANG NEWS

SLO POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN SHOOTING

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ATTORNEYS WITH BIG HISTORIES:

WHO’S TAKING ON THE KRISTIN SMART CASE?

FAE BRUNS | MUSTANG NEWS

BY LAUREN BOYER

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

Last month, Paul and Ruben Flores were arrested for their connection to the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. District Attorney Dan Dow charged Paul Flores with first degree murder and Ruben Flores with accessory after the fact.

Court proceedings have already begun.

Each lawyer in this case has an extensive background in criminal law and murder trials. Below are cases each lawyer has worked on, detailing their style and possible strategies for this case that’s almost a quarter century in the making.

ROBERT SANGER:

Defense attorney Robert Sanger, who is representing the Paul Flores, helped achieve a not-guilty verdict for Michael Jackson in the 2005 molestation case.

Sanger declined a request for an interview about his past legal work.

Sanger is a certified criminal law specialist and a senior partner at Sanger, Swysen, and Dunkle in Santa Maria. He received his juris doctorate from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1973 and was later certified by the state bar.

Sanger’s firm represented Jackson over the course of numerous civil suits involving alleged sexual abuse.

In 1993, a 13-year-old boy accused Jackson of sexual abuse. Sanger, alongside co-counsel Steve Cochran, settled the civil suit out of court for more than $20 million. All charges were dropped after the alleged victim declined to cooperate, and the grand jury did not return its indictments

against Jackson.

According to Sanger’s website, the civil case involving Jackson’s “disgruntled maid” and security guards resulted in an overwhelming victory for Jackson, with around $1.4 million charged against the plaintiffs.

The most notable case involved the 2003 accusation from a teenage boy, who said Jackson molested him on his Neverland Valley Ranch in Santa Barbara County. The boy’s prosecutors said that Jackson, who faced 18 years in prison, gave the boy alcohol in order to abuse him and later conspired to restrict his freedom by keeping the boy and his mother away from the media.

Sanger argued these claims appeared staged, that the boy was coached by his mother on what to say and that the family’s claims were not that credible.

After a four-month trial, the jury declared Jackson not guilty on all charges. After Jackson died of cardiac arrest in 2009, Sanger’s firm issued a statement saying Sanger and Jackson were friends and that “we will miss him.”

Other notable cases Sanger has worked on in San Luis Obispo do not include celebrities like Jackson.

In 2019, Sanger represented Nikki Anaya and Brianna Morales who were facing felony charges for human trafficking of a minor for sex. Anaya, 16 at the time, allegedly prostituted his 15-year-old girlfriend to about 20 men over a six-day timeline in July of 2015.

Working as defense representation, Sanger got the human trafficking charges dropped for Anaya and Morales. Instead, they took a guilty plea

for a kidnapping charge and were sentenced to a year in the county jail.

HAROLD MESICK: PROTESTING

Harold Mesick works in San Luis Obispo County as a criminal and civil attorney. He is representing Ruben Flores.

Mesick formerly worked as a firefighter in Davis, Calif. and for the U.S. Army’s Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, Calif. Mesick was admitted to the California State Bar in 2003 after graduating from University of Northern California’s Lorenzo Patiño School of Law. Mesick worked on the 2013 Dystiny Myers case, representing Jason Adam Greenwell from Nipomo. In this case, Greenwell and four others were allegedly part of a methamphetamine ring and were charged with the murder of 15-year-old Santa Maria girl Dystiny Myers. In September of 2010, Myers was found beaten and burned in a field in Santa Margarita.

Greenwell, who was described as “remorseful,” testified against the other defendants under the advice of Mesick. The four others were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, while Greenwell was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Mesick also represented Crystal Lynn Garner in 2014, one of several defendants who allegedly commissioned the 2012 assault of Victor Hugo Sanchez. Sanchez was killed in front of his apartment four months after the initial assault.

Garner met Sanchez at Pappy McGregor’s Bar & Grill in San Luis Obispo after texting him about wanting to

hook up. The two left together, with Garner driving and pulling over on the side of the road on the way home, leading a second car to pull in behind them. A man emerged from this car and hit Sanchez with a pipe wrench, breaking his arm and nose.

Others involved in the case agreed to plea bargains which sentenced them to varying years in prison. Under Mesick’s guidance, Garner pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit robbery and battery, and agreed to receive a four-year sentence.

Mesick said Garner was “remorseful” and “took responsibility” for her involvement. He also said she was under the influence of methamphetamines and she would not have been involved in the assault if she had been sober.

CHRISTOPHER PEUVRELLE:

Christopher Peuvrelle will be prosecuting Paul Flores in the alleged murder of Smart. He has more than 15 years of experience working as a prosecutor and multiple conviction wins under his belt. Peuvrelle is also leading the prosecution in the ongoing murder cases of two other local women, Nancy Woodrum and Jeanine Vore. In both of these cases, remains have been found and men are the suspects.

Peuvrelle completed his undergraduate degree at University of California, San Diego, earned his law degree from Santa Clara School of Law and began his work as a prosecutor in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office in 2006. He has worked in the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s office since 2017 and District

Attorney Dan Dow turned the Smart case over to him.

He has been described as “fair and highly competent” by previous defense attorneys working opposite him in past cases.

Peuvrelle prosecuted Roberto Gallardo Aguilar in 2012, arguing that Aguilar murdered his wife, Sharon Elizabeth Contreras. Aguilar allegedly killed Contreras and took her remains to a deserted area to be burned. Witnesses noticed a small fire near Lake Elsinore and Contreras’ remains were soon found.

Peuvrelle noted in his argument the couple was in the middle of getting a divorce when she was murdered.

Aguilar was soon convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 61 years to life in prison.

In 2018, Peuvrelle prosecuted Charles Chad Giese, who was convicted of killing his roommate Walter Ernest Vallivero with a beer bottle and baseball bat, leaving him bloodied to the point of being unrecognizable.

Giese claimed he was acting in self-defense, saying Vallivero was drunk and violent. At the time, Vallivero’s body had a BAC of 0.19. However, the jury found Giese guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced him to 26 years to life in prison.

Illan Funke-Bilu, Giese’s lawyer, called Peuvrelle “one of the most adept prosecutors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working against,” as reported in The San Luis Obispo Tribune.

TEACHING TO

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INSPIRE

HOW A CAL POLY ALUMNI CONNECTS STUDENTS TO THE KRISTIN SMART CASE

BY AUSTIN MCLELLAN

TR ACY RUIZ | COURTESY English teacher Tracy Ruiz and podcast host Chris Lambert visit the Kristin Smart billboard in SLO.

That was one of the biggest lessons I think we got out of this activity, putting yourself in those shoes and trying to figure out what you can say to a family in pain.

TRACY RUIZ English Teacher at Will C. Wood High School

sode Five: “The P”.

Garrison is even organizing a candlelight vigil for Kristin Smart at Andrews Park in Vacaville, California on May 25, the 25th anniversary of Smart’s disappearance, further showing the impact Smart is having on these students despite being born more than five years after she was last seen.

Now that she’s listened to the podcast multiple times, Ruiz has become more reflective on her time at Cal Poly. She thinks about the walk Smart took on May 25, 1996 to campus from a party at 35 Crandall Way. “Any of us know that walk that Kristin did on her last night, that could have been any person on any night,” Ruiz said. “When you have experienced that walk, it brings it to life even more.”

NEWS

away from traditional teaching and doing better at getting their attention,” Ruiz said.

Garrison said learning about the Smart case impacted her life.

“I have learned to step out of my world and insert myself into another person’s life, it changed my perspective on how I interact with people,” Garrison said.

Learning about Kristin Smart has left an ever-growing impact on the students of Ruiz’s AP Literature classes, with students stopping class in its tracks to discuss the arrests of Paul and Ruben Flores, despite the fact they had completed the unit on “Your Own Backyard” weeks ago.

Ruiz also mentioned how all of her students kept trying to make plans to travel to the central coast to “find Kristin themselves” at the Huasna site that Lambert spoke about in Epi-

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

nerves washed away when she actually logged into the Zoom and met the host whose voice she had been listening to all semester.

“You could tell he cared about Kristin and cared about bringing that story to life. He was honest and transparent about all the work he’s done,” Garrison said.

Teaching the Smart case has increased student engagement in Ruiz’s class, she said.

On the day of the Lambert Q&A, not a single student was absent and every student had their cameras on in the Zoom call, eager for their opportunity to talk to the man that has become their connection to Kristin Smart.

No student has even missed an assignment in the unit, a feat any teacher wishes to have from their class, especially when doing remote teaching in the pandemic.

“Watching my students be so engaged in real time was unique and something I will definitely remember, it has opened my eyes to moving

SMART FAMILY | COURTESY High school English teacher Tracy Ruiz incorporated the Kristin Smart case into her curriculum. Though these students were born years after Smart disappeared, they connected with her story and want to keep her memory alive.

MUSTANG NEWS

Tracy Ruiz chose to attend Cal Poly in 1991 because it was close to the beach and she thought it was safe.

After Kristin Smart went missing in 1996, however, Ruiz realized her alma mater could be dangerous for women.

Now that Ruiz is a teacher, she wants to pass on critical thinking skills to her students by using the case and the “Your Own Backyard” podcast in her curriculum. Her students now feel connected with the Smart case, and are dedicated to preserving her memory.

Ruiz graduated Cal Poly in the fall of 1995 and returned to her hometown of Vacaville where she now teaches English at Will C. Wood High School.

When Ruiz heard the now global-hit podcast “Your Own Backyard” in summer 2020, it didn’t just send her back to the Cal Poly she knew in the 1990s, but it gave the case “humanity,” she said.

The podcast, created by Chris Lambert, follows Kristin Smart’s case and how her disappearance impacted her family and the community.

“Walking through and feeling that loss in the podcast was unexpectedly powerful,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz saw other teachers using true crime podcasts in their teaching, so Ruiz took those lesson plans and designed a curriculum around Chris Lambert’s podcast “Your Own Backyard.”

Her AP Literature Class had multiple assignments tied to the true crime podcast, including a written letter to the Smart family and a final essay in which students must, using evidence Lambert lays out in the series, “present a viable and coherent theory of the crime that includes the role of Paul, his father Ruben and his mother Susan.”

Kaydence Garrison is one of Ruiz’s students, a junior at Will C. Wood and a lover of true crime. Having a Cal Poly alumni teaching about the case made the difference for her.

“Knowing [Ruiz] went there almost created a reference point for the class,” Garrison said. “It made it feel so real knowing she was down there around the time when she was abducted.”

Junior Perri Cargill agreed.

“The fact that [Smart] was around the same age as Ms. Ruiz made it so much more real,” Cargill said. “Seeing what Cal Poly alumni can accomplish with Ms. Ruiz and realizing Kristin wouldn’t experience that honestly made it more tragic.”

The letter to the Smart family assignment, which teaches students how to both thoughtfully consider their audience and the purpose of their writing, was Cargill’s favorite assignment of the unit.

Being able to meet Smart through Lambert’s telling of her inspired Cargill to live her own life to the fullest in Smart’s honor.

Cargill wrote in the letter, “I see Kristen as my sister, as my mom, as my best friend, as my little brother, as my own stubbornness and wild love for life, I have never thought of her as ‘gone.’ I see her in the moonlight and the sun.”

Ruiz intended for the letter assignment to teach her students empathy and keep Smart’s story alive.

“That was one of the biggest lessons I think we got out of this activity, putting yourself in those shoes and trying to figure out what you can say to a family in pain,” Ruiz said After teaching with the podcast for some time, Ruiz posted about her curriculum on Facebook and became online friends with Chris Lambert’s mom.

Now with a connection to Lambert, Ruiz then organized a Q&A session over Zoom for her students, giving them the opportunity to speak with the now globally famous “musician turned journalist” as described by the in-class materials.

Cargill helped Ruiz meticulously review all the submitted questions to make sure the right ones were prioritized for the Zoom interview, and Ruiz even had the class practice their questions the day before their meeting with Chris to make sure everything would go to plan.

“I didn’t sleep the night before meeting Chris, but on the day of the talk, I had to kick the students out after they were 20 minutes late to their next class,” Ruiz mentioned, laughing.

Garrison was excited for the opportunity to meet Lambert, but those

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CAL POLY IS THE ONLY PREDOMINANTLY WHITE CSU HERE’S WHY ALISON CHAVEZ | MUSTANG NEWS

ONLY 10%

of Cal Poly undergraduates are first-generation college students.

Public California universities have an average of 22.6% white and

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TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

33.4% first generation students.

BY CATHERINE ALLEN

It wasn’t until after their high school’s sports signing day that civil engineering junior and track athlete Kaila Bishop found out they would be one of 23 Black students enrolled in Cal Poly’s class of 2022. The class consisted of 4,398 freshmen total.

“I was a little scared,” Bishop said.

“But not much, because I actually grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood, and although I never fully ‘fit in’ I definitely got used to it.”

Though Bishop said they accepted there will always be gaps, whether it be economic, cultural or otherwise, exploring STEM as “the only Black student in the room” was still a struggle.

“I still feel kinda left out in a way,” Bishop said.

Three years since Bishop joined Cal Poly, the university remains the only predominantly white public university in California.

Fall 2020 data on undergraduates across every California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campus revealed that 54% of Cal Poly’s undergraduate students identify as white — making the percentage of white students twice as high as the average CSU, UC or both combined.

Additionally, only 10% of Cal Poly undergraduates are first-generation college students. Public California universities have an average of 22.6% white and 33.4% first-generation students.

That proved to be a deciding factor for some students as the high school class of 2021 navigated the college decisions process.

Incoming freshman Kiana Hamada said hearing about Cal Poly’s lack of diversity as a mixed-race, Asian American student was one reason she opted for Arizona State University instead.

“I feel that since Cal Poly is predominantly white, I wouldn’t feel as comfortable trying to fit into the environment, especially with the ongoing violence and hate towards the AAPI community occurring in our nation today,” Hamada said.

Out of Cal Poly’s 21,447 undergraduate students, there are 27 students identifying as American Indian/

Alaska Native, 48 identifying as Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander and 164 identifying as Black/African American, according to enrollment data from Fall 2020.

“Having people to relate to is something that creates these communities and safe spaces,” Bishop said. “People may always offer to listen to our experiences, but it’s hard to understand if you aren’t living it in real time.”

A 2017 report from the California Faculty Association (CFA) union called “Equity, Interrupted: How California is Cheating Its Future” demonstrated how state funding for the CSU system decreased while diversity in the CSU student body increased simultaneously. As a result, increasingly expensive student fees disproportionately burden marginalized students — especially at Cal Poly.

“These problems exist throughout the CSU, but they are especially acute at Cal Poly,” CFA San Luis Obispo Chapter President and history professor Lewis Call wrote in an email.

“It reflects the fact that this expensive ‘public’ university mainly attracts students from affluent families, and those families tend to be white.”

The university denied a public records request for the ethnic and racial demographics of total Cal Poly

applicants, as well as the demographics of those who were rejected and accepted.

According to the university’s public records access coordinator, Bernadette Monterrosa, demographic data is exempt due to privacy rights, and these privacy rights “outweigh public interest in disclosure.” Monterrosa cited the part of the California Public Records Act that says “personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” can be exempt from public records requests.

The ethnicities of applicants and those admitted are made publicly available for total CSU applicants.

University Spokesperson Matt Lazier said Cal Poly should “mirror the diversity and demographics of the state it serves,” which is a continuous goal for the university. However, diversifying campus is not simple, especially when California Proposition 209 prohibits the consideration of race, ethnicity or sex in public education, he said.

“The university must work through avenues of outreach in order to attract greater diversity in its student applications and enrollment,” Lazier told Mustang News.

That process is the same for other public universities, both CSUs and

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have our achievements highlighted as much as everyone else, and in that, the highlights would be honest

I feel that since Cal Poly is predominantly white, I wouldn’t feel as comfortable trying to fit into the environment, especially with the ongoing violence and hate towards the AAPI community occurring in our nation today.

KIANA HAMADA ASU STUDENT

Jimenez said he’s well aware of Cal Poly’s lack of student body diversity, and the resulting racial and political tensions are “well documented” on the internet. Student culture and location were deciding factors for Jimenez, and he said he didn’t let this faze him.

“The only way diversity can be achieved is for someone to start it off,” Jimenez wrote to Mustang News.

“This pattern historically happened with immigration: when people saw others with a common identity going somewhere, they’d go too. So, I feel like by going there I’m making my contribution.”

To new students who may be experiencing the hesitancy and isolation Bishop felt three years ago, they said: “Trust that it’ll be okay in the end; you’ve already made it this far. As minorities at this campus, we hold open arms to all incoming freshmen and transfers. Join the communities you’re looking for early on.”

Harrison Kirk contributed to this story.

NEWS

and true,” Bishop said.

Still, as ethnic studies professor Grace Yeh previously told Mustang

News, “Cal Poly has a certain reputation that might inhibit people from thinking, ‘That’s a school for me.’”

A history of racial discrimination at Cal Poly, from a white student wearing blackface in 2018, to far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos speaking on campus twice, can deter applicants. The “lackluster” responses from administration that often follow these incidents make it even harder to attract and retain underrepresented and minority students, Lewis Call, the history professor and union president, said.

“Until that changes, it’s hard to see how we can attract and retain more students from underrepresented groups,” Call said.

The university said there’s been “undeniable progress,” as Cal Poly’s student body has changed from about 63% white in 2011 to 54% today, and as the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion works to improve campus climate.

Meanwhile, incoming statistics freshman Ruben Jimenez said, “there’s really no way to address this issue except by facing it head on.”

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

students from these communities admitted to the University.”

Still, Cal Poly’s top feeder high schools demonstrate a pattern that may be perpetuating a predominantly white student body. Cal Poly’s top two feeder high schools in Fall 2020 were San Ramon Valley High School, which is consistently more than 70% white, and San Luis Obispo High School, which is also predominantly white.

“I’ve always thought it’s important to be honest because I hear stories of schools creating this amazing image, just for minority students to enroll and completely struggle throughout their entire college years,” Bishop said. “If we bring to light the areas that Cal Poly needs to work on, then maybe higher ups may actually care to change something.”

Bishop said the university should not only put more funding into diversity programs like the Black Academic Excellence Center and the Dream Center, but also publicly highlight more achievements and successes from minority students.

“I definitely believe we deserve to

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UCs. Yet Cal Poly’s diversity still lags behind other campuses.

Meanwhile, the UCs had the most diverse class in their history for Fall 2020 as a result of restructuring outreach efforts in admissions. For example, UC Berkeley connected with high schools less familiar with them and less likely to consider the school as an option. Also, UC Merced initiated early outreach to Black students throughout the state’s middle and high schools.

Cal Poly has specific initiatives in place that would increase student diversity, Lazier said. This includes the Cal Poly Scholars Program and its high school outreach, which helps provide financial support to lower-income, first-generation students, many of whom are from underrepresented communities.

Also, Cal Poly aims to provide greater outreach to 520 “partner schools” across California that serve “communities with substantive numbers of first generation or economically disadvantaged students and families.”

By doing so, the university says it will “increase the number of qualified

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BY OMAR RASHAD

COVER STORY

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

Students from marginalized backgrounds feel pressured to write about hardship

Isabella Carrera remembers not having nearby space to run around or enjoy the outdoors growing up in Panorama City, California.

The lack of green space — which includes parks and outdoor community areas — is an accessibility issue that heavily impacts urban, low-income communities. One day, Carrera wants to own a landscape architecture firm to establish green space in underserved communities, so inner city kids can enjoy the outdoors the way she wanted to.

However, Carrera’s personal essays for scholarship applications don’t

EMILIE JOHNSON | MUSTANG NEWS “I feel like I’m not writing about myself,” landscape architecture junior Isabella Carrera said about writing on trauma in personal essays. “It kind of messes with me, because this is my story. This is something that’s personal to me, and here I am writing about it, but I feel removed from it.”

include those ambitious goals for the future. Instead, she writes about immigrating to the U.S., being raised by a single mother and the personal hardships in tow.

Carrera has done this since high school and it almost feels like a routine, especially when essay prompts directly ask students how life challenges have impacted them, she said.

“I feel like I’m not writing about myself — I’m writing about someone else,” Carrera said. “It kind of messes with me, because this is my story.

This is something that’s personal to me, and here I am writing about it, but I feel removed from it.”

Applications for college, scholarships and jobs often ask students to weave a narrative about overcoming obstacles or life challenges. For students of color and others from marginalized backgrounds, writing about those topics may be uncomfortable because it can unearth trauma or deeply personal lived experiences.

But experts say that may not be what committees reviewing these applications are looking for. However, experts also say it doesn’t help that there’s a lack of transparency in what’s expected from applicants in these essays.

Researchers from Stanford University and Mount Holyoke College published a working paper in April, which found that personal essays in college applications have a strong correlation with reported household income, greater than SAT scores. After analyzing a sample size of 240,000 UC college application essays submitted in November 2016, researchers also found that students who wrote about helping others, educational opportunity and family death in personal essays were more likely from low-income backgrounds and had lower SAT scores.

On the flip side, students who wrote about achievement, seeking answers and human nature were more likely from affluent backgrounds and had higher SAT scores.

AJ Alvero, one of the lead authors

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EMILIE JOHNSON | MUSTANG NEWS As someone who is mixed race and non-binary, biomedical engineering graduate student Alexander Silva said they look at personal essay prompts focused on hardship and trauma in the broader context of always having to constantly explain their identity and experiences in various spaces at a predominantly white institution like Cal Poly. Silva said that makes them feel like a “display figure” for others.

Meyers said she knows from being on selection committees that presenting a cohesive narrative can up an applicant’s chances of attaining opportunities.

That’s why she feels conflicted when advising students on graduate school applications because limiting applicants to writing about hardship means constricting how they’re viewed and who they can be, she said.

“People who already have privilege in terms of race, and ethnicity and class get to be this huge range of people that get to be unique and multiple,” Meyers said. “People who are racialized in this country are reduced to a much smaller category of personas that they can have. That seems like a form of violence.”

While Meyers said she knows those vetting scholarship applications can be well-intentioned, eager to give funds or resources to those who need them most, it still creates a competition of who can best prove their underlying need.

“If we’re all racing to prove the most scarcity, it limits who we can say who we are, and limits our way of talking about the abundance of our communities,” Meyers said.

So when review committees receive applications about joy or passion, like the essays Silva wants to write,

it’s important for gatekeepers to still value them as much as essays about hardship or trauma, Meyers said.

Carrera also said she would feel more comfortable writing about her passions in application essays, rather than how much she and her mother have struggled.

“My end goal for my career is largely shaped by my experiences growing up and just the way I was raised,” Carrera said. “But it does get kind of tricky because I want to be successful in the professional realm, but I don’t want to have to put out a sob story to get there.”

COVER STORY

Silva’s goal to enter the medical field in hopes of providing communitybased care that fills in those gaps.

But they didn’t get any of the scholarships they applied to, and Silva said that made them feel like their story didn’t matter.

“Still being denied and still being turned away, I was thinking what do other people share that I can’t share?

What makes them worthy, and I’m not?” Silva said. “I think there’s so many instances where I’ve been denied. I consistently evaluate that and say, ‘Oh, I guess, like my struggle wasn’t worth it.’”

Instead of writing about hardship and trauma, Silva said essay prompts that ask them about their aspirations, passions or joy would give them more agency to choose what they want to write about in an essay.

But packaging life experience into a 700-word essay is challenging, said Joan Meyers, an assistant professor of sociology at Cal Poly.

“You’re being asked to tell the story of how you had certain gifts and certain struggles and they came together and you surmounted them to be this amazing applicant,” Meyers said. “I don’t think our lives are really like that. I don’t think we have that sort of cohesion. But we are constantly being asked to produce this narrative cohesion.”

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

group members about their experience,” Bencharit said. “The onus is put on them to further tax their mental, emotional, physical abilities to help others understand what their experience is.”

To Alexander Silva, a biomedical engineering graduate student at Cal Poly, essay prompts about hardship seem obvious in what they’re asking: describe your trauma. There isn’t any ambiguity in that, Silva said, and they feel othered if that’s the only direction in which they can take a personal essay.

As someone who is mixed race and non-binary, Silva looks at these personal essays in the broader context of always having to constantly explain their identity and experiences in various spaces at a predominantly white institution like Cal Poly. Silva said that makes them feel like a “display figure” for others.

During their freshman year at Cal Poly, Silva applied to more than 100 scholarships. In the personal essay sections of applications, Silva would write personal stories about how they served as their mother’s primary caretaker when she went through several surgical procedures.

Silva translated advanced medical vocabulary and navigated the healthcare system only to find gaps in service. That experience drives

MUSTANG NEWS

of the paper, said he’s worried that students from low-income backgrounds don’t talk about their achievements in their essays and instead feel the need to explain why their grades dipped in high school or other topics including interpersonal relationships with family and community.

That’s on top of “a huge transparency issue” in the college application process, Alvero said, because students may not know what admissions officers want from them in personal essays. More communication from admissions officers about what exactly they expect to see in essays can make a difference, he said.

“I’m sure admissions officers — they think they’re already doing it,” Alvero said. “I just don’t know how much the average 18-year-old realizes what they’re supposed to do.”

This disconnect isn’t limited to college applications. Students applying to scholarships and jobs also spend much of their time second-guessing the purpose of essay prompts in applications.

Carrera, who is a landscape architecture junior at Cal Poly, recalled how everyone in high school, from her friends and counselors to teachers and family, encouraged her to write about hardship. So she did.

While her application to Cal Poly didn’t require a personal essay, many other universities Carrera applied to did.

She said she feels numb after having written about deeply personal experiences in college application essays and later on in scholarship essays.

“I do think it was a product of social expectations,” Carrera said.

“Especially like growing up, there was that kind of pressure to share to get into college. Now I’m kind of just like navigating, like, ‘I don’t know what to do now. Like, do I need to tell people this?’”

Lucy Bencharit, an assistant professor of Organizational Practice and Diversity at Cal Poly, said employers and selection committees want to see if applicants can overcome challenges, not necessarily read about their trauma.

While that’s the intention, Bencharit said the impact may be traumatic for students from marginalized backgrounds.

“If we make it more clear what colleges and employers are asking for, then we can reduce the harm that those prompts might have on students,” Bencharit said.

Students who feel the need to explain themselves and their identities in these personal essays may also view it as yet another instance in which they feel othered.

“There’s absolutely a phenomena where people from minoritized identities have to teach majority

10

NO JUSTICE NO PEAS

HOW A NETWORK OF GARDENS IS FIGHTING FOOD INJUSTICE PRGN | COURTESY

The People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network maintains four communal gardens scattered throughout the city.

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

BY CAMERYN OAKES

A handful of young adults are dancing, some even moshing, to rap music and classic sing-along songs.

There’s nothing unusual about this scene except there is no vinyl dance floor under their feet, rather paths of dirt winding between garden beds.

People are thrown off by this image as they pass by the community gardens, but this is what People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network is meant to be.

“We like chaos,” Co-Founder of People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network Carmen Bouquin said. “We try to make it different than usual.”

Bouquin is a local community organizer and Cuesta College student from Paso Robles who advocates for climate justice and abolitionism.

They co-founded the organization in September, which is a project born from Abolitionist Action Central Coast/SLO (A.A.C.C.S), a local abolitionist group which advocates for social justice, specifically divesting from the police and investing in the community.

The organization maintains four communal gardens scattered throughout the city. The gardens are located at Growing Grounds, City Farm SLO, Emerson Park and one at Cal Poly through the Garden Club.

All the land that the organization uses to garden, as well as the supplies they use, are donated to them by community members.

Beyond the communal gardens that are maintained by organization members, the group has helped establish personal gardens at people’s homes, including one planted about a month ago at People’s Self Help Housing apartment complex in Templeton.

Sundays are their harvest days, which is when about five volunteers gather the food that is ready to distribute and maintain the garden. This is when they’ll blast music and have impromptu dance sessions in order to maintain a fun environment while they tend to the gardens.

“We’re trying to make it like a community that makes gardening and growing food actually kind of fun and cool and not like some business, like turning out the land or some hippie thing,” Bouquin said. “We want it to be accessible to folks.”

Most of the food they harvest on Sundays is donated to a distribution center in Santa Maria, which caters to Indigenous farmworkers in the area. Sometimes they’ll also donate their food to local organizations like Food Not Bombs or SLO Street Medics.

Through the winter, their gardens were seen producing an abundance of brassica, or leafy greens like cabbage and kale.

But kale isn’t a “fun” food for everyone, Bouquin said.

With the ushering in of spring, their crops are starting to look a lot different, including a “salsa garden” that Bouquin said has all the ingredients to make a delicious salsa.

“This is the fun part,” Bouquin said.

In addition to the handful of people who help with harvesting, about 70 people are involved in People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network.

“It’s still a baby, it’s still growing,” Bouquin said. “We have so many people to outreach to.”

The organization is mostly young community members with little to no experience about growing their own food.

Environmental management and

protection junior Maya Avendano, who has always loved gardening and works at a nursery, said she found out about the organization through a friend. She said she has always had an interest in mutual aid and political action, especially at the local level, so she was “really excited” to join.

“I love the idea of [gardening] being

70

PEOPLE

are involved in the People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network in addition to the handful of people who help harvesting.

accessible to everyone because that’s a lot of what People’s Revolutionary Gardens does,” Avendano said. “And also if you don’t have the means to have your own garden, the harvesting days are such a nice way to just kind of heal and experience what it’s like to have a garden.”

People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network also educates the community on issues ingrained in food systems, like food sovereignty and food justice.

Avendano has aided in conducting seminars and composing education resources whilst also working to produce a zine about food sovereignty that the organization plans to distribute this summer.

Through their garden network, the organization is pushing for social change within the Central Coast’s

food system, advocating for having local, organic food in accessible grocery stores like Walmart.

They are also pushing for local policies that help small farmers, especially Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, farmers of color and those using regenerative practices.

“No one’s advocating for the small farmer, no one’s advocating for the consumer,” Bouquin said.

The purpose of People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network is to fight oppressive systems that plague local food systems.

“How can we address the oppressive systems that we’re fighting at the same time as [we] work to build new ones by getting hands in the ground and gardening?” Bouquin asked.

The network’s purpose is to answer this very question, which can be addressed through the organization’s long term and short term goals.

For the short term, the organization is aiming to establish a network of gardens to provide healthy and accessible food to people impacted by food injustice, as well as educate the community on what food sovereignty and food justice is. This is what they’ve already established and continue to work on.

Environment management and protection professor Nick Williams said that food sovereignty is an idea that focuses on autonomy and production of food. On the other hand, food justice is a response to food sovereignty in the United States and the inequality that persists in its food systems.

Williams said that there are ways of eating and engaging with the landscape that are culturally historic, specifically to Indigenous Americans, yet much of these were disrupt-

ed by colonization.

Hundreds of years after the colonization of America, these issues persist in marginalized communities which are forced to assimilate and continue to assimilate to what the majority decides what food systems should look like, according to Williams.

“The ways in which you combat all of these sort of oppressive political and economic systems is through changing the way you eat, and changing the way that you relate to your food and maybe changing … the places that you get [your] food,” Williams said.

People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network’s long term goal is to get land back into the hands of Indigenous people and to broaden their network of gardens to feed thousands of people on the Central Coast who don’t have access to food.

Although their long term goal hasn’t been achieved yet, it’s something the group continuously considers and works towards.

Avendano said that having an organization doing what People’s Revolution Gardens Network is doing is important to the community to provide for people oppressed by local food systems.

“I think everyone has the right to accessible, fresh produce and fresh fruits and something like a garden that’s so therapeutic – and generally it can be a pretty inaccessible thing,” Avendano said. “Having something like the People’s Revolutionary Gardens Network kind of helps bring that down.”

FAE BRUNS | MUSTANG NEWS

More than 80 people gathered for a peaceful rally to support the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in April.

CAL POLY COMMUNITY COMBATS ANTI-ASIAN HATE 6,603 REPORTS

BY NAOMI VANDERLIP

of anti-Asian hate incidents were reported to Stop AAPI Hate from March 19, 2020 to March 31, 2021

a workshop with a Pacific Islander activist.

PROTESTING

ALLYSHIP WITHIN A PREDOMINATELY WHITE INSTITUTION

STEREOTYPES OF ASIAN AMERICANS

Wong said the model minority myth can contribute to hate.

According to the stereotype of the model minority, Asian Americans are seen as more successful, problem-free and having assimilated

Being a predominantly white institution makes it easy to blend into the crowd and leads to the bystander effect.

But in reality, it just tokenizes the minority groups to have to speak up about these topics.

JOIE WONG KASA SOCIAL CHAIR

CAMPUS PROGRAMMING

Although there were programs in place for Cal Poly’s Asian community prior to recent incidents, the MCC recently added student processing spaces and other features, according to social justice and multicultural program coordinator for the Multicultural Center (MCC), Lilianne Tang .

Tang said she hopes these events highlight important aspects of activism. “[Visibility alone will not] liberate us from the oppression we are experiencing,” Tang said.

Instead of criticizing others for not talking about this issue, Tang said she wants to see a focus on the protection of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and more long-term solutions.

“We’re committed to the long term in making sure that students know what it means to be racialized as an Asian American,” Tang said.

Last month, Cuesta College and Cal Poly collaborated in hosting Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of Chinese For Affirmative Action, to discuss scapegoating, the data of the attacks and the need for initiatives.

During May, as APIDA Heritage Month, the MCC is hosting the program Rising Tides: Awakening to Our Collective Liberation involving dialogues, events and giveaways, celebrating and elevating the APIDA community.

NEWS

The environment of Cal Poly as a predominately white institution profoundly affects student activism, public health junior Ashley Song said.

Cal Poly’s Korean American Student Association (KASA) recently held a fundraiser over Venmo in which they raised $811 to donate to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a national nonprofit that advocates for the advancement of civil and human rights for Asian Americans and a fair and equitable society for all.

Wong is an advocate for the power of knowledge, and to her, activism lies in educating herself and others as best she can on the prevalence of hate crimes.

Being a visual learner, she finds graphics helpful in contextualizing the news. This information condensed into a post provides a starting point for further research, she said.

She said she likes to post graphics on social media to help educate others.

11

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

Business administration senior Kaela Lee said she felt a range of frustration, disappointment, anger and sadness, especially with the brutality directed towards the elderly.

Events in March magnified the issue of anti-Asian hate to Lee, extending past the elderly, she said.

On March 16, 2021, eight people were killed, six of whom were Asian women, when a man opened fire in three massage businesses in the Atlanta area.

Following the shootings, Lee hosted and organized a peaceful rally and march with Pastor Mia Shin and San Luis Obispo’s Black Lives Matter chapter in early April.

Lee saw this protest as a “moment of unity” within and beyond the Asian American community.

“It’s a chance for people to educate each other and show their solidarity and allyship for the community,”

Lee said.

She said the acknowledgment of her Asian American identity and the event’s support was moving.

“So often the AAPI community is so ignored and we’re just swept to the side,” Lee said. “We were actually in the spotlight and not just highlighted by AAPI community members, but members of the community of all backgrounds.”

Lee said she hopes her efforts illustrate that Asian Americans will not fall under societal stereotypes of being quiet and avoiding conflict.

“This just goes to show that we’re not going to be silent,” Lee said.

“We’re not just going to be walked all over.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

better than other minority groups.

The myth ignores the diversity of the Asian American experience.

“A lot of time we get thrown to the side and we get ignored because everyone assumes, ‘You guys are doing fine’,” Wong said. “If you look at the numbers and you break it down, there are so many discrepancies.”

MUSTANG NEWS

Chants of “Stop Asian hate” echoed through the streets of San Luis Obispo as community members marched in support of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in April.

Forms of activism including social media posts, educational programs, fundraisers, marches and rallies ignited in Cal Poly and the greater San Luis Obispo area since the recent escalation of hate crimes directed towards the Asian American population, with attacks centered in larger cities and that target the elderly.

Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that documents and addresses anti-Asian and Pacific Islander hate crimes amid the pandemic, received 6,603 reports of hate incidents from March 19, 2020 to March 31, 2021, according to their latest report. These accounts include: physical assaults, coughing/ spitting, verbal harassment, shunning or avoidance, refusal of service, vandalism and online harassment.

As May is Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) heritage month, the Cal Poly Office of Diversity and Inclusion discussed identity and the impacts of COVID-19. The programming includes a talk about undocumented Asian Americans with ASI and the Dream Center and

Song said she personally experienced being called racial slurs and has heard language such as “bat soup” and “thanks for COVID,” since the beginning of the pandemic.

Song said she thinks more people would show their support or even feeling peer pressure to be vocal at a school with a higher Asian population. Since some Cal Poly students may not be friends with Asian American students or follow many Asian people on social media, they do not feel obligated to post or show their support.

Song said she is glad that Cal Poly released a statement on the matter, but asks the question, “Now what?” and wants to see more from faculty.

“If anyone has influence over people who are not showing support, it is the school’s leadership, like the president or dean,” Song said.

Joie Wong, business administration sophomore and social chair for Cal Poly’s Korean American Student Association (KASA), said she thinks the white population may not feel qualified enough to talk about racism, so there is a personal obstacle they need to overcome to be an ally.

“Being a predominantly white institution makes it easy to blend into the crowd and leads to the bystander effect,” Wong said. “But in reality, it just tokenizes the minority groups to have to speak up about these topics.”

To combat this bystander effect, Wong said it is important to have allyship with other communities, affirming that the Asian American and Pacific Islander population is heard, protected, safe and belongs.

“It would be great to hear from your peers, ‘You belong here’,” Wong said. “You should not feel like you’re a stranger in your own country.”

12

KCPR

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

BY EVAN GATTUSO

On Thursday, May 6, the power of live music returned to SLO Brew Rock with a 10% capacity show featuring the maestro instrumental supergroup Circles Around The Sun (CATS).

The show was a significant step in SLO Brew’s efforts to bring live music to the community while obeying health ordinances.

SLO Brew’s last standard live show with fans was more than a year ago, on March 1, 2020, when Louisville garage-rockers White Reaper took the stage.

The performance followed the proper precautions and adherence to public health guidelines, with tickets sold as pods of two or four people at a table. The venue resembled a lounge rather than a conventional concert space.

SLO Brew required attendees to wear masks and social distance. They also have an industrial-grade HVAC system constantly circulating fresh air in and out of the building.

The capacity restrictions allowed 60 fans to savor an intimate performance in a venue that can accommodate up to 600 people.

The show did not have the euphoric energy it would have had over a year ago. However, it did have the camaraderie and stellar in-person musicianship that disappeared when the COVID-19 pandemic silenced live performances.

Deadheads, free-spirits and other music enthusiasts danced throughout the night to CATS’ funky and intricately-layered jams.

Bassist Dan Horne exchanged banter and insights with the audience between sets, keyboardist Adam MacDougall wooed listeners with his magical fingers, guitarist Scott Metzger methodically shredded and drummer Mark Levy anchored with his groovy and reliable beats.

Neal Casal, the inspirational founder of CATS, created interlude songs for the “Fare Thee Well” concerts celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead in 2015. Those songs birthed the band that performed at SLO Brew.

In 2019, after creating his guitar tracks for the group’s newest, self-titled album, Casal died by suicide. He requested the band continue performing in his absence.

Horne, MacDougall and Levy honored his request, and with the assistance of a rotating guitarist, have extended Casal’s legacy even without him physically present.

Casal’s musical legend, the sound and spirit of Circles Around the Sun, graced the SLO Brew performance and reinvigorated concertgoers who had spent over a year yearning for

SOLENA AGUIL AR | MUSTANG NEWS Los Angeles-based band Circles Around the Sun threw a concert for about 60 people at SLO Brew Rock May 6.

the healing properties of live music.

Longtime SLO resident Tracy Taylor was “glad to see everyone out and about.” She admired attendees, entranced by the ecstatic jams, who danced and cherished the moment.

Since tickets for the show sold out in minutes, CATS fan Ramon Morales from Bakersfield couldn’t secure access to the show, but he still drove more than two hours hoping to glimpse CATS. Luckily for him, SLO Brew’s outdoor beer garden has a sound system and decent view of the concert space, offering a suitable position to kick back and enjoy the performance.

SLO Brew Entertainment Director Ryan Orr and the SLO Brew staff remained vigilant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and never stopped creating shows.

“We produced over 150+ live streams from March 2020 to March 2021 in an empty room,” Orr said.

“We would roll a huge TV outside and patch the live audio to our outdoor PA system for the people on our property to enjoy.”

SLO Brew continued its live shows with several free concerts featuring

SLO favorites, such as The Ragged Jubilee on May 8 and The Upside Ska Band on May 15.

Upcoming shows for The Mother Hips Duo on May 20 and the Califor-

Music truly is the universal language that touches our hearts more profoundly than anything else.

RYAN ORR SLO BREW ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR

nia-based Jerry Garcia Tribute Band Jerry’s Middle Finger on May 28 have already sold out.

Orr hopes to strengthen the venue’s newfound momentum by scouting promising bands through 2021 as SLO County Public Health eases

COVID-related restrictions.

SLO Brew intends to host an “epic” New Year’s Eve 2021 celebration and hopes to entertain additional significant events. The sky’s the limit for SLO Brew.

“I am excited about throwing events that surround the entire campus of the Rock in a multi-day festival-type scenario – selling 800 to 1,000 tickets a day and having loads of fun,” Orr said.

Orr is grateful for the local music community embracing and supporting SLO Brew through a tumultuous and challenging 2020. He vows to work tirelessly and deliver the best entertainment he can now and in the future.

“In the darkness, there was a bright light that shined down on us as community bonding [at a distance] and fellow neighbors supporting others that were struggling,” Orr said. “Music truly is the universal language that touches our hearts more profoundly than anything else.”

This article first appeared on KCPR.org

BY AMMAN FASIL ASFAW

This open letter was first recited as a speech on Jan. 20, 2021 at Cal Poly’s virtual, annual MLK event to an audience of a few hundred SLO community members.

PASSING THE TORCH

13

A REFLECTION

Amman Fasil Asfaw is an electrical engineering graduate student. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Dear Future Torchbearers,

AMMAN FASIL ASFAW | COURTESY “We must ... consistently exfoliate our predominantly white insitutions to cure all permutations of prejudice,” Asfaw wrote.

… we should all strive to transcend the traditional “evaluations” of our nation’s institutions … muscles from lifting weights. He said emotional and spiritual growth work the same way; through tension.

So, my second reflection? Create uncomfortable, inclusive spaces which promote the growth of humanity.

The possibilities of this are endless.

You could boycott your Black Academic Excellence Center until you get a bigger one. You could protest your campus’ annual commencement until tuition costs are lowered.

Shoot, if all else fails, you could even sit on the road in front of a stopped car with a sign that reads: “THE CAUCASITY IN AMERIKKKA IS ASTRONOMICAL.” I warn you though. Being the own-

er of such an uncomfortable space may come with a hefty initial down payment. But fear not, because as with most all equity investments, this one will eventually accrue in value via the growth of humanity.

So, my third reflection? Despite the vagaries of life, our trajectory is up.

Progress shall prevail.

When you are nearing success in igniting the growth of your community, a select few will attempt to tarnish your name. This is a sign you are of value. Protect and burgeon that value as if you are the last torch left in a pitch black cave.

Your fellow torchbearer, Amman Fasil Asfaw

OPINION

bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with.”

The same way one regularly exfoliates their skin to cure blemishes, we must also consistently exfoliate our predominantly white institutions to cure all permutations of prejudice.

However, as MLK Jr. preached, we cannot confront our normal and healthy boils without creative, constructive, and nonviolent tension.

This good and necessary tension is the same tension spoken of by Victor Glover. When speaking to Cal Poly’s National Society of Black Engineers live from the International Space Station, our astronaut asserted that the source of our physical muscle growth is the tension we place in our

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

at leadership and voluntary service here in SLO span a range of realms.

I need not list my past roles though because I realize all position titles are a superficial limitation and expectation of one’s impact.

My first reflection? I am weary of titles. You are not your title and your title is not who you are.

If you are the Social Media Chair for an org, why can’t you take on building a new club website?

If you are a Faculty member, why can’t you also act as a parental figure to students??

If you are an Administrator, why can’t you partake in nonviolent direct actions???

On the topic of nonviolent direct actions, I think there is still a massive misunderstanding. So I reiterate the words from Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963): “We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We

MUSTANG NEWS

Dear Future Torchbearers, I’d like to open with a quick mental activity. Take a few moments to mentally list the most famous oral speeches of all-time that pop into your head. Let’s see if you can list three. Go. …

In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. enrolled in the Crozer Theological Seminary. In his second term he matriculated into a Public Speaking class where he received a seemingly measly C+ grade. He then took a subsequent Public Speaking I class in his third term and earned an even lower C grade. Yes, you heard that right. THE Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. earned C’s in his post-graduate public speaking courses. Isn’t it remarkable that this very same person is also the orator of one of the speeches you thought of in your head? Do this activity with any person, any day of the year and most folks will recall King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

I say this not only to challenge our archaic metrics of academic success, but also to exemplify King’s ability to transcend institutional judgement— and how we should all strive to transcend the traditional “evaluations” of our nation’s institutions as well.

I reflect to you today as a fellow Black student in his fifth and final academic year at Cal Poly. I am now ready to pass the torch. My attempts

14

VOLLEYBALL’S ROAD TO GULF SHORES

Beach volleyball’s historic run to the NCAA tournament STORY AND PHOTOS BY KYLE CALZIA

Cal Poly Beach Volleyball’s historic season came to an end on May 8 after losses to #2 USC and #1 UCLA in Gulf Shores, Alabama eliminated the Mustangs from the NCAA Tournament. The losses came as an unfortunate end to an otherwise

thrilling season.

The Mustangs finished the season with an overall record of 24-11, marking the third time in the program’s seven-year history that the team has finished with 20+ wins. Cal Poly’s season was enough to win the Big West Title and earn the players a berth in the program’s second ever NCAA Tournament.

Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex, March 26-27 (Above) Macy Gordon celebrates a match win over #19 Long Beach State. Cal Poly’s number one pair of redshirt junior Macy Gordon and redshirt senior Emily Sonny put on a masterclass during the conference matchups, finishing the weekend 5-0, and the strong showing earned the duo their third Big West Pair of the Week in three weeks.

(Left) Josie Ulrich (30) dives for a dig against #10 Hawaii. Cal Poly’s matchup against Hawaii was the final and most anticipated match of the weekend. After a match win from Sonny and Gordon, the number five pairing of Ulrich and Vanessa Roscoe won their court to put the Mustangs up 2-0, setting up a 3-2 win that secured Cal Poly’s spot at the top of the Big West halfway through the season.

Coach Todd Rogers watching the game against Santa Clara University.

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

Center for Effort Challenge Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex, April 16-17

SPORTS

MUSTANG NEWS

This tournament featured five of the top 10 teams in nation: #1 UCLA, #2 USC, #5 Loyola Marymount, #6 Cal Poly and #8 Grand Canyon. The Mustangs struggled, only managing to edge a win over Grand Canyon and losing to the higher ranking schools.

Cal Poly’s victory over Santa Clara on April 24 marked Coach Todd Rogers’ 100th career win as a coach. An Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball, Rogers built the Cal Poly Beach Volleyball program from the ground up, coming on as head coach in 2016 when the program was founded.

Sam Strah (22) and Eleonore Johansen (15) celebrate a third-set win that secured a Cal Poly victory over Grand Canyon.

Josie Ulrich (30) looks to regroup with teammate Vanessa Roscoe (31) as the pair struggles against UCLA.

Scan the QR code to read more about Women’s Volleyball’s journey to the Beach Volleyball Championship at Gulf Shores

15

FANS IN THE STANDS

BRINGING ENERGY TO CAL POLY BASEBALL GAMES KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS

Fans returned to Cal Poly’s stadium on April 1 to watch the game against San Jose State University.

BY DIEGO SANDOVAL

The new clubhouse, which was completed in the months prior to the 2021 season, is now a place where certain fans are able to enjoy baseball games from a balcony overlooking the third base line at Baggett Stadium.

Alvarez added to Lee’s point about how the stadium being opened up to fans is important for the non-student San Luis Obispo population, saying “Cal Poly means a lot to the community and we have a lot of people who like to come and support us.”

A vital part of this Cal Poly community and Cal Poly Athletics fanbase are the parents and family members of players.

In fact, when asked his favorite part about having fans back in attendance, Emmerson said, “I really like seeing my parents in the stands while I’m playing.”

“A player knowing that his parents have an opportunity to see him play

has been great,” Lee said. “It can be tough not being able to watch your son play for, in some cases, the last time.”

The impact of having fans back in the stands can be seen every game

from here on out for the Mustangs, as Baggett Stadium will continue to house fans at a limited capacity for the remainder of the 2021 baseball season.

KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS

Students, locals and families of players are back watching Cal Poly baseball games.

MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021

KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS

“Fans make the game better,” Redshirt senior catcher Myles Emmerson said. “They bring energy back to the ballpark and everyone loves playing with fans.”

SPORTS

In March 2020, all of Cal Poly’s sports teams were forced to cancel their seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than an entire calendar year later, Cal Poly Athletics allowed fans to enter the stands again at a limited capacity.

The first team to allow spectators once again was the Cal Poly Baseball team, who opened Baggett Stadium to limited capacity for the first time on April 1 in a series against San Jose State.

However, before April 1, the team was forced to play 21 games in empty stadiums.

“It was weird at first with no fans because you could hear everything going on,” redshirt senior catcher Myles Emmerson said. “Playing in games felt a lot more like practice.”

As one of the more popular sports in terms of fan turnout, the baseball team was in unprecedented waters without the bustle of a crowd and the yells of hecklers.

Redshirt junior Andrew Alvarez, who has been with the team for four seasons, had “never experienced anything like it.”

“It’s my fourth year now so I’ve been used to having that stadium packed,” Alvarez said. “The games felt like the intra squads we play in the fall or the winter. You miss that feeling you get when everyone is there for you.”

Emmerson explained the importance of the energy that fans bring to game and how, for the first 21 games of the season, the team was forced to create that enthusiasm themselves.

“As a team, we had to bring even more energy because there weren’t fans,” Emmerson said. “We had to stay on pitches and be on higher alert because there wasn’t any other outside energy.”

Once San Luis Obispo County entered a less restrictive tier as

COVID-19 cases began to drop, Cal Poly Athletics announced that a limited number of fans would be allowed inside Baggett Stadium for the remainder of the baseball season.

On April 1, the team took to the field with the sound of fans cheering and clapping for the first time in 13 months.

“Fans make the game better,” Emmerson said. “They bring energy back to the ballpark and everyone loves playing with fans. Everyone’s goal is to play in the big leagues and play in front of thousands of fans and this is a piece of that.”

Both Emmerson and Alvarez explained how they do not necessarily notice the fans when they are in the middle of the action, calling everything that goes on around them “white noise.”

However, they did highlight that the energy from the stands is very much present in certain situations. In fact, Alvarez made the point that having fans back “brings back a little bit of normalcy to our lives.”

“It definitely does help coming off the mound after a big inning or a big play and getting that energy to transfer for the rest of the team,” Alvarez said.

Emmerson pointed out the biggest difference when it comes to having fans in the stands.

“Hearing everyone erupt when something crazy happens is the biggest difference,” Emmerson said.

“Without fans you really miss that.”

Aside from the players, bringing fans back to Cal Poly sports is great for both the university and the greater San Luis Obispo community, Head Coach Larry Lee said.

“It gives something for our community to do and gives them an outlet to watch a sporting event live again,” Lee said. “It’s great that our boosters and donors can enjoy watching games from our new clubhouse.”

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