C AL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO ’S NE WS SOURCE
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ENROLLED AND UNHOUSED: Students struggle to find housing weeks into fall quarter
OCTOBER 12, 2021
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IN THIS ISSUE
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LEADERSHIP
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UPFRONT
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
SPO R TS Diego Sandoval Editor Kyle Har Gabe Arditti Rafael Medina Derek Righetti Gwendalyn Garcia Kylie Hastings Nick Bandanza Noah Greenblatt Andrew Harlow A R TS & ST U DENT LIF E Kiana Hunziker Editor Abigail O’Branovich Alisha Nazar Elissa Luce Lauren Emo Olivia Meis Naomi Vanderlip Kate Inman Pranathi Manga D E SI G N Marta Lukomska Director Megan Anderson Kayla Olow Karen Ma Claire Lorimor Coby Chuang Zara Iqbal V I D EO Sofia Silva Video Manager Brady Caskey Matthew Bornhorst Ava Kershner Ariel Lopez Hayate Moro Blas Alvarado Ellie Spink
CO PY Grace Woelbing Zara Iqbal Audrey Ryan Elise Bodnar Sarah Chayet SO CI A L Ashley Holly Manager Kiana Meagher Daisy Kuenstler Chloe Chin Talia Toutounjian Jillian Butler Claire Han DATA Omar Rashad Lead Reporter Stephanie Zappelli Sydney Sherman Alexis Bowlby Ryan Hunter Brandon Brownell Sophie Moore Sucheen Sundaram Andrew Harlow
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DISC JO CKE YS Zoe Boyd Tessa Hughes Keagan Scott Liv Collom Kyle Himmelein Jaxon Silva
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KCPR .ORG Zoey Boyd Managing Editor Eden Baker Editor Assistant Abigail O’Branovich Addie Woltkamp Cayley O’Brien Emily Tobiason Emma Hughes Michelle Mede Ashley Oakes Emily Brower Alina Jafri Kaelyn Bremer Lily Tenner Navie Bower
MMG BUSINESS A DVE R TI SI NG & PR Brynna Barton Advertising Manager Ryan Manseau Small Team Manager Ellie Auerbach Small Team Manager Nicolette Laventure Ashley Pagsibigan Caitlin Willard Matt Daugbjerg Samuel Hubbard Yuka Shindo Advertising Account Executives Sheri Donahue KCPR Specialist Elaine Do Ad Design Manager Katherine Olah Ad Designer Cindy Nguyen Ad Designer A DVI SOR S Jon Schlitt General Manager Pat Howe Adviser Brady Teufel Adviser Patti Piburn Advisor
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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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SHERIFF’S REPORT FINDS SYSTEMIC RACISM IN THE COUNTY Story by Lauren Boyer and McKenna Rodriguez Designed by Kayla Olow
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ENROLLED AND UNHOUSED: STUDENTS STRUGGLE TO FIND HOUSING WEEKS INTO FALL QUARTER Story by Sydney Sherman Designed by Coby Chuang
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STUDENT BAND PURPLE HIBISCUS BRINGS SOUL TO SAN LUIS OBISPO
Story by Olivia Meis Designed by Zara Iqbal
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THEATER DEPARTMENT CANCELS FALL PLAY AFTER BEING UNABLE TO FIND A DIVERSE AND REPRESENTATIVE CAST
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Story by Grace Kitayama Designed by Claire Lorimor
IN THE RED ZONE
Story by Amelia Wu and Lauren Emo Designed by Megan Anderson
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SAN LUIS OBISPO TRANSIT DRIVER SHORTAGE
AFFECTS CAL POLY STUDENTS AND THE GREATER COMMUNITY
MADISON BELL AH | MUSTANG NEWS SLO Transit services picking up students at Kennedy Library
only now as a senior attending Cal Poly’s campus. She said this commuting process has already become exhausting.
I’m not really able to join clubs or commit to really anything else because my whole 40-minute drive is required in order to just get to get my classes on time. ALEXIS GARCIA Liberal Studies Senior
“I’m not really able to join clubs or commit to really anything else be-
cause my whole 40-minute drive is required in order to just get to get my classes on time,” Garcia said. “That whole college life — I don’t get to experience that.” Architecture senior Lindsay Campbell also said bus pick-up intervals create large gaps of time in her schedule. Although Campbell enjoys these breaks to complete homework assignments and bask in the sun, it is another variable to account for in her daily schedule. City Transit Assistant Jesse Stanley told KCBX that this specific labor shortage can be attributed to a series of factors, such as several transit agencies reducing their services during the pandemic and thus needing less employees. Operations will return to full capacity once more drivers are hired and complete at least six weeks of training. Stanley told KCBX there is no timeline on when services will be fully reinstated, but they are in the process of hiring more drivers.
NEWS
such as the elderly and handicapped are left without transportation due to the modified routes, Martin said. “The hours, on top of the fact that we are running as much as we can, you know, it puts a strain on the drivers as well as for the students,” Martin said. Although Cal Poly students are receiving similar services in years past, class and bus schedules still act as a hurdle for several Cal Poly riders. For liberal studies senior Alexis Garcia, the bus schedule is just one aspect of her daily commute. Garcia commutes from Santa Maria every day first by a 40-minute car drive to a nearby apartment complex and then catching the 3A bus route to her morning class. She said she doesn’t necessarily notice the shortage of bus drivers, but feels a level of restraint due to her schedule revolving around bus pickup and drop-off times. Garcia is a transfer student who spent her first year at Cal Poly in a virtual learning environment and is
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
San Luis Obispo Transit’s shortage of bus drivers and temporary technical issues are halting routes, which is straining services for local and campus residents. SLO Transit announced Oct. 4 that routes 3B, 4A and 4B will be temporarily suspended due to technical matters. This doubles down on SLO Transit’s already modified bus schedule for Cal Poly’s academic year, which was invoked on Sept. 20 due to a driver shortage that follows national labor shortage trends. In a pre-pandemic year, the start of Cal Poly classes would call for additional transportation services in the morning and night to accommodate a higher demand. To meet this demand with a shortage of drivers, SLO Transit has temporarily closed several bus routes and adjusted pickup intervals, according to a press release issued by SLO Transit. Each of the four numbered routes
the city has to offer consists of an A and B track. The A track travels in a clockwise direction, whereas the B track travels in a counterclockwise direction. This system ultimately works to reduce travel times for transit riders. However, the released modifications for the academic year have temporarily suspended B tracks for route one (which travels from Johnson Avenue to the airport) and two (which travels from Higuera to Madonna). Additionally, routes from downtown to San Luis Drive neighborhood and Los Osos Valley Road have been suspended. Routes three and four, which travel to the Cal Poly campus, will remain in service for Cal Poly students and faculty since they make up 50 to 60% of riders. Oris Martin, a driver for the city since May, said this shortage of bus drivers ultimately takes away from the community at large. By prioritizing student and faculty pickups, members of the community
MUSTANG NEWS
BY MADISON BELLAH
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IN-PERSON CLASSES SWITCH
TO HYBRID FORMAT LAST MINUTE, LEAVING STUDENTS DISAPPOINTED
NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
BY SIERRA PARR
After over a year and a half of online instruction, Cal Poly students and faculty have become familiar with asynchronous coursework, scheduled Zoom lectures and everything in between. But with approximately 87% of all classes being held in-person for the fall quarter in at least four different modalities of instruction, the return to in-person classes has proven to be anything but a return to normalcy. After the first week of in-person instruction, many students are finding their classes to be meeting face to face less than they expected. English sophomore Olivia Andrade said that she was surprised to find that her poetry writing class would only be meeting once a week on campus – a change from what was originally scheduled. “Originally it was written down as being a hybrid but...instead of it being virtual when we wanted and in person most of the time, it was scheduled as in-person Tuesdays and online Thursdays,” Andrade said. “It was a little bit of a disappointment because we were all looking forward to having in-person classes.” Liberal studies senior Alexis Van Howe will be spending a portion of her final quarter at Cal Poly virtually, something she had not originally scheduled or expected. “It’s a bit of a bummer because things were looking up for a while. All of my classes were scheduled to be in-person up until about two weeks before school started,” she said. “At this moment it feels like we’re so close yet so far from the college experience I had as a freshman.” While students are anxious to move past the year and a half spent on Zoom, professors have been more reluctant in their return to the classroom. English department co-chair Brenda Helmbrecht made the decision to move part of her class to be asynchronous only a few weeks before the start of the quarter. “We were given a classroom that had no windows and only one door… I just felt that the lack of airflow with 60 students in a room wasn’t great,”
Helmbrecht said. “I personally wouldn’t have felt safe in that environment and I felt uncomfortable compelling anyone else to be in that environment.”
It’s bit of a bummer because things were looking up for a while. All of my classes where scheduled to be in-person up until about two weeks before school started OLIVA ANDRADE 2021 CAL POLY SOPHOMORE
The initial decision of which modality to teach in was made by faculty during spring quarter when COVID-19 infections in San Luis Obispo were on the decline. “I had been promised by my chair and my college that if the situation changed and felt unsafe that I could pivot online,” Helmbrecht said. “I was then told in August that I no longer had that option.” Despite widespread confusion in the first weeks of the transition due to schedule changes, students and faculty alike have kept their hopes high for the year ahead. “Yes, it’s been confusing and even a little stressful at times to go back to in-person classes but pretty soon this will feel normal too,” Van Howe said. “I’m just grateful for the time I do get to spend on campus and being back in a better learning environment. Helmbrecht said she is approaching the future of in-person teaching with a bit more hesitance. “I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic but there’s just so many unknowns that it can be hard to sustain sometime.” Helmbrecht said. “I hope that we all just approach each other with empathy.”
Fenn Bruns | MUSTANG NEWS Vivian Jameson reviewing some notes for her upcoming statistics midterm outside of Dexter.
ASI PRIORITIZES INTERACTING WITH AND LISTENING TO STUDENTS IN 2021-22 GOALS BY COLE PRESSLER
Cal Poly’s Associated Students, Inc. student government leaders recently shared their priorities and goals for the 2021-22 school year, which emphasized interacting directly with the student body and listening to students. ASI student government is split into three branches — the Board of Directors, the University Union Advisory Board and the Executive Cabinet. Each branch has one main priority this year.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SUHA HUSSAIN ASI Board of Directors Chair
TESS LOR AINE | COURTESY ASI President Tess Loarie
ment, according to ASI Chief of Staff Cade Creason.
in three phases: a full-student body survey launched in the winter quarter, open town hall-style listening sessions and, finally, targeted listening sessions with student organizations such as clubs, centers within student diversity and belonging and Greek life. “We want to be in touch with the student body’s needs. We don’t want to assume what the student body needs,” Creason said. “We want to understand how we can help students best, especially transitioning from COVID back to an in-person environment on campus.” The assessment data will be compiled into a report and published on the ASI website for all students to view. “We are student government and ... if students don’t approve of us, then we’re not doing something right,” Hussain said. “We’re trying to do some introspection and see what we can fix in [ASI].” Loarie said she is also committed to implementing her individual priorities, which include listening to students’ voices, voter turnout and the lasting impact of this year’s ASI projects on future students. She said she feels that ASI leaders rarely fol-
low through on their promises because once they graduate, the new leaders abandon those projects. “Every single year leadership will choose to focus on different initiatives that sometimes can be very flashy or sexy and get attention, like allocating money to certain areas or building a new building or painting a new mural somewhere,” Loarie said. “This year we said, ‘If only 10% of students showed up to vote [in ASI elections] and said they cared enough about student government to be voting, we are doing something very wrong.’ We failed on an annual basis to provide continuity within [ASI].” Loarie said she is committed to securing a better future for Cal Poly students. “I’m not going to give you five million new ideas,” she said. “We are going to take a year to listen [to students]. It may be that there won’t be as many concerts for you to go to or there aren’t as many booths handing out free food, [but] we’re trading those short-term instant gratification moments of advocacy for that longterm change and effort that needs to be done.”
UNIVERSITY UNION ADVISORY BOARD The UUAB branch handles ASI’s finances and manages all facilities on campus, such as the Recreation Center and University Union. Phase one of their priority, an “accessibility assessment,” was started last year and will continue as a method to see what barriers prevent students from using ASI facilities and what solutions they can create. “One idea that has come out of [the assessment] is having QR codes around the Rec Center so people can follow guided workouts so people can use equipment independently and ... not feel intimidated to come into the gym,” Hussain said. “That way of accessibility is a more mental and personal sense of accessibility. The [UUAB] is also making the campus more physically accessible.”
EXECUTIVE CABINET The Executive Cabinet, which consists of a president, chief of staff and nine secretaries, is implementing the final priority: a campus-wide assess-
We have a hard time retaining student government members and students of color because they feel there are too many barriers for them to successfully advocate in their [ASI] roles. SUHA HUSSAIN ASI Board of Directors Chair
“The entire goal of this [assessment] is to understand the ways in which we are serving students and failing students, and … understanding what could be done better and what could be changed at that very structural level,” ASI President Tess Loarie said. The assessment will be carried out
NEWS
“[The bylaws] are usually up for revision every five years but that re-
CADE CREASON | COURTESY ASI Chief of Staff Cade Creason
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
We are student government and if students don’t approve of us, then we’re not doing something right. We’re trying to do some introspection and see what we can fix in [ASI].
SUHA HUSSAIN | COURTESY Chair of the ASI Board of Directors Suha Hussain
MUSTANG NEWS
The ASI Board of Directors acts like the legislative branch of the United States government by proposing resolutions and bills related to issues important to the Cal Poly community. The Board’s basic priority this year is a bylaw revision, which focuses on updating and standardizing the regulations outlined in the Cal Poly ASI Bylaws document. Proposed regulation standardizing includes wanting to update the document to include specific liaison positions between ASI committees or evaluate ASI government positions to ensure that certain students aren’t being given too much work.
vision hasn’t happened in 10-plus years. In the last couple years there have been a lot of changes in the bylaws because every year bills get passed, making amendments to the bylaws,” ASI Board of Directors Chair and civil engineering junior Suha Hussain said. “No one has gone through and done a full revision to make sure everything is consistent across different sections.” Hussain also said that, as part of the revisions, they are considering restructuring the way ASI student representatives are chosen. Instead of the six Cal Poly colleges electing students, students may elect representatives based on different ideas, cultural groups or affinity groups. “We have a hard time retaining student government members and students of color because they feel there are too many barriers for them to successfully advocate in their [ASI] roles,” Hussain said. “We want to make [ASI] more accessible and more catered towards students who are trying to make change.”
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SHERIFF’S REPORT FINDS SYSTEMIC RACISM IN THE COUNTY Underrepresentation of people of color in local and Cal Poly leadership is evident
NEWS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
BY LAUREN BOYER AND MCKENNA RODRIGUEZ
A recent report released from the County of San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s office addressed the local systemic racism that minority groups face every day in San Luis Obispo. Its main focus was on underrepresentation of people of color in positions of power and the increase of hate crimes. The report was written by the Sheriff’s Unity Committee and is titled “Systemic Racism and Microaggressions in San Luis Obispo.” There are 19 members of the committee: six are Sheriff’s Office deputies, two are civilian employees and the rest are San Luis Obispo community members. Seven of these 19 members made this report. It was endorsed by Sheriff Ian Parkinson. “Within the conclusions of the report, I find very powerful indicators of systemic racism,” Parkinson said at the beginning of the report. “I invite everyone to join us in improving and correcting our shortcomings to enhance inclusiveness of all.” The report is 34 pages long, beginning with an explanation of systemic racism and how it has made its way and maintained its position in San Luis Obispo by means of overrepre-
sentation of white people in leadership roles. Since the university’s founding in 1901, every single one of Cal Poly’s presidents have been white. As for the overall underrepresentation of minority groups in higher positions at Cal Poly, 96% of foundation board members are white. There is also a history of hate crimes at Cal Poly. In May of 2018, the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha hosted a “gangster-themed” party where a student did blackface. Both a Black and a Latina Cal Poly student were walking downtown when a woman approached them saying “You are not a Cal Poly student. Take that sweatshirt off.” Most recently, in early 2021, a dorm room was broken into and notes with racial slurs were found left in the room. In order to address these hate crimes and push for a future where they no longer happen, the Unity Committee was formed in September of 2020. It unites a diverse group of leaders in the community to discuss the systemic racism that is prevalent in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly sociology professor Ryan
Alaniz, who is the Criminal Justice Chair for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in San Luis Obispo, is a member of the Unity Committee, and also one of the main contributors to the report. Given his position in the NAACP, he was invited to join by Commander Keith Scott.
We are not on-theground folks — we are a bunch of leaders who can connect the community together RYAN ALANIZ Cal Poly Sociology Professor
“We are not on-the-ground folks — we are a bunch of leaders who can connect the community together,” Alaniz said. “Instead of organizations working on their own, we can help recognize that there’s other folks that can supplement their work and be more effective.” As a sociology professor, Alaniz said he wants to educate his students on how to be more well-informed individuals. He starts his class by recognizing that there is indeed bias everywhere, and this bias has a profound impact on how we see the world around us. By sharing some of his own life experiences, including how he has recognized and continuously tries to overcome his own implicit bias, he said he hopes to provide his students with a new perspective, one that they may have not seen before. Alaniz grew up working in the agricultural fields with his father who was a tractor driver on an agricultural farm. Alaniz said he also spent time living in South America as a young adult and witnessed the lives of “some of the poorest folks in the Western Hemisphere.”
CONNOR FROST | MUSTANG NEWS Black Lives Matter Protest
“I want to bring those perspectives into class and help balance student perspectives, or at least give them the recognition that what they learned so far may only be one way of understanding the world, as well as empower them to continue educating themselves in a constructively critical way,” Alaniz said. Alaniz notes the creation of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Cal Poly as being a big step in the right direction for the school. According to their website, the office is committed to nurtuing a “respectful and inclusive campus cli
mate.” Along with this, Alaniz said other faculty on campus are supportive of his mission. “There’s a lot of faculty who are deeply passionate about this and are really doing their best,” Alaniz said.
THE KRISTIN SMART TRIAL:
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A Q&A WITH PODCAST HOST CHRIS LAMBERT BY ABIGAIL O’BRANOVICH
I was also shocked when they found blood under Ruben’s deck. I had suspected that was one of the posible locations that she could have been in, but when they dug and they didn’t find her body there, I thought “Dang, we missed it” CHRIS LAMBERT “Your Own Backyard” Podcast Host
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Scan the QR code to read the full story on mustangnews.net
AASL
was the strongest alert that my dog ever gave in her entire career,” and that includes when she found actual full human bodies – I was like, “Wow, that’s flooring to hear.” Q: Because the preliminary hearings lasted 22 days, do you have an idea of how long the trial could last? A: “I heard somebody in the courtroom, after we were excused, saying that their estimate was between four to six months and I don’t know how accurate that is, but that’s the number that I’ve heard a few times. In all likelihood, the defense is definitely going to push for a change of venue because they’re going to try to say that San Luis Obispo is too biased against Paul Flores at this point, but you know, it’s been so saturated in
the media, it’s gonna be hard to find anywhere that’s not equally biased. I think the prosecution is going to fight to keep it here in town, but I don’t know what they’re going to decide. So the next step is the arraignment on Oct. 20, and that’s where they’ll determine whether or not it’s going to be moved. And so we’re at this point where we really don’t know anything about the trial. It’s just all speculation, but I think it’s going to be a long one. I think this is a case where you’re never going to have all the evidence you need — too much time has already passed – so after 25 years, this is as good as it gets. We either go to trial now with what we’ve got or we will probably never have a chance to go to trial with better evidence. I think this is the best it’s gonna get.”
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
ALYSSA WALL ACE | MUSTANG NEWS Court Drawings
hallway with me]. And I know they know who I am. I see them look over at me every once in a while, and I wasn’t sure if they were intentionally trying to get my attention, but it was very tense. I didn’t realize that they were allowed to wander the hallway the same way that we do. They’re going to lunch at the same place as we are; they park in the same parking structure as us; and so you run into them sometimes — there’s no protection. Q: With all of the information that you’ve learned over the years, and being in the preliminary hearings for 22 days, did you hear any information that was shocking to you? A: There’s a lot of those, it’s hard to narrow it down. I was shocked when I learned that Paul Flores had been videotaping himself, [sexually assaulting] unconscious women and saving them on his computer. I was also shocked when they found blood under Ruben’s deck. I had suspected that was one of the possible locations that she could have been in, but when they dug and they didn’t find her body there, I thought “Dang, we missed it” or “This is the wrong spot.” But then they did soil testing, and it was positive for human remains. The archaeologists who testified said they saw everything indicative of a human burial in this hole, except the body. Also one of the cadaver dog handlers took the stand. To hear them talk about the strength of their dog’s alerts — one of the women said “This
MUSTANG NEWS
Podcaster Chris Lambert discusses his thoughts on the Kristin Smart Case Mustang News reporter Abigail O’Branovich sat down with Chris Lambert, the host of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast, who has been reporting at the preliminary hearing, and soon trial, for the Kristin Smart case. Lambert’s Hallway Blog has kept his listeners informed and “in the seat next to him” as he attempts to bring justice to Smart through his work. Audio by Torstein Rehn Q: When you started the podcast, did you expect to be working on it for this long? A: I had tried for a job at a local newspaper but there were far more qualified people. I went home and I told my girlfriend, ‘I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get that job.’ So what should I do? Should I keep being kind of miserable and working the job that I’m in? Or should I quit and give this podcast thing a go? I really want to tell this story. I don’t know if I’m qualified to but nobody else is telling it right now, so I’ll give it a shot. I thought the worst-case scenario, a few 100 people would listen and remember her, and maybe somebody better than me will come
along and tell the story better than I can. But then once I started piecing it together, I thought this had the potential to be a very extensive documentary and I’m glad that it turned out the way that it did. So there was a period of time where I thought it was only going to last two or three months and, in reality, it’s been three years now. Q: Did you expect there to be a trial in the future? A: I definitely didn’t see a trial in the future. From my perspective, when I was investigating, it felt like the sheriff’s department wasn’t even interested in solving it anymore. Luckily that turned out not to be true, and that was based on the things that had been made public, but I definitely never thought it would get to this point. Q: What was it like to be in the room with the Flores family after writing, discussing and researching them for many years? A: It was underwhelming. I would have hoped that they would have had some more emotion and that you could have seen some reaction from them. They were very stonefaced and kind of stoic. And on top of that, I didn’t see Paul ever make eye contact with me. He was sitting up front, but you know, his mom [and dad were sitting in the
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ENROLLED AND UNHOUSED: STUDENTS STRUGGLE TO FIND HOUSING WEEKS INTO FALL QUARTER
THE HILL
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
BY SYDNEY SHERMAN
While most students at Cal Poly ate food at a dining table and slept in a warm bed under a roof in San Luis Obispo, Savannah Bosley spent the first two weeks of the fall quarter living out of her car. Bosley, a computer science sophomore at Cal Poly, said she couldn’t find a place to live off campus, so she made a makeshift bed in the back of her Toyota Prius and tried to make the tiny space as comfortable as possible. She didn’t always feel safe sleeping in her car, so some nights she would couch surf at a friend’s house. “I have not had a peaceful night’s rest in two weeks now,” Bosley said. Students have found it challenging to find housing in San Luis Obispo for the first school year since the COVID-19 pandemic began where a majority of classes are being held in person. Three weeks into the fall quarter, students still post and comment in a housing Facebook group for Cal Poly students searching for housing, which has more than 21,300 members.
I’ve been here 18 years and we’ve always struggled, but for some reason, it is more difficult this year. JOY PEDERSON Dean of Students & Co-chair of Basic Needs Task Force
This fall, more students than ever reached out to Cal Poly’s Basic Needs Task Force for help with finding housing, according to Joy Pederson, the dean of students and co-chair of the task force.
FENN BRUNS | MUSTANG NEWS Savannah Bosley sits in the trunk of her Toyota Prius, which she lived out of for the first two weeks of the fall quarter at Cal Poly after finding it incredibly difficult to find housing in San Luis Obispo.
“I've been here 18 years and we've always struggled, but for some reason, it is more difficult this year,” Pederson said. Among California public universities, Cal Poly is not alone in its student housing shortage. UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego have taken to housing students in nearby hotels until they find a place to live off campus. It’s unclear what has contributed to the current student housing shortage in San Luis Obispo. The Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo did not return several
phone calls or emails from Mustang News. Formally known as HASLO, the authority “assists the city with addressing housing needs for lowand medium-income households,” according to the city website. Pederson said she suspects people from outside the Central Coast have moved to San Luis Obispo to work remotely, contributing to the city’s overall housing shortage. She did not provide any data to support the theory. Pederson said she has heard from students who cannot find housing in San Luis Obispo, others who can-
not afford housing and a combination of the two. For students who can find housing but cannot afford it, the Cal Poly Cares Emergency Fund assists students with financial challenges such as providing them a security deposit or first month’s rent, Pederson said. The university has opened applications to the fund and the program has been awarding grants during the fall quarter. For students who cannot find housing, Cal Poly has an Emergency Housing Program, although Pederson said the threshold to qualify
is higher due to limited resources. There are a total of eight beds available for students who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. According to University Spokesperson Matt Lazier, as of Oct. 4, Cal Poly Housing had a waiting list of 29 students and an estimated 20 spaces open in shared room setups for female students. Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) President Tess Loarie said those programs require students who have exhausted all of their financial aid, which includes taking
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FENN BRUNS | MUSTANG NEWS Bosley doesn’t waste an inch of space in her car - the back of her driver’s seat functions as storage for her bracelets and jewlery.
A TURN OF LUCK BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
I just feel like a lot of students fall in the crack — there’s not a lot of economic diversity. SAVANNAH BOSLEY Sophomore
IN CONNECTICUT AND OUT OF OPTIONS
school but because I cannot do it in person, I decided to do it online,” Goetsch said. “It is kind of just a last resort feeling — to stay in school, I had to keep doing online.” Goetsch said she was eager to go back to in-person classes. Now she feels like she is missing out on an in-person fall quarter. She is currently looking for housing for the winter quarter but said even that feels out of reach. “I feel like I am at the point where I am not going to find a place to live,” Goetsch said. “It's definitely tricky, because there's really only so much out there and so many people in the same boat as us looking for the same thing.”
GRASPING AT STRAWS ON FACEBOOK Since September, at least 15 Cal Poly students posted in the Cal Poly housing Facebook group, informing members that they were still seeking
housing. It is unclear if or how many of them found housing, but computer science senior Limas Nursalim found some luck through the online group. Nursalim began looking for housing in San Luis Obispo in April. Since then, he applied to more than 20 rental properties and spent over $200 in application fees to property management companies. “I think I probably applied for every house that I've seen in the market,” Nursalim said. As an international student, Nursalim didn’t have a co-signer or a credit score — another barrier that kept him from attaining housing for the school year. When he tried to explain this to property managers, Nursalim said that most places “ghosted” him. “It was a really tedious process,” Nursalim said. “I kind of lost track of myself.” A week before classes began, Nurs-
alim was still without housing. He posted to the Cal Poly housing Facebook group in earnest, saying he was still searching for housing. He said he received several offers and moved into a place off-campus four days before classes began. Nursalim said he felt relieved to find a place, especially after property management companies never got back to him after he submitted applications and paid application fees. After spending two weeks unhoused, Bosley also found a place through the same Facebook group with a “band of misfits also looking for housing,” she said. Although the rent was a little higher than what she was hoping for, Bosley said she was just happy to finally have a place of her own. She moved into a home on Oct. 1. “I'm just excited to have some peace and my own space,” Bosley said.
THE HILL
Biological sciences junior Simone Goetsch is still at home with her family in Guilford, Connecticut, because she could not find affordable housing in San Luis Obispo leading up to the start of the quarter. Goetsch had taken the previous two quarters off for personal reasons, so signing up for an entirely virtual course load for the fall was the only option in order for her to stay enrolled at Cal Poly. “I definitely wanted to keep doing
FENN BRUNS | MUSTANG NEWS Bosley’s roller skates are tucked below the passenger seat of her Toyota Prius. She spent two weeks living out of her car before finding a space of her own to store them.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
While living out of her car, Bosley didn’t have a refrigerator or pantry space, so every morning, she woke up at 7 a.m. to buy food for the day. She said that was the hardest part of living out of her Prius. Because Cal Poly does not offer a public kitchen or space to cook on campus, Bosley was often relying on friends in the area to cook warm dinners in the evening. “It wasn’t terrible for me because I have friends in the area, but the kids who had classes online for two years and then come to Cal Poly don’t know anyone in person,” Bosley said. “I feel a little bad for that situation because what do you do?” Once she got to campus, Bosley would spend all day there — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. — working remotely and attending her classes.
She also said that Cal Poly could be doing more to help unhoused students. “I just feel like a lot of students fall in the crack — there’s not a lot of economic diversity,” Bosley said. “I am out here working 30 hours a week and still, even when there are rooms available, they are out of my price budget.”
MUSTANG NEWS
on loans before they apply. ”This model of aid that we're offering is not a model of aid that every student wants to tap into and that's why students are sleeping in their cars,” Loarie said. When it comes to assisting students with basic needs, Loarie said she always returns to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. “College students have so much stress and so many different areas of their lives happening, that [school] isn't even the bottom of the pyramid,” Loarie said. “How do you expect somebody who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from to worry about studying for a midterm?”
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MIC
ON THE
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A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT KCPR’S DJ STAFF BY EMILY TOBIASON
KCPR SECTION
MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021 MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021
The disc jockeys (DJs) at KCPR 91.3 FM, Cal Poly’s radio station, are back and broadcasting live from the on-campus studio located on the third floor of the Graphic Arts building. DJs have returned from remote broadcasting to their regular scheduling, with each DJ hosting a twohour show per week. KCPR has been broadcasting for more than 50 years and serves as a cultural hub by providing new and alternative music for listeners around the world.
Each DJ is responsible for playing music based on the time of day that they are on air, which is categorized into four sections — The Breakfast Club from 8-12 p.m., Afternoon Delight from 12-4 p.m., The Comedown from 4-6 p.m. and The Lounge from 6-9 p.m. Melissa Melton, or the Afternoon Delight’s DJ Sphinx, bases her setlist off of how she’s feeling that week. “I love our whole music collection,” Melton said. “I love looking through and finding hidden gems and then getting to share them with the audience.” DJs are able to select songs from
the station’s extensive collection of CDs and vinyl, as well as digitally through a state-of-the-art software program called Zetta. Zetta allows DJs to play from a list of roughly 20,000 songs and serves as the backbone to the station’s sound. It keeps music and programmed promotions airing even while there are no DJs in the studio. When it comes time for her show, Melton said it’s “such an adrenaline rush” organizing her songs and making sure everything runs smoothly, whilst still staying compliant with Federal Communications Commission regulations. “It’s by far the best part of my college experience and honestly one of the coolest things I’ve done in my whole life,” Melton said. Liberal arts and engineering studies senior Jaxon Silva, otherwise known as Action Jaxon, said DJing is a nice break from his STEM-filled schedule. Silva’s show airs Friday mornings and he likes to turn the mellow sound of his daypart — the Breakfast Club — into something more energizing.
[DJing] is one of those things that not too many people ever really get to say that they’ve done. JAXON SILVA KCPR’s DJ Action Jackson
ZOE BOYD | MUSTANG NEWS Jaxon Silva, aka Action Jaxon, pulls an album from KCPR’s extensive vinyl collection.
“[DJing] is one of those things that not too many people ever really get to say that they’ve done,” Silva said. Programming and Music Director Keagan Scott, a.k.a Bix Tex, said joining KCPR gave him a community, as well as a place to gain real-world experience creating shows.
JA XON SILVA | MUSTANG NEWS DJ Rhinestone (Liv Collom) and her puppy Buckley pose for an appearance on air
Scott’s goal as a DJ and as KCPR’s music and programming director is to make the station “more than a white man’s game” by showcasing diverse artists, he said. Growing up in Texas, he said he was surrounded by country, Christian, folk and ’90s rock influences, which counteracts the niche of KCPR’s alternative sound. It was up to him to discover the music that constitutes his tastes now. “I walk a fine line of liking to find music that is interesting to the ear but that doesn’t divert your attention,” Scott said. Zoe Boyd, a.k.a. The Zoetrope, said it can be scary knowing how many people are listening to her on-air. However, she said she loves being able to turn up the music in the studio and rock out in her own little world. Taking inspiration from her parents’ love for punk rock, Boyd said she plays “pump up” music during The Comedown while her listeners commute home from work. Tessa Hughes, or The Blond Asset, said she has been exposed to many new artists and songs since becoming a DJ. Hughes said she likes to get to the studio before her show to organize her setlist. To expand her listeners’ horizons, she usually plays a popular song followed by a lesser-known song with a similar sound. “I love being sent new music and exploring new artists,” Hughes said. “I can’t create music but I can share what other people are creating.” Liv Collom, known as DJ Rhinestone on Tuesdays from 2-4 p.m., said that after three years, the station has become her home. When Collom was first hired, they said it was intimidating being around so many others who like the same music. Over the years, however, she said she made great friends and memories. “I guess what we all have in common is loving music and loving art and this counterculture that goes against the Cal Poly mainstream,”
I guess what we all have in common is loving music and loving art and this counterculture that goes against the Cal Poly mainstream. LIV COLLOM KCPR’s DJ Rhinestone
Collom said. Self-described “sucker for the ’90s” Kyle Himmelein, or noisyboi, said he likes to research artists so he can share information about them in-between songs. “If you’re interested in applying to be a DJ, do it,” Himmelein said. “Even if you don’t think you can do it and if you’re not sure if the time is gonna let you do it or if you’re not gonna have enough knowledge on music – just go for it.” KCPR DJ applications are now open and will close on Oct. 15. To apply, visit kcpr.org/join.
SCAN TO APPLY!
STUDENT BAND PURPLE HIBISCUS BRINGS SOUL TO SAN LUIS OBISPO BY OLIVIA MEIS
A new student band — Purple Hibiscus — is bringing soul to San Luis Obispo. The band consists of Cal Poly students Cate Armstrong, Rylan Childers, Tim Kaneu, Zach Mips and UC Santa Barbara alumnus Thomas Grandoli. Their funk, soul and R&B sound is unique in San Luis Obispo’s underground indie-surf-rock music scene.
I started Purple Hibiscus [in July] because, being a Black artist, I really want to expose the people of [San Luis Obispo] to real music by Black artists. TIM KANEU Architectural engineering senior and guitarist
“I started Purple Hibiscus [in July] because, being a Black artist, I really want to expose the people of [San Luis Obispo] to real music by Black artists,” architectural engineering senior and guitarist Kaneu said. His roots in Nigeria inspired Kaneu to pick up “the cheapest guitar at the guitar store” — a pink Fender squire — and bring his vision to life. The band’s name, Purple Hibiscus, is a nod to the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel of the same title. “[San Luis Obispo] is a very predominantly white place,” sociology senior and lead singer Armstrong said. “I’m not Black, so I can’t understand that direct experience, but getting to uplift and … allowing Black joy to be sparked within our music … allowing this band to be a route of activism …this is what we need.” Breathing new life into the work of Black music giants like Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin and Sister Sledge is a way for Kaneu and Black people in San Luis Obispo to express racial identity, Kaneu said. Kaneu credits local surf-rock band Couch Dog and its creator, manu-
facturing engineering senior Max Ferrer, for his musical performance origin story. His first show took place in the Graphic Arts building, when a group of bands broke in to play a secret concert after hours. “Everyone was moshing, and I was like, ‘wow, I could get used to this,’” Kaneu said. “Other guitarists from other bands, they came and they shook my hand, and they’re like, ‘Bro, you shred.’ This is some rockstar shit.” Couch Dog presented an opportunity for Kaneu to prove himself, he said. “So every day, I would wake up, I would practice scales and music theory,” Kaneu said. “I remember staying late in [architecture] studio and just dying to get out to practice.” Due to a combination of a heavy course load, work, the COVID-19 pandemic and a longing to progress to a “new level” of music beyond indie rock, Kaneu grew away from Couch Dog. However, R&B and soul drew Kaneu back into music and inspired him to form his own band, he said. Architectural engineering senior
and bassist Mips connected with Kaneu through a mutual friend, and construction technology junior Childers hopped on drums. UC Santa Barbara music theory alumni Thomas Grandoli, known to his bandmates as “The Professor,” plays keyboard. The final puzzle piece to fall into place was finding a lead singer. On an unassuming bike night, Kaneu struck up a conversation with Armstrong. They instantly bonded over a shared passion for music and Kaneu said he was elated to discover Armstrong’s instrument of choice was her voice. “It was like a match made in heaven,” Armstrong said. “It was kismet,” Kaneu said. “Cate is one of the main reasons why this band was able to get started.” Purple Hibiscus’s first show took place at Armstrong’s house. She was a major supporter of his activist-based vision for the band, according to Kaneu. Purple Hibiscus also hosted a gig on Sept. 17, and Kaneu said their show had “record high attendance” for twice their usual price of admis-
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sion. Purple Hibiscus is quickly gaining speed, but Kaneu believes this is just the beginning. The music scene is coming back to life as vaccinations increase and Purple Hibiscus is gaining a following, with hundreds of Instagram followers already. “I was getting a haircut, and these two girls spotted me from the sidewalk,” Childers said. “They ran in and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re in Purple Hibiscus.’ I didn’t know them ... [Then] there were two people that showed up [to a show] and they had painted their shirts to say Purple Hibiscus. That’s very rewarding.” With a growing fanbase, Armstrong described the band as collaborative between its members and the audience. “Performing is such a conversation between the band and the crowd,” Armstrong said. “We are mutually benefiting each other. [People] need to feel that music right now.”
MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
ARTS & STUDENT LIFE
ANDY SHER AR | MUSTANG NEWS Purple Hibiscus performs at a show on Sept. 17.
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CAL POLY ATHLETES FLOCK TO SIGN WITH BARSTOOL SPORTS EQUIPPED WITH A NEW POLICY, THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (NCAA) ENCOURAGED A FLOOD OF CAL POLY ATHLETES TO SIGN WITH BARSTOOL SPORTS. BY NICK BANDANZA
SPORTS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
On June 30, the NCAA adopted a new policy surrounding name, image and likeness rules, which allowed college athletes to receive money, gifts and other items from companies. This was previously outlawed by the association. A day later, Barstool Sports founder and self-professed “El Presidente,” Dave Portnoy, put out a video via Instagram announcing the launch of Barstool Athletics.
If you play division one sports and blink at me, we’ll sign you DAVE PORTNOY Barstool Sports founder
“If you play division one sports and blink at me, we’ll sign you,” Portnoy said in the Instagram video. “What do you want: merch, pizza, come to parties for free? You name it.” Barstool Sports is a digital media company that was created in 2003 with a focus on sports and pop-culture. Centered in New York City, Barstool Sports is one of the most popular faces of sports media. For 18 years, the company has been creat-
ing content such as podcasts, blogs and social media posts catered to sports fans. The brand new extension to the media and gambiling company came as thousands of student athletes across the country wanted to sign. Barstool is very prevalent on college campuses, amassing over 29.5 million followers across their main Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok accounts and millions more following other affiliated Barstool pages. “I like the whole Barstool Corporation, so that’s what drew me to them,” Madi Daniels, women’s golf senior, said. Redshirt freshman wrestler Daniel Vizcarra was the first to sign to Barstool Athletics. Following Vizcarra was sophomore wrestler Trent Tracy, sophomore baseball player Joe Yorke, redshirt sophomore football player Judea Moon, freshman softball player Jessica Clements and over fifteen other Cal Poly athletes. When asked about his thought process while applying, Vizcarra said he thought “Screw it, I’m just going to apply and see what happens.” The application included sending a photo of yourself in a Cal Poly jersey and signing various legal documentation required by Barstool for that photo to be used on all their accounts. When athletes are accepted and given the “Barstool Athlete” title, they are then required to tag the Barstool Athletics account on Instagram in their personal bio. “I honestly didn’t really expect to get it, but it was pretty cool when it
happened,” Vizcarra said. “The process was easy and simple.” Once accepted, all of the athletes were sent limited edition Barstool Athlete merchandise: a t-shirt, sweatshirt and sweatpants, as well as discounted prices on other items at the Barstool store. Freshman cross country runner Nathan Babby signed with Barstool in the summer, and was somewhat disappointed with what the company has done for their signees. “It’s not a whole lot,” Babby said. “It’s just I get some free clothes to wear around.” Barstool Athlete is reportedly looking to upgrade the perks for their signed athletes. Currently, an “Athlete Card” is being developed for Barstool signees. According to Vizcarra, the card will potentially sup-
ply discounts to outside companies and fast food restaurants, such as Chipotle. “Everything else is still in the works,” Daniel said. “It’s really fresh for them and for us, so they’re kind of maneuvering through all of their rules and regulations.” Daniel, Vizcarra and Babby said they are happy with signing to Barstool and are looking to use it as a stepping stool to gain more sponsorships. Vizcarra is also signed to the company Liquid I.V. and wants to strike a deal with San Luis Obispo’s own MG Supplements. “I reached out to MG Supplements and he said he would be down to sponsor me,” Vizcarra said. “So I’m definitely going to reach out again and see what’s up with that.”
Meanwhile, Babby said he is looking to make more deals in the future as he matures into a ranked runner and starts to gain more notoriety. “Being a freshman, I’m not going to be in the championship races this year, so the spotlight isn’t on me,” Babby said. “[But] if the opportunity arises where I could get a sponsorship, I would jump on it in a heartbeat” Daniel said she is working on getting the word out on her own, as she hopes to gain local sponsorships as well. “I’m definitely interested in getting some local SLO companies on my bag,” Daniel said. “Barstool is such a big corporation that them posting me and promoting me can get me a lot of other opportunities.”
THEATER DEPARTMENT CANCELS FALL PLAY AFTER BEING UNABLE TO FIND A DIVERSE AND REPRESENTATIVE CAST
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SHAE ASHAMALL A | MUSTANG NEWS A poster by Cal Poly’s Recreation Center reads “There has been a change in our season planning… Stay tuned for what comes next.”
BY GRACE KITAYAMA
If you don’t have the people that are able to represent that cultural specificity that you’ve tied the story to, then you can’t do it
As one of the few POC who got casted – and potentially less who auditioned – I am unhinged at the department’s handling of the situation CASEY KOIWAI Senior computer science major
verse education, and I am devastated for those who could not get in.” Koiwai referenced other schools and programs that put on this play. He said some requested approval from the writer Salman Rushdie and invited him to see the show himself to “see what his work has inspired,”
Koiwai said. Koiwai, who helped pitch the play idea, saw potential in Cal Poly’s rendition. Now, Koiwai said he’s “heartbroken and just torn up” that this play was taken away. “We had cast members who were looking forward to it — you had cast members who were diverse enough,” Koiwai said. Though “Haroun” is cancelled, some of the cast is still on board to create something new that will aim to have a similar essence to “Haroun.” “I’m not sure exactly how much I can reveal at this point, but as far as I understand, we are taking elements of stories, and trying to restructure them for our own production and at the same time trying to be conscientious of everything we’re saying and what we’re doing as we go along,” theater arts junior Taylor Wendell Lozano said. Lozano has a history of working in and running community theaters, but this experience is new to him considering that now the department has less time to produce a new showcase. “I’ve never devised with this kind of pressure,” Lozano said. According to the Theater and Dance Department’s website, a new production is still set for Nov. 4-7 and Nov. 11-13.
NEWS
tion that’s a part of that. Not for a lack of trying, in the end the original cast was not able to represent that.” Some students decided to drop the play, and the coinciding class, due to its cancelation. All students who are involved in the play must enroll in Acting I (TH 220), which takes up about 20 hours a week for rehearsals. Communications studies senior Jessica Meza — one of three students of color in what was a 12-person cast — dropped the class and said that
forward to being in the play since this would have been his last opportunity to be in a production. He said he was disappointed with the department’s decision to cancel. “As one of the few POC who got casted — and potentially less who auditioned — I am unhinged at the department’s handling of the situation,” Koiwai wrote in an email to Mustang News. “I am disappointed in the lack of di-
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
JOSH MACHAMER Theatre and Dance Department Chair
she was infuriated when she heard of the cancelation. “I [was] crying because I’m mad. We put a week of work into this and other faculty did as well beforehand,” Meza said. “So why couldn’t it have been stopped in the beginning when they saw that the cast wasn’t going to meet its expectation?” Meza said she felt like she was not set up to succeed within the department and when speaking about how she felt with the other cast members of the play. “We were listened to, we were given that space to talk, we were given that space to hear each other out,” Meza said. “But even that was infuriating in itself because there was a lot of the white cast talking more than the POC.” Meza said she was upset about the cancellation because the decision to cancel was made after the cast had started rehearsals and only one day before the add/drop period for students. “That is an urgent situation for many students and specifically for people of color, who rely on financial aid,” Meza said. “That was just not a good situation for me to be in at all, because it’s money out of my pocket. It’s money that I need to work hard for, that’s not given to me and or inherited to me if I was like, you know, coming in with everything possible for me. So, this was a money issue for me and this was definitely a timing thing for me.” Senior computer science major Casey Koiwai said he was looking
MUSTANG NEWS
On Sept. 28, the Theatre and Dance Department Chair Josh Machamer sent an email out to the department informing them that they were cancelling the fall production of “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” after the cast and crew had already begun rehearsing for the play. The cancellation was due to the fact that the department could not find enough diverse representation to accurately portray for the cast. The play, written by Salman Rushdie, is a collection of stories that is loosely based in India. After being unable to find enough students of color to be cast in the show, Machamer, in consultation with the Theater and Dance department, made the decision to cancel the play. “While there is no doubt that it is a beautiful story, full of imagination, energy, and thematic resonance, it is also a story imbued with a foundation of characters and cultural framework that our department can’t currently represent,” Machamer said in the email. “It would be disingenuous and inauthentic of us to move forward knowing full well that we are unable to truthfully and consciously represent the voices of those characters on stage.” Plays for the fall production are chosen by the faculty prior to fall quarter. Machamer was not a part of the process to choose this play initially. He took an interim position as administrator for the department in January and did not start his position
until the start of fall quarter. “If you don’t have the people that are able to represent that cultural specificity that you’ve tied to the place, that you’ve tied the story to, then you can’t do it,” Machamer told Mustang News. “There’s clear cultural representa-
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THE HOOF: CAL POLY’S CAMPUS
PASS IS THE LATEST IN CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS The Hoof is a satire column created to find the humor in the daily life of Cal Poly students. If you’re looking for news, this is not it. If you’re looking for sports, this is kind of it, because we’re having a ball. Ha. Puns. Jack Clark is a journalism senior and Mustang News opinion columnist. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.
OPINION
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
BY JACK CLARK
In 2021, it seems all too common to see new types of innovation lauded as the next best thing. That being said, what Cal Poly has achieved might be technological artistry in its purest form. This achievement, of course, being the Campus Pass. Cal Poly’s Campus Pass seamlessly blends personal accountability with zero organization on a scale never before seen. It is what some are calling a more effective tool against COVID-19 than any available vaccine. How does it work? I’m glad you asked. Each day, students are asked to complete the campus pass survey before they come to campus, or be-
fore 12:00 p.m., “whichever comes first.” Despite this rule, you can actually complete the survey at any point during the day. There are no barriers or repercussions in regards to late survey submissions. By doing this, Cal Poly achieves both making their students unnecessarily anxious about not being able to come to class and confused as to how the system works. The content of the survey also helps students feel safer in the midst of a pandemic by answering some tough questions. Questions such as: Should I come to campus if I feel sick? Should I go to that club meeting if I was in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19? Should I go to office hours if I have COVID-19? The campus pass survey reveals, to the surprise of many, that you should not come to campus if you find yourself in any of the aforementioned situations. Perhaps the most advanced part of the Campus Pass system is the dual barcode and smiley-face feature. Once you have completed the Campus Pass survey and are cleared to come to campus, you receive a link to a green smiley-face and a barcode. In theory, that barcode or smi-
ley-face would be checked by a professor or faculty member to make sure you were allowed to access campus facilities. However, through what must be a complex and masterful display of reverse psychology, most professors choose not to check the pass at all. It makes students wonder: What could this mean? Maybe the Campus Pass was never meant to protect students from COVID-19 and it’s just a symbolic lesson about honesty and trust. Students are supposed to go through all the steps to get this Campus Pass just to have it never be checked, but to have the peace of mind that everyone else did what they were supposed to. Right? To me, Cal Poly uses this system to teach students a valuable lesson about the futility of human existence. You can do everything right: You can get your Covid-19 test, you can complete the survey on time and you can come to campus with honor. But at the end of the day, getting your Campus Pass checked is not promised, nor is the integrity of your peers— so you might just end up getting COVID-19 in your favorite class anyway. Overall Rating: 7/10
HOW THE WHITE PATRIARCHY BENEFITS FROM
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WOMEN HATING THEIR
BODY HAIR Nicki Butler is a psychology senior and Mustang News opinion editor. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News. BY NICKI BUTLER
ticeable physical differences between males and females were indicative of a more anthropologically developed race. They also believed that men were supposed to be hairy while women were not. These ideologies reaffirmed the Western belief of white superiority by implying that races where women had thick body hair were evolution-
arily underdeveloped. Thick body hair on women became synonymous with deviance and uncleanliness. White women did not only want to distance themselves from women of color who had thick body hair, they also wanted to create a barrier between themselves and lower class individuals who could not afford the expense of hair remov-
OPINION
...It took me months to finally be even remotely comfortable as a woman out in public with unshaven legs...
MARTA LUKOMSK A | MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
I hate “Big Razor,” and the 2.5 billion dollar hair removal industry. I hate the constant push to make women look like babies– smooth to the touch and easy to control. But most of all, I hate men. I hate men that get to strut around in their natural form, rewarded for doing nothing and applauded for existing without alteration. I started to envy them and their stupid luck. The luck that gave them a Y and me an X and the luck that made a world that would see two sets of legs and only give rules to one. It took me months to finally be even remotely comfortable as a woman out in public with unshaven legs. Every day that I leave the house in shorts is an act of courage that shakes me just a little bit. At 11 years old, I traded my body hair in for the word sexy. Ten years later, I’m back at the negotiating table, trying to leave with them both. It’s a psychological uphill battle, and a sociological one too. Society has weapons in the form of the words “unprofessional,” “unclean” and “unsexy.” The courage I need as a white woman to leave the house unshaven is nothing to that of a woman of color. The racist history of women of color being categorized as unkempt and unruly because of the presence of body hair creates a steeper hill. Women of color have to battle racism and sexism, a two headed beast that bites twice as hard. It’s a struggle started by the two-headed beast during the late 1800s. Western scientists became infatuated with the racial differences existing in hair type and growth. These researchers falsely claimed, among many other things, that no-
MUSTANG NEWS
Lined up on the blacktop in our P.E. clothes, 30 or so sixth graders clad in matching athletic shorts looked almost identical. I was 11, fresh faced with pink rimmed glasses and choppy bangs. Swimming in baggy athletic wear, I felt like a bonafide member of this odd little pack. I had changed hurriedly in a cramped locker room with the other girls. I brought deodorant and contributed to the cloud of perfumed body spray after class. However, it wasn’t until that very instant, as I looked at the ground, that I realized just how different I was. Under the navy blue rayon shorts, a thick dusting of hair coated my scrawny legs. I glanced around frantically– every other girl had dolphin-smooth legs, yet mine were
more like Sasquatch’s. Mortified, I stood there, hoping no one would look down and see my repulsive and undeniably manly forest of peach fuzz. When I got home that day, I immediately begged my mom to aid in the deforestation of my deepest humiliation. She kindly gave me my first line of defense: a bottle of Nair. The bathtub reeked of sulfur as I coated my shame in pink toxic waste. That was the last time I would ever use Nair. My next weapon of choice was a pink Venus razor. For the next 10 years, I would go on to use that bubblegum machete to thwack every stubborn tree that sprouted from the unruly terrain of my legs. In March of 2020, we all stopped leaving the house. Out of everything there was to worry about, my twin sasquatches sat cross-legged at the bottom of the list. I stopped shaving on a whim one day, and decided to see how long I could go without doing so. This little self-challenge was an aimless form of entertainment I derived out of boredom, but it became something much more. As my leg hair grew out, I started to think about the girl with pink rimmed glasses and choppy bangs. Though I ditched those glasses, I felt the same embarrassment and humiliation she did ten years ago. I developed a certain resentment toward the world that made her hate herself. Fueled by this anger and protectiveness of my younger self, I began to search for the fault lines in the foundation that taught her what was beautiful and what was unkempt. I hate the magazines, the models, the tv shows and the movies that said I was dirty for existing as I was made.
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IN THE RED ZONE CAL POLY STUDENTS AND STAFF SPEAK OUT ABOUT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ON CAMPUS
On Oct. 5, a campus-wide email informed students that a rape had occurred in Cal Poly’s architecture graveyard. This crime occurred in the midst of the “red zone,” a time period of increased activity of sexual assault and violence during the first months of college. Yearly trends indicated that more than 50% of campus sexual assaults take place within the red zone timeframe, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. The red zone is significantly more dangerous for first-years, who may be unfamiliar with the new surroundings, according to Cal Poly’s Safer (Sexual Assault Free Environment Resource), a department that offers confidential services to students who’ve experienced sexual assault and domestic violence. “There are many factors at play with this, such as people being in a new environment, being removed from the communities where they feel most connected and often experiencing independence for the first time,” Safer wrote in an email to Mustang News. With unprecedented circumstances of second-years and transfer students that are new to campus, predictions indicate that “the red zone may double this fall, nationwide, ” according to a statement on Instagram made by Safer.
According to the 2021 Annual Security Report by the Cal Poly Police Department, rape, stalking and dating violence have been the most prevalent crimes of sexual violence for three consecutive years, from 2018 to 2020. In response to the recent event of sexual assault at the Architecture Graveyard, Safer has provided services, such as processing sessions, to those that may have felt triggered or uneasy by the news. At the start of the school year, including the SLO Days orientation program, Safer conducted training and education for incoming students, involving parents and supporters as well. “Our prevention specialist created a comprehensive dialogue toolkit for supporters to talk with their students about healthy relationship habits and violence prevention,” Safer wrote in an email to Mustang News. “It is crucial that we start these conversations before our students step foot on campus.” Cal Poly’s Safer team was first established in 1996 and was inspired by the community mourning the loss of three women: Kristin Smart, Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford. In the mid-2000s, the Safer team started a project called the Red Hand Print Campaign. According to the Safer website, the Red Hand Print Campaign was a project that painted red handprints in areas on campus where a sexual
NEWS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021
BY AMELIA WU
MEGAN ANDERSON | MUSTANG NEWS
assault had been reported “to signify how pervasive this issue was and is on campus.” By 2005, 23 red handprints were painted across campus. However, in 2005, President Jeffrey Armstrong painted over the red handprints, resulting in students protesting the removal. Due to the protests in 2005 and the worry of potential pushback from the survivor’s families, the Cal Poly Administration initially proposed plaques instead of the painted red handprints around campus in 2007. This resulted in creating other memorial forms of sexual assault survivors around campus -- such as “monuments, dorm signage, and portable stations,” as stated on the Kathryn McCormick Design website. The designer behind these “monuments,” Kathryn McCormick, is a professor in Cal Poly’s Art and Design department. McCormick was initially approached by Cornell Morton, the Vice President of Student Affairs at the time, to design a representation of the sexual violence history on campus. “I tried to understand what we were trying to accomplish: which was to represent and identify the issue and the situation without being alarming,” McCormick said. “At the same time, people who were visiting campus … they see this red handprint, and they ask what it is, and you know if you are a parent thinking about sending your kid away to college and you see, ‘well there was a rape here, there was a rape here,’ you know, that’s pretty alarming.” In 2018, the topic was revived by Cal Poly alumna Amelia Meyerhoff and her senior project, The Clapback. Investigating 61 survivors and their stories, the Clapback showcased these voices to honor and bring awareness to the removed red handprints and history of sexual violence at Cal Poly. Today, students can find tall, gray pillars designed with a red handprint honoring sexual assault survivors. These “monuments” are located in open spaces like the residence halls, the University Union and near Campus Market. Despite the monuments being in popular campus spaces, students such as political science freshman Mayson Kobell and interdisciplinary studies freshmen Sasha Stetler said they were not aware of the Red Hand
EMILIE JOHNSON | MUSTANG NEWS A monument near Campus Market displays a red handprint to bring awareness to sexual violence on campus.
Print Campaign or how to access Safer resources. “I’m sure if I looked I could find resources, but I feel like they could make them more readily available and advertise them more,” Stetler said. In light of the recent crime at the architecture graveyard, Stetler talked about her worry of her safety before coming to Cal Poly.
I mean, I was very nervous about it coming into college in general, because it’s a problem at every college but then this was happening two weeks in. Yeah, it’s really fucking scary. SASHA STELER Freshman Interdisciplinary Studies student
“I mean, I was very nervous about it coming into college in general, just because it’s a problem at every college but then this was happening two weeks in,” Stetler said. “Yeah, it’s really fucking scary.” Kobell added to what this means
for the rest of the year. “I feel like this isn’t gonna be the last time we get an alert like this where we get news like this,” Kobell said. “And yeah, I feel like every time it comes, it’ll just hit a little bit harder, to be honest, and give us a little bit more fear in everyone’s hearts.” October marks domestic violence awareness month and to change the mindset around how sexual violence is handled on campus, the Safer team changed the name to “Dating Violence Action Month”. Changing the language of the topic allows two goals to occur. Rephrasing domestic dating makes students aware that sexual violence is a “relevant issue” and using “action” instead of “awareness” allows a push “to the next step in prevention, where we all collectively contribute to a culture of anti-violence rather than simply being aware,” Safers’s Instagram said. “Violence doesn’t happen because someone is walking alone at night or has had too much to drink; violence happens because somebody makes a decision to harm another person,” Safer wrote in an email to Mustang News. “We all play a role in prevention, and we all play a role in creating a healthy environment that is grounded in mutual respect and empathy.” Lauren Emo contributed reporting to this article.
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