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CAL CAL POLY’S MEAL PLANS AMONG THE CALPOLY’S POLY’SMEAL MEALPLANS PLANSAMONG AMONGTHE THE
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CAL POLY STUDENTS RESPOND TO THE UNIVERSITY’S EFFORTS TO BECOME AN HSI
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RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON CAL POLY THROUGH AN INDIGENOUS LENS
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‘IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOOD’: STUDENTS BATTLE FOOD INSECURITY AS CAMPUS MEAL PLANS EXCEED COST OF OTHER OPTIONS STORY BY Cole Pressler DESIGNED BY Liz Ridley
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Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yakʔityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region, in whose homelands we are guests.
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Cal Poly’s first indigenous
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walking tour Research project aims to provide a new perspective on Cal Poly through an indigenous lens
BY ASHLEY BOLTER
Tribal members were consulted during project development and gave ongoing consent. One of the project’s advisors, ethnic studies professor Becca Lucas, is a member of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe. Involving tribal members and getting their permission throughout is an important aspect of the project for the team members, especially when indigenous voices have been an afterthought or not included at all in research projects about indigenous communities, Lydia Heberling, ethnic studies professor and the project’s other advisor, said.
LYDIA HEBERLING Ethnic studies professor
MAUR A SHERNISK Y | MUSTANG NEWS Stops throughout campus during the indigenous walking tour.
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“You can’t create something like this without having a good relationship with and talking with the original people of the land,” Heberling said. The project follows a process of counter-mapping, which involves recreating maps to challenge the
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
You can’t create something like this without having a good relationship with and talking with the original people of the land.
dominant views of the world. There are two things that this is attempting to accomplish. “It’s a reclamation of spaces that use names that actually have a harmful history, specifically towards indigenous people,” Lucas told Mustang News. “Also amplifying current presence, a shift away from this glorification of burial sites and archeological sites, dead Indians, that we have that not only is harmful for a variety of reasons but it reinforces the notion that indigenous people are people of the past.” Heberling wants people to understand the project as an educational tool to teach the Cal Poly community about the indigenous traditions and histories that exist around the university. “It’s funny to call it a tool because it’s a story. It’s a story about Cal Poly,” Heberling said. ”We’re also hoping it’s a story that maybe prospective native students can see themselves in. It’s a story that creates a sense of belonging.” In the final stages of the project, the team is working on deciding how the tours will continue after their involvement and how to make the resources available to everyone. The tours will tentatively open to the Cal Poly community in Winter 2024, but those interested in taking a practice tour can email Heberling at lheberli@calpoly.edu.
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Cal Poly recognizes that the land on which it sits is the unceded homelands of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhiniNorthern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region through a land acknowledgement read at most major presentations on campus. One BEACoN research project aims to move Cal Poly beyond the land acknowledgement with indigenous walking tours. These tours would let participants see Cal Poly from a new perspective that centers indigenous knowledge and history. “It celebrates, amplifies and acknowledges the indigenous presence and knowledge here on campus,” comparative ethnic studies senior Amy Contreras said. Contreras and computer science senior Sophie Martyrossian have been working on this project since winter 2023. The tour takes participants through the heart of campus, either physically or digitally, with nine stops along the way. The walk includes several residence halls, the Native American and Indigenous Cultural Center, Chumash Auditorium, art pieces around campus and the white sage growing near the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering building (BLDG 8). “All these were here before and I didn’t know about them,” Martyrossian said. “Even if you were interested in indigenous history, it wasn’t really easily accessible because these weren’t available online anywhere.” The tour also includes a few bonus stops such as Poly Canyon Village and the Pismo Preserve to demonstrate that indigenous people exist everywhere. Every stop is accompanied by narratives from yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini tribal members that highlight their lived experiences.
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‘It’s not enough food’:
Students battle food insecurity as campus meal plans exceed cost of other options
INVESTIGATIONS
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
BY COLE PRESSLER
Mandatory dining plans are a rite of passage for college freshmen across the nation who have to endure powdered eggs, soggy pasta and frozen tortillas. But Cal Poly’s freshman plans are among the most expensive of any public school in California — and prices for packaged food and items are disproportionately high compared to off-campus grocery stores. Many upperclassmen skip meals rather than pay for food on campus. At Campus Market, single bananas and apples cost 99 cents, and a single Claritin tablet costs $3.39. Cal Poly’s cheapest dining plan is more expensive than most CSU and UC schools’ highest-priced plans. In October 2023, Mustang News recorded prices of various items at Campus Market. Of 44 items that were also sold at Vons, 42 were more
Cal Poly’s 2023-24 cheapest meal plan is more expensive
than 2021-22’s most expensive meal plan
expensive – more than half of the items were marked up by more than 50%. Mustang News spoke with more than a dozen students w h o
expressed frustration over the price and quality of campus food. “They’re forcing them to get the most expensive food possibly in SLO,” former ASI Board of Directors member and political science alumnus Alexandria Raynes said. Cal Poly Corporation (CPC) Spokesperson Aaron Lambert claimed that Campus Dining looks for “economically feasible solution[s],” working with Chartwells (the multinational food service group that runs Campus Dining’s daily operations) to determine their food prices. “Chartwells has an internal team with nationwide buying power that works with distributors to get the best deal possible,” Lambert wrote. But in the past, Chartwells has promised other universities “the maximum financial return” and other multi-million-dollar monetary incentives, according to the Hechinger Report. The company was once forced to pay $19 million dollars after overcharging Washington D.C. public schools for school lunches. Lambert suggested Cal Poly dining plan prices cost more than other California schools because of its Dining Dollar system, where students use a declining balance to pay for single food items rather than swiping into a buffet-style dining hall.
Cal Poly’s meal plans still cost thousands of dollars more than other Dining Dollar schools. And unlike many other schools, Cal Poly charges a $1,026 “operational fee” on top of their meal plans which funds maintenance and construction for buildings like Vista Grande and the 1901 Marketplace. “The Corporation is putting their own revenue streams above the needs of students,” Raynes said.
A YEARLY ADJUSTMENT In the last five years, Cal Poly freshman dining plans have increased between 24% and 33%. While the cheapest plan increased at roughly the pace of inflation, the more expensive plans outpaced inflation by $500–800. The three freshman meal plans — First Year Limited, Plus and Max — cost $6185, $6743 and $7400. The cheapest 2023-24 plan costs more than the most expensive 202122 plan. But Campus Dining defines a “full meal” as costing around $15 — meaning students on the Plus (which provides $24 a day) or Limited ($18 a day) plans have enough money for less than two meals a day. On average, Americans spent $12.80 on food per day in 2022, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. Sociology freshman Api Kaila, who has the Limited plan, eats one meal a day with her dining dollars and cooks the rest of
her meals in the dorms using food she bought off-campus. “It’s not enough food,” Kaila said about what her dining plan provides.
WHY ARE PRICES SO HIGH? Lambert says the prices Campus Dining pays for the food they sell have increased 30% over the past three years. Agribusiness professor Ricky Volpe, who specializes in food pricing, said that rising prices reflect national trends of food inflation in the past year due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict — which affects the prices of any foods produced with wheat, soybeans or sunflower oils. “It just sounds like they’re just lagging a year to 18 months behind what is actually happening with food price inflation in the United States,” Volpe said. “Even if the conflict ended today, we’d still be feeling those impacts for months.” Food prices increased nearly 10% nationally in 2022, according to the US Inflation Calculator. “The prices they’re paying for goods, transportation, labor wages, all those things are up,” Volpe said. “And so now we’re seeing meal plan prices push ahead and try to make up for that.” Lambert claimed food prices will continue to skyrocket in the coming years. “The rise is driven by increases in labor and food costs, which is consistent with institutions across the nation,” Lambert wrote in an email to Mustang News this spring. “Long-term forecasts found that these costs would continue to rise exponentially.” Volpe questioned the “long-term forecasts,” saying inflation does not work as CPC suggests. “The idea that costs will increase
CAMPUS MARKET PRICES COMPARED WITH VONS
163.6% Chobani 5.3 oz. yogurt cup $3.40 from $1.29
Cup of Noodles $1.85 from $0.70
$0.99 from $0.28
I feel like I haven’t had vegetables in so long. Is that just the college experience? It shouldn’t be.
BIANCA BROWN Landscape architecture freshman
“Campus Dining could not assume the cost of [the] resolution without increasing its prices,” Burns wrote to Raynes. Burns also claimed that sending unused Dining Dollars to the Food Pantry would cripple Campus Dining. “Funding university programs such as the food pantry using student meal plan dollars results in a negative spiral of increasing campus food costs and decreasing affordability for
Cal Poly’s Meal Plan Prices Compared to other Dining Dollar Schools
UC Santa Cruz
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CSU Bakersfield
UC San Diego
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25 1 Banana
After their first year, students are no longer required to buy a dining plan. When they have to pay for tuition, rent, textbooks and other necessities, food can slip down on a given student’s priority list — especially if the food that’s available on campus isn’t affordable. “Food insecurity risk tends to skyrocket after you get off your meal plan,” nutrition professor Aydin Nazmi said. “It’s not a problem that is restricted to quote-unquote, poor people.” Cal Poly students experience food insecurity at a rate close to 30%, according to the school’s Basic Needs Reports from 2018 and 2022 — about three times higher than the national average. Nazmi leads Cal Poly’s CalFresh Outreach initiative. The initiative helps students apply for CalFresh — California’s version of nationwide EBT benefits — which provides low-income Californians and college students up to $291 a month to buy groceries at virtually any store. Since you can’t use EBT benefits on prepared meals, the only places on campus where students with EBT can buy food are at Campus Market, Market Grand Ave and Market Poly Canyon — where food frequently costs double of the same items at Ralph’s or Vons. But rather than making up for it by buying food off-campus, many students simply don’t eat. In a March Campus Dining survey, 49% of respondents – nearly 1800 students – said they skip meals if they don’t buy food on campus. One of these students is economics junior Sam Huang. Huang doesn’t have a car and has to rely on friends to drive him from his house on Foothill Boulevard to grocery stores several miles away. He also works early mornings at the Business Building and has early classes on the days he doesn’t work. “I don’t really have time or the energy to make breakfast at home,” Huang said. “Usually I don’t eat lunch or breakfast unless there’s food on campus through a club.” Even with his CalFresh EBT
purchasing another plan or to direct all surplus dollars to the Food Pantry or to Mustang Meal Share. “If it’s that easy — you basically have to fill out a form saying you want to donate this amount of money — it should be that easy for them to just do that automatically at the end of the year,” Raynes said. CPC spokesperson Andrea Burns told ASI that Campus Dining has $44 million of outstanding debt, claiming they would be forced to increase their prices if they donated the unused Dining Dollars.
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CAL POLY STUDENTS AFFECTED BY HIGH FOOD INSECURITY
benefits, Huang avoids Campus Market because of the disproportionately high prices. He said he wishes there was more affordable food near campus. “It’s not Cal Poly’s fault that they can’t sell prepared food with EBT, but a grocery store that charges normal prices would be very helpful,” Huang said. “Even if it’s not at Cal Poly.” Huang said he’s concerned about the rising costs of meal plans and campus food. “Their obligation is to make sure the price of on-campus food is at a level that is accessible to students without having it take up too much of your income,” Huang said about Campus Dining. According to Nazmi, students skipping costly meals is devastating to Cal Poly’s academic environment. “If [students] are not getting enough food to sleep properly or stay awake, our educational mission is completely moot,” Nazmi said. “If you can’t eat, you can’t study.” According to Lambert, CPC combats food insecurity by allowing the Food Pantry to purchase food through Campus Dining’s vendors, discounting meal plans for 100 student-athletes each quarter and providing frozen meals to the food pantry. They also offer students the option to donate any unused Dining Dollars to low-income students through Mustang Meal Share. Unless students purchase another meal plan or donate through Mustang Meal Share, their Dining Dollars are automatically forfeited into CPC’s emergency reserve fund. At the end of the 2021-22 school year, CPC re-absorbed more than $300,000 unused Dining Dollars. “It just feels a little unfair,” Raynes said. Raynes authored a Board of Directors resolution in the spring calling on CPC to either let students roll over Dining Dollars without
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164.3%
double-digit inflation indefinitely moving forward, that’s not happening anywhere,” Volpe said. “That’s not even happening in developing nations. That sounds like an exaggeration.”
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WHAT CAN A FIRST YEAR STUDENT AFFORD IN ONE DAY?
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023 MUSTANG NEWS
STUDENTS EXPRESS FRUSTATION
Students in the Campus Dining survey were “dissatisfied” on average with several aspects of Campus Dining including the “value for price per day paid,” “value of meal plans” and “availability of healthy options.” For business sopho2 Bags of Sun Chips: $6.10 more Claire Hughes, her first-year meal plan was 4 Cliff Bars: $11.96 “definitely not” worth the money. “It was way too expensive for what you’re paying for,” Hughes said. “They kind of have a monopoly on everything here and they just charge you so much.” She enjoys shopping off-campus now that she isn’t required to buy a meal plan, saying that the on-campus per day dining didn’t provide enough produce or healthy options. 4 pack of Redbull: $17.10 “I have more freedom to find what I 2 Hot Pockets: $6.50 want,” Hughes said. “It comes out of my bank account but it’s a better bargain than what I would get here. I’m okay with that because it’s better quality food than at Cal Poly.” Several first-year students eating at Vista Grande complained about poor food quality, high prices and inconsistent portion sizes. “They’re pretty small meals for what you’re paying,” wine and viticulture freshman Gabriel per day Hirner said. “I’m usually still hungry after I eat.” Industrial technology and 3 Smart Waters: $17.80 packaging major Lily Bryan cycles through just two entrees 3 Claritin Tablets: $10.17 at the dining complex: a burrito and a falafel wrap. “Everything else just feels unhealthy going down,” Bryan said. “I’m not sick of it yet, but I feel like I can’t keep this up for the entire year.” Bryan also took issue with the prices of produce and healthier options at Campus Market and Market Grand Avenue, complaining specifically about the cup of roughly 20 grapes that costs $5.75.
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students,” Burns said. “CPC has no other funding sources.” But according to their own website, Campus Dining funds just 19% of CPC’s revenue and revenue from surplus Dining Dollars makes up only 0.2% of CPC’s net assets and funds
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“I don’t get fruits or vegetables here,” Bryan said. “My nutrition has gone down since coming to college, and it’s frustrating. There aren’t many options to live a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. And a lot of the time I feel like I’m eating because it’s lunchtime, I have to get something down, but I’m not enjoying it.” Despite the current food prices, Bryan said she would pay more money “to feel more fueled than I do now.” Interdisciplinary studies freshman Bayla Jefferson echoed Bryan’s thoughts. “I’m not finding any of the food I really want to eat here,” Jefferson said. “Sometimes I re-order because the order I get is so gross and I don’t want to eat it.” During week one of fall quarter, landscape architecture freshman Bianca Brown said she was served raw chicken at Vista Grande. “I eat a lot of things, I’m not super picky,” Brown said. “But a lot of it is disgusting and expensive. And I feel bad wasting all this food.” She also called for Campus Dining to provide more produce and fresh food. “I feel like I haven’t had vegetables in so long,” Brown said. “Is that just the college experience? It shouldn’t be.” Liv Watts, a manager for Cal Poly’s CalFresh outreach program and graduate student, said she thinks on-campus food prices are unreasonably high.
It was way too expensive for what you’re paying for. They kind of have a monopoly on everything here and they just charge you so much.
CLAIRE HUGHES Business sophomore
“I understand that the university has to mark up prices,” Watts said. “But the cost of a single banana is a dollar at Campus Market. If you bought it anywhere else, a banana costs usually 19 cents, 20 cents.” Watts said meal plans exist to offer support for students during the transition to codependent living during college — so that they don’t have
to go buy groceries off-campus and prepare their own food. “They should be based on the cost of labor, the cost of food,” Watts said. Monika Garofano, the mother of architecture engineering sophomore Anna, said she ended up paying another thousand dollars by the end of the 2022-23 school year to supplement her daughter’s meal plan after she ran out of Dining Dollars. Garofano said Campus Dining needs to find a better balance between inexpensive, healthy and enough food. “I don’t think I had a realistic understanding of how much the food would cost,” Garofano said. “I had expected the medium-price plan would more than cover my daughter’s needs. If she was willing to eat the least healthy, cheapest things, maybe, but there’s no way to live on that. It’s just not realistic. The way it’s described is not actually realistic.”
CHARTWELLS’ HISTORY OF OVERCHARGING AND POOR FOOD QUALITY Lambert suggested that Chartwells, which took over Campus Dining’s daily operations in July, will help keep food costs down on campus. “Expanding the partnership with Chartwells will help to slow the likely future [price] increases,” Lambert wrote, explaining that the multinational company can purchase food at lower prices than Campus Dining can. Chartwells operates on more than 300 college campuses and has partnered with Cal Poly for six years. In 2017, Chartwells promised Southeast Missouri State the “maximum financial return to the university” — implying that their goal is to make colleges money on their dining programs, not to help students save money on food. “Obviously they can’t operate at a loss, but I think students should be prioritized first,” Garofano said about Campus Dining. “It shouldn’t be a profit-driven decision.” Chartwells had several newsworthy instances of subpar service in recent years: In 2015, they paid $19 million to the city of Washington, D.C. after they consistently overcharged the district for school lunches. In 2014, Chartwells served hot dogs with mold and human hair to a Connecticut school. In 2021, The Independent reported on “inadequate” school lunches the food service group provided.
SOLUTIONS Despite student frustrations, Campus Dining is unlikely to decrease food prices now that Chartwells has full control over daily operations. If Campus Dining does continue raising food and meal plan prices, Volpe recommended they do it at a rate based on the Food Consumer Pricing Index, which tracks how much prices rise nationwide. “That would go a long way towards adjustments that are matching the market,” Volpe said. Any students who aren’t on a first-year meal plan are eligible to apply for CalFresh EBT — Cal Poly’s CalFresh Outreach program has helped nearly 2,000 students apply for EBT so far. As she looked at her bills at the start of the 2022-23 school year, liberal studies alum Kaylee Benting realized she wouldn’t have enough money to buy food along with her tuition, rent, gas and more. But thanks to CalFresh, Benting — a first-generation college student who paid her own bills with her income, various scholarships and research grants — got enough money to cover her groceries. “Sign up, because it’s free money,” Benting said. “Cal Poly needs a longer-term [pricing] solution that they need to work on, but CalFresh is a really great immediate opportunity.”
I don’t think I had a realistic understanding of how much the food would cost. MONIKA GARAFONO Mother of sophomore student
The SLO Food Bank also holds a monthly grocery distribution — open to all students — on the fourth Tuesday of every month from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the Health Center lawn. All students can also access the Food Pantry on the bottom floor of the Health Center. Benting also suggested the university hold an on-campus farmers market to give students access to fresh, affordable food. “Food should be the last thing students have to worry about,” Benting said.
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ALE JANDRO REARTE | MUSTANG NEWS
BY JADA GRIFFITH
jobs and they just gave me a business card.” St. Germain said a major part of this lawsuit revolved around Meathead Movers’ recruiting practices. “When they were doing their recruitment practices, they were recruiting individuals, through either really saying, ‘We just want young student workers’ or through word of mouth,” St. Germain said. “By doing that, they’re chilling all these other individuals who may be experienced and able to do the job, from not only being hired but feeling like they can’t even apply for a position like that.” According to a Sept. 29 EEOC news release, the lawsuit charges that since “at least 2017,” Meathead Movers did not hire applicants over the age of 40 for “moving, packing and customer service positions” and “intentionally excluding older workers regardless of their individual abilities.” Such alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination based on age. “I don’t think this suits people over the age of 40 to 50 just because it is very heavy work and I think that would be more like body damaging,” the Meathead Movers employee said. “Most of our workers here, we don’t really care how old you are. As long as you just do your job and we just coach you through it.” Meathead Movers declined Mustang News’ request for an interview but shared a statement that said, “Meathead Movers takes the EEOC’s allegations of age discrimination very seriously. Our company is built on principles of fairness, respect and equal opportunity for our employees.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of California near the end of September and is still in its beginning stages.
BY EDEN-ROSE BAKER
finish her final class because she feels like she’s already completed school. “I feel like it was kind of weird walking before I’m graduating,” Totorica said. According to Halsey, Cal Poly is currently not selling regalia, such as caps, gowns and sashes, to honor the fall graduates. “[It] is frustrating for me because I wanted to take photos and celebrate,”
Halsey said. University spokesperson Keegan Koberl explained the decision to halt fall commencement in an email to Mustang News. “It was made to allow all graduates to enjoy an equitable graduation experience, including participation in cultural commencement ceremonies and college and department celebrations, all of which only take place in spring quarter,” Koberl said.
The 2023-24 commencement ceremony is taking place on June 15 and 16 at Spanos Stadium. Graduates receive 10 guest tickets and will receive more information on acquiring graduation regalia in the spring.
KCPR
Fall 2023 graduates may not get the opportunity to walk on the stage of Spanos Stadium, donning a green robe, while “Pomp and Circumstance” plays. In January 2023, the Cal Poly Commencement Office announced that the only graduation hosted by the University will take place in the spring. Anthropology and geography
senior Lauren Halsey is set to graduate this fall and will likely have to take time off of work in June 2024 to celebrate commencement. “So if you’re working straight out of graduation, if you want to celebrate and do commencement, you’re going to have to take some time off and come back here,” Halsey said. Mechanical engineering senior Christina Totorica walked last spring and said she feels unmotivated to
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Losing fall commencement creates difficult timing for graduates
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Living in a college town, many residents of San Luis Obispo have to move in and out of their living situations almost every year. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing the SLO location of Meathead Movers Inc., the largest independent moving company in California, for violating discrimination law. The SLO based Meathead Movers branded itself as a student-athlete-centered moving service. According to their website, they only hire “strong, clean-cut student-athletes from Cal Poly and Cuesta College.” Lead Outreach and Education Coordinator and Public Relations Manager for the EEOC Nikki St. Germain said they want to make sure Meathead Movers is not reinforcing stereotypes about who is and is not fit for certain jobs.
“That was really what we found in this case with Meathead is that they had this belief that young student-athletes were the individuals that they wanted to hire for these positions,” St. Germain said. St. Germain said the moving company was not hiring older individuals. An employee at Meathead Movers has asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the company for speaking on the lawsuit. “We don’t really see older people join honestly just because it is heavy work,” the Meathead Movers employee said. The employee said they were recruited to work for Meathead Movers on Cal Poly’s campus. “They just walk around, just hand out flyers without discrimination,” the employee said. “Just letting them know like, ‘Hey, we’re recruiting at this time.’ It’s the beginning of the year. Many people are looking for
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Cal Poly students respond to the university’s efforts to become an HSI BY MAKAYLA KHAN & KAT OROZCO
Hispanic Heritage Month events The university hosted several events designed to center the experiences of Latinx students and commemorate the start of Cal Poly’s journey to becoming an HSI. On Oct. 17, Cal Poly hosted ¡Adelante!, its inaugural HSI symposium, in the Chumash Auditorium. The event featured American labor leader and activist Dolores Huerta. The goal of the symposium was to empower Latinx students and faculty while demonstrating Cal Poly’s broad dedication to the community’s success, according to the OUDI.
“I’ve been here at this college several times over the years, and I do have to say that this audience looks a little bit different than the last time I was here,” Huerta said in her opening statement. Dolores Huerta delivered a keynote address at the symposium, drawing from her experiences as a labor activist, community organizer and teacher. In her presentation, Huerta acknowledged the value of education in producing well-informed activists for the Latinx community. She urged educational institutions to set an example for the rest of society. “Education is going to be … the savior of our society,” Huerta said. “But teachers are not being paid enough. We do not have enough resources for education.”
Before she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union, Huerta pursued a teaching career. It was in her classroom that she felt called to aid the children of farmworkers by directly helping their parents. “Remember that we are one human family,” Huerta said. She then encouraged the crowd to shake the hands of their neighbors and say, “Hello relative.” As the 93-year-old activist reflected on the power of unity, she also touched on the fight for democracy. “A democracy means that people have to participate,” Huerta said. “People have to be engaged, people have to be informed, they have to get out there and vote.” Huerta explained how free college
education, universal health care and free daycare for children are pressing needs in society that the Latinx community could benefit from. On Oct. 25, Cal Poly hosted a State of Latinx event where students spoke on a panel about their experiences as Latinx students and their thoughts about how the campus can better address the complexities and multifaceted experiences of Latinx students. Experiences of Latinx students at Cal Poly Liberal studies freshman Cassandra Ferrer Miranda said the HSI symposium was a huge step in the right direction for Cal Poly. “The presence that Dolores Huerta
STUDENT LIFE
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2023
Recently, Cal Poly vocalized its efforts on trying to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Throughout October 2023, the campus hosted a series of events and symposiums to discuss how they are approaching this transition and the importance of being a diversityachieving and inclusive institution. To be recognized as an HSI, the total percentage of Latinx undergraduate students must be at least 25%, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Cal Poly’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) reported that in 2022 the number of enrolled Latinx students at Cal Poly was 21.1%. Mustang News spoke with students
and faculty about what this transition means for Latinx students looking forward.
R AIN MAZUMDER | MUSTANG NEWS
programming at Cal Poly. Computer science senior Luis Rosas feels that although there are many clubs and events on campus to promote diversity and inclusion, there needs to be more intention and meaningful work done with students. Transparency and support
Becoming a HSI is also very essential because it will help motivate Latinx people to stay in college [and] keep coming to college, knowing that there are other people that want to succeed. LIZ REYES 3rd Year Political Science Major
Becoming an HSI
For faculty who are seeking a community on campus, the Chicanx Latinx Faculty Staff Association (CLFSA) is one opportunity to connect. “As a new Cal Poly employee and resident of San Luis Obispo County, I strongly desired to connect with the Latinx community on campus,” Scholars program coordinator and president of CFLSA Ana Garcia wrote in an email to Mustang News. “Chicanx Latinx Faculty Staff Association was an excellent way to connect with staff and faculty outside my department.” According to their website, CFLSA provides opportunities for university members to connect and create a welcoming space by hosting monthly meetings, lunch meetups, book clubs, holiday gatherings and more. Garcia thinks that Cal Poly’s HSI task force has made great recommendations and she looks forward to seeing these changes in action.
The OUDI wrote that in becoming an HSI it strives “to be a university that enhances student success by creating a culturally rich environment of diversity and inclusion, academic excellence, and social responsibility.” However, students like Reyes are worried about how Cal Poly will handle the inclusivity of students. Reyes wishes for Cal Poly to enforce implicit bias training for students in the future, so they can learn how to better communicate with their peers. When discussing the next steps, Cabrera said the school should “work on our inclusion first.” She said this way, Cal Poly can provide a welcoming landing ground for students and help them feel comfortable being a part of campus. “When we finally get that designation [of HSI] as a school, we can not only be proud of the members, but be proud of how we treat the people and [the] students that are coming,” Gonzalez said.
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To become a more welcoming and inclusive community, Gonzalez wants Cal Poly to help students become more aware of the resources that are available for students, such as retention ability and career service opportunities. Gonzalez said Cal Poly should make resources for first-generation students who are unable to ask their parents or families for help while navigating college issues. Cal Poly’s OUDI has a website for firstgeneration students that links to the university’s financial, wellness, academic, career, housing, club and underrepresented student resources. “It’s not that students don’t want to take advantage of these resources, it’s that a lot of times we don’t even know that they are there,” Gonzalez said. Political science junior and diversity chairperson of the Latinx Cultural Association (LCA) Liz Reyes thinks Latinx students will feel more at home with Cal Poly becoming an HSI. She believes the transition will foster a supportive community for students and motivate them to give back to their community. “Becoming an HSI is also very essential because it will help motivate Latinx people to stay in college [and] keep coming to college, knowing that there are other people that want to succeed,” Reyes said. In her role at LCA, Reyes is trying to build more partnerships with Latinx businesses in San Luis Obispo and especially with groups that have historically been underrepresented. The club connected with Corazón Café, located in Downtown SLO. With profits generated on Sundays from 3-5 p.m., Corazón Café donates to LCA to help provide a scholarship to a member of the club. For students who may be struggling with finding community on campus, civil engineering sophomore Yanneli Santos recommends seeking out resources like clubs, centers and faculty to help build a community and network.
Latinx faculty finding community
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has here on campus speaks hugely to how much change she is actually bringing,” she said. “Us people of color belong here and hopefully with Dolores Huerta coming here, more keynote speeches and events can take place.” Having Huerta come to campus meant a lot to some students. “It can have a really big impact on someone … and be really inspirational,” computer science senior Pablo Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said having speakers like Dolores come visit the campus are great experiences that can encourage students to work towards becoming advocates like her. Music junior Mariana Lepe said that during WOW, she participated in the awareness walk where she saw a quote from an anonymous student that said “every day I’m reminded that I’m a minority.” These words have resonated with her throughout her time at Cal Poly as a minority student, she said at the State of Latinx event. Gonzalez also experienced a similar cultural shock and isolation on campus. “I wasn’t really seeing people who looked like me in my classes,” Gonzalez said. After reading an article on the attrition rate of under-served computer science students at Cal Poly, Gonzalez said he would like to see an effort to retain students and an increase in Latinx faculty, so students feel represented on campus. “I didn’t have a Latinx professor in [my] major courses [until] last school year,” Gonzalez said. Interdisciplinary studies senior Alonda Caberea, along with Lepe, also wishes for Cal Poly to enact a cultural sensitivity training for professors as well as a better screening process when hiring staff and faculty. Gonzalez also advocates for more consideration of other Latinx cultures in these events. They are often centered around Mexican food, music and performers, but he hopes these events will better represent all Latinx cultures. “Latinx students who aren’t Mexican will often feel like they are not a part of the group that the school is attempting to bring here,” Gonzalez said. Additionally, students want there to be more intentional and inclusive
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You are what you wear
OPINION
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
BY ERIN YARWOOD
Erin Yarwood is a journalism junior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group. There are few times in a person’s life where they are given the opportunity to recreate themselves and stray from the persona they have formed, to become something new. Leaving home for the first time is the moment in most people’s lives where they take hold of this chance, when they feel drawn to redesign. People begin exploring their interests, passions and careers without any influence from the crowd and lifestyle they have grown up around. These explorations bleed into self-expression. There are endless ways humans express themselves, but an almost obligatory form is through what we choose to wear. While some people have been able to express their personality through their clothing for quite some time, for others starting from scratch in a new place kickstarts this change. It allows for their styles to drift from what they have been guided into wearing. Style has become a new way to characterize people when you see them. It’s another form of categorizing people. Style instagram accounts
for different colleges are a norm now, and asking people where they get their clothes is another online fad. Granola, skater, street wear, aggie, whatever the style may be, we make assumptions of people based on it. But, in what way does what you wear really tell who you are? “I think it’s a pretty good representation of where I am at life, or what I’m trying to be,” sophomore ethnic studies major Maraiana Perez said when asked if she thinks her clothing represents her as a person. Perez is wearing baggy Dickies pants with old skool Vans, a simple tank top and a corduroy hat. Her hair is in bubble braid pigtails and there’s a gold necklace around her neck. Her clothing is all thrifted or gifted and warm-toned. Her necklace used to be her mother’s before it was handed down to her. It is something that brings her comfort. “When I entered high school she gave it to me, and I haven’t taken it off since,” Perez said. Perez expects people will characterize her off of her clothing especially because a lot of people gender clothing. “I think people perceive me as someone who’s kind of masculine or like a tomboy,” Perez said. “But, then my fashion also fluctuates a lot. I think I confuse people sometimes.”
Clothing can communicate a variety of messages to people we encounter. Some people use clothing as a form of persuasion to convince people to think certain things about them. Others wear certain clothing
I feel like I think a lot about how I’m going to be perceived, but it doesn’t necessarily change how I’m dressing.
KAITLYN AMBROSE Liberal studies senior
due to comfortability or practicality. Sexuality, gender expression, interests, and passions can all be shown in how we present ourselves. “Sometimes I wake up, and I feel like a little boy. I dress like a little boy,” senior liberal studies major Kaitlyn Ambrose
said. “And sometimes I wake up and I feel Lana Del Rey, and so, I dress, dress on the emotion, I guess, is how I dress.” Ambrose is dressed in a long skirt and tiny top with a white, tied cardigan on top and brown Doc Martens and little bows in her hair. When she says that today she was dressing like Lana Del Rey, I immediately agree she nailed it. “My sexuality definitely plays a big part in how I dress. I feel like I have a very fluid sense of gender expression and sexuality and therefore it comes out in my clothing,” Ambrose said. “I’ll wake up feeling girly and dress girly and then halfway through the day I’ll be like I can’t do this shit anymore and then dress more masculine.” Ambrose finds creativity in getting ready everyday. She said that getting ready is the only time that she can find
everyday for a bit of artistic expression, so she takes advantage of it. While others may dress for practicality or comfort, Ambrose finds dressing in tune with how she feels works best for her. “I feel like I think a lot about how I’m going to be perceived, but it doesn’t necessarily change how I’m dressing,” she said. So, yeah what we wear does matter, but a lot of the meaning is behind just the aesthetics of an outfit. What we wear carries meaning through why we picked it out, where we got it, who we got it from, who it reminds us of, and the emotions it evokes in ourselves and others. While we can make presumptions about others based on the style they choose, self-expression through clothing has many layers and they can’t all be seen on the surface. I believe that you are what you wear, but t h a t ’s not all.
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BY MAKAYLA KHAN
My favorite feeling is when we have done significant advocacy work on a project…and we see that effectively change campus.
Environmental protection and management senior
A DAY IN THE LIFE When trying to manage all of their different roles and extracurriculars while also being a student, Andrews said that they have a great support system like their roommates, their chief of staff and friends. What helped Andrews with tackling their workload is knowing that they are helping the student body wherever possible. Andrews usually starts their
STUDENT LIFE
SAMUEL ANDREWS
organizing work structure and figuring out what new goals they want to implement and how to see projects follow through. “That’s the right way in my mind to be thinking of working as president,” Andrews said. Andrews is also trying to create more resources to promote collaboration between students with different beliefs.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
“I genuinely think ASI is the most incredible resource on campus,” environmental protection and management senior and ASI president Samuel Andrews said. Andrews was elected as president in April 2023. They also served as ASI’s Secretary of Sustainability and on the Interhousing Council. Andrews wears many hats. In addition to their role as ASI president, they also serve as a co-chair in a committee for city government and chair of the Student Community Liaison Committee, among others. On top of these roles in ASI, they also co-own a business and are a fulltime student. “I get excited about the work I’m doing, even when it’s a ton of work,” Andrews said. Andrews’ interest in student government work began in high
school when they were a part of their student council. They quickly became interested in advocacy and the ability to have an impact on their own future. During their first year in Quarter Plus and while trying to become ASI’s Secretary of Sustainability, Andrews increasingly became interested in advocacy. Most of their project areas have since involved sustainability and public health. Andrews also used their knowledge and experience as an environmental protection and management major in their position with ASI, implementing systems thinking. This involves setting up structurally strong committees and teams to create a beneficial environment for whatever goals ASI wants to implement. Andrews uses this systems thinking in their decision making when placing people on committees, the organization of their executive cabinet,
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ALICE SUKHOSTAVSKIY | MUSTANG NEWS 2023–2024 ASI President Samuel Andrews.
ASI President Sam Andrews wants YOU to get involved with campus life
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
ALICE SUKHOSTAVSKIY | MUSTANG NEWS ASI President Samuel Andrews doing work in their office.
day with class, then moves to the University Union (UU) for meetings and office hours. This can involve students from clubs, groups and organizations showing up to advocate for themselves and their peers, or bring attention to other issues that affect students. Then, they will start answering emails. They typically get around 60 to 100 emails per day. They may have other “working meetings” where they meet with the chief of staff, other offices or an ongoing student event meeting with the board of directors, executive staff and others. A couple of times per week, Andrews is invited to go to student campus events to give a speech, meet with students or give a presentation. They shared that their Meyers-Briggs personality type is ENTP, which is associated with extraversion and other personality traits that pair well with their roles as a leader.
STUDENT LIFE
PROJECTS UNDERWAY Many of these daily meetings involve projects that Andrews and the executive cabinet are working on this fall. As mentioned during their campaign for ASI President, Andrews is working with the city and regional planning junior Haley Duran, who is the current Secretary of Sustainability, to possibly implement a thrift store on campus within the incoming retail space in the
upcoming housing developmental projects. Another major project this fall includes the implementation of emergency Narcan boxes next to automated external defibrillator (AEDs), which will provide emergency relief for those that are suffering from an opioid overdose. The Secretary of Accessibility and english senior Sydney Lehr is working on changing the signage on campus that has areas marked as “inaccessible” to provide reasoning. Biological science senior Emily Prince who serves as Secretary of Health and Wellbeing is also working on distributing menstrual pad rolls within public restrooms on campus. ASI is also in the early stages of implementing a safe parking program for students living in their cars to have a safe space to park and stay. There will also be public restrooms and security made available to students. While an on-campus discussion needs to be held, ASI already consulted with SLO city planners, the mayor and the resident associations.
ASI’S PROCESS To create an event on campus, ASI has to fill out a project approval (PA) form. This will lay out funds, volunteers and resources needed for an event to happen. If there is a call for an ASI facility policy change, the University Union
Advisory Board (UUAB) are in charge of making these decisions, whereas other policy changes fall under the jurisdiction of the board of directors. The board of directors are the official representatives of the student body from each college and pass three types of documents: resolutions, endorsements and bylaw revisions.
I get excited about the work I’m doing, even when it’s a ton of work.
SAMUEL ANDREWS Environmental protection and management senior
Resolutions are intended to vocalize issues on campus and highlight student perspectives for the campus to consider. ASI’s board of directors’ endorsements shows support for various changes made to campus, ASI, state propositions and more. ASI handles bylaw revisions which
can incorporate changing how ASI operates and the workplace for their student employees. “My favorite feeling is when we have done significant advocacy work on a project…and we see that effectively change campus,” Andrews said. Andrews is continuing the work of past ASI presidents, specifically the leadership endowment. Cal Poly is one of the only remaining universities that does not pay its student government representatives. Andrews, the chair of the board of directors, chair of the UUAB, chief of staff and vice chairs of the UUAB and board of directors are financially supported, but the rest of 43 student government members are not. Some students may be curious about how ASI cooperates with President Armstrong. For large scale issues that involve students, President Armstrong may ask ASI for student perspectives and input for when he is making decisions. On the other side, ASI can ask President Armstrong for support in their decision making or help provide resources for year long operations like ASI election processes during the semester switch. However, these two figureheads are not collaborating on projects and making decisions together. For changes on campus, ASI can show that they do not support the decision and offer alternative resources for students.
“When it comes to president Armstrong’s decision, we are advocates,” Andrews said. For example, in trying to make the transition to becoming an HSI, Cal Poly hosted a symposium that took place on Oct. 17. In this process, ASI can help advocate for tours on campus with Spanish language, help support the OUDI’s efforts and advocate for students. Andrews encourages students to participate in ASI and become involved in helping curate their experience here at Cal Poly. “If you want to get involved in student government and you don’t want to serve an elective position, executive staff is another way of getting involved… and work on projects with us,” Andrews said. If anyone is interested in ASI work, they can apply at asi.calpoly.edu/ discover-asi/work-for-asi/. To meet with Andrews, you can find them in their office every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the UU, Rm. 202.
“Sticky is a way of life”: life” Inside the Cal Poly Honey Program From hive to jar
BY ASHLEY BOLTER
You get to see both perspectives as someone who’s, you know, a backyard beekeeper slash hobbyist to a commercial beekeeper, too. PATRICK FRAZIER Cal Poly Beekeeping Professor
Once the frame is completely unsealed, the whole thing is placed into a cylindrical machine called an extractor, regardless of how much honey is actually on it. “Jeremy’s favorite saying is ‘picture me as extremely desperate,’ so if
there’s even a teaspoon of honey in there, we’re throwing that in there,” Dea-Huang said. Inside the extractor, the frames are spun around fast, flinging the honey onto the walls of the machine. The honey then drips down to a spigot at the bottom and is poured out into a bucket. When a bucket is full, it is dumped into a 55 gallon metal tank where the unfiltered honey sits for a few days. During this time, any impurities such as wax or dead bees will float to the top where they can easily be skimmed off. From there, the honey is placed in jars labeled ‘Cal Poly Honey’ and is sold year-round at Campus Market and the Poly Plant Shop. Cal Poly students are involved in the entire process in a very hands-on way. “This is, in our opinion, one of the last classes here on campus that’s a learn by doing class,” Frazier said. The class is open to students of all majors and has consistently had a lot of interest. The class currently has 48 students enrolled, but in the past, according to Frazier, it has had as many as 120 students with 47 different majors represented. Beekeeping (PLSC 175) will next be offered Spring 2024.
MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
ASHLEY BOLTER | MUSTANG NEWS
STUDENT LIFE
Jackets peel off as students enter a hot room in the corner of the Crop Science building (BLDG 17), where the air is thick with the scent of honey. Wooden boxes of various colors full of honey frames line the walls, nearly reaching the ceiling. Bees buzz around just outside the door. “The hotter it is, the easier it is for the honey to flow,” the teaching assistant of one of Cal Poly’s most popular classes, Beekeeping (PLSC 175), Samuel Dea-Huang said. “That’s why we keep it hot in here and that’s also why I curse Jeremy Rose for putting me in here for hours at a time.” Each week, five students from the class go into this hot room, known as the honey room, to extract honey from the frames set up by professors Jeremy Rose and Patrick Frazier. Thanks to the large amounts of rainfall during the winter, there was no problem making honey this year, Rose said. In the past, it was difficult to make a lot of honey due to complications from the drought and the high concentration of bees in the area competing for resources. “It’s just so highly variable that it’s always a challenge and we are dedicated to making sure it keeps working every year, regardless of how complicated it is,” Rose said. The amount of honey produced and how quickly the honey is produced depends on how much nectar flow is happening and how many flowers are in bloom. Over the summer, the bees were filling the frames with honey in a matter of days, Dea-Huang said.
According to the Cal Poly Center for Sustainability, the class produces an average of four barrels – or 220 gallons – of honey each year between the fall and spring quarters. The Cal Poly beekeeping program is able to exist in this capacity thanks to the passion and dedication of its professors. “I don’t think there are too many other classes offered, not only that are this popular and important, but to where you have two different instructors taking out a full day of their week to come here to teach about something that they’re both passionate about,” Frazier said. “And you get to see both perspectives as someone who’s, you know, a backyard beekeeper slash hobbyist to a commercial beekeeper, too.” When Rose and Frazier started teaching at Cal Poly in 2018, the program wasn’t nearly as strong as it is now. Rose and Frazier put in many hours of work to get the beekeeping class to the level it’s at now. According to Frazier, they reinstated the Cal Poly honey program to ensure the honey “is being locally produced and extracted from here on campus, in this area.” “It’s been a tremendous turnaround for this program,” Frazier said. Dea-Huang also made a significant effort to support the program. While Frazier and Rose are out in the field with the majority of the students, Dea-Huang works with a small group of students in the honey room to extract honey. Outside of class time, he continues the extraction process, staying as late as 2 a.m. some days.
The process of making honey begins with the bees. Those in the beekeeping class help to check on the bees and feed them pollen patties and bananas. Biomedical engineering junior Yuke Billbe is currently taking the class and said it’s something she really enjoys. “It’s really fun just to get hands-on experience with the bees and we learn a lot about them in class,” she said. The bees that the students help take care of fill honey frames with honey and seal the honeycombs with wax. Depending on what plants the hive is near, the honey can have different flavors such as raspberry, eucalyptus and blue curl. Once the frames are full, the wax seals on the honeycombs are scraped off with a fine-toothed metal comb. This step gets very sticky as the honey oozes out onto their hands while they scrape. “Sticky is a way of life,” Dea-Huang joked. With their hands covered in honey, everything the students touch gets sticky as well. “[The honey] really just gets everywhere, like everything is sticky,”
Billbe said. “There’s like honey on your knees and you don’t know how it got there.”
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Switch to semester system BY ALLISON RAISNER
NEWS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
Cal Poly is the only CSU still on the quarter system and the current freshman class will be the first to see that change. In Oct. 2021, the Office of the Chancellor requested that Cal Poly begin the conversion to the semester system. As of Jan. 2023, all departments submitted their program proposals. The proposals are currently in review and courses will not be finalized until Spring and Summer 2025. The university is targeting a few goals with this new change. According to an email from President Armstrong, it addresses equity and articulation issues, allows for the timing of internships and study abroad to be more in sync with school and is better for communication across all CSUs. “I see this as an opportunity to achieve greater pedagogical depth in courses at all levels, retain some fast-paced courses by having terms of variable lengths, rethink how to balance teaching and research for faculty and revisit curricular priorities,” Armstrong wrote in the announcement. The university originally scheduled the transition for fall 2025, but due to
the lengthy process to comply with the legislature, they postponed it to start a year later. “The faculty need to work on it, then the chancellor’s office, then the Board of Trustees votes on it, then campuses can implement it,” Director of Semester Conversion Rachel Fernflores said. “It wasn’t going to be possible to start our first semester in 2025.” This is not just a push from the Chancellor, but a legislative one to unify the general education pathways of UC and CSU schools. “If you are a student in a community college, there’s one pathway for UC and one for CSUs. What Assembly Bill 928 tells us is that these should be the same,” Fernflores said. This bill was passed in late 2021, when the Chancellor began to advocate for the conversion. In unifying these pathways, the new lower-division GE template Cal-GETC has a total of five fewer units. Students will no longer take one of the three Arts and Humanities courses (in Area C) and the Lifelong Learning and Self-Development course (Area E). “What happens to those five units is still being discussed and decided on at the CSU Statewide Senate and Chancellor’s Office level,” chair of
GE General Breadth Samuel Frame wrote in an email to Mustang News. This pathway will be implemented for both freshmen and transfer students beginning in fall 2026.
What happens to those five units is still being discussed and decided on at the CSU Statewide Senate and Chancellor’s Office level. SAMUEL FRAME GE General Breadth Chair
“For the students starting this year, any changes to the lower division GE template will not harm or impede their progress to graduation,” Frame said. The new course catalog will be
published in Fall 2025. For both GE and major courses, there is a process to review the proposals. First, it’s at the department level, then the college level, then general education and finally by the Academic Senate. “If no senators pull a course from the consent agenda, then it is approved,” Fernflores said. Most courses will change from four units to three units. Ultimately, this changes the 180 required units to graduate under the quarter system to be 120 semester units. “On a quarter system, a lot of students will take four classes. On a semester, many will be taking five classes at three units each,” Fernflores said. Instead of totally 40 hours over one quarter, each class will consist of 45 hours spread out in the semester. The five hours added to each class can be utilized to add more curriculum or to stretch out the content. “There’s more soak time for heavy concepts or disciplines,” Fernflores said. Some students say they are looking forward to this new pace. “I’m excited that it goes less fast,” bioresource and agricultural engineering freshman Hailey Benson said. For students who currently study
abroad in Winter Quarter, they aren’t able to take Spring Quarter classes under the quarter system. The university also said with the semester system, internships that start in June will be easier for students to take on. According to Fernflores, another benefit is this adds more associate degrees for transfers. If completed, these guarantee transfer students who took these courses a spot in a specific major at any CSU campus. “We only had six prior to converting, but we were asked to be more transfer-friendly, so we did an analysis and we will now have 16,” Fernflores said. There is still concern from some freshmen about what to expect. “I’m worried about how my classes are going to work and it’s annoying that it will just be for one year,” general engineering freshman Peyton Quinto said. Fernflores still is excited for the conversion with the new goals and things that have been accomplished thus far. “We are trying to convert to semesters by capturing what we like about quarters,” Fernflores said.
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