Vol. 29 Issue 3
August 30, 2016 IN D EPE ND E NT
ST U D E NT
V O I CE
O F
B O I SE
STAT E
S I N C E
1 9 3 3
BUILDING MAJOR CHANGES
PHOTO BY JARED LEWIS / THE ARBITER
School of Public Service proposes new urban studies and community development major
The Arbiter
@arbiteronline
@arbiteronline
arbiteronline.com
WEEKLY EVENTS Involvement Fair Tuesday, August 30
SUB Jordan Ballroom, 2 to 5 p.m., FREE If you’re looking to join a campus club this semester, don’t miss the Involvement Fair! Most student organizations will have booths set up so you can chat with current club members to see if their club is right for you.
$2 Tuesday at the Boise Hawks Tuesday, August 30
Memorial Stadium, 7:15 p.m., $2 It’s the last week of the regular season for the Boise Hawks—our Minor League Baseball team. A 1B reserve ticket and a hot dog together cost just $2 on Tuesday, so if you’re looking to catch the last rays of summer out at the baseball diamond, this is the day to do it!
Roxane Gay Address and Book Signing Wednesday, August 31
SUB Simplot Ballroom, 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., FREE Author Roxane Gay will be discussing feminism through the lens of a question: What is bad feminism? This event is sponsored by the Gender Equity Center and is open to anyone in the community.
First Thursday at Bittercreek Alehouse Thursday, September 1
Bittercreek Alehouse, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., prices vary Each First Thursday—Downtown Boise’s monthly community arts and entertainment event—Bittercreek Alehouse hosts Brews at Bittercreek for Radio Boise. During the event, $1 from every purchased pint is donated to Radio Boise. If you make it out, be sure to save some time to check out other BODO First Thursday events!
2nd Annual Summer’s End Auto Fest Saturday, September 3
Lakeview Park, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. , FREE Nampa’s Auto Fest will benefit Heels for Nampa Combat Boots and will be full of cars from the early 1900s until now. If you’d like to register your car, it will cost $10, and if not, you can still enjoy a day of vintage cars, muscle cars, lifted trucks, and any other kind of car folks feel like showing off!
SEND EVENTS TO DARBYEBELING@BOISESTATE.EDU. DESIGN BY NANCY FLECHA
EVENTS
INSIDE: 8/30/16
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Patty Bowen
editor@stumedia. boisestate.edu
OPINION EDITOR Andy Ridgeway
andyridgeway@u.boisestate. edu
NEWS EDITOR Samantha Harting news@ stumedia.boisestate.edu
PATTY BOWEN / THE ARBITER
NEWS REPORTER
panel was held on sexual assault : pg. 5
Natasha Williams natashawilliams@u.boises tate.edu
CULTURE EDITOR Brandon Rasmussen culture@ stumedia.boisestate.edu
CULTURE REPORTER Elise Adams eliseadams@u.boisestate.edu
SPORTS EDITOR Evan Werner sports@ stumedia.boisestate.edu
SPORTS REPORTER Riston Ramirez ristonramirez@u.boisestate. edu
DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Jared Lewis digitalcontent@ stumedia.boisestate.edu
COPY EDITORS Darby Ebeling Tori Ward
DESIGN MANAGER ABE COPELAND / THE ARBITER
BRANDON FEELY / THE ARBITER
Ted Atwell
Start a discussion with the Campus read: pg. 15
Contact Us:
Boise State Game won’t be shown locally Pg:16
A r b i t e r o n l i n e . c o m 1 9 1 0 U n i v e r s i t y D r. B o i s e , I D 8 3 7 2 5 P h o n e : 2 0 8 . 4 2 6 . 6 3 0 0
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Nancy Flecha Distributed Tuesdays during the academic school year. The Arbiter is the official independent student newspaper of Boise State University and a designated public forum, where student editors make all content decisions and bear responsibility for those decisions. The Arbiter’s budget consists of fees paid by the student body and advertising sales. The first copy is free. Additional copies can be purchased for $1 a piece at The Arbiter offices.
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NEWS
ASBSU works to utilize contingency account funds projects that they sponsor, it could be giving clubs a different version of funding,” Kopp said. “Whether that be each club automatically gets $200 (or something else). That’s up to next year’s cabinet.” Kopp is continuing to work with other members of the executive team in order to make official changes to access the contingency fund. “Right now I’m working with Milaun Danclar, who is our Ethics Officer, on formulating some sort of process where there is a checks and balance for each ASBSU administration to be able to withdraw funding from that account,” Kopp said. “So that over the years it starts to get smaller, and smaller, and smaller getting closer to the $50,000. Because that’s a lot of money that’s untouched that we could be using to fund projects and whatnot throughout the year.” Kopp sees a lot of potential for the extra funds this year. “We foresee us using these funds for sponsored
projects and for more funding through the grant process,” Kopp said. “Specifically laid out for the spring semester, because a lot of clubs are created and establish themselves in the spring term, when we’ve already allocated the majority of our funding. So it would allow those clubs to have access to funding.” Donnelly agrees that students should see the benefits of their fees. “Our whole purpose here is to allocate funds,” Donnelly said. “If we have this pot we can possibly pull from, we’re going to do it.”
of the operating budget is recommended to be kept in the contingency fund for emergencies
The current ASBSU operating budget is
$495,239
* Information sourced from Amy Jauregui, Senior Business Manager of Student Life
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has been budgeted by ASBSU to be spent in FY17
10%
some of our exec members were not on the payroll.” Amongst this funding switch, Kopp and ASBSU Vice President, Jade Donnelly, were working on being able to access the contingency account for student purposes. “In the past we weren’t able to pull from that account unless it was an emergency, but it doesn’t really make sense for an organization who is supposed to be funding clubs and organizations to be holding onto that money and not using it for something,” Kopp said. “$180,000 is a lot. That is $100,000 we could be giving back to the students.” Kopp and Donnelly have been discussing how future ASBSU administrations could utilize the contingency fund. Their current plan is to create a policy so ASBSU cabinets would have access to $10,000 to $12,000—the exact number has not yet been decided—to spend per fiscal year. “(If future administrations had this extra money available) it could be more
$78,523
As the new Associated Students of Boise State University administration continue working in the new fiscal year, they are focusing on better utilizing the contingency account within the ASBSU budget. The contingency account, also referred to as an emergency fund, currently holds $175,739, according to Senior Business Manager of Student Life, Amy Jauregui. This account consists of accumulated student fees—students pay $12 per credit if they are full time and $1.65 per credit for part time or summer, to ASBSU—which were not spent in the previous fiscal year. The current ASBSU staff is working on creating a policy to utilize this account more efficiently in order to benefit students. “Several years ago, prior ASBSU administrations allowed this fund to be built up beyond the recommended 10 percent of the operating budget that we hold for emergencies,” Jauregui said. “More recent
administrations have been spending that down by increasing grants to student clubs and spending funds on one-time projects for the benefit of students.” Jauregui also shared other figures about the budget for fiscal year 2017. “The operating budget is $495,239 of which $78,523 will be drawn from contingency this year. Without those extra funds, the total budget would be $416,716,” Jauregui said. This year’s ASBSU cabinet had to use some funds from the contingency account after there was a misunderstanding about ASBSU staff salaries. “Last year we had our budget pass through the student assembly, and in that budget we had discussed each of the seven exec members would receive $250 as their salary (every two weeks), as their stipend,” said ASBSU President Rebecca Kopp. “It passed, but something happened with the back end of the office where it was just kind of miscommunicated, and in the middle of summer Jade and I realized
$175,739 currently in the contingency fund
Samantha Harting News Editor
Senator Mike Crapo leads sexual assault panel Patty Bowen Editor-in-Chief
PATTY BOWEN / THE ARBITER
A panel discussing sexual assault prevention was held in the Student Union Building on Friday, Aug. 26. The panel began with a press conference lead by Senator Mike Crapo detailing federal changes to sexual assault prevention initiatives. Crapo focused on the risen cap on the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)— a federal fund that “provides support for victims of crime,”--and the services provided by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)—a federal
act providing the funds to investigate and prosecute violence against women. “One of the most important things we can do is to get the word out that
there is help available and that people who face violence in relationships or in families don’t have to live with it,” Capro said. “The most important things happening are on the ground, the grassroots work.” Crapo said VOCA and VAWA have created more opportunities for grassroots organizations like the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, the Women’s and Children’s Alliance and the Boise State Gender Equity Center to provide victims with support after incidents of sexual assault.
According to Kelly Miller, Executive Director of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, since VAWA was passed in 1994, Idaho has received more than $85 million to provide assis and response services. “The act recently expanded to include native women, LGBT individuals and individuals on campuses, so they receive more attention as well,” Miller said. According to Miller, recent increases in VAWA funding for Idaho have provided civil legal assistance grant for women in need and more outreach teaching Boise State students about Title IX laws. “We have to see the connections between the national statistics that tell us that one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted during college,” Miller said. “We have to see the connections between these and the reports of sexual assault that have made national news in our state.” Miller cited the expulsion of two Boise State college football players— freshman linebacker Marquis Hendrix, and fresh-
man cornerback Donzale Roddie—for sexually assaulting a female student in May as an examples of our campus being representative of our nation’s sexual assault problem. Along with Hendrix and Roddie, freshman safety Darreon Jackson was also expelled due to the assault. According to Adriane Bang, director of the Gender Equity Center, ASBSU Vice President Jade Donnelly and the Gender Equity Center are working to educate students on how to aid in the prevention of sexual assault on campus, and how to intervene when they see unsavory actions taking place in their dorms or on campus. “It can be stifling to just talk about awareness so something that’s really important for us to discuss as a community around campus is bystander intervention,” Bang said. Resident Assistants and Housing Staff on campus are given specialty training to help diffuse situations. According to Bang, starting this year, all new members of Greek life will participate in mandatory bystander intervention training.
“There’s this idea that if you’re educating folks in leadership positions, they’ll help to defuse the ideas across campus,” Bang said. “We know we can’t talk to everyone, but we’re going to do everything we can to (educate our campus.)” Students interested in taking classes on bystander intervention or other resources regarding sexual assault can contact The Women’s Center through their website or attend one of the trainings listed online. “We are making progress, but we need to continue the fight to make sure people do not have to live as victims in their own homes, in their own relationships, or in their own college dorms,” Crapo said.
Crapo discussed the new opportunities provided by VOCA and VAWA funds.
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e
connected with Student Media’s
buckit.
available soon on the app store and google play.
NEWS
Fire season rages on
When students can expect to breathe easy Natasha Williams News Reporter
ELLEN FOGG / THE ARBITER
Natural disasters have swept the world this summer, from severe flooding in Louisiana, to a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that took down the entire town of Amatrice, Italy. Here in Idaho, we have our own problems. Each year, fires break out all over the Gem State. Smoke from those fires can cause issues for people with respiratory problems, even if they aren’t in close proximity to the blaze. “The more exposure you have to it, the higher your risk of developing some respiratory complication . If you have asthma or some other type of lung disease, you step way up in terms of health effects from
fire smoke,” said Jeff Anderson, the Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Education for the Department of Respiratory Care. Currently, Idaho is home to the biggest wildfire in the country, the Pioneer Fire. That fire has burned 111,604 acres since it started on July 18. More than 1,200 people are fighting the blaze, according to the incident report from the Bureau of Land Management on August 29. According to the BLM, because of the sheer size of the fire, it’s going to take some time to put out. “They look at water content that is in the fuels and it’s very low right now. For instance, they talk about the Pioneer Fire probably burning until we have
rain or snow,” Anderson said. “This is something that is going to continue to go on, it’s been going on forever and maybe with climate change it will get worse.”. The Pioneer fire is currently only 55 percent contained, and is continuing to grow with the wind conditions active in the valley. The low temperatures last week helped the firefighters, but with the heat rising again this week, it is going to be a long, hard battle. The cause of the blaze is still unknown, and residents in Lowman and surrounding areas are currently under a level one evacuation. “The weather across the fire Friday will be similar to that experienced Thursday. Although a significant portion of the fire is achieving containment status, the portion of the fire between Deadwood River and Clear Creek will continue to move slowly to the north and east. In anticipation of
potential fire growth, crews are clearing around buildings at Bureau of Reclamation facilities near Deadwood Reservoir,” stated the incident report from the BLM. Right now, that fire is the main source of smoke in the valley, causing people with breathing problems to limit their time outside. This can be hard for students at Boise State, since they spend so much time walking and biking from class to class. Still, not everyone is showing symptoms. “I haven’t noticed any coughing issues. My nose gets stuffed up, but it’s sort of bothersome when you go home and it’s not as smoky smelling there naturally.“ said Allyanna Wintermote There are things that students can do to protect themselves from smoke exposure, such as limiting their time outside, especially when exercising, Anderson said. “If you exercise outside, the more you breathe, the more of these particles you’re going to take in. The more you breathe,
potentially the more inflammatory mediators are going to get released,” Anderson said. People from all over the world handle air quality differently, and for foreign exchange students, the way we handle it in Idaho can be very different from the way they cope with it at home. “We have a student who is from Japan, and in Japan when they have bad air quality a lot of people will wear a mask to filter out those particulates. It’s not part of our culture—it’s more part of theirs—but if you’ve got asthma for instance, when you go outside wear a particle mask. That will screen a lot of those particles out of the airstream,” Anderson said. Students aren’t the only people affected by the smoke, the people on the firelines are impacted as well. Wildland firefighters are exposed to heavy amounts of smoke each year. Constant exposure to smoke and other fire byproducts can cause respiratory irritation and other problems for firefighters. “Some of (the effects) haven’t really been studied that much, believe it or not, and that’s interesting because the wildland firefighters are a lot like the military. They had a trapped group of individuals that you can do
studies on versus the general population. They’re finding more inflammatory mediators,” Anderson said. The number of wildfires in Idaho has risen in the past few years. One reason for this is an invasive species called cheatgrass. It grows faster than native vegetation, and burns almost four times faster than the plant life native to Idaho. This makes fighting fires all the more difficult and increases the amount of smoke exposure to students here on campus. Anderson said this problem won’t end soon. “It’s the nature of the beast. We live in a beautiful area that can have periods of bad air quality,” Anderson said. Students can expect to breathe a little easier when the snow and rainfall in the higher elevations clears the smoke out of the valley. Meteorologist Scott Dorval said that unless precipitation happens soon, we can’t expect that to happen in the coming weeks. “As long as there are fires burning near the area, especially the Pioneer Fire, we will have patchy smoke around the area. Temporary wind shifts as the weather changes will clear our skies of smoke from time to time but we need to get the fires out to clear up the air for good. ” Dorval said.
As smoke fill sthe valley, more respitory problems are popping. The smoke is coming from the Pioneer fore—biggest wildfire in the U.S. currently.
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OPINION
Non-traditional students can’t afford campus daycare semesters of in-state tuition. The problem is the Children’s Center is too expensive to cater to the needs of Boise State students, One of my earliest memories is wreaking havoc in faculty and staff, the majority of whom can’t afford a college classroom here on the Boise State campus. to fork over $100 a week on childcare. There is no The babysitter had cancelled and my mother, a twen- hourly rate; a parent who spends two hours a week ty-five-year-old undergraduate student, was forced to on campus is still expected to pay for a full day’s worth of childcare. Besides, many non-traditional students take me with her to her evening class. There’s probably a four-year-old genius out there take classes in the evenings after they get off work, who enjoys a nice, dry lecture on constitutional law, when the Children’s Center is closed. For those students, faculty and staff who can afford but, alas! I was not that prodigy. I voiced my objecit, there is an application process and an absurdly long tions to the course material in the strongest possible wait-list. There is no drop-in daycare option. This is terms: inexplicable: even Fred Myers has drop-in daycare. “MOM! This is BORING! When can we go No drop-in daycare means staff and students who HOME?” are raising dependents don’t have an on-campus reTwenty-four years later, not much has changed source when a babysitter cancels or a spouse leaves at Boise State: students, faculty and staff are still left town for work. high and dry when it comes to options for affordable, Boise State administrators cannot afford to neglect on-campus childcare. The Children’s Center—which the growing need for inexpensive, on-campus childcharges students $39 per day for toddlers and $32 per care. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy day for preschoolers—is neither convenient nor afResearch, 26 percent of undergraduates—4.6 million fordable. students—are raising dependents. Statistically, these “This year, we’ll pay $16,000 in childcare. Next students often require additional economic and acayear, we’ll pay over $19,000,” said Katy Lightfield, a demic support in order to succeed. mother of two and full-time employee working for Single parents are particularly vulnerable; they’re Boise State’s School of Public Service. Katy’s husmore likely to live in poverty, more likely to drop out band, Tom, is enrolled part-time in the Public Policy and they tend to graduate with a much larger amount and Administration PhD program here at Boise State, of debt than the average student—due, in part, to the but the Lightfield family doesn’t qualify for the Chilcost of childcare. dren’s Center’s student rate. Boise State can help these non-traditional students The Lightfield family will pay more for childcare succeed (and boost its 13.9 percentage four-year in one year than a student at Boise State pays for two graduation rate) by investing more of its resources in affordable, on-campus childcare facilities for students, staff and faculty. This investment is a no-brainer for an institution like Boise State, which has an abnormally large population of TWITTER POLL non-traditional students. According to 2016 enrollment data, approximately Should Boise State invest one-third of Boise State’s student body more resources in affordable, is 25-years-old or older. The average age of a degree-seeking student at Boion site childcare? se State is 24.5-years-old. This data has to be considered in context: the average age of a first-time expectant mother in Idaho is 23.8 years old. While it would be foolish to assume that all of Boise State’s nontraditional students are raising dependents, it seems like a safe bet that many of them are. Other regional demographics also have to be taken into consideration. 83 TOTAL VOTES The glowing cross in the foothills above Boise was probably something of a tip-off but, it turns out, Idaho is Andy Ridgeway Opinion Editor
43% YES 57% NO
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home to a large Christian population. 23 percent of Idaho’s population identifies as Mormon. Another 18 percent of the state’s population identifies as Catholic. In other words, at least 41 percent of Idaho’s population belongs to a religion that takes an official stance against birth control and traditionally encourages large families. So it’s hardly surprising that Idaho has the sixth highest fertility rate in the country, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Disease Control. Of course, this is all conjecture; none of these statistics offers conclusive evidence that a disproportionately large percentage of students at Boise State are raising dependents. But the data does beg the question: why isn’t the university investing more resources in affordable, on-campus childcare? The ruthless pragmatist might argue that it’s a mistake to waste the university’s resources on students who are statistically less likely to graduate. Better, it could be argued, to invest in programs and facilities that cater to traditional students, from Arizona and California, who pay out-of-state tuition, live on campus and attend school full-time. After all, they’re the students who are going to generate the most amount of revenue for the university. President Kustra came dangerously close to making this argument during his State of the University address on Wed., August 21, when he proudly announced that 41 percent of last year’s incoming class was comprised of out-of-state students. According to Kustra, the university’s concerted efforts to recruit out-of-state students are an attempt to address “state funding issues (Boise State) has historically come across.” I understand how important it is for Boise State to generate revenue, but the transition from “commuter college” to “metropolitan research university” shouldn’t come at the expense of Boise State’s nontraditional student population, faculty and staff. There are understated economic benefits to investing in childcare for Boise State’s non-traditional student population. Non-traditional students are less likely than their twenty-two-year-old counterparts to leave Idaho when they complete their education. Research published by the Pew Research Center found “people move when they are young” and adults ages 18-29 “are the most likely to say that they […] will move within five years.” In contrast, older, non-traditional students—many of whom are married or raising dependents—are statistically less likely to pack up and move away when they graduate. The skills and knowledge these students obtain at Boise State will stay in Idaho, where they will contribute to the formation of a more educated workforce and a more robust local economy.
Pragmatism aside, there’s another possible reason that the issue of on-campus childcare has been overlooked for so long: non-traditional students are iced out of the university’s decision-making process. A non-traditional student working two jobs and raising a child doesn’t have time to run for student body president or lobby the university for on-campus childcare. “I can’t join clubs, because clubs demand a lot,” said Jorge Ovando, a nontraditional student and father of two. “I just go to classes and leave. I feel I could be more engaged if I was the ideal student— nineteen, twenty-one-years-old, just going to school but my life is not just college.” Non-traditional students are underrepresented in student organizations like ASBSU. They’re Boise State’s blind spot. It’s a catch-22. Most non-traditional students don’t spend enough time on campus to lobby Boise State’s administration for something like affordable childcare, but, without affordable childcare, non-traditional students are forced to severely limit the amount of time they spend on campus. When the Lightfield family went to ASBSU to point out the absurdly high cost of on-campus childcare, there was a discussion about the possibility of requesting a student fee increase. It’s fantastic ASBSU is meeting with students and taking this issue seriously. Unfortunately, increasing student fees is notoriously unpopular and can be quite difficult to do. Besides, a student fee increase wouldn’t solve the problem: it would just shift the financial burden from one group of students to another. Addressing the issue of on-campus childcare (without taking resources away from other essential programs) will require a more creative and flexible approach. It will require the ability to think outside the box. Every year, ASBSU allocates hundreds of thousands of dollars to different clubs and student organizations on campus. The leftover money gets put into a special “rainy day” fund that ASBSU can access in the event of an emergency. Here’s an idea: why not tie a certain percentage of ASBSU’s Contingency Fund to the Children’s Center? Or set a $150,000 cap on the Contin-
try to put the needs of its sizable non-traditional student population on the backburner.
TAYLOR LIPPMAN / THE ARBITER
gency Fund and use the excess revenue to subsidize the cost of on-campus childcare? There is currently $175,739 in the ASBSU Contingency Fund. ASBSU is currently exploring the possibility of tapping into the Contingency Fund to allocate more money to student groups on campus. Using the leftover funds that student groups didn’t need in order to fund more student groups seems like self-defeating logic. Wouldn’t it make more sense to use at least part of these funds to provide more access to childcare for faculty, staff and non-traditional students? I’m not saying the Contingency Fund is a magic wand that ASBSU can wave to solve the current shortage of on-campus childcare. It’s not. I’m merely saying that there are existing tools and resources that aren’t currently being considered. Boise State is a campus culture that prides itself on its commitment to innovation. That innovation should extend to the policy solutions the university implements to help students, faculty and staff succeed. Important issues like on-campus childcare shouldn’t be boiled down to “yes/no” questions contingent on increasing student fees. There should be a concerted effort to break away from the traditional way of doing things and think of new solutions that haven’t been tested yet. These solutions certainly exist—we just need administrators and student-leaders with the vision to help us find them. But, regardless of how Boise State decides to address the issue of on-campus childcare, one thing is absolutely certain: it doesn’t make sense for a metropolitan commuter college located smack dab in the middle of red-state Christian coun-
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e fea tu r
Patty Bowen Editor-in-Chief For seven days, junior environmental studies major Jacob Lang explored the streets and surrounding area of Boise. Lang was one of several students who took history professor Todd Shallat’s Investigate Boise class. “It made me really interested in how small decisions accumulate into the ways that we live,” Lang said. “I wouldn’t have known how local policies affect any city unless I had that hands-on experience where I got to talk to policy makers like they’re actual people.” The Investigate Boise class is one of several cross-listed courses that could be part of the new curriculum for the Urban Studies and Community Development undergraduate major. The proposed major will be brought to the State Board of Education in October, when it will be approved or dismissed. If approved, the program will officially start in Fall 2017. According to Shallat, despite the pending status, students can still take several classes that would count towards the major including an urban-themed workshop in architecture called Gothic Boise, an economics course called Local Food Economy, a film course called Urban Nightmares and a politics and race relations course. “Urban studies prepare students to work effectively in cities, to experience the excitement and harness political power,” Shallat said. “Knowledge is power, and this is especially true of
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the inner workings of city commerce and gov If the major is dismissed, students taking t still get credit for them in the discipline the c listed as. “We already have many fine classes about c malize a major requires state board approval justments can give students credit for previou said. “Whether the State Board approves it done urban studies, we will do urban studies. ban, and even I know we can’t change that.” The Urban Studies and Community De jor would be a part of the new School of Pu launched last year. If the Urban Studies and Community Dev is successful, its creation will likely be followe ation of a global studies major, Shallat said. According to Shallat, the structure and m school allows for “one giant collective departm nimble majors,” which are ideal for interdis like the planned Urban Studies and Comm ment major. “You hear the word interdisciplinary getting quite a bit, but that’s really at the core of th Amanda Ashley, assistant professor in the S Service. “One of the critical parts of our pro skills-based, so students will get those conte nomics, political science, public policy and the humanities. Then all students will be able to learn more applied skills.” The new major will connect students with local law and policy makers giving them experience working with urban problems up close. “Students will have internships and capstone projects they do around community
vernment.” these classes will class is currently
cities, but to foral. Academic adus work,” Shallat or not, we have . The future is ur-
evelopment maublic Service that
velopment major ed up by the cre-
model of the new ment” and “more sciplinary majors munity Develop-
g thrown around he program,” said School of Public ogram is that it’s ent areas in eco-
issues using all the knowledge they have learned to solve issues that our community partners might be facing,” Ashley said. Partnering with the community will be a key part of the new major because of its heavy emphasis on the Mountain West and on Boise. “We’re moving the university across the river into this parallel world where people have lots of knowledge,” Shallat said. “The future is urban, and Boise State is going to embrace it.” According to Shallat, globally there are more people living in urban contexts than in rural contexts. This is especially true for Boise and the Intermountain West. “The most rapidly urbanizing places in America are here in the Intermountain West,” said Shallat. “Las Vegas, Reno, Boise and Salt Lake share this phenomenon of instant metropolis— they are powerhouses of urbanization. What all those cities have in common is they are all becoming metropolitan really quickly—and they all have natural resource type issues.” These issues include scarcity of water and the creation of urban sprawl in metropolitan areas. According to Shallat, the growth spurt Boise is going through gives students the opportunity to view it as a “learning lab.” As the hundredth largest metropolitan area in the U.S., students have the opportunity to change and understand the urban landscape more easily than they would in a larger city like Chicago. “What we are doing is looking at Boise as a case study, be-
cause we see all the dynamics that happen internationally that we’ve seen happen before, happen before our eyes,” Shallat said. “When we’re in Boise, we try to explain the world to our students and when we’re away from Boise, we try to explain Boise to the world and everyone who comes here is trying to do that all the time.” According to Ashley, the Boise focus of the Urban Studies and Community Development major would set the program aside from other majors of its kind that often overlook the Intermountain West as a hub of urban activity. “If you look at other Urban Studies programs around the U.S., they tend to focus on global cities,” Ashley said. “For us, a big part of developing the urban studies program was to make sure that places like Idaho weren’t ignored, that we were addressing like the urban, rural context in which we live. That’s one of the central things we’re trying to do.” This curriculum works well with some of the alternative
teaching methods Shallat has used in the past including his “place based learning style.” “When I got people off campus and into the city, good things happened,” Shallat said. “People started breathing and feeling the energy of it.” Lang said he gained a better and quicker understanding of the class’s material because he was able to interact and see it. “The alternative learning style really benefited me,” Lang said. “It really helps when you’re not in a seat all day and it really takes it out of the conceptual arty side of things. ‘Here are some things you can do to beautify the city’ to actually seeing them in practice.” Despite being committed to his current major, Lang expressed a significant amount of interest in becoming a Urban Studies and Community Development minor if it is approved. “I really do see a place for (this major) in the future of education,” Lang said. “There’s a lot to learn.”
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y
“Cities, in Idaho, in America, are hubs of commerce and engines of innovation. Planners predict that nine out of ten Americans will live in cities larger than Boise by the year 2050. The Boise Valley, by then, might double in population. To thrive in this valley, to cope with the traffic and pollution, to preserve livability, we need to think about what to expect.”
ELLEN FOGG / THE ARBITER
h -
-Todd Shallat
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Bucking around Sudoku:
Each of the nine blocks has to contain all the numbers 1-9 within its squares. Each number can only
COURTESY BRAINBASHERS
appear once in a row, column or box.
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CULTURE
The Cabin Opens Floodgates for “WATER” Anthology The back lawn of Boise’s The Cabin was comfortably filled with lawn chairs and book-lovers on Thursday, Aug. 24. Authors and readers alike gathered to celebrate the release of “WATER,” the latest in The Cabin’s annual series of anthologies entitled “Writers in the Attic.” It’s filled with poems and short stories crafted by people from Idaho. “This is a great chance to bring local writers together and let them shine,” said Kurt Zwolfer, director of The Cabin. “For many of them, this is the first time they’ve ever been published, so it’s a sort of stepping stone for them.” As the title of the book suggests, 2016’s anthology was on the subject of water. Every year, The Cabin announces their new upcoming theme and begins to collect submissions through an application process. Authors who were published this year were invited up to read from their respective pieces, after being introduced by Hillary Blinski, project director for “Writers in the Attic.” “It’s an exciting project,” said Bilinski. “We open up for submissions for about five or six months, and last year we got about 300 submissions.” According to Bilinski, after an initial screening of the pieces by The Cabin staff that shaves off around half, the remaining pieces are sent out to an independent judge, with any information regarding the identity of the authors removed. When the list of the 40 accepted stories is sent back, The Cabin staff gets to be surprised along with the authors. One of the approved submissions for this year was written by senior English major Tyler Weber. “This is something that was entirely new for me,” said Weber. “It was a total shot in the dark and it paid off.” After hearing about the call for submissions, he struggled for weeks to find inspiration. It eventually came to him in the form of a nightmare. “I woke up, sat up and started writing
in the notebook I keep next to me,” said Weber. “When I eventually woke up again, I took a look at what I had written and thought ‘You know, this is actually workable.’” His nightmare—which dealt largely in part with fear of the deep ocean— eventually resulted in his poem, “Water’s Weight,” which sits comfortably on pg. 129 of the book. The dark nature of the inspiration for Weber’s poem turned out to be a running theme throughout many of the other submissions as well. “The theme of water was much darker than I expected,” said Bilinski. “There were a lot of drownings, break-ups, crashes and things like that. I guess there’s something about water that has a dark quality.” Of course, there were many pieces that took on a less serious tone, which Bilinski found herself particularly drawn to. Since this is the first time many of this year’s authors have been published, there was a distinct air of excitement and humility as each new writer approached the podium to read their work. “This is actually one of the first times
I’ve spoken on a microphone,” said Weber. “I hate to constantly use the word ‘surreal’ to describe this experience— I’m supposed to be a poet after all— but it seems fitting.” “WATER: Writers in the Attic” is now available for purchase and along with its release comes the theme for next year: “GAME.”
PATTY BOWEN / THE ARBITER
Brandon Rasmussen Culture Editor
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CULTURE
What the Heck Is up with Jeffree Star?
The online celebrity is being pummeled with accusations of racism
ELLEN FOGG / THE ARBITER
Elise Adams Culture Reporter Velour Liquid Lipstick: the name sends shivers down the spine of makeup lovers everywhere. Jeffree Star’s breakout cruelty-free cosmetic line, first released in 2014, saw smashing success in its first two years of business. The aforementioned lipsticks in particular resonated strongly with professional makeup artists and hobbyists alike, quickly becoming widely regarded as some of the best on the market, if not the best. The brand’s second line of products, Skin Frost highlighters, were released in May of this year, and generated a lot of hype, even compared to similar products from companies more longstanding than Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Star’s near-instant success in the makeup game can be attributed to his storied history of online fame, dating back even to the early days of Myspace, where he was widely regarded as one of the most connected profile personalities. Even earlier this year, on more current social media platforms such as Instagram, Star’s first eyeshadow palette - named Beauty Killer after his 2009 album of the same name - generated a significant amount of excitement among makeup bloggers. The release of the Beauty Killer palette, however, coincided with a sudden flood of notoriety surrounding Star’s name. A video from 2007 resurfaced, showing a Myspaceera Star doing an offensive impersonation of a black woman, and making references to
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throwing acid on a woman of color’s face to lighten her skin tone, in order to make her foundation match. Though somehow swept under the rug nine years ago, the redistributed video caused considerable outrage on nearly every social media platform. Seemingly overnight, dedicated customers swore off Star’s products, and only perhaps unrelated, several negative reviews of the Beauty Killer palette surfaced on YouTube. It’s no secret that a big part of Jeffree Star’s brand is employing models of color, and making shades suitable for every skin tone. Especially considering his history of championing the fight against traditional gender roles, and acting as a proponent of LGBTQIA+ rights - including a donation of $20 thousand to the victims of the Pulse shooting - it was shocking to many that their longstanding idol’s rap sheet contains such violently problematic behavior. Alongside the video in question, an old picture began recirculating, showing Star posing with a number of caucasian individuals – one of which who is not only in blackface, but has painted their entire body brown. Among most current social circles, this represents a gross misstep, and an unforgivable act of racism. Not long after the controversy blossomed around Star’s name, celebrity tattoo artist and cosmetic purveyor Kat von D released a video which served to both end her yearslong friendship with Star, as well as highlight all the reasons she no longer wished to associate herself with him and his brand. “The way that Jeffree
chooses to live his life and treat other people is not something that I personally agree with,” she stated in an interview. She even went so far as to pull the shade “Jeffree” from her lipstick line. Among bulletpoints such as his promotion of drug use, tendency to incite online witch hunts, and allegations that his brand isn’t truly vegan, Kat accused Jeffree of refusing to pay the artist who created the logo and packaging for his cosmetic line. B.J Betts, a graphic designer who also worked on Kat von D’s cosmetic line, supposedly drew up designs for Star’s logo which Star then stole, going so far as to ignore calls from Betts wherein he requested payment for his artwork. In a rebuttal video, Jeffree Star denied having refused to pay for his packaging and logo designs, and shortly afterward Betts tweeted that the matter had been “amicably resolved.” According to Kat von D, Betts told her that Star reached out with a settlement proposal only an hour after the callout video was released. “My view of him 180’d when I watched the entire Kat von D video,” said Mitsuko Stoddard, an illustration major at Boise State. “Two days later I watched his response and my view changed again. I really didn’t know who to believe. Jeffree Star has a unique look and brand, but I can’t say that I necessarily respect him as a person.” To many people of color, the recent controversy surrounding Star isn’t all that recent; rather, it’s something that people have simply chosen to ignore up until this point. This paired with his
rampant misogyny makes for a troublesome cocktail of violent behavior. Earlier this year, Star threatened to physically assault a cosmetics blogger, known as Makeup Shayla, over a rude comment she supposedly made, for which there was no proof. She denied ever making the comment, and was quick to point out that no one should be supporting a man who has threatened to beat up a woman. Taking into consideration the fact that he has in his line a lipstick shade called “Abused,” there are more than a few reasons why one might name Jeffree Star as a misogynist, or at the very least an
abuse apologist. In all fairness, Star has apologized over Twitter for his past transgressions. To many, however, the apology was a weak one, and ended up sounding more like a plea for people to simply get over what he’s done because it happened so long ago. It may not be so easy for people to forget seeing Jeffree Star in videos calling a black man an “ape,” referring to someone as a “poor Mexican,” and screaming racial and gendered slurs at a black woman on the street. So, what’s a fan to do? A significant portion of Star’s fan base has already sworn off his
products, pledging a boycott no matter how many beautiful new shades of lipstick he continues to release. To others, his apology was more than enough to make up for his past transgressions, and those people will continue to support his brand, therefore supporting him as a person. If your opinion of him hinges on not being able to use his products anymore, though, there are plenty of cruelty free dupes at your disposal.
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Book Review: ”The Road to Character”
ABE COPELAND / THE ARBITER
David Brooks Makes His Case for a Return to Humility
Brandon Rasmussen Culture Editor When trying to imagine what goes into choosing the “Campus Read” for Boise State, the first thought that comes to mind is whatever is chosen should generate discussion. “The Road to Character,” penned by New York Times’ own David Brooks, certainly does that. Brooks’ adamant contentions may prove to be a hard sell for students, particularly those who don’t quite stick it out until the end. In the beginning, Brooks launches the book off by sepa-
rating human nature into two categories: Adam I and Adam II. Lifted from the 1965 book “Lonely Man of Faith” by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchick, this distinction harkens back to the two conflicting accounts of creation present in the Book of Genesis. Essentially, it separates external desires from internal ones. “Adam I is the career-orientated, ambitious side of our nature,” Brooks writes. “(He) wants to build, create, produce and discover things. Adam II wants to embody certain moral qualities. (He) wants to love intimately, to sacrifice self in the service of
others, to live in obedience to some transcendent truth. (p. xii)” That “transcendent truth” goes on to be the center of the author’s position throughout the book. Brooks explicitly states early on he intends to show the merits of Adam II. According to him, we are currently living in the “Age of the Selfie” or a “Big Me” culture, where self-centered ideology reigns supreme. “(We) have seen a broad shift from a culture of humility to the culture of what you might call the Big Me, from a culture that encouraged people to think humbly of them-
selves to a culture that encouraged people to see themselves as the center of the universe, (p. 6)” Brooks writes. To combat this alleged erosion of moral introspection, Brooks proposes we must focus less on our own desires and return to a society of humility and self restraint. To further illustrate this point, Brooks spends almost the rest of the book in brief life sketches of people ranging from President Dwight D Eisenhower to St. Augustine, who he thinks lived lives of deep devotional and spiritual quality. While this argument
sounds relatively easy to swallow in summary, the devil is in the details. This is an apt phrase, due to Brooks’ insistence on the use of religious terminology when dealing with general human ethics and morality. It’s not a big deal by itself, but it relates to part of the author’s subscription to the classically religious stance that all humans are born intrinsically flawed and need to be saved by something larger than ourselves. “No person can achieve self-mastery on his or her own,” Brooks writes. “Individual will, reason, compassion and character are not strong enough to consistently defeat selfishness, pride, greed and self-deception. Everyone needs redemptive assistance from outside—from God, family, friends, ancestors, rules traditions, institutions and exemplars. (p. 264)” It is here that many readers, particularly students, may get a little hung up. As Brooks notes right at the start, this idea of inescapable brokenness is something that has been left behind in American culture. Generally speaking, young Americans in particu-
lar find self-empowerment by accepting their inner selves fully, rather than focusing on intrinsic flaws. However, after completing the book, it seems that the debate that Brooks’ stance tends to generate has incredible value. Whether one agrees with his way of viewing the world or not, the author’s almost staunch approach to such a difficult proposal leaves in its wake a wide stage on which to debate its merits. Occasional dips into contradiction and lack of focus are mostly unable to derail Brooks’ proposal as a whole, creating a worthy adversary for those who read the book and come to disagree. All things considered, after jumping back and forth between hating it and being inspired by it, this reviewer’s recommendation is to go ahead an try it. As the “Campus Read,” it excels in creating a space for discussion. The book’s focus around careers, callings and vocations relates well to the question asked to students everywhere: “What will you do with your life?”
David Brooks is a New York Times columnist and best-selling author, known best for writing “The Social Animal.” Brooks will be speaking at Boise State on Sept. 27 at the Morrison Center as a part of the “Distinguished Lecture Series.” The event will begin a 7:00 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. No tickets required.
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SPORTS & REc
Boise State Basketball Scrimmages in Costa Rica Boise State Basketball traveled to Costa Rica this summer to play the Costa Rica national team and a pair of Canadian college programs in an effort to prepare for the upcoming season, which was all sponsored and presented by Taco Bell. “The Bronco coaching staff entered the trip with a plan to manage everyone’s playing time across the four games in three days, while also accounting for offseason injuries, mixing lineups and allowing the newcomers to play extended minutes. Part of the plan included Nick Duncan and James Reid sitting the first half of the first game,” said Michael Walsh, Assistant Sports Information
Director. In the first two games before playing against the Costa Rica national team, Boise State played both Brock University and the University of Ottawa. The Broncos beat Brock University with a score of 7656, and came up shy against University of Ottawa, 90-88, missing a game-tying basket. Boise State played the Costa Rica national team on the next day of their travel to Costa Rica, winning that game with a score of 74-54. Boise State Basketball finished their tour with an overwhelming win against the University of Ottawa 73-49. Overall, the Broncos played well in Costa Rica finishing their tour with a 3-1 record.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL WALSH
Evan Werner Sports & Rec Editor
Boise State Men’s Basketballl finishes 3-1 in Costa Rican summer tournament.
Evan Werner Sports & Rec Editor Boise State’s football season will begin Saturday, Sept. 3, in Louisiana against LA Lafayette at 10 a.m. Boise State Athletics has released information that the game will not be televised in Idaho and will only be viewable on ESPN 3 or the WatchESPN App. As well as being on ESPN 3, the game will be televised on markets with American Sports Network. The game will also broadcast on the Bronco Radio Network, locally on KTIK-FM
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93.1 and KBOI-AM 670. Although ESPN owns the game rights, they did not have an open broadcast slot for the game, forcing it to be streamed online off of ESPN 3. Although KBOI is an affiliate of CBS who has time slots for Southeastern Conference games, it would be unlikely for them to air a ESPN owned game on their network. This will be the first game not televised locally since Boise State hosted Tennessee Martin in 2013. That game was also on ESPN 3.
PHOTO BY ABE COPELAND, DESIGN BY NANCY FLECHA/ THE ARBITER
First Boise State Game will not be Locally Televised
TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY / COURTESY
Broncos Compete in the Olympics » Enroll anytime! » Complete in one year or less! » Self-paced study. Anytime. Anywhere! Evan Werner Sports & Rec Editor Boise State had a record setting six students compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, representing six different countries excluding the U.S. Of the six olympians, three are track and field athletes, two gymnasts, and one is a wrestler. As well as Boise State’s olympians, Boise biker Kristin Armstrong competed.
Jordin Andrade A red shirt senior from Bonney Lake, WA, Andrade competed in the 400 meter hurdles representing his country of Cape Verde in Africa. Transferring from Mount San Antonio College, Andrade became a three-time 400 meter champion with Boise State and place 16th in the Rio Olympics with a time of 49.32 seconds in the semifinal. He was the first ever Cape Verdean to reach a semifinal round in an Olympic Games.
Kurt Felix An alumni of Boise State winning men’s track and field national championship in 2012, Felix set a personal best in the decathlon in the Rio Olympics placing ninth with a score of 8,323 points. Felix was representing his country of Grenada in his second consecutive summer Olympics.
Isabella Amado Representing her country of Panama in the Rio Olympics, gymnast Amado did not place in any of her qualifiers, but finished with a high in Women’s Individual All-Around, Beam, with an overall of 33rd. Now finished with the Olympics, Amado looks to start her freshman year at Boise State and add to the women’s gymnastic team.
Courtney McGregor McGregor looks to start her freshman year after the Olympics representing New Zealand. Taking 13th in the qualification round on women’s vault with a score of 14.533. McGregor is the second female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics from New Zealand in the last 44 years, and the first since 2000.
George Ivanov Being the second wrestler from Boise State to compete in the Olympics, first since 2000, Ivanov competed in the men’s freestyle 74 kg wrestling tournament making it to the round of 16. Ivanov represented his country of Bulgaria, moving to the United States about 10 years ago. After transferring from Nebraska-Omaha, Ivanov won the 157-pound title at the Pac-12 championships in 2013.
Graham Delaet An alumni of Boise State, Delaet represented his country of Canada. This is the first time golf is a sport in the Olympics. Delaet started off his Olympic games well, finishing second in the first round of men’s individual golf, but slowly lost momentum finally finishing in 23rd in the final round. Delaet competed for the Boise State men’s golf team from 2001 to 2006.
Kristin Armstrong A University of Idaho alumni and Boise native, Armstrong won her third straight gold medal in Rio for the women’s time trial for cycling with a time of 44:26.42. Armstrong also competed in the women’s road race, but did not finish. At age 43, Armstrong has focused her career on cycling since being diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips in 2001, ending her career in triathlons. Boise State continues to expand its sports programs by gaining recognition outside of football. “One could argue the three Fiesta Bowls in football took us to the national stage, now we’ve got these Olympic student athletes from Boise State taking us to the international stage. That’s pretty cool,” said Boise State President Bob Kustra
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SPORTS & REc
BRANDON FEELY / THE ARBITER
Boise State Football Scheduled for Success
Broncos Football season is upon us and the team looks to strive for greatness in their 2016-2017 season.
Riston Ramirez Sports & Rec Editor As the new school year begins, so does a new football season. Last year the Broncos saw themselves fall to 9-4 after losing to New Mexico and Air Force last November, costing the Broncos the Mountain West title. In response however, the Broncos went on to beat San José State and then Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl. Despite a rough November, the last two wins of the season “gave Harsin the belief that the resolve needed for
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the Broncos to remain a power in their conference and in the national discussion was still there.” This year, the Broncos offense is loaded with returning players and talent. The Big 3 in B-Town? Brett Rypien, Jeremy McNichols, and Thomas Sperbeck. With Rypien already having an amazing season as a true freshman last year, his return for his sophomore campaign should only prove to be bigger and better. A junior this year, McNichols will lead the back field behind a already talented and returning offensive line. And Rypien’s
favorite target, Sperbeck, will be returning as a senior. With the help of senior Chaz Anderson the Broncos should have no problem moving the ball down field. The talented offense will also be able to take some pressure off of the young defense as it matures during the season. The real question is, how fast will the inexperienced defense mature and develop into a rock solid unit? The Broncos are set at linebacker, but have little experience on the defensive line and in the defensive backfield. It will be up to the defensive veterans to lead the defense
as it grows and finds itself. The Broncos as a whole, however, will have to hit the ground running. Boise State faces Washington State week 2 of the season. Although the game is nonconference, a win against the Cougs could help the Broncos national ranking and its chances for a meaningful bowl game. The Broncos will depend upon their young defense to limit the productivity of Wazzu’s talented and rising star QB Luke Faulk. A number to comfort anxiety for the Wazzu game? The last time the Broncos lost a regular season game against a non
conference team in Boise was in 2001. Although the Broncos are challenged early, somehow they have acquired a schedule that could set Boise State up for national debate and conversation. Despite playing two Pac 12 teams back to back, the Broncos have a bye week three, which will buffer the two games and allow the team time to rest, recover, and revamp. With Oregon State week 4, Boise State has another opportunity to knock off a Pac 12 team. The Broncos are also challenged in mid- October having to go play New Mexico, who stunned Boise
State last year, and then having to host Colorado State and BYU. With the schedule set for Boise State to be in the national conversation, it will be up to the Broncos to take advantage of the opportunity they have been given. As the Broncos wrap up camp they plan to capitalize on the season, reemerge as the dominant team in the Mountain West, and put themselves in position for a big name bowl game. The Broncos will kickoff their first game of the season in Louisiana against the Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday, Sept. 3.
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