Wednesday, Oct. 30 - Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 Weekly Print Edition
Vol. 106, Issue 12 www.thedailyaztec.com
San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
University Towers rooms flood, residents relocated by Katelynn STAFF WRITER
Robinson
Residents of University Towers have been experiencing flooding issues on several floors throughout the semester, and this isn’t the first time it’s happened. The building has reportedly experienced flooding in the bathrooms and sinks within the individual rooms. Some of the flood damage was so severe that students were forced to move into different rooms. The cause of the floods in University Towers is clogged shower pipes due to missing shower grates, according to the Director of the Office of Housing
Administration Cynthia Cervantes. There have been multiple factors contributing to the clogging, she said. “There are some cases where the shower drain cover has been removed from the shower stall, and in cases where the shower drain is there, we’re noticing that the grid to the opening of the shower cover is wide enough to let a significant amount of hair through,” she said. “In cases where we have shower stalls with the drain cover on, lots of hair of other items are going down the pipe. In the cases where the shower drain cover is completely removed, obviously some larger items are fitting down there.”
Aerospace freshman Thomas Langston said his room flooded with “sewer water” after his shower drain got clogged. “I first saw the flood when I was sitting at my desk, about to write my paper, when I noticed water started to flood from the bathroom,” he said. “I went to check it out and I found that there was water seeping out of the drain itself, overflowing over the shower itself, and flooding bathroom and slowly engulfing the entire floor.” The flooding was so bad that it seeped into hallway. Langston said himself and his roommate had to UNIVERSITY TOWERS, PAGE 3
Photo by Alexa Oslowski
University Towers has experienced flooding throughout the semester that has often required residents to relocate to new rooms.
New men’s basketball season stars transfers by Kyle Betz ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
San Diego State men’s basketball finished its 2018-19 campaign in heartbreak, following a loss in the Mountain West tournament championship against Utah State. The 2019-20 campaign marks the start of a clean slate. Head coach Brian Dutcher said the team’s expectation is to make the NCAA Tournament. “That has to be the thought every time you step out on the floor at San Diego State,” Dutcher said. “That’s why these kids came here. They came here because of the winning tradition; the fact that we’ve been in the NCAA Tournament seven out of the last 10 years.” The Aztecs return 10 players, including two-year starter and junior forward Matt Mitchell. Mitchell was the team’s thirdleading scorer last season with 10.3 points per game. According to Dutcher, Mitchell weighed around 235 pounds as a freshman but gained around 20 pounds his sophomore year. This offseason, he improved his diet and spent extra time in the gym to drop those pounds. Despite recently undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus, Mitchell currently weighs around 240. “Matt has been magnificent in his approach to his own body and the team,” Dutcher said.
“He had to miss six or seven weeks of practice. He’s just getting himself back into game shape. The weight has stayed off, but he’s got to get his game legs back underneath him.” Another returning starter is sophomore forward Nathan Mensah. Mensah burst through the scene last year, starting in the Aztecs’ final 20 games and leading the team in blocks per game (1.1) while collecting the team’s second-most rebounds per contest (5.5). He had surgery to repair a ligament in his right thumb in August but is expected to be ready for the regular season. SDSU welcomes three new transfers: junior guard Trey Pulliam (Navarro College), fifth-year senior forward Yanni Wetzell (Vanderbilt) and fifthyear senior guard KJ Feagin (Santa Clara). Wetzell, Feagin and forward Nolan Narain are the team’s only seniors. Although Wetzell and Feagin are graduate transfers, Narain said their leadership has already been beneficial to the Aztecs’ roster. “They were both pretty big guys at their previous schools, so coming in here, they already have a leadership role they’ve already adjusted to,” Narain said. “I think, with them coming SEE BASKETBALL, PAGE 6
College Republicans return with right-wing rebranding by Bella Ross & Brenden Tuccinardi
definitely have, shifted right.”
After a rough start to the calendar year, the San Diego State College Republicans are looking to make a comeback on campus. But the organization’s return to campus didn’t come without a major rebrand. SDSU College Republicans President Oliver Krvaric said, ideologically, their ideas probably land far from your grandma’s vision of republicanism. Krvaric said he rejects the “lukewarm” conservatism of the baby boomer generation in exchange for a new, more controversial approach. “Our stances in previous years have really toed the party line,” Krvaric said. “It’s really toed, you know, the (Republican National Committee) platform. It’s really toed conventional Republican talking points. (Our previous stances hadn’t) really pushed the envelope.” Krvaric went on to say, “We
A TWITTER COMEBACK The club’s new identity can be somewhat understood through it’s latest Twitter activity, breaking a months-long social media hiatus with a slew of tweets, a new layout and a bio that describes the club as “the vanguard of GenZ flavored Conservatism at SDSU.” The organization even shed it’s former elephant profile photo – the “mascot” of the Republican party – for an 80s-themed, meme-inspired appearance. “Come on, the elephant? Whatever,” Kravaric said. “That’s so boomer, you know?” The College Republicans returned to the platform in mid-October, and it’s tweets point toward the emphasis on controversy Kravric preached. On Oct. 14, the organization wished its followers a “very happy Columbus Day,” going on to say “We wouldn’t be here
ideologically,
without the uniquely European thirst for exploration that brought (Columbus) to the shores of the Caribbean over 500 years ago.” This comes amid growing controversy over the validity of Columbus Day as a holiday from those who reject the United States’ imperialist history. SDSU’s academic calendar even lacks reference to the holiday, instead referring to Oct. 14 as Indigenious Peoples’ Day. The account also features multiple interactions – in the form of retweets, likes and follows – with figures and organizations that have a history of being associated with white nationalism. The College Republicans follow and often interact with Vdare, an anti-immigrant news website and Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate group. The SPLC said the site “regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites.” As of Oct. 29, some
of the website’s most popular tags included: “War on Christmas,” “immigrant mass murder” and “anti-white hate crimes.” Kravaric said the club’s interaction with the website on Twitter is largely from an “antiinterventionist” perspective, and that he was not fully aware of the website’s platform. But one post on the club’s Twitter deflects from Krvaric’s claim, quoting a tweet from Vdare about immigation, proclaiming in response that the U.S. needs to “end the failed War on Drugs and build the wall.” But Kravaric asserts that any association of the College Republicans with white nationalist ideologies would be grossly incorrect. “That perception is one that would not be healthy for our club, but it’s also unwanted, completely rejected and disavowed entirely, I would say,” Kravaric said. Krvaric’s involvement on campus is not limited to the College Republicans. He is also
the vice president of SDSU’s Turning Point USA chapter, a non-partisan organization that he said promotes free markets and fiscal conservatism. He is also the son of San Diego County’s longtime Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric, but he said his father’s views do not always reflect his own. “I deviate from him in some of our priorities for sure,” he said. TROUBLE IN THE SPRING The last tweet to appear on the organization’s account before this October was made more than five months ago on April 2, marking the start of a temporary hiatus for the club. The quiet period was sparked as a result of conflict between SDSU’s College Republicans chapter and the state organization early this year. At the beginning of 2019, the SDSU College Republicans SEE REPUBLICANS, PAGE 2