THE PIONEER Covering the East Bay community since 1961
California State University, East Bay
News, Art, & Culture for the East Bay
THURSDAY OCTOBER 22, 2015
www.thepioneeronline.com
Fall 2015 Issue 5
Strike vote begins on Hayward campus By Louis LaVenture NEWS AND SPORTS EDITOR
SEE FEATURES PAGE 6
DOES YOUR WATER SMELL DIFFERENT?
SEE NEWS PAGE 7
BILL TARGETS "NORM OF SECRECY"
ILLUSTRATION BY BRITTANY ENGLAND/THE PIONEER
SEE NEWS PAGE 8
PHOTOS: CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY DAY
Fremont addresses mental health in schools City and school work together to provide on-site counseling By Mathew Weber CONTRIBUTOR
SEE SPORTS PAGE 12
STUDENT MAKES ATHLETIC CONVERSION
As the national conversation about guns continues, reports frequently suggest that mental health is a contributing factor to the horrific, highly-publicized shootings at schools
across the country. Fremont city officials are partnering with the Fremont Unified School District in an effort to provide on-site mental health support to students in need. At a joint meeting earlier this month, members of the Fremont City Council and FUSD board met to discuss how to organize those services. Stacey Bamford, a program specialist at Fremont Unified School District stated that the City of Fremont and FUSD have been collaborating for decades. She explained that the school district is trying to meet the mental health needs of students, but don’t
have the resources; that’s where the city came in. At the start of the school year, Fremont’s Youth & Family Services department provided counseling services at 23 of the district’s 40 schools — 18 elementary, one junior high and four high schools. Schools that did not request mental health support lack the necessary office space or do not have clinical supervisors on campus who can oversee the program, according to officials involved in implementing the new initiative.
SEE NEWS PAGE 7
German student tackles East Bay on and off the field By Kevin Vera CONTRIBUTOR
Two years ago Steffen Sauer decided to move from Germany to California to play soccer for Cal State East Bay. The decision was simple: sunny days year-round, the opportunity to study abroad and bragging rights to say he lives in the state where “Baywatch” was filmed. Sauer had visited San Francisco as a child and remembered the Bay Area atmosphere. As it turns out, CSUEB was the only university in California that offered Sauer a scholarship. Raised in Bremen and Kiel, Germany, Sauer is now a junior midfielder and the only international student who currently plays for the Cal State East Bay men’s soccer team. Previously he had defended the left flanks on soccer teams in Germany. Born in 1994 in the city of Minden, Sauer spent his early years playing soccer in Bremen. The youngest of two boys, Sauer’s passion for the sport led him to local district team, VFL 07 Bremen. He spent five years at the club before he relocated with his family to Kiel, along the northern coast of Germany. His strong performance at Holstein Kiel earned him a spot to play for CSUEB. According to East Bay’s Pioneer website, Sauer has appeared in 18 games and accumulated 1 goal, 1 assist and 4 shots on goal.
“I liked being part of a team and I played in club teams with many different coaches over the years because there are no high school sport teams in Germany,” Sauer said. Sauer started to play soccer when he was eight, when a friend of his from elementary school invited him to a tryout. Prior to playing soccer, Sauer participated in Judo but explained that he quickly learned soccer was more interesting and pursued the sport. “When I recruited him in Germany, he was playing as an outside back,” said CSUEB Head Coach Andrew Cumbo. “Once he started playing here I realized that he is a great playmaker and a creative thinker on the ball, so the decision was easy to put him up in the midfield. He’s adjusted well to the style here.” Soccer players like Sauer are part of the rebirth of youth soccer programs in Germany. In the past, German soccer teams had a track record for winning championships and producing all-star athletes, but at the turn of the century, their national soccer team became a laughing stock as they consistently lost. After a major loss in the European Cup in 2000, the Deutscher Fussball Bund (D.F.B), or German Football Association, restructured. Throughout the last decade, Germany has
SEE FEATURES PAGE 4
Campus showcases faculty art
Drums, songs and chants coming from the sidewalk behind the Music building could be heard throughout the Cal State East Bay Hayward campus this week. This wasn’t a student event, it was the faculty and staff making the noise. The California Faculty Association began picketing on Monday during the strike authorization vote period, Oct. 19-28. The vote determines whether CFA leadership is authorized to call a strike at the end of the ongoing collective bargaining process. The CFA is asking for a five percent pay increase for their union members. The CSU system has budgeted a two percent raise for all employees including CFA members for the current academic year, but some faculty feel this isn’t enough. “We have rejected the chancellor’s two percent increase,” Nicholas Baham, CSUEB ethnic studies professor and CFA chapter president said. “Which by the way, was a figure he put out there prior to the increase to the budget.” Baham referred to the $216.5 million budget granted to the CSU system this year by the state, which is the first full budget request the system has received since 2006-2007. The CFA claims that CSU presidential salaries have increased by 36 percent since 2004, while faculty salaries in that same time period have only risen 10 percent. “Money for faculty is money for students,” Baham said. “It’s investing in education.” Baham explained he believes higher education should be free and students will eventually “take back the campus that belongs to them.” According to the CSU Chancellor’s Office, the two percent increase will cost $32.8 million and the total 6.2 percent increase requested by the CFA would cost $108 million. The CSU Labor Relations department released a statement on Oct. 8 after the second mediated negotiation between the two sides, which ended without an agreement. “Compensation remains a top priority,” CSU Director of Public Affairs Toni Molle said. “That’s why faculty were the only group of employees to receive salary increases and tenure-track salary promotions during the recession years.” According to Molle, employee compensation was one of the top priorities for the CSU system, which is why the new budget included a raise for faculty. Molle said the list of priorities also includes the hiring of new faculty, facility improvements and repairs, as well as technology upgrades. The strike authorization-voting period ends at 6 p.m. on Oct. 28 to determine if the staff and faculty will go on strike.
STAY CONNECTED! #NEWSPIONEER PHOTOS BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
Top: Professor Phillip Hofsteffer describes his piece, "Ancestor Mummy Bundle" on Oct. 13. Bottom left: Gallery assist curator, Carolina Gainey-Vejar's ceramic work "Mother Mary." Bottom right: John Poole's mixed media work titled, "Nordic Snip Snap" is on display in the galley.
SEE NEWS PAGE 11
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