While the group of incumbentAssociated Students Inc. board members, ‘Runners Rise, won five of the top executive positions in last week’s student government elections, one student club was also able to get four of its members elected to theASI board.
According to an email from Ilaria Pesco, executive director ofASI, 572 students voted in the 2023-2024ASI elections, resulting in a 6.3% voter turnout. California State University, Bakersfield students voted for severalASI executive and director positions. This year, some candidates formed two groups. ‘Runners Rise and CSUB Elevate.
‘Runners Rise'sDaisy Alamillo, current vice president for university affairs, won as ASI president with 64% of the vote, while current director of NSME and CSUB Elevate candidate, Jacob Roper, ended with 36%.
Current vice president of legislative affairs and ‘Runners Rise candidate, Ignacio Castillo, won for executive vice president with 58% of the vote. Opposing candidate Christian Burgara, a currentASI justice, received 42% of the vote.
Vice president of finance candidate Simranjeet Kaur, a sophomore business
administration major, received 23% of the vote. Kayla Medina, current director of ASI outreach and CSUB Elevate candidate, took 45% of the vote for the position, while Coby Nguyen, current chair of the ASI board and ‘Runners Rise candidate, took 31%. Medina and Nguyen will compete in a runoff election on April 12.
‘Runner Rise’s Taylor Thomas, a junior criminal justice major, took 61% of the vote for vice president of legislative affairs against opposing candidate James Tompkins, who ended with 39%.
Two other ‘Runners Rise candidates ran unopposed for
executive positions: Larry Gonzales for vice president of university affairs and Alejandro Romero for vice president of campus life.
Three ‘Runners Rise candidates also won director positions: Monique Escalante for director for Social Sciences and Education, Sarah Alame for director of sustainability, and Yasmin Marcelo for director of Arts and Humanities.
Along with being a part of ‘Runners Rise and returning ASI directors, Alame and Marcelo are also in the Students for Sustainability club. Two fellow club members also made it onto the board.
Karen Navarro, a junior
psychology major and member of Students for Sustainability, ran against Sarah Varela, a fourth-year business administration major, for the director of student support. Navarro won 56% of the vote for the position, while Varela received 44%.
In a message to The Runner, Navarro wrote that having members of the club involved in student government could help build a more sustainable campus.
“We can educate the students on how a small change can make the biggest difference within our CSUB community,” wrote Navarro.
As a transfer student from
Bakersfield College, Navarro is one of the new directors coming onto theASI board. She is excited to start her new journey as a student leader and wants to use her role as director of student support to make CSUB students’ideas come to life, Navarro wrote.
Alejandro Martinez, a second-year business administration major and Students for Sustainability member, will be returning to his position as director of community outreach after running against candidate Kenlee Calvin Stoll, a business administration and healthcare management major. Martinez won 59% of the vote for the position against Calvin Stoll, who received 41%.
Marcelo wrote in a message that members of the club have a deep appreciation for Earth and are proactive in safeguarding its inhabitants and the environment.
“Having members hold positions in theASI board is significant as it is place where they can share their advocacy and influence those who are in positions of power,” wrote Marcelo.
Contact Haydee Barahona at (hbarahona@csub.edu) and Jacob Torres at (jtorres184@ csub.edu)
FACULTY ADVISOR
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CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
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Joshua Alvarado, Christopher Gomez, Guadalupe Leon, Dina Olvera, Jacob Torres, Kaley Brown Soren, Zachariah R.L. Rush, Averi Yanney, Aria Zahler
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Kiara Zabala
THE RUNNER California State University, Bakersfield 9001 Stockdale Highway Bakersfield, CA 93311-1099
ABOUT US
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By Kiara Zabala Outreach & Recruitment
After an outcry from the faculty and students at California State University, Bakersfield about the actions taken to control the rodent population on campus, the Facilities Management Department has halted its process of gassing the squirrel burrows and is holding listening sessions this month.
The first ecosystem listening session will take place today at 12:30 p.m. in the Student Union Multipurpose Room and also online. This first session is for students only.
The biggest issue is whether or not CSUB violated the Endangered Species Act by potentially harming kit foxes who use squirrel and gopher burrows.
“CDFW is aware of the situation and is gathering information,” said Abigail Gwinn, wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
With CSUB attempting to control the squirrel population, the school must also make sure not to harm the endangered species of kit foxes that live on campus.
Back in the beginning of March, eyewitness statements started to come in with reports of hoses being fed underground that were pumping gas into the rodent burrows in attempts to control the CSUB squirrel population.
Within the next couple weeks after the initial reports, a meeting was held by Associated Students Inc. that talked about the way Facilities was choosing to try to control the squirrel population, which allowed students and ASI
day morning from the school, stating how all population control would be paused until further notice after hearing the concerned voices.
“Any person who knowingly violates any provision … of this Act, may be assessed a civil penalty by the Secretary of not more than $25,000 for each violation,” according to the Endangered Species Act from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Faculty and students keeping up with the squirrel situation are also wondering how the burrowing rodent population was affected as the squirrel sightings have become less frequent than they were before the gassings from Facilities took place.
Joseph D. Hedges, associate vice president of Capital Planning & Design and Facilities Management Services, said the rodent population is re-emerging.
“Recently, new ground-burrowing rodent holes have emerged (ground squirrels and moles) in areas that were treated before we paused the control program. There are also new and growing holes on our athletic fields as a result of the pause in control efforts,” wrote Joe Hedges in a response written to The Runner by Jennifer Self, senior director of Strategic Communications and the Public Information Officer.
CSUB Facilities has decided to hold off on any squirrel management procedures until further notice.
Business and Administrative
Services sent out a memorandum in an email to the CSUB community on March 21. This memorandum was in response to the discussion on campus about Facilities’ approach to managing the burrowing-rodent population.
“At California State University, Bakersfield, we take our ecosystem very seriously. In recent days, concerns have been raised about the system we use to control burrowing-rodents on campus. Out of respect for the voices we have heard, we are pausing our efforts to control the ground-squirrel population,” wrote Thom Davis, vice president and chief financial officer.
Davis also wrote in the memorandum that over the next few weeks, CSUB will host sessions to listen to any concerns and further questions from the campus community. More information about the sessions will become available within the next coming days. The goal of these sessions is to come to a conclusion that makes all members of the campus community satisfied.
This decision to pause burrowing-rodent population control comes just a few days after an ASI meeting where the main topic of discussion was the fumigation carried out by Facilities.
During the ASI meeting on March 17, students and faculty emphasized that they would not have had such a big problem with how Facilities is choosing to approach maintenance towards the ground squirrel population if they had
been transparent with the CSUB community about their actions from the start.
Instead of being informed by email, information about the actions of Facilities was spread through eyewitness reports.
Self and Hedges attended the meeting on behalf of Facilities as a way to facilitate a conversation between ASI and Facilities.
Self and Hedges both answered questions following a presentation that they gave, stating that the ground squirrels’ burrows have causes injuries to different members of the campus. The squirrels also have damaged athletic fields, irrigation systems and communication lines, further affecting the spaces that can be used on campus.
Students and faculty shared that they did not believe that the usage of the Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Controller (PERC) with 2.5% carbon monoxide was necessary and called for a more humane way to control the squirrel population.
Additionally, community members expressed that they did not believe that Facilities was being entirely truthful and transparent about where the fumigation attempts occurred, causing these community members to worry about the endangered kit foxes that also reside in burrows on campus.
The concerns from the some faculty and students arose due to an email thread started by the Campus Sustainability Committee on March 2 after eyewitnesses first spotted Facilities’ fumigation.
Lucas K. Hall, assistant professor of biology, discussed how population management of the squirrel population on campus can upset the balance of the urban ecosystem of CSUB. A reduction of ground squirrels as prey for kit foxes can affect the food supply for the kit foxes, potentially harming the fragile ecosystem, said Hall.
The petition “Protection of the Endangered San Joaquin Kit Fox and their Prey at CSU Bakersfield” started by ASI Director of Sustainability, Sara Alame, has circulated online on change.org and has received nearly 2,000 signatures within two weeks.
Whether rain or shine, the Haggin Oaks Farmers Market brings many folks in the community togehter, both friendly local businesses and neighborly consumers.
The market is pet friendly and family-oriented, with many who come to support local businesses. Local vendors selling items such as fresh produce, drinks, coffee, clothes, books and more can be enjoyed by visitors.
The market is open to the public every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Kaiser
Permante parking lot on 8800 Ming Ave., Bakersfield.
With long lines and large crowds, it is evident that Bakersfield shoppers are appreciative of the farmers market. Frequently selling out of their goods, vendors are happy to bring the community the option of organic and natural products.
When entering the farmers market, there are a variety of aromas. From sweet bread to spicy tacos, vendors are ready to serve with a smile. This positive energy brings the community together.
The visitors are able to connect with the vendors they are buying from and develop a
relationship that is difficult to do in a grocery store. This is what people love most when asked their top reason for visiting the farmers market. People build relationships and learn about their fellow community members or out of town visitors.
Mathew Dykes, 19, born and raised in Bakersfield, said, “seeing the community come together is my favorite part about coming here.”
Dykes mentions how he usually sees the same people when he visits the farmers market and loves the conversations he is able to have with his favorite vendors.
Vendors also feel the same way about being a part of something that brings the community together.
Bridgette Love, owner of Cross My Hearth, is selling her crystals and incense for her second year at the farmers market. Love was looking for an opportunity to serve others with the same positive results she gained with her incense and was inspired during quarantine to sell it online.
When the farmers markets reopened, she was excited to be able to grow her business by serving customers in person.
Love said, “the community is my favorite part of the market.”
Love enjoys meeting new people and hearing how her
products help them.
Daniela Contreras and Kassydi Rappuhn overlook and manage the H & A Farms fruits and vegetable booth. They often have long lines of customers patiently waiting to get their hands on the delicious fruits and vegetables.
Contreras said, it’s the “mutual connection through food,” which makes her appreciate being a part of the farmers market. There is a synchronized understanding of healthy choices throughout the
community.
Rappuhn said, “you meet a lot of good people here.”
They both enjoy the atmosphere and feel that their work is rewarding.
Do not miss out on the opportunity to shop outdoors, meet new people, eat fresh and shop locally. The Haggin Oaks Farmers Market does not disappoint and is here for its community.
Contact
California State University, Bakersfield hosted it’s ‘Runner Nights Carnival in person for the first time in three years since before COVID-19. The carnival offered free food, games, rides, and music for everyone to enjoy.
On March 24, CSUB held a free carnival for all current students, staff, and faculty from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. To get into the designated carnival area, students had to present their school ID’s and get checked by a handheld metal detector. Stu-
dents were also handed three tickets, two were for snacks and one was for an actual meal.
Students were very happy with the overall experience from this free event on Friday night.
“I’m feeling good. It’s a great carnival. It’s perfect,” said Blessing Umassor, a senior nursing major.
Students were thrilled that the carnival was more than what they expected. When the word free is heard, the quality is expected to dwindle a bit. However, it seems the community for CSUB that put this together tried their hardest to make it as great as it ended up being.
“It’s so good. It’s like,
you’ve been studying for a long time, especially midterm season, you finally get a breather to spend more time with your friends... I think it’s perfect,” said Harleen Kaur, a freshmen pre-health major,
For a lot of students, this was their first Runner Nights Carnival. Most did not know what to expect, but found joy on Friday night in parking lot I. The carnival offered four rides; the ferris wheel, a three lane slide, the rocketships, and the two person swings. The carnival also had a game where you were required to pay to play that involved a mallet and aiming frogs.
Another treat for those in attendance was a member from
the swim team getting dunked in a dunk tank as the weather outside continued to drop.
Aside from the CSUB community, local businesses also took this opportunity to get their names out there at such a big event. Aguas Karen was one local business that was in attendance.
According to Anna Karen Munguia, the owner of Aguas Karen sold mini pancakes and esquites; which they sold out of everything completely.
Even though they hadn’t had a chance to walk around yet, Mungia said that her favorite part of the night was seeing everyone smile after getting their goodies.
The overall conclusion of
the first ‘Runner Nights Carnival since the pandemic was that it was a good turn out. From the mixture of carnival rides to the perfect timing of landing at the end of midterms week to this entire experience being free, the carnival was a success.
The students and, overall, the entire campus community enjoyed what CSUB was able to put together in order to give students a great way to destress in between midterms and spring break.
Hopefully, we can see the ‘Runner Carnival come back again next year.
Contact Kiara Zabala at (kzabala1@csub.edu)
Rep. George Santos was elected to the House of Representatives during the 2022 midterm elections by running a campaign fueled with falsehoods. Santos is a modern-day con artist who successfully crafted a fictional background on which his constituents based their vote.
Santos should be expelled from the chamber if any sense of ethics remains in the House of Representatives.
Questions began to rise about Santos’s background before he was even officially sworn in as a representative. The numerous falsehoods told by the new representative began with his education.
Santos said he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Baruch College and then continued his studies at New York University; however, neither institution could find records verifying Santos’s claims.
In a Dec. 26 interview with the New York Post, Santos admitted that he lied about his education: “I did not graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume.”
Santos continued the falsehoods in his self-reported work experience, where he claimed to have been employed by notable Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Both firms announced that they have no record of his employment.
Santos has since amended this portion of his resume as a misrepresentation of words. He now claims that he never worked directly for these firms, but that he did work with them as an independent contractor.
The most egregious response from Santos regarding his falsehoods was about his reported Jewish background. Santos claimed that his mother was born in Brazil to Jewish immigrants who fled Ukraine during World War II. However, an analysis of genealogy records in Brazil proved that his grandparents were born in Brazil before the war. The revelations of his true maternal ancestry caused Santos to amend his story once again.
In the same Dec. 26 interview, Santos said, “I am Catholic. Because
I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jewish.’”
Controversy over an animal charity service previously run by Santos is the worst falsehood surrounding the new representative. Anthony Devolder, the name Santos used during this time, ran Friends of Pets United, an unregistered charity revealed to be the source of fundraising fraud.
Rich Osthoff was a homeless veteran in 2016 when he was put into contact with Santos after learning that his service dog required lifesaving
hurdle when Santos refused to release the payment.
Santos would not directly transfer the money to Osthoff and instead made him travel to a different veterinarian than the one who initially diagnosed the service dog’s illness. The new veterinarian claimed that the service dog was not fit for the surgery, contrary to the original veterinarian. Santos would not allow Osthoff to go to a different veterinarian and claimed he would donate the money to a different charity.
Osthoff’s service dog passed away on Jan. 15, 2017.
cremate her. It was awful.”
The Republican Party holds a tight majority in the House of Representatives, so the party has hesitated to punish the freshman representative in fear of an even slimmer majority.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said that Santos will be removed from office if the House Ethics Committee determines he has broken the law, but this is following the Republican Party’s promise to overhaul ethics rules.
The promise to overhaul the ethics rules has been perceived as an assault on the process.
Congress has garnered a reputation of disdain from the public over the last three decades, as the role of a representative is now more likely to be a pathway to greed and corruption rather than one of public service.
According to a July 5, 2022 poll from Gallup, only 7% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in Congress, the lowest recorded since Gallup began the tradition in 1993.
Congress could use a win in its public relations department to regain any sense of respect or confidence from its constituents. Santos deserves to be expelled from the House if he refuses to resign, and both parties need to come together on what would be a positive bipartisan move.
Removing an exposed con artist from the chamber would signal to the public that some sense of ethics remains in the legislative branch.
George Santos was exposed as a conman before being sworn into the House of Representatives, and the fact that he is still a member three months after is a stain on the institution.
Santos sold his constituents a fictional character, lying about every aspect of the background he presented as his platform. The ethical action would be for the representative to resign, but if he refuses, his colleagues must come together to remove him from office.
California State University, Bakersfield has a diverse student population; however, we do not believe the university considers its underrepresented students’ need when hiring diverse faculty. With CSUB’s diversity cluster hire underway, it is important to highlight what we seek from these incoming faculty members.
Faculty actively serves as role models for students, especially at CSUB where there is a large population of first-generation students and Hispanic students, along with Asian, Black, and international students.
According to csub.edu, out of the 9,000 students at the university, about 68% are Latino, 7% are Asian, and 4% are African American. Meanwhile, only 35% of CSUB faculty are part of an ethnic minority, according to 2021 data from calstate. edu. As we can see, CSUB’s faculty demographic does not reflect that of its diverse student population.
We need to be in classrooms with professors that not only look like us but relate to us. The university has yet to provide its students with diverse faculty that can connect with us on a personal level and support us through the issues we face.
CSUB prides itself on being a Hispanic-serving institution. Yet, only about 16% of its faculty is Hispanic or Latino, according to csub. edu. With only a handful of faculty representing one of the largest communities on campus, it is difficult for us to find someone to open up to who will understand our lived experiences and our work.
According to csub.edu, “HSI universities work to meet the unique needs of Latina/o/x students, many of whom are first-generation.”
We need faculty who
genuinely understand the trauma and hardships many first-generation students encounter.
First-generation students are the first to do many things, so we need faculty who understand our feelings and can guide us throughout our college experience. Seeing a successful professor that looks like us gives us reassurance and space to believe that we belong in places of higher education.
Faculty diversity is important because each faculty member brings carries their own lived experience that can provide students with an overall well-rounded education. We need more faculty members who are open-minded on certain issues that impact minority students and can speak out in support of students.
Many students are hesitant to participate in class discussions due to fear of judgment from their professor because they come from a different background than them.
A survey of over 1,000 undergraduate students conducted by Hodes Research for the Ph.D. Project concluded that “among minority students, 96 percent reported that studying under minority professors had a positive impact on their education.”
Diversity on campus should not stop at hiring faculty of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. We also need faculty members to represent all genders, sexual orientations, and disabilities. We want every student at CSUB to have a faculty member to have a faculty member whom they can
talk to.
According to an article from The Education Trust, having a diverse faculty “builds empathy, a respect for others, and creativity, and improves problem-solving skills.”
When CSUB is hiring faculty, they should consider hiring diverse individuals in every department.
CSUB has a 78% retention rate, higher than California’s average, but only a 14% fouryear graduation rate, 52.8 percent six-year graduation rate, and a 55.8% eight-year graduation rate, according to College Factual.
Given CSUB’s staggering four-year graduation numbers and Kern County having some of the lowest rates of basic literacy skills in California, supporting students by
providing us with faculty that have a large array of diversity allows us to feel like we belong and are accepted.
There is something so euphoric about interacting with someone who is meant to be a guide but can also understand another person on a fundamental level. Diverse faculty provides us with a person whom we can see ourselves in.
It is not enough to just look like the students on this campus. Hiring faculty that understand our background and personal experiences and advocate alongside us, will improve our education. We hope that CSUB takes the opportunity to build connections and mentorship between faculty and students.
Julian Reyes - Senior Electrical Engeneering Major
“I can understand they have to deal with overpopulation, but it seems irresponsible with the kit foxes on campus.”
Aranxa Frausto - Freshman Liberal Studies Major
“The squirrels are cute, one followed me from the Runner Café the other day. They don’t bother me.”
Mason Lee - Senior Physics Major
“It’s pretty crazy.”
Elsa Bravo - Freshman Liberal Studies Major
“I feel like that is really bad. The squirrels don’t have a choice where they live, and they are not going to know what is going on.”
Brhyona Thomas - Junior Computer Engineering Major
“It’s inhumane, I don’t understand why they are doing it.”
Anthony May - Sophomore Kinesiology Major
“Wow, that is wrong. Those squirrels do not mess with anybody. I like seeing them around.”
Ester Torres - Freshman Liberal Studies Major
“CSUB is known for the squirrels around campus, I don’t like that they are killing them. It’s wrong.”
Justin Peterson - Senior Physics Major
“Yeah, I was reading about it. It just seems pretty weird that they would do that.”
The student fans began to chant “Defense!” as the final seconds wound down in the first overtime of the Cal State Bakersfield women’s basketball second tournament game. UC Irvine women’s team brought the ball out down two. Graduate student forward, Nyagoa Gony, hit a two-point jump shot off a CSUB turnover to tie the game. In that moment, you could have seen both the CSUB team and the fans quit, but the fans’ faith in the team never wavered. The Bakersfield fans roared loudly to begin the second overtime. They did not want to lose this game.
$60. That’s all it took for a Cal State Bakersfield student to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to cheer on the men’s and women’s basketball teams at the Big West Championship.
The students stayed at the Horseshoe Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and would travel from there every day to Henderson, Nevada to watch the teams compete at the Dollar Loan Center Arena.
Game times varied throughout the days. Students were given a time to be out of their hotel rooms and in the lobby, ready to be loaded on the bus. Once at the arena parking lot, the students would wait until everyone was off the bus to be given their tickets for the game.
After the students made their way through security, they would enter the arena where people would buy snacks, drinks and Big West Championship
T-shirts with the Roadrunner logo on it.
All students were seated in the same section, which gave the CSUB basketball teams an opportunity to see all the fans who came to watch them play. Looking
around the arena, you could see fans of opposing teams, but they were scattered around the seats so it was hard to actually tell how many people were cheering them on.
For CSUB, having the students sit in the same area proved to be helpful. The students were in sync with one another when doing chants. You could tell there were times when the men’s and women’s team really felt the energy of the fans.
“I’m really appreciative of CSUB for taking students to Vegas. It was crazy waking up in the morning and watching games and cheering on the team, then at night having a ton of fun in Vegas,” said CSUB student Andrew Hernandez, a
junior criminal justice major. Throughout the games, there were many times when you could tell the fans made a difference.
The second overtime of the UC Irvine vs Cal State Bakersfield game was nearing the end. There was one special moment where all the fans were on their feet as the clock was ticking down with the game tied. It seemed the game was headed for a third overtime, but just as it looked like the quarter was coming to a close, CSUB Senior Guard, Taylor Caldwell, crossed the opposing team, causing the player to hit the ground before hitting the shot that gave CSUB the lead and eventual win.
CSUB student Luis Herrera, a senior business major, said, “It was intense. It was honestly glorious. It was a shocking experience to see Irvine tie the game and make us go into double overtime. Fortunately, we were the better team and we got to beat the number 1 seed.”
The CSUB student fan experience in Vegas was unlike any other. The fans were loud and the teams came ready to put on a show every game. It was an experience that couldn’t be traded for anything in the world.
For a chance to win a prize, submit your completed word search to The Runner’s dropboxes located in the Student Union, the Walter Stiern Library and Classroom Building 106 by April 14.
