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Vol. LXXII, Issue 11
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Monday, November 2, 2020
Remembering loved ones
Inside the
Niner
Pages 6 & 7
NEWS
SPORTS
Continuing the conversation
IN PHOTOS: Dodgers win World Series
page 4
pages 10 & 11
2
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | EIC@DAILY49ER.COM ON THE COVER Photo by PABLO UNZUETA
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Record-high numbers
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Despite instruction being mainly virtual, the CSU system has achieved all-time high enrollment for the fall 2020 term and record-high graduation rates under its graduation initiative.
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By Julia Terbeche News Editor
T
he California State University system has reached an all-time enrollment high with 485,549 students enrolled across all 23 campuses for the fall 2020 semester, CSU officials announced Monday. The system also announced Friday it has reached record-high graduation rates under the Graduation Initiative 2025. According to the office of the chancellor, this is an increase of 3,600 students compared to fall of 2019, which had a collective enrollment of 481,929. This current enrollment surpasses the previous record of 484,297 in fall of 2017. “The record enrollment of 485,649 students reflects the confidence that state residents have in the California State University,” Chancellor Timothy P. White said in a statement. “I commend the creativity and hard work of our faculty and staff who implemented innovative ways to carry on our tradition of inclusive academic excellence, despite the current pandemic and necessary transition to virtual instruction. Their efforts enabled us to welcome our new students and to connect and engage with all students like never before.” The CSU also reached a record-high retention rate for first-
year students with 85.5% of students continuing their education at the same campus across all the 23-university system. This contrasts the downward trend of undergraduate enrollment currently at a 4% decrease across the U.S., specifically a 1.4% decrease at public four-year universities, according to the statement. Several CSU campuses recorded all-time high enrollment for the fall 2020 semester, including Long Beach State, California State University, Fresno, California State University, Sacramento and California State University, Bakersfield. The CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025 has led to the four-year graduation rate for first-time students increasing to 31% compared to last year, and the six-year graduation rate for first-time students remained at 62%. The CSU implemented a goal to increase the two-year graduation rate for transfer students to 45% by 2025 and nearly achieved this goal already with an increase to 44% in 2020. “The record achievements of CSU students is a testament to their persistence and flexibility in navigating the pivot to virtual instruction and support made necessary by the ongoing pandemic,” White said. “It is also a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff who overcame unprecedented challenges to advance the university’s mission.”
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NEWS 3
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM
‘Treasure to the department’ Students, faculty and staff at Long Beach State mourn the loss of Vahe Kludjian, a professor of civil engineering, who died in his classroom Oct. 16 after teaching a lab class that evening.
By Julia Terbeche News Editor
V
ahe Kludjian was a dedicated Long Beach State civil engineering professor who was known for his dry sense of humor and the straw hat he often wore to class. Kludjian, known to students as “Professor Vahe,” died on the evening of Friday, Oct. 16 of what appears to be natural causes. He was 73. According to University Police Department Capt. John Brockie, Kludjian was found dead in Engineering 3 classroom 121-B on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 17 by another faculty member. Kludjian had taught an in-person lab class Friday evening and was still in his classroom setting up equipment as he was scheduled to teach another class the following morning. Brockie said there was no evidence of foul play and that Kludjian was already dead by the time Long Beach Fire Department and law enforcement officials arrived on the scene Saturday morning. An instructor at CSULB since 2005, Kludjian worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers student competition team and was often seen on campus helping the team before its competitions. According to Lisa Star, associate professor of civil engineering and acting department chair, Kludjian was a “great instructor” who “generously” devoted his time and knowledge to his students and the department. “His dedication to his students both in his classes and during extracurricular activities was inspiring to the rest of the faculty,” Star said. “We in the department are going to miss him deeply, both personally and professionally.” Gabriel Bazan, a civil engineering major who graduated from CSULB in 2019, took a civil engineering lecture and lab with Kludjian during the fall 2017 semester.
He said that Kludjian “was one of the popular professors” in the civil engineering program and all his students would refer to him by his first name. “Knowing Professor Vahe passed away in the same building we all shared together at one point during his time at CSULB really dramatizes his earnest dedication to his students,” Bazan said. “His passing is a tragic and unfortunate loss to all.” Kludjian was known for his “no-nonsense demeanor,” Bazan said, and that although he would “thoroughly scrutinize” students’ civil engineering software set-ups in front of the rest of the class while “lacking few reservations about it, his teaching style came from a good place.” “Professor Vahe was full of so much insight. There couldn’t have been anyone better,” Bazan said. “He was passionate about his field of study and it showed. He would go into great detail about the day’s subject and, albeit stoic, his face would light up whenever someone had a question during lecture. He’d go as far as to educate us on the history of theorems and methods.” During lab sessions, Bazan said that his class would walk on lower campus to and from the engineering building and the Walter Pyramid, and he and his classmates would often “crowd around” Kludjian just to listen to him speak. “Professor Vahe really knew his stuff,” Bazan said. Matthew Mendoza, co-president of the ASCE, said that Kludjian “was an incredibly important part” of the ASCE student chapter and was “responsible for the success of not only our teams but many of the students he worked with.” “He was devoted to his students and was everything you could’ve asked for in a professor, leader and mentor,” Mendoza said. Reddit user NeoCEmatrix, a CSULB alumnus, said they fondly remember being in Kludjian’s class as he would often integrate life lessons into his teaching. “I’ll never forget our talks during surveying class with him
Photo courtesy of Matthew Mendoza
Vahe Kludjian (center) with members of the ASCE Surveying Team in 2018. having his straw hat on while gazing into the distance, monitoring [the] surveying progress of the whole class simultaneously dropping life gems on me,” they wrote. “Much love and respect, I hope his family knows he was loved and appreciated.” Mary Jreisat, civil engineering major who graduated from CSULB in 2015, said she was “fortunate enough” to take a few civic engineering classes taught by Kludjian, including a surveying and mapping lecture and lab as well as a concrete design and fluid mechanics lab. She said she “made it a priority” each term to take any classes that he was teaching and even arranged her entire schedule to do so. “Professor Vahe was a special person in the engineering department, super funny and could always be found sitting in one of his laboratories,” Jreisat said. “He was so knowledgeable and eager to teach. He was the type of professor that went out of his way to explain things when someone didn’t understand. He was a treasure to the engineering department.” Jennifer Iuarca, an academic
coach in CSULB’s Learning Center, said she had met with Kludjian regarding a private student situation and said he was “incredibly supportive of that student, and it made all the difference in that student’s experience.” “He was always out helping students in the parking lot with surveying equipment too,” she said. “He was easy to find because of that.” According to Raul Cervantes, a fourth-year civil engineering major, all civil engineering majors have to register for surveying and mapping, which requires them to take at least one class with Kludjian. “He had a very dry sense of humor, but it was hilarious as long as you weren’t the one at the end of it,” Cervantes said. “He was an extremely dedicated man, and he helped no matter what time of day it was.” Cervantes said that his lab partner called Kludjian on the phone to ask for help one day, and he walked her through the entire surveying lab, which Cervantes said was “not short.” “You really grow to respect people like him that are that dedicated to their craft,” Cervantes said.
Another one of Kludjian’s civil engineering students, Evert Vencer, said that although Kludjian instructed with “long lectures and labs,” his teaching style “shows how dedicated he was to teaching and caring for his students.” “He was a good man,” said Vencer, a fourth-year civil engineering major. “He’d make sure to walk you through the lab and would be with you no matter how long it took for you to understand how to do the work. May he rest in paradise.” In honor of Kludjian, the College of Engineering held two separate virtual memorial services as “a safe space for COE students, faculty and staff to share their grieving processes and discuss coping and self-care strategies,” according to Tracy Bradley Maples, interim dean of the engineering department. Facilitated by Counseling and Psychological Services and the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program, these gatherings occurred via Zoom, one for students and one for faculty, and were “very well attended,” Maples said. The engineering department also collected cards and notes and sent them to Kludjian’s family.
“He was devoted to his students and was everything you could’ve asked for in a professor, leader and mentor.” Matthew Mendoza — Co-president of the ASCE
4 NEWS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM
‘A criminal system of injustice’ By Madalyn Amato & Julia Terbeche Staff Writers
Y
usef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, along with members of Rising Scholars addressed their experiences with the criminal justice system Wednesday night at Associated Students, Inc.’s third night of Diversity Week. ASI’s “An Evening With” event featured several formerly incarcerated individuals who discussed barriers faced after incarceration as well as opportunities they’ve overcome since their release. Mir Aminy, Project Rebound enrollment specialist at California State University, Fullerton, advocated for civic engagement and voter participation. “If there are any individuals out there that you may be in contact with that you feel are on the wrong path, reach out to us. We would love to chat with them and let them know what this life holds and the power of transformation and using higher education and the transformative tools,” Aminy said. Danny Murillo, co-founder of the Underground Scholars Initiative at University of California, Berkeley, was incarcerated from the age of 16 to 30. Upon his release, he turned his focus to education and civic engagement, goals he said all students should strive for. “It doesn’t have to be formerly incarcerated students, but it could just be any population of students who feel that they’re being marginalized on campus,” Murillo said. “They can use their voice as a collective and understanding that together as one we are much more powerful than seeking our own individual interests.” President and co-founder of Rising Scholars Irene Sotelo said she felt it was important to create a safe space for formerly incarcerated individuals who can share their experiences with the criminal justice system and move forward. “When I came to CSULB I had no direction, I didn’t understand the system itself,” Sotelo said. “I didn’t know which direction to look for because I didn’t know there was any other students or anybody on campus that was formerly incarcerated. So, for me, Rising Scholars has created a safe place for students who have entered the CSU system who have no direction like myself.” Convicted in 1990, Salaam was just 15 years old when he was sentenced, along with four other boys, for a crime he did not commit. Known as the Central Park jogger case, the criminal case involved the assault and rape of a white female jogger in Central Park in Manhattan, New York on April 19, 1989. Four of the five teenagers who were deemed suspects were wrongfully convicted of rape, assault and other charges in 1990, and one was convicted of lesser charges in 1991 as an adult. The group became known as the Central Park Five. In 2002, Salaam and the other four boys were exonerated and are now known as the Exonerated Five. After serving six years in prison, Salaam was released in 1996 and has dedicated his life to championing the rights of the incarcerated, challenging police brutality and demanding more press ethics. “I didn’t have a fighting chance. Me and my brothers, my sacred brothers, now known as the Exonerated Five, were railroaded into a system that became the modern day cotton fields of America. We were
Members of Rising Scholars, an organization that promotes education opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, and Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, spoke on their experiences with the criminal justice system.
Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, speaks with Long Beach State students during Associated Students, Inc.’s third night of Diversity Week.
the new Scottsboro boys,” Salaam said. “They wanted us to become perhaps the modern day Emmett Tills.” Salaam touched on the role of the media influencing the inequities in the criminal justice system, referencing an $85,000 ad that President Donald J. Trump took out in the New York Times in 1989 Ccalling for the death penalty to be applied to himself and the four other teens. “Donald Trump took that out 31 years ago, and he’s never apologized,” Salaam said. “I’m not necessarily waiting for an apology, I’ve actually forgiven Donald Trump, because what I found was that I needed to forgive him in order for me to move past and move beyond what it was that was holding me back. And that thing that was holding me back was the proverbial ball and chain of wanting someone to
say I’m sorry after harming you in such a horrible way.” Salaam said he and his mother received death threats after the publication of Trump’s ad. One letter even said that his mother didn’t “deserve to live.” He also referenced Patrick Buchanan, who wrote a commentary for the New York Post, called for the lynching of Korey Wise and later suggested that the other four to be horse-whipped. “Within the first few weeks of our case, there were 400 articles, perhaps more than that, about us. It was a tsunami that we weren’t supposed to survive,” Salaam said. “They were describing us to people and giving a definition of us to people so that whatever they were planning to do would be seen as okay.” According to Salaam, the American crim-
inal justice system, which he calls “a criminal system of injustice,” needs to be demolished as it is “overwhelmingly against us.” He said that the “abolish the police” movement, which has recently gained traction after the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, has been taking “meaningful” steps. “I think that the ‘defund the police’ movement has not been defined nationally, so that it can be clearly understood. But I do believe that it has taken off in a way that is meaningful,” Salaam said. “When I hear ‘defund the police,’ when I hear ‘abolish prisons,’ when I hear ‘abolition’ in general, I don’t hear ‘We want to live without a system’, I do hear ‘We want to live without a system’, but what I hear is that the system that we are currently under is not a system for the people.” As a survivor of the prison industrial complex, he said, he has had the chance to inspire others with his story and use it as fuel to call for systemwide reforms. Salaam said during his time of transitioning back to civilian life, something members of Rising Scholars also touched on, Salaam said he felt fortunate to “get his name back” and receive his ability to vote again. “You really want to hide in plain sight, you as an adult that is not really equipped with the tools to be an adult. So, mentally, you’re not an adult. Mentally, you’re still 15, you’re still 16, and you’re coming out into that world, into that reality, very embarrassed and not wanting to even ask for help,” Salaam said. He said he felt that he and the four other teenagers had been used as scapegoats, making him feel like he was “run over and trampled by the system.” Salaam remarked that he and the other four teens, upon release, struggled to assimilate into modern society. “You look at the transit system, you look at the bus system, you look at using computers, you look at just everyday life. And to the outside public, they don’t know that you’ve had this challenge,” Salaam said. “Even people who may have committed a crime, when you think about the fact that they are now returned citizens, that means that they paid their debt to society. And they should be looked at as such, but a lot of times it is still punitive.” He feels that the education system fails to adequately teach American’s youth about civics. “I didn’t know anything about the law until the law ran over me,” Salaam said. The system, he said, is intentionally set up to discriminate against Black and brown folks. “It’s not about the law, it’s about who tells the best story, and therefore they you, that’s where you really see the disparities, when it comes to the criminal justice system,” Salaam said. “As we all know, we are not minorities. They want us to believe that, but the truth of the matter is, as we look around we are actually the majority, we have the numbers. What we don’t have is the organization. So we are out organized, we are not outnumbered.” He strives to achieve “peace, justice and equality for all people” through participation in several advocacy groups, like the Innocence Project, The Marshall Project and The Sentencing Project. He encouraged students to become involved in local organizations and “operate as if everything matters because it does.” “You don’t have to use your money. You can use your time and energy to enact change,” he said. “To really enact the law and part of the enacting of the law is that I need you to marry your vision with how you think it would feel.”
ARTS & LIFE 5
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | ARTS@DAILY49ER.COM
Illustration by ASHLEY RAMOS
By Ashley Ramos Social Media Editor
Goodbye runway, hello Instagram stage Campus Couture, Long Beach State’s annual fashion show, will be held virtually with an accompanying digital magazine and is set to debut next May.
C
ampus Couture’s thirty-third annual fashion show will be released next May as a virtual event for the second time. Long Beach State’s annual fashion, Campus Couture is a show put on by students to give design majors the opportunity to have their collections photographed, judged by professionals in the fashion industry and showcase their work in front of an audience. In August, the postponed thirty-second annual fashion show was formatted into a film with an accompanying magazine. Campus Couture plans on capturing the collections through photoshoots that will be turned into a video like last year’s show. The theme of this year’s show is metropolitan magazine. Each year, the fashion show has a theme for social media and marketing purposes, but the designers are not required to make collections based on the theme. “We opened up the magazine theme to anything [the designers] do,” Natalie Campos, a fourth-year fashion design major and design liaison assistant, said. “Any type of fashion goes into a magazine. To let the designers’ creative ideas all in and not restrict them from anything. The magazine [theme] just ties everything that we want to include in.” Campus Couture is currently taking calls for designers looking to showcase their work in the fashion show. The deadline to submit is Oct. 30. In previous years, models have been able to audition in-person, but this year, Campus Couture plans on putting out a sign-up sheet in November for interested models. They will require headshots, a video of the model walking and measurements. Once Campus Couture collects all that information, it will go into a lookbook that the designers will then get to choose from. “We already have a model lookbook from last year that we’re thinking about going back and reaching out to those models,” Josie Bell, a fourth-year fashion design major and design liaison, said. “But we would like to give new models and new people the opportunity to be a part of [the fashion show].” According to Bell, who is also the coordinator in charge of model recruitment and selecting judges, Campus Couture is still unsure
if they will include judges this year because of the virtual format of the show. In years past, the judges were industry professionals or alumni from Long Beach State who would watch the show and vote on the best collections in each category. “We are doing something very different,” Bell said. “Just having everyone’s positive energy, just having as much audience and everyone see and be a part of it will be the best thing. I think the audience will be the judges.” This semester, Campus Couture started creating monthly magazine issues to correlate with the theme that will be posted on their Instagram feed. At the end of the month, the complete issue can be viewed on an Instagram story highlight reel. According to Makayla Coleman, the coordinator in charge of the magazines, the idea was to have a multifaceted way to communicate with the audience while relating to the theme. “There were so many things happening right when we started, even for coordinators for Campus Couture,” Coleman, a fourth-year fashion merchandising major and creative director, said. “There were so many race things going on in the country, so many election [things], all types of things going on all at once. So we were like, ‘How do we encompass all of this into one thing?’ Well, I thought a magazine would be cool because it will keep everybody updated but it will also be fashion-related and modern.” Each issue will consist of a digital cover, fashion news, style inspiration, lifestyle and beauty tips. Campus Couture wanted the Instragram magazine to be somewhat of a timepiece that the senior designers can take with them. One volume of the magazine will feature the designers of the fashion show as well. Campus Couture was planning on having a drive-in movie fundraiser where they would show fashion-based movies like “The Devil Wears Prada” or “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” Due to campus COVID-19 regulations, they were told by their advisor, Celia Mejia, assistant director of Student Life and Development, that a drive-in movie was not possible. According to Carley Sullivan, a fourth-year fashion merchandising major and head coordinator, Campus Couture will focus on reaching out to different companies this year in order to fundraise. In years past, they had in-person events. “Now we’re just trying to go back to the drawing board and figure out different virtual events that people would want to go to and pay for,” Sullivan said.
6 ARTS & LIFE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINION@DAILY49ER.COM
Acuérda
With the pandemic limiting in-person celebra embedded with crafty altars to honor the decease
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINION@DAILY49ER.COM
ARTS & LIFE 7
ate de mí
ations, Dia de los Muertos remains a tradition ed on Olvera Street and a caravan in Long Beach.
Clockwuse from above; Typically, the an-
cestor’s favorite foods are placed on the altar as offerings. A car is adorned with Día de los Muertos themed decorations. A group of three creates an altar for their deceased friend, Nacho Nava, who was known as a nightlife icon for people of color and the LGBTQ community before dying of pneumonia in January 2019. From left: Zayra Favares, Amber Mccready and Victoria Hernandez, founder of Sk8 Dojo, at the Día de los Muertos caravan in Long Beach. Participants in the caravan were asked to remain in their car during the event. A close-up view of the carefully placed ornaments for an altar, which was one of the few altars allowed for outdoor display this year due to the pandemic. PABLO UNZUETA & PARIS BARRAZA Daily Forty-Niner
8 OPINIONS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINION@DAILY49ER.COM
Battle with breast cancer, 11 years later How a mother and daughter’s experience with breast cancer brought them closer together. By Kelsey Brown Opinions Editor
W
e almost made it to the parking lot of the elementary school where my mom taught at and I was enrolled, when my mom got the call. Her phone rang as I stared absentmindedly at the overhang shadowing the walkway, thinking it was just another grown-up call that didn’t concern me. But then I saw my mother’s face drop, and the guard she usually kept so tightly wound dissipated. In that moment she wasn’t a mother trying to appease her daughter, just a person getting life-changing news. She had breast cancer. We both cried, not knowing what it would entail. Cancer was one of those words that could instill fears in just two syllables. For me, only a fourth-grader at the time, it was a word I heard associated with disease and death. The news that my mom was next on cancer’s hit list, brought grey clouds that depressed every aspect of life. I was 9 years old, fearing my mother’s death, a concept I never fathomed before. My mom raised me a devout Catholic, and was even my catechism teacher at St. Joseph’s Church. I remember staring at the darkened ceiling in my room one night, and praying as hard as I could to God. “If my mom is going to be okay, just give me a sign,” I begged. We had done everything right— went to church on Sundays, never used his name in vain, and devoted our life to God, so the least he could do was ease the fears of a scared fourth-grader, right? “Please, it doesn’t have to be anything big. Flicker a light, move the fan, I won’t tell anyone. Just please tell me my mom is going to be okay.”
The silence of reality answered, and at that moment, I lost my faith in everything. Soon after, my mother tried to arrange with my church a way that I could still be enrolled in catechism, though I would no longer be able to attend the classes because of her daily radiation appointments. Our church said there was no way, and despite my mother’s involvement and our years of attendance, we were exiled. Though life was uncertain, my mother, as always, was optimistic. She was magic in the ways she could find a silver lining in everything, even with her own health at risk. Every day after school, I was her “carpool buddy” as we’d fly through traffic in the carpool lane towards downtown Sacramento to the hospital where she’d get radiation. She’d make light of it all, like she was a superhero getting zapped, and sing songs joking on the elevator ride up to the hospital’s waiting room. Alone I’d sit in camel-colored plastic chairs in the waiting room, and wait as long as it took. Cancer sucked the life out of everything, and the waiting room was no exception. It was always so quiet you could hear your own shaky exhales; the only other noise was a waterfall trickling in the corner of the room. I’d zone out until my mom emerged, staring at the fountain for the hour, hypnotized by the calming song of water dancing carefully on river stones. It became our daily after school routine, and eventually, we adjusted. My mother’s light-heartedness helped make it more enjoyable. I made friends with a sweet receptionist named Jean, who would go out of her way to make sure I felt okay. Because I was unsupervised in the waiting room, I’d fill up water cups and mix them with packets of sugar,
Kelsey Brown and her mother in 2008.
and drink my special sugar-water cocktail I knew my mother wouldn’t approve of. Jean caught on and started giving me hot chocolate packets instead. Throughout everything, I never saw my mom in pain, though I believe she must have been. Besides the initial moment of finding out, she never let me see her down or scared. Above everything, she put my best interest first, and did everything to keep on the production that everything was fine, despite how uncertain and afraid she may have felt. As an adult, she’s told me that during this time she prayed to just live long enough to get me through high school. Eleven years later, I’m in my fourth year of college, and she’s cancer-free. My mom believes her positive outlook throughout her experience helped her heal, and has told me lessons about living life without regrets that came with her into recovery. Her healing inspired her to live life to the fullest—she began traveling more, doing adventurous endeavors like zip-lining and parasailing, going to fancy restaurants and expanding her pallet. For me, my mother’s cancer made me more health conscious. As life drones on, a feeling of immortality often clouds our reality, and it’s those moments where you’re close to death that shake you from your daydreams and ground you, making one question
PHOTO COURTESY OF KELSEY BROWN
their own mortality. There are no words for how grateful I am that my mom is here with me today. I know not everyone has similar stories to mine, and my condolences and love lies with everyone who has lost a loved one to cancer. There is no fear like watching a loved one close to death; it leaves permanent scars on everyone involved. In honor of all the women who have battled breast cancer, take care of your own health. If you’re feeling pain in your breast, don’t put it off; go get checked. Make a routine of conducting breast examinations on yourself. Educate yourself on signs, where to donate and how to help. Though breast cancer is a wellknown illness, it’s still important to bring awareness and attention to it. We need to educate women on signs of breast cancer, such as dimpling on the breast’s skin or swelling, so they are able to catch it as early as possible. Every woman should know how to do a breast examination on themselves to check for lumps within the breast. It is also important to discern foundations that are legitimately trying to support women with breast cancer, and those, like the organization Susan G. Komen, that are just trying to capitalize off of the disease. Most importantly, if someone you love is suffering, do something kind for
them to alleviate the burden. When you think of breast cancer awareness month, instead of thinking of pink ribbons and fundraiser runs, think of the real woman going through it. Women with cancer are often depicted as being so strong, which they are, because they are not only fighting for themselves, but their family as well. Such strength isn’t only admirable though, but exhausting. Women with breast cancer are tasked with alleviating the fears and worries of those around them, while being immersed in their own internal battle. But it doesn’t have to be fought alone—be there in low moments, hold their hand throughout the process, let them lean on you, cry to you, show the ugly sides of struggling through cancer they hide from the world. Let these women tear down the facade of the mighty woman, and let them be, even just for a moment, vulnerable. Nothing will free them from the burden of cancer except finally hearing they have “no evidence of disease”, but they will appreciate your support more than you know. No one wants to be strong all the time, though women with breast cancer often are, so let them take off their armor. Lend love and support, strength and kind words and optimism and hope—it’s what they deserve.
“No one wants to be strong all the time, though women with breast cancer often are, so let them take off their armor.“
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINION@DAILY49ER.COM By Danielle Dougall Contributor
Joe Biden is going to win the presidency. Here’s why.
With only a few days until the election, former Vice President Joe Biden is holding a firm national lead over President Donald J. Trump. Since the start of the campaign, the president has been struggling to keep his numbers up and is slipping in several key swing states he easily won over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Skeptics might reference the confidence Democrats’ had in Clinton’s victory four years ago. Instead, Trump swept the Electoral College by 77 votes, and misleading polls led shocked media pundits to exclaim election data is dead. Why should voters believe in a Biden victory? The 2020 race to the White House is different from 2016 for many reasons. The changing American electorate, increasing political polarization, the continual threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the state of the economy are all critical factors to examine. Oddly enough, one of the clearest indicators for a Biden win is his poll numbers. As of Oct. 29, his lead over Trump is approximately 3 to 3.5 times greater than Clinton’s lead four years ago. NBC News National Polling average ranks Biden at an 8.2% lead above Trump. At this point in the 2016 race, Clinton was only leading by 2.2%. Real Clear Politics shows Biden holding a solid 7.5% lead over Trump and FiveThirtyEight gives Biden a 9% lead. While Biden’s national lead has slightly narrowed since the beginning of October, he holds steady in many key swing states that Trump took from Clinton. Minnesota, Virginia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan all show a substantial lean towards Biden. Polls have also shown a slight Biden lead in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, Nebraska, New Mexico and Ohio. Trump’s only solid lead in the critical swing states this election seems to be in Texas. Since we know that polls have a natural margin of error, Trump could win some of the toss-up states or ones where Biden shows just a slight lead. However, a Trump win in the Electoral College is statistically unlikely. Trump would need to win nearly all of the current battleground states to reach the necessary 270 electoral votes. American Voting Behavior Over 80 million Americans have already voted in this presidential election. This is more than 58% of the total votes cast in the 2016 election. What is driving a higher number of Americans to the polls? While it is difficult to prove causality, there is a lower opportunity cost of voting in this election. The continuous threat posed by COVID-19 has led many states to allow early voting and vote by mail options, making it easier for people to cast their ballot. How will 2020’s voter turnout look? The growing problem of political polarization confronts Americans. Voters are increasingly divided along party lines, which we also saw during the 2018 midterm elections. Seminal scholarly research, like the Michigan Model, shows that party identification acts as both a perceptual filter for how we see the world and a cognitive shortcut to help us make decisions. Since most of the American electorate is uninformed when it comes to government and policy, the labels of Republican and Democrat help voters decide who to cast their vote for and make quick policy choices. While it is common to think there is a large number of independent voters up for grabs, data shows otherwise. Most Americans who self-identify as political independents actually lean toward one of the two major parties. True independents tend to avoid politics altogether, and it is highly unlikely that they will be swayed by last minute canvassing by either Biden or Trump. The high number of early voters and mail-in votes we are seeing indicate that voter turnout among identifiable partisans will be significantly higher than it was in 2016. While Trump has been trying to win Black and Latino votes late in the game, he is unlikely to pull them away from Biden. On average, 90 to 95% of Black voters are loyal Democrats. It seems Biden is holding similar polling among minority groups—African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans—as Clinton did in 2016. So why are his polling numbers substantially higher than Trump’s? If the data holds true, Biden may be pulling disenfranchised conservative white voters away from Trump or winning back conservative-leaning liberals who left the Democratic party
OPINIONS 9 during former President Barack Obama’s administration. Trump’s response to the shooting of unarmed Black civilians, his vocal support of White supremacist groups like the Proud Boys and militarization of the police force in response to public protests alienated already disenfranchised conservative voters. Furthermore, Latinos and Asian Americans are also characteristically loyal to the Democratic party. While Trump may be able to sway more conservative, religious votes from communities of color, the overall demographic of Biden and Trump’s support bases should remain constant. Scholarship indicates the majority of Trump’s support base is made of uneducated white voters, particularly rural voters, Southerners and Evangelicals. In contrast, highly educated white voters and a growing number of support from people of color compose the Democratic party’s base. Over the past few years, the country has seen a shift among party lines in the electorate as the Democratic party narrows its focus on inclusivity, diversity and minority identity politics. Simultaneously, the Trump administration appeals to disenfranchised white voters who perceive a status threat from increased immigration levels, globalization and the growing minority electorate. Despite the party’s staunch ideological divide, most American voters list the economy as their primary concern. The state of the economy At the start of 2020, unemployment levels were at a low of 3.6%, gross domestic product levels were high and equities markets were growing. Fast forward three months, COVID-19 created a massive public health crisis and pushed the U.S. into an economic recession. In April, the U.S. unemployment rate surged to a high of 14.7%. The World Economic Forum estimates that GDP plummeted at an annual rate of 32.9%. To put this in perspective, this is the most significant economic hit since the Great Depression. Seven months later, many Americans are still struggling to get by as the current national unemployment rate is 7.9%. While Americans often credit or blame the sitting president for the economy’s state, the president actually has little control over it. Voters often forget that Congress has the power of the purse. In reality, the economy is a complex amalgamation of many factors not limited to but including inflation rates, aggregate demand, taxes, domestic spending, consumer confidence, productivity, exchange rates, real disposable personal income—the list goes on. Will Americans consider this when they decide to commit to Biden or Trump? It is highly unlikely. Scholarly research shows that the current times have the lowest opportunity cost to information, so voter apathy or voter misinformation or lack of information could be attributed to numerous factors. There are many theories, but no way to definitively prove causality for voters not knowing enough about politics or in this scenario, crediting or discrediting the incumbent for the state of the economy. Americans are also characteristically myopic and vote retrospectively. They vote to either reward or punish the incumbent. The 2020 race has been filled with Trump’s Mueller probe drama, controversial rhetoric, reminders of Trump’s racist and misogynistic remarks, Biden’s awkward blunders and gaffes, tweets and social unrest. But with all that has passed throughout the year, the economy remains the most critical factor to voters. Since the American electorate is shortsighted, they often forget about major events throughout a presidency and tend to focus more on very recent events and how they measure their wellbeing. Often, voters ask themselves, “Am I better off now or before?” and vote based on those emotions. Where are we now? In 2016, Trump’s self-branding as a Washington outsider that would shake up the establishment appealed to many conservative voters. Four years later, he has failed to deliver on many of his key policy promises, like his promise to tax the rich, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and forcing Mexico to pay for the U.S. border wall, damaging his chances for reelection. His national approval rating range is a low 44% to 46%. The average approval rating for U.S. presidents is 53%. Given the state of the economy, Trump’s low polling numbers and his low national approval rating, most signs point to a Biden victory. All the former vice president needs to do is maintain his lead in the majority of swing states to seal the election.
10 SPORTS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22020 | DAILY49ER.COM
Dodgers bring home World Series
T By Jacob Powers Sports Editor
he Los Angeles Dodgers captured their seventh championship and first since 1988 Tuesday night. The beloved Kirk Gibson highlights that withstood 32 years of re-runs are to soon be replaced by highlights of the 2020 squad. After winning the National League West for eight years in a row, the Dodgers now join the Los Angeles Lakers in sharing the title
of the “city of champions.” On Feb. 11 of this year, outfielder Mookie Betts was acquired from the Boston Red Sox, a deal that proved to be the difference in the Dodgers’ push for the ring. Winning 43 of their 60 regular season games, the Dodgers finished with the fourth-highest per-game run differential in the modern era. Clayton Kershaw was able to show the world that the Houston Astros cheating in the 2017 World Series was the difference. In 30.2 innings pitched, Kershaw had a winning 4-1 record and an ERA of 2.93 in five games. Kershaw’s performance in the World Series was nothing less than sensational, winning both games over 11.2 innings. A combination of great defense by outfielders Cody Bellinger and Betts accompanied by shortstop Corey Seager and third baseman Justin Turner’s hot bats outmatched the Tampa Bay Rays pitching arsenal.
M | @DAILY49ER | SPORTS@DAILY49ER.COM
SPORTS 11
JACOB POWERS & GABRIEL ISLAS | Daily Forty-Niner
Dodgers fans gather in the streets of Downtown Los Angeles to celebrate their victory against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the World Series. After a 32-year drought, the Dodgers brought home the championship on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2020.