CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
VOL. LXVIII, ISSUE 66 | FEBRUARY 20, 2017 ACADEMIC SENATE
Faculty applaud new pay range agreement The agreement will speed up pay range elevation for CSU faculty. By Valerie Osier News Editor
16-year-old Blake Brown attempts a 360 flip on a damaged sidewalk on 7th Street Sunday.
Photos by Jose De Castro | Daily 49er
Wind, rain, broken terrain
O
n Feb. 16, Cal State Long Beach Chief of Police Fernando Solorzano issued a campus advisory for a strong storm that was expected to hit on Feb. 17., saying that the 2-3 inches of rain were expected to fall in the Los Angeles area and cautioning students against the inclement weather. This weekend, severe storm conditions throughout Southern California led to a number of structural damages, with the heaviest rain falling on Friday. While some damages, like fallen trees and downed electrical wires, proved to be problematic and hindersome to SoCal residents, some provided opportunities for thrill-seeking residents – such as the teenagers who turned a broken sidewalk on 7th Street into an impromptu skate ramp on Sunday. Rain is expected again throughout the day, though not on the scale of the last storm.
Students huddle around a bus stop near Brotman Hall during the storm Friday.
California Faculty Association Long Beach chapter president Doug Domingo-Foraste announced to the Academic Senate on Thursday that the CFA worked out an agreement with the California State University Chancellor’s office to fix the range-elevation pay scale for lecturers. Lecturers are hired into a salary range: A, B, C or D, that reflects their pay scale. For example, Range B is equivalent to an assistant professor pay scale, while Range C is equivalent to an associate professor pay scale. Domingo-Foraste said that, in the past, lecturers had to be in the CSU for six years and at the top of their range to move to the next, which included at least a 5 percent salary increase. But every time faculty got a general salary increase, all the ranges readjusted upward, so lecturers were getting trapped in their ranges despite being at the school for years. “We have lecturers who have been here for 15 years without moving up from lecturer B to lecturer C,” Domingo-Foraste said, to which many faculty concurred that they were in similar circumstances. The CSU came to an agreement with the CFA that, when a lecturer reaches six years of work, they’re automatically eligible for a range elevation. The
see PAY, page 3
IMMIGRATION
Thousands join pro-immigrant rights march LA’s Pershing Square hosted a rally that later ended up as a demonstration outside City Hall. By Hasham Nusrat Staff Writer
Thousands of people, holding posters and waving international flags gathered to march for immigrant rights at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. “The people are tired of the attacks and threats against our communities,” said Ron Gochez, one of the event organizers.
Gochez said marchers wanted to send a message to the rest of the nation and to President Donald Trump that they aren’t going to sit by while he implements his policies on immigrants, refugees, Muslims, the LGBT community and women. Marchers first gathered in Pershing Square at noon and marched through the streets of downtown to City Hall. Members of the Muslim, Latino, Hispanic, African-American and LGBT communities were given a chance to speak at the rally. “This is a reflection of American people from various diverse backgrounds coming together. The attack on one is an attack on all of us. We expect our elected representatives, the mayor and the state to respect and protect people, living in California,” said
Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in the greater Los Angeles area. Many of the marchers waved flags. Some were holding homemade banners, placards and posters. People were heard chanting slogans like, “No Ban, No Wall, Sanctuary for All.” “I am here today to stand in solidarity with the communities that need support right now,” said John Roane, a participant. Some of the organizations that supported and participated in the march included California for Progress, Immigrant Youth Coalition, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
see MARCH, page 2
Hasham Nusrat | Daily 49er
Protesters marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles for immigrant rights in light of President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
2 NEWS
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CAMPUS EVENTS
CSULB celebrates World Anthropology Day Professors and students from different disciplines come together to show appreciation for anthropology. By Hasham Nusrat Staff Writer
The Anthropology Department organized an interactive event in a cross-disciplinary celebration of the human experience to commemorate World Anthropology Day Thursday. “The official theme of today’s event is a celebration of anthropology as a discipline,” Scott Wilson, an anthropology professor, said. “Another way of looking at the theme is diversity. Human diversity is what we look at the most in the current climate. Diversity is under attack from a lot of different angles right now, so it’s perfect time we are doing this.” Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures as well as their development. The event included student research posters, study abroad and internship resource tables, virtual reality, student-led games, a keynote speaker session, ethnographic film screenings and networking between students and faculty. Chair of the Anthropology Professors from the American Indian Studies, American Sign Language in Deaf Cul-
Hasham Nusrat | Daily 49er
The event to celebrate World Anthropology Day was hosted by the Anthropology Department and included student research posters, study abroad information, student-led games and more. tures, International Studies and Human Development departments all collaborated on the event and brought their students together, Karen Quintiliani, chair of the Anthropology Department, said. “It’s an exceptional event because it’s really beautiful to see people from all disciplines walking through and being introduced to anthropology, learning about the research and getting to participate,” undergraduate anthropology student Tian Walker said. Many students volunteered for their
respective associations at interactive booths or information tables. There was a soundbooth station called “World Views” that was used to demonstrate how to make small podcasts. Students made three-minute recordings where they could share their stories, goals for the new year and political rants and heard their voices played back. Professor of anthropology Ronald Loewe, who wrote the book, “Of Sacred Lands and Strip Malls: The Battle for Puvungna,” was the keynote speaker at
LATINX
Latina students find connections
By Isabel Ramos Staff Writer
Despite the threat of an oncoming rainstorm, Latina students met Friday at the Pointe to connect with students in their community, learn about resources available to them and network. The 16th annual Latina Connection Conference was an all-day event with the the theme “Uprising Women, Fuertes y Unidas.” Rosa Moreno-Alcaraz, a licensed psychologist with Counseling and Psychological Services, started the conference in 2001 with the purpose of bringing Latina students together to connect, be mentored and feel empowered by the testimonials and events of the day. It is also a place for students to receive guidance on how to further their higher education. The conference had activities planned throughout the whole day, such as introductions, discussions, a keynote speaker, a panel, self-reflection
activities and a raffle. This year’s conference featured writer and performer Marga Gomez as keynote speaker.
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I decided to go as a way to meet new people and network. I felt very comfortable and empowered as I began to realize I wasn’t as alone here as I thought.
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Latina Connection Conference links students to mentors and resources.
-Beatriz Tapia, Junior fashion merchandising major
Gomez danced her way into her talk to Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud.” She was invited to talk about the current political climate, how it has affected her and what can be done to make things better. She did all this – and more – with a little humor, all the while standing on a chair. “We need to take space and we need to be visible and one way to be visible is to stand on a damn chair,” Gomez said. After her speech, attendees got a
chance to eat a lunch provided for them and take pictures with Gomez before she left. Then, panelists, made up of three alumni and one CSULB professor, went up to share their educational backgrounds and struggles they faced in getting to where they are now in their careers – including mental illness. “Life is hard and it just hits you sometimes, where it’s like, ‘Okay, I am free to be depressed, now what am I going to do with it,’” said Jessica Marquez, a panelist and professor of communications and Long Beach Community College and Orange Coast College. “Am I going to continue in this state? Or, am I going to persevere and be persistent with my education, with my talents, with my goals?” Students got to interact and discuss their values, goals and struggles with each other and ultimately learn they are not alone. The conference strived to let students know all the resources available to them on campus for anything from academic to personal questions and issues. “I decided to go as a way to meet new people and network,” said Beatriz Tapia, a junior fashion merchandising major. “I felt very comfortable and empowered as I began to realize I wasn’t as alone here as I thought.”
the event. “I’ve done research recently on the sacred site on the campus. ‘Puvungna’ looks at the struggle between the Tongva Gabrielino people and the university administration in the 1990s about the front 22 acres of the campus – where the university wanted to build a west village center … on what’s considered to be scared Gabrieliono land,” Loewe said. Students of cultural anthropology showed aspects of the study of human sustenance when they demonstrated
how to make “seed bombs” with compost. The students used compost, clay and seeds to create a tiny environment for the seeds to grow. Student-led games included the “hunting and gathering,” test for the students, where many got the right answers. Part of the study of anthropology is seeing how different civilizations have collected food. “Anthropology is concerned with everything that has to do with humanity, and we also are concerned with the cross-cultural versions of everything that has to do with humanity,” said Denise Cucurny, a professor of Anthropology. The event showcased the students’ work and showed screenings of ethnographic films that have been in film festivals around the world, according to Steven Rousso-Schindler, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology. At one of the tables, Caitlin Fouratt, an assistant professor of international studies, talked to students about a summer study abroad class in Costa Rica that she is running. Attendees also learned about new minors available to them, like Global Migration Studies. “World Anthropology Day raises not only awareness about the multiculturalism of this country, but also the global nature of cultures and their diversity,” Namika Raby, a professor of anthropology, said. “I came from South Asia, which has a population over a billion people, and it’s incredibly diverse and complex. This event also raises awareness of cultural diversity and the resilience of the culture.”
MARCH
continued from page 1 “We didn’t come here for a better life for all refugees and immigrants; we came here for a life. All we wanted was life,” said an Iraqi-American speaker who went by the name Hamza. Funding for the march was crowdsourced through GoFundMe, according to Joseph Brown, one of the event organizers. Gochez said they are calling for a nationwide strike on May 1 to show President Trump and his administration that they have an organized resistance to his policies. Food trucks and vendors sold food outside City Hall, and free
water and apples were given to the marchers by the organizers as a gesture of appreciation for coming. The marchers declared in their statement of purpose: “We the people of Los Angeles declare the city and county a sanctuary for all. We pledge to defend and protect each other from ICE raids, deportations, FBI raids, police violence, mass evictions, and incarceration. We vow to protect the rights of immigrants, undocumented, Muslims, Blacks, Jews, LGBTQIA people, women and the low-income. And we pledge to ensure that all individuals, documented and undocumented, have access to healthcare, quality education, housing, and youth programs.”
FAST FACTS
IMMIGRATION IN THE U.S. 2015 Refugee Arrivals By Region Of Nationality: Africa : 22,492 Asia: 43,115 Europe: 2,164 North America: 1,528 Oceania: South America: 522 Unknown: 99 Total: 69,920
Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status By Region Of Birth: Africa: 101,415 Asia: 419,297 Europe: 85,803 North America: 366,126 Oceania: 5,404 South America: 72,309 Unknown: 677 Total: 1,051,031
Source: Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2015
NEWS 3
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PAY
continued from page 1
change will be phased in over three years and starting this fall, people who have been at the CSU for 12 years or more without a range elevation will be eligible for a range elevation. The following fall, faculty who have worked in the CSU for nine years or more will be eligible. Domingo-Foraste reminded the senate that faculty are still required to apply for the range elevations. Additionally, Burkhard Englert, the chair of the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, introduced a new minor in Cyberse-
curity, which was approved in its first reading. The minor is open to students of all majors and has no pre-requisites. “We believe it is a very timely minor because we strongly feel that it’s very important for our students to be prepared in this very important area, so when they go out and start looking for employment, that they can protect themselves and the people that they work with,” Englert said. There is already a certificate in cybersecurity offered through the College of Continuing and Professional Education, but Englert said that that certification is aimed at professionals while the new minor is targeted towards undergraduate students. The certification program is also offered mostly online while the minor is face-to-face.
The second reading for the new minor will be on the consent calendar in the next Academic Senate meeting and if no one rejects it, it will be approved. Also, the Academic Senate will review policies on student evaluations in the next meeting. President Jane Close Conoley addressed faculty concerns about her request to have all classes be evaluated through student evaluations. Currently, faculty are only required to have two of their classes be evaluated by students per semester. “Let me say, number one, I have great skepticism about this process, the general student evaluation process – you’ve read the research, I’ve read the research,” Conoley said. “On the other hand, I think we all should be using student evaluations to improve our prac-
tice of teaching. And so I’ve never been at a university where not all classes were evaluated … I hope you use these for your own self improvement.” Some faculty voiced concerns that lecturers are often assigned some of the less popular courses, where students are more likely to give negative evaluations and asked if a policy would be added to ensure that the evaluations would not be used against them. “The chairs, deans, provost and I all understand that these are not scientific measurements, these are things that we should be using to help ourselves,” Conoley said. “But I would urge anybody who’s involved in this [policymaking] process to take that comment seriously.” Norbert Schurer, chair of the Aca-
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demic Senate, noted that in order to add a policy, procedurally they would have to “open up” the entire policy, which means that anybody could make any amendment in the policy for the next meeting. “If that happens, we won’t get finished with that policy next time, let’s just put it at that,” Schurer said. “This is why we’re trying to explain why we think this is something that would be useful at this point, and then it is on the members of this body to decide if this is the point where you want to open whatever other can of worms there is in that particular policy or whether we do the one amendment about the frequency [of the student evaluations].” The next Academic Senate meeting will occur on March 2.
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4 ARTS & LIFE
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LONG BEACH EVENTS
Expo! Expo! ‘Con’ all about it Celebrities and cosplay enthusiasts gather in Long Beach over the weekend to share their united passion for comics. By Yasmin Cortez
Multimedia Managing Editor
L
ong Beach was a comic book wonderland over the weekend for the 7th annual spring Comic Expo. Headlining this year’s expo were familiar big-time stars such as “Aquaman”/”Game of Thrones” actor Jason Momoa, comic book legend George Perez, “Supernatural’s” Ghostfacers and World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer Rikishi. Russell Nolti from Wannabee Press Comics said the Long Beach Comic Expo sets the bar for the rest of the year’s convention season, and it’s a perfect place for indie artists or first-time congoers. “This specific con is great for gearing up for the rest of the year, since it’s sort of the first one and people are super friendly,” he said. The exhibition hall was transformed into a whole different world with Cosplay Corner, Artists Alley and rows and rows of comic bins that were swarmed by veteran comic collectors and curious first-timers. Many congoers like Tony Stark cosplayer Alexander Desser expressed the importance of taking time for imaginative fun. “This is a great outlet, especially in these times,” Desser said. “There’s so much creativity in one room and everyone is just so happy. I come every year with my daughter and son.” One of the most anticipated events for Saturday was the photo ops and autographs with Momoa. “It was surreal. Although it was a little rushed, we understand, because there was a huge crowd and it’s Jason Momoa! He’s a huge celebrity and
see COSPLAY, page 5
Yasmin Cortez | Daily 49er
Jason Momoa headlined the 7th annual Long Beach Comic Expo where fans of Aquaman and Game of Thrones — including Girl Scouts — waited in line for photos and autographs.
STUDENT FEATURE
NEXT up: Bailey Rehmann
Long Beach student places as semi-finalist in national design competition. By Samantha Diaz Staff Writer
The workplace of the future will include open spaces, innovative technology and designs and ideas from Cal State Long Beach’s Bailey Rehmann. Rehmann, a CSULB interior design major, is the first interior design student from California to place in the NEXT Steelcase Design Competition. Going up against 90 other schools and over 800 other entries, Rehmann was one of five finalists chosen. The competition was to design the office of the future: one that successfully mixes work, sharing ideas and play while introducing a work environment that strays from the traditional small, cramped desks and cubicles office. Rehmann’s main idea of the future workplace included a mezzanine, a loft area dividing the top half of the floor from the bottom half. The mezzanine allows for people on the top part to get a clear view of the layout of the building and encourages a more communicative work environment. “[The mezzanine] gives you more availability to look down and see … how [people] will move through the space and appreciate the view,” said Rehmann. Steelcase is an architectural and de-
Photo courtesy of Bailey Rehmann
Bailey Rehmann sits back in her newly created chair of her own design.
sign company that was established in 1912. Their goal is to come up with innovative designs for work spaces that mix the past, present and future and turn “insights into innovations that unlock the promise of people at work,” according to their website. All entries given to Steelcase are turned in anonymously, allowing the judges to choose the winners while avoiding biases and giving lesser known schools in the designing industry a fair chance. As a semi-finalist, Rehmann was flown to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the
headquarters of Steelcase, and presented her designs to a board of judges that consisted of the head of companies such as Gensler, an integrated architecture and designing firm; and Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell, a sustainable architecture firm. She was also gifted an office chair from Steelcase that she got to design herself. In Minnesota, she joined the four other finalists from Virginia Tech, Purdue, University of Minnesota and University of Mississippi. Rehmann heard about the competition through her professor, who as-
signed the competition entry as a fourweek assignment. In order for CSULB to have their students enter, the interior design program had to petition to qualify. This cut down on the number of schools qualified to enter and assured a level of skill from entries. Coming from CSULB, Rehmann not only had less money and resources at her disposal than other schools competing, but also a significantly smaller window of time. While most other schools had six months to get their designs together, Rehmann had only five weeks. This is because while most schools choose the competition as their one project for the semester, Long Beach has three projects in total in the same time frame. “Once I got past the nervousness I felt like … let me show you guys why Long Beach is awesome because we didn’t have six months and we didn’t have all these resources and we still totally contributed,” Rehmann said. During that time, Rehmann had to do research, come up with original ideas and turn her sketches into computer designs. This was the first time Rehmann’s designs had made it onto a computer as she usually sketches all her work. With the small amount of time and limited experience in computer designs, Rehmann was sure she was not going to place. “No one from California has ever won before so I was like ‘no, it’s just not going to happen,’” said Rehmann of her surprising win. Rehmann was in a Chicago museum when she got a call from her cubby-mates, who share the small cubicle
space with her in the design studio at Long Beach. She took the phone call while standing in the middle of a quiet crowd and had to immediately hang up the phone. While she was away, her classmates and professor celebrated the unexpected victory. “Bailey is one of those people who always carries and sketchbook and a pen with her,” said Andrea Alvarez, junior interior design major. Rehmann’s palm sized sketchbook held all her designs that went into the competition, full of ripped out pages and months of work from before the competition even began. “We call it the romance of our industry,” said Rehmann. “A lot of people are losing their hands and ability to do hand drawn sketches. They’re not pretty and they’re not precise, but you get [the idea].” The professors of the interior design program encourage students to communicate through sketches rather than through computers. This small detail of the program set Rehmann apart from others in the competition. She also credited Long Beach for giving students a personal space of their own in the design department to get their work done. “We have keys to the building and we can come in and work all night or all weekend … this is our space for the entire year,” Rehmann said. “We’re literally here all the time and we’re learning how to get along with others in a real work experience.” These experiences may soon come in handy, since Rehmann was given multiple business cards from major companies following the competition.
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COSPLAY
continued from page 4
Gotham villains escaped to the Long Beach Comic Expo to show off their new toys.
Yasmin Cortez | Daily 49er
cordially invites you to the inaugural Elena Diane Curris Lecture on Global Issues
DESIGNING RESISTANCE Remaking the Movement for Human Rights Andre Banks is an activist, entrepreneur and strategic advisor based in New York City who has spent the last 15 years harnessing the power of storytelling and technology to build social movements in the US and around the world. Andre is the Co-founder and former Executive Director of All Out (www.allout.org), an organization mobilizing in every region to create a world where no person will have to sacrifice their family or freedom, safety or dignity because of who they are or whom they love. Andre was recently Andre Banks appointed to the global governing board Co-founder @AllOut, formerly of Amnesty International and has twice @Purpose, board member been recognized by the Economist @amnestryinternational + magazine as one of the "Top 50 @colorofchange. Social movements Diversity Leaders in Public Life". + digial strategies. andrebanks.com Tuesday, February 21, 2017 CSULB Campus University Theater 8:00pm-9:30pm For questions, contact Kandis Pogoda (562) 985-5236 or Kandis.Pogoda@csulb.edu
he was really nice, really sweet with a huge smile as he met us,” said Caitlin Pondillo, Ontario resident. Another big-time star who appeared at the expo for the first time ever was Perez, an illustrator and writer for “The Avengers,” “Teen Titans” and “Wonder Woman.” “As far as [an] artist goes, he is probably the nicest one ever … I’ve met artists before but a lot of times the artists or creators will charge for signatures – as high as $20 – when they’re usually like $5 or $10, but he didn’t charge and [had] no limit [to how many autographs]. He’s just really happy and lucky to get to do what he does and he shows it when you meet him,” said CSULB student Adrian Prieto. For the third year in a row, the Long Beach Comic Expo presented the Dwayne McDuffie Award For Diversity on Saturday to someone who exemplified diversity in comics during the previous year. This year, Ezra Claytan Daniels was awarded for his original comic, “Upgrade Soul.” “I’ve never won anything in my life! I’m humbled,” Daniels wrote on Twitter.
According to the official rules of the award, the recipient must have had work that helped broaden the range of characters portrayed in comics, add to the variety of creators contributing to the medium, influence the marketplace and contribute to the advancement of women, minorities and LGBT people in comic books and pop culture. “Upgrade Soul” is a new immersive science fiction graphic novel built around Hank and Molly Nonnar, wealthy science buffs who decide to fund a risky, experimental therapy to rejuvenate the human body. The two-day extravaganza also included the popular cosplay contest and Space Expo, which helps promote science, technology, engineering and math programming by connecting comics and movies to scientific exploration. The expo promotes diversity and equality by collaborating with the Girl Scouts of the Greater Los Angeles Area and inviting them to earn a badge for attending workshops. Girls from Troop 1513 said they enjoyed seeing the many comics and drawings as well as the cosplayers, expressing that comics are not just for boys. Though the weekend had to come to a conclusion, the comic dream isn’t over. The next major convention will be WonderCon from March 31 to April 2 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
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6 OPINIONS
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MEDIA
The press vs. PewDiePie is a case of media ethics, not just bigotry Attack on YouTube celebrity is a case study of how media loses its war with credibility.
By Adam R. Thomas Staff Writer
S
PewDiePie attends PAX 2015 gaming conference in Seattle, Washington.
WSJ myself, there’s a definite trend of PewDiePie While it’s decidedly offensive, that is partly the edging closer and closer to lines of indecency by point – for it wasn’t meant to just be commentary including more risque humor and Nazi imagery on on the Fiverr freelancer for hire service. Omitted purpose. from the article is what the But, viewing every single man was hired to say next, incident highlighted by the “Subscribe to Keemstar!” WSJ article and the context Daniel “Keemstar” Keem, in which they’re originally is a constantly derided YouIf and when there are any delivered reveals a chasm Tuber that had been ostradiscrepancies between between Kjellberg’s apparcized by most on the channel a narrative told to the ent intent and the spare deafter being caught on video masses and what they can scriptions in the piece. shouting racial slurs at fans discover for themselves, An example: the article and encouraging his young describes a video where audience to do likewise – sevthey write off everything Kjellberg, “posted swastikas eral times. an outlet is going to say drawn by his fans on Oct. Even though this is a joke next. The trust is gone. 15,” but neglected to menthat falls flat no matter which tion that the video was tiway it’s sliced, that context is tled, “STOP DOING THIS,” still important. in reference to those very Without knowing that this same swastikas and that he was a dig at a pretty definite directly tells his audience such behavior isn’t acactual racist, it appears that there was just maliceptable. cious intent on Kjellberg’s part. Even the primary example featured in the arAll of the examples listed in the WSJ article that ticle, the Indian man commissioned to hold up started the media firestorm have some element of a sign reading, ”Death to Jews” by Kjellberg, has this context cutting occurring. omitted context in the WSJ article. While the article isn’t libelous because it does
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tarting with an expose in the Wall Street Journal published Feb. 13, a flood of articles have been written decrying anti-Semitism found in videos by YouTube’s biggest celebrity, with over 53 million subscribers, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg. It’s your standard media pile-on of a celebrity in disgrace, except for one thing: that original article published by the WSJ is as problematic as any content PewDiePie produced, just in a different way. Because, even if Kjellberg’s attempts at humor are as anti-Semitic as the writers at the WSJ think, their article shows deep breaches of journalistic ethics that are fueling a greater opposition to media in general. That’s the real problem: what happens when a reputable outlet is really performing a hatchet job? After reviewing several months of videos from Kjellberg’s channel, the WSJ article was focused on exposing the fact that “since August, PewDiePie has posted nine videos that include anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery.” One video featured an Indian man holding up a sign that read “Death to All Jews” on commission by Kjellberg as part of a joke aimed to be critical of the Israeli online freelance service Fiverr. After the WSJ reached out for comment from Maker Studios, a media company partnered with Kjellberg that is owned by The Walt Disney Company, contracts between Kjellberg and Maker were terminated – the major business-related scoop of the piece. A groundswell of support from several other major YouTubers and a response video from Kjellberg followed. While Kjellberg apologized for the primary offensive joke, he also pushed back and insisted that the WSJ had largely taken him out of context in an effort to cause damage to his reputation. Now, whether or not people find Kjellberg’s jokes and commentary to be offensive is ultimately a matter of subjective opinion, and the 27-year old Swede is definitely not innocent in this conflagration. After reviewing the videos highlighted by the
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stick to absolute facts, it’s often in a very narrow sense. Even if well intentioned, so much context removed and actual fiscal damage done due to the article it’s impossible not to call the actions of the WSJ into question on journalistic ethics. The third rule in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is, “Provide Context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting previewing or summarizing a story.” This decontextualization is a major reason many of Kjellberg’s fans are galvanizing around him. Another example: in the WSJ article it states that Kjellberg, “watched a Hitler video in a brown military uniform to conclude a Dec. 8 video.” That segment is from a video titled, “I’m Racist?” where Kjellberg directly criticizes what he considered slander and libel from media outlets portraying him as racist over comments made in a prior video. The focus was Kjellberg pointing out that outlets decontextualize things people do or say to purposely misconstrue them in a negative light. For 30 seconds at the end of the 12 minute video, he dresses in a generic military uniform and watches a Hitler speech as an example of the type of footage that journalists will cut around to show that he’s secretly a Nazi. Even using Nazi imagery, the joke is about how media outlets purposely look for anything they can use to paint enemies as Nazis. That is bait, and the WSJ went and fell for it. No matter what the positive intentions are in any piece, ethical standards need to be maintained. They exist for more than just keeping journalists out of a courtroom, they’re also there to maintain the public trust. If and when there are any discrepancies between a narrative told to the masses and what they can discover for themselves, they write off everything an outlet is going to say next. The trust is gone. It’s difficult to argue that cutting context doesn’t demonstrate malice. And if you’re doing an expose on someone where you carve out context, it’s really stupid to pick clips where they’re essentially calling you out in advance for doing exactly that. Attacking PewDiePie will probably allow the Wall Street Journal and the cascade of copycats to generate some ad revenue for the month. But for a generation that’s grown up on him, they’ve just learned to never listen to a word a journalist says. That’s not exactly helpful considering the current state of mistrust of the media finds itself in right now.
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SPORTS 7
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017 DAILY49ER.COM | SPORTSD49ER@GMAIL.COM SOFTBALL
You win some and lose some By Zulema Suarez Staff Writer
After its Friday and Saturday games were canceled due to storm conditions, the Long Beach State softball team stepped back onto the field at LBSU Softball Complex Sunday. In their game against No. 8 Utah, (7-0) the 49ers (3-3-1) lost 8-0 in six innings. The game remained scoreless until the top of the third inning, when sophomore designated player Ally Dickman from Utah scored a run. Next at bat, catcher freshman Kelly Martinez bunted while bases were loaded, bringing in another run to take a 2-0 lead. At the top of the fifth inning, Martinez and Kay Kay Fronda hit a single into right field and both brought in a run, making the score 5-0. In the sixth inning brought in another three runs by Hannah Flippen, Delilah Pacheco and Heather Bowden. The game ended after LBSU failed to score in the bottom of the sixth inning, leaving the score at 8-0. Things began to look up for the LBSU softball team in its game, which began at 2 p.m. With senior pitcher Christina Clermont, the 49ers got off to a fast start has the senior struck one out and threw another out at first. LBSU held onto a 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning, when junior outfielder Jessica Flores hit her first home run of the season straight through center field, giving her team the 2-0 lead versus the Roadrunners. The Beach will take on Oklahoma State in Palm Springs on Feb. 23 at 10:30 a.m.
Paxson Haws | The Daily
Oklahoma Sooner senior third baseman Jack Flansburg tags Long Beach State’s Luke Rasmussen with the ball as he slides into third base Feb 19.
BASEBALL
When it rains, it pours LBSU takes early 2-0 lead in game three, can’t hold on to win opening series against Oklahoma.
By Luke Ramirez Staff Writer
After Friday’s rain forced the Long Beach State baseball team to move its home opening series to Oklahoma, the Dirtbags weren’t able to weather the Sooners’ offensive storm. The quick venue change didn’t help LBSU as they lost 6-2 to loss to Oklahoma on Friday night, Long Beach State answered with a great display of hitting
in a 8-3 win Saturday. In the rubber match, the Dirtbags were in great position to take the series from the Sooners after jumping out to 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on Sunday. The lead was not enough to put Oklahoma away, though, and LBSU lost 4-2. Looking back to Friday’s game, the Dirtbags gave the ball to junior pitcher Darren McCaughan to lead them to a win, but he was knocked around by the Sooners. McCaughan gave up seven hits and six earned runs over six innings pitched, including back-to-back home runs en route to the 6-2 loss. The offense didn’t help McCaughan in game one, as the Dirtbags’ hitters were held to just three hits. On Saturday, the Dirtbags’ hitters bounced back and had eight hits – in-
cluding a 3-run home run by junior catcher David Banuelos, who finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs. Other notable performances at the plate included junior Brock Lundquist, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored, and junior Ramsey Romano, who went 1 for 3 with one RBI and run scored each. Solid pitching from senior starter Dave Smith and freshman Matt Fields kept the Sooners from mounting any sort of comeback. Senior pitcher Josh Advocate came on in the seventh inning for a nine-out save, his first of 2017. Fields was credited with the win in his first collegiate action appearance after three innings of work. With each team having won a game, Sunday’s game featured LBSU junior starter John Sheaks against Oklahoma’s sophomore Kyle Tyler.
The Dirtbags came out swinging in game three against Tyler, taking a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. The rally started with a leadoff walk from senior first baseman Daniel Jackson, followed by a bunt single by sophomore second baseman Jarren Duran. That set the table for Rasmussen, who smoked a two-run double to the wall, allowing Jackson and Duran to score easily. Sheaks pitched well in his Dirtbag debut, cruising through four innings before allowing the first Sooner run in the fifth. Oklahoma took the lead in the following inning as they cashed in three runs on three hits. Sheaks’ final line was 5.1 IP, allowing three earned runs and four hits while taking the loss. The Dirtbags are back in action on Tuesday when they head to Dedeaux Field to face the USC Trojans at 6 p.m.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Bouncing back from a loss 49ers’ Raven Benton drops 23 points to secure a victory over the Gauchos. By Grester Celis-Acosta Staff Writer
Jose De Castro | Daily 49er
Senior guard Raven Benton had a team high 23 points in a 59-45 victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday at Walter Pyramid.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team bounced back after a tough loss against Cal Poly on Thursday by defeating UC Santa Barbara 59-45 on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers (18-9, 9-3) came out of the locker room scoring as both senior point guard Anna Kim and junior guard Jessica Gertz made two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game. 49ers’ senior guard Raven Benton, who has been fighting injury throughout the season, scored a season-high 23 points, which included dropping 10 points in the first.
“I just told myself [that off] the pick and rolls, I was just going to pull [up],” Benton said. “My teammates were able to find me and it was a good all-around team win. Even though Benton had a great game, she is still taking it slow when it comes to her health. “Her injury is what it is,” 49er head coach Jody Wynn said. “We go day to day with her and we’ve done that all year long. She’s working with Patrick [Talley], our trainer, on a daily basis. She’ll be in here tomorrow getting treatment. There are no days off in regards to taking care of your body and she understands that because she wants to play.” The Gauchos (12-14, 7-6) came out a bit lackadaisical, as they allowed the 49ers to outscore them 20-9 in the opening quarter. The 49ers continued their strong offensive performance into the second quarter as they outscored the Gauchos 16-6. Benton helped contribute another six points in the quarter, which included a buzzer-beating
jump shot at the half. The 49ers led 36-15 heading into the break, but in the third quarter the Gauchos came out playing much better, as they outscored the 49ers 21-16. UCSB also shot the ball better than LBSU with 57.1 percent from the field, over the 49ers’ 33.3 percent. Despite putting up a strong third quarter, the Gauchos’ offensive performance did not carry over into the fourth. Both teams shot the ball poorly that quarter, making only 30 percent of their shots from the field. The 49ers also played a sloppy final quarter as they turned over the ball 10 times. Kim also scored double digit points with 11 and posted three rebounds, six assists and one steal. The 49ers head back on the road as they take on UC Riverside on Feb. 23 at the SRC Arena. Tip-off begins at 7 p.m.
8 SPORTS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017 DAILY49ER.COM | SPORTSD49ER@GMAIL.COM UPCOMING GAMES:
VS. When: Monday, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: Feb. 24, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: March 1, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: March 3, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: March 10, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: March 11, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. Jintak Han | Daily Bruin
The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team has won six straight games after sweeping UCLA Saturday. The 49ers will try to extend that streak when they host Cal Baptist Wednesday at 7 p.m.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Men’s volleyball keeps streak going Long Beach State rolls past UCLA in straight sets for sixth straight win. By Matthew Simon Sports Editor
The No.2-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team is on fire. Heading into a showdown with No. 5 UCLA, the 49ers proved that their streak is no accident as they defeated the Bruins 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 Saturday. With a year under their belts, sophomores TJ DeFalco, Josh Tuaniga and Kyle Ensing are collectively showing that LBSU (13-2, 9-1 MPSF) is rightfully ranked No. 2 in the country. The trio showed what LBSU can
do on offense as DeFalco led the 49ers with 15 kills after hitting at a .483 percentage. In the first set, LBSU and UCLA (10-6, 7-5 MPSF) went back-andforth before the 49ers were able to put a 4-point cushion between the teams. After clinching the 25-20 first set victory, the 49ers took advantage of their opportunities, but UCLA battled back as the two teams continued to exchange points. LBSU held onto the lead until the Bruins tied the second set at 23. But, the 49ers kept their composure and won the second set to take a 2-0 lead after back-to-back points by senior middle blocker Bryce Yould and DeFalco. The 49ers pulled away in the third set for a 25-22 win after UCLA committed a service error. LBSU will be back in action Wednesday when they host Cal Baptist at 7 p.m.
MENʼS VOLLEYBALL SCHOOL
OVERALL W-L
1 Long Beach State 2 BYU
13 - 2 12 - 2
3 Hawaii 4 Stanford
14 - 2 9-5
5 UC Irvine 6 UCLA
9-5 10 - 6
Pepperdine CSUN USC UCSB 11 UC San Diego 12 Cal Baptist 7 8 9 10
6-5 10 - 5 5-9 6-8 5-9 3 - 11
CONFERENCE W-L 9-1 6-1 5-2 6-3 6-4 7-5 4-4 3-5 4-7 3-8 2-7 1-9
When: March 17, 7 p.m. Where: Northridge
VS. When: March 18, 7 p.m. Where: Gold Mine
VS. When: March 24, 7 p.m. Where: Walter Pyramid
VS. When: March 25, 7 p.m. Where: Provo
VS. When: March 11, 7 p.m. Where: Provo