Daily 49er, November 8, 2018

LONG BEACH STATE | VOL. LXX, ISSUE 19 | NOVEMBER 8, 2018

D 49

er

face to face with the

FUTURE

page 4

Homecoming special section pages 5-8.

2 NEWS

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2018 | DAILY49ER.COM | D49ERNEWS@GMAIL.COM

INSIDE

ON THE COVER

THE

NINER Alumni Center receives sufficient funding, to break ground in September page 3 Academic schedule change creates unnecessary stress for students and professors page 10

Junior biochemistry major, Colin BrownGreaves engages in conversation with pepper, a social humanoid robot used for research and study on camnpus.

PAULA KILEY | Daily 49er

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NEWS 3

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The proposed area for the Anna W. Ngai Alumni and Visitor Center will be right in front of the Walter Pyramid.

Long Beach State University

CONSTRUCTION

Alumni Center fulfills funding, project begins in September

By James H. Williams Staff Writer

Construction can now begin for the Anna W. Ngai Alumni and Visitor Center after the university reached its goal of 90 percent of the $12 million needed to continue forward with the project, according to Long Beach State President Jane Close Conoley.

The venue will be named after Ngai, an international student from Hong Kong who graduated from LBSU in 1974, and is the lead donor for the center. The building is meant for students and alumni to come together for networking, mentoring opportunities and career development. According to Conoley, it will be “right in front of [Walter] Pyramid” and share the same parking lot.

Conoley made the announcement Oct. 30 during fifth district Councilman Daryl Supernaw’s monthly community meeting

at the Los Altos Library.

“Last time I was here I talked about our plan to build the alumni and visitor center, but I told you we hadn’t reached the threshold of enough money to start,” Conoley said during the meeting. “We needed [to reach] 90 percent and we did.”

Prior to Conoley’s announcement, a LBSU website stated that only $5.6 million of the overall budget goal had been reached. For donations starting at $50,000, the school offers naming opportunities for various parts of the building..

According to the website, the project is funded through private contributions.

“Other Cal States already have an alumni center and [LBSU] does not have one,” Ngai said in a video. “I met alumni from Long Beach and we all feel so warm and we also feel connected. We are like a big family and it will be nice to build an alumni center.”

While alumni have expressed their enthusiasm for the center, some local resi-

dents do not share a similar sentiment.

“I am not too excited about having the alumni building placed directly in front of the Pyramid,” said Robert Dominguez, a resident who lives across the street from campus. “Right now, it is a nice vista and the pyramid is not obtrusive at all. I am concerned that this [center] might be.”

Dominguez said he believes that since the building is expected to experience heavy traffic during the evening and weekend, there will be more noise in the area.

“We like being able to see the vista of the pyramid,” Long Beach resident Janis Dominguez added. “When they first talked about building [the Pyramid], we were opposed to it because we thought it would be big and ugly. It turned out not to be a bother at all. We still get a breeze and it’s very nice and pleasing and I don’t want to see a building there.”

The alumni center will also be used for special events and gatherings. The addition of the center will make it the second

net-zero, 100 percent sustainable building on campus, the first being the College of Continuing and Professional Education.

The alumni center will also be the new home for Prospector Pete statue after its retirement as the school’s mascot, as announce by Conoley Sept. 20. The statue is currently located outside Liberal Arts 5.

“We are actually treating it like a piece of art and hiring a speciality contractor that will help us move it correctly without damaging it. We are going to crate it and store it over in Lot G6,” said Director of Design and Construction Services Mark Zakhour.

“I am not sure when the president wants the statue moved but I know it will be moved before the building is open.”

Conoley said she predicts the center will take a year to construct.

“We will break ground for the alumni center on Sept. 28, 2019,” Conoley said in an email. “It will take a year to build the center. So my best guess is we will move the statue in 2020.”

4 NEWS

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EVENT

Friendship Walk hosts TechDay 2018 to innovate and excite

By Tashfina Rahman Staff Writer

Students flooded Friendship Walk outside the University Student Union to learn about technology on and off campus at TechDay 2018 Wednesday.

TechDay 2018 consisted of about 40 vendors, a fun zone, a game truck and a free pizza lunch to the first 600 participants who visited at least 10 vendors.

Bryon Jackson, director of telecommunications at Long Beach State, said this third annual event took months of planning.

“TechDay is essentially a forum for our campus and its surrounding community to see the technology available here,” Jackson said.

He also said the event invited industry professionals and campus organizations like

Associated Students Inc and Imagine Beach 2030.

A few of the vendors also held live demonstrations. The Physical Planning and Facilities Management booth drew in many passersby with two interactive robots.

“This is an open source, 3D printed robot named InMoov 3 that I built. Anyone could download the files online for free and do the same,” said Alan Timms, physical planning and facilities management systems analyst.

“This robot is a product of thousands of hours of printing and assembly.”

Timms added that in the future, the industry would like to focus on making the movements of robots more human-like and natural.

“In the future, we’d like to use robots to get feedback from students on what facilities could be doing better,” Timms said. “I think that would be a lot more interesting than responding to an email.”

Companies like HP, Skullcandy and Dell used the event to show off new gadgets and many students showed up to learn about new releases.

“I really like the atmosphere here and there’s a lot of cool things going on,” said Eduardo Hernandez, a sophomore civil engineering major. “They have Apple and Microsoft booths, and I’m able to get information about the tech world and how it’s advancing at the moment.”

Apart from technology education, TechDay’s fun zone also had a DJ from 22 West Media playing music and hosted raffles throughout the event.

“I’m not super interested in technology, but TechDay was actually pretty fun because of the free food and games and music,” said Amanda Lawson, a junior sociology major.

“My friend and I went into the video game truck, which was a great break from studying and classes.”

PAULA KILEY | Daily 49er

Pepper is a social humanoid robot used for research and studies at Long Beach State and was at Tech Day interacting with students Wednesday.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 5

DAILY49ER.COM

SPECIAL SECTION

6 SPORTS

SPORTS 7

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Projected starters:

New look 49ers bring different energy into the season

Photos by LBSU Athletics

LBSU men’s basketball is rejuvenated following coach Dan Monson’s contract extension.

By Alex Manfredi #15 PG Deishuan Booker (senior) NBA comparison: Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans 2017-2018 stats: 10.6 ppg, 4.6 apg

#10 G Bryan Alberts (redshirt senior)

#1 G Ron Freeman (redshirt senior)

NBA comparison: Danny Green, Toronto Raptors 2017-2018 stats: 11.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg

NBA comparison: Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets 2017-2018: Redshirted last season

#2 G/F Jordan Roberts (sophomore) NBA comparison: Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves 2017-2018 stats: 4.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg

#24 C Temidayo Yussuf (redshirt senior) NBA comparison: Montrezl Harrell, Los Angeles Clippers 2017-2018 stats: 9.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg

Reserves: CLEAR BAG POLICY AT WALTER PYRAMID

#3 G Drew Cobb (sophomore) NBA comparison: Eric Bledsoe, Milwaukee Bucks 2017-2018 stats: N/A

#4 F KJ Byers (senior) NBA comparison: Thaddeus Young, Indiana Pacers 2017-2018 stats: 5.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg

#5 F Mason Riggins (senior)

#11 G Jordan Griffin (junior)

NBA comparison: Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz 2017-2018: 4.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg

NBA comparison: Kyle Korver, Cleveland Cavaliers 2017-2018 stats: 5.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg

#12 F Breyon Jackson (sophomore) NBA comparison: Markieff Morris, Washington Wizards 2017-2018 stats: N/A

Long Beach State Athletics adopts a new policy that limits the size and type of bags allowed at all LBSU athletics venues.

HOME SCHEDULE #13 G/F Demetrius Mims (freshman) NBA comparison: Will Barton, Denver Nuggets 2017-2018 stats: N/A

#14 G Colin Slater (junior) NBA comparison: Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets 2017-2018 stats (Tulane): 2.7 ppg, 1.0 apg

#20 G Breamon Richard (senior) NBA comparison: Isaiah Canaan, Phoenix Suns 2017-2018: 0.8 ppg, 0.2 rpg

Senior point guard Deishuan Booker goes up for a layup against CSUN January 10. / Cover photo by Joseph Kling

#23 G Edon Maxhuni (sophomore) NBA comparison: Goran Dragic, Miami Heat 2017-2018 stats: 6.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg

#35 F Milos Apic (redshirt freshman) NBA comparison: Dragan Bender, Phoenix Suns 2017-2018 stats: N/A

ALL GAMES PLAYED AT THE WALTER PYRAMID

Assistant Sports Editor alexmanfr3di

After finishing a second year with 15 wins and a below .500 record, Long Beach State men’s basketball was an early exit from the Big West conference tournament last season.

While the glory days are long gone, a fresh start and new identity has the program heading in a new direction. Head coach Dan Monson received a 5-year contract extension in March and assistant coach Bobby Braswell was hired at the end of May. Braswell, considered a defensive specialist, returns to Long Beach after coaching the 49ers from 1989-1992.

The biggest change for Long Beach will be adjusting to the loss of forward Gabe Levin after graduating last season. The senior averaged 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds while playing 31 minutes per game. The 49ers will look a lot different on offense, using more ball movement and spreading the wealth when it comes to scoring.

“I think we’re more experienced,” Monson said. “We also don’t have that one guy that’s really head and shoulders above everybody else.

We’re really working on trusting each other and having our go-to guy being the right guy, the open guy, the next guy.”

In the Big West preseason polls, Long Beach was predicted to finish fifth in the conference behind UCSB, UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. Last year the team was predict-

ed fourth in the preseason polls.

Throughout the summer and fall, defense was a main focus for improvement after Long Beach averaged 75.3 points per game on offense while allowing 78.4 points per game on defense last season. Practices have been filled with defensive instruction with less focus on offense.

Along with defense being the priority in the off-season, the team will look to use more ball movement to balance itself out on offense after losing Levin.

“Second biggest [offseason focus] has been moving the ball, spacing and pace,” Monson said. “Spread the court and use both sides, not let the ball stick on one side of the court.”

With the personnel Long Beach has, playing at a fast pace with a lot of ball movement can play right into its favor. The team has an influx of athletic guards and forwards that are fast and athletic. Senior guard Deishuan Booker, redshirt senior guard Bryan Alberts, sophomore forward Jordan Roberts and redshirt junior guard Ron Freeman will be the team’s biggest playmakers while playing at a high pace. The 49ers are a team full of returners, which means depth is not a problem. If one player can break out into a lead role, the team will be able to compete in the Big West.

Redshirt senior center Temidayo Yussuf, along with senior forwards Mason Riggins and KJ Byers will be the 49ers interior presence down low, providing rebounds and a defensive presence in the key. Over the summer, the post players were working on becoming more than just that.

“I did a lot of skill work,” Riggins said. “I’ll be able to hit the 15 foot jumper when I need to and I’ll also be able to take other big men and even guards off the dribble and get to the rim.”

Opening the season Friday is a road matchup at No. 21 UCLA followed by the annual homecoming game where Menlo College will visit the Walter Pyramid at 4 p.m. The 49ers have won seven consecutive home openers.

While “adjustments to the scheduling philosophy” was a part of Coach Monson’s restructured contract extension, Long Beach will still take on a challenging pre-season schedule. The main difference this season is that many of the games are relatively local and there is no grueling east coast road trip.

In previous seasons, the 49ers have had consecutive games on the east coast resulting in losing streaks and a loss of morale for the team.

However, Long Beach still has its work cut out.

The team’s biggest stretch of away games begins Nov. 12 at Arizona State, followed by a matchup with No. 18 Mississippi State. The 49ers will then head to Las Vegas and play two games in the middleweight bracket of the MGM Resorts Main Event.

Rounding out the rest of the notable preseason matchups for LBSU are home games against Oregon State, Colorado State and road games at USC, San Diego and Stanford.

As long as Monson’s team stays defense oriented and retains its confidence after the tough non-conference schedule, the 49ers are primed to be a surprise and pose a serious threat to top Big West teams.

NOV. 10 MENLO COLLEGE, 4 p.m.

JAN. 5 BETHESDA, 7 p.m.

FEB. 7 HAWAI’I, 7 p.m.

NOV. 25 OREGON STATE, 2 p.m.

JAN. 12 UC DAVIS, 4 p.m.

FEB. 20 NORTHRIDGE, 7 p.m.

DEC. 5 SOUTHERN UTAH, 7 p.m.

JAN. 19 FULLERTON, 7 p.m.

MARCH 2 CAL POLY, 7 p.m.

DEC. 20 PEPPERDINE, 7 p.m.

JAN. 26 UCSB, 7 p.m.

MARCH 6 UC RIVERSIDE, 7 p.m.

DEC. 22 COLORADO STATE, 2 p.m.

FEB. 2 UC IRVINE, 7 p.m.

8 SPORTS

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HOMECOMING

A champion from beginning to end Glenn McDonald’s jersey will hang in the rafters of the Walter Pyramid Saturday.

By Alex Naveja Staff Writer

F

ormer Long Beach State men’s basketball forward Glenn McDonald will have his jersey retired at the homecoming game Saturday during a special halftime ceremony.

“I wasn’t here when he played but if he was half the player he is a person, it’s well deserved,” Monson said. “And I know he was a great player but what a great person and I’m really thrilled for him and his family. Great things happen to great people. He’s been a mainstay on this campus since I’ve been here. I’m excited and honored to be a part of that.”

During McDonald’s time with Long Beach State, he had a career record of 75-9 and won conference championships all four years. After college, he was drafted in the first round in 1974 by the Boston Celtics.

Sports came into McDonald’s life at a young age when he began participating in track and field and football.

He played for leisure until All-American Johnny Clark convinced McDonald to try out for the basketball team at Jefferson High School.

McDonald recalled Clark telling him, “You know that just might be the best idea. You probably wouldn’t be able to make our C team.”

During tryouts, head coach Larry Hansen was impressed with McDonald as he kept up with the varsity squad and ended up playing as a starting guard.

When McDonald’s junior year of high school arrived, he started receiving interest from different schools such as Maryland, Kansas, Arizona and USC. “Long Beach just came in out of the clear blue, I had never heard of them,” McDonald

said.

Long Beach head coach Jerry Tarkanian made visits to McDonald in efforts to recruit him. The Soul Squad, which consisted of black cheerleaders, was also a huge selling point for McDonald.

“When I came [to Long Beach] for my visit, you can see that they incorporated every culture and it seemed like a big family here which is the big reason why I signed with them and they really wanted me here,” McDonald said.

When the 1974 NBA draft came around, he was picked in the first round by the Boston Celtics.

“To be honest when it first happened I was so upset. I was excited that I was the first round draft pick but I was upset because it was the Celtics,” McDonald said.

He originally wanted to be drafted by the Chicago Bulls since he grew up in Illinois and was a Bulls fan.

Once he arrived to Boston and met with the team, he changed his mind.

“We started discussing contracts and I saw the banners.” McDonald said. “The people were really inviting and I was able to tell that this was going to be something special.”

It was also a plus for him that the Celtics were winning championships on a yearly basis and he enjoyed the idea of possibly winning a championship with them.

The Celtics were facing off against the Phoenix Suns in the 1976 NBA Finals when starting power forward Paul Silas became the fourth Celtics player to foul out with two minutes to go in the 3rd overtime, and head coach Tommy Heinsohn put in second year player McDonald. He went on to score eight points to help the Celtics beat the Suns 128126 and win their 13th championship.

“It’s unbelievable that I won a championship and to know that I contributed to game five in the third overtime was incredible,” McDonald said. “It all felt like a movie.”

COURTESY OF GLENN MCDONALD

Glenn McDonald wears his Long Beach State uniform. McDonald will have his Jersey retired Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.

“

When I came [to Long Beach] for my visit, you can see that they incorporated every culture and it seemed like a big family here which is the big reason why I signed with them and they really wanted me here.

”

Glenn McDonald

After the championship, he went back to California and got married. When he reported back to the Celtics, he was cut from the team.

The Phoenix Suns got in contact with him and brought him into camp, but the coach decided to release him. His life went overseas when an old coach from Long Beach offered him to play with a team in Sweden.

He played for two seasons and won the Swedish championship both years and represented Sweden in the Europa Cup and took third.

He then signed a contract with the U/Tex Wranglers to be the first NBA player to play in the Philippines.

After McDonald’s career came to an end in the Philippines, he came back to Long Beach and saw an opportunity to be an assistant coach with the women’s basketball team under head coach Joan Bonvicini. Two years later, Bonvicini resigned and McDonald would take her place as the head coach.

The team released him in his fourth year and put him in intramurals in the Student Recreation Wellness Center.

Now he has retired from his position as the Director of Intramurals in the SRWC and still continues to coach young basketball players in a one-on-one level.

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

5

10 OPINIONS

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SCHEDULE

Veterans Day takes a faulty turn as LBSU cancels Tuesday classes The Academic Calendar Committee made the wrong move in a schedule change for Veterans Day.

By Jelina Cortero

Assistant Opinions Editor

I

sn’t it embarrassing when you accidentally walk into the wrong class? Now imagine doing that for a whole day. Students and professors are going to have a frenzied Tuesday as they may mistakenly head to the wrong classes due to the new class switch next week.

Long Beach State announced that this Veterans Day, students who have Monday classes will have them on Tuesday in the same time slots while Tuesday classes will be cancelled — cue an academic scheduling disaster.

Changing the days around and then informing students via email in late October, a few weeks before the change, was highly unprofessional for the Academic Calendar Committee and completely unorganized.

It’s sort of ridiculous that the school has only made a two announcements to the campus via email. There are still plenty of students who know absolutely nothing about this change. Everyone is either clueless or confused due to lack of campus awareness; I found out through a Daily 49er article and most found out through some of their teachers.

They could do so much more for how much time and money students and faculty spend on this campus. It could have been mentioned more with flyers or other platforms. The sole responsibility of this annoying schedule switch now relies heavily on the student and professor which is unfair.

At the end of the initial email it states, “I wish you well as you continue your academic pursuits,” in a sort of twisted and backhanded Hunger Games reference of: “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

The school tossed us into scheduling mayhem and now expects us to clean up their disorganization.

The Daily 49er reported that the change is to help even out the amount of Monday classes offered throughout the year due to multiple holidays resulting in cancelled Monday classes.

But the schedule change was altogether unnecessary and the series of steps the university took to make this happen was a waste of time. It’s a counteractive action, creating more problems not only for students but also the professors, as it constitutes extra work and additional stress.

Think about students with hybrid classes, where the class meet once a week, the commuting professors and students will have to accommodate to the new schedule when they usually have work and don’t come to campus on those days.

It’s inconvenient for both students and faculty and the lack of student awareness on the schedule switch shows how this chaos disrupts student’s learning more than ever.

Hybrid professors who have Monday classes have to update their lesson and plan two weeks in advance to accommodate this change, due to the fact that fall break is the following week. According to the Daily 49er, professors such as Norbert Schürer, a professor in the English department, had a hard time accepting the schedule change as they were not allowed to cancel class.

There are also growing concerns about students not showing up for class, which will most likely happen. To go, or not to go to class, that is the question.

Some professors I have are holding online lectures or are even making class optional instead of forcing students to commute to campus. There are some professors who are still scheduling their Tuesday classes in the regular time slots, ignoring the change completely.

Students may have other obligations including work or internships, so it’s very inconsiderate, ill-timed and infuriating for the Academic Calendar Committee to drop this information on us without considering these situations. They can’t expect students to drop their prior commitments to accommodate a last minute and poorly executed change.

Veterans Day should have just been left as is with no schedule changes. Time management in college is crucial, so the school should have a better understanding of students and professors’ times and make it worth it, not waste it.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN GUITARE | Daily 49er

The movement of Monday classes to Tuesday for Veterans Day causes frustration among Long Beach State students.

ARTS & LIFE 11

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PRODUCTION

‘The Funfair’ addresses misogyny in present-day The latest Cal Rep play uses real-life experiences to speak on the mistreatment of women.

By German Rodriguez Staff Writer

T

he stage floor of the Studio Theater was littered with multi-colored confetti when suddenly the prop gate was raised upwards, transporting the audience to a place that tackles the misogyny of the current, contemporary society head on.

The California Repertory Company presented “The Funfair,” a play that’s overall message is centered around the abuse of women in a misogynistic civilization.

Misogyny is the dislike of or ingrained prejudice against women. It manifests itself in numerous ways such as sex discrim-

ination, male privilege, belittling of women, sexual objectification, social exclusion, sexism, hostility, patriarchy, violence against women and more.

“The message we are trying to convey with this play is the relationship of love, money and how it controls us,” said Rachel Post, who plays the main character, Caroline in the play. “As a result of that, there is a lot of violence happening every day against women and other issues we need to pay attention to because power dynamics is strongly emphasized [in the play].”

The audience is taken through a series of examples of how women can be mistreated on a day-to day-basis and how men objectify women by calling them names including “slut, bitch and whore.”

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“For being a woman, the best part about the Q&A during the play is seeing other women in the audience volunteer to raise their hand and recognize the mistreatment we all go through,” said Carolina Xique, who plays Esther. “This shows men in the audience that being called a whore [or] slut or getting catcalled is not cool and we need to change that.”

The message that “The Funfair” communicates with the audience is to examine the way men treat women. Walking away from the play, audience members are left with real-life situations to think about which are most times overlooked.

“We easily get distracted with our phones, the internet and social media that we do not stop and think about how mi-

sogyny affects women. If you take a look at our current elections, a perfect example of someone who expresses misogyny is Trump and how easily he expresses power dynamics,” said Malachi Beasley, who plays Cash. “This play is meant to continue the conversation of misogyny and to empower young people to not get distracted by the confetti but to engage in this conversation.”

The play served as a refresher for many men in the audience to acknowledge the behavior some men portray.

“This play was written about capitalism, but we shifted our focus onto misogyny and the relationship men have with women,” said Erin Galloway who plays Billy Smoke.

12 ARTS & LIFE

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Q&A

Brown taking Disability Affairs in a new direction In her newly appointed ASI position, Samantha Brown hopes to raise awareness for the disabled community on campus.

RYAN GUITARE | Daily 49er

Samantha Brown, a second-year political science and communications major, is appointed the new commissioner for disability affairs by the Associated Students Inc. Senate.

By Faith Petrie

Arts and Life Editor petriefaith

B

etween her new duties and working on campus at the 49er Shops Communications Department, second-year Samantha Brown is busy with re-imagining positive experiences for students with disabilities at Long Beach State.

This month, Associated Students Inc. Senate appointed the political science and communications major as commissioner for disability affairs. While the position is new to Brown, her involvement with the disabled community started as early as elementary school.

The Daily 49er spoke with Brown to talk about her roots in working with the community as well as her future goals for LBSU in her position as commissioner.

During the senate meeting you mentioned your involvement with the Best Buddies club in high school. What was that experience like and how did it carry over to the new role that you have now?

I was never a part of Best Buddies club in high school, I did participate in a few of their activities and programs and I took some inspiration from a really close friend that was actually president of the Best Buddies club.

I kind of got my inspiration from him, he was absolutely very passionate about it and I was able to participate in a lot of activities they did. A lot of work that I’ve done with the community has actually went back to when I was in elementary school; we kind of had like a pseudo disabilities program. There were two children actually in my class with down syndrome so I was always seated next to one of the individuals who had down syndrome. I was basically his helper throughout elementary school and that’s what pretty much started my interest and love for the community.

When did you get involved with ASI at LBSU? Were you involved in anything in specific?

I actually was never really involved with ASI before my commissioner position. I just saw the position availability on the ASI website and I applied for it and then I ended up getting an interview and then I got appointed to the position.

What made you want to get involved in the position of commissioner?

I believe that the disabilities community on campus is a very underrepresented group when it comes to policy and overall advocacy and so I guess what made me most interested was to be a voice for people who don’t have the same platform that I would, like for

example being part of student government.

I want to see that voice behind this whole community that all have different special things about them that need certain aspects to be changed or policies to be implemented so I kind of wanted to be the action behind all of this and actually do things for this community because ultimately a lot of times they’re overlooked which I wanted to see changed.

What was it like before in terms of representation and help for the disabled community here and how do you feel that you can change that or make it better?

I feel like the resources available on campus for the community are very strong and I believe that they are very very involved in the lives of students so I don’t believe that necessarily the people and the staff behind it need to be changed. I think that it’s more policy, like for example maybe with transportation or even education of the general public at this school. For example, one of my campaigns that I want to work on is dismantling ableist language throughout campus and I think those are just some of the things, just bringing more awareness to the community and understanding that disabilities is a wide spectrum that needs to be understood and respected as such. That’s kind of what I want to see changed.

Do you have any other specific campaigns that you can think of or goals that you’d like to achieve in your time as commissioner?

I also want to make transportation more accessible to students on campus, for example the shuttling system. This was also brought up in my appointment meeting like how a lot of students within the community have trouble getting throughout campus so that’s something I’d like to work on. I also want to work on overall campus safety and just accessibility. Maybe there are some areas of campus that simply aren’t accessible for people within the community and that’s something I definitely want to work on.

Another big part of my time that I want to see changed throughout my term is I want to create more website accessibility for the community as well and make PDFs and documents accessible through clubs and organizations websites because that’s really important and I think that’s overlooked a lot everywhere not even just on our campus.

If you had a day off what’s something you’d like to do?

I would love to have a really nice lunch with my best friend and then probably go out and either watch a movie or go shopping and then just kind of come home and wind down and play with my cat that’s something I want to do so bad[ly].