The Daily Barometer, Friday, October 23, 2015

VOL. CXVIII, No. 31

DailyBarometer.com

friday, october 23, 2015 Oregon State University

Welcome home, Beavers

See calendar, photos, page 8

John Kachaturain-Rosales | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Students and Corvallis community members enjoy game booths and activities at the 2015 homecoming carnival in the Memorial Union quad Thursday afternoon.

Corvallis community members work to make a difference Events held Saturday in recognition of make a difference day

By Lauren Sluss News Contributor

This Saturday, millions of volunteers across the country are joining together to reach a common goal – to give back to their communities and better the lives of the people around them.

Sponsored by OSU’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), Make a Difference Day is providing students with several opportunities to volunteer and give back to the Corvallis community.

“It is the largest national day of service,” said CCE Internal Coordinator Annie Corkery.

Make a Difference Day is offering five projects between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. for students to participate. These projects include cleaning up Corvallis parks, working with Habitat for Humanity, cleaning up the baseball park at the Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis, picking up cigarette butts around OSU campus and harvesting vegetables at the Starker Arts Garden for Education.

“It’s an initiative to get everyone around the country to work with and get to know their communities, on the basis that they can make a positive impact on their community,” Corkery explained.

Although Saturday marks the 24th national Make a Difference Day, this is the fourth annual event at OSU. “It may have happened sporadically before that, but our office was brand new starting 2011, so we were too new to get organized,” CCE Assistant Director Emily Bowling said. “It’s a newer tradition and has had great student feedback so far.”

Throughout the past four years, Make a Difference Day has not only helped to give back to the Corvallis community, but also shows students a side of volunteering they may not have experienced before.

“The goal is to get students active and engaged in the community,” CCE Internal Coordinator Madison Thompson said.

“We want to instill an ethic of civic service in students and really show them that volunteering can be fun and great.”

For Thompson, volunteer work and civic service are not only resume builders. They can strengthen students’ well-

See Difference, Page 6

IN THIS ISSUE >>>

Contributed by Center for Civic Engagement

Volunteers from the OSU community clean up the vegetable garden and surrounding grounds at Trillium Family Services as part of Make a Difference Day 2014.

App helps seeing impaired, NEWS, PAGE 2 Colorado preview, SPORTS, PAGE 4 ASOSU: Costume sensitivity, FORUM, PAGE 7

2 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • Friday, October 23, 2015

Smartphone app helps people with blindness

By David Templeton Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Previously, when Chieko Asakawa navigated her way across the Carnegie Mellon University campus, she used her white cane to identify obstructions with her ears alert to recognizable sounds and intuition in full power to keep track of her location.

She is blind. So the IBM fellow from Japan and visiting faculty member at the university’s Robotics Institute would count steps and use known landmarks to document her progress. But if someone stopped to chat or bumped into her, she lost her step count and became disoriented.

“You have to always concentrate,” she said. “For us, you are always thinking how many steps to the next turn and where you are. You can’t walk while thinking about other things. It’s very easy to get lost if you are not careful.”

But this week, Asakawa walked with her long, white cane through Newell-Simon Hall, including an elevator ride, to an ATM machine in Ween Hall, with assistance from the NavCog app downloaded onto her smartphone. Like a GPS system it provided a voice that described distances, what directions she was to turn and when she arrived at landmarks and the ATM machine.

NavCog, which she developed with help from Kris Kitani at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute and IBM, now is available for free at the App Store downloads on iTunes. It helps people with visual impairment to find their way indoors and out. While still in pilot phase, the app and its open-source technology allows others to advance the technology and expand areas where it can be used.

NavCog uses Bluetooth sensors placed at turns, intersections and important destinations (elevators, entrances or

ATM machines) to provide one’s position within 3 to 5 feet of actual location. Using a map editing tool and localization algorithms, it can identify your location almost in real time, which direction you are facing and additional information about your surroundings.

It allows Asakawa, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering, to walk unassisted through various buildings and sections of the campus based on signals from 200 battery-powered sensors. There’s still the occasional bump, brush-by or problem determining whether the elevator is going up or down, but the campus system shows its potential.

“While visually impaired people like myself have become independent online, we are still challenged in the real world,” she said, adding that the app can accelerate research and serve as the basis for more useful and expanded navigational system for people with blindness.

Already she and Kitani, a doctor of robotics, are testing a small camera hung over her ear and using emotion-recognition software to describe the emotional state of people

approaching her. In time, computer-vision technology will compare previously downloaded images of an area with ones generated in real time by the smartphone to identify one’s location more accurately without sensors.

Elaine R. Welch, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind, said people with visual impairment already use GPS technology to provide their general location outside. GPS cannot be used indoors. Such technology has potential to improve the quality of life of people with blindness, with self-driving cars representing the Holy Grail.

“I’ve been around since 1982, and I see what technology has done for people to achieve independence. It’s just been phenomenal and this is great for people with disabilities,” she said. “I really applaud (the Carnegie Mellon-IBM team) for doing this. Anything that can help people to be independent and more sure of themselves, whether they are blind or sighted people in unfamiliar places, is great.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steve Mellon | Pittsburgh Post

Chieko Asakawa, an IBM fellow and visiting faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, uses a smartphone app to navigate through the CMU campus.

Friday, October 23, 2015 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • 3

New technology is keeping the air we breathe under an unprecedented level of scrutiny

By William Yardley Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Measure twice, cut once, they say.

Unless you are trying to save the planet.

In that case, measure and cut constantly.

Rising calls to create cleaner air and limit climate change are driving a surge in new technology for measuring air emissions and other pollutants — a data revolution that is opening new windows into the micromechanics of environmental damage.

The momentum for new monitoring tools is rooted in increasingly stringent regulations, including California’s cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, and newly tightened federal standards and programs to monitor drought and soil contamination.

A variety of clean-tech companies have arisen to help industries meet the new requirements, but the new tools and data are also being created by academics, tinkerers and concerned citizens — just ask Volkswagen, whose deceptive efforts to skirt emissions-testing standards were discovered with the help of a small university lab in West Virginia.

Taking it all into account, the Earth is coming under an unprecedented new level of scrutiny.

For more than a year, satellites launched by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been orbiting Earth to track the global flow of carbon emissions. In Colorado, workers are using infrared cameras to find methane leaking from natural gas wells. In Boston, researchers using new measuring devices have detected “fugitive emissions” in hundreds of places across the city, including the Massachusetts State House.

Los Gatos Research in Silicon Valley now makes portable equipment for measuring greenhouse gases and other pollution that has been used on airplanes and in national forests. Piccaro, another California company, makes the machines that have been used to measure methane leaks in Boston and other cities. Other startups have created software that collects existing air quality data into apps that can advise asthmatics on areas to avoid and steer cyclists toward the least-polluted paths to work.

“There are a lot of companies picking up on this, but who is interested in the data — to me, that’s also fascinating,” said Colette Heald, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re in this moment of a huge growth in curiosity — of people trying to understand their environment. That coincides with the

technology to do something more.”

The push is not limited to measuring air and emissions. Tools to sample soil, test seismic regions, monitor water quality, test ocean acidity and improve weather forecasting are all on the rise.

Drought has prompted new efforts to map groundwater and stream flows across the West. In space, NASA recently began a global precipitation measurement program intended, in part, to more accurately predict extreme weather events and the availability of water.

The Obama administration has rolled out a series of regulatory changes intended either to reduce pollutants in the air people breathe or limit greenhouse gases and sometimes both. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized new rules to reduce ozone and, for the first time, required socalled fenceline testing near oil refineries to track pollutants such as benzene that may be escaping a task that requires sensitive monitoring equipment.

Industry groups often oppose new rules because complying costs money, but these rules can also drive technological development and new industries. While older emissions-monitoring devices may occupy the footprint of a living room,

Brian van der Brug | Los Angeles Times

Yurok tribe forestry technician Ray Gregg pulls a tape measure while plotting a inventory area on tribal land near Klamath, Calif in November 2014. equipment is being developed that is portable and more sophisticated.

“Fifteen years ago we were talking about percent – the percentage of a particular species in a gas,” said Chris Anthony, who oversees analytical products for the ABB Group, which has expanded

See Air, Page 6

American killed during hostage rescue in Iraq

By W.J. Hennigan Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A highstakes raid Thursday by U.S. special operations forces and Kurdish fighters to free 70 prisoners held by Islamic State militants resulted in the first combat-related death of an American service member in Iraq since 2011.

The predawn operation also raised questions about the expanding role of the U.S. military in Iraq and President Barack Obama’s vow to put “no boots on the ground” in the Middle Eastern country.

The Pentagon characterized the operation as part of Obama’s mission to train, advise and assist Iraqi forces against the militants, and not as a combat operation. But the raid, which needed special approval by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, squarely put U.S. forces into a fierce battle alongside another army to save foreign captives.

The mission marked an expansion of U.S. participation in the fight against Islamic State to aid partners in its ground offensive against the

militants. So far, the U.S. has stood resolute in providing an advisory and backup role, delivering airstrikes, training and financial support to proxy ground forces.

“This was a unique circumstance in which very close partners of the United States made a specific request for our assistance,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a news briefing. “There was a deliberate process to analyze this situation and the circumstances, and that’s when the decision was made to move forward with this operation.”

He added, “I wouldn’t suggest you should look at this as some change in tactics on our part. This is not something that’s going to now happen on a regular basis.”

Under the cloak of darkness, before 2 a.m. local time, three Chinook and two Black Hawk helicopters took off from an air base in Irbil in northern Iraq and flew about 90 miles to the prison in the town of Hawija, said U.S. officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the classified raid.

See Iraq, Page 6 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kat Kothen

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4 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • Friday, October 23, 2015

@

gameday

Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Ore. Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.

On TV: Pac-12 Network Radio: 88.7 KBVR FM Live blog: dailybarometer.com/live

Five facts you should know about the game 1. OSU has lost nine of the last ten Pac-12 games since beating the Buffaloes a year ago, 36-31.

2. Colorado has lost 14 straight Pac-12 games, and has just two road wins in conference since joining in 2011.

3. Of the 14 consecutive losses, the Buffaloes were ahead or tied at halftime in six games.

4. Saturday will be the eighth meeting between the two schools, Oregon State holds a 5-2 advantage in the series.

5. The last time Colorado came to Corvallis in 2013, quarterback Sean Mannion broke the school record for touchdown passes in a game with six. The Beavers won 44-17.

13

6 Victor Bolden (WR)

Catches Yards TD 2015 23 188 1 Season high six catches and 79 yards against Washington State

Sefo Liufau (QB)

Comp. % Yards TD/INT 2015 60.8 1730 8/3 339 yards and two touchdowns last week against Arizona

29

2

Dwayne Williams (CB)

Tackles PD BU 2015 7 1 1 Making second career start on Saturday

Treston Decould

9

Ken Crawley (CB)

Tackles PD INT 2015 33 5 1 Fifth in Pac-12 in passes defended

5

Daytrin Guyton (WR)

aaron newton | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Catches Yards TD 2015 6 67 0 All catches have come in Pac-12 play

Oregon State: Keys to the game • Feed the running backs early:

Storm Barrs-Woods has 104 rushing yards in first halves this year and 247 in second halves.

Shay Fields (WR)

Catches Yards TD 2015 32 504 4 Eight catches for 168 yards and two tochdowns last week against Arizona

Colorado: Keys to the game

trouble keeping pace only scoring 24 in the first half against Arizona and Washington State.

• Move the chains: Oregon State has • Come out of the gates quickly: had 23 three-and-outs this season In the two losses against Arizona and are ranked last in the Pac-12 in and Washington State the Beaver total offense. They will need to find defense gave up 79 first half points. ways to move the ball against ColoThe offense on the other hand, had rado, who ranks 11th in total defense.

• Hold a lead: Colorado doesn’t want to be playing catchup, especially while allowing 294 rushing yards per Pac-12 contest.

for the comeback victory over the Buffaloes.

• Play like you are the better team: Colorado is clearly the more experi• Prevent big plays: Last week, Ari- enced team, and they need to show zona’s three rushing touchdowns it to get the win in Corvallis. covered 149 yards. In that game Arizona scored 21 fourth quarter points

Staff Picks Brian Rathbone Sports Editor

The Buffaloes played Oregon and Arizona tough the past two weeks. They will come into this game with confidence against a struggling Oregon State team.

Colorado ends their losing streak with a 28-20 victory.

Josh Worden

Brenden Slaughter

Senior Beat Reporter

Sports Reporter

The winner of this game gains a stepstool out of the Pac-12 basement. The loser, with visions of victory now dashed, becomes the conference’s Quixote. Colorado’s defense is unable to avoid the latter role. Beavers win, 34-24.

The winner of this game will get a huge confidence boost in terms of not being the Pac-12 doormat. The Beavers will win this one 35-14 and will have momentum heading into Utah.

Friday, October 23, 2015 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • 5

jeremy melamed | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Upset-minded Beavers return to Gill Beavers host two top10 Southern California teams this weekend

By Michael Kiever Sports Contributor

The Oregon State volleyball team will take on No. 1 USC Friday at 8 p.m. and No. 10 UCLA on Sunday at noon, finally returning back to Corvallis after four straight games on the road.

Currently one of two undefeated teams left in the country, USC (20-0, 8-0) and their veteran-laden team will present a tough challenge for the young Beavers (4-14, 2-6 Pac-12). “(USC) have a very quick offense, they set very quickly to their outsides” said head coach Terry Liskevych. “We need to make sure that our blockers start wide to really counter their quick attack on the outside.”

USC is anchored by senior outside hitter Samantha Bricio. Bricio has the distinction of being the youngest player to ever play for the Mexico National Team when she was just 16 years old. “(She) is probably the best player in the league, the best server in the country,”

said Liskevych. “We’ve got to counteract her serving.”

UCLA (15-3, 6-2), also a force in the Pac-12, has only lost one game in October thus far. They are led by sophomore outside hitter Reily Buechler, who recently received espnW Player of the Week honors.

Despite two tough opponents this weekend, the players are preparing like they would any other week. Senior middle blocker and captain Haley Clarke said the team is keeping it simple.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Clarke said. “We’re really excited and looking to upset them. We’re hungry.”

OSU received both good and bad news on the injury front this week. Kory Cheshire, a redshirt freshman who was recently moved from outside hitter to middle blocker, sustained an injury to her right thumb. “(She) actually played better and better,” Liskevych said. “She just started to look pretty good in the middle, and now she’s going to be out two-to-four weeks, if not the season.”

Fortunately, junior Emily Wilmes is expected back this week. She has missed all of Pac-12 play this year while nursing an injury, and will provide experience

and depth at outside hitter now that she is back.

With several players succumbing to injuries this season, Clarke has been encouraging the healthy players to rise to the occasion.

“I’ve been trying to keep the girls working hard and competing hard,” Clarke said. “Every day, someone new is stepping up and doing something they didn’t do yesterday.”

The Friday matchup with USC will be the “Dam Cancer” match, to raise awareness for breast cancer. Anyone wearing a “Dam Cancer” shirt, which is available at the Beaver Store, will be let into the game for free. Additionally, the first 300 students to arrive will receive the “Dam Cancer” shirt for free.

Playing in front of the home crowd may be just what the Beavers need at this point in the season.

“We’re anticipating a good crowd,” Liskevych said. “They should make a difference for sure.”

For Clarke, the home court advantage figures to be a key factor. aaron newton | THE DAILY BAROMETER “We’re really excited to be back in front Junior Lila Toner (left) and senior Darby Reeder of Beaver Nation,” Clarke said. “We love celebrate after a Beaver point in the second set of playing here in Gill.”

On Twitter @michaelkievaaa

‘Life in a Walk’ with Yogi Roth

By Brenden Slaughter Sports Reporter

To read the rest of the interview go to: dailybarometer.com/sports To learn more about the Roth’s film go to: lifeinawalk.com

Barometer Sports Reporter Brenden Slaughter catches up with Pac-12 Network’s Yogi Roth to discuss Oregon State football and Roth’s film “Life in a Walk,” which screened at Ninth Street 4 Cinema Thursday night.

BS: Your thoughts on the current state of OSU football?

Brenden Slaughter: What does this film mean to you?

Roth: This film means that I got an opportunity to share a story about a guy that I have looked up to my whole life in my dad. I have traveled enough and done enough to create memories that you have, but as you get older, you forget about them. I always wanted to have a capsule where I can share who my dad is to everyone. I hope that this story lasts a lifetime.

YR: The bottom line is that you want to win games, and from a fan’s perspective, I get it that they aren’t doing well. But if you start to study the program or watch The Drive, you realize that the staff is as good as anyone’s in the Pac-12. I think that Gary Andersen has all of the qualities necessary of a big, big, time football coach. I think that it is the steal of the last 10 years for him to be at Oregon State. I think that OSU fans should be jacked for the future.

the match against Utah on Oct. 2.

6 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • Friday, October 23, 2015

Difference Iraq

Continued from page 3 About 60 U.S. special forces belonging to the Army’s Delta Force and Kurdish commandos were packed inside, headed toward a high-walled compound with two large buildings at the corners, which U.S. intelligence analysts had been watching via aerial spy imagery for more than two weeks, officials said.

The goal was to free captured Kurdish troops known as peshmerga, who have been among the fiercest fighters in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. The Kurds and U.S. believed there were at least 20 peshmerga inside, Kurdish and U.S. officials said.

Aerial images showed there were trenches dug outside the compound, which officials believed were intended to be mass graves for the captives being held.

Before the helicopters touched down, attack aircraft delivered airstrikes around the compound to block roads in which nearby Islamic State fighters could join the battle, the officials said. When Kurdish fighters approached the prison, Islamic State militants opened fire.

The American who was killed was wounded amid the firefight and airlifted back to Irbil, where he later died. Four Kurdish fighters also were wounded.

After getting into the facility and killing about 15 Islamic State fighters acting as guards, the forces took 75 captives and loaded them into the helicopters.

At least five of the captives were former Islamic State fighters being held as traitors, officials said. The Pentagon confirmed that more than 20 of the captives were members of the Iraqi army. The whole raid lasted about two hours. U.S. and Kurdish officials were surprised to find that no Kurds were among the rescued hostages.

Hawija, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, has been in the hands of Islamic State since the group first swept through and seized towns in Iraq and Syria last year. The militants have paraded captured peshmerga fighters around the town in metal cages and posted the video online.

“We thought there would be peshmerga forces being held in the prison,” said Bayan Rahman, Kurdistan’s government representative in Washington. “But we see this mission is a success. Rescuing anyone from (Islamic State) is a reason for celebration.”

Although the U.S. military has unilaterally conducted at least two other ground raids against the Islamic State in Syria, this operation marks the Pentagon’s first confirmed assault in Iraq since Islamic State rose to power last year.

Tribune Co.

Happy Friday!

ent kind of learning that they may not see in the traditional classroom — service learning,” Corkery said. “It’s really more hands on and Continued from page 1 community based, which isn’t something we being and enhance the college experience get too often in our lecture halls.” as well.

Check in for all four projects will take place “I really believe that students perform at the Student Experience Center plaza. Every better academically and are able to form really OSU student and faculty member is invited to great groups of friends when they get involved participate in this free event. in their community and get actively engaged,” “To get involved in Make a Difference day Thompson explained. you can register through our websites, and we Volunteering does not only have to be a are on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and break from learning, it can also be learning Twitter. Those are all the really great ways to itself. see what the CCE is up to,” Thompson said.

“It gives students perspective and a differnews@dailybarometer.com

Air

Continued from page 3 its investments in air and gas monitoring in recent years, including buying Los Gatos Research in 2013. “Five years ago, 10 years ago, we started talking about parts per million. In many areas now, we’re measuring parts per billion, which is very, very low levels of trace gas in exhaust.”

Chet Wayland, the director of the air quality assessment division within the EPA’s office of air quality planning and standards, recalled a research conference the agency hosted a few years ago where he met a graduate student who showed him a hand-held, homemade device that measured air pollution. The parts appeared to cost about $50.

“It wasn’t great but it was not bad,” Wayland recalled.

“I’m sitting there going, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I’m used to working in the world where these devices are $30,000 and they’re highly sophisticated, and here’s somebody who built this in a lab basically by himself. That’s when I realized that the world was changing.”

Wayland and one of his colleagues, Dan Costa, who works on air and climate issues in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, said that as more companies

and individuals make affordable equipment, they need to demonstrate that their products are accurate and reliable.

“That’s one of the key issues we at the EPA are trying to focus on,” Wayland said. “When the technology is out there and everyone starts using it, the question is, how good is the data? If the data’s not high enough quality, then we’re not going to make regulatory decisions based on that.”

He added, “Where is this data going to reside in 10 years, when all these sensors are out there, and who’s going to (manage) that information? Right now it’s kind of organic so there’s no centralized place where all of this information is going.”

Two years ago, Heald, the professor at MIT, helped lead a group of students who created a campus air quality monitoring network. They launched a website where people can track gases such as ozone and carbon monoxide.

But the site also includes a disclaimer, warning that the numbers were not necessarily “regulatory grade” measurements. Costa said the EPA’s long-term vision is “this harmonization, a synthesis of the gold standard monitoring network (run by government) with the evolving sensor technology” used by citizen groups and individuals.

Los Angeles Times

Calendar THURSDAY, Oct. 22 Event: 5 p.m. Premed Society Location: LInC 368 Dr. Bryan Ganter, orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic and OSU alum will speak.

Friday, Oct. 23 Event: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Collegiate Recovery Community Location: McNary 125 Stop by for coffee, snacks, a screening of the documentary The Anonymous People, and meet other Beavers in recovery. Allies of recovery and all others are welcome.

SATURDAY, Oct. 24: Event: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Philomath Open Studios Tour & Art Sale Location: Philomath Area A free, self-guided, tour of 17 unique studios with 37 artists’ work, open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. during the last two weekends of October.

MONDAY, Oct. 26: Event: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Masque and Dagger Theatre Club Location: Withycombe Hall Halloween costume sale.

Event: 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Recreational Sports Location: Dixon Conference Room RecSports board meeting

TUESDAY, Oct. 27:

Event: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Society of American Foresters Job Fair Location: Peavy Hall and Richardson Hall Knuckles Meet employers interested in hiring students.

THURSDAY, Oct. 29: Meeting: 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. OSU Health Aging Club Location: Waldo 432 Help with planning for our “Thank A Vet” event for the historic occasion of OSU’s first year observing Veteran’s Day!

TUESDAY, Nov. 10: Event: 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. University Events Location: LaSells Stewart Center Provost’s Lecture Series.

Leadership Under Pressure: A Historian’s Close-up Look at Presidential Decision-Making.

SATURDAY, Nov. 14: Event: 10:30 a.m. Chi Omega Location: Benton County Fairgrounds County Fairgrounds Color Me Chi O is a 5k color fun run, walk and roll that benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation!

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 18: Event: 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Recreational Sports Location: Dixon Conference Room RecSports board meeting

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2: Event: 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Recreational Sports Location: Dixon Conference Room RecSports board meeting

Friday, October 23, 2015 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • 7

Letters

This Halloween, beware of cultural insensitivity

By Anesat León Guerrero ASOSU Senator

With Halloween coming up it’s vitally important to remember the idea of cultural appropriation, and to be aware of its impact on others.

Cultural appropriation is the adoption, or theft, of icons, rituals, aesthetic standards or behavior from one culture or subculture by another.

Generally the subject of appropriation is a minority or subordinate culture. There isn’t usually understanding of the meaning behind the icon of the cultural piece. Using or wearing such an icon or behavior lessens or changes its significance by taking away from its original meaning.

To understand why cultural appropriation is highly inappropriate it’s important to highlight the history of Samhain, more commonly known as Halloween. It’s also important to know how cultural appropriation is profitable, and how it impacts communities.

On Samhain it was believed that spirits were able to walk the world, both traveling to and passing over from the other side. Fairies, demons and the dead were considered to exist among humans during this time. To keep these spirits at bay, communities would dress up to frighten or confuse them.

Different cultures are appropriated and are used as ideas for costumes – many of which are ill portrayed and can create misinformation about the cultures they represent. Those that are a part of the

It is time to acknowledge that we need to promote cultural competency in all forms.

Lyndi Petty ASOSU Vice President culture being portrayed on the costume or themed party can feel either mocked or targeted; they can have their entire culture being broken down into stereotypes.

Some popular controversial costumes on college campuses include “Indian,” “Mexican,” “Geisha,” “Blackface,” “Terrorist,” and wearing a bindi.

In some instances people want to “celebrate” a culture or an icon, however, it’s hard for others to understand their intent and what is mostly remembered is the impact it makes.

Appropriating is also profitable because fashion industries and businesses display the objects from marginalized cultures as exotic and desirable, therefore, upon purchasing them, both the history of colonization and the oppression these communities

face are forgotten.

So when you are deciding on your Halloween costume, take in consideration whether your costume or party has a cultural reference, and in what way these types of costumes and events affect a community that hold the identities they portray.

Is it ‘positive’ or ‘negative?’ Is it something that you would wear every day or on special occasions?

We are striving to make Oregon State University an open environment that welcomes and supports diversity through its student organizations and communities. The Associated Students of OSU have acknowledged that during Halloween time many student organizations celebrate in various ways, and we want to inform our student body on how their costumes or events can impact others and give themselves an undesirable image.

“It is time to acknowledge that we need to promote cultural competency in all forms,” said Lyndi Petty, ASOSU vice president and a member of the OSU Greek community. “Halloween is not the only time we should be talking about cultural appropriation. We must begin to take actions now that will make a real difference for the future.” forum@dailybarometer.com

This column was written by Anesat León Guerrero, ASOSU Senator, with contributions from ASOSU Executive Director of Diversity Programs Queen Dash, ASOSU Director of Queer Affairs Ish Guevara and ASOSU Vice President Lyndi Petty.

Letters to the editor are welcomed and will be printed on a first-received basis. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s signature, academic major, class standing or job title, department name and phone number. Authors of e-mailed letters will receive a reply for the purpose of verification. Letters are subject to editing for space and clarity. The Daily Barometer reserves the right to refuse publication of any submissions.

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8 • THE DAILY BAROMETER • Friday, October 23, 2015

FRIDAY, OCT. 23 Alumni Fellows and Young Alumni Award Celebration 5 p.m. | CH2M HILL Alumni Center Join in honoring alumni who bring credit to Beaver Nation Homecoming concert featuring Jackson Michelson with The Grange Hall Drifters 8 p.m. | Student Experience Center Plaza Co-sponsored by the School of Arts and Communication

SATURDAY, OCT. 24 Tailgate with Beaver Nation Three hours before kickoff | CH2M HILL Alumni Center Gather with other Beavers before the game!

Ballroom entry is free for OSU Alumni Association members.

Oregon State vs. Colorado Kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

John Kachaturian-rosales | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Students wait in line to ride the mechanical bull at the 2015 homecoming carnival. The homecoming festivities will continue through the Beaver football game on Saturday.

John Kachaturian-rosales | THE DAILY BAROMETER

The 2015 homecoming carnival featured multiple game booths and an inflatable slide.