Spring 2014 Issue 10

TRACK

APRIL 9, 2014

AT SF S

ISSUE 10 VOLUME LXXXXVIII GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

THOUS PA GE 11

SERVING THE SAN FRANCISCO STATE COMMUNITY SINCE 1927

& FIEL

TATE B

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RINGS

F ATHL

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MEET AND GREET: Gopal Dayaneni, from the justice and ecology project Movement Generation, speaks to a swarm of students at the end of the Divestment Convergence conference in Annex I at SF State Saturday, April 5.

“Mother nature is gonna win. Either we’re on her side or we’re kicked out of the house.”

RACHEL ASTON / XPRESS

BY CHLOE JOHNSON | chloej@mail.sfsu.edu AND BRIAN DONOVAN | bdonovan@mail.sfsu.edu

SF STATE BECAME THE FIRST FOURyear university to promise to remove all of their investments in fossil fuel companies. The decision is a major pledge by the University to strive for a more environmentally friendly campus.

SF State hosted the second annual Divestment Convergence conference last weekend, which was organized by Fossil Free SFSU and

SF STATE MAY PART WITH FOSSIL FUEL INVESTMENT

sponsored by the California Student Sustainability Coalition.

The conference gave a diverse group of student activists a way to strategize about working toward their common goal of systematically removing university investment money in fossil fuel companies over the next five years.

“Our core purpose is to strengthen the movement as a whole,” said Fossil Free SFSU Logistics Coordinator Jason Schwartz.

CONFERENCE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

University changes GE requirements

BY JENNIE BUTLER jennieb@mail.sfsu.edu

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F State overhauled its 35-year-old General Education requirements and will begin next Fall with a new system that doesn’t include segments I, II, and III. The change will not affect students who are currently enrolled.

Incoming freshman and transfer students will not see segments I, II and III when they register for GE courses but instead will see courses divided between categories A, B, C, D and E, each covering a general area of study. The University will also lower the 57 required GE units to 48 to make graduation more attainable for students, according to General Education Director Nancy Gerber.

“Segment I, II and III is something we made up 35 years ago,” said Gerber. “This is a big undertaking because everyone is used to the current program.”

Segment III will face the most SEGMENT CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

ASI CANDIDATES FACE OFF AT CAMPUS DEBATE

BY MARC ARGUELLO | margue11@mail.sfsu.edu

Students got their first chance to interact with the Associated Students, Inc. presidential candidates during a debate in the Cesar Chavez Student Center Monday afternoon.

The candidates for ASI President and the four Vice Presidential positions presented their case for why students should give them their vote. The candidates took questions from students and other candidates about where they plan to focus their energy if they are elected.

“Student government is the representation of the entire student body, we are supposed to serve the students,” said Vivian ASI CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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RUNNING FOR OFFICE: Presidential candidates (from left) Marco Fuentes, Miguel Guerrero, Vivian Abellana and Kenneth Collins address the audience at the annual ASI board of directors elections debate in Cesar Chavez Student Center Monday, April 7.

or scan here:

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XPRESS YOURSELF

WE ASKED SF STATE STUDENTS:

Should the University have eliminated the Segment III requirement?

“

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APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

I feel like Segment III was the best part of it. It’s more related to your major and your interests.

Filipino group celebrates mural

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BY EMILIA ROSALES eer@mail.sfsu.edu

leven years ago more than 200 students, faculty and community members banded together at SF State to create a mural dedicated to Filipino culture and history.

Fast-forward to Thursday, April 3, to the 11th annual Filipino Community Mural Celebration Mula Sa Ugat, which means “from the roots,” at SF State.

Six organizations, including the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor, Alpha Kappa Omicron’s Alpha Chapter, Chi Rho Omicron’s Beta Chapter, InterVarsity KAPWA, Kappa Psi Epsilon’s Beta Chapter, League of Filipino Students, along with the help of the Cesar

EMILY EDSON, 20 SPEECH THERAPY

“

Two years ago I would have said yes.

Now that we can choose from any category, I would say no. I get to pick the classes I want to take.

BRETT EDSON, 24 ANTHROPOLOGY

“

I like it because it makes you have more of a selection of classes. I feel like I couldn’t take these classes otherwise.

TORII ZE, 19

MOLECULAR CELL AND BIOLOGY

Photos by: Jessica Christian Reporting by: Natalie Yemenidjian

Chavez Student Center, planned the packed, all-expenses paid celebration featuring food, music and guest speakers.

“Being here at the mural commemoration, it’s part of my heart,” said Stacey San Pedro, a member of Kappa Psi Epsilon.

“Having a mural of the Philippines and Filipino community it brought home, it brought warmth and it brought joy. I’m proud to go to this school and graduate from this school.”

Between the pancit, a Filipino noodle dish with chicken and shrimp and BBQ chicken, raffle ticket numbers were being called for a chance to win a student center water bottle or bag.

“I wanted to really help plan this event. The mural really holds a special place in my heart especially as a mural that is really the first of its kind, one of a kind, when it comes to a mural on a college campus.

No other college campus has a mural like this: celebrating Filipino American heroes and heroines, just to pay tribute to our roots,” said Jordan Ilagan, a representative from three organizations who helped plan the event, including PACE. The mural was donated 11 years ago by the Filipino

PHOTOS BY LORISA SALVATIN / XPRESS

TOP RIGHT: Nomi of hip hop duo, Power Struggle, preps to high five an audience member during Mula Sa Ugat: From the Roots, SF State’s 11th annual celebration in honor of the Filipino community mural on campus Thursday, April 3. BOTTOM LEFT: SF State alumna Faye Lacanilao wins a poster of the Filipino community mural at the 11th annual celebration of the image and the Filipino people it represents Thursday, April 3.

community and was the first mural in the California State University system to depict Filipino history.

James Garcia and Andre Sibayan were the leading artists during the creation of the mural in 2003.

Mark Jaramilla remembers that day 11 years ago as being “a huge community effort. It was a fun day. I painted the rice terraces.”

Jaramilla was one of the first people to participate in painting the Filipino Mural and is now the student center’s meeting and

events coordinator.

The night finished with performances by crowd-raising performers Power Struggle and Bandung 55 and a giveaway of an enlarged poster of the mural.

“We Stand on their Shoulders” is written at the bottom of the mural to show the achievements of their ancestors and unity amongst the culture.

The mural is painted outside the Cesar Chavez Student Center, near the entrance to the bookstore.

Conference attracts international crowd CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

“We want to get as many people together at once as we can. This was done last year, which led to a national network.”

SF State student groups became interested in the movement in April 2013.

Associated Students Inc. voted unanimously to support the divestment shortly after.

Last June, the SF State Foundation pulled all investments from coal and tar sands companies in a pledge to take major steps to become a more environmentally friendly university, though it has yet to divest from oil companies and other non-renewable energy sources.

According to Schwartz, the University had planned to come out with a report on full divestment in March, but pushed back the deadline. The administration did not give a reason for the postponement.

“They’re really dragging their feet,” said Schwartz. “We’re disappointed that the report didn’t come out. We’re planning on working very closely with the administration in the coming months.”

The SF State Foundation defended its decision to approach divestment cautiously

RACHEL ASTON / XPRESS

EMBRACE: Alli Wellton from Harvard and Shawn Carland from the University of Southern Maine embrace at the end of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Convergence conference in Annex I at SF State Saturday, April 5.

in a press release April 3.

“The Foundation makes investments so that returns can help build the University and its future – that is our fiduciary responsibility,” said Foundation Chair John Gumas. “We are charting new waters here.

As we develop new practices and learn from the experience, we will share our findings with other colleges and universities.”

The organization emphasizes not only divestment from non-renewable energy companies, but reinvestment in clean and renewable energy sources. They claim that profits from oil, gas, coal and tar sands companies are volatile and on the decline as people realize that fossil fuels are a finite resource.

“This is not only socially responsible, but economically feasible as well,” said Fossil Free SFSU Chairman Adam Sherman, who asserts that many investors have had success with renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydropower.

The movement has convinced some members of the administration and foundation to take the possibility of full divestment seriously.

“I was only thinking about the legal obligation to create a larger return to the investment,” said Robert J. Nava, the president of the SF State University Foundation, speaking at an event at the conference. “This moment wouldn’t have ever happened if it weren’t for the students.”

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APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

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CEASE gets personal about drinking

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reating Empowerment through Alcohol and Substance Abuse Education (CEASE) hosted “Blurred Lines,” Monday in the Library Events Room, which consisted of a panel of students who volunteered to speak about their personal experiences with alcohol and drugs to try and relate to students, according to CEASE member Jesse Dickens.

“We try to derive our workshop activities from experiences such as current drinking games,” said Dickens. “This brings a more ‘street’ view to our education which I think is what college students are more interested in learning about.”

Dickens, a senior health education major, remembered the frustrations of taking an online two-hour alcohol awareness assessment during her freshman year. She hopes that the social interaction of the group’s future events will better impact students.

The group is also continuing to educate students on their campaign that focuses on alcohol consumption involving the standard 18 oz. red cup seen at parties, according to CEASE director Michael Ritter.

“Students (may) believe that in order to become a little more relaxed, they need to have five drinks instead of one and

BY JAYDA MCCLENDON | jmcclend@mail.sfsu.edu

RYAN LEIBRICH / XPRESS

SCARED STRAIGHT: Speakers discussed their former addictions at CEASE’s “Blurred Lines” event Monday, April 7, 2014.

some are unaware of how much alcohol their body can consume,” said Ritter.

He added that the cup is deceiving in terms of consumption. For example, if someone is drinking an 18 oz. cup of beer, technically they are drinking one and a half beers.

During its campaign, CEASE has been using a harm reduction strategy that teaches students how to understand the correlation between how much they consume and how that affects them.

This process shows students how to

calculate their blood alcohol content, which involves comparing someone’s weight and how much they drank.

Morgan Weinert, a health and wellness coordinator for Residential Life, thinks binge drinking is popular among college students because college is the time that young adults are exploring and testing boundaries.

Two out of five male and female students take part in binge drinking, according to a report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which

defined binge drinking as having five or more drinks for men and four for women in one sitting.

The report also mentioned that each year, an estimated 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional accidents, and around 600,000 suffer from injuries.

As drinking games such as beer pong have become more popular, so has the behavior associated with binge drinking, according to Ritter. Most of the popular games encourage over-consumption of alcohol and he believes that it does not have to be this way.

He said the solution may lie in placing less emphasis on the drinking aspect because it can reduce the negative consequences of over-consumption.

“We have trained our peer educators, fraternities and sororities, athletes, students on the quad, where ever we can find students,” said Ritter. “We believe that a person is less likely to drink more than they intended if they understand this information.”

“For a lot of students, this is the first time that they’re unsupervised and responsible for themselves,” said Weinert. “It’s natural to want to try things that have been off limits until now, or that are assumed to be part of the ‘college experience.’”

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News

APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

M-line may move under university NEW PROPOSAL FOR M-OCEAN VIEW AIMS TO IMPORVE TRANSIT SPEED AND REDUCE TRAFFIC ON 19TH AVENUE.

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BY MICHAEL BARBA mdbarba@mail.sfsu.edu

he San Francisco County Transit Agency (SFCTA) recommended Monday in a feasibility study that transportation planners opt for a longer subway from Ocean Avenue near St. Francis Circle to SF State, rather than the shorter subway alternative previously considered.

Sustainable Streets, a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, is working on the project to improve M-line transit speed and reduce traffic along the busy corridor by 2022, according to a document from the SFMTA. “Add up the people who are riding the M-Ocean View and you end up with thousands of people crossing three lanes of traffic,” said SFCTA Project Manager Liz Brisson, who noted that density in the area is expected to triple.

The project, referred to as the 19th Avenue/M-Line Southwest Subway project, in its latest form would cost an estimated $520 million and provide for a faster M-line through four new stations west of 19th Avenue, including one at Stonestown Galleria, another at SF State and two in Parkmerced, according to the SFCTA study.

“You have these major M-line stations at Winston and Holloway in the median even though the vast majority of the riders want to be on the west side,” said SFMTA Transit Planner Frank Markowitz at a public hearing April 1, “but they have to cross.”

Transportation planners could decide to

place the SF State station near the Science Building or on Holloway Avenue at the northeast corner of Parkmerced, according to the SFCTA study.

An outbound M-line would descend into a subway tunnel after St. Francis Circle; move underground toward a station at Stonestown Galleria and surface at the top of campus in a passageway shared with busses and shuttles, according to the study.

Northbound passage would differ with the train breaching in Parkmerced, just south of Holloway Avenue, according to the study. Holloway Avenue would be closed to vehicle traffic at 19th Avenue, while Crespi Drive in Parkmerced would serve in its place.

To connect to the Ingleside District, the light rail vehicle would cross Junipero Serra Boulevard at Randolph Street via a bridge shared with pedestrians and cyclists, according to the study.

San Francisco transportation planners previously considered an expensive tunnel alternative underneath Junipero Serra Boulevard.

“The agreements of Parkmerced required us to look at transportation improvements to the 19th Avenue corridor above and beyond that project,” said Manager of the SFMTA Urban Planning Initiatives Peter Albert at a public hearing April 1. “We’ve done that.”

In conjunction with Stonestown Galleria owners, SF State officials and Parkmerced investors, the SFMTA project began in 2008 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors requested that officials prepare for

M-OCEAN VIEW AS IT IS NOW increased density along the 19th Avenue corridor, according to the study.

“The Parkmerced development heads committed to design and construct that portion,” said Markowitz. “A value of roughly $70 million and SF State has also offered nearly $2 million to contribute to the upgrade.”

The impact on housing in Parkmerced includes the demolition and replacement of 1,538 units as well as the construction of 5,679 new units, according to the development agreement between Parkmerced investors and the city of San Francisco. More than 1,500 of the current units will remain untouched in the process.

“This is such a key gateway to San Francisco from the southwest and yet

M-OCEAN VIEW: THE PROPOSED LONGER SUBWAY AND BRIDGE AT STREET LEVEL BELOW GROUND SUBWAY ABOVE GROUND BRIDGE

TAIL TRACK (USED FOR TRAINS RUNNING A SHORTER ROUTE BETWEEN DOWNTOWN AND PARK MERCED

there are these pedestrian friendliness and attractiveness issues,” said Markowitz.

“We’re transitioning from the feasibility study. Now we’re moving into the pre-environmental review that will be led by the MTA.”

ASI election under way Segment III eliminated CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Abellana, who is running for ASI President. “So it’s our responsibility to consistently keep up communication with them.”

Abellana, who is currently the treasurer of United People for Peace at SF State, said that she thinks the next ASI president should do more to make sure that every student on campus feel valued.

A common theme in the debate was the synergy between the Cesar Chavez Student Center and ASI, since the two organizations will be combining into one in the coming year.

“This is probably the most pivotal year that we’re going to have in the student center,” said Miguel Guerrero, who is also running for ASI president. “We need to take it to the next level.”

Guerrero, who is currently the College of Health and Social Sciences representative on the ASI Board of Directors, said that his main focus as president would be providing discounted public transportation passes for every student at SF State.

The current Vice President of Finance for ASI Marco Fuentes said

The voting period for the election: April 7 - 11, 2014 The results of the election: April 12, 2014 that he wants to make sure students get the most from their money.

“Being close to the budget, I believe I’m the best candidate to make sure the future of this organization is within the student’s hands, so they can keep what’s rightfully theirs,” Fuentes said.

Kenneth Collins, who is also running for ASI President, said that he would be a vocal advocate for the student body at SF State. He said that his focus would be maintaining the synergy between ASI and the student center.

“The students need someone who can sit at the helm and be their advocate in all avenues,” Collins said. “It’s one thing to give students a voice, it’s another thing to give students a strong voice.”

Students can cast their vote for online at the ASI website. The elections are this week until Friday and the results will be announced April 12.

CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

substantial changes. GE courses will be divided among nine topical perspectives, or domains of knowledge and inquiry less specific than segment III’s clusters. Students choose upper division courses in one category, which could be “creativity, innovation and convention,”“environment interconnections” or “social justice.”

SF State is the only California State University that does not categorize their GE courses in sections A, B, C, D and E. The change will align the university’s GE with most California colleges and universities and make transferring to SF State a simpler process.

Gerber describes the new GE as a “learning outcome based system.” Faculty will design their courses according to the knowledge students are expected to leave with. This, Gerber says, is a major improvement from the current system, where courses are based on a vague, paragraph-long course description.

“We want faculty to start thinking about, ‘What do I want my students to know, and how do I design my class so that it leads my students to being able to do these things?’” said Gerber.

Every department must reapply their GE courses for approval to the new system.

Departments that have a lot of GE courses, like philosophy, Asian-American studies and English, are affected the most by the changes.

The philosophy department received approval for their 31 GE courses and a number of new ones. Still, Philosophy Department Chair Anita Silvers is concerned that other departments may not be able to provide enough courses for the new program.

“I’ve been at San Francisco State for over 50 years, so I’ve seen a lot of general education programs,” said Silvers. “This one’s going to be very complicated.”

Asian-American studies chair Lorraine Dong anticipates that the initial confusion and loss of an AAS cluster will cause a decrease of enrollment in the major’s courses. But, AAS can attract students back to their GE courses using what Dong calls the “two for the price of one degree package”.

“If students take our AAS GE-qualified courses to fulfill their GE graduation requirements, not only will they almost finish their GE requirements, but they will almost finish the requirements for an AAS major,” said Dong. This means a student can easily graduate with a double major in AAS and another department.

According to Gerber, SF State has been working toward a new GE system for 25 years.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Gerber. “It’s a more cohesive program than it was and I think switching to the learning outcomes is going to be much clearer to the students and the faculty.”

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APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

Arts & Entertainment

STORYTELLING:

A HEALING PROCESS FOR HIROSHIMA SURVIVORS

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BY KYLE DA SILVA | kdasilva@mail.sfsu.edu

he healing process for the victims and witnesses of the traumatic bombing of Hiroshima is a neverending battle. But at a recent event on campus, Masaya Nemoto commended the merit that a simple storytelling can have on the process.

By the end of Stories of Hiroshima, hosted by SF State’s Dilena Takeyama Center for the Study of Japan and Japanese Culture in the J. Paul Leonard library Tuesday, April 1, the audience had placed more value in storytelling – warning future generations not to let history repeat itself.

The evening began as local photographer and filmmaker Kathy Sloane shared her film, “Witness to Hiroshima,” which focused on a Japanese soldier’s experience at Hiroshima.

The film followed Keiji Tsuchiya’s experience as a soldier who aided the residents of Hiroshima after the bombing through watercolor paintings.

The film, which highlighted an emotional (Telling these analogy between bomb stories) is more survivors and horseshoe than a process crabs gasping for their for actual healing, ultimate sip of water, left the audience in a reverent it’s a pursuit for silence. and realization Following Sloane’s of responsibility. work, Nemoto, ethnographic researcher and professor at Tokyo’s HitotMasaya Nemoto, STORIES OF HIROSHIMA subashi University, led a discussion on the healing process these survivors have experienced through storytelling. “(Telling these stories) is more than a process for actual healing, it’s a pursuit for and realization of responsibility,” Nemoto said of the survivors sharing their stories with future generations.

“What happens when we ask our kids ‘Do you know what August 6 means?’” asked Jack Daniki a hibakusha or a Hiroshima survivor. Daniki spoke of the life-altering atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Japan in World War II. The event was attended by 35 people including hibakusha and their relatives, SF State students, faculty, members of the Japanese-American community and social activists.

When the floor opened for questions, an audience member asked Nemoto if the physical, psychological and social adversity faced by hibakusha paralleled the victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

“It places even more power and responsibility for humans to push away violence and bring peace to the world through storytelling,” Nemoto said. “We are turning silent sufferers into messengers for peace.”

Breaking the silence is often a daunting task, said Nemoto.

“I’ve interviewed people who have refused to speak,” he said. “I know a lot of people still harbor a lot of anger.”

When Jon Funabiki, director of the Center, called for the last question of the evening, SF State student Haruka Sawada from Japan and recipient of the Dilena Takeyama scholarship, asked what she could do to help hibakusha and others share their stories.

Funabiki offered her the opportunity to participate in the Peace Lantern Ceremony, held in Berkeley around the anniversary of the bombing.

He also suggested participating in After The Disaster: A Student Storytelling Project. The project will begin in June and offer three journalism students and three Japanese students the opportunity to learn and produce stories on how residents of the Fukushima region are coping with the aftermath of the disaster.

“There are ways other than words to share your experience,” said Sloane. “Sometimes words are the hardest.”

TONY SANTOS / XPRESS

WORKING: Assistant Professor of Cinema and Animation Advisor, Ben Ridgway in the Fine Arts building animation room, Friday, April 4.

‘Cosmic Flower Unfolding’ in SF International film fest

BY ANNA HECHT | ahecht@mail.sfsu.edu

cosmic flower is a pulsating, circling shape of pastel yellows, blues and pinks. A cosmic flower unfolding is something greater; an electric kaleidoscope of breathing flower forms swirling and dulling to tease the mind and invite the eyes to a show of pure energy and existence.

This is the abstract work of SF State Assistant Professor Ben Ridgway, whose short film, “Cosmic Flower Unfolding,” is set to be displayed at the SF International Film Festival April 26. Ridgway’s name is now added to the list of filmmakers featured in the upcoming festival, which also includes SF State cinema professor Jesse Moss.

Ridgway teaches animation at the college and his 2-minute film displays the vibrant movements of animated flowers, made from his own illustrations and sculptures he produced through the drawing program ZBrush. Ridgway said he didn’t have a plan when he began the filmmaking process, but that this method is nothing new for him.

“A lot of my films are abstract,” he said. “I draw and paint a lot and do digital sculpting just to explore different shades and forms. Most of the time I do spontaneous drawing and painting and sculpting, and from there it kind of evolves from that place of spontaneity.”

Ridgway found inspiration for his film from study-

ing the ocean-life illustrations of Ernst Haeckel, a 19th Century German biologist, philosopher and illustrator. Ridgway sought to replicate Haeckel’s work, but instead created a film that combined this and his own previous illustrations, as well as the image of a face he saw one day when figuring out how to animate a flower unfolding.

“The face was sort of inhaling and exhaling at the same time and it seemed to represent an exchange of energy or life that would be experienced through human existence,” he said. “It was very profound.”

Sean Uyehara, a programmer for the SF International Film Festival, selects and programs films for the festival’s “shorts” category and said selecting Ridgway’s film was an easy choice.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “It uses CGI in a way that I think is really satisfying and it resonates with the history of abstract animation in certain ways.”

“Cosmic Flower Unfolding” previously won the Royal Reel Award for animation at the 2014 Canada International Film Festival and received a selected screening at Columbia’s 2013 CineToro Film Festival.

Ridgway also delivered a special presentation of the making of the film at the 2013 international computer graphics convention known as SIGGRAPH. Ridgway’s latest film, “Tribocycle,” has also received its fair share of recognition. Kim Baca, marketing and communications director for the Institute of American Indian Arts, said the film will be shown at Currents: The Santa Fe International New Media Festival in June. Currents partners with the institute and “Tribocyle” will be displayed on its giant Digital Dome, the only articulating dome in the world that can rotate 90 degrees to provide unique viewing experiences.

“The dome completely envelops your field of view,” Ridgway said. “It’s as close to virtual reality as you can get without having to put on a headset.”

Ridgway said that of all the prestige his work has received, he finds it most rewarding to know what viewers think of his films and how the colorful animated images left them feeling.

“Everybody’s experience is a little bit different when they see my films,” he said. “That’s the exciting part, seeing how other people react.”

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Opinion

APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

A new Muni route

BY KYLE DA SILVA kdasilva@mail.sfsu.edu ANDREW CULLEN

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF culle010@mail.sfsu.edu

JORDAN HUNTER

PRINT MANAGING EDITOR jordanh@mail.sfsu.edu

NENA FARRELL

ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR haydee@mail.sfsu.edu

NATALIE YEMENIDIJAN ART DIRECTOR nataliey@mail.sfsu.edu

EVELYN CAICEDO

ART ASSISTANT ecaicedo@mail.sfsu.edu

BAILEY RIDDLE

COPY EDITOR briddle@mail.sfsu.edu

JESSICA CHRISTIAN PHOTO EDITOR jac@mail.sfsu.edu

BRADLEY FOCHT

NEWS EDITOR bfocht@mail.sfsu.edu

DAVID MARIUZ

NEWS EDITOR dmariuz@mail.sfsu.edu

LAUREN SEWARD

A&E EDITOR lseward@mail.sfsu.edu

ANNASTASHIA GOOLSBY OPINION EDITOR agoolsby@mail.sfsu.edu

CURTIS UEMURA

SPORTS EDITOR cuemura@mail.sfsu.edu

RACHEL ASTON

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR raston@mail.sfsu.edu

WILL CARRUTHERS

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR wcarruth@mail.sfsu.edu

MICHAEL DURAN

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR michaeld@mail.sfsu.edu

RACHELE KANIGEL

PRINT ADVISER kanigel@mail.sfsu.edu

SCOT TUCKER

MULTIMEDIA ADVISER tucker@sfsu.edu

Twenty-one pedestrians were hit and killed last year in San Francisco and Mayor Ed Lee’s “Be Nice, Look Twice” Campaign is among one of the most useless things he’s done during his time in office.

People just aren’t that nice and a simple campaign cannot change their state of mind.

Nineteenth Avenue is six lanes wide and a stretch of U.S. Highway 1. Traffic roars through its busy intersections — Stonestown Galleria and SF State — next to the sluggish M train. On the other side of town, the SFMTA is spending nearly $1.6 billion on the Central Subway and down

by SF State, city planners are proposing a 19th Avenue subway. This is a great idea, both for public transit users and motorists.

The 19th Avenue subway for the M-Ocean View line, which carries around 27,000 riders every day, would run from St. Francis Circle to Parkmerced, where it would cross Junipero Serra Boulevard and rejoin the M’s current route on Randolph Street.

The value of a 19th Avenue subway cannot be overstated. With the new underground route’s proposed stations at Ocean Avenue, Stonestown and SF State, the subway will be a huge improvement for a city grappling with so many pedestrian deaths that former mayor Gavin Newsom called a “public health crisis.”

Finding a solution that contributes to reducing pedestrian deaths in our chaotic city should be reason enough to endorse this proposition. If

not, there are other convincing reasons.

Commutes will be sped up immeasurably, both for motorists on 19th Avenue and for subway riders who will no longer have to wait in a train that has to deal with traffic, careless drivers, traffic laws and constantly stopping at red lights. As a result, reliability will improve and alleviate the painfully slow stretch between West Portal and Ocean View.

The state of transit on 19th Avenue is in poor shape and expanding the city’s subway tube could solve that problem.

But what about the funding?

What about the SFMTA’s skimpy transit budget being poured into the Central Subway? The projected budget for the project is $520 to $780 million, not even half of what the city is spending on the Central Subway. Competition for transit funds in San Francisco is fierce but SF State promised to invest $1.8 million for a campus station and Parkmerced developers would be obligated to kick in funding as well.

San Francisco’s dysfunction in city government is notorious but the 19th Avenue project would be completed by 2022; compared to the 2030 date projected for the Central Subway, even with its head start.

With extra room on 19th Avenue the city could widen lanes for motorists, expand the sidewalks for pedestrians and even place a much needed bike lane along the University campus. No one should have to dodge cyclists, who are forced to bike on the sidewalk to avoid being hit by a reckless speeding driver, when walking between Trader Joe’s and campus.

A PROPOSAL HAS BEEN RELEASED TO CONSTURCT AN UNDERGROUND SUBWAY RAIL FOR THE M-OCEAN VIEW LINE.

BY DAVID MARIUZ dmariuz@mail.sfsu.edu

A faster commute between campus and downtown is a nice thought, but building a subway through 19th Avenue is a pipe dream.

The project is designed with good intentions but is completely impractical. Tunneling underneath the M-Ocean View line is contingent on whether it gets approval in the first place.

Bureaucracy — government action that impedes progress through official procedures — is number one on the list of reasons as to why American mass-transit projects take so long to build, according to an article on Salon.com.

Many big transit projects receive partial funding from the Federal Transit Administration but before the FTA decides to award a grant, projects must prove their worth in the form of a study.

As of right now, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is only looking into the project with a preliminary study.

The project is expected to cost about $520 million but that number may end up being as high as $780 million. Not to mention that funding has not been fully identified, according to the study.

Even if the project does get the green light, then construction is likely to cause disruption in the nearby area.

Take the Los Angeles MTA Purple Line extension for example.

It is designed to connect the western edge of the city to downtown, so it will require a large investment of time and money and it is only in the most prelimi-

ART BY JORDAN CERMINARA

KEN KOBRE

PHOTO ADVISER ken@kobre.com

nary stages of construction.

It’s slated for completion in 2035 at the earliest but neighbors have already begun complaining about the noise, according to a recent article by the LA Times.

No doubt the noise will be an annoyance here as well. Construction on the 19th Avenue subway project will make living near the proposed site unpleasant to those who value their sleep.

Even if construction takes place during the day, school is in session. Not only will the noise be disruptive but the work sites will force students to find alternative routes, causing unnecessary stress.

Traffic congestion, which is already bad enough, will become worse when construction workers have to redirect impatient drivers around the busy highway that this project proposes to tunnel under.

Current students are not likely to be around for the subway’s completion in 2022, which means a new subway will not benefit them.

Besides, there are too many other things that need attention now.

Students did not even have access to a full-service Science Building this semester and the University already faces a massive backlog in deferred maintenance.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, SF State will contribute $1.8 million to help pay for the new station. The university cannot afford to invest in a project like this when many of the already-existing structures on campus are badly in need of attention.

SF State funds too many projects that don’t benefit students when it matters, such as the Recreation Center planned for completion in 2018 and the full-scale revamping of the Gymnasium’s locker rooms.

The solution lies in making better use of the resources that are available now. Speedy travel can be made by relieving the city from its dependence on cars, while also encouraging more frequent trains and greater ridership on the already existing railway.

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WRITE US A LETTER The Golden Gate Xpress accepts letters no longer than 200 words.

Letters are subject to editing.

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For more information or comments, please contact Andrew Cullen at: culle010@mail.sfsu.edu

XPRESS YOURSELF WE ASKED SF STATE STUDENTS:

How would you spend $1.8 million on the Muni system?

“

New Muni, new drivers and new cars.

”“

Photos by: Jessica Christian Reporting by: Angelica Williams

YAZAN DIABIT, FRESHMAN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

”“

”

It should go to Daly City Bart, a lot of people live there. The shuttle doesn’t get you on time and the lines are so long.

Make bigger trains. They get packed really fast and it’s uncomfortable.

ELLIE GONZALEZ, SOPHOMORE

ALEX AGUILA, FRESHMAN

HISTORY

UNDECIDED

Opinion

APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

9

SF State was never a sports-oriented school and it never should be

T

hink back to that moment you chose to come to SF State. You knew you wanted to go to college but the process of picking the right one depends on many factors.

Maybe you came because you’re a local and it was the obvious choice or maybe coming to SF State was less about the school and more about getting the chance to live in San Francisco.

If you are like most of us, San Francisco has a certain allure to it that can’t be found anywhere else on Earth and has history to back it.

San Francisco is where beatniks became; where Jack Kerouac slaved over his typewriter and Allen Ginsberg wrote in blood and called it “art.”

This is where Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison took countless hits of Monterey

BY ANDREW CULLEN | culle010@mail.sfsu.edu

Purple, spoke with God and regurgitated his words into music.

Today, this is the upcoming tech capital of the world and the headquarters for the gay rights movement; undeniably the most important civil rights movement of our generation.

San Francisco is the quintessential cool. It’s different and strange; feared but misunderstood. SF State should fit into the city like a hand in a velvet glove.

In the late ‘60s, a student protest at SF State resulted in the creation of the world’s first ethnic studies department and the first Black Student Union.

SF State had the guts to paint a Malcolm X mural on its student center, which is named after a famous populist: Cesar Chavez.

Students once organized a week-long occupation in the middle of finals week to prevent the mural from being removed. It

was breifly removed but only after the SWAT team stormed the occupation and arrested the students.

There is a reason why the Humanities Building is more bustling than our broken down Gymnasium.

There is a reason the Creative Arts Building is noisier than our Greek ruin-like stadium.

SF State is not a sports school. It never has been and it never should be. This is a humanities school.

SF State President Leslie E. Wong is currently working on what has been dubbed “Wong’s Strategic Plan,” a systematic project that rebuilds aspects of SF State during the coming years.

A portion of this plan is to

ART BY JORDAN CERMINARA

create SF State’s place in the realm of college sports.

SF State has already begun to pour millions into the renovation of the gym and administration is even contemplating changing our mascot.

No one can deny that the gym needs major work or that an alligator has nothing to do with San Francisco, but sports should not be the focus of SF State.

We need to stick to our roots.

Now we are stuck in a transition where we are losing our edge and not gaining a significant sports community in exchange.

If you are into sports, you should transfer to UCLA. If you want to stay weird, either drop out or move to Portland.

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10

Sports

APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

BY HALEY BRUCATO hbrucato@mail.sfsu.edu

Like all brothers, Zach and Isaiah Jimenez fight from time to time. But unlike most, they battle it out on a wrestling mat.

Zach, a senior at SF State, has wrestled alongside his brother his entire career.

But this year has been different. Isaiah didn’t wrestle with Zach — he coached him.

Isaiah was an All-American and threetime national qualifier during his Gator wrestling days and just finished his first season as a volunteer assistant coach at SF State. Zach is now a two-time national qualifier and although not an All-American, he came close at Nationals this year.

“When I was younger, (Isaiah) was my role model, he kept me on the right path,” Zach said. “He’s my best friend and it’s nice having someone like that be able to wrestle with.”

Zach said it has not been much of a transition having his brother as a coach now, because even when they wrestled side by side for SF State, they were always each other’s coaches.

A passion for wrestling has been passed down for generations in the Jimenez family, beginning with their grandfather and continuing on with their uncles and father.

Their father, Simon Jimenez, has been a high school wrestling coach for 30 years and he took his boys to practice as soon as they were old enough. And 18 years later, the brothers have yet to falter from the sport.

“My whole family wrestled, so it was just a matter of time before we wrestled,” Isaiah said. “We were just the little guys getting in the way trying to practice with the big guys. He coached us the whole way, even in college, yelling from the stands.”

Isaiah was recruited to SF State when head coach Lars Jensen offered him a scholarship; to the brothers, this meant that Zach would be going there too when his time came the following year to leave for college.

“It was a package deal. Wherever I signed, they were getting Zach too,” Isaiah said. “Where I chose to go, he was going too.”

Isaiah redshirted his freshman season as he awaited his brother’s arrival to the team the following year.

Zach said he wanted to wrestle where his brother was wrestling and nothing was going to stop him.

Wrestling runs through SF State siblings’ blood

SIMON JIMENEZ / SPECIAL TO XPRESS

COACHED UP : SF State assistant wrestling coach Isaiah Jimenez walks his brother, wrestler Zach Jimenez, up to the mat before his match in the 184 weight class.

“We are inseparable, we literally do everything together. It would have been hard wrestling without Zach to be honest, even living without him,” Isaiah said. The brothers have shared a room their entire lives, including the last four years at SF State.

“It has been a real positive experience having both as wrestlers and now one as assistant coach,” Jensen said. “It is almost

like they’re twins.”

Jensen said he is a twin himself, so he understands what it is like sharing everything with a sibling, and like Isaiah, he is an older brother as well. There is sibling rivalry of course, he added.

“The two brothers go at it and get overzealous at times,” Jensen said. “But they feed off each other. Every day is a battle against the two of them, but that’s

the way it is when you are an older brother. We push them to their best.”

Jensen observed how remarkably supportive their family has been over the years.

“They are the most dedicated family I’ve had in 31 years of coaching,” Jensen said. “Their parents have never missed a competition in five years.”

No matter what state the boys competed in across the U.S. over the years, all they had to do was look up in the stands and they would always find their parents amongst the crowd.

“We’ve watched every single dual anywhere in the U.S., we’ve never missed one,” their mother, Anna Jimenez, said.

Isaiah said his parents make fun of him when they play back footage from competitions. In every video, Isaiah can always be spotted in the corner during each of Zach’s matches, propped in a chair, mirroring Zach’s moves and swaying his body as if he were dueling his brother’s opponent instead.

“He is my biggest motivator, my biggest fan,” Isaiah said. “But it is so stressful being his coach, it is fun but hard — a rollercoaster.”

Next year, their parents will have to adjust to a very strange offseason, without wrestling, as the boys go their own ways.

“It’s going to be weird to finally be separated and now the Jimenez family isn’t going to have any wrestlers,” Isaiah said.

But Isaiah isn’t done with wrestling quite yet. He is finishing his graduate assistant job with experience as a coach under his belt, ending his Master program.

He plans to continue coaching, wherever he ends up. He is keeping his options open as he looks around at different colleges out of state, as far as South Dakota.

But Zach, who concludes his wrestling career at SF State, said he looks ahead to a future without wrestling competitions.

“I’m going back home to try and be a firefighter, and probably try and help (my dad) out at the high school,” he said. “It is kind of bittersweet...I am definitely going to miss competing and traveling with the team.”

Their mother, Anna Jimenez, reflects on the last few years and how sad she is to see the siblings’ time together come to an end.

“They take care of each other at SF State and they were always in each other’s corners (whether) they win or lose,” she said. “It brings tears to my eyes that next season we’re not going to have it.”

After a previous last place finish, Cheer takes second

W

BY TAYLOR LONIGRO | lonigro@mail.sfsu.edu

ith a subpar performance history in this particular event, the SF State cheer team was appreciative to just attend the United Spirit Association Collegiate Nationals competition in Anaheim, Calif. this year.

But they surprised even themselves when they landed second place.

“This team is the definition of the quote ‘Started from the bottom, now we’re here’,” said team member Dominick Gorum. “Our school can use this win to build more school spirit for next year and years to come.”

After finishing last out of 11 teams during last year’s competition, Stacy Huynh, president and cheer captain of the squad and third-year returning team member, was skeptical of the progression of the team but was pleasantly

surprised after they scored the second place title.

“All of us worked hard and we literally shed blood, sweat and tears every practice, but it got us where we wanted,” said Huynh. “We made history.”

After more than a decade of not being able to participate at Nationals, the team was able to make the trip for the second straight year.

The competition started off a little shaky as a pyramid came down and a stunt fall happened on day one. But the strong parts of their performance were enough to land them in third place heading into the final day.

“The parts that fell on Sunday were picked up on Monday,” said head coach Zachary Cohen. “Putting both days together, we hit every part of the routine.”

In preparation for Nationals the team committed upward of 20 hours each week in addition to practices and

performances, preparation that began in November.

“We started working on the basics of pyramids and stunt sequences that we thought we could nail by the time we got back from winter break,” said team member and publicity manager, Tori Cruz. “We started choreographing the actual routine two weeks before the spring semester started.”

Up until the competition, their days were completely devoted to cheer and team bonding.

Once the team was back on campus for the spring semester, daily practice was mandatory with a break during most weekends.

The addition of Michael Gulick as a new coach this season also helped the team improve their technique in order to advance their overall performance in time for Nationals. “(Michael) brought more collegiate

experience to the coaching staff,” said Cohen. “We have upped the difficulty of our stunts, pyramids and baskets and have improved our tumbling across the board as well.”

The cheer team’s most effective tactic in preparing for Nationals was simply performing.

The team did three local showcases in the Bay Area prior to Nationals that served as practice as well as providing a little publicity.

Performing for the public gave the team the needed experience of being in front of an unknown crowd, preparing them for any pressures on stage in Anaheim.

“No one else on this team has seen how much we’ve grown (more than) me,” said Huynh. “We are coming back even stronger for years to come. Next stop, first place.”

Sports

APRIL 9, 2014 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG

11

AT THE FINISH: SF State’s Lea Rocha runs to the finish line in the second heat of the women’s one mile run at SF State’s Distance Carnival in Cox Stadium Saturday, April 5. Rocha’s finishing time was 6:05:73.

SF STATE HOSTS OUTDOOR TRACK MEET TO MORE THAN 1,000 ATHLETES

BY HALEY BRUCATO | hbrucato@mail.sfsu.edu

HURDLES: Western Oregon’s Kody Rhodes (left), and San Francisco Coyotes’ Emmanuel Atsin jump over hurdles in the first heat of the men’s 110 meter hurdles at SF State’s Distance Carnival in Cox Stadium Saturday, April 5. Rhodes finished with a time of 14.609 and Atsin finished with a time of 14.606.

S

F State President Leslie E. Wong was just another fan in the crowd Friday until he reached up to ring the bell that echoed across campus as the Gators looped around for their final lap of the steeplechase.

Teams from all corners of the U.S. came together in the Golden State for the largest home meet in the history of SF State track and field.

The Seventh Distance Carnival at Cox Stadium hosted 1,300 athletes from 150 teams across 24 total states over the weekend.

Things have transformed since its early days when there were merely a 100 athletes competing in 2008. But head coach Tom Lyons has worked tirelessly to expand it to include all the championship events and a couple more, pushing it two full days.

Not to mention more than 1,000 athletes this time around.

“It was extremely well received,” Lyons said. “I love hosting so many teams from all over the country and seeing it continue to grow.”

But Lyons said he is always working to top the last, and make the next year’s meet the ultimate in Gator history. He is already starting on the planning for 2015.

“In the last month (before the meet), I spend every waking hour outside of coaching on getting

PHOTOS BY GAVIN MCINTYRE / XPRESS

ready,” he said. “It’s worth it.”

Since the team was coming off of spring break the week before, Lyons said the coaches were expecting the athletes to get back into competition mode without focusing too much on setting top marks.

But Ashley Black had something else in mind for her vacation.

“I didn’t take days off during spring break,” said Black. “(I thought), if my competitor isn’t taking a day off, then I shouldn’t either.”

She trained hard, every single day.

Black went into this two-day meet with five events, unlike most of her competitors.

“I knew it was going to be stressful,” Black said. “I had to mimic how the heptathlon was going to go and with that in mind I went in with a determined mindset.”

But she overcame the stress and made a lifetime best in the 100 meter hurdles clocking in at 15.25, .40 faster than her previous time.

And her leap in the long jump at 5.65 meters tied the school record set

by Aziza Bledsoe in 2003.

“I broke a personal record,” she said. “It’s great to see all hard work that I did in practice actually turn out in competitions.”

And now, she said, these results are propelling her forward with newfound confidence for the upcoming

conference.

Janesha Anthony also had a good day on the track with her second fastest career mark in the 100 meter sprint at 1.96, .2 off her personal record.

She said she couldn’t have hoped for a better meet to come back on, not to mention she added that their T-shirts almost sold out, an exciting thing for the Gators.

And Kareezia Younger’s sub-60 4x4 relay split was an impressive way to conclude the meet over the weekend, where the Gators placed fourth overall and beat last year’s record. She placed fifth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.53 meters.

“I would say my performance was pretty hit and miss,” Younger said. “I stayed consistent in my running events but did poorly in my high jump performance.”

“The mental aspect of high jump is just as important as the physical,” Younger said. “I didn’t have the pressure of being away from my home field.” Surprisingly, she was too comfortable at Cox Stadium and didn’t do her best.

This Saturday the Gators will travel to Chico for a small meet and then two more meets the following week as the Conference Championships are fast approaching May 1-3 at UCSD.

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