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LISTENING: SF State President Leslie E. Wong answers questions asked by the Golden Gate Xpress editors during an interview Wednesday, Feb. 11.
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Serving the San Francisco State community since 1927
Wong discusses campus future Golden Gate Xpress editors met with SF State President Leslie E. Wong to discuss his plans for the University Feb. 11. Main topics that surfaced from the interview were an update on the plans for a Hunters Point extension, the implementation of the University’s new Strategic Plan and campus safety. Below are the president’s responses, with questions edited for clarity. XPRESS: We heard that there will be a $3 million cut in academics in the next academic year. What areas are we specifically cutting from and who is going to be impacted the most? LW: There is no answer to where and whom yet. It’s my understanding, and actually the call went out to the leadership just recently, the deans have been preparing for it for awhile. XPRESS: Do we have an agreement now that there’s going to be a Bayview-Hunters Point campus? LW: There is no formal signed agreement. There is policy work and program work in partnership with Lennar, but there’s also our partnership with the community and our work here on campus. We’ve been spending a lot of time
February 18, 2015
JENNAH FEELEY
jfeeley@mail.sfsu.edu
After years of serving the sf state community, Asia express owners struggle to overcome financial loss brought on by proposed new vendors As far back as he can remember Felix Meng has worked alongside his parents at their restaurant, Asia Express, in the lower level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center at SF State. He grew up in the building and recalls starting out as a cashier in the second grade. After 18 years, Felix balances being a fulltime student at UC Berkeley, working 30 hours at his job and putting in an additional 20 hours on weekends at his parents’ restaurant to help keep his family from going under financially. A series of highs and lows have left the Mengs struggling to manage their finances and worried for the future, which could be determined at University Corporation’s next meeting Feb. 19. When Frank and Shally Meng opened Asia
UCorp Continued ON PAGE 4 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARTIN BUSTAMANTE / XPRESS
Local band lands West Coast tour
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JENNAH FEELEY jfeeley@mail.sfsu.edu
ex, drugs and teenage rebellion collided to set the scene for Hungry Skinny’s first show in a former nun convent in the Haight-Ashbury district. The San Francisco band that has committed to rocking out, partying hard and having a good time since day one continues to serve up classic, reckless rock ‘n’ roll four years later. “Our first show we killed it,” bassist Sean Russo said. “We were like ‘we’re the best band in the world.’” Russo and frontman Garrett Riley grew up jamming together while drummer Ty Thorpe and lead guitarist Remy Vale, both SF State alums, had played together since 7th grade. Together, the
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two childhood bandmates duos merged to make Hungry Skinny’s bluesy, funky rock ‘n’ roll style. The band’s tastes are rooted in different genres-- Russo and Riley grew up on old rock and grating, unruly punk while Thorpe and Vale cut their teeth on pop rock. According to Riley, raw emotion tacks onto musical technicality to form their head-banging, finger-snapping sound. “You’ve got the sloppy emotional stuff coming from Sean and I, mixed with the clear and concise method of expression coming from Ty and Remy,” Riley said. “Those two things meet and somewhere in the middle is Hungry Skinny.” The band’s beginning reaches back to a chance meeting when
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SNOWTOPPED TREES: (Left to right) Ty Thorpe, Garrett Riley, Remy Vale and Sean Russo of the rock ‘n’ roll band, Hungry Skinny, pose amongst a forest of amplifiers after an impromptu performance Monday, Feb. 16.
Riley, who had been hitchhiking on his way to backpack in Marin County, was offered a lift by drummer Thorpe. The two got to talking about music and decided to meet up to play after realizing they both lived in the city. Soon after Riley returned from his North Bay excursion, he joined Thorpe and other friends
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for a jam session. The others they could do without, but the two soon-to-be Hungry Skinny members hit it off immediately. “We started jamming to some songs I had on a record that I had just made on my four-track at home,” Riley said. “I showed
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President Wong answers questions Continued from the front looking at how does the campus and faculty, in particular, feel we can do there effectively. We just started having, as you noted in the newspaper, community forums out in Bayview-Hunters Point. I think it’s part of our soul, and certainly my soul, that we’re going to work with the resident’s of Bayview-Hunters Point. XPRESS: Have you done anything to look into extending any public transportation to that area? LW: Well, that came up at our meeting with BART and Muni, and I didn’t know this, but apparently there is a new proposed line going across town. XPRESS: A Muni train line? LW: Oh, no. Not a train line. I mean a bus route. XPRESS: Did you work out what the cost might be? LW: No, we were actually talking about the route and timing. Even though our goal is to have a campus out there, I really think it’s a transportation two-way thing. I think students from here could be taking classes there. I think students in Bayview-Hunters Point should be coming to classes here on, I call it, the 19th Avenue campus. I want the full resources of this University available to students who are taking courses in Bayview-Hunters Point. XPRESS: The University’s Strategic Plan mentions hiring practices with the goal to implement a five-year staff and faculty hiring plan. What does that mean? LW: We are underpowered on the faculty side, on the staff side, on the management side. And so, I’ve asked the cabinet if we could put together a five-year plan to address that issue. I think access to class means maybe we should be hiring more faculty. XPRESS: Are there specific departments that you’re most focused on staffing? LW: I think every department needs people. I’d like to be able to minimize our operational cost and actually increase personnel hiring, you know, and that’s not an easy thing to do.
XPRESS: The Strategic Plan also mentioned maximizing affordable student housing. How do you plan to accomplish that goal and can we expect to see more housing here in the future? LW: Yes. One variable of the answer to that is this: I think when we say student housing, we should mean it, and we don’t have enough of it. And that’s kind of what the painful dynamics here are. You know when you graduate, I think you need to move on, unfortunately. As you’ve captured nicely, there’s tension there because there’s not enough student housing and so part of the Holloway development, mixed use development from 19th (Avenue) all the way down to Lake Merced Boulevard was essentially to put store-fronts on the street level and then two to three levels of student housing above it. We’ve just put out bids for the first third DANIEL E. PORTER / XPRESS of it and that’ll begin here fairly soon. We’re starting THOUGHTS: SF State President Leslie E. Wong listens to a question from the Golden Gate Xpress editors in the Administration Building to look at property up on the north end of campus on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Winston and what potential there is there. XPRESS: In October of last semester, a jogger was better. We’re trying to strengthen each of the things that reportedly sexually harassed at Cox Stadium. This past we’re doing to make sure that we are absolutely trying to Thursday we also heard news of a report of a sexual provide the best safety measures we can. battery that occurred a short distance away at nighttime. XPRESS: It sounds like it’s going to be a mix of both What are you doing to protect students walking around advising students to be more alert as well as having the late at night? Is this campus safe for students? police involved? Is that correct? LW: We are an urban campus and we are an open LW: Like I said, it’s a complex network of how you campus. The issue of safety is a partnership between lay out campus security. It involves blue lights that funcstudents being more alert as well as effective deployment tion, and now they do. We made sure that they do. And in of our police and yellow jacket staff, etc. We hope that fact, you guys reported to me that some of them didn’t. that teamwork will continue to provide, from my perspec- We had them tested and repaired and they’re functional. tive, a pretty safe urban campus. From the perspective of XPRESS: Why are you focusing so much on sports the victims, it’s not a safe place. We’re starting to worry now, and where is that funding coming from? not only about on-campus, but the safety of students LW: I have focused on sports since the first day I was while they’re in transit. If you’re expecting me to say that here. The athletic program for me is the front door to the we’re an unsafe campus, I think the numbers would say University, and it was in such disrepair, when you drove 30,000 students in a 20-hour schedule in a metroplex as by the house you couldn’t believe what might be inside complex as San Francisco, we’re doing well. We could do the house.
Students archive incidents of police brutality ANGELINE UBALDO
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aubaldo@mail.sfsu.edu
mid the anti-police brutality movement and Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, an SF State student organization is zeroing in on tracking abusive officer activity and increased police accountability for misconduct. The Black & Brown Liberation Coalition is an organization created to combat racism and raise awareness on issues regarding police and people of color. The group started developing this database project after their “diein” demonstration on campus last October. At the event, hosted by BBLC, students dropped “dead” at Malcolm X Plaza to observe the National Day of Awareness Against Police Brutality. The police officer database is a long-term project the group has worked on that will cite San Francisco officer records and detail instances of killings, abuse, harassment and excessive force and will be accessible online through the upcoming BBLC web page. “Right now there’s no cohesive or actual one location where we can see records of police officers who have killed, who have extensive violence on their records,”
said Brittany Moore, founder of BBLC. “We’ve decided ‘Let’s do it.’” Moore said the database will consist of two different parts: one part will list the names of the officers and records of abuse while the other part will document profiles of victims who have been killed by officers. BBLC member Lisa Mears said they hope to document counts of police brutality dating back to the 2009 death of Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale station in Oakland. The biggest obstacle BBLC faces will be obtaining records of SFPD officers because of confidentiality issues, Moore said. The members will attempt to attend SFPD’s Youth and Community Engagement meetings which are only open to SFPD officers. Moore said she would like members working on the database to have access to those meetings to establish a friendly presence. “If (the police) let us into there and they get to know us and understand we’re not trying to do anything that the community doesn’t want, this will look better for police officers in general if (they) realize the importance of working with your community as opposed to pushing back against what the community wants,” Moore said.
The YCE is responsible for building relationships between the police department and the community and creating open dialogue between the two, according to the SFPD website. The BBLC is working on the database with the Black Student Union and MEChA at SF State. They also teamed up with CopWatch, a North American nonprofit organization that monitors police activity and watches for signs of brutality. Moore said the groups will work together to fact check by confirming with SFPD and conducting peer reviews. Elizabeth Brown, associate professor and coordinator of the criminal justice studies program, thinks the database can be beneficial but also has concerns about bias. “There’s a lot of statistics we don’t know surrounding those issues,” Brown said. “But I also think that sometimes those issues can be subject to political whims and not necessarily looked at in a more concerted and cohesive manner.” Moore said that while the creation of the database is still in its early stages, she has high hopes of what it will accomplish. “I hope people start piecing together the fact that (police brutality), by no means, is an isolated incident,” Moore said.
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BAY AREA TRANSPORTATION UPDATE
Infected rider prompts measles scare AVERY PETERSON averylp@mail.sfsu.edu
No new cases have been linked to last week’s BART rider who was the first confirmed case of measles in the Contra Costa County, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The county’s health services and the SFDPH issued a widespread alert to BART riders Feb. 11 following an infected LinkedIn employee’s commute to work in San Francisco a week earlier. The investigation into possible exposure has been shifted from BART to the person’s workplace, according to SFDPH public information officer Nancy Sarieh. “It is less likely to contract
measles from casual contact on BART because people are moving in and out quickly,” Sarieh said. “It’s more likely to occur at the workplace where people interact longer in confined spaces.” Erika Jenssen, the Communicable Disease Programs Chief for the Public Health Division of Contra Costa Health Services, said the proven case was indicative for the area. “This first confirmed case in Contra Costa County illustrates that there is measles throughout the Bay Area,” Jenssen said. “We do not (definitely) know if others have been exposed, but other counties have reported cases.” Once a case is confirmed through lab work, the CCHS begins a contact investigation, Jenssen said. Interviews determine what the person was
doing while infectious and who they may have come in contact with. The investigation revealed the infected person traveled on BART to work and a restaurant while infectious. The CCHS and the SFDPH are collaborating to track down and notify people who might have been exposed. Students at SF State said they had mixed reactions to news of the outbreak. Environmental studies major Evelyn Bruce said that vaccinations should be mandatory. “People that don’t vaccinate put everyone else at risk,” Bruce said. “A parent can take a kid on BART and get everyone infected.” Dylan Tachick, a cinema major, said despite riding BART and Muni up to four times per day he is not worried about the measles outbreak. “We have technology and
medical programs, so even if we have a person on BART with measles they get treated right away,” Tachick said. “It gets taken very seriously.” Junior Maya Church said that she rides public transportation at least twice each day. “It definitely worries me,” Church said. “That’s really disgusting to think that I could catch something as serious as measles riding public transportation every day.” Church said news of the outbreak has not deterred her from taking public transportation. “I don’t really have another option,” Church said. “A lot of people don’t have another option so I guess we just have to be cleaner and take better care of ourselves.” Rachael Kagan, the Director of Communications at the SFDPH, said that there are no special precautions to help BART riders avoid becoming infected.
“It is an excellent idea for students to make sure their measles vaccinations are up to date,” Kagan said. “Most people are vaccinated and that is very effective and the best protection against measles.” Jenssen suggested that students check to ensure they have had two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. She said if students are unsure, they can get a blood test or talk to their health care provider. “Students whose parents have chosen for them to not get vaccinated can now rethink that decision so they can protect themselves and others,” Jenssen said. Aimee Williams, a lead health educator at SF State, said students can get the MMR vaccine and many other immunizations at the Student Health Center. Details on the vaccination clinics offered on campus can be found at the Student Health Services website. MOVEMENT: Fremont bound train
heads into Fruitvale BART station Tuesday, Feb. 17.
DANIEL E. PORTER / XPRESS
BART amends smoking policy to ban vaping STEVE CALDERON snc@mail.sfsu.edu
DANIEL E. PORTER / XPRESS
MOD: SF State freshman Jay N. uses his vaporizer pen in the smoking area near the Humanities building Tuesday, Feb. 17.
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In my opinion, laws are there to be broken. If the BART puts the ban, people are still going to do it unless you know there’s cops or whatever enforcing it.
”
-BRIAN PAN
Commuters can no longer use e-cigarettes and vaping devices on BART property, according to a recent update to their no-smoking policy. The ordinance, passed Feb. 12, is a remedy to complaints the company has received about smoking, BART Communication Officer Taylor Huckaby said. Unlike the former policy, the new no-smoking ordinance includes vaping and will be enforced through patron reporting and company police patrols. “We want to create an environment for our passengers that consistently has a non-smoking policy," Huckaby said. "Where you can sit next to somebody and you don’t have to worry about breathing in their nicotine vapor or tobacco smoke.” Signs will be posted throughout stations and trains to inform riders about the new ordinance.
Students at SF State are skeptical about the new policy’s effectiveness, and some said the presence of police will be the only way BART will be able to enforce the new ban. “Some of the things you can’t really do on BART, people still do it,” SF State sophomore Jose Perez said. “I feel that a lot of the vapes don’t really have an effect on other people, like as much as the smell of tobacco and when people smoke cigars, vapes aren’t as strong. I personally think vapes aren’t a problem." Graduate student Francesca Thompson is an occasional vape smoker and said she agrees with the decision but does not believe the signs will be effective. “It’s not going to be effective at all," Thompson said. "I feel like in order for that to be effective, there needs to be more
police presence monitoring that.” Kinesiology student Brian Pan said he agrees with the policy as a courtesy to riders. Pan, not a smoker, believes people should not be smoking vapes in enclosed areas. “I don’t know what’s in it, I don’t know if it will effect peoples lungs," Pan said. "I don’t know if that’s like secondhand smoking and if you’re in an enclosed environment, it can be harmful." Pan said the new policy will not stop student riders from adhering to the ban, much like the no-ride bicycle policy on campus is often ignored. “In my opinion, laws are there to be broken,” said Pan. “If BART puts the ban, people are still going to do it unless you know there’s cops or whatever enforcing it.”
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UCorp to determine future of long-term vendors
Continued from the front
When Frank and Shally Meng opened Asia Express in 1997, it was the only Asian vendor in the student center and the Mengs were told they would retain exclusivity by CCSC officials, according to Felix. As the years passed, more Asian cuisine vendors, like Tuk-Tuk Thai and Quickly, were invited to do business at SF State, which he said negatively impacted the Mengs’ revenue. “In the beginning we were the only Chinese food restaurant, only Asian food restaurant on campus actually,” Felix said. “It went from one Asian place to five which was horrible for us economically.” The family paid over $320,000 for a complete remodel in 2005 to remedy an unsafe kitchen setup that had been in place before they opened shop, Felix said, and CCSC members extended their sublease renewal to 16 years, promising the Mengs would make that money back. “This was literally our blood and sweat,” Felix said. “This was our only source of income. It was a huge investment on our end and we expected to make that back over the years.” Remodeling costs, raised rent and heightened competition among the other Asian food vendors left the Mengs in bad shape financially by 2013, when CCSC Retail Commercial Services Manager Leonard Corpus presented the idea of a buyout, Felix said. According to Felix, his father told Corpus he would consider selling if it meant regaining money lost in the remodel. Within a week, Corpus brought forth a potential buyer: Panda Express. “We never actually made the first move to find Panda Express, it was the student center business office that did that,” Felix said. “Before (Corpus) had even reached out to my parents he had already been talking to Panda Express.” In the weeks that followed, a Panda Express entourage visited the Mengs’ establishment by Corpus’ invitation, a move that ruined the family’s business, according to Felix. Employees who figured their jobs were threatened abandoned ship, which left the owners, both in their 60s, working more than 16 hours a day. “Bringing Panda Express in with Panda Express logos killed our business,” Felix said. “Literally in the next month, half our employees left. That destroyed our business the whole rest of the school year.” Realizing a deal with Panda Express might be their only way out, the Mengs started negotiating with the company and eventually signed a letter of intent, which the CCSC board knew about, according to Felix.
Amidst the Mengs’ talks with Panda Express, CCSC’s management of the student center was set to expire at the end of June 2014 and University administration had decided to end the deal with CCSC and give management of the building to UCorp. Because vendors held subleases under the master lease between CCSC and the University, their agreements would also fold June 30. During the master lease transition to UCorp, CCSC officials told the Mengs they could not make any major changes and the deal with Panda Express fell into limbo, according to Felix. UCorp took over the building and the existing vendors July 1, 2014. Some vendors had leases extending five to 10 years past the CCSC’s master lease expiration in 2014 and UCorp chose to honor the subleases already in existence. “Legally, we could definitely end people’s leases tomorrow, give them notice today and say ‘your lease expires at the end of the month,‘” UCorp Executive Director Jason Porth said. “We’d be legally permitted to do so but I don’t think it would be justifiable under the promises that were made.” The UCorp Retail and Commercial Services Committee met and voted to move forward with negotiations with Panda Express in early December but no promises were made to either party, Porth said. Soon after the decision to explore the option of Panda Express as a new vendor on campus, members of Associated Students Inc. and sustainability groups voiced concern over welcoming a national chain to SF State. ASI members said they wanted to support local businesses and presented UCorp with a resolution to slow negotiations with Panda Express while sustainability group Real Food Challenge created an online petition in an attempt to convince the campus to cut ties with the company. The pushback resulted in the retail and commercial services committee drafting a recommendation Feb. 12 for the UCorp board to release request for proposals, which invites potential vendors to bid on a lease agreement. “Hopefully we will get a lot of businesses that reply to the RFP and send in their credentials,” UCorp student representative Sarah Pishny said. The recommendation will go to the UCorp board and likely be adopted Feb. 19, Porth said, and an RFP will be released soon after. Any company can respond to the RFP and UCorp will evaluate each proposal to garner which candidate is the best fit for the campus. “There are many factors that will go into this and to
MARLENE SANCHEZ / XPRESS
CUISINE: Frank Meng, owner of Asia Express, stands in front of his restaurant in the Cesar Chavez Student Center Tuesday, Feb. 17.
make sure that it is objective,” Porth said. “There will essentially be a rubric created that will say what percentage each factor is and then people will award points based on their perception of this. Some will be more objective like who’s offering the most money. Others will be more subjective like taste.” Porth said UCorp is committed to recognizing students’ concerns over who can do business on campus, but will also take monetary offers into consideration since 85 percent of rent from vendors funds ASI programs. Because the right to renew leases was granted to current vendors, UCorp must also reach an agreement with the Mengs once a potential vendor comes to terms with them, since they are entitled to the space, Porth said. Remembering past RFP processes, Porth expects to see a handful of responses and hopes the campus community will provide UCorp with input. Felix said Panda Express will be among the potential candidates, but because the company has already sunk money into the deal during the past couple years, the offer to his family will change. According to Felix, the Mengs hope to strike a deal during the spring and move on. “This whole past year has been an up and down roller coaster,” Felix said. “People made a big deal supporting small businesses but they forgot about the small business here right now. My parents have just given up.”
Budget deficit forces University-wide cuts
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F State President Leslie E. Wong assured students the University will help provide classes in the face of an upcoming $3 million campus-wide budget cut. Every department, including academic, administrative and athletics, will submit an action plan to brace for the deficit, but it will not affect faculty employment, according to Wong. “The last thing I want to do is reduce positions,” Wong said. “We are already underpowered, understaffed. I want to minimize the damage to curriculum. We already have impaction, we already have a situation where courses aren’t available on a predictable routine to facilitate access to a diploma, so there’s just a lot of different variables that unfortunately we’ve got to solve at one time.” Financial deficit accumulated through the years has led SF State and other California State Universities to rely on more part-time faculty than full-time tenure-track professors, according to California Faculty Association Chapter President and part-time lecturer Sheila Tully. “Here at SF State, part-time temporary lecturers teach about between 50 and to 55 percent of classes on campus,
ELIZABETH CARRANZA ecarranz@mail.sfsu.edu
which is actually low compared to other CSU campuses where it is up to 75 percent,” Tully said. Part-time lecturers are hired to teach anywhere from two classes per semester, are temporary and are paid less money compared to full-time faculty on campus, according to Tully. “I don’t think the quality of teaching of lecturers is any different,” Tully said. “In fact, I would argue that lecturers are very dedicated and you have to be for the low salary that we earn.” Most part-time faculty do not know whether they will return to teach at SF State until three weeks before the new semester starts. Students and part-time faculty are left in a whirlwind of stress not knowing what classes are offered or who will teach them, Tully said. “I’m scrambling in three weeks to pull together a syllabus, order books, create my lectures and it’s extremely stressful for me,” Tully said. “Since the height of the budget crisis, classes are rolled out in batches, so it’s not unusual for me to get a call or email in June saying ‘if we are able to offer such and such class, will you be willing to teach it?’”
Due to CFA Union efforts on campus, Tully said SF State temporary part-time lecturers who teach two classes are guaranteed medical benefits. Despite the hurdles of being a part-time lecturer, Tully said she believes students are the most affected by this issue. “Last year I taught three classes, but had 180 students,” Tully said. “That’s more than full-time work. When I have 180 students, I can’t give (more) time and attention than when I have 60 students.” SF State child and adolescent development major, Alexis Godinez, believes having part-time faculty makes communications between student and professor more difficult. “I don’t think it’s helpful,” Godinez said. “Students need to contact their professors, but their availability makes it hard.” Wong said staffing of faculty and professional advisers will become a priority once the deficit is paid off. “I just think we’re underpowered right now,” Wong said.
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Professor studies stress in marginalized couples
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weat dampened Frankie Olivares’ palms as he linked hands with his partner and headed home from work. Even after a six-hour shift, the familiar feel of his boyfriend’s hand wasn’t enough to undo the bundle of nerves tightening in his stomach. Olivares, 26, is in a same-sex interracial relationship with a six-year age gap. Over the past year, Olivares and his partner have weathered the first seasons of being an intersectional couple. He readily recalled the time when he was wary about going public with his relationship at work. “As we walked to the front of the store, I would tell him to hold my hand as tightly as possible so we could get through it together,” Olivares said. “It was difficult to get over the initial fear of coming out to so many people at one time, but no one at work had a problem with it.” Many same-sex couples experience social stressors like fear of discrimination, internalization of negative social beliefs of one’s identity, management or concealment of their sexuality and expectation of rejection, according to a theoretical article authored by SF State sociology professor Allen LeBlanc that appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family this month. The study explores the stress marginalized couples face because of the stigmatized status of their relationship. The framework for his article also applies to interracial, interfaith, age-discrepant couples or relationships in which one or both partners are physically challenged. The article presents a case in point for the study of identity-based stressors that affect both an individual’s health and the health of a marginalized couple’s relationship. LeBlanc’s work is part of a larger body of research through SF State’s Health Equity Institute’s Project SHARe: Stress, Health and, Relationships, which is funded by the National Health Institute. “We are collecting data using multiple methods over a
KALANI RUIDAS kruidas@mail.sfsu.edu
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL E. PORTER / XPRESS
five-year period of time in order to evaluate whether these new ways of thinking theoretically about stress and health are indeed useful,” LeBlanc said. “We are hopeful that they will be.” The article calls for further investigation about stress proliferation and stress contagion experienced on a couple-level. “Because stress within intimate partnerships is more than the sum of its two parts, it is important to understand how partners stand in relation to one another,” LeBlanc said. “For example, the degree to which a specific stressor faced by one partner influences her or his loved one’s experience of the same or other stressors is not well understood.” SF State Queer Alliance member Lizzy Johnson, 24, identifies as agender and asexual. Johnson’s boyfriend of nine years, Justin Sisk, identifies as cisgender and heterosexual. “The first thing people ever ask is ‘have you done it yet?’” Johnson said. “It’s weird that suddenly, almost immediately after meeting someone, my sex life is publicly up for debate.” Outside factors such as friends and family have also added stress with their probing questions and preconceived ideas about asexuality, according to Johnson. In the past, Johnson has experienced moments of invalidation by those who reject sexual predisposition, which causes stress on an individual level. This stress permeates their relationship, as Johnson’s asexuality requires frequent negotiation with Sisk to acknowledge each other’s feelings in light of their discrepant desire for intimacy. Johnson and Sisk cope with the stress in their relationship through open communication. “We’ve been dating for so long that he’s been there through every step of the journey of my self-discovery,” Johnson said. “We talk things out to get to a point where we’re both happy and in the end, it’s fine. He gets me, he’s my best friend.”
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Fashion creates opportunities for incarcerated women FARNOUSH AMIRI famiri@mail.sfsu.edu
While in a penitentiary in Peru, a group of women meticulously embroidered hints of their rich culture into trendy clutches and backpacks. With the help of an SF State alumna, the unique goods now serve as building blocks for their prosperous future. Amanda Smiles began her non-profit organization Ruraq Maki in 2009, after a study abroad program in Peru turned into a life calling. Since its inception, the non-governmental organization has created economic opportunities for more than 200 low-income and imprisoned Peruvian and Bolivian female artisans through the making and selling of traditional crafts. The Peruvian women Smiles worked with were incarcerated after being charged with drug trafficking, one of the highest offenses in the South American country, punishable with up to 10-15 years in prison, according to Smiles. Unlike the United States justice system, Peru has a degree of “guilty until proven innocent” regardless of the quantity of the drug obtained, Smiles said. The alumna learned about the imprisoned women while she studied in the local city of Ayacucho. She was given two weeks to find a skill she could teach them as a part of her volunteer opportunity. “I did a two-month jewelry making class for the women in the prison and it was the first time that a volunteer really taught them a skill that they could actually use to make money,” Smiles said about her first experience with the artisans. After returning to the U.S. to contin-
ue her undergraduate degree in liberal arts, Smiles received a message from the women in Peru inviting her to come back and continue working with them. After some hesitation, Smiles booked a flight to Peru for six weeks and began to discuss with the women a way for them to make a living and develop a skill base to best benefit them during their time in prison and after their release. “I asked them ‘If I started a program – a non-profit/NGO for you, what would ANGELICA EKEKE / XPRESS you want?’ and they told me what they HANDWORK: Sara White, (left) and Ruth Reyes laugh while they design a bag for Ruraq Maki, a non-profit really needed at the moment was to earn that creates economic opportunities for low income women Tuesday, Feb. 17. money from the products they were making,” Smiles said. Kelly Reddy-Best, an assistant profesgreat cause – it’s a really positive thing Smiles came back to the U.S. and sor of ADM at SF State, saw Smiles’ liston all fronts,” said ADM student Ruth sold some of the handcrafted products ing for volunteer workers and contacted Reyes about her experience designing the women had made out of a traditional the fellow alumna to create an opportunity samples for Ruraq Maki. soft cotton material called manta. She did that benefited them both. The ADM students created 12-15 this to bring back revenue and develop a “Dr. Reddy-Best reached out to Ruraq samples that have been taken back to the long-standing program for the women. Maki through a volunteer website,” women in South America since beginRuraq Maki values the cultural preserSmiles said. “We love the fact that a lot of ning work with the foundation in Spring vation of both the South American counstudents are getting to give back.” 2014. Those designs have aided in cretries they work with, whether it is through For the ADM professor, the partnerating a form of income for the Peruvian their fabrics, textures or the cultural ship was a great opportunity for her apwomen in prison and as a way out of morals and practices that goes into their parel design students to gain experience in poverty for the women in Bolivia. artisan work, according to their mission volunteer work while also acquiring skills In addition to continuing the design statement. The organization also implein accessory making. and merchandising aspect of the organiments fair trade practices and standard The SF State students began to make zation with Reddy-Best, Smiles said she wages in order for the artisans to earn the trend boards that detailed what was in hopes to branch out to more business-oricompensation necessary for feeding and demand in order to create samples and ented classes and also wants to help the educating their families. designs that could be lucrative for the women develop skills that will aid them Beyond making traditional pieces, low-income women to create and sell both in an easy transition to the outside world Smiles wanted to create a long-standing in their local markets and in the U.S. after being released from prison. opportunity for the women and knew that Along with building their profession“The goal of the organization is for could only happen if they were creating al portfolios and giving back, the ADM (the women) to become independent accessories that would be desirable in the students also gained internship credit or artisans and so the fact that their selling U.S. market. That was where Smiles envolunteer hours toward their degrees. designs that we brought them within listed the help of SF State’s apparel design “I think it’s great that we’re all benetheir local market is a success for us,” and merchandising students. fitting from it and being able to help this Smiles said.
Fine Arts Gallery displays globalization and the sea KALANI RUIDAS kruidas@mail.sfsu.edu
Sitting in a black room under a prismatic blue spotlight, surrounded by the sounds of the sea, art graduate student Anthony Wilson was swept up by the oceanic magic of the artwork that will be unveiled under the name Hydrarchy: Power, Globalization and the Sea at SF State’s Fine Arts Gallery Feb. 21. The show is part of an interdisciplinary examination of power and the sea and will include the art exhibit, a film festival on March 6-7 and a panel discussion on March 19. SF State art professor Michael Arcega organized the show with the gallery’s curators, Mark Johnson and Sharon Bliss. After proposing to teach a class MARLENE SANCHEZ / XPRESS on the subject this semester, Johnson PIRATE SHIP: Gallery director, Mark Johnson talks about the Hydrarchy Gallery in the Fine Arts building invited Arcega to do a gallery show. Tuesday, Feb. 17. “Incorporating different areas of study such as cinema, sculpture and art histogiance and citizenship in terms of bodies chy with work from professional artists ry really encourages the art faculty and of water. including John Roloff, Allan Sekula and students to embrace the curriculum as we SF State art professor Santhi KaWeston Teruya. explore this concept,” Johnson said. vuri-Bauer, who organized the panel “When I see an artist working in a Hydrarchy is a term used by the book, discussion, introduced Arcega to the term similar way, I perk up and take notice,” “The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, hydrarchy. Arcega said that it perfectly Arcega said. “I find that (similar) interests Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden framed his interests in globalization, colgravitate to one another. It stems from a History of the Revolutionary Atlantic” onization, post-colonialism and cultural common curiosity.” by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker. diaspora that he references to in his work. Teruya is involved in both the gallery The term refers to the globalization made Sculpture pieces from Arcega’s showing and panel discussion. His sculppossible by way of the sea and encourages “War Clubs” series and his sculpture “El tures “The 9th Island and Other Lands” audiences to think about the power, alleConquistadork” will be shown at Hydrarand “From a land of low-lying clouds”
touch on the diaspora of Hawaii’s population and the cultural allegiances that come from it. “Hawaii is interesting as it is both isolated geographically, but paradoxically connected to other cultures throughout the Pacific,” Teruya said. “I’m interested in what that the negotiation and dynamic of a community without a geographic space looks like and feels like.” To augment these themes, SF State cinema graduates David de Rozas and Rodrigo Sombra will be curating “The Open Boat: Cinema and the Maritime Imaginary.” De Rozas and Sombra will screen a constellation of films exploring labor, trade, migration, diaspora and cross-cultural commerce through seaway travel. “As of now, we’re in the final stretch securing copyrights to screen these films,” Sombra said. “We’re also planning to conduct a short lecture after each screening to tie together all the ideas that have been advanced in the films we’re able to show.” With just three days left until the art show, Arcega is pleased with the way things have fallen into place. “It’s been a rewarding experience,” Arcega said. “Being a new professor on campus, it’s nice to participate in a project that’s larger than the sum of its parts. We are collectively exploring the breadth and possibility of a singular topic. It’s exciting.”
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FEBRUARY 18, 2015
Lifestyle & Culture 7
Campus couples embody TO READ THE FULL VERSION OF STORY VISIT love and diversity THIS GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG EVA BARRAGAN
evbarrag@mail.sfsu.edu
As many celebrated Valentine’s Day around the world, some SF State couples demonstrated that love can succeed in a variety of nontraditional ways. Myka Priela and Rachel Tallon are one of many unique couples on campus who show that relationships are not about labels, but rather about being comfortable and in love. After only two and a half months of long-distance dating, same-sex couple Priela, 25, and Tallon, 21, made the decision to become official and moved in together shortly after. “We got very close talking and texting over the summer,” Tallon said. “But after finally hanging out in person we decided to seal the deal. We had such great chemistry.” Tallon felt there was something missing in her past relationship and has
“
I don’t really know what I am. Bi is just the first word I use because it’s still all new to me. All I know is that I really am in love with Myka and I only want to be with her.
”
-Rachel Tallon
always been curious about women. It wasn’t until she met Priela at The Pub at SF State in April 2014 that her curiosity was finally satisfied and she discovered exactly what she was missing. “I don’t really know what I am,” Tallon said. “Bi is just the first word I use because it’s still all new to me. All
I know is that I really am in love with Myka and I only want to be with her.” Priela moved to Southern California after graduating but returned to San Francisco for Tallon. Priela identifies as a lesbian but said she usually dates girls who identify as heterosexual. “As the relationship progresses it doesn’t matter (if they identify as gay or straight) as long as the other person is loyal and feels the same,” Priela said. Tallon said that her friends and her parents are excited to meet her new partner. While both parties receive support from those closest to them, the same cannot be said for the individuals Tallon and Priela encounter on a day-to-day basis. “People try to treat you like you’re the elephant in the room,” Priela said. “But it’s just like any other relationship. It’s commitment, trust and honesty.” Like Tallon and Priela, communications student Briana Cavinta believes trust and honesty has been the key to keeping her current long-distance relationship steady. When it comes to commitment however, Cavinta and her boyfriend, Clay Flowers, practice a policy that may sound a bit strange to others. Cavinta and Flowers, both 21, met at SF State during their sophomore year and have been dating for a little over a year. Their relationship has been long distance since August 2014 when Flowers moved to Paris to study abroad for one year. “We kind of put our own rules and terms on things because we didn’t want it to be a standard long-distance relationship,” Cavinta said. “We’re together, but my life here and his life there are two completely separate entities.” Cavinta and Flower are practicing a laid back approach to long-distance dating that they call, “don’t ask, and don’t tell.” In their policy, they’re allowed to make their own sexual decisions. If emotions develop with any new individuals,
then the rule ends and they’d have to re-evaluate the situation. “The only way to have a flexible long-distance relationship is if you have trust,” Cavinta said. Seniors Hanah Cook and Alex De Nicolo are also in a long-distance relationship. Cook, 21, and De Nicolo, 22, are an interracial couple who met at a convention for co-ed fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha at SF State. After celebrating one year together, Cook plans to move back to Southern California upon graduation this May. “We’ve had a couple long discussions about that recently,” De Nicolo said. “It’s really hard but it seems like something we need to figure out as it happens. It’s pretty depressing.” De Nicolo said what makes their relationship different from previous za. lm X Pla o ones is the level of mutual respect they lc a M rough have for one another. Walk th “Neither one of us holds more power than the other in our relationship,” he said. Cook shared that her favorite thing about being with De Nicolo is that he makes her feel safe. “I feel comfortable,” she said. “I can be completely myself with him even when we don’t agree about things. I know it’s not going to turn into a fight or that he is going to judge me.” Although the dynamic of Cook and De Nicolo’s relationship differs from other relationships, the thread that connects these Share a kiss in f couples is their commitment to love and trust. of Ike’s ront . “If you don’t trust who you’re with, there is no way you’re going to last,” Cavinta EMMA CHAING / XPRESS said. “You’ll always be wonder- LOVE: Alex De Nicolo and Hanah Cook hang out Tuesday, Feb. ing, ‘What if?’” 10. They have been dating for 15 months after meeting in a co-
Hanah and Alex
ed cinema fraternity.
Rock musicians make a name for themselves Continued from the front
MARTIN BUSTAMANTE / XPRESS
EXCITEMENT: Guitarist Remy Vale of the rock ‘n’ roll band Hungry
Skinny feels the music during an impromptu performance Monday, Feb. 16.
him one song in particular, ‘The Church of Your Choice’ and that’s when he was like, ‘okay I get it, and we’re going to do this.’” The singer had always planned on teaming up with Russo again, and he soon joined the mix. Soon after, Thorpe reached out to his old bandmate, Vale, in need of an amp. One thing led to another and the foursome came together to form Hungry Skinny. In the beginning, the band reached out to friends to populate their shows, but their fanbase has since grown to include people they don’t know, which they said feels really good. “It’s so fucking magical to know that your fanbase is no one who you personally asked to come out to the show,” Riley said. “I see people I don’t recognize and that is ultimate validation.” Some of their most memorable shows include a stint at Slim’s with Mickey Avalon, the Chapel with Jessica Hernandez, the Deltas and the Tropics and Cafe du Nord with Black Cobra Vipers that doubled as a party for Sean’s 21st birthday.
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“They let him drink at midnight, like the stroke of midnight hit when we were on stage and then they served him two drinks,” Vale said. These days, the guys meet five or six times a week in their Pabst Blue Ribbon beer can-lined band cave to practice and plan for their upcoming tour and subsequent album, in which they said they are putting their best foot forward. “The Doors’ first album, that’s an album,” Russo said. “If we can’t make our first album that good then why the fuck are we releasing an album?” “So if it’s not as good as the Doors’ first album we’re breaking up,” Vale joked. Hungry Skinny’s West Coast tour, appropriately named “West and Reckless” begins at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland Feb. 19, loops up to Seattle and lands back at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall March 7. “People are forgetting our names, which is good,” Russo said. “People don’t know who we are they don’t know our names anymore, they just know Hungry Skinny, which is huge and hopefully we’ll get big enough that that reverses and people know our names again.”
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
8 SPORTS
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“
I know we’ve worked very hard, and I hope that in the long run they can look back and say ‘where’d this start? With the 2015 Gator baseball team.
”
-Danny Souza SMILES: Best friends Danny
Souza (left) and Mark Lindsay sit in a shopping cart full of baseballs for a portrait right before practice Tuesday, Feb. 17. ANGELICA EKEKE / XPRESS
Best friends lead baseball team by example JOHN MONTOYA
jmontoy1@mail.sfsu.edu
Building their friendship since the beginning of their Gator baseball career, senior starters Danny Souza and Mark Lindsay have used that camaraderie to influence the baseball squad with their leadership. On and off the field, Souza and Lindsay encourage teammates to arrive early to practice, make good use of the batting cages and strive for excellence in the classroom. Both have been instrumental in getting the team focused and being on the same page strategically during their four years at SF State. Head coach Mike Cummins has seen the commitment both Souza and Lindsay have put into the baseball team, and said
the dedication has been rubbing off on the younger teammates. “The thing that I've really liked this year is they've really done a good job of getting other guys down there (at the batting cages) and there will be 10 or 20 guys down there hitting after practice,” Cummins said. “We have had way more guys doing that now and I think that's because of Mark and Danny." Souza and Lindsay are two of nine seniors on this year's Gator baseball squad and with redshirt junior Peter Reyes, they have grown with the Gator program since their freshmen year. “Those two, and Peter too, were the core group that came in four years ago and they have really blossomed as players," Cummins said. "The leadership we're getting from Mark and Danny this year is the
best we've ever had since I’ve been here.” Gators' outfielder Souza has had his work ethic instilled in him at a young age by his parents and coaches. His hard work has earned him several academic accolades, including a spot on the dean's list. “My whole life I’ve been told to work as hard as I can and that's something that my parents and coaches have put into me,” Souza said. “Academically, it’s also another competitive thing for me. I've put a lot of effort into the classroom, and good things have come from it. I know that in the long run, I'll have a lot of opportunities because of the work that I've put into school. The Gators are off to a 2-5 start and with a long season ahead, Gators' starting catcher Lindsay has high expectations for this year's team.
“Our goal is to make it to the playoffs,” Lindsay said. “We play 40 games so it's kind of a grind for us to do that but it would be a good accomplishment for this program and for or our coach.” Lindsay and Souza said they want to leave lasting impressions in their last year at SF State. The Gators have never made the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament and last made it to the NCAA tournament in 1995. “One thing that coach told me that stuck out is ‘it’s not about the number on your back, it's about the name on the front,'" Souza said. “I know we've worked very hard, and I hope that in the long run they can look back and say ‘where'd this start? With the 2015 Gator baseball team.’”
New improvements brings training facility up to date VINCE FAUSONE IV vfausone@mail.sfsu.edu
Sounds of student-athlete chatter, whirling cold tubs and a flat-screen TV that remains perpetually tuned in to ESPN spill out of SF State's new athletic training room and into the hallway of the gymnasium building. The new facility shares the features of a living room and a hospital, allowing
injured players to rehabilitate in comfort. Medical tables line the back wall, and the tile floor is spacious enough to accommodate a large number of athletes performing stretches and mobility exercises. Less than six months ago, those athletes would have been forced out into the hallway due to a lack of space in the old training room. "The old training facilities were so bad that they kind of hid them from me when I first toured here," said Athletics
ANGELICA WILLIAMS / XPRESS
MASSAGE: Sports treatment tables sit in the new training facility located in the gymnasium at SF State, Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Director Charles Guthrie. "They were not up to par with the rest of our conference. Building championship teams requires being attractive as a program to 18- and 19-year-old athletes, and this is a step in the right direction towards being a school that players want to go to." Guthrie, who was instated as athletics director this past July, inherited the training room project as an inclusive aspect of the $2.1 million upgrades that were made to various parts of the athletic facilities last summer. Head athletic trainer Bryce Schussel said he feels more prepared to deal with injuries and get recovering players back into their team's line-ups quickly since the amenities in his department have been brought up to speed. "It's all about our athletes," Schussel said. "We're here to give them the best experience possible. We don't have to tell anyone to come back later because we don't have the space, and are able to get them the treatment they need when they need it. Nobody's bumping into each other and it makes everything more smooth." Other additions to the athletic training space include an office for the trainers and a separate wet room that houses whirlpool
bathtubs, sinks, coolers and other equipment that requires water usage. "We used to have a lot of water everywhere," Schussel said. "With the wet room we can kind of just say if you need to use that stuff, you can go in there. It keeps the other space dry and ready to go for whoever needs it." Senior wrestler Andrew Reggi has witnessed the changes to the training room throughout his time at SF State and said he is enjoying the benefits of the upgraded space as he rehabilitates from a herniated disc in his back. "It's pretty cool with the TV and everything," Reggi said. "It really does make it more enjoyable to rehab." Schussel said that the advent of enhancements to the facilities was spurred by SF State President Leslie E. Wong's eagerness to support the sports medicine department. "President Wong came over and looked at the old space and saw that we weren't adequately prepared to deal with all of our athletes' problems," Schussel said. "I think he likes the direction that the athletics program is going right now. I am so thankful for what we have now."
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FEBRUARY 18, 2015
Rugby club scrambles to keep new home ELIZABETH CARRANZA
ecarranz@mail.sfsu.edu
SARA GOBETS / XPRESS
DETERMINED: Nathan Wroth (left) prepares to tackle Justin Dawdy as he sprints the ball towards the end zone during a Gator Rugby Football Club practice scrimmage at SF State Monday, Feb. 16.
A
fter a grueling five-month roller coaster ride to secure a stadium, the Gators Rugby Football Club has finally found a place to call their own. The squad has established Boxer Stadium, a field near Balboa BART Station, as their home turf. “It was freshmen and sophomore year, we used to practice on the field next to Boxer Stadium,” said GRFC team captain Zeth Tutupoly. “Our coach used to say ‘one of these days, guys, we’re going to play on this field.’ And now we’re here.” Despite months of searching, the team now faces the new hurdle of allocating $4,000 to use the field for home games. The team was promised $1,000 from the club sports fund to help pay for the new field, according to GRFC President Donny Gregg. GRFC still awaits a response from the Associated Students Inc., to see if they can receive additional funding for miscellaneous expenses including paying referees for games, new equipment and jerseys, Gregg said. The sports team started off as a small club in 2005 and over the past 10 years has had its fair share of tough battles against Division I-AA Pacific Western Collegiate Rugby Conference opponents and the University over the use of Cox Stadium. The love for rugby continues to motivate GRFC through the rough patches it has encountered in the
past few months. Midway through the Fall 2014 semester, the rugby squad was notified by their league that they no longer could play in their old field at Fog Rugby Pitch on Treasure Island due to hazards, including broken sprinklers on the sidelines. “It was crazy,” Tutupoly said. “The league told us we couldn’t play on our last field in the middle of last semester. We had four home games and we had to forfeit a home game to Stanford.” The team went on to ask the University to play at Cox Stadium, but numerous obstacles prevented the usage of the field. With the multitude of challenges the young rugby squad faced, GRFC took matters into their own hands and decided to go on separate paths from the University to find a new field to call home. “I knew the whole time they were not going to let us play on the field but I felt it would be worth the shot to try at least,” Gregg said. “It would have been great to play at Cox (Stadium) for an endless list of reasons, but maybe in the future they will let the team play there.” After the school denied the usage of Cox Stadium, Gregg and GRFC team captain Lukas Zonali began the tedious and stressful task of finding a new home for the team. “Time was a huge concern,” Gregg said. “We were being contacted by other teams in our league about where exactly the matches were going to be held. It was embarrassing telling them we did not quite have a field lined up.” Zonali started emailing and contacting various available fields around the city before stumbling upon Boxer Stadium. “They’re renovating most of the fields so we had no other option but Boxer Stadium,” Zonali said. “Obtaining that is a five-month process, so I started emailing them in August.” It wasn’t until early January that the team was able to secure Boxer Stadium, but it came with the challenge of finding a way to pay the total cost of $4,000 to play their home games for this season. The team currently has a GoFundMe to raise money to pay for their home games at Boxer Stadium this season. “I am thankful for that, any amount of money helps tremendously,” Gregg said. “This club has done a lot for me ever since transferring to SFSU. If I have to use some of my hard-earned money out of pocket to keep us afloat, then so be it.” SARA GOBETS / XPRESS
SACKED: Nicholas Bennett passes the ball as he is tackled by Willy Noratto during a Gator Rugby Football Club practice on the West Campus Green at SF State Monday, Feb. 16.
SPORTS 9
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
10 OPINION
x FRANK LADRA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF fladra@mail.sfsu.edu
NASHELLY CHAVEZ
MANAGING EDITOR nashelly@mail.sfsu.edu
MICHAEL DURAN
ONLINE SUPERVISING EDITOR michaeld@mail.sfsu.edu
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PRINT SUPERVISING EDITOR sportela@mail.sfsu.edu
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR kandaya@mail.sfsu.edu
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ONLINE CREATIVE ASSISTANT ecaicedo@mail.sfsu.edu
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PRINT CREATIVE ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR jahn@mail.sfsu.edu
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PHOTO EDITOR danielep@mail.sfsu.edu
JENNAH FEELEY
NEWS EDITOR jfeeley@mail.sfsu.edu
TIMOTHY SMITH
NEWS EDITOR tsmith@mail.sfsu.edu
CALLA CAMERO
LIFESTYLE & CULTURE EDITOR ccamero@mail.sfsu.edu
NICOLE PARADISE
OPINION EDITOR nparadis@mail.sfsu.edu
ELIZABETH CARRANZA
SPORTS EDITOR ecarranz@mail.sfsu.edu
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SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR hmullins@mail.sfsu.edu
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MULTIMEDIA EDITOR psnarr@mail.sfsu.edu
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ASSISTANT MULTIMEDIA EDITOR ddunaway@mail.sfsu.edu
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PRINT ADVISER kanigel@mail.sfsu.edu
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ADVERTISING & BUSINESS echarles@mail.sfsu.edu
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STAFF EDITORIAL
Accountability vital for misconduct Law enforcement officers carry an incredible amount of authority, but with that power comes the need for responsibility and accountability. An official Police Academy credo enlists officers “to protect and to serve,” but with a recent plethora of police brutality cases flooding the media, it’s no wonder people are starting to question the value of civil service and protection. When two lengthy trials resulted in officers being not charged for the unnecessary deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner last year, thousands upon thousands of people across the country took to the streets in their respective communities to protest what looked like the breakdown of our nation’s justice system. But how many marches calling for accountability need to occur before the abusers of authority will start to face the consequences of their ill decisions? Last Friday, it was announced that four San Francisco police officers involved in the shooting death of Alejandro Nieto will not face charges after it was determined they were acting “lawfully in self-defense and in the defense of others when they discharged their weapons,” according to District Attorney George Gascón. A police officer in Alabama was arrested
People are beginning to question the value of civil service and protection after recent police brutality incidents on assault charges last week after he slammed a 57-year-old Indian man to the ground, snapping his neck and leaving him partially paralyzed. The man, who was visiting his son, spoke no English and when asked where he lived, pointed down the street and attempted to walk in that direction, but the officer responded with force and the damage was done. Last month, San Francisco police arrested public defender Jami Tillotson outside of the court when she asked officers to refrain from accosting her client without counsel, an offense forbidden by law once the accused has sought legal advice. Yes, law enforcement agents often have to make quick decisions in order to protect the citizens they have committed to protect, but the risk of human error is far too precarious in many situations and the evidence is overwhelming. With the aid of social media, recorded instances of police brutality are spreading like
wildfire across the Internet, but nothing seems to be happening to curtail the impression that these officers think they are above the law. Unfortunately, forcing cops to face the consequences of their actions isn’t always an easy process. As we have witnessed in recent legal battles, prosecuting attorneys often struggle with competing in court against the same civil servants they see daily in the workplace, and prosecution is rarely effective anyway in situations where any justification of police acting with “necessary” force can be introduced into the case. More often than not, police in question of misconduct are protected under the principle of “qualified immunity,” which effectively means they are shielded from accountability if it can be proved in any way that their actions were legal and justified. This is why most prosecuting firms and attorneys will not accept cases involving police misconduct. This fear of challenging authority only fuels the notion that cops genuinely are unpunishable, and that needs to change if justice is ever going to prevail for all citizens. If an officer who has promised to protect and to serve is abusing the civil rights of another human being, they should be accountable to a jury’s decision to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
Healthy lifestyle beneficial for all MICHAEL DURAN
michaeld@mail.sfsu.edu
It all began in the beginning of last summer. The spring semester just ended and I had traveled home to Orange County to spend summer break with my family. When I saw my brother upon my return, I did not recognize him. He had lost about 20 pounds from running every day and watching his diet, and he was more energized than I had ever seen him. My brother’s inspiring weight loss forced me to look at myself. I had gained about 30 pounds within a 10-month period, taking me to an all-time emotional low. My grades were dropping and my eating habits were terrible. My confidence could not have been lower. I knew it was time to make a change. My brother was the one person who was there for me. He was my motivation. I began to watch what I ate, exercising every day and maintaining a healthy diet and fitness schedule. By the time summer ended, my weight had decreased from 180 to 145 pounds. My happiness and confidence soared and hearing the resulting compliments certainly did not hurt. When I returned to school in the fall, my colleagues were amazed with my transformation. The feeling was overwhelming and unexpected. People actually noticed and were genuinely proud of me. Everyone needs to have that feeling of accomplishment and pride about themselves. We all might have many things on our plate, but learning how to balance and maintain a fitness schedule is essential for keeping a
DRAKE NEWKIRK / XPRESS
DEEP BREATH: Michael Duran runs on Ocean beach Tuesday, Feb. 17.
positive attitude. This is especially important for younger college students living away from home for the first time. At this time in our lives, we control everything that goes into our body. Our parents are not here to say, “eat those vegetables or you won’t leave this table,” or “go outside for some fresh air.” As the weeks went on, I
weighed myself every Sunday. Seeing the numbers on the scale decrease every single week made me want to keep on going. I learned that maintaining a lifestyle that is filled with healthy food and physical activity can make you a happier person. According to the 2014 National College Health Assessment, 58.6 percent of college students
described their health as very good or excellent. Despite being more than half of the collegiate population who claim they lead a healthy lifestyle, that percentage should be higher. With the uprising trend of fitness trackers, it is easy for people to become fitness junkies and to be more knowledgeable about having a healthy lifestyle. Companies like Fitbit and Jawbone make fitness easier by creating tools that help track progress and motivate people. Nearly 70 percent of adults in the U.S. track one aspect of their health for themselves or a loved one, according to a survey for the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Only 21 percent use some sort of technology to monitor their health data and 49 percent of those surveyed said they keep track by memory. Having a healthy lifestyle takes work and time, but in the long run you will be happier with yourself. “Everything in moderation” continues to be a great cliché to help keep me motivated. I pushed every day and made sure to remind myself why I was working so hard. I was able to be a healthier person without making any drastic changes to my life. Looking back, one thing I learned from my experience was that the mind is a strange thing. I have discovered a lot about myself and what types of obstacles I can overcome. The road upon which I embarked completely changed how I view the world and every time I remember this moment in my young life, I smile. My journey may have helped me achieve a healthier body, but I gained something I never had
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FEBRUARY 18, 2015
OPINION 11
Feminism requires more than self-proclamation CALLA CAMERO
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he word feminist is tossed around in everyday conversation as if it were a trending hashtag rather than a movement that requires action. Women have come a long way from the 18th century, when we were defined as society’s domesticated, modest and religiously moral beings void of opportunities in political voting, higher education and professional occupations. This was an era when we were expected to wear hats that looked like edible arrangements and brassieres that essentially cut off blood circulation to the brain. Now women can vote, run for president and parade around New York City
with their breasts exposed in support of the “Free the Nipple” campaign. Clearly progress has been made, but perhaps the most recent change of women’s roles in society is being associated with the concept of feminism. The feminism moniker is a trending classification, thanks in part to celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Emma Page and Lady Gaga, 20th Century female role models who all declared they were feminists in 2013. Recording artist Beyoncé produced a song about being a feminist that compels women to declare and embrace the title proudly. Some people may believe that feminism is definitive –either you identify as a feminist or you don’t. Either you want men and women to be equal politically, economically, culturally, personally and socially, or you don’t. If you are a feminist, you are expected to self-define as supporting the rights and equality of women. But being a feminist does not serve as a self-proclaimed label, and identifying with the term does not determine that you are one. This is why I don’t say I am a feminist. There is no meaning to that sentence, only beliefs and ideas being
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thrown around in daily conversation and social media. I believe in the equality of men and women and the roles of women’s lived experiences in society. I believe in reproductive rights for women, the right to their own body autonomy and integrity. I support a woman’s right for sexual freedom and liberation and I advocate to protect women and girls from domestic violence and sexual assault. But there exists a necessity to support these beliefs and augmented rights as a feminist, otherwise I am nothing to the word except a label I have given myself. Real feminists include women like Betty Friedan, the American writer and activist who wrote “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963, which sparked the second wave of feminism in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Friedan spent her entire life building women’s equality with the establishment of the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Strike For Equality. American author Gloria Steinem, who led women’s liberation movements throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s and founded the feminist-themed magazine “Ms.” Bell Hooks was known for her social activism that was often mirrored through her writing of oppression, women’s rights and race.
Maya Angelou, through her public speaking and powerful writing, inspired both women and African-Americans to overcome gender and race discrimination. Today, we still see women taking action and redefining what it means to be a feminist. Russian feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot, founded in August 2011, is comprised of women who stage unauthorized and provocative guerrilla performances in unusual public locations. In 2012, three members were thrown in jail after a performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which they said was directed at the Orthodox Church leader’s support for Putin during his election campaign. These are feminists, women who risk their well-being and freedom to spark change, women who don’t just say they are feminists, women who do as feminists do. It is important for modern women to not settle with the justification that we are feminists because we believe in equality and then let other women do the job for us. If you are a feminist, stop talking about it and immerse yourself in the havoc.
Defense of catcalling is counterproductive FARNOUSH AMIRI
Like many women, I’ve had my fair share of uncomfortable catcalling, whistling and inappropriate heckling while trying to engage in daily activities. While not every man who opens his mouth on the street has a sexual agenda, I have encountered all types of men--from 18-year-old boys walking home from school to a dad adjusting his child’s car seat--who have gone too far. Degrading comments like “do you want to make a mistake, girl?” or “let me show you a good time, ma” turn a nice Tuesday morning walk to sociology class into an undesirable and displeasing experience. In October, a YouTube video called “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman” documented a woman’s experience while walking down a busy street in an urban city. The video shows the different reactions that women received while walking from point A to point B. The responses started as innocent greetings and compliments but quickly turned to vulgar, sexual offers. Out of 54 randomly selected women on the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, 100 percent of them said they have been targeted with street harassment before, according to a study by Northwestern University. Catcalling is already an ever-growing issue, but it is reinforced in our society by women who say that these comments should be taken as compliments. Fox News anchor Kirsten Powers said, “When I was younger it bothered me, but now if they don’t (catcall), I’m like ‘excuse
me?’” If that kind of opinion of this issue isn’t a problem, then I don’t know what is. These experiences of street harassment have subconsciously and consciously changed the way I walk down the street. Before I was old enough to understand what catcalling was, I would carelessly skip around the sidewalk and make friends with people passing by on my way to the local grocery store.
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Now, I try to not engage in direct eye contact with any member of the opposite sex with whom I am not interested in interacting. This involves looking down at my feet while I walk or looking straightforward and pretending I don’t see the lurking guy yelling at me from his passenger window. These incidents don’t only occur when women are caught alone. They happen
HEY BEAUTIFUL, HOW YOU DOIN’?
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when we are going out with a group of girlfriends for Friday night drinks or a Sunday morning brunch. Verbal street harassment does not have a timetable, and it only gets worse and increasingly vulgar as the sun sets. After the videos documenting what women experience on the street went viral, many members of the media and public were outraged while others defended catcalling. Media outlets like Fox News disputed that the women provoked men with their appearance and clothing. If women didn’t wear such tight leggings and low-cut t-shirts, maybe they wouldn’t be verbally harassed in broad daylight, they argued. The media should be more aware of the message they are spreading about the problem instead of defending catcalling. Instead of telling men to refrain from making sexual comments at women, the media have made it seem like women are at fault for tempting men with our bodies. Many young girls are taught in their youth to look the other way, ignore or tune out the men in the shadows of city streets who bark out inappropriate slurs. But as I grew older I realized that feeling uncomfortable while walking to class in an outfit I was excited to wear was not something that women should have to accept or come to terms with. It’s men and women, like the Fox News anchors, who belittle the wrenching feeling in the stomach of most women when they hear the unwanted advances during their daily commute.