Feb 2, 2017

Thur sday, Febr uar y 2, 2017

E s t ab l i sh e d 1916

w w w. mu s t an gn e w s . n et

Milo Yiannopoulos speaker's visit causes ideological uproar

SPANOS SURROUNDED

HANNA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| In response to Milo Yiannopoulos' event at Cal Poly Tuesday night, law enforcement surrounded Spanos Theatre to act as a buffer to the protesters' and attendees' clashing ideologies.

James Hayes & Will Peischel @CPMustangNews

The ideological voices from the Cal Poly student body clashed loudly at the corner of Grand Avenue and South Perimeter Road in anticipation of what some would call the most controversial speaker the university has hosted.

Recently, anticipation of Milo Yiannopoulos’ arrival became the proxy for political and philosophical debate across campus. Yiannopoulos, the

technology editor of right-wing news outlet Breitbart News, is known as a conservative who perpetuates the provocative.

In the weeks leading up to his event, critics called Yiannopoulos an espouser of hate speech and asked administration to cancel his appearance. Others applauded the administration’s interpretation of freedom of speech.

At the literal center of chaos, Gina Welisch was soft-spoken with a big sign. Between the megaphone, car beeps and

provocations, she stood in the crowd lining the makeshift fence bordering the lawn of the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC) Tuesday.

Welisch stood innocuously in the shadow of someone tall with a “Make America Great Again” hat behind her. She held a sign, “@CPRepublicans: Cash Me Ousside! How Bow Dah?” Yiannopoulos’ speech at Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre was one of many stops on his “Dangerous F*ggot” tour to different universities around the

country. Cal Poly’s installment, hosted by the Cal Poly College Republicans, didn’t start until 6 p.m. Protesters were megaphone-ready more than two hours earlier.

Welisch, a philosophy sophomore, stood in line to represent the protests that were going on outside Spanos Theatre.

“That’s one less person who follows his hateful rhetoric who will be listening to him,” Welisch said.

Brian Kennelly, Cal Poly College Republicans advisor, ap-

plauded the administration’s decision as a litmus test for its commitment to free speech.

“I’m extremely proud of the administration that so far has not backed down and that they are supporting this event,” French professor Kennelly said.

Kennelly added that while some of the substance of Yiannopoulos’s words may be hateful, what’s really important is that he may be heard.

MILO continued on page 2

Unite Cal Poly event provides alternative to Yiannopoulos Carly Quinn @carlyquinnMN

While some opted to attend or protest so-called “alt-right” speaker Milo Yiannopoulos’s speech in Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre on Tuesday, others attended Unite Cal Poly — the keynote event of #InclusionStartswithMe Week.

Hundreds of people filed into the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC) at 6 p.m.

Tuesday for the College of Liberal Arts Unite Cal Poly event, featuring comedian W. Kamau Bell and performer Allen Stone.

Unite Cal Poly is the third event in the University Diversity and Inclusivity’s #InclusionStartswithMeWeek. The week aims to embrace all members of the Cal Poly community and is filled with speakers, workshops, panel discussions and movies

with discussions.

“It is so wonderful to see a soldout audience for an event that celebrates the official university goals and values of diversity and inclusivity,” College of Liberal Arts Dean Doug Epperson said.

“I could not be more excited or proud of my community.”

With his own television docu-series, two podcasts, one radio show, a comedy tour and a book in the making, Bell is an accomplished socio-political comedian. He has also been appointed an ambassador for racial justice by the American Civil Liberties Union, a position given to celebrities who will use their voice to advocate for racial justice.

“Those of us who believe that the country is not going in the direction that we want it to and is not living up to the standards we have set, we’ve got to get less sleep and do more work,” Bell said.

Bell kicked off the sold-out show with his hour-long comedy act “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.” Touching on topics such as representation, the presidency and inclusivity, Bell turned what would usually make an audience silent with tension into an auditorium filled with laughter.

“I’ve done this show since Trump’s been president and people are really feeling it in a different way,” Bell said. “It’s a very different experience now; there’s ... a sense of mourning, but the show continues to push the conversation forward.”

Stone echoed the feelings of unity in the PAC with his live performance, accompanied by a full band. A crowd gathered in the front of the room to enjoy the soulful vibes emitting from the stage.

“I’m a huge fan of Allen Stone,

so I’m really excited to hear his music,” history sophomore Phoebe Lam said. “I definitely want to show my support for something I believe in as well.”

For many, Unite Cal Poly fulfilled its purpose of bringing all attendees together for a peaceful celebration of acceptance and love, giving an alternative to Yiannopoulos.

“College is supposed to educate you and it’s also about expanding your world view,” Bell said.

“When you expand your world view and hang out in different places and meet different people, the natural tendency is towards inclusiveness.” #InclusionStartswithMe Week continues on Feb. 2 with “What Gives? A Dialogue on Police and Community Relations,” a panel held by the Social Action and Adult Education Committees at Congregation Beth David at 2 p.m.

#INCLUSIVIT Y

MATT LALANNE | MUSTA NG NE W S

| W. Kamau Bell filled a tense audience with laughter.

President Armstrong on diversity and the national government Naba Ahmed and Connor McCarthy @CPMustangNews

ANSWERS

FILE PHOTO | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong talked about Cal Poly's inclusivity and diversity issues.

With a new political party in control of the federal government, a new mayor in the city of San Luis Obispo and diversity and inclusivity issues surrounding the Cal Poly campus, Mustang News sat down with Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong to hear his opinions and thoughts. Chief Communications Officer Chris Murphy and Chief of Staff Jessica Darin sat in on the meeting.

Q: What is hard about trying to protect free speech while at the same time creating a safe environment for students?

A: You know, there are aspects of this that are really not difficult and that’s really the First Amendment’s free speech. People indicate that that’s controversial and that’s an issue. That’s really not an issue. The Supreme Court has clearly defined free speech; they’ve defined what hate speech is and is not. And for better or for worse, they’ve narrowed it down to almost nothing.

So, free speech is really preemi-

News 1-3 | Arts 4-5 | Opinion 6 | Classifieds 7 | Sports 8

nent and is something that is an easy decision with regard to what are we going to do.

It’s an easy decision not to censor, because where do you stop? If we censor here, would you want Mustang News censored? A few years ago, I guess two years ago, we had some writing [about] some student in Mustang News that really upset people in the community ... Now what’s hard, what’s really hard, is when free speech is so hurtful.

ARMSTRONG continued on page 2

NEWS 2

MUSTANG NEWS

ARMSTRONG continued from page 1

And in this case, things Milo says, they’re awful. He puts a student’s picture or any person’s picture up on the screen, that’s very hurtful.

And it hurts me, it hurts the leadership to see our students frightened, to see them worried about what’s going to happen. But we have to protect free speech. We can’t censor.

So when you ask what’s hard, that part. That part is definitely hard. It’s difficult. But free speech is pretty clear, it’s difficult to censor. How do you partially censor? You can’t.

Once you move that direction, it’s a slippery slope. So we are working very hard, being very diligent on all aspects of this.

With our messaging, such that we’re not censoring, but also doing the very best to make sure that our students and everyone knows we do expect a welcoming, more diverse campus. We want people to treat each other with respect.

And we can send those messages consistently and we will continue to take actions to do that as we build our programs and move forward. But we have to do that in an environment where any voice can be heard. And it can be very controversial. [Milo] thrives on controversy. So the best thing to do is ignore him.

I read something in the paper today, I really applaud the mayor. She says, ‘Well, why don’t you go to the potluck, why don’t you set up potluck dinners with the neighbors or go to other events, but ignore him?’ I thought that was very wise of the mayor.

A DAY OF PROTESTS

Q: [According to a recent] Mustang News article, [there are] only about 200 African Americans on campus. How will administration make sure that people of color stay at Cal Poly?

A: So your article was really good, I commend you on that article. Something we’ve been talking about your article touched on, African Americans have no place for hair care. I mean that I was talking to some colleagues about that. I know some of the [California State Universities] have done some things and we are going to look into that...

We estimate for Fall of ‘17, [there are] somewhere less than 1,400 Cal Poly-eligible African American seniors in the entire state, and that’s for all public, private, and some of students go to out-of-state schools, so we are working on ways to provide scholarships and advising...

Also, [we are] working to recruit and retain faculty and staff members. We’ve had some turnover in [the] past, looked at each and every one [and] we want to cut back on that, how we can do better, looking to recruit and retain the very best people from a very diverse pool because that’s very important for students to see role models.

Q: Another small minority group on campus are undocumented students here at Cal Poly; what is the administration going to do to help these students?

A: We care very deeply about our undocumented students and we’ve been reaching out to them since I

arrived. [I] added programs to Student Affairs. If they do declare themselves AB 540 status, then they can get non-resident changed to resident tuition, [which makes them] eligible for aid. They’ll have aid similar to California residents.

We are going to be opening up a Dream Center by around spring quarter. [It will be a] location where undocumented students can come hang out and also get support and get a lot of questions answered.

We’ve been very firm and signed on to multiple national letters, spoken to our legislators about the DACA program, very supportive of [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] DACA; they’re very young children when they were brought in. We have a lot of CP students and a lot of alumni that are DACA. There was a glitch in DACA this summer and we had several Cal Poly alumni lose their job completely or lost their job for a couple months because of this glitch so we haven’t heard anything definitive from President Trump about DACA, that’s our big concern.

A lot [is] going on in [the] news right now with different countries being banned. I was very pleased that they opened it up more for green cards and I’m really concerned with how it’s being handled, but the whole politics of it I’m going to stay away from. They’re going to push that through, but at this point there’s not been a decision to push back with DACA, that’s our biggest concern — that’s higher education’s biggest concern. The Dream Center [is] not just a space but [will] have a staff member, a new position.

Q: What is the administration’s main goal with the Dream Center?

A: Well, the main goal is to support student success for undocumented students, it gets back to [the] whole idea of [a] more diverse and welcoming campus and we’ve got to do everything we can and control what we can control. [There are] so many things swirling from the outside that can frighten people.

One of the biggest concerns with undocumented students is that they’re frightened. [If] they don’t declare AB 540, then it’s very serious because ... they are missing out on all the help that we can provide. We can’t help as much if they don’t declare because then they have no aid, no ability for loan and they have to pay out-of-state tuition.

Now we also have Cal Poly Cares. Cal Poly Cares is a program out of student affairs and it funds emergency requests from students. [There have been] major increases in undocumented students since we started the program, which I think is a good thing because they are aware [and] they’re not afraid to ask. Situations where parents have passed away, illnesses, lots of things, housing, if we know a student is homeless, or we know a student has a problem, we will look into it with that program. Our Cal Poly Foundation, the members started a foundation fund for the students that contributes [to Cal Poly Cares].

We want to grow our scholarships for lower income students so that

they live on campus for four years, five years if [they’re in] architecture or some engineering programs and we want them to have this support that they need. We want the debt to lower, we’ve got some aggressive plans on how we can get additional funding to increase financial aid [to] the number of low income students that graduate from Cal Poly that will in turn enhance diversity and that’s what we can do that’s Prop 209 consistent but will involve some outside groups who will help us.

Aaron Gomez and Andy Pence, they spent a day on campus, [have] great relationship[s] with their county Board of Supervisors and also the cities in north and south [San Luis Obispo] County, talking with them and engaging with all of those groups including the chamber, the Economic Vitality Corporation and how can we grow economic development in this area, how can Cal Poly be involved and then as we do that, think about diversity, think about inclusion so it’s top of the mind every day.

Q: What is your relationship with Mayor Heidi Harmon and the community?

Q: How do you think, with the Trump administration, which has been vocal against certain minorities, that’s going to affect Cal Poly’s campus climate?

A: A group of students, the California State Student Association, CSSA, representatives from every campus, were here this weekend.

They asked me questions about that yesterday.

We have a really good relationship with the city, great relationship with [former Mayor Jan] Marx and we have a great relationship with Mayor Harmon. I was really pleased the first week on the job she spent an entire day with us learning about Cal Poly. I’ve seen her at a number of events, I saw her recently at the chamber dinner; she talked a long time with Vice President [Keith] Humphrey and myself, she’s very engaged, she cares deeply, she knows that part of the electorate that got her in office were Cal Poly students. She’s trying hard to do the best thing just like all of us are, so we look forward to working with her. It’s been great so far.

New council members as well,

A: What happens in Washington, what happens in Sacramento is always impacting us. Every president has felt the press is after them; this presidency is nothing like I’ve ever seen, I’m just going to stay focused on student success and continue to do the very best we can and control what we can control ...

I’m really proud to be part of the CSU [System], [with] questions like sanctuary campus[es]; I got a letter saying we need to step out of what’s going on, appropriately, not quick to jump or reach conclusions and we have discussions with CSU leadership ... I think that’s what our campus needs, we need to be thoughtful and yet focused on what we can do here; it’s an amazing time, I’ll say that.

Note: This Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.

HANNA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Protests occured throughout the day Yiannopoulos visited campus. One protest was officially named Shut Down Milo Yiannopoulos, where protesters came in black and burned Nazi and Confederate flags.

MILO continued from page 1

The protests, while tense, remained non-violent. However, law enforcement took no chances.

Students walked to class past SWAT vehicles parked outside before noon. Law enforcement from across the county assembled on Tahoe Road between the Davidson Music Center and Mott Gym.Vehicles with insignias from the California State Parks, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Arroyo Grande Police Department and others lined the lane.

By 2 p.m., dozens of law enforcement officers were prepared for the anti-Yiannopoulos, anti-fascist protests that were scheduled to begin.

Just after 3:30 p.m., about a dozen masked protesters, part of the San Luis Obispo Anti-Racist Action, gathered in front of Spanos Theatre outside the fenced area near the bus stop.

By 4 p.m., a line of about 60 people ran the length of the fence.

Event staff let people attending the Yiannopoulos speech into the fenced area on the lawn in front of Spanos Theatre for a bag check.

Attendees were then moved into a separate fenced area waiting for the doors to open to the theater.

Protesters shouted many chants, including “This is what democracy looks like.” Supporters shouted, “U.S.A, U.S.A.” By 5 p.m., about 300 supporters and attendees to the Yiannopoulos event were herded onto the lawn in front of Spanos Theatre, fenced in by police barriers. The crowd, peppered with American flag apparel and showered in “Make America Great Again” headwear, taunted protesters.

Approximately 50 protesters stood on the other side of the fence, armed with picket signs and a megaphone. At the heart of the dissenters, black-masked anti-fascists burned Confederate and Nazi flags.

Onlookers across the street lounged on the low brick wall foreground of the Sequoia Residence Hall and jeered.

Protesters and attendees stood facing each other through the temporary chain-link fence with law enforcement in riot gear acting as a buffer to their clashing ideologies. After half an hour, the attendees were ushered into Spanos Theatre followed by a cacophony of chants and the clinking of picket signs against the fence.

Inside Spanos Theatre Audience seats filled up by doz-

ens of attendees. As the filled rows replaced empty ones, Yiannopoulos representatives handed out laminated posters of fetuses.

Later, Yiannopoulos made it a point to mention that each poster was “signed and numbered.”

An image of a large white Romanesque building appeared on the stage projector, surrounded by a lava swamp hellscape. In the foreground, a robed figure with a shield and pike looked into a space occupied by monolithic letters: MILO. At about 6 p.m., with only a dozen open spaces left in the 498-seat theater, the show began.

After a few words from Cal Poly College Republicans President Katherine Rueckert, the most fabulous supervillain of the internet — a term he used for himself — walked on stage.

Yiannopoulos wore sunglasses, a fitted gray suit, pink dress shirt and red tie — a sleek cross between game show host and politician. Though previous Yiannopoulos appearances on campuses were climactic, he enjoyed a warm audience without many theatrics.

From behind the podium, he promoted his new Yiannopoulous Privilege Grant, a college scholarship exclusively for white men. Then, he thanked Cal Poly

President Jeffrey Armstrong with mostly high praise.

“You have a freedom of [a] speech-loving president, which you should be very happy about,” he said. “Now, I can’t applaud his shit taste in neck ties.” Yiannopoulos gestured to the image of Cal Poly’s president behind him.

After a few shots at Islam, Yiannopoulos affirmed his Catholic faith to the audience. Then, he began the primary focus of his presentation: an anti-abortion speech titled, “No More Dead Babies.”

“We’re here to talk about why America should stop killing babies,” he said.

According to Yiannopoulos, the rate of birth in the western world is “drying up” – but the birth rates in the Islamic World are still high.

With anecdotes, Yiannopoulos classified social justice warriors as evil. Under a red sepia slide of a brain, apparent fetus and surgical scissors with white text in capital letters that spelled #SHOUTYOURABORTION, Yiannopoulos told the story of a woman who apparently felt joy from her abortion, paraphrasing her story.

“One #shoutyourabortion participant who said that her vacuum aspiration made her happy, that name just tickles her, you’re

vacuuming out the unwanted detritus threatening your aspirations,” he said. “That’s what killing a baby is to these people.”

Ultimately, he placed the blame on Planned Parenthood. Soon, Yiannopoulos had his audience laughing again.

After several questions from the audience, two of which were dissenting and quickly extinguished, Yiannopoulos left the stage. His visit to Cal Poly, at least during his speech, lacked the dramatics of his visits to other universities.

Outside Spanos Theatre Outside, the protest continued.

Protesters stood on the crowded sidewalk, corralled by law enforcement and waiting for the attendees of the Yiannopoulos event to exit Spanos Theatre. A tense calm hung over the crowd in anticipation of the impending confrontation.

In the midst of the crowd, heated discussions broke out between protesters and bystanders. Atascadero High School student Caden Stober got involved in a discussion with a protester and was eventually drove out.

“You really see how misinformed some people can be and how radicalized people can be without knowing anything,”

Stober said.

All the while, the protesters kept chanting, bystanders continued to watch and behind the fence law enforcement stood facing the crowd — unresponsive, batons in hand.

At approximately 7:45 p.m., the doors of Spanos Theatre opened and the attendees began filing out, met by protesters at each exit. Masked protesters and Yiannopoulos attendees met in a short-lived climax of arguments and mixed chanting, but most of the crowds had dispersed within an hour.

The announcement of the Yiannopoulos event — as well as incidents such as the Cal Poly Republican Free Speech Wall and the #RealSLOSolidarity posters — contributed to the ongoing and evolving campus dialogue of diversity and inclusivity. Though the protests came to a close, students like College of Liberal Arts Board Representative Chase Dean hope that the conversation continues.

“I don’t think campus climate is at its best,” Dean said. “I’m really hoping we have more events like Unite and different things like that that really address and have productive dialogue on diversity and inclusion at Cal Poly.”

NEWS 3

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

Income diversity at Cal Poly among lowest in California Brendan Matsuyama @CPMustangNews

In a report published in midJanuary and featured by The New York Times in an interactive data visualization, the Equality of Opportunity Project set out to define and identify rates of upward income mobility in colleges throughout the United States.

The report collected data from students born between 1980 and 1991 meaning students included in this data may have graduated in 2013. The study includes all Title IV colleges and universities — institutions that process and distribute funds through Title IV programs such as federal loans, federal work-study, Pell grants and other federal programs — in the U.S. Based on the data, there was a report card for every college and university in the U.S., Cal Poly received comparatively poor scores in economic diversity, low income accessibility and upward mobility when compared to other selective public universities in California and nationwide.

CSU income distribution According to the report, when measured by the amount of enrolled students from families who make $20,000 or less annually, Cal Poly has limited levels of access for low income families when compared to other colleges in California and the U.S. To explain, if there was perfect economic equality and high levels of low income access, students from the bottom 20 percent of incomes would make up approximately 20 percent of the university’s student population.

With only 3.1 percent of its students coming from families in this income category — well below the California State University (CSU) System average of 10.27 percent for 2013 — Cal Poly ranked last in low income access when compared to public universities in California and 176th out of 182 when compared to all colleges in California.

Nationwide, Cal Poly ranked 2,259th out of 2,395 in low income student population when compared to all colleges in the U.S. and 362nd out of 377 when compared to selective public universities nationwide.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, only about 20 percent of Cal Poly students come from households with incomes below $40,000 per year and receive Pell Grants. This is well below the CSU System average of 48 percent of students and the combined CSU and UC system average of 47 percent. Pell grants are financial aid given to students by the federal government to help pay for college. Grants, unlike loans, do not need to be repaid. According to the Department of Education, 72 percent of all Pell Grant recipients had household incomes of $30,000 or below.

Meanwhile, as of 2013, Cal Poly is one of the richest universities in California in terms of parental incomes.

With approximately 67 percent of its class of 2013 coming from families within the top 20 percent — defined as making $110,200 or more annually — Cal Poly has the largest proportion of students within this income bracket among Cal-

ifornian public universities and the third largest among selective public universities nationwide. Harvard and Stanford universities have a comparable proportion of students who are in the top 20 percent of family incomes at 67 percent and 66 percent respectively.

Cal Poly also has the largest proportion of students who are in the top one percent — defined as making $630,000 or more annually — as a CSU and second largest as a Californian public university at four percent of the total student population.

With a median parental income of $152,900, Cal Poly’s students come from the wealthiest upbringings in the CSU and UC systems on average. The secondand third-ranking universities in California in terms of median parental income were Sonoma State University and the California Maritime Academy at $126,400 and $121,600 respectively.

Based on this data, Cal Poly students have higher familial incomes than a number of Ivy League colleges — including Cornell ($151,600) and Columbia ($150,900) — and other elite institutions, such as M.I.T. ($137,400).

Average cost of California universities These higher student family incomes often end up paying larger amounts of money to Cal Poly.

Families from higher incomes typically pay a higher percentage of the listed costs of schooling while financial aid reduces these costs for lower income families. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Education, a student from a family that makes less than $30,000 is expected to pay approximately $10,611 per year to attend

Cal Poly, while a student whose family makes over $110,000 per year pays $23,528.

According to the Department of Education, Cal Poly has the highest average cost of any public four-year university in California when factoring in the amount of financial aid awarded to students.

Cal Poly’s average annual cost of $18,047 even beats out a number of Ivy League schools including Harvard ($14,068), Princeton ($7,103) and another elite university Stanford ($14,559).

The study by the Equality of Opportunity Project also shows that Cal Poly graduated students who then had high incomes 10 to 12 years after graduation. With a median student income of $65,500 at the age of 32 to 34 years old, Cal Poly ranks ninth in California and 76th in the nation for graduate incomes.

Further, Cal Poly students in the bottom 20 percent of incomes when they come to the school have a 54 percent chance of reaching the top 20 percent of incomes after they graduate. This makes Cal Poly the fifth best selective public university in the nation and the sixth best selective or highly selective public university in California in terms of turning lower income students into upper income professionals.

Despite Cal Poly’s relatively high success rates in terms of student earnings, the report shows that the overall mobility of Cal Poly students is relatively low. This is likely due to restricted access to low income families.

The study combined access rates and success rates into one mobility rate index to more accurately assess and compare economic mobility among universities. The statistic

portrays the likelihood that a student’s income would rise two or more quintiles, one quintile meaning a single 20 percentile jump.

Cal Poly scored 19th out of 23 universities in overall mobility within the CSU system and 28th out of 32 for all public four-year universities in California. CSUs

that scored worse than Cal Poly in mobility included Humboldt State, Chico State, CSU Channel Islands and Sonoma State.

University mobility rates Even when compared to public and private universities in California with similar acceptance rates, Cal

Poly scores relatively lowly at 133rd out of 161 Californian universities.

Furthermore, Cal Poly ranked 1,564th out of 2,137 in overall mobility among all colleges in the U.S. This places Cal Poly in the bottom 27 percent of colleges nationwide, regardless of being public or private, in terms of income mobility.

ARTS 4

MUSTANG NEWS

From the ground to garments: Dyeing fabric using earth’s best Nicole Horton @CPMustangNews

Growing up in Santa Cruz, California, child development sophomore Rowan Maze-Conway was used to being surrounded by artistic minds and creative spirits.

Having a natural gift for the arts, Maze-Conway fills her free time with activities that allow her to express herself creatively, such as painting, glass-blowing or, in recent years, experimenting with natural dyes.

The use of natural dyes to color fabric has been practiced for centuries. The earliest documentation of the craft dates back to 2600 B.C. China.

Maze-Conway was inspired by her mom, who teaches workshops on natural dyeing and has been practicing the craft for years.

Some of her mom’s friends, also expert dyers, have entire gardens of plants used for dyeing.

While using plants to dye clothing may seem like a tedious way of adding color, Maze-Con-

way said she wouldn’t do it any other way.

“I prefer natural dyes over storebought synthetic dyes because it makes me feel more connected to the earth,” she said. “It serves as a reminder that the earth can provide us with so much, so we don’t always need to turn to storebought materials.”

Maze-Conway started to dye fabric when she came to Cal Poly.

San Luis Obispo’s rich natural environment aids Maze-Conway in her dyeing endeavors, providing her with plants of vibrant colors that easily transfer to fabric.

Plants that are native to the Central Coast, like California Sage Brush and Toyon, are a few of her favorites to use in dyes.

“Living in such a beautiful place full of so much color inspires me to make use of the color and find different ways to do so,” Maze-Conway said.

After Maze-Conway finds the plants she needs, she said the dyeing process is pretty simple.

She starts with a blank canvas

of cloth, usually neutral-toned clothing that she finds at local thrift stores.

She then soaks the cloth in a mordant for several hours, sometimes overnight. A mordant is a dye fixative that chemically binds to the cloth and later, to the dye.

It’s used to ensure that the color will be long-lasting. Maze-Conway uses alum mordant, a white powder that she mixes with water.

In addition to this, Maze-Conway suggests washing the fabric with soda ash before dyeing to brighten the colors. The process, called “scouring,” removes all the impurities from the cloth.

Once she picks the plants she wants, either straight from the ground or in powder form, she boils them in water to extract its color and creates a liquid dye.

Once these steps of preparation are complete, Maze-Conway folds the fabric into different patterns. She’s a fan of a Japanese technique called Shibori, which uses wooden blocks and clamps to manipulate the

cloth while adding dye to it, creating unique patterns.

Maze-Conway often wears her own designs, but admits that her collection has gotten a little too big. To clear some space in her closet, she created an Instagram page (@SorbusDesigns) where she sells some of the clothing she made.

However, Maze-Conway said she doesn’t sell her pieces solely for a profit. Most of the money made from her sales is donated to her friend’s organization Gravity Water, which provides clean water for the citizens of Nepal.

With a simple process and readily available materials, Maze-Conway said that everyone could and should try natural dyeing. In order to spread the word about natural dyeing, she is currently trying to set up a table at the Craft Center’s Craft Sale, a two-day craft sale in the Julian A. McPhee University Union Plaza.

The date for the Spring 2017 sale is to be determined.

NICOLE HORTON | MUSTA NG NE W S

NEW LIFE | Maze-Conway uses plant dyes to refurbish thrift store clothes.

‘A Dog’s Purpose’: Not a critic’s best friend Greg Llamas @CPMustangNews

When watching dog movies, you know what you’re getting yourself into. There’s a sense of inevitability that the dog will die at the end and you’ll cry for a bit, then go on with your day.

This formula is classic, movies like “Marley & Me” and “Hachi:

A Dog’s Tale” being quintessential examples. The movie may seem manipulative (what soulless person wouldn’t cry over cute dogs dying?), but it at least has some sort of story to tell.

Then there’s “A Dog’s Purpose.” Because of an abuse controversy, some have vowed to boycott the movie. I agree with boycotting it, not for that rea-

son but for its uninspired and shameless manipulation.

Instead of focusing on elements that make good movies, like creating characters and stories, the creators of “A Dog’s Purpose” thought it best to put their efforts toward making the audience emotional.

However, they didn’t try to stir emotions by connecting them

deeply to the film, rather they tried to manipulate viewers by having dog deaths littered throughout the film. I hesitate to call “A Dog’s Purpose” a movie, as a better description would be a “two-hour ordeal of vapid emotions.”

The film focuses on the soul of a dog (voiced by Josh Gad). After the dog we are first introduced to dies, it’s immediately reborn as another dog in another place.

The first dog is Bailey, a golden retriever raised by Ethan (Bryce Gheisar as an eight-year-old, K.J. Apa as a teen) — a kid from a small town.

Bailey is reincarnated many times throughout the film. Next, he’s known as Ellie — a police German shepherd partnered with a widowed police officer, Carlos (John Ortiz) — and then Tino, a corgi adopted by lonely single woman Maya (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). Finally, Bailey is reincarnated as Buddy, a Labrador retriever, where he is given an opportunity to reunite with an older Ethan (Dennis Quaid).

Adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name, I hope that “A Dog’s Purpose” is better read than watched. Bailey’s journey through four different lives is too many stories for a two-hour film to cover adequately, especially considering that the story of Bailey’s first life takes up the first half of the film, shoehorning three different lives into a single hour. This recipe makes the story nearly impossible to pull off and the writers crash and burn in a dramatic fashion.

It also doesn’t help that all the stories are uninspired and have been told multiple times before.

Essentially, “A Dog’s Purpose” is a marathon of “the dog dies at the

end” stories. Whether the dog dies from growing old with the owner or by protecting the owner, these stories are not unique and offer nothing new.

The new element that “A Dog’s Purpose” does introduce to this established formula is the reincarnations of Bailey. But if the whole reason the audience is sad is because the dog dies, reincarnating him makes his deaths seem emotionally empty. Why should we feel sad when he’ll just pop back up in some other place?

It’d be nice to feel more connected to the pet owners (other than just feeling sorry for them because their pet dies). But because most of their appearances are so short, it’s hard to appreciate them. The film tries to lead its audience to tears through these minor characters, but this manipulative stunt falls on its face.

The film is saved from being a complete travesty by the half that focuses on Bailey. Relative to the rest of the film, the first half has some sort of development that makes the human characters more than just generic cardboard cutouts.

We get context to Ethan’s life, where he and his mother (Juliet Rylance) contest with his father’s (Luke Kirby) alcoholism and insecurities about not moving up in his career. Teenage Ethan is a star quarterback dating Hannah (Britt Robertson), a girl who was “introduced” to him by Bailey. He must navigate his own life as well, where he has a rivalry with a vindictive teammate.

None of the plot is earth-shatteringly unique, but if this was its own two-hour movie, it would be a typical, inoffensive and somewhat charming dog movie in the same vein as “Mar-

ley & Me.” It would be something that you watch once, look at the cute dogs in it and then forget it ever happened.

The second half of “A Dog’s Purpose” runs at a breakneck speed.

Each story could be a decent film on its own (a police German shepherd enforcing the law and a dog helping its owner find a relationship), but instead turn into unfunny jokes. Instead of taking the effort to write a good story, the writers focus on trying to cram in as many dog deaths as possible in a desperate attempt to make the audience feel anything.

Aside from the reincarnation element, the number of dog deaths in the film make each one in succession lose shock value.

“A Dog’s Purpose” tries to have some semblance of an overarching story when Bailey reunites with Ethan at the end. The final part of the film starts off promisingly enough with a bittersweet reunion where Ethan can’t recognize Bailey. However, this potential is derailed quickly when Bailey tries to get Ethan and Hannah back together. In a film that already wastes so much time, the rushed and anticlimactic resolved relationship plot point is the final nail in the coffin.

By the way, Bailey’s “purpose” is not profound in the slightest.

I am a dog lover and I love dog movies. As a critic, I understand they’re not always the best movies, but I’ll still enjoy them because they have dogs. What’s not to love? It would take a truly heinous attempt at manipulation for a dog movie to put me in a foul mood. Needless to say, “A Dog’s Purpose” is that heinous attempt. It’s two ill-fated hours I’ll never get back.

AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT | PROMOTIONA L

ARTS 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

ONE FOR ALL

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTA NG NE W S

| “Pushpin” is Cal Poly’s only student-organized, run and promoted art show. Organizers of the show encourage artists of all skill levels to submit their work from any medium for future “Pushpin” shows.

Messages run deep at ‘Pushpin’ art show Mikaela Duhs @mikaeladuhs

Art pieces hung, videos played and sculptures stood stationary as students, faculty and community members meandered the makeshift gallery that held “Pushpin,” Cal Poly’s student-run art show, on Jan. 27.

Club 34 and Cal Poly’s chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) hosted the show, gathering work from students in the art and design department. Club 34 is made up of approximately 25 art students that share work, get feedback and collaborate on projects for classes.

Traditionally Club 34 hosted “Pushpin,” but this year they worked with AIGA to make the event more inclusive. Previous-

ly, AIGA did promotional work for “Pushpin,” but this year many artists in the organization also showcased their work.

“Joining forces really gives more of a voice to the entire art department,” President of Club 34 Kelsey Dunkelman said.

The gallery featured photography, videography, studio art, graphic design and illustrations.

Among these was art and design junior Dunkelman’s painting titled “Self Portrait.” Two faces are melded together in the painting.

Warm pink and purple hues illuminate the faces while somber, distant blues fill the background behind the head. Dunkelman explained her face on the oil on canvas piece as an expression of resistance on its path to an expression of confidence.

“I painted this when I had a

self-realization moment when I stopped being critical of my appearance,” Dunkelman said.

Two additional standout pieces of the night were drawings by AIGA President Ellen Fabini.

Using graphite and watercolors, the drawings featured women in various positions, emphasizing the curves of their bodies.

Art and design senior Fabini said that although graphic design is her concentration, she enjoys all different aspects of art.

“I love to draw,” Fabini said.

“This project was a fun trip back to my roots.”

Aside from paintings and drawings, there were several 3D sculptures at “Pushpin.” Among these was art and design junior Solstice Baranski’s sculpture made of wire and wrapped in different colored pieces of yarn.

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTA NG NE W S

MIXED MEDIUMS | Among the art on the walls, there were several sculptures on display at “Pushpin.”

The piece resembled a human body lying on the ground, trapped underneath a blanket of yarn. Zaranski said that she had a special image in mind when creating the statue.

“I wanted to show the heaviness versus lightness of mental illness,” Zaranski said. “Anyone who has had depression knows that it’s very hard to get out of bed. I wanted to recreate that.”

Zaranski also said that depression is something many people think can be “shaken off,” when in reality it’s not that easy. The yarn that makes up the blanket may look light, but it feels like the weight of the world to the person underneath it.

Like Zaranski’s sculpture, art at “Pushpin” proved to not only be aesthetically pleasing but thought-provoking and

emotionally touching. Many of the pieces encouraged further discussion by highlighting important issues.

“Pushpin” is the only student-organized, promoted and driven art show on Cal Poly’s campus. Organizers encourage artists of all skill levels to submit their work to later “Pushpin” shows. Work in all mediums is accepted, including video.

OPINION 6

MUSTANG NEWS

Milo Yiannopoulos and the horrible, no good, terrible, not-so-great, very bad day

OPINION

Neil Sandhu @CPMustangNews

Neil Sandhu is a biomedical engineering senior and an editor for Mustang News. The Weekly Bull is a purely satirical column and any references to actual people or organizations are coincidental.

The satire expressed within this column does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Mustang News or the Mustang News editorial board.

I remember three things from the AP Macroeconomics class I took during my senior year of high school: guns and butter are interchangeable, some invisible hand is always trying to grope the market and newspapers expire. The last of these is meant to serve as metaphorical recognition that a news story has a shelf life of a few days before it becomes obsolete.

Well, hold on to your cargo shorts nerds, because you are already three sips into a gallon of two-day-old half-and-half. That’s right, this sans-serifed bludgeon is being written on the night of Jan. 30 and I have absolutely no evidence to support the claims that I am about to make in regards to how the events of Jan. 31 transpired.

Really, I’m just going to hurl some wild pre-

dictions out there, and you can tell me how far I am from what actually happened. Normally, it would be disingenuous for me to spread misinformation like this.

However, we live in a post-factual society, and according to a certain White House staffer with two first names (the Devil offered her a second one in return for her soul), even reality is subjective. I’m just going to make up my own version of reality, format it, and call it journalism.

Jan. 31, 5 p.m.

A crowd of masked protesters started to form around Alex G. Spanos Stadium, making it the third largest stadium attendance for this academic year.

Jan. 31, 5:23 p.m.

Protesters realized Spanos Theatre is not the same place as Spanos Stadium. Muffled grumbling was heard as they commuted up North Perimeter Road to the actual protest site. They somehow found a way to blame Apple maps for their misplacement.

Jan. 31, 5:43 p.m.

Scores of protesters gathered around the proverbial campfire to sing their greatest hits such as “Not My President” and “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA.” Jan. 31 5:45 p.m.

One protester pulled off their mask to reveal that he was in fact the former Brietbart technology editor. Having artistically positioned himself directly in the middle of a group of angered protesters, Yiannopoulos proceeded to throw his body around in faux celebration. Some of the protestors began to push back, while others formed a barricade to block his entrance. However, just like Yiannopoulos’ logic, this blockade is weak and permeated with holes.

Jan. 31, 6:14 p.m.

Yiannopoulos’ event began, much to the approval of his fans, who were just as excited to see their demigod as they were to see the inside of a theater for the first time. Yiannopoulos proceeded to congratulate his attendees for making the long and arduous journey. He took this time to remind them that, as people who sat silently in a hall and uncritically listened to the man proselytizing

Yiannopoulos said some more shit and got some more attention.

his view to them, they are the protectors of free speech; their butts are the ones keeping the seat warm for future curators of our First Amendment.

Jan. 31, 6:22 p.m.

Yiannopoulos criticized the protesters, and likened the lot of them to fascists. He moved on to other protests and offered colorful imagery of feminists devouring the streets of cities across the world. One can no longer picture the women’s marches without imagining 750,000 Frida Kahlo self-portraits marching through the streets of Washington D.C. to the anthem of the Russian Federation. He likened every feminist to a man hater and blamed them all for the destruction of equality.

Jan. 31, 6:23 p.m.

Yiannopoulos proceeded to criticize liberals for their blanket statements and generalizations.

He obliterated liberals who call Trump supporters “the KKK” just because a small percentage of his supporters are Klan members. He pointed out that it would be ridiculous to characterize an entire group of people for the actions of a few. (Meanwhile, the protesters whom he adversely characterized as a group based on the actions of a few began to filter out of the Spanos Theatre Area).

Jan. 31, 6:44 p.m.

Intermission, Kool-Aid was distributed among the attendees.

Jan. 31, 6:59 pm.

Yiannopoulos offered no justification for 12-year-old girls on Tumblr calling Bernie Sanders “daddy” well before he started calling his own candidate-of-choice the same. Though, one begins to wonder what else Yiannopoulos ripped off from 12-year-old girls on Tumblr.

Jan. 31, 7:12 p.m.

Yiannopoulos said some more shit and got some more attention.

Jan. 31, 7:42 p.m.

Yiannopoulos took his second curtain call and sauntered out of Cal Poly to the standing ovation of our nation’s bravest sitters.

Today, our freedom of speech was protected, behind closed doors, admission by ticket only, subject to removal for failure to remain silent and seated unless called upon.

Feb. 2, 12:01 p.m.

Our campus is just the same as it was on the day that I am writing this. You’re still a douche if you use “freedom of speech” as an excuse for anything you say, regardless of legality.

Feb. 2, 12:45 p.m.

Cal Poly College Republicans announce a partnership with SLO Solidarity to bring half-off protests for the remainder of the year; just use promo code “Yiannopoulos tear down this sham” at checkout.

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CHRIS GATELEY | MUSTA NG NE W S

TAKE A GUESS

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SPORTS 8

MUSTANG NEWS

Gearing up for the Super Bowl Ayrton Ostly @AyrtonOstly

Many of you were blissfully unaware of the coming event. That is, until you received a text or Facebook invite to a viewing party from that one guy always complaining about his fantasy football team and some guy named Jay Ajayi ruining his weekend.

That’s right. It’s time for the Super Bowl — America’s game.

Last February, approximately 11 million people tuned in to watch Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos beat Cam Newton’s Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. And the other 100.9 million viewers were glued to the television during halftime for Beyoncé’s performance; or for the commercial breaks, which cost a total of $376.8 million. Or both.

Well, another year has passed and it’s time for Super Bowl LI. Yes, the NFL uses roman numerals for its championship game.

Why? To avoid confusion with numbers and years. Apparently, playing Super Bowl 51 in 2017 would cause the American people to lose all understanding of time.

Except for the number 50. Last year was an aberration because “Super Bowl L” didn’t have the same awe-inspiring power of, say, Super Bowl XLVIII (for those not wellversed in ancient numerology, that’s Super Bowl 48).

For the likely 10 million people following the NFL this season, Super Bowl LI will feature a pair of intriguing teams. But for the other 100 million viewers, here’s what to look out for while waiting for ads or Lady Gaga’s show at halftime this Sunday afternoon.

AFC Champions: New England Patriots For the casual fan, the Patriots are a pretty familiar team. Their quar-

terback, Tom Brady, is relevant for marrying Gisele Bündchen and for playing in a lot of Super Bowls.

This year will mark the seventh title game appearance for the 39-year-old.

This season was supposed to be tough for the Patriots. Brady was suspended for the first four games of the season after the well-chronicled saga of “Deflategate.” For those who don’t know what that is, just understand footballs that were slightly under-inflated in a game two years ago led to a scandal that has its own Wikipedia page with 148 references. To put that in perspective, that’s double the number for Cal Poly’s Wikipedia page.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and the team survived Brady’s absence, winning 16 of their 18 games this season. Their team is loaded with cast-offs from other teams: defensive end Chris Long, linebacker Kyle Van Noy and wide receiver Chris Hogan all played prominent roles this season.

Offensively, Brady distributes the ball to an assortment of players and generally gets the points and yards needed to win. The defense is pretty stout, holding teams to a leaguebest 15.6 points per game. They may bend but rarely break.

The Patriots win by causing the opponent’s best player on either side of the ball to have as small an impact on the game as possible.

The offense then uses a variety of options in the running or passing game to wear down the opposing defense. New England’s defense stifles the opponent’s best player and forces others to play harder than they have before.

To beat the Patriots, a team has to get to Brady with sacks without sending lots of players on a blitz at him. It also needs to have an offense that can exploit any mismatch, a type of offense employed by the...

NFC Champions: Atlanta Falcons

If you can’t name a player from the Atlanta Falcons, that’s understandable. Few expected the Falcons to be in the Super Bowl with a suspect defense and their second-year head coach, Dan Quinn.

However, with the incredible performance by likely-MVP quarterback Matt Ryan this season, the Falcons have played an entertainingly high-scoring offense en route to their second Super Bowl appearance ever.

The Falcons have a historically good offense. Ryan has one of the best wide receivers in the league, Julio Jones, carving up defenses on a regular basis. His other receivers, Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel, can take advantage when defenses focus on Jones. He also has two running backs, Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman, that are capable runners and pass catchers. This team scores a lot. An average of 33.8 points per game is the best in the league this season.

Their defense, in contrast, is generally inexperienced. Improved play over the last two months of the season give hope, but often this side of the team does just barely enough to get a win.

The Falcons win by overwhelming opposing defenses with well-planned schemes executed by Ryan and company.

The defense makes enough plays to keep them ahead and on to victory.

To beat the Falcons, a team has to find a way to combat the arsenal of skilled players Ryan can hand the ball off to or throw to. In turn, it has to also have an offense capable of scoring enough in case Atlanta breaks free.

The Bottom Line For football nerds, myself included, this game is fascinating.

It could be a shootout with Brady and Ryan leading their respective teams to score 30plus points. The Patriots could suppress the Falcons’ proficient offense to the tune of a lopsided victory. The Falcons’ defense, led by breakout star linebacker Vic Beasley, could harass Brady and

AYRTON OSTLY | MUSTA NG NE W S

give the offense a shot at a blowout victory. Or both teams could have an off day in a low-scoring affair. It’s hard to predict the outcome.

What is expected is a slew of commercials totaling a cost approaching $400 million and the crowd in Houston waiting with anticipation for Lady Gaga. America got a warm-up with her performance of the national anthem

last February; now it’s time for the real deal.

My pick: For the game, as much as a win would be the best sports moment in Atlanta history, my pick is the New England Patriots. Hard to go against four-time champions Brady and Belichick.

For everything else, I pick Gaga to wear at least four outfits, perform “Bad Romance” for those needing a dose of 2009 nostalgia,

serenade viewers with “Perfect Illusion” to promote her latest album and suffer the unnecessary criticism entailed in performing the year after Beyoncé. But she will be a colorful escape from the commercials that will try too hard to connect to millennials and be uninteresting more often than not.

Except for the Budweiser Clydesdales. They’re a national treasure.