Thur sday, November 12, 20 15
E s t abl ished 19 16
w w w.mus t angne w s .net
The essential quality of hardiness: A veteran’s story
BRYAN COCHR AN | COURTESY PHOTO GROUNDED | During the grueling physical and emotional trials he faced on duty, Cochran stayed grounded through the support of his friends and phone calls to his wife. He vowed to never forget about his life before the military.
Annie Vainshtein @annievain
Cal Poly’s Veterans Success Center is showcasing themes relating to diversity, leadership and military service throughout the week to honor those who served for Veterans Awareness Week. Bryan Cochran is a city and regional planning junior, but he’s also a war veteran. This is his story.
Bryan Cochran joined the
militar y to give himself another chance. Near the end of high school, Cochran was at odds. His grandparents, who had raised him, passed away. He soon found himself encircled in a turbulent cloud of distress with the rest of his family. Confined to only the barest of choices, Cochran moved in with his girlfriend and her parents. He had only just graduated high school. “I kind of didn’t have anywhere to go,” Cochran said. “I felt like I didn’t have anything and the military itself was kind
of a way out.” For Cochran and many others like him, the army was an opportunity to reinvent himself. He chose the Marine Corps because it was the “toughest one.” “At that time, I’d been a bull-rider, played sports my entire life,” he said. “That was the kind of person I considered myself.” Cochran married his then girlfriend — now wife — at age 19, just 10 days before departing for boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. During those 13 weeks, he was put into extreme situations of physical and emo-
tional stress that prepared him for the soon-to-be arduous undertaking of the U.S. Military. Post-training, he was allotted 10 days of leave, then returned, only this time he would combat training and then combat engineering school, where he would learn the overview of his entire field and the specifics of his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) which primarily focused on explosives and demolition, specifically targeted toward IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Continued on page 6
Theatre and Dance Department to debut fall show, ‘The Little Prince’
JASON HUNG | MUSTANG NE WS PROBATION | Alpha Epsilon Pi and Phi Kappa Psi are both on social probation until the end of Fall 2015.
AEPi and Phi Psi placed on social probation Gina Randazzo @Gina_Randazzo1
CAL POLY THEATRE AND DANCE DEPARTMENT | COURTESY PHOTO INSPIRED | The play is based on the French novella, which recounts the adventures of a pilot and a prince.
Annie Vainshtein @annievain
The Cal Poly Theatre and Dance Department will debut its fall show, “The Little Prince” on Thursday, Nov. 12. The play is based on the renowned French novella, originally published in 1943 by pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The novella is the third most translated book in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. It tells the story of a fallen aviator, stranded in the desert, who meets a young prince.
The two form a deep bond, captivating each other with stories of various travels and intimate mystics. The stage version is adapted by Rick Cummins and Josh Scoullar. Cummins wrote the music and Scoullar wrote the script and lyrics. Theatre arts senior Kimberlee Vandenburg is the costume designer and will be assisted by others from the department to put on the show. The performance is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the Instructionally Related Activities Program. Full-time faculty, director
and designer Al Schnupp chose “The Little Prince” as the featured fall show after recently finding out its success as a play. “I think the script follows the novella very closely in terms of the plot and characters,” he said. “Visually, it’s pretty inspiring.” Performances will take place over two weekends — Nov. 12, 13, 14 and Nov. 19, 20 and 21 in the Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre. General admission is $20.00. Students, faculty and staff, children and senior citizen tickets are $12.00. To purchase tickets, call 805-756-4TIX or visit pacslo.org/tickets.
Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) and Phi Kappa Psi (Phi Psi) were placed on social probation last week due to violations of Cal Poly’s party registration policies. Both fraternities’ social probations will last until the end of Fall 2015. Under social probation, the fraternities cannot hold social events, including gatherings involving alcohol. Mustang News reached out to Dean of Students Jean DeCosta for an interview, and was redirected to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. According to emailed responses from Fraternity and Sorority Life sent through Lazier, both of the fraternities held parties that weren’t registered through Cal Poly during this year’s Week of Welcome (WOW). AEPi president and aerospace engineering junior Jake Margulies said that AEPi’s probation resulted from the investigation of an event held at the fraternity house on Hathway Avenue on Friday, Sept. 18. Margulies said the AEPi members were having Shabbat dinner that night when some asked to invite friends over to the house.
Knowing that there would be loud music playing, two members volunteered to go to the front gate of the house and ensure no outsiders were coming in, only friends the members had invited. At 11:30 p.m., Margulies said, three men that were not from San Luis Obispo and did not attend Cal Poly tried to enter the house, offering money and alcohol to the doormen. The doormen denied them access, so the three broke through the side fence, he said, and AEPi members immediately kicked them out. Afterward, Margulies said undercover University Police Department (UPD) officers confronted the three men, who were holding open containers. Each man received a minor in possession ticket. As UPD officers were writing the tickets, the men told the officers they got the alcohol from members of AEPi inside the house. Margulies says that this statement was false and that the men were never inside the house. From there, Margulies said that UPD became suspicious about the nature of AEPi’s event, and
News... 1-2 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
determined that it was a party with alcohol. Margulies said that there were approximately 80 people at the house that night. The event was not registered, and after an investigation by the Fraternity and Sorority Judicial Council, AEPi was found to have broken the university’s party registration policy. The fraternity has been on probation since Wednesday, Nov. 4. “In my opinion, the social probation is completely fair based on our current registration policy,” Margulies said. “I think this was just kind of a wakeup call that we do need to take more things into account, especially little things going on in the house that we may oversee.” Margulies said that AEPi is reviewing its current risk management policy and plans to improve it in the future. Executive members of Phi Psi declined to comment on the fraternity’s probation. Disclosure: Benjy Egel, the managing editor for news at Mustang News, is also a member of AEPi. Egel was not involved in the writing or editing of this story.