California is fighting back after new land is opened for drilling
JANUARY 21, 2020
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020 MUSTANG NEWS
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The Orchesis Dance Company is celebrating its 50th year by re-imagining ten memorable dances in their winter 2020 show. The company’s first director, Moon Ja Minn Suhr, helps open the performance by dancing in front of a photo of her in the first Orchesis concert. ORCHESIS | COURTESY
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CANNABIS
TRAFFIC
Dispensary fails background check, opening door for third storefront applicant
Second Grand Avenue traffic light activation schedule for this week
A cannabis dispensary that applied for a permit to open a storefront business in San Luis Obispo has failed its background check, making way for the next eligible applicant to potentially be approved. It was determined that the company Elemental Wellness failed to submit information that satisfied certain required components during the extensive application review and background check, according to a news release. The next eligible applicant, SloCal Roots, LLC, will now move forward with a background screening to receive a permit to open a storefront cannabis business, also known as a Commercial Cannabis Operator Permit. The two approved permits belong to Megan’s Organic Market SLO and Natural Healing Center, LLC.
Activation of a new stoplight at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Pacheco Way is set for Wednesday, Jan. 22, according to University Spokesperson Matt Lazier. The planned installation was delayed after the manufacturer was unable to deliver the light pole on time. The light was initially supposed to be activated over winter break. This light is part of a larger $529,000 yakʔitʸutʸu project aimed at improving pedestrian and vehicle traffic flow at the busy intersection. Once activated, the programming and timing of the light will be adjusted into February. Traffic-motion cameras will take into consideration vehicular traffic and bicycle traffic to ensure greater safety, according to an announcement.
ATHLETICS
Retired head football coach Tim Walsh takes job at high school Santa Margarita Catholic High School announced the appointment of Tim Walsh as the school’s head football coach Jan. 16, according to a news release. Walsh retired as Cal Poly Football head coach after 11 years with the Mustangs in late 2019. His retirement came on the heels of a 3-8 season — the third losing season in a row for the program. Following his departure from Cal Poly, Walsh was unable to be reached by Mustang News for comment.
COVER STORY
4 ASI lowers presidential campaign spending limit for 2020 election
5 New program is automatically charging students for textbooks
7 Meet the students helping NASA collect water in space
10 New plans allow fracking and oil drilling in eight counties
15 US-Iranian conflict: The people behind the headlines
CAMPUS DIVIDED IN BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ELECTION
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Three SLO County Board of Supervisors seats are open in the March primary elections
MUSTANG NEWS | FILE
The FBI is still investigating Kristen Smart’s disappearance.
JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS
The other on-campus housing falls under District 2 — however the District 2 supervisor position is not up for election this year.
BY AUSTIN LINTHICUM
BY CAMERYN OAKES
worked through ASI to set up voter registration booths in the University Union and plan to have more in the yakʔitʸutʸu amphitheater, according to Cal Poly Democrats club secretary and political science senior Emma Sullivan. As ASI and the Cal Poly Democrats have worked to increase the number of students registered locally, they stressed the importance of voter registration and students participating in local elections. “I became politically involved when I got to college ... I got super, super into federal politics and all that stuff,” Sullivan said. “But at the end of the day … our local representatives are the ones making the changeable change and so that’s why we really, really have been trying to push on campus for people to vote for candidates up and down the ballot.” Sullivan said that many freshmen are active in the club and
have worked with Beraud’s campaign, but she is unsure of how many live in the yakʔitʸutʸu dorms and could, therefore, vote in the election. The Cal Poly Democrats club has plans for canvassing the yakʔitʸutʸu dorms, but a date is still being established, according to Sullivan. A candidate forum with both Supervisor Arnold and Beraud will be held in yakʔitʸutʸu Hall Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. “Whether you’re staying here or you’re not staying here, the habits that you build when you’re in college are habits that stay with you,” Beraud said. “Being engaged in your community now will lead to a richer life after you graduate because you’ll have some of these values already instilled in you.” The election will take place March 3, on the same ballot as the presidential primary election, and voting by mail will start Feb. 3.
MUSTANG NEWS | FILE
Kristin was last seen walking towards her Muir Hall room in 1996.
NEWS
CAROLINE SILVA | MUSTANG NEWS
The election will take place March 3, on the same ballot as the presidential primary.
The mother of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart told the Stockton Record big developments may be coming to the unsolved case. Denise Smart said she was recently contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and told to be ready for a development that might bring closure to the case. “Be ready. This is really going to be something you don’t expect. We want to give you the support you need,” Denise said in an interview with the Stockton Record. The FBI also told Denise that her family might want to “get away for a while” and find a family spokesperson, according to the article. Kristin was last seen walking towards her Muir Hall room in 1996. The case has been in and out of the news since she disappeared. The most recent lead was in Fall 2016 when the San Luis Obispo Sheriff found remains at the hillside near the “P.” However, the remains were not related to Smart’s case. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office was unavailable for immediate comment.
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her priorities as a board member are to hold government accountable by eliminating programs that are not working, promoting a local economy, protecting the county’s open spaces, and prioritizing fire protection and sheriff patrols. Beraud, who co-owns and operates a small electrical contracting business, is centering her campaign around “sensible cannabis regulations,” improving roads and infrastructure, the future of San Luis Obispo’s housing, sustainable groundwater management and affordable childcare, according to her website. Liberal studies freshman Rachael Tibbetts, who lives in yakʔitʸutʸu, expressed her interest in political participation, however she said she was unaware of the election. “I think the main influence that would make me want to vote is my parents,” Tibbetts said. “My mom keeps texting me like, ‘Rachael you’ve got to register to vote,’ so that’s probably the main motivator.” Like many college students who are from out of the area, Tibbetts is registered to vote in her hometown. And Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) has been trying to change that. For the last few years, the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) has put together the Flex Your Right voter campaign meant to inform students and help them register to vote locally. The Cal Poly Democrats club has
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For the first time ever, students living in the yakʔitʸutʸu residence halls will be able to vote in the upcoming county Board of Supervisors election. The County Board of Supervisors is a five-member board that legislates San Luis Obispo County by setting policies and priorities for the community, according to the county website. San Luis Obispo has five districts and members serve four-year terms. This March, District 1, District 3 and District 5 have seats up for election. The yakʔitʸutʸu residence halls reside in District 5, the only on-campus housing within this district. The other on-campus housing falls under District 2 — however the District 2 supervisor position is not up for election this year. yakʔitʸutʸu was built after the district lines were redrawn in 2011. The lines are adjusted every 10 years after census population data is taken, dividing the county into districts of roughly equal populations. District 5 encompasses northern San Luis Obispo, Santa Margarita, Atascadero, East Templeton, Creston, Pozo, Ground Squirrel Hollow, and Carrisa Plains. Current District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold is being challenged by former mayor of Atascadero Ellen Beraud. Arnold, a Cal Poly alumna and former preschool owner, is running for her third term on the board. According to her website,
FBI TELLS KRISTIN SMART’S MOTHER TO ‘BE READY’ FOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS
ASI LOWERS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPENDING
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JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS
Stalking is a repeated pattern or action directed at a specific person that causes fear, according to Safer.
UNIVERSITY ENCOURAGES CAMPUS TO CALL OUT STALKING DURING JANUARY
NEWS
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
BY NATALIE YOUNG For one Cal Poly student, a walk to class turned into a race for her safety. Journalism senior Christina Arthur was walking to campus from her apartment on Jan. 9 when a man started following and then chased her. “He followed me all the way down Casa Street up until the corner of Foothill and California. I was walking really fast the whole time, I was sweating and I was freaking out,” Arthur said. “Once I got to the intersection, there were other people around at that point, he caught up to me, he just stood there and stared at me and I was really creeped out.” According to Arthur, he ran into the street and he “definitely wasn’t in the right mind.” She immediately called the police after the encounter. January is National Stalking Awareness Month. Safer, Cal Poly’s on-campus confidential advocacy, education and support program for sexual misconduct, is hosting a variety of events throughout the month of January to provide “approachable” ways to inform students about the common themes of stalking, including a trivia night about the pop culture surrounding stalking. “While discussions around intimate partner violence and sexual assault have increased over the years, stalking remains often misunderstood and minimized,” Safer Assistant Director of Wellbeing Kara Samaniego wrote in an email to Mustang News. Samaniego said Safer believes that “it is essential for everyone in our community” to be able to identify stalking and to know where to refer
stalking victims for help. Stalking is a repeated pattern or action directed at a specific person that causes fear, according to Safer. A person can be stalked within the context of a relationship or a stranger. In many cases, however, a person is stalked by someone who they know. Sameniego said she generally believes that the topic is “minimized as not being as ‘serious’ as other crimes” which can lead to a more dangerous situation for those being stalked. “We see this commonly in the media, where it can be romanticized or made the object of jokes,” Samaniego wrote. “Unfortunately, stalking is often a precursor to an escalation of violence against a person.” Arthur said that since the incident she has been a lot more alert and aware of her surroundings. “This happened during the day time and I’ve never really thought about my safety during the day,” Arthur said, “It’s usually at night when I’m more paranoid … so this whole situation has definitely taught me that no matter what time of day it is, if you’re walking alone always just be aware of your surroundings.”
Events this month
A screening of the movie Obsessed will take place Jan. 22 from 6-8:30 p.m.. The movie will be followed by a facilitated discussion about the effects of extreme representations of stalking and victim blaming. Safer has partnered with the student improv comedy group Smile and Nod to raise awareness about stalking through humor Jan. 24 from 6-8 p.m. Students will also have the opportuni-
ty to talk to University Police officers about stalking resources, safety planning or ask any other questions on Jan. 31 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. The National Center for Victims of Crime established National Stalking Awareness Month in 2004 to increase public knowledge and education regarding stalking, as well as to improve law enforcement’s response to stalking in order to save lives.
I trusted this whole town. I’ve always felt safe in San Luis Obispo, but you never know who could be trying to harm you. You really can’t trust someone you think you know, but you don’t. Journalism senior Christina Arthur said after a man chased her up Casa Street. He stopped when they reached a crowd.
If an individual or someone they know is being stalked and there is an imminent danger to their safety, call 911. Safer advocates can offer emotional support, help create a customized safety plan and refer to resources that are best aligned with a person’s needs. Any student, faculty or staff member can make an appointment with an advocate to learn about the options available to them by visiting our website. For after-hours support, RISE has a 24-hour crisis line.
CAROLYNE SYSMANS | MUSTANG NEWS
ASI President Mark Borges said he spent $500-$700 out of pocket on his campaign.
BY SOPHIA CROLLA
Associated Students Inc. (ASI) voted to decrease campaign spending limits for student government presidential elections during their Board of Directors meeting Jan. 8. The spending limit was lowered to $1,500 per candidate — down $250 from last year’s elections, according to ASI bylaws. The change is intended to make campaigning more affordable for low-income students, according to ASI President Mark Borges. “I believe this benefits low-income students and will hopefully make the position of ASI President slightly more accessible to more students,” Borges said. Before 2017, there was not a cap on student spending in elections. In 2017, ASI set the the campaign spending limit at $2000. Cal Poly’s spending limit is the highest out of any other CSU campus. Chair of the ASI Board of Directors and political science junior Rob Moore said representatives from the Board of Directors are working to create different forms of funding to enhance accessibility in ASI.
“While this [document] is by no means a good long-term solution to the problem of accessibility in ASI, the board viewed it as a step in the right direction,” Moore said. “Some members of the board are now working on alternative forms of funding for presidential elections that would create more access for individuals who would have a harder time spending around $1,000 dollars on an ASI election.”
$1,500 The new ASI presidential campaign spending limit — down $250 from last year’s election limit.
Borges said that he spent $500$700 out of pocket for his ASI presidential campaign last year, but he said he expensed about $1,500 on his final report due to donated items. Despite the expense, ASI presidents receive a full scholarship covering housing, tuition, books and some other living expenses.
ASHLEY LADIN | MUSTANG NEWS
ASI presidential candidates George Will and Jasmin Fashami debated in 2018.
SLO COUNTY EXPEREINCES FIRST FLURELATED DEATH OF THE SEASON
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BY HAILEY NAGMA
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NEWS
In classes participating in Poly Access, students are given access to digital course materials for free on the first day of class through the add/drop date.
NEW PROGRAM AUTOMATICALLY CHARGES STUDENTS FOR TEXTBOOKS UNLESS THEY OPT-OUT AUSTIN LINTHICUM
The time pressure and format of the email makes me believe it is fake. And it went to my junk [folder], so I wouldn’t have seen it if not notified by others. Business administration senior Jake Satterlee said about the email.
3,100 students using the program. While Poly Access is being billed as a way to save up to 60 percent on digital textbooks, business ad-
ministration junior Austin Nix said the program takes away students’ right to purchase course materials themselves. “Many students utilize online resources, used books from friends etcetera as their source for course material. The communication or lack thereof from Cal Poly regarding this manner has been hesitant and unclear, I had to look through my spam folder to opt-out officially.” Poly Access was presented to the Academic Senate, the ASI president, the ASI Board of Directors, the provost and the Provost’s Council during Fall quarter, according to Lazier. Half of the California State University campuses are currently using the program.
The accident happened near the PAC BY AUSTIN LINTHICUM
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NEWS
An 18-year-old male and a 19-year-old female were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after an accident near the Performing Arts Center.
NEWS
An 18-year-old male and a 19-yearold female were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after an accident near the Performing Arts Center, according to University Spokesperson Matt Lazier. University Police received a call of a vehicle-versus-pedestrian accident — possibly a hit-and-run — the evening of Saturday, Jan. 18.
The two college-aged victims were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment with what appeared to be moderate injuries, according to Lazier. Police located driver Corban B. Kinloch after the incident. He was taken to San Luis Obispo County Jail on charges of hit-and-run. No other information is available at this time.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
TWO HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE HIT-AND-RUN
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The deadline to opt-out of a new University Bookstore program that automatically charges students for course materials has been extended. In classes participating in Poly Access, students are given access to digital course materials for free on the first day of class through the add/drop date, according to University Spokesperson Matt Lazier. After that, students will be charged for the course materials unless they opt-out and find the materials elsewhere. Students were emailed about Poly Access from Follett Higher Education on Jan. 6 and by the University Store director on Jan. 14, ac-
cording to Lazier. Representatives also visited classes to discuss the pilot program with students. If a student misses the email and does not opt-out of the program by the add/drop date, their student account will be charged. Business administration senior Jake Satterlee said at first he thought the emails about Poly Access were phishing scams. “The time pressure and format of the email makes me believe it is fake. And it went to my junk [folder], so I wouldn’t have seen it if not notified by others,” Satterlee said. “Students were not given proper time to prepare and make an informed decision,” Poly Access is being tested in 76 class sections this quarter with
An unforeseen mutation of the common flu is spreading through San Luis Obispo county. “This season is unusual in that there are two predominantly circulating strains. In our county as well, there are three strains,” San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department Epidemiologist Ann McDowell said. The vast majority of flu cases confirmed in the county this winter have been the same flu strain that was predominant in 2009. This strain is covered in the flu vaccine. However, McDowell said the unique strain of influenza type A is not a good match for this year’s flu vaccine, leaving vaccinated individuals virtually unprotected. On Tuesday, Jan 14, the Public Health Department announced the county’s first flu-related death of the season. The patient was a 60-yearold male with a type A flu, but the exact strain and his vaccination status against the disease are unknown. He had several underlying conditions that make people more vulnerable to severe complications of influenza, according to the Public Health Department. Cal Poly students are not the most susceptible to such severe cases, McDowell said. Hospitalization for the flu is more common for elderly and elementary ages. “The immune system in the young is naive — it hasn’t seen a lot of things yet,” Cal Poly Health and Wellbeing Medical Director Aaron Baker said. “[Flu season is dangerous for] the old, because their immune systems are tired — it’s seen a bunch of things.” If a person already had the flu this season and never got the flu shot, McDowell said it’s never too late to get vaccinated. Flu vaccinations are free to enrolled students, according to Baker. Both McDowell and Baker suggest the best ways to prevent contracting the flu is to get the flu vaccine, wash your hands often, and if you feel sick, stay home. “It’s nice to share, but not the flu,” Baker said. There have been no reports of serious cases in Cal Poly students this year.
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STUDENTS BUILDING CAL POLY VOICE ASSISTANT USING AI BY CARLY QUINN A group of Cal Poly students are building an artificial intelligence voice assistant that aims to provide students and faculty with knowledge of courses, buildings, faculty and other campus information. The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Club (CSAI) are curating their project NIMBUS to provide users with information about Cal Poly. NIMBUS has been in the works since Spring 2019 and the engineers hope to produce a beta version. The team said that they have and continue to perform extensive data analytics campuswide to provide the most accurate information possible to users of this product. All data and software used to develop the project was collected and curated by the students involved. CSAI members said they hope it will one day be able to be used by faculty and students across campus. NIMBUS was funded by the Cal Poly grant CPConnect. Members said this project has developed machine learning, database management, data analytics and software, hardware, mobile, and
web development skills for the students involved. Comprised of a variety of engineering students, CSAI depends on the collaborative efforts of their team to make this project work. The development of NIMBUS is guided by project lead Chidi Ewenike, software/mobile development Lead Miles, software lead aikens Jason Ku, data lead Michael Fekadu, web development lead John Waidhofer, natural language processing lead Richa Gadgil, test lead Cameron Toy, hardware lead Tyler Herzog and information infrastructure lead Austin Silveria. “I feel very fortunate to be working with the group of students that I’m currently working with. To see things come to fruition is really exciting,” Ewenike said. “It’s because of the brilliant group of students that we have and the unparalleled advising that we have from the professors that are helping us with this project.” Professors Franz Kurfess, Foaad Khosmood and Wayne Pilkington are advisors to the students. Khosmood developed the Cal Poly concentrated idea when project lead Ewenike expressed interest in developing an AI project. “This project is a perfect example of
I feel very fortunate to be working with the group of students that I’m currently working with. To see things come to fruition is really exciting Project lead Chidi Ewenike said about the collaborative efforts of the CSAI team.
what we do well here at Cal Poly,” Khosmood said. “I’m very impressed on how fast this is moving.” When completed, the application will be available on hardware, mobile and web platforms. CSAI is a social and project based artificial intelligence club. They meet every Sunday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Building 197-104 and every other Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Construction Innovations Center (building 186-C100).
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CLUB | COURTESY
Hardware lead Tyler Herzog holds NIMBUS, a Cal Poly voice assistant.
STUDENT LIFE
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR LEADS RESEARCH ON WILDFIRE AIR QUALITY IMPACT
MATTHEW ZOERBL | COURTESY
Matt Zoerb (left) and his team of students analyze air samples from wildfires hundreds of miles away from the Cal Poly.
BY BAHARAN ABDOLLAHI Chemistry professor Matthew Zoerb and a group of undergraduate students
are conducting research to help people better understand the effects wildfires have on health and the environment. In the past few years, California has
seen the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history, including the Camp Fire in 2018 and the Kincade Fire last October. Zoerb and his students are re-
searching the health and environmental impact following wildfires. Zoerb said he was inspired to begin his research after the Soberanes Fire that burned the Big Sur Coast in 2016. “We are looking at different fuel sources such as forests or wood from homes and the chemistry of those particles and how the physical and chemical transformations evolve over time,” Zoerb said. When something burns, those particles are released into the air and will drift hundreds of miles from their starting point, according to Zoerb. By taking air samples from Cal Poly’s campus and the Cal Poly Pier, located in Avila Beach, Zoerb and his students saw the particles that people were breathing as well as the concentrations of those particles depending on the proximity of the wildfires. Zoerb and his team gathered many samples downwind from Northern California fires because 2019 had less local fires than previous years. According to Zoerb, San Luis Obispo generally has good air quality which allows from him and his team to see every trace emission that makes it to the area. Zoerb and his team can then see how much the wildfire particles are diluted
and what the impact is. These samples show how much the wildfire particles remain in the air. This helps the team identify types of fires and decipher the general location where the fires started. With these samples, the team began to understand the amount of time these particles remain in the air. Seth Bush, the chair of the chemistry and biochemistry department, said Zoerb’s work is an important milestone. “The ability to accurately measure microscopic, trace particles generated in wildfires across the state is interesting from a scientific standpoint on its own,” Bush said. “However, the fact that they can use this tool and the data they collect to address complex real world problems amplifies the importance of their work beyond the academic community.” The College of Science and Mathematics Dean Dean E. Wendt said Zoerb and the team of students is relevant to the state as a whole. “The work of [Zoerb] is a great example of Cal Poly research at it’s best — engaging students, focusing on problems that are meaningful to California, and contributing basic knowledge to a scholarly discipline,” Wendt said.
RESEARCHERS GROW THEIR OWN CELLS IN LAB, AVOIDING ANIMAL TESTING BY SYDNEY SHERMAN
SOFIA CLARK | MUSTANG NEWS
Mechanical Engineering seniors Alex Krenitsky, Chris Boone, Westin McHanney, Aaron Erickson and Ryan Locatelli applied to the competition for their senior project.
MEET THE STUDENTS HELPING NASA COLLECT WATER IN SPACE BY SYDNEY SHERMAN
We really like our approach of, ‘Let’s cause the problem in a dish that’s not hurting anybody, and then try to test it and treat it there. Kristen O’Halloran Cardinal said. She began the tissue engineering lab at Cal Poly.
STUDENT LIFE
For O’Halloran Cardinal’s lab specifically, students gather blood vessels from safely discarded umbilical cords and use them to put on what she likes to call “fancy straws.” Then, researchers place the vessels in a bioreactor so that more cells can live and grow. When people test on animals, O’Halloran Cardinal said, they will create the problem in the animal and then treat it. By growing their own cells to work on, the lab practice is both cost-effective and within ethical concerns held among some communities in the field. “We really like our approach of, ‘Let’s cause the problem in a dish
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
achievers.” He said he noticed the different working styles of the team members have not been an obstacle like he has seen in previous teams. “They’re flexible with each other, they give each other the space that they need, but they also collaborate and they’ve divided the project up into parts,” Schuster said. The team submitted their project proposal for their system, Sub-lunar Tap-Yielding eXplorer (STYX), to NASA in an eight-page report in December 2019. Instead of using one tool to drill and extract water, their design featured several tools and a tool changer, which team members say caught NASA’s attention for creativity and originality. The students received an initial $5,000 from NASA, a $3,100 grant, and $1,000 from the College of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering department to fund the project. If selected, the team must assemble their design and submit another report in March. If they are approved then, the students will receive an additional $5,000 from NASA, and the opportunity to demonstrate their prototype in the competition at NASA’s Langley Research Center in June.
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The odds were against the team of five students when they submitted their project proposal to NASA’s Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge last month. They were a first-time team that had found out about the challenge last October, putting them at a disadvantage to applicants from other universities who had been preparing in advance. Yet despite these obstacles, Cal Poly became one of 10 finalists selected among 28 schools to participate in the competition. The team consists of five mechanical engineering seniors – Alex Krenitsky, Chris Boone, Westin McHaney, Aaron Erickson and Ryan Locatelli – who applied to the competition as part of their senior project. Their mission? To build a robot that can drill through rocks and sand, and extract clean water from the ice beneath it while simultaneously taking measurements. The goal is for the robot to allow NASA to put humans back on the moon, and eventually on Mars. “Being able to work with NASA is kind of an honor in itself,” Krenitsky said In addition to finishing an aerospace internship with Boeing, Krenitsky said
he has gained hands-on experience building things as a shop technician in the mechanical engineering department. “I think one of the advantages [our] team has over other colleges is we have actually made things with our hands before and we have an intuitive knowledge of how long it’s going to take to put this together,” Krenitsky said. Locatelli said he is interested in system controls and automation, and is excited to explore that area through the NASA challenge. “There’s a lot of programming – a lot of moving parts – and I think dealing with that will give me a good idea if that’s something I want to continue doing,” Locatelli said. Initially strangers who were placed on the same team, the students said they have been able to work together seamlessly from the start. After many sleepless nights spent working together, they have formed close friendships. According to project advisor and College of Engineering professor Peter Schuster, the team “totally impressed” him. “They have had to navigate the differences [between the structure of the class and the NASA challenge] and they’ve been very good about that,” Schuster said. “They’re kind of over-
Thirteen years and millions of cells ago, Kristen O’Halloran Cardinal began the tissue engineering lab at Cal Poly. Her lab work combines her passions for both engineering and what she calls the “squishier side” of working with cells and living things. When she first began her work, O’Halloran Cardinal was focused on growing and testing coronary blood vessels. Then, in 2016, a former Cal Poly student reached out to help test an aneurysm device she was working on. Aneurysms happen when a person’s blood vessels bulge out or burst, which can cause them to suffer strokes or die, according to O’Halloran Cardinal. For the last four years, the lab’s primary focus has been developing and growing blood vessels to test aneurysm devices. The idea of tissue engineering, O’Halloran Cardinal said, is to design or recreate tissue by taking cells, the smallest living building blocks, and putting those onto an engineered scaffold, or template of sorts.
that’s not hurting anybody, and then try to test it and treat it there,’” O’Halloran Cardinal said. O’Halloran Cardinal typically has between 10 and 15 students, both graduate and undergraduate and often in the engineering and biomedical engineering field, assisting her in the lab. However, she said she will speak to anyone who is interested in any aspects of the tissue engineering process. Biomedical engineering sophomore Alyssa McCullough has worked about 10 hours per week in the lab since March 2019.The general process of tissue engineering, she said, is to start with growing cells. Students build a silicone structure for the blood vessels while inserting cells into them, and wait a few days as cells grow into the structure. Then, biomedical engineering graduate Ashley Turcott stains and takes pictures of them to determine how well they did. Based on the photos, the students make improvements and start the process over again. “I have never had a professor who has put so much into me, who has put so much of herself into me,” Turcott said.“She pushes you, she believes in you.” For Turcott, the biggest challenge lies in trying to recreate the complex systems that happen naturally in people’s bodies everyday. “You’re trying to do something that humans were not meant to do,” Turcott said. “Your body has it down to a tee, it knows exactly what kind of coatings and knows how many cells to lay down and we are trying to copy what nature does itself.” Although it has its setbacks, the two students said they are excited to learn more about this side of medicine. “[Engineering tissue] is really helping people become healthy again,” Turcott said. “So, the work that we’re doing, while it’s not quite there yet, is making leaps and bounds towards creating a future of medicine.” While O’Halloran Cardinal said she has the privilege of running her lab and driving the ship per se, her students have been key for all of the day-to-day progress they have made in the lab. “I can’t emphasize enough the role that the students play in it,” O’Halloran Cardinal said. “I think it’s an impressive compliment to the students themselves and just to Cal Poly, the type of students we get and the environment we have here.”
7
STUDYING DOWN UNDER DURING FIRES
How fires are impacting 33 study abroad students in Australia
NEW CENTRAL COASTER MENU Announcing…a brand-new menu at Central Coaster! Now featuring mouthwatering Central Coast favorites like tri-tip sandwiches, loaded fries, fish and chips, and all-new farmer’s market salad! Don’t worry, our signature chicken strips aren’t going anywhere. Get your new regionally inspired favorites at Central Coaster!
SUPERFOOD - CITRUS JOSEPHINE HAMILTON | COURTESY
Thirty-three Cal Poly students are studying in Australia as wildfires devastate the nation.
Oranges, tangerines, grapefruits and more! Citrus is the perfect winter food! Packed with vitamins and bursting with flavor, citrus is one of the best ways to protect against the common cold, while adding a bit of brightness to gloomy days. You can find citrus all around campus at salad bars, and at Campus and Village markets!
#CHOOSEWELL Money saving tip alert! Hit up the bulk bins at Campus and Village markets to save money and stock up on healthy snacks for those midnight munchies. Snacks at the bulk bins include trail mix, select cereals and dried fruit.
BY MEGHAN PICKETT
A group of Cal Poly students will continue their study abroad program in Australia despite spreading bushfires roughly 100 miles away. A total of 33 students led by professor Lynn Hamilton are in South Australia for a seven-week exchange program to study wine, viticulture and agribusiness at the University of Adelaide.
There is definitely a national concern and recognition for the fires.
COOKING IN THE CANYON Looking for ways to save money this year? Our upcoming Cooking in the Canyon event, happening Jan. 28 from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m., will feature methods for budget-friendly cooking! Our friends at CP Food Pantry and SLO Food Bank will give you tips and tricks on how to save cash when cooking! www.calpolydining.com/ cooking-in-the-canyon
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Agricultural Business junior Josephine Hamilton wrote. Hamilton is one of 33 Cal Poly students studying abroad in Australia.
Although this program is offered during winter quarter, it takes place during the summer months in Australia, which is peak bushfire season. Mustang News reached out to Hamilton, but was unable to get into contact with her due to the time difference. However, from an interview with KKFX earlier this week, she said the students are not in any danger. She said that although it is hot and hazy in Adelaide, the nearest fire is located 100 miles away on Kangaroo Island. According
to Hamilton, the students were scheduled to visit the island in the upcoming weeks, but their itinerary has since been reevaluated due to the current conditions and the trip has been canceled. According to the BBC, the raging bushfires destroyed more than 40,000 square miles across the country since they first began in September. Kangaroo Island was recently struck as powerful winds and rising temperatures eliminated more than 580 square miles in just one week. “There is definitely a national concern and recognition for the fires. A majority of the Australians that I have talked to believe that this will be a decade defining event, and that the repercussions of the fires will be seen for years to come,”
agricultural business junior Josephine Hamilton wrote in an email. “It has been expressed to me that this is one of the largest national issues in recent history, and many people are not happy with the way the Prime Minister is reacting to the events. Hamilton is one of the 33 Cal Poly students studying abroad in Australia during this time. While the bushfires spread, students are currently out of harm’s way and have not been directly impacted by the fires. “Honestly, I am not worried about our health and safety as far as the fires are concerned,” Hamilton wrote. “The fires can have a possible effect on travel plans after the program ends, however, because it’s definitely affecting some communities disproportional to others.”
JOSEPHINE HAMILTON | COURTESY
Many animals native to Australia are being threatened by the wildfires.
9
DIEGO RIVERA | MUSTANG NEWS
Shiva Chemburkar, an Environmental Earth and Soil Science senior, puts out a fire in a fire safety training for Swanton Pacific Ranch.
A LOOK INSIDE CAL POLY’S RANCH IN SANTA CRUZ What Swanton Pacific Ranch has to offer Cal Poly students BY NATASHA AGHARKAR
to meal preparation. This means the ranch internships are not exclusive to the majors typically associate with a ranch. Students in any of Cal Poly’s six colleges can find and apply to positions. Swanton education and research coordinator Grey Hayes said he has even bigger aspirations for these internships. “I spend a fair amount of time cooking up new field trips or new class ideas just to see if they’ll fly,” Hayes said. “You know, what’s the next thing? What’s a new internship
that we want to offer? Now we’ll offer an internship for event planning and coordination because there’s so many field trips and things.” Swanton’s location is also a big draw for students. “Up here there’s more lush vegetation, and it’s a nice thing to compare where you are with another place so you can learn in two different places,” Hayes said. “Then you can come up here and see what’s it’s like growing things in Northern California. And that’s easy to do because they’re both Cal Poly.”
STUDENT LIFE
DIEGO RIVERA | MUSTANG NEWS
Senior Monique Rea studies canopy cover in the forests of Swanton Pacific Ranch. •
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
On campus, students manage insemination, calving and the end-ofthe-life cycle for beef production and processing. Swanton’s stocker enterprise provides a different aspect of beef production. Kara Porterfield, who was raised on a ranch and is the current livestock manager at Swanton, said a large perk of her job was being able to show students this side of the beef industry. “I’m able to share my experiences,” Porterfield said. “How much work and sweat can go into it and letting [students] realize what’s really behind the beef industry and how much people care about the animals and what they produce.” In addition to its stocker enterprise, the ranch also has a resident cow-calf herd for the beef program. The ranch is also involved in forestry activities and crop production for a variety of plants including pumpkins, Christmas trees and a “U-Pick” apple orchard that locals and tourists can access during season. Swanton Pacific Ranch also has spots for nine types of internships, typically done over the summer. The internships cover a broad range of fields, from botany to construction
MUSTANG NEWS
Since 1993, a ranch in Santa Cruz has supported the Cal Poly motto by providing a space where students can experience the diverse functions of a working ranch with four distinct habitats: wetlands, forests, farms and rangelands. The Swanton Pacific Ranch is a 3,200-acre ranch that hosts a variety of field trips and internships each year, supplying an immersive learning experience limited to Cal Poly students. Former president of Orchard Supply Hardware Al Smith donated the ranch to his alma mater in 1993. Smith, who graduated with a bachelors in crop science and a masters in agriculture, bought Swanton in 1978. He said he then decided to lease the land to Cal Poly because one of the things he had liked best about the school was its “hands-on” approach. The addition of land made Cal Poly the second largest land-holding, or land-grant, university in California. Enrolling in Sustainable Forestry and Environmental Practices (NR 475), Vertebrate Field Zoology: Field Techniques in Wildlife Studies (BIO 329) or Sustainable Livestock and
Rangeland Management (ASCI 470) allows students to visit the ranch overnight and complete tasks emphasizing their area of learning. According to former Cal Poly student and current seasonal Swanton livestock employee Chelsea Davis, staying and working at the ranch is a unique experience because of how involved students are. “We’ve got a fish trap, we’ve got a bunch of different scientific research [areas], so you can actually look at them and do the research,” Davis said. “If you don’t have a place like this, then it’s just reading about it.” While Cal Poly has an abundance of living and learning laboratories (equine center, vineyards, dairy unit, etc.), Swanton has something the central campus does not: a stocker enterprise. A stocker enterprise in the beef industry focuses on taking young, weaned calves and developing them as they get to their full size. Many ranches use the stocker model, which moves cows all around the farm or ranch instead of just raising them in one place. Swanton staff get young cows about 10-12 months old and care for them until they are sent to the feedlot.
10
JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS
The decision opened up land including Montaña de Oro and the Carrizo Plain National Monument to oil drilling and fracking.
How California is fighting back against a new Trump administration plan to allow fracking and oil drilling in eight counties
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
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BY CASSANDRA GARIBAY & STEPHANIE ZAPPELLI
A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Plan will allow fracking and oil drilling in eight counties in California, including San Luis Obispo County, according to a BLM news release. However, Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state attorney general and climate activist groups are fighting to prevent the expansion of fracking in California as a result of environmental and public health concerns.
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Along with San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura Counties are now available for fracking, as shown by a map included in a Forest Watch news release. According to the release, the area the final statement will allow for approximately 1.2 million acres of Federal minerals or roughly 400,000 surface acres — about the size of Cal Poly’s main campus 300 times over — to be drilled. The impact statement, announced Dec. 12, came after a five year hold on fracking and a California bill passed by Newsom to prevent large scale fracking.
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The BLM Bakersfield Field Office issued a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Dec.12, 2019 stating that “there are no adverse environmental impacts
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Acres of surface area — about the size of Cal Poly’s main campus 300 times over — is now open to be drilled.
due to hydraulic fracturing that cannot be alleviated.” The decision opened up land including Montana de Oro and the Carrizo Plain National Monument to oil drilling and fracking. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of retrieving oil from rocks by injecting water and sand at high pressure to crack the rock open.
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According the BLM, opening the lands to fracking is in-line with Executive Order 13783: Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth and Secretarial Order 3349: American Energy Independence. The two orders approved by the Trump Administration promote “environmentally responsible energy development, while creating jobs and providing economic opportunities for local communities” The BLM approximates the development of oil and gas on public lands will create approximately 3,500 jobs and more than $200 million in economic benefit annually, according to their news release. A 12.5 percent royalty is collected on every barrel of gas or oil mined on BLM land and the royalty is split between California and the United States Treasury. Despite the estimated economic impact, many California officials disagree with the environmental report. A group of environmental organizations, Governor Newsom and Attorney General Becerra united to challenge the plan and filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Tuesday, Jan. 14, according to an attorney general news release. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleges that the environmental review of the project did not properly assess the negative impacts the project would have on the environment and communities in the area, according to the case filing. “BLM’s decision to advance this half-baked proposal isn’t just misguided, it’s downright dangerous,” Becerra said in his release. “The risks to both people and the environment associated with fracking are simply too high to ignore.”
Open for leasing Planning Area for Bakersfield Hydraulic Fracturing Supplemental NEPA
Mayor Harmon, who is an advocate for sustainability and climate action, shared Becerra’s concern. “It’s just blatantly criminal to continue to extract antiquated fossil fuels while also putting our beautiful Montana de Oro Coast at risk,” Harmon said Harmon said she urges San Luis Obispo residents to do what they can to protect the area from fracking. “I will be out there, arm-in-arm with probably thousands of community members, to keep extraction from happening,” Harmon said. San Luis Obispo climate activists have tried to ban oil fracking in the county in the past. In the 2018 Midterm Election, San Luis ObispoAngeles tried to ban the expansion of oil Los drilling with Measure G to no avail.
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I know that coming together today is going to do our hearts good. Speaker and yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe representative Wendy Lucas said.
ANDY SHERAR | MUSTANG NEWS
Performers recited poems, songs, and speeches at the hour-long rally in downtown San Luis Obispo.
THOUSANDS ADVOCATE FOR BROAD SPECTRUM OF CAUSES AT WOMEN’S MARCH BY CAMERYN OAKES
Chair of Tranz Central Coast Jamie Woolf explained that the goal of her group is to raise awareness at the event. “They need more education, they need to understand who we are and what we’re doing and there’s lots of people here who have children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews who are trans and looking for some support,” Woolf said. Climate activism was also expressed largely at the Women’s March. Sunrise Movement, an organiza-
tion of young people that advocate for climate action, hosted a booth to inform attendees of their plans and actions. Rally speaker and Cuesta student Carmen Bouquin, who trains with the Sunrise Movement, emphasized the necessity of climate action in her speech. She ended her speech with the whole crowd chanting “black lives matter,” “water is life” and “stand up, fight back.”
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
tiłhinkʔtitʸ.
ANDY SHERAR | MUSTANG NEWS
March attendees called for action on issues relating to climate change as well.
ANDY SHERAR | MUSTANG NEWS
SLO citizens, families, and Cal Poly students all marched to protest pressing issues.
NEWS
“I know that coming together today is going to do our hearts good,” Lucas said. Cal Poly psychology lecturer Kendra Williams also spoke at the event, telling the story of her sexual harassment experience to the crowd. Williams was sexually harassed by her former colleague and Cal Poly Professor Jason Williams in May 2018 when he used his phone to take pictures up Williams’ skirt (Although the two have the same last name, they share no relation). He was sentenced to five years of probation and
MUSTANG NEWS
Thousands of people gathered at Mitchell Park Saturday, Jan. 18 for the fourth annual San Luis Obispo Women’s March, themed “The Time is Now.” This year’s Women’s March advocated for five actions: show up, speak up, vote, run and lead. It encompassed multiple issues and advocacy efforts, expressed in English, Spanish and tʔɨnɨsmuʔ tiłhinkʔtitʸu, the language of the Chumash Tribe. The hour-long rally that preceded the march included speakers representing varied groups, a poet and multiple musicians. The rally began with speaker Wendy Lucas, representing the yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe. She began by reciting a prayer in both English and tʔɨnɨsmuʔ
was terminated from his job position as a tenured psychology professor. “I believe if men were assaulted and harassed at the rate in which women report, better laws would be in place, setting a safety and standard for all people,” Williams said at the conclusion of her speech. Williams called upon the attendees to use their voice in order to “become ‘sheroes’” when advocating for sexual assault survivors. The event also included multiple booths representing different groups within the community.
The three phrases Bouquin chanted were represented throughout the crowd with signs advocating for climate action, women’s rights and the rights of people of color. For the fourth year, Dian Sousa recited an original poem. This year, it was titled “America, We Need a Mother,” which concluded with a pledge that other speakers and performers recited alongside her. All her poems for the Women’s March were compiled into a book that was sold at the event. All proceeds were donated to the Women’s March. Among the crowd were people of all ages, including mother-daughter duo Amy and Malia Hennings. This was the second Women’s March they attended together with Amy’s goal of teaching her ten-year-old daughter “what democracy is all about.” “We see a lot of negativity in the news and in the world around us and I just want my daughter to know that when she sees something that’s wrong she should speak up and that she could make a difference,” Amy said. No single issue was being advocated for at the march, yet everyone came together as expressed by musician Talitha Gabrielle and the song she performed titled “Together.” “We can make it if we try, let’s stand together.”
12
CAL POLY KARATE HELPS STUDENTS INSIDE AND OUT I have several friends whom I met in the dojo who have become my closest friends for the last 35 years. Cal Poly Karate chief assistant instructor Ron Mattson said.
RACHEL ARABIA | MUSTANG NEWS
Instructor Reza Pouraghabagher has been teaching Shorin Ryu karate since the 1970s.
BY SARA PEDRO
STUDENT LIFE
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
On Monday and Wednesday nights, the Recreation Center wrestling room becomes a dojo. Students are able to manage their stress by practicing Shorin Ryu, a conservative style of karate from Okinawa, Japan. Cal Poly Karate has its origins in 1979, when Reza Pouraghabagher, who is still an instructor, started the class. However, the style of Shorin Ryu has a history dating back more
than 300 years. In a typical class, students practice no-contact sparring, offensive and defensive skills, and sequences of movements called kata, which form the core of the class. While the class helps students develop physical fitness, Cal Poly Karate chief assistant instructor Ron Mattson said that the training is beneficial outside the Recreation Center as well. It helps students develop humility, self-confidence and mental wellbeing, according to Mattson.
Aerospace engineering senior Blaine Francis said that practicing karate has also helped him focus during classes. “I’ve been able to be more calm and more relaxed when it comes to learning really difficult things in my major, and I feel it may have had a positive impact on my grades,” Francis said. Some students feel that Cal Poly Karate is more of a club than a class, with members of the class hosting
get-togethers and setting up a booth at the annual Week of Welcome Club Showcase. Practicing Shorin Ryu creates strong bonds and introduces students to other people, according to the students who take the class. Computer engineering junior Huy Duong said that the students will come together for potluck-style Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. “I have several friends whom I met in the dojo who have become my closest friends for the last 35 years,”
Mattson said. The class also provides the opportunity for students to improve and rise through the ranks. This sense of accomplishment is one of many things that keep students coming back to this demanding class, week after week, according to Francis. The impression people often get from karate students is that they fight or beat each other up, according to Duong. However, she said, this simply is not true. “It’s not like that,” Duong said. “It’s totally different. It’s an art.” At the dojo, Duong said students are encouraged to leave everything at the door and give their all. Interested students can sign up within the first three weeks of each quarter and beginners are welcome.
PUZZLES & HOROSCOPES
CLUES ACROSS 1. Public broadcaster 4. Hit lightly 7. Keyboard key 10. Grain 11. Make a mistake 12. To the _ _ degree 13. Endure without complaint 15. Chinese-American actress Ling 16. Edible stomach lining 19. Sunrooms 21. Feared 23. Most eager 24. Excessive chatting session 25. MLB ace 26. Major Central European river 27. Muscular weaknesses 30. Where seedlings germinate 34. Former monetary unit of the EU 35. Personal ads abbreviation 36. Mythical animal 41. Members of Orthodox Jewish sect 45. German city 46. Algerian coastal city 47. Military men 50. Salt of sulfuric acid 54. Rhododendrons 55. Mixture 56. Recommended quantities 57. 007’s creator 59. Men
60. Kids need it 61. Midway between east and east-northeast 62. OJ trial judge 63. Yes vote 64. USDA branch that manages the FCIC 65. Create with cloth CLUES DOWN 1. English seaport 2. What’s owed 3. Sound systems 4. Elections feature them 5. Southern constellation 6. London and Brooklyn are two 7. One-time Ugandan capital 8. Attacked with bombs 9. Rebuke 13. Expression of disappointment 14. A way to work the soil 17. The human foot 18. Sun up in New York 20. A small island 22. Abnormal rattling sound 27. Make lively 28. A team’s best pitcher 29. It goes on the floor 31. Not good 32. Peyton’s little brother 33. Barrier that holds back water 37. Move quickly 38. Deteriorate with age
*See answers at mustangnews.net/games-answers/
39. Colorless crystalline compound 40. Cheekier 41. Expresses praise or joy 42. Famed boxing promoter 43. Cured sausages 44. Fill with air or gas 47. Angry 48. Chemistry prefix 49. Practitioner of Jamaican religion 51. Softly bright or radiant 52. Buffer solution used to separate nucleic acids 53. First responder group 58. Defensive nuclear weapon
ARIES – March 21/April 20 Various opportunities may be coming your way soon, Aries. Some unique business dealings may suddenly provide some options that you never had before. TAURUS – April 21/May 21 Taurus, the time has come to focus on the relationships in your life, especially a romantic one. That means spending more time with a spouse or a significant other. GEMINI – May 22/June 21 Gemini, after many weeks of trying to solve a difficult problem, you have a classically clever move of inspiration. The time for big changes is now. CANCER – June 22/July 22 Put some domestic plans in motion, Cancer. Devote extra time this week to fun activities with a son, daughter or another family member. Get creative with ideas. LEO – July 23/Aug. 23 A wonderful breakthrough occurs when you least expect it, Leo. If you have had real estate on the mind, it could be to that end. Enjoy your well-earned success. VIRGO – Aug. 24/Sept. 22 Brilliant insight needs an outlet, Virgo. You may have just the thing in a plan for a book, craft project, educational experience, or much more.
LIBRA – Sept. 23/Oct. 23 Libra, you are looking for solutions, but you may be focused on short-term fixes instead of looking at the long-term picture. Don’t get caught up in the here and now. SCORPIO – Oct. 24/Nov. 22 Everyone can benefit from a rebranding of sorts, Scorpio. Start jotting down ideas of what you want to accomplish and how to put your best foot forward. SAGITTARIUS – Nov. 23/Dec. 21 A feeling of newness and openness are driving your decisions, Sagittarius. Attend all of the events presented to you; you never know where opportunity lies. CAPRICORN – Dec. 22/Jan. 20 Capricorn, just when you thought your reached your quota for good ideas, you have a eureka moment later this week. Take full advantages of all opportunities that arise from it. AQUARIUS – Jan. 21/Feb. 18 Don’t take a “wait and see” attitude pertaining to your career, Aquarius. You need to grab the bull by the horns and make your own breaks. Don’t procrastinate. PISCES – Feb. 19/March 20 Immerse yourself in a project that taps into the skills that you have long been afraid to develop, Pisces. It’s good to push yourself at times.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE US-IRANIAN CONFLICT HEADLINES
LEILEE NADERI | MUSTANG NEWS
San Luis Obispo’s Persian community gathered together at a candlelight vigil Jan. 12 to honor the lives of the 176 people killed in a Ukrainian plane shot down by Iranian officials.
BY LEILEE NADERI
Leilee Naderi is a business administration sophomore and opinion columnist for Mustang News who identifies as Iranian-American. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.
sanctions, and with this, the people delve further and further into instability and poverty. The interviewee said he is both confused and frustrated at the same time because he identifies a sense of polarization between the people of Iran and the Iranian government.
The interviewee said he is both confused and frustrated at the same time about the polarization between the people of Iran and the Iranian government.
OPINION
“The thing is, the Iranian people are not looking for war or fighting. It’s really the government doing all of this and the Iranian people do not want to accept war with the whole world.” I urge you to listen to the same words I hear over and over again from the Iranian community that surrounds me.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
The thing is, the Iranian people are not looking for war or fighting. It’s really the government doing all of this and the Iranian people do not want to accept war with the whole world.
“I think the government is not listening to the people. That’s their problem. They’re not listening to the actual people because they have that kind of power. They’re just listening to the people around them, who also work for the government, and not the whole country,” said the Cal Poly senior. I also interviewed my aunt who lives in Iran, and she too expressed how she felt the strong divide between the people and the government. She was also granted anonymity given the nature of the issue. “The real people of Iran want the regime to be gone,” my aunt told me. “This regime has been here for forty years but in this point of history, I think the regime is the shakiest it’s been the whole time. After the war in Iraq was finished, I would have never thought about having any other wars, but now I have been thinking about it very seriously.” With a lingering feeling of war, she admitted her children are afraid of war. They can’t sleep at night. Her daughter does not want to start a family because she doesn’t want to raise her children in Iran as long as its current leaders hold power. “I have wanted to move to Turkey to start a new life because I feel that my children are grown enough, but I don’t want to be away from my country right now because I’m afraid something will happen,’ my aunt said. “There is a very dark feel-
MUSTANG NEWS
Oil prices skyrocketed. The Internet was shut down. Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a drone strike. Iran was accused of storming US Embassy in Baghdad. An Iranian Missile shot down a Ukrainain civilian flight. These were the headlines popping up on your phone. But, there is life behind the headlines. It’s effortless to stay abreast with current affairs, but it’s necessary to understand that there are real people behind the spam of news headlines who are mentally affected by the US-Iran tensions. We often fixate on tracing logistics in order to contemplate political theory and possibility of war, and in doing so, we forget how to humanize. In San Luis Obispo, the Iranian community is small. During times of tragedy and tension like the aforementioned, it is highly unlikely that you will see your classmates affected. The majority of students at Cal Poly do not identify as Iranian, nor are they personally connected to what is happening across the globe. If you look closer, however, you will feel the pain of those affected.
In the case of those who identify as Iranian-American, we sometimes feel a pressure in explaining perfectly the political dualities of events occuring in Iran. For a Cal Poly electrical engineering senior moved from Iran to the U.S. to pursue his education four years ago, the recent happenings felt especially grim. He was granted anonymity upon request because of concerns regarding his ability to return or remain in Iran. “I knew people who died in the Ukraine plane crash,” he said. Alongside his own grieving, he also sympathized with families living in the U.S. who have relatives in Iran. “They suffer too because they always hear bad stuff and what’s going on, which makes them worried. For example, the time they shut down the internet in Iran a few months ago, I had a terrible time that week because I could not talk to my family and I was constantly worried about what was going on,” he said. Beside mental and emotional pain due to recent tensions, Iranians also face economic hardship. “With all the sanctions they [U.S.] put on Iran, they are destroying our country from the inside. The sanctions are putting a lot of pressure on our country. The prices of everything are going really high,” he said. With Iran’s economy already plagued by hyperinflation (1 US Dollar equals roughly 42,000 Iranian Rial), every mishap urges stricter
ing in my heart and in my mind and it is so out of control.’ In this swarm of negativity, it is inevitable that people will change their perceptions about Iranians. “The rhetoric that is being used in the media to describe everything that’s going on will change the public’s view on Iranian-Americans for generations to come. Repeatedly being called a ‘terrorist nation’ perpetuates Islamophobia as you are equating an entire nation’s peoples with our definition of ‘terrorism’,” ISCO Cal Poly’s (Iranian Student Cultural Organization) President Tara Faraji said. She said she fears that children will now grow up in a time where their parents think of Iran as a “terrorist nation.” She deems the rhetoric being used in media outlets toxic, and points out how it prevents any type of progress to be achieved. There is something we can do to eliminate negative views towards Iranians — right here and right now at Cal Poly. It entails getting educated. It entails talking to the kind faces behind the headlines. “For Iranian-Americans dealing with this now, we are placed in the role of the educator, as if our dual identity is supposed to serve as some type of certificate of immaculate knowledge in US-Middle East relations. It’s not our job to educate others on this complex history but yet I find myself refreshing the news every two minutes for the newest updates so when my friends ask me ‘What do you think about the stuff going on?’” Faraji said. She said she feels that American people should partially remove themselves from their nationalistic perspectives in order to wholly educate themselves about affairs in Iran and the Middle East. “The scary part is that the American people look at the news and believe everything they are being told. They don’t know what’s going on behind the story. They only see what’s happening on the news, which is based on lies and propaganda,” the electrical engineering senior said. When he first moved from Iran, he only had one American friend, and she had some idea of what was going on Iran, but she never knew the full picture. He changed her perspective by just talking to her and giving her knowledge about what was going on in the eyes of the people. “I want people to know the whole story and not just what’s on the news,” he said. There is a small community here that has been affected, even if you can’t see it. We exist. We are hurting.
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CAL POLY HOSTS OLYMPIC 2020 QUALIFYING EVENT BY ADRIAN V. ROSAS
SPORTS
to these events being overlooked by members of the Cal Poly and overall San Luis Obispo community, the Cal Poly Corporation is also seeking volunteers to help with the overall hosting of events. “Everyone is excited to help coordinate and host this event because it is a great way to show off the community to the rest of the world,” said Arron Lambert from Cal Poly Corporation. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to host an event of this magnitude on our campus and support potential Team USA athletes,” President Jeffrey Armstrong said. The female athletes competed Jan. 18 and male athletes competed Jan. 19. The top four men and women from each group were named to Team USA. The Pentathlon put competitors through five events in just one day — fencing, swimming, equestrian ride, and a laser gun, which combines a cross country style run with shooting a laser pistol.
KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS
The equestrian ride is 1 of 5 events held for the VSA Pentathlon National Qualifiers.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS TO UC IRVINE 68-57 AFTER COLD FREE THROW SHOOTING BY ADAM BIRDER
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
Cal Poly hosted the USA Pentathlon National Qualifying Event on Jan.18 and 19 where top athletes from around the country competed for the chance to represent Team USA in the 2020 Olympics. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to host an event of this magnitude on our campus and support potential Team USA athletes,” President Jeffrey Armstrong said. The female athletes competed Jan. 18 and male athletes competed Jan. 19. The top four men and women from each group were named to Team USA. The Pentathlon put competitors through five events in just one day -fencing, swimming, equestrian ride, and a laser gun, which combines a cross country style run with shooting a laser pistol. This Pentathlon Qualifier is the second of two used to select Team USA representatives. The first taking place
in Colorado Springs in Dec. 2019. In this first national qualifier, female track athlete Jessica Davis finished the day with 1301, Pentathlon points while the men’s qualifier Amro ElGeziry finished the day with 1,450 points helping both be named to the top spot at the upcoming event at Cal Poly. The event will be coordinated by the Cal Poly Corporation and be held at various Cal Poly Facilities across campus as well as some off-campus locations. These locations and events include: The 200-meter swim hosted at the Anderson Aquatic Center, fencing at the Recreation Center, and a 3000-meter laser run will take place at the ASI Sports Complex soccer fields. The only event to be hosted off-campus is the equestrian event which will be held at the Oak Park Equestrian Center in Enda Valley. Each of these events will be overlooked by Cal Poly students, coaches and community members with significant experience in the field. In addition
DIEGO RIVERA | MUSTANG NEWS
Senior forward Alicia Roufosse shoots a free throw during Cal Poly’s loss against UC Irvine.
Cal Poly Women’s Basketball remained winless in conference play after a 68-57 loss to UC Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 18 inside Mott Athletics Center. Back–and– forth play carried the Mustangs into the fourth quarter with a one-point deficit, but the Anteaters pulled in away in the final ten minutes to secure the victory. Cal Poly (3-11, 0-3 Big West), who lost its first two conference games by a combined five points, went 7 of 19 from the free throw line in the defeat. UC Irvine (5-12, 1-2) was paced by its bench, which scored 42 of the Anteaters’ 68 points. “I’m really proud of us, I thought we fought really hard,” junior forward Sierra Campisano said. “We’re getting better every game, there’s just little adjustments we need to make, but we all played really hard.” Cal Poly jumped to an early 7-2 lead with a three-pointer by Campisano followed by two layups by freshman guard Abbey Ellis. The Mustangs dominated the boards in the early-going through
Campisano and senior forward Alicia Roufosse. Campisano is third in the Big West in rebounding, with 8.5 rebounds per contest. An 8-0 run for UC Irvine, which included two three-pointers by guard Haleigh Talbert, gave the Anteaters a 10-9 lead with 3:00 remaining in the first quarter. Roufosse broke a five minute scoring drought for the Mustangs to regain the lead. However, UC Irvine entered the second quarter with a one-point lead at 12-11. Campisano had five points in the first three minutes of the second quarter, including a layup to tie the game at 18-18. A steal and layup by guard Alexus Seaton pushed the Anteaters ahead at 28-22 with 2:52 left in the half. However, the Mustangs closed out the quarter with two buckets from Campisano as UC Irvine held onto a 28-26 lead going into halftime. Campisano had 11 points in the second quarter to help the Mustangs keep pace with UC Irvine’s potent three-point attack.. 18 of UC Irvine’s 28 first-half points came from behind the
three-point line, including four threes from Talbert. The Mustangs opened the second half with three turnovers in the first two minutes and the Anteaters capitalized with two layups. An assist from junior guard Hannah Peterson to Campisano sparked momentum for the Mustangs, leading to a quick 5-0 run. Defensive intensity and success on the glass helped the Mustangs regain the lead at 38-36 after layups by Peterson and Ellis. The score remained close throughout the third quarter as back-to-back buckets by Talbert and guard Lauren Saiki gave UC Irvine a narrow 43-42 lead heading into the fourth. UC Irvine opened the final quarter on an 11-3 run led by two three-pointers by guard Jayde Cadee. The scoring onslaught continued with another jumpshot by Saiki to make the score 56-45. UC Irvine held its double-digit lead for the majority of the final quarter. The Mustangs had the chance to overtake the lead once again after two late three-pointers by junior guard Chantel Govan cut
the deficit to six points. However, the Anteaters kept their lead steady to deny a late comeback. Missed free throws plagued the Mustangs in the second half. Despite plenty of chances, Cal Poly shot 36.8 percent at the free throw line (7 of 19) while UC Irvine scored 10 of 13 free throw attempts for a 76.9 percent success rate. “We’ve been doing a lot of special [lategame] situations, I felt like we were better prepared for that today … a lack of mental focus, I think, is part of that,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “But, obviously today we really struggled from the free throw line.” Cal Poly will look to regroup in its next match against UC Riverside on Thursday, Jan. 20. The game has a tip-off time of 7 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. “We just have to play connected basketball,” Mimnaugh said. “Everyone do their job, play together, rotate together, box out together … [and to] have some poise.”
TRACK AND FIELD ENTERS SEASON WITH CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS
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ALEXANDER BOHLEN | COURTESY
In 2019, the Women’s Track and Field team finished in third-place at the Big West Conference Championships behind UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton. KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS
Freshman wrestler Trent Tracy is lifted into the air during his bout with Stanford’s Nick Addison.
WRESTLING LOSES OPENING PAC-12 DUAL AGAINST NO. 17 STANFORD BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ
KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS
Nationally-ranked senior 197-pounder Tom Lane was one of four Cal Poly wrestlers to defeat his opponent.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
SPORTS
ny Martinez lost 15-0 to Jackson DiSario after seven minutes. DiSanio scored 10 points in the first period alone, with two nearfalls worth four points each and a two-point takedown. Sophomore 157-pounder Brawley Lamer lost in a 7-1 decision against Tyler Eischens, and redshirt freshman 165-pounder Bernie Truax lost a 16-2 major decision against Shane Griffith to end the bout. Wrestling’s next dual is Thursday, Jan. 23 against California Baptist in Riverside. Cal Poly’s first bout against the Lancers is set for 7 p.m. “To be good at wrestling, you have to have a short memory,” Lane said. “If you’ve lost a match, you have Thursday to shake it off. If you’ve won, who cares? On to the next one. That’s how wrestling works.”
Cal Poly Track and Field are focusing on team growth and training with a purpose as they set their sights on the 2020 Big West Championships. The Mustangs’ 2020 campaign began on Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Bronco Invitational in Nampa, Idaho. “In previous years it felt like we’ve been going through the motions,” junior distance runner Sierra Brill said. “This year everyone is practicing with a purpose, with a goal in mind … I think everyone is going to step up and do their part.” In 2019, the Women’s Track and Field team finished in third-place at the Big West Conference Championships behind UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton. The Men’s team placed fourth with a 97.5 point performance. Miranda Daschian, Alex Merder, Bobby Poynter and Abibat Rahman-Davies all led the Mustangs by taking home individual conference titles in their respective events. Brill said her team’s third-place finish proved they are real contenders for taking home a championship in 2020. Senior decathlete Bailey Thayer echoed Brill’s sentiment toward the team’s positive attitudes heading into the new season. “There’s only so many things you can control in track,” Thayer said. “There’s a lot of variables in our lives that can change, but if we just focus on every day and every meet, I think we’ll build to our main goal of winning a Big West Championship.” According to Thayer, the Mustangs’ biggest strength lies within a tightknit bond of team comradery. “Everyone’s spending a lot of time together, getting to know one another, training hard with their teammates,” Thayer said. “The respect each athlete has for each other really is shown out on the track everyday.”
Cal Poly will look to rely on its team comradery in the absence of key athletes in the 2020 season. Among last year’s Big West title winners, seniors Daschian and Merder graduated out at the end of the academic year. Kevin Ward and Katie Izzo, who earned All-Conference honors for Cal Poly last year, are also absent from this season’s roster. Despite the absence of last season’s title winners, the Mustangs kicked off the new season with a bang at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 18. The season-opener saw junior pole vaulter Brooke Tjerrild break a program record with her clearance of 13 feet and 8.5 inches. The previous school record of 13’ 7.25” had stood for 20 years. Tjerrild’s mark placed her at No. 10 in the nation this indoor season according to Cal Poly Athletics. The invitational also saw second-place finishes from Rahman-Davies in the triple jump and Brill in the mile event. Rahman-Davies posted her season-opening jump on her second attempt with a mark of 39’ 10. Brill posted a mile time of 5:00.03 behind Utah’s Whitney Hessler, who finished with a first-place time of 4:59.59. “I’ve never started out a season that fast this early on,” Brill said. “I’m very proud of how I performed and the effort that was put forth. I know I have a lot more in me because its just the beginning, so it’s super exciting.” Brill said Cal Poly’s success in the opening meet not only inspires younger teammates who haven’t had the chance to compete, but also set the tone for the rest of the season. “Its super uplifting and really positive, especially in the beginning of the season,” Brill said. “To have such big performances so early on bodes very well for later on in the season when we’re competing in outdoor for conference titles.”
MUSTANG NEWS
Cal Poly Wrestling lost its opening Pac12 dual of the season against No. 17 Stanford on Friday, Jan. 17 inside Mott Athletics Center. The final score of the dual was 22-13. Despite the loss, the Mustangs (2-4, 0-1 Pac-12) were within two points of the Cardinal (5-1, 1-0 Pac12) with just two bouts left in the meet. “I thought our fight was there,” head coach Jon Sioredas said. “We wrestled really, really hard and made a couple mistakes. There was a couple close matches that could have gone either way.” Four Cal Poly wrestlers emerged victorious over their Stanford opponents: sophomore 141-pounder Wyatt Cornelison, senior 149-pounder Joshy Cortez, freshman 184-pounder Trent Tracy and nationally-ranked senior 197-pounder Tom Lane. Lane, who is ranked No. 8 in the country, faced off against Seamus O’Malley in the third bout of the dual. Lane was scheduled to face No. 7 Nathan Traxler, but Traxler was replaced due to injury. Despite suffering a takedown early in the first period, Lane escaped the takedown later that period. He secured a takedown of his own in the second period to take a 3-2 lead and added riding time for a decision victory at 4-2. Lane improves to 12-3 on the season as a result of this victory. “I knew I was going to get the takedown at one point,” Lane said after the dual. “I didn’t think it was that close, but
the score was close and I just got to fix a few things up.” At the 184-pound weight class, freshman Trent Tracy won 8-0 via major decision against Nick Addinson. All points in the bout were secured in the first period of the match. Two nearfalls in the final 30 seconds of the first period, worth 4 and 2 points respectively, gave Tracy enough points for a major decision after getting a takedown earlier in the period. In the dual’s seventh match, Cornelison and Luciano Arroyo went into overtime after finishing level at 3-3. Just seconds into the overtime period, Cornelison made the match-ending takedown that saw his teammates jump in a frenzy at the 5-3 result. “When the whistle blew for the overtime, I kind of looked at him and I could tell he was pretty tired,” Cornelison said of his overtime victory. “So I decided I would give it one good hard push and I think I could secure the takedown.” The Mustangs’ last victory of the meet came in the eighth match through Cortez’s 3-1 decision over Dawson Sihavong. Cortez’s second-period escape and takedown was met with a third-period escape from Sihavong, but the Cal Poly wrestler held on for the victory. In other bouts, sophomore 174-pounder Nathan Tausch lost in an 8-5 decision against Jared Hill. In the fourth match, Stanford’s Haydn Maley defeated sophomore Sam Aguilar in the 285-pound bout via a 10-2 major decision. The meet’s lone technical fall came in the 125-pound class, as sophomore Ben-
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