C AL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO ’S NE WS SOURCE
WHERE ARE THEY GOING? 2021 GRADS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE
JUNE 9, 2021
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Stephanie Zappelli
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Solena Aguilar
Lauren Kozicki
Lauren Walike
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KC PR NE W S Lauren Walike KCPR News Director Blas Alvarado Daytona Clarke Sophie Lincoln Katherine Lane Ruby Tincup Sierra Hickman Nicole Morgan Tessa Hughes Maya MacGregor Francisco Martinez Lily Dallow Logan Kimball Sean Galusha Jezzia Smith Tony Farias Jennifer Newton Miki Dubery Amanda Wernik Violet Maguire Marcus Cocova Torstein Rehn Olivia Galavan Ava Kershner
President, Mustang Media Group & Editor in Chief, Mustang News
Graduating staff are highlighted.
MUSTANG NEWS NEWS Stephanie Zappelli Editor Cameryn Oakes Assistant Editor Maureen McNamara Ethan Telles Sophia McDevi Sarah Banholzer Ariel Lopez Lauren Boyer Catherine Allen Victoria Lachnit
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
OPI N I ON Kiana Meagher Editor Raho Faraha Rahma Faraha Nicki Butler Izzy Ditztler Anya Popslavska Declan Molony Sophie Corbe Tessa Hughes Kate Inman SPO R TS Adam Birder Editor Garrett Brown Sports Video Editor Kyle Har Jack Clark Rafael Medina Gabe Arditt Diego Sandoval Griffin emp Eric Villalpando Derek Righett Austin McLellan A R TS & ST U DENT LIF E Sydney Sherman Editor Kiana Hunziker Olivia Meis Emily Tobiason Grace Kitayama Elissa Luce Samantha Riordan Alexis Bowlby D E SI G N Solena Aguilar Director Von Balanon Sophie Kroesche Grace Kitayama Marta Lukomska Nicole Herhusky Sydney Ozawa
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PHOTO Kylie Kowalske Editor Connor Frost Kyle Calzia Kate Karson Shaelyn Ashamalla Rachel Arabia Andy Sherar Zachary Regner Emilie Johnson Emmy Scherer Fae Bruns CO PY Grace Power Smith Kyra Soares Brett ollrath Sarah Banapour SO CI A L Lauryn Luescher Manager Chloe Chin Lauren Brown Brian Brennan Ashley Holly DATA Omar Rashad Lead Reporter Jordy Roth Harrison Kirk Mason Ogden Owen Mastalir
KCPR M A R KETING & PR Mikaela Lincoln Director Hailey Honegger Social Media Manager Melissa Melton Madison McDonald Emily Brower D ISC JO CKE YS Hailey Honegger Keagan Sco Liv Collom Zoe Boyd Kyle Himmelein Justin Piolett Melissa Melton Caroline Seibly Jaxon Silva Liam Reece
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KCPR .ORG Alice Sukhostavskiy Lilly Leif Evan Gattus Jenna McCarthy Sophia Pattiso Gracie Walter Kallie Kidder Jonathon Crespin Spencer Egbert Jennifer Newton Lauren Boyer Trey Barbuto Brooke Mylander Cindy Nguyen Emily Brower Alina Jafri
MMG BUSINESS A DVE R TI SI NG & PR Justin Vermeltfoort Director Carley Epple Marketing Assistant Brynna Barton Advertising Manager Clare Giatzis Advertising Manager Von Balanon Design Manager Michelle Kang Ad Designer Elaine Do Ad Designer Katherine Olah Ad Designer A DVI SOR S Jon Schlitt General Manager Pat Howe Adviser Brady Teufel Adviser Patti Pibur Advisor
Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region in whose homelands we are guests.
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CAL POLY’S STEPS TOWARDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION Story by Olivia Meis Designed by Von Balanon
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25-YEARS LATER, SLO HONORS KRISTEN SMART’S MEMORY Story by Lauren Walike Designed by Von Balanon
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A NEW CHAPTER: 2021 GRADS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE
Story by Emily Tobiason & Victoria Lachnit Designed by Grace Kitayama
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FOUR YEARS IN PHOTOS Designed by Nicole Herhusky
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TRANSFER STUDENTS REFLECT ON THEIR TWO YEARS AT CAL POLY Story by Marcus Cocova, Victoria Lachnit & Rafael Medina Designed by Marta Lukomska
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SOME CAL POLY STUDENTS BILLED FOR REQUIRED COVID-19 TESTS
EMILIE JOHNSON | MUSTANG NEWS
Students waiting in line for a COVID-19 test at the Performing Arts Center on campus.
BY CATHERINE ALLEN
KIANA HUNZIKER MUSTANG NEWS REPORTER
In January, 41 students were wrongfully put in the university’s COVID-19 isolation housing after a technician error at Avellino Labs gave the students false positive results. Avellino’s portal system — where students could make appointments and see their test results — often had technical issues, and in at least one case, test results never showed up in the portal at all. Avellino Labs and Physicians Billing Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CONNOR FROST | MUSTANG NEWS
To get tested for COVID-19 at Cal Poly, you can do a nasal swab or a blood antigen test.
NEWS
On a Mustang News Instagram poll, 20% of people reported receiving a bill for COVID-19 testing at Cal Poly, or 54 people out of 268 respondents. Art freshman Addie Moffatt received a $600 bill from Avellino, which was sent to her mailing address on campus while checks from her Blue Cross Blue Shield
heard about it from other people.” Students didn’t need to list their insurance when signing up for Avellino Labs testing, and Jackson said it seems only the people who reported their insurance are now getting billed. Students who received bills use diffe ent insurance, from companies including Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, Cigna and ConnectiCare. Cal Poly students experienced several other management issues from Avellino Labs during this school year.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
I told my insurance the testing was mandatory so they would have to excuse the bill, but I still ended up receiving one.
geous I thought it was a scam and I like, just left it on my desk,” Jackson said. The bills came in blank envelopes with no contact information or FAQ page directly from Avellino Labs. The only contact information is an email and phone number for Physicians Billing Office. “I immediately looked at that and I was like, maybe there’s some smart person who knows a ton of Cal Poly kids who are getting tested and was like, trying to do an insurance scam,” Jackson said. “That’s what I immediately thought, until I
MUSTANG NEWS
Some students are receiving bills as much as $3,500 for Cal Poly’s mandatory COVID-19 testing through former contractor Avellino Labs despite the assurance of free testing. Cal Poly stopped working with Avellino Labs in February, switching to an in-house saliva testing lab instead. After looking into the billing upon a Mustang News request for comment, University Spokesperson Matt Lazier said the university was aware of the charges and is working with Avellino to address the issue. “The university was assured that no students would be billed for this service,” Lazier said in an email.
Association insurance to cover the bill were sent to her parents’ house. “It was like, super out of the blue and obviously it had been talked about like it was free, so it was very confusing,” Moffatt said. Moffatt hasn’t been in contact with Cal Poly about her bill, nor has the university sent official communication to students about this situation. Because checks from her insurance are at her house, Moffatt said she’ll have to “figure this out” once she’s moved back home for summer. “It’s just very unclear communication with something that’s seemingly very important,” Moffatt said. Lazier said any student who receives a bill should contact Cal Poly Campus Health and Wellbeing for assistance. The charges from Avellino vary from student to student. Other students received bills ranging from $700 to $1,300 — in which case the insurance deducted only $19. For Mustang News reporter Kiana Hunziker, a bill from Avellino amounted to $3,551.52. Hunziker said her insurance had also been sending her checks in anticipation of Avellino’s bill. “I told my insurance the testing was mandatory and so they would have to excuse the bill, but I still ended up receiving one,” Hunziker said. “It’s kind of a mess at the moment.” Electrical engineering sophomore Patrick Jackson said he received a bill for a little more than $600 due upon receipt, and he said he doesn’t think he’s received checks from his Blue Shield insurance to cover it. “If I’m going to be completely honest I saw it and it was so outra-
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CAL POLY’S STEPS TOWARDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
BY OLIVIA MEIS
Cal Poly is the only predominantly white Cal State University. So, what do Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts look like across Cal Poly colleges?
LIBERAL ARTS The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Diversity Action Plan includes the CLA Underrepresented Students Network, a peer mentoring program to provide support and communication with peers who identify with the experiences of underrepresented students. The CLA Multicultural Scholars Program is another space for students from historically underserved populations to gain peer-to-peer mentorship and resources.
Especially in the humanities, our job is to think about the human condition at the present time we’re living through. That condition is constrained and impoverished by systemic racism at every turn.
DEI INITIATIVES
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
RYAN HATCH ENGLISH PROFESSOR
“Especially in the humanities, our job is to think about the human condition at the present time we’re living through,” English professor Ryan Hatch said. “That condition is constrained and impoverished by systemic racism at every turn.” Hatch said he deeply considers his identities as a cisgender white man and the ways in which they influence his teaching and establish his authority in the classroom. “I would like to think that I am trying to use the authority conferred on me by my maleness and my whiteness to help create a world in which those privileges will someday not exist,” Hatch said.
SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS Immanuel Williams works as a statistics lecturer in the College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM) and is a member of the COSAM Committee for Inclusion and Equity. During the 2019-20 academic year, the committee established an inclusion and equity fund. Action plan efforts include working toward “accessible and inclusive learning environments by addressing policies and practices that are barriers to success,” according to the COSAM website. As one of four Black members of the COSAM department, and among the few people of color in COSAM faculty, Williams said he is well aware of how small this percentage is. Increased national attention toward the Black Lives Matter movement in summer 2020 encouraged Williams to continue implementing what he calls “culturally relevant data” in class that resonates with students. Williams begins data collection by asking: “How do you define diversity?” In gathering a dataset centered on segregation, students study a map of the United States, choose a city and analyze community makeup. In most cities studied in his class, people of color tend to live in different parts of the city than white people, according to Williams. “I bring this up in class, not for me to articulate why it is, but that it is,” Williams said.
I was raised with the expectation that I would go to college and that it would not be a financial hardship on my family. I never really thought about the fact that there were people who didn’t come from that background, until I came to Cal Poly.
JERUSHA GREENWOOD INTERIM DEPARTMENT HEAD FOR THE EXPERIENCE INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT (EIM) DEPARTMENT
AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES As a plant ecologist teaching biological sciences, conversations surrounding diversity and inclusion do not always come naturally for Catherine Kleier in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES). She said this inspired her to step into her current role as Associate Dean of Student Success, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for CAFES. “There’s just a lot of energy around this idea right now, so we decided ‘Okay, it’s time to come up with a new strategic plan,’” Kleier said. The plan for DEI efforts in CAFES has not been unveiled yet. Until then, Kleier said her hope is that CAFES students will find community beyond courses, and through student activities and clubs. Clubs include Latinos in Agriculture, Minorities in Agriculture and a chapter of Natural Resources, a national club in which Cal Poly’s own Gissel Neri Corcoles is the national undergraduate president. “This is long, slow work; you don’t just have one workshop and ‘Bam’ everyone’s singing ‘Kumbaya,’” Kleier said. This work happens within agriculture classes, where conversations center labor equity and racial and cultural intersection. Nutrition also encourages students to expand their ideas about what healthy nutrition looks like beyond a European-centric mindset, Kleier said. As a single mom of a child with a disability, Kleier said she is passionate about creating inclusive and equitable spaces that her own son and all students can access. Jerusha Greenwood serves as the Interim Department Head for the Experience Industry Management (EIM) Department. According to Greenwood, transfer students more often have marginalized identities. Many of the conversations EIM held unintentionally excluded transfer students, because no one considered their added challenges and cultural diversity, according to Greenwood. “I was raised with the expectation that I would go to college and that it would not be a financial hardship on my family,” Greenwood said. “I never really thought about the fact that there were people who didn’t come from that background, until I came to Cal Poly.” Understanding her position of privilege inspired Greenwood to build her students’ confidence in reaching out for resources in her EIM courses. EIM is built on a foundation of social justice and providing balance in people’s lives, according to Greenwood. Historical projects of DEI, including settlement houses and the playground movement, set wider social justice in motion, and this is discussed in EIM classes, Greenwood said. Faculty engage in professional development opportunities to build more inclusive classroom settings through resources provided and language used. “We want to make sure that these are programs that are built from the ground up, that are driven by the people who need them and want them,” Greenwood said.
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MARTA LUKOMSK A | MUSTANG NEWS
ENGINEERING
DEI INITIATIVES
Born in Egypt and raised in Canada, operation and supply chain management professor Ahmed Deif has lived in the United States for seven years, and has visited or lived in more than 80 countries across five continents, teaching and soaking up their cultures. “One of my passions in life is really to enjoy, and ensure that people also enjoy, this diversity in our human mosaic in this world,” Deif said. As the College of Business (OCOB) DEI Faculty Fellow, Deif helped shape a DEI action plan for OCOB, implemented from Fall 2020 until the upcoming summer. He defines the plan in three words: educate, engage and connect. On April 14, the College of Business hosted its first town hall, designed to build community in the college, according to Deif. “We need to come together, we need to speak about how we feel and acknowledge how other people feel so that we can all move forward in changing the climate,” Deif said. This leads to the final element of the OCOB DEI plan: connect. Deif said faculty and staff can lead the way in creating a safe, inclusive environment for engaging in uncomfortable dialogues. DEI implementation is university-wide, and the college’s action plan emphasizes collaboration. Learning from other departments’ methods creates positive interdisciplinary change, according to Deif.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
As head of the Construction Management (CM) Department, Jeong Woo said students need to step outside of their comfort zones and personal biases, and this is the area where educators can help and motivate underrepresented groups in creating inclusive communities. The construction management department prioritizes the creation of the Community and Student Achievement (CASA) club that supports first-generation Latinx students. In addition, CM faculty members regularly reach out to what Woo called “target high schools” to improve the college’s access to underrepresented students and develop partnerships to promote career paths in construction, Woo said. “The CM department also includes DEI topics in the CM curriculum so that CM students have a chance to discuss and learn about the DEI issues in the construction industry,” Woo said. Woo was born and raised in South Korea, and along the way, construction and architectural work brought him across the globe — from the Middle East to Wisconsin. Woo said this diverse background provided him a competitive edge and a creative problem-solving mindset that fosters a healthier learning environment.
ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
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Many engineering clubs contribute to DEI efforts in the College of Engineering (CENG), such as the Society of Women Engineers and the Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP). Cal Poly’s National Society of Black Engineers recently received Small National Chapter of the Year recognition in April. Initial projects include grant proposals and speaker series, but now the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion is trying to focus on what diversity means in engineering, aerospace engineering professor Eric Mehiel said. Mehiel said his position as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Student Success in the Cal Poly Engineering Department gives him an opportunity to think about how engineering empowers people to work on solutions. “Engineering culture doesn’t consider social justice to be something that engineering does,” Mehiel said. “If we’re going to change that culture, there’s a lot of work we have to do as a college.”
ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
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sexual crimes there against people who have not yet been identified.
THE KRISTIN SMART INVESTIGATION
APRIL 19, 2021 PAUL AND RUBEN FLORES PLEAD NOT GUILTY Paul Flores pleaded not guilty to one count of first degree muder and Ruben Flores pleaded not guilty to one count of accessory to murder.
AS SEEN BY THE CLASS OF 2021 BY LAUREN WALIKE
Kristin Smart’s disappearance shocked San Luis Obispo in 1996. 25 years later, Paul Flores was arrested, charged with Kristin Smart’s murder and is currently being held without bail in San Luis Obispo County Jail. This is a timeline of the past four years, from 2017 to 2021, of developments in the Kristin Smart case.
THE SMART FAMILY | COURTESY
Smart was last seen on May 25, 1996, and witnesses say Paul Flores, who’s charged with her murder, was the last person to be seen with her.
2017
KRISTIN SMART
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
MAY 31, 2017 THE KRISTIN SMART SCHOLARSHIP Denise Smart, the mother of Kristin Smart, announced a new scholarship on the anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance. The Kristin Smart Scholarship is funded by the nonprofit organization Justice for Kristin, which was originally founded to raise money for public awareness and increase the reward for information. Now, the family is switching gears and Justice for Kristin will be primarily used for a scholarship.
2019
JUNE 2019 TRUE CRIME PODCAST LAUNCHED True crime podcast “Your Own Backyard” about Smart’s case was released by host Chris Lambert.
2020
JANUARY 2020 FBI DEVELOPMENTS In January, Denise Smart said she was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and told to be ready for a development in the case. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that the department held two trucks in evidence that belonged to Paul Flores’ family members at the time of Smart’s disappearance. A total of $62,000 and 7,500 employee hours had been spent on the investigation by the sheriff’s office since 2011, according
to the news release. In addition, the sheriff’s office said that they had served 18 search warrants, re-examined every item of physical evidence seized in the case and conducted 91 interviews. FEBRUARY 2020 NEW SEARCH WARRANTS ISSUED The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff served new search warrants in the case. The warrants were for specific items of evidence inside four separate locations in California and Washington, two of which were carried out in San Luis Obispo. FEBRUARY 7, 2020 “FS” REMOVED FROM KRISTIN SMART’S CAL POLY TRANSCRIPT After a petition circulated online, the Cal Poly Registrar’s Office amended missing student Kristin Smart’s transcripts. The petition stated Smart’s final grades reflected all “Fs” and one “Incomplete” after disappearing on May 25, 1996 and not showing up for her finals. University policy states that the Registrar’s Office can make necessary changes to a student’s transcript after receiving official notice of a student’s death. However, in the years immediately following her disappearance, Kristin Smart was not legally considered deceased. Once Smart was declared legally dead in 2002, University Spokesperson Matt Lazier said the Registrar’s Office never received an official notice. After the petition, Kristin’s transcripts were changed to ‘W’s’ to reflect ‘withdrawn.’ FEBRUARY 14, 2020 NEW KRISTIN SMART BILLBOARD INSTALLED IN OCEAN A second billboard asking for information about Kristin Smart was installed, located directly behind the “Welcome to Oceano” sign on the intersection of Halcyon Road and Highway 1.
2021
MARCH 15, 2021 NEW SEARCH WARRANTS SERVED; PAUL FLORES NAMED AS PRIME SUSPECT The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office served a new search warrant in the ongoing Kristin Smart investigation March 15 at the Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores, Paul Flores’ father. Paul Flores was a longtime person of interest in Smart’s disappearance, but was then named as the prime suspect in the case. Police used cadaver dogs and groundpenetrating radar to search the property. APRIL 13, 2021 PAUL AND RUBEN FLORES ARRESTED Paul Flores was arrested and charged with the murder of Kristin Smart. Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, was arrested as an accessory to the crime. Paul Flores was arrested in San Pedro, Calif. the morning of April 13 and booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail that afternoon. APRIL 14, 2021 DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAN DOW ANNOUNCES MURDER CHARGES San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow announced formal first-degree murder charges against Paul Flores. Dow said his office believes Paul Flores killed Smart while attempting or committing rape, but he cannot be charged for rape because the statute of limitations has expired. Dow also announced that Paul’s father, Ruben Flores, was charged with accessory to murder after the fact, as they believe he helped to hide Smart’s body after the murder. Dow said Paul Flores frequented bars in the San Pedro area, where he had lived since 2005. The district attorney’s office believes Flores committed other
APRIL 20, 2021 JUDGE REDUCES RUBEN FLORES’ BAIL IN KRISTIN SMART CASE Judge Craig Van Rooyen reduced Ruben Flores’ bail from $250,000 to $50,000. The bail comes with conditions, including that Flores obey all laws, stay in San Luis Obispo County, turn over his expired passport to the court within 24 hours of his release from custody and submit to electronic ankle monitoring by the San Luis Obispo County Probation Department. The Smart family previously filed a statement with the court asking that Ruben Flores be held without bail saying, in part: “Ruben, in particular, has repeatedly demonstrated troubling behavior all of these years and we fear his release on bail directly threatens the safety of our family.” The San Luis Obispo Tribune obtained a county probation report in which a Sheriff’s Office detective said that investigators have “biological evidence” that makes them believe Kristin Smart’s body was at one point buried beneath the deck at Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande home. MAY 17, 2021 PRELIMINARY HEARINGS SCHEDULED IN KRISTIN SMART CASE Paul and Ruben Flores appeared over Zoom in San Luis Obispo Superior Court May 17 to confirm future hearing dates in the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart. MAY 25, 2021 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTIN SMART’S DISAPPEARANCE Cal Poly student Tessa Witkofsky organized a walk to honor Kristin Smart’s memory, who would be 44 years old. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle, who is leading the prosecution, said the prosecution has and is continuing to discover “substantial material.”
KYLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS
More than 70 students attended a candlelight vigil to honor Smart’s memory when Flores was arrested for her murder.
25-YEARS LATER, SAN LUIS OBISPO COMMUNITY HONORS KRISTIN SMART’S MEMORY
BY LAUREN WALIKE
dra Pinzon-Betancourt, mechanical engineering freshman said. “Also, to make sure that her name stays alive in the community because we need that coverage and awareness of her case.” Mother and daughter, Teresa Nelson and Amanda Nelson, who both live in San Luis Obispo, attended the walk and have been following the case since Kristin Smart disappeared. “I have lived here my entire life, and I remember when it happened and how scary it was,” Teresa Nelson said. “I have a young daughter, and I have been following the whole story since the beginning, and I want to see closure for her family and the community. She is everyone’s daughter at this point.” Teresa Nelson’s daughter, Amanda Nelson, said that although this case has been open for 25 years, it remains fresh in the community’s minds. “When it actually happened, it was horrifying,” San Luis Obispo resident Amanda Nelson said. “You never want to believe that can happen in
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It’s been dragged on for 25 years and there’s been so many mishaps, so that in itself makes it both intriguing and sad. And you just really want to support the family in any way you can, and that’s where I’m coming from. TESSA WITKOFSKY Chemistry Junior
anniversary and said in a statement that as part of the visit they used that time to thank friends in the area and those in law enforcement who “never gave up and continue today with steeled determination and effort to bring her home.” In the 25 years since her disappearance, Smart’s case has never been labeled a “cold case,” which is an unsolved criminal case that is no longer being actively pursued because of a lack of evidence. Smart’s case is often referred to as an active investigation and is still ongoing. Court proceedings continue for Paul Flores, facing murder charges, and Ruben Flores facing accessory to murder charges. 12-days of preliminary hearings are set to begin July 6. Both have pleaded not guilty.
MUSTANG NEWS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
HAYLEE BANTA | COURTESY
About 500 people participated in the walk to honor Kristin Smart’s memory
KRISTIN SMART
A crowd of about 200 people gathered at the intersection of Crandall Way and Foothill Boulevard the evening of May 25 to honor the 25th anniversary of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart’s disappearance. Many people wore purple to show support and spread awareness of her story and walk the route Smart is believed to have walked the last night she was seen in 1996. Smart was last seen walking home from an off-campus party. Paul Flores, the prime suspect in the case and the last person seen with her, is charged with her murder and is currently being held in San Luis Obispo County Jail without bail awaiting his preliminary hearings. Chemistry junior Tessa Witkofsky organized the walk with the support of Denise Smart, Kristin Smart’s mother. Witkofsky started the walk at 6:30 p.m. on Crandall Way and ended in front of the University Union at the corner of North Perimeter Road and Grand Avenue She said she organized the walk to memorialize the last steps that Smart took on Cal Poly’s campus. “It’s been dragged on for 25 years and there’s been so many mishaps, so that in itself makes it both intriguing and sad,” Witkofsky said. “And you just really want to support the family in any way you can, and that’s where I’m coming from.” Witkofsky reached out to both the Smart family and “Your Own Backyard” podcast host Chris Lambert to raise awareness and gain publicity for this event. Within the past year, Kristin Smart’s case progressed with the arrests of both Paul and Ruben Flores back in April following the search of both their homes. Lambert said the recent search warrants carried out by the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department in April provided new information, especially once the charges were announced. But, Lambert said that the arrests were not the focus of the anniversary. “This week in particular, just because it’s the 25th anniversary, it was already going to be a big week for Kristin’s story, but the timing of the arrests has been perfect,” Lambert said. “This last week has just been about remembering Kristin and celebrating with the Smart family and
their friends.” Everytime there’s a development in the case, Lambert alerts his 76,200 followers on his “Your Own Backyard” Instagram account. The story of Smart’s disappearance gained both local and national interest within recent years due to Lambert’s podcast. Before his podcast, some students were unaware of who Kristin Smart was and what had happened to her. Lambert reflected on the past few years about how far the case has progressed: “We’ve come so far in the last five or six years where now you’d be lucky to find a single person on campus who doesn’t know her story or hasn’t heard of her name in the last year,” Lambert said. The reach of Smart’s story can be seen through the many students and community members who attended the walk to celebrate and honor Smart’s memory. “What it means for me to be at Kristin Smart’s walk is to be able to represent her and support her,” Alejan-
your small community.” Witkofsky said walking around Cal Poly’s campus reminds her of Smart’s story, which makes her think of her own safety when walking alone. “In terms of safety, I’m definitely more precautious, especially at night,” Witkofsky said. “It saddens me that someone who also walked the same walks I did can just disappear one day. So, you know, it’s just kind of been an extra reminder to be careful and aware of surroundings and to use the buddy system.” Safety on campus is a concern for other students as well. Computer engineering freshman Barry Pinzon-Betancourt, said she believes Cal Poly is safer now than in 1996, but that she is hyper-aware when walking alone at night. “If I were by myself, then I would feel a little bit like I was walking around on eggshells and keeping aware of my surroundings,” Pinzon-Betancourt said. For many, the focus of the walk was about keeping Smart’s memory alive, not about the fear of safety on Cal Poly’s campus. “Her disappearance definitely left a big scar on the community,” Witkofsky said. “But she’s not [been] forgotten and there’s a whole community that supports [the Smart family] and that’s behind them and that cares.” She is remembered by family and friends for her love of the beach, the color purple and a passion for communication, criminology, law and forensic science. The Smart family visited San Luis Obispo over the weekend for the 25th
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2020 GRADUATES:
Where are they now?
STUDENT LIFE
MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
BY GRACE KITAYAMA
One year ago, the Class of 2020 was the first to graduate during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for many students, their internships and job opportunities were rescinded. The graduating class was hit particularly hard as they were forced to adapt to a rapidly changing job market during unprecedented times. Since moving home to Seattle during his winter quarter of 2020, biomedical engineering graduate Jarrett Rei Shirozu has been working at his uncle’s restaurant and in his aunt’s warehouse while job hunting. “I’m either in a basement or in a warehouse or in a restaurant for an entire year,” Shirouzu said. “I’m losing my mind.” Shirouzu had a job at an aerospace company lined up for after graduation, however due to the pandemic, the company downsized and Shirouzu lost his position. “When I open up my browser, it’s LinkedIn, Hit Marker, Handshake and a couple of other job sites, so when I open my computer, the first thing in the morning, they’re just staring at me, which is fun,” Shirouzu said. According to Shirouzu, he spends three to four hours a day job hunting. In addition to work, Shirouzu has also started investing online, practicing the saxophone and guitar and commentating on Esports events. Despite the variety of endeavors he has tried, he said the time that’s passed since graduating has made Shirouzu more confused about what he wants to pursue in the future. “I feel like a jack of many trades, but I feel like I have no mastery of anything,” Shirouzu said. “Which is rough; it’s hard to feel like you deserve a job.” The pandemic also brought opportunities for some grads. Class of 2020 graphic communication graduate Caroline Olesh is an online content creator who has started Twitch streaming and making YouTube videos for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Olesh became a Twitch partner Feb. 10, 2021 and now has more than 25,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel. Olesh graduated in March of 2020, the same time she started streaming on Twitch. “I slowly found my people, and slowly more people found me and I started to upgrade my background and my equipment, and generated
income from streaming and it kind of just snowballed from there,” Olesh said. Olesh has recently moved to Los Angeles to continue pursuing her streaming career. Since graduating, Olesh has not been home to see her family in Connecticut due to a rare lung condition she has called Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia, which is characterized by chronic infections in one’s respiratory tract. “Flying on a plane — that’s not something I was comfortable doing in December,” Olesh said. However, she said that her online community helped her from feeling isolated during COVID-19. “I didn’t really feel alone,” Olesh said. Before the pandemic, studio art graduate Chelsea Stewart had planned on taking a year after graduation to travel and live at home before applying to a graduate school. Stewart had an internship lined up with the San Luis Obispo Art Museum after graduation, but was unable to accept it. However, now Stewart is working at the Pamela Welsh Gallery in Palo Alto part time and has been learning about the curatorial skills she did not concentrate on while a student at Cal Poly “There’s like two sides [of studio art],” Stewart said. “There’s like the gallery side, but then there’s the artist side, and how do those intermingle and communicate? It’s been really interesting seeing that.” Stewart moved home to the Bay Area during spring break in 2020 in order to have more space to work on her art and be with her family. Stewart has transformed her sister’s old bedroom into an art studio. Her art can be found on her website chelseaannestewart.com. Though the gallery has been operating at 50% capacity, Stewart said she is currently working on an exhibition that will be in person with Bay Area artist Michael Johnson. Despite not being able to graduate in person, Stewart said celebrating with her family made the achievement more intimate. “We watched [the graduation ceremony] on our big TV in our family room and so it made it more personal,” Stewart said. Though Stewart is working as a curator, she said she still has plans to go to graduate school. She said not being able to graduate in person has only motivated her more to attend graduate school and be able to walk at her masters degree graduation ceremony.
CAROLINE OLESH | COURTESY Graphic communication graduate Caroline Olesh is a Twitch streamer.
CHELSEA STEWART | COURTESY Studio art graduate Chelsea Stewart transformed her sister’s old bedroom into an art studio.
JARRET T REI SHIROZU | COURTESY Biomedical engineering graduate Jarrett Rei Shirozu works at his uncle’s restaurant while job hunting.
A NEW CHAPTER:
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2021 GRADS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE BY EMILY TOBIASON AND VICTORIA LACHNIT
Looking back on her four years at Cal Poly, mechanical engineering senior Alex Lee remembers pulling all-nighters to study for tests with her friends, living in the Sierra Madre residence halls and adventuring at San Luis Obispo’s beaches. In less than a month, she will be walking at graduation and leaving those memories behind as she begins a new chapter of her life. Lee will soon be working full-time on satellites at a company called General Atomics in her hometown of Centennial, Colorado. “It’s bittersweet, I really don’t want to leave but I know that my plan is solid and I’m excited for it,” she said. Lee worked an internship at General Atomics last summer that, she said, was fortunately not cancelled. If it had been cancelled, she said she would be in a “completely different situation” at this point in her life, spending a large amount of time applying for jobs. She said she’s happy the job will be in-person, since young engineers
tend to need more “guidance and teamwork” during the first part of their careers. Her advice to other graduates is to be grateful for the experiences they’ve had. Even though their year was different, graduating is still worth celebrating, she said. “For incoming freshmen, just enjoy every moment because it goes by really fast,” Lee said. Nutrition senior Elle Brandt is planning on moving home to become an emergency medical technician (EMT). After working in the field for a year or two she plans to apply for medical school. “I had always wanted to be a doctor since I was little, but in high school and most of college I told myself I was not smart enough and would not get in,” Brandt said. “So, I gave up on that for a while.” This summer she had the opportunity to shadow a surgeon. She was able to watch two surgeries and that was when she knew she was going to become a doctor. The pandemic has not deterred these plans. However, her college experience was altered by COVID-19. “I don’t like that classes are virtual
because I don’t feel like I am learning as much as I can,” Brandt said. “And having virtual labs is just so different than in-person.” Although, she does enjoy being at home more than usual. It is easier for her to stay motivated when working on school assignments at home. “I wish I could stay at Cal Poly forever. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Brandt said. Recent winter quarter graduate Hannah Klaassen is already working as an account coordinator at SHIFT Communications and attending virtual graduate school at Syracuse University. “SHIFT has been incredible in helping me learn as I keep working,” Klaassen said. “It’s a fun time.” She has been working remotely from San Luis Obispo because her lease doesn’t end until August. The remote work has been helpful because this job is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. When her lease is up, Klaassen does plan on moving back to the Bay Area, where she is from and where her job is based. The company will be returning to the office two days a week and the rest will be remote.
“I never thought about working full time and doing grad school but the fact that they are both virtual, it really helps save me a lot of time,” Klaassen said. She is excited to move on from college. Klaassen said that she feels like Cal Poly really did prepare her for the working world and that she gained real life skills.
The past year and a half has felt like everything’s been ripped away but at least we have this sort of light at the end of the tunnel, JORDY ROTH POLITICAL SCIENCE SENIOR
Political science senior Jordy Roth will be heading back home to Los Angeles while searching for a job. He hopes to work in some field of government and may go to law school
later on in life. Roth said he may not be moving home if it weren’t for COVID-19, considering the job market has been competitive for 2020 and 2021 graduates. “Regardless, I’m just going with it and I’m very hopeful and confident in myself,” he said. In response to his last year of college being online, Roth said he is sad he did not get in-person classes or get to explore downtown, but is looking forward to an in-person graduation, happening June 12 and 13. “The past year and a half has felt like everything’s been ripped away but at least we have this sort of light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. Some of Roth’s favorite memories at Cal Poly include being president of his fraternity and being elected to Associated Students Inc. (ASI) student government. “I feel so happy that I chose Cal Poly, I feel like I fit really well here, but I’m also ready to explore new things,” he said. “Even though it’s pretty scary, I’m ready.”
MUSTANG NEWS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
ELLE BR ANDT | COURTESY Elle Brandt is planning on moving home to become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
HANNAH KL A ASSEN | COURTESY
Hannah Klaassen is working as at SHIFT Communications and attending virtual graduate school at Syracuse University.
STUDENT LIFE
ALEX LEE | COURTESY Alex Lee will soon be working full-time on satellites at General Atomics.
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SAFER
EXPANDS
SERVICES
OVER FOUR YEARS From 2016 to March 2020, Cal Poly Safer saw a total of 653 individuals, with a high of 160 from 2019 to 2020 and a low of 66 from summer through the winter quarter of 2020-2021, according to Safer Assistant Director of Wellbeing Kara Samaniego. Numbers from March 2020 are currently impacted by COVID-19, she said. Over the last four years, Samaniego said that Safer moved away from hybrid prevention and advocacy roles in favor of positions that are fully dedicated to each discipline. Current roles in Safer consist of the Assistant Director of Wellbeing, one full-time Prevention Specialist and three full-time Campus Advocates. Two of the advocate positions are new and will be filled by the
beginning of the 2021-22 academic year. The student success fee funds the prevention specialist and one campus advocate, and state funding supports two campus advocates and the assistant director of wellbeing. In the 2020-2021 school year, Safer received $159,000 from the student success fee and $130,558 from state funding. As Safer moves into the future, Samaniego hopes to increase attention to the prevention of gender and power-based violence, as well as incorporating restorative principles into their offerings. “There are many roads to healing after violence has happened, and with increased staffing as well as strong partnerships, I believe we can really begin to make progress in building out more holistic, wraparound support,” Samaniego wrote.
Nearly 99% of perpetrators arrested for gender-based violence are men, according to Kara Samaniego. “When looking at that statistic, we need to understand the parts of masculinity that are causing harm and address that,” Samaniego said.
FEBRUA RY 2 018 In Feb. 2018, Safer joined forces with the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Cal Poly’s Men and Masculinity program to host first Healthy Masculinities Week at Cal Poly.
2018
The week consisted of four days of events designed to explore society’s definitions of masculinity and help men on campus embrace their own healthy masculinity.
M A RCH 2 018 In March 2018, Cal Poly Safer received grant of $300,000 from the U.S. Department Of Justice and additional funds from the student success fee.
2018
Cal Poly is one of 53 schools across the nation chosen for the $300,000 grant from the DOJ. The Campus Program grant is awarded through the federal Justice Department’s Oÿce of Violence A gainst Women (OVW) and provided funding until 2021.
NOVEMBER 2 018
“This grant is an incredible opportunity for Cal Poly to be a U.S. leader in reducing sexual assault and intimate partner violence on college campuses,” then-director of Safer Christina Kaviani said.
In November 2018, Cal Poly Safer moved from the University Union to the Health Center.
2018
The goal of the move was to adopt a more holistic approach to the services provided, according to then-coordinator Kara Samaniego. “When you think of a program like Safer, and what we do for crisis support and the advocacy services that we provide, in a lot of people’s minds, that aligns more closely with counseling services,” Samaniego said.
F EB RUA RY 2 01 9 February 2019, Former United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos introduced proposed changes to Title IX. February 2019, Safer launched a survey regarding sexual violence on campus.
November 2018, rates of sexual crime increases at Cal Poly and other California State Universities, according to an Annual Security Report.
2019
Total sexual assaults, which include rape, incest, fondling and statutory rape, increased by more than 50% from 2015 to 2017 at Cal Poly.
The survey, which was open Feb. 19 to March 19, asked questions about personal experiences and opinions regarding sexual assault, as well as awareness about current policies on campus.
Safer saw a 45% increase in students, faculty or sta¢ utilizing the Safer Crisis and Advocacy services, according to the 2016 through 2017 annual report.
M A RCH 2 019
May 2020, Cal Poly enacted new Title IX regulations from the Department of Education.
2020
Under the new regulations, simply reporting sexual assault is not enough to warrant an investigation from the university — victims must provide evidence.
2019
May 2020, Cal Poly Safer hired one full-time advocate for students who have experienced gender and power-based violence.
2019
2021
J A N UA RY 2 0 2 1 Jan. 2021, Safer Safer launched its campaign “Know the Case, Reclaim the Space” to help the community identify and define stalking behaviors following Cal Poly’s increase in reports of stalking incidents.
March 2019, Cal Poly Safer launches “Seek Then Speak,” assisting survivors of sexual assault in anonymously gathering information, exploring local services and reporting the crime when they are ready.
SEPT EMBER 2 019 September 2019, the Annual Security Report revealed students reporting fewer rapes, fondles and burglaries in 2018 compared to 2017.
2020
SAFER
2016
In Aug. 2016, Cal Poly Safer appointed a Men And Masculinity Coordinator to address masculinity and sexual assault.
M AY 2 02 0
MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
BY SYDNEY SHERMAN AND CATHERINE ALLEN
AU GUST 2 01 6
M A RC H 2 02 0 March 2020, COVID-19 pandemic. March 2020, Cal Poly sexual assault crimes soared in 2019. The 2020 Annual Security Report saw a drastic increase in the proportion of recorded sex and dating-related crimes.
PHOTOS MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
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MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
PHOTOS
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THREE TRANSFER STUDENTS REFLECT ON THEIR
TWO YEARS AT CAL POLY
BY MARCUS COCOVA, VICTORIA LACHNIT, RAFAEL MEDINA
STUDENT LIFE
MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
It can be challenging to jump onto a moving train when it’s already speeding at 120 miles per hour. This difficulty is compounded when there is no place to return to — when you can feel the heat of the home behind you burning to the ground. This is all metaphor, of course, but the plainest way I can describe what it was like to come to Cal Poly as a transfer student. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to victimize myself, and plenty of what I came to Cal Poly to leave behind goes beyond the box I check as a transfer student. These things push me into the peripheries of much more significant difficulties. These elements, however, all influence my becoming a transfer student and were intertwined in my path to and through Cal Poly. I didn’t have a conventional family
to make sure I did well in high school to be a four-year university student, or to pay for my education, or even to provide a home to come back to when the pandemic came. In fact, when talking to my professors early on in my transfer experience, I would often remark how I didn’t “feel bred for higher education” like most of my peers seemed to be. There was plenty already present that felt like a barrier between most other students and me. I still don’t know if I made those “life-long” connections that I read about in social media posts. Being a transfer student just seemed like another brick in the wall, a brick made of the same mulch that had always been there. Thankfully, due to the kindness of others, Cal Poly also provided an abundance of enjoyable learning experiences. So many of my educators understood what limited time a transfer education would mean. My educators saw to it that I was provid-
MARCUS COCOVA | COURTESY Cocova’s photo is reminsicent of Edvard Munch’s “Self Portrait with Cigarette,” which Munch painted to unify with the lower class.
ed with all the necessary resources to maximize my educational experience. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the students who made me feel as though they could see past our divergent experiences. Just as well, those who put their time on the line to travel to San Luis Obispo with me to ensure my success deserve mention. Despite the looking glass feeling that often would overcome me, I think my Cal Poly experience will broadly be cataloged as positive. Though the train was speeding, I had helpful hands reach down to pick me up, and I got where I needed to go.
-MARCUS COCOVA My college experience was anything but traditional. I did go to a four-year university right out of high school, but I only lasted a year there. In 2016, I began my college career at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, majoring in anthropology. My time there was very confusing. I was homesick and had island fever all while majoring in something I did not see myself pursuing after college. The summer after my freshman year I made the tough decision to transfer home to my local community college and change my major. I chose journalism because I have always had a passion for writing and I knew journalism could be a way to advocate for people. When it came time to turn in my transfer applications in the fall of 2018, I had my sights set on Cal Poly. I remember the moment I got the email stating I was admitted. It was March of 2019 and I had already gotten into a few other schools but was desperately waiting for Cal Poly’s response. I was sitting alone in my living room, opened my email, and there it was, sitting there in all its glory. I calmly walked out to my dad who was working in the garage. “I just got into Cal Poly,” I said. He ran over to me, picked me up, and gave me the biggest hug. “I knew you could do it,” he said. We came to Open House that April, and that’s when I was positive this was the place for me. I met all the journalism staff and the students in charge of Mustang Media Group. Everyone was so welcoming, I felt like I had found a really special place. At SLO Days, I was able to meet the other transfers to my major. There were only five of us there and we all bonded fairly quickly. I was excited about having a small
VICTORIA L ACHNIT | COURTESY Lachnit and her dad on campus the day she decided to attend Cal Poly
major because not only could I get to know my teachers better, but I also got to know my peers in a more personal way. It is also a very collaborative major, with discussions, group projects and lab time. These in-class opportunities allowed me to make lifelong friends just from having a class together. Last fall and winter quarter, I would always meet up in the library with my classmates. We would go to “work on stuff,” but half the time we did not get anything done because we were just talking, laughing and distracting each other the whole time. Quarantine without my little journalism squad was difficult, but we would still FaceTime or Zoom sometimes to work on homework together. This school year, I was selected to serve on the Journalism Board of Advisors alongside other journalism majors. We loved every second of that experience. We really got the chance to cultivate long-lasting relationships not only with students but also with staff and alumni. I also joined Mustang Media Group’s news team this school year. Although everything was conducted virtually, the team really made an effort to make me feel at home and
included. I cannot say that the pandemic did not disrupt my college experience, but the Journalism Department being as connected and supportive as they are made it so much easier. In all honesty, I never really felt like I fit in while going to school in Hawai'i. Something about my time there always made me feel a little out of place and self-conscious. I genuinely think that I was just in the wrong major and had not found “my people.” This was never an issue for me at Cal Poly. I knew the second I went to Open House that this was the place for me.
-VICTORIA LACHNIT During my three years at the Lompoc and Santa Maria Allan Hancock College campuses, being around familiar faces was the norm. Many of these faces were classmates from back in middle school. All of this familiarity suddenly changed when I transferred to Cal Poly in 2019. During my first quarter, I found myself in a constant battle of trying to meet new people but trying not to come off too strong. I was so used to
my community college experience with the semester system, a closer sense of community and simply attending class and going straight back home. Halfway into that first quarter, I came to the realization that I was wasting the limited amount of time I had at Cal Poly. I was still in my old community college groove of not getting involved on campus, and as a commuter student making an hour drive up to campus, I was finding myself leaving San Luis Obispo as soon as class was over. On top of that, I still had not made any new friends except for the four other journalism transfer students that I had met at orientation. Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely grateful to have met them, but I only had four friends out of more than 20,000 students on campus. It wasn’t until I decided to take a leap of faith and figured I’d try some-
thing new in this land full of opportunity. Within my second quarter, I applied to Mustang News where I found myself writing about something I was passionate about. Sports. I fell in love doing something I had never done before and I felt proud of myself for doing it. This opportunity at Mustang News allowed me to quickly meet new people outside of class and I suddenly felt like I had found a sense of community all over again. During this quarter, instead of spending my time in between classes alone on a bench outside of Building 26, also known as the Journalism Building, I found myself spending time with fellow journalism students and I had people to go through my experience with. During my short two quarters on campus, before the pandemic shut it down, I taught myself how to be
19
a more open, approachable person and someone who was eager to learn something new every day. During the transition to online school, the relationships I had made on campus seemed to be even stronger over Zoom because we felt like we had each other when no one in the world knew what the virus was capable of. After a year and a half of virtual education, and weekly team meetings, I can now say with absolute certainty that my colleagues on the Mustang News Sports section are my absolute Cal Poly best friends. Of course, I can never forget those four students that I built a connection with during our transfer transition. Now that it’s close to graduation, all I can say is that it was an absolute pleasure.
-RAFAEL MEDINA
R AFAEL MEDINA | COURTESY Medina graduates in December 2021. Until then, he’ll keep writing for the Mustang News Sports Section.
ONTO THE NEXT:
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR BY SABRINA PASCUA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
STUDENT LIFE
ries, photos and designs this year. To our 175+ Mustang Media Group staff members: Being your editor-in-chief has been the greatest honor. While we missed out on a traditional experience together in the newsroom, MNTV Swanson Studio, KCPR studio and advertising office, we created a community through computer screens that I’ll always cherish. I missed seeing you all in person, but watching you handle the obstacles thrown at you this year with grace and courage was the next best thing. I hope you don’t speak lightly of the tremendous talent and work you put into this year. I feel lucky to have worked with you, and I am so incredibly proud of all of you. To our readers, listeners and viewers: Thank you for following us. Your support guarantees we continue to produce quality journalism. To the class of 2021: I hope you found beauty amidst the chaos of our senior year. The pandemic created a bond with each other and instilled a strong sense of self-confidence that will carry us into the next chapter of our lives. I appreciate everything that the pandemic has forced us all to reexamine, and I am grateful for the changes it provoked within Mustang Media Group and beyond. Thank you all for this year, and I cannot wait to see what’s next. All my best, Sabrina Pascua
MUSTANG NEWS
K YLE CALZIA | MUSTANG NEWS Pascua is interning at The New York Times this summer, then heading to UC Berkeley for journalism graduate school.
As I watched so many of my close friends and peers lose their commencement ceremonies and other senior moments last spring, I thought to myself, “Well, at least I’m not graduating in a pandemic.” Fast forward a year later, and I ironically find myself in the same shoes as the class of 2020. There aren’t enough words to describe the sadness, frustration and emptiness that comes with an entirely virtual senior year — or at least there aren’t words that you haven’t heard before. The pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of my life as a graduating senior, but I realize it affects the lives of others in ways that I either intimately understand or cannot relate to at all. I’m certain many of you don’t need to read another person’s account of how this pandemic is outright agonizing, because as someone simply living today, you already know. It is increasingly unbearable to confront tragedies in the news: COVID-19 continues to claim thousands of lives, the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes forces many to fear for their safety and thousands of Americans are struggling without jobs, homes and basic necessities. The news has some silver linings too. Vaccination rates are on the rise, Olivia Rodrigo’s album is taking over TikTok and less restrictive regula-
tions allows for reunions with friends and family you may have not seen in months — or maybe even a year. While these silver linings elicit feelings of hope and joy, I sometimes feel guilty for smiling. It is difficult to reconcile positive emotions while acknowledging the despair and hardship that many still face. However, if I learned anything this past year, it is that two contrasting things can coexist. Life is anything but black and white. If I didn’t recognize that, then I wouldn’t be a very good journalist who seeks to uncover all facets of life. I can’t say that I’m happy the pandemic happened, but I can’t say I hate it either. The pandemic not only changed how we live, it changed what we make space for and with whom we do that with. As editor-in-chief, I saw this happen within our approach to covering the news. We held Cal Poly administration accountable for how it handled coronavirus cases, we shed light on how national and international news affects students and we actively pursued stories that uplifted the voices of those that often go unheard. How we share news and tell community members’s stories significantly changed since I joined Mustang News my freshman year. This is a testament to the resiliency and commitment of each of our staff members to challenge themselves, to experiment and to produce groundbreaking sto-
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LOOKING BACK AT KCPR'S
FIRST PLEDGE DRIVE
KCPR ARCHIVES | MUSTANG NEWS Former DJ David Eickhoff playing his weekly three-hour-show in the KCPR studio.
KCPR
MUSTANG NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
BY EVAN GATTUSO
In 1975, KCPR was seven-years-old and needed funding to upgrade its broadcast capabilities and compete with established regional stations along the Central Coast. The station had exhausted funds from a previous project that increased the station’s power output from ten watts to 2,000 watts. The prospect of KCPR being broadcasted beyond the confines of campus “scared the crap out of some of the Cal Poly administration,” according to Steven Ruegnitz, the 1973 KCPR General Manager. The university administration’s fear likely stemmed from the Hunter S. Thompson-like antics of early ‘70s KCPR News Director Woody Goulart. Goulart turned KCPR’s daily news program into a satire, which was contrary to the straightforward news reporting he was learning as a journalism major. “Honestly, was it madness or mania? I don’t know ... It was all about freedom for Woody and his co-conspirators at KCPR,” Goulart said. Goulart graduated in 1973 and cruised away from the serene golden hills of San Luis Obispo County to
Hollywood for his new radio job. Yet, Goulart’s memory loomed over the school faculty facing the reality that KCPR would broadcast to the greater San Luis Obispo community. The KCPR staff proved these fears were overemphasized by successfully building an audience around San Luis Obispo that rivaled the local professional radio stations. However, after a few years, it became clear that KCPR needed to upgrade its mono transmission to stereo and keep up with technological advancements. Listeners demanded a better-sounding broadcast on par with professional stations from San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. Due to this, KCPR kicked off its first-ever pledge drive with a nonstop 80-hour marathon set starring Larry LaFollette, the then-KCPR Sports Director and Sunday night disk jockey. LaFollette, a 1976 Cal Poly graduate, loved being on-air and always picked up extra shifts to get in the studio. The marathon featured a surprise appearance from the legendary SLO DJ Captain Buffoon, a prank call from LaFollette’s brother-in-law that sent shockwaves through the studio and
a visit from LaFollette’s mother who saved her son from sleeping through the set’s final hours.
So all these dorms, fraternities and sororities started challenging each other. It was unbelievable how much money was getting raised. It just took off like wildfire LARRY LAFOLLETTE 1976 Cal Poly graduate
The extravaganza began on Sunday, June 1, 1975, at 6 p.m. LaFollette was unsure of how much attention the pledge drive would receive from students. However, he didn’t wait long to receive song requests and donations from the students. “So all these dorms, fraternities and
sororities started challenging each other. It was unbelievable how much money was getting raised. It just took off like wildfire,” LaFollette said. The Cal Poly students living on and around campus raised $4,000, which is about $20,000 today after accounting for inflation. By Tuesday, the marathon was getting a lot of airplay. Captain Buffoon, a boisterous star disc jockey at KSLY Radio in SLO, was aware of KCPR’s pledge drive. He contacted the station and interviewed LaFollette portraying one of his most well-known characters. “Everybody [in SLO] listened to [Captain Buffoon] from 6 to 10 a.m. ... [KCPR and KSLY] simulcasted a 15 to 20 minute interview with Mama Buffoon and me. It was unbelievable. It gave us more publicity than we ever imagined,” LaFollette said. Captain Buffoon never made personal appearances and nobody knew what he looked like at that time. Still, LaFollette wrangled him into the studio to meet with students in a public appearance the following day. “The studio was packed. You couldn’t fit a sardine in there. Everybody wanted to see what Captain Buffoon looked like,” LaFollette said. After Captain Buffoon left the stu-
dio, all the energy he drew evaporated, leaving LaFollette struggling to make it to Thursday morning, the scheduled ending of the marathon. LaFollette hadn’t slept since he started the marathon and only left the station to shower and clean up. He dropped the needle on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” and promptly plunged into a deep sleep. Nobody in the studio could wake him up for twenty minutes. There were only six minutes before the record needed to be swapped out. Fortunately, the one person who could wake LaFollette from his seemingly unbreakable dream state arrived to visit him. His mother. She and LaFollette’s younger brother were there to visit him in the concluding hours of the marathon, but arrived at the scene of pandemonium with the staff working on waking the disk jockey. The team pleaded to Pauline LaFollette to wake her son and save the pledge drive. She told everyone to step back. Then she walked right up to her son. “Larry! You need to wake up!” she yelled. LaFollette shot up as if his mother was there to ground him for an eternity. “I didn’t do it! Don’t tell Dad!” LaFollette said. The experience kept him awake for the marathon’s remaining hours. There were no last-minute surprise guests or catastrophic events — only good vibes. “I got more alert the closer I got [to] finishing the shift. There were people all over the place and excitement was in the air,” LaFollette said. The marathon set ended on Thursday, June 5, 1975, at 2 a.m. LaFollette left the celebration in the studio, went home, drank a beer or two and slept for 18 hours. A year later, LaFollette became DJ “Iron Man” at KZOZ 93.3 FM in SLO. He returned to the studio to flip the switch, which turned KCPR into a modernized, stereo radio station. The 80-hour pledge drive marathon was the first of many to support KCPR’s purpose as a student-run station. It remains LaFollette’s favorite KCPR experience and one he will always cherish. “I was on top of the world for four days. I felt like Mr. San Luis Obispo,” LaFollette said. This story first appeared on KCPR.org.
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