Mustang Daily 5-16

Where songwriters come to play ARTS, pg. 4

MUSTANG DAILY | mustangdaily.net Volume LXXVII, Number 109

Thurday, May 16, 2013

New freshman housing planned for 2018 MUSTANG DAILY STAFF REPORT

news@mustangdaily.net

Cal Poly announced its intent to build new residence facilities for freshmen near the Grand Avenue entrance of campus in a press release on Wednesday.

The new development is still in the design phases, but according to the current plan, it will house 1,400 students. The facility will be built in the two parking lots adjacent to Grand Avenue and across from Sierra Madre and Yosemite residence

halls, and the design may include a small parking structure to help offset the loss of parking spaces.

The plan still needs to be approved by the California State University System Board of Trustees, but if implemented will begin construction in 2015 and be ready for students to move in for the 201819 academic year, Interim Director of Media Relations Matt Lazier said.

A recent market demand study concluded there could be a demand for 10,300 on-cam-

pus beds in upcoming years.

Since the university only has 6,900 beds, this leaves a 3,400 bed gap, Lazier said. The new residence hall will help reduce that gap by one-third.

Students, however, are not the only Cal Poly members who see the need for more oncampus residence facilities. Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong wants to increase the number of students living on campus, hoping to eventually see some students spending all see HOUSING, pg. 2

NHA HA / MUSTANG DAILY

The proposed construction would take place in the two parking lots across from Sierra Madre and Yosemite residence halls on Grand Avenue.

Student Success Fee: Students protest fossil fuel approval Where your money goes DIVEST FOSSIL FUELS

This is the first in a four-part series on the 2013-14 Student Success Fee allocations. Check back next Thursday for the next part on increasing class availability.

SEAN MCMINN

smcminn@mustangdaily.net

NHA HA /MUSTANG DAILY

FUEL TO THE FIRE: Prior to the Associated Students, Inc. Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, Cal Poly students gathered to encourage the student government to vote for Resolution #13-06: Social and Environmental Sustainability Through Sustainable Investment. After approximately one hour of debate during the meeting, the resolution failed with 10 board members in favor, 11 opposed and three abstentions. The resolution would have added the ASI Board of Directors’ support to Empower Poly Coalition’s efforts to divest from fossil fuels. Board members opposed felt the resolution would “cut ties” with Chevron, one of Cal Poly’s investors.

Unless you’ve been checking the Cal Poly Administration and Finance website, you probably didn’t know that the Student Success Fee Allocation Advisory Committee sent a final recommendation to University President Jeffrey Armstrong in January — effectively deciding how the $210 quarterly fee will be spent next year.

More than $11 million in spending is listed on the website. It is drawn from the student-driven Student Success Fee, which will enter its second year next fall.

The budget came from the Student Success Fee Allocation Advisory Committee, led by Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) President Katie Morrow and Cal Poly chief financial officer Larry Kelley.

The committee submitted the proposal to Armstrong in late January and was approved one month later.

Aside from making the plan available online, ASI has not done outreach to show how the fee — approved by students in 2012 on the condition that spending be student-driven — will be spent, said Morrow, a sociology senior. The focus instead is educating next year’s members of the advisory

committee, and creating a video to teach future students about the fee and its purpose.

“We can do better,” Morrow said of informing students how the fee will be spent. “But the students wanted to focus right now on working on training. We have an idea of who next year’s Student Success Fee representatives will be, and we wanted to provide the best training as possible. In my mind, the best way to serve the students is to train the people who will be allocating it on next year’s committee.”

More than $7 million will be spent to open more classes, but it represents a smaller portion of the budget than went toward adding classes this year.

This past year, 67.4 percent of Student Success Fee money went to classes; next year, it will see FEE, pg. 2

Cal Poly announces two new top-level positions SEAN MCMINN

smcminn@mustangdaily.net

Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong will create two new top-level positions after spring quarter, both of which will work closely with the president in executing his goals during the coming years.

College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Dean David Wehner will serve as interim vice president for strategic initiatives — a position created in response to shifting

administration and increasing opportunities for public-private partnerships at the university, Armstrong said. Creating the position will cost approximately $40,000 annually in salary increases, according to presidential spokesperson Chip Visci.

“Sometimes people are ready for a change,” Armstrong said of Wehner’s appointment. “And … we need this assistance at the senior level.”

Additionally, Armstrong’s chief of staff, Betsy Kinsley, announced at Tuesday’s Academic

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Senate Executive Committee meeting that the president will name philosophy professor and former Academic Senate chair Rachel Fernflores the first presidential faculty fellow. Fernflores will still be a faculty member and will not receive a pay increase.

The university president has “broad latitude” to make temporary appointments, Visci said, but Armstrong does not intend to hire any permanent administrators without an application process.

The new positions, neither of

SPORTS, pg. 8

which were open for applications before Armstrong and Provost Kathleen Enz Finken made the appointments, come just one week after Vice President of Administration and Finance Larry Kelley announced he would retire at the end of this academic year.

Cal Poly will increase Wehner’s annual pay from $180,360 to $201,000. Current animal science department head Andrew Thulin, who will see JOBS, pg. 2

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MDnews 2 HOUSING continued from page 1

four years here, he said.

“We know if you look at factors that influence student success, students do better if they live in university program housing and we’re excited to expand that,” Armstrong said.

“And for a Learn By Doing campus, where place is important, and Learn By Doing is important in all our colleges, connecting that experience with the residential experience is something we value.”

The costs for the new residence facilities will be covered by bonds in the construction phases, and the money from charging rent will eventually cover the costs, Lazier said. In other words, residential facilities pay for themselves.

The design is also going to include a Welcome Center, which will cover all of the responsibilities that the current kiosk located at the Grand Avenue entrance does. It will be a place for visitors to purchase parking permits and obtain maps. Though unsure of the specifics, the hope is to have the Welcome Center have a different vibe than the kiosk.

“The plan is to have a place for students, families and other guests to come in as they get to campus,” Lazier said.

The design team for the project will be selected soon.

Sara Natividad and Sean McMinn contributed to this staff report.

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Thursday, May 16, 2013

FEE continued from page 1

be 64.3 percent. It is the largest percentage change in next year’s budget.

“The committee recognized that having classes and labs are critically important to student success,” Kelley wrote in an email. “They also recognized that many other functions contribute to that success. Their recommended allocations reflected the importance of the many functions that support student success.”

Additionally, facilities might not be able to hold more sections of classes during normal class hours, said Kimi Ikeda, associate vice provost.

The second-largest item in the budget is Cal Poly’s Academic Success Center, which will receive $539,220. Its funding more than doubled, despite having not used all its money from last year, Morrow said.

The Academic Success Center will be a “one-stop shop” for academic advising needs on campus — administrators plan to have it hire student mentors, house academic advisers and provide help for students who want to change majors.

In addition to supporting academics, nearly 10 percent of the budget — or approximately $1

JOBS continued from page 1

take Wehner’s place as dean, will see a pay increase from $165,000 to $185,004.

“Dean Wehner is a very seasoned leader,” Armstrong said.

“He served as dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences for over 11 years. This will provide him

million — will be spent on diversity and inclusivity efforts. It includes $221,000 going toward the MultiCultural, PRIDE and Gender Equity centers. Morrow said there is a need on campus to make Cal Poly more welcoming to minority groups.

“I think that we really need to be proactive about it right now,” Morrow said of diversity and inclusivity at Cal Poly. “There’s been times in the past where we may have been reactive to issues diversity, not having the climate we need to have.”

The allocation committee also removed all Student Success Fee funding previously directed toward Cal Poly athletics. Committee member and political science senior Aaron Borgeson said students were unhappy with the $10,000 athletics received this past year, and members unanimously decided it was unfair to continue the funding.

Kelley, who worked with the students on this year’s committee, said his top priority entering the allocation process was to “be sure the student voice is heard.” Kelley will retire in June, and is expected to be replaced by Stan Nosek, a former chancellor of administration at University of California, Davis.

Nosek will serve until a permanent hire is named toward the end of 2013, according to a university press release.

Cal Poly implemented the Student Success Fee in Fall 2012 because of a financial hole that led to what Ikeda called “the most volatile, unpredictable environment” ever at Cal Poly.

In a special advisory vote, 57 percent of student voters supported the fee, which began at $160 quarterly this past fall. It will rise to $210 per quarter in Fall 2013 and will be fully implemented at $260 per quarter in Fall 2014.

During the vote, students also ranked how they wanted to see the fee spent: opening up classes received the most support, followed by Learn by Doing opportunities.

The committee, which is mandated each year to advise Armstrong how to spend the Student Success Fee, consists of seven students and six Cal Poly employees. Morrow said the committee members used priorities from the vote to help their decisions, as well as conversations with student groups.

ASI President-elect and agricultural business junior Jason Colombini will take Morrow’s seat as co-chair of the committee next year. Colombini beat three contenders for office this past month and ran his campaign largely on promises of accessibility and transparency.

In an interview Monday, Colombini promised to improve

the outreach ASI does after allocating Student Success Fee funds, but said he doesn’t have any definite plans as to how he wants to spend the money.

“I want to be as transparent as possible, definitely not moving fast,” he said. “Let’s go a little longer, never rushing yourself, especially with something as big as this.”

Colombini said he will follow precedent and nominate the top vote-earners from each college in the Board of Directors to serve on the allocation advisory committee.

If there are no changes before next year’s allocation process begins, the students on the committee will be: Tatiana Prestininzi (who served on the committee this year), Rachel Kramer (a current representative in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design), Emily Mallett (a current representative in the Orfalea College of Business), Connor Paquin (a current representative in the College of Engineering), Hannah Brozek (who will be in her first year on the Board of Directors in the College of Liberal Arts) and Derek Majewski (a veteran College of Math and Science Board of Directors member who Colombini said he is considering for chief of staff, which would remove him from the allocation committee).

an opportunity to do something broader than the college, which I know is a very healthy change and he’s excited to do it.”

tion. In the past year, Wehner organized a partnership with the California Strawberry Commission to create a research center on campus and oversaw a $5 million donation from Luprino Food to Cal Poly Dairy Science.

Cal Poly hired Wehner nearly 19 years ago as the head of environmental horticulture. He moved to dean eight years later.

“You always need someone to help with these opportunities,” Wehner said. “It’s probably best if it’s someone that comes up the ranks at Cal Poly; then they have a pretty good idea of what some of the strengths are.”

There are already projects ready to be managed, Wehner said, such as a proposal for an agricultural technology center that will keep him working with the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences during his time as vice president.

have the opportunity.”

Visci said similar fellowships are common at other public universities in California.

Fernflores will work closest with Kinsley and Enz Finken, Armstrong said, but he plans to ask her to lead initiatives from the president’s office because of her experience working with faculty. The president also said the fellowship will help with professional growth for Fernflores and others Armstrong selects for it in the future.

“Something like this is what good universities do,” Armstrong said. “They provide opportunities for faculty members to get experience between the department or the college, and I hope we’re able to do it with more people in the future.”

Fernflores has not taught a class this academic year because she is receiving release time for her work on university committees. These include the high-profile Semester Review Task Force, which completed its work earlier this year. Cal Poly will pay for the philosophy department to hire a replacement faculty member, Armstrong said.

Fernflores said she will continue current administrative work during the fellowship, and will also lead a review of at least 29 different committees to ensure their goals align with Cal Poly’s.

In addition to working with committees, Fernflores said she will “speed up” the process of approving university institutes and centers on campus by devoting more time to supporting faculty who want to see initiatives move forward.

“If things that faculty want done get done, then I can get them through faster than they used to be able to ... because I’d do writing for them and that kind of thing,” she said. “That’s good for the university.”

Fernflores’ fellowship will begin June 17, and Wehner will move to vice president July 1.

Vice president of strategic initiatives With six key administration changes since Armstrong took office and only one continuing dean who was at Cal Poly before 2010, the president said Cal Poly is at risk of not being able to capitalize on opportunities to improve. A donation campaign expected to bring millions of dollars to Cal Poly is already underway, and Armstrong expects Wehner to manage plans that will advance the university and reach out to donors.

Wehner will serve as a vice president for no more than oneand-a-half years, Armstrong said, and the president will then decide if he wants to make the position a permanent one.

“I can’t really quote problems this will solve,” Armstrong said.

“But I believe it’s a proactive move to help us capture opportunities in the future and frankly to help us speed up (current opportunities).”

Part of Wehner’s job, Armstrong said, will be to help the successors of both Vice President of Administration and Finance Larry Kelley and Orfalea College of Business Dean Dave Christy — both in their last quarter at Cal Poly — adjust to the university.

Armstrong said he is not concerned about increased expenses in Wehner’s top-level move because of its temporary nature.

“You have to spend money in order to move forward,” he said.

“And the good news is our budget is looking better.”

As he prepares to transition from dean to vice president, Wehner said his experience in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences will help him in the new posi-

Faculty fellow: assistant to the president Fernflores will begin her fellowship in mid-June and, according to her job description, report to Armstrong and his chief of staff, Betsy Kinsley. The president and other administrators will ask Fernflores to complete projects for the university during her two-year appointment, including representing the president in on-campus committees.

The fellowship will remain a faculty position and does not have management authority, Visci said. Armstrong said he sees the new role as a continuation of work Fernflores has been doing for years.

“Rachel was already doing this role in an informal way,” Armstrong said. “Rachel chaired the sexual-assault task force, she chaired the semester-quarter review, she has been informally in this role already. Because it so successful, we decided to continue it with her. After she completes it, then someone else will

MDnews 3

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Washington to change student loan rates RENEE SCHOOF McClatchy Washington Bureau

Republicans in the House of Representatives and President Barack Obama agree in general on what to do with student loan interest rates: Let them vary with the market.

Congress now sets the rate, but a plan from House Republicans would base it on market rates instead. If it becomes law, subsidized loans — those that don’t accumulate interest while a student is in school — would have a higher interest rate next year. Unsubsidized loan rates would be lower. In the next five years, if interest rates rise as expected, student loans would cost more.

The White House plan is similar, but would use a different formula than that set forth

by House Republicans.

Under current law, the interest rate is scheduled to go up from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 for subsidized student loans. The law expired in 2012, but a one-year extension kept the rate low last year.

Some House Democrats and student advocates say Congress should continue to set a low rate, at least for now.

Some lawmakers also are asking whether Congress could use the savings from ending the low rate to increase grants for low-income students or to help students who face defaults. Those

might be some of the issues up for debate Thursday, when the House Education and the Workforce Committee considers amendments to a student loan interest-rate bill sponsored by Reps. John Kline, R-Minn., and Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and sends it to the full House.

The White House and House Republicans have been at odds lately on almost everything else. It remains to be seen, though, whether the student loan plan gets support from some House Democrats and what approach the Senate takes. So far Democrats on the House education committee have said they oppose the legislation because it would make

the cost of education for those who borrow more expensive if interest rates rise as expected in coming years.

Foxx said in an interview that since the plan is similar to one from the White House, “what we hope is that they will get the folks on their side of the aisle in line and get support for it.” She said the legislation “gets politicians out of the business of setting student loan interest rates” and “allows the market to operate.”

Under the Republican proposal, the interest rate on subsidized and unsubsidized student loans would be set at the 10-year Treasury note rate, which is now approximately

1.95 percent, plus 2.5 percent.

That would make the rate approximately 4.4 percent for the upcoming school year if the proposal became law.

The change would mean a reduction in the rate for unsubsidized loans, which was 6.8 percent this year.

The bill would set student loan interest rates once a year, based on the market. Students could consolidate their loans and lock in a fixed rate based on the average of their loan rates, or keep the marketbased rate.

PLUS loans, which are used by graduate students or by parents of undergraduates for their children’s education, now have a 7.9 percent rate. That

rate would be approximately 6.3 percent under the proposed House formula. The measure would cap interest rates at 8.5 percent for federal student loans and 10.5 percent for the parent and graduate student PLUS loans. PLUS loans are granted for education without regard to income, but they require a credit check.

Democrats on the education panel said they wanted to freeze the current 3.4 percent rate on subsidized loans for the next two years and keep other education loan rates stable as well.

Student loan debt in the U.S. has been growing and now totals $1.1 trillion, second only to mortgages.

MDarts 4

Thursday, May 16, 2013

T ‘It’s about original

MUSIC ’ WORDS: ARYN SANDERSON

asanderson@mustangdaily.net

PHOTOS: DAVID JANG

davidjang1.md@gmail.com

he female duo’s overlapping harmonies swirl through Bon Temps Creole Cafe, commingling with the steam piping off big, white bowls of gumbo.

Welcome to Songwriters at Play, a weekly showcase for up-and-coming musicians.

The duo is The Lovebirds, Veronica May and Lindsay White.

They pause before beginning their next nostalgic tune, looking out at a spellbound crowd of approximately 30 people.

“You know how movies have sequels?” White asks the audience.

“Like Santa Paws and Santa Paws II!” May interjects, her quirky personality shining in the intimate environment.

“Santa Paws II was the sequel to … ” “They don’t care!” White banters back.

The crowd — a jambalaya of families, friends and older singles — chuckles.

“Well, this one is the sequel to the song we just played,

Veronica May (left) and Lindsay White (right) are The Lovebirds, an indie-folk duo from San Diego. The bandmates were a couple until a month ago, but the music making lives on.

‘Landmine.’ It’s called ‘Goldmine,’” White says.

And so they begin “Goldmine.”

It’s a love song about a time-tested relationship — “that is the real goldmine.”

But the uplifting number aches with irony in light of the pair’s recent romantic breakup.

“The Lovebirds” were just that until a month ago, when they ended their three-year romantic relationship to be able to “salvage what (they) had musically,” White said.

“We felt like music is why we were brought together,” she said. “We’re meant to be together in that way, and everything else will fall into place with time. People think we’re crazy going on tour together a month after breaking up.”

They don’t agree.

The two croon onstage: “What we have left is more than we lack/We got songs in our throats and guitars on our backs/So we’ll make love through our music.”

It’s hard to describe The

Lovebirds’ sound without sinking into intangibles.

White’s voice grows like fresh moss on May’s rich, oak tree of a tone. And when White carries lead on a song, her antique melodies dance like flames being wind-blown by May’s gusts of warm vibrato.

They say they fit somewhere on the spectrum of female duos between the Indigo Girls (but less folksy) and Tegan and Sara (but less poppy). If The Milk Carton Kids and Iron & Wine defied genetics to produce a lovechild, it would be The Lovebirds.

Upon first listen, their quirky, chirpy, slightly jazzy sound — complete with guitar picking and ukulele strumming — comes off as arrestingly joyful. But with a deeper listen — the type that audiences get at Songwriters at Play events — their sound reveals itself as ethereal, haunting and elegantly beautiful. Their skill as songwriters and musicmakers is undeniable.

MDarts 5

Thursday, May 16, 2013 The Lovebirds are just the type of musicians Steve Key, creator and host of the weekly Songwriters at Play, is looking to support.

“Because it’s called Songwriters, it’s about original music,” Key said. “Our emphasis is on the songwriter, and we invite people to come listen and support the musicians. It’s not a dance club kind of thing; it’s more of a sit-down event.”

In the case of The Lovebirds, Key knew the audience would appreciate their harmonies.

“There’s certainly a lot to like there,” Key said. “They harmonize so very well, and they have a great mix of humor and some real heartfelt, personal songs. I’ve worked

with The Lovebirds a couple times before, and they just keep getting better. They’re huge down in their home base of San Diego, and I loved that more people were able to hear of them.”

Key has hosted songwriter showcases for a long time in the area, but the series officially began January 2010.

Since its creation, Songwriters has attracted musicians from near and far.

Mother-daughter bluegrass duo and soloists Susan Marie Reeves and Sierra Reeves come up to the area regularly from Santa Barbara, Calif.

“The difference with events like these is that the people actually listen, and that’s what I like about it,” Sierra

said. “I love the respect from the audience.”

For Davis, Calif. musician Alicia Murphy, who was featured at Songwriters at Play at Kreuzberg, CA in San Luis Obispo and at Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden in Paso Robles, the Songwriters shows have been memorable.

“In Paso Robles, it was people hanging out, drinking wine with these beautiful rolling hills,” Murphy said. “It was probably the most beautiful backdrop of a stage I’ve ever played on. I kind of felt like I was playing to the hills.”

And at Kreuzberg, CA, Murphy experienced a first.

“I remember this one guy drew me while I was playing,” she said. “It was kind of

People think we’re crazy going on tour together a month after breaking up.

VERONICA MAY THE LOVEBIRDS MEMBER

a funky picture, but I’ve never had a fan draw me before. He wrote one of my lyrics down next to the picture — the lyrics ‘patience without doubt’ — which is a really hard thing to have, and he said, ‘You know, that was a really profound lyric.’ And I was definitely affected by that.”

Songwriters at Play in San Luis Obispo takes place every Monday at Bon Temps Creole Cafe and the first and fourth Saturdays of the month at Alegria wine and ware. There are also weekly and monthly locations in Arroyo Grande and Paso Robles.

All Songwriters at Play shows are free. Many are recorded and broadcast on The KRUSH 92.5 FM.

MD op/ed 6

Thursday, May 16, 2013

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Thursday, May 16, 2013 Volume LXXVII, Number 108 ©2013 Mustang Daily “He didn’t get his princess prom!”

MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Asking for a raise: an act of patriotism BARBARA GARSON

Los Angeles Times

The downturn we call the Great Recession officially started in 2007. But after spending the past two years talking to people who lost jobs, homes or savings during the official recession, I’d argue that the trouble actually started decades earlier.

Almost all those I spoke to had already slogged through many years of stagnant or declining hourly wages by the time the recession kicked in. Couples who wanted to maintain homes like the ones they were raised in had often borrowed heavily and/or taken second and sometimes third jobs.

This suggests two things that I hope will enter into our economic decisions going forward: First, that declining wages were a significant cause of the Great Recession; and second, that raising wages now could help stave off the next downturn and keep America strong.

Between 1971 and 2007, U.S. hourly wages, adjusted for inflation, rose by 4 percent. (That’s not 4 percent a year; it’s 4 percent over 36 years!) During those same decades, productivity increased by 99 percent — that is, it nearly doubled. In other words, the average worker’s productivity rose 25 times more than his pay. But we Americans sell more than 70 percent of what we produce to one another.

If the majority was earning less and producing more, who was going to

buy all the stuff?

The investors who profited from the high productivity and low wages found themselves with a lot of money piling up in brokerage and bank accounts.

Meanwhile, working people, also known as consumers, didn’t earn quite enough to maintain their lifestyles. So the 99 percent had a great need to borrow at a time when the 1 percent had excess money to lend.

era involved making mortgage loans to Americans who couldn’t afford houses, then bundling those highrisk loans and selling them off to investors and financial institutions. No one should have been surprised when the whole shoddy structure eventually crashed.

But OK, the crash has already happened. In the rubble of a financial collapse, income gaps tend to narrow by

Patriotic employers will come forth on their own ... to offer the rest of us big raises once they realize it’s for the common good.

For two seconds, that may seem like perfect synergy. But think about it for six seconds. If I don’t have $10 this year, and my wages aren’t going up, how will I have $15 next year to pay you back with interest? Take out more loans?

Financiers aren’t particularly stupider (or smarter) than the rest of us. But those piles of profit kept growing, and a bank can’t simply keep its money in the bank. So they extended ever-larger loans to people with ever-smaller incomes. They loaned us money for bigticket items such as cars and college educations, then, through credit cards, for daily expenses.

The ultimate debt scheme of the

themselves. Why do we need to adopt special wage-raising policies now?

During your normal recession, companies try to maintain their offices or plants and retain core workers while they wait for business to pick up. In the meantime, they compete on price and take less profit. As a result, the share of national income that goes to investors usually declines during recessions while the share that goes to employees increases.

I’m not trying to tell you that workers got rich during previous recessions or that the rich become penniless. But their shares of the total income took a temporary Robin Hood turn.

Letter to the Editor To whom it may concern: It has come to my attention that you are somewhat alarmed at my presence near your precious university campus. I am writing you today to inform you that you should not be alarmed, and my presence is certainly not cat-astrophic. I mean no harm to your dedicated students. I am currently a high school senior and am checking out colleges. I’ve just been lion around your campus and the area.

I am really embarrassed about all of the emails you’ve been sending your students. I would appreciate it if you would limit these messages lest students begin to dismiss emails from the University Police as spam.

It would be purrrr-fect if you stopped sending these emails right meow.

Bye bye meow!

The Mountain Lion thecalpolymountainlion@yahoo.com

This time has been different. Corporate profits were 25 percent to 30 percent higher at the official end of the Great Recession than they were before it started. Meanwhile, wages as a share of national income fell to 58 percent.

That’s the lowest the wage share had been since it began to be recorded after World War II. The Financial Times (my source for these statistics) calculated that “if wages were at their postwar average share of 63 percent, U.S. workers would earn an extra $740 (billion) this year (2012) or about $5,000 per worker.” That’s a lot of consuming power.

But none of that money has reverted to wages this time. All of it and more is crammed into those already distended sacks of capital, where it’s once again exerting unbearable pressure to be loaned. But that course would only hasten the next debt bubble. For our country’s good, that money can’t just be reloaned to us again; this time it must be redistributed. The cleanest way to do that is through wages.

We should start with a generous increase of the minimum wage. Patriotic employers will come forth on their own, I’m sure, to offer the rest of us big raises once they realize it’s for the common good. In the few cases where they don’t volunteer, you may have to ask, perhaps through unions.

Believe me, I’m not suggesting this to be fair or kind or anything like that.

Raising wages is the most efficient way to stabilize the U.S. economy. So go for that raise; it’s your patriotic duty.

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SUDOKU

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

MDsports 8

Thursday, May 15, 2013

RACING TOWARD

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IAN BILLINGS/MUSTANG DAILY

MUSTANG DAILY STAFF REPORT

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Cal Poly will face off against Cal State Northridge for its three final home games of the season as the team hopes to remain in the hunt for a bid in the NCAA regionals this weekend. The Mustangs dropped two of three games at UC Irvine this past weekend, in addition to losing crucial series to Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton earlier this year, and left themselves little room for error.

The Mustangs (34-16, 12-9 Big West) have been floating in and out of top 25 rank-

ings all season, but have dropped into a tie for fourth place in the Big West Conference with UC Santa Barbara.

Meanwhile, the Matadors are ranked second in the Big West and are three games ahead of Cal Poly with six games left to play.

Cal Poly has put up a 20-6 record at home this season, and the last time the two teams met at Baggett Stadium two seasons ago, the Mustangs swept the Matadors.

To prepare for the series, the team has been focusing on pitching and defense as well as hitting, sophomore starting pitcher Bryan Granger said.

“We are not doing too many things differently, just playing our game like we usually do,” said Granger, who is scheduled to pitch the series

the skills they need to improve.

“Each player on our team has things they need to continue to work on to get better, and if that happens then

We are not doing too many things differently, just playing our game like we usually do.

BRYAN GRANGER SOPHOMORE PITCHER

finale on Sunday.

Head coach Larry Lee said that to prepare for their opponent, the Mustangs are working on

the team will benefit from it,” Lee said.

Every game played this year was hard fought and often

close games with a lot at stake in later innings, Lee said.

“We are battle tested and just need to play to our capabilities,” Lee said. “Even though we have had a successful season and put ourselves in a great position for postseason consideration, we still haven’t played to all our capabilities in all facets of the game.”

The Mustangs last made the postseason in 2009 and just missed an opportunity in 2012 when the team finished one game behind Big West champion Cal State Fullerton. However, as of May 9, the website ChasingOmaha.com projected that Cal Poly would make the

field of 64 in the Los Angeles regional along with UCLA, Virginia Tech and Buffalo.

The first pitch will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, when senior pitcher Joey Wagman will take the mound, and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

SUDOKU ANSWERS

Big West Standings - Baseball

1.

2.

3.

T4.

T4.

6.

7.

8.

T9.

T9.

Cal State Fullerton Cal State Northridge UC Irvine Cal Poly UC Santa Barbara Long Beach State UC Riverside Hawaii UC Davis Pacific

Big West W-L

Overall W-L

17-4 15-6 13-8 12-9 12-9 11-10 8-13 7-14 5-16 5-16

42-8 31-20 31-16 34-16 28-21 25-25 12-28 12-33 18-31 13-34