May 1, 2017 by Mustang News

Monday, May 1, 2 017

C a l P o l y, S a n L u i s O b i s p o

w w w. m u s t a n g n e w s . n e t

E s t a b l i s h e d 1916

JOHN DUCH | COURTE SY PHOTO

FILLING THE GAP | John Duch founded Cal Poly’s official breakdancing club, SLO Breakers, because of the lack of breakdancing he saw on campus. He wanted a place for others to share their passion and love of hip-hop.

SLO Breakers take center stage Emily Merten @ CPMustangNews

After years of effort, Cal Polyhas an official breakdancing club: SLO Breakers. Art and design junior and founding member John Duch was disappointed by the lack of a breakdancing scene when he came to Cal Poly as a freshman. He sought to change that. “I decided to create this club

because I felt like the Central Coast is lacking a huge hip-hop community, comparing it to LA or San Francisco,” Duch said. Duch quickly found fellow b-boys at Cal Poly. He realized others shared his passion, but they didn’t have a place to come together. “If I’m here and I have that passion, why not share that passion with everyone else and spread the love of hip-hop

and the vibe of the community here?” Duch said. Duch was involved in the Cal Poly chapter of Hip-Hop Congress before it recently dissolved. Hip-Hop Congress is an international organization aiming to unify hip-hop communities across college and high school campuses. According to Duch, there are four elements of hip-hop: DJing, MCing, graffiti and

breaking. His goal in creating SLO Breakers is to bring the breakdancing element of hiphop to Cal Poly. Breaking it down Breakdancing, commonly known as breaking or b-boying within the community, emerged in the United States in the 1970s. SLO Breakers member Kevin Sun said the intense energy

from a break battle stems from its history. “Breakdancing was used to settle things in the ghetto without violence, so that’s where the energy of a battle comes from,” Sun, an industrial technologies sophomore, said. “You’re essentially fighting without fighting.” BREAKERS continued on page 4

Cal Poly men’s track wins in Blue-Green meet

ST YLIZED

NATE ROSS | COURTE SY PHOTO

| Ross also included original illustrations in his book.

Book design technology class reinvents print Carly Quinn @ carlyquinnMN

Graphic communication senior Nate Ross recreated “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury through his limited edition book project in Book Design Technology (GRC 439). The course is taught by graphic communication professor Lorraine Donegan. She assigned this project every quarter for the 19 years she has taught at Cal Poly. “It’s a creative project that allows them to learn a lot of really fine technical skills as well as craftsmanship,” Donegan said. “The objective of the project is for them to take a book they’ve

read and loved and are passionate about, giving it a fresh new face.” In the forward of the novel, Bradbury explained he could not think of a title and wanted to know what the heat of combustion was for paper. So, he called the fire department which gave him the answer of Fahrenheit 451. Ross followed in Bradbury’s footsteps for his project, contacting the San Luis Obispo Fire Department (SLOFD) to help him make his rendition of “Fahrenheit 451.” SLOFD let Ross use an old pair of fireproof pants to make a cover and case for the book. BOOK DESIGN continued on page 4

Ayrton Ostly @ AyrtonOstly

The Cal Poly track and field teams won a combined 20 of 38 events against UC Santa Barbara at home on Saturday, wrapping up the regular season schedule with a 110-88 win for the men’s side and a 104-98 loss for the women’s side. TRACK AND FIELD continued on page 8

GOT HOPS?

FILE PHOTO | MUSTA NG NE W S

| The Cal Poly men’s track and field team won the majority of the field events on its way to a 110-88 win this past Saturday.

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

NEWS 2

MUSTANG NEWS

Every time [spending on administration] goes up, that’s another class student’s don’t get. GRAHAM ARCHER

CSU Audit shows unjustified wages and hirings in administration CHECK UP

ANDREW EPPERSON | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Cal Poly hired 83 additional adminsitrators and management personnel in the past eight years but, according to the audit, did not disclose numeric data of staff members needed to improve student success.

Aidan McGloin @ mcgloin_aidan

A new California State University (CSU) audit shows Cal Poly disproportionately increased the number of administrators and their wages compared to faculty without justification. Eighty-three administrators and management personnel were hired in the past eight years without adequate justification, according to the audit. While the purpose of hiring more personnel was clear — to improve housing, increase graduation rates, increase Title IX staff or meet other student needs. The audit focused on the lack of a numeric approach to decide how many staff members are needed to improve student success. In 2016, 70 administrators received raises totaling more than $175,000 annually without written evaluations on file, breaking California Code of Regulations 5 CCR § 42722. Armstrong explains Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong described the decision to hire more administrators and management personnel (MMP) as needed. He said each decision was thought out and debated, but did not have a formal process or paperwork to provide as evidence. “Those are discussions we’ve had in the past,” Armstrong said. “We didn’t necessarily do an analysis.”

He also said Cal Poly has been very successful in reaching its goals, mentioning increasing graduation rates, student enrollment and being ranked first in a 2015 U.S. News and World Report for efficient universities in the Western region. He could not show that the number of administration hirings directly caused the increase in graduation rates. Members of the Graduation Initiative leadership team attributed the increase in graduation rates to the use of PolyPlanner, the creation of degree flowcharts and a push in advising. In order to hire more tenured faculty, a department has to convince its dean that a new hire is necessary. The dean must then convince the provost of the faculty member’s need and the department has to have a nationwide search. The audit acknowledged Cal Poly’s successes, but argues CSUs need a numerically-based formal process for hiring management personnel and administration in order to ensure money is spent efficiently. Armstrong said administrators were rebounding from recession-era cuts, but information from the 2008 Cal Poly Fact Book combined with the audit, indicates there was not a significant cut of administrators. There were 166 administrators in 2007, one year before the recession hit. According to the audit, it increased to 168 the next year and then 183 the following year.

Armstrong said he was aware that the 70 administrators lacked evaluations and he knew it was against the California Code of Regulations to raise their pay. According to him, campus did not provide raises to anyone for the past seven years and he felt they should receive raises in 2016. “The data is really clear,” Armstrong said. “For seven years, the MPPs and most faculty and staff received no raise, zero. Zero raises. That data is pretty clear.” While it appears raises are evident in chancellor’s office data and the SacBee state working database, university spokesperson Matt Lazier clarified in a follow-up email that Armstrong meant there were specifically no General Salary Increases (GSIs) in the past seven years, which are pay increases across the board to all employees within a classification. “The CSU General Salary Increase (GSI) ceased for MPP employees beginning in the 200809 academic year. During that year, faculty received $1.6 million in CSU funds for increases, while MPP did not receive any increase,” Lazier said. “The following year, 2009-10, all employees were put on furlough, which equated to a 10 percent pay cut. The were no GSI increases again for MPP until the 2013-2014 academic year, when the campus received a 1.34 percent GSI.” Individual raises were given out between 2009 and 2016 to some administrators. Beyond

that, as Lazier said, there was a GSI in 2014, so there were multiple raises for administrators during the seven years before the 70 administrators received their pay increases in 2016. “Many supervisors across campus did not feel the evaluations were necessary since they could not be tied to a pay raise,” Lazier said. “The university was not as diligent as it should have been about having annual performance evaluations on file.” Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) employees go through evaluations to get raises and faculty members go through a collective bargaining process. Armstrong said that campus will be in compliance with Section 42722 from now on. Lack of budget oversight The auditor also said Cal Poly lacks budget oversight policies. Armstrong said there is a budget oversight process and that it is very thorough. He pointed out that Cal Poly has operated within its budget, which is backed up by the audit. Cal Poly does not have written budget oversight policies, and relies on an informal policy to review division and department budgets. The CSU system is exempt from normal state budget regulations and Executive Order 1000 gives all responsibility of financial oversight to the president of each CSU. Without a formal policy, Armstrong delegates all budget oversight to each individual division or department. “I am not aware of the audit saying that we aren’t following our budget or don’t have proper procedures there,” Armstrong said. “Campuses do not adequately oversee their budgets” is writ-

ten in red lettering on the first page of the audit. “None of the campuses were able to provide us documents such as policies or procedures that they provided as guidance to their divisions and departments for performing budget oversight.” The audit did not accuse Cal Poly’s budget of any wrongdoing, only a lack of oversight. The state implements 16 performance measures to check if each CSU’s budget makes any improvement to student success. This includes enrollment, degree completion and graduation rates. Less admin and more professors In 2015, the Academic Senate passed a resolution that echoed some of the claims made by the audit in regards to administration hiring. It asked for a temporary freeze on administration recruitment and individual salary increases until tenure density and the student-to-faculty ratio increased. Tenure density is the percentage of professors among all instructors. The Senate asked for a 75 percent tenure density and an 18:1 student-to-faculty ratio. The Academic Senate also asked for state funds to not be allocated more towards administration than instruction and a transparent budget allocation. Though Armstrong received the resolution and agreed that increasing tenure density and faculty pay was a goal, tenure density has continued to decrease and 16 more management personnel have been hired since 2015. There is a transparent budget allocation available at www.calpolyslo. opengov.com. Armstrong said he has fulfilled some aspect of the

resolution by increasing pay to all faculty. In 2015, he began an equity pay program. Striking for less admin It almost took a CSU-wide faculty strike. The California Faculty Association (CFA), the teacher’s union, has also tracked administrative numbers since 2010. Jere Ramsey, San Luis Obispo’s CFA faculty rights head, made worksheets detailing the increase in administration spending — $12 million since 2010, $3 million of which is from the CSU Operating Fund and could be spent on faculty according to data from the Chancellor’s Office. Ramsey has been distributing the worksheets to administration and faculty. “Every time [spending on administration] goes up, that’s another class students don’t get,” San Luis Obispo CFA head Graham Archer said. “Every $5,000 is a course.” According to Al Liddicoat, associate vice provost for academic personnel, the main reason tenure density decreased was a lack of money. With $175,000 being spent yearly on administrators who received raises without being evaluated, Archer pointed to administrative bloat. In 2009, a fact-finding arbitrator between the CFA and CSU said the CSU system can and should increase salaries of faculty members after they were cut, which the CSU system did not carry out. ASI President Jana Colombini said there “should be no negative connotation to staff members getting raises.” Some of the spending on administrators was done through the Student Success Fee, she pointed out, which the ASI Board decides to allocate where they want. Other hirings were in response to student demands, including the new Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Jozi De Leon. Colombini, an agricultural sciences senior, thinks there is some administrative bloat, but not in every salary increase or new hire. Still, she said, she believes everyone should get evaluated before getting a raise above the GSI. According to her, ASI employees work especially hard because they know they will be evaluated and the fact that 70 administrators were not — and still got a raise — was irritating. She also said Armstrong’s salary is decided by the Board of Trustees, outside of his control, and that he has donated $529,750 of his own money back into the university.

NEWS 3

MONDAY, MAY 1, 2017

SLO Transit releases new bus routes Austin Linthicum @ austinlinthicum

At the end of this academic year, traveling by bus in San Luis Obispo will become a little more convenient for students. Beginning June 18, SLO Transit will implement new routes, schedules and fares as a direct result of the San Luis Obispo city council’s 2017-2021 Short Range Transit Plan adopted April 4. While nearly every current stop will remain, SLO Transit will add 12 additional stops and increase the frequency of their routes to better serve the expanding community. According to Transit Assistant Megan Cutler, the goal is to transform the Downtown Transit Center into a larger hub and to provide faster service. This will allow students and community members to access the majority of the city with fewer mid-route transfers. “The new routes will better service Cal Poly students mainly because of shorter loops,” Cutler said. “It will also allow students to travel to other portions of our city more easily.” Though the update brings higher fares, the current agreement between Cal Poly and the City of San Luis Obispo for free ridership will remain. According to the transit plan, routes will be renumbered and the A/B designations will convey direction of travel. Most used by students, existing routes 6A and 6B will

be revised into a single large loop connecting Cal Poly, the Foothill Corridor and downtown. The clockwise route will be designated as Route 4A and the counterclockwise route will be Route 4B. To better serve the morning rush, two buses will operate in each direction over the 40‐ minute loop, providing service every 20 minutes in each direction. In addition, overall improvements will be made to bus stop locations such as benches, shelters, disposal containers and bike racks. Electric transit information signs will also be added to five locations, according to SLO Transit. These changes come after recent bus upgrades were u nve i l e d i n The new routes will March as part of a $1.1 milbetter service Cal Poly lion federal grant. SLO students mainly because Transit said t he y h ave of shorter loops several other vehicles that are MEGAN CUTLER nearing their 12year replacement cycle and look forward to adding new high-tech buses to their fleet. Cutler said the agency will see how the changes are received and may modify their schedules as the year progresses. “We are excited to see how the improvements come into play,” AUSTIN LINTHICUM | MUSTA NG NE W S Cutler said. IN THE LOOP | At the end of this academic year, bus routes will be renumbered and the A/B designators will convey direction of travel.

Take the health and wellness challenge this May Cassandra Garibay @ CPMustangNews

May isn’t just for midterms. It’s also for focusing on health and well-being. At Cal Poly, May is now a campus-wide health and wellness challenge called 31 Days of Wellness. The event, hosted by the Health and Wellness Center, is a collaboration between Genie Kim, the director of health and wellbeing, and Health Center interns. The event will tackle all six aspects of well-being — community, physical, emotional, professional, financial and social. Each week of May will focus on these themes with professional and financial well-being combined in one week. The whole month will be made into a campus-wide activity to help promote these messages. The challenges According to Kim, students, faculty and staff may sign up individually or as a team to participate in daily challenges and events. At the end of the month, those with the most stamps on their stamp card will receive prizes. The challenge committee will email a weekly list of challenges to participants. The committee will also update their blog regularly to inform students about the health factors of the challenges. Everyone is encouraged to participate in events, Kim said. However, only registered participants are eligible to receive prizes. Every day of the week there will be an event corresponding with the weekly themes. Campus clubs, community resources and professors will all be contributing in their areas of expertise relating to the theme. The events include resource fairs, yoga lessons, professional workshops and more. The goal for the events to teach the campus community how to actively maintain health in each realm. As Kim said, all are important to the bigger picture of well-being and self care. Community One series of activities during 31 Days of Wellness is called Learn at Lunch. Every Thursday in May, the library committee and the health center will

host a speaker to lecture. The first of these will be May 4 with Mayor Heidi Harmon speaking about her visions for community well-being. Harmon said she intends to speak about the importance of self care along with how climate change is an important factor in communities across the globe. “I think [community wellness] runs the gamut of some smaller self care issues like people that are healthy and exercising and especially in our community, utilizing our amazing open space for exercise and just being nature,” Harmon said. “But I also think it includes things like addressing our changing climate in a way that is meaningful.” Class collaborations As for physical, emotional and nutritional aspects of health, the event committee partnered up with several professors, some of whom incorporated the event into their classes. Nutrition lecturer and Dietetic Intern Coordinator Kati Fosselius gave her students the opportunity to get real-life nutrition coaching experience. Thirty-six of her students will help coach event participants on healthy eating habits as a way to prepare for their internships, Kim said. In addition, the Health and Wellness Center teamed up with kinesiology professor Christine Hackman who teaches Health Program Implementation and Evaluation as a second part of a health program class series. Hackman’s students developed pre-test and post-test surveys for registered participants of the month-long challenge. The students will evaluate the data and compare it to goals set by the committee to see if the challenge was beneficial or what improvements need to be made for the following years. “It really is a Learn by Doing experience. I set up hypothetical situations in our labs, but this [challenge analysis] is really like ‘OK, this is real. We need to do this. We need to do what the client is asking for.’ So, I think that this gives [my students] insight to be like, ‘This is what it feels like.’ I think it’s invaluable,”

MAY DAYS

GURPREET BHOOT | MUSTA NG NE W S

| The campus-wide health and wellness challenge will include events and activities focused on five different aspects of well-being.

Hackman said. Beyond Student Services Career Services is another large collaborator for the month; they will be hosting workshops for staff and faculty as well as for students to provide additional resources. “We have 25,000 people just on our campus, including students, staff and faculty,” Kim said. “And we want to make sure that every single one of those individuals gets connected [with what] they would need to be happy and healthy.” Registration is open to all individuals and teams and will remain open throughout the month. The committee also welcomes any club or community facility to reach out to them at any point during the month if they feel their service is applicable to health and wellness in order to get a booth at certain events. The health and wellness center will update their calendar as the month progresses.

ARTS 4

MUSTANG NEWS

BREAKERS continued from page 1

Breaking can be traced back to the Bronx-based DJ Kool Herc. During one of his house parties, Kool Herc noticed that b-boys, or break boys, would specifically dance during the instrumental breaks in songs. So, he began to repeat these breaks and make them longer. These strings of instrumentals are called

“breakbeats” or “breaks.” Breakers usually follow a formula of different types of moves that make up a combo. A combo typically starts with a top rock, which is a standing dance move. Next, there’s the getdown, which is the transition from your feet to the ground. Then, the breaker moves to the floor in moves called footwork. After footwork come power moves, which are acrobatic moves often

involving spinning. Typically, a breaker will end by holding a pose, which is called a “freeze.” While hip-hop dancing is mostly choreographed, breakdancing differs in structure. Breakers practice specific moves, but they do not choreograph dances for battles. “B-boying is made up of a lot of moves, but it’s not necessarily choreographing,” Duch said. “If I were to go in a dance battle, I’m not doing any moves I’ve memorized. I’m just freestyling

what I know. I’m picking and choosing each thing and putting it together.” SLO Breakers member Emma Hanna said she appreciates the spontaneity of breaking. While she enjoys other forms of dance, breaking allows her to let go of the structure in choreographed dance and simply experience the moment. “Being right then and there is the most raw thing you can give to the entire experience,” business administration

freshman Hanna said. Looking ahead SLO Breakers plans to continue practicing moves during their Wednesday night sessions for the remainder of the quarter. In Fall 2017, they plan on performing at CultureFest on campus. The club also plans to compete against other California State University and University of California schools in battles as a part of the Unified Collegiate

Breaking League. Though b-boys are not well established in San Luis Obispo, Sun sees potential in the growth of Cal Poly’s hip-hop scene. “SLO is cool because a lot of people from different places come here and leave their mark in terms of culture,” Sun said. “Say I’m from the [San Francisco] Bay Area, I’m going to bring a little bit of Oakland to San Luis Obispo. That’s essentially what we’re doing.”

JOHN DUCH | COURTE SY PHOTO

BREAKING TR ADITION

| Breakdancing differs in structure from hip-hop because breakdancers practice specific moves but don’t choreograph dances for battles, while hip-hop is mostly choreographed.

BOOK DESIGN continued from page 1

Other style choices included natural-looking maroon paper for the beginning and end of the book, burnt pages at the end of the book and water-painted, original illustrations for each chapter. “There’s all these different aspects to it that make the design communicate the feel that you’re trying to express,” Ross said. “It’s a process of learning how to do that effectively.” Students make all the design choices for their project. They must find the text online and put the entire book together as well. Book Design Technology teaches students not only the aspects of designing a book, but also how to bind a book. After printing the text

using the graphic communications department’s digital press, students must fold and sew every page of their book themselves.

There’s all these different aspects to it that make the design communicate the feel that you’re trying to express. NATE ROSS

“Print is not dead and despite what everyone says, books have become even more special as we go through the digital age,” Donegan said. “The class is just one of my

favorite classes because students are reintroduced to this beautiful thing called the book and I don’t think they’ll look at books ever the same after this class.” After the projects are complete, the entire class submits them to the Professional Publishers Network Scholarship competition in June. A panel of judges are chosen by esteemed publishers to give away thousands of dollars in scholarship money in order to foster up-and-coming book designers. “Part of me wanted to keep [the book] because it’s my little baby, but I was thinking it would be cool if someone else had it as part of a collection” Ross said. “I’m definitely really proud of what I came up with; I feel like I had an idea outside of the box and tried to make it happen and it worked.”

BURNT

NATE ROSS | COURTE SY PHOTO

| Graphic communication senior Nate Ross recreated “Fahrenheit 451” for his book design project.

ARTS 5

MONDAY, MAY 1, 2017

I really like how timeless [trains] are; they have been a part of the American landscape [since] before the civil war. STEPHEN HAGER

LOCOMOTIVE

OLIVIA DOT Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Hager is a train conductor and operator at Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in San Diego, making sure passengers and freight make it safely on and off the train and alerting the engineer when the train departs.

A unique track: Cal Poly student doubles as a train conductor Mikaela Duhs @ CPMustangNews

It was the second run of the day when Stephen Hager’s emergency brakes screeched and slammed to a sudden halt. Ten minutes went by without a word from anyone. Finally, the phone rang. Something was wrong. The brake operator hadn’t pulled the emergency brakes and the engine hadn’t given out. Somehow on his first day as a train conductor, Hager’s train derailed. It turned out that the rails were damaged in a particular spot, so when the train tried to pass over the section, it was derailed. The accident was minor, but Hager’s mind raced. As the conductor, Hager is responsible for the safety and operation of the train and its passengers. “I wasn’t scared because the movement stopped almost immediately,” the civil engineering senior said. “I wasn’t afraid anyone was going to get hurt. I was more worried about keeping people informed and keeping people happy.” Hager and his crew arranged another train to rescue the stranded passengers. And with that, Hager tucked an exhilarating emergency preparedness experience under his belt, on his first day as a train conductor. Where it all started Hager’s enthusiasm for locomotives stems from his grand-

father’s work on designing train cars for the Milwaukee Railway in 1930. Hager’s grandfather had a detailed set of model trains he shared with his grandson when he felt Hager was old enough to appreciate them. Due to this exposure, Hager now collects his own model trains that he watches over with care and precision. Hager’s family rode the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner up the California Coast when he was a child. Hager remembers the awe and admiration he had for the consistency and efficiency of the metal beast. “When you are going around a curve, you can look out [of] the window and see the locomotive and the front of the train,” Hager said. “I remember having my head glued to the window watching that.” Now 21 years old, Hager still has the same excitement for trains, despite the unusual nature of his passion. “I think a lot of people have the reaction ‘I liked trains when I was five, but not anymore. Who is this guy? Is he alright in the head?”’ Hager said. “As I kind of explain it more to people, they start to understand.” Now it’s official Hager’s passion for trains only grew since the age of five. It grew so much that he became an official train conductor. However, not many know what this actually means, according

to Hager. “A lot of people mistake train conductor for train engineer,” Hager said. “Engineer is the person who runs the train. Conductor is the train’s boss, but they aren’t the ones that are operating the controls.” Conductors are the personnel making sure passengers and freight make it safely on and off the train. They also alert the engineer when the train departs and about speed restrictions and other safety concerns along the rails. Hager is a formal train conductor and operator at Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in San Diego where he operates historic excursion trains. In his spare time, Hager memorized San Luis Obispo’s inconsistent train schedule, learning the ins and outs of the trains that pass through the station. He often follows trains with his camera, tripod and microphone to document their arrivals and departures. Hager also volunteers at the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum. “My favorite part about working at the museum is passing on the information to people,” Hager said. “I think trains especially are kind of mysterious to a lot of people. People don’t always see them in their everyday lives. They don’t really understand why they are still around. It’s really cool to explain the background behind them and showing people that they are still an important part

of the landscape.” Hager finds beauty in the nostalgic connection trains have to American history. “I really like how timeless they are; they have been a part of the American landscape [since] before the civil war,” Hager said. “They really haven’t changed that

much and that’s what I think is so cool. They are old technology, but they still work.” Because of his love for trains, Hager decided to pursue civil engineering due to its value in railway engineering. Last summer, Hager interned for civil engineering company

Railpros Inc. in San Diego. He looks forward to taking a full time job in San Diego this summer with the same duties. A career without trains just wasn’t an option for Hager. “After all this time, I couldn’t imagine doing anything without them,” Hager said.

OPINION 6

OPINION

Elias Atienza @ CPMustangNews

Elias Atienza is a history sophomore and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints and editorial coverage of Mustang News. Trust is important, especially when you’re a public servant or an elected official. The masses depend on their representatives to provide them with services not usually offered by the private sector, whether it is protection, emergency services, first response or others. We depend on elected officials to guide and lead us whether it is a mayor who won by a few hundred votes or a president who lost the popular vote. The rhetoric I’m espousing is inspired by a local issue: a possible violation of the Brown Act. The Brown Act prevents a majority of members of a public body from communicating about government business in private. At the center of this controversy are our own County Board of Supervisors, water policy in North County and a

MUSTANG NEWS

The need for transparency: The SLO County Board of Supervisors letter. I’ll spare you the details, but in essence, a majority of members of the County Board of Supervisors were accused of violating the Brown Act. After a few details of the incident came to light, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted not to investigate themselves in a 3-2 vote in early April. This was a betrayal of the public trust. It was a betrayal of the transparency we rely on in order to function. It reeks similar to how former president Barack Obama promised transparency before becoming one of the most secretive administrations in recent American history, as I discussed in “Constitutional overreach.” The supervisors’ defenders asserted that it would be imprudent to investigate. Some of these defenders, such as Supervisor John Peschong, pointed to the financial costs associated with an investigation of this scale. Others questioned the impartiality of District

Attorney Dan Dow, considering he endorsed Supervisor Debbie Arnold and Peschong, although this seems like a moot point as the Board of Supervisors can hire an outside investigator. And still others believe this is a leftist witch-

left would be defending him while the right would be clamoring for blood. While it is entirely possible that Hill and Gibson are calling for an investigation for political reasons, they’re fortunate enough to be on the right side of this issue. However, despite the partisan stench that follows this issue every time it enters conversation, I implore the residents of the county to stop looking at this like a leftright issue. The need for governments to be transparent is not so they can win political points, but because they must be held accountable by the people. It is nearly impossible for people to hold elected officials accountable for their actions if the officials are the ones voting on whether or not they are accountable. We cannot continue to allow elected officials to vote on whether or not they should investigate themselves. Separation of powers is why federal governments have Inspector

The need for governments to be transparent is not so they can win political points ...

hunt against the conservative majority led by Adam Hill. Now there is little doubt in my mind that if it was Adam Hill in the middle of this accusation, the

Generals or the Government Accountability Office in order to keep these bodies in check and to root out fraud, theft and abuse. It’s like I said in “Demand Police Accountability” back in October, “When a civilian shoots someone, they do not get to investigate themselves.” but instead are investigated by the police department. When the County Board of Supervisors allegedly violates a law, they shouldn’t be able to just sweep it under the rug. They should be investigated. Let me be frank. By refusing to investigate themselves, the County Board of Supervisors has called their own credibility and principles into question. Peschong, Arnold and Compton should all be ashamed of themselves. The contact information for the supervisors can be found on their website. If you aren’t sure of what you want to say to them, I suggest you emulate what Septa Unella said during Cersei Lannister’s walk of atonement in season five of Game of Thrones: “Shame. Shame. Shame.”

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| The Cal Poly men’s track team won the 110 meter and 400 meter hurdles Saturday against UC Santa Barbara. This was the team’s final match until the Big West Championships May 12 and 13.

TRACK AND FIELD continued from page 1

Cal Poly men’s team The Mustangs started off the day with a second-, third- and fourth-place finish in the 300 meter steeplechase and second place in the 4 x 100 meter relay. Senior Garrett Migliozzi took the first win for the men’s side in the 1500 meter with a time of 3:48.79. That started a run of wins for the men: senior Ben Hartinger took the 110 meter hurdles win in 14.53 seconds with two more

Mustangs close behind and junior Liam Martinez won the 400 meter in 48.82 seconds. After a couple of wins by UC Santa Barbara, the Cal Poly men closed out the track events with four straight victories: freshman Clayton Mackay in the 400 meter hurdles (54.14), senior Tyler Rohde in the 200 meter (21.77), junior Swarnjit Boyal in the 3000 meter (8:36.32) and the 4 x 400 meter relay team of Martinez, Mackay, sophomore Connor Crowe and freshman Thomas Heib (3:19.43).

In the field events, the Mustangs swept the high jump as sophomore Vince Porter took first place with a mark of two meters, ahead of freshman Bailey Thayer in second at 1.95 meters and senior Danny Yeager in third at 1.9 meters. Junior Brad Beekman won the pole vault at 4.97 meters and senior Jirael Hipol took the long jump at 6.57 meters. Senior Arnold Sambel narrowly won the discus with a mark of 52.39 meters, just 0.08 meters ahead of UC Santa Barbara’s Kordell Hampton. Sambel also won

the shot put at 17.54 meters to wrap up the field events for the Cal Poly men’s side. With a 12-7 advantage in victories (worth five points each), the Mustangs filled out the top three spots in each event well enough to take the victory over the visiting Gauchos. Cal Poly women’s team The Mustangs started the day strong and won two of the first three events: the 4 x 100 meter relay (47.04) and sophomore Peyton Bilo won the 1500 meter

in 4:27.54. From there, Cal Poly managed just two other wins: junior Daijah Joe-Smith in the 100 meter (11.89) and senior Kylie Nishisaka in the 3000 meter (10:08.02). Cal Poly managed to win half the field events, but it was not enough for the team to win the head-to-head matchup. Freshman Abi Iriafen won the triple jump with a mark of 12.29 meters, the eighth-best in school history and in the top 50 nationally. Sophomore Allison Scranton won the discus at 43.43

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meters, just 0.01 meters or half an inch better than UC Santa Barbara’s Kayla Thayer and senior Jessica Escalante won the javelin throw with a mark of 38.82 meters. Junior Kiely Osby wrapped up the women’s events with a win in the shot put at 13.93 meters. The decathletes and heptathletes for each side will be in Fullerton next weekend for the Big West Multi-Event Championships before the full conference championships at Titan Track & Field Complex May 12 and 13.