May 25, 2017

Thur sday, May 25, 2017

C a l P o ly, 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

Festival of love and colors Honoring traditions with Holi STARTING ANE W

HANANA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Traditionally, Holi signifies the victory of good over evil and the end of winter. It’s a day to meet new people, forget, forgive, give thanks and repair broken relationships.

Mikaela Duhs @ CPMustangNews

Bodies collide, hands fly up and plastic packets flutter to the ground, spilling powder that stains pure white garb bright fuchsia and plum. Feet move up and down, dancing to the beat of Bollywood music blaring across an open field.

Though the event was organized by the Indian Student Association

(ISA), anyone was welcome to celebrate the Hindu holiday Holi by splashing other participants with colors at the Lower Sports Complex Saturday. According to ISA president Anshul Shah, Holi is celebrated in India as a festival of love and colors, representing the arrival of spring.

Traditionally, Holi signifies the victory of good over evil and the end of winter. On the day of the festival, people are encouraged to

meet one another, forget, forgive and repair broken relationships.

In addition, it is a day for giving thanks. Many people celebrate Holi at home with family and friends.

Though ISA calls the color-throwing party “Holi,” the name actually refers to the prayer portion of the holiday. During Holi, Indian families pray at Hindu temples. The festival of colors is technically called “Dhuleti,”

which happens the day after Holi prayers.

“As the holiday has become more westernized, common cultures have started to refer to the entire festival as ‘Holi,’” business administration sophomore Shah said.

Shah explained that inviting people from all backgrounds to cultural events like Holi furthers diversity and inclusivity on campus.

“At Cal Poly, most of the people

that come aren’t actually Indian,” Shah said. “It’s really cool seeing other people, all types of people embrace our culture. I think it’s the absolute coolest thing, Cal Poly really pushing inclusivity and diversity. ISA has been able to feed off of this transition within Cal Poly’s culture. I see only good things coming out of that.”

HOLI continued on page 5

Trade fines for community service Austin Linthicum @ austinlinthicum

It’s 2 a.m. Saturday and the police just walked out your front door.

You just finished hosting a party, but are left with an empty house and a $1,000 fine. Not to mention, a landlord demanding even more cash for being placed on the “No Warning List.”

For some students, this is routine. They may have already racked up $8,000 in tickets this year alone and the cost can be easily absorbed into their family’s high income.

But for other students, this is financial suicide. They struggle with tuition payments and this

fine could be the reason they have to drop out of school.

In reality, however, the fines work. According to Mayor Heidi Harmon, there is a relationship between increasing fines and fewer violations. But Harmon says they are not effective in improving the vital student-community relationships. Due in part to Cal Poly’s high average student-family income, Harmon says that fines are not the best way to keep noise down and reduce wild parties. Instead, Harmon has proposed introducing “significant” community service as an alternative to steep fines.

ALTERNATIVE continued on page 3

SQUAD

RICK Y PETERSON | COURTE SY PHOTO

| Ricky Peterson, second from left, and a team of Cal Poly gamers entered in the DreamHack competition in Austin, Texas.

Athletes go online: The future of Cal Poly eSports Erik Engle @ erik_engle

BJ YEBISU | MUSTA NG NE W S

SWITCH | Students can do community service instead of pay party fines.

As business administration senior Ricky Peterson walked through the glass doors of the Austin Convention Center last spring, he was instantly teleported from an early May day in Texas to an alternate reality.

This new world was full of fictional video game characters who came to life through ultra-realistic cosplays, as if

they were all brought from the far reaches of the galaxy for an interstellar competition.

No, Peterson hadn’t accidentally stumbled through a wormhole or taken copious amounts of hallucinogens; he was at Dreamhack, one of the world’s largest Local Area Network (LAN) gaming competitions. The event hosted hundreds of players in the same room competing against each other on their

own individual computers in bracket-style tournaments for various video games.

Get your head in the game Peterson’s specialty is Dota 2, a free online multiplayer arena-style video game. He and his team of Cal Poly gamers were invited to compete in a tournament at Dreamhack.

Over the digital festival’s three-day span, the group lived out every hardcore gam-

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

er’s dream: being paid to play video games.

“The finalists were flown to Austin, Texas and we had all expenses paid, housing, everything for four days,” Peterson said. “We won scholarship money, which was awesome. It’s not something we anticipated going into the season.”

ESPORTS continued on page 8

NEWS 2

MUSTANG NEWS

The reasoning behind the Recreation Center’s layout Sydney Harder @ CPMustangNews

The Cal Poly Recreation Center stands out as a bright, modern space where students can go to sweat, study and sleep.

But unbeknownst to the approximately 7,000 yogis, runners, lifters and casual exercisers that head to the Recreation Center daily, their seemingly routine outings at the gym are guided by subtle environmental cues hidden within the center’s design.

“It’s all intentional,” Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Director of Facilities Management Ron Skamfer said.

When plans for the current Recreation Center were being made, surveys conducted by the University Union Advisory Board (UUAB) and information considered by an outside consultant determined that students needed a renovated recreational facility that welcomed and accommodated all types of exercisers. Student feedback and recommendations gathered by the UUAB were constantly communicated to CannonDesign, the global architecture firm that designed the current Recreation Center.

Consequently, the facility was constructed with meticulous strategy and purpose.

Welcome without weights As students enter the wide walkways of the Recreation Center,

they are greeted by the sound of light activity in the gym, the casual social scene in the lounge areas and an inviting pool in the background. This establishes an aura of openness and functionality.

“The core tenet was to build a facility that didn’t feel like a weight room,” Skamfer said.

As s i s t ant D i re c t or of Recreational Sports Nancy Clark added that this first visual presentation contributes to the idea that the Recreation Center is “not just a gym, but a place to socialize, meet friends and study.”

Both Skamfer and Clark point out that each room’s vibe and comfort level are ultimately defined by the equipment placed there.

Students will find more hardcore weight training in the lower exercise room where the Olympic lifting platforms are located, while a cardio culture dominates the upper exercise area.

Working out with a view Juxtaposing intense sweat sessions in the upstairs cardio arena, peaceful scenes of campus and a distant Bishop Peak fill students’ line of sight as they pound away on treadmills.

“Maximizing these views was very strategic,” Skamfer said.

“Students shouldn’t feel like they’re boxed in.”

Thanks to the glass walls throughout the building, the flood of natural light contributes to this sense of serenity. The former Recreation Center, built in

1993, lacked the open layout that characterizes the current facility.

Cleanliness is next to godliness Despite opening more than five years ago, the Recreation Center is still in incredible condition.

“Cleanliness is a critical component of a high-quality recreational facility,” Skamfer said.

A full-time maintenance team assesses repairs and works to prolong equipment while student employees under ASI and a 24-hour

OPEN CONCEPT

custodial crew ensure the space is kept clean.

Moving away from the limelight When designing the recreational facility, UUAB and CannonDesign kept in mind those students who prefer to find their own comfortable spaces to exercise away from the bustle of fellow gym-goers.

Throughout the upstairs level, there are areas segmented from the main floor along the wall allowing for more private exercise routines.

The three studios also offer additional space for more secluded workouts. When classes are not in session, students are free to use

the weights and mats in the rooms.

According to Skamfer, students were not always able to enjoy this privilege at the new facility.

However, as the number of students using the Recreation Center increased, it was evident that more fitness space was needed.

The debated dress code The gym dress code is enforced to promote inclusivity within the gym.

“You don’t need to be a bodybuilder,” Clark said. “We want students to feel comfortable coming here.”

The dress code, which discourages students from wearing deep side-cut muscle tanks and shirts heavily exposing their back or

midriff, is rather lenient compared to former regulations. Prior to UUAB’s instrumental role in changing the dress code, students were required to wear full-sleeved t-shirts and regular tank tops; no “altered tops” were allowed.

More coverage also promotes more hygienic practices. According to Clark, less direct bodily contact with gym equipment reduces deterioration of equipment from the oils and salts of sweat.

Cal Poly is not an anomaly when it comes to dress codes in college recreational centers; schools like San Diego State University and California State University, Bakersfield also enforce rules regarding appropriate athletic attire.

FR ANK HUANG | MUSTA NG NE W S

| The Recreation Center’s modern, open layout was purposely designed to accomodate all types of exercisers.

PCV overfills, converts singles to doubles Allison Royal @ alpalroyal

Approximately 85 percent of continuing students who applied to live in Poly Canyon Village (PCV) for the 2017-2018 academic year will have to live in two-person bedrooms with bunk beds, according to University Housing.

Those numbers are subject to change because typically hundreds of continuing students who plan to live in PCV back out over the summer and decide to live elsewhere.

There are two factors for this change: increased interest in on-campus housing from continuing students and a record number of students entering the university as first-time freshmen, according to Jo Campbell, Cal Poly’s assistant vice president for Student Affairs and executive director of University Housing.

“A lot more people want to live

OVERFLOW

on campus, which is great, so it makes us look at our whole footprint and how do we fit everybody in,” Campbell said.

It’s going to be tight, but we’re committed to students who really want to be here.

JO CAMPBELL

New residence halls under construction on Grand Avenue, across from the Sierra Madre and Yosemite residence halls, are scheduled to open their doors to students Fall 2018.

“It’s really unfortunate that this new housing going up on Grand

[Avenue] isn’t open this fall because that would be perfect,” Campbell said.

Freshmen students are required to live in on-campus housing unless granted an exception for special circumstances. Next year, an estimated 5,200 freshmen will call Cal Poly home.

There will still be a transfer student community in PCV. “So it’s a short term problem just for this coming year: what do we do to get all these students who really want to live on campus, on campus?” Campbell said.

Many apartments will be converted from single-suite, four-bedroom apartments to six-person suites where three of the bedrooms have bunk beds and the fourth bedroom is converted into a study space with desks.

“Yes, you might be in a bunk bed room, but the bedrooms in

PCV are pretty large,” Campbell said. “You have a study room in your apartment. Isn’t that great?

And then you still have space to have a living area.”

When University Housing realized how high their demand was, they partnered with Mustang Village, an off-campus housing community for students off of Foothill Boulevard. Students who originally signed up to live in PCV can opt for housing in Mustang Village and University Housing will foot the bill for the application fee. University Housing will also cover the $25 difference for the Mustang Village parking pass.

“If you really wanted a private bedroom — that was really in your heart of hearts of what you wanted to do — here’s an option,” Campbell said.

Additionally, students who no longer wish to live in PCV will receive a full refund of their housing deposits.

Selections will begin on a firstcome, first-serve basis starting

July 11. Students with disabilities registered through the Disability Resource Center will register first, followed by students in the order they applied for housing.

When students originally applied to PCV, they did not apply for a specific suite type or occupancy.

“If you already told us you want to live here, you still can, absolutely,” Campbell said. “In Poly Canyon Village, we are going to put more double-suites in.”

Biochemistry freshman Megan Miyake originally planned to live in a four-bedroom apartment in PCV with three friends. Since receiving news of the overcrowding, Miyake and her friends have decided to live off-campus.

“Really, I’m more upset that they told us seven weeks into spring quarter,” Miyake said. “If they warned us ahead of time, it wouldn’t be as bad.”

English freshman Natalie Young felt the same way.

“I think it is unfair of Cal Poly to have waited until week seven

of spring quarter to make this announcement, especially because most off-campus housing is no longer available,” Young said.

With the current enrollment, Aliso and Buena Vista will solely house freshmen. In the past, freshmen lived in Gypsum, one of the structures toward the back.

However, Campbell and her team thought Gypsum could be too geographically isolated for new students trying to assimilate into a new social environment.

“Aliso and Buena Vista are in the plaza right around where all the food is; we thought that’ll feel a little less stressful for first-year students,” Campbell said.

Overall, Campbell remains optimistic that the university can offer quality housing to its students, despite a growing student population and desire to live on campus after freshman year.

“It’s going to be tight, but we’re committed to students who really want to be here,” Campbell said.

“We want them to be here.”

ANDRE W EPPERSON | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Eighty-five percent of students who applied to live in PCV for the next academic school year will no longer have the option of a single room. Instead, these students will have to share a double.

NEWS 3

THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017

Hiking is illegal after dark

CELINA OSEGUER A | MUSTA NG NE W S

RIGHT TO NIGHT HIKE | San Luis Obispo City Council has received numerous requests to extend the evening hours for hiking until 9 p.m. year round; the council voted to reopen the discussion.

Kaylee Zaccone Special to Mustang News

Hiking Bishop Peak in the evening and spending the night in one of the “caves” at the top of the mountain has long been a tradition for adventure-seeking Cal Poly students. Many people brave the early morning to climb the trail and witness the sunrise from one of the best views of the city. However, many people don’t know that hiking in any open space area in San Luis Obispo, such as Bishop Peak is illegal in the dark.

Due to numerous requests for extended evening hours for hiking, San Luis Obispo City Council will consider allowing hiking in open space areas until 9 p.m. year-round. The issue was brought to the council by residents wishing to have extended hours, where they voted to reopen the subject and discuss allowing it again.

The y simply vote d to reconsider. However, it may be a while before we see a decision made. The city council has a busy agenda, so the vote may not happen until late summer or early fall, according to Carlyn Christianson, San Luis Obispo city councilwoman.

Currently, all trails in San Luis Obispo are only open from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset, which makes it difficult for people who work during the day to get any time to hike during the winter when sunset is early in the evening.

The fine for those caught hiking after closing time is $561.

Hiking after dark was originally made illegal for several reasons, including the impact it could have on the nocturnal animals that live near the trails, as well as the disruption it causes neighborhoods that have trailheads near houses, according to former mayor Peg Pinard in the article “Night Hikes are not the Right Hikes,” featured in the Santa Lucia Sierra Club chapter’s newsletter.

In February, the city council approved a plan to reconsider night hiking hours. It was almost unanimous, except for a single dissenting vote by Councilwoman Christianson.

Christianson opposes reconsideration because of the wildlife impacts, neighborhood disturbances and high cost of night time patrol and rescue efforts.

“The city’s open space policies state very clearly that the primary purpose is for habitat protection and I believe those

policies are important and should be followed,” Christianson said.

She also noted that night hiking could be controversial to people living near trailheads because of noise and traffic at night, but she thinks those affected could also include anyone who lives near enough to see lights of people night hiking up the mountains.

“Night hiking tends to be highly intrusive on nearby neighbors or even far away neighbors. I don’t particularly want to watch lights move up Cerro San Luis at night,” Christianson said.

The cost of rescue efforts and patrol services that would be necessary if night hiking was allowed would increase significantly, according to Christianson. Each year, there are a couple rescues required when people are injured while hiking in the dark.

“It definitely costs the city more in patrol and rescue efforts. We do know that one night rescue alone easily costs the city over $50,000 and we have one or two a year even with night time hiking prohibited, much less night mountain biking,” Christianson said.

While the city council vote was in favor of reconsidering night hiking, many residents and outdoors clubs are against it as well.

The Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club is also staunchly against the proposal to extend hiking hours in the evening.

They point to the reasons laid out in the article “Night Hikes Are Not the Right Hikes.” Both former mayor Jan Marx and current mayor Heidi Harmon state that the Open Space Program was originally created to protect wildlife and any other recreational activities, such as hiking, were secondary to that main goal.

According to surveys done by the city, residents continuously list protecting the wildlife and their habitats as the number one goal. They think allowing night hiking would infringe on that goal.

A letter the Sierra Club sent to city council, outlines the specific reasons they think that night hiking should not be considered.

“As much as we might enjoy hiking at night in San Luis Obispo’s natural open spaces, or how convenient this might be for the schedules of some residents, we must advocate for responsible use,” Andrew Christie, director of the Santa Lucia chapter, said

in the letter to city council.

However, many Cal Poly students and San Luis Obispo residents still see the advantages of allowing extended hours. For people with busy work or class schedules, evenings are the only chance they have to get out and spend time hiking or exploring outside.

“Night hiking would add an element of adventure to [San Luis Obispo] that would give a fun, beautiful chance to allow people to get outside and enjoy the differences of nature between night and day,” civil engineering sophomore Brett Crews said.

It could also be a unique way to see all of the beauty San Luis Obispo has to offer.

“Stargazing is hard to do in [San Luis Obispo] due to light pollution, but with an option to get out of town and on the trails a little ways would improve the quality of the night sky, which is something I miss from my hometown in Colorado,” Crews said.

Some see both sides of the conversation. Super vising Ranger to San Luis Obispo Doug Carscaden thinks that recreation and wildlife can coexist. But as a ranger, it is also his job to make sure open spaces are being protected. He thinks there is potential for recreational opportunities on a minimal scale as long as there are no impacts on the wildlife.

“As a ranger, I understand our job is to protect natural resources and minimize impacts on nature and the environment and ani-

mals, so I definitely see both sides of it, but I feel that there is some level of opportunity out there that wouldn’t adversely impact either user, whether it’s nature or wildlife, so I think that some level of use is OK,” Carscaden said.

Carscaden also said the way open space hours are set up now could use some improvement.

The hours are not set and they change throughout the year as the spaces are open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset, which can sometimes lead to confusion or people using the uncertainty to get away with hiking after hours. He is in favor of setting specific times, so there is no murkiness.

“It would just be easier from an enforcing and policing stand point,” Carscaden said. “If you walk by a sign that says you have to be out by 8 p.m. and now it’s 8:30, you don’t have the excuse of not doing the math right or you didn’t know.”

If the extended hours were to pass, Bishop Peak would be excluded and will still not be open for night hiking. This is because the trailheads are located directly in residential neighborhoods, and because of past incidents occurring on the mountain at night.

“Bishop Peak is also one of three of [San Luis Obispo’s] heaviest used spaces, so we say ‘It gets loved to death,’” Carscaden said. “We have to do a lot of work and stuff up there to keep the natural resources in check and happy just because it gets so many users.”

Night hiking tends to be highly intrusive on nearby neighbors.

CARLYN CHRISTIANSON

ALTERNATIVE continued from page 1

“I am 100 percent in favor of [community service],” Harmon said. “I think that would be significantly more meaningful for everyone.”

Council member Carlyn Christianson, a proponent of increased safety-enhancement zones for recent events, called the community service alternative “very naïve.”

“I don’t think community service would have one bit of influence over the kind of folks doing this stuff,” Christianson said.

Daniel Halprin, business administration junior and former president of the Inter Fraternity Council, argues that there is a better way to battle unruly parties without $1,000 fines.

“Allowing students to do community service as a repercussion for a fine would do more greater good for the community and wouldn’t cause such [finan-

cial] detriment on the students,” Halprin said.

He said that recently he has seen the City Council be much more understanding of the college environment, especially with the new party registration program.

Implementing a community service program would first take consensus from the Council to have city staff investigate before anything could be officially voted on. Harmon proposed the idea of implementing an alternative to the fines at the Jan. 17 meeting, but was unable to gain a majority of the council.

Still, according to City Attorney Christine Dietrick, implementing a community service program is not as simple as it appears.

“It’s not something that right now we could just commit to offering up on a wholesale basis to anyone who got an administrative citation,” Dietrick said. “We simply don’t have the staff capacity.”

ARTS 4

MUSTANG NEWS

The policy and ethics behind dating a professor

LOOPHOLES

PHOTO ILLUSTR ATION BY CHRIS GATELE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| The California State University’s official policy on consensual relationships between professors and students leaves room for interpretation in both the wording and potential consequences.

Laura Daniele Special to Mustang News

When psychology senior Emma Sturm matched with him on Tinder, she knew their common passions and interests could lead to a fun relationship. There was one problem: he was a professor and she was a student.

Their relationship was natural and a date that was supposed to last a couple hours turned into an entire day.

“I think it was fun, beneficial and healthy for both of us,” Sturm said. “The conversation was great, we taught each other lots of new things.”

According to an informal Mustang News poll on the Cal Poly Class of 2017 and 2018 Facebook pages, of more than 100 students who answered, two claimed to have had a relationship with a professor while at Cal Poly. While these relationships are between two consenting adults, the potential pitfalls of students dating professors are greater than in the average relationship between two college students and include legal, ethical and social impacts.

Sturm knew immediately there was a connection when the two started talking. They discovered they shared a love for academia

and their specific academic field.

“I don’t think I even realized he was a professor at first, I just saw that he was a very academic person who had done research in a very specific field that I am also interested in,” Sturm said.

It was a 24-hour romance filled with conversation, understanding and fun. The two left with great memories and a promise not to keep in contact after he traveled back to Germany.

Official policy Sturm’s experience is unique. Put in perspective, in a full class held in the Business Silo (building 3) there would be about four students who had been in a relationship with a professor.

It happens enough for there to be an official California State University (CSU) policy on the matter.

The CSU Campus Policy on Consensual Relationships boils down to this: “A CSU Employee shall not enter into a consensual relationship with a Student or Employee over whom s/he exercises or influences direct or otherwise significant academic, administrative, supervisory, evaluative, counseling, or extracurricular authority. In the event such a relationship already exists, each Campus shall develop a procedure

to reassign such authority to avoid violations of this policy.”

The policy leaves room for interpretation in both the wording and the potential consequences of violation.

Ethical concerns Besides the possible legal ramifications, there are ethical concerns of whether a professor should pursue a romantic relationship with a student.

“I think there is a big issue about any relationship between a professor and a student,” Bill Loving, a journalism professor who teaches ethics and law, said.

He called the situation “unconscionable,” and said it brings up issues of unequal power. Students do not come into the relationship as an equal, and the relationship starts on uneven ground, Loving said.

Loving’s advice to any professor contemplating, or currently in, a relationship with a student is to end it and minimize the harm done. He also said professors should stay away from any kind of relationships (even friendships) with students outside of the classroom.

Loving said that at a previous campus where he worked, an untenured professor was

released from his position because of concerns about an inappropriate relationship.

A main fear associated with these relationships is the risk of it evolving into a situation that promotes dating violence, misconduct and coercion.

“Clearly [the CSU policy] exists because there is going to be some inherent difference in influence between the two parties,” Safer Coordinator Kara Samaniego said.

It’s important to recognize and combat this inequality, according to Samaniego.

Though she does not support relationships between students and professors because it can alter and detract from a student’s positive learning, educational and college experience, Samaniego said she wants anyone who does pursue this type of relationship to do so in a healthy way.

Samaniego suggested that students should communicate any concerns about the power differential. To ensure the relationship is consensual, both parties should be open to communication, be enthusiastic about the relationship, be conscious and sober and be safe and respectful.

“Pay attention to your gut and any red flags that are raised,” Samaniego said.

Societal concerns Aside from policy, ethical considerations and possible power differentials, the student-professor duo also has to maneuver societal and campus pressures.

“In my mind, the whole evolution of ‘hookup culture’ and the sex trade and all of that has really important implications for faculty-student relationships and how faculty look at students,” sociology professor Teresa Downing said.

Society keeps a close watch on the morality of the relationship between a student and professor. Age differences and hierarchical statuses blur the line between ethical and unethical relationships.

Another societal issue brought to light by Downing was the anonymity of dating applications and online profiles.

“The internet provides a lot of venues or people to hook up and for faculty and students to end up in sexual relationships without knowing their faculty/student statuses,” Downing said.

Experiencing the reality Though student-professor relationships are not commonplace, they do occur.

Sturm’s experience is an example of two people getting along who happen to be a student and a pro-

fessor, but it was the topic they were learning and teaching that drew the two together.

“I think all this is evidence that in certain ways it just makes sense for students and professors to get along in ways that may naturally transition into a dating or intimate relationship,” Sturm said. “You’re familiar with the same subjects, institutions, theorists, probably analyze things in similar ways.”

For Sturm, a relationship with an age difference accompanied by open and healthy communication helped her grow as a student and person.

“Society generally views power and differences in power as inherently bad things, but like any other relationship conflict they can be dealt with in healthy and constructive ways if both parties are willing to communicate openly,” Sturm said.

Sturm said she thinks any societal shame or aversion to professor-student relationships is unwarranted.

“We shouldn’t shame someone for developing a relationship with a professor or vice versa,” she said. “[It’s] better to talk about it and let the people involved, who know their relationship best, decide the best way to move forward and what is most ethical for them.”

Review: One hundred precious minutes of my life ‘Snatched ’ MISSING THE MARK

CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT | PROMOTIONA L

| According to Llamas, Emily is an unfunny character that does nothing to redeem Schumer after the controversy over her poorly received Netflix special “The Leather Special.”

Greg Llamas @ CPMustangNews

Greg Llamas is a journalism senior and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this column do not reflect the viewpoints and editorial coverage of Mustang News.

I’m normally able to find at least a couple things to enjoy in a movie I didn’t like. From a halfway likable character, to a good performance from an actor, to a good scene with humor in it, there has to be at least a few things to like after being trapped in a room with a bad movie for two hours.

So it was surprising to me that I got zero enjoyment out of “Snatched,” starring Amy Schumer. Much like the title of this article suggests, 100 minutes of your life will be snatched away when seeing this.

There was no looking away from it. Much like watching a train wreck, it’s horrifying yet fascinating, and a truly heinous attempt at film making. There

are no funny or likable characters in “Snatched.” There are rarely funny moments, though the movie is supposed to be a comedy. There are no redeeming qualities in whatever this mess is supposed to be. Your life will be worse off if you see “Snatched.”

“Snatched” starts off innocently enough. Emily (Amy Schumer) bought non-refundable tickets for a trip to Ecuador. After being let go from her job, her up-andcoming rock star boyfriend and intended travel mate dumping her and her friends not wanting to go with her, she tries to find another person to take along. She eventually settles on persuading her reluctant, cat-loving mother Linda (Goldie Hawn) to join her.

After spending some time in Ecuador, Emily and Linda are captured by agents of crime boss Morgado (Óscar Jaenada). Forced out of their vacation, the mother-daughter duo must find their way out of Morgado’s territory.

At first, it doesn’t seem like “Snatched” will be too terrible.

The setup is fairly innocuous; it seemed like it would be just like any other boring, unfunny comedy that comes out once in awhile. The setup of Emily trying to reconnect with her mom wasn’t the worst idea. Initially, the plot line even has a bit of hope. Linda’s cats are adorable and a great way to introduce her character as the reclusive single mother who doesn’t want to date again. “Snatched” was setting itself up to be a bland yet inoffensive comedy.

Unfortunately for the film, Linda’s cats are the best characters in the film. They do nothing but meow, which is the best dialogue in the film. Even though the cats are only in the movie for about two minutes, I got a sinking feeling when Emily and Linda left for Ecuador, knowing that the only likable characters in this abomination would never appear on screen again.

For the rest of “Snatched,” the audience is forced to watch Emily instead of cute cats. Amid the controversy of her poorly received Netflix special “The

Leather Special,” it’s popular right now to hate on Schumer.

“Snatched” did nothing to help.

It’s easy to see why she’s disliked.

Right from the beginning of the film when she’s fired from her job and when her boyfriend breaks up with her, she’s one of the least likable characters I’ve ever watched. Just from the first two minutes, it’s obvious that her boyfriend Michael (Randall Park) made the best decision of his life by dumping her. Emily is rude, entitled and an all-around terrible human being. The redemption arc she goes through during the film isn’t believable in the slightest, because the only thing you hope for is that she fails. There’s nothing funny about her and she does nothing funny.

There’s a lot (almost everything) wrong with “Snatched,” but Emily singlehandedly made this garbage irredeemable.

Relative to Emily, Linda is an inoffensive character. She’s boring and fairly useless, but at least the audience is able to identify with her when she’s interacting with Emily. At one point during

the trip after Emily comes back to their hotel room drunk, Linda tells Emily that “this isn’t fun.”

For you and me both, Linda. She said perfectly what I was thinking at the time and throughout the entirety of “Snatched.” It’s easy to feel sorry for Linda for having such a garbage daughter and having to interact with her. It’s easy to feel sorry for Hawn, too. This is her first role in a feature-length film since 2002, and this wreck is what she comes back to?

Good God. For the most part, the supporting characters in “Snatched” are uninteresting and aggressively unfunny. But they take away screen time from Emily, so they get points for that. The only noncat character who’s entertaining is Roger (Christopher Meloni), an American who “guides” Emily and Linda through a forest but doesn’t know what he’s doing. Another pitiable character is the villain Morgado. He suffers through tragedies at Emily’s hands during the film and it makes him a much more likable character than her, which isn’t

saying much. He essentially becomes the hero of “Snatched,” because you’ll actually cheer for him to kill Emily.

If there’s one thing to say about “Snatched,” it’s that it’s the complete opposite of funny. None of the situations that Emily and Linda are in lend themselves toward a comedy film. I don’t really feel like laughing when Emily accidentally kills some of Morgado’s men or when she needs to have a tapeworm extracted. On top of this, the mother-daughter moments aren’t heartwarming at all.

Linda has every right to hate her horrible daughter and there are no reasons for them to bond.

The only thing that’s funny about “Snatched” is that some executive at Fox thought the film was a good idea. The most unlikable person in existence going on a trip with her boring mom doesn’t sound like a good idea at all. The only way to excuse this rancid attempt at film making is if it was intentionally designed to be the most unfunny film ever. If so, congratulations to Fox on a mission accomplished.

ARTS 5

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2017

It’s not weird to go up to a stranger and hit them with color.

PRAMIKA KUMAR

E XPANSION

HANNA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| The Indian Student Association has celebrated Holi for more than five years. Since the event has grown in popularity, the club moved it to the Lower Sports Complex to accomodate more guests.

HOLI continued from page 1

For computer engineering freshman Pramika Kumar, coloring strangers alongside friends was a big part of the fun.

“You can hit anyone,” Kumar said. “It’s not weird to go up to a stranger and hit them with color. Everyone ends up col-

ored anyways, you can barely tell who people are.”

Indians of all faiths generally participate in Holi. Those who do practice Hinduism will pray at a temple and then throw colors in the parking lot of the same temple the next day in the presence of their friends and family.

Shah said Holi is typically

held at the end of March or beginning of April, but due to scheduling conflicts with Associated Students, Inc., ISA had to delay the event until May. Participants reserved packets of color the week before the festival. On the day of the festival, the group crowded around the speaker and microphone to listen for their cue to be-

gin throwing. When the bass dropped during Jai Wolf ’s “Indian Summer,” arms and colors soared in unison.

ISA has celebrated Holi for more than five years with past festivals held at Santa Rosa Park garnering large turnouts.

Past Holis attracted almost 200 guests and Shah said the event has only grown. ISA member

Arinee Rahman said ISA decided to switch locations to attract more people.

“We are trying to attract more freshmen and students that live on campus by having the event on campus at the WOW-A-RAMA fields,” journalism senior Rahman said.

ISA also grew in the past five years with Holi being one of its

biggest events of the year, along with its fall banquet Diwali.

“I don’t usually go to the meetings that are often, but when I heard about Holi I wanted to go because it brings the community together and is a fun way to mess around with my friends,” computer science freshman Ankita Koratkar said.

19 METRO DESSERT NIGHTS Bring your sweet tooth and some friends to indulge in an evening (or two) of tasty treats at 19 Metro on May 23 and 24 from 5-8 p.m.

There will be an ice cream sandwich bar, a crepe station and much more!

#HEALTHYHACKS

INCLUSIVE

With 20 vitamins and minerals in every serving, avocados are both delicious and nutritious. Get your fix with a slice of hearthealthy avocado toast from Sandwich Factory. (Registered Dietitian approved)

HANNA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Indian Student Association invites people from all backgrounds to participate in Holi.

CLASS IT UP End the year with an evening to remember.

The annual Class It Up event will be hosted at Myron’s on June 4 from 5-9 p.m., and will include a gourmet three-course meal, photo opps and live entertainment.

Reserve your space today at www.calpolydining.com/myrons/

PLU$ DOLLARS AND SENSE We are now 49 days into school! Students in residence halls should have about $563 Plu$ dollars left to spend this quarter and apartment students should have about $429 Plu$ dollars left.

BA SS DROP

HANNA CROWLE Y | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Holi participants threw color packets in the air to music such as Jai Wolf ’s “Indian Summer.”

OPINION 6

MUSTANG NEWS

OPINION

Abbie Lauten-Scrivner @ CPMustangNews

Abbie Lauten-Scrivner is a journalism sophomore and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this column do not reflect the viewpoints and editorial coverage of Mustang News.

This week, libertarian Lauren Southern will speak on campus by invitation of the Cal Poly Republicans Club. Southern is known for her critique of the claim that rape culture exists in the west — a critique I have a problem with.

Rape culture occurs in “a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.” The attitudes of such a society shape the way cases of sexual assault are talked about, reported, covered in the news and treated within the judicial system.

American society employs some form of punishment against those legally proven to be perpetrators of sexual assault; that much is certain. But how easy does our system make it for victims to report abuse, without once again encountering a host of maltreatment? Do we believe victims when they speak out? Do we facilitate the preserva-

Rape culture in the west: Trivializing sexual assault and abuse tion of their dignity? The answer to both of these questions is disheartening due to legal loopholes, victim doubting and a readiness to forgive rapists plaguing the process of bringing justice to victims.

Look at the high profile cases in the news recently. There was the so-called “Stanford Rape Case” (People v. Turner), where Brock Turner preyed upon, assaulted and raped an unconscious woman. Twenty-year-old Turner’s feigned flimsy claim of ignorance and confusion about what constituted consent suckered the media and the judiciary system into relieving him of any punishment that would have fit his crime.

Platforms such as the Associated Press, USA Today, TIME, CNN, Sports Illustrated, MSNBC and the BBC began stories by citing Turner as a “star swimmer” whose life was horribly disrupted.

These stories failed to report him as someone convicted of sexual assault until several lines later. This framed Turner as a tragic character instead of a villain.

Despite staggering evidence, Turner managed to twist the narrative so that he became the vic-

timized party. His masterful ability to garner sympathy wooed the media and the judge, knocking his sentence from 14 years in prison to six months in jail. Can’t let “20 minutes of action” ruin the poor boy’s life, never mind the woman he brutalized and dehumanized.

Rape culture exists and it exists in this country.

As the victim stated in her letter to Turner, he never grasped that his actions constituted rape. “He has only apologized for drinking,” she said, “and has yet to define what he did to me as sexual assault.” It just would not compute for him.

The gross misunderstanding between what Turner believed hap-

pened and what actually occurred is evidence Turner grew up in a culture that so completely normalized his monstrous actions that he could not clearly understand them even after a year in court.

The inability to recognize rape as rape and the readiness to forgive such poor, confused individuals is seen again in Bill Cosby’s high profile case. Years of victim blaming and the stubborn persistence of the toxic notion of a “gray area” in consent allowed Cosby to drug and assault women for decades.

Though Cosby admits to drugging women to sleep with them, he insists he never raped them.

This socially perpetuated “gray area” is not the only gaping hole in our judicial defense of victims of rape. Statute of limitations acted in Cosby’s favor for years as older cases couldn’t bring charges against him. It was only after charges of him recently assaulting a woman were brought that there is a possibility he may finally be brought to justice.

Now, yet again, a newer case is disturbing audiences with its claims. Baylor University’s football team has been accused of pro-

moting gang rape as a bonding experience for players.

Supposedly, this went on for more than four years without being stopped. College football is a fixture of American culture and this fan-favorite certainly sounds like it has a culture of rape to me.

Everyone acts shocked when cases such as these come to light. We wonder how it could ever have happened and tell ourselves it must have been an anomaly. This is fallacious, especially when so many cases go unreported or receive much less attention than the aforementioned high profile cases.

These aren’t anomalies. They are symptomatic of a culture that failed to remove the gray areas and loopholes which fail sexual assault survivors on a regular basis.

Our inaction to remove these loopholes and surprised reactions when these cases come to light serve as proof that we are “a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.”

Rape culture exists and it exists in this country.

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R APE CULTURE

CELINA OSEGUER A | MUSTA NG NE W S

| Recent cases, such as the ones involving Brock Turner and Baylor University, show that people in America are still doubting victims and willing to forgive rapists.

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SPORTS 8

MUSTANG NEWS

ESPORTS continued from page 1

Creating a community Now, more than a year since his journey at Dreamhack, Peterson is trying to unify and expand gaming culture in San Luis Obispo by creating the Cal Poly eSports Club. Though there are already several gaming clubs on campus, the new club would bring individual clubs together under the broad eSports umbrella.

“I have gotten both Dota 2 and [the League of Legends clubs] on board,” Peterson said. “[Super Smash Bros], on the other hand, is difficult. Fighting games typically have their own eSports scene. I hope that they will be a part of Cal Poly eSports, but they’re still going to remain mostly self-run.”

The Cal Poly eSports Club is on track to officially begin operations by the end of this school year or, at the very latest, the beginning of next school year.

It’s a sport Across North America, several universities have adopted varsity-level eSports teams, meaning the players are considered student athletes by the school and are even eligible for scholarships in their sport.

One of Cal Poly’s Big West Conference rivals, UC Irvine, is one of the leaders in the world of collegiate eSports. The university has a varsity-level team with scholarship players, a 3,500 square-foot arena equipped with a stage for competitions and a live broadcasting studio.

“Our arena is completely backed by our sponsors,” Jenny Song, president of the Association of Gamers at UC Irvine, said. “We have 80 computers that are donated. Most, if not all, of the companies that sponsor us have provided the scholarships for our league team.”

It was also reported that Pac-

ELITE PL AYERS

RICK Y PETERSON | COURTE SY PHOTO

| As eSports become more popular nationwide, Peterson and his team of Dota 2 players (pictured above) are hoping to create an eSports club that includes other games.

12 schools will enter the eSports arena next school year, committing to live studio competitions and tournaments as well as an end-of-the-year unnamed Pac12 championship event. In April, University of Utah became the first school from one of the NCAA’s Power 5 conferences to announce official plans for a varsity-level eSports team.

A handful of student-athletes will receive partial scholarships to start, but, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the program hopes to have more than 30 student-athletes and coaches on scholarship eventually.

While some are still hesitant to classify eSports as a collegiate sport, it is not surprising that the industry is picking up steam in universities across the

nation. Recent data published

by Newzoo, a leader in eSports revenue tracking, suggests that the new-age sport could be a potential gold mine.

Data suggests the eSports industry is estimated to generate $696 million in total revenue this year, 41.3 percent more than the industry made in 2016, and is expected to grow to $1.488 billion by 2020.

North America accounts for 37 percent of the global revenue, the largest of any region by far and 22 percent ahead of second place, China.

The driving force behind increased revenue appears to be the growing fan base that is estimated to balloon from 194 million this year to 303 million by 2020.

Possibilities at Cal Poly If the industry keeps expanding at its current rate, Peterson expects eSports to become the next scholarship sport that is introduced to Cal Poly’s campus.

“I would say by 2022 or 2023, it’s going to be a legitimized sport at colleges,” Peterson said. “I don’t doubt that in my mind.”

Peterson knows of 90 people interested in participating in an end-of-the-year LAN party for Dota 2 and League of Legends. He said if the club adds Overwatch, a multiplayer first-person shooter game, the number of participants could grow to somewhere around 200 students.

“It’s easy to watch, it’s fun to watch and you don’t have to have this massive learning curve of trying to understand what’s go-

ing on,” Peterson said. “I honestly believe Overwatch is going to be the game that legitimizes eSports in college.”

If Cal Poly ever chooses to adopt an eSports team as a varsity-level sport, Peterson expects the organization will face even more ridicule than the industry normally does. Many people refuse to acknowledge the games as a type of sport because of the lack of athleticism involved in gaming. In Peterson’s opinion, there should be a distinction between “athletic sports” and “non-athletic sports,” but that they both are still sports.

“I do honestly think eSports are sports,” Peterson said. “The amount of training that [participants] do, the amount of preparation they put into every game,

if you see it at a professional level you see some of these players put in more time than some athletes in your major sports.”

The adversity will be tough to overcome, but the toughest part of Peterson’s endeavor will be finding a building on campus to host the club’s events. If there are roughly 200 people interested in the LAN party, there will need to be a space big enough for roughly 200 computers.

“What saddens me the most is we are finally getting this interest and it’s restrictions with rooms that are available that are holding it back,” Peterson said. “I think it’s just going to be working with administration, [Associated Students, Inc.] and maybe Athletics, if they want to get involved, to find a way to make this work.”