Mustang News April 9, 2019: Campus Climate Special Edition

A YEAR AFTER

Blackface A C A MPUS CL I MATE SPECIAL EDITION

APRIL 9, 2019

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MUS TA NGNE WS.NET

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

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Austin Linthicum

Lauren Arendt

Quinn Fish

Rachel Showalter

Rachel Marquardt

Claire Blachowski

N EWS Cassandra Garibay Editor Isabella Paoletto Roselyn Romero Lauryn Luescher Sabrina Pascua Samantha Spitz Ashley Ladin Maureen McNamara Hailey Nagma

P H OTO Zachary Donnenfield Carolyne Sysmans Kylie Kowalske Alison Chavez Diego Rivera Connor Frost Luke Deal Intern

Editor in Chief

Print Managing Editor

Digital Managing Editor

A RTS Emily Merten Editor Sabrina Thompson Michaela Barros Caitlin Scott Grant Anderson Kiana Meagher Sydney Sherman Intern OP IN ION Olivia Peluso Editor Zachary Grob-Lipkis Hanah Wyman Abdullah Sulaiman Sierra Parr Yervant Malkhassian Brett Baron Lilly Leif Jaxon Silva S P ORTS Brian Truong Editor Lauren Kozicki Naythan Bryant Francisco Martinez Sophia Crolla Garrett Brown Sydney Finkel Prerna Aneja Intern Kyle Har Intern S P EC IA L S E CT I O NS Isabel Hughes Editor VIDEO Justin Garrido Video Editor Sawyer Milam Sports Video Director Reid Fuhr Sports Video Producer Sydney Brandt Video Producer Kallyn Hobmann Kayla Berenson Jack Berkenfield Lauren Powers Intern Lily Dallow Intern

Social Media Managing Editor

Video Managing Editor

PR Manager

CO PY Kelly Martinez Amanda Simonich Jarod Urrutia

COVER I LLUST RAT I ON BY S OLEN A AGU I LA R | MUSTA N G N EWS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION

DESIGN Calista Lam Director Michelle Cao Solena Aguilar Julia Jackson-Clark D I V E RSITY Monique Ejenuko Editor PR Alyssa Wilson Dominique Morales Kaitlyn Hoyer Mikaela Lincoln Tess Loarie Intern Christina Arthur Intern S O C I AL Emma Kumagawa Hanna Crowley Danielle Lee Candace Lee Intern ADV I S ORS Paul Bittick General Manager Pat Howe Print Advisor Brady Teufel Digital Advisor

Quinn Fish is a journalism and ethnic studies senior and Mustang News Managing Print Editor. The reviews represented do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Welcome. I’m Quinn Augusta Fish and I’m a journalism and ethnic studies senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual, upper-middle class woman; most of which I knew nothing about before coming to Cal Poly. In the class structure that is America today, I exist in the second ring, just under white, cisgender, heterosexual men. Never in my life have I felt limited by any of my social identities nor have I experienced a stereotype, a profiling, or the loss of an opportunity. I carry more privilege than I will ever know.

I grew up in Alameda, California — an island off of Oakland — in a neighborhood where none of my neighbors looked like me. I didn’t think about my own race until I was eight or nine, when I realized my cousins didn’t look like me. My own parents, democratic Deadheads with college degrees, preached colorblindness, that all human beings are created equal. Though they’d never

acknowledge it, in other words: All Lives Matter. It wasn’t until I came to Cal Poly that I started to grasp the power and all-encompassing properties of Whiteness. It was not until I came to San Luis Obispo that I heard the N-word — hard “r” — and since then, I have heard it only in San Luis Obispo, four or five times. It wasn’t until I came to San Luis Obispo that I heard Black people referred to not only as “Africans,” but as “colored people” on more than one occasion.

I have heard professors explain “reverse racism” incorrectly, implying that it does, in fact, exist. I have seen professors time after time call on students of color for their input on issues that vaguely relate to their social identities. And all in all, I have seen students, staff and faculty act as inactive bystanders nine times out of 10.

In my time at Cal Poly, I have learned that racism thrives behind closed doors. With a population as wealthy and as white as the university is, it is no question why campus climate continues to exist in the way that it does. I’ve heard slurs and epithets and more racist jokes than I could ever have imagined hearing in the state of California. Though these problems are in no way unique to Cal Poly or San Luis Obispo in itself, they have a way of making themselves known here. It’s not always our fault we’ve grown up in a society that has not taught us any better, but ignorance is no excuse. To blame ignorance for acts of racism, transphobia, sexism, homophobia, ableism, is to put the burden on the educator; it is on us to educate ourselves.

These are the conversations that

need to be had.

In my role as Managing Print Editor for Mustang News, I felt the responsibility to use the newspaper as a medium for this conversation.

The conversation on unity, on white supremacy, on the reality of today’s climate, on using our voices to speak for those who have been silenced.

As Cross Cultural Centers Lead Coordinator for Diversity Initiatives Beya Montero-Makekau reminded me, though this is the anniversary of a blatant racist incident on campus, every year is the anniversary of a racist incident that happened to someone on campus. Through all of the conversations that led to the production of this issue, I have learned so much, not only about campus and the issues that persist here, but about the resilience of those pushing day after day for the equity of everyone in the community, even those who do not look like them. Myself and the dedicated reporters who helped me put this issue together have spoken to so many students, staff and faculty members who do not have the privilege of feeling at home, or even safe, on campus.

Those of us who are lucky enough to have found a place that treats us well are often blissfully unaware of how the very same campus treats others.

My advice for people who look like me: listen more than you speak. Use your voice to amplify those of others. Educate yourself with the tools provided to you. Take The Social Construction of Whiteness (ES 381) and Intergroup Dialogues (PSY 304).

Take it upon yourself to be educated; it is no one’s responsibility but your own.

8 MISSING MINORITY 10 DIVERSITY INITIATIVES 11 LUKE AUSTIN FRANCIS 12

AIDAN MCGLOIN | MUSTANG NEW S

A YEAR AFTER BLACKFACE Q&A WITH MAYOR HARMON & ASI PRESIDENT JASMIN FASHAMI

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Mayor Heidi Harmon and ASI President Jasmin Fashami talk campus climate, community diversity issues.

EDITORIALS

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BEING BROWN IN A CROWD OF WHITE

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THE LONG MEMORY

6 CAL POLY’S TIMELINE OF RACISM

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BY P R ERN A A N E J A

BY M A NU C H A H A L

19 A UNIVERSITY’S 19 RESPONSIBILITY

A DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

BY M O NI Q U E E J E N U KO

BY JO RDA N POH L

CON N OR F R OST | MUSTA N G N EWS

DIVERSITY IN CAL POLY ATHLETICS While more than a quarter of Cal Poly’s Black students are student-athletes, they have a greater portion of white students than the university itself.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION IN THIS ISSUE

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FRESHMEN LEARN PRONUNCIATION, HAVE TROUBLE SPELLING CHUMASH NAMES

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

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N A M E N A M E | M USTA N G N E WS

SOFIA CLARK | MUSTAN G N EW S

THE CAL POLY EXPERIENCE THE UNIVERSITY’S MOST RECENT DIVERSITY INITIATIVE

A L I SO N C H AVEZ | M USTA N G N EWS

BY AI DAN M CG LO I N

BY C A SSA N D RA GAR I B AY & ISA B ELLA PAO L E T TO University President Jeffrey Armstrong and Cal Poly administrators have said increasing diversity has always been a part of Cal Poly’s long-term goal. After the blackface incident in April 2018, however, Cal Poly’s struggle with diversity and inclusion came to the forefront of campus conversation once again.

With the help of diversity specialist Damon Williams and his Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation team, Cal Poly released their Cal Poly Experience (CPX) campaign Feb. 28.

Prior to Cal Poly’s $243,000 partnership with Williams, which was announced Jan. 24, Cal Poly administration attended Williams’ National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy and began building a relationship with him.

University administrators said it is still being determined where the money for Williams’ partnership is coming from. However, they assured Mustang News the money to pay for the partnership would not be taken from tuition, the general fund or student fees.

“We wanted the best for Cal Poly, so we got the best, one of the best experts,” Interim Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Julie Garcia said. “Like I said, he literally wrote the book on it; he has a book called ‘The Chief Diversity Officer.’”

Williams spoke at Cal Poly in Oct. 2018 and again in late January. He visited again from March 12 through 14, to conduct listening sessions as part of the first phase of the CPX plan.

Williams previously used his survey and assessment methods at the University of Michigan and other universities nationwide.

“They created the instrument and it is a validated survey that has been used by other leading experts, like the University of Michigan,” Garcia said.

What CPX is

The acronym “CPX” stands for Cal Poly experience, and the ‘X’ represents the crossroads where data and the action plan come together and create change, Director of Marketing and Communications for Student Affairs Yukie Murphy said.

The two-phase action plan began with 50 sessions conducted with three different focus groups to assess the experiences of faculty, students and staff. Sessions were confidential and open to the entire campus.

Garcia said Cal Poly felt students and faculty may be more willing to share their experience with a third party rather than administration.

Confidentiality was also intended to allow the Cal Poly community to feel comfortable sharing grievances with the university.

To gather more data, a campus-wide survey was administered Tuesday, April 9 to students and staff and will stay open for four weeks. Both the listening sessions and survey will be used to collect information over a six-month period on topics like retention rates and graduation gaps.

Alumni and any faculty or students who have left the university will not be included in the survey.

The data will be used to help shape what the university will pri-

oritize when it comes to diversity and inclusion and will impact the final Action Plan.

While students are not required to take the survey, there will be stations with laptops as well as spaces to talk about the survey with others around campus from April to May. Cal Poly’s last campus climate survey was in 2014, but the less than 30 percent response rate made it difficult to utilize the information, administrators said.

“We hope that every member of our campus community will participate in these confidential opportunities to share their perspectives and experiences related to equity, diversity and inclusion at Cal Poly,” Armstrong said in a news release.

Administrators said the survey conducted by Williams and his team is expected to yield a higher response rate than the last, given that there were listening sessions and outreach coordinated beforehand.

Another difference to note is the final step in the initiative process, which is a Leadership Institute consisting of workshops and score card trainings.

In June, Williams and his team will present Cal Poly with data analysis and a report including recommendations for the university. The initiative process will foreshadow the plan concerning diversity and inclusion for the next five years.

“It is a 12-month process, not just a survey. It is many different parts and facets,” Garcia said. “I think there is much more opportunity to create the data to help inform lasting change and also help us prepare for that.”

Students living in the yakʔitʸutʸu living community say they can pronounce the residence hall names, but still have trouble spelling them.

The yakʔitʸutʸu halls, meaning “our community” in the Northern Chumash language tiłhini, were named after tribal sites across the San Luis Obispo area.“I know how to pronounce it, everyone knows how to pronounce it. People who don’t live here don’t know how to pronounce it,” kinesiology freshman and tsɨtqawɨ resident Jenner Sapienza said.

Sapienza said he had not learned anything about the Chumash except that they were indigenous and had their own language. He does not know what was Chumash land and what was not. He said some students living in the residence halls consider the names to be the bare minimum for the university to do, and are just a front to give the impression that the university is culturally connected.

The Northern Chumash did not respond to requests for comment.

At first, freshmen called the building “t-shit-kawa,” business administration freshman Shaun Riley said. That mispronunciation was due to a spelling mistake in the sign that University Housing first installed. After a week of resident advisors’ help, Riley said the correct pronunciation caught on.

Even then, the majority of students still say “YTT,” or refer to the buildings by their building numbers, he said.

The names were a positive step for the university to take, Riley said, who has learned more about Chumash history through the train-

ing he underwent to lead tours.

“You can’t change history, but you can acknowledge it.”Students were interested in learning correct pronunciation, University Housing Assistant Director of Outreach and Communications Nona Matthews wrote in an email to Mustang News.

English professor Alicia Moretti leads a class that educates students on the characters in the Chumash names, Matthews said, and University Housing requires yakʔitʸutʸu education in resident advisor, new housing staff and campus tour training.

Tiłhini was recorded between 1912 and 1917 by linguist John P. Harrington with the help of Chumash woman Rosario Cooper, according to the Northern Chumash website. The Chumash use the International Phonetic Alphabet to express their sounds, which is why unfamiliar characters are in the building names, like rising accents (š or ě) and the l-bar (ɨ) are included. The rising accent means the character tone should rise, and the l-bar indicates a vowel made with the tongue in the center of the mouth and the lips open, according to the International Phonetic Association.

The residence halls’ layout is a map of Northern Chumash land, with tiłhini, meaning place of the full moon and the Chumash name for San Luis Obispo, tsɨtkawayu, meaning Place of the Horses and the Chumash name for Cambria, and tsɨtpxatu, meaning Place of the Whales and the Chumash name for Avila Beach, all laying in proportion to their physical locations in relation to themselves, the local hills and other locations across San Luis Obispo County like Morro Bay, Paso Robles and Nipomo.

A CONVERSATION ON CAMPUS & COMMUNITY CLIMATE

USING PRIVILEGE TO LEVERAGE OTHERS’ VOICES

BY QUINN FI SH

BY CASSA N DRA GA R IB AY & AUST IN LIN THICU M San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon and Associated Students, Inc. President and political science junior Jasmin Fashami sat down with Mustang News for a Q & A about the blackface last April. The questions and responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Is the blackface incident something that you could have seen coming?

HARMON: I mean I think it’s shocking, but not necessarily surprising, although I do think that what I had experienced in the past was more of a culture of whiteness in general and maybe what students and community members would have experienced more on the microaggression level, which doesn’t necessarily make it less harmful, but it’s a different type of experience. I think that most people on the campus and in the community are truly good people and are well intended, but even those folks, and I include myself in that category, are not always engaging on this issue in a way that’s helpful.

So, I think that’s something I’m really working on personally.

FASHAMI: I knew that our demographic on campus leads way to a lot of those unconscious bias incidents happening or even some overt ones like this. Like I mentioned, my first initial reaction was shock. You know, we are mostly 18 to 24 year-olds and we’re pretty well-educated, we’ve come to a very selective university, it almost seems like, ‘Why is this something that’s happening on a campus where you would think that people have a better social understanding of what is and isn’t OK to do or feel or say especially about student groups on this campus that are very noticeably as present or as included?’ And I think that was my first initial reaction, like really? This can’t be serious.

Q: In the days that followed [the blackface incident], what was the [community] response? Did you do anything for the community?

HARMON: I think one of the things that I am learning over the

course of this incident, but just really certainly this is just one of a series of racist acts in this country so it is a much bigger issue than Cal Poly or the community of San Luis Obispo and one of my big learnings, is to take a step back and listen. Ii mean of course I am in support of and in solidarity with all people and feel a special opportunity to stand with people that need extra support for whatever reason but really wanting to in the aftermath of this specific incident and just around this issue in general, as a white woman in particular, making sure that I’m listening before I’m speaking.

FASHAMI: My first thought was ‘Okay I really need to listen to the groups that have been specifically targeted by this action and not this one action but again the years and years of things that really make these underrepresented groups feel less included here on this campus.’

Q: What have the lasting impacts been on both the larger community and Cal Poly in your opinion?

HARMON: I’m a Cal Poly grad and so I moved to San Luis [Obispo] 30 years ago and I remember when I was coming up here, I had a Black male friend that had thought about also going to Cal Poly and had decided not to. And when I asked him why, he said because he’ll never get a date there, ‘Because there won’t be any black girls there and I won’t be able to find someone to date’ was his main reason. So this is 30 years ago. And I remember how much that struck me because that was something I realized without having the language then, that I had that privilege, I didn’t have to think about those things ever. I had thought about him again last year when this incident came up and thought, you know how right he might’ve been to have a concern about coming to Cal Poly and it’s too bad that in those 30 years since he shared that fear and that concern that it doesn’t seem like there’s been a lot of progress, even though the data might support a different story. But I think the impression of both the campus and the community is still somewhat the same. And I think there’s an opportunity and it also puts pressure on the students of color that do choose to come to

Cal Poly … It puts an added layer on students who make that choice.

They are a part of a culture shift that’s really essential and valuable.

That they’re actual presence here on campus is essential for [that].

And so I think that that takes courage and also adds a layer for those students.

FASHAMI: I think like we mentioned the data might show some improvement in terms of, you know, the statistics of what’s changing. But I think those attitudes of unconscious bias and whatever else it might be are still very present.

And so I think the mentality that I’ve seen in both in government and the general student body is that we might be doing better, but there’s still a long way of going. So there’s no stopping, there’s no slowing down. It’s just, ‘OK, this issue is still hurting,’ even though it happened a year ago.

There’s a lot of issues that have happened in the past. There’s no point where it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re done now. Like this is enough of an issue or this has been resolved enough that we can stop and like we’d done our job.’ And so I think the attitude I’ve seen is like, ‘How can we continue learning about other people and like where they come from and how to be accepting of that? How can we continue creating new initiatives to support these students or whatever else it might be?’ Whether that is within student government or advice to administration.

At a predominantly white university like Cal Poly, with more white students than any other public university in California at 54.6 percent of the student population, most students do not hold marginalized identities.

For the rest of campus, some feel their only allies — groups who act together to support more marginalized groups — are members of other marginalized groups.

Sociology and psychology senior Olivia Gore, president of the Black Student Union (BSU), said she could count on one or two hands the number of white students who attended BSU’s meetings or even asked about anything BSU-related in her time at Cal Poly. She said she thinks many white people do not understand how to act as allies.

“It’s as simple as showing up to a meeting or coming to an event or something like that, just showing your face essentially, and doing your own work to call out racism, like if you hear something in a class, calling it out and not leaving it to the people of color to bear the weight of that,” Gore said. “I think a lot of it is a lot of people don’t know how to be an ally, and so they never really seek out learning how to, either.”

Beya Montero-Makekau, the lead coordinator for multicultural initiatives for the Cross Cultural Centers, said she thinks the term “ally” is often used for people to hide behind so as not to seem racist or exclusive.

“Allyship starts with intention, but it exists with that commitment in education to doing the work. My favorite phrase is ‘ally is a verb,’ you have to do the work. You can’t just decide that you’re going to be an ally,” Montero-Makekau said. “Being an ally is putting some of that uncomfortability and that guilt or that selfishness about your own feelings aside and showing up into spaces, maybe fumbling through something, maybe getting it wrong, maybe being uncomfortable, because you have the privilege to do those kinds of things.”

Ethnic studies freshman Manu Chahal came to Cal Poly in the fall because, he said, he felt responsible for helping improve campus climate issues. He served as a diversity commissioner at his high school in Sacramento and saw Cal Poly as an opportunity to make a much needed change.

Chahal said he thinks many people misunderstand privilege. He gave the metaphor of a bus, where the most privileged are at the front, the most marginalized at the back. Those on the back can see everything in front of them, while those at the front never think to look back.

“Why would you want to look back?

You’re in a good place, you’re getting everything you could’ve wanted,” Chahal said.

Chahal said he prefers the term “accomplice” to “ally.” He said it is not an identity, but rather a realization that one group’s liberation is tied to the liberation of the whole.

“My liberation is tied to your liberation, that is a core,” Chahal said.

“Realizing that it is about you is so important. [Allyship] is not about pitying others. You’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it for you.”

Electrical engineering senior Alejandro Bupara said it can be hard to cultivate the empathy and compassion it takes to stand up for others.

He said society’s emphasis on individualism socializes people into forgetting to care about those who do not look like them.

“Everyone needs to be doing the internal work and learning how systems of oppression work and how we perpetuate them and actively work on that and to give our space and resources to people more marginalized than ourselves,” Students for Quality Education organizer Bupara said.

San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon said that as a white woman, she knows she will make mistakes in the fight for equity.

“I also know that if I don’t show up and do the work for myself and for this community, that that is 100 percent the wrong thing to do,” Harmon said. “So I am willing to do the work knowing that I’m going to make mistakes and inadvertently probably hurt feelings and all of those things in order to get to that better place.”

Harmon invites other persons with privilege to join her in the challenges of creating a more dynamic, equitable and inclusive community.

“We need allies for this work, we cannot do it alone,” Montero-Makekau said.

The Pride Faculty Staff Association website has resources and events for allies to get more involved and learn what it means to show up for others.

5 TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

Q&A WITH JASMIN & HEIDI

ALLYSHIP ON CAMPUS

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

6

APRIL

MARCH

2008 OCTOBER

A noose, Confederate flag and a sign with racist and homophobic slurs is found at the Crop Science House on campus.

A racist flyer that included “the final solution to the BLACK (sic) problem” was posted in the Robert E. Kennedy Library men’s restroom.

2011

2013 NOVEMBER

The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity hosted a “Colonial Bros and Nava-hos” party.

The Armenian Students Association created a map of the Ottoman Empire on Dexter Lawn to memorialize Armenian genocide. The piece of the map that included Armenia was stolen.

2015

FEBRUARY

An engineering student’s Poly Canyon Village apartment was vandalized with racist slurs and swastikas.

NOVEMBER

SLO Solidarity Organizer Matt Klepfer received a death threat from alumnus Charles Bird, which included a Jewish slur.

2016

Islamophobic, transphobic, racist and sexist messages were written on the Cal Poly College Republicans’ Free Speech Wall.

CAL POLY’S TIMELINE OF

RACISM

BY I S A B EL H U G H E S

Brad Purpura, a student leader of a protest responding to racist symbols found on campus said “Cal Poly should have been proactive and not reactive. This is completely uncalled for. It’s 2008,” in an interview with Mustang News on Oct. 30, 2008.

The protest was in response to a noose, Confederate flag and a sign with racial and gay slurs displayed at an on-campus Crop Science House at the end of an unmarked dirt road off Highland Drive. Cal Poly administration cited free speech as a defense for these racist symbols. Cal Poly did not take action against the students living in the on-campus house.

Ten years later, Purpura’s state-

ment proved to still be relevant after Lambda Chi Alpha member Kyler Watkins appeared in blackface at a “gangster” themed party in April 2018.

Watkins wearing blackface at a “gangster”-themed party made international headlines and revived the conversation surrounding Cal Poly’s racist history. Lambda Chi hosted their gangster-themed party and Kyler Watkins wore blackface during the same weekend Poly Cultural Weekend (PCW) was held.

This was not the first time blackface appeared at Cal Poly. Through the early 1900s, 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Cal Poly students performed minstrel shows in blackface. Blackface was used throughout the 19th century into the 20th century in minstrel shows in which white ac-

tors painted their faces black to mock African-Americans through dehumanizing stereotypes. Black actors who took part in minstrel shows were also subject to wearing blackface, which further reinforced stereotypes.

According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture website, “Minstrelsy, comedic performances of “blackness” by whites in exaggerated costumes and make-up, cannot be separated fully from the racial derision and stereotyping at its core.”

The museum also notes that the influence on American society by minstrelsy and racial stereotyping cannot be overplayed.

All Cal Poly students have access to a documentary called “Ethnic Notions” about African-American stereotypes and blackface on Kanopy through their Cal Poly portal.

American fraternities at predominantly white universities have perpetuated the practice of blackface in the past. In 2015, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority threw a “Kanye Western” themed party at UCLA where students were seen wearing blackface.

In 2012, two members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Florida wore blackface to a party.

In 1992, Sigma Alpha Epsilon threw

a “jungle party” at Texas A&M University in which students wore blackface and grass skirts and participated in “slave hunts,” according to BuzzFeed.

In Casey Quinlan’s article “Fraternities Were Built On Racism.

So Why Are We Surprised When They Do Racist Things?”, Quinlan explains the foundation and historical context of the development of fraternities in the United States.

She references Lawrence Ross’ book “Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses” to explain many white peoples’ “colorblind” defense to racism.

In his book, Ross states, “They don’t want to rock the boat when it comes to race. They see themselves as colorblind. Whereas young people of color see race. When African Americans walk into a classroom, they can immediately identify every African American in the classroom, because they can identify how small the population is on the college campus. That’s because they see the world as it is, not as some type of mythical rainbow coalition that they want the university to be.”

In her book “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, Spelman emerita and

educator Beverly Daniels Tatum defines racism as “not only a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural messages and institutional policies and practices as well as the beliefs and actions of individuals. In the context of the U.S., this system clearly operates to the advantage of Whites and to the disadvantage of people of color.”

At Cal Poly, Phi Sigma Kappa’s 2013 “Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos” themed party made national headlines.

Since November 2011, the Cal Poly College Republicans have erected a “Free Speech Wall” on Dexter Lawn annually. In 2015 and 2016, islamophobic, homophobic and racist messages were written on the wall, which stood for one week each November. The Cal Poly College Republicans just opened their Free Speech Gallery on Dexter Lawn, which will stand from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 8-11.

At an emergency townhall on April 9, 2018 organized by Leilani Hemmings-Pallay, students of color voiced concerns about the blackface incident and administration’s lack of action, as well as microaggressions that happen at Cal Poly on a daily basis.

According to “Racial Microaggres-

7

JUNE

2017 NOVEMBER SLO Solidarity Organizer Matt Klepfer received a death threat from alumnus Charles Bird, which included a Jewish slur.

sions in Everyday Life” composed

by Columbia University Teachers College in 2007, racial microaggressions can be defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.”

Despite the term containing the word “micro,” these occurrences accumulate and undeniably make an impact. In “Microaggressions - Not Micro But Definitely Aggressive,” non-binary transgender rights activist L.J. Ferris states, “You may think a microaggression is nothing, it’s in the name, right?

Micro. Small. Tiny. Nada, nothing.

But it’s not. These seemingly small things slowly chip away at your self identity and self esteem.”

Racism in San Luis Obispo is not exclusive to Cal Poly’s racist history.

In 2011, an 11-foot cross was stolen from Saint John’s Lutheran Church and set on fire next to the home of a Black family. Three defendants were sentenced to prison for arson and terrorism with additional penalties for committing a hate crime.

In 2013, Buffalo Pub and Grill hosted a “White Trash” party which was advertised with Confederate flag flyers. In 2015, a “Black

A photo of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity members wearing culturally appropriative outfits was posted on Old Row’s Twitter.

FEBRUARY

A man passed out flyers with neo-Zazi sentiments outside the library.

Lives Matter” banner was cut down from where it was hanging at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in San Luis Obispo, and left folded in the churchyard. A new “Black Lives Matter” banner was hung at the church and then ripped down again and stolen in 2016.

San Luis Obispo County is less diverse than Cal Poly, with 71.4 percent of the population being white, according to the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce. As of Fall 2018, 54.6 percent of Cal Poly’s student population is white. Since 2008, the white student population at Cal Poly has decreased by approximately 10 percent.

In the last 10 years, Cal Poly’s African-American student population has decreased significantly, by approximately 46 percent. In 2008, the African-American student population accounted for 1.3 percent of students while in 2016 the African-American student population accounts for 0.7 percent of students.

At a student forum hosted by the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI), Student Affairs and President Jeffrey Armstrong, Armstrong said “My number one priority has been to enhance diversity and inclusivity ... obviously, we didn’t do enough.”

Lambda Chi Alpha members hosted a “gangster”-themed party and almnus Kyler Watkins wore blackface.

2018 JANUARY

Hateful flyers were posted around campus that included racist statements and statistics about African Americans regarding domestic violence, welfare, homicides and assault.

Cal Poly’s efforts to increase diversity include the creation of Cal Poly’s Diversity Learning Objectives passed by the Academic Senate in 2008. This states “All Students who complete an undergraduate or graduate program at Cal Poly should be able to make reasoned decisions based on a respect and appreciation for diversity...”

The Diversity Learning Objectives were modified in 2017 and currently read: • Demonstrate an understanding of relationships between diversity, inequality, and social, economic, and political power both in the United States and globally.

• Demonstrate an understanding of contributions made by individuals from diverse and/or underrepresented groups to our local, national, and global communities.

• Critically examine their own attitudes about diverse and/ or underrepresented groups.

• Consider perspectives of diverse groups to inform reasonable decisions.

• Function as members of society and as professionals with people who have ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that are different

Racist flyers, graffiti and vandalism were found in the Agricultural Sciences building.

A photo was shared on social media showing three Sigma Nu fraternity members dressed in bandanas, white tank tops, chains and baggy pants with the caption, “When you get he (sic) holmes to take a photo of la familia.”

NOVEMBER

A makeshift noose was found hanging from a laundry room in the Santa Lucia residence hall. Nooses have historically been associated with lynching and racism, and are illegal to hang in California.

from their own.

In 2010, the Office of Inclusive Excellence (IE) was established within the Office of the President. The IE Office was created with the purpose of giving advice and support to the administration. In 2011, Armstrong pursued a different organizational model for the Office of Inclusive Excellence that focused more on “everyone’s responsibility to address diversity and campus climate issues.” Later, in August 2012, the position of Executive Director for Campus Diversity was established.

In 2015, the OUDI released a seven-year comprehensive plan for 2015-2022 with specific goals and imperatives to foster diversity, inclusivity and a welcoming campus. Some of the goals established include exemplifying Inclusive Excellence in Learn by Doing, Scholarship, Teaching and Learning and enhancing the campus climate.

PolyCultural Weekend (PCW) is another way in which Cal Poly has made an effort towards increasing diversity. PCW was first facilitated in 2004 and aims to showcase Cal Poly’s cultural organizations and resources at Cal Poly to prospective minority students by hosting them for a weekend. In preparation for PCW each year, student leaders dedicate hours to planning and

coordinating an entire weekend comprised of activities, tours and performances.

Cal Poly’s Week of Welcome (WOW) now provides the Cross Cultural Experience (CCE), which is devoted to welcoming underrepresented minorities to Cal Poly.

According to Cal Poly’s WOW webpage, “This Week of Welcome option seeks to form a community for students who identify as a member of an underrepresented group including, but not limited to: various racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, and economic class.”

According to Armstrong, Student Affairs has doubled the capacity of the Cross Cultural Centers, which includes the Gender Equity Center, the MultiCultural Center, the Pride Center, and Men & Masculinities.

Still, Cal Poly remains the least diverse California State University and was ranked one of the seven worst institutions for Latinx student success in January 2018. In September 2018, Cal Poly also received the lowest score in California for representation equity, in a nationwide University of Southern California (USC) study that found many California schools are underserving Black students.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

APRIL

THE MISSING MINORITY:

LATINX STUDENTS

BY ISABE L LA PAO LET TO The original version of this article was written in 2017. Statistics and information have been updated to reflect current data, but all interviews were conducted in 2017.

As the anxiety of freshman year finally began to wear off and I settled into my major with fresh eyes and excitement, I was once again thrusted back into that familiar feeling. I was sitting in a journalism class discussing the ethics of when to use racial identifiers in an article when a girl proudly raised her hand and snarkily exclaimed, “I think it’s time we stop coddling minorities.”

Suddenly, it happened: that same uneasy, out of place feeling punched me in the gut with the same intensity it did my first day of college. However, this was not the panic of a freshman scared to be away from her home and family for the first time, but instead the panic of realizing that I stood out as the only minority in the room.

This was the first time I realized that not only did I look different than most of my peers, but that they saw me differently as well. To make matters worse, none of my other classmates or the professor chose to speak up on the issue or point out the flaws in the girl’s argument, however, neither did I. Since this difficult moment, and upon further research, I have discovered that this experience is not singular and is the reality most minority students face every day in their classes at Cal Poly.

Diversity In a county that is 68.8 percent white, according to the U.S. Census, only about 22.6 percent of the remaining population is Latinx.

This number is even more staggering at Cal Poly, where in 2018 Latinx students made up about 17 percent of the population, yet accounted for 53.2 percent of all seniors in California public schools, according to the California Department of Education.

So, why should this matter?

How it affects students

In a study conducted by law professor and Managing Director and CoChair of NERA Economic Consulting Jeffrey Eisenach, Eisenach found that Latinos make large contributions to the U.S. economy by not only yielding more than $1.3 trillion in buying power, but also by creating growth in national income and job creation.

Mexican-American agricultural business senior Melissa Quintero is originally from Salinas, California. Quintero’s hometown of Salinas has a Latino population of roughly 77%, according to the U.S. Census, which is a stark contrast to San Luis Obispo. For Quintero, this is an everyday realization which she said makes her feel out of

“Even just looking around in the classroom, I’m one of the few people that you see that are Hispanic and I try not to let that get to me, but sometimes things do feel unwelcoming,” Orozco said.

Cal Poly’s lack of a minority population may also hinder growth and success for white students. According to Brown University, a method of teaching that acknowledges, responds to,

African - American Hispanic

Ethic Origin

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

8

Native - Amercian Non - Resident Alien Unknown Asian - American Multi - Racial

California State University website.

Of all undergraduate students at Cal Poly, roughly 48 percent of students receive no grant or scholarship aid and only 18 percent receive the Federal Pell Grant, which is awarded to students with exceptional financial need, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

A lack of financial aid opportunities and grants for low income and minority students is a large contributing factor in keeping Latino students out of Cal Poly and the university demographics majority White, Navarro said.

“How do you do that?” Navarro said. “It becomes cost prohibited, you don’t recruit for that community, they don’t feel welcome, you know something is going on … we’ve managed to completely invert the numbers and ignore the vast majority of students in our public high schools in California.”

The University’s response

White 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percentage Source: Cal Poly 2018 PolyView

In the eyes of ethnic studies professor Jose Navarro, who has devoted his career to Chicano/a and Latino/a studies, if Cal Poly and the surrounding town of San Luis Obispo continue to segregate themselves from the Latino population, there will be major economic consequences.

The main consequence being a lack of new taxpayers to supplement the city’s economy and buy homes which will lead to wealth concentration and income inequality and eventually debt for the city, county and state.

“If the city doesn’t look to the future, if the city doesn’t look to these kinds of investments, these kinds of wealth concentrations, the kind of concentration you see here, the age gap, all of this will eventually create problems for us here in San Luis Obispo. We need to invest in each other,” Navarro said.

Rachel Marquardt/Mustang News

place and uncomfortable.

“I feel like I’m out of place, I feel like I’m not welcomed,” Quintero said.

“It’s very, very hard to make friends and approach people here because as much as I wanna say I don’t wanna use [being Latino] as a factor to make friendships, I kind of look for that for some kind of familiarity.”

According to a study conducted

by Brown University concerning the significance of diversity in the classroom, this sort of cultural isolation and alienation is detrimental to students’ success and learning. This sort of cultural alienation in the classroom can lead to students being disengaged from learning, the study said.

Mexican-American psychology sophomore Karina Orozco, said she knows this feeling all too well.

and celebrates fundamental cultures offers fair and valuable education to students of all races and cultures. If students are not exposed to a variety of ideas, people and cultures while at Cal Poly, they risk failing in the real world, Navarro explained.

“The students here at Cal Poly exist in a bubble, so that when they go to a place like L.A., San Diego, San Francisco or they go anywhere outside of San Luis Obispo, they’re going to have difficulty with cultural competency,” Navarro said.

Why this is happening Cal Poly’s current admissions process is called need blind admissions, meaning when a student applies to the school, only their grade-point average and test scores are taken into consideration while factors like financial need are not, according to The

According to University Spokesperson Matt Lazier, Cal Poly is limited to specifically recruiting more students of color due to limitations of Proposition 209. According to Ballotpedia, Prop. 209 “prohibit[s] public institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or ethnicity” and therefore eliminated affirmative action in California’s public universities. However, Cal Poly has tried to combat this through programs such as its Partners Program.

Since the late 1990s Cal Poly has utilized the Partners Program to recruit more first-generation and minority students by targeting high schools with high percentages of students eligible for the free or reduced-lunch program, Lazier said.

Aside from the Partners Program, Cal Poly has also recently implemented other ways to try and recruit more minority and low-income students, such as the Opportunity Grant, Cal Poly Scholars Program and the BEACoN Mentoring Program.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

10

MEET LUKE FRANCIS AUSTIN

AN ARTIST SPARKING CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE AND GENDER

AL IS ON C HAVEZ | MUSTANG NEW S

Art and design senior Luke Francis Austin said they like exploring concepts of colorism and identity in their paintings.

BY MICHAE LA B A R R O S If you walked into the University Art Gallery last May, you likely would have seen evocative art that touched on roles of race and gender created by art and design senior Luke Francis

Austin.

In one of their most well known pieces titled, “Finger Bang,” Austin depicted themself engaging in a sexual act with two versions of themself — one exhibiting stereo typically masculine roles, and one stereotypically

CO URTE SY | LUKE FRANC IS AUST IN

feminine.

Austin described the majority of their work as “abstract expressionist.” Abstract expressionism emphasizes the subconscious spontaneity within an artist, and originated in New York after World War II. The act of creating work in a field of predominantly white men is a form of rebellion for Austin, who is biracial and identifies as non-binary.

“I think it’s important to depict myself as an act of rebellion against traditional representation,” Austin said.

Austin has been involved in the Art & Design Department for less than a year after transferring from the Graphic Communication Department. They said that as of now, they are the only African American person in the Studio Art program at Cal Poly.

“Existing in a historically white space and in white spaces in general is very interesting to me and oil painting is historically a white man’s medium,” Austin said. “I think it’s interesting to interject my body into that tradition and see how it manifests.”

Because Austin said they do not feel they fit within the binary system, they chose gray as their skin complexion in a large majority of their work.

“I depict my figures in gray scale to de-contextualize them,” Austin said.

“In “Finger Bang,” with the two versions of myself having sex, I wanted

to talk about colorism and the preference of dark skin and light skin, and light skin being seen as a more feminine, desirable trait, and darker skin being seen as a more aggressive, less desirable trait. I removed the color and talk about it and pure color without race involved, just to objectively talk about the value of the color of our skin.”

Austin is also co-president of the revived Studio Art Club. After a 10year hiatus, the club is alive again, and they said both the studio art community and club are growing significantly. Luke said they are interested in what gets to be depicted and the meaning of being represented.

When the photo surfaced of former Lambda Chi Alpha member Kyler Watkins in blackface last April, Luke stood up in front of their studio art classroom and talked about the power a visual act has on a community.

“To make an image is a very powerful act and to understand the visual language is very important. It’s such an important skill to have and after the blackface incident, I got up in front of my class,” Austin said. “I was like, ‘Teacher, I need to make an announcement.’ I went off and was like, ‘This is an act of visual racism, it’s such a visually aggressive act.’ I just talked about how to include people, to have people be seen in an image in an art piece and to create discourse around this topic is such a powerful thing.”

Austin said they believe art has the

LU K E F RA N C I S AUST I N | COU RT ESY

and create discourse about topics that need to be talked about, that are just kind of tossed to the wayside,” Austin said. “I think it has so much potential to create so much change around campus.”

Austin said their piece “In My mother’s Bureau” is an image of them in a storefront window as a mannequin, wearing a wig. When they were young, they said they remember trying on different makeup and clothing in their mother’s room. Although Austin identifies more with womanhood than manhood, they said that as a young person depicted in the painting, they struggled to figure out where they belonged in the spectrum of gender.

“Something that I’ve kind of asked myself growing up and being half Black and half white, my parents would be like, ‘You’re gray,’ in the

A LI S ON C H AVEZ | MUSTA N G N EWS

potential to make a positive impact on the campus climate because it can evoke emotions and inspire change.

They said the act of creating pieces around their experience with race and gender is cathartic to them, but also aims to create conversation.

“I think that the art program and art around campus can inspire people

middle you know, right? I always felt like this gray blob of nothingness that had nothing really attached to it. And so, I think a question to ask myself is, ‘What is it like to be gray in a black and white world?’ What does it mean to be something in the middle in a binary-oriented world?”

DIVERSITY INITIATIVES EXPLAINED

11

BY I SA BEL LA PAOL ETTO There is no question diversity has been a longstanding issue at Cal Poly — from a noose, Confederate flag and racial slurs found at the Crop Science House in 2008 to the blackface incident at a gangster-themed Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity party in 2018.

But in the past few years, university leaders have called diversity a top priority.

So, what exactly is being done?

Here is a look:

Opportunity Grant Beginning in Fall 2019, all out-ofstate students will pay higher fees to go towards an opportunity fee to increase access for low-income and first-generation California students.

The Opportunity Grant will be phased in until 2022, with each in-

access that we would want them to have,” Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion Jozi De Leon said. “It is a barrier for some of our students that are coming from homes in which parents cannot afford to contribute as much for their education.”

Cal Poly is one the most expensive California State Universities (CSUs) for California students. It also has the highest student fees in the CSU system.

De Leon said the geographical location of Cal Poly and the demographics of the community may also be obstacles in recruiting more students of color.

Another issue with recruiting more minority students, De Leon said, is California’s Proposition 209 — which prohibits public institutions, like Cal Poly, from discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, race or sex.

M USTA NG NEW S | FIL E

Student groups protested Open House in April 2018 following the blackface.

coming class of out-of-state students paying $2,010 extra per year, according to a Cal Poly news release.

The fee will cover all campus-based costs that otherwise would not be covered by financial aid programs and will be aimed toward students in the lowest income bracket first and later expand to more students.

It will also be used to provide advising and academic support to students who receive the grant. Grant recipients will be required to live on campus their first two years.

“We know that if we are going to diversify our student population, we have to pay attention to those students who do not have the kind of

Prior to Prop. 209, affirmative action allowed for public universities to take factors like race and ethnicity into the admissions process. The purpose of it was to provide equal access to higher education for groups who have been historically excluded, such as women and minorities.

Speakers, Surveys and Initiatives Cal Poly recently unveiled its Cal Poly Experience (CPX) campaign, which encompasses listening sessions, a campus climate survey and an action plan.

The campaign is part of a partnership with Diversity Specialist Damon

Williams and his Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation team.

One of the main components of the 12-month plan is a campus-wide survey in April which is meant to gauge attitudes, perceptions and experiences on campus to then create an action plan.

The university has also implemented other programs since the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) was created in 2010. De Leon’s own position in 2017 was the result of the last campus survey and recommendations to elevate the position from diversity director to vice president.

The university has also expanded the BEACoN mentoring program, which connects and provides stipends to underrepresented students and professors to work on a research project, and has also increased funding for the program this year, De Leon said.

Some of the research projects last year included looking at the founding of Atascadero and its history with racism and colonialism, researching breast cancer risk in Chinese immigrant women and producing a Master Plan for the Merced River Trail.

In 2017, the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) conducted a diversity cluster hire to try to increase diversity within faculty. From the cluster hire, seven assistant professors joined the CLA. The university is in the process of hiring more faculty through the cluster in other colleges as well, De Leon said.

Part of the agreement for tenure-track faculty hired through the diversity cluster is that they must continue their work and expertise in diversity and inclusion at Cal Poly.

Those tenure-track faculty members will receive $10,000 to support their work in diversity and inclusion.

The funds will go toward participation in the BEACoN mentoring program, the creation or conversion of a class that includes diversity and inclusion, one presentation a year on a diversity-related topic, participation in the Teaching Inclusion and Diversity Everywhere (TIDE) summer program or the development of a startup or professional development support on diversity and inclusion related to the university, according to the academic personnel website.

“Another area that is really important to us is, how do we diversi-

fy our faculty so that students have faculty that look like them that they could work with?” De Leon said. “It does not necessarily mean that we have faculty that are from under-

do not feel it, they do not feel like anything has changed, while I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, so much has changed since I arrived,’” De Leon said. “It takes a while for for you to

D&I EXPENDITURES YEAR 2013–2014 2014–2015 2015–2016 2016–2017 2017–2018 represented groups, although that is important. What we want is faculty who have expertise and skill in embedding diversity topics into their curriculum.”

Why change is needed In comparison to other CSUs, Cal Poly has the lowest percentage of Black students and the highest percentage of white students.

Enrollment of some minority groups on campus, such as African American and Pacific Islander students, have fluctuated by less than 0.2 percentage points since 2010 — others have remained below 1 percent.

Cal Poly has also been ranked by USC’s Race and Equity Center as one of the worst public universities for Black students and one of the worst institutions in the nation for Latinx students by The Education Trust.

“African Americans seem to be targeted more in some of those incidents that have happened on this campus, quite frankly,” De Leon said. “It is difficult to attract people when the headlines read about blackface and the Crop House incident. That history lives there, and it is hard for people to overcome some of that history.”

However, any significant results, De Leon said, will take a while to actually happen.

“I hear from students that they

EXPENDITURES

$328,795 $384,240 $391,416 $639,277 $791,066 begin to feel that things have shifted.”

Students enough?

respond:

Is

it

After the Lambda Chi Alpha blackface incident, business administration sophomore Darian Dudley said Cal Poly has “dropped the ball” when it comes to mending the relationship between minority groups on campus and administration.

“I feel like after the Lambda thing ... it was just a lot of emails and a lot of talk and not a lot of action,” Dudley said. “They brought in some diversity specialist or whatever, but it is just them saying they are doing things, but not a lot [is] happening.”

While some students have noticed changes in university efforts when it comes to diversity and inclusion, there is still progress to be made.

“I mean there is the Cross Cultural Experience,” economics senior Arly Rivas-Lovo said. “They just started Core this year. It is creating opportunities for representative engagement. Changing a [predominantly white institution’s] climate will take time, and changing the mindset of its leadership will take longer. I just hope incoming Hispanic and Black students know these resources do exist.”

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

WHERE WE ARE NOW AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR CAL POLY

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

12

A YEAR SINCE BLACKFACE A LOOK AT CAMPUS CLIMATE

MUSTA N G N EWS | F I LE

Hundreds of Cal Poly students gathered April 13, 2018 during Open House weekend, asking for Lambda Chi Alpha to be removed from campus.

BY Q U I N N F I S H “Disappointed, but not surprised.”

When sociology and psychology senior Olivia Gore’s phone lit up with messages regarding a photo of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member Kyler Watkins donning blackface next to another fraternity member in a bandana and a drawnon teardrop last April, she said she felt jaded; that it was not the most outlandish thing to happen at Cal Poly.

The current president of the Black Student Union and then-treasurer said she felt disconnected from the rest of campus.

“We [as people of color] turn into ourselves and think about how are we going to heal ourselves and fix ourselves and help ourselves, because when [something racist] happen[s], we don’t really see ourselves as part of the Cal Poly community,” Gore said. “We see ourselves as outside of it.”

Beya Montero-Makekau remembers when she saw the photos. Montero-Makekau, the lead coordinator for multicultural initiatives at the Cross Cultural Centers, was coming up on the end of PolyCultural Weekend (PCW), an annual student-run weekend of events designed to welcome conditionally admitted high

school seniors and transfer students, when her phone dinged. So did the phones of all of her colleagues. One after another. She soon “kicked into a gear [she] didn’t know [she] had.”

She worried the prospective students would think her and the other PCW student organizers were frauds or that they had lied to them.

I kicked into a gear I didn’t know I had.

BEYA MONTERO-MAKEKAU

“We were working really hard to make a more diverse and inclusive campus for students at Cal Poly and committing to [prospective students] that this place and this campus is for them and that there is a community for them here and that they do belong here and that’s what we were doing when we received the information about blackface,” Montero-Makekau said.

The president of the fraternity initially described the event as a color-themed party. Just hours later, another photo of 13 members of the fraternity circulated from the same event, dressed in what electrical engineering senior Alejandro Bupara

described as “looking a whole lot like what [he] wear[s] everyday, down to the throwback Air Force 1s.”

The caption on the photo posted to Instagram by a fraternity member read, “She want a gangster not a pretty boy.”

Ultimately, Bupara said the photos felt “like business as usual.” Bupara is an organizer for Cal Poly’s chapter of Students for Quality Education (SQE), a direct action social justice organization on almost all California State University (CSU) campuses.

“It was absolutely infuriating and things like this are constant on this campus,” Bupara said. “Just about every year we deal with something like this, and we don’t even have time or space to process it a lot of the times.”

retreat just weeks earlier where he asked the students if they believed an event like this could happen on Cal Poly’s campus. The overwhelming response was no. He said the blackface was the first time he could remember having a physical reaction to an event that occurred on campus.

“I left that [retreat] feeling really good and after that happened, I understand it was one individual, but it was larger than that, because while it was just one, or those who chose to do those things, there were others there who were not active bystanders, who had to know, and not one was like, ‘Really? We’re really gonna do this?’” Patton said.

Whatever their first impressions — be it disgust, grief, apathy — none of them fully grasped the effect the events of last spring would have on their lives, the university, or campus climate as a whole. The photos quickly garnered international headlines.

Racism on campus There were others there who were not active bystanders, who had to know, and not one was like, ‘Really? We’re really gonna do this?’

JAMIE PATTON

Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion Jamie Patton attended a greek life

As a member of the BSU, SQE, the Queer Student Union, as well as a handful of other on-campus organizations at the time, comparative ethnic studies junior Leilani Hemmings-Pallay felt the responsibility to organize an emergency town hall the following evening. The event harbored more than 300 attendees from

all parts of campus. She said she felt it was the easiest way to have the conversation that needed to be had.

Hemmings-Pallay was a prominent organizer of protests that ensued in the following weeks and was outed as an organizer of The Drylongso Collective, an anonymous social justice student group on campus. She said she received numerous threatening emails, some of which were so aggressive she had to pass them on to the university and San Luis Obispo police departments. For the first time in her life, someone also yelled the N-word in her face following a protest.

“I’m not physically very domineering or anything like that and … [with] the lack of a population that looks like me or has the identities that I have, I’ve never really felt safe on campus,” Hemmings-Pallay said.

“In general, there are people that walk around in Trump hats or who walk around voicing their support of things that are actively harmful to people in general, but particularly marginalized people.”

Though she said she had never felt safe on campus before the events of Spring 2018, things had intensified. Her friends asked her to share her location with them in case anything happened to her, professors did not want her walking home alone after class, friends

invited her to stay over frequently, people even checked her apartment if they had not heard from her.

After a member of the BSU was spat on following a protest, Gore said she felt unsafe by extension. She felt vulnerable in a way she never had and said she felt she had to be extra vigilant. She was interning at the County Probation Department at the time and her supervisor offered to drive her to class. She sat in the back of her classroom and gave her a ride home afterwards.

“That was the only thing that made me feel safe,” Gore said. “I loved that she did that for me, but it is so absurd that I would need that to happen in order to feel safe on campus.”

The issue of racism is in no way unique to Cal Poly. However, there are a number of factors that lend themselves to Cal Poly being so ripe for situations of discrimination. For one, Cal Poly is the whitest and wealthiest public university in California.

In 2018, The USC Race and Equity Center ranked Cal Poly as one of the worst universities for Black students.

In 2017, the Education Trust ranked Cal Poly in the seven worst institutions for Latinx success.

According to the Institutional Research PolyView, as of Fall 2018, 54.6 percent of Cal Poly students were white, with a total of 11,888; 17.03

[With] the lack of a population that looks like me or has the identities that I have, I’ve never really felt safe on campus.

LEILANI HEMMINGS-PALLAY

“I think we know universities were historically founded for a specific person, and that specific person is the white cis[gender] male, that’s our history, that’s our reality, institutions are historically racist,” Montero-Makekau said. “So we have to be able to acknowledge and recognize that and I think that that systemic racism has been upheld for a long time.”

Hemmings-Pallay said that not only are institutions racist, but that the university is a microcosm of the outside world; she said there are many larger systems at play at Cal Poly.

“A lot of this isn’t happening in a vacuum,” Hemmings-Pallay said. “Things like spring quarter have happened before, they will continue to happen at Cal Poly and in the larger United States as we’re seeing with all these politicians that are having flirtations with blackface and all that stuff ... none of

it’s new or going to stop just because of how spring quarter went.”

The university’s response

Immediately following the emergence of the photos, President Jeffrey Armstrong sent a campus-wide email addressing the issues. The following day, the university as well as the national Lambda Chi Alpha headquarters suspended the on-campus fraternity. Three days later, Armstrong, the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) and Student Affairs held a student forum in Harmon Hall.

When asked why Watkins was not being expelled, Armstrong said the Supreme Court protects free speech and that “that’s the world that public universities live under.”

Nine days after the photos surfaced, Armstrong announced a temporary interim suspension of all Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council (IFC) sororities and fraternities. At the end of April, administration announced a partnership with Diversity and Inclusion Specialist Kimberly McLaughlin-Smith.

In early May, Armstrong announced that the university had turned an investigation of the blackface as well as a handful of other reported incidents of racially insensitive behavior over to the California Attorney General to determine whether or not the students had violated any of the university’s policies.

On June 7, 2018, the OUDI shared a 30-page “Diversity Action Initiatives” document with the community, outlining 137 ongoing, 21 completed and 34 future Cal Poly diversity initiatives, going back as far as 2011. The initiatives included a Student Diversity Advisory Committee which has since been implemented, a general education redesign, as well as introducing a 10-week diversity seminar for students.

In Sept. 2018, Armstrong announced the implementation of the Cal Poly Opportunity Fee, designed to provide financial assistance for low-income and first-generation California students through a fee paid by out-of-state students starting Fall 2019. Around the same time, Armstrong lifted the blanket suspension on greek life. New students also attended newly mandatory diversity training sessions during Week of Welcome. In October, IFC voted to lift Lambda Chi’s suspension, though they were still suspended from their national headquarters until April 2019. Shortly after, Armstrong announced that the California Attorney General found the blackface was protected by freedom of speech.

While the university has spearheaded a number of different diversity initiatives in recent years, the most

recent effort is the Cal Poly Experience (CPX), which kicked off with a series of listening sessions and will be followed by a campus-wide survey, ultimately leading to the development of an action plan. CPX was organized with the help of Diversity Specialist Damon Williams and his Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation team, a partnership that cost the university approximately $243,000.

The future of campus climate

Bupara said he thought it was silly the university spent so much money to get recommendations for the changes student groups, such as SQE and The Drylongso Collective, have been asking for for years.

SQE and The Drylongso Collective have individually published demands for the university, both of which include prioritizing student safety, allocating funding for marginalized student groups, and holding all organizations accountable for the actions of their members. They also both included requiring Women’s and Gender Studies courses as well as Ethnic Studies courses.

“The undercurrent of racism is constant here and administration has not done anything to meaningfully address that, they’re not addressing it at all,” Bupara said. “As always, they’re putting it on students to address that. We are not leaving it to them, we are fighting for us, we have told them what we want to see and we will continue to tell them what we want to see.”

Montero-Makekau said offering more scholarships and focusing on shifting campus culture and the university’s core values as well as zero tolerance policies would be steps in the right direction. Gore said requiring courses in Ethnic Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and/ or Sociology would help change the attitudes of students.

“I know as a polytechnic university, there’s a huge focus on STEM, but that might be a detriment to the students if they aren’t learning that blackface is wrong,” Gore said.

Hemmings-Pallay said she felt

[There are] so many people leading this effort and that doesn’t happen at every university.

JOZI DE LEON

many of the people on campus with misogynistic, homophobic, racist views, are never reprimanded for

having these views or even challenged in any way. She said the university does not actively discourage bigotry in any way.

Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Inclusion Jozi De Leon said sometimes students have a different view of what administration is doing and is able to do.

“Sometimes our students don’t see it the way we do because they’re not in it every day … so much energy is being put into ensuring we’re on a transformational path,” De Leon said. “[There are] so many people leading this effort and that doesn’t happen at every university. That’s why I came here, not only to be a part of that transformation, but to serve as a model for others” Though Watkins’ blackface is one of many blatant incidents of racism on campus, campus leaders and student activists alike said they were optimistic about the future of campus climate.

“Sometimes when something so awful happens, it also provides a time for growth. That’s hard to see at first, but when I look at the great work so many are doing to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion across the campus, and at the tireless efforts of so many who have been in the trenches of this work for so many years, I have hope,” College of Liberal Arts Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum Jennifer Teramoto-Pedrotti wrote in an email to Mustang News.

Patton said he saw the blackface as an opportunity to accelerate the change that was needed. Montero-Makekau said she is in this line of work because she knows the university can do better and needs to do better. However, she brought attention to the amount of recognition Watkins’ blackface received.

“I think it is an anniversary of blackface, but every year is an anniversary of some racist incident for some student ... I think we have to ask ourselves why we pay so much attention to this specific incident, why are we having these articles come out? Is it because it was a blackface incident? Is it because it made it in national news? Is it all of the activism surrounding it?” Montero-Makekau said. “You can go into our history ... and know that this is not an extreme circumstance, and I think that’s something our students kind of live with in the back of their heads, is why are we paying so much attention to this one incident when students have been experiencing these incidents from maybe the moment they stepped foot on campus, and are there news articles about that? It’s the anniversary of an awful incident, but every year is an anniversary of some awful incident.”

13 TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

percent were Hispanic/Latino students with a total of 3,708; 13.08 percent were Asian American students with a total of 2,848; 0.78 percent were Black students with 169; and 0.14 percent were Native American students with a grand total of 31. The surrounding city of San Luis Obispo is also significantly whiter than California as a whole, according to U.S. census estimates.

Bupara said he regularly experiences microaggressions — indirect, subtle, or unintentional acts of discrimination against persons with marginalized identities — on campus. He said women often clutch their purses when he walks by, his intelligence is frequently questioned, professors are less lenient with him than with white students, and he regularly hears white students make jokes about Black and brown people in class. Bupara said the microaggressions build up and put a toll on marginalized persons on campus.

“Even if you might not feel the impact in the moment, when you go home and sit down and think about the day, you’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, that was terrible,’” Bupara said. “A lot of us don’t even like to be on campus for longer than we have to.”

Though these issues persist at Cal Poly, Montero-Makekau said the issue is much larger and lies in the foundation of the institution.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

14

EDITORIAL

BEING BROWN IN A CROWD OF WHITE

BY PRERNA ANEJ A Prerna Aneja is a business administration sophomore and sports intern.

The views reflected in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

The Attorney General may have cleared the students involved in the blackface incident that rocked Cal Poly’s campus, but the lasting effects and the school’ history of backlash against minority groups can’t be pushed under the rug as easily. It is a well-documented fact that Cal Poly is not representative of California’s rich diversity, which is how I found myself being a part of a minority group at Cal Poly.

I was raised in the Bay Area for the vast majority of my life, and was always part of the majority group. My parents raised my brother and me to not be ashamed of our ethnicity and to embrace it. Living in the Bay, I never had to hide or shy away from who I was as an Indian-American. At Cal Poly, it’s so easy to stand out in a crowd of white as a brown person. I was aware of the culture shock I was going to experience when I toured

Cal Poly as an accepted student, but steps across the walkway, turned, I never felt alienated because of the saw us and said, “Oh my gosh! Why color of my skin until May 12 of last are you guys dressed like the Teleyear. tubbies?” My friend, who was walkJust a month after the blackface ing on the side closer to the girl, just incident, the Lantern Festival was froze, and I remember thinking, “No held, meant to celebrate all the culshe didn’t.” tures on campus; however, all the My friend, who had not yet expepositivity from that event was overrienced anything like this, was my shadowed by one person. My friend main concern. I remember holding and I were walking back to onto her shoulders and tellCerro Vista from the ing her to keep walkfestival and took ing with me and the North that the girl Mountain was high sh o r tc u t . and clearWe were ly didn’t going k n o w Blackface will one day become over our w h a t a sad event in Cal Poly’s history, perforshe was mance saying. but racial and ethnic issues will and how I don’t always be a part of Cal Poly.

I almost k n o w fell when a what’s sadgirl walked der: the fact out from a room that I ignored on the second floor her comment and of what I want to say continued to walk home was Palomar. With just one glance, or that I, like countless others who I could tell this girl was definitely have come before me, brushed the under the influence of something. incident under the rug by excusShe walked out the door, took a few ing the girl’s behavior because she

“

P RERNA ANEJA | COURT ESY

Aneja (left) and her friends at the Lantern Festival on May 12. 2018.

CON N OR F R OST | MUSTA N G N EWS

wasn’t in control of herself. That was a year ago.

My ex-roommates from this year were learning about Indian culture and would be watching the biggest movies and would ask me questions here and there. I don’t have any problems with that. I love talking about my culture, and it’s better for me to clear any concerns they may have before they offend anyone else, but I draw the line when it comes to the “are-you-actually-serious?” stuff.

I walked into the apartment after class one night and they were watching a historical battle movie with a strong female lead. They asked a couple of questions that I answered to the best of my ability.

The next morning, I woke up to one of the songs from that movie. Being the only Indian person in the apartment, I checked my phone, even though it’s always on silent, to see if the song was a result of my YouTube spiral. It wasn’t. I checked my laptop and it was turned off. Thinking maybe it was my Bhangra dance teammate in the living room who wanted to grab some food, I walked out only to see that the apartment was empty. I walked towards my PCV single room, and as I crossed the bathroom half-asleep still, I realized the music was coming from the bathroom. I thought “What the hell?” and tried to go back to sleep thinking this was all a weird dream. Maybe 10 minutes later, one of my ex-roommates

walked out, and I low-key lost it in my head. To give you all some context, the song was a battle prayer. I don’t know what she was trying to accomplish in the bathroom, but it definitely wasn’t deserving of blessings from the gods.

What I want to explain from these two personal examples is that conflicts will always arise due to differences in ethnicity. Some are minor conflicts, like not realizing the disrespect shown to my culture by playing a battle prayer song in the shower, or major conflicts like the stoned girl and her insensitive comment.

Blackface will one day become a sad event in Cal Poly’s history, but racial and ethnic issues will always be a part of Cal Poly. That is something that can only be rectified by increasing Cal Poly’s diversity. According to CSU’s Fall 2018 data, Cal Poly is 54.4 percent white. Although ethnicity plays a small part in one’s identity, it is one of the most salient; I speak for myself, not the Indian community or other minority groups when I say this: I don’t want to be understood.

I don’t want you to understand the inner workings of my ethnicity because I don’t completely either. I just want to be accepted for who I am.

My ethnicity is just a part of me. The truth is, us minority groups are here to stay, so just accept it and move on.

Deals of the Week

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

16

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

THE LONG

MEMORY

and pulling the victim card that it is actually leading to discrimination Manmit Singh Chahal is an ethnic against white men, they said. The studies freshman. This editorial does reason many people are not succeednot necessarily reflect the viewpoints ing is because they aren’t trying hard of Mustang News. This has been edited enough and are pulling their victim for clarity by Mustang News. card to justify their behavior, they said. Racism does not exist in our soSo, I was in one of the towers helping ciety and although a few individuals a friend out with her resident advican be racist, there is nothing presor (RA) workshop presentation and venting individuals from achieving as I was about to leave, there were a full freedoms and liberties in our sofew friends and acquaintances in the ciety, they said. They explicitly statcommon room, both Indian internaed that there is no problem and ‘why tional students. should they even go to such an event I started to talk to them about the when there is no problem that exists teach-in happening on behalf to solve?’ It was very frustratof the College of Libing because although I eral Arts, Student tried to help, I had Affairs, and no idea where the Office of to start and University what to say Diversity and what and Innot to It is for a better society that we clusion, say, and must keep going. a n d when I really tried to tried to tell them stress a b o u t the imhousing portance of discriminataking respontion, for examsibility for one’s ple, they could not own education and the believe that such things importance of going to events exist in our egalitarian meritocracy like the teach-in and the conference and that such things are only excusthat followed. From there, in the exes. planation, we got into a discussion I didn’t say much and just listened on the inequality imbedded into and realized I couldn’t do much; I our structures and the importance tried and, after failing, just extendof awareness. It was a long convered the invitation to the teach-in and sation and one young white woman, the CQS asking them to come not to who overheard from her room, also agree or disagree but just possibly came in and joined in the discussion. try to understand a different perSome of their points included that spective. inequality in our structure does not I was very frustrated because they exist because the American Dream — did not have ill intentions at all and which they said is not a myth at all were purely echoing all the words — ensures that those who work hard and ideas taught to them by society, do make it and there is no way anyechoing what they had been educatone can be born with disadvantages ed about, and that it isn’t their fault in our system of meritocracy. There that their society and their educaare so many people “complaining” tion had failed them. The amount

BY MANU CH A H A L

“

of ignorance and unrecognized privilege they had made me feel so bad for them because they genuinely believed in what they were saying with no ill intentions at all. I walked out of the room shaking and on the brink of tears.

I can only imagine that those are two students of the thousands at Cal Poly who probably share the same views — not having any ill intentions at all but just purely ignorant because of their privileged bubble they have lived in, protected by things like the American Dream and assumptions of those outside who are “complaining.” This was the first time the extent of the problem we are dealing with registered to me and how huge huge it really is. And thinking about this struggle — of fighting society for the welfare of society, of fighting those individuals for their own education — made me feel very frustrated, sad, almost hopeless.

However, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you of hope. I want to share the following quote with you all that a professor sent me that I have revisited so many times for hope that I hope will provide you all with hope in times when you need it.

“With the commodification of cultures around the world, most of us, if not all of us, live in market time, even if we are on the margins of the larger imperial system of our day. And market time is fast; it’s quick; it’s push-button; it’s 24/7 cycles of media. Whereas democratic time, which has to do with the kind of organizing and mobilizing [Ella] Baker was doing, requires a long revolution, in the language of the great Raymond Williams. And, it’s a long memory, in the language of Mary Frances Berry an John Blassingame, who wrote a wonderful book together, Long Memory. So, you get a long revolution, a long memory, a long struggle within democratic time; in market time: quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.

And the charismatic leadership is very much tied to market time. It’s fast, you

see. You want to get the cameras to to see those precious kids get mistreated in Birmingham, boom, flash. It’s all around the world, quick, quick, quick. Congress has to do something; the president has responded, telephone calls. And Martin [Luther King] knew that he had to live in some way between times, right on the thin edge between democratic and market time.

But that slow, bottom-up, democratic organizing that Ella talked about has always been associated with some of the best social movements.”

And... “That’s what we need so much more now in our situation, because when you actually look at what what some of the revolutionary solutions are, they seem to be so far-fetched, and usually when peoples see that, they say: “Let me go back to my careerism; let me go back to my individualism; let me go back to my hedonism; let me go back to my narcissism.” And Martin and Malcolm [X], with tears flowing as they both, in their sacrificial and magnificently loving ways, say: “No, just because the solutions are far-fetched, it doesn’t mean you sell your soul for a mess of pottage.” That’s not the conclusion. It’s not only about being successful. This is fundamentally about being faithful to the freedom struggle that has brought us as far as it has.”

And walking out of that room as I was shaking and having my moment, I told myself that we can not return to our individualism, hedonism, etc. because it is for those folx like those two students — whom society has failed and who have become pray

MA N MI T C H A H A L | COU RT ESY

to myths like the American Dream — that we must keep going. It is for a better society that we must keep going. And maybe we won’t be successful in figuring all of this “mess of pottage” out as it is so structural and large. But, as Archbishop Romero said, “If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadorian people.” I think as we go on this struggle, knowing that this large struggle against these inequalities that seem so immortal and self-reproducing are being fought by revolutionaries like Dr. King and Alice Paul and Romero who died fighting against inequality and it is they who immortally continue to fight as they rise again through people as we sit here and take inspiration in them and keep going. So we must also continue fighting.

And as Dr. King moved forward with hope and faith believing that “we shall overcome,” we also must keep fighting for ourselves, for our university, for our people, for our society, and fight without hesitation and with much hope that we shall overcome, some day, because deep in our hearts, we do believe, that we shall overcome, some day.

I hope this helped. I just wanted to affirm that although we have a long way to go and there are times that really put into perspective how long “long” is and make traveling the distance seem impossible, we must keep going. For love, for empathy, for respect. For humanity.

17

WELCOME BACK, LAMBDA CHI WE HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN

C AL ISTA LAM | MUSTANG NEW S

BY LI LLY L E IF Lilly Leif is an English sophomore and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Winter Rush 2019 for IFC included Lambda Chi Alpha, who during Spring 2018 was suspended due to their blackface incident. The fraternity was initially placed on indefinite suspension, which proved to be very short-lived, seeing as they participated in Winter Rush last quarter. The inclusion of Lambda Chi grossly indicates Cal Poly’s values as a university. Allowing Lambda Chi to participate in Winter Rush, rather than being fully suspended, denotes that Cal Poly offers little to no sympathy to the students who were genuinely hurt by the abhorrent actions that occurred last spring.

While plenty of apologetic emails were sent out to the student body, Cal Poly has proven yet again that reparations are not on the agenda.

On the contrary, the Sigma Pi

fraternity was recently placed on suspension for conspiracy to haze and providing alcohol to minors for five quarters. While their actions were deserving of discipline, I find it suggestive of what Cal Poly truly values as an establishment. The fact that Lambda Chi received barely two months of full suspension for a racially charged incident while Sigma Pi received five for something that was, while still inexcusable, something I view to be considerably less disgraceful. This reflects poorly on both Cal Poly as a school and President Jeffrey Armstrong himself. By reinstating Lambda Chi, this perhaps demonstrates Cal Poly’s valuing of financial gain rather than their students. Obviously the Interfraternity Council (IFC) is responsible for much of the money Cal Poly is granted and Lambda Chi had been a prominent and well respected fraternity on campus up until the incident last spring. Their reinstatement leads me to believe that the administration never fully

comprehended the extent of the fraternity’s actions.

Furthermore, there have been little to no reparations in the wake of the blackface incident. While at the time there was talk of how to promote a safer and more inclusive campus, there have been no tangible results. I understand that on a grander scale, little time has passed since the incident, as it was less than a year ago. However, because of the lack of response and implementation of anything resembling a step in the right direction, I find it difficult to believe that the administration genuinely cares about the students who were hurt and offended at the hands of Lambda Chi Alpha. Discussions of how we can improve campus have long since died down and students who were unaffected remain ambivalently so, while others who were affected remain frustrated at the lack of response.

I do not write this with intent to criticize the members of Lambda Chi, rather to point out Cal Poly’s

failure to recognize that lifting the suspension only reaffirms that the administration is not looking out for the students, but only acting in their own self-interest. As an overwhelmingly white campus, the slapon-the-wrist social suspension of Lambda Chi is indicative of the privilege that the vast majority of the students here possess. By facing little to no punishment, this only aids in reaffirming that privilege. This privilege has been made even more clear with the varying punishments and probations placed upon Sigma Pi and Lambda Phi Epsilon. Both fraternities were placed on probation for the same offenses — “Violation of Registered Student Organization Code of Conduct, Violation of health and safety, Violation of alcohol use, Violations of law, Violation of hazing & conspiracy to haze.”

However, while Sigma Pi was placed on suspension for the remainder of

the school year and social probation until Spring 2020, Lambda Phi Epsilon had their recognition fully revoked for a minimum of two years with the earliest time of reorganization being Fall 2020.

Sigma Pi is part of IFC, a predominately white organization while Lambda Phi is a cultural fraternity and part of the United Sorority and Fraternity Council. The discrepancy between these two punishments lies in the fact that Cal Poly places value more on the white organizations of campus. There is no reason these two fraternities should have different punishments. ​​​​​This is undeniably suggestive on behalf of the privilege that white organizations and students themselves receive.

It is extremely evident as to what Cal Poly places value upon as a university. While it is difficult to come up with a long-term solution to the passiveness of Cal Poly’s administration and failure to act on behalf of the students, reinstating Lambda Chi is certainly not a start.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

OPINION

PUZZLES Sudoku Fun by the Numbers Like puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku.

This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test!

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3

boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box.

You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

CLUES ACROSS

Guess Who?

Word Scramble

I am an actress born in Connecticut on April 13, 1988. I was in an improvisational comedy troupe at Yale University. I’ve gone on to be known for the hit drama “Girls.” My dad is a famous TV news anchor.

R Rearrange the letters to spell

*See answers at mustangnews.net/games-answers/

something pertaining to the environment.

T A E W R

1. Often romantic composition 5. Lunar term 10. California mountain 12. Spiral staircase pillars 14. “Heat” director 16. Tellurium 18. Gateway (Arabic) 19. No (Scottish) 20. Greek prophetess 22. A team’s best pitcher 23. Bard’s way of saying “have” 25. Indigenous group of the Philippines 26. Danish krone 27. Type of squad 28. Possesses 30. Part of the face 31. Very small amount of time (abbr.)

33. Churches have lots of them 35. Modern day “letter” 37. Della __, singer 38. Informed upon 40. Type of house 41. Folk singer DiFranco 42. A baglike structure in a plant or animal 44. Car mechanics group 45. Belonging to us 48. Pack neatly 50. Forming the bottom layer 52. How fast you’re going 53. Sea eagles 55. Cool!

56. Military mailbox 57. Type of lawyer 58. Type of monk 63. Respect due to an ancestor 65. Took to the sea 66. Members of a Semitic people 67. A way to march

CLUES DOWN

1. Political action committee 2. __kosh, near Lake Winnebago 3. When you hope to get there 4. Woman who followed Bacchus 5. Cause to become entangled 6. Green veggie 7. Stiff bristles 8. Pass in Alps 9. Atomic #81 10. A sharp blow 11. Bears engage in it 13. Prevents progress 15. Young boy 17. A way to go on 18. Not good 21. A ballet enthusiast 23. Ad __ 24. Bar bill 27. A genus of badgers 29. “No __!”

32. Get off your feet 34. Franklin was one 35. Removed 36. Used to catch poachers 39. Hit lightly 40. Crony 43. Stroke 44. One who obtains pleasure by inflicting pain on others 46. __ the ante 47. Greek letter 49. “Wings” actor Steven 51. Unhappy 54. Hair-like structure 59. Pick up 60. Type of transportation 61. Worn with a suit 62. Something similar to another already referred to 64. Farm state

19

EDITORIAL

idea that we are split among lines of race, class, gender, geography and Monique Ejenuko is a journalism jugeneration. The creator, Robert C. nior and Mustang News Diversity and Maynard, figured that to grapple with Inclusion Editor. The views represented this, we must first admit its existence. in this article do not necessarily reflect Secondly, we must train journalists to those of Mustang News. be able to discuss and report across these lines.

As a journalism major, Multicultural We went around the room saying Society and the Mass Media ( JOUR our fault lines that would possibly 219) is one of two courses offered for hinder fair reporting. In a class of a Global and Cultural Perspectives reabout 40 students, the majority said quirement; the class covers the inthey came from majority-white justices people of color neighborhoods. Some and other marginadmitted their alized communeighborhoods nities face at were both the hands white and of the meaffluent. dia. The They said It takes a village of people who c l a s s they felt also covit could want to see themselves and their ers how possibly stories not only represented in to prophinder times of racism, strife and erly cover t h e m failure. subjects, from resuch as peoporting accuple with disabilrately and fairly ities, by referring on marginalized to the person first, folcommunities.

That’s lowed by their disability. In all when I had a casual epiphany: I honesty, I went into the class thinkwas one of the only Black people in ing it was a checkbox for discussing the Journalism Department of about diversity. Not only did I have a great 250 students. The department is professor for this class, but she is one mostly white, women-identifying stuof the only professors of color I’ve dents with a small sprinkle of white had thus far. male-identifying students, with the During the beginning of the quarter, newsroom being no different. our text mentioned “fault lines,” the As one can imagine, it’s hard doBY M ON IQUE E JE NUKO

“

ing assignments when you feel so Black and ‘other’ every time you step foot in a 35-person classroom. I didn’t feel inclined to read the school news my first two years at Cal Poly because I never saw myself or my friends in other marginalized groups featured. Meanwhile, my Blackness is only mentioned when someone does blackface or when the Black Student Union has an event, but my white peers were covered holistically whether they were doing art or opening an online store.

Were marginalized groups not students, too? Were we only casualties and spectacles to be pitied? Did we not make art? Did we not achieve awards? Did we not have newsworthiness? Newsflash: We are students doing newsworthy things besides being a part of cultural organizations and suffering trauma after racial incidents. It seemed reporters were only stepping two feet out of their friend group to report on stories. It’s the onus of the reporter to seek out these communities and report holistically.

Mustang News is well aware of its negative perception among students of color and other marginalized communities. I think this led them to create my position last year of Diversity and Inclusion Editor. I joined primarily because while I worked at the MultiCultural Center, I saw marginalized groups only covered in times of strife or for club-affiliated events. Textbooks always stress for a more diverse

MON I QU E EJ EN U KO | MUSTA N G N EWS

newsroom, for well-rounded news coverage, but I knew then it would take hellfire to do that in a department that is a microcosm of Cal Poly’s diversity problem. Since the position is new, of course, there were no guidelines or precedent to improve upon. I am the guinea pig tasked with fixing representation with the help of one assistant. For two quarters, I felt like I was running around in circles accomplishing nothing. The goal was to improve coverage and relations with transfer students, students of color and LGBTQIAP+ community, and that still is the goal. This quarter, I’ve

decided to be more intentional with my approach and think long-term.

Instead of trying to tackle a recurring issue of representation all under one year, I’ll be focusing on structuring the position for next year by creating an advisory board filled with communities we need to better incorporate into the newspaper. While I don’t believe I’m a diversity hire, one Black woman can’t do it alone — it takes a village of people who want to see themselves and their stories not only represented in times of racism, strife and failure. If this this upsets you, welcome. Let’s get to work.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR A UNIVERSITY’S RESPONSIBILITY

BY J O R DA N PO H L Jordan Pohl is a materials engineering senior. The views represented in this editorial do not necessarily represent those of Mustang News. This has been edited by Mustang News for clarity.

J O R DA N P O H L | FACE B O O K

I believe actions taken by the university to deal with recent hate speech and racist events on campus have been token actions to deal with symptoms of a mentality that exists on campus and in daily life under the current political administration. Having attended Cal Poly for five years now, there has been a similar event every two

to three years that has caused large demonstrations on campus and nationally. The current political administration has certainly empowered such behavior due to the prevalence of similar behavior making the news and internet regularly. In addition, a low percentage of minority students means that the majority-White student population of Cal Poly has little to no interaction with other groups and therefore only knows them through an extension of stereotypes.

By not having any interaction, there is no relationship to the consequence of their personal behavior on the community. The only time the stu-

dents who commit these acts have any correlation to their behavior and the community is when it blows up in their face with social media coverage and causes campus-wide response.

For this reason, Cal Poly continues to see similar events on a regular basis every few years.

I personally believe the actions taken by administration have been ineffectual due to the repeated occurrence of hateful speech and racist events indicative of that belief, as the university’s actions are designed to be remedial to the students who committed these acts instead of providing a communal lesson to the incoming

classes. Universities, I would argue, have a very short-term community memory of no more than two years, as that is roughly the time it takes for 50 percent of the student population to be replaced as new students come in. Very few of the university’s answers to the events have been, for example, implemented in a mandatory educational class focused on negative cultural constructions for incoming students in Ethnic Studies, a major which is solely focused on studying socioeconomic and political relationships that create this behavior in the first place and is taught at Cal Poly.

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

FROM THE EYES OF A DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION EDITOR

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

20

EDITORIAL

REPORTING ON DIVERSITY AS A LATINA AT CAL POLY

Z AC H D ON N ENF I E L D | MUSTA N G N E W S

.

BY CASSAND RA GA R I B AY Cassandra Garibay is a journalism junior and news editor of Mustang News.

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

My name is Cassandra Rose, a name carefully chosen by my parents, Hector and Blanca. One that sounds nice in Spanish, but does not immediately give away to potential employers that I am Latina, something their parents had not considered for them, my mom once told me.

But my name is not the only thing that could give way to potential discrimination.

In second grade, two boys told me I was the color of shit. And that is exactly how they made me feel.

I didn’t tell my parents for weeks and thought it was my fault until one day I broke down and asked my mom why I didn’t have fair skin like her.

Now, it’s something I take pride in.

Since then, any incidents related to my race have manifested on a micro-level. And until my sophomore year at Cal Poly, I was able to ignore them, but now I am reminded on a near daily basis about the issue of diversity or lack thereof. Most days it leaves me exhausted and in that, I know I am not alone.

I grew up in a small, census-designated place, not big enough to be labeled a town. Madera Ranchos, sandwiched between Fresno and Madera, two minority-majority cities, is approximately 63 percent white according to July 2018 U.S. Census data.

I was the only person in my friend

group in high school to have a Quinceanera, a bilingual home or a large family. Despite these differences, I had a great childhood.

From time to time I would question if so-and-so’s parents didn’t want their kids to hang out with me because I am Mexican, but my parents told me not to pay mind to that.

I heard rumors that one of the few Black students at my high school switched schools because a drawing of a person of color being hanged was left in his locker, but it was never addressed to the school as a whole.

So going into Cal Poly, I didn’t fear a culture shock. I wasn’t worried about being a minority on campus because that was how I was raised.

And my parents always told me to push past that, to do my best regardless of people’s perception.

Fast forward — past the fact that I hadn’t heard Spanish my freshman year on campus until spring quarter, past the time someone assumed I was undocumented, past any and all other incidents I have long ago pushed under the rug and forgotten or laughed off — to the blackface incident.

I was an arts and student life multimedia journalist for Mustang News, but I always had an interest in news reporting. The day of the emergency town hall, the news editor at the time asked if I could switch from arts to news to help cover the events that followed the incident.

I didn’t realize the emotional toll that would come with it. At the town hall meeting, I heard many people bare their vulnerabilities to a crowded room.

And then I was tasked to go up and interview them in their moments of raw pain. Not for me, or for the benefit of Mustang News, but to share their experience and try to explain what yet another racist incident felt like to people who have never known what it is like to be told you are lesser because of the color of your skin.

And after all, that is why I went into journalism — to share the experience of people whose stories are important and yet so often left untold.

Most interviews were declined, which I expected. But it was whenever I asked for an interview and someone responded with something along the lines of, “How are you handling

this as a person of color?” I felt a mix of both gratitude and confusion.

While reporting on the blackface incident, I did not see myself as an affected person. I saw myself as a journalist, and as a journalist it was my job to remove my opinion from the matter. I would deal with my own emotions later.

But regardless of when I wanted to figure out my thoughts, I was put in a position of discomfort. Fundamentally, part of who I am is part of the hurting, affected community at Cal Poly. Another part of who I am and who I want to be as a journalist requires that I remain objective. (I was even nervous to write this editorial because I don’t want to compromise that, but after all, I can’t pretend to not have thoughts on an issue that gets brought up so often). And historically, the news media has not adequately or accurately covered minority groups, creating a general distrust or dislike.

It may sound a bit confusing, because it is.

I could not help but feel a connection to some of the stories shared in the town hall meeting room. And at the same time, feel as though I was an outsider to the community.

I was told once while asking for interviews that if they decided to talk to any media, it would be me. I wondered if it was because they felt confident in my reporting abilities or because I wasn’t white.

When the dust settled a little, I realized for me, the blackface incident was not a breaking point, but an event that shined a light on all the subtle things I chose to ignore until then.

In the aftermath of the incident, I continually struggled with my role in it all. Is continuous coverage only causing people to relive hurt? Is my work hurting or helping?

It’s been a year now and I still re-assess my role as a Latina journalist with every story or conversation about diversity. And as many people have said before me, the conversation is not yet over.

Moving forward I can only hope the conversation is less isolating and more empowering. And this year and the next I will use in Mustang News to help bridge that gap.

DIVERSITY IN ATHLETICS:

MORE WHITE THAN THE UNIVERSITY ITSELF

BY NAT HA N BRYA NT In April of 2018, a string of racist events on Cal Poly’s campus drew international attention and prompted the university to take action — from calling on California’s Attorney General to investigate the blackface incident, to establishing a $243,000 partnership with diversity specialist Damon Williams. Cal Poly’s ubiquitous lack of diversity was even found to persist in an otherwise diverse population: athletics.

teams like football and basketball, and I see a decent percentage of those teams are made up of African-Americans,” Pressley said.

“So, I thought it was pretty equal within athletics. But, then I think of track, and here I am on Men’s Soccer where there’s not a lot of African-Americans, so I can see how it adds up.”

Cal Poly Athletics’ diversity problem, while not an anomaly, is worse than other NCAA counterparts. The NCAA Race and

Gender Demographics Database reports demographic totals for diA Cal Poly problem or an visions and conferences, but does NCAA problem? not provide statistics for individAccording to data released ual universities. Yet, in 2018, by the athletics deBlack student-athletes partment, 61 peraccounted for 21 percent of Cal Poly cent of the Division student-athletes I student-athlete identified as population — 13 white in the percent higher 2017-2018 acthan Cal Poly’s of Cal Poly athletes identified ademic year.

Black student-athas white in 2017-18 White student-athlete population. letes accounted for The Mustangs’ 20 Di324 of Cal Poly’s 535 stuvision I teams are primarily dent-athlete total. This meant the members of the Big West Conferpercentage of white students in ence. The Big West, comprised of athletics was higher than the perCal State Universities (CSUs) and centage of white students in Cal Universities of California (UCs) Poly’s total student body (54.8 similar to Cal Poly, also has better percent). representation amongst Black stuBlack student-athletes, on the dent-athletes as a whole. In 2018, other hand, accounted for only almost 14 percent of student-ath8 percent of the student-athlete letes in the Big West Conference population. With a Black student identified as Black — 6 percent body of 0.8 percent, the 44 stuhigher than Cal Poly’s Black student-athletes who identified as dent-athlete population. The Big Black in 2017-18 represented more West’s white student-athlete popthan a quarter of Cal Poly’s Black ulation sat just below 42 percent student body at the time. compared to Cal Poly’s 61 percent Men’s Soccer senior Jared — a stark contrast.

Pressley said the visibility of AfriCal Poly is also far less diverse can-American males in athletics is when it comes to women in sports. deceiving to their actual represenThe U.S. Department of Edutation. cation Equity in Athletics Data “When I think of athletics, and Analysis (EADA) states females acI’m not trying to be rude to the counted for just 40 percent of Cal other sports, but I think of the big Poly’s student-athlete population

61%

in 2017-18. In the same year, women made up 47 percent of all NCAA Division I athletes. In the Big West Conference, that number increased to 53 percent.

21

40%

1/4

“It was hard at first, not being used to being the only Black kid in class ... It can be weird because you can kind of feel the eyes on you, especially when you stand up and speak.”

- DONOVAN FIELDS there’s not that many, so for coach John Smith to get that opportunity here, I feel like that’s a really big thing.”

Fields was right about the significance of Smith’s hiring. In 2018, Black head coaches held only 8

DI E G O RI V E RA | M USTANG NEW S

“I was thinking, ‘I’m going to California, I’m going to see everything in the rainbow,’” Pressley said.

However, during his first year as a Mustang, Pressley was just one of four Black players on the Men’s Soccer roster. During Fields’ first season

its Men’s Soccer head coach Steve Sampson with best teaching him how to deal with distractions in college.

“At the end of the day, we came here to get an education, and we came here to play soccer,” Pressley said. “It’s trying to figure out, ‘Hey, what do you want to be known for in college and how are you going to go about that? How are you going to be disciplined when other things all around you are falling apart?’”

Like Fields, Pressley said he enjoyed his time at Cal Poly as well. However, he also recognized those who did not have the same experience.

Pressley said a couple students who lived in his residence hall freshman year ended up leaving as a result of the university’s lack of diversity.

“There were times

“It’s trying to figure out, ‘Hey, what do you want to be known for in college and how are you going to go about that? How are you going to be disciplined when other things all around you are falling apart?’”

- JARED PRESSLEY where it wasn’t fun and it was like, ‘Ah, this school is super white,’” Pressley said. “But there were also times where you had a blast. Some of your best friends are here … I will

MUSTA N G N EWS | F I LE

give Cal Poly that. Despite the racial issues they’ve had, I have had a great college experience, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

TUESDAY • APRIL 9, 2019 | DIVERSITY SPECIAL EDITION | MUSTANG NEWS

percent of NCAA head coaching powith Men’s Basketball, he was one of sitions. Without historically Black three Black student-athletes on the colleges and universities, that numteam. ber falls to just 6 percent. In Divi“It was hard at first, not being sion I men’s basketball, a sport used to being the only Black kid dominated by minority in class,” Fields said. “It What has Cal Poly Athletics athletes, only 27 percan be weird because done to increase diversity? cent of head coachyou can kind of feel Though Athletic Director Don Oberes were Black. For the eyes on you, helman did not return a request for Division I women’s especially when comment, it is clear the department basketball, Black you stand up and is aiming to diversify its staff. On head coach represpeak. It just took of Cal Poly athletes identify Dec. 21, 2018, Cal Poly Athletics prosentation stood at time like anything as female moted associate head coach Caroline 23 percent. else.”

Walters to the head coach position of Representation does Fields said he learned the volleyball program. not improve when you move how to adapt and adjust About a month later, on Jan. 24, Cal to Divisions II or III, either. The 2018 to different situations at Cal Poly Poly Athletics announced Sara MacKCollege Sport Racial and Gender Re— something he said he worked on enzie as director of Strength and port Card by the Institute for Diverunconsciously every day just by Conditioning. MacKenzie’s hiring sity and Ethics in Sports found that walking through campus. However, made her just one of two women to in Division III, African-American despite Cal Poly’s lack of represenhold the position for NCAA representation was so poor tation, the standout point guard also Division I schools with that the percentage of said he is glad he chose to attend football programs. women coaching men’s the university. If he had the option, MORE THAN On March 28, teams was higher than Fields said he would not reconsider Cal Poly Athletics the percentage of coming to Cal Poly. announced John Afric an-Americ ans “In life, in order to be able to grow, Smith as the next coaching men’s teams you need to put yourself in uncomMen’s Basketball of Cal Poly’s Black student (6.8 percent versus 4.9 fortable situations,” Fields said. “For body are student head coach. Smith is percent). me, if I would have went somewhere -athletes currently the only Black where I was comfortable, I probably head coach at Cal Poly.

How have the numbers wouldn’t have grown as much as I Men’s Basketball senior Donovan affected the minority student have here.”

Fields said Smith’s hiring should atathlete experience?

As a student athlete, Pressley said tract more minority athletes to the Pressley said he was unaware of Cal the racist events that took place program.

Poly’s lack of diversity before he arlast April distracted “For a kid like me, I’m from New rived as a freshman in 2015. Fields from the two aspects of York,” Fields said. “Having a Black also said he was unaware, as his oflife he chose to attend head coach, especially in Division I ficial visit took place during the sumCal Poly for in the first basketball, because along Division I mer. place. However, he cred-

Name: 8356/Campus Dining; Width: 63p0; Depth: 5.17 in; Color: Black; File Name: :4-9-19 MD:8356-Campus Dining; Ad Number: 8356

FREE COOKING CLASS Can’t boil an egg? Don’t know the difference between blanching and braising? No worries. Campus Dining along with Cal Poly University Housing has put together a series of one-hour cooking lessons for the culinary challenged. Join us to learn how to make delicious appetizers.

See our Facebook events page for info.

LETTUCE CELEBRATE The benefits of this month’s Superfood just won’t leaf you alone! We’ve incorporated your favorite leafy greens at select Campus Dining venues to ensure that you’re filling up on all the vitamins and minerals they provide! For more info visit inside.calpoly.edu

#CHOOSEWELL Direct any health-related questions to the Wellness Team! At 805 Kitchen, Campus Market or The Avenue, look out for a Choosewell Ambassador wearing a green blazer.

They can answer any questions and are happy to point you in the direction of a healthy option.

SAVE THE DATES! Chef’s Table is back in action for Spring quarter this Wednesday at 11 a.m. The chefs will be serving up BBQ Pulled Pork and Mac ‘N Cheese sandwiches. Thrice as Nice is back on Thursday at 805 Kitchen and Dining will be out at the Open House resource fair dishing dining info and free samples. See our Facebook event page for details.

GET THE DISH DELIVERED HOT TO YOUR INBOX WEEKLY. SUBSCRIBE AT CALPOLYDINING.COM / THEDISH

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