05-07-2012

Page 1

Baseball falls in one-run games. SPORTS, pg. 10 Volume LXXVI, Number 117

Monday, May 7, 2012

www.mustangdaily.net

Students choose to ‘Sleep Out’ for homelessness MERCEDES RODRIGUEZ

mercedesrodriguez.md@gmail.com

Students walking to 8 a.m. classes on Thursday were greeted by a strange sight. More than 100 of their classmates were camped out on the cement in the University Union for the night. Wednesday night was “Sleep Out to End Homelessness,” a Student Community Services Homelessness Awareness Week event to raise funds for the El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO) based out of Atascadero. Student Community Services director coordinator and the event’s main organizer Camille Crenshaw said she was “very pleased” with the turnout. “I would say around 153 people showed up,” Crenshaw said. She said last year’s Sleep Out event was not as well attended — fewer than 10 people showed up. This year’s event included hot chocolate, ice cream, games and a speaker. Crenshaw said she thought the topics speaker and reverend Cynthia Eastman covered were apropos considering the event’s focus. Eastman is the founder of Common Ground Worldwide, a non-profit organization dedicated to building sustainable housing and donating books and warm clothing to those experiencing

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More than 150 students showed up for the “Sleep Out to End Homelessness,” a Student Community Services Homelessness Awareness Week Event. homelessness. Eastman was also homeless at one time. “It was amazing that we were able to have someone who used to be homeless present,” Crenshaw said. “That’s a side most people don’t get to say.”

Eastman spoke to the gathered crowd about her own experiences without a home. “When I was 13, I found myself homeless for the first time,” Eastman said. “It brings me to tears to see all the students out

here. It’s a sacrifice; it’s cold.” Though temperatures dropped into the 40s, most of the students stayed the full night, Crenshaw said. For every student that showed up, Student Com-

munity Services pledged $20 to ECHO. The Organization is a volunteer-run non-profit that offers meals, shelters and support services to the San Luis Obispo County homeless community. Due to high atten-

dance, Crenshaw said Student Community Services will have to do some supplemental fundraising to earn enough money to keep that pledge. It had budsee SLEEP OUT, pg. 2

Appointed committee to begin Success Fee spending SEAN MCMINN

seanmcminn.md@gmail.com

The team assigned to spend the money gained by Cal Poly’s Student Success Fee is set to begin a month-long process that will potentially end with more classes for students. The 11-person group, which includes seven students, held an initial meeting April 26 to determine how to best move forward in allocating the revenue brought in by the fee. Under the leadership of co-chairs Kiyana Tabrizi, the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) presi-

dent, and Larry Kelley, the vice president of administration and finance, the group decided to use a campus-wide poll via students’ My Cal Poly Portal to gain feedback on students’ needs. “(The poll) is to give every student an opportunity to voice where they think the funding priorities are,” Tabrizi said. The Student Success Fee, which students narrowly favored in an advisory refer-

endum last quarter, will bring an estimated $8 million to the university next year. As part of the fee’s three-year implementation phase, students will begin paying $160 per quarter next fall. That fee will increase yearly until it reaches its permanent cap at $260 per quarter in 2014. Cal Poly Provost Kathleen Enz Finken, who began working at the university in February, will follow in the footsteps of her

predecessor, Robert Koob, who initially proposed the fee. Enz Finken said she expects much of the money will go toward providing additional class offerings and furthering the Learn By Doing experience. “It’s going to impact us significantly,” Enz Finken said of the fee. “A large part of that money — based on the initial proposal and the approval that has gone to the Chancellor’s Office and the student voice in that vote — was soundly behind putting dollars behind providing classes for students.”

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It’s a real problem — you cannot underestimate the magnitude of the problem. JEFFREY ARMSTRONG CAL POLY PRESIDENT

But a governor’s tax proposal that will come before voters in November may interrupt those plans. The proposal gives California’s citizens a choice: raise taxes or face millions of dollars in budget cuts at state universities. Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said he has kept a close eye on the proposal since its inception. If voters do not pass the measure, he said, Cal Poly could see a $12 million cut as part of larger budget loss in the California State University system. “It’s a real problem — you cannot underestimate the magnitude of the problem,” Armstrong said. “Cal Poly has been managed well for a long time. We have one-time money that can help us get through another 12 months.

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But that really means 2012-13 will be very difficult if this full reduction occurs.” Because of this looming second scenario in which voters turn down the tax increase, Armstrong said he will encourage the allocation committee to create two different plans. One, he said, would include the $8 million in increased funding without any cuts. The other would anticipate a $4 million loss, the estimated difference between the Student Success Fee and the governor’s possible trigger cut. But Tabrizi said she believes one plan will suffice. She said Cal Poly has already lost so much money, another round of state cuts won’t force a major difference. “Our times are so tough that I think we’re already there in see SUCCESS FEE, pg. 2

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