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Take in the sights at Avila Beach BRENT LOWREY
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Katherina Koller walks on a stone path in Avila Beach, palms pressed together, making her way through a labyrinth — a circular maze with no dead ends. “It’s a metaphor for living life in a more peaceful way,” Koller said about of the spiritual maze, originally designed for Roman Catholic churches. “Too much structure suffocates life.” The labyrinth at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort is open and free to the public during all daylight hours, and is one of several places worth visiting on a cheap getaway to Avila Beach. Within a mile of the labyrinth, and less than 15 minutes from downtown San Luis Obispo, visitors can enjoy fresh fruit, a petting zoo and multiple day spas. Avila Hot Springs — which also houses an arcade, restaurant and family campground — was established in 1907 when a crew digging for oil instead came upon a natural hot spring. Original investors were disappointed. A century later, the springs attract thousands
of guests each year seeking rest and relaxation, manager Eric Snider said. Visitors may find themselves initially turned off by the hot springs, as a sulfurous smell lingers even in the parking lot. Sulfate, however, makes up just 3 percent of the pool’s mineral content, which contains mostly sodium and bicarbonate, but almost all of its scent. Juan del Mar of San Luis Obispo soaks in the shallow 20 foot by 20 foot mineral pool on a weekly basis. Between a refreshing cleanse and soothing hot water — cooled with fresh water 135 to 104 degrees — he said he tolerates the strong odor. “It reminds me of how good I feel,” del Mar said. “The relaxation is well worth it.” After five years of working at Avila Hot Springs, lifeguard Marcus Hodgson said he can’t even smell the sulfur anymore. Along with minerals and sunlight, he soaks in everything about Avila Beach and appreciates it all. “It’s the gem of the Central Coast,” Hodgson said. “If the weather’s bad here, you can pretty much guarantee it’s no better anywhere else.” Avila Beach maintains a warm climate year-round because most offshore winds are deflected by the due north Port San Luis, former ship-
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ping port of San Luis Obispo. Fresh food markets such as Avila Valley Barn have established a strong local following doing business during harvest season (May to December). Complete with its own bakery, sweet shop and petting zoo, Avila Valley Barn also offers excitement for visitors of all ages. The market is stocked fresh with any food a kitchen enthusiast might need in their cabinets. On weekends, customers can take a hay ride and pick their own fruits from the orchard. “They have things, department stores and grocery stores don’t have,” said Dolo-
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res Worden, while visiting the barn with her sister, Donna Dahlquist. “The food, the people and the environment are all very nice.” Dahlquist and Worden grew up in Arroyo Grande at a time when only men could enroll at Cal Poly. Now residents of Santa Maria and Santa Ynez, respectively, they still enjoy taking trips to Avila Beach such as they did as children. “We’ve watched it grow over the years,” Dahlquist said. “Pismo’s nice, but Avila was always warmer.” Not surprisingly, Avila Beach’s most popular attraction is the beach itself, featuring plenty of sand for games, bonfires and sunbathing. Beachfront restaurants such as Mr. Ricks and Custom House regularly feature live music for people of all ages to enjoy. Two piers — one for sightseers, the other for fishermen — are open to the public, and another is privately-owned and operated by Cal Poly’s Center for Coastal Marine Sciences. At the end of Avila Beach Drive, security booths and a gate guard the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, six miles up the road. The nuclear plant employs more than 1,200 people, and recently offered tours to members of the public in wake of safety concerns following the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. U.S. Highway 101 is the most direct way back to San Luis Obispo, but See Canyon Road offers a beautiful alternate route. The road leads over the mountainous, grassy hills which provide a view of both San Luis Obispo and the Pacific Ocean.
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Go country at The Graduate
SAMANTHA SULLIVAN samanthasullivan.md@gmail.com
Tuesday is Dollar Daze, Wednesday College Hump Night and Friday Noche Caliente, but Thursday marks the most popular San Luis Obispo night of them all — Country Night. The Graduate turns from a sports bar into a country-style barn dance every Thursday starting at 9 p.m., and DJ Rich keeps the dances kickin’ until 3 a.m. Even though some students
might say dancing (and country music) just isn’t for them, it is definitely something students should try. “Before I went line dancing for the first time, I disliked country music, and I definitely did not like to dance,” computer science junior William Starr said. “Now, I can say that I really like country music, and I love to dance.” Starr, who is also a member of the Country Line Dancing Club (CLDC) at Cal Poly, started line dancing his freshman year when his brother’s friend invited him. Now he dances at The Graduate every Thursday during the school year. Starr said he hasn’t missed a single week of line dancing since his sophomore year. Line dancing consists of several different dances, all varying in difficulty. Some are done in a physical line, some are couples’ dances and some are done in a “barn dance” style, where you rotate partners. Starr said there are at least 20 dances, and some are played more frequently than others.
“It can be fairly difficult if you have never danced before, but the CLDC offers lessons every week,” statistics sophomore Alyssa Davis said. “So if you go to those and try to watch others, you will eventually pick it up.” On Nov. 10, the lessons for the “Two-Step” were postponed because of some confusion brought on by the Chargers and Raiders football game, but the CLDC said they would have those lessons again in the coming weeks. Both Starr and Davis said they believe line dancing can be categorized as its own culture. Starr said the atmosphere of line dancing is completely different from real life. However, with the country music, cowboy boots and hats, it can still fit the stereotype — oh, and the denim and flannel shirts. However, a student, or community member, for that matter, doesn’t need all these things to go dancing. All you need is patience, a learn by doing attitude and a tolerance for country music. “It gives you a sense of ac-
WORD ON THE STREET What’s been your favorite experience in San Luis Obispo?
“Going to Morro Bay.” • Jake Troychak computer engineering junior
“Going to the beach.”
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• Lindsey Yero liberal studies senior
The Graduate hosts Country Night every Thursday, encouraging attendees to broaden their horizons and dance in line together to country music. complishment when you learn new dances and (it’s) an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends,” recreation, parks and tourism administration sophomore Rayna Davis said. “If you are not familiar with country music it exposes you to something different, expanding your horizons.” Starr also agreed every student should get involved with line dancing, even if they only go once. Starr said line dancing has a little something for everyone, and is something to
look forward to. “My mind is so hard-wired to line dance on Thursdays, that if line dancing was to go away, I’d be lost.” Starr said. The CLDC offers lessons at The Graduate every Thursday during school quarters from 8 to 9 p.m. The cover charge for the 18 to 20 age group is $10, while the 21 and over get in for $5, starting at 7:30 p.m. The club also holds workshops on Fridays at 5 p.m. in the Architecture and Environmental Design building, room 225.
“César Chávez day at Shell Beach.” • Grant Morgan mechanical engineering senior
“Going to Montaña de Oro.” • Kimme Huntington food science and nutrition sophomore
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Cal Poly grad becomes MTV career coach SAMANTHA SULLIVAN
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The job search process can be daunting for many, but for Ryan Kahn, it’s his career. Kahn, a Cal Poly alumnus, works as a Career Coach at Dream Careers, Inc. and is the star of MTV’s “Hired!,” a show that helps recent graduates land their dream jobs. His message for current Cal Poly students looking to land a “dream job” is to “focus while applying for jobs and gain experience through internships.” He said a common mistake people make when they aren’t getting interviews is posting their résumés everywhere online. He said when applying for jobs, you should focus on what you’re qualified for, and get familiar with the company. Even “liking” it on Facebook or following it on Twitter can be beneficial.
“I think what’s important when you’re applying is to really focus on companies and a position and go in full force,” Kahn said. “You’ll meet people who work there and build relationships with them. They hire people they’re comfortable with.” Kahn’s other tip for current Cal Poly students was to get experience through internships. He said internships provide valuable experience, no matter your age or commitment level to a certain field. “Internships are the best way to get your foot in the door and build relationships,” Kahn said. “If you keep in good relations, then by the time you graduate you will be first in line to get a job.” While at Cal Poly, Kahn was a city and regional planning major and spent his freshman year in Trinity hall, and he said the relationships he made at Cal Poly helped him
with his current career as a career coach. Kahn also said being a part of the fraternity Sigma Nu was a great experience and taught him how to be independent. “(Cal Poly) was a great environment,” Kahn said. “I had a very hands-on major and got experience building life-long bonds. I’m still in touch with some of the friends I made there.” Kahn also founded Rock Start, a charity that gives guitars to children who can’t afford them, and wrote “Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad,” which has sample résumés, cover letters and
more than 250 career tips. Stefanie Jula, who worked as an extras wrangler and set production assistant on the set of “The Dark Knight Ris-
See the Sunset (Drive-In) before graduation Erin Hurley is a journalism senior and Mustang Daily SLO lifestyle columnist. Now that I’m a senior at Cal Poly, I’m starting to realize that my time here is limited. When I was a freshman I thought these four years would last way longer than they have. Where the heck did the time go? Anyway, one of the things I promised myself I would do before I graduated from Cal Poly was to go to the Sunset Drive-In theater — the one you can see from the highway. There aren’t any drive-ins close to where I live in the Bay Area, so I was always intrigued. According to Drive-Ins.com, a website that provides information about drive-in theaters around the country, there are currently 366 open drive-in theaters in the United States. Twenty of those are in California, which sounds really low (it is), but compared to some other states California is lucky. The website lists Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Washington D.C. and New Jersey as having no open drive-in theaters at all. The peak of the drive-in era was in the 1950s, and the number’s been declining since then. So I went to the Sunset Drive-In last week, and I did it partly for you, my readers, so I could share the experience with you. A lot of it was for me too though. When you get there, you see SUNSET, pg. 6
see MTV, pg. 6
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wait in line in your car to buy the tickets, and the box office doesn’t open until 6:30 p.m. The first movie starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are only $7, and you get to see two movies for that price — one at 7 p.m. and one at 8:45 p.m. That alone is enough to get me there; nowadays, I have to really think about whether I want to spend $10.50 on a movie ticket or
If people are talking, you roll up the windows. If you want to stretch your legs, you can put your seat back and relax.
just wait until it comes out on DVD. But the Sunset Drive-In prices are awesome. When choosing a parking spot in front of the screen, there are poles approximately two car widths across that separate the spots. You’re supposed to park right next to the poles so two cars can fit in each space. And the parking lot has hills and dips in the concrete so when you park your car is tilted toward the screen. I got nervous that my brakes were going to give out because we were parked at such an angle (and my car is super old), and my roommate had to reassure me. You’re supposed to listen to the movie through your radio. They tell you the right frequency when you buy your ticket. I got worried again that having my car on for all that time was going to kill my battery, but at
ater, but you can make it more personal. Plus, there aren’t as many of the problems that you sometimes get in regular theaters. If people are talking, you roll up the windows. If you want to stretch your legs, you can put your seat back and relax. So if you don’t go to the drivein as a pre-graduation experience, then just go as something to be a part of before the concept of the drive-in theater becomes extinct. I think it’s really sad these theaters seem to be disappearing — it’s such a cool idea that you can watch a movie from your car. I love seeing movies in general, and so getting to see them in a really unique way like this is a no-brainer for me. I’ll definitely be going back at least a couple more times this year, so maybe I’ll see you there.
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es,” met Kahn in the summer of 2009, when she was going into her senior year at Clarion University in Pennsylvania. He was her career coach and helped her receive a paid internship with Broadcast Music, Inc., in Los Angeles. Jula said she’s bounced ideas off him and asked him for help with résumés ever since. Jula also read Kahn’s book and took a few tips out of it. One tip that stuck with her was to find a mentor. So, Jula emailed a few major folks working on films in the Pittsburgh area to ask if they wanted to get coffee — her teat. She ended up being invited to “The Dark Knight Rises” movie set, and asked to work as a set production assistant the next day. “I’ve put myself out there, keeping Kahn’s phrase ‘network is net worth’ in mind, and it’s helped me obtain a job in the industry,” Jula said. “It’s all about who you know, and how you impress them.” Computer engineering sophomore Chase Voor-
hees, who recently got a job at Resnet on campus, agreed that networking is important. Voorhees said he got his job because contacts he knew recommended him for the position. Besides networking, Kahn gave Jula many other tips that helped her land other jobs. Kahn told her specifically about having a story or tag line that would stick in an employer’s memory. Jula said her last name is pronounced “Jewel-la,” so she created a business card with a picture of a sparkling diamond and her name on the front. The card reads “the hidden jewel to add a sparkle to your set,” with her contact information and experience on the back. “It’s something unique that has gotten a neat response from various people in the film industry,” Jula said. Kahn also told Jula that she should submit her résumé in a box. Jula brought this idea up in an informational interview with a unit production manager, someone who indirectly deals with hiring in the film industry, and they said it would certainly stand out to them. Searching for your dream job can be a scary and stressful experience, but with the right tools and attitude, you too can land your “dream job.”
WORD ON THE STREET Why did you choose Cal Poly?
“I’ve always wanted to go here, and I have family in the area.” • Catherine Pope biochemistry freshman
“At Open House in the spring, people were really helpful, and the area is nice.” • Crosby Sperling physics junior
“My tour guide was really funny, so I felt like it was a really laid-back atmosphere.” • Kim Dodge kinesiology junior
o
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the beginning of the show we were told it doesn’t. Sweet. So you basically get to sit in your car and watch the movie almost like you were at home. You can eat and talk without bothering strangers, and bring blankets and pillows if you get cold. Some people even parked backwards and sat in the backs of their cars with the door open. I think that’s what makes drive-ins fun — the fact that you’re seeing a movie on a huge screen like a regular the-
ng wi
with Cal Poly since 1916
Gr
SUNSET
Thanks for
reading!
“It was the best school I got into.” • Kevin Kennick economics senior
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What’s in a name? The women of Afghanistan are being denied a basic right: the use of their names.
Nasima Hamdard is a reporter in Afghanistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Khaleda Mohammadi, a 23-year-old university student in Herat, was beaten by her husband and prevented from leaving her home for three weeks. Her offense? Having one of her male classmates utter her name in public. As she tells her story, the young woman, who has been married for two years, was coming out of class one day
and asked, “Why do you call out my wife’s name in front of everyone? Isn’t it enough that you know her name?” Khaleda said that when they got home, her husband beat her severely, demanding to know why she allowed the boy to use her first name. “My husband told me I couldn’t go to university any more, and in fact I wasn’t allowed out of the house at all,” she said. He only relented after her father intervened. “My husband allows me to go to university — but with the proviso that that he will divorce me if someone says my name again,” she added. Khaleda’s husband, Feraidun, insists he had done nothing wrong. “Out of pride, I can’t stand it when someone calls out my wife’s name,” he said. “I can’t look away and ignore it. She represents my honor. Every man who values his dignity must act like this; otherwise he has no pride.” Khaleda’s story illustrates
My husband allows me to go to university — but ... he will divorce me if someone says my name again. KHALEDA MOHAMMADI HERAT UNIVERSITY STUDENT
when a classmate approached her and said, “Khaleda, we don’t have a test tomorrow. It’s been postponed until next week.” Her husband was waiting by the front gate to take her home. When he heard his wife’s name being called out, he grabbed her classmate
an enduring Afghan tradition that women’s names must not be spoken by men outside the family. Men who take their wives or daughters to the doctor will often will not tell medical staff the woman’s name, even when medical staff needs to write it on a prescription.
Even within the family, husbands frequently avoid using their wives’ given names, instead addressing them as the mother of one of their children. Nur Khan Nekzad, spokesman for police headquarters in Herat, said officers had arrested eight men in the past six months for using violence after others had used their wives’ names. It’s a story all too familiar to another Afghan woman named Nasrin. “Two months ago, my husband went to buy groceries in the market. He saw a friend on the way, who asked him, in front of other men, ‘How is Nasrin?’ My husband had a fight with his friend and injured him with a knife.” She said her husband beat her badly when he got home, demanding to know how his friend knew her name. “So, now he’s in prison, and I face an uncertain future,” Nasrin said. Rahima Yusufi, a lawyer with the local government department for women’s affairs, said her office had 10 cases of this kind in the last six months. “In order to educate men and address the problem, the gender section of the women’s affairs department has organized three or four seminars for mullahs and imams, whose views enjoy great respect, because they can inform people about behavior that goes
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against religious principles.” Experts on Islam like Khalilollah Ahadi, a lecturer in sharia law at Herat University, say the name taboo has nothing to do with Islam. “Religious scholars have a duty to do some serious work to tackle such problems,” Ahadi said. Sayed Khalil Moayed, a psychiatrist in Herat, said the name issue relates to how women are viewed in Afghan society. “In Herat society, when the name of someone’s wife is used, it is seen as a violation of the man’s privacy and digni-
Walmart not friend to MALDEF Harold Meyerson is editor at large of the American Prospect and an op-ed columnist for the Washington Post. On Tuesday, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, will hold its annual awards gala and fundraiser in downtown Los Angeles. The awardees include such indisputable worthies as Linda Ronstadt and former MALDEF leader Antonia Hernandez. The real awardee, though, should be MALDEF itself, whose decades of civil rights litigation have yielded significant gains for Latinos. I haven’t always agreed with all of its actions, but I generally find myself cheering it on. There’s just one problem with this gala. Front and center on the invitation are the words: “Gala Chair: Wal-Mart.” Wal-Mart may be giving money to MALDEF, but it isn’t a friend to Latinos, and most definitely not in Southern California. In weighing the advisability of MALDEF’s taking Wal-Mart’s money and granting the corporation Latino street cred (or if not that, suite cred) in return, consider what happened on Oct. 12 in Riverside County, about an hour east of Tuesday night’s dinner. On that day, inspectors from California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement paid an unannounced visit to one of the mega-warehouses in Riverside County to which trucks bring a huge amount of Asian (chiefly Chinese) imports from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.
None of these warehouses has any signage, but each does the work of a specific retail chain, and the one that the state inspectors checked out was one of many in the area that is a WalMart warehouse. Not that Wal-Mart directly owns or runs its Inland Empire warehouses. They’re all run by logistics companies with which Wal-Mart contracts to move its stuff, which also allows Wal-Mart to avoid any responsibility for what actually goes on inside. Here’s what the inspectors found: The logistics company (Impact) and the employment agencies from which it hired the workers in its warehouse failed to document the hours and wages of its workers. The workers are paid “piece rate” based on the number of containers they load and unload, but the pay rates remain a mystery to them, as they are not spelled out on their paychecks. The company apparently had no records of its own either. The inspectors fined Impact $499,000 for violations of wage and hour laws. The following week, six of the warehouse workers filed a suit in federal court for back pay and additional remedies, and U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder on Oct. 31 issued a preliminary injunction compelling the temp agencies to alter the way they paid workers to end the immediate harm that the existing pay system was causing them. The men and women who work in these warehouses — they number roughly 100,000
in the Inland Empire — are overwhelmingly Latino. An official of Warehouse Workers United, an organization of those workers, told me that he’s “never seen a non-Latino worker at the warehouse, other than managers.” All these Latino workers are at the very bottom of a labor system that Wal-Mart has erected — a system that keeps the wages of the workers in its supply chain at rock bottom, and also keeps any responsibility for those workers’ mistreatment as distanced as possible from Wal-Mart itself. Wal-Mart’s indirect mistreatment of the warehouse workers is of a piece, of course, with its notorious mistreatment of workers generally. That’s why Wal-Mart has had so much trouble persuading local governments in more liberal big cities like Los Angeles to allow it into their markets, and why it woos groups, like MALDEF, that can grant it a measure of liberal urban respectability as it seeks approval to open its stores. I presume Wal-Mart’s sponsorship of MALDEF’s dinner is bringing the organization some much-needed funding. But in the long run, groups like MALDEF need to consider whether taking support from Wal-Mart is worth the price it may inflict on the very people MALDEF champions. In the short run, MALDEF should give the money back and tell Wal-Mart it will validate the company when the company pays its Latino workers what it owes them by law, and when it treats them like human beings.
Thanks J.J. ... needed perspective. Good journalism is so important in letting us see into situations that need our attention and our care, and likewise, our sense of seeing justice served also needs the same attention and care. The good news is that this case has come to the surface to be resolved …and all should have, and will have, their day in court. — Jim Keven In response to “Hitting the breaks on the Penn State scandal”
In 1960, I worked with a Farm Structures class to construct the foundations for the first two buildings in the Equine Unit, which were being relocated from where the Corporation Yard now is. I understand a new 40 stall mare barn will soon be added to the Equine Unit; the gift of an alum. I recently donated money to the department that will be used to add metal siding to the two oldest barns on the south side of the Unit which have badly pealing paint. It should look much better. —Gaylord McCool In response to “Horsing around with the Cal Poly Equine Center”
ty,” he said. “People feel such shame of their wives’ names that they aren’t even prepared to use them themselves. Men will say ‘my children’s mother’ or ‘my family member.’” Changing that is going to take time, and many men retain powerful prejudices. Herat resident Wahidollah said Afghan men were sensitive about three things — disrespect shown to their country, their faith and their women. As for those who were insufficiently zealous in upholding their honor on these three matters, he said, “killing such individuals is permissible.”
Let the Pride Center have the space, especially if it’s the only entity that has requested it. It’s one of the largest and most active student groups on campus, and having a LGBT haven in the main hallway would reinforce the university’s commitment to honor diversity. — EF In response to “Pride Center looking for more elbow room”
Unny was a great man, and a wonderful mentor to students and new faculty alike. I observed his leadership firsthand in the Academic Senate where his humor was a welcome relief from the complexities and details that were often debated in the Senate. Thanks Mustang Daily for honoring his spirit so well, and reflecting his legacy to the College of Engineering and the university as a whole. — Tylor Middlestadt In response to “Remember engineering professor Unny Menon”
NOTE: The Mustang Daily features select comments that are written in response to articles posted online. Though not all the responses are printed, the Mustang Daily prints comments that are coherent and foster intelligent discussion on a given subject. No overcapitalization, please.
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CSU campuses raise tuition 9 percent amidst rioting LAUREL ROSENHALL McClatchy-Tribune
Students and employees of California’s public universities staged another day of budget protests Wednesday, including one at California State University headquarters in Long Beach that turned violent as
trustees voted to raise tuition by 9 percent. The increase, which amounts to about $498 a year starting in Fall 2012, was essentially approved in private after trustees moved to a different room when protests disrupted the open meeting. Protesters broke a glass door,
injuring three police officers. One of the officers was taken to a hospital for medical care, CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith said. Four people were arrested, including three CSU students and a student from the University of California, Los Angeles, Keith said. At one point in the conflict, both protesters and police used pepper spray. The chaos broke out after several union members who said they were part of a group called Refund California asked trustees to support the group’s proposal for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fund public education and other services that have been reduced by ongoing state budget deficits. “Together we are working to make Wall Street and the super rich pay for destroying our schools, universities and neighborhoods,” said Rich
Anderson, president of United Auto Workers 4123, which represents CSU’s student employees. “We seek to make Wall Street banks pay their share in rebuilding California.” After the outburst, trustees moved their meeting to a different room, where no audience or media were permitted and an Internet audio broadcast was cut. That’s where they made their final tuition decision, on a 9-6 vote. That’s also where they voted unanimously to unlink the tuition increase from their 2012-13 budget request to the Legislature so that it no longer includes the idea that the Legislature can “buy out” the tuition increase by providing CSU more money. Originally, CSU staff suggested the university make a request that promised to rescind the tuition hike if the state gives CSU $330 million more in the coming year.
Trustee Steven Glazer, Gov. Jerry Brown’s political adviser, made the motion to delink the budget request from the tuition hike, Keith said. CSU issued a press release saying the budget request trustees approved says CSU needs $535.6 million more next year, and asks the Legislature for an increase of $333 million. It says about $64 million would come from tuition associated with expanding enrollment by 20,000 students, and $138 million from the tuition increase. The request includes a proposal to raise pay for all CSU employees by 3 percent. Later, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sits on the board of trustees, blasted the university for making such big decisions behind closed doors. “This issue is simply too important to not allow for a full and thorough public discussion or to contribute to the perception that this
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process is anything less than open and transparent,” Newsom said in a statement. “By doing so, I fear we are unintentionally inflaming the widespread confusion and acrimony that continues to build around the issue.” Meanwhile, inside the state Capitol Wednesday morning, about 100 University of California students participated in a protest against budget cuts and tuition hikes, flooding elected officials’ offices with phone calls. They had planned to protest at the UC regents meeting in San Francisco, but were in the Capitol instead because UC canceled the meeting out of fears of violent protests. “We wanted to let them know that canceling a meeting will not impede upon our efforts to protect and defend higher education,” Joey Freeman, a student organizer from UC Berkeley, said at a news conference on Capitol’s north steps. Before the news conference, an organizer distributed scripts to students, and they spent about 30 minutes calling the offices of Brown and legislative leaders from their cell phones. At UC Davis, about a dozen protesters remained inside the lobby of the Mrak Hall administration building for much of the day, after 50 to 75 protesters slept there overnight, said spokeswoman Claudia Morain. At 2:30 campus officials closed the building and sent employees home, she said. Police asked the protesters to leave at that time, Morain said, and they did so without incident.
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MANGLERS
WORD ON THE STREET
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Poly students had for their soccer team. At the end of the game, Cal Poly goalkeeper Patrick McLain pointed toward the student section, recognizing and thanking them for their continued support. It was a sight to remember. Despite the loss, Cal Poly students remained faithful, cheering on their team no matter what the score. From beginning to end, the support stayed consistent and Cal Poly fans made their presence
What’s one sporting event you can’t miss at Cal Poly?
“Baseball games.” • Ray Olivares business administration junior
“Chains of Love.” • Amy Lamden child development junior
“Soccer games.” • Frankie Wiggins mechanical engineering junior
NHA HA/MUSTANG DAILY
Thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-two fans watched in Isla Vista on Nov. 4 as the Mustangs lost to the Gauchos. It was the fifth largest crowd in NCAA regular season history.
known. From alumni to current students, Mustang pride was shown somewhere other than San Luis Obispo. Everyone knew they gave their best and that was all they could do. The trip didn’t turn out in Cal Poly’s favor, but it was still an inspiring experience. The ride back was filled with laughter while the movie “Stepbrothers” played. As the buses stopped at Cal Poly, the fans reemerged, undaunted by loss that night — a night where everyone involved stepped off the bus and onto campus proud to be a Mustang.
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Ride the bus to Mustang/Gaucho brawl
PATRICK MAGUIRE
mustangdailysports@gmail.com
It was late on a chilly, rainy Friday afternoon when the buses to Santa Barbara fired up their engines, but that didn’t stop Cal Poly students from taking the hour-and-ahalf bus ride to Harder Stadium. All to show support for the men’s soccer team in their final game of the season. As the bus neared the stadium in Isla Vista, the mood rose in anticipation. The ever-classic “Tommy Boy” finished, and every-one’s focus turned to arguably the biggest soccer rivalry in the nation. It was as if the students
were preparing for a game of their own. Several avid supporters, or let’s say leaders, started to rally the rest of the bus in chants. The adrenaline was rushing, possibly due to the nerves related to the uncertainty of what was to come. Two hours laters, the destination was reached. Everyone gathered their belongings, grabbed their limited edition vuvuzelas and headed toward the stadium. The Cal Poly Green Army was equipped and ready for battle. Cal Poly students excitedly entered the stadium of bright lights and colors. The athletic environment
was similar to the one at Cal Poly. However, there was a higher student attendance for the home team at Cal Poly than here. The Mustang supporters were guided to the visitor’s section — this was where the fun began. With vuvuzelas in hand, students started to make that obnoxious noise that everyone not partaking in it hates. The noise continued and rang intensely throughout the visitor’s section all night. It was probably these vuvuzelas that prompted reactions from the opposing crowd. The Green Army was met with various rival fans.
There were the respectful opposing parents who smiled
and flaunted their team’s colors. Along with them were the occasional timeworn alumni who thought they were still in college; more power to them. Then there were those opposing Santa Barbara students who felt they could do whatever they wanted — flip off the opposing students, use profanity or throw tortillas. What was really attention grabbing was the amount of kids — elementary to middle school ages — who followed suit and were, in some respect, worse than the Santa Barbara students. It’s expected that opposing students would clash, but never would one imagine little kids acting the way they did. The tension in the air built up exponentially throughout the game, but Cal Poly fans remained calm, composed, and collected ... for the most part Never once did they let down on the chants, and despite the Mustangs
GRAPHIC BY MELISSA WONG
trailing for a good portion of the game, they made their voices heard loud and clear. Cal Poly freshman Paul Ringelstein said he was impressed by “the fact that, even though we lost, everyone still cheered and sang the whole time.” This was probably the most unforgettable: experiencing the incredible spirit and faith Cal see MANGLERS pg. 9
SUDOKU ANSWERS