THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 11, 2016 Vol. LI No. 2
OneRepublic lights up Friday night at Super Bowl City. See photos on Page 5.
FREMONT, CA OHLONEMONITOR.COM
Board hears from equity workgroup VANESSA LUIS Editor-in-chief The Student Equity Workgroup presented a summary of their goals and efforts at achieving student equity on campus during the Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday night. The workgroup was launched in the fall to implement the Student Equity Plan, which aims to ensure equal educational opportunities for all students by creating a learning community for African-American students, expanding the Puente program, and other measures. English Professor Alison Kuehner delivered the presentation, mentioning several projects and accomplishments such as the upcoming Veteran Resource
IVAN VARGAS / MONITOR
Above: Stacey Lynn Bell, right, and Idrees Najibi perform a scene from “Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley. Right: John Vargas, right, and Amir Hasan perform a scene from “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh. They were practicing for a competition in Denver.
CSU faculty union threatens April strike
STUDENT ACTORS TO COMPETE IN AUDITIONS RISHABH SINGHAL Staff writer Two Ohlone students will travel to compete in the Irene Ryan Scholarship Auditions at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Denver next week. Idrees Najibi, 22, and JohnVargas, 23, were nom-
Center, Student Voices, Embedded Tutor program, and Nishati-Umoja, a program to help African American students achieve success. The Student Equity Workgroup also attended student focus groups, taking notes on the student perspective. After the presentation, Trustee Jan Giovannini-Hill asked, “On the Student Equity Workgroup, do you have any student members?” Kuener replied, “We talked about having a student on The Student Equity Workgroup but I think we thought it might be more productive [to have] these, for instance, having a student focus group … because we want to find out many students’ perspectives. Also, meeting twice a month for an hour and a half seemed like a lot of commitment for a student.”
inated to compete in the auditions Monday through Feb. 20. They will be accompanied by their acting coach Michael Navarra Smith and scene partners Stacey Lynn and Amir Abdullah. According to the Kennedy Center’s website, the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships “provide recognition, honor, and financial assistance to
outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education.” Najibi and Vargas will audition to win the $500 scholarship and be named national finalists. If they are selected to compete nationally, they will get the chance to win a $5,000 Continued on Page 4
BRIANNE O’SULLIVAN News editor The California State University faculty union on Monday announced its plan to execute a five-day strike in April that would bring teaching at all 23 campuses to a standstill, should the union and CSU system fail to reach an agreement over salaries. The strike is scheduled to be held on April 13 to 15 and April 18 to 19. Cal State employees are asking for a 5 percent raise across-the-board and an ad-
ditional 1.2 percent increase for some faculty, which is estimated to cost the CSU system $102 million. As of now, the CSU administration has offered a 2 percent raise. During the Great Recession, faculty members agreed to meager COLAs and virtually no raises. However, faculty association President Jennifer Eagen, a professor at CSU East Bay, announced that they agreed to the meager funding “in the hopes that when the good times came, Continued on Page 3
Trump: not the last person I’d pick for Oval Office COMMENTARY BRIANNE O’SULLIVAN News editor Since announcing his candidacy, Donald Trump has gotten an unprecedented amount of attention from the media, American people, and, in all likelihood, some extraterrestrial life. People either love his “tell it like it is” attitude or slam him for his hate speech and xenophobic “solutions.” While I do not believe Donald Trump can, or will, “Make America Great Again,” he is not the last person I would want to see in the Oval Office.
Were it to come down to Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as the next President of the United States I would pick Trump faster than you can say toupée. And here’s why: Planned Parenthood Annihilating women’s reproductive rights is one of Cruz’s top priorities. He is for defunding Planned Parenthood and is staunchly pro-life. He doesn’t believe in exceptions in the case of rape or incest and considers some forms of birth control, such as the IUD and Plan B, abortion. These extreme stances are totally out of
line with those held by the majority of Americans. When asked to detail Cruz’s stance, spokesman Rick Tyler, simply answered “Life at conception, no exceptions.” What a catchy-yet-terrifying almost rhyme. Kind of a flashback to when Ted Cruz read “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor. It should be noted that Donald Trump has made conflicting statements about his stance on Planned Parenthood. But recently, he said he supports the status quo. Government Shutdown In October 2013 Cruz orchestrated the 16-day government shutdown
over Obamacare. Last year around the time when false allegations were being thrown at Planned Parenthood, Cruz threatened another government shutdown if Planned Parenthood wasn’t defunded. Many of his fellow Republicans were aghast at the thought of shutting the entire federal government over the issue. It even played a role in Speaker John Boehner’s resignation. Trump, a businessman at heart, is at least willing to compromise and strike a deal. A president who is willing to stop everything over one matter is dangerous. Trump has threatened a government shutdown before. But the difference
between him and Cruz on this issue is that a) Cruz has actually done it before and b) “The Apprentice” star’s political rhetoric is more about garnering a reaction than making promises. Tea Party The Tea Party Movement arguably ruined the Republican party. The small but absolutist sect has held the GOP and our government hostage on numerous occasions by making uncompromisable and harmful demands. At the center of it lies Texas Senator Ted Cruz. So far, politicians who subscribe to the Tea Continued on Page 3