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Funny Girl: A Quirky Masterpiece
Welcome back dance draws crowd
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Women’s soccer defeats Santa Cruz
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Sonoma State Star SINCE 1979
VOLUME 73 // ISSUE 1
SONOMASTATESTAR.COM
AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2014
Water bottle refill stations sheds light on sustainability Kirsten Reeves Staff Writer
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ecently Sonoma State University has stretched their sustainability achievements further by implementing water bottle refill stations across campus. These electronic stations provide students with cold, filtered water and make refilling reusable water bottles more easy and accessible than ever. The intention of these stations is to ultimately decrease Sonoma State’s ecological footprint, in both a green and convenient way that benefits not only the university students on a local level, but the environment on a worldly one as well. As of 2013, Americans have been responsible for the purchase of approximately 29 billion plastic water bottles yearly, accounting for over five billion pounds of polyethylene terephthalate plastic and creating a massive ecological footprint. This large demand of plastic also creates a demand in oil, with more than 17 million barrels of oil used in the United States alone every year, resulting in a rather large carbon print as well. The Associated Students of Sonoma State University have always taken pride in its relentless sustainability efforts, with sustenance being a core value of Sonoma State University. Sonoma State uses reclaimed water on lawns and in some toilets to reduce water usage and waste, and runs an extremely eco-friendly dining hall by using compostable products. In addition, the Recreation Center as well
as Salazar Hall both use solar panels, made to have avoided using by instead taking advantage convert light into electricity. As of February, of the refill stations and reusing their water botSonoma State’s Recreation Center was awarded tles. a Green BusiDuring the last ness Certificate academic year, action from the Bay was taken by the AsArea Green Busisociated Students to ness Program of phase out single-use Sonoma County water bottles in a resfor their efforts to olution that was coconserve resourcauthorized by former es and ability to Community Affairs, comply with enviSenator Libby Dippel ronmental needs and current Sustainand limitations. ability Senator, AlliStudents can son Jenks. find these water This resolution bottle refill staworks toward a ban tions on every on single-use water floor of the Stubottles, by providing dent Center, in facts and statistics as Charlie Brown’s to how doing so would Café and in severimprove our environal other buildings mental impact, resultscattered across ing in a more ecocampus. friendly environment In addition to for future generations. providing water, The resolution the electronic refill resolves that two “hystations also keep dration stations” are a tally and allow to be implemented students to see the each semester until COURTESY // SSU NewsCenter equivalent of how there is a refill station many single-use Sustainability Senator Allison Jenks encouron every floor of evwater bottles they ages students to use refillable water bottles. ery building exclud-
ing housing facilities. Associated Students also plans to stop purchasing single-use water bottles at events, with a few exceptions, and is optimistic towards completely banning single-use water bottles by the year 2020. In addition to improving the environment, there is an emphasis placed on the quality and cleanliness of the water provided via the water bottle refill stations in comparison to the quality of bottled water. The Resolution states that not only does bottled water cost 1,000 times as much as tap water, but also that approximately 22percent of bottled water contains contaminant levels exceeding California state health limits. All water bottle refill stations have a built-in filter with a light that indicates when it needs to be changed to avoid water purity issues. Students seem to be reacting positively to the water bottle refill stations. “They’re both useful and convenient because between going to classes and working on campus, it’s nice not needing to constantly purchase water at a vending machine or dining venue,” said student Julia Provost. “I can instead throw a single water bottle in my bag and refill it throughout the day.” Allison Jenks states that using these stations will ultimately “make filling reusable water bottles easier and cleaner. This will then give students a better option than single-use water bottles by saving them money while being more environmentally friendly” and encourages everyone to begin using them.
Religious organization on the chopping block Aryssa Carvalho Staff Writer
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ith the start of the fall semester, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is no longer an affiliated club on the Sonoma State University campus. InterVarsity is a Christian group that can be found at universities all over the country, and during the past few years has struggled to keep active at SSU. The group on campus has around 190 members that meet several times a week. Many of the members are of Christian faith, but there are also some exploring different types of faiths and religions to see which suit them best. In 2011 Student Activities – Executive Order 1068 was put into action by former CSU Chancellor Charles Reed, stating: No campus shall recognize any fraternity, sorority, living group, honor society or other student organization that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, color, age, gender, marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation or disability. In 2013 it was brought to new Chancellor Timothy White’s attention that this was an issue for religious groups on all CSU campuses. Executive Order 1068 also says that clubs cannot discriminate when selecting members for leadership positions. “Due to the failure of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship to meet the California State University’s requirements of formal recognition of student organizations, specifically the open membership policy, the Center for Student Leadership, Involvement and Service at Sonoma State University was required to re-
voke their charter for non-compliance,” said Heather Howard Martin, the director for student leadership, involvement and service. The executive order was called to action with diversity in mind. The chancellor and his counsel didn’t want anyone to feel discriminated against in clubs so they made this order to prevent clubs from discriminating against people that aren’t exactly like them. Since the student organizations are not allowed to discriminate against people with different religions, this has become a problem in spiritual groups on campus. “InterVarsity as a whole is a very diverse organization; we encourage ethnic and cultural exposure,” said Paige Drake, the social events leader of InterVarsity. “InterVarsity fosters diversity and exploration. Although our group’s constitution says that our leaders need to be Christian, a whole host of people are welcome to join our group.” InterVarsity members believe that not just anyone should be able to lead the large or small groups held by the organization because it is imperative to have someone that truly believes in Christian values. InterVarsity asks that all members who hold leadership positions in the organization be of Christian faith. An amendment to the ordinance exempts sororities and fraternities from gender discrimination, and InterVarsity groups around California would like a similar compensation. “We are a faith based group, our group is based around our faith and our student leaders lead all events on campus,” said InterVarsity Area Director Jenny Klouse. See INTERVARSITY on Pg. 4
STAR // Jenna Fischer Sonoma State named as one of the most beautiful colleges in California.
SSU ranked as one of the ‘Most Beautiful’ campuses Ryan Estes Staff Writer
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onoma State University was ranked 25th of the Most Beautiful Colleges in California by the Colleges in California website. The top spot is owned by Stanford University and then followed up by Pepperdine University and the University of San Diego. The article from collegesincalifornia.net states “Sonoma State is known as being one of
the most modern colleges in all of California, as its buildings (using Urban architecture) and landscape were all designed to accentuate this.” The ranking was based on student votes and recommendations of the school, previous listings of beautiful college campus in national publications and some editorial judgment made by the article writers at Colleges a California. Sonoma State is set in the heart of wine country and surrounded by trees, plants, grass and flowers. Among the
landscape sit large, concrete and stucco buildings built in Urban architecture style. All the buildings are placed strategically to have some sort of view of the landscape. “I wanted to attend San Jose State until I came here [Sonoma State] for a tour. I fell in love with the campus and is the one of the big reasons why I came and why I am back for my Masters,” said Aimee Rodriques, a recent graduate. See BEAUTIFUL on Pg. 4
Ice Bucket Challenge overload
Schroeder Hall opens this week
Freshman explore with Wilderness Welcome trips
Check it out on Pg. 3
See the full story on Pg. 6
Read more on Pg. 9