02-23-2015

MONDAY, FEB. 23 - WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25, 2015 • VOLUME 101 • ISSUE 45 Sports • P7

Student wins a semester of tuition from lucky half-court shot

Opinion Discussion: Technology affecting lives

MADISON HOPKINS MANAGING EDITOR _____________________________________

SNEAKPEEK

Last semester, the San Diego State police reported that 17 sexual assaults occurred near campus. Of those incidents, seven allegedly occurred at fraternity houses, various others took place at local apartments and two reports named the same off-campus house as the purported scene of the crime — a house many students recognize today as “Sigtopia.”

The structure sitting at 5074 College Ave. blends in with its surroundings. With Greek life houses on either side, the twostory, dorm-style building was historically used as a fraternity house, before it was taken over by new residents about three years ago. While all the men who call this place home are not necessarily associated with a recognized fraternity now, that wasn’t always the case.

Sigtopia is mainly inhabited by a group of SDSU men who either belong to an active fraternity or once did, communications senior Tyler Dabovich said. He is a former member of Sigma Chi’s SDSU chapter and said some of the younger members flocked to this house after their fraternity was kicked off campus in 2013 following hazing allegations. They wanted to hold onto the opportunity for a frat house experience, even though living in the actual fraternity house was now out of the question.

“When you’re a fraternity member, the pinnacle is living in the fraternity house with all your bros having a great time,” Dabovich said. “So, a couple of the Fall ‘12s got together and were like ‘Hey, let’s get this house, let’s get as many brothers as we can and get that house’ because

This photo was posted one year ago and is one of many results from a social media search of #Sigtopia.

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

they wanted that experience.”

That experience grew in the following years. The sources interviewed for this piece gave widely varied estimates of the amount of rooms in the house. But one of the most conservative guesses is that it holds at least 10 bedrooms, with most tenants doubling up.

In the first year following Sigma Chi’s campus expulsion, Dabovich said only a handful of his brothers moved in, sharing the space with several active Sigma Alpha Epsilon members. But by the fall 2014 semester, Sigma Chi members had taken over and now make up the majority of the house. Sigtopia became a social media geo-located tag, and online pictures of students using #Sigtopia illuminate large theme parties, reminiscent of events by officially recognized fraternities. Some photos publicly advertise for students to “Rush Sigtopia,” with the address listed in the caption.

Dabovich denies that Sigtopia members are engaging in any formal style of recruitment, instead explaining that the housemates just have specific friends who they regularly host events with.

“They’ll pay to put on the parties, the friends, the so-called ‘pledges,’” he said.

“They go over there, they pay to party, they’re also friends with the dudes so they go over and hangout and whatnot, and then after the party they come over and help clean up.”

The lack of formal leadership and organization is a key distinction between Sigtopia and a recognized fraternity, Dabovich said. He believes the ability to hold one another accountable is crucial for creating safe environments in a fraternity culture.

“That place isn’t a school’s dream,” he

P10 Get ready for Greenfest

said. “It isn’t a fraternity’s house dream.

It’s like that ‘Old School’ house that you can’t really regulate them because they’re not a fraternity, but they’re still partying.”

The Daily Aztec requested to speak with several men who either currently live at the house or once did, but most failed to respond or refused to comment.

Jeff Petromilli, an international security junior and former Sigma Chi member, was the only one who agreed to talk about his time living at Sigtopia during the fall 2014 semester. Petromilli denied that anyone currently living at the house uses the term “Sigtopia” or that it’s associated with a fraternity.

“It’s a big house but it’s just some friends who live together who used to be in a thing together,” he said. “It’s like a frat house in the sense no one really wants to clean up and you’re just with a bunch of friends but its definitely on a smaller scale and just some guys who live in a house that happened to have had some incidents occur this year.”

Petromilli added that any safety concerns during events at the house are normal for the area that it’s located in.

Sometimes people off the street try to come into a party uninvited and get into trouble, and when no one knows who these people are, no one can hold them accountable.

“It’s not the safest areas, things actually do happen,” Petrollini said. “Especially when it’s not the most savory characters going around everywhere. When we have people over, we like to sometimes just let people come in who are local, but in the end now we have to be really careful about that because there’s really bad people in the area.”

Please see SIGTOPIA, P3

P9 SDSU Alumni create new board

FILE PHOTO

COURTESY OF REINCARNATE

PRINT EDITION

One house located between two other Greek life buildings has built a reputation as an ‘Old School’ fraternity, without the university supervision required for formal fraternities.

This house is the location of two alleged sexual assaults from last semester.

“fourAfter watching consecutive

seasons of ANTM, I basically consider myself a modeling expert...”

Backpage • P12 WHAT’S INSIDE? News....................................P2,6 Opinion.............................. P4-5 Sports..................................P7-8 Features.................................P9 Entertainment...............P10-11

SCAN TO DOWNLOAD THE AZTEC APP

Opinion • P4-5

LIKE US facebook.com/dailyaztec FOLLOW US twitter.com/thedailyaztec FIND US Basement of the EBA Building READ US The Daily Aztec publishes twice a week on Monday and Thursday. Daily content can be found online at thedailyaztec.com

2 NEWS

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: DAVID HERNANDEZ • NEWS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#FUNDS

SDSU gets $1M for lifelong learning JACLYN PALUMBO STAFF WRITER ____________________________________ A $1 million endowment was recently awarded to San Diego State’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a program of SDSU’s College of Extended Studies that specializes in the continued learning opportunities such as classes, workshops and educational special events for those over the age of 50. The classes don’t have tests or grades for these students, but emphasize the importance of lifelong learning.

“It serves to enrich learning opportunities so those 50 and older continue to stay engaged and become involved in their learning and the community that they’re building with their fellow Osher members,” Director of the institute Emily Moore said.

Benefits of an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute membership include discounted prices to the educational material and free lectures, complimentary parking, library privileges and eligibility to register for clubs and special events, according to the SDSU College of Extended Studies website. For a term of membership, the cost is $20 with an optional RedID card cost of $18 per term, which can be used to attend the events on campus and the Aztec Recreational Center at the student price.

The Gateway Center houses an educational program for people 50 and older. The institute recieved $1 million.

KRISTIAN CARREON, SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SDSU is one of 119 colleges and universities in the nation with a program supported by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, according to SDSU NewsCenter.

Meanwhile, the Bernard Osher Foundation provides post-secondary educational funding to universities across the nation, with special attention to re-entry students, according to the foundation’s website.

As an endowment, the program will receive the interest of $1 million each subsequent year, media relations and marketing specialist Steve Dolan said.

The program will be funded by the yearly

interest accumulated through the $1 million endowment.

“The endowment will keep the ideas that are associated with the Osher Institute alive forever,” Dean of the College of Extended Studies Joe Shapiro said. “That interest enables the program to continue in productivity. It helps us keep the costs down while still expanding additional opportunities.”

With the funding, future goals include expanding the program by increasing the number of subjects taught, recruiting new members and better reaching the needs of the community, Shapiro said.

Subjects taught were selected based on

the demand of the students.

“We applaud the institute’s dedicated volunteers and staff — as well as the leadership of the university — for developing such an exceptional educational program,” Bitterman told NewsCenter.

In addition to the classes offered through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, members give back to the SDSU community through the Aztec Mentor Program, Moore said. The program involves Osher members to serve as mentors to current university students, creating a connection not only between the faculty and the members, but between the members and the students as well.

“Our job is to bring the community to SDSU and have our faculty and community connect here,” Shapiro said.

SDSU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute planned to build upon current strategies of expansion that had been used in the past three to four years of the program, Shapiro said.

“Our motto as a college is to never stop learning,” Shapiro said. “The Osher Institute and the additional funding from the endowment will enable us to continue in that direction and give people extended opportunities beyond their university lives so that, they too, can never stop learning.”

SDSU received the endowment at a ceremony on Feb. 7.

#TRANSGENDERRIGHTS

Trans student gets legal help against SDSU EMILY BRENNAN STAFF WRITER ____________________________________ A pro bono attorney through the national Transgender Law Center is representing a San Diego State student who was allegedly asked to leave the Aztec Recreation Center in January.

A.T. Furuya, a history graduate student, said ARC staff asked Furuya to leave the men’s locker room after being yelled at by a gym member in the locker room.

Furuya identifies as genderqueer and transmasculine and uses gender-neutral and masculine personal pronouns.

“I don’t think the university is handling this correctly,” Furuya said.

“When this assault happened the university’s number one priority was making sure they were covered instead of concern for my safety.”

Alison Pennington, Furuya’s attorney, believes that both Title IX and the California state law as well as the ARC policy should have provided protection to Furuya. Title IX prohibits discrimination against sex and gender in an academic setting.

The ARC policy follows the university’s nondiscrimination policy, which includes supporting an individual’s gender identity and gender expression.

“San Diego State and Associated Students already have a great policy, they both have a non discrimination policy that provide protection for people like A.T,” Pennington said.

“Unfortunately that didn’t happen here and that’s really the issue.”

The latest incident was not the first time Furuya made it known that he felt unsafe. In November, Furuya made a request for shower curtains in the men’s locker room.

Member Services Manager Vicki Greene sent out an email on behalf of Associated Students on Feb. 11 informing students, faculty and staff that the ARC would be installing shower curtains in the men’s locker rooms to create eight single shower stalls.

Member Services Lead Jonathan Cunha said the eight curtains are now installed. He said the men’s locker room previously had one.

“One of our main goals would be to see the university and the Associated Students take their training and policies very seriously,” Pennington said. “We have not been in direct discussions with the school yet though we would really welcome that.”

SDSU officials said they were not able to comment due to the incident still

A.T. Furuya and students protest against San Diego State. Furuya claims to have been asked to leave the gym.

COURTESY OF A.T. FURUYA

being under investigation.

According to the Pride Center’s website, support for the LGBTQ community includes Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Aaron Bruce, SafeZones@ SDSU, The Pride Center, the Lavender Graduation and LGBT Aztec Alumni among others.

“My hope through all of this is that universities like SDSU will be held accountable when they fail to comply with their own policies and state and federal laws protecting transgender and gender-nonconforming students, staff, faculty and guests on campus,” Furuya said. “I want these trainings and

advocacy to be a priority and not at the expense of another trans* person being assaulted to get them moving on it.”

Trans* includes transexual, transgender, non-gender and other gender identities.

According to a 2010 National College Climate Survey, LGBTQ students were 55 percent more likely to perceive or observe harassment compared to their heterosexual counterparts.

“I want transgender and gender nonconforming students to know they have rights and they will not be silenced or ignored when they speak out if their rights are violated,” Furuya said.

NEWS 3

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: DAVID HERNANDEZ • NEWS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

Sigtopia: cont. from P1 MANAGING ACCOUNTABILITY An SDSU student was arrested in connection to one of the two alleged sexual assaults at Sigtopia last December, but the case was recently rejected by the District Attorney’s Office. Since then, no other arrests have been made in relation to either incident.

Several other assaults and a public incident involving fraternity members waving obscene materials at Take Back the Night demonstrators thrust SDSU Greek Life into the media and campus spotlight. In public announcement, the advocacy organization Concerned Students for San Diego State University called for the immediate suspension of all fraternities until they could be made safe, or a permanent ban if that wasn’t possible.

The idea of punishing fraternities by disbanding them is nothing new. Director of Student Life and Leadership Randy Timm said that for a fraternity to lose its official recognition from the university, it would be due to several incidents of a similar nature. When it comes to a fraternity that may have been partying too much or had any alcohol-related issues, the university first tries to coach the organization back into appropriate behavior by putting temporary restrictions on its social calendar.

“We might say that from this period to this period there’s no parties with alcohol,” Timm said. “Then there’s going to be a

time period where you have to register those parties, and it sort of transitions them back into doing it the right way.”

It’s when a fraternity repeats its mistakes that Student Life and Leadership may start the process to revoke its university recognition. When a school official decides that point has come, it sends the case to a Judicial Review Board to make the final decision regarding the punishment, Timm said.

But some believe the punishment doesn’t always have its attended effect.

Mechanical engineering senior Wesley Episcopo is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He said when he first heard of the house, he wasn’t surprised by its “Animal House” reputation because exfraternity members who are released from university oversight sometimes take advantage of their newfound freedom.

“If you kick a fraternity off campus, you’re basically saying you’re done, you’re no more,” Episcopo said. “But then you’ve got 100 plus guys, saying we’ve got absolutely no one holding us back now.

Let’s just go to that house down the street, rent it out, build a second floor on it, and there’s just no cure.”

A typical party at a recognized fraternity that still has the support of its national organization has certain safety precautions in order, Episcopo said. At every SigEp party, they have a “risk team” in place consisting of five to eight sober men who keep an eye on things. There are usually people stationed at all entrances to the party, monitoring who comes in and out. Others patrol around inside looking for anyone with health or safety concerns.

The members are on the lookout for anything that can be considered a liability to avoid issues with either their national

organizations or the university. Without that pressure, he doesn’t feel as though there would be as much incentive to prioritize safety precautions.

“You wouldn’t feel like anything was required,” Episcopo said.

These safety precautions are usually planned out with a fraternity’s national organization, and then shared with the university, Timm said. When a fraternity violates its risk management plan, the university will work with it to find areas for improvement.

“Sometimes I might say ‘So this is what your risk management requires, but it doesn’t sound like in this party you followed it at all,’” Timm said. “So now we’re going to review your riskmanagement plan, and we’re going to make recommendations or requirements to that risk-management plan moving forward.”

Episcopo believes that although fraternities can still be dangerous environments, these precautions still make the best out of a tricky situation.

“And that’s why when they accuse fraternities of being at high risk for sexual assault, kicking them off isn’t the answer,” Episcopo said. “Because then it’s just going to move off campus and it’s going to happen even more because no one’s going to work risk, no one’s going to have that structure in line, no one’s going to be accountable for anything.”

ONGOING INVESTIGATION Despite these safety precautions, fraternity parties continue to be the location of a large amount of sexual assaults each year. Studies done by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators found that

fraternity men were more likely to commit rape and sorority women were more likely to be victims of rape than their non-Greek counterparts.

In response a tumultuous fall semester, the InterFraternity Council put on a “Sexual Violence Prevention and Awareness Series,” hosting several events meant to spread awareness about gender violence. Additionally, all members of recognized Greek organizations were required to participate in an online, interactive sexual assault awareness and prevention training program.

Those who live at Sigtopia remain outside of the university or a national organization’s oversight.

The International Headquarters of the Sigma Chi Fraternity sent out a press release in December in response to allegations that former Sigma Chi members were associated with a sexual assault. It explained the office was investigating concerns that “an illegal underground group of students is purporting themselves as a chapter of Sigma Chi,” and said that if proven, it would “pursue all legal remedies afforded to it under applicable law.”

When asked about Sigtopia, Executive Director of Sigma Chi Fraternity Michael Church responded in an email, explaining that “the international fraternity is not currently and does not desire to be associated or affiliated with this group.”

Since it is an off-campus house, the university has no control over its actions either, Timm said. He added that it was the university who called Sigma Chi’s national office to inform them of its concerns.

SDSU’s InterFraternity Council didn’t respond to a request for comment by the time of publication of this piece.

4 opinion

feb. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC editor: elpin keshishzadeh • news@thedailyaztec.com

Who’sWho? Editor In Chief Monica Linzmeier Managing Editor Madison Hopkins News Editor David Hernandez asst. News Editor Camille Lozano Sports Editor Kristian Ibarra asst. sports Editor Matthew Bain Opinion Editor Elpin Keshishzadeh

In its constant evolution, there are many aspects of technology that are both damaging and beneficial to the social culture of millennials.

asst. opinion Editor Anthony Berteaux Entertainment Editor Nick Knott asst. entertainment Editor Ryo Miyauchi Features Editor Kelly Hillock

#techissues

Forget the ‘right to forget’ Anthony Berteaux ASST. Opinion Editor ____________________________

T

he

human mind is a complex uncertainty.

Our memories, and the process in which we remember and forget, are complicated processes mired in subjective experiences which construct our recollections. In many ways, we hand pick and choose what we want to forget, what we want to remember and how we remember.

The Internet works differently. Search engines, such as Google, act as the blood of the Internet, but also as a permanent record of our public identities. Should we choose to search ourselves and find an old MySpace profile from 2005, we’re rudely awakened to not only our poor wardrobe choices from that time period, but also that the Internet, unlike our memories, is written in ink, not pencil. We may block our awkward prepubescent presence from our minds, but the Internet never forgets.

Until now that is.

The right to be forgotten – the right for Internet users to request search engines, such as Google, to remove links to information that is outdated or defaming, was introduced last year when the European Court of Justice ruled that Google had to remove outdated and detrimental information of a Spanish lawyer, Mario

Costeja Gonazales. Gonzales spent five years fighting to have news articles about his home’s foreclosure taken down from Google’s search engine, and as evident with the court decision — he succeeded. He set a precedent, opening the gates for 220,000 other people, since then, to take up issue with Google about their medical records, intimate private photos and old private messages that ended up online. The right to be forgotten has granted many Internet users the autonomy to shape their own identity on the Internet.

In light of the acceptance of this newfound right, there have been recent calls from the European courts of justices and activists to apply this law, not only to the European Union, but to across the globe.

At face value, sure, the right to be forgotten would be a clean solution to much of the ailments of the digital age.

Violations of human privacy, such as revenge porn, that have blossomed on cyberspace, would be abolished by simply “de-listing” search items that one doesn’t like.

However, to assume that the right to be forgotten is in line with the freedom of expression because of this regulatory measure is simply naïve.

This right has no place in American society.

In a nation which exercises freedom of expression and most importantly, freedom of press, the right to be forgotten violates public interest for complete transparency.

By removing information and press material from the Internet, based on ethical,

emotional or subjective reasons, we unleash a layer of censorship onto the Internet.

We, as citizens with the right to freedom of information, deserve full disclosure; the good, bad and the ugly.

This motion opens an opportunity for people to edit their pasts to suit their own needs. In many ways, this raises an ethical question of transparency. Ever since the right to be forgotten was made a reality, Google’s UK branch received 20 requests from convicted criminals and pedophiles to remove old information about their crimes from the Internet.

Among other requests were people who wanted to disassociate themselves from racist commentary, politicians seeking to remove unfavorable articles and doctors seeking to remove bad patient reviews.

The Internet has always been a tricky terrain to govern, however this movement to serve personal identities negatively affects the free movement of information. We have a right to the freedom to absorb free information on the Internet. To deny us the freedom to know all public facts about an individual is to stifle this freedom.

Despite so, there are legitimate concerns in regards to this struggle. One of the biggest conflicts of the technological revolution, is the struggle to not only distinct reality from cyberspace, but also reclaim our digital identities and distinct it from our real identities. We’ve seen cases with celebrity naked picture leaks and even locally

where an San Diego State female had her nude photos leaked on Instagram by an ex-boyfriend. The line between our online selves and our real selves are being blurred; this is a main source of contention for this right.

In order for the right to remain forgotten to remain an ethically sound practice, we have to take strict measures to distinct between removing illegal violations of privacy and “de-listing” inconvenient information.

To regulate the overflow of data revision requests, Google established an advisory board headed by lawyers and paralegals to determine which revisions can be made in the EU. An example of this is in the Google’s Transparency Report where an article detailing the name of a rape victim was removed. However, an article detailing financial crimes committed by another wasn’t.

Overall, 60 percent of proposals have been rejected.

Distinctions must be made to protect our freedom of speech, but also maintain the integrity of the free-form of the Internet and hold accountability for individual activity on the Internet.

There is a degree of personal responsibility involved with this right. Should the right to be forgotten persist, it’s implied that online behavior and our online legacies should be greeted with little significance because it could simply be “forgotten.” The law shifts the burden of responsibility on the search engines, when it really should be on us to create our own legacy.

in the hands of the wrong people

Photo Editor Jenna Mackey video editor Wesley Beights Digital Content EDITOR Kelly Gardner art director Kate Leonard production designer Cameron Salce volunteer writers Ali Isenberg Ashley Quintero Emmilly Nguyen KC Stanfield Jaclyn Palumbo Emily Brennan Anthony Reclusado Patrick Carr Rafael Avitable Domenick Weinbrenner volunteer Photographers Kristian Carreon Megan Wood Advertising Director Tony Disarufino Sales Manager Adam Zabel senior Account Executive Radbeh Rabaz Account Executives Alfonso Barajas Jordan Dennison Peyton Fedorka Sarah Richardson Accounting & Contracts Michael Bratt Kalie Christensen _____________________________ STREET TEAM Emily Alvarenga Shelby Snyder Conor Nordberg Paige Plassmeyer _____________________________ General Manager Jay Harn Graphics Specialist Chris Blakemore _____________________________

What’sWhat?

ADVERTISING 619.594.6977 advertising@thedailyaztec.com editorial inquiries 619.594.4190 editor@thedailyaztec.com Print The Daily Aztec publishes 5,000 copies twice a week on Monday & Thursday during the school year, and 3,000 copies every other Monday during the summer.

we asked you, aztecs... if you could change one thing about technology, what would it be?

49%

asst. features Editor Olivia Litsey

Web Our website, thedailyaztec.com, publishes daily content, videos & breaking news.

20%

12%

12%

5%

2%

affecting employment opportunites

permanency

glitches

other

constantly evolving

the daily aztec received 41 responses to an online survey.

Mobile Our mobile app, The Aztec App, is available for iPhone and Android. _____________________________ The Daily Aztec has been San Diego State’s independent student newspaper since 1913.

OPINION 5

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: ELPIN KESHISHZADEH • NEWS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#TECHISSUES

Revenge porn sparks nude awakening EMMILLY NGUYEN STAFF COLUMNIST ____________________________

T

echnology allows you check the weather before getting dressed, text a friend weekend plans, send your mom cute puppy pictures and ruin someone’s reputation at the click or tap of a few buttons.

On Jan. 28, a San Diego State student allegedly posted nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on Instagram. The SDSU Police Department investigated the claim and concluded that it was not an identifiable photo and therefore not a crime.

Revenge porn is defined as posting explicit pictures of someone online without their consent, including selfies. The act itself should be considered a crime whether the picture is identifiable or not.

Pornography is pornography; and if it is without the consent of those involved in the image, it should be illegal.

“Perpetrators of nonconsensual pornography seek

to deprive people of their fundamental right to control access to their own bodies, and they will continue to do so as long as they believe they can do so with impunity,” associate professor of law at Miami University Mary Anne Franks said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California is one of the 13 states that have cyberexploitation laws.

In California, revenge porn is considered only a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of six months and/ or a $1,000 fine. However, if the victim is a minor and defendant has been previous convicted for revenge porn, the jail time and fine could be doubled.

This type of humiliation has become quite popular with the proliferation of smartphones and increases in social media use.

Since social media is fairly new, it takes time for the law to the follow suit and protect those who are using it. Crimes such as revenge porn and cyber-bullying have remained a

gray area before legislation was available to combat it.

Since technology is always innovating, there will always be people hiding in the dark, waiting to exploit it and hurt others.

In accordance, the law has to stay active and the users do as well. When using technology, whether to be to send text messages or update a Facebook status, users need to be aware of how public and permanent

them public and using shame to publicly demean people. It works because of the way we judge women for having sex.”

This poses an obvious question of how can you hate someone, you previously cared about so much?

It is a base and low act to humiliate someone for the entire world to see, robbing them of rights to their bodies, trust and sense of security.

Revenge porn isn’t taken

HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN ACHIEVE SUCH GREAT MILESTONES BE USED FOR SOMETHING SO VILE? their social media presences are.

But, using personal photos, sent in an intimate moment by someone who trusted the other’s privacy is crossing the line.

“It’s the height of cruelty,” associate professor of women’s studies, Doreen Mattingly said.

“By taking the most private, intimate things and making

seriously enough.

A McAfee study determined that 10 percent of ex-partners threaten to expose explicit photos of their ex online.

Furthermore, those threats are carried out 60 percent of the time.

Considering the terrifying trend of more and more people seeing and sending nudes pictures, the practice has

become more common and can even be casual.

Some argue, if a person didn’t want others to see it, then he or she shouldn’t have sent or taken those photos in the first place. But, that kind of judgment is getting us nowhere.

The truth is, this can happen to anyone and can circulate the world wide web.

The Internet, social media and smartphones, are all great inventions that have spurred many revolutionary actions and thoughts.

It’s truly mind-blowing to think that the very same tool used to aid the Egyptian Revolution is being misused to harm others and degrade women.

How can technology that can achieve such great milestones be used for something so vile?

With technology today, possibilities are endless, for good and for evil. Technology is what the users make of it and soon there will be sufficient laws to protect users and punish violators.

#TECHISSUES

Cyberspace sets coding for social anarchy KC STANFIELD STAFF COLUMNIST _____________________________

I

f the Internet was a physical place, it’d be just like the Wild West.

The only difference would be that the sheriff is a toddler with a water gun and there are twice as many bandits.

Don’t get me wrong, modern technology is a wonderful thing. Without it, our lives wouldn’t be nearly as easy as they are now. Could you even imagine having to revert back to a paper map instead of using a GPS when you’re lost? What about sending a letter? It’s safe to say, there’s no incentive to

WHAT DO STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY?

do things the old ways, unless you’re a trend-defying hipster.

But at its core processor, technology is tool, and like any tool, it can easily become a weapon when placed in the hands of a psychopath. And technology is advancing at a faster rate — and, therefore, more dangerous. In the meantime, human society isn’t progressing nearly as fast.

This is going to cause a lot of growing pains for all of us, as our world becomes more hightech.

To be perfectly clear, we’re still able to use new technology, but we don’t fully understand it. Our society, combined with the select few individuals who have the know-how, leave us out to dry.

If you follow technology news, you know it can get scary when virtual crimes lead to real-life hardships.

Just recently, a San Diego man was convicted for running a revenge porn website for the first time, despite the issue of revenge porn being an ongoing issue. The Urban Dictionary definition has been around since 2011. The fact of the matter is the United States Government isn’t fast or able enough to stop cyber crimes.

The Internet may seem like a place with limitless freedom, but far too many get harmed by the anarchy that governments can’t control.

Perhaps, you had Anthem Blue Cross healthcare at one point in time. Well, good news, because hackers obtained more than 80 million customer records. I could easily run into identity theft down the line thanks to Anthem’s incompetency to secure my records. I may not like needles, but I’d take 1,000 injections

over dealing with that bureaucratic nightmare.

If we take a look at piracy, Kickass Torrents had its website taken down and quickly resurfaced. The same thing happened with Pirate Bay. This modern-day hydra was taken down, but the clones and copies made sure it wasn’t going anywhere. It just goes to show the pathetic state of law enforcement is online. The rewards of committing crimes easily outweigh the risk, so more people are going abuse the law.

If you’re not careful, you could even have a SWAT team break down your door as a prank. All it takes is obtaining an IP address to find your house, some software that disguises the phone number and a call to 911. Swatting, as it’s called, is becoming more popular, and it can only be

combated after the damage is done to the victim.

The increasing popularity of technology and the practically frozen state of government enforcement allows for the current situation. Granted, online life is significantly freer than our tangible reality, but this high degree of freedom always comes at a cost. If you’re not careful, you’ll get burned. Learn the ins and outs of the Internet, and it’s important to always be wary.

Hold onto your social security number like it’s a winning lottery ticket, because not even giant corporations are safe It’s not much, but until the status-quo changes, caution is your best bet to avoid any reallife consequences. Screaming in outer space would be a more effective to communicate to our generation than advocating going off the grid in mass.

JANELLE LOPEZ BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SENIOR

post the perfect picture on social media. Instead, we need to embrace life and cherish each moment organically. But you know, Instagram is fun.

and be like, “Yo, this is what I’m talking about!” ­— and that’s pretty sick.

It’s connected us to other people in the world, because I can put something on my Facebook and a friend of a friend’s cousin can see that post and it’s pretty cool to see the bizarre ways we are all connected.

there and we have access to it. If you have access to technology, there are definitely ways in which people can gain specific knowledge in certain areas.

The big problem I’ve seen, since I intern at a school, is the bullying that goes on, on the Internet. There is a lack of accountability for what you post and what you say and that’s definitely a big problem. A lot of false accusations on the Internet can be spread, which leads to a lot of kids being victimized within their school and within their district.

As we know, technology is improving as the years go on, and I love that technology keeps us connected. We’re more in touch with the news and with each other. However, the downside of technology is that we tend to lose touch with life. People are too busy scrolling through their news feeds instead of being aware of their surroundings and the people around them. So in that sense, we’re not connected.

We’re too busy capturing the cool things we do so we can

TRISHA TOLENTINO COMPUTER ENGINEERING FRESHMAN Technology has definitely connected me with my friends. Now we can bond over the Internet, as opposed to hanging in real life. We’re all totally visually driven and by sharing videos and images, we aesthetically like the same thing. It’s awesome to see a cool picture and tag her in it

CINDY GUILLEN SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE STUDENT I think the best part is that we can look up anything, anywhere. There’s a whole world of information out

6 NEWS

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: DAVID HERNANDEZ • NEWS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#RESEARCH

SDSU telescope to yield new insight ASHLEY QUINTERO STAFF WRITER _____________________________________ San Diego State’s astronomy program has a new telescope that will allow faculty and students to conduct high-quality research.

The nearly 50-inch Phillips Claud Telescope will join three other telescopes at the Mount Laguna Observatory, located an hour away from campus.

The Claud Telescope is not a telescope that one looks through. Instead, it has a sophisticated digital camera. It is a reflecting telescope that uses mirrors to reflect light and create an image. It’s twice as powerful as the 40-inch telescope also found in the observatory.

The 50-inch telescope will eventually be operated robotically which means that researchers don’t have to physically be at the observatory. Faculty and students can observe and control the telescope from campus.

“We want to have it automated,” Shafter said. “We will give it a list of things to observe and how long we want it to observe them for. The telescope will move and function while we’re asleep.”

The Claud Telescope will allow SDSU researchers to focus on any one object for long periods of time, allowing them to study the evolution of a particular object, Shafter said.

“I expect world-class research in producing academic projects of high merits,” Quimby said.

The $1.5 million telescope was made possible by a donation from the late amateur astronomer Phillips L. Claud Jr., who funded more than half of the

San Diego State recently attained a new telescope that wil allow the astronomy department to look at interstellar objects for long periods of time.

THINKSTOCK

telescope’s cost, according to SDSU NewsCenter.

“It was enough to build a state-ofthe-art telescope,” professor and chair of SDSU’s astronomy department Allen Shafter said. “It wasn’t our dream telescope, but it is much newer and much higher quality.”

Shafter studies exploding stars called Novae in other galaxies outside of our own.

Plans for the 50-inch telescope began in 2009, but it wasn’t until late 2013 that the telescope was physically in place at the observatory.

The Claud Telescope is still not ready for research. A lot of testing still has to be done, Shafter said.

“We are at the conditioning phase,” Shafter said. “The telescope is working and in place, but we’re still in the shakeout period. We’re tweaking it into getting it where we want it to be.”

Robert Quimby, associate astronomy professor and director of the Mount Laguna Observatory, said he expects the telescope will be ready by the end of the semester.

“We’ve taken a few images but some changes still need to be made,” Quimby

said.

The observatory is also home to a 21inch reflector telescope, which is used for visual observation and public viewing, as well as 24-in and 40-inch reflector telescopes used for research.

Students from the Astronomy 109 class take a field trip to the observatory and have the opportunity to look through the 21-inch telescope also housed at the observatory. It is used for visual observation and public viewing, while the other two telescopes, a 24-inch and 40-inch reflector telescope, are used for research.

#MENTALHEALTH

Study finds increased levels of depression ALI ISENBERG CONTRIBUTOR ____________________________________ The mental health of college freshmen has reached an all-time low, according to the University of California, Los Angeles Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s annual survey of incoming freshmen from more than 200 colleges and universities in 2014.

The self-rated responses from 153,015 freshmen showed that their emotional health was lower than it has ever been since the survey started 49 years ago.

Corporal Mark Peterson, the SDSU Police Department Community Resource Officer, said in an email interview that the department responds to several reports of mental health emergencies every year. He said since the beginning of the Fall 2014 semester, campus police have responded to five reports of people feeling suicidal or making suicidal comments.

But Petersen said no actual attempts have been reported. This figure is encouraging, considering SDSU police responded to approximately 40 reports of mental health emergencies in 2012, 20 in 2013, and 20 in 2014.

“Mental health emergencies are emergencies,” Peterson said.

He said to reduce mental health emergencies SDSU police work with other campus departments in a “campuswide collaboration.”

Counseling and Psychological Services, at the Calpulli Center, is one of the primary campus resources provided to SDSU students in distress.

A woman walks toward the campus health facility. A new study says freshmen are more depressed than ever.

MONICA LINZMEIER, EDITOR IN CHIEF

Peterson believes the collaboration of departments has played a significant factor in the reduction of reported suicide attempts at SDSU. Peterson advises to

call police and medical response as soon as possible if students become aware of someone who appears suicidal.

Director of Counseling and

Psychological Services Jennifer Rikard said she encourages students to join and to enroll in any of the various training programs her department offers, including Question, Persuade and Refer, a suicide prevention certification, and Cultivating Optimal Personal Experiences, a clinic on coping with stress.

Rikard said the stigma surrounding depression is being reduced because more people have been open about feeling depressed. One of Counseling and Psychological Services’ main goals is to reduce these stigmas. One approach taken by Counseling and Psychological Services is to reach out to the community and educate people on these personal and often sensitive issues.

“It’s a community issue — not just (an issue) for the professionals,” Rikard said.

Counseling and Psychological Services also oversees Active Minds, a studentrun organization focused on raising awareness about mental health and removing stigmas.

Rikard said a good way to assist depressed peers is to “take the time to listen.”

“Really listening to what they’re going through can go a long way,” she said. “It can help someone feel understood, and not alone.”

The university offers several resources for students who may be experiencing feelings of depression, isolation and financial stress. For those who are interested in education on the topic, Active Minds meetings take place at 1 p.m. on Thursdays on the fourth floor of the Calpulli Center, conference room 3.

SPORTS 7

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: KRISTIAN IBARRA • SPORTS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#SHOTOFALIFETIME

Student sinks lucky half-court shot MATTHEW BAIN ASST. SPORTS EDITOR ____________________________ Pay close attention to “The Show” in San Diego State’s final couple home games. Scan the crazily dressed crowd until you find a guy in about the seventh row wearing a giant sombrero.

That’s Marcus Cowan.

Four years ago, Cowan was a freshman at University of Nevada, Reno who watched Colin Kaepernick play his last college season before becoming a star quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers.

But last Saturday night, Cowan was the fifth-year senior at SDSU who sunk a half-court shot for a semester of tuition at halftime of the SDSU-Colorado State University men’s basketball game.

Cowan has never played basketball competitively.

He claims he hadn’t shot a basketball for two months prior to his $3,450 halfcourt shot off the glass, so it’s safe to assume it wasn’t “practice makes perfect” that guided the ball in that night.

Instead, Cowan credited a beautiful and blissful thing: luck.

“I usually don’t win things,” he said. “Raffles and stuff, usually nothing comes out of it. I just don’t win a whole lot of things, so I guess that accumulates and

Senior graphic design major Marcus Cowan won a semester’s tuition after making a halfcourt shot last Saturday.

MONICA LINZMEIER, EDITOR IN CHIEF

saves rooms for the bigger things like this, which I’ll take.”

But luck didn’t only strike for Cowan last Saturday night. He said luck paved his path from Reno to San Diego.

Cowan, a graphic design major, said he chose to attend

Nevada out of high school mainly so he could snowboard in the mountains close to campus.

By sophomore year, though, Cowan said the Reno lifestyle began to bore him.

“I just needed more to do,”

he said. “It was just class then gym … it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s go to the beach today.’ You can’t do that (in Reno). You’re pretty isolated from everything.

“I looked at which California State schools were letting in lower division transfers, and

SDSU was the only one out of all of them, which was amazing. So I got in by luck, and it’s paid off.”

Literally.

Cowan had made a deal with his dad that he could spend a sixth year at SDSU to finish his entrepreneurship minor if he picked up a second job.

No longer necessary.

Cowan’s dad, a PGA teaching pro, would’ve needed to postpone retirement to help pay for the sixth year.

Might not be necessary, Cowan said. “(Helping my parents financially) was what I was more excited about,” he said. “It’s awesome that I hit the shot and I’m always going to have that, but that secondary aspect was what I was really stoked about.”

The funny thing is that Cowan wasn’t even supposed to take the shot. A Viejas Arena event staff member originally picked his friend for the chance at a semester’s tuition. But that friend had one too many before tipoff and wasn’t able to take the shot.

So, by another stoke of luck, Cowan filled in for him.

“I called my parents to tell them what was going on, and my dad told me, ‘Well you’d better make the shot!” Cowan said with a smile.

He did.

#AZTECWBB

Lady’s hoops tops high-scoring Spartans ANTHONY RECLUSADO STAFF WRITER ____________________________ The San Diego State women’s basketball team relied on a huge first half to secure a 71-61 victory against San Jose State University Saturday night in Viejas Arena.

For about half of the opening 20 minutes of action the Aztecs (10-16, 7-8 Mountain West) kept up with the highest scoring team in the conference. That is when the SDSU bench took over the game and sparked a 26-7 run to close out the first half.

“I thought we played one of the best halves we played of basketball in the first half,” head coach Stacie Terry said.

“I thought we did a great job sharing the ball, we had 14 assists. I thought we got great play out of Deidra (Smith) and Aleiah (Brandon) who made most out of their opportunities.”

The forward duo of junior Deidra Smith and redshirtsophomore Aleiah Brandon, both coming off the bench, played pivotal roles in the Aztecs first half offensive outburst.

Brandon — who entered the match averaging 2.0 points per game — drained her first three shots, including a 3-pointer that helped SDSU take the lead.

This match remained within one possession until Smith exerted her will against the Spartans front-court. In a span

of two and a half minutes, she single-handily outscored SJSU 9-2, including a 7-0 run.

Meanwhile, the Aztec defense was holding its own, too, forcing six turnovers in the first 12 minutes of play.

Defense continued to lead to offense for the Aztecs toward the end of the half. A 10-point run, eight of which came off the bench, led to a 20-point halftime lead for SDSU — its largest on the season. Of the 42 points for SDSU, 20 were from Smith and Brandon.

“Every game we try to have a big impact,” Smith said postgame. “Today this game (it just) so happened that Aleiah was making shots and I was making shots.”

Heading into the second half everything looked promising for the Aztecs, as senior forward Khristina Hunter tallied the first five points for either squad. But from there, the Spartans took control of the game and started to play their up-tempo style of basketball.

A 25-13 run by the Spartans, that saw the visitors cut the lead to 13 with 6:58 left, changed the atmosphere in Viejas and what looked like the complexion of the game.

From there, the Aztecs started to utilize the entire 30-second shot clock on every possession in hope that they could wind out time before the Spartans caught up. And it worked,

Junior forward Deidra Smith scored 15 points in San Diego State’s 71-61 win against San Jose State University.

MEGAN WOOD, SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

thanks in part to nine of their final 11 points coming from the free throw line in the final eight and a half minutes.

“That was the game plan; to

make sure we took as much time off the shot clock as we could,” said Terry. “I am really proud of this team.”

Up next for the Aztecs is a trip

to Boise where they will take on the MW’s fourth-place Broncos (17-8, 9-5 MW) inside of the Taco Bell Arena. Tipoff will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28.

8 SPORTS

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: KRISTIAN IBARRA • SPORTS@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#AZTECMBB

COMMENTARY

RPI system sullies college hoops PATRICK CARR SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST ____________________________________

O

ur culture is so fascinated with getting simple answers to complex problems. Take “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” for example. According to Douglas Adams’ marvelous work, what is the answer to life, the universe and everything? Forty-two.

What?

OK, if you read the book you’ll find people are very upset with that answer, but it’s the thought that matters here.

People are generally obsessed with quantifying things.

This is why people love metrics in sports. There happens to be quite of few of them, like wins above replacement in baseball, which aggregates a number of individual statistics and calculates a supposedly true value of that player to a team’s win total.

In football there’s the quarterback rating, which again, tries to quantify the overall performance of a quarterback.

In NCAA men’s basketball there’s the ratings percentage index.

It’s used to try to quantify a true ranking of a basketball team because, hey, the humans who vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll every week are obviously too subjective to get a create a true ranking. The NCAA Tournament selection committee takes RPI into serious consideration come tournament time.

RPI is a joke. Why? Let’s look at San Diego State’s 74-56 win against San Jose State University on Saturday. SDSU was favored by 21 points, but as of Sunday, a 18-point win dropped the Aztecs’ RPI from 19 to 24.

Let me add how poorly SJSU is playing this season. The Spartans are 2-24 and haven’t beaten an NCAA

The San Diego State Aztecs dropped five spots in the RPI rankings after defeating San Jose State.

WESLEY BEIGHTS, VIDEO EDITOR

Division I team. Much of that is due to the fact that they only have eight healthy players.

SDSU isn’t the only team who has caught the SJSU bug.

Colorado State University had an RPI of 29 going into its game against SJSU. The Rams won by 29 points and ended

up with an RPI of 38.

Boise State University’s RPI before SJSU? Fifty. After bludgeoning the Spartans by 50? Down to 66.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas went from 60 all way the down to 84 after thumping SJSU by 34. University of New Mexico’s RPI went from 99 to 111 after a

26-point win.

Remarkably enough, SJSU’s loss to SDSU on Saturday night put the Spartans up from 337 to 335 as of Sunday.

I understand the math of the system.

It looks at a team’s win percentage, the team’s opponents’ win percentage, the opponent’s opponents’ win percentage, crams it into a formula and plops out a number that’s less than one.

So by that measure, beating a bad team will drag down your RPI no matter how big you win. Even if you cover the point spread, even if you beat them by 50, even if you win by one. It doesn’t matter.

But I can’t understand why people put faith into a system that punishes teams for winning games they’re supposed to win.

What’s worse about these numbers is that RPI-worshipping humans still, for now, make up the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

The Aztecs dropping to 24 doesn’t really hurt their chances for the tournament, but RPI can hurt other teams.

Generally, teams with an RPI under 60 are long shots to get an at-large bid in the big dance, so why should they be punished for dominating a game or two in which the other team is trash? Those are games good teams are supposed to win.

Here’s a suggestion: Incorporate the point spread and margin of victory into RPI. So if a team such as SDSU was supposed to win by 21 points and won by two, you could factor that in. Or if the Aztecs win a game by 50 against a team they were predicted to lose against, incorporate that and make the system a little more realistic.

For now, just put your trust into the 65 writers that make up the AP Top 25 voters.

They realize the circumstances of a basketball game that a simple “W” or “L” won’t tell you, or that RPI can’t tell you.

#AZTECWGOLF

Aztecs prep for stacked UCI Invitational RAFAEL AVITABLE STAFF WRITER _____________________________________

The San Diego State women’s golf team will face six of the top 25 teams in the country today.

WESLEY BEIGHTS, VIDEO EDITOR

The San Diego State women’s golf team is participating in its first event of the spring today in Santa Ana at the UCI Invitational presented by Kia. SDSU is looking to build on its hot start after it claimed team victories at the season-opening Ptarmigan Ram Classic and the fall-finale Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. _The Aztecs, ranked 24th by Golfstat, are hoping to make a strong showing against a loaded 13-team field that includes No. 2 University of Southern California, No. 4 University of Washington, No. 5 Stanford University, No. 20 Pepperdine University, No. 15 Texas A&M University, and No. 19 University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The 54-hole tournament is being held at the 5,903-yard par-72 Santa Ana Country Club. The individual winner of the tournament will be given a sponsor’s exemption for the 2015 Kia Classic at the Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad.

Stanford won the Invitational in 2014 with an even-par 864 cumulative score.

Junior Emma Henrikson anchors the Aztec squad with her 72.18 18-hole stroke average and No.-38 ranking on Golfstat.

Henrikson took home medalist honors at the Ptarmigan Ram Classic in September and tied for third place at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in October.

Sophomore Sirene Blair, last season’s Mountain West Freshman of the Year, is right behind Henrikson with a stroke average of 73.09. Blair has finished in the top five twice this year in four events after posting two top five finishes in 2014, one of which came as an individual title at the Las Vegas Showdown. Her solid fall performance has earned her the No. 101 ranking to start the spring. Henrikson, Blair and the Aztecs are battling against nine of Golfstat’s top 25 players, including conference rival No. 17 senior Dana Finklestein of UNLV. In addition to Henrikson and Blair, freshman Mila Chavez, senior team captain Paige Spiranac and freshman Georgia Lacey round out the SDSU starting five. Chavez and freshman Haleigh Krause, who is competing in the event as an individual, are the only other Aztecs outside of Henrikson and Blair with top 10 finishes this season.

The field will play 36 holes today followed by a single final round tomorrow morning. Fans can follow the action at Golfstat.com.

FEATURES 9

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: KELLY HILLOCK • FEATURES@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#TECH

Play matchmaker with new dating app LAUREN SPINELLI STAFF WRITER _____________________________________ Was this another lonely Valentine’s Day? San Diego State students continue to endure awkward dates and Tinder nightmares in search of that special someone, but there might be something way out there in this changing technology generation.

All the singles in San Diego may have a new saving grace for finding their other half.

Spritzr is a new, San Diego-based matchmaking app where friends play matchmaker for their friends.

The age of swiping right or left for strangers is now changed forever. Dating can now be up to the people who know you best: your friends.

“We realized friends were the missing element of dating apps” said Spritzr CEO and Founder Manshu Agarwal. “Dating apps all focused on trying to help you find the right stranger to meet. As social beings there’s something fundamentally wrong with leaving friends out of the dating equation.”

Users put their fate in the hands of their closest friends. The singles on the app are paired up with dates recommended by

Spritzr is a new dating app that allows users to be set up by their friends.

COURTESY OF SPRITZR

their friends. Users in a relationship can have fun while playing matchmaker and helping their friends meet that special someone. When a user sets someone up on Spritzr they earn karma points for helping their friends find good dates. It’s almost like a fun, matchmaker game.

“I think it’s nice to get set up with

mutual friends because you are more likely to have things in common and you can use your mutual friends as buffers to hang out in a group setting,” athletic training student, Candice Taggart said.

James Fowler is a professor at the University of California, San Diego, author of “Connected,” and an adviser

to Facebook. His work lies at the intersection of the natural and social sciences and he is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on social networks.

“Most people in healthy long term relationships originally met their partners via friends and family,” Fowler said.

“These real-life social networks yield higher quality partners because our friends know us best.”

Spritzr found that 64 percent of relationships begin by encountering someone in their wider social circle or a friend-of-a-friend, according to Agarwal’s research.

“Online dating has a ton of horror stories,” Agarwal said. “The problem is that they all try and set you up with ‘randos’. So of course you’re going to get a lot of ‘creepos’. There are a lot of friends of friends set up happy stories.”

This new app might just change the way digital dating is done.

“Our friends play a key role in how we develop successful relationships,” Relationship Therapist and KFMB radio host Mary Mudd Quinn said. “They can shorten the time to find that perfect match by introducing us to a few, high quality dates that share our interests and desires.”

#AZTECALUMNI

Reinvent the wheel with Reincarnate board CONOR NORDBERG STAFF WRITER ______________________________________ Imagine being able to skateboard on the street like the pavement is snow or pure ice. It’s with this and more in mind that San Diego State alumni Jay Bermal and Cynthia Cruz have crafted Reincarnate Skateboarding.

The goal of Reincarnate is to market a board that blends the move-set of snowboarding with the versatility of a skateboard. It allows the rider to go downhill at an angle similar to that of a snowboard, while also being able to kick off and gain speed on a level surface like a skateboard. It’s an evolution of an earlier product named Freebord, which allowed for similar snowboardlike maneuvers. This will appeal to both snowboarders and skateboarders.

Having graduated in 2003 with a

degree in mechanical engineering, Bermal has experience in both skateboarding and design and has researched computer lighting and flotation devices. Reincarnate’s newly patented board allows for more versatility, such as all six wheels on the

with the marketing and design of Reincarnate.

“We’d like to see this product on as big a scale as, say, an average skateboard,” said Cruz.

The education they received at SDSU was also an important aspect of their

“

...ONCE I LEARNED MORE ABOUT IT, IT BECAME SOMETHING I WOULD LOVE TO TRY.”

- Anthony Delgado, aerospace engineering freshman

ground, whereas the Freebord has to balance on two, resulting in a “rocker feel.”

All of this results in a board that can be taken across town, around the block or downhill.

“Cruz, a 2002 management information systems graduate, helps

UNLOCK YOUR FUTURE! NOW HIRING FOR

EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE DAILY AZTEC FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/16

REQUIREMENTS: • Knowledge of newspaper editorial and art production operations, journalism ethics, media law and AP style • One year of collegiate newspaper experience; a minimum of one semester experience at The Daily Aztec is preferred • 60 or more units of completed coursework; minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 • Must be currently enrolled at San Diego State University, taking a minimum of 6 units

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY NOON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 Interested persons may pick up an application packet from The Daily Aztec, located in the basement of the Education and Business Administration (EBA) building or in the A.S. Office, located on the third floor of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union. Applicants may also download the application packet at www.thedailyaztec.com/jobs > The Daily Aztec is an equal opportunity and at-will employer as defined by California law.

journey. The engineering skills Bermal received helped him establish the new patent for his board, while the information technology skills Cruz learned helped her to establish the product’s online presence.

“There’s always room for improvement, for creativity,” said

Bermal.

Bermal and Cruz intend to market their board on a broad scale, with the main source of funding coming from themselves and their Kickstarter project.

The company is largely run by the two, with some assistance from friends. The Kickstarter goal is $120,000 with an end date of March 12. The funds are planned to go toward further marketing the board and getting products out to the public.

Bermal hopes to have a big impact around San Diego with Reincarnate.

Local SDSU students with skate, snow, and surf expertise would be right at home with the board.

“With the ability to kick off and not be bound to the board, Reincarnate’s board offers much more versatility in an everyday setting that, after the learning curve, should appeal to any skater out there,” Bermal said.

10 ENTERTAINMENT

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: NICK KNOTT • ENTERTAINMENT@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#GREENFEST

Greenfest springs into the season NICK KNOTT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR ____________________________________ Spring swinging back into season means a couple different things for Aztecs; the “harsh” weather of San Diego’s winter is over, the semester is almost halfway over and San Diego State’s annual Greenfest is right around the corner.

Greenfest, put on by Associated Students and the Enviro-Business Society, is a three-day festival showcasing different social and educational events in the realm of sustainability. Greenfest has brought awareness to the issues of the

environment and how Aztecs can help save it since its inception in 2009. In addition to educational booths and fun and games, Greenfest caps off its annual presentation with a carnival and concert; which has featured big names such as T-Pain and Macklemore in the past.

This year is not much different.

Greenfest 2015 spans from March 1 to March 5 and is capped off by another big and up-and-coming musical talent.

The five days are filled with fun for Aztecs who are in need of a break or have time to kill between classes. Each day has its own set events, and are sure to peak any Aztec’s interest.

SUNDAY, MARCH 1 MAKE A SPLASH WITH GREENFEST 1 P.M. @ SDSU AQUAPLEX There’s no better way to bring in the Spring than hitting the pool with. With the obvious focus on how to help conserve water, this event will help educate Aztecs on how they can help live sustainably by conserving water. The day’s events will include boat races and a giant pool party. This is a great way for Aztecs to get their feet wet in Greenfest for the first time.

MONDAY, MARCH 2 BIKE BRUNCH 10 A.M. @ CAMPANILE WALKWAY The crowd cheers at Greenfest two years ago in parking lot F. FILE PHOTO

Ditch the whip and bike, walk, scooter or jog to school in honor of helping the environment. Bike Brunch gears to help educate Aztecs about more active ways to commute rather than using a car. In addition to the enriching education, there will be free local and organic brunch themed foods for Aztecs to enjoy.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3 AZTEC CHEF COMPETITION 12 P.M. @ LEE AND FRANK GOLDBERG COURTYARD This cut-throat cooking competition will highlight some of SDSU’s best student chefs. It will also help event-goers sharpen their skills in the kitchen both in technique and healthy food selection. Aztecs can sample the culinary creations of the competition and will eventually see who is crowned cooking champ of Greenfest this year.

• • • •

between SDSU and Downtown High frequency Limited stops All day, every day Connects to Rapid 235 and all Trolley lines

TUESDAY, MARCH 3 ENVIRO-FASHION SHOW 7 P.M. @ MONTEZUMA HALL With New York Fashion week coming to a close, it’s only fitting that Greenfest picks up the theme of style during its week of events. However, the difference here is that all the garments are created from recycled material. The show will also feature creative music videos made by students. Now you probably won’t see Anna Wintour at this fashion show, but it’s still definitely worth checking out for the stylistic creativity.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 GREEN BAG LUNCH SERIES 12 P.M. @ MONTEZUMA HALL You don’t have to bring your lunch in a green bag to attend this open-forum discussion event, in fact you don’t even need to bring your own lunch; food will be provided from Oggi’s.

“Renegade gardener” Ron Finley is the luncheon’s special guest and will lead attendees through a conversation on the continuing theme of sustainability and how Aztecs can take it upon themselves to help make sustainable changes in the world.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5 GREENFEST CONCERT 7 P.M. @ CAL COAST CREDIT UNION THEATRE

Plan your trip at

Chicago rapper Chance the Rapper will headline this year’s concert and thus bring a close to Greenfest. Chance made the XXL Freshman Top 10 list last year and has shown promise as an up-and-coming rapper. Although from Chicago, Chance the Rapper’s style isn’t the same as Chief Keef and Lil Durk, other rappers from the Windy City. His style is much more fun and happy-go-lucky. In addition to Chance, student musicians will preform and battle to please the crowd. This concert is the best way to cap off Greenfest.

ENTERTAINMENT

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: NICK KNOTT • ENTERTAINMENT@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

11

#WEEKENDPICKS FEB. 26 - MARCH 1 Not all weekends are as eventful as others.

Some are jam packed with concerts, art shows and movies.

But some are filled with just a few things that spark the interest of people. This is one of those weekends.

With most of the major events already sold-out, there might be some difficulty finding fun alternatives. Although it may not be in the cards to go see Steve Aoki or Taking Back Sunday, because their show tickets sold like hot cakes, there are still a few cool options to check out and make your weekend yet another fun one.

NICK KNOTT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR ___________________________________ DEFAMATION THURSDAY, FEB. 26 6 P.M. @ UNION THEATRE This theater work takes audience participation to a new level.

“Defamation” is a crime courtroom drama that touches on the themes of race, religion, gender and many more. A brief synopsis is an AfricanAmerican woman sues a developer for falsely accusing her of theft, or defamation. The work is 70 minutes long and includes a 15 minute audience deliberation after the play ends. This is the part that makes “Defamation” different, the audience serves as the jury in the trial, which makes the outcome of the trial different for every performance. For those who love law, or theater, this is a perfect performance to watch.

A THOUSAND PLATES THURSDAY, FEB. 19 - THURSDAY, MARCH 26 SDSU DOWNTOWN GALLERY

puller 31 Odorless gas 33 They’re baked in Boise 37 Disaster relief org.

38 Put the kibosh on 39 Exec’s “By yesterday!”

42 They’re boiled in Bangor 47 Sets aside for future use 49 __ and improved 50 Barnyard home 51 Suffix with transit 52 “Green __ and Ham” 55 Knock sharply 57 They’re shelled in Savannah 62 One-liner, e.g.

63 Make __: get rich

JAY MOHR THURSDAY, FEB. 26 - SUNDAY, MARCH 1 AMERICAN COMEDY CO. Renowned stand-up comedian and actor Jay Mohr makes his return to San Diego at the Downtown venue American Comedy Co. Mohr has done a little bit of everything, from starring in film, television and his own comedy specials. Mohr returns to American Comedy Co. on a regular basis, but this is a great chance to see his latest comedy set in action. Tickets for the show run $30. The cost is well worth it because American Comedy Co. is a great comedy venue with an intimate

feel. The comedians are a few hundred feet away at the most. Just make sure to plan ahead because downtown parking is one of the hardest feats in San Diego.

WESTSIDE STORY THURSDAY, FEB. 26 SUNDAY, MARCH 1 SPRECKELS THEATRE San Diego Musical Theater is putting on a remake of this classic theatre work. It’s a tale of two lovers from different sides of society in ‘50s New York City. Naturally the man runs in the gang that is the rival of girl’s family. Much like “Romeo and Juliet,” the play that inspired it, this play touches on the themes of love and war. The two gangs are constantly battling it out while the couple are trying their hardest to keep their relationship a secret. Tickets for this show are a tad on the high end, $35-$63, but for theater aficionados it is definitely worth shelling out for.

This new exhibit at the Downtown Gallery explores different cultural traditions through food from across the centuries. However, it will be a very deep look at food; the art takes a look

CROSSWORDS

ACROSS 1 Thom __: shoe brand 5 Greek Zs 10 This, in Spain 14 Poi source 15 Motionless 16 Like spider webs 17 __ the Impaler: model for “Dracula” 18 One of a 1492 trio 19 Ritual flammable stack 20 They’re juiced in Jacksonville 23 Anteater’s sound in the comic “B.C.” 24 Mobster’s gal 25 Hawaiian wreath 26 Flood-control project 29 Garbage barge

at the need for food, mass production and other themes. Works are both student and faculty submissions all focusing around food in our world. The exhibition is free, which is perfect for a college student. It’s located where Kettner Boulevard meets Broadway in downtown, a mere blocks from the water.

CLASSIFIEDS

64 Dining table expansion piece 66 Degree recipient 67 Guts 68 Year-end clearance event 69 Office note 70 Deuce toppers 71 One-named Art Deco artist DOWN 1 Network that once employed VJs 2 Muscle prone to cramps 3 Devastated Asian sea 4 Caffeinated pill 5 “Be quiet!”

6 Oklahoma city 7 Early brunch hr.

8 “Star Wars” droid, familiarly

9 Hollywood hopeful 10 “College Football Playoff” network 11 Crow’s-nest telescopes 12 Deep serving bowl 13 Infant’s bodysuit 21 __-Rooter 22 Voice above tenor 26 “What’s the __?”: “So what?”

27 Fruity cooler 28 “Li’l Abner” matriarch 30 Departed 32 Furnace output 34 Lukas of “Witness” 35 “Shop __ you drop” 36 Neural impulse conductor 40 Museum collection 41 Would-be social worker’s maj.

43 “__ your pardon” 44 NFLer who plays at the Meadowlands—in NJ, ironically 45 Scolds but good 46 Ugly duckling, as it turned out 47 Lumber mill blockage 48 Bump from which cactus spines grow 53 Xbox enthusiast 54 Cathedral topper 56 Throb 58 San __, Italy 59 Jealous feeling 60 Rip 61 Word after sea or before Lake 65 Doctor’s charge

Help Wanted Swim Instructors $12/hr Part-time hours available Sept. through May. Full-time hours mandatory June through August - 40+ hours per week. Full-time summer and one year commitment required. Competitive swimming background required, CPR & WSI certifications recommended but can be attained post-hire. Starting rate is $12/hr. 858-273-7946. www. murraycallanswimschools.com PLEASE visit facility and fill out an application. ________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: The Daily Aztec does not endorse or support and has no affiliation with the products or services offered in the Classifieds section. To place an ad in the Classifieds section, please visit thedailyaztec.com/classifieds

the

FASHION issue

coming thursday 2/26/15

LOOKING FOR HOUSING?

Place an ad in the new and improved Daily Aztec Classifieds! Whether it’s a one, two or three-bedroom apartment, or just a room for rent in a house, you’ll be able to find your ideal living situation on thedailyaztec.com/classifieds

12 THE BACK PAGE

FEB. 23 - 25, 2015 • THE DAILY AZTEC EDITOR: KELLY HILLOCK • FEATURES@THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

#TYRAFIERCE

Experience It.

Smizing for the selfies KELLY HILLOCK FEATURES EDITOR ___________________________________

"D

o you wanna be on top?” asks Tyra Banks, her eyes smoldering at me through the TV screen. Smoldering into straight into my soul. “Yes, Tyra. I do want to be on top,” I whisper back.

There’s pints of ice cream and an empty box of pizza on the coffee table and my roommates and I haven’t seen daylight in far too long. All concept of time is lost and our conversations have diminished into screaming at our TV until well past 3 a.m.

America’s Next Top Model is on HuluPlus.

There’s 21 seasons of ANTM and most of them are currently available for streaming on HuluPlus. One of my roommates got an Apple TV for Christmas, and as you can imagine, ANTM has become one of the many ways in which we treat ourselves.

After watching four consecutive seasons of ANTM, I basically consider myself a modeling expert. No, her arm looks weird in that photo. Her eyes are dead. What’s with this tennis shoot? So not high fashion. She doesn’t look high fashion AT ALL. Oh, her cheekbones are SO high fashion. Her big eyes are so interesting, so high fashion.

In addition to my newfound skills as a modeling coach, I’ve also developed my own modeling skills. Instead of

regular snapchat selfies, every selfie now needs one of three things: a smize, some booch and/or tooch. Also necessary: elongating of the neck, strange arm placement and/or using enough bronzer to give myself those high cheekbones. Obviously, I’m trying to achieve that Giselle look without looking like I’m trying too hard.

The best and most important season of ANTM is season four. It’s always pleasant to relive the good days of 2005 when low-rise jeans and crop

IT'S ALWAYS PLEASANT TO RELIVE THE GOOD DAYS OF 2005 WHEN LOWRISE JEANS AND CROP TOPS WERE THE TYPICAL FASHION... tops were the typical fashion and you know, I was eleven. This was back when the models acted like little kids and less like a competition and Tyra’s hair was an interesting shade of orange. Nevertheless, season four isn’t noteworthy for its aesthetic, but for the single greatest moment in reality TV history. It’s a moment that shaped the course of reality TV and impressionable young girls for a generation.

The Tyra Meltdown.

During one of the challenges in episode seven, a hopeful model can’t read a teleprompter and struggles with the pronunciation of chartreuse and Hermes. She starts crying and gives up, strutting off camera mumbling about how much of a “joke” the competition is. I mean, I’m laughing. Really, you don’t know Hermes?

Fast forward to the elimination round and this girl is now in the bottom two.

Will she go home? Will Tyra lose her cool? I’m greedy and so I’m hoping for both.

The girl does, in fact, get eliminated and she actually starts laughing or something. Whatever she does, Tyra takes offense to. And if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that Tyra is not someone you should laugh around.

Suddenly, Tyra is angry: “I was rooting for you! We were ALL rooting for you!”

All smizing is gone and Tyra’s orange hair feeds into the dragon vibe she’s got going on.

Now, there are several moments in reality TV history that have gone on to change the course of pop culture for the better. But this Tyra moment is really a transformative one. This is a moment that can be applied to all facets of a problem. While angry, Tyra is still a level of fierce I aspire to be.

I’ve learned a lot from watching ANTM on a continuous loop this past month. I started out as a wannabe model, just someone who wanted to look cute in Instagram posts and I became a Tyra-Transformed model with a whole lot of fierce.

Save a tree. Recycle your paper. #DASNAPSHOTS

SUDOKU

HOW TO PLAY: Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box contains every digit 1 to 9.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL:

2/4

CROSSWORDS, SUDOKU, AND HOROSCOPES COURTESY OF TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC., ©2015.

GAME SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT THEDAILYAZTEC.COM

PLAY 4KAY

Senior Staff Photographer Megan Wood shot the women's basketball team wearing pink to promote breast cancer awareness.

PLEASE NOTE: The views expressed in this issue do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily Aztec.

Express your concerns by emailing letters@thedailyaztec.com

Feb. 24

OPEN HOUSE arc.sdsu.edu 619.594.7529

HOROSCOPE HAPPY BIRTHDAY (2/23/15) - Take charge of your career this year. Grow your professional influence and pay rate. Take advantage of profitable opportunities. Nurture friendships and networks. You can realize a personal dream after 3/20. Take extra care with numbers and administrative tasks after 4/4. Creative (and romantic) collaboration flourishes after 10/13.

HOW IT WORKS: 10 is good, 1 is bad.

ARIES (March 21 - April 19) - Today is a 7 - Work hard and make lots of money for the next two days. It's not a good time to travel. Stick to your budget. Keep your head down and get a lot done. Quiet productivity takes extra ground.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20) - Today is a 9 - Turn down social invitations until after your work's complete. You're getting more sensitive, as you enter a two-day confident phase. Keep it simple.

Chop wood and carry water. Call in reinforcements if necessary.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 21) - Today is a 7 - Something's coming due. Complete preparations with focus and careful thought. Stand your ground. Avoid unusual expense. Consider your path, and review the directions to make sure you're on target. File records safely.

Enjoy peace and quiet.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22) - Today is an 8 - Friends help out now. Say "please" and "thank you". Otherwise, it's a good time to keep your mouth shut. Make sure your messages get through. Choose your words carefully, or wait to deliver them.

LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22) - Today is a 9 Focus on career today and tomorrow. An unexpected expense could require extra work to pay back. Avoid gossip and chatter, and keep your energy focused on providing valuable service. Study for the test. Aim for high grades.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22) - Today is a 9 - Should you go or should you stay? That's the question today and tomorrow. Establish clear communications. Rebellions could flare up. Messages can get lost in translation.

Let your adventurous spirit win over procrastination and boring routine.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22) - Today is an 8 - For the next two days, track calls, orders, and income carefully. Don't make expensive promises. Cut entertainment spending. Prepare to negotiate carefully.

Avoid distractions, and let work take precedence. Wheeling and dealing may be required. Stakes are high.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) - Today is an 8 - Work could interrupt some fun.

Share the load today and tomorrow, but hold onto the responsibility. Listen to another's complaints, and direct them towards solutions. Discipline is required.

Support your partner.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) Today is a 7 - Don't get distracted with arguments or controversy, or you may end up working late. It's not a good time to gamble. Postpone an outing or conversation. Delve into the details.

Focus on your work today.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) - Today is a 7 - Generate creative and unusual ideas, although words could fail you.

Sketch what you mean. Confusion or blocked transmission garbles the message. Finish work early today and tomorrow, and then go play.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - Today is an 8 - Stick close to home for the next two days. Find out what you're doing the hard way. An irritant at home demands attention. Make repairs and upgrade your systems. Talk is cheap. Put your back into your project.

PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20) - Today is an 8 - You're especially clever and creative today and tomorrow.

Nonetheless, misunderstanding and communications breakdowns could slow things. Hold off on signing contracts or agreements. Avoid jealousies.