Koala aims to make amends Dipthi Battpadi
TUESDAY April 17, 2012 Volume 97, Issue 105 W W W.T H E D A I LYA Z T E C . C O M
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SDSU’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT N E W S PA P E R SINCE 1913
contributor “The Koala is really really really, super duper sorry that previous members, none of whom any current staff members know, were reckless with the office space in Aztec Center, a building which no longer exists.” This is an excerpt from the apology that the Koala – San Diego State’s alternative student-run newspaper – tendered to Associated Students as part of its sanction to become a student organization again. The Koala lost its student organization status about five years ago after an incident involving Koala staff members urinating in the elevators of the old Aztec Center. When a student organization is in violation of the Student Organization Code of Conduct, Student Life & Leadership can impose various sanctions on it. An apology was demanded by A.S. in February 2010, as a part of its resolution against an article about rape in The Koala, condemning it for inciting rape and “diagramming how to rape, when to rape, who to rape and how to get away with raping a woman.” The apology is one of the two sanctions The Koala has to fulfill before applying to be a student organization again. The second sanction is 100 hours of community service, which the Koala has to track with SLL. Randy Timm, director of SLL, emphasized the Koala will not automatically return to being a student organization after fulfilling these sanctions. It will have to apply again and then it will be decided whether it can become a student organization. However, Erik Luchsinger, a junior at SDSU and the business director at The Koala, is confident the Koala will become a student organization again by next semester. Luchsinger, who will then become the president of The Koala, is unfazed by the 100 hours of community service. “Because we have several people, we can probably do 5-10 hours each. We can get it done in a day,” he said. Luchsinger is very enthusiastic about the opportunities for publicity
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OPINION
A well-dressed man reads The Koala in front of the statue of SDSU’s first president, Samuel T. Black. |
being a student organization will provide the Koala. “As a student organization, The Koala will be able to set up tables to distribute our newspapers, put pamphlets in all the offices. Maybe we will even get an office. It will make things easier for us. And it’s kinda sticking it to the school a little bit,” Luchsinger said. A Koala member who wanted to be identified only as Francis said, “We will have a much bigger presence on campus by being a student organization. We can be on the website too, so people will be able to look us up. We will have a wider reach.” A decision by SLL to make The Koala a student organization again would certainly meet with some backlash. “In the past, A.S. council has not supported the actions of The Koala, especially an article they published regarding rape. A.S. council passed a resolution against this article and spoke against The Koala’s acts of discrimination and reinforcement of neg-
ative stereotypes.” A.S. Vice President of External Affairs Krista Parker said One of the most vocal critics of the Koala is Kit Bacon Gressitt at California State University, San Marcos. When the Koala started publishing at CSUSM last January, Gressitt and other students tried to prevent it from succeeding by going after the local businesses that advertised with The Koala. Gressitt is also the founder of the website calloutthekoala.com, which updates a list of businesses that advertise with The Koala as part of its efforts to stop the newspaper. Gressitt said when she read about SDSU giving The Koala a chance to regain its student organization status, she emailed several professors and student organizations. She did not hear back from most, and the few who responded had never heard of The Koala. “Most people blow if off by saying it is just a bunch of sophomores running it but it is actually an established for-profit business,” Gressitt said. “The Koala was established at
ALLIE DAUGHERTY, EDITOR IN CHIEF
University of California, San Diego long back and before it became so heinous. It is shocking that a university would consider it now.” The Koala, however, has made sure everything is in place to become a student organization, including having a faculty adviser. Both Luchsinger and Francis stressed The Koala doesn’t need SDSU’s money to publish the paper, but they want to distribute the newspaper on campus and have no plans to revamp or revise The Koala’s image. “We have been lucky to be selfsustainable without the help of the school for several years now, pretty much ever since we started,” Francis said. “We are an organization that publishes 5,000 issues per month. The readers we have now will not like it if we change after becoming a student organization. “We’ll be the same,” Luchsinger said, “Except we will be more in your face.”
Supreme Court allows strip searches for even minor offenders
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SPORTS After a string of losses, the Aztecs score a major win against UNM.
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Aztecs rally to take back the night Elisse Miller staff writer Last Tuesday, San Diego State’s student organization Womyn’s Outreach Association hosted an event promoting the end of domestic violence and abuse entitled “Take Back the Night.” As described by WOA President Lily Khuu, it is “a night where victims and supporters are to ‘take back the night’ by raising awareness that women and men should feel comfortable on and off campus, or wherever they are, at night. It is a comfortable place for victims to come together and share their stories.” The event started with a protest-like march around campus, complete with picket signs and chants containing phrases such “Two-four-six-eight, no more date rape!” and “Whatever we wear, wherever we go, ‘yes’ means ‘yes’ and ‘no’ means ‘no!’” Child and family development sophomore Sofia Flores shared her passion for this issue by saying,
“Personally, it hits close to home. I know many family members who have been abused. For me, it’s just seeing them go through it; it’s painful for them; it’s painful for everyone around them. If people could see what they go through, they would be able to understand that this is not something you can just brush off and it’s an important issue in our society.” Oliver Murch, member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity stated, “It’s good that us SAE men are going out and spreading the word because in the end, men do have the power to make a difference and that’s something people don’t understand. When you see
guys in Greek life wearing letters and going around expressing how rape is not OK and consent is necessary, it’s just a positive influence on our school.” After the march, attendees were given pizza and were encouraged to receive information from several tabling groups such as Planned Parenthood, Jeans for Justice and Fraternity MANners. Everyone then gathered into Scripps Cottage where keynote speakers and poets presented empowering speeches to the group. SDSU’s own Dr. Susan Cayleff told the story of former Women’s Resource Center Director and abuse victim Andrea O’Donnell, the namesake of
Attendees shared their stories of feelings about struggle with repeated physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse.
SDSU’s WOA. Speakers also made a point to recognize domestic abuse and sexual violence does not only happen between heterosexual couples; homosexual couples can experience such tragedy and young males are oftentimes incest victims. Candles were lit and passed out to all attendees as part of a candlelight vigil to reflect and respect victims. Arguably the most powerful aspect of the event was closing with an open mic portion. Attendees shared their stories and feelings about struggles with repeated physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse. Some victims were even comfortable enough to publicly share their stories for the first time. Khuu summarized the feeling of the night by saying, “My message is no matter how much I have suffered through being a victim of domestic violence, I want to help all the victims to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence. My goal is not only that we have a huge turnout, but that people come out for a little bit of healing and to send the message that no matter what kind of person you are, you know there are victims out there.”
F E AT U R E S
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He takes the uncomfortable out of sex talks and fills them with a careful and casual sense of hilarity, (and) ... a fountain of knowledge ... B A C K PA G E
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