Issue81

Independent

The

Fort Lewis College News Magazine Issue 80

www.theindyonline.com

THE NATIONAL ELECTION AND FLC

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Dear readers, Thank you for once again turning to The Independent as your source of news both on campus and in the Durango community. I hope you enjoy what is contained within these pages or at least appreciate all the hard work that went into the creation of the content held within. How much work, you ask? More than a little.

CAMPUS

I recently had a phone interview with a prospective journalist from a local high school and buried in the list of questions about the realities of working for a news organization, and the structure of a student publication, was an inquiry about how many people are involved in the production of a single issue of the Indy.

Fort Lewis College Diversity - 3 Story by Travis Good

It had never really hit me, until I started to tally up the numbers, just how many people contribute to each issue crafted for your enjoyment. When you take into account the photographers and designers who craft the beautiful visuals in front of you, the business and promotional staff who solicit the advertisements, the reporters who write articles, the social media staffers that contribute to the entertainment section and the editors who oversee the whole process, and wax poetical at the beginning of every issue, your looking at almost 20 individuals dedicating significant amounts of time to produce this one issue.

Student Fee Increases - 11 Story by Carolyn Estes

COMMUNITY Gold King Mine Spill: A Year Later - 5

This number fails to include the staffers who are contributing strictly for theindyonline.com, or those who are busy creating videos in our IndyTV department.

Story by Masheli Thompson

I know that there is a lot of work being done by a lot of highly dedicated, and slightly obsessive, individuals, but it can be easy to lose sight of that in the day-to-day operations of your student news organization. I guess I can thank that bright-eyed and bushy-tailed high schooler for giving me a little perspective on just how much of a team effort this thing we call news production is.

COVER

Luke Perkins Editor In Chief The Independent News Organization

The National Election at FLC - 7 Story by Chris Mannara

Anyone who is interested in providing feedback on The Independent can reach out either through Email (independent@fortlewis.edu) or through Facebook (The Independent FLC) and Twitter (@flcindependent). If you are interested in providing feedback about specific departments please visit Theindyonline.com where you can find contact info for our departmental editors.

OUTDOORS

REPORTING

EDITORS & STAFF

Public Lands in Public Hands- 9

Chris Mannara Masheli Thompson Carolyn Estes Travis Good Izzy Farrell

Story by Izzy Farrell

ENTERTAINMENT

DESIGN/PHOTOGRAPHY

LUKE PERKINS Editor in Chief

ALEX SEMADENI Print Editor

JARRED GREEN Online Manager

NATALIA SELLS Business Director

Catie Welch Celeste Matovich Crystal Ashike Drew Lovell Cyril Glaser

Horoscopes, Indy Online Highlights, and Indy on the Street!- 13

VIDEO PRODUCTION Alison Uralli Meryl Ramsey Gabrielle Silva Drew Lovell

BUSINESS

LUCY SCHAEFER ALLISON ANDERSON KEENAN MALONE ALLISON KRUCHELL Photography Editor Design Editor Social Media Video Production

Cover photo by Allison Anderson

Alicia Koehler

SOCIAL MEDIA Chris Mannara

Photo by Lucy Schaefer

Photo by Crystal Ashike

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CAMPUS

This mural, by artist Chip Thomas, was completed outside of the Mears apartments and was given adedication ceremony on Indigenous Peoples Day

Story by Travis Good

D

Photos by Drew Lovell

iversity should be a goal that culture can explore.” Long said. for every higher education Diversity is encouraged during institution, both among events such as Fiesta on the Mesa students and faculty. Fort Lewis that El Centro puts on for FLC anCollege has several organizations nually, Long said. who try to address the issue of diFiesta on the Mesa includes live versity that the school faces. music from Hispanic bands and proEl Centro is one organization that vides hispanic food to the students contributes to the diversity at FLC on campus, Long said. by provid“I would ing a place definitely for anyone say FLC is interested in Diverse,” Hispanic culLong said. ture and as“I think sist with the over the retention of next 10Hispanic and 15 years, multicultur- El Centro de Muchos Colores is a campus resource for anyone FLC’s stuinterested in Hispanic culture. al students, dent body Shirena Trujillo Long, the coordi- will probably be a minority majornator at El Centro, said. ity.”

“El Centro contributes to a difLong has been working at FLC ferent dialogue that others may not for 12 years and over that time periknow and people who identify in od she has seen the college develop

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Design by Crystal Ashike

into a participatory culture, she said.

“We provide support to our students academically, socially, culturally, and in the field of wellness,” Yvonne Bilinski, director of the Native American Center at FLC, said.

Right now FLC’s student population consists of approximately 33 percent Native American, 11 percent Hispanic, 1 percent African-American and the remaining white, Long said.

“Our cultural diversity is real reflective of where we live,” Long said.

There are representative of over 150 Native American tribes out of the 1,187 Native American students here on campus, Long said.

“There are a lot of different ways to represent diversity,” Nancy Stoffer, coordinator of diversity programing said.

Diversity is made up of more than just ethnicity, Long saies class,

Bilinski wishes there could be a larger administration for the NAC that way they could be a bigger part of the college, she said.

“We're a small school with limited resources,” Stoffer said. “It would be nice to have a staff for diversity which bigger institutions do.

We just aren't that big. We do what we can with the best that we can.”

One area in which FLC could improve its diversity is amongst the faculty and staff, Long said.

The faculty does not represent a cultural diversity for students on campus and that can be less welcoming than if there were a diverse representation amongst the faculty, Bilinski said.

“There is a severe lack in the number of faculty and staff of color,” Long said. “That’s one of the most proven things that helps our

students of color retain, is to see themselves.”

Stoffer agrees changes need to be made to the diversity of FLC’s staff.

“There is a lot less diversity if you are looking at staff and faculty, which is where I feel this college needs to do better,” she said.

Stoffer believes there is a willingness amongst faculty and the staff to change that, she said.

“I’m not sure how to do that because there are a lot of challenges at play,” Stoffer said.

Bilinski feels that the staff is k owledgeable and caring but still in need of a diversity change, she said.

“I think change is possible,” Long said. “It just takes time.”

COMMUNITY

Story by Masheli Thompson

Photos by Crystal Ashike

O

n August 5, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency made national headlines when they caused a release of wastewater from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

At the time, the waters of the Animas River turned yellow-orange. This color change was caused by iron and aluminum in the wastewater, Callie Cole, FLC chemistry professor, said.

A September 2016 report on water quality in the Animas River, by the Mountain Studies Institute, analyzed the river water near Rotary Park. This report states that according to EPA standards the river water is safe for recreational and agricultural use.

The Mountain Studies Institute also published a report on species of insects native to the Animas River that are known to be sensitive to metal contamination, and found no significant impact on their population after the mine spill.

However, levels of manganese

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and lead in the Animas River were found in both the spring and summer to be too high to use as sources of safe drinking water, the report said. The report also included that the City of Durango does not use the Animas as a source of drinking water during spring runoff, and treats the city water to be safe for human consumption.

“I actually focused on the plants and soil because in the water, the big plug came through in a relatively short period of time, and the water returned to normal,” Cole said.

The long-term impact of the spill is an open-ended question

Design by Crystal Ashike

that will rely on several years of study of the plants and soil, Cole said.

Even with the river reported to be safe, the wastewater spill impacted the business of local rafting companies, Tom Okeefe, owner of Durango Rafting Company, said. The spill ended the rafting season early in 2015, and tourists did not fully return to rafting until later in the 2016 season.

The Durango Tourism Office attempted to update the image of the Animas River in the national media after the EPA pronounced it safe to recreate in, Anne Klein, public relations consultant for the tourism office, said. This was an attempt to combat a static image of the “mustard-yellow” river in the wake of the spill.

While rafting businesses noticed a change in behavior due to the mine spill, overall tax dollars in La Plata County gathered

from tourism remained comparaWhile the mine spill did not ble to pre-spill years, according to have long-term effects on the the 2016 La Plata County lodgers tourism industry, it did have a tax assessed on hotel stays. long-term impact on the career of Cole.

Cole had originally specialized in astrochemistry, but she stated that her arrival at FLC two weeks after the spill sparked an interest in heavy metals in soil and plants, she said. This interest was spurred entirely by the widely publicized river spill in her new hometown.

This newfound interest sparked a research project with her students gathering soil and plant samples from forty sites along the Animas River, Cole said. One of the findings that surprised the former astrochemist was that mullen, a common weed, absorbed heavy metals at a different rate from kale.Cole, and others at FLC, will continue studying the impact that the spill has on In 2012, it was roughly the plants and soil around the riv$226,000 dollars, in 2013 it was er, she said This includes an interaround $204,000 dollars, in 2014 disciplinary relationship between it was a little over $281,000 dol- Cole and professors in both biololars, and in 2015 it was estimated gy and geology. at $230,000 dollars.

She has also been using water

from the river in class labs, she said. Cole has noticed that students are more engaged by having a link between their field and an event that happened where they live.

She has also been working with students to help gather plant and soil samples for an ongoing research project, she said.

Cole is unsure of the impact that the spill had on plants and soil in the area, and says that it will take studying soil samples from at least the next two years to determine if there has been a long-term impact on the plants and soil around the river.

Cole said she is also working with professors in the geology and biology to determine the longterm impacts of the spill on the area and that this has offered her an opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary studies in a way that she otherwise never would have encountered.

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COVER

Getting people involved is more than just encouraging them to drop a ballot in, Walter said.

The Democratic party attended Oktoberfest with signs and literature presenting their candidates and asking for support, she said.

“When people feel like their issues are going to be acted upon they are going to be active and students at Fort Lewis College are active and it’s great,” she said.

The thing that separates this generation from the last generation of voters is how active they are, Travis Oliger, Chair of the La Plata County Republicans, said.

“Every time I leave a school from talking to students I feel so good about the future of the country.”

Oliger said “They are really engaged and aware of what’s going on, much more so than my generation and the one before me.”

Student voter participation is crucial because it allows you to have a voice in the world, Oliger said.

“Voting allows you to be heard,”

he said. “Your opinion will be heard and it might go in the garbage can but at least it was out there.”

Even if people look back on the election and think they voted for the wrong candidate it is still good that they voted, he said.

“Student voters should educate themselves not only on one side but on both sides, Oliger said.

Students at FLC can also become informed on the election by looking for alternative sources of information, Ruth Alminas, assistant of political science, said.

“I would urge everybody to seek out as many sources of information and independent sources of information as possible,” Alminas said.

The advent of social media has created all kinds of new forms of information which can be very helpful for young voters, she said.

“We have access to all of this great information all the time,

but because there is so much of it we have a tendency to just sort of silo the information we receive to just only mimic what we already believe,” she said.

There is more to political participation than most people think, Alminas said.

“I think sometimes we equate political participation with voting once every two years and then being done with it,” she said. “And I do believe that political participation requires so much more than just mailing in a ballot.”

FLC students and college students in general should care about the issues addressed in the presidential debates because they are the ones that are inheriting this world, she said.

“If there is anybody that should care who our leadership is going to be, and what direction policy is going to take it should be the generation of people who are just now in college,” Alminas said.

Last week, we put out a poll on Twitter to see how our readers were appraching the election - who’s voting, who’s going third party, and who’s avoiding the whole thing. The results are here: Story by Chris Mannara

Graphic by Allison Anderson

he upcoming national presidential election will take place Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Fort Lewis College students can play a role by getting their votes in early.

The last day for people to vote in Colorado is Oct. 31 by mail, and in person Nov. 8. Students can register to vote online at govotecolorado.com. The last day to register is Oct. 31 online,

and Nov. 8 in person.

Every registered Colorado voter will receive a mail-in ballot on Oct 17, Jean Walter, Chair of the La Plata County Democrats said. Colorado is one of three states that will be using a mail in vote system.

La Plata County Residents can vote in person at the county clerk and recorder’s office, or at the county fairgrounds, Walter

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Design by Allison Anderson

said.

Students from Animas High School have asked the local Democratic Party how to register to vote and the party was more than willing to help, she said.

“You can register when you’re 16, but you can’t vote until you’re 18, but it’s nice to get your foot in the door,” Walter said.

Trump or Clinton 3rd party Not voting

57% 14% 29%

Want to make your voice heard in future polls?

Follow us on Twitter @flcindependent!

OUTDOORS

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Public Lands in public hands Story By Izzy Farrell

f you like to hike, hunt, fish, or mountain bike, odds are you have benefitted from the 24 million of acres of Colorado public land.

However, recent proposals from conservative lawmakers threaten to change the “public” status of these areas.

Bills requesting the federal government transfer control of public lands to the state have been introduced to the Colorado State Legislature every year since 2012, Scott Braden, wilderness and public lands advocate at Conservation Colorado, said.

Conservation Colorado works to protect and preserve public land in

Photos by Lucy Schaefer

Design by Lucy Schaefer

A Durango local, Ethan Fisher, enjoys having access to public land for fishing and fun

Colorado, Braden said. Currently, these lands are managed by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, or the Bureau of Land Management.

So far, all the proposed bills have been defeated, he said.

Public land is particularly important to Colorado as tourism and recreation fuel much of the state’s economy, Braden said. Colorado’s dedication to public lands was reinforced by the passing of “Public Lands Day” this past May. The first Public Lands Day will be an annual holiday and will occur on the fourth Monday The Forest Service aims to protect and serve our public lands. in March 2017, according to the

Public Lands Day Bill.

Colorado is the first state to establish a day specifically devoted to public lands, Braden said.

The bill passed in the House, but there were certain provisions and bad language that had to be removed before it passed in the Senate, Braden said.

One of those provisions concerned National Monuments and the role the federal government should play in public lands, he said.

“The provision said that before designating a monument, the federal government would have to check with the Colorado legisla-

ture and essentially ask permission,” Braden said.

The removal of the provision and the passing of the bill is a definitive victory for the preservation of public lands, Braden said.

In addition to bills that undermine the protection of public lands, threats include population growth, wildfire growth, increased pressure from recreation, and extractive development in the form of drilling and mining, Braden said.

Transferring these public lands to state control would make resisting those pressures more difficult, he said.

“State lands are managed to maximize profits,” Braden said.

Those profits typically go to funding schools, but are earned through either privately auctioning off the land or selling the mineral rights, he said.

Fewer proposals to transfer public land from federal to state control are introduced each year because the public opinion is strongly in favor of preserving public lands, Braden said.

“National public lands have to be managed for all Americans,” he said.

Federal control of public lands ensures all Americans will be able to access such lands equally, he said.

The fate of public lands is par-

ticularly important at FLC given almost one quarter of the student population has an Outdoor Pursuits membership, Stephen Moldenhauer, a student who has been working at Outdoor Pursuits for three years, said.

“We’re not making any more land,” said Tom Whalen, assistant coordinator of Outdoor Pursuits. “I think that’s another reason to put as many protections on, especially, the wilderness-oriented public lands we have left.”

As assistant coordinator, part of Whalen’s job is to work with with public lands, mostly in Colorado and Utah, to help maintain access for the College.

Given the large amount of public land acreage around Fort Lewis, educationally students have the opportunity to use it for different classes, such as biology or geology, Whalen said.

Public lands also provide recreational opportunities, he said.

Outdoor Pursuits runs a variety of trips that depend on access to public lands across the Southwest.

“We work mostly on Bureau of Land Management or National Forest land,” Moldenhauer said. “Students can come on Outdoor Pursuits trips, or go do their own thing and go backpacking or climbing or

boating on all these beautiful public lands we have here,” Whalen said.

“So education and recreation are the two main pieces.”

There are actions students can take to help preserve public lands, Braden said.

“Register to vote, pay attention to local elections, and vote for leaders who will support public lands,” he said.

Another way students can help preserve public lands is by getting involved with organizations that focus on stewardship and trail restoration, he said.

Outdoor Pursuits runs service trips, which includes activities such as cleaning up trash near rivers, Moldenhauer said.

Additionally, there are organizations that work to give everyone in Colorado access to public lands by connecting underprivileged children from urban areas with outdoor recreation activities, Braden said.

Approximately 36 percent of the land in Colorado is considered public land, Braden said. This is about average compared to most Western states.

“Pretty much if any student is doing something outside, they’re on public land,” Moldenhauer said.

Colorado is full of public land areas compared to other states. Did you know Colorado is ranked 4th in the nation for having the most National Parks?

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CAMPUS

Student Fee Increases

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Story by Carolyn Estes

he decreased enrollment for the 2016-2017 Fort Lewis College academic year has caused the Associate Students of Fort Lewis College to request an increase to the student activity fee to cover the cost of the Durango Transit contract.

Across the institution approximately $6 million is generated from the 11 mandatory student fees for each year, based on total enrollment at FLC, Michele Peterson, associate vice president, finance and administration, said.

Each full-time student pays approximately $1,745 a year in fees, Peterson said.

Currently student fees are $58.15 per credit hour, Connor Cafferty, student body president said. The ASFLC wants to raise the student activity fee for the spring semester of 2017.

The student activity fee is currently $4.95, out of the $58.15 total, Cafferty said.

The ASFLC is requesting to raise the fee by a minimum of 30 cents, he said.

In an ASFLC meeting on Oct.

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Design by Catie Welch

12,resolution 16-041 passed which proposes raising the student activity fee by $1.10, Cafferty said. This resolution will be sent to the Institutional Fee Review Board, Budget Committee, and the Board of Trustees before being accepted.

The ASFLC only oversees the student activity fee, which funds the RSO’s, student legal services, Environmental Center and KDUR staff, the event and travel grant fee for RSO Is, and the cost of the transit, he said.

Graphic by Catie Welch

IFRB recommends the confirmation, denial, or approval with modifications to the President’s Budget Committee.

vital to our school and to many of our students who use it regularly,” Cafferty said.

Raising the student activity fee could also help fund the RSOs that are being affected by the budget cuts, he said.

One group that benefits from student fees, is Outdoor Pursuits and Intramurals, whose student fees are currently $3.05.

cent go to Intramurals, Brett Davis, coordinator of Outdoor Pursuits, said.

A large portion of OPs allotment goes to the salaries and benefits for the professional staff, he said. Then a small portion of it goes to their operating budget.

It costs about $130,000 to operate OP in any given year, in addition to cost of maintaining its professional staff, Davis said.

Currently only $25,000 to The President’s Budget $30,000 of the operational cost Committee will then comes from the student fees, causapprove it, change it, ing OP to generate the rest of the money to operate the program, he or deny it and submit said.

“The student fee alone does not their proposal to the cover the cost of running the proBoard of Trustees. gram,” he said.

On top of the $3.05 that OP collects from each student, students must pay an additional $50 dollars a year for a membership, which allows unlimited access to all equipment, special events and the climbRoughly 70 percent of the $3.05 ing wall, Davis said. student fees go to OP, while 30 perAbout 30 to 50 percent of the

student body participates in OP and pays the membership fee of $50, which creates about $40,000 to $50,000 dollars a year, he said.

The rest of the money is generated through OP fundraisers, such as Wilderness First Responder courses, gear swaps and avalanche 1 classes, for the total sum of $130,000.

OP’s membership fee represents one way that organizations and departments on campus can raise funds when student fees and departmental budgets fall short.

Academic departments can request increases in existing fees, like the ASFLC has done, or the creation of new fees by submitting a fee request form, Peterson said. Oct. 21 was the deadline for any such requests for the 2017-2018 academic year.

An academic department can submit a fee request form to increase an existing student fee or create a course specific fee.

The transit cost is currently about $85,000 a year with an increase of 2 percent each year after the initial increase, he said. After five years a new contract is negotiated.

The raise in the student activiWith a new contract, the cost of ty fee is expected to cover the cost the transit is going up about $30,000 of the new contract with the tran- in total over the next five years, he sit starting April 27, 2017, Cafferty said. said.

“Keeping the transit operating is

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ENTERTAINMENT

HOROSCOPES ARIES (March 21-April 19) Someone may be putting a lot of pressure on you to commit to something right now. Don’t give in! Focus on doing what needs to be done before considering adding anything else.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Sometimes there are no right answers to a problem, and you just need to pick one and fail. That’s okay. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on doing you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Burning the candle at both ends never winds up working out.

Force yourself to take some time off - get away for the weekend or spend a night having a Netflix marathon.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) The thing you’ve been waiting for is closer than you know. Be patient and try to maintain a little optimism.

LEO (July 23-August 22) Don’t second guess yourself. If something seems off, investigate, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You’ll wind up knowing something you didn’t before.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) Learn to recognize when you’re not being treated the way you should be- and then learn to cut that out of your life. Spend your energy only on the things that matter.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22)

WE WANT YOU! The Independent is looking to redesign the distribution boxes on campus, and we want YOU to help! We are looking for artists, graphic designers, painters, illustrators, anyone with a flair for visual arts to submit ideas for how to redecorate the Indy’s yellow boxes.

All you have to do is email Allison Anderson (awanderson@fortlewis.edu) for a template and return a completed submission by Wednesday, December 14th. We here at the Indy will select our 11 favorite redesigns - one for every box on campus. If yours is chosen, you get a box to put it on AND we’ll pay for the supplies (within reason) to decorate it!

Please note that any submissions featuring graphic or explicit content will be automatically disqualified. By submitting content to The Independent you turn over the right for us to utilize and reproduce this content as we see fit.

THE INDY ONLINE Want more? Head over to theindyonline.com for exclusive stories, opinions, Indy TV videos, photo slideshows and more! You can find these stories online now:

Don’t wait to make a change in your life - if something isn’t working out for you, waiting will only make it worse.

What is Fort Lewis College’s Mission?

SCORPIO (October 23-November 22)

Story by Travis Good

INDY ON THE STREET We asked Indy readers if the credit change has affected them this semester. Here’s what they had to say: Sky Holiday Senior, Business “Not really, other than a language credit that I had to take over the summer. But there were other reasons for me doing that that didn’t have to do with the credit change.”

Michael Barela Senior, Exercise Science “I haven’t been affected too much by it. Most of my classes are labs, so I get the four credits through that anyway.”

Garrett Brown Junior, Business Administration “I don’t think I have been affected too badly.

I have some some credits from high school and summer classes that help me so I’m not worried about it.”

CALL FOR CREATIVE WORKS The Independent is now accepting creative content to be included in the next print issue of the Indy. Art, poems, photos, short stories, anything you’d like to submit is welcome!

Please send all submissions and questions to Allison Anderson (awanderson@fortlewis.edu) and be sure to include your name and the title of your work in your email.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA The Independent FLC

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If someone is coming to you for help, listen and do the best you can. It could come back to you in a good way.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21) Keep putting in the time and the work and you’ll start to really hit your stride- this will open up lots of new opportunities for you.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)

FLC’s 2016 Homecoming Games

Photos by Celeste Matovich and Cy Glaser

Don’t let personal matters distract you from your work. Most of the time these kinds of problems that wind up working themselves out in the end.

The Flick: FLC’s Hot Ticket

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18)

Story by Carolyn Estes

A little hope and willingness to go with the flow will do you a lot of good in the next few weeks.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) A big decision may have presented itself to you recently.

Chances are it’s not as consequential as you think - just make a choice soon and stick with it.

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ASFLC Student Activity Fee Raised Story By Izzy Farrell

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