ARMED AND DANGEROUS
Chico State’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1975
Softball team led byy power hitters Sam am m Baker and Hailey Ha aile i y Stockman Sto ockm kman a an Story Sto t ry r B2 2
FIVE STRINGS OF FLECK
Experimental banjo player Bela Fleck strings along audience at Laxon Auditorium Story C2 VOLUME 66 ISSUE 12
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2011
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LOUDER THAN WORDS Students marched Friday to show support for LGBT community members. The march started outside of Plumas Hall and ended in the downtown area.
CAMPUS >>
Sigma Chi concluded its Derby Days event with $6,279 in donations to give to the Children’s Miracle Network. Charity events between April 10 to Friday, April 15 each contributed hundreds of dollars to the cause, with the most money coming from T-shirt sales and fundraisers with local restaurants such as Woodstock’s Pizza. The annual event did not occur last year because the Chico Chapter of Sigma Chi was under suspension from the national headquarters. But participation this year is a sign that the fraternity is “coming back strong,” said Daniel Johnstone, alumni chair and Derby Days chair. “We couldn’t have done it without the sororities,” he said in a phone interview. Members of Sigma Chi were grouped with entire sororities to compete and see which group could raise the most money for the cause. Alpha Phi took first place, with Gamma Phi Beta coming in a close second place.
THE ORION • DANIELLE BUIS
“
... ‘We’re here and we have a message.’
“
TARA MALCOM Senior English education major
Silence speaks at demonstration Teresa De Luz ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The fifth annual Day of Silence march was held Friday as students and members of the community showed their unified support for the LGBT community. The Day of Silence is a national event where students take a vow of silence to call attention to anti-LGBT issues, while being a way for the campus to show support and express
its diversity, said senior Tara Malcom, an English education major and Day of Silence coordinator. “I have heard from many people that it really means the world to them that an organization on campus will take that step for them,” Malcom said. This year’s event was specifically focused on bringing other community groups into the week-long Day of Silence events, she said. Local organizations such as Stonewall
Candidates discuss platforms, politics Ben Mullin STAFF WRITER
Source: Daniel Johnstone
The university film series will continue with “Ten,” written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami. The film is a part of the Humanities Center’s theme of the year, which is chance. “Ten,” which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, mostly consists of untrained actors and has an element of improvisation. The film explores personal social problems of women in Iranian society. The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m., April 26, in Ayres Hall Room 106.
TO HIGHER EDUCATION
Grim budget predictions bring bad news to a system already struggling with deep cuts. Read how Chico State administrators, Associated Students, staff and faculty are struggling to preserve higher education on A4.
Hoopers, musicians, more gather to honor Earth month at Ecofest
source: Campus Announcements
Bryan Clendon STAFF WRITER
The second annual iLead conference, hosted by the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m May 1 in the Bell Memorial Union auditorium. The conference, themed “The Journey,” is open to both students and non-students interested in leadership. There will be a keynote speaker, workshops and leadership activities. The goal of the conference is to inspire students, give them the tools to be successful and develop a sense of leadership. source: Campus Announcements
Alliance Center, a resource and support center for members of the LGBT community, were contacted and support the event. “By incorporating and reaching out to a larger audience we wanted to say, ‘We’re here and we have a message,’” Malcom said. The events began with a showing of the fi lm “Milk,” on Tuesday, a one-man play called “That’s so Gay,” on Wednesday and the fi lm “Rent” Thursday, said Prime Time Productions >> please see SILENCE | A7
THE ORION • GINA SPADORCIO
ECO RIFFS Doug Stein, lead singer for the band Swamp Zen, performs a song at Saturday’s Ecofest. Swamp Zen was one of three bands that played at the sustainability-themed event.
INDEX >>
Kendall Hall’s lawn was the place to be Saturday, as members of the community gathered to celebrate Earth Month and promote sustainability at the annual Ecofest. The event was about bringing the community and the university together to celebrate the earth, said senior Sage Priolo, a communication studies major and Ecofest coordinator. “It’s also about having fun and doing yoga on the lawn,” she said. The festival featured live yoga instruction and live music by local bands Adrian and Xavier, Swamp Zen and Boss 501. There were also performances by Afro-Caribbean >> please see FESTIVAL| A7
When the Associated Students candidate’s debate kicked off Wednesday night, 16 candidates sought to deliver their message to Chico State’s entire student body. Including the candidates, 32 people filled the first five rows of plastic blue chairs set up in Bell Memorial Union Room 210, leaving nearly half the seats empty. “Honestly, the turnout wasn’t as high as we would have liked, but the questions and feedback were great,” said Ashley Holton-Westhaver, A.S. elections supervisor, who compiled the questions for the debate. Throughout the night, Kristina Barger, A.S. executive vice president, stood behind a polished wooden lectern and delivered questions to the candidates and periodically picked students from the audience to ask their own questions, town hall-style. “The first hands I see will be called on.” Barger said, pointing at a clump of raised hands. Presidential Debate Student questions to the presidential candidates focused on issues of promoting diversity and sustainability on campus, holding A.S. officers accountable to students and whether or not the prospective presidents would be willing to have their salary cut to help deal with the budget crisis. “If I’m walking around wearing a Rolex watch and you’re pissed off about your classes getting cut, I’ll take a cut,” said Christensen “Swang” Sanders, the current president of the Black Leaders on Campus. Jillian Ruddell, the current director of the Associated Students Women’s Center, also said she’d consider having her president’s stipend reduced. “But don’t quote me on that one, because I have bills to pay,” Ruddell said jokingly. Near the end of the debate,
the presidential candidates discussed ways to fire up the student body and get it to play a more active role on campus and in the community. Chico State students, who keep downtown thriving by patronizing local businesses, should be an integral part of a city they support, Sanders said. “We love this town,” he said. “We might as well — we’re going to be here for four years.” London Long, the current director of university affairs, stressed the need for capable leadership in the presidency and cited her year of experience working in A.S. alongside its executives. “I’ve been shadowing the current president for a year now,” Long said. To create a more effective A.S. government, students need to take the time to listen to each other and determine what issues are worth tackling, said Lindsey Siegel, who is running on a promise to create an open dialogue with the student body. “We don’t know what we’re passionate about,” Siegel told the audience during her twominute introduction. Siegel finished speaking before her time was up and reserved the balance of her time to the audience. “I’ll use my last 30 seconds so you can ask your neighbor what they care about,” she said. The room was silent for a second and then a chorus of whispers broke out in the crowd. After watching the president’s debate, current A.S. president Amro Jayousi thinks the contest had two clear winners, though he wouldn’t identify who they were, he said. Because he participated in the debate in the spring of 2009 and 2010, Jayousi knows exactly how difficult the last week after the election will be for the candidates. When he was campaigning for the presidency, Jayousi >> please see DEBATE | A5
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Issues and problems with mimicking ’90s style and trends Column A8
The Santa Clara ghost trackers come to Chico to investigate Bidwell Mansion Story D1
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