THE PIONEER Covering the East Bay community since 1961
California State University, East Bay CHECK US OUT ONLINE! www.thepioneeronline.com /thepioneernewspaper @thepioneeronline @newspioneer
News, Art, & Culture for the East Bay
www.thepioneeronline.com
Guess who’s coming back to campus
MIRA ESPANOL PAGINA 6
Que saben de entermedad celiaca?
SEE OAKLAND PAGE 8
Oakland makers make top of the list
By Kris Stewart
deadline
At approximately 6:45 p.m. on Friday, April 10, California State University, East Bay students, faculty and staff received a “timely warning” through a variety of alerts regarding the threat of a possible shooting on campus the following day, Saturday, April 11. It started with an overheard conversation on the school campus’ track, according to Sheryl Boykins, Chief of University Police. Boykins said a student was jogging on campus and overheard a conversation from a group of males that he neither knew, nor recognized. Boykins explained that one of those students said something about having acquired a gun and planning to bring it to campus on Saturday. “That was the extent of our information at that time,” said Boykins. The student who overheard the conversation shared the information with another CSUEB student, who then posted the information on Facebook, Boykins said. This prompted calls from the campus community, including concerned parents who read the Facebook post online. “And once that information was out before we could vet it, we decided to put out a timely warning to the campus,” said Boykins. Jeff Bliss, executive director of university communications, said this is the first time the university has sent out this type of alert. The university sent emails, phone calls, social media and text messages utilizing “AlertMe,” an alerting and warning service for students, staff and faculty. After alerts went out, Bliss received dozens of emails and phone calls inquiring about the alleged threat. After hearing the details, he was asked by concerned citizens why the university
By Tiffany Jones
SEE CAMPUS PAGE 3
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PHOTO BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
Executive Director of University Communications Jeff Bliss speaks to the media about the shooting threat to the CSUEB campus Friday evening.
CSUEB recruiting unconventional By Louis LaVenture
California State University, East Bay’s Associated Students Inc. extended its application deadline for candidates looking to run for student government to Friday, April 17 by 5 p.m. The date was extended to give students more time to apply and be a part of ASI, according to ASI Executive Vice President Marie Ibarra. According to Hebert, prior to this year, approximately 10 percent of the student body voted in the elections. “ASI aims to increase the student participation through the use of social media, giveaways, tabling, and events that will help to promote the elections and the candidates running,” said Ibarra. There are 14 ASI Board of Director positions that students can apply for. The executive positions are President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Finance, Vice President of Internal Affairs, and Vice President of External Affairs. The director positions that students are able to apply for are Director of Legislative Affairs, Director of Programming Council, Director of Sustainability Affairs, Director of Concord Campus, and the Director of Wellness. The senator positions are the Senator of the College of Business and Economics, the Senator of the College of Education and Allied Studies, the Senator of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the Senator of the College of Science. Previously reported by The Pioneer last year, four out of 25 students ran unopposed for their position. This included the ASI President, Vice President of Finance, Vice President of External Affairs, and Vice President of Internal Affairs. But since April 14, all 14 positions are occupied, according to Ibarra. “We anticipate more candidates running in this year’s election with less positions unopposed as in previous years,” said Stan Hebert, associate vice president and dean of students.
The Associated Students, Inc. Board of Director responsibilities are:
SPORTS AND CAMPUS EDITORS When most people hear the term “recruiting” they have their own idea of what that means. Generally people think it means a talented high school or junior college athlete that is being courted by a slew of NCAA Division I blueblood schools. Schools offer full scholarships to these athletes in hopes that they will choose to attend their school and bolster the sports program. However, for California State University, East Bay and similar schools that aren’t Division I, recruiting has a completely different meaning. For a Division II school like CSUEB, the appeal to top-level high school and junior college athletes is not as strong as it is for Division I schools. Institutions that are in the NCAA Division I are able to offer prospective athletes full scholarships that cover tuition, books, and housing for most of or usually their entire athletic-collegiate career, something that CSUEB does not do. “We operate on a partial scholarship model,” Beth Murdock said, the CSUEB Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Compliance and Student Services. “Each head coach has a scholarship budget that they manage. Just over half of our student-athletes receive some athletically related aid.” Scholarships are part of the athletics department budget that is included in the complete school budget that is ap-
SEE SPORTS PAGE 11
Spring 2015 Issue 3
extends Shooting threat hits campus ASI application
ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
SEE CORNEL WEST PAGE 3
THURSDAY APRIL 16, 2015
• Evaluate and implement the mission of Associated Students Inc., including, but not limited to, advocacy and programming • Fulfill the duties and specific expectations as defined in the Bylaws, specifically Article VI, Section 6-8 • Attendance of, and participation at, bi-weekly board meetings • Participation in retreats, in-services, and trainings as scheduled • Participation on appointed committees • Participation in additional University events • Serve on Associated Students, Inc. standing committees, University-Wide Committees, and Academic Senate Committees • Learn and understand the operation of the corporation, the University, and the California State University system • Make decisions for the corporation based on information provided by the management and resulting from self-initiated research • Draft and debate legislation pertinent to the interest of the corporation • Provide leadership opportunities for students at large
PHOTO BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
CSUEB senior guard Jacari Whiffield discusses his career in September on the Hayward campus.