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THURSDAY JUNE 22, 2017 Summer 2017 Issue 1
Cal State East Bay has questionable water quality SEE OPINION PAGE 2
RAMADAN CHALLENGES AND REWARDS MUSLIMS
SEE FEATURES PAGE 4
FANIME CONVENTION TAKES OVER SAN JOSE
Pioneer updates on America's president PHOTO BY LOUIS LAVENTURE/THE PIONEER
What happened?
On Tuesday CBS News released survey findings that found President Donald Trump’s approval rating declined to a new low over the last few months. The new study found that just 36 percent of the 1,117 adults surveyed approved of the job Trump was doing, a new low during his presidency. CBS conducted phone interviews with people all over the United States from June 15 to 18 in order to gather the findings. Fifty-seven percent of the people polled disapproved of the job he is doing and his approval rating fell from 36 percent, the lowest it has been since he recorded a 39 percent approval rate in February. CBS found that the most popular reason people cited for their disapproval was Trump’s potential ties to Russia. The second most popular reason was his firing of former FBI Director James Comey amidst the investigation that Trump has business ties to Russia and their interference in the United States 2016 presidential election. In a statement from the White House on May 9 after he fired Comey Trump, “acted based on the clear recommendations [of the attorney general and deputy attorney general].” Sixty-three percent of people polled disagreed with his handling of these two issues, while just 28 percent approved. Other publications track approval and disapproval ratings for the president like Rasmussen Reports, an American polling company based in New Jersey, which found he had a 48 percent approval rating as of Saturday. Gallup, a consulting company based in Washington, D.C., found that his approval rating was at 38 percent as of Monday. All of the polls surveyed a minimum of 1,100 Americans via phone interviews. Participants in the CBS poll were also asked questions about issues relating to the United States in general and 39 percent of the people thought the Russian investigation was a critical national security issue while 32 percent thought it was a distraction.
By Louis LaVenture Editor-in-Chief
By Cody Davis and Daniel McGuire
CONTRIBUTORS
On several occasions, Reza Khorasani, finance vice-president for Associated Students Inc., complained to university officials at Cal State East Bay about the drinking water on campus. Since February, in meetings with student government officials and university President Leroy Morishita, Khorasani said he had seen discolored water in the science buildings and noticed a metallic taste when he drank the water. No action has been taken in response to Khorasani’s complaints because he never filed a formal, written complaint. Water quality tests are only performed on the CSUEB campus “if deemed necessary,” such as during construction, and according to Donna Placzek, the university’s director of environmental health and safety, no
formal complaints have been submitted regarding water quality issues on campus. Formal complaints about water or related concerns must be filed online through the CSUEB website using a Title IX link to a form called Blow the Whistle on Government Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, which is then presented to Senior Investigator Shirley Mar from the Department of Investigations. Complaints can also be filed with anyone within the Risk Management and Internal Control department on campus, according to Associate Vice President of Risk Management and Internal Control Nyassa Love Johnson. Severed water line The last water quality test that took place on the CSUEB campus was on Aug. 28, 2013 after the collapse of Warren Hall severed a water line in the library. Built in 1971, Warren Hall was deemed the most seismically unsafe building in the CSU system by the CSU Seismic Review Board. Forensic An-
alytical Laboratories Inc. tested eight samples from the University Police Department and the first and second floors of the Library, which shared the same water line as Warren Hall. The group tested for copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb), and determined that eight of the samples from 2013 were within federal limits. Hayward purchases its water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, with about 85 percent of the water coming from the Hetch Hetchy watershed and the remaining 15 percent from the Alameda Watershed located in the East Bay, according to The City of Hayward’s website. According to CSUEB Director of Sustainability Jillian Buckholz, the CSU East Bay campus receives its water from the same sources, and water tests are done annually, according to the city of Hayward. “Take Back the Tap” This Spring, the Pioneer conducted an informal survey of facility workers
and students about water quality on campus. Those interviewed anecdotally described instances of yellow-colored water and blamed the poor conditions of pipes in older buildings on campus, but none ever filed a formal complaint or were aware of the process of doing so. CSUEB student Vanessa Cha, an intern for the CSUEB Director of Sustainability, believes that people's thoughts about the water on campus are purely related to word-of-mouth. This winter Cha conducted a “Take Back the Tap” campaign, meant to encourage people to drink the water on campus by proving that the water quality and taste met the people’s standards. In February, Cha asked roughly 65 students on campus to participate in water taste tests. She found that 63.1 percent of them could not tell the difference between bottled water and tap
SEE NEWS PAGE 3
Meiklejohn Hall receives renovations
PHOTO BY KEDAR DUTT/THE PIONEER
A construction crew works on the roof of Meiklejohn Hall on the Hayward campus just before the break between the spring and summer quarters early June. Be sure to check out future issues of The Pioneer and our website, thepioneeronline.com, to read updates on the renovations.