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Women’s hoops lose leader SEE OPINION PAGE 4
KOBE BRYANT GETS PROPER SEND OFF
THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 Spring 2016 Issue 3
Warriors win without Curry
Head coach leaves Hayward for Seattle By Louis LaVenture EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SEE FEATURES PAGE 7
420 BLAZES ACROSS THE BAY
NEWS
Cal provost’s bittersweet step-down By Kali Persall MANAGING EDITOR UC Berkeley’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Claude Steele, took the Berkeley community by surprise when he announced his resignation last Friday, citing his wife’s health issues as his reason for leaving. “It has been a privilege to devote my time and energy to growing and supporting the university, and in particular to building a more inclusive community,” said Steele in a statement issued to the campus community by Chancellor Nicholas Dirks on April 15. “Alas, my wife’s ongoing health challenges remain quite significant, and this is simply not a time in our lives where I can afford to further sacrifice our time together. The choice has thus become clear: I can no longer offer UC Berkeley the time and level of commitment it needs from its EVCP, while at the same time being a part of my family in the way I want to be.” Steele’s announcement arrived in the midst of a firestorm of ongoing criticism about a slew of sexual harassment cases at UC Berkeley that sparked questions about the discipline of staff and faculty members found guilty of sexual misconduct. Earlier this month, an investigation into 17 cases involving Berkeley faculty and staff was released, revealing that a third of the staff members investigated were let go, but accused faculty either resigned or remain employed at Berkeley, according to The Daily Californian. Students and residents of nearby communities have expressed outrage at the university’s apparent lenient punishments of tenured faculty. Steele has been the target of scrutiny for his assuaged discipline of former Berkeley Law School Dean Sujit Choudhry, who was found guilty of the sexual harassment of his former executive assistant Tyann Sorrell last year. Rather than firing Choudhry, Steele ordered a 10 percent dock in Choudhry’s pay for one year, required he see a counselor, as well as write Sorrell an apology letter, according to The Daily Californian. In response, Sorrell sued Choudhry and the UC Board of Regents for sexual harassment last month. Steele will remain employed at Berkeley and will join the psychology department as a full-time faculty member next year, according to Chancellor Dirks’ statement. The EVCP position will be filled on an interim basis. Specific information about who will assume this role has not yet been released.
Just over a month after the greatest season in school history, the women’s basketball team lost their coach. Cal State East Bay Head Coach Suzy Barcomb chose to go to her hometown area after she accepted an offer from Seattle University to become their new head coach. This comes on the heels of the first ever California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference Championship and NCAA West Regionals appearance for the Pioneers, who finished the season 27-5 overall and 18-2 in conference, also school bests. “Over the last six years at East Bay I have gained additional knowledge in building a program from the ground up, creating a championship culture and mindset and more importantly challenged myself to grow as a person, coach and mentor,” Barcomb said. The young women I have had the opportunity to coach at East Bay have been wonderful and the love that I have for them is immense. The move up to Division I competition will be a challenge for Barcomb who coached in Division III and II previously. The Seattle Redhawks are part of the
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEITH ALLISON PHOTO BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
CSUEB Couch Suzy Barcomb during halftime of a home game on Jan. 1st. Western Athletic Conference, which also has New Mexico State, UT Rio Grande Valley, Grand Canyon, Utah Valley, CSU Bakersfield, Missouri-Kansas City and Chicago State. New Mexico won the conference last season and finished 26-5 overall. Barcomb finished her career at CSUEB 95-80 overall and 71-59 in CCAA games in her six seasons at the helm since she came from Puget Sound, also in Washington. Barcomb is a native to the Pacific Northwest and also played as a walk-on for one season at the University of Washington. “Walking around the Seattle Universi-
ty’s campus, I just really felt like I was home again,” Barcomb said. This comes at a rough time for the East Bay roster who lost six seniors, including the school’s all-time leading scorer Tori Breshers. Barcomb will have her hands full with Seattle who finished 9-21 overall and 3-1 in conference games last year. Seattle will return 11 players with only three listed on last season’s squad as seniors. However, the Redhawks also lost Taelor Ross, their leading scorer, to graduation. Seattle only has one returning player who averaged at least 10 points per game last season, freshman guard Tal Shar.
CSUEB expands housing on and off campus By Christina Urbina CONTRIBUTOR
Cal State East Bay’s enrollment reached an all-time high fall quarter 2015. More than 1,700 freshman students and 2,200 transfer students were admitted into the school. As the number of Cal State East Bay students applying for on-campus housing grows, the number of beds available is at a standstill. In response to this on-campus housing shortage, Cal State East Bay’s Student Housing & Residence Life is expanding housing both on and off-campus. East Bay offers housing to a total of 1,530 students in residential halls that replicate apartments rather than a classic one-room style without amenities. Two different housing communities are available to students at East Bay: Pioneer Heights on campus, and University Village, located less than a mile off campus on Carlos Bee Boulevard. Pioneer Heights current includes kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms inside each unit, while University Village does not include kitchens in their units. Students who live in the university’s residential halls are vocal about the crowded housing conditions and why building more residences is a necessity. Kristine Fleming, a fourth year psychology major at East Bay has lived in Pioneer Heights all four years and says the living
conditions are “not ideal.” Until she decided to live in a single suite — one person per room — there was virtually no privacy because so many people were in the same unit, according to Fleming. Almeida says more and more students are signing up for student housing but there is simply no room to accommodate everyone on the first-come-first-serve waiting list. According to the Occupancy Strategy on the Student Housing website, “at the start of fall quarter, we still had 140 students on the waiting list who we were not able to accommodate and jeopardized their ability to attend classes. A housing “Master Plan” currently includes the addition of two new housing facilities: one on-campus, the other off, according to Student Housing Director Mark Almeida. The off-campus housing complex called Cadence is underway and has a target completion date of fall 2017. Meanwhile, the construction of an on-campus residential hall with underground parking is currently pending due to ongoing project negotiations. Cadence will be able to house an additional 500-600 upper division East Bay students and the housing will include in-suite kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms, according to Almeida. There will be a university police department substation in the building, security access keys, resident assistants who live on site, and an above-ground parking structure. Officials say Cadence will help alleviate
PHOTO BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
The new student housing building near South Hayward BART.
the growing wait list of residents who want to live on or near campus. Cadence would be located two miles away from CSUEB at Tennyson Road and Mission Boulevard, in the immediate vicinity of South Hayward BART. Almeida says the university intends to implement a free shuttle service to and from the South Hayward BART station and East Bay’s campus for students living in Cadence as a sustainable and convenient alternative to driving. Despite being off-campus, residents of Cadence will pay similar housing fees as those who live in Pioneer Heights and University Village. According to CSUEB, for non-freshman residents, housing fees are on average $2,600 per quarter or $940 a month. Heat, water, cable, electricity, dining services, as well as recreational and leisure activities like cooking demonstrations are included in housing fees. According to Housing’s Master Plan, the proposed on-campus resident halls are currently pending due to ongoing project negotiations and will merge traditional dormitory styles with modern residential halls, similar to some dorms at Cal State Northridge. Located in parking lot C1, the proposed new buildings will have a hallway of bedrooms with communal bathrooms shared among 3-4 bedrooms, communal kitchens, lounge areas and underground parking. Most traditional style dorms have a hallway of bedrooms in which more than a dozen students could share the same bathroom and shower rooms. Student Housing continues to take in as many students as possible. Freshman housing Juniper, Sequoia and Tamalpais are converting all doubles — two people per room — to triples, which place three people in one room. By converting into triples, 104 additional bed spaces will be available, according to Almeida. “I know these [students] need a place to live too, but it just gets uncomfortable when six girls are sharing one bathroom,” said Fleming, and she is not alone. It is a common consensus among residents that expanding Student Housing is well overdue. Building a strong community between residents is one of Housing’s main goals, however some residents feel that having up to three students in the same bedroom can cause conflicts.
Stephen Curry.
By Louis LaVenture EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Even without the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, the Golden State Warriors still dominated the Houston Rockets on Monday in Oakland. Two games into their first round playoff series with the Houston Rockets, who they beat in the Western Conference Finals last year, the Dubs find themselves up two games to zero, however it has come at a price. Stephen Curry injured his surgically repaired right ankle in the game one win late in the first half. Curry tried to come back and play on it in the third quarter, but was in noticeable pain and was inactive for the second game, which the Warriors won 116-105 on Monday night at Oracle Arena. “We all know we’re down the best player on the planet,” Klay Thompson told reporters after the game. “Next man up, that’s how it has to be.” Game three will be in Houston on Thursday and the team still hasn’t said if Curry will play or continue to rest with the unspecified ankle injury. It is the same ankle that caused him to miss more than 60 games four years ago, when he had surgery after injuring it during a regular season game. “He’s doing better than yesterday,” Head Coach Steve Kerr told reporters during Tuesday’s shootaround. “We’ve got guys that can play, Steph’s missed three or four games this year, we just have to find ways to score.” Despite the positivity on Curry’s health from the entire team, his status will still be a gametime decision. Several Warriors picked up the slack in his absence. Guard Shaun Livingston started in place of Curry and was a force on both ends of the floor. Livingston dominated the ball and along with sixth man Andre Iguodala, the two combined for 34 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Thompson also had a stellar night showing off some of his ball handling and driving skills that he normally doesn’t. The other half of the splash brothers finished with a game-high 24 points in the win. Game three will be at 6:30 p.m. in Houston and game four is scheduled for Sunday at noon, also in Houston.
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