ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS ON PAGE 15

By ALEXANDREA BONILLA Managing Editor

Voting for Weber State University Student Association elections is open Feb. 27 to March 2 through your student email. Keep your eyes open around campus for lawn signs and the candidates themselves.

The results will be announced at Weber’s Got Talent in the Wildcat Theatre on Friday, March 3 at 6 p.m.

This list is composed of candidates who announced their candidacy and met all deadlines and other requirements set by WSUSA. Candidates who did not meet the requirements may launch a write-in campaign; they are not included in this list.

Candidates:

Student body president

Jonathan Rosas:

“Leading with purpose: amplifying student concerns and ideas, building a more inclusive campus, and creating opportunities for students to shape their educational experience.”

Ashley Potokar:

“You matter. Your voice matters. You have a place at Weber State.”

Vice President of activities

Sydney Pace:

“I’m all in because YOU matter and YOU are heard. Better activities. Better fun. Better time. Will be a better Weber State experience.”

Megan Wahlquist:

“I am not here to be the “party planner,” I am here to create opportunities for YOU to connect, grow, and create memories to enhance your time at Weber.”

Evan Gale:

“I will strive to enrich the student life of Weber State University through fun and exciting activities that will make our school great, great, GREAT!”

Executive Vice President

Isaac Staszkow:

“If I am elected as Executive Vice President I will work to enhance belonging, increase involvement, and advocate for each and every students concerns.”

Vice President of Davis and satellite campuses

Jackson Hardy: “Assume positive intent. Love each other, and mind your business.”

Vice President of diversity and unity

Genesis Vargas-Arrona:

“I want to be your advocate, your support and your friend. I will fight for what is right for you, and ensure you are included in conversations that impact you.”

Neftali Castaneda:

“Promoting diversity and inclusion fosters innovation, collaboration, and excellence. As VP of Diversity and Unity, I am committed to building a more equitable and innovative university community.”

Vice President of clubs and organizations

Chloe Shaw: “Elevating student involvement. I will create a personable and engaging experience for all clubs and organizations.”

Franco Barbiero: “Opportunities of a lifetime are all around you. All we have to do is take a step forward. Let’s build connections together!”

Vice President of community engagement

Rylan Rusty Musselman:

“Empowering our community through service and utility - together we can achieve great things.”

Joshua Clawson

“Every student as Weber deserves connection - to others, the university, our community, and beyond. Engagement, on all levels, creates connections. We need you to engage!”

Yuritzi Rosas Hernandez:

“It’s my passion to change a system that was not built for me or for people like me, and to restructure it so that more students can succeed.”

College of business and economics senator

Senator Logan Baird:

“I am running on a platform of bringing more professional opportunity to campus, creating connection between students, and ensuring our students voices are heard at every level of campus life.”

Hispanic senator

Jennifer Duenaz: “Connection, collaboration and culture will be what moves us toward the future.”

International senator

Edson Barros Cordeiro:

“I will try my best to improve the quality of life for international students on campus, from reducing tuition costs to hosting a lot of fun events!”

No candidate or write in:

-Vice president of leadership

-African diaspora senator

-Asian senator

-Athletics and club sports senator

-College of arts and humanities senator

-College educator senator

-College of engineering, applied science and technology senator

-College of health professionals senator

-College of science senator

-College social and behavioral sciences senator

-Davis campus senator

-Graduate senator

-honors/BIS senator

-Housing and residence life senator

-Lgbtq+ senator

-Native american senator

-Non-traditional senator

-Pacific islander senator

-Students with disabilities senator

-Traditional and general studies senator

-Veteran senator

By SHANIA EMMETT Reporter

The Biennial Student Art Exhibition is back at the Shaw Gallery at Weber State University, allowing students to showcase their artwork.

While other showcases may only be for art majors, the biennial exhibition contains work from any majors in WSU.

This year’s exhibition is important because the last biennial exhibition was canceled due to the pandemic. Students are now able to have the ability to showcase their work once again.

The work has to be approved by an outside juror. This year’s juror was Kirsten Furlong, the art director from Boise State University. Of the 150 entries that were submitted for the chance to be showcased in the gallery, about one-third was accepted.

Photography, digital media pieces, sculptures and pottery can be seen in the showcase.

“It’s great to see all of the variety that is in the showcase this year,” Lydia Gravis, the Shaw Gallery director, said. “I was really curious to see how the collective feel would be, and I’m glad it turned out to be a lot more hopeful given the hardships that have happened over the years.”

The Biennial Student Art Exhibition isn’t the only showcase that the Shaw Gallery has held. Over the years, it’s housed all kinds of works from different artists. In 2018, they held a showcase for Japanese artist Wyaasuaki Ohishi. Ohishi’s exhibit showcased all different kinds of suspended artwork. In spring 2022, the gallery held an exhibition called “All Together, Amongst Many: Reflects on Empathy.”

The Shaw Gallery has shown all kinds of art showcases and gives everyone a chance to see something that is new and exciting.

Gravis encouraged people to spend time looking at the exhibit and feel something from what the exhibitor presents. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. until March 24.

POR NATHANAEL STOUT

Traductor

Reportero

La exhibición de arte estudiantil bienal ha regresado a la galería Shaw en la universidad Weber State, dejando que los estudiantes muestren su arte.

Mientras que las otras exhibiciones puedan ser solo para los estudiantes de estudio principal de arte, la exhibición bienal destaca obras de cualquier estudiante.

La exhibición de este año es importante porque la última exhibición fue cancelada debido a la pandemia. Los estudiantes ahora tienen la oportunidad de mostrar sus obras de nuevo.

Las obras tienen que ser aprobadas por un jurado externo. La jurado de este año fue Kirsten Furlong, la directora de arte de la universidad Boise State. De las ciento quinientas obras entregadas para ser mostradas, una tercera parte fue aceptada.

La fotografía, obras de medio digital, esculturas y la cerámica pueden verse en la exhibición.

“Es bonito ver toda la variedad de la exhibición de este año”, dijo Lydia Gravis, la directora de la galería Shaw. “Estaba curiosa sobre cómo sería el ambiente colectivo, y estoy feliz de que llegara a tener mucho más esperanza en consideración de las dificultades que pasaron recientemente.”

La exhibición de arte estudiantil bienal no es la única exhibición que desempeñó la galería Shaw. Durante el tiempo reciente, ha tenido todo tipo de arte de varias artistas. En 2018, presentó una exhibición del artista Wyaasuaki Ohishi. Destacó varias tipas de arte suspendida. En la primavera de 2022, la galería tuvo la exhibición llamada “Todos juntos, entre muchos: reflexiones de la empatía.”

La galería Shaw ha mostrado muchas exhibiciones diferentes y da la oportunidad a todos de ver algo nuevo y emocionante.

Gravis alentó a la gente para que pasen el tiempo mirando el arte y sientan algo. La galería se abre los lunes hasta los viernes desde once de la mañana hasta cinco de la tarde y los sábados desde las once hasta las tres de la tarde y dura hasta el 24 de marzo.

By COOPER HATSIS Reporter

An apex predator high on cocaine, “Cocaine Bear” is the latest film from actor-turned-filmmaker Elizabeth Banks. This new horror comedy is inspired by true events.

In 1985, drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II lost $2 million worth of cocaine in the Tennessee wilderness. The FBI later recovered the drugs and found that a black bear had ingested 75 pounds of the cocaine and died. The real cocaine bear is now on display in taxidermy form in the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall.

This new film follows a very similar premise, but the bear does not overdose on drugs and instead goes on a rampage, leaving a path of destruction and death.

“Cocaine Bear” relies heavily on how absurd the concept of it is. The title says it all, let’s be honest. Unfortunately, one of the biggest flaws with this film is that it relies too much on its absurdity, resulting in a story that lacks substance and fails to emotionally connect with its audience.

“Cocaine Bear” has a handful of entertaining sequences, but there are too many characters and small subplots in this film. Due to the large amount of characters, the film feels a bit underwritten. It was difficult to care about which characters would survive being attacked by the CGI bear; all the characters are one-note.

I appreciate this film’s effort to work off the Reagan-era “War on Drugs” notion, but this idea is underdeveloped.

The only thing really going for this film is its shock-value humor, jarring title and its poster.

While most of the mayhem is quite funny, any other attempts at comedy fall short. If some of the jokes were able to stick the landing, the glaring flaws with the underwritten characters may have been forgiven, but that just wasn’t the case, leading to a semi-awkward viewing experience.

Despite some of the glaring flaws with the film, there are some positive aspects worth noting. There is one sequence in the film involving an ambulance that is probably the highlight of the film. If you are watching this for the shock-value humor, this is likely going to be what you are most pleased with.

Ray Liotta, like usual, gives a really good performance. Liotta passed away in May 2022, meaning “Cocaine Bear” was the last film he acted in. A title card at the end of the film shows that it is dedicated to Liotta.

Students, faculty and staff from all departments came to view the speech.

By BRISA ODENTHAL Reporter

On Feb. 22, Fred Hampton Jr. came to Weber State University to speak to students and faculty on Black Resistance, as part of WSU’s Black History Month.

Hampton Jr. is the president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscious Committee and the Black Panther Party Cubs, which is a coalition made up of the descendants of the original Black Panther Party Leaders. Hampton Jr. came to campus after being invited by his cousin, Terri Hughes, a WSU student, president of WSU’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People student chapter as well as WSU’s Center for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

After an introduction from Adrienne Andrews, WSU’s Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity

Officer, Hampton Jr. gave a brief introduction of himself and his cause and opened the floor to questions from the WSU community. The event took place in the Wildcat Theater on the second floor of the Shepherd Union from noon to 1:45 p.m. Hampton Jr. spoke of his involvement with the Black Panther Party and the Black Panther Party Cubs, his father Fred Hampton — a previous deputy chairman of the National Black Panther Party — and the impact of his death, his own personal experiences with racism and what WSU students can do to further the cause of the Black Panther Party.

WSU students, staff, faculty and community took the opportunity to ask Hampton Jr. a number of questions including topics of coalition building, how white students can use their privilege to help POC students and the history of the Black Panther Party, among many others.

“We want [the students] to be familiar with what the Black Panther Party Cubs are doing, we want to draw the coalition from the campuses to the communities,” Hampton Jr. said. “The universities are a sort of isolated island, so we want to move that climate, that atmosphere, the discussions about the struggles that are happening in the studio, in the barber shops and on the campuses, to the streets.”

The event concluded with brief messages from Hughes and Andrews, urging students to take the words of Hampton Jr. and use them as they continue on in life. Hampton Jr. stayed a few minutes after the event to answer any questions that were cut for time and to take pictures with attendees.

WSU’s NAACP student chapter has held many events for Black History Month, including this event, a kick-off event and a viewing of the movie “Harriet.”