volume 76 // issue 13

12
THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2016 VOLUME 76 // ISSUE 13 SINCE 1979 In this issue: A&E: Student takes her talent to Hollywood. Pg. 6 Student Life: Summer in Sonoma County. Pg. 8 Sports: Brandon Lee advanc- es to golf nationals. Pg. 10 Opinion: Local rent control doing more harm than good. Pg. 3 Follow The STAR: @sonomastatestar @sonomastatestar /sonomastatestar Visit: sonomastatestar.com BEST OF 2016 STAR // Connor Gibson California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White visited Sonoma State University last Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues concerning students and the future of the CSU. Chancellor visits campus, discusses shortage of graduates SHANE WELCH Staff Writer C alifornia State University Chancellor Timothy P. White hosted an event last Thursday at Sonoma State University address- ing the university system’s vision, as well as responding to questions from students, staff and faculty. Among topics covered during the speech, White spoke about a Cal- ifornia drought in education — an anticipated shortage of roughly one million bachelor degree earners in the state by 2030. “As you look at California’s fu- ture, there is a significant drought that is starting to emerge with the number of students who have a bach- elor’s degree from colleges and uni- versities,” said White. “By 2030, at the current rate at which bachelor’s degrees are earned by students in California, we are going to be over a million degrees short of what is going to be necessary to sustain the economy.” During the question and answer segment of the event, several mem- bers of the audience comprised of students, staff and faculty asked White to address several topics. “At the moment, there are fac- ulty on this campus and other CSUs that have graduated with bachelors, masters and even doctorate degrees that are currently making salaries below the poverty line,” said senior Gabe Duran. “Have you ever consid- ered cutting administrator salaries, presidential salaries and maybe the needs at the top to sequester sacri- fices needed See CHANCELLOR on Pg. 4 Housing down payment causes financial hardship for students EDGAR SANCHEZ Staff Writer L iving on campus can provide a plethora of oppor- tunities for both first-time freshmen and upperclass- men alike. Social devel- opment, health and well- ness and convenience are only a few of the benefits. However, for students at Sonoma State University, securing a spot to live on campus can sometimes be a nightmare due to the $400 down payment required by Housing Ser- vices prior the start of the academic year, when financial aid hasn’t been disbursed. “Four-hundred dol- lars can be somebody’s entire paycheck for the month,” said Rosemarie Keene, a junior transfer student who, with her friend, Briana Taggart has created an Associ- ated Students resolution to address the difficulties many students endure when making the down payment without financial aid. The resolution calls for a $200 reduction to the original $400 down payment. The remaining $200 would be deferred until the fall semester when financial aid is dis- bursed. Keene, a member of the Education Opportu- nity Program, says her ex- perience paying the $400 is what motivated her to write the resolution. “Figuring out how I was going to pay the down-payment and [buy] food for the month caused me a lot of stress and anxi- ety,” said Keene. “I don’t think our students need to feel like that.” According to the resolution, there are cur- rently 3,555 Sonoma State students who have a year- ly estimated family con- tribution ranging from $0 to $5,198, which qualifies them as financially disad- vantaged. Although the resolu- tion originally called for a $200 reduction only for students who are fi- nancially disadvantaged, it has been revised to in- clude all students, regard- less of financial condi - tions. The resolution states the housing down pay- ment was implemented in 2008 with the purpose of ensuring students would have a higher commit- ment towards the housing space they applied for. The Housing Ser- vices website explains by making the $400 down payment, students are making themselves eli- gible for a housing offer. The website also states that every student, regard- less of financial situation, must pay the $400. Although there is a payment plan available for students who do not possess the means to pay the $400, according to the resolution, only nine students have taken ad- vantage of this resource this academic year. This, according to Keene, is mainly due to poor adver- tising techniques by hous- ing services. Davin Polchow, freshman and an EOP student, said he decided to become involved with the resolution because he didn’t agree with the rea- soning behind the down payment requirement. “There are so many students waiting for on- campus housing that if a student leaves it would not make a difference,” said Polchow. “It would just make a space for the next person on the waiting list.” Nicole Hendry, di- rector of housing services, declined to comment on this matter. In the resolution, it’s acknowledged that socio- economic status is often associated with race and/ or ethnicity, meaning that requiring disadvantage students to pay such a high housing down pay- ment can be counterin- tuitive to Sonoma State’s mission. Polchow, who made the housing down-pay- ment for the 2016/17 school year, has decided to decline his on-campus housing offer because he found cheaper options off campus. He received a 50 percent refund. “They bring us in as EOP students saying [the university] is all about community,” said Pol- chow. “But at the end of the day, I feel it is more about the money than helping students succeed.” On April 29, the As- sociated Students Senate postponed hearings for the resolution until the fall semester. Although the fall se- mester will bring a new Associated Students Sen- ate, there are at least two senators who will serve a second, consecutive term. If the senate decides to approve the resolution, it will be moved to the hands of new president, Judy K. Sakaki for her review. Campus community gathers in celebration of Armiñana’s retirement NATE GALVAN Staff Writer A s the sound of jazz mu- sic illumi- nated the ballroom of the Student Cen- ter last Friday, stu- dents and members of the campus com- munity celebrated the 24-year legacy of Sonoma State University Presi- dent Ruben Armi- ñana. Most of the at- tention throughout the event was on Armiñana as close friends praised the president, who has seen more than 20,000 applicants apply to the univer- sity in the past year. “A lot of you have known Ruben and Marne [Armi- ñana’s wife] for some, if not most, of the last 24 years,” said University Pro- vost Andrew Rog- erson. “From the beginning, they have worked dili- gently to transform this university into what it is today; a vibrant, residential campus filled with great students com- mitted faculty and a warm and nurtur- ing staff.” Rogerson cites Armiñana as a man who defies stereo- types. “Who could imagine a Cuban who is both allergic to coffee and ba- nanas [running the university]?” After Rog- erson addressed the crowd, a slide- show of photos of Armiñana and the marks he’s left on the university were shown. Alongside the smiling pictures of Armiñana with students and fac- ulty the presenta- tion included shots of buildings he de- veloped including the Green Music Center, Student and Recreation Centers, residential housing and more. Armiñana took to the stage at the conclusion of the event’s speeches to address the crowd about his feelings of moving on from his longest standing profession. “On behalf of Marne and I, I want to say thank you for allowing me the op- portunity to have served you,” said Armiñana. “It has been interesting See ARMIÑANA on Pg. 4 STAR // Sara Wildman The Sonoma State University community gathered on Friday to honor the 24-year career of President Ruben Armiñana.

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Page 1: Volume 76 // Issue 13

THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2016VOLUME 76 // ISSUE 13

SINCE 1979

In this issue:

A&E: Student takes her talent to Hollywood. Pg. 6

Student Life: Summer in Sonoma County. Pg. 8

Sports: Brandon Lee advanc-es to golf nationals. Pg. 10

Opinion: Local rent control doing more harm than good. Pg. 3

Follow The STAR: @sonomastatestar @sonomastatestar /sonomastatestar Visit: sonomastatestar.com

BEST OF 2016

STAR // Connor Gibson

California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White visited Sonoma State University last Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues concerning students and the future of the CSU.

Chancellor visits campus, discusses shortage of graduates

Shane Welch

Staff Writer

California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White hosted an event last Thursday

at Sonoma State University address-ing the university system’s vision, as well as responding to questions from students, staff and faculty.

Among topics covered during the speech, White spoke about a Cal-ifornia drought in education — an anticipated shortage of roughly one million bachelor degree earners in

the state by 2030. “As you look at California’s fu-

ture, there is a significant drought that is starting to emerge with the number of students who have a bach-elor’s degree from colleges and uni-versities,” said White. “By 2030, at the current rate at which bachelor’s degrees are earned by students in California, we are going to be over a million degrees short of what is going to be necessary to sustain the economy.”

During the question and answer segment of the event, several mem-bers of the audience comprised of

students, staff and faculty asked White to address several topics.

“At the moment, there are fac-ulty on this campus and other CSUs that have graduated with bachelors, masters and even doctorate degrees that are currently making salaries below the poverty line,” said senior Gabe Duran. “Have you ever consid-ered cutting administrator salaries, presidential salaries and maybe the needs at the top to sequester sacri-fices needed

See CHANCELLOR on Pg. 4

Housing down payment causes financial

hardship for studentsedgar Sanchez

Staff Writer

Living on campus can provide a plethora of oppor-

tunities for both first-time freshmen and upperclass-men alike. Social devel-opment, health and well-ness and convenience are only a few of the benefits. However, for students at Sonoma State University, securing a spot to live on campus can sometimes be a nightmare due to the $400 down payment required by Housing Ser-vices prior the start of the academic year, when financial aid hasn’t been disbursed.

“Four-hundred dol-lars can be somebody’s entire paycheck for the month,” said Rosemarie Keene, a junior transfer student who, with her friend, Briana Taggart has created an Associ-ated Students resolution to address the difficulties many students endure when making the down payment without financial aid.

The resolution calls for a $200 reduction to the original $400 down payment. The remaining $200 would be deferred until the fall semester when financial aid is dis-bursed.

Keene, a member of the Education Opportu-nity Program, says her ex-perience paying the $400 is what motivated her to write the resolution.

“Figuring out how I was going to pay the down-payment and [buy] food for the month caused me a lot of stress and anxi-ety,” said Keene. “I don’t think our students need to feel like that.”

According to the resolution, there are cur-rently 3,555 Sonoma State students who have a year-ly estimated family con-tribution ranging from $0 to $5,198, which qualifies them as financially disad-vantaged.

Although the resolu-tion originally called for a $200 reduction only for students who are fi-nancially disadvantaged, it has been revised to in-clude all students, regard-less of financial condi-tions.

The resolution states the housing down pay-ment was implemented in 2008 with the purpose of ensuring students would have a higher commit-ment towards the housing space they applied for.

The Housing Ser-vices website explains by

making the $400 down payment, students are making themselves eli-gible for a housing offer. The website also states that every student, regard-less of financial situation, must pay the $400.

Although there is a payment plan available for students who do not possess the means to pay the $400, according to the resolution, only nine students have taken ad-vantage of this resource this academic year. This, according to Keene, is mainly due to poor adver-tising techniques by hous-ing services.

Davin Polchow, freshman and an EOP student, said he decided to become involved with the resolution because he didn’t agree with the rea-soning behind the down payment requirement.

“There are so many students waiting for on-campus housing that if a student leaves it would not make a difference,” said Polchow. “It would just make a space for the next person on the waiting list.”

Nicole Hendry, di-rector of housing services, declined to comment on this matter.

In the resolution, it’s acknowledged that socio-economic status is often associated with race and/or ethnicity, meaning that requiring disadvantage students to pay such a high housing down pay-ment can be counterin-tuitive to Sonoma State’s mission.

Polchow, who made the housing down-pay-ment for the 2016/17 school year, has decided to decline his on-campus housing offer because he found cheaper options off campus. He received a 50 percent refund.

“They bring us in as EOP students saying [the university] is all about community,” said Pol-chow. “But at the end of the day, I feel it is more about the money than helping students succeed.”

On April 29, the As-sociated Students Senate postponed hearings for the resolution until the fall semester.

Although the fall se-mester will bring a new Associated Students Sen-ate, there are at least two senators who will serve a second, consecutive term. If the senate decides to approve the resolution, it will be moved to the hands of new president, Judy K. Sakaki for her review.

Campus community gathers in celebration of Armiñana’s retirement

nate galvan

Staff Writer

As the sound of jazz mu-sic illumi-

nated the ballroom of the Student Cen-ter last Friday, stu-dents and members of the campus com-munity celebrated the 24-year legacy of Sonoma State University Presi-dent Ruben Armi-ñana.

Most of the at-tention throughout the event was on Armiñana as close friends praised the president, who has seen more than 20,000 applicants apply to the univer-sity in the past year.

“A lot of you have known Ruben and Marne [Armi-ñana’s wife] for

some, if not most, of the last 24 years,” said University Pro-vost Andrew Rog-erson. “From the beginning, they have worked dili-gently to transform this university into what it is today; a vibrant, residential campus filled with great students com-mitted faculty and a warm and nurtur-ing staff.”

Rogerson cites Armiñana as a man who defies stereo-types. “Who could imagine a Cuban who is both allergic to coffee and ba-nanas [running the university]?”

After Rog-erson addressed the crowd, a slide-show of photos of Armiñana and the marks he’s left on

the university were shown. Alongside the smiling pictures of Armiñana with students and fac-ulty the presenta-tion included shots of buildings he de-veloped including the Green Music Center, Student and

Recreation Centers, residential housing and more.

Armiñana took to the stage at the conclusion of the event’s speeches to address the crowd about his feelings of moving on from his longest standing

profession. “On behalf of

Marne and I, I want to say thank you for allowing me the op-portunity to have served you,” said Armiñana. “It has been interesting

See ARMIÑANA on Pg. 4

STAR // Sara Wildman

The Sonoma State University community gathered on Friday to honor the 24-year career of President Ruben Armiñana.

Page 2: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Editorial May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

sonoMastatestar.coM2

Editorial Policy: The commentary expressed in the unsigned editorial represents a majority

opinion of the STAR Editorial Board on a topic facing the campus community in keeping with journalistic precedents of other major newspapers, and may not be shared by all staff writers. The board encourages readers to write letters to the edi-

tor about all topics, including the editorial.

Nichols Hall 323, 1801 East Cotati Ave

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Telephone: 707-664-2776

Business & General Inquiries:

[email protected]

Corrections and News Tips: [email protected]

THE STAREditorial Board

This week’s can’t miss article:

Editor’s Pick

PublicationThe STAR is published every Tuesday during the fall and spring

semesters. Printing is done by Sonoma Media Group. The weekly

publication of the STAR is made possible by Instructionally Related

Activities Funding.Opinions

Opinions expressed in the STAR are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the STAR or SSU. The editorial reflects the views of the STAR Editorial Board on issues it considers to be of particular relevance to the campus community.

Letters to the EditorLetter writers may expect prompt publication in the newspa-

per’s op-ed section, as space is available. Letters of up to 400 words will be allowed and must be submitted no later than the Friday before the publication date. Published letters must be free of libel, since the publication is held legally accountable for all content. Although personal controversy will be tolerated, it is the responsibility of the editor to check statements purporting the facts. The STAR reserves the right to refuse publication to any let-ter and to edit for length. Letters must sign all contributions and the editor must verify the signer and the writer are one in the same through personal conference. To send a letter to the editor, email [email protected].

Brandon Stachnik, Editor-in-ChiefPeter Njoroge, Executive EditorKayla E. Galloway, News Editor

Joseph Encinas, Asst. News EditorJenna Fischer, Opinion Editor

Ashley Mar tin, Ar ts & Enter tainment EditorEmilie Devitt, Asst. A&E Editor

Shannon Brown, Student Life EditorEthan Helms, Asst. Student Life Editor

Thomas Call III, Spor ts EditorAubrie Tolliver, Asst. Spor ts Editor

Brennan Chin, Photo EditorKimber ley Baptista, Copy Editor

Kyler Khan, Copy EditorJulia Albo, Editorial Car toonist

Cassandra Owens, Adver tising DirectorConnor Gibson, Distribution Director

Paul Gullixson, Faculty Adviser

Sonoma State’s rendition of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is unprecedented. Assistant A&E Editor Emma Devitt reviewed the play and actors and explained why their bold performance deserved

five stars.

Read the story on page 6

Staff Writers

Photographers

Audrey Altman, Diana Arroyo, Shane BickfordNikki Bridges, Josephine Clements, Sean Curzon

Rene De Amaral, Nicole Detmers, Christine EdwardsNoe Felix, Sarah Fishback, Nathanael Galvan

Nicholas Gray, Florencia Hasson, Michele Herber tNaaman Hightower, Olivia Hunt, Allison Kelley

Vasilios Loufas, Rachel McCloskey, Katelyn QuinnKathryn Reidy, Blake Robinson, Carly Saber

Bianca Sanborn, Edgar Sanchez, Andrea SerlesNathan Shapiro, Jessica Shipma, Kristen Spear

Hailee Zastrow

Megan Corcoran, Sara Wildman, Shane Bickford, Kaila Sanders

“Theatre Arts and Dance Department conquers Shakespeare”

Corrections/ClarificationsThe STAR values accuracy and works diligently

to check facts before publication. However, if in-accuracies occur, we want to know. Please report errors to the editor at [email protected].

Attending class hungover, blacking out at every party and vomiting are

all obvious signs of a developing drinking problem.

What about missing class, anxiety, depression, mood swings, begging parents for mon-ey and excessive sports watch-ing?

These may just seem like the everyday struggles of a normal college student, but they also are all signs of a silent addiction that is just as harmful as drugs and alcoholism but harder to recog-nize: a gambling addiction.

Many young-aged adults ex-periment with gambling while in college, and it can lead down the same tumultuous path as al-coholism and drug abuse, but it isn’t nearly talked about as much as other addictions.

Gambling addiction is not considered a mental disorder, al-though alcoholism and drug ad-diction are classified as medical conditions, according to the Di-agnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

In college, there are many different outlets to help recog-nize alcohol and drug problems, from campus seminars to out-reach programs. But there’s noth-ing about gambling.

There are also many strict policies about consuming alcohol and drugs on campus with hard repercussions that can even lead to expulsion.

At Sonoma State University, there is a link to a drug and al-cohol resources page with four

different campus resources and six local resources filled with in-formation about the signs, symp-toms and treatment of different addiction abuse, but there’s no word on gambling addictions.

Sonoma State isn’t the only university that doesn’t take gam-bling seriously. According to National Council on Problem Gambling, only 22 percent of American universities have for-mal policies on gambling while almost every major university has policies on drug and alcohol use.

ABC News reported on this issue that has been a problem since the early 2000s at the start of the online poker craze. They looked to Jeff Marotta, a prob-lem-gambling services manager for the Oregon Human Resourc-es Agency.

“About one college student in 20 has a gambling problem, but it’s an issue that’s very much under the radar,” said Marotta in a statement announcing a cam-paign to help prevent college gambling, published by ABC News in 2006. “Most colleges seem to view student gambling as a harmless extracurricular activity, yet we know that for a certain percentage of student gamblers it can lead to serious problems.”

California is home to more than 90 casinos with 23 offering gambling to people of the age of 18 and up.

Rohnert Park is home to the largest casino in California. Gra-ton Resort and Casino opened its

doors two years ago with a clear focus to attract young socialites interested in a night of drink-ing and gaming. Graton even holds more gaming tables than the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. Graton is now nearing the opening of a $175 million, 20- room hotel. With the rise of gambling in the Rohnert Park area and the expansion of Graton attractions, gambling addiction needs to be taken more seriously at Sonoma State.

Gambling takes place in many shapes and forms other than regular casino-style gam-ing. The lotto, sports betting and fantasy sports can all be consid-ered gambling and they all begin while in college.

According to the National Center for Responsible Gam-bling, 75 percent of college stu-dents have gambled in the past year, and 18 percent gamble on a weekly basis. Casino nights and poker tournaments are popular fundraising events put on by col-lege organizations that introduce students to the gambling world.

Gambling addiction can be extremely difficult to recog-nize. The first signs of a gam-bling addiction can be saving money for a casino trip, betting bigger bets, borrowing money to gamble, reliving past gambling experiences and secret gambling trips.

If you or someone you know is suffering from gambling ad-diction, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit gamblersanonymous.com.

The silent addictionSTAR // Julia Albo

Page 3: Volume 76 // Issue 13

OpinionMay 10 - May 16, 2016 3sonoMastatestar.coM

Page

Olivia Hunt

Staff Writer

We hear it every day: We are approaching on a time where the middle

class is dissolving and the wealthy are dominating society. The scary part is, there are no signs of this problem being remedied any time soon.

The people who are capable of evening out the class system are not interested in doing so. Emman-uel Saez, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that the top one percent of American house-holds now controls 42 percent of the nation’s wealth, up from below 30 percent two decades ago.

The wealthy are becoming content with class divisions, and it’s beginning to be clear that busi-nesses are taking advantage of this segregation.

According to a New York

Times article, a Norwegian cruise line’s newest ship is designed to cater about 275 elite guests who re-ceive many services not available to standard guests. The wealthy on this ship enjoy not only a con-cierge and 24-hour butler service, but also a private pool, sun deck and restaurant, creating an exclu-sive paradise for the rich.

The former chief executive who helped design the ship was quoted saying, “That segment of the population wants to be sur-rounded by people with similar characteristics.”

Essentially, we are creating the type of division that existed a century ago during the time of the Titanic. The only difference be-tween then and now is companies have become experts at pinpoint-ing their customers and catering towards their needs. This com-pany is only one of several that have begun giving advantages to the rich. For example, at SeaWorld you can jump in front of the lines for an additional $80. At the Los Angeles airport, there is a private firm that allows anyone willing to pay $1,800 to skip the lines at the terminals.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, an entire airline that wishes to remain anonymous is under scrutiny for deliberately rubbing the inequality between first and second class in passen-gers’ faces.

Additionally, the Royal Carib-bean has a private resort in Haiti that allows for guests to have their own private part of the beach. These types of extreme privilege creates a sense of disparity be-tween people and establishes an unnecessary hierarchy.

Comparably, in the 19th cen-tury, French railways refrained from putting roofs on third-class wagons so that passengers who could afford the more expensive seats wouldn’t hesitate to spend a little extra.

Not to say we are heading to-ward a path of ultimate segrega-tion, but we are bordering on it. If we resurrect a modern type of the caste system, then we are on a slippery slope to our former stan-dard of living.

The problem isn’t that there are different classes; those will always exist. The issue at hand presents a possible future in which people are discriminated against based on their social status in con-trast to an egalitarian system.

As we continue to be divided by wealth we are doing ourselves a disservice as a society. Signifi-cant differences can be made if we reject the disunion that is slowly occurring in our everyday lives.

We shouldn’t have to live in a world where people are separated into categories and labels. The concept of unity shouldn’t be a foreign one.

Wealth gap breeds inequalitySanta Rosa rent control misses the mark

MisHa Herbert

Staff Writer

Santa Rosa may be on it’s way to joining the 12 other cities with current rent control policies, including Beverly Hills, San Jose and East Palo Alto.

On May 3, following four hours of public testimony, the Santa Rosa City Council voted in favor of a rent con-trol ordinance 4-3. This controversial topic is expected to face challenge by the public when it reaches the bal-lot box. If passed, this ordinance will limit rent increases to three percent annually, and prevent unfair evictions of tenants.

As a Sonoma County renter, I initially viewed the limits on rent hikes and unfair evictions as beneficial, if not necessary. But a deeper dig into the economics behind rent control proves to be contradictory: If this bill survives past the ballot box, it may do more harm than good.

Liberal economist Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times in 2000, rent control is “among the best-un-derstood issues in all of economics, and — among econo-mists, anyway — one of the least controversial.” In fact, in a survey of close to 500 economists performed by the American Economic Review, 93 percent agreed rent con-trol reduces the “quantity and quality of available hous-ing.” The message is clear: Rent control doesn’t work.

It’s simple logic that when you take away the oppor-tunity for a return on investment for property owners, those very property owners will cease to have incentive to provide quality housing, thus decreasing the supply and overall availability of housing. In effect, in an area where we so desperately need more affordable housing, we would have even less.

City officials and industry professionals also agree with this reasoning.

Santa Rosa Mayor John Sawyer was among group of public officials opposing this ordinance. “I don’t think it’s a solution to our housing problem,” said Sawyer, “I think this is creating a problem in the effort to trying to solve another one.”

Daniel Sanchez, director of government affairs for the North Bay Association of Realtors, agrees with Mayor Sawyer. “The likely result is that some landlords would get out of the rental business, reducing the number of rent-al units on the market at the time they’re needed most,” he said.

While the rent control portion of this bill may be missing the mark, it’s undeniable that renters should be able to feel secure with their occupancy. The just-cause eviction policy is a bare necessity for Sonoma County tenants. Pending approval, the ordinance would cover all rental properties in Santa Rosa. It would dictate that land-lords provide adequate reasoning prior to evicting renters. Such fair reasons would include “habitual” nonpayment of rent, breach of contract, creating a nuisance or with-drawal from the housing market.

Sonoma County is currently facing the most dramat-ic housing crisis in decades. Vacancy rates are below one and a half percent, and homelessness has risen to over 10,000 people countywide.

Now, more than ever, it’s clear that what we need is more available housing. Rather than focusing on limiting the value of the housing we currently have, we should be investing in building new affordable housing.

CIA embarrasses U.S. with “live Tweets”

naaMan HigHtOwer

Staff Writer

If you had access to any form of so-cial media on May 1, then you saw what we all saw.

Five years ago to the day, Navy Seal Team 6 completed a raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Finally, America can take a sigh of relief know-ing that we will never be burdened by his name again. Think again.

The verified CIA Twitter account decided to recreate the raid via “live Tweet” as if it was happening in real time. Now you may be asking, “What’s the problem with that?” At first, I echoed the same sentiments. Celebrat-ing a victory of an opponent isn’t nec-

essarily bad, is it?President Obama and Mitt Rom-

ney debated back in 2012 about the subject of Bin Laden. “I said if I got Bin Laden in our sight, I would take that shot. You said we shouldn’t move heaven and earth to get one man. You said we should ask Pakistan for per-mission! And by the way, it was worth moving heaven and earth to get him,” Obama said.

At what cost, though? 56,000 U.S. casualties were the result of “mov-ing heaven and earth” in the chase of one man, according to the New York Times. Families were viciously torn apart because of the pursuit of Bin Laden.

Then I thought about how we view ourselves as one of the most powerful nations in the world. We like to brag that our military is the strongest on the planet, however we took 14 years, sev-en months, and 20 days to kill one man.

Celebration was definitely in or-der, but that happened five years ago when the raid was executed. In poor ef-forts of a strange social marketing strat-egy, they embarrassed those who lost their lives due to Bin Laden’s actions.

For the CIA to feel the need take a moral victory lap in live-tweeting the

raid, they give themselves a pat on the back for something they should have done anyway. Would you buy your-self a cookie for taking out the trash? I didn’t think as much.

Do not misunderstand my criti-cism though. America is on top of the world. However, this whole situation is just a pebble to the true issue.

We don’t realize the damage we cause at times. Instead of remember-ing the thousands of lives, families and jobs affected by the actions of one man, we simply highlighted his death through social media.

Think of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Even the least news-watching American knows who Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are. The question is how many remember Wil-liam David Sanders, the school teacher who evacuated over 100 students be-fore being killed by Harris.

How must his wife and four chil-dren feel, knowing this tremendous act of heroism will only be remembered by the few who knew him closely.

In contrast, the one who murdered him will be known forever in infamy. By doing such deeds, we bring fame to Bin Laden’s name, and dishonor to our own.

Presidential candidates widen the partisan divide

CHristine edwards

Staff Writer

You’ve already heard the disturbing news that, as of last week, Don-ald Trump is now the presumptive

Republican Party presidential nominee. I suppose we shouldn’t be all that

shocked, since he rapidly swept state after state, creating a gap too large to overcome for fellow Republican candidates Kasich and Cruz. Of the 1,237 delegates needed, Trump has 1,012 bound delegates and 43 unbound, free agent delegates, who’ve al-ready announced support for Trump.

His win in the Indiana primary last week was enough for candidates Cruz and Kasich to pull out of the race, officially suspending their campaigns.

This latest update may be welcome news to Trump supporters, but I find it ab-

solutely terrifying. Trump recently visited the Bay Area for the California State Re-publican Convention, and after violence erupted outside from Trump protesters, it’s clear others share similar sentiment.

After all of the name-calling and bad-mouthing of fellow Republican candidates (which we’ve all witnessed in disgust over the past year), how will the party scramble to unite in hopes of defeating expected Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton? Rather than throw jabs at each other, the Republican Party must now try to reunite and fight to reach the White House in No-vember.

Considering the defamatory com-ments Trump has made toward Clinton since day one, shifting all of his hatred to-ward her alone should come quite natural-ly. He claims she plays the “woman card” and if she “were a man, she wouldn’t get five percent of the vote.”

Trump isn’t (and God willing, will never be) a politician. He doesn’t know how to be politically correct. He doesn’t understand that running this divided country will take some finessing.

As he throws insults at Clinton, many of which are completely false, it seems she feels as though she has no choice but to re-spond to this nonsense. As a voter, I would like to see my potential future leader dis-cussing the issues and what they will do to

create positive change.The way Clinton is feeding into

Trump’s bullsh*t only steers me away from her as well. We need a level-headed leader, not a childish bully. And as the long, seemingly endless presidential cam-paign wears on, the lies and hatred will only continue to ramp up as we approach November. All of these back-and-forth in-sults leave a terrible taste in my mouth.

These are individuals who will, in the very near future, be leading this country during a still difficult time. The economy is still in recovery-mode; we are still at war with Iraq and must decide what to do about our continued military presence and the global fight against ISIS. Healthcare, as Clinton mentioned, is still a major con-cern for many Americans, especially for low-income or disadvantaged families, se-niors and undocumented residents.

Gaining access to some of the most basic necessities remains a huge struggle at home, and we have a lot of work ahead of us. The only way to tackle these do-mestic challenges is by becoming a united force against these issues.

Thus far, the strategy politicians have used during this presidential campaign has been to differentiate themselves as much as possible from the other candi-dates. They try to find their niche when it comes to voters and their campaign tac-

tics. Cruz was a stark conservative com-mitted to fighting for and honoring the values of the Constitution. Clinton is a liberal dedicated to women’s rights, chal-lenging Republican candidates who wish to make abortion illegal and defund all Planned Parenthood locations nationwide. Kasich was a religious conservative, echo-ing many of the same values as Cruz. And Trump?

He has used his arrogant personality to show voters that he will not “back down” on his issues and is the fighter the White House so desperately needs. What does Trump stand for though? Besides “building a wall” I have not heard a con-sistent stance on any political agenda from him.

But this pompous attitude has pushed the majority of voters away, and I have a feeling the result of all of this division will lead many Republican voters to avoid the polls all together this November.

As a Democrat myself, I can’t say Clinton has won me over either; she has done her fair share of squawking this cam-paign season as well.

I will say one thing — it’s clear how divided we stand as a country, and presi-dential candidates must make it more clear which specific issues they support and what changes they will make once in of-fice. Attack the issues, not each other.

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News May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

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Campus-Based Fees at Sonoma State University

Associated Students Fee: $111

Consolidated Services Fee: $17

Counseling and Psychological Services Fee (CAPS): $55

Health Facilities Fee: $17

Instructionally Related Activities Fee: $235

Student Health Fee: $139

Student Union Fee: $384

STAR // Kayla E. Galloway

Though no tuition increases in the CSU are expected in the near future, campus-based fees, which every Sonoma State University student pays each semester, have risen by roughly 73 percent over the last five years. Pictured above is the breakdown of the university’s campus fees for the 2016/17 year, which total $958.

California State University tuition freeze set to expire, campus fees

continue to riseNicole Detmers

Staff Writer

The tuition freeze in the California State University that has

extended over the past four years is set to expire in the coming academic year. Students are protesting from campuses all over the state at campuses includ-ing Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Chi-co State and San Francisco State.

According to the Sac-ramento Bee, in the first four years following the expiration of tuition freeze, tuition rose statewide by 79 percent. Though, according to the Chancellor’s Office, tuition increases are not anticipated.

“There are no plans to raise tuition,” said CSU Chancellor’s Office Spokesperson Elizabeth Chapin. “Tuition fees have remained stable for four consecutive years, and the CSU does not intend to raise tuition fees this aca-demic year or next.”

In addition to the tu-ition fees students pay each semester, students also pay campus-based fees, which vary at every university. At Sonoma State, students are expected to pay $958 per semester beginning in the fall, a number that has ris-en nearly 73 percent since 2011.

According to the CSU

website, about half of the California State Univer-sity’s budget comes from taxpayer dollars in the State of California and the other half comes from stu-dent tuition.

The CSU also receives a small portion of fund-ing from California lottery ticket sales and works with a total operating budget of $5.1 billion. This budget covers all 23 campuses and roughly 474,000 students and 49,000 staff.

Chapin also said the higher education system has two sources of revenue: State funding and tuition fees.

The tuition freeze is di-rectly related to how much state funding the CSU has received.

Under the Gov. Jerry Brown’s multi-year fund-ing plan for the university system, the state commit-ted to increasing funding for the CSU from 2013/14 through 2018/19. Based on the state’s direction, the Cal State system has been able to keep tuition f lat.

According to numbers from the CSU, during the recession years, tuition increased when the state reduced its portion of the budget by $1 billion.

California State Uni-versity tuition hasn’t in-creased since the 2011-12 academic year.

“The matter of tuition, is a system-wide issue,”

said Associate Vice Presi-dent of marketing Susan Kashack. “Tuition is not different on individual campuses.”

Tuition funds go to each specific campus and according to the CSU Bud-get Office, in the past ten years, what is described as “basic tuition” has about doubled at Sonoma State, climbing from $2,520 for a California resident’s un-dergraduate degree in the 2006/07 academic years and to $5,472 in 2015/16. That rise is in direct oppo-sition to the tuition freeze from 2011/12 to the 2015/16 year.

This doesn’t include the campus fees that cover everything from the Stu-dent Center to Health Ser-vices.

According to a Sus-tainable Budget Plan by the CSU, the two main sources of income for the university system haven’t kept up with inf lation and the plan recommends that the system seek additional ongoing state funding and “generate new sources of revenue.”

However, the same document says the CSU has no plans to increase tuition in the 2016/17 aca-demic year and is planning to ‘move past the practice of unplanned large tuition hikes to small, planned tu-ition fee increases in the future.

ARMIÑANA: A look back on the last 24 years

Continued from Pg. 1

and challenging, in a good way, ev-ery day.”

The 68-year-old also discussed his path to the presidency of Sonoma State and the influence his wife had on his ultimate decision, who sug-gested the job to him in the first place.

“Like a very smart husband, I said ‘you are right,’ and here I was 24 years ago,” said Armiñana.

Armiñana’s wife, Marne Olson, is the vice chairwoman of the Green Music Center Board of Advisers as well a member of the Ambassadors for Higher Education committee.

“It wasn’t hard to get him to come here,” said Olson on her hus-band’s decision to come to Sonoma State more than two decades ago. “We came and saw what a won-derful school this was and Sonoma County is so rich in its culture and all the wonderful things that occupy it.”

At the conclusion of Armiña-na’s address to his guests, the Cu-ban-born refugee left those in atten-dance and said, “It was everyone of your contributions, support, ideas, innovations and criticisms that made [this] all possible,” he said. “Therefore instead of you thanking me, I thank you.”

STAR // Sara Wildman

Sonoma State University President Ruben Armiñana and his wife Marne Olson celebrated his retirement last Friday in the Student Center Ballroom.

Continued from Pg. 1

to be made at the lower level?”White responded that presidents

on CSU campuses often make less than other universities and that it’s not ben-eficial to CSU campuses to cut admin-istrative pay.

“Our presidents are well below market, in some places 45 percent,” said White. “[When] we came out of the re-cession, none of the president’s got sal-ary adjustments and everybody else did for the first year. I can’t continue that and hope to keep the talent that we have, there’s a lot of people coming after our best presidents and we don’t want to lose them.”

Members of faculty also asked questions regarding faculty positions on campus.

“In the last ten years, the proportion of tenure track faculty to the adjunct faculty has dropped dramatically, and with fewer tenure track faculty comes fewer curriculum innovations, fewer curricular developments and less con-

tact between students and faculty,” said Sam Brannen, a professor of mathemat-ics and statistics. “Are you committed to restoring the proportion of tenure track faculty to what it was ten years ago?”

White answered the question by ac-knowledging that non-tenure faculty can make good instructors and also brought up allocation of campus resources.

“When resources get tight, how do we continue to deliver the curriculum?” asked White.

In a later response to the question of staffing tenure and tenure track faculty, White said the CSU is making progress.

LGBT representation on university campuses were also addressed.

“What is being done to support transgender and gender nonconforming students?” asked Carina Buzo, the pro-gram coordinator with Sonoma State’s HUB.

Support centers and similar re-sources on CSU campuses were men-tioned in the response.

“The DNA [of the CSU] is for every student to succeed,” said White. “There

is a very strong commitment to sup-porting students, particularly those who come in the most vulnerable environ-ments, which many in the [LGBT] com-munity are.”

Questions about tuition increases were asked as well.

“Why the planned [tuition] increas-es?” asked Sonoma State sophomore Devin Fox.

White said tuition hasn’t changed

since 2011 and won’t change this year or next.

“It’s sort of like the least lousiest decision, nobody wants to raise tuition,” said White.

White also spoke about visiting with student leaders, staff and student workers at Sonoma State’s IT Help-desk and the retirement of Sonoma State’s President Ruben Armiñana during the event.

STAR // Connor Gibson

Sonoma State University students, faculty and staff filled the Student Cen-ter Ballroom to listen to CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White speak on issues concerning students and future of the university system.

CHANCELLOR: Faculty express concern about amount

of tenure, adjunct professors

Page 5: Volume 76 // Issue 13

News 5Page

May 10 - May 16, 2016sonoMastatestar.coM

University website being redesigned, to launch in July

Sarah FiShback

Staff Writer

Toward the end of July, Sonoma State Univer-

sity’s website is being updated in order to pro-vide website accessibil-ity to everyone on any technological device.

The Creative Ser-vices department and University Affairs de-partment are working together to produce a modern site.

The last time the website was redesigned was five years ago.

“The last website update was in 2011,” said Sandy Destiny the director of the Creative Services Department. “It was only a cosmetic update,and it was not a complete redesign from the bottom up like the current project.”

The cosmetic up-date only brought a few new visual up-dates to the website but, with this new update planned, everything will be changing both visually and technical-ly. For example, some of the updates will in-volve updating infor-mation, and fixing dif-ferent technical parts of

the website. “I’m excited about

the whole website up-date,” said Destiny. “The system we are us-ing is changing and that is huge.”

When it comes to the website redesign, these updates do not happen very often and can take many years to develop.

“After the initial launch in July of the home page, top-level pages, Admissions site, Newscenter and events, we will migrate the oth-er 300+ SSU websites,” said Destiny. “On the redesign site, we will maintain a list of cited undergoing migration and a list of sites that have been moved over to the new design.”

The Creative Ser-vices department is making the website eas-ier to use on any device. This way it will be easi-er for anyone who wants to access the website on any device with less is-sues and frustration.

Some students like Ciara Smith, a sopho-more communications and media studies ma-jor thinks very poorly of the current design of the website.

“Maybe with the

new redesign they can make the website more easy to maneuver,” said Smith. “The current design is also kind of bland and needs more style.”

Jon Oranje, a soph-omore pre business ma-jor, has his own thought about what the new website should incorpo-rate.

“The thing I dislike the most is the not a lot of campus events are posted on the site,” said Oranje. “It is also a bit plain but if there’s a way to add more on campus events to the site, there would be more school spirit.”

Destiny suggests that students take a sur-vey the department has created to see what stu-dents want in the rede-signed website. .

“It is very im-portant to get survey input,” said Destiny. “The whole redesign will take around 12-18 months.”

Students’ input will be kept in mind throughout the entirety of the website redesign, according to Destiny. To access the survey, students can visit sur-v e y m o n k e y . c o m / r /HSJC7MM.

N E W S

I N B R I E F

Salary agreement approved

by faculty associationkatelyn Quinn

Staff Writer

After weeks of the California Faculty Association and the California State University Board of Trustees debating means to provide better pay for pro-fessors, a tentative agreement was reached and was approved in a vote on

April 8. Members of the faculty association approved the agreement by 97 percent.The salary agreement consists of an eventual 10.5 percent increase in faculty

salaries over the next couple of years, each year having a different portion than the previous.

Now that the faculty has approved the agreement, it must be ratified by the CSU Board of Trustees through a vote expected to occur May 24-25.

The tentative agreement had generally positive reception from the moment it was created.

“Regardless of acceptance or not, I think this process has shown what can be achieved with the unity of the faculty, and how working so well together has resulted in a fair and equitable settlement for all,” said Thomas Targett, member of the Sonoma State’s chapter of the CFA.

President of the California Faculty Association Jennifer Eagan sees the ap-proval of the agreement as an important step toward normalizing better salaries for other public state university faculty.

“We must protest university teaching as a solid profession that lets us support our families and deliver high quality education to our students,” said Eagan.

F O L L O W

L I K E

V I S I T

O N T W I T T E R

O N F A C E B O O K

@ S O N O M A S T A T E S T A R

@ S O N O M A S T A T E S T A R

/ S O N O M A S T A T E S T A R

S O N O M A S T A T E S T A R . C O M

ON INSTAGRAM

Santa Rosa

One of two shoplifters was arrested Sunday after be-ing accused of purchasing $10,000 in stolen merchan-dise from more than seven stores in Sonoma Coun-ty. Markia Silva, 23, was caught after shoplifting with her accomplice at a CVS and a Safeway. The two had stolen from various stores in Rohnert Park, Wind-sor, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg. Silva was booked in Sonoma County jail for suspicion of conspiracy and commercial burglary. Police have not caught the other alleged thief but have offered $2,500 for helpful information leading to her arrest.

Petaluma

A DUI checkpoint on Friday resulted in six people be-ing arrested and 12 people being cited. Six drivers were cited for not having valid driver’s licenses and two were cited for driving with a suspended license. Four drivers were arrested for DUIs and two for war-rants. All arrested drivers were booked into county jail.

Santa Rosa

Shirley Ricard, a 74-year-old Santa Rosa woman burned in an apartment while cooking on her elec-tric stove Thursday afternoon. Her neighbor, Joseph Douchette heard her screaming and rushed in while her clothing was blazing on fire. This man is being con-sidered a hero by Santa Rosa Police and Fire Depart-ments.

Page 6: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Arts May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

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Theatre Arts and Dance Department conquers

Shakespeare

From Rohnert Park to Hollywood

MTV gets back to the music

Emma DEvitt Asst. A&E Editor

Review

The play’s the thing, and the stu-dents of the Theater Arts and Dance Department outdid them-

selves yet again with their production of “Hamlet.” From the flawless set changes to the perfect memorization of the script, this play deserved more than six nights on the stage.

Audiences could tell Director Paul Draper had some fun with this show. The story of “Hamlet” is a tale as old as time and has been changed and played with by many directors over the years. But this cast took it and gave it new life, bringing a moody, dark and mysterious rendition of a Shakespeare classic.

For those who have been living un-der a rock, “Hamlet” is the story of a young prince whose world has been turned upside down. His father has been murdered, his mother has remarried her dead husband’s brother, his lover aban-dons him, and he’s constantly on the lookout for spies. The story follows his descent into madness, asking the famous question, “to be or not to be?”

Set in the present, the cast wore modern dress. Hamlet, played by Matt Lindberg, was perhaps the most modern-ly-dressed of all the cast, sporting combat boots, skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

The cast was made up of some of Sonoma State’s finest actors and actress-es. Each of them took on their character in their own way, unique from actors in other productions.

Claudius, played by Connor Pratt, was the perfect amount of pompous and timid. Murdering your brother, marrying his wife and then trying to kill his son takes guts and Pratt pulled off the char-

acter well.Gertrude, played by Lyla Elmassian,

was completely oblivious to her new hus-band’s and son’s plans. Elmassian nailed Gertrude’s naivety while remaining a so-phisticated queen.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, played by Anna Leach and Ashlyn Kel-ley, were a team similar to the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. They had the crowd in stitches with their hilarious an-tics.

Polonius, played by Renee Hardin, was stern and proper while remain-ing motherly in her love for her onstage daughters. She was tough but ultimately succumbed to Hamlet’s dagger at the end of Act One.

Laertes and Ophelia, played by Deanna Maher and Regine Danae, are the closest of sisters. Maher and Danae brought this sisterly love to life in the re-alest way. Laertes’ anger when she sees her sister’s madness is so sincere, and Maher portrayed it perfectly.

By far the most outlandish and unique performance was by Lindberg as Hamlet. He took this traditionally broody, sad character and turned him into a sarcastic bad-ass. As the play pro-gresses, Hamlet’s anger grows, and so does his madness. Lindberg built up this madness slowly but surely, resulting in Hamlet’s ultimate triumph, killing his uncle just before his own untimely death. One could feel the passion Lindberg had in his character.

The sets were simple, letting the au-dience’s mind fill in the blanks. The tran-sition between rooms and outdoor spaces were flawless, especially with the use of fog machines.

Performing Shakespeare is no easy feat. This team took on the beast that is “Hamlet” and conquered it in a three-hour long production. The Sonoma State Theater Arts and Dance Department has yet to disappoint audiences, and “Ham-let” was the perfect way to end the 2015-2016 season.

Diana arroyo

Staff Writer

Extraordinary imagination, creativity, excellent work ethic and determina-tion: These are all necessary ingredients to become a successful filmmaker in today’s world. Not all people make the cut, but those who do are part of

a very select group of dreamers.Sonoma State University communications and media studies major Anna

Luna can now say she’s part of this group, as she’s been invited to one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world alongside her crew. The Cannes Film Fes-tival, held in France each year features many different films from all around the world. Needless to say, this, is a big deal.

Before her involvement with SSUTV and filmmaking, Luna always had an interest in the industry, but had never considered pursuing a career in it.

“In the first semester of my junior year, I made a last minute decision to par-ticipate in a short film that was submitted to Campus Movie Fest,” said Luna. “The film I was involved with was called ‘Rampage,’ and I instantly fell in love with filmmaking. From then on I took every opportunity to pursue a career in this industry.”

Luna has been in filmmaking since the beginning of her junior year here at Sonoma State with the help of SSUTV.

“SSUTV is really what started it all. It’s where I met the people who had the same love for filmmaking and passion to pursue a future in it. It was the place that I was able to grow as a leader and a filmmaker,” said Luna.

For her trip to France, Luna prepared for a little over four months and has received much support from her friends, family and peers within the communica-tion studies department.

“Learning French and practicing ways to promote myself and my film has been the most challenging thus far,” Luna said.

After graduation, Luna intends to continue to reach her goal of becoming a successful filmmaker. She will be moving to the capital for all films and movies, Los Angeles.

There she will begin an internship with Sony Pictures Entertainment. She also has the desire to gain further education in film studies and has also consid-ered applying to graduate programs.

Sonoma State alumn Cara Fuqua worked with Luna at SSUTV, and again on the short film “Uproar” last year, on which Luna was the production coordinator.

“Anna is an innovator and a creator,” said Fuqua. “She consistently strives to push the boundaries of filmmaking at Sonoma State which has landed her in Cannes. She is a go-getter and I greatly admire her dedication, natural talent and aspirations to pursue working in the film industry.”

Joining her on her journey to Cannes is her best friend Kayley Kemp, who’s also involved in the film industry.

“I see Anna moving up in the ranks in the film industry. She will be famous and she will make a name for herself,” said Kemp. “She has the drive and the am-bition to be great and she will be because she’s Anna Luna.”

nico Gray

Staff Writer

Commentary

For music fans, it’s hard to remember a time when MTV was the epicenter of music programming. In its early stages, music videos were played non-stop to advertise popular music and help revitalize the music industry.

The biggest effect came from the response the network received from the Ameri-can youth culture embracing this new outreach of lifestyle and entertainment. Origi-nally, the network appeared to offer very little. However, due to the influence of music along with exposing new artists and mediums, MTV quickly gained an unexpected fan base. Besides introducing the world to countless new musical acts, MTV also changed the entire television industry and the way visuals, soundtracks and videos were incorporated into TV shows and commercials.

As MTV once stood as the leader for pop-culture entertainment, the focus eventu-ally shifted away from music videos and instead focused on reality TV shows. As video once killed radio, reality then killed video. Today, MTV is known primarily for its reality shows. Shows like “True Life,” “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” have taken over the network and completely overshadowed the realism that made MTV so impactful during its peak.

Luckily, MTV is about to make some serious changes as the network plans to bring back some of its original music programming and completely shift the focus of its shows and promotions. As fans look for their old “Master of Puppets” shirts, they are hoping for the next great music program that will have the impact of “Headbangers Ball.”

The biggest changes coming are the revival of the “Unplugged” series which fea-tured some of the most raw and intimate performances from bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney among

others. The program first aired in 1989 and featured a long run of great acts all through the 90s. The musical setting in which “Unplugged” is set establishes a connection be-yond a specific fan base to connect to a wide range of viewers. The original program created bonds among the artistry and culture that were relatable for past and present audiences. While incorporating the nuance of the program’s original run, it will now feature elements from the multi-media platform that is so prominent in today’s culture.

MTV’s future plans are primarily focused on reaching that nostalgia of classic music and performances. Additionally, other plans include reaching the audience that pretends to be the most nostalgic about times they weren’t actually alive in, the mil-lennials. Currently, the millennial age group makes up the majority of the station’s demographic. The revival of “Unplugged” is just another way MTV can appease to the love young people have for pop-culture, while delving into different ways to advance the network’s population.

It’s a common thing to look at how culture has changed and what influenced those changes, particularly in music and popular culture. As MTV and its long line of videos and live performances helped change American youth and pop-culture, it’s easy to look back on it now and say it’s no longer about the music as it once was. This move by MTV to elevate its programming doesn’t appear to be a ploy for ratings, but rather a new approach to bring back an old phenomenon.

The news of the revamped programming has stuck with old fans and reminded them what once was, what is current and what these changes might bring. In addition to “Unplugged,” MTV is introducing a new show called “Wonderland,” a new live performance series that will run weekly. It’s also supposed to introduce comedy per-formances on top of musical performances, all in a multimedia format.

MTV is doing much more than attempting to revive old music. It’s restoring a format of entertainment that features artists in a light they aren’t normally seen in. The elements that made MTV so groundbreaking all those years ago is exactly what the music industry needed then, and it’s exactly what’s needed now. As “Unplugged” and MTV make a return, music culture should regain its relevance and its profound impact.

Courtesy // Anna Luna

Anna Luna will be graduating from Sonoma State University with a communications and media studies degree this month, and has plans to move to Los Angeles to participate in an internship at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Courtesy // David Papas

Sonoma State’s production of “Hamlet” played through Sunday night.

Page 7: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Entertainment 7Page

May 10 - May 16, 2016sonoMastatestar.coM

Sean Curzon

Staff Writer

Review

Six weeks after DC released “Batman v. Super-man,” Marvel hit back with the next collided su-perhero universe with “Captain America: Civil

War.” The film stars Chris Evans as the titular superhero

and is very loosely based on the 2006 comic book mini-series, “Civil War.”

The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, who returned to the director chair from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” It doesn’t redefine the genre or even Marvel as a franchise, but it doesn’t need to. Marvel proves it doesn’t need to be a “game-chang-er” to make a great film, it just needs to tell good sto-ries with amazing action and a strong emotional core. Maybe that’s the game changer.

After a mission in Africa goes wrong and causes collateral damage, the United Nations write the Soko-via Accords, a set of rules putting the Avengers under the control of the UN. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), wrecked with guilt over his creation of the evil Ultron and finding his personal life in shambles due his in-ability to give up superhero-ing, is all for it.

Captain America, whose experience had him find-ing either incompetent bureaucracy or flat out corrup-tion with modern government, is wary about signing. Further complicating the matters, the Avengers are ex-pected to sign the deal without being consulted.

Before the deal can be made, a terror attack hits and Captain America’s former friend and brain-washed Hydra agent, Bucky Barns (Sebastian Stan), is suspect number one. Cap, convinced of his innocence, jumps to find Bucky causing the Avengers to splinter on whether or not if this was the right call. The enig-matic Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) emerges to hunt Bucky for his own reasons, all the while the mysterious Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) watches with great interests.

If the above paragraph wasn’t a clue, this was a dense movie. Unfortunately, it requires a basic under-standing of who these characters are to understand the film. Thankfully, the film does handle the loads of characters well. This is, first and foremost, a Cap-tain America movie. While the other characters do get great moments, the film knows who’s a main character and who’s a side character. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” tried to give everyone equal focus which resulted in the film being spread thin.

By anchoring the story around the conflict be-tween Cap and Iron Man, it allows for good character moments while giving a focused satisfying story. It helps that the conflict feels natural. This is how these characters would react to this situation. Never at any point does the fighting feel forced or contrived.

This is some of the best action in any superhero film. The Russo brothers managed to make the fighting seem grounded, but makes creative use of everyone’s powers. The fight scene between Team Cap and Team Iron Man might be the greatest scene in any superhero movie. The directors make use of every character and their own unique abilities. A variety of different pow-ers are used against eachother in a way that no other comic book movie has. Ant Man is shrinking, Spider-man is shooting webs and Scarlet Witch is using tele-kinesis. The scene knows when to get dark and when to have a light hearted quip.

“Captain America: Civil War” doesn’t redefine the superhero series the way the first “Avengers” did. “The Avengers” helped establish the concept of intertwining franchises and shared universes like nothing before. There may have been an easter egg here or there, but nothing of that magnitude, building on the past Cap-tain America and Iron Man movies while setting not only its own sequel, but the sequels for the individual heroes’ movies as well.

“Civil War” does build upon the past Marvel mov-ies and set up future movies, particularly for Black Panther and Spiderman, but what this film does is use the past and all that foreshadowing to strengthen its own story. What the writers and directors understood is that a shared universe is a tool to use to help the story. This is something that many Marvel competi-tors, even some Marvel movies, fail to understand. At its core, “Civil War” is about the dangers of absolute power and compromise. The movie doesn’t forget that.

Associated Students pulls out the big guns with Waka Flocka

‘Uncharted 4’ to be a big game-changer

‘Civil War’ knows how to use a

shared universe

audrey altman

Staff Writer

Sonoma State University Associated Student Pro-ductions has been working endlessly to provide students with the best Spring Fling yet. Following

up last year’s Spring Fling that featured rap artist IamSu, this year ASP is stepping up their game. Top-charting artist Waka Flocka Flame is scheduled to perform at the annual Spring Fling on May 13 in the Student Center Ballroom.

ASP decided to release the tickets in portions this year. Last Monday, about 300 tickets were made available and yesterday another 600 were released.

“We chose to release on two dates at different times in order to allow for a greater amount of stu-dents to be able to get free tickets,” said Shaina Pac-itto, a member of ASP.

Students are excited for a well-known artist to be performing at the last event for this school year.

“It’s so awesome that we are able to get such large performers come to Spring Fling,” said fresh-man Ashley De Ruyter. “I couldn’t think of a better way to have a break right before finals and to end this school year.”

A lot of work went into planning and executing this event and ASP spent countless hours trying to make this the highlight of everyone’s school year.

“We have been planning this event for about six months,” said Pacitto. “There is a lot of preparation in creating and following through with any of our events that we put on, especially Spring Fling.”

Waka Flocka Flame is well known for songs such as “No Hands” and “O Lets Do It.” His top-charting songs made it easy for students to show ASP their interest in having him perform on campus. A few months ago, ASP put out surveys for students to take on what artist they would like to see on cam-pus. Waka Flocka Flame received a lot of feedback from students who wanted to see him live.

“We wanted to make this year’s Spring Fling bigger and better quality than it has been in the past,” added Pacitto. “We really wanted to get the student voice in who we brought, we surveyed many students and ended up with a big list of over twen-ty possible artists and finalized with Waka Flocka Flame.”

Students are passionate about the fact that ASP is taking their opinions to heart and getting perform-ers that they are excited about. Although it takes a lot of work for ASP, it makes it worth it for a sold out Spring Fling and a great reaction from students.

“I think it’s really cool that ASP is taking stu-dent opinions and actually following through with getting the performers we want to see here,” said junior ReyRey Palop. “I’m so excited to see Waka Flocka perform and it makes it so much better that it’s right here on campus.”

Last year’s Spring Fling, featuring IamSu, sold out within a few hours. So this year with a great art-ist, tickets were bound to sell out just as fast. Stu-dents lined up hours before they went on sale just to verify that they could obtain their free ticket at the Information and Ticket desk.

Spring Fling is scheduled to take place at 9 p.m. on May 13 in the Student Center Ballroom. Tickets were free and only available to Sonoma State stu-dents.

noe Felix

Staff Writer

Commentary

Video games have always been synonymous with children’s pastimes. Often seen as immature, people associate video game experiences with a player get-

ting the next high score on a level or a short Italian plumber in a red hat. However, gaming has evolved since its early be-ginnings back in the 1970s.

Still a relatively new medium, video games have grown in ways people couldn’t have expected. No longer are they about reaching the next level. Rather, they are deeper, more meaningful and engrossing experiences. When games are at their peak, they are vessels for stories that would otherwise fail in other types of media.

Moreover, video games are rivaling the production of mediums such as TV and film. Games are being developed on a blockbuster scale, leaving many in awe with its ability to entertain in a more interactive way. It’s taken years to get to this point, but it all began in 2007 when developer Naughty Dog introduced the world to the “Uncharted” franchise with “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.”

Naughty Dog was best known back in those days as the developers of “Jak & Daxter” and “Crash Bandicoot.” Both cartoonish platformers were critically acclaimed. However, both lacked the depth that Naughty Dog wanted. They want-ed to create a franchise that would be as big as a summer blockbuster, but with the drama and weight of a good book.

Their goal was to create characters that would resonate with gamers and create action that was meaningful. What they developed was a pulp action, “Indiana Jones” influ-enced adventure, becoming not only the face of PlayStation, but the pinnacle of action/adventure games.

The “Uncharted” series follows a treasure hunter named Nathan Drake, along with his friends Victor Sullivan and Elena Fisher, on adventures searching for treasures of legend such as the city of El Dorado, Shambala, and Iram of the Pillars.

“Uncharted” has set the highest standard in game devel-opment thanks to its amazing writing and seamless transi-tion between gameplay and cinematics. The “Uncharted” franchise was one of the first ever games to ever use motion capture in its acting performances. Treating their games like they are films, Naughty Dog has a whole team of directors, producers and writers dedicated to delivering top-notch per-formances from their actors. In terms of gameplay, Naughty

Dog wanted to give players control of huge set piece mo-ments that would otherwise be cut scenes in other video games.

In 2009, Naughty Dog raised the bar with “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” in terms of gameplay, writing and aesthet-ics. It won the highly coveted “Game of the Year” award from DICE (the Oscars of video games). The game received critical acclaim because of its technological push in game-play. They were the first to ever create epic playable scenes in gaming. In addition, their biggest honor was in the award for best writing.

Naughty Dog has always valued story among any other aspect in their games. Games are supposed to evoke emotion within the players. Every entry in the “Uncharted” franchise has done that. Nathan Drake is an everyman, a character that, at the end of the day, is human. The conflicts he faces in his relationships, his fears, are ones people face every day. The stories that Naughty Dog creates may be larger than life, but they ground them in emotion to leave a mark on its players.

Few games have ever matched the success of the “Un-charted” franchise. As today marks the launch day for “Un-charted 4: A Thief’s End,” Naughty Dog keeps proving that they are at the top of their field.

facebook.com/CaptainAmerica

“Captain America: Civil War”earned $181.79 million during its opening weekend.

facebook.com/WakaFlocka

Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is set to perform at Associated Student Productions’ Spring Fling on May 13.

facebook.com/mattrob24

The highly anticipated “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” is set to release as a PS4 exclusive game today.

Page 8: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Rachel Mccloskey

Staff Writer

Seawolf Living is one of the newest sources of entertainment and knowledge for Sonoma State University students.

They have a website that is geared towards student needs with different sec-tions like “Lifestyle,” “Events,” “Culinary Services,” “LoboVision,” “Athletics” and “Faces of SSU.” Seawolf Living also sends out emails twice a week detailing what events are going on and have recently come out with a new way to get Sonoma State students attention.

Seawolf Living now creates videos biweekly that are featured on the Seawolf Living’s Youtube channel, and sent out with the emails. The first video was re-leased two weeks ago titled “Noma Noms Ramen Burger.” Similar to “Tasty” and “Buzzfeed Food”, “Noma Noms” shows students how to make an easy and deli-cious burger that uses ramen noodles for the buns. The burger is relatively easy and cheap to make, which is ideal for the average college student.

The second video “Livin’ it up with Aubs: 4/25-5/1” is part of a series that will be released every week. Similarly to the biweekly emails that are sent out, Aubrey Anzelmo will be discussing events going on during the upcoming week, and how students can get involved in each of the events.

Videos are becoming a popular way of communication and news, especially on Facebook and Seawolf Living is hoping to follow that example. Anzelmo, the marketing communications coordinator for Seawolf Living is the host of the videos.

“This process includes script writing, filming and editing the segment, and Photoshop and InDesign edit as well. It takes several hours a week to produce these videos,” said Anzelmo. “We will continue to run various lifestyle and news videos over the summer, however our departments main focus right now is to cre-ate content to be displayed at orientation. The videos will also continue into the fall semester too.”

Senior communication and media studies major, Paolo Ochoa is going to be featured in an upcoming video about Spring Fling.

“I think eventually the videos will start to attract more students, and get them to know what’s happening on campus. However, since it’s so new for Seawolf Liv-ing and for the school, they are starting off very small and a long way to go,” said Ochoa. “At some point they will start to catch on.”

The videos are another great marketing tool for on-campus organizations like JUMP, ASP, and Campus Life Programming. Each week these organizations get their events highlighted not only in the Seawolf Living emails and on their web-site, but now they are talked about as well.

The most recent video discussed the ASP events Zen Zone and Open Mic Night, which had special guest Gabe Duran, an ASP director who puts on Open Mic Night and advertises it. The video also told viewers about the ‘May the fourth be with you’ Star Wars screening that took place in the Seawolf Plaza, and the baseball game that happened last Saturday.

“Our team is comprised of six students, who all together work on the creation and production of our videos, said Anzelmo. “One of our student positions is a video specialist who films and edits our videos.”

Check out the videos on the Seawolf Living Youtube page, or look out for them in your biweekly emails.

Student Life May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

sonoMastatestar.coM8

Places to be this summer:Sonoma County

Josie cleMents

Staff Writer

It’s that time of year again. Students pack up their things, go home and Rohnert Park turns into a barren wasteland; or so everyone thinks.

There are a ton of things to do around Sonoma County over summer that many people don’t realize.

If students are staying here after classes end, feel free to check out some of these local events happening during the hot summer days.

Paddling the Russian River, fishing on the Bodega Harbor and hiking the Taylor Mountain trails are all popular things to do in the Summer.

Want somewhere to enjoy the sunshine while staying cool? The Spring Lake Lagoon in Santa Rosa and the Healdsburg Veteran’s Memorial Beach on the Rus-sian River have life-guarded beaches that are open and safe for swimming.

The largest farmer’s market in Sonoma County is in Santa Rosa every Wednesday night from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Students can come enjoy fresh produce, arts, crafts and local goods.

In Rohnert Park, there is a Friday night market and Party on the Plaza from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday nights in Library Parking Lot and City Center Plaza.

Further north in Santa Rosa, the annual Sonoma County fair is from July 22 through August 7 at the fairgrounds. Ring in summer with live horse racing, a giant carnival, f loral shows, live entertainment, food and contests. This is defi-nitely something Sonoma State students don’t want to miss.

Also located in Santa Rosa is the Country Summer Festival from June 3 to 5 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Students can dress up in their best f lannels

and cowboy boots and see bands like Chase Rice, The Band Perry and Lady An-tebellum.

In Napa, the long-awaited BottleRock Festival will be hosting bands like Florence and the Machine, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Walk the Moon begin-ning May 27.

For fans of craft beer and good food, the Santa Rosa Beer Festival on June 11 is an annual microbrew and food tasting extravaganza with more than 60 of Northern California’s best microbreweries. Petaluma also has some events going on this Summer, such as the Art and Garden Festival on July 10. People gather downtown to enjoy local crafters, wineries, breweries, gardeners, restaurants and food while listening to live music.

During the Summer, Windsor holds an annual Hot Air Balloon Festival that brings viewers from all over Northern California. Dozens of hot air balloons will be let loose for audiences to watch on June 18 and 19.

And of course, San Francisco will hold many events over the summer ranging from festivals to parades. The famous indie festival Outside Lands will feature Radiohead, Chance the Rapper and Aer. June will hold many events including a silent film festival, the Union Street festival, the North Beach festival and San Francisco Pride.

Need something fun to do for Fourth of July? Come to San Francisco for the Waterfront Festival for fireworks, local bands, food and arts and crafts to cel-ebrate the patriotic holiday.

Also popular during the Summer is the San Francisco Noe Valley Wine Walk. This event, happening from August 18 through 24 will feature tastings, wine samples and special treats.

STAR // Brandon Stachnik

Above left; The Russian River offers plenty of outdoor activites for students in the Summer months. Bottom left; Bodega Bay is an iconic beach loca-tion on the Sonoma Coast. Right; the Sonoma County Fair has many attractions and food like funnel cakes.

YouTube.com

“Livin’ It Up with Aubs” is a new YouTube series by Seawolf Living made to promote campus activities.

Livin’ it up with Seawolf Living

Page 9: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Student Life 9Page

May 10 - May 16, 2016sonoMastatestar.coM

Quick bitesYogurt blueberries Apple dip

1 (6 oz) plain Greekyogurt

3 tablespoons creamypeanut butter

3 teaspoons honey 2 apples

In a small bowl, combineyogurt, peanut butter andhoney. Serve with apple

slices or other fruit.

1 container blueberries6 oz nonfat blueberry

Greek yogurtWash blueberries and line

on a small baking sheetwith wax paper. Use atoothpick and dip each

blueberry into Greekyogurt. Place sheet in

freezer for an hour.

to get through finals

Fraternity gives old shoes new life

Carly Saber

Staff Writer

Every year Americans throw out around 68 pounds of textiles per per-

son. Shoes and clothes are filling landfills, while there are people all over the world struggling to get to work or to school because they have to walk barefoot or in shoes in poor condition.

Soles4Souls is a non-profit organization that’s distributed 26 million pairs of shoes in 127 countries since 2006.

They were founded in 2004 as a disaster relief group made up of philanthropists and shoe executives, providing shoes to those impacted by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the group got together again to respond to the crisis. In 2006, the group became an official nonprofit organization, helping those in need year round. They also continue to be second wave responders to natural disas-ters all over the world.

The main mission of Soles-4Souls is to combat poverty by col-lecting and distributing shoes across the globe. Their vision is to elimi-nate extreme poverty by 2050.

“This is one of the most excit-ing organizations I have ever been associated with,” said Buddy Teast-er, president and CEO of Soles-4Souls in his biography on the So-

les4Souls website. We have a great team and a

growing, passionate group of sup-porters and donors around the coun-try and the world. We’re doing work that really matters and I look for-ward to doing my part to help even more people regain their dignity and break the cycle of poverty.”

Last week fraternity Alpha Ep-silon Pi tabled every day, taking do-nations to give to Soles4Souls. They received donations from all differ-ent organzations on campus, both Greek and non-Greek.

“We deliver the shoes to a warehouse in Santa Rosa who works hand in hand with the orga-nization Soles4Souls,” sophomore Nathan Shapiro, AEPi’s philanthro-py chair said.

At their table they had a game of cornhole that many students pass-ing by between classes joined in on. When Chancellor Timothy White visited Sonoma State, he joined in on the fun as well.

This was the first time that Al-pha Epsilon Pi has put on this phi-lanthropy and they received nearly 200 donations during the week.

Alpha Epsilon Pi will be con-tinuing to collect donations for an-other week. They will be tabling outside of the Student Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Nathan Shapiro is a staff writer for the Sonoma State Star.

STAR // Megan Corcoran

Chancellor Tim White participated in Alpha Epsilon’s ta-bling by playing corn hole last week.

Tuesday,May 10

Toast of the Town

Senior Send Off 2016

5:30 p.m.

Trione Plaza

Wednesday,May 11

SSU Pool Night Swim

6:30 p.m.

SSU Pool

Thursday,May 12

Bike to Work Day

7:30 a.m.

The Flag Pole

Music Theatre Scenes

Workshop

7:30 p.m.

Schroeder Hall

ASP Free “LUAU”

Bowling Night

10 p.m.

Double Decker Lanes

Friday,May 13

Spring Fling 2016

9 p.m.

Ballroom

Improv Show

Midnight

Ives 101

Sunday,May 15

Papers N PJs

6 p.m.

Writing Center

Stress Free Zone

8:30 p.m.

Student Center

Page 10: Volume 76 // Issue 13

May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

sonoMastatestar.coM10 Sports

Hailee Zastrow

Staff Writer

For seven seniors, their time playing Sonoma State softball has come to an end. The Sonoma State Uni-versity softball team finished their season after be-

ing eliminated from the NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament in Arcata on Friday.

Much like the CCAA Softball Championships a week prior, the Seawolves found themselves playing the Hum-boldt Lumberjacks and the Chico State Wildcats once again. The Seawolves started off the tournament against fifth-ranked Humboldt State, but weren’t thrilled about it.

“Every year it seems like we end up playing Humboldt at least five to seven times,” said junior Jena Kaser. “When we saw that we were playing them at the selection show, we were all pretty bitter about it. I think we just wanted to play someone new.”

Just a week before, the Seawolves beat Humbolt 4-2, handing them only their fifth loss of the season. This time Humbolt started strong, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning against the Seawolves’ starting pitcher Amanda Llerena.

“We went in there like underdogs,” said Llerena. “They are a great team and it takes our entire focus, energy and heart to conquer that team.”

Llerena expected the Lumberjacks to be tough com-petition, but not one to stop the Seawolf momentum.

“Humboldt is a good hitting team and they were play-ing at home, so they were comfortable in their own skin,” said Kaser. “We have a very young team and post-season can bring out nerves and anxiety. As a team they have many strengths, but so do we, which is what kept us mo-tivated the rest of the game even after they put up three runs.”

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, those three runs were enough to defeat them. The Lumberjacks added two more in the fourth to finish the Seawolves 5-1. Kristine Ricossa’s RBI double that brought home Mayleen Mazon was the only offensive action for the Seawolves. They were held to only three hits in the game.

The loss against Humboldt meant the Seawolves had to win four straight elimination games to advance to Super Regionals, but the Wildcats would be the ones to eliminate

them again. Chico State sent the Seawolves home unhappy just a week earlier with a 6-4 win in the CCAA tourna-ment. They would eliminate the Seawolves once again, winning 9-4 to end their season.

“I think the pressure of it being an elimination game played a factor, but we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from winning in the elimination game on Friday,” said Kaser. “I think we knew what was at stake and were eager to avoid the route that would end our season.”

Despite a strong effort in the first, plating three runs almost immediately, the Seawolves couldn’t hold on to their lead. Chico State tied things up in the third, but Ali-son Strycula answered back with a single through the left side making it 4-3. Unfortunately, that would end up being the last run of the Seawolves’ season.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Wildcats took off on the Seawolves, scoring six runs all with two outs, eliminat-ing them from the tournament.

The Seawolves said goodbye to seven seniors: Aman-

da Llerena, Jena Kaser, Ally Bryant, Mayleen Mazon, Ol-ivia Lucchese, Aubrie Tolliver, and Carlie Daniel.

It was a bitter day for those that played their last game as a Seawolf, but it seems that most left learning something about themselves. “Sonoma State Softball taught me how to be a team player, have commitment, passion, dedica-tion, hard work and never having any limits for yourself,” said Llerena. “I will remember my time here because of the teammates I met that changed my life and coaches that showed me new perspectives.”

The Seawolves finished their season with a 33-24-1 record.

“As a team we had ups and downs, but I will cherish this season for the accomplishments we earned together,” said Kaser. “No other team works as hard as us in the weight room, track, field or in the classroom. Despite the season being over I will always be proud of my teammates for putting in the hard work that they did for the team’s future.”

COURTESY // Aubrie Tolliver

Sonoma State Softball will say goodbye to seven seniors; Jena Kaser, Mayleen Mazon, Aubrie Tolliver, Olivia Luchesse, Mandy Llerena, Ally Bryant and Carlie Daniel.

Sonoma State softball sent home

Bianca sanBorn

Asst. Sports Editor

The men’s rugby team rose from the ashes of a graduating senior class to show Sonoma State University that perseverance is key to any sport.

Founded in the spring of 2011, the Seawolf rugby players have continued to grow and develop, cultivating a love for the game and all of the back-breaking mental and physical challenges that accompany the sport. Unfortunately, it seems that time hasn’t been in the favor of the Seawolves this year. After losing five es-sential senior players and five more to transfers, this season has put the Seawolves’ rookie unit in the spotlight.

“This year was a rebuilding season for the team,” said Colin Laffey, “but things are looking up for a great season next year, as this year’s rookies stepped up and learned the game quickly to become a threat on the field.”

Despite combating the challenges of a young organization, the Seawolves finish their season 3-3 in conference to take fourth in PacWest, barely missing out on quali-fying for the playoffs.

“Just like any team we do put a lot of effort into practicing and working around everyone’s schedules,” said Tre Jones. “We have a really young team with most of our guys playing in their first games this fall.”

To add to their unlikely merit, team members Lucas Gonzales and Laffey were selected to the NorCal Conference Rep Side, both starting as All-Stars against the tough Cal Bears.

“It was a great time to play alongside Lucas, and to see all the talent from the league come together after battling all year,” said Laffey.

Overcoming the obstacles they faced this season, the group has become more than just a team—they consider themselves a family. With an incredibly talented team receiving support from some of the best coaches in the league, it’s no wonder the Seawolves were able to conquer this season’s challenges without falter.

“I’ve been playing for three years and it has been the best team I have played on,” said Jones. “They have truly been like a second family to me.”

What many at Sonoma State don’t know, however, is that they too can join the close-knit group of athletes on their uphill journey.

“If anyone is interested, please come out to a practice and see what it’s like,” said Jones, inviting any student, with or without experience to join the family.

“We don’t have cuts and welcome anyone to come out and explore a new sport that is played everywhere in the world, which shoes how fun and competitive it is,” said Laffey.

Rookies at the heart of Sonoma State rugby

allison Kelley

Staff Writer

The Sonoma State men’s base-ball team walked away empty handed with dirty pants and

aching muscles. The Seawolves’ season ended on a low note while on the road in San Francisco this weekend, losing 5-2 against the San Francisco State Gators on Sunday afternoon to ruin their hopes for playoffs. The men needed a big win, but quickly fell behind and couldn’t catch up in time.

Before Sunday’s game, the Sea-wolves were going strong after win-ning three previous games in the series. The men were in the right position to potentially score a spot in the playoffs after sweeping their doubleheader, 5-1 and 8-4 against the Gators on Saturday.

The Seawolves were hoping for a win themselves, while also antici-pating a Cal State East Bay loss. This ideally would have placed the Seawolves in the final playoff spot in the CCAA North Division play-offs. However, East Bay took the victory over Cal State Monterey Bay, clinching the last spot.

The beginning of Sunday’s game wasn’t looking in favor of the Seawolves. The Gators got an early start, scoring twice in the second and three times in the third inning, taking a 5-0 lead. However, things quickly turned around for Sonoma State during the top of the fourth inning. The Seawolves hit back-to-back homeruns on pitches to Mat-

thew Richards and Tyler Glenn, making the score 5-2.

In the sixth inning, Sonoma State had an opportunity make a dent in the deficit. They placed run-ners at second and third, with two outs and Glenn on the plate repre-senting the tying run. Glenn, how-ever, struck out, swinging on a 3-2 pitch to finish up the inning. The Seawolves managed to get three hits in the remainder of the game but couldn’t catch up to their op-ponent on the scoreboard, losing to the Gators 5-2.

“Today we lost, but we still had some fun,” said junior Adam Man-zer. “Matt and Tyler went deep back-to-back, which was awesome. All in all it was a good series, but too little too late for our season.”

Junior Daniel Caresio scored a single to wrap up his season, go-ing 10 for his last 17. Caresio also successfully hit in 12 of the last 14 games, which raised his batting average from .280 to .350, taking over the team lead in that category. To add, Ryan O’malley, Grant St. Martin and Richards each hit seven home runs, which tied for the team lead. O’Malley had 14 doubles, 32 RBI and 35 runs which were all team-bests. O’Malley also had two triples which tied with catcher Cody Morrison for the team-lead.

The Seawolves finished off their season 21-27 overall and 19-18 in the CCAA. The team finished fourth in the North Division behind Cal State Monterey Bay, Chico State, and Cal State East Bay.

facebook.com/sonomastaterugby

Sonoma State Rugby team celebrates after closing the season closed out the season with a win.

STAR // Shane Bickford

Philip Ramos blitzes towards second base for a steal.

Baseball team falls short of playoffs on final

game of the season

Sonoma State softball team’s season ends after losses to Humboldt State and Chico State in NCAA regional tournament

Page 11: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Sports 11Page

May 10 - May 16, 2016sonoMastatestar.coM

Kristen spear

Staff Writer

A Santa Rosa native, Emiria Salzmann Dunn, grew up under the prestigious era of the 1990 Sonoma State Universities women’s soccer national championship team, making it a

dream of hers to one day become a Seawolf. After graduating at 16 from Piner High School as the leading

goal scorer and now a member of the Piner Hall of Fame, she went on to pursue her soccer career at Santa Rosa Junior College. She made her mark there yet again as the leading goal scorer where Peter Reyn-aud, the head coach of Sonoma State at the time, offered her a spot on the team. Without any hesitation, she happily accepted.

Her legacy was just getting started in ’96 when she broke the record for most goals scored in a single season, one of the many rea-sons she was admitted into the Hall of Fame here at Sonoma State.

“It’s no overstatement to say playing here changed my life,” said Salzmann Dunn. “When I got to Sonoma State I was surround by competitive women like myself. I had never been pushed at the level that I had been pushed at. I struggled with fitness, I have asthma, and I never knew I was capable of physically doing the things that I did. That’s why I’m a big believer in fitness because I saw what it did for me and what it did for my teammates by the confidence we got out of being physically capable. It shed a lot of fears and insecurities.”

Right out of college, Salzmann Dunn played semi-pro and started up her coaching career with a U14 girls team, the Thunder. Little did she know her name would quickly get around the league as the new, young coach fueled by intensity.

So intense it intrigued a writer out of Marin by the name of Jona-than Littman to follow her team around for her entire first year. He later published a book called “The Beautiful Life” about how she brought the team to become state champions.

Her passion for playing was not over yet, though, as her Dutch citizenship allowed her to play in Holland. But, a devastating injury brought her back home. She then became the assistant coach at Long Beach State after receiving her master’s degree. After that, she re-turned home to Santa Rosa where she was applied to be the head soc-cer coach of her alma-mater the Santa Rosa Junior College.

This was her most successful time as a coach. All four years she lead her team to win the conference championship, as well as receiv-ing coach of the year every season, helping develop six All-Ameri-cans.

In 2008 she was awarded national coach of the year. Her escala-tion as a coach was similar to her rise as a player. After several suc-cessful seasons at the Santa Rosa Junior College, Dunn moved on to coach at Sonoma State in 2011.

Since joining Sonoma State, Coach Dunn has lead her pack of Seawolves to two first-place finishes in the regular season, four CCAA tournament appearances, three NCAA tournament appear-ance and most recently a CCAA regular season championship this past season. Salzmann-Dunn was also named coach of the year by the CCAA last season.

“What made Emiria coach of the year was her ability to do it all. She really drives us to do everything we can and nothing less,” said sophomore Sara Van Wagoner, second team all-conference. “Her pas-sion and motivation to make her team the best they can stands out to many that know her. Her intensity is contagious.”

Everything Salzmann Dunn does is to push players to new levels they couldn’t imagine, even pushing them to the brink on the soccer field, but always to get the best out of the student athlete.

“She pushed me physically and mentally to be better. I was pretty hard on myself because she always set the standard high, but that’s what helped me to be successful with my career here at Sonoma State,” said Margi Osmundson, CCAA and NSCAA first team All American.

Relentless, fierce, tough, vigorous and demanding are all words to describe Coach Salzmann Dunn but these are all things that make her the leader of the pack.

“My one line I always come back to is ‘I have to see for those players what they cannot see for themselves.’ Sometimes people will think I’m relentless on them but I have this vision of me standing in front of them and fighting their own fears for them” said Salzmann Dunn.

Salzmann Dunn hopes the next thing she can add to her deco-rated career on the soccer field is a National Championship for Sonoma State.

Emiria Salzmann Dunn: The leader

of the pack

COURTESY // pdpreps.com

Coach Salzmann Dunn coaching up her squad during a practice.

BlaKe roBinson

Staff Writer

For the second time in four years the Sonoma State men’s golf team will send one individual to compete in the

Division II National Championship tourna-ment. This season, it’s senior Brandon Lee that will advance to play at the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver, Colorado from May 17 - 19.

“I’m very excited for Brandon, he de-serves it being a leader and a senior on our golf team,” said junior Justin Shluker. “I know that he will represent us very well at the championships.”

The dynamic duo that is Lee and Shluk-er attacked the course last Monday, leading the men’s golf team into the NCAA West Regional at the University Golf Club in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Selected by the conference head coach-es, Lee and Shluker were both voted All-CCAA First Team.

“It’s a great feeling to know all of the hard work has paid off, and to be apart of such good company is what really makes it special,” said Shluker.

This is Lee’s third-consecutive year earning all-conference, averaging at 73.36 strokes during the 2015-16 season.

Being the top performer for the Sea-wolves in last week’s CCAA Championship, Lee was able to maintain a .735 average, holding onto the third-best winning percent-age in school history.

It was a tough first round for the Sea-

wolves, finishing out Monday in fifteenth place. Shaken up but not fully rattled, the boys were able to rise into the fifth place spot by the end of the second round on Tues-day.

“We always have good atmosphere and I believe that is why we were able to come back during that second round,” said Sh-luker.

Even with Lee dropping in a 71-70-68, an eye-popping seven under par which was good enough to land Lee in 2nd place out of 108 competitors, the Seawolves still weren’t able to successfully combat the competition.

“The tournament was a great learning experience for me,” said freshman Spencer Clapp. “It taught me that it truly is never over until you drop the last putt on 54th hole.”

Ending the tournament eighth-place out of 20, the team totalled a final of 878, just scraping ahead of Dixie State with 879. But with a non-qualifying score, the Seawolves hang their clubs as they get ready to cheer on teammate Lee as he battles it out for a national championship.

Senior Nicolas Daniels finishes his final round as a Seawolf with 75-69-76, carding a 220 for the 35th place. Clapp, shooting rounds of 77-71-74, totalled at 222 for the 43rd position on the board. He was followed by Shluker in 80th place with scores of 78-74-76 to total up to 228.

“We told ourselves that we had a hell of a season and we should be more that proud with what we all accomplished,” said Clapp. “Our seniors were one of the reasons why our team had so much success this year.”

Last Wednesday, seniors Daniels and Kenny Maroney played their final round as collegiate golfers.

After his final run for the national championship, Lee will be retiring at the conclusion of his season, as well.

“We have grown over this past year and the journey continues for all of us including them, so we will always be a family for the rest of our lives,” said Shluker.

Look for Brandon Lee as he sets out to bring home a National Championship on May 17 in Denver, Colorado.

Lone Seawolf heads into National Championship tournament

sonomaseawolves.com

Senior Brandon Lee moves on to National Championship tournament after card-ing a seven-under-par in the regional tournament.

andrea serles

Staff Writer

The Sonoma State Seawolves went out with a bang in this weekend’s race. As their track & field season came to end,

the women left it all out on the terrain.Their final race, which took place in Los

Angeles, California, was an important one for most of these women. Competing in the 2016 CCAA Track & Field Championships was a fantastic opportunity for this team, and the re-sults were even better.

Sonoma State sent five of their team mem-bers to compete, contending in an assortment of events throughout the weekend. Five girls taking on six different events can be chal-lenging, but the Seawolves were able to make it happen. “A lot of us surpassed our goals or made them. So I think that is pretty fantastic, to have been able to set a goal at the beginning of the season and then accomplish said goal,” said junior Jasmine Rivera.

For one of these women in particular, it was a weekend worth remembering. Freshman Analicia Garcia was the team’s top finisher, with an outstanding score in the preliminaries,

and a time of 4:51:75 in the 1500. With this ex-ceptional performance, Garcia was able to earn an alternate spot in the final.

Although the spotlight seemed to be beam-ing down on Garcia, there were still four other women to recognize. Sophomores, Claudia Serrano and Maria Hurtado competed as well. “My performance overall wasn’t terrible, it was one of those meets that inspire you to hit the weights and train hard for next year,” Ser-rano said. Serrano took a shot at the discus and came out with a 30.86, while Hurtado compet-ed in the 1500 and ended with a time of 5:10:14. Junior Jasmine Rivera competed in the 400, finishing with an impressive time of 59.90.

Sophomore Angelique Lopez competed in two different events during the weekend. Tak-ing her chances in both the 100 and 200, where she finished 12.54 and 26.11. “I was disap-pointed that the time I ran was among one of the slowest for this season,” said Lopez. “If I would have hit one of my most recent times I would have been in the finals.”

As this season comes to a close for these women, the Seawolves are able to look back and recognize all of their hard-earned accom-plishments, with new personal bests in differ-ent events.

“I’m very excited for Brandon, he deserves it being a leader and

a senior,” said ju-nior Justin Shluker. “I know that he will rep-resent us very well.”

Sonoma State track team’s season reaches the finish line

“She pushed me physically and men-tally to be better. I was pretty hard

on myself because she always set the standard high, but that’s what helped me to be successful with my

career,” said Margi Osmundson.

Page 12: Volume 76 // Issue 13

Photo May 10 - May 16, 2016Page

sonoMastatestar.coM12

STAR // Connor Gibson

CSU Chancellor, Dr. Timothy P. White, spoke to students, faculty and staff at the Student Center Ballroom on Thursday.

STAR // Connor Gibson

Audience members had the chance to ask questions at the open fo-rum.

STAR // Connor Gibson

CSU Chancellor Dr. Timothy P. White answered a question from a stu-dent.

CSU Chancellor talks growing graduate shortage

STAR // Connor Gibson

Dr. Ruben Armiñana attended Dr. White’s open forum.

STAR // Sara Wildman

Dr. Ruben Armiñana joked with his wife Marne Olson at his retirement celebration in the Student Center Ballroom on Friday.