The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: News

  • HSU creates election coping resources for students

    Post election assistance for those that feel anxious about the future of the country

    From educational campaigns across social media to election dialogues, Humboldt State University provides students with resources despite the difficulty of being virtual. Check It! and Associated Students are working to give students the counseling and services they need.

    Students can also learn ways to keep themselves and others safe while taking part in community action. Faculty from Native American studies, history and environmental law will host a panel to discuss the history of elections, social change movements and impacts.

    “Our purpose and our responsibility is here to educate students about the importance of voting and why to vote, and then providing them the space if and when they need to or want to decompress,” said Kresl.

    Dean of Students Eboni Turnbow sent an email to students Oct. 30 to remind and students of HSU’s resources for the election.

    “We encourage our students to exercise their First Amendment rights in a safe and healthy way,” Turnbow said in an email. “For some this is on social media, others through dialogue with family and friends, and others through community action. Despite your preferred outlet, we want to help you be prepared.”

    Two election follow ups by Counseling and Psych Services, Associated Students, and the Dean of Students Office will meet on Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. and Nov. 12 at noon to discuss anxiety and fear following the election.

    El Centro, the LatinX center will discuss the elections this Fri., Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. as well.

    HSU also created the HSU Votes website to give students resources and information regarding voting and to give students resources while social distancing.

    “No matter which way this goes, there is going to be stress and anxiety and anger on both and on either side, not exclusively because of the outcome but because of the whole process,” said HSU Student Life Coordinator Molly Kresl.

    CAPS has drop-in hours on Wednesday and a crisis hotline for students who are experiencing any emotions post election, or if they just need to talk.

    Additionally, a virtual tool-kit has been created for students that provides information about self care, difficult dialogues, election education, resources and how to navigate emotions and stress during and after elections.

    “At the core of it is for students to know that we see them, we recognize them, and we value them,” said Kresl.

    HSU has recommended, not mandated, faculty to limit assignments if they can, check in with students and provide resources within their class. HSU recommended groups and organizations exercise activities this week to provide support to students.

    “Remember, feeling overwhelmed is human and natural, so using these vital resources is important to self-care,” Turnbow said in the email.

    Despite the election results, students are reminded that their vote matters, and HSU will be ready to support them in any way they feel and react.

    Wrenna Williams is a forestry and restoration major who is taking a gap year due to COVID-19. Williams voted and expressed the anxiety that followed, but won’t use HSU’s services due to it being strictly available for students currently enrolled.

    “Especially if I was living on campus still, I would totally go use those services. They’re great,” said Williams.

    Carlos Ochoa-Silvas, a freshman at HSU, mailed in his voting ballots a few weeks ago and expressed concern toward the election, the aftermath and riots. He said he would think about reaching out to HSU’s services if he felt too anxious.

    “I definitely think that it’s important for people who are more sensitive about the topic or people who want to express how they feel with the community and see other people’s views,” Ochoa-Silvas said.

  • Students speak honestly on voting in 2020 the elections

    Students speak honestly on voting in 2020 the elections

    Students look toward an uncertain future while factoring in the past four years.

    Students at Humboldt State University took the steps to cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

    For some, like Alejandra Sanchez, it was the first election she could vote in. Sanchez, a criminology major, was not optimistic about what a second term for President Trump would mean.

    “Being a woman and being brown, four more years…four more years would not be the best for me,” Sanchez said.

    Sanchez felt especially disappointed in the Democratic party candidates. She believed the Democratic party could have done better.

    “In my eyes, we were settling for Biden,” Sanchez said. “It’s just like horrible and slightly less horrible, either way you vote it’s not that great. I’m sure there will be little differences that do help.”

    The 2020 election painted Biden as a candidate voters settled for, or defensively voted for in strong dissent of a reelection.

    Maia Nguyen, a wildlife major, believed Biden is not the strongest or most ideal Democratic party candidate. In comparison to Trump, Biden offers more promising initiatives like environmental advocacy.

    “We definitely settled for him as democrats, but I would feel better with him as a president,” said Nguyen. “Someone who takes clean energy and the environment more seriously than Trump does.”

    While Nguyen was not old enough to vote in 2016, she made sure to cast her vote early for the 2020 election. Nguyen emphasized how the past presidential term has been difficult to witness.

    “As a wildlife major, it meant a lot of disappointment overall,” Nguyen said. “You can see terrible things happening and people not listening to scientists. Just a disappointment overall, I would say.”

    On the subject of the 2020 election, Nguyen looked at how future presidents would affect her fields of study. She mentioned the discrediting effects a less science focused presidency could bring.

    “Honestly, I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and I would say that it would be harder in my field,” said Nguyen. “Our funding comes from government funding so if we had pushback, my work would be affected, and a lot of pushback for us because people wouldn’t want to work with scientists.”

    Tayler Reedy, a child development major, voted in 2016 but felt a personal need to vote in the 2020 election and defend communities Trump harms.

    “Well for me personally, with everything that Trump has done with immigration and everything he has said, as someone who is a bisexual woman and person of color it’s a little scary to see how he treated everyone in those categories,” Reedy said.

    Reedy echoed the overarching assumption that a vote for Biden was simply a defensive vote against a Trump reelection.

    “I feel like Biden is more accepting of people like that. He’s not my favorite,” Reedy said. “I was more about Elizabeth Warren at the time, but I feel like he’ll do a better job than Trump.”

    California polls close at 8 p.m., with the state historically leaning Democratic. While initial election results may be called on Nov. 3, the New York Times states that approximately nine of the 50 states will have final results in by noon the day after the election.

  • Minor Theater is back after closure scare

    Minor Theater is back after closure scare

    GoFundMe saves The Minor Theater thanks to community support.

    The Minor Theater has reopened to the public after closing at the start of the COVID-19 outbreaks eight months ago.

    Reopening was never a certainty for Josh Neff, building owner and co-owner of The Minor.

    “I was trying to have an optimistic outlook and thinking this is something we can handle. We’re gonna get through it and it’ll take a few weeks then we’ll be back to some sort of new norm or a norm, but that was not the case,” Neff said. “We were nursing the business along by paying the minimal amount of bills and rent that we could and just kinda running out of money.”

    Coming into late July and early August, the likelihood of reopening was slim. But, on Sept. 28, the theater opened a GoFundMe page in hopes they would earn enough money to reopen.

    “It was either that or fold the business, that’s where we were at,” Neff said. “We didn’t want to ask for anything for free. That’s why we did the incentive program and gave them the discounted theater rentals in exchange for the donations.”

    Currently the GoFundMe has raised $32,805, well over their $20,000 goal, with 364 donors. This outpouring of support from the community came as a surprise to Neff.

    “I didn’t think it would be so generous and so fast,” Neff said. “I did expect that the community would have a heartfelt response to our donation request but I didn’t realize that it would come so fast and exceed our expectations like it did.”

    Travis Bille, a community member and donor to the Minor, expressed the significance and importance of keeping the Minor operating.

    “It’s a staple of the community,” Bille said. “I love this place.”

    Before they could open up, they had to make some health and safety changes first to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.

    “I put a two stage HEPA air filtration system in and it runs 24 hours a day,” Neff said. “We did a 60 percent seating capacity reduction, we implemented some COVID software that allows people to pick the actual seat they want to sit in, and you can buy it online and it automatically gets rid of the seats next to you on both sides. We did a bunch of enhanced cleaning safety protocols, obviously masks are being worn at all times.”

    On Oct. 9, the Minor Theater reopened its doors to the public for weekend showings with the new safety protocol in place.

    “We followed all the health and safety measures that the county guidelines put out and then we sorta went above and beyond and did everything else we could think of to do,” Neff said.

    Fans of the theater, like Christy Mast, were thankful that the theater was able to bounce back and begin showing again.

    “It was nice to just get back in with the community and be at the movies again,” Mast said.

    Neff is extremely thankful and overjoyed by the community’s effort to save his business. He recalls the day the Minor reopened with glee.

    “I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face the day that we opened,” Neff said. “Just to have the theater experience, have those doors open, have the marquee lit up, and have the popcorn machine running. It was glorious, everything you had hoped for.”

  • Tackling incarceration with education

    Tackling incarceration with education

    Project Rebound, seeks to help students on campus who have experienced incarceration

    Project Rebound was founded by John Erwin, Ph.D in 1967 at San Francisco State University, before it began to branch out to other campuses in the state. Erwin’s goal was to help students who were formerly incarcerated achieve educational success. This year, HSU joins the list of California State University’s to officially integrate the program.

    For Program Coordinator Tony Wallin, the work done by the group is personal. Wallin, who recently graduated from HSU, came to the campus after his own run-ins with the law. When he arrived at HSU, Wallin said he didn’t feel entirely like he belonged.

    “For a year, it was essentially just me, working by myself,” Wallin said.

    After almost giving up his first year here, Wallin would go on to create the Formerly Incarcerated Students Club at HSU with encouragement and help from others.

    Kory Lambert, office coordinator for Project Rebound, said he felt the same out of place feeling Wallin felt when he first arrived at HSU.

    “When I first came to HSU, I don’t know if it was self imposed, but it took me a whole semester to learn about Oh SNAP!,” Lambert said. “I think people take it for granted, they know these programs are there but they don’t really think about them.”

    Lambert is an environmental science major focusing on social justice with a minor in scientific diving. He is looking to study how disasters and natural events disproportionally affect marginalized communities.

    Lambert had just turned 18 when he was arrested in 2013. The arrest lead to him being kicked out of his community college and off the football team.

    “That set me on a way different path,” Lambert said. “It’s kind of a different experience from people who just never went through that.”

    Project Rebound tackled these problems by working on programs that focus on education and prevention. Their motto “From G.E.D. to PhD” reinforces the idea of an inclusive education.

    According to the official statement provided by HSU, Project Rebound has a “…95% graduation rate while the CSU system as a whole has a 25% rate who finish within four years and 61% within six.”

    For many, getting a degree is the first step in being respected and taken seriously when trying to reintegrate into society.

    “A degree is a piece of paper,” said Wallin. “But if you’ve been formerly incarcerated it makes people go ‘okay, I’ll listen to you.’”

    Project Rebound has spent the summer writing to current Pelican Bay State Prison occupants who are interested in pursuing their education inside and outside of its walls.

    According to Lambert, interest expressed by prisoners surround the possibility of voting and getting involved in politics. Proposition 17 on the California ballot would reinstate the voting rights of many formerly incarcerated individuals if passed.

    Due to COVID-19 regulations, the group has not been able to visit the supermax prison in Crescent City in-person, but hope to host workshops on things like tuition and classes in the future.

    Currently the group hosts regular Zoom meetings to discuss future events in addition to check-ins, and listening to anyone in need who has past incarceration history.

    “It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent a day in jail or 30 days in prison,” Wallin said. “We don’t discriminate.”

  • Sweet Mama Janisse hit hard by COVID-19

    Sweet Mama Janisse hit hard by COVID-19

    Local owner of Sweet Mama Janisse, Marie Janisse-Wilkins struggles to make up losses

    The Arcata community came together to save Marie Janisse-Wilkins, owner and operator of the local, soul food catering business, Sweet Mama Janisse, Inc., from eviction as COVID-19 has wiped away all her revenue for this year.

    During a garage sale Fri. Oct. 23, Janisse-Wilkins explained how she used her own money to start her business and when the business got into financial trouble, she refinanced her house to keep the business afloat, then COVID-19 struck.

    Janisse-Wilkins said she had paid all her bills before COVID-19 hit. Without the money from catering, she struggles to pay her mortgage.

    “[The banks] have no sympathy. They want their money. They want their money,” Janisse-Wilkins said.

    The Federal Reserve reported COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black owned businesses. Janisse-Wilkins is Louisiana Creole, which includes a diverse heritage of European, African, and Indigenous America traditions.

    Shelter-in-place orders began in March and wiped away Janisse-Wilkins yearly schedule of catering for weddings, special events, graduation celebrations and the annual Independence Day celebrations in Eureka.

    The Federal Reserve said in a report titled “Double Jeopardy: COVID-19’s Concentrated Health and Wealth Effects in Black Communities” that while the national average of active small business owners dropped by 22 percent between Feb. and April, Black owned businesses saw a drop of 41 percent, almost twice the average, and the biggest decline of any racial group.

    This disparity is the result of historically unequal relationships to banks, increased likelihood of not being able to qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program and the higher rate of COVID-19 impact on Black communities.

    An online GoFundMe fundraiser started by Janisse-Wilkins’ friend, Julie du Bois, raised about $7,000 in two weeks. With a goal of $50,000, her friends have helped her host yard sales to sell off her possessions.

    Bob Dorn, friend of Janisse-Wilkins and writer of The Hum, a column that runs in the Mad River Union, received about 2000 of her books, mostly cookbooks, and decided to offer them in exchange for donations outside his storage unit at Arcata Bay Self Storage.

    “What she has going for her is she is an incredibly generous woman,” Dorn said.

    Nearing retirement age and without an income from her business, Janisse-Wilkins fears being homeless. She is currently unable to afford her rent, forcing her to ask for help.

    “It’s hard when you have to ask people to do something like this for you,” Janisse-Wilkins said.

    Oryan Peterson-Jones, Arcata City Council candidate, unloaded Janisse-Wilkins’ books from a storage unit and stated how he grew up in Arcata, and his first job was with Janisse-Wilkins as a dishwasher.

    “It was the best job I ever had,” Peterson-Jones said. “Marie was such an important person on my early development as a musician.”

    Peterson-Jones explained before Janisse-Wilkins moved to Humboldt in the 1990s, she worked at the Topanga Corral, which was a hot spot for rock and movie stars in the 1970s in Topanga Ca., just north of Hollywood.

    “She had all these stories and pictures of her with George Harrison, and the Rolling Stones,” Peterson-Jones said.

    Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, the multi-Grammy award winning musician known as Taj Mahal, is Janisse-Wilkins best friend. Fredricks even wrote a song, “Sweet Mama Janisse,” about her which tells of how good her cooking is. She even did two cruise gigs with Fredricks, called the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise, where he sang and she did catering.

    Spencer Kennedy, another former dishwasher of Janisse-Wilkins, volunteered to help host a yard sale and recalled how Janisse-Wilkins made the restaurant feel special.

    “I hope we can get a lot of customers to make some money to make a difference,” Kennedy said. “I haven’t seen anyone walk out of the kitchen and talk to everyone in the restaurant. But Marie did that with every table.”

    Jannise-Wilkins said while she is able to cater during COVID-19 and sells a line of sauce, finding work is tough as clients are not booking very many events and employees are harder to find.

    “I just hope everything gets better and I can cook food for people again,” Janisse-Wilkins said.

  • Resident Advisors struggle to keep dorm life normal

    Resident Advisors struggle to keep dorm life normal

    Due to the transition to online, campus life is lonelier than ever this semester

    Social distancing policies forces Resident Advisors to rely on tools like social media and video-chatting to stay in touch with students. To make up for the lack of in-person events, housing is putting on several Grab-N-Go programs this semester, where students pick up supplies and participate in door decorating competitions from the safety of their dorms.

    Generally speaking, RA responsibilities include daily room and floor rounds, enforce housing policies and provide connections to resources for students in their building.

    Stephen St. Onge is the associate vice president for student success at HSU. According to Onge, the RA job responsibilities have not changed, besides the move to online.

    The most notable impact of the pandemic on RAs has been on the ability to encourage students to engage with the campus community.

    “They are still doing outreach to their residents virtually,” Onge said. “They are still doing duty rounds, the programming, they are just doing it a little bit differently.”

    Victor Garcia Balderas is a second year RA. Balderas feels the blackouts of last fall and the transition to online in the spring has prepared him as an RA.

    “Because it is my second year as an RA, I feel I have a grasp of how things work,” Balderas said. “I’m flexible and have been hit with so many random events like last year when we had the blackouts.”

    Last semester, Balderas worked with new students. In contrast, this semester he works with returning and transfer students. Balderas says these students tend to already have established their own communities, making engagement much more challenging.

    Director of Residence Life Donyet King believes engaging with students during a pandemic just requires some outside of the box thinking.

    “We have to get really creative about it,” King said. “Initially when programs were held online, people were still adjusting to the pandemic.”

    Despite the efforts of housing to fabricate a sense of normality, the single occupancy policy, while necessary, generates an unavoidable sense of isolation for dorm students.

    “I’ve gotten lonely and a little bit sad,” Balderas said. “I feel like I am alone.”

  • CDOR continues virtually

    CDOR continues virtually

    The Campus and Community Dialogue On Race returns covering global justice for Black Lives.

    The theme for this year’s Campus and Community Dialogue on Race will be “Global Justice for Black Lives: Examining the Past and Reimagining the Future.” Two guest speakers will present at the end of October and a keynote speaker will be introduced at the beginning of November. This event provides students, staff, faculty and community members a safe space to discuss race.

    The events will take place on Zoom and instead of lasting a week, there will be talks and workshops taking place for two weeks from Oct. 26 – Nov. 7.

    Featured speakers will be on Zoom and will be viewed webinar style, meaning the audience will not be able to view all other attendees, just the speaker.

    CDOR has been holding annual events since 1998 and has grown exponentially since then. CDOR gives attendees the opportunity to participate in workshops, have those important discussions and listen to keynote speakers.

    Claudia Rankine is the featured keynote speaker for this years’ CDOR event. She will be participating in two student engagements. The first will be a book talk at 11 a.m. for her new book “Just Us.” Next, is her keynote event taking place in the afternoon at 2 p.m. for “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a book loaded with poetry and media that questions racial politics.

    Rankine’s talk will take place on Nov. 7 conveniently after the election.

    Corrina Wells, the program coordinator for the Developing Hispanic Serving Institution (DHSI) grant program, explained that Rankine makes these questions about the topic available for her readers.

    “What’s really powerful about the book is that she, as a Black woman, is making [racial politics] visible for all of her readers,” Wells said.

    They added that Rankine makes relatable content for BIPOC and educational content for non-BIPOC.

    The keynote event will also touch on Rankine’s process of writing and creating “Citizen,” a book-length poem about race in America.

    Lawrence Ross will be holding a virtual talk Mon., Oct. 26 speaking on the politics of race in American colleges. This will be a follow-up on the talk he had earlier this year in February addressing campus racism.

    Ross will be referencing his book, “Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on American Campuses.” The book exposes the racist practices prevalent in university politics that targets and distances students of color from engagement.

    “Ross really focuses on higher education and the ways that racism is perpetuated in institutions of higher education,” Wells said.

    Ross’ talk from earlier this year in February is available on the CDOR website on the welcome page.

    Bettina Love, Ph.D, will be presenting during the “So You Want To Teach” series all day and cover various aspects regarding white supremacy, incarceration, and abolition on Tues., Oct. 27.

    Douglas Smith, the African American Center for Academic Excellence Coordinator, explains that Love’s talk is about restoring humanity for children in schools.

    Love will be incorporating her new book, “We Want To Do More Than Survive” in her talk.

    “Dr. Love focuses on K-12, the overall education industrial complex and the ways that racism happens there,” Wells said

    CDOR is also a class that gives students credit for helping plan and participate in the events. Indigo Eden, a CDOR peer mentor, expressed great appreciation for this year’s event planning.

    “I give so much respect to the planning committee and everyone involved,” Eden said.

    Registration is open and required for all featured speakers and sessions.

  • COVID-19 isolation increases domestic violence

    COVID-19 isolation increases domestic violence

    October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

    COVID-19 social distancing has increased the demand on local domestic violence services according to some professionals in the field.

    Locally a 27-year-old Asian woman was forced into a car at gun point in Fieldbrook, seven miles north of Arcata, on Aug. 4, and returned safe after the suspect, a 43-year-old George Rose, previously known to the victim, turned himself in after fleeing the state to Oregon.

    In nearby Mendocino, Khadijah Britton, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, was forced into a car at gun point on Feb. 7 2018, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. Britton is still missing and there is a $50,000 reward for information on her location.

    Stephanie Weldon, Humboldt State University social work masters graduate and Yurok Tribe member, was the director of the Yurok Tribe Department of Health and Human Services until August and currently is a consultant for state and federal agencies on tribal social services.

    Weldon said the tribe received increased calls related to domestic violence as the shelter in place orders went into place in March, and she has heard anecdotes from clients regarding the challenges that COVID-19 places on an already underserved population of victims.

    Brenda Bishop, executive director of Humboldt Domestic Violence Services, and HSU alumna, said “Rape culture is very alive and well on [HSU] campus.” The HDVS runs a 24/7 emergency domestic violence hotline which has had a reduction in the number of calls.

    Bishop said she suspects this is related to the difficulty for victims to make personal phone calls for help while living in close quarters with their abusers.

    Bishop does not believe the reduced number of calls reflects a reduction in domestic violence incidents, and in fact may indicate victims are in increased danger.

    Bishop said domestic violence includes intimate partner sexual violence and sex trafficking which may start as intimate partner violence.

    “We see a lot of HSU women that get involved in trafficking as well,” Bishop said. Usually this occurs through intimate partner violence with non-students, but sometimes with other students as well.

    Lundy Bancroft, author of an Amazon bestseller, “Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men,” said in an abuser’s mind everything is about winning and losing and the woman is not seen as having equal rights, her purpose is to satisfy his needs.

    Abusive partners can be even more violent when victims try and leave, or immediately after they leave.

    “The attitude abusers exhibit in this type of violence when women attempt to leave their partners is, ‘she must have to pay for my unhappiness,’” Bancroft said.

    About double the number of women were killed by current or ex-male partners than US soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2012, 11,766 and 6,488 respectively, according to a report by the Huffington Post.

    Police historically do not treat domestic violence as a crime but as a private matter meaning many incidents are not reported. Victims have expressed that they feel their reports are not taken seriously by police.

    Entrenched sexist bias is compounded by race. Weldon said, “You can’t talk about trauma without talking about race. How can you talk about a mission to wipe [Native American] people out, without talking about the impact that has had on those communities?”

    The structure of tribal police, which rely onUS police to cross-deputize the force and certify criminal charge procedures, aren’t able to collect tax revenue that could improve investigative work.

    “You go from no response and no intervention to overreaction where a ton of [non-tribal] law enforcement shows up because it’s a known family name,” Weldon said.

    According to the Institute For Women’s Policy Research, Black women are two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than their White counterparts.

    Meanwhile, according to the study “Race and the Likelihood of Intimate Partner Violence Arrest and Dual Arrest,” non-white female victims of intimate partner violence are less likely to have their perpetrators arrested by police.

    Guns in the home increase the deadliness of domestic violence incidents. According to Giffords Law Center, “Guns kept in the home are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal unintentional shooting, criminal assault or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense. Rather than conferring protection, guns in the home are associated with an increased risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.”

    Bishop encouraged victims to call the 24/7 hour HDVS hotline for resources and emergency help.

    Bishop believes the most important thing for people in domestic violence situations is to feel supported and hear affirmation.

    “We believe you,” Bishop said. “And the longer you’ve been in abusive relationships the harder it is to make that call.”

  • Library construction picks up the pace during the pandemic

    Library construction picks up the pace during the pandemic

    The library undergoes seismic retrofit construction

    Humboldt State University’s library has been under construction since 2018 when the contract was set and planned in 2015. The construction project is for the library and the theatre arts buildings on campus, both buildings were not safe regarding seismic activity.

    Jason Baugh, HSU project manager, has been communicating between the contractors and campus on the seismic retrofit project for both buildings.

    “Building safety is to keep these buildings maybe not 100% secure, standing and occupiable after a major earthquake, but getting everyone out safely,” Baugh said.

    The overall goal was to have it safe for seismic activity but other projects and delays started to pile on as time progressed.

    “The California building code changes every three years, the chancellor’s office for the CSU also has their own internal code review and it’s basically mirroring what the California building code is,” Baugh said. “They have their standards where they want all their buildings to adhere to and so that changed and as we submitted plans for review, we missed the code cycle and everything had to be re-evaluated.”

    Setbacks such as new seismic code, modifications in original plans and lower level issues with the foundation have led to longer construction time than anticipated. Recently the project got sprinklers in the library.

    “There was a few areas of the lower library basement, and basically it was where books, some of the special collections library books that they don’t use on a daily basis but are archived for various reasons,” Baugh said. “For some reason, only that area was sprinkled.”

    Changes to the project made the years of construction go on longer than originally thought. The overall budget for the project of both buildings was $20 million plus add ons of almost $4 million dollars.

    Daytime construction has increased due to COVID-19 restrictions. Cyril Oberlander, HSU’s library dean, has been overseeing and delegating people to new temporary areas of work.

    “It also created new opportunities, rather than waiting for the sprinkler project for a couple of years,” Oberlander said. “It’s something we can do now because no one is in the building which is pretty good.”

    Since the library will most likely be closed in the spring semester due to COVID-19, construction will continue at a faster pace. Oberlander is hopeful that students and all HSU personnel will enjoy the new library when things are back to normal.

    “Thank goodness they really were resilient through it because it’s finishing up now,” Oberlander said.

    Jaime Clough, a senior at HSU, had trouble in the previous semester with construction noise and communication of the project’s finishing time.

    “I was in the library every single day. I was there on weekends. I basically lived in the library and it was kind of tricky,” Clough said. “I mean sometimes you have to go through random doors, sometimes the stairwells are closed and you have to go around the backside. You’d be sitting in the nice quiet corner trying to study for finals and all of the sudden there’s a jackhammer on the wall right next to you.”

    Construction is set to be finished around June of 2021. With construction schedules and the library closed, construction could be finished before the fall 2021 semester.

    “June is my goal, I think it’s realistic, as I kind of indicated you don’t know till you dive into things especially with retrofit projects,” Baugh said. “Hoping for the best, I think the end of June is a realistic date and that we may have a month buffer of working through any problems.”

  • Humboldt State reconsiders spring break

    Humboldt State reconsiders spring break

    Proposal to move spring break to a later date generates controversy

    On Sep. 29, Humboldt State University’s administration announced an idea to move spring break for this academic year from Mar. 15-19 to Apr. 5-9, 2021.

    In the meeting, Jen Capps, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, explained the student and community health argument behind delaying spring break.

    “We face some challenges around making sure that our faculty, our students, staff, et cetera are safe, and how to bring folks from out of county into county, quarantine them, provide face-to-face instruction,” Capps said. “And then if they leave for spring break, what I’m hearing from facilities and different folks is they just don’t have the capacity to then require students to quarantine again.”

    A few suggestions for how to maneuver the situation were made by University Senate members including Cindy Moyer, an HSU music professor.

    Moyer pitched the idea to have break or rest days spread throughout the academic year to divert students from traveling and returning home.

    “Five carefully strategically spaced days off spread out over the weeks in the middle of the semester,” Moyer said. “So that students are getting some time off, but not getting enough time off that they will go home.”

    Monty Mola, HSU physics and astronomy professor, argued that spring break should begin a week later. The decision to move around spring break would have ripple effects on the greater HSU community.

    Giovanni Guerrero, a fourth-year environmental science management major, believes moving spring break to early April would be too much of an adjustment for students and faculty.

    “There’s a lot of stress on my back as a student, and I’m sure a lot of stress on the backs of teachers as well [as] our professors to meet deadlines and to carry out our rigorous university expectations,” Guerrero said.

    Guerrero added that the spring break would give everyone a chance to emerge from isolation and take a breather from responsibilities.

    “I think there’s a direct correlation with mental health. Right now we’re in a different sort of situation, virtual learning,” Guerrero said. “Sitting here at my desk inside my room for six hours a day, doing homework, attending classes and then doing my work with Associated Students. I have very little breathing room. Having a break, like a week break, where I don’t have to stay inside my room all day is super beneficial.”

    Rich Alvarez, the Diving and Safety Officer in the HSU Scuba Diving program, is less concerned about the psychological impacts of a later spring break and more concerned about the practical implications.

    For his diving certification program, Alvarez typically takes his students to Mendocino for open water dives where the diving conditions are more stable than anywhere in Humboldt. However with COVID-19 restrictions, he is only able to travel within the confines of the county.

    “Traditionally, Trinidad doesn’t really get to the point where we would feel safe taking students into the water there until April and sometimes even late April,” Alvarez said. “So if they shift spring break to the fifth through the 12th, the question becomes, can we meet with them after spring break? And it kind of sounds like a no.”

    If Alvarez can’t meet with his students after break to finish their diving certification, they will be unable to partake in open water dives.

    “That takes that whole month of April out of contention, and then we were looking at trying to, either way, putting students into water conditions that may not necessarily be safe for what we’re trying to do, or having to get people most of the way through their certification, but not able to do the open water dives.”

  • UC Board issued notice of termination

    UC Board issued notice of termination

    University Center Board Members address Humboldt State University President’s notice of termination

    The Oct. 8 University Center board meeting discussed a Sept. 24 email from Humboldt State President Tom Jackson issuing a 90-day notice of termination.

    The notice requires the board to fix problems like a $300,000 line of credit to the North Humboldt Recreation and Park District and refusing to participate in the President’s review of the UC programs.

    The NHRPD runs the Arcata Community Pool. According to Faculty Representative Mark Rizzardi, Ph.D., Humboldt State University has worked with the group since 1993.

    The UC group disputed these claims.

    Wendy Sotomayor, interim executive director, called the notice disheartening and unexpected. Sotomayor noted that the board is actively engaging in discussions on how to respond.

    Additionally, the group reached out to their legal counsel for advice and expects to have a draft of an initial response in the coming weeks.

    “It’s hard to imagine what would happen if the UC were to actually close,” Sotomayor said.

    Faculty Representative Steve Martin, Ph.D., pursued the idea. Martin responded directly during the board call addressing future concerns.

    “What would happen if we were to close permanently?” Martin said.

    Martin posed that the closure of the UC allows HSU to hire private organizations and groups for services without the need for approval from a board.

    Earlier this year HSU worked with Aladdin, a food catering company that provides meal services to universities across the country like Fairmount University and Purdue University Fort Wayne. The administration did not go forward with any contract or agreement with the Aladdin group.

    Further complicating the matter is the projected loss of 2.2 million dollars in the UC budget.

    Due to COVID-19 restrictions and regulations, operations that fall under the control of the UC Board have been temporarily closed or operating in a limited capacity. These include the campus information desk, The Jolly Giant, College Creek Marketplace and the campus bookstore.

    With reduced foot traffic due to shelter-in-place guidelines combined with the decrease of students on campus, dining services has taken an exceptionally hard toll. Even while operating at reduced capacity.

    Sotomayor estimated that there are 675 meal plans active on campus, a drastic decrease from previous years.

    “We would need 1200 meal plans to break even,” Sotomayor said during the Zoom call. “At 675 we are not even close.”

    While the future seemed unclear, Rizzardi noted that the next course of action needed to be made soon.

    “In order to cancel it within the 90 days, we would have to start now, and that’s not something we want to do,” Rizzardi said. “Get ready to drop things so that way if he says no we can act fast.”

    The board members noted that they had not been given any further clarification from the administration on how to tackle, refute or respond to the notice.

    During the meeting, members made a movement to formally ask for a representative from the President’s office to be present during the next session on Oct. 22.

    “It takes two to tango,” Martin said. “We need to some response from them, otherwise they can just ignore us for 90 days and then say it’s terminated.”

    The last day for the board to fix changes is Dec. 23. If unable to provide solutions, the UC board will be terminated on Dec. 24.

  • HSU offers housing to forest service firefighters

    HSU offers housing to forest service firefighters

    Firefighters who test positive for COVID-19 will be housed on campus to complete their quarantine period.

    Humboldt State University will provide quarantine housing to United States Forest Service firefighters in the event that someone on their teams tests positive for COVID-19. Housing will be for the individuals who were potentially exposed to positive COVID-19 individuals.

    HSU has set aside two dormitory buildings, Maple and Hemlock, which can house up to 20 firefighters each.

    Firefighters are expected to avoid the dining halls and not share spaces with students. The US Forest Service is requiring employees to adhere to quarantine orders, limiting them to individual rooms. Rooms are located in the same building, separate from housing residents.

    HSU has not been requested to provide meal delivery. The US Forest Service has contracts with vendors for meal delivery.

    All of the protocols were developed by the CDC, California Public Health and Humboldt County Public Health. Similar to the isolation rooms that have been set aside for HSU students who’ve tested positive, rooms will be sterilized prior to forest service stays and again after they’ve left.

    Aside from COVID-19, Forest Service firefighters have stayed overnight for transition housing during the fire season.

    Stephen St. Onge, associate vice president for student success at HSU, is impressed with the university’s speedy response towards CAL Fire’s request.

    “There was a group that was moving from one fire to another and couldn’t find a place to stay,” Onge said. “We mobilized and we’re able to support that, I am proud of HSU for being able to do that.”

    The group that stayed on campus slept for a few hours until transitioning to the next fire. None of the firefighters that stayed overnight were tested positive for COVID-19. A contract is currently in the works to see if CAL Fire needs more transition housing from HSU.

    Typically, fire agencies try to keep hotel rooms open for fire evacuees by finding alternative housing. During COVID-19, it is extremely important that they find non-congregate living for quarantine.

    As a state entity with lots of amenities in a rural region, HSU often partners with state, local, and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and others to provide support.

  • HSU music department breaks national accreditation standards

    HSU music department breaks national accreditation standards

    Students majoring in music suffer from education standards

    According to the National Association of Schools of Music, the Humboldt State University music department is acting out of line with national accreditation standards.

    Section 8B of the NASM handbook requires that students are provided sufficient time on tasks. HSU music buildings are closed half of the week, leaving students without access to their instruments during allotted class-time.

    Cindy Moyer, music department chair, advocated for her students to have access to the building’s practice rooms.

    “I was able to assign every student to their own room that no one else would enter,” Moyer said. “Now more people are in a building at a given time and students are sharing rooms which isn’t nearly as safe.”

    Without access to the music buildings, percussion students can’t practice, which was a huge problem last spring. Buildings were simply shut down and students have no way to play.

    “When you stop learning, it’s not like you stop, you actually get worse,” Moyer said. “No matter how hard I begged or cried, they wouldn’t give percussion students access to the buildings.”

    Students should have access to practice spaces at least 110 days in a semester, though they get more if they stick around over breaks. This semester students get only 28 days.

    “Definitely not getting the education [music students] are paying for,” Moyer said.

    Eugene Novotney, a music professor at HSU, sees the closed facilities as an enormous obstacle for his students. HSU students rely on university instruments to practice because they can’t afford to purchase their own.

    “No student owns instruments like Timpani, Xylophones, Marimbas, Vibraphones, Steelpans, Grand Pianos,” Novotny said. “Very few own their own drum sets.”

    Seth Mattingly is a fourth-year student in the music program. A percussion student, Mattingly finds that it is challenging for him to improve his performance using his professor’s feedback.

    “Normally I would be trying to get three to four hours every day of the week,” Mattingly said.

    Mattingly pre-records his musical pieces and performance with the limited instruments at his home. He doesn’t feel like he has enough time to act or improve on the feedback his professor gives him.

    “I am not learning nearly as much as in a traditional semester,” Mattingly said.

    Music students need facility access for the final eight weeks of the semester in order to continue practicing and improving as musicians. During finals week, every student who is taking lessons has a jury, which is essentially a final exam.

    Each student performs the music they have been working on this semester for five to 15 minutes in front of a jury of faculty. This semester, juries will be done over Zoom or through recordings.

    At the end of the semester auditions are held for students who wish to move into the performance or music education tracks. Students must be able to practice consistently to prepare for the auditions.

    Heather Madar is a representative on the Fall Instructional Transition Team (FITT) which is in charge of operationalizing the campus. FITT runs logistics to see if a request can be made given the COVID-19 circumstances. Any information or requests get processed through Madar, it’s sort of a hierarchical type of communication.

    “Because of the pandemic environment, simple decisions have ramifications for safety and trigger different things,” Madar said.

    Logistics that need to be weighed may have to consider listening to guidelines imposed by the county, the chancellor’s office, sustaining academics for students, listening to safety people on campus and custodial and facilities on cleaning and sanitization. To make matters more complex, guidance standards have been changing along this.

    Jenn Capps is provost and vice president for academic affairs, the highest level of academic administrator at HSU. Capps is aware of the problem that the music department is facing with facility accessibility.

    “Unless we are supporting our custodial and facilities working 24/7, there comes a barrier with the number of folks to support and operate under the cleaning protocols,” Capp said.

    HSU doesn’t have the capacity or resources to bring enough custodians on campus and can be a difficult position to hire.

    “Word is getting out, folks are frustrated,” said Capp, “We are applauding the people that are making the stuff happen.”

  • HSU cancelling contract for University Center

    HSU cancelling contract for University Center

    Disagreements between the UC Board and HSU administration reaches a new point of contention

    Humboldt State University served a notice of termination to their contract with the University Center group, citing a series of breaches between the two organizations.

    In the campus wide email, President Tom Jackson states that the UC, which provides student facing services like the dining services and the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, has 90 days to correct the six breaches. With the notice sent on Sept. 24, the UC has until Dec. 24 to make the corrections.

    President Jackson stated in the email that the decision came after discussions with CSU Chancellor Timothy White, the university plans to take over some responsibilities “…ensuring students still have employment opportunities and that services supporting students are continued…” while the board attempts to make corrections.

    “The UC professional staff and student employees who work hard for our campus, community, and students each day are outstanding, and resolution of issues at the executive and fiduciary level should not disrupt them as they continue to serve and support HSU students,” Jackson said in the email.

    No word was given on what would happen to services run by the UC if the termination were to be finalized.

    Members of the UC Board were not told ahead of time of the termination and learned of the notice the same time the campus and media were told. 

    In a statement made by UC Faculty Representatives Steve Martin, Ph.D, Mark Rizzardi, Ph.D, and Armeda Reitzel, Ph.D, the board expressed their disapproval with the move.

    “Unfortunately, we find ourselves in an environment where authority seems to outweigh collaboration,” the statement said. “A memo was sent to the UC, at the same time as to the media and the public, of a termination of contract notice. We can’t help but wonder if there were ulterior reasons to motivate such a disproportionate response.”

    Of the six breaches that the notice brings forward, three of them included the business relationship between the North Humboldt Recreation and Park District, focusing in particular on the Arcata Community Pool.

    According to the notice, the UC Board opened a $300,000 line of credit for the NHRPD in Aug. of this year, as well as transferring $100,000 and $50,ooo to them in Feb. and July respectively. These actions, according to the president’s statement, violate Executive Order 1059 which states that  “Campus auxiliary organizations are . . . operated solely for the benefit of the campus.”

    In a separate email, Martin said “Everything the University Center did with respect to the line of credit we extended to the Arcata Community Pool was done above-board, in public, and even the University Controller recommended it and voted in favor of it, as did administrator Dean of Students Dr. Eboni Turnbow.

    “For the President to pull the termination trigger on our operating agreement is akin to using a nuclear bomb to respond to a mosquito bite,” Martin said.

    Dean Turnbow was also not one of the administrative team members mentioned in the notice of termination, which included Vice President for Administration & Finance Sherie Gordon and Vice President for Enrollment Management Jason Meriwether.

    Gracie Oliva, a student employee of the HBAC, expressed her concerns during a September interview about administration’s decisions, calling it a slap in the face to the entire student body.

    “I want students to know that if Center Activities or HBAC are affected, it would be a detrimental change,” Olivia said. “The Recreation Administration program is held up by these programs. Without them, I feel like it would crumble.”

  • HSU art students create their way through quarantine

    HSU art students create their way through quarantine

    Artists at HSU are experiencing somewhat smooth sailing this semester

    Factoring in all the tools, materials and space art students require to create, they more or less have access to everything they need at HSU.

    Studio art major at HSU, Nicole Velazquez, already does online sketching on her own time. With her recent courses, however, she’s been focusing a lot more on class related artwork.

    “I mostly do digital art right now, because of my classes,” Velazquez said. “It keeps me a little more occupied.”

    So far, Velazquez has experienced somewhat rudimentary quarantine classes, leaving her with more time to improve her artistic abilities and explore new art forms. Lately, this hasn’t involved traditional art.

    “I don’t really have time,” Velazquez said. “I’ll sketch like here and there.”

    Velazquez hasn’t had many issues with online art courses but she misses in-person instruction. When it comes to art, she often draws her creative inspiration from others.

    “I like getting criticism,” Velazquez said. “I just feel like, if I don’t have someone telling me something, I will personally bring my art piece down.”

    Brittany Sheldon is an instructor in the Art department whose main course revolves around art history. Sheldon is still adapting to the new normal of teaching.

    “It is all based on equity,” Sheldon said. “Just trying to be as equitable as possible and accessible as possible for my students, while also trying to recreate whatever I do in the classroom normally.”

    Sheldon’s classes this semester are mostly asynchronous. By allowing students to have more flexibility, Sheldon hopes this will make her classes more accessible for students.

    “I have Zoom office hours and I was doing weekly Zoom sessions that were optional,” said Sheldon. “Students didn’t get a grade for that – it was an opportunity for them to come and ask questions or talk to each other.”

    At this point, students enrolled in Sheldon’s courses this semester seem to be passing. Sheldon has relaxed deadlines for assignments and is doing her best to be helpful and understanding but it is hard to tell how her students are doing from a screen.

    “I field their emails and just respond with empathy,” said Sheldon. “I am just trying to be there for my students.”

    Alex Pickrell majors in child development at HSU and minors in studio art. They’re using their excess quarantine time to explore more art forms and experiment with current projects.

    “I’ve also started doing collages with my old pieces,” Pickrell said. “Which I’ve never done before.”

    Living off campus, Pickrell has more room to explore their creativity as well as different art forms. They have their own space to create and express themselves without distractions.

    “I’ve been living off campus for about three years, so I kind of turned my apartment into my own little art studio,” Pickrell said. “It makes it a really nice space to work.”

    Pickrell typically creates abstract artwork. They’re currently taking two art classes where they’re exploring entirely new styles.

    “I decided to do left hand vs. right-hand painting,” Pickrell said. “Just because I usually only paint with my right hand and I’ve only ever done a set of paintings once.”

    The struggles of quarantine are plentiful, but Pickrell figures, we can either wallow in our misfortune or we can rise to the occasion and make the best of a bad situation.

    “I’ve just been trying to get out of my comfort zone,” Pickrell said.

  • Humboldt Election Forums Are Going Virtual

    Humboldt Election Forums Are Going Virtual

    In order to keep up community involvement, Eureka and Arcata city councils go online.

    There are 32 local races and nine measures that Humboldt County residents will be voting on this year.

    With so many decisions to make, it’s important to educate ourselves as much as possible. One easy way to get informed is through forums, which are all online this year. Forums are meetings where people discuss ideas and views on a specific or various issues.

    There are 15 community organizations who have come together to host a series of forums, Humboldt Candidate Forum. One of the organizations is Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities. Its Executive Director, Colin Fiske, said, “these forums are important because local elected officials make decisions that can deeply affect people’s everyday lives and our collective futures, but there is relatively little information available to voters in local elections.”

    President of Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives, Inc. (AHHA), Nezzie Wade said, “The main goal of these candidate forums is to provide a platform so that the voters and our community can learn about the people running for office and their thoughts on issues or solutions.”

    Wade added, “The topic AHHA chose to cover with the candidates includes whether they are willing to work with non profits on non traditional options or alternatives for shelter and housing.”

    Two forums have passed and both can be found on Access Humboldt’s YouTube channel. The first forum, held on Sept. 18, featured the nine candidates running for two wards for the Eureka City Council. The second forum was held on Sept. 25 and included the 10 candidates running for the Arcata City Council.

    The final one will be held on Fri., Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. for candidates from McKinleyville and Humboldt Community Services Districts. The organizations will be asking the candidates questions on various topics. It will be broadcast on YouTube, television Channel 11, radio station KZZH, and Humboldt Candidate Forum’s Facebook page.

    David Cobb from Cooperation Humboldt spoke on the significance of this forum, stating “The most important thing about this candidate forum is that it brings together a diverse group of social change agents…who are engaging the electoral process to ensure that our voices are heard.”

    To learn more about the candidates running in Eureka and Arcata City Councils and ask any questions, visit Lost Coast Outpost’s General Election Page. You can also read previous questions and answers there and even register to vote.

    Information on the nine measures being proposed can be found Humboldt County’s Official, Local Measures page. You can read an impartial analysis for each, as well as arguments in favor of and against. Some include Measure F, a special tax to support the Arcata Fire Department, and Measure B, which would increase the total number of affordable housing units in Arcata, and more.

    “We won’t have a voting location on the HSU campus this year, due to COVID, it’s a closed campus,” according to the Humboldt County Clerk, Recorder, Kelly Sanders. Voting Assistant Centers and Ballot Drop Box Locations are still being finalized, and updated information can be found on the Humboldt County official website.

    “All registered voters in Humboldt County will be mailed a Vote by Mail ballot to ensure a safe and accessible voting option during the COVID 19 pandemic,” said Sanders “Mailing of Vote by Mail ballots will begin on October 5.”

    With the Coronavirus still prevalent, mailing your ballot is the easiest way to vote this year.

    Sanders recommended students refer to Humboldt County Qualified Candidates Presidential General Election Page for a complete list of races and the Local Measures page for all measures happening in Humboldt County.

    If you are 18 and older and haven’t registered to vote yet, make sure to do so on the official Humboldt County website.

    “While national elections get the most attention, local elections are also really important. I hope everyone tunes into the forums, educates themselves on the candidates and the issues, and votes,” Fiske said.

  • HSU Prepares for more public safety power shutoffs

    HSU Prepares for more public safety power shutoffs

    King Salmon Power Plant promotes grid stability

    California has again warned residents of the potential and likely chances of Public Safety Power Shutoffs. With a larger range of the state being on fire this fall, more residents have been left without power in the midst of a pandemic.

    After the 2019 school year was impacted by power outages, HSU immediately sprung into action working toward a plan to improve the issue for students. While they couldn’t have predicted a pandemic would occur at the same time, they’ve created a plan to put into effect during these occurrences.

    Associate Vice President for Student Success Stephen St. Onge said HSU students would likely not even realize a power outage had occurred due to their new equipment. Since last year, housing has purchased two generators.

    “One is over $6,000 and it will power the JGC building, Cypress, the Canyon, and Sunset and Redwood,” St. Onge said. They also bought a portable generator to power College Creek.

    As well as the generators, the King Salmon Powerplant, based in Eureka, is now operating and handling Humboldt County’s future PSPS events. Cris Koczera is the emergency Coordinator for HSU’s Risk Management and Safety Services.

    “If we got notice of an impending PSPS right now, this year unlike last year, PG&E has been able to provide typically at least 48 hours of advance notice,” Koczera said. With this extra time, the school has been able to prepare more.

    “We already had one PSPS and there was no campus disruption because of the King Salmon Plant,” St. Onge said. “We had the generators ready to go – we were prepared this time.”

    This solves many of the problems that concerned students last year. Campus should function as normal this semester, without limited food, power and the need for students to leave their dorms to receive access. Even the elevators should be running for students who cannot rely on stairs.

    “We have since – knock on wood – solved those issues,” St. Onge said.

    In the instance the King Salmon Plant does not work and students live in an area uncovered by the new generators, HSU has another plan prepared.

    “We do have open spaces in other buildings, so we might consider if there’s a need to reopen up the JGC like before or relocating students temporarily to other spaces as well,” St. Onge said. “So we have those Plan C’s in place, as well.”

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Koczera said the school would be reaching out to health officials to help determine the safest way to move students into one area.

    “We would be reaching out to public health to find a safe, viable way to still provide those levels of support and services,” Koczera said.

    So, while students have been preparing themselves to return to the University, HSU has been preparing for ways to help the student body through these issues.

    “It’s important for students to know that as an outcome of last year’s PSPSs, there’s been a group of folks, housing facilities, management, that have been working really hard,” St. Onge said. “We are prepared.”

    “Our commitment to supporting their educational work on campus is a serious commitment that we take,” St. Onge said.

    “The goal of the University has always been to get to a point where these PSPS events or rolling blackouts have the least amount of impact possible on our campus and on our students and on our ability to continue through the educational process,” said Koczera.

  • HSU Considers UPD chief candidate: Jason Wade

    HSU Considers UPD chief candidate: Jason Wade

    Captain of the University of Oregon police department, Jason Wade, puts his hat in the ring for UPD chief at HSU.

    Following the retirement of former chief, Donn Peterson, in the end of May, the University Police Department has begun its official search for a new chief. Current captain of the University of Oregon Police Department, Jason Wade, is one of the two candidates currently in contention for the position.

    Wade has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, working primarily for the University of Colorado, Boulder Police Department and for the past six years with the UOPD. In his time with the UOPD, Wade has served as an instructor and director for their cadet academy, developed their body camera program and served as the internal affairs investigator managing the background process for new employees.

    In today’s atmosphere of nation-wide calls for radical change regarding the country’s law enforcement system, Wade believes that rather than defund police departments, we need to re-think them.

    “The police in the past were seen as the catch all. You know, if you have a problem you call them,” Wade said. “And the expectation was that they were able to respond and serve equally no matter what.”

    Wade is of the mind, not every call for service requires the response of a police officer and that many non-violent calls would be better handled by mental health professionals.

    “The police still are responsible for enforcing the laws and keeping people safe but how can we better address those issues,” Wade said. “That’s one of the largest levels of police reform, is the calls for service and how we respond with what we respond with.”

    According to Wade, the benefit of having a campus police department, in specific, is the collaboration with the university that wouldn’t take place with a city department.

    “The campus police department can be brought forward to help the campus,” Wade said. “We can be trained. We can work with the campus to develop the department that the campus needs.”

    Campus police departments can also be held to a higher level of accountability by the university. Given the job, Wade plans to implement the policy work groups system currently in place at the UOPD.

    The system involves reading every new policy or change in policy at the UPD to a community panel made up of students, staff and faculty of the university who are given the opportunity to weigh in on each policy.

    “At some level there has to be oversight that allows the community to see what occurs behind the walls of a department,” Wade said. “So, they know that if a complaint, an allegation of misconduct or something is going on inside the department, that it’s being handled and handled appropriately – and if there is misconduct, that we’re taking measures to not let it happen again.”

    When Wade started as a young police officer, he said it was all about how many tickets he would write, how fast he could drive and the fancy gadgets he got to play with.

    “That was the mindset back in the late 90’s,” Wade said. “There were problems then, but we didn’t address them. We didn’t have the concepts of implicit bias training or crisis intervention training. I’ve seen change occur, but we’re not there, where we need to be, yet.”

    Ultimately, Wade believes, rather than acting in the interest of whoever is in power, a UPD has to hold the best interest of the entire community above all, in order to succeed in creating a safe learning environment for students.

    “This should never be the ‘Jason Wade’ Police Department,” Wade said. “Because that will not be successful.”

  • Drastic declines in the 2020-21 budget update

    Drastic declines in the 2020-21 budget update

    A quick and easy breakdown of how the university was impacted by budget cuts.

    The budget for this academic year was released on Sept 15. There are two sets of budgets laid out, the University Operating Fund and the All Funds Budget. Each budget provides the expenditure and revenue breakdown.

    The All Funds budgets dates back to the 2015-16 academic year to display all changes that the budget had gone through throughout the last five years.

    Both the Expenditure and Revenue All Funds budgets have significantly decreased in various ways.

    The budget released this past week does not reflect any Center Activities, Center Arts or HSU dining services funds.

    The revenue budget, is based on how Humboldt state University receives its money, is $164.6 million. According to the 2020-21 All Funds Revenue budget, this was decreased by $58.2 million. This is the first major decrease since 2015 and the lowest the budget has ever been since the last recorded academic year, 2015-16.

    Educational Appropriations, which is just another way of saying state and local funding, make up over 50 percent of HSU’s revenue. The amount of appropriations received for the 2020-21 academic year is $85.6 million, resulting from a $5.1 million decline. This is the first reduction recorded since the 2015-16 academic year.

    A quarter of the revenue comes from higher education fees, which includes tuition, student health, AS fees, graduation fee, etc. This portion stands at $42.2 million which is an $8.2 million decrease from last year. This could be the result of COVID-19 causing drops in enrollment.

    The expenditure budget, which is the budget based on what the university will spend their money on, is $180.5 million. According to the All Funds Expenditure budget, this was decreased by $43.8 million. This is the first reduction in the budget since 2015 and the lowest the budget has been since the last recorded academic year, 2015-16.

    The salaries and wages of HSU employees reflects 44.5 percent of the budget. These include not just tenured professors and lecturers but also department chair members, assistants, teaching associates, support staff and the university president.

    The Regular salaries and Wages budget did have an overall decrease of $8.9 million. With the budget dropping across the board, the president managed to increase his salary by $10,000.

    This is also the first time the revenue budget was significantly smaller than the expenditure budget since 2015. The usual trend is having the numbers very close in amount with a maximum $5 million gap. This year’s budget has a $15.9 million gap.

  • Flaws within Title IX risk students security and protection.

    Flaws within Title IX risk students security and protection.

    HSU student shares their experience of sexual assault from a non-student member within their club.

    Title IX is a federal law protecting students from facing discrimination within any federally funded academic institution. Title IX prioritizes the significance of equal treatment of students, however, flaws in the investigation process leave some students feeling abandoned. 

    David Hickcox is the Title IX coordinator at HSU. When the Title IX office conducts an investigation into a sexual assault, they’re required to remain impartial through the process.

    “I think it’s human nature to want to assume that every person bringing a report is telling the truth,” Hickcox said. “In some cases, it’s pretty clear cut that the person accused is responsible for that behavior, but I can’t rush to judgment. I can’t start treating that person unfairly and not giving them access to advice.”

    In a Title IX investigation, an investigator will be assigned to conduct interviews with the parties involved and witnesses willing to cooperate. They will also gather any relevant documentary evidence they can, including text messages, social media posts are collected. The investigator will then present the evidence to both parties, allowing for any questions, before writing up a report with their findings.

    Prior to 2019, Title IX investigations were entirely done on paper by a single investigator. A CSU-wide policy change requires that all students be given access to a live-hearing, with the opportunity to question and respond to evidence used in the investigation before a finding is made.

    In the case of non-students who participate in campus activities like rec-sports and clubs, the Title IX office has almost no jurisdiction as they’re only able to investigate students or staff members.

    “I can’t compel a member of the community to come on the campus and talk to me and give me an interview statement,” Hickcox said. “I can with a student, because guess what, I can put a hold on your student account and you won’t be able to progress in your degree.”

    An HSU student-member came forward, wishing to remain anonymous. They shared their experience of being sexually assaulted by a non-student club member and demanded accountability and reform within club policy to exclude non-student members from joining.

    “I read through a couple of cases where it was pretty clear that the students had lost faith in the process, because it was taking so long.”

    David Hickcox

    Hickcox hasn’t found there to be a disproportionate number of sexual-misconduct cases coming from the clubs department, and doesn’t believe non-student members should be excluded.C

    “I think that might be a bit like the sledgehammer on the fly,” Hickcox said. “But I think we could definitely target that behavior.”

    Through auditing cases, Hickcox discovered the office wasn’t properly following through with several victims. He took his concerns to the HSU Chief of Staff.

    “I read through a couple of cases where it was pretty clear that the students had lost faith in the process, because it was taking so long,” Hickcox said.

    California State University executive order 1068 allows for non-students to become non-voting members of clubs on campus, provided they constitute less than 20 percent of each club. 

    Molly Kresl is the office of student life coordinator and oversees the clubs department. Kresel says this is a prevalent issue that’s been happening at the CSU level for a while now, claiming non-student members pose a higher risk.

    “It is because of push back from student groups who rely on their alumni and community members to support their events and outreach that we permit the 20 percent max non-student membership,” Kresl said.

    It’s ultimately up to each club to allow or not allow non-students to become members. Kresl works with clubs to put together plans of action to address problematic non-student members. Students can obtain a no-contact-order against another student or non-student.

    Under CSU executive order 1095, all campuses are required to have a survivors advocate – a person to whom students can confidentially report sexual-assault, without any obligation to report to the University.

    Rather than hire a single advocate to work from within HSU, the University has been contracting the local North Coast Rape Crisis Team. The NCRCT provides victims with a 24-hour hotline, one-on-one counseling and general advocacy.

    Paula Arrowsmith-Jones is the community outreach coordinator of the NCRCT. Her job is to hear, believe and support victims of sexualized-violence.

    “Our services are available to any person of any age or gender,” Arrowsmith-Jones said. “Who has ever in their lifetime been impacted by some form of sexualized-violence.”

    HSU’s Title IX office has recently been granted two new full-time positions, tripling the size of their department and expanding their opportunities to stop, remedy and prevent sexual misconduct on campus.

    “No one should ever have to go through the betrayal and violation that an assault invokes,” Anonymous said. “It’s not just physical – it’s also an overt psychological trespass that forces you to question the entire relationship you thought you had with the person who assaulted you. It’s a form of injustice on the interpersonal level, a trickle-down of our society’s attitude and response toward sexual assault, and it needs to be addressed.”

    Humboldt Domestic Violence Services24-hour crisis line: (707) 443-6042
    North Coast Rape Crisis Team24-hour crisis line – (707) 445-2881
    Humboldt County Mental Health720 Wood Street, Eureka, CA 24-hour crisis line – (707) 445-7715
  • House Hunting in the heat of COVID-19

    House Hunting in the heat of COVID-19

    Housing struggles at Humboldt State continue to be a problem for students

    Homelessness at Humboldt State University is a major issue. The mess is only becoming more muddled and students are left to fend for themselves.

    Senior at HSU majoring in history, Alfred Silva, is mostly living out of his car. His housing search has been limited because he owns a dog and because he’s a single male, which according to Silva is unattractive to landlords. Not having an address has proven particularly challenging for him.

    “I need to take medication all the time,” Silva said. “Now I don’t have anywhere for my medication to be mailed to my house. So, I gotta figure out other ways to get it. I gotta go to the doctor’s office and bug them there and it’s kind of hard.”

    Silva has been looking for alternative methods of living including camping, but hasn’t had any luck.

    “I can’t find anywhere to camp,” Silvia said. “The only place I found that will allow me to sleep is the back of the HSU parking lot.”

    If anything, Silva believes COVID-19 has attracted more people to Humboldt than in past years, and that’s become a big roadblock for him when it comes to finding a home.

    “I think the influx of people coming into town right now is just ridiculous,” Silva said. “It’s like you got people that are not even students – many, many, many people that are not even students – they’re just flooding the place right now.”

    On the flipside, Silva believes the landlords are as equally guilty in manufacturing the housing crisis in Humboldt County.

    “It kind of hurt their wallets a lot because they’re relying on HSU students to pay rent all this time and then when they took off and that happened, it really hurt them,” Silva said. “So now they’re just trying to survive like everyone else but charging rent. When one person’s drowning, they’ll do anything to survive. They’ll even drown another person.”

    In a similar situation, HSU senior and biology major Grace Rhoades, moved back up to Humboldt because of a job opportunity they got working for one of the labs at HSU. Landing secure housing has been difficult, but they’re grateful to be subletting a friend’s house until the end of the month.

    “There’s just a lot of applying for things, application fees,” Rhoades said. “With COVID, you don’t even really get to see anything or meet anybody in person, you just pay the fee and then like maybe a third of the time they get back to you about the status of your application.”

    Even with a roof over their head, Rhoades is still feeling the anxiety of not knowing where they’ll live next month.

    “I’m definitely a homebody, I like to know that I have a place,” Rhoades said. “I’ve kind of moved away from home and that’s not really much of an option anymore.”

    HSU Off-Campus Housing Coordinator Chant’e Catt recognizes how students are being affected by COVID-19 and finding housing.

    “What’s been really hard is students who moved out of town needing people to take over their leases and landlords not being really flexible sometimes with that,” Catt said.

    For Catt, another issue that arises is between roommates because of disputes over the extent to which they will abide by COVID-19 rules while sharing a communal living environment.

    “People have wanted to break their leases because their roommates don’t respect the restrictions around COVID,” Catt said. “Which puts them in precarious situations where they have to find a new place to live or find somebody to replace their roommate, which could put them into situations where they can’t pay rent.”

    Catt has her doubts surrounding the idea that COVID-19 contributed to homelessness at HSU.

    “I don’t know if COVID changed anything,” Catt said. “I feel like it’s all the same and that’s because it’s always been so bad.”

  • Humboldt County’s public health officer

    Humboldt County’s public health officer

    Dr. Teresa Frankovich resigns after 8 months

    Dr. Frankovich took on the role of Humboldt countries public health officer back in Jan., less than a month before the county reported its very first case of COVID-19.

    Frankovich submitted her resignation to the Board of Supervisors, which will take effect when the new replacement is hired.

    Frankovich says that due to the emergence of COVID-19 and the amount of responsibility it requires, the health officer position has changed from the part-time position to a full time commitment.

    She added that it makes the most sense to plan for a replacement when we are in a fairly stable position.

    “I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to witness, first-hand, the integrity and commitment of an amazing team and for the incredible support of many of our elected officials and community members, who embody the best of what drew me back to Humboldt,” Frankovich said.

    Moving forward, Dr. Frankovich plans to work in a part-time capacity under the new Humboldt County Deputy Health Officer, Dr. Josh Ennis.

    Dr. Frankovich released a letter to residents regarding her full resignation that can be viewed online.

    https://humboldtgov.org/DocumentCenter/View/88983/SEP2-Letter-of-Resignation-PDF

  • Legal doubts over HBAC misuse

    Legal doubts over HBAC misuse

    Students and faculty voice discontent with treatment of Aquatic Center

    The Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center continued to be a pressing topic in University Center Board meeting.

    At the Sept. 10 UC Board meeting, members of the board including Faculty Representatives Steve Martin and Mark Rizzardi showed continued frustration at the decisions made by members of HSU Administration that affected the Aquatic Center.

    According to Martin, moving the Office of Alumni & Engagement and the HSU Foundation into the HBAC office spaces, displacing employees happened without approval of the UC Board.

    An anonymous source close to the situation said, “Of the inside office space, they’ve taken over about 95 percent.” The problem is, according to the source, HSU is now accumulating the spaces outside.

    Acting Interim Executive Director Todd Larsen claimed he visited the center to talk to employees and listen to concerns, but did not speak further on the matter or address any issues brought up by members of the public during the meeting.

    The anonymous source stated that while Larsen did meet with members of the HBAC to discuss the possible solutions and issues occurring, he also sent out an email that stated he wanted full control of the situation.

    “An email went out saying not to talk to the media,” the source said. “That Larsen wanted to control everything we were discussing.”

    Mairead Sardina, operations supervisor at the HBAC, said during the Zoom meeting that the UC Board’s lack of leadership on the issue was discouraging.

    “The Aquatic Center has major changes happening and the Board is yet to address that,” Sardina said. “It is very important that we feel that there is not this apathy or lack of urgency that are everyday affecting our staff members.”

    Sardina said that while she has been working with Larsen to find a proper balance, there is simply not enough space to allow external programs within the HBAC and maintain the level of safety needed to operate.

    “They have taken all of the space upstairs and the downstairs front lobby office,” Sardina said. “At first I was told that my new office was the maintenance closet, which was just truly OSHA unsafe. I really, truly do not believe that it is not safe for this city to be putting people out on the water without an office that overlooks the water and the dock.”

    Sardinia’s sentiments were reinforced by the anonymous source, who called the HBAC a command center. Working with both the city of Eureka and the state of California to teach proper boating, waterway safety and acting as onsite lifeguards, the HBAC struggles to remain in active command when faced away from the water.

    “This is a command center. We can’t command if we are facing the road,” the source said. “HSU cannot afford to lose one more student.”

    Associate Professor Genevieve Marchand said that she was also surprised about the lack of action but focused on the safety risks posed to students and the community due to the changes.

    Marchand worked with Center Activities and the Aquatic Center to create the the Outdoor Assistantship Program, where students can learn valuable skills like boating safety and making risk management positions.

    “In this case, we are talking about the life of people and the future employment of our students,” Marchand said. “I feel like it has been completely disregarded.”

    According to Rizzardi, the University’s disregard of safety protocol may be in direct violation of the agreement made between the city of Eureka and HSU.

    The agreement created and signed in 2003, stated that the HBAC, then known as the Boating and Instruction Safety Center, would be leased to the university on the agreement that they use to space “…to provide a program of boating and water safety instruction and other educational uses to students, faculty and staff of Humboldt State University and boating and water safety instruction to the general public.”

    Recreational use of the space can only occur when it does not interfere with the ability to teach the needed lessons.

    The lease also stated that HSU could not “…assign, sublease, or otherwise convey ant interest in this Lease…” without the prior consent of the city. In addition, any organization that the city does consent to occupy space within the HBAC must adhere to the same rules as HSU itself.

    “As far as I can tell, we are in total violation of that agreement right now,” said Rizzardi. “I think this seriously needs to be looked into.”

    If the City of Eureka finds that the contract has been violated, they are allowed to take legal action against HSU, including fines and the possibility of voiding agreements.

    The Property Management Division of Eureka was reached for comment, but did not respond in time of writing this article. No members of the Board of Directors or HSU administration stated if the required written notice of changes were given to the city.