Proposition 10 rally held near Humboldt Property Management

Humboldt State alumna and chairman of the Green Party Kelsey Reedy is an unexpected candidate for someone affected by homelessness. She is one of many in Humboldt county facing this prevailing issue.

“I worked full-time and couldn’t afford housing,” Reedy said. “Even when I was a student I had to live in McKinleyville or Eureka because I couldn’t afford housing in Arcata.”

Reedy works full time for multiple non-profits in the Humboldt area and is a part of the many community members and students affected by high rental prices. Reedy said those who have housing now might be affected by any extra bill or cost, which can undermine the situation and result in losing housing altogether.

“I was just barely making rent before,” Reedy said. “So now that I had another bill I couldn’t afford rent anymore.”

On Oct. 24 the Green Party and Humboldt chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation held a rally near the Humboldt Property Management building in support of Proposition 10.

Prop 10 is a California proposition that will allow county boards to regulate and implement rent control. This is a direct challenge to the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995.

Although there are many complicated stipulations within the law, one of the main supporting arguments of the Costa-Hawkins act was that it would increase the incentives for developers to build more housing, thus flooding the housing market. This, in theory, was supposed to make renting cheaper as there would be more competition.

Local community advocate and candidate for McKinleyville’s Community Services District Board of Directors Eric Rydberg, feels that is simply not true.

“Since (the passing of Costa Hawkins Act) we have seen that California’s housing problems can be sourced to it,” Rydberg said.

Rydberg said the Costa-Hawkins Act was billed by Democrat and Republican politicians as something that it was not.

“They sold it as something that will allow us to build more (affordable) housing,” Rydberg said. “We can see they are not building more low income housing and are building more luxury condos and apartments.”

Rydberg explained how he thought that gentrification compounded with income inequality has made situations in different counties across the state similar in regard to the rental housing crisis. Rydberg says this is why we need to have local counties regulate the tenant and rental market crises.

“What this is doing is just giving municipal governments the opportunity to take a look at it and make decision for themselves (the community),” Rydberg said.

Many advocating for yes on Prop 10 say it is a way to facilitate a conversation between landlords and tenants to come to the best understanding on what to do about rent control.

Roger Tuan, an HSU student and local community advocate for yes on Prop 10, said this is a way of keeping what many consider the characteristics of Humboldt within the community.

“Part of the charm of this place is that its is not Portland, Seattle or San Diego,” Tuan said. “We have our own unique characteristics here.”

Tuan said this comes from the cohabitation of students, landlords, community members and small time businesses. He said he fears that gentrification and over priced rental markets will chip away at Humboldt and Arcata’s community and supposed charm.

“They’re here as landlords but also here as part of the community and hopefully there is something about this community that they love and think is worth protecting,” Tuan said.

Student continues project to educate others on cultural appropriation

Scattered throughout Humboldt State University are signs of student activist holding a simple message: My culture is not your costume.
There are 17 signs total, mostly staked throughout the library and quad areas. Each one features a number of student activists and leaders addressing costumes and other offensive representation of their cultures.

The project is the brainchild of Deema Hindawi, a junior majoring in Criminology and Justice studies. Hindawi adopted the idea from a project started at Ohio State University. Last year the Multicultural Center printed out the OSU flyers and spread them throughout HSU, but this year Hindawi and the MCC decided to use students from HSU.

“We were trying to get student leaders because these are people that you see a lot,” Hindawi said. “You see their faces a lot, you see them doing different actions.”

The flyers are staked with the permission of the university. Hindawi and the MCC felt that the message was important because of the unrealistic representations featured in caricaturized costumes.

“You are taking someone’s culture and you are just twisting it in any way you want,” Hindawi said. “You are not taking into account what it actually is. You’re just taking what you think is cool and twisting it. You are simplifying something that is actually a lived life.”

Last year over half of the signs were missing when Hindawi went to retrieve them at the end of the event. Some of the signs this year have turned up missing, as well as one that was vandalized.

“Facilities is supposed to send an email to clubs or us, saying that they took them down, but we haven’t heard anything,” Hindawi said. “We had one poster that within a day of being put up, it was vandalized. They took the poster off the stake and they wrote on it.”

The sign was by the rock art installation at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the art quad.

The message written on the sign was incoherent: “Which culture this? What is the point? Stay opened mind (sic).”

This vandalism and the missing signs have not dampened Hindawi’s spirits. She plans to host a discussion alongside MCC Coordinator Tania Cubas on Monday Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. -12 p.m. in the Goodwin Forum in Nelson Hall.

The discussion will focus on cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation. Hindawi said the main difference between the two is understanding the context in which certain dress ware is used and to use it with respect of that culture’s values.

“Cultural appropriation is when you take a culture and you make it what you want. You dress the way you want, you act the way you want within that that culture. You don’t really know what is going on, you are just taking it.”

The Humboldt State Library and Theatre Arts building are undergoing a seismic retrofit starting from fall 2018 to summer 2019. The retrofit is meant to strengthen the steel and concrete structures.

Effective Monday Oct. 15 many popular roads surrounding the Theatre arts building and the library are now closed for construction. Humboldt State students share their thoughts on the library and Theatre Arts seismic retrofit detour.

For more information please visit https://facilitymgmt.humboldt.edu/capital-projects

4 Housing and Residence Life maintenance student assistants have been laid off

Editor’s Note: It should be noted the Lumberjack’s News editor was a laid off student assistant.

Computer Science major, Zach Pole, was laid off before this fall semester. The rest of his coworkers lost their jobs as well. Pole said the money he earned paid for everything, such as his housing, phone bills, school necessities and the braces he once had.

Pole worked part time for Housing as a maintenance student assistant for two years. Pole soon found out the work given to him wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing.

Director of Housing and Residence Life, Stephen St. Onge said over the past five years, the number of Housing and Residence Life maintenance student assistants has decreased. There used to be 10 student assistants, then six, then four, now none.

“The student assistant’s job was to assist the tradesperson,” St. Onge said. “Students can carry tools, and help support the person doing the work, but they can’t be doing the work themselves.”

However student assistants did more than assisting the tradesman.

“As silly as it sounds, we weren’t supposed to change a light bulb, or touch any tools,” Pole said. “Randy Davis was going to strictly enforce that. He saw we wouldn’t be doing anything, so he laid us off.”

Randy Davis is the current Facilities Management Manager.

Over summer, Facilities and Housing merged into one department. The Associate Director of Housing Facilities, Steve Mackenzie, was previously in charge of the student assistants.

After Mackenzie was fired, Davis took over as the Facilities Management Manager. Along with Davis’ new position came the responsibility of student assistants.

“Technically yes, student assistants were doing jobs they weren’t supposed to be doing,” Davis said. “They were making screens and changing light bulbs where there’s potential arc flash, and electrical safety issues.”

English major, Kaitlin Stanfield worked as student assistant for maintenance for less than a year. She completed work orders, fixed vacuums, looked at heating units and de-lofted beds.

“We weren’t supposed to use any tools like drills,” Stanfield said. “But we could make screens, all we had to do was saw frames.”

Stanfield said she wasn’t given a straight answer to why she was let go. Initially she was told there wasn’t enough money in the budget.

“I have also heard we weren’t needed,” Stanfield said. “I also heard that Randy Davis, the guy in charge, didn’t want to deal with us.”

Davis said he didn’t fire student assistants because he didn’t want to manage them. He fired them because Housing was not complying with the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Stephen St. Onge said student assistants weren’t laid off due to a budget issue, but rather a health and safety issue.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement is a contract between employees who are a part of a union and the employers. There are 13 different types of union, each with their own unit under the agreement.

The type of work student assistants were doing was unit six work. That work is meant for tradesmen, which includes electricians, plumbers or carpenters.

“Tradesmen came to me saying, ‘now you’re in charge’ what’s going to happen moving forward?” Davis said. “We have student assistants doing our work, and they shouldn’t be doing our work.”

Under the Housing’s and Residence Life job descriptions, it states student assistants working for maintenance can use drills, saws, hand tools and ladders. The job description contradicts the reasoning behind management’s decision to fire the student assistants.

Despite management saying student assistants weren’t supposed to be doing unit six work their jobs didn’t end immediately. Before their last day, management told them to change batteries for each key carded door.

“We have these students through August, we will use them to do our planned work,” Davis said.

The doors included every entrance door and room door in the residence halls. Each battery took ten minutes.

“A few thousand battery change outs needed to happen. They used minimal tools. They probably shouldn’t have been doing that,” St. Onge said. “Personally I wasn’t concerned about safety for using a screwdriver.”

St. Onge said the union has a powerful voice, but insists that firing the student assistants wasn’t a union decision but a management decision.

“It’s not the student assistants fault, they did nothing wrong,” St. Onge said. “Facilities had no student assistants working in area six, in Housing we had four. We shouldn’t have had any.”

Check-It’s eighth annual event promotes empowerment and support

The Consent Project, a seminar session at Humboldt State University on Oct.16, was hosted in an effort to create a more consent and survivor centric campus.

Stands with activities and campus resources were set up in the Kate Buchanan Room for students of all genders to participate in.

Juliet Kallen, pure health educator, set up a “self-care pack” stand, filled with salts, aromatherapy herbs and facial masks.

“We let you do what you want,” Kallen said. “We offer products that help take care of the body, because that is important.”

Dalia Rivera, another pure health educator, set up a stand called the “community mural” where students can write and draw what is consent to them.

“For me, consent is good communication with your partner,” Rivera said.

The Campus Advocate Team was also at the event to offer help for people who are victims of sexual violence.

Haydee Carrillo, bilingual client advocate for CAT, contributed to the project by describing some of the things that CAT does for students.

“We offer free 24/7 anonymous calls for those who were victims of violence,” Carrillo said. “Title IX gives us the ability to help students of all genders.”

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Regardless of gender identity, students have access to resources like CAT to help them if they are victims of rape and sexual violence.

According to the Clery Act posted by Humboldt State campus police on Sept. 5, there have been two cases of dating violence and one case of domestic violence that occurred on campus in 2017.

“This is a space for victims to be listened to,” said community outreach coordinator for CAT Paula Arrowsmith. “With all this news that’s been coming out lately, it has victims fall silent, and never speak of their abuse and struggle.”

At the end of the seminar, an hour was dedicated for the students who are survivors of sexual violence. An open mic was allowed for survivors to speak of their abuse and their trauma.

“It’s brave to come up to strangers and tell of your abuse,” Arrowsmith said. “For those who don’t come up tonight because you’re afraid, you’re also brave for listening.”

For those who need help dealing with sexual violence, domestic violence, stalking, and/or sexual harassment, call or visit these organizations:

CAT’s 24 hour Hotline: (707) 445-2881

TTY Line (M-F 8:30-5:00): (707)-443-2738

https://www.checkithsu.com/

www.ncrct.org

Humboldt State University professors discuss media coverage of sexual assault 

A discussion panel on media coverage of sexualized violence will be hosted by Journalism Professor Victoria Sama and Communications Professor Maxwell Schnurer.

The discussion will take place in Founders Hall 118 on Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The discussion will also be free and open to the public.

In their panel, “Two Things The Media Get Wrong about Sexualized Violence,” Sama and Maxwell will be taking a look at language and strategy used by the media in sexual assault cases.

Sama has researched how publications report sexual assault cases since 2003 and Schnurer has focused his research on social movements, language, power, and freedom.

Unsolved indigenous people’s cases not a priority for law enforcement

Khadijah Britton, a 23-year-old of indigenous descent, went missing on Feb. 7 in Covelo, California. Britton’s abusive ex-partner was a suspect but because Britton’s body was—and still is—not found, the ex-partner was released.

Cases like Britton’s disappearance are fairly common with many more indigenous people still missing all over California.

Annita Lucchesi, researcher and resident of Humboldt County, came to Humboldt State University on Oct. 12 to present to students her findings on missing indigenous people.

“We can’t address violence we don’t talk about,” Lucchesi said.

Lucchesi brought up issues like police pushing aside missing indigenous people cases and waving off their disappearance as “runaways.”

According to Lucchesi’s findings, about 93 murders and disappearances remain unsolved in California. 25,000 to 30,000 indigenous people have gone missing or have been murdered in the United States and Canada since the 1900’s.

Lucchesi’s researched police documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act requests, include news articles, e-mail respondents and social media posts.

“A lot of the police departments have been very helpful with providing documents,” Lucchesi said.

HSU student Jen Tatman was surprised with how recent some of the cases were.

“This is more prevalent than ever,” Tatman said.

Charley Reed and Daniel Anderson, both students from HSU, left the presentation recognizing the problems with cases of missing indigenous people going cold.

“In order to heal the wound, we first need to recognize that there’s a wound in our community,” Reed said.

“Everyone has a role to play, everyone should get involved,” Anderson said.

Lucchesi’s presentation also provided some solutions to bring the high rate of missing indigenous people to attention.

“Call your local law enforcement, make FOIA requests for these cases,” Lucchesi said. “Building interests in solving these cases, is a community driven effort.”

The article has been updated with a name correction and corrected 1970’s to 1900’s. 10.22.18

Lumberjacks volleyball is 0-11 in conference play

The Lady Jacks volleyball team showed great effort at their home game against the Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles but ultimately fell in straight sets 3-0.

Lady Jacks middle blocker Hannah Cantrell was able to return to her preferred position after some roster shake ups.

“It felt amazing! After taking a break from the middle for the past couple of matches it felt good to be back in the position I know best,” said Cantrell. “I was pretty fired up to say the least.”

In what was a competitive first set, both teams racked up kills but the Golden Eagles took the set 25-22.

The Golden Eagles led the second set with seven kills over the Jacks total of three. The Lumberjacks tried to rally to match L.A before the end of the set but could not complete the comeback as the Eagles took the set 25-17.

“We are having a rough season for sure,” Jacks head coach Kelly Wood said. “We’re a young a team and we’re working on development and growing every week.”

With a significant amount of the players this season being freshman, it definitely changes things a bit.

The Jacks began the third set and took an early 8-5 lead over the Golden Eagles but their success was short lived. L.A took over and won the game in three straight sets with a final of 25-16 in the last set.

Even though the Jacks were dealt another loss, Coach Wood seemed to know exactly where she and the team stand.

“We are trying to keep things into perspective and just keep getting better,” said Wood.

Hannah Cantrell has remained optimistic and consistently exhibits a ‘never say die’ attitude on the volleyball court.

“My goal for the rest of the season is to stay as consistent as possible, and continue to play as hard and as confident as I can,” Cantrell said.

The Lady Jacks move to 3-16 overall and 0-11 in conference play. They will travel to SoCal as they go against the UC San Diego Tritons Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.

California State University Chancellor answers questions on Rossbacher retirement

The process for Humboldt State University President Lisa Rossbacher’s retirement is underway and controversy looms in the search for a replacement.
CSU Chancellor Timothy White visited HSU on Oct. 9 to discuss the process of retirement for Rossbacher.

“We will be back on campus in early February,” White said. “With a joint committee of trustees, myself and many members of the community here.”

White said that the committee will also consist of an Associated Students member, staff, faculty and a university stakeholder representative. This committee will be used to create a job description for the presidential position so the best applicable candidates can apply. Ultimately the initial 40-60 applicants will be reduced to around six final candidates.

The final six will have in person interviews at an undisclosed airport hotel on a tentative date in either March or April. From this group of six three finalists will be presented to the board of trustees of the CSU system in Long Beach sometime between May 15 or 20.

“At the end of the day they are the ones who have the authority to make the final decision,” White said. “They are the only ones with the authority to do that.”

White mentioned the controversy that has surrounded Rossbacher’s presidency as well as communications with HSU community on major decision making.

“I don’t anticipate that any president on any campus will not have controversy,” White said. “The question is, how do you go into things that are difficult and engage the right people.”

White said he believes decisions made at HSU were made in full discussion with “local stakeholders,” as well as with those who work across the CSU system.

He touched on how these decisions are difficult to make across the CSU system and how many are a result of the lack of resources in our educational system.

“There is always more demand then we have capacity for and it’s not if the decision making has been easy,” White said.

White met with Arcata Mayor, Sofia Pereira, City Manager Karen Diemer, Interim Chief of Police Richard Ehle and other law enforcement and city representatives to talk about new information and their perspectives on the David Josiah Lawson murder case. While White could not provide any new details or information he has learned about the case, he was able to touch on his meeting with student representatives and organizations.

“[Student feedback] was wide ranging and obviously everyone agonizes over Josiah’s death,” White said. “We had a conversation about safety, both emotional and physical safety, and about microaggressions.”

White was also asked if he had notified Charmaine Lawson that he was coming to HSU to meet with both student and law enforcement representatives to talk about Josiah Lawson’s case and safety for people and students of color here on campus and off.

“Not to my knowledge, no,” White said.

When asked directly about a lack of safety for people of color here on and off campus, White said safety is the CSU system’s ultimate goal whether it was being achieved or not.

“I want to be very clear of the goal,” White said. “I want our campuses to be welcoming and inclusive, so anybody, regardless of their background and their demographic can be a successful student.”

The question of how the hiring process will address HSU’s lack of diversity between students and staff was also asked. While White did not give a solid plan to address this problem, White did say that he would like to make cultural changes and not just address this problem numerically.

“It’s one thing to have numbers and say ‘haha we did it.’ That’s superficial,” White said. “It’s whether you have a range of people of different backgrounds coming together in a community to inform and educate the next generation.”

Nation-wide prison strikes reveal problems close to home

According to the National Reentry Resource Center, 9 million people are released from state prisons each year back into their communities.

Michihiro Sugata, assistant professor of criminology and justice studies at Humboldt State University, said rural areas with high poverty rates have high incarceration rates.

This means many families in Humboldt County are directly affected by people in prison. Humboldt county is just south of Del Norte county, home to Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s supermax state prison.

“So many people in this community are tied and involved with this issue and should care,” Sugata said.

From Aug. 21 through Sept. 9, prisoners in 17 states participated in boycotts, hunger strikes, work strikes and sit-ins. The nation wide prison strike was in response to the April 15 riot in Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum state prison in South Carolina.

According to Shadowproof this was the deadliest incident of violence in a United States prison in a quarter of a century. Seven prisoners were killed when prison officials turned their backs on the riot they provoked.

The strikes started on the anniversary of the 1971 prison rebellion in California’s San Quentin Prison and ended on the anniversary of the famous New York’s Attica Prison uprising of 1971.

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee demanded humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, sentencing reform, and the end of “modern day slavery.”

Sugata specializes in economic justice, and how finances work in society and correctional facilities. California has the largest public education system, as well as one of the largest prison systems — both competing for state funding.

He said research suggests prisoners would have tremendous success if they bridged education with incarceration.

Sugata said we have the resources and capacity to measure this benefit, it just comes down to political will. If we get people educated we give higher opportunity for employment. The number one thing to combat recidivism is employment.

“We have the opportunity in California to do great things,” Sugata said.

Sugata knows the social cost of incarceration is enormous, and that there are no direct social benefits for keeping people locked up.

A study by the Vera Institute of Justice said that of the 40 states they surveyed, prison systems in the U.S. cost taxpayers $38.8 billion. Sugata said this escalates each year.

“Bringing education to corrections would not only be morally great, but economically great,” Sugata said.

Troy Williams, an HSU student who was formerly incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison, knows first hand the conditions inside prison walls and the importance of the strike.

Williams said there isn’t a push to educate and that most people don’t care. There are people like Williams who are moving forward and would benefit from more services. Those still incarcerated would have more opportunity at education if the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee’s demands were met.

“They want decent wages,” Williams said, “they want opportunities.”

Williams said his reintegration wasn’t a smooth transition. He said there’s a need in Humboldt County to do more to welcome formerly incarcerated individuals.

Williams said there are programs for veterans, but not for the formerly incarcerated — even though they suffer from the same issues. The prison strikes address stigma attached to incarceration.

“I commend the men for getting together and starting the strike,” Williams said.

An integral person in Williams’ life after release is Sharon Fennell, also known as her KHSU DJ name, Sista Soul.

Fennell is a long time prison activist that has been following the nation’s trend of the growing prison industrial complex.

Fennell said the radio station set her on the path to activism in the 80s, and has been fighting for prisoners rights since living in Humboldt County.

Most people in prison will be released. It is in our best interest to have them come out whole and intact.

“We want them better than when they came in,” Fennell said.

Fennell said men and women who have never had access to education before deserve help from the universities. Educational experience is harder without programs and are needed.

“Rehabilitation is not the correctional facilities M.O,” Fennel said.

Zuzka Sabata co-founded the Pelican Bay State Prison’s first theater program under the California Arts Council Arts-in-Corrections. Sabata said participating in these types of programs greatly decreases recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. It helps people cope with being incarcerated and leads to having less behavioral problems in the system.

“There needs to be community wide addressing of people reintegrating into society,” Sabata said.

Sabata said our society’s predominant stigma is people can’t be rehabilitated and that needs to be changed.

The idea of rehabilitation of creating environments where people can reintegrate into society is very important and the pathway needs to be paved to do so. There is a significant lack of support networks and employment that brings them back in the cycle.

“Rural areas have a revolving door syndrome,” Sabata said, “we need more re-entry services.”

No on Measure M is more than just opposing a statue

Erik Rydberg and his family have dealt with former President William Mckinley for longer than most of the Arcata community. Ryberg’s great-great grandfather was Chamoru, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands and Guam.

Mckinley led the United States into the Spanish American war. The Navy took over the Philippines and set their sights on Guam. That’s when Ryberg’s great-great grandfather was sent on a Filipino fishing vessel to the U.S by his family.

Rydberg said he feels his connection to Mckinley is deep, unlike those who admire the statue. Rydberg’s said he feels resentment toward the “little known” former U.S. president.

“He represents the abolishment of the tribal governments, courts and land rights of many Indigenous tribes here in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico,” Rydberg said.

Rydberg, and about 50 community members, gathered on Oct. 8 for Indigenous Peoples Day. They marched to Arcata plaza to support the removal of William Mckinley’s Statue and encourage others to vote no on Measure M.

Rydberg said he is focused on showing the significance of this statue’s history. Many don’t know the history of Mckinley, let alone George Zinder — the man who lobbied for the construction of the statue.

“This statue was put here by George Zinder, a man who owned a seven-year-old child,” Ryberg said. “This statue was put here by a child slave owner.”

This statue’s history is one that many don’t see resolved today. Julio Torres, a Humboldt State University graduate and activist musician, said this feeling resonates with people who are historically affected by these cultural and physical genocides.

“This is like being stabbed in the back, and then having the blade be pulled only halfway out,” Torres said. “It doesn’t allow for healing in the present.”

The statue is only one of the monuments to genocide that Rydberg wants to take on. Rydberg said many of the local community names are hurtful to those affected by atrocities committed by the U.S. government and citizens.

“First, it starts with names of towns and such, like Mckinleyville, Samoa and Manila,” he said. “Which were named after the colonization of Samoa and the Philippines.”

Sarah Torres, a local Filipino activist and musician, said she feels that people who support keeping the statue feel nostalgic.

“I think the misrepresentation of history, allows for nostalgia to thrive,” Torres said.

Rydberg said he wants people to understand this is not an attempt to erase history — it’s an attempt to correct it.

“If you want to talk about erasing history every town, waterway, mountain, every native name for everything in this country has been erased,” Rydberg said. “This is about returning history and honoring the first nations of this continent.”

Confidential hiring process raises concerns

As Humboldt State University’s president seat becomes vacant, a confidential selection process, along with a limited advisory committee, raises concerns about students’ input in deciding a new president.

“I understand the need to be confidential,” Associated Students Board Coordinator Casey Park said. “But I don’t see how you can fit 7,500 student voices into one student rep.”

Park is one of the many Associated Students members who attended a meeting with CSU Chancellor Timothy White and Vice Chancellor Loren Blanchard about a presidential candidate search process on Oct. 8 in the AS banquet hall.

HSU’s current president, Lisa Rossbacher, announced her retirement next summer in a campus-wide letter on Oct. 1. The letter states that the search process for a new president will begin this winter.

The CSU Board of Trustees’ policy for the selection of presidents explains that a committee of CSU Trustees, along with the advice and consultation of an advisory committee, will decide in confidentiality who HSU’s next president will be.

Of more than 20 representatives in the advisory committee, only one will be a student. Because the process is confidential, that student will be the only student who can directly affect recommendations for the new president.

While the AS gets to choose HSU’s student representative, Park is worried that the voice of all HSU students won’t be sufficiently represented by one person.

The only opportunity for those not in the advisory committee to have a say in the search process will be during an open forum in the first week of Feb. in 2019.

White says the forum will be video taped so that candidates will be able to see and hear what the community wants. After the forum, White said, they will create a ten page public document of search criteria and will invite candidates to apply.

During Monday’s meeting, White emphasized confidentiality in the search process and that candidates will be interviewed at an airport — the same as Rossbacher.

White’s argument for confidentiality is that external candidates (not working at HSU) may lose their job if they were seen applying to HSU. Without confidentiality, the committees may not be able to form a strong group of candidates.

“It’s not secret,” White said, “It’s confidential.”

Confidentiality in the search process hasn’t always been the case for CSUs, according to John Meyer, chair of the political science department.

Meyer said that in 2002, the year Rollin Richmond became HSU president, candidates delivered a speech to an open forum. People were able to meet candidates before they were selected and were able to get a feel of who they were by asking questions and giving comments.

This conversation between candidates and community was nonexistent during president Rossbacher’s selection. White said that it won’t happen again for the new candidates.

The confidentiality gives AS Executive Director Janessa Lund little confidence in HSU’s future leadership.

“With all the turnover [in HSU], we need a solid base,” Lund said. “[We have] a lack of consistency on campus leadership, which leads to uncertainty and insecurity.”

KHSU advisory board remains dedicated

Parking tickets were issued to KHSU’s community advisory board members as they met for their monthly assembly on Sept. 26. Both Humboldt State University president, Lisa Rossbacher, and KHSU general manager, Peter Fretwell, were sternly against the community advisory board from holding their meeting.

KHSU community advisory board is completely volunteer based and allows members of the community to have their voices heard at KHSU. Community advisory board member, Barbara Boerger, said that parking passes in the past were issued for attendees but because Fretwell denied them access to a room those passes weren’t issued.

“I wouldn’t put it past someone alerting UPD about us meeting,” Boerger said.

Three UPD officers were in the parking lot as the meeting began. Boerger said multiple people got tickets as well as the husband of another community advisory board member. Boerger said she wasn’t sure if the UPD were just on routine but it was awfully suspicious there were so many officers in the parking lot, raising the thought of conspiracy theories.

“Everyone feels violated when getting a parking ticket,” Boerger said.

The community advisory board meeting was facilitated by Boerger and fellow community advisory board member, Jana Kirk Levine.

“This meeting is toward issues, not people. What’s important is why we are here tonight,” Kirk Levine said.

In president Rossbacher’s September letter addressed to the community advisory board, she asked for all members to individually respond to her about the clarity of a ‘no confidence’ vote towards general manager Fretwell. Kirk Levine said all but one community advisory board member responded within less than 24 hours yet, Rossbacher still wanted them to halt further meetings.

Boerger said through an email that CAB did not make the decision to terminate Peter Fretwell. The vote was related to the members of the community who have voiced strong calls for his termination.

“I think we clearly stated we were responding to the members of the community who spoke,” Boerger said regarding the request to forward a community vote of no confidence.

An earlier email addressed to KHSU staff from Fretwell stated KHSU would respect Rossbacher and have nothing to do with any meeting. Fretwell said KHSU would not publicize, form, participate or reserve space for a meeting.

KHSU staff members, Lorna Bryant and Jessica Eden were present at the meeting and Bryant live streamed the event.

This incident happened just before the KHSU fall pledge drive which is expected to go from Wednesday, Oct. 3 through Sunday, Oct. 6. The KHSU annual summer pledge drive was cancelled due to community concerns regarding the firing of operations manager Katie Whiteside.

Whiteside was a longtime programmer and an employee at KHSU since 1995 before being terminated by Fretwell for reason’s unknown.

Other incidences include KHSU staffer Lorna Bryant contacting university administration with allegations of abusive behavior that included racism by HSU vice president for university advancement Craig Wruck.

Out of 3000 donors 120 have left KHSU as well as four business underwriters. Community members are pulling their support until issues get resolved.

Boerger said the fall pledge drive has been negatively affected due to the recent controversial issues involving KHSU. Every spring and fall KHSU has a large pledge drive that coincides with NPR. Summer and winter are smaller pledge drives and focuses on local premiums and thank you gifts.

Boerger said she finds it odd she hasn’t heard Fretwell’s voice during the pledge drive. When Fretwell was first hired he was an on-air voice and participated in the drive. Boerger said it may be a calculated tactic of Fretwell to not be participating.

“The pledge drive has lower expectations this year because of the recent issues,” Boerger said.

St. Joseph’s Memorial Hospital lay off some of their support staff

Jessica Corral has two kids, her son is 10 and her daughter is 7. Corral’s daughter has urological issues that require her to be driven six hours down south to University Of California, San Francisco.

Corral has her own set of health related issues and a dwindling insurance policy and has lost her job.

“I don’t know what I am going to do,” Corral said. “I just want my job back.”

Corral was an Emergency Department Technician 2 at St. Joseph Memorial Hospital. Her job consisted of the everything from helping patients get out of bed or go to the bathroom to running the Electrocardiography machines and performing Intravenous Therapy drips.

Like many others in her position, she was laid off over two weeks ago. This was after hospital administration confirmed their plan to layoff 2.6 percent members of the hospital’s support staff.

On Sept. 26, Corral and about 100 other ex and current St. Joseph staff, community and union members joined with the National Union of Healthcare workers to protest the recent layoffs at St. Joseph memorial hospital located in Eureka. Corral is worried about her and her daughter’s access to the medication and treatments that they require.

“Once my insurance runs out we can’t pay for our medication,” Corral said.

Many seem to be in similar situations, but Corral explained that even before the layoffs nurses, emergency department technicians, sitters and lab technicians were overworked and understaffed to the point of exhaustion.

“I was the last person left on my (morning) shift,” Corral said. “There is now no one in the morning, available to do simple things and resupply (nurse stations).”

This has directly affected the nurse and support staff who still work at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Lesley Ester, a registered nurse who is still employed at St. Joseph, is concerned about the health of current staff.

“There has been a huge uptick in the number of sick calls,” Ester said. “In other words their immune system are shot, their emotional system are shocked, so were having a lot of sick calls.”

The struggles of the nurses and support staff, have not been unheard by the community, many came to show their support. Sylvia Deeroy, a local community activist and resident had a recent five day stint in St. Joseph’s and said she was appalled by the way she was treated and how overworked the staff was while in treatment for a recent knee replacement at the hospital.

“They have totally insufficient help, I was there for five days, couldn’t get up on my own,” Deeroy said. “It wasn’t until the fourth day that I was able to get to the bathroom and bathe myself and brush my teeth. There was no one to help before.”

The layoffs have been directed at support staff like Emergency Department Technicians and others focused on patient care. Many like Ester see this as a problem of understaffing and the overall stress put on support staff.

“The amount sick calls we get only, increase the problem of our understaffing,” Ester said.

St. Joseph is citing that the staffing cuts come from a rash of unprofitable years. But in the recent press package handed out by the National Union of healthcare workers shows that from 2014-2017 the hospital had a net income of $135,710,202. With the peak of their net incomes being $49,000,000 in 2017.

Some community members and St. Joseph staff doubt the hospital commitment to the community due to poor work conditions and patient service. Allen McCloskey, a lab technician who helped unionize St. Joseph a couple of years back is one of those weary of St. Joseph’s commitment to the community.

“It’s my assertion that the care for the community is just an ancillary sound bite,” McCloskey said.“They are concerned about their financial algorithms.”

CAB remains dedicated to gathering community and moving forward

The KHSU Community Advisory Board continued as planned with their monthly assembly despite Humboldt State University president, Lisa Rossbacher being against them meeting.

The meeting was facilitated by CAB members Jana Kirk Levine and Barbara Boeger. The only other CAB member present was Helene Rouvier. The room was nearly full of community members, ranging from volunteer show hosts to KHSU staff members.

Kirk Levine called the meeting a “non-CAB CAB meeting” due to the general manager, Peter Fretwell, denying the request of the CAB to reserve a room and asking them not to meet.

“They tried to keep us locked out of our room, but we’re clever,” Kirk Levine said.

The reasoning for still meeting despite the lack of HSU support was to figure out what’s going on at the station, how to fix it, and how to start a process moving forward.

“This meeting is toward issues, not people. What’s important is why we are here tonight,” Kirk Levine said.

In President Rossbacher’s Sept. letter addressed to the CAB, she asked for all members to individually respond to her about the clarity of a ‘no confidence’ vote towards general manager Fretwell. Kirk Levine said all but one CAB member responded (because Tom Hintz was on vacation) within less than 24 hours, yet Rossbacher still wants them to halt further meetings.

Boeger said through an email that CAB did not make the decision to terminate Peter Fretwell. The vote was related of the members of the community who have voiced strong calls for his termination.

“I think we clearly stated we were responding to the members of the community who spoke,” Boeger said regarding the request to forward a community vote of no confidence.

The decision of no confidence had the community members confused on why it even mattered to HSU administration and how that could be justified to keep the CAB from meeting.

An earlier email addressed to KHSU staff from their general manager stated KHSU would respect Rossbacher and have nothing to do with any meeting. Fretwell said KHSU would not publicize, form, participate or reserve space for a meeting.

KHSU staff members, Lorna Bryant and Jessica Eden were present at the meeting and Bryant live streamed the event.

The suggestion of forming a board of directors was brought up multiple times and was included in the CAB’s action plan. Kirk Levine said CAB member Geraldine Goldberg has been putting a lot of time and effort in working with this issue.

“If we don’t have a board of directors and leave KHSU to HSU we’ll keep getting nothing,” Kirk Levine said.

A main concern that was raised by multiple members was the loss of late-night programming. Tim Warner, who hosts the Buck Calhoun show, is one of the late-night programmers to be affected by the recent time changing.

Warner said risk management deems them a liability but Katie Whiteside made sure all late-night hosts were well equipped and knowledgeable on safety procedures. For 17 years Warner has hosted the Buck Calhoun show and not once has he had a single issue in safety ending late.

“I’ve seen skunks, and my last show I saw a deer. Nothing scary about that,” Warner said.

The night was emotional for the CAB members and community alike. There is frustration that emails have been left unanswered and communications between all parties involved are strained. Tensions are high at KHSU, and CSU has issued an independent investigation to be done due to the work environment at KHSU.

With all these problems occurring, the CAB and community members are still hopeful for KHSU’s future. They will still meet two times before the new year, on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12.

“I am trying to be positive. What’s important is we’re here tonight. Keep thoughts kind, focused and positive,” Kirk Levine said.

Measure K aims to keep families together

An elderly woman with dementia taken away from her family by U.S Immigration and Custom Enforcement and deported. A young mother in her late 30s swept away by ICE and taken to a prison in Bakersfield for nine months even in spite of being here since she was five years old, married to a U.S. citizen and raising two children born as U.S. citizens.

Stories like these, where people are arrested for no other crime than lack of citizenship, are why Erik Kirk wrote local ballot Measure K.

“Criminal law and immigration law should be separate,” Kirk said.

Kirk, a lawyer, was asked by Centro Del Pueblo, a non-profit community service agency, to write a draft of an ordinance pertaining sanctuary for Humboldt county.

A sanctuary ordinance would prohibit local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration authorities with detainment. Typically sanctuary ordinances apply to cities rather than counties.

Kirk said Centro Del Pueblo proposed to the board of directors about making Humboldt county a sanctuary county, but they felt the board was unresponsive, so they asked him to write it for them.

Measure K, on the November ballot, would make Humboldt County a sanctuary county along with 30 sanctuary jurisdictions around the nation. Kirk said the measurement would be an extension of an existing law, AB54, which is a statewide ordinance that prohibits law authorities from cooperating with ICE.

“Our current laws are outdated and we need to change that,” Kirk said.

Measure K would help law enforcement by encouraging crime reporting and cooperation from the undocumented community. Immigrants may be more likely to consistently take children to school and access health care and vital services, affecting the overall greater community.

Kirk said the measurement will limit cooperation with ICE with just suspected immigration violation. The measurement will not in anyway prevent law enforcement with proceeding criminal provisions.

The Times Standard reported the ordinance would cost hundred of thousands of dollars. Kirk said this is a number he has no idea how it was calculated.

Sheriff William Honsal claimed he would have to track ICE deputies. Estimated tracking and reporting communications between ICE with new measurement would be between $85,000-$135,000. Kirk said this is false information.

Kirk said the probation department has to do the same tracking and reporting of communication with ICE as they do with the sheriff, and their estimates were $1250-$2500.

“I think the sheriff wants to deport whoever he wants and we think that isn’t right,” Kirk said.

Kelsey Reed, a member of the Humboldt Green Party and Move to Amend coalition, said the measurement allows parents to decide where their kids go when they get deported. As the law stands now, when parents are deported they are no longer able to make decisions where their children end up. Kids usually get left at home alone or taken to foster care.

“This is an overall humanity issue and several families have been destroyed because of ICE,” Reed said.

Reed said this is the most radical sanctuary ordinance proposed in a county. Through the ordinance, ICE would be required to only make certain arrests in certain areas and that parents wouldn’t be able to get arrested in front of their children.

Reverend Bryan Jessup is the minister of the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship which is one of the faith based organizations to support Measure K. Jessup’s congregations have been a sanctuary since June of 2017 and is a safe place for people subject to abuse from ICE.

Jessup said the congregation doesn’t want Humboldt County to be a part of what is going on around the country regarding immigration policy.

“We would like to stand up for humanity, our people are willing to shelter immigrants,” Jessup said.

Christi Molina, English senior, is a peer mentor at Scholars Without Borders who works closely with Centro Del Pueblo. Molina said the measurement would affect her personally because some of her family would be documented as immigrants.

Molina said the students in the area are supportive of the measurement and that makes her hopeful of it passing. They know the measurement is against separation of family and keeping communities intact.

“This is a way to not only keep family together but to respect human rights and culture,” Molina said.

Humboldt State University’s Undocu Week, a week of events dedicated to “deconstructing misrepresentations of communities of color,” takes place Oct. 1 – Oct. 5.