The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Letters to the Editor

  • Letter to the Editor

    Letter to the Editor

    I recently read the article “40-day anti-abortion protest begins in Eureka” by Abigail LeForge. I found the article to be biased and lacking in investigative journalism. Though it is generally lacking in perspective, my main contention is with two points at the end of the article.

    The first is the section about the press release for the event wherein LeForge wrote, “the press release…boasts the success of these campaigns, claiming they have saved 14,000 children.”

    There is no further elaboration on how this number was achieved. What is their measure for saving a life? Are these 14,000 abortions post-eight weeks, 12, 14? There is a huge difference in what a woman goes to go through depending on whether or not it’s post-eight weeks.

    Also, it states that “children” are saved, which is a term predominantly understood to be based on age; post-birth, pre-pubescent. Using the term “children” in reference to the beginnings of a fetus is an emotionally provocative inaccurate and inaccurate.

    My second problem with the article is the use of the term “abortion facility.” It was a quote from an interviewee and LaForge missed an opportunity by not clarifying for readers that our Eureka Planned Parenthood isn’t an “abortion facility.” It supplies woman, myself included for the last 17 years of my life, with mammograms, Pap smears, STD and STI testing, birth control, cancer exams for both men and women etc…you get the picture.

    Lastly, to end this article on a note about the closure of abortion facilities is frightening. Who is recording the closure of abortion fascilities? Is this county wide, state wide or nation wide? Were all these closures based on the successful campaigns of anti-abortion protesters? A new bill being passed? The merging of fascilities into one? Again, more questions are raised then answered.

    At the end of t day, the misinformation by exclusion of a balance of views within this article hinders the progress for women’s right to their bodily autonomy.

    If you made it here, thank you for taking the time to read through. This article seriously has me considering picking up journalism again. I guess that’s a good thing.

    Have a wonderful day and thank you

    Annie Bond

    Student

  • Letter to the editor

    Letter to the editor

    New Student Housing Community in the Works for Lumberjacks!

    Dear Editor:

    I’m pleased to announce that The Village, a new housing choice, is in the works for students attending Humboldt State University. As you probably know, HSU currently has room on campus for only about 25 percent of the students enrolled, which has made it difficult for HSU students to find housing year after year.

    According to a report funded by HSU, the Arcata housing market is so constrained, some students sleep in their cars or camp in the woods while they look for housing. There is currently demand for roughly 800 new student housing beds in order to address students’ housing insecurity and to support their academic pursuits.

    After various inadequate attempts to increase housing options, the city is now on the verge of having the most viable new housing choice for students in many years.

    The Village isn’t just another apartment building, it is planned as a purpose-built student housing community only half a mile from campus that specifically meets students’ needs with academic amenities such as spacious study rooms, computer lab and presentation room for individual or group study and collaboration, a fitness center with on-demand fitness programs, outdoor community space and secure covered bicycle parking. The Village will also have 24-hour professional on-site management, as well as peer mentorship from resident assistants that will be responsive to students’ needs. This property will also include many sustainable features including solar power, a bicycle-share program and electric vehicle charging stations, and will be built to environmentally conscious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.

    The Village will help improve the reputation of the Arcata community by creating more healthy competition in the housing market and energizing the local economy that is largely fueled by HSU and its students, and will introduce more diversity into the housing mix to reflect the diversity of today’s students and their needs.

    Despite the many positive benefits The Village will bring to the community, there are those who are actively trying to prevent current and future Lumberjacks from making The Village their home while attending HSU.

    If you are in support of the positive housing choice The Village will offer to HSU students and the community of Arcata and want to find out more, please visit this website: https://www.thevillagearcata.com/. You can also contact the Arcata City Council and let them know you support more student housing in Arcata, especially purpose-built student housing communities like The Village.

    It’s all about choices. Your support of this project can help ensure The Village is able to offer HSU students an exciting, new place to call home, and one that HSU students deserve.

    Percival Vaz
    Chief Executive Officer
    AMCAL Equities, LLC

  • Letter to the editor: We want student housing, but not the AMCAL way

    Letter to the editor: We want student housing, but not the AMCAL way

    Author Maureen J. Jules is a former HSU student and active member of Arcata Citizens for Responsible Housing.

    Dear editor:

    AMCAL, a large corporation from Southern California, wants to join the Arcata housing scene, claiming to help students find affordable, off-campus housing that is convenient for walking and biking to class. However, it is no accident that in 2012, AMCAL jumped into the profit-driven student housing market that’s worth $200 billion dollars. Since then, its luxury student housing projects have made rents even less affordable. AMCAL’s projects have exploded into college towns throughout California and Texas. Not surprisingly, similar corporations have carried this profiteering trend across the nation.

    The effect of these privatized dorms increases rent for everyone and isolates students from the larger community. In Flagstaff, Arizona, for instance, private dorms have resulted in less affordable housing for all.

    “At $700 a bedroom in most student complexes, that effectively sets the price of a three-bedroom apartment at $2,100 a month,” the editorial board of the Arizona Daily Sun said. “That means a family of four should be earning $6,500 a month to afford that rent (30 percent of income) while the median income in Flagstaff is well below that.”

    Now, AMCAL is at our doorstep, where they hope to finance the construction of a 700 to 800-bed, yet highly restrictive dorm complex off campus (think gated, enforced quiet hours, corporate residential assistants and no alcohol or legal recreational drugs). I oppose their student housing project called The Village.

    Since I love HSU students, how can I possibly oppose student housing? We are a college town and our students are cherished, valued, vibrant and intelligent community members. Students help define Arcata and they have just as much a right to live here as anyone.

    That said, Arcata is a small town hemmed in by the bay, the farmland bottoms and the forest. I also have a serious shortage of housing and buildable land.

    The property eyed for The Village is a rare, eleven-acre parcel surrounded on three sides by non-commercial residential neighborhoods. The site is not ideal for dorms, because there is no easily accessed grocery store and it is far from downtown. Plus, it is on the opposite side of Highway 101 from HSU, yet nowhere near the Northtown footbridge. This means those supposedly “convenient” walking, biking and driving routes to both classes and shopping will take The Village residents through congested and convoluted areas, like the Sunset/LK Wood intersection, several limited access trails and neighborhoods without adequate lighting or sidewalks. Furthermore, The Village plan would only provide about 300 parking spots for 700-800 beds, and residents who need cars would have to pay extra for parking.

    This project would increase student housing, but only for those who can afford to live in upscale dorms where limited parking costs extra. These new off-campus dorms would lack all the conveniences and services on campus, including access to campus police and meal plans.

    Greenway Partners is a consulting firm working on an alternative with ACRH. They are working together with over 150 ACRH members to create a pro-housing, pro-density and pro-infill alternative. I want our housing alternative to include apartments that HSU students will enjoy renting. I hope student apartments will be mixed in with other uses: light retail and single-family homes, some with mother-in-law units which HSU students might also like renting.

    When students fledge the coup, I want them to have access to more neighborhood housing where they can easily get to know the non-student community. Dorms belong on or next to campus, not plunked down in distant neighborhoods absent of food and shopping. It isn’t that I don’t want student rentals or students for neighbors; I don’t want AMCAL dorms. We can build community by living together, working side by side and getting to know one another. You, the students, are our community and Arcata should be the village, not AMCAL.

    Arcata Citizens for Responsible Housing is actively seeking student input and can be reached at: arcatacrh@gmail.com

  • Letter to the editor in response to “40-day anti-abortion protest begins in Eureka”

    Letter to the editor in response to “40-day anti-abortion protest begins in Eureka”

    Dear Editor,

    Regarding the Lumberjack article about the 40-Day Anti-Abortion Protest – HSU students need to know that not all religions or religious leaders believe that human sexuality is evil and something to be ashamed of. They need to know that some ways of faith regard sexuality as a blessing to be carefully and thoughtfully enjoyed between people as a way of communicating and sharing love – even if they aren’t married and even if they aren’t heterosexual.

    Like fire, human sexuality can, of course, hurt people both emotionally and physically. As people learn how to express their sexuality and share it with others, they learn by trial and error. Some religions shame people about this reality. Other religions offer factually accurate information and encourage people to make thoughtful and caring choices in keeping with their own deep values.

    The United States is a secular nation that works to guarantee freedom of religion for all its citizens. People whose faith calls them to abstain from all sexual activity before marriage or to abstain from birth control and abortion are free to follow the dictates of their hearts. And people whose faith or whose approach to life allows them more freedom around their sexual expression are also free to do as they see fit.

    Some religious people would like to do away with respect for religious freedom when it comes to human sexuality. But they do not speak for all religious people. Clergy for Choice is a group of interfaith religious leaders who support men and women in carefully finding their own way regarding their own sexuality. Clergy for Choice supports the compassionate and highly professional work of Planned Parenthood.

    So while some religious people practice 40 days of protest to end abortion and to end religious freedom around human sexual expression, other religious people practice a lifetime of supporting Planned Parenthood and thorough and effective reproductive health care for people as they make their own choices in this vulnerable and tender aspect of their lives.

    Sincerely,

    Rev. Bryan Jessup
    The Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
    PO Box 506
    Bayside, CA 95524 – Phone: 707 822-3793

  • Letter to the editor from the family of Erin Henry

    Letter to the editor from the family of Erin Henry

    To the people of Humboldt County,

    The family of Erin Henry would like to relay our thanks to all who assisted in the search for Erin. To the Arcata Police Department and all assisting law enforcement agencies, the faculty and students of HSU, local media, The Lost Coast Trackers, the people of Arcata, Eureka and all surrounding communities who mobilized and helped search for our precious Erin, we would like to express our deepest gratitude.

    Although Erin was found deceased, she was at least found. This was as a result of the information shared by thousands in Humboldt County. Thank you to the Caltrans employee who diligently reported finding a knee scooter, after being made aware of Erin’s disappearance and description.

    We would also like to encourage others suffering from depression, or related ailments, to seek help. Please help to eliminate any stigma associated with needing medication or treatment in order to function as a happy, healthy human being.

    National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255.

    A very deep, heartfelt THANK YOU!

    From the family of Erin Henry.

  • Universities should model accountability

    Universities should model accountability

    The sudden retirement of HSU Athletics Director Daniel Collen raises unanswered questions of accountability. How did administrative oversight fail to anticipate and mitigate Athletics’ budget crisis threatening the football program? Did Mr. Collen’s political campaign and election to the Northern Humboldt School District Board interfere with directing the athletics department? Did Mr. Collen hold appropriate academic credentials for a top university post? (Does his replacement?).

    Did Collen negotiate a secret settlement to immediately retire after facing lawsuits alleging misappropriation of donations for his fishing trips to Ketchikan, Alaska with two other HSU executives; or, the lawsuit by long-term HSU athletics employee Dan Pambianco alleging he was demoted for exposing Collen’s extravagant university-funded travel; or, Collen’s termination of 25-year track coach Dave Wells resulting in a $250,000 settlement?

    Apparently, no reforms were enacted since the infamous $15 million fraud committed by HSU executive John Sterns in 2001, and the secret settlement from the class-action lawsuit filed by Education Department professors. Following these scandals, former HSU President Alistair McCrone negotiated a retirement settlement by accepting a temporary “consultant” position at his full president’s salary. Sterns’ immediate supervisor, Vice President Don Christensen, became a university administrator in Oregon. (CSU auditors concluded that HSU’s fearful workplace enabled Stern’s financial fraud and embezzlement to continue for 3 years!).

    Humboldt County has extraordinary recreational resources: rivers, forests, shoreline, parks, trails, lagoons, harbor and wetlands, yet, McCrone and former HSU president Rollin Richmond authorized hundreds of millions of dollars over 2 decades on new and remodeled facilities for recreation, leisure, entertainment and sports, requiring more staff, faculty, management and maintenance while simultaneously cutting academics. Expanded leisure activities attracted wealthier students despite high participation fees… until a declining economy persuaded families to rediscover the value of academics closer to home, leaving HSU today with fewer students and a fully funded “resort.”

    Divesting in HSU academics produced overcrowded classrooms; elimination of numerous courses and entire degrees in nursing, industrial technology and German language; early retirement of the most experienced professors; the highest athletics fees in the CSU system; and three decades of relentless tuition increases culminating in debilitating debt for graduates. HSU’s high-security “campus resort” with pretentious locked-gate housing, rock climbing walls and library lattes are the LAST things needed by hundreds of homeless students (and thousands more working-class) who rely on administrative leadership to focus on relevant academic resources required to succeed.

    The public deserved to hear responses to unasked questions of accountability from Collen, Richmond, McCrone, Christensen and many others.

    Prioritizing accessible academics over a class-centered resort is essential in preparing graduates for the looming realities of environmental, economic and social crises from climate change and perpetual wars for foreign oil, minerals and oppressed labor. Achieving carbon reduction and full employment from a green, U.S.-made economy would require prerequisites in urban planning and social, political, economic and environmental activism tailored to every degree. These include prerequisites in citizenship, labor history, contract law, diplomacy and negotiation that are fundamental in developing confidence and assertiveness within student’s chosen career; in demanding accountability at work, school, community and personal relationships, or in signing countless contracts for housing, employment, transportation, credit cards and healthcare.

    Accountability at HSU requires transparency. For example, administrator’s academic credentials, compensation and pensions are not being reported. In fact, HSU cancelled publication of its annual directory listing everyone working on campus and their titles. Incompetence, nepotism, favoritism, fraud and corruption, like mycelium, thrive in darkness and costs millions!

    The Bay Area firm Strategic Edge Consulting, hired by HSU last year, noted communication problems between former HSU Athletics director Collen and other departments raising broader questions about campus leadership and professionalism. Few ironies are more astonishing than a public university led by administrators lacking advanced degrees in public administration or communication who are charged with promoting and governing “academic excellence” for teachers and students. A credible vision for academic excellence could come from administrators recruited from hundreds of adults graduating with honors on U.C. campuses each year with advanced degrees in public administration, public finance and human resources; individuals more capable in avoiding budget chaos and recurring failures to integrate due-process employment rights into personnel practices. Until then, HSU’s lack of vision and its history of unaccountable multi-million dollar scandals, lawsuits and secret settlements will continue.

    Without basic skills, experiences, and responsibility in demanding accountability where we live, work and learn, every community’s local government, university and media will continue to cooperate, legitimize and empower this nation’s fascist drift that Donald Trump’s reelection and “Alt-Right” policies rely on.

     

    Sincerely,

    George Clark

    HSU Liberal Arts graduate 1982,

    (My debt-free education met the requirement for an “accessible public education” guaranteed under the U.S. Education Act of 1965).

    HSU Center Accounting Technician 1979-1989

     

  • Letter to the editor

    Letter to the editor

    It has been an unfortunate few days for me since the Lumberjack published a distorted article on the state of composting at HSU. Your article has effected more than our campus community – I have been contacted by people from other parts of the country, by HSU administrators and by students, and I have had only limited success in getting the author to correct the misinformation within this article. The article was printed above-the-fold on the front page, and there it is in big, bold print: “HSU compost goes to the landfill.” I can understand how readers see this and think, “Why bother putting my food waste in the compost bin?” Especially if the reader does not continue past the big bold title and the first paragraph, which states “there’s no alternative in sight.” The fact is, even as you read this, our next load of food waste is being prepared for composting at a worm farm. The author overlooked the significant successes in food waste reduction and food recovery. In the food recovery hierarchy, composting is really the last resort before landfilling. The focus is on reducing food prep and recovering leftover food for human consumption, and by working with HSU Dining and the OH SNAP food pantry great strides have been made in this area. Because of these efforts, HSU won a best practices award in Innovative Waste Reduction at the 2017 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. Additionally, the author did not give any helpful tips or suggestions on what readers can do to reduce food waste and to compost or otherwise assist the campus and their communities in this effort. He mentions there is trash in our food-waste (which has always been far below the threshold acceptable to our worm farmer), so why not make the connection and suggest to readers that they NOT throw trash in the compost bins? This article has set us back, in our relationships with our campus and off-campus partners, and in our efforts to get people to reduce food waste generation and to help us effectively divert food waste to compost.

    Morgan King

    Climate Action Analyst

    Humboldt State University

  • Letter to the editor

    Letter to the editor

    Dear Editor,

    On September 5, 2017 the Lumberjack ran a story about how students who use campus meal plans lose their J-points at the end of the year (“Students’ J-point money washed away”). Students who use meal plans receive about half the value of their plan in j-points, the other half goes toward non-food costs for HSU Dining Services. In this way, j-points are merely a representation of food that the student will consume. By repossessing j-points at the year’s end, the University is reducing the amount of food that a student can buy in the future. Students who don’t have the luxury of having the funds to purchase more j-points mid-semester must be very conscious of their balances, since an early depletion means no more food and a late depletion means they could have had more food. Either way, it’s another stress factor added to student life.

    Then there’s the fact that at the J and the Depot, students using J-points get a discount on the food there, 67% and 25%, respectively. HSU Dining Services gives students this incentive to purchase a meal plan if they aren’t already required to do so by their on-campus housing situation. Incentives are great, but they’re rarely for purely humanitarian reasons (like making sure students stay fed). In our case, the heavily discounted food appeals to our need to preserve our financial aid, loan money, paychecks and college funds and encourages us to ignore the clause that requires us to forfeit unused money at the end of the year. Those of us new to the school aren’t yet privy to the information that allows us to know how much money we need for food for a semester or a year. As was pointed out in the Lumberjack, $82,513 worth of j-points were repossessed by HSU last year. That’s $82,513 of uneaten food that HSU forces students to pay for.

    This aspect of our meal plan system is unacceptable. There’s no reason, beyond Ron’s need to inflate the revenues of HSU’s dining service, to make j-point forfeiture a stipulation of the meal plan contract. Students have enough to worry about when they resettle in Humboldt after summer break or settle here for the first time, so many choose the convenience of on-campus housing over the stress of finding housing in Arcata, Eureka, McKinleyville, etc. We expect that the services provided by the University will be on fair terms; the HSU seal lulls us into a false sense of security over what we are agreeing to. The terms aren’t negotiable, but if you don’t like them, you don’t have to buy meal plans or on-campus housing. Just go hungry and homeless.

    -Breydon Beshore

  • California Cap and Trade: Climate Problems Solved?

    By | Ciara Emery

    As hundreds of bills sit on Governor Jerry Brown’s Desk for signature at the end of this legislative session, a cap and trade extension prevails as a win…for some.

    A ten-year extension to California’s landmark carbon market was approved in the middle of July this year—four years after its initial passage in 2013.

    California’s carbon market consists of caps on carbon emissions to certain sectors of the economy and includes the ability to trade allowances to meet emissions targets. These targets get smaller every year.

    The idea is simple: industries and businesses that remain under their emissions limits will be awarded with extra income from the sale of their extra allowances. Industries that are not under their emissions limits will be penalized with the extra costs of their pollution.

    This market-method of climate change mitigation is a bipartisan step forward on the path towards sustainability—with a few hiccups that is.

    While several assembly Republicans in California voted for the measure, it was far from bipartisan. No more than one month after the vote, Republicans ousted the Assembly Republican Caucus Leader, Chad Mayes, in an upset party vote. His discretion? Allowing eight caucus members to side with Democrats in favor of the measure.

    Republicans argue that concessions such as these allow Democratic legislators off the hook on tough votes. Three Democrats, including Assemblyman Mark Stone who represents the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey, were able to vote no and avoid any wrath from tough districts.

    Republicans would also like to fall in line with national GOP stances and oppose the measure for its seemingly anti-business policies and tax-like features.

    While this debate rages on the right, the same amount of conflict has risen on the left.

    Environmental justice advocates largely find this extension a loss for low-income communities and communities of color. These communities are overwhelmingly more impacted by pollution from the sale of extra allowances than more affluent communities in California.

    While several initiatives attempt to respond to this inequality (AB 617 also passed this session, which attempts to address issues of air quality), large scale problems persist.

    California is continuously hailed as a national leader for Climate Change policy. In many cases, we act with fervor where others do not. But we still have significant conflicts to grapple with.

    California Republicans must figure out which side of history their party wants to stand on. Democrats need to commit to environmental justice concerns. The climate should not be better for some, it needs to be better for all.

  • An alumnus perspective on being Lumberjack football player

    An alumnus perspective on being Lumberjack football player

    Over the last few weeks, a lot of rumor, fear and misinformation have been circling about the possible loss of Lumberjack football next year. As a 40 year old alumnus and former football player, I felt it is important to share my perspective on what it meant to be a student athlete, and more importantly, a student athlete at Humboldt. I speak from my perspective, however I would imagine many other guys feel the same way. I think this is important for three main reasons.

    First, to let the administration know how much that Redwood surrounded stadium and campus means to all of the alumni. Secondly, to offer perspective to the student body and community who may not be football fans. Finally and most importantly, to publicly ask for answers from the administration that is making this decision.

    All alumni have different levels of involvement with the program. My personal involvement is of course as a fan, but also as a booster. I have always tried to support the program when I can and always will. I proudly share my alma mater in my living room with my 6 year old son just about every Saturday in the fall. So at 40 years of age, with kids, wife, a demanding career, why such a die-hard connection? The answer is simple; pride and connection. I am proud of where I went to school, I am proud to have worn Humboldt State on my chest for 21 Saturdays, I am proud of the work I put in with Drew to prepare myself, I am proud to share my university with my children. Most importantly, I am connected. I am connected to men who did the same thing as I. I am connected to these men for life. I am connected to men from Compton, Santa Rosa, San Diego, Hawthorne, Eureka, and Reno. I am connected to men from a myriad of backgrounds that I would have never known had it not been for football. I now realize this is what matters. Yes, winning games is important and feels great. As you get older, what will become more important are the relationships you have built. One thing is certain, as a student athlete you will build relationships with people from backgrounds you would otherwise never be connected to. As a professional in a highly-competitive field that has made a great impact on my life for the better, I have been outside of my comfort-zone. I am able to appreciate other world perspectives. I have shared in different peoples life experiences. I don’t want that valuable opportunity erased from campus.

    So with such positive experiences why is there talk of cutting football? We are being told budget. Well, according to the research study commissioned by the school, cutting football would not relieve the budget issues. Why are athletics not budgeted out of the general fund? We are being told enrollment is down. Why are there 1,500 applications not being looked at? By no means do I claim to be a CSU budget expert, none of us are. So why isn’t the administration having a public forum to discuss the possible loss of an obviously beloved part of the community? Are they looking at better ways to budget? Are we actively seeking out corporate sponsorships? Can athletics do a better job of reaching out to alumni? Why is attendance at football games being underreported? These are all great questions. Why are there no answers? I don’t have the answers, unfortunately those that do remain silent or give noncommittal statements. I would like something from the AD and President as to what the plan is. Is the plan to cut the program and they’re too cowardly to admit it now? Are they looking at ways to budget correctly? I don’t know, we don’t know, I am frightened they may not know.

    I am not a professional writer, I am not a seasoned College administrator, I am a former mediocre college athlete who loves his Green and Gold brothers, and loves his University. My goal in writing this is to try and let those understand the importance my college experience has played in my live. Learning how to compete, how to work, coping with failure, instilling empathy for different life experiences. All of these things have made me a better person. College is about academics but it is also about learning to be a better person. I ask you to evaluate the importance of football not on your love for the game but on your appreciation for the importance of connection. I ask that all my brothers, the community, boosters, students, stand up and speak and fight any attempt to erase this program. I ask the administration to communicate with us. Involve us in the process, let us help, we want to fight with you not against you.

    Respectfully,

    Jarrod Klein

    Class of 2000

    GO JACKS!!!!!

  • Not going down without a fight!

    I hope that this letter reaches all of my former Humboldt State teammates, former Jacks that have worn the Green and Gold and all of the Lumberjack supporters out there. I will be sending this letter on to Dr. Lisa Rossbacher along with the rest of the leaders on the HSU campus and in the CSU. Football won’t be cut from Humboldt State without a fight.

    This past week some awful news, news that many inside the Humboldt State Athletic Department and University have known about and anticipated for years, was released. Instead of the focus being on the Humboldt State football team going on the road and taking down the No. 8 team in the country, rival Azusa Pacific, it was on whether there will be a football program in two short months. The outcry and response from the news that I have seen through multiple news outlets will hopefully force the administration to pause and think again before they make this decision.

    First, to be clear, there is not a financial problem at Humboldt State, there is a leadership problem, starting at the top. Having known about the financial shortfall that was coming when the current President took the job, she has only let it grow and has lacked the decisive decision-making that is required of the position. HSU spent tens-of-thousands of dollars to bring in a consulting firm to help advise her in the process of finding solutions to the current financial problem which she COMPLETELY THREW OUT and ignored. She has also postponed making a decision several times which has continued to let the deficit grow.

    The President said a year ago that the “Humboldt State University strategic plan is focused on four key areas: supporting student success, providing a welcoming environment for our diverse community, ensuring that we have the resources needed to fulfill our educational mission, and expanding partnerships, both on- and off-campus.” In what ways will cutting the most successful program on campus be beneficial in serving your strategic plan?

    How is cutting athletic programs, specifically football, in line with your strategic plan for the University, which INCLUDES athletics. Getting rid of football is harming students and their pursuit of receiving a degree. It gets rid of the diversity that our University desperately needs that football provides and also will damage partnerships and relationships that have been cultivated over the past decades. There are countless donors and supporters that support the Athletic programs because of the impact sports has on student-athletes.

    Coming from a small town in North Bend, Washington, Humboldt State football helped build me into the man I am today. The relationships I made, the people I met, the lessons I learned are all 100 percent attributed to the Humboldt State football program. Coming from a high school that lacked diversity, I was thrown a major curve ball when I arrived in 2011 to a locker room that had players from every corner of the west coast. Oakland, Sacramento, Rocklin, San Diego, Poway, Compton, Los Angeles, you name it. I was able to meet, bond, connect, and work with individuals that I can now call my teammates and brothers FOR LIFE even though we all came from entirely different backgrounds. We all shared a common goal. No where else on campus does a group of students come together like they do in college athletics.

    A current report states that there are only 281 (3.41 percent) Black or African American students at Humboldt State University. How are you promoting diversity when a high number of these students are involved with college athletics? There is no question that this group is under-served and not represented properly at Humboldt State and in our community. How is cutting Humboldt State football and athletic teams helping with your strategic plan in promoting diversity when it does the complete opposite?

    Most importantly through this ugly situation, what about the kids? What about the coaches that may lose their jobs and their families? Announcing this decision in November will only allow students one month to find new homes before the start of the spring semester as they will no longer be able to pursue their goals and passion in college athletics at Humboldt State. You are in a position to SERVE our students. Announcing this decision in November may be what’s best for you and your colleagues, but don’t forget WHY you have a job and WHO’S best interest you should be considering. The fact that this news broke in the middle of another historical football season at HSU is beyond inappropriate and unprofessional.

    I have seen the number of “around 200-250 students” will transfer from the University if football is dropped. I believe that number is a low estimate as that is only the number of student-athletes that will be leaving. This does not include the other students at Humboldt that came because of football and the other athletic programs as they wanted to be a part of the special community too. With struggling enrollment that is showing no signs of improving, how is getting RID of more students going to help? The athletic teams continue to fill their rosters to the maximum number, what good is it to get rid of the schools best recruiters?

    What about Arcata and Humboldt County? Only five times a year do 7,000 and more people come together in the community and it is on Saturday nights in the Redwood Bowl. What will Homecoming weekend be like without football? What purpose will the weekend serve if it is not highlighted by a football game in the Redwood Bowl? The sense of community and togetherness that the football program and Humboldt athletics brings can not and should not be underestimated. It should also be noted the potential financial impact that HSU athletics and the football program has for the community, what about the local businesses?

    When you add the tens of thousands of dollars spent on the Strategic Edge Report, the hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from IRA fees of the “missing” students that were projected to be attending the University, and another $58,000 in the form of a cancelled Pepsi sponsorship, you have have over $250,000. Yes, with the major financial hole, the leaders on campus elected to not renew a sponsorship which had totaled $58,000.

    Seeing the overwhelming support for the program on social media has been special, but changes will have to come from within the University. Just this past spring, all of the Athletic programs were asked to raise money and as football raised over $100,000 which went directly toward athletic scholarships. Football raised their money and a portion of it even went to other teams.

    Before you think about cutting the football program, think about the long-lasting impact it will have on YOUR students, coaches, administrators, community members, local business owners and alumni. Cutting the football program will set the University back years and hundreds-of-thousands of more dollars. Taking the easy way out by simply cutting the “biggest” budget item is lazy, irresponsible and won’t be tolerated. The impact the HSU football program had on myself and so many others including your current student-athletes is irreplaceable and a better solution needs to be found.

    – Taylor Mitchell, Former HSU Football Player

  • Letter to the editor: published memes

    Letter to the editor: published memes

    Dear Editor,

    As I sat down Sunday to read the latest issue of The Lumberjack, I was dismayed at the end of the paper. The meme on page 11 of the Wednesday March 22 print was demoralizing. It serves as an excellent example of reinforcing negative racial stereotypes. A meme image was printed with a stereotyping context giving a drug dealer type feel with a caption of broken grammar. It read, “Yall got any more of that Spring Break?” as an attempt at humor. It’s bad enough that this made it to print at all. It’s worse that it appears right next to an article titled Act Like a Man: Reinforcing Negative Gender Roles by Dominique Crawford directly on the previous page!

    I hope I was not the only person to spot this obvious disgrace. The meme promotes the same type of demeaning stereotype thinking that is discussed in Crawford’s article, the only differences being that it involves race rather than gender roles and it uses a light hearted meme setting rather than common verbal expressions. I feel disgusted as this paper is a representation of Humboldt State University, the school I attend and have a strong connection to, and the editors allowed this to be printed. This simply promotes racial labelling that goes back through this country’s long history, a complex history inarguably tainted throughout with many past and present examples of discrimination and propagation of racial hierarchical structures.

    Please work more diligently in the future to prevent such content from getting to print. I write this not seeking to patronize, condescend, or humiliate those involved. I hope this letter may open people to a new perspective on the fine line that, unfortunately but so often, exists between humor and offensiveness.

    Sincerely,

    Ian Osipowitsch

    HSU Junior

  • Letter to the editor: cruel & unusual punishment

    Letter to the editor: cruel & unusual punishment

    Dear Editor,

    The bill of rights is only partially followed according to the intention of the founding fathers. The freedom of speech is followed. So is the right to bear arms ( thanks to the NRA ). But the right not to be given cruel and unusual punishment is not being followed. Ask anyone who has been to prison if cruel and unusual punishment was meted out to them, and you will get a resounding yes from them. The Supreme Court does not legislate from the bench. Cases must be brought to them for them to make a ruling. The Constitution is a living document, and what was cruel and unusual in 1780 is different than what is cruel and unusual in 2017. Lawyers must bring a case regarding the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment to the Supreme Court. A person sent to prison for a short term can be murdered in prison. It happens. Is that cruel and unusual punishment to subject a person in prison to death? All it would take to end cruel and unusual punishment would be for a Lawyer to bring a case about cruel and unusual punishment to the Supreme Court, and get a ruling. Clearly the prison system is delivering cruel and unusual punishment to prisoners. Ask anyone who has been in prison if they received cruel and unusual punishment. Their answer will be yes. That is my opinion, and my plan to fix the problem, if anyone else agrees with me, tell someone, write letters, emails, make phone calls. Exercise your right to free speech. That right is respected and observed. Let’s respect and observe all of our rights. Remember, the power for the Government to exist comes from the people. Let the Government know that we want all of our rights protected, not just a select few.
    Philip T Feraru

  • Letter to the editor: Welcome from the Mayor of Arcata

    Letter to the editor: Welcome from the Mayor of Arcata

    By: Mayor Michael Winkler

    Welcome back to Arcata! And welcome to winter weather. I know many of you are from the south, and less comfortable with frost and rain — but I hope you embrace the nature of the North Coast. Enjoy it! Don’t let it get you down, it is not really that cold. You just need layered clothing, a raincoat, umbrella, socks and boots. Now you are ready to go, at least for a saunter through town.

    Grab your friends and walk into town! It is only a few blocks southwest and there are adventures to be had. Interesting stores, great food, a walk to the marsh, visit the Farmers Market on a Saturday morning. Get to know the local opportunities. There are businesses that need employees, non-profits with internship opportunities and maybe some second-hand or new clothing you want to shop. Enjoy the music shows, movie theaters and community celebrations. We may not have an In-N-Out Burger here, but try Stars on G Street or enjoy the late open hours at the Arcata Pizza Deli on H Street.

    I want you to know the city of Arcata council, staff and police work hard to respect the dignity of ALL people. We want our town to be safe and welcoming to all students, no matter their immigration status. No person will be held legally solely for their immigration status. We support DACA students and wish all HSU students success in their dreams.

    Make these years the best in your life — which means try things that scare you a bit, explore your interests and make lifelong personal connections. Success is often about who you know in life — so let yourself be known! Arcata City Council meetings are held every first and third Wednesdays of the month, at 6 p.m. in City Hall. Please come say hello!

    Be sure to speak up if you are having problems academically, socially or legally. HSU has advisors to help you, and the Arcata City Council wants to know how we can help you be more successful. We believe this country is best served with educated people and are so happy you chose Humboldt State University!

    Welcome to Arcata! As Sara Bareilles sings it, “I want to see you be brave!”