Seniors surrender to an unexpected finish to their college career
Mary Swisher is a senior Humboldt State University athlete and an elementary education major who’s been impacted tremendously by the pandemic.
“It’s honestly quite heartbreaking that this pandemic ended my collegiate career early,” Swisher said. “I also haven’t seen my family since coming to school in August because of the rules that Athletics has put forward.”
Previously, Swisher’s education involved fieldwork and equipped in-person classrooms now, classes are strictly on Zoom and involve limited interaction with others.
“All of the rules are in good meaning and are necessary,” Swisher said. “But I haven’t seen anyone but my roommates in months.”
Madison Kiser, an HSU senior, was most worried she would miss social interaction with peers. To her surprise, Kiser is grateful for Zoom classes and the ability to interact with classmates.
“I still get to be my social butterfly self thanks to Zoom and other ways to spend time together virtually,” Kiser said.
Despite her frustration, Kiser is grateful her professors have been understanding with the situation.
Danica Grier, senior softball player for HSU, had her final collegiate season cancelled after last year was cut short but is thankful for being able to complete school work on her own time and the deepened her bond with her roommates.
“I was able to go home early where I met my boyfriend,” Grier said. “I was also able to get a puppy during this time since I was going to be home for the Southern California lockdown.”
Alex Kandalaft, an HSU senior, stopped working when the pandemic began and made the decision to move back in with her family.
“I moved back home, which is something that I did not expect to do in my wildest dreams, my last year of college,” Kandalaft said. “It’s definitely weird not being able to go out to bars on the weekends and social stuff like that but I’m making the most of it.”
With the obstacles this semester has presented, Kandalaft wishes that she is given a proper ceremony to close out the end of her college career.
“You never expect to experience your graduation in sweats, back in your hometown, watching a video recording over YouTube,” Kandalaft said.
The virtual commencement for the class of 2020 sat poorly with the graduating class. As of Oct. 20, the format of graduation for the 2021 class is undecided.
“If graduation would be online I would be really hurt,” Kiser said. “I know that the pandemic is serious and we don’t want any outbreaks. I think if we follow guidelines and think outside the box, we can have a rewarding in person graduation.”
Due to the transition to online, campus life is lonelier than ever this semester
Social distancing policies forces Resident Advisors to rely on tools like social media and video-chatting to stay in touch with students. To make up for the lack of in-person events, housing is putting on several Grab-N-Go programs this semester, where students pick up supplies and participate in door decorating competitions from the safety of their dorms.
Generally speaking, RA responsibilities include daily room and floor rounds, enforce housing policies and provide connections to resources for students in their building.
Stephen St. Onge is the associate vice president for student success at HSU. According to Onge, the RA job responsibilities have not changed, besides the move to online.
The most notable impact of the pandemic on RAs has been on the ability to encourage students to engage with the campus community.
“They are still doing outreach to their residents virtually,” Onge said. “They are still doing duty rounds, the programming, they are just doing it a little bit differently.”
Victor Garcia Balderas is a second year RA. Balderas feels the blackouts of last fall and the transition to online in the spring has prepared him as an RA.
“Because it is my second year as an RA, I feel I have a grasp of how things work,” Balderas said. “I’m flexible and have been hit with so many random events like last year when we had the blackouts.”
Last semester, Balderas worked with new students. In contrast, this semester he works with returning and transfer students. Balderas says these students tend to already have established their own communities, making engagement much more challenging.
Director of Residence Life Donyet King believes engaging with students during a pandemic just requires some outside of the box thinking.
“We have to get really creative about it,” King said. “Initially when programs were held online, people were still adjusting to the pandemic.”
Despite the efforts of housing to fabricate a sense of normality, the single occupancy policy, while necessary, generates an unavoidable sense of isolation for dorm students.
“I’ve gotten lonely and a little bit sad,” Balderas said. “I feel like I am alone.”
Arcata plaza adjusts to a new, safe way for families to trick or treat on Halloween.
Arcata has adapted to COVID-19 guidelines in order to host a Spooky Plaza car parade in support of a social distant Halloween. Arcata Main Street is a non-profit organization hosting this year’s COVID-19 friendly, Halloween in Arcata Plaza.
The car parade will be hosted at Arcata Plaza on Oct. 31 from 7 to 11 p.m. All the spooky features and characters can be seen while inside the vehicle.
Each part of the inner sidewalk of the plaza will have a different theme with characters and decorations. The event was thought of in late August and planned through September.
Rose Shoshanna Anthony a consultant and volunteer with Arcata Main Street assured people it will be safe to participate as long as community members follow guidelines and protocols.
“The event is to substitute for our usual Trick or Treat on the Plaza that gathers several thousand people over the course of several hours,” Shoshanna said. “So this time we have a decorated plaza with a limited number of volunteers being characters on the plaza and then people drive around.”
To discourage people from the outer sidewalks from walking over the barricades into the plaza spooky area, monitored volunteers and traffic control have been implemented to make sure the event stays in accordance with COVID-19 protocol.
The drives starts on the corner of the Tri County bank and finishes by exiting at the Jacoby Storehouse.
Ceva Courtemanche, board member and vice president for Arcata Main Street, stated that the non-profit organization was determined to host a Halloween event.
“We wanted to not fully give up on Halloween but we wanted to make sure it was gonna be safe for everybody,” Courtemanche said.”So, we put together a plan of doing an open spooky haunted house where participants will be driving in their vehicles around the plaza.”
Lee Lazon, a volunteer for Arcata Main Street, has been working on graveyard and spider props for the haunted drive-by.
“This year has been anything but normal and this is a favorite event for a lot of people and families,” Lazon said. “So, I think a lot of people are very interested just because there’s an opportunity to bring back at least a little bit of normal.”
For more information about the Spooky Plaza car parade visit Arcata Mainstreet.com and check out their Facebook for info on signing up to volunteer.
The Campus and Community Dialogue On Race returns covering global justice for Black Lives.
The theme for this year’s Campus and Community Dialogue on Race will be “Global Justice for Black Lives: Examining the Past and Reimagining the Future.” Two guest speakers will present at the end of October and a keynote speaker will be introduced at the beginning of November. This event provides students, staff, faculty and community members a safe space to discuss race.
The events will take place on Zoom and instead of lasting a week, there will be talks and workshops taking place for two weeks from Oct. 26 – Nov. 7.
Featured speakers will be on Zoom and will be viewed webinar style, meaning the audience will not be able to view all other attendees, just the speaker.
CDOR has been holding annual events since 1998 and has grown exponentially since then. CDOR gives attendees the opportunity to participate in workshops, have those important discussions and listen to keynote speakers.
Claudia Rankine is the featured keynote speaker for this years’ CDOR event. She will be participating in two student engagements. The first will be a book talk at 11 a.m. for her new book “Just Us.” Next, is her keynote event taking place in the afternoon at 2 p.m. for “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a book loaded with poetry and media that questions racial politics.
Rankine’s talk will take place on Nov. 7 conveniently after the election.
Corrina Wells, the program coordinator for the Developing Hispanic Serving Institution (DHSI) grant program, explained that Rankine makes these questions about the topic available for her readers.
“What’s really powerful about the book is that she, as a Black woman, is making [racial politics] visible for all of her readers,” Wells said.
They added that Rankine makes relatable content for BIPOC and educational content for non-BIPOC.
The keynote event will also touch on Rankine’s process of writing and creating “Citizen,” a book-length poem about race in America.
Lawrence Ross will be holding a virtual talk Mon., Oct. 26 speaking on the politics of race in American colleges. This will be a follow-up on the talk he had earlier this year in February addressing campus racism.
Ross will be referencing his book, “Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on American Campuses.” The book exposes the racist practices prevalent in university politics that targets and distances students of color from engagement.
“Ross really focuses on higher education and the ways that racism is perpetuated in institutions of higher education,” Wells said.
Ross’ talk from earlier this year in February is available on the CDOR website on the welcome page.
Bettina Love, Ph.D, will be presenting during the “So You Want To Teach” series all day and cover various aspects regarding white supremacy, incarceration, and abolition on Tues., Oct. 27.
Douglas Smith, the African American Center for Academic Excellence Coordinator, explains that Love’s talk is about restoring humanity for children in schools.
Love will be incorporating her new book, “We Want To Do More Than Survive” in her talk.
“Dr. Love focuses on K-12, the overall education industrial complex and the ways that racism happens there,” Wells said
CDOR is also a class that gives students credit for helping plan and participate in the events. Indigo Eden, a CDOR peer mentor, expressed great appreciation for this year’s event planning.
“I give so much respect to the planning committee and everyone involved,” Eden said.
Registration is open and required for all featured speakers and sessions.
Humboldt State students with children carry the weight of multiple educations this semester
Carrie Tully is a single mother in the graduate program at Humboldt State University. Having completed all of her course work in the spring, Tully holds down two jobs and assists in her daughter’s education while completing her own graduate thesis.
“I haven’t been doing very much thesis work at all,” Tully said. “Things are really not going as according to what I thought my plan was gonna be when I entered grad-school.”
Tully’s daughter attended preschool last year through HSU’s Children Center. This year, she’s attending Fuente Nueva Charter School where all of her instruction is online.
“It’s hard for her, it’s hard for me, of course. Children her age need socialization and that’s mainly what they are supposed to be doing in school right now,” Tully said. “It’s really nearly impossible for them to do that via Zoom.”
Beyond her daughter’s quality of education, Tully is stressed about her daughter’s emotional education suffering.
“I don’t have the financial or mental ability to be able to be 100 percent present for her all the time,” Tully said. “That’s the hardest part. She needs attention, I need space to do good work and it clashes.”
Between Tully’s two jobs, her thesis project and playing a leadership role in HSU’s food sovereignty lab project, she spends the majority of her day in Zoom meetings. After a full day, Tully has little energy to give her daughter and she is usually greeted with an explosion of a mess.
“Cars, toys, cards, books, stuffed animals everywhere,” Tully said. “That’s when parents have mini panic attacks. Like, I’ve been on Zoom all day long and I just need to take a break and sit down but I can’t because my couch is covered in stuff.”
Tully said the lack of personal space in constantly being around each other also proves challenging at times.
“Just like any relationship,” Tully said. “You need to be able to be apart in order to really appreciate that love.”
Between managing work and her daughter’s progress in school, Tully has had to sacrifice a great deal of time she originally planned to spend on her thesis.
“To me, the most important thing that I need to be focused on right now is my child’s education,” Tully said. “Because I’m in my mid thirties and I have my education. I have my career things that I’m working on. I can go with the flow.”
Carrie Tully’s daughter Kallie Gregg attends kindergarten virtually from her room this semester. | Photo by Carrie Tully
Sayde Mendes is a business major and mother of three children, ages 2, 9, and 11. Thanks to the transition to online classes, on top of parenting responsibilities and pursuing her own education, Mendes has to provide an education for her children.
“No matter how much teachers try and how much they do,” Mendes said. “There’s still quite a hefty reliance upon parents.”
In her senior year of high school, Mendes was date raped and suffered a brain injury when she was rehydrated too rapidly at the hospital. The injury caused her to lose control of her motor skills and forced her to relearn all functions virtually. Mendes also suffers an intellectual disability, impairing her power to both pursue her own education and her childrens’.
Mendes’ husband spends the majority of his waking hours at work, leaving her with little time and energy to complete her own responsibilities like work, school and providing for her children.
“I feel like I have to kind of push them away sometimes, because I need to be present for my class,” Mendes said.
While HSU only offers tutoring to students and not their children, the Childcare Center continues offering its services to student parents five days a week at approximately 50 percent capacity to meet COVID-19 protocols.
Grants are available to students whose incomes qualify for reduced or no cost for childcare, through California’s Early Head Start program.
According to Director Steve St. Onge, the most challenging part of operating during the pandemic is keeping the children in line with regulations.
“I gotta tell you, having a 2 and 3 year old wear masks is not easy,” Onge said.
Onge’s daughter attends kindergarten two days a week for two hours, leaving him as the majority role in his child’s education this year.
“I think I would speak for many of us parents of children in school that are also working,” Onge said. “Our days start earlier and end later. We’re still getting the job done, it’s just taking us a lot longer to do it.”
COVID-19 social distancing has increased the demand on local domestic violence services according to some professionals in the field.
Locally a 27-year-old Asian woman was forced into a car at gun point in Fieldbrook, seven miles north of Arcata, on Aug. 4, and returned safe after the suspect, a 43-year-old George Rose, previously known to the victim, turned himself in after fleeing the state to Oregon.
In nearby Mendocino, Khadijah Britton, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, was forced into a car at gun point on Feb. 7 2018, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. Britton is still missing and there is a $50,000 reward for information on her location.
Stephanie Weldon, Humboldt State University social work masters graduate and Yurok Tribe member, was the director of the Yurok Tribe Department of Health and Human Services until August and currently is a consultant for state and federal agencies on tribal social services.
Weldon said the tribe received increased calls related to domestic violence as the shelter in place orders went into place in March, and she has heard anecdotes from clients regarding the challenges that COVID-19 places on an already underserved population of victims.
Brenda Bishop, executive director of Humboldt Domestic Violence Services, and HSU alumna, said “Rape culture is very alive and well on [HSU] campus.” The HDVS runs a 24/7 emergency domestic violence hotline which has had a reduction in the number of calls.
Bishop said she suspects this is related to the difficulty for victims to make personal phone calls for help while living in close quarters with their abusers.
Bishop does not believe the reduced number of calls reflects a reduction in domestic violence incidents, and in fact may indicate victims are in increased danger.
Bishop said domestic violence includes intimate partner sexual violence and sex trafficking which may start as intimate partner violence.
“We see a lot of HSU women that get involved in trafficking as well,” Bishop said. Usually this occurs through intimate partner violence with non-students, but sometimes with other students as well.
Lundy Bancroft, author of an Amazon bestseller, “Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men,” said in an abuser’s mind everything is about winning and losing and the woman is not seen as having equal rights, her purpose is to satisfy his needs.
Abusive partners can be even more violent when victims try and leave, or immediately after they leave.
“The attitude abusers exhibit in this type of violence when women attempt to leave their partners is, ‘she must have to pay for my unhappiness,’” Bancroft said.
Police historically do not treat domestic violence as a crime but as a private matter meaning many incidents are not reported. Victims have expressed that they feel their reports are not taken seriously by police.
Entrenched sexist bias is compounded by race. Weldon said, “You can’t talk about trauma without talking about race. How can you talk about a mission to wipe [Native American] people out, without talking about the impact that has had on those communities?”
The structure of tribal police, which rely onUS police to cross-deputize the force and certify criminal charge procedures, aren’t able to collect tax revenue that could improve investigative work.
“You go from no response and no intervention to overreaction where a ton of [non-tribal] law enforcement shows up because it’s a known family name,” Weldon said.
According to the Institute For Women’s Policy Research, Black women are two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than their White counterparts.
Guns in the home increase the deadliness of domestic violence incidents. According to Giffords Law Center, “Guns kept in the home are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal unintentional shooting, criminal assault or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense. Rather than conferring protection, guns in the home are associated with an increased risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.”
Bishop encouraged victims to call the 24/7 hour HDVS hotline for resources and emergency help.
Bishop believes the most important thing for people in domestic violence situations is to feel supported and hear affirmation.
“We believe you,” Bishop said. “And the longer you’ve been in abusive relationships the harder it is to make that call.”
Local food management practices of the Tolowa Dee-ni, Yurok and other indigenous peoples.
*Editor’s note: A source in this story, Cynthia Ford, is the aunt of the Lumberjack writer of this story, Walker B. True*
When colonizers landed on the North American continent, they were greeted with a land of plenty where deer roamed huge open pastures and wild fruits and vegetables grew in plenty. Colonizers viewed this landscape as a wild, untamed, underutilized and untouched landscape of economic opportunity.
In fact, ecosystems across North America were meticulously managed by Indigenous peoples across the continent. Their traditional resource management practices have come to be known as a stewardship model.
As defined by the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, the Lakota Ecology Stewardship model states that “All beings, both living and nonliving, were related in that all shared and depended on Mother Earth for survival. The Lakota believe that humans were the newest nation on Earth, and as such were instructed to learn from the older nations: the rocks, animals, and plants. Thus, natural laws and relationships were carefully observed and emulated.”
Locally, the Tolowa Dee-ni nation as well as the Yurok tribe made use of practices like prescribed burning to treat pests and to create better habitats for deer and elk to graze on.
This form of management was used throughout the continent and began to die out as the land upon which they were practiced was colonized. These colonized lands were stripped of their resources and left in the hands of private landowners or The US government who had little to no understanding or care over the complexity of the ecological systems at play.
The stewardship model and the food practices of Indigenous people have been limited by land acquisition programs and environmental devastation since the colonizers first set foot in America. Through the fight for their food sovereignty, Indigenous people are also fighting for tribal sovereignty.
Cynthia Boshell is a program specialist working with the Rights of Mother Earth initiative through the Northern California Tribal Court Coalition. Since 2015, she is continuing to do work advocating for tribal food sovereignty.
“When we are talking about food sovereignty what we are really doing is saying we are reclaiming our relationship to the foods,” Boshell said. “Not just the foods but if you are going to reclaim your relationship to the food you also have to reclaim your relationship to the land.”
In the past the The Rights of Mother Earth initiative has helped enact ordinances and other regulations in order to protect the natural resources of the tribes a part of the NCTCC (Yurok Tribe, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, Trinidad Rancheria and the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria).
Recently, the NCTCC received a grant from the Native American Agricultural Fund to do an assessment of tribal food systems under the stress of COVID-19 and fires. The project will be performed by the Rights of Mother Earth initiative spending the next year surveying tribal communities and their food system in order to understand how tribal food producers can be better supported.
Boshell sees food sovereignty as a vehicle and process of bringing Indigenous communities where they want to be in regards to their food systems. Whether that be entirely reliant on local Indigenous food systems, or only partially, each tribe should have the agency to choose that for themselves.
“Food sovereignty is not really a native concept,” Boshell said. “It’s more of a description of how we are reacting to a colonial system.”
Cynthia Ford is a Habitat and Wildlife Manager for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation in Del Norte County. Ford is responsible for educating community members and advocating for tribal food sovereignty.
“We work with agencies and partners locally, like the forest service and the parks and local landowners to help come up with strategies to protect and perpetuate our resources.” Ford said.
Alongside her vocational responsibilities to the tribe, she is also the wife of a Tolowa tribe member and the mother of three Tolowa children. She supports traditional, locally harvested foods like acorns in the fall, berries in the spring, a variety of seafoods like smelt, seaweed and salmon, as well as deer and elk.
“The Tolowa people were rich, very food rich,” Ford said. “There was a large variety and great diversity of foods year round to eat from.”
For Ford, food sovereignty means having the ability to access her own healthy, and sustainable foods.
“That food security is really important for the tribe because that’s the basis for making us a healthy community,” Ford said.
Without the ability to access these local food sources that, historically speaking, have always been available to them, tribe members are left without access to any healthy foods.
“Our ancestral territory goes well into Oregon and covers a vast coastal area and into the Applegate watershed,” Ford said. “But here right now in Smith River where our modern day reservation lies, we have the Dollar General and a Fuel Mart, we don’t even have a grocery store.”
Alongside poor access to healthy foods from local stores, traditional food practices like fishing have been impacted by commercial farming practices that threaten the Smith river’s estuaries with pollution from pesticides.
According to the California Water Board, “the Regional Water Board’s water quality monitoring documented the presence of several pesticides used in lily bulb cultivation in some of the coastal tributaries of the Smith river during storm events.”
Ford ends by speaking to the interconnected nature of land and how dependent people have to be one another in order to live in harmonious comfort and success.
“’You got your 10 acres and your mule and you’re gonna harvest your land right?’” Ford said. “But it doesn’t work that way because what you do on your land affects what I do on my land”
***A Lumberjack editorial represents both the majority opinion of the student newspaper’s editorial board, nine editors, as well as the overwhelming majority of Humboldt State University’s student body. Collectively, an editorial echos, embodies and advocates for community beliefs.***
Insensitive communications between Humboldt State University administration and student newspaper, the Lumberjack, includes inaccurate accusations and degradation comments directed at the LJ’s reputation.
In a letter to the Lumberjack’s editor, Vice President Frank Whitlatch claims the student-paper intentionally printed false information. The letter targets four specific points within the article, “HSU Athletics Department left in dark about SJSU,” by Sports Editor Thomas Lal, published in print on Wed., Oct. 7 and online the following day.
According to Whitlatch, the four issues within Lal’s article include accuracy, context, claims of purposeful ignorance towards follow-up quotations and headline language.
Whitlatch’s claim that Jane Teixeira’s, HSU’s athletic director, was misquoted in regards to the Athletics department’s knowledge of San Jose State University’s arrival is completely inaccurate. The second paragraph of Lal’s article clearly states HSU Athletics was notified late Tues., Sept. 29.
“With the notice coming late on Sept. 29, the first chance that the department had to discuss matters was the following day with the Spartans roughly 24 hours away,” Lal wrote in his article.
The information reported in Lal’s article directly matches the information stated in Whitlatch’s letter to the editor. There is no inaccuracy. Lal, in fact, did not ignore the information as the letter suggests. Whitlatch attempts to use this baseless claim to delegitimize the entire article.
While the letter states HSU Athletics was not in the dark about the team arriving, our editorial staff does not believe a few hours of advanced notice would significantly impact the department’s ability to prepare for the team’s arrival.
Whitlatch attached transcripts from Lal’s meeting with Teixeira in his letter claiming the Lumberjack ignored context surrounding Teixeira’s quote. Cris Jones Koczera, emergency management coordinator, however, further supported the information reported in Lal’s article.
“It was at the end of the day, on Tuesday [when they found out],” Koczera said in the interview with Lal. “So, by the time we really had an opportunity to get together, start talking about what that meant it was Wednesday first thing, right out the gate.”
In a Zoom meeting with the Lumberjack editorial staff on Thurs., Oct. 15, Grant Scott-Goforth, HSU’s communications specialist, echoed Koczera’s statements that SJSU’s arrival at HSU was in fact a last-minute affair.
“The Athletics Directors and our emergency operations team and myself I think found out several hours before the rest of the campus did,” Scott-Goforth said. “So, that was a scramble. I mean, that was a huge scramble.”
In addition to Scott-Goforth’s confirmation, he claimed the diction used in the Lumberjack’s editorial, “Humboldt State administration cash in at student expense,” was strong, misleading and accusatory language that promoted a Humboldt brand of xenophobic behavior towards students from big cities by stating SJSU was stealing HSU student resources.
“I just felt that was a little bit misleading because again you know this is a decision that’s made by the President’s versus the student athletes who are coming here so they could practice but it wasn’t exactly their choice,” Scott-Goforth said. “I grew up in Humboldt County and I feel there’s this weird kind of specific Humboldt County brand of xenophobia that I see over and over again, and often is about HSU students coming from the big cities and it’s a scary thing.”
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services was not advised prior to SJSU’s arrival, the Lumberjack was purely reacting to student and community concern regarding health endangerment in the midst of a pandemic, not due SJSU coming from a more populous county.
The Lumberjack is an independent news organization. We have enjoyed a healthy, working relationship with the HSU Athletics Department and would never purposefully ignore facts provided in an interview. Implying that we would attempt to mislead our readers is entirely incorrect and harmful to the reputation of this publication and its reporters.
Through a very complex set of circumstances, the Lumberjack has aimed to provide the most accurate information available to students and the community while working with Athletics to obtain that information.
As a part of the California State University system, Humboldt State is subject to the same rules and limitations as other public universities. This includes court cases that set a precedent for the protection of student produced media under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
By publishing your letter to the editor, we have maintained our position as a public forum by allowing a fair and open space for all to voice their opinion.
While the Lumberjack may receive funding from the university, like many student-run programs on this campus, Bazaar v. Fortune, 489 F.2d 225 (5th Cir. 1973) ruled this does not grant the administration the right nor the permission to control the contents of the campus paper.
In addition, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 393 U.S. 503 (1969) ruled that actions of censorship cannot be taken against a paper for content unless the school can prove the content would “materially and substantially interfere” with operations.
Like any other publication, the Lumberjack is protected as a member of the free press. Our duty is to serve the interests of our students and surrounding community by informing them with timely and accurately reported information. While the HSU administration may take issue with our editorial, we stand by our position and how it accurately represents the voices of HSU’s student body.
We will not be retracting our story and will continue to support the efforts our reporters make to ensure the voices of the student press on this campus are not silenced, censored or intimidated.
Life and Arts editor, Dakota Cox, speaks on his shifting perspective towards technology.
2020 has tainted the relationship between humans and screens.
When I was a child, my favorite thing in the world was my Gameboy. I was only allowed to play on long car trips or the rare occasions when a friend spent the night. My favorite game was Pokémon, of course. I remember the satisfaction I felt after beating the game for the first time. Those were the days before YouTube tutorials when discovery in games meant something.
When I grew older, I replaced my Gameboy with an out of commission iPhone I found one day in a crack of the couch in our family room. It served me well as an iPod for years until it finally refused to accept a charge and became replaced by my first official iPhone.
That phone met a violent end far before its time. It wasn’t missed. The replacement that sits in my pocket today has aged noticeably over the years having been through more than most. It will also not be missed.
Over the years, whether it be a computer, a television or a phone, there’s always been a screen at the center of my life. Though they may not always have received the majority of my time, the ideas attached to screens have almost certainly played a dominant role in my decisions since they were introduced to my life.
All it took was a taste and I was hooked, now I understand why my mom warned me about drugs. I only wish she’d known the damage a single screen can cause.
When I was 10 years old and my brother Yoshi was born, my mother more or less granted me the trust to make my own decisions. For me, this meant staying up till 5 a.m. watching Netflix, playing Skyrim and sleeping in until 2 p.m. Those were the days.
When I started living away from home, I began spending more time than ever in front of screens. They were no longer just an optional escape, they’d also become a regular part of my college education.
Now with the pandemic and online learning, the time spent in front of screens has crossed the threshold to a place of dread.
The once exciting prospect of a notification arriving on my phone is ruined by the endless nagging of unfulfilled responsibilities and classes I spend hard-earned money on to attend.
The little quality time I get to spend with family in the pandemic has become corrupted by the constant presence of screens.
Aside from hiking, almost every moment I was with Yoshi over the summer was spent playing the latest video games and half-paying attention to the shows playing in the background.
When I have time to spend the weekends with my Mother, I wake up before 7 a.m. for work and don’t get back until 5 p.m. By then, I’m exhausted and I’ve got a pile of stories to edit, if I don’t have to write one myself, along with whatever homework I couldn’t finish during the week.
My mom is mostly glued to her phone and outside of an occasional board game or family movie, we retire to our respective rooms. Is this what life has come to?
Screens can be used to accomplish great achievements as tools or produce great joy as toys, however anything over-used can become unhealthy. So, give your poor brains a break, I know mine needs one!
Columnist Dobby Morse shares their take on the presidential candidates
I tried. I tried to watch it, but like everything else Trump is involved in, it was a farce.
Within the first 15 minutes, Trump dodged the question as to when the new justice should be nominated by talking about Amy Barrett’s qualifications. He lied about his very public taxes, called the Coronavirus the “China plague,” implied that Biden was stupid for forgetting the name of a place and bragged about football, of all things.
I am by no means, a fan of Biden. He is a creepy old white guy that has been accused of inappropriately touching several women. Trump has done much worse. Biden has a plan for the Coronavirus, including free testing, Personal Protective Equipment and a nationwide mask mandate.
He has a plan for the climate crisis that includes the Green New Deal, rejoining the Paris climate accord and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Trump, as Biden said repeatedly, does not have a plan.
Trump’s biggest problem is the inability to self-reflect. The media has been largely negative towards him. He is a pathological liar and it is the media’s job to expose lies. He has shown no ability to listen to experts or politicians who do not undeservedly love him.
Rather than take a minute of his 74 years of life to reflect on why people don’t respect him, he goes on defense.
Biden, despite Trump’s opinion, is smart. He brings up his experience as a senator and vice president to show he knows how to do the job. He talked about the Coronavirus deaths as people, rather than statistics. He talked about Trump’s history of lies and lack of a plan to showcase his opponent’s incompetence.
A horrific outcome of the debate is an increase in recruitment for the White supremacist group, Proud Boys. When asked to condemn them, Trump replied, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
The hate group has since adopted this quote as a slogan and an endorsement by Trump.
We live in a world where incredibly dangerous people are world leaders. We live in a world where fundamental and private rights are in danger. We live in a world where a few people can decide the course of history.
So vote. Check your registration status, and if you aren’t already getting election mail, find out why. History has its eyes on you.
Dobby Morse is a columnist for The Lumberjack and is an HSU student.
Athletes speak out against the uncertainty surrounding rec sports and the playing season
Recreational sports at Humboldt State University is made up of 15 competitive and four non-competitive club teams that practice and play in their respective seasons throughout the school year. Each club team offers the opportunity to students of all skill levels to participate and grow their abilities while building community with fellow teammates and recreational sports athletes.
Since spring break of early 2020, HSU officials have not allowed recreational sports teams to gather or practice in order to avoid the possible spread of COVID-19. No update has been given to any rec sports athletes over the past months on when their teams would be allowed to return, practice and compete.
HSU announced that it would be allowing San Jose State University’s football program access to the Redwood Bowl and Student Recreation Center facilities to prepare for their upcoming season.
Rec sports was finally allotted the opportunity to be heard publicly at the Associated Students board meeting on Oct. 9.
Martin Gordillo, a student and member of both the men’s baseball and volleyball teams, led a discussion on who at the university was behind the decision to not allow rec sports to conduct practices.
Gordillo noted the lack of communication from the Cal State University Chancellor’s office regarding the future of rec sports. Gordillo explained the strategies that fellow rec sports clubs are willing to follow in order to uphold CDC safety guidelines. The plan includes reallocating funds from travel budgets in order to pay for increased sanitation supplies and COVID-19 testing for athletes and faculty.
Associated Students member, Collin Waichler, believes an in-depth look at Chancellor Timothy White’s decision would provide clarification to the decisions that lead to the cancellation of rec sports.
“I think it would be very helpful if we can get the text of the Chancellor’s decision to not allow rec sports,” Waichler said. “So we can see that and look at it and figure out exactly what’s going on.”
A representative of the HSU men’s crew team, Michaella Praska, voiced her experience as a rec sports athlete in her senior year not being able to practice and compete with her fellow teammates.
“It’s so disheartening and I’m very, very disappointed in how things are being run and I just wanted to say my team really became my family,” Praska said. “So to not be able to like have that one hour or half hour to be able to spend more time with them. It really hurts. And I don’t feel like I stand alone.”
The future of rec sports continues to be uncertain for the time being, Gordillo ended his presentation by quoting the HSU’s rec sport’s pledge.
“We are Humboldt plus sports and we care for our athletes, one voice in solidarity loud and proud.”
Increased periods of isolation can lead to depression, and how to combat it
March signaled the beginning of quarantine in the United States, with various states asking residents to refrain from unnecessary social contact with shelter-in-place orders.
For those staying with family and friends, the burden of staying at home for the last nine months was reduced by the ability to talk to and interact with others.
According to Paula Nedelcoff, a psychotherapist and community outreach coordinator for Humboldt State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services department, the task is significantly more taxing. Changes in living organization, such as online instruction, brings unwanted physical and mental changes.
“Long term social isolation for most people is very difficult,” Nedelcoff said in an email interview.
COVID-19 restricts face-to-face interaction, prohibiting the ability for people to physically and socially interact with each other. This prolonged isolation intensifies with time.
“Humans are social animals and we count on interactions with others. When we do not have someone to bounce off ideas and feelings with we can move within and isolate even more,” Nedelcoff said. “While during this virus we have a virtual world, we humans need contact with each other, we need and thrive with touch.”
A 2016 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases suggested that isolation precautions may lead to anxiety. A group of doctors and professors looked at the ways social isolation affected patients who were recovering from various bacterial infections. These infections (like scabies, measles or tuberculosis) often required patients to reside in single rooms to minimize the exposure to other patients.
A separate 2016 twin study the journal of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology suggested that social isolation could trigger an increase in mental stress. The data found that depression was significantly correlated with both social isolation and loneliness.
For those living alone, combined with a lack of available social interactions, the association with depression is even greater.
A 2011 research article in the International of Geriatric Psychiatry found that social connections were factors in determining depression.
“Living alone and living with at least one child (no spouse), and weak social networks were associated with higher depressive symptom scores in both genders,” the study stated. “Men living alone with weak social networks outside the household had higher depressive symptom scores than those with strong networks.”
In order to combat these feeling, Nedelcoff recommended finding ways to reach out to others within your social circle, in addition to seeking professional help.
“I encourage all folks to stay engaged with life via on line groups and virtual happenings,” Nedelcoff said. “This can be a great time to try therapy or a therapy group. Going to counseling does not mean there is something wrong with you. Think of it like having a copilot while looking more deeply into your life and the meaning of it.”
She suggested finding ways to properly vent emotions and feelings so that individuals may not feel like they are cooped up physically and mentally.
“Learn and become aware of what works for you,” Nedelcoff said. “What might work for me may not work for my friend. Some people meditate, some people use music to calm them or ease their soul, while others may journal or get into a book. Often times we are not sure or don’t know what works for us.”
Most of all, Nedelcoff encouraged students to continue trying to find ways of expression in any positive way.
“COVID-19 and sheltering in place has taught us how little control we have over so many things,” Nedelcoff said. “This can be scary but we do have control of how we respond.”
The library undergoes seismic retrofit construction
Humboldt State University’s library has been under construction since 2018 when the contract was set and planned in 2015. The construction project is for the library and the theatre arts buildings on campus, both buildings were not safe regarding seismic activity.
Jason Baugh, HSU project manager, has been communicating between the contractors and campus on the seismic retrofit project for both buildings.
“Building safety is to keep these buildings maybe not 100% secure, standing and occupiable after a major earthquake, but getting everyone out safely,” Baugh said.
The overall goal was to have it safe for seismic activity but other projects and delays started to pile on as time progressed.
“The California building code changes every three years, the chancellor’s office for the CSU also has their own internal code review and it’s basically mirroring what the California building code is,” Baugh said. “They have their standards where they want all their buildings to adhere to and so that changed and as we submitted plans for review, we missed the code cycle and everything had to be re-evaluated.”
Setbacks such as new seismic code, modifications in original plans and lower level issues with the foundation have led to longer construction time than anticipated. Recently the project got sprinklers in the library.
“There was a few areas of the lower library basement, and basically it was where books, some of the special collections library books that they don’t use on a daily basis but are archived for various reasons,” Baugh said. “For some reason, only that area was sprinkled.”
Changes to the project made the years of construction go on longer than originally thought. The overall budget for the project of both buildings was $20 million plus add ons of almost $4 million dollars.
Daytime construction has increased due to COVID-19 restrictions. Cyril Oberlander, HSU’s library dean, has been overseeing and delegating people to new temporary areas of work.
“It also created new opportunities, rather than waiting for the sprinkler project for a couple of years,” Oberlander said. “It’s something we can do now because no one is in the building which is pretty good.”
Since the library will most likely be closed in the spring semester due to COVID-19, construction will continue at a faster pace. Oberlander is hopeful that students and all HSU personnel will enjoy the new library when things are back to normal.
“Thank goodness they really were resilient through it because it’s finishing up now,” Oberlander said.
Jaime Clough, a senior at HSU, had trouble in the previous semester with construction noise and communication of the project’s finishing time.
“I was in the library every single day. I was there on weekends. I basically lived in the library and it was kind of tricky,” Clough said. “I mean sometimes you have to go through random doors, sometimes the stairwells are closed and you have to go around the backside. You’d be sitting in the nice quiet corner trying to study for finals and all of the sudden there’s a jackhammer on the wall right next to you.”
Construction is set to be finished around June of 2021. With construction schedules and the library closed, construction could be finished before the fall 2021 semester.
“June is my goal, I think it’s realistic, as I kind of indicated you don’t know till you dive into things especially with retrofit projects,” Baugh said. “Hoping for the best, I think the end of June is a realistic date and that we may have a month buffer of working through any problems.”
At-home teaching sacrifices the quality of education for dance majors
The switch to virtual schooling has challenged students majoring in dance. Online dance classes come with substantial obstacles. Audio lag from the instructor to the student makes it difficult for students and instructors to give accurate feedback.
The preparation before each class is now more involved than in-person classes. Linda Maxwell, Humboldt State University’s dance program director, misses traditional instruction and finds it hard to create relationships with her students online.
“Without the human connection, finding a way to connect to each student is simply more difficult and time consuming,” Maxwell said. “I personally can make less one-on-one connections in each class compared to a face-to-face class.”
Instructors must modify their teaching style and specific assignments to be as inclusive as possible, catering to the small spaces students have available.
In-person dance class consisted of the instructor faced towards the mirrors at one end of the room and students behind them mirroring their moves. Now, students are forced to learn choreography backwards, because of Zoom’s mirroring display.
Alex Dyer, HSU senior dance major, biggest challenge is not having access to a full studio. Instead, Dyer designated a small section between her kitchen and living room for dance class.
“Trying to choreograph dances for my classes in a small section at home has been very hard,” Dyer said. “Because I never really know if what I created will work.”
Chloe Schmidt, a junior dance major, found a unique opportunity present that would never have been possible prior to the pandemic.
“One of the most amazing things to come out of this situation is that dancers from all over the world can take classes from some of the best teachers out there,” Schmidt said. “There is never the same energy in a Zoom class as there is when in person, but still, pretty incredible to have the opportunity to learn from the greats even if you are a thousand miles away.”
Considering the unusual conditions that dance students have endured, this experience has led them to become stronger individuals. Schmidt remains optimistic about the future.
“This situation has made me and many other dancers learn how to keep our inspiration up and navigate our art form in new and challenging ways,” Schmidt said. “I hope the future of dance is going to be even more vibrant and innovative.”
If you needed a sign to tell you to take a break, this is that sign
Burnout is among us, for some it hit pretty early on. Whether you’e a student, a worker or both, taking a step back just feels impossible. Why do we justify our exhaustion with more exhaustion?
While it is important to take responsibility for our lives, we need to be kind to ourselves. Living in this pandemic, we have come across what is called “pandemic fatigue.” According to University of Californi a Los Angeles health, it comes in various forms like the inability to focus, not knowing what day it is, feeling anxious, hopeless and worrisome.
How do we fight pandemic fatigue? How do we fight burn-out? How can we avoid a downward spiral of intrusive thoughts, fear, irritability and insomnia?
In an article in General Surgery News, Rachel Goldman, Ph.D., FTOS, a licensed psychologist, talks about healthy selfishness. The phrase explains itself, “knowing what you need to do and allowing yourself to do it.”
It’s time to be more selfish with our health and recognize that we need to take me-time. It’s a reminder and also heavily recommended that we do take time for ourselves.
I personally struggle with taking that break and I wouldn’t consider myself selfish. We are living in a very unpredictable time. I’m a planner, not being able to plan for the holidays or the next semester drives me up the wall. However, maybe it’s time that I stop worrying about the future and worry about what I am doing right now.
“People need to focus on what is in their control, which is behaviors, reactions and how they cope, and not on what is out of their control,” Goldman said.
Worrying about things you can’t control is unproductive and a playing factor in my pandemic fatigue. The feeling of being lost and confused about what to do next runs through my mind every day. Dwelling on the unknown is out of my control and I need to let it be.
I know we are all going through it differently, but we are all still going through it.
So when you are too exhausted to go on, take that nap.
When your head is spinning, go for that walk.
When you find yourself reading that one page four times over because you’re just not getting it, take a step back and make some pasta.
Hit a pillow. Call a loved one. Cry. Watch that cringey holiday rom-com. Draw something, ugly or pretty.
Talk to yourself using only nice words.
Learn some breathing techniques on YouTube, meditate with Spotify, watch the news or don’t, and don’t forget to drink water.
Jane Teixeira addresses student concern over football program’s stay on campus
***Editor’s note: SJSU football program was tested in congruence with Mountain West conference guidelines***
The Humboldt State Athletics Department was notified that the San Jose State football team was coming to HSU the same time the general student and staff population of campus were told.
With the notice coming late on Sept. 29, the first chance that the department had to discuss matters was the following day with the Spartans roughly 24 hours away.
“I got the same information at the same time that everybody else got the information on campus,” HSU Athletics Director Jane Teixeira said.
SJSU anticipates spending $100,000 to $150,000 in total while at HSU. This includes meals, housing, use of Humboldt State’s facilities and round trip bus fare per San Jose State’s media relations.
It is currently unclear as to how much of this estimated budget belongs to Humboldt State or how that money will be distributed.
On Tues. Oct. 13, Santa Clara County moved into the orange tier from the red tier, meaning that COVID-19 guidelines will be loosened.
According to San Jose State football social media and Humboldt State University, the team will be leaving the HSU campus on Oct. 14 following the announcement that Santa Clara County will allow the Spartans to hold practices on their own campus once again.
According to an email sent out to HSU students on Tuesday Oct. 13 if conditions do get worse in Santa Clara County again.
“Should Santa Clara County return to the red tier, HSU will consult with Humboldt County Public Health and SJSU about the viability of the team’s return to HSU to proceed safely for practice and/or competition.” Humboldt State said in the email.
Teixeria explained that she has not been involved with any contract negotiations between HSU and SJSU, but believes the arrangement is similar to any rental of the Redwood Bowl.
“I believe that they are renting our facilities and paying for them like any other outside group would be able to do,” Teixeira said.
Student concerns surrounding a large group of people coming onto campus was addressed by Emergency Management Coordinator Cris Jones Koczera. Koczera said that since the team arrived, the Athletics department has been working with local county health officials.
Koczera believes the chances of the SJSU bringing COVID-19 with them is very low considering the team is subject to mandatory testing once per week before the Mountain West season begins, and three times per week when competition starts.
“Because of the frequency of testing that was required both by the state and by local county public health, they are by far the most tested individuals, probably in our entire county right now,” Koczera said.
The Athletics Department became aware of frustration coming from the rec sports organizations on campus which prompted Teixeira to hold a meeting with members of those groups on Sept. 30.
For Division 1 athletes, there is immense pressure to perform well and do whatever they are told to do as part of their respective athletic programs. Teixeria pointed out that while the SJSU football team is on our campus, they did not directly make the decision to come here themselves as individuals.
“It’s really important to know that the student athletes and the coaches and the student workers and the people that are up here from San Jose State are just following the lead of their leadership,” Teixeira said. “Just like we’re just following the lead of our leadership and I think it’s important that our individuals or people who are out in the community understand that this is by no fault of their own.”
A bilingual HSU program encourages students to pursue the STEM field
Ciencia Para Todos, known as “Science for All,” is a Humboldt State University program that hopes to bridge the gap between younger, grade-school students and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers through teaching English and Spanish in conjunction with local elementary schools like Fuente Nueva Charter School.
Christian Trujillo, a senior environmental science and management major, is the founder of Ciencia Para Todos. He strives to elevate youth whose first language is Spanish.
“We’re trying to destigmatize that idea,” Trujillo said. “Be like, ‘We are people who are bilingual, we’re in STEM, we want you to do that when you grow older, and hopefully you could become a scientist and also use your abilities and cultural lens to really help the science community.’”
Ciencia Para Todos came from a desire to create an environment for budding Latinx STEM students. Feeling ostracized from many of the spaces on campus, Trujillo and his fellow Latinx classmates communicate in Spanish as a means of escape.
An already-established refuge named Indian Natural Resource Science and Engineering Program for marginalized science students on campus, inspired them to create a refuge of their own.
“We need to make our own space on campus since no one else is really going to do it for us, so we have to do it for ourselves,” Trujillo said. “And we’re like, ‘Oh, now that we’re doing this for ourselves, why don’t we do it for our communities.’”
Different cultural centers at HSU have gotten their budgets slashed, Trujillo worked to combat the problem with student retention.
“The stuff we do I think is very important to keeping student retention,” Trujillo said. “Because I’m one of those students that stayed here because of the centers and if it wasn’t because of centers, I would have been gone.”
Odalis Avalos is an environmental science and management major and senior. She works as the liaison for Ciencia Para Todos and conducts outreach. Avalos is glad to have a space where she can flourish alongside Latinx STEM students, an opportunity she didn’t have growing up.
“I’m really grateful that there is a program out there that’s able to provide this resource specifically for sciences,” Avalos said. “It’s a very lax subject within the Latinx community, so it’s not really normalized to pursue these types of careers.”
Building off that, Avalos is glad to be able to feel a sense of community not only with the students she teaches, but also with her colleagues like Trujillo.
“It means a lot that they’ve created the sense of community for me,” Avalos said. “So we sit together and we come together and we collaborate and we have a common mission and even with that, we also have common experiences together.”
Diana Martinez recently graduated from HSU but continues to work for Ciencia Para Todos. Responsible for translating entire lessons between English and Spanish and managing the Instagram account for the program, Martinez has become more confident and optimistic in her future endeavors.
“And I used to do English and Spanish, but then when I go up in Humboldt, it was just English,” Martinez said. “So I almost feel like my Spanish was just blocked, and having met this group of people, it was just like ‘Oh, I could just talk in Spanglish or I could talk in English and in Spanish fifty-fifty.’”
Martinez is inspired by the children she’s worked with for Ciencia Para Todos and feels accomplished with what she has done for them.
“Once you see the kids, especially the native kids that only speak Spanish, when you speak in the same language, there’s a huge happy face in their face and it’s hard to describe,” Martinez said. “But knowing that they’re able to communicate just fine and the fact that you know that you’re helping them and supporting them and empowering them, that makes me feel great as an educator, too.”
HSU’s eco awareness program continues providing support to campus during the pandemic
Humboldt State University’s Waste-Reduction and Resource Awareness Program team will be hosting seminars and workshops online, raising awareness of environmental justice, local resources, the zero-waste lifestyle and providing eco-friendly DIY techniques, like making your own deodorant.
This year Oct. 19-23, WRRAP will be holding its annual Zero Waste Conference virtually.
The virtual setting grants more accessibility for speakers to attend. Beyond the clothing swaps and physical demonstrations, WRRAP sacrificed the semester for the safety of students. The new policies come at the cost of student interaction.
Amanda McDonald, WRRAP’s program manager, said the biggest obstacle in their path this semester is reaching students.
“Typically, there’s multiple table events that we work throughout the semester that really get students engaged in waste reduction just by walking through the quad,” McDonald said. “That kind of interaction is so much harder with students being online.”
The WRRAP staff is smaller this semester, they are still provide students on campus with resources through the Reusable Office Supply Exchange program, the Bicycle Learning Center and the campus compost project.
The ROSE program simultaneously reduces waste and provides students with free access to school supplies donated by the community and former students.
Sam Kelly, director of ROSE, said the program is operating as usual with extra precautions and shorter hours of operation.
“We definitely have more stuff in here right now than past semesters,” Kelly said. “Just because we don’t have a lot of people coming in and taking it.”
The BLC, located on the eastern end of the Redwood Bowl, is offering free bike repairs to students, staff and faculty. Service differences include wearing masks and social distancing during repairs.
COVID-19 restrictions currently forbid the BLC from allowing volunteers, which has forced them to cut back their hours.
Justin Delgado, a BLC instructor, said it has also made the days a lot longer without someone else in the shop.
“Typically we get about one person, at least when I’m here, per day right now,” Delgado said. “It used to be prolly five or six.”
The compost team continues providing campus with their weekly services, however with a fraction of the employees present, their load is significantly lighter.
The team recently made the switch to an electric mountain bike this semester for compost collections. While much more energy efficient than the electric facilities vehicles they used in the past, in its current state, the trailer they’re hauling behind the E-bike can only hold a fraction of the buckets.
WRRAP’s compost collection process has switched over from electric facility vehicles to an electric mountain bike for energy efficiency. The downside to the switch, is the trailer the bike pulls behind it can only hold a fraction of the compost buckets.
Krissi Fiebig, the director of the compost branch of WRRAP, said they intend to team up with the BLC and modify the trailer possibly into a tower to fit more buckets.
“I don’t know how aerodynamic that would be,” Fiebig said. “But it would get the job done.”
The compost team is beginning a new partnership with the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, allowing students access to properly dispose of their food waste. Additionally, providing free fertilizer towards the end of the semester, to any students who show up.
McDonald expresses concern in the programs future with several of the student staff members expecting to graduate in the spring. Finding replacements will be challenging given the virtual format that’s currently planned for the rest of the academic year.
“I’m just nervous that it’s going to harm the integrity of the program,” McDonald said. “When we do hire new people, I want them to understand the history of this program and the legacy that they’re stepping into and carrying on.”
Though they can’t currently accept casual volunteers, the WRRAP team currently has intern positions available and leadership positions opening soon for students interested in the future of our planet.
“Being one of the people on the WRRAP branches really helps to remind me to reduce my own waste,” Fiebig said. “And just to be more conscious than I already was of the things I consume and what I do about my life.”
Proposal to move spring break to a later date generates controversy
On Sep. 29, Humboldt State University’s administration announced an idea to move spring break for this academic year from Mar. 15-19 to Apr. 5-9, 2021.
In the meeting, Jen Capps, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, explained the student and community health argument behind delaying spring break.
“We face some challenges around making sure that our faculty, our students, staff, et cetera are safe, and how to bring folks from out of county into county, quarantine them, provide face-to-face instruction,” Capps said. “And then if they leave for spring break, what I’m hearing from facilities and different folks is they just don’t have the capacity to then require students to quarantine again.”
A few suggestions for how to maneuver the situation were made by University Senate members including Cindy Moyer, an HSU music professor.
Moyer pitched the idea to have break or rest days spread throughout the academic year to divert students from traveling and returning home.
“Five carefully strategically spaced days off spread out over the weeks in the middle of the semester,” Moyer said. “So that students are getting some time off, but not getting enough time off that they will go home.”
Monty Mola, HSU physics and astronomy professor, argued that spring break should begin a week later. The decision to move around spring break would have ripple effects on the greater HSU community.
Giovanni Guerrero, a fourth-year environmental science management major, believes moving spring break to early April would be too much of an adjustment for students and faculty.
“There’s a lot of stress on my back as a student, and I’m sure a lot of stress on the backs of teachers as well [as] our professors to meet deadlines and to carry out our rigorous university expectations,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero added that the spring break would give everyone a chance to emerge from isolation and take a breather from responsibilities.
“I think there’s a direct correlation with mental health. Right now we’re in a different sort of situation, virtual learning,” Guerrero said. “Sitting here at my desk inside my room for six hours a day, doing homework, attending classes and then doing my work with Associated Students. I have very little breathing room. Having a break, like a week break, where I don’t have to stay inside my room all day is super beneficial.”
Rich Alvarez, the Diving and Safety Officer in the HSU Scuba Diving program, is less concerned about the psychological impacts of a later spring break and more concerned about the practical implications.
For his diving certification program, Alvarez typically takes his students to Mendocino for open water dives where the diving conditions are more stable than anywhere in Humboldt. However with COVID-19 restrictions, he is only able to travel within the confines of the county.
“Traditionally, Trinidad doesn’t really get to the point where we would feel safe taking students into the water there until April and sometimes even late April,” Alvarez said. “So if they shift spring break to the fifth through the 12th, the question becomes, can we meet with them after spring break? And it kind of sounds like a no.”
If Alvarez can’t meet with his students after break to finish their diving certification, they will be unable to partake in open water dives.
“That takes that whole month of April out of contention, and then we were looking at trying to, either way, putting students into water conditions that may not necessarily be safe for what we’re trying to do, or having to get people most of the way through their certification, but not able to do the open water dives.”
University Center Board Members address Humboldt State University President’s notice of termination
The Oct. 8 University Center board meeting discussed a Sept. 24 email from Humboldt State President Tom Jackson issuing a 90-day notice of termination.
The notice requires the board to fix problems like a $300,000 line of credit to the North Humboldt Recreation and Park District and refusing to participate in the President’s review of the UC programs.
The NHRPD runs the Arcata Community Pool. According to Faculty Representative Mark Rizzardi, Ph.D., Humboldt State University has worked with the group since 1993.
The UC group disputed these claims.
Wendy Sotomayor, interim executive director, called the notice disheartening and unexpected. Sotomayor noted that the board is actively engaging in discussions on how to respond.
Additionally, the group reached out to their legal counsel for advice and expects to have a draft of an initial response in the coming weeks.
“It’s hard to imagine what would happen if the UC were to actually close,” Sotomayor said.
Faculty Representative Steve Martin, Ph.D., pursued the idea. Martin responded directly during the board call addressing future concerns.
“What would happen if we were to close permanently?” Martin said.
Martin posed that the closure of the UC allows HSU to hire private organizations and groups for services without the need for approval from a board.
Earlier this year HSU worked with Aladdin, a food catering company that provides meal services to universities across the country like Fairmount University and Purdue University Fort Wayne. The administration did not go forward with any contract or agreement with the Aladdin group.
Further complicating the matter is the projected loss of 2.2 million dollars in the UC budget.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions and regulations, operations that fall under the control of the UC Board have been temporarily closed or operating in a limited capacity. These include the campus information desk, The Jolly Giant, College Creek Marketplace and the campus bookstore.
With reduced foot traffic due to shelter-in-place guidelines combined with the decrease of students on campus, dining services has taken an exceptionally hard toll. Even while operating at reduced capacity.
Sotomayor estimated that there are 675 meal plans active on campus, a drastic decrease from previous years.
“We would need 1200 meal plans to break even,” Sotomayor said during the Zoom call. “At 675 we are not even close.”
While the future seemed unclear, Rizzardi noted that the next course of action needed to be made soon.
“In order to cancel it within the 90 days, we would have to start now, and that’s not something we want to do,” Rizzardi said. “Get ready to drop things so that way if he says no we can act fast.”
The board members noted that they had not been given any further clarification from the administration on how to tackle, refute or respond to the notice.
During the meeting, members made a movement to formally ask for a representative from the President’s office to be present during the next session on Oct. 22.
“It takes two to tango,” Martin said. “We need to some response from them, otherwise they can just ignore us for 90 days and then say it’s terminated.”
The last day for the board to fix changes is Dec. 23. If unable to provide solutions, the UC board will be terminated on Dec. 24.
Proceeds go to the African American Center of Academic Excellence
The Humboldt State University women’s soccer team started a bracelets for change movement to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Mary Swisher, a senior at HSU and soccer player throughout college, stated that the social injustice present within our country was infuriating and motivated the team to combat the issue.
“While I cannot speak on the racist experiences that African Americans face, it hurts me to hear, see and learn about the effect that racism has on my peers in athletics, at school and the border community of color,” Swisher said. “My teammates and I have decided that we will continue to educate, advocate and work to support people of color in our community and our country.”
Athletes are asking for donations for HSU’s African American Center of Academic Excellence. The team has handmade 30 bracelets out of the 70 that were ordered by friends, family and the community, totaling more than $700 dollars to the AACAE so far.
The AACAE is a cultural and social hub on campus to support identifiable Black students and offer them a higher education. Douglas Smith the Organizer for HSU’s AACAE said he was shocked by the compassion demonstrated by the women’s soccer team.
“Very grateful for multiple reasons. We didn’t reach out to them or ask to fundraise,” Smith said. “They did it on their own ambitions. I was grateful.”
COVID-19 and budget cuts hit the AACAE hard. With the money being donated, they feel extremely grateful and thankful. Smith believes it’s time to confront racial injustices head on and create dialogue.
“Times up. Honestly the time for conversation and talking about it and educating people about it, it’s kinda over,” Smith said. “If there isn’t action being taken place right now then move out of the way. My mood for your question is it’s time for action and talk is rhetoric.”
Coach Grant Landy of the women’s basketball team stated that the athletes came up with the bracelet idea completely on their own and had the AACAE in mind.
“I challenged the team to continue the conversation about racial injustice and they came up with the bracelet idea,” Landy said. “They wanted to help our campus community and chose the AACAE to help support.”
The women’s basketball team choose to help support HSU’s own clubs and organizations. Landy applauds the team’s spirit and dedication to raising awareness for racial injustice.
The Women’s Soccer Team is still accepting bracelet orders and is still taking donations to support HSU’s AACAE.
Swisher stated that the women’s basketball team felt they needed to contribute more than conversation to the racial injustice movement.
“As a team we were having conversations about the injustice against African Americans in our country,” Swisher said. “The conversations were productive and we were educating ourselves but we decided that talking about that problem was not enough.”
The co-captain from the women’s soccer team, Sabine Postma, has experience doing similar fundraisers in her hometown in Washington. The team decided their impact would be most effective if they donated their proceeds to a local organization, like AACAE.
“It’s an admirable organization on our Humboldt State campus that empowers, supports, and celebrates the Black lives in our community,” Postma said.
The best game about gaslighting your friends on a spaceship
Among Us was released by InnerSloth in 2018, but remained in obscurity, averaging only about 30 players at any given time. This all changed in July, when it was picked up and thrust into the spotlight by Twitch streamers such as Sodapoppin.
Today, Among Us boasts over 100 million downloads and 60 million daily players. Owing to its easy learning curve, low cost and social nature, the game took off. It’s deceptively simple but downright addictive.
Among Us is a charmingly animated game with a distinctive visual style. Playing as colorful astronauts, players are divided into two teams: crewmates and imposters.
Crewmates are charged with completing their tasks and investigating the imposter among them, while imposters must sabotage the ship and murder all of the crewmates before being discovered.
The real action of the game occurs in the chat feature, where players bring out their best detective work to uncover the liars.
As one of the 60 million Among Us players, the hype is real. I play as a lime green astronaut who wears a plastic flamingo on their head and it’s as delightful as it sounds. For crewmates and imposters alike, may I present: tips on not getting launched into the void of space.
1. Always know where you are. Having an alibi is the best way to prove your innocence (or fake it). Be prepared to explain what you were doing and who you might have seen there.
2. Know how to argue. Whether you’re accusing someone or defending yourself, have evidence. Did a crewmate see you do a visual task? Did you vote out the last imposter? Why were you following Red around the map? You have to be able to find reasons why people are or are not the imposter and persuade people that you know what you’re talking about. Which brings us to tip two and a half: Lying.
3. Learn to lie convincingly. If you can convince just one or two crewmates that you’re trustworthy, that you couldn’t have been the killer, that you were in medbay the entire time, then you’ve just earned yourself another chance to strike. As in life, lying is a great way to eliminate your enemies with no repercussions.
4. Find a buddy. If you’re a crewmate, you’ll have a friend who will witness and report your murderer, or simply stand by and protect you while you complete your tasks. If you’re an imposter, you either have an unsuspecting victim or a second imposter to team up with and lend an alibi to.
5. Don’t be a cheater. If you’ve been murdered, don’t be that guy who calls their buddy and tells them who the imposter was. It’s a jerk move all around and ruins the fun of investigation.
Firefighters who test positive for COVID-19 will be housed on campus to complete their quarantine period.
Humboldt State University will provide quarantine housing to United States Forest Service firefighters in the event that someone on their teams tests positive for COVID-19. Housing will be for the individuals who were potentially exposed to positive COVID-19 individuals.
HSU has set aside two dormitory buildings, Maple and Hemlock, which can house up to 20 firefighters each.
Firefighters are expected to avoid the dining halls and not share spaces with students. The US Forest Service is requiring employees to adhere to quarantine orders, limiting them to individual rooms. Rooms are located in the same building, separate from housing residents.
HSU has not been requested to provide meal delivery. The US Forest Service has contracts with vendors for meal delivery.
All of the protocols were developed by the CDC, California Public Health and Humboldt County Public Health. Similar to the isolation rooms that have been set aside for HSU students who’ve tested positive, rooms will be sterilized prior to forest service stays and again after they’ve left.
Aside from COVID-19, Forest Service firefighters have stayed overnight for transition housing during the fire season.
Stephen St. Onge, associate vice president for student success at HSU, is impressed with the university’s speedy response towards CAL Fire’s request.
“There was a group that was moving from one fire to another and couldn’t find a place to stay,” Onge said. “We mobilized and we’re able to support that, I am proud of HSU for being able to do that.”
The group that stayed on campus slept for a few hours until transitioning to the next fire. None of the firefighters that stayed overnight were tested positive for COVID-19. A contract is currently in the works to see if CAL Fire needs more transition housing from HSU.
Typically, fire agencies try to keep hotel rooms open for fire evacuees by finding alternative housing. During COVID-19, it is extremely important that they find non-congregate living for quarantine.
As a state entity with lots of amenities in a rural region, HSU often partners with state, local, and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and others to provide support.
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