FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 2, 2015 SONOMASTATESTAR.COMVOLUME 74 // ISSUE 5

Sonoma State Star SINCE 1979

P. 6 ‘Facing Our Truth’ tackles race issues P. 9 Student-run nightclub gets wild P. 8Tattoos and Blues Festival

Women’s track returns after seven yearsRissie MaRkaRian

Staff Writer

The seven-year hiatus of the women’s track and field team at Sonoma

State University is finally over.Junior global studies ma-

jor and member of the return-ing women’s track and field team, Maria Hurtado is look-ing forward to the team’s up-

coming race on Saturday.“We are excited to com-

pete and represent Sonoma State in track and field against such competitive schools we have in our conference. We can’t wait to race on Saturday in Humboldt,” said Hurtado.

In 2007, the team dis-banded in favor of women’s golf. Now that improvements to facilities are in progress and the roster has been filled,

women’s track and field is able to return to campus.

“Women’s track and field has a strong and positive his-tory at Sonoma State,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, head coach for women’s track and field. “We are pleased to bring it back as an option for current and future Seawolf student-athletes.”

One of the main issues as to why the program was dis-

continued was because they had trouble recruiting athletes and there wasn’t enough inter-est from student-athletes to maintain the track and field team.

The reinstatement of the women’s’ track and field team will allow Sonoma State to meet Title IX gender equity goals concerning athletics.

Title IX was initially es-tablished to create “gender eq-

uity,” so schools were required to give women equal opportu-nities in regard to athletics and all educational programs in general. An increase of federal funds are awarded to schools who meet this requirement, which will benefit not only women’s sports at Sonoma State, but men’s sports as well.

“By fielding a women’s outdoor track and field team that will compete in the spring

seasons,” said Fitzpatrick. “Not only are we giving our student-athletes additional op-portunities for achievement, but we’re aiding our training and recruiting efforts in wom-en’s cross country by giving our student-athletes the ability to compete year-round.”

The women’s track and field team have their first of-ficial meet this Saturday in Humboldt.

Measles outbreak continues nationwide

Joshua GutieRRez

Staff Writer

Thousands of individuals will visit or attend Sonoma State University

during the semester. The likeli-hood that all will be vaccinated against an infectious disease is uncertain. Concern regard-ing the outbreak of measles has been a prominent topic within the United States recently and the discussion of whether to vaccinate against the disease has sparked controversy among many.

“People will not vacci-nate because they see no cases in the United States and ask, why should I take on any risk from a vaccine?” said Sonoma County Deputy Health Offi-cer Karen Holbrook. “The re-ality is that the risk of illness is ever changing and nobody is an island. Sonoma State is a perfect example of that.”

Since December 2014,

there have been 119 confirmed measles cases reported among California residents. There have been no confirmed cases of measles in Sonoma County, but neighboring Marin Coun-ty has reported two. Sixty-nine individuals over the age of 20 contracted the disease. This information comes from a California Public Health Department update released on Feb. 18.

“Most of higher educa-tion is consistent with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and ev-ery other scientifically-based public health entity,” said Georgia Schwartz, medical director at the Student Health Center. “Immunization saves lives. The ponderousness of scientific evidence worldwide is that vaccines are safe and effective and substantially re-duce the risk of disease.”

Sonoma State corre-sponds with California State

University and California law in regard to required immuni-zations. Measles and rubella, also known as the MMR vac-cine and hepatitis B, are the only required vaccinations needed before a student can attend.

Though not required, the campus strongly recommends vaccinations for chicken pox, diphtheria, pertussis and tet-anus, also known as DTaP, hepatitis A, human papillo-mavirus, also known as HPV, meningococcal, mumps and polio. Recommendations that run concurrently with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Amer-ican College Health Associa-tion.

Schwartz said public health officials feel more im-munizations should be re-quired simply because the generation that is beginning college were

See MEASLES on Pg. 4

Immigration issues press onGustavo vasquez

Managing Editor

A federal judge’s deci-sion on Feb. 16 has blocked President

Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration, which could shield millions of un-documented immigrants in the United States from de-portation.

U.S. District Judge An-drew Hansen filed an injunc-tion against President Barack Obama’s executive order, stating it would make United States states “suffer irrepa-rable harm in this case.”

Closer to home, Anay-eli Cruz, alumna of Sonoma State revealed her experience graduating from a university with a degree and unable to

use it because of her legal status in the United States. Cruz applied for Deferred Action For Childhood Arriv-als (DACA) back in 2012, she isn’t currently affected by the recent injunction made by Hansen.

“After obtaining my bachelor’s degree, I was not able

See IMMIGRATION on Pg. 5

STAR // Niquie Wilson

Sonoma State University’s women’s track and field team was disbanded after a lack of interest from student athletes and lack of adequate facilities in 200. In the summer it was announced the team would return to Sonoma State after much interest from the student body.

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Many gathered in support of immigration reform in San Francisco for a rally and march in 2010.

Contact InformationNichols Hall 323, 1801 East Cotati Ave

Rohnert Park, CA 94928Telephone: 707-664-2776

Business & General Inquiries: sonomastatestar@gmail.com

Corrections and News Tips: star@sonoma.edu

THE STAREditorial Board & Staff

This week’s can’t miss article:

Editor’s Pick

PublicationThe STAR is published every Tuesday during the fall

and spring semesters. Printing is done by Healdsburg Printing. The weekly publication of the STAR is made possible by Instructionally Related Activities Funding.

OpinionsOpinions expressed in the STAR are those of the

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

Letters to the EditorLetter writers may expect prompt publication in the

newspaper’s op-ed section, as space is available. Letters of up to 500 words will be allowed and must be submitted no later than the Friday before the publication date. Pub-lished letters must be free of libel, since the publication is held legally accountable for all content. Although per-sonal controversy will be tolerated, it is the responsibility of the editor to check statements purporting the facts. The STAR reserves the right to refuse publication to any letter and to edit for length. Letters must sign all contributions and the editor must verify the signer and the writer are one in the same through personal conference. To send a letter to the editor email star@sonoma.edu.

Dylan Sirdofsky, Editor-in-ChiefPeter Njoroge, Executive EditorKayla Webster, Managing Editor

Gustavo Vasquez, Managing Editor & Distribution Director

Kayla E. Galloway, News EditorAlexis Mills, Opinion Editor

Brandon Stachnik, Arts & Entertainment EditorJessie De La O, Features Editor

Shannon Brown, Features EditorKyler Khan, Sports Editor

Edward Goquingco, Photo EditorAmanda Saiki, Advertising Director

Brennan Chin, Marketing & Design DirectorEddie Blake, Editorial CartoonistPaul Gullixson, Faculty Adviser

Kory Arnold, Staff WriterJake Burke, Staff Writer

Samantha Cardenas, Staff WriterConnor Gibson, PhotographerJennifer González, Staff Writer

Aidan Guthrie, Staff WriterJoshua Gutierrez, Staff WriterOlivia Johnson, Staff Writer

Emily Johnstone, Staff WriterKimmie Jones, Staff WriterKayla Kring, Staff Writer

Rissie Markarian, Staff WriterAshley Martin, Staff WriterAncia Purdy, Staff WriterAlex Sanchez, Staff WriterCiara Smith, Staff WriterSierra Smith, Staff WriterAaron Walker, Staff Writer

Michelle Welling, Staff WriterNiquie Wilson, Photographer

“All-Americans: Seitz, Hull”They say all good things must come to an end,

right? For the Sonoma State University volleyball team, their season can finally take a look back at all the accomplishments. Managing Editor Kayla Website profiles All-Americans Caylie Seitz and Kelsey Hull, and how they helped take their squad to new heights and reach the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Read the full story on page 11

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

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

to write letters to the editor about all topics, including the editorial.

Corrections/ClarificationsIn the Issue 13 article, “Associated Students

proposes fee increase,” there were a few errors related to funding. The Tutorial Center receives $4.64 currently per student, and Associated Student fees range from $30 to $180 up and down the state of California. The corrections have been adjusted in the online edition.

Letters to the Editor

Editorial Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

sonomastatestar.com2

Dear Editor,I read the Sonoma State STAR edition of Feb. 10 to

Feb. 16. I was surprised at the poor writing, misuse of words and high number of cringe-inducing phrases and sentenc-es.

Is anyone editing the paper for grammar, usage and read-ability? It was embarrassing to read “the edition of Grier to Sally Tomatoes already impressive comedic pedigree…” It should be “addition” and the possessive apostrophe is missing. Almost ev-

ery article had an impressive number of mistakes, often more than one in each sentence.

The article on the smoking ban was filled with mistakes such as, “Sonoma State has long felt we [sic] could do more to protect our students’ [sic] and employees from second-hand smoke.”

I would never hire anyone who came to me with these ar-ticles in their portfolio if I expected that person to write business letters or professional documents.

Mia James is a resident of Santa Rosa.

Editors need to edit better

Dear Editor,Economics, perhaps more

than any other discipline, is about studying how people respond to incentives. Incentives are characterized as either extrinsic (financial rewards for good grades) or intrinsic (pride in a job well-done).

In economic literature, there’s sub-stantial research on the relationship be-tween intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and how it affects behavior. Psychologists have also spent a great deal of time and ef-

fort studying this topic. The bottom line is that extrinsic motivations tend to crowd-out or dominate intrinsic motivations.

In a context where students are pro-vided financial rewards for earning good grades, this implies students are more likely to abandon a curious pursuit or in-teresting challenge in favor of an “easy A.” In addition to distorting the incentives of faculty and the university, this stifles ac-tual learning and personal development.

Financial rewards are often a useful device for aligning incentives of differ-

ent decision-makers and agents, but it’s clear that whenever incentives are artifi-cially manipulated—especially extrinsic ones—unintended consequences are apt to follow.

While I understand and even empa-thize with the sentiment behind the typi-cal arguments for paying students for good grades, it’s almost certainly coun-terproductive.

Michael S. Visser is a professor in the department of economics at Sonoma State University.

Financial incentives for grades? Intrinsic motivations matter

A Texas federal judge blocked President Barack Obama’s re-

cent executive order on im-migration—one that would shield millions of undocu-mented immigrants in the United States from deporta-tion.

U.S. District Judge An-drew Hansen ordered an in-junction on Obama’s execu-tive actions on the grounds states would “suffer irrepa-rable harm,” and that the De-partment of Homeland Secu-rity bypassed a mandate to allow public comment on the policy changes.

The executive order was supposed to open on Wednes-day, shielding people living in the United States before 2010 and those who arrived before the age of 16. Those who qualify don’t gain legal status, but have the right to work legally, get drivers li-censes and not worry about being deported.

The executive order had two parts, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and part two, which was sched-uled to be in effect next month, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans. The last clause defines parents who don’t have legal status, but have American children.

What harm would the United States suffer—letting roughly 4 million to 5 million people already in the country for at least five years work and go to school legally?

Hansen’s decision lacks consideration; there are no disputable facts given to sup-port this decision to allow a

lawsuit filed by 26 states to move forward. The states want to block Obama’s ex-ecutive order, claiming the president is overreaching his authority.

However, there are strong arguments that sup-port the president.

Obama has made 203 ex-ecutive orders while in of-fice, which is well below President George W. Bush’s count of 291 and far below President Franklin D. Roos-evelt’s 3,522.

The United States has had seven different amnesty programs since 1986, which marked a huge turning point in American immigration.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act passed that year gave 3 million undocu-mented immigrants legal permanent status, the ability to stay in the United States without fear of deportation as well as to work and drive legally.

Furthermore, immi-grants built the United States. This country is a melting pot of different cultures, ethnici-

ties, religions and beliefs. No human is illegal; the idea of being born in the United States and the privilege to live here from that privilege seems imprudent.

The majority of people in the United States have ances-tors who came from some-where else; a statement peo-ple can’t argue against unless they are of Native American descent. Many Americans who express chauvinism fail to realize this.

It’s shameful and wrong to deny someone the access to live, grow and prosper es-pecially if that individual has already lived in the country for a significant portion of his or her life, and calls it home.

The president’s executive order is meant to legalize those who have lived in the country for some time. It’s not for those residing in an-other country and wanting to become a U.S. citizen.

When an individual grows up somewhere, it be-comes their home; it’s all one knows. Imagine living

in the United States, then be-ing ripped away from family and friends and thrown into an unfamiliar country where one doesn’t feel they belong? Fundamentally, the culture one associates with is the one that’s present from early on. It defines a person.

What is blocking Obama’s executive order go-ing to do? It’s most likely just going to cause a delay.

The United States can consider suffering “irrepa-rable harm” as wasting the federal government’s time, and taxpayer money.

There’s no possible way to deny legality to the mil-lions of people who reside in the United States. The re-sources needed to do so sur-pass what the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security offers and wont cause any change. Those deported will surely be back soon because they call this place home.

Obama’s executive order is not the final solution to fix a broken immigration sys-tem. Nonetheless, it’s a start in the right direction.

STAR // Eddie Blake

Repairing a broken immigration plan

Read more about recent immigration

issues on page 1.

OpinionFeb. 24 - March 2, 2015 3sonomastatestar.com

Page

Emily JohnstonE

Staff Writer

From red carpet events to all the gossip sto-ries, celebrity obses-

sions are noticed all over society. There are times that I definitely can’t help myself from going and picking up the trendy magazine that’s on the stands. However, I feel that a huge issue occur-ring in society is the amount of attention we’re placing on unimportant topics, such as the lives of celebrities.

The people working in the field of media and selling stories to the public know the different reasons people are interested in reading about the lives of famous people and they use it to their ad-vantage.

As if there wasn’t enough going on in day-to-day life, people tend to find entertain-ment learning about the lives

of others. In order to grab the attention of people, those working in the media come up with ideas and stories that will sell to the public.

For a large demographic, a topic that tends to pull our attention is looking into the lives of public figures or celebrities. Society is get-ting its fix of entertainment by reading all kinds of sto-ries about celebrities. Those in the media know this and seem to be willing to go to whatever lengths necessary in order to sell a story.

“It’s hard for legitimate news

and informa-tion sources to be heard

above all the noise,” said Ed Beebout.Getting those parts to

create something they’re able to market and sell requires them to go to great lengths. With thousands of maga-zines in the United States all fighting for the highest sales, reports will spin any-thing to make it a big deal by playing off the emotions and thoughts of the public.

As some readers skim the pages of a magazine or scroll through articles on-line, they are intrigued by the sense of living vicariously through someone else. See-ing what it’s like for those who are wealthier, famous and desirable has created a great interest into the lives of celebrities.

A sense of envy and fas-cination tends to have people wanting to read about them and imagine their pleasurable lives. While the media may thrive from stories of celebri-ties extravagant trips, lavish weddings and expensive pur-chases, they also know how to sell the screw ups as well.

Society also finds plea-sure in the misfortune of those celebrities that look like they’re living a care-free life. Reading about the embarrassment tends to give us a sense of superiority be-cause while everything isn’t necessarily great in our lives, their lives aren’t perfect ei-ther.

Reading about their breakdowns and issues shields us from thinking about the problems we have in society.

“The news is bad. Who wants to know that when we can watch Lindsay Lohan

drown in a sea of Vicodin? It’s just way more fun than facing what is actually hap-pening out there,’’ said Dan-ny Bonaduce, a former child star in an interview with CNN.

Living with the reality of what’s going on in the world around us has fallen on the back-burner to celeb-rity gossip. It’s a light topic that doesn’t require much thought, yet provides those who find any enjoyment in celebrity gossip with a sense of entertainment. However, what does that say about where people in society place their interest and attention?

“It’s hard for legitimate news and information sourc-es to be heard above all the noise,” said communication and media studies professor Ed Beebout. “That’s why it’s more critical than ever for each of us as individuals to seek out that information.”

Reports and paparazzi in charge of getting stories or insight into the lives of these well-known stars are re-quired to play on the wants of the public. From the Kar-dashians to Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods to O.J. Simp-son, the appetite we have for celebrity misbehavior seems unquenchable.

AidAn GuthriE

Staff Writer

Americans throw away nearly half of the food consumed, which is a

disturbing example of how society is being built upon ex-cess and waste.

The Huffington Post esti-mates that this lost food is worth about $165 billion an-nually. That is, in effect, $165 billion taken out of the American economy and liter-ally thrown in the trash. This waste of food poses moral, economic and ecological di-lemmas.

From a moral standpoint it almost goes without saying that throwing away nearly half of our food when we live in a world where millions starve every day seems criminal. But Americans are insulated from this reality by an economy and culture that’s designed with the mentality of more is bet-ter.

The food industry is just one facet of the excess and waste that dwells within American consumerism be it clothes, technology or oth-erwise. In short, we have a moral obligation to pay more attention to our own wasteful habits in a world where others starve.

From an economic stand-point, wasting food, especial-ly for the consumer, results in a loss of money that can’t be retrieved.

The obvious fact that food is perishable makes any essentially lost wealth. The problem is exacerbated on two fronts, the food industries overproduction coupled with a culture which conditions consumers to buy more than they need, which encourages wasting food.

The United States Govern-ment also pro-

vides $10 billion to $30 billion worth of cash subsidies for agricultural

industry, large-ly benefiting

corporations.

These subsidies are dis-tributed with the intent of making farming lucrative in the United States and thus keep the country’s food prod-ucts competitively priced on the world market. This back-ward logic encourages farms to produce food at maximum capacity, often through expen-sive technologies or at the ex-pense of the environment.

The intensive farming that takes place in the Mid-west requires large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides in order to achieve maximum production. These substances, through water drainage, make their way to the Mississippi river and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico.

Their impact is apparent through a significant lack of marine life in areas affected. These so called “dead zones” exist around the world as a re-

sult of modern farming tech-niques.

Human nature tends to follow the status quo. In light of this, and the urgency in which environmental issues surrounding food production need to be addressed, we don’t have the time to spare wait-ing on consumers to change. Therefore, I advise steps be implemented, by various lev-els of government, to curb food waste and install more sustainable practices.

These sustainable prac-tices come in many forms, such as growing a diversity of crops instead of practic-ing monoculture. This would help maintain soil integrity and support native species of animals and insects that need a variety of plant life to thrive.

Putting compost bins in every home, school or place of work would slash the amount of organic waste put in land-fills. While compost programs take an initial investment to organize, in many cases they are self-sustaining by selling composted materials as fertil-izer to farmers.

The city of Las Vegas, while offering no natural re-sources, operates one of the most successful compost pro-grams in the country.

By far the most resource taxing portion of the food industry is meat production. The meat industry uses vast amounts of water, land and fossil fuels for relatively lit-tle product if those resources were put toward farming. The Food and Agriculture Organi-zation estimates that livestock contribute 15 percent of annu-al greenhouse gas emissions and the numbers are much higher for industrialized na-tions.

In addition, large-scale livestock farms stress the land they use and pose a constant threat of contamination for surrounding areas. For these reasons, the meat industry’s farming practices must evolve to be less damaging and its operation as a whole should ultimately be downsized. This is achievable through regula-tion.

Some of these sugges-tions would definitely be un-popular. If they were actually mandated and implemented by the government, a rise in food prices could surely be expect-ed. However, they are con-crete solutions to environmen-tal degradation that are much less painful than facing an ag-ricultural or economic crisis. Such a crisis could come in the form of crop failure, water contamination from pesticides and general negative effects as a result of greenhouse gas-ses speeding global warming.

Change can start on a lo-cal level at Sonoma State. Creating a compost program and individuals taking initia-tive to waste less at food at dining venues on campus are immediate actions that could help reduce our personal con-tribution to the food waste problem.

In the modern world, na-ture is at the will of human-ity. Our relationship with food must change from blind con-sumers to conscious stewards of our resources.

Greater attention toward minimizing and utilizing food waste would improve our mor-al standing as a society, ben-efit the economy long-term, improve the public’s general health and create an ecologi-cally sustainable future.

Sometimes we need to feel discomfort in order to change for the better.

Misguided attention in consuming information

Excessive food waste a luxury

of the past

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Have an opinion?We’d like to read it.

The STAR welcomes and encourages letters to the editor and guest submissions. For more information, read the left sidebar for our policies on editorials and letters to the editor.

E-mail all opinions tostar@sonoma.edu

News Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

sonomastatestar.com4

AFRICAAccording to BBC, armed men abducted 89 boys in South Sudan in a camp in Malakal, a city located in northern South Sudan. The men, who weren’t identified, located boys over 12 and abducted them from their houses. The information came from the U.N. children’s agency. South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 and is also the newest state in the world.

NORTH AMERICAAccording to The New York Times, “Birdman” was the top winner at the Oscars. The film won four awards, which were best picture, director, cinematography and original screenplay. Alejandro G. Inarritu directed the film, which features actors such as Michael Keaton and Zach Galifianakis.

EUROPEA bomb killed two people in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine, on Sunday and left ten injured. In the report from BBC, the attack happened while a rally was underway. The rally signified one year after the uprising that ended pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych’s leadership. Four suspects were caught in connection to the attack.

AUSTRALIAOfficials in Australia are looking at evidence and proposing tighter immigration laws after the Lindt café attack by Man Haron Monis in December. According to BBC, The attack left three dead with the inclusion of Monis. The Australian security hotline received 18 calls about a “self-styled” priest days before Monis’s attack. In the article, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbot said stricter visa, citizenship and bail regulations are likely to occur.

HEALTHIn a Business Insider video, Dr. Daniel Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine, spoke about the harm of looking at screens before going to sleep. He explained the photons from the backlight emitted from smartphones keep people up at night. According to Siegel, the light tells the brain to not produce melatonin, which is a hormone associated with sleep. This then causes sleep deficiency and creates a host of psychological problems.

News in Brief

Campus prepares to vote on fee via

referendumMichelle Welling

Staff Writer

It’s not often students have direct control over how their student fees are spent, or

how much they pay. However, this rare instance will fall into the hands of students March 9 through March 11, via their Seawolf emails, when a student referendum will be held to vote on a proposed Associated Stu-dents fee increase.

The increase is projected to be minimal – a $3 increase each year, to a total of $12 over four years – but significant. Raising the current fee from $99 per se-mester, over the course of four years to $111 will provide As-sociated Students more fund-ing to support Sonoma State’s expanding student body.

Associated Students funds a number of on-campus proj-ects such as Associated Stu-dents Productions, Join Us Making Progress, Center for Student Involvement and Ser-vice, the Tutorial Center, the Children’s School and grants for student-run clubs.

These services are stretched thin by the demand a growing student body brings.

One such resource that’s pressed for means: both fund-ing and number of staff, is the Tutorial Center. The Tutorial Center is free to Sonoma State students, as its funding is sup-ported by student fees, making it an excellent resource for stu-dents seeking support in aca-demics.

However due to the in-f lux of students matched with a shortage of finance, the Tu-torial Center is unable to hire more student tutors to meet the demand for student academ-ic support. The fee increase would result in a larger budget for programs like the Tutorial Center, and other on-campus resources.

“This is actually the sec-ond referendum concerning the Tutorial Center,” said Associat-ed Students Involvement Sena-tor Cary Yballa. “The last one gave the center $3 per student, and was passed by students. This referendum makes sure the last is improved upon. It is for functions such as the Tuto-rial Center that students vote in favor of the fee increase. It’s a program that really helps keep students in school.”

An increase in student fees is often the catalyst for contro-

versy within a university, but this sum is one that is directly implemented toward student needs and resources.

This increase would be funded by student dollars, and the same students may commu-nicate with Associated Student senators to reach a consensus of funding allocation; and this transparency could be the de-ciding factor for many students.

“It’s really important to know what you’re paying for, at any school,” said environ-mental studies and planning senior Sarina Healey. “In the future when you’re paying for your own house or bills, you’ll want to know that breakdown of how much you’re using, so this is kind of an entryway to financing and budgeting the re-sources you’re using.”

There are several informa-tion sessions students may at-tend leading up to the election so that students are equipped to make an informed vote.

The next session is Mon-day, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on the second f loor of the Student Center.

Additional information and details for information sessions are on the Associated Students website.

North Carolina shooting shows media’s faults

AAron WAlker

Staff Writer

Recently, a fatal shooting of three Mus-lim students occurred in Chapel Hill, N.C. and the case has sparked uproar

around the world. On Feb. 10, Craig Hicks arrived at the

students apartment and fatally shot Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, her husband, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23 and her sister Ra-zan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Hicks, a self-proclaimed ‘gun-toting atheist,’ was subject to search warrants by police who found more than a dozen firearms, and large amounts of ammunition in his house. When the assailant turned himself in on Feb. 10, he was in possession of a handgun.

Early reports indicated the dispute was over a parking space between Hicks, the vic-tims’ neighbor, but the family of the students’ claim they were targeted because they were Muslim. The Islamic community around the world is outraged at the way the United States is handling the investigation.

In light of the attack on these Muslim stu-dents, many people question the mainstream media for labeling the killings as ‘atheist mur-der,’ because some believe these murders are an act of terrorism.

This has created controversy around whether the label of “terrorist” is one-sided in that it only applies to people who are not of Caucasian descent. Criminal justice major Juan Barrera believed the stigma surrounding Islam stems from the media.

“People will usually first hear about a story from a mainstream media source, and they are easy to believe whatever version of the story that media outlet presents,” said Barrera.

The Islamic community around the world is outraged that the United States is playing this double standard to the word terrorist.

Hicks made a number of social media posts prior to the attacks where he described his hatred for different religions, and some of which described violence against. Many consider Hicks a terrorist, yet resent that the mainstream media has failed to properly

identify Hicks.Peter Phillips, professor of sociology at

Sonoma State and founder of Project Cen-sored, believes this issue needs to be looked at in the context of the U.S. global war on terror.

“The president of the United States can reap death from the skies with impunity against Muslims resisting the global empire of imperial power, and the corporate media justifies the murder as the killing of evil,” said Phillips. “Why would a crazed North Caro-lina white man think it’s justified to kill Mus-lims over a parking space?”

This negative stigma to the Islamic com-munity is constantly reinforced by the media showing videos of beheading and bombing by those labeled as Muslim extremists.

“People will usually first hear about a story from a mainstream me-dia source, and they are easy to believe whatever version of the story that media outlet presents,”

said Juan Barrerra.The FBI is now involved in the investi-

gation of this case to determine whether any federal laws, including those relating to hate crimes, were committed. Originally the FBI said they would aid in processing of evidence, but wouldn’t conduct a separate investigation.

After much scrutiny from foreign coun-tries, the FBI has now launched a parallel in-vestigation into the killings. President Barack Obama called the slaying earlier this week as “brutal and outrageous,” but he declined to say if he believes the killings constitute a hate crime.

Nearly 5,000 people turned out for stu-dent’s funeral, many of which traveled for hours to pay their respects.

Diversity was embraced at this ceremo-ny, and people from different religious back-grounds all came together to celebrate the life of the three students and the Muslim commu-nity.

MEASLES: No cases in Sonoma County

Continued from Pg. 1

young when the anti-immunization movement began.

Earlier this month, the University of Cali-fornia system passed a proposal set to begin in 2017 that will require students to be screened for tuberculosis and vaccinated for chicken-pox, measles, meningitis, whooping cough and tetanus.

Under California law, an “individual’s constitutional rights” are protected in the form of a Personal Belief Exemption. If a child were under 18 years of age, and their parents or guardians wished to not vaccinate, a health-care professional would need to acknowledge and sign off. Constitutional freedom of reli-gious expression is also protected under this law.

College students are afforded the same protection. These individuals are catalogued in such a way that in case of an outbreak, they can be easily identified, notified and if so pro-tected.

There are standard public health mecha-nisms in place to control an outbreak of a dangerous disease. Procedures were in place before the current measles outbreak in Cali-fornia. Public health officials in the county are responsible for the diagnosis of such diseases

and have authority over Sonoma State’s cam-pus.

“Let’s say that student X is identified. We would then interview that person and ask what dorm do you live in? What classes do you go to? We would map out where they were when they became infectious,” said Holbrook, in regard to potential outbreak of measles. “We need to identify the cohorts of people likely to be exposed. It has the potential to be very, very big. Maybe it gets the whole campus. Hope-fully we stop the spread quickly.”

Individuals truly exposed or susceptible are subject to quarantine of 21 days. The incu-bation period of measles is generally acknowl-edged to be 21 days, with the identifiable mea-sles-related rash identifiable around 14 days. Though all individuals are different, they are usually contagious four-to-five days prior to the identification of the rash.

A student who waived out or cannot prove their immunization through a blood test, is subject to removal if they are identified to have come in contact with the exposed or in facili-ties where the exposed has been.

“Besides the fact that measles can be life or neurological function threatening, it cer-tainly could be an academic quagmire,” said Schwartz. “It’s not designed to be punitive. It’s a public health measure designed to control the outbreak.”

STAR // Connor Gibson

The Sonoma State University Health Center serves as a resource for students with questions regarding the recent outbreak of measles

NewsFeb. 24 - March 2, 2015 5sonomastatestar.com

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Associated Students election campaigning underwaySee the opposing candidate statements below

Associated Students elections are ap-proaching at Sonoma State University and below are statements written by each

of the candidates that are running for an elected position for the 2015-16 school year. Each state-ment reflects candidates’ goals and intent in run-ning for the Associated Students.

Voting period for the Associated Students

elections begins March 9 and ends on March 11 at 5 p.m. with the election results to be an-nounced at Lobo’s Pizza and Pub in the Stu-dent Center between 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The campaigning period for all candi-dates running for an elected office began yes-terday and will continue until Friday, March 6. Students will have the opportunity to meet

with prospective officers during a “Meet and Greet” at Seawolf Plaza, between the Student Center and Recreation Center on Wednesday.

Students will get a first-hand look at the students running for an elected office with a debate happening in Ballroom B of the Stu-dent Center on March 3.

The following statements do not ref lect

the ideas or opinions of the STAR staff or edi-torial board and are written for the sole pur-pose of informing the community at Sonoma State.

For more information regarding thi Asso-ciated Students Elections please refer to the Elections Guide on the Associated Students website.

Brandon Mercer

Candidate for Associated Students President

My name is Brandon Mercer and I want to serve as your voice next year as Asso-ciated Students president. I am a third

year double major in economics and environmental studies. My passion for leadership started while serving on Sauvignon Village Council. Building from my early experience, I transitioned into my

niche at SSU welcoming in our students as a Sum-mer Orientation Leader.

Falling in love with the organization, I was hired as one of four team leaders to organize and carry out the mission of orientation the following year guiding in the class of 2018. While serving in various leadership roles my eyes have been opened to the vast diversity we have at Sonoma State; my ongoing objective is to support the unity amongst our diverse student body.

I got involved with the Associated Students last semester while serving on three committees: Academic Senate, Campus Re-engineering Com-mittee, and the Graduate Initiative Group. While serving on A.S.

I have voiced student concerns in meetings of crucial importance not only to the future of SSU operation but also academic programs and cur-rent student activities. There is no greater issue we face than the six year graduation average for CSU students. The severe lack of class options, limited seats, and miscommunication between SSU and the student body has hurt us all in our bid to suc-ceed.

I plan to address these head on, working with the administration to make Sonoma State a beacon of student success in the CSU system.

nicole doMinique

Candidate for Associated Students President

My name is Nicole Dominique, and like Martin Luther King Jr., I have a dream. I dream that Sonoma State University

students see their university as a positive envi-ronment to call home.

They see their campus as a place where

they feel safe, accepted, heard, have a voice, a place to get involved, get a great education, and a great stepping stone foundation to the rest of their lives.

My major is psychology and I have great leadership skills, communication skills, involve-ment in the community, involvement in different campuses, SEAWOLF SPIRIT, pageant crowns and many more skills. I have the time and dedi-cation to go above and beyond what the task “president” requires.

I am all about making a difference and mak-ing sure voices are heard. One thing about me is that I am the type of person who likes to succeed in everything I set out to do, but what sets me apart, is that I don’t like to succeed alone.

If I make it somewhere, I leave a ladder to pave a way for my peers so that we may all be successful as well, and we can all make a differ-ence and change the world together, even if it’s one step at a time.

I am a team player and you are my coach. Help me to make your dream campus a reality for us all.

On this campus, with me as president, dreams can come true. And remember, if you want victory over defeat, vote Dominique.

JasMine delgadillo

Candidate for Involvement Senator

Hello Seawolves, my name is Jasmine Delga-dillo. I am a sophomore majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Spanish.

Throughout my time at Sonoma State I have had the opportunity of being a member of the Greek com-munity, in which I have learned the importance of being actively involved at Sonoma while also build-ing my leadership skills.

Although grateful for the opportunities my so-rority has given me, I am ready to take my leader-ship to the next level which is why I am running for Involvement Senator. If chosen to be Involvement Senator, I will do my best to ensure that all clubs and organizations get the help they need in order to succeed to the fullest.

Given the opportunity, I plan to reach out to all clubs and organizations in order to get their input on what they find most suitable in the current sys-tem and what needs to change. My main goal as In-volvement Senator would be to help this community prosper campus-wide. Help make a positive change by voting for me. Thank you for your time and con-sideration.

rosa Maria Martinez

Candidate for Involvement Senator

My name is Rosa Maria Martinez, and I am currently a first year student at Sonoma State University. During my

first year as an involved student, I have seen the empowerment that comes from student interac-tions, activism and participation.

I truly believe that a student’s higher edu-cation experience is constructed by a student’s outside of the classroom experience. It is my hope as the involvement senator that students will have an enriching, engaged and proactive Seawolf experience by providing more events and uniting everyone together. In my interac-tions with students, I have heard students ex-press their dissatisfaction by stating, “There’s nothing to do at SSU.” I want to help fix that and connect students to school-wide events and meet more people.

Every student should feel supported to suc-ceed both academically and socially at SSU.

I want students to graduate from Sonoma State University stating,”I had the best four years of my life.” GO SEAWOLVES. VOTE FOR ME.

Continued from Pg. 1

to use my degree, and my em-ployment opportunities were very limited. I had a job that was paying minimum wage in retail,” said Cruz. “There were moments when I questioned myself whether the investment I had made in my education had been worth it. After I obtained DACA, I realized the privilege I had that many others who did not qualified lacked.”

After being accepted for Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, Cruz was able to apply for a social-security number, she was able to apply for a driver’s

license and work lawfully in the United States.

Cruz now is a legal immi-gration caseworker, working with an immigration attorney in the Bay Area providing legal services for immigrants.

Hansen’s decision came in response to a lawsuit made by 26 Republican majority states against Obama, and the White House, arguing he violated the “Take Care Clause” of the U.S. constitution, overreaching his level of authority.

“I can feel the uncertainty in the lives of classmates on campus,” said Lacinda Moore, president of the Multi-Cultural Education Club. “It has been

frustrating throughout the years to see government bodies play-ing with failed delaying and halt-ing tactics over a broad variety of Obama’s initiatives whether it be the budget, the Affordable Care Act and now immigration reform”.

Announced in 2012, De-ferred Action for Childhood Ar-rivals program would give peo-ple living in the United States unlawfully since childhood a two-year renewable pass.

Deferred Action does not give legal status, and those who apply may also work legally in the United States.

Deferred Action for Par-ents of Americans works in a

similar way, except the program is geared toward parents with children with legal status in the United States.

“It is very unfortunate that actions are being taken that inhibits the ability of undocu-mented students to gain legal status,” said Executive Vice-President Christian George. “The executive order signed by the president recognizes the important economic benefit that immigrants provide the econo-my, and by expanding Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, it would allow students to have one less worry in their desire to better themselves, their families, and the country they call home.”

The injunction filed by Han-sen has only affected those who wanted to apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and those applying for Deferred Action for Parents of Ameri-cans. Students who are a part of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, and Deferred Action For Child-hood Arrivals of 2012 aren’t af-fected, and can still renew.

George also said, “Fortu-nately, California has the Devel-opment, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM) that provides opportunities for undocumented students to re-ceive financial aid in their pur-suit of a college education.”

The Republican Party has stated they will block Obama’s executive order by cutting off funding to the program through the Department of Homeland Security; a spending bill with attached language to dismantle Obama’s order.

The Department of Justice is filing a Emergency Stay this week, which is supposed to undo Hansen’s injunction on President Obama’s executive order, shield-ing those in fear of deportation.

“Although I feel it’s a ben-efit that people who qualify should take advantage of, I don’t see it as long-term solution,” said Cruz. “It is only a tempo-rary relief.”

IMMIGRATION: Local students experience hardships

Recent study finds college freshman party less, study moreciara sMith

Staff Writer

College freshman in America are more focused on their academics than their social lives this year, according to a study done by research-

ers at UC Los Angeles.The 49th annual American Freshman study

shows college freshman who lived through much of the nation’s economic turmoil during junior high and high school place as high a priority on and it found the self-reported rates of alcohol and cigarette use for first-year students at four-year colleges were at their lowest rates in 30 years.

Sonoma State University students seem to agree with the findings of the study.

“In my experience I had a really hard time, my freshman year, balancing my social life with my aca-demia because of everything going on in SSU and I wasn’t used to that,” said Mary LoFranco, com-munications major and junior. “I was super social and I still got good marks but freshman that I know

this year [are] definitely more academically focused. I’m in a sorority and I know they have requirements to meet, academic standards, I think that definitely holds them accountable hopefully balancing as well.”

Freshman and business major, Emily Coats is more focused on her academics rather than her social life and believes students should focus more on their education.

“One of my past roommate, half of the popu-lation of the freshman is gone by the first semester because either they party to hard, don’t focus on their studies and they have to leave because they are too focused on their social lives and forget that they are here to be at school,” said Coats.

Last year, 18 percent of students that were sur-veyed, spent at minimum of 16 hours a week so-cializing and going out to have fun, but more than 41 percent said they didn’t party or socialize at all. Between 1987 and 2014, students who partied for at least six hours or more per week decreased quickly from barely 36 percent to under 9 percent.

The survey found that less students spent time during the senior year at high school at parties, which

is understandable since parents are getting stricter and other possibilities. From the survey that found less students partying in their senior year in high school, 41.3 percent stated that they didn’t go to par-ties at all, and then 61.4 percent said they had spent less than an hour a week at parties. Over time, the percentage of which students who had spent six or more hours per week at parties have dropped greatly, from 34.5 percent to 8.6 percent.

There are also college freshman that find their own middle ground between focusing on their aca-demics and their social lives.

“I think it’s not even necessarily bad, just stu-dents are trying to find a balance but still have do your work and actually be educated and learn,” said Josh Salem, biochemistry major and freshman. “It makes sense because there has been a lot more pres-sure and school is getting harder.”

A portion of the freshman class planning to re-ceive a master’s degree was roughly about 44 percent in 2014 compared to the 28 percent in 1974. A signifi-cance of 82 percent of students favored the impor-tance of being financially stable one day. The survey

was on responses from more than 153,000 students across the United States, according to UCLA. When students are spending less time socializing with friends, the amount of time on social networks are increasing quickly.

“UCLA and high prestigious schools is where they are obviously be more dedicated to their aca-demics. It’s harder for the students to be more so-cial nowadays because of media and focusing on their studying rather than going out and socializing with people,” said Alissa Becker, pre-nursing major, freshman. “I probably focus more on school rather than who I am going to hang out today because my priorities is to get good grades.”

It’s a trend every year that freshman enter col-lege intending to focus on academics for the first se-mester but after the first semester, they start putting schoolwork off.

“I can definitely say that I noticed students fo-cusing on academics more,” said Gracie Pino, a com-munity service Adviser and communications major. “Students this year are focusing on school and are more academically minded.”

Arts Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

sonomastatestar.com6

Ashley MArtin

Staff Writer

Something significant began to stir in Ives 76 on Friday; all shows for “Facing Our Truth,” a small series of 10-minute plays on race and other social

justice issues, had been completely sold out to intrigued Sonoma State University students and locals alike.

Each play, although short, was jam-packed with meaning as the topics of race and privilege were ad-dressed and the story of Trayvon Martin was brought to light.

This mini series has been popping up all over the country in response to Martin’s death and shooter, George Zimmerman’s acquittal.

Sonoma State is the first school in the California State University system to present it.

“The focus tonight will be on the script,” said Scott Horstein, production director of the series, “These stu-dents have had only six hours or so of rehearsal.

When one hears how little time the actors had to rehearse for their performance, it can be easy to assume the acting may be subpar, but this was certainly not the case.

Despite the very short time for practice, the acting presented by the students involved was passionate, pow-erful and professional, which made the message even more real and relatable for the audience.

Actors also showed their musical capabilities in “The Ballad of George Zimmerman,” making for a very involved show.

The series of plays depicted unfortunate situations in which racial stereotyping and prejudice are obviously apparent.

However, many positive messages followed, such as “no one’s life is better, or more important than anyone else’s,” which provoked a lot of emotion from the audi-ence.

Each play was focused on an aspect of racial preju-dice that is not commonly talked about, such as the very real dangers of being an African-American male in to-day’s world.

One eighth of the American population is African-

American, yet one half of all homicide victims are Af-rican American, according to the American Journal of Medicine.

The performances did not shame those who find themselves stereotyping according to race, but ques-tioned them.

Several questions such as “why does society do this?” and “how can we help?” were brought up in each play. The series has made its way onto college cam-puses in a very timely manner, since the young adult generation is the group is one that is the heavily affected by societal racial stereotyping.

This generation is also at the reigns of the future, and has the power to put an end to it.

Several plays diminished racial stereotypes, as many genders and cultures, including white women were thrown into Martin’s hoodie to experience the same tragedy themselves.

These characters were then able to bring the audi-ence along to experience it with them.

This method certainly brought attention to the problem at hand.

Some actors were each given specific colors to de-fine the way they acted based on the color’s stereotype.

This specific play made many question the way that they perceive others according to stereotype, as dis-cussed in the facilitated discussion groups after the se-ries.

As race and privilege continues as an issue even in the 21st century, the students involved in this produc-tion enjoyed being able to bring this issue to light on campus.

“It’s great that we have the opportunity to do what we love, all while promoting such a positive message,” said performer Bria Gabor.

Although very entertaining, the performances were meant to begin a conversation on campus regard-ing diversity and prejudice.

Actors of “Facing our Truth” communicated that it’s all too common that society may present an issue, but not dig deeper into its roots.

The department of theatre arts and dance, Black Scholars United and The HUB exposed society’s wound through this series, yet it’s up to students to treat it.

STAR // Connor Gibson

Performers from the “Facing Our Truth” readings took roles of everyday member of our society and re-enacted scenarios in which race and privilege is tested.

Sonoma State University faces the ‘Truth’

“It’s great that we have the opportunity to do what we love, all while promoting such a posi-

tive message,” said performer Bria Gabor.

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The athletes of the McFarland High School cross country team have been immortalized on screen in Disney’s newest live-action film, “McFarland, USA.”

Inspiration found in an original storyKiMMie Jones

Staff Writer

“The Blind Side,” “Remember the Ti-tans” and many other true under-dog stories have reputations for

becoming instant classics and being owned by fans as soon as they are released on DVD. Movie watchers better make room on the shelf for Disney’s new classic, “McFarland, USA.”

This film was not only inspirational, but eye-opening to those who have gotten most things handed to them easily.

When high school football coach, Jim White (Kevin Costner), gets fired yet again for aggressive conduct toward a player, he packs up and moves his family to McFarland.

To best describe what their thoughts were when driving into the town, the youngest daughter, Jamie White (Elsie Fisher), said “are we in Mexico?”

Dirt Roads, low riders and crop fields made up the town of McFarland, along with their population of only Latino Americans.

The White family, ironically enough, were an all-white, all-American family. It’s pretty safe to say they did not belong in McFarland. As uncomfortable as they were, the people of McFarland were mostly all very kind and wel-

coming.Their hospitality played a huge part in the

story. These strangers quickly became friends and McFarland started to feel like home for the White family.

When Jim, or “Blanco,” as the students call him, started the job as the physical educa-tion teacher, he noticed how fast some of the boys were.

Switching between scenes of them running from working in the fields at 5 a.m., then run-ning all the way to school, and back to the fields, it made sense they are good runners.

White got inspired and started a cross country team. However, cross country is not the most popular sport, or the most watched. Since the average moviegoer doesn’t know much about cross country, it was easy to feel like the rest of movie would not be very excit-ing.

However, this was more about the heart of the runners, rather than whether or not they had the correct form. White was tough on them in the beginning because, as shown in his coach-ing pattern, that’s the way he coaches.

These kids didn’t care if he was yelling at

them with a belt in his hand or if he was having a calm conversation with them. They were hard working and know what needs to get done.

It became clear this world of cross country running is new to the school at their first meet.

The boys from the other schools had matching sweatsuits and looked like a small army when they were warming up. The McFar-land boys had matching shirts and shorts, but that was about it.

As most small town hero stories go, as the team got better, the support from the town grew bigger and the White’s became more comfort-able in their new home.

Following the experience of White’s wife and two daughters gave a different perspective as well. The entire town even threw his oldest daughter, Julie (Morgan Saylor), a quinceañera.

It was easy to fall in love with this little town and hard-working, humble people who live in it. The movie showed a small glimpse into each of the lives of all the boys on the team.

Even though their families did not fully approve of them using time they could be working to run for the school, they were still supportive since family played a very impor-

tant role in McFarland.That’s what this movie was. A new per-

spective of this culture through the eyes of Jim White, his family and the families living there. The boys are fast because they run to school.

They didn’t have cars or bikes or money to take the bus. They work hard because it’s all they know and all they’ve been taught. They care for each other because their families cared for them.

Everything these boys learned in their lives helped create the successful team they became.

White doesn’t fully appreciate all that this team has taught him until the end, when he is forced to make a huge decision for the team and his family. It’s easy to get fully invested in the lives of each character.

The incredible true story and phenomenal acting made this feel more like a live documen-tary.

They even showed all of the characters in real life during the credits and what they are doing today.

This movie can truly change anyone’s per-spective by showing them that even the hard-est working people don’t win that easily. Being so similar to every underdog story, it’s easy to guess how it ends.

It’s the feelings of inspiration and hope when walking out of the theater that made this must-see film a new classic.

Review

This movie truly can change anyone’s per-spective by showing them that even the hard-

est working people don’t win that easily.

Review

EntertainmentFeb. 24 - March 2, 2015 7sonomastatestar.com

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Academy Awards provokes thought

Alex SAnchez

Staff Writer

Just as last year and the year before, the 87th

Academy Awards were full of surprises, firsts for many nominees and celebration

of pivotal past films and late members of show business.

Thousands crowded into Los Angeles’ Ko-dak Theater to celebrate their fellow actors, writers and directors as well as musicians and composers on Sunday.

Neil Patrick Harris of “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “How I Met Your Mother” led the grand event and proved to be a successful host as compared to the last year’s Ellen DeGeneres and the previous year’s atrocious effort by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane.

The opening alone, a sequence where Harris dances in the name of moving pictures and is eventually joined by “Into the Woods” actress Anna Kendrick and actor Jack Black, cements his prowess in hosting the Oscars, one that would make viewers want him to host again and again just as Billy Crystal did years ago.

Musical performances were a rather large part of the ceremony. Canadian twin pop stars Tegan and Sara were accompanied by Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island to perform their hit from “The LEGO Movie,” titled “Everything Is Awesome,” while rapper Common and singer John Legend performed their song from the film “Selma” titled “Glory,” which went on to win Best Original Song.

In addition to these performances, Lady Gaga came on a falsely wooded stage and sang a medley of songs from the 1965 film “The Sound of Music,” with the legendary and original singer Julie Andrews praising Gaga for her rendition.

Then came the biggest awards of the night: Best Actor/Actress and the coveted Best Picture award. J.K. Simmons won a Best Supporting Actor award for his role as a jazz band instructor from hell in “Whiplash” while Patricia Arquette took home an award for Best Supporting Actress for Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood.”

Arquette then used her time on stage to preach her message of women’s rights and equal-ity for women in the world.

Eddie Redmayne took the stage with an ex-pression of absolute surprise and excitement as he won Best Actor for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” thank-ing practically everyone he could name before finally thanking his wife and the Hawking fam-ily.

Julianne Moore took the time to speak on behalf of those suffering from Alzheimer’s dis-

ease and learning from her film “Still Alice” about what it may be like to be stricken with Al-zheimer’s later in life.

Finally, the nominees for Best Picture were given a montage to hype the audience up for the big reveal by Sean Penn, whose gilded envelope read that “Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” had won it all, collectively winning a total of four Oscars on Sunday night.

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu was ecstatic to have taken his concept and have it produced successfully enough to earn the high-est of awards for cinema and give hope to his fellow Mexican citizens in Mexico.

Iñárritu message to his people said one day Mexico will have a stable government and the nation will prosper.

He then declared the latest generations of immigrants in the United States have helped transform America into a wonderful country rife with immigrant culture.

It was truly a night full of strong messages and the communication of love for moving pic-tures, much like Harris praised as he began the ceremony.

Commentary

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Above: Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris and actor David Burtka on the red carpet. Below: Rapper Common won Best Original Song in collaboration with singer John Legend for their song “Glory,” written for film “Selma.”

Collaborative record transcends genres

Albums releasing this week

Big Sean - “Dark Sky Paradise” (Hip-Hop)

Of Mice & Men - “Restoring Force: Full Circle” (Metal)

Future Brown - “Future Brown” (Electronic)

JJ Grey - “Ol’ Glory” (Southern Rock)

Sam Prekop - “The Republic” (Pop-rock)

The Black Ryder - “The Door Behind the Door” (Alternative Rock)

Movies releasing this week

Focus - starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro

The Lazarus Effect - starring: Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Evan Peters

Maps to the Stars - starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson

‘71 - starring: Jack O’Connell, Sam Reid, Sean Harris My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn - starring: Liv Corfixen, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ryan Gosling

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Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah collaborated with jazz/hip-hop band BadBadNotGood on “Sour Soul,” which released today.

BrAndon StAchnik

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Hip-hop has received a gift from the world of jazz.

BadBadNotGood, a young col-lective of gifted musicians from Canada, have established a name for themselves as producers of creative jazz/hip-hop instru-mentals.

The group first earned their reputation by covering many renowned hip-hop songs by artists and groups such as Gucci Mane and A Tribe Called Quest.

Their notorious jazz renditions earned the recognition of many current artists, which resulted in collaborations from Odd Future frontman Tyler, The Creator as well as singer Frank Ocean, among others.

The latest artist to collaborate with the group is rapper Ghostface Killah, known for

his music with the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. Their collaborative album, “Sour Soul,” con-sists of 12 tracks that will quench the thirst of hip-hop heads who feel today’s rap is sub-standard.

Ghostface Killah verifies his proficiency as an emcee despite his age with intellectual lyrics: “Now its showin’ and provin’/keep the body movin’/exercising the mind is sci-entifically proven to increase your lifeline, strengthen your heart.”

Drummer Alexander Sowinski’s smooth percussion combined with Chest Hansen’s heavy bass lines and Matthew Tavares’ mel-low keys pair very organically with the rap-per’s rhythm.

Most tracks include short interludes from the jazz group to let the songs breathe after the violent lyrics of Tony Starks.

“Sour Soul” bares additional features from artists Danny Brown, Elzhi and DOOM.

However, the collaboration of the two primary contributors to the album is enough to deliver exceptional, refreshing hip-hop.

Review

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Alejandro González Iñárritu won best di-rector for the film “Birdman or (the Unex-pected Virtue of Ignorance)” at the 87th Academy Awards.

Features Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

sonomastatestar.com8

Jake Burke

Staff Writer

Most college students’ No. 1 goal after getting their degree is to get a job. But like most things in life, that’s im-

mensely easier than it sounds.This year Sonoma State University is plan-

ning to make the transition into the job world easier for graduating students with the 2015 Career Fair brought to campus by Career Ser-vices.

This year’s fair promises to be even bigger with a wide variety of 115 different employers all looking for the next generation of employ-ees.

“My goal is to bring opportunities to stu-dents,” said Career Services Adviser Ann Mansfield. “This is an opportunity to connect and see a more diverse group of employers.”

This Career Fair is not just about instant employment or for this year’s college gradu-ates.

“It’s great practice even if you aren’t grad-uating this year,” said Mansfield.

This Fair can be used as a way to learn the tools to become a successful interviewer in the competitive job market.

With so many different types of companies in attendance, finding out what they’re looking for in future employees can now be done all in one place. It’s quite a sight to have more than 100 different employers in one location.

The 2015 Career Fair’s’ main goal is to of-fer students with an overabundance of new op-portunities.

“I’m excited to walk around and see all of the exciting opportunities at the fair,” said the-ater major Ashlyn Kelley. Whether an art ma-jor or hopeful future government official, the mass accumulation of different employers will offer a bit for every type of student.

According to the event’s online list of busi-nesses, there is a wide variety of companies that range from Bear Republic, the FBI, Duck-horn Wine Company and even the Sacramento Kings. To check out the other 111 businesses, go sonoma.edu/career/student_services/fairs/. With so many companies looking for employ-ees, this is an important event for graduating seniors.

It’s not just preparing students for the next year, but for those to come.

“It is a chance to see what is out there, to get your personal brand out there,” said senior business major Jen Boldizar.

This year’s Career Fair really focuses on the students and how a student can learn the tools to success while navigating the business world.

Another new addition is adding more pro-

gressive companies like Craft Breweries, while still trying to hold on to traditional companies like the San Francisco Police Department.

“My goal is to bring together the most ro-bust group of employers,” said Mansfield. Her goal is becoming a reality as no group of stu-dents will be left out of the Career Fair.

As a student, this opportunity should not be overlooked. It can be used as practice, prep-aration or the beginning of life after college. Perhaps the best thing a student can do is to test the waters of this Career Fair and slowly discover how the business world works.

“What I can say is be prepared,” said Man-sfield. “research companies and be able to ar-ticulate long-term goals and talk to as many companies as you possibly can.”

This advice is really the secret to this year’s Career Fair. Marketing one’s self is something rarely obtainable during the average day. Students are given the chance to market themselves come Wednesday in the Student Center, from at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Career Fair a good source for allCOURTESY // Ann Mansfield

Students gather at the 2014 Career Fair to obtain information on prospective employers. A total of 115 different employers will be at this year’s Sonoma State University Ca-reer Fair on Wednesday to answer questions students may have about their company, how to become a successful interviewer and to help prepare them for their future.

Samantha CardenaS

Staff Writer

Blues, tattoos and rad moves. Oh my. Guests can expect this and

much more at Izzy’s 24th An-nual Tattoo and Blues Festival taking place Friday to March 1, at the Flamingo Conference Resort and Spa in Santa Rosa.

Throughout the Bay Area, there are plenty of conventions and conferences that showcase tattoos and music. However, this particular event is one of a kind, mostly because it’s one of the oldest ones to date.

“I’ve run this show for 11 years. This will be the 24th

year that the show has been going on,” said event owner and promoter Izzy LaPlante. “It’s the second longest run-ning tattoo convention in the country.”

With a track record like that, it’s no surprise that peo-ple keep coming back every year.

Every year at the end of February, thousands of people gather for three days to share their love of tattoos and live music. Guests can enjoy the sounds of award-winning blues bands while they visit different tattoo booths and stands to admire their work. Tattoo artists and companies from all around the Bay Area

come to set up shop and dis-play their work, as well as show off their skills and tattoo people at the festival. Tattoo enthusiasts also get the oppor-tunity to see and speak with well-known tattoo artists.

In addition to music and tattoos, attendees can expect to see live acts, purchase goods from local vendors and enjoy delectable food. There are also raff les that are put on to raise money for the tattoo artists. In past years, the event has also done work with large organizations.

“I had a kid from the Make-A-Wish Foundation come in from Alaska and he got tattooed and won second

place for best tattoo at the convention,” said LaPlante.

Another big highlight of the event is the famous Wild-fire Dancers. Based out of Ukiah, they are a group that is skilled in simultaneously performing different styles of dance while juggling or twirling batons lit on fire. The Wildfire Dancers were recent-ly seen on TLC’s “Four Wed-dings.”.

Not only is this an event for those familiar and involved with the tattoo community, but those who are just getting exposed to the art of tattoos.

“I’ve always been so scared of tattoos and pierc-ings. I think tattoos are beau-

tiful, but I’ve always just been so hesitant to get one myself,” said senior Jessica Sanchez. “My coworker and I are going to attend the event this year, so maybe it will finally hap-pen for me.”

Even those involved with the event are looking forward to see what this year has to of-fer. “This is a first-time event for me. I’m just impressed to see that it’s been going on for 24 years now. The music line-up, fire dancers and over-all spectacle is what excites me,” said Jasmine Rios, pub-licist for the Flamingo Resort. “Though I am currently one of those ‘blank skin types,’ this might be just the event where

I get myself inked for the first time. What image would I choose? Snoopy maybe.”

Attendees are encouraged to map out their days accord-ing to events going on at dif-ferent times so that they don’t miss out on anything they were looking forward to see-ing.

Several different raff les will take place throughout the day, as well as different bands performing and the Wildfire dancers will take the stage several times.

Tickets are available to purchase as day passes for $25 or weekend passes for $35 online at santarosatattoosand-blues.com/home.html.

Get inked while listening to the blues

facebook.com

Tattoo and blues music enthusiasts will have a chance to listen to some music as they get tattooed at Izzy’s 24th Annual Tattoo and Blues Festival, which is being held at the historical Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa in Santa Rosa from Friday to March 1.

“It’s great practice even if you aren’t graduating this year,” said Career Services Adviser Mansfield.

FeaturesFeb. 24 - March 2, 2015 9sonomastatestar.com

Page

Peter Njoroge

Executive Editor

That Netflix binge ses-sion, and whatever else occupies a college stu-

dent’s nightlife during the weekend, might take on a dra-matic change if the vision of event organizers of the FliHigh nightclub is realized.

The nightclub had its de-but on Friday at Sally Toma-toes in the Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park. It fea-tured two DJs, who switched back and forth to supply a vari-ety of music to the sold-out and student-run event.

By 11 p.m., the main room was filled with people danc-ing and some heading to the VIP lounge and bar, which was strictly enforced with a three-

point checking system for age. The nightclub was curated

for anyone over 18 in Cotati and Rohnert Park, but it’s safe to assume the targeted de-mographic were students at Sonoma State University.

“Our main vision was for students by students,” said business and marketing major Connor Gallinetti.

Hours before the event, co-ordinators and volunteers were running around and making sure everything was ready for the 9 p.m. opening. Shuttle drivers, who were responsible for round-trip transportation for students and anyone wish-ing to be dropped off at the flagpoles at Sonoma State, were being briefed in the dense fog outside the venue. Meanwhile, security guards were also gath-

ering and preparing. A group of them, who were all dressed in black, stood in the parking lot and talked while the heavy fog seeped under them. John Soeters, who was part of this group, said he expected people to have fun and not get overly drunk.

“Well just after going to Sonoma State for the past four years and being a senior right now. I just noticed a lack of nightlife here especially com-pared to other schools,” said event coordinator Adam Loria.

The venue was fragmented into three sections, which in-cluded a main dance room, VIP lounge and bar. The at-mosphere was filled with posi-tivity and exuberance as time itched away closer to the grand opening.

“I was leading the promo-tion team, kind of getting the word out and letting people know about this,” said Gal-linetti. “I was involved in the marketing and the promotion aspects of it. Going into Greek meetings, letting people know, flyers, social media posts, a lot of stuff like that just to get the word out and sell tickets.”

As for the DJs, they were already mixing and playing a variety of rap, hip-hop, EDM and dubstep, as well as test-ing their equipment. The music permeated the entire venue and two speakers were connected through to the VIP and bar area so people could hear and dance to the music in the main room.

Junior and DJ, Matt Smidt, was eager for the club to open. With an energetic demeanor,

he expressed his readiness for the event and vision for seeing the crowd dance to his music set.

“We’re not afraid of what might happen, we’re about to embrace what might happen. It’s definitely a big responsi-bility; however, I have been in music my whole life and per-forming is such a thrill to be up there,” said Smidt. “It’s this sense of urgency while you’re up there but [there’s] also [a sense of] euphoria. You’re just one with the crowd.”

A few hours later, Smidt was visibly and energetically one with his crowd as he put out a slew of ballads to people screaming and dancing. A ma-jority of people were dancing while the rest were either in the bar area or VIP lounge. The

bar section was less energetic but more so filled with conver-sation, laughter and, of course, dancing.

“I think it’s going down pretty smoothly. I am having a great time,” said Sonoma State alumnus James Ginyard. “I appreciate this night. When I was going here [SSU] the only thing we had my freshman year was Mardi Gras.”

As the night progressed, people continued to dance. Some got on stage with the DJs, some were filmed or pho-tographed and some were hap-pily inebriated.

In all, the FliHigh night-club may have the potential to embody a place for students and others alike to go for a safe, fun-filled and memorable night.

Behind the Scene at FliHigh Nightclub

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Many people, a majority of them Sonoma State University students, were attendance at FliHigh Nightclub’s grand opening at Sally Tomatoes Friday night. Two DJs played a variety of rap, hip-hop, EDM and dubstep music to liven up and get the crowd dancing at the sold-out event.

ShaNNoN BrowN

Features Editor

CJ Dunnick, the current President of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, brought two Kappa alumni and some of

his fellow brothers to Senior Night at the Wolves’ Den on Saturday in order to honor his fellow fraternity brother, Mike Henry.

Henry, a three-time winner of the Sonoma State University Male Athlete of the Year and the Everett Shelton Award, as well as an alumnus of Kappa Alpha Psi, is one of the most honored athletes in Sonoma State University history.

Kappa Alpha Psi also was able to show-case their new banner that hangs proudly on the west side of the gymnasium.

“It is an honor to be the only undergrad-uate member of Kappa Alpha Psi and to see our banner in the gymnasium,” said Dun-nick.

There is a large amount of pride for not only Dunnick, but for the rest of the mem-bers of Kappa Alpha Psi. To have such an honored alumnus as a Kappa Alpha Psi member, as well as the banner in the gym was an overwhelming feeling for Dunnick and his brothers.

“To have some of the men beside me on that night who made it possible, while also personally knowing Mike Henry… my pride in Kappa can not be measured on any scale,” said Dunnick.

Saturday night was just a small look into what the brotherhood of Kappa Alpha Psi share.

Kappa Alpha Psi honors Mike Henry

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Members of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity visited Senior Night on Saturday to show off their new banner and celebrate the fraternity’s history.

Sports Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

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Seawolves SportsFeb. 25Softball

vs. Academy of Art1 p.m./3 p.m

Rohnert ParkSeawolf Field

Feb. 26Men’s Tennis

vs. UC San Diego11 a.m.

La Jolla, CA

Women’s Tennisvs. Notre Dame de Namur

11 a.m.Rohnert Park

Seawolf Courts

Women’s Water Polovs. Stanford

5:15 p.m.Stanford, CA

Feb. 27Softball

vs. Cal State San Bernardino12 p.m./2 p.m.

Rohnert ParkSeawolf Field

Baseballat Chico State

2 p.m.Chico, CA

Men’s Tennisat Point Loma

1 p.m.San Diego, CA

Women’s Tennisvs. Mills

2 p.m.Rohnert Park, CASeawolf Courts

Women’s/Men’s Basketballvs. Cal State Dom. Hills

5:30 p.m./7:30 p.m.Carson, CA

Feb. 28Women’s Track & Field

Humboldt State InvitationalArcata, CA

Baseballat Chico State

11 a.m./2 p.m.Chico, CA

Softballvs. Cal State San Bernardino

11 a.m./1 p.m.Rohnert ParkSeawolf Field

Women’s Tennisvs. Dominican

1 p.m.Rohnert Park

Seawolf Courts

Women’s/Men’s Basketballat Cal State LA

5:30 p.m./7:30 p.m.Los Angeles, CA

Mar. 1Baseball

vs. Chico StateCapital City Clash

1 p.m.Sacramento, CA

Raley Field

Mar. 2Women’s Golf

Tim Tierney Pioneer ShootoutAll Day

Vallejo, CA

Jennifer González

Staff Writer

After coming back home from playing the Montana State University Billings Desert Stinger, the softball team was ready to

continue their winning streak. Sonoma State Uni-versity’s softball team played four games against the CSU Dominguez Hills Toros on Friday and Saturday; each were two games. Seawolves won both games on Friday, 5-4 and 6-0, making it seven games straight in a row that they have won. Saturday they lost their first game against the To-ros, 6-1, but came back with a positive attitude and won their second game, 5-1.

The first game of the weekend was a close one especially because the Toros weren’t going to let the Seawolves get an easy win. Shortstop Ancia Purdy led off the game with a single, and as second baseman Holli Brown came up to hit, she stole second base. That wasn’t the only thing to make the team continue to cheer, Brown then hit a homerun to left-center field, making the score 2-0 in just the first inning.

“I was excited. It’s an amazing feeling to know that you’re helping your team,” said Brown describing her homerun. “Everything we do out

here is for our team, so it’s all about that.”During the second inning, the Toros showed

they weren’t going to let the Seawolves win so easily. Dominguez Hills quickly scored four runs, putting them ahead at the time. It was in the fifth inning when the Seawolves tied the game. Be-cause of a wild pitch, Purdy was able to score, making it four to four.

“I just trust myself. I’ve been playing this game for 15 years so I know what to do,” said Purdy. “I just have to go out there with confidence and have trust in myself and my team that if I don’t produce that they are going to come up be-hind me and produce for me.”

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Keeley Ray had a hit to center field with Purdy already on first base, allowing her to advance to third base then Ray went to second base on the throw in to try to get Purdy out. Brown was able to drive in the winning run in the game when Purdy scored, making it 5-4 Seawolves.

The starting pitcher for the second game was No. 15 Mayleen Mazon. Mazon had a good start during the game and continued for the entirety as she only allowed five hits and struck out six.

“I felt really relaxed and I had trust in my de-fense that if they (Toros) did hit the ball, they were

going to make the plays,” Mazon said.The day ended with the second game at a

score of 6-0, making it seven games in a row that the Seawolves had won.

Coming back on Saturday for their first game, the Seawolves definitely had high energy as they cheered on their teammates on and off of the field.

In just the first inning, the Seawolves scored their first run to put them in the lead 1-0. Purdy was already on third base as Ray came up to the plate and delivered an RBI on a groundball.

“It’s just a spark when the first batter gets on, we know we’re going to score and we just have that confidence and trust in each other that some-one is going to score me or another player when they get on,” said Purdy.

In the third inning, Dominguez Hills caught up with two runs, taking the lead 2-1. The fifth inning was also a tough one. The Toros ended up scoring four runs in that inning and posting the final score of the game, 6-1. The loss of the first game on Saturday didn’t affect the Seawolves very much. They still continued to have high spir-it and cheered for their teammates.

“I still felt relaxed. I didn’t really have an ex-pectation to how yesterday or the first game went,” said Mazon. “I just went in knowing, trusting my

pitches, and trusting my defense.”The Seawolves scored their first runs in the

first inning. Outfielder Alison Strycula had a sin-gle to left field, which led to Brown running home for the starting score of 1-0. The Seawolves added three runs in the fourth inning. Taylor Batley, Karly Macadangdang and Leanna Georges were the players who scored the runs for the Seawolves. The last run that resulted in the final score of 5-1 was in the sixth inning. No. 16, Amanda Rossetta, hit a single to left field and Purdy crossed the plate for the run.

“Everyone gave their all and there’s always room for improvement in every aspect of our game, personally and as a team,” said Brown. “I think we brought energy today and we did a good job coming back from the first lost so there’s always going to be room for improvement, but I think we did well.”

Sonoma State’s softball team is now 9-3 this season and went 3-1 to finish their first confer-ence game of the season. They will be playing the Academy of Arts on Wednesday at the Seawolf Softball Field at 1 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, they will play at home against CSU San Bernardi-no for another series of in conference play.

STAR // Connor Gibson

Left: Junior pitcher Amanda Llerena finishes her motion versus CSU Dominguez Hills. Right: Senior outfielder Keeley Ray makes gets a piece of the ball in her at bat.

Softball team reaches seven straight wins

STAR // Connor Gibson

Above: Senior Holli Brown crosses the plate. Below: Junior Amanda Llerena (8) and senior Amanda Rosetta (16) keep it light on the field.

SportsFeb. 24 - March 2, 2015 11sonomastatestar.com

Page

Kayla Kring

Staff Writer

On Friday night in the Wolves’ Den, Sonoma State Univer-sity did everything they could

against CSU Chico’s Wildcats, but with a depleted team the Seawolves could only do so much.

The game started off with the Wild-cats gaining possession of the ball, and junior forward Drew Kitchens making a three-pointer. The Seawolves failed in their first two possession attempts.

That is how Friday night’s game went. Sonoma State would have posses-sion of the ball, set up their shots, but weren’t able to make much, coming up short. In the first half the Seawolves were only a mere couple of points away from either tying or taking the lead, but that all changed when the Wildcats converted turnovers and mistakes into 10 points.

Just like the first half, the second half wasn’t better. It was the “unfinished plays,” according to Assistant Coach Natalie Wisdom, that the Seawolves couldn’t make up any ground.

“I didn’t think we played that bad, but we had all of our players, as well,” said Wisdom as she compared the first time they played CSU Chico to Friday

night’s game. Indeed they did do better the first

time they faced them. “We were hurt,” said Wisdom.

With Junior point guard David Ahern sitting on the sidelines with a broken nose from last weekend’s game against UC San Diego, as well as having James Davis, Mike Avery and Jabri Jen-kins on the bench, wasn’t something the coaches had in mind when coming into the end of the season.

“They are leaders, so they are voices that used to be on the floor in practice,” said Wisdom.

Except, now they are voices on a bench, helping their teammates out from the sidelines. Unfortunately, that can only go so far.

“It causes roles to change and guys have to step up,” said Wisdom, “and play-ers did step up in tonight’s game.”

One of those players was sopho-more guard Topher Taylor. He was one among many players who had to adapt to the changes.

Toward the end of Friday night’s game Taylor would make a steal, giving Andy Mitchell the chance to score.

In the end, the Wildcat’s would be too much for the Seawolves. The fate of Friday night’s game was sealed at 80-43, Chico.

On Saturday night it was more than just another game; it was Senior Night. A night where the four Sonoma State Sea-wolves seniors (J.J. Mina, Mike Harris, Brandon Glanz and Zen Maki) would walk into the Wolves’ Den for one last home game.

Unfortunately, their last game at home didn’t go as planned. With a con-tinuous battle between the Seawolves and the CSU Stanislaus Warriors, the men’s basketball team couldn’t find a solid rhythm.

As Sonoma started out with posses-sion over the ball, it would be the Warriors who made the first basket of the night, thanks to senior guard Chris Read. With several chances at the net, the Seawolves would miss a majority of their shots, until J.J. Mina was able to find some oppor-tunities, giving the Seawolves their first points.

With a little back-and-forth point battle between the two opponents, Andy Mitchell and Nathan Molony-Benjamin both took shots with nine minutes on the board to try and pull the Seawolves closer, with a score at the time of 8-20, neither could connect.

From then on, both participants went through a little bit of a rough shoot-ing patch, when neither one of them could get their shots to go in. Mina would

get fouled with a chance at the free-throw line changing the score to 20-10, War-riors.

The Seawolves continued to play hard and while there were plays and shots made by the Seawolves, the Warriors were the ones to walk in at halftime with a nine point lead and a score of 34-25.

“I addressed our mistakes and over-coming our obstacles. Let them know that in order for us to move forward, that we would have to take care of the ball better and execute better,” said Associate Head Coach Rich Shayewitz, “but most importantly instilled belief in them that we can do this.”

Once the players took to the court, the Seawolves began to play a much more rhythmic and organized ball game. With Khalid Johnson, Mina and Brandon Glanz starting the team off strong the Seawolves were only trailing behind by six points (39-33). It would be an edge-of-the-seat battle for the next 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, the Seawolves would begin to fall apart again, letting the War-riors take a 12-point lead (60-48) with seven minutes on the clock. Within those remaining seven minutes Zen Maki would hit a three-pointer and get fouled, converting his two free-throw shots. Fol-lowing in his footsteps, his fellow team-mates Mina, Ahern and Johnson would

knock down shots and convert their foul shot attempts as well to bring the score to 66-60. Yet, it would be the free-throws made by CSU Stanislaus senior Wes Bar-tole and Seawolf junior Ahern’s last sec-ond lay-up at the final buzzer signaling the final score of 68-62, Warriors.

“Tonight’s biggest challenge was overcoming our own mistakes,” said Shayewitz in the aftermath of Saturday night’s game.

Those mistakes were noted as “turn-overs, offensive rebounds miss-assign-ments and poor execution,” which are key points in a game that a team cannot afford to mess up. While the Seawolves did manage to get back up on their horse and fight for what was hopefully going to be theirs it wasn’t enough to come out with a win.

“We just knew that if we wanted any shot at the playoffs this was the last time to do it. The last 20 minutes to do it,” said Davis as he gave insight into what was running through their minds coming back out onto the court after halftime.

Since the loss of Saturday night’s game, the men’s basketball team doesn’t qualify for playoffs. Instead, they will pack their bags and head for CSU Los Angeles on Friday and CSU Dominguez Hills on Saturday.

Wounded Seawolves lose Pack the DenCelebration of seniors on Saturday night

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Left: Junior forward Andy Mitchell grabs a rebound, sophomore guard Khalid Johnson takes the ball upcourt. Right: Sophomore center Nathan Molony-Benjamin fights for a rebound, Johnson controls the offense.

ancia Purdy

Staff Writer

On a quest to come out on top in its final home games, the women’s basketball team came up short, falling to Chico

State 56-51 and CSU Stanislaus 53-36. Despite junior Hannah Sourek ending Fri-

day night’s game against Chico State in double digits for both points and rebounds, the Sea-wolves weren’t able to hold off the rivaled Wildcats.

“Going into a game against a rival is an exciting feeling,” said junior Taylor Acosta. “It seems to add that much more energy and even the energy from the crowd is different.”

To start the Friday night game, the Sea-wolves seemed to bring the energy as they scored the first five points of the contest. Chico State quickly counteracted which led to three separate lead changes throughout the first half.

Going into the last 20 minutes of the game, the Seawolves trailed by nine. The Wildcats eventually widened their lead to 12 at the start of the second half. But Sonoma State didn’t go down without a fight.

“Chico is always an intense game,” said ju-nior Tanner Adams. “Last time we went into overtime against them, so we were ready to battle.”

Though the Seawolves only gained the lead once in the latter half, they outscored their rivals 29-25 in the second half.

Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to send the Wildcats home with a loss.

Sourek ended the game as the lead scorer and rebounder of both teams, bringing in 20 and 12, respectively. Acosta was the team’s second highest scorer with seven points along

with 10 rebounds and one steal. The bench combined for 13 points and three steals.

Looking for a win for their last home game, the Seawolves took on the Warriors of CSU Stanislaus the following evening.

But the fight they showed was out-matched by their opponent as they dropped to 4-16 in conference.

Though not represented in the final score, the Seawolves started the game off strong with a lead of seven points just six minutes into the game.

As the Warriors battled back, Sonoma State was able to hold onto the lead for most of the first half, only relinquishing it with just four minutes before halftime.

“We had a really strong start,” said Adams. “It was nice just because we’ve always been trying to be the first team to score rather than playing catch up for the entire night.”

But their strong start didn’t push the Sea-wolves ahead as CSU Stanislaus took the lead and ran with it. Sonoma State never came with-in single digits of the lead and even trailed by 19 twice in the second half.

Despite a rough second half, the Seawolves out-rebounded their opponent 41-35 as well as had the only two blocks of the game.

Freshman guard Madison Burroughs was the lead scorer for Sonoma State with 10 as Sourek trailed behind her adding eight on the night.

“We put in some new stuff and we were able to run it successfully,” said Acosta. “That’s promising when looking forward to the rest of the season and also next season.”

The Seawolves will round out their season on the road against CSU Dominguez Hills on Friday and Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday.

Women’s basketball falls twice

sonomaseawolves.com

Freshman guard Madison Burroughs leads the offense for the Seawolves.

Photo Feb. 24 - March 2, 2015Page

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This week in photos...For more, visit our galleries at SonomaStateStar.com

Late Nights With Lobo Spirit Week continues

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Students filled the Student Center, Rec Center and Seawolf Plaza on Saturday, for Lobo’s Late Nite Kickoff Party, a part of Late Nights With Lobo. Free T-shirts, free pizza and kettle corn, live DJs, two build-a-bear stations, video arcades, giant ver-sions of the games like Operation, Mega Wire, Jingo, Connect Four, hypnotist Paul Ramsey and laser tag.

The third spirit week of the year, the events take place after dark and are geared toward making the most out of students college experience at Sonoma State.

Throughout the week, Late Nights With Lobo is hosting an event every day through Friday. Tonight, there is Gospel Extravaganza with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir at Weill Hall at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday there is a late night art experience at the Student Center Ballroom at 9 p.m., Thursday there is best of SF comedy compe-tition at Person Theatre at 9 p.m. and on Friday is the Recycled Percussion at Person Theatre at 9 p.m.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: During Lobo’s Late Nite Kickoff Party, live performanc-es took place in the central lounge of the Student Center, students had the ability to create iPhone and Android cell phone cases at “It’s a Wrap Cell Phone Sleeve Craft” station at the cafe. Students lined up waiting to receive a stuffed animal at one of the two Bear-In-A-Box stations, while others suited up in sumo wrestling suits in the second floor of the Recreation Center.

STAR // Brennan Chin

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez