spring 2015 issue 10
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Serving the San Francisco State community since 1927
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APRIL 8, 2015
ISSUE 10
VOLUME C
Rolling through the Financial District in his orange Honda Fit, SF State senior James Shumate spends his evenings shuttling
passengers who hail his service.Shumate, a cinema major, began driv-
ing for rideshare startups Uber and Lyft as his primary source of income at the end of March. He said as an Uber and Lyft driver,
he works as an independent contractor, which allows him to choose his own hours. Drivers decide when they clock on and off and even have the option to deny ride requests, he said.
“I like the fact that I can open up an app and punch in,” Shumate said, “Or you know, when a customer pisses you off and you’re just like, ‘I want to go home right now,’ I can.”
Drivers from both Uber and Lyft filed suit against the startups in fall 2013,
arguing they should be entitled to employ-ee benefits. District Court judges Edward Chen and Vince Chhabria ruled in the Uber and Lyft cases, respectively, and denied summary judgement on March 11, request-ed by Uber and Lyft. This means no action has been taken because judges could not decide how to rule. All parties will have to wait until juries decide whether drivers are employees or individual contractors.
Rideshare policy in question
Shadowing doctors, checking vitals and dispensing prescriptions may sound like costly training only available at medical school, but for six SF State students it is the experience they can expect on their trip to Lima, Peru next month.
The students are members of Medlife, an organization that partners with poor communities in Latin America to provide medical care, education and community development with mobile clin-ics that have treated more than 100,000 people since 2005, ac-cording to the Medlife website.
In Peru, students will work alongside local dentists, gynecol-ogists and general practitioners and assist with health education, according to Adolfo Luna, who participated in the same trip in
2012 and will go again in May.“A lot of the things that we
take as common sense like wash-ing your hands before you treat a wound, these people have no idea about,” Luna said. “We setup a makeshift auditorium and present a PowerPoint to them explaining basic things we take for granted that we know.”
PINK MUSTACHES: (from right) SF State students Cody Lee, Lyft driver, and James Shumate, Lyft and Uber driver, sit in Lee’s car which he uses to pick up passengers for work Monday, April 6.
KATIE LEWELLYN / XPRESS
Students plan aid
mission to Peru
Representing San Francisco senior citi-zens in legal matters like racial discrimina-tion and housing, SF State alumnus Carlos Torres began his career as an advocate for underserved communities.
Torres said he developed his passion for labor rights while working at La Raza Centro Legal, a nonprofit legal service in the Mission District.
“It was really working with low-income immigrant communities, helping them as an advocate through the wage claim process,” Torres said. “They’re paid cash, paid under the minimum wage, so it was really gratify-ing to be a part of the community assistance
to this group of people.”Torres led a workshop at SF State April
3 for students interested in pursuing a career in law and labor rights advocacy. At the
event, he shared his personal experiences representing underserved communities in
Alumnus advocates
for workers
EMBRACE: Hearing officer for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Carlos E. Torres takes a break in the J. Paul Leonard Library after a career fair that took place in the gym Friday, April 3.
ANGELICA EKEKE / XPRESS
VISIONARY: Chapter president of Medlife Adolfo Luna smiles for a portrait in the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center Tuesday, April 7.
ANGELICA EKEKE / XPRESS
STEVEN [email protected]
COURTS Continued ON PAGE 2
Arbitrator Continued ON PAGE 3organization Continued ON PAGE 2
TIMOTHY [email protected]
AVERY [email protected]
Dance performance highlights female roles turn to page 6
APRIL 8, 2015 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG.2 NewsCourts labor over employee definitionsContinued from the front
HANDSHAKE: President of SF State’s Medlife chapter Adolfo Luna greets a guest at a fundraiser event inside of Rigoberta Menchu Hall in the Cesar Chavez Student Center Thursday, April 2.
DAVID HENRY / XPRESS
Organization to provide medical care abroadContinued from the front
ILLUSTRATION BY JOURDON AHN / XPRESS
$1,400
6.25x$3.31
Average cost of gas in San francisco as of 4/6
Highest surge rate reported by uber
average Lyft driver makes per 40 hour work week
Uber anywhere in San Francisco
for $7
Uber operates in 56
countries(CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT)INFORMATION GATHERED FROM
UBER.COM, GASBUDDY.COM, UBER.COM, LYFT.COM,
Both judges found reason to consider drivers employees rather than independent contractors based on how the companies decide cost of fare and the manner in which drivers interact with passengers, according to the court summaries.
“The court first concludes that plain-tiffs are Uber’s presumptive employees,” Chen wrote for the Uber case, “because they ‘perform services’ for the benefit of Uber.”
As independent contractors, drivers are subject to being fired for any reason, according to both the Uber and Lyft user agreements. The agreements also note that Uber and Lyft provide a platform for rid-ers and drivers to connect, but do not pro-vide transportation services themselves.
“Lyft might not control when the drivers work,” Judge Chhabria wrote in his order, “but it has a great deal of power over how they actually do their work, including the power to fire them if they don’t meet Lyft’s specifications about how to give rides.”
After each ride, passengers receive a notification that shows the cost of the trip and asks for a rating on a five-star system, five being the highest. Senior art major Cody Lee, a driver for Lyft, said the business requires their drivers keep a 4.8 rating. Lyft’s website says that a 4.6 rating puts drivers at risk for deactivation of their account with the app.
“I don’t think a lot of people know that,” Lee said. “If it works that way, if 4.8 is the minimum you can have, then any-thing below a five-star rating is failing.”
Lee, whose rating is a 4.9, said he likes his status as an independent contractor. Lee considers Lyft a part-time gig and said he wouldn’t like having to work as an em-ployee with a minimum hour work week.
“It (having to work a minimum amount of hours) would suck for people like me that only drive during the peak hours,” Lee said, “but for people that drive full-time that would be good because I’ve heard of people that sit around waiting for like an hour and a half for someone to request a ride and get nothing.”
SF State assistant professor of man-
agement Jennifer Tosti-Kharas said she considers the drivers independent contrac-tors but in some cases employer status is justifiable for full-time drivers.
“You could have someone that is tech-nically a driver but works a couple hours a week, completely at their discretion,” Tosti-Kharas said. “That would never fly in a typical employer contract.”
Shumate said he believes most drivers are people like himself who only drive about six to 12 hours a week. He believes that if drivers are forced to work a mini-mum number of hours a week, as employ-ees, some will stop working.
“It might change the relationship,” Shumate said. “And it might not be in a good way.”
The national organization part-ners with students and locals to provide health care and commu-nity development, according to Adrianna Carlesimo, a student trip advisor at Medlife.
“Our mission is to help families achieve greater freedom from the constraints of pover-
ty, empowering them to live healthier lives,” Carlesimo said in an email. “Our patients did not choose to be poor, but they have chosen to strive toward a better life (and) Medlife stands behind them in this pursuit.”
As the chapter’s president, Luna said he would like stu-dents to know while many organizations offer international
aid, Medlife provides services throughout the year and pays for medical treatment until patients are fully healed.
“This isn’t just going there for a week or two and leaving, this organization actually cares about the community and stays and works with the community throughout the year,” Luna said.
Volunteering abroad provides valuable opportunities that are impossible within the United States, Luna said.
“A lot of the things that would be illegal here while working in a hospital you are able to do,” Luna said. “I helped out with (applying) stitches, which I would never be able to do here.”
The group has organized several events to finance the trip, including the Latin Cultural Night fundraiser held at the Ce-sar Chavez Student Center April 2. At the event, board member Kirsten Liaz said everyone is welcome to volunteer with Medlife.
“You don’t even have to
be involved in the pre-health profession,” Liaz said. “If you love to give back you can help us through fundraising or you can help just spread the word of Medlife or other organizations like this.”
The organization’s work reaches beyond healthcare with more than 150 community development projects completed, according to the Medlife website. Volunteers collaborate with local leaders and members of the com-munity to complete projects such as building restrooms, staircases and schools.
“Every person in the commu-nity has to take one day off work to help us so they are alongside us,” Luna said. “There are ladies with kids strapped on their backs carrying bags of cement with us.”
Despite having so little, the locals are appreciative of the volunteers and offer them snacks and water while they work, according to Luna.
“It was really eye-opening because a lot of the things that
you take for granted like running water to even the toilets, every-thing is different out there,” Luna said. “The people are so happy, they have nothing, but they are generous and really grateful.”
Luna said dreams of becom-ing a physician inspired him to help establish the Medlife chapter at SF State, which was officially recognized in January 2012 and became the first state school chapter in the nation.
Luna attributes the group’s success this year to the teamwork and the dedication of new mem-bers, like Liaz.
Liaz said she has always loved public health and hopes other students find something they are passionate about as well.
“There’s a bigger world out-side of SF State and you can get involved in so many ways,” Liaz said. “It’s important to give back to people that don’t have a voice. There are people who have been marginalized by the system and we cannot forget about them.”
APRIL 8, 2015GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG .NEWS
San Francisco and his work as an arbitrator, known in technical terms as a Deputy Labor Commissioner II, for California.
As an arbitrator, Torres said he settles disputes be-tween business owners who have violated labor standards and the employees those laws seek to protect, acting as a judge on behalf of the state to resolve claims.
Torres said parties often get aggravated during the wage claim process but relax when they understand that the law requires him to provide an objective analysis of the issue at hand.
“You’re helping workers and employers essentially by issuing good decisions that are strictly fact-based,” Torres said.
Majoring in international relations, Torres studied at SF State for five years and graduated in 2005. He said he always had a passion for helping people but it wasn’t until he returned from his study abroad that he realized he wanted to work within his immediate community.
Nicky Trasvina, a counselor who works in the Ac-ademic Resource Center at SF State, invited Torres to lecture about his decision to go to law school following his time at SF State and his volunteering with various nonprofit legal services in the city.
Trasvina said she advised Torres and introduced him to some of the nonprofit organizations he worked for after graduating. She said she remembers him as a motivated student with a strong work ethic and desire to serve peo-ple without a voice in the community.
“I thought that he was a bright, young, ambitious stu-dent,” Trasvina said. “To have a young person like Carlos
make (social justice) his career has made me very proud that I’ve had such an influence on him and headed him in that direction.”
Torres’ partner of 10 years Hugh O’Donnell said one of his husband’s only flaws is his total commitment to the work he does.
“He’s not the kind of person to walk away from something, regardless of whether it’s a Saturday after-noon, whereas I think other people would walk away and deal with it Monday morning,” O’Donnell said. “Is that a shortcoming? Who knows? We’d all be guilty of it.”
At the end of the discussion, Torres said he encourag-es students to pursue graduate school and work that most interests them, even if they are unsure of their career path.
“I didn’t really have any direction other than want-ing to be in the community doing public service work,” Torres said. “It just so happened that I got the chance to do community and still be in public service through the government. All these great steps, with a lot of time and hard work, have opened doors for me.”
3Arbitrator fights for city labor rights
ADVOCATE: Arbitrator for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Carlos E. Torres takes a break for a portrait in the J. Paul Leonard Library Friday, April 3.
ANGELICA EKEKE / XPRESS
“”
He’s not the kind of person to walk away from something, regardless of whether it’s a Saturday afternoon, whereas I think other people would walk away and deal with it Monday morning.
-Hugh O’Donnell, partner of Carlos Torres
Continued from the front
In the midst of experiencing one of its biggest development booms in his-tory, with commercial real estate prices up 90 percent, the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco found themselves in a quandary-- there was no one to run the buildings once they were built.
According to BOMA SF Foundation, one of the most demanding issues facing the commercial real estate industry today is how to replace a large aging workforce.
“Most people in the industry have the impression that it is hard to find graduates who are—I don’t want to say properly trained because people come out of col-lege with a good education—but having a good education, plus enough knowledge about real estate, and commercial real estate specifically, so that they’re useful on the job at the beginning,” said SF State finance lecturer David Hysinger.
BOMA SF Foundation approached SF State in 2012 about the industry’s need to have skilled graduates who knew more about real estate. BOMA and SF State collaborated to develop a specialized
program, the only in the U.S. of its kind, offering four courses in the finance de-partment through the School of Business that lead to a certificate in commercial real estate.
The partnership to produce job-ready candidates has been such a success that three other Bay Area groups have joined BOMA SF in a newly formed coalition, Commercial Real Estate Alliance for Tomorrow’s Employees. On May 14, CREATE will host a fundraiser honoring legendary architect Art Gensler, and the proceeds will go to scholarships and real estate classes at SF State.
“It’s at a stage where there’s been two or three years of operation now and it’s starting to get traction,” Hysinger said. “It’s one of those things where everything flows together and it works.”
Hysinger, an attorney specializing in real estate who has taught at SF State for 10 years, partnered with BOMA to devel-op the program and write the curriculum.
“It was a collaborative effort all along,” Hysinger said. “Once BOMA decided they wanted a partnership with SF State, I designed the courses, BOMA gave feedback, we enriched the courses and they made the decision to fund it, which was really exciting.”
BOMA’s $70,000 grant pays for the professors, funds guest lectures from industry professionals and offers three $3,500 scholarships once a year to stu-dents enrolled in the certificate program.
SF State alum Andrew Wilkey, 23,
received the 2014 BOMA Commercial Real Estate Scholarship and secured an in-ternship with real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. through the program. He is now a tenant services coordinator at the Transamerica Pyramid Building, employed by Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
“The program definitely provided a pipeline of opportunity for me to network and apply for several different positions,” Wilkey said. “It just so happened that at the same time I was graduating, the tenant services coordinator where I previously interned was leaving and the position was available. Due to the fact that I knew the staff from my internship, they reached out to me requesting that I interview for the position, and now here I am.”
To date, 27 students have earned the certificate in commercial real estate. Another nine students are expected to finish the program by the end of spring semester, bringing the total to 36, accord-ing to Melanie Summers, a career services professional in SF State’s Commercial Real Estate and Fellows Programs.
In 2014, BOMA launched a paid summer internship program in partnership with SF State, which led 11 of the 12 students who participated to receive job offers as a result of their internship expe-rience. This summer, BOMA expects to offer up to 30 paid internships to SF State finance students who have taken at least one of the four required real estate courses in the program, according to Summers.
“(The program) definitely makes students more employable,” Hysinger said. The program is a success, he added, because it addresses the needs of both the industry and the University while simulta-neously providing employment channels for graduates.
“My hope is that it’ll continue to be successful, that students will continue to find the subject interesting and that BOMA will continue to find that we are producing the kind of graduates that they would like to hire,” Hysinger said. “The partnership between academia and indus-try can only help both. It’s a perfect way to work together.”
PROJECTION: David Hysinger teaches his Fundamentals in Real Estate class in the Business Building Monday, April 6.
MARELENE SANCHEZ / XPRESS
Program fast-tracks real estate careers
KELLY SODERLUND [email protected]
Amid SF housing boom, Public-private partnership provides pathway for students entering the local real estate industry.
APRIL 8, 2015 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG.4 LIFESTYLE & CULTURE
The clicking of buttons and loud chatter inside the Fol-som Street Foundry did not distract the last two com-petitors of the Ultra Street
Fighter IV video game as attendees gathered around them to get an up-close glimpse of the final match.
SF State broadcast and electronic communication arts major Pavo Miskic sat with the video game controller in his hand and did not let the surrounding bystanders distract him as he selected his character for the match, Poison, a pink-haired on-screen fighter who beats opponents with her acrobatic kick flips.
“It’s competitive for sure because people here want to win so bad it’s ridiculous,” Miskic said. “Six years of playing this game just to get better at it and I’m still not good enough to myself.”
Both gamers kept their eyes glued to the television screen, sweat formed on their brows as they waited for their last match to begin.
After what seemed would be a loss for Miskic, it was through his last com-bination and ability to observe weak-nesses in his opponent’s character that led him to a victory.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Folsom Street Foundry hosts SF Game Night where individuals gather to play video games such as Smash Brothers, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Rock Band and numerous card and board games.
The twice-a-week event started back in early 2014 when the eSports organization ShowDown Entertainment partnered up with the small venue to provide an environment where adults 21 years and older could gather to play video games competitively or in a casual manner.
“(SF Game Night) is a place where the San Francisco gaming culture can get together,” said Andrew Wu, an eSports organization member who is in charge of running the Super Smash Brothers tournament. “We want to create an environment where we can all come
Gamers bond over competition
BUTTON SMASHING: University of California Santa Cruz graduate Doug Mcleod (left) and San Jose State University student Jhanie Custodio (center) battle each other in Ultra Street Fighter IV at the Folsom Street Foundry Thursday, March 26.
MARTIN BUSTAMANTE / XPRESS
SF Gam e n ight at th e Folsom street fou n dry bri ngs th e gam i ng com m u n ity togeth er twice a week for a n ight of serious, entertai n i ng an d com petitive play.
ELIZABETH CARRANZA [email protected]
APRIL 8, 2015GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG .5LIFESTYLE & CULTURE
and have fun and where the communi-ty can come together.”
The venue has nearly 600 attendees each Tuesday and Thursday, with Thurs-day being the busiest day, according to Wu.
Anywhere from 30 to 60 competitors can enter each Ultra Street Fighter IV or Super Smash Brothers tournament by paying a $5 fee to compete. The tourna-ment is based on a bracket series where gamers are paired to compete with one another until there are two remaining. The top three gamers from each tourna-ment split the money prize at the end of the competition.
With the heavy school schedule Miskic has this semester, he said he no longer attends SF Game Night as much as he has in the past. Regardless of his hectic schedule, Miskic said he contin-ues to practice by spending about 15 hours a week playing Street Fighter or observing gamers on YouTube.
“In my spare time I watch hours worth of matches to try and understand new concepts and how things interact,” Miskic said. “I notice patterns in how people play and exploit it.”
For competitive gamers like Miskic, SF Game Night is not just a place to
compete or improve gaming skills, but also a place where gaming is accepted. As community leader for the Northern California Smash Four Community, a Bay Area-based gaming group, D.J. Kirkland said SF Game Night brings in-dividuals from all different backgrounds together for the bond of competitive gaming.
“It’s been a huge part of my life,” Kirkland said. “I would say to the outsiders looking in, look at it as people just really into a sport. You identify and it draws you in. Be open minded, be a sponge to everything and see what gaming has to offer.” INTENSITY: (FAR ABOVE) Crowds of people fill up SF Game Night at the Folsom Street
Foundry Thursday, March 26. (ABOVE) SF State broadcast and electronic communication arts major Pavo Miskic (center) plays Ultra Street Fighter IV at a tournament at the Folsom Street Foundry Thursday, March 26.
MARTIN BUSTAMANTE / XPRESS
“”
We want to create an environment where we can all come and have fun and where the community can come together.
-Andrew Wu, eSports showdown entertainment
ILLUSTRATION BY KATRINA ANDAYA / XPRESS
APRIL 8, 2015 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG
6 Spotlight
Dancers embody women’s strength
.
Donned in monstrous face masks, members of SF State’s dance company writhed about the stage in a nightmarish dance of
demons inspired from ancient Japanese folklore.
The company’s upcoming dance piece “Kijo” is just one of the many multicul-tural works featured in this year’s Univer-sity Dance Theater concert “Return and Renew.”
The annual spring concert will ex-hibit the ensemble’s performance artistry through six dance pieces starting April 9 through April 11.
The choreography showcased in the concert consists of contemporary fu-
sion selections adapted from traditional Filipino, Japanese, Ukrainian and Indian dances, according to the company’s direc-tor Cathleen McCarthy.
SF State dance major Erica Lopez, 21, acts as the dance company’s co-administrative student director alongside Kalinowski. Lopez said she feels empowered dancing beside 13 other strong women whose personal relationships within their ensemble have produced a high level of commitment to their concerted efforts.
“Since most of us have danced togeth-er since freshman year, we have a solid understanding of each other’s abilities as dancers,” Lopez said. “We want to elevate each other to perform our best, as well as
support each other as friends.”While some of the choreography
calls for a group of male and female roles, this season’s company will perform each work as an all-woman cast.
McCarthy said there weren’t any men who were ready to dance in the company this year, so she enlisted the strongest female dancers into the male roles. Each of the dancers she chose showed advanced technique, excellence in classes and exceptional professionalism, according to McCarthy.
This year’s production marks the fifth anniversary of partnership between SF State’s dance troupe and contemporary arts institution Oberlin Dance Company. With nearly 40 years of residence in San Francisco, ODC has established its reputa-tion as one of the West Coast’s most active centers for dance, their website said.
McCarthy said that working with ODC in preparation for the spring concert is the highlight of the year for SF State’s dancers.
“It’s a learning experience that allows our students to be treated like profession-als,” McCarthy said. “After working with ODC, they come back working way hard-er with higher expectations for themselves and their peers.”
To prepare for the spring concert, SF State’s dancers go to ODC’s performing arts training center in the Mission District to work with the company on their collab-oration piece.
This year, the SF State dance company will perform “Unintended Consequences” choreographed by ODC’s artistic director Brenda Way.
The piece speaks about the lack of public responsibility toward nature and the social cost of the “every man for him-
self” attitude, Way said.Way said that the student dance com-
pany at SF State is among her favorite university groups to work with and is happy to continue collaborating with the dance program as long as it is available to students.
“I’ve been both impressed and de-lighted to work with the students at San Francisco State because of their degree of skill and social awareness,” Way said.
Lopez said her experience working with ODC and Way was inspiring be-cause the company’s professional dancers worked with the students on an individual level to help them understand the dance and convey its underlying message.
“As dancers, we express our thoughts an emotions through movement,” Lopez said. “It’s a privilege to work with such a prominent company as ODC, because it gives us the opportunity to learn so much as artists.”
“”
It’s a learning experience that allows our students to be treated like professionals. After working with ODC, they come back working way harder with higher expectations for themselves and their peers.
-Cathleen McCarthy
KALANI RUIDAS [email protected]
FLOODLIGHT: An SF State dancer rehearses choreography for Kamala Devam’s piece “The Shed-ding” in the spotlight Tuesday, April 7.
HYUNHA KIM / XPRESS
TWIRL: SF State dancers rehearse choreography for Kamala Devam’s piece “The Shedding” Tuesday, April 7. It will be performed at this year’s spring concert Return and Renew on Saturday.
HYUNHA KIM / XPRESS
Time: 8 p.m.Location: Mckenna theatercost: $5 - $15for more information: Sf State Box OFfice (415) 338-2467
APRIL 8, 2015 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG.8 SPORTS
As she stepped onto the track, Hilary King placed her left foot on the measuring tape,
focused on the 86-foot runway and blocked out everything else. With one last breath, she leaned back, shook her right leg and charged forward.
In her last stride, she hit her jumping point and propelled off into a pit of sand.
“I never look up or think about anything around me because that will ruin my jump,” King said.
King is the senior team cap-tain of the SF State track team who, on March 21 at the Johnny Mathis Invitational, broke the school record in the long jump, vaulting 5.79 meters and shatter-ing the previous record of 5.65 meters by Aziza Bledsoe in 2003. King is also an All-American in the 4x100 meter relay with her fellow teammates.
For first-year track & field head coach Kendra Reimer, the record-breaking jump was a pleasant surprise on King’s Senior Day.
“It was just unexpected and it happened so soon in the season,” Reimer said. “I couldn’t think of a better way to happen on her Se-nior Day and especially because her mom was there. It was just a magical day.”
King attributes her flower earrings, the two sports bras she wears and the purple and yellow
ribbons in her hair as essential to helping her perform well on meet day, she said.
“I am so superstitious,” King said. “I have a lot of earrings but the first one, the flower one, I wear because last year when I jumped like 18 feet I’m like ‘Okay I’m going to wear them.’”
King was born and raised in Northridge, California with her younger brother Correy King. Her mother and father, Miriam and Walter King, spent most of their lives participating in
sports like basketball, track and football. King primarily focused on basketball, but participated in track on the side.
“You know she jumped around 18 feet in high school, so I thought she would do it soon-er,” Walter King said. “But I am proud of her.”
At 12 years old, King placed third at Nationals in the long jump, which played a role in her decision to focus on track. She held the record in the long jump at Harvard-Westlake
High School but said she never thought she would break the record at the college level.
“I didn’t think I would ever do it, but breaking it, I was shocked,” King said. “But at the same time I worked really hard these past couple of years. In the back of my mind, I knew I got it.”
King said she is the only member on the track team who has been on the team for four years. According to assistant jumps coach Marissa Chew,
King’s role is one that the team cannot live without.
“She will definitely be a presence we will miss next year,” Chew said. “We want to make sure to utilize her abilities and make sure she leaves on a great note.”
As a first-year coach along with Reimer, Chew said she focuses with King on improv-ing her horizontal jump and exploding movements. Chew said her goal for King is to make the NCAA Division II National Championships, which with her record-breaking jump puts her on a provisional list for Nationals.
“I was just ecstatic for her,” Chew said. “I knew it was in there, it has been in her body. I tried so hard to hold back the tears.”
As the track team captain, King said her fellow teammates bring support and respect that encourage her. King will be competing at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships at Cox Stadium at the end of April. This will be King’s final season on the SF State track team.
“I’m done after this,” King said. “It’s just been so long and I’ve been running for almost 17 years and that’s crazy. I had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends, but it’s like, I really want to know what my life is like with-out sports.”
Veteran long jumper shatters record MICHAEL DURAN [email protected]
RECORD HOLDER: Graduating criminal justice major and record setting athlete Hilary King jumps 5.62 meters in the long jump, taking first place at Cox Stadium Friday, April 3. She recently broke the women’s record at SF State by jumping 5.79 meters.
HELEN TINNA / XPRESS
Sitting in the bullpen after picking up two wins against the visiting Cal State Monterey Bay Otters, senior catcher Mark Lindsay said he comes into every game with the same mentality of preparing himself so he’s ready when his number is called.
Lindsay said he began the season by setting team-ori-ented goals and said his mentality coming into every game has been his motivation.
“I’m not a big goal guy, but I just want to play as hard as I can every game and the outcome will come with that,” Lindsay said. “It’s more about preparation and mindset. That you want to prepare yourself so much that you have no regrets coming back to the game.”
Lindsay is currently hitting at a .364 average from the plate in 107 at-bats, which ranks him fifth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. To go along with his bat-ting average, Lindsay has 16 runs batted in and an on-base percentage of .469.
Coming into his senior year, Lindsay’s career 156 hits rank him sixth in the all-time Gators’ career hit list, need-ing 55 more hits to reach Phil Kernan’s 211 career hits record, which he set back in 1995. Through 30 games this season, Lindsay has 39 hits and is on pace to break into SF State’s all-time season hits record.
“My mentality has been to get a pitch that I’m looking for,” Lindsay said. “I’m a big sitting pitch guy, so I’m not going to swing at a pitch that I’m not looking for.”
The Gators’ catcher has been a force at the plate with Lindsay’s defense being stellar all year. He has only com-mitted two errors and has a .986 fielding percentage.
In addition to his hitting and fielding, Lindsay has been calling the pitches for whoever is on the mound since he was a freshman.
“Mark has been the best teammate I could ask for
and every time he’s back there I know he has my back,” said starting pitcher Peter Reyes. “Me and him have been playing together for a while and I’ve never had a different catcher, so I feel really comfortable throwing to him.”
Head coach Mark Cummins has coached Lindsay throughout his four years and said he has seen him grow as a player.
“He’s done a great job and I’m just gonna enjoy the last month with him,” Cummins said. “We have to keep winning games and get into the playoffs and hope it never ends, but I’m going to miss him down the road no doubt.”
As the season progresses, Lindsay said he hopes the team as a whole can continue to improve and make the fi-nal push into the playoffs. After losing six of seven games, the Gators have won two of their last three and have a 12-12 conference record. SF State currently sits sixth in the CCAA conference.
The senior catcher only has 13 games left in his colle-giate career, not including a possible playoff run. Lindsay said he hopes to leave a legacy that goes beyond statistics.
“I’ve been through a lot here in my four years trying to get the program turned around,” Lindsay said. “I want to leave a legacy that hard work pays off.”
DEDICATION: SF State Gator Mark Lindsay waits to congratulate a teammate who scored a run against Cal State Monterey Bay during the double header Friday, April 3.
DRAKE NEWKIRK / XPRESS
Senior catcher strives for playoff legacy JOHN MONTOYA [email protected]
“ ” Mark has been the best teammate I could ask for and every time he’s back there I know he has my back.
-Peter Reyes, starting pitcher
APRIL 8, 2015GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG .9SPORTS
Behind a wooden score table on the dusk painted turf of SF State’s West Campus Green, three stu-dent officials lounged in folding chairs, cracking jokes as they watched a stoic quarterback prepare
for his intramural flag football game.“We got a Peyton Manning over here,” said referee
Dominik Lawrence, laughing as the player scrambled away from an imaginary mob of defenders. “Some peo-ple think this is like a tryout for the league.”
Lawrence, his co-referee Sebastian Flores and score-keeper Christian Enos oversee intramural flag football games on Monday nights and attest that the contests often become aggressive in their competitiveness.
“It’s not uncommon to have guys get up in each other’s faces because of this stuff,” Enos said. “Every-one takes it pretty seriously, sometimes even a little too seriously.”
Flag football and soccer are the most recent addi-
tions to SF State’s six intramural sports that have been available to students since the West Campus Green was developed in the space behind the Humanities building in 2013. Student surveys following the field’s conception inspired the decision to implement both sports into the intramural program, and participation has increased every year since, according to Assistant Director of Campus Recreation Ryan Fetzer.
“The results of the survey were pretty overwhelm-ingly in favor of soccer and flag football,” Fetzer said. “Once we got all of the rules in place and agreed on all of that, it pretty much started running itself. The students who do the officiating and scorekeeping are all great at what they do.”
The intramural programs aim to provide a physical outlet for students and to foster leadership and teamwork as well, Fetzer said. Team captains are chosen at the be-ginning of each season for each team, and Fetzer relates
the league’s rules to players through those leaders. “It’s important to have fun first and foremost,” Fetzer
said. “There is a great amount of leadership involved with these kinds of extracurricular activities, however. It’s great that the school was able to fund this field so that students have a place to do this.”
Teams sign up individually for the league through an online program called IM Links once they have assem-bled enough players to fill a roster. Fetzer said it is his job to put together the league’s schedule and hire and train student referees and scorekeepers.
Student player O’neal Stidum said the flag football league allows him to revisit the tight-knit team atmos-phere of a sport with which he would have otherwise lost contact.
“It’s a great way to stay with the sport and it kind of reminds me of the old playing days,” Stidum said. “It’s just a bunch of people who share the love of the sport.”
Intramurals combine hobby and rivalry
Intramural games: (LEFT) Koby Barela (7) runs with the ball as teammates block a path for him during SF State’s intramural flag football game Monday, April 6. (ABOVE) Edward Mendoz (right) looks for a teammate to pass the ball while Rudy Tescallo (center) blocks for him.
ANGELICA WILLIAMS / XPRESS
VINCE FAUSONE IV [email protected]
APRIL 8, 2015 GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG.10 OPINION
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xSTAFF EDITORIAL
Graduates face uncharted future
When Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed into law the right to discriminate based on religious freedom, he may or may not have expected the intense backlash he received, but his choice would be a decision that would further polarize liberals and conservatives on the matter of human rights.
The most media-fueled example of this divide occurred when Memories Pizza owners Kevin and Crystal O’Connor in Walkerton, Ind. publicly announced their refusal to cater a same-sex wedding, all in the name of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The O’Connors tried to defend their de-cision, saying they would not turn away gay customers in their establishment, but would not participate in a wedding they said went against their religious beliefs.
The response they received via degrading Yelp reviews and threatening social media messaging forced the owners to close the pizzeria indefinitely. In response, a reporter for Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze.com started a GoFund-Me page in support of the couple, which raised close to $850,000 in less than a week, making it the second highest-funded page on the web-site’s history.
That’s right. More money was raised in
support of discrimination than for victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, not to mention countless other situations of dire need. It seems some people’s priorities are a tad askew.
In an era where social media can perma-nently make or break a reputation in seconds, why would a business publicly acknowledge their unwillingness to serve customers because of religious beliefs? What ever happened to re-ligion that supported loving all human beings?
It’s appalling to think we live in a nation that is still so divided when it comes to a per-son’s right to love whomever they choose.
There are now 37 states that have legal same-sex marriage, and ironically Indiana is one of them. Thirteen states have a ban on allowing partners of the same sex to wed, but eight of those have been overturned and appeals are in progress.
Perhaps “progress” is the key word in this particular situation. Martin Luther King, Jr. often honored the progress of man, citing the unavoidable obstacles many face when con-fronting discrimination.
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable,” King said. “Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
King’s words continue to ring true today, as organizations around the world fight for the rights of all human beings.
Several supporters of the LGBT community have responded with their own crowd-funded efforts in hopes to raise money that will pro-vide for individuals instead of discriminating against them. Kansas-based Equality House
has created a program, “Virtual Pizza,” that is collecting crowd-sourced funding to help LGBT youth who have been displaced from their homes due to bigotry. Recording artist Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund, “#Piz-za4Equality,” has also raised money for LGBT homeless youth in hopes to contradict Memo-ries Pizza’s recent gain.
For those who choose to fund an organiza-tion that would actively and publicly discrim-
inate against any classification of human be-ings, that is their prerogative. But their efforts are pointless.
Supporters of discrimination can give their hard-earned money to whomever they please. They can even do it anonymously, which in many cases they do. Nonetheless, there are far more people in support of equality, and as the nation continues to foster opposing sides on certain freedoms, it will be human rights that prevail.
Graduation day is often a time for parents to rejoice that their plan of putting their child through school has finally come to fruition. For me, college has always been my plan, and I have thoughtfully envisioned walking across that commencement stage since I was old enough to understand what having a college degree meant. Through these four long and hard years, I have became more certain of my plan, my major in journal-ism and the career path I will take.
Maybe my story would be more meaningful and interesting if I was the first in my family to graduate from college or the first generation in the U.S., but that is not the case. I am just someone who worked toward achieving something that today seems almost as impossible as finding world peace: graduating college in four years.
In 2013, only 12.7 percent of SF State students graduated in four years and 45.5 percent gradu-ated within six years, according to The Chronicle of Higher Educa-tion.
So why is it that now, as the anticipated day is approaching and all my childhood dreams are com-ing true, I am scared out of my mind? The second I began to share the exciting news with friends and
family that this would be my last semester at SF State, the inevita-ble questions were asked. What are you going to do with your life? What plans do you have for your future? Where are you going to live?
These are all thoughts and questions that have been loom-ing in my head since way before I went through the treacherous process of turning in the gradua-tion application. Especially since
in 2010, only 27 percent of college graduates had a job closely related to their major, according to Feder-al Reserve Bank of New York.
But why does my looming graduation automatically mean I need to have my entire future and life planned out? I have prepared every moment of my life with the understanding that if I didn’t plan and go for what I want, no one else would. I endeavored through community college and transferred
to a university within two years, while my friends sipped on frap-puccinos at the mall and entered their third and fourth years at the local junior college.
I plotted my move to what I considered the uncharted city of San Francisco, when everyone told me to just attend the local university. I concentrated on how I could get out of a univer-sity before becoming a super senior while everyone around me laughed and told me it wouldn’t happen.
I’m a planner. For the first time in my life I don’t have a set plan, but I know that it will be okay and all of those questions will answer themselves in due time. Graduat-ing from college is an accomplish-ment on its own regardless of how long it takes. I am lucky enough to be graduating with a degree in a major that I absolutely love, even if my wallet might not be so fortunate.
I think that people, myself included, are always a step ahead. We get into our dream school and we are already planning for grad-uate school. We get married and we are already planning on when we should have kids. Planning is great, but sometimes it is okay to bask in the plan’s success before we move on to the next one.
FARNOUSH AMIRI [email protected]
Although same-sex marriage is legal in indiana, the state's Religious freedom restoration act allows discrimination to remain.
Funding intolerance impedes equality
“”
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
-Martin Luther King, JR.
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ILLUSTRATION BY JOURDON AHN / XPRESS
APRIL 8, 2015GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG .11OPINION
The arrival of April means not only that spring is in the air, but festival season is upon us as well. This
is what I look forward to all year long, not because of the occa-sional sunny days we see in San Francisco, but because I know I am weeks away from dancing in the desert for three days straight at the Coachella Music Festival.
For music lovers in the Bay Area, we are lucky enough to have another one of the best music festivals right in our very own backyard, Golden Gate Park. Although Outside Lands is still new to the festival scene, having debuted in 2008, people from all over the world flock to San Fran-cisco to experience the three-day, music-packed weekend.
It is no surprise that music festivals are not cheap and ticket prices have been on the rise since the popularity of these events continues to grow. Rolling Stone reported in 2008 that Outside Lands brought in an estimated 120,000 attendees. Now entering its fourth consecutive sold-out year, the festival brings in more
than 200,000 fans over the course of the weekend. Since the first edition of the event, the cost of a three-day ticket has risen $100 bringing this year’s ticket price to $325 before service fees, accord-ing to Ticketmaster.
When tickets sold out two hours after they had gone on sale March 26, I noticed many people turned to social media to express their grievances toward high prices. First of all, spending a few hundred dollars to see more than 70 bands in one of the greatest cities in the world is like stealing candy from a baby. What many people do not understand is where that money is actually going and how it benefits our city.
The festival has given more than $10 million to San Fran-cisco’s Recreation and Park Department since its inception, according to an Outside Lands press release. Based on a 2011 economic study, it is estimated that the festival generates over $70 million annually for San Francisco’s economy.
Spending hundreds of dollars in one weekend is not the ideal financial situation into which
anybody wants to put himself or herself, but as someone who has attended both Outside Lands and Coachella for the past four years, the memories, experiences and performances that I have wit-nessed make it more than worth the high price.
The first year I attended Outside Lands in 2012, Stevie Wonder was one of the headlining performers and I will never forget the moments I shared dancing in a circle with all of my friends and even some strangers in this city that I love so much. It was during the song “Superstition” when I thought to myself, “I am coming back here every year no matter what it takes.” Two years later my love for music and festivals was reconfirmed while watching Paul McCartney as fireworks lit up Golden Gate Park.
The money is more than worth the memories music goers will make in return, but it is also a financial deal to see the dozens of well-known performers in a course of 72 hours, including musical legends like this year’s headliner Elton John. A single ticket for the Grammy winner’s concert at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas costs up to $500, according to AXS’ website.
Purchasing an Outside Lands ticket will not only give attendees the opportunity to see top music acts including Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys and Sam Smith, our city will benefit from the money generated from ticket sales and fans will experience a one of a kind music extravaganza. During the past four years, I have learned that when it is all said and done I do not regret spending the money because I would rather invest it on the experience knowing I am help-ing my city in return and making memories I will never forget.
Festival experience worth steep prices
CROWDS: The lead singer of Metallica, James Hetfield, performs in front of a crowd of people at the Lands End Stage during Outside Lands in San Francisco Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GODOFREDO VASQUEZ
NICOLE PARADISE [email protected]
HAZY STAGE: Crowds of people wait at a stage for a performance at Outside Lands August, 2014.
JESSICA CHRISTIAN / XPRESS FILE PHOTO