Students can voice their concerns with student government in exchange for a cookie. Photo by Aimee Vasquez - Mustang Daily.

Associated Students Inc.’s (ASI) Cookie for Comments campaign is a weekly opportunity for students to voice their concerns about student government in return for a cookie. This week is the last event of the quarter and will happen in front of Campus Market Thursday at 11 a.m. More events are scheduled for Spring.

A combination of the University Union Advising Board (UUAB), ASI Board of Directors and the ASI president’s Executive Cabinet, the Cookie Campaign is an attempt both to reach students better and to improve campus with student input.

Mechanical engineering senior Kaitlin Spak, engineering representative on the ASI Board of Directors, explained.

“The idea here is that we have cookies, and people should eat them,” she said. “And in exchange for a cookie students can tell us something they like or don’t like about ASI.”

Civil engineering senior Tanner Bennett, who is also on the Board of Directors, was helping at the event.

“It’s a campaign to get in touch with what peoples’ concerns are,” he said.

The majority of the comments garnered over the last few weeks have been about registration and class availability, according to ASI Elections Committee Chair Kelsey Rice.

Some students, however, had different concerns.

City and regional planning junior Charlotte Bell voices her concerns to ASI representative Tanner Bennett during the event last Thursday. Photo by Aimee Vasquez - Mustang Daily.

City and regional planning junior Charlotte Bell, for instance, said she missed UU Hour, which has been put on hold because of construction this year.

Mechanical engineering student Brian Croshal said he thought the cookie event provided a good way for students to have accessible avenue for feedback.

“I think it’s important for ASI, which is supposedly for the people, to have the opinion of the people,” he said.

He added that he thought a common student concern might be ASI spending.

“We’re spending money on ASI, but there are events that many students never go to,” he said.

Another common comment they received, according to Rice, was many Cal Poly students don’t know much about student government, what they do, or that their meetings are public.

“They think we could improve awareness,” Rice said.

Becoming more visible to students is another of the cookie campaign’s chief goals, especially with the ASI elections coming up. Industrial technology junior Solomon Reda was helping at last week’s event.

“I was personally asking if they’d heard of elections, and depending on their reaction I’d ask them if they’re thinking of running,” he said.

Reda said, with the budget crisis, it’s even more important than ever for students to get involved.

“Issues are affecting students greatly, more than they have in years. Especially financially,” he said.

The event was developed as part of the ongoing campaign for awareness, said ASI Administrative Assistant Tracy Watson.

“It kind of fluctuates each year,” she said. “It’s an outreach campaign, but they tend to call it something different each time.”

This is the first year ASI has used the Cookies for Comments idea.

Croshall said he thought it was a good idea.

“Cookie incentives are always good for college students,” he said.

Courtesy photo

Magician Daniel Martin will bring magic, escapes and comedy to Chumash Auditorium from 8 to 10 tonight.

Martin is a nationally known magician who blends impressive magic with a humorous and sarcastic attitude. Martin’s illusions have been featured on major news channels like CBS, NBC and ESPN. In 2009, Martin was nominated for Best Male Performer, Newest Rising Star, Best Live Novelty Performer and Entertainer of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine, a national publication dedicated to campus entertainment.

Many colleges have been delighted by Martin’s performances, according to the Web site for Bass Schuler Entertainment, an agency that provides entertainment to college campuses and the agency that handles Martin’s national college tour, . Methodist University in North Carolina said, “Daniel’s show was a laugh-out loud, jaw-dropping performance that left us wanting more. It is a must-see performance for all college campuses!” Northern Arizona University said that Martin gave an “amazing show, the crowd loved it, can’t wait to have Daniel back!”

Martin said that college students are the perfect demographic for his shows.

“There’s no fooling college kids with cheesy magic tricks. They’re a very honest and cool group, and I think I really identify with them,” Martin said. “This show is going to be hilarious and really amazing. It’s totally different from the cookie-cutter magic shows that people might be used to.”

Associated Students Inc. (ASI) is responsible for bringing Martin to Cal Poly. Courtney Serafin, ASI special events student supervisor, organized the event.

“We had another magician, Justin Credible, here last year and it went really well, so we really wanted to have a similar show this year,” she said.

Serafin has watched Martin’s promotional videos and said that tonight’s show is specifically geared toward entertaining college-level students.

“It’s not your usual pull-a-rabbit-out-of-the-hat show,” she said. “He does a lot of stand-up comedy as well and really interacts with the audience.”

Students are also excited about the upcoming show.

“When I first heard about a magician coming to campus, I wasn’t too excited, but he really sounds cool,” child development sophomore Lexi Hrinko said. “I think he’ll be really entertaining, even for college students.”

More information about Daniel Martin and his nationwide tour can be found on his Web site at http://www.martinmagic.com.

The ASI 10 percent budget cut is a reflection of the projected reduction in student population next year. Photo by Aimee Vasquez - Mustang Daily.

Associated Students Inc. (ASI) will be working under a 10 percent budget reduction next year.

ASI President Kelly Griggs said the budget cut is not due to reduced funding, but a projected 10 percent cutback in student enrollment.

“We kind of have to take it as it comes, and I think they’re making good decisions as to what is being cut,” Griggs said.

ASI Director of Business Services Dwayne Brummett is currently working on the new budget with ASI business staff. The budget committee will review the revised budget. Once approved by the committee and the ASI Board of Directors, the budget will go into effect on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

“So at this point, it’s a little premature to identify specifically what will be trimmed because the budget’s still being developed,” Brummett said. “But our goal is to not sacrifice the quality stuff.”

While providing services for a smaller student population should equate in some ways, it does not add up for everything.

“If you want to hold the same kinds of concerts, they don’t come at a reduced cost,” Griggs said.

ASI revenue is used primarily towards programs, student government and on-campus renovation. For example, they are currently overseeing the renovation of the University Union Plaza, which is being paid with ASI reserve money.  They are also overseeing the expansion of the Recreation Center, which is being paid for by a student-approved grant. ASI also funds recreational classes, community outreach and other social events.

ASI funds are derived predominately from fees every Cal Poly student pays as part of enrollment tuition, but some of the craft and exercise classes charge a supplementary fee.

The ASI budget cut is not an isolated event, but rather a part of the CSU budget crisis that includes professor furlough days and faculty lay-offs. Assistant accounting professor Rodney P. Mock said while it seems like you could enroll more students to offset the school deficit, that’s not the way the CSU system works.

“Maybe the public doesn’t realize that, because we’re a state university, it actually costs money to send a student to school,” Mock said. “Hence the reduced enrollment.”

Business marketing senior Sydney Feeter compared the current economic situation to being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“It’s unfortunate this is happening but we’ve seen how bad the budget is,” Feeter said. “We’ve cut the fat; there’s no good solution. This isn’t anyone’s first choice, but this is what the college has to do to survive.”

As the budget tightens across the state, Chair of Economics Steve Hamilton suggested that programs like ASI look into other, more entrepreneurial methods of funding. Other options include raising fees for remaining students or cutting back on programs.

“Would a student prefer to have 10 percent less programs or 10 percent more fees?” Hamilton said. “It’s a little hard to answer that question because it’s not a market-driven process.”

While the cutbacks will take some planning to adjust to, the corporation is not entirely unprepared. Griggs said ASI staff have kept a reserve fund, “kind of for a rainy day, which we’re having now. So I don’t think the students will notice any difference.”

ASI currently employs more than 500 Cal Poly students at a variety of on-campus jobs and has a full-time staff of approximately 60 members.

Ingrid Michaelson will perform as part of the ASI Music in the Market series Thursday. Courtesy photo

Ingrid Michaelson, best known for her song “The Way I Am” and her contributions to the ABC program “Grey’s Anatomy,” is coming to Cal Poly Thursday to play for Music in the Market at 11 a.m.

Music in the Market is a concert series formed by Associated Students Inc. (ASI) that brings free music to the Via Carta Mall outside of Campus Market while the University Union is under construction. Musical entertainment student supervisor Dave Carlsen, who is in charge of booking acts for Music in the Market, chose Michaelson because of her growing popularity.

“(Michaelson) has a very likable sound; all of Cal Poly students can wrap their ears around it,” Carlsen said.

Students may like Michaelson, but non-students have also heard about her coming to Cal Poly to perform, and since the venue is so spacious, it is accessible to everyone.

“She’s an awesome singer that isn’t mainstream (with) that horrible breathy pop music; she has folk style,” Meredith Wolf, an employee at Barnes and Noble, said. “I’m taking my niece. It’s good for her to see strong female performers.”

Since the venue is outside, ASI Program Coordinator Missi Bullock said that she expects Michaelson’s name to bring more people than previous concerts, which have brought in as many as 700 people in the past.

“The concert is primarily for students, but there is no way to limit it,” Bullock said. “The area is completely open.”

A stage, provided by Ernie Ball, will make the performance seen and heard by everyone, especially since Michaelson will only be bringing her guitarist and her piano for an acoustic concert.

“The concert will be very stripped down, showing the music at its roots,” Carlsen said.

Michaelson’s career in music started at a young age. According to her Web site, she started playing the piano when she was 4 years old and later transitioned to singing and song-writing. She is considered an indie-pop singer and songwriter, but her soft voice accompanied with a guitar or piano comes across more indie than pop.

“I wouldn’t call her pop, she sounds more indie; pop is more upbeat than what she sings,” liberal studies junior Jennifer Miller said. “She has calming music.”

Other Michaelson hits include “Be OK” from her sophomore album with the same name, as well as “Maybe” from her first album, “Everybody.”

“Her name might not be as well-known, but her songs are,” Bullock said.

Her songs have been used in Old Navy commercials and episodes of “One Tree Hill,” but Michaelson’s fame really began when her song “Keep Breathing” played in the season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Stemming from “Grey’s Anatomy” popularity, she has performed on “Good Morning America” and most recently on “The Ellen Degeneres Show.” Carlsen said that Cal Poly was lucky that her schedule worked out so well with the dates for Music in the Market. Michaelson happened to have time in her trip from a performance in Los Angeles to a performance in San Francisco; now Carlsen is just concerned about the weather.

“The weather has been bad lately, but Thursday has been said to be the sunniest day in the week,” he said.

In case the weather is bad, Carlsen said, there is a back up plan, but he is staying optimistic.

Other upcoming acts for Music in the Market include The Stone Foxes February 11, and Timmy Curran February 18.

Stock photo

Student government plans to get answers from local and state leaders about the budget effects on higher education. This is a response to Associated Students Inc.’s budget crisis survey where class availability topped the list of concerns important to students.

ASI released the results from the “Dollar Dilemmas,” a series of events held to get student feedback on budget issues on their Web site, and plan to have answers to all the questions posted over the next two weeks. More than 300 students submitted questions or concerns about fewer classes being offered, furloughs and facility projects at booths on Dexter Lawn, the University Union and Robert E. Kennedy Library. ASI President Kelly Griggs said they are working on getting accurate answers for students.

“We saw a lot of speculation and a lack of information on issues like the Rec Center project and class availability,” Griggs said. Chief of Staff Jessica Patton and Secretary of Legislative Affairs Alicia Carney said they have already started to find some answers to the top questions by interviewing campus administrators.

Carney said Provost Koob told them that even with 92 classes cut fall quarter, students are taking more units and that the administration is working to make sure students graduate on time. The outcome of the meeting will be part of the ASI Web site dedicated to informing students. Griggs said they wanted to find a way to use the Web site to provide better communication to students on these issues.

ASI’s student government Web site will be a place to find current information and answers, updates on budget related news and a connection to the leaders in Sacramento, Patton said. The top issues for students are limited class availability, paying more for fewer classes and having those classes cut short by furloughs. There will eventually be a response to all student questions and concerns submitted.

“This will give students a heads up on issues important to them,” Patton said.

The Web site now has the full list of the questions and concerns raised by students at “Dollar Dilemmas.” Student representatives also took a copy to the California State Student Association (CSSA) to share in the statewide effort to lobby for education funds.

ASI is working with CSSA to find answers from state administrators in order to keep students involved in the process so that the project is focused on issues important to them, and currently, it’s the budget, Griggs said.

“We’re all dealing with the economy, and we have a responsibility to students to find accurate information,” she said.

Graphic by Kevin Black

The Cal Poly Veritas Forum returned to campus last week with large audience numbers at each of the week’s five events. The forum, which has been presented annually at Cal Poly since 2001,  is sponsored by Campus Crusade (SLO Crusade),  Associated Students Inc. and the national Veritas Forum, which sponsors similar events at college campuses across the country.

The event was organized by the Veritas Forum club, which became a charted club through ASI last year.  According to the club’s Web site, the event is designed to promote exploration and discussion of  “life’s hardest questions” and “the idea that Jesus Christ has something relevant to offer our modern university in its search for knowledge, truth and significance.”

The Veritas Forum included a series of activities from Jan.11 to Jan.15 such as student art displays, a speech by Veritas founder Kelly Monroe Kullberg and a discussion on the origins of life.

The forum used current events as the backdrop for some of its activities, including a video on human trafficking shown Thursday and a talk about why tragedies occur on Friday.

Controversy stemmed from the “Origins of Life” discussion, which  was held Wednesday night in Chumash Auditorium, with approximately 800 audience members in attendance. There was some confusion with the fliers presented around campus promoting the event.

Although event organizers claimed the event was promoted as a fair discussion, some audience members said the discussion wasn’t evenhanded.

While the fliers advertiaed that the three event speakers would include an atheist evolutionist in addition to a creationist and an assisted evolutionist, event speaker Dr. Matthew Rainbow informed the audience that he was actually a “theist.”

“The atheist speaker wasn’t really atheist; I felt like I was being lied to, definitely misled,” said audience member Misha Davies, a Cal Poly graduate and former Cal Poly Brights president.

The Veritas club agreed that the term ‘‘atheist’’ was misleading. “When (Rainbow) was hired, we thought he was an atheist, but he was actually a theist,” said Chelsea Morrell, biomedical engineering senior and Veritas Forum club vice president.

She also responded to critics who complained the time allotted for Q&A was cut to 15 minutes due to a longer speaking section.

“I wish students had more time to ask questions to create more dialogue,” she said, acknowledging that a speaker requested more time to speak.

The event’s advertising strategies also drew controversy. Fliers posted on campus to promote the event depicted a microscope with the word ‘truth’ next to it, which some audience members found misleading, since many of the week’s events were largely faith-based.

“The microscope with the word ‘‘truth’’ next to it was misleading,” Davies said of the marketing strategy. “There was no telling that it was put on by Campus Crusade. If they wanted to promote truth, why aren’t they fully disclosing all the info?”

Morrell agreed that a microscope was misleading.

“Last year there were three symbols that represented us: a microscope, a painting and an open book. This year, we chose to do just the microscope, but then we realized that we’re not just scientific, so we brought back all three symbols (for next year).” Morrell said. “I feel (the microscope) didn’t encompass what Veritas is; it doesn’t just focus on science.”

Still, Veritas Forum members say that all of the week’s events were true to their intentions of starting a dialogue.

“It wasn’t a debate, no winner or loser. The audience is supposed to take the (information they hear) to think and talk about later,” Morrell said.