Recent News
Ask an Expert: How Do You Vote in a Pandemic?
Aug 3, 2020
With a presidential election just months away and a pandemic keeping many Americans away from public spaces, the ability to vote safely and securely has become a major concern for engaged voters around the nation.
Cal Poly political science professor Mike Latner is a nationally-recognized expert on voting rights. He works with the Union of Concerned Scientists on developing policy proposals to combat voting inequality, and is the co-author of the book “Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the Future of Popular Sovereignty.”
Latner met with Cal Poly News to help separate fact from fiction in the conversation about voting by mail, and discuss how the nation can address the challenges that are sure to arise in this unprecedented election.
How does voting by mail work? Is it as susceptible to fraud as some people claim? There are a variety of types of voting by mail. The most comprehensive is what we call universal vote by mail. That’s a system in five states — Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Hawaii — where every eligible voter receives a ballot in the mail. California is moving to universal vote by mail for this coming November election.
In Oregon, counties put secure drop boxes in various locations, and any voter can turn their ballot directly in to a drop box. The other option is California’s traditional model, which is no-fault absentee voting. That means if you’re a registered voter in California, for any reason or no reason at all, you can sign up to be a permanent absentee voter and have your ballot mailed to you.
All states have some form of mail-in voting, for military voters and overseas voters. It’s important to note though, that even in the universal vote-by-mail states, there are opportunities to vote in person.
On voter fraud, I did some work with the UCLA Voting Rights Project, and there have been several other studies as well that have looked at vote by mail as a process. And when we look across states where more people vote by mail, we don't see any evidence that there's a significant increase of voter fraud.
If anything, the real concern is when we move a bunch of people into a different system of voting, you're going to have mistakes. You may have a higher ballot rejection rate because of differences between signatures on ballots and registration files. But generally speaking, voter fraud is not a problem in the United States.
Political science professor Mike Latner
What lessons should we learn from recent primary elections this year about voting in a pandemic? Particularly primaries like Georgia and Michigan, where there were serious problems at polling places with overcrowding and polls closing? I'm currently working on a study where political scientists and economists looked at the Wisconsin primary, where we had exactly this pattern. The city of Milwaukee consolidated their polling places — they went from about 85 polling places to just five. Because of the pandemic, a lot of people requested mail-in ballots, but the state wasn’t prepared for it in a number of ways. People were waiting on Election Day to get ballots in the mail that they had never came. The governor tried to postpone the election, which was rejected in the courts, but it wasn’t even clear the day before whether there would be an election at all.
So you had all this last minute confusion, and then you had voters that were standing in line for four hours at a time. Two and three weeks after the election, the counties where you had larger numbers of people per polling place showed a spike in positive cases of COVID-19.
We know that this threat is real and it's something that we have to take account for November, if we are looking to stop the spread of the disease and to ensure that people can safely exercise their franchise.
If every additional administrative step is going to make voting harder, what does that actually mean in terms of who effectively ends up being able to vote? The way we look at it in political science is that every act has a cost. If you have to take time out of your day, or if there’s only a certain day or place where you can vote, or only a certain way to get election information, every little thing that makes it more difficult goes into this calculus of whether or not someone votes.
If everyone starts out with the same resources — money, time, whatever — then the cost of voting is the same for everyone. But we know that we already have inequalities, people who have fewer resources like free time. So when you have those inequalities in society already and then add the cost of voting on top of it, it’s more difficult for people of lower socioeconomic status, people in communities that are less well-served, to overcome this cost.
What ends up happening is that you end up exacerbating the inequalities that are already present in the system. That's really what we want to avoid because that's a question of equity, and it's frankly a question of voting rights and political equality.
What do we need to be looking out for in the upcoming November election, with everything going on? The first thing we need to do is to make it easier to register to vote. The demand is certainly there — if you look at polling data, this will probably be a record year for voter turnout, if we have the infrastructure set up
Second, we need to make it easier to vote by mail. We should be sending all registered voters mail-in ballots, and not make them go through the process of having to request them, because every extra step in the process leads to fewer people actually turning out to vote.
Third, we need to ensure security and safety at the polls. That means we need to be as efficient as possible in processing voters in person on election day. We need reliable, working voting machines, sanitation, social distancing and safety guidelines. The goal needs to be minimizing wait time, because that’s where the greatest risk is.
And finally, we need an open and transparent process with regard to processing ballots, because across the United States election officials are going to be facing problems that they’ve never faced before. We know that voters of color and younger or first-time voters are most likely to have their ballots rejected. Especially in this political environment, we need to make sure that the process is fair, transparent and equitable.
For all that to work together, what the states need more than anything else is support from Congress. The CARES Act allocated about $400 million in election support to the states. We’ve found that we actually need about $4 billion allocated across all 50 states in order to ensure a safe and secure election.
Are there signs that more states are taking these issues seriously and working to address them? There are, in fact. There have been something like 42 states taking some kind of action to either reduce the excuses required to obtain an absentee ballot, or like in the state of Michigan, they're proactively sending eligible voters absentee ballot requests. You can see it happening around the country, but it’s slow.
My concern is that we're going to be in a position where even if states provide the necessary legislation, that there simply aren’t going to be the resources and the financial support that state and local election officials need. Congress needs to allocate more support for this effort nationwide, because states can only do so much. And we have to act now if the nation's going to be ready in November.
This story, written by Larry Peña, originally appeared on Cal Poly News.
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Emeritus English Professor Named SLO County Poet Laureate
Jul 5, 2020
Emeritus English Professor Kevin Clark has been named the new San Luis Obispo County Poet Laureate. We are excited about the opportunities to come for our community! The San Luis Obispo County Poet Laureate Program is dedicated to advocating the literary arts by appointing an outstanding local poet as Poet Laureate to promote an appreciation of poetry among people of all ages. The appointment is a two-year term. The Poet Laureate shares the art of poetry with citizens of San Luis Obispo County through their writings, recitations and leadership of community poetry readings.
Here is a bit about Kevin..
Winner of the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Series Book Competition, Kevin Clark’s Self-Portrait with Expletives was published by Pleiades Press and distributed by LSU Press. His first full-length collection, In the Evening of No Warning (New Issues Poetry and Prose), earned a grant from the Academy of American Poets. Clark also won the Angoff Award for best contribution to The Literary Review, an Artsmith fellowship, and a Bread Loaf fellowship.
The author of three chapbooks, Clark has published poems in such journals as the Georgia Review, Iowa Review, Antioch Review, Crazyhorse, Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, Gulf Coast, and Poetry Northwest. One of his poems was anthologized in The Notre Dame Review: The First Ten Years.
Clark also writes essays about literature, some of which have appeared in magazines such as the Iowa Review, Southern Review, and Contemporary Literary Criticism. A semi-regular contributor to The Georgia Review, he has published essays in books about Ruth Stone, Charles Wright, and Sandra McPherson. He and his son, the actor and artist Joe Hewes-Clark, have cowritten a play, Brick’s Last Call.
Recipient of two teaching awards, Clark has written a textbook on writing poetry, The Mind’s Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry (Pearson Longman). He spends summers teaching at the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program in Tacoma, Washington.
Clark lives with his wife, Amy Hewes, on California’s central coast, where he continues to play city league softball “despite legs like ancient concrete and more injuries than Evel Knievel.”
Check out more at his website kevinclarkpoetry.com
Story originally appeared on Arts Obispo
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Teach ON! Covered Issues of Equity and Justice Surrounding COVID-19
Jul 2, 2020
In the spirit of the “Inclusion Starts with Me Teach In” that was offered in the winter quarters of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the College of Liberal Arts hosted a virtual “Teach ON!” during the spring 2020 quarter. The 2020 Teach ON! was a series of both prerecorded and real-time virtual lectures devoted to issues of equity and justice surrounding COVID-19.
The pandemic has magnified structural inequities — as well as strengths — that exist in our diverse communities, and the Teach ON! organizers recognized the need for scholars to speak to the complexity of the coronavirus response and its intersections with issues of race, class and equity.
Faculty across campus were encouraged to use the lectures along with other curated resources in their courses. Presenters covered topics such as anti-Asian racism, self and community care, global responses, health care disparities, the redeployment of survival strategies for marginalized communities, issues of equity in a pandemic, fear and privilege, the social toll of social distancing, and laboring in the time of coronavirus.
The Teach ON! was offered in the same spirit as the Teach In, says Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti, CLA associate dean for diversity and curriculum. “It’s a way for faculty, staff and administrators to model how we can engage in intellectual discourse around issues of social justice, particularly in times of great social need.”
Nearly 600 attendees including students, staff and faculty logged into the live events, and even more accessed the provided learning material throughout the quarter.
Ruha Benjamin, professor of African American studies at Princeton University, gave a keynote presentation to conclude the series on June 4. Benjamin studies the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine; race and citizenship; and knowledge and power. More than 250 people logged in to watch her talk titled “Race to the Future? Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology and Society.”
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Political Science Student Accepted to Panetta Congressional Internship Program
Jun 24, 2020
Imahn Daeenabi
Imahn Daeenabi, a third-year political science major from Menlo Park, California, will serve as Cal Poly’s 2020 representative to the Panetta Institute’s Congressional Internship Program.
After a two-week training period at the Panetta Institute at CSU Monterey Bay, Daeenabi will work in the capitol office of a California congressional representative in Washington, D.C., for 11 weeks in the fall.
“At a time when there are so many crucial issues that require a public policy solution, I believe this will be a great opportunity to learn from the experienced leaders working in Congress,” Daeenabi said. “I’m thrilled and grateful for this hands-on experience that will equip me with the skills and knowledge needed to become a public servant.”
Daeenabi’s previous experience includes internships with California State Senator Jerry Hill, San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum, and the SLO Legal Assistance Foundation. In addition to his work experience, Daeenabi anticipates that his Cal Poly coursework, including classes on the U.S. Congress and on American politics, will be a major benefit when working at the Capitol.
“My experience working at the county and state level in district offices was incredibly beneficial,” he said. “Working at the federal level will be a new challenge and will hopefully provide a holistic view of how all of our levels of government operate.”
Daeenabi plans to graduate from Cal Poly in June 2021 and attend law school. He is the 20th student from Cal Poly to participate in the Panetta Institute program since 2001.
Daeenabi will join 25 other students, all nominated by the presidents of each CSU campus, as well as Dominican University of California, Saint Mary’s College of California and Santa Clara University. The program is open to all academic majors and is recognized as one of the leading internship courses in the nation because of the rigorous training it provides.
The Panetta Institute covers program costs, including course registration fees, campus services during orientation, air travel and housing in Washington, D.C. By covering these expenses, the institute can make the program available to interns from all socioeconomic levels. Cal Poly awardees are supported in part through the Ed and Jan Slevin Congressional Internship Endowment.
About the Panetta Institute for Public Policy
Founded in 1997 by Leon and Sylvia Panetta, the Panetta Institute serves the entire California State University system plus several other schools. Under the direction of Secretary and Mrs. Panetta, the institute provides a variety of study opportunities in government, politics and public policy, and sponsors a range of other programs. These include the Leon Panetta Lecture Series, which brings national political leaders and policy thinkers to the Monterey Peninsula to discuss important national and global issues; a Policy Research Fellows Program; and the Leon E. Panetta Archive, a resource for scholars interested in the workings of Congress. The institute is located on the campus of CSU Monterey Bay in Seaside, California. Visit www.panettainstitute.org/.
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'We're Just Going to Keep Making Music.' Choir Performance Comes Together Online
Jun 24, 2020
Cal Poly Choirs
When Cal Poly took its classes virtual this spring and canceled all live campus events, Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities Scott Glysson figured that there would be no choir this quarter. Who would sign up for an ensemble that couldn’t meet?
To Glysson’s surprise, more than 100 students signed up anyway.
“It’s fewer than we usually get, but way more than I was expecting,” he said. “Apparently our choral singers really needed that sense of community and creative outlet.”
On June 8, the music department will stream the result of that community effort: Cal Poly’s first virtual choir performance. The concert features PolyPhonics, the University Singers and the Women’s Chorus, and includes “If Ye Love Me” by Thomas Tallis, selections from Mozart’s “Requiem in D Minor,” and “Sleep” by composer Eric Whitacre, a pioneer in virtual choir performance.
To prepare for the concert, Glysson had to record videos for each vocal part of each song, showing himself directing each part and a lead performance by each of the choral section leaders. Each performer then followed the direction to record their own part.
From there, Glysson worked individually with all 110 singers to give feedback and refine their performances to fit in with the rest of the ensemble — a vastly different process compared to a traditional choral experience.
“Under normal circumstances, some of the individual problems you hear in a group naturally work themselves out as you give feedback to the whole ensemble,” he said. “Having to give feedback individually to more than 100 people is incredibly tedious.”
When the individual performances were finally ready, adjunct music faculty members Laura Kramer and Dave Becker edited the final performance video.
Despite the challenges, the format change ended up yielding some unexpected benefits and learning opportunities as well.
“As an ensemble director, I usually work with more than 200 singers but almost never get to hear them sing individually,” he said. “Working in this format has pushed me to have to do more listening to individual singers.”
While it’s impossible to perfectly replicate the experience of a traditional choir performance, Glysson says that he ultimately sees the virtual performance as a win.
“The only other option was to give up, and we were just not going to do that,” he said. Whatever the challenges are, we’re just going to keep making music.”
The concert streamed live on Monday, June 8 and was followed by a series of Q&A talks with the directors and performers.
This story, written by Larry Peña, originally appeared on Cal Poly News.
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Ask an Expert: What is Juneteenth?
Jun 24, 2020
A scene from the 2019 Juneteenth Parade
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On June 19, 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, six months after passage of the 13th Amendment, and two months after the surrender of the Confederacy — General George Granger, accompanied by thousands of federal troops including many Black soldiers, arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, proclaiming that slavery had been outlawed across the nation and all slaves were now free.
Every June 19, Black communities around the U.S — along with a growing number of cities, states and organizations — commemorate that moment with a holiday known as Juneteenth. Cal Poly history professor Thanayi Jackson, who specializes in the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, met with Cal Poly News to talk about the history of this holiday and what it means for the continuing fight for equality.
Professor Thanayi Jackson
What does Juneteenth celebrate? Once a law is passed, you then have to go through the long process of implementing that law, and during that period, anything can happen. Part of that is getting word to people that this is now what’s legal or not legal. So Juneteenth celebrates when people who were enslaved in Texas, which was the last place where this happened, learned that emancipation was the law and that slavery was now illegal. It’s not so much about the legal implementation of the law on paper, and you could argue that it took even after Juneteenth for enslaved people to truly be free, but Juneteenth celebrates the moment that law was actualized by enslaved people themselves.
What are some of the ways Juneteenth has historically been observed as a holiday? In Black communities Emancipation Day holidays have been celebrated since emancipation. After the Civil War, during reconstruction, when Black people sometimes comprised majorities of city and state legislatures in the South, you would see large state-sponsored participation in something like Juneteenth. The first celebrations occurred in 1866, on the one-year anniversary of General Order No. 3. Then, as Reconstruction started to be countered and Black people lost political power, certain state and local governments tried to end Juneteenth celebrations, leading Black citizens to purchase private Juneteenth Parks. For example, Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas was the first of these in 1872.
In some ways, that Juneteenth is the longest nationally celebrated holiday in the U.S. without official state or federal recognition is telling. At the same time, state and federally recognized holidays have not always existed in the way we think of them. That starts sometime around the 1870s and really picks up as a patriotic thing to do in the mid-20th century. In that context of recognizing holidays, the first state to recognize Juneteenth was, of course, Texas in 1979 as a clear result of the Civil Rights movement and the attempt to write African American victories into the national fabric.
What are some of the ways Juneteenth is observed in different communities now? Juneteenth is about remembering the history of emancipation, achieved by Black people fighting for emancipation from the ground up. Even though the law was passed, there was nothing to force it being implemented other than the sometimes word-of-mouth transference of information. So the transference of information seems to be something that most Juneteenth celebrations have in common — some sort of reading, some sort of call to current activism, and a recognition of the struggle for racial equity are always a part of it. There is also art, culture, food, concerts, speakers — it’s definitely also a celebration. And it is almost always produced and carried out by local organizations working together. And of course, family! I think that’s true of most holidays. But one feature of early emancipation celebrations and Juneteenth was the reuniting of family. After emancipation, the most prevalent action was searching for lost family. That became a part of the celebration.
I think my family missed the BBQ and being together in person most this year. But I celebrated virtually last weekend with my hometown community in the South Bay area. We had a day of education the day before on the 12th, started celebration day with yoga in the morning, and had a full day of presentations that included everything from a “becoming homeowners” workshop to live activist art by school-age children to music.
In the last few days and weeks, there have been a lot of companies adopting Juneteenth, and more states saying that they’re going to start treating it as an official paid state holiday. What does that mean to you and how do you see those developments shaping how Juneteenth is commemorated going forward? I mean, yes! I’m on board! I don’t see any negatives to people celebrating and learning about Juneteenth. But there are also some important policy discussions to be had as well. I would hope that state and corporate sponsorship of Juneteenth will have the effect of also changing policies and bolstering the economies of communities that have traditionally celebrated Juneteenth. That would be amazing.
What does Juneteenth represent in ongoing civil rights work in the country right now? It’s the ultimate activist story. You actually had to get out the word that people were free. It was not just something they came and gave you. Black people did this. We walked off the plantations. We forced our freedom onto the agenda of the Civil War. People leaving slavery en masse was such a thorn in the sides of traveling armies that Union leaders had to go up the chain of command to find out what to do about them, and that forced the slavery question into the national conversation. They got together to actually push for a policy, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation, and eventually grew into the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. And then the real work starts. You have to get the word out to make sure that people in practice are actually free. And that call to action is what Juneteenth is all about.
This story, written by Larry Peña, originally appeared on Cal Poly News.
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Cal Poly’s ‘RSVP XXV: Call and Response’ to be Presented in Virtual Episodes
May 29, 2020
Scene from last year's RSVP production
The Cal Poly Music Department’s student production ensemble RSVP will present “RSVP XXV: Call and Response” in three video episodes starting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 4-6.
This year marks not only the 25th anniversary of RSVP but also the departure of its founder and artistic director, Antonio G. Barata, who is retiring from full-time teaching at Cal Poly after 35 years.
This year the transmedia series picks up where last year’s left off: in a combination of music, costume, dance and video editing. The story of heavy metal shredder Peter Estrella continues, with the focus on his mysterious disappearance and otherworldly reconciliation.
“This production challenges our attachment to normalcy,” Barata said. “The show embraces the unexpected and examines how both humans and non-humans connect from afar. Based on our current society, this show is incredibly timely as it forces us to grapple with reality and uphold the will to be creative during unusual times. Simultaneously the story seamlessly carries over themes showcased in its preceding installment, such as inspiration and darkness.”
The composition, performance, soundscape and costuming combine the creativity of students in Barata’s Sound Design classes with choreography by Cal Poly students Evan Ricaurté, Lindsay Eklund and Justine Teoh, plus several dancers from past productions.
The students have been especially creative this year due to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders.
“I believe that the virtual setting, while it has its own unique challenges, also comes with its unique opportunities,” said Teoh, an architectural engineering major. “By going virtual, we will be able to do things no traditional RSVP has been able to do — and perhaps will never be able to do again.
“For example, we can reach out further and wider through online viewing, no longer limited by theater space. Through video presentations we open ourselves to all the possibilities and tools video editing has to offer. Overall, I believe that this will be an amazing and memorable production, fitting of the 25th show.”
Links to the YouTube videos will be posted to the RSVP calendar page. Donations can be made to support future RSVP productions.
The performances are sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, visit the department’s calendar website or email music@calpoly.edu.
Story originally appeared in the Music Department spring 2020 events calendar
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The Show Must Go On: More Than 100 Students Create a Virtual Spring Dance Concert
May 29, 2020
Two months ago, preparation for the Theatre and Dance Department’s annual Spring Dance Concert was in full swing. Directors and choreographers were selected, dancers were cast and plans to fill an auditorium were underway.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic began to intensify in the U.S., and classes were moved to a virtual format, the directors and advisors had put their minds together to find a new way to move forward with the show — and those efforts are culminating in a virtual concert, called "Vitalis."
The show, which will stream on Vimeo from May 20 through May 22, consists of choreographed dance films created by a cast of more than 100 students, edited together by student directors Alyssa Gatan, Evan Ricaurté and Lindsay Eklund.
“When you’re in the dance studio rehearsing, you can feed off the energy of your dancers. Trying to navigate through this without being in person, it’s challenging and different,” Gatan said. “I’ve tried to figure out how to surpass that and keep working and problem-solving on my own.”
While the student directors expressed disappointment that they would not have a live performance, they adapted: learning skills such as filming and editing in preparation for the virtual show.
By the time shelter-in-place orders had been put into effect, choreographers had already created dance pieces designed for in-person performances. Dance professors Diana Stanton and Christy McNeil Chand encouraged choreographers to stick to the original pieces and adapt them for the virtual format.
The Vitalis dance cast rehearses indvidually for the video.
Stanton said that one unique aspect of a video format in dance is having control over what the viewer sees. For example, at an in-person performance, the viewer can choose which dancer to focus on, like a friend they may have come to watch. However, in a virtual format, the choreographer can direct the viewer’s eye.
“In this format, you are really looking at these dances from the choreographer’s eyes rather than our own eyes,” Stanton said.
Choreographers had to decide the best way to teach their dancers virtually.
Some created video tutorials, and others held Zoom meetings with dancers. Each week, individual dancers submitted rehearsal videos to the choreographers, who then edited together the videos and submitted drafts for the directors and advisors.
Stanton said she was impressed week after week with how the videos were overlaid to create a collective effect.
“It looks like they’re dancing together,” Stanton said.
Stanton said that while most dancers would prefer gathering in person for a performance, this format provides a unique learning opportunity for the student dancers.
“In the arts, we have what we call restriction studies. You restrict something, and sometimes that makes you explore deeper in places that you can,” Stanton said. “That’s essentially what these dancers have done. They have the most unique camera angles and effects. They are really doing storytelling through movement.”
Gatan agreed. Though she may not be able perform her last show as a senior on a stage, she dances anywhere she can.
“I get to dance in places I never thought I would. I go to the park and dance, I dance in my yard,” she said. “I think it’s so great because dance is something you can do wherever you want, and it’s an emotional and mental break from everything going on.”
And that is the primary purpose of this year’s show: to provide a creative outlet for the students during these difficult circumstances.
Stanton said that throughout the process, she has emphasized process over product. Gatan said this advice has helped her focus on the movement.
“I knew it would be challenging, but we were ready to take it on because we knew we had to preserve something so special, which is being able to dance as a community,” Gatan said.
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Cal Poly Choirs to Present Virtual Concert on June 8
May 15, 2020
The Cal Poly Choirs will present a virtual concert that will include a special set to recognize graduating seniors at 7 p.m. Monday, June 8.
The choirs will perform selections they have been working on through online rehearsals this quarter and works they were going to perform at the Winter Concert, which was canceled due to the shelter-in-place order. There will also be a post-concert talk.
PolyPhonics and the University Singers will present three works as a combined virtual choir: “If Ye Love Me” by Thomas Tallis; the infamous “Confutatis” and “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s “Requiem in D Minor,” K.626; and “Sleep” by the famous modern composer Eric Whitacre. Choir members will have an opportunity to interact virtually with Whitacre in the coming weeks.
The video recordings of PolyPhonics from last quarter are the thrilling “Lamentations of Jeremiah” by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera, and “My God is a Rock” by Stacey Gibbs.
The Women’s Chorus will sing a movement from “Winter Cantata” by Vincent Persichetti and a portion of “Songs of Sanctuary” by Karl Jenkins.
“This quarter the members of the choirs have been working on a brief survey of the development of choral music spanning the last 500 years,” said Scott Glysson, director of choral activities. “The June 8 concert is a result of the students learning about different eras of music history through presentations and lectures, and of course virtual rehearsals for the first time in the choral program’s history.”
Those who attend the concert are also invited to a post-concert talk and will be able to interact with students and faculty members. The session will include interviews with a student panel, a talk by faculty member Laura Kramer on the process of rehearsing and putting together a virtual choir, and notes from Glysson.
Paul Woodring is the accompanist for the choirs. The choirs are conducted by Glysson.
Tickets to the concert are $5. A $10 backstage pass ticket includes both the concert and the post-concert session. Tickets are sold through FeelitLive.
The concert is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406 or visit its calendar website.
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'We're Doing What The Pros Are Doing.' Student Media Endures in Face of COVID-19
May 15, 2020
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March, Cal Poly’s student media leadership knew they had to find a way to keep operating and serving the community.
The students, with the help of their advisors, got creative: KCPR staff are transmitting remotely to keep their hour-long daily newscast going and the music playing.
Mustang News is navigating the process of putting out news without a print product on campus, as students learn to report stories and work together remotely — an experience that mirrors that of many professional newsrooms.
“This is Learn by Doing in action,” said business administration senior Austin Linthicum, Editor in Chief of Mustang News. “All newsrooms around the country are working remotely at this point. We’re doing what the pros are doing, not just locally but at places like the New York Times.”
Linthicum said that more than half of Mustang News’ staff is no longer in San Luis Obispo, and the staff isn’t conducting any in-person interviews for safety reasons. Student journalists coordinate with their editors via Zoom calls and other remote options.
Despite the challenges, Mustang News has continued to break news and expand their coverage beyond campus into the city of San Luis Obispo.
“One of our goals this year was to step into covering the community of SLO and this was a great experiment to see if we really can play a bigger role in covering the city,” Linthicum said.
Austin Linthicum, center, speaks at a Mustang News meeting in 2019.
Mustang News was also able to host a virtual ASI presidential debate via Zoom with help from Thomas Morales, the Journalism Department’s broadcast engineer.
On the lighter side of things, Mustang News adapted their Poly Picks contest, which encourages students to vote on the best restaurants and businesses in SLO, into an online format.
“This hardship has paved the way for some interesting innovation,” Linthicum said. “It’s not easy when you’re remote and have no contact with people, but the editors have really kept their teams together and at the top of their game.”
Patrick Howe, one of Mustang News’ advisors, praised the students for rising to the challenge of covering their community during a crisis.
“They’ve stepped up like champs,” Howe said. “Our highest goal and aspiration is that students use Mustang News as a laboratory to learn the skills that will serve them professionally, and they are. They will emerge from the other side of this as more flexible and adept journalists.”
Maya McGregor poses at her home studio in San Luis Obispo.
For KCPR’s operations, Morales safely set up a broadcast studio in the home of journalism junior Maya MacGregor, the station’s News Director. It serves as the local, distanced control room for the radio station.
MacGregor oversees a team of 16 reporters, and six of them are on deck for any newscast, according to a schedule she creates. The newscast also provides a platform for students in a broadcast journalism course as well as a senior journalism practicum to get experience being on the air.
The reporters use a product called CleanFeed to transmit their audio stories from their different locations. MacGregor mixes everything for the broadcast, which goes live daily at 9 a.m. Monday through Friday. She then transmits the broadcast via the remote KCPR unit back to the studio in Graphic Arts using a Verizon 4G modem.
“This has been a huge learning experience for me. It’s a whole new setup and it’s completely different from the studio setup,” MacGregor said. “If we didn’t have Thomas, none of this would have worked.”
Morales said the KCPR team was able to go remote through the advent of CleanFeed, as well as creatively using equipment the station already had.
“By redeploying equipment already contained within the department and the station, spiffing up some old laptops and just using what we had, we were able to make it work,” Morales said. “Our investments and gradual improvements year after year in the facilities gave us foundational-level capabilities to be able to expand into areas we never imagined.”
One of the challenges of a remote broadcast format is that KCPR’s team of student DJs isn’t currently able to broadcast, though finding a way for them to do so is a high priority, Morales said. For the time being, the station’s music director and programming director are programming and curating music remotely.
“We’ll keep on trucking,” said business administration senior Max Motley, KCPR’s General Manager. “We’re trying to do whatever we can to keep entertaining and serving the community and adapt to this time.”
Max Motley, right, laughs with DJs in the KCPR studio.
Motley added that he’s remodeled KCPR’s Spotify and added new playlists, hoping to engage some of KCPR’s listeners there. The playlists he put up a few weeks ago now have hundreds of followers, he said.
“It’s really shown a lot about our media organizations during this time, when a lot of us can’t do our jobs the same way, we have found ways to contribute and to keep our media organizations relevant,” Motley said. “Even though we can’t go into the newsroom, it’s positive to see how devoted our staff is to providing entertainment and news to the community.”
This story originally appeared on the Cal Poly News webpage.