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Removing the Mask: Former Undocumented Student Hopes Sharing Her Background Will Help as Coordinator of the Multicultural Business Program

Sep 11, 2023


 

By Pat Pemberton 

Yesenia Beas
Having grown up undocumented in Guadalupe, Calif.,
Yesenia Beas thinks she will be able to relate and
empathize with students as the head of the
Multicultural Business Program. (Photo: Jack Sann)

As an undocumented child in Guadalupe, Calif, Yesenia Beas was afraid to tell friends or school staffers about her status, unsure whom she could trust.

“I don’t even think my teachers in elementary or junior high really understood the level of stress you would feel even trying to open up to them and sharing your story a little,” Beas said. “Because you think, ‘Is this person going to be supportive or not? Are they going to hurt me, or are they going to help me?’”

While she kept her secret until she was in college, Beas, now a resident seeking citizenship, said she is happy to share her experiences with students as a new academic advisor and coordinator of Cal Poly’s Multicultural Business Program (MBP), which provides students with professional support and resources to help them persist toward graduation.

“All of the identities I carry definitely help in terms of being able to relate to a lot of student struggles,” said Beas, noting that each student will have their own unique challenge. “My hope is that I can gain students’ trust so that they too can open up to me and share things that maybe they wouldn’t share with others so that I can help them out.”

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Beas and her family moved to Guadalupe when she was five years old. Her father worked as a handyman, and her mother cleaned houses.

“I think Guadalupe is very similar to Mexico in the sense that it’s poorly funded and it’s a very small town with very few people,” Beas said, “which is nice because you kind of get to know everyone in the town.”

While her parents didn’t speak English, they would sit at the dinner table with her and try to help her with homework they didn’t understand. Her school staff was supportive, but Beas was always cautious about revealing too much about herself.

“Your parents teach you when you’re very young, ‘Don’t disclose,’” she said. “’Don’t share with anyone unless you really have to – or come talk to me before you say anything.’”

When her seventh grade class visited Washington, D.C., Beas stayed home, fearing she would be discovered as undocumented and deported. And in high school, she didn’t think she could attend college since out-of-state tuition would apply. 


 

Beas at an MBC event
Yesenia Beas, at the Matter Belong Persist Conference,
put on by the Multicultural Business Program last spring.
(Photo: Pat Pemberton)

While the 2011 California Dream Act allowed undocumented students to receive financial aid and pay in-state tuition, many high schools lack resources or training to help eligible undocumented students apply for college. As a result, only 14 percent of undocumented students in the state receive any form of financial aid for higher education, according to the California Student Aid Commission.

Eventually, Beas attended Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, where she and three other undocumented students shared similar stories and decided to pursue a dream center that would support students like themselves. Eventually, AIM to Dream, partially modeled after Cal Poly’s Dream Center, would advocate for undocumented students who want to pursue higher education.

After two years at Allan Hancock, Beas transferred to Cal Poly, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then a master’s degree in higher education counseling and student affairs.

 “My hope is that I can gain students’ trust so that they too can open up to me and share things that maybe they wouldn’t share with others so that I can help them out.”

YESENIA BEAS

As a transfer student, Beas didn’t feel as connected to campus as her peers who had already attended Cal Poly for a couple of years. And she didn’t always feel she fit in.

If white friends asked her what her favorite TV show was, she didn’t tell them about the Spanish shows she regularly watched. Or if her boyfriend (now husband) picked her up while playing Spanish music in the car, she would hide her face.

“Now it’s really funny, but in the moment, I felt a sense of shame, which I had never felt in my entire life,” she said. “Most of my friends at Cal Poly were white, and I had to put on that mask.”

Spending time at Cal Poly’s Dream Center and the Educational Opportunity Program helped her be her authentic self, she said, as did working as a resident advisor.  She would also work as a graduate assistant for the Dream Center before joining the Orfalea College of Business as a graduate assistant in the Career Readiness Center.

At the Multicultural Business Program, she replaces Yovani Alexander, who oversaw the program for the three years.

Beas and students
Yesenia Beas, far right, speaks with volunteers
from the Multicultural Business Program.
Pictured with her are, left to right, Ben Reyes,
Vanessa Leigh Gawad, Alan Villanueva, and
Sheenah Jesubalan. (Photo: Jack Sann)

Alexander said Beas’s passion for helping students from different backgrounds – along with her empathy and understanding — make for an excellent fit.

“She is very kind and giving to those around her,” Alexander said. “Her values align with MBP’s mission.”

Alexander has helped maintain MBP’s strong connection with industry while overseeing increased funding for the program itself.

“It has been such a joy to be part of this community, and I know Yesenia will continue to move the MBP forward,” Alexander said.

While it took some effort to end up at Cal Poly – first as a student and now an employee —  Beas said the journey was worthwhile.

“Reflecting back on it now, I think I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” she said. “Because the path I took to get my degree was a really beautiful one, and I learned a lot along the way.”

 

Read the original story from the Orfalea College of Business

Danielle "Dani" Bello

Political Science Student Selected for 2023 Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program

Aug 24, 2023


 

By Keegan Koberl

Danielle "Dani" Bello
Danielle "Dani" Bello

Danielle “Dani” Bello, a fourth-year political science student from San Carlos, CA, will serve as Cal Poly’s 2023 representative to the Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program. 

After a two-week training period at the Panetta Institute at CSU Monterey Bay, Bello will work in the capitol office of a California congressional representative in Washington, D.C., for 11 weeks in the fall.  

“Since my first day at Cal Poly I’ve wanted to embody Learn by Doing and pursue hands-on opportunities, especially in the policy sphere,” said Bello. “I’m excited to learn more about the intricacies of public policy and be in the spaces where the important conversations are happening.

“In my time at Cal Poly, I’ve felt encouraged to seek out opportunities and learn beyond the classroom – I’m excited to bring this mindset to Washington.”

Bello previously interned for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation (SLOLAF) and the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office. 

Bello is the 23rd Cal Poly student to participate in the Panetta Institute program since 2001. She will join 24 other students, all nominated by the presidents of California State University campuses, 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.

 

Read the most recent CLA News stories

Cyber Musty Innovative Design with Futuristic Computers

Journalism Department to Offer New Concentration in Media Innovation

Aug 16, 2023


 

 

AI Graphic With Futuristic Computers

Story Courtesy of Cal Poly Journalism Department

The Cal Poly Journalism Department is now one of only a handful of programs in the country offering a concentration in media innovation, allowing students to focus their studies on the intersection of journalism, business and technology. 

The department's curriculum committee, led by professors Patrick Howe and Patti Piburn, spent the past few years researching and refining the new concentration to best serve students who are entering a constantly evolving media landscape.  

Media innovation students will learn how to develop new storytelling approaches, use analytics to understand audience behavior, foster inclusive civic participation, create innovative media products and experiment with revenue models. 

Kim Bisheff, a long-time lecturer in the department who has expertise in everything from entrepreneurship to editing and multimedia production, will take on a new role as an assistant professor overseeing the new concentration.  

Bisheff is eager to teach students how to come up with new ideas and solutions for problems facing the media industry related to credibility, polarization, engagement and minority marginalization.  

“At a polytechnic university, this is where we should be innovating solutions to the big problems,” Bisheff said.   

The media innovation concentration is one of four options students have in the department's redesigned curriculum. Other concentrations are news -- with specialties in either broadcast or print/digital -- a strengthened public relations program that includes a new PR research course, and a new "design-your-own" concentration. 

“We believe that this new curriculum, which balances core skills in accuracy, writing and storytelling with a focus on diversity and inclusion, ethics and consumer priorities, will position our graduates to land jobs at the forefront of any industry they choose," department chair Brady Teufel said.   

Watch a short video of Professor Bisheff describing the value of the new concentration: https://youtu.be/817IqTkvAnE.

View the new curriculum in its entirety here: https://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/curric/22-26.Journalism.pdf.

 

Read the most recent CLA News stories

Beating the Heat: Students Map California Tree Canopy to Cool Cities as Climate Warms

Aug 4, 2023


 

By Gabby Ferreira | Photos by Joe Johnston

This summer, a group of students are embarking on a groundbreaking project: mapping tree canopy cover in California.

Tree canopies, which provide shade, can offset the heat island effect in cities. The effect is caused by buildings, roads and other human-made infrastructure absorbing and then re-emitting heat. In a warming climate, the heat island effect only intensifies, making cities hotter than ever.

Third-year environmental management and protection major Ryley Chase speaks during a presentation about the project.
Third-year environmental management and
protection major Ryley Chase speaks during a
presentation about the project.

To offset this, the state of California aims to increase tree canopy cover by 10% in urban areas by the year 2035 — especially in underprivileged areas and areas with few trees. But no open-source data set exists that can provide an accurate baseline estimate. That’s where this project comes in.

The students involved are creating a public, open-source urban tree canopy map using geographic information systems (GIS) and an AI deep-learning model. They’re also writing a research paper to document their methodologies and share their discoveries with the world.

“With our map, city managers can say, ‘OK, here’s where our trees are, here’s where we don’t have trees and here’s where we’ve lost a lot of trees and need to replace them,’” said Cami Pawlak, a graduate advisor on the project who graduated with her master’s degree from Cal Poly in June. “Cities that have good canopy cover can be 10 degrees cooler than cities without it. It has a big impact in terms of stress on people and urban heat.”

At the ground level, students are digitizing images from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) of hundreds of tree canopies across the state to make an image training library for artificial intelligence. The AI will then use the learning library of images to identify tree canopies in other areas, building a baseline estimate. 

A training tile showing an aerial image from the  NAIP database, with trees outlined in green by  Ryley Chase.
A training tile showing an aerial image from the
NAIP database, with trees outlined in green by
Ryley Chase. The image tiles are used for an
AI image training library. Courtesy photo

“It’s something you could never have humans do, but if you train a neural network, it will create decent estimates,” said Andrew Fricker, a geography professor who is advising the project. “Part of the process is refining a model and making it better.”

To start, each student has been assigned 100 training tiles and is digitizing each visible tree. Sara Arnold and Griffen Guizan, both fourth-year anthropology and geography majors, are using the programming language Python to create bar charts that show month, camera type, hour, climate zone, city area and city population for each tile.

“It is eye-opening to see which urban areas of California have lots of tree coverage and which do not,” Arnold said, adding that many of the tiles she has digitized are from wealthy neighborhoods with large trees shading the streets. “These large trees offset the urban heat island effect, making the areas cooler and more livable. However, my tiles that have been situated in highly urbanized areas like cities typically have very little canopy coverage.”

Fricker concurs, adding that tree cover tends to be scarcer in the poorest areas, exacerbating the effects of a warming climate.

“It’s a social and environmental justice issue,” Fricker said. “Part of this is helping to make underserved communities more resilient in the face of a changing climate.”

 Sara Arnold, Griffen Guizan, Ryley Chase and Jessica Baiza.
Students who are working on this research project
include, from left: Sara Arnold, Griffen Guizan,
Ryley Chase and Jessica Baiza.

One of the team members, fifth-year landscape architecture student Jessica Baiza, has worked on parts of this project since January with a particular focus on canopy cover at public schools.

“Children are so vulnerable to extreme temperatures,” she said, adding that the project has led them to a disheartening discovery: most schools, regardless of the community’s income level, don’t have many trees. Instead of green spaces, many schoolyards feature lots of pavement. “This unfortunate reality exacerbates the heat island effect and contributes to flooding issues."

The canopy cover map is just one of the projects under the umbrella of Cal Poly’s Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute, which strives to address the need for improved management of California’s urban trees. The UFEI has interdisciplinary collaborators throughout Cal Poly in areas including computer science, economics and architecture.

“We are passionate about trees and their ability to increase the quality of the lives of people living in California’s urban areas. There are so many opportunities to help people through urban forest science,” said Matt Ritter, a biology professor and director of UFEI.

The team.
From left: Professor Andrew Fricker, who is advising
the project; Professor Jenn Yost, who is involved with
UFEI; students Sara Arnold, Griffen Guizan, Ryley Chase
and Jessica Baiza; graduate advisor Cami Pawlak
and Professor Matt Ritter, director of UFEI.

For Baiza, this project has helped her recognize the impact of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions on communities — and how she can be mindful as she pursues her career.

“I am confident that the knowledge and skills I have gained through this experience will guide me in making better informed decisions when designing landscapes not only within California's schoolyards but also in other communities facing similar challenges,” she said.

“I hope that my work in this project can serve as a catalyst for positive change, inspiring others to embrace nature-based solutions and sustainable practices. The well-being of our children and our environment depend on it.”

 

Read the story from Cal Poly News

Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department Re-Accredited for Six Years

Jul 31, 2023


 

 

GrC student working in UGS
The department has been accredited
since 1998.

The Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department has been re-accredited for another six-year cycle after a unanimous vote by the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications (ACCGC). The department has been accredited since the ACCGC’s inception in 1998.  

“Accreditation is extremely important. The process of going through a self-study and having academic and industry professionals vet your program ensures that what we are teaching to the future leaders of the industry is relevant,” Graphic Communication Department Chair Colleen Twomey said. “Accreditation matters to employers who can be assured that the skills and problem-solving techniques our students are learning enable these graduates to contribute to the industry immediately. This process recognizes that Cal Poly is a top tier school to study graphic communication.” 

The accrediting process included a self study — a yearlong examination of curriculum, assessment, laboratory work and faculty research — which was provided to a team of two universities and an industry representative. The team visited campus to observe classes and coursework, speak with students and advisory board members and converse with alumni. Interviews with the College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Office and the Cal Poly Office of the Provost were also conducted. 

According to the ACCGC, the purpose of accrediting graphic communication programs is threefold: assuring curricular and instructional relevancy within a system of quality improvement; stimulating the exchange of ideas between academia and industry; and providing internal and external recognition to collegiate programs meeting accreditation standards. 

The 15 rigorous standards for accreditation and compliance that were reviewed include: 

  • Program mission. 
  • Learning outcomes. 
  • Program and administrative leadership. 
  • Financial support. 
  • Available equipment and facilities. 
  • Support services. 
  • Overall curriculum. 
  • Teaching quality of faculty. 
  • Industry experiences for students. 
  • Industry advisory board assistance. 
  • Academic preparation of faculty. 
  • Faculty evaluation process. 
  • Records kept and advisory assistance to students. 
  • Career placement services.
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion within the program. 

Cal Poly is one of eight accredited programs in the United States that offer curricula in graphic communication.  

 

Read the most recent CLA News stories

Political science student details internship with LGBTQ+ Victory Institute in Washington, D.C.

Jun 15, 2023


Headshot of Edwin Madrid
Edwin Madrid

By Alexandra Gregorio

Last fall, fourth-year political science student Edwin Madrid interned with the LBGTQ+ Victory Institute as part of the fall 2022 Victory Congressional Internship cohort. Madrid was one of eight students selected for the 10-week program, working with a member of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus or an LGBTQ-friendly member of the U.S. Congress to experience the federal legislative process firsthand.  

The first half of the program included a variety of developmental workshops.  

“Each Friday was different. One day we were learning about queer history, going to a Smithsonian Museum and learning about the intersectionality of identities. The next, we were listening to and asking panelists questions about their careers, with speakers ranging from campaign managers to White House staffers,” Madrid said.  

For the second half of the internship, students applied to work for a member of Congress directly. Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, based in Denver, hired Madrid.  

“Some of the things I was tasked with were writing constituent response letters regarding issues, answering phones, attending briefings, getting coffee for the congresswoman at times, helping reintroduce and take over bills from retiring members of Congress and more. I had a lot of flexibility to work on issues that I was interested in such as immigration, gun reform and food insecurity,” Madrid said. 

Madrid appreciated finding an internship that not only related to his major, but also provided space and community for his queer identity. He was interested in this program because he “wanted a D.C. experience that had a tie to the LGBTQ+ community rather than a regular D.C. internship that simply places you in an office.”  

Additionally, he received course credit for the internship by enrolling in POLS 386: Government Internship. This allowed him to remain a full-time student while away.  

Because his internship took place during the Midterm elections, Madrid shared concerns with his peers about how the office where he worked might be affected by a changing Congress. He recalls that some of the other members of his fall cohort, “were worried... about how their home states would change, what discriminatory bills would be allowed to be pushed through in a few weeks and if they would be denied certain rights in the following weeks.” 

“I have known that queer spaces are important, but moments like this and others throughout the program reminded me how important visibility is, not just for my home state or where I am living at the moment, but throughout the entire country and abroad,” Madrid said. 

After graduating this spring, Madrid plans to take a gap year before applying to graduate programs.  

“Some of the programs are in Congress, and others in the California State Capitol. People from the office I worked in and people I met while in D.C. have alluded to different job opportunities after I graduate,” Madrid said.  

“I have no set plans and I am open to a lot of different opportunities, which is both exciting and terrifying, not knowing what comes next.” 

 

Read the most recent CLA News stories

Disability Alliance Club Leader Recognized as CLA's 2023 'Great Grad'

Jun 13, 2023


Headshot of M.W. Kaplan
M.W. Kaplan

By Jay Thompson

M.W. Kaplan weathered a worldwide pandemic with a compromised immune system and will leave Cal Poly inspired by the potential the future holds.

“My time at Cal Poly was difficult, but it also gave me a lot of opportunities to grow and create change,” said Kaplan, who uses they/them/theirs pronouns. 

They graduated in 2019 from the Biomedical and Allied Health STEM program at Glen Burnie High School in a suburb of Baltimore. BMAH allows highly motivated and academically eligible participants to study and explore career opportunities across the spectrum of healthcare professions. The Annapolis, Maryland, resident chose Cal Poly for its engineering and Learn by Doing path and proximity to family in California.

“Through Learn by Doing, I quickly found out mechanical engineering was not really what I wanted to spend my time doing,” Kaplan said. “In the Communications Department, applied projects and activities are what fostered my understanding of the theories I was learning and showed me how much I’ve learned. I’ve come out with the knowledge and confidence to apply what I learned and through Learn by Doing found that I have a passion for health communication that I plan to continue in my post-graduate life.”

Change was Kaplan’s mantra while at Cal Poly, but it wasn’t limited to just the field of study.

“The vast network of changemakers at Cal Poly, particularly the QTBIPOC (Queer and Trans/ Black/Indigenous/People of Color) and disability communities really inspired me to keep pushing boundaries while honoring my own limits,” the 21-year-old said. “Members of the Communications Department and Health Center — who saw a lot of me — were very vocal in their support, and my friends and family never failed to let me know how proud they were of everything I accomplished.”

Kaplan relied on Cal Poly’s Disability Resource Center for assistive technology devices that helped them to become a more successful student. Accessibility on such a hilly and spread-out campus, built over the past 100 years, and health difficulties “were my biggest challenges,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan carries a cane and is immunocompromised, which led to uncertainty and frustration in 2022 as Cal Poly and the world began to move past pandemic restrictions. A musculoskeletal pain disorder makes Kaplan suffer headaches, sore throats, nausea and fatigue almost daily. A steroid helps, which also lowers immunity, making the communication studies major more susceptible to other diseases — including COVID.

As head of the Disability Alliance club, Kaplan raised concerns of immunocompromised students to campus administrators and faculty — and in the process found a calling as an advocate.

“I think my biggest accomplishment was creating the Disability Alliance and getting to make a lot of change with an incredible community,” Kaplan said. “Representing at the club showcase — a dream since my first year — and Culture Fest, creating the ASI Secretary of Accessibility position, meeting internationally recognized disability rights activist Judy Huemann, and getting to lead the first-ever disability-inclusive WOW group are among the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

Kaplan plans to work as a clinical medical assistant while preparing for a graduate nursing program.

“Ultimately, I want to help people, especially those who don’t normally get help,” they said. “I want to become a nurse practitioner to help fill massive healthcare gaps in rural areas and in patients with highly stigmatized mental health conditions.”

The university opened a lot of doors for the graduate-to-be.

“When I first started at Cal Poly, I was still new to understanding and living with my disabilities,” Kaplan said. “I was really worried about being able to manage them while I was a student and didn’t really have support or anyone who understood. Now, I’m very confident. I know how to manage my conditions. I’ve found a direction based around my passions and have built relationships with so many incredible people, it’s hard to believe sometimes!”

 

Read about this year's other "great grads"

The TAGA executive board, alongside faculty advisor Rachel Ma, pose for a group photo with the Helmut Kipphan Cup.

Cal Poly Graphic Communication Student Team Wins First Place at Graphic Arts Conference

May 18, 2023


 

By Nicole Troy

 

Cal Poly TAGA 2023
The TAGA executive board, alongside
faculty advisor Rachel Ma, pose for a
group photo with the Helmut Kipphan Cup. 

Cal Poly won the prestigious Helmut Kipphan Cup at the annual conference of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA), held March 12-15 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

Cal Poly’s TAGA team, comprised of seven graphic communication students, was awarded first place for its technical journal, a high-quality student-produced publication that involves a wide range of complex printing and binding processes. Scoring is based on technical writing, design, production quality and digital enhancement. 

All seven students attended the conference and accepted the award including Cal Poly TAGA President Amber Gourley; Vice President Mary Wood; Communication Coordinator Kailey Latin; Design Coordinator Hailey Honegger; Augmented Reality Coordinator Kendra Roberson; Web Coordinator Annali Jacobs; and Production Coordinator Emily Kovarik.  

“I’ve been impressed by a team of hardworking, motivated and committed students,” said TAGA faculty advisor and graphic communication Assistant Professor Rachel Ma. “Producing this award-winning journal has been an empowering experience that bridges Learn by Doing with industry collaborations.” 

The students began work on their journal last September, working hard to conceptualize, design, and produce the journal centered on accessibility. This year’s journal, Vol. 40, was inspired by Swiss design tradition — including modernism trends of other countries such as geometric shapes of Russian Constructivism, the notion of form following function in Germany’s Bauhaus and the simplicity of De Stijl in the Netherlands. The final work includes five student research articles, original illustrations, augmented reality experiences and intuitive packaging design.  

The team worked with augmented reality software company RealityBLU and Descript to bring the journal to life. Donations from the Printing Industries Association, Inc. and Visual Media Alliance allowed the team to participate in the in-person conference and local printing company Poor Richard's Press shared their production facility with the team to produce custom packaging. 

Learn more about TAGA’s award winning journal and view Vol. 40 at calpolytaga.com/journal-archive

 

Read the most recent CLA News stories

Ask an Expert: What Does the Fox Settlement Mean for Journalism?

May 16, 2023


 

Fox News

By: Larry Peña 

In April, Fox News agreed to a historic $787.5 million payment to settle a high-profile defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the media company’s many false claims about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election —a result that appears to have been a factor in Fox’s subsequent decision to fire their top-rated TV host. We asked three Cal Poly faculty members with different areas of expertise to break down the implications of the case for journalism, first amendment rights and election integrity.

 


Kim Bisheff
Journalism Lecturer Kim Bisheff

Kim Bisheff
Journalism Lecturer
Specialties: misinformation, media literacy, public affairs reporting 
 
What does this settlement do to disincentivize media companies from publishing misinformation?
At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think it will take more than just this settlement to stop the spread of misinformation among entities whose business model depends on fueling outrage and tribalism. Content that triggers strong, negative emotions drives traffic, which is why misinformation thrives.
 
However, it is important to acknowledge that only a small number of media companies fit into this category. Most journalism professionals prioritize accuracy and transparency and have been working especially hard in recent years to regain audience trust. In general, deliberately spreading misinformation is not a formula for media success.
 
It’s possible this settlement will motivate some consumers to seek information from more reliable sources, but meaningful progress won’t happen until a critical mass of affected audience members demand change. If the trial had been televised, of course, that outcome would have been more likely.

 


Michael Park
Journalism Assistant Professor Michael Park

Michael Park
Assistant Professor of Journalism
Specialties: communication law and policy, First Amendment jurisprudence
 
What does the result of this case mean for freedom of the press?  
This result confirms that the media has robust free press protection under the standard set forth by the Supreme Court in NY Times v. Sullivan, but also that the press can be held accountable if they knowingly or recklessly defame someone. To find a media entity liable for defaming a public figure (in this case, Dominion was considered a “limited” public figure), the plaintiff must show that the media outlet acted with “actual malice,” which is either knowledge of falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth. This is a high threshold to meet, and what is interesting here is that we have had several public officials, including former President Trump and Florida Governor DeSantis, denounce the current legal framework while advocating for greater limits on press freedom. 

But First Amendment free press protections apply to all media, whether they be mainstream, right or left-leaning, and this case shows that while the press receives strong constitutional protection, they can be held accountable when they knowingly repeat false and defamatory statements. This case is one of several involving Fox and alleged false defamatory statements; we are likely to see more settlements from Fox, but the hope is that media outlets like Fox think twice before endorsing lies as statements of fact, which undoubtedly degrades our public discourse. 

 


Michael Latner
Political science Professor Michael Latner

Michael Latner
Professor of Political Science
Specialties: voting rights, political participation, election systems
 
What impact, if any, do you think the information revealed in the lawsuit will have on public faith in election integrity?
The lawsuit revealed a number of important facts about the integrity of US elections and the central role of Fox News as purveyors of disinformation. First and foremost is the revelation that Tucker Carlson in particular clearly understood that there was no credible evidence to support Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud. In addition to explicitly calling Trump’s lawyer Sydney Powell a liar, he agreed with another correspondent that there was “certainly no evidence the election was stolen.” 
 
In any other profession, someone who acknowledged that sort of negligence in their professional responsibilities would be erased from the public square, but I have no doubt that we have not seen the last of Carlson. Unfortunately, there is now an entrenched audience for his brand, so I don’t see these revelations, or the lawsuit more generally, as playing much of a role in restoring public faith in our elections. We need to reform our broken two-party system and the electoral systems that they exploit if we ever hope to achieve truly multiracial, multiparty democracy in the United States.

 

Read the story in Cal Poly News

Headshot of Deb Donig

Ask an Expert: What Are the Ethical Implications of ChatGPT?

May 16, 2023


 

AI robot

By: Gabby Ferreira 

If science fiction can be believed, the robots are coming for all of us — but the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology are starting to make fiction seem like reality. With the recent headlines about rogue chatbots and universities using ChatGPT to generate condolence letters, Cal Poly News turned to English Professor Deb Donig, cofounder of the Ethical Technology Initiative at Cal Poly, to give her insight into the ethical implications of AI, specifically ChatGPT.

Deb Donig
English Professor Deb Donig

What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is what's called an LLM, or large language model. The GPT stands for “Generative Pre-Trained Transformers,” and is a kind of AI that can generate natural language responses to human input. We've actually been dealing with large language models for a very long time. Look back on the early days of having Siri on your iPhone — you would have to pick up your iPhone and say something in a kind of caveman-sounding talk, and Siri would process it.

The other large language model that many of us have been living with for a very long time is predictive text. If I’m typing an email in Google, Google will predict what it thinks I will say next. How does it do that? Gmail reads hundreds of millions of pieces of mail, so it can predict what word will likely follow. That kind of predictive text has been with us for a very long time. There are really serious questions about how these kinds of large language models are changing how we think and how we write.
 
But there are some major differences between these other LLMs and ChatGPT that make me think that ChatGPT represents a fundamental shift in our relationship to and understanding of it. We’d never mistake Siri or predictive text suggestions for a human interaction. There’s a danger here, because we haven’t had the time to develop new digital literacy skills to catch up with the new technology.  

This form of AI is evolving too quickly. Not having the digital literacy to understand whether we’re talking to machines or humans can be disastrous. The possibilities for exploitation are severe and large-scale, and I don’t think we’re prepared for them.

What does ChatGPT do?
ChatGPT has access to all open-source information on the web, which includes everything that is not protected by distributive intellectual property copyrights. It doesn't include things that people have not put into the web, but OpenAI’s version can access everything that's on the internet, and through that data aggregation, it creates these large language models.
 
When you type in a question, it accumulates all of the relevant information and aligns that information through the principle of what I want to call contiguity: the prediction of what the next likely thing is going to be.
 
It’s fairly easy for ChatGPT to consume all of that information, get asked a question, and write out predictable, contiguous thoughts in something that looks like human speech by being trained on, and being able to assimilate, lots of different, separate pieces of writing and language together into something that looks coherent.

What can’t ChatGPT do?
What ChatGPT does not have access to is one important dimension of what we think of as human creativity, which is the ability to create something new.
 
My partner and I had a joke a couple of months ago, when ChatGPT came out. He would say, “Write Deb a poem in the style of a Grecian ode,” and it would give me a perfectly crafted poem in the style of a Grecian ode. I would say, “Write him a love song in the style of the Temptations,” and it would give him a perfectly crafted, Temptations-style song.
 
But the Temptations weren’t great because they copied what somebody else did. The Temptations were great because they added something new to what we thought of as music. They innovated. They made music that sounded different from what came before. And that’s what we think of as genius. That invention, that newness? That’s what ChatGPT cannot do.

Do we need to worry about AI applications like this taking our jobs?
These large language models and everything that works like a large language model, including these AI art generators, take things from the past and remix them.
 
It might be possible at a future time for AI to develop something new, but it doesn’t seem likely to me. I think there is a real concern over ChatGPT taking human jobs, and I don’t want to dismiss that concern, but there are certain types of writing that are repetitive enough that asking human beings to do it when there is a generator that can do it doesn’t seem worthwhile.
 
Some of that’s already with us, by the way — just look at the emails from politicians around election season. All of us have figured out that these types of emails are, on some level, automated. But that wasn’t always the case, and when these types of emails started coming out, people were genuinely confused. We’re going to build up some digital literacy.

What are some other potential implications for these types of AI content generators?
One of the first things is that we will start to devalue the kinds of interactions we have with writing.
 
What happens if you just assume that most of what you see on social media is written by a bot? None of us are going be all that interested in responding to it. A large amount of our engagement and interactions online right now take place through a text medium. Will that change? We don't know.
 
Additionally, I'm already seeing people who write marketing material being let go from their jobs, and then being rehired by the same people who have let them go at a much lower cost to edit ChatGPT-generated writing based on the writing that this particular writer has already generated.
 
Right now, under current intellectual property law, this is perfectly legitimate. But intellectual property law was developed at a time where these kinds of automations were not possible. We might be wise to potentially start to rethink intellectual property law in this particular moment.
 
Finally, there is the question of the devaluing of writing overall. When ChatGPT can generate writing, how many people want to go to get a degree in literature or in journalism? How many universities are going to continue to employ professors of English literature or of writing, or have writing requirements when there is no longer a value to the most basic forms of writing?
 
I think that there will always be a high value placed on good, important, innovative writing — or at least I hope so. But I wonder about the devaluing of writing, broadly speaking, when there's no market value for the basic forms of writing. Artistic creators of writing have to start somewhere.

Are there reasons to be optimistic?
We might remember infamous bereavement letter sent out to the Vanderbilt University community in the wake of the shooting at Michigan State University. That letter was generated by AI. People were upset, because we tend to believe that bereavement letters should not be form letters — they should reflect and document genuine human feelings like sorrow, compassion, and grief. But I bet that many of us have a hard time writing letters that express difficult emotions. What if we thought about a ChatGPT generated response not as a substitute for human emotions but rather as a springboard that might allow us to move forward with complex emotions?
 
I don't think that it has to be either-or: either regenerate everything from scratch or all of our writing is devalued. There can be a “Yes, and...” here, as they say in improv. What if we could take this tool and think about the possibilities?
 
I don't want to ignore the negative consequences — we should grapple with those — but I also want to explore the possibilities. What if I am writing a legal analysis, as I currently am, and I could just ask ChatGPT to go through each of the individual legal arguments I’m looking at?
 
If I had that basic literature review, which actually doesn't require intellectual labor in terms of abstract thinking or creating new ideas, I'd have more time potentially to expand my reach and capacity.
 
ChatGPT and large language models cannot ideate. They take existing thought and they remix that thought. If I define writing as the production of ideas, not just as a report or record of ideas, then one of the values of writing is in actually producing ideas.
 
I am not so arrogant or pessimistic as to think that we have already thought of all of the great ideas out there. I think that there are new ideas out there waiting for people to invent, and we won't get there if we just remix the past.
 
We have to produce new thoughts and transmit them somehow. If we think of writing in those terms, then writing is as important as it's always been to our culture.

 

Lead image: This image was generated by the AI platform Dall-E with the prompt, “Photo of a robot sitting in a coffee shop writing on a laptop”.

 

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