New residence halls, brush fires and power outages gave a warm welcome to incoming students on move-in weekend.
The yakʔitʸutʸu living community finished the final touches Sept. 14, just days before freshmen were scheduled to move in.
University Housing worked with the Northern Chumash to create the yakʔitʸutʸu living community, which includes seven residence halls ranging from three to five stories, all named after sites along the Central Coast as well as animals in the Northern Chumash dialect.
There is a range of double, triple and quad rooms with a community center where students can cook their meals and study.
In addition to the buildings, the new community has a sand volleyball pit, a basketball court, walkways and open grass areas.
Freshmen moving into the yakʔitʸutʸu community were also able to witness Direct Action Everywhere’s protest of the J & G Lau Family Cal Poly Meat Processing Center (building 155). The protest took place Saturday at 1 p.m. on the corner of Grand Avenue and Slack Street.
Protest organizer, 15-year-old Zoe Rosenberg, has protested the Meat Processing Center before. This time, her and other activists held signs up, calling for the center to be shut down.
The protest took place during WOW in hopes to reach out to new students, according to the Facebook event.
The following morning, The Reservoir Fire, two brush fires set a combined 51 acres ablaze north of Cal Poly. The cause of the fires is under investigation. Helicopters and planes helped extinguish the two fires and it was fully contained the same day.
BREAKING NEWS: We have a live interview with Cal Fire Public Information Officer Chris Elms on the progression of the two fires burning near campus.
Posted by Mustang News on Sunday, September 16, 2018
Students took to Twitter and multiple parents posted in the Cal Poly SLO Mustang Parents’ Facebook group with concerns and comments about the fires.
While the fires were burning, Cal Poly experienced a power outage that affected 285 customers in San Luis Obispo, according to PG&E.
An emergency alert sent by Cal Poly said the campus power outage occurred as a result of the two fires, however, Karly Hernandez with PG&E told KEYT that Cal Poly’s outages were not caused by the Reservoir Fire and an “equipment issue” on Cal Poly’s end may have been involved. Later in the day, PG&E said the cause of the outage was under investigation.
The power was restored to all customers, except Cal Poly, by 10:11 a.m. The university’s power was restored incrementally due to the campus size and was completely restored by 12:30 p.m.
Despite the fires and power outage, WOW activities continued as usual and new students ended their first weekend at Cal Poly at the Big Fall Welcome, an annual tradition.
New Student and Transition Programs offered the second ever Cross-Cultural Experience (CCE) during WOW this year. The events at CCE are geared toward showcasing and discussing diversity and inclusivity on Cal Poly’s campus. Although the program was designed to bring together students with similar experiences, all WOW groups, however, are trained to address diversity and inclusivity.
The nationally-acclaimed orientation program also includes Wow-a-Rama and mandatory drug and alcohol awareness, mental health and sexual assault presentations and a club showcase. The suspension of Interfraternity Council Fraternities as well as Panhellenic sororities, aside from Lambda Chi Alpha, was lifted weeks before the showcase.
In addition to the campus activities, Cal Poly and the San Luis Obispo community come together to host a variety of fun events to show freshmen as well as transfer students the surrounding area.