CSUN On Point

CSUN athletics are on the rise, due in part to the success of the women’s basketball team, who won the Big West title last year. But this and other achievements often go unnoticed. Campuses like USC and UCLA have a reputation of bringing in tons of support from students and alumni at their games, but CSUN sports does not.

“I do believe there’s lack of school spirit on CSUN’s campus,” one CSUN student said. “Not everybody gets involved with what sports activity are going on. I personally don’t know when the volleyball season is or anything, so there’s no way for me to attend the games. I just feel there needs to be more advertisement for it.”

While UCLA may be defeating CSUN when it comes to attendance at games, the Matadors men’s soccer team defeated the #10 ranked Bruins on the soccer field this season. CSUN Athletic department officials say they hope the huge win might lead to a boost in attendance.

“I think students should be excited about anything that has the school name associated with it,” CSUN’s Women Basketball Coach Jason Flowers said. “We talk with our kids all the time about not only representing themselves well, but representing our University, every time they step on the floor and compete.”

Flowers said it is important for the athletes to build relationships with students on campus in order to see more fans in the stands. To build these connections, the women’s basketball team invited students to join them at a pool party where fans and students were able to meet players and staff. The Athletic Department is hoping to create a welcoming environment for students to attend games.

“We need to focus inwardly on who we are,” said CSUN Athletic Director Michael Izzi, “and where we can best create opportunities to be significant, and significant within our conference, as well as owning the area that we live in, and that’s the Valley.”

Flowers said he likes the new ideas Izzi is bringing to CSUN. Izzi spent the last 20 years at UC Irvine in the same position. “He has a clear plan of what he wants [CSUN Athletics Department] to be, what he wants it to look like, and what he wants it to do. Obviously with his history, with given time, we will get those things done,” Flowers said.

The women’s basketball coach says the athletic program is moving in the right direction.

“There are a lot of good things going on in our department,” he said. “I would like to see continued growth, and [I’d like to see us] continuing to shed light on the things going on at this University, whether it be academic research, or beautifully-run productions by students on campus. Hopefully we continue to grow and get better, and when people think of CSUN, they think excellence and a high level of performance.”

Moderator: Ethan Hanson

Producers: Veronica Barriga and Ethan Hanson

Anchor: Esteban Reynoso

Social Media Editor: Londy Sagastume

Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Bridgette Creamer, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume and I’maiya Milan Wright

San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick re-ignited athlete-driven protests with his stand against police brutality, and he’s empowered many other athletes to speak out.

In 2015, The Washington Post documented close to a thousand fatal shootings by police, ninety-three of which involved people who were unarmed. Black men accounted for about forty percent of the unarmed people fatally shot by police, and were seven times as likely as unarmed white men to die from police gunfire.

Now the argument over whether or not professional and collegiate athletes should be able to use their platform as a personal means of expression has become a large national issue.

This isn’t a new movement. Athletes like Mohammed Ali and 1968 Olympic Medalist Tommie Smith are known for making athlete-driven statements decades ago.

Since athletes are technically at work when they decide to make these protests, the debate stems from whether or not they should be penalized for doing so.

“Some of them may feel they are not at that level to take that risk,” CSUN Africana Studies Professor David Horne said. “[Their employers might say] ‘we expect you to not conduct yourself in a way that would embarrass the team or the business’.”

But athletes have only their professional platforms to make a statement. Whether they are in an interview or on the field, they have a limited amount of airtime, but they often have a large following.

“It’s their right to do so,” said Reverend Jewett Walker, President of 100 Black Men of Los Angeles. “If someone chooses to do that, I think we should embrace that, honor that, and respect it.”

Many athletes have messages that aren’t meant to start controversy.

“My responsibility was to be an example,” said CSUN Women’s Basketball Coach, and former college basketball player, Jason Flowers, “so somebody that had the same background as me could look [at me] … and say ‘that person was able to succeed, and I’m capable of it too’.”

Moderator: Jordan Williams

Anchor: Kiesha Phillips

Producer: Daniel Saad

Social Media Editors: Delmy Moran and Celene Zavala

Reporters: Delmy Moran, Brittni Perez, Kiesha Phillips, Daniel Saad, Jordan Williams and Celene Zavala