CSULA UT Issue 190.2

CSU Admin and Facul-ty Union Brace for Bud-get Fight

(CSULA—UT) CSU Chan-cellor Charles Reed’s office and California Faculty Asso-ciation President Lillian Taiz released public letters this week airing their differences over how to deal with bud-get cuts, as they try to win the public opinion battle.

Reed is urging the leadership of the faculty union to bring a two day per month furlough to a vote of its members.

The CSU has met three times to discuss the furlough, but the CFA has not scheduled a vote of its members as of yet.

The concept of the furloughs was proposed to all of the CSU’s labor unions as a way to address the half billion dol-lars that would be cut in the upcoming school year’s bud-get.

Chancellor Reed’s letter ex-presses the importance of this change.

He says that they have provid-ed answers for all of questions posed by the CFA regarding the furlough. The CFA in turn argues that the Chancel-lor’s plan is “half-baked.”

According to Reed’s letter, if adopted by all employees, furloughs would reduce the CSU’s salary expenditures by approximately $275 million.

The CFA argues back that the CSU budget proposal would address less than half the pro-jected shortfall, leaving a $300 million deficit with no plan to

close it. This would leave tens of thousands of students at risk of losing out on a college education.

The only concept that both parties seem to agree on is that the budget crisis is worse than ever and must be dealt with.

The issue of how exactly this will be done, is yet to be deter-mined.

Reed is pushing for the vote to be done as quickly as possible, while Taiz, states, “without clear, competent answers, we must assume that we will get both-furloughs and layoffs-making a vote on a choice be-tween them not a meaningful one.” With the two parties go-ing back and forth, not much headway has been made.

See The Chacellor VS The CFA, p.4, for

both letters

JULY 2, 2009

university timesthe www.coolstatela.com

C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y , L O S A N G E L E S 1 9 0 . 2

Community Colleges face massive cuts p.3

Are you addicted to Twitter? p.2

Lakers parade brings out the fans p.6

New ASI Student Body inaugurated p.5

BTK: Student eaten by Tiger in Admin Bldg p.7

FYI: Periodical refer-ences to Michael Jack-son songs have been made throughout this piece.

Sup PYT’s This weeks’ column is going out to MJ and the handful of celebrities who passed over the last few days. This one’s for you MJ, Farrah Faw-cett, OxiClean pitchman

Billy Mays, Ed McMa-hon and their families. This sequence of deaths is re-flective of losses that have oc-

curred closer to the UT home. Shout outs to all the OG writers and staff from the UT. The ear misses ya’ll!

On a lighter note, summer is here and most students aren’t taking any classes! Thanks to Uncle Arnold and his slashes of educa-tional funding, plenty of students will be stuck trying to fight for courses in the fall. Sadly, it seems there’s enough students wanting to add they could create a whole new department. Students are spilling out of classrooms, on top of desks, off the walls, and right out the doors, because of the decline in faculty and staff this quarter. This ear has been waxing and wanting to start somethin’ about bud-get cuts since the first grade. I guess we’re still better off than CSU Pomona since we actually have a summer ses-sion available.

It’s kind of hard to point a finger (especially when you’re an ear) at anyone for

See: EAR, P.6

GOING TO THE MAT

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed at a protest agaisnt state imposed budget cuts on the CSU system.

THE NEW STUDENT BODY

THE EAR

ASI Inauguration Day

Everyone was all smiles as sharply-dressed ASI Board members and newly-elected President Joaquin Beltran filed into the Los Angeles room in the USU on July 1 for the Board of Directors Inau-guration Ceremony.

Former ASI president, Jennifer Chemel opened the ceremony with her in-troductory remarks, trying gamely to bring humor into the otherwise somber atmosphere of the room. The proposed massive budget cuts and the large number of classes cut dur-ing the summer quarter

have dampened the mood of the campus. The pos-sibility of conversion from quarter to semester calen-dar was also a source of anxiety for everyone.

Next, President Rosser swore in the new Board of Directors. The new board raised their right hands and repeated after Rosser the oath of office. New board members also re-ceived a certificate of of-fice. Rosser spoke highly of Beltran and said that he was looking forward to working with the new ASI administration. He spoke about how CSULA is fac-ing a crisis and that he will be working closely with See: ASI, P.5

July 2, 2009University Times NEWS2

“WHITE LIES” IN COLLEGE APPLICATIONS MAY COST YOU YOUR EDUCATIONBackground checks puncture padded apps

(CSULA—UT) As an old saying goes, a little “white lie” never hurt anyone. But in the world of college ad-missions, simply ‘stretching the truth’ could cost you a college education before it even starts.

Colleges are getting aggres-sive in verifying the accu-racy of information they receive from applicants. The University of Califor-nia system now conducts random spot checks asking about 10% of applicants to verify their activities, grades and facts from personal es-says. Harvard has added a professional background checker to their undergrad-uate admissions staff.

Each year, a small number of UC applicants -- fewer than 1% -- are caught fib-bing about such claims as performing a lead role in a school play, volunteering as a tutor for poor children or starring on the soccer field.

University officials say there

is a broader purpose be-yond the relatively few “got-chas” to scare everyone else straight.

“We take the admissions process very seriously and we want to uphold the in-tegrity of the whole pro-cess,” explained Han Mi Yoon-Wu, a coordinator in central admissions opera-tions at UC.

Beginning in 2001, UC ex-panded its consideration of applicants’ personal accom-plishments alongside their grades and test scores, and soon began fact-checking extracurricular, employ-ment and personal informa-tion students provided.

The Educational Testing Service selects a small but statistically significant ran-dom sample of applications to investigate each January and February, before en-trance decisions are made.

Those selected are asked for proof of just one verifi-able contention, chosen on a rotating basis from among eight categories of informa-

tion on the application. It could be a claim that the student was a football quar-terback, worked 15 hours a week at McDonald’s or volunteered often for a food bank.

In the program’s first few years, many students ig-nored the letters, but the response rate has improved, Yoon-Wu said. “At first, students didn’t know they had to take this seriously, but word has gotten out that UC does and you will be canceled if you don’t re-spond,” she said. She point-ed out that the final sec-tion of the UC application reminds students that they face such consequences if any information is found “to be incomplete or inac-curate.”

The bottom line is don’t lie or exaggerate the informa-tion you provide on your college applications. Yes, you should present yourself in the best possible light. But communicate who you really are, not some person you created to get admitted.

Addiction and lack of compassion linked to digital communication

(CSULA --UT) According to a Ball State University’s sur-vey of 300 college students, 94% said that they use text messaging and 59% said it is their preferred form of com-munication.

Michael Hausauer, a psycho-therapist in Oakland, says that text messaging helps people feel connected but the consequences are that it also creates a “terrific anxiety about being out of the loop.” When asked, all of the inter-viewed students said that they feel lost or incomplete with-out their phones.

Michi Lew, 20, a CSULA Lib-eral Studies major, concurs.

“(Without my phone) I feel like I’m missing a part of me,” Lew says, “I feel like I’m not in touch with everyone.”

Besides texting, many people take advantage of their cell-phone’s other functions such as the games, calculator, and the clock. Angelique Al-derete, 20, CSULA Liberal Studies major, says, “I feel completely lost when I don’t have my phone. I’ve only forgotten it once at school. I didn’t know what time it was, I didn’t know who was on campus to hang out with, it was horrible!”

Can texting be an actual ad-diction? Psychiatrist Dr. Jer-ald Block believes it is possible. He says that symptoms of the addiction include, “Suffering from feelings of withdrawal when the device cannot be ac-cessed and an increased need for better equipment need for more time to use it.”

Antonio Damasio, USC’s di-rector of the Brain and Cre-ativity Institute, says that excessive texting and use of social networking sites may

lead to a lack of compassion for others because admiration and compassion take a longer time to process in the brain.

Among the interviewed CSU-LA students, Twitter isn’t as popular. All the students had unlimited texting but only three of the five students used Twitter and none of them were very active. Alderete uses Twitter to read news up-dates about some of her fa-vorite bands. Diana Luc, 20, CSULA Business/Communi-cations major, initially used Twitter to follow the Koji Truck, a now almost famous Korean Taco truck and to also keep up with social net-working tools.

Twenty-two year old, CSU-LA student, Vanessa S. says, “I first heard of Twitter last summer. At the time, Twit-ter seemed like a good idea to see what my friends were up to.” But after a while, Vanessa eventually forgot about Twitter and stopped signing in. “I’ve noticed that progressively more organiza-tions, foundations, and web-sites have Twitter accounts that give you the opportunity to follow them,” she says, “I am now contemplating to get back on it but this time use it as a networking and informa-tion tool.”

The most dangerous time to text is while driving, which is not only illegal, but can also lead to an accident. All of the interviewed CSULA students admitted to driving-while-texting before the California state ban went into effect last July. However, they only used it at stopsigns or red lights, and usually only when it was urgent.

Perhaps, one good thing to do this summer would be to go to the beach, get some fresh air, and try to leave your phone in the car, or even at home.

TEXTING AND TWITTER ADDICTION

CALTECH SUICIDE VICTIMS REMEMBEREDStudents honored with moment of silence

(CSULA—UT) Two recent Caltech suicide victims were remembered during a mo-ment of silence on Com-mencement day on June 12. Some students wore blue la-pel ribbons or blue sashes to honor both victims during a morning of recognition. Less than forty-eight hours before the commencement ceremo-ny, the body of senior Jackson Ho-Leung Wang was found in his dorm room. Three weeks earlier, Caltech security of-ficers discovered the body of junior Brian Go. According to LA County Department of Coroner’s Investigations Divi-sion, Go’s death was a result of suicide by helium asphyxi-ation. There has been no known link between the two young men’s suicides. It is part of a nation-

wide rise in campus mental health problems. Caltech spokesman, Jon Weiner, spec-ulated that Wang’s suicide may have been a “copy-cat” suicide since he was already aware of Go’s death. Campus mental health problems have been increasing and some factors can include anxiety disorders, growing stress of university life, and personal problems. According to the LA Times, experts say about

1,300 college students com-mit suicide every year. Cal State LA was also witness to a dorm suicide at the end of the spring quarter. Caltech has suicide preven-tion services and counseling for students who have prob-lems with anxiety or other dis-order problems. The school will hold two memorial ser-vices for both of the students this summer.

California Institute of Technology’s main hall.

The twitter bird does not care if you are addicted.

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July 2, 2009 University TimesNEWS 3

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Students find closed classes, limited choices

The CSU system isn’t the only higher education system

experiencing budget cuts. Community Colleges are also suffering from a student overload and classes being cut. Governor Arnold Schwar-zenegger announced in his May budget revision that the community college sys-tem will suffer a $939.9 mil-lion cut in funding. The Los Angeles Community Col-lege District, which is made up of nine campuses, has al-ready eliminated the second session of summer school. Summer school is popular with college students from various institutions (includ-

COMMUNITY COLLEGES FACE BIG BUDGET CUTS

Community Colleges, such as East Los Angeles College, will be facing major cuts.See: BUDGET, P.6

SUMMER SIZZLES WITH PROF’S MUSIC

Music Prof releases new album

With the summer sizzle starting to happen, wine

bottles are popping open as the dance party moves under the stars with people shaking and moving in the streets to the beat of sweet Latin jazz, salsa, musica Cubana.

CSULA’s professor Paul De Castro and his Orchestra Dengue have released their

first album titled Bueno Pa’ Gozar. The album is bril-liant and conscious with vi-brant rhythms and groove.

Castro says the album was composed in a year with friends and “friends I met through friends.” He was given a list of artists to help him design the festive al-bum cover and fell in love with the style of Cuban American artist Lili Ber-nard. Castro says her work is full of “joy and color.”

Through travel--playing

in Cuba and teach-ing master classes in Spain, Taiwan and Hungry--Castro has enhanced his musi-cal talents with au-thentic and rich local cultural sounds. In relating his passion to traveling Castro says “Like life, we are the total sums of all our experiences, good or bad.”

Paul De Castro teaches music theory and Afro Latin music courses at CSULA, the perfect location to pursue his passion.

“I enjoy the multicul-tural environment of the campus and its unique cos-mopolitan atmosphere,” he says. Due to budget cuts, however, the music pro-gram has been closed for the summer.

Catch him in the fall when he directs the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble and a con-cert to celebrate the release of Bueno Pa’ Gozar.

Bueno Pa’ Gozar.www.orquestadengue.org

Prof. Paul De Castro’s new album Bueno Pa Gozar

TAKE NOTE“The Art of Chess: The Munitz Chess Collection”

The exhibit features selections from the 52 fine chess sets and more than 350 volumes of chess literature do-nated by Cal State L.A. Trustee Profes-sor and former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz to the University Library Special Collections.

JFK Memorial Library, First Floor, Exhibit Area

Sunday, May 10, 2009 throughSaturday, December 12, 2009

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CSU Urges Faculty Union to Bring Furlough Option to a Vote

The California State University ad-ministration today urged the leader-ship of the California Faculty Associa-tion (CFA) to bring the concept of a two day per month furlough to a vote of its members. CSU has met with the faculty union three times to discuss the furlough option, but CFA has not yet scheduled a vote of its members. There are approximately 23,000 fac-ulty members in the CSU; only dues-paying members of the CFA would be allowed to participate in a vote.

The concept of furloughs was pro-posed to all of the CSU’s labor unions as a way to address an anticipated $584 million cut, or 13 percent re-duction, to CSU’s 2009-10 budget. Collective bargaining agreements between the CSU and its employee unions include provisions covering mandated non-retention and layoffs, but not furloughs. Each bargaining unit, therefore, must agree to negoti-ate furloughs. Two groups--the Cali-fornia State University Employees Union (CSUEU) representing 16,000 non-academic employees and the Academic Professionals of Califor-nia (APC) representing 2,400 student service employees--have agreed to dis-cuss furloughs.

“Time is of the essence and we need to prepare for the upcoming fall aca-demic year on all of our campuses,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. “We have provided answers to the questions posed by the CFA dur-ing our last meeting, and are urging them to present the furlough option to their members for a vote. We need to move forward to address the massive budget cuts that the system is facing before the impacts are magnified.”

“The CSU is facing an unprecedent-ed crisis and it will take cooperation and shared sacrifice from all of us to get through this next fiscal year and beyond.”

Approximately 80 percent of the CSU’s costs are salary and benefits payments. The CSU is proposing to furlough all of its employees (with the exception of public safety personnel) in all classifications, including man-agement and executives, to help close the anticipated budget deficit. To date, approximately 21,000 of CSU’s over-all workforce of 47,000 employees are

looking at furloughs.

If adopted by all employees, furloughs would reduce the CSU’s salary expen-ditures by approximately $275 mil-lion. Other cost-saving options are be-ing discussed to address the remaining deficit. The guiding principles Chan-cellor Reed has been working under are to “serve as many students as pos-sible without sacrificing quality, and to preserve as many jobs as possible.” …

Csu Faculty Question Chan-cellor’s Leader-ship, Half-Baked Budget Plan

CSU Chancellor Reed & his adminis-tration have focused for years on their own perks, spent millions on labor consultants and done little to advocate

for adequate CSU funding; now their incomplete CSU budget proposal would address less than half the pro-jected shortfall, leaving a $300 million deficit with no plan to close it; tens of thousands of students are at risk of losing out on a college education.

Would you buy a “pig in a poke” — in this case, a pay cut deal composed of vague promises about what is inside the paper bag?

CFA won’t.

The California Faculty Association is well aware of the massive budget col-lapse confronting the California State University and the entire state. This is the worst budget crisis ever.

And the coming year’s state funding shortfall will be worse. Everyone real-izes that.

“So we expected to see a creative, well-thought-out plan from our leadership. Chancellor Reed’s administration has long been raising its own compensa-tion and packing the ranks of manag-ers because, they claimed, they need the best at the top. Well, this is their time to shine,” says CFA President Lil-lian Taiz.

“Instead, they have come up with a half-baked plan to cut employee pay that ostensibly would address a little less than half the funding shortfall. And, when asked about the remain-ing $300 million deficit, our Chancel-lor said he ‘has no plan,’” Taiz says.

“On the last day of the fiscal year he has no plan! It’s just hard to believe. There are one of two conclusions one can come to, and neither one is pret-ty,” says Taiz.

Yesterday, the CSU Chancellor’s Pub-lic Affairs Office chose to take the talks over the furlough of the CSU faculty to the media through a news state-ment that misrepresented discussions

with CFA.

It omitted the most important ques-tions asked about the Chancellor’s proposal that basically asks for a blank check to deal with the crisis.

QUESTION #1: If the facul-ty agree to the furlough, will that prevent layoffs?

CHANCELLOR REED’S AN-SWER: No.

In order for CFA to conduct a respon-sible and meaningful vote of the fac-ulty, the organization needs an under-standing of how a furlough would be an alternative to massive elimination of class sections that would result in students not getting the courses they need as well as layoffs of both Lec-turer faculty working on temporary contracts — who teach about half of students’ classes — and probationary

and tenured faculty.

Initially, the Chancellor’s Labor Rela-tions staff and consultants told CFA the choice is between accepting a furlough or layoffs. But on further inspection, they would not guarantee there would be no layoffs or even give CFA a scenario in which the number of layoffs would be reduced.

The Chancellor’s expensive consul-tants could not tell us how accepting less pay through a furlough will save a single class or a single job or help a single additional student get into col-lege,” says Taiz.

Many CSU campuses already have threatened layoffs of Lecturer faculty and, possibly, probationary and ten-ured faculty in some programs. This year alone, the CSU has cut about 1000 faculty members due to funding reductions made during the academic year.

QUESTION #2: What is the plan for cutting the other $300 million?

CHANCELLOR REED’S AN-SWER: I have no plan.

Since, according to the Chancellor’s labor consultants, the furlough plan addresses less than half of the fund-ing shortfall, where will the other $300 million or so be cut?

CFA must assume that the remaining cuts will involve faculty layoffs, prob-ably enacted by campuses to deal with cuts assigned to them by the Chancel-lor.

“Without clear, competent answers, we must assume that we will get both – furloughs and layoffs — making a vote on a choice between them not a meaningful one,” says Taiz.

“We have been warning about this moment for years, and urging CSU’s executives and Trustees to act to pro-tect the state’s public university by taking a public stand to make policy-makers understand how necessary the CSU is.

“But these are managers who will not even give up their taxpayer pro-vided cars, much less the free houses for executives who make more than $300,000 a year.

“Instead, they want the students who just want an education, the staff who provide student services, and us, the faculty who teach the students, to give them a blank check to cut as they wish.

“We have to press them to do better,” Taiz concludes.

THE CHANCELLOR VS THE CFAContinued from Page 1

Below we have reprinted exerpts from both letters:

Prof. Rita Ledesma and CFA President Lillian Taiz

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the new board in an effort to make a difference.

Beltran then followed with the Presidential Inaugural Speech. He said three themes were important to him in tak-ing over the responsibility of a President: integrity, per-severance, and service. He spoke about his parents being immigrants in this country and his mother’s entrepre-neurial spirit. She dreamt of her sons having an education that she was not able to get.

The ceremony was followed by a reception with dessert and beverages.

Beville Constantine, Vice President for Academic Gov-

ernance said he is especially pleased at being elected a second time. “It’s special be-cause it shows that students appreciate the work that we put in,” Constantine said. He plans to address the issue of conversion from quarters to semesters by making sure students are informed of the consequences.

Beltran said he has been speaking with ASI presidents at other CSU campuses. “You can’t change the prob-lems that we have here on campus alone,” he said, add-ing he is most concerned with the budget cuts, classes not being available this quar-ter, and making sure that a great number of students are involved in addressing these problems. “We are most ef-fective in numbers.”

ASIFrom: p.1

CAPTIONS Photos by Stephanie Monte/UT

1. President James M. Rosser congratulating ASI Vice President for Academic Governance Beville Constantine for his return to the student body.

2. Former ASI President Jennifer Chemel welcoming new appointees.

3. The inaguration had brochures!

4. New ASI appointees for the 2009-2010 year.

5. Newly appointed ASI President Joaquin Beltran and President James M. Rosser after accepting the oath.

6. Joaquin Beltran announcing his first official speech as ASI President.

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ing CSU and UCs to either get ahead or catch up to graduate on time and to save money. Colleges such as East Los Angeles College, Santa Monica College and Glen-dale Community College are currently open for the first summer session but students from other locla colleges are having a tough time adding classes Trying to complete her se-nior year at Mt. Saint Mary’s College, Vashti Zeron was hoping to finish her bach-elor’s degree by Fall this year and her plans included sum-mer school. By the time her enrollment was processed at Santa Monica College, sum-mer school registration had already begun and the classes filled up. “ I knew that the classes I wanted to take were

already closed but being a senior I thought they would take me in,” said Zeron. But to her surprise the instructors were not accepting adds to non-SMC students. “ I was already a semester behind but now with this summer school situation I will not be able to finish my degree until Spring 2010,” said Zeron.

Sandy Sanchez walked the stage in May for her CSUN graduation but has two classes left to earn her bachelor’s degree. “I signed up in time for the first sum-mer session and I got the classes I needed at GCC but by the second week both of my classes got cancelled due to ‘budget cuts’,” said San-chez.

A hot topic being discussed by California legislators to fix the Community College budget crisis is to cut out all Cal Grants and to possibly

hike up the student fee from $20 per unit to $60 per unit.

According to the LA Times, college students who skip summer sessions suffer more setbacks. Dr Mitchell Wong president of Act4Education, a group of parents trying to improve school standards in West Los Angeles, recently told the Times how impor-tant summer school is. “ Data shows that students lose a lot of ground in terms of learning during the summer months. When they’re off, summer school really helps bridge that gap,” Wong said. CSULA has also cut summer classes that were completely filled and others are unable to add due to budget cuts. TVF major, Blanca Cuellar said that she is still trying to add a class but “ it doesn’t make any sense that I can’t because I still pay out of pocket.”

BUDGETFrom: p.3

(CSULA-UT) When an ath-lete succeeds, the attention is often focused on the star player. The coaches that get pub-lic acknowledgement are usually the ones that drive their teams relentlessly, especially in high visibility sports like basketball, base-ball and football.But that’s not Coach Gretchen Corrales’ style. Having just wrapped up a successful cross country and track season, Coach Corrales is seeing the rewards of her approach—giv-ing everyone a chance to dis-cover their inner long-distance runner.

Corrales is a former All-Amer-ican runner from CSULA and still holds one of the top 5 fast-est times in school history in the 3k, 5k, and 10k. After her time here at CSULA as an athlete, she qualified for the Olympic

trials in the 10k, and eventually moved on to marathons, where she had a world ranking.

Coach Corrales has been the main distance coach for the past five years here at CSULA. She has coached numerous All-American athletes, includ-ing Karla Alburez, whom she found at LACC when she was coaching there, trying to build a new program from the ground up. “I just saw her (Karla) walking on campus one day, and I thought to myself, she’s a runner.” Corrales asked her to join the team, and although Alburez at the time had no running experience, she joined

anyway. Over the next few years Corrales trained Alburez into a five-time All-American and recipient of many awards and honors, including the Billy Jean King award in 2008.

Corrales has been more than a coach to many of her ath-letes. She makes sure they stay on top of their schoolwork and uses her own money when they can’t afford textbooks. She makes sure her athletes

maintain a healthy diet and takes those who don’t have a car to Trader Joe’s every week. With twin five-year-old girls at home, Corrales is also a work-ing mother.

Lily Hernandez, a senior track and cross-country runner, said, “She gives 100% to her run-ners and goes out of her way to help us not only with running but also with school. She cares about us as individuals not just athletes.”

Cesar Arevalos, a sophomore track and cross-country run-ner, agreed: “Coach Corrales is dedicated to her athletes,

acknowledges us as people, and she strives to make us the best she knows we can be.”

Being a distance coach, Corrales works year-round, from cross-country to indoor and out-door track and she

says she is looking forward to the upcoming season since she’s recruited some promising new runners for the team. If they do well, the credit belongs to them.

“I think everyone has the po-tential to be a good runner,” she says. “And I don’t think it’s my place to deny anyone that op-portunity, because if you do the work you can get better.”

MORE THAN JUST A TRACK COACHthe extra time it takes col-

lege students to graduate these days. Yeah the GE’s take a while to finish, but keep track of what courses you need to take. Other-wise, you’ll be stuck trying to add Biology 158, for the third time, with 40 other competitors who want it just as bad and it’s your last quarter. Talk about survival of the fittest.

What’s really hard for this appendage to grasp is how you can complete the cours-es in a timely manner, get good grades, graduate, and still be out of work? The re-cession has affected millions in such a short span of time. It’s frightening to foresee what’s next, not only for stu-dents, but as members in a semi-functioning society.

Fortunately, change is on its

way! ASI President Joaquin Beltran’s inauguration was Wednesday and as you all know he’s down for a better future!

Students in Iran have set an inspiring portrait of collective power at the lo-cal level. They can use our support against the bureau-cratic systems similar to the battle we’re fighting to save Dolcini’s. Perhaps one of the best, central outdoor studying spaces on campus, Dolcini’s is all about the grassroots. Take it from me, and use your voice to stand up for what you believe in, and remember you are not alone.

Lastly, the so-called inde-pendence holiday is com-ing up Saturday, and the ear wants you all back, so watch yourselves this weekend kid-dies, don’t stop till you get enough fireworks!

EARFrom: p.1

NEW BEVERLY CINEMA

SCHEDULEJULY 1 & 2

Two with James Cagney!Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)Fri: 7:30; Sat: 2:45 & 7:30

Love Me or Leave Me (1955)Fri: 9:55; Sat: 5:10 & 9:55

JULY 4

25th Anniversary!Red Dawn (1984)Midnight (11:59 p.m.)

JULY 5, 6 & 7

War Movies!Full Metal Jacket (1987)Sun: 6:30 only; Mon/Tue: 7:30

Platoon (1986)Sun: 8:45 only; Mon/Tue: 9:45

JULY 8 & 9

New 35mm print of 200 MOTELS!200 Motels (1971)7:30

Fritz the Cat (1972)9:30

Corrales has been more than a coach

to many of her athletes.

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When freshman CSULA student Brian Greene tried

to clear a hold he had regard-ing his college transcripts, his friends told him it would be annoyingly difficult, however no one knew just how difficult it would be.

After being directed to four different people with six dif-ferent forms and slips, Greene was told he could get the hold cleared on the fourth floor of the Admin building. Unfortu-nately for Greene, the fourth floor also happened to be the temporary hunting grounds of the Admin’s new pet tiger “Dusty.”

“It was horrible, the kid never had a chance,” said Jane Tur-ney, 22, a CSULA sophomore who happened upon the scene of the brutal mauling. “I was just lucky to get out alive. What the hell is a tiger doing in the Admin building?”

Turney’s question was one on

the mind of many students and teachers who had heard about the incident. By all ac-counts a roaming tiger with bloodlust is a serious threat to campus safety.

Speaking at a press conference after the incident, Thomas Quinnen, Co-Vice President of Student Service Public Organizational Matters and Affairs said, “The adminis-tration has been implement-ing a well-known, long-term

campaign of making life as difficult as possible for stu-dents. Dusty just happens to be the next step in that pro-cess. Hopefully his hilarious antics will keep the staff in the Admin building amused. It gets very boring sitting behind those desks… Why are all of you looking at me like that?”

After the uncomfortably an-gry stares from students, teachers and reporters, Quin-nen slunk away and could

be heard muttering that he wished he could have made life hard for students at a col-lege where they would appre-ciate it.

Many faculty members have raised the question of how the

university can afford to buy and keep a wild Tiger when they are already strapped for cash.

“Yeah, yeah, it hurt a kid, that sucks, whatever,” said Social Sciences Proffessor James Tierny, “But the real ques-tion is why are they cancelling all these summer classes and banning any students from enrolling, yet they can buy a tiger? That must have been really expensive!”

“No one really has any idea how much it cost,” said Quin-nen when later asked for com-ment. “I mean, people think the Tiger cost a lot of money, but they forget, having wild jungle cats as domestic pets, and then also keeping them in a building full of people is incredibly illegal! Do you have any idea how much money it cost to bribe customs, the cops and all other manner of fed-eral official? Lets just say, it was not an easy or inexpensive

task. Then you have to feed the damn thing! I mean, sure a student or two will satiate it for a little while, but I’m going through thousands of dollars a week on raw meat! If peo-ple are pissed about this, it’s a good thing they haven’t found

out about that giant maze, deathtrap, obstacle course thing that I had installed in the basement! Soon though… soon the time will come….” Quinnen then began laughing uncontrollably.

There is no word on what legal action will be taken by Greene’s family, but it can safely be assumed that the school’s icy hand of death-by-bureaucracy will do its job again in protecting the cam-pus’s precious funds.

STUDENT EATEN BY TIGER THAT LIVES IN THE ADMIN BUILDING

DRINKING THE KOOL-AID

By Zach Seemayer

Dear CSULA Colleagues,

I am a long time employee (over 20 years) with the CSU. California is my soul

mate, but I fervently want to re-tain the compensation feature of our relationship. For almost ten years we have watched our state legislators grapple with how to manage California’s resources as they apply to the state budget. I have been grap-pling with this process and here are some ideas and questions on my mind that I think are worth exploring:

Why do the people of Cali-fornia continue to watch year after year as the budget, the budget process and the people elected to govern the budget process worsen? One response might be that we Califor-nians expect our legislators to do the same thing LA Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson expects from his team: work their way out of the mess they’ve gotten into. Another response might be that the budgetary process is much too complicated for the novice, the family person, the wage earner to take the time to reason, understand or chal-lenge.

Why then do we not hear (more) from experts and aca-demics? Why don’t we hear from those who teach politics, those who know the history of California’s politics, those who can speak to the machinations of the governing process. Why don’t they and the media tell us what our politicians are do-ing wrong and suggest alterna-tives?

Isn’t it realistic to expect that those who teach, those who come to occupy the ranks of government, those who govern our lives, should have some in-put on how governing should work? Does that make sense? Maybe, just maybe, our legisla-tive leaders are doing all they can. But we go through this budget scenarios every year. Isn’t it our lawmakers’ jobs to know that spending must at least match revenue – can it be that simple?

Shouldn’t they realize or have realized after previous reces-sions, that weren’t exacerbated by national concerns, that the state needed a dedicated fund

source and that this source must be prudently managed --not leveraged, but managed? At what point should a 30 year-old property tax cap be reviewed as a revenue option? What studies have been done to determine how increases in wages compare then to now?

Granted, state budgetary mat-ters are slightly more compli-cated than the average working family budget. But shouldn’t the same general principles apply; you spend, you earn, you borrow and you pay back

– within your means? Does that make sense?

If that doesn’t make sense then what

does explain re-cent annual deficits? Why

does CalPers, seem to manage efficiently?

At a recent CSUEU meet-ing it was mentioned that the CSU would need to come up with 13% of the deficit or $584 million to help solve this crisis. It may take up to two years to reach that amount. Being on furlough or perhaps worse, po-tentially laid-off, for that period of time or longer is scary. Are any of the unions contemplat-ing negotiating into any fu-ture contract opportunities a thank you component for CSU employee participation? Or, should we just say thank you and (as Jack Nicholson iterated in A Few Good Men) go hap-pily on our way? I can handle the truth.

Whether it begins with the CSU/UC employee (unions) or non-member employee’s maybe now is the time to start looking at new methodologies for running state government. Is the state constitution that difficult to amend? A process that is (seemingly fermented) cemented in tenure doesn’t mean it cannot be adjusted. Now may be the time to call upon the people of California to change the way those re-sponsible for the state budget-ary process are employed.

The current process isn’t work-ing. Chancellor Reed has of-ten spoken about how much the CSU provides tomorrow’s leaders through (a CSU) edu-cation. Does it appear to you as it does to me that education may need to be redefined as it concerns the California state budgetary process?

BUDGET CRISIS MAY REDEFINE EDUCATION

“The administration has been implementing a well-known, long-term campaign of making life

as difficult as possible for students.”-Thomas Quinnen

Co-Vice President of Student Service Public Organizational Matters and Affairs

2 ¢

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Dusty the Tiger.


BACK STORY

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LOAN PAY-MENTS BASED ON INCOME

On Wednesday students who receive loans to pay for their college educa-tion received a bit of good news. The Federal Education Department put in place an “income-based repayment” pro-gram. The new pro-gram will start offering a repayment plan that bases a graduates loan payment amount on their annual income. Another perk of the new income-based program is balance forgiveness af-ter 25 years of payment on a loan. For people interested in more infor-mation about the new program the Depart-ment of Education has set up a web site with a calculator to determine monthly payments based on income and family size. The website can be found at studentaid.ed.gov under the “Re-paying Your Loans” tab.

ENDING SEXTING

With the popularity of texting increasing more and more in the U.S. there were bound to be some problems that

would arise. Sexual tex-ting or sexting, as it is more commonly known, is becoming a huge problem with teenagers. There have been cases of teenagers who send nude pictures via texting and it is these cases that has some in law enforce-ment wanting to crack-ing down on sexting. Different states have dif-ferent laws concerning sexting, for example in Ohio sexting is a felony and punishable with jail time, but in Missouri it is only considered a mis-demeanor. Whatever the case may be, many believe that it all comes down to parental respon-sibility.

ANTI-GANG ACTIVIST ACCUSED OF GANG CRIMES

Alex Sanchez, 37, the executive director of the nonprofit gang-intervention program called Homies Unidos, was arrested Wednesday on federal racketeering and conspiracy charges. Sanchez was named in a 66-page indictment along with two dozen other alleged members

of the MS-13 gang or Mara Salvatrucha, a Salvadorian gang. His arrest comes as a shock to many who know San-chez as a anti-gang ac-tivist who was out to help former gang members turn over a new leaf by providing services such as tattoo removal, and offering life skill classes that supported those who were ready to leave gang life behind. San-chez is expected to enter a plea for the the charges next week.

FIRST ISLAIMC LAPD CHAPLAIN

For the first time in the history of the LAPD there will be an Islamic Chaplain. Sheik Qazi Asad, 47, a Pakistani born spiritual leader, will be serving as the chaplain out of the North Hollywood Sta-tion. The chaplain post is a volunteer position that only requires about eight hours of service a month, but Asad sees it as much more than that. Asad has spent much of the past decade trying to improve the relationship between the LAPD and the muslim communities

and he sees the chap-lain position as a better platform to see his plans come to fruition.

CALIFOR-NIA VETS STRUG-GLE WITH GI BILL GLITCH

Many veterans in Cali-fornia are facing diffi-culties obtaining tuition funds because of what appears to be a glitch in terminology in revisions to the GI Bill, accord-ing to the LA Times. The bill states that any person serving since the 9/11 terrorist attacks is entitled to free or re-duced college tuition. California pubilc col-leges have long called “fees” what other col-leges in the country refer to as tuition, resulting in thousands of dollars in benefits unavailable to only California veterans. Many vets are having to relocate to other states or enroll in the Yellow Ribbon Program, which splits tuition costs with private institutions. Cali-fornia is one of the low-est participating states in the program thus far.

COURT RULES SPECIAL-EDUCA-TION STU-DENTS ENTITLED TO REIM-BURSE-MENT FOR SERVICES

The Supreme Court has ruled that parents of special-needs students may seek reimbursement from the government for any costs incurred from placing their children in private schools ac-cording to the New York Times. Though the ma-jority of special-educat-ed children attend public schools, many parents feel that the curricu-lum provided does not adequately fulfill their child’s needs, resulting in high tuition payments for private schooling. Some fear the decision could be detrimental since it al-lows any special-educa-tion students the right to collect funds even if they were in public schools and will further deplete the scarce budget for the department.

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Documents

CSULA UT Issue 190.2