California State University, Northridge
www.dailysundial.com
Wednesday, november 23, 2011
since 1957
FREE IN TODAY’S
NEWS
ISSUE
VOLUME 53 ISSUE 51 • A FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
SPORTS
OPINION
Students practice playing African drums on campus lawn p. 4
CSUN picked up its first win of the year p. 8
Postcards from abroad: United Kingdom p. 5
Recent robbery trend near campus Females walking alone just off of CSUN grounds have been the target of two robberies, LAPD said aj CiRCHiRillo daily sundial
T
wo CSUN students were robbed last Wednesday while walking from campus to their cars. The area surrounding CSUN also saw an increase in crimes last week. The robberies were separate incidents with striking
similarities. Both victims were white females and were approached by two suspects just after noon. The suspects demanded their property while presenting a handgun. Both suspects were identified as Latino males. The first suspect was 5'5", 175 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, about 25 years old. The second
was described as 5'7", 160 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, about 25 to 30 years old. "Make sure students watch out for each other, be aware of your surroundings," said Jason White, senior crime analyst for the the Devonshire division of the LAPD. Although the crimes hap-
pened 20 minutes apart and are similar the police didn't confirm that the robberies were linked, and are still investigating. One of the victims was robbed on the corner of Prairie Street and Zelzah Avenue, and another took place at Vanalden Avenue and Lassen Street. "This wasn't a night time
thing, this happened during the day,” White said. He explained that the increase in crime in the area could have something to do with the holidays coming up and the fact that many people are out of work. The CSUN police department published the crimes yesterday in their crime bulletin. This issue was not on
school grounds and therefore not a CSUNPD case, but officers on campus are aware of the crimes, said Christina Villalobos, CSUN public information officer. "Crimes that occur off campus do not effect our statistics because they occurred outside of our jurisdiction,” Villalobos said. "We want people to know and be alert.”
Occupy CSUN may have to move Safety concerns prompted campus officials to ask occupiers to make a plan or deconstruct their encampment
Andres AguilA / Daily SunDial
the occupy Csun encampment occupies the oviatt library lawn. the movement has until Monday to figure out a way to contribute to the campus at night in order for William Watkins, vice president for student affairs, to let them stay.
antHony CaRPio Hansook oH daily sundial
C
ampus administration has asked Occupy CSUN campers to set a date for the emcampment to pack up and move from the lawn in front of
the Oviatt Library. “They obviously don’t want us to be here for a myriad of reasons, including safety,” said Ankur Patel, an interdisciplinary studies graduate student at CSUN. “I would like to underscore the opportunity that the administration is helping us along, not just allowing
us to go willy nilly until we fizzle out, but to actually help develop a focus point and go after some specific points of action.” Jason Ackerman, a student organizer for Occupy CSUN, and anthropology major, agreed with Patel and sees the difference between CSUN and
other universities - namely UC Davis whose police have been under scrutiny for using pepperspray against seated student activists. “The administration is being supportive and we are very appreciative of that and let’s not lose sight of that,” he said. “They don’t have to be
this cool. This campus is kind of a light in a bunch of public universities that are exhibiting some rather dark behavior.” Vice President of Student Affairs William Watkins said the lawn in front of the Oviatt is no place for students to be camping, and that the administration is concerned about
their safety. “We don’t want a poor relationship with our students,” he said. Occupy CSUN has been steadily growing since it set up camp two weeks ago. What started as only a few tents in
see oCCuPy, page 2