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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
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VOLUME 53 ISSUE 57 • A FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Loneliness becomes a factor for sleeplessness and poor health p. 2
SPORTS
OPINION
Men’s basketball team notebook: Rushed offense struggles p. 8
Students respond to the CSU budget crisis p. 6
CsUn president search postponed New president could be named in March CaITlIn MarTIn DAILY SUNDIAL
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For more photos, see p. 4 ANDRES AGUILA / DAILY SUNDIAL
Maceo Hernandez plays the Taiko drum with lysa Flores and East l.a. Taiko group during MECHa de CsUn's save Ethinic studies Fundraiser. The Fundraiser raised at least $1,500 dollars that will go toward the arizona save Ethnic studies lawsuit and campaign against HB 2281, which outlaws ethnic studies programs in arizona.
SUN will not have a permanent president in place when classes start in the spring but rather an interim president until March, according to a CSU press release released Monday. "After conducting an initial resume review, the campus advisory committee as well as the trustees on the search committee agreed it would be beneficial to extend the process and ensure that we have the largest and most competitive pool possible," CSU Trustee Bob Linscheid said in the statement. The CSU campus advisory committee decided on the 90-day postponement during their Dec. 2 meeting, said Liz Chapin, CSU spokeswoman. “The committee, along with the trustees, decided on the postponement,” she said. “This is to allow more time for a larger pool of candidates.” The postponement will allow time for more candidates to apply, although the CSU has no plans to recruit or advertise during this
time beyond what has already been done on the CSU website, Chapin said. The time frame for the postponement may have been scheduled deliberately, Chapin said. “I am not sure specifics but the time frame most likely has to do with the board of trustees meetings that take place every two months,” she said. There will be a meeting in January and another in March, when the board plans to announce the new president. CSUN President Jolene Koester announced in May that she would be retiring in December after serving 12 years as president. The CSU has been searching for a replacement since October. Chapin said there is no set date for when the board of trustees will announce the choice for interim president and the only firm date is Jan. 20, a closed session where the committee will discuss the candidates. The January meeting will be held to discuss the candidates and decide who advances to the interview level of the process. Interviews will be held in February, according to the new time frame.
Occupy movement calls for student debt denial A 20 percent increase in the national student loan average prompts protesters to challenge the debt ron roKHY DAILY SUNDIAL
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faction of the Occupy Wall Street Empowerment and Education working group has called for one million people to join a pledge to default on their student loans. The Occupy Student Debt Campaign, which is comprised of students, alumni and current faculty from schools across the country, aims to challenge the rising crisis of student debt and make people aware of the injustices of the current higher education infrastructure to the public, according to a statement from the group. Supporters of the campaign may sign one of three available pledges: one for people who currently owe student loans, another for
current faculty members and one more for people without debt who still advocate the cause, according to their official website. The campaign’s four main principles include: federal funding for all public educational institutions, interest-free student loans, the ability of students to know where their tuition dollars are and promise to refuse payment of their student loans. “I’m concerned about the privatization of public schools and the strain it puts on faculty members and students,” said Hillary Goodfield, a founding member of the campaign and current NYU student. “But this is a broad project, it goes beyond just alleviating debtors. The aim is to make everyone aware of the problems associated with
By The Numbers 1.4 million American students graduated with debt in 2008 $20,200: average national debt for students in public universities in 2010 $16,850: average national debt for public university students in 2004 $18,113: average debt of 48 percent of California college students in 2009-10 $15,582: average debt of 40 percent of CSUN graduates
student loans.” According to the Project on Student Debt in 2008, 1.4 million American students, or 67 percent of the group, who graduated from four-year universities had some student loan debt. For public universities, the average debt was $20,200 – a 20 percent increase from 2004 when the average was $16,850. “The underlying problem here is that the government, institutions and lenders have been shifting the burden,” said Pamela Brown, founding member of the group and current sociology graduate student at The New School for Social Research. “They’ve taken the government’s burden of grants and put it on students in the form of loans.” This was an intentional
shift, Brown added. “Tuition has gone up while lenders increase their profits, and our government has had a hand in this by stripping away the students’ ability to file bankruptcy on their debt,” she said. The overall amount of money owed from student loans is approaching $1 trillion, an amount that trumps the nation’s total credit card debt, according to an NPR report. Participants plan to pop this bubble by refusing to comply. “We can continue to pay and make it worse for future generations,” Brown said. “Or we could take a stand and take the power back.” In the 2009-2010 academic year, 48 percent of
See loans, page 4