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February 22, 2012

Vol. 91 Issue 12

Fans say ‘farewell’ at Whitney Houston’s Memorial

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Whitney Houston fans went to the Beverly Hilton Hotel to pay homage to the late legendary singer.

dailytitan.com The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton

Campus KELLY THOMAS INCIDENT: FIRST OF THREE REPORTS STATE | S&P upgrades Calif. credit parking a rating on bargain late in semester the mend State’s rating still lowest of any state, but “positive” rating seen as improvement

Permit prices drop 25 percent every 30 days and cost $55 by end of the school year

HAILEY MORAN

MICHAEL MUNOZ

Daily Titan

The popular idiom, “Better late than never,” definitely has its benefits, especially when it comes to Cal State Fullerton parking permits. Parking permit prices dropped from $220 to $165 Monday, and will continue to drop at a prorated interval each month until the end of the term. The prorated intervals are between 30 days, and during each pricing interval the price will drop 25 percent. If a CSUF student chooses to purchase their permit during the final interval, starting April 20 to the end of the term, they will be paying $55, a whopping 75 percent off from the original price. Marian Alvarado, 23, a fine arts major, who was surprised by the reduction fee, said she sees the reduced price as tempting, but would not trade paying the full price and convenience over the uncertainty of finding parking elsewhere. “I don’t know how I would work around it,” said Alvarado. “Even if I (didn’t) get one from the beginning, where would I park? How much will I spend on a daily permit? I guess I’m okay with paying because I’m going to school from the beginning to the end. I’m not okay paying a lot of money, but I would have to pay the fee anyway because I have to go there and it would be an inconvenience to park somewhere else and have to walk all the way to the school.” Alvarado also said she was curious to know why the parking and transportation department does not advertise the prorated costs when the parking permits are initially purchased. The parking rates are not necessarily showcased, but they are not hidden. Director of Parking and Transportation Joe Ferrer said these rates occur every semester. Students who feel this is not fair, and worry the influx of cars will overwhelm parking spots as the semester progresses and prices decline, do not fear. Ferrer said the ratio of students buying permits after the prorated rates kick in is minimal. “We do have students who purchase permits after proration, but the significant portion of permits sold are sold by the first week of class,” said Ferrer. “Those who choose to park on the campus have purchased the permit earlier, or at least the first week of school semester because permits are required to park on campus.” The reduction of permit prices does have its benefits for students who look for other parking alternatives, students like Karina Ramirez, 19, a health and human services major. Ramirez, who said the initial steep price of the permits doesn’t fall into her budget, admits that knowing prices are $55 dollars during the last month of the semester might persuade her to purchase a permit. See PARKING, page 2

WILLIAM CAMARGO / Daily Titan Private investigator Michael Gennaco answers questions at Fullerton City Hall. He gave the first public report on the investigation of the altercation that led to the death of Kelly Thomas.

Fullerton PD investigated

Independent examiner addresses four main issues surrounding the incident, including why police were called to the scene and the contents of a backpack Thomas had in his possession SEAN VIELE Daily Titan

After months of silence on the Kelly Thomas incident, a new report was released Tuesday at the Fullerton City Council meeting by independent consultant Michael Gennaco on the Fullerton Police Department’s actions in the Thomas case. Gennaco, chief attorney for the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review (OIR), was hired by the city to investigate and respond to certain questions that arose in the aftermath of the Thomas incident. Thomas, 38, a mentally ill

homeless man, died five days after an altercation July 5 with six Fullerton Police officers that left him severely beaten and clinging to life. In his 30-minute report to the council, Gennaco addressed four issues: The circumstances surrounding the call that brought police to the scene, the contents of Thomas’ backpack, the controversy surrounding the booking photo released to the media after the incident and the circumstances of the police officers’ injuries. Police initially claimed they were responding to a call concerning a man trying to break into cars near a

bus depot in downtown Fullerton. Many in the community doubted such a call took place. “There is a recording of the call for service,” said Gennaco. “Our independent review of that recording indicated that a call was made on July 5 to a (Fullerton Police) dispatcher regarding an individual who had been observed by the female caller.” Gennaco said the caller was recorded saying the individual was “roaming the parking lot, looking in cars and pulling on handles.” The female caller also indicated that she knew the individual by the name Kelly, Gennaco said.

Police were dispatched to the location shortly after the call was received, according to raw Fullerton Police Department records used in Gennaco’s report. After the July 5 incident, Fullerton Police said Thomas had a backpack containing stolen property. In his report, Gennaco found that Thomas possessed a backpack he had found. Inside was an attorney’s discarded mail. Neither the backpack nor the discarded mail were reported stolen, Gennaco said. See REPORT, page 3

CAMPUS | Course populations

Students selective on class sizes Some students prefer smaller classes for one-onone attention from instructors; others don’t mind company JOHN SOLLITTO Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton students are put into at least one class with more than 50 students during their educational career. These are usually general education classes meant for a large number of students to take essential college-level subjects. As a student progresses in their major, class sizes decrease to more intimate groups to allow for more student-to-professor interaction. Students like Areli Gonzalez, 19, a Latin American studies major, prefer the smaller class sizes. “There’s not enough attention for the students,” said Gonzalez. “If there’s a hundred plus students in the classroom, how can they address all the questions?” Gonzalez said she felt the professor-student relationship was important to her, and having the

ANIBAL ORTIZ / Daily Titan Dozens of students take their seats for Management 300 in a Mihaylo Hall lecture hall.

ability to talk one-on-one with her teachers allows her to understand the material better. She said that regardless of what the subject was, this would probably be true for any student, whether it’s math or history. Large classes are not just tedious for students; they also increase the workload for professors who

have to grade the work of hundreds of students. To Gonzalez, it is more of an atmosphere situation. If the environment is not suited to learning effectively, she gets frustrated and begins to lose focus. See CLASSES, page 3

California’s credit rating outlook was raised from “stable” to “positive” last week by Standard & Poor’s. The U.S.-based financial services company acknowledged that despite having a negative outlook just eight months ago, California could be poised for an even higher rating in the near future. The revision comes after Gov. Jerry Brown’s promotion of a ballot measure that would raise income taxes on those who earn more than $250,000 annually and raise taxes statewide in a combined effort to avoid cuts in education. The state’s rating is the lowest given by S&P to any state, but it still is an improvement. For Cal State Fullerton students, this upgrade for the state credit rating could mean more credit card usage on campus. It could also mean more approvals for those who applied for credit cards in the past, but were denied. Bonnie Hebert, a child and adolescent development major, 19, did not have much luck with her prior credit card applications. “I applied for one, but it did not work out too well,” said Hebert. The ‘positive’ rating may now allow people to use the state as a solid and dependable reference when applying at banks for credit cards. “(The banks) have rules on who they give credit cards to, but maybe they feel safer now, or they’re not as worried about it,” Hebert said about the new credibility the state has earned. Others are not as optimistic as Hebert. Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff cautioned in a statement that some progress still needs to be made and this rating increase could be premature. “It’s nice that the outlook has improved, but the report also notes serious questions about whether the enacted budget’s spending reductions and other budget assumptions are really going to materialize,” said Huff in a statement. Those budget assumptions are based on Brown’s projected numbers for the aforementioned increase in sales and income taxes. However, Brown’s projections in his last budget were not met, the actual amount collected in taxes was $528 million less than anticipated. “It’s not the upgraded rating that California really needs because we still haven’t fixed our structural budget gap. Our rating is still near the bottom when compared to other states. While this is movement in the right direction, Californians should delay celebration until we’re closer to the top than the bottom,” Huff said in the same statement. Joy Shiba, 19, a kinesiology major, said despite the state’s progress, students should avoid credit cards if they can. See CREDIT, page 3