April 10, 2012
Vol. 91 Issue 35
Students React To Apocalypse Hype Find out what students at Cal State Fullerton think about the hype surrounding the predicted apocalypse Dec. 21.
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dailytitan.com The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
ALL BUILDINGS EARTHQUAKE-SAFE, OFFICIAL SAYS
Some students and faculty still unsure of emergency procedures SEPIDEH NIA Daily Titan
California is a hot spot of seismic activity. Most of the buildings constructed on its uneasy surface are retrofitted to withstand movement associated with earthquakes. Cal State Fullerton is no exception. Earthquakes in the past have caused varying degrees of damage, from minor to severe, in California. The most prominent earthquake in recent history was the 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake in 1994. Erol Kalkan, Ph.D., a research structural engineer at the United States Geological Survey, said a lot of the damage caused by the Northridge earthquake could have been prevented if the buildings were built to behave in a ductile manner. “Ductility denotes an ability of a structure to sustain significant deformations under extreme loading conditions and thus absorb a significant amount of earthquake energy,” said Kalkan. Since 1994, buildings have undergone major seismic improvements aimed at saving lives. Jay Bond, CSUF’s associate vice president for Facilities Planning and Management and campus architect, said not only do the buildings on campus abide by current building codes, but another set of codes as well. “Within the CSU, we’ve developed a pretty sophisticated set of seismic guidelines that all of our facilities must comply with, and as so, we’re designing our facilities (so) all of those requirements are met in design, are reviewed by a seismic review board and are put into place when we are constructing our buildings,” said Bond. Of these requirements, it states the structure must be built in a way to help sustain life. “If we all get out of this building safely in a major earthquake and the building’s a total loss, well that’s a success,” Bond said. “We have a significant repair to do then or a significant issue in front of us, but that’s a success.” See QUAKES, page 2
Illustration by MIKE WHITE / Daily Titan
STATE | University funding
STATE | Budget
November could bring more cuts
Newly formed group fights for education
If passed, budget would fall to lowest levels since 1996
Campaign for the Future of Higher Education sets out to reverse funding free-fall
MATT ATKINSON Daily Titan
EZEKIEL HERNANDEZ Daily Titan
The landscape of college education has changed in recent years, riddled with the recession and budget cuts across all public sectors. Cal State Fullerton is a prime example as one of the largest campuses in the CSU. The change has been a national topic of debate for public education funding. In five years, the cost to attend Cal State Fullerton as an undergraduate, as well as other public universities in California, has increased from $2,772 to $5,472. In response, student and faculty groups from around the country and from California have banded together in protest of how higher education is being handled by today’s leaders. Much of the criticism from these groups is being directed toward certain lawmakers who
EZEKIEL HERNANDEZ / Daily Titan Protesters gather outside the CSU Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach in response to tuition hikes.
are said to be holding educational funding low on their priority list. Another criticism stems from school administrators who allegedly disregard student voices when making decisions for their institutions. The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) is a relatively new organization formed in 2011 to tackle discrepancies in education
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funding. Today, it has backing from student groups and teacher unions all over the United States. Its purpose is to form a collective effort between unions and advocacy groups for a forum in the decision-making process. See EDUCATION, page 2
Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget cuts to financial aid have been turned down by the State Assembly, but more potential reductions to funding are on the horizon for the California State Universities, which could cut millions more from statefunded schools. “Legislators in Sacramento have cut state funding to the CSU by nearly $1 billion in the past 18 months,” said Liz Chapin, of the CSU Public Affairs Office. “In addition, the governor’s proposed budget includes an additional $200-million trigger cut if the proposed tax initiative does not pass in November. The repercussions for
this cut would be detrimental.” Chapin said if the proposed legislation were to pass in November, it would bring the budget down to its lowest level since 1996, even though the system supports almost 100,000 more students than it did then. Budget cuts and tuition increases have become an annual event at CSUF. Tuition and fees for undergraduate students totaled around $2,331 in the fall of 2009, compared with the new total of $3,313 for fall 2012. In three years the costs have increased about 42 percent. Last month, Democrats in the State Assembly shot down a proposal by the governor that would have made major cuts to the Cal Grant financial aid system, which supplies grants to colleges throughout California. See PANEL, page 3