April 16, 2012
Vol. 91 Issue 38
Eighth Annual Social Justice Summit
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Students of the Volunteer and Service Center organized the Eighth Annual Social Justice Summit that took place Saturday. This event serves to promote social and political change regarding various human rights issues.
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HUNDREDS ATTEND SOCIAL JUSTICE SUMMIT
CAMPUS | Budget shortcomings
Diminishing funds yield program cuts Sports and recycling affairs bear the brunt of budget problems MICHAEL MUNOZ Daily Titan
WILLIAM CAMARGO / Daily Titan Christian Lopez, a high school senior, gives a speech to a large audience about work he has done for disabled students at the Eighth Annual Social Justice Summit on Saturday.
Guests ‘Unite to Rise Above Apathy’ Students, teachers, activists lead workshops and address current social justice issues AMBER STEPHENS Daily Titan
The Eighth Annual Social Justice Summit was held in the Titan Student Union with more than 600 attendees. The free all-day event organized by the Volunteer and Service Center featured speakers and workshops with the theme “Unite to Rise Above Apathy.” More than 50 student volunteers facilitated 24 workshops during three sessions led by campus professors, community activists, artists and students. The hourlong workshops Saturday featured discussions and presentations about the most pressing social justice issues today. Students had a diverse range of workshops to choose from over the course of the day. Cal State
Fullerton professor Jarret Lovell, Ph.D., hosted a circle discussion about nonviolent civil disobedience. The “Occupy” workshop featured activists from Occupy Santa Ana and Occupy Los Angeles, with the discussion starting off with a “Mic check!” During the workshop “RACISM-Alive and Breeding: Recognizing its Different Forms,” led by Don Han, from OC Human Relations, participants broke off into groups to discuss their experiences with racism. The presentation given by Santa Ana’s El Centro Cultural de Mexico, “Immigration Policy Change at a Local Level through Arts and Culture,” started with guitars and songs leading into a presentation about local activism. Ron Thomas, father of Kelly Thomas, who was beaten and tasered by police last year in Fullerton, presented information about homelessness and mental illness during the workshop he led in the Titan Theatre. Other workshops featured presentations on topics
such as Middle Eastern relations, human trafficking, feminism, organic food, immigration, free trade policies, women of Juarez and U.S. militarization of Latin American schools. Michelle Portillo, Fullerton resident and CSUF alumna, came to the summit after reading about the event in a community paper. The preschool teacher and mother of four brought her husband Carlos and 15-year-old son Jesse. “I think I’ve been very apathetic … there’s been so many cuts to education, (the preschool has) felt it and we don’t have a whole lot of support,” said Portillo. “I was feeling discouraged, and I saw ‘Rise Above Apathy’ and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I have got to grab my family.’” Portillo and her family went to the workshop, “Abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex,” presented by CSUF professor Brady Heiner. See JUSTICE page 2
At the Academic Senate meeting Thursday, Cal State Fullerton’s Intercollegiate Athletics Department and Recycle Waste Management discussed the various ways they are coping with the budget cuts on campus. The diminishing budgets have resulted in cutting sports and recycling centers. CSUF is a NCAA Division I school that currently holds 335 student athletes on 15 teams. All sports are in the Big West Conference. The Intercollegiate Athletics Budget is composed of three parts: Stateline Baseline Budget, Student Fees, and Generated and Other Revenue. The 2010-2011 total budget was $7.8 million, an increase of 18 percent from the 2003-2004 budget of $6.6 million. However, the increase comes from less revenue being distributed from the state. In 2010-2011, the Stateline Baseline Budget was $3,365,966, a 1 percent decrease from the 2003-2004 budget that provided CSUF with $3,415,367. The increase of the overall revenue budget comes from within CSUF. Steve Walk, professor and chair of the Kinesiology Department, said the increasing of student fees and marketing and sponsorship agreements, notably advertisements in CSUF’s successful baseball team, take care of a very high percentage of the budget. Even with the revenue budget increase, spending costs have increased, and with less revenue coming in, measures had to be
taken by the Athletics Department to keep the budget balanced. A measure taken to stay aligned with the budget, since 2003, is the elimination of four sports programs: men and women’s fencing, wrestling and women’s gymnastics. With the elimination of these sports, the Athletics Department estimates eventual savings of $609,500. The decision to cut these sports was based on the priority they are within the Big West Conference. Wrestling was in the Pac-10 Conference and gymnastics was in the Big West Conference. These sports were also chosen because there has been a decline in interest at the collegiate level. The Athletics Department labeled eventual savings because they are still honoring the scholarships received by the student athletes whose sport was cut. Aside from these sports, there has been a reduction in overall athletic scholarships of approximately $96,000. “While this achieves substantial savings, let’s not lose sight of the fact that cutting programs like this, particularly with the rich histories that both of these programs have had, cuts connections to the communities and fundraisers and other people who have supported these programs for a number of years,” said Walk. “There are national championships and All-American athletes in these programs, and these programs are now gone.” One hundred and twenty-two scholarships were awarded in 2010-2011, which amounted to 12 students less from 2003-2004. However, due to the tuition hikes, spending expenses for scholarships are up 39 percent. See BUDGET, page 2
SPORTS | Softball
Titans blanked by Pacific CSUF softball team falls one game under .500 after being swept GREG WOODSON Daily Titan
The Cal State Fullerton softball team traveled to Stockton, Calif. over the weekend where the Pacific University Tigers swept the Titans in a three-game series at Bill Simoni Field. The losses dropped the Titans to 16-21 overall and 4-5 in Big West Conference play. In Sunday’s series finale, the Titans lost to the Tigers 10-5. Titans pitcher Katey Laben suffered her third loss of the year and Tori Shepard got her 10th victory in the circle for the Tigers. The Tigers put together 13 hits
to CSUF’s eight. Pacific took a 4-0 lead in the first inning on a Nikki Armagost RBI single and a Taylor Petty three-RBI double to left center. The Titans would counter, scoring four of its own in the top of the third. After Ashley Carter reached base on a fielder’s choice, Adri Martinez singled and Nicole Johnson walked to load the bases for slugger Anissa Young. Young then belted a grand slam to center field to tie the game, 4-4. But Pacific would rally for one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth en route to the victory. Johnson was not able to garner a hit in the game, ending her hitting streak at a career-high nine games. Saturday saw the Titans lose
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both games of a doubleheader to the Tigers, as CSUF was only able to put together 11 hits to Pacific’s 22 on the first day of the threegame series. In game two of the doubleheader the Titans lost to the Tigers 9-0 in five innings. Titans left-hander Desiree Ybarra took the loss in the circle in four innings pitched, allowing three-earned runs on 10 hits. Pacific’s Dani Bonnet got the victory in five innings pitched, allowing only four hits while striking out two. Kirsten Lambertson, Carter, Johnson and Young managed to get a hit apiece in the game for the Titans. See SOFTBALL, page 6
ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan Senior infielder Anissa Young warms up before Cal State Fullerton’s win over Florida International in the 2012 Demarini Invitational at Anderson Family Field Tournament. Young hit a grand slam in game three against Pacific Sunday.