C A L I F O R N I A INDEX
C alendar & B riefs P olice B lotter O pinion S ports
VOLUME 66, ISSUE 6
Titan
S T A T E
2 3 4 6
The
Daily
U N I V E R S I T Y ,
TUESDAY
F U L L E R T O N
INSIDE
BASEBALL: Benito Flores flirts with a no-hitter. —See Sports, page 6
F E B R U A RY 2 4 , 1 9 9 8
Greek regulation questioned by city n FRATERNITIES:
History of fraternity trouble draws fire for CSUF’s lack of supervision. By JASON M. TAYLOR Daily Titan Staff Writer
ductions put on their weekly concerts, the Pub can turn into a—some would dare say—festive crowd. A temporary stage steals half of the floor space and the electrical wires powering the musicians’ equipment snake between the tables underneath the customers. The tables and chairs, once evenly spaced, are now squished together in a mass not leaving much breathing room. The round tables and diner-style
chairs make it hard to walk around in the Pub when there’s a concert crowd. The extra baggage of backpacks doesn’t help either. The basement setting and enclosed atmosphere draw the crowds to the loud music and warm ambience. The mass of bodies, the surge of heat from the ovens, and the blockades of chairs and backpacks could put a student in a dangerous situation—or could it? What to do if there was an earth-
quake or fire? Where to run? There are two exits in the Pub—the front extrance and the back entrance. Two doors that are supposed to free 199 occupants. With the loud music, extra bodies and consumption of alcohol factored in, students may not be able to think rationally enough to get out of a disaster such as an earthquake or fire. Is the Pub dangerous to a student’s health—or isn’t it?
see PUB/
Some members of the Fullerton City Council are questioning Cal State Fullerton’s apparent absence in regulating its Greek community. CSUF’s role as fraternity watchdog came under scrutiny at the Feb. 3 council meeting, where Tau Kappa Epsilon succeeded in keeping its conditional-use permit despite reservations from police and city planners. The Council said school officials needed to better control the Greeks, amidst police allegations that TKE is a public nuisance. “(University officials) don’t recognize that they have any role,” said Chris Norby, a city council member since 1984. Fullerton City Mayor Donald Bankhead said he would like to see the university more active in revoking fraternity charters in cases of indiscretion. More willingness to do so, he said, “would help tremendously” in preventing future problems. Revoking charters is an option, but it is not often used. In 1989, TKE did have its charter revoked, but the move came from the fraternity’s national headquarters, not CSUF. “In general, the policy has been that fraternities essentially regulate themselves,” said Charles Buck, associate vice president for Student Affairs. He said strong, mature advisors to the Greek organizations were supposed to provide enough control
class you learn that the four books required by the instructor are not available in the bookstore. The instructor has made them available to his students exlusively at an offcampus bookstore. There is a history behind why some professors at Cal State Fullerton prefer to use off-campus retailers. “The cost was a determining factor years ago,” social psychology Professor Craig Bowman said of why some of his required texts are not available on campus. “With the high prices, I felt students weren’t getting a good deal,”
Bowman said. Another reason Bowman started using an off-campus vendor was that about four years ago the bookstore manager at the time left abruptly, leaving book orders unfilled. He said that some of the instructors from those years may still be “holding grudges” caused by that unfortunate incident. Bowman does offer his introductory classes a chance to purchase their textbooks on campus, realizing they may not be that familiar with the area around the university, but the rest of his books are off-campus. Bowman did admit, however, that
the bookstore seems to be getting better. “Prices are now more in line with other universities and off-campus,” he said. The off-campus bookstore that offers Bowman’s and other instructors’ books is the Little Professor Book Center, located nearby in Placentia. He, like others, has developed a loyalty to the bookstore despite apparent service and cost improvements at the campus bookstore. Another instructor loyal to Little Professor is American Studies professor John Ibson. None of his
required books are offered on campus. He said it is good to have alternatives and that the Little Professor is a very courteous and efficient alternative. “When I came (to CSUF) the Titan bookstore was run by one woman and she did a great job. It has now become very big and impersonal,” Ibson said. “I was very annoyed by prices, particularly for off-prints and I was having difficulty in getting books in a hurry,” Ibson said. Ibson also likes the way he and his students are treated at the Little Professor. He said he has never
Palestinians? These were some of the questions addressed by a panel of Cal State Fullerton experts Monday. Keith Boyum, chair of the Political Science and Criminal Justice department, hosted an open discussion on the Iraq situation in the Ruby Gerontology Center. One student responded to a comment made by a panelist comparing the U.S. position on Iraq to the Cold War policy of “containment,” by asking if in this case it was the U.S. that could be called the “evil empire.” This term is commonly used by Americans to refer to Russia during the 30-year period of fear of the spread of communism. At first the comment illicited laughs but Karl Kahrs, one of the five panelists, said that as hard as it is to believe, not everyone likes the United States.
“There are a lot of nations that feel the U.S. is an evil empire that imposes its will on others,” Kahrs said. Public opinion on the crisis was another of the topics discussed by the panelists and was also the subject of an experiment Boyum conducted before the experts began their remarks. As the lunchtime crowd settled into their seats, Boyum asked the audience members to use the telephones under their seats to respond to questions about U.S. involvement in Iraq. According to Boyum, the response from the crowd matched the results of a recent Gallup Poll: 70 percent of respondents believed that military force will be necessary to stop Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction; 29 percent do not favor military action in the region; and 90 percent did not believe that Hussein
RON SOLIMAN/Daily Titan
A crowd of students watches a performance in the Pub on Thursday. Large crowds during events is common at the popular hangout.
Overflowing Pub’s safety questioned
n HAZARD: Do high occu-
pancies increase entertainment possibilites, or decrease safety? By DEBORAH REGIUS Daily Titan Staff Reporter
On an average day at the Pub, there may be 12 students found feasting on pizza and washing it down with a cold beer. When Associated Students Pro-
when teamed with self-governing boards, such as the Inter-Fraternity Council or Panhellenic Council. The Greek Code of Conduct, which lays down the ground rules for the behavior of CSUF fraternities and sororities, is designed to help oranizations guide themselves without the need for intervention. “It’s worked on and off over the years,” Buck said, “(but) in the last few years, there’s been a feeling that it’s broken down and a stronger role needs to be taken.” One way to do that, Norby said, is to employ campus police on calls to the fraternity row within one mile of CSUF, the limit of campus officers’ jurisdiction for general operations. Currently, Fullerton police officers responds first to all calls received from “Greek row,” accord-
“If we can put some of the negative publicity behind us, we can go back to doing good stuff for the community.” Emil Nazaryan former TKE president
ing to Fullerton Police Capt. Ken Head. Public Safety responds only if requested. Bankhead said another possibility would be to move fraternity houses on campus, perhaps into a reserved dormitory or a specially constructed building. He said such an arrangement would be ideal, keeping fraternities and their parties away from private homes and allowing for closer regulation. “They don’t really belong in resi-
see GREEKS/
Several professors share grievances with Titan Bookstore n COMPETITION:
Little Professor bookstore gets business from professors who choose not to deal with Titan Shops. By Cindy Jimenez Daily Titan Staff Writer
It is the beginning of another semester. You registered late, could not find a place to park, petitioned two classes and then hoped your section’s books were available at the Titan Bookstore. After you arrive to your first
Foreign policy analyzed at CSUF n FORUM: A panel of pro-
fessors discusses Iraq and Hussein; audience doubts Hussein will live up to U.N. agreements. By NATHAN ORME
Daily Titan Executive Editor Is the United States the “Evil Empire?” Will dropping bombs on Iraq really eliminate the weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein is supposedly hiding? Can Hussein be trusted to keep the pact he made Monday with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations and the world? Is the U.S. government a hypocritical bully for putting sanctions on Iraq for its refusal to comply with its demands while not putting similar pressure on Israel for not living up to its pact with the
been made to wait and they call him all the time, reassuring him of his book orders. “I’ve never had that confidence in the Titan bookstore,” he said. “I would have to go to the bookstore before I made my syllabus to make sure my books were in,” he said. “I have a committment to the Little Professor now. I don’t think I’d give the (campus) bookstore my business,” Ibson said. He added that his students say it is “not a hassle” to go to Little Professor. For the past 25 years, the Little Professor bookstore has been
see BOOKS/
NATHAN ORME/Daily Titan
Panelists at Monday’s forum on Iraq included (l-r) Sandra Sutphen, John Yinger and Karl Kahrs. would live up to his agreement to allow unrestricted access to weapons inspectors. Kahrs said that assessing the
Copyright ©1998, Daily Titan
effect of public opinion on the government’s policy in the region is a difficult task. “I don’t know how to start a
public discourse about this with a largely lethargic public,” Kahrs said.
see IRAQ/