C A L I F O R N I A INDEX
C alendar & B riefs C orrection O pinion S ports
VOLUME 66, ISSUE 13
Titan
S T A T E
2 2 4 5
The
Daily
U N I V E R S I T Y ,
F U L L E R T O N INSIDE
Titan’s aim to get even against Boise State today. See Sports pg 5
FRIDAY
Anonymous pro-gym poster scoots by Student Life n AS: Posters and advertise-
ments purchased by the AS Executive Office were not properly labeled. By STEPHEN RUBIN Daily Titan News Editor
They are bright orange. They scream “Read Me” and they are posted all over campus. Or at least they were until the Office of Student Life began tearing them down on Monday. The Associated Students Executive Office picked a bad time to leave its endorsement off campaign fliers toting the proposed fitness center and recreation complex. The poster urges students to vote yes on the March 24 referendum
to provide an alternative to the existing P.E. building and its “old, filthy, rusty locker room and showers,” as the flier described it. Fine, except nowhere on the flier does it say who is sponsoring the obviously pro-fitness complex poster. That is a clear violation of O.S.L. rules. Student Life policy states that a banner can be hung only if it “legibly identifies its sponsor and/or source.” Despite the rules though, the posters did have the required O.S.L. stamp of approval. That is where the confusion begins. Last Friday, a student complained to O.S.L. that the poster lacked a sponsor, said Gina Orello, student organization area secretary. Orello, who supervises
posting, said a new employee overlooked the absence of a source and stamped away. By Monday, O.S.L. employees began removing the orange fliers, apparently clueless as to where they originated from. Loydene Keith, director of Student Life, said she learned Wednesday morning that the posters came from the AS executive office. Rothman was none too happy his posters were disappearing. “Why are they destroying our property?” Rothman demanded. “Its (O.S.L.’s) job to approve posters. State employees who have nothing better to do are ripping down our fliers. I have a problem with an Office of Student Life that is out of control.” Keith said O.S.L. did not immediately
assume the posters came from Rothman’s office. “We didn’t know who to call. We do the same thing for them that we do for any other organization,” Keith said. Rothman maintains since O.S.L. approved the posters, he did not do anything wrong. But given the nature of the flier, it seems odd the “oversight” came on a flier supporting the proposed complex, which if approved, will cost students $300 more a year in fees. The poster did not mention that a mandated student fee would fund the complex.. Rothman said any appearance of impropriety is coincidental. “We’re not trying to do anything sneaky. Is it ethical? Certainly,” Rothman said.
The flier also ran as a full-page advertisement in the Wednesday and Thursday editions of the Daily Titan. Nowhere did the $680-a-day ad say who was paying for the political endorsement. However, beginning today, the ad will say “paid for by AS. executives.” The advertising money came out of the AS Executive Office budget, Rothman said. The executive office and its money is separate from the AS Board, which has not taken a public stand on the complex. Yvonne Lara, AS Board Chair said the “ambiguity” of the ads can be taken the wrong way by students. “People have a right to know who is supporting it,” but, Lara added, “I don’t think it was done intentionally.”
may face up to a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges he faces By JULIE HARDEN Daily Titan Staff Writer
(above) Nathan Vigil plays guitar while Christian Students Group members (l-r)) Mark Allen, Michael Yu, and Tim Hsi sing during lunch in front of Library North. (right) A Bible is held up by two members of the Christian Students Group as they sing hymns in front of Library North. PHOTOS BY RON SOLIMAN
Bribery suspect released on $25,000 bail of trying to fix a basketball game. By NICK BRENNAN Daily Titan Staff Writer
The Cal State Fullerton student accused of bribing a member of the CSUF men’s basketball team into throwing a game was released on bail Thursday and ordered to appear for his preliminary hearing on March 19. Jack Oh was released on his own recognizance after posting bail and is scheduled to return to North Orange County Superior Court for another depo-
sition and restitution date in two weeks. At that time, both lawyers will explain their case to the court, after which the judge will give the defendant an idea of the punishment he will face if convicted, Sonja Muir, public defense attorney explained. The 21-year-old La Verne resident’s family raised the $25,000 needed to release him and was required to prove the money was from a legal bank account. “It is too early to tell about a plea bargain or if a trial will begin,” said John Anderson, deputy district attorney. Muir agreed, saying she needed more time to evaluate the evidence. Oh’s family would not comment about
the case. Muir’s request to lower the bail amount was denied. Anderson argued the bail, set at $25,000, would decrease the chances of Oh from fleeing to Korea, where he was born. Corey Sanders, a center on the basketball team, was propositioned by Oh to throw a game against University of the Pacific. Sanders, a freshman, went straight to men’s basketball coach Bob Hawking, who informed school officials, who in turn informed Public Safety. Sanders was allegedly offered $1,000 to fix the game and an extra $100 for every free throw he missed. Sanders could have made
Hall. Having had an eating disorder herself, she said a person gets a “high” after starving themselves for a certain period of time. Linda Chassman is a marriage, family and child counselor who leads a group in the Women’s Center every semester. She said this addiction is underground and hidden at CSUF. Anorexia and bulimia remain concealed because people feel ashamed to seek help, Rule said. “The youth of today are touched by this addiction in every way,” Rule said. “Everyone knows someone who has dieted in unhealthy ways. Even young girls in grade school are unbelievably preoccupied with dieting. When girls in first, second or third grade are preoccupied with their body, there’s a problem.” She said people are motivated by different reasons for using and abusing food as a drug. “Women see those pictures of skinny women in magazines and they put neg-
ative energy into trying to fit into the mold. What these women aren’t told is that these pictures are airbrushed,” Rule said. From Twiggy in the 1960s to Kate Moss in the 1990s, women’s magazines set the ideal female body shape as a willowy one, Rule said. However, Cass Stringer, a counselor who worked in the Counseling and Psychological Services Center, said a different body shape for women is becoming more acceptable now one that is heavier and more muscular. Chassman said that the vast majority of those who diet in potentially deadly ways are women. There will always be more women with eating disorders, she said, however more and more men are falling prey to constantly trying to measure up to the ideal body shape. Chassman, whose bulimic client first
Group shines light on disorders n DISORDERS: Women of all
ages who become obsessed with dieting may have an eating disorder or addiction to food. By LAURIE SCHULTZ Daily Titan Staff Writer
It is a drug that anyone of any age can obtain. It is everywhere. It is cheap. The people who are addicted to it cannot escape from it. No middle ground, only black and white exists for people addicted to this drug. They must deal with the addiction all day long. Unlike alcoholics, they cannot abstain from this drug by refraining from carousing at bars. The drug is food. Cari Rule, a Theater and Dance major at Cal State Fullerton, has been leading a group for anorexics and bulimics on Mondays, in Langsdorf
see DISORDER/
NATHAN ORME/Daily Titan
The disputed flier lies beneath a legit flier on the Humanities stairwell Thursday.
Sing O’Brien case a new in jury’s hands song n CRIME: Gilbert Acosta
n CRIME: Jack Oh is accused
MARCH 6, 1998
$75,000 if he cooperated through the rest of the season, according to a Fullerton Police Department press release. Sanders’ contributions to the investigation helped the FPD acquire enough evidence to arrest Oh. On Feb. 23, Oh was arrested by FPD between classes without incident. This is not Oh’s first run-in with the law. Oh became involved with Jerry Wei Sun, a bookkeeper in 1997. Sun set Oh up with a $10,000 credit line for placing bets. Once he realized he could not pay Sun, Oh turned to Public Safety for help, Det. Tom Gehrls said. Sun is scheduled for trial at the end of March. Anderson is unsure if Oh will testify in that trial.
Gilbert Acosta occasionally looked over to his left at the seven men and five women who will decide Acosta’s degree of guilt for the murder of former Cal State Fullerton student and Associated Students Vice President of Finance Kyle O’Brien. After nearly four hours of closing arguments and two weeks of testimony, the case was sent to the jury late Thursday afternoon. During his final statement, Acosta’s defense attorney, Public Defender Ron Klar, called his client “a liar, a cheat, and a thief.” “You want to hate him. Please hate him. I don’t care,” Klar said, while defending Acosta’s actions leading to the “unintentional homicide” of O’Brien outside the Sears store in the Mall of Orange last summer. Acosta, 21, is charged with murder, great bodily injury, burglary, robbery and the use of a gun for events which stemmed from the August 15, 1997 incident. The charges include an allegation of murder during the commission of a felony, a special circumstance that could make Acosta eligible for the maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The slaying occurred about 4 p.m. after a man approached a Sears employee and asked to return a new $152 paint sprayer gun without a sales receipt. The clerk became
suspicious and called the two company loss prevention agents on duty, O’Brien and Randall DePue, who is also a CSUF student. The two unarmed guards proceeded to escort Acosta outside to retrieve a receipt he claimed to have in his car. In the parking lot, a struggle ensued and Acosta allegedly opened fire, hitting O’Brien in the chest and leg and DePue in the wrist. O’Brien died en route to a local hospital. More than 30 individuals testified during the trial that included such evidence as the Sears surveillance camera videotape showing a man shoplifting a paint sprayer, a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun believed to be the murder weapon and a box of bullets found in the getaway car matching those which injured the victims. Klar asked the jury to consider Acosta’s nonviolent character during previous thefts along with his actions, intentions and the circumstances of the incident when measuring his culpability. In doing so, Klar said the evidence will show Acosta is not guilty of first degree murder, but perhaps guilty of a lesser charge of second degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Deputy District Attorney Lew Rosenblum, on the other hand, told the jury “this defendant is looking for a legal loophole that doesn’t exist.” He described the case as “indefensible,” and said the worst defense witness was Acosta himself, who has admitted to an accidental discharge of his weapon during the struggle although he does not remember pulling the trigger.
JEFF CHONG/Daily Titan
Cari Rule, who is also recovering from an eating disorder, counsels people on their disorders.
Copyright ©1998, Daily Titan