C A L I F O R N I A INDEX
C alendar & B riefs D etour S ports
Titan
S T A T E
2 4 8
VOLUME 66, ISSUE 20
OTC drug misuse can be harmful
The
Daily
U N I V E R S I T Y ,
T H U R S D AY
MYLES ROBINSON/Daily Titan
An illegal vendor soliciting for the Urban Group Home Pioneers INC. approaches Philosophy student Joe Kim infront of the library Wednesday afternoon.
n EDUCATION: The California school districts no longer
need to seek approval to instruct in English. By FRANK C. DIAZ Daily Titan Staff Writer
In the aftermath of last week’s ruling on bilingual education, campus administrators, counselors and even teachers are unsure of what impact English-only instruction may have on future collegebound, immigrant children. The State Board of Education’s ruling allows individual school districts to replace bilingual instruction for immigrant children with intensive English instruction without first seeking a waiver from the state board to do so. An initiative requiring that all children be placed in English language classrooms, often called the Unz initiative, goes before California voters in June. If passed, English instruction will replace bilingual education statewide. How this may affect future generations of college students is unclear. Lawrence Labrado, acting coordina-
n SERVICE: Titan Card supervisor Margaret Bennet orga-
nizes YWCA fundraisers to better community.
Not every woman can afford a breast examination. Not every family can send their child to a pricey day-care center. Cal State Fullerton employee Margaret Bennett, through her work with the Young Women’s Christian Association, tries to give uninsured women with lower incomes these and other services that they often lack. Bennet is heading a fundraiser for the
He casually strolls through the quad, unassuming and relatively unnoticed. He looks around, targeting his next victim. He walks up to a young woman and strikes up a conversation. He gets her attention and invites her to sit down. Then he moves in for the kill. “Doug,” as he calls himself, is on campus to do one thing and one thing only. That is to convince unsuspecting victims, young women walking alone on campus, to buy magazine subscriptions. And as it turns out, bogus ones at that. The blond-haired, blue-eyed, 40-something male has been seen on campus at least 10 times in the past three weeks by one student who asked that her name not be used. She claims she has witnessed him approaching several women on the pretense of doing a “survey.” The female Speech Communication senior said the man appears to use the same tactics on all the women she has seen him approach. “He tries to get you to sit down on the pretense of doing a survey,” the student said. Then the student said that “Doug” proceeds to tell the women that a baseball team in Orange County is in trouble and attempts are being made to save it. After he engages the women in conver-
sation, he proceeds to show the women laminated cards listing all types of magazines for sale. According to the student, he said he only takes cash. “I told him, ‘I’m not interested at all’ and I walked away,” the student said. “He tried to get sympathy from me.” The student said one time she even followed “Doug” and another young women to the ATM machines in front of Titan Student Union where the unsuspecting woman withdrew cash and paid him for a subscription. Communications major Julie Harden said she had a similar experience just last week. A “nicely-dressed young man” who claimed to be a business major approached Harden as she was walking to Titan Student Union. He struck up a conversation with her by asking, “Have you voted today?” After Harden asked what she was supposed to be voting for, he said he was a business major doing a project talking to students. He asked her “not to attack me for doing what I need to do,” and proceeded to pull out a laminated card from his pocket listing magazines for purchase. Harden told the man ‘No way,’ and walked off. “I knew he was going to scam me,” she said. “The second I saw it (the laminated card) I remembered four years ago in high school when someone tried to do the same thing,” Harden said. “I was almost had then and could have lost a lot of money.” What “Doug” and people like him who solicit money from students are
Bilingual education a barrier or benefit? tor of CSUF’s University Outreach, said that the decision more accurately reflects current political trends rather than considering how bilingual education may or may not affect academic achievement. “It’s difficult to say what kind of impact this will have because it basically is a political issue,” Labrado said. “If there’s an impact it will be in 15 years but it will be in selected areas.” Labrado further acknowledged that some children may perform differently than others. “You’re always going to have those kids that can overcome anything,” Labrado pointed out. “It’s the average and below average students that may have a problem.” “It’s hard to determine how many kids in bilingual programs have succeeded. There’s probably no data. Overall, nobody’s really cared about it,” Labrado added.
The number of potential students affected is also unclear. According to a report by Orange County’s Center for Demographic Research, 176,672 people born in Asia, Central or South America immigrated to the county between 1990 and 1994. However, the study did not specify how many were school age children. Luis Cruz, a CSUF graduate student and fifth-grade teacher, sees curtailing bilingual education as potentially damaging to future college attendance. English immersion, Cruz noted, has certain limits. “If I immersed a kid for about a year I would guarantee that he would speak English,” Cruz said. “But there’s a big difference between speaking English and gaining proficiency in handling English on an academic level.” Foreign born students learn better, Cruz explained, when academic skills are initially taught in their native language and then transferred to a second language, after those skills are already established. He added that when teach-
A fantasy fundraiser for the community Daily Titan Staff Writer
Con artists on campus
MARCH 19, 1998
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Daily Titan Staff Writer
By DEBORAH REGIUS
—see page 4
By CINDY JIMENEZ
By Mitch Greenwood
see DRUGS/
Bring in ‘da noise, bring in ‘da Detour.
dors target CSUF students with phony magazine subscriptions; offices say avoid “roaming solicitors.”
the-counter drugs can cause a variety of illnesses, including ulcers, kidney failure and liver damage.
Philip Towne, supervisor of the clinical economics and research at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, agreed with Dr. Clark about over-the-counter medicine and the risks involved. A mistake people tend to make with over-thecounter medicine is increasing the dos-
INSIDE
n SCAM: Misleading ven-
n HEALTH: Misuse of over-
In every day life, people take over the counter medicine for every ache and pain they have. What is unfortunate is that people do this without knowing the potential risks involved in putting this medicine in their bodies. People assume a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is safe to put into their bodies. Recently, a Santa Ana woman damaged her liver when she took too much Tylenol. Ingrid Anderson, 33, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Anaheim after taking 15 Tylenol in one day; 7 more than the maximum recommended. She had to become the recipient of a splitliver transplant operation to save her life. Dr. Janice Clark, from St. Jude’s Hospital, said people should inform their doctor about any medicine they are taking so the doctor does not prescribe a medicine that can be dangerous when combined with another medicine. “Patients don’t tell their doctors that they are taking over the counter medicine when their doctor prescribes medicine,” Dr. Clark said. “Not informing your doctor of any over the counter medicine that you are taking, can be dangerous. There are over-the-counter medicines that should not be combined with prescriptions. There are combinations of medicines that can be dangerous.” Clark also said people should read the label of the medicine they buy. “Some people become ill, because they did not read the label,” she said. “By reading their label people can be aware of any side effects, or any other warnings they should be conscious.” Dr. Clark also said people should be informed about the medicine they are putting in their bodies. If people misuse over-the-counter drugs, they can develop a variety of illnesses, like ulcers, kidney failure or liver damage. “It is amazing that people would take over-the-counter medicine without checking the label or making sure if it is approve by the FDA,” Clark said. “Some people can save themselves from a lot of suffering by being aware of what the medicine can do to their body .”
F U L L E R T O N
North Orange County community called the “Chocolate Fantasy” benefit, one of the YWCA’s tools for benefiting less fortunate women and families. An evening of chocolate tasting, lavish d’oeuvres, Las Vegas-style risk-free games, and a silent auction will be the setting for the YWCA major fundraiser. Bennett has been named co-chair of the the event. As well as becoming an active member of YWCA, she holds the position on the board of directors as vice president of programs. She currently
supervises the Titan Card office and is also fulfilling requirements to receive her master’s degree in public administration. She is thrilled to promote the mission of CSUF and to be an active member of the YWCA. “What attracted me to the YWCA was the child care center, transition home for women, youth employment service, and program for uninsured or underinsured women for mammagraphies, and counseling following masectomies,” Bennett said. The $30-per-person admission to the chocolate lovers’ event will benefit YWCA’ programs. The programs include a YW “second-step” transitional living
home, a child development center, breast cancer screening program, and youth employment services. According to the assistant associated director of the YWCA, Elayne Kendel, it is the YWCA’s mission to empower women, children, and families to improve the quality of their lives. Since 1928 the YWCA of North Orange County has served Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton La Habra, Placentia, and Yorba Linda. The center continues to offer increasing opportunities for growth, leadership and independence for women and their families.
Copyright ©1998, Daily Titan
see BENNET/
ing English is made a priority, the result may be confusion as students may not know which skills to transfer into English. Craig Ihara, of the Asian American Studies Department, agreed that future academic prowess may depend on abilities which the student previously developed. “It certainly will have an impact on the various Asian groups that are still coming into the USA,” Ihara said. “Depending on the age and educational background, it can take a short time or a long time to learn English.” “It (bilingual education) can be the difference between having a successful life and not having one,” Ihara added. Jesus Millan, the Upward Bound counselor with University Outreach, sees bilingual education as having a much broader reach than most people think. Millan says it is not only Latinos, but also many other immigrant minorities in Orange County who will be affected. “Definitely Asians,” Millan said.
see VENDORS/
“And there’s a lot of Middle Eastern people who would be affected by it.” Millan added that the motivation to cut back bilingual education might severely limit a student’s potential for future educational and economic advancement. “That’s a very narrow-minded approach because, increasingly, we’re engaging in a global economy,” Millan said. “Some people think that knowing less is economically beneficial to you,” Millan added. “Everyone in Europe speaks at least two languages or more. But in the U.S., that’s uncommon.” Cruz later acknowledged that bilingual education may be flawed but added that the solution should be to correct it, not eliminate it. “There’s a problem with bilingual education but there’s a problem with science and math,” Cruz said. “But we’re not going to eliminate science and math. The last thing we want to do is not give them the equipment to handle the challenge.
MATT LEWIS/Daily Titan
Margaret Bennet, supervisor of the Titan Card ID office, is running a fundraiser featuring chocalate tasting and a silent auction.