C A L I F O R N I A
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INSIDE NEWS: Students are helping to preserve 3 nmonuments depicting the Civil War
Kobe Bryant is one half of the dynamic duo leading the Lakers to a possible three-peat
opinion: Cal State Fullerton Web cams 4 ncapture unintended images and invade privacy
—see Sports page 6
weekend
Vo l u m e 7 4 , I s s u e 5 1
M a y 24, 2002
ASI reviews its achievements nSUMMARY: The organization created three programs to improve student advocacy on campus By Theresa Salinas
Daily Titan Staff Writer‑
AMY ROTTIER/Daily Titan
Public Safety officers look on as Brookhurst Tow drags a flipped red Toyota pick-up truck from the trees and bushes of Lot E. pick-up allegedly threatened to steal By Rita Freeman a spot Balderas was waiting for by Daily Titan News Editor blocking his car. Parking issues caused problems Balderas ignored the threat, parked for students once again at Cal State his car and headed to class. About four Fullerton Thursday. hours later when he returned to his After a minor dispute over a park- car, he and his friends saw the suspect ing space in Lot E, a student sped allegedly keying his Toyota Corolla. through the access road and crashed “I noticed he was running away into a black Mercedes, flipping his red from my friend’s car and I went to Toyota pick-up truck and embedding go help [my friend],” said art major it into trees along the 57 Freeway, Michael Nassar. “I cut through cars officials said. and jumped into the bed of the truck.” At approximately 11:30 a.m. Nassar said at first, the driver hesiThursday, Adam Balderas and his tated about his speed while driving. friends were waiting for a parking “He would go slow, then fast, then space in Aisle 14 of Lot E when the slow,” Nassar said. altercation started. Officer Iris CortesThe driver started speeding up as Valle said the driver of the Toyota ACCIDENT/ 5
RAGE hits
Cal State
parking lot
Political coalition has humbling nMEETING: Both the president and vice president of the club are not discouraged that no one showed up By Veronica Hagey
Daily Titan Staff Writer Only two people showed up Wednesday to a club meeting, intended to draw a politically minded crowd. The Political Awareness Coalition’s first meeting began planning club events for next fall and discussed political issues instead of
electing officers as they planned. The club’s president, Sam Clauder, and vice president, Shankhar Singham, were the only members present. Clauder wasn’t too disappointed at the nonexistent turnout and said he understood why students weren’t able to make the meeting. “I think it’s the time [of day] and they’re studying for finals,” he said. Singham, a senior sociology major at Cal State Fullerton, said that finals were definitely an issue for him. “I read all day so I could make it,” he said. Clauder said he started the club late in the semester because he knew he would need to start planning and organizing for events leading up to the November elections next fall.
Hillside brush fire consumes 10 acres
B y Trinity Powells
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the hills north of Brea Thursday, when a brush fire began eating its way down the hillside. Beginning at about 1:50 p.m., the cause of the fire was unknown at the time of publication. Officials said the cause would not be determined until later today, said Anna Cave, public information officer for the Brea Fire Department. Brea firefighters were able
to contain the brush fire and the flames consumed no more than 10 acres. Officials said the fire was never a threat to any of the surrounding homes. Officials also said about 100 firefighters were dispatched to the hillside to contain and eventually extinguish the fire. Being a terrain with many hills, the fire department used a combination of airdrops and hand crews to extinguish the fire, Cave said. Officials were confident that the brush fire would be controlled by the end of
Clauder and Singham want to bring political debates to the campus. “I thought I’d start it now, give us a chance to move forward,” Clauder said. “Some of the hottest debates will be for secretary of state and state controller.” At the meeting, Clauder and Singham discussed the discovery of Chandra Levy’s remains and the link to former representative Gary Condit. “I don’t think he (Condit) did it but his political career is over,” Singham said. Clauder disagreed. “He knows more than he’s saying. He acted suspicious,” Clauder said. The Political Awareness Coalition will offer students a place to discuss
and debate current political issues, Clauder said. He hopes the current two-party system will expand with time. “America would be better off with four or five equally strong parties,” Clauder said. “It would offer equal opportunity to all.” Singham and Clauder also discussed the current three-strikes law and illegal drugs. Clauder had recently debated with Bill Jones on the three-strikes issue. Jones is the law’s author and Clauder is the political director of Citizens Against Violent Crime, an organization dedicated to amending the three-strikes law. Clauder said the law punishes vic-
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The Associated Students, Inc. executive staff wields a considerable amount of power on campus, yet few students know what it is and what it does. The six-member organization represents Cal State Fullerton’s entire student population. Staff members meet regularly with campus administrators and the ASI Board of Directors to hammer out policies. They also monitor and distribute more than $10 million in student fees each year. In return, they’re given offices in the Titan Student Union and receive modest student wages. They travel to various conferences throughout the fiscal year. The president even has a $1,000 discretionary fund. Students elected two members of this year’s executive staff ASI President Alex Lopez and ASI Executive Vice President Edgar Zazueta. Lopez appointed the others: Director of Statewide Affairs Dante Gomez, Vice President of Finance Adnan Raza, Director of Public Relations Nicolette Basilio and Director of Administration Geoffrey Roberts. The group sat down at the start of the 2001-02 fiscal year to draft an action plan. Members wanted to encourage student advocacy, establish a mentoring program, and create a program that fosters campus pride. Here’s a brief summary of what they accomplished this year: Alumni Mentor Program One of the group’s primary goals was to create a mentor program. While all members had a say in how the program should be formed, Roberts spearheaded the project. He collaborated with college deans, the Career Placement Center and the Alumni Association to identify colleges that wanted to participate in the initial rollout of the Alumni Mentor Program. In the spring semester, ASI held introductory events for the colleges of communications and business. Hundreds of students participated. ASI spent more than $500 on food for the opening receptions. During the events, students were paired with alumni who graduated from that particular college. They chatted about educational and career goals while eating boxed lunches. After lunch, they broke into groups where they filled out questionnaires. “It was a great, effective format,” Raza said. ASI leaders said they want to expand the program to all colleges in the uni-
versity by the end of the 2002-03 fiscal year. It will receive about $5,000 in the next ASI budget. Raza said the project should be fully implemented by the end of the 2003-04 fiscal year. The program will ultimately operate on a three-tier system. The first tier is an ASI-funded program with its own office, where students can go to interact with alumni. Raza said the first tier takes the most planning and funding. The second tier is similar to the introductory events held this semester, where students and alumni from designated colleges interact in informal settings. The third tier consists of university-wide events in which students from any college can hear alumni speak about a range of career and education related topics. “The program will be strong,” Raza said. “It will make a big difference on the campus.” Student advocacy In late February, the ASI Statewide Affairs Committee changed its name to the Lobby Corp. Gomez said he proposed the name change to keep in line with other CSU campuses that were also renaming their committees. The new moniker better reflected the group’s commitment to student advocacy, he said. Also in February, the ASI board passed a resolution opposing a possible student fee increase at CSU campuses. The Lobby Corp also joined a statewide effort to oppose the move, which student leaders feared could happen as legislators deliberated over the state budget. The Lobby Corp held a barbecue fund-raiser and letter-writing campaign in front of the library to raise awareness about the possible increase. In April, the ASI board voted to oppose CSU Executive Order 792. The order allows students to sit on academic appeals committees, but prohibits students from voting on grade issues related to the appeal. In the past, students were allowed to vote in grade proceedings. ASI leaders also attended numerous conferences throughout 2001-02, where they said they learned about local and national issues and honed their advocacy skills. Accounting records show that executive staff members spent $15,911.55 on travel this year. Gomez spent $1,364.33; Raza spent $777.36; Zazueta spent $612; Lopez spent $467; Basilio spent $253; and Roberts spent $176. For example, eight ASI officers attended the California Higher Education Student Summit from March 2-4 in Sacramento. The delegates attended workshops on leadership, marketing and networking. They said they’d use some of the information to implement new programs on campus. ASI also spent $4,857.29 to send seven delegates to the annual United
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McNair program welcomes nine stunOPPORTUNITY: The nominees will have the chance to set goals, participate in research and make connections By Michael Matter
Daily Titan Staff Writer
ALMA CASTILLO/Daily Titan
Gerald Bryant is the director of Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. http://dailytitan.fullerton.edu
U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible to apply for certain specialized Department of Education programs if the family-income level qualifies. Applicants must be Cal State Fullerton undergraduates who are first-generation college students and/or members of a racial or ethnic group under represented in graduate educa-
tion. But this is only half of the qualifications for the Ronald E. McNair PostBaccalaureate Achievement Program. The program, established in 1986, was named for Dr. Ronald E. McNair, astronaut mission specialist on the illfated Challenger space shuttle. McNair and six crewmembers were killed when the Challenger exploded after lift off on Jan. 28, 1986. The program exists to encourage and support eligible students pursuing graduate studies. Students must have completed 59 semester units with a GPA of at least 3.0 by spring semester 2003 and plan to major in mathematics, natural sciences or engineering in order to be eligible for the 2003-04 academic year. Applications will be available at the beginning of the spring semester. Born poor in South Carolina, McNair
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