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Faculty lobbies governor for budget increase
Natural habitat becomes housing
Academic Senate, California Faculty Association petition to ‘Rebuild the CSU’
Coyote Hills development causes mixed reactions throughout community
By Stefanie Franklin Daily Titan Staff
By Courtney Salas Daily Titan Staff
On the northeast tip of the densely populated city of Fullerton lies 582 acres of natural habitat. The preservation of this land, known as Coyote Hills, remains a key issue to local Fullerton residents, causing mixed emotions throughout the community. Coyote Hills consists of 510 acres of open space and a 72-acre nature park. The remaining acreage is what is left of an oil field owned by the Chevron-Texaco Company. This year, Pacific Coast Homes, a company owned by the Chevron-Texaco family, will build a 160-acre planned community in Coyote Hills. The plan, known as West Coyote Hills, consists of 760 housing units and 350 acres of open space. Don Means, a Chevron Land & Development contractor, said that this is part of the Coyote Hills master plan that was approved by the city in 1977. The West Coyote Hills planned community has been in the works for several years now and still may undergo some changes. “Our original plan, 1,100 housing units, was reduced to 760 housing units in order to preserve a significant amount of open space,” Means said. “This plan will not have any affect on the 72-acre nature park. We plan on building eight miles of trails for mountain biking and horse back riding. We also plan on setting aside five of the highest points of open space for trails to a gazebo so residents can enjoy the view.” Local mountain bikers are concerned that the popular trail, the Fullerton loop, will be affected by the West Coyote Hills plan. “We are going to expand Fullerton loop by adding some additional trails,” Means said. “The city also asked us to fix it up the trail by adding some design work.” Business management student Russ Gramstad, 23, an active mountain biker, has mixed emotions about the new West Coyote Hills development. “As a mountain biker I’d be happy to see Chevron open up the land to allow access for trail users, but as a Fullerton resident I don’t think it’s worth it to have more houses built,” Gramstad said. “It will just add to the traffic and population.” Although many prospective homebuyers are in favor of the West Coyote Hills plan, there are Fullerton residents who are unhappy about the new development plan. The Coyote Hills Organization is the key group in opposition to the plan. According to the Coyote Hills Organization Web site, “it is imperative that the last existing native habitat areas be given the complete and total protection and restoration that they must have in order to remain healthy and selfsustaining.” The Web site said that west Coyote Hills is scheduled to be “destroyed” by homes and development. It also said that west Coyote Hills is the last remaining natural area in Fullerton and its surrounding communities. The Web site adds that West Coyote Hills is the home to over 130 different forms of wildlife, including some endangered species. Despite strong opposition the West Coyote Hills plan is still on the agenda for 2005. “They [the Coyote Hills Organization] have the right to voice their opinion,” Means said. “I don’t have one particular feeling or another.” Means said that Chevron is setting aside a financial endowment for restoring the open space and its natural habitat. “We are looking at all sides and trying to find a balance,” Means said. “We want to satisfy the large amount of people who want to buy a home, but save a significant amount of open space.”
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Photo illustration by Shannon Anchaleechamaikorn/Daily Titan Photo Editor
As of 1998, the Higher Education Act disqualifies all students who have had minor drug convictions from receiveing financial aid, whereas people who have been found guilty of rape or murder are still potential candidates.
Over the last three years, the California State University system’s budget has been cut by more than $500 million. The chancellor of the CSU system agreed to the budget cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to help fund other necessary California programs. In exchange for this agreement, the Governor promised to increase funding to CSUs in future years. At last week’s CSUF Academic Senate meeting , CSUF Sociology Professor Gangadharappa Nanjundappa presented a petition to all senate members to “Rebuild the CSU.” He submitted the petition on behalf of and as a member of the California Faculty Association, a group that represents the interests of the CSU faculty. His appeal to the senate requested that they join the lobbying effort with fellow faculty in order to ask the governor for more system funding. “This is to let the governor know that these budget cuts can’t continue,” said Nanjundappa. “He needs to honor the master plan to allow us to provide quality, affordable education.” The governor recently agreed to allocate funds as part of the chancellor’s “Compact on Higher Education” and the CSU system expects a modest increase in its budget for the
2005-06 school year, said Clara Potes-Fellow, spokesperson for the CSU. “The battle now is to make sure the legislature accepts the governor’s budget that was signed by the chancellor,” she said. According to the CFA’s Web site, over 15,000 potential students were denied admittance to CSU campuses in 2004-05 due to limited funding. Even with the proposed increase in budget for next year, it’s expected that 25,000 more students will not be accepted. According to the Web site, it would take four years of increases just to get back to the same funding level prior to the budget cuts. “Our primary concern is access,” says Nanjundappa. “Ideally, all eligible students should be able to attend a CSU.” The budget cutbacks affect many aspects of CSU campuses. Both new and current students may feel the impact. The governor’s CSU budget for 200506 includes an estimated $25 million in new student fees, and another estimated $75 million in tuition increases for current students. “The budget affects the CSU’s ability to attract and retain students,” said Diana Guerin, a CSUF child family and community service instructor who is also a member of the CFA. “We’re worried about how long we can keep up campus quality and access with declining funding.” She said that the budget has affected CSUF directly. In one way, decreased funding reduces the number of custodians, groundskeepers and maintenance staff.
Felons qualify for aid, drug users don’t Athletes exposed to the severity of sexual assault Amendment to Higher Education Act affects 160,000 students By Julie Kim Daily Titan Staff
Rapists, murderers and other convicts qualify for financial aid, but students – including ones at Cal State Fullerton – with even minor drug arrests are ineligible, according to a 1998 amendment in the Higher Education Act. The drug provision, authored by Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana, states that convicted first-time drug possessors are banned from receiving aid for one year, second-time possessors and first-time distributors for two years and third-time possessors and secondtime distributors for an “indefinite” time. “About 160,000 students have been affected by this provision since it went into effect,” said Tom Angell, communications director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a non-profit organization that educates on some of the harms caused by the war on
drugs. He added that the number excludes those who didn’t apply at all because of question No. 31 on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which asks whether the “student [has] ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs.” The amendment to the HEA, also known as subsection (r) of Section 484, does allow students to re-qualify prior to their ineligibility period if they pass two random drug tests and go through rehabilitation. But “people who can’t afford tuition definitely can’t afford private treatment,” Angell said, adding that the law doesn’t fund rehab. The Higher Education Act passed in 1965 and was developed to help low to middle-income families. Critics, however, say the amendment takes away from HEA’s ability to help underprivileged students. “They’re denying aid to smart kids that are trying to get their lives together,” said David Guard, associate director of Drug Reform Coordination Network, an organization that promotes open debate on drug prohibiaid
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‘One in Four’ educates male students about lasting effects on female rape victims By Carolina Ruiz Daily Titan Staff
Members of the program “One in Four” talked to Cal State Fullerton’s male athletes to educate them on sexual assault, the psychological effects of these acts, and how they can help the victims of sexual assault. The video was held last Tuesday night at the Pollak Library. “One in Four” is a program sponsored by NO MORE, the National Organization of Men’s Outreach for Rape Education, with the purpose of showing men how to help a female friend in the case of rape in order to create a “One in Four” chapter at every campus they visit. “One in Four” was named after the statistic that one out of four college women are raped. The four male graduates from William and Mary College in Virginia that make up this group have been to 25 college campuses in dif-
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ferent states in order to educate young men. The presentation’s highlight was a 20-minute video in which a police officer described the fictitious rape of another policeman by a man. The all male audience is asked to put themselves in the shoes of the victim. In the video, the rape is described vividly, detailing how the male officer is forced to perform oral sex on a second assaulter. The video emphasized how even a strong man can be threatened and frightened through the use of violence. The agent also described how painful and embarrassing the recovery of sexual assault is. At the end of the video, a parallel is made between the raped police officer and women who are raped. “The video was very vivid and eye-opening,” said Steve Nelson, 18, from the track ad field team. “It was really hard to imagine [myself in that situation], but I did imagine.” “One in Four” members listed six ways a man can help a female victim: by helping her get medical care, avoiding violence, listening to her, believing her, helping her regain control assault
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Campus welcomes alumnus art show Former student wrestler seeks alternate career after suffering shoulder injury By Noura Al Anbar Daily Titan Staff
A group of art lovers gathered around large ceramic and clay sculptures and paintings in the California State Fullerton Visual Arts Center to celebrate the opening of a retrospective featuring artist Jesse Standlea’s past five years of work. The showcase will remain open through March 11 and will then be shown in Bangkok, Thailand. Twenty-five-year-old Standlea was formerly a CSUF student interested in wrestling. He said that after he hurt his shoulder and couldn’t wres-
tle anymore, he dropped out of school and that’s when his art career started to bloom. “I wanted to be ready to go into the world, so I slowly took classes. I dropped out of school when I couldn’t wrestle anymore,” Standlea said. “I’ve been painting ever since I was a little kid. Both my aunts were painters. But I got serious about it when I wasn’t able to wrestle anymore.” Standlea said that since 1999 he has traveled to France, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Australia and China to work on his paintings and sculptures, and is the featured artist at the Co-Op Gallery in Costa Mesa. “We try to get exposure and experience for emerging art students without a lot of experience working with galleries,” said Stephen Crout, the director of Co-Op. “Immediately, people started noticing Jesse’s sculptures and it just brought another life to the environment.”
Standlea recently created a public sculpture for the city of Santa Ana and said from time to time he conducts workshops for different colleges. “From what I’ve noticed, there is a lot of energy,” said Alex Herrerah, executive director of Co-Op. “It shows in the way he carries himself, it shows in the way he executes his artwork and the way he puts together his exhibition.” Most of Standlea’s paintings and sculptures seem to have been influenced by Asian culture. Some of the art displayed included clay and ceramic sculptures of sun goddesses, paintings of colorful geisha girls, temple girls and temple paintings. “The Asian culture interests me so much, maybe because of the immigration coming in to California from Asia,” Standlea said. “It’s part art
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Alex Cantu/Daily Titan
Alumnus artist Jesse Standlea said he doesn’t limit himself to one kind of medium at his show in the Exit Gallery Saturday.