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Former Titan plays for gold medal winning Dream Team at summer Olympics 13
CSUF Theatre and Dance Department takes center stage this fall See insert
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Pluses, minuses making the grade Professors will choose which grading system to use Spring 2005
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CSUF ranks top 10 in the west US News and World Report name campus No. 9 overall By ALI DORRI Daily Titan Staff
For the fourth straight year, U.S. News and World Report magazine has put Cal State Fullerton in the top 10 of all public universities in the western United States that offer
masterʼs degrees. The annual report came out Aug. 10 and ranks CSUF ninth among public colleges and 41 overall in the West. Peer assessment, student retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resource and alumni giving-rate are what determine the rankings. CSUF President Milton A. Gordon said he was pleased with the outcome and what it represents.
“I feel very good about our rankings,” he said. “It means our peers are thinking very highly of us.” According to U.S. News and World Reportʼs Web site, peer assessment is the heaviest variable, responsible for up to 25 percent of the score. Highly ranked administrators from different universities grade each other in surveys. Judith Anderson, CSUF executive vice president, said that while she is pleased about the high rank-
By NATALIE TIMPSON For the Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton will be implementing a second grading scale policy for the spring 2005 semester. Instructors will now have the option of using the current straight grading scale, which is limited to using solid letter grades, or a plus/minus scale that will allow them to assign plus and minus letter grades to better reflect a studentʼs performance. The plus/minus grading scale, known as UPS 300.020 Grading Practices, was brought about a though vote in the fall of 2003. The Academic Senate voted to approve the new system and President Milton A. Gordon affirmed the policy change on April 19, 2004. Sylvia Alva, assistant vice president of academic programs, said the new scale makes it easier for faculty to assign grades that truly reflect a studentʼs performance. For example, if a student is between a B and a C, a professor now has the ability to assign a C+ or a B-, meaning that students potentially could have an extra tenth of a point weighted into their overall GPA. An instructor can now reward or penalize students for the amount of effort they put into a course. Students who will feel the most impact are those who earn a grade of C-. A grade of a C- will not be accepted for the four key general education requirements, Alva said. These key courses are critical thinking, English 101, mathematics and oral communication. However, a D will satisfy as a passing grade for all other general education requirements. Also, students who have a C- average, which equates to a 1.7 GPA, qualify for academic probation. The policy change, was proposed by the Academic Standards Committee in response to communication from faculty who were interested in having a grading system that gave them the ability to make finer grading distinctions among students, said Leon Gilbert, the acting associate vice-president of academic programs and former chair of the Academic Senate. “It is a system that is already in place on quite a number of campuses within the [CSU] system and it is actually provided for under Title V,” he said. The idea to implement the plus/ minus scale is not new to the senate. It was first proposed four years ago, but lacked the support of faculty to pass. “It was really an interesting process politically because, prior to it even being discussed on the floor senate, there was a very active kind of exchange of e-mails,” Gilbert said. “The policy had gone out and GRADING 8
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ing, she does not feel that the report is a true indicator of college-value because it does not rely on student experiences like club activity, fulfilling educational experiences, athletic support or athletic participation. “It relies on quantifiable variables,” she said. “It does not reflect on qualitative variables. There is no reflection of student life. It would be very hard to attend schools based on limited rankings.”
Despite its good marks in certain categories, CSUF and all other state colleges get marked down for student selectivity. CSUF is obligated to take anyone as long as they meet academic requirements and apply on time. Trinity University in Texas, which was ranked number one overall, does not share this obligation, making it possible for them to receive higher marks. RANKING 8
Students restore natural habitat
Volunteers help renew endangered shores at Newport Back Bay
way.” Half of the two-acre site the students worked on is non-native, which means it doesnʼt have any predators like disease or herbivores that may eat the plants. Therefore, By ASHLEE ANDRIDGE its preservation is key. Daily Titan Staff Kristina Finstad, the restoration Cal State Fullerton students and education project coordinator for the Volunteer and Service Center California Coastal Commission, said joined forces with Newport Bay that nearly 99 percent of the wetNaturalists and Friends this week- lands in Southern California have end in a project aimed at restoring been destroyed by development. the habitat of the Upper Newport “This is one of the last remaining Bay. habitats for 200 species of migratStudents helped out by clearing ing birds,” Finstad said. “There is paths and removing not a lot of space non-native plants for these animals that often disturb the left.” It’s a good place environment of the Each site they for college bay, which provides work on is given students to nesting, feeding and a 5-year plan come and get breeding for a variwhich results in experience in ety of species. the environment the field. “In the wetland being able to there are both native stand up against Kristina Finstad and non-native predators and Project coordinator plants and the nonsurvive on its native plants are takown. ing out the nutrients from the native “We hope that by the end of five plants,” said Crystal Garcia, a biol- years that restored site is sustainogy major. “Itʼs really good to help able, meaning it is resistant to invabecause we know these reserves are sion, recycles its nutrients, becomes needed.” diverse and it is providing habitat,” Garcia and her friend, Anna Finstad said. Santos, are orientation leaders who Finstad works with many other said they wanted to volunteer and colleges and organizations in order help preserve the habitat. Santos, a to build awareness and get volunpolitical science major, said she is teers. used to helping out in soup kitchens “Itʼs a good place for college stuand feeding the homeless. dents to come and get experience in “This is my first time doing some- the field,” she said. thing hands-on,” Santos said. “Itʼs a SERVICE 6 different feeling but its good either
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JAMES TU/Daily Titan
Freshman Kristal Lizaola scales the rock wall during Rec Fest held in front of the Kinesiology and Health Science Building on Thursday, Aug. 26.
First ‘Rec Fest’ draws in crowd
Titans browse all aspects of Student Unionʼs Rec Sports By CASEY RITTENHOUSE Daily Titan Staff
Cal State Fullerton students should have no problems staying fit this year. At least that was the goal last Thursday for the first “Rec Fest” sponsored by Rec Sports, a division of Associated
Students, Inc. The event was held to show students the array of activities provided by Rec Sports. Clubs, games, recreations, fitness and wellness, Titan Youth Gymnastics and a construction plan for a future recreation center made up most of the booths in front of the Kinesiology and Health Science Building. Entertainment by the rockabilly band Big Rockinʼ Daddy and the Usual Suspects wailed in the background, and interactive amuse-
ment was available for those who attended. Students climbed up a massive rock wall while others opted for a free massage.
Raffles were held with prizes including free personal training at the Fitness Lab and passes to Disneyland. Jessica Smillie is the manager of Games and Recreations and head chair for the Rec Fest committee. She said she hoped the REC FEST 8
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Gen. Tommy Franks signs new book, supports U.S. war in Iraq Nixon Library in Yorba Linda hosts retired general A Marine color guard from Camp Pendleton was present for the Pledge of Allegiance before Gen. Tommy Franks, former commander of the U.S. Central Command responsible for the activity of U.S. troops in most of the world was introduced to an audience of nearly 750 visitors in the East Room of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. Franks, known as the “chief architect of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,” spoke last Thursday at the library to promote his new book and life memoir, “American Soldier.” Franks received a standing ova-
tion before starting his talk with a few politically charged jokes. “I wanted to go over to the Democratic Party, but they only had one ticket left and they gave it to Michael Moore,” Franks joked. “John Kerry called me last night. You donʼt want to know what he called me.” He continued by saying, “You donʼt have to hate Kerry to vote for Bush and you donʼt have to hate Bush to vote for Kerry. The American people are smarter than that.” Franks even made some jabs at himself when talking about his failed school efforts and his success in the military. “I returned to school decked out with gold stars,” he said. “A professor of mine looked at me and said, ʻI donʼt remember you being the brightest bulb in the socket.ʼ I said,
ʻAinʼt this a great country?ʼ” Franksʼ vagueness when making comments and addressing questions didnʼt seem to bother his supporters who applauded with enthusiasm. “[One way] to measure the quality of a president is the context in which he makes his decisions,” Franks said. “9/11 provided the context.” After talking about the time during and after the Sept. 11 attacks and his support of the war, he opened up the forum for questions. A man in the audience asked Franks to explain weapons of mass destruction. “Inspectors came time, after time, after time, and came back and said, ʻThere are weapons of mass destruction unaccounted for in Iraq,ʼ” Franks said. “Saddam Husseinʼs regime has enough weapons to blow up the world.” He seemed to defend
SHANNON ANCHALEECHAMAIKORN/Daily Titan
FRANKS 8
Vietnam Veteran, Tommy Franks, talks to fellow Republicans about the war, the election, and his new book at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.
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Hot topics: sex, drugs Slow start to soccer and ASI 10-11 season 19
By LAURA BEYER Daily Titan Staff
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FULL EFFECT ‘Exorcist’ prequel turns heads See insert