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Since 1960 Volume 84, Issue 45
Pride in Their Culture
Titan archery
The advocate
Student archers aim to reach sPorTs, p. 8 Olympic glory
Columnist discusses interactions oPiNioN, p. 4 between the sexes
Daily Titan The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Protesting immigration law
BY ellice soliveN
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
after seven years of being off the Cal State Fullerton radar, the Cambodian Student association made its presence felt on Friday night with its first culture night since 2000. To celebrate Cambodian Lunar new Year, the scent of authentic Cambodian food wafted through Titan Student Union Ontiveros room while club members waited with their friends and families for the festivities to start. Decorated with red, white and blue balloons and matching crepe paper streamers, the room filled quickly until every seat was taken. While Cambodian music played in the background, attendees had their names written in Khmer, the Cambodian language, and ate the food that was provided at the back of the room. “I’m surprised at how many people showed up,” said 22-year-old Bernard Lim, who volunteered to man the food tables. The accounting major and member of the club spent all night behind the tables, serving and describing dishes to onlookers. Food included chicken and beef skewers, veggie egg rolls, pickled vegetable toppings and sweet buns filled with pork, egg and Chinese sausage. The most interesting of the selection, though, was the sweet banana rice rolls, Lim said. The rolls were slices of purple baked bananas wrapped with rice and green banana leaves, resembling a sushi roll. “The food was really good,” said accounting major Tony Heng, 23. “This is the first event that I’ve been to, so I’m looking forward to the dances.” The night’s masters of ceremony: Vice President Melinda Ung and Officer JB ngoy, welcomed everyone while people hurried to find a seat. They introduced the club’s board members and recognized the event’s sponsors. To warm the crowd up, Ung and ngoy joked with each other, alternating between Khmer and English. “Dang girl, you put the ‘body’ in Cambodian!” was a highlight of Ung’s English punch lines, in the midst of other Khmer jokes. as laughs from the audience died down, the Blessing Dance began, performed by the club’s president, angelica Keam, and two high school students, amanda and Breeana Men, from the Long Beach dance troupe The Spirit of Khmer angkor. The dancers slowly circulated around the front of the room smiling serenely with petals in their hair. Ung later explained that the three young women, outfitted in jeweled silver, green and gold outfits and ornate crowns, carried small silver trays of yellow and red rose petals as they “blessed the audience.” The Blessing Dance is one of greeting and good wishes of happiness, usually performed at the beginnings of ceremonies, she said. after the dance, members presented a slideshow of past events and meetings, played to Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These.” The audience was comprised of not only friends, family and members of the club, but students from see camBoDiaN - Page 3
Wednesday May 2, 2007
Faculty Votes for new Contract Union members are working to ratify tentative agreement BY YvoNNe villarreal
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
BY DaralYN schoeNewalD/Daily Titan staff
ONE VOICE - Protesterrs gathered in downtown Santa Ana on Tuesday, May Day, to support immigration law reform. Marchers chanted in English and Spanish while waving Mexican and American flags and carrying signs. BY DaralYN schoeNewalD Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Thousands gathered in Santa ana on Tuesday afternoon for a march supporting a program designed to legalize undocumented immigrants and to end workplace raids. Many marchers waved either american or Mexican flags as
they chanted, “si se puede,” or “yes, we can” in English. In addition to waving flags, many others carried banners and signs with slogans such as “legalization now,” and “stop the raids.” Guadalupe Cazares, a resident of Santa ana, carried a sign that read, “equal rights for all.” Cazares said she wants the same rights as american citizens. “I can’t drive because I can’t get a
license, I can’t have health insurance because I don’t have a social security number,” she said. She wore an american flag draped on her shoulders in support of what she calls her second country. “I want the opportunity to prove that I can be a good citizen,” she said, adding that she is attending classes to get her GED high school equivalency. Cazares, who has lived in the
United States for 18 years, said the only work she can get is cleaning houses because she doesn’t want to use a fake social security card. Kimberly, Crystal and Irene are 12-year-old junior high students who came to the march, their third since last May, in support of their immigrant families. see ProTesT - Page 3
Getting Wired and Getting Political In part three of four, the Daily Titan examines Web use and politics BY krisTi alleN, levi luPercio, vu NguYeN aND kilmeNY DucharDT For the Daily Titan
news@dailytitan.com
When advertising major Erik Ryerson, 23, isn’t occupied with homework or at his internship as an online marketing specialist, he can be found at command central – his bedroom. Complete with three computer screens, an LCD TV and a highspeed Internet connection, Ryerson said he has virtually everything he needs to be informed and express his opinions. He said he feels that MySpace is a forum for blogging to open people’s eyes. “There’s a whole level of consciousness that people don’t see unless you shove it in their face,” Ryerson said. The Internet has not only changed the way people get their news, some think it has changed the face of politics. new ways of campaigning and fundraising have surfaced through the Internet, according to CSUF political science professor Matthew Jarvis. Some presidential hopefuls for the 2008 election are using outlets like MySpace, YouTube and answers. yahoo.com. Some are even blogging. “What they are trying to do is give individuals a sense of advocacy in their campaigns,” Jarvis said. “They
courTesY oF erik rYersoN
My pOlItICs - Erik Ryerson uses his MySpace profile as a blogging
forum to share his political beliefs with subscribers are trying to up the Internet action.” Jarvis said he believes that politicians are a bit behind when it comes to Internet campaigning. He said online promotion is the only way to reach the growing population because it’s impossible to personally interact with all voters, but the Internet can make this possible. “The job of any politician in any election is to get as many votes,” Jarvis said. “and you can’t get people’s votes if they don’t know who you are.” Ryerson can communicate with his 600 MySpace friends because of the Internet. He said he considers his MySpace page a representation of himself. But not every student at CSUF is on MySpace. Before the Internet age sparked blogging and podcast trends, many students turned to radio, tele-
vision and print to stay informed. now, new technology has allowed for more personalized news that can be accessed quickly. Jordan Hitchcock, a communications graduate student at CSUF, said he likes the convenience of accessing news on the Internet at work. “I’m a news junkie,” Hitchcock said. “I get a lot online, such as Yahoo news or Google.” advertising major David Bradley logs onto Web sites such as asmarena.com through his cell phone to quickly get the news. Ryerson said he is a big believer in a Web site called The Drudge Report. “It’s a funnel of all the big news,” Ryerson said. “They seem to break both sides. It’s just a big strainer for all the bulls--- stories.”
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advertising major Jason Horton agreed. “I get all my news from drudgereport.com,” said Horton. “I even have it on my home page. It’s the first thing I see.” But the amount of information on the Internet leads many to question its accuracy, since regulation and accountability for publishers and bloggers does not exist – changing the concept of gatekeeping, according to Jarvis. “More and more individual people have access to publishing on the Internet,” Jarvis said. What is news is decided by what people report, and with so many people who may not have traditional media connections reporting, what is considered news is changing, he said. The best way to receive information is to compare and contrast between national and international news Web sites, according to health science major Shabana Syed. “I prefer to watch Cnn and check on the BBC after I watch Fox 11 news,” Syed said. “The news we watch in our nation is censored and edited because the media are controlled.” Ryerson will be the first to say he does not approach blogging from an objective standpoint. He is a conservative Republican whose MySpace graphic includes the president depicted as a vampire biting the neck of the statue of liberty. “I don’t even know what conservatism means anymore,” Ryerson said, insisting to his subscribers that Bush killed conservatism.
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California Faculty association members of the largest state university system will vote this week on whether to ratify a tentative contract agreement they reached with the CSUs. Union members on the 23 campuses will vote this week on whether they approve the ratification of the tentative agreement reached in april. Results are expected to be released May 7. The vote comes after nearly 2 years of negotiations with the CSU administration. “It’s been a long process,” said the association’s Fullerton chapter President G. nanjundappa. “We are hopeful that the new contract will be ratified.” If the 23,000-member union approves the new contract, faculty will receive raises that would total 20.7 percent, in phases retroactive to July 2006 through 2010. In addition, some faculty will get added raises, based on merit, seniority and new salary steps fashioned in their pay ladders, according to the union’s Web site. “We’re hoping that they’ll ratify the contract,” said CSU spokesman Paul Browning. “Both parties followed the fact finding report in creating a contract very closely to the suggestions offered in the report.” according to a CSU press release, the average salary for a tenure-track faculty member will increase from $74,000 to $90,749, and the average salary for a full-time, full professor with tenure from $86,000 to $105,465 by the end of the contract period. Some faculty members will be eligible to receive more than a 31 percent in raises over the four years, according to the union. “We value our faculty and the hard work they put in,” Browning said. “We hope to reach a resolution.” In the next four months, under the tentative agreement, every CSU faculty member will receive a 7.7 percent raise, with 3 percent retroactive to July 1, 2006. a voter turnout similar to the vote-to-strike, where 81 percent of members participated, is what union leaders are hoping for, nanjundappa said. Rolling strikes were narrowly averted by the april agreement. The previous contract expired in June 2005 and was extended monthly until the fact-finding process began. If ratified, the CSU trustees will put the tentative agreement to a vote, likely by May 15, Browning said. Should the tentative agreement fail to be approved, the series of rolling-strikes will take effect. Precise effective dates of the new contract are still being worked out, Browning said. Voting is being held in the association’s Fullerton Chapter office located in Langsdorf Hall, Room 214 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. through Thursday.
Tomorrow Partly Cloudy high: 68 low: 54
Partly Cloudy high: 68 low: 53