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PEPPER SPRAY: ONLY WEAPON ALLOWED
dailytitan.com CAMPUS | Prop 30
Fewer than expected cash in on refund forms Financial Services have begun to distribute money to students RAYMOND MENDOZA Daily Titan
The election may have been almost a month ago, but Cal State Fullerton Student Financial Services is still dealing with paperwork resulting from the passage of Proposition 30 and proposed tuition refunds. The refund forms were emailed to students shortly after Proposition 30 was passed by California voters. The email gave CSUF students the option to either accept a credit toward next semester’s tuition or have the amount refunded back directly. Bernecea Eanes, vice president of student affairs, noted that approximately 7,500 students turned
in their Proposition 30 refund forms before the Nov. 30 deadline. Eanes said the paperwork and processing of the refund forms have been taken care of by financial services with help from Financial Aid since the beginning of December. With the joint effort between the financial services and Financial Aid staff, the Proposition 30 FAQ on CSUF’s website states: “The applicable reduction in tuition fees and professional program fees for fall 2012 will be calculated and a credit will be posted to your account no later than December 21, 2012.” The website also states that the credits will be applied toward any outstanding obligations that a student might have for the upcoming semesters. The refund will be issued in the form of the original payment method of the student. SEE FORMS, 3
NATIONAL | Downloads Photo illustration by ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
Contents under pressure Campus assaults low, but some students choose to carry it as a safety precaution BRIAN DAY Daily Titan
The small weapons are discreetly tucked into pockets, purses and backpacks every day as students shuffle around Cal State Fullerton’s historically-safe campus. The easily concealed canisters contain the potent inflammatory agent oleoresin capsicum, better known as pepper spray. For safety-minded students wishing to
arm themselves with a self-defense tool while on campus, pepper spray is the only legal option, according to University Police officials. Carrying pepper spray is allowed by law and campus policies and is a common practice among students, but officials caution that the decision to carry should not be taken lightly. When it comes to deciding whether or not to pack pepper spray, “there’s really a lot of variables involved, and it’s really a personal choice,” said University Police Capt. John
Brockie. “I would recommend that they take all the factors into consideration.” While Brockie said he believed the campus to be very safe, he added that students should know how to use it if they are going to carry it. “Be familiar with the effects. Seek out training or at least read up on how to use it,” he said. SEE DEFENSE, 2
CULTURE | Music festival
Experimental music returns to Santa Ana
Noise Festival plans to showcase 12 bands in their fourth installment GARRETT YIM Daily Titan
In downtown Santa Ana, it is not unlikely to see a fleeting moment of artistic merit resonating off Orange County’s solemn streets. During the first Saturday of every month, the Santa Ana Artist Village holds a monthly artwalk. This place may sound familiar as it is also home to the Grand Central Arts Center, which hosts work by Cal State Fullerton students. On these days, the city is alive in a fit of passion and is engulfed by a sense of vibrancy that is often lacking within the artistically confining walls of downtown. One of the most important and often overlooked buildings that stand in the area is the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA). It has been the home for the Santa Ana Noise Fest since 2009 and will be making its way into its fourth installment on Saturday. This year, 12 different bands will be featured and a “noise circle” will conclude the event. This is where all bands come together and perform an improvisational set, “Opening a rift to the end of the world,” which will celebrate the Mayan calendar’s prediction of 2012. The Santa Ana Noise Fest has been important, as it has been one of the few places for experimental music acts from both Orange County and
BRIAN VU / For the Daily Titan
The Santa Ana Noise Fest is one of the few places where experimental musicians from Orange County and Los Angeles can perform their music. The musicians play a genre of music called “noise.”
Los Angeles to express their unique form of music. All of these experimental musicians perform a genre of music called “noise.” The term is broad, and it can be defined as anything from avant-garde experimentation to uncompromising performance art. While many who are involved in noise today possess a do-it-yourself aesthetic and align themselves to movements such as punk rock, noise is a highly diverse musical genre and has a rich history that can easily be traced
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to early artistic movements of the early 20th century, such as the technological embracement of Futurism and the extreme experimentation of Dadaism. Sound as experimentation has been embraced by composers such as Erik Satie and John Cage, and even holds importance to modern alternative musicians such as Sonic Youth and Henry Rollins, to name a few. Stephen Anderson, 38, director of OCCCA, is the creator of the Santa Ana Noise Fest. He hosted and organized experimental concerts at
OCCCA for quite some time, but he wished to showcase even more acts in an even bigger way. Anderson was inspired by the shows he had been throwing when he first started organizing at OCCCA, so he decided to start his own noise project, and since 2008 he has been performing under the moniker Jesus is Dead, a project which he explains as emotionally fulfilling despite his limited musical knowledge. SEE NOISE, 6
Dollars (in billions)
Authorities recommend students to test out pepper spray to ensure effective usage if faced with a dangerous situation.
4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
PROJECTED GROWTH FOR THE DIGITAL MUSIC INDUSTRY IN 2012
3.9 8.5%
1.1 Download revenues
40%
Streaming revenues SOURCE: STRATEGYANALYTICS.COM
Music pirates sail toward streaming Illegal downloading steals nearly $200 million a year from the music industry IRMA WONG Daily Titan
The emergence of music streaming sites in recent years have dammed up illegal downloads in the United States. The development of Napster, a website that allowed peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing between users, caused an uproar in the music industry at the turn of the century when the use of the Internet was beginning rapidly climb. Sued for copyright infringement, Napster collapsed in 2001. As a result, copyright regulations from the Napster case have made file sharing more difficult. However, despite the legal setbacks, there are still ways to get free music. Illegally downloading music or file sharing are still around but are on the decline, authorities said. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released its 2011 sales figures earlier this year. According to data available on Business Insider’s website, an online magazine dedicated to tracking business trends, the total amount of music sales in the U.S. increased for the first time since 2004. The number of total sales accumulated was more than $7 billion, reflecting 0.2 percent increase. The Business Insider analysis concluded that purchases may have surged because of digital music sales. In 2011, “digital sales were up 9.2 percent during the year, and physical sales (mostly CDs) dropped only 7.7 percent, which is smaller than in recent years.” The data collected by monitoring firm Musicmetric and released by BBC
in September shows that the United States is responsible for the most illegal downloads in the world, with 96.6 million downloads total. Some Cal State Fullerton students expressed that although they use internet radio sites such as Spotify, they continue to download music through torrents databases or other P2P sites to avoid paying for music. “Buying music adds up and that’s money I don’t have,” said CSUF kinesiology major Eduardo Oropeza. Downloaders run the risk of facing criminal charges and could stand to pay thousands of dollars in damages if indicted. According to the RIAA, the law states that criminal offenders could face as much as five years in prison and $250,000 in fine for the first offense. If one is sued in civil court, the minimum penalty is $750 per song. Apart from being able to put the music on an iPod or MP3 player, it is easy to file transfers have shown to upload files onto mobile devices. Senior Chicano studies major Kimberly Mauricio said she downloads music because it is a faster way to get music playlists on her iPod. “I like listening to my personal music on the way home from work/ school and I like making power mixes for when I have my workout sessions at the Rec Center,” she said. Legal streaming programs can only benefit from the disadvantages of illegal downloading. One site, Spotify, offers both free and paid services to its users. Free subscribers are able to enjoy streaming on their computers and free radio on mobile devices. Premium subscribers, however, have access to streaming from both desktop and mobile devices without advertisements. SEE MEDIA, 3