DAILY TITAN
NEWS 3
New provision for Campus SaVE Act OPINION 7
Superfluous lawsuits become a stretch FEATURES 5
Hispanic author commemorated
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton T
Volume 93, Issue 11
FITNESS 8
Growing trend of gluten-free products
dailytitan.com
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AT RISK
NATION | Economy
Nation faces billions of dollars in budget cuts White House says unless Congress acts, a sequester will harm the middle class TIM WORDEN Daily Titan
The government will face billions of dollars in budget cuts on Friday in a so-called sequester unless Congress acts with a plan to avoid the default automated cuts. President Barack Obama pushed his plan to stop the sequester by trimming defense spending and closing tax loopholes, emphasizing that Democrats and Republicans have worked together to reduce the deficit by $2.5 trillion through spending cuts in the past few years. Republicans contend, however, that House of Representatives members have passed legislation twice that would have avoided the cuts, and say there are alternative ways to balance the budget. In a press conference held on
Monday with two of Obama’s top economic advisors, White House officials said the sequester cuts will threaten the nation’s middle class and cut vital services for children and seniors. Jason Furman, deputy director of Obama’s National Economic Council, and Amy Brundage, the White House deputy press secretary for the economy, emphasized that Republicans must work with the president to skirt the sequester. Nationwide, the sequester will result in a $3 billion education funding cut and will affect 7.4 million students, according to the National Education Association. In addition, about 10,000 teacher jobs will be put at risk nationally, according to the White House. In California, nearly $88 million in education funding will be cut and about 1,200 teacher jobs will be at risk if the sequester takes effect, according to the White House. SEE BUDGET, 3
CAMPUS | Degree
CSUF creates first Vietnamese program
ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
John Bussman listens to discussions about allocating funds for the Development Block Grant Program for the City of Fullerton during a council meeting Monday.
Non-profits petition for funds RAYMOND MENDOZA Daily Titan
Fullerton’s Community Development Citizens’ Committee gathered on Monday to discuss the applications and allocation of funds for the Development Block Grant Program, which is set up to fund non-profit organizations for the 2013-2014 year. The combined amount of all the requested funds totaled $191,690. These would provide non-profits
the possibility of investing in more youth programs, refurbishment of old buildings, improved help for the homeless and upgraded nutritional programs. Monday’s meeting focused on the non-profit organizations Helping Our Mentally Ill Experience Success (HOMES), Meals on Wheels, Mercy House, Pathways of Hope, Women’s Transitional Living Center and YMCA of Orange County. The committee also received
requests from the AIDS Services Foundation Orange County, Community SeniorServ Inc., Council of Aging, Fair Housing, Foundation and Illumination Foundation. Although the current economic downturn has slashed funding from private sources; the nonprofit groups were hoping to gain the full amount of funds for each of their organizations even though the committee approved $107,800 for the 2012-2013 year, an increase of $83,890.
Sandra White, the volunteer board of directors president for Meals on Wheels, said the organization will likely receive less corporate funding due to the poor economy, yet prices for meals will continue to rise each year. “We’ve been really lucky this past couple of years that the economic hit hadn’t really hurt us,” said White. “But I think this is the year.” SEE GRANT, 2
FEATURES | Fundraiser
Titans celebrate night full of glitz Hollywood’s Biggest Night events raises scholarship funds for Comm students ASHLEY RUIZ Daily Titan
Students and community members donned in floor-length gowns, tuxedos and costumes paraded the red carpet Sunday at the third annual “Hollywood’s Biggest Night” at the Anaheim GardenWalk. Attendees watched the Oscars ceremony on the big screen at the UltraLuxe Cinemas while contributing to the College of Communications. Tickets for the event ranged from $15 to $25 and all proceeds went toward student scholarships. “It’s a good cause, we like to help the communications students with scholarship funds. I come with my girlfriends every year so it’s like a girl’s night out for us,” said Mimi Ko Cruz, senior writer for Cal State Fullerton Strategic Communications. The event featured bottomless popcorn and soft drinks, raffles, balloting, trivia and music by the jazz band from the College of the Arts. Guests had the chance to touch up their hair and makeup at the Body Shop Glam Station before taking photos at the end of the red carpet.
JENNIFER NGUYEN Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton will implement the first Vietnamese degree program in the country, which will include a major and minor, an international business concentration in Vietnamese and Vietnamese teaching credentials by spring 2014. U.S. Rep. Ed Royce sponsored a U.S. Department of Education grant for $238,000 to create the program in 2009. Since then, faculty members from the College of Education and College of Humanities and Social Sciences have been working towards producing the degree program. A more recent $350,000 grant is being used for secondary education, single subject credentialing, bilingual authorization and developing a bachelor’s degree, according to associate dean for academic programs Mitch Avila, Ph.D. Students from public schools throughout Orange County will be able to learn Vietnamese though teaching credential programs. There are different components of the teaching credential. Bilingual authorization, for example, would allow teachers to provide instruction in Vietnamese. A single-subject credential, another component of the Vietnamese degree program, would allow teachers to hold Vietnamese language courses in schools.
Similar to other teaching credential programs, students must attend a program sequence that will help them gain proficiency in the subject matter and gain an understanding of their students. According to Avila, the University of London is the only other school with a similar program in East Asian Studies that specializes in Vietnamese. The CSUF program would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Numerous second-generation Vietnamese Americans are not as knowledgeable about their language and culture, according to Avila. In January 2013, the Vietnamese American Education Advisory Council was created so members of the community could provide input in making the credential programs a success. The advisory council consists of 18 constituencies, including school district trustees, high school teachers and current CSUF students and alumni. Natalie Tran, a CSUF assistant professor of secondary education, is one of the council co-chairs. “I think from day one we were very clear that we wanted the different perspectives, and so we talked to several folks and they started referring people,” said Tran. “We knew what we wanted but we didn’t necessarily know who to go to.” SEE DEGREE, 3
CAMPUS | Lecture
Professor analyzes history of education in black community ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
The third annual “Hollywood’s Biggest Night” celebrated the Oscars with a screening of the event.
Alana Polce, 20, an entertainment studies major, said it was her first time at the event and she was excited to see the awards on the big screen. “The Oscars is like my Super Bowl, it’s like ‘Don’t talk to me, don’t talk to me.’ It’s one of my favorite events of the year. I love movies,” Polce said as she made her way to her seat, popcorn and drink in hand. Emily Waters, 21, a psychology major, and Angela Rheaume, 22, a kinesiology major, said their love of movies also drew them to the event.
“We saw it online through the portal … and we talked about it and said ‘let’s go!’ and it gives us a chance to dress up and we hadn’t been able to do that yet,” said Rheaume. Some guests not only dressed up for the event, but came as the characters of some of their favorite Oscar nominated movies. Craig Way and Jennifer Sterling went as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. “Jennifer said ‘I think we should do Lincoln, you could do that’ about a month ago and so we
worked on the costume. It took a lot of time,” said Way. Way glued on a beard, wore a suit and tie and an Abraham Lincoln style hat, which he said was very hard to get. Sterling wore a floral floor length gown, which was ordered specially for the event. The couple won first place in the celebrity look-alike competition. Other celebrity look-alikes included Anne Hathaway, Johnny Depp, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Merida from Brave. SEE AWARDS, 5
LAUREN HARRITY Daily Titan
In accordance with Black History Month, a lecture titled “A Sustainable Backup Plan: Understanding of the Jeremy Lin Phenomenon and the Redevelopment of the Culture of Education in the Black Community,” will be held Thursday. Assistant African-American studies professor Edward Robinson will examine how the black community has a long history of advocacy regarding the culture and importance of education. The event will be held in the Humanities Building Room 222 at 4 p.m. Robinson uses Jeremy Lin, an NBA player for the Houston Rock-
ets, as an example of the importance of education to immigrant groups and how education fits into the world of the black community. “I ask whether our phenomenal success in sports, music and popular culture has fractured our community’s reliance and commitment to education,” said Robinson. Robinson will explore how Lin’s educational and athletic success can be used to rejuvenate the tradition of education. Robinson is hopeful that his lecture will start an open discussion with students about African American studies. SEE HISTORY, 2
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