Thursday September 20, 2018
Volume 104 Issue 10
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
CSUF’s discourse on gun control City
Council votes on library
Public commenters expressed disagreement with possible change. NATHAN NGUYEN WILL ROBBINS Staff Writers
RILEY MCDOUGALL / DAILY TITAN
Faculty and students volunteers share their viewpoints on whether universal background checks should be mandated for gun purchases & transfers.
Civil Dialogues fosters conversations about gun policies. SOMMER CLARK Staff Writer
The Titan Student Union became a safe space Wednesday for public opinion on the topic of gun control as a way of facilitating different perspectives among students, faculty and staff. “The structure of this type of dialogue itself allows for every audience member to identify with at least one person on the panel since
the five views are strongly agree to strongly disagree,” said Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, coordinator of Civil Dialogue, a structured public dialogue that facilitates and bridges differing viewpoints. Both professors and students led the discussion sharing their stance on the requirement of background checks for all gun sales and transfers in the United States. Suwinyattichaiporn said the program started last fall after she received funding from the president’s commission on equity and inclusion. The commission serves as a platform for students, faculty and staff to express
a range of viewpoints through its subcommittees. Civil Dialogue is not a panel of experts; it’s conversations between people from the Cal State Fullerton campus who respond to a statement on a particular topic that typically has opposing viewpoints. The event was not a debate, but an “innovative tool for productive civil communication,” Suwinyattichaiporn said. The issue was chosen as the topic of discussion due to its timeliness and ability to relate to recent gun-related tragedies that have fostered controversy,
Suwinyattichaiporn said. Isaiah Salgado, CSUF philosophy student, sat in the chair representing a “strongly disagrees” stance on the requirement of background checks. “Gun regulations would end up criminalizing marginalized communities because they are often targeted by the state and state actors. We need to affirm their ability to protect themselves and regulations (that) don’t ever get to the root of why this type of violence happens within those communities,” Salgado said. SEE FORUM
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Vietnamese culture inspires artwork
ANDRE SALAZAR / DAILY TITAN
A collection of paintings in the Salz-Pollak Atrium Gallery at Pollak Library highlight Vietnamese artists.
Vietnamese art is being displayed in both past and present artistic styles. ANDRE SALAZAR Staff Writer
Works that involve oil on canvas, acrylic on boards and watercolor on silk are combined together to make one cohesive platform in the Salz-Pollak Atrium Gallery of the Pollak Library. The piece “Summer Light” by Duyen Ha, sticks out in particular to accounting student Jovann Delgado, who describes it as being bright and vibrant.
“The eyes, the mood of the painting and the style the artist decided to paint the picture. She’s so poised, looking straight into your soul,” Delgado said. Other works in the gallery incorporate everyday objects like plastic bottles, aluminum cans and charger wires, collaborating with its respective images to create a unique visual for people to see. “VIETNAMESE ART: AN OVERVIEW” is a general review of artwork from Vietnamese culture ranging from ancient to modern styles. The exhibit was curated by Do Le Minh, Ph.D., professor of information systems
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and decisions sciences. Paintings, sculptures, artifacts and books from Vietnamese artists surround the space for students, faculty and other visitors on campus to take notice of. Viewers can see a different cultural viewpoint and find appreciation in pieces they may not see in their regular lives. The pieces “Fighting for Space” and “Floating in Ocean” were created by Ann Phong who graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1995 with an MFA in painting and, according to Minh, represents the younger generation of artists in the gallery. “I think what’s so appealing
is that it’s not like what we have. It’s almost like a different world sometimes,” said Ivy Lomax, animation student. Students who come in to admire the gallery also have the ability to share their thoughts in a notebook where pages have already been filled with praise and appreciation for what they have seen. Minh, who has a painting of his own on display in the gallery, said the idea for making this exhibit came to fruition when he met a group of artists last year who wanted to have a place to show their work. SEE ART 4
The Fullerton City Council unanimously agreed to absolve the motion that would have replaced the public library’s board of trustees with members of the council Tuesday night. During the council meeting, Mayor Doug Chaffee asked if anyone in the audience supported the idea of the city council also serving as the library’s board of trustees, to which there was no response. When asked if the board of trustees should be left as it was, almost all of the audience stood in solidarity. “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke,” said Kathy Dasney, who has been a staff member of the Fullerton Public Library for decades. Dasney opposed the council’s actions that would have stripped the library’s board of any administrative power. “Our board members come to the table with no personal or political agenda. They are there to make decisions that are in the best interest of the library,” Dasney said. The proposal, which was first proposed by Councilwoman Jennifer Fitzgerald in May, would have effectively replaced the board with the city council. “Libraries protect the right to free speech and support democratic institutions written into our Constitution,” said one public commenter. “Why would you want to change something that is so successful and has provided us with the magnificent library we have today?” During the period of open comment in the meeting, multiple people publicly criticized the council members with others in the audience sharing the same sentiment. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this,” said one Fullerton resident. “We’re trying to do the right thing but we see so many unethical things going on in our city.” The resident brought her two children with her to the meeting in an attempt “to show our children how to do things the right way.” “I do not like the idea of the council serving as the board, because then we’re reporting to ourselves. The board of trustees reports to the council, and if we are one in the same, there is no check and balance,” Chaffee said. All five members of the council voted unanimously to not assume the role of the library board of trustees. “I think it was outstanding that the council took the time to listen to the public, to reflect on what it is that we value as a library and responded in a really positive fashion,” said trustee board member Ryan Cantor after the council announced its decision. VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM