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CSU CHANCELLOR VISITS FRESNO STATE
Khone Saysamongdy • The Collegian
(Top left) CSU Chancellor Tim White visits Fresno State’s campus April 20, 2016. (Top Right) Students for Quality Education stood outside with signs regarding student fees and school tuition before entering the building to address the chancellor. (Above) The Afrikan Black Coalition, Ciara Armstead (left ), Joseph Anderson (middle), and Joshua Slack (right) protest for the increase of enrollment, graduation, and recruitment rates of African American Students.
ARMENIAN By Julissa Zavala @TheCollegian
Chancellor of the 23 California State Universities, Dr. Timothy P. White spent the day on Fresno State’s campus Wednesday and ended his visit with a public open forum. White said Fresno State had one of the most successful student cupboards in the CSU, he commended the facilities department for keeping the buildings clean and running well and he compared the CSU system to a three-legged stool. “You have to have a strong faculty, you have to have a strong student body and that third leg is a strong staff,” White said. “If any one of those three legs of that stool get out of whack, then the tilt starts happening and at some point you’re going to collapse.” By the year 2030, White said California will be one million college degrees short of graduation rates keep going the way they are. “Somehow we together — working with others — have to figure out how to solve that drought,” White said. White also said as a challenge for the future, he wants to eliminate racial divides and disparities between
See CHANCELLOR , Page 3
Remembering the Armenian Genocide
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Darlene Wendels • The Collegian
Fresno State students set candles down inside of the Armenian Genocide Monument to commemorate the 101 anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
EARTH DAY
RAD WOMEN
Women activists speak about gender roles
Khone Saysamongdy • The Collegian
The Student Association for Sustainability hosts an Earth Day event on the Fresno State campus in the memorial garden April 20, 2016. Charlie Harris gives a presentation to Fresno State students on how the barrel plant saves water, room and organic items.
Khone Saysamongdy • The Collegian
Fresno State students from Art 102 painting a mural in honor of Dr. Paulette Fleming, Feb. 5, 2016. A memorial reception was held for the late art professor showcasing her work.
By Razi Syed @TheCollegian VISALIA TRANSIT
ON LY
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Fresno State alumna and gay rights activist Robin McGehee remembers the moment her activist spirit was awakened. At the Fresno Art Museum Rad Women panel discussion celebrating Fresno State women activists, intellectuals and pioneers, McGehee recalled a conversation she had as a Fresno State graduate student in the mid ‘90 with a professor about a text dealing with a gay black man. “She said, ‘You know, Robin, I know you moved from the South and you look at this like African-Americans getting the right to vote and people being put on the back of the bus, but the reality is gay people aren’t like African-Americans,’” McGehee said. “‘They don’t deserve to sit at the front of the bus because they are like drug addicts and prisoners.” “That began my activism,” said MeGehee, who organized rallies in support of same-sex marriage after she was kicked out of her son’s school PTA for her opposition to Proposition 8. The talk, titled “Walking the Walk: Rad Fresno State Women Talk,” was sponsored by the Henry Madden Library’s Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, the Art and Design Department and the Women’s Studies Program. “My purpose in bringing this show here was to follow up on something Jane Chu, who came here in the summer — she is the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts,” said Michele Ellis Pracy, chief curator and executive director of the Fresno
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Art Museum. “Her message to us was, in a city, no matter big or small, what we need to be is relevant to our communities.” In addition to McGehee, chemistry professor Joy Goto, Hmong Empowerment Resource and Outreach founder Chelsea See Xiong, social activist Gloria Hernandez and director of the Cross Cultural and Gender Center Francine Oputa spoke about their work and challenges they faced. The panelists were all included in the fall 2015 exhibition, which began as a collaborative effort of several university departments. “Last year I came across this book, ‘Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History...and Our Future!’’’ said Jennifer Crow, curator at the Arne Nixon Center. “What was so intriguing about this book was that it’s a collected biography of women we don’t usually see in children’s textbooks or other children’s books — women who had broken out of traditional gender roles, women who fight for social justice and those that really change lives.” A collaborative project between the Women’s Studies and Art and Design Department emerged as the Rad Fresno State Women exhibit on the university’s campus in fall 2015, Crow said. Xiong, a 2012 Fresno State alumna and panelist, said the most important part of being radical as a women was learning to “utilize your voice.” The museum’s Rad American Women exhibit ends on May 1.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
THE COLLEGIAN • NEWS
Fresno State honors the lost lives of the Armenian Genocide By Jasmine Castrellon @TheCollegian
To commemorate the 101 anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Fresno State Armenian Student Organization (ASO) hosted a week full of activities. A screening of “The Cut,” a film about the genocide was shown Wednesday and was followed by a candlelit prayer vigil in front of the Armenian Genocide Monument. People of all age groups walked in the dark with a candle in hand to the monument where all the candles were placed and a prayer was offered in remembrance of all of the lost lives. Elena Sarnazian, executive public relations officer of the ASO, said this particular film was shown because it is a new film and explains the genocide well to non-Armenians. “It’s important to raise cultural awareness about the genocide because we are a growing community here in Fresno, and it’s nice to see different people from different communities coming together,” she said. “People need to understand that it was real. A lot of people don’t know what the monument is for, and they should come and read
the information.” The ASO also has recognized the genocide on Monday by passing out pamphlets, selling shirts and speaking to other students in the Free Speech Area. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, coordinator for the Armenian studies program and director of the Center for Armenian Studies, said there were three questions his students always asked – “Why did it happen? How can such an event happen, and why did no one do anything about it?” Mugrdechian said Armenian studies is significant for students at Fresno State. “Armenian studies is very important because we are in the midst of a big Armenian community,” Mugrdechian said. “More than that, it’s history that tells about a group that many people don’t know about, so that you can tell about all the different things they have gone through.” Michael Rettig, secretary for the ASO and a grad student studying history, said it’s important to remember the legacy of the genocide. “There is a big Armenian community here in Fresno, so I think it helps students understand each other and where we came from and our past and what our ancestors went through,” Rettig said. “It’s an important issue, and it’s under the big umbrella of
human rights. When people get away with these kinds of violations, it makes it easier for it to happen again.” Rettig said he thinks the reason the Armenian Genocide is not taught in history book is due to politics. “It’s starting to change now, but a lot of it is the Turkish lobby,” Rettig said. Lucinae “Lucy” Ekezyan, president of the ASO, said that in President Barack Obama’s campaign for president, he said that he would recognize the genocide, but the ambassador of Turkey told him not to, and threatened the U.S., so he didn’t. “The Jews have recognition of the Holocaust because Germany doesn’t really have any relationship with America that has constant benefit, as where Turkey provides the U.S. with oil and a naval base,” Ekezyan said. “So when you are talking about recognition for the Armenians, then you consider all the political aspects of it. You consider whether the United States is willing to do the right thing over what’s going to give them the most capital gain.” Rettig said that because American history does not go into depth about all aspects in history, categories and subtopics are necessary. “You kind of need categories because if you don’t have Armenian studies separate
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from the rest, it’s going to get one line in the book and be forgotten,” Rettig said. Ekezyan said Hitler used the genocide as justification for his mass murders. “The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century. It also created leeway for the Second World War, as Hitler justified his genocide on the Jewish people who today speak of the Armenians,” Ekezyan said. “He kind of justified what he was doing as OK because no one ever cared about what happened to the Armenians, so why would you care about what’s happening to the Jews? Why would you would care about what’s happening today [with] Boko Haram? Why would you care about the Rwanda Massacre?” Ekezyan said that not having recognition for the genocide could be used to justify other immoral acts. “It’s raising this issue that justice does not exist today and that we need to fight for it,” Ekezyan said. “Why are the Armenians less deserving of something that the Jews were granted, the slaves were granted? We just want our wounds to heal.” Rettig said events like this help bring awareness to the Armenian Genocide, and Ekezyan said that knowing that there are people from every ethnicity taking notice and speaking on their behalf is uplifting.
CSU Chancellor addresses student’s and faculty’s concerns during visit CHANCELLOR from Page 1 graduation rates. “Our goal isn’t to cut it in half, our goal is to make it zero,” White said. “We’re going to get rid of the gap. I know it can be done, some of our campuses are really close.” White said working with the K-12 system, convincing the governor to invest more in the CSU and enhancing technology were pertinent to ensuring student success and graduation rates. “This is ours to harvest and ours to nurture and ours to be responsible for student success,” White said. A member of the faculty asked the chancellor if the state of California would be able to provide the university with updated and modern classrooms for students in the future. White said student learning environments were important and there were many critical areas that need attention on campuses. “We’re going to have to finance that ourselves,” White said. “We’re going to have to go out on the market and take a CSU credit reading and go out and get a loan to maintain the next buildings.” Outside of North Gym room 118 where the forum was held, members of the Afrikan/Black Coalition (ABC), Students for Quality Education (SQE) and California Faculty Association (CFA) demonstrated and chanted “black lives matter” as the chancellor spoke. Laid out on the concrete outside the forum were 68 red shirts, each one representing 68 African-American Fresno State students who had dropped out since the beginning of the semester, ABC member Joseph Anderson said. “We’re trying to bring to the attention
of the Chancellor that these are real-life everyday concerns — these are things that are really hurting the community and things that are really not being addressed,” Anderson said. Fresno State’s President Dr. Joseph Castro said in a tweet on Thursday, 41 African-American students graduated from the campus at the end of fall 2015. Andrea Wilson, office manager for the CFA and member of SQE, said that she was happy with the salary deal the CFA and CSU reached, but that now it was time to focus on student tuition increases. “Our fees are only going up higher and higher,” Wilson said. “[The CFA] won their battle, and now [students] have to win ours.” Inside the forum, Wilson asked White how he plans to make sure fees don’t push students out and how to keep Fresno State an institution that serves diverse families in the valley. White talked about how his parents came from Argentina and struggled and worked hard to make sure he and his brother had good educations. “I want to ensure you and other students that I for many years — and much of my life — came from exactly what many of our students are coming from,” White said. White said it is his job to make sure students across campus and the entire CSU system have an opportunity to succeed. Anderson went up and asked the chancellor if he was aware of a list of 17 demands that ABC had taken to Dr. Castro. The list of demands included an office for black student support; a recruitment officer; an academic advisor; a counselor; increased African-American student enrollment and secured grants for African-American students.
Khone Saysamongdy • The Collegian
During Chancellor Tim White’s visit on April 20, 2016, 68 red shirts lay on the floor outside of the North Gym to represent 68 African American students lost within this semester.
Anderson then asked White how he plans to recruit, retain and ensure African-American students graduate from Fresno State. White said every campus is different, but it was his job to make sure that each campus had their own set of goals to ensure the success of students. White told Anderson to work with Castro to design a more nuanced plan of action to make sure African-American students were successful. “You want every player of the team working where they can be most effective,” White said. “If you don’t have the chancellor out doing the high level stuff, then campuses don’t have the resources to do the nuanced stuff. We work all together.” When the forum was over, Anderson and Wilson both expressed that they were not satisfied with the Chancellor’s answers. “He went around my questions,” Anderson said. “He refused to be challenged, he refused to concretely say anything. He threw [Castro] and [Castro’s] cabinet under
the bus.” “He simply said that basically he felt for us in his heart, and that as a first-generation student these issues were in his DNA,” Wilson said. “My question was ‘What is he going to do to make sure that increasing fees don’t push students out’, and he did not answer that question.” Anderson said that ABC would continue to move forward with their cause and would not stand down. “[White] is going to continue to get more aggressive approaches on an intellectual level,” Anderson said. “We’re going to stand together until we have more than 686 African-American students out of 24,000.” Wilson said SQE would continue their campaign to eradicate fees in the CSU system, and she urged students to be aware and learn about what is happening on campus that would affect students in the future. White said there are no immediate plans to visit to Fresno State again, but that he would definitely be back when he could.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
1958 - 2016
FOOTBALL
‘Dogs add new strength and conditioning coach By Collegian Staff @TheCollegian
Darlene Wendels • The Collegian
The Larry A. Shehadey Tower at the Save Mart Center is lit up purple in honor of singer Prince, Thursday, April 21, 2016.
The Bulldogs have tabbed Thomas Stallworth to be their next strength and conditioning coach, head coach Tim DeRuyter announced Wednesday. Stallworth replaces former strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese, who departed this offseason to take the same position at Illinois. “I'm elated to announce the hiring of our new head football strength coach, Thomas Stallworth,” DeRuyter said in a statement. “His knowledge, passion, and drive to impact student-athletes' lives is clearly evident and I'm excited to have him here working with our players. This is a critical position on our coaching staff and I know coach Stallworth will challenge our guys every day to strive for excellence in all areas of their lives. We welcome him, his wife, Ingrid, and his children, India and Thomas, to the Valley.” Stallworth, who played at Tennessee from 1997-2001, has more than 10 years of experience under his belt in strength and conditioning. His resume includes stops at South Carolina State, Grambling State, Mississippi State, North Carolina State and most recently Texas Tech. Stallworth holds a bachelor's degree in sport management and a master’s in sports administration, both from the University of Tennessee. In addition to coaching, Stallworth is also furthering his education as he is currently pursuing his doctorate degree in sports psychology and sports science at the University of the Rockies.
Paul Vieira • The Collegian
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