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Fresno State’s defensive line squares up with experienced Cal offensive line SPORTS EIC Ben Ingersoll explains what makes college football special OPINION Freshmen have entertainment just off campus FEATURES
Videographer Ezra Romero introduces his new video series at the Greek Festival
Wednesday Issue August 31, 2011 FRESNO STATE
COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU
SERVING CAMPUS SINCE 1922
Preventing theft at the library UC takes
first steps into online education
By Samuel Cosby The Collegian With four reported thefts at the library last semester, library public safety assistants are always on the lookout for unattended personal belongings. The definite number of thefts over last semester is unknown due to the high number of unreported crime. The problem is not an everyday occurrence but it does happen, Henry Madden Library public safety assistant Roman Covarrubias said. Edgar Enriquez, another PSA, said that of the four reported thefts last semester, he personally caught one laptop thief.
“Y
ou may have only been gone for a minute, but that minute was a crucial minute.”
— Roman Covarrubias Public safety assistant
Enriquez and Covarrubias said that the most common problem among all victims is a willingness to leave their personal property unattended. “ ‘I was only gone for a minute.’
By Lisa M. Krieger McClatchy Newspapers
“I do support the cause and I hope that the bill passes, because Governor Jerry Brown didn’t [sign it the first time] when it was brought to the state board,” Jacobo added. Several (CAMP) College Assistance Migrant Program students continue to find work each summer by working on local farms around Fresno. “I think it’s really unfair because the conditions under which we worked were really tough and very hard and I saw people falling off ladders,” Fresno State student Stephanie Ramirez said.
Going online to get a college degree has been championed as a cost-effective way to educate the masses and challenged as a cheapening of academia. Now, the online classroom is coming to the vaunted University of California system, making it the nation’s first toptier university to offer undergraduate credit for cyberstudies. By dislodging education from its b r i ck - a n d - m o r t a r m o o r i n g s, t h e University of California _ short on money and space _ hopes to ease the path to a diploma for students who are increasingly forced to wait for a vacant seat in a lecture hall. Especially in high-demand “gateway courses,” such as chemistry, calculus and composition. This summer, UC Berkeley tested its first pilot course: Chemistry 1A. For one student, working as a lifeguard in San Rafael, it accelerated her progress toward a joint degree in biology and economics. Another was able to live at home in Sacramento, because she registered for summer school too late to get dorm space. “It offers a lot of things that a conventional lecture doesn’t,” chemistry instructor Mark Kubinec said of the online approach. “It gives students what they need, when they need it, without a lot of overhead.” Cal’s foray into electronic education, however, has critics worried about the UC brand. This is not the trendy “open educational movement,” popularized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, with its ethos of free rock-star faculty lectures in cyberspace Nor is it part of the massive online curriculum sponsored by for-profit educators like the University of Phoenix, open to all comers. Rather, it is a highly selective Webbased degree program that offers real credits, toward real degrees, using interactive software, online lab demonstrations, chat rooms, discussion boards _ and faculty “office hours” as late as 11:30 p.m. “It is a UC educational experience, leveraging our faculty,” said Mara Hancock, director of educational technologies at UC Berkeley. The UC regents voted to support the program last summer amid great controversy. Some faculty members and instructors worried that an online degree program could compromise the quality of undergraduate education and hurt UC’s reputation. UC Berkeley doctoral student Shane Boyle told the regents the plan was “just the beginning of a frightening trajectory that will undoubtedly end
See STUDENTS, Page 3
See EDUCATION, Page 3
Ana Mendoza / The Collegian
Camaras located at the Henry Madden Library help the University Police Department prevent crime. These monitors are located in the University Police Department headquarters on Barstow .Avenue
That’s the thing we hear the most often,” Covarrubias said. “You may have only been gone for a minute, but that minute was a crucial minute.” The hottest items for thefts are l ap t o p s, c e l l p h o n e s a n d i Po d s, Covarrubias added. “The thing is, the library is not only open to students, it’s open to the pub-
lic,” Covarrubias said. “People come in and capitalize on that.” There are always three PSAs working at the library at one time. Part of a PSA’s job is to watch over unattended property, which they do multiple times See THEFT, Page 3
Farm-worker students rights violated By Luke Shaffer The Collegian Fresno State students, fellow farm workers’ families and the United Farm Workers Union are working together to ask California governor Jerry Brown for equal pay. Fresno State student Jessica Jacobo, along with other agriculture workers are trying to persuade California governor Jerry Brown to pass Senate Bill 180, better known as Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act. The Bakersfield Californian newspaper reported that 25 California resi-
dents will walk 200 miles from Madera to Sacramento. Residents of several cities along the way will periodically join the protestors. “We ask the governor Jerry Brown to sign the law,” wrote United Farm Workers union organizer Antonio Cortez in an e-mail. The bill would “pay agriculture worker overtime after eight hours of work.” The governor vetoed a similar bill that would have made it easier for farm workers to join unions on June 28. Supporters of the bill began their walk from Madera on August 23, and plan to arrive in Sacramento on Sept. 4.
Supporters hope that their efforts will persuade the state government to pass laws that would protect farm workers rights. Many Fresno State migrant students, like Jacobo, feel a sense of pride and passion knowing that participating in such events will help spread the word. “I walked four miles and it was really emotional,” Jacobo said. “The march was a unique experience and it made me feel proud of my family and it gives me energy to keep furthering my education.
“T
he march was a unique experience and it made me feel proud of my family and it gives me energy to keep furthering my education.
-Jessica Jacobo Fresno State student
Alicia Acevedo/ The Collegian
Fresno State College Assistance Migrant Program or CAMP students Juana Juarez and Elizabeth Gallegos studying at the CAMP office.