FRESNO STATE
COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU
SERVING CAMPUS SINCE 1922
FRIDAY ISSUE | DECEMBER 6, 2013
Blackout burdens campus
Senator visits dairy, talks farm bill’s impact By Jacob Rayburn The Collegian
Rachel Taylor / The Collegian
Lights out in the Peters Business Building left students in the dark Thursday night after a blown switch caused a power outage that affected multiple buildings on campus. School officials cancelled night classes Thursday and all affected buildings were closed.
Electrical grid sustains second failure in less than a year By Megan Rupe and Brianna Vaccari The Collegian
Fresno State students and faculty members were in disarray late Thursday afternoon as multiple buildings lost power, forcing the cancellation of all evening classes and the closure of most buildings. Fresno State facilities staff said that the outages stemmed from a failed circuit switch, which caused buildings to lose power.
It impacted the feeder to several other buildings on the north and east sides of campus. At least six buildings had complete power outages – including the Peters Business, Engineering East and both science buildings – by about 4:30 p.m., when the infrastructure failures began. Three people were stuck in elevators in the Science buildings. One student was stuck in the elevator in Science 1, while two students were stuck in elevators in Science 2. The passengers were
in contact with campus police, according to a university release. Technicians from the elevator company made their way to campus about 7 p.m. and the students were let out. Fourteen buildings were affected by power outages, said Rick Finden, director of plant operations. “Most classes will be in session on Friday,” the release said. Last night, university business department staff walked through a blacked-out Peters Business
Building with flashlights asking students and faculty to evacuate the building. Students began leaving the campus en masse around 5:40 p.m., when it was first announced that classes were canceled. “I felt terrible, because my paper was just gone … I didn’t save it on a flash drive, so I have to start over,” said Gina Palomino, a senior criminology major working on a term paper in the business See POWER, Page 6
South Africa’s uniter dies at 95 By Jesse Franz The Collegian The first black South African president, an iconic human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, died Thursday at 95. Mandela, an advocate against racial segregation under South Africa’s apartheid, served 27 years in prison before being released in 1990. After his release, he worked with then president F.W. de Klerk to peacefully end the apartheid system and create free multiracial elections in South Africa. In the first free election in 1994, Mandela won the presidency and became the first black president of the country. His administration sought to reunite a deeply racially segregated country and to ease inequalities. He is admired by many as one of the preeminent civil and human rights activists of our times. Fresno State professor Dr. Klaus Tenbergen, on sabbatical from his position as director of the culinary department, lived in South Africa during apartheid and Mandela’s rise to office. He
also owned a bakery in Pretoria that Mandela frequented. “Somehow, he must have had a taste of one of my cakes and he would come up in his limousine with security guards at least once a week to pick up his favorite coffee cake,” Tenbergen said. “In the beginning, the car would just sort of pull up and everyone would say, ‘Oh, that’s Mandela.’ At times he would roll down the window, and at times he would come in and buy it himself.” Tenbergen remembers the apartheid as a basic fact of life before Mandela rose to power. “When you live in a country which has apartheid, you just live and do what everyone else does,” Tenbergen said. “Right or wrong—that’s not even the question. You just do like everybody else does.” However, Tenbergen said Mandela changed all of that and held the county together. “That was a time where it could have gone either way,” Tenbergen said of the transition under Mandela. “It could have gone See MANDELA, Page 3
Chuck Kennedy / McClatchy Tribune
South African President Nelson Mandela speaks in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 23, 1998. Mandela died on Thursday.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) toured the Fresno State dairy Wednesday and spoke with students and media about the need for a new farm bill. After visiting the facilities on campus and having some ice cream, Moran talked about the valuable role the students hold in the agricultural world. “Those who care about animals, who care about crops, who care about feeding people around the world, that is a calling that is worth pursuing,” Moran said while standing in the dairy with students and President Joseph Castro. Moran serves on the appropriations committee, including the agriculture appropriations subcommittee, and is the lead Republican on the education subcommittee. Both the House and Senate have their own versions of the legislation and a committee has been working to resolve the differences. A task, he said, that has been unsuccessful so far. “After two years of delays, it would be a damning outcome if this Congress can’t get something as important as the farm bill done,” Moran said. He said key parts of the farm bill pertain to dairy policy. “That policy is somewhat controversial,” Moran said. “California dairymen are generally interested in the most freemarket-oriented policies, the least intrusion from government, which expands their opportunity to export milk and milk products. It’s dairy policy that drives the bill getting done by end of year.” Dr. Art Parham, chair of the of the animal sciences and agricultural education department, said the visit from the senator and the farm bill discussion are important reminders that agriculture doesn’t operate in a political vacuum. “We would be remiss in our job as educators if we did not prepare our students to deal with the political realities that are involved in our lives,” Parham said. “The dairy industry is very, very controlled by the policies created in Washington [D.C.] or Sacramento. It’s really a bear when they are in conflict. Right now, the milk pricing system is in conflict.” Fresno State student and dairy club president Stephanie Nash said the California dairy industry has struggled the past few years, and students should be prepared for the challenge. “If we know about the farm bill and what we can do, we’re going to go into the industry and deal with this,” Nash said. Parham said students can be a factor in the process for the farm bill before they graduate. “When you have forums like this, when students have an See SENATOR, Page 6