May 11 2011

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VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH RAMIREZ

Alternatives to wear on graduation day A&E Baseball and softball line-up WAC Tournaments SPORTS Is college really worth the trouble? OPINION

Check out The Collegian Online and Allie Norton’s sit-down interview with ASI president.

WEDNESday Issue MAY 11, 2011 FRESNO STATE

COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU

SERVING CAMPUS SINCE 1922

Policy questions arise with new parking fine increase

T h e U n ive r s i t y P o l i c e Department announced last week that parking fines at Fresno State would be increasing beginning May 16th. According to public information of ficer and parking administrator Amy Armstrong, students will now be paying double for a lot of the parking citations they receive.

“Most of them, like the $25 for not displaying your permit, or expired parking meter, those ones will double,” she said. According to the UPD, the increase will enhance the support of alternative transportation and meet the requirement regarding the county courthouse construction fund. Ar mstrong said that the UPD, along with the executive committee for academic senate and the student leadership group, decided to increase the

fines after doing an evaluation of other California State University campus’ parking fines. “We looked at what the fines are across the CSU systems and that was used to gauge what the appropriate amount would be,” Armstrong said. Although the police department delayed a request for the survey of other campus’ fines until May 23rd, which falls 11 days after the final print edition for The Collegian of the semester, The Collegian was

By Danielle Gilbert The Collegian

able to obtain infor mation about fines from two other CSUs for comparison. According to Thomas Dewey, chief of police at Humboldt State, their fine for failing to display is $33. However, people who have paid for their parking passes and failed to display may ask to be “forgiven” for their first offense. “It is common for us to do that,” Dewey said. “If it is

P u bl i c at t i t u d e s ab o u t undocumented students have been at a divide between those opposed and those in support of Assembly Bill 540 and the DREAM Act. After Associated Students, Inc. President Pedro Ramirez confirmed to The Collegian that he was an undocumented student, people came forth to express their admiration and frustration with the face of Fresno State students being an immigrant. Backlash ensued when The Collegian covered a series of articles regarding Ramirez. Concerns were raised that college newspapers should not report on such social issues. A survey by Dr. Tamyra Pierce, chair of the of the mass communication and jour nalism department, in conjunction with The Collegian online, conducted Dec. 16, 2010 – March 19, 2011, among 357 adults, found that 86 percent said they know an undocumented individual, while 78 percent said they know an undocumented student. Half are strongly in favor of AB 540, which allows undocumented students to pay instate tuition in order to attend a four-year college or university, 27 percent are strongly not in favor; 14 percent said they were neutral. The majority of respondents answered “yes” when asked if they can define AB 540. When asked to actually define the bill in a few words, 107 respondents skipped the question, the most skipped question on the survey. Half are strongly in favor of the DREAM Act, which allows some undocumented immi-

See PARKING, Page 5

See SURVEY, Page 5

Illustration by Michael Uribes / The Collegian

By Dana Hull The Collegian

Undocumented student survey results

Farnesi to fix ASI communication gap By Allie Norton The Collegian As the 2010-11 academ ic year comes to an end, Associated Students, Inc. will mark a new beginning. Student body President Pedro Ramirez will end his term, and current Executive Vice President Selena Farnesi will take over the presidential role. “I know it’s been a different year, but I think with the c o n t rove r s y s u r ro u n d i n g myself, that we’ve done a lot of good things in the Associated Students,” Ramirez said. “I think we’ve done more for our students than in recent years, and we accomplished a lot.” Far nesi agrees with Ramirez that this has been a

good year. “As a senate, we had our ups and downs,” Farnesi said. “We have a lot to improve on, but it’s been a successful year.” However, Farnesi believes that a lack of communication did take a toll within ASI and its members. “I definitely think that there were more effective and efficient ways to solve this year’s problems,” Far nesi said. “I also think that we tried using those routes, and they were unsuccessful for one reason or another. ASI is all about leadership, and the leaders of the organization, especially the executive team need to be communicating and working together.” Both Ramirez and Farnesi we’re under review by the

ASI senate. Farnesi was being reviewed for potential violation of the Gloria Romero Act, and Ramirez was under review for possible violation of the university’s code of conduct for driving without a license. Both cases were dismissed. President of Fresno State John D. Welty said that to some degree the allegations preoccupied the members and distracted them from dealing with the bigger issues. “It probably would have been more effective if they could have resolved some of those differences and reached compromise on some of the issues they were faced with,” Welty said. Far nesi hopes to resolve the communication issues and

apply policies for better communication within ASI for the coming school year. “I intend to implement a couple new meeting structures, increase the amount of time the executives are working together in the office, set office hours — a couple of procedural things to help make those corrections,” Farnesi said. Additionally, Far nesi is planning ways to reach out to the student population. “We’re looking at ways to use media and digital resources to help get out the word about what we’re doing,” Farnesi said. Far nesi said that even though ASI received a lot of negative attention this past year, the organization will

benefit from the attention because it has made people more aware of what ASI is. “We can use that to expand on the good that we’re doing here for the school,” Farnesi said. Welty is hopeful of Farnesi and her goals. “Selena Farnesi is certainly a veteran student leader and has been heavily involved in the past,” President Welty said. “I think she’s well prepared for her job.” After the ASI senate meeting on June 1, Farnesi will be swor n into office at the Smittcamp Alumni House at 5 p.m. The event is open to the public.


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