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NEWS
Monday December 3, 2012 The Daily Aztec
from PALESTINE page 1
CSU system struggles to accomodate applicants
from SYRIA page 1
nouncements will soon fade,” Rice said. “The Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed, save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded.” The New York Times reported Palestine’s recognition is a worry
campus
Christina Koral Staff Writer
I urge the parties to renew their commitment to a negotiated peace. Ban Ki-moon U.N. Secretary-General
mct campus
Despite the civil war raging in Syra, many people still attended demonstrations on Friday, Nov. 30, as they did at the beginning of the uprising against the government 20 months ago.
for Israel because membership in the U.N. would allow the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court, where it is feared they will pursue an investigation of Israel’s military conduct in occupied areas. Members of the General Assembly stressed the importance of continued peace talks between Israel and Palestine. “We must give new impetus to our collective efforts to ensure that … a viable State of Palestine lives side by side with a secure State of Israel,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “I urge the parties to renew their commitment to a negotiated peace.” The campaign for recognition began in 2011 when the Palestinian Authority lobbied the U.N. for full membership. The bid was blocked by the U.N. Security Council.
The uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began with peaceful rallies calling for his resignation, but evolved into an armed rebellion after the government responded with force and ordered the military to open fire on civilian protestors. “The government has intensified its campaigns to root out opposition strongholds and has increased shelling and air strikes,” Ki-moon said. “Opposition elements also have stepped up their attacks. I am horrified and saddened and condemn the seemingly daily massacres of civilians.” With the arrival of winter, as many as 4 million people in Syria could be in need of humanitarian aid as a result of the increasingly brutal violence. Ki-moon said that Syrian refugee numbers—currently around 480,000, would grow to 700,000 by
next month. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 40,000 people have been killed during the revolt, making it the bloodiest of the Arab uprisings that have defrocked leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen since last year. Brahimi further said the country was in danger of becoming a “failed state” if a political resolution is not reached soon. He insisted that, “any peace process must include necessarily a binding agreement on the cessation of all forms of violence.” According to Brahimi, an observation system such as an organized robust peacekeeping force is needed to stop the fighting. “Naturally, that cannot be envisaged with a Security Council resolution,” Brahimi said.
Despite numerous budget cuts the California State University system has experienced in the past few years, the Fall 2013 application cycle is on track to set another CSU record for applications received. The CSU system received 368,157 at the halfway point of the application process, an increase of about 7 percent from the same time last year. This number is expected to double after the final count of the priority application period is calculated on November 30. Transfer applications lead with 113,520 submitted, the highest number of applicants. A number of factors have contributed to the rise in applications for next fall’s enrollment, because of demographics in California and a demand for higher education, including, outreach efforts, partnerships with community colleges and the K-12 systems, CSU Media Relations Specialist Erik Fallis said. Because of a continuous decrease in state funding, the CSU closed Spring 2013 enrollment to most students and isn’t processing any applications from new students pending the outcome of Proposition 30, which had a direct impact on funded enrollment targets. Because Proposition 30 passed, CSU campuses can admit 10,000 to 15,000 more students than otherwise possible. “Something to keep in mind: it is
not that the CSU is getting additional funding—and in fact we are not in the current year—all we are doing is avoiding potential loss in funding,” Fallis said. “Proposition 30 is important because it stopped the bleeding, but it doesn’t actually restore the CSU and it certainly doesn’t fill in that billion dollar hole that the state has cut in the last five years.” This reflects the CSU system’s struggle to meet the demand for higher education with decreased state funding support. According to Fallis, the CSU was designed to admit the top one-third of graduating high school students and the students who come from community colleges. This year’s application record is not necessarily a benefit for the CSU system. At the moment, there are more applicants than the CSU system can serve indicating the state has not lived up to its commitment in the CSU Academic Master Plan for higher education. CSU’s ideal situation would be to admit all qualified students, Fallis said. The record number of applications does not mean a larger freshman class for Fall 2013. What drives enrollment are the resources available to provide students with a quality education. “The major lesson to take away from this higher application number is that there is a lot of pent-up demand in California for a CSU education and it is a demand that the CSU cannot meet based on its current funding,” Fallis said.
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