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CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
“Paranormal Activity” echoes “Blair Witch Project” in film making style.
Wellness Fair takes over Dexter Lawn.
IN ARTS, 7 Volume LXXIV, Number 29
IN ARTS, 8
Mustang Daily ranks top five Cal Poly football games of recent years. IN SPORTS, 12
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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Students join faculty to protest universities financial problems Will Taylor mustang daily
“What Will You Do to Save Cal Poly?” asked the green and gold signs waving in the warm fall breeze at the Save Cal Poly Rally yesterday morning.Put on by the Cal Poly branch of the California Faculty Association (CFA), the rally was in response to fiscal problems in the California State
University (CSU) system, furloughs and the College-Based Fee (CBF) delays at Cal Poly. The event, designed to educate and initiate action by students and faculty, attracted a majority of faculty and staff members but only about 40 students. Only about three-quarters of the roughly eighty chairs set out for the rally were filled.
The looming threat of largescale layoffs, or “non-renewal” of contracts for faculty and staff, at Cal Poly continue to grow as professors have taken furloughs and further CBF decisions continue to be delayed. On the other hand, students are worried how this is going to effect their education. The speakers at the rally spoke of the need to communicate with legislators, CSU administrators
and parents to initiate greater involvement from all parties. “If we want to change this we have to ban together and let our voices be heard in Sacramento,” Joan Kennedy, President of the local CSU Employees’ Union and a library assistant, said. “If we don’t fix what’s happening in Sacramento right now we’re facing massive
simply a note of concern, Morton said. Business junior Greg Hinchman said students should deal with legal consequences of alcohol and drug use on their own. “Most of these kids are 18, so they (the school) should leave it up to the kid to tell their parent, because they’ll probably have to anyway,” he said. This year, freshmen were oncampus 11 days before classes began. Barclay said they’re looking at how to best deliver the orientation programs next year without having so much time between move-in day and the start of classes. “I think it’s a long time to be up here before classes begin; I think it’s problematic,” he said. The three summer orientation programs, Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR), Fall Launch and WOW will be scheduled closer together and all three will address alcohol see WOW, page 2
Tim Miller contributed to this report.
see Protest, page 2
Freshmen will get shorter WOW next year
Residents documented for community standards violations
120 Sept.13-24, 2008 88Sept. 10-21, 2009 Residents who had their housing license revoked due to community standards violations
12Sept.13-24, 2008 2
Sept. 10-21, 2009
Fall Launch Overview & Electronic Report kate mcintyre mustang daily
Due to recent concerns that this past Week of Welcome (WOW) program was associated with an increase in alcohol consumption, citations and arrests, Vice President of Student Affairs Cornel Morton, who has been at Cal Poly for seven years, said the week before school this year was the worst in terms of alcohol use that he has seen. Morton is part of a committee recently formed to propose changes to WOW and the other orientation programs, some of which include a yearlong message campaign about the effects of alcohol abuse, notifying parents of underage drinking, keeping most returning students from moving on-campus during WOW and shortening WOW to three and a half days. Morton wants to clarify that WOW is not responsible for the incidents that occurred during the week before school. In fact, WOW educates participants about alcohol abuse, encourages responsible community involvement and promotes
drug-free activities, he said. “WOW is not a bastion for alcohol abuse.” Director of Student Life & Leadership Ken Barclay agreed, saying that WOW has a community service component, awareness programs and team building that mean a high retention rate of students returning for sophomore year. “They also provide students with a big support group,” he said.“Many times it lasts throughout their years at Cal Poly.” He added that they evaluate WOW and the other orientation programs annually, so having to make changes is not new. Parental notification is another strategy being considered, not only during WOW but for the entire year, Morton said. It is permissible to notify parents when their underage student receives an alcohol violation under the 1998 Higher Education Act. Students will be told that their parents are being mailed a letter. The letter is not a judicial,
mustang daily staff report
Cal Poly administrators announced yesterday in a press release that the planned reduction to the university’s dairy herd would be put on hold. The announcement comes after members of the dairy science department protested the reduction over the weekend. The protest took place on Friday and Saturday at the Embassy Suites as well as at Cal Poly. The reduction was planned because of budget restrictions. But according to the press release alumni and dairy industry supporters have offered to help the university manage the herd. The form of support that is being offered is still unclear. “We’re very grateful that some of the nation’s most savvy dairy producers have offered to work with Cal Poly to help us devise a good business strategy,” said dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Resources David Wehner in a press release. “There’s no question that everyone in the dairy industry is struggling through a tough economy. Dairy prices have plummeted, and our friends in the industry understand the challenge we face at Cal Poly to maintain a herd size that is financially rational.’’ Cal Poly’s dairy science department is currently the largest university dairy program in California and has 150 milking cows as well, as young stock and cows that can no longer produce milk. The program does not use any state money. Instead it relies on dairy sales and endowments. While the reduction of the herd has been put on hold the dairy science program is still planning on cutting the number of cows. Bruce Golden, head of the department said in a press release that he hopes the reduction is temporary. “If market conditions improve faster than we plan we can turn the plan around and re-grow the herd,” he said in the release. The release said the college is planning to reduce the number of young stock as well as the overall herd until the program can be more financially sustainable.
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Community Standards Data
Dairy cows staying a bit longer