WEDNESDAY February 1, 2012 Volume 97, Issue 66 W W W.T H E D A I LYA Z T E C . C O M
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CSU presidential salaries capped DUSTIN MICHELSON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Tara Millspaugh staff writer The Board of Trustees has officially placed a salary cap on newly hired presidents of all California State Universities. The new policy at hand states, “Compensation paid by state general funds for newly hired CSU presidents to be no more than 10 percent above the previous incumbent’s base pay.” This change of policy resulted from
the controversy regarding the salary of San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman. His annual salary of $400,000 is $100,000 more than that of his predecessor, Dr. Stephen L. Weber. If this policy had been enacted before Hirshman was hired last year, his base pay would be capped at $325,000. California Gov. Jerry Brown and several statewide officials were outraged to learn that the Board of Trustees had passed Hirshman’s salary, calling it “excessive.” Brown said there should not be such a disproportionate raise for
Hirshman and other CSU presidents during California’s budget crisis. CSU Board Chair Herbert Carter said with this new salary cap the board will hire competent and qualified presidents while adhering to realistic budget constraints. Along with the salary cap, the Board of Trustees has also approved a new comparator list to determine the incoming president’s compensation. Previously, there was a 40 percent salary gap between presidents on the list who made as much as $2 million
annually, compared to CSU presidents who made only $280,000, according to a news release. “The new compensation limits, and the more relevant tiered list of comparator institutions, will give stakeholders a good benchmark of where presidential compensation will be set as we move forward,” Carter said. The new policy is being implemented as Fullerton, Northridge, San Bernardino, San Francisco and California Maritime Academy are in search of new presidents.
US backs ACTA File-sharing site gets shut down Government cracks down on popular website Megaupload.
On Jan. 19, one of the nation’s most popular file-sharing websites, megaupload.com, was shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice because of allegations of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering. Police arrested the site’s creator, Kim Dotcom, and three other Megaupload partners at a $30 million
mansion located in New Zealand. A raid of the mansion ensued and luxury items, such as fine art and cars, were seized. Currently, the contents of Megaupload’s servers are in limbo, with potential data deletion in as little as two weeks. Citing a reaction of overall disgust online, powerful Internet group Anonymous retaliated against Megaupload’s termination by successfully shutting down the websites of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. In the past, Megaupload has received celebrity musician endorsements from artists such as will.i.am and Kanye West.
sparked wider public awareness of the agreement. The U.S. has already signed ACTA, with both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations having issued executive orders to keep negotiations concerning Internet control legislation secret because it could cause “damage to the national security.” However, much of the response to ACTA has been negative. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., called the treaty “more dangerous than SOPA,” citing the lack of a congressional vote as his primary concern. Popular science and technology website Ars Technica was quick to dispel much of the misinformation
surrounding ACTA, stating the debate must be “informed by accurate information.” The writer made it clear, though, that ACTA has “both procedural and substantive problems” as it was “negotiated in extreme secrecy by a small group of wealthy nations.” Mexico, one of the countries previously involved in the ACTA negotiations, has rejected the final agreement. ACTA states that countries can sign the treaty until the end of March next year, although the European Parliament, which is responsible for ratifying the treaty, is set to vote on the agreement this June.
Elisse Miller contributor
MCT CAMPUS
U.S. has already signed agreement, faces opposition. Ana Ceballos staff writer The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is an initiative to impose international standards for enforcing intellectual property right. The plan is to solve the growing problem of counterfeit goods and piracy, which is considered to be a threat to the sustainable development of the world economy, according to the European Commission. ACTA will deal with the protection of physical goods such as generic medicines, food patents and free circulation of medical information.
Digital infringement is also part of the treaty’s regulations. Civil enforcement penalties for copyright infringement will consist of paying damages, though the actual penalty for piracy is still uncertain. Countries such as Japan, Australia, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the United States and 22 of the European Union’s members have signed the treaty. Nevertheless, these signatures solely mark the progress of ratification, which ultimately rests in the hands of the European Parliament. Early discussions about ACTA took place throughout 2006 and 2007. The negotiations started in June of 2008. During these negotiations some countries requested the text should not be disclosed, meaning public and civil organizations would not be part of the compromise. The leaking of documents to the Internet
E N T E R TA I N M E N T
Old Globe Theatre‘s newest play is a dramatic morality tale.
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E N T E R TA I N M E N T Two of San Diego State’s fraternities break out and step in style.
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Throughout time, there have been many end-of-theworld predictions. The difference ... is the variance in total number of believers. F E AT U R E S
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