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THE NEWSPAPER OF SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1913 VOLUME 99, ISSUE 50
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012
Children’s Center begins composting
campus
Andrea Ciardiello Staff Writer
Earlier this month, San Diego Gas & Electric, a regulated public utility providing energy service to 3.4 million consumers in San Diego, awarded the San Diego State Children’s Center with grant money as part of its 2012 Environmental Champions Initiative. The SDSU Children’s Center, a child care service provided by SDSU’s Associated Students located on the outskirts of campus, is an educational environment that partners with families, students, faculty and staff of the SDSU community to foster growth and promote lifelong learning for children. Through the month of July, SDG&E solicited proposals for programs “that engage and educate young people in the community as stewards of the environment in the areas of ecosystem awareness, environmental conservation, and energy and water efficiency,” according to a company statement. The grant application showed clear preference would be given to programs that focus on natural resource conservation or protection, habitat preservation and restoration or waste and recycling in the San Diego area. In collaboration with A.S. Green Love Sustainability Advisory Board, the SDSU Children’s Center submitted “The Waste to Food Composting” proposal, in hopes of receiving the grant money. “The Waste to Food Composting”
campus
Raquel Martin Staff Writer
paige nelson , photo editor
Two girls play patty-cake near the organic garden in San Diego State Children’s Center. The Children’s Center was recently granted funds in order to begin composting food waste and use it as a fertilizer for the gardens.
is an initiative to compost preconsumer and post-consumer food waste such as compostable plates, bowls, cups and napkins into nutrientrich organic matter. The initiative, which was started by the A.S. Green Love Sustainability Advisory Board, began in hopes to use that organic matter to fertilize the organic gardens at the A.S. Children’s Center. “This grant will support the purchase of an O2 composting unit and compostable tableware for the center to use when they aren’t using their regular dishes. The program
also provides environmental education, bringing awareness to issues surrounding the reduction of food waste and composting,” A.S. Sustainability Comissioner Morgan Chan said. “Composting is an important aspect to sustainability because it addresses waste management and consumption. It forces consumers to rethink their purchasing decisions and to think about where the things they buy and consume will eventually end up,” Chan said. “For many people there are two places for
things they no longer wish to keep: in the trash can or the recycling bin. Recycling is an important aspect to sustainability but it’s just the first step.” Chan says composting is the next step our community can make toward better sustainability and the SDSU Children’s Center is leading the way of this movement with The Waste to Food program. The program will turn food waste into compost that will be used in gardens producing more food for the children and staff at the Children’s Center.
Lebanon warns Israel amidst cease-fire
world
mct campus
Three boys look at the fifth Iron Dome antimissile battery, deployed near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, Nov. 17, after rocket barrages were launched at the city amid Operation Pillar of Defense.
Christopher Keller Staff Writer
Ana Ceballos Assistant News Editor
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned Israel on Sunday that the Shi’a Islamic militant group would launch thousands of rockets onto cities across Israel if there was ever an attack on
Prof calls for minority outreach
Lebanese soil. Nasrallah’s warning words came four days after an eight-day dispute between Israel and the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza. Egypt and the U.S. helped broker the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas as Israeli ground forces gathered near the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. The cease-fire took effect on Wednesday, ending the onslaught that
lasted from Nov. 14 to 21. More than 160 Palestinians were reported dead, many of whom were civilians, as well as six Israelis. Nasrallah’s speech was created via a video link to the tens of thousands gathered in Beirut to mark Ashoura, the annual Shiite commemoration of the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s response to any attack would eclipse the rocket fire launched from the Palestinian territories. “Israel, which was shaken by a handful of Fajr-5 rockets during eight days—how would it cope with thousands of rockets which would fall on Tel Aviv and other cities ... if it attacked Lebanon?” Nasrallah said. The Iranian-manufactured Fajr-5s were the most powerful and longestreaching rockets fired from Gaza, with 75 km range and a devastating 175 kg warhead. “If the confrontation with the Gaza Strip ... had a range of 40 to 70 km, the battle with us will range over the whole of occupied Palestine—from the Lebanese border to the Jordanian border, to the Red Sea,” Nasrallah said. As a result of the Israeli 2006 attack on Lebanon, two Hezbollah fighters were captured in a cross-border raid, which led to more than 1,200 deaths in Lebanon and 160 deaths in Israel. During this 34-day war, Hezbollah fired at least 4,000 rockets into northern Israel. According to a report from AlJazeera, Hezbollah has accumulated deadlier arsenals than Hamas since the war began, totaling approximately 50,000 missiles that could potentially reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. “The time when Israel could terrorize us has expired,” Nasrallah said.
San Diego State professor Frank Harris III recently co-authored a report called “A Role for policymakers in improving the Status of Black Male Students in U.S. Higher Education.” In the report, Harris tackles the issue of low attendance of black males in college, one of the most underrepresented populations in U.S. higher education. The report urges policymakers, both federal and state, to fund better programs to substantially improve success rates for black males in higher education. Advancement Via Individual Determination is one of the more recognized organizations when it comes to governmentfunded high school programs. Both rates were implemented to increase underprivileged student attendance on college campuses. However, according to the 2008 U.S. Census, black males only accommodate for about 4 percent of college students nationwide. The report, which targets black males specifically, suggests they be provided with opportunities to increase this rate not only in college admissions but college success rates. According to the U.S. Department of Education, black males graduate at a staggering rate of 33.1 percent. Harris’ report decreases pressure on high school programs and encourages more college programs to raise college graduation rates. “In today’s society, there are low expectations for black males” and “more encouragement in sports than education,” Harris said. These are two components to his report and the issues behind low rates of black male participation in higher education. “This is a societal problem,” Harris said. With 4 percent of black males attending college and 40 percent of black males imprisoned or in jail, according to the Department of Criminal Justice, Harris encourages policymakers to end this cycle. The report suggests that education while incarcerated help those who are imprisoned and unable to be further educated. “San Diego State’s campus is fortunate to have such diversity. I encourage our student body to advocate for diversity and programs that bring not only diversity to this institution but allow the institution to flourish from it” Harris said. Black male attendance in higher education is an issue, which throughout time has been deemed a valid and present issue that affects the black community tremendously. Harris, an HIGHER ED BOOK continued on page 2