April 30, 2012
Vol. 91 Issue 46
CSUF Cigar Club Cal State Fullerton’s Cigar Club has had a successful first year, but now it must find alternative ways to spread education knowledge on cigars after the CSU smoking ban takes effect Aug. 1, 2013.
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dailytitan.com The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
FULLERTON POLICE INVITES PUBLIC TO TOUR STATION
LOCAL | Students against debt
SQE declares hunger strike Deliberate starvation to take place across several CSU campuses AMBER STEPHENS Daily Titan
Students organized Speak Out Against Student Debt in the Humanities Quad Thursday, which included spoken word artist Matt Sedillo from Occupy Los Angeles. Campus chapters of Students for Quality Education (SQE), We! Alternative Voices for an Alternative Future and the Social Justice Global Project participated in the event that featured large graffiti boards for students to write about their opinions and experiences with student debt. About 100 students sounded off on tuition increases, the lack of jobs for college students and graduates, and other issues relating to the current economic crisis. At the event, SQE announced a hunger strike that is to take place at six Cal State University campuses. Students involved said the hunger strike is in response to CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and Chair Bob Linscheid’s failure to adhere to the statewide group’s demands that include greater funding toward instruction and capping executive and administrative pay. “When you raise our tuition in order to ‘make up for what you lost,’ all you are doing is making those who cannot afford those ridiculous prices unable to attend those campuses,” one student wrote. There were several other comments written on boards and left anonymously by students. “The funds for a quality education exist, but they are placed elsewhere: prisons, war, big business,” wrote another student on the boards in the Humanities Quad.
“In my youth (70 years ago), we educated our citizens,” another commenter wrote, “now we exploit them for profit that goes to transnational corporations that pay no taxes.” David Inga, a history major and representative for SQE, said the event was to create dialogue about the student debt crisis. The day before the event, it was reported by numerous media outlets that the student loan debt has reached $1 trillion. “There was a broad range of issues being addressed on the boards,” Inga said. “(There were) personal examples of student debt that people were experiencing. There were numbers on the board ranging from $9,000 to over $120,000 in student debt.” Sedillo performed his spoken word pieces on issues relating to working class issues and immigration. The Diamond Bar resident said he came out because he believes education is a right, and wanted to contribute his voice about the student debt crisis to the Cal State Fullerton campus. “The economy has to run on something and the economy is not running on production, it’s running on debt,” Sedillo said. “The housing crisis was a big thing and now it’s student debt. This economy is a house of cards, and the students are the next to fall.” Steve Jobbitt, assistant professor of history, said he noticed on the boards the stories of students being crushed by student debt and anxious about whether or not they will be able to afford the job they are studying for. He said there were working students at the event who wrote about taking on multiple jobs in addition to student loans to make ends meet. See DEBT, page 3
Daily Titan File Photo Fullerton Police Department has been facing various activist groups since the controversial death of Kelly Thomas in July 2011. Two officers have been charged in the incident.
Department focuses on clarity Kelly Thomas’ father says department is uncooperative in case MARK PAYNE Daily Titan
In an effort to be more open under the leadership of acting Police Chief Dan Hughes, the Fullerton Police Department invited the Daily Titan to visit the downtown police station and take a tour of its facilities. The tour was led by Sgt. Jeff Stuart, the new officer in charge of community services and public
information. He has been in the new position for three weeks and replaces the previous public information officer, Sgt. Andrew Goodrich. “I’m cautious to say that we weren’t transparent before, but I think (Hughes is) pushing to be more accommodating to the public,” said Stuart. “To let (the public) know, ‘Look, not only are we here, this has always been here, but please come now. We want you to be part of this as well, and we want you to understand.’” The tour was interesting and informative, and the Daily Titan was made to feel comfortable as guests
of the department, as well as being allowed to ask direct questions and receive direct answers. The paper was given an extensive look at how the department works on a daily basis. Some of the more noteworthy aspects of the tour were the newly updated dispatch area, the cameras located throughout the city that allow officers to keep an eye on problem areas and the shooting range, where officers are trained in the use of deadly and non-deadly force. The department has been under attack by various activist groups for almost a year since the beating of
37-year-old Kelly Thomas on July 5, 2011, which led to his death five days later. His death was allegedly caused by Fullerton police officers. Two of the officers have been charged in the incident. Officer Manuel Ramos has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter, and Officer Jay Cicinelli has been charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of excessive force. See POLICE, page 2
CAMPUS | Educational Summit
LOCAL | Victim’s Rights March
Online learning now essential, speakers say
Activists honor the plight of victims
About 8,000 CSUF students in online courses this semester
Families seek justice for those caught in the middle of violent crime
HAILEY MORAN
MEC VALLE
Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) hosted the 2012 Educational Summit on online education Thursday at Cal State Fullerton. The event was co-sponsored by CSUF’s University Extended Education. About 30 people attended the event in the Titan Theatre to hear the panel discuss the future of technology in the classroom. Judi Carmona, a school board member for Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, was among the attendees. “I know that Sen. Huff is on the education committee in the senate, so what he has to say about education is of keen interest to me,” said Carmona. Huff began the panel by acknowledging that while the economy is still struggling, 21st-century changes need to be made in California classrooms. “We certainly know we have limited resources, and that is frustrating to everybody. But we just thought this was a great opportunity to highlight some changes that are going on in education,” said Huff. The discussion began with Keith Boyum, CSUF interim executive assistant to the president who gave an overview of online learning in the U.S., with some special reference to the CSUF campus. “This university, as every university, is embracing online learning, and we simply don’t know where it’s
The families and friends of victims of various crimes joined together Friday at the Fourth Annual Orange County District Attorney’s Victim’s Rights March and Rally to remember those whose lives were lost to crime. The event was held at the Orange County district attorney’s office in Santa Ana. After the opening reception, attendees carried posters with pictures of loved ones. Then a rally was held at the Orange County Courthouse. The march is held to support the victims of crime, said Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff at the district attorney’s office. “We (the D.A.’s office) file approximately 70,000 cases a year out of 80,000 cases that we look at. Most of them are misdemeanors and then we have felonies as well, and many of them have victims of crime,” said Schroeder. “Although we don’t technically represent the victims in the sense that we’re not their attorneys, but it is the reason why we do what we do. We are here to protect
Daily Titan
Daily Titan
STEPHEN McGLADE / Daily Titan Peter Stewart, senior vice president of school development at K12, Inc., discusses the future of online education at the Education Summit held Thursday at the Titan Theatre in the TSU.
going to go in the future,” said Boyum. Boyum outlined the different types of education a student can receive. From traditional learning, which includes absolutely no online activity, to online learning, where 80 percent of learning is via the internet. “It is a great opportunity, we think, for enhancing learning and shedding costs … Online learning is an essential part of our future. It will grow,” Boyum said. In 2010, one-third of all students in American higher education took an online class. Currently, in spring 2012, 8,000 students at CSUF are enrolled in at least one online course, Boyum said. Boyum plans to adapt the campus library to a 21st-century students’ needs location.
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“At CSUF, we have plans to repurpose much of the physical space for learning support. We’re going to push to the side, we’re not throwing away, but we’re going to compactly store the increasingly less used print resources,” Boyum said. One issue that resurfaced throughout the night was the role of the faculty in online education. “Presently, the delivery of online instruction is not cheaper in the terms of faculty labor costs, it appears to be more expensive,” Boyum said. “At the same time, other costs may be diminished, and we owe ourselves and the taxpayers a healthy investigation of exact ways to do that.” See SUMMIT, page 2
victims’ rights. And we want to make sure that we remember what they have gone through and honor their efforts and their sufferings.” Families and friends were gathered at the march and rally to pay homage to their lost loved ones and to help each other through their situations. “It’s for people who have been victims of crime. Some of them are living in the sense that they were sexual assault victims, robbery victims or things like that. Other people are people who have family members that were killed as a result of crime,” Schroeder said. Among those who were at the event was Maribel Grajeda. Her son was killed in June 2010. “He entered the wrong street, wrong time, wrong place and they shot him in the car he was in. The bullet hit him in the face and he passed away,” said Grajeda. Grajeda wants to spread the message of nonviolence to the community. “I want the violence to stop. Serve justice. Just because they have short hair (doesn’t) mean they’re another gang member,” Grajeda said. “I just need justice for my son.” See RIGHTS, page 2