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“Read my lips, read Detour.” See page 4
T H U R S D AY
VOLUME 66, ISSUE 24
MAR. 26, 1998
Labels paint a picture but not a heritage By DEBORAH REGIUS Daily Titan Staff Writer
Understanding someone’s background is the key to eliminating cultural ignorance. Chicano Studies intends to ensure non-prejudice attitudes through educating students about cultural labels. Isaac Cardenas and Dagoberto Fuentes from the Chicano Studies Department, opened a discussion about “Labels” with the students of Independent Latino Student Association. The association was created as a sup-
n
DIVERSITY: Professors remove the face of labels by developing an understanding of cultural backgrounds.
port system for Latinos on campus. This foundation has built a home away from home. Yesterday they gathered to talk about the labels that confront each one of their lives. The diverse sub-culture has formulated various labels to separate each other’s ethnic descent. “As long as you know where you come from and know what your heritage means, a label should be irrelevant,” Cardenas said to students. “Labels” is an issue of identity of the history and culture of a person’s heritage,
Cardenas said. It is a contemporary issue and depends on how Latinos respond to it. In 1929 an organization known as the League of United Latin American Citizens was established. In 1960, LULAC raised the question of what they should call themselves. LULAC’s purpose is to help people gain U.S. citizenship and to teach kids English, with the adjustments in schools, Fuentes said. The term Chicano emerged in the 1960s, immediately arousing debate and
reaction from people. This period introduced people to a “strong sense of security and identity,” Fuentes said “Some people don’t want to identify with their roots,” Fuentes said. For instance, if a person from Mexico with a decent of Indian and Spanish don’t want to identify with the lower economic status of Mexico, he said. The term Chicano was traced back to the founding of Mexico. Chicano can hold two different meanings: people of Mexican descent born in America and a
political term in favor of changing social movements. When asked what exactly the proper term aside from Hispanic, Chicano, and Latino was, Cardenas responded, “The proper term is whatever you want to call yourself and how you feel about yourself. “ “As long as you know what it means to be the heritage you are and where you come from that matters. “The proliferation of terms used embraces a certain function and were
bers have complained that rewards by merit is not a problem but the requirements are not clear and objective enough. By JOAN HANSEN Daily Titan Staff Writer
RON SOLIMAN/Daily Titan
Heady potatoes promote good teaching • By Joe Florkowski • n graduate school, Kevin Colaner swore that he would never take a job where he could not display Mr. Potato Head on his desk. Fortunately for him, as assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, he can display the over 50 Mr. Potato Head toys and merchandise that he has collected over the years. Colaner’s fascination with Mr. Potato Head mirrors America’s own recent rediscovery of the popular children’s toy. After tasty vegetable’s role in “Toy Story”, Mr. Potato Head re-emerged on the national scene, allowing today’s children an opportu-
nity to play with a toy their parents might have once owned. Hasbro, the toy company giant that produces Mr. Potato Head, made a special edition just for the movie. Mr. Potato Head continued to stay in the spotlight last year when Burger King used the toy’s national appeal to launch their new french fries partly by using Mr. Potato Head as a prize in their kid’s meals. Mr. Potato Head’s role as a national spoke spud for Burger King is not his first public relations role. In 1987, the toy was used in an American Cancer Society campaign, which necessitated Hasbro to get rid of the pipe that was included with Mr. Potato Head.
Mr. Potato Head was created by George Lerner, a New York designer. Hasbro bought the rights from Lerner to Mr. Potato Head in 1952. In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was created to give Mr. Potato Head a female companion. The original Mr. Potato Head was made up of only 20 plastic pieces, and did not have a body, as it does now. In fact, children had to supply their own potato, or if they wanted, substitute some other fruit or vegetable in place of the potato. It was in 1964 when Mr. Potato Head got the plastic body that he is known for now. Colaner recently obtained three of the Mr. Potato Head see POTATO/
CSU faculty members continue to fight for what they deem a fair contract regarding pay and working conditions. But so far union negotiators for California Faculty Association and the CSU Chancellors Office are miles apart on several issues, including professors workload, merit, pay and salaries. Some professors remain skeptical as to what changes CSU would make in mandatory faculty workload. Currently professors are required to teach 12 units along with three units of committee or service work per semester. Local CFA president G. Nanjundappa said CSU would rather regulate the number of students professors teach, not the number of units they teach. “CSU wants to play the numbers game without regard for the quality of education for our students,” said Nanjundappa. “Faculty want to better balance the number of students for education quality.” He said this issue is important considering that the California Education Technology Initiative, if adopted, will change student and teacher ratio. “Mass-produced learning hinders student preparation for careers,” Nanjundappa said. “Technology that minimizes interaction between professor and student reduces the quality of education.” Another issue gone unsettled regards the salary difference between CSU and other equivalent universities. Management Science professor Barry Pasternack said his department lost a qualified applicant to University of Florida when that university reportedly offered him $10,000 more per year than CSUF. “I believe our salaries are the biggest
Women discuss different ways to heal their souls n HEALING: A self-help work-
shop at the Women’s Center focuses on how to help people balance their lives both emotionally and physically. By LAURIE SCHULTZ Daily Titan Staff Writer
An old American Indian proverb says, “Our body is like a house, which is made up of rooms. For our well-being, we must walk through each room every day.” Sherry Bene Stevens used the saying as a metaphor in a self-help workshop held Tuesday at the Women’s Center. Entitled “Creating a Healing Attitude,” the seminar focused on drawing from “four corners” of
the human mind to develop a healthy and positive demeanor. Stevens specializes in marriage, child, and family counseling, and works at the counseling and psychological center. She used a triangle to represent the four areas she described as the areas people need to balance in their lives. The foundation of people’s lives encompasses the spiritual, making it the base of the triangle. On each side of the triangle were the physical and emotional elements of peoples’ lives. The mental portion of people’s lives made up the triangle’s apex. She asked the six women attending the workshop to draw a circle with lines coming from it. For each line, she asked the women to think of a role they played in their life and decided which category of their lives this role would fit. For example, the role of a student
would most likely fit into the mental aspect of a person’s life, she said. She helped the women to think of ways they could adjust their time so that they could be using each “portion” of their life equally. This was one of the many self-help tools she suggested the women use to achieve healthier, more harmonious lifestyles. These tools have helped her rise above difficulties in her own life “In the last two years, in my immediate family, there have been two deaths, one birth, one major heart surgery and I’ve even had surgery myself. I’m not the only person that has had many things happen to in this period of time. This is life. “ Stevens said. She also recommended a process called visualization to the women. “Instead of saying ‘I never have enough money,’ see yourself in the things you want. Copyright ©1998, Daily Titan
see DIVERSITY/
Faculty voices dissatisfaction n MERIT: Faculty mem-
Various incarnations of Mr. Potato Head take center stage on spud collector Kevin Colaner's desk in Mc Carthy Hall.
needed to understand the complexity,” Cardenas said According to an article “Stuck on Labels” Leo Estrada contends that the proliferation of terms used to describe ethnicity must be equally functional. “Some terms are more applicable to a particular situation or audience than others,” Estrada said. “I wouldn’t be worried about being offended because I know my roots,” Cardenas added, when asked what label would offend him.
I’ve already pictured myself in an Infinity,” she said. She advised others to keep a “gratitude journal.” She keeps her journal by her pillow as an incentive to write three positive aspects of her day every night before she sleeps. “It might be that the traffic wasn’t so bad on the 5 freeway or that I saw a beautiful flower today. It can be small things. This reminds us that things aren’t so bad and we are creating our own attitude.” Repitition of positive messages was another tool, she said. “Instead of saying to yourself ‘I wish I could lose 5 pounds,’ say to yourself ‘My body is healthy, I give my body only healthy food and I take care of my body. ‘Your head can’t tell fact from reality. It believes what it is told.” She demonstrated how a drum, used often
see HEALING/
Sherry Stevens shows how the vibrational therapy drum can help relax the body during the Healing seminar held at the University Hall. DORATI KHAN /Daily Titan
concern,” said Pasternack. “At 7.4 percent below comparable institutions, my department especially, has a hard time recruiting faculty.” CSU has said they would like to close that gap within two years. Another bargaining issue relates to the faculty retirement program which allows retired professors to teach part-time for eight years after retirement. CSU would reduce that time to two years although the union states that the program saves CSU money and students benefit from professors’ years of experience. The merit pay program, a thorn in the side of the union, would be expanded by CSU while the union would like to end it altogether. Faculty have complained that rewards by merit is not a problem but the requirements are not clear and objective enough. “Personally I have nothing against merit pay but if the goal is to increase productivity it does not accomplish this, it creates descent,” said Pasternack, the criteria and goals should be clearer. Governor Wilson’s adamant support of merit pay led one professor to suggest looking at an alternative rather than eliminating the program. But Nanjundappa told the faculty that a merit program already exists. “Professors are hired on merit, they receive tenure on merit and promotions on merit, it does not need expansion,” Nanjundappa said. Terry Jones, CFA statewide president, said that serious bargaining has only begun but stands behind Cal State Fullerton’s faculty concerns. He said CFA is adamantly opposed to the senior faculty part-time program being reduced from seven to five years because they valuably serve the university. Jones added that if CSU does not close the salary gap, quality of education will suffer since faculty will go elsewhere for higher salaries. “In some communities professors cannot afford to live in neighborhoods where they work and commute long distances to the university,” Jones said. “They look for
see WORKLOAD/