C A L I F O R N I A
S T A T E
U N I V E R S I T Y ,
F U L L E R T O N Men’s basketball lose to Long Beach State by one point
INSIDE Death of student leaves family 3 nandNEWS: friends in mourning The use of cell phones in 5 ntheOPINION: classroom is rude and annoying to all
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T u e s d ay
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F e b r u a r y 27, 2001
Performing Arts theater to be constructnCAMPUS: The university received $42 million from private donations and public funds to help pay for the new 1200-seat auditorium By Elana Pruitt
Daily Titan Staff Writer After 15 years, a 1200-seat Performing Arts theater is finally in full view for Cal State Fullerton. Community donors have contributed $4 million towards the $38 million the state has granted for
construction. Though July 1 is the set date for the incoming funds, the laboring task of constructing this multipurpose theater will take about two to three years, said President Milton Gordon. The Auditorium/Fine Arts Instructional Facility will be the
official title under the Board of Trustees, said Jay Bond, the associate vice president and campus architect. Bond is the overseer for the modeling and labor of this project. The new building will feature one large 700-seat hall that is intended for each department within the College of the Arts to share and display distinctive talent, with smaller quarters rooming faculty meetings, community involvement and professional performances. The green, grassy field behind the
Performing Arts Center is the designated area for the new complex, which will be directly connected to both the Little Hall and the Recital Hall. Aware of student leisure and various activities that usually dominates the space, Gordon is looking forward to moving the student comfort to the empty field between the Engineering Center and the Health Center. “This theater will allow us to showcase our students in theatre, arts, and orchestra — all performing
nLAWSUIT: A civil trial is still pending although sociology professor is cleared of any criminal wrongdoing
nCOMMUNITY: Fullerton Community College student Lynsie Ekelund was last seen Feb. 16
By Kathleen Gutierrez and Amy Rottier
By Rita Freeman
Daily Titan Staff Writers
Daily Titan Staff Writer
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dent of academic programs when the campus was still known as Orange County State College. Eventually, he felt that the theater and dance facilities were of poor quality and was hardly able to accommodate theater majors or North Orange County. “I felt that in the administrative structure, there needed to be a voice for the arts,” Young said. So he decided to jump on board and offer ideas in improving facili-
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Court dismisses criminal charg-
Placentia resident missing
After visiting friends in San Diego on Feb. 16, Lynsie Ekelund never made it to her house, police said. Matthew Reynolds, police services manager for the Lynsie Ekelund Placentia Police Department, said the 20-year-old Fullerton Community College student returned around 4 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 after having dinner in San Diego. A male friend dropped her off about two houses from her home from the corner of Valparaiso Drive at Rose Drive in Placentia. “She didn’t want to wake up her mother, so she had him drop her off right on the corner,” Reynolds said. “He said he last saw her walking toward her house and he just made a U-turn and left. The gentleman that dropped her off doesn’t recall anything out of place.” Ekelund’s mother Nancy said she was not expecting her home that night so she did not suspect anything. But after not appearing to work or school on Feb. 19, she reported the 20-year-old missing to the police.
areas,” Gordon said. Contrasted to the remote performing halls in the Performing Arts center, CSUF did not originate with performing theaters or classrooms at the time of its establishment in 1959, according to Jim Young, the retired founder of the theater department. Young remembers the early days when college classes at CSUF were taught at Sunny Hills High School and plays were performed in parking lots. He was the associate vice presi-
LORRAINE DOMINGUEZ/Daily Titan
The Library Oasis, located on the first floor of the Pollak Library, allows students to use the Internet.
Library updates technolnINFORMATION: New proxy server allows students to research at home without Titan Internet Access By Kelly Mead
Daily Titan Staff Writer Libraries are no longer just for books and magazines. This year the Pollak Library is making changes so that online databases and manuscripts are more accessible to students. One of the new technologies, a proxy server, will allow students to access library databases from their home no matter what server they use. In the past, students could only access library databases like Lexis-
Nexis, Biology Digest and Historical Abstracts, if they were using library computers or had subscribed to Titan Internet Access (TIA). The new system implemented gives access to TIA to students overseas, at Mission Viejo or in Garden Grove. The system is also to aid students doing research at home but does not wish to sign up for TIA. “We’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while,” said Patricia Bril, the associate university librarian. Over winter break the library conducted tests with faculty and staff to see how the system would perform under normal use. This semester the service is going into the second stages of testing. Students can now register with this service on the library Web site. Cal State Los Angeles and San Diego State have already tested and been using a proxy server. “We’re trying not to re-invent
the wheel and to learn from their mistakes and their successes,” Bril said. San Diego State was the testing site for the original model. “We’ve had a really good experience with it,” said John Ross, the director for information systems technology at San Diego State. “Before we had major unhappiness with faculty and students trying to get access.” Since it began in January, the proxy server has given mostly positive results said Bril, but some search engines accept the program easier than others do. The library is working on overcoming the obstacles the new service has presented. “We’re still trying to build a database on what kind of problems (users) are having,” said Allen Hsiao, who works at the information desk in the CSUF library.
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Criminal charges filed against Cal State Fullerton professor Clarence E. Tygart were dismissed by Fullerton Municipal Court last Thursday. A former student accused Tygart of assault and battery for allegedly hugging and kissing her in his office last year. The student, Esther Bin Im, filed a civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 6, which is still pending. Tygart’s lawyer, Jerome Goldfein and Im’s representation at the Fullerton District Attorney’s office agreed that if no other criminal charges were filed within six months, they would enter a plea bargain to dismiss the case. In her civil lawsuit, Im is suing both Tygart and the CSU trustees for violating the CSU sexual harassment policy, failing to prevent sexual harassment, assault, battery, slander, and intentional emotional distress. Included in the lawsuit are letters that Tygart wrote to Im where he overstepped the boundaries of a student-teacher relationship. According to Im’s lawsuit, no action was taken by CSUF when she complained of Tygart’s harassment. In the letters, Tygart makes many references to possibly beginning a personal relationship with Im. He wrote, “When you came into my office, I had not prepared my eyes. Your beauty and the dress you wore completely captivated me. I had such wonderful feelings of complete love
and I emotionally fell to pieces.” According to the CSUF pamphlet regarding sexual harassment, comments about one’s body or clothing is a form of harassment. On the CSUF Web site, the interpretation of this policy states, “The university will not tolerate sexual harassment and will take action to eliminate such behavior.” No action has been taken by the school, more than a year after the case began. In one of Tygart’s hand-written letters to Im, he admits to breaking the boundaries of a student-teacher relationship. “The love became so strong that it burst out of the student-teacher relationship to a complete and deep emotionally disturbing love. The very thought of you would put me on an emotional high for hours, and even days. My love is unconditional and without reservation.” A policy against amorous relationships between any two people of unequal power on campus exists. Examples listed in the pamphlet are: professor-student, supervisoremployee, teaching/laboratoryassistant. Im was both an employee and a student to Tygart at the time of the letters. She was his intern and was also enrolled in the independent study course he supervised. When Tygart began the letters, she dropped the courses. More than once, Tygart wrote that although he loved Im, he knew they could not be together. He also wrote that he was aware of his wrongdoings and asked for her forgiveness. “Please destroy this letter…I am very sorry for everything. It’s my fault, please forgive me.” The district attorney was unavailable for comment. Im’s civil lawsuit will be handled by outside counselor Pegine Grayson. CSUF counselor Pat Carrell is representing both Tygart and the CSU Trustees.
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Afro-Ethnic Studies Community Ensemble nBLACK HISTORY MONTH: The group celebrated AfricanAmerican culture last Thursday in the Quad By Trinity Powells
Special to the Titan Lifting their voices in celebration of African-American history and music, the Afro-Ethnic Studies Community Ensemble made its first on-campus appearance in the Quad last Thursday. The ensemble, featuring a fourpiece band, a choir of CSUF students, faculty, and members of the community, performed music from four distinct genres in African-American music: pre and post emancipation spirituals, gospel, rhythm and blues,
and jazz. The musical selections varied from the African-American Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” to the R&B groove, “Street Life.” The ensemble also performed songs originating from the AfricanAmerican history of slavery including “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” and “Long John,” led by Dr. Stan L. Breckenridge, an Afro-Ethnic studies lecturer, and founder and director of the ensemble. In addition to musical performances of songs, the ensemble incorporated narratives explaining the many African-American contributions to music from basic rhythm, to doo-wop and boogie-woogie. The ensemble has ambitions of eventually taking its performance on tour both nationally and internationally. In the future, Breckenridge said the ensemble will also expand its repertoire to encompass dance, theatre, and a more complete six piece band.
The choir sang various kinds of songs such as gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz along with pre and post emancipation spirituals Photo by Adam Byrnes The AESCE is a non-profit organization sponsored by the Afro-Ethnic Studies Department, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the office of the vice president of
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student affairs. Breckenridge said the ensemble’s goal is to show the broad spectrum of African-American music and was formed as an outreach to young peo-
ple of all different ethnical backgrounds. “ … I see so much diversity—I
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