2001 05 04

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 Titans slide back into conference play with key three-game series against Cal Poly

INSIDE OPINION: New sex offender bill pro3 nvokes debate between safety and privacy Sitges, Spain provides an artis4 nticNews: backdrop for European tourists

—see Sports page 6

GRADE

Weekend

V o l u m e 7 2 , I ss u e 4 2

M a y 4, 2001

not making the

Cal State Fullerton’s low athletics graduation rate baffles sports directors and educational support network

By James Reynosa

Special to the Titan Out of 1,213 NCAA Division I schools, the graduation rate for Cal State Fullerton athletes ranks among the poorest in the nation, below the bottom one percent, according to a recent National Collegiate Athletic Association report.

Susan McCarthy knows there is a problem.

CSUF, where she is the head of academic support, has had a problem making sure athletes graduate. And she knows it.

Academic Support has the task of making sure that all athletes are on pace to graduate within the six year timeframe. “‘Nothingness’ only exists in a vacuum.

There has to be a reason why these graduation rates are this low. And it’s not nothing.”

“We must do better, and we can do better,” McCarthy said. “But that doesn’t help with the current data.”

The data, released by the NCAA last January, shows that CSUF graduated only 20 percent of all male athletes who came to Fullerton as scholarships athletes from 1990-1991 to 1993-1994.

Especially alarming is the graduation rate of CSUF African-American athletes, which stands at 9 percent. That means that less than one out of 10 African-American athletes graduate from CSUF. Statistics from Analytical Studies show that the graduation rate for males during that time period was 34 percent and African-Americans were 14 percent.

One reason for the difference, says McCarthy, is that the NCAA is still counting scholarships that CSUF has taken away. During the 1990-1994 time period

Titan Athletics had cut the entire football program, men’s gymnastics and almost half of wrestling. All persons who received scholarships from those programs have either transferred to another school or never graduated affect the final tally.

But this isn’t entirely true. The NCAA survey only took 16 scholarships from the football program and five from wrestling and men’s gymnastics, which amounts to only 21 out of 117 scholarships. The removal of these scholarships would barely move the graduation rate a few percentage points.

In Division I, where 42 percent of the basketball players who started college between 1990-1994 earned their degrees within six years, CSUF is less than half way to that percentage.

Only 22 percent of the men’s basketball team graduated during that time. The

women’s basketball team graduated only 31 percent. But the most devastating statistic is that only 9 percent of black males and 20 percent of black females have graduated after receiving a scholarship for basketball.

“I think we are conscious of making sure our players are on the right track towards graduating,” said Donny Daniels, the head coach of men’s basketball. “And other than what [Academic Support] does, there isn’t much we can do.”

“We have grade checks every week, tutors for specific subjects and one-on-one support,” McCarthy said in explaining what Academic Support is designed to do.

The first step in making sure they graduate is to start them in the system early.

“We have every athlete take the course

ATHLETES/ 4

Photo illustration by Kira Horvath/Daily Titan

Alumnus creates new software for screenwriters nTECHNOLOGY: Tony Ashley expands his business to Hollywood by providing tools for more efficient writing

By Elana Pruitt

Daily Titan Staff Writer

Kira Horvath/Daily Titan

Sisters Lisa, Lindsey and Elizabeth Crummet chat at the opening of Soka University, a school funded by a Buddhist organization.

Inner peace found in an Eastern relinFAITH: Three sisters find solace in Buddhism after enduring the stigma of being different

By Taylor Goldman

Daily Titan Staff Writer Lisa, Elizabeth and Lindsay Crummett always thought they were part of an average family. When the three sisters were little, they would all sit down and eat dinner together or play outside with girls that lived down the street.

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When Elizabeth was seven, she remembers that she invited some Mormon girls who lived down the street over to her house to play. The girls told Elizabeth that their parents wouldn’t allow them to go over to Elizabeth’s house.

“You don’t believe in God and you’re going to go to hell,” Elizabeth recollected them shouting at her.

The Crummetts practiced Buddhism, so many people viewed them as different or strange.

Buddhists believe that the God resides within each of us and is not an external force, but many people mistake this for atheism.

From that point on, Elizabeth, now 21, felt that she had a horrible secret that she had to hide from others.

Lisa , 26, and Lindsay,19, both had less traumatic experiences, but remember disagreements that they

had with their childhood friends about God. “To me, God was just a myth that my friends believed, and I felt sad that they were scared for me,” Lindsay said.

Elizabeth remembers the stares whenever she would accompany a friend to church during her youth.

“I wanted to melt sometimes,” she said.

All of the adults told the little girl

BUDDHISM/ 5

As he once wandered the Titan campus, unaware of future engineering possibilities, he can now say that his queries have been fulfilled.

Tony Ashley is the owner of a worldwide software company, providing better organizational habits for screenwriters.

And that’s just his side job.

“I wanted to capture ideas in a rapid fire method,” Ashley said, giving meaning to his creation of “Writer’s Blocks.”

His 7-year-old software program allows different fonts and colors to illustrate a writer’s ideas, as well as posting those ideas and rearranging them without having to move them out of sight, he said.

While attending an eight-hour workshop at Cal State Long Beach in 1993, introducing the basics and elements of screenwriting, Ashley had an epiphany.

“I kept all my notes in a spiral notebook,” he said. “When post-its kept falling out, I figured that there had to be a better way.”

While his wife was in labor the same year, Ashley was in the hallway not fainting from nervousness or franti-

cally pacing the hallway with outbursts as movies portray soon-to-be-fathers.

Rather, he stayed busy in the hallway creating Ashley Software, which he gave as Christmas presents to his friends.

As a 1984 CSUF graduate and engineering major, Ashley spent his time on campus “scrambling between the engineering building and Associated Students’ University Center.” Today, the popular hangout is renamed as the Titan Student Union (TSU). But despite involvement in student life, such as living in a nearby student apartment and working on the second floor of TSU in AS Printing, Ashley still felt a bit ignorant of future possibilities that could mean success.

“I really didn’t get a clear image of future expectations,” Ashley said.

“Professors could have spent more time trying to get people from the [engineering] industry.”

Now his main profession is as an engineer for TRW, where he designs, builds and tests reactant fuel systems for rockets. And as Ashley puts it — he would have been more excited about his major had he known what was in store for him.

“For the most part, professors did not seem to convey enough real world experiences for students,” said Alan Pavlosky, an online marketing specialist.

Pavlosky not only provides a support service for the “Writer’s Blocks” Web site with e-commerce, he is also Ashley’s longtime college buddy. While

WRITERS/ 4

Student art displayed on campus nEXHIBIT: Cal State Fullerton artists showcases work stemming from different types of inspirations

By Sara Stanton

Daily Titan Staff Writer Frank Swann sits reading his fourth novel of the week in the West Gallery in the Visual Arts Center. He is surrounded by his masterpieces, waiting for his visitors.

With pieces made from drinking straws, colorful acrylics, metal screens

and plastic beads priced anywhere between $200 to $2,000 Swann relaxes in his own world, a world that he has created for himself.

As this 31-year-old part-time art teacher reclines in his chair, a sense of pride comes over him as he describes how his pieces take form.

“They all feed on each other,” said Swann. “It starts as a small idea then turns into something bigger — sometimes I’m even surprised.”

As he says this, his knee bumps the black table in front of him, shaking his “Happy Un-Chess Set,” made of wood pieces covered in layers of lacquered pastel acrylic.

“I used to work at Disneyland, and I was always amazed at the way things

looked after layers and layers of paint — it takes on a sort of plastic image,” he said.

Across the courtyard in the East Gallery, a sweet, musky and pungent aroma fills the small room while relaxing instrumental music plays softly for those that enter.

“Aroma Expressions,” Apichaya Nopamornbodi’s master of arts exhibition offers sensual and airy graphic representations of nature’s botanicals including citrus fruits, flowers and herbs.

But students who do not frequent the Visual Arts Center or are not involved in the Art Department at Cal State Fullerton generally have no clue that these show-

http://dailytitan.fullerton.edu

ART/4

Danielle Gutierrez/Special to the Titan

Art students have their pieces displayed in the Visual Arts Building.

2 Weekend, May 4, 2001

news

two

A guide to what’s happening

BRIEFS Domestic violence bill passed this week A legislation proposed by Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson passed the Assembly Education Committee unanimously.

Jackson, of the city of Santa Barbara, proposed legislation that adds a greater violence prevention instruction to the areas that the School Safety and Violence Prevention Act covers.

Stating that domestic violence is a crime that endangers the social, emotional and physical safety of individuals, Jackson saw it as an “epidemic” that has a tidal wave effect on witnesses and victims alike.

She especially stresses concern on children who do witness domestic violence at home, but are remiss in reporting it. By seeing the violence, Jackson contended, young children are more apt to accept it as a norm practiced in every household.

According to researchers, an estimated 3.3 to 10 million children are exposed to domestic violence every year.

In addition to those studies, one out of four high school youths and college students have reported to have experienced violence in a dating relationship.

The effects of domestic violence include poor academic performance, aggressive behavior, depression or anxiety and low self-esteem.

Jackson believes that the bill will enable teachers to be more proactive in promoting the message that violence can endanger in more ways than physical.

Earlier intervention, she said, is important in “breaking the cycle

Denise Smaldino Vu Nguyen Joel Helgesen Collin Miller Gus Garcia Darleene Barrientos Marlayna Slaughterbeck Samantha Gonzaga Darla Priest Raul Ascencio Damian Calhoun Magda Liszewska Jamie Ayala Lorraine Dominguez David Rivera Lori Anderson Caesar Contreras Rita Freeman Debra Santelli Darleene Barrientos Gus Garcia Kari Wirtz Robert Kelleher Jeffrey Brody Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Sports Main Photo

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and greatly decreasing the number of families affected.”

Scooter competition this weekend International competitors will be at the Irvine Spectrum Center this Saturday May 5 to participate in the first Scooter Cross Competition.

This will be the first competition of this kind to hit Southern California.

The competition begins at noon and will go on until 9 p.m.

A Sunday event is also part of the competition, also beginning at noon but ending at 4 p.m.

Go-ped riders will be there to demonstrate their skills.

Whether it be leaping over ramps or performing acrobatics in heights as high as 30 feet in the air, these will be held in conjunction with the competitions.

The competition will be held at the Irvine Spectrum Center’s “The Point,” where the 5 and 405 freeways come together.

Applications for student executive positions Students have the chance to apply for Associated Students executive positions.

Applications are available at the Titan Student Union room 207.

Students who are interested must have a 2.5 accumulated GPA, or a GPA of 2.0 from last semester. They must have Tuesdays and Thursdays with the hours of 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to work.

Workload for each week averages at 20 hours.

Applications are due May 11 before 5 p.m.

For more information, call Adeline Kim at (714) 278-4220.

Editor in Chief Managing Editor Business Manager Advertising Sales Manager Advertising Production Manager News Editor News Editor Asst. News Editor Asst. News Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Detour Editor Opinion Editor Photo Editor Photo Editor Internet Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Production Manager Production Manager Production Manager Associate Editor Faculty Adviser Advertising 278-3373 Editorial Fax 278-4473 Advertising Fax 278-2702 DT online: http://dailytitan.fullerton.edu e-mail: dailytitan@yahoo.com

The Daily Titan is a student publication, printed every Tuesday through Friday. The Daily Titan operates independently of Associated Students, College of Communications, CSUF administration and the CSU system. The Daily Titan and its predecessor, the Titan Times, have functioned as a public forum since inception. Unless implied by the advertising party or otherwise stated, advertising in the Daily Titan is inserted by commercial activities or ventures identified in the advertisements themselves and not by the university. Such printing is not to be construed as written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of such commercial enterprises. The mail subscription price is $45 per semester, $65 per year, payable to the Daily Titan, College Park 670, CSUF, Fullerton, CA 92834.

Copyright ©2001 Daily Titan

CALENDAR EVENTS C ALE ND AR OF OF EVE NTS Campus A.S. Rec Sports is holding a Co-ed Intertube Water Polo Tournament today. The roster is due by 2 p.m. in P.E. 121.

Over-The-Line Tourney rosters are due on Tuesday, May 8 by 2 p.m. in P.E. Room 121.

For more information call (714) 278-3978.

A.S. Rec Sports will hold a 4-on-4 Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, May 9 in the Titan Gymnasium at 5:30 p.m.

TSU Games and Recreation will hold a bowlers Tournament on Thursday, May 10 in the TSU Underground at 3 p.m.

Community Italian-born artist-in-resident Franco Angeloni will exhibit work “that invades fields other than those normally connected with visual arts,” today through June 30 at Grand Central Art Gallery in Santa Ana. For more information call (714) 567-7233.

Learn how to become a volunteer tutor, mentor or intern.

“Think Together” volunteer orientation is today at 1505 East 17th St., Suite 102 Santa Ana. For more information call (714) 543-3807, or visit www.thinkoc. org

TheYoung Musicians Foundation’s Debut Orchestra presents its 46th Annual Final Debut Concert on Saturday, May 12 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles at 7 p.m.

The Garden Grove Strawberry Festival 2001 will hold auditions for its annual talent show on Saturday, May 19 at 9 a.m. in The Strawberry Festival Amphitheater (12852 Main St.) in Garden Grove.

For more information call (714) 638-7950.

The Learning Light Foundation presents Ye Old Camelot Psychic Fair on Saturday, May 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1212 East Lincoln Ave in Anaheim. For more information call (714) 533-2311.

Daily Titan Online Poll Voice your opinion through the Daily Titan’s online poll! Just go to http://dailytitan.fullerton.edu and click on the News or Opinion tabs and vote.

Who do you think will be the final “Survivor”?

A. Colby B. Tina C. Keith D. Milton Gordon E. Another fat naked guy

Results will be published in Tuesday’s Daily Titan.

Poll is unscientific

online poll R

Last week’s questions: Who do you think will win the NBA Championships?

76% 10% 3% 7% 3% 29 people responded with . . .

Indiana Pacers

Utah Jazz

Los Angeles Lakers

Philadelphia 76ers

Chicago Bulls

4 Weekend, May 4, 2001

news

Coastal Spanish city is a mecca of Sitges, Spain offers delights as rich as its wine and as its flavorful cuisine

By Terry Jolliffe

Daily Titan Staff Writer A while back, my friend in Arizona was offered an exceptionally good deal on a condominium on the Mediterranean in Sitges, Spain for 10 days. She immediately called her friends and travel buddies and within days, passports in hand, we were on our way to a country rich in culture, history and diversity—and wine. Spain, by the way, along with

Italy and France, is one of the top wines producers in the world.

If you’ve never heard of Sitges, it’s just southwest of Barcelona and there are a couple of special features you should know about right off—like this is a city where nobody feels like a stranger.

It also has a wonderfully unique and unmistakable outline: a wide spread of coast embracing the sea and an average 300 sunny days a year.

Fortunately, we made the trip in February, permitting us to witness their yearly Carnaval. For more than 100 years, Sitges has celebrated the days prior to the beginning of Lent, sometime during the months of February or March, according to the liturgical calendar, with the festival of the Carnival.

During the celebration, the streets of Sitges take on a new rhythm. Music, fancy dress costumes and masks are in the streets every night. Decorations of

Terry Jolliffe/Daily Titan

The city of Sitges in Spain, near Barcelona, boasts of Mediterranean weather 300 days a year.

WRITER

n from page 1

Pavlosky worked for AS and was in charge of booking bands in the Pub, Ashley would musically perform there during his free time.

“Tony is very pragmatic,” Pavlosky said. “He is so technologically advanced, with a gift in his ability to break down concepts to the simple-minded.”

Wes Craven, Jim Thomas, William Diehl and Laurence Dworet are just a few of the customers that have bought Ashley’s program, according to the current issue of Creative Screenwriting magazine.

Realizing that his software has reached prestigious Hollywood writers and directors is reason enough for Ashley to congratulate himself on his own talent. But it is also enough reason for Ashley to keep his personal life private.

Working from home, Ashley and his wife are a working team. For competitive reasons, they choose to keep that aspect of his company out of the consuming public eye.

“Our personal attributes don’t make a difference,” he said. “The fact that we work from home could be used negatively in articles about our product. We want the company to stand for itself.”

Ashley describes “Writer’s Block’s” as “a tool for large amounts of complex data.” He has designed this program specifically for screenwriters, but its goal of maintaining structure during the writing process can be applied to many professions.

Considering how students should challenge their own interests in finding their niche, Ashley offered some hints of advice.

“I think students should search for the moon,” he said. “Set heights as high as you dare dream — the boring

ATHLETE

n from page 1

University 101, where we try to teach the athletes time and study skills.

Sometimes they haven’t learned these things in high school,” McCarthy said.

This isn’t just a problem with this campus, but a national epidemic.

Only seven colleges graduated all of the black players who enrolled from 1990-91 to 1993-94: Bucknell University, the College of the Holy Cross, Manhattan College, Northwestern University, Providence College, Southern Utah University and Stanford University.

However, 47 institutions, ranging from powerhouses like University of Michigan to small-time programs like Samford University, did not graduate a single black player who entered during that time period.

One of the NCAA’s plans is to take scholarships away from teams that graduate fewer than half of their basketball players, a rule that could go into effect as early as the next

academic year. If this plan were to take effect right now, as many as 180 of the 320 colleges could lose a grant based on this year’s data.

However, because the NCAA will not count players who transferred or left for the professional leagues in good academic standing, the actual number probably will be far lower.

“We’re concerned about the decline in overall rates among athletes,” said Cedric W. Dempsey, the NCAA’s president, in a written statement. “We need to start looking at what some of the reasons might be for the decline.”

McCarthy might have a reason.

“It’s difficult to complete your degree if you have to take remedial classes to begin with,” McCarthy said. “If the players don’t get in right away and start doing their work, they play ‘catch-up’ the whole time.”

Basketball athletes have to travel the most among the sports offered.

With conference teams in Idaho and Utah, CSUF players sometimes have to travel up to 1,000 miles every two weeks.

“It’s difficult to keep up with all the homework when you are on the road,”

the streets and building facades liven up the atmosphere and people from balconies cheer on the spirited processions and those partying below in the streets. There are contests for singers and comedians, fancy dress balls, fireworks, parades with floats—Carnaval is for one and all, residents and visitors, old and young.

Our condo was within walking distance of the town and each day and evening we meandered along the craggy coastline toward the lights of Sitges to enjoy shopping, good food, wine and oh-so-friendly merchants, restaurant owners and residents.

The calories we expended walking each day, we compensated with the delicious fresh bread rubbed with a fresh tomato and clove of garlic and dipped in the wonderful rich Spanish olive oil—a treat we found on the restaurant tables, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Not once, did we feel uncomfortable or unsafe walking around late at night in this delightful town.

The Sitges of today however, would not have been possible without Santiago Rusinol—Painter, playwright, and bohemian mystic.

It is said that Rusinol, upon arriving in Sitges one afternoon in 1891, shortly thereafter built and opened his house-workshop, what is now the Cau Ferrat Museum. And Cau Ferrat instantly became the mecca of Catalan Modernism.

If you get hungry, Sitges has restaurants to fit all tastes and pockets.

You can find great Chinese, Indonesian,

German, Belgian, French, Dutch cuisine as well as the traditional cooking.

Keep in mind that on the Mediterranean, garlic, almonds and olive oil are native to the countries, which lie along it, and fish is the undisputed king of Sitges cooking.

After dinner, Sitges offers bars, discotheques, and lots of outdoor cafes to enjoy a drink and people watch.

We rented a van to visit the wine country for a day, taking in the tour of Freixenet. They give a wonderful tour from the underground caves to the bottling of the wines. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear you were in Napa County.

Most of the time we utilized the rail system to and from Barcelona.

We five women (with tourist written across our foreheads) were prime targets for the bands of roving pick-pocketing gypsies on the trains and in the rail stations. Fortunately for us, friends who had made the same trip some months earlier warned us about their modus operandi—pointing to the ceilings so everyone looked up giving them time to pick your pockets clean. Another favorite of theirs was pretending to wipe something off your clothes, all the while frisking you for valuables.

I have to admit however, it not only added another dimension to our trip, but it gave us something to laugh at as we toasted ourselves over wine each night sitting in the outdoor cafes along the winding narrow streets enjoying Carnaval and the hospitable people of Sitges, Spain.

said CSUF forward Matt Caldwell.

“There are stretches where it seems we are on the road as much as we are in class.”

And it’s difficult for the athletes to keep-up when the resources are not available. Academic Support has only three laptops for the entire athletic population. That’s having three laptops for a group of people that could fill Titan Gym. “McCarthy does a excellent job with the resources she has,” Daniels said.

Academic Support’s budget was so low that they had an equipment sale last week just to help buy another laptop.

“I had to sell my jersey last week,” Caldwell said. “I would have liked to keep it, but you do what you gotta do.”

Athletic Director John Easterbrook and Assistant Athletic Director Maryalyce Jeremiah refused to answer questions or comment concerning CSUF’s athletic graduation rate.

“We do graduate basketball players, but sometimes it takes longer than

the six years we are given,” McCarthy said. “No matter how long it takes for them to graduate, I will continue to work with the players. That’s a promise I made to everyone of them when they came here to CSUF.” CSUF has the sixth lowest graduation rate of all Division I schools, a stat that McCarthy doesn’t understand.

“I don’t know why that is. We have so many choices to give to athletes, but we can only do so much. At some point, the athlete is going to have to be a student,” McCarthy said “You have to remember something,” Daniels said when asked about the low basketball rate. “We recruit student athletes. They are students that happen to play basketball.”

Obviously a change has to be made and it’s going to start within, McCarthy said.

“It’s up to each department to do what is best for the athletes. To take the best proven practice and make it work in the athlete’s own climate.”

ART

n from page 1 cases are taking place.

Every week of this semester, two graduate students and one or two undergraduate students have exhibited their work for peers, professors and potential buyers to see.

Swann said that the galleries are booked fast and the artists have a lot of preparing to do before they can exhibit their work.

The artists that decide to showcase must reserve a gallery a semester in advance and are completely responsible for the publicizing, the transporting and the set-up of their pieces, Swann said.

However, art students seem to be the only ones privy to this information.

In the Exit Gallery, two undergraduate students, Bill Faecke and Adrian Dacanay share the small room for showing both of their works.

On Dacanay’s side of the room, a world of fantasy and reality come together through his sketches and finished pieces, while Faecke’s side of the room depicts something darker.

“I eventually want to do character design…I usually start off with a human head and let it morph into something gross,” said Dacanay, an avid comic book fan.

But Dacanay’s animation instructors advised him to stay away from drawing the well-known super heroes to help him become more creative.

By contrasting dark and light earth tone colors, Faecke’s pieces show his influence by such literary authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury and Yevgeny Zamyatin.

In his artist statement, pinned to the bust of a dress form, Faecke said that he is fascinated with how the human body functions in conjunction with other elements, such as cows.

Maurcio Gomcalves, a comparative literature major, was assigned by his Russian literature professor to view Faecke’s art and relate it to one of the authors studied in class.

“It was very strong for me,” Gomcalves said of the connection that he made between the artist, the authors and himself. “All the pain, and man dominating man, and nature suffering … [Faecke’s] statement was strong, especially with bringing in the writers,” he said.

As the end of the semester draws near and campus art galleries get ready to close for the summer, many of the artists whose ultimate goal is to be able to live off of their work, hope that there will be more shows for them in the future.

“I hopefully will have a show coming up soon,” Swann said. “I

news

Weekend, May 4, 2001

Daily Titan Crossword Puzzle

Answers will be published in the May 11 Daily Titan

ACROSS 1. The “pet detective” 3. The base baseball players go to score 5. Concealed 6. To express gratitude 7. Vindictive anger 9. House made of ice 10. Student 12. A species of trees 14. Mock playfully 16. A visible trace or impression 17.Mandarin and Cantonese are dialects of this language 19. To discover 20. A deception intended for capital gain

21. Grieve 22. A rare shell mollusk that is edible DOWN 1.Capital is Vienna 2. Used when it is raining 4. To repair or build back 6. Cogitation 8. To put somewhere 11. A small cut 13. Having a bearing on the matter at hand 15. A winged celestial being 18. A marine animal that barks

Last Week’s Crossword Puzzle Answer Key

BUDDHISM

n from page 1

that Jesus still loved her and that they would pray for her soul.

The Crummetts’ parents were raised in Christian families and discovered Buddhism in the 1960s, Lisa said. Neither of their parents had a college degree and struggled to make ends meet, Elizabeth continued.

When Lisa’s father began to chant, a key element of the Buddhist religion that is done each day to create a change in one’s life, his draft notice for the Vietnam War was suddenly cancelled. His life turned around and their parents have now been observing Buddhist principles for 35 years.

“We really didn’t think anything of [being Buddhist] until we mentioned it to our friends,” Lisa said.

The three sisters all concurred that they were at times ostracized or excluded because of their unique religion.

“I was poked fun at for being Buddhist in junior high and high school,” Lisa said.

Lisa explained that the three originally observed the religion because their parents told them to, but that they each reached a crisis point in their life where Buddhism was able to help them. Now they each follow it because they believe that it works from personal experience.

Lisa remembers when, as a freshman in high school, a gang threatened her because she had stood up for a friend that the gang had been picking on.

“I realized that they were serious about it and started chanting to not get beat up and resolve it,” Lisa said.

On the day that Lisa was supposed to be attacked, she went to her locker to put her books away. When she turned around a group of girls surrounded Lisa. Although she told them that she didn’t want to fight, one girl hit her from the side.

Just as the rest of the girls were closing in, a loner who Lisa had previously befriended came to save her.

“Monica came to save me. She pulled all these girls off,” Lisa said.

The girl gang was sent to a different school after this incident and Lisa was not bothered again.

Lisa said that the Buddhist principle of Shoten Zenjin, in which the people in your environment come to protect you when you chant, was evident in this situation. From that point on Lisa actively chanted for all of the things in her life.

Elizabeth dedicated herself to Buddhism because she wanted to find her passion in life. At the age of 15, she met a boyfriend whom she was with until the age of 20.

“I knew in my heart that I needed to break up with him,” she said.

Elizabeth said that she felt too dependent on her boyfriend and wanted to experience more of life.

Removing him from her life was the toughest thing that Elizabeth ever had to do, but she was able to gain courage to make this drastic move through chanting.

The two broke up in June of last year, and she has gained independence, hope and a passion for Buddhism that she lacked before.

Lindsay first began to truly practice Buddhism as she prepared for a large Culture Festival for Soka Gakkai International, an organization that teaches and applies Buddhist values. It was important to Lindsay that this festival was successful because of its goal to bring about world peace.

Lindsay said that her chanting for the festival’s success brought her a feeling of happiness and confidence.

The festival was such a huge success that she began to chant on a regular basis.

Currently, the sisters say that their chanting yields success in their daily interactions. Lisa always chants before a test and always studies the information that will be on the test.

“I’m like a sponge when I chant,” Lisa said.

Elizabeth acts like a therapist in her circle of friends because of the peace and logic that Buddhism brings her. People come to her with their problems, which led to her converting many of her friends to the religion. Elizabeth uses Buddhism to find the good in everyone and get

5

along with others better.

Lindsay has recently used Buddhism as a device to heal her three-year relationship with her boyfriend. Through chanting she took a break from him for a couple of weeks, and is coming to realizations about their relationship through her chanting.

The Crummett family also participates in many American cultural traditions that don’t conflict with Buddhism.

They put a Christmas tree in their home during Christmas, celebrate the spring during Easter by eating chocolate or dying Easter eggs, and eat turkey during Thanksgiving.

The Crummetts have melded with the American culture through Buddhism, Lisa said.

The Crummetts’ active involvement with SGI has lead to them to help found the Buddhists of World Peace, a club that is new to Cal State Fullerton this semester. To be Buddhist is not required to be a member of the club.

The club’s goal is to bring about peace and positive change in society through actions, efforts and through example.

In addition to founding the club, all three sisters have other goals.

Lisa is finishing her master’s degree in biology, and will soon apply to earn her doctorate. In addition, she will be getting married in June.

Elizabeth, a senior at CSUF, has just recently changed her major from Biology to Television and Film.

She hopes to one day by involved in cinematography with the Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Lindsay, a freshman at CSUF, plans to one day work with computer animation or special effects in the movies.

The Crummetts are now comfortable with their religion, and are aware that some others view them as being different. Their grandparents on both sides of the family were preachers or evangelists for the Christian church. Lisa said that her grandparents died afraid for their souls.

“We’re the oddball grandkids because we’re Buddhist,” she said.

http://dailytitan.fullerton.edu

Weekend, May 4, 2001

NAFTA expansion makes for future questionable trade deals Michael Del Muro Amidst the angry protests during the recent summit in Quebec with Western Hemisphere neighbors, George W. Bush decided to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by adding 34 other countries within the Americas to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Free Trade of the Americas is unfortunately picking up where NAFTA left off and is going to be the cause of many domestic and foreign problems – especially for the poor and for the environment.

The supporters of this deal ignored the protesters’ complaints and wrote them off as a “very small minority.”

They said that all the countries, including the United States, would benefit tremendously — both economically and politically.‑The free trade would promote democracy throughout Latin America — except for Cuba, which excluded from the deal.

Furthermore supporters state the fear of human rights viola-

tions and the damage to the environment are uncalled for.

Bush said, “It’s clear to me that ours is a hemisphere united by freedom. It’s a partnership that will help us tackle the big challenges that we all face — the education of our children, H.I.V.AIDS, protecting our environment. It’s a strong partnership.”

We have seen where NAFTA has led the United States.‑ Record unemployment, job growth domestically and throughout Mexico, and a booming prison population. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics recent report on unemployment, the unemployment rate in March was at 4.3 percent for those who were looking for jobs.

This looks really good if you are the president promoting a new free trade agreement by saying NAFTA was one of the factors for an unemployment rate that has gone from 7 to 9 percent in the early 1990’s to the current 4.3 percent, as a UCLA economics professor was saying on National Public Radio Tuesday morning.

However, the unemployment numbers are extremely misleading. The correct thing to say is that there has been decline in unemployment within the white community, while blacks and Hispanics are still unemployed

at extremely high levels.

Blacks and Hispanics are also incarcerated at extremely high levels, while whites are overwhelmingly the ones being employed by all the new penitentiaries – which have also been growing at alarmingly soaring levels within the United States.

Where have all the new jobs been coming from if they weren’t from the removal of the North American trade barriers?

This answer is obvious. During the 1990s, high tech companies were growing at tremendous levels.‑ This created new opportunity for some, but for others it created a new type of segregation — “the digital divide.”

The growth in jobs and the virtual evaporation of unemployment masked a new and greater problem.

NAFTA did not help people on all fronts, as the lawmakers would like us to believe. It helped one class of people — the rich.

The environment felt the harsh effects of U.S. corporations not having to abide by U.S. environmental standards in Mexico as a result of NAFTA. Rivers and drinking water became polluted.

Corporations attempted to develop environmentally sensitive land that could have caused the extinction of a multitude of

endangered species.

The belief that NAFTA would help improve human rights is ridiculous.

U.S. corporations now have a number of legal sweatshops in Mexico. Those working in the car manufacturing plants that were once the lifeblood of U.S. cities are getting paid less than half of what those in the United States were receiving.

These human rights violations occurring do not include the revolting way in which prisoners are being treated in our jails.

These free trade agreements are nothing but attempts by the affluent of all North and South American nations to avoid environmental obstacles and rape, exploit and imprison the poor.

The protesters in Seattle were right in 1999 for trying to stop the World Trade Organization’s meeting in Seattle. The protesters in Quebec were also right.

We must say enough is enough.

Protect our planet. Protect our jobs. And protect human rights.

edu

Editorials are the opinion of the editorial board, comprised of the Executive Editor, News Editors and section editors.

Columns are the personal opinion of the writer. They do not reflect those of the university, the faculty or the student body.

Letters to the Editor should be brief and are subject to editing. They must include your full name, year, major and telephone number.

Letters can be mailed to The Daily Titan, College Park 670, CSUF, Fullerton, CA 92834, e-mailed to dailyti-

Does it feel like you have been driving in circles lately?

Finding a parking spot at Cal State Fullerton is getting harder by the day, mainly because even more spots have been taken away for construction of new student housing.

There are several ways to decrease the time spent searching frantically for a spot.

Get to school early.

Arriving with plenty of time to spare, you can drive around the parking lot without worrying and definitely get to your class on time.

Choose the best time to get to the parking lot.

There are certain times when the parking lot is packed and other times when you can just cruise in and park immediately.

The best time to arrive is in between the hour.

If you start looking right before your class starts, say noon, for example, there will be others rushing, but if you arrive at 11:30 it will be less crowded.

n Let the flag fly This is regarding the editorial “State Sends Out Message of Hate.” The Southern Cross (a.k.a. the Confederate Battle Flag) was never an official flag of the confederacy. The Stars and Bars the official flag of the confederacy looked too much like our dear old Stars and Stripes on the battlefield.

It was causing confusion so it was decided to make a‑separate flag to be carried into battle. That flag had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with men and boys a long way from home, fighting to defend a way of life. If that way of life they were fighting to defend is offensive, I’m sorry. But that flag symbolizes nothing more then fighting for something to believe in even when your out-gunned and out-numbered. The battle flag was incorporated into state flags out of respect and remembrance for those who died. And maybe, even to this day, it symbolizes a sad moment in our nation’s history that we don’t ever want to repeat.

Do you want to sweep that time under the rug and forget about it? Forget about all the people on both sides who gave their lives fighting for something they believed in?‑Somebody once said that those who forget their mistakes are destined to repeat them. The war and the cause of it are two things I don’t think anyone wants repeated.

If white supremacists use the Southern Cross or the Stars and Bars as symbols of segregation and hatred they have forgot-

— Del Muro is a Daily Titan Staff Writer any response to this column can be sent via e-mail to dailytitan@yahoo.com

Follow common sense rules.

If drivers applied everyday manners while parking, everyone would find a spot quickly.

One rude frequent occurrence in our parking lots is when someone is waiting in an aisle and another driver puts his/her car directly in front of them.

It makes much more sense for the second driver to wait behind the first car, forming a line. When a person leaves the first driver gets that spot, and the second driver gets the next spot.

Follow someone.

Drive towards the entrance of the school and find students leaving, then follow them out to their car.

This can be difficult if there are already people waiting in the aisles.

Wait it out.

Park your car in an empty aisle, be patient and eventually someone will leave.

The best place to sit in the lane is toward the middle,

ten (or perhaps never read) their history.

The last confederate general to surrender his command was General Stand Watie of the Cherokee Brigade. He had an 18 star version of the Stars and Bars, the five red stars on it stood for the “five civilized nations,” the five Indian tribes that joined the confederacy. Allowing them to join the confederacy while still maintaining their culture and way of life doesn’t sound like hatred and segregation to me. It also sounds like more than the Union did. If the meaning of the flag has been bastardized through ignorance then it is the ignorance that should be erased and not the flag.‑ I’m sorry for my rather lengthy diatribe but you were more correct then you knew in your last paragraph when you said,‑“As long as the flag flies, Mississippi will remain in the past, haunted by a war that was fought nearly 150 years ago, but apparently a symbol of a way of life that is still around.” That way of life is fighting for what you believe in, even when your opponent is bigger, richer, and stronger. It’s protecting what’s yours. And it’s remembering where you came from, the mistakes made along the way, and the people who paid the price.

Deborah‑K. Yackle

Letter to the Editor n Time to negotiate

The Daily Stop circling the car Titan http://dailytitan.fullerton.

By Melissa Kilpatrick

Campus Voices

because if you wait in the very front, other cars will park in front of you leaving you to wait for the first four spots, which are never available.

Pick someone up.

By actually picking up a student walking to their car and driving them to it, you are guaranteed a spot.

This can also be an easy way to get kidnapped!

Be aware of space stealers.

There are drivers out there w h o do not follow rules, and they are always ready to sneak in and take the spot you have been patiently waiting for.

Perhaps not all these ideas are feasible, but when driving in circles, you come up with all kinds of strategies.

— Kilpatrick is a Special to the Daily Titan and any response to this column can be sent via e-mail to dailytitan@

As the California State University begins its contract negotiations with the California Faculty Association, we look forward to constructive conversations about the many issues that affect CSU faculty and students and the high quality of education at the CSU. The CSU recognizes how dedicated our faculty are to students. As a teaching institution, there is less of a focus on research so that CSU faculty can spend more time teaching students. CSU’s appreciation for faculty is demonstrated by the fact their average annual salary of $72,000 is 20 percent higher than the national average. Over the past four years, the CSU faculty salary increases total 23.5 percent compared to the national average of 14.9 percent. Just last year, the CSU increase was 6 percent compared to the national average of 3.5 percent, and the CSU is asking for another 6 percent increase this year. This may be a factor in why only about 1 percent of tenure track faculty choose to leave the CSU for another position annually.

The CSU has made instruction of students a priority, and spends less on administration compared to other comparable national universities. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Education is from the 1995/96 year and shows that universities on average spend 32 percent of their budget on instructors’ compensation, compared to 41 percent at the CSU in the current year. Likewise, the cost of instruction, academic support, student services and maintenance of facilities account for 75 percent of the CSU expenditures, compared to the national average of 51 percent.

Considering the CSU’s significantly increasing enrollment, it is fortunate that

the CSU budget has increased by $843 million over the past three years. Much of that has been spent on hiring new tenure-track faculty. You may hear union activists claim that only one tenure track position has been added in the last five years. However, the fact is that the more than 2,300 tenure track faculty hired over the past five years has helped maintain our low 18:1 student faculty ratio, which keeps CSU class sizes small.

One of the issues you will hear about as the negotiations continue is the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP), through which CSU faculty can choose to ease into retirement. There are about 1,000 faculty in the program systemwide, and in many cases, these faculty teach half as much and actually earn more than before they retired. It’s a very popular faculty benefit.

Ten percent of CSU tenured faculty are in this program and over the past several years, half of retiring faculty have entered the program. However, it also prevents the CSU from hiring full-time tenure track replacements and causes the CSU to hire one or two part-time faculty replacements to ensure that students have access to the courses they need and the small class sizes they expect.

Many such issues in the bargaining are complex and can be misinterpreted.

However, be assured that the CSU realizes that there is no more important factor in the quality of our students’ education than the quality of the faculty. That’s why we are so proud of the high quality of our faculty and will continue to work very hard to support their dedication to students. ‑ — Charles B. Reed/Chancellor of the

State bill regarding sex offenders is debated n Con: Bill will condemn past offenders and restrict their rights as free persons

n Pro: Safety is more important than the rights of people who have committed horrific crimes

For a select few, trying to leave their past behind just became impossible.

A couple of months ago Assemblywoman Patricia C. Bates (R- Laguna Niguel) introduced legislation to "Better protect college students from convicted sexual offenders."

The bill, AB-4, will require sex offenders who plan to be on a college campus as a student or employee to register with law enforcement officials. The campus community would have access to that information.

The Declaration of Independence says our inalienable rights include the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Occasionally, people do things that make us believe that they don’t deserve the right the rest of us enjoy.

When we start to make exceptions, no matter how worthy the cause, we head down the dangerous path of letting the majority of people pick and choose who has which rights.

AB-4 will destroy the right for individuals to move on and the right to make something of oneself.

Everyone walks through life with a certain amount of trust in others— whether it is in their neighbors, the person in front of them at the grocery store or the person sitting next to them in class.

Sometimes that trust turns the average person into a victim – whether it is theft, murder or rape.

A possible new law will help students to be able take a more responsible part in their safety.

The new bill, AB-4, proposed by Patricia C. Bates will require sex offenders to register with campus police if they plan to attend or work at any of California’s college campuses.

A similar law passed in 1996 requires high-risk and serious sex offenders to register with the community they live in. That information is available at all sheriff and police departments with a population of 20,000 people or more.

It is argued that these two laws violate the privacy of an individual – that individual being a sex offender.

Safety of the public should take precedence over the privacy of a sex

By James Reynosa

Bates says, "We should complete the work we began with Megan’s Law. The right to know about the threat of sexual predators must apply on campus as well as off."

Megan’s Law, passed in California in 1996, requires that residents be notified when a convicted sex offender is released from prison and moves into their neighborhood. It was passed when a convicted sex offender murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka near her home in Hamilton Township, N.J. Many people probably believe that people who molest children don’t deserve any rights.

There is no possible way to condone sexual abuse of anyone, especially a child. But it’s wrong to pass a law making access to a college for education or employment impossible as well.

What will happen once someone finds out that a sex offender is on campus? Will this person continue going to school or work without a problem?

Emotions about this issue run very high. There are people who I care deeply about who have been victims of sexual abuse. The people who abused them have never faced legal consequences for it, a fact that angers me even as I write these words.

This bill is viewed as a way to protect college students from convicted

sex offenders by making more students aware of who is around them.

Unfortunately, for every sex offender who is convicted, there are several more who will never get caught. Just as often as they are neighbors, sex offenders are family friends, relatives, baby sitters and other trusted people.

Realistically, this bill will probably do very little to protect the college population from sexual abuse. What it will do is brand certain people for life and give parents a false sense of security.

People who have paid their debt to society should at least be given the opportunity to lead productive, peaceful lives. This bill makes offenders open to ridicule, discrimination or even vigilantism.

Though their crimes are horrible, sex offenders still have rights. We have to protect those rights, no matter how much we hate it.

Once we decide one group of people in this country doesn’t deserve the same rights as everyone else; we may soon see a day when everyone’s rights are put to a referendum.

— Reynosa is Special to the Daily Titan and any response to this column can be sent via e-mail to dailytitan@

By Amy Rottier

offender.

When that person molests a child or rapes a person, he or she breaks the rules of society in a grotesque way.

That person decides not to live by the rules of society, so why should he or she be protected by society? The offender gives up his or her rights as a citizen when they break the law.

Incarcerated persons do not have the right to vote.

Drunken drivers lose their right to drive.

Sex offenders lose their right to a certain amount of privacy.

Public safety is more important.

The offender does not have to walk around campus with a neon sign that says, "I raped a woman in a dark alley."

The Daily Titan is not going to print: "Student Joe Blow use to molest the neighborhood children."

This law puts the responsibility of gaining such knowledge on the students. The whole campus isn’t going to be making a beeline for Public Safety to pinpoint all the sex-offenders on campus.

But if a student is worried about their safety, they can check with Public Safety and if necessary take precautions to protect themself. That is the right of students and faculty.

Obviously something was or is

wrong with a person who would commit such crimes as sex offenses. Just like something is wrong with those who murder. Just because an offender has served his or her time it doesn’t mean that he or she is rehabilitated.

Everyone knows how the system works. A person can be found guilty of a horrible crime and end up serving just a small portion of his or her sentence.

Is that 13 months in jail really going to help people who have committed horrendous acts, such as sex offenses?

Maybe, but chances are that it won’t.

Maybe the offender is truly repentant. Repenting will not stop that person from committing the crime again, especially if there is something truly wrong with them. And repenting will not change the horrible act that has ruined an innocent person’s life forever.

The truth is that everyone is at risk throughout their daily lives, probably much more than they realize. If sacrificing a sex offender’s right to privacy prevents even just one rape, wouldn’t it be worth it?

— Rottier is a Daily Titan Staff Writer and any response to this column can be sent via e-mail to dailyti-

Weekend, May 4, 2001

Race heats up beginning nBASEBALL: CSUF opens difficult stretch of Big West play tonight at Cal Poly

By Damian Calhoun

Daily Titan Asst. Sports Editor

david Rivera/Daily Titan

Kirk Saarloos looks to duplicate his earlier shutout vs. Cal Poly.

This weekend is only the beginning for the Cal State Fullerton Titans.

Beginning tonight, and continuing for the next two weeks, CSUF (35-11, 8-1) will face off against the three closest opponents in the race for the Big West crown.

The Cal Poly Mustangs (28-17, 6-3) are first up on the Titans road to repeating as conference champions.

CSUF owns a one game lead over UC Santa Barbara and a two game lead over both Long Beach State and the Mustangs. While the Titans are trying to knock Cal Poly out the race, at Santa Barbara, LBSU and UCSB will battle in a three-game series.

With three weeks remaining in the conference season, four teams are separated by two games.

After the first half of the conference

race, the Titans sit on top, but head coach Haskell (3-3, 4.20).

George Horton knows that there is more Tomorrow night, Darric Merrell (5work to be done.

2, 1.92) will take the ball for the Titans “We’re proud to be in first after one against Tyler Fitch (5-3, 5.46. The series half of the season, but all of our work concludes Sunday with Kirk Saarloos is still out there,” (11-2, 1.73) lookHorton said. to continue Conference ing Back in March, his magical seathe teams played taking the hill Standings son, a non-conference for the Titans and series at Goodwin Jared Blasdell (4-4, Field, with the 5.40) starts for the School Overall Conf. GB Titans winning Mustangs.

1 CSUF 35-11 8-1 ––– two out of three.

Bryan Gant and In the first 2 UCSB 33-11 7-2 1.0 Phil Thompson two games of the 3 LBSU 29-16 6-3 2.0 leads a very meager first meeting, the 4 Cal Poly 28-17 6-3 2.0 Cal Poly offensive Mustangs and 5 CSUN with a .319 27-19 5-7 4.5 attack the Titans staged batting average.

3-9 6.5 The Mustangs have two tight pitcher’s 6 Sac State 20-29 20-26 1-11 8.5 only hit 20 home duels. Cal Poly 7 Pacific scored three runs runs and enter the in the first days series with a .277 and recorded one team batting averwww Standings as of 5/4www win, in the series age. finale, the Titans Cal Poly’s leadpounded the Mustangs for a 12-0 win. ing pitcher is not in the starting rotation.

This series will pit the same starting Senior closer Nathan Choate (4-1, 1.45, pitchers as the first series. CSUF will seven saves) will look to shut down the send Jon Smith (8-1, 2.82) to mound at Titans in the late innings.

Baggett Field against right-hander Brian On the other hand, the Mustangs own

the most home wins of any team in the conference, 23.

CSUF enters the weekend still blazing like the sun on a hot summer’s day. The Titans have won seven in a row and 22 of the last 24 games.

Sophomore shortstop Mike Rouse and junior center fielder Chris Stringfellow continues to lead the parade. Rouse leads the team with a .382 batting average and Stringfellow is close on his heels with a .381 average.

“When things are going good, good things happen,” Rouse said after the Titans midweek win against Pepperdine.

“We have to continue doing the things that we are capable of as we start the second half of Big West.”

The second half of conference play resumes with a fury for the Titans, facing the three best teams in the conference.

Coach Horton knows that if things continue to go as they have gone, then his team should return home still in control of their own destiny in the conference race.

“We still have our sight set on our seasonal goal of winning the conference title,” Horton said. “If we go out and respect our opponent, but play our game, then we should win what we call the ‘18-

Aggies final road block between Titans and championnSOFTBALL: Last place Aggies stand in the way of Titans winning conference title

By Caesar Contreras

Daily Titan Copy Editor It couldn’t have been scripted better.

As the ninth-ranked Cal State Fullerton softball team closes its 2001 regular season, the Titans enter this weekend’s series against Utah State with a two-game lead over Pacific for the Big West championship. And if there was need for any panic in the CSUF dugout, they should take solace in the fact that the Aggies come into the series with a dismal 11-36 record including a 5-13 conference mark.

Titan Head Coach Michelle

Gromacki knows her team needs only one win for a second consecutive Big West title and is confident about this weekend.

“We are extremely confident going into this weekend, we are looking to win 21 innings of softball and are very confident, we are not looking ahead.”

CSUF enters the weekend with a 43-12 record including a 16-2 Big West record.

The Titans only setbacks in the Big West have come from nationally ranked UOP and Cal State Northridge. But against the Big West’s other teams, CSUF has outscored Cal Poly SLO, Long Beach State, Sacramento State and UC Santa Barbara by a 66-4 margin and in those four series, the Titans only allowed runs in two games against Sacramento State.

“We are doing the things we should be doing, we are consistently playing good ball and that’s all we really want

to do,” Gromacki said.

Despite what their record shows, the Aggies do enter the series with a bit of momentum. The team has won four of its last five games and catcher Breanne Nickle has been swinging a wicked bat of late.

After hitting .135 over the first 30 games of the season, Nickle has hit .341 over the team’s last 15 games and was named Big West Field Player of the Week. Her 7-of-18 with two home runs and 11 runs batted in nabbed her the honors as she led the Aggies to two wins over Southern Utah and UCSB. On the mound, the Aggies enter the series with the pitching staff of Kristin Hommel (1-17), Xochitl Ramirez (4-8) and Lisa Spencer (6-11), Spencer carries the best ERA of the trio with a 4.01 average.

The weak Aggie pitching staff will benefit Titan sophomore catcher Jenny Topping, who enters the series on the

verge of winning the Big West Triple Crown.

Currently, Topping leads the Big West in batting average (.419), RBIs (56) and is tied with teammate Yasmin Mossadeghi for the lead in home runs with 13. While Topping has the RBI and batting average titles pretty much locked up, the home run title is up for grabs.

“They [Jenny&Yasmin] get along really well and strive to do good, I’m not sure if that’s their main focus this weekend but if Jenny would get the crown, it would be well-deserved,” Gromacki said.

If Topping accomplishes the feat, she will be the second player in Big West history to do so, UNLV’s Kim Rodina managed the feat in 1995.

The series begins on Saturday at the Titan Softball Complex with a doubleheader beginning at 1p.m. and concludes on Sunday at 1p.m.

david Rivera/Daily Titan

Triple crown contender Jenny Topping has Titans in the top spot.