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Ray Charles performs at the House of Blues
INSIDE A young boy dons 8 nthePERSPECTIVES: robes of a monk for the summer
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n SPORTS: Women’s soccer wins a 2-1 21 exhibition against Cal State Bakersfield
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Harassment suit disputed by universinCOURT: Professor still plagued by a hostile working environment after winning a settlement
By Amy Rottier
Daily Titan News Editor After losing a $311,000 sexual harassment suit, Cal State Fullerton decided to retaliate against the assistant biology professor with an appeal rather than stop the harassment. Out of fear for her job, Sandra Banack filed suit against CSUF in March 2000 for several years of sexual harassment that created a
hostile working environment. Even after the court decision, the harassment continues, Banack said. The suit was prompted by a letter of reprimand that the court found to falsely accuse Banack of violating her Department of Fish and Game permit by trespassing during a field trip in February 1998. Margaret Atwell, associate vice president of Academic Affairs, informed Banack that a second let-
ter could result in her termination. Because Banack claims she did nothing wrong to prompt the first letter, she took the university to court to protect her job. Atwell could not comment due to university policy prohibiting the discussion of personal information. The university recently informed Banack that the letter would be removed from her file, although they previously refused to do so in spite of the court’s decision. Banack felt the university handled the situation poorly, all the way up to President Milton Gordon
who initially rejected her appeal to remove the letter from her file and authorized the appeal to the court. As for the harassment, Banack says that she has survived so far and this semester will be no different. Banack became a victim of harassment shortly after she began working at CSUF in the fall of 1997. Banack said that members of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee on campus aggressively went after her reputation and ultimately her job. IACUC oversees animal research on campus and is responsible for determining
and permitting appropriate research and field activities. Banack must go through the committee to collect animals for her studies. The harassment began with the committee continuously requiring Banack to resubmit protocols, which were capriciously rejected as unacceptable, according to the lawsuit. Vickie Langille, who then worked for the IACUC, told Banack that she and the other members planned to treat Banack differently than the male professors and that she had better watch out, the lawsuit said. Banack was later accused of tres-
passing during a February 1998 field trip to Carbon Canyon. John Chappell of the IACUC claimed that a student reported the trespassing. The “whistler blower” policy on campus that protects those who report wrong-doings prevented Chappell from producing a witness. Through the court it was found out that the information came from a student who heard from another student that trespassing might have occurred,”, said Keith Walden, Banack’s lawyer.
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CSU in need of full-time faculty nEDUCATION: Instructor recruitment suffers due to heavy workload and lack of competitive salaries By Amy Rottier
Daily Titan News Editor The future of faculty and students hangs in limbo as bargaining between the California Faculty Association and CSU has hit a wall. Unable to come to an agreement, the two groups have entered into mediation in attempt to move forward for the benefit of all. A strike may loom in the future of CSU if the mediation and fact-finding process cannot find a common ground for the groups, said G. Nanjundappa, president of CFA’s Fullerton Chapter. Since 1994, CSU has increased by about 35,000 students and Nanjundappa claims that the net total of new tenure-track faculty hired is one. The system has many more positions than can be filled, he said. This year, Cal State Fullerton hired about 52 new tenure-track employees. However, that doesn’t fill the gap made by faculty who have retired or left, Nanjundappa said. “Hiring 52 people looks good, but it is not enough,” he said. The 52 have filled some vacant positions but not all, many more need to be hired. While Nanjundappa is claiming only one new tenure-track faculty member has been added in the last five years, the Chancellor’s Office has different numbers. Colleen Bentley-Adler, director of Public Affairs for the Chancellor’s Office, claims that over the past five years CSU has hired 23,000 new tenure-track faculty members making the net gain 241. Although this statistic is substantially higher, the ratio still seems lacking at 241 faculty added for 35,000 students. Although it is a struggle to keep up when the system is losing senior facul-
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ty to retirement, said Ephraim Smith, vice president of academic affairs at CSUF, “we are doing all right.” The universities automatically make new positions as they grow so a constant teacher/student ratio remains, Smith said. The reason CSU has a difficult time hiring faculty is because salaries are not competitive and the workload is very high, according to the CFA. A study by the California Post Secondary Education Commission found salaries in the CSU system to be eight percent below salaries of comparable schools. CFA is asking administration to make salaries attractive enough to recruit faculty. To fill positions that cannot attract full-time faculty, more and more part-time faculty members are being hired. This becomes a problem for students because part-time faculty is not around to mentor students after class or supervise projects, Nanjundappa said. “These are the essential things we need to do to ensure education is imminent,” he said. The universities need more permanence because the increase of part-time faculty is detrimental to the students. Bentley-Adler disagrees. She believes that most of the part-timers are very dedicated to the students. In the latest compensation budget, salary and benefits for faculty were reduced from four to two percent, according to the CFA. The Chancellor’s Office received an eight percent increase. Nanjundappa says that that they know the money is in the budget somewhere to increase money for salary and compensation. But the budget has been provided by the state and money cannot be taken away from one group and given to another, Bentley-Adler said. There is only so much funding. The CFA is not looking for all the money right now, but a commitment to bridge the gap in two or three years, Nanjundappa said. Other issues on the table include getting faculty the same amount of money for participating in year-round operations, such as teaching summer
ADAM BYRNES/Daily Titan
Opening the celebration of Pakistani Independence at Cal State Fullerton, AnamAli recites passages from the Quran.
CSUF opens nation-wide event
Thousands participate in the sixth annual celebration hoping to educate and spread cultural awareness among California’s largest Pakistani population By Kathleen Gutierrez
Daily Titan Detour Editor It is one of the most expansive minority events in Southern California. Yet, those who reside outside the circle of Pakistani-American culture may never hear of the Independence Day celebration held annually at Cal State Fullerton. The event, which occurred on Aug. 11, is now in its sixth year according to Wajahat Farouk, outgoing president of the CSUF Pakistani Students Association (PSA). “This is the first of the three nation-wide events for Pakistani Independence Day and it is the largest of all,” he said.
New York and San Francisco run a close second and third, respectively. They have yet to match the CSUF’s attendance, which reached nearly 10,000 attendees in one night. Farouk said that out of respect for the three celebrations, the other two cities schedule their observance on different days, giving Pakistanis the chance to attend every ceremony. CSUF is always first. Farouk, a Pakistani national, studied in the United States at CSUF and received his master’s degree in Advertising this past May. He actively participated in the last three Independence Day festivities and moved back home to Pakistan just after this year’s celebration. He left a strong legacy of cultural awareness
for future members of PSA. “We are trying to bring families together to teach children about our culture since we live so far away,” said Shazia Peshimam, CSUF student and current PSA president. Part of the cultural awareness is based on publicity. It is not known whether the mass Orange County society knows how strong the presence of Pakistanis really is, especially in Fullerton. Local media tend to ignore the event, while local Pakistani-Americans spread the word. If the entire county knows about them, it is okay, Peshimam said, but it appears that the
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Parking woes continnCAMPUS: High expense fees aim to alleviate the crunch as CSUF’s crowded lots accommodate a growing student population By Heather Blair
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre holds 16,000 people. The Arrowhead Pond holds 18,900 people. Cal State Fullerton tries to accommodate 30,000 people. But with little room left, there are only 9,000 people who are able to park on campus. During the first week of school,
thousands of students drove down designated paths to search for the elusive parking spot. Like ants marching back from a picnic, one by one the cars filed down each aisle until there was no more room. Maximum capacity had been reached. But CSUF Parking and Transportation Services had anticipated the shortcoming, and tried to implement several programs for the students to choose from. It is widely known that CSUF is a commuter campus, and with record enrollment this semester, students should try to plan ahead, said Paulette Blumberg, associate director for the Parking and Transportation. “Between campus roadways, stack parking and the PA lawn we were able to have an additional 1,000 parking spots,” Blumberg said.
“That would’ve been more people that were just circling.” This semester Bill Barrett, associate vice president for administration, approved using the Performing Arts lawn as a parking lot for the first three weeks of school. The cars are only parked on the lawn between 8 a.m. and 2.pm., which are critical times, Blumberg said. Stack parking has made its return to campus as well. CSUF has contracted AmpCo to run their program in Lots, A, B and G through the week before Thanksgiving. If students have to park in lots that are far from the central campus, they can use the Titan Shuttle to provide transportation to and from the inner
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CHRIS TENNYSON/Daily Titan
The Performing Arts lawn took the overflow of the distant lots and stacked parking . The campus can only accommodate 9,000 cars.