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
After watching surfers, a student realizes her passion for photography
INSIDE OPINION: Graduation inspires varied 5 nreflections from students moving on
—see Perspectives, page 6
SPORTS: Klosterman, Comfort and 12 nStringfellow reflect on what matters as their time with the Titans nears its end
T u e s d ay
Vo l u m e 7 4 , I s s u e 5 2
M a y 28, 2002
Discrimination lawsuits plague nLITIGATION: A group of six former and current employees claim the university treated them unfairly By Contributing Reporters in Communications 335 Special to the Titan
It was late March when Sam Rodriguez and Michael Suarez stood alongside the fountain in front of Langsdorf Hall. The two men, along with their lawyer, were being interviewed about the pending lawsuit they just filed against Cal State Fullerton alleging racial discrimination.
As a spring breeze sprinkled cool spray from the fountain around the three men, Silas Abrego, the associate vice president of student affairs, approached Rodriguez and draped his arm on his shoulder. Pushing it off, Rodriguez said, “We are not friends.” To hear the plaintiffs tell it, CSUF is far from being a multicultural bastion of diversity and actually condones institutional bias. Their lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that, among others, Robert Palmer, vice president for student affairs, “used his position ….to harass, discriminate, intimidate and retaliate against each of the plaintiffs because they were Hispanic.” Besides Rodriguez and Suarez, four other Latinos joined in the suit. About one-quarter of CSUF’s
estimated 30,000 student population is Latino. Emblematic of the sensitive issues raised by the lawsuit (two of the men accused of discrimination, for example, are black), university officials unanimously declined to comment. “I can’t talk about a lawsuit under litigation,” Palmer said. During an intramural investigation of similar charges made last year, university officials vigorously denied any discriminatory behavior and pointed to the levels of racial diversity found at all levels on campus. President Milton Gordon said in a letter that was part of the 2001 investigation that CSUF’s track record on hiring and promoting Latinos “places the university among…the top in the country.” The lawsuit has escalated an
ongoing debate: Is CSUF failing to treat some of its own fairly despite its claim as a color-blind meritocracy? Or are disgruntled employees and former workers playing the race card for personal gain, jeopardizing legitimate causes down the road? The latest lawsuit doesn’t specify a monetary remedy; but in the past two years the university has settled four lawsuits, shelling out about $1.3 million in claims. Three of the lawsuits alleged sexual harassment, according to the Los Angeles Times. CSU has a track record of settling such cases out of court. In April, Cal State Monterey Bay settled a similar lawsuit, granting three Latino employees $1 million in cash and $1.5 million in scholarships for low-income students on the
The home stretch
Central Coast campus. Fallout over the lawsuit could tarnish the university’s image and weaken its recruiting efforts among prospective students. Last spring, for example, a group formed by Rodriguez staged a demonstration in front of Langsdorf Hall. Protesters carried signs and shouted, “Si se puede!” (Yes, we can!). The protesters were captured by news cameras as high school students on a university tour tried to make sense of what was happening on their potential campus. Moreover, there’s always a need for qualified faculty, so current or potential employees might look elsewhere. Another unintended consequence could see copycat students or employees trying to capitalize on
the strained ethnic atmosphere by filing false claims. Rodriguez, a graduate student, has dipped into the racial well several times in the past three years. In 1999, he filed his first discrimination complaint, citing intimidation by his former department, Enrollment Management/University Outreach. Later, he founded the Committee of Accountable Management, ostensibly to monitor any mismanagement on campus. According to the current lawsuit, a hostile work environment made it impossible for the plaintiffs to do their jobs. They also accused the administration of covering up the results of investigations and of imposing a
nCOMPETITION: A CSUF team ranked No. 1 for the fifth time in the Small Business Institute Case Awards
Through this course, graduate teams spend a full semester focusing on a single company and eventually present recommendations for improvement at the company. “It is a real tribute to the skills and motivation of our MBA students, who bring an interesting mix of prior business experiences with them into the program,” Hugstad said. “Their talents, combined with the curriculum they have taken, along with some guidance throughout the consulting engagement have led to a very successful program, where companies and students both benefit.” Learning how to accurately analyze and consult is the key lesson for students. “The greatest challenge was that we had to balance what our clients wanted versus what our professors wanted,” said team member ChoNghiep Ho. The recent graduate said the clients wanted a marketing plan, while the professors expected a comprehensive business plan that went beyond marketing. But he said that he doesn’t regret the hassle. “I gained a lot from (the course), it made me relearn everything in my MBA program in order to figure out real-world solutions,” he said. Pleasing both client and professor was not the only challenge team members said they had to face. “The greatest challenge as an individual was the trust factor,”
MBA students win first place By Sabrina Sakaguchi
Daily Titan Staff Writer
LAILA DERAKSHANIAN/Daily Titan
Students study in the Titan Student Union in preparation for final exams. The TSU is open for late-night cram sessions.
LAWSUIT/ 9
Up against some 50 teams from 250 universities and colleges, a Cal State Fullerton graduate team recently came away with its fifth first-place win in seven years for the College of Business Administration and Economics. The five-member team spent about 1,100 hours reviewing, analyzing and critiquing all the business aspects of Cool Jet Systems, a local manufacturing and machining company, as a part of the annual Small Business Institute Directors’ Case Awards. “The major benefits for our students is to give them a real-life business experience which serves to integrate all their course work before they leave the MBA program,” said marketing professor Paul Hugstad. “They develop not only an appreciation for how the various business functions must work together, but also the problems of actually getting companies to accept and implement their recommendations.” Initially, the case study is part of the capstone course for MBA students, BUAD 591 Comprehensive Business Management.
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Survey reveals company’s economic optimism nFUTURE: A report stated that several businesses will be stable or improve within the next quarter By Sabrina Sakaguchi
Daily Titan Staff Writer As news spread about company cutbacks and high unemployment, some local business executives are optimistic for the next quarter, according to a recent survey conducted by the College of Business Administration and Economics. Some 67 percent of the 109 respondents of the Business Sentiment Survey said that they believe the overall activity of his or her industry will remain stable in the third quarter. “(The) O.C. economy is highly diversified and therefore resilient,” said Anil Puri, dean of the college. “It has
suffered less and is recovering better than many other regions.” Puri, who is also co-director of the Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies, said there is a need for surveys focusing on the local economy like the CBE survey. “There is little information on the state of the business and economy that is available on a timely basis,” Puri said. In a recent column, The New York Times market analyst Gretchen Morgenson said there definitely is a need and a desire for accurate economic information more frequently throughout the year. The spring survey looked at how well companies did in the previous quarter and executives’ forecasts for each company and industry. About 24 percent of the respondents represented financial service companies. Other industries represented included business services, manufacturing, real estate, auto, computer, construction, health care, marketing and retail.
Surveyed companies with annual sales or gross revenue above $100 million was 27 percent, while the next largest group of companies, 23 percent, had less than $1 million. The largest group of respondents, 25 percent, had between 101 and 1,000 employees. “Presently, we are working with all companies that will participate,” Puri said. According to the survey’s final report, only 14.6 percent of the 745 “valid surveys” sent were returned. But Puri is confident in the survey results and said the survey was a good indicator of the future of the local economy. “(The survey) is also consistent with other data that we collect on the state of the local and national economies,” Puri said. A slight majority of companies surveyed (49 percent) saw an increase in sales and revenue in the second quarter. Although 39 percent of the respondents said there was an increase in
operating profits before taxes, the majority had small to no change in staffing levels, equipment investments or labor costs. When asked to make forecasts of external factors in the next quarter, 64 percent said, the overall economy is the most significant facing their companies. Government regulation fell second in significance with companies at 16 percent. Despite a majority concern with external factors in the overall economy, 63 percent of the respondents said they expect their own company’s gross sales and revenue to increase somewhat in the next three months. “It is positive, but growth will be slow in the first half of the year,” Puri said. “The survey respondents said their revenues and profits were higher but there will be slower improvement in employment.” Puri was assisted by Lee Cockerill, research associate at the Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies.
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Sabrina Sakaguchi/Daily Titan