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University Life in Iraq
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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 14
Student life abroad similar to student life here in the States THE HUB, p. 3
Titan Soccer
Titans hope to build on Vegas win as they go up against Irvine this week SPORTS, p. 6
Daily Titan
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Special Election to Fill Senate Seat CSUF students will not be able to vote because it is a personnel matter By KEVIN COLE
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
By David Osborne/Daily Titan
A friend indeed - Amelia Diaz, sophomore French major (right) shows off a Braille touch pad that she uses with her laptop. Her friend Cristina Jones, a freshman music major, stands behind her.
Blind Students Find Strength in Each Other By Kevin cole
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
It is a rite of passage for Amelia Diaz and Cristina Jones to move out of the house. But their parents want to keep them free from harm, hurt and disappointment. “I am going to be moving out with my best friend next June,” said Diaz, a Cal State Fullerton sophomore majoring in French. Diaz said she and Jones are like sisters and can take out their frustrations on each other. On the other hand, they exchange quips constantly to reduce their stress levels. “We both have to get better at cooking,” said Jones, a CSUF freshman studying vocal perfor� mance. “We both burn things on the stove,” Jones said. “But we are pretty much OK, I suppose.” “Yeah, at least you don’t burn oven mitts on the stove, although that was not directly my fault,” Diaz joked. Both the girls are now blind. Jones had partial sight at birth while Diaz was born blind. They have known each other for 12 years and been inseparable for
nine of those, Diaz’s mother Rosa said. Rosa still doesn’t really want Diaz to go. She wants her daugh� ter to stay around until she is done with college. Diaz said her mother’s reluctance is mainly cultural and not related to her blindness. Her mother was raised in the Domini� can Republic. There, girls stay with their parents until they’re married, Diaz said. Moving out is about indepen� dence, and while Rosa said Diaz can be independent while staying at home, she doesn’t really live up to the promise, Diaz said. Both girls realize their mothers mean well. She said her mom comes into the room to wake her up 10 min� utes before the alarm is set to go off. Many blind people live very in� dependently. Blind students access information differently, but aren’t really otherwise different from other students, said Paul Miller, CSUF director of Disabled Stu� dents Services “I mean commuting isn’t a problem,” Diaz said. “We take the bus and everything, but we just want to be independent.” One time when Jones and Diaz
were at Cerritos Mall, Jones was getting irritated because her mom was telling her not to buy a skirt because it made her look fat. She said she just snapped and told her mother they could do it on their own. Her mother left to pick up her other daughter while Diaz and Jones shopped by themselves. Jones said they would take the clothes and feel them and they would say to each other, “what the heck is this? This is pretty weird stuff.” Jones said the jeans had an elas� tic front and then the clerk told them they were in the maternity section. They went on looking for clothes until they realized they had wandered into a men’s shoe store. After that, they would stick their heads in to a store, sniff and move on if it had the new shoe smell. Jones said the clerk would ask to help them. Their humor would come out with a joking response. “No, we are just looking,” they said. When they were 6 they used to think that they hated each other, Diaz said, which caused them to avoid each other. They had never spoken and don’t remember how they started talking. When Diaz was 7 and Jones was
6 they started taking tap dance classes together. They continued to go to Cypress Community Center every week for tap dancing until last year, said Rosa. University life complicates their starting up with tap dancing again. Diaz’s mother said the Braille In� stitute choir that they belonged to for nine years was excellent. Jones, as a soprano, got the National Choral Award last year, Veronica Rosales, choir director at Anaheim High School, said. She was one of two chosen in the district as a soloist for the honors choir. “Her talent is completely natu� ral,” Rosales said. “That’s what is so amazing.” Other students would come to Diaz and Jones sing, Zofia Run� dzia, an Anaheim High School French teacher, said. During lunch they would come and sing in her class. They attracted other students who would come and eat lunch there. The pair’s general music tastes are pretty much the same, Diaz said. Jones said her dream job was to
Cal State Fullerton’s special elec� tions are being held this week to de� termine who will have a seat on the faculty personnel committee. Diana W. ��������������������� Guerin��������������� , professor of child and adolescent studies����� ���� and chair of the Academic Senate, said this is an election because someone was promoted and the faculty at large has a right and responsibility to elect their personnel committee. Essentially, the faculty is just replac� ing a person who got promoted with another faculty member. Richard Lippa, CSUF professor of Psychology �������������������� and����������������� chairman ������� o������ f����� the faculty personnel committee���������� ,��������� said ��� he� deal��������������������������������� s�������������������������������� with cases like retention, pro� motions, tenure decisions and dis� agreement in the University�. He said if ��������������������������� a dean disagrees with a department chair or the department personnel committee disagrees with the dean, the committee is also in place to review cases like that. In cases where departments do not have approved personnel of� ficers, ��������������������������� the committee�������������� would review the files.� ��������������������������� The committee�������������� also review��s� department personnel standards, as well as the University personnel standards��.� When terms expire or vacancies occur, the Senate nominates a can� didate for each vacant position, ac� cording to Academic Senate Bylaw 97-3. All members of the faculty
are informed of the nomination at least two weeks before the deadline for nominating petitions. All faculty can nominate other candidates by petitions with the signatures of ten faculty members. The ballot indicates whether a candidate was nominated by the Academic Senate or by faculty. Former������������������� committee member, John Erickson, was named interim department chair of the finance de� partment in the college of business. Subsequently, he was promoted to associate dean and as management he couldn’t serve on the personnel committee. Guerin said the faculty are re� quired by their bylaws to elect the personnel and they have the right to write in other people. She said it was hard to find one person to serve because it is a big job, Guerin said. They meet every Monday for three hours and outside of that to review files. The executive committee nomi� nates all people for committees on this campus. The alternative is they can nomi� nate themselves or the college of business could have their own per� son that they want to nominate as a write-in. The faculty vote in this election includes tenured, probationary and full-time lecturers; counseling and psychological services; librarians; and athletics, according to Irene Matz, assistant professor of Com� munication Studies and chair of the Academic Senate Elections Com� SEE ELECTION - PAGE 2
STRETCH IT OUT
SEE FRIENDS - PAGE 2
Engineer to Speak for Heritage Month By AARON HOLTSCLAW
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Professional engineers Frank Serna and Jaime Oaxaca will be speaking in the Titan Student Union pavilion at noon today in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The title for the event is “Denial is Not Just a River in Egypt” and is sponsored by both the Society of Mexican American Engineers and
Scientists and the Society of Hispan� ic Professional Engineers chapters at Cal State Fullerton. “It’s a great opportunity for the younger students to see two older Hispanic engineers that have blazed the trails for us,” said Steven Her� nandez, president of SHPE. “It will be good to know what kind of paths they had to take to get to where they are so I can see which hurdles and obstacles will come in my way,” said Hernandez, who as�
pires to become an engineer. “I am really excited that they got Jaime Oaxaca to speak at this event,” said Adrian Hermosaillo, president of MAES. Serna was a founding member of MAES while Oaxaca founded SHPE to help promote higher education for Hispanics in the field of engi� neering. “This will be a monumental event because you can hear them speak for free,” Mesa Cooperative Representa�
tive Crystal Castellanos said. Castel� lanos organized the event along with Cesar Naza. “It’s an easy way of telling the campus that Hispanics are com� ing out and looking for a higher education,” said Naza. “Seeing Ser� na and Oaxaca shows us that we as Hispanics can reach a professional level.” Attendees do not have to be a member of either club in order to at� tend the event.
Tomorrow The Student Body
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Egg Donation
TITAN LIVE
Motivated by a desire to help other people, a student donates her eggs. She shares her experience in this story.
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By juliane masciana/For the Daily Titan
FEEL THE BURN - Lindsey Geoghan took advantage of the Kinesiology department’s drop-in fitness class “Guts Butts and Thighs” on Thursday.
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