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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 22
Hulking Up
Student Life in South Korea
Muscle-building supplements are popular among athletes SPORTS, p. 6
Education is the main focus of university students THE HUB, p. 3
Daily Titan
Tuesday October 10, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Counselors Needed at CSUF’s Camp Titan
Cutting Clinic Offered by CSUF Women’s Center will address self-mutilation in Wednesday workshop By KATY FRENCH
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Summer program helps disadvantaged children find friends and mentors By GISELLE PHILLIP
For the Daily Titan news@dailytitan.com
Associated Students Inc. is recruiting 50 Cal State Fullerton students to become counselors for next summer’s Camp Titan. The requirements are a 2.0 GPA, good disciplinary standing and a background check. Tony Ragazzo, director of office of program support of ASI, said that these counselors will be putting in around 200 hours, which includes training and camp. Camp Titan began in 1969 when a group of students from CSUF began a philanthropic program. The program gave about 150 underprivileged Orange County children the opportunity to meet new friends and boost their confidence. For some of us underprivileged may mean children who come from low-income families, or are from group homes, or were taken away from their parents, such as abused children and foster children said Kyle Rush, co-director of Camp Titan. The children, ranging in age from 7 to14, will attend the camp at the YMCA Camp Oaks in Big Bear, Ca. ASI President Heather Williams said that her organization is inclined to help Camp Titan in any way possible. Fraternities and sororities help raise money during Greek Week. Last year ASI received about $3,000 from change collection jars placed in the bookstore, the Hungry Titan, The Yum, Titan Express and the Brief Stop. Kyle Rush, who is the co-director of Camp Titan said that these collection jars. In addition to SEE CAMP - PAGE 2
By Songha lee/Daily Titan Photo Editor
MIcroMOUSE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) club member Jacob Kashiwada, junior electrical engineering major, is one of several members working on building a MicroMouse, an autonomous robot able to analyze and solve a maze on its own. In the foreground is a sample MicroMouse built as a senior project in 2004. The robot will look similar to the one currently being built for a competition in the spring semester.
To Build a Better Mouse
Cal State Fullerton engineering students seek to create a maze-solving robot By JOE SIMMONS
Daily Titan Copy Chief jsimmons@dailytitan.com
While it’s just bits of plastic, aluminum and wires now, the robot being created by the Cal State Fullerton chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers will be racing about mazes next semester. The group, called IEEE by its members, is creating the robot as part of a national competition called MicroMouse. The competition has two parts. In the first, the robots have to navigate a 16 by 16 square maze, reaching the center in the shortest time possible. The group’s aim is to have the robot complete the maze in about a minute. That’s a competitive time for Southern California and other regional competitions, said Sam Rokni, a graduate engineering student who helps the group. National times are much quicker, averaging about 12 seconds. Recently, a Japanese group had a robot finish the maze in just under 7 seconds. The second part of the competi-
By SONGHA LEE/Daily Titan Photo Editor
A-Maze-Ing - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) club members set up a portion of a maze to demonstrate what the micromouse will have to solve on it’s own for the spring semester competition. tion is for robots to map as much This new team is something of a of the maze as possible. If enough return to the fore for CSUF. In the teams don’t finish the maze to place, early ’90s, the college had several then teams are awarded based on teams that did very well, including a how much of the maze their robot first place showing at the state level. mapped within a 10-minute period. Most of the robots never finish the SEE MICROMOUSE- PAGE 2 mazes, said Rokni.
The Women’s Center will be presenting a workshop entitled “Cutting and other Self-Injurious Behaviors” Wednesday afternoon from 12 to 1 p.m. in UH 205. The workshop is part of an October series recognizing domestic violence awareness month, said Sue Passalacqua, associate director of the Women’s Center. The workshop will be led by Dr. Allison Kress, an expert in treating self-injurious behaviors and one of the few specialists in the field in California. “Self-mutilation is just starting to be publicly talked about, and I believe it is extremely important that the public be aware of this societal problem,” Kress said in an e-mail interview. Cutting is a specific form of selfinjury inflicted by individuals who are often troubled by emotional issues and seek an outlet to cope, translating psychological pain into physical form. Cutters will often cut themselves on the forearms, legs or other concealable areas. “Physical pain is used as a distraction from the emotional pain that they believe is beyond their control. It is a form of self-medication,” Kress said. One particular misconception about cutting is that cutters intend to commit suicide. This is not generally the case but the side effects of cutting can certainly be fatal. But beyond the physical threat the emotional scars caused by the inability to properly manage emotions can long outlast the physical scars. Many cutters begin in their teens, at a time when individuals are particularly sensitive. This was the case for one female student at Cal State Fullerton. The 21-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, admits that she engaged in cutting from the ages of 14 to16. She led a “normal” and active life but suffered an immense amount
of emotional distress inflicted by an abusive boyfriend and an intense athletic schedule. “I’d just wait until my family went to bed and do it with an old razor my dad had laying around,” she said. Describing the pain as “addicting,” she would cut her wrists and ankles but hide her injuries with wristbands while playing basketball. Her team mates knew about it and her parents laughed at her, telling her to stop trying to get attention which she said, she did want. “I wanted people to know I wasn’t in a good place,” she said. She was reminded of the ordeal when she recently encountered an admitted cutter and offered to counsel them. She knows it was destructive and has not engaged in the behavior since her teens. “Inflicting bodily injury is never a healthy thing…it’s awful,” she said, also noting that because it is easily concealable, it is likely that more people engage in cutting than we suspect. Kress said research indicates that 12 percent of college students engage in self-injury and “females are twice as likely to self-mutilate compared to males.” With about 60 percent of CSUF composed of women, the Women’s Center is an appropriate place for this discussion. But it is not only females that can benefit from the workshop. Individuals who have cut, do cut or are interested in learning about the behavior, are urged to attend. “We have a huge population of students who are parents,” Passalacqua said. “We have a huge population of students who are going into mental health or the helping professions, so this helps them prepare.” Though Kress said this is not a new form of self-injury, it is now becoming more openly talked about in the medical community. Recognizing the problem is the first step to recovery and there are more resources available for cutters today than ever before. “It is important for them to seek professional help, because usually SEE CUTTING - PAGE 2
Bring Home the Fullerton Arboretum with the ‘Potting Shed’ New store has plants native to California and bird feeders for sale By Rachel Douglass
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
The Grand Opening of a potting shed took place Oct. 7 at the Cal State Fullerton Arboretum. Native Californian plants and hummingbird feeders were on sale as the new potting shed officially opened its doors. Shrubbery enthusiasts Jennifer Kesterson and Christine Henson
drove from their LaVerne homes to fill their bright red wagon with new plants. “We first came down for ‘Green Scene’ last spring,” Henson said. After only a handful of visits, Kesterson and Henson were so enamored with the atmosphere of the Arboretum they decided to become members. It took four months and $70,000 in donations from groups such as the Dhont Family Foundation to construct the potting shed, which was built almost entirely by volunteers and Arboretum mem-
bers. The potting shed is the result of money raised by a group of benefactors. Potting shed manager Evie Tyra decorated the location with accruements such as the Heritage House collection, white garden chandeliers and ceramic Koi fish. The potting shed not only offers its guests “garden goodies” but also a wide variety of rare and unusual plants, said Tyra. “These are things you can’t find at Home Depot,” she said. Members will receive advance notice of all special events, free ad-
mission to the annual “Green Scene” garden show, and discounts on Arboretum purchases. Arboretum officials emphasized the importance of membership and the ongoing efforts of volunteers and private members to maintain the facility. An individual membership costs $35 annually while a family membership costs $60. One of the Arboretum’s volunteers, Juanita Mueller, offered guests planting advice and explained the
Tomorrow The Student Body
ONLINE www.dailytitan.com
GREEN TEA the Magical Elixir?
TITAN LIVE
Article explores the facts and the fables behind the popular beverage.
By RACHEL DOUGLASS/Daily Titan
SEE POTTING- PAGE 2
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PLANT SHOPPING - Arboretum members Jennifer Kesterson and Christine Henson decide on which California native plants to bring home.
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