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DailyTitan
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Since 1960 Volume 84, Issue 23
The ballots are in: see what CSUF students enjoy in O.C. BEST OF O.C.
Hip-Hop Issues
Hip-hop group is giving rap a makeover with Emo THE BUZZ
Daily Titan
Thursday March 15, 2007
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
History of St. Patrick’s Day
CSUF to Get New Station
Some fun facts about the one day when everyone is a little Irish
often-misunderstood metaphor for the Irish patron saint driving out the pagans. Serpent symbols were often worshipped by pagans, such as the Druids at Tara, who St. Patrick is said to have baptized, according to By Jake Kilroy history.com. Much of what is known Daily Titan Staff Writer of St. Patrick is from oral history and news@dailytitan.com the Irish saint’s two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and Saint Patrick’s Day has become his Epistola, a denunciation of Brita day of the color green and binge- ish mistreatment of Irish Christians, drinking. It hasn’t always been a day according to st-patricks-day.com. of drunken stuThe green pors and reckless holiday is globpartying. There’s al these days. a North America I’m so sick of people proud Irish the biggest who aren’t Irish trying has heritage to the celebrations but history of the to use St. Patrick’s Day Australia, Japan, holiday. Singapore and as an excuse to drink. Born in the Russia celebrate late fourth cenSt. Patrick’s - Tina Ganjifard tury, Saint PatDay as well. but CSUF political science student rick is known for today’s college the popularizing students know of Christianity what the holiand converting day has come to or driving out mean to young pagans. He was not the first to intro- Americans: partying.Greg Sarvas, a duce Christianity to Ireland, how- transfer student from the University ever. Palladius was the first bishop to of Illinois, where St. Patrick’s Day is the Irish believers in Christ, accord- an unofficial campus party, recalls his ing to history.com. holiday experience two years ago. The myth surrounding St. Pat“My roommates woke me up at 6 rick’s fame runs along the lines of his a.m. with a beer in hand,” said banishing of snakes from the island nation. However, snakes have never called the emerald isle home. It is an SEE CLOVER - PAGE 3
By caitlin clift
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
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Vi e t n a m e s e Protest in O.C. By SEAN BELK
For the Daily Titan news@dailytitan.com
A crowd of nearly 100 community members marched down Bolsa Avenue in Little Saigon of Orange County last week to join a global campaign supporting democracy activists in Vietnam. Shouting, “Down with the communists!,” and “Free Vietnam!,” protesters tried to send a message by waving flags and echoing the words of dissidents who they say are fighting for freedom thousands of miles away. Members of Viet Tan or “Vietnam Reform Party” initiated the worldwide protest, which ended Sunday, March 11, as an effort to counter what leaders of the group call “the escalation of human rights
and political oppressions” in the last few months. Dung Tran, a Viet Tan representative, said the people of Vietnam are asking for the same rights that exist in the United States, such as freedom of the press, speech and religion. But democracy activists have been silenced and “physically tortured” by the country’s communist regime. On the eve of the Tet Festival, a celebration of the Lunar New Year in February, communist leaders of Vietnam ordered the arrest of about 20 activists who were connected to the recent democracy uprising, Tran said. The activists included two lawyers who were captured from their families, as well as the renowned ac SEE PROTEST - PAGE 3
By SEAN BELK/For the Daily Titan TWO flags - Protesters gather in Little Saigon to show support for a global campaign to support democracy in Vietnam.
NEXT WEEK News
Review of show “baby”
NEW PERFORMANCE
By ALINE LESSNER/Daily Titan Staff Photographer
GOOD DECISION - Kevin Costner speaks before a capacity crowd at the old Performing Arts Building’s Little Theater about making the right choices in life. Costner studied business at Cal State Fullerton.
Costner Visits Campus
Alumnus Kevin Costner visits CSUF for movie screening By johnathan kroncke
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Actor and director Kevin Costner addressed a capacity crowd at CSUF Wednesday with a single message in mind: Believe in yourself. “There is a lot of noise out there [in the world],” Costner said. “The signals are all wrong. You have to listen to the ticking of your own heart.” Costner spoke at the Little Theater in the old Performing Arts building to a boisterous crowd, made up of theater, business and communications majors anxious to see the Oscar winner. “I thought it would be an interesting experience to see Kevin Costner,” said Dan Duran, a 22year-old Radio/TV/Film major. Students were notified of the event by their professors who took time during their classes to hand out tickets. Costner, a CSUF alumnus, was
weather
contacted by Anil Puri, Dean of the College of Business and Economics, who collaborated with the Arts department, to speak. “He has a longtime relation with the university,” said Jerry Samuelson, Dean of the College of the Arts, adding that Costner has spoken at the campus before. Costner was very personable with the students, receiving a tearful thank you from an ex-Coast Guard for his film “The Guardian.” Most showered Costner with questions about his career and the ups and downs it has taken. “It was hard for me to find my way,” Costner said. “My road to try and understand who I was was a hard one.” Costner began his college career as business major. But after ranking near the bottom of his class, he knew his future lay somewhere else. “I was overmatched, I knew it,” Costner said. Costner decided to try out for the play Rumplestiltskin after seeing an ad for auditions in the Daily Titan. Of course, nothing in life is easy. Excited by the prospect of auditioning, Costner resorted to abandoning his truck on the freeway after it broke down in order to make it on time.
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Although he did not get the role, he became determined to make acting his profession, even taking a job as a janitor in a movie studio just so he could be near the industry in case any auditions came up. Now, after all these years and all of his successes, Costner is still doing what he loves. He was on hand after the question and answer session for a special screening of his new movie, Mr. Brooks. The stylish, multi-faceted thriller stars Costner as a serial killer addicted to his crimes. After a two-year hiatus, he can no longer put off the urge and strikes again. But this time, he is not the only one knows. The movie features Dane Cook as a dimwitted prospective killer and Demi Moore as the detective hot on their trail. “This is my kind of movie in the sense that it is story driven,” Costner said. “It’s a dark and exciting movie.” The ending leaves room for a sequel, something Costner has
SEE COSTNER - PAGE 4
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After working on plans for a new campus police facility for more than five years, the plans becoming a reality. Michael Smith, director of the offices of Design and Construction said the new facility will be located west of the State College parking structure in what is now Lot B. Ground breaking for the $6.3 million project is scheduled for October 2007. The expected completion date is December 2008, with police occupancy in January 2009, Smith said. The one story building will be more than twice the square footage of the current police building. “It will be a user-friendly building for students and has parking convenience and a location close to the Titan Student Union and the [Student] Recreation Center,” Smith said. The building will also include an additional 1,000 square feet for an Emergency Operations Center located at the front of the building, a space police officers can use in a major event such as an earthquake, fire or terrorist threat, Cal State Fullerton police Chief Judi King said. In addition to the EOC, the facility will also feature a 350-squarefoot lobby with public restrooms and a larger waiting area than the current one. King said while the university recognized the need for a new, larger police facility, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Willie Hagan, made the project a top priority. In order for the department to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, police departments’ facilities must meet certain standards. For CSUF’s police department to again receive accreditation, the department needed to improve or upgrade the facility. Lt. Will Glen with CSUF’s police department said the new facility will improve the way the department serves the public, from receiving people in the lobby to processing arrestees. Glen said the new facility will also improve working conditions for employees of the department. “This is something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It’s got people excited, it’s something that not only we: members of the police department will be proud to have, but also the campus community will be proud to have as well. It will help us do a better job in serving the community,” Glen said. Besides having a new building, King said she is looking forward to having a building that has been designed as a police facility. “It means a lot to every person who works in this building that we are finally going to get a facility. They have something to look towards that validates how professional our department is in the eyes of the university,” King said.
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