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ROTC exercises turn young men into soldiers
Since 1960 Volume 86, Issue 45
SPORTS: CSUF Tennis prepares for Big West Tournament, page 6 OPINION: Titan Editorial: If actors strike, Hollywood is to blame, page 5
Daily Titan
Thursday April 24, 2008
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
DTSHORTHAND Campus Life
Freshman Programs, a group that facilitates a smooth transition to academic success for firstyear students is celebrating 10 years of success. The Freshman Programs banquet “Celebrating a Decade of Success” will be held on Friday, May 2. Doors will open at 5 p.m. in TSU pavilions A & B. The program is from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and open to current Freshman Programs students, alumni, Freshman Programs instructors, staff, peer mentors and relatives. To find out more information, contact Annabelle Cariaga at 278-3709 or email acariaga@fullerton.edu.
YouTube: La Pequena ˜ Hillary Clinton video
A difference in For those who have had enough of the primaries, there is a funny antecdote available in the form of a small female impersonator. This little entertainer has been getting plenty of hits on YouTube by viewers who are in need of a little comic relief. The entertainer also does a hilarious impersonation of Amy Winehouse, which rivals the Hilary Clinton clip. For laughs, look this little lady up on YouTube.
Children’s Hope International Literacy and Development One good cause, six Cal State Fullerton students, five languages and six diverse cultures all blended together to create an event called “Color my Life” on April 19th at Wholesome Choice market in Irvine. This is a yearly event presented by Children’s Hope International Literacy and Development (C.H.I.L.D) brought an unexpected 230 participants. C.H.I.L.D is an Orange County, non-profit organization that aims to provide opportunities to children around the world. The event that was designed to raise school supplies for orphan children in the Middle East, not only raised a total of 30,330 school supplies, but also collected 50 trash bags filled with clothing and over $600 in cash. Students from CSUF planned and executed a School Supply Drive for a Service-Learning Project. Their diversity and public relations knowledge helped them more than they expected. If you are interested in contributing to a great cause, please contact C.H.I.LD at (949) 3051787. Or visit their Web site at www.child-international.org.
WEATHER
faith
Muslims at UCI and CSUF approach religion differently, both privately and publicly
By Jessica Terrell
A
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
young man in an orange T-shirt and jeans stands at the corner of a second floor balcony, watching the setting sun paint the sky with streaks of orange and pink.
Glancing down at a concrete clearing where a solitary student sits bowed in prayer, the young man on the balcony cups both hands around his mouth and begins to sing the Adhan, a traditional Islamic call to prayer that is sung five times a day in Muslim communities across the world. “Allahu Akbar,” he calls. “Allah is most great.” Slowly, students began to gather, making a neat pile of backpacks and skateboards before lining up in a row to begin their evening prayers. The students are members of the Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine, a group that has been
called an extremist hate group by some critics and was recently referred to as the most conservative Muslim Student Association in the country by the New York Times. In contrast to their frequently negative portrayal by the media, MSU members describe their club as a friendly and open student organization that supports a moderate lifestyle, while encouraging open discussion in the community. Their club is an independent branch of the MSU, a national organization with clubs on over 200 college campuses across the country, including Cal State Ful-
lerton. From reports of anti-Semitism on the UCI campus to struggles at Harvard to obtain facilities deemed proper for Muslim women to controversial speakers and national debates about inclusion, the struggles of the Muslim student groups are playing out under public scrutiny. With varying degrees and methods, the clubs at CSUF and UCI deal with the modern expression of the Islamic faith – A religion that many people still regard with suspicion, but is gradually integrating into American life. For more see page 7
Response drills to take place Friday Facebook begins Emergency measures are being put in play to see how effective they are By JEREMIAH RIVERA
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton University Police will be the first to incorporate two CSU-mandated Active Shooter and Shelter in Place drills, scheduled for tomorrow. They want to be sure that police are trained on how to respond to these types of calls and that students know what to do in the given emergency scenario, Clara Potes-Fellow, the director of media relations with the CSU Public Affairs office, said.
Other universities have been conducting the drills separately and although the Active Shooter drill will be confined to an undisclosed area on campus, police will be implementing the Shelter in Place drill throughout the university, CSUF Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Ellis said. Along with cell phones, e-mail and PDA, police will use speakers inside classrooms and mounted on the exterior of campus buildings to notify all those on campus of the emergency drill. “The message will sound something like, ‘This is a test, this is a test, police activity on campus, active shooter – Shelter in Place,’” Ellis said. While Ellis supervises the Shelter
in Place drill, University Police will clear out an unspecified building in response to a mock-gunman-oncampus call. University Police have been training for an Active Shooter scenario with the help of community service officers playing the role of suspect[s] and fleeing students. Both drills are meant to give University Police a platform from which to better develop response procedures and times in a real emergency scenario, such as the Virginia Tech tragedy that took the lives of five faculty members and 27 students. “We want to put it [the drills] into play to see how it works – Our good points and our bad points, what we need to work on to make it better,” University Police Operations Lt. Fred Molina said.
thursday Partly Cloudy/ High: 72, Low: 49
friday Sunny / High: 76, Low: 50
saturday Sunny/ High: 78, Low: 52
Sunday Sunny / High: 78, Low: 54
monday Sunny/ High: 77, Low: 54
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Photos By Daniel Suzuki/Daily Titan Staff Photographer Top- Ali Malik prays at UC Irvine. Above- Yasmin Nouhe and Nida Chowdhry praying behind the men at the UCI campus.
A surprise for a devoted teacher CSUF Professor Stella Ting-Toomey wins two annual awards for 2008 By URMI RAHMAN
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor news@dailytitan.com
With an entourage of about 11, blue and white balloons and a crystal elephant, Cal State Fullerton’s President Milton Gordon surprised
Professor Stella Ting-Toomey on Wednesday night with the “Outstanding Professor Award” for 2008. “Once a year, our faculty and the Academic Senate selects one faculty [member] of the year,” Gordon said to a class of students. “[This year] it is your faculty member, Dr. Stella Ting-Toomey.” Ting-Toomey, a professor of inter-cultural conflict and a 19year-old faculty member, was over-
whelmed by the award and unaware of her selection. “I’m so speechless,” she said. “I’m very honored ...” Ting-Toomey said “First I want to thank the students.” Trying to fight back tears, she continued by thanking faculty members, her family and her husband. She also won the Wang Family Excellence Award. The CSU Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach will host the Wang Awards on May 13.
instant messaging The new feature may be another coup for the popular networking site By TANYA OBERMEYER
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Keeping in touch with hundreds of people on a constant basis or calling 500 people “friends” at one time would have been impossible once. Members of Facebook and MySpace, however, build thousands of “friendships” with other members in just a few clicks. Now, Facebook is making it even easier for members to keep in touch through instant messaging capabilities, which were added to their site in March. This current communication trend surrounding society is a lack of face-to-face conversation that these networking sites have replaced, Assistant Professor of Communications Genelle Belmas said. Society revolves around chat rooms, dating sites, e-mail and instant message systems, some Cal State Fullerton students said. “The biggest thing that I have noticed about social networking, other than my students’ addictions to it, is that we are becoming both more
and less connected as a result of it,” Belmas said. This new medium of interaction means that keyboard-to-keyboard conversation on Facebook is now instant. Some believe that maintaining a “friend list” with 500 friends on MySpace or Facebook is interaction, while others disagree. “I think it is actually a really good way to communicate,” Hari Parikh, a junior sociology major, said. By definition, interaction is a reciprocal action, effect or influence involving another person, according to dictionary.com. Based on that definition, it would be considered interaction to have a conversation via instant messaging. The technology era has undoubtedly changed communication and it is only evolving from its current state. “Look around campus – people talking on cell phones, people lost in their iPods, totally oblivious to the world,” Belmas said. Based on the overall popularity of the technology era, the current generation shows no signs of regressing back to the days prior to cyber-chats or extensive texting plans, students said. “We may be able to keep in touch with people from high school or See FACEBOOK, Page 2