OPINION: Health in a Handbasket; all about fat, page 4
SPORTS: Page 6
Beer pong competitors look for ticket to Vegas
Since 1960 Volume 87, Issue 33
FEATURES: Flying bats help raise funds for the Tucker Sanctuary, page 3
Daily Titan
Wednesday October 29, 2008
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
DTSHORTHAND Campus Life An evening of classical piano duos with Alison Edwards, winner of the Carmel Music Society Artists Competition, and Grammy-nominated Bill Cunliffe will be performed at the Performing Arts Center, Meng Concert Hall. The concert will start at 8 p.m. and run ‘till 10:30 p.m. today. Tickets are $20 ($15 advance sales only for full-time students, seniors age 62 and above, and CSUF Titan Card holders. Business hours are Monday – Friday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and one hour prior to performance. For more information, contact the Performing Arts Center box office.
Workers see fewer customers, lower tips MIAMI (MCT) – The pint glass that doubles as a tip jar at Jesse Del Pozo’s barber station used to be stuffed with cash, even a few fives and tens peeking out by day’s end. But that was months ago, before gas prices got high and the stock market went low and people started cutting back on everything from restaurant visits to haircuts. “Before the summer, I was getting 20 people a day in my chair, making $100, $120 in tips,” Del Pozo said this week at Carrs Barbershop in Miami Beach. “Now, maybe I’ll get eight people, and I’m lucky if I take home $50.” In difficult economic times, it’s often workers who rely on tips – restaurant servers, delivery drivers, hairstylists, cabbies, valet attendants – who struggle the most. They say they’ve been struck by a double whammy from the financial fallout: They have fewer customers, and the ones they do have are tipping less. “It used to be everyone would tip $5, but not for a while,” said Del Pozo, who has worked with scissors since 1972. Carrs charges $25 for a men’s haircut; the barbers make a minimal salary plus tips.
Don’t get caught by the traffic light cameras in: ‘Clown car fail’
CSUF to elect new student leaders Students can cast their vote for ASI candidates online and in person By joel rosario
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Nov. 4 isn’t the only election day on people’s minds. The Board of Directors of the Associated Students, Inc. will hold elections on campus Oct. 29 and 30. Thirteen candidates are running for eight ASI Director offices, one for each of the eight colleges at Cal State Fullerton. The four unopposed candidates are running for the College of Arts, College of Communications, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Laptops cause concern Some professors go as far as banning them from their classrooms By scott fahey
For the Daily Titan
news@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton students attend college in an age where the Internet is practically everywhere. Students who bring their laptops to class have an omnipresent portal to a world of information right at their fingertips, but some students are using this capability to surf the Internet, chat, and e-mail during class. Some professors at CSUF say the increase of laptop use in class is a detriment to students education, and some students say they are being affected by it even when they do not bring a computer to school themselves.
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CSUF does not have any schoolwide policy regarding laptop use in the classroom, but professors are well aware of the phenomenon. Some have gone as far as banning laptops in their classrooms, while some schools such as Bentley College in Massachusetts have software that allows professors to block wireless Internet access during class. “Something is being lost,” said Brent Foster, assistant professor of communications at CSUF, who said he has seen the impact of laptop misuse in his classes. Though his teaching strategy has not changed from the past, important topics that he places a lot of emphasis on are being totally disregarded, Foster said. Internet use is more harmful than the traditional classroom distraction of doodling, because it is active and not passive, Foster said. Students are not able to surf the Internet and still be involved in the classroom. “It’s like driving, you couldn’t surf the Internet and drive at the same time,” Foster said, “but you can listen to the radio because it’s passive.”
you go through. When you’re in the College of Communications, it’s a different environment then the College of Humanities,” said ASI Board of Directors Chair Christine Hernandez. “Not just student organizations, but they talk to the administration of the college as well. Choosing who you’re going to vote for, who’s going to represent you within the college is a big deal.” Any CSUF student may vote as long as they know their campus email address and password. Students may only vote for the candidates of the college of their major. Double majors may vote for the college of their primary major. Undeclared students may vote for any one of the colleges. For those who choose to vote, incentives include an “I Voted” bracelet or a mood-color-changing
pencil, and entry into a drawing for a $20 Titan Shops gift card. Lee hopes for a voter turnout of around 1,000 students, and has publicized the election through announcements in classrooms, Inter-Club Council meetings, Facebook, word of mouth, posters and handbills. In order to avoid confusion with the national elections, Lee chose not to use the patriotic red, white and blue color scheme, but instead went f o r neon pink,
green and blue to appeal to a younger audience. The candidates represent a diverse selection of the student population: graduate and undergraduate students, sophomores to seniors, students from the Greek community. Incumbents for the election include Roshan Patel, Henoc Preciado, and Jesus Vizcaino. At Tuesday’s board of director’s meeting ASI Vice President, Maryam Marzara thanked the incumbent candidates for their service and wished them luck for the upcoming election. Election results will be released 8:30 p.m. on Thursday at the TSU Legislative Chambers.
“Often, the need to respond to the message is more powerful than the grade,” he said. Students’ views on the issue are varied. Lawrence Vuong, an entertainment studies major at CSUF, uses his laptop in class to follow along with PowerPoint lectures, but he also uses it to check the news, e-mail and read blogs – light tasks, he says. “The chance to keep myself busy in the downtime where I don’t need to jot something down is a perk,” Some students may not be able to help themselves from surfing the Internet during class because of an addiction. Foster, who has done research on “media dependency,” said that it is not unlike drug or alcohol dependency. A student who is a media dependent makes a conscious choice to, for example, reply to an e-mail or instant message instead of listening to a
portion of a lecture. The student is missing out on a potentially valuable piece of information by making this decision, Foster said.
Vu o n g said in an e-mail interview. “If I can’t, no loss. If I can, great.” Vuong said that he believes laptop use in class is fundamentally See LAPTOPS, Page 2
Society’s role in violence Grade schoolers Women’s Center hosts an annual conference to help educate about abuse
A van was trying to pass up a row of cars and run a red light when, while entering the intersection, the van hit another car. The response of the people in the van will surprise everyone. Not a good idea to be caught on camera while trying to escape. Car crash fail!
and the College of Health and Human Development. According to ASI Elections Commissioner Veronica Lee, on-campus polls will be open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. Students can also vote at any computer by using the ASI website. The four on-campus polling locations include the Titan Student Union breezeway, the east side of the Pollak Library next to the Engineering and Computer Science building, McCarthy Hall, and Mihaylo Hall. Each polling station will have three laptop computers for students to use. “I see the board as probably a more influential body than most people would imagine, because you vote for both your representatives, just for your college. They are closer to you than anybody ‘cause they know what
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
For the past 10 years the Cal State Fullerton Women’s Center, with the help from a variety of partners and sponsors, has hosted the Violence Prevention Conference, aimed at exposing and educating the public about violence against women in our society. Past topics have included the effects violence on children, gender socialization and a focus on the batterer and victim. The conference makes a point to attack the problem from different angles while showing attendees what resources are available to them. “Each year we have new students staff and community members who attend the conference and many times this their first exposure to this type of information,” said Jerri Freeman, Office and Special Events Coordinator for the Women’s Center. Their main goal is to educate the attendees about prevention and intervention. This year’s theme was “Society’s Role in Creating Victims and Abusers.” “This will enable those who know someone in one of these situations to have the knowledge and the ability to help,” Freeman said.
On Saturday at the Titan Student Union Portola Pavilion, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens introduced keynote speaker Daniel Sonkin. A family and marriage counselor and author, Sonkin spoke about society’s role in creating victims and abusers. After the speeches, attendees chose one of four workshop presentations: “Step Up and Stop It,” “Escaping Violence: a Survivor’s Tale,” “Suffering in Silence: Abuse in Elder Population” and “Family Violence in the Military” – to attend. Jayvelyn Witongco, a psychology major and sociology minor, watched the survivor story. It was about a woman who was in an abusive relationship with her husband. The survivor, Jaelyne, recalled the horrors of day-to-day life with an abuser and the feeling of helplessness, being unable to escape. “I think this is helpful because a lot of these crimes go under reported. A lot of these victims feel like they are alone,” Witongco said. After the first session, attendees were served lunch and took part in a resource fair where over 25 local organizations offered information to help victims of violence. Also in attendance were a group of students holding a bake sale to raise money for The Madhav Ghimire Foundation, a grass-roots organization established by a small group of individuals including Jeffrey Kottler, Counseling and Psychology
Professor at CSUF. The foundation is helping low-income girls in Nepal go to school. “In Nepal only the boys are allowed to go to school,” Sarah Brown, a human services major, said. Kottler gave his students an option to write a paper or pay it forward and donate their time to help out others less fortunate. “We decided to help with the foundation because it helps keep these young girls out of sex slavery and brothels,” Denise Gumenberg, human services major, said. According to the foundation’s Web site, $100 can send a girl to school for a year. They say their goal “is nothing less than to grow the next generation of female health professionals, educators and leaders in Nepal.” After lunch, the attendees chose to attend one more workshop. Workshops included a panel on dating violence and human trafficking. Attendees were given certificates of completion at the end of the conference. The event is free for the public to attend. The Woman’s Center has stated the conferences will be held as long as there are victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. “It is vital that we stop blaming and ‘finger-pointing’ and work to educate all men and women to be “allies” in the prevention and intervention of all kinds of intimate abuse,” Freeman said.
get tech savvy Programs help improve students performance, parents get more involved By amy dempsey
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Davis Barr comes home from seventh grade knowing his parents will ask questions about his day at school, homework assignments and recent or upcoming tests. What Barr may not be aware of, is that his parents already have the answers to their questions. Barr attends Fullerton’s Parks Junior High, a school that has utilized the “PowerSchool” program since 2002 through the Fullerton School District. It is a student information system that allows all Fullerton School District teachers to document student behavior, medical history or learning disabilities. “PowerSchool is enhancing education through technology,” Jennifer Shepard, a Fullerton School District representative, said. “Any time parents are involved in their child’s education, their student’s performance is going to improve.” The program lets parents access the database that holds their child’s academic record including recent and upcoming assignments, scores,
teacher’s comments and complete attendance records. Parents can also read the daily announcements every morning, and some teachers post assignments for the entire week, according to Barr’s mother, Lisa. “I think it’s excellent,” Lisa said. “Everything they’re telling students, parents now know.” Many kids struggle with school, and there is often a lack of communication between teachers and parents. With a program like “PowerSchool,” parents do not have to wait for teachers to inform them of how their child is doing academically, according to Lisa. “A program like this is beneficial because parents get to stay on top of their child’s academic performance if their student is not organized,” Lisa said. “It makes a child unable to get away with not studying for exams or completing their assignments.” Elementary schools are also creating innovative methods to educate their students. In order to keep class exercises exciting and interesting, the Fullerton School District has implemented the One to One Laptop Program, a means for students to become technology savvy entertainment and educational purposes. Barr was part of the One to One Laptop Program at Golden Hill Elementary School, where he was in See METHODS, Page 3