OPINION: Young Halloween goers are dressing sexier than ever, page 8
SPORTS: Page 10 Rugby on the rise for CSUF students
Since 1960 Volume 87, Issue 34
FEATURES: Drinking causes cardio vascular and liver disease, page 4
Daily Titan
Thursday October 30, 2008
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Campus Life The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is offering a lecture series on the 20th century starting tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lectures will be held every Thursday in the Ruby Gerontogy Center. The center is located by the residence halls and Lot E. Lecture topics cover Shell Shock and how World War I errupted in Europe and the attempt of the United States to stay neutral. The other lecture is about how the postwar mentality emerged and old traditions that are changed and challenged. Contact the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute for more information at 714-278-2446.
Double cheeseburger bumped off dollar menu for ‘McDouble’ CHICAGO (MCT) – McDonald’s Corp. said Tuesday it’s moving toward replacing its hallmark dollar menu product, the double cheeseburger, with a new burger called the McDouble, essentially the double cheeseburger, but with one slice of cheese. Although the decision is not yet final, the recommended price of the double cheeseburger the one with two cheese slices would increase to $1.19, said Greg Watson, vice president of marketing for McDonald’s USA. The switch-out stems from soaring commodity costs, which have put a crimp on profits from the dollar menu. The dollar price cap has given McDonald’s franchisees that operate about 85 percent of the company’s 14,000 U.S. outlets something to beef about in recent months as ingredient costs have soared. “It’s really hurt the profitability of the items on the dollar menu, even though it’s driving traffic to the restaurants,” said Morningstar Inc. stock analyst John Owens. Analysts have been expecting a price hike for the double cheeseburger, the company’s best-selling U.S. sandwich.
More cars get the boot The number of vehicles that get immobilized has nearly double since 2006 By Jonathan Montgomery For The Daily Titan news@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton students who have more than five unpaid parking tickets risk getting slapped with a parking boot, at times stranding vehicles throughout the weekend. Thirty-three boots have been reported so far this academic year. However, this figure does not include statistics from the transportation department for October, which had yet to be calculated prior to the Daily Titan publication time Last academic year, there were 147 cars that got the boot, up from 89 the year before and nearly double the 2005-2006 reports of 75 cars. According to the parking page on the Cal State Fullerton Web site, a “boot” is a device that fits on the wheel of a car without causing damage, immobilizing the vehicle. The only way to have a boot removed is to pay all outstanding tickets in full. Fortunately for students, there is no additional cost associated with removal. Joana Gregorio, 18, a kinesiology major at CSUF was initially surprised, “They’re doing that here?” she asked. Gregorio said authorities may
A contestant from Oceanside, NY, was showing off his skills on the street while waiting to perform at a competition. He might have gotten stage fright when it was time to show off his skills that he was so proud of. Maybe the next time he decides to perform, slip-resistant shoes will probably help him a lot more. Dance competition fail!
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Photo Courtesy of CSUF Parking and Transportation Services The rate of cars getting the boot almost doubled from the 2005 academic year to the 2007 academic year.
“In those cases we have towed the vehicle and the person responsible was arrested for theft,” a parking representative said. One student had even accumulated more than $1,000 dollars in fines. “She would illegally park and then place a different plate on her car each time,” Frazier said. She was eventually caught and arrested by University
Police. She was then required to pay all her tickets. The total in parking fines added up to $1,500 to $2,000, Frazier said. Parking enforcers use a program called license plate recognition, or LPR, which “reads” license plates and identifies cars that have five or more delinquent parking violations. Robert Moran, 30, a communications major at CSUF said parking
enforcement is actually being generous by allowing students to have 5 unpaid parking tickets before getting the boot. “Good idea, if you have five parking tickets, I think that’s a little irresponsible,” Moran said. However, even with differing opinions on the parking boot, the Web site offers a little advice to students: take care of all tickets within the allotted time.
Faltering economy ups CSU applications Freshman rates increase 16 percent, transfers 24 percent, grads 32 percent By Haidong Piao
For the Daily Titan
You think you can dance, not in “Dance Fail”
not know what financial difficulties a person might be going through in their lives, such as paying for school. However, it shouldn’t be an excuse for not paying tickets, she said. According to the California Vehicle Code 22651.7, students have 72 hours to pay the penalties at the parking office, or the University Police Department in order to get the boot removed. Once an official is contacted, parking staff would then be notified and a field officer would meet with the parking violator to remove the boot. Mary Ellen Frazier, administrative analyst with the campus transportation department, along with other members of the parking staff helped explain why boots are being used, and what students can do when immobilized by the boot. “After 5 p.m. on Fridays through Saturday, and Sunday, anyone needing to have a boot paid and removed would have to wait for the next business day,” Frazier said. She said this was simply because parking enforcement does not offer those services on the weekend. For students, that means their car could remain immobilized overnight and through the weekend. However, this hasn’t stopped some students from trying to free their cars sooner. Parking representatives said there have been instances where a student attempts to manually remove the parking boot themselves.
news@dailytitan.com
The faltering economy is a big reason why applications to the 23 California State University campuses have increased this year, Teresa Ruiz, public affairs and communications specialist at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, said. During economic downturns, people get more motivated to get an education to secure jobs, and afford-
able public schools naturally become a popular choice, Ruiz said. The CSU system has received a total of 88,708 applicants as of Oct. 22, three weeks after the admission cycle opened for the fall 2009 semester. This was a 22.6 percent increase from the same time last year, according to official data from the CSU Chancellor’s Office. Among the total applicants, 62,576 were freshmen, a 16 percent increase, 24,060 were transfer students, a 42 percent increase and 2,072 were graduate students which was a 32 percent increase. “Every time the economy goes bad, there is always a trend in increasing applicants,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said college education be- Fullerton graduate student, said she comes very popular as people look hopes to enhance her employment to expand their knowledge, seek a opportunities by earning a master’s better career path degree in communiand more financations with an emcial security. phasis in advertising. While there is “A bachelor’s dean increased need gree is really a must of education for today and many emjob security, Ruiz ployers prefer a masalso said the CSU ter’s degree,” Toschi system is especialsaid. – Teresa Ruiz, CSU campuses ly attractive since Specialist affordable state such as CSUF are schools also make attractive and accesa lot of sense financially as many col- sible, while solid academic programs lege funds dwindle during times of including arts, business and comeconomic crisis. munications continue to produce Angelique Toschi, 27, a Cal State students and faculty who achieve na-
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Every time the economy goes bad, there is always a trend in increasing applicants.
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tional acclaim, said Chuck Moore, director of enrollment services at CSUF’s Irvine campus, in an e-mail interview. “(Our) regional reputation as a solid, not-too-glamorous, but highquality campus with tons of opportunities keeps CSUF going,” Moore said. The cost of education at state schools is a bargain compared to that of private universities. The undergraduate tuition at a CSU campus for an academic year is $3,797, while the median annual tuition for a private institution in California is $25,918, according to californiacolleges.edu, a Web site that offers career and college planning.
Obama floods the airwaves University shootings reinforce response policy SUNRISE, Fla. (MCT) – Barack Obama, presenting himself as the leader of ordinary Americans struggling to cope with the faltering economy, Wednesday used a half-hour prime-time TV pitch to gently insist that his blueprint for change doesn’t make government bigger but “grows the economy and keeps people on the job.” The program, aired on seven television networks, including CBS, NBC and Fox, was an effort to paint the Democratic nominee as a caring candidate in touch with ordinary Americans. It started with brightly lit scenes of farm fields, featured Obama speaking in a setting that closely resembled the Oval Office, and ended with live shots of the Illinois senator getting lofty as he addressed a crowd of 20,000 in Sunrise. “America,” he said, “the time for change has come.” Republican rival John McCain scoffed at the show. “When you’re watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial,” he told a Riviera Beach, Fla., audience, “just remember that it was paid for with broken promises.”
Among them, he said, was an Obama pledge to accept public financing in the general election. McCain, like every major presidential candidate since the system was first used in 1976, is taking public money, but Obama isn’t. Instead, Obama raised record private donations. Obama has countered that he said last year that if nominated, “I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” Public finance does remain in place. Obama chose not to use it. Remember, McCain said Wednesday, that Obama’s “word doesn’t appear to mean that much. When he tells America tonight that he’s going to cut taxes for the middle class, people wonder if he’ll keep his word because his record is supporting higher taxes on working families.” McCain kept firing away later Wednesday evening on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” insisting that “Senator Obama hasn’t told the American people the truth. So therefore he now is able to buy these half hour infomercials and, frankly, is going to try to convince the American people
through his rhetoric what his record shows that he’s not.” Obama has backed higher taxes for wealthier taxpayers, and his current plan would restore higher, pre-2001 tax rates for individuals earning more than $200,000 and families making over $250,000. Others would get a tax cut or no tax increase. In his TV commercial, Obama detailed his tax program, as well as his plans to end the war in Iraq, promote energy efficiency and revamp the nation’s health care system. He talked straight to the camera at some points and used highlights from speeches in others. The show tried to build his credibility by parading a wide array of Democratic officeholders before the camera to praise the nominee, including governors and Senate colleagues. It gave him a common touch through stories of people such as Mark Dowell, a Louisville, Ky., auto worker whose hours have been cut, and Juliana Sanchez, an Albuquerque, N.M., “widow with two children and a mortgage” trying to stay financially afloat.
CSUF Police say they are prepared in the event of an active shooter on campus By Crysania Salcido
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Shootings at the University of Central Arkansas Sunday left two students dead, one person wounded and the campus on lockdown. Cal State Fullerton Police said they are prepared to handle such an emergency. One student died at the scene. and the two other shooting victims were taken to Conway Regional Medical Center where one student died and the other victim, who was not a UCA student, was treated and released according to a police report on the UCA Web site. The shooting, much like the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, are a reminders that college campuses are as susceptible to violence as any-
where else. “I think that it is a possibility anywhere,” said Jeremy Tan, a senior kinesiology major at CSUF. If such an event were to occur at CSUF, students can be assured that the University Policy Department is ready to respond. “We do have a policy and are prepared for that situation,” said Lt. Don Landers. CSUF Emergency Management Coordinator Sgt. Justin Hendee elaborated. He said that CSUF has an Active Shooter Policy that includes a Shelter in Place response and a mass notification system called Connect-Ed. The system sends out phone calls, text messages and e-mails to all students, Hendee said. It would let students know about the situation on campus, it communicates to them where to take shelter if they are on campus and even tells students who are off campus to stay away. See SHOOTING, Page 2