DAILY TITAN The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton T
Volume 93, Issue 24 LOCAL | Fullerton
$15 million approved for railway project
NEWS 2
Cigarette warning labels to change OPINION 4
Privacy only a perception online DETOUR 6
Meng Hall to host hundreds of students SPORTS 8
Titan baseball wins in a walk-off
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013
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BOARD BUCKLES DOWN ON BUDGET
SAMUEL MOUNTJOY Daily Titan
Fullerton City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an agreement worth more than $15 million between the city and BNSF Railway about construction on a railway grade separation project. Four underpasses and three overpasses will be constructed along the railway, which runs through Fullerton, separating the grade on which automobiles and railcars travel. This is meant to reduce the number of intersection stops as commuters in cars must wait for long freight trains to traverse the intersection. This project is also intended to reduce use of train and vehicle collisions, and eliminate the need for trains to sound the horn as they pass through residential neighborhoods. It should also improve emergency response time by reducing traffic backup caused by trains. On behalf of Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson, Rose Casey, director of highway programs for the Orange County Transportation Authority, updated the council on the ongoing grade separation program at seven Fullerton intersections that will cause road closures when construction begins later this year. SEE TRAINS, 2
CAMPUS | Meeting
ASI board discusses new CSU changes ANDIE AYALA Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton’s ASI Board of Directors held a meeting Tuesday to discuss the new changes coming to CSU campuses, which includes tobacco-free policies and uniform semester systems. These changes were encouraged by CSU Chancellor Timothy White and discussed by Associated Students Inc. executive vice president Katie Ayala during the California State Student Association (CSSA) meeting this past weekend and at the Cal State Fullerton ASI Board of Directors meeting. While requiring all CSUs to go on the semester system would facilitate easier transfers to CSUs, it would make it difficult for upperclassmen, who have been functioning under the quarter system, to adjust. Ayala, who attended both meetings, said there are both pros and cons to the move. “I’m very intrigued that they’re trying to push or at least the Cal States are all trying to be semester systems because I think that’s going to be a really big change,” said Jonathan Kwok, director for College of the Arts and member of the ASI Board of Directors. He added that, for once, all CSU students will be on the same schedule, and that he is interested to see how it will pan out. SEE ASI, 3
VANESSA MARTINEZ / Daily Titan File Photo
Gov. Jerry Brown speaks with reporters at the first Cal State University Board of Trustees meeting of the year in Long Beach on Jan. 22, 2013.
CSU partitions budget into five portions State money came in more than $370 million short of the requested amount DAVID HOOD & KEVIN BLACKBURN Daily Titan
The CSU Board of Trustees Tuesday weighed the impact of a potential fund expenditure plan based on Gov. Jerry Brown’s $125.1 million CSU budget in an effort to patch the cash-strapped California State University.
Last August, the board formally requested about $441 million from Sacramento lawmakers—an admitted overshoot to compensate for lost revenue—but only received $125.1 million, forcing them to only focus on the most dire programs like health benefits and operations. These expenses, called “mandatory costs,” will receive the most money, $48.2 million, allocated from the overall $125 million in the budget plan. According to CSU documents,
without funding for the mandatory cost increases, campuses would have to “redirect resources from other program areas to meet the obligations” of employee health benefits, operation and maintenance of newly-constructed space and energy. “Funding mandatory costs preserves the integrity of the CSU programs,” the documents state. Mandatory costs are expenditures each university must pay despite any monetary help appropriated by the state. Leonard Pettis, CSU chief of
plant, energy and utilities, said each campus has reduced energy usage by about 50 percent in the last 35 years to curb operational costs. But Assistant Vice Chancellor Robert Turnage said $48 million is only enough to cover this year’s most urgent needs. “The fact that we’re able to allocate the $36.2 million to this one-year increase doesn’t solve the problem,” said Turnage. “Because we’ve had five consecutive years of similar increases that we’ve basically been eating to the detriment
of our programs.” Of that $48.2 million, $36.2 million will go toward health benefits for employees, whose salaries have seen no increase or raise in at least five years. In 2009, faculty members had to absorb a 9 percent salary reduction and work furloughs because of a declining economy and curtailed budget. This year’s budget proposes a $38 million employee compensation package. SEE TRUSTEES, 2
DETOUR | Music
LNE will be serving Strickly Vod at Becker Amphitheater thoughtful evenings, LNE deLos Angeles-based pop rock quartet will take the votes their album to their drink of stage of the outdoor venue choice—vodka.
KYMBERLIE ESTRADA Daily Titan
Music is deep. It travels through compilations of metaphors, similes and analogies; digging down and tugging on strings of emotions. Today, the Becker Amphitheater hosts Los Angeles-based pop rock band LNE to deliver just that, along with straightforward appellations. The quartet, made up of members Eleni Vorvolakos (songwriter/ vocals), Brandon Hillery (guitar), Kurt Blankenship (bass) and Nate Carter (drums), was formed at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood in 2006. “I took the Independent Artist program and one of my courses required me to get a group of musicians together to perform my original music,” Eleni said. Prior to LNE’s formation, Eleni worked with producer Andrew Roettger, better known as Versatile. She has also recorded with Leighton Meester of the CW’s Gossip Girl, landed two placements with MTV and ABC Family, and won school contests and awards. Although many bands may dedicate their music to ambient,
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An album title like Strickly Vod, released July 2011, shows an accurate depiction of the band’s freespirited attitudes. “Strickly Vod was born from many all day sessions that went into the night,” said Eleni. “That’s why I chose to dedicate the album to it (vodka).” The dark-haired, fringe banged frontwoman is often compared to Hayley Williams, the fiery redheaded vocalist of pop/rock band Paramore. Although LNE may lack vibrant colored hair and red carpet cleancut appearances, their defined extensive musical background speaks for itself. LNE uses power driven vocals over an ambient electric guitar, a melodic distorted bass and heavy hitting drums over a dark buzz-saw synthesizer. Strickly Vod features loud, in your face tracks as well as softer and more lyrically focused songs. Eleni’s musical influences consist of indie artists like Damien Rice, Florence Welch, Imogen Heap, Lights, Miike Snow and The Shins for their lyrical styles and electronic sounds. SEE UNSIGNED, 6
Courtesy of LNE The band, formed at the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, mix in their varied musical tastes in their first full-length album.
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