Monday, Dec. 09, 2013

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Volume 94, Issue 50

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

dailytitan.com

Gastronome has had ‘D’ rating for nearly a year Long list of minor violations put restaurant just 3 points from failure ERIC GANDARILLA Daily Titan

The restaurant that serves as a primary source for food for many students living on campus has been three points away from receiving a failing grade for nearly a year. The Gastronome, a 2-year-old

buffet-style restaurant, has had a ‘D’ rating since March 2013. For the past two inspections, the Gastronome has received a score of 72 out of 100 possible points. A score of 69 would mean a failing grade, according to Justine Baldacci, environmental health officer at Cal State Fullerton. The Gastronome received one major violation and 10 minor violations in their March inspection. A minor violation is one that does not pose an imminent health hazard, but does

warrant correction. A major violation “poses an imminent health hazard and warrants immediate closure or other corrective action,” Baldacci said. The Gastronome’s water used for sanitization was out of compliance for not being hot enough—which warranted a major violation. The Gastronome was not closed and it did not correct the issue on site following the inspection, according to the inspection report, and the res-

taurant saw the same issue in the following inspection. In the July inspection, the violation was changed from being a major violation to a minor violation. Once again, the Gastronome did not correct the issue on site, but this time they did not have to, since it was now listed as a minor violation. Several of the minor violations cited in the reports were the result of food being held at improper temperature, which can cause bacteria and other patho-

gens to populate in the food. “There’s a reason that they set those standards in terms of where food must be held because in between those temperature ranges is where pathogens are most likely to grow if you happen to have pathogens in the food,” said Christopher Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute of Consumer Federation of America—a nonprofit consumer organization. Although most of the Gastronome’s violations are minor, it is

Construction begins on Student Success Center COST: $106,000 ESTIMATED USERS: 4,000 LOCATION: COLLEGE PARK

New center consolidates advising and services for communications students SONAM MIRPURI Daily Titan

The Cal State Fullerton College of Communications is developing a new “one-stop shop” in an effort to assist students obtain essential academic services in one location. The new center will be the home for career advising, student leadership meeting space, student study areas, peer mentoring and student lounge areas. It will consolidate graduate advising, currently done

by Tammy Rogers and peer mentoring currently located in College Park 425, said Pamela Caldwell, internship coordinator. The space will also house academic advising by faculty or another yet-to-be-determined professional—and eventually the assistant dean for student affairs. Prior to this new center, students in the College of Communications had to travel to various locations for assistance. It will be a facility where all of the departments will be in one area so that students will not have to go to multiple places for assistance, said Irene Matz, associate dean for the College of Communications.

“As a student, I want easy access to advisors and professors that I need. But, as a student leader, I want to have stable facilities that I can work in,” said Danae Rodriguez, the Student Organization Accessing Resources — Communications Inter Club Council’s (SOARCICC) vice chair of finance. One of the top main priorities for the new Student Success Center is to improve the advising department’s services for students. The current advising centers are divided among the majors in the College of Communications, but for the new center, the intention is to merge all three departments within the

Students aim for a sale in competition Inaugural Titan Sales Competition puts sales skills to the test Daily Titan

DYLAN LUJANO / Daily Titan

college into one place, Matz said. Originally the center was supposed to be ready for students by the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, but construction for the Student Success Center was delayed due to other projects. “We were trumped by the president’s office which had renovations going,” Matz said. “That was fine, because it gave us opportunity to rethink the space.” Located on the sixth f loor of College Park near the Daily Titan newsroom, Matz hopes the center will be open in January 2014.

SEE GASTRONOME, 2

NEWS | BUSINESS

PATTON TRAN

Walls of sixth-floor offices in the College Park building have been razed in order to make room for the new Student Success Center.

the repeat offenses on many of the same problems that become a point of concern. “Now if this is something that the restaurant is doing consistently ... not holding food at the right temperature, and you’re starting to see other problems as well—then that’s maybe a reason to bump that up to a major violation, if you’re starting to see a pattern of poor behavior,” Waldrop said.

Cal State Fullerton’s Sales Leadership Center (SLC) held its first Titan Sales Competition Friday, and the team representing the center took top honors. The competition kicked off at 9 a.m. with 22 students, comprising seven teams acting as sales representatives from Nationwide Financial and UPS. The competitors put their persuasive skills and business acumen to the test in two mock sales pitches they delivered to judges. Each student was sent into a room with a person acting as a client, such as a faculty member or professor. Students made pitches for Nationwide in the morning and worked with UPS in the afternoon. Each room had a camera broadcasting the video in separate lecture rooms. In the lecture rooms, four to five judges viewed students’ sales pitches live and graded their performance.

The judges were representatives of the event’s corporate sponsors, including Nationwide, UPS, Stanley, Black and Decker, Nestlé and PepsiCo. The grading was as follows: 5 percent for approach, 25 percent for needs identification, 25 percent for presentation, 15 percent for overcoming objections, 10 percent for close and 20 percent for overall presentation. Mark Mantey, co-director of the Sales Leadership Center, orchestrated the competition. Mantey said the evaluation percentages emulate other sales competitions in the Midwest and East Coast in order to keep things consistent with what companies are accustomed to. The SLC created the competition to teach students to present sales pitches more effectively. The center prepared students by giving them background on the companies involved in the competition. In late October, Nationwide and UPS sent representatives to show students how to sell their products. Students formed teams to prepare pitches as representatives of each firm. SEE SALES, 2

SEE CENTER, 3

SPORTS | BASEBALL

Freshman phenom looks to leave his mark Despite being the 10th pick in the draft, Bickford has to earn playing time IAN O’BRIEN Daily Titan

Hailing from Newbury Park, Calif., Phil Bickford is an incoming pitcher at Cal State Fullerton looking to keep the pride running in the Titan baseball program. The CSUF baseball team has been a perennial College World

WHAT’S

Series contender in every season since they began Division I competition in 1975. The Titans have won four College World Series titles in 38 seasons. The most recent season for the Titans ended in disappointment with a Super Regionals loss to UCLA, but the future is bright for this year’s squad. A key reason for optimism is the return of all three of their starting pitchers from the 2013 season. Pitching proved to be the Titans’ biggest strength through-

INSIDE?

NEWS 3

out the previous season, and it figures to be even stronger in the games to come. Bickford turned down a compelling offer to play Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays straight out of high school. He figures to battle for immediate playing time in the 2014 season. After the 6-foot-4, 200-pound freshman finished an impressive run at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, the Blue Jays selected him with the 10th overall pick in the MLB

Peer Health University Network educates students on AIDS

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OPINION 4

draft. However, he chose to forego the pros in favor of college ball. “It was a choice that was made at the deadline and I’m very pleased with the opportunity to be part of the team at Fullerton,” Bickford said. In addition to playing baseball, Bickford will be studying RadioTV-Film at CSUF. Bickford enjoyed watching CSUF play baseball as a kid. This helped draw him to the Titan baseball atmosphere. SEE BICKFORD, 8

Fans continue to support Chris Brown despite his violent history

DETOUR 5

PATTON TRAN / Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton held its first Titan Sales Competition, hosted by CSUF’s Sales Leadership Center, offering business students a chance to put their sales and teamwork skills to the test for the chance to win over $1,000 in scholarship money.

21-year-old art major Robin Song overcomes colorblindness

SPORTS 8

Women’s basketball fought tough against No. 20 Iowa State, but faltered late

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