THURSDAY, M ARCH 27, 2014
Volume 95, Issue 33
Titans earn a win and a draw Softball leaves from Bakersfield after a tough doubleheader JOHNNY NAVARRETTE Daily Titan
Smith said the goal is not a perfect tool. The goal is to allow a patient to do something they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. Although the device may not be perfect, it will still help many people. Sharon McCurdy said allowing her husband to regain control over simple tasks could have a remarkable impact on both his life and hers.
In its final warm-up before conference play, the Cal State Fullerton softball team won its first game but tied the second in a doubleheader versus Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon at RR Softball Complex. In game one, the Titans shutout Bakersfield 6-2 behind pitcher Jasmine Antunez. She improved to 8-6 on the season. Antunez went six innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs. The sophomore struck out five while walking just two batters. Tied 1-1 in the third inning, the Titans got some help from the Bakersfield defense as it committed an error on a Eliza Crawford hit, allowing Delynn Rippy to score, giving CSUF the lead. Crawford was 2-for-3 with one run batted in and drew one walk. In the fourth inning, Missy Taukeiaho broke the game open as she smashed a two-run home run to left field, her 10th home run of the year, giving her team a 4-1 lead. Taukeiaho’s finished the game 2-for-4 with three runs batted. The sophomore also pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief. Roadrunners’ starting pitcher Kelsie Monroe was roughed in her five innings of work, allowing eight hits and five runs as she dropped to 7-12 on the season. In total, the Titans (1912-1) tagged Roadrunners pitching for 11 hits, six of which were extra-base hits, including doubles from Taukeiaho, Crawford, Ariel Tsuchiyama and Samantha Galarza. CSUB’s Jessica Castaneda and Syndey Raeber led the Roadrunners’ offense. Castaneda was 2-for-2 with one run batted in and two walks, while Raeber was 2-for-4 with one run scored. In game two, the Titans let an early lead slip away as the Roadrunners battled back and the two teams ended the game in a 10-10 tie. After leading 7-1, the Titans ran into issues in the fourth inning as CSUB (9-25-1) put seven runs on the scoreboard to take a 8-7 lead. The Titans were able to regain the lead in the sixth inning.
SEE ROBOTIC, 6
SEE SOFTBALL, 8
ELIZABETH MUÑOZ / Daily Titan Demonstrators protest “success fees” outside of the Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach during the California State University Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday. So far, success fees have been implemented at 11 CSU campuses, with others considering fees.
Protesters trek to trustees
Demonstrations at Board of Trustees meeting blast fees KYLE NAULT Daily Titan
“I’m not done!” shouted Sean Washburn to the California State University Board of Trustees after his microphone was shut off during the public comment portion of the Wednesday meeting. Washburn, a member of the Cal State Fullerton branch of Students for Quality Education (SQE), was among 60 CSU students who continued protesting new “student success” fees as CSU institutions continue to formulate and implement them. “Please take note of what you see here, students standing against the fee that is a dangerous precedent, a fee that places student success on the backs of students who are already broken by skyrocketing fee and tuition increases and crippling debt,” he shouted. The CSUF student success fee will be phased in over the next few years, reaching its final cost of $181 per semester starting in fall 2016. During summer sessions, a fee
of $43 will apply starting in 2015. The Student Fee Advisory Committee initially proposed a figure of $240.50 per semester but pared the fee down to $181 per semester after analyzing student feedback. However, not all students are upset to be picking up the tab. Jonathan Leggett, the vice president of Associated Students Inc. and a voting member of the SFAC, expressed his thanks to Chancellor Timothy P. White for his recent approval of the campus-specific fee during the public comment period. “I firmly believe that we put together the most comprehensive program to outreach across to our 38,000-student population to acquire as much student feedback as possible,” he said. “Our students are starving for the premiere college experience.” Leggett was joined by Stephen Stambough, Ph.D., in showing gratitude toward White. “What we ended up doing was coming together with this proposal that was a little more focused and a little smaller than what was initially there, based on the student input,” said Stambough, who is the chair of the division of politics,
ELIZABETH MUÑOZ / Daily Titan Ryan Quinn, a member of the Cal State Fullerton branch of Students for Quality Education, calls for the repeal of “success fees” at the California State University Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday.
administration and justice and a voting member of the SFAC. “I was impressed by the engagement, both for and against, and I’m very happy to see this as a faculty member.” With White’s final approval of the Student Success Initiative, the chancellor’s office has approved 11 similar fees across CSU campuses the first of which was
approved in 2011. As a result, SQE and other advocacy groups across the CSU took their disdain to the front lawn of the Office of the Chancellor. When Leggett and other CSUF representatives left the building, they were met with boos and chants from the large crowd. “I’m always really glad to see protesters out here,” Leggett said in response.
“They have the passion, whether it’s for or against, and I respect what they are out here to do, but at the end of the day, I do oppose their opposition and we are here to make our point.” Members of SQE and other advocacy groups also said they have a point to make. SEE FEE PROTEST, 2
Arming patients to battle disease Students test out robotic arm prototype CYNTHIA WASHICKO Daily Titan
His arms were the first to go. That’s what Sharon McCurdy remembers of the time shortly after her husband, John McCurdy, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His
hands now lie furled in his lap, resting on legs that also refuse to function. John was diagnosed with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, two years ago. The illness leads to the degeneration and eventual death of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, according to the ALS Association. The degeneration causes a progressive loss of control over voluntary movements. Helping patients like John was the focus of a meeting
on March 18 between a group of Cal State Fullerton students and the Orange County chapter of the ALS Association. The students have been working for months on a prototype for a robotic arm that could be used to aid ALS patients. The arm and corresponding headpiece use signals from the wearer’s brain to move motors on the arm. Those motors, in turn, move the framework of the robotic limb and the wearer’s arm and hand with it.
Michael Smith, past president of IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, worked with the students prior to the meeting to help them develop the arm to best fit the patients’ needs. Smith said a tool like this, even in a simple form, could make a world of difference in the life of an ALS patient. “It’s all about function,” Smith said. “What people with ALS are concerned with … is ‘What can this device do for me?’”
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