Vol. 87 Issue 25
Multimedia
Watch the memorial for Chelsea King at:
dailytitan.com/chelseaking
TUESDAY
March 23, 2010
Greek organization Sigma Nu makes a comeback at: dailytitan.com/sigmanu
People of Vietnam aided by American volunteers Doctors and volunteers from around the country travel to provide free health and dental care. INTROSPECT, Page 6
SPORTS: The Walk-Off explores a bracket of eight one-name athletes SPORTS, Page 4
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
A new age of health care
Some solicitors questionable By Andrew Kwok
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his first State of the Union speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress January in Washington, D.C.
By Jennifer Karmarkar Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
President Obama will sign a historic health care bill into law Tuesday, effectively extending insurance coverage to more than 32 million Americans. While some Americans hail the new law as a necessary overhaul to a broken system and others decry it as a burden on a nation already overwhelmed with debt, nobody can deny that the bill will change the face of health care as we know it. “It’s going to change things a great deal,” said assistant professor of political science Matthew Jarvis. “There will be more pressure on insurers because they will have to insure people who haven’t been insured before and these insurers might not know how to
market the product to those people. Also – and this is years down the road – insurance companies can no longer do denial of pre-existing conditions. So they’ll have some challenges.” Students will be among the first groups to see benefits from this new law, since they are more likely to be in the age bracket where they were previously unable to remain on their parents’ insurance policies. The new law rescinds the age cutoff to 26, Jarvis said, which will “remove some of students’ fears about graduating and having no insurance in this god-awful job market.” “I think it’s a positive step for our whole government,” said philosophy major Raquel Alva, 23. “Everyone deserves to get free health care and, for myself, I’m not insured, so it’s a positive step for me and I’m looking
forward to seeing what the possibilities are and where it can go.” Business administration major Gus Garcia, 26, agrees that health care reform was long overdue. “There are a lot of people that need health insurance that aren’t getting it,” Garcia said. “It just gives everybody an opportunity to get what they deserve, which is the opportunity to have a healthy life. There’s a lot of opposition but I think (health care) is a great thing for people who don’t have it.” Experts say the no-denial stipulation will not be effective until 2014 but the extension of parents’ benefits until age 26 will take effect within the year. Ryan Dover, 25, a business administration and accounting major, hopes the changes come sooner rather than later.
“I’m at that age where I’m going to start working pretty soon,” he said. “This past year I turned 25 and I got kicked off my parents’ insurance. To be on that insurance for an extra couple years would have been really helpful for me.” Dover said his glasses recently broke and he can’t afford to buy new ones. He hopes he will be able to jump back on his parents’ policy and get some of the things he needs like dental and optical care. But he has concerns about the health care law too. “As I start going into the world, having to pay into (health care) may not be such a great idea for me.” Jarvis said students shouldn’t worry about paying higher taxes on health care anytime soon – the only taxes will be on those making more than $250,000 per year.
Students frustrated with bus availability By Michelle Tuyub
For the Daily Titan
news@dailytitan.com
As of March 14, a local manifestation of the economic downturn taking its toll on public transportation is easily visible. The OCTA (Orange County Transportation Authority) bus line has reduced the frequency of buses on certain routes as well as the night owl routes, running from 1 - 4 a.m. Some routes have been eliminated all together. Changes in service took affect on Sunday and students at Cal State Fullerton are able to see the immediate changes that have occurred. A loss of state funding for public transportation caused OCTA to have to reduce or eliminate the buses that are not used as much. Although this might not be seen as a problem to some students, it will mean a lot of change to others. Maria Montes, 19, undeclared, depends on the buses for her transportation to and from school. Living in Laguna Hills, it takes Montes two hours to get to and from CSUF. With the new changes to the routes that she usually takes, Montes has already missed a class. “(I) missed the second one, and knew I wasn’t going to make it (on time) so I went back (home).” Along with missing buses because of a new schedule, Montes said that she also had to take an extra bus. “One of my buses would go to Laguna Hills to Santa Ana. Instead of two I have
to come to campus at all. Durgabrasad Kottary, 25, electrical engineering major, lives in Cerritos and said that due to the elimination of the number 24 weekend route, he is not going to be able to come to campus at all on the weekend. Kottary also mentioned that because of the changes in the routes a lot of time is wasted; whether it’s waiting for the buses when you miss one, or waiting to catch a different bus. Kottary said that even if he had to pay more for the buses to be frequent, he would not oppose it. “(The) bus stopping at 8 (p.m.) is an issue because if you have class that is late, that would be an issue because of the bus stopping early.” Stated on OCTA’s Web site, their goal with the changes “is to preserve as much bus service as possible given the available reduced funds.” Although the changes have photo by christa connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor caused increasing difficulty for An OCTA bus drops off passengers at the Nutwood Avenue stop in front of Hope International customers, OCTA said it is atUniversity. Many stops in the area have been reduced or eliminated due to a lack of state funds. tempting to accommodate to take three buses now.” The recent ser- route times to inform riders of the chang- its riders by reconstructvice changes were discussed last Novem- es. Despite these notices, some riders did ing and adding new routes. ber in a meeting with the OCTA com- not know of the change until recently. mittee. In the meeting many students and Zsareina Pouliot, 26, a graphic debus riders voiced their concerns pertain- sign major, said that she knew about the ing to the changes. Many of the concerns changes for a week. Bus route 24, which were of the inconvenience of people who Pouliot usually takes, was affected, leaving depend on the bus as their sole means of her to look more often for other forms of transportation. transportation. The OCTA Web site has a list of new With the weekend line being eliminatrenovations, along with a brief expla- ed from the 24 route, which is used nation for the recent changes. Notices by students attending CSUF, some marked “URGENT” were placed with students are not going to be able
Graphic by kristen hulsey/Daily Titan Design Editor
photo courtesy mct
The legitimacy of groups and organizations soliciting on campus is becoming increasingly questionable, as reports from students and faculty have raised concerns about unauthorized activities such as job recruiting. Deceptive means, such as vagueness of job description and the claim of having the authorization of the Career Center or the Dean of Students office have been used to recruit students said Dr. Esiquio Uballe, associate dean of students at Cal State Fullerton. Students have reportedly gone to the Career CenNO SOLICITING ter and to the Dean of Students office with complaints. After having gone through hiring and work processes, they find that misleading and manipulative means were used in recruitment and on the job. College Works Painting, a business which offers students the opportunity to manage residential house-painting operations, has been one such operation in question with regard to its recruiting ethics. Typical methods of operation involve making presentations in classrooms before faculty members begin instruction, passing out clipboards for students to provide contact and sometimes personal information. Oftentimes, to loosely comply with campus policies on campus solicitation, representatives from organizations unauthorized by the Career Center will ask faculty members for permission to present in classrooms. While the activities performed by College Works were considered unethical by the Career Center and by the Dean of Students office, and are generally against campus policies, they were not illegal. “It becomes a game of cat and mouse,” said Sean Gil, associate director at the Career Center. The Dean of Students office confronted representatives from College Works as early as spring 2009, informing them that their practices were against campus policy. Though it appeared that the representatives were willing to comply with campus policies, reports of their recruiting appeared again in fall 2009, Uballe said. Minor variations of College Works’ tactics were discovered. Instead of finding vacant rooms on campus for meetings, College Works recruiters migrated to venues such as the Marriott Hotel and Hope University. While CSUF has had an uneasy relationship with College Works, the company is registered with the Better Business Bureau and has a B+ rating. “The problem with this outfit is that they have not been transparent,” Uballe said. See SOLICITORS, Page 2