April 22, 2010
Vol. 87 Issue 37
THURSDAY
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
The party in the desert The 11th annual Coahella Music and Arts Festival brought a record 75,000 from around the world to jam in the sand
Human capital: Strategizing a college’s worth
photo By Allie mosier/Daily Titan Staff Writter Students, faculty and the president’s administrative board gather to discuss the strategic planning activity document.
By Allie Mosier
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
PHOTOS By Christa CONNELLY/Daily Titan Photo Editor ABOVE: Swedish twee-pop band Camera Obscura performs to a crowd in the Mojave tent on Saturday, April 17. They were one of over 120 bands performing over the three-day festival. TOP LEFT: The party rages around ‘Successful House Plants,’ an art installment by Michael Christian of Oakland, Calif. This is the artist’s sixth year as part of the festival. TOP RIGHT: Festival goers escape the desert heat in the airconditioned Heineken Beer Garden, featuring two bars and a deejay making sure the music never stopped.
By MEghan Alfano
Daily Titan Sound-Off Editor soundoff@dailytitan.com
Walking around in the desert heat, the smell of marijuana and body odor coming from the guy in front of you as you walk around searching for the band you want to see, ah, Coachella. The 11th annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival took place April 16-18, and attracted thousands of people from all over the world for the three-day festival to celebrate their favorite
acts with other music aficionados. Despite no longer selling one-day passes and a line-up that some considered to be upsetting, Coachella attracted 75,000 people from all over the globe, selling out the event and making it the biggest Coachella thus far. The growth was definitely noticeable to regular Coachella attendees, including Mark Casas of La Mirada, who has attended Coachella every year since 2005. See COACHELLA, Page 6
Illegal students live in fear of deportation By Juanita Vasquez
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Eloisa’s brother first set foot in the United States when he was 17 years old. The second time, he was put on a plane back to Mexico City. He had been living and working in the U.S. for five years before traveling to Mexico for personal reasons. He had come into the country with a Tourist Visa, which allows people to temporarily enter the U.S. for business, pleasure or medical treatment. But he was working without a workers’ permit during his stay. “When he tried to come into the United States through Ontario,” said Eloisa, an accounting and Chicano(a) studies major. “That’s when they told him that he couldn’t because the visa that he had was for visitors only.” When he tried to ask for the permit, he was interrogated for about three hours, and in less than six hours, immigration officials had boarded him on a plane to Mexico City. Patricia Pérez, assistant professor of Chicano(a) studies, knows of undocumented people who, before they were able to fix their immigration status, had to live “under the radar,” and were constantly scared and worried about
where they went. The pursuit of a better quality of life and greater economic opportunities are the reasons for immigration, legal or illegal, and Eloisa said she doesn’t blame anyone for her current situation. “My parents came here to this country to have a better education, to have a better future for my brothers and I,” Eloisa said, who first came into the U.S. with a Visitor Visa. “I feel that it’s a struggle for me to get an education, but I’d rather be struggling for an education than be struggling by working 48 hours a week.” Pérez said the constant thinking about their safety and thinking they are in danger of being deported filters into the academic lives of undocumented students. Associate Dean of Students Esiquio Uballe said about a year ago a CSUF graduate, who had been living in the U.S. since he was young, was going to be deported to Mexico. “Because he was in the middle of finishing his masters, we felt that it was important for him to complete his studies. So, there was an appeal made to let him stay until his deportation hearing so that he could be released and then finish his masters,” Uballe said. At the time of the arrest, the student was engaged. After his marriage,
Photo courtesy MTC Luis Alberto Diaz Cujcuj (right) with his friends in the small village of San Jose Calderas, Guatemala, talked about being chained on his deportation flight from the United States.
he was able to apply for legal residency and continue his studies. Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said in a press conference that over 380,000 people were deported in the first year of the Obama administration. “There’s a lot of people who are in our situation but are afraid to lobby or to protest,” Eloisa said. “And there’s people who have documentation and want to help out, but they don’t see it as a priority, so they don’t help out as much.” Eloisa said what frightens her most is driving, because she does not have a license. “I remember my first year of college it was hard for me to drive to school, because I was afraid of getting in a car
accident because I don’t have insurance,” Eloisa said. Eloisa also thinks about sobriety checkpoints, which she explains often lead to deportations. However, she is a part of a network of friends, some undocumented and others legal citizens, who, through text messages, alert one another about checkpoint locations. Eloisa awaits the approval of the Federal DREAM Act, which would give the undocumented youth a path to citizenship in exchange for a mandatory two years in higher education or military service. In addition, they need to have entered the U.S. at age 16 or younger and must demonstrate “good moral conduct.” See DEPORTATION, Page 2
A group of concerned Cal State Fullerton students and faculty met with the president’s administrative board to discuss the future of the university on Tuesday at the Titan Student Union. The students discussed the Strategic Planning Activities document which states that the university would put less emphasis on programs that are “esoteric,” such as philosophy, literature and fine arts. According to the document, they would instead focus on those that would produce a needed expert labor force in fields like health care, public administration, science, engineering and business. Those in attendance were acting Director of University Planning/Writer of the Strategic Planning Activities, Michael Parker; Vice President of Academic Affairs, Ephraim Smith; Vice President of Student Affairs, Robert Palmer and acting Chief Information Technology Officer, Chris Manriquez. Dean of Students Kandy Mink Salas served as the moderator. Among the students who attended were current Associated Students Inc. President Juli Santos and ASI President-elect Joe Lopez. See HUMAN CAPITAL, Page 3
CSUF campus prepares for Comm. Week
photo courtesy of comm week website CSUF alumni Henry DiCarlo (center), meteorologoist for CBS and KCAL, gives Comm. Week keynote speech at the 2006 Alumni Luncehon.
By Allie Mosier
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Comm. Week is a week-long event dedicated to spotlighting the college of communications, which will take place Monday, April 26, through Sunday, May 2. There will be a variety of workshops students can attend and guest speakers from all areas of the communications field. “We have over 75 guest speakers coming from the public relations industry as well as the entertainment industry, among others,” said Director of Logistics Committee Griselda Ramirez. “We have been planning for this event since the beginning of the semester. Right now, we’re doing last minute preparations.” The event will kick-off with a scavenger hunt called TEXTravaganza! on April 26, at noon in which students will use their cell phones to play. “We will be asking students questions about Cal State Fullerton and students will have to find those locations,” said Chief Financial Officer Jeannette Lalamas. See COMM, Page 2