INSIDE: Detour
Music festival brings grunge, glitter, page 5
SPORTS: Women’s soccer defeat Hawaii 1-0, visit dailytitan.com FEATURES: Metal jam rocks out for charity, page 4
Thursday September 17, 2009
Since 1960 Volume 85, Issue 9
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Sports aim to be risk free By Damon Lowney
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor news@dailytitan.com
By Jeff Lambert/Daily Titan Staff Photographer Freshman Jennifer Fitetcher sits in Tuesday’s discussion on governing challenges at the state and municipal levels as part of Constitution Week.
Constitution Week informs By Laura Barron-Lopez For the Daily Titan
news@dailytitan.com
September 17, 1787, is the day 35 revolutionary men signed the U.S. Constitution, a historical text that many Americans today take for granted. In honor of the Constitution and in the hopes that students will take notice of the document that this country is built upon, Cal State Fullerton holds an annual Constitution Week. Within this week, political scientists, journalists and elected officials give lectures on topics all related to constitutional law, some specifically addressing California. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the new UCI Law School, gave a lecture Monday on the issue of the Robert’s Court, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the future of constitutional law. Chemerinsky received his B.S. from Northwestern University, has written six books and over 100 law reviews, and has argued numerous appellate cases including in the U.S. Supreme Court. “Chemerinsky’s lecture was clear and intellectually stimulating. Although I am aware of the Robert’s Courts actions, I hadn’t thought about it on those terms. It all seemed to be a wake-up call,” Scott Spitzer, assistant professor of political science said. The way in which Chemerinsky laid before his audience the Robert’s Court and the future of the Constitution was intriguing and somewhat raw. “Don’t think about it in legal abstractions but about how it affects people. How it affects you,” Chemerinsky said, regarding the Supreme Court and the Constitution. Within this court resides four conservative justices: John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito and four liberal justices: John Stevens,
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Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor. This leaves one justice left, Anthony Kennedy, who is the swing vote. He, however, “sides more with the conservative justices and votes in the majority more than any justice on the court,” Chemerinsky said. Given these facts, Chemerinsky explained it “honestly should be called the Kennedy Court.” In order to communicate how significant an impact the Supreme Court’s decisions have on every American, Chemerinsky discussed five central issues that will change the course of this country and its Constitution. These five issues are: abortion, affirmative action, campaign finance, the Second Amendment and separation of church and state. When explaining the court’s stance on abortion and what the ruling would be if it were brought before them, Chemerinsky used facts. “In the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, there was a 5-4 margin to overturn Roe v. Wade. Kennedy changed his mind at the last minute, however, due to Blackmun, a justice on the minority side, who showed him letters from nuns in favor of Roe v. Wade. After this, Kennedy switched sides and Roe v. Wade was upheld.” Now, however, justices have come and gone, Blackmun being one, and when the case of abortion reaches the Supreme Court, which is predicted will be soon and with Kennedy voting on the conservative side more often than not, Chemerinsky feels that “Roe v. Wade will be overturned.” The next issue addressed was affirmative action. Already two cases have recently been brought forward to the Supreme Court regarding affirmative action. See CONSTITUTION, page 2
The Cal State University’s chancellor’s office will be reforming some of the requirements expected for club teams, attempting to make rules and regulations more thorough and consistent through all CSU’s. “I believe the chancellor’s office wants a more fluid system for all the CSU’s to have a consistent framework,” Jamaar Walker, assistant coordinator for student life, said. “Sports clubs are a high-risk activity on campus,” and the chancellor’s office is passing down to all CSU’s new requirements to deal with the risk involved, Walker said. Sports clubs will still be student-run and students from ASI and Sports Club Inter Council are on the committee that will be working to implement the new requirements. “Sports clubs are such a vital part of the university. You just don’t want to throw out anything,” Walker said. “We’re making sure the players are at the table.” To get CSUF student opinions, visit www.dailytitan.com/sportsclubs The new requirements, however, are still in the planning stages and CSU hasn’t yet discussed how to implement them; they were released from the chancellor’s office in July, Walker said. “I can’t give you too many details because that hasn’t been arranged yet,” Walker added. Nothing has changed yet at Cal State Fullerton, he said, but
By Jeff Lambert/Daily Titan Staff Photographer The Titan lacrosse team practices on an intramural field. They are one of many CSU sports clubs that will be affected state wide by new requirements and regulations.
students in sports clubs will see small changes throughout this year with more to come next year. “This is not going to be an overnight project,” said Walker. CSU wants more-extensive risk management for club sports, Walker said. “The areas of risk that the requirements talk about are travel and general operations,” Walker said. This includes travel to and from practices and tournaments, and making sure that each player and coach submits the necessary paperwork to participate in the club sport.The requirements involve doing more work, thus, more time from those involved in club sports, but
he thinks that the student population will understand the importance of the changes. Megan Peal, 22, a liberal studies major, said that club sports are an important part of CSUF, and she agrees that the CSU system is doing the right thing by making the club sports’ regulations more uniform. “You need to have that outside sport or group that you belong to, and if you don’t feel welcomed at a campus, then you don’t want to stay around,” Peal said. “It should be kind of similar to a normal sport where ... you are all very similar. You have your certain rules that you have to follow; you have certain liabilities that you have to adhere to.”
“Depending on location, it might be a little different, but everybody should have the same rules,” she said. Curtis Wright, 22, a fifth-year business major, also said he agrees with the CSU’s decision to reform the requirements for sports clubs. He said he thinks that “uniformity in rules and regulations will make each competitor know what they’re getting into before the competition starts.” When asked if he thinks club sports are important to the CSUF community, he answered: “Hell yeah ... because this is such a big commuter campus that anything to get you involved on campus, at least doing something here, I’m all for.”
Smokers segregated By MEGHAN ALFANO
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor news@dailytitan.com
Smokers at Cal State Fullerton may have to start putting more consideration into where they are smoking on campus. The Environmental Health and Instructional Safety offices have proposed a new smoking policy on campus and, if put into effect, will require students and faculty who smoke to do so in one of the 23 designated areas placed throughout campus. The draft of the new policy states, “To mitigate well-established health risks associated with exposure to secondhand smoke, the California State University Board of Trustees delegated authority to campus presidents to adopt rules regulating smoking on campuses. CSUF prohibits smoking in all areas except for specific outdoor designated smoking locations.” This new policy would prohibit smoking in all outdoor areas except parking lots or other specifically designated smoking areas. The current smoking policy, which is required by state law at all California State University establishments, prohibits smoking within 20 feet of any building owned by a
By Todd Barnes/Daily Titan Photo Editor Left: Students who withheld their names ignore non-smoking signs around Mihaylo courtyard. Above: Grad student, Tiffani Smith, chit-chats with a friend while smoking by Langsdorf Hall.
CSU. Smoking is permitted everywhere else outside unless otherwise posted. The problem with this policy is that since the rules are self-regulated and there is no serious enforcement mechanism, it is difficult for these rules to be regulated, and students often don’t follow them, Tom Whitfield, director of the Environmental Health and Instructional Safety, said. Students can often be seen smoking on balconies and in other areas that are clearly within a 20-foot radius of a building. “Many smokers tend to not keep that distance from the buildings,” said Whitfield. “There needs to be a
way to keep that distance from hightraffic areas so people aren’t having to walk through a cloud of smoke.” Although it will still be a self-enforced rule, Whitfield feels the new policy will have a more positive impact on campus. “It will provide a safer environment for students and faculty by reducing exposure to second-hand smoke,” Whitfield said. Associate Director of Safety Programs and Services Scott Bourdon, who helped design the proposal, also said that the proposed 23 designated areas will be placed where it is easy for people to avoid second-hand smoke. That at some point a form of identification or signage will be
placed so smokers will be aware of where they can smoke. “Smokers can still smoke, but it will also be easy for people to avoid the smoke,” added Bourdon. Whitfield and Bourdon see the policy as a positive thing, and many students agree with the change. “I think it would be great,” said Kaitlin Nguyen, a 25 year old marketing major. There is no set date of when the policy will be put into effect, but Whitfield said that it could happen sometime later this fall, depending on the approval of various entities on campus. (For the full story, visit dailytitan. com)
DT SHORTHAND ASI Blockparty today! ASI is hosting its annual block-party all day today at the TSU patio, Humanities Building and Performing Arts Building. The event starts at 8 a.m. It is pirate themed and donuts and coffee will be served in the morning or as long as supplies last. Don’t forget to wear your most menacing peg-leg (or pegarm if you’re into that sort of thing) to impress and intimidate all your seafaring friends! In addition to learning about ASI services and programs, other activities include a chance to
get your portrait drawn by a caricature artist, eating cotton candy, and if your eye-patch is looking a little plain, you will have a chance to decorate it. All of this will be held at the Information and Resource Fair which will be held on the TSU East patio from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy live music at the Becker Amphitheatre as well. Keep your stomachs empty for the Swashbucklin’ Soiree Dinner and Karaoke from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. which will be held in the Garden Café.
Worst album art gallery
See page 6