Since 1960 Volume 85, Issue 15
Wednesday September 30, 2009
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
INSIDE DT
DAY OF OPPOSITION By Gilbert Gutierrez III Daily Titan Staff Writer
news@dailytitan. com
FEATURES: Couch-hopping makes travel more affordable, page 3
OPINION: Protesters make a ruckus on campus but was an impact made? page 4
SPORTS:
Women’s rugby back after 21 years, page 6
Students, faculty, alumni and staff joined forces to shout passionately about the California State University’s economic turmoil. Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton just before noon, the group began it’s march and tore through the Titan Student Union, Becker Amphitheatre, Pollak Library, the Quad and along Nutwood Avenue to protest student fee increases, faculty furloughs and enrollment reductions. President Milton Gordon witnessed the protest when the pack traveled to Nutwood Avenue. “The students have a great opportunity to protest, and I agree with them. I think they should. I too disagree with the way the state has acted, but you know we were all cut $584 million, and for this campus alone it’s going to be reduced over $38 million,” he said. Students inside the Humanities-Social Sciences Building stood out on the balcony to look down as the flock ended their tour to rally and show their collective support. Lauren Vondracek, a senior in women’s studies, shouted to the crowd, “We need to fight back for the faculty that teaches us.” The crowd erupted with clapping and cheers. “We are tired of having fee increases and faculty cuts,” Vondracek said. “We are fighting for students’ rights as well as those that cannot afford to go to school because of fee increases.” The crowd came together at noon to march around the Quad and yelled at the top of their lungs to get the attention of the students and faculty on break: “Hell no, furloughs! Hell no, furloughs!” “No cuts, no fees, education should be free!” and “They say cutbacks! We say fight back!” “Today it’s kind of a very impromptu campaign to get the message out that students, faculty, staff, everyone, we are sick and tired of being the open wallet to the state’s mismanagement and the CSU’s mismanagement,” said professor of social justice Jarret Lovell. “(Students) have got to get involved,” he added. “There’s a line over by the TSU; it’s called the free money line that ASI is putting out. You want your free money, you’ve got to come here and fight for what’s yours. If they think that people are just going to hand out free money, they’ve got another thing coming
to them. People in power don’t give things away, they have to be taken; and for too long faculty, students, staff have been willing to sacrifice for higher education, and we’re not getting anything in return. How do you pay 32 percent more in student fees, and get 10 percent less professors, less classes, it doesn’t make sense.” At 12:15 p.m. after yelling out their chants to the cars passing by, which gained supportive honks, the demonstration marched down the Titan Walk. In a line, the group entered the TSU lobby to the surprise of the students in the lounge area. TSU lobby-employees did not wish to comment about the protesters’ disturbance. Immediately after, the congregation took the stage of the Becker Amphitheatre where the Associated Students Inc. was holding its fall fashion show. Joe Lopez, ASI vice president, said that he was glad to see a group come together at CSUF, but there’s nothing in the works as far as a collaboration with the student activists. He would be pleased if the students used ASI’s open door policy to express their grievances. The crowd then quietly moved through the Pollak Library, but their numbers clogged the entrance and exit security gates. Students stopped working to stare as the crowd continued its protest. Professor Mougo Nyaggah, chapter president of the California Faculty Association, said, “CFA is joining the students here who are protesting the tuition increases. It went up 32 percent this year, and that will keep off very many students from accessing a university education,” Nyaggah said. “For every one dollar the state invests in educating a student, they stand to get $4.41 down the road in revenue and taxes generated by that person in the future. So it’s a good investment to put money in to educating students in California. And it is important to keep the access available to the students, and this cannot be done by continued increases of the fees for the students.” Nyaggah said that the most important thing is for the people who are concerned about the budget crisis to tell the state, “not to balance the budget on the backs of the students.” Despite some of the protesters dwindling away after an hour, dozens stayed to spread the word throughout the day. Psychology major Jamie Lynne Hunt said that her father was recently released from CSUF after 15 years of service. “He’s not exactly fired, but his job is placed on the backburner for now,” she said. The group also has a demonstration planned for Oct. 13. (Greg Lehman contributed to this article.)
Students react to demonstrators
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I think it’s a little pointless for their purpose because they’re complaining that we’re not having class, yet they’re going to walk out of the classes they do have.
By John Wayne Maioriello/Daily Titan Staff Photographer James Goebel, a philosophy major, marches in protest against the budget cuts and furlough days on campus at CSUF on Sept. 29.
By ani Kellogg/For the Daily Titan
Library sit-in: A student activists who asked to remain anonymous sits on the floor handcuffed to the reception desk of Pollak Library, while other demonstrators protest at 9 p.m. in the lobby. When the Associate University Librarian Elizabeth Housewright came back to the library the student unlocked the cuffs and left when she finished speaking. Students last night protested in Pollak Library and demanded that a campus administrator answer questions. They refused to leave when the library closed at 9 p.m. until their questions about the budget cuts were answered.
http://www.dailytitan.com/2009/09/CSUF-protest
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– Christian Nall,
English major
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I think it’s a good thing because [the cutbacks are] affecting a lot of people, so I’m glad they’re fighting for it.
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Stay connected to the Daily Titan on:
– Hannah Peltzer, Liberal studies major
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LA student newspaper faces cuts
LA City College administration has cut their student newspaper’s budget By Patrick Cowles
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor news@dailytitan.com
The Los Angeles City College student newspaper, the Collegian, lost 15 percent of its printing budget this year due to cuts, its 80th year in continuous production.
DAILYTITAN.COM
For a video news package on the protest at Cal State Fullerton, including interviews with students, ASI vice president Joe Lopez and vice president of Student Affairs Robert L. Palmer, go to Dailytitan.com/csuf-protest
However, Rhonda Guess, assistant professor of journalism and faculty adviser to the Collegian, said her department chair, Daniel Marlos, initially said the cut would be 40 percent of their budget, despite an agreed 15 percent cut with Shared Governance.That supposed 40 percent cut came from President Jamillah Moore’s office. “It just didn’t make sense,” Guess said. Guess said she found out about the 40 percent cut last Wednesday, Sept. 23, while walking past her chair’s of-
fice going to lecture her Journalism 101 class in the morning. “He called me over and handed me a budget,” Guess said. “He said, ‘Your budget has been cut.’” The Collegian’s $25,000 printing budget had been cut to $15,000, a 40 percent decrease. Marlos told Guess the $10,000 cut was counter to what was agreed to by Shared Governance. Marlos, along with Dean of Academic Affairs Allison Jones and Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Kimberly Perry,
agreed to a 15 percent cut, not 40 percent. “We were all, many departments, to give back 15 percent, but the Collegian will be giving back 40 percent of its printing budget,” said Guess. The 40 percent printing budget cut came from a Contract Request Form with a period of services from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2014, with NewsType Services, Inc., LACCs long time printing vendor said Marlos. See LACC, Page 2