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September 30, 2009
IN OTHER NEWS UnitedHealth gives grant to nursing department
INTERNATIONAL
Britain’s Brown defends record as labor increases LONDON (MCT) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempted to rally a battered Labour Party Tuesday, defending the government's handling of the economic crisis and vowing to pursue policies that will benefit Britain's "hardworking majority." Brown said the Labour government's decision to come to the aid of the banking sector last fall served as a model for similar rescues around the world, while other measures boosted small businesses and helped save 500,000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost. But Brown vowed that the banks would repay the British people and pledged to continue a crackdown on bonuses in the financial sector and regulation of financial markets. "Markets need what they cannot generate themselves," he said. "They need what the British people alone can bring to them. I say to you today, markets need morals." Brown vowed the government would make tough decisions on public spending in future years and reiterated a pledge to implement a fiscal-responsibility law that will require cuts in the budget deficit.
NATIONAL
Man found guilty of killing seven in Illinois CHICAGO (MCT) - After less than two hours, jurors on Tuesday found James Degorski guilty of the 1993 slayings of seven people at a Brown’s Chicken restaurant in Palatine, Ill. Relatives of one victim wept openly as prosecutors displayed photos of each victim on a giant video screen. During closing arguments, prosecutors focused primarily on the credibility of their two star witnesses – Anne England and Eileen Bakalla, who in 2002 broke open the case that had been unsolved for more than nine years. But prosecutors reminded jurors that each woman was unequivocal in their recollection of Degorski’s confession in the days following the January 1993 murders, and each had specific details that only the killers could have revealed to them. Neither woman, prosecutors argued, had a motive to lie.
By Portia bode
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton’s Department of Nursing hosted an awards ceremony to celebrate a $2 million grant from UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday. The grant will help fund CSUF Department of Nursing’s $3.5 million Expanding Healthcare Access through a nursing project, which is “aimed at boosting the number of yearly graduates from the CSUF nursing program and providing more highly educated nurses for undeserved and low-income communities, stated a joint press release from CSUF and UnitedHealth Group. Chandra Torgenson, senior vice president and chief nursing officer of UnitedHealth Group, explained that California, as well as the nation, has a shortage of nurses. “UnitedHealth Group wanted to demonstrate the value of nurses by giving them this grant so they can grow their technology and get better equipment for their skill’s lab,” Torgenson said. “Because nursing education is
STATE
Owners offer $1 million reward for missing art PEBBLE BEACH (MCT) -Two Pebble Beach residents say thieves made off with $27 million of artwork Friday from their private collection – a fine-arts haul that included works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock. Angelo Benjamin Amadio said he and his housemate, Dr. Ralph Kennaugh, a Boston radiation oncologist, returned to their rented Sunridge Road home about 6:50 p.m. to find 13 pieces of art and other items stolen. Amadio said Monday they were offering a $1 million reward for the return of the artwork. They issued a prepared statement with the reward offer and a list of artists whose pieces they said were taken. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cmdr. Mike Richards said: “We are investigating. Hopefully, we are going to get some information.” Amadio said they put out the reward offer on advice of their attorney and others who felt “the critical window had passed to recover the art.” The Sheriff’s Office said the burglary and theft apparently occurred between 1p.m. and about 6:50 p.m. Investigators are “exploring possible suspect leads,” deputies said. Deputies ask anyone with information to call detective Mark Stevens.
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By Chad Uemura/Daily Titan Staff Photographer
By Chad Uemura/Daily Titan Staff Photographer California State University Fullerton’s nursing program receives a donation of $2 million from United Healthcare Tuesday, Sept. 29.
both labor and resource intensive, there is always a gap between the normal state reimbursement rate and the actual costs incurred by the university in operating the nursing program,” stated President Milton Gordon in the press release. Despite a shortage of nurses, there has not been enough funding for colleges to admit more students into their nursing programs, stated the press release. This grant was awarded to CSUF to help alleviate the problem. “The grant will allow admission of about 124 students over the next four years,” said Cindy Greenberg, chair of the Department of Nurs-
ing. It will also “help to maintain equipment, support faculty and provide adequate facilities.” “It will provide a great opportunity for nursing students who are applying and for those already in the program,” said Sara Barnes, a second cohort Entry Level Masters of Science in nursing. The nursing program has officially named its new training facility, funded by UnitedHealth Group, the “UnitedHealthcare Nursing Skills Lab,” stated the press release. “The lab is like a hospital unit with mannequins that students practice on,” which is safer than working with live patients, Green-
berg explained. There are different types of mannequins for students to practice on to give them diverse hands-on experience in their field. “The support of the lab gives us the opportunity to do hands-on stuff to take the knowledge and apply it. It’s the closest thing to the real thing,” said Boudsakhone Sundara-Nunez, nursing grad, third class. Barnes quoted Clay P. Bedford as she spoke at the ceremony and said: “You can teach a student a lesson for a day, but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.”
LACC: Funding cut 40 percent sounds ‘death knell’ from page 1
The contract was prepared and signed by Marlos on Sept. 8, with a budget of $25,000. However, the president’s signature is dated on Sept. 22, with a pen mark through the $25,000 figure and $15,000 handwritten above. Perry stated this contract was a mistake and another has been prepared. She did not know why $10,000 had been reduced from the budget. However, Marlos said he submitted two duplicate contracts, the second with an understanding that the vice president needed to reduce the budget by 15 or 16 percent. Marlos submitted the first on Sept. 8, and the second request one week later after no response came from the president’s office. Marlos went to the dean and the vice president, both did not know where the contract went. “Time was running out, and we needed the contract done so we
could come out on schedule,” Marlos said. The Collegian could not be allowed to print without a renewed contract because printing funds are encumbered in advanced each year, added Marlos. With a printing contract that had expired June 30, Marlos needed the contract renewal finalized so the Collegian could continue printing. When Marlos finally received the contract from Administrative Services, he noticed that resubmission was not written across the top, which meant that the original contract had been signed, not the duplicate. That contract had a note attached which stated, “For your files, please note the total amount was reduced to $15,000 per Dr. Moore.” “So the president took the $25,000 request and lined through it and did not consult me, did not consult the dean, did not consult the vice president … the 40 percent came from me doing the math, nobody ever
said 40 percent to me,” Marlos said. “And to the best of my knowledge, this was a unilateral decision.” “Now the story we’re getting is this was a miscommunication,” Marlos said. The president was apparently not aware of the other contract, added Marlos. “But there is no explanation why this time-sensitive contract sat around for two weeks without getting a signature,” Marlos said. “There was no indication on why this amount was selected, and there was no input on behalf of any interested parties.” For a biweekly newspaper, that miscommunication could have forced the paper to run weekly, cut circulation drastically, or constrict the amount of pages the students could publish, said Guess. Based upon the service dates of the contract, the fallout would last five academic years. “I was absolutely frantic,” Guess said. “The last person it goes through is the president. What kind of mistake is that?” So frantic, Guess drove to Los Angeles Mission College, approximately 22 miles away, to address the cut which she believed to be a retaliation against incidents between Collegian staff and President Moore from last year at the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees Meeting. At that meeting the Board listened to Guess, but said that this was something that the board was unable to take up. Mars Melnicoff, a broadcast journalism student with the Collegian, also spoke at the Board meeting, describing an incident at a Town Hall Meeting she covered on campus. During that meeting, which she recorded with her iPhone, Moore singled out and embarrassed Melnicoff publicly simply for recording a public meeting on public property, which is protected under law. “People have a right to know if they are being recorded if they want that information released,” said Moore during the meeting. However, administrators of a public college are “state figures” while on campus, and their personal rights to privacy are transparent regarding administrative matters, said Guess. Even though the Collegian will print $21,250 per year given 15 percent, Guess projected the paper, which students have filled anywhere from eight to 14 pages, will adhere strictly to eight pages. She also mentioned the circulation may have to drop from 5,000 copies per issue to 4,000. The Board also addressed a proposal by the Shared Government Council to shift the Collegian from academic affairs to student affairs, making the paper a co-curricular activity. That proposal came from Tammy Robinson, chair of the English and ESL Department and member of the Budget Task Force within Shared
Governance, during an LACC administrative meeting Thursday, Sept. 24, attended by Marlos and Guess. But for a college on accreditation probation trying to regain its accredited status, faculty have been perplexed as to why the administration would attempt such a drastic reorganization of the Collegian when the student journalists have continued to win awards for their work. Under student affairs, the college administration would be responsible for the student media. Academic discipline would no longer apply to the Collegian staff. Also, the Media Arts Department may not be able to offer courses numbers 217, 218 and 219: publication laboratory, practical editing, and techniques for staff editors respectively, said Marlos. “We would not have those classes if we did not have a newspaper,” said Marlos. “We would be basically cutting an academic program.” Essentially, the Collegian would be in the same realm on campus as the math team and debate team, and therefore, susceptible to nonequivalent budget cuts. However, a college newspaper is not a club, said Jean Stapleton, chair of journalism district discipline and chair of the Journalism Department for East Los Angeles College. “The paper is part of a degree granting department,” added Stapleton, “and the students get college credit for it, so it has no business being outside of the academic departments.” During the meeting last Thursday, Guess was told by Earic Peters, dean of Student Life, she was responsible for students in the classroom and that given the paper is a “co-curricular” activity, student journalists out on campus are the responsibility of the student services, not the academic faculty. Yet Perry said the Shared Government Council for LACC proposed the shift to save the budget by consolidating certain programs into different spheres of revenue, those programs are the math team and debate team, not for the purpose of shifting a “co-curricular” activity out of academic affairs. Under academic affairs, the paper brings revenue to the college as a Full Time Equivalent Student program, the paper would lose that revenue for the college under student affairs, said Marlos. Although there would be more fund potential under student affairs for the paper, none have been proposed since the administration has only been discussing budget cuts, added Marlos. “I think our budget is safer under academic affairs where it is than going into student services,” added Marlos. For the oldest community college publication in LA, the advent of campus life under student affairs,“will be the death knell of the paper,” said Guess.