1991_03 The Daily Collegian March 1991

              Opini
ton
The Collegian • March 12, 1991
ASI serves
its purpose
By Don Harjo Daves and
Stacey L. Green
Recently,a number of edito¬
rials have criticized the As¬
sociated Students Inc., and
its leadership as not being
representative of the student
body as a whole, and that the av¬
erage student receives little or no
benefit from the $16 fee which
Afr4fMfc»'of the notion of
eliminating the mandatory fee
has been espoused. As ASI Presi¬
dent and Chair of the Senate we
feel obligated to clear the air of
such uninformed assertions. So,
let us do some explaining!
The claim that the ASI does
not serve the 23,000 plus students
of FresnoState completely lacks
credibility. True, we take in fees
and subsequently redistribute
them. However, the notion that
these fees are limited solely to
clubs and organizations is false.
The fees are redistributed in a
myriad of ways and at various
levels. These levels are 1) Na¬
tional and State, 2) Campus-wide
and 3) The Grass Roots.
The ASI of Fresno State is cur¬
rently a member if the USSA (The
exist a vast array of programs
which are funded in part, or
wholly by the ASI. Just recently
we received a packet of about 50
letters from parents whose chil¬
dren were enrolled at the Cam¬
pus Children's Center, express¬
ing their gratitude and apprecia¬
tion of the fact that this quality
service was provided at both an
affordable rate and at extremely
convenient loca les.
Would you have the 95 per¬
cent or so parents who benefit
from such a program be turned
away from the doors of the uni¬
versity simply because they are
unable toaffordchildcare?Think
of the long-range ramifications if
such should occur, both from the
parent's perspective and the fu¬
ture economic conditions /op¬
portunities of the child.
Currently the ASI is on the
verge of expanding the childcare
facilities to allow more parents
access to CSUF. But as we see
there are a few individuals who
would like to see the program
eliminated. The ASI is respon¬
sible fora $358,147allocation for
the Campus Children's Center
during the current academic year.
The Security Escort Program
is also subsidized by the ASI in
the amount of $6,400. The pro-
'Necessity is the mother of convention,
Conflict the father of change,One who
fears the truth, hides from questions,
One who tells no lies need remember
nothing.'
United States Student Associa¬
tion) and the CSSA (The Califor¬
nia State Student Association).
At the national level we work
with other students to lobby the
federal government on national
issues which relate to higher
ed ucation, particular! y the issues
of finacial aid, to insure its availa¬
bility and increase, in accordance
with cost of living increases, Ss
well as thealloca ting of funds for
child care programs.
At the state-wide level we
lobby our state legislatures on
similar issues, in addition to the
current problem of increasing
fees at the CSU's state-wide.
Last spring student govern¬
ment under Unity-SRG admini¬
stration was able to enforce a fee
policy which protected students
from the proposed 45 percen t fee
increase. Currently, we arefight-
ing to insure that the policy
remain in effect to prevent outra¬
geous fee increases (the CSU
trusteesand the state legislatures
are seriously considering
amounts ranging from 50 per¬
cent to 28 percent). These issues
affect all CSU Fresno students.
For the few students who can
afford increased fees, these is¬
sues have little or no bearing.
However, for the majority of
CSUF students who work part or
full-time the di fference of $50 per
semester can be the deciding
factor in their ability to access
higher educa tion.
Atthe cam pus-wide level there
gram provides handy cards with
an escort phone number as well
as supporting the hiring of 24-
hour escorts to ensure the safety
of students walking through the
campus during the evening and
late night hours.
As we know, this program is
not enough to ensure student
safety. Yet, should this service,
which is free of charge to stu¬
dents, be eliminated? "Then there
will be no options concerning
the safety of night students.
The Student Aids Task Force
provides educational informa¬
tion regarding Aids and the
campus com m u ni ty. This is done
through presentations and the
distribution of materials and free
condoms. The ASI allocates
$2,800 for this program.
Intramural/Recreation re¬
ceives approximately $72,000 in
support from the ASI. So all you
weekend warriors out there can
kiss your flag football, soccer,
basketball, volleyball and other
leisure sports sponsored therein
goodbye.
And for those of you who are
more inclined to intellectual lei¬
sure take note that the Univer¬
sity Lecture Series is in part
funded by the ASI, $40,000.
By the way, the paper that
you're holding in your hands
right now, yeah, this one, The
Collegian, that's also funded
from that $16 per semester fee.
See ASI page 7
U.S. learned wrong lesson from war
I was opposed to the Gulf War
on general principle which was
based on historical facts which 1
studied as a student and as a citi¬
zen; it was alsobased on m y obser¬
vations. I learned that politica] is¬
sues cannot be solved by wars and
that wars should be avoided ex¬
cept under special circumstances.
1 was reminded of this recently
when 1 saw the film, "Dances with
Wolves" and the hero said some¬
thing to'the effect that violence
should be used only if you are at¬
tacked by a real enemy.
It was wrong, of Course, for Iraq
to attack Kuwait; under those cir¬
cumstances it would be proper for
Kuwait to defend itself with vio¬
lent methods But it is also wrong
tor Israel toattack Lebanon, for the
U.S. to attack Panama, for Turkey
to invade Cyprus, and for the U.S.
to attack Iraq.
All of these countries are signa¬
tories to the United Nations Char¬
ter which states that "All members
shall settle their international dis¬
putes by peaceful means in such a
manner that international peace,
and security, and justice, are not
endangered."
In a war, both sides suffer in
terms of casualitics. In the Culf
War the ratio of Iraq to U.S. casual-
tics was completely out of propor¬
tion. The ratio, dependi ngon which
figures finally prevail, appears to
beat least 400 to one. It leadsone to
believe that the Culf War was a
massacre.
It is stupefying, then, to read that
a Marine major feels that the U.S.
has been freed from the Vietnam
syndrome, and that the Gulf War
has uniied the American people
spiritually.
I believe that thc U.S. will suffer
from this quick "victory" because
of the wrong lessons that will be
learned from it. Sitice August we
have had our guardians of the free
press yielding to manipulations by
the White House and the Penta¬
gon; unconditionally surrendering
one of our most cherished consti¬
tutional rights.
This unconditional surrender
was accepted by most of theAmen-
can people as the TV stations, na¬
tional and local, took up the war
banner. These stations would not
allow time for analysis or for the
airing of different points of view.
During thc last two weeks in Janu¬
ary, for example, Fairness and
Accuracy in Reporting reported
that TV stations invited 876 people
to speak about the war and only
one of these offered an alternative
to going to war.
The U.S. will suffer because our
young people will learn that vio¬
lence is a proper way todeal with
problems; that might makes right.
Adults should offer an alternative
to this prescription. But this is not
likely given the White House and
congressional leadership. They and
their supporters have brought a
free press to its knees incomplete
supplication.
A country that professes to love
freedom and justice, and yet be¬
haves in this reckless manner,
cannot have a bnght future. As
with individuals, a country must
be in harmony with its beliefs be¬
cause it must be true to itself.
The Gulf War has crystallized
for me that this lack of harmony
cannot be a healthy condition for
our country and that the people
must change its course.
Alexander Vaveulis
Mr. Vavoulis is a Professor of
Chemistry at CSUF.
Campus officials squander valley's most
valuable resource in time of drought
The recent and iong-awaited
rainfall hasn't served to curb thc
drought at CSUF.
When weather officials warned
that lawns and other flora didn't
need watering for 10 to 14 days,
CSUF ignored their advise and
continued tosquander San Joaquin
Valley's most precious and scarce
resource.
With water rationing measures
pending, the intentional wasting
of water is unheard of everywhere
— except at CSUF.
The sprinklers have tobe turned
on manually. Therefore, the
groundskeepers need toknow that
when large puddles have accumu¬
lated on thegrassand rain is falling
from the sky turning on the srin-
klers isn't necessary. These people
need to be informed that rain is
water too.
I don't want to go to school in a
swamp — I prefer to drink the
water, not trudge through it waist
deep.
Samantha Clemens
Campus should get involved in fees debate
On Tuesday, Mar. 5, 1991, The
Collegian Letters to the Editor ran
the rough draft of an initiative that
we, the Young Americans for Free¬
dom (YAF), are proposing. In thc
letter we invited thc campus com¬
munity to come to our booth and
make recommendations to im¬
prove the initiative, which deals
with making the mandatory ASI
fees optional.
However, DonaldGlenHartline
II has written a letter to condemn
the initiative without sharing his
concerns with us at the booth. I
question Mr. Hartline's sincerity
since he ignored our invitation to
talk with us.
Also, in his letter he writesabout
our "intentions" which he never
discussed with us. I low can he be
credible when he writes in a vac¬
uum? Nevertheless, Mr. Hartline,
it is not too hte. The draft will be
finalized at oui meeting tomorrow,
inEDP216at3:00p.m. Please come
and join us. This invitation goes
out to the rest of the school as we!!.
Have a voice — get involved!
Steve Seewald
Mr. Seewald is tbe President of
Young Americans for Freedon���at CSUF.