1992_04 The Daily Collegian April 1992

              Volume XCVIII
Issue No. 50
CSU, Fresno's Only Independent News Source
Monday
April 6,1992
ASI candidates outline goals
Adam Breen
Staffwriter
**' -.
Ifs out with the old and in with the new.
Most candidates for next year's ASI
offices are fed up with the turmoil that has
surrounded student government this past
year. Many cite apprehension or disinterest
as the main reasons students feel out of
touch with their representatives.
Those vying for the ASI presidential
post include speech communication junior
Marci Demings, linguistics graduate
student Lawrence Tovar, liberal studies
senior Mary Helen Ortega, agricultural
education junior Joseph Ortiz, functional
biology and chemistry senior Robert
Mendez and history graduate student
Douglas K. Williams
Demings, who currently holds the
position of senator-at-large, post #1, is
running on the Reality Party ticket. The
party's motto is "Real students, real issues."
She said the ASI is a business in which
"elected officials are the board of directors
and every student is a board member." She
said the problems encountered by the ASI
in the past have been a result of
"politicizing," but that trend seems to be
reversing itself.
Demings said the food service monopoly
on campus and ASI accountability are two
of the main issues that need to be dealt with
by the new ASI. She said the CSU, Chico
student government sued and won to break
the school's food service monopoly.
"We'll take it that far if we have to," she
said.
Lawrence Tovar is the founder of the
RIP party. He said RIP is a moving
acronym—its meaning "will change almost
everyday." Currently, it stands for Racially
Impure Party.
Tovar, who has been a senator and chief
justice of student court while attending
CSUF said current student leaders and big
See CANDIDATES page 4
Go home, Levin!
iDavtoa/TlwDatyC
Protesters march at Fresno City Cortege prior to a tpeech by Michael
Levin Saturday nJght. See story page 3.
RIP bid an issue of
culture, perspective
Adam Breen
Staffwriter
Lawrence Tovar, founder and sole
member of the RIP party, says being on his
own can only help him in his bid for ASI
President.
"It will benefit me," he said. "People
should vote forindependents, not forsheep
with party affiliations."
He said the main issue in the upcoming
election is culture.
"The main function of the ASI is to
provide cultural perspectives," he said.
"Most candidates are trying to find alterna¬
tives to funding cultural organizations—I
think they should take precedence."
Tovar said he considers Douglas Wil-
See RIP page 6
The Movement
'tired of waste'
Erin Yasuda
Staff writer
Getting rid of the Associated Students.
Incorporated's administrative waste and
distributing ASI monies more equitably
are a couple of the goals of The Movement,
a new political party that is running in this
week's ASI election.
John Fetter, candidate for legislative vice
president, said that the ASI's administrative
costs are too high.
'They're high in relation to what (the
ASI) is giving out. For every $6 it takes $1
(for administrative costs)," he said.
He said that a couple of administrative
areas that the ASI can afford to cut are the
$30,000 salary of the ASI secretary and the
large ASI office complex.
"Does the ASI need such a large office
space?" he asked.
See MOVEMENT page 5
Levin-attatks affirmative action
Christopher Heredia	
Contributingwriter
Despitean almost 30-minute delay, con¬
troversial QtyCollegeof New York Profes¬
sor Michael Levin's lecture at Fresno City
College went over with few glitches Friday
night.
Save an occasional snicker and a couple
of cries — one audience member shouted
"devil" as the speaker took the microphone
—Levin wasable to explain whyhethought
affirmative action is government-subsi¬
dized discrimination against whites.'
The comment that has brought.Levin
the most notoriety has been his statement
that "on the average, blacks are signifi¬
cantly less intelligent that whites."
Levin's one-hour lecture and nearly two-
hour discussion with students, faculty and
members of the community afterwards,
was sponsored not by ICC, but by FCC
philosophy professor David Dye, who said
bringing Levin to campus was a matter of
academic freedom. »
In his speech, Levin first provided a
definition of affirmative action.
nine use of nee or sex to break ties and
the inclusion of race among die criteria for
a position with other social goods," he said.
"are amnnatrve action when practiced or
mandated by the state.4'
Levin described a ffirma ti ve action as
"governmental enforcement of racial pref¬
erences." 0
The culmination of these trends today
is the 1991 Civil Rights Act," Levin said,
"which places the burden of proving non
discrimination on employers whose
workforces exhibit statistical disparity.
TThe Act] allows someone to bring a
suit against an employer who does not
have a proportional number of blacks and
See LEVIN page 8
ASI ELECTIONS
See tomorrow's
paper for stories on
Also look for
endorsements from
The Dally Collegian
editorial staff.
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