1987_05 The Daily Collegian May 1987

              The
Daily Collegian
*f    California State University. Fresno   ^-^
Wednesday, May 6,1987
California State University, Fresno
DANCING FOR THE FIFTH
Ron Hotran I Tha Daily CMtfftii
Ricky Guillen and Andrea Rodriguez of Ninos De Aztlan, a children's folkloric dance group, dance at the Semana
de la Raza celebration of Cinco De Mayo Friday.      /-s_ •	
AS rejects
Nicaraguan
expedition
Whalen leads
senate debate
By Rob Evans
Staff Writer
After long and sometimes heated debate,
die Associated Students Senate rejected a
proposal by a CSUF student which called
for A.S. sponsorship of a student inves¬
tigation committee to be sent to Ni¬
caragua, y
The plan, presented at Tuesday's senate
meeting by Robert Ishoy, would have sent
four CSUF students to the turbulent Centra]
American country to personally view the
situation in that nation.
Ishoy said his plan would make the
CSUF Associated Students "political
entrepreneurs," adding that die plan would
be likely to generate publicity for the
school in the press.
"The fluids the Associated
Students have would be - better
spent on issues that have to
do more directly with students
here on this campus."
 . —Bob Whalen
The    Ishoy    proposal    stated    that    the'
members of the group would be subject to
approval   by   the   senate,   and   would   re=-?c
sponsible for reporting to the senate only.
Once the A.S. received a report from the
committee, it could act accordingly.
The plan also included a waiver ab¬
solving the A.S. of responsibility for any
injury suffered by a student making the
trip that would have to be signed by all
people making the trip.
A.S. President Bob Whalen argued a-
gainst the plan, saying that he believes
"the funds the Associated Students have
would be better spent on issues that have
to do more directly with students here on
this campus.''
Senator-elect Pat Young lashed at
Whalen from the audience and demanded an
apology when Whalen referred to the cur¬
rent Nicaraguan government as "goons."
"I will not apologize for my opinion,"
Whalen said.
Sen. Greg Diebold and senate proxy
Junko Kunitakc entered the dispute, charg¬
ing that Whalen was uninformed on the
Nicaragua issue.
Ishoy     distanced     himself     from     the
argument,   and   said   he   was   making   his
See SENATE, page 3
AT&T donates new system
CAT! benefits from current computer technology
By Mark Murray
Staff Writer
A new computer system and software,
worth $750,000 and donated by AT&T to
the California Agricultural Technology
Institute, an . agricultural research unit
based at CSUF, should be* fully operational
by July 1, said CATTs director, Dr. Jon
Shaver.
AT&T donated a mainframe computer,
one super minicomputer. 20 personal
computers and "a ton of software,'' Shaver
said. Also AT&T will provide training to
users and maintenance for the hardware.
Shaver said the total' cost of the
computer, software and maintenance will
be $1 million.
One   use   for  the   computer   would   be
supplementing video conferences. Shaver
said video conferences now use the 'Ted
Koppel approach," having experts and a
moderator but no interaction with the
audience. With the teleconferencing
features in the computer, audiences can ask
follow up questions through personal
computers.
Shaver said the new computer can
accommodate up to 60 users at one time.
Presently, CATI is using sevtn
megabytes of the computer memory, which
is the equivalent of 3.500 single spaced,
typed written pages. Shaver also said the
computer has a total memory of 640
megabytas.     J
"Were only using one arid one half
percent    of    the    mformation    available,"
Shaver said.
' Shaver said the extra space will go to
projects such as graduate students using
the cbmputer so their work can be critiqued
before turning it to professors.
Shaver said students will be able to ask
for help from their professors without
being1 interrupted from telephone calls and
other students.
He also said several employees of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to
install modeling software in the computer
to simulate conditions affecting
agriculture.
In an interview with The^ Daily
Collegian last December, Jeff Ermen, the
new system's director, said the School of
Agriculture will not be the only its only
"If philosophers want to use it
philosophize over stuff, they can do it,"
he said.
Ennan also said with the new system,
information is being shared but r with
CATTs other computer system, ATI-Net,
information is only retrieved.
Shaver said security for the computer
should protect it from "hackers," who want
to destroy the software or abuse the
system.
He also said more than 20,000 people
used ATI-Net and only one person abused
the system. Shaver said one user left
obscene messages to the system operator
and. because of that, his ability to leave
messages on the system was revoked.
V