1994_03 Insight March 1994

              Page2
March 16,1994
Opin
Name change decision process challenged
Warne should
remain same'
Don'tchangc thc name of our
universitylWelikeit
An issue that now plagues
students and faculty is the proposal to change thc name California State University, Fresno,
to Fresno State University.
Many are upset about this
possible change. As Dr John
"CSUF has an academic association, while FSU makes
people think of football."
The decision is expected to
be made on March 15, by the
Academic Senate and Dr. John
Welly.
It would be a shame if thc
prestigious name of our university , used for more than 20 years,
were to be changed to nothing
more than one that is associated
with the football team.
Students and faculty have
fought for many years to be
associated wilh the California
State University system.
Now because the athletics department and the Fresno Bee
have made thenameFSUa force
to be reckoned with—at least in
athletics — is not enough for
both students and faculty to accept the change.
"rmnotherebecause(CSUF)
has a good football team," said
Amy Buckingham, liberal studies major.
Many obviously do not want
the school ihcy graduate from to
be known solely for its athletic
reputation.
The CSU system is known
worldwide for its academic cx-
cellence and that theFresno campus is a partof that great system,
and that is what students belie vc
iheirpotentialemployerswillbe
most impressed with. That is in
many cases the main reason why
students choose to study here.
The rationale that the name
FSUwillcontribute to increased
monetary contributions to our
sports teams is a lame excuse
for changing the official name
of the university.
In many of our inter-school
games, the unanimous chant of
"FSU, FSU" is simply for thc
fact that it's easier to shout.
"Those willing to contribute
money are smart enough to
know thc difference between
Fresno State University and
California State University,
Fresno." said English major
Nefertitti Jackmon. They are not
the confused public who think
these arc two different schools.
If the administration and the
academic senate of our school
will just listen.they will hear the
cry:"CSUF."
Changing our name would
be destructive to the reputation
California State University,
Fresno has earned as an academically excellent school.
— Belinda Lee
By Christine Malamanig
StaffWriter
Mark Kcppler, professor of human
resource management, raises a storm of
questions about the way the university
name issue is being handled.
Kcpplcr's questions whether thc process, in which an official university
name will be chosen, is democratic.
He said the university name issue
affects faculty and students the most,
bul the representation on the campus
advisory commioee is unfair.
Cnitof20commiaeemembers, there
are six faculty and one studenl repre-
Other committee members include
chairs of the staff assembly, univcrsiiy
advisory board, foundation board and
agriculture foundation board and the
Editorial
Give tickets a break
Show a little flcxiblity.
It's 9:30 at night and campus deserted. Ninety-nine
percent of the parking spots are
vacant.
It's completely dark, except for a
neon green ticket tactfully placed
under the windshield wiper of a
lonely car on San Ramon Ave. outside of Mckcc Fisk.
What's thedcal, anyways? When
do campus police really stop ticketing? So what are thc criteria and
purposes of parking enforcement
on campus?
It should be to regulate parking
in designated areas when necessary.
And it's obviously not a necessity when campus is empty, and lhe
only thing in sight is the reflection
of moonlight off the numerous
empty spaces and mass of black tar.
But hey, at least the neon green
ticket offersasmall streak of light in
the distance fora lone femaleCSUF
student, walking quickly to hcr car.
If students arc here that late at
night, ihey are probably here for an
academic or work-related reason.
Wc appreciate lhc presence of
security enforcement on campus late
ai night, but wc sec enough neon
green highlighted throughout our
textbooks.
GE revision to
foster intellect
By David Mirhadi
StaffWriter
CSUF is in ihemidsl of an ambitious
plan to review the process of general
education requirements for freshmen
and incoming transfer students, in order to make a more comprehensive
plan of action.
General education consists of a
rjroad-based curricula that encompasses
56 units in several disciplines that arc
required by all students in thc CSU
system.
To accomplish this, a team of 19
faculty members and iwo student representatives were assembled in November toconduct thc review, which is
mandated every five years by the CSU
system.
Dr. Leonard Salazar. associate vice
president for academic affairs and a
memberof thc General Education Task
Force, said he feels that this review
could give the university a more cohesive plan for its basic reqircments.
"The General Education Task Force
has the opportunity lo infuse a new
vitality into thc program by charting
oul a different intellectual design for
the program...that has ihe potential to
challenge the teaching and learning
processes towards a renewed and continuing quest for academic excellence,"
he said.
Salazar said that one of thc primary
problems of Ihc current general educa
tion program is that there is little incentive for freshmen to take those courses
immediately after ihey come toCSUF.
In CSUF's "Plan for the 90s," the
mission statement explains that the
university "providesaGEprogram...to
expand students' intellectual horizons,
foster lifelong learning, prepare Ihem
for further professional study, and instill within ihcm an appreciation of
cultures other than their own."
According to Salazar, many students don' i seem lo be taking this message to heart
"Freshmen and sophomores often
delay taking ihcir general education
until Ihcir junior or senior years. By
doing this, Ihcir basic foundation for
ihe future is lacking," he said. Salazar
said that one of thc main problems is
that students delay taking GE courses
that they dislike until the end of their
college careers.
Dr. Andy Hoff, professor of recreation administration and chairman of
thc task force, said thai students often
abuse their options in general education courses.
"One of thc problems is thai there
are too many choices of classes that
students can take," he said, adding thai
while there is a possibility for classes
to be cut he did not expect to sec a
dramatic reduction in class offerings.
In his Slate of the University address on Feb. 7, Prcsideni John D.
■See REVISION, Page 9
Column
By Karen Mendel
Ex term inatorsnd our bomesof nasty
little creatures every day. Maybe we
should havean Ex terminators Day. Just
a thought
Back to the holiday at hand, St
Patrick's Day. Let's examine it and
find out why it rates so high among
holidays.
If you Ihink about it it's kind of silly.
Eat com beef and cabbage, wear green
or get pinched, look for leprechauns
and drink a lot of beer.
But com beef and cabbage? Where
did lhat tradition come from?
Amy McBride, CSUF senior, had
this to say about com beef and cabbage,
"Nobody even eats such a miserable
excuse for sustenance at any other time
of thc year, why should ihey eat it on St
Patrick'sDay? There'sprobably stores
that mark it 95 percent off so people
actually buy it"
"I think it's gross and I wouldn't eat
it if you paid me," said Michelle
Schrieber, a CSUF sophomore.
Besides the unappetizing com beef
tradition there's Ihe very bizarre tradition of wearing green ex gettirfg pinched.
This one makcsplcntyofsensc.docsn't
il? Sounds like perverse old men could
have a field day with this one.
"As a kid I was scared when people
pinched me for not wearing green. It
was always a bad experience for me.
Sometimes I still can't wear green,"
said Peg Orsi, a CSUF senior.
Sean Biggs, a CSUF junior, asked,
"Doesn't the tradition allow mc to hit
back any one who pine hes me when
I really have green on? Thai's precisely why I always wear green underwear," Biggs said.
CSUF student Jeremy Stciding had
this view, "I should never have been
pinched, I had green beer in my possession all night"
The whole business about leprechauns is probably the most ridiculous. "I'd like to know what the guy
who came up with that idea was smoking," said Nanette Mendez, a
C"SUFjuni0T.
i
Little green men who keep their
gold at the end of a rainbow? That
makes about as much sense as a soup
sandwich.
Emily Pulcifer. CSUF freshman,
said, "Not only is the idea of little green
men preposterous, bul who would be
so dumb as to leave something so valuable in such an unsafe place?"
Okay, here's thc good part On St
Patrick's Day it's possible to drink
phenomenal amounts of green beer.
This is the most likely solution as lo
why St Patrick's Day is so popular.
"I like drinking beer on St Patrick's
Day, but when it's dyed it makes your
mouth turn green and ii'skind of gross,"
said Pam Brown, a CSUF junior.
"St Patrick's Day is just a great
excuse to party." said CSUF senior
Jennifer Yunker.
So what wc have here is eating less
than delicious food, running around
pinching people who choose not to
wear green, looking for non-existent
green men, and drinking more than
what would be considered normal by
the average bum. All this for a guy who
chased away a few reptiles.
Now that sounds pcrfecdy reasonable, doesn't it?
bulldog foundation.
The athletic corporation, association board, the dean's council and the
alumni association also haw representative members on thc committee.
Kcppler said it's wrong that the committee consists of only one student rep-
In addition to the committee members, area groups outside of the campus
community will be consulted.
"Il doesn't take a genius to find out
that one student vote won't m<:an anything," Kcppler said
Stacey Green, ASIpresidem, agrees
there isn't enough student representation.
"In terms of who is represented in
the committee, students have one of
the largest constituencies but lowest
representation,** Green said.
The alumni association has the larg
est constituency with students following second.
"With approximately 18.000 students, there should be more than one
representative," shc said.
Kcppler said he sees a problem with
how the faculty representatives were
selected.
A request for faculty representa-
See NAME, Page 8
Dear Editor,
1 just want to commend Tom
McGarry for introducing the issue
of how the rodeo bulls are treated in
his story'"Rodeos Pose Conflict wilh
Animal Rights" on Page 2 of your
March 2,1994, issue of Insight
In largely agricultural communities like Fresno, it is not often dial
animal welfare issues ever sec the
light of day as (hey are considered
contrary to the lifestyle and livelihoods of thc people who live in
them. So on those rare occasions
when thc issues do get raised, they
arc typically met with lhe usual list
of pre-programmed justifications,
like "humans arc the more important." Yet ironically, it is in agricultural environments where animal
rights are violated most often.
As an animal welfare advocate, I
don'l believe earth's creatures should
be used for human entertainment, or
anythingelse.cspecially where Ihcrc is
a possibility of injury. However. I
thought McGarry did a good job of
presenting both sides of the issue.
I do, however, want to make one
clarification. McGarry's article reported lhat PETA opposes use of animals for any reason, including their use
as pets. As a PETA member, I know
this is not true. I called PETA's Washington, D.C. office and a representative confirmed that PETA docs not
oppose people having domesticated
pets (exotic pets arc discouraged). In
fact, the organization encourages
people to adopt animals from ihc pound
whenever possible in order to save
them from otherwise certain destruction.
PETA's belief is that in a perfect
world, all animals would be free of
human interference, including cats
and dogs. However, ihey realize
this is not a perfect world and therefore, in reality, wc ha.e a responsibility to take care of those animals
that have been domesticated by giving them respect, shelter, food,
propa veterinary treatmen t and most
important, ensuring thai they arc
spayed and neutered to prevent new
generations of unwanted animals
that would most likely end up destroyed in ihc pound.
— Deborah Miller
TBBESSSSSB^SSSSSESiSSgSXSSZ^ESX
Department of Mass Communication and Journalism
2225 E. San Ramon Ave, CSUF. Fresno, CA 93740-0010 News: 278-2892 Advertising: 278-3934
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