1995_05 Insight May 1995

              It's time to      I Students pass on
clown around  I Bulldog tickets
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Page 8
More t~ees
grace campus
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MAY 3, 1995
INSIGHT
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
VOL. 26, NO. 21
CSUF campus not immune to hate crimes
By Michael Yparrea
Staff Writer
James Whiimorc. 16, was walking
home from school one day in the
Fresno High School area when four
boys he recognized approached and
began to taunt him.
"Hey, faggot." yelled one of the
boys.
Whitmore ignored the remark and
the following obscenities and continued on his way.
This was not his first bout with these
youths, who seemed determined to
spend their time tripping, spitting and
hitting Whitmore. an avowed homosexual.
Only a block away from home.
Whitmore suddenly found himself
surrounded by the boys.
They now followed up their insults
by physically assaulting him.
Student
volunteers
honored
By Rachel Rosemire
StaffWriler
Volunteering countless hours of
work everv week for free is fairly rare,
but for CSUF students like Jose
Maldonado. the benefits are endless.
Maldonado was named University
Volunteer of the Year at the recent
27th Annual Volunteer of the Year
Luncheon held by the Volunteer Bureau of Fresno County.
He was one of six finalists for the
award.
Maldonado. a CSUF accounting
major and president of thc Hispanic
Business Student Association, has
been giving his time to thc community for thc past five years.
He says one of his goals is to establish positive role models.
"The most important thing lhat 1
wanl to accomplish is to become a
role model for Ihe Hispanic community." he said. "It's not just them, it's
anybody, but I guess the Hispanic
community can relate more to me.
Being a Hispanic, ihey can see me and
see that it's OK. You can succeed if
you wanl."
Maldonado was so involved in community service that he quit his on-
campus job because things were get-
ling too hectic.
His resume shows a record of involvement with several organizations
during the academic year, including:
• Hc served on the planning committee for the First Annual Latino-
Hispanic Male Conference.
• He was president of the Hispanic
Business Student Association
• He coordinated the Fifth Annual
Hispanic Student and Parent Conference.
• Hc was a member of numerous
groups, including the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Arte America, Tulare Kings Counties
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and
Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting honor
fraternity.
• He participated fund-raising activities for Fresno's Parks and Recreation
Department, Valley Children's Hospital, the League of Mexican American Women and other organizations.
Thc list, which goes on and on, is
long for someone who is also a full-
time student.
Chris Fiorentino. coordinator for the
Students for Community Service Program, said he first met Jose in the
community service class.
"Right away, I saw that hc was obviously out doing a lot more than what
most students were doing, in terms of
volunteer work, and what he ended
up doing after that is just going on
and doing more and more and more,"
Fiorentino said.
See VOLUNTEER, page 5
Whitmore struggled to fend off the
blows and kicks.
Hc finally was able to dash past one
of the boys and run toward safety.
The boys followed, throwing large
rocks at Whitmore. one of which hil
him on the back of the head. The
wound required 20 stitches.
Because he feared retaliation from
thc youths, Whitmore declined 10
press charges.
Active and open hate crimes, such
as this, have become more frequent
in recent years.
Whitmores case is just one of a
number of similar incidents capturing
the attention of organizations working to abolish hate violence.
Klanwatch. a watchdog group of the
Southern Poverty Law Center in
Montgomery, Ala., is jusl one of these
organizations that document reported
incidents of hate crimes.
Excerpts from a single month include incidents of harassment, vandalism, cross-burning, assault, arson,
bombing and murder.
Some involved organized hate
groups, such as ihe Ku Klux Klan.
while others simply involved those
with hate in their hearts.
Acts of hate and violence have
found their way onto the CSUF campus also. A booth in ihe free speech
area sponsored by a gay campus organization was burned. Another incf-
deni involved a display of flyers advertising a "gay bashing" nighl.
While most people associate halt-
violence with skinheads or members
of extremist groups like the KKK. experts say the majority of hate crimes
are committed by young, middle-class
kids; kids like "Alex."
Alex, now 19 and a student at Fresno
City College, doesn't look like the
perpetrator of a vicious hate crime.
Al first glance, he comes across as
a nice, quiet, almost shy. young man
neatly groomed w ith short blond hair
parted on the side and wearing jeans,
a striped, button-down shin and
brown half-boots.
But ask Alex his opinion of certain
aspects of society and his words reveal a completely different personality.
"I do not like homosexuals," he said.
"I can't stand seeing them, the way
that they act. I can't stand being
around them. And 1 think they deserve
what they get."
Alex said there was a time not loo
long ago w hen hc and a couple of his
friends went out of their way lo find
gay individuals so they could harass
Fancy Dancer
Tule River Yokut dancer, Marvin McDernment, 16, celebrates his native
during the 13th annual Tewaquachi Pow Wow Sunday at CSUF.
By Kori Rianda/ Insight
American heritage
Incidents of Hate Crimes in the United States
•New York, N.Y. A white teen is arrested for chasing two Hispanic girls
with a baseball bat and yelling racial slurs.
•Walnut Creek, Calif. A black student is assaulted by three white students.
•Sen Antonio, Texas White supremacists shoot a man in the head
with an arrow.
•Woodland Hills, CaJrf. Posters depicting swastikas and KKK symbols
urging homosexuals to "go back to your closets* are discovered at CSU
Northridge. Four days earlier, advertisements are posted around the
campus for a "gay bashing" night.
•San Rafael, Calif. A white high school student is beaten up by black
students.
  Source: Klanwatch , Montgomery, Ala.
ihem. usually ending in a physical
altercation.
"We'd drive by the Express ( a local
gay nightclub) and yell 'faggot' and
other names hoping to start a fight."
Alex said.
It was one of these altercations that
got Alex arrested and cited for the
disturbance. When asked what drove
him to commit such violent acts to
See CRIMES, page 3
Gun control
debate continues
By Kathy Maier
Staff Writer
The battle over concealed weapons
continues to fire up changes in state
and local legislation, and controversial sparks fly with concerned citizens. The national trend is for loosened restrictions on concealed
weapons — with Fresno a part of that
trend.
Fresno's recent concealed weapons
ordinance, a rehash of a more rigid
law, passed on Jan. 24. making it
easier for people to obtain permits for
concealed weapons.
The California Legislature is also
considering changes in existing gun
laws. Assemblyman Pete Knight and
Sen. Dick Monteith have joined
forces to form the Knight-Monteith
Bill, which encourages police officials to make concealed weapons permits more easily accessible to qualified people.
Fourteen states, including Virginia,
Texas and Utah, have passed laws
making it easier to obtain handgun
permits. Fresno police authorities
said.
Fresno's concealed weapons ordinance — less restrictive than a previous law — requires that an applicant
be 21 years old, a resident or business owner in Fresno and have a good
cause (such as working odd hours,
carrying large sums of money or having a dangerous occupation) to carry
a gun.
Applicants must also be of good
moral character and have a sound
reputation in the community, no
criminal background or history of
substance abuse or mental illness.
Other requirements include a mini
mum of two to four hours of firearms
safety training and a S96 application
and background check fee.
The new ordinance modifies a 1987
law that had stricter requirements.
According to Sgt. Jose Morales of
the Fresno Police Department, the
previous policy was so restrictive
that few handguns were being issued.
In the previous policy, a person who
wanted a handgun permit had to provide evidence of threats to his or her
self, spouse or child's life that
couldn't be handled by the police department.
Additional requirements included a
S272 non-refundable fee and a minimum of three years' residency in
Fresno.
Despite strict requirements of the
previous policy, 14.000 gun permits
were issued in Fresno County last
year. Morales said.
He said the response to the less-restrictive permit policy was tremendous.
During the first two days of the new
requirement, there were about 300
permit requests.
"We figured there'd be a mad rush
to get them," Morales said. "They
went like hotcakes."
Morales said the requests came
mostly from business owners naming protection for carrying large
amounts of money or a profession
lhat puts them at risk as their main
reasons.
The most prominent age range in
seeking permits came from people in
See GUNS, page 6
Health and safety concerns spur fix-it list
By Mary Alice Milham
Staff Writer
After years of abuse and neglect, something may finally be done about the shabby,
broken and dilapidated condition of classrooms, offices, labs, halls and furniture
throughout much of the campus.
The CSUF Fresno Joint Labor Council,
which represents nine collective bargaining
units on campus, has compiled a fix-it list
which they hope will hasten thc pace of repairs on campus.
The idea for Ihe list originated with a professor of philosophy.
Kessler said he got frustrated teaching in
the dilapidated environs of the Lab School,
one of the oldest buildings on campus. It was
built in 1953.
In a class discussion of Plato's "The Apology," which tells of an athletic hall, called
the Prytaneum, housing thc athletic heroes
of Athens, Kessler compared it to CSUF's
lionizing of athletes. Hc asked his philosophy students how they would compare the
athletes' "polished steel" weight-lifting facilities with conditions in their classroom.
The discussion convinced Kessler that
perhaps he wasn't the only one disgusted
with classroom conditions.
Kessler approached outgoing California
Faculty Association President Tom Ebert
with the idea of requesting suggestions for
a fix-it list from CFA union members.
Ebert suggested consulting Becky Youngs
of the Joint Labor Council to see if other
unions on campus were interested in the
project.
On March 28, the JLC issued a memorandum to all faculty and staff requesting
anonymous responses identifying problems
with thc physical plant and other areas in
need of attention.
More than 200 responses were received
within two weeks detailing a wide range of
complaints.
Many of the problems cited were in the
area of health and safety: from "dust bunnies" on floors to missing fire extinguish
ers, broken glass, broken chairs, falling ceiling tiles, torn or moldy carpets and dangerously strewn electrical cords.
One response from thc Lab School reported falling ceiling tiles, one of which
narrowly missed hitting a speech client in
thc head. Another, in Lab School 171. fell
during a class.
Another response from the Lab School reported "all restrooms and classrooms are a
A response from the Science building detailed the un-ergonomic workstation set up
for Ihe department's secretary.
"For seven years the department secretary
has used a computer terminal in a temporary, makeshift manner causing continual
back strain, neck pain and headaches," the
response said.
Broken furniture and fixtures were another
common problem.
See FIX-IT, pages    Norman Espinoza, 21, kicks back during class
In McLane 162 utilizing a broken chair.
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