1996_11 Insight November 1996

              In focus
NOVEMBER 20, 1996 I
The library's ancient text
Intight photo by Mohoammed El Sharif
Book lovers can get a glimpse of history at the Special Collections
department in the Henry Madden Library, where a 522-year-old book is on
display.
■ Vita Christi, published
in 1474, was
purchased for $100
by Dinorah Jenness
Staff Writer
Despite thc fact that Fresno
State's Henry Madden Library
has many valuable computers on
the first floor, three stories above
sits the most priceless object of
the library — a 522-year-old
book.
A two-volume, first edition
book of the monk l.udolph of
Saxony's Vita Christi. or Life of
Christ, sits in thc Special Collections library department. Incim-»
abulum is the name that is given
to books such as this printed
between 1455 and 1501.
Several hundred of the original
works were disseminated by the
printing press of Heinrich
Eggestein at Strassbtirg. in the
year 1474. 18 years before
Christopher Columbus set sail on
his historic voyage.
Bright letters
The text is in Latin with Gothic
style letters and is full of abbreviations highlighted with red and
blue hand-illuminated capital
letters. The letters are still
relatively bright. The text is
printed in imitation ofthe best
manuscript style of that period.
The twa volumes. 15 and a half
by 11 and a half inches in
diameter, have burgundy leather
covers with three fine gold lines as
a frame.
"The book was purchased by Dr.
Henry Madden in 1963. for the
amount of SI 00. in Los Angeles,"
Tammy Lau, head of the Sanoian
Special Collections library, said.
"We don'l know how- much an
incunabulum is worth, but I don't
think that it can have a price. It is
priceless."
The book plate inside the front
page of both volumes has not been
determined, however, in a Dec. 29,
1963. Fresno Bee article. Madden
said that he had determined that the
490-year-old bcxiks once were
owned by someone who was a
Knight of the Garter, and "pretty
high up in the peerage" of England.
"Wc in
.•il rcso
IS  this
Our students can actuall> see how
the language was written then."
Madden said.
The book is situated on a wooden
table, covered by a glass box. "We
need to cover it with fell material to
keep il from the light deterioration.
It is very precious." Jean Coffey,
library assistant who has been
working at the Fresno Slate library
"As far as we know this kind of
work is held only in four more
universities in the United States."
"We would like students to come
over and admire this book. It is
first-hand history that they can
appreciate." Lau said.
The 522-year-old book is located
on the fourth floor, in the Special
Collections library department.
The department schedule is
Monday through Friday, from 10
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
SECRETARIES: More than just receptionists, from page 1
president for university advance-       Swift, who has been a secretary
ment. for the university for 22 years, said
"We have a cooperative working   the job is very div
"You can start out your day correcting an exam for a professor and
a chairman will come in and say we
need this report right now," Swift
said.
"You have to be constantly on
relationship, which is v
office environment."
All in a day's work
The keys to succcs
tary vary.
A good attitude, dependability your toes," said Mikelle Hatch, a
and coordination are basic ingredi- secretary in the office of thc assis-
ents many secretaries and bosses tani dean in the School of Educa-
say are vital to success in the field, tion.
"You can't mind being inter- "It's not just typing and serving
rupted or changing gears through- coffee," said Hatch, who has been
out the day," said Besty Swift, a in the secretarial field for eight
secretary in the department of ge- years,
ography. "(The assistant dean] puts her life
n my hands each day.
Running smoothly
Nydia "Nee" Goto, a secretary
for more than 20 years, said the secret to success as a secretary is to
have a willingness to advance.
"You also have to have a good relationship with your boss where
♦you can bolh benefit." Goto said.
Hatch added. "Your employer is
your main concern. Keeping them
happy. Keeping their life running
smoothly."
"You have to have a lot of
stamina," Hatch said.
"You're never dojng the same
thing all the time, it's varied."
PANEL, from page 1
Some of the costs incurred in the
remodeling of the Thomas Administration building were considered excess by ADHAAC.
Ehrlich found that the administration did not spend inappropriately but
believes the issue is subject to interpretation.
Welty said that costs above what
had initially been estimated were due
to problems with fire codes and could
not be helped.
"The cost was not extravagant. It is
the basic cost that any facility would
require. The building will serve the
university for 15 to 20 years. We will
now be moving on to classrooms using PG&E rebates." Welty said.
The panel agreed that opening lines
of communication may avoid future
problems.
Following anonymous charges via
e-mail last year, the senate appointed
AHAAC to investigate charges ofthe
administration's alleged impropriety.
According to the March 18 Senate
Resolution, AHAAC's purpose is "to
assist in providing faculty, staff and
students with accurate information
about controversies and questions and
to facilitate a dialogue about university priorities."
The presence of two union representatives, Mark Hanna a representative for California Faculty Association
(CFA). and John W. Gee a representative for the California State Education Association (CSEA). is unusual
for the senate.
"I cannot remember a lime when we
had members of both of the faculty
unions on one committee." said
Melanie Bloom, chair of the Academic Senate. "But I know thai they
feel they are acting in good faith."
AHAAC went public with its preliminary report on September 30. The
43 page report attempts to answer the
slew of questions that were asked by
members of thc Academic Senate.
"The Committee edited some of the
questions for language, but nol for the
content." said Bloom. "Anyone was
welcome to forward a question to the
committee."
The report detailed the committee's
findings on a host of issues including
Smits' relocation expenses, uk cost
refurbishment of the Thomas Building and the hiring of the Director of
the Academic Innovation Center.
In the preliminary report. AHAAC
> by Ryan McKm
Tom Ehrlich responds to faculty questions at Friday's rr
addressed areas of agreement and disagreement with Ehrlich's investigation. It also noted recommendations
to the Academic Senate.
On the issue of the PG&E rebate
money, the AHAAC commitiee recommended the Academic Senate for-
ward all of thc information to thc
California State Grand Jury in order
to find out if there has been a violation of California law.
In another recommendation, the
AHAAC included Resolution of Censure of Welty and Smits for their alleged "deliberate misrepresentation
which undermined the trust in their
Jones said the Ehrlich visit clarified some issues, however, it is uncertain whether these
recommendations will appear in
AHAAC's final report.
Randy Perry, a professor of animal
science and an Academic Senator for
the School of Agricultural Science
and Technology believes AHAAC
went too far.
"They did address some issues that
needed to be brought forward, but
went into others lhat weren't relevant." he said. "You have to give
administration the flexibility lo run
the university the best that they can.
You can'l involve everyone in every
decision.
"That's what you pay the administration the big bucks for. to make
those decisions. If we (thc faculty) has
a problem with those decisions, we
should lake care of it or go somewhere
else," Perry said.
Amid controversies over AHAAC's
proper role and the accuracy of its
findings. Ehrlich was asked lo return
to campus by the senate where he
participated in thc meetings on Friday.
"AH of our findings are backed up
in the library by public documents."
said Ehrlich "It's time lo come to a
conclusion in this process ."
When thc question of a permanent
AHAAC was raised. Ehrlich recommended a collaborative process instead of system that audits after the
fact.
At the close of the meeting. Bloom
voiced her distress over the roots of
the controversy. "I believe lhat we
have done more damage to this process by responding to these anonymous allegations." she said. "I was
very reluctant to go along with this."
Provost Alexander Gonzales believes that the faculty and administration can resolve iheir differences.
"Personally. 1 will do everything I
can to be as open and candid as I have
in the past and work with the faculty
and address the real pressing issues
that we need to address." he said after the meeting. "We need to make
some really big decisions about where
we are going."
Welty believes Ehrlich's trip
opened the door to improved communication.
'The meeting today was good in
that it provided an opportunity to talk
directly. This type of communication
should serve as a model for the university to move ahead. As a community wc need to come together and
deal with issues. We need to move
together to focus on important issues."
Welty said.
Bloom agrees. "It's good to bring
these issues into the light, and clear the
air so we can move to dispel any suspicion and move forward together."
BIKES: Patrol unit to get tough on bicycle riders, from page 1
way. If you can get a ticket in a car.
you can also get one on a bike." said
Officer Mark "Zamora. who is training thc bicycle officers and coordinating the new patrol program.
Shell said there has been numerous
complaints from motorists about
bike-riders on campus.
The complaints usually involve bicyclists not obeying the rules of the
road. "People really need to observe
the signs on campus and go by the
rules." said Zamora, a certified police
bicycle instructor.
Tickets for bicyclists are just like
traffic tickets. Zamora said eventually
he would like to set up a bike-safety
class as an equivalent to traffic school
for ticketed bike-riders.
Zamora is also going to be enforcing other rules on campus during the
next few semesters. One rule he said
that is usually ignored is that no
rollerblades or skateboards are allowed on campus. This will be something lhat will be enforced in coming
semesters by the bicycle patrol team.
Before, the rule was hard to enforce
because it was harder for officers in
cars to see.
Having easier access lo ihe campus
will also help the bike patrol unit to
enforce other rules. Zamora said one
of the biggest problems now on campus is student bicyclists leaving their
bikes locked in the wrong areas.
Zamora said people will leave their
bikes locked to trees, signs and handicap rails. Zamora anticipates that next
semester, bikes found like this will
have their locks cut. be impounded
and the owner cited.
Pricisilla Franco, a business major
who rides her bike lo campus, is nol
happy about the changes thc police
department is talking about.
"This is way out of hand." said
Franco. "Does this mean that ihey will
also be going into classrooms checking to be sure we don't have food and
drinks, too.'"
Zamora said he does understand
lhat some students will not like these
changes. To help some of the students, he has been working to have
the campus place more bike racks, to
lessen the frequency of those who
may lock bikes in Ihe wrong places.
To also lessen some of the shock.
Zamora will be getting as much information out about the policies to the
campus as he can.
He hopes to put information in the
General   Catalog.   Schedule   of
Courses, e-mail and other sources.
"I do anticipate a shock." said
Zamora. "As much as I try to announce this. I still anticipate a big
shock. We will be extremely sympathetic, but we do ask they |the campus community] understand why this
is important."
Shell believes there will be a mixed
reaction from the campus about the
new patrol unit and its policies. He
said he hopes some will be pleased
with the new patrol unit.
Zamora is currently the only bicycle patrol officer, but he is training
three more full-time officers for the
bikes. Zamora said officers must have
line.
-all-d
before they can go on patrol.
Zamora teaches the officei
strength on the bike, shooting froi
the bike, citation writing and bicycl
The budget I
r the
.000 t
vviiii
mline
Thc three new bicycle patrol officers have worked at the Iresno State
police department for about a year,
and arc familiar w ith the campus, having patrolled either In fool or car.
DECEMBER: Students want to be recognized, from page 1
i
to come all the way back from
New York." Atkinson said.
Darnell said thai many ofthe December graduates she has talked to
are facing the same problems and
cannot come back because their
careers are taking them elsewhere.
Darnell also said that Boyle has
been cooperative in helping her lo
organize the graduation.
"When I lold him aboul some of
the siudenis and what they've been
through, he felt something should
be done." Darnell said.
The celebration, however, has nol
been approved by the Academic
Senate or the President's office.
Darnell said. Despite the non-approval. Darnell said the celebration
will continue.
Boyle added. "There is a difference between a commencement and
a commencement celebration. It's
not a commencement unless the
president is there to award the degrees. If the Academic Senate
doesn't think a December graduation is a good idea, the students can
still rent a building for the event.
They jusi won't have official recognition by the Senate and by the
president."
Having official recognition
doesn't bother Darnell.
"I think io make il easier, wc
should call it a celebration." Darnell
said.
''Otherwise, it might keep those
in administration from going
through with this. 1 don't want lhat
little technicality to stand in the
way."
She also said that many ol the
students she has talked to don'l
seem lo care either. They just want
to be recognized.
Cath) Krajicek, 47. has the same
sentiment. She will be graduating
in December with a degree in social work.
"If only a few people are going
10 be there. I don'l care if Welty is
there or not. But if this is something lhat is going to happen every
year, it would be neat to have him
there." Krajicek said.
Whether or not Welty will make
an appearance at the commence-
ebr.ition is sij|| unknown.
Miller, director of Public
Fresno Stale, said
the president's office is aware ofthe
event bul has nol yet had a chance
to look al dales and what Weltv's
schedule will be like for two days
in December.
Since the graduation is a first in
Fresno Stale history, it is not known
if it will be turned into an annual
event. "A December graduation is
still a concept. It is hard lo say if
down the road this is something thai
will get Academic Senate approval." Bovle said.
Darnell, however, isn't letting
anything g£loJn the wa> of her
graduation plans. Specifics such as
Weltv's availability and whether or
not awards will be given at the celebration may not be settled.
But she knows that there will be .
a Christmas tree with white lights'
to help decorate the event "If 1 w ait
for everybody else, this will never
get done," said Darnell. "1 see this
as my cause and I just have to go
for it."