1990_04 Insight April 1990

              California State University Fresno
INSIGHT
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College fees mistaken for tuition
MOREYHOLZMAN
1     STAFF WRTTER |
Surprise: There is no tuition in the
California State University system for
California students.
There never has been.
What students regard as tuition is actually a series of six mandatory and two
optional fees payable at the beginning of
each semester.
The fees total $282 for part-time stu-
dcn ts, $432 for students carrying seven or
moreunitSrfu
Each of the Tees are placed in separate
trust accounts for distribution.
Thebiggest chunk of the basic registration fees is distributed to the chancellor's
office in Long Beach for administration,
construction and instruction.
The state university fee, $213 for part-
time students and $372 for full-time students, is the student's contribution to his
education.
The state university fee was originally
the materials and services fee, but the
name was changed in 1983.
Louis Messner, the assistant vice chancellor in budget planning, said that students, professors, department heads and
organizations all wanted a share of the
money.
"Everybody thought it was their
money," Messner said.
The fee approximates 13 percent of the
total cost of a student's education. The
educational cost of a student carrying 15
units is $6,000.
The second largest fee, $38 for the student body center fee, has risen steadily
since 1982 and is on a referendum to be
raised again April 18.
The fee originated with the building of
the first student union in 1968. Fees increased to $24 in 1982, and steadily
climbed by $2 increments each year (ex
cept in 1985 when the fee jumped $4) until
its current cost of $38 in 1988.
The April 18 referendum for the expansion of the Satellite Student Union
will raise fees again. If approved, students will pay for the additional facility
that staff and professors also use free.
Steve Mortensen, USU director, said
the USU is available to all on campus.
"This should be a family room for everyone that is neutral," Mortensen said.
"We are here to serve the entire university community. We don't have a priority
listing (for students)." ''ft
If passed, the student body center fee
will be raised to $80 by the spring 1993
semester.
The fees would be higher, but the Association, the auxiliary corporation that
manages the student unions, bookstore
and food services, has a balance of $1.9
million in the revenue account, according
to a March 1989 CSU trustees' audit. The
money will be used to reduce the $17
million expected cost of the two student
unions.
Unlike the parking fees, professors and
staff members do not pay the student
body center fee, but are entitled to use the
facilities.
"I don't think we should get intocharg-
ing every organization, academic department, et cetera, for space that supports
the academic mission," Mortensen said.
"I think the university should not get
into any politics. It should stay as neutral
as possible."
The student government receives a $16
head tax, the student body fee, another of
the six mandatory fees students pay. The
Student Body Fee finances extracurricular activities such as intramural sports.
The instructionally related activities
(IRA) fee of $10 pays for "activities partially sponsored by an academic discipline or department and which are inte
grally related to its formal instructional
offerings," according to a February 5
memo issued by Karen Cogley.
Cogley, the current ASf president, is
also the chairwoman of the instructional
related activities committee.
IRA funding is available for academically or professionally beneficial activities where students play an active role.
Two additional mandatory fees add
up to $5, and often confuse students.
The facility fee of $3 goes toward the
payment of the bond issue for the building of the Student Health Center in 1972.
Finally, the university charges $2 for
the sticker on the student identification
card.
Dennis Livezey, the university's supervising accountant said the money
covers all expenses relating to the cost of
the card — the photo, the sticker, and the
salaries as well.
Please see FEES, page 6
Earth    Day    promotes
ecological awareness
PENNY SOLLEY
STAFF WRTTER	
On April 22,1970 California students strung 1,000
black helium balloon arches across their campuses.
In San Jose they buried a car to protest pollution. In
West Virginia they collected five tons of trash from
a local highway and dumped it on the steps of the
county courthouse.
All across America there were teach-ins held to
raise America's awareness of its ever-growing environmental problems. The balloons signified mourning for the natural environment. This was the very
first Earth Day.
Now, 20years later, Professor Richard Haas, who
organized CSUFs first Earth Day, is planning its 20-
year anniversary with the help of the Ecology Club.
But Haas has noticed some definite changes in student and public attitudes.
Haas said the first Earth Day happened at a very
emotional time. The civil rights movement was in
full swing, as was the Vietnam War. He said shocking displays like burying cars to bring home a point,
although popular for the time, did not do much for
the Earth Day image.
But, Haas said, in 1970 people were listening to .
the message and Earth Day helped pass important
legislation such as the Clean Water and Air Acts as
well as the Environmental Protection Act.
Haas shook his head from side to side when asked
about today's CSUF students. "The problem with
young people today is they arc very complacent,"
Haas said. "They know all the buzz words — acid
rain, greenhouse effect — but I'm not sure how committed they arc to social change."
He used his classes as an example of indifference.
"You ask them to go read this or that, or ask them to
go see a lecture, and all they want to know is how
many points it is worth." Haas also said that stu-
Please see EARTH DAY, page 4
Cousteau Society expands
KELLY REESE
STAFF WRTTER
The Cousteau Society, a public
interest group concerned with environmental protection, has widened its focal points since its inception in 1974 to cover not only
the ocean but every aspect of the
environment.
The very natureofthebiosphere
makes it impossible to concentrate
solely on the ocean, said Kitty Se-
haum, an employee of the Virginia office of the Cousteau Society. "If one area is damaged, it
affects every life form on earth."
Increasing concern about the
number of pollutants spoiling the
earth's oceans brought Cousteau
Society researcher David Brown
to CSUF on March 27.
The impact of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.on the Prince William
Sound   ecosystem  highlighted
concern over direct commercial
pollution. Slides shown during
Brown's lecture of oil-soaked
beaches and wildlife demonstrated the dangers to the fragile
wildlife living in colder climates.
The Cousteau Society is currently striving to stop the Wellington Convention — a proposition
that would open Antarctica to
exploration forfossil fuels—from
being approved by the United
Nations.
Members of Captain Jacques
Coustcau's research teams are
travelling around the world in an
attempt to convince national leaders to oppose this proposition.
"If you asked me the one area
that will receive special attention
in the 90s," said Schaum, "it would
be trying to sway the world against
destroying Antarctica."
Browrt^w*earcher,diver, photographer and  writer  for  the
Cousteau Society, spoke to a
crowd of around 300 CSUF and
Clovis Unified School District
students on March 27 at the Satellite Student Union.
Seated on brown metal chairs
from noon to 135 p.m. the crowd
listened attentively as Brown
described the dangers facingvthe
earth's environment from toxic
pollutants in the ocean.
Brown said that though Fresno
is not a coastal city, the interest
shown in oceanic preservation by
CSUF students in inviting him to
speak is an encouraging sign for
the future.
Worldwide membership of the
Cousteau Society has now reached
324,000 people. The society attempts to educate both its adult
and child members.
Sehaum describes club membership as "mostly families. We
Please see COUSTEAU, page 12
Game, set, match
Returning a Col-Poly opponent's ihot, Valerie Stukovsky work* toward a three set victory In
women's tennis Saturday afternoon at the FSU courts. The FSU team defeated Col-Poly 8-1,
raising Hs record te 12-5 overall. ^_
New phone system on cutting edge of technology
Class registration by phone due in 19911 Call screening part of phone system
CYNTHIA D. SHORE
Si AFF WRTTER
Sally Student picks up the phone and dials a toll-
free number. She waits for instructions and punches
in thecorrect number for the information she wishes
to hear. After repeating this function a few times,
Sally issatisfied, and hasconfirmed her class schedule.
What she has just used is the touch tone telephone registration system at CSUF. Originally, all
students should have been able to access this system by spring 1989. Now, it looks as though students will have to wait until fall 1991 to utilize this
system on a full scale.
"The5 idea has been tossed around since 1987,"
said Tina Beddall, CSUFs assistant registrar. "We
have been wanting a system that makes registering
easier for both students and registration employees."
Formerly the dream of Bob Board, a registrar
who retired in June 1987, the system has made
much progress since then, Beddall said. The only
real problem encountered, she said, was the pur
chasing of a new main frame computer to handle
such a large capacity.
By fall 1990, the system will be tested on a small
group of students who can be easily monitored,
such as the athletes or student government of ficers.
"We hope to correct any problems by a small-scale
testing," said Beddall.
Beddall said that an even larger test will be conducted in the spring of 1991, in which early registration students might be able to add or drop classes.
Here's how touch tone registration works:
• Students will be required to prepay tuition,
then will be issued an access code and a specific
time period in which to register.
• Time periods will be set according to priority
registration status, which will remain similar to
now: athletes, registration workers, disabled students, student government officers, graduate students, followed by seniors, juniors, sophomores
and freshmen.
« Students can gain access to the computer by
calling a toll-free number from 6 a.m.- 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. A pre-recorded announce-
Please see REGISTRATION, page 12
DONNELL ALEXANDER
STAFF WRTTER	
Like it or not, the automated answers received
upon dialing CSUFs admissions and financial aid
offices are yet another aspect of the new $17 million
Fujitsu phone system that is pushing campus communications to the cutting edge of technology.
Called an automated attendant, the voice on the
other end of the line acts as an office's initial greeting. The system's automatic call distribution feature then filters calls to the employees best prepared
to handle them, avoiding otherwise-occupied
workers and busy administrators.
The message, which made its campus debut in
early March, presently runs 35 seconds. During that
time, callers are offered button-pressing options
that would direct their calls throughout the office.
It is time well spent, said Cher Travis-Ellis, admissions office automation coordinator.
"Fortheexperieneeof alifetime," said Ellis, "call
UCLA. Ifs three-and-a-half minutes before you get
a human voice."
The old admissions phone system, installed in
1975, allowed only three lines for non-faculty calls.
This made placing a call to the admissions office
during the height of late registration a task involving luck and persistence.
With the automated attendant and its accompanying automated call distribution, as many calls
get through as there are people to field them.
"If you had to choose between calling four times
and waiting 35 seconds, what would you choose?"
Travis-Ellis asked, adding that with the advent of
the automated attendant, "There's no such thing as
a busy phone anymore."
Still, there is that 35 seconds on the phone with
that voice, which, by the way, belongs to speech
arts major and part-time mail room worker Mike
Mazenek.
Not everyone thinks the trade-off is so great. A
CSUF philosophy professor asks, "At what price,
progress?"
"What's amusing is that it says, *You have
reached the office of public contact" and it is actually a machine," said Ann Berliner.
"We are interacting more and more with ma-
Please see PHONES, page 6