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I CSUF assists shaken sister camous by Diane Greeley Staff Writer The earthquake that rocked Southern California and caused major stuctural damage to CSU Northridge, knocked out the computer system, closed the campus and prompted immediate offers of help from CSUF. Jim Morris, CSUF's Director of Computing called the chancellor's office and offered to assist. The offer was then extended from President John Welty's office to the sister campus. The request came back: could Fresno be temDorarv home for the computer services of Northridge? "It started as a one- to three-week temporary relocation. As the aftershocks hit, it was clear they wouldn't be in business for months to a year," Morris said. The news was as devestating as the earthquake for Northridge. The earthquakes damaged the building housing the campus' computer network and disabled the system, said Lorraine Newlon.directorof admissions and records at Northridge for the past ten years. The campus couldn't even pay its bills. Officials entered the condemmed building- at considerable risk- to retreive the backup tapes for the system, said Newlon. "There were four to five of us in the building. We were handing computer tapes out a broken window to a basket on a crane. While we were doing that, we had a five-point aftershock and the crane dropped. We almost lost one of our people," said Wes Hampton, director of computer services at CSU Northridge. Those on the ground watched as the four- story building swayed back and forth. The crew gave up on re-entering the building, Hampton said. There were more difficulties to face. When the main quake hit, only two-thirds of the telephone registration had been completed. The registration computer was also disabled but was housed in a different building that made retreival of its records easier, Newlon said. As the computer tapes were collected and sent by truck to Fresno, preparations were being made to receive them. Several companies offered assistance in setting up computers to read the programs and records from Northridge. IBM loaned and airfreighted a $3-5 million ES9000 model 320 mainframe computer, and EMC, a company which provides memory for mainframes, provided the disk drives, Morris said. Pacific Bell helped by dedicating, at considerable cost, 96 phone lines to the cause, said Jim Michael, supervisor of IBM operating system support. Michael and his team are credited by Morris and Hampton with getting the network running. The whole system was ready in a week. As soon as the computer was ready, Northridge began completing its registration, allowing students to call and register for classes during the weekend of Jan. 4, Newlon said. Approximately 8,000 students ca»ied, according to Dr. Richard Backer, director of enrollment services for the past five years at CSUF. Students using the system, however, may never know where their calls had been transferred. They called a special 800 number and were automatically forwarded to CSUF, Backer said. Registration assistance will not stop there. Approximately 20,000 to 40,000 students are expected to call to use the system to add and drop classes, Morris said. A s the studentsregistered, Northridge faced Hadi Yazdarparah/INSIGHT In order to help with CSUN's registration, computers were sent to CSUF. an inability to produce mailings for students and again asked CSU Fresno for help. "We had no way to produce mailing labels," Newlon said. "Your campus, with our assistance, was able to mail, with a Northridge return address, letters from our President and Vice-PresidenL All we could do is fax a rough draft," Newlon said. Along with registration and mailing assistance, CSU Fresno has accepted 20 Northridge studenLs as inter-system visitors after its own students had finished late registration, Backer said. The students at Fresno will not be effected by the visiting students since they registered after late registration, Backer said. Students will also be financially effected since the cost of most of the $350 million of damage to the campus- $5 million to fix the computer system alone- is expected to be picked up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Hampton said. He also said that anything above what is provided by FEMA should be picked up by a proposed half-cent sales tax increase. Despite the damage and expense, the campus can run on the 80 personal computers linking Northridge to the mainframe in Fresno, Hampton said. The decision to use CSUF as the site for the computer system was mainly due to prior affiliations. "Northridge is one of our sister campuses. We are part of a development team for student registration software," Morris said. "We've worked with them for 15 years. We know their system, and they know ours," he said. This mutual collaboration and understanding has enabled Northridge to send a team of workers to this campus to assist in the running of the computer system, said Morris. It has also meant salvation for a campus which would otherwise be in dire straits. They won't be able to enter the building that houses their computer for three to six months, not even to retreive personnal belongings, Hampton said. Until that time, the campus is attempting to set up facilities to move the on-loan computer from Fresno to Northridge which should happen in a few weeks, Hampton said. Meanwhile, Fresno will continue to help its sister campus with billing, registration and every other computer function - an assistance which has been invaluable to Northridge. "The people at Fresno haven't even asked for anything. They haven't grown upset and have done everything we asked of them and then more and more. I can't say enough," Hampton said. "It has basically saved our lives. We could not have continued registration or even opened the campus without Fresno's help," said Newlon. Fresno natives back on solid ground By Bryan Chan and Olivia Reyes Staff Writers After the ground beneath Northridge rocked violently from a 6.8 earthquake, shaking up lives of many Southern Califomians, Debra Coppersmith, a senior at California State University, Northridge, worried about what its effect would have on her school and spring graduation plans. But even the shaker didn't frighten her away. It was the constant aftershocks that made her and classmate DebraBowen'sdecisiontoswitch schools final. They chose CSUF. "After an aftershock woke me up at 5:30 in the morning, I bolted for the door," Coppersmith said. She turned to Bowen as she fled and said, '1 don't know about you Debra, you can stay here if you want, but I'm going back to Fresno'. "It's so nerve wracking when you're constantly worrying about aftershocks that wake you up in the middle of the night." Coppersmith returned to her hometown school, CSUF, and Bowen, a 23-year-old liberal studies major, followed. Coppersmith, also a 22-year-old liberal studies major, and Bowen, said everything was sctfor their May graduation - but a few tremors changed all that g the news and when they said Northridge I said, 'Oh my God, that's my school," Coppersmith said. "I was never so observant as I was when I went down to see all the destruction and damage. 1 wasn't even blinking. I was looking around at everything. I was just shocked by the destruction "It was amazing what 40 seconds could do." The quake, centered near Northridge, shook Southern Califomians from their slumber at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. When the dust settied, 51 people were dead and thousands were homeless. With only five buildings on Northridge campus safe to enter, the school was shut down and spring semester delayed until Monday, Feb. 14. University officials brought in portable classrooms, borrowed more rooms from a nearby community college and even space at a church in an attempt to resume classes, Bowen said. Michael Emery, acting chair for CSUN's department of journalism, said about 300 trailers were placed around the campus last week to hold class sessions. Portable restrooms and phones also were placed near the classes. "It's really a difficult situation," Emery said. Coppersmith and Bowen are now studying at CSUF with hopes the courses will transfer to their nearly demolished school. Both are among other Northridge State students who have found refuge at CSUF to continue education. Adding classes at CSUFdid not go as smooth as they had hoped. "We came here with zero units and we were in the pool,"Coppersmith said. "Here thtsearthquake happens and we have to go to this strange school where we don't know where anything is and add classes." The frustration felt by CSUF students adding classes was far worse for 'he Northridge refugees. Some professors were helpful while others condemned them to class waiting lists. Not all professors knew of the emergency policy giving Northridge studenl priority in addingclasses. "That wasn't told to any professors in the beginning," Bowen said. Dr. J. Richard Amdt, coordinator of advising and testing services, said in his 20 years, CSUF has never experienced such a situation. Amdt said he's spoken with five students who have transferred here from Northridge State. "They're certainly anxious," he said. Amdt said these students are part of the intra- system visitor program under which students can attend another CSU for one semester without applying to the school. While four of thc five students are graduating seniors, each is faced wilh two situations: One, Amdt said, occurs when students are taking general education classes which are easy to deal with. In the second, they are taking courses in their major. That can make things difficult since the courses they are currently taking may or may not be accepted by their school. On top of that, they are finding it tough tocontact Northridge State. "I've tried calling to see if my classes were still available and can't get through. There's no one there to talk to. I don't want to wait until the 14th to find out my that some of my classes have been cancelled. The displaced students' problems do not compare to those of their peers trying to attend Northridge State, Coppersmith said. "Two friends who live in West Hollywood are going to camp out at a friends house in Northridge and try to go to school at 6 a.m. because they don't know what's going to happen," Coppersmith said. Before enrolling at CSUF Bowen and Coppersmith made an attempt to visit Northridge State but were restricted from the now fenced-in campus. "Icouldn'teven see it," Bowen said. "There's no one there but the police." Coppersmith agreed. "It's humanless," she added.
Object Description
Title | 1994_02 Insight February 1994 |
Alternative Title | Insight (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Dept. of Journalism, California State University, Fresno. |
Publication Date | 1994 |
Description | Weekly during the school year. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 8 1969-v. 29, no. 23 (May 13, 1998, issue. Title from masthead. Merged with Daily collegian. |
Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodials |
Contributors | California State University, Fresno Dept. of Journalism |
Coverage | October 8, 1969 - May 13, 1998 |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35mm |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi, TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
Language | eng |
Description
Title | 005_Insight Feb 16 1994 p 5 |
Alternative Title | Insight (California State University, Fresno) |
Publication Date | 1994 |
Full-Text-Search | I CSUF assists shaken sister camous by Diane Greeley Staff Writer The earthquake that rocked Southern California and caused major stuctural damage to CSU Northridge, knocked out the computer system, closed the campus and prompted immediate offers of help from CSUF. Jim Morris, CSUF's Director of Computing called the chancellor's office and offered to assist. The offer was then extended from President John Welty's office to the sister campus. The request came back: could Fresno be temDorarv home for the computer services of Northridge? "It started as a one- to three-week temporary relocation. As the aftershocks hit, it was clear they wouldn't be in business for months to a year," Morris said. The news was as devestating as the earthquake for Northridge. The earthquakes damaged the building housing the campus' computer network and disabled the system, said Lorraine Newlon.directorof admissions and records at Northridge for the past ten years. The campus couldn't even pay its bills. Officials entered the condemmed building- at considerable risk- to retreive the backup tapes for the system, said Newlon. "There were four to five of us in the building. We were handing computer tapes out a broken window to a basket on a crane. While we were doing that, we had a five-point aftershock and the crane dropped. We almost lost one of our people," said Wes Hampton, director of computer services at CSU Northridge. Those on the ground watched as the four- story building swayed back and forth. The crew gave up on re-entering the building, Hampton said. There were more difficulties to face. When the main quake hit, only two-thirds of the telephone registration had been completed. The registration computer was also disabled but was housed in a different building that made retreival of its records easier, Newlon said. As the computer tapes were collected and sent by truck to Fresno, preparations were being made to receive them. Several companies offered assistance in setting up computers to read the programs and records from Northridge. IBM loaned and airfreighted a $3-5 million ES9000 model 320 mainframe computer, and EMC, a company which provides memory for mainframes, provided the disk drives, Morris said. Pacific Bell helped by dedicating, at considerable cost, 96 phone lines to the cause, said Jim Michael, supervisor of IBM operating system support. Michael and his team are credited by Morris and Hampton with getting the network running. The whole system was ready in a week. As soon as the computer was ready, Northridge began completing its registration, allowing students to call and register for classes during the weekend of Jan. 4, Newlon said. Approximately 8,000 students ca»ied, according to Dr. Richard Backer, director of enrollment services for the past five years at CSUF. Students using the system, however, may never know where their calls had been transferred. They called a special 800 number and were automatically forwarded to CSUF, Backer said. Registration assistance will not stop there. Approximately 20,000 to 40,000 students are expected to call to use the system to add and drop classes, Morris said. A s the studentsregistered, Northridge faced Hadi Yazdarparah/INSIGHT In order to help with CSUN's registration, computers were sent to CSUF. an inability to produce mailings for students and again asked CSU Fresno for help. "We had no way to produce mailing labels," Newlon said. "Your campus, with our assistance, was able to mail, with a Northridge return address, letters from our President and Vice-PresidenL All we could do is fax a rough draft," Newlon said. Along with registration and mailing assistance, CSU Fresno has accepted 20 Northridge studenLs as inter-system visitors after its own students had finished late registration, Backer said. The students at Fresno will not be effected by the visiting students since they registered after late registration, Backer said. Students will also be financially effected since the cost of most of the $350 million of damage to the campus- $5 million to fix the computer system alone- is expected to be picked up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Hampton said. He also said that anything above what is provided by FEMA should be picked up by a proposed half-cent sales tax increase. Despite the damage and expense, the campus can run on the 80 personal computers linking Northridge to the mainframe in Fresno, Hampton said. The decision to use CSUF as the site for the computer system was mainly due to prior affiliations. "Northridge is one of our sister campuses. We are part of a development team for student registration software," Morris said. "We've worked with them for 15 years. We know their system, and they know ours," he said. This mutual collaboration and understanding has enabled Northridge to send a team of workers to this campus to assist in the running of the computer system, said Morris. It has also meant salvation for a campus which would otherwise be in dire straits. They won't be able to enter the building that houses their computer for three to six months, not even to retreive personnal belongings, Hampton said. Until that time, the campus is attempting to set up facilities to move the on-loan computer from Fresno to Northridge which should happen in a few weeks, Hampton said. Meanwhile, Fresno will continue to help its sister campus with billing, registration and every other computer function - an assistance which has been invaluable to Northridge. "The people at Fresno haven't even asked for anything. They haven't grown upset and have done everything we asked of them and then more and more. I can't say enough," Hampton said. "It has basically saved our lives. We could not have continued registration or even opened the campus without Fresno's help," said Newlon. Fresno natives back on solid ground By Bryan Chan and Olivia Reyes Staff Writers After the ground beneath Northridge rocked violently from a 6.8 earthquake, shaking up lives of many Southern Califomians, Debra Coppersmith, a senior at California State University, Northridge, worried about what its effect would have on her school and spring graduation plans. But even the shaker didn't frighten her away. It was the constant aftershocks that made her and classmate DebraBowen'sdecisiontoswitch schools final. They chose CSUF. "After an aftershock woke me up at 5:30 in the morning, I bolted for the door," Coppersmith said. She turned to Bowen as she fled and said, '1 don't know about you Debra, you can stay here if you want, but I'm going back to Fresno'. "It's so nerve wracking when you're constantly worrying about aftershocks that wake you up in the middle of the night." Coppersmith returned to her hometown school, CSUF, and Bowen, a 23-year-old liberal studies major, followed. Coppersmith, also a 22-year-old liberal studies major, and Bowen, said everything was sctfor their May graduation - but a few tremors changed all that g the news and when they said Northridge I said, 'Oh my God, that's my school," Coppersmith said. "I was never so observant as I was when I went down to see all the destruction and damage. 1 wasn't even blinking. I was looking around at everything. I was just shocked by the destruction "It was amazing what 40 seconds could do." The quake, centered near Northridge, shook Southern Califomians from their slumber at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. When the dust settied, 51 people were dead and thousands were homeless. With only five buildings on Northridge campus safe to enter, the school was shut down and spring semester delayed until Monday, Feb. 14. University officials brought in portable classrooms, borrowed more rooms from a nearby community college and even space at a church in an attempt to resume classes, Bowen said. Michael Emery, acting chair for CSUN's department of journalism, said about 300 trailers were placed around the campus last week to hold class sessions. Portable restrooms and phones also were placed near the classes. "It's really a difficult situation," Emery said. Coppersmith and Bowen are now studying at CSUF with hopes the courses will transfer to their nearly demolished school. Both are among other Northridge State students who have found refuge at CSUF to continue education. Adding classes at CSUFdid not go as smooth as they had hoped. "We came here with zero units and we were in the pool,"Coppersmith said. "Here thtsearthquake happens and we have to go to this strange school where we don't know where anything is and add classes." The frustration felt by CSUF students adding classes was far worse for 'he Northridge refugees. Some professors were helpful while others condemned them to class waiting lists. Not all professors knew of the emergency policy giving Northridge studenl priority in addingclasses. "That wasn't told to any professors in the beginning," Bowen said. Dr. J. Richard Amdt, coordinator of advising and testing services, said in his 20 years, CSUF has never experienced such a situation. Amdt said he's spoken with five students who have transferred here from Northridge State. "They're certainly anxious," he said. Amdt said these students are part of the intra- system visitor program under which students can attend another CSU for one semester without applying to the school. While four of thc five students are graduating seniors, each is faced wilh two situations: One, Amdt said, occurs when students are taking general education classes which are easy to deal with. In the second, they are taking courses in their major. That can make things difficult since the courses they are currently taking may or may not be accepted by their school. On top of that, they are finding it tough tocontact Northridge State. "I've tried calling to see if my classes were still available and can't get through. There's no one there to talk to. I don't want to wait until the 14th to find out my that some of my classes have been cancelled. The displaced students' problems do not compare to those of their peers trying to attend Northridge State, Coppersmith said. "Two friends who live in West Hollywood are going to camp out at a friends house in Northridge and try to go to school at 6 a.m. because they don't know what's going to happen," Coppersmith said. Before enrolling at CSUF Bowen and Coppersmith made an attempt to visit Northridge State but were restricted from the now fenced-in campus. "Icouldn'teven see it," Bowen said. "There's no one there but the police." Coppersmith agreed. "It's humanless," she added. |