Operating with an already reduced budget, the College of Science and Mathematics will soon face additional expenses as it switches to Year-Round Operations and changes its general education requirements in Fall 2006. College officials said that because of increased summer enrollment and new lab requirements for students, existing funds would have to be shuffled around to cover the costly program changes. “It’s almost like digging a bigger debt as we grow,” said Jerry Stinner, dean of the College of Science… Read more

Morning and afternoon noise and traffic caused by the construction of two condominium complexes on Halsted Street between Zelzah and White Oak avenues have caused concerns for some sorority and fraternity house residents. “Our house starts shaking from the bulldozers tearing up the ground,” said Robert Press, junior history major and vice president and house manager of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Lambda Chi and three other Greek houses line Halsted Street. Chatsworth-based Raider Planning and Construction is building the… Read more

He died when he was only two months old. He never had a chance. His death was not unexpected; members of his family have been dying young for almost 30 years. CSUN Rat #KG3L1#5 died 63 days into his young life. He was part of the university’s spastic Han-Wistar rat colony, a small group of rats that live in the biology vivarium, or animal lab, behind electronically locked doors deep within the basement of Eucalyptus Hall, formerly Science Building 2…. Read more

In an effort to retain services of its American Sign Language interpreters, the National Center on Deafness will increase the hourly salary of its interpreters and cut benefits to stave off the high number of interpreters leaving CSUN to work for private companies. “We are optimistic,” said Terry Piper, vice president for Student Affairs, acknowledging that the change in pay will help the NCOD retain its interpreters. There are two kinds of interpreters: academic year interpreters who have staff contracts,… Read more

Following a three-year freeze in salary increases caused by state budget cuts, CSUN continues to struggle in closing a salary gap between associate and assistant professors that is partly caused by their being hired at different times. Due to cost-of-living and market changes, newly hired assistant professors are sometimes paid more than previously hired associate professors, who should be making more because of their rank and because they were hired first. CSUN’s junior faculty members are hired on a 10-year… Read more

Growing up as a black woman in Orange County, CSUN student Jeannie Williams said she received nonstop ridicule from other students whenever she dated white guys. “(My classmates) used to call my (white) boyfriend and I names,” said the first-year communication studies graduate student. “One particular comment that bothered me was ‘Oreo cookie,’” Williams said. Williams is one of thousands of minority women on campus who face unique challenges based not only on their gender but also their ethnic background,… Read more

Brian Massimino is passionate about education. In his third year of getting a teaching credential in deaf and hard of hearing education, he is seeking a master’s degree in special education. “I love watching (students’) eyes light up once they understand a particularly difficult concept and they’re eager to learn more,” Massimino said in two interviews conducted via e-mail. “This single moment is what makes teaching worthwhile for me.” Massimino is one of many deaf studies majors on campus who… Read more

Like the millions that fled El Salvador during its civil war, Vanessa Guerrero, who was 5 years old when her family left in 1989, came to America to flee the violence that would eventually claim more than 80,000 lives between 1980 and 1994. And like many of those war refugees, Guerrero and her mother’s journey would bring them to Los Angeles with nothing more than a couple of suitcases. With hardly any memories or knowledge about her country’s history or… Read more

Two prominent executive speakers shared tips with Cinema and Television Arts majors about filmmaking and directing at the Elaine and Armer Theater on Nov. 3. “It is such a great advantage to be able to work with a film director,” Frank Marshall said. Marshall took film classes while majoring in political science. He graduated in 1968. Marshall said he has been to Europe and explored different avenues of film. “I wanted to go to different places to really be out… Read more