The war on drugs in Mexico is government corruption and is heavily impacting communities on the U.S.-Mexico border, said human rights activist Raul Reyes Salazar and attorney Carlos Spector at a lecture in CSUN’s Whitsett Room Thursday night. Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon sent military forces in 2008 to put a stop to the drug war, according to Spector. Spector and Reyes argue, however, that these military forces are linked to a large number of deaths consisting of activists and civilians,… Read more

Megan Nassereddin, 21, deaf studies major Nassereddin, a senior from Chino Hills, Orange County, chose CSUN because of the different programs they offer. “I chose CSUN because they are one of the only programs in the county with a deaf studies program,” she said. “Upon graduating high school, American Sign Language (ASL) was my biggest passion.” Nassereddin has had a good experience so far at CSUN and has been able to get all of the classes she has needed, despite… Read more

CSUN anticipates more qualified freshman applicants than it can accept in Fall 2012, and has declared a state of campus impaction. In order to prevent over-enrollment and avoid further penalties from the CSU, CSUN will enforce new admission requirements for freshman applicants known as “impaction.” “Students that graduated from high schools in L.A. County or the surrounding areas of Northridge will have a better likelihood of attending CSUN in the fall,” said Cynthia Rawitch, CSUN vice provost. Rawitch also said… Read more

The Associated Students passed a bill banning single-use plastic bags from the CSUN campus in order to become a more eco-friendly campus. The bill was passed on Feb. 21 and includes providing 8,000 free, foldable and reusable bags to incoming freshman during their orientation for a period of three years. “CSUN is planning to ban the distribution of plastic bags and educate students about it. It won’t include franchises like Panda Express and Subway,” said Max Aram, director of environmental… Read more

“Would you like a safety escort tonight?” This is a typical question that Peter Sanchez asks his fellow CSUN students during the week. Sanchez, a sophomore sociology major, has been working as a community service assistant, under the CSUN Matador Patrol for a little over a year. As an assistant coordinator of the CSA, Sanchez wanders around campus on the lookout for suspicious people, or students and faculty who are alone and may feel unsafe. “Having safety escorts benefit students… Read more

A bill that would fund a library containing open source textbooks for the 50 most popular lower division courses at state colleges and universities has been proposed by State Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg on Feb. 8. In his proposal, students will be able to access and download texts online for free and purchase printed textbooks for only $20. Course material contributions from academics, nonprofits, Silicon Valley developers and the book publishing industry will be shared within the system…. Read more

More than 5,000 affordable eTextbooks will become available to students this fall, after the CSU partnered with major book store retailers. The discounted eTextbook prices are part of the CSU Affordable Learning Solutions Program. Launched in 2010, the Learning Solutions Program was started as an initiative to help control the cost of education for students. CourseSmart, Cengage Learning and Follett (book retailers) have partnered with the CSU school system to offer low-cost academic content for students and faculty. CSU students… Read more

CSUN police arrested two juveniles in connection to a bicycle theft outside the Oviatt Library Monday after a witness reported suspicious behavior to police around 5 p.m. Police arrived at the scene within minutes and found the two suspects in possession of bolt cutters and other tools assumed to be used in the theft of bikes said said Chirstina Villalobos, community relations officer for CSUN police.  The witness reported that one of the suspects acted as a lookout while the… Read more