Security has been ramped up near the doors to maintain the safety of students living on campus. Student housing has hired private security guards to supplement CSUN police and residential advisers who monitor the dorms. “I live on the third floor so I feel pretty safe,” said English major Stephanie Jones, 21. Jones and freshman Brishay Anderson, 18, said they have heard stories about people breaking into the dorms and others getting into fights, but have not heard or seen… Read more

Students and guests started forming a line in front of Jerome Richfield on Saturday around 2:30 p.m. for CSUN’s 10th Big Show. “We’re the smart people,” said Matt Dibo, 20, a fire technology major from College of the Canyons who came with a CSUN student. Dibo, who was the first of the students allowed in and he cracked a big smile when a security guard motioned him forward. Security guards used wands and metal detectors to prevent weapons and other… Read more

It could happen any time, any day. The second floor of the Matador Bookstore Complex was quiet.  A few summer semester students were gathered, talking with friends.  Jennifer Jimenez, a freshman, psychology major, placed her lunch and book bag at a table.  She then walked away, across the room, to grab some paper towels from the bathroom. Her laptop sat on the table, unattended and unlocked. “Sometimes I worry about my possessions,” said Jimenez, 18.  “That’s why I ran back… Read more

Microsoft Word and notebooks are two staples for students pursuing their degrees in higher education. Two problems: 1. The notebooks weigh two pounds too much for your walk from the Arbor Grill to Manzanita Hall. 2. Microsoft Word, with its thousands of features you never use, is almost as cumbersome. Time to ditch both for a new way of taking notes. Evernote is an free note-taking tool that stores data in what tech-geeks call “the cloud.” Notes can be typed… Read more

It’s 12:05 p.m. and your class just let and you  finally managed to etch out 30-minutes for a lunch and some Web browsing. You boot up your laptop and log into Yahoo Messenger and start up an  explicit conversation, the secret kind you don’t want out in the open. Fewer than 20-feet away, another person running Linux and a packet-sniffer logs your confidential chat. How? Your connection is unencrypted. When a student logs into the campus-provided wireless network, all data… Read more

Kevin McAllister was accidentally left behind when his family took off to Paris for a Christmas family vacation. He was 8 years old, and enjoyed living by himself until two intruders tried to rob his house. He protected his home and himself by learning how to fight the robbers.  He arranged traps throughout the house, left glue and nails on the steps leading to the attic and used an electric fan and feathers to distract the burglars. These are scenes… Read more