I have been a CSUN student for three years now. During this time, my

school has shamed me many times.

Our baseball stadium was ranked the worst in the entire National

Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level. Commentators from Fox

Sports West publicly mocked our basketball ‘?arena’ ?’#8209;the Matadome

?’#8209;when they were covering a men’s basketball game here. And at the Big

West Conference basketball tournament in Anaheim this past March, our

school band wasn’t actually our band ?’#8209;it was from a local public high

school.

All of these events caused me to die a little inside.

But those athletic embarrassments are nothing compared to some of

the academic embarrassments I have seen our school deal with. During my

first semester here, I discovered that our four-year graduation rate

was somewhere around 3 percent, which I believe was among the worst in

the state at the time. Also during that first year, I heard many people

tell me that our Business Department was one of the highlights of our

school. Later, I saw that department lose some of its accreditation.

Our beautiful new Education Building was renamed after Disney CEO

Michael Eisner for his generous donations to our campus. Not long after

that, Eisner was publicly disgraced in the media over corporate power

struggles and subsequently lost some of his power at the company.

I have gone through so many embarrassments and seen so much I’m

ashamed of while being a student at this school.

However, I have always been proud to say I am a CSUN student. People

may wonder how I could feel this way, and it’s because none of these

issues could decrease my pride in this school.

Despite all of these negatives, there was one thing our school had

that made me say, ‘?I’m proud to be a Matador!’

That was the Matador Bookstore Burger King’s triple cheeseburger

combo meal for just $2.99.

This meal deal was perhaps the greatest value I have ever seen. I

could get a triple cheeseburger, french fries and a Coke with unlimited

refills for less than $3.

So often, CSUN students get hungry on campus but just don’t have

enough cash on hand to get a decent meal. I’d often search through my

wallet at lunchtime between classes and discover that I had just $3

left. When I thought all hope of a finding lunch was lost, Burger King

was there to save me.

Burger King: So much food for so little money. This truly was a

great campus.

Who cares if our athletic facilities are the subject of mockery? Who

cares if many consider us a joke in terms of being a serious academic

institution? We had a triple cheeseburger meal for less than $3. CSUN

was a campus to be envied, my friends.

Now, the University Corporation has taken away the one thing that

has kept me proud to be a student at this school. In an unfathomable

move, the UC raised the price of my favorite meal by 10 cents.

Not long ago, I tried to get my favorite meal with the $3 I had left

in my pocket, only to hear back from the employee, ‘?You are 9 cents

short, sir.’

I didn’t know what to do. I will admit that I may have cried a

little, as the only thing keeping me at this school had been lost. My

greatest dream had been broken.

I am so happy that I will be graduating in December. This drastic

price increase has left me with a new view of CSUN.

I now see that our school is nothing but a place of unfulfilled

dreams and broken promises.

Marcus Afzali, whose’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

column appears every week, is a senior political science major.