Associated Students to hold press conference on Friday

The Associated Students will hold a press conference on Oct. 19 in the Matador Involvement Center at 5 p.m. The conference’s general discussions will remain tentative until the day of the event, said Leila Varzideh, A.S. director of elections. An issue that might be discussed at the conference is candidacy grade point average requirements. “There are still issues that need to be analyzed and compared – until then, we will really know,” Varzideh said. All original 18 candidate applicants were members of a single slate organized by current A.S. Director of Legislative Affairs Peter Gallego, but the slate could be reduced to 11 members due to qualifications and school criteria, such as GPA and academic issues that some A.S. candidates have not met, Varzideh said. The requirements could discourage students from running for office and decrease the number of member slates on ballots available, she said. “A lot of students think that they will not qualify, so they don’t run,” she said. “We do not want them to be discouraged.” Kantreal Daniels, A.S. Elections Committee member and junior journalism major, said it is a good idea for A.S. to require members to meet a certain standard. “A candidate should be able to meet the requirements,” she said.

-Vanessa Abner

CPR, First Aid certification program scheduled for Oct. 29

The University Student Union’s University Program Council will host a CPR and First Aid Certification Program from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the Lake View Terrace room in the University Student Union. The Certification and CPR program will be available for CSUN students for a $25 fee. Students who are interested in the program can register at the USU cash register in the Matador Involvement Center. “Students will learn a variety of CPR and hand maneuvers,” said Brenda Ramirez, art and lecture co-chair of the UPC. Benjamin Elisongo, a certified CPR professional and trainer, will lead the Certification instruction. Elisondo said the training would be open to students on a first-come, first-serve basis. “Classes are very limited,” he said. “There is a need for more CPR classes to be able to facilitate more students.” Ramirez said students must arrive early to the program and register at least the day before the session. Lunch will be provided. For more information, students can contact Tanya Figueroa, UPC program coordinator, at (818) 677-6576.

-V.A.

CSU, UC credit card fees bill opposed in California Senate

California State Sen. Debra Bowen proposed Senate Bill 860 on June 20, which would have allowed California to use the purchasing power of all state agencies to negotiate better rates with credit card companies for processing fees. The bill was later revised to include state universities. The bill would prohibit credit card or debit card processing fees for UC and CSU students, and in return universities would be charged the processing fees for the transactions. Dorena Knepper, director of governmental affairs at CSUN, said both the UC and CSU systems opposed the bill, and it was ultimately dropped. “(Sen. Bowen) wanted to prohibit campuses from transaction fees, but if the bill would have passed, we wouldn’t have been able to absorb the costs of credit card fees,” Knepper said. When the bill was heard in the State Assembly Banking and Finance Committee, committee members agreed with UC and CSU lobbyists that the issue was with banking and not with the state agencies themselves, Knepper said. University Cash Services expanded its contract with CashNet SmartPay to facilitate the online transaction. Students who make credit card payments online will continue to pay a 2.9 percent processing fee for each transaction.

-V.A.

According to University Enrollment for CSU, the top five CSU campuses in ranking from 1st to 5th, updated 2004, are Long Beach, Fullerton, San Diego, Northridge and San Jose State. CSU Long beach reached an all high head count of 33,479 students ranking in 1st; San Diego State 32,936, 2nd; Fullerton, 32,744, 3rd; CSUN, 31,341, 4th and San Jose State with 29,044 students 5th. System wide, a total of 397,048 students were enrolled in a CSU in 2004 in comparison to 408,946 students in 2003. Furthermore, there are currently 253,267 state wide undergraduate students enrolled full time and 66,301 undergraduates enrolled part-time.