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Retired Iraq war general visits TSU
BY CHRisTinE AMARAnTusDaily Titan Features Editor
Former commander of coalition forces in Iraq lec-tured on leadership at the TSU Thursday
On Thursday at the Titan Student Union, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the highest-ranking Latino in the Army when he retired in 2006, gave a detailed talk on his 33 years in the military, including a recount of the capture of Saddam Hussein. Sanchez was in command when Hussein was found and stood next to the camera when the first photos of the former Iraqi president were taken.
“I’d never before felt like I was in the presence of an evil man,” Sanchez said, adding that special permission had to be given from the White House
to shave Hussein’s beard and cut his hair.
Fielding questions on Hussein’s discovery, Sanchez explained that the military followed every tip they received regarding Hussein’s where-abouts. Some soldiers noticed a patch of greenery they thought looked un-natural and found it was a cover for a hole. Just as the soldiers were about to drop in a couple grenades before going down to explore, they found the de-posed Iraqi leader at the bottom and removed him.
Sanchez was shocked by the lack of remorse Hussein showed when speak-ing to him through an interpreter regarding the atrocities Hussein had allowed in Iraq.
“He felt (his actions) were justi-fied,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez had traveled from his home in Texas for the presentation and to speak at a Veteran’s Day celebration, also held in the TSU, on Nov. 7. Prior
to his retirement, Sanchez com-manded 180,000 personnel in 36 different countries.
“I’ve served in the Far East, Middle East and Europe ... There’s no better than this country as flawed as we may be. We’ve come a long way,” Sanchez said.
Before starting, Sanchez played a brief slideshow with pictures of him, his fam-ily and the various celebrities he had met over the years.
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CSUF paintball hosts NCPA tournament, Page 8
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MULTIMEDIACheck out the interview
with the “A Streetcar Named Desire” costume designer at
DailyTitan.com/CostumesBehindStreetcar
Monday November 9, 2009
Since 1960 Volume 85, Issue 34
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
insiDE: sPORTsWomen’s volleyball beats two Big West foes, Page 6
Professors analyze Obama’s first year
Students scattered the two sides of seating in the Titan Student Union’s Pavilion A the night of Nov. 4. Some sat with glazed eyes while many more listened intently taking notes. A year after Obama won the presidential election, these students sat still, lingering for answers on how well he has done thus far.
The Associated Students Inc. Lob-by Corps hosted, “Obama One Year Later,” in which a panel of politi-cal science and sociology professors fielded questions from the audience and peppered those attending with insightful commentary and critique.
Gregory Washington, 19, a po-litical science and speech commu-nications major, proposed the event because of the buzz around campus after Obama’s election last Novem-ber.
“I felt like it would be appropriate for the time,” Washington said.
The panel consisted of Phillip Gianos and Stephen Stambough, professors of political science and criminal justice, Jack Bedell, profes-sor of sociology, and Matthew Jarvis, professor of political science.
The event opened with the four professors grading Obama’s first year in office. Obama’s grades ranged from a “B” to an incomplete, as each professor cited his successes and fail-ures.
Stambough gave Obama a “B” in foreign policy because he “told people what he was going to do.” Obama campaigned on being mul-tinational and more diplomatically driven than the latest Bush admin-istration, he said.
BY PATRiCk COWLEsDaily Titan Asst. News Editor
See OBAMA, Page 2
Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez talks with students at the Titan Student Union during a lecture on leadership on Thursday, Nov. 5.
PHOTO BY ROn Fu/Daily Titan Staff PhotographerSee FEATURES,
Page 3
Behind the Curtain:A Streetcar Named DesirePart 1 of 3: CostumesPage 4
A three day series will go behind the scenes of Theatre and Dance’s latestproduction.
Monday: Costumes
Tuesday: Set design
Thursday: Characters
Page Two November 9, 20092
For The recordIt is the policy of the daily Titan to correct any inaccurate informa-
tion printed in the publication as soon as the error is discovered. any incorrect information printed on the front page will result in a correction printed on the front page. any incorrect information printed on any other page will be corrected on page 2. errors on the opinion page will be corrected on that page. corrections also will be noted on the online version of the daily Titan.
Please contact executive editor Skyler Blair at 657-278-5815 or at [email protected] with issues about this policy or to report any errors.
The Daily Titan is a student publication, printed every Monday through Thursday. The Daily Titan operates independently of Associated Students, College of Communications, CSUF administration and the CSUF System. The Daily Titan has functioned as a public forum since inception. Unless implied by the advertising party or otherwise stated, advertising in the Daily Titan is inserted by commercial activities or ventures identified in the advertisements themselves and not by the university. Such printing is not to be construed as written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of such com-mercial enterprises. The Daily Titan allocates one issue to each student for free.
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INTerNaTIoNaLIraqi parliament passes crucial election law
BAGHDAD (MCT) – after nearly a dozen delays and a final, rowdy session, Iraq’s parliament on Sunday passed a law setting national elections for January, averting for now a political crisis that threatened to unravel the country’s slow progress toward stability.
The elections, scheduled for Jan. 23, had been held up by adispute over the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, where both arabs and Kurds claim a major-ity. Lawmakers resolved the disagreement for now by agreeing to use voter rolls from 2009, and not a 2004 voter list compiled before many Kurds had moved into the region.
“Today we have been able to achieve one of the most sought-after points re-garding the elections and that is the open list. and it is a grand day for Kirkuk. It will not be deprived of its right in national elections,” said Khalid Shwani, a Kurdish lawmaker and prominent figure in negotiations over the law.
Iraqi and U.S. officials expressed relief Sunday.
NaTIoNaLAuthorities crack down on Medicare fraud
FORT WORTH (MCT) – when federal agents arrived, the scooter was still covered in plastic.
It should have been a fancy $5,000 power wheelchair for someone who needed it. That’s what Medicare paid for.
Instead, the little red scooter was delivered to an unsuspecting patient who didn’t need it, through the work of a North Texas medical supplier who eventually pleaded guilty with five others in a $2 million fraud scheme.
“It all boils down to somebody getting something for nothing,” said Mike Fields, special agent in charge of the dallas regional office of the health and human Services department’s office of inspector general.
The conviction in the scooter case, which stretched from North Texas to houston and Tennessee, was among about 300 in cases that led to the recovery of nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2009 under the health care Fraud Prevention and enforcement action Teams, known as heaT. It’s part of a nationwide crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid fraud that experts say costs taxpayers as much as $60 billion a year.
STaTeTwenty-five at UCSC earn more than $200,000
SANTA CRUZ (MCT) – although 25 administrators and professors at Uc Santa cruz earned $200,000 or more in 2008, the campus has the lowest faculty salaries of all nine of the University of california’s undergraduate cam-puses, according to salary information released recently by the university.
a task force of UcSc administrators and faculty government found that median salaries for assistant, associate and full professors at the 44-year-old cam-pus trailed those of colleagues at other Uc sites by about 7 percent in 2008.
“It is overall demoralizing to recognize that we have the lowest salaries in the system,” said Lori Kletzer, a 17-year UcSc labor economist who chairs the academic Senate. “Last year’s report did cause some reflection and hopefully some changes.”
chancellor george Blumenthal, an astronomy and astrophysics professor said, “My embarrassment is that we have so few at UcSc who make six-figure salaries.”
Stambough said obama’s speech in cairo titled “New Beginning” is the highlight of his foreign policy that american’s do not talk enough about. The speech set obama’s tone for working with, rather than against, the Muslim world toward peace.
Jarvis believed the transition from Bush to obama went “pretty well;” however, he said that obama’s ad-ministration lost momentum over the summer.
after an impressive start speedily passing a stimulus package, Jarvis believed the administration lost their way with the vacation season while focusing on “silver bullet” solutions for complex issues, such as health care and the environment. due to these facts, Jarvis gave obama an incomplete, fearing that projects not turned in on time may never be turned in.
after the grading session, wash-ington, chair of the aSI Lobby corps and aSI’s chief governmental officer, opened the floor to the audi-ence.
“we filled up the almost two hours with questions,” washington said. “and the follow-up questions (were) a mark of success; a self-sus-taining event is wonderful.”
david armstrong, 23, a political science major and criminal justice minor, decided to attend the event after seeing similar discussions on “hardball with chris Matthews” and “The o’ reilly Factor” regard-ing obama’s first year.
armstrong took the initiative when washington opened the floor to the audience for questions, even-tually asking the panel three ques-tions.
after the event, armstrong said in regards to obama and his first year, “when it comes down to leading, he’s lacking.”
“I don’t think he has power,” arm-strong said, “for the things he was elected to do (are) still the same.”
In response to one of armstrong’s questions regarding TV news, gia-nos warned those attending to be-ware of the “succession of plausible narratives” that arise from a TV show that is not political analysis. The common sense interpretations offered by TV news are usually pre-mature, gianos said, offering insight on a topic without yet knowing all the factors involved.
“They may not be correct,” gia-nos said. “(But) they’re not outland-ishly stupid either.”
however, the resounding senti-ment expressed by the questions asked involved what has become the difference between obama’s cam-paign and obama’s governance.
Stambough said the difference be-tween the two is a result of the gov-ernmental system and the situations that arise during a presidency.
Stambough said that while cam-paigning, candidates “go around talking about all the things (they) want to do, (while governing), (then
they) realize that’s all changed, and things take a long time.” For exam-ple, former President clinton and his “don’t ask, don’t Tell” policy; although he campaigned on the is-sue in 1992, it did not become law until well into 1993.
Many americans have expected obama to pass much of what he campaigned on within his first year, Stambough said, “based upon how government works that’s absolutely impossible.”
“The system is designed to go slow,” Jarvis said.
There are two major reasons for this.
gianos said the big background issue is the constitution.
“It’s supposed to slow things down and works very well to do that,” gia-nos said. “It’s supposed to encourage deliberation and consensus.”
For Bedell, the career people in washington, especially the cau-cus people on the hill, are “so en-trenched in many ways” that push-
CSUF’s Mihaylo College recognized
David Armstrong, 23, had several questions for the panel about President Obama’s first year in office at the TSU Pavilion on Wednesday, Nov.4.
Photo By Ron FU/Daily titan Staff Photographer
ing legislation through the system is impossible based upon their work-load and agendas. “You can only move so fast,” Bedell said.
These might not be failures for obama, but rather a cultural senti-ment that has failed america.
Bedell said it is the “now” cul-ture that must be patient with change.
“we need to be more patient as a culture,” Bedell said, “because (now) just doesn’t work that way,” for our bureaucracy.
however, the panelists remained optimistic that over the next few years obama will accomplish much more.
gianos believed although his presidency has taken an ambitious start, obama’s deep strategic sense has made it a good start. gianos said health care must remain his top pri-ority.
Bedell hopes to see obama take a stance on education by cleaning up “No child Left Behind.”
By Jonathan MontgoMeRyDaily Titan Staff Writer
Princeton review’s 2010 “Best 301 Business Schools” issue includes cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo college of Business and economics, marking the third consecutive year the college has been included in the review.
The Princeton review’s ranking system is based off student surveys and statistical data retrieved from
american graduate business schools accredited by the association to advance collegiate Schools of Business. The review does not rank the colleges numerically; instead, it simply pools together the top schools that have met the require-ments.
Faculty and staff see this as an ac-complishment and representation of their hard work, which will help potential students, employers and graduates in future decision mak-
ing.“we are doing a lot more, signifi-
cantly more, in terms of marketing the college’s reputation to other business schools and to our com-munity here in orange county,” said anil Puri, dean of Mihaylo college.
Puri said the college has made progress over the last several years in being more student-friendly while continuing to offer small class sizes and accessibility to faculty.
Morteza rahmatian, chair of the department of economics, said Puri’s tremendous support for re-search has provided enough funding and sources for faculty to be able to produce. rahmatian added that new faculty has also been spread across all departments within the college.
“In the past 10 years or so, we have been very successful hiring peo-ple from very high-quality schools,” rahmatian said. Included among these schools are professors from MIT, harvard, Berkley and colum-bia.
“It really doesn’t surprise me we are where we are, not to brag about it, but we really worked very hard to get us there,” rahmatian said.
catherine atwong, a marketing professor, said how the alumni per-ceive the value of their education, faculty’s contributions to the aca-demic world and peer ranking from other business colleges also contrib-ute to Princeton review’s ranking.
“Usually alumni contribution is a reflection of how much the alumni appreciate the connection and value of the education” atwong said.
She said the Princeton review should be utilized by prospective
students, parents, as well as future employers because it allows such interest groups to get a sense of the value of education offered at Mihay-lo college.
“For the parents who are mainly supporting the education of the children, they also get assurance that they get their money’s worth,” atwong said. “and for the people working in the college, it’s a recogni-tion. It’s a recognition that finally is measured and appreciated.”
out of approximately 9,000 busi-ness schools in the country, 500 of them are accredited by aacSB, Puri said. Two hundred of those schools are accredited for both business and accounting; Mihaylo college is one of them.
Puri said it is this type of acknowl-edgment that draws the top national accounting firms.
“These firms are very selective in where they do their recruitment; they go to only the top schools. all ... of them come here, every year, and recruit a large number of our students,” Puri said.
over time, the experience of hir-ing students from cSUF will rein-force and legitimize belief in the ranking.
“I think it’s obviously a reflection of the quality of the education that the students are receiving here,” said Lori Muse, associate professor in the department of Management.
“I think the more prominent the college becomes, the better for the students in terms of their being about to leverage that degree to get a job and to enhance their reputa-tion, to try to continue to move up the corporate level once they get that entry level job,” she said.
oBaMa: enD oF FiRSt yeaR analyzeDFrom Page 1
IN oTher NewS
FEATURESNovember 9, 2009 3
Among the slides were early shots of Sanchez doing laundry, washing dishes, going to church and photo-graphed with actors Robin Williams and Drew Carey, talk show host Da-vid Letterman and World Wrestling Entertainment star “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Several pictures had Sanchez with former president George W. Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, prior to his gubernatorial election.
“He told me he was going to be the next governor,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez was born and raised in Texas, near the Mexican border. With Mexican-American parents and Mexican grandparents, Eng-lish was Sanchez’s second language. “I was working at the age of 6 with my uncle. By the time I got to high school I had two jobs,” Sanchez said.
He went to college on ROTC scholarships, graduating from Texas A&I University, now Texas A&M, double majoring in math and history.
“The only thing that can trans-form who you are to who you want to be is education,” Sanchez said.
He addressed racial issues, saying that upon his retirement he returned to the “ugliness” of society. “Those of us that live in uniform get spoiled,” he said in terms of the military avoiding ethnic prejudice.
He described the absence of the technology today’s military has come to rely on, in his early career.
“Imagine a life without GPS or cellphones, having to use a pa-per map,” he said. “In 1990, when deployed in (Operations) Desert Shield and Desert Storm, we didn’t have maps, just a blank piece of pa-per. The world has changed.”
Sanchez emphasized pulling much of his strength from his faith
and family, and that in while Iraq he made sure to call home every night – even if he ended up falling asleep with his wife on the line. “The worst possible decision you can make is to sacrifice family. When I was a captain, the mili-tary was my life.” After the death of his son, family escalated on the list of priorities, he said.
During the question and an-swer portion, Sanchez answered var-ious questions regarding the United States’ presence in Iraq. Audience members asked why Sanchez was not as vocal in his criticism of the war as he is now.
“We should never and must never stand against the (government) while we wear the uniform,” Sanchez an-
swered. “You’ve sworn an oath to the national constitution. It’s not about the individual, not about peers. It’s about the Constitution.”
Sanchez addressed an audience member’s asser-tions that the U.S. is in Iraq for the oil, say-ing, “We didn’t use any of the p e t r o l e u m products from that country ... It was about stabilizing the
greater (Persian) Gulf region.” Sanchez said that the U.S. did not
take control of any Iraqi oil wells, explaining that they remained under the control of the country’s oil com-panies.
To a question regarding the Un-tied States’ spending in Iraq, San-chez said it was up to $12-15 billion
a month at the peak. “We made a commitment. Whether we want to call ourselves occupiers or not, by international law that is what we were,” he said.
Sanchez also touched on combat and how it changes a person. “When a soldier goes to war, they say good-bye to the person they will never be again.”
He further said that while speak-ing at a ceremony honoring a World War II veteran, he talked about a soldier’s life and combat. When the veteran came up to speak, tears filled his eyes as he described the ravages of war. The veteran’s wife later ap-proached Sanchez saying she had never heard any of the stories her husband told that day in the 40 years they’d been married, and all because he felt he could relate with Sanchez.
Sanchez quoted Shakespeare’s “Henry V” saying, “He who sheds his blood with me shall be my broth-
er,” in being able to relate to a fellow veteran.
“Combat is brutal, aggressive, de-meaning. Use any word you want,” Sanchez said.
Following the presentation, San-chez shook hands, answered ques-tions and signed copies of his mem-oir, “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story.”
Sociology major Oliver Buck com-pared the points Sanchez touched on with watching stories about them on the news. “When you actually hear it from someone who was there, it’s a lot more interesting,” he said.
Junior Claudia Wigen said San-chez was down to earth and very well spoken. “It’s good that (the school) is bringing people of important po-sitions to students at the university,” she added.
Staff writer Portia Bode contributed to this story.
From Page 1
High-ranking Latino visits campusPhoto By Ron Fu/Daily titan Staff Photographer Photo couRteSy PuBLIc AFFAIRS
Left: Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez smiles as he projects personal photos of himself with family, friends and celebrities during a presentation in the Titan Student Union Thursday, Nov. 5. Some of the slides included Sanchez in everyday tasks like doing laundry, washing dishes or going to church.
Below: During Sanchez’s 33 years of military service he was the commanding officer when former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was found and captured. Sanchez spoke with Hussein through an interpreter.
““ The worst possible decision you can make is to sacrifice family.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Veteran
November 9, 20094 FEATURES
Racks of dresses, coats, shirts, pants and shoes line up in the back of the room. Spools of thread in every color hang on racks along the wall. Measuring tape, pin cushions and strips of fabric cover the tops of work counters.
The costume shop in the Performing Arts Building at Cal State Fullerton is where costumes for all of the university’s produc-tions are created.
Costumes help bring characters to life and establish the mood, set-
ting and locale for perfor-mances.
For the upcoming pro-duction of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which opens Nov. 13, an esti-mated 49 costumes have been collected. Some reused from previous shows, some are original clothing from the 1940s, and others are designed and made completely by hand.
Abel Zeballos, a pro-fessor of theater and design who has taught at several universities and has worked in costume, hair and make-up design for many profes-sional theaters in the area, is the costume designer for “Streetcar.”
He began working on the play almost six months ago.
“I’m one of those designers that it doesn’t
matter what I do; it’s the process that I like,” Zeballos said.
Zeballos said he gets his inspira-tion from the actors themselves, but that most of his ideas come from his conversations with the director, who gives an idea of what concept they want to go with. He said that “Streetcar’s” director is experiment-ing with the set but she wants realis-tic costumes.
“Certainly we want the period look. It’s very important that we do it in the time Tennessee Williams says this is happening,” Zeballos said.
While Zeballos has been coor-dinating with the director for sev-eral months, the process for creating new costumes starts about six to eight weeks before opening night.
The steps for putting together all the costumes for a production are time-consuming.
First, Zeballos figures out how many costumes he needs for the production. This is usually a high number, and because of the fur-loughs and a 20 percent budget cut, the costume staff has fewer hours to maintain a high level of productiv-ity and decided to scale down their workload.
“Streetcar” takes place in New Orleans in the 1940s. Because of the time period, Zeballos was able to re-use several costumes from previous productions. He then rented a few and located several original 1940s garments. He also found some dress-es that he had altered to fit the time period. In the end, Zeballos only had to design and create three gar-ments from start to finish.
After he sketched out his designs for the three outfits, Zeballos went in search of fabric.
He explained that designing and making costumes is all about the details.
Zeballos has to take into consid-eration how fabrics will look under stage lighting. He also has to make sure the costumes match the time period of the play. The fabric choices and styling must have the feel of the 1940s. Several actors will also change onstage, so even the underwear needs to be authentic.
Because of the time period and Blanche’s Southern belle back-ground, Zeballos is using a variety of silks, silk chiffons, silk taffetas and cotton for his fabric choices. Zebal-los said he gets most of his fabrics from the garment district in Los An-geles, where the prices are cheaper and the selections are bigger.
Once they are designed, Zebal-los then turns to his shop manager, Pam Bradley, to put together the outfits.
Bradley, who has been work-ing at CSUF for 19 years, said she loves the technical aspect of sewing. She takes Zeballos’ finished designs and turns them into the finished costumes. Of the three dresses be-ing made from scratch, she is sewing two of them.
Zeballos explained that after she gets his designs, Bradley creates a pattern for the outfit, known as a mock-up, using leftover material
from the shop. After the pattern is finished,
Bradley sews the garment with the chosen fabric. For one of Blanche’s dresses, the pattern consists of white and blue scraps, but the finished product will be a rich, deep red.
Besides his shop manager, Zebal-los relies on other shop assistants
and graduate students to help him complete his projects.
One shop as-sistant is Chel-sea Isaacs, who is working on altering a dress
Zeballos found to make it look like it’s from the 1940s. She graduated from CSUF with a degree in theater acting in 1999 and has been working part time in the shop since 2001.
Isaacs said she enjoys the com-pany of her fellow workers.
“We have a good time,” Isaacs said. “We keep ourselves busy.”
Bradley Lock is another helper, a graduate student and costume stitch-
er who does a lot of alteration work. Lock graduated with his bachelor’s from the University of Southern In-diana and is working on his master’s in costume design.
Lock said he hasn’t decided if he wants to design costumes for theater or movies, but that he often gets his inspiration from the plays themselves.
Besides finishing up the costumes for “Streetcar,” the costume shop is also working on costumes for next week’s dance concert.
Lock laughed when asked how much work they have left to com-plete.
“I don’t even know. A lot,” Lock said. “But we’ll get it done.”
To finish in time for the shows, Zeballos said they will have to start working nights beginning next week.
They took the news well and joked about their workload. The staff said they are optimistic about the finished products.
Isaacs said she thinks the complet-ed costumes for “Streetcar” will look “magnificent” on stage.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” Behind the Curtain: Part 1
By MAureeN FoxDaily Titan Staff [email protected]
Tailor-fitting a period drama
“A Streetcar Named Desire” stars, Brian Rickel (Stanley), left, Bethany Mangum (Blanche) and Molly Stilliens (Stella) wear costumes befitting 1940s New Orleans.
PHoToS By CHAD ueMArA/Daily Titan Staff Photographer
““ It’s the process that I like.
– Abel Zeballos, Designer
OPINIONNovember 9, 2009 5
The attack at Fort Hood, Texas on Nov. 5 was a tragedy and a wake-up call.
The United States government has for too long been lax about fulfilling its responsibility to our ser-vicemen and women.
While veterans do receive benefits, soldiers on ac-tive duty still do not seem to be getting the psychi-atric help they need after experiencing the horrors of war.
Not enough attention is being paid to how the war affects soldiers psychologically while they are in the field.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in the largest number of non-combat related deaths in American military history.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Army reported that there have been five times as many suicides in Iraq than the Gulf War, and the current suicide rate for active duty soldiers is 11 per-cent higher than during the Vietnam War.
The lack of a draft and having an all-vol-unteer military has pre-sented an unfortunate situation in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Many soldiers are forcibly sent back for multiple tours of duty and forced to relive experiences that many of us could never imagine.
There has been a stigma in the military that a sol-dier is weak if they seek psychiatric help, which is an extension of the general American stigma that existed for many years that a person is mentally unstable or psychotic if they seek psychiatric help.
Floyd Meshad, president of the National Veterans Foundation, said in an article for the LA Times, “We have a system that has a catch-22, and it’s time the military faced it. These soldiers would like to see a therapist. But there must be a way where it can be confidential.”
The Real Warriors program, initiated by the De-fense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, states on its Web site: “Campaign combats the stigma associated with seek-ing psychological health care and treatment and en-courages service members to increase their awareness
and use these resources.”The LA Times reported that the Army devoted
$500 million in July to study suicide and mental health issues in military personnel. This is a start.
The Army has started taking these problems seri-ously and has announced that it will begin instructing soldiers in emotional-resilience training in an effort to combat the battles that take place within the minds of the troops.
This is, again, just a start and more needs to be done to ensure that the men and women sent overseas are adequately prepared for what they will see and experience when they arrive in a war zone.
Far too many soldiers are ignoring their own symptoms or do not know how to identify them. In 2008, the Rand Corp., an independent research
group, released a study stating that nearly 20 percent of soldiers re-turning from Iraq and Afghanistan reported having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but only half of those sought treatment.
Now that it has been pointed out, this staggering di-chotomy needs to be dealt with if we
continue to send soldiers to fight for our country.
Our service members deserve better than the treat-ment we have been giving them, and they need to take their own mental health seriously. Many soldiers decline treatment from the military because they are afraid it will appear on their permanent records. There are alternatives for soldiers who fear contempt from within their ranks.
Programs like The Soldier Project offer free, con-fidential psychological treatment to all members of the military service community, including active duty soldiers, reserve soldiers, veterans and their family members.
It’s important that service members know about these programs and are encouraged to take advantage of them without fear of being chastised for seeking help.
If not, more events like the one at Fort Hood are inevitable.
Titan EditorialProviding insight, analysis and perspective since 1960
Our troops deserve better
I was surprisingly calm consider-ing I had never had an HIV test be-fore. I didn’t think I had anything to worry about, but on the drive to get tested, I couldn’t help but wonder.
Since the pandemic was identified in 1981, AIDS has claimed the lives of 25 million people worldwide.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, which attacks the body’s immune system, making an individual more susceptible to opportunistic infec-tions.
Though there are treatments that can slow the course of the disease, there is no known cure for AIDS.
Personally, I’ve never felt better; I’m eating healthier and training for my first marathon. But the fact that I had never had an HIV test before began to weigh on my mind.
I decided to stop by my local “Out of the Closet” to get tested.
“Out of the Closet” is a chain of thrift stores located throughout California that makes it easy to get tested. It is run by the AIDS Health-care Foundation.
As I walked into the store, a young woman named Aurora greeted me. “Are you here to get tested?” she asked. I nodded.
She pointed to a dotted line and asked me to sign on her clipboard.
I followed her to a small room to-ward the back of the store.
That’s So Gay“Out of the closet and into the limelight”
Promoting HIV awarenessby DanIEl baTalla
Daily Titan [email protected]
I was relatively composed when I traveled to the store. I kept telling myself over and over, “There’s noth-ing to worry about. You’ll be fine.”
But sitting in that chair, in that store, being asked a number of ques-tions about my sexual history, I was forced to confront all of the bad de-cisions I had made in the past.
“Are you familiar with how the test works?” Aurora asked. Nervously, I told her I had never been tested.
I was somewhat familiar with the process, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
She went on to tell me about the three-inch needle that would be stuck into my arm.
I don’t remember the last time I felt such a sense of panic come over me. My entire body went numb.
Not only was I worried about the test results, but I was apparently go-ing to have to face my bloodcurdling fear of needles.
She must have seen the look of terror on my face, because almost immediately she confessed, “I’m just kidding.” Great! I was being tested by a comedian.
It turned out the process would consist of simply rubbing the inside of my mouth with a cotton swab. That I could handle.
In the past I’ve made it a point to practice safe sex. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t risks when you dive under the covers with someone.
In middle school, we were taught that unprotected sex can lead to
a number of ailments – including gonorrhea, herpes, syphilis, HIV and AIDS. I recalled those lectures. I pictured the slides my seventh grade teacher projected onto the wall of disease-ridden sexual organs.
As I waited for the test results, Aurora and I chatted. She asked me questions about my sexual ex-periences, why I chose to get tested and whether I felt I had anything to worry about.
I told her I just wanted to make sure everything was OK.
She continued by informing me of the accuracy of the test.
“Just to let you know, this test is 99.9 percent accurate,” she said. “But the most accurate results come from being tested six months after your last sexual encounter.”
I assured her that if this was the case, then my results would be ex-tremely accurate.
After 20 minutes of conversation. she asked me if I had any other ques-tions before she read me my results.
I told her “no.”“Your test results came back nega-
tive,” she said with a smile.I wanted to hug her but opted
for a handshake and a “thank you” instead.
As I left the back office and made my way through the racks of vintage clothing, Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” began to play on the overhead speakers.
I couldn’t help but think, “Yeah, it is pretty wonderful.”
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in the largest number of non-combat related deaths in American military history. “
“
Articles written for the Daily Titan by columnists, other Cal State Fullerton students or guests do not necessarily reflect the view of the Daily Titan or Daily Titan Editorial Board. Only the editorials are representative of the views of the Daily Titan Editorial Board.
FOR THE RECORD
Deportations force families apartFor many of us, the idea of sepa-
rating from our family is devastating, but when there is a deportation no-tice at the door, familial separation becomes real.
I have never personally been af-fected by deportation, but for 10 years of my life I was separated from my older sister. This separation was hardest for my mother. She would make calls to El Salvador almost ev-ery day, and I would see her cry at the end of each conversation.
When I finally met my sister, I understood why my mother cried. We were separated for a decade, and we knew nothing about each other.
We were separated because she was not a legal citizen.
When I see families being divided because of deportation, I can only imagine how hard it must be for them.
I have seen Immigration and
Customs Enforcement on the news arresting immigrants, and I imme-diately start thinking about their wives, husbands and children who have just been separated from their loved ones.
Most of the people who are being deported have not even committed a major crime. Seventy-two percent of deportees have been charged for non-violent crimes between 1997 and 2007, according to the Hu-man Rights Watch “Forced Apart” report.
Families are the main victims in this situation. They are being sepa-rated and literally left to somehow accept the situation for what it is.
Children are being torn from their parents’ care. Their parents are then put into a devastating situation.
They either choose to remain sep-arated and find a way to somehow support their families with a much lower income or join them in their native countries so they can stay to-gether.
Their situation goes from bad
to worse. Many immigrants have worked for years developing and maintaining their families only to have the obstacles increase.
Immigrants have established their lives here. They work hard, and they support their families like any other American. They come to America to avoid the hardships of their native lands, like starvation, low income and sometimes persecution.
My parents escaped a civil war in El Salvador; they worked hard, became legal residents and are now living their version of the American Dream.
I could never imagine the devasta-tion of being separated from them.
Immigrants want to experience freedom, and they want a chance to prosper because these are opportuni-ties that are not available in their na-tive countries.
It is hard to come to a new coun-try and adapt to a completely dif-ferent set of ideals and customs, but immigrants come with determina-tion and find a way to cope with
their new surroundings. It is not an easy life, but they strive every day to make it work.
I have met many people in my community who have faced the re-alities of immigration. Some of my closest friends are immigrants; they are cautious of their actions and real-ize that these obstacles have become part of their lives.
Like many, my friends have lived in the U.S. for many years, but they face the reality that they are living in a country where not everyone wel-comes them.
Deportations seem like an easy solution to many of the problems our nation faces, primarily when it comes to a financial crisis. However, we should acknowledge that immi-grants are no different than perma-nent residents.
When we see immigrants that are being deported, we need to think about that person not as a criminal, but as a member of a family, because ultimately, the institution of family is the true victim.
By Jamie iGleSiaSDaily Titan Staff [email protected]
Letters to the EditorRe: The Devil’s Advocate: “Should activist groups rely on the use of graph-
ic images to convey their message?”Dear Editor,It was interesting to read Iglesias’ and Paiz’s thoughts on this important
issue. Some are quick to criticize PETA’s tactics but fail to acknowledge the victories that have been won for animals as a result. In PETA’s nearly 30 years, we have stopped car companies like General Motors from using live animals in crash tests, convinced retailers from Tommy Hilfiger to Forever 21 to ban fur from their lines, and achieved countless other successes that have spared millions of animals from a lifetime of abuse.
PETA’s purpose is to stop animal suffering, and we use all available op-portunities to reach millions of people with powerful messages. We have found that people pay more attention to our more outlandish actions, and we consider the public’s attention to be extremely important. Part of our job is to grab people’s attention and initiate discussion, debate, questioning of the status quo, and of course, action. The situation is critical for billions of animals, and our goal is to make the public think about the issues.
We often use stunts and controversial ad campaigns to get the word out about animal abuse, because sadly, the media usually do not consider the facts alone “interesting” enough to cover. Colorful and controversial gim-micks, on the other hand, consistently grab headlines, bringing the animal rights message to audiences around the country and, often, the world.
Thankfully, as a result of efforts by compassionate people around the world, it’s never been easier to cut cruelty out of our lives.
Sincerely,Ryan HulingCollege Campaign Coordinator, peta2.com
Re: Alien in America: “Everything’s better in Texas”First of all, I hope that your stereotypical article is satire or some kind of
joke since it is not only offending two states and many races but also giving a false illustration of life in California, Texas and the United States.
Secondly, you contradict yourself, thus, losing credibility. You state that you hate accents in America, yet later in your piece you state that you love the Texan accent, but isn’t that an American accent? You state that California is the only state that has fattening food, and people just wanted to get laid. Here’s a news flash: that is mostly everywhere in America unless you live on a farm.
Thirdly, you state that in Texas they are more polite and (that they) mean it. That can easily be explained by the way their culture is formed where they sound polite, but do not mean it. If that were the case, you can say the same about the British.
Fourthly, you state that California fashion is mostly boardshorts and wife beaters, not considering that California is one of the few states that has the most diversity not only ethnically, but also in trends, fashion and fads.
Lastly, you mention how in Texas they are not fond of Asians, well to be honest, it’s most nationalities, not just Asians. Then you move on to state that speech, customs, and how to blend into Texas, in this you stereotype Texans as drunken rednecks who love football and women who dress skanky.
Also, I believe there are many devoted football fans around America not just in Texas and plenty of drunkards everywhere around the world. Texas does have its unique style and deserves to be seen as its own, but California has its perks too.
Sincerely,Miguel Moreira
SportS November 9, 20096
Volleyball continues Big West winning streak By nicholas fortes
Daily Titan Staff [email protected]
The Cal State Fullerton women’s volleyball team had four players set season highs in kills and combined for 146 kills in two games this week-end, extending their winning streak to three and doing what they need to do to stay in the hunt for the confer-ence tournament, beating UC Davis Friday night and University of the pacific Saturday night.
“It’s out of our hands at this point,” said assistant coach, Vinh Nguyen. “our loss to (Cal State Northridge) is hurting us, but we’re taking it one game at a time.”
The titans opened the weekend with a 3-1 upset over conference leader UC Davis (25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 28-26) with strong performances from mostly everyone on the court,
The Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer team ended the season with a comfortable victory 2-0 against the visiting Highlanders of UC riverside Saturday night at titan Stadium.
The titans struck first in the first half when redshirt freshman mid-fielder oscar Aguero scored on a perfect pass from senior midfielder Jamall Farquharson. CSUF sealed the victory with 10 minutes left in the game when sophomore defender oscar Medina scored his first goal of the season on a pass from senior midfielder Shay Spitz.
“It felt good to score since I haven’t played that much this sea-son,” Medina said.
Medina also added that it was good to get some playing time in the game on Senior Night.
“It’s a great feeling to get the se-niors on the team a victory tonight on their last game of the season,” Medina said.
After the first half of the game, both teams had opportunities to score, but the titans were the only team to convert in the half.
The titans had an early scoring opportunity in the 14th minute when they had a corner kick and it came off the rebound to Aguero, whose shot went over the crossbar.
Three minutes later in the 17th minute, sophomore midfielder Mi-chael Denny ended up with the ball and took a shot about 20 yards out against Highlanders redshirt fresh-man goalkeeper Cody Suppe. The ball hit the right post and came out as Suppe tried to save the shot.
The Highlanders had many chances to score. one was in the 29th minute when they got into titans territory and sophomore for-ward Michael Vega passed the ball to freshman midfielder Chris Smith who took the shot but was denied by titan sophomore goalkeeper trevor Whiddon.
Their other opportunity was in the 38th minute when they got a di-rect free kick about 20 yards out but
were unable to convert as the shot went wide of the net.
The titans struck first in the 32nd minute of the match.
A titan midfielder played a ball to Farquharson who dribbled the ball into the box, crossed the ball and found redshirt midfielder Ague-ro wide open on the other side. He shot the ball into the left post, giving the titans the lead in the first half.
This was Aguero’s fourth goal of the season and gave the titans a lead a few minutes into the match.
In the second half of the game, the Highlanders came out aggres-sive, putting pressure on the titans, and they had numerous opportuni-ties to score but were unable to con-vert.
The closest opportunities the Highlanders had came when senior midfielder robert Cate timed a cross but was unable to convert. He was able to in a scramble in the box and come out with the ball but was denied by Whiddon.
The titans had a few opportuni-ties in the second half in the 80th
minute when Spitz took a shot in-side the 18-yard box, and the ball ricocheted off the crossbar and then off the rebound; a titan player took a shot, and it went over the cross-bar.
The titans finally were able to convert in the 83rd minute when Spitz gave a pass to Medina who turned and fired a shot to the right post to seal the victory for the team.
Whiddon posted his second shut-out of the season and had three saves in the game. “It felt very good to go out with a bang and a victory; (I’m) happy how the team played tonight,” Whiddon said.
titan Head Coach Bob Ammann said after the game, “It feels very good getting a win for the seniors tonight at titan Stadium.”
Ammann also added that getting a shutout was good. In addition, they’ll have two years with the play-ers to work hard and try to improve next season.
The titans ended the season with a record of (8-9-2) overall and (4-5-1) in the Big West Conference.
Senior midfielder Shay Spitz tries to move the ball up the field against a UC Riverside Highlander defender on Saturday at Titan Stadium in their last game of the season.
photo By chad uemera/daily titan staff photographer
smashing 70 team kills. Three titans had 14 kills or more
and five finished with double digits in digs.
“The Davis win was big for us. The UCLA win was so long ago, and the girls started to forget that feeling so it was big,” Nguyen said.
Junior outside hitter Erin Saddler (23 kills, 14 digs) and sophomore setter Andrea ragan (51 assists, 15 digs) each earned double-doubles as the titans out-hit the Aggies .204 to .142 and dug out 93 kill attempts from the potent Aggies offense.
Junior libero Cami Croteau led the team with 28 digs.
Freshman middle blocker Kayla Neto finished the night with 19 kills, hitting .400 on the night help-ing to end UC Davis’ six match win-ning streak.
The titans jumped to an early 2-0 advantage, but the titans seemed to
stop hitting the ball the right way in the third set as they made 11 hitting errors, and the Aggies were able to take the third set 25-21.
In the fourth set, the Aggies (18-9, 9-4) went on a late 3-0 run to take the lead 23-21 but couldn’t fight off the titan attack as the titans took the fourth set 28-26 and the match 3-1.
The titans returned to the court Saturday night and took the game into the fifth set for only the fourth time this season, taking the win over pacific (19-25, 25-14, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12).
“I’d rather not have a fifth set, but if it means getting the victory, you have to do what you have to do,” said Head Coach Carolyn Zimmer-man. “I thought tonight was a little unusual in the gym. We were a little bit flat; we certainly weren’t the same team as last night, but it’s tough to
do that back-to-back nights.”The titans dropped the first set to
the tigers 19-25 but came out in the second on fire.
The set stayed close for most of the start until Neto took the service at 10-9, and the titans went on a 7-2 run, scoring five straight at one point.
Neto led the titans with 22 kills, hitting .562 on the night. torrie Brown (20 kills) and Saddler (19 kills) were the other titans in double digits and with a total of 95 team digs, the second chances paid off.
The titans continued to roll as they cruised to an easy 25-14 win in the second set to tie the game at 1-1.
The third set was the closest of the match with both teams not able to surmount any kind of momentum to gain a sizable advantage.
The titans saw themselves down
Sophomore outside hitter Torrie Brown records a kill against University of the Pacific.photo By ron fu/daily titan staff photographer
23-21 in the closing moments of the set until they were able to go on a 3-0 run to take the set in a morale boosting fashion 25-23.
The tigers (16-9, 6-7) came out quick in the fourth set and kept their lead, although small, for most of the set.
MULTIMEDIAFor full story and video high-
lights, log onto Dailytitan.com/2009/11/vball110709
By cesar GonzalezDaily Titan Staff Wrtier
Men’s soccer ends season with a home victory against UC Riverside
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November 9, 20098 SPORTS
It was 8 a.m. and Cal State Ful-lerton’s paintball club was warming up with their guns before hosting and participating in the year’s first National Collegiate Paintball As-sociation Tournament, the biggest collegiate paintball tournament on the West Coast to date.
Excitement was in the air at the CSUF paintball team’s tent as roughly 20 students suited up, donned their masks and calibrated their guns to the rules-stipulated settings.
The compressed-air tanks at-tached to the backs of their guns must only blast enough air to pro-pel the paint balls at safe velocities.
Although the team is a young one – it was started only two years ago – they have proven to be com-
CSUF paintball finishes fourth in NCPA TournamentBy DAmoN LowNey
Daily Titan Asst. News [email protected]
A member of the CSUF paintball team attempts to get a good shot at his opponents at Action Star Games in Bloomington, Calif.
PhoTo By ShrUTi PATeL/Daily Titan Photo editor
The CSUF blue team scrambles to shoot as paintball shots are fired in their direction on Saturday at the NCPA Tournament.PhoTo CoUrTeSy KAreN wooDrUFF
petitive. The only two West Coast teams to attend nationals were Cal State Long Beach and CSUF.
CSULB snatched second place and CSUF “took third place in na-tionals out of 54 teams,” said CSUF player Jason Thach.
Many people might know paint-ball as a sport or game played in various environments with different geographical features, but the sport played by professionals and colleges usually takes place on a field with a turf or grass surface.
At this tournament, the arena was set in a barren field and sur-rounded by black netting used to protect spectators from stray paint-balls.
The field is covered with soft, air-filled bunkers for players to use as cover.
Teams start each round from two barrels placed on each side of the field.
When the referee yells, “Go!” players dash to the nearest bunker trying to avoid whizzing paint-balls.
Each game is capped at five min-utes, but rounds rarely last that long.
“This is college center flag; there are points for each man alive; there are points for each man killed,” said Randy Lay, an assistant at the event.
If the flag in the middle is cap-tured – called a flag-pull – teams get points, and they get even more if the flag is placed on the opposing team’s barrel.
“We have a good chance (of winning),” said Michael Wilson, a CSUF sophomore, a few rounds into the tournament. “Our teams have good players. Our players are smart.”
Throughout each round they played, the Titans were shouting to communicate with each other, an integral part of succeeding in paintball while other teams that didn’t communicate, friendly and opposing player positions, didn’t fare so well.
Teamwork is the hardest aspect of paintball, and it takes a while to learn, said Kent Marcume, a fresh-man playing on the veteran CSUF blue team.
Good paintball teams have play-ers who are able to read each other’s moves.
Marcume said that if you have two good players on a team, it doesn’t mean anything if the team doesn’t work together as a whole.
The competition was intense, and the points separating the top teams were few by the time teams were playing the last rounds lead-ing to the semifinals.
During the last set of preliminary rounds, there were no more than 15 points separating the CSUF blue team and the CSULB gold team, both were battling it out to make the bottom slot in the finals.
“I’ve never seen a tournament this close where things change point-by-point,” said Jacob Dava-los, a player on the CSUF blue team.
The CSULB gold team ended up with 518 points by the end of
the preliminary rounds, with the CSUF blue team coming up short with 514 points.
The CSUF orange team made it to the finals but lost to Cal Poly Pomona in its last round, plac-ing fourth in the tournament.
CSUF’s three teams – the veter-an blue team, the orange team and the new white team – scored plenty of points and placed well in the competi-tion.
The orange team made it the furthest at fourth place out of 11 teams while the blue team placed fifth and the white team placed seventh.
“It’s the first tournament of the season,” Marcume said. “We have a
fairly new group of guys,” he said, but the general consensus among the CSUF teams was that they did well for only having one practice with the whole team.
Y v o n n e Truong, captain of the CSUF white team, said that considering the lack of prac-tice with a whole team, placing seventh was OK.
In addition, the white team made improve-ments in its communication skills.
Marcume felt that the blue team didn’t do enough “laning” at the start of each round, which is when players fire between bunkers called lanes before the opposing team has a chance to run from the starting
barrel to the protection of the near-est bunker.
On the bright side, he said that his team had some good games and he “shot three or four guys (during) a couple games.”
Jeramie Costales, a player for the CSUF orange team, said he felt that his team had good teamwork, but to make it further than fourth place the players would have to work on communicating with each other.
“This sport doesn’t compare to anything,” said Kerrigan Colwell, CSUF’s coach. It’s the camaraderie that sets the sport apart from oth-ers. You have to cover your team-mates’ backs, he added.
“What I like about paintball is the kids who make up the sport,” said Karen Woodruff, ASG’s own-er. It teaches the players camarade-rie and teaches them how to move toward a shared goal. “(The sport) can bring out the best in them,” she said.
“
“It’s the camarade-rie that sets the sport apart from others. You have to cover your teammates’ backs.
– Kerrigan Colwell, CSUF paintball coach
