The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team will take on Texas Southern Uni-versity Sunday at 2 p.m. in Titan Gym. It’s time for the Titans to regroup and rees-tablish their identity with de-fense, toughness and deter-mination through what Head Coach Dedrique Taylor calls “Titan City.”

The Titans (3-7) are look-ing to change their struggling ways at home. They lost three in a row at Titan Gym, most recently a 74-65 defeat against Seattle University, where Tay-

lor was displeased with the Ti-tans’ effort.

The 2013-14 season has been up and down for the Ti-tans as they approach the final games of non-conference play.

Senior guard Michael Wil-liams has stepped up and taken over scoring for the Titans ever since junior guard Alex Harris missed four games with an an-kle injury. Williams is leading the Titans with 14.6 points per game and playing a team-high 32.4 minutes per game. Wil-liams flourishes with his ball handling skills and is great at finding the lanes with dribble penetration. Williams will need to get to the basket and provide easier scoring for the Titans and improve his 40.3 total field-goal percentage.

In February, Cal State Fullerton paid the Orange County Register $275,000 to publish a weekly, six-page “feature-oriented editorial package.”

The purpose of the CSUF section is to tell “the story of impact and importance of CSUF in the greater Orange County market,” according to the contract between CSUF and the Register.

Each issue of the print edi-tion carries a disclosure in the masthead of the paper reading:

“The Cal State Fullerton

community section is con-ceived and produced by the news staff of the Orange County Register for the ben-efit of its subscribers. While the university is the section’s primary advertising sponsor, all editorial decisions are in-dependent of the university’s control.”

However, emails obtained by the Daily Titan have re-vealed that the university section may not be as free of inf luence from CSUF as the disclosure leads readers to believe.

“Cal State Fullerton is pay-ing for ads that appear in the section—nothing more,” said Cal State Fullerton’s Senior Communications Officer, Paula Selleck.

Selleck said the university is not dictating the content of the section, but “if we were dictat-ing the content of that section we would indeed be paying for coverage,” Selleck said.

But according to an email obtained by the Daily Titan, Selleck has attempted, on behalf of CSUF, to exercise some editorial control over what gets published in the university section.

In an email she sent to Diane Witmer, Ph.D., chair of the Communications De-partment, Selleck was assist-ing a Register reporter on a then-developing story “in a way that won’t adversely af-fect the university.”

Volume 94, Issue 53 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013 dailytitan.com

VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COMFOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITAN

NEWS 3Teach For America receives heavy criticism

OPINION 4Ethnic studies courses are being cut throughout CSUs at the expense of students

FEATURES 6How to Deal: Finals week and the stress that comes with it.INSIDE?

WHAT’S

Directing the message

KELLYTHOMASDAY 7

MATTHEW MEDINADaily Titan

Prosecutors in the trial of two former Fullerton police of-ficers who are accused of caus-ing homeless resident Kelly Thomas’ death in 2011 rested their case Wednesday, accord-ing to radio station KPCC.

The prosecution, led by Or-ange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, called on numerous experts and others involved in Thomas’ violent altercation with six officers at the Fullerton Transportation Center on July 5, 2011.

“The people rested their case in the Ramos and Cicinelli trial for the murder of Kelly Thom-as,” Rackauckas announced on his Twitter account.

Former officer Manuel Ra-mos has been charged with second-degree murder and in-voluntary manslaughter, and former Cpl. Jay Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary man-slaughter and use of excessive force.

Cutting ethnic studies

NEWS | EDUCATION

SPORTS | MEN’S BASKETBALL

Despite the cut of ethnic studies across the CSU, CSUF remains positive

MAGDALENA GUILLENDaily Titan

SEE REGISTER, 2

SEE TRIAL, 2

Titans looking to maul TigersMen’s basketball seek momentum going into their Big West schedule

ABRAHAM JAUREGUIDaily Titan

In August, the California Faculty Association’s (CFA) Council for Affirmative Ac-tion and Board of Directors sent out a letter to all Cali-fornia State University presi-dents urging them to support ethnic studies in the CSU.

This letter was in response to the increasing concern across some CSU campuses and their attempts in becom-ing a more “efficient” campus budget-wise by consolidating or cutting ethnic studies pro-grams or departments.

At San Jose State, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Long Beach, initiatives of dis-mantling or merging of ethnic studies programs and depart-ments into larger ones have either started or are being considered.

In an interview with Presi-dent Mildred García in Octo-ber, her reaction to the letter was one of surprise.

“I was surprised by the let-ter, quite frankly, because we are supporting our ethnic studies programs here,” Gar-cía said. “We’re very strong supporters; there’s no discus-sion at all regarding anything that was mentioned in the let-ter.”

While García is a strong supporter of ethnic stud-ies, she champions being all-around culturally competent.

EDITORIALCampuswide smoking ban

a smoldering mess

The team huddles around coach Dedrique Taylor during a timeout.ROBERT HUSKEY / For the Daily Titan

Passing a campuswide smoking ban and elim-inating smoking on campus are two entirely dif-ferent things. While one is an aspiration, the oth-er is a challenge in which its execution can define the success and credibility of administrators, and the university they seek to represent, for years.

Interviews with administration insiders sug-gest that the policy has generally resulted in a decrease in smoking. Comments from faculty, students and staff point to a picture less rosy, one in which perpetrators understand that their fla-grant violations of policy will be rewarded with nothing less than getting away with it.

A closer examination of Presidential Directive 18 is needed to understand how a policy which made Cal State Fullerton the first school among California State University institutions to ban smoking on campus became another example of bureaucratic obfuscation and waste.

Three semesters ago, before the Academic Senate had voted on the smoking ban resolution, former interim President Willie Hagan said “en-forcement will be a critical part of this action in the future.” And Hagan meant it.

On June 6, 2012, Hagan signed Directive 18, which among other things had an accountabil-ity clause that read: “faculty, staff and students violating this policy are subject to disciplinary action pursuant to the applicable collective bar-gaining agreement and/or administrative poli-cies or procedures.”

Though the original directive does not elabo-rate on what “administrative policies or proce-dures” meant, the revised accountability clause signed by President Mildred García a week be-fore the campuswide ban went into effect ap-

pears to be even more toothless. “The success of this policy depends on the

thoughtfulness, civility and cooperation of all members of the campus community, including visitors, the clause says.

Compliance is grounded in an informed and educated campus community. Incidents related to this policy will be addressed through appli-cable administrative policies.”

Not mentioned in either version of the presi-dential directive is the smoking ban task force, a committee created by the Academic Senate resolution to educate and support students and faculty in the process of transitioning to a total ban on campus.

May Wong, chair of the smoking ban task force, and Curtis Plotkin, director of Environ-mental Health and Safety, maintain that the smoking ban policy had come “in tact,” and said it was not possible for the task force to suggest changes.

However, a representative from Associated Students Inc. said repeatedly there were “con-stant amendments” to the policy and the com-mittee had gone through “several drafts” of the smoking ban.

The conflicting accounts of the discussions taking place at task force meetings underscores the lack of clarity and understanding among the people most responsible for implementing the policy itself.

More concerning is the disputed role unions played in the implementation and revision of Directive 18.

SEE SMOKING, 4 SEE ETHNIC STUDIES, 3

SEE BASKETBALL, 8

ANDRES GARCIADaily Titan

Emails show editorial influence from CSUF on OC Register special sections

Photo Illustration by MARIAH CARRILLO / Daily Titan

Romeo Torres delivers Cal State Fullerton special editions every Wednesday.YVETTE QUINTERO / Daily Titan

Defense attorneys are sched-uled to begin making their case Thursday that although the of-ficers did beat Thomas, they did so because Thomas was being overly combative and aggres-sive, and their actions were not the primary cause of his death.

Dr. Michael Lekawa, trauma chief at UC Irvine Medical Cen-ter, treated Thomas on the night of the incident. He said Thomas was in a comatose state by the time he reached the hospital for treatment.

“Seemingly a reasonably young, healthy guy was being restrained and said he couldn’t breathe,” Lekawa said. “He is speaking in sentences, then sin-gle words, then garbled speech. Ultimately, he’s not speaking at all.”

Dr. Aruna Singhania, a pa-thologist from the Orange County Coroner’s Office, per-formed Thomas’ autopsy. She told the court that Thomas died due to a lack of oxygen reaching

his brain. The insufficient oxy-gen resulted from the wounds that the officers inflicted upon his head, neck and chest, Sing-hania said.

Surveillance footage from cameras at the Fullerton Trans-portation Center, as well as routine police audio recordings of the incident, complicated matters for defense attorneys. Ramos, who was the first to respond to the complaint that Thomas was trying to break into cars at the center, can be heard saying “See my fists? They’re getting ready to f*** you up.”

Former FBI agent John Wil-son, called by the prosecution, told Rackauckas that Ramos was “antagonistic and mocking” in the way that he approached Thomas, and that made it less likely that he would have been able to calm him down and end the conflict peacefully.

“It would significantly in-crease the danger for the next move and increased the hostile environment,” Wilson said re-garding Ramos’ remarks.

Rackauckas then asked Wil-

son what he thought about how law enforcement should handle homeless individuals and peo-ple with mental health prob-lems, but defense attorney John Barnett, representing Ramos, objected.

Barnett said Wilson was not called upon as an expert re-garding the homeless. Judge William Froeberg sustained that objection.

Cicinelli’s attorney, Michael Schwartz, stressed during his cross examination of Wilson that the FBI veteran had only testified specifically as an ex-pert on use of force in one previ-ous case about three years ago. Rackauckas later responded by pointing out that Wilson had a long history of training others in the proper use of force, even if he was not specifically an ex-pert on the subject in previous legal cases.

Defense attorneys focused on Thomas’ health problems prior to his altercation with police, saying his death was primarily the result of an enlarged heart brought on by past drug abuse. During a cross examination

session with Lekawa Tuesday, Barnett made note of Thomas’ ability to breathe while officers restrained him. Lekawa agreed that Thomas could breathe enough to speak, but said the amount of air he was inhaling

was insufficient.Michael Schwartz, who rep-

resents Cicinelli, planned to bring in medical experts to make the case that Thomas died as a result of past injuries and not his confrontation with

officers, according to KPCC.A third officer involved in

the incident, Joseph Wolfe, will be tried for involuntary man-slaughter at a later date.

Nereida Moreno contributed to this report.

FOR THE RECORDIt is Daily Titan policy to correct factual errors printed in the publication. Corrections will be published on the subsequent issue after an error is discovered and will appear on page 2. Errors on the Opinion page will be corrected on that page. Corrections will also be made to the online version of the article. Please contact Editor-in-Chief Yvette Quintero at (657) 278 5815 or at editorinchief@dailytitan.com 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, Inc. College of Communications, CSUF administration and the CSU. The Daily Titan has functioned as a public forum since inception. Unless implied by the adver-tising party or otherwise stated, advertising in the Daily Titan is inserted by com-mercial 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 commercial enterprises. The Daily Titan allocates one issue to each student for free.

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YVETTE QUINTERO / Daily Titan

The courtroom reviews evidence images of a bloodstained Taser Fullerton police officers used on Kelly Thomas.Courtesy of Orange County Register

The reporter sent a mass email to professors asking for “funny and creative excuses” that students have told their professors about why they did not complete assignments. The reporter asked for examples of students trying to get “sympa-thy, remorse or a free pass.”

“Our strategy is to help collect examples that tell the story in the way we’d like to see it told, if the feature or package is to move forward,” Selleck said. “As you can imagine, we’re not in-terested in forwarding examples that portray students as lazy or liars or worse … ”

Selleck also asked Witmer if she could approach “friendlies” on behalf of media relations who might be willing to work on it.

“Rather than referring the re-porter to selected faculty mem-bers, we’d prefer the examples be sent to our office, so we can screen them and/or work with faculty members to craft a few lines of description to do the deed,” Selleck said.

The story, titled “Cal State Fullerton professors share com-mon excuses,” was ultimately published.

A report by Jeff Sonderman and Millie Tran of the Ameri-can Press Institute—a Virginia-based nonprofit—defines spon-sored content to be “content that takes the same form and quali-ties of a publisher’s original con-tent” and “usually serves useful or entertaining information as a way of favorably influencing the perception of the sponsor brand.”

According to a March 12 news release from the Register, “The university sections will mirror the design, graphics and sto-rytelling style seen in the Reg-ister’s community newspaper portfolio.”

Sonderman sees two main issues that sponsored content must face regarding credibility.

The first is to make sure it is clear to the readers the extent of the university’s involvement in the sponsored section.

“I believe sponsored content disclosures should tell read-ers not only that the content is sponsored, but should also be specific about what that means,” Sonderman said. “Exactly what influence and involvement does the sponsor have in shaping the content?”

Sonderman raised concerns about whether or not the Reg-ister would hold sponsored con-tent to the same standards as its normal content.

“Is it produced by the same news staff, or a different one? All those levels of detail help a reader truly understand what they’re getting here,” he said.

The second credibility factor Sonderman sees is whether the

Register’s “news coverage of the university could be restrained or prejudiced by the fact that the university is now a business partner.”

This is a general point of con-cern with any advertiser who is also a news subject or source.

“But in this case, it’s worth noting especially,” Sonderman said.

Sonderman questioned whether Register reporters or editors will feel differently now about covering a potential front-page hard news story about the university “while other staffers are being paid to write positive stories in a special section inside the paper.”

“One would hope not, but the potential for that must be acknowledged and dealt with,” Sonderman said.

The service order specifies that CSUF agrees to be the main sponsor for the half-page broadsheet advertisement in ev-ery weekly section.

According to the contract be-tween the Register and CSUF, the $275,000 paid for 12 months of a “weekly 6-page Broadsheet Insertion for county-wide dis-tribution.”

The Register also launched university sections at UC Irvine and Chapman University.

The money to fund the CSUF section came from revenue de-rived from special funds “such as parking and housing, as well as revenue from the university’s auxiliaries, which are pooled into an account used for uni-versity administrative costs,” Cal State Fullerton Chief Com-munications Officer Jeffrey D. Cook said.

A stipulation in the service order states that the university is to “actively collaborate with OCR (the Register) on story ideas, student and college de-partmental relationship facili-tation and public information office cooperation.”

“So however they might parse the words of what they think they’re paying for, they are basi-cally writing a check that results in a weekly special section of news that they are involved in shaping and that exists only be-cause of this agreement,” Son-derman said.

“That’s clearly different than just buying a half-page ad in the normal newspaper sections.”

While the Register is sup-posed to maintain editorial control, university section edi-tor Thomas Martinez has some-times asked Selleck to decide which column to run.

In one email exchange, Mar-tinez asked Selleck to rewrite a sentence in President Mildred García’s first “Titan Voices” col-umn.

“Could you rewrite the first part of this sentence to make it easier to understand?” Martinez asked.

The sentence Selleck suggest-

ed was ultimately published.The collaboration between

the university and the Register includes Register writers pitch-ing story ideas to the university, the university pitching story ideas and column ideas to the writers and coordinating on when certain content, such as columns, is published.

“I think any arrangement where a university or other en-tity pays the paper to create a special about the university and influences the story selection and perhaps even the wording is a breach of editorial integrity and independence,” said Thom-as Clanin, a communications professor who teaches Media Ethics.

Clanin said he was unsure of the benefits the university would gain from the special sec-tion, other than increasing their brand awareness.

“The Daily Titan this week had a good story on the ‘D’ rat-ing at the Gastronome, do you

really think that would be ap-pearing in the Register’s Cal State Fullerton’s section?” he said. “I don’t think so.”

The contract between CSUF and the Register outlines eight points that the Register agrees to and two that CSUF agrees to.

The agreements include, in addition to those previously mentioned, that the university sections employ a dedicated editorial staff to produce the weekly sections and work with student journalists “where ap-propriate.”

The Register did contact the Daily Titan during the spring 2013 semester regarding col-laboration. The Daily Titan responded, but the Register has not contacted the staff further.

However, students who are not affiliated with the Daily Titan have had stories pub-lished.

Samuel Mountjoy and Nereida Moreno contributed to this report.

NEWS DECEMBER 12, 2013THURSDAY

PAGE 2THE DAILY TITAN

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITANVISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM/NEWS

REGISTERContinued from PAGE 1

TRIALContinued from PAGE 1

“(What is) important for me is that we are culturally com-petent across … ethnic stud-ies is very important for those people that come for those groups, because you learn your history and you learn your cul-ture, but it’s also extremely im-portant that you learn about others,” García said. “And so ethnic studies is important for all students to learn across all cultures.”

Unlike CSULB, where the Department of Africana Stud-ies is in danger, CSUF has hired two African-American faculty members to ensure CSUF’s cultural centers receive proper attention.

CSULB asked Chancellor Timothy P. White for a two-year moratorium—delaying further action until an assess-ment can be done.

Students and staff statewide have staged protests, talks and even mock funerals mourning the loss of these studies.

According to the Spartan Daily, San Jose State’s student newspaper, students set up a coffin with tombstones to rep-resent the lack of ethnic studies courses at San Jose State dur-ing an event celebration.

“Everything is fine over here (CSUF), not a problem at the moment,” said Mahamood Hassan, president of CSUF’s CFA chapter.

Eliza Noh, Ph.D., associate professor of Asian American studies, disagrees with cutting ethnic studies in the CSU.

“I think it is a very bad idea. We are (a) state school and state schools should serve the student population,” she said. “The state is racially and eth-nically diverse. We are moving into a more globalized society. It is a very short sighted move in the way of saving money or cutting the budget. (It is) not going to save (money) in the long term.”

CFA also said ethnic depart-ments supplement academic support services in the CSU by providing models, advisers and also fulfilling the general edu-cational requirements.

CFA said these departments provide vital links to the di-verse communities the CSU serves.

In accordance to the univer-sity’s strategic plan, Noh said ethnic studies help attain those high-impact practice goals.

High-impact practices is stu-dent engagement, where student learning goes beyond the class-room, applying to their personal, work and academic lives.

“One of the strategic goals of the university is to incorporate high impact practices into stu-dent learning. That is exactly what ethnic studies does,” Noh said. “Things like experiential learning, student research, col-laborative work, and commu-nity engagement have always been part of the ethnic studies curriculum.”

But due to budget cuts from 2008, ethnic studies depart-ments have faced many obstacles.

“2008 has been very diffi-cult. It has taken quite a toll on our program in terms of the pressure to cutback. Also, we have to reach target in terms of enrollment,” Noh said. “So, be-cause of the pressure to reach (the) target we have to offer courses that enroll high.”

She said it is difficult to devel-

op new types of courses because when a program or department first offers a new course, enroll-ment tends to be low.

“So it is difficult during that period to offer new classes be-cause the pressure is to offer courses that enroll high so that we can reach target,” Noh said.

Retention among students and staff is also another issue ethnic studies faces.

“In ethnic studies we do have problems with retention. In terms of retaining high qual-ity faculty, I think one of ... the consequences of the budgetary issues was people would go to other campuses which would offer them more resources,” Noh said.

But García remains positive.“There are no conversations

at all. First of all, let me begin by saying a president does not get involved in those conversa-tions. Those are faculty issues. But there are no discussions at all that I know of, because we see our ethnic studies depart-ments as very critical to the learning of all students, and I think we have to underscore all

students.”Noh said she thinks García

understands the value of study in multiculturalism, race, and ethnicity to a global society.

“The president has been vo-cal about her support for eth-nic studies. So, I assume that

because she is vocal and that she is committed to supporting ethnic studies on campus—I think she does understand the value of the study of multicul-turalism, race and ethnicity to a global society. I’m optimis-tic,” Noh said.

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NASA discovered a cooling problem on the International Space Station on Wednesday, prompting them to scale back on operations, ac-cording to CNN.

One of two external cooling pumps failed after hitting a tempera-ture limit that caused the malfunction.

NASA said they tried to get the cooling loop working again and said the station and crew were never in danger.

NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said the loop was producing too much ammonia which result-ed in the team shutting down non-critical sys-tems on the space station.

The space station’s cur-rent mission called Expe-dition 38 plans to fly un-til March 2014.

A “fake” sign language interpreter administered false gestures to deaf viewers during the me-morial service for Nelson Mandela, according to NBC News.

Several advocacy groups and charities rep-resenting deaf individuals confirmed that the ges-tures did not match what was being said during the service.

The South African government said it was “looking into this matter but has not been able to conclude this inquiry due to the demanding sched-ule” organizing the state funeral.

African National Con-gress communications manager Keith Khoza said was hired by the Afri-can government to inter-pret Mandela’s memorial.

Over 220,000 long-term unemployed in-dividuals in California could lose their jobless benefits by the end of the year if an extension is not approved this week, according to the Orange County Regis-ter.

Even with Orange County having one of the lowest unemploy-ment rates in the state, federal jobless insur-ance provides assistance to 14,171 people in Or-ange County. Under the current federal budget, federal benefits are set to come to an end on Dec. 28, leaving Califor-nia’s unemployed with only state options for as-sistance.

Congress has until the end of the week to extend the deadline for unemployment benefits.

Interpreter upsets deaf viewers

Cooler fails on space station

Jobless benefits may end

DTBRIEFS

BRITTANY CURRIE

BRIAN CHESTER

VINCENT LA ROSA

ETHNIC STUDIESContinued from PAGE 1

Teach For America (TFA), a nonprofit teaching program, has been the subject of heavy criticism for the past few years, by both former members and outside educators alike.

Three states have named TFA the top teacher prepara-tory program for multiple years running and TFA is seeing im-provements in student perfor-mance, like in the greater New Orleans area, where basic or above-average results on state-wide tests increased from 30 percent to 53 percent between 2000 and 2010.

However, not everyone is singing TFA’s praises. Much debate has arisen over TFA’s training system and whether or not recruits are really in the program to become teachers.

TFA sends young, ambitious recruits to urban schools as full-time teachers for two year terms. Some recruits elect to continue teaching in the TFA program beyond the two year minimum, while others do not.

The issue of training has be-come a hot topic amongst for-mer members who feel their weeks of preparation were in-sufficient for the required job.

Gary Rubinstein is a former TFA member speaking out against the organization, urg-ing others to be cautious of joining it in his blog entry and YouTube video, “Why it’s a bad time to be in Teach For Amer-ica.”

Rubinstein served for TFA in 1991, but is unhappy with where the organization is to-day.

“Over the years I’ve focused much of my criticism of Teach For America on the need to improve training for incoming corps members,” Rubinstein said in the article.

Indeed, training does seem to be quite brief in comparison to the required service term. TFA recruits undergo just five weeks of training before being sent off to struggling inner-city schools for two years.

Catherine Michna, who was also part of TFA, spoke out against the organization re-cently. Michna is a long-time instructor who has declared that she will not provide let-ters of recommendation for students applying for TFA, but will instead encourage them to apply for graduate programs in education.

Recalling her own experi-ence, she said TFA seriously under-prepares aspiring teach-ers for the real classroom.

Morgan L. Donaldson and Susan Moore Johnson analyzed retention rates within TFA in

an extensive article written on behalf of Phi Delta Kappa, a professional association for educators. The article was pub-lished in Education Week.

They said TFA can some-times be simply a short-term activity for young college grad-uates, which is especially un-fair to the students at these low income schools, where consis-tency is so important.

TFA may build leaders that go on to become lifelong teach-ers, but for some it may be used as an impressive line on recruits’ resumes that they use to get into completely different professions while leaving their students in the dust, Donald-son and Johnson said.

The data they found from a 2007 survey that looked at where recruits were five years later. The survey of more than

2,000 recruits from the years 2000 to 2002 showed 60.5 per-cent of recruits teach beyond the two-year requirement, and 35.5 percent taught more than four years. About 28 percent were still teaching in their fifth year.

As far as the recruits’ inten-tions, about 57 percent indi-cated that they had planned on only fulfilling the two year requirement, while about 43 percent said they knew from the beginning that they wanted to exceed the two year require-ment.

A significant figure is that of the recruits who were educa-tion majors, 71 percent taught longer than four years for TFA.

“This seems to suggest that new teachers benefit from hav-ing more preservice prepara-tion than fast-track programs usually provide,” Donaldson and Johnson concluded.

Ultimately, their study found that TFA recruits are not “ex-clusively short-term in their intentions or actions” as most critics would presume.

More recently, TFA calcu-lated that 7,000 out of 24,000 members (or nearly 30 percent) are still teaching as of 2011.

Andres Perez, a TFA cam-pus representative for Cal State Fullerton, said some recruits do go on to other careers, but points out that that’s not always a bad thing.

“I don’t know about you, but

I would love if my politicians—who make policy about educa-tion—had experience teach-ing,” Perez said.

One other issue against TFA is the fact that many recruits are white, or come from very different (usually higher in-come) backgrounds compared to the demographics of the schools they’ll be working in.

According to a 2009 USA Today article, 70 percent of TFA members are white. TFA member Chris Turk said there should be a special course dur-ing training specific to the cul-tures of the regions that mem-bers will be working in.

Heather Harding, senior vice president for community en-gagement for TFA, reached out in defense of the organization in an interview with NPR. She addressed diversity concerns and said it was one of their big-gest priorities, to get a more di-verse core of teachers.

According to Harding, the core is one-third people of col-or. She said while this is a great representation based on recent college graduates, she would love for that number to be high-er and more representative and is working to see it change.

“Anybody can be a great teacher, (but) there’s added benefit if that teacher looks like you, particularly for kids of color in this country, and kids from poverty circumstances,” Harding said.

Teach For America uncovered

“I don’t know about you, but I would love if my politicians —who make policy about education—had experience teaching,”

Andres PerezTFA Campus Representative

MIKE TRUJILLO / Daily Titan

Short training period may leave educators unprepared for teaching

ERICA MAHONEYDaily Titan

OPINION DECEMBER 12, 2013THURSDAY

PAGE 4THE DAILY TITAN

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITANVISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM/OPINION

Both representatives from ASI noted that by July, the task force was still waiting to hear feedback from organized labor groups on campus.

“There was a big waiting game because at that moment the pro-posal for the smoking ban was with the union … we were waiting on if the union did indeed agree with the conditions of the smoking ban,” Carlos Navarro, ASI chief administrative officer said.

Two union leaders contest that account, and three union leaders do not recall ever having been in negotiations with the administra-tion in summer 2013.

According to one union leader, organized labor groups last con-vened with administration officials in 2012 after the original draft of Directive 18 had included disciplinary action provisions. Adding additional disciplinary consequences to employee contracts would have triggered a collective bargaining pro-cess known as a “meet and confer.”

The absence of disciplinary provisions in the current directive may have been a way for the administration to avoid the drawn-out process a meet and confer would have caused, keeping their Aug. 1 launch date on schedule.

CSUF Media Relations Director Christopher Bugbee would not say on the record why Presi-dent García had removed the disciplinary provi-sions of Directive 18, nor would he point out if any individual group had played a key role in making those specific changes, saying “changes to Direc-tive 18 likely reflect input from (the task force, in-dividual university departments and unions).”

Repeatedly pressed for answers, Bugbee said “the University doesn’t typically spend much time reconstructing the processes by which decisions are reached and policies formulated, nor does it typically report out minutes of meetings, etc.” The lack of transparency the administration has provided in the policy-making process is as reprehensible as it is disconcerting.

Both drafts of Directive 18 stress the need for “adequate time” to plan for the rollout of the smoking ban.

The time between June 6, 2012 and Aug. 1 would have been al-most 14 months, but the smoking ban task force did not convene until the end of January 2013.

With only six months to plan for the implementation of a campus-wide smoking ban, it was no surprise then that members of the task

force were concerned the committee was “going too fast.” The campuswide smoking ban raises the question of whether

public policy should continue to exist if it does not achieve its in-tended goals.

Directive 18, in its adulterated form, only serves as fuel for ad-vocates of limited government, who will argue that the policy has done nothing but create an unnecessary bureaucracy that wastes time and money and is ultimately ineffective. Removing the ash-trays from their previous locations did not discourage people from smoking. It simply gave them no designated place to throw their used cigarettes.

Using a “peer pressure” model to implement the smoking ban asks students, faculty and staff to forget what decades of anti-drug policy has taught them.

Instead, they must distinguish between good peer pressure and bad peer pressure, a task made even more arbitrary in the environment created by the administration.

The conundrum posed by community-based enforcement can best be explained in the words of history professor David Freeman: “I refuse to be associated with any policy that effectively encour-ages students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus to snitch on one another.”

If the administration really cares about the ad-verse health effects of secondhand smoke, they should be more concerned about the efficacy of their policy instead of making history.

Being “the first” to do anything is only remark-able if the achievement itself has merit. It is clear that the administration did not consider this notion in the process of creating, revising and implement-ing the smoking ban.

Moving forward, the administration should con-duct an actual survey of students who continue to violate the smoking ban each month.

Only after seeing a measurable decrease can the university begin to boast of the success of their pol-

icy. If studies show community enforcement and peer pressure do not work, the administration should think about what will more ef-fectively reduce the likelihood of secondhand smoke.

Given a reasonable number of designated smoking areas, smok-ers may be more inclined to smoke there than next to buildings. Administrators should also be clear as to the consequences faculty, staff and students may face for violating the ban. If faculty and staff are exempt from disciplinary action, but students are still subject to punishment, the university should say so.

SMOKINGContinued from PAGE 1

Students of color are subject to increasing discrimination, as many ethnic studies programs are being cut across the state across all levels of education.

In 2012, the Tucson Unified School District banned K-12 ethnic studies classes because the administration said they felt it promoted hatred and division among their students.

Now, some California State University campuses are follow-ing suit and drastically cutting the ethnic studies departments or merging them into larger de-partments.

Despite what organizations like the Tucson Unified School District believes ethnic stud-ies promote, these departments educate students in the cultural literacies needed to be effective leaders. It helps students learn to address the complicated so-cial and cultural issues that are part of an increasingly diverse United States, according to the California Faculty Association (CFA).

Professors aren’t being re-placed, classes are being re-duced and majors could be

eliminated or subsumed into other liberal arts programs, said Carla Rivera from the Los An-geles Times.

By cutting classes, not only are professors losing money, but students are also losing out because less courses are being offered which may delay gradu-ation for some students.

The CFA, which has ex-pressed deep concern regard-ing this issue in a letter to the CSU campus presidents, said that San Jose State, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Long Beach are considering either cutting the ethnic studies ma-jors or merging them together; some of these schools have al-ready started doing so.

Many opponents, including the Tucson Unified School Dis-trict, believe that ethnic studies courses, such as Chicana and Chicano studies courses, are de-signed to promote hate or rebel-lion against other ethnic groups. Individuals of other races may become wary of these courses, and can develop a sense of alien-ation from their classmates. The mindset that courses in Afri-can-American studies are solely for African-American students is a misconception engraved in many students’ minds.

At Cal State Fullerton, the ethnic studies department con-sists of Chicana and Chicano Studies, African-American

Studies and Asian-American Studies.

Alexandro José Gradilla, dual chair of the Chicana and Chi-cano Studies and the African-American Studies department, said ethnic studies is critical to higher education and university knowledge because it gives stu-dents the tools needed to ques-tion the stigma of the societal role of minorities. He said it’s rewarding knowing he works not only with students of color, but also non-students of color who are committed to issues of social justice, racial equality or social transformation.

Gradilla said he loves the way in which research and knowl-

edge can be beneficial to the social progress of communities. As an undergraduate, he saw the power and impact that eth-nic studies can have on students and their respective communi-ties.

“We actually look at the world from a different standpoint so that the knowledge and the knowledge perspective that we bring, especially the good type of research and good type of knowledge, is always critical and from our standpoint as be-ing people who have been ex-cluded, people who have been ignored, people who have been made invisible,” Gradilla said.

Society is greatly changing

and many departments don’t have the time to cover cultural diversity, Gradilla said.

“We give training in terms of thorough cultural diversity, cultural competency, cultural awareness. Students will learn how to use that and blend it with their future professional goals,” Gradilla said.

Carlos Beltran, 21, a political science and Chicana and Chi-cano studies double major, said the cuts and changes are dev-astating because they limit the expression and development of diverse ethnic groups.

“These ethnic departments do not only teach history of dif-ferent ethnic groups, but also teach critical perspectives, his-tories, backgrounds, etc, about ethnic groups,” Beltran said. “These components are usually ignored in other Western de-partments, causing our history to get lost in tradition.”

People need to understand that ethnic studies goes beyond the color of the skin of the indi-vidual or its ancestry.

Ethnic studies brings to light what many try to hide.

The lessons taught are benefi-cial not only to people of color, but also to others, because it emphasizes unity among the masses while encouraging stu-dents to take their knowledge and apply it to their career and community.

The importance of under-standing various cultures are less evident in writing, but rath-er in action, where individuals can promote individual as well as collective change.

“We call on each campus president, the Chancellor and Board of Trustees of this great system to view these programs (and others) not as impediments to efficiency, but rather as op-portunities to help us all live up to the best in ourselves and in our history,” reads the CFA let-ter.

The ethnic studies depart-ment at CSUF is not in any danger of being cut because the dean of the College of Hu-manities and Social Sciences, the president of the campus and other administrators on cam-pus see the relevance and im-portance of it, Gradilla said.

“I think it’s a big challenge for us especially being ethnic stud-ies at a majority minority serv-ing institution such as CSUF,” Gradilla said. “Many students are not aware what ethnic stud-ies is. Many students are only aware of either stereotypes or are unsure of what we do.”

Although many students are truly unaware of the deeper meaning of ethnic studies and are only exposed to various ste-reotypes, the department is nec-essary to encourage positive de-velopment among all students.

Speaking on the proposal for a campus-wide ban on smoking, interim President Willie Hagan announced his support for the measure, after having received resolutions from ASI and theAcademic Senate. He said “Enforcement will be a critical part of this action in the future.”

John Hickok adds a friendly amendment to ASD 12-22(resolution to ban smoking on campus) which would create a task force to educate and support students and faculty in the process of transitioning to a total ban on campus.

Academic Senate Chair John Bedell announces a unanimous vote in favor of a smoke free campus.

Former interim President Willie Hagan approves Presidential Directive 18 with an accountability clause which read:

“faculty, staff, and students violating this policy are subject to disciplinary action pursuant to the applicable collective bargaining agreement and/or administrative policies or procedures.”

Associate Vice President for Administration and Finance Bill Barrett asks May Wong to chair the smoking ban task force. Barrett gives Wong a list of university divisions to invite to the meetings. The task force meets for the first time on Jan 26. The list included representatives of labor relations and strategic communications.

Smoking ban task force still waiting to hear back from unions on whether or not they have approved the revised presidential directive.

President Mildred Garcíaamends PresidentialDirective 18. There is nomention of disciplinaryaction or collective bargaining agreements.

SMOKING BANGOES INTO EFFECT

February 2012

Summer 2012

June 6, 2012

July 2013

July 23, 2013

August 1, 2013

January 2013February 23, 2012Unions meet with administration on accountability measures included in Presidential Directive 18.

MIKE TRUJILLO / Daily Titan

Ethnic studies too valuable to be cut

Ethnic studies programs promote diversity among students on campus.Photo Illustration by MARIAH CARRILLO / Daily Titan

Several CSUs are cutting ethnic studies programs at the expense of students

ANDRES MARTINEZDaily Titan

@Daily_Titan

“I refuse to be associated with any policy that effectively encourages students, faculty, staff and visitors to snitch on one another.”David Freeman Ph.D.Department of History

At the age of 14, Trihn “Sky” Pham left his home to become an international student of finance, management and altruism.

Pham, now 21, traveled alone across the Pacific Ocean twice to ultimately find himself studying at Cal State Fullerton.

“I promised myself everywhere I go, I’m going to contribute to that country,” Pham said.

Having lived in the United States for only three years, Pham has already set an impressive track record by organizing events, such as restoration days at Or-ange County parks and canned food trick-or-treating drives.

Originating from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, Pham was born in the region’s rainy sea-son, fall. With rainfall inundating through a leaf-sheltered ceiling and flooding floors, a newborn may have seemed like an over-whelming addition to an already stressful situation.

Pham’s mother, a wool farmer, and his father, a freight cyclist, taught him early in his life the business ethics he employs today.

“The philosophy of our family is we share what we have,” Pham said. “If we earn $10, we share $5, we hold $3 for investment and we keep $2 to save.”

Over the next 14 years of his life, the Pham family would un-dergo upward mobility—from lower to middle to eventually up-per class—through entrepreneur-ship, expansion and ethics.

From the beginning, Pham, well-mannered and genuine, spoke of the appreciation he holds for his parents. Their hard work and dedication gave him the op-portunity to travel across the sea to carve out his path.

He understands that his par-ents are the catalyst to the change he wants to bring.

Pham attended secondary school at Wellington College in New Zealand. Through this insti-tution, Pham organized projects with the Blue Dragon Founda-tion, a grassroots charity that de-livers aid to children in Vietnam.

His most notable fundraiser during his school years at Wel-lington College was an interna-tional week where multicultural dishes were crafted and sold with all of the profits going to the Blue Dragon Foundation.

While he studied, Pham joined the working world by obtaining a series of tough dishwashing jobs at local restaurants in Welling-ton, the nation’s capital. The last dishwashing job he held eventual-ly evolved into a serving position that helped him develop fluency in the English language.

After finishing high school, Pham set his sights on continuing his education at a university.

Ever since his childhood, Pham dreamed of becoming a doctor.

However, that aspiration was suddenly disturbed when he re-ceived a rejection letter from his

dream school, the University of Otago Dunedin School of Medi-cine in North Dunedin, New Zea-land.

One of Pham’s professors un-derstood the crushing awaken-ing that rejection can bring and turned a heartbreak into con-structive criticism. She told Pham that although his natural talent may not be in medicine, his art-istry is clearly vested in business.

It was a fitting judgment for Pham; after all, he had been studying Mandarin Chinese.

After receiving that insight, an idea was born: build a hospital and create a center for doctors.

After that, Pham took a year off after high school and went back to Vietnam to explore a bold busi-ness venture with his father. He actualized coffee.

Inspired by the climate change initiative in Copenhagen, the cre-ation of a company selling natu-rally grown coffee and packaging it with recycled materials was born. Pham said Copen Coffee, a Vietnam-based firm, is now ex-panding and testing the foreign markets.

Through witnessing circum-stantial steps needed to start a business, Pham reassured himself in his natural aptitude for busi-ness and began the search for a university revered for its manage-ment and finance colleges.

He nearly accepted admission to Pasadena City College, but at the last minute he impulsively de-cided to head to Orange County.

Pham went to CSUF as blindly as he was unprepared. At 18 years old, it was the second time in his life that he knew absolutely no one in a foreign land, like leaving Vietnam for New Zealand.

He had no friends, no family and no SIM card.

After buying a new SIM card at the airport, he picked up the local newspaper, took a look at the clas-sified section for a room to rent and hailed a taxi to take him to his new home.

With hardly any downtime after settling into his new place, Pham joined the CSUF Students Recycle Club within the first couple weeks and has only added to his extracurricular activities since. He also joined the CSUF Entrepreneur Society, where he eventually become the vice presi-dent of Marketing and Finance.

Within two semesters with Stu-dents Recycle, Pham introduced a 2,900 percent increase to the or-ganization’s annual budget. From recycling bottles, fundraising and the Inter-club Council subsidiz-ing money into a gas budget when the club travels to soup kitchens to volunteer, the club’s budget rose from $50 to $1,500.

This past summer, Pham held two internships, one at TDL In-ternational Law Office and the other at Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce, which led to a pro-motion into the chamber’s social business director position.

Pham will be graduating in the next two years. His long-term goal after graduation is to explore more eco-friendly ventures and ultimately create a multi-disci-plinary hospital and school back in Vietnam with his father.

FEATURES PAGE 5THE DAILY TITAN

DECEMBER 12, 2013THURSDAY

VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM/FEATURESFOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITAN

Each morning, Cpl. Iris Cor-tes arrives at the headquarters of the University Police where she checks in and loads her vehicle with a Taser, shotgun and other sanctioned materials.

She then begins the 20-mile commute to the Cal State Fuller-ton Irvine Campus to start her 10-hour shift at CSUF’s rapidly growing location in Southern Orange County.

Cortes has served in Univer-sity Police for 15 years, and she has been the primary officer at the Irvine Campus for two years.

Cortes majored in public rela-tions at CSUF, but recalls her de-sire to become an officer begin-ning before her undergraduate years.

“It was something I wanted to do long before I wanted to do anything else,” Cortes said. “I’ve just always felt passionate about helping people; I know it sounds corny but it really is the truth.”

Cortes was drawn to the Ir-vine Campus largely for the same reason many students are drawn to it: the unique sense of community offered by the small campus. She can often be seen walking the halls of the two-story, office-building-like struc-ture, taking time to say hello to students and to greet staff and faculty by name.

Unlike the main campus, where University Police head-quarters is in a standalone build-ing, Cortes’ office is located in-side the Irvine Campus building and is adjacent to its main lobby. Her office door is usually open or displays a sign saying, “Will return shortly.”

Students know Cortes’ office to be a place they can go to get any type of help.

Many students enter Cortes’ office in hopes of retrieving an item that has been lost or mis-placed. Found items like cell phones, sunglasses, laptops and textbooks are often placed under Cortes’ care.

“Our turn around for lost and found is very, very good,” Cortes said. “And I’m proud to say that.”

Cortes attributes this return rate and the fact that no major thefts have occurred at the Ir-vine Campus to the small, com-munity feel that campus offers; something that is not entirely possible at the much larger main campus in Fullerton.

In addition to her work at the Irvine Campus, Cortes helps to serve Fullerton’s students and community through her work with the Rape Aggression De-fense (RAD) program. The RAD program is a three-day course conducted on the main cam-pus each semester that seeks to equip women to better protect themselves.

Cortes said she has been touched by many of the people who have attended the RAD classes. They have been con-ducted on the campus for almost a decade.

Typically, at least one of the participants in the class per se-mester has been the victim of an assault, Cortes said. Because of this, it is important that the class is conducted in a manner that is both informative and thorough as well as sensitive and compas-sionate.

“She has a knack of connect-ing with the public,” said Eva Mazzeo, community service specialist and former Irvine po-lice officer who has worked with Cortes at varying capacities for over 10 years and has assisted in conducting the RAD program. “I think she has a real, natural gift for that.”

Cortes attributes her ability to connect with people in part to her role as a mother of two. She said being a mother has helped

her to “deal with people on a more real basis,” recalling an in-cident where a student confided in her that he felt he could never please his father.

Cortes had been called to as-sist the student who was suffer-ing from probable alcohol poi-soning. She went beyond the call of duty by reaching out to the student’s father. She offered ad-vice on how he could help his son and how he could improve their relationship.

She also said her approach to leadership and work differs from others in law enforcement, which remains a male-dominated field.

“We do law enforcement a little different than men do, because we are more detail-oriented and we are more verbal,” Cortes said.

Although these differences have proved to be beneficial in many respects, Cortes said she has faced some challenges as a

woman in law enforcement. This is a sentiment which Mazzeo, a fellow female officer, echoes.

“They require you to prove yourself a little bit more,” Mazzeo said. “Just to make sure that you can handle the more assertive type of roles.”

Cortes responded to this pres-sure, which was created by those within law enforcement and in the general public, by doing her job with exceptional fervor.

“I didn’t want anybody think-ing I was weak,” Cortes said. “So I did … a lot of work to prove my-self. I felt I had to prove myself.”

Cortes recalled an incident where she felt she needed to prove herself more than a male officer might need to when she was greeted as a “cute little fe-male officer” while responding to a call in Fullerton regarding domestic violence.

Still, Cortes is quick to note

that the vast majority of her ex-periences with both her fellow officers and the public have been positive and that both welcome her in the field.

“We need women in law en-forcement,” Cpl. Jose Rosales, 29, said.

Rosales said he feels the field is “changing for the better” in this respect. He also said he per-sonally does not feel there is any difference between his relation-ship with female officers like Cortes and male officers.

“I always like to have wom-en being my partners as well,” Rosales said. “If you’re a good person, then I like you. Not necessarily if you’re a man or a woman.”

Cortes plans to retire within the coming years, but hopes to continue pursuing her pas-sion for serving the community through the RAD program.

Titan travels far and dreams big for success

Irvine Campus cop inspires

CSUF student Trihn Pham traveled from Vietnam and New Zealand to CSUF

DANIEL OSTRINDaily Titan

Cpl. Iris Cortes overcomes the challenges of being the Irvine campus cop

ALLY FITZGERALDDaily Titan

Cpl. Iris Cortes trains CSUF students in a Rape Agression Defense course as head of the RAD program.DEANNA TROMBLEY / Daily Titan

Trihn Pham works with the CSUF Student Recycle Club to clean up parks.DANIEL OSTRIN / Daily Titan

FEATURES DECEMBER 12, 2013THURSDAY

PAGE 6THE DAILY TITAN

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITANVISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM/FEATURES

After 15 long, tedious weeks of lectures, assignments and group projects, everything comes down to the 16th week of the semester: finals week.

You immediately start to freak out about all the classes you skipped and lectures you slept through. You tell yourself it is time to get to work.

You go home and start to men-tally prepare yourself. For the work you accomplisehd, you re-ward yourself by watching a show on Netflix.

Then you suddenly decide to reward yourself for all of your hard work this semester by watching an entire season of How I Met Your Mother.

After watching an entire sea-son, you feel guilty for all the time you wasted so you really decide to sit down and get to work.

But your brain seems groggy and a little unfocused and it needs that extra boost.

And suddenly, Starbucks

sounds like a great idea, but you weigh the option because you have transformed into some sort of cave person draped in sweatpants. Mascara is all over your eyes and your hair became a tangled mess, not to mention you are wearing fuzzy socks with Uggs.

Yet the urge for coffee is so tremendous that you Google the location of the nearest Starbucks that has a drive-thru window so you do not embarrass yourself.

You finally head home and start to glance at study guides and begin to open books you haven’t opened all semester.

You write down definitions, make flashcards and make your final exam schedule.

Before you know it, your first final is in 48 hours. After scream-ing internally for about a minute, you cannot handle yourself and just walk away from your desk.

The anxiety mounts and you cannot handle it. You realize you are kissing your social life good-bye for the next week and that today is the last day of true free-dom before you pull extensive all-nighters.

You call up your best friend and the next thing you know you are downing whiskey shots. You

dance all night and by the time you walk into your home, it is four in the morning.

You go to sleep with the inten-tion of waking up early to study.

The next morning you hit snooze at least three times and before you know it, it is past three in the afternoon and you jump out of your bed quicker than a ninja.

Between stuffing a croissant in your mouth and chugging an energy drink, you lay all study guides, flash cards and books on the table.

After hours of intensive study-ing, you realize you are still wear-ing last night’s outfit and decide to change.

Then you get started on the massive final research paper you’ve been putting off that you just realized is also due tomor-row—all 12 pages of it.

You curse the world with such

fury and anger that you fling yourself on to your bed and scream into your pillow.

You pull another all-nighter and hurriedly leave your house in the morning only to be stuck in traffic.

Not to mention parking at Cal State Fullerton seems to be worse during finals. You finally find a spot in Lot G. You practically run to class only to make it approxi-mately .10 seconds before you start your final.

This is how not to deal with finals.

During my first couple of years of college I did exactly this. I was the worst at pulling all-nighters, running on only coffee and taking on too much that I ended up working on as-signments the day before they are due.

Five years later and now hold-ing super senior status, I learned

a few things.Although I still pull extensive

all-nighters, I learned that taking a 20-minute nap when I feel like giving up is a life saver. Drink-ing coffee and energy drinks for breakfast will destroy and burn the inside of your stomach. Hav-ing a real breakfast will actually help you think and keep your en-ergy level high.

Learning to say ‘no’ to going out is also huge. With maturity comes priority, and thank goodness I learned to prioritize. While it is great to “work hard, play hard,” you must be able to prioritize edu-cation—especially during finals.

While I still commit some un-derclassmen sins, I learned how to deal with finals in baby steps. I still freak out and I still stress out.

However, nothing feels better than checking your grades and do-ing better than you thought—that makes all the stress worth it.

Finals week can be stressful; here are some tips to get through it

MAGDALENA GUILLENDaily Titan

How to Deal

How to get through finals

Magdalena Guillen, Communications major, plans to graduate next May.DYLAN LUJANO / Daily Titan

After graduation Guillen hopes to work in the journalism field.DYLAN LUJANO / Daily Titan

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HOROSCOPESARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 19):

Make a promise, and cultivate your rewards. Don’t touch savings; focus on making mon-ey instead. Postpone expense. Apply disci-pline and each step forward earns rewards. Stubborn persistence wins out over apathy or giving up. Stick it out.

TAURUS(APRIL 20 - MAY 20):

You don’t have to go very far to find what you want. Your patience pays off. But don’t get arrogant; accept coaching from an ex-pert. Replenish your reserves whenever pos-sible, especially by resting and eating well.

GEMINI(MAY 21 - JUNE 20):

Results confirm your faith. Wait until the moon changes signs to make your move. Something’s coming due. You can find the money for a household project. Contact team members and keep everyone informed of the latest information.

CANCER (JUNE 21 - JULY 22):

Ideas lead to results. Postpone expansion (professional and personal, even romance) for now. Your public life interferes with your privacy for the next two days. Soften your tone. Don’t rush things or share strategy. Plan your next move.

LEO(JULY 23 - AUG. 22):

Get farther than you thought possible, without throwing your money around. Responsibilities take priority today and to-morrow. You can find what you need to do what you’ve planned. Women play big roles. Beauty and art soothe your soul.

VIRGO(AUG. 23 - SEPT. 22):

You have more than you need. Something you try doesn’t work. Be gracious, even if an-noyed. New opportunities will open soon, but there are still barriers. Dreams of distant and exotic destinations fill your imagina-tion. Gather information.

LIBRA(SEPT. 23 - OCT. 22):

Relax. Don’t try a new idea yet; it’s not time to launch, travel, or take risks. Pay the bills today or tomorrow, and review resources. You’re especially charming now. Take deep breaths, and think about what you love.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 - NOV. 21):

Define your objective. Don’t go yet, though; it’s too expensive at the moment. Use what you have to achieve a dream. Study with a partner. Start a new phase in your relation-ship. Ask for specific puzzle pieces. Push yourself forward.

SAGITTARIUS(NOV. 22 - DEC. 21):

Venture farther out, and contact a distant friend. Get down to the nitty-gritty today and tomorrow. Others help out. Rest when you can. There’s more work coming soon. Let people know what you’re after.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 - JAN. 19):

Discover talents you didn’t know you had. Notice what doesn’t work about your rou-tine and change it (add fun). Your partner’s finances need attention. Help out and things could get romantic. The next two days are lucky for love.

AQUARIUS(JA. 20 - FEB. 18):

Household issues require attention. Get the highest quality at the best interest rates. Costs may be higher than expected. Wait on unnecessary expenses. It all works out. Plan a luxurious evening at home with good food and company.

PISCES(FEB. 19 - MARCH 20):

The two of you light up the room. A finan-cial shortfall is temporary. Take an opportu-nity to add comfort to your environment. A project doesn’t turn out exactly as you pic-tured, but it still works. Express your love.

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PROVIDED BY: mctcampus.com

PROVIDED BY: mctcampus.com

single sudoku

single sudoku

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SUDOKU

CROSSWORD

ClassifiedsDAILY TY ITAN

“Life is like solving Sudoku Puzzle, we know what to do to finish it, but we still need to open the gate to the future one by one with what we know.”

How To Play:Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each col-umn must contain the num-bers 1 to 9: and each set of boxes must contain the numbers 1 to 9.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 12, 2013

ACROSS1 Keyless7 Top

13 Crude dudes15 Some woodwind

players16 How to start

working on a 35-Across

18 Missile spot19 Socially awkward

type20 Fish-eating eagle21 Talking Trans Am

of classic TV22 Speak

incessantlyabout

24 Spenser’s “The__ Queene”

28 Some eliminationrounds

30 Quite a lot31 Kirsten of

“Melancholia”32 Otologist’s

concern35 Pastime that will

celebrate its100thanniversary on12/21/2013

38 Saturn modeluntil 2007

39 Pet sounds40 Nostrils41 Name of eight

English kings42 Lunch, say43 It may be used

after a break46 Requisite48 Quite a while49 Not even semi-

pro?50 Vocalist James54 How to finish

working on a 35-Across

58 Corrida figures59 Gets in order60 Tense61 Satisfies the

munchies

DOWN1 Nails, as a test2 Doorman’s cry3 Roundish4 Literary sea

captain

5 Porthos, toAramis

6 Gentle giant in“Of Mice and Men”

7 Crude meas.8 __ cit.9 Crude fleet

10 Seize11 Pool worker12 Chief Ruhr River

valley city14 Discontinued

depilatory15 Long-established17 Inventor of the

35-Across21 Branches on

some trees22 Metal fastener23 Adjusted (to)24 Central points25 High style26 Avenger John

Steed’s almamater

27 Thing in court?29 Limits31 __ prize32 Biblical reformer33 Brown or golden

drinks34 Take ten36 Made an exit

37 Microwave41 Was indirect42 Keep from getting

out of control43 Took care of44 Former Argentine

ruler45 Longest river in

France47 Catchall abbr.49 Sounds of

contentment

50 Woolly females51 Composer who

was a CBSreporter

52 Veracious53 Threatening

slitherers55 Centimeter-gram-

second unit56 Shoe part57 __ Balls: Hostess

snack food

Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved

By Robert W. Harris 12/12/13

(c)2013 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 12/12/13

Q: What do you call a sheep with no head and no legs? A: A cloud!

Q: Why did the boy eat his homework? A: Be-cause his teacher said it was a piece of cake!

Q: Why is Basketball such a messy sport? A: Because you dribble on the floor!

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Harris started the season as the scoring leader of this new Titan squad, but he has strug-gled to find his rhythm follow-ing his injury.

Harris is the second-highest scorer on the Titans, averaging 12 points per game and shoot-ing a 40.9 overall field-goal per-centage.

Harris admitted he’s in a slump, but he said he needs to keep shooting to find his scor-ing groove again.

The scoring inefficiency of Williams and Harris reflects the Titans’ struggles on offense, shooting a low 43.2 total field-goal percentage as a team, and an even worse 31.3 percentage from three-point land.

The Titans are most suc-cessful when they play off their defense and run on their oppo-nents before they can set their defenses.

Opponents playing zone de-fense have especially hurt the Titans this season, often having them scrambling against the shot clock and looking for an open shot.

On defense, the Titans will have their hands full trying to stop the high-scoring Tigers (3-6), who are averaging 76 points per game.

In comparison, the Titans are averaging 66 points per game.

The Tigers are led by their big frontcourt players, center Aaric Murray and forward Jose Ro-driguez.

Murray will look to create havoc for the CSUF interior de-

fenders as he has all year. Murray leads the team in

scoring and blocks with 22.3 points per game and 2.7 blocks per game.

The 6-foot-10-inch senior is second on the team with re-bounding, grabbing 6.3 a game.

Rodriguez is second on the team in scoring with 15.7 a game, and grabbing a team-leading 6.4 rebounds a game.

Not only does the big duo lead the Tigers in scoring and rebounding, but they also lead in free-throw attempts and will most certainly look to disrupt the Titans’ interior defense by attempting to force them into foul trouble.

Another key player for the Ti-gers will be Ray Penn, a small and quick guard, who will be looking to exploit the inside-out

game with his speed and the size of his teammates.

Penn leads the team in assists with five per game, and is third on the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game.

The Tigers look strong on pa-per, but they have also struggled on defense, allowing a high 81 points per game.

If the Titans can hone into that “Titan City” identity Taylor has been preaching, they can spark a turnaround and gain momentum.

Gaining momentum and es-tablishing an identity will be key for the Titans before ap-proaching Big West Conference action.

For more information on the CSUF men’s basketball team and all Titan Athletics, go to FullertonTitans.com.

BASKETBALLContinued from PAGE 1

Freshman Sheldon Blackwell drives to the basket looking to make a play.ROBERT HUSKEY / For the Daily Titan