1993_03 The Daily Collegian March 1993

              2 —r Opinion
TrVpAiLY Collegian
Monday, March 1,1993
Today's the big day.
President Welty has been asked by the campus
political party Kaleidoscope to resign his office
effective today for ignoring the plight of "brown" .
students. /
In a letter sent to Welty, the party told him that he
has been "stonewalling" them with a "hidden agenda"
designed to drive these students out of CSUF.
They also said that he has been conducting a "secret
covert war" upon them Tor the past two years that has
brought racial tensions on campus "to the boiling
point" \
If Welty does not resign today. Kaleidoscope will,
sent! a copy of their letter to CSU Chancellor Barry
Munitz who will have until March 19 to get rid of
Welty.
If that doesn't work, the party will/attempt to place
a no-confidence resolution on the April campus ballot
to show how much support their plan has.
And if that doesn't work and Welty is still president
on May 5, Kaleidoscope intends to call for a "brown ••
walkout and boycott" of the university.
Are these measures justified? Let's check the Office
of Institutional Research's numbers;
• From the fall of 1987-hrough the fall of 1992, the
Hispanic population at CSUF has increased 42
percent, from 1S.6 percent ofthe population to 22.1
percent The entire minority population during the
same time period rose 33.3 percent.
During that five-year period, the white population
was the only group to experience a decrease — from
nearly 72 percent of the students to about 63 percent
These numbers clearly indicate that "brown"
students are not being driven out of CSUF.
The increase in the minority population indicates
that the needs of these groups will continue to demand
more of Welty's attention, but he can only play the
hand that he is dealt.
Students from all ethnic backgrounds are bearing the
brunt of Governor Wilson's and the Legislature's
budgetary incompetence as evidenced by a nearly 6
percent drop in CSU enrollment over the past two
years. i
Tuition hikes have driven1 whites and minorities out
of college, Welty hasn't     -,
Welty has been given a smaller budget in each of his
first three years here and he is^ forced ^o pass it on to
students, staff and faculty.
Hundreds of class sections have been axed and
many "professors have been either laid off or forced
into an'earJy retirement
The decision of Kaleidoscope to hold a workshop
this pas; Sunn day to address the educational future of
Hispanic students was a positive Sep because it
See Column, page 3
WOfvlP TMDE CEHTEI^
PUBUCITY  V/HOfU-5
*
Letters
The university abusers
Dear Editor,
The editorial titled "Failure of SCARED" in the
Wednesday, Feb. 24, issue of The Daily Collegian was
right on the mark in terms of effectiveness.
Well, almost.
There was one glaring omission from that editorial.
It seems that if twd ASI senators used "abuse of their
positions of power," which may or may not be true, the
editors failed to point out the greatest abusers of
power.
The abusep are the students of this university; We
all know about the students who show up the first two
weeks of class, fearful that they might get cut from
their classes if they don't show up.
Now, almost halfway through the semester,-1 have
just one question: Where are all of the students?
In every one of my classes (and I am sure I arn not
alone) I have noticed that half'of them are empty and
that this poor attendance happens on a regular basis.
Some of these people missing were the same ones
giving the professors sob stories just so they woufd
show mercy and add the class.
Walk around campus at noon on a typical Wednes¬
day and what do you see? I guarantee you that it is not
a throng of people in the Free Speech Area, but just a
bunch of unattended booths. Why is it that the same
people who got SCARED to^death enough to protest
for a longer add/drop period are the same people who
don't show up to class'.'
I guess people don't know how much they've got 'til
it's gone. This situation is just like a person who owns
a security blanket — the students at this university
used the extension of the add/drop period as their
security blanket and now that they know they are in
no danger of being dropped, they are going to hold on
to that security blanket a>4ong as they can without
going.to class. /- -        . .
In exchange for their sense of security, two ASl
senators were chastised and fined for running off
. copies for a rally for the student's benefit, pressure
was put on John Welty (Get.this straight, folks. Welty
isn't the enemy. The enemies are CSU Chancellor
Barry Munitz and our governor, Pete Wilson), and the
integrity of the schoofwas questioned.
Instead of complaining about what you don't have,
maybe it would be nice if you (the class-skipping
student)-*"; thankful for what you do have and get your
butt to class. You should understand that if you don't,
it is.you who is the real failure.
.   . David Mirhadi
Dormant, not dried
Dear Editor,
This lettef^s written in regards to a caption on the
front page of tie Thursday, February 11, issue of the
Daily Collegian.
The article of contention shows a picture of a student
tying" grape-vipes for the following season. But the
caption states!: "In about two and a half hours,
Juventino Hernandez ties up a row of dried grapes
which are being prepared for production this summer."
See Letter, page 3
rrVir"   T^\ A TT \r (~*r\X T PPTAXT      Keats CamPus Build>ng, Mail Stop 42, CSU Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-0042
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