1997_11 The Daily Collegian November 1997

              Double winner
Dora Djilianova wins the singles and
doubles titles at the 'Dog Classic over
the weekend, page 8.
DThe
AILY
| Volume 108, No. 52
f        1 California State University, Fresno
Collegian
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http://www.csufresno.edu/Collegian
Novembers, 1997
ASI members seek psychological guidance
By Tim Bragg
The Daily Collegian
After meetings filled with argu¬
ments and in-fighting, members of
Fresno State's student government
did what any other dysfunctional
family would have done: gone to
therapy.
Members, of the Associated Stu¬
dents. Inc. board of directors met
Tuesday with Ron Perry, coordina¬
tor of psychological services for
Fresno State, to help them resolve
conflicts that are making it*impos¬
sible for the ASI to get along, or get
any work done.
"They are going to work on is¬
sues of commitment, respect and
communica¬
tion."      said
A r  I e  n  c
Bireline, ex¬
ecutive direc¬
tor of student
life and transi¬
tional services.
The     ASI
canceled    its.
regular meet¬
ing Tuesday to
give board members and executives
time to attend the workshop.
ASI Legislative Vice President
David Splivalo said he would not
call another board meeting until the
ASI has worked oA its problems
David Splivalo
He said there is no point in holding
weekly board meetings when they
will only end in acrimony.
Tensions have been building
between ASI members throughout
the year. These tensions became
public when ASI Parliamentarian
Hadi Ya/danpanah compiled a list
of actions the board had taken that
possibly violated ASI bylaws and
the state education code.
Things came to a head at last
week's meeting When campus po¬
lice were called to quell a verbal
fight outside the board's meeting
room. Officers chided the ASI
board members present, telling
them to stop acting like children.
Despite mentions of dissolving
the ASI board at last week's meet¬
ing, Splivalo said the ASI is com¬
mitted to working out their dis¬
agreements. He said that the board
worked with Perry earlier to resolve
some conflicts, and he was confi¬
dent that these meetings would
make it possible for the ASI to work
together again.
Splivalo said the workshop will
focus on getting two warring fac¬
tions within the ASI board together
and resolve the major conflicts the
they have over the ASI bylaws and
what to do about the possible vio¬
lations.
Some students have called for a
student court to decide whether the
bylaws have been violated, but
Splivalo said that would only com¬
plicate things at this point in the
year.
"I sec no reason to form a court
because at this point [selecting
court members] would only be¬
come a political power play ," said
Splivalo. "We would have been
better off if (the court] would have
been selected in the first part of the
year."
Even if one was created,
Splivalo doubts it would be more
effective than the ASI board.
Please see ASI, page 5.
Poetry reading
Ryan Weber — The Daily Collegian
Student poet Victor Hugo Manriquez recites a poem at the
semester's first "Express Yourself poetry and fiction reading
Tuesday night in the Pub. University Student Union
organizers may make the reading a monthly event because
of the success of this first presentation.
Alcohol problems met head
on by Carolina research team
By Pam Kelley
Knight-Ridder/Tribune News
Services
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Walk"
around a college asking people to
blow into a Breathalyzer night af¬
ter night, and you get a reputation.
So it is with the interviewers mak¬
ing their late-night campus rounds
across University, of North
Carolina's campus.
"Can we do it? Can we do the
Breathalyzers?" a young woman
yells.
Others nudge friends when they
spo^ interviewers wielding lighted
clipboards: "Look at the drinking-
study people."
Usually, researchers studying
alcohol consumption gather data
using mail questionnaires or phone
interviews. But UNC's team is tak¬
ing a different approach: getting
students where they live outside
dorms, apartments and frat houses
and actually measuring the alcohol
in.their blood.
Their aim, in part, is to help
UNC achieve a feat that some
would dismiss as a pipe dream:
Transforming the campus culture,
so students no longer view exces¬
sive drinking as normal.
Administrators believe such a
change is possible. And this may be
the most surprising thing many stu¬
dents do, too.
Massachusetts at Amherst, the Mas¬
sachusetts Board of Higher Educa¬
tion has urged near-total bans of
alcohol on the state's public cam¬
puses.
In this new climate that refuses
to wink at alcohol excesses. UNC
Student drinking has emerged as'Njs^attacking on multiple fronts:
the giant issue on college campuses
in the '90s. Colleges may have gone
for decades allowing rum and Coke
at football games and Purpk Jesus
punch spiked with grain alcohol at
dorm parties. But no longer.
Liability concerns and highly
publicized tragedies, including re¬
cent alcohol poisoning deaths at
Massachusetts Instituc of Technol¬
ogy and Louisiana State University,
have spurred campuses to toughen
alcohol rules.
Appalachian State is considering
making public drunkenness a stu¬
dent code violation. Duke's Inter-
fraternity Council recently adopted
penalties for fraternity alcohol vio¬
lations that arc tougher than the
school's own sanctions.
And following a recent alcohol-
related death at the University of
More alcohol education, dry cam¬
pus-sponsored parties, even tele¬
vised public Service ads that urge
students: "Don't gel wasted."
Then there's the drinking study.
Campus officials say it'll provide
answers that will help target their
efforts: Is Thursday night Chapel
Hill's biggest drinking night? Do
freshmen drink more than upper-
classmen? Does drinking increase
after home football games?
Results won't be out until early
1998. but with this research, you
learn a lot just gathering the data.
For a month now. UNC High¬
way Safety Research Center inter¬
viewers have trekked around cam¬
pus nearly every night. Each team
carries questionnaires, a beeper-
Please see ALCOHOL, page 4
Fresno State students get left out of money management plan
By Cherie N. Arambel
The Daily Collegian
Visa U.S.A., MasterCard and
American Express crqdit compa-
- nies arc launching«new programs to
combat college students' money
management problems.
But Fresno State students won't
get a chance to hear that advice.
Visa started the fall semester off
at more than 4,000 colleges by
sending out information to orienta¬
tion leaders. The kit advises college
students on how to select the cor¬
rect credit company and what pit¬
falls to watch out for.
Along with this. Visa will visit
over 20 campuses and stage mock
game shows quizzing students on
financial matters.
MasterCard and American Ex¬
press are joining in on the new wave
of financial awareness with inter¬
active websites that allow students
to work on financial charts and bud¬
get expenses and problems.
Sherry Johnson, student activi¬
ties secretary at Fresno State, said
that Fresno State has not been con¬
tacted about participating in any of
the credit card companies' pro¬
grams, nor does Fresno State plan
on participating.
"I wasn't aware that these kinds
of programs were available for stu¬
dents," Johnson said. "But I believe
that students would benefit from
them."
For more than 11 years, credit
card companies* have used Fresno
State to solicit their credit cards.
This summer, Fresno State decided
to charge credit card companies $50
per day they visit campus In addi¬
tion, credit card companies are al¬
lowed only one day a week to so¬
licit credit cards.
"The credit companies are mak¬
ing money off of the students, so
Fresno State decided to charge the
companies," Johnson said. "The
money we earn from charging the
credit companies goes back into
student activities."
Shannon Winn, a liberal studies
major, says the free gifts that credit
card companies give out just for
signing up is what got her to apply.
Please see MONEY, page 5.