1993_10 Insight October 1993

              October 20,1993
Insight/California State University, Fresno
rage J
Campus Briefs
Professor honored
Professor George B.Kauffman
oftheCSUFcbemisirydeparenent
has been invited to present the
opening inaugural lecture at a
confereonce to be held in Perugia,
Italy Gxt 27-30.
He has published a number of
studies of Italian chemists.
Rotary stipend
Laura Beth Huizinga, graduate
music student with an option in
choral conducting, has been recommended as one of 12 northern
California recipients of Rotary Club
Ambassadorial Scholarships.
Huizinga win be eligible for a
year's study in Italy and a stipend
of up to $20,000. She plans to study
at Milan Conservatory and hopes
to compose her own opera while
Trenches
Gaping trenches along the Joyal
Building is part of a continuing
project to bring water to campus
The new pipes will connect the
North and South gyms, Speech
Aits, Joyal, old Cafeteria and
Conley Art buildings.
The project began this summer
and will run through the semester.
Distance learning
A university task force has rcc-
technology on campus with emphasis on distance tenung-remote
televised classes.
Through use of distance learning the task force hopes to offer
courses to a larger variety of stu-
dents with the limited funds available.
New computers
The Sid Craig School of Business has acquired 40 new B3M-
compatiblc computers, costing
roughly $1,600 each. A $10 mil-
lionendowrnent by theJemy Craig
corporation has helped the school
to endure a 7 percent budget cut
Best undergrad case
A Small Business Institute Plan
written by five CSUF business students has won the "Best Undergraduate Case" award for 1993 in
the Business Administration's Region 5.
Can man continues to mystify
By Mohammad Baddar
StaffWriter
When Pit regulars hear the words,
"Hi there, how are you doin'?" they
immediately know who's in the neighborhood.
The friendly man wearing the blue
CSU Food Service cap has come to
collect cans and glass.
Richard Kaiser, as he identifies himself, is a familiar face around cam pus.
Wherever students turn. Kaiser is there
doing his job—his full-time job.
Kaiser, who used to work as an
attendant manager of a parking lot on
Fulton Mall until 1990, started recycling in 1987.
"I got into this business by mere
coincidence," Kaiser said. "I didn't
have it planned.
"I started collecting cans for my ex-
landlady, who wanted to sell them for
a fund raiser at our church," he said.
"I collected 200 pounds over several
weeks," Kaiser said. When the landlady became ill, he decided to recycle
for himself.
He said he has been a full-time can-
collector for ihree years, but held three
pan-time jobs during that time.
Kaiser, who has lived in Fresno for
the last 10 years, was raised in Los
Angeles.
"If you had told mc lOyearsagothat
I was going to become a can collector,
I would've said you were crazy," Kaiser said
' 'Money is the main reason," he said,
"but I'm also environmentally conscious."
Kaiser said there is also a fringe
benefiL
"I get a lot of exercise going around
campus twice a day."
He goes wherever he can to get the
aluminum. Kaiser even goes in classrooms.
"I used to go as far as Sclma to get
recyclable material," he said.
"As long as you have your strength
and ambition, you can keep going."
Kaiser, or "Hi there," as he is dubbed
bymanysujdents,r^rnanycomplaints
about his job. The main one being "too
much competition."
The 54-year-old Kaiser said students
sometimes can't resist the temptation,
so they collect cans for themselves.
"Some people got the idea from me
and now mere are a lot of competitors,"
he said.
"There is a bunch of hungry tigers
out there."
Kaiser said a person used make about
$200 a week, but not anymore.
People who work on campus should
not be permitted to collect cans. Kaiser
said. He said the rules at CSUF stale
that employees are riot to recycle.
They get paid to do their job, so
they should not recycle and cut people
like me off.'* he said.
Kaiser had other reasons for slow
"The general population does not
drink soda out of cans, as they did five
yean ago," he said.
Trie weather can be against you, too.
"When it's warm, you find a tot of
cans," he said, "but when it's cold, you
don't get as many."
When days are good. Kaiser said he
collects 20 pounds. His all-time record
was 60 pounds.
"A church group was handing out
soda cans to students in line for registration at die North Gym three years
ago," he said. "I collected 60 pounds."
"It's more profitable to sell cans by
the pound," he said.
He sells his material to a recycling
center by the downtown Civic Center.
"Recycling is
like fishing.
Sometimes you
get lucky, sometimes you
don't"
—Richard Kaiser
Kaiser said, "You get more on Saturdays. Preferred customers and people
from out of town each receive 2 cents
more per pound."
Worried about giving his secrets
away, Kaiserwas reluctant to give more
details about his job.
"I have a bohemian style about doing things. I don't care what anybody
thinks," he said.
Yet, he was concerned that the in-
fonnationcontaincdinthisarticlcmight
drive people to make fun of him.
Kaiser said he survives on what he
makes from this job, but he is not too
thrilled about iL
"Recycling is like fishing," Kaiser
said"Sc«icurnesyougetlucky,somc-
times you don't"
He said he only works five hours a
day. "I'll do this until I find a real full-
time job," he said.
"I'm going to have to get out of it
i 1 IV.
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DUncTrohWINSIGHT
Richard Kaiser crushes his cans In the Free Speech Area. Cans discarded by students sometimes
yleled him up to 20 pounds a day.
one of these days — everything has to
come to an end."
"rmgettingtiredoflivingin Fresno.
I want to move out" he said.
And he docs not want any public
assistance either.
"My upbringing would not allow
mc to seek help from social security or    hello.
"I constantly sec him reading books
and newspapers in the library," Musa
said.
Kaiser is not only knowledgeable,
he is also very friendly.
Valdez said Kaiser is pleasant to talk
to, he always makes it a point to say
welfare.'
Pit regulars say that Kaiser has many
interesting personal qualities.
"He is pan of the familiar setting at
the Pit" she said.
She said he has never intruded on
They think he is intellectual because    hCTrjrivacy."Ialwaysar^reckicpcople    environment"
talk.
"When the conversation gets deeper,
he just leaves," she said.
Valdez appreciates what Kaiser does
by recycling.
"He puts his heart into what he is
doing; he always has a smile on his
face."
"Recycling isagood cause," Valdez
said, "whatever the main reason is behind what he does, he is still helping the
he likes to talk about politics.
Vivian Valdez.an mternational business senior, said she was impressed by
Kaiser's mental acumen.
"He is an intellectual and knowledgeable man," Valdez said.
Once I was discussing a political
issue with a friend and Kaiser just
turned around and gave us his opinion."
Dithuso Phctlhu, a senior civil engineering major, said Kaiser told him
once ihat an important South African
man was killed, but he did not believe
him.
"The next day he brought the San
Francisco Chronicle and showed mc
the article," he said.
who recognize me," she said. "He's a Odeh has a tot of respect for Kaiser,
joy. "It takes a lot of guts to do what he
"It's not common to find friendly does," he said, "Il's not easy to do this,
people who have a personable attitude Students say Kaiser is mysterious,
like that" Valdez said. "I think something really drastic hap-
Odeh said sometimes he and his pened to him in his life," Musa said.
friendsmissKaiscrandlookforwardto She thought Kaiser was an impor-
sceing him.
"He has a nice personality. Once he
invited us to his church picnic on Independence Day," Odeh said.
"He insisted that wc join him, but
wc didn't go."
"I don't mind him, except sometimes when I'm busy studying — but I
let him know," Phctlhu said.
He said he has Kaiser's phone number and every time he collects a large
Jamileh Musa, a junior, said, "He    number of cans, he calls Kaiser.
talks aboul European countries in detail. That gives you the impression that
he has been around.
" It might be that he got the information by reading."
"He talks a lot," Musa said. "Most
people who talk a lot are usually hiding
something."
Musa said Kaiser can sit and talk to
students for hours but it is all surface
tant person, but something happened
that made him choose this kind of life
to hide from society.
"Maybe that's why he chose to live
in Fresno," she said
Like many other students, Jingirian
had a burning question, "How much
money docs this guy make?"
Kaiser said he reports to the IRS
every year.
"I paid S200 in taxes in 1991. The
IRS will catch you no matter what"
Kaiser said.
"Hi there" has become synonymous
with Kaiser, who talks about politics,
while collecting cans to make money
and to help ihe environment
Center offers students an international focus
By Davin A. Hutchins
StaffWriter
As waves of multiculturalism and
global consciousness continue crashing upon America's shores, Fresno is
beginning to show signs that it is getting its feet wet Fresno's first-ever
private school for international studies
is expected to come on-line in January.
But confronted by obscurity and
naysayers, the ambitious project still
has a few hurdles left to jump.
Simply tilled the Graduate School
of International Studies, or GS1S, the
newly founded, non-profit institution
will be the first to offer both master's
degrees and doctorates in the field of
international studies anywhere in the
San Joaquin Valley.
Headquartered at the San Joaquin
Valley School of Law.GSIS will offer
a post baccalaureate program with four
emphases: diplomacy and leadership,
international business, international
telecommunications and world health.
Dr. Ibrahim Abou-ghorra, founding
prcsidcmofGSIS, is optimistic that the
institution will gctofftoa running start
this winter, despite earlier snags with
sluggish enrollment
Abou-ghorra said GSIS needs to
have 20 or more enrolled in order to
begin instruction. Currently, only a
handful of prospective students have
forked out the tuition and fees needed
to matriculaic for the winter term.
GSIS is offering its program at an
estimated cost of S 15,000 for four terms.
Dean of Student Activities David
Miller, a professor of recreation and
park administration at Fresno Pacific
College, is in charge of student recruitment He is hopeful enough students
will sign up in the next two months so
the staff can begin instruction.
"I don't know where our enrollment
is right now," Miller said. "If wc go
below our projections, we can still start
next year. We just won't be able to
offer as much."
"The only thing I need in order to get
started now is Ihe students," Abou-
ghorra said. "I always use the colloquial phrase, 'What if you offered the
party and nobody came?' And that is
exactiy what we have done. We have
offered the party and nobody has come
yet-
According to Abou-ghorra, the
"party" he referred to is the unique
interdisciplinary approach the school
will take toward international education.
In contrast to leading schools like
Johns Hopkins University, Tufts University or Georgetown University,
which all focus on training in international politics and American foreign
policy,GSIS will require its students ui
draw upon different disciplines to develop a broad understanding of the
global community, Abou-ghorra said.
Abou-ghorra, a native of Egypt with
a doctorate in psychology from the
Dr. R.C. Adams, dean of academic
affairs at GSIS and presently the chair
of the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism at CSUF, said
that with so many universities emphasizing simply one specialty, such as
international business or international
journalism, many students become
trained to view the world from a single
lions.
t h c
World
Bank.
Voice of
America and
World
Health Association.
Adams saidGSIS will
only serve as a "home base for students
bul they won't be confined to Fresno."
Both Adams andjcAbou-ghorra are
two of five core members, all either
emeriti or professors at Fresno-based
colleges, trying to get GSIS off the
ground. After establishing the Fresno
campus of the Professional School of
Psychology in 1973, Abou-ghorra be
gan developing GSIS for eight long
years, from recruiting staff to obtaining
stale licensing.
Abou-ghorra said he tried to get
GSIS licensed and approved by the
state CouridlforPrivaicPoslsecondary
and Vocational Education for four
years, but he said their rules kept chang -
ing. The board finally approved the
school this year, bul it was loo late for
GSIS to begin the recruitment campaign for the fall term.
Gene Burton, professor emeritus of
business management, said he was approached by Abou-ghorra a few years
ago to help design key courses for the
business curriculum after designing a
few international business courses for
CSUF.
Burton said he became interested,,
with developing die program when lie
realized how insulated many Americans graduating from business schools
were from business practices in other
countries.
"Americans have an ethnocentric
approach io business," Burton said.
"Many arc specialists but they are like
mechanics. They are noi sensitized io
foreign cultures which is what you
want to do if you're going to conduct
business."
Although GSIS has five professors
ready and willing to leach, some even
for free, the upstart institution is still
faced with convincing prospective students and the community that it can
provide education comparable to ihat
in renowned institutions.
One concern many onlookers bring
up is the qualifications of the staff
members to offer instruction on international topics.
William Sonnefeld, a political science major interested in attending the
international studies program at American University in Washington, D.C.,
expressed skepticism over die staff's
international experience.
"If they are going to get die show off
the ground to teach in an area, they
ought to at least have people who have
real world experience in what they are
teaching you," Sonnefeld said. "The
program sounds vague. I'd like to know
rnorcarxxitiherjrofcs.sor'scrcdcntials."
Still others voice concerns over a
curriculum that is too expansive. John
O'Malley, a political science major
who will be studying international relations next year in Madrid, said,
"(GSIS) seems to be offering more
breadth. Most people get that when
they arc undcrgrads and arc ready to
specialize when they go onto graduate
school."
Shannon Heath, an international
studies graduate from die University of
Southern Maine, works as a staff associate in ihe House of Representatives
Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C. She said thai prestigious
international schools in the nation's
capital like American University or
See GSIS, page 10
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