Police Suspect Arson Trustees Call for Increased Funding
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The Collegian Multimedia Sports Upload your videos Football game day to The Collegian's preview, YouTube group, Page 8 Online Fresno State | Serving the campus since 1922 November 20, 2009 | Friday collegian.csufresno.edu CAMPUS FIRES Police suspect arson Trustees call for increased funding By Collegian Staff The California State University Board of Trustees on Wednesday asked state elected leaders for an $884 million funding increase in the 2010-2011 academic school year, fol- lowing a two-day meeting. The board adopted a budget pro- posal to increase the system’s General Fund support from $2.3 bil- lion to $3.2 billion during two sepa- rate meeting at the Chancellor’s office in Long Beach this week. As proposed by the board, Photos by Matt Weir / The Collegian the 23-campus system calls for The first fire trucks arrived on scene at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. Within minutes, the entire Speech Arts Building was evacuated. Sacramento to provide $3.2 billion in general-fund support next fiscal year, an increase from the current $2.3 billion. State funding for the CSU was Flames, smoke interrupt reduced by $364 million for the 2009- 10 academic year. classes in Speech Arts Reed addressed the board stat- ing that CSU officials had laid By Brian Maxey by 8:30 p.m., according to out priorities within the $884 mil- The Collegian the Fresno Fire Department lion for California Gov. Arnold public information officer Schwarzenegger and legislature. Multiple trash fires set Gary Eberhard. Multiple “I feel strongly that the Governor on the California State trucks and 27 personnel and the Legislature has given us University, Fresno campus were dispatched to the cam- a promise,” Reed said during the Wednesday night forced pus, Eberhard said. meeting. the evacuation of dozens Witnesses said that they The plan calls for $283 million to students and faculty from spotted fire and smelled restore funding for collective bar- the Speech Arts building, smoke as early as 8:18 p.m. gaining agreements. The total bud- according to a report filed Within minutes, they said, get request of $3.2 billion exceeds with the university police smoke had filtered through- the state support provided to the department. out the building. of a possible fire in the Armstrong said UPD per- CSU in 2007-08, which is consid- The first fire was report- Two other fires were Social Science Building. sonnel extinguished the ered the last “predictable” funding ed at 8:18 p.m. inside the reported within minutes of They found charred paper fires immediately. year, by $259 million or 8.7 percent, Speech Arts building, and the first. remains in an office inside Fresno State student according to CSU officials. was started inside of a trash A trash can outside the the building, according Brandon Holloway was can on the northwest end Keats Building was reported to public information rehearsing inside of the COMMENT: The Collegian is a of the building. The Fresno to be in flames at 8:20 p.m. officer Amy Armstrong University Theatre when the forum for student expression. Fire Department and police At 8:45 p.m., university of the University Police C http://collegian.csufresno.edu officers arrived on the scene police responded to a report Department (UPD). See FIRE, Page 6 Assemblyman seeks support for Bill 656 By Thaddeus Miller visited in the past two weeks. California, we’re going to over- they take out,” Torrico said. The Collegian Torrico said he wants to see the ongoing operations of “My bill, AB 656, will charge a gather 100,000 signatures to oil companies.” 12.5 percent fee.” The majority leader of the take to Sacramento to show Torrico said California is an He said that the tax would California State Assembly support for the bill. anomaly among oil-producing raise $1.25 billion per year. spoke Wednesday in a meeting Assembly Bill 656 would tax states. He said that a similar The money would not go to open to the public at California oil companies that extract oil bill in Texas raises $400 mil- the state’s general fund, but to State University, Fresno. from the state. Torrico said lion per year that funds higher fund higher education, Torrico A s s e m b l y m a n A l b e r t o that the bill would specifically education. He also said that said. Torrico, D-Fremont, is the prohibit oil companies from Alaska has a 25 percent tax President John D. Welty was Brianna Campbell / The Collegian author of the recently debated passing that cost onto consum- on companies that extract oil unable to attend Torrico’s pre- Assembly Bill 656. He is mak- ers. from the state. sentation, because he was in Albert Torrico spoke with audi- ing the rounds to colleges in “Not only does it prohibit “In California, we’re going Long Beach at a board of trust- ence members after his meeting California to drum up support it in the bill, the bill sets to join the rest of the country ees meeting. However, he sent Wednesday afternoon. for his bill. Fresno State is the up a commission,” Torrico and we’re going to charge the 10th college campus he has said. “For the first time in oil companies for the oil that See TORRICO, Page 6 The Collegian That’s What the People Are Saying resident Obama's deep bow to Japanese “PEmperor Akihito on Saturday may not have violated any official protocol, but critics of the presidential act of deference nevertheless say he's guilty of bad form.” — FoxNews.com OpinionOpinionPage 2 Opinion Editor, Haisten Willis • [email protected] • Friday, November 20, 2009 Both sides of the abortion divide WEB -SPE @K Culled each week from discussions the United States have an abortion by tions are conducted as a form of birth on The Collegian Online. the time they are 45 years old. control. However, the case of some does A survey conducted by The Collegian not account for the 85 percent of pri- last semester, indicated that 70 percent vate-insurance plans that cover abor- Response: of readers are female. Therefore, cover- tion services or those who privately pay ‘AB 656 right age of the so-called “gruesome” topic the $350 to $650 fee for removal of an for California’ lacked any, if not all, sensitivity with unintended pregnancy. its lead audience. Criticizing a process one could never Throw me a Bone A wide range of issues associated with physically understand, will “suck the ‘Jesi 2’: “This is so true. Welty lied so voluntary termination of a pregnancy brains out” of the tone, the reporter’s DANIELLE GILBERT much at the meeting with students. He could make abortion the most disputed credibility and solutions brought forth can't lie to us anymore. Students are fed subject in history — pro-choice, pro-life, to the Senate. up with the lies. These administrators the degree of intervention. Since politi- While some might find the meth- need to give up, they are only fooling An article praising H.R. 3962, the cal parties both support and oppose the od murderous, the authors of themselves and the few puppet students Affordable Health Care for America issue, why shouldn’t The Collegian? “Freakonomics,” Stephen Dubner in ASI. Ahem, I mean the USA.” Act, appeared in Monday’s opinion sec- I am not advocating for the abortion and Steven Levitt, found evidence that tion of The Collegian. The headline of potential life. I am opposing the abor- legalized abortion has contributed sig- ‘R. Snowe’: “Have you actually read the read, “Stumping the Stupak” and cel- tion of women’s rights. That’s right, I nificantly to recent crime reductions. text of the bill? Or are you simply regurgi- ebrated the Democratic victory for the said it, you read it, women’s rights. Not “Crime began to fall roughly eigh- tating the talking points of the CFA in this removal of federal covered abortions in a Democrat from Michigan’s right or a teen years after abortion legalization. article? Because if you did read it, it sure health care plans. conservative from Fresno’s right, but a The five states that allowed abortion in doesn't show.” However, the article merely scratched woman’s right. 1970 experienced decline earlier than the surface of the issue at hand. I find Although it takes a quick swimmer, the rest of the nation, which legalized ‘Jesi 2’: “R. Snowe, have you read the it offensive that a male staff writer who one egg and two to tango, for some odd abortion in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States bill? What don't you get about the bill? It dubs his column, “The Right Tone” reason it takes approximately 435 votes with high abortion rates in the 1970s sounds like you feel it won't help educa- tackled and condemned a women’s to determine whose choice an abortion and 1980s experienced greater crime tion!” rights issue in such a naive manner. actually is. Last time I checked, my reductions in the 1990s. In high abor- California State University, Fresno’s body was mine, not a body of the House tion states, only arrests of those born institutional research, assessment of Representatives. after abortion legalization fall relative and planning records state that 13,297 I do agree with my colleague that to low abortion states. Legalized abor- women attend Fresno state as of the Federal funds should not be used to pay tion appears to account for as much as Response: fall 2008 semester, which is approxi- for an abortion.