Possible Initiative to End Affirmative Action

11. F l'o IT cs S po RI's Surgeon general SJSU baseball nominee being team beats challenged Cal Poly 5-1 ( See page 7... See page 5... iiIuiitti 10 I. Numbil 12 OARTANPublished tor San Jose State I Ilk sih I 193 1 DAILYI ehriiiir 13. 1993 Possible initiative to end affirmative action SACRAMENTO (AP) Firefighter debased, demeaned," Batz said recent- The issue likely will appear on the rout of Democrats. attacks on our rights that has come Ray Batz calls himself a liberal ly of the San Francisco Fire Depart- California ballot next year in the form The initiative to end preferences in through our state in recent history," Democrat and says he's voted ment. "Everybody falls into one or of a plan to end race or sex preferences state hiring and college admissions has said Elizabeth Toledo, California presi- Democratic since John F. Kennedy ran even more than one protected class. in hiring government workers. It could not yet qualified for the ballot. First it dent of the National Organization for for president. But when it comes to That is, everybody except white be as divisive as last year's Proposition must pass a legal test from the attor- Women. affirmative action he veers more males." 187, which stripped illegal immigrants ney general's office, and then gather Public opinion polls say Californians toward Rush Limbaugh than Jesse "We're hiring tiny women. Size is no of many government benefits. more than 600,000 signatures. oppose race- or gender-based preferen- Jackson. longer a criterion" for firefighters, Batz The GOP-backed Proposition 187 But both sides are already acting as tial treatment in schools and the work- It's unfair, he says. said. Diversity "doesn't carry grandma became a major issue in California's if it will appear on the November 1996 place. And most voters are white and "I've watched my department down the stairs in the middle of the 1994 campaigns, and was overwhelm- ballot. conservative. become demoralized, downgraded, night." ingly passed by voters during a general "This is one of the most significant See Affirmative action, page 8 CAMPUS CURRENTS Textbook Influenced by the prices: Value African experience or gouge? By Cristal Guderjahn Spartan Daily Staff Writer By Cristal Guderjahn Spartan Daily Staff Writer Kelly Orphan was in third grade when she first heard the Commodore's "Brick House" on the radio. The music College students and professors don't seemed to grip her like no other song, and the hairs on see eye-to-eye on the value of textbooks, her arms curled up. a San Francisco State University survey Something about the song's rhythm, with its roots has found. grounded in African music, took hold of her and never Results from the survey are not likely let go. to surprise many students at San Jose "It's like my drug; I get high on drums," said Orphan, a State University, where semester text- San Jose State University creative arts major. "For some book costs average $300 for each student. reason, the African experience pulls something deep In the undying conflict between stu- within my soul. Music is my life blood. When I was a dent, professor and college bookstore, child, we didn't have television, all we did was sing." some students feel they fall victim to the That day in third grade began a journey that last year whims of their professors. culminated with an 11 -month stay in Africa. Through the "It's very expensive to buy books. California State University international Program, Then, we don't really use it that much in Orphan traveled to Zimbabwe and studied West African class; we just look at a few diagrams and music and dance. pictures," said junior Maria Greenwood, a The program, which arranges for students to study SJSU music major. One of her professors See Drummer, page 8 requires students buy the newer and more expensive edition of a book for his class, although Greenwood said she rarely opens the text. "I have a friend who has an older edition," she said. was thinking of selling (the new edition) and using the older edition." Greenwood is not alone in her frustra- tion with book prices. Results from the survey, conducted by a marketing graduate research group, show that most students consider price as the second most important factor in textbook evaluation. Professors who par- ticipated in the study considered price as a low priority when selecting course textbooks, with content and writing style at the top of their criteria. While this is true among several SJSU professors, many of these instructors are sensitive to student budgets, said adver- tising professor Tom Jordan. "I don't think any professor is out there to rip off any student," said Jordan, who prefers to order paperback textbooks to help keep costs down. "We've got to RIGHT: Kelly Orphan studied rhythms in Africa for 11 months. Here she performs a sample of what she remember we're here for the students. I learned during her stay. She has been interested in the rhythms of Africa since she was 3 years old. She know what it's like. 1 went to school and teaches an African dance class at SJSU. paid my own way too." ABOVE: This African instrument consists of bottle caps and spoon handles. The inside is called a Jordan, whose introduction to advertis- "mbira." The name of the instrument's outer bowl is "deze" and acts as an amplifier which magnifies the ing course requires a $65 textbook, said sound of the "mbira." he thinks books augment instruction with PHOTOS Hy CHRISTIAN DEL ROSARIO - SPARTAN DARN See Bookstore, page 3 Minority students needed to donate blood Californians not interested By Cristal Guderjahn donors, said project administra- said. "We can't even say a in earthquake alarms Spartan Daily Staff Writer tor Carol Gillespie of the Asian Japanese would match a Just two tablespoons. Whenever Caucasians American Donor Program. The Chinese; it's that specific." SANTA MONICA (AP) David The problem is. few believe That's all the blood the Asian look in the registry, Caucasian count in the registry More than 16,000 people are Elliot has 7,000 alarms designed the product could work. American Donor Program wants they find donors. Not Is nearing 1 million donors, diagnosed each year with fatal to warn of approaching earth- "People don't think it can minority students to donate at while Asians number just 23,000 blood diseases such as quakes, but no one's listening. work," said Elliot, 43. "They've this week's bone marrow donor minorities they're on the list. leukemia and aplastic anemia, Nothing not last year's always heard that you can't pre- drive. dying. "Whenever Caucasians look in she said. Northridge quake, not last dict earthquakes, and that's With the genetic information the registry, they find donors," At the drive, fraternity mem- month's devastating Japanese true. But this doesn't predict Carol Gillespie questions tremor and not even predic- them, it tells you one has from those two tablespoons, the project administrator she said. "Not minorities bers will answer any program can file students' they're dying." students may have about donor tions that Los Angeles is closer occurred and it's coming your 11 blood types with its marrow Because finding compatible matching, transplant proce- than earlier thought to a major way." registry, which physicians use bone marrow matches is nation- dures or fatal blood diseases. temblor can shake up any He and co-inventor Ken to match bone marrow donors p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday In ality-specific, the best chance "It's kind of a big thing (to reg- interest in them. Caillat got patents for the alarm to transplant patients. the Loma Prieta room in the for a patient to find a marrow- ister)," said fraternity member The alarms, piling up in a six years ago, hired workers to The Lambda Phi Epsilon fra- Student Union. The blood test match is within a specific ethnic Mike Dandan. "You should try to Santa Monica warehouse, are assemble them and put them up ternity at San Jose State takes 15 to 20 minutes. population, Gillespie said. remember you're possibly giv- supposed to give as much as a for sale at $29.95 each The University will sponsor the The 5-year-old marrow reg- "Chances are, a Chinese ing another person a chance at 30-second warning before an California QuakeAwake oper- drive, held from 10 a.m. to 3 istry seriously lacks minority would match a Chinese," she life." earthquake strikes. See Earthquake, page 7 2 Mooday, Februsry 131 ION OPINION San Jame State linivessity SPARTAN DAILY Editorial Regulations needed to ensure motonst safety Sunday Feb. 5 a tanker carry- The truck was thrown into the lions on companies that deal ing 9.000 gallons of liquefied air, over the guard rail of the with dangerous substances petroleum exploded in a fiery overpass, and landed on the only increase the risk of an crash on the MacArthur Maze ground below. accident claiming innocent section of the Bayshore One eyewitness had to drive lives. IF Freeway. through a "ball of fire" to get to Regulation that would reduce Luckily the accident hap- salety. only to be hit by another this risk to a minimum should pened on THE Sunday morning, a motonst speeding to get out of be implemented. time when the freeway is not the fire. Since investigators believe very busy.

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