Surf City Squeezed

Surf City Squeeze is a smoothie and juice place on campus that has experienced some changes this year.

Dominique Santiago, 18, a freshman at CSULB, began working for Surf City her first semester as a student. However, about two-thirds through the semester she got laid off because business was slow.

Richard Suh, the manager of Surf City had too many employees working for him at the time and not enough customers, but he gave Santiago her job back this semester.

"The second semester, Richard asked me if I was still interested in working at Surf City Squeeze. Of course, I took it. I'm poor and reminded myself that I am a student," Santiago said.

When asked what the reason was for slow business, Santiago said, "Well, I don't really recall my boss saying anything about the recession except maybe as a joke but mostly, the reason I get from him is because of the weather."

The Current Budget

If you check your e-mail regularly, you should have received the letter from President F. King Alexander regarding the current campus budget.

If you missed it, he begins by stating that there is no new information to address, but the Governor is scheduled to publish his May Revise Budget by May 14.

President King also writes, "Because the political situation remains so uncertain and we have not observed any real movement toward budgetary resolution, the CSU has not changed its budget planning assumptions for next year. This means that we are continuing to implement our targeted reduction in student enrollment and keeping in place our plans for handling the budget cuts that have been assigned to us so far."

King goes on to discuss briefly the layoff situation which cannot be decided until after the Governor's revision, and mentions the $3.7 million the state has provided the university.

The one thing that stuck in my mind after reading the e-mail was this: "The good news is that state revenue is up slightly from last year. While certainly not enough of an increase to come anywhere close to resolving our financial problems, at least we do not expect the situation to worsen."

Art and Furloughs

Some teachers on campus have voiced their opinions about furloughs in their classes, but there are students on campus that are voicing their opinions about them in a different way.

The Daily 49er's article regarding the "Furlough Show" which was an exhibit that took place April 18 in the Werby Gallery on campus, was unanimously in agreement about furloughs.

Maximillian Piras is a junior art major at CSULB that sees furloughs as "the beast that sleeps in every crack of the university and that with each subtraction of a day of instruction, furloughs slowly suffocate the campus."

There was also a television set in the gallery that played footage of the protest that took place in March regarding the budget cuts.

Even in tough economic times, students are finding creative ways to "loudly express their feelings of frustration with the California State University system and the mandated furlough days that have been causing uproar statewide."

'Corporate Corruption Week'

With the furloughs, budget cuts, and economy in a bind, the 'Corporate Corruption Week' that took place last week on campus couldn't come at a better time.

The Daily 49er interviewed Michael Lozano, a senior sociology major who helped organize the event.

"We are organizing the week long event to show that we can resist the corporatism of everyday life, which has affected our democracy, environment, standards of living and individual minds," Lozano said.

Wayne Taylor, co-director of Reclaiming Democracy of Orange County at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science had a powerful message to say: "We need a student movement now."

A major theme at the event was to recognize that students have power and corporate leaders need to take responsibility for their mistakes.

ASI and Budget Cuts

The budget cuts strike again and this time it hits the Associated Students Inc.

The Daily 49er reports that ASI will have to make cuts for the 2010-11 fiscal year because of a decrease in revenue.

Dave Edwards, ASI associate executive director said ASI is "looking at cuts in a number of areas: Student employment, club funding, support of campus programs...athletics, [the Educational Opportunity Program], some arts programs."

Why? Well, it is because of fewer students attending the university and "a new law that prohibits ASI from charging a summer ASI fee."

"ASI president Chris Chavez said CSULB would lose about 2,000 students for the 2010-11 academic year. This will drop ASI's revenue by about $2,000 since it depends on the $44 charged to each student per semester."

The article goes into detail about the difficulties ASI will face next year and why the fee has been prohibited but to highlight, "ASI is set to lose about $400,000-$50,000 for the 2010-11 year."

California's University System

We should all be familiar with the protest which took place March 4, regarding the budget cuts on campus.

However, the Dailey 49er published an article by Lisa M. Krieger of the San Jose Mercury News regarding California's University system.

Krieger writes, "While the recession turned a slow-brewing problem into an instant crisis, a San Jose Mercury News analysis of California's mess in higher education reveals that many factors drove the inevitable and ugly collision between the university system 's ambitious and uncoordinated growth and the state's declining ability and desire to pay for it."

The article goes on to list the "many factors" that contributed to this "mess" while also stating that population growth and academic goals of students had an affect on the state's promise to universities.

The conclusion: the recession is just another problem to add to the crumbling university system we see before us.

Budget Cuts Hurt Writer's Resource Lab

The Writer's Resource Lab is one of the resources on campus that has been affected by this year's budget cuts.
Fridays have been eliminated from the schedule completely and the staff has been cut. Since there is less staff, help is less available, and the capacity of students allowed in the Resource Lab at a time has shrank.
The Daily49er talked to the coordinator of the lab Todd Fox, regarding the difficulty students are having trying to get an appointment with the lab.
“Yes, students are waiting longer. But have they been unable to get in — no,” Fox said.
Patient students can still go to the Writer's Research Lab, but an alternative for those who need help fast is the Research Paper Clinic where librarians and writing tutors can give students the assistance they need.
Even the Library itself is offering "Citation Formation Clinics between March 22 and May 13 in the Spidell Classroom" as means of more assistance.
It is good to see at times like these that help is still out there, and that although the Writer's Resource Lab is not at its full potential at the moment, other resources are being made available.

Auxiliary Organizations On Campus

The Daily 49er published an article titled, Transparency bill redefines 'auxiliary' which discusses first what auxiliary organizations are.
"Among the auxiliaries at Cal State Long Beach are the CSULB Foundation, Associated Students Inc. and 49er Shops," the Daily 49er reported.
Before reading this article I did not know that the shops on campus were an auxiliary and just the term auxiliary itself left me confused. So I looked it up.
According to Webster's Dictionary, auxiliary is defined as giving or furnishing aid.
Going back to the article this definition fits. For example, "Sen. Yee’s Website lists the CSU auxiliaries funding at $1.34 billion, which accounts for about 20 percent of the CSU’s $6.7 billion budget."
Senator Lee of San Francisco proposed a transparency bill (SB 218) that would redefine auxiliary organizations as state agencies instead of "private entities."
Dave Edwards, president of CSU Auxiliary Organizations Association (AOA), however was one among others that disagreed with Lee's bill because he believed it was important to keep auxiliaries' "private status."
No resolutions have been made, but with the economy the way it is, no economic issues are left alone.

Cutting the Prices

As most of you know, CSULB has a hair salon on campus called Elektric Hair Inc. that not only offers hair cuts and color, but also waxing and nail jobs including manicures, pedicures, and acrylics now at a "special" price.

The shop opened about 5 years ago according to Jenavie Ban, a sophmore and employee at Elektric.

Ban's mother is the manager of the hair salon but not the founder of the business.

Still, just sitting outside of the Student Union where the shop is located, one can't miss the "Special" sign that displays a discounted price for hair cuts and highlights.

Why a special? Well, money is tight for everyone these days and Elektric just like the eateries on campus, hopes to attract its customers with a discounted price.

"Most customers are students, but we get professors in as well, and more faculties are beginning to come in for hair and nails," Ban said. "My mom also has outside clients coming in too."

These deals on campus are becoming more prevalent but justifiable all at the same time.

Brown Bag Special

The economy has put a strain on the wallets of many students here at CSULB especially when it comes to what they eat.
According to the Daily 49er, "Cal State Long Beach eateries are offering more specials to encourage student purchases..." since there has been a decline in business for on-campus restaurants beginning last semester.
"I've noticed the deals," said Patricia Gonzalez who is a sophomore and undeclared major. "I still bring food from home because it's already there and I don't need to spend extra money."
The Daily 49er reported, "Don Penrod, CEO and general manager of 49er Shops Inc. at CSULB, also observed more students with sack lunches, as well as fewer students purchasing meals in the UDP or at the Outpost."
"I've never eaten at the Outpost," said sophomore Ashley Azevedo. "I've been bringing food from home since my freshmen year."
With the economy not showing any vast improvements it is safe to assume that the "5 to 10 percent decrease in business" is something that will continue throughout the remaining weeks of this semester and perhaps through all of next year.

More on textbooks

While searching through the Daily 49er archives I came across a brilliant article. The article titled, Our View-Textbook costs ongoing student bane, highlights exactly what Crystal Aguilar confirmed in the previous post, textbooks are cheaper online. A search was conducted regarding the price of a chemical engineering book that costs $196.60 new at the University Bookstore. For a used copy the price is $147.45. Now are you ready to be stunned? The same exact book was found on Amazon.com for a shocking $122.35! It doesn't stop there because for a used copy (there were 10), the price fell to a minimal $25.50. The article offers other options in the hunt for textbooks such as textbook rental or digital books, however the latter may be more expensive than the paper version.
I'm sure a lot of you already know the University Bookstore is expensive but did you know that some professors actually get "in trouble" for telling students their assigned textbooks could be found cheaper online? I know firsthand since one of my professors this semester told my class a little story of how she got yelled at by the "bookstore" for advising students to shop online for books. I understand that the bookstore is only looking out for its business but really scolding professors who are only trying to save students money is a little harsh.
The point is students need to do whatever they need to do to afford textbooks for college especially in this economy. As the article ends, "If even one student is forced to drop out because they can’t afford books, we lose the vast intellectual potential that individual might have brought to our communities."

Textbooks too high

The Daily 49er printed an article in its February 17 paper regarding print textbooks and the internet. The article which was written by Susan Snyder of The Philadelphia Inquirer, highlights one student's dilemma at Temple University regarding the high price of textbooks at his campus' bookstore. Snyder writes, "Students spend more than $1,100 a year on textbooks and supplies, says the College Board."
Now I know we are not in Philadelphia and CSULB is not Temple University, but this $1,100 is not a far off estimate for university students across the nation. Especially for students here on campus.
For twins Ashley and Stephanie Azevedo who are sophomores at CSULB, the cost of books was not double luckily, but still high.
"Together we spent around $1,000," said Stephanie. "We got all of our books at the bookstore."
Crystal Aguilar, another sophomore at CSULB did all of her textbook shopping online for Fall 2009 semester as well as Spring 2010.
"I spent $250 and got all of my textbooks on Amazon," Aguilar said.
It's obvious who got the better deal.

Commons Coffee Shop Closed

49er Shops Inc. has experienced changes that began last semester when Central Park, a coffee shop located inside Parkside Commons Residence Hall, was closed.
The Daily 49er got some information via e-mail from Lida Horna, Director of Dining Services, as well as 49er Shops Director of Communications Rosa Hernandez, regarding the closure.
According to Horna, Central Park "regularly had less than seven visitors per evening, mostly less than five and many evenings with zero visitors."
Since business was so slow the only logical action to take was to close the shop. Whether the closure will be temporary or permanent is unknown.
Hernandez said via e-mail, "To continue our support and our corporate vitality, we manage our operations to better serve our students and make changes accordingly."
Change was indeed what came.
After this, all students on campus may be wondering what other "changes" can be expected in the future.