Monday, February 13, 2023
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Email scare cancels classes MARIO LEAL ANDREW TORRES Staff Writers
Police activity on campus was heightened Wednesday after an instructor in the College of the Arts received a vague email urging them to cancel class for a “once in a lifetime event”. The email, later revealed to be a joke in reference to an event hosted by the gaming giant Nintendo, resulted in the cancellation of several classes and club events. The instructor received the email from an anonymous Gmail account, which referenced an event happening on Feb. 8 around 2 p.m. and urged the professor to cancel instruction for the “good of humanity.” “After hours of investigation by our detectives, we learned of a Nintendo Direct event that would occur at the exact date and time the individual suggested the class be canceled,” said CSUF Police Department Capt. Scot Willey in a press release. Nintendo Direct, a series of livestream hosted by the gaming company, is often used to announce new titles or consoles. In response to the safety concerns, CSUF PD sent out all of their officers, including their K-9 team, to patrol the campus on We. Willey said that detectives worked two to three hours of overtime getting leads on the case. According to a screenshot of an email that was posted on social media, the threat targeted a class on the first floor of Visual Arts building D, leading to a professor of art to cancel class. The name of the professor who was initially targeted was not released. CSUF PD later dismissed the threat after the anonymous writer emailed the professor back, regretting the original message and claiming that it was worded poorly on his part and that it referred to the Nintendo Direct announcement happening then.
Willey also said the email was signed under the pseudonym Mario from the popular Nintendo game series, Super Mario Brothers. CSUF PD is working in coalition with the Orange County Information Assessment Center to find the person who sent the email. “We are assuming that it is a student; we are still trying to verify that,” Capt. Willey said. Because there was no threat of death or grave bodily injury, the person who sent that email will not face criminal charges or arrest. The interim department chair of visual arts, James Hussar, declined to comment due to the ongoing investigation. Although the threat was later regarded as a joke, the Pilipinx American Student Association, or PASA, canceled their Aking Kapamilya mixer, which aimed to welcome new members and help them get comfortable with the organization. AJ De Guzman, the president of PASA, met with his executive board and academic chair and decided to cancel their event. “Reading the email it seems like a bad joke but after talking with my e-board and talking with the academic chair we don’t want to put any of our members at risk so we decided to cancel it,” De Guzman said. Despite the fact that this threat was not real, there are several steps that the university can take to respond. In the case of a credible threat, the university president, in collaboration with CSUF PD and the vice president, could close the campus, such as in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the case of an active emergency, such as an active shooter, CSUF PD has the ability to put a shelter in place, enforcing a blanket order for everyone to go indoors and hide. Willey said that CSUF PD is equipped with all the necessary resources to deal with active emergencies and threats.
Volume 113 Issue 04
Fullerton Fire Department to raise pay despite deficit
CARLOS CORDOVA / DAILY TITAN
The Fullerton Fire Department will receive $1.8 million next year for staff salaries following a new agreement with the city.
NOLLYANNE DELACRUZ Editor
The Fullerton city council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to increase the Fullerton Fire Department’s salaries by 22% over the next four and a half years, adding to the city’s multi-million deficit. The agreement will cost over $530,000 for the rest of this fiscal year, $1.8 million for the next fiscal year, $2.8 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, $3.3 million for the 20252026 fiscal year and $3.8 million for the last year of the agreement. “We don’t have the budget to pay for this, at least not right now,” said Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung. Fullerton councilmember Ahmad Zahra said these salary increases are meant to stabilize the fire department and fill the vacancies through
employee retention and hiring. According to the Fullerton City Council Agenda report, the salaries for all fire department employees increased by 8% in January of this year. There is an expected incremental increase of 4% in July 2023 and 2024. Fullerton firefighters' salaries will increase by an additional 3% in 2025 and 2026. This newly-approved agreement has superseded the former agreement that would end on June 30 this year. Jung said the benefit of having the fire department remain locally funded is because they are a consistent group of people that are responsible to Fullerton residents. “I think it is important, for not only our services long-term, but absolutely in the short-term, that we kept Fullerton fire. And I’m glad we did,” Jung said. “I’m glad we were able to keep our firefighters. I think that’s only going to turn out to be great.”
The new agreement also adjusted the positions of fire department staff and their benefits and pensions. Zahra expressed his concern in funding the new contract with the fire department during the meeting. “We’re never going to properly give our firefighters dignity and also to provide the adequate services we need for our residents because we're always going to be playing catch up,” Zahra said. Fullerton city manager, Eric Levitt said the new contract with the firefighters will be funded through the general fund and that they are building next year’s budget to accommodate the salary increase. “The budget will be able to accommodate it this year, and next year, we’re putting it in the budget,” Levitt said. SEE DEBT 3
Privacy worries lead revision of recording policy SINCLAIR ANDRUSKA Editor
The Academic Senate is in the process of revising Cal State Fullerton’s policy regarding students rights’ to record or distribute class materials. The latest revision would require students to have explicit written consent from an instructor to record audio or video course activities and additional consent from classmates to publicly share the materials. The policy, which underwent multiple revisions at the Academic Senate meeting on Feb. 2, will include accommodations for students registered with Disability Support Services. VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM
Lori Palmerton, the director of Disability Support Services, said she is currently involved in the revision process, and she wants to ensure there are provisions for students with disabilities in the new policy. Senator Jon Bruschke, a professor of human communications, said the senate is leaning toward a ban on any recording in class, unless a student has accommodations from DSS or has received explicit written consent from an instructor. The Student Academic Life Committee, an Academic Senate committee responsible for reviewing policies regarding academic advice and retention of students and ensuring students rights are included in university policies, will
be in charge of editing the policy and providing the new version to the senate. This includes the recommendations made by senators at the meeting to be included in the new policy. The current university policy states that students may not make their class content publicly accessible without written consent of both the instructor and students in the class. Students who receive permission to record class through DSS must sign the university recording and transcription agreement. It requires students to delete class recordings at the end of the semester, and prohibits sharing or recording class materials without written consent of the instructor.
Senator Rosario Ordóñez-Jasis, a professor of literacy and reading education, mentioned a concern involving students recording lectures to share outside of class, such as recording an instructor’s lecture and sharing it online. “I think that an emphasis, or re-emphasis, on recording lectures given that in many states there are laws that are protecting students from recording, actually encouraging to record to show political bias, and that’s still a major issue,” Ordóñez-Jasis said. Freddi Bruschke, a lecturer in geology, said in a phone interview that they have had students counter them on topics that are “not controversial
but controversial” that could be taken out of context. “I’ve definitely had students who, in tests, when they start talking about the age of the earth — or climate change, or the Big Bang, or evolution — I’ve had students who start challenging me from what seem to be scripts that are ‘anti those things,’” Freddie Bruschke said. “And I know that people are concerned about being recorded, and then doxxed just teaching basic science.” The senate has yet to decide if all students may have to sign the agreement before they can record in class. The Academic Senate will return to meet Thursday, following the Student Academic Life committee meeting on Tuesday. FOLLOW US: @THEDAILYTITAN