 California's
Jews chronicled
A book about the history of California Jews co-edited by
Marc Dollinger, who holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman endowed
chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, was prominently
featured in the Nov. 14 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The book highlights lesser-known aspects of Jewish history
such as the influence of women, the efforts of Jews to help
the Japanese interned during World War II and the story of
how Gold Rush adventurers worked at assimilating into Bay
Area society. "Much of (this California history) is
omitted from most of what you'd call general history books
of Jewish history, which really means New York Jews," says
Dollinger.
Read the full San
Francisco Chronicle story.
After the fall of Baghdad
International relations professor Sanjoy Banerjee wrote a column
in the Nov. 10 issue of India Currents describing the fragile
relationship between the U.S. and Britain over the war in
Iraq. If Prime Minister Tony Blair falls out of power, Britain
will move away from the American camp and much closer to
the mainland European position, says Banerjee. He added that
for the first time in the last half millennium there is a
growing bond between France, Germany and Russia. France has
played the bad cop toward America in Iraq diplomacy while
Germany and Russia have played the good cops, but their objectives
are virtually identical. If Britain becomes at least an outside
supporter, this European coalition will emerge as a strong
counterweight to American power, certainly in the economic
and diplomatic dimensions, and even to a modest extent in
the military dimension, Banerjee concludes.
Read the full India
Currents story (also published in New
California Media).
Help is on the way for nursing shortage
The ongoing shortage of nurses in the Bay Area will get a shot
in the arm thanks to a $110 million donation by the Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation, according to a story in the Nov.
19 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. The foundation's
nursing initiative will expand nurse training programs at
universities and also help identify the specific nursing
practices that improve patient care. In the University's
School of Nursing, more than 400 people applied for 90 slots
in the nursing bachelor's degree program, and another 200
applied for 50 openings in the school's career-change program. "Our
waiting list doesn't really exist, because we just turn people
away. It's killing us," said the school's
director Beatrice Yorker. "Here we've been dying to
get qualified applicants into nursing. Now we have all these
people who want to come in, and we don't have room for them."
Read the full San
Francisco Chronicle story (also publishedin
the San
Jose Mercury News).
Garden of Remembrance
The University's Garden of Remembrance, a memorial recognizing
Japanese-American students sent to internment camps during
World War II, was featured on the Nov. 8 episode of Henry's
Garden, a television program on KRON 4-TV. Designed by renowned
Japanese-American artist, teacher and former camp internee
Ruth Asawa, the garden and waterfall are located between
Burk Hall and the Fine Arts building. "Ruth's
concept was that she wanted the historical documents, without
any interpretation, to be placed in the garden so students
at the Garden of Remembrance can have a place to reflect
and learn," said Carole Hayashino, associate vice president
of university development.
Read the KRON-4
TV story.
Minimum wage increase good news for immigrants
In the Nov. 6 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, Brian Murphy,
director of the Urban Institute of San Francisco State University,
commented on how the passage of Proposition L, the minimum
wage proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot, will benefit minorities
and immigrants. "People of color are disproportionately
represented in low-wage jobs in the city, so any increase
in the minimum or living wage would probably benefit by definition
low-income residents, and therefore impact neighborhoods
of greater poverty and low-wage income the most," said
Murphy.
Read the full San
Francisco Chronicle story.
The
future of "queer"
Caitlyn Ryan, director of adolescent health initiatives at
the Cesar Chavez Institute, was recently quoted by various
news outlets, including ABC News, Yahoo News, the Boston
Globe, and The (Lakeland, Fla.) Ledger, on how people use
and understand the word "queer." According to Ryan,
who is conducting a long-term survey of gay, lesbian and
bisexual youth and their families, queer will slowly lose
its negative connotation. ''It will take a long time to transition
into common use in middle America," she said, adding
the use of the word queer is most common among college students
and young adults in their 20s but rarely used by gay men
and lesbians older than 40 or among people who aren't white.
Read the full
stories.
Challenging U.S. human rights violations since 9/11
The Nov. 7 issue of the Berkeley Daily Planet profiled Ann
Fagan Ginger, activist, attorney and lecturer in global peace
studies. Ginger is also founder and director of Berkeley's
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute which played a leading
role in documenting human rights abuses and chronicled events
such as the Free Speech Movement. "The Institute and I
as a human being have been around a long time, and I am convinced
that since 9/11 we have seen the worst violation of civil rights
of my lifetime -- and that includes the McCarthy period," she
said.
Read the full Berkeley
Daily Planet story.
For more SFSU
people and programs in the news, see the SFSU
in the News page on SF State
News.
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