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Newsmakers is published in CampusMemo on the last Monday of each month during the academic year by the Office of Public Affairs at SFSU. 415/338-1665.
Send submissions to: pubnews@sfsu.edu. Please include a contact person and extension.
Note: To reach an extension from off-campus, dial 415/33-and the extension.
Attacking educational inequality
The Cesar E. Chavez Institute's forum on inequality in American education was featured in a story in the March 28 San Francisco Chronicle. The forum, also supported by SFSU's College of Education and The Civil Rights Project of Harvard University, drew top experts on educational inequality. "We wanted to do this on the eve of [Chavez'] birthday," College of Ethnic Studies Dean Tomas Almaguer told the Chronicle."He was emblematic of what we're doing." Rafael Dìaz, director of the Institute, said that much of social inequality in society becomes replicated in educational systems. "Poor kids tend to get the worst teachers, the fewest resources, the lowest expectations. But schools are also a very good place to address these inequalities," he said.
Budget cuts challenge higher education
In an April 14 opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, President Robert A. Corrigan commented on the California fiscal crisis and the importance of funding public higher education. He wrote that the size of the state's budget deficit is dwarfed by the magnitude of demographic trends. Five years from now, President Corrigan wrote, the United States will graduate the largest public school class in its history and next year alone, the CSU system will absorb growth almost as large as the entire SFSU campus. "As California's lawmakers grapple with the onerous task of figuring out how to pay today's bills, it is only reasonable to ask higher education to share the pain," President Corrigan wrote. "Our message to legislators is clear: Make the cuts as you must, but make them small and short-term. Public universities will need to rebound quickly and respond to historic demands for a college degree."
In an April 15 story on KPIX-TV, Charles Haase, assistant professor of economics, reviewed the economic and political backdrop for the Bush administration's tax-cut plan. "A tax cut would surely help the economy, especially in the long run," he said. But he added that "in order to keep the deficits under control, you need to cut the spending as well," something he has not yet seen in the administration's proposal. Yet Haase was confident that President Bush would not repeat what was widely seen as his father's biggest political gaffe, approving a tax hike after his 1988 campaign vow of "Read my lips: no new taxes."
Move over Hollywood and Vine, another intersection is making a name for itself in the entertainment world. The new independent record label, 19th & Holloway Records, received feature play in the music industry newsweekly Billboard on April 26. Creating and launching the label is part of the three-credit course, "Independent Record Labels: A-Z," offered by the College of Extended Learning. Lecturer C. Michael Brae told Billboard that students are responsible for all aspects of producing the hip-hop compilation, "This Is Your Brain on Hip-Hop," over the course of 16 weeks. All students helped select Bay Area artists to appear on the CD. The business side is broken into prescribed areas of responsibility, including operations, A&R, marketing, sales, promotion and publicity, Billboard wrote. "These kids, they are not sleeping," Brae said. "They are on top of it."
Nuremberg transcripts donated to Jewish Studies
Original transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials were recently donated to the Jewish Studies Program, reported the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28. After the transcripts arrived, Jewish Studies Acting Director Marc Dollinger shared them with Volker Langbehn, assistant professor of German. "It dawned on me that in only 60 years, a descendant of World War II Germans and a Jewish scholar can speak to one another as academics excited about this find, discussing how we might incorporate it into our classes … It took my breath away," Dollinger said. The story also ran in several other outlets across the country.
Northern California is likely to be hit harder by the recession than Southern California, according to Philip King, associate professor and chair of economics. In an April 28 story on KRON-TV, King suggested there is greater economic volatility in the Bay Area due to the prevalence of high-tech companies in the area. He said industries important to the southern part of the state, including tourism and entertainment, "are relatively less hurt by a downturn in the economy. People are still going to go to movies. People are still going to go to the beach."
Rare oysters settle back in Bay
A tiny oyster that once blanketed the San Francisco Bay but was harvested to near extinction is making a slow comeback under a broad effort to restore the native mollusk. According to experts, including Romberg Tiburon Center research scientist Michael McGowan, the oyster plays a vital role in the bay ecosystem, filtering and cleaning the water and providing habitat for other marine life. "We think bringing back Olympia oysters to their historic population levels will have an impact on the water quality," said McGowan in an April 28 San Francisco Chronicle story about the program.
News that a small, independent Sausalito agency won a major Dell Computer Corp. marketing contract is "very significant … particularly in this economy" said marketing Professor Jeff Saperstein in the April 29 Marin Independent Journal. "It reinforces the idea that intellectual capital is the most important resource of any region,"he said.
To alert Public Affairs staff to appearances by SFSU faculty, staff and programs in the print and electronic news media: call Ext. 8-1665 or send e-mail to pubnews@sfsu.edu
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Last modified May 5, 2003, by the Office
of Public Affairs