Volume 56, Number 12    November 3, 2008         

Politics and economics
In an Oct. 24 Oakland Tribune article, Professor of History Robert Cherny discussed the current economic downturn and its impact on political demographics. Cherny said the increase in the polls for Democrats is because of a tendency for voters to trust Democrats on economic issues and is not related to a lasting political realignment. Since 1968, "all of these presidents have failed to really cement a group of voters to their party to give them a clear national majority," Cherny said. "It may happen this time around if this crisis proves serious enough, but it's my guess it's not going to happen...I'm skeptical that political parties will ever again play the kind of role they played before the rise of television."

A change of heart
In an Oct. 24 San Francisco Chronicle article, Betty Blecha said, "When ideologues find their ideology crashing around them, it's something to see." noted Blecha, a professor of economics, commented on Federal Reserve Chairman Allen Greenspan and his appearance before Congress to discuss current financial crisis. Greenspan had long favored free-markets and was considered the ultimate central banker of his time, but his recent contradictions have many questioning the philosophy that had guided him to become the "world's most powerful economic policymaker." "When I watched him this morning, I actually found myself feeling a little bit sorry for him," Blecha said. "He was intellectually honest about admitting the failings of an ideology he's believed in all his adult life. I think personally this has been a very difficult period for him."

Commemorating the strike
An Oct. 26 San Francisco Chronicle article detailed the story behind the SF State student-led strike and its impact on SF State 40 years later. The strike led to the founding of the College of Ethnic Studies. "When you say Kent State, I think of anti-war protests. When you say free speech, I think of UC Berkeley. If you say multi-ethnic struggles, it is San Francisco State," Kenneth Monteiro, dean of San Francisco State's College of Ethnic Studies, said. "This was one of the watershed events, that blast that opened the doors. It wasn't that the other struggles weren't important, but this was the Normandy."

For more media coverage of faculty, staff, students, alumni and programs, see SF State in the News.

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Last modified Nov. 3, 2008 by University Communications.