Outcasts strike back: The pen mighter than the A.S.I. pocketbook

Our View

The knife entering the flesh was the report that the journalism department would not be recommended for accreditation renewal, due mostly to lack of money, which seriously hurts the quality of the journalism program.

The plunging and twisting of the knife, deep in the cut, was the Instructionally Related Activities board's recommendation that the journalism department not get a penny of IRA funds, which come from student fees.

The rubbing of vinegar-soaked, crushed Frito corn chips onto the wound was Cal State Long Beach President Robert Maxson going along with the IRA board and not awarding the journalism department any money.

Many people do not get what they want. Many people can only grumble to their friends and loved ones the frustrations they feel when they do not get what they want.

But some people, such as Howard Stern and the editors of the Daily Forty-Niner, get a forum to grumble to the world: the media! When Stern does not get what he wants, namely the FCC off his back, he rants and raves to the millions of listeners who have their stations tuned on to him.

Well, WE DIDN'T GET WHAT WE WANTED, WE'RE TICKED OFF AND WE ARE GOING TO RANT AND RAVE TO THE THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS ON CAMPUS, WHO (hopefully) ARE TUNED INTO OUR PAPER.

We think CSULB, namely Maxson and Associated Student Inc. President Carl Kemp, are out to get us.

We understand Kemp's hostility toward us. He is government and government hates media.

Also, as student body president, he is ultimately in charge of the Union, our often-antagonistic rival paper on campus. He also seems to have a personal agenda that is fixated on cultural diversity at the expense of other programs, but we'll get into that in another editorial. So, we forgive Kemp, sort of.

The enemy, unless he is in need of free publicity, that confuses us is Maxson. CSULB is his school. Everything on this campus is a reflection of him.

If a meteor hit The Pyramid and left a hole the size of a Mazda Miata, we do not imagine him allowing the crater to remain. It would be unseemly.

The Daily Forty-Niner is a symbol of CSULB every bit as tangible as The Pyramid. Why, then, does he allow the Daily Forty-Niner to often publish an embarrassing, meager four pages?

We are the paper of record for CSULB. Our paper prepares writers, editors and photographers for the real world. We cover the news on campus.

But we are at the mercy of advertisers. Usually, we sell enough ads to publish a respectable eight-page paper. When the ads do not come in, we publish an anemic four-page paper, hardly the pride of a university such as ours. Maxson could have discouraged his pals at the Grunion Gazette, a weekly newspaper/shopper, from distributing their paper on campus.

After all, they are going after the same advertisers we are. He did not. He laid out the red carpet for them. Maxson could have approved funds for the paper that would have guaranteed an eight-page paper. He did not. He gave us $0.

In fact, if one were to study the summary of IRA allocations, one would think Maxson has a problem with academics. Academics Ñ programs such as archeology, biology, geology and French Ñ received approximately five percent of IRA funds. Maxson loves sports, though. Sports, Athletics and Recreation secured a whopping 50 percent of IRA funds.

Cultural diversity received $100,000 Ñ 20 times more than the High Tech Center received. We are going into the 21st century, one would think the Solar Car Project, which received $15,000 ($40,000 less than dance) would be better funded.

But enough about them, what about us? Why would the Daily Forty-Niner, the only organization on the list of IRA allocations that serves the entire campus, get nothing?

So, in our best Howard Sternism, WE'D LIKE SOME ANSWERS. AND DO NOT GIVE US THE BALONEY THAT STUDENTS DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH INPUT IN THE PAPER. THE PAPER IS WRITTEN BY STUDENTS, EDITED BY STUDENTS AND FILLED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUDENTS. WE CHOOSE EVERYTHING FROM WHAT CARTOONS RUN TO WHAT EVENT TO PROMOTE. THIS SEMESTER, MORE THAN 240 STUDENT-WRITTEN STORIES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED.

SO, FORGET THE ANSWERS; SHOW US THE MONEY.