San Francisco Foghorn

              FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS
VOL. 105       ISSUE 5
A student checks out
Anne Cherian's new book "A
Good Indian Wife," a humorous account of arranged
marriages. Cherian came to
campus last week to discuss
the novel.
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Anna Shajirat shows
her support for the USFFA during contract negotiations for higher wages,
heath care benefits and
child care facilities.
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Senior instrumentalists
Sky Madden and Nicholas
Minnott bring you the band
of the month, The Lonely H.
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Intramural sports started this
weekend at Negoesco Stadium
while the volleyball team walked
away with an undefeated weekend including an exciting game
against Penn.
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FOGHORN.USFCA.EDU
Admin Eager to Resume Negotiations
Federal Mediator Called in to Help Move the Process Forward
HUNTER PATTERSON
StaffWriter
USF President Fr. Stephen Privett S.J.
announced last Friday in a letter to the
University community that the administration has invited the USF Faculty Association to partake in further contract negotiations, facilitated by a federal mediator.
The letter, posted on USFConnect and
reprinted on page four of the Opinion
section, comes in response to last week's
USFFA informational picketing on campus, as well as the lead article in last week's
Foghorn, which failed to represent the
University's position in the contract negotiation process.
In the letter, Privett said the University
respects the faculty and their right to informational picketing and that through
negotiations the two sides have "made
substantial progress" in coming to terms
on the next faculty employment contract.
James Wiser, USF provost and vice
president, said that since negotiations
started early this summer, the two parties
have reached agreement or are close to
agreement on 16 issues including healthcare benefits, childcare subsidy and mortgage and rental assistance, but have yet to
agree on the terms for salary increases and
retirement benefits.
USFFA President and USF Professor of
History Elliot Neaman said, "It is true that
we are close on a good number of issues,
but the most important items, the two that
really matter, we are not."
Last week while picketing around campus, the USFFA circulated pamphlets
highlighting its major gripes with the University in the negotiation process, including the administration's refusal to provide
an on-site childcare facility and a proposed
salary increase that fails keeps pace with
inflation, read the flyer.
"They dragged their feet all summer, we
tried over and over again to get them to
move from their original position, particularly on salary, but they stuck to the same
or close to the same positions from May
Melissa Stihl/Foghorn
USF Professor of History Elliot Neaman teaches a class in Lone Mountain earlier this
week. Neaman is president of the USF Faculty Association which is currently negotiating
new faculty contracts with the University.
to the end of July, when negotiating traditionally pauses," said Neaman.
Neaman told the Foghorn that the administration can afford to offer faculty better pay and benefits, and said, "The union
has never done anything to harm the university, but now is a time of economic surplus for the university, and they should be
passing that on to us." The flyer also said
the University had run "large surpluses in
10 out of the past 11 years," including $43
million in 2007.
However, USF Vice Provost and Associate Professor of Accounting Salvador
Aceves said the university has not experi
encing nearly as much of a surplus as the
USFFA claims. Aceves said the operating
surplus in last year's budget was only $5
million. Of the $40 million surplus in net
wealth mentioned by Privett in his annual
convocation address, Aceves said, "Some
of this is available to us and some of this
is frankly in accounts that have to be preserved for a particular purpose." Much of
the $40 million surplus comes from appreciation in physical assets including land
holdings, which "does not translate directly
into expendable dollars, unless we want to
FACULTY: Continued on Page 2
Only 5% of Students Vote in ASUSF Elections
Hunter Patterson/Foghorn
Corine Hernandez (left) and Hannah Dekay volunteer at an ASUSF voting booth
outside the Market Cafe. Despite conveniently located polling places and enthusiastic
staff, voter turnout was extremely low, as in past ASUSF elections.
KAMILLA NOSOVITSKAYA
CHELSEA M. STERLING
Staff Writers
The Associated Students of USF elections are over, but the question remains:
what happened? The voter turnout this
semester was only five percent, down
roughly eight percent from last year. It was
the goal of the Senate and the Electoral
Governing Board to inspire more students
to vote, presenting the marketing slogan
of "Change Your School, Then Change
Your Country." The ballot also included
an optional question where students could
report if they were registered to vote and
which candidate they are voting for. Other
publicity efforts included election stickers,
posters and handouts with the link to vote
online.
Alia Al-Sharif, vice president of social
justice, said that although Senate is not
in charge of the elections, many Senate
members volunteered to work at the voting
booth, which was set up outside of the cafeteria. Being only months away from the
presidential election in the United States,
there were high hopes for that enthusiasm
leading to higher voter turnout in the campus elections. In response to the low turnout, Al-Sharif said, "Students don't think
that their vote counts. Student apathy has
a direct correlation to low voter turnout."
Despite a disappointing turnout
from the student body, the conclusion of
the elections last Thursday has left the
senate with the motivation to bring improvements to the campus, students, and
faculty. Al-Sharif said that Senate's major goal this year is to unite the student
body by "[encouraging] collaboration
amongst clubs to turn out bigger and better events." Although participation within
clubs is high, there is an inclusive attitude
and oftentimes clubs don't co-host events,
which limits outside involvement from
students. Alexandra Piatt, student body
president, commented, "We have discussed the fact that there is a lack of spirit
within the student body, and each senator wants to invest time to improve that."
The election results filled all of the
empty positions on senate with the exception of two non-traditional age representatives, and one school of nursing representative. Al-Sharif explained that the
non-traditional age representative seats
are challenging to fill, because that demographic is very small. In addition, the seat
for the school of nursing representative is
hard to fill because the nursing curriculum
is rigid and time consuming. Another open
position, senior class representative was
filled by write-in candidate, Ben Kerelian.
There were also several changes that were
approved by a majority vote of the student
body including changes to the constitution, changing the title of the vice president of social justice to the vice president
of mission and adding an LGBTQ_repre-
sentative position. The approved changes
will go into practice next year, and will
be included in the spring 2009 elections.
ASUSF intends to not only unite the
student body but also bring freedom and
expression to the university. Piatt said,
"I'm personally very excited to have these
changes approved. It speaks volumes of our
diversity, especially at a Jesuit university, to
have the possibility for an LGBTQjepre-
sentative on senate, and providing another
outlet for communication and expression."
OCTOBER. 2 2008
Judaic Studies
Minor Garners
International
Recognition
Renamed and Revamped
Program Now Emphasizes
Social Justice within the
Jewish Religion and Culture
LEIGH CUEN
StaffWriter
The Judaic studies minor at USF has
been gaining attention by offering controversial courses that focus on modern issues
like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. USF's
Judaic studies minor was founded by the
Swig family over 30 years ago, a historic
addition that made USF the first Catholic
university to offer one. Now, department
chair Aaron Hahn Tapper has made history once again, revamping the program to
include an emphasis on social justice, and
renaming it Judaism and social justice.
Tapper's own experience with Judaism
and social justice began when he founded
the organization Abraham's Vision, which
unites and educates young Jews, Muslims,
Israelis and Palestinians in hopes of creating more understanding between the
groups for a more peaceful future. The
program has received numerous awards,
including recognition from former president Bill Clinton in the Clinton Global
Initiative conference.
The new minor has made USF the talk
of Jewish world news, attracting media
attention from publications such as The
Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, Forward Newspaper, the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, and even the Jerusalem Post, which heralded it as "the first
academic program of it's kind in the coun-
try.
USF Hillel President Stacy Petersohn, a
senior, says she chose to attend USF solely
for the Judaic studies minor in hopes of
fulfilling her dream of becoming a rabbi,
and is thrilled with direction the new
program has taken. "To me Judaism has
always contained social justice... there is a
whole civic law in the Torah for social justice," said Petersohn. "But I think adding
social justice to the classes gives a deeper
understanding of Judaism as a religion."
Judaism, Jewish texts and social justice,
a core course in the program, utilizes San
Francisco's vibrant Jewish community by
bringing in prominent Jewish activists
from around the Bay Area as guest speakers. One such guest speaker, rabbi Lee
Bycel of America Jewish World Service,
has already recruited Petersohn for his organization, which offers Jewish students
the opportunity to spend a week in January 2009 volunteering in Central America.
Petersohn is most excited about the
opportunity to study Kaballah, or Jewish
Mysticism, next semester under renowned
Bay Area scholar, rabbi Lawrence Kush-
ner, who has previously taught courses at
the Graduate Theological University in
Berkeley. The minor also offers courses
on Jewish culture, Jewish-Christian relations, Jewish-Muslim relations and intensive Hebrew classes with an emphasis on
Biblical Hebrew. During the summer, the
Ulpan San Francisco program allows anyone to enroll in a non-credit, three week
Hebrew class. The program is already turning heads for some controversial course
offerings: Professor Tapper, in collaboration with USF politics professor and head
of the new Middle Eastern studies minor,
Stephen Zunes, recently applied for and
received funding from the Jesuit Foundation Grant in order to create a course focusing on Jewish social activism's elephant
in the room: Palestine. The course, to be
offered this spring, will focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a social justice perspective rather than a historical or
religious lens.
Until then, students craving Tapper's
brand of educational nourishment can
attend any of the four lecture series he is
hosting in November. Topics include the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict on American
university campuses and anti-Semitism in
the Bay Area.
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