San Francisco Foghorn

              FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS
VOL. 106       ISSUE 9
The Politics Society will
host an event with TOMS
Shoes on Dec 8. Students
will decorate their shoes and
learn about the company.
JS
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Eric Fischer argues that
the proposed class schedule
change will improve student
learning.
 OPINION
Hi
PAGE 4
Style connoiseur Addysen
Trumper shares her fashion expertise as she lists ways to dress
festively this holiday season.
JiCE
Men's Basketball loses
two close games againt non-
divison opponents Montana
State and Colorado State.
SPORTS
PA
PAGE 10
Sky Madden and Chris
Moore investigate the
overwhelmingly transient
trajectory of electro-hause
music. The podcast considers new cuts from Vitalic,
Boys Noize and other seminal artists under question.
FOGHQ
TheFoahornOnline.com
DECEMBER 3, 2009
Proposed Schedule Change Frees Classroom Space
Melissa Stihl/Foghorn
Junior Kevin Kunze (far right) organized a protest to gather signatures for a petition opposing the proposed schedule.
ERICKA MONTES
StaffWriter
"Sign this petition, you with the USF
shirt!" could be heard across Harney Plaza
last Wednesday, Nov. 11, as three student
protesters urged passersby to sign a petition to protest the new class schedule announced by James L. Wiser, provost and
vice president for academic affairs.
Junior Kevin Kunze organized the protest, after a number of professors expressed
their discontent with the new class schedule, announced in a Nov. 3 message to
faculty. "If professors are complaining, it
should be a serious concern for students,"
he said.
Wiser proposed that a Monday-
Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday
schedule format would replace the existing
Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday-Thurs
day schedule beginning in the fall 2010
semester, which has been in place for the
last eight years.
Converting twice-a-week courses into
three days would make each class run
about 50 minutes. In the email to faculty,
he said the new schedule was formed in
response to the space problem that the
university has been facing. Many professors were given classrooms with inadequate space for their class size, forcing
them to resort to lounges or library rooms,
or no classrooms were found at all.
Wiser said the new class schedule will
allow an additional 180 course sections
on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and 60
sections on Tuesday-Thursday. "At the beginning of the fall 2009 term we had approximately 40 course sections without
classrooms," Wiser said.
After student complaints circulated,
Wiser sent out a message to the university
on Nov. 12, explaining that the new schedule format starting in the fall 2010 semester
was a proposed plan, not a final resolution.
Wiser said at a November Policy Board
Meeting with faculty that the message was
intended to eradicate students' misconceptions on the class schedule proposal.
Yet amongst students, the proposed
plan has not been taken lightly. After only
an hour out in Harney Plaza, Kunze said he
accumulated about 7 pages worth of signatures. He has since continued to ask anyone
who crosses his path to sign the petition,
eventually gathering over 600 signatures.
Rebecca Waterhouse was one of many
students who signed the petition. "It's less
logical making people take Friday classes,"
she said, since many students commute and
would have to come on Fridays for only a
50-minute class.
Students are concerned about the short
time frame, since "50 minutes is going back
to high school," Maggie Gehegan said, but
also about the flow of information. Gehegan said "I was annoyed that [the administration] didn't tell the students."
Senior class representative John Coon
stopped by the protest, but chose not to
sign the petition. "The way it is labeled, I'm
not comfortable signing the document," he
SCHEDULE: Continued on Page 2
USF Neighbor Opposes
Removal of Cypress Trees
LAURA PLANTHOLT
StaffWriter
Tall trees are rare in big cities like San
Francisco. Three such tall trees, native species Monterey Cypresses, have stood on
USF property by the corner of Golden
Gate and Masonic for over 70 years, and
have grown to be 80-90 feet tall. Now, USF
is fighting to remove these trees. However, one concerned neighbor is organizing
against this process. He believes that these
trees'lives can be saved, and is protesting at
an upcoming city hearing.
Glenn Loomis, director of community relations and chair of the USF Green
Team, says the trees are getting taller, are
top-heavy, and are possibly diseased. These
conditions increase their risk for falling
over in heavy winds, which would make
them a potential danger to any people or
property in their path.
Loomis is pushing for the trees' removal because he is afraid of the danger that
would come from them falling. Because
the trees are positioned on a slope and the
winds blow in from the Pacific Ocean to
the west, it is likely that trees would fall
right into Masonic Avenue. Loomis said,
"That's four to five lanes of traffic depending on the time of day. It's very heavily
traveled. We're concerned that someone
will b» injured, or worse."
Normally, Loomis said, USF does not
ask permission from the city when trees
on university property are removed. However, when trees lie within 10 feet of city
property, they must seek city approval and
notify neighbors. One such neighbor took
issue with these trees being removed, in his
opinion without reasonable cause.
Curtis Speck, the concerned neighbor,
is not just an impartial passerby. Speck has
been invested in USF's foliage for over ten
years. He began a garden on a plot of USF's
land, located behind the ROTC building,
in 1995. Speck has a spiritual reverence
for nature and plants, and gardens at USF
about four mornings a week. Speck said
TREES: Continued on Page 2
Akima Brackeen/Foghorn
Chioke Walker congratulates Prince Charming pageant winner Peter Smith.
Sorority Hosts First Scholarship
Pageant Awards Sophomore $1,000
SAN FRANCISCO FOGHORN
Chelsea Sterling/Foghorn
This Monterrey Cypress tree, on the corner of Golden Gate and Masonic, is one of
three that stands to be cut down, pending a city hearing to be held in February.
2130 FULTON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 941 IS
JOHN ARNOS
StaffWriter
Five male students competed for a
S 1,000 scholarship at the Prince Charming Pageant to help further pursue their
education. Osekalome Akhile, Amandi
Emen, Emeka Nwadiba, Peter Smith, and
Chioke Walker came from USF, San Francisco State University and San Jose State
University to compete in a swimsuit contest, talent contest, and a question and answer segment for the $1,000 scholarship.
At the end of the pageant, Peter Smith, a
USF sophomore, won the grand prize.
Kendra Liljenquist, USF senior and
member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc-
USF's historically African American sorority that organized the pageant- said
that the event is about "Recognizing an
outstanding male in the black community
and rewarding him to further pursue his
education." She said that the criteria for
the males to be selected were based off of
a minimum G.P.A. of 2.5 and community
service. Liljenquist said males were selected
from other schools because Alpha Kappa
Alpha Inc. "wanted to recognize others
in the black community." Lijenquist said
that the organization raised money for the
scholarship by doing fundraising at Chevy's
restaurant and that additional organizations donated money.
Didi Amene, a USF senior and member
of Alpha Kappa Inc., said that the fraternity sold tables at the pageant to organizations and individuals for $25. In addition,
the law firm where Alpha Kappa Alpha
Inc. president Courtney Ball works also
donated money.
Amene said that they spread the word
for the pageant on Facebook and handed
out fliers at USF, San Francisco State University and San Jose State University. She
PAGEANT: Continued on Page 3
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