Rehabilitation through Active Participation

After leaving Louisiana seven years ago, CSULB psychology professor, Christopher Warren will be returning to New Orleans this spring break to help reconstruct his old community.

Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana in August 2005. Warren  had to evacuate New Orleans during his last year of graduate school. He eventually made his way to CSULB in 2006.

Warren teaches a class at CSULB called: Politics of Disaster. The class focuses on civic engagement and the power encompassed by church level constituents all the way up to the president.

“It’s [the class] the most meaningful thing I’ve done at CSULB as a professor,” Warren said.

The class is going strong. In its seventh year, an application process is involved in the selection of students for the class. “There are usually more applicants than spots, that’s for sure,” said Warren.

This spring break, Warren will once again take his students to New Orleans and will work in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes in some of the most leveled communities. Warren notes those typically interested in the class are student leaders who are attracted to public health.

“Water runs away from the rich,” Warren said in regards to who the hurricane severely affected. “It’s mostly minorities and elderly that need our help.”

Culture at a Cost

The American Indian Studies department at CSULB is on the verge of downsizing--yet there continues to be a growing interest for the annual CSULB Pow Wow event on campus.

Current student enrollment for the American Indian Studies program on campus roughly holds about 170-180 students according to Troy Johnson, the American Indian Studies’ program director. CSULB holds an average of 35,557 enrolled students according to Rand California.

The American Indian Studies program itself does not offer a major within its discipline because the school cannot afford more classes for such a small number of students. The department offers a minor and certificate in American Indian studies.

“If the California tax increase does not get passed, there may be a new realignment of departments,” said Johnson, “into one grouped department relating to ethnic studies.”

This may be comprised of the Africana Studies, the Asian and Asian-American Studies, the Chicano and Latino Studies and the American Indian Studies. “We don’t want that,” said Johnson.

The potential realignment is due to a lack of enrollment and a lack of financial support. The department’s numbers do not reflect the turnout from the 42 annual American Indian Pow Wow. The event obtained higher attendance this year compared to previous years, according to vendors from the event.

“It is rather amazing to consider that one of the oldest and largest continuously running student sponsored campus events, with over six-thousand people in attendance, is organized by a few members of one of the smallest student populations at CSULB,” said Craig Stone, an American Indian Studies’ professor and liaison for this year’s Pow Wow event.

An Ordinary Teacher with an Extraordinary Experience

A CSULB Alumna, Erin Gruwell screened a documentary at the Carpenter Center on Monday which illustrated her journey of teaching 150 at-risk students from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA.

The documentary was entitled Stories From the Undeclared War where Gruwell's former students talk about their gang-affiliations, abuse and the support that Gruwell supplied.  The purpose of the documentary is to teach professionals in education about overlooked students and the stories they posses. 

"May you teach one to teach another," Gruwell said in regards to getting teenagers off the streets and into classrooms. 

From the four years that Gruwell taught at Wilson, her class collectively published The Freedom Writers Diary, detailing the struggles of their lives. The book has sold more than one million copies and has been republished in eight different languages. 

Erin Gruwell's actions also inspired a 21 million dollar movie called The Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank. 

Drawing the Line(s)

The topic of stifling expressions facilitated three days of conferences at CSULB were scholars explored the occurrences of censorship within America.

The event was entitled “Drawing the Line(s): Censorship and Cultural Practices,” and was orchestrated by the department of Comparative World Literature and Classics. The event gathered academic scholars and practitioners in order to discuss censorship. Material covered pertained to movies, the first amendment and many other topics. Admission was free.

“This conference will show the students that what the faculty members do on a scholarly level begins at their level,” said Nhora Serrano, a conference organizer from the department of Comparative Literature and Classics.

At the conference, the subject of censorship and children was a repeating motif. Samantha Rosso, a CSULB student wrote a paper entitled: “Keeping it PG: Making Myths More Appropriate.” Rosso talked about the editing of classic Greek and Roman myths in order to make them suitable for children.

“It’s a tragedy to a child’s appropriate journey,” Rosso said about censorship and the alterations made to the moral lessons of Hercules, Aphrodite, and Zeus.

Jason Schulman, a graduate student from Emory University wrote a paper entitled: “The Red Flag Case Revisited: Young Communists and the First Amendment,” where he addressed issues of censorship in the context of protecting American children.

“Censorship is all about power dynamics, who makes the rules, who has the power, because the line is artificial,” Schulman said. When Schulman read his paper, he talked of an American summer camp teacher, Yetta Stromberg, whose prosecution derived from the raising of a communist flag at a youth camp in California.

Schulman notes that the Supreme Court determined Stromberg had her first amendment rights violated when the state tried to fulfill its motive to censor children from communist influences.

The connection between American history and censorship was abundant at the conference. This year was the 47^th consecutive Comparative Literature Conference on campus, making it the longest running event at CSULB. The event took place in the Anatol Building, March 1^st through the 3^rd, with a collection of nearly 80 speakers.