CSUN On Point

The news is important to a lot of us. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hard hitting piece about the Russia investigation, or the latest on a basketball player’s injury. People want reliable and current information.

“Journalism is fundamental to democracy,” freelance journalist Darlene Principe said. “I don’t think democracy can be successful without good journalism.”

But increasingly, newspapers are owned by chains not connected to the community of readers. For example, the company Digital First Media owns daily newspapers in 28 cities, along with weeklies in 48 cities, and many say this is not a positive development.

“I think, generally, the idea is that it’s a good thing for a local paper to be owned locally,” Los Angeles Times Reporter Tre’vell Anderson said.

“It’s small, local, community-type newspapers that are really ensuring that local governments aren’t corrupt,” Principe said.

“Families, parents and grandparents love to get the local newspaper,” former newspaper publisher and reporter Matt Thacker said. “You can see your kids and your grandkids [in the local newspaper], and there’s that whole community experience.”

“When you have newspapers that are owned by Wall Street bankers who have no connection to the places where the papers are located, it’s less likely that you’ll have quality journalism,” retired journalism professor Richard Hendrickson said.

Another issue facing newspapers is the availability of free information online. Some newspapers have been able to move their content online successfully, but others have not.

“Too many newspapers shy away from going online because it costs money,” CSUN Journalism Professor Benjamin Davis said. “They haven’t figured out how to make enough money to pay their reporters and to cover other costs that they have.”

According to the Pew Research Center, digital newspaper subscriptions at some major newspapers went up following the 2016 presidential election. For example The New York Times added half a million subscriptions in 2016.

But not all readers like online newspapers.

“There is some credibility,”  Thacker said, “with having an actual newspaper.”

“There’s something unique about print,” Principe said. “That allows you to cover something in a way that maybe [with] digital, you wouldn’t be able to.”

Another issue facing newspapers is the political divisiveness in the country, and the rise of what some call ‘fake news’. One way that people can combat fake news is to become media literate.

“I think more can be done on the media literacy tip,” Anderson said, “to ensure that, particularly [among] the people who are in the flyover states, who aren’t on the coasts, and who might not absorb as much news as we do on the coasts, that they are able to spot things that just don’t seem right.”

“You just have to be able to identify, or at least try and verify, whether something is credible or not,” Principe said.

Moderator: Son Ly

Producer: Karen Elle

Anchor: Kelcey Henderson

Social Media Editors: James Farr and Savannah Palacio

Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio

Almost one in ten California State University – Northridge students live in student housing.  

Most would agree that a positive experience living on campus is made possible with the support from residential advisors. R.A’s take on many different roles, and spend a significant amount of time getting to know the residents. The list of their responsibilities is long.

“Crisis management; conflict resolution; budgeting for events; financial managing; making sure that you’re building community; putting on programs on your floor; making sure you’re documenting incidents; and information and making sure things are communicated effectively,” said Alwayne Spencer, a former residential advisor at CSUN.

R.A’s at CSUN used to be compensated for their work through a stipend, and with free room and a meal plan, but, as of August 2017, the stipend was taken away. Now, many R.A’s and dorm residents are wondering why R.A’s are not getting paid for what they do.

“Our R.A, Taylor, does so much for us,” said a current CSUN housing resident who asked to remain anonymous. “He’s always there for us when we need him. Sometimes he gets phone calls at 6 a.m, telling him to unlock a door or something from the outside, and [now] he doesn’t even get payment for it.”

In fall 2017 a meeting was held to see how R.A’s can be better taken care of, and some R.A’s asked then if it would be possible to be paid more.

“…[CSUN] housing makes … around 3 to 8 million dollars a month on residents who are paying for housing,” said Spencer. “If we all get a raise, and get paid such and such an amount, it wouldn’t put a dent in housing’s budget.”

But instead of getting a raise, Spencer said residential advisors were informed, via email, that their stipends will be ending altogether.

“The Chancellor’s office sent a memo to HR in June,” said Melissa Giles, CSUN’s Associate Director of Residential Life. “It did ask all CSU housing departments to compensate student residential student leaders, R.A’s, mentors, with only in-kind compensation, [meaning] they removed the R.A classification from the classification standards, rending us unable to use it anymore.”

After the classification was taken away, R.A’s started receiving 200 dining dollars and 14 meals per week. But many R.A’s said that form of compensation was not enough, especially when their R.A stipend had been their only source of income, and they had been given no warning of the change.

“I think we did deserve a stipend, and it wasn’t clear why it was taken away,”  said a current residential advisor, who asked to remain anonymous.

“To me, [taking it away] was quite disrespectful,” Spencer said. “But also [the change] caught everyone by surprise, only because [the stipend system was] what R.A’s initially signed up for.” Spencer said he resigned from his position in protest.

Giles said CSUN had no alternative but to stop paying the R.A.s with a stipend. “By taking away the R.A classification, there was just no way to pay the R.A’s anymore,” she said.

Representatives from other CSU’s, such as San Diego State University and Humboldt State University, said they still paid their residential advisors.

“That is an option: to pay [them as] a student assistant,”Giles said. “[But] we were told in the memo very specifically that we couldn’t pay for R.A responsibilities. I can’t speak for other campuses and what their HR departments have advised, but we go with what our HR tells us.”

Still, many R.A.s and dorm residents said R.A.s are an important part of dorm life.

“We juggle a lot of residents, about 54 students on a floor, the average is probably 33,” Spencer said. “So I feel like we do a lot of work, so I believe that’s worth enough to get paid.”

Moderator: Daniel Martindale

Producer: Jade Davis

Anchor: Sammy Shaktah

Social Media Editor: Kaylee Fagan

Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Fagan, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro, Sammy Shaktah

Fad diets are diets that claim to help people with weight loss. There are several well known ones, such as the Paleo Diet, the Five Bite Diet, the Master Cleanse, Juicing, Gluten-free diets and many more.

“How do you spell diet?…and what are the first three letters of diet?” asked Professor Terri Lisagor from CSUN’s Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science Program. “Diets that we see in our society are built-in failures…When we are trying to give people advice, we want them to practice balance, variety, moderation, and exercise.”

She said the best way to get fit is by balancing the food groups, having variety in those food groups, not feeling guilty about food intake, and exercising.

Many of these diets do become trends. Seeing a celebrity endorsing something immediately makes people want to try it. There’s always an assumption that it’ll work. The truth is, nobody really knows if a fad diet will work unless real research and time is put into making sure all parts of a fad diet are understood. Extreme programs like the Master Cleanse can be particularly unhealthy.

“It can be really dangerous,” Certified Nutritionist Liz Voosen said. “You’re really just drinking, and not eating anything, and you can end up with all kinds of health problems. People actually pass out from it, because their blood sugar goes all wonky…” Learning how to eat right is essential; just juicing won’t fix anything. “You lose a couple of pounds, [and think] ‘hey that’s great!’, [but] you can’t sustain it,” Voosen said.

“I think we’re all searching for health,” Voosen said, “and we’re all searching for what is the right diet…[but fad diets] just don’t work and they don’t last.”

“People are looking for an easy fix,” Lisagor said.

Voosen and Lisagor said education, overall health and cultural preferences should be taken into consideration when trying to find ways to help people eat better.

Moderator: Melanie Rosales

Producer: Marissa Martinez

Anchor: Angela Bickmann

Social Media Editors: Karin Abcarians and Jesyka Dunn

Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Angela Bickmann, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales

Cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin, has been making headlines recently, but its true meaning isn’t well understood by the public.

“Bitcoin is basically a digital currency,” said Alula Zeryihun, a CSUN pre-accountancy student who organized CSUN’s Blockchain Summit last year.

Consumers can use this currency to send payments from peer to peer.

“A person can send money to another person without the need of a bank or any centralized authority to facilitate the transfer of the fund,” Zeryihun said.

But it would be difficult to explain bitcoin without talking about blockchain. Blockchain is a ledger, or a record-keeping mechanism. It’s a way of keeping a record of where, and to whom, bitcoin is sent.

Morgan Steckler, vice president of CoinIRA, said it’s important to note that there’re different types of block chains for Bitcoin.

Steckler said one of the advantages of using Bitcoin is being able to transfer money without having to go through a middleman such as a banking institution.

“You’re no longer tied to a bank account,” Steckler said. “You’re no longer controlled by these walls. You will become the bank, and you can go anywhere in the world and you can convert it [to physical currency] wherever you want.”

Steckler said Bitcoin is completely safe because it’s a one-way transaction. However, consumers still need to educate themselves and do some research before using this currency.

Steckler said about 800,000 companies are using Bitcoin as a form of payment. These companies include Microsoft, GE, Amazon, Tesla, among others.

Zeryihun said he doesn’t think traditional financial establishments will completely disappear. “If anything I see some sort of integration of block chain technology into what’s already here today.”

Moderator: Savannah Palacio

Producer: Kelcey Henderson

Anchor: Karen Elle

Social Media Editor: James Farr

Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly, Savannah Palacio

Over the past several months, women and men have been coming forward with their own personal stories of sexual harassment. With the help of social media, #MeToo stories are spreading.

“I think we all are having a moment right now,” CSUN Title IX Coordinator Susan Hua said. “Whether a survivor is male or female, I think people are breaking the silence … You’re seeing sports figures, you’re seeing politicians, and men in powerful positions, being held accountable for sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. I think [#MeToo is] really giving not only a voice through social media and technology and how that’s impacting this movement, but also allowing people who might not have spoken up years ago … to feel like now there’s support for them.”

The #MeToo movement has encouraged many people to speak up about sexual harassment, and that lets even more victims know that they are not alone.

“I talked to several women who had kept information to themselves for 40 or 50 years, but now feel like coming out,” said Betsy Butler, Executive Director of the California Women’s Law Center. “More than that, they’re ready to make change happen, and it starts with policing. So many levels of action need to take place now, and mindsets [need to] change here in this country. It’s a different culture we need to look at.”

Bringing conversations about sexual violence into the mainstream helps remove the stigma for survivors, by showing how sexual harassment has affected the lives of many men and women.

“Part of the oppression of women is that we think we’re alone, and we think that our personal difficulties, or our harassment stories or whatever, are individual, and they never are.” CSUN Gender and Women’s Studies Professor Jennifer Berry said. “I think this is what the MeToo movement has done, is [demonstrate] that you are not alone. Not only are you not alone, we’re building an army.”

Despite the numbers of people coming out with their own personal stories, a lot of victims have not come forward, and Hua said some may not know how to bring grievances or talk about their experiences. She said students and faculty at CSUN are able to report any sexual harassment case through the Title IX Office.

“We have done extensive training, with both our students and employees, making sure that students know who they can go to as confidential resources here on campus,” Hua said. “That’s usually our counselors, our mental health advisors, and our victims advocate on campus…. Knowing the different resources [survivors] can access on campus [helps, and] I think we are seeing an increase of survivors who feel that they are ready to talk about their experiences, and as they are continuing to process their experiences, to get help, and to hold individuals accountable.”

But it still may be hard for some victims to come forward with their story, even if they have the resources and people available to them.

“Some women will never come forward,” Butler said. “You know, a lot of these situations [involve people whom] they know, and so they have to grapple with whether they want to bring it all out in the open. These aren’t generally strangers, particularly on campus, who have assaulted them or harassed them.”

Hua said that students’ cultural backgrounds and legal status can also be a factor.

“CSUN is such a diverse community,” she said, “and we have undocumented students who may not want to go above the radar, even though they have been victimized … Or we have cultural differences, in which someone, for example, from an Asian culture, might feel like [they] can’t talk about it, because that’s airing [their] dirty laundry or bringing shame to [their] family.”

Legal experts said movements like #MeToo are only the beginning, and that much more needs to happen in order to prevent sexual harassment.

“I think we can do better,” Berry said. “I think we can have higher expectations of men; I think we can believe women, and work with young people and care deeply about their lives. I think us older people [need] to remember how young and hopeful we all start out, and keep that hope alive.”

Moderator: Heatherann Wagner

Producer: Haley Spellman

Anchor: Lauren Turner Dunn

Social Media Editors: Cammeron Parrish and Jacob Gonzalez

Reporters: Jacob Gonzalez, Katherine Molina, Cammeron Parrish, Haley Spellman, Lauren Turner Dunn and Heatherann Wagner

Moderator: Breanna Burnette

Producer: Nathan Hoffman

Anchor: Star Harvey

Social Media Editors: Shuandy Herrera and Maxwell Goen

Reporters: Breanna Burnette, Max Goen, Star Harvey, Shuandy Herrera, Nathan Hoffman, Tephanie Martinez and Jennifer Montiel

As the battle over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) intensifies in Congress, so does the fear of many LGBTQ immigrants, whose chances of being deported to a country that may not support their lifestyle are increasing.

Experts say that out of the 800,000 dreamers in the United States, around 75,000 identify as LGBTQ. Dreamers are children who were brought to the United States without documentation at a young age. Some 36,000 of those are DACA recipients, many of them living in California.

The White House announced in September that DACA would end for many dreamers on or before March 5, 2018.

“Many people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer, are not only LGBTQ, but also undocumented and people of color, and not just brown, but also black,” said Ronnie Veliz, executive director of Somos Familia Valle. “So, it is very important to us to understand that, within the immigrant population, the LGBTQ population is present, with papers and also without documentation. It affects everyone’s dreams, because it does affect also mixed status families, those who know the United States as their only country from a very early age.”

What happens to the LGBTQ dreamers who come out in the United States, and then are deported to an intolerant nation?

In more than 70 countries, same-sex relations are criminalized, and out those 70, ten have a death penalty for those in the LGBTQ+ community. Many DACA recipients come from countries that can be dangerous for LGBTQ+ people. Countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are the most common for asylum seekers.

“The risks are not only to be deported to a country that doesn’t even have marriage equality,” Veliz said. “…Keep in mind that marriage equality hasn’t stopped the famous videos of the killing of trans and queer people. It’s not just being deported to a country where you’re going to be killed, and mentally, psychologically, and spiritually abused, but it is also a fact that there are centers and corporations making profits from detaining immigrants.”

Although dreamers face an even greater risk of detention and deportation now, it is important to remember they can still exercise their rights. Practicing those rights before an encounter with an immigration officer, can prepare them.

“Immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, have rights and constitutional rights,” said Julia Vazquez, Southwestern School of Law Professor and the director of CSUN’s Student Legal Clinic. “Everybody should practice his or her rights ahead of time…if you don’t feel comfortable exerting your rights, [remember] the number one right that everyone has is the right to remain silent, and folks should exercise that.”

The DACA program has provided security, opportunity  and hope to recipients. They had the ability to obtain driver’s licenses, enroll in college, and legally secure jobs.

“It’s shameful we are now seeing the cycle of scapegoating, not only [against] immigrants,” Vazquez said. ” Now that we have the language, and more of a platform to really understand, that not every immigrant experience is equal, like people of color, like LGBTQ, and that when you combine those, [these groups] are going to be doubly oppressed by a system of laws that are failing to protect even the most privileged of that group.”

On December 8, in a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration does not have to turn over legal documents connected to its decision to end the program. The Court said it would consider the matter further.

Moderator: Diego Girgado

Producers: Morgan Ball and Minerva Medrano

Anchor: Joselynn Castro

Social Media Editor: Tyler Jones

Reporters: Morgan Ball, Joselynn Castro, Diego Girgado, Tyler Jones and Minerva Medrano

Even though no Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) exist on the West Coast, African American students still find community at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) with their Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs).

“It was in the early 1900s when most of the Divine Nine were founded, some in the late 1900s,” said Shaquille Clark, of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. “Greek life was popular on college campuses, and African American students weren’t allowed to get in due to racism, and the other white Americans not wanting black people to join their organizations. So African Americans decided, ‘if we can’t join them, we’re going to start our own’.”

Nine BGLOs make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), also known as the Divine Nine or D9. In 1906, the first African American fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., was founded at Cornell University. Racial prejudices were causing black students not to continue higher education at Cornell. The goal of the fraternity was to ensure that African American students stayed enrolled at universities and colleges, while having community in PWI. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. expanded onto other campuses, and two years later the first sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., was established.

Clark’s fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., was third to be founded in 1911. His chapter at CSUN is united with chapters at UCLA and CSU-Los Angeles. Clark said the Divine Nine is important for African American students.

“That was a way for us to bond with each other,” said Clark. “To be with each other more, and to have our own secret rituals and something that we could call our own, since everything at the time… including our freedom, was being taken away from us.”

Most Divine Nine rituals stay secret because members and pledges are never supposed to discuss rituals with non-members. Some general traditions are known, like being able to relate the full histories of the organizations on the spot, the lifelong commitment, their bright colored letters, hand gestures, and their strolling and stepping routines. UCLA student Terre Block said, in Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., members call the routines hopping and marching.

“[They] came from a tradition from the military [and] their marches, and we adapted them, and some of the marches are hops,” Block said. “They’re just  improvised. They’ll take certain moves from different, other routines and put them together, to make something of your own.”

Omega Psi Phi, Fraternity Inc. was the third fraternity, also founded in 1911, and they have a tradition of branding their members with the organization’s letters. Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was established in 1914, and the Divine Nine founded their last organization in 1963.

Despite other Greeks adopting NPHC traditions, the low numbers of African Americans in college, and the many first generation African Americans in college, the BGLOs have stay united by doing community service, and upholding their organizations’ individual principles.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded fourth in 1913; and CSUN chapter president Beverly Ntagu said for her, the sorority is like family. Other NPHC sororities include Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., which was founded in 1922, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., which was founded in 1920. Members said they continue to benefit from the BGLOs after graduation.

“We have graduate chapters and alumni chapters which you can go into and be active in after you graduate,” Hardiman said. “Another thing that separates us is our culture, history and community. There is so much rich history that’s associated with these organizations. There’s always something new that you can be learning. There’s always something more that you could be doing, especially on the state level, regional, national and the international level, with these organizations.”

Moderator: Cammeron Parrish

Producer: Lauren Turner Dunn

Anchor: Katherine Molina

Social Media Editors: Katherine Molina and Haley Spellman

Reporters: Lauren Turner Dunn, Jacob Gonzalez, Katherine Molina, Cammeron Parrish, Haley Spellman and Heatherann Wagner

Depression is the number one reason students drop out of school, and it may lead to other mental illnesses or even to suicide.

“There’s so many statistics on it,” said Steven Wang, from CSUN Counseling Services and the coordinator of the campus’ Blues Project. “One of four students are more likely to have depression, and it’s not treated. Stress would be on that spectrum, as well.”

Many people still hold negative stereotypes of mental illness as dangerous or a sign of weakness, and those stereotypes may keep people from getting help.

“I think the stigma comes from people not being familiar or just not knowing what the behaviors are,” said Ebony Harper, an advisor to students in CSUN Student Housing. “So it can be seen as acting out, or you have behavior problems, so you get this thing that people don’t want to be around you.”

Organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Health have been emphasizing the importance of recognizing and treating mental illness, but mental health is often not talked about within families.

NAMI board member Michelle Thomas said there is a lack of knowledge, but that most people with mental illnesses lead normal lives if they get treatment. “Most of the time you don’t even know people have mental illness, unless their symptoms are active,” she said.

NAMI and the University Counseling Services offer support and treatment options that may help students feel free to talk about mental illness and seeking care.

“Using proper language, and being able to address it properly, as well as sharing your story, I think helps,” Wang said.

Moderator: Tephanie Martinez

Producer: Nathan Hoffman

Anchor: Max Goen

Social Media Editors: Star Harvey and Jennifer Montiel

Reporters: Breanna Burnette, Max Goen, Star Harvey, Shuandy Herrera, Nathan Hoffman, Tephanie Martinez and Jennifer Montiel

Fake news has been on the minds of most adults in America, including President Donald Trump, who recently told Fox News’ Lou Dobbs that he coined the now infamous phrase.

Its existence raises the question, how can people fight it?

Experts say media literacy is the most effective way to combat fake news, and becoming media literate will help everyone, including students, understand the differences between real and fake news. The National Association for Media Literacy Education recently held its third annual Media Literacy Week to raise awareness about the issue.

According to a recent Pew Research Study “nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (64 percent) say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events. About a third of U.S. adults (32 percent) say they often see made-up political news online, while 39 percent sometimes see such stories, and 26 percent hardly ever or never do.”

Pew Research Center also reports a ten percent increase since 2016 in social media use for people over 50 years old. And the study also saw a ten percent increase in nonwhite social media users. In addition, 45 percent of all Facebook users say they rely solely on the site to deliver their news.

“I think it is less about the mobile devices themselves, and more about how they have changed our culture,” CSUN Communications Studies graduate student Anya Crittention said. “Also, I think [the controversy over fake news] is damaging to journalism itself. While people are now ready to believe fake news, there’s also this increasing cynicism and distrust of the media. And, I think that is also dangerous since the media inherently is meant to be for the people and if we turn our back on them, that’s also dangerous.”

Media historians say social media outlets have allowed for an emergence of more voices, and that makes the news more democratic. And now the news cycle has become 24/7 due to the emergence of digital media technology, and that makes news and information more accessible to more people.

“I think there’s been fake news around for a long time,” CSUN Cinema and Television Arts Professor Anna Marie Piersimoni said. “We just have more of it because we have more of everything, and more voices doing that, but from the early days of yellow journalism, [from] the building of the Hearst Empire to the building of the Murdoch empire, there’s been fake journalism.”

Piersimoni said sensational ‘clickbait’ headlines cause people to jump from one article to the next without taking the time to evaluate the story. And since people are not reading the full story, they are relying only on their own beliefs, and not using the critical and analytical tools of media literacy. These strongly held beliefs and biases create filter bubbles, and limit the amount of information people are exposed to, or willing to read.

“I think that the awareness of your own biases is the only way that you can start to pierce the bubble,”  CSUN Department Chair of Political Science Dr. David Leitch said. “If you don’t know what your preferences are, and if they’re sort of unexamined, unaware, unconsciousness, then you don’t have any strategies for confronting them. And I’ll be an advocate: I will say it’s good to confront your biases, not just because it is healthy and democratic, because it is fun.”

Media literacy experts say it’s important for students to read opinions written by sources they don’t necessarily agree with, and to be exposed to more viewpoints, even if they have to look hard to find them.

“The best thing, I tell my students, is to not only follow the money, but to follow the breadcrumbs,” Piersimoni said. “Especially if you go to Wikipedia. Down at the bottom of the page, check all the little footnotes, and double check, and then cross-reference. It is the best thing that you can do. And then see if you can find the opposite view of what you’re looking at.”

Moderator: Minerva Medrano

Producers: Diego Girgado and Tyler Jones

Anchor: Morgan Ball

Social Media Editors: Joselynn Castro and Shannon Ozburn

Reporters: Morgan Ball, Joselynn Castro, Diego Girgado, Tyler Jones, Minerva Medrano and Shannon Ozburn