Battle for the Amphitheater
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Maurice O. Ndole / The
Collegian
Above: University high
school students are issued cards completely identical to those of
Fresno State students, save only for the title under the picture.
Below: One of the few groups that still make use of the Amphitheater
is the Fresno State marching band. Drumline members Jason Hoss,
Chris Diviney and Paul Henry practice on their tenor drums before
a home football game.
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By Maurice O. Ndole
The Collegian
Arguments in favor of and opposed
to the construction of University High School in the Amphitheater are
being offered as new concerns regarding the benefits of the high school
surface.
Associated Students Executive Vice President Juan Pablo Moncayo said there
should have been better planning to fit the high school into the university
to avoid tension with college students.
Moncayo said he is concerned about the striking similarity between UHS
and Fresno State student keycards. He said there have been cases where
high school students attempted to use the cards to take advantage of college
students’ privileges.
The only difference between Fresno State and UHS keycards are the captions
underneath the photo, which read ‘UHS’ and ‘Student’
respectively.
But Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and chair of the UHS board
of directors Vida Samiian said the ID problem was already under review
and she expected the problem to be resolved soon.
Samiian, however, said it was possible for high school students who are
taking college classes to get the same access to facilities as college
students if they are enrolled in college classes.
Gerard Jones, UHS principal, said he had taken measures to ensure his
students don’t collide with college students. He also said there
was a possibility that high school students seen misbehaving could be
from other programs.
Jones estimated there are about 800 high school students taking classes
at Fresno State through various programs such as Step to College, a University
Outreach Services program.
Director of Public Safety David Moll said he was aware of allegations
that UHS students tried to pass off as Fresno State students using their
keycards. He said he was awaiting approval to make a new design for UHS
keycards from the provost’s office.
Moll said besides asking the provost’s office to approve changing
the design for UHS identification cards, he is also requesting to have
a special card designed for students coming to Fresno State on special
high school programs.
Freshmen theater arts major Yosef Mahmood an molecular biology major Jourdan
Ritchey, who both graduated from UHS, supported the idea of building UHS
in the Amphitheater. They said it was unfair to blame all UHS students
for the mistakes of a few.
“It is true that sometimes UHS students don’t behave appropriately,
but even college students misbehave sometimes,” Mahmood said.
Students from UHS have been involved in several incidents on campus. Last
spring a UHS student committed suicide in the Music Building. In December
of last year, the school also banned its students from using the Student
Union recreational center after a student sprayed an aerosol can in the
center.
Samiian and Jones said the incidents were isolated and the school does
not have a discipline problem.
Mahmood continued his suport for UHS and said it makes sense to build
the new UHS in the Amphitheater because it’s rarely used.
The Amphitheater has not been used officially for more than two years
but some groups such as the marching band use it unofficially for rehearsals.
Jones said among other facilities, the new school would have 24 classrooms,
a laboratory, three rehearsal rooms and an area with microwaves and vending
machines where students can buy or make food.
Most support for the school stems from its academic performance.
The high school is considered one of the best in the state.
According to the Sierra Unified School District 2003-2004 School Accountability
Report Card, UHS performance is above the state average by more than 150
points.
Twelve Fresno State students in the Speech Arts building said they were
against having the Amphitheater torn down to build UHS. The students said
tearing down the Amphitheater would take away an iconic feature of Fresno
State and also deny theater arts students a place to rehearse their plays
and scenes for classes.
“I don’t like the idea of giving them the amphitheater, first
because we do a lot of rehearsing there,” junior theater arts major
Moira Leslie said. “And it’s nostalgic, it’s been there
for a long time.”
Junior kinesiology major Kris Cadiuex said the university should look
for other alternative areas for building the high school.
“I think it would be better if they sacrificed Lab School,”
Cadieux said.
“I think what Fresno State students don’t know is UHS respects
the opportunity they have on campus,” Mahmood said. “They
should care about UHS because it is setting higher standards than the
ones set by the state and prepares students well for college.”
But Cadieux said there is no place for a high school on campus.
“I don’t care if it’s torn down,” Cadiuex said
of the Amphitheater. “It’s what they’re going to replace
it with.”
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