» Brent VonCannon

“I love Fresno; I never want to move.”

So said Ashley Swearengin, the seven-year director of Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED).

Ciggy Buttz thinks that smoking on campus is out of control.

So does Kelly Miller, a senior biology student and president of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) campus chapter.

Two weeks into her trial, Stacy Johnson-Klein finally took the witness stand Wednesday.

She accused top university athletic officials of sexual harassment, the university of preferential treatment for men’s sports over women’s sports and an all-out effort on the part of university officials to get rid of her when she dared to speak up about gender equity issues.

The business of offering credit cards to students just got a little harder with the signing of a new law that slaps a number of restrictions on credit card solicitors.

Educators are preparing for what promises to be a lively discussion on the somewhat taboo topic of why academic achievement gaps continue to exist for Latino, African-American and Southeast Asian students.

International students have become a fixture at Fresno State and at many other campuses throughout the country, albeit a declining fixture in recent years..

While seeking an education in a foreign land, international students also have to pay many times more money than most students in order to attend, while also abiding by a myriad of government restrictions on their activities in the United States, which is tied to a clampdown on immigration generally.

Wellness Services will be putting on the Wicked Wellness Carnival on Thursday. Starting at 10 a.m., students will have the opportunity to participate in numerous “safe” activities, including paying a dollar to dunk a professor. Proceeds from the anti-drinking-themed event will benefit Alcoholics Anonymous.

A three-year-old lawsuit filed against Fresno State by a former associate athletic director came to a close Thursday when an out-of-court settlement was announced in the amount of $3.5 million.

Diane Milutinovich, whose gender discrimination trial was set to start this month, agreed to the settlement.

The “dream” part of Senate Bill 1, the California DREAM Act, was snuffed out, at least for now, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s veto pen.