CSUN On Point

Astrology has been a mystical topic of interest since the earliest of human civilizations.

In today’s day and age, more skepticism is surrounding the field, fueled by better reasoning, newer feats in science, and more knowledge of astronomy.

Astronomy is the study of celestial objects, space, and the physical universe. This field of study may be seen as a rival of astrology, since they share some of the core fundamental concepts, but astronomers don’t consider astrology to be the same kind of science.

“I don’t believe in astrology,” CSUN Physics and Astronomy Professor Damian Christian said. “It’s fun to see your horoscope, but most of them are pretty vague and …a little bit too positive maybe.”

“I personally don’t subscribe to it,” CSUN Astronomy Lab Associate Michael Artinian said. “But at the same time, different people get different things out of astrology. The thing is, there’s no scientific value in it because it doesn’t predict anything. There’s no hypothesis you can test; there’s no ‘hey we found this result, and it matched with our prediction’.”

 The National Science Foundation reported in 2016 that fifty-eight percent of Americans consider astrology a science.

“It’s actually one of the world’s oldest sciences,” Santa Monica astrologer Austin Muhs said. “It’s an enduring representation of man’s fascination with cycles, along with fascination with nature and how that nature interplays into personal lives.”

Based on a fantastic read, it is mentioned that people’s interest and belief in astrology has definitely been an amalgam of fascination and a longing for answers.

“There’s certainly been a long tradition in astrology, that the positions of the heavens and the planets and the stars have some influence on our personality and our futures,” CSUN Communication Studies Professor Peter Marston said, “and that’s largely the component of astrology that I think most skeptics are struggling with.”

The National Science Foundation considers astrology a pseudo-science, and astronomers agree.

“Astrology is not [a science],” CSUN Physics and Astronomy Professor Wladimir Lyra said. “Astrology has been shown to not have any validity, either directly or when it comes to the data.”

“Those people [who believed the stars determined human behavior and fate hundreds of years ago] also believed that the earth was the center of the solar system, and that life generated spontaneously from filth, and all sorts of other things, that fortunately we’ve gotten past believing,” Marston said.

“Astrology is a relic from the time we did not understand well enough how the universe works,” Lyra said. “We’re a species that likes to find correlations in things. We try to connect the dots even when the dots are uncorrelated.”

Still, for many, astrology is a journey of self-exploration and deeper understanding.

“Generally speaking, people come to me seeking some sort on analysis of their life,” Muhs said.  “Where they’re at; where they’re headed; how to get there. I generally work with them within whatever spiritual or theological framework they’re coming to me from … I try to help them accept, understand, and breed happiness within themselves.”

While stances vary on astrology, both astrology and astronomy provide contributions to understanding, culture, and the way we view the universe around us. Agreeing to disagree may always have a place in this ongoing myriad of interest for both astrology and astronomy.

“[Astronomers and people who believe in astrology] are interested in completely different things,” Lyra said. “If [astrologers] want to make people happier, great; everybody can use more happiness.”

Moderator: Jiani Navarro

Producer: Daniel Martindale

Anchor: Jade Davis

Social Media Editor: Kaylee Fagan

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

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