CSUN STAFF SHARE INTERPRETER GRIPES.Byline: Greg Gittrich Daily News Staff Writer As deaf college students rallied at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , to protest the quality of the school's sign-language interpreters Friday, the director of the university's National Center on Deafness stressed he agrees with the complaints but is powerless to solve the matter. ``There is a great lack of qualified people,'' Herb Larson, the center's director, said through an interpreter. ``I have to say I agree with what the students are saying. It truly is a problem for every post-secondary institution in the country.'' The university hires interpreters from five training centers in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . But the centers don't turn out enough qualified people to meet the university's needs, Larson said. ``We've tried to provide some alternate services such as note takers or real-time captioning in classrooms,'' Larson added. ``I think we have done a great job.'' CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge enrolls deaf students in the university's mainstream curriculum and has about 715 classes a week in which interpreting services are required. ``We've covered just about every class with a permanent interpreter,'' Larson said. ``Other post-secondary institutions in the Eastern United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. are having the same problem, and they are calling us for assistance.'' CSUN touts the National Center for Deafness as the largest facility of its kind in the nation. Its total budget for academic year 1998-99 was $2.2 million, said CSUN spokesman John Chandler For the Bishop of Salisbury who died in 1426, see . John Chandler (February 1, 1762—September 25, 1841) was an American politician and soldier of Maine. The political career of Chandler, a Democratic-Republican, was interspersed with his involvement in the state . In 1996, the federal Department of Education gave the center $5 million to train and advise educators at other universities in the United States. Only three other universities received the federal grant money and designation. ``There is nothing we can do overnight to make the issues go away,'' Chandler said. ``If someone knows where there are talented, qualified tutors or interpreters, let us know, and we can probably do some business.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Danny Barrett Danny Barrett is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback and was most recently the former head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders until November 27, 2006. He was the Roughriders’ 25th head coach in modern time. signs his frustration during a protest Friday over inexperienced interpreters for deaf students attending CSUN. Michael Owen
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