SPENDING QUESTIONED: Legitimacy of clubs’ funding from ICC

BY GITANJALI BHUSHAN
Staff Writer

PHOTO BY MARKETA KROUPOVA

As the current semester nears its end, over 60 Ocean campus clubs, from the Anarchist Library to the Young Disciples of Jesus, are wrapping up a full semester of meetings, events and learning to navigate the complicated funding process.

Clubs must submit their recognition packets by the third week of the spring semester in order to receive the full $300 base allocation, according to Inter Club Council (ICC) guidelines. Those filing between the third and sixth week only receive $150.

This fall, $14,100 was spent on base allocations for 47 clubs and $1,700 on late allocations for 11 more, according to the ICC budget.

The remainder of the budget — most of which comes from campus vendors and is supplemented by the optional $5 student activity fee — is divided between Executive Funds, ICC Events, the ICC Secretary’s salary and the campus wide and matching funds allocated to various clubs during the semester.

Matching funds, up to $1,000 per club per semester, are requested for activities pertaining to a club’s own interest, including such events as outings and socials.
For campus wide funds, a club must demonstrate that the event will be open to the public.

Funding proposals are first submitted to the Finance Committee, consisting of the Associated Students Council (ASC), vice-presidents of ICC and finance, the associate dean of student activities, and three to four at-large voting members from ICC, according to the guidelines.

The Finance Committee votes to recommend proposals, which are then voted on by the ICC. “I think the students have done an outstanding job as ICC members to be very thoughtful. Sometimes they have to make hard decisions, and they do,” said Skip Fotch, associate dean of student activities and advisor to the ASC and ICC.

“When I took office, I decided to just give the power back to the students themselves,” said Darren Villegas, vice president of the ICC, who sees his role as that of a facilitator.

Some proposals have generated controversy among the members of the ICC, like the Vietnamese Student Association’s request for $800 in matching funds to take 15 club members to a ski resort.

“Most of our members have just been in America for one or two years, and none of us had a chance to experience snow or snow-related sports,” said Safai Ngo, president of the club, which eventually received $639 in matching funds for the November outing.

“I believe money given to groups on the City College campus should be to enhance the campus life … and taking a group of people on a vacation is not an enhancement for who we are as a college,” said Kitty Kastro, president of the Transgender/Trans Divas Club, who voted against the proposal.

Suzan Foley, treasurer of the Young Democratic Club, noted that the Asian Music Club’s request for $600 from campus wide funds for lessons in Yu Xiong, an Asian instrument, would serve 30 or fewer students due to room constraints. “It just didn’t seem very accessible,” Foley said.

Ricky Wong, president of the Asian Music club, said they eventually received $350 from the ICC. “I think we have to use some of our balance and some of the gross profits from our karaoke contest,” he said.

Other sources, like the Cultural Affairs budget of $12,500, are available. “But they max out at $1,000 total,” Wong said.

This year, the ICC’s total budget is $55,100, usually allocated at 40 percent and 60 percent, respectively, between fall and spring. This semester Villegas petitioned the ASC to change the allocation ratio to 45 percent fall and 65 percent spring, because so many clubs were organized this fall, according to Fotch.Associated Students Council election results were posted on April 29, declaring Marilyn 'Marlene' Dugyawi AS president of Ocean campus with 44.4 percent of the vote.

Also on the ballot, Veronica Lawrence took 41.9 percent of the vote over Carol Hudson's 34.1 percent for student trustee. Sizzi Kong and Lili Zhang were the only two of the 17 hopefuls for senatorial seats who didn't make the cut.
Proposition A ­ which would es-tablish a socially responsible investment fund at City College ­ passed with a whopping 64.7 percent of the vote. Proposition A was sponsored by student group No Big Tobacco.

Dugyawi, a nursing/sociology major who ran as part of the Students United slate, is currently vice president of the Inter-Club Council, which consists of approximately 40 clubs and over 600 registered student members. She feels the position has made her a "helpful and efficient student leader" at City College.
Dugyawi said she was pleased with the large turnout of voters, attributing her victory to enormous effort and the faith that "students like our agenda."

She said she doesn't want to sound like a politician, and suggested there is a big difference between politicians and AS council members.

"We are not out for personal gain," Dugyawi said.

Dugyawi's goals for the future include the creation of the Queer Resource Center and continuing current endeavors.

"I want to make sure all the things we started get implemented," Dugyawi said. "It's on its way."

A strong supporter of Proposition A, she hopes it will help generate the revenue needed to compensate for the impending budget cuts.

The proposition would require the the City College Foundation to invest in companies that have operations sympathetic to social and environmental causes.

Opponents of the proposition claim it will limit the college's financial possibilities and lower investment revenue.

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MEDIA CAREERS ARE FOCUS OF EVENT: Workshops and tours illuminate opportunities

BY DIEGO VALDEZ-SANCHEZ
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY ROSALIND KWAN

The City College Press Club and the journalism department hosted 20 high school students for the annual High School Journal-ism Day held Dec. 1 on the Ocean campus.

Students from the School of the Arts (SOTA) and Jefferson High School attended the half-day event that included tours of the journalism, broadcasting, photography and graphic communications departments. The students also participated in workshops on news writing, page design and photojournalism conducted by professional journalists including San Francisco Chronicle writer Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Observer publisher Sandy Staggs and San Francisco Chronicle photo editor Kathleen Hennessy.

“I really enjoyed the tour. It answered a lot of questions for me,” said Walter Tordell Pasi, a sophomore from Jefferson High.

Students from Journalism 19 organized the event as a project for the class. “I think it was a successful event. This is a good way to introduce kids to journalism,” said Donna Tam, a journalism student who helped coordinate the event.

The event impressed SOTA instructor Heather Woodward. “It was a very well-organized and well-run department. I didn’t expect City College to have something that well-developed,” she said.

The event marks the third time the department has sponsored a High School Journalism Day. City College professor of business Craig Kuhns, 76, died of a heart attack Friday, April 30 while teaching a class in Cloud Hall.

"Craig always wanted to die with his boots on," Chancellor Philip Day Jr. said.

Kuhns graduated from University of California at Berkeley and became a City College instructor in 1963.

After 41 years of teaching, Kuhns was still passionate about inspiring his students.

"We thought he was never going to retire," said Mary Oldham, also a business instructor. "We thought we would be retired and he would still be teaching."

Kuhns is survived by his sister, nieces and a nephew, all of whom reside in Southern California.

"If the truth be known, City College was his family," Day said.

A memorial service honoring Kuhn's life and achievements will be held on May 13 at Ocean campus' Pierre Coste Dining Room from 4 pm. - 5:30 p.m.

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City College at Large
Compiled by Halie Johnson and Daniel Powell

John Adams Campus

Unlike most of City College's campuses which elect Associated Student Council officers at the beginning of each academic year, the John Adams campus holds their elec-tion at the beginning of each semester.
Any student interested in participating in student government should “attend the first general meeting next semester and express an interest to run,” A.S. President Andre Kingsley said.

Chinatown/North Beach Campus

“The ESL program at the Chinatown campus is trying to develop more vocational ESL classes to meet the needs of the students,” said Sue Lim Yee, a Chinatown campus coun-selor. Next semester, special classes will be offered in “workplace English” for janitorial, construction and housekeeping jobs, as well as more academic classes for higher level students.

Fort Mason Campus

A faculty art show has been on display since Nov. 22 and continue until Jan. 25 in the Coffee Gallery at the Fort Mason Center.
Visitors can park for free in the Fort Mason Parking lot and there is no charge for admission.

Evans Campus

Ciaran Doyle, a student in the Special Paint Application class, was entered into a fine arts contest for a car hood he painted. “It’s an interesting breakthrough to take mo-torcycle or automotive artwork and push it into the fine arts,” instuctor David Miller said.
“The color and the amount of detail is amazing,” Ben Macri, chair of the automotive department, said of the piece.
Miller said that the motorcycle and automotive curriculum is currently under review to become recognized by the state in the trade and industry category. The result may mean that City College can offer an Associate of Science degree to students graduating from this department.

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Short Cuts

Report Shows Weakness in High School Education

ACT, an organization that specializes in researching education and the workforce, reported that 22 percent of all high school graduates have not received adequate education in English, math and science. One-half of these students drop out of two-year colleges within one year, and another one-third takes classes lower than their general education requirements entail.

U.S. Students Warm Up to a Foreign Education

High school students in the United States are increasingly turning to foreign colleges for their higher education, according to an Associated Press (AP) article from Dec. 7. The AP found that the number of U.S. citizens attending Canadian colleges has doubled since 1997 to 6,000. The number of full-time U.S. undergraduates attending British colleges is 2,300 — up by 53 percent since 2001. Foreign schools are helping the trend progress by considering the same entrance requirements as U.S. colleges, like SAT scores and high school transcripts.

Burning Man’s Artists May Squelch the Fire

Approximately 470 artists threatened to remove their art from the annual Burning Man festival unless the festival’s organizers agree to several demands. On Nov. 24, the artists posted a full-page ad in the San Francisco Bay Guardian listing the artists who are threatening to boycott. “We, the artists, feel that this event which we made great has gotten away from us and we would like it back,” the ad began. Some of the group’s goals include a direct vote “of the full community” made on all funding decisions related to the event. They also want rotating “guest curators” to coordinate the artwork each year. The festival, which has been running for 19 years, started as a small gathering on Baker Beach and is held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The event draws a crowd of approximately 35,000 people.