Volume 137, Issue 8
News
THE WALKOUT: Facing possible increases and further budget cuts, students demand their right to a college education
BY
ELIZABETH PFEFFER AND DAN POWELL
Staff Writers
LESLIE HICKS / GUARDSMAN
Batmale Hall was a rallying point for marchers.
In a show of solidarity, City College students, faculty and administrators gathered at noon on April 20 for a walkout and rally defending the right to affordable education in California. Their message: Don’t balance the budget on the backs of students.
The demonstration was one of many held that day across California’s college campuses as part of a statewide “action for education” day. Action In Defense of Education, a group of schools aiming to improve the state’s education system, promoted it.
Waving signs reading “Education is a right, not a privilege!” and “Books, not bombs!” some 250 chanting students, teachers and administrators paraded through campus, led by a bullhorn wielding Jose Villalobos, Associated Student Counsel senator.
After marching between Science Hall and Cloud Hall, the long line of protesters stopped in front of the Creative Arts building and Batmale Hall, chanting “Walkout! Walkout!” in an effort to get more people to leave their classes. They continued on to Ram Plaza, briefly trapping a few cars on Cloud Circle.
At the rally, students and administration showed outrage over a recent recommendation made by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office that community college tuition increase to $33 per unit, a 200 percent increase since 2002.
Chancellor Phillip R. Day, Jr. ad-dressed cheering students with an en-couraging and supportive message.
The LAO’s recommendation on increasing tuition to $33 a unit has about as much chance as snowballs in hell of surviving.”
Speakers from Students Supporting Students, one of the groups that coordinated the
walkout, cited demands for full funding of Proposition 98, taxing the top 1 percent of wealthy Californians and cutting funding for military and prisons.
ADAM BRODY / GUARDSMAN |
Participants stood with a common message: that cuts to education impact those who have the least access to it, particularly minorities. “Arnold doesn’t have a clear grasp of the ramifications of his actions,” said Anna Wolfe, a student who left her art history class to attend the walkout.
Chancellor Day praised the fac-ulty and staff at City College who had refused pay raises three years in a row and increased class sizes to compensate for downsizing. “They kept the door open,” he said.
Villalobos agreed that teachers offer much verbal support, but he would have liked to see them lead classes outside to the demonstration. Despite the boisterous crowd, it appeared hundreds of students chose to remain in class, even though the chancellor informed faculty of the event. “I wanted to attend, but I had a test today,” said Carmen Marin, a student arriving at Ram Plaza near the end of the demonstration.
Some students refused to join the crowd, despite loud coaxing from those marching. “I’m not going over there,” said Rob, a 28-year-old student who wouldn’t give his last name. “When we had the recall election everyone was all about Arnold … they made their bed and now they can’t sleep in it. If they want to make a difference they should go to City Hall and get Newsom’s attention.”
e-mail: epfeffer@theguardsman.com and dpowell@theguardsman.com
CLASSES ADDED: Enrollment increase could ease budget woes
BY
DAN POWELL
Staff Writer
Students planning to attend classes this summer will have some relief from the bottleneck that’s plagued them for the last three years: too many students trying to get into too few classes.
City College has added 141 credit sections this summer and will be adding 49 more this fall. “It’s really to meet the needs of the students,” said Terry Hall, dean of instruction.
“The more students we get into classrooms, the more [money] we’re entitled to receive from the state,” Hall said. “We’re looking at high-demand classes … classes that have long waiting lists, like graduation requirement or transfer classes.”
The administration hopes these classes will increase enrollment enough to qualify for an extra $1.5 million in state funds, which would make up for $1.5 million that was withheld earlier this year due to the state’s ongoing budget crisis.
But the administration isn’t stopping there. “We’re trying to gain all of the growth money we’re eligible for this year, as well as next year,” said Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor of finance and administration.
If City College continues to meet enrollment quotas, Goldstein estimates the school could receive an extra $3.7 million next year from the state. “We’re kind of in a window where you can’t go wrong,” he said.
There are limits to how much money City College can receive, however. “We generally are never paid for all the students we have,” Hall said. “The state doesn’t pay us for unlimited enrollment.”
In March, department chairs were asked to begin thinking about classes they would like to add. The department chairs work with their respective dean to make the final decisions.
BALLOT MEASURE: Representation fee
BY LOTUS LEE
Contributing Writer
The Associated Student Council, at their April 11 meeting, encouraged support of the Student Representation Fee, and expressed hope that it would pass in the April 26 to April 27 Student Council Elections.
When the state legislative analyst recommended increasing the enrollment fee to $33, the Student Representation Fee was proposed as a ballot measure for the fifth time to raise money for students to lobby on behalf of educational rights.
“The Student Representation Fee would be a great opportunity for students to contribute funds to student advocacy purposes,” said Arjuna Sayyed, vice president of cultural affairs. “It opens up the dialogue on why we even need the fee.”
Associate Dean of Student Activities Skip Fotch said the monies generated from this fee would be used to train students to lobby or to provide transportation to Sacramento to give testimony.
Sayyed said lack of awareness and student participation is another reason the fee has not passed yet.
“It really is up to the students to decide whether or not they want their voices heard and respond to the issues that are affecting their education,” Fotch said.
Editor’s Note:
As The Guardsman went to press, election results indicated the Student Representation Fee ballot measure did not pass.
ASC Student Election Results
Student Trustee: Veronica Lawrence
President: Arjuna Sayyed
Senators: Robert D. Felkins Jason Bauer Alberto de la Rosa Veronica Gutierrez Adam Fetterman Yamini Bhatnagar Darren Villegas Lijia Lumsden Jose Padilla Shawn Yee Osaze Tolo Price Jingjing Nelly Cai Christian Calderon Ronald Young.
CYCLISTS FACE TOUGHER ENFORCEMENT
BY ADRIEN LE BIAVANT
Contributing Writer
ELI MILCHMAN / GUARDSMAN |
Students who park their bicycles in undesignated areas on Ocean campus may find a second lock on their bike as part of City College’s new bike boot campaign, prompted by concerns that these bikes may obstruct classroom access for some students.
The bike boot is actually a cable lock that is placed around a bicycle parked in an undesignated area. A tag on the boot instructs the owner to visit the campus police.
Any bicycle parked in an inappropriate spot — including handicapped ramps, poles lining the sidewalk, or any other area where they might limit mobility — is eligible for booting. Some warning labels have already been issued, without the lock attached.
Muriel Parenteau, chair of the Parking and Transportation Committee, has other solutions, including the addition of 14 new bike hoops on Ocean campus by the end of the summer.
Parenteau said these inappropriately parked bicycles greatly impact those with disabilities, adding her main concern is for “the safety and convenience of all students, faculty and staff here at City College.”
“It’s good that people are using bicycles to come to campus,” said Carl S. Koehler, campus police chief. “My main concern is not to penalize, but to change behavior.”
BY JEROLD CHINN
Staff Writer
NATHAN WEYLAND / GUARDSMAN |
The Olmec Head statue was blessed by at least 30 City College students at 1 p.m. on April 28 in the Frida Kahlo garden next to the Diego Rivera Theatre.
Masters of ceremony for the event were Antonio Chávez from the Mission of mexican descent and Jorge Molina from Peru. Chávez burned herbs and walked around the plaza as the scent blew towards the audience.
Molina, his son and Chávez then blew on seashell horns in all directions for five minutes. Both Molina and Chávez bowed down to the Olmec Head and performed two different rituals from their countries.
One important message Molina had for the audience was to “respect your grandmas, mothers, elders because they are the ones that gave birth to you.”
“It was a spiritual experience and I was happy to see a lot of people of different races showed up,” said Yanelly Ibara, a City College student in attendance.
e-mail: jchinn@theguardsman.com
BY JEROLD CHINN
Staff Writer
COLEEN MACKIN / GUARDSMAN |
Four bungalows along Phelan Avenue are being demolished to make way for the new Student Health Center.
“The bungalows are old and beyond their usefulness and life,” said James Blomquist, associate vice chancellor of facilities management. The demolition will take several days to complete and construction of the new Health Center will begin at the conclusion of spring semester.
The new Health Center will be about 20 square feet and will consist of two floors. The first floor will house the Student Health Center and the second floor will provide 10 new classrooms for general use.
Construction of the new Health Center will close off parking lot F, located near the bungalows being demolished and parking lot E will lose about 20 parking spaces.
The new Student Health Center should be available for students by summer semester of 2006, according to Tobin Kendrick of facilities management.
e-mail: jchinn@theguardsman.com
BIOTECH EXPANDING: Program partecipants display high success rate in growing industry
BY ANGELA HOKANSON
Contributing Writer
Approximately 200 students have completed biotechnology certificate programs at City College since 1993 and more than 80 percent of these students have found jobs in the biotech industry.
Many City College students who have trained in the biotech industry are working at some of the Bay Area’s largest biotech companies and institutions such as Genentech, Bayer, UCSF, Chiron and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Thirty-five students have com-pleted the pre-certificate On Ramp and Bridge to Biotech programs since they were created in 2002, and about 23 of these students have found employment in the biotech field.
Biotechnology was introduced to the Bay Area in 1976 and has flourished, leading to a surge in demand for workers to fulfill entry to mid-level positions such as lab assistants, animal care technicians and research assistants.
The market for these jobs is profitable to the point that both biotech certificate pro-grams often lose students to the biotech workforce, according to Philip Jardim, director of the Biotechnician Certificate Program and Dr. Edie Leonhardt, director of the Biomanufacturing Certificate Program.
Although many students are also hired directly out of the Bridge Program, Leonhardt said there is a “substantial differ-ence” in salary for students who have completed the certificate program versus those who have not.
Jose Guido completed the On Ramp and Bridge programs at City College and now works as a lab assistant in the Laboratory Animal Resource Center (LARC) at the University of California, San Francisco.
Guido said the biotech program offered a route to a career in which he could continue to learn as well as be financially rewarded.
Debradenise Brooks, who completed the On Ramp and Bridge programs, now works as a clinical research coordinator at the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center. Brooks had worked in the healthcare industry for 15 years before beginning her biotech studies at City College and said the On Ramp program taught her about the “language spoken in the industry.”
According to Brooks, the On Ramp and Bridge programs also familiarized her with the multitude of Bay Area biotech companies, facilitated her paid internship at UCSF and gave her valuable career coaching.
The City College biotech programs do not guarantee jobs, although many students who go through the On Ramp program are given paid internships. Biotech companies and institutions recruit City College students on an informal basis by asking instructors to forward students’ resumes or to recommend students.
The On Ramp program will double in size this summer to offer places for a maximum of 60 students per year, said Lori Lindburg, vice president of Program Development and Operations at SF Works, a nonprofit organization that is City College’s partner for the On Ramp program.
A third biotech certificate program called Stem Cell Research Techniques has recently been added to the biotech program offerings at City College. The college received nearly $800,000 in funding to establish the new program.
“When it comes to faculty personnel issues, the lawyers are let loose to play hardball. They think they can annihilate us when they smell blood.” –Ed Murray, president of the AFT/LOCAL 2121
BY NATHAN WEYLAND
Staff Writer
No matter how you slice it, City College has one of the most diverse campuses in the nation. People from all over the country choose to come here to study. One of the most interesting things to understand is: why?
You see, this question is more important than it seems. What it asks is, what do you want from school? More specifically, what would the ideal school offer you?
The truly amazing thing is, you can get it.
All those people up there in suits — the deans, chancellors, and trustees — are actually working for us, the student body.
By voicing our unique and independent reasons for spending time and money at this institution, and by insuring our expectations are met, we are redefining the school according to our collective will … as well as the role of higher education in American society. Sound heavy? It is. It’s also something to remember next time you have a gripe with school policy.
e-mail: nweyland@theguardsman.com
City College at Large
Call or e-mail Adam Brody with campus wide news at
(415) 239-3446 or associatenews@theguardsman.com
Mission Campus
Sunny Clark, Student Health Services chair, said people working at the new Mission campus have re-ported experiencing allergy symptoms. The Health and Safety Committee is looking into the issue and an environmental safety firm has been delegated to investigate.
Downtown Campus
In celebration of Asian-Pacific heritage month, the Downtown campus is hosting a reading and discussion with Samina Ali, author of “Madras on Rainy Days,” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on May 9, in the Downtown campus library, 800 Mission St., room 821. Contact Stephanie Lyons at 239-3580 or Suzanne Lo at 452-5569 for more information.
Southeast Campus
The Southeast campus will host a multicultural celebration starting at 11 a.m. on May 11 in the Alex Pitcher Community Room, 1800 Oakdale Ave. The event will feature a reading and discussion with Kim Wong Keltner, author of “The Dim Sum of All Things,” as well as a mariachi band and Pacific Islander entertainment. Asian, Latin and Pacific Islander food will be provided. “This promises to be a great event,” said Dean Veronica Hunnicutt. “Everyone is invited to attend.”
Evans Campus
The Center for Applied Competitive Technology held a re-naming cere-mony on April 4, chang-ing Garment 2000 into The Design Studio. The Studio’s aim is to foster a creative environment through the use of equipment, programs, events and resources that support students and entrepreneurs working in the apparel industry. The Studio will host a variety of events including guest speakers, industry workshops, technology training, networking, the Apparel Business Incubator and the Designer Marketplace.
Short Cuts
Extended Library Hours
The Rosenberg Library is now open on Sundays from noon to 3:45 p.m. Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. will not change for the library, Language Center, Learning Resource Center and the Media Center. The library will continue to remain open on Sundays during the fall semester as well.
Peanut Butter Diet
Peanut butter has been found to lower risk of heart disease and stroke – and may help those who are trying to lose weight, according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Four to six tablespoons of peanut butter is considered a healthy and beneficial amount to consume each day. People who eat other foods high in monounsaturated fats, such as avocados and olive oil, are more likely to lose weight and feel satiated after eating.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
All administrators, classified supervisors and department chairs are now required to take a sexual harassment prevention, identification and correction training class before January 2006, according to a new law passed by the Governor in 2004. New supervisory employees must attend a two-hour training session within the first six months of their assignments. After 2006, these employees must attend a seminar every two years.
Homeward Bound
According to a MonsterTrak 2004 survey, 57 percent of college students return home to live with their parents after they graduate. The U.S. census found that 25 percent of all 18 to 34-year-olds are living at home with their parents.
SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLLEGE POLICE DISPATCH
NATHAN WEYLAND / GUARDSMAN |
April 4, 12:25 p.m.
Ocean Campus
An officer caught a student smoking marijuana near the Creative Arts building. The student was referred to the dean of students for administrative action.
April 6, 6 p.m.
Ocean Campus
Theft was reported in Rosenberg Library when a student said her wallet was stolen from her unattended bag.
April 7, 1:05 p.m.
Ocean Campus
A stolen vehicle was returned to its owner after an officer spotted it as a suspicious vehicle parked on Havelock Street.
April 19, 9:13 a.m.
Ocean Campus
A person reported being attacked while walking his or her dog by an assailant who struck the dog and spat in the victim’s face.
April 19, 10:35 a.m.
Ocean Campus
An officer was dispatched to Rosenberg Library on a report of a disruptive student who yelled and refused to leave. He was then referred to the dean of students.
April 19, 2:15 p.m.
Ocean Campus
A student reported the theft of personal belongings from a locked locker in the South Gym.