Volume 137, Issue 8
News
PROGRAMS AT EVANS CAMPUS CONTINUE DESPITE THEFT: Emerging problems point to extensive loss
BY
JOSH LEHMAN
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY DAN ELDRIDGE / GUARDSMAN |
Evans campus’ welding, automotive and motorcycle programs were left in a lurch this semester after an array of tools and equipment used in their curricula were taken in a summer burglary.
No suspects were apprehended when officers responded to an alarm sounded by the break-in at 2:40 a.m. on July 4. However, campus police said it was clear the point of entry was a back door on the south side of the building.
Trade-focused classes are now hindered without proper equipment. “There are holes in the curriculum in certain areas because we used these specific tools,” said Ben Macri, automotive and trade skills department chair.
Faculty members are continuing to report missing odds and ends as they discover what is unaccounted for. The school is having difficulties compiling a precise inventory of lost items because they came from many sources.
“We scrounge for stuff around here because we don’t have a lot of money,” Macri said. “A lot of the equipment came from donations. In many cases they were instructors’ personal belongings.”
Replacing the stolen goods will be difficult for Evans campus as the whole of City College faces shrinking educational budgets.
“I’m extremely disappointed because this kind of thing directly affects our programs. It’s a tough budgetary time when the government doesn’t support education, so these losses trickle down to the students,” said Phyllis McGuire, Evans campus dean.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to get the equipment replaced or we’ll have to live with those holes,” Macri added.
The burglary has prompted a reassessment of security on Evans campus. Overgrown trees were trimmed for better visibility and a low, flimsy fence was replaced on the south side of campus where the intruders broke in.
Campus police expressed their desires to increase the number of graveyard patrollers, although they, too, are affected by current fiscal limitations.
There are no full-time officers stationed on campus at night, but budgetary constraints would not allow for the creation of a new position, said City College Police Chief Carl S. Koehler.
“We make frequent rounds of all of our campuses at night and we’re paying particular attention to Evans campus after this incident,” he said.
Koehler is working closely with Captain Rick Bruce from the San Francisco Police Department’s Bayview station to organize additional surveillance by SFPD officers.
e-mail: jlehman@theguardsman.com
VIDEO PORTS STILL GATHERING DUST: Plan to link classrooms via interactive network awaits more funding
BY
JON GUNTON
Staff Writer
LESLIE HICKS / GUARDSMAN |
Video ports installed several years ago in every City College campus classroom have lain fallow because more funding is needed to implement the system.
“The wiring is there, but there is additional equipment that needs to be connected to the wires to make the system function properly,” said Francine Podenski, broadcast electronic media arts department chair. “Right now there are no funds to start using the infrastructure.”
The network would connect classrooms with one another and connect the college with other educational institutions in San Francisco including San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco State University and University of California San Francisco, Mission Bay.
The ports were part of an education technology plan to create a fiber infrastructure called the Metropolitan Area Network. Construction on the infrastructure and the ports occurred between 1999 and 2002 before resuming last year, said Tim Ryan, network manager of Information Technology Services.
“One day, City College will be able to deliver one-way and two-way interactive video to
all classrooms,” Podenski said. “Students could attend a class at a different campus than where the professor is lecturing, and participate via video.”
That day has yet to come because several staffing and funding-related setbacks have disrupted the project’s completion.
Stefan Ponek, the project’s chief engineer and senior broadcast technician of the broadcast electronic media arts department, died unexpectedly in October 2001.
“His death was a big part of everything slowing down,” said Maya Novelli, who replaced Ponek in both positions.
The 2001 General Obligation Bond of the San Francisco Community College District along with leftover funds from the 1997 General Obligation Bond of the City and County of San Francisco allotted about $16 million for 10 different projects. Approximately $3.5 million went to the data and video infrastructure.
A small, unspecified part of that sum was meant for the video ports.
“When we went to an Information Technology Policy Committee meeting last spring, we learned that funds had to be allocated to more urgent infrastructure needs,” Podenski said.
Nevertheless, the entire network is scheduled for completion by the end of this year if a bond measure passes in November.
“We are three-quarters of the way done with the infrastructure,” Ryan said. “All of the large campuses are connected internally, and now we are currently in the process of connecting them to each other.”
e-mail: jgunton@theguardsman.com
BY ANGELA HART
Staff Writer
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The City College Police Department increased the number of officers patrolling Ocean campus in an attempt to reduce student marijuana use.
According to the police, the added on-foot and vehicle patrols are partly due to complaints from staff, faculty and other students.
“Complaints are sometimes made where people tend to congregate – for example, Horticulture Hill,” Police Chief Carl S. Koehler said.
“I wouldn’t smoke as comfortably if there were more cops,” City College student Alex Rio said. “Instead of smoking on the hill I would walk and smoke.”
Koehler said the punishments for possession are usually light. “Normally, for a small amount of marijuana, community service can be done,” he said.
Among students who admitted to using marijuana, many said they did so because they are on campus most of the day, school is stressful and they don’t think it is a crime.
“More patrols would make me want to smoke more, for the simple fact that they’re trying to stop something they can’t,” said Maurice, a student who asked that his last name be withheld.
Any student caught smoking marijuana will be issued a citation and referred to Mark Robinson, dean of student advocacy.
“Many times the student has a medicinal marijuana card, in which case we like the student to register with the school and we keep a photocopy of the card for their file,” Robinson said. “The student is then asked not to smoke on campus anymore.”
Students without the card are placed on disciplinary probation, while the college records the location and date of the student’s citation.
e-mail: ahart@theguardsman.com
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS INCREASE
BY JEROLD CHINN
Editor
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A new written composition requirement in order to graduate and receive an associate’s degree begins this fall while California State Universities are changing their transfer requirements.
Students need to take English 96 and ESL students need ESL 170 in order to graduate. All students must pass these courses with a C or higher in order to count toward graduation.
Students enrolled prior to this fall’s changes will not be affected by the new written composition requirement.
A Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation review of California Community College regulations prompted City College to change its written composition requirement.
The accreditation review by WASC occurred in 2000 and recommended that “the college critically analyze the existent … written composition requirements for graduation to ensure that the demonstrated levels of competence are suitable for recipients of a degree of associate in arts or associate in science.”
“It is important for City College to follow WASC’s recommendation or else City College can lose its accreditation,” said Deanna Abma of the Articulation Office. Abma updates the list of courses that are transferable to a four-year university.
Also, California Community College regulations state English courses one level below English 1A are acceptable to graduate.
“City College has been incompliant with California Community College regulations,” said Bruce Smith, dean of the school of liberal arts. English 94 and ESL 82 no longer meet the
written composition graduation requirement, which has changed to English 96 or ESL 170.
The new changes in City College’s requirements precede new standard requirements that CSUs will enforce among all community colleges.
CSUs will increase their requirements in areas A2 (Written Communication) and A3 (Critical Thinking).
English 70, 94, 96 and ESL 82 no longer meet the requirements for areas A2 or A3.
The amount of City College students transferring to California State Universities has been affected in the past because of the requirements.
“The school saw a 25 percent decline during the 1997-1998 year when CSUs started enforcing the A2 and A3 requirements,” said Carl Jew, Transfer Center department chair. “I expect to see the same decline due to the new requirements in the fall of 2006.”
“This will probably make students more intimidated to go to City,” said Catrina Gutierrez, a City College student who plans to transfer. “If transfer requirements are raised, you might as well just head over to a state college.”
Another route that students have taken is by going to a different community college to take classes.
Jew said students have often taken courses from other community colleges because they require fewer courses to get into CSUs compared to City College.
Continuing students have until this summer to use English 70, 94, 96 and ESL 82 to satisfy the A2 and A3 requirements for CSUs.
e-mail: editorial@theguardsman.com
BY CHRIS ALBON
Staff Writer
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With parking limited by the removal of several spaces at Ocean campus, some students are complaining the reservoir fills up by morning and requires a long wait on Phelan Avenue to enter.
Three parking lots and two streets were closed, removing 240 spaces to make way for the new health, wellness and childcare centers. The number of spaces in the reservoir was increased by 600 last year; however, students say they need more.
“I want my money back,” student Ande Circa said. “My permit is useless half of the time because there’s no parking.”
According to Rowena Lau-Mejia from Administrative Services, the body governing parking at City College, around 2400 student parking permits have been sold.
“They need another lot,” student Mika Jackson said. “They closed the small lots and they need to lower the price.”
In a special bulletin, the Chancellor’s Office recommended students arrive 20 minutes earlier than normal at the start of school to deal with the congestion.
Student Nelly Garcia believes parking will thin out soon. “It’s crowded. Half of these students are only going to be here for the first couple of weeks. It’s always like this,” she said.
e-mail: calbon@theguardsman.com
SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLLEGE POLICE DISPATCH
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August 25, 7:08 p.m.
Ocean Campus
Officers responded to the Science building when a faculty member reported that her office had been burglarized the week before and many items were missing.
August 23, 8:00 p.m.
Ocean Campus
Officers saw two men in a vehicle harass a female student, and then proceeded to stop them on Cloud Circle for not wearing their seat belts. The driver had a $10,000 warrant for his arrest and a suspended driver’s license. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated and spit on the officers. The driver was booked for driving on a suspended license. The passenger was booked for being drunk in public, committing battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and giving false identification to a police officer.
August 14, 10:08 a.m.
Ocean Campus
A suspect who had been smoking methamphetamine was located packaging marijuana to sell in a Cloud Hall classroom. Officers arrested the suspect, who wriggled his hands out of the handcuffs and fought the officers. One of the arresting officers injured his wrist in the struggle.
BY JON GUNTON
Staff Writer
• Board amends the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action section in the San Francisco Community College District Policy Manual, updating the policy to better reflect current state law.
• Board recognizes and congratulates City College student Thomas Chupein for being the recipient of $30,000 as part of the 2005/2006 Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships provided to community college students in the country. Chupein was one of 25 students selected from 719 potential candidates.
• Board authorizes to contract Ja’Valencia Café to serve as a coffee and snack bar on the temporary Mission campus at Alabama Street.
Choice Words:
“In a sense we had an affirmative action plan which was essentially invalidated.”
-Senior Counsel Ronald Lee
“This is going to be a very, very rough and rugged year financially, but I have a lot of confidence that our staff, faculty and everybody else will keep doing the right thing.”
-Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr
DOUBLE VISION: A City College Column
BY DAN VEREL
Editor
At times, City College can feel like a maze of bureaucratic works in the making. We wait in endless lines to obtain the required materials for our pursuit of higher education, and attempt to save ourselves from financial peril every semester.
Books, loan applications and the roach coach all seem like vacuums to our already-thin wallets. The wait that comes with them serves as a reminder that at school, you’re a number before an individual. It is, at the very least, maddening.
With that, many of us will seek financial aid in order to alleviate the tumultuous and arduous task that will become our new daily routine: making Ocean campus our second home.
This semester, I was amazed with how swiftly and easily I received my extra cash. The woman behind the counter seemed just as happy to utter the phrase, “You currently have maximum eligibility,” as I was to hear it.
What later occurred to me was that this fateful day felt like one of those rare, productive trips to the DMV or to court. The expedient processing of my award left me vindicated and filled with a newfound appreciation for those who dedicate themselves to finding me money.
Upon hearing the good news, I enjoyed a few pints while playing pool. Then I realized I couldn’t spend my reward at my third home: the bar. I kept thinking, “This bar has been so vital to any success I’ve had. If only I could get someone to fund this ever-so-important extracurricular activity, life would be even better.”
But that, we all know, is just wishful thinking.
The point is, don’t spend your precious school money on booze — no matter how tempting.
e-mail: sports@theguardsman.com
City College at Large
Call or e-mail Elizabeth Pfeffer with campus-wide news at: (415) 239-3446 or metronews@theguardsman.com
John Adams Campus
An art exhibit titled “30 Year History: Our Community Mural” is now on display outside of the library. The exhibit focuses on “Our History is No Mystery,” a mural painted in 1976 by Haight-Ashbury muralists, and depicts moments in history from the workers’ point of view. The exhibit is open Mondays through Saturdays, and is free to the public.
Downtown Campus
Students and Metreon patrons will have one more dining option when The Educated Palate restau-rant opens in October or November. When the state-of-the-art kitchen is completed, it is estimated that 50 to 70 students will complete courses in the culinary arts and front-of-the-house operations every two semesters.
Chinatown Campus
In partnership with the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, the Chinatown / North Beach campus will be holding a Citizenship Day Celebration for New Citizens on Sept. 27. City College students who have recently gained U.S. citizenship will be honored by administrators and members of the board of trustees.
Southeast Campus
The Southeast campus has extended its course curriculum this semester. Among the additions is African American Health Issues, which is now offered on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The class emphasizes health promotion and disease prevention.
Short Cuts
Coffee Not Addictive
Studies show coffee is not addictive if consumed in moderate doses. Medical researcher Astrid Nehlig found the amount of caffeine in one to three cups of coffee is not enough to affect the part of the brain associated with addiction. In fact, many studies show a latte in the morning may improve alertness for the rest of the day.
Spring Schedule
The spring schedule of classes will be available Oct. 17, one month earlier than usual. The release date was pushed up in an effort to compete with local colleges and universities that give out class listings before City College does.
Student Services Fair
Different counseling, tutoring and special services departments will gather at Ram Plaza for the 3rd Annual Student Services Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 14. In addition to gaining information about the programs, students can participate in raffles and win prizes.
Computer Recycling
The San Francisco Bay Area Computer Recycling Project disposes of old computers in an environmentally sound way. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, college students account for $8.2 billion in new electronic sales, most of which are computer-related. Unused computers can be donated at any Goodwill location.