Volume 142, Issue #3
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DECREASED UNIT FEE Effective spring semester of 2007, City College will lower tuition to $20 per unit. While this decrease is good news for students, many underlying suspicions arise. Tuition was raised from $18 to $26 per unit in 2004, the biggest fee increase ever seen by City College; now the new decrease is creating somewhat of an undulant effect — when will it go backup? Tuition fees for City College were introduced in the 1960s, and have since been raised continuously. Aside from the new decrease, community college enrollment fees in California could be compared with university prices. ***HOW?*** One of the biggest enticements to enrolling at City College is its financial accessibility; but at such high tuition rates, education is not economically feasible for some. "We're going to be getting that message out to as many sectors of our community as we can," said Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr. said at this month's board of trustees meeting in regard to this price cut. But whether or not this discount will remain is left to speculation. The timing of the reduction with the upcoming election may or may not be a coincidence, but one might wonder if the tuition cut may be an electoral sibling to the recently raised minimum wage in our fair state. e-mail: editorial@theguardsman.com
"WORLD TRADE CENTER" RAISES RACE ISSUES
Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” is supposedly an historical depiction of the exploits of “true American” heroes who risked their lives rescuing others on that fateful day on September 11, 2001. The fact that a white actor was chosen to play the real-life African American hero raises an intriguing question: Can America handle an African American hero? On September 11, 2001, Sgt. Jason L. Thomas heard news of the attack, dressed in his U.S. Marine uniform, grabbed his equipment and headed directly to Ground Zero, where he formed a two-man search-and-rescue team with Staff Sgt. David Karnes. In the film, Nicolas Cage and William Jimeno play two Port Authority police officers rescued by Thomas and Karnes. Thomas, who is African American, is played by William Mapother, a white man. The film's producer, Michael Shamberg, apologized and claims that they learned the racial identity of the real rescuers after the first day of shooting — too late for what is commonly known in the movie industry as a “re-shoot”. Make no mistake, this film is of huge importance to America’s ever-evolving sense of self. We learned a great deal about ourselves on September 11, and this film is a part of the historic record of what we learned. But apparently America still finds it hard to acknowledge who it truly is. It goes without saying that positive African American male role models are rarely seen in the popular films — they have to be epic performers, legendary athletes or martyrs of civil rights to be an African American hero on the silver screen. The truth is that African American men need heroes and role models as much as anyone else. e-mail: lsimpson@theguardsman.com STUDENTS WIN PRESS FREEDOM
Based on a recent federal court ruling, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution might as well read: Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press — as long as the publication in question is not a college newspaper. The student newspaper at Governor's State University in Illinois was made famous when the dean of student affairs got upset over a series of articles that criticized him and other university officials; The dean then ruled that all articles would require his approval before publication. Prior to this incident, it was assumed that college newspapers have the same First Amendment protections as professional publications. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court reversed this assumption, ruling in favor of the school administration. Since then, journalism educators have pressured the government to approve a law that gives college journalists free speech. Their plea was finally answered when Gov. Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2581, making California the first state to prohibit censorship of college presses. Giving school administrations the right to be involved in production of college newpapers threatens the very basics of the democratic process. It not only blocks student journalists from fulfilling their watchdog roles, but it also trumps honest reporting. After all, the campus newspaper is the only medium that serves the interests of the student body. If our right of free expression is taken from us, then the rights of other students will also be adversely affected.
Faculty Poll Yes: 2 out of 12 “Generally, no. Unless the paper is being designed to go against people. At that point the administratrion should reassess what the fuction of the paper is." Did you know that starting next semester city college tuition will be decreased by six dollar per credit unit. What do you think about that?
BY MILES HARWELL A hobby shared by a wide variety of people is listening to music. Whether it’s country and western or techno, everyone has their own preference of what type of music to listen to. For the average listener however, taste in music matures with age, as many look at the record collection from their teen years and ask themselves, “why the hell did I buy this crap?” I, on the other hand, have listened to the same genre of music since the fourth grade. During a class trip in April 2005, a group of my older classmates engaged in an animated discussion of musical groups. In a pathetic attempt to join the conversation, I blurted out “I like 50 Cent and The Game.” An uncomfortable silence ensued. Point taken — don’t discuss music with my older classmates. It's true, I like rap. There’s a difference between hip-hop and rap. Hip-hop is an activist rambling on about politics and environmental issues, while urging listeners to vote. Rap is the incredibly profane music played on the radio that has to be constantly censored. Most college students prefer hip-hop. I listen to Rap. Rap is criticized for being negative, and in result people like myself are judged for listening to it. My only response: Rappers don’t instruct listeners to purchase guns and don't disrespect women. If people choose to participate in those activities, they will do so under their own free will, not because Snoop Dogg told them to on his latest single. On the same trip, a classmate asked me, “what’s the matter Miles — too indy-rock for you?” while an indy-rock CD was playing. I would’ve preferred Three 6 Mafia. |
