Volume 142, Issue #6
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News
STABILIZING TUITION COSTS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES
BY
JOHN SERVATIUS
Staff Writer
Julia "Butterfly" Hill lived in a tree she called "Luna" for two years to prevent loggers from cutting it down. GUARDSMAN |
An initiative is being circulated for the 2008 state ballot that would create an independently funded community college system, reduce the per-unit fee to $15 and restrict future fee increases.
"This would increase access to higher education," said Ed Murray, president of Local 2121 of the American Federation of Teachers at City College, referring to the fee reduction.
Funding for community colleges is currently bundled with funding for kindergarten through 12th grade — which Murray said works against City College.
The new proposition would put California community colleges on a par with California’s four-year university systems.
The impetus for the proposition came from a coalition of organizations opposed to a measure by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that would have abolished the California Community College Board of Governors and placed community colleges under the control of grade schools, according to Murray.
"We would have been the stepchild of K through 12," he said.
The coalition formed in the summer of 2005 and includes the California Community College League, the Los Angeles Community College Faculty League and the California Federation of Teachers, among others.
The Community College Governance, Funding Stabilization, and Student Fee Reduction Act was the result of the coalition’s work. It would establish an autonomous California Community College Board of Governors, independent of the governor and embedded in the state constitution.
The ballot measure would change Proposition 98 — the 1988 measure that provides fiscal guarantees for grades K-14 — separating the budget of community colleges from grade schools.
Local 2121 has donated $10,000 to the City College Inter-Club Council to gather signatures locally, according to Murray.
One million signatures are necessary statewide for 600,000 to be certified as valid, according to the fact sheet provided by the proposition’s supporters. One dollar will be given to the ICC for distribution to City College clubs for each authentic signature, Murray said.
$1.5 million in donations is needed for the campaign, according to the coalition. The deadline for certification of signatures set by the state attorney general's office is Jan. 22, 2007.
Christine Chavez, granddaughter of legendary farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, is the initiative’s statewide director.
“I'm trying to get students to volunteer to collect signatures,” she said.
“In Oxnard, students come from a farm worker background. They're worried about their brothers and sisters."
e-mail: jservatius@theguardsman.com
ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES CRUISE RAM PLAZA
BY NINO BOLES-KING
STAFF WRITER
The San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. displayed three alternatively fueled, small white cars at Ram Plaza on Oct. 12 in an effort to educate students.
Two of the cars on display were owned by PG&E and the third was privately leased.
“I think that car companies know that electric-driven vehicles are inevitable,” said Marc Geller, lessor of one of the three cars on display.
Geller said he is an enthusiastic supporter of these vehicles because they are extremely easy and inexpensive to maintain.
Tyler Wellman of PG&E drove a Honda Civic fueled by compressed natural gas.
“It basically drives like a normal Civic. It should have been on the market 20 years ago,” Wellman said.
A Toyota Prius hybrid owned by PG&E, equipped with extra lithium-ion batteries, was also on display. The Prius is charged by plugging it in to an outlet and can achieve up to 100 miles per gallon with an overnight charge, but will still get 50 mpg without charging, according to Sherry Boschert, president of San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association.
The third car was an electric 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV with banners stating “No Gas Tank” and “No Emissions” posted on it.
Toyota doesn’t sell the RAV4 EV, but leases them for between $400 and $500 per month.
Geller said Toyota has already leased 800 of these models in the United States, with 500 leased to corporations and the rest to individuals.
e-mail: nboles-king@theguardsman.com
PHOTO 51 FUSES FILM AND DIGITAL FORMATS
BY JEREMIAH MICHAELS
EDITOR
ALEX HYDE / GUARDSMAN |
HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Photo 51 student Regine Bertolucci inspects her recently developed film that she can now scan into a digital format. The first and only hybrid photography class in the Bay Area that encompasses both digital and film media together in the same class is in its first semester at City College.
The inaugural hybrid version of Photography 51, Beginning Photography, allows students to learn how to use both digital and film cameras.
“You might spend four hours in the darkroom; you also might spend four hours in front of a computer screen working on an image. The amount of time is the same. That was part of our logic for the hybrid,” said Bob McAteer, chair of the photography department.
McAteer said when camera technology changed, City College changed right along with it.
The idea to create a new program began fifteen years ago, when the industry began to change and digital technology started to become the standard, McAteer said.
Five years ago, the college got serious about changing the curriculum as the industry began to change more rapidly, he said.
McAteer said the department researched two- and four-year universities, looking for a class to use as a model for the new City College class. Most colleges, like Cecil Community College in Maryland, where McAteer taught previously, had switched over completely to digital-format classes.
After consulting with the Industry Advisory Board, the department began to purchase modern equipment with bond money from Proposition A, and funds from a block grant from the Vocational and Technical Education Act.
One of the items that the department recently purchased is a $15,000 Imacon film scanner. The scanner digitizes film negatives so students can load the images onto computers.
Whether the program will jibe with the students is a different matter. Tanya Hough, a part-time faculty member in the photo department, said she recognized that some students will have concerns.
“It’s a new class, and there is a period of adjustment with anything new,” Hough said.
“But the demos have doubled in size. The students get the benefit of both skills.”
e-mail: calendar@theguardsman.com
BY
ELIZABETH SKOW
STAFF WRITER
The Student Union has been allocated money to be restructured and refurnished soon, in order to resolve a history of problems mostly due to its mixed use as a place to socialize and study, according to Associated Students Vice President of Finance Virginie Corominas.
According to Skip Fotch, associate dean of student activities, there has been a history of tension among users of the Student Union, which has two mixed-use lounges — one upstairs, one downstairs. Both lounges are used at different times for meetings and socializing, as well as studying, reading and quiet time.
The plan is to create two separate spaces for different uses: one quiet, and one for social activities, according to Corominas.
Greg Bianculle, 19, said that he spends time in the Student Union every day. He said he is tired of all the arguing about who should get to use the space.
“I don’t care what they decide, as long as they settle it. I would like to hear a lot less complaining around here,” Bianculle said.
According to Fotch, the Associated Students has made approximately $30,000 available for this project.
Just how the money will be spent depends on the results of a “town hall meeting” to be held in the upper lounge of the Student Union in October, when all City College students will be invited to discuss how the lounge should be renovated and what kind of furniture to choose.
“We have to find out what the students need to serve them better,” Corominas said. She added that there might be input and cooperation from the architecture and interior design departments so that students are actively involved in the renovations.
e-mail: eskow@theguardsman.com
THE GUARDSMAN WINS RECOGNITION AT JACC
BY ELIZABETH SKOW
Staff Writer
ANNABELLE DAY / GUARDSMAN |
These nine flags, located in the office for the institute for International Students, represent about 10 percent of the countries students emigrate from to study at City College. City College journalism students and The Guardsman won 25 awards on Oct. 14 at this year’s Journalism Association of Community Colleges Northern California conference at San Jose State University.
“It’s extremely gratifying to see that year in, year out, our staff can compete both on a state and a regional level and do very well,” said Juan Gonzales, journalism department chair.
The event featured a keynote address by Lance Williams, the San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporter who co-authored a series of stories with Mark Fainaru-Wada, which exposed Barry Bonds’ — and other athletes' — abuse of steroids.
A team of eight students and two teachers attended the conference, participated in on-the-spot competitions and attended a variety of workshops about journalism taught by teachers and professionals in the field.
About 300 journalism students and instructors from 22 community colleges attended, according to Rubina Gulati, vice president of the Nor-Cal JACC.
Highlights of the day included first place in the on-the-spot copy-editing contest by T.J. Johnston, The Guardsman copy editor; two general excellence awards in investigative reporting awarded to Chris Albon, news editor, and Elizabeth Pfeffer, former news editor; first place in bring-in stand-alone feature photography for photojournalism student Peter Scales; and a general excellence award for tabloid design for the paper overall.
“It doesn’t matter if you get first place or an honorable mention, it’s all about recognition, and (the JACC) don’t recognize bad stories,” said Managing Editor Miles Harwell, a JACC conference veteran and winner of two honorable-mention awards.
“In many ways, it’s a testament to the various teachers in our program who equipped them with the necessary skills to eventually be competent in their professional roles.”
The conference’s focus was the importance of confidential sources to journalism.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada face up to 18 months in federal prison for refusing to give up the source of a grand jury leak that gave them the material they needed to write the expose.
e-mail:mgutierrez@theguardsman.com
PERFORMANCES HONOR FILIPINO AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
BY KAREN M. KINNEY
Staff Writer
NINA ROBINSON / GUARDSMAN |
Student Rosario Englis checks her phone in front of Science Hall, which may host Verizon Wireless networking equipment. Over 200 people celebrated Filipino American history month on Oct. 27 in the Smith Hall to honor the 100th anniversary of Filipino mass migration to the United States.
The City College club PEACE, or Pilipinos for Education, Art, Culture and Empowerment, organized the event. Jason Ortega, PEACE president, said Pilipino is the term Filipino-Americans use to identity themselves.
Ortega said the event, called “Sandaang Bagsak” — which means “100 years of achievement are done and another 100 are to come” according to PEACE member Gene Apellido — was not only a celebration, but also an opportunity to educate students about Filipino history.
“This is a way people can see how Filipinos have played a very important role in our society,” Ortega said.
The main display of the celebration was a collection of cartoons and magazine articles taken from Toribio’s famous Filipino activist book called “The Forbidden Book” which depicts the justification of colonization of the Filipino people at the turn of the century.
Music was played throughout the event, which was headlined by hip-hop group Native Guns and included hip-hop act Rhapsodistas and break dancers The Rat Pack.
On display was a student-made timeline explaining the historical events from the last 100 years of Filipino history.
Asian American Studies Instructor Helen Toribio, Counselor and Philippine Studies Instructor Tony Guiuan and Jeff “Makata” Trinidad, founder of PEACE, were three Filipino-Americans posthumously honored at the event because of their substantial contributions to City College.
Guiuan and Toribio died this year and Trinidad died in 2002.
“Through the work of these people, we can let other students know about PEACE and they can become involved and be a part of learning their own history,” said member Gene Apellido.
e-mail: kkinney@theguardsman.com
"HUMP DAY" HELPS STUDENTS CLIMB MIDWEEK HILL
BY JEREMIAH MICHAELS
EDITOR
ANNABELLE DAY / GUARDSMAN |
In an effort to cure midweek blues, the Associated Students presented the first of a planned weekly “Hump Day” on Oct. 18, with disc jockeys, open microphone and live music for suffering students at Ram Plaza.
“Diamond” Dave Whitaker, Associated Students vice president of cultural affairs, opened the event with comments and plans for future gatherings.
“We want to inhabit this space as a place of public speech,” Whitaker said.
“Hump Day” is defined by the Web site Urbandictionary.com as “The middle of a work week (Wednesday); used in the context of climbing a proverbial hill to get through a tough week.”
Hump Day took place on the first floor of the Student Union due to a scheduling error with an event put on by the World Peace Buddhists.
Strangeface and the Marvel Teem Up, student hip-hop performers, played in the lower level before the event was moved outside.
Once outside, the City College African drum class, The Children of the Circle, played a short set for the roughly 50 students on the warm, sunny day. After the drumming, DJ Joel spun reggae and dub.
The San Francisco-based 5lowershop Collective was asked by the Associated Students to provide the sound system and turntables, according to 5lowershop’s DJ Heartworm. They also displayed their school bus, which runs on recycled vegetable oil and biodiesel.
5lowershop plans to bring in more live acts, according to Heartworm.
“We want to get some more people from outside, maybe some guest speakers like the Black Panthers,” Heartworm said.
Hump Day also featured The Urban Sustainability Alliance. The alliance plans to build a “bike kitchen” to teach student how to repair their bicycles, according to the alliance’s president, Antonio Roman-Alcala.
Several clubs were also in the plaza on Wednesday afternoon. The Polynesian Club was selling barbeque chicken to raise money for a tour the club would be taking in the summer of 2007, according to member Carlos Hernandez.
While not officially part of the day, the Polynesian Club said they would be back again.
“It had a good turnout, considering there were few posters,” said Uribe Faataui, a Polynesian Club member.
Any students interested in performing can contact “Diamond” Dave Whitaker at the Associated Students office or e-mail him at dmndv@hotmail.com
e-mail: calendar@theguardsman.com
BY NINO BOLES-KING
STAFF WRITER
ANNABELLE DAY / GUARDSMAN |
Young Workers United, a San Francisco labor-rights advocacy organization has been working to put Proposition F, which would require employers to pay workers for sick days, on November’s ballot.
“You’re scared to get fired from your job when you get sick,” said student and YWU member Matt Garron, who balances work and classes at City College.
About half of YWU’s 40 members are City College students, according to organizer Sonja Metta, although she said that the organization also has about 400 participants.
All San Francisco workers would accrue one paid hour of leave for every 30 hours worked if the measure passes. Workers could either take time off due to illness or to take care of a family member who is sick. They could also use the paid leave for doctor’s appointments.
Not all are in favor of the proposition.
Steve Cornell, owner of Brownie's Hardware, opposes the proposition and said it may be a burden to the already numerous taxes that businesses in San Francisco already face.
"It puts San Francisco at a competitive disadvantage to other businesses in the Bay Area," Cornell said.
People who work in restaurants, bars and stores would benefit heavily by the proposition, according to Garron.
“A lot of the jobs that don’t get paid sick days are in the service sector,” Garron said.
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is also opposed to the proposition, according Naomi Nakamura, member of YWU and a City College student.
She said the association wanted to change some things pertaining to the amount of hours worked in order to support it, but she said YWU refused.
e-mail: nboles-king@theguardsman.com
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES CANDIDATES
BY JOSE GUTIERREZ
STAFF WRITER
Vice President Johnnie Carter, Jr., incumbent
Carter wants the board to have more interaction with students so their voices could be heard. He encourages students to come to board meetings. He also wants vocational programs to grow with funding for more programs. “I want to be able to continue to fund programs and see where the needs are,” Trustee Carter said.
Dr. Anita Grier, incumbent
Grier has served eight years on the board and has been president of the board twice. She wants to improve the quality of education at City College, especially in the math and English departments. She wants to ensure the college successfully implements the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance, which pushes for open and transparent government.
Lawrence Wong, incumbent
Wong has served three terms on the board and wants to be re-elected to continue to fulfill the educational needs of the college. He led the effort to build new campuses and wants to continue to fund programs for at-risk students. “Judge me on my record,” Trustee Wong said. “I want to continue to do more for the people of San Francisco.”
John Rizzo, candidate
Rizzo is on the bond oversight committee and feels his working knowledge on the $700 million construction projects would be helpful to the board. He also wants to push for more funding for programs and wants the college to implement an environmental sciences program. “City College needs to serve San Francisco better,” Rizzo said. “We need to get more federal funding.”
Bruce Wolfe, candidate
Wolfe has a master’s degree in social work. He wants to ensure that fees stay affordable and wants the school to balance the budget better. He is a former student and says he knows how the college works and operates. He also says he has a good understanding of what needs to happen at the state legislature. “I’m running on the platform of ‘education is a right not a privilege’,” Wolfe said.
Johnny Knadler, candidate
Knadler is a current student at City College and stresses the importance of repairing the school’s facilities, especially the classrooms. He also wants lower fees and longer facility hours. He would push to purchase new equipment. “Students need a student voice,” Knadler said. “I believe I’m that person.”
e-mail: jgutierrez@theguardsman.com
BY NINO BOLES-KING
STAFF WRITER
- Trustee Lawrence Wong's aunt, Lilly Wong, donated $373,130 to the San Francisco City College Foundation.
- Measure B2 passed permitting the deconstruction of bungalows B306 through B317. Bungalows B301 to B305 will be deconstructed at a later date. The estimated cost of the project is $66,000 and will be funded with Proposition A general obligation funds from 2005.
- The Board approved two resolutions. One resolution approved a contract with the McMullen Company for special services and an emergency activation plan as a result of Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit. The motion will not exceed $83,400. The second resolution approved the hiring of director Leilani F. Battiste, who will oversee the project's implementation of compliance.
e-mail: nboles-king@theguardsman.com