Volume 143, Issue #2
PAY-AS-YOU-GO AUTOS STAFF WRITER
Most City College students are probably used to sharing things with one another, like pens, pencils and paper — but cars? City CarShare, a Bay Area nonprofit organization, began offering cheap, on-campus car-sharing services to City College students and faculty in late December. The goal is to reduce car ownership. Last August, City College requested proposals from car sharing companies as part of the college’s sustainability efforts. “We wanted to encourage more people to use the public transit system and the car share program was the answer to the question, ‘What if I need a car?’ ” said Winnie Kwofie, a facilities, planning and construction project manager at City College. Kwofie was part of the committee that chose nonprofit City CarShare over for-profit Zipcar and Flexcar. City CarShare won in part because it met the committee’s request for a fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles, Kwofie said. Additionally, 36 faculty were already signed up as regular members. But students and faculty who sign up before March 15 will receive a City College membership. They will pay $50 per year for the service, compared to regular members who pay $120 per year, a $30 registration fee and a $300 security deposit. City College members will also retain the discounted rate after they move on from City College. City CarShare has Toyota Priuses stationed at parking spots at Ocean campus and Gough Street campus, and a Toyota Yaris at John Adams campus.
City CarShare has similar agreements with UC Berkeley and UCSF, said Elisa Schleisman of City CarShare’s Marketing Department. “We're thrilled to have City College on board,” she said. “We want to get as many students as well as faculty signed up. Our members save money while enjoying the freedom of driving and helping the environment.” At the time of the interview, approximately 60 faculty were signed up. Schleisman expects some students and faculty are already members, but haven’t transferred their old membership to receive the City College discount. Kathleen Duffy, a counselor with Disabled Students Programs and Services, transferred her membership in January. She has been a member since her car was totaled in October 2005. “I could have gotten a new car but I chose not to,” she said. “When I was younger it was one of my goals to never own a car. I’ve always had collective proclivities and it seems important now to reduce my carbon footprint.” Duffy mostly walks, bikes and rides public transit. She spends approximately $100 a month to use City CarShare when those options are not practical. “I can get little things at the grocery store easily on my bike. Mostly I use the car for when I have to buy heavy things like detergent,” she said. “Overall, I couldn’t be happier with City CarShare. I used their pickup truck to get my Christmas tree.” Julia Waters, AS Senator and Vice President of the Inter Club Council, signed up for City CarShare the last week of January after she decided to sell her car on Craigslist. “Once I started biking to work, I was able to envision not having a car in my life every day,” she said. “Because of the way the infrastructure is set up, the most well-intentioned person is going to encounter challenges in trying to go car free, and City CarShare helps them with that transition.” Waters said she felt hypocritical driving her General Motors car to work at an environmental company every day. “I’m basically switching from a symbol that represents the destruction of our transit possibilities in the past 50 years to a symbol of future transit possibilities,” she said. City CarShare saves 720 gallons of gas and 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per day, according to a study performed by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development in 2003. At that time, their membership was 4,300. They now boast over 6,000 members. e-mail:adixon@theguardsman.com
EXIT EXAM CLASSES WILL HELP FORMER SFSUD STUDENTS STAFF WRITER Students who failed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) last year can enroll in non-credit classes at City College that began last month to help them pass the test and receive their high school diplomas. Two classes, one in math the other in English/language arts, are being offered to cover each half of the CAHSEE. The courses also teach test-taking skills, an area that could explain why some students fail the test, said Larry Klein, dean of the City College School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. “I have to assume that students who completed all the credits for high school graduation but didn’t pass the CAHSEE probably know enough, but might not know how to take tests,” he said. “If you lack confidence or if you have self-esteem issues, then often you don’t do as well as you can. And we can teach people how to overcome that.” It makes sense for City College to offer exit exam classes. About 79 of the 100 students who failed the CAHSEE in the San Francisco Unified School District last year are already enrolled at City College. The exit exam preparation classes allow them to pursue their City College goals and receive a high school diploma simultaneously, Klein said. “We’re not doing this because the state told us we have to. We have a responsibility to the community,” Klein said. (Over the next three semesters) "we’re hoping that 100 students who failed the CAHSEE will enroll and that 50 will pass.” It was uncertain whether the classes would be offered this semester because City College did not receive necessary funding from the state until the fourth week of January. Last year’s state budget allocated $10 million to community colleges for exit exam classes, but City College did not receive the applications for the funds until late October and was given little time to fill out the required paperwork. Officials were then told they would receive approval by Nov. 21, but did not get that approval until late January. The classes are being offered from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., an off-peak time that allows students to take other classes in the morning or at night. There are more than enough classrooms available at that time, which means other classes did not have to be cut, Klein said. Klein said City College hopes there will be enough funds to offer classes this summer, fall, and next spring for the Class of 2008. In 2005, adults age 25 and above without a GED or high school diploma had a 7.6 percent unemployment rate — 3 percent more than high school graduates — according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the same year, non-high school graduates earned a median weekly salary of $409 figures from the U.S. Bureau of the Census confirm; weekly income for high school graduates averaged $583 in 2005, agency statistics attest. e-mail:adixon@theguardsman.com
STUDENTS IGNORE BICYCLE RACKS ON OCEAN CAMPUS DESPITE WARNINGS, BOOTS EDITOR Though 15 new bike racks have been installed at City College this semester, students continue locking them to hand rails, parking sign poles or any structure they see fit, while blocking the flow of foot traffic for all students including the disabled. “I’m not sure if the students don’t know where the bike racks are, or realize they are blocking traffic,” said Muriel Parenteau, chair of parking and transportation at City College. “I believe they are not aware they are causing a problem.” Since 2003, Parenteau has been advocating for more bike racks and in partnership with other cyclists, has successfully installed over 40 new racks around campus to accommodate the increase in bicycle use and to prevent potential accidents. The problem of unlawfully parked bikes has decreased, yet no matter how many bicycle racks are installed, haphazardly parked two-wheelers continue blocking paths of travel. Students don’t want to walk any more then they have to, and prefer to lock their bicycles close to their classes, Parenteau said. Numerous warnings have been placed on illegally parked bikes. If a bicycle still does not make it to a rack, the campus police use a bicycle “boot,” disabling it to make their point. “People are happy to comply after they’ve gotten the warning.” said City College Police Chief Carl Koehler. It seems no matter how many bike racks City College installs, riders are not interested in parking far away from their destinations. “Why would I go out of my way to park my bike,” said industrial design major Judah Mendez. “(The warnings) seem like a ridiculous way to allocate resources. Just put bike racks closer to doorways.” Three new racks were installed in front of Conlan Hall, two at the North Gym and one on the south side of Science Hall on the Ocean Campus. A free standing rack stands in front of the 700 Bungalows, while three were added to the cluttered Visual Arts courtyard. Although two racks were added to a first floor Rosenberg library location, Parenteau said the handicapped parking poles in front of the main entrance caused the biggest problem of illegally parked bicycles. “We are looking at putting in racks in front of Rosenberg, but right now there is no current safe place.” Parenteau said. In order to put racks in front of Rosenberg, new concrete would interfere with an existing water system. “My goal is to have bike racks already built into the plans for all future construction.” e-mail:kkinney@theguardsman.com
STUDENTS-TO-STUDENT BOOK EXCHANGE PROGRAM HALTED CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The development of a City College student-to-student book exchange program has come to an end because of the absences of its organizer. The program is new, completely independent of the book store and was proposed to the City College Associate Students by Forest Schafer, a third-semester student, who suggested having faculty become involved. The idea was presented during an AS meeting last Oct. 25. Schafer’s proposal would be accomplished in two ways: an online exchange forum with faculty giving students information about the forum. Through it, students could make requests of other students who may have the books they need for their classes. Students with books to sell would post that information online. Each semester faculty would decide whether or not they wanted to participate or continue with the program. The Associated Students has been unable to contact or finalize plans with Schafer and cannot move forward without him. Schafer was unavailable for comment. “Schafer is responsible to give any paper work to all academic departments,” said City College Associated Students Vice-President of Administration Ben Schaeffer said. “It’s basically an experiment and it would be student-to-student rather than student-to-book loan or bookstore.” The process is at a standstill until Forest returns to the AS with the paperwork. If the idea ever becomes a reality; AS will sponsor it so long as faculty participates, V.P. Schaeffer said. “The idea of students selling books to each other is great.” said Carole Cadoppi, a City College foreign language professor. “Since books are so expensive and new editions are coming out every 4-5 years, it seems like a fine way to save on all resources, natural and economic.” Monica Richard, a City College nursing student is willing to sell her books back to other students at an affordable price. “When I sell my books back to the book store I only get half price,” she said. Edward Vallecillo, a City College Bookstore floor supervisor doubts a book exchange program will affect the bookstore. “This works in small groups of people who will follow through” he said. “I don’t think it’s significant because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.” e-mail:newseditor@theguardsman.com
STUDENT NAMES AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS LEFT FLOATING UNSECURED IN CYBERSPACE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The names, addresses and social security numbers of 11,000 City College students were accidentally discovered online last Tuesday. The information got posted online when a City College computer programmer, using it for official business purposes, forgot to remove it, said Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor of finance & administration. “He was not trying to sabotage [students], nobody was hacking in, it was nothing like that,” Goldstein said. “We took the page down within a few minutes of becoming aware of it,” said Tim Ryan, the Network Manager for City College. However, the two largest search engines, Google and Yahoo, store web pages and initially told staff at City College that it could take a month for their systems to remove the pages. “If you are one of the 11,000 that is not a good answer,” Goldstein said. Ryan worked with Yahoo and Google, and had the remaining information removed by Thursday evening and Friday afternoon respectively. Although City College has not used student’s social security numbers for identification since 2002, the school contacted faculty and staff to insure that no further student information was posted online. “We are really regretful that anything like this could happen here,” said Goldstein. “We took our responsibility seriously and are trying to get the message to the students as soon as possible, and we have redoubled our efforts to make sure there are no other personal identifications online, anywhere.” City College mailed a letter to all 11,000 students detailing the situation and lists actions students can take to insure that they do not fall victim to identity fraud. Students are instructed to call 1-800-436-0108 or visit http://www.ccsf.edu/securityalert for further information. e-mail:editorial@theguardsman.com
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People pass by City CarShare's Toyota Prius as it sits in its parking spot on Phelan Avenue at Ocean Campus. 
