October 10,1997
The Guardsman, City College's award-winning campus newspaper, continued its winning ways by capturing 24 journalistic awards at the annual Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) Northern California Conference held Oct. 18 at San Jose State University.
The awards, for mail-in and on-the-spot competition, included a General Excellence award recognizing The Guardsman for outstanding all-around journalism. The General Excellence honor is considered to be the most prestigious award JACC bestows in any competition.
Sandy Staggs, managing editor of The Guardsman and Northern California JACC student president, called the feat a great achievement. "This proves those late nights really paid off and that our team succeeds together."
Faculty Adviser Juan Gonzales said, "I am extremely proud of the students and their great achievement in capturing the most awards ever since joining JACC three years ago. This achievement has demonstrated the students' hard work, their commitment to excellence, and their overall dedication to journalism."
He added: "I've steadily watched our students' abilities grow, and that has resulted in capturing more and more journalistic awards. I think there is no doubt we've become a powerhouse among community college journalism programs. That's what I've heard from my colleagues at the conference, and it's becoming clear that that's what is happening. I'm so proud of them, and the college should be proud of what they've accomplished."
The JACC is an association of faculty and students in California's community college system. The association meets regularly for statewide and regional conferences that include skill development workshops and journalistic competitions. JACC also hosts a mid-winter faculty conference involving workshops on teaching techniques and media issues.
The following City College journalism students took top honors:
Mail-in-contests
Advertisement (student-produced), First Place, Salem Salloom
Column Writing, Honorable Mention, David Haas-Baum
Creative Media General Excellence, Merit, The Guardsman
Critical Review, First Place, Eugene Bronstein
Critical Review, Third Place, Jennifer Balderama
Critical Review, Fourth Place, Tomomi Yokomura
In-Depth News Stories, Second Place, Mikhaila Nola
In-Depth News Stories, Honorable Mention, Mikhaila Nola
Editorial Cartoon, Second Place, Eugene R. Young
Ethics Essay, Merit, Sandy Staggs
Front Page Design (tabloid), First Place, The Guardsman
General Excellence, The Guardsman
Headlines, Honorable Mention, The Guardsman
Inside Page Design, First Place, Jim Ramsey
Inside Page Design, Third Place, Jim Ramsey
Investigative News Story/Series, Honorable Mention, Sandy Staggs
News Story, Honorable Mention, Eugene D. Bronstein
Opinion Story, Honorable Mention, Luis Wagoner
Photo Illustration, Fourth Place, Andrew Lottmann
Sports Feature Story, Fourth Place, Alan Mills
Sports Feature Story, Honorable Mention, Alan Mills
On -The-Spot Contests :
Front Page Design, First Place, Tim Ball
Front Page Design, Honorable Mention, Sandy Staggs
News Story, Third Place, Rosie
Daswani.
By Ruth
Saravia
Guardsman Staff Writer
Women are at a disadvantage at City College of San Francisco, according to the findings of the Women's Leadership Task Force's (WLTF) study and evaluation of the college's approach to women's programs, issues and involvement in clubs.
Comprised of over 25 female students, faculty, staff and administrators, WLTF was created after the board of trustees passed a resolution directing Chancellor Del Anderson to convene a committee to investigate the need for programs promoting leadership and opportunities for women at City College.
According to the report, there are over 7,000 single parents attending City College, but child care slots are in the range of about 260. Child care is provided from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no child care for evening or weekend class-goers, nor for summer school students.
The committee recommends increased child care hours at every campus.
The Family Resource Center, being developed through a collaboration of the Associated Students (A.S.), Lifetime and the WLTF, will provide networking among parents for them to engage in self-initiated child care exchanges, creating child care hours based on students' needs.
Starter funds for this program will be provided by the A.S.
Though the majority of City College instructors of traditionally women-dominated subjects, such as English, are women, there is no focus on female heroes in the curriculum.
Recalling an experience from an English class, Christian Gaddi, co-chair of the WLTF, remembers reading MC Teague, by Frank Norris.
The San Francisco-based novel's main character was a brutal man who beat his wife and even bit her fingers.
When Gaddi confronted the instructor about the choice of reading material, she was told that MC Teague was a classic, and the issue was dropped.
Members of the task force also feel that more women should be recruited to teach classes in the traditionally male-dominated fields of study, such as engineering.
Presently, there is only one woman instructor out of 20 in that department.
WLTF recommends that a student/faculty mentoring program be created, but already, this recommendation has met with controversy.
Expected to
speak at the board meeting on Oct. 30 are Dean Jennifer
Biehn, Leslie Simon, from Project Survive, Paula Silva, a
student, Dean Anita Martinez, Mary Lamattery and
Gaddi.
By Britt Newton
Guardsman Staff Writer
An
impressive new Student Information Network System with touch
stations and monitors has been devised for City College to
provide students with an exceptional amount of information
regarding services, announcements, programs and
events.
City College was one of 13 colleges in the country to receive a Title III grant from the National Department of Education, which allowed the establishment of this user-friendly, interactive student information system.
 More information booths like this one may adorn City College soon. |
According to Robert Gabriner, director of research and planning at City College, "The fancy network system is designed to provide information in three ways: state-of-the-art electronic touch network stations, or kiosks; cable video monitor screens; and (with the additional help of) familiar peer advisers. The intended result is to inundate students with up-to-date information instantly."
An introductory monitor system has already been installed in Conlan Hall at the information booth. As many as fifteen will be added in the future depending on their usefulness," said Gabriner, who assisted in developing the system.
Developed by Jean McTyre, dean of matriculation and assessment, the kiosk systems, similar to an ATM, have a full-motion video and telephone handsets and are about six feet tall. They're chock full of a succession of screens that provide new and continuing students as well as visitors with fundamental campus information such as a directory, a calendar of events, clubs and activities, libraries and learning resources, as well as a campus map, all of which can be printed out for a mere 25 cents each.
A much-needed solution to long lines and recordings will be a credit card-type code system, which will provide students with a personal pin number for the kiosk system so they can have access to much more dynamic information such as grade reports, financial aid status and unofficial transcripts.
For people drawn to visual images, the monitor screens will provide scrolling, brief announcements by students, faculty and staff, and will be updated weekly.
"To make announcements, students will have to get a Student Information Network Announce-ment form, fill it out, and fax or e-mail the information to the Public Information Office in Conlan Hall," said Steve Kech, public information officer. "The announcements should be simple, related to students, and 50 words or less," he said.
The
inauguration of this cutting-edge technology will occur Oct.
30, 1997, when it will be showcased to the chancellor and
members of the faculty and staff.
A Pepsi Cola vending machine was broken into and all the money was stolen.
Oct. 8, 2:20 p.m.
Two North Gym offices were broken into and personal belongings were stolen.
Oct. 9, 1:20 p.m.
A student's bike was stolen from the bike rack by the Arts Building.
Oct. 9, 10:43 p.m.
An individual was arrested for having outstanding criminal warrants.
Oct. 11, 12:15 p.m.
A "violation of student conduct" case was referred to the dean.
Oct. 17, 11:30 a.m.
A non-student was arrested and given a court date for trespassing on college grounds after a dean warned him not to come back.
--compiled by Melissa
Vree
By Cody Cotulla
Guardsman
Staff Writer
El Niño may bring harsh weather this winter, but City College will be able to withstand it despite reduced custodial and groundskeeping staffs.
Vester Flanagan, director of operations, said the administration has been concerned about El Niño, which meteorologists say may bring the strongest storms in 150 years to the Bay area this winter.
Flanagan, who has been at City College since the mid-60s, said his experience tells him that wind, not rain, is the biggest potential problem. Two years ago, Cloud Circle was closed because strong winds blew plywood and two-by-five pieces of wood off the library, which was then under construction.
To deal with the threat of wind, worn out window frames in district buildings are being replaced. Eighty percent of the buildings at the Alemany campus have been completed. "We hope to replace the ones at the John Adams campus and in the Science Building and Cloud Hall soon," said Flanagan, "but not this year."
Near the tennis courts, cypress and eucalyptus trees, which constantly drop leaves and branches onto the courts, have been removed. Flanagan said, "The branches and leaves were dangerous to students when they became wet. Students could slip on a wet eucalyptus leaf just like on a banana peel."
According to Flanagan, the bungalows at the northeast corner of campus can handle high winds. "There is absolutely no problem," he said. "Those buildings are sheltered by Riordan High School across the street and by the Arts Extension building."
Drains have been cleared to reduce the threat of flooding; ground and roof drains are kept open to keep the flooding down.
Charles Collins, assistant director of operations, was worried about the level of ground water on the Phelan campus, especially to the southeast of the Student Union. "The ground water is quite near the surface there, and in the past this caused problems with flooding," said Collins. "The ground at the Student Union gets saturated, and the ground floor starts leaking. The water level has been three or four inches deep.
"Ground water can also damage underground steam and electrical lines over time," continued Collins. In the late '80s and early '90s, damaged electrical cables led to explosions that lifted man hole covers into the air.
But building maintenance may not only be the only threat to City College if El Niño plays big. Due to budget cuts, custodial and groundskeeping staff have been stretched to the limit. A bad winter will make cleanup more difficult.
According to Collins, the Phelan campus currently has six gardeners, rather than the eight they would have if they were fully staffed, and seven of the 70 custodial positions are vacant. They are also not allowed to use overtime and won't replace people who leave.
"The positions haven't been eliminated -- they just haven't been filled, because the district needs to save money," said Flanagan.
He also said they are able to do an adequate job with the current staff, but the reduced staffing "makes it necessary to be more creative."
"It's like a checker board," Collins said. "You move people around to try to cover the squares. Because of no overtime, people who work a Saturday or a Sunday have to miss a day during the week to keep to 40 hours."
In case there is a disaster, Flanagan, a member of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown's Emergency Preparedness Group, said City College has to be able to take care of its own for 72 hours. They have to be competent enough to rescue people who are trapped, treat injuries, and provide shelter if necessary.
Currently, Collins is in charge of updating City College's Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), a plan created for City College in case of a major disaster, such as an earthquake. The updated EOP will be distributed to all faculty and staff in November, assured Collins.
To meet requirements imposed by the city and county and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), City College is developing Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for each of the 19 large campus buildings in the district. EAPs describe procedures for dealing with disasters isolated to one building.
Along with the EAP,
the college is also putting together maps -- Emergency
Evacuation Plans for each of the 19 buildings. These maps
will be placed in every major stairwell, and each map will
be approved by the SFPD before it's placed.
Email The Guardsman