TheINQUIRER

Student Voice of diablo Valley college

• NEWS 1, 2 • SPORTS 4, 5 • OPINIONS 7 • EDITORIAL 6 • ENTERTAINMENT 8 • FEATURES 3 • CAMPUS BUZZ 6 • CALENDER 2 • POLICE BEAT 2 • STAFF INFORMATION 6 •

Prepare forbattle:

Volume 78 No. 5 Copyright © 2011 The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College www.TheInquirerOnline.com Thursday, May 5, 2011

BRIAN DONOVANSenior staff writer

Students who are interested in taking summer classes will find fewer choices in the cata-log.

This summer, DVC is go-ing to offer only 400 sections, about a 25 percent reduction from the 535 sections offered to students in summer 2010.

“They are saving money at the expense of students,” said David Sherr, a DVC film student. “It is penny wise and pound foolish.”

According to Ted Wieden, the interim dean of curricu-lum and instruction, faculty members were appointed to join an ad-hoc Joint Schedule Task Force.

“What we allowed faculty

ACE, Page 2

Summer session reduced by 135 classes

The ASDVC will spend almost $142,000 next year to pay for faculty advisers and to staff the club program.

According to the Community College Education Code, all revenue from the $10 per student Student Activity Fee is available for operating the student body center under the discretion/direction of the student government.

ASDVC exercised this responsibility and on May 2, decided on the amount of funds they are willing to put towards funding an adviser position and two club member positions.

Bill Oye, dean of student life, prior to the meet-ing strongly stressed that “we need to have a plan in place as to how we can support clubs and AS-DVC.”

This year, a new approach known as “faculty reassignment,” is being used to hire a faculty ad-viser.

Faculty reassignment is when rather than hiring someone, an organization buys a segment of the faculty’s time.

This method is a much cheaper approach than independently hiring someone.

In this case, ASDVC was presented the options of buying 100 percent of the particular faculty member’s time, 50 percent, or 25 percent.

With a vote of 17 favored, 6 opposed, and 3 ab-staining, they have selected the option to fund a 25 percent faculty advisor for the San Ramon campus and a 50 percent advisor for the main DVC cam-pus.

This decision will use $79,950.00 of ASDVC

funds.Francisco Hinojosa, Vice Chair of the College

Council, strongly advocated choosing a 75 percent option because, “when we consider the duties of an advisor, we need someone to perform the duties involved with the position.”

However, there were also many dissenting voices on the floor.

Nick Holmes, history major and vice president

of legislative affairs, advocated a multiple-advisor approach. “Having more than one opinion, and having more than one person to go to, is very im-portant,” he said.

But Holmes did not want to dedicate such a huge portion of the funds towards funding an advisor. A more ideal approach, in Holmes’ opinion, would

ASDVC, Page 2

Members of ASDVC vote 17-6 to approve $79,950 towards funding two advisor positions.

TALIAH MIRMALEK / The Inquirer

TALIAH MIRMALEKCopy editor

The baseball team gears up for the California Community College playoffs. See page 5.

ASDVC agrees to fund advisers and club staff

Goodbye, second chances:

The Inquirer Editorial Board discusses the impact of community college cuts on high

school students. See page 6.

“It would be

THE END of the

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

system aswe know it.”

CUTS, Page 2

The Contra Costa Community College

District is now budgeting for the worst-case scenario if Gov. Jerry Brown passes what is being touted as an all-cuts budget later this

MIKE ALFIERINews editor

~ Chancellor Helen Benjamin

2 Thursday, May 5, 2011The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

NewsCALENDAR

POLICE BEAT

CUTSfrom Pg. 1

year in an attempt to balance the state deficit.

Chancellor Helen Benjamin said, “It would be the end of the Community College Sys-tem as we know it” if Propo-sition 98 was suspended and Brown’s special election did not pass, during a budget fo-rum on Jan. 27.

In a study session on the 2011-2012 budget on April 27, the district board noted that the state budget has ‘tak-en a turn for the worse.’

The projected state deficit is now between $25 and $26.5 billion.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has recommended a $66 per unit fee at the com-munity college level, which it estimates would generate $280 million statewide annually.

“Hopefully there are wiser heads in the legislature than at the LAO,” said Jeffrey Mi-chels, president of the Unit-ed Faculty of Contra Costa Community College District. “Voters need to reinvest in education.”

Tuition for community colleges has already been in-creased $26 to $36 a unit per unit for the fall 2011 semes-ter in a bill signed by Gov. Brown.

“My family is barely skating by; we can’t handle another increase,” said current DVC student Stephanie Anderson about the proposed tuition hike.

While community colleges were already planning for $400 million in cuts, an all-cuts budget would increase that amount to $585 million.

An estimated 400,000 stu-dents would be turned away from community colleges un-der the worst-case scenario.

An all-cuts budget would not only affect a mass of stu-dents at the community col-lege level, but those at and planning to transfer to four-year state schools.

University of California at Berkeley is anticipating that, at worst, tuition could double, ending up between $20,000 to $25,000 a year.

In total, more than $1 bil-lion would be taken from

universities while community colleges would see a budget reduction between $342 mil-lion to $1 billion.

In the district’s plan for the looming cuts, an estimated 1,100 to 1,500 class sections would have to be cut.

“It’s appalling,” said Mi-chels. “They have cut 20 to 25 percent of courses over a 3 year period, it’s outrageous.”

DVC has already been cut-ting class sections in recent semesters.

The most recent resulted in a 25 percent decrease in the summer semester with 135 class sections cut.

Though DVC just an-nounced a reinstatement of fall classes that had been pre-viously cut, it is already mak-ing plans for cuts to courses during spring 2012.

The Chancellor’s Office has established a task force that will recommend reforms to funding in order to ‘promote student retention and persis-tence’ through the cuts. The task force will have one year to issue a report.

Under the district’s report for fiscal management, the dis-trict plans to use $4.8 million in reserve in hopes of soften-ing the blow for loss of rev-enue while transitioning to the proposed budget. The district also warns that it may have to budget for borrowing in order to maintain cash flow.

Also noted in the report in declining revenue is that en-rollment peaked during 2002-2003 and declined until 2007.

Revenue is expected to de-cline between $15.5 million to $20.5 million at the district.

Governor Brown will re-lease his May Revise on May 13.

While the district waits for the revision, they are develop-ing a budget based on current information.

After the May Revise is released, the District Gover-nance Council will meet for a workshop on the budget and has until July 1 to file an ap-proved tentative budget with the County Superintendant.

ASDVCfrom Pg. 1

Contact MIKE ALFIERI at malfi-eri@dvc.edu

SUMMERfrom Pg. 1

Contact BRIAN DONOVAN at bdonovan@TheInquirerOnline.

com

Thursday May 5 2011

Saint Mary’s College Campus Representative

10 a.m.

Golden Gate University Campus Representative

11 a.m.

Brandman University Campus Representative

11:30 a.m.

Brown Bag Workshop

12:30 p.m.

Welcome Reception for Peter Garcia

3:30 p.m.

May 6-7, 2011

Drama- The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

DVC Dance Production Presents: Through the Door and to the Floor

8 p.m.

Sunday May 8, 2011

Drama- The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

DVC Dance Production Presents: Through the Door and to the Floor

2:30 p.m.

Monday May 9, 2011

UC Berkeley Representative

10 a.m.

Academy of Art Campus Representative

10:30 a.m.

Tuesday May 10, 2011

Saint Mary’s College Campus Representative

University of Phoenix

10 a.m.

ASDVC Meeting

2 p.m.

April 30, 2011

DVC PAC Restrooms: Contact was made with a transient who was possibly sleeping in the restroom. A kitchen knife was confiscated.

April 29, 2011

DVC Lot 7B: An attempted burglary suspect was detained in the lot. The Suspect was taken into custody by Pleasant Hill Police Department.

April 28, 2011

DVC Lot 7B: Student was found sleeping in the lot with an unloaded firearm in the backseat.

DVC Lot 8: Student was found misusing a handicap placard which resulted in a misdemeanor citation and confiscation of the placard.

April 27, 2011

SRC Upper Level RM. 225: Police Services was contacted when a student would not leave the classroom when the instructor directed him to.

Clubs teaches students

The Latino Student Alliance is having a Cinco De Mayo Education Festival on Thursday, May 5. It will take place in the plaza in front of the student union building from 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will be games and music as well as free food for participants. There will also be a drawing for two $50 gift certificates to the bookstore.

Blood drive comes to campus

The American Red Cross will be coming to the DVC Trophy Room on May 10 to hold a blood drive. Each participant will donate one pint of blood, which is enough to save three lives. Participants will be eligible to receive a VIP Meet and Greet Voucher for donating. With the purchase of a concert ticket, the VIP Meet and Greet Voucher will give access to the exclusive area at the 2011 Vans Warped Tour or the 2011 Rockstar Mayhem Festival. The blood drive is from 9am to 3 p.m. and appointments can be scheduled at redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-Red-Cross.

FBI recruits students

The FBI held an informational recruitment session Monday, May 2 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the ET Building, Room 105. They were on campus recruiting electronic technology students for jobs in Sacra-mento and San Francisco. Interviews for positions followed afterward, for those who brought resumes.

Math department starts review

For any students wanting a little extra review before a big test or just to go over the material learned there is now a new program at DVC. The mathematics department has set up review courses for pre-algebra through trigonometry. Students can get a two week free trial but afterwards will have to pay around 40 dollars. Any math students are welcome to this program set up by Katrina Keating. For more in-formation and to sign up for the review program go to the DVC math website, hours by arrangement section.

News in Brief

Bill Oye, above, dean of student life, facilitates a dis-cussion on the options of funding two faculty adviser positions. Keith Montes, below, provides a vote aga-sinst the proposed funding for the faculty adviser.

TALIAH MIRMALEK / The Inquirer

to do was shift schedule re-ductions from the fall over to the summer schedule,” Wie-den said. This was done as a result of a general consensus that the fall schedule has pri-ority over the summer sched-ule. The task force was put in charge of going through the schedule and recommend-ing which courses were to be cut.

They looked at classes offered last summer with multiple sections, then they counted the maximum num-ber of students enrolling in those classes. Therefore, ac-cording to Wieden, they cut classes this summer that had multiple sections and low en-rollment last summer, mini-mizing the possible impact for students.

Wieden did acknowledge that the criteria is not perfect as it fails to consider if there are increases in demand for certain courses that weren’t around last year, but accord-ing to him, this is the best way to make these cuts while

maintaining as much normal-cy as possible for the college experience.

Students are skeptical about how much normalcy there will be after these cuts. “The morally skewed policies made by the administration is leading to the destruction/privatization of California’s community colleges,” said political science student Ar-man Kalyani.

Ian Humphries, fine arts student, calls for his fellow students to lose the apathy. “I am sick of the lack of stu-dent political activism and involvement with the cam-pus especially when the fac-ulty are fighting the cuts,” he says.

According to Nancy Zink, the English department chair, the college departments were put in charge to implement these cuts.

“I think it is going to deci-mate summer school,” said Barbara Sawyer, a DVC Eng-lish instructor and former advisor of the Inquirer.

While the summer sched-ule is taking this big reduc-

tion, DVC is restoring some of the courses cut from the fall schedule, according to an email sent to department chairs by Wieden.

This is because the college wants to receive state funds for a forecasted increase in full time equivalent students (FTES) which is a student enrolled in 12 units and the college’s main source of funding.

This is all as a result of an updated review of the pro-posed district budget as the District’s Governing Board modified DVC’s enrollment cap for 2011-12 up to 15,720 FTES rather than the pre-vious estimate of 15,187 FTES.

Nick Lazaga, who’s ma-joring in business adminis-tration, says, “By cutting all of these classes (especially non-general ed) Americans are going to become useless and will become ineffective at living.”

Contact TALIAH MIRMALEK at tmirmalek@dvc.edu

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be to “split up duties and re-sponsibilities, with two advi-sors with a 25 percent, 25 per-cent reassignment.”

Furthermore, ASDVC ap-proved spending $61,916.40 to hire two classified staff po-sitions, a coordinator and an assistant, to run the club pro-gram. The source of funding will not come from the general fund but rather will be taken from the student union build-ing fee which every student pays at time of registration (up to $10 a year per student).

An ASDVC member will be on the hiring committee for the faculty adviser positions. The timeline for hiring will be discussed at the next meeting.

ASDVC Controller Chelsea Chung believes that there are enough reserved funds to pay for these three positions for the next three years.

Features 3The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, May 5, 2011

As the final votes were tallied, Katerina Schreck was elected the ASDVC president for the second year in a row.

“It’s very exciting to be re-elected by the students,” said Schreck.

On being the ASDVC president, she said, “This isn’t a job, it’s a passion.”

Our student body president has many as-pirations for the campus in the next year.

“I have a lot of goals; from extending li-brary hours during finals week, to extending the library rental book program and trying to remove styrofoam from the campus.”

Student life on campus is always evolving and Schreck wants to keep with the times.

“We, at DVC could make a recycling pro-gram, which would help our recycling issue pay for itself. I want students to get involved in this issue. Whether it be in the cafeteria, Norseman, Crow’s Nest or the Basement Café at the Margaret Lesher Student Union building, recycling is an issue.”

Another major issue Schreck is trying to face head on is scheduling and classes get-ting cut, especially in the arts and theater departments.

“In the case for theater, a lot of the advanced classes have been cut,” said Schreck.

“It is a nice thought to have a music fes-tival,” said Christopher Anunti, a student who is taking music classes at DVC.

“It would be nice to show off our music programs,” said Schreck. It might also help with enrollment.

“Having more student participation with-in these subjects would help the students who want to continue to take these classes,” said Schreck

“I would like to get involved with this, but to have more than just musicians in-volved. We should include multimedia, the arts, theatre… all of the departments that have something creative to share with our campus.” Christopher Anunti said.

But it is less likely that she would try to collect a student transportation fee, which would have allowed students to ride County Connection for free between BART and DVC. When ASDVC looked into it, the cost was a glaring concern. Schreck said: “$12 a student seems like too much to ask for.”

Schreck was right, the students agree, $12 was too much to ask for.

Harry Purcell said, “Im opposed to pay-ing money for the county connection. If you need to take the bus, it’s a good idea. But if you don’t need to take the bus, it is too much to ask for.”

Ashely Lloyd a student earning her AA in early childhood development had the same reaction, “I think we pay enough money coming to school for our classes and books, I don’t want to hear about any more fees.”

For the future, Schreck would like to see the campus grow further into the commu-nity. “This is a community college, not (just) a transfer college.”

Look at this dreary thing in your hands. Made out of dead trees. No scroll bar. No hyperlinks. To read more you’ve got to turn pages. What a hassle. You live in the future, right? So instead, try us online at TheInquirerOnline.com.

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Schreck rides again

STEPHEN LANGSAM Staff Writer

Contact Stephen Langsam at stlangsam@TheInquirerOnline.com

Newly reelected ASDVC President Katerina Schreck talks about her aspirations for the coming year

4 Thursday, May 5, 2011The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Sports

Contact GERARDO RECINOS at grecinos@TheIn-quirerOnline.com

Naming rights kill historicalsignificance

GERARDO RECINOSSports editor

What happened to the stadiums named after our heroes?

Or named after the people who made his-torically significant contributions to society?

Do you think U.S. veterans would attend Chicago Bears games if the field that was called Samsung-Soldier Field, as proposed in Chicago every so often?

Could you watch the Boston Red Sox if they played anywhere other than Fenway Park?

The oldest park in American professional sports. The ballpark where hall of famers played. The name is iconic. The Yankees play out of Yankee Stadium, whether it be the house that Ruth built, or the house Jeter did.

Corporations seeking advertising opportu-nities purchase the rights to name a team’s sta-dium, as Overstock.com recently did with the Oakland Coliseum. Great idea right?

Then I bet you don’t remember that the Houston Astros used to play at Enron Field. That went well for all involved.

The greed has even infected the world of college sports. The University of Louisville basketball team plays out of, and I kid you not, the KFC Yum! Center. As if corporate greed

hadn’t penetrat-ed every sacred sanctum. Next thing you know, you’ll be going to St. Andrew’s, considered the home of golf, and it’ll be spon-sored by Mc-Donald’s, with cup holders in the pews and golden arches on the back of the missals.

These companies who purchase naming rights take away the names of some of our he-roes. Connie Mack Stadium gave way to Citi-zens Bank Park. The Redskins play at FedEx Field instead of RFK Stadium.

First, owners should forfeit naming rights to the fans if there have been multiple name changes within a 10-year span.

Second, any company proposing a name change must prepare a statement to present to a cross-section of the team’s fans.

Third, propositions will be voided if they are made by a CEO younger than the stadium in question.

Last, and certainly not least, anyone in the Hall of Fame has priority in naming rights.

These rules should create peace when people who are attempting to cripple the memories and historical significance of some of sport’s most hallowed grounds.

GERARDO RECINOSOut of Bounds

Sports in Brief

Team Stats

Advertisement

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790

92

165

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57

78

193

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32

196

343

323

158

148

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178

316

47

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120

54

198

26

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987

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57

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23

SOFTBALL

With a playoff spot already locked up, the men’s baseball team lost to San Joaquin Delta College on Friday April 29th.

With the righty Joe Lewis on the mound squar-ing off against Delta’s ace, Eric Watts, the Vikings looked to tune up before their first-round playoff matchup.

Watts (3-1) had all of his specialty pitches work-ing off his fastball, getting the Vikings to chase outside of the strike zone. He held the Vikings of-fense to one run, and dominated throughout the game.

The lone run of the game for the Vikings was when Matt Burks, RBI groundout drove in Aaron Hernandez, who reached base on an infield single. The Vikings lost 4-1.

The DVC track and field team had a great show-ing in the Big Eight conference finals.

DVC is now looking forward to the Northern California Community College Championships qualifying meet on May 6th.

Demetric Gable and Kenny Eugene both ran Norcal provisional qualifying times and posted times fast enough to compete for the conference championship in the 100 meter.

In the women’s 800 meter race, Holly Babcock ran a season best time and advanced to the confer-ence finals. She was in the conference finals for the

3000 meter steeplechase and the 1500 meter run as well. She placed seventh in the steeplechase with a time of 14:08.

In the pole vault Sara Riberio placed third and posted a state qualifying jump.

Nasreen Broomand placed 11th and Tyler Malley finished 8th.

In the 400 meter run Joe Luiz posted the third fastest time in the qualifying round and finished sec-ond in the conference finals.

DVC’s men’s 4x400 meter relay culminated in an exciting come-from-behind second place finish.

Vikings clinch playoffs but lose single game

Track athletes make it to the Northern California Championships

JULIUS REA / The Inquirer

Delta third baseman Steven Patterson fouling a pitch off in the 4-1 win over the Vikings.

DVC will be showing off its talented tennis stars between May 5 and 7 at the NorCal Regional tournament.

The Vikings will have individual student-athletes play in the tournament. Men’s ten-nis will be represented this week in Fresno by Mile Cornejo will be playing singles. He will play doubles with partner Eric Yan.

Women’s tennis will be represented in Fresno by Annie Cheng in singles; she and Gaby Refunjol will play doubles together.

Four tennis players make it to the NorCal regionals

Do you want to be able to access all of the sharp and in-sightful sports commentary you’ve come to expect from the Inquirer’s team of crack sports writers, but without the hassle of all that annoying reading? Check out the new Out of Bounds podcast at theinquireronline.com!

Sports 5The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, May 5, 2011

GERARDO RECINOSSports editor

Advertisement

Leading the Pack

Contact GERARDO RECINOS at grecinos@TheInquirerOnline.com

The Vikings baseball team goes into the playoffs as the num-ber one team in Northern California; boasting a gaudy 27-9 regular season record.

Timely hitting and great pitching will lead The Vikings deep into the playoffs.

The starting staff features standout pitchers that top all of Northern California. Staff ace Steven Swift is a perfect 10-0 on the season with a barely-there earned run average of 0.96.

Those facing him are batting below the Mendoza line: an average of .190. Justin Harr, who is 7-1 with a 2.34 ERA, and Jason Kochan, who was the closer, but made some spot starts, lead the con-ference with nine saves.

“We feel like no one can beat us, if we just play our game with our defense and our hitting,” Swift said.

Timely hitting will be key for the Vi-kings, whose team batting average is a modest .261.

They’ll catch the ball and outpitch anyone in their league, but the team feels confident that despite all the tal-ented teams in the playoffs, their pitching will stand.

Staff ace Swift will lead the team into battle on Friday against the second lowest play-in seed.

Swift, who is from Monte Vista High School in Danville, led the Big 8 Conference in wins, but is humble when it comes to his success.

“Our defense makes really good plays and our outfielders all get really great jumps on the ball and that helps,” Swift said. “Our catcher is really smart behind the plate and calls a great game; it gives the pitcher an edge, being comfortable with your catcher.”

Swift has committed to playing ball in the PAC-10 for the University of Washington. Kochan, who worked for Head Coach Mike Neu as a closer during the first part of the schedule and as a starter during league play, says he feels confident that

his teammates will be able to play their best ball in the playoffs.

“We all feel pretty strong, and we’re on a roll, giving up an average of two runs a game as a staff,” Kochan said. “I just go up there and try to throw up goose eggs, and if I do it’s a good thing,”

Kochan will be playing ball at Santa Clara University next season.

Harr, a tall lanky righty from right across the street at College Park High School, points out that out of the eight teams in the conference, six of them are in the play-offs.

The Vikings went 16-5 in Big 8 Confer-ence play.

“We hold ourselves in high esteem,” Harr said. “Our league is the best in California, the teams in the playoffs that are in our

league, we know them, so we’ll go in with the same dynamic.”Against the six teams in the playoffs that are also in the Big 8

Conference, the Vikings went 15-2.“There is no real reason to change success,” Harr said.

Top pitching staff guides Vikings into playoffs

STEVIE CHOW / The Inquirer

Pitcher Steven Swift practices on May 3 while the base-ball team prepares for the California Community College Playoffs, which begins this Friday.

“Our league is the best in California, the

teams in the playoffs that are in our league, we know them, so we’ll go in with the

same dynamic.”

From left to right, pitchers Jason Kochan, Steven Swift and Justin Harr

STEVIE CHOW / The Inquirer

What was your immediate

reaction to Osama Bin Laden’s death?

EditorialBuzzTh

e

Interviewer & photographer: Stevie Chow and Izzy Bajalia

“I don’t know. One point I feel good about, but, at

the same time, to celebrate death is bad. So, I’m just more chill about it than

some people.”

KEVIN SURBAN, 18Engineering

“I was relieved and then, after an hour of ponder-

ing, I felt frightened.”

REBECCA KNELL, 20Undeclared

“I’m glad he’s dead, I guess, but I have a lot

of misgivings about the American presence in the

Middle East.”

KYLE LAFLECHE, 31Engineering

“How do I know that he is actually dead?”

JESSICA ROBLESS, 19Business

“Yes! I was pretty proud to be an American. Then, I went to smoke a victory

blunt.”

RONNIE FASSAL, 21Business

Letter to the Editor

Pressure from college cutsalso affects high school students

We’re screwed.The California Community

College system is facing a po-tential $800 million worth of cuts, a student fee increase to at least $36 and possibly as much as $66 per unit, fewer courses and eliminated pro-grams.

With state legislators shooting down a June elec-tion on tax extensions, which could have saved from $220 million, the future of educa-tion looks dim.

Some people have no-ticed, however, a silver lining for education: This budget proposes no cuts for K-12 schools.

Governor Brown explained that “schools have borne the brunt of spending reductions in recent years, so this budget maintains funding at the same level as the current year.”

For the time being, K-12 education is saved.

However, this paints a grim-mer future for high school students who are looking at community college.

Traditionally, community college has been a ground for people to take time and think or to get first, second and last chances.

According to a Community College League of California publication, lifelong learning is learning “in order to solve evolving and new problems, learn new skills and under-stand new technologies and information” which fall out-side of education for degrees or transfer.

General cuts to higher edu-cation and the seeming elimi-nation of “lifelong learning” from the California commu-nity college mission statement have ravaged campuses.

Now, it’s difficult for com-munity college students to take time and “think about

what they want to do” and even harder for degree-hold-ing students to work towards another degree or further training or education.

All of those second chanc-es that community college students have an opportunity to receive will dis-appear quickly.

In fact, DVC’s Faculty Senate is currently discussing strategies to dis-courage students from dropping out of classes, one of them be-ing limits on the number of times a student can repeat

courses. Thus, students who simply

fail a class or need to drop for personal reasons fall between the cracks.

This strategy is one of three the state legislative analyst has recommended, including

providing a higher pri-ority regis-tration for first-time students and cap-ping the amount of units that students can take, according

to a California Watch article. We don’t know what will

happen to the future or, in some cases, the present of

community college educa-tion.

Unfortunately, high schools have to fill the void that two-year schools will leave open after millions worth of re-ductions.

If K-12 schools and ca-reer building programs for high school students can be spared from cuts for a little while, future community col-lege students must take time to explore their possible job options.

For example, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program, endorsed by the California Department of Education, is intended to help high school and post-secondary students across the nation learn more about career exploration and planning within the military.

Also, YouthTEACH2Le-

arn is a year-long program based in Irvine in which high school students explore teaching careers.

In addition to observing classrooms and developing teaching standards, students “visit local college campuses in order to determine if the teaching is a good fit for their professional goals,” accord-ing to its website.

When community colleges are cut over the next years, students may not have the option to go to school with-out knowing a definite career or major in their minds.

Second acts are disappear-ing from community college, so high schools must set their students up for a successful education and career.

They might only get one chance at it.

SCOTT BABA / The Inquirer

• Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313 • Fax: 925.681.3045 • Email: inquirer@dvc.edu • Website: www.TheInquirerOnline.com • Printed Every Two Weeks •

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Editorial Board Staff THE INQUIRER

Diablo Valley College321 Golf Club Road, H-102

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The Inquirer is published Thursday mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artists and not necessarily those of The Inquirer, Diablo Valley College or Contra Costa Community College District

The students of Diablo Valley Col-lege Model United Nations (DVC MUN) club invited me to be their ad-viser almost a year ago.

Since then I have attended their weekly meetings and participated with them in MUN conferences orga-nized by the University of California in Santa Barbara, Berkeley and Los Angeles.

I was impressed with our students knowledge of the issues under discus-sions, the rules of procedures of the conferences, as well as their eagerness to learn and to contribute to the dis-cussions in these conferences.

I am very pleased to state that our students’ performance at these con-ferences was just like other students including those from Ivey League in-stitutions.

After the first conference, DVC MUN club decided to convene a mini conference in our college to make DVC students aware of the issues un-der discussions at MUN conferences and to encourage them to be involved in the work of the Club.

On Thursday, March 31, 2011 DVC MUN Club convened its first confer-ence. As a matter of fact, this is the first time that such a conference is held at DVC.

The Deans of Student Life and of the Department of English and Social Science spoke at the conference.

In addition to the plenary meeting, the conference established two com-mittees, the Committee of the Euro-pean Council and its topic was Coun-tering Islamophobia in the European Community.

The Second was a Crisis Commit-tee and its topic was the Arab Repub-lic of Egypt.

DVC students and guest students represented Egyptian government of-ficials and foreign diplomats accred-ited to Egypt.

They discussed the transformation of Egypt after the uprising and the efforts to ensure the establishment a truly democratic government repre-senting the aspirations of the Egyp-tian people.

All faculty members including of Political Science as well as students from DVC and other colleges who participated in the conference praised the performance of DVC students.

There will be another DVC MUN mini conference before the end of this semester.

All these activities and the excel-lent performance of DVC students are highly appreciated by DVC faculty members.

In conclusion DVC MUN Club students demonstrated that our col-lege is providing great opportunities to students to learn and achieve suc-cess by participating in and contrib-uting to academic activities organized by other universities, conducting a very successful conference as recog-nized by all participants, and enhanc-ing their knowledge of international questions facing the world. Once con-gratulations to DVC MUN Club and to DVC for a very good work done

-Dr. Amer AraimPolitical science professor

Congratulations, Model United Nations

6 Thursday, May 5, 2011The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Opinions

...high schools must

set their students up

for a successful

education and career.

They might only get one

chance at it.

Opinions 7The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, May 5, 2011

Meat we eat is not so neat

Contact ROB PETERS at rpeters@dvc.edu

Diagnosis changes mind on ADHD

Guest Opinion

“You don’t eat hamburgers? That is so un-American.”

As someone who has chosen to not eat meat, this is a phrase I hear quite often.

In a country where grilling hamburgers and eating hotdogs at baseball games are common pastimes, many people do not realize what they are actually eating.

A recent Cornell University article indicated that 30 percent of United States dairy cows may be treated with bovine growth hormone, bGH, a growth hormone discovered to pro-duce more milk in cows as early as the 1930s

And that’s just in our milk. Along with bGH, estrogen was discovered

in the 1930s to affect growth rates in cattle and poultry.

The list goes on of other hormones injected in animals, and the issue is many of them are difficult to detect in humans because we natu-rally produce hormones.

So, how do we go about living our lives afraid of all the food around us?

Sometimes, it seems almost impossible to eat completely organic or to be vegan.

All of our food is somehow chemically al-tered or the product of some sort of animal.

Without complete knowledge of the decep-tions that brands display, how will we know exactly what we are eating and what affect it has on our bodies?

For example, diseases such as cancer, diabe-tes, heart disease, neural diseases, obesity, and leukemia have possibly been linked to the ad-ditives in our food.

Most of us are aware of the fact that a lot of the food we are con-suming is not healthy for us, but the issue is how many of us care enough?

You may be deathly afraid of getting cancer, but the temporary satisfaction you get from a double-bacon cheeseburger typically wins the battle in this situation.

Many people, despite the knowledge they

I am sick of hearing, “What’s the highest ranked college in California (or the nation) in the major of … ?”

Oy vey. It’s a question I don’t like answering. My most-of-the-time rather calm, diaphrag-matic breathing swells up like a stuck sippy cup.

In recent memory, we have US News and World Report to thank for capi-talizing on the notion that colleges and universities need to be ranked, quanti-fied, and reputation award-ed accordingly.

The public’s need and interest was there, and it’s understandable. Why wouldn’t you want to pick “the best” ranked school? Why not secure class and sta-tus for your college-bound child?

The approach has become \ popular with the large number of international students

who apply to US higher education each year. If they’re going to pay “top dollar” to attend

university in the United States, why wouldn’t they “purchase” the top-rated institutions this country can offer?

Of course, there are differences among colleges in their or-ganization, services, costs, real costs, strengths and overall quality.

The simple truth is this: college ranking systems are, almost implicitly, a slippery proposition at best.

The information on institutions that is gar-nered, analyzed and spit out is often dated, ir-relevant, or too much of a “moving target” to be an accurate predictor of quality, much less appropriateness for one’s goals.

“Average” class size is merely that. Educa-

tional facilities, and access to those facilities, are near-impossible to compare evenly.

The number of prize-winning faculty on board only matters if they are in your major, your specific field, your division, and truly available for teaching rather than anything like consulting, research, publishing, etc.

In recent times, the marketing and public re-lations divisions of colleges realize that these college rankings translate into enrollment fig-ures.

So, the temptation and pressure to massage information, unfortunately, is tempting.

In fact, the college presidents of many of the high-ranking “winner” institutions have often asked the “raters” to trade in their charts and proclamations for a more helpful, nuanced

approach.Both parents and transfer stu-

dents need to grasp a larger truth: A college education isn’t merely a commodity.

Colleges aren’t in sports playoffs that “rank” teams by rounding off to the nearest tenth. Does anyone go around equitably “ranking” the best third grades in the country?

In the terse language of engi-neers and social scientists, would you simply run a MANOVA software program that deals with “multiple analysis of variables,” and project the pedigree your child will somehow “earn” at the end of four years?

There are likely several schools that would be a great fit for any student, and just as many at which students could succeed on their own terms.

ROB PETERSGuest writer

School ‘rankings’ may lead students astray

I first learned of Attention Deficit Hyperac-tivity Disorder, or ADHD, sitting in my fourth grade classroom, next to a particularly ram-bunctious, unruly classmate.

My classmate bounced off the walls and, quite frankly, acted like a wild animal.

The constant trips to the nurse’s office to take Ritalin did not stand a chance in easing the situation, as my classmate was sent by my teacher to see the principal every day, like clockwork.

I left fourth grade with a clear comprehen-sion of long division, California History, and how ADHD had left my classmate out-of-control actions and a prime subject for bully-ing and torment.

ADHD is frequently associated with temper tantrums, aggression, inability to learn any-thing academically, stubbornness, and constant interruptions.

Even though those associations are accurate, they dismiss the positive affects ADHD has on the brain and the different manifestations of ADHD in different people.

Three weeks ago, I found out that I am one of the “dif-ferent peo-ple.”

Growing up, teachers never com-plained of me bouncing off walls or

having rampages, but emphasized the potential they saw in me.

With my potential shown in my intelligence, creativity and fearless personality, I could ac-complish anything … if I just did my home-work.

To make my very long academic story short, I succeeded by acing tests and turning in late assignments until I got to a four-year univer-sity. As it turns out, homework in college is nonnegotiable.

As hard as I tried, I just could not do it. What did not help was that I attended Arizona State, where raging pool parties made for a fun alternative.

A year and a half later, reality came bearing down on me, evaporating the Don Julio mar-garita out of my red cup and illuminating my horrendous transcript.

With my preconceived notions of the dis-order, I never would have guessed I had it and would have argued with anyone who told me otherwise.

When I was referred to take an ADHD class, I protested but the experience changed my life. I learned what made me impulsive and that others go through the exact same thing.

I am not ashamed, but I am proud of my creativity, sense of humor, compassion and charisma that all stem from my brain not being wired “normally.”

I no longer am good at beer pong, but realiz-ing I have ADHD has inspired me to wake up every day and strive for a successful career.

My ADHD makes me different, buy in those differences I can accomplish great things.

LISA DIAZStaff writer

Contact LISA DIAZ at ldiaz@TheInquirerOnline.com

Rugby, the alternative to footballIt is believed that during the early days of

this country, our forefathers were trying to separate themselves from England, and thus created Football.

They didn’t want to play the sports of rugby or soccer so instead created their own sport.

Soon, any kid that would have been steered towards rugby instead went on to play Foot-ball.

According to Sportingo, a major European sporting web-site, rugby is the fifth most popu-lar sport in the world.

In fact, the Rugby World-Cup is the third largest viewed sporting event in the world. It is growing in the U.S. but hasn’t reached star status yet.

This is intriguing because it has everything Americans want. It is a brutal and violent sport with athletic guys beating each other’s brains out in order to win.

The main reason that it should be more popular is that anyone can play and be social.

There are men’s and club teams all over the country for any age. Men are known to play into their 50s.

You also don’t need to be huge like you do in football.

Any posi-tion on the football field requires an ex-tremely built man with bulg-ing arms. On a rugby field, while there are positions for guys like that, there is also a need for smaller, fast, and wiry guys.

Many youth clubs are start-ing and kids high school age have at least 42 clubs in northern California to choose from.

Rugby is being brought back to our youth and we need to continue to grow the sport and bring it to a bigger stage.

Most colleges now have rugby teams and

men’s teams are all over the country including in at least 31 northern California, but DVC does not have one. We are doing nothing here to en-courage this beautiful game.

Rugby is great for the com-munity and can bring people together. The United States Rugby Football Foundation gives grants and scholarships to many rugby players and

enjoys bringing rugby to a younger genera-tion.

It doesn’t matter your speed, age, stamina, or strength, there is a place on a rugby team for all. Teams are being formed all over the country and many are getting into it.

“Rugby is a beastly game played by gentle-men; soccer is a gentleman’s game played by beasts; football is a beastly game played by beasts,” said Henry Blaha, rugby player and journalist.

SCOTT ANNISStaff writer

“It is a brutal and violent sport with

athletic guys beating each other’s brains out in order

to win.”

Contact SCOTT ANNIS at sannis@TheInquirerOn-line.com

have about the garbage they are putting into their bodies, do not have the strength to give it up.

Unhealthy eating has be-come an ad-diction that is hard to kick.

Companies’ obsession with raising sales through adding hormones to animals is both cruel and detri-mental to our health.

Second to heart disease cancer has become the second most leading cause of death in America according to the Center for Disease control and prevention.

Breast cancer in women has become a huge issue, and although is not completely proven,

abundance in estrogen has possibly been linked to this phenomenon.

Based on health concerns, Canada and countries in Eu-rope have banned the use of the bovine growth hormone.

One of the biggest issues of health is that meat is a food source that is a component to living a healthy life, but unless

you eat completely organic meat it is not even worth it.

So, the next time you pick up a piece of processed food or a hormone-filled slab of meat you can choose: health or temporary satisfaction.

Contact BRITTNEY GRIFFIN at bgriffin@TheIn-quirerOnline.com

“So, how do we go about living our

lives afraid of all the food around us?”

BRITTNEY GRIFFINStaff writer

“Does anyone go around equitably ‘ranking’ the best third grades in the

country?”

SCOTT BABA / The Inquirer

8 Thursday, May 5, 2011The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Entertainment

As dancers scramble around making last-minute decisions on costumes, music and cho-reography, dance instructor Kimberly Valmore relentlessly screams, “Hurry, hurry. We’re already behind schedule.”

A typical day in the life a dancer, and the time crunch the Dance Production stu-dents face does not make their job any easier.

In the midst of producing this spring’s show, “Through the Door and to the Floor,” the dance department is working hard to finish before opening night on May 6th at 8:00 p.m.

The shows will also take place at 8 p.m. on May 7 and 2 p.m. on May 8 in the PAC.

Dance Production, a DVC spring course, consists of a compilation of dancers from many levels, who have taken prerequisite dance courses in the fall; however, if some stu-dents are able to prove their ability they are able to join the class also.

“We learned the basics, and now we are applying what we

have learned,” student cho-reographer Charlie Bennett said.

Valmore acts as the classes’ adviser and, by no means, im-pedes on their creative vision.

“It is all theirs,” she said.There is about ten student

choreographers and many dancers who all contribute to the show in some way. From creating the title of the show, to designing the show’s post-er, the students have full cre-ative control.

When in the process of choosing the pieces for the fi-nal production, “It’s like this is my company, and they are my dancers. They have to show-case their knowledge in order to gain a spot in the final pro-duction,” Valmore said.

The choreographers have to present their ideas to her with choreography, costumes, storyline, number of dancers, etc. From there, she provides the students with feedback on their proposed ideas.

After Valmore chooses the final pieces, the student cho-reographers conduct audi-tions for their dancers.

“Looking back I wish I would have chosen dancers

based on dedication,” student choreographer Ash-ley Cabrera said.

With this class only meet-ing twice a week and multiple rehearsals taking place at the same time in the one dance studio on campus, the limited time they have is very valu-able.

“That’s the issue with it be-ing a class. Many students see

it as just a class they have to take like math,” said Christina Stevenson, student chore-ographer who is new to this whole process.

Another student choreogra-pher, Alicia Andreatta-Jaques said, “Dancers will miss class, and they do not realize that they just wasted an hour or more of rehearsal time.”

“We do the best with what

we have,” said Kimberly Val-more speaking on the subject of their limited funds. “The only money we have coming in comes from the show,” she said, and even with that the show produces expenses such as the production of pro-grams.

Many of the students have to rifle through old costumes, because there is no money available to them.

Despite these obstacles, everyone seems to keeping a positive outlook while prepar-ing for their performances.

“You’re getting a mix of ev-erything,” Stevenson said.

They will exhibit styles such as hip-hop, contemporary bal-let, theater, a capella tap, salsa, waltz, jazz, and Bollywood.

Also, teacher-choreo-graphed pieces will accom-pany the student produced dances.

Valmore has choreo-graphed a few solos and trios while dance instructors pro-duce two other pieces.

One of which will be a waltz, choreographed by in-structor Amy Farhood, and the other will be a Rueda, or a type of salsa dancing, choreo-

graphed by instructor Erika Angelakos.

Angelakos’ intermediate class will perform her salsa piece even though many of the students in her class have never performed.

“It is difficult for people who have never performed or danced before,” said Andreat-ta-Jaques.

One of Angelakos’ stu-dents, Maverick Mamaghani, said, “This class is my san-ity.” He really enjoyed the beginning class he took in the fall, and he has improved im-mensely since then.

For many of the students, especially the least experi-enced ones, this is their op-portunity to showcase what they have learned and the im-provements they have made.

The strides many of them have made lead to the title of the show, “Through the Door and to the Floor.”

They have taken the skills they have learned through the door of the dance studio onto the floor of the stage.

All clubs start somewhere and DVC dance club began with one girl, Emma Li, eager to find students on campus with the desire to dance and perform.

Two years later, the dance club, or DVCDC, has grown to a membership of between 20 and 25 dancers.

The dancers practice Mon-day through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. outside of the student union building, which many students have noticed.

“We’re a family,” said Sa-brina Turner, who had little experience previous to her

membership in the club. “Join dance club,” is what

they say whenever students pass by, because, despite your experience level as a dancer, the students in the dance club feel as if there is always room for more.

The director and one of the main choreographers, Law-rence Dominguez, had pre-vious dance experience upon joining the club, along with a few other members who also partake in outside dance crews.

The club’s ICC represen-tative, Juliana Ochoa, said “They take their experiences and bring it here.”

With the time Ochoa and

Turner have put into this club, they’re now comfortable con-tributing their ideas.

Ochoa said, “We come up with ideas for dances, and then we come back and pro-pose our ideas to the group.” After the propositions are presented, the group chooses which pieces they would like to perform at certain events.

They dance at many events on campus, along with a few outside performances.

Upcoming performances will take place during the Cinco de Mayo celebration, the Variety Show for QSA, DVC’s got talent and Indone-sian Day.

“There is a theme for every

performance,” said Ochoa. For instance, at the Cinco

De Mayo celebration they are performing a salsa inspired piece, and for the QSA show their piece has a drag-queen Lady Gaga theme.

“It is like a bunch of danc-es in one,” Turner said, and, although their dances are typically hip-hop, “We do the many styles of hip-hop.”

Ochoa said, “We are always open to new ideas and styles, and if someone wants to join that knows ballet we would love to have them teach it to us.”

DVC’s club is open to any-one looking for a place to per-form and as the members in

Dance season’s coming!

Club values passion more than experience

‘Through the Door and to the Floor’ will showcase students’ choreography

MARIANA RAMOS / The Inquirer

Student dancers are rehearsing hard on a modern take on tango on May 2 at the gymnasium toward the opening night.

BRITTNEY GRIFFINStaff writer

Contact BRITTNEY GRIFFIN at bgriffin@TheInquirerOnline.com

Costumes and storyline are also student choreographers’ idea.

MARIANA RAMOS / The Inquirer

BRITTNEY GRIFFINStaff Writer

the club always say, “No expe-rience needed.”

The Dance Club rehearsing in front of the stu-dent union building. Autumn Lee, Yuliana Ochoa, Sabrina Turner, Mark Balancio, Lee Alabanca, Christian Aragon (left to right).

MARIANA RAMOS / The Inquirer

Contact BRITTNEY GRIFFIN at bgriffin@TheInquirerOnline.com