THE MERCURY NEWSA STUDENT PUBLICATION OF FLATHEAD VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Volume 16, Issue 9 Feb. 20, 2008756-3917

(Con’t on Page Three)

By COLIN YOUNGMercury News Staff Writer After student government objected to the Feb. 4 story in the student newspaper about “issues” the Mercury News had discussed with the senate at its last meeting of 2007 and in follow up questions, representatives of the two organizations met for about an hour on Monday, Feb. 11. The story had reflected on an Oct. 29 story about vacancies in the student senate and asked two questions: Was the Senate slacking in filling the vacancies? Or are the students? The first item Erin Giefer brought up was a statement Feb. 4 that said “Despite its unhappiness or anger, not one of the senators ever bothered to contact the newspaper, either to talk to a reporter or the advisor, or to offer a letter to the editor or a commentary, either of which would have been published...” Giefer provided the copy of an email sent Oct. 29 to a reporter who is no longer in school stating that the senators were disappointed in the vacancy story. Neither other reporters nor the Mercury advisor had not been aware of the email exchange between the two at that time it was taking place. Giefer later claimed that she had told this reporter in December of the emails, although that subject was not reflected in this reporter’s notes of that meeting. The Mercury News accepts the copy of Giefer’s email as evidence that a reporter had been contacted and retracts the

FVCC Theatre overcomes obstacles to open Story on Page 4

By JENNY GROVEMercury News Staff Writer More than 40 students attended the inaugural Speed Dating event Feb. 12-13 open to all FVCC students and hosted by student government. The event was a success with as many as 30 dating participating at a time. Traditional speed dating has multiple numbered tables, with men on one side and women on the other. Each dater has five minutes to get to know a fellow dater before they rotate to the next table. This continues until, hopefully, you’ve met everyone in the room. The sponsors added a drawing at the end for fun. Women won a 10 City Brew card, and they could pick anyone in the room to accompany them on a date. Men won a medium-sized teddy bear and candy that they

By JOEY PIERCE Mercury News Staff Writer Ever wondered how many students are here at Flathead Valley Community College, and how FVCC enrollment compares with Montana’s other public colleges and universities? It turns out to be a bigger number than you might have guessed, in spite of institutional status. According to Montana University System

Erin shows e-mailcomplaint madeMerc, Senate reps have talks

statistics, FVCC is listed as having the fifth-largest full-time equivalents (FTEs) for the 2006-07 school year at 1,265. FVCC is larger than two four-year public schools – MSU-Northern at Havre (1,207), and UM-Western at Dillon (1,117). The University of Montana at Missoula is No. 1 at 11,042, followed by Montana State University at Bozeman, 10,555. Then come MSU-Billings (3,434) and UM-Montana Tech (1,784),

followed by FVCC. In the 2006-07 school year, FVCC’s FTE count exceeded the state’s two other community colleges combined. Miles Community in Miles City had 454, and Dawson Community in Glendive had 401. Over the past 10 years, FVCC’s FTE count has increased by 7.7 percent, with a high of 1,642 in 2004.

FVCC ranks No. 5 among public colleges

Mercury News photo by Jenny GroveAs many as 30 particants at a time filled Speed Dating tables.

Speed Daters make timecould give to a person of their choice. At first students were a little shy, but before long noise from the room echoed down the hallway, and intrigued other students to come discover where the laughter was coming from. “I was so excited to see everyone getting to know one another and enjoying themselves. It’s really hard in college to get to know people and make friends so this activity was great,” said a female sophomore. The activity went so well that another one might be held another towards the end of the school year. Although called Speed dating, many students came just to have fun and meet new friends. “It was a great experience; I’m glad I was talked into coming” said a male freshmen.

The Mercury News Vol. 16 No. 9

Flathead Valley Community College

Arts and Technology Building 228 777 Grandview Drive

Kalispell, Montana 59901 406-756-3917

montanans52@yahoo.com

Jennifer LaCroixreporter/photographer

T. K. Stricklandreporter/photographer

Colin Youngreporter/photographer

Jenny Grovereporter/photographer

Paul Grisereporter/photographer

Dean Conklin, advisor

Joey Piercereporter

Page 2, The Mercury News, Feb. 20, 2008

To the editor: In the last issue of The Mercury, it was reported that I will be making a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the National Student Advocacy and Lead-ership Conference. Unfortunately, significant details were not included. On March 8, I will be attending that conference, which will focus specifically on the costs of attending a community college. This trip will also allow me to meet directly with lawmakers. It is our chance to make a difference. I have an appointment on March 10 with Senator Baucus and his staff to present my case to him about the importance of keeping community college costs low. I have been preparing a presentation that covers the costs of tuition, books, student loan interest rates, Pell Grants, and reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. All of these measures will help us to be able to afford a qual-ity education. This conference is put on by the American Student Association of Community Colleges (ASACC). The ASACC has been at the forefront in the battle to help students. They have worked on raising the Pell Grant awards, lowering student loan interest rates, and helping to lower textbook prices. They have contributed greatly to these campaigns. So the question stands—why go to Washington, D.C.? I have a prime example of why this is necessary. Last year, community colleges in Montana missed out on a piece of the $50 million in funding awarded to the university system. We also were not included in the tuition cap. As a result of this, tuition at OUR school went up 21%! It is not accept-able that we sit back and let this happen. Last year, members of both student government (including myself) and the student body made calls to our state senators. We pleaded with them to vote in favor of community colleges. I was on the local news for this cause, too. President Karas, and many others, stated their case in Helena, but to no avail. Statewide, people were working for this cause. Sadly, the community colleges’ pleas were to no avail. We can no longer assume that these measures alone will work. It is time to take further action. Fortunately, we are in the midst of an election cycle. The presidential candidates have been invited to speak at this conference and to listen to what we have to say. This is Flathead Valley Community Col-lege’s chance to have its collective voice be heard. Education is a hot topic in the elections. A candidate would be hard-pressed to not listen to the voices

Giefer: I’ll talk with lawmakers on controlling costs Letter to the Editorof 375 community college presidents who are ready for a change. There are more details about the conference that I would be happy to share with anyone who is interested. When I return from this trip, I plan to present a Brown Bag Lunch seminar to share what I have learned and the actions the ASACC has taken and plans to take. If anyone has questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am open to suggestions, especially if you have something I can take to the conference with me. It would be especially helpful to have letters from students. Letters that tell about our financial struggles and frustrations will put a personal face on why we are demanding change. I will submit them to our Congressmen and to Presidential candidates or their representatives. Once again, please contact me if you have any comments. Erin Giefer FVCC Student Government President (406) 756-3367

Justin Jensen advertising/reporter/photographer

By COLIN YOUNGMercury News Staff Writer Positions for freshman and sophomore senator on the FVCC Student Government have been filled by that body. All candidates went through a rigorous series of questions relevant to the changing times and then members spent copious amounts of time deliberat-ing over their answers. The race was tight but in the end Tim Butterfield was elected freshman senator and Emily Ponaski was elected to the sophomore senate seat. In case this wasn’t exciting enough for you, a new vice president was chosen. Before that seat went to election, senators had a chance to take it, and one did. Sophomore senator Grant Metzmaker was sworn in as vice president, succeeding David Crismore.

Two Senate seats are filled

The Mercury News, Feb. 20, 2008, Page 3

By PAUL GRISEMercury News Staff Writer Chuck Jensen takes over as FVCC’s vice president of administration and finance in March, the third person to fill that position in barely a year. He had been vice chancellor for fiscal and student affairs since 2001 at MSU-Northern in Havre. Jensen brings 19 years of professional account experience and 13 years of education experience. Prior to going to Northern, Jensen was assistant dean of fiscal affairs at Helena College of Technology. Earlier he had been controller at Great

Food complaints and funding

statement. On another subject -- food complaints -- Giefer objected to a “break out” that said “Nobody has a copy of the food complaints the senate sent the food committee.” The context from which the “breakout” was taken about food complaints started with this question: “What did the student representative government do?” Giefer’s response was “The best way we were told to go about it was to gather complaints and give them to the food committee.” The story added that the paper had asked twice for the submitted complaints and nobody had a copy of the submitted report. In the Feb. 11 discussion, Giefer said that the complaints had been submitted to FVCC President Jane Karas – she had them, so it was inaccurate to say that “nobody” had them – although the context of the story had to do with the senate having a copy. Giefer admitted that no one in the senate had had a copy of the complaints when a reporter had requested them, but now one senate member has a copy of the said complaints. On the final significant item, Giefer’s $2,000 trip in March to Washington D.C., Giefer first said that her trip was not being funded by student activity fees, neither fees to be allocated this spring nor fees allocated last spring for the current school year. After repeated questioning about the source of the funds, Giefer acknowledged that the money for her trip had come from activity fees in prior years that had not been allocated to student groups, a kind of reserve pool of money that has grown to an amount of about $27,000. According to bylaws, $10,000 of that amount must be kept on reserve by the student senate. At the student senate meeting Wednesday, Feb. 13, when questions about “What to do with the reserve pool of money” were directed to Giefer, her

response was “No comment.”

Farewell...By JENNY GROVEMercury News Staff Writer As many are aware, Robbie Sullivan, a member of Trio who worked with disadvantaged students, passed away Jan. 10, about two months after being diagnosed with a Stage IV cancer in November that progressed into a very militant cancer. During the 15 years she worked at FVCC, Mrs. Sullivan helped countless students. Her work in making FVCC an environment where

Robbie SullivanShe helped students

disadvantaged students could learn and grow will forever be honored. Beyond her work with Trio, she was an avid supporter and worker for both the Perkins Grant, and the Trio SSS Grant. The Trio SSS Grant supports the Learning Center, tutoring, the reading and math labs, and many other things on campus that make learning and succeeding much easier. The Perkins Grant targets Occupational Trades students and more. Mrs. Sullivan touched many different types of students, ranging from traditional to non-traditional. As one sophomore said: “ It is a near-impossible task to sum up Robbie’s love and influence briefly. For many years I was fortunate to have her in my life. During that time I was amazed by her selflessness. She never hesitated to help me and many others. “I am a better person because she took the time to guide me, to listen to me, and most of all to believe in me. Nowadays when a situation arises that I used to turn to Robbie for, I think to myself, ‘What would Robbie say?’ Her message lives on in my heart.” Although I personally had never come into contact with Mrs. Sullivan, upon learning more about her I found that she touched my life here at FVCC. I believe that if every student looks closely, they, too, will find somehow this amazing woman touched their lives. In her passing I believe we should learn from her incredible desire to help others and honor her life by following in her footsteps.

Welcome...

Chuck JensenNew financial officer

Falls College of Technology, director of internal audit at Montana State University, director of financial aid and student placement at Helena College of Technology, and a senior compliance auditor for the Montana legislative audit division. Jensen follows Sheila Gestring, chief financial officer for nearly four years until December 2006, and her successor, Linda Sadler, who held the job for about five months before leaving at the end of September 2007.

(Continued from Page One)

By JOEY PIERCEMercury News Staff Writer A degree of concern and caution must be raised concerning FVCC’s parking lots, particularly the lot right in front of the Arts and Technology Building . Icy conditions sometimes create a hazard zone, where there have been incidents of both young and elderly students alike falling on the pavement. This raises the risks of injury, especially to the elderly and pregnant women. One woman, Jennifer Grove, a victim of the ice, stresses her concern: “I have early morn-ing classes. And when I walk to class when they haven’t yet de-iced the pavement, it’s a very scary situation.”

Be wary of parking-lot ice

(Continued from Page One)

Page 4, The Mercury News, Feb. 20, 2008

By JENNIFER LA CROIXMercury News Staff Write “One of the biggest lies in theater is, the show must go on.” -- Anonymous. FVCC Theatre’s fi rst two theater productions for spring 2008 have been canceled, and a third has been replaced with the “Rocky Horror Show.” Now the spring theater season will open March 7 with “Addict.” Originally the fi rst production was to be “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” scheduled for Jan. 18-20 and 25-27. However, the company that held the rights to that play sold them to another company that could not grant the rights to the college in time for the show to go on. So, with great disappointment, that fi rst spring production died a quick death. The second production, “The Lion in Winter,” was scheduled to run Feb.

Free tickets For 17 years FVCC The- atre has made free tickets available for students who want to see the show but cannot afford to go. If this in-cludes you, see Joe Legate (A&T Building) or someone from student government (Blake Hall) and ask for a free ticket.

1-3 and 8-9. Due to the illness of one cast member two weeks before the opening date, the curtains remained closed as the second FVCC production was canceled. “The Birds,” originally scheduled for later in the spring, has been replaced with the “Rocky Horror Show” because the cast needed for that show is so much larger than the originally planned production. Theater staffers are really

excited about the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” On June 16, 1973 “Rocky Horror Show” opened for the very fi rst time at Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in Sloane Square, London, England. The FVCC production takes after the movie, the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” that made it world wide premiere Aug. 14, 1975 in London. Picture Show did not become a fast success; it became popular years after it was released, and audience participation is what made this show so popular. It started as one person standing on a stage saying the lines with the movie, and then people from the audience would join in at scenes and would make up lines of their own. FVCC at this point is making bags full of little trinkets that the audience can use during the play to feel more involved, such as newspapers to hold over their heads when it rains in the playing, or, in one scene, throwing toast. The enthusiasm from the theater staff for this production was not just heard, but felt as I was told about the planned production. “Rocky Horror Show” is scheduled to open May 2, and the theater people are trying to get a midnight show put together for all you horror lovers! “Addict” is scheduled to open March 7-9 and wind up March 14-15.

Despite setbacks, FVCC Theatre will open March 7

BY JOEY PIERCEMercury News Staff Writer Looking for a deal? Check out FVCC’s surplus-equipment sale: Used computers, monitors, printers and a mouse, all at bargain prices. The sale will be Monday-Wednesday, March 10-12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily in the Occupational Trades Building’s receiving storage bay. Some great additional accessories also are available. For easy entry, follow the posted signs and enter through the south door of the building.

Computer stuff part of surplus sale