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By Nathan HermansonAssistant Arts Editor

Southwestern Colleges revolving dooro top leadership is spinning again asthe governing board searches or a newsuperintendent. Tis time, though, thegoverning board is optimistic that apermanent new CEO will usher in anera o stability.

Governing Board Vice PresidentNorma Hernandez chaired an18-member screening committee thatpaper screened 34 applicants and selectedve semi-nalists. Ater a series o publicorums where candidates addressed thepublic, the governing board narrowedthe pool to three nalists.

I believe that it is essential, at thiscritical time or our college district,to have an educational leader withcommunity college background and ademonstrated commitment to a governancestructure that promotes collaborativedecision making, collegial consultationand active involvement o all constituentgroups, she said.

Hernandez said she is very impressed

with the three inalists who are SWCInterim Superintendent Denise Whittaker,Berkeley City College President Dr. BettyInclan, and Orange Coast College VicePresident o Instruction Dr. Melinda Nish.

Tis week a small subcommittee o board

members, students and employees will travelto the colleges o the nalists to interviewco-workers and gather inormation.

Governing board members hope toannounce the new superintendent/president at its October 12 meeting.

With three highly-qualied candidatesit boils down to who is the best t or thecollege, Hernandez said. Tat is the bigquestion the board must decide.

a n a t i o n a l p a c e m a k e r a wa r d n e w s p a p e r

.hu. aug.17 - o.1, 2011Volume 55, Issue 1

please see Superintendent pg. 12

Superintendent search narrowed to three

please see Plagiarism pg. 16

Pro. accusessuperintendento plagiarismMarshall B. Murphy/staff

NO CROSSING ZONE Ater a day o chaos and standstill at the worlds busiest border crossing, ve northbound lanes reopenas crews work to remove debris ater scafolding used to support overhead construction collapsed on top o incoming vehicles at theSan Ysidro Border. Several cars were damaged and 11 people were injured, including two that were hospitalized.

P A G E 1 7 O N L I N E W W W. T H E S W C S U N . C O M

BREAKDOWN AT THE BORDER

UCSD to raise TAG GPA for fall 2012

please see UCSD pg. 17

Campus, 3Viewpoints, 6Unsigned, 6Sex Column, 7

Thinking Out Loud, 8Sports, 10

Arts, 18InsIde:

Newspaper

honored fordefense offree speech

please seeAward pg. 17

paBlo Gandara/staff

THREE HIGHLY-QUALIFIED CANDIDATES: Speaking at recent public orums are superintendent nalists (l-r) Dr. Betty Inclan, DeniseWhittaker and Dr. Melinda Nish.

By Sun Staff

Following more than three years o striewhere Southwestern College journalismstudents and aculty were harassed andpunished by college administrators andsome governing board members, thesta o the SWC Sun will be awardedcollegiate Americas most prestigiousrecognition or deense o the First

Amendment, the College Press FreedomAward.

Presented annually by the Student Press

Law Center (SPLC) o Virginia and theAssociated Collegiate Press (ACP)o Minneapolis, colleges nationwideare nominated or demonstrating

By Alyssa SimentalOnline Editor

A Southwestern College proessorsaid in a global campus e-mail thatInter im Superintendent Denise

Whittaker plagiarized portions o a 9/11commemoration message she had sentout over the campus e-mail. Whittakerimmediately acknowledged that she hadneglected to cite the original source o twolines rom her message.

Dr. Carla Kirkwood, coordinator oInternational Programs, said she received acall about the possible plagiarism incidentand searched the statement via Google. Shesaid she was immediately directed to anarticle in the Washington Post. Kirkwoodsaid Whittaker also co-opted language romthe History Channel.

Kirkwood sent a global email to Whittakerand all sta stating that the 9/11 messagecontained plagiarized material.

he attached document by theWashington Post and the History Channelis a great tool in teaching this historictragedy to our students, wrote Kirkwood.A proximity o this inormation begins onpage two o the document.

Whittaker responded immediately andcalled the episode an oversight.

Tank you or bringing to my attention

By Lina Adriana SandovalStaff Writer

Students still have an opportunityto get into UCSD with a 3.0, but the

window is closing quickly.In March UCSD increased its

ranser Admission Guarantee (AG)minimum GPA requirements rom a3.0 to a 3.5 or students planning toapply or all 2012. University Link

was created to assist communitycollege students who are close but

just short o UCSD requirements.

Students rom Region 10 communitycolleges including SouthwesternCollege, who have attained a GPAo 3.0 or higher are eligible. As longas the University Link program isavailable, UCSD will oer somestudents extended time to raise theirGPAs while they attend communitycollege.

he original purpose o theUniversity Link program was toidentiy students during the springo their senior year o high schoolto ensure that we establish and

maintain a pipeline rom high schoolto postsecondary education, saidDr. Angelica L. Suarez, SWC VicePresident o Student Aairs.

SWC representatives asked UCSDleaders to expand University Link toinclude community college studentsat a 3.0 minimum GPA eectiveimmediately, Suarez said.

Students need to be designated inthe University Link pipeline programin order to be able to qualiy to transer

with a 3.0 GPA, said Suarez. Unlessthe student has been identied by

Colleges ullaccreditationis restoredWhittaker creditshard working stafBy Mary YorkNews Editor

In an announcement that caught eventhe most optimistic sta members bysurprise, the regional accreditation bodythat placed Southwestern College onprobation in February 2010 lited allsanctions and this summer reafrmed thecolleges accreditation and good standing.

Te announcement by the AccreditingCommission or Community and JuniorColleges (AACJC) marks the end o atwo-year period o turmoil at the collegethat culminated in the unseating o

two governingboard members,the ring o topadministratorsand a campus-

wide eort byaculty, sta and

an interim superintendent to get SWCout o its worst predicament in its 50-year history.

Tis is a huge victory or our students,institution and community, said Interim

Superintendent Denise Whittaker.Weve been working tirelessly to resolvethe ACCJCs concerns while saeguardingthe high-quality education SouthwesternCollege provides. Our hard work paido.

SWC was slapped with probationor 10 deciencies in administration,budgeting, planning and board conductunder a previous governing board and theadministration o ormer superintendentRaj K. Chopra. hough none o thesanctions were related to teachingand learning, SWC risked closure ithe deiciencies were not corrected.Board members Yolanda Salcido and

Jorge Dominguez were swept romoice last November, and Chopraresigned shortly thereater. wo vicepresidents, the chie o campus police

and other administrators were red orresigned ollowing the election o NormaHernandez and im Nader to the board.

Colleges on probation with as manysanctions as SWC aced usually aremoved o in increments, said AcademicSenate President Angelina Stuart, aleader in the eort to restore the collegesaccreditation. SWC made an epic leaprom probation to ully accredited, shesaid.

Tats like going rom a D- to an A+, she said. here is such a greatsense o relie and hope in what we haveaccomplished. Te spirit o the collegeis back.

A ollow-up report will be sent to theaccrediting body in October to documentprogress that has already been made.

Its meant to show we are doing what

we said we would, she said.SCEA aculty union president AndyMacNeill said SWC was ortunate tohave great support rom the inside.

We had the right people in the rightplace at the right time and that made allthe dierence, he said. Our change inadministration was huge. I dont think we

would have been able to do it i we didnthave such an incredible turn around

within our governing board and topleadership. Tere was no doubt Denise

was the person to help us reafrm ouraccreditation.

Boa rd Pre s ide nt Nade r s a idthe combined eorts o the schooland community to restore SWCsaccreditation was incredible.

Its been such a phenomenal eort

See ARTS pg. 18

Great faculty art

show brings out

the beast

please seeAccreditation pg. 16