Upload
the-ranger
View
219
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Feb. 5, 2010, issue of The Ranger
Citation preview
THE RANGERBlack History Month
EconomicEmpowerment
A forum of free voices serving San Antonio College since 1926 Single copies free
Vol. 84, Issue 13 Feb. 5, 2010
COUPLE ASSAULTED 4
ADMISSIONS CONSOLIDATING 7
H1N1 VACCINATION URGED 11
2 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
Chancellor: Dr. Bruce H. Leslie201 W. Sheridan, Bldg. B, San Antonio, TX 78204-1429Work: 485-0020 Fax: 208-8149E-mail: [email protected]
District 1: Dr. Bernard Weiner929 Manor Drive, Ste. 7, San Antonio, TX 78228 Work: 735-9151 E-mail: [email protected]
District 2: Denver McClendon3811 Willowwood Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78219 Work: 281-9141 E-mail: [email protected]
District 3: Anna U. Bustamante511 Ware Blvd., San Antonio TX 78221Work: 882-1603 Fax: 927-4557E-mail: [email protected]
District 4: Marcelo S. Casillas115 Wainwright, San Antonio, TX 78211Home: 922-6815 Fax: 923-3167 E-mail: [email protected]
District 5: Roberto Zárate4103 Buffalo Bayou, San Antonio, TX 78251E-mail: [email protected]
District 6: Dr. Gene Sprague14722 Iron Horse Way,Helotes, TX 78023Work: 567-5544 Fax: 520-9185E-mail: [email protected]
District 7: Blakely Latham Fernandez755 E. Mulberry, Suite 200,San Antonio, TX 78212Phone: 244-8879E-mail: [email protected]
District 8: Gary Beitzel15403 Forest Mist, San Antonio, TX 78232Home: 496-5857 E-mail: [email protected]
District 9: James A. Rindfuss109 Laburnum, San Antonio, TX 78209Home: 828-4630 Work: 375-2555 Home Fax: 832-8292 Office Fax: 375-0301 E-mail: [email protected]
Officials
San Antonio College, Dr. Robert E. Zeigler486-0959, [email protected]
Northeast Lakeview College, Dr. Eric Reno486-5484, [email protected]
Northwest Vista College, Dr. Jacqueline Claunch486-4900, [email protected]
Palo Alto College, Dr. Ana M. “Cha” Guzman486-3960, [email protected]
St. Philip’s College, Dr. Adena W. Loston486-2900, [email protected]
Presidents
Guest Viewpoints:
Faculty, staff, students and
community members are wel-
come to contribute guest view-
points of up to 450 words.
Writers should focus on cam-
pus or current events in a critical,
persuasive or interpretative style.
All viewpoints must be pub-
lished with a photo portrait of
the writer.
Letters Policy:
The Ranger invites readers
to share views by writing letters
to the editor. Space limitations
force the paper to limit letters
to two double-spaced, typewrit-
ten pages. Letters will be edited
for spelling, style, grammar, libel
and length. Editors reserve the
right to deny publication of any
letter.
Letters should be mailed
to The Ranger, Department of
Media Communications, San
Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro
Ave., San Antonio TX 78212-4299.
Letters also may be brought
to the newspaper office in Room
212 of Loftin Student Center,
e-mailed to sac-ranger@alamo.
edu or faxed to 486-1789.
Letters must be signed and
must include the writer’s print-
ed name, classification, major,
Social Security number and tele-
phone number.
For more information, call
486-1773.
Single Copy Policy:
Members of the Alamo
Community College District
community are permitted one
free copy per issue because of
high production costs.
Where available, additional
copies may be purchased with
prior approval for 50 cents each
by contacting The Ranger busi-
ness office.
Newspaper theft is a crime.
Those who violate the single
copy rule may be subject to civil
and criminal prosecution and
subject to college discipline.
Editor
Vanessa M. Sanchez
Managing Editor
Laura Garcia
News Editor
Zahra Farah
Calendar Editor
Sharon Hensley
Photographers
Tyler K. Cleveland, Rennie Murrell, Alison Wadley
Photo Team
Scott Aranda, Jennifer Charo, Sarah Janes,
James Lazo, Julysa Nathalie Sosa, Robert Stofa
Illustrator
Juan Carlos Campos
Staff Writers
Ximena Alvarez, Jacob Beltran, Marissa Cross,
Michelle Gaitan, Natasha Gregory,
Joshua Sanchez Guerrero, Steffany Gutierrez,
Nathan House, John P. Kline, Mary Lerma,
Alexandria Maxwell, Robert Medina,
Melody Mendoza, Celeste Nentwig, Victoria Ortiz,
Amanda M. Rios, Brandy A. Santos, Tamara Sayles,
Riley Stephens, Michelle Tymrak, Reagan White
Web Editor
Regis L. Roberts
©2010 by The Ranger staff, San Antonio College, 1300
San Pedro Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212-4299. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
without permission.
The Ranger, the student newspaper at San Antonio Col-
lege, is a laboratory project of the journalism classes in the
Department of Media Communications, published Fridays
except during summer, holidays and examinations.
News contributions accepted by telephone (486-
1773), by fax (486-1789), by e-mail (sac-ranger@alamo.
edu) or at the editorial office (Room 212 Loftin Student
Center).
Advertising rates available upon request by phone
(486-1765) or as a download at www.theranger.org.
The Ranger is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate
Press Association, the Associated Collegiate Press, the
Texas Community College Journalism Association and the
Associated Press.
The RangeR
The Ranger • Vol. 84 • Issue 13 Feb. 5, 2010 • 3
Online @ theranger.org
People slideshow
Chill Lounge slideshow
Basketball and volleyball slideshows
Memo of Commitment’s mysterious “6,000” figure explained
New parking developments
Complete Blotter
Go to www.theranger.org
for news and information.
A forum of free voices serving San Antonio College since 1926The RangeR
www.theranger.org
2 Policies and officials
4 Blotter
4 News
4 Student assaulted in parking lotBy Zahra FarahPhoto by Vanessa M. Sanchez
5 Contract housekeepers may take over ChanceBy Laura GarciaPhoto by Tyler K. Cleveland
7 Admissions and records moves to Pat Booker Road By Vanessa M. SanchezPhoto by Rennie Murrell
8 Staff Council voices concern for admissionsBy Laura Garcia
Faculty Senate questions board policyBy Laura Garcia
9 Transfer servicesBy Amanda M. Rios
Bookstore responds to stolen backpack victimBy Zahra Farah
Photo by Rennie Murrell
10 Criminal Justice Association electionBy Jacob Beltran
Japanese competitionBy Reagan White
11 H1N1 updateBy Vanessa M. Sanchez
14 Longwith leaks againBy Jacob Beltran and Riley StephensPhotos by Tyler K. Cleveland
16 Alumni Association plans fundraiserBy Celeste J. Nentwig
17 Concurrent enrollmentBy Melody Mendoza
Service learning By Stephany Gutierrez
12 PremiereBlack History MonthBy Celeste NentwigIllustrated by Juan Carlos Campos
Ball on display in AICBy Marissa Cross
24 Chill Loungeopens in ChanceBy Riley StephensPhotos by Tyler K. Cleveland and Sarah James
12 Movie ReviewWhen in RomeBy Jacob Beltran
15 Calendar
18 EditorialsCartoonBookstore AccreditationCIS anniversaryLetterViewpoint
15 Pulse
4 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE
Jan. 25 – An individual reported
burglary of a vehicle.
An individual reported a suspi-
cious person.
An individual reported damage to
personal property.
Jan. 26 – An individual reported
losing her eyeglasses.
An individual reported striking
another vehicle in Lot 26.
Jan. 27 – An individual reported
burglary of a vehicle. No wit-
nesses.
An individual reported a vehicle
accident that occurred earlier in
the week.
An individual reported a suspi-
cious person from a previous day.
Jan. 28 – An individual reported
four male subjects smoking in
Moody. Upon search of area, no
one located.
An individual reported being
injured. EMS not required.
An individual reported a suspi-
cious person. Contact made with
suspect.
Jan. 29 – An individual reported a
suspicious person. Suspect locat-
ed. Everything found to be OK.
NORTHEAST LAKEVIEW
COLLEGE
Jan. 25 – An individual reported
found property. Item placed in
property locker.
Jan. 26 – An individual reported a
verbal disturbance over a parking
space.
Jan. 27 – An individual reported a
missing cell phone.
Jan. 28 – An individual reported
being injured. EMS not required.
Jan. 29 – An individual reported
graffiti on an Alamo Colleges sign.
NORTHWEST VISTA COLLEGE
Jan. 25 – An individual reported
theft of books from the Cypress
campus center. Suspect identified.
An individual reported theft of a
vehicle. No suspects.
Blotter
BY ZAHRA FARAH
Criminal justice freshman Abby
Vesa and her boyfriend, criminal
justice freshman Jose Angel, were
walking toward Angel’s truck at
4:50 p.m. Monday in Lot 21 south-
east of Candler Physical Education
Center when three young students
cornered the couple and assaulted
Angel.
“Angel received minor abra-
sions to the left side of his head
and a swollen eye,” said Sgt. Jessica
Cervantes of Alamo Colleges Police
Department.
The three suspects started to
punch and kick Angel’s stomach,
head and face. Vesa tried to protect
her boyfriend by covering him with
her back so he would not receive
any more punches to head.
The three suspects instead
started to hit Vesa in the back, Vesa
said.
“I don’t think they tried to hit
me intentionally,” she said. “I was
just in the way.”
Even though Vesa believes the
suspects did not hit her intention-
ally, she received a few bruises. An
onlooker who was watching the
fight called campus police. The
suspects then fled the area on foot.
Angel vomited after the fight;
Vesa said it was probably either
his nerves or being light-headed
or dizzy.
“He’s throwing up, which is not
a great sign, but it could be stress
or the excitement of it all,” para-
medic Lydia Clark said.
Angel was in stable condition,
but paramedics advised him to go
to the nearest hospital. The assault
was a result of a conflict earlier that
day. One of the suspects was trying
to make advances on Vesa the day
prior to the fight. At 1 p.m. when
Vesa and Angel were walking to
their next class, one of the suspects
was giving dirty looks to Angel.
“They were trying to talk to me,
but were looking at him ugly,” she
said. Vesa said the suspects and
Angel were becoming angry, and
Angel said he was not scared of
them and asked if they wanted to
fight. At around 4 p.m., Vesa was
studying in the library in Moody
Learning Center. When she looked
up from her studies, one of the
suspects was hovering over her. He
said, “Yo, what’s up?”
“I told him to please leave me
alone,” she said.
Vesa said when she left the
library and met up with Angel the
suspect started to taunt Angel and
said Vesa was flirting with him.
The suspects continued to give
Angel dirty looks while they were
walking to the Lot 21 parking lot.
When things started to escalate,
Vesa said, “Now are y’all going to
fight him when it’s all three of you?”
Vesa recognized one of the sus-
pects from a student development
class.
Onlookers gave district police
a description of the three sus-
pects. In a campus crime alert sent
out Tuesday, the report said the
suspects were described as three
Hispanic males, wearing black and
carrying black backpacks. One had
a red marking on his black jacket
and another had markings on the
back pocket of his jeans.
Sgt. Ben Peña of district DPS
said no arrests have been made
and the investigation is still ongo-
ing.
Students assaulted by three students
Paramedic Lydia Clark escorts criminal justice freshman Jose Angel to his truck in Lot 21
Monday after an assault.
CONTACT INFOEmergency222-0911
General DPS485-0099
Weather Line485-0189
Vanessa M. Sanchez
If anyone has further information, please call
district police at485-0099.
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 5
By Laura Garcia
Six housekeepers have left the college since
October, leaving facilities considering hiring
contract custodians to take over cleaning duties
in Chance Academic Center at the end of this
semester.
Facilities Superintendent David Ortega is
now searching for options to this problem,
including looking into the possibility of extend-
ing contract employer GCA Services Group’s
contract to add a building to their duties in the
academic instruction center and the nursing
and allied health center.
During an interview Jan. 29, Ortega
explained that everything is in the planning
stages and would need to be approved by the
board of trustees.
GCA Services has been in charge of the newer
buildings since their contract was approved
during an April 28 board meeting. Before that,
college housekeeping staff was in charge of
them. The current contract expires July 31.
Two of San Antonio College’s newest build-
ings were simply added to the biennial contract
that includes all buildings at Northwest Vista
and Northeast Lakeview College, the Pat Booker
buildings and Central Texas Technology Center.
That original contract was approved by the
board June 17, 2008.
Ortega explained that while facilities is not
experiencing a hiring freeze, the department
is only hiring internally within the district. The
department is accepting housekeeping trans-
fers from other colleges in the district.
Nine positions have been vacated since
October, including three from maintenance
with reasons ranging from retirement to resig-
nation and health problems.
Ortega supervises 44 full-time housekeepers
who are responsible for cleaning 36 buildings at
this college, five shift foremen and one quality
control employee.
Ortega estimates that there were about 57
total positions at San Antonio College last year.
The four district buildings on Sheridan
Street and one on Houston Street are also under
Ortega’s supervision. Those buildings require
four housekeepers and a working lead house-
keeper.
Housekeepers’ normal duties include stock-
ing restroom supplies, trash and recycle bin
removal, and cleaning of floors, glass windows
and outside entrances.
The amount of cleaning in a building
depends on the overall frequency of use.
Ortega said the national average is about
22,400 square feet cleaning area per individual
on an eight-hour shift.
The starting salary for a housekeeping atten-
dant is $8 an hour with a maximum yearly sal-
ary of $25,792. These numbers do not include
benefits, which would add up to 30 percent
more. Benefits for housekeepers at this college
include medical leave, life insurance, worker’s
compensation and tuition assis-
tance.
Thomas Gifford, regional vice
president of GCA Services Group-
Education Division, said employ-
ees start at $8 an hour with similar
benefits. A portion of the benefits
are paid by the college.
During a telephone interview
Wednesday, John Strybos, asso-
ciate vice chancellor of facilities,
said that if people look at the dollars for dollars,
it doesn’t look like the district is saving much
money.
The real savings are in indirect costs like
purchasing uniforms, worker’s compensation
and overtime, Strybos said.
Because the contract employer is a private
contractor, they don’t have to go through a pro-
cess to terminate employees who violate poli-
cies; they just fire them, Strybos said.
He admitted that there have been disci-
pline problems with contract employees, but
the same type of issues can be found within the
college housekeeping staff.
Strybos said that before the district sought
outsourced custodial services, they had trouble
getting enough qualified housekeepers to apply.
Staff Council President Geraldo Guerra said
that co-workers within the business depart-
ment in the academic instruction center are
happy with their contract housekeeper but said
he acknowledges that some of the other depart-
ments in the building are unhappy
with the quality of work.
However, during a Wednesday
Faculty Senate meeting,, business
Chair Val Calvert said she has used
student restrooms and noticed
that paper towels aren’t being
replenished.
Calvert said she suspects con-
tract custodians sleep across two
chairs in offices because of the
arrangement of furniture when she arrived in
the morning.
English Chair Alex Bernal said he thought it
was a ridiculous way to treat lifelong employees
who take care of buildings, faculty and students.
During the senate meeting, Bernal told
members a story about the housekeeper
he came across while exiting Gonzales Hall
Tuesday.
He said it was cold and late and he overheard
the housekeeper counseling a student to stay in
school and not drop his classes.
Contract housekeepers may take over Chance
Housekeeper Juanita Hernandez packs up her cart at the end of her shift at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Chance Academic Center.
Tyler K. Cleveland
www.theranger.orgGo online to read the full version.
6 • Feb. 5, 2010 People The Ranger
Vanessa M. Sanchez
Julysa Sosa
Tyler K. Cleveland
James Lazo
Hair raisingly high: Kinesiology sophomore Cassy Larios demonstrates her toe touch for cheer coach Ruben Torres at the second tryout Monday in the craft room in Loftin.
Stokin’ hot: Dickey Dzuik, former student, works the fire for the stove tops Jan. 29 at the 32nd annual Cowboy Breakfast at Cowboys Dance Hall. Students from St. Philip’s College culinary arts program helped with the cooking.
Dissed: Mary Segovia, academic unit assistant in disabled student services, honored as the college Employee of the Month, said she appreciates the acknowledgement of her work by her co-workers. However, she was unable to use her designated parking space as someone Tuesday disregarded the large sign reserving it for her.
Relief efforts: Nursing sophomore Tiffany Martinez is asking the college community to contribute to a drive by her employer, Aéropostale, to send gently used jeans to teens of Haiti. Donations will net a 25 percent discount on a new pair of jeans at the retailer in Rivercenter.
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 7
Administrators respond to student information center rumors
By Vanessa M. sanchez
Questions arose about students throughout
the district having to travel to Pat Booker Road
to pick up transcripts or financial aid after sev-
eral employees districtwide were told they were
being reassigned to a new Center of Student
Information.
Those concerns are unfounded, Chancellor
Bruce Leslie said Tuesday while visiting new
AT&T classes in the Oppenheimer Education
and Training Center here. “That’s incorrect
information.”
Students can still pick up their financial
aid checks from the college in which they are
enrolled, but the back office work is not done at
each of the colleges, he said.
The center, in the Albertsons facility on
Pat Booker Road, previously housed Northeast
Lakeview College until a permanent campus
was built.
At the moment, it is being used as a “back
office,” Leslie said.
The district is making the switch from the
current Passport system to Banner, a software
package the district purchased for $6 million to
process human resources, financial and student
records.
Some of the work will be completed at the
center by employees who will continue to be
paid from their colleges’ budgets. There is no
separate budget for the center.
Employees from across the district, however,
have told The Ranger that those who have had
to move were being forced to volunteer.
A St. Philip’s English professor said a co-work-
er approached her to talk about the relocating of
several college employees to the center because
she was concerned about transportation.
When she was a college student, she said,
she took four buses to get to her community
college. When she attended a university, she
said she had to take eight buses. No buses ser-
vice the Pat Booker Road facility.
She questioned how this would better assist
students.
The professor said in the welcome center
“staff were being told that they had to go, that
people would have to volunteer.”
Leslie said this is a Banner-driven task.
“We’re not doing anything different than other
colleges.”
Currently, there is work done at each of the
five colleges, he said, so the district identified
several people who could work at the center to
help with the Banner consolidation project.
He said instead of having information in five
places, the colleges will make the transition to
use one system, and it will take time for people
to adjust to it, but, in the long run, it is going to
provide better student assistance.
Dr. Adelina Silva, vice chancellor for student
services, oversees the project.
Dr. Robert Zeigler, this college’s president,
said there were five or six employees reassigned
but was unsure of the exact number.
Zeigler said the employees are being reas-
signed on an interim basis.
As to the rumors floating around the col-
leges, Zeigler said, “That’s not the plan at all.”
Customer services and front desk duties will
remain at each of the colleges, Zeigler said.
This will increase efficiency by having a
faster turnaround time when students need
information.
Dr. Robert Vela, vice president of student
affairs, in a phone interview Wednesday, said,
“We have a total of three people on an interim
basis.”
There are also employees who work any-
where between 20 and 40 hours and others who
work 10 to 20 hours per week at the Pat Booker
Road facility learning Banner.
Vela said he could not identify the employees
who were reassigned because he did not want to
violate confidentiality with human resources.
He said the employees who went “volun-
teered to go. Some of the folks that wanted to
go lived closer to Pat Booker. Nobody was told
to go.”
He added, “Those asked to go had a specific
skill set. It wasn’t mandated for anybody to go.”
Another five employees are probably going
to leave a college for the center as of March 8
when the district requests another volunteer
wave.
Until then, he said, every college has a plan
to backfill the positions of the employees who
volunteered to work at the center.
Silva said this will help the district as items
such as state reporting and downloading appli-
cations will be done at one time and one station
instead of the current model that has these
done individually at each of the colleges.
“It’s a collaborative model,” she said. “The
vice presidents and I are working on aligning
the duties to this center.”
She said four people were reassigned for 90
days. Four others were reassigned with no end
dates.
Those who were chosen were very excited to
go, she said.
Silva said employees have known about the
creation of the center for a long time and have
been part of the Banner practice for several
months. “They’ve been working with Banner
practices since fall,” she said.
Right now the employees are establishing
the center and developing the processes. “They
got to plan the transition,” she said.
The district will later advertise positions
internally to see if other employees want to join
the center. Silva said the center will have 19
employees when it opens in September.
Silva said the center should be functioning
by April 1.
The district awaits the arrival of admissions and records staff from all five colleges to debut the new Center of Student
Information located at 8300 Pat Booker Road, which will be called the Alamo University Center in the fall.
Rennie Murrell
8 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
By Laura Garcia
Staff Council members Tuesday expressed
concern for the district’s abrupt consolidation
of admissions and records departments in the
colleges.
Council member Henry Castillo of admis-
sions and records said during a Staff Council
meeting that Dr. Robert Vela, vice president
of student affairs, broke the news to J. Martin
Ortega, director of admissions and records,
Jan. 29.
He said Vela told Ortega and six other
employees in the admissions and records office
that they were to move three days later on Feb.
1 to the Albertsons facility on Pat Booker Road.
That location formerly housed the Northeast
Campus and then became Northeast Lakeview
College before a permanent campus was con-
structed farther east.
Before that, the building was home to an
Albertsons grocery store.
Vela confirmed Wednesday that only five
employees would move to the new location and
that Ortega would be part of a second phase
of moves from the college to the consolidated
admissions and records district office.
Castillo said the district was going to choose
one “boss” of the five college’s admissions and
records directors.
Members discussed the possibility of a direc-
tor from a small college taking over responsibil-
ity for the records of the 60,000-plus students in
the district.
“They wouldn’t have the faintest idea what
to do,” Castillo said.
Castillo announced that 19 employees from
throughout the district, including seven from
San Antonio College, would be moved to the
Albertsons location.
This number was confirmed Wednesday
during a Faculty Senate meeting with President
Robert Zeigler as guest speaker.
Castillo said Mary Jane Carreon, associate
director of residency and reports, may have
to find another position within the college
because her position would be lost.
Rachel Zamarripa of continuing education
training network asked if Carreon’s salary would
remain the same in a new position.
Castillo noted that if San Antonio College
students have problems with admissions and
records, they would still handle it here at this
college.
Zeigler explained that although he doesn’t
have the details, he said it does make some
sense and thinks it may be more efficient.
He said the students would still go to the
college for any problems and that district said,
for example, the transcript turn-around time
would be quicker.
The positions at the Albertson’s location are
interim and employees moved volunteered for
the time being.
Zeigler said that the positions will be opened
internally and admissions and records employ-
ees need not be concerned about job secu-
rity because many of them are cross-trained in
other areas of the department.
Staff Council questions admissions services move
By Laura Garcia
Faculty Senate invited new trustee Blakely
Fernandez of District 7 to speak at special
called meeting Feb. 10, but that’s not going to
happen.
She has said board policy prohibits her from
speaking without another trustee present.
English Instructor Jane Focht-Hansen tried
corresponding with trustees Gary Beitzel of
District 8, Roberto Zárate of District 5 and
board Chair Denver McClendon of District 2
to accompany Fernandez, but both said they
would be out-of-town.
Zarate added, in an e-mail Jan. 29, “It is
beyond my role and responsibility to meet
with either staff and faculty. This protocol is to
maintain an objective viewpoint when making
decisions.”
This prompted senate members during
Wednesday’s meeting to question whether some
trustees care about making informed decisions.
They hope to reschedule with Fernandez but
may not be able to until she becomes a candi-
date for re-election, Focht-Hansen said.
As a candidate, she would be free to appear
alone, unlike appearing as a trustee.
Faculty Senate President Jeff Hunt brought
up the memorandum of commitment written
by Chancellor Bruce Leslie and announced that
along with the Super Senate, all of the college
presidents refused to sign the draft.
Members agreed the Jan. 20 memo seemed
unnecessary and offensive when the chancel-
lor referred to student success as if this idea
stemmed solely from the Accreditation Review
Committee’s report.
“It’s what we do,” math Professor Carlos
Corona said. “It’s our mission.”
A special guest at the meeting, President
Robert Zeigler explained what he knew of the
admissions and records backend operations
moving to the Albertsons building at 8300 Pat
Booker Road.
He saiddistrict officials will process paper-
work more efficiently and work well with
Banner, software consolidate college processes.
He assured faculty that no one in admissions
and records would lose their jobs and that over
time, the cost savings would be in attrition.
Reference Librarian Celita DeArmond ques-
tioned, “If everything’s online, why move bod-
ies?” English Chair Alex Bernal asked, “Who’s
plan is it?”
Most questions went unanswered because
the president didn’t know all the details of the
plan. But he said he believed the plan was
originated by former Vice Chancellor James
McLaughlin and was now being overseen by
Tom Cleary, vice chancellor for planning and
technology, and Adelina Silva, vice chancellor
for student success, along with the vice presi-
dents of student affairs.
In other business, radio-television-film
Professor John Onderdonk brought up a situa-
tion in which a terminated faculty member had
multiple student grievances filed against him
while teaching on a one-year terminal contract.
Onderdonk and other members questioned
district policy in which faculty members are
dismissed but given an additional year to teach.
Business Chair Val Calvert said, “It’s cheaper
to pay them for a year than a lawsuit.”
Onderdonk said, “Who’s really suffering? The
students. It doesn’t help a program to have a
crappy instructor.”
This is one of the issues the senate may take
up with Linda Boyer-Owens, vice chancellor of
human resources.
The senate went into executive session for
about 20 minutes with Zeigler.
Senate discusses two-fer trustee policy
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 9
By Zahra Farah
After having her book bag stolen Jan. 25 from
a designated drop spot, international business
freshman Alejandra Chavez found San Antonio
College bookstore management claimed no
responsibility for her loss despite their prohibi-
tion of backpacks in the store.
Even though the bookstore claimed no
responsibility for Chavez getting her book sto-
len, they have agreed to take care of her and
replace her stolen reading book worth about
$77.
District manager Elizabeth Grey said in an
interview Tuesday that they look at theft inci-
dents case by case.
“We will work with you,” Grey said.
The bookstore’s twin goals are to deter peo-
ple from stealing from students and students
stealing from the bookstore, she said.
Amy Turpin, bookstore manager, received
permission from the corporate office of Follett
Higher Education Group to speak to The Ranger
on Jan. 29.
Via e-mail that day, Turpin explained the
bookstore maintains a bag-drop policy, request-
ing that while shopping, customers leave back-
packs or bags in an area observed by video
camera and store personnel.
She also wrote that during the busy period
in the first week or two of classes, the bookstore
provides a bag check station to customers.
Bookstore employees supervise the sta-
tion, checking bags in and out by means of a
numbered card or slot to ensure the bags are
returned to rightful owners.
Turpin wrote this policy is similar to most
retailers who request that shoppers leave their
parcels at the front of the store. “Our bag policy
is only implemented with permission of the col-
lege and district,” she wrote.
“During non-busy periods, we provide cubi-
cles monitored by video camera and within
view of our sales associates,” Turpin wrote.
“This policy is designed to ensure that we
treat all of our customers equally,” she wrote.
Grey elaborated, saying, “We don’t discrimi-
nate. The system is designed to not discriminate
against anyone.”
This means everyone is asked to drop his or
her bag in a cubby.
Grey said the bookstore would be happy to
work with the college in improving security. “It’s
our goal to have as safe an environment as pos-
sible for students to shop in,” she said.
Video cameras greet students in the front
entrance right when then they walk in.
In an interview Tuesday, Turpin said, “People
who plan on stealing know we are watching.”
On Jan. 25, Chavez said her backpack was
stolen at 10:30 a.m. from the San Antonio
College Bookstore in the storage area at the
entrance to the college bookstore on the lower
level of Loftin Student Center, while she was in
line buying Scantrons.
The bag contained two textbooks, two note-
books, an agenda and her car keys.
Chavez said she placed her black backpack
in a cubby provided by the store just outside
the north entrance. She then picked up her
Scantrons and stood in line to pay. When she
returned to the cubby, her bag was gone.
Chavez could tell from the store video that
the man who stole her backpack was beside her
as she was putting her things in the cubby.
He was also in line in front of her as she was
waiting to purchase the Scantrons, but he left
the line before reaching the cashier.
“When he left the line, that’s when I think he
grabbed my bag,” Chavez said.
She described him as an African-American
with dreadlocks and a teardrop tattooed on
the left side of his face. She said campus police
advised her not to confront the suspect if she
saw him again. If you have any information on
this incident, call the district department of
public safety at 485-0099.
Bookstore responds on backpack policy
By amanda rios
If students have questions
about their major and the college
they want to attend after gradu-
ation, they can visit the transfer
center in the counseling center on
the first floor of Moody Learning
Center.
The transfer center has degree
plans from senior colleges that
could help students determine
the best four-year college for their
major. The transfer center also has
a computer lab that students may
use to look up and compare uni-
versities.
The transfer center also helps
with registration and schedules at
this and other colleges, Counselor
Rosa Maria Gonzalez, transfer
center coordinator, said Jan. 22.
Gonzalez offered advice for
students to be successful in col-
lege.
“Be prepared. Know your
major. The sooner you know, the
sooner you know which university
you want to transfer to,” Gonzalez
said.
“Knowing your major helps
before choosing your school no
matter what campus you want to
transfer to,” she said. “It’s helpful
to know if they have your major
and the best program that they can
offer for a student.”
Students may be concerned if
they haven’t already chosen their
major.
“We try to help students get a
liberal arts degree if they have not
chosen their major,” transfer cen-
ter secretary Jeanette Cantu said
Jan. 27.
Gonzalez said, “The transfer
center will try to help a student
choose a major, if not chosen yet,
by giving them degree plans and
school references if they know the
college they want to go to.
“If the student is still not sure
on what major, we suggest that
they stay with SAC’s core curricu-
lum because our curriculum will
transfer to any university in Texas.”
The center also hosts coun-
selors from the University of
Texas at San Antonio, Texas A&M
University-San Antonio and Texas
State University-San Marcos:
UTSA, Rosalinda Garza, 486–
0337, e-mail Rosalinda.garza@
utsa.edu; and Vanessa Contreras,
486-0337, e-mail Vanessa.contre-
Texas A&M-San Antonio,
Jennifer McDaniel, 744–9791,
e-mail Jennifer.mcdaniel@tamuk.
edu; and, Texas State-San Marcos,
Kyle Pyron, 512-245-2340, e-mail
Students may make appoint-
ments to meet with these coun-
selors, who have calendars outside
their offices indicating dates when
they will be on campus.
The transfer center is open 8
a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through
Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday
and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
For information, call 486-0864
or visit http://www.alamo.edu/
sac/csd/tc/.
Center offers transfer assistance
10 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
By JacoB Beltran
San Antonio Police Department Officer
Andre Taylor outlined the basic require-
ments for applying as a city police officer
at the Jan. 27 Criminal Justice Association
meeting.
Taylor also discussed what it’s like to
attend the law enforcement academy.
The meeting was the first of the semes-
ter in which club members also opened
nominations for students to run for officer
positions.
“The Criminal Justice Association has
turned out really well,” criminal justice
Lecturer Tiffany Cox said Monday.
“The student officers were very instru-
mental in getting everything going.”
Meetings are open to students who are
interested or want to learn more about crim-
inal justice.
“The goal is really to get students to meet
with different criminal justice fields to see
what they like, and especially, what they don’t
like,” Cox said.
Requirements for joining the Criminal
Justice Association are a minimum grade-
point average of 2.0, and members must have
completed at least six hours as a student at
this college.
Voting for the positions of president, vice
president and secretary will occur at the Feb.
24 meeting.
Students elected will serve a one-year
term.
Members of the Criminal Justice
Association are allowed to run or vote for
officer positions.
“The deadline to show interest for the
positions and run is the Feb. 24 meeting,”
Cox said.
The Criminal Justice Association will
meet at noon Feb. 24, March 24 and April 4 in
Room 220 of Chance Academic Center.
For more information, call Cox at 486-
0835.
By reagan White
Japanese-language students at this college will
participate in the preliminary rounds of the 21st
annual Japanese Speech Contest Feb. 13.
The competition is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the aca-
demic instruction center. Admission is free and
open to the public.
Japanese Professor Yuko Kawabe said Jan. 28
she expects a big turnout.
“Last year, 55 students participated from local
middle schools, high schools and colleges,” she
said. Kawabe said she expects seven students
from this college to compete.
The Japanese American Society of Texas, the
Japanese Teachers Association of Texas and the
Consulate-General of Japan at Houston are the
contest’s sponsors.
The contest will have two categories: poetry
recitation and free speech. The poetry recitation
segment involves reciting a Japanese poem by
memory. For the free speech category, students
will have to write and recite a two- to three-min-
ute speech in Japanese. Contestants will be judged
on pronunciation, grammar and delivery.
Kawabe said most speeches are about the cul-
tural differences between Japan and the United
States or reasons for American students to learn
Japanese.
One of the contestants, international studies
sophomore Sarah Pichardo, said that she plans
to speak about the differences between American
fast food and the Japanese version of American
fast food. “Kentucky Fried Chicken is not as greasy,
and McDonald’s is fresher,” she said.
Two winners from each division will move on
to the statewide contest March 6 in Houston.
Every speaker will receive a framed participa-
tion certificate. First-, second- and third-place
winners will receive a trophy and a Barnes &
Noble Bookseller gift certificate.
Kawabe encourages students to attend the
contest to experience “the enthusiasm the speak-
ers have for Japanese and how well they express
themselves with another language.”
For more information, call 486-0976.
Students to competein Japanese
Criminal Justice Association sets date for officer election
James Lazo
Welcome center Coordinator Edie Huff shows off a donation for the SAC food pantry at the east entrance of Fletcher Administration Center. The pantry needs canned vegetables and fruits, peanut butter, jelly and canned meats and pasta. The pantry is open noon-3 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday in the Catholic Student Center at Belknap and Courtland. With a college ID, students and employees can pick up a bag of groceries each week — no ques-tions asked.
Fast food differences is the topic of an international studies sophomore.
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 11Health
By Vanessa M. sanchez
Getting the H1N1 vaccine is encouraged for
college students because they are in constant
contact with many people, officials said Jan. 26.
The H1N1 pandemic is still an ongoing
problem targeting youth ages 24 and younger,
health officials said during a conference call.
Flu vaccines are available. This was the mes-
sage from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services in that call with college news-
papers.
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services,
said because the H1N1 pandemic was the first
in four decades, those infected with the disease
are six times more likely to be hospitalized.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported on their Web site, from Jan.
17- 23, there were four confirmed deaths caused
by H1N1 in 2009.
Since August 2009, there were 203, and
counting from April 2009, there were a total of
263 confirmed deaths.
She said there are two kinds of vaccines, an
injection and a nasal mist.
Taking her message to college students
where many already are plugged in, Sebelius
announced a new application for social media
Web site Facebook, called “Become a Flu
Fighter.”
It tells Facebook friends when someone has
received a flu shot or challenges a friend to get
a flu shot.
Dr. Stephen Reed, director of the influenza
coordination unit for the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, said, “We’ve learned a
lot about H1N1 since it began in April.”
“There’s a real opportunity for prevention,”
Reed said.
H1N1 was labeled a pandemic in June.
Many college students remain targets for the
disease, he said, but currently, there are close to
a million vaccines in the U.S.
The population of the targeted age group
is 30,713,000, almost 10 percent of the nation’s
population.
He reminded, “Flu is very unpredictable. Flu
pandemics come in waves.”
There was one in 1918 and another in 1957,
which there were vaccines for, but there are
multiple places to get vaccinated now, he said.
“It’s really a life-saving intervention,” he
said.
Nurse Paula Daggett, health center coor-
dinator, said it is an individual decision to get
vaccinated, but it is good to get it if in a high-
risk group.
Students may have seen signs within rest-
rooms across campus urging hand washing to
prevent flu, but Daggett says, “That works for
anything.”
Another way to keep from getting sick is to
“try to keep your immune system up,” she said.
Eating as healthy as possible, getting sleep
and exercising more can help in keeping a per-
son’s immune system up.
Luke Duvall, 15-year-old survivor, spoke
during at the conference, saying, “I almost lost
my life by not getting vaccinated.”
Duvall, an Arkansas native, became ill in
October.
“If I had the opportunity to get the vaccine,
I would’ve,” Duvall said. He said he developed
pneumonia after getting H1N1 and felt as if he
fell asleep then woke up with a large percentage
of his body weight lost.
In a rehabilitation hospital, he saw his
reflection for the first time, Duvall said, and
he thought something was wrong with his
mirror.
“I lost so much weight and muscle mass that
I worked so hard to get,” Duvall said.
Getting vaccinated is important not only for
one’s health but for others in high-risk groups
such as pregnant women and children.
“It’s also for the people you don’t know you
can affect their life by not getting the vaccine,”
he said.
“I’ve become a spokesperson to make sure
everybody gets a vaccine,” Duvall said. “It can
save your life.”
To find flu vaccine locations, visit flu.gov.
Walgreens at Cypress and San Pedro is
the closest location to the college that has
the vaccine. There they have an employee to
give the vaccine. The hours, however, vary;
people can contact this Walgreens location at
225-4809.
Their location on 300 E. Houston St. distrib-
utes the vaccine from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
This is also an $18 charge. The number to this
downtown Walgreens is 424-3462.
H-E-B’s pharmacy at 300 W. Olmos is also
distributing the vaccine. Their cost without
insurance is $18; some insurances cover the
H1N1 vaccine but that is not known until the
paperwork goes though the insurance.
Their immunizer is present today from 10
a.m. to noon; contact 829-1705 for more infor-
mation on times to receive the vaccine.
Officials urge H1N1 vaccination for students
12 • The Ranger Premiere Feb. 5, 2010 • 13Premiere
“When in Rome”
Director: Mark Steven
Johnson
Producers: Steven Roffer
and Ezra Swerdlow
Actors: Kristen Bell, Josh
Duhamel, Danny Devito,
Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax
Shepard, Bobby Moynihan
Rated: PG-13
Plot: Work-obsessed and
unlucky in love Kristen
Bell takes time off to go
to her sister’s wedding in
Rome. There she meets Josh
Duhamel, but after seeing
him with another woman,
she steals a few coins from
a magic fountain to rescue
her romantic wishes. The
coins contain the hearts
of the men who threw the
coins into the fountain,
prompting many hilarious
attempts by love-struck
men to win her heart.
It’s a romantic comedy,
with a little something for
everyone. Of course, guys, it
is a chick flick, but if you’re
being dragged along with
your girlfriend, you’ll defi-
nitely get some laughs.
Jacob Beltran
In theaters: Today
Rating: MMM
This reviewer also enjoyed:
“The Proposal,” directed
by Anne Fletcher, and “The
Devil Wears Prada,” direct-
ed by Mark Steven Johnson.
Geometric sculpture artist’s thank you
Tyler K. Cleveland
Students observe artist Dan Suttin’s “Big Ball” made of 3,600 paper tetrahedrons and 55,440 paper clips Feb. 3 in the academic instruction center.
By Marissa Cross
A retired high school math teacher has donated a geometric
sculpture to this college as his way of “giving back” for his scho-
lastic experience here.
“The level of teaching here is wonderful,” Dan Suttin said
Tuesday.
The “Big Ball”, also known as “Variation on the Truncated
Icosahedron,” was created with 3,600 pieces of fluorescent
poster board, held together with glue and 55,440 paper clips.
Reconstructing the sculpture “would cost $360 (for poster
board) at 10 cents a piece and over $200 of paper clips,”
Suttin said Tuesday while constructing a mini tetrahedron
model. Hedrons are geometric solids having multiple plane
faces, or sides.
Suttin described how he came upon the idea of build-
ing his “Big Ball” from a class of children he taught in
Massachusetts. He got a book of 18 basic polyhedron models
for examples. “(The children) made tetras and hedrons, and I
noticed they go together,” Suttin said.
President Robert Zeigler collaborated with Suttin on where
the sculpture would be placed on campus. They tried Chance
Academic Center and the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts
Center before settling on the first floor of the academic
instruction center, Suttin said. The sculpture’s permanent
location was announced Jan. 20.
“It took about a semester to decide where they were going
to put it,” Suttin said.
Suttin’s “Big Ball” took him 500 hours to create in his
dining room and was displayed at the Guardian Angel
Performance Arts Academy at Blue Star Gallery as well as
the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center for Luminaria, an
annual local arts event.
“It takes 30 hours to re-assemble it, and 60 pieces (of
poster board) would need to be replaced to break it down
each time,” he said. “I didn’t have enough room in my garage
because of the next one (sculpture) I’m building.”
His next work will contain 2,600 pieces of painted card-
board and will take a year and half to complete, he said.
“It’s going to take two years at 40 hours a week to com-
plete it,” Suttin said. “I already have 35 percent of it done.”
Suttin, who attends this college through the senior citizens
program, tutors students in math. He also teaches students
how to put together his tetrahedron models, available on his
Web site at www.homespun4homeschoolers.com.
“If I could get about 10 students together on campus, I
would be glad to do a workshop on how to construct a tetra-
hedron,” Suttin said.
For more information, visit Suttin’s Web site or e-mail
him at [email protected].
Juan Carlos Campos
Black History Month events begin today
By Celeste J. NeNtwig
Music, movies and money management instruction are all part of
this year’s Black History Month celebration, along with the 21st annual
African-American Read-In and a Dating Game. All of these events, spon-
sored by the Black History Month Committee, will be on campus, and are
free to students.
The first of these will be a performance at 11 a.m.–1 p.m. today by the
Regency Jazz Band in the round in Loftin Student Center.
The Regency Jazz Band is the lead band for the annual Holiday
Saxaphone at the Guadalupe Theater and participates in the yearly
Jazz’SAlive Festival.
At 9:25 a.m –10:40 a.m. Tuesday in Room 120 of the visual arts
center, visual art Professor Marlene Hoover will screen and discuss
the documentary film “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.”
After the Civil War, in Gee’s Bend, a rural community in
Alabama, a small community of African-American women began
making quilts to tell their stories.
The quilts have been exhibited in the Houston Museum of
Fine Arts and other fine art venues.
For more information, call Aaron Tavitas at 486-0134 or
e-mail [email protected].
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, the San Antonio Symphony String
Quartet will have a concert in the auditorium of
Palmetto Center for the Arts at Northwest Vista
College.
This concert is an outgrowth of the
Residency Program, a collabora-
tion of St. Philip’s College
and the San Antonio
Symphony.
The con-
cert is free
and open
to the
p u b -
lic.
14 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
By JacoB Beltran and riley StephenS
Carpeting on the second floor of
Longwith Radio, Television and Film
Building became drenched Wednesday
when rain leaked in through a sliding-
glass door and a window.
Water seeped into three of the rooms
on the second floor of the building. Two
of the rooms are filled with computers
and electrical wires. The studio of radio
station KSYM 90.1FM is located just a
few steps away from where the flooding
occurred.
Students and faculty said Wednesday
they were concerned about moisture in
the space.
“We use it to have staff meetings, recre-
ation, student study and lounge,” music busi-
ness sophomore Marcus De Leon said.
Facilities Director David Ortega said
Wednesday he is hiring Samuels Glass Co. to do
repairs on the sliding door to see if it is possible
to repair the door without replacing it.
“Depending on whether or not the people
there really need the balcony, (it) will determine
if we need a window or a sliding door,”
Ortega said.
“I don’t know why they would put a
sliding glass door there,” Ortega said. “It’s
not a good design in that location. You
can’t weatherproof a sliding-glass door.”
Along with the gap in the sliding door,
there is another gap visible in between
the window frame and the frame that
holds the sliding door itself.
An effort was made to stop the leak-
age by drilling holes in the balcony so
that the water would not have a chance
to build up and seep inside, said KSYM
program director Joey Palacios.
But the water pools around the holes
and does not flow off the balcony, he said.
The second floor also was drenched Jan. 15,
when water overflowed onto the carpet.
The second floor has leaked during heavy
rains since the building opened in 2005.
RTF sophomore David O’ Rourke and KSYM program director Joey Palacios investigate saturated carpet in the lounge of KSYM Wednesday in Longwith.
Longwith leaks again in KSYM suite
A hole drilled through the balcony does not drain enough water.
Photos by Tyler K. Cleveland
15 • Feb. 5, 2010 The RangerCalendar
Today
SAC Deadline: Applications accepted
for Teaching Academy Program Peers
Scholarship. Continues through noon
March 3. Visit www.tappatsac.blogspot.
com.
SAC Deadline: Applications accept-
ed for Texas Public Radio Scholarship.
Continues through Feb. 15. Call 486-
1367.
Sac Deadline: Women of Vision
Scholarship Essay Contest sponsored by
the women’s center. Continues through
Feb. 22. Visit www.alamo.edu/sac/wc.
Call 486-0455.
SAC Event: Adjunct Faculty Exhibition
in Visual Arts. Continues through March 6.
Call 486-1034.
SAC Donation: Peer Educators collect-
ing money for Christian Haitian Outreach,
Inc. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. in Room 120 of Chance.
Continues through Feb. 12. Call 486-
1448.
SAC Event: Virtual Reality Gaming
Friday 1 p.m. in the Cyber Café of Loftin.
Continues Fridays. Call 486-0128.
Trinity Concert: Recital by pianist
Nelita True 7:30 p.m. in Ruth Taylor Recital
Hall, Trinity University, 1 Trinity Place. Visit
www.trinity.edu.
Saturday
Trinity Event: Campus of Champions 10
a.m. various locations on campus, Trinity
University, 1 Trinity Place. Call 999-7207.
Monday
SAC Event: Karaoke 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in
the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Continues Feb.
22. Call 486-0128.
UIW Lecture: 2010 Pierre Lecture
“Solidarity and Collaboration: The Moral
Foundations of Health Care Reform” fea-
turing Sister Carol Keehan 7 p.m.-8 p.m.
in the Rosenburg SkyRoom, University of
the Incarnate Word, 847 E. Hildebrand.
Call 283-5062.
Trinity Lecture: “An Evening With
Academy Award Winner Dustin Lance
Black” 7:30 p.m. in Laurie Auditorium,
Trinity University, 1 Trinity Place. Call 999-
8441.
Tuesday
SAC Event: “HIV/AIDS Prevention-A
Choice and a Lifestyle” 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Visit www.
blackaidsday.org. Call 212-2266.
SAC Event: HIV testing and counseling
services 11 a.m.-3 p.m. in Room 119 of
Chance.
SAC Meeting: Astronomy Club 12:30
p.m.-1:30 p.m. in Room 142 of Chance.
Call 486-0063.
SAC Meeting: Campus Crusade for
Christ 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. in the craft
room of Loftin. Continues Tuesdays. Call
381-0991.
SPC Event: Open auditions for spring
theater production “Dinah Was!” 7 p.m. in
Room 103 of Watson. Continues through
Feb. 10. Call 486-2704.
Wednesday
SAC Event: Wild West Rodeo Roundup
9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the mall. Call 486-0128.
NVC Event: Valentine Stuff-a-Bear noon
in Room 121 of Cypress. Free to first 100
students. Call 486-4010.
NLC Workshop: Valentine Gift Basket
sponsored by the office of student devel-
opment, leadership and activities student
commons 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Room
131 of student commons. Call 486-5404.
SAC Workshop: “To Google or not to
Google … That is the Question” by John
Deosdade, Dr. John Skinner and Jolinda
Ramsey 2 p.m.-3 p.m. in the auditorium of
McAllister. Call 486-0494.
Thursday
SAC Event: President Robert Zeigler
7:30 a.m.-8 a.m. on KSYM 90.1 FM.
Continues Thursdays. Call 486-KSYM.
NVC Workshop: “The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective College Students!” 5:15
p.m.-9:15 p.m. in Room 121 of Cypress.
Continues 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 13. Call
486-4007.
Lecture: “Introduction to Pictorialism”
by Victor Pagona 7:30 p.m.-8:45 p.m.
in Valero at McNay Art Museum. Call
824-5368.
Feb. 15
SAC Concert: Instrumental Ensemble
7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of McAllister.
Call 486-0255.
SAC Workshop: Aracely Flores, travel
accountant for Alamo Colleges, discussion
of travel reimbursement and procedures
2 p.m.-3 p.m. in the craft room of Loftin.
Call 486-0128.
Feb. 16
SAC Event: Mardi Gras Celebration fea-
turing Dixieland Music by The Second Line
Jazz Band 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Fiesta
Room of Loftin. Call 486-0128.
Trinity Lecture: “Hot, Flat, and Crowded:
Why We Need A Green Revolution And How
It Can Renew America” by New York Times
columnist Thomas Freidman 7:30 p.m.
in Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, 1
Trinity Place. Visit www.trinity.edu.
Feb. 17
SAC Workshop: “It’s as Easy as 1, 2, iii”
facilitator Dick O’Neal 2 p.m.-3 p.m. in the
auditorium of McAllister. Call 486-0494.
Feb. 19
SAC Deadline: Last day to withdraw
for Flex 1.
Feb. 20
SAC Event: ASL on Stage 2010 Talent
Show and Silent Auction sponsored by
the American Sign Language department
7 p.m.-10 p.m. in the auditorium of
McAllister. Call 486-1112.
Event: Third Annual On and Off
Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour spon-
sored by Bihl Haus Arts 11 a.m.-6 p.m. in
the Deco District. Continues noon-6 p.m.
Feb. 21. For maps, visit www.onandofffred.
org or the San Antonio Visitors Bureau.
Call 383-9723.
SAC Workshop: Women4Women
Workshop sponsored by the women’s cen-
ter 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in Room 105 of the
Empowerment Center, 703 Howard. Free
for female SAC students 18 and older.
E-mail [email protected]. Call
486-0455.
Feb. 23
SAC Concert: Latin Jazz Combo 12:30
p.m. in McAllister. Call 486-0255.
ACCD Meeting: Alamo Community
College District board 6 p.m. in Killen
Center, 201 W. Sheridan. Continues March
16, April 20 and May 18. Call 485-0030.
Feb. 24
SAC Transfer: Transfer Fair 9 a.m.-1
p.m. in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Call
486-0864.
SAC Concert: Wind and brass ensem-
ble 2 p.m. in the auditorium of McAllister.
Call 486-0255.
Feb. 25
Event: “Camera Obscura (La Cámara
Oscura) 6:30 p.m. in Chiego at McNay
Art Museum. $5 nonmembers. Call 824-
5368.
Calendar Legend
SAC: San Antonio CollegeNVC: Northwest Vista CollegeSPC: St. Philip’s CollegeSWC: South West CampusPAC: Palo Alto CollegeNLC: Northeast Lakeview College
For coverage call 486-1773 or e-mail [email protected] two weeks in advance.
16 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
By Celeste J. NeNtwig
A college coffee brand, con-
sumer discounts, insurance plans
and an e-waste recycling drive
join perpetual fundraising on the
Alumni Association’s agenda.
The association is working to
build membership and aware-
ness of the benefits of member-
ship, Kathryn Armstrong, coor-
dinator of special projects, said.
Membership dues are $10 for
current students and $20 for stu-
dents of other district colleges,
alumni, faculty and staff.
The first year is free to new
graduates.
Jittery Joe’s Superior coffee,
SAC 1925 blend, commemorat-
ing the college’s 85th anniversary
next year, is sold on the alumni
Web page for $12.99 per 12 oz.
can with $2 of the sale funding
scholarships.
The benefits of membership
include access to www.saving-
sconnections.com, which offers
coupons for items such as grocer-
ies and travel accommodations.
“The coupon savings in one
week alone could cover the
amount spent on membership
dues,” Armstrong said.
With the association ID card,
members will receive free admis-
sion to the planetarium as well as
a discount at L&M Bookstore.
Bookstore manager Pat Puig
said, “Members will be given a
10 percent discount on any non-
textbook purchases.”
The association is also con-
necting members with affinity
groups offering medical and rent-
er’s insurance, as well as tuition
reimbursement programs at a
considerable discount.
The reimbursement program
pays students back the cost of
tuition should they become ill
and have to drop out during a
semester, provided they have
proof from a physician.
Also, when a policy is pur-
chased through one of the affinity
groups, a portion of the proceeds
goes into the scholarship fund.
They are also working on a
number of projects including
a coffee brand and a recycling
fundraiser.
In response to a recent article
in the San Antonio Express-News
headlined, “E-waste is piling up
across the U.S.,” the association
is going green by sponsoring a
recycling fundraiser. Armstrong
said, “This issue is current, rel-
evant, and we’re on top of it.”
Bins will be set up around
campus where students can
donate old electronic items,
including iPods, laptops, cam-
eras, radar detectors, printer ink
cartridges and cell phones, which
will profit the association.
As coordinator of special proj-
ects, she also helps students at
the Magic Closet, sponsored by
the alumni association and the
Network Power group, which
provides women with interview
apparel, including black clothing
for mortuary science students.
“The Magic Closet assisted
approximately 40 women after
the grand opening last fall,” she
said.
This project is in constant
need of donations, which can
be made directly to the Catholic
Student Center, or to Armstrong
in Room 305D of Fletcher
Administration Center.
The association’s ultimate
goal is to give students a life-
long lasting connection to San
Antonio College.
For more information or
inquiries concerning member-
ship, call Armstrong at 486-0904.
Alumni Association plans fundraisers
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 17
By Melody Mendoza
Students can enroll concur-
rently at more than one of the
Alamo Colleges and pay tuition
and fees as if they were enrolling in
only one of the five colleges.
This is called concurrent or
cross enrollment. The chancellor
recently said more than 6,000 stu-
dents, or 10 percent of the district,
are cross-enrolled.
If a particular class is unavail-
able at a student’s primary college,
students can enroll in the class at a
different college.
First, the student needs to
apply at each college they wish to
attend for that semester.
The registration process
includes sending each college a
transcript and test scores.
The Alamo Community College
District uses the Texas Common
Course Numbering System, so
course numbers are the same at
each college.
This makes it easier when stu-
dents start picking their classes at
two or more colleges.
Although there are many inter-
changeable courses between col-
leges, some courses are only avail-
able at one college.
Refer to each college’s course
schedule.
Counselors are available to help
students with this process because
they can view classes at all of the col-
leges through the Passport system.
Although they can view courses
at other colleges, they cannot reg-
ister a student at another college.
Students also can log on to www.
alamo.edu and click on Student
Information and Online Registration
for step-by-step instructions.
Wednesday Counselor Jan E.
Starnes was helping a student who
needed credit in a biomedical sci-
ence course.
Starnes went to the St. Philip’s
College Web site and looked
through their e-catalog for a bio-
medical-related degree plan. She
viewed classes the student was
able to take at this college that
would transfer.
A student enrolled concurrent-
ly needs to inform the business
office before paying the bill so base
tuition and fees will not be charged
for each college.
Students still are limited to a
maximum of 18 hours per semes-
ter and 14 in the summer.
For more information about
concurrent enrollment, go to your
primary college’s online academic
catalog, click on Registration and
Concurrent Enrollment at the
Alamo Colleges.
By Steffany Gutierrez
Service learning is a program in which
both the students and the community benefit
through learning and active participation.
It is usually arranged through higher educa-
tion institutions, elementary schools, second-
ary schools and various nonprofit and commu-
nity service organizations.
The goal of service learning is to help stu-
dents learn in an active and productive envi-
ronment by encouraging them to become
volunteers and mentors in the organizations
their classes are
involved with.
Under service
learning, stu-
dents learn
through hands-on experience while at the same
time giving back to the community.
English Professor Liz Ann Aguilar, for exam-
ple, has a project involving Hirsch Elementary
third grade students and some of her freshman
composition students.
Aguilar’s students tutor and mentor the chil-
dren in writing poems and short stories.
This in turn provides the college students
with the experience of working with young
children, and it gives the children something
different and entertaining to look forward to
at school.
The college offers a wide variety of service
learning opportunities in departments such as
art, computer information systems, early child-
hood studies, engineering, history and kinesiol-
ogy to name a few.
Service learning has now developed its own
page on the Facebook social network to com-
municate with students who are interested in
service learning.
Coordinator Audrey Grams said this helps
students more quickly to collect all the perti-
nent information at once.
On the Facebook page, which can be
accessed without an account at www.facebook.
com/sacservice, one can find useful informa-
tion regarding serving learning and volunteer
opportunities and events.
Groups also can upload photos or service
projects and join discussions.
For more information, call Grams at 486-
0763 or e-mail her at [email protected] or
civic engagement Coordinator Justin Storrs at
486-0760 or [email protected].
Choices abound in service learning
Full class? Enroll at another college
in the district.
Pay single tuition; enroll in multiple colleges
Rennie Murrell
English students mentor children in poetry and storytelling.
The Service Learning and Volunteer Fair will be
Wednesday from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Gym 1 of Candler.
Barbie Leal-Hallam, recruiter for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, conveys the benefits of becoming a mentor to students
gathered Jan. 20 in the Methodist Student Center.
The Ranger 18 • Feb. 5, 2010 Editorial
When a store requires customers to leave all bags at the front before enter-ing, the store should pro-vide some security and be held responsible for those belongings.
Most businesses under-stand this and offer a place to stow bags behind a coun-ter.
But forcing students to leave valuables unattend-ed is about the same as asking them to leave cold, hard cash lying out in the open because that’s what it will end up costing stu-dents.
Hoping no one will walk away with things is not effective policy, and the bookstore management knows it.
The bookstore certainly makes sure its property doesn’t slip through the door unpaid.
The San Antonio College Bookstore, owned by Follett Higher Education Group, employs cameras, sensors and staff to ensure its secu-rity.
The implication is clear: What’s ours is ours and what’s yours is anybody’s for the taking.
Every semester, The Ranger publishes stories reminding students to keep a close watch on their valu-ables because stolen text-books can bring a thief a pretty penny at the return counter.
The department of pub-lic safety tags vehicles with
a notice reminding students to remove valuables in plain sight before someone else does it for them.
The weekly blotter is full of reports of stolen property. Yet the bookstore expects students daily to risk theft while they rush in to pick up a Scantron.
Theft takes mere sec-onds.
Either let students retain their bags, or hire someone to monitor students’ pos-sessions while they shop in the campus bookstore.
And if you don’t, don’t be surprised when students are unwilling to patronize your store.
Administrators need to step in to make sure stu-dents are protected by demanding the bookstore provide some safer alterna-tive that will meet its own security needs as well.
Juan Carlos Campos
Bookstore needs to monitor backpack storage
Liberal arts freshman Mariana Munante stows her bookbag Jan. 29 in one of the cubbies
provided at the entrance to the bookstore.
Rennie Murrell
Feb. 5, 2010 • 19 The Ranger Editorial
Normally, committees are convened to gauge opinion and feedback from members, who are selected to serve based on expertise.
Usually, their opinions are respected.Not so with the Accreditation Review Committee, orga-
nized by Dr. Bruce Leslie last summer.The committee was charged with compiling pros and
cons of single accreditation for the five district colleges together versus the current accreditation model for five individual colleges.
Instead of offering information from an informed, real-istic standpoint, faculty members from the district colleges and student government representatives from the colleges were asked to pull statistics with an eye to the bottom line.
Not only were opinions not requested, they were unwel-come.
Seems like a job an intern or any number of vice chan-cellors or associate vice chancellors could have been tasked with.
Especially as all the chancellor wanted was numbers. A few phone calls would have sufficed and 86 pages of
research compilings could have been avoided. Leslie could have called Title 3B and Title 5 employees
throughout the district to have them research risk to fed-eral funding.
Here’s an idea: Call the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and ask them about accreditation models.
How about calling on staff in the district’s office of research and effectiveness for assistance?
If you didn’t want anyone’s opinion, why distract them from their primary duties — you remember the students, don’t you?
But, let’s not dwell on the past.The chancellor needs to learn from this experience that
no one is interested in his games of charade.
Stop wasting everyone’s time and energy that could be better used in the classroom and in real contributions to improving this system and the education it provides.
The magic of community college is the speed with which it can respond to the educational needs of the com-munity.
Fifty-five years ago, officials of this college realized computer skills were quickly becoming an essential and marketable skill, leading to the cre-ation of a new department.
In the run-up to the year 2000, the department couldn’t offer enough classes. The demand for programmers was so intense classes were offered around the clock. (On the bright side,
students enrolled in midnight or 4 a.m. classes didn’t have to worry about parking.)
Now called computer information systems, the department has grown from what was then cutting-edge technology to today’s state-of-the-art systems that will one day be seen as antique junk, too.
A collection of exhibits in the library of Moody Learning Center commem-orates that history.
They will be on display through May.
The exhibition is open for viewing 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.
The story of computers is the story of the last half of the 20th century. Little is done today without the assis-tance — and sometimes interference — of computers.
But the exhibit tells the story of community college as well.
A long time ago, this college saw a need and filled it and continues that story today.
Faculty, students lose in chancellor’s charade
CIS exhibit is story of community college, too
Juan Carlos Campos
20 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger Letter
Software laggingEditor:
As a Mac user and student, I have struggled every
semester to access my online classes. I will take a small
part of the credit for Mac users having access at all, as we
certainly didn’t when I took my first online class — and I
have the F to prove it.
Every semester since, I have been cheerfully assured
that access would be no issue, and yet every semester,
there has still been some difficulty, some issue.
The only issue I have had is susceptibility to the ram-
pant viruses that affect SAC.
I thought that Alamo Colleges, BlackBoard Vista and
Edugarage should know that to access BBV properly, I
had to dig out a 4-year-old laptop that uses OS 10.3 rath-
er than the current OS 10.6.2. Additionally, I have to use
Safari 1.3.2 rather than Safari 4.0.4 (copyright 2003-2009).
Because of these issues, my teachers aren’t receiv-
ing critical e-mails, I cannot read critical data and I am
becoming a very unhappy student.
I am beginning to examine other, more expensive col-
leges that have confirmed access with software.
Sara Cooper
Science Sophomore
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 21Viewpoint
On Jan. 27,
noted histo-
rian Howard
Zinn passed
away. Often
polarizing but
never dull, he
touched the
lives of both
his students
and his readers. The author of the
bestselling “A People’s History of the
United States,” Zinn radicalized the
teaching of American history. His
new approach looked at the efforts
of “ordinary” people who struggled
to bring justice and equality for all.
Some of you may be familiar with
Zinn’s work without even having
read it. Most famously, actors Ben
Affleck and Matt Damon praised “A
People’s History” in the film “Good
Will Hunting” and on stage when
they received an Academy Award
for the screenplay. Musical artists,
including Pearl Jam, System of a
Down, Rage Against the Machine,
NOFX and Bruce Springsteen, refer-
enced Zinn’s writings in their songs.
And in perhaps the best sign of cul-
tural saturation, Marge Simpson
read “A People’s History” during her
college days.
After serving honorably as a
bombardier during World War II, he
took advantage of the G.I. Bill to
get his bachelor’s degree, and even-
tually, a doctorate from Columbia
University. His first teaching job
was at Spelman College, the nation’s
most historic college for African-
American women. There, he wit-
nessed firsthand the second-class
treatment of black students. A model
activist-scholar, he participated
in sit-ins to protest segregation in
the Georgia state capitol. Fighting
for equality and civil rights led to
dismissal from his tenured faculty
position. Undeterred, he continued
to agitate against segregation and
later the Vietnam War. When Daniel
Ellsberg leaked the secret and tragic
history of American involvement in
Vietnam in the Pentagon Papers, he
first gave a copy to Zinn. At Ellsberg’s
trial for allegedly passing on sensi-
tive information, Zinn testified for
hours about the duplicitous nature
of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. At
the heart of his argument and of his
later scholarship was a respect for
the truth no matter which politician
was embarrassed.
Howard Zinn was also a gentle-
man. I know this personally. During
my first year of master’s studies, I
sent Zinn a long e-mail complain-
ing — like grad students are known
to do — about a topic I believed to
be missing from his “The Twentieth
Century: A People’s History.” I
expected that a celebrity author
of his stature would not respond.
Rather, his lengthy reply was courte-
ous and respectful. I felt humbled to
receive this treatment from my idol.
If you never decide to read any-
thing by Zinn, you should under-
stand one fundamental aspect of his
philosophy. It has been the struggles
of common people, sometimes
across generations, to achieve some
of our most basic rights or privi-
leges. The list of the achievements is
long: the right to vote, 40-hour work
weeks and the end of segregation,
to name a few. Today, many of our
students and faculty are continuing
this same fight, whether over equal
access in our society, improved con-
ditions for the most disadvantaged
or other grassroots causes. In time,
another historian will write a similar
people’s history for the 21st century.
Be assured that, even if you are
not mentioned by name, your strug-
gles for justice will be acknowledged.
You matter.
Instructor Sean Duffy teaches history.
Remembering Howard Zinn: historian, activist, gentleman
Guest Viewpointby Sean Duffy
22 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
Tyler K. Cleveland
Slammin’: Social work sophomore Nicole Plata and nursing sophomore Samantha
Fematt of the Lady Rangers go up for a block against the Palo Alto College Lady
Palominos Jan. 28 in Candler. The Rangers won 25-17, 25-19 and 26-24. The team
faces Victoria College at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 in Candler.
Tough loss: Business freshman Christina Wasaff struggles to put up a shot during
the Lady Rangers 48-28 loss to the Northwest Vista College Wildcats Wednesday in
Candler. The Lady Rangers’ will face the Palo Alto College Lady Palominos at 6:30
p.m. Feb. 10 in Candler.
Tyler K. Cleveland
The Ranger Feb. 5, 2010 • 23
24 • Feb. 5, 2010 The Ranger
By Riley StephenS
The Chill Lounge opened Jan. 29, offering
students a place to relax on the first, second
and third floors of Chance Academic Center.
“It is a space designed by SAC students for
SAC students,” Aaron Tavitas, assistant coor-
dinator for student leadership activities and
men’s basketball coach, said.
Design 3 Professor Isabelle Garcia’s class
came up with the lounge’s design in fall 2008.
The area was designed to be student-friendly
and relaxing: a place where students are able
to bring friends.
About 75 faculty members and students
gathered as President Robert Zeigler and
Trudy Chance Kinnison, daughter of Truett L.
Chance, after whom the building was named,
cut the ribbon officially opening the Chill
Lounge. Once the ribbon was cut, the crowd
viewed the new lounge, indulged in a free buf-
fet and listened to Mariachi Las Altenas.
Before the Chill Lounge, students did not
have anywhere to sit besides the floor.
“It’s about time,” engineering freshmen
Devos Dehoyes said at the ribbon-cutting.
“You sit on the floor, and your butt hurts.”
Student life purchased new furniture for
the space using money from video-game sales,
student life Director Jorge Posadas said Jan. 29.
Posadas said he “didn’t feel comfortable” stat-
ing the project’s total cost.
“Facilities staff made the wood and fur-
nishings that are where the vending machines
used to be, like the bar and all the furnishings,”
Posadas said.
The Chill Lounge’s lettering and furniture
were based on designs by Garcia’s students,
she said. Posadas said, “The goal was to make
spaces for students.”
Chance typically is open by 6 a.m. week-
days, housekeeper Marguerita Garza said
Monday. Chance usually closes by 10 p.m.,
facilities superintendent David Ortega said
Tuesday.
New Chill Lounge offers spot to relax in Chance
Architecture sophomores Carlos Montalvo and wife, Felcia, pose with 18-month-old Isabella for fellow student John Silva Jan. 29 at the grand opening of the Chill Lounge in Chance. The Montalvos were on the 14-student design team.
Professor Isabel Garcia’s Design 3 students, who began designing the Chill Lounge in fall 2008, raise their hands.
President Robert Zeigler and Trudy Chance Kinnison, daugh-ter of Chance Academic Center’s namesake, open the Chill Lounge.
Rhonda Garcia from Mariachi Las Altenas serenades the gathering crowd at The Chill Lounge opening Jan. 29 in Chance.
New student-designed art hangs in the rotunda.
Tyler K. Cleveland
Tyler K. Cleveland
Tyler K. Cleveland
Sarah Janes
Sarah Janes