citrus college
Men’s basketball team advances to playoffs for fifth consecutive year
Local performers dazzle audiences in the campus’ first talent show
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clarion
Feb. 23, 2011
www.theclariononline.com
Volume 64 Issue 9
Students brace for proposed fee hikes Erica Irigoyen Sports Editor Students enrolled in California’s 112 community colleges are bracing for significant perunit fee increases for the fall 2011 semester. During his State of the State address on Jan. 31, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a budget that will negatively affect higher education in his effort to close the state’s $25 billion deficit. Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing to increase student fees by $10 per unit, from $26 to $36. That would increase $110 million to partly offset a $400 million state funding cut Brown advocates for community colleges, leaving them with $3.6 billion in state money. Brown has proposed holding a special election in June to allow Californians the opportunity to vote on his plan to balance the budget. Meanwhile, Citrus College has begun the process of preparing “what if” scenarios to better prepare the community for the cuts to come. Officials at California colleges do not yet know the extent of cuts that will have to be made. “We are developing three scenarios for the whole year that we will be calling the ‘good, bad and the ugly’,” said Dr. Samuel Lee, dean of language arts and enrollment management. According to Lee, the good scenario would maintain the same size class schedule as the 2010-2011 year. The bad scenario would range from a five percent to an eight percent reduction in full-time equivalent students, and the ugly could range from an 8 percent to a 15 percent reduction in fulltime equivalent students. A full-time equivalent student represents a student enrolled in 12 units or any combination of students whose total class load would equal 12 units.
FEES pg. 4
JENNIFER YOUNG Citrus College Clarion
Campus safety reports attacks on campus Jennifer Young Campus Editor The safety of students and staff on the campuses of Citrus College and Azusa Pacific University has recently come into question. Since December 2010, there have been five reports to safety personnel of attempted sexual assaults on students on or near campus. The first attack was reported on Dec. 3. A female Citrus student was approached by an unknown male while she was walking east on Foothill Boulevard on the west side of the
APU campus at approximately 6:30 a.m. The suspect inappropriately grabbed the female. She was not physically injured. The second incident occurred later that same day at approximately 6:15 p.m. The victim was a female APU student who was walking west on Foothill Boulevard south of the APU soccer field. She was grabbed from behind and pulled a short distance. The suspect then touched her in an inappropriate sexual manner, according to the report. On Jan. 12 the third incident took place at approximately 3:06 p.m. A female student re-
ported to APU Campus Safety personnel that as she was walking in front of Foothill Community Church on Route 66, she was approached from behind by an unknown male and was grabbed inappropriately. The student was not physically harmed according to the report. The fourth attack took place seven days later on the north sidewalk of Alosta Avenue outside of the APU Shire Modulars residence. At approximately 3:15 a.m, the victim reported that an unknown suspect grabbed her
from behind, sexually assaulted her and then fled the scene, according to the report. The latest report occurred on Jan. 31 at approximately 5:45 p.m. on the APU campus. A female APU student was walking north on Cougar Lane and was approached from behind by two unknown males. One of the suspects stepped in front of the female and grabbed her arms while he touched her inappropriately. Both of the suspects fled on foot and were last seen running north on Citrus Avenue, according to the report.
ATTACKS pg. 4
Survey explores eco-friendly textbook options Erica Irigoyen Sports Editor A mini survey conducted by Green Team personnel has given insight into students’ comfort level using e-books and which textbook model really is the most sustainable. Citrus College’s effort to “go green” is led by Kim Holland, Ph.D., director of workforce development, with the help of interested faculty and staff. The Green Team sustainability textbook survey was designed to better understand how students are acquiring information required for each class and how comfortable students are
with online homework/research, electronic handouts, Blackboard platform classes and e-books. “Textbooks are expensive, not to mention the use of energy it takes to produce and ship the new textbooks,” Holland said. The survey results are from 100 students chosen at random from the math and science departments. Results of the survey indicate that 48 percent of the 100 participants who have never used electronic books would be willing to try. Another 14 percent said they struggle with electronic books and 12 per-
DR. KIM HOLLAND
cent say they never use it. “Although most of our students are comfortable and willing to use online learning tools such as Blackboard and ebooks, we have to consider the
small percentage of students who aren’t,” Holland said. While the overall goal of finding a more sustainable approach to ink-on-paper textbooks is a hot topic, more research needs to be done to determine what the most sustainable approach really is. “There are a lot of factors that influence whether e-books are more or less sustainable than printed books and those factors need to be considered,” said bookstore manager Eric Magallon. “Whenever one looks at a theory, one must always consider the human effect has on the outcome.”
TEXTBOOKS pg. 4