Cal Times - September 19, 2011

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INSIDE

CALIFORNIA UNIVERSIT Y Red Hot Chili Peppers Women’s Sports

PAGE 4 PAGE 6&7

Football Dominates C.W. Post PAGE 11 Get To Know Your Vulcans

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CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

VOL. 31, NO. 4

Non-fatal shooting in the Borough of Long Branch

By Lisa Pfaff Staff Writer

On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 11 at approximately 1 a.m., a non-fatal shooting took place one and a half miles from the California Borough and campus. According to Southwest Regional Police Chief John Hartman, the incident occurred due to a fight at the Porky’s Pub, a

tavern located in the borough of Long Branch. It was reported that five or six successive shots were fired during the confrontation. The victim, a 22-year-old Donora man, who was shot in the leg, is not a California University student. The victim was unable to identify his assailants due to being shot from behind. At the current time the assailants have not yet been appre-

hended, and it is believed that the suspects have no relation to California University. According to the police report, the two suspects involved are described as one light-skinned African male, and one dark-skinned African male around 20 years old. The incident is currently being investigated by the Southwest regional Police Department. When I spoke to the California

University Police Chief, Bob Downy, he stressed that the University Police Department wants to ensure that the University community remains safe and is aware of the situation. “Cal U makes the safety and security of its students its top priority. Because of the incident’s proximity to our campus, and because the suspects were not immediately apprehended,

the University issued a crime alert to notify the campus community. Our intention, as always, was to give our students, faculty, and staff the information they need to make prudent decisions,”Christine Kindl (University spokesperson) said.

Vulcan Information Portal - the new Blackboard By Daniel Williamson For the Cal Times

There are pros and cons to the new Vulcan Information Portal. The problem is that most people are having some trouble finding the pros. VIP certainly looks nicer than SISWEB, and it has a lot more content to offer, but it isn’t exactly streamlined and easy to use. Upperclassmen will recall Blackboard, SISWEB, the old Cal website, and VIP and D2L as separate entities. It was not uncommon to receive tips when making one of these transitions or at least a heads up that it would happen. It seems now that VIP (and accessing Desire2Learn through VIP) has been thrust upon us with little warning, or at least a friendly email giving us some tips on how to use the new systems. The most common complaint over the past couple weeks has been accessing D2L through the Vulcan Information Portal. Students and teachers must now log into VIP in order to access D2L. The new operation has added a few clicks in the process. Although VIP has more content than SISWEB ever did, it seems a bit counterproductive to have a word of the day on the home page, and essential online class information a few clicks away. It is possible to eliminate one of the clicks in this process. In the upper left corner of VIP, there is a link that says Content Layout. From there, you can edit the layout of your Vulcan Information Portal. The Academic Info tab can be changed to the default tab, so that is the first thing you see when you log in. This eliminates one step in the process of accessing Desire2Learn.

Photo By: Joshua Laska Front to back: Will Moore (senior/radio and tv communication), Gloria Stone (junior/radio and tv communications), and Clinton Logan (junior/radio and tv communication) are confused on how to get to Desire2Learn from VIP.

“It’s a small inconvenience, but it just doesn’t make sense. Why would they add a step in the process,” Brandon Ruby (junior/tech ed) said. “It makes sense that they would have everything in one place. Now you can access news and sports along with everything else. I wouldn’t be surprised if they add the e-mail system into VIP also,” Scott Majesky (junior/secondary education) said. This theory does add up, and

it is a good idea to have one central location to access e-mail, grades, news, and more. If this is the plan, maybe we just need to wait for the fine tuning that is sure to come. The new operating system is not all bad. There is much more content available through the Vulcan Information Portal than was available through SISWEB. VIP is certainly turning into the new hub for students and professors alike. With some improvements and some stream-

lining, VIP will be the only place Cal U patrons will need to go. The site already includes university news, academic info such as scheduling and advisor information, billing information, and a financial aid tab that allows students to view financial aid awards. When accessing grades and financial aid, there is an option to select a different term, but this semester is currently the only choice. With a cleaner integration with Desire2Learn, and possibly more

added features, VIP will be the only Portal we need to access. Until then, the current system leaves a little something to be desired.

NOTE: This article represents the opinion of the Cal Times writer and staff. Please email us feedback on your opinions at caltimes@calu. edu or visit our website www.caltimes.org

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