The Inquirer 10-15-09

A look back in time

Serve’s up

The Inquirer looks at what DVC was like from 1950-76

Vikings streak ends with two conference losses.

Features - Page 2

Volume 75 Number 3

Sports - Page 4

Copyright © 2009 Diablo Valley College - The Inquirer

www.theinquireronline.com

Thursday, October 15, 2009

DVC seeks outside advice Christian Villanueva Staff writer An evaluation team will visit DVC in the next few weeks to determine whether it has fixed the problems that threaten its continued accreditation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College.

The college submitted its report to the Commission ahead of today’s deadline after eight months of frenzied work by managers, faculty and staff – and the 11th –hour help of an outside consultant – to correct the deficiencies that led to its “show-cause” status in February.

“Show cause” is the Commission’s final warning before yanking a college’s accreditation.

Since that finding, workSee ACCJC, page 6

Jesse Thompson / The Inquirer

Students of all ages and ethnicities dance to salsa music. Unfortunately, the class will be cut next semester, one of many aggressive cuts to the music and dance programs due to the state’s ongoing financial crisis.

Budget cuts take a toll on classes Oksana Yurovsky Staff writer Students will soon search for spring semester and summer classes only to find their choices narrowed by 148 sections, as DVC scrambles to make up $500,00 of a $2.8 million deficit in the current school year.

And it will be even worse in fall 2010, when the number of eliminated sections grows to about 270, said Susan Lamb, vice president of instruction.

In a series of meetings with Lamb, department chairs and deans agreed to abide by the state chancellor’s recommendation “to protect core

instruction in basic skills, transfer and workforce training” in grappling with sharply reduced funding in the wake of the state’s budget crisis.

As a result, the spring and summer schedules reflect a 50 percent cut in “stand-alone” classes, so called because they are not transferable or lead to a certificate or degree.

In addition, each of DVC’s divisions, as well as the San Ramon Center cut the schedule an additional 1.6 percent.

The English division did not lose any stand-alone classes due to the decision to preserve core curriculum and basic skills, Lamb said.

In contrast, the 50 percent cut hit the Applied

and Fine Arts division, since it had many standalone courses among its art, drama and music offerings.

“What we do has changed,” Lamb said.

“No longer are we really looking at life-long learning.

See CUTS, page 6

Car burglaries spike following cut in police aides Kamille Simmons-Turnquest Staff writer Rory Moore Staff writer Car burglaries at DVC this semester are up nearly 300 percent over what they were in all of 2007, according to campus police services reports.

So far, 15 cars have been broken into and three cars stolen from DVC parking lots-compared to five burglaries and six stolen vehicles in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available.

The spike in auto break-ins occurred at the same time DVC police aides took a 50 percent cuts in their hours, beginning Ryan Daley / The Inquirer July 1, to help reduce a $283,000 deficit in the district’s police services budget. on Oct. 7, 2009 to But Lt. Tom Sharp cautioned against

Police Aid Kevin Herman, patrols the parking lot issue a ticket on a car in front of an expired parking meter.

drawing a connection between the increased burglaries and the budget cut. “(Auto) burglaries are highly cyclical,” he said.

Sharp said the crime rate is traditionally high at the beginning of the fall semester, because the new wave of students. But it subsides after campus police arrest the offenders.

So far, no one has been arrested in conjunction with the auto burglaries, Sharp said.

He conceded student police aides are being stretched thin, even while the demand for police services has stayed constant.

Before the budget cut, three to four police aides were on patrol at any given See BURGLARIES, page 6

The Inquirer looks back on its 60year history with help from former staff members and advisors As a sign of the times, The Inquirer recently got a face lift. The banner was redesigned into a modern, muted green and each page was given a new look. And the website? We’ve been at theinquireronline.com for the past 18 months.

As the face of journalism changes around us, we also change, but not without looking back at those who came before and the newspaper that reflects 60 continuous years of campus life.

In this three-part series, you will learn that generations of former Inquirer staffers are to be found as nearby as the Contra Costa Times and as far away as Baghdad and Kabul.

News................ 1, 6 Sports....................4 Features................2 Entertainment........3

Calendar.................6 Sports scores.........4 Campus Buzz.........5 Police Beat.............6

Classified Ads........6 Editorial..................5 Opinions.................5 Staff Information.....5

Photo Courtesy of Library Archives

Students gather in the quad during the 1950’s. Instead of the bookstore the quad has trees and a large lawn.

TheInquirerOnline.com - Polls - Videos - Blogs - Slideshows - News Updated daily with breaking news

60

Days until finals

Thursday,October 15, 2009

2

Reliving 60 years of history The Inquirer remembers

past and present

Sal Veder / Associated Press

Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken by Sal Veder, who once worked for The Inquirer, of Lt. Col. Robert L. Strim greeting his family after the Vietnam War. wrote a “Dear Abby”-type column in which he gave tongue-in-cheek advice under the pseudonym, “Gabby Male Van Viking.”

It ran each week with a picture of Bogue dressed incognito, a mop draped over his head and his face partially obscured.

He also wrote a gossip column, “Overheard…

From Car to Caf,” in which he anonymously repeated Ariel Messman-Rucker nouncing, “This is what I want to do for the rest of conversations overheard Editor in chief my life.” around campus.

Sawitree Sonburanakul Soft-spoken and shy, “Nobody knew who was Staff writer she had also discovered writing it,” Bogue recalls. an amazing truth about “And so I had a lot of he first issue on being a journalist. fun, because I’d pick up Sept. 28, 1950 “You can be terribly stuff…and [then] be there didn’t look much nosy,” Keeble says. “You to snicker to myself when like a newspaper. It was can ask the most outrathey were raging and rantlittle more than a single geous questions, and ing about something that sheet of paper folded in if you’re skilled about it gotten printed in [the colhalf with a hand-drawn you’ll get umn].” banner. answers.”

Having But then East ConE v e r y never lost tra Costa Junior College week, the his taste didn’t look like much of a staff would for column campus either. g a t h e r writing, Quonset huts and large around the B o g u e red and white tents were kitchen taw r i t e s used for the first crude ble in Kee“Pets and classrooms. ble’s house Wildlife,” The students – only to write a popular 300 that first year – roast- h e a d l i n e s questioned in September and then and to lay and-anslogged through mud in out the paswer colOctober. per. umn he “We thought of our“My mothstarted at selves as pioneers,” re- er would the Concalls Pat Keeble, who make coftra Costa joined the student news- fee, and Times in paper in 1955 and later [we’d] have 1970s. became its editor in chief. some cookAt the No longer the “East ies,” she re“Viking Contra Costa Junior Col- members.

Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society held anReporter,” lege Newsletter,” the “ViThe staff nual slave sale. Dr. Ashley Steven, counselor in the mid king Reporter” was now worked un1950s, a tabloid-size newspaper til 10 or 11 and Allen Scholl, music instructor, are hard at Sal Veder, with faculty adviser David p.m., when work. Proceeds from the sale were used to a profesP. Marin, formerly of the s o m e - fund student projects in the 1950s. s i o n a l Associated Press. one finally photojourAlthough she would lat- drove the In the early years, the nalist, helped the staff. er work for United Press finished product to the “I shared some of my “Viking Reporter” covered International and then as printer in Pittsburg. campus sports, dances, own experiences, and did the long-time bureau chief Sheila Grilli remembers club events, student gov- some dark room training,” in Martinez for the Lesher more than just the cookernment and much more. he recalls. newspapers, Keeble still ies.

At the time, Veder was It also had a gossip colremembers the terror of “Pat had brothers, a umn, the “Scandal Sheet” also working at the “Conher first interview. sister, her mother and and a long-running car- cord Transcript” (which But when she saw her all these people hanging toon, “Little Man on Cam- later became the Contra byline and story on page around,” Grilli says. “There Costa Times) and later pus.” one, there was no turning even was a monkey for a When Gary Bogue went on to work at the back. period of time.” joined the staff in 1956, he Associated Press for 32 Keeble remembers an-

T

When Grilli became editor in chief, laying out the paper at someone’s house abruptly ended.

At that point, the entire newsroom was stuffed into a Quonset hut, which the newspaper shared with a biology class.

“We had this little space that could have been 10 feet wide,” Grilli says.

After DVC, Grilli went on to work at the “Martinez Reporter” and spent five years as adviser to the Clayton Valley High School paper and yearbook before eventually buying a bookstore in Martinez. She currently serves as president of the Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board.

Tent classrooms, older chunkier boys sit near outside poles to hold down sides on windy days, 1958-1965. years as a photographer and a photo editor.

During his time there, Veder won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a POW returning home from Vietnam and running towards his family.

The 1960s and 1970s was a time of change on college campuses across the country.

At DVC, students protested against the Vietnam War, faculty members fought against the draft and speakers were brought to campus with new ideas, such as a psychologist who promoted the benefits of LSD, according to the DVC 40th anniversary book.

During Brian McKinney’s years as faculty adviser, from 1969 to 1976, the student newspaper once again changed its name, becoming “The Diablo Valley College Enquirer.”

“It was an exciting time for student newspapers,” McKinney says during an interview at his Orinda home. “There was a lot of hoo-ha going on, particularly on student newspapers.”

Inquirer alum Debbie Carvalho, who was on staff from 1970 to 1972, describes McKinney as a “pretty hip dude for his time.”

During an interview at the Contra Costa Times, Carvalho says, “He pretty much let us stretch and do what we wanted to do.”

Before coming to the Inquirer, McKinney had worked on his high school and college newspapers and edited the newspaper at Castle Air Force Base.

During this time, “The Enquirer” stirred controversy with its news coverage.

McKinney recalls the time an Enquirer sports editor rode back from a basketball game with the DVC team only to witness See History, page 6

“We thought of ourselves as pioneers” - Pat Keeble Former Viking Reporter editor in chief

“I had a lot of fun because I’d pick up stuff and be there to snicker to myself when they were raging [about the column].

- Gary Bogue Former Viking Reporter columnsit

“The student council decided, ‘Why should we pay for this guy to whack away at us?’ So they took away our funds.”

- Brian McKinney Former Enquirer Advisor

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

Thursday, October 15, 2009

3

‘Urinetown’ premiers Friday Troy Patton Staff writer It’s crunch time for the DVC Theatre department as they put the final touches on their newest production, “Urinetown,” which opens tomorrow in the Performing Arts Center with a special cake-cutting event following the performance.

Originally an Off Broadway musical composed by Mark Hollmann and written by Greg Kotis, “Urinetown” tells the story of a town where a 20-year drought has caused a ban on the use of private toilets.

Although he didn’t want to give any of the plot away, director Ryan Weible said, “It makes an interesting political statement with a wink and a nod.”

And while it may contain some heavyhanded com-

mentary on things like capitalistic greed, mega corporations and bureaucracy, it is a satirical piece which also brings laughter.

“It really just pokes fun at all sorts of people,” said Holly Kenney, a drama major who plays the role of Hope Caldwell. “It has a lot of slapstick and is really over the top.”

Weible is a former student and did six years of work on Broadway before returning to DVC. “Theater in New York is a business,” he said.

“The whole point is financial gain.” In contrast, working in DVC drama feels like “a family.”

“People are happy to be doing what they’re doing,” Kenney agreed, adding, “You have to have so much trust to make sure things go well.”

One aspect of Weible’s interpretation of “Urinetown” that sets it apart from other productions is the stage setup. Almost all

aspects of the production are visible to the audience, including the stage hands and actors when they are offstage.

“We’re on stage all the time, and it can be hard,” said Nicholas Tarabini, a musical theater and landscape architecture major, who plays Officer Barrel.

Melody Perera added, “When we’re on stage it’s like we have to have one foot in the real world and one step in the fiction.”

Weible said he took his inspiration from German poet, and theatre director Bartolt Brecht.

“He never wants the audience to be tricked or fooled,” Weible said.

“With ‘Urinetown’ I wanted to go as far as I possibly could with Brecht’s voice.”

Like Brecht, Weible wants to use theater to promote social change.

Many of the actors are also students in his class, “Theater for Social Change.”

“Urinetown” runs through Nov.

18 with no shows on Oct. 18 and 21. Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets are $17 for the general public, $16 for seniors, $14 for students with a valid student ID card and $12 if you have a current ASDVC sticker on your ID card.

They can be purchased at the box office which is open from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour before each show.

You can also buy tickets by calling (925)-6874445.

As a special event for people who come to opening night, there will be an Opening Night Cake Cutting event after the show. All people in attendance will be able to meet and greet the actors and director immediately following the end of the performance.

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009

4

Volleyball set to rally as players recover

‘Dangerous’ offense

Curtis Uemura Staff writer Injuries have stalled the promising start to DVC’s volleyball season.

After a 10-0 beginning, the Vikings dropped two of the last three games, while barely edging out a win Oct. 9 against perennial conference bottom-dweller, Cosumnes River College.

“We played against a team that is winless in conference and gave them hope of winning their first conference match,” said head coach Jackie Ponciano-Babb.

“What should have been done in three sets ended up going the distance to five.

But the bottom line is a win for now.”

Middle hitter Holley Morris and setter Lilia Marcic were out recently with injuries, while Kristen Kemp and Krystal McCoy played through minor injuries.

“Losing two really valuable players definitely took a toll on us both mentally and physically,” Kemp said.

With the entire team back, in play again, the Vikings must build back their chemistry.

With the win, DVC improves to 11-2 on the year, but just 2-2 in the Big 8 Conference after losing to Sierra and San Joaquin Delta colleges 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.

All three teams are tied with a 2-2 conference record.

“When looking at the scores of the games and seeing how close we were to winning, it also brought hope in that we have a well-rounded team that can compete with our conference full of highranked teams, even with injured players,” Kemp said.

The Vikings host the lowly American River Beavers on Wednesday.

American River is coming off two straight years of winless conference games and a bad start this year with a 0-3 conference record.

But after American River, the Vikings go up against the top two teams in the Big 8 – Santa Rosa Junior College and Sacramento City College.

“The fact that everyone is back and healthy just means we are even more eager to take control of all our games with full potential,” Kemp said. “We’re definitely expecting to come out with every intention of winning and making it to playoffs.”

Photos by Ryan Daley / The Inquirer

Leila Mashoodi, left, fights for control of the ball. Ana Torres, top right, avoids a slide tackle from a Sacramento City player. Kristen Elms, who scored a goal in the second half, maneuvers the ball up field, bottem right.

Soccer off to promising season Kamille Simmons-Turnquest Staff writer

In their fourth conference game of the season, the Vikings defeated visiting Sacramento City College in a 2-0 shutout Oct. 9, handing the Panthers their first loss.

Before the game, Vikings’ coach Cailin Mullins described Sacramento as a “typically strong team,” saying the game would be a good one, given the Panthers’ results in previous games. “We have to play well and take advantage of the opportunities we get,” Mullins said.

DVC maintained possession of the ball for the majority of the first half, but could not score. Despite the half ending in a scoreless tie, both teams had scoring opportunities, including a wide open shot by Sacramento that was blocked by Vikings goalkeeper, Courtney Hart in the 23rd minute of play.

“We played well in the second half, but we didn’t start the game off well,” Mullins would say after the game. “We had a good discussion at half time, and we were able to make adjustments.”

The adjustments included going into the second half with an offense that was more “dangerous and less stagnant,” as Mullins described.

Within the first eight minutes of the second half, the Viking’s offense scored its first of two goals.

Back after nearly two weeks on the injury list, Molly Holm, scored the first one after the ball was deflected off of the hands of the Panthers’ goalie, following a previous shot attempt by the Vikings. Sacramento threatened to score midway through the second half with an open shot that just missed, hitting off of the side post.

Within the last 15 minutes of the game, DVC’s leading goal scorer, Kristen Elms, provided her team with some insurance, scoring her 10th goal of the season after the ball was again deflected off of the hands of the Panther’s goalkeeper.

Less than two minutes later, Bikem Kilincaslan took a shot that went into the goal, but was called offside, keeping the score at 2-0.

“We did a good job opening up and passing,” said first-year player, Jennifer Burton, after the game. “We didn’t give up.”

The Vikings are now 3-1 in their conference series, and though they are only midway through the season, they are looking forward to the playoffs.

“We should do well,” Priscilla Opfermann said. “If we keep playing the way we are, we should go far.”

Mullins said making the playoffs will depend on how well the conference teams play and whether her team stays healthy.

“We have some tough games coming up against American River and Modesto, but our playoff potential looks good,” she said.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Do you read the Inquirer?

Why or why not?

Tori Rosales, 22 Pre-nursing Major “Yes, I like to be informed. I also have friends who work on the newspaper.”

5 DVC priorities slight art, drama, music

In its mission statement, DVC claims to be “passionately committed” to artistic development and to promoting personal growth and lifelong learning.

But the school has slashed 148 courses from the spring 2010 schedule, many of them in the Applied and Fine Arts division which includes art, photography, philosophy, drama, languages, music and more.

This decision is in stark contrast to the mission statement.

In arriving at $500,000 in savings for the current school year, the department chairs, deans and Vice President Susan Lamb agreed to preserve basic skills and ESL classes, while cutting 50 percent of other so-called “stand-alone” classes that don’t count towards transfer, a certificate or a degree.

It turns out the Applied and Fine Arts division took a big hit, because it offers a number of such classes.

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

In her presentation to the governing board last month, Laurie Lema, DVC’s Faculty Senate president, estimated the class cuts translate to about 4,410 student seats that won’t be available.

This, she told trustees, amounts to approximately 1/8 of the population of the City of Mar-

tinez.

Some of these missing classes will include art history, beginning guitar, a jazz-piano class, drawing classes, a couple of beginning dance classes and more.

These cuts will be tough to get back, even in good times.

DVC is doing a great disservice to the community it is meant

to enrich.

The college isn’t only for people trying to transfer to four-year schools or to earn degrees and certificates; DVC is a “community” college for a reason.

It serves the retiree, who enrolls in an art history class before a visit to Europe, or a musician trying to stay up to date with new technology, or a mother taking a language class so she can communicate with long lost family members in the country of her ancestry.

It also serves the transfer student, arts related or not, who wants to venture into realm of creativity.

Art permeates all aspects of our lives. It inspire us, provides us with cultural pride and affects our attitudes and emotions.

The college should remember its commitment to creating wellrounded, lifelong learners and strive not to turn DVC into a degree factory.

Twilight film spawns hot-blooded fan wars Kyle King, 19 Political Science Major “No, I didn’t know there was one. Actually, I knew there was one, but I just don’t care.”

As the sequel to one of the most successful movies of this generation rapidly approaches, many older children, teens “...the actors and even some adults are racwere still being through the ing referred to second, bestselling vampireby the names of romance novel their fictitous by Stephenie Meyer. characters...”

To be released in November, “New Moon” features Isabella Swan, Jacob Black and Edward Cullen overcoming a new fiasco, perhaps as outrageous as the first.

While roaming the halls of my high school last year, days before “Twilight” was screened in theaters, swarms of teens accumulated piles upon piles of homework because they “just had to read the book before the movie came out.”

Although this behavior is typical when films based on books come out, I was bewildered by the chatter.

“Oh my gosh, Edward is so hot.”

“He and Bella are perfect for each other!”

It was as if Edward and Bella were real people – and not fictional characters.

I was also astonished to see how fans were obsessed with whose “team” everyone belonged to, depending on which heartthrob was right for Ms. Swan.

As conversations became more frequent, the arguments between teams degenerated: “Well, Edward is ugly.”

“Jacob isn’t nearly as famous as Edward, so nobody cares about him.”

Even at the peak of “Twilight’s” popularity, the actors were still being referred to by the names of their fictitious characters, as if the vampires themselves were real and coming outside to “sparkle in the sunlight.”

And even then, I didn’t realize how popular the saga had become until much later, when

every store I walked into sold “Twilight” backpacks, “Edward” headbands, “Bella” makeup and “Jacob” Tshirts.

Upon searching on Facebook, I discovered 1,500 pages and 38,000 groups dedicated to Chelsea Reed the movie-and- Staff writer novel combination.

Showing how much they detest the phenomenon, some had such titles as, “You Know You Hate Twilight When...,” or “I bet I can find 100,000 people who hate Twilight.”

Having not been able to sit still long enough to read the first chapters of the book or watch five minutes of the first film, I can only wonder about the reaction to the newest trials and tribulations of Edward and Bella.

Getting to class: Commute at your own risk Jessica Turner, 18 Undeclared “No, I haven’t encountered it on campus”

Have you ever crossed Golf Club Road at the crosswalk and almost gotten hit by a student in a hurry?

They slam their brakes at that stop sign (crooked for a reason), as if “They slam the painted line their breaks at is just a suggestion. that stop sign You feel that as if the painted burst of wind and hear the grunt of line is just a the wheels on suggestion.” the asphalt.

Relieved to be alive, you walk forward to clear their path.

And that’s when they rev their engine right by you, like their car is mouthing the words

they long to slam at you for being in the way.

It’s a lot less confrontational than pulling down the windows and shouting out profanities, something reserved for more special, ticked-off occasions.

I see both perspectives actually, as I drive myself to school as well.

When you’re behind the wheel, you can’t help but fume over the students who take their time and cause confusion.

It’s like that scene in “Austin Powers,” when he takes a piss after being cryogenically frozen. You think he’s done, but then he starts going again. OK, that was a weird analogy.

As one who must walk every now and then, I’m equally frustrated on the street. I have my art supplies (that’s an extra 30 pounds), and

I roll a cart behind me. (So much fun). Despite my best efforts, it takes me a while to move quickly.

Then, there’s that rush hour period at 9:20 a.m., when everyone is scrambling to get to his or her first class.

Punctuality is a must. Teachers are not always Sarah Kim forgiving.

That 10 min- Staff writer utes before class is never enough. Oh well. Screw everybody else. I’m not going to be late to class today.

Rise up against college fee hikes Brian Donovan Guest writer Spencer Sargent, 18 Recording Arts Major “Yes, I think it is interesting. I want information about the school. I like to sit down at lunch and read it.”

Interviewer: Rory Moore Photographer: Sarah Kim

Tuition fees have gone up $6 this semester, and will go up an additional $5 next semester because of the unfair budget cuts brought on by the economic recession and a state government which chooses corporate interests over education.

This will adversely affect not only the domestic students, whom the fees will be imposed on, but will also create chain reactions that will lead to Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) cuts as well as fee hikes to the international students.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is forming a campaign against these hikes/

Editorial Board

Winner of the 2008 JACC General Excellence Award

Editor in chief: Ariel Messman-Rucker News editor: Curtis Uemura Features editor: Nick Sestanovich Entertainment editor: Troy Patton Sports editor: Christian Villanueva Opinions editor: Kate Vasilyeva Online editor: Chris Corbin Cartoonist: Elise Acredolo Instr. Lab Coordinator: Ann Stenmark Advisor: Jean Dickinson

Staff

cuts. Through solidarity with faculty and students across campus, we are organizing to fight hikes/cuts with collective action, such as participating in an ad-hoc committee with the Associated Students of DVC known as Affordable California Community College and protest!

We want to encourage others to rise up and fight with us.

SDS stands against imperialism. We demand equality for all, we demand no more cuts on human services and we call for ecological sustainability and justice.

The Inquirer’s article “Budget Cuts Hit Neediest” clarifies the issue of hikes/cuts.

This information should raise the consciousness of students and student-workers

Photo chief: Chris Corbin, Ariel Messman-Rucker Photographers: Sarah Kim, Ryan Daley, Kimberly Walker, Jessie Thompson, Courtney Johnson Reporters: Chelsea Reed, Ingrid Almaraz, Julie George, Travis Wonacott, Oksana Yurovsky, Sawitree Sonburanakul, Kamille Simmons-Turnquest, Rory Moore

to the resolve necessary to fight back.

We say fight back, because this is an attack on the services we depend on and thus our “Students for very livelihood. a Democratic If you are interested in taking a Society is formleadership role in ing a campaign the struggle, we invite you to our against these meetings.

Our hikes/cuts.” meetings are at 3 p.m. Wednesdays, Room 118, in the Liberal Arts building.

Students of DVC: Rise up and unite!

The Inquirer

Diablo Valley College 321 Golf Club Road, H-102 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 The Inquirer is published on Thursday mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds

Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313 Fax: 925.681.3045 E-mail: inquirer@dvc.edu Web: www.dvc.edu/journalism www.theinquireronline.com majority opinion of the editorial staff.

All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artist and not necessarily those of the Inquirer, Diablo Valley College of the Contra Costa Community College District.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

6 Calendar Thursday, Oct. 15 UC Berkeley Representative Visit Transfer Center 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Chapman University Transfer Day Transfer Center 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Advanced Piano and Piano Ensemble M-101 2:00 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 16 ITT Technical Institute Representative Visit Transfer Center 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Football Vikings vs. Foothill 7:00 p.m.

Urinetown Opens Performing Arts Center 8:00 p.m.

Musical Oliver Emeritus College Tickets $28 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 17 Men’s Water Polo Tournament 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

ITT Technical Institute Representative Visit Transfer Center 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 19 Humanities 109 Film Club Meeting Every Monday 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 21 Film: Fargo Forum 2:00 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 12 Student Union American Red Cross Blood Drive 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Correction: Ryan Daley shot the photographs of DVC volleyball players in a game against Shasta College for the Oct. 1 sports page. His photo credit was not listed due to editor error.

The headline on a guest column by business professor Carolyn Seefer contained a spelling error. It should have read, “Generation gap nonexistent on Facebook.” The error was made by the editor who wrote the headline.

CLASSIFIED PLACEMENT INFORMATION $1.50 a line 2 line minimum. 32 characters per line includes punctuation & spaces Copy and payment due the Monday before publication date.

For more information call 925.685.1230 ext 2313 or stop by The Inquirer office.

History...

Continued from page 2 players smoking marijuana in the back of the bus.

Viking athletes smoking pot became part of his subsequent story on the game.

All hell broke loose.

The basketball coach insisted on a meeting with McKinney and the sports editor in DVC President William Niland’s office.

“You shouldn’t have printed that story,” the coach said angrily. “Why didn’t you come to me?”

McKinney remembers retorting: “The newspaper’s job is to print the news. This is news.”

Niland supported the “Enquirer,” but the debate loomed large in people’s minds for many years.

Controversy dogged the “Enquirer” in its cov-

Burglaries...

Continued from page 1 time. This year, that number is down to one or two, Sharp said.

The primary duty of student police aides is to patrol DVC’s parking lots, checking cars for parking passes and issuing tickets Student Jamasyea Williams said he believes the recent burglaries can be attributed to the recession.

“People are going through it right now,” he said.

Although students interviewed on a recent afternoon had little knowledge about the reduction in student police aides patrolling the campus, many cited accounts of thefts reported to the DVC police by friends.

Sharp emphasized that car thefts and burglaries are “crimes of opportunities,”, advising drivers tokeep items in their cars out of view and to keep their doors locked.

Daniel Robinson said he is being more cautious after a friend’s stereo was stolen from his car while parking in the DVC parking lot, “I definitely lock my doors and roll up my windows here,” he said.

erage of student government, particularly when the newspaper uncovered scandal in the Associated Students of DVC. During this time, the lines between the newspaper and the student government sometimes blurred, with current and former Enquirer editors also serving on the ASDVC board.

After Carvalho left the paper, she ran for ASDVC president and admitted to stuffing the ballot boxes to “prove it could be done,” according to a 1972 front page article, “Ballot boxes stuffed, election thrown out.”

Another series from 1971 reported on an ASDVC board member who was censured and made to stand for an internal trial.

The prosecutor was an ASDVC board member and managing editor of

“The Enquirer.”

All charges were later dropped because proper protocol wasn’t followed when he was charged.

However, a month later the Enquirer reported the board member was suspended for “blatant and overt attempts at censoring the Enquirer,” among other things.

“I don’t think they [the student council] liked that we were writing about them,” Carvalho says.

During McKinney’s years as adviser, the ASDVC paid for the Enquirer’s printing and supplies budget. But he who controls the purse strings can wield a pretty powerful stick. And McKinney remembers the day it came crashing down.

“The student council decided, ‘Why should we pay for this guy to whack

away at us? Let’s just cancel them out.’” McKinney says. “So they took away all of our funding.”

“For about seven weeks, we were printing on mimeograph machines. That was really painful.”

McKinney said the “Enquirer” staff tried to get the ASDVC to change its mind, but to no avail. Fortunately the district stepped in and provided some funds for printing.

In response to losing its funding, the Enquirer ran a front page story with the headline, “Fastest freeze in the west: The Enquirer and its off -again on-again funds.”

Aside from student government, there were problems just getting the paper out each week.

“We didn’t have our own dark room, so we had to use the one used by pho-

tography students, McKinney says. “Sometimes our guys couldn’t get in there and had to wait.”

Carvalho, who became editor in chief during her time at the “Enquirer,” later covered sports for the Contra Costa Times and is now its TV Times/copy editor.

McKinney, who gave up advising to become a fulltime English professor at DVC, still becomes passionate when talking about the student newspaper. “[Without it] you’ll lose a very important eye on what’s going on for students, faculty, administrators and staff,” McKinney says. “They all need to know what’s happening, and the only way they get to know is by reading the newspaper.”

chair Ed Trujillo. These summer classes served to recruit students and allowed instructors to test experimental programs, he said.

“We would like to offer them again,” Trujillo said.

“That’s the core part of the program – we get to experiment.”

Owen Lee, music department chair, said nine music sections will be cut from the spring and summer schedules. One beginning guitar and the only jazz piano course will be eliminated for the spring, while the summer program takes a larger hit.

“Our main goal is to maintain our program’s integrity,” Lee said.

Although every math class is transferable or can be used toward a certificate, the math department had to cut 18 hours of classes.

Around four to five classes were cut, while others, such as Math 75, 110, and 120 were transformed into “self-paced” online courses.

“A lot of students in Math 75 just need to review that math quickly and move on, “Math department chair Cheryl Wilcox said.

The instructional assistants assigned to each Math 75 course will be replaced by a single tutor who will work 16 hours per week to help students in this course.

Wilcox said the math lab will also lose hours, as well as tutors.

In the physical education department, Dean Christine Worsley said 13 classes, which made up 10 percent of the department’s course schedule, were eliminated.

Also cut were courses with multiple sections and low enrollment, such as yoga, swimming, aerobics, beginning tennis beginning salsa and ballroom dance.

“As much as we are talking about cuts, “Worsley said, “we are also talking about reinvention … to look different and more appealing to the students we serve.”

San Bernardino Community College District, to help the college prepare for its report to the Commission.

So far the college has paid Averill $13,394 for his work plus travel expenses said Gene Huff, the district’s chief human resources officer.

“There certainly will be more payments,” Huff added, explaining there was lag time for work invoices and that Averill would likely be brought back to further help the school as it continues through the process.

Keith Mikolavich, vice

president of the DVC Faculty Senate, said Averill met with co-leaders of the various work groups to get a detailed understanding of our processes, findings and written products. “[Averill] provided crucial feedback on our final report, giving us a more objective view of what we had accomplished and what loose ends we had to tie up,” Mikolavich said.

Ted Wieden, DVC’s interim dean of instruction, also praised the consultant’s work.

“He gave us a very good outsider perspective,” Wieden said.

On July 19, Averill produced a six-page memo to the college in which he made a number of suggestions on how to more effectively address the “Show Cause Report.”

In one case he found two workgroups working on the same problem, with conflicting conclusions.

He also suggested the college change, drop, or define some of the problematic language found in the reports.

“A lot of (what I did) was editorial,” Averill said in a telephone interview.

Averill declined to reveal how much he was paid.

Cuts...

Continued from page 1 “No longer are we fulfilling all those different roles that community colleges have fulfilled in the past.”

In all, six drawing and art history classes were cut.

Faced with a 6.8 percent reduction in schedule, art department chair Michele Krup said some transferable, high-enrollment courses were also cut.

“People will have to be more patient … and sign up for electives that might not be at their optimal time,” Krup said.

“Stand-alone” classes were also part of the drama program’s summer courses, said department

ACCJC...

Continued from page 1 groups have tackled each of the Commission’s recommendations, which included improving communication among all levels of the college, more transparent decision-making, a master technology plan, updating hundreds of course outlines, developing student learning outcomes for courses and programs and more.

In July, the district governing board approved an up-to-$80,000 contract with Donald Averill, most recently chancellor of the