9-17-09

Generation gap

DVC demolishes CCC

Why adults are to blame for

Vikings beat rival Contra Costa 64-15 on Saturday.

wrecking Facebook.

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Volume 75 Number 1

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Budget cuts hit neediest

Non-smokers forced to police new rule in quad Oksana Yurovsky Staff Writer

Students returned this fall to a smoke-free campus, but the new policy – which restricts smoking to the parking lots – contains no formal enforcement provisions.

Instead, it relies on posted no-smoking signs, as well as “the initiative of non-smokers to politely request that smokers comply and the courtesy of smokers to acknowledge the restrictions and comply.”

Campus police are not involved in enforcement.

Bill Oye, dean of student life, said he walks through the quad regularly, asking anyone smoking to stop.

“If they fail to cooperate, especially if it is obvious to me that I have spoken

with them before, then that would be a violation of the student code of conduct,” Oye said.

According to the Student Code of Conduct, Oye said, repeat violators are subject to suspension.

However, it is unclear how violations will be tracked.

President Judy Walters said she approves of the change, calling it “a very collaborative effort.” She was not involved in the decision, she said.

Oye said students had complained about the amount of cigarette smoke on campus, especially near classrooms.

“They were very frustrated,” he said. “Some suffered from asthma and could not walk through the main quad,” Oye said.

“They actually have a right to be on campus, to use

Christian Villanueva Staff Writer

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Max Mannich lights up in the quad between classes on Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009. services that are in the quad.”

In the past, Oye said, students caught smoking near classrooms would “play games,” claiming they were walking to the quad or pretending not to know of the rule.

The new policy aims to

eliminate any gray areas by making a clear distinction between smoking and non-smoking places.

Still, he acknowledged the difficulties involved in navigating the quad in preSee SMOKING, page 4

A group of students work in the tutoring center on self-paced programs on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Services to students could be reduced due to upcoming budget cuts.

Tutoring slows down as budget cuts loom Oksana Yurovsky Staff Writer Students will find it more difficult to receive help at the English Tutoring Lab this semester, as DVC tightens its financial belt in anticipation of budget cuts.

Located on the first floor of the Learning Center, the lab is has cut back its daily hours by one, Mondays through Thursdays, and fewer tutors are available to help students.

Though both drop-in and appointment tutoring is still offered, the English Tutoring Lab is trying

News................ 1, 4 Sports....................2 Calendar................4

to operate in a “fiscally responsible and conservative” manner, said lab coordinator Heather Lee. “We’re waiting to see how the budget influences our ability to provide tutoring,” Lee said, adding that this semester is a “trial run” in anticipation of future changes.

Overall, however, the outlook is grim. “Given what’s going on in the state, we’re waiting for the axe to fall,” said Heidi Goen-Salter, who oversees the Learning Center’s English programs.

While drop-in hours are See TUTORS, page 4

Classified Ads.........4 Campus Buzz.........3 Police Beat.............4

Thursday, September 17, 2009

While many students began the semester scrambling for open classes, the budget crisis slammed down even harder on DVC’s neediest students.

Specially funded programs were cut from 16 to 62 percent for underprepared students or students with disabilities or who face language or economic barriers.

These so-called “categorical” programs include Disabled Support Services (DSS), Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), CalWORKS (which helps poor parents get through school) and Matriculation, which makes sure students meet their educational goals through admissions, orientation, assessment, counseling and follow-up.

DVC’s matriculation funding was cut 62 percent, from more than $1 million last academic year to under $400,000 this year.

“I have never seen cuts this drastic to any program,” said Matriculation Dean Beth Hauscar-

See CUTS, page 4

Last guilty buyer could face prison Ariel Messman-Rucker Editor-in-chief

The cash-for-grades scandal that has rocked the college since it became public in 2007 will come to a close Oct. 30 with the sentencing of the last remaining defendant, convicted grade buyer Khalid Nemati.

Nemati was found guilty Sept. 2 of one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud after 12 witnesses testified against him during a five-day trial at the Martinez Superior Court House.

Nemati now faces up to Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer three years in state prison.

Indah Kusumawardhani, 19, “This trial was different studies alone in the tutoring cenbecause [Nemati] was a

ter on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Editorial..................3 Opinions.................3 Staff Information.....3

riague, who has worked in community colleges for 19 years. “The services we provide are all so critical to a student’s success.”

So far, her program has reduced its counseling services, slashed its information center staff by 50 percent and suspended the English assessment test until November, Hauscarriague said.

DVC officials had expected to cushion the blow to matriculation and the other categorical program with an expected $130 million the state was to receive from the federal stimulus package.

But last week, they learned the state would only be given $37 million.

And that money does not have to go to matriculation and the other specially funded programs.

Under the state’s reinterpretation of the federal guidelines, it can now be spent elsewhere on campus, including expenses normally paid out of the general fund budget.

“It’s significantly less than we originally thought,” said Hascarriague. “It

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middle man,” said Dodie Katague, the deputy district attorney who oversaw all of the grade sale trials.

“He didn’t actually change any grades; he just passed money from the buyers to the people working in the admissions and records office.”

Nemati’s conviction marks the end of the grade sale trials; there are now only appeals left before the scandal is finally over.

Sumiar Arif who was convicted last March of a single misdemeanor count of conspiracy and sentenced to 75 days of home detention, is appealing his conviction in hopes of having it overturned by a See GRADES, page 4

87

Days until finals

Thursday, September 17, 2009

2

Newcomer ready for DVC sports Curtis Uemura Staff Writer DVC’s carousel of athletic directors has ended with the hiring of Christine Worsley.

Worsley will be the Vikings’ second athletic director in the last two years after longtime director Steve Ward stepped down in the spring of 2007.

Worsley brings experience coming from a Division III school, Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she spent the last eight years as the associate director of athletics, a senior women’s administrator and director of sports medicine, which meant she was at the sporting events as an athletic trainer.

Worsley comes to DVC in the midst of a massive state budget crisis, which, among other things, has forced DVC’s athletic teams to cut games across the board.

“I think people who are from around here don’t understand that it’s happening everywhere,” she said. “There are budget cuts that are happening across the country.

It was happening where I was coming from.”

Worsley grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and her former school RIT is also located on the East Coast, which makes a new location just one of the adjustments she has to make.

But her husband is an Acalanes High School graduate and the one who saw the job advertised.

“When this position presented itself, my husband wanted to come back to California, and this position was exactly where I wanted to be,” Worsley said.

Her husband is still at RIT and will stay there through the year in order to finish the season as RIT’s volleyball coach.

But the biggest adjustment is the jump from Division III to a community college, she said.

“Coming to a junior college, challenges are a little bit different,” Worsley said. “In a four year, you have athletes longer, and you have a longer time to prepare them for their career outside of athletics.”

The academic challenges are different as well, she said. Students look to move on to a four-year school, and they want to go where they could possibly get a scholarship.

Men’s basketball coach Steve Coccimiglio said Worsley faces a challenging learning curve, because “it’s

all new.”

“I’ll support her,” he said. “She seems like a solid, good, high–energy, intelligent person.”

Football coach Mike Darr said, “We’re just getting to know each other, but she seems very organized and will be a very hard worker. She understands some of the demands with the budget and recruiting rules and just this level in general.”

Worsley said she has the beginnings of a strategic plan, which includes creating an educational support system for student athletes, building alumni relations, and getting athletics to become a more inclusive part of campus life.

Worsley’s experience in the sports field isn’t limited to her administrative work.

She started out in science exercise physiology and worked with cardiac patients as a clinician in a hospital before going back to school and earning a certificate as an athletic trainer and a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Utah.

Worsley has worked at some notable Division I schools as an athletic trainer, Hawaii and Utah being among them.

“All those positions are important,” Worsley said.

“When you’re an administrator it’s important for you to have experience in the ‘trenches’ to really understand what your staff does.

“It gives you a different perspective on how to manage. So when you’re making decisions, you understand how it’s going to affect them.”

Photos by Linda Wolf / The Inquirer

Vikings prevail after close defeat

Curtis Uemura Staff Writer DVC’s potent offense, led by freshman quarterback Blake Wayne, dominated Contra Costa College en route to a 6415 manhandling on Saturday.

Wayne led the offense, completing 10 of 11 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns. He even completed eight straight passes at one point.

Wayne also was a threat on the ground, rushing for two scores and using his mobility to routinely elude the Comets’ pass rush.

“He’s a kid who does everything the right way,” said head coach Mike Darr. “It takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people, but it also forces guys to step up their game and their preparations.”

Wayne said the win gave the team confidence, because they know what they are capable of doing.

“We didn’t play our best football, and we still dominated pretty well,” Wayne said. “The team knows that once we play our best, we are going to be pretty hard to stop.”

After the first series of the game, it looked as if the Vikings’ defense might be in for a long day.

Preseason All-American defensive lineman Josh Nunu went down with an ankle injury on the second play of the game and would not return.

“We expect him to be back this week,” Darr said. “By the end of the game he had gotten rid of the crutches.”

Without Nunu the rest of the Viking defense stepped up and held the Comets’ offense to seven points for three quarters, only allowing another score after the game was out of reach.

The defense was led by linebacker Andrew Halafihi who notched three sacks and was unstoppable rushing off the edge.

DVC totaled six sacks in the game and was constantly in the backfield putting pressure on Contra Costa’s quarterback.

It wasn’t just the pass rush that excelled. The Vikings’ secondary was a step ahead of the Comets the whole game, constantly jumping routes and

coming up with three interceptions.

Darr wasn’t entirely happy with his secondary after the game.

“They made more mental mistakes than they did against Sierra [College],” Darr said. “Some little things have to get worked out before we get to teams who are going to make us pay for them.”

The first interception set the tone for the Vikes, as cornerback Maurice Moore intercepted a Comets’ pass in the end zone and returned it all the way to DVC’s 49 yard line late in the first quarter to set up a rushing touchdown by Wayne.

“As a member of the defense, I can say that we were overall happy with our performance but disappointed in our energy level all game,” safety Naeem Forrester said. “We missed a few assignments which resulted in Contra Costa scoring more than once.”

The Vikings wide receivers supplied big plays throughout the game, with Michael Adan catching two 48-yard touchdown passes and Daniel Adler adding both a 36 and 12-yard touchdown catch.

Both receivers totaled more than 200 yards combined in the game, with Adler having a game high 104 yards receiving.

Adler also racked up 66 yards on kick returns, even having an 80-yard return for a touchdown nullified due to a penalty.

“To have a receiving core like this, it makes things easier,” Wayne said. “I’m not just relying on one guy. Both them and my offensive line were key in the game.”

Lavonte Green led the rushing attack with 79 yards and a touchdown on only four carries, including a 53-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.

With the win, the Vikings improve to 1-1 on the year.

DVC rebounded from a tough loss to Sierra in the season opener, which saw the Vikes stay with the No. 2-ranked team in the state only to give up a couple of big plays to seal their fate.

The Vikings play host to Los Medanos College on Friday, Sept. 18.

The Mustangs are 2-0 on the year and have the state’s No. 3-ranked offense and No. 2-ranked defense.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

3

How do you feel about the smoking ban?

Limouges Isom, 22 Broadcasting Major “People are gonna do what they want. This is America. People gonna do the wrong thing, people gonna do the right thing.”

State budget cuts pick on most needy The state’s decision to drastically cut funding for programs that serve low-income students and those with disabilities exposes a political reality: In difficult times, the neediest will be sacrificed, because they have the least political clout.

These specially funded programs include Disabled Support Services; EOPS, which assists low-income students by providing counseling and book vouchers; CalWORKS, which helps poor parents get through school: and Matriculation, which helps students meet their educational goals through admissions, assessment, and counseling.

On top of these state cuts – which range from 16 to 62 percent – California received only $37 million from the federal stimulus package, far from an expected $130 million that was supposed to offset the

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

blow.

As a result, DSS eliminated tutoring and a special skills class, while EOPS sacrificed its work study program and limited tutoring hours. CalWORKS let go two of its hourly employees, and matriculation funding was reduced to less

than $400,000 from more than $1 million last year.

These kinds of cuts have a devastating impact. They send a message that you are not welcome at DVC, if you are poor, have a disability or are underprepared for college work.

Why couldn’t these cuts be spread

across the entire campus, thereby targeting all programs, rather than the burden of failing on just a few?

Granted, the district and colleges are gearing up for big cuts in their general fund budgets, with classes being deleted from the spring and summer schedules and operating expenses to be sharply curtailed.

Still, the district could dip more deeply into its $29 million reserve funds to cushion the blow to our most vulnerable students.

And can we be assured that the cuts to these programs were made to preserve essential services to students?

Or did they preserve certain jobs at students’ expense?

In these crucial times, such questions demand answers. Equality and fairness should be the principles that guide such important decisions.

Self-expression stifled by music industry

Deborah Smith, 19 Personal Training Major “I like it. I don’t think there’s a way to enforce it. It’s nice to be able to breathe when you walk through the quad.”

Last year, I put together a slideshow on the history of gay rights in America, containing well over 100 stills of the recent battle over Proposition 8 and set to the R.E.M. song “Final Straw.”

I later uploaded it to YouTube.

“Hours after Thinking such uploading it, I a topical issue would generate went to revisit many hits, I eagermy video and ly awaited feedback. could not hear But hours later, the music.”

I went to revisit my video and could not hear the music. Something wasn’t right. I toggled the volume, hoping to hear sound, but my speakers only emitted silence.

Then I saw a note at the bottom of the screen:

“This video contains an audio track not authorized

by WMG and the audio has been disabled.”

Yes, because I used an R.E.M. song, Warner Music Group removed the audio because they feared I had “stolen” their music. A lovely gesture when you consider my video was now a series of images without a fitting track to tie them together.

I’m not the first to fall victim to WMG’s fascism.

Thousands of videos have had their entire audio removed simply because somebody chose to use an AC/DC riff.

I understand the record industry is losing steam, but this is overreacting.

The third largest music company in the world shouldn’t be offended by the fact that some people actually like their artists enough to cover or artistically interpret their songs.

Yes, there’s the issue of questionable content.

I won’t argue with that. Lynyrd Skynyrd would probably not want “Sweet Home Alabama” in a pro-KKK video. That’s why you have to ask artists for their input. If they see no problem with it, why censor it?

In the case of my video, Michael Stipe, R.E.M.’s lead singer, is gay and an outspoken political activist.

WMG should Nick Sestanovich stop muting vid- Features editor eos.

Including or reinterpreting their artists’ songs is not “the end of the world as we know it.”* *And please don’t remove the ink from this article because I quoted an R.E.M. song.

Real meaning of tolerance lost in translation Andy O’Connell, 23 Engineering Major “I don’t smoke, but I think they should be able to do it [in the quad]. I think they’re achieving their goal. I see less smoking there.”

“Tolerance” has become quite the buzzword.

But you won’t find its new meaning in a dictionary. We’ve cheapened it to, “Let’s just get along.”

Today’s “tolerance” implies fully “True tolerance affirming every opinion, every beis exemplified and every in patience... not havior, value system.

So let’s test it. leniency toward Tolerate: error, hypocracy 1) “There is no god, no spiritual and lies.” dimension.”

2) “There is no way of truly knowing spiritual truth.”

3) “There is one God, one way to heaven.”

Did I leave out anyone to offend? I hope not! I wouldn’t want to be exclusive.

If you hold passionately to any one of the above three statements, it’s likely that someone will just as passionately disagree with you. And, in this postmodern world, neither of you will be applauded for your intensity.

Here are the new rules: Never ever suggest that one belief system or standard is universally true, because there is no room for “intolerance” in “tolerance.”

And since every view is to be treated as valid, exclusivity is shunned. It’s not nice to differ, so just focus on the slivers of common ground that every side can affirm. Be politically correct and simply agree to disagree.

But this doesn’t lead to peace.

When you don’t talk out your conflicts, you cannot resolve them or even properly respect them.

Sweeping things under the rug may bring temporary relief, but the mess is still not cleaned up.

Soon the rug bulges up and trips you. It is a coping strategy that offers no resolution.

True tolerance is exemplified in patience and compassion for people, not leniency toward error, hypocrisy and lies.

We shouldn’t “tolerate” everything. Examples like hate, lazy stupidity, pious double standards and corruption Linda Wolf come to mind.

Staff writer Let us be compassionate to all people.

But let us also be eloquent in our argumentation, although never arrogant, firm but never unloving.

Facebook: for the young, not young at heart Gong Cheng, 19 Computer Science Major “It’s not very effective.

There are still smokers in [the quad]. If they want the whole campus nosmoking, they have to get it off the camus, including parking lots.”

Interviewer: Julie George, Chelsea Reed Photographer: Adam Chrysler

Winner of the 2008 JACC General Excellence Award

Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends. But the “People You May Know” feature no longer includes just my classmates.

It now contains the names and pictures of my friends’ parents, my teachers and, of all people, my own parents.

It’s a bit ridicu“The truth is lous. that few of these Facebook was originally targeted adults know how to students, but the to use Facebook.” times-they-are-achanging.

Now I’m stuck in silly dilemmas, such as deciding whether to accept my dad’s request to be my “friend.”

The truth is that few of these adults know how to use Facebook.

Just last month, I found my mom staring into her laptop, looking puzzled.

“How do I send an inbox message?” she asked me.

Oh no, she had made a Facebook account.

Even with my help, it still took 20 minutes for her to send a three-sentence message.

Oh, Mom. Then there are the 40-something co-workers who are confused about Facebook.

One needed my assistance to add photos to his page. Another said her friends had helped her make an account, but she had no idea what was going on with her page.

“I have all these friends,” she said frantically, “But I don’t know who they are or how they got there.”

And then there are the adults who are just way too into the “Facebook scene.”

One friend complains her mother is always on Facebook and trying to talk to her friends. On top of it all, she posts embarrassing family pho-

Editorial Board

Staff

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 Photo chief: Chris Corbin, Ariel Messman-Rucker

Photographers: Adam Chrysler, Courtney Johnson, Char Smith, Jessica Emler, Sarah Kim Cartoonist: Elise Acredolo Reporters: Chelsea Reed, Ingrid Almaraz, Julie George, Linda Wolf, Oksana Yurovsky Instr. lab coordinator: Ann Stenmark Faculty Advisor: Jean Dickinson

tos and “tags” her in all of them.

Maybe it’s because our generation is too “Internet savvy.” Or maybe it’s because Facebook just isn’t for adults.

For the record I added my dad, simply putting him under the friends list “adults” along with everyone else’s parents.

There, he will be blocked from a few things like certain photo alJulie George bums.

Not that I have Staff writer anything to hide but there should be some privacy between children and their parents.

The Inquirer

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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, September 17, 2009

4 Calendar Every Monday and Wednesday Debate Team meetings PAC 106 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

August 31 – Wednesday, Sept 30 Faculty Art Show The Art Gallery 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Tuesday Sept 15 Mills College Transfer Center 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. by appointment 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Drop-In Thursday, Sept 17 San Francisco State University visits The Transfer Center 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. by appointment 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Drop-In Brown Bag Lecture Issues Surrounding Prop 8 SU 204 12:30p.m.

Friday, Sept 18 Football game DVC vs. LMC 7 p.m.

Monday, Sept 21 Sacramento State University visits The Transfer Center 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Appointments & Drop-In Wednesday, Sept 23 Life Chiropractic College West visits Main Quad 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Volleyball game Diablo Valley Classic DVC Gym 1 p.m.

Thursday, Sept 24 WOMBA book reading and snacks Trophy Room 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept 29 CSU East Bay visits The Counseling Center 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. by appointment 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Drop-In Saturday, Oct 3 Art of Nature Exhibit Reception Library, 2nd floor in l-218 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct 28 Chapman University Main Quad 11 a.m.—1 p.m.

Drop-In

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.

DVC shapes up for visit Readying report to lift threat to its standing Troy Patton Staff Writer The Oct. 15 deadline is fast approaching for DVC to prove it no longer deserves to be one step away from losing its accreditation.

Citing the “enormous amount of work done over the past eight months, President Judy Walters said, “We have had a lot of people involved…with this process, and that’s very important to DVC as a college community.”

The Accrediting Commission for the Community and Junior Colleges

stunned the college community last February when it placed DVC on “show-cause” status after it’s evaluation team found seven deficiencies, four of them unaddressed from a 2002 accreditation report.

A key focus prior to summer break was clarifying the college’s decision-making process and implementing “a participatory process to advance [DVC’s] mission and goals,” as required.

Ted Wieden, interim dean of curriculum and instruction, said his work group met weekly from Feb. 20 to May 8 on a restructuring plan with four new committees, including a “College Council” that consists of an equal number of managers, faculty, staff and students and makes recommendations to the president.

Two of the new committees – the Integration

Council and the Facilities and Space Allocation Committee – report to the College Council, while the third, the Enrollment Management Committee, reports to the vice presidents of student services and instruction.

“Our plan is to have the four new committees operating by Oct. 1,” Walters said.

Another focus.was to add the words “student learning” to the college’s mission statement.

“While the college had alluded to student learning in its philosophy statement in its strategic plan, we didn’t have that phrase in the introductory sentences to our mission statement,” said Faculty Senate Vice President Keith Mikolavich. .

In its report of last year, the commission’s evaluation team also found the college had only identified

currently offered, a permanent schedule will not be finalized until later this month.

Newly trained English-140 students will pick up these additional hours, with each tutor assigned up to two tutees per week.

In addition to 13 returning tutors, as many as 21 new tutors may be added to the program from the class, said desk staff and DVC alumnus Maggie Karr.

Each tutee is allowed two hours of tutoring every week. During the first weeks of the semester, the few drop-in hours available were in high demand.

“Sessions are filling up within a couple hours of printing the schedule,” said Karr.

Though Karr estimated about 40 hours would be added to make up the permanent schedule, she acknowledged it will not be enough.

“We won’t be able to provide for all of them,” she said of the mostly remedial English and English as a Second Language students who use the lab.

ESL students like Minoo

Saghafi, 61, are already feeling the effects. There is a “big difference” between the past two years and this semester, she said.

It is especially frustrating having to wait until 3 p.m. to make a drop-in appointment, Saghafi added.

Unable to get a drop-in appointment on a recent afternoon, Russell Hawkins, 21, asked the lab’s desk staff for help on the thesis statement for his English paper.

A criminal justice major, Hawkins said he is having trouble finding help at the English Lab. “This semester [there are] a lot more people,” he said.

Hawkins said getting help from an English tutor is imperative. “It’s how I got through the tough times with writing,” he said of last semester.

In fact, many students turn to the English Tutoring Lab for help with subjects other than English.

In the spring of 2008, students from 236 courses received tutoring involving their writing and reading skills, Lee said.

To offset the demand, the lab is telling instructors to encourage students to come in for group tutoring

sessions.

Last semester, the lab was forced to close its doors almost three weeks early due to budget shortfalls, leaving both students and tutors frustrated.

Tutors received notices telling them the English Lab had to close unexpectedly, although English-140 trainees retained their hours.

“It was a huge surprise,” said Anita King, 24, in a recent interview. Though she will be tutoring eight hours per week this semester, King said her $9.31per-hour salary is highly important.

“I’m now the only person in my family working”, she said. “My family is depending on me to pay the rent.”

Until a decision is made about how each program’s budget will be affected, Lee said she is “cautious and a little hopeful.”

Although she is frustrated with her inability to help everyone who needs it, Lee said she realizes that many other programs have been or will be hit harder.

“We’re trying,” she said, “to do our best with the state of the state.”

include 20 feet within an exit or entryway and any operable windows. The bill also gave California Community Colleges power to implement additional restrictions.

Aside from health, Oye says the new policy is beneficial in other ways, because “we have a duty as a college to help people think about ethics.”

The policy, he said, “prepares students for the real world that they will be getting into,” since more employers are leery of hiring smokers, fearing they will develop bronchitis and have to go on sick leave.

But Terry Armstrong, dean of counseling and student services, said it does not go far enough.

“If it were up to me … we wouldn’t even have the parking lots,” he said, although admitting such an option is unrealistic.

“I don’t want to eliminate access to the college for people stuck with that addiction,” Armstrong said.

The policy has earned mixed reviews among stu-

dents.

International relations major Geovanni Hernandez, 21, said the new policy isn’t working.

“People are still smoking in the quad,” he said.

Mustafa Tarzi, 21, a biotechnology major, didn’t hesitate to voice his objections.

“It sucks,” he said. “I’m not going to walk to the damn parking lot.”

Lex Williams, 22, said he does not think it is fair for “a board of 30 people who have transferred already” to make a decision for the entire student population.

But others praised the change.

“The quad smells so much better,” said biology major Alexandrea Deroque, 18. “Last year it was nasty.”

Student Chris McDonald said he is happy about the change, although it’s “kind of high school.”

Still, McDonald recalled what it was like navigating the quad in previous semesters. “I’d hold my breath when I walked through,” he said.

Smoking...

Continued from page # previous semesters. “I’d hold my breath when I walked through,” he said.

Last fall, a group of speech students addressed such concerns to the Associated Students of DVC in hopes of persuading the council to support a no-smoking policy on campus.

After deliberating the issue, then-ASDVC President Bundit Kertbundit took the proposition to the Leadership Council of managers, staff, faculty and students, which approved it in January. The policy also applies to the San Ramon Valley Center.

Previously, smoking was permitted in the main quad and parking lots. The new policy restricts smoking to the parking lots only.

Los Medanos and Contra Costa colleges have had similar policies in place for approximately three years.

The switch stems from Assembly Bill 846, effective January 2004, which extended no-smoking areas to

- Keith Mikolavich Faculy senate vice president

and or assessed student learning outcomes for 192 of its more than 1,200 courses and for 21 of its 101 programs.

Walters said student learning outcomes have since been developed for all DVC programs.

Computer sciences department chair Robert Burns, said the learning outcomes for 98 percent of the college’s 1,275 individual courses are now completed. .Despite long work days that stretched into the summer, faculty, staff and managers seemed opti-

mistic. “I witnessed my colleagues give of themselves in a way that has renewed my faith in this great college,” Mikolavich said.

The report goes to the college district governing board Sept. 30, and then Oct. 15 to the Commission, which will send an evaluation team to the college between Oct. 19 and Nov. 19.

The college will not hear any official statement from the Commission about its accreditation status until after it meets in late January.

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Tutors...

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“I witnessed my colleagues give of themselves in a way that has renewed my faith in this great college.”

Continued from page # changes every day, [and] it makes it very hard to plan.”

Hascarriague said all areas have been reduced or cut in some fashion.

“We cannot continue to operate in the way we have been operating,” she added.

DSS, which serves about 1,564 students with disabilities, cancelled all tutoring, eliminated a learning skills class and let go the hourly staff that helped with adaptive physical education, said Stacey Shears, DSS manager.

“We really need volunteers,” Shears said.

DSS takes notes, translates, sets up special computers, and accommodates students who need help or more time on tests.

“It really impacts their success and even their ability to access higher education,” Shears said.

EOPS helps poor students and those who are unfamiliar with the process of going to college.

It was forced to reduce its book voucher amounts, reduce tutoring hours and the

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Continued from page # judge.

Danish Farooq’s trial resulted in a hung jury and although he was never retried, a judge will decide Sept. 28 whether to grant his lawyers motion for a declaration of factual innocence. Such a ruling would seal Farooq’s arrest record.

In all, 54 former DVC students were charged in the case. Of those, 40 took plea agreements or were found guilty in jury trials, eight had their cases dismissed and

number of subjects offered, stop its work study program, suspend parent grants to some students who no longer qualify, and cut summer programs to save money for this year.

The program will only serve about 800 students this year, around 250 fewer than last year, said EOPS director Emily Stone.

“EOPS is very much about access,” said Stone. “The reality is we’re closing the door to students.”

It is a similar story at CalWORKS. “I have had to lay off two hourly staff,” said CalWORKS coordinator Dona DeRusso. “The bigger impact is the impact it’s going to have for student childcare and work-study.”

Students in the program must maintain a job with the program. But now, some are forced to volunteer with the county to maintain employment status so they can continue to receive aid.

“I have a stack of probably 30 students who are waiting for work study placement,” DeRusso said, “and I don’t have the funds at this point to support that.” one was found not guilty, Katague said.

Five more students for whom bench warrants were issued have never been found.

“We don’t know where those people are,” Katague said.

The sale of hundreds of grades by student workers in the admissions office was ongoing from 2000 to 2006 and kept secret for more than a year.

“This was certainly a unique case, I don’t think we’ll see anything like it again,” Katague said. .. .

Police Beat August 11, 2009

Parking lot 8 A vehicle was towed after a subject was cited and released for no front plates, expired registration and for being an unlicensed driver.

Silent Witness: Working together to solve crime, The Silent Witness tip line provides a means of communication for members of the campus community to provide District Police with information on crimes or suspects on campus. Tipsters can give information anonymously.

Lost and Found is located at Police Services. People who have lost or found items may come into Police Services Monday thru Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 p.m. to 3 p.m.