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Women’s soccer shuts out Cañada.
OPINION
College to text students alerts.
SPORTS
NEWS
FEATURES
New deaf dean has big plans.
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Fremont, California
Vol. XXXVII No. 2
Catching some AIR
Don’t buy kids violent video games.
September 11, 2008
College has no trouble raising funds By Mitchell Tong Staff writer
Photos by Japneet Kaur
Students and MTV dancers show off their moves during the MTV dance-off Wednesday at the bottom of the Building 1 stairs. Ohlone student Palmer, one of six students who danced with the MTV crew, won two tickets to “All The Way Live,” an MTV music event which will take place this Friday and Saturday at the Smith Center Amphitheater. Tickets are available at the box office. MTV dance crew members Carsten (top) and Isaac Castillo also performed. For story and schedule of events, see Page 4.
Semester budget to be tight By Kathy Sung Staff writer While the state budget hasn’t been passed, Ohlone won’t run out of money any time soon. According to Director of Business Services Joanne Schultz, Ohlone “has significant reserves [it] can draw on even though the state is not funding us” at the moment. Ohlone is currently “managing cash flow on a weekly basis,” said Schultz. Part of the management includes not replacing retiring or leaving staff. Although many students have had problems with registering for classes in math and English, Ohlone will not be opening up new sections as long as the state does not pass a budget. According to Schultz, saving money has been achieved through a hiring freeze. Compared to other
colleges, Ohlone is in very good shape financially. One backup plan in case the budget does not come through until January is to possibly stop purchasing, which could eliminate some of the classes. Also, as long as the budget is not passed, Ohlone will not be hiring new faculty and will rely on the current and part-time staff already here. Next year’s budget has been planned, according to Schultz, based on the Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES) money. For every 15 units a student signs up for, Ohlone receives one FTES point up to 8,274 points. The budget is based on the 8,274 FTES but does not include any room for growth, meaning there will not be new sections added. Since the budget cuts last year and the problems with passing a
budget, Ohlone has been bravely struggling through. Ohlone did borrow 4 million dollars from the Tax Revenue Anticipation Note (TRAN). Schultz said that we do have “8 million in cash reserves,” $4 million of which was a loan from TRAN. If the budget is not passed by November, Ohlone will be using some of the $8 million dollars for operations (salaries, electricity, phone bills, etc.) The budget date was supposed to be passed by June 1 but Schultz said this is the “worst divide I’ve ever seen” between the Republicans, Democrats and our governor. To end on a brighter note, despite the need for money at Ohlone, Schultz said “we are not going to raise the parking fees.” Parking fees will remain at $35, at least for the fall semester.
Dave Smith, head of the Ohlone Foundation, told the College Board of Trustees last night that donations to the college have totaled $2,767,000 this fiscal year. Donations came from a variety of benefactors, including individuals, community organizations, as well as private organizations. The Silvera family, which includes three generations of Ohlone College donors, has had a section of the new Newark campus named after the family. The Newark campus now boasts 14 rooms named after donors. In addition to the funds raised by outside individuals and organizations, a total of $325,000 was raised internally from activities sponsored by the Ohlone Foundation. These activities included the green tie gala event, which Smith labeled a “huge success,” netting $90,000 this year. Following these successes, the Ohlone Foundation’s plans to follow-up with the largest golf tournament in Ohlone history, with a goal of raising $35,000. Smith believed that this quota would be easily met and surpassed, especially considering the plans to invite golfing sensation Tiger Woods. However, he noted that the sports star has not yet responded to the invitation due to a recent injury. Other topics of discussion included a controversy over the distribution of the raised funds. In particular was the contention over the proposed installation of touch-phone call boxes around campus: the proposed system would cost Ohlone roughly $120,000, in contrast to Ohlone’s current pay phone system, which costs $6,000 per year to maintain. Proponents of the new phone system include the Fremont police, who initiated the push to intall the phones. Most colleges have a phone system in which its easy to request campus police in case of emergency, but Ohlone’s pay phones do not have that option. This is in stark contrast to the Newark campus’s “blue phones,” which are much more advanced. Trustee Bob Brunton concluded the meeting by praising the efforts of Smith and the Foundation, stating that Smith has done an “excellent job of improving the image of Ohlone.”
Mencher shows art
Photo courtesy Kenney Mencher
Ohlone Art Instructor Kenney Mencher’s works (such as ‘Study for Summertime,’ above) are currently being shown at the Los Gatos Art Museum. See story, Page 4.