Monitor 2015-3-19

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MONITOR

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2(&"#,/(%) $()#+,.3) .$)".$4("./) '("5,%,"', MARIA GARCIA-HERNANDEZ Staff writer Counselor Maria Ramirez will present the “Chicana Herstory” at the 43rd annual National Ethnic Studies Conference at Mississippi State University in Starkville on March 27.

Ramirez will present the same speech, organized by the Communication and Chicano Studies departments, at Ohlone’s Jackson Theatre from noon to 1 p.m.

March 31.

The presentation will cover the terrorizing events that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. This includes the story of assasContinued on Page 2 !"#$%"#&'#(%)%*+$!,+&

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!"#$%&'$(%)*%(+#)",-)./0&1) CHARLES TUTTLE Staff writer Ohlone College music instructor Tim Roberts last month unleashed an album featuring original rock compositions fused with international music.

The album, “Chinese Malibu,” was developed during a sabbatical in the fall. Roberts visited Northeast China, Central Ireland, Georgia and South Carolina, and Southwest Michigan for

his influences on the album. The sounds and harmonies of “Chinese Malibu,” as with most fusion music, are unique due to the mixture of melodies.

Ranging from more standard rock melodies on “Old Spanish Gypsy” to the Indian-flavored “Basically Bhairav,” the soup of sounds is as varied as the soup selection at this reporter’s favorite restaurant.

Each song seems to

h a v e a d i s t i n c t s t o r y, telling of lands and a world far away from the Bay Area. Roberts’ tunes seem to weave a tale of times long past, telling of dusty roads here in the West Coast long before the typical hustle and bustle of Californian traffic whisked it all away.

Each piece has a refreshing breeze of a vision of outdoors, allowing the listener to catch a moment of tranquility so as to focus upon the

next task at hand.

It i s n’t c o m m o n f o r music to provide an image of places far away as the pieces in this album do. Roberts described his developing of the album as “his favorite thing in the world.”

Roberts posting of his music online reflects his views on music distribution, which he regards a s “f r e a k y, w i l d , a n d crazy and kind of fun.”

Continued on Page 2

Forensics team wins big at state MONITOR STAFF The Ohlone Forensics Team took home some big prizes from last weekend’s state championships.

TheteamcompetedMarch 11-15 at the California Community College Forensics Association Tournament Invitation inWoodland Hills.

Kivraj Singh tied for the CCCFA State Championship Keeling-Fricker Award for Top Speaker of Oral InterpreContinued on Page 2

Big bills to view public documents discourage access MICHAEL FELBERBAUM Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. – The public’s right to see government records is coming at an ever-increasing price, as authorities set fees and hourly charges that often prevent information from flowing.

Though some states have taken steps to limit the fees, many have not: In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback’s office told The Wichita Eagle that it would have to pay $1,235 to obtain records of email and phone conversations between his office and a former chief of staff who is now a prominent statehouse lobbyist.

Mississippi law allows the

state to charge hourly for research, redaction and labor, including $15 an hour simply to have a state employee watch a reporter or private citizen review documents.

The Associated Press dropped a records request after Oregon State Police demanded $4,000 for 25 hours of staff time to prepare, review and redact materials related to the investigation of the director of a boxing and martial arts regulatory commission.

Whether roadblocks are created by authorities to discourage those seeking information, or simply a byproduct of bureaucracy and tighter budgets, greater costs to fulfill freedom of

information requests ultimately can interfere with the public’s right to know. Such costs are a growing threat to expanding openness at all levels of government, a cornerstone of Sunshine Week. The weeklong open government initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary beginning March 15.

“It’s incredibly easy for an agency that doesn’t want certain records to be exposed to impose fees in the hopes that the requester is dissuaded,” said Adam Marshall, a fellow with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which sponsors Sunshine Week with the American Society of News Editors. “If the people don’t know what’s

going on, either because they don’t have direct access to information or because the media isn’t able to provide them with access to information about what their government is doing, it’s impossible for the people to exercise any sense of informed selfgovernance.”

Fees can be charged for searching for records, making copies, paying a lawyer to redact certain parts of the information or hiring technical experts to analyze the data.

In most cases, the fees imposed are at the agency’s discretion; those agencies sometimes waive the costs or Continued on Page 3

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NEWS

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NEWS BITES Weekend concerts The Mission Peak Brass Band and the Ohlone Wind Orchestra will perform over the weekend at the Smith Center on the Fremont campus.

The brass band’s “Out of this World” concert will begin at 8 p.m. Friday in the Jackson Theatre. Music will include Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s “Enter the Galaxies,” John Williams’ film music for “Superman,” and an arrangement of Queen’s classic rock song “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Then, on Sunday, the Ohlone Wind Orchestra will present “Reflections,” its first concert of the year.

Tunes will include “Ye Banks and Braes O’Bonnie Doon” by Aldridge Grainger, “Blue Lake Overture” by John Barnes Chance, and Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Jesters.”

The performance will begin at 2 p.m. in the Jackson Theatre.

Tickets for both concerts cost $15, or $10 for students, staff and children age 12 and younger.

For more information, go to www.mpbb. org or www.OhloneWindOrchestra.org.

Chivers, Russo to give speech Nick Chivers and Sage Russo will give a speech Friday titled “I Wouldn’t Call This “Glee”: How The Media Fails at Trans 101” on the Fremont campus.

The event, which is part of the Speech Colloquium Series, will be from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 7101.

Volunteers sought for graduation Ohlone is seeking 25 volunteers to help with the graduation ceremony from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 22.

The volunteers will serve as ushers and ticket-takers for the evening.

Anyone who’s interested can contact Student Activities Coordinator Renee Wong Gonzales at 510-6597311 or rgonzales@ ohlone.edu.

– Compiled by Monitor staff

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State would Administration College unveils Ohlone seeks pay for 25% plans another educational new full-time of Obama plan look at frontage master plan instructors MITCHELL WALTHER Editor-in-chief

MITCHELL WALTHER Editor-in-chief

MITCHELL WALTHER Editor-in-chief

MITCHELL WALTHER Editor-in-chief

President Barack Obama’s plan to bring free community college to American students is still in its early stages.

Michael Bowman, executive dean of academic affairs, provided an update on the plan at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting.

When laid out on the floor, the figures come out to an almost $60 billion budget and 10-year plan, Bowman said.

Students who wish to use this program need to be enrolled at least half time in class. They also need to maintain a 2.5 GPA. There is also a mention of making “steady progress” toward a transferrable associate’s degree being a requirement, though those details are rather vague.

The state of California would be required to cough up a quarter of the funds for this free community college system. Also, Ohlone would be required to offer plans and degrees for transferrable classes and associate’s degrees, which it already does.

Bowman said that despite all the regulations, “Ohlone is good to go.”

“It’s essentially another FAFSA,” he said.

Carmel Partners pulled out of the project to develop the bottom of the hill alongside Mission Boulevard on the Fremont campus.

The Board of Trustees in April had selected Carmel to develop 314 housing units and 25,000 square feet of retail space on 15 acres of surplus land.

The deal would have netted Ohlone $600,000 a year.

Ron Little, vice president of administrative services, announced Carmel’s decision at a board meeting Jan. 14.

“We received notice last month that our frontage property partner, Carmel Partners, has opted to pull out of our frontage property mixed-use project,” Little told the board.

Ohlone was able to hold onto the $80,000 good-faith deposit Carmel had given the college in the planning stages.

Little said at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting that the administration plans to look at the property again later this year.

The college has been working on developing the property since 1989.

The 2015-2020 Educational Master Plan had its first read-through at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The 54-page college guidelines deal with issues ranging from declining programs and classes, to budget deficits, to how to foster enrollment.

The master plan “is a holistic document that identifies student learning and achievement as the core purpose of Ohlone College,” it says in its introduction. “As a learning-centered college, all activity of faculty, staff and administration needs to be focused on this core purpose.”

Trustee Ishan Shah was excited over the information proposed in the papers.

“We’re seeing the sausage being made,” he said.

Some trustees were concerned, though, over which classes could be dropped, and why certain classes could be kept.

Trustee Rich Watters was skeptical over the financial feasibility of the master plan. “Are we trying to be everything for everyone?” he said.

Trustees will consider approving the master plan at their meeting April 8.

Ohlone is seeking to fill several full-time teaching positions.

The number of fulltime faculty dropped from 151 to 115 in the past decade, due to budget cuts and other factors. Twelve departments currently have no full-time faculty.

College officials say Ohlone needs at least 18 more full-time instructors. However, it would be impossible to hire that many in one year, college officials said.

“We have worked hard just to ‘tread water’ and not backslide as FT faculty continue to retire or otherwise leave the district,” according to the Educational Master Plan, which calls for a target of 141 full-timers by 2020.

Ohlone’s ratio of fulltime equivalent students to full-time faculty is higher than the state average or the average for Bay Area community colleges.

The Board of Trustees will meet again in April with the prospect of discussing bringing more teachers on staff fulltime.

to speak about ‘herstory’ at 12/'0*3#,04#"* Ramirez national conference in Mississippi "#5#,/#/*67* Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1 He is optimistic about the changes facing the music industry, believing the Internet is “the wild, wild west of music distribution.”

Roberts used a “mus i c a g g re g a t o r” c a l l e d Tunecore to help put the a l b u m o n l i n e, c u t t i n g through the red tape of iTunes and Spotify where “zero (profit) is made.”

Roberts said the sabbatical and the lack of deadlines on the project gave him the ability to “to experiment a lot more, and (I) was g i ve n t h e luxury of throwing other ideas away.”

Roberts likes changing musical style s, s a y i n g if artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Taylor

Swift can cross over from one genre to another, then so can he.

“Change is great, change is fine,” Roberts said. “Maybe I’ll play … some Amer ican country record, who knows what instrument or what style.” The musical possbilities are endless for Roberts.

For now though, Roberts us a taste of instrumental rock and roll. A good focus on riffs allows the composition of the album to shine thru.

Offering a diversity of styles, “Chinese Malibu” is a worthwhile listen for anyone who enjoys msuci and wants to here something new and local.

“C h i n e s e Ma l i b u” i s a v a i l a b l e o n S p o t i f y, iTunes, and Amazon.

sinated NAACP leader Medgar Evers, the murder of three civil rights activists, and the emergence of the inspiring Fannie Lou Hamer, who organized the Mississippi Freedom Summer. “ ‘Chicana Herstory’ allows me the opportunity to share a ‘herstory’ of the Americans that has been denied, erased and untold for too long and needs to be

heard,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said it’s important to bring out a part of history that has been overwritten for many years now.

“Feminism, women’s rights were not imported here from Europe,” she said.

“Time to honor the teachings of indigenous America that have relevance now and into the future.”

The two presentations coincide with Women’s History Month.

%328#(3*.'(/*39&*,.,"8*,3*/3,3#*09(3#/3 Continued from Page 1 tation of Literature.

Singh also earned a silver medal for prose and a bronze for poetry.

In addition, Singh and Sarah Goulart won a silver

medal in program oral interpretation, and Manveer Singh won a silver medal for IPDA debate and a bronze for extemporaneous speaking.

Next up is the national championships next month.

NEWS ")1"#2*("11232

MONITOR STAFF: Editor-in-Chief: Mitchell Walther Sports editor: Albert Rebosura Photo editor: Laura Gonsalves Online editor: Ivan Vargas Staff writers: Maria Garcia-Hernandez Martha Nunez Oden, D. Charles Tuttle Ad manager: Ryan Parcher Ad staff: Ricky Cardenas Adviser: Rob Dennis Printer: FP Press

California Newspaper Publishers Association

General Excellence 1971

Journalism Association of Community Colleges

General Excellence State 1987 1991 1994 1998 2002 2003 2014

NorCal

1984 1988 1994 2000 2003 2004 2005 2013 2014

Online: 2005, 2013 CONTACT US: Offices: Room 5310 Call: 510.659.6075 E-mail: monitor@ohlone. edu Website: www.ohlonemonitor.com Facebook: www.facebook. com/OhloneCollegeMonitor Twitter: @OhloneMonitor Opinions expressed in the Monitor are those of the respective authors and are not necessarily those of the staff, the college or the Associated Students of Ohlone College.

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!"#$%&'()$)&'*+&$,-*.$&/0123'&*''")) Continued from Page 1 requesters can appeal them to an administrative board.

But in other cases, Marshall said news organizations and private citizens are faced with the “ridiculous choice” of weighing the costs and benefits of being a responsible public steward.

In Florida, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office told Jason Parsley, executive editor of the South Florida Gay News, last year that it would cost $399,000 and take four years to provide every email for a one-year period that contained certain derogatory words for gays. The reason, according to officials: The email system could not perform a keyword search of all accounts at once.

Parsley says he has talked to computer experts who disagree and say a modern email system could handle the request easily, but he doesn’t have the money or the time to take the matter to court.

“It would be their word against ours,” he said. “Even if we could pay that amount, it would be four years. What good would that do me at that point, anyway?”

If the goal was to keep him from learning that deputies used such terms, authorities won, Parsley said.

Broward County Sheriff’s Lt. Eric Caldwell said the department was not trying to be evasive. He said each employee’s email is stored on a tape and kept at a remote archive facility. It has to be retrieved physically and then converted into a Microsoft Outlook file, which can then be searched.

“If we have it, we have to provide it,” he said. “The reason this cost so much is that this person had a very vague request.”

Virginia law allows reasonable charges not to exceed the actual cost of accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. But to get electronic copies of Virginia Gov. Terry

McAuliffe’s daily calendar for nearly 10 months, officials told the AP that it would need to pay about $500 upfront.

That’s because McAuliffe’s counsel said staff would have had to search, review and possibly redact certain calendar entries. Meanwhile, in California, daily calendar entries for Gov. Jerry Brown are routinely provided at no cost to the AP. Another example: Iowa’s newly created Public Information Board ruled in December that the state Department of Corrections could charge the Marshall Project, a nonprofit that reports on the criminal justice system, $2,020 for access to its federally mandated reports

a court agrees, it must assess $1,000 in punitive damages.

In February, Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill that would establish a compliance board to handle complaints and cap the fees agencies can charge for public documents.

Yet other states are considering actions that could restrict access or deter those making requests.

Following complaints from Tennessee’s school boards association, a proposal in the state Legislature would allow agencies to charge for anything more than one hour of time fulfilling records requests. Current law allows them to charge for copies, but not for the time they spend collecting

Legislature considered a bill that would allow agencies to charge for digital public records, raising concerns among good-government advocates. The bill passed one committee but failed to get a vote in another, meaning it is likely dead for the year.

Agencies can be allowed to levy charges, saysToby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, “but they should not be making a profit off of it.”

Some government officials say they are unable to waive fees because their budgets are tight. Complicating matters further is a larger number of records being generated and the inability of agencies to maintain and process them, leading to more time %)2&2*$4*#"%)$#3*52%*%"*4'6237'&8* and resources '3'$#4%*'9742*95*3":2&#!2#%* dedicated to researching re"66$($'14*;)"*!'5*;'#%*%"*91"(<* quests. '((244*95*$#61'%$#3*6224 In most ins t a n c e s, t h e =*829"&')*6$4)2& price to fulfill requests comes down to what’s on sexual violence against and redacting documents. being sought and the costs inmates. Iowa officials said A legislative analysis of a associated with responding it would take an employee similar proposal that failed to them, said Chuck Thomp108 hours at $15 per hour to in 2011 estimated that local son, executive director of review, redact and copy 2,672 governments would collect the International Municipal records, plus a 15-cents-per- about $1.6 million in fees Lawyers Association, a nonpage charge for copies. Some under the change. profit group representing larger states charge nothing “If someone can’t afford local government attorneys or just a nominal fee for ac- the fees, they can’t see the re- across North America. cess to those reports. cords,” said Deborah Fisher, “There’s probably a fairly “I think there’s a genuine executive director of the Ten- low percentage of governeffort to be responsive, but nessee Coalition for Open ments that are attempting there is a higher cost to Government. “There is noth- to provide barriers to the fulfill these requests,” said ing yet to safeguard against release of information,” Dan Bevarly, acting execu- abuse by government offi- Thompson said. “It’s really tive director of the National cials who may want to block important that the public Freedom of Information access by inflating fees.” have the ability to find out Coalition, a nonprofit based An Indiana proposal would what their government’s at the University of Missouri- allow a searching fee for re- doing, but they can’t bring Columbia that works to cord requests that take longer their government to their protect the public’s right to than two hours to fulfill. After knees.” open government. “There that time, an agency could are other times where there’s charge up to $20 an hour and Associated Press writers Jeff a deliberate effort to circum- require payment up front. Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; vent the system.”

The search time would not Curt Anderson in Miami; Lawmakers in several include time spent redacting Jeff Barnard in Grants Pass, states have proposed or confidential information, Oregon; David Eggert in Lanpassed laws seeking to ad- but opponents said the fee sing, Michigan; Ryan J. Foley dress those fees. will discourage more in- in Iowa City, Iowa; John D. Michigan lawmakers re- depth records requests and Hannah in Topeka, Kansas; cently approved a law man- give officials another tool to Rachel La Corte in Olympia, dating that agencies cannot fight transparency.

Washington; Judy Lin in charge more than 10 cents a Most agencies inWashing- Sacramento; Erik Schelzig in page for documents. Further, ton state provide electronic Nashville, Tennessee; Lauryn people can file a lawsuit if records free by email, and Schroeder in Indianapolis; they believe they are being state law caps charges for and Meredith Somers in Anovercharged and can try to copies at 15 cents a page. napolis, Maryland, contribget the amount reduced. If But earlier this year, the uted to this report.

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San Francisco under siege The other day my friend and I were driving to Redwood City. We paid the toll, gunned the motor, and headed across the Dumbarton Bridge.

As our vehicle soared across the water on our concrete magic carpet, I had a thought.

I live in the Bay Area.

That’s kind of a big deal.

The place I call home is known throughout the world.

We a l l k n ow w h a t we mean when we say, “The Bay.” I can walk into a business meeting in Ne w Yo r k C i t y w i t h CEOs from all over the world, and if I say I’m from the “Bay Area,” they all know what I mean.

T here’s a sense of pride to living here.

We are at the forefront of so many industries I’m not even going to list them here.

As I watched “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” it was odd to see San Francisco in a disaster movie. I hadn’t seen Bay Area imagery in a blockbuster since “X-Men 3: United” or the last Planet of the Apes movie.

This is how it must feel for New Yorkers.

Every summer they get to see their city blocks get destroyed again and again, and then they get to see some superhero save it at the last second.

The Star Trek franchise has taken advantage of destroying San Fra ncisco, too, with “Into Darkness” decimating the downtown area and the first reboot firing lasers just off the Golden Gate Bridge.

The destruction of our streets and landmarks helps us remember just how much that w o uld hur t us. This place around us is finite, but built strong enough to last.

When it comes down to it, we live in an amazing, beautiful area, and we need to remember that.

There’s so much we have been given and we need to cherish it. !"#$%&'#$%"%(')$*+%"+,%-.$$-%/$0

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FEATURES !"#$%&'(#)*%('"&#+,' -.(/,'01%/'2&33&.'4$2, CHARLES TUTTLE Staff writer Ohlone alumna and former Monitor staffer Kathy Sung is now a partner at Modern Career Advice, a new firm that finds higher paying jobs for four-year college graduates.

“In a nutshell, we help w o rk i n g p ro f e s s i o n a l s land job offers, roles, companies, and pay packages they deserve,” company CEO Frank Song said.

Working one-on-one with clients, the company is able to find out if the clients “are being paid enough for or are in a role that reflects their value,” he said.

Filmmaker to speak at screening MONITOR STAFF Filmmaker Tyler Measom will attend a screening of his award-winning documentary “An Honest Liar – the Amazing Randi Story” on April 3 at the Smith Center.

Measom and Justin Weinstein followed magician James “The Amazing” Randi for two years, and also interviewed celebrities such as Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” Alice Cooper, Adam Savage of “Mythbusters,” and Penn and Teller, who discussed how Randi influenced their lives and careers.

The screening will be at 7 p.m. in the Smith Center’s Jackson Theatre.

Measom will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening, which is part of the Psychology Club’s Speaker Series.

To view a s i x - m i n ute trailer, go to https:// w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=MVMl36t2cLc. To buy tickets, go to www. ohlone.edu/instr/psychology/speakerseries.

“It’s been great, been busy,” Sung said. “Long hours, long days, but it’s really rewarding.”

Clients pay a $10,000 fee for Modern Career Advice’s services. The company touts a 23 percent rate of applications to interviews, a 64 percent rate of interviews to offers – and an overall 100 percent success rate.

If a client isn’t satisfied with their current career situation, “we backwards engineer them in a way to get them to … other opportunities they wouldn’t find online, understand companies, and land an offer.”

Song, who graduated from the University of

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California, Davis, with a bachelor’s degree in economics, was an investment banker and venture capitalist before launching Modern Career Advice.

The idea came after he helped a couple friends by offering free job consultations.

Before starting the new firm, Song was a private equity investor at AccelKKR, and before that he worked as an investment banker at Stifel Nicolaus Weisel.

Sung majored in journalism and social sciences at Ohlone before transferring to UC Berkeley. She graduated in 2010 with a degree in media studies. As an Ohlone and UC Berkeley alumna, Sung is this area’s representative for the firm.

“Ohlone was a great transitioning point for me,” she said.

For more information a b o u t Mo d e r n Ca re e r Advice, go to www.moderncareeradvice.com.

FEATURES

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OPINIONS

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!"#$%&$'(#)$*&#+,"-&'#."/&012&1)#3&0-"1$,,4 BRIAN HUNHOFF Yankton County Observer Don’t take it personally?

That’s usually good advice, but today we urge the opposite reaction to all government bodies operating in the shadows, purposely avoiding public scrutiny and genuine transparency.

In other words, take closed government personally.

Please! t Take it personally when a reporter is kicked out of a city council meeting so members can hold an illegal or unnecessary executive session. t Take it personally when public access to government records is refused, limited, or attached to excessive fees. t Take it personally when a judge jails a reporter for refusing to reveal a confidential source. t Take it personally when government fails to limit political contributions, and ignores ties of mutual benefit between private business and elected officials. t Take it personally when a governor issues secretive pardons. t Take it personally when a presidential administration works vigorously to identify and criminally prosecute government whistle-blowers.

Take all of this personally because it directly affects the quality and scope of government information you get from the press.

Wouldn’t it be great if more people understood a reporter’s exclusion from a meeting also excludes them, the general public, from learning details that are being hidden?

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone embraced the notion that government openness is an essential pillar of democracy?

Wouldn’t it be great if more people remembered the press serves as their eyes and ears

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in the halls of government?

Wouldn’t it be great if more people became aware that jailing journalists not only intimidates the press, but also chills the public’s right to know?

Wouldn’t it be great to see thousands of citizens press Congress to pass a federal shield law protecting reporters from being locked up for doing their job?

We love that scene in “Return of the King” when a resurgent monarch inspires his small army to stand against overwhelm-

CAMPUS COMMENT

ing odds by delivering a stirring cry to arms.

Wouldn’t it be great to see people everywhere show that kind of passion and unity in the fight for freedom of information and the battle against government secrecy?

With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien, that speech might go something like this: “A day may come when the courage of men fails and our freedoms die; when speech and religion are governed; when we forsake our reporters and break all bonds of fellowship with the

Fourth Estate … but it is not this day!

“There may come an hour of darkness, wolves and shattered shields that bring our First Amendment crashing down … but it is not this day!

“On this day, we battle for our Bill of Rights! This day, we join with journalists in the war against government secrecy, corruption, and waste.

“This day, the press and public stand … together!

This day, we fight … together!”

Wouldn’t that be great?

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!"#$"%#&'()*#"%+#,"-.+)/.)&#(0#&+1)021+.)&#.)"%,'3 ERICA GILBERT Psychology

“Not at all. If anyone wants answers they have to go out and get them” JACOB ROJAS Kinesiology

“I think they feed us (what is) necessary to keep us calm” MATTHEW BANWART Journalism

“It could be more transparent but ... transparency isn’t always a good thing” SALIM KAJJAJ Business Administration

“No, not really. With what is going on in Ferguson they’re really oblivious of minorities”

JENICA PUJOLS Art

“They don’t say everything that they should say – like all the 9/11 talks and who really killed JFK”

SPORTS Upcoming home games SOFTBALL

BASEBALL

Today, 3 p.m. vs. West Valley College, Softball Field, Fremont campus.

Saturday, noon vs. Monterey Peninsula College, Renegade Field, Fremont campus.

April 4, noon vs. College of San Mateo, Softball Field, Fremont campus.

April 11, 10 a.m. vs. Napa Valley College, 2 p.m. vs.

Merced College, Softball Field, Fremont campus.

April 14, 3 p.m. vs. Mission College, Softball Field, Fremont campus.

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Tuesday, 2:30 p.m. vs. Cabrillo College, Renegade Field, Fremont campus.

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April 4, noon vs. Gavilan College, Renegade Field, Fremont campus.

April 11, noon vs. Hartnell College, Renegade Field, Fremont campus.

Standings

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;1#$"0&-"%#/$ < = =>? <= @AB .>, ;> D'"&1'=$EBFF 4) 46 ,6 4 -4>5 -6.6 ), ALBERT REBOSURA Monitor Sports Guy Heather Rygg is this week’s Player of the Week.

Rygg had 10 hits out of her 16 at-bats, a cool .625 average, helping Ohlone win four of five games in the past week.

Two of her hits came in home-run fashion, helping the Lady Renegades to a 9-8 victory against Gavilan, their second meeting in the week.

The leadoff hitter played her role to a tee – getting on base, stealing bases and setting up the hitters behind her.

She scored 10 runs and stole seven bases in the past week – five came against Gavilan on Tuesday, in their first matchup.

Rygg has 21 steals this season, which is the third most in the state. She also leads the team in that category, along with runs, doubles and triples.

8

SPORTS

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!"#$%&'()*&+','-%'.)/0"'.)1%&++ F57G*&26295723* 86*9??7*H?3848?6* >84;*5*I?64;*=2@4* 86*4;2*3253?6 ALBERT REBOSURA Sports editor Ohlone hosted their 23rd annual March Madness Tournament over the weekend and played well – winning three of four games.

“We went 3-1 and I feel good about that” Coach Donna Runyon said. “I’m proud that we beat two quality teams: Feather River and Los Medanos.”

In previous seasons, the format of the tournament was conventional, with eliminations and winners, but this season was different.

“We changed the format this season. It’s all round robin,” Runyon said.

She added that playing six games over the weekend is rough on teams in terms of fatigue.

“It was just four games of softball all weekend,” she said.

Los Medanos was the first matchup for the Lady Renegades in the tournament. Ohlone’s batters have been dialed in this month, and it continued against Los Medanos, as the Renegades won handily, 12-4.

Cleanup hitter Haley Keahi went 3-of-4, scoring three runs and knocking in one RBI. Six other players had RBIs as well – including Ariana Monges, who had a team high with two.

Jasaiah Gholston pitched a complete game in the win, allowing four runs and striking out five.

The Lady Renegades offensive prowess this month was silenced by Solano in the second game, as Ohlone lost 10-1.

Solano pitcher Denali Smith kept Ohlone to three hits and allowed only one run – the team’s lowest offensive output since Feb. 28.

Ohlone’s Oceana Orndoff had a rough outing on the mound, allowing 13 hits and eight runs. She did get the team’s lone RBI in the lopsided loss.

The bats that were silenced by Solano woke up again in their third matchup against Feather River. The Lady Renegades scored at least one run all six innings – getting 12 in the first three.

Everybody got a piece of the action on offense: Heather Rygg went 5-for-5 with three runs, Mckayla Saavendra had one hit, two walks, three runs and two RBIs, Keahi went 4-for-4

A smart move

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with four runs and three RBIs, Carrigan James had 3 RBIs on two hits, Morgan Meyer had three hits and two RBIs and Caressa DeRossett had two hits and two RBIs. The offense bailed out Jasaiah Gholston, who had an inconsistent game. She allowed 10 hits, five runs and three walks.

Ohlone faced a familiar foe in the final game of the tournament. They played Gavilan who they beat 14-2 earlier in the week. It was much closer this time, but Ohlone came back from a 4-1 deficit, toughing out a 9-8 win.

Rygg had two home runs and three RBIs. Orndoff added two and Shelby Hodges had two.

“Rygg hit two (home runs in) back-to-back (plate appearances)” Runyon said.

“They intentionally walked her after that.”

Karissa Francis made her first start of the season, but didn’t get the win. She allowed eight hits, six runs and a homer. Orndoff got the win, pitching three innings and allowing one run.

Ohlone has a 15-10 record and a 6-1 division record. They’re currently in second place behind the top-ranked NorCal team: College of San Mateo,

which is 27-0.

When asked how the team can improve in the last month of the season, Runyon said: “first pitch strikes” for pitchers and “better team situational atbats.”

The Lady Renegades play the first-place team in the Coast South division, West Valley, at 3 p.m. today at the Softball Field.

Runyon looks at the upcoming game against a first-place team as a good opportunity to see what her team has against a tough opponent.

“They (West Valley) beat

Foothill last week, but we also beat Foothill and scored more runs than they did,” Runyon said.

West Valley is 18-3 and is currently on a four-game win streak. They have a perfect 8-0 record on the road.

West Valley’s success comes from their stellar pitching. They have a 1.59 team ERA, which is sixth best in the state.

They’re also fourth in the state with eight shutouts.

When asked about Ohlone’s key to victory against West Valley Runyon said: “timely hitting and good pitching.”

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ChrisBorlandannounced his retirement on Tuesday because of his concerns about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma.

Borland, 24, was in line to be a starting middle linebacker for the 49ers upcoming season after having an impressive rookie campaign. I respect Borland’s decision and hope that other NFL players consider their health after their football career is over.

Many players grew up with low-income economic situations and will rush their way to the NFL without completing their college education. Completing college is important because of potential health risks, not to mention that the average NFL career is 3.3 years.

Borland, who has a degree, left behind a high-paying job in the NFL – and it could’ve been even more after his rookie deal. Still, what good is all the money you make in the NFL if your body is broken and your head is in shambles? He and a handful of other players decided to hang up the cleats and protect their health.

Players are stronger and faster than ever. The collisions are brutal and unwatchable at times. But the hitting is one of the main reasons why football has become so popular in the past decade. The NFL should ditch helmets. It has become more of a weapon than an actual protection. Players would have to think twice about leading with their head for a hit if they didn’t have a helmet.

I’m not saying that there wouldn’t be any concussions if they didn’t wear helmets, but I think that the amount would be drastically lower.

Perhaps they can wear a helmet like Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech which is made out of foam cushion – not the hard plastic with metal bars in football.

The handful of players retiring this offseason isn’t going to ruin the NFL’s product. Football isn’t going anywhere. My rule proposal will never happen too.There’s no reason to change the product because it’s the most profitable sport in the U.S. People will watch no matter what. Just watch, the retired players will be laughing at their ex-teammates with all the money and health problems in 3.3 years. !"#$%"$&'()$)*+#$,(-$#*.'&$ ('$/).##"0$120%"3(435"0#