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Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 64, Number 13
May 4, 2010
Meet the contenders for AS By VANESSA GOMEZ City Times
JOSEF SHANNON Courtesy Photo City College professor Jim Miller gives a speech at the Fight for California’s Future rally on Apirl 21 in Sacramento.
Students and faculty rally in Sacramento
The City College cafeteria was abuzz with numerous candidates running for the upcoming Associated Student (AS) government board at the AS election debates April 29. The afternoon debate was the first of two n Official sessions made avail- statements of able for the students presidential to hear the candidates’ candidates platforms and to ask News, page 3 numerous questions concerning issues at City College. All five vice president and presidential candidates were in attendance, as well as many senator candidates. Dean of Student Affairs Denise Whisenhunt was also in the
crowd, offering students paper to write down their questions for the candidates. Elections Commissioner Kiedra Taylor mediated the event and stressed that students “exercise their right to vote” May 3-5 either online or by paper ballot at the AS office.
VP hopefuls share their views AS Senator Isis Mubutu and former TRIO assistant Mayra Edgar came forward for the vice president position in this year’s election. Edgar was the founder of City Dreams, helping students with transfers to four-year universities while she was a communications assistant with TRIO at City College. Edgar is running as a Team KLUE (Knights Loyal
to Unity and Education) member. Edgar shared that she wanted to bring together students and clubs and make the campus “more family orientated.” Edgar also stressed the importance of going green campus wide. “There are so many things we can do,” Edgar said. “Recycle cans, recycle paper… see a leak on campus? Call up facilities and report it.” Even though Mubutu is currently working on numerous bills for all different types of city students, she noted that her No. 1 pet peeve was the lack of communication between classrooms and students. “If we had a shooter on campus right now, there’d be no way to inform
See CONTENDERS, page 2
By JOHN BALCHAK City Times
In a show of solidarity, a group from City College traveled by bus to Sacramento on April 21 to participate in the completion of the pro-education March for California’s Future. Departing from campus at 4:30 a.m., 28 supporters, including Associated Student Government members, Bringing Education and Activism Together members and City College faculty advisors, proceeded on a nearly 10-hour journey north. “Fox 5 television was there for the departure,” ASG Senator Joseph Shannon said. “Most people slept for the first part of the trip. By the time we woke up, we were in Bakersfield and everyone was in a cheerful mood.” The march, which began in Bakersfield March 6, had been making its way up the center of the state, spreading their message of support for public education and a fair tax system in California. The marchers, including City College Professor Jim Miller, walked the entire 260-mile distance over 48 days. According to Shannon, the City College contingent arrived in time to join the march on its final mile from Sacramento’s Southside Park to the Capitol building. “They rented a flat-bed truck (to accompany the marchers) and had music. I remember hearing “California Dreaming,” he said. On the Capitol’s west lawn, they were met by an enthusiastic crowd estimated at about 5,000. “It was great,” Shannon said. “There was a skit about Dracula being governor done by students from San Francisco State. There were representatives of many unions who spoke on the capitol steps. Then the marchers were introduced and each of them gave the reasons why they marched.” One of the featured student speakers was City College’s Jose Rodriguez, president of BEAT, who flew to Sacramento for the rally. “We converged at the park and marched the last mile together,” Rodriguez said. “At the rally there was an extraordinarily large crowd. There were people from all over the state and specialized communities such as minorities and the disabled. It was inspirational.” In his address to the rally, Rodriguez said he made clear the point that all Californian’s deserve access to education and health care. He contended that there is enough funding at the disposal of the legislature, but they are not using it wisely. “The next step is to get more people politically involved,” Rodriguez said. “Our voices need to be
City College Associated Students presidential candidates for the 2010-11 school year, from left to right: Omar Miyazaki, Abdulkadir Ahmed, Beto Vasquez.
San Diego High School students eyed in City bathroom vandalism By MARK RIVERA City Times
With San Diego High School in such close proximity to City College, it’s not uncommon to find high school students wandering the halls, loitering the quads or even using campus restrooms; it’s in the student’s use of the restrooms, however, that is causing concern. So much
See SACRAMENTO, page 7
concern, in fact, that campus police have resorted to locking up the restrooms in both the B and M buildings. “The reason why the bathrooms are locked up is because we were having a huge spike in vandalism on both bathroom buildings,” college police Sgt. Jordan Mirakian said. Campus police cannot prove that San Diego High students are to blame for the vandalism, but they base their beliefs on previous student arrests and monikers found in the bathrooms that correlate to tagging crews found at San Diego High. Some high school students are actually allowed to be on campus because of the Early Middle College program offered
at City College. Mirakian added that campus police have found much of the illegal activity to occur when San Diego High students are either passing through campus for a class, before their school begins or after it gets out. “The peak times that these students are here is when (the B and M building) bathrooms are being vandalized,” Mirakian said. “They come into our cafeteria — buy food, hang out in our quad and occasionally we’d find them in the bathrooms smoking marijuana or committing vandalism.” Some City College students have also found that drug-related activity occurs at the same time that San Diego High students are coming out of school. “I’ve definitely smelled people smoking weed, in the girls’ bathroom, both upstairs and downstairs, in the B
See VANDALISM, page 7
SD college district to transfer historic house to new location By JOHN BALCHAK City Times
If you have been on 15th Street near campus recently, you may have noticed one small grey house, its windows are boarded but it seems to stand sturdily on the otherwise demolished block. The entire city block is being leveled to make way for the college’s new math/general purpose building, its construction will
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Take Note.................................2 News...................................... 3 Arts........................................ 4 Voice...................................... 6 Sports.................................... 8
begin later this year. But, before this can take place, that house will have to find a new home. According to campus Project Manager Tom Fine, the two-story Victorian cottage has been at its present location since 1886 and was the home of Stephen B. and Fannie Marks. Considering its age and location, the San Diego Community College District documented the home’s history and submitted
their findings to the San Diego Historical Resources Board, which officially designated it to be a historic resource. In order to help preserve the house, the district has taken steps to move it to a site on Island Avenue in the Grant Hill neighborhood of San Diego. The plan is currently under review by the City Planning Commission and, if approved, the structure will be transported to its new property this summer.
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GABRIEL ROBERTS City Times In an attempt to preserve the house on 15th Street, which sits on a new construction site, the college district plans to transfer the house to a different location.
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